Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States. Aired 4-5:00a ET
Aired January 21, 2017 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:00:33] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We did it. We did it. And now the work begins.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: After a day of ceremony and a night of celebration, now it is time to get down to business. The first full day of the Trump presidency begins now.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Saturday, January 21st, it is 4:00 a.m. in the East. We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.
At this hour, Donald Trump is getting ready for his first full day as president and perhaps recovering a bit from a long inauguration day, a day that started with swearing in -- a swearing in ceremony at the capitol, moved on to the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. Then to a series of inaugural balls and the first official action of his administration. Those actions included signing an executive order to begin the dismantling of Obamacare.
CNN's Athena Jones has the latest from our Washington bureau. Good morning.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. You heard the president say it just now. Now the work begins, today his first full day in office. And as I should mentioned, he doesn't have any public events on the schedule today but he is expected to attend a prayer service at the National Cathedral. And as you mentioned, a very busy, a very long momentous day yesterday that was concluded by three balls that the president and First Lady Melania Trump attended. And Melania Trump got a lot of attention for her outfit choices over the course of the day as is often the case for first ladies.
There you see her in that powder blue outfit designed by Ralph Lauren that many saw as a nod to Jackie Kennedy. And then in the evening in that white ball gown that she reportedly helped design with the former creative director for Carolina Herrera. So a nod to the U.S. fashion industry. But a big night last night.
As for the day, during the day, at the inaugural ceremonies themselves, President Trump delivered a populist America first themed speech. Much in line from what we heard from him on the campaign trail. But some said he painted a gloomy picture of the state of play in America. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities. Rusted out factories, scattered-like tombstones across the landscape. The crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: And that use of the word carnage was unusual for an inaugural address, but the president did get straight to work. He had promised meaningful action on day one. And one of his first actions, as you mentioned, was to sign an executive order on Obamacare. Now the executive order doesn't get rid of the law. The Congress is already at work trying to do that. What it does do is it directs agencies to interpret regulations -- the regulations in the law as loosely as allowed in order to minimize the financial burden on individuals, on insurers, on health care providers and the like.
That means that agencies can waive or defer or grant exemptions from or delay certain regulations in the law. But the president wanted to make clear that he was going to keep his promise and take some real action on day one.
I should mention that there was also action on Capitol Hill. The president saw his first two Cabinet picks approved by the Senate by overwhelming majorities. That's retired Marine General James Mattis as secretary of Defense and retired Marine General Mark Kelly to lead the Department of Homeland Security, so a very busy first day in terms of when he was first inaugurated. And we'll see what happens today.
Back to you, guys.
ROMANS: All right. Athena, thank you so much for that. Athena Jones.
BERMAN: It is on. Right? It is on.
ROMANS: It's on. Game on.
BERMAN: It is all happening right here in Washington. Let's bring in our panel to discuss what we saw, what we are seeing right now, and what we will see today. We are joined by CNN political analyst and columnist for the "Washington Post," Josh Rogin, CNN Politics reporter Eugene Scott, political economist Greg Valliere, chief strategist at Horizon Investments, and CNN contributor Salena Zito, she's a reporter for the "Washington Examiner" and a columnist for the "New York Post."
Welcome one and all. Let's talk about how we got here this morning right now. Let's talk about this speech which I think is a horse shack test for where you stand on the condition of America.
ROMANS: Yes.
[04:05:01] BERMAN: It sounded exactly like a Trump campaign speech, perhaps more polished than a Trump campaign speech, but it sent the message of America first. And he drew a line between what he sees is what's wrong with America and what he wants to do for America. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it's going to be only America first. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be played to benefit American workers and American families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Now people did see part of the message as bleak. American carnage, he described, but Salena Zito, you have been talking to people from Pennsylvania where you live, people who voted for Donald Trump, some -- some people who did not. What are you hearing about the reaction?
SALENA ZITO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Democrats that I talked to in my state and in Ohio said that meant, that speech had impact on their voters. Voters that they lost, who voted for Obama and went to Trump. Because, you know, of course the economy is doing better. And of course it's growing, but there is a lot left behind. In -- not just in predominantly white areas, like East Liverpool, Ohio. But also in places like Ford Height, Chicago, Illinois, when I drove across the country. It feels like carnage.
You see these emptied out places, you see these emptied out homes. You see the heroin addiction, the opioid problem that is growing throughout this country. People feel the way he spoke, especially the people that voted for him. And I would argue that Bernie Sanders could have easily given that speech as well.
ROMANS: Interesting. Your thoughts? You thought it was a very dark speech, a hopeless speech.
GREG VALLIERE, CHIEF STRATEGIST, HORIZON INVESTMENTS: You know, I travel all around the country also, and I agree, there is a heroin problem, there's a jobs problem for some people who have been left behind. But I talked to a lot of business owners, and they tell me when I ask them, what's your biggest problem, is it Obamacare? No. Is it regulations? No. Lack of skilled labor. There is a labor shortage in the South Bay in San Francisco and Texas and southeast parts of the U.S. So there are two Americas. But much of America is growing dramatically.
BERMAN: And then there was the division between the government and the people.
ROMANS: Yes. BERMAN: And Donald Trump tried to draw a very clear line. He said,
with all of Washington sitting behind him and in front of him.
ROMANS: It's crazy.
BERMAN: He said that they, the people behind me, have been enriching themselves while you the people standing in front of me watching this speech have suffered. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Washington flourished but the people did not share in its wealth. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs and while they celebrated in our nation's capitol, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Josh Rogin, populism, pure populist.
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I think what we're seeing here is the influence of chief strategist Steve Bannon who told the "Washington Post" that he helped crafted this speech and that it was, quote, "an unvarnished declaration of the basic principles of Trump's populist nationalist movement." OK. Think about. All right. He's not talking to Washington, he's not talking to us. He's talking to his supporters.
ROMANS: Yes.
ROGIN: And when people see nationalism they also see what it's not. It's not internationalism. People around the world got a very clear message that the United States is no longer advocating for things like international liberal world order, international democracy, freedom, promotion of human rights.
It's going to be American interests and then everyone else is going to have to fend for themselves. It was very clear and it's a very stark departure from both the inward and outward posturing of America that we've seen over the recent decades.
ROMANS: It used to be that America's endeavors overseas were to put America first, to keep America friendly.
ROGIN: Right.
ROMANS: To make sure that everything happening over there was with the U.S. best interests. I did not hear that.
ROGIN: It's also that, you know, the idea that Republicans have had for decades which is that as people around the world are lifted out of poverty and oppression that that eventually in the long run helps America.
ROMANS: Right. ROGIN: We didn't hear any message.
BERMAN: That's the George W. Bush inauguration.
ROGIN: Exactly.
BERMAN: In 2004.
ROGIN: Exactly.
ROMANS: But what about -- the Republicans, Eugene Scott. What did Republicans hear in that speech? Because that did not sound like a conservative speech. It did not sound like a Republican orthodoxy speech. I did not hear about tax cuts and other pro-growth policies other than we're going to keep jobs here.
EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: I think that speech was about populism, not necessarily conservatism. It's what Josh said, it was a speech for the people on the Trump train and it was a reminder to all of Washington that Trump is an outsider and he is not like them. And so the funny thing -- I guess it's not funny if you're them but funny, it's been interesting to watch the relationship between Trump and the Republican Party, sometimes they're friends, sometimes he reminds them that I am not one of you and you can get it, too.
[04:10:05] Everything that I give to the Democrats, I'm here to give to you.
BERMAN: I have to say --
ROMANS: I would have love to have some thought bubbles above Paul Ryan, above Barack Obama, above Joe Biden. Joe Biden is taking has taken 8,000 train trips on behalf of the American people. But has just been told that he didn't do anything for anybody.
BERMAN: I'll put the thought bubble above Paul Ryan and the Republican leadership. Their thought bubble is, you know what, we won.
ROMANS: Yes. All right.
BERMAN: And I think that they feel like, you know what, we're going to get, if we play our cards right, most of what we want. However, I think they do understand that Donald Trump doesn't need them, perhaps, as much as they need him.
And Salena Zito, the question is how much of a fight and where will Donald Trump, if ever, pick a fight against the Republican Party?
ZITO: Well, I think how he handles infrastructure. I think that infrastructure is the place where Chuck Schumer is just sort of, you know, bringing him in, like, come on, let's do this. Let's build big things. Let's do big projects. And Republicans for years have had this story line that, you know, we have to be fiscally responsible. There is no more ear marks. There is no more pork. And so there's that tension between them, but you know, I mean, Washington is all about give and take. So you know maybe the Republicans give up some things and go along with him on some of those -- on some of those issues.
ROMANS: All right. Everybody, sit where you are. We have so much to talk about because even as Trump was taking the oath, big protests were unfolding around Washington and around the world. Now thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people are getting ready to descend on the capitol to demonstrate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: All right, today, the day after the inauguration, hundreds of thousands of people expected to take part in the Women's March on Washington. Marches and protests also planned in cities across the country and really around the world.
[04:15:02] Joining us now to discuss the world reaction to what we've seen here in Washington over the last 24 hours, senior international correspondent Ivan Watson live in Hong Kong.
And Ivan, you know, as much as this inauguration was addressed to the people of America, this was a message to the world.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. America first, according to new 45th president, and there has been reaction. This remarkable phenomenon of peaceful protests in capitals and cities around the world that have sprung up against Donald Trump. We've seen in a half dozen cities in Australia and New Zealand, these anti-Trump protests. We've seen them in European capitals as well.
And there is a uniting theme. Many of them seem to be linked to the women's march that's going to take place there in Washington on Saturday. According to organizer's Web page, they're organizing these so-called sister marches around the world and they claim that they've gotten more than 670 other marches participating in that.
Some of the demonstrations have not been directly linked to this. In Mexico City, for example, we saw some theater. We saw demonstrators, of course, angered by criticism of Mexico throughout the campaign. Building a wall out of boxes in front of the embassy, the U.S. embassy in Mexico City.
In addition to that -- and they do have to point out, John. In my nearly 20 years living abroad as a journalist, I've never seen this kind of concerted response to the inauguration of a U.S. president. I've certainly covered many anti-American protests that focus on specific policies. In the meantime, the messages of congratulations have flooded in from leaders around the world. Many of them U.S. allies that are trying to reaffirm long traditions of cooperation with the U.S. government -- John.
BERMAN: All right. Ivan Watson, it seems that the president was saying that those traditions, they may have to change and soon.
Ivan Watson in Hong Kong for us. Thanks so much. ROMANS: Let's bring back our panel. Josh Rogin, Eugene Scott, Greg
Valliere and Salena Zito. And there's a piece of that speech from yesterday, his inauguration speech I think that illustrates that perfectly. You know, we have certainly -- you know, he talked about his 20 years of being abroad. My career covering, you know, the economy and global markets and finance, the United States has always been about doing deals with the rest of the world and encouraging human rights in China, for example, and raising living standards, you know, around the world and emerging markets. Because that's part of the American Democratic vision that when we do businesses with the prowess of the United States, we try to spread some of the freedom and human rights that are inherent in our kind of democracy.
Listen to what Donald Trump said about what the United States' role will be. To be friends with the rest of the world. But not to try to impose our beliefs. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world, but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first. We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone but rather to let it shine as an example.
We will shine for everyone to follow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Josh Rogin, central planners in China, that's what they wanted to hear.
ROGIN: Yes, right. This is a pivot away from U.S. foreign policy since basically the end of World War II that has advocated for the active promotion of freedom, democracy and human rights around the world. Now it's not to say that America will abandon these ideas. It just means we won't push them quite as hard. And that's a signal to governments all over the world that the U.S. will no longer take an interventionalist, confrontational stance when it comes to these issues. And that seems to be the way we're going to go.
I would just that not here not everyone in Washington, even everyone in the Republican Party agrees with that. You're still going to have a lot of people in Congress, especially Republicans, that are still going to push for these sorts of ideals. And I think that's going to be a clash that we're going to see play out very quickly on Capitol Hill.
BERMAN: If you look at the phrase, America first, and the message America first through a modern lens, divorce it from, you know, its past with Charles Lindberg and national socialism, which I think means something completely different. But if you look at the message he is sending now, Salena Zito, there is a common sense approach to it. I think if you are an American living in huge parts of this country, you're thinking, you know, why not America first? Who could argue that we would put anyone else's interests before our own? ZITO: Right. And that goes back to Bush 43, right, where those wars
went on too long. And there was -- there was that sort of -- people understood why we went into Afghanistan. They didn't understand why we went into Iraq. And so people -- that started to snowball where we decided we didn't want to be in other places anymore. We didn't want to step in there and muck it up and cause our national -- to lose our national treasure, and also, you know, just stick our nose in other countries' businesses.
[04:20:08] And people feel because we deposited so much will into doing that, that we forgot about what was going on at home. And that also goes into these trade deals, although, you know, technology is what has made most people lose their jobs. It is not trade. But we have not focused on how we can use technology in manufacturing together. I mean, we do that really well. In Pittsburgh, we have driverless cars with the Uber cars in Pittsburgh, which is a little crazy.
ROMANS: Right.
ZITO: But you know we -- people feel those kinds of partnerships are important and we have forgotten to do that.
ROMANS: Pittsburgh is a good example of how you have been able to, you know, creative destruction, finding new and growing things out of the destruction of the old, you know, quote-unquote, "rust belt" technology. What does the rest of the world think of all of this?
VALLIERE: Well, I think they're apprehensive. I think the financial markets may be apprehensive. Very quickly, there is a reason why the stock markets rallied. I think the markets feel the economy will continue to expand. There are three real red flags, negatives for the markets yesterday. Number one he didn't talk about tax cuts. Number two, he didn't talk about how he's going to pay for infrastructure spending. I think deficits are going up. And I don't think he cares. Number three, this is someone who is really a protectionist. And if there is one big concern on Wall Street it's a trade war.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: Let's look at some American dresses.
ROMANS: Yes. Let's please, let's please. We have -- the fashion was the other very big -- very big element of the night. And I think high marks all around for the dresses for Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump. Melania Trump wearing Ralph Lauren during the day, that blue ensemble with the blue shoes for the inauguration.
BERMAN: We will show you. This is the color of the blue.
ROMANS: Yes, there you go.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Eventually we'll show you some pictures. But, no, look, that was -- there she is, that's Ralph Lauren. That got really high marks. I came back to my hotel in the afternoon, everybody in the lobby was talking about the dresses. I'm serious. Everyone was talking about --
BERMAN: My hotel, they were all wearing them.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: By the time, the polls are out (INAUDIBLE).
ROMANS: In the evening she wore -- she wore a white gown that was -- who made the white gown? Herve Pierre, the former --
BERMAN: Herve Pierre, in collaboration with Herve Pierre, who was a great collaborator, by the way.
ROMANS: So the former creative director of Carolina Herrera. Very high marks to that one, too. Like a column -- sort of a column dress. Then Ivanka Trump also really getting high marks for the outfit she wore during the day and then in the evening the gown that she wore. The --
BERMAN: You look at that, the phrase I keep hearing is architecture. And I don't know if anyone on the table can explain to me what that means, but the architecture of the dress Melania was wearing. Anyone? Anyone? Josh Rogin?
ROMANS: I don't know -- you guys are killing me here.
ZITO: It's how it was sculpted.
BERMAN: It was sculpted.
ZITO: And the symmetry of it and that's what they're talking about.
SCOTT: And the reason why that's something important, they talked about it being a collaboration. You may have remembered that she studied architecture before she went into modeling.
ZITO: Yes.
SCOTT: And so she had some fashion perspective. She had this artistry background. And so there it is for the American people.
ROMANS: The designers said -- the designers was quoted saying that she, Melania, really knew what she was talking about. She knows all of the lingo. She was a fashion model. You know, so she knew what she wanted. And I have to say that whole family looked really great.
All right. 22 minutes past the hour. The Obama economy is now the Trump economy. We'll show you some of the economic tail winds the new president can feel good about, that's next.
BERMAN: Despite the American carnage.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Despite the American carnage.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:26:59] ROMANS: All right. The Obama economy is now the Trump economy. Here is a look at what the -- President Trump inherits on his first full day in office. The latest reading on economic growth shows a 3.5 percent annual rate. Jobless increase is 4.7 percent. The labor market is creating 180,000 net new jobs each month. And home prices are up 5.1 percent over the past year.
Right after taking the oath of office, the administration updated the president's jobs plan on the White House Web site. Trump -- President Trump now promising to create 25 million jobs, that would be more than any president in history. Another big promise to bring manufacturing jobs back to U.S. shores. That will be tough. The number of Americans working in factories plunged during the last two sessions.
It has recovered somewhat under President Obama. Nearly 850,000 new manufacturing jobs since the low in 2010. But as Salena rightly pointed out, automation is a big part of this problem. And what you hear from CEOs is there are 300,000 open manufacturing jobs today. But not workers who are either willing to move or have the skills they need to match those jobs.
BERMAN: Yes. Yes. It may be easier to fight foreign trade than it is to fight productivity.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: Productivity may be a difficult, difficult enemy for this administration, if, if that's what it chooses to do. It's also interesting to see, you talk about the tail winds that the president has coming into office right now. The economy doing much better than it was.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: Wages up the last year.
ROMANS: Right.
BERMAN: The question is, what does President Trump take credit for? When is the beginning point for the Trump economy?
ROMANS: That's true. And you're long overdue for a recession, too. So that's the other thing. I mean, what happens if you come in with a -- you know, on a high here. And then there's some kind of shock out there that causes maybe a pullback. Who knows?
BERMAN: All right. This is now Donald Trump's administration in a way.
ROMANS: Right.
BERMAN: It is Donald Trump's economy. What will he do with it all? We will discuss the message he sent from right behind us on the capitol and what he intends to do today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:32:04] TRUMP: We did it. We did it. And now the work begins.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: President Donald Trump taking immediate steps to enact his agenda. He signed his first executive action hours after taking the oath. Now perhaps tens of thousands of people around the country are preparing to protest.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman, 32 minutes past the hour right now. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Because really the whole world is watching right now. And for the first time the sun is rising on a Trump presidency and all the action moves from behind it to the capitol, where he took the oath of office yesterday, down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
And after a night of dancing, he is waking up for the first time this morning in his new home. What must that be like?
ROMANS: Wow.
BERMAN: You know, for the first time in a long time, this is not a Trump building. This is a government building. When was the last time Donald Trump didn't wake up in a Trump building. And this morning it's not about dances and dresses, though I have to say the dresses last night, it were remarkable.
ROMANS: You can't stop talking about the dresses.
BERMAN: The architecture in the dresses was remarkable. No, now it's all about doing. It's all about what will he do and how will he do it? He has already taken his first actions as president, including signing an executive order that will begin the dismantling of Obamacare.
CNN's Athena Jones has the very latest live this morning. Athena, what's going on?
JONES: Good morning, John. As you mentioned, the president said now the work begins. And he did get straight to work on this first full day as president. The only thing on his public schedule is a visit to the National Cathedral for a prayer service. But he did have a very busy day yesterday with the inaugural festivities and the balls at night. He and his wife Melania Trump, the new first lady, attended three inaugural balls last night.
And the first lady got a lot of attention throughout the day for her outfit choices beginning with that powder blue Ralph Lauren dress that many thought evoked Jackie Kennedy, that she wore all day. She got some rave reviews for that, as well as for the gown that she wore at night. That long white ball gown designed by the former creative director for Carolina Herrera. So she made two important nods to the U.S. fashion industry and as I mentioned got some pretty good reviews.
Now as for the president himself in his inaugural address, he delivered a populist America first theme speech. Very much echoing the kind of rhetoric we heard from him on the campaign trail. Another thing that echoed that campaign trail rhetoric is the gloomy picture of America that our new president painted. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities. Rusted out factories, scattered-like tombstones across the landscape. The crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.
[04:35:06] This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: And that word carnage got a lot of attention. A very unusual word to hear in an inaugural address. But as I mentioned, the president did get straight to work. He promised to take meaningful action on day one. And one of those actions was to sign an executive order dealing with Obamacare. Now the order does not change the law. But it does direct agencies to interpret regulations as loosely as possible in order to minimize the financial burden of the law on individuals, on health providers, on insurers.
That means they can waive, defer, grant exemptions from or delay implementation of any provision or requirement of Obamacare that imposes a burden. So the president making clear that he wants to stick to that promise to get rid of Obamacare and it's significant that this should be one of his first acts.
Another act that he took yesterday was to sign the commissions for the two Cabinet picks that have now been confirmed. Retired Marine General James Mattis as secretary of Defense and retired Marine General John Kelly as the head of the Department of human -- sorry, the Department of -- the DHS, the Department of Homeland Security. Back to you guys.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: We have two Cabinet secretaries confirmed. The question is, how many will there be over the next few days? Maybe not very many.
All right. Athena Jones, thanks so very much.
ROMANS: All right. Let's talk about all this with our panel. CNN political analyst and columnist for the "Washington Post," Josh Rogin, CNN Politics reporter Eugene Scott, political economist Greg Valliere, he's the chief strategist at Horizon Investments and CNN contributor Salena Zito, she is a reporter for the "Washington Examiner" and columnist for the "New York Post." Welcome all. So they're coining this the "carnage in America" speech,
kind of a radical departure from hopeful, hopeful, hopeful. You know, and the architecture -- to bring back architecture -- of some of the speeches, inauguration speeches of presidents past. But Donald Trump made a lot of promises about ending that carnage in America. A whole host of promises. I want to listen to those.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth and we will bring back our dreams. We will build new roads and highways and bridges and airports and tunnels and railways all across our wonderful nation.
We will follow two simple rules. Buy American and hire American. We will re-enforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth.
I will fight for you with every breath in my body and I will never ever let you down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That, Josh Rogin, is exactly what he has been promising on the campaign trail distilled into one powerful moment of the inauguration speech. What I don't know is how.
ROGIN: Right.
ROMANS: He hasn't told us how yet.
ROGIN: Nobody knows. I don't think he knows. I mean, let's just take them one by one. Fixing trade, OK. Other countries have a vote in that and those trade deals have to be negotiated. And the way that he's proposing to do it through huge tariffs is confrontational and could have blowbacks and start trade wars. Talk about build the wall, OK, how are we going to pay for it? Doesn't seem like Mexico is on board.
Talk about defeating ISIS. There is supposed to be a plan. Nobody knows what the plan is. Where is the plan? All right. So each one of these things is a huge challenge. And this is probably the last time he'll be able to sort of just put it out there without explaining to anybody exactly how it's going to work.
ROMANS: He sort of explained the buy American, hire American, though, Salena. And that's something that's really I think has resonated with the people who voted for him and for Democrats who voted for him or who like his working class voter message, buy America, hire America. That's something everyone can understand.
ZITO: Right. I mean, you know, bring the commerce, bring the ability to make more money back into the communities. Communities that have felt as though things have been moving away from them or opportunities that passed them by. Again, mostly by technology. And so that resonates with people. They will -- you know, when your community starts to disintegrate. When you see houses abandoned, when you see boarded up homes. When you see Dollar General as the only place that is an anchor in a shopping district, you start to -- you know, lose your tax base, your schools are not as good as they once were and then the community starts to crumble. So that's why that's important.
BERMAN: I have to tell you, what I'm fascinated to see is how the policy will match up with the pronouncements. And especially the policies we know. Because the tax cuts that they're talking about, for instance, great. How does that help with the people that he's talking to necessarily? You know, he's talking about very big tax cuts. Most of the money in those tax cuts will go to the very wealthy. The people who he thinks have mucked things up over the last few years.
[04:40:08] Also, the reforms on Obamacare, you know, very popular among his voters. But, but without a replacement that we know of, some of the repealing could affect some of these people.
VALLIERE: The dogma is it will trickle down and eventually lift out votes. But let me tell you, there's two big problems with his promises and his populism. Number one, can anyone say with a straight face this Cabinet is a populist Cabinet? The generals all like NATO. Number two, political capitalist is really tricky and he's got to preserve political capital. So what's the issue he's going to go after first? Obamacare. That what Obama's people did eight years ago. Even Chuck Schumer said that was a mistake to go after health insurance. So I think his political capital is fragile. And I think his Cabinet can't maybe administer a populist agenda.
BERMAN: Hey, can I just ask you about debt and deficits which every few years or so becomes a very big political issue that people seem to forget about? The financial market, Greg, how much do they care about debt and deficits? Because what we just heard right there was a recipe for enormous debt.
VALLIERE: Well, for right now there is such an insatiable demand for treasury paper that the bond markets handle debt pretty well. But that's not, you know, forever. At some point rising deficits, and they are going up, more spending, stronger economy, a better labor market, will all produce higher bond yields. Quite higher.
ROMANS: And higher bond yields make it that much more expensive to borrow money and to service -- you know, to service your debt going forward and the theory is the more money you spend right now, later on you're going to have much less money in the federal budget to spend on things that matter like schools and the military and roads. It all goes to service that debt.
VALLIERE: Yes.
ROMANS: All right, 41 minutes past the hour. Even as Trump was taking the oath, a big protest unfolded around Washington and around the world. Now thousands are getting ready to descend on the capitol to demonstrate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:45:41] ROMANS: All right. Today one day after the trump inauguration, hundreds of thousands are expected to take part on the women's march on Washington. It is the center piece of a global movement reacting against the Trump presidency. Marches and protests are also planned today in cities across the country and around the world.
I want to get some global perspective on this from senior international correspondent Ivan Watson live in Hong Kong.
And Ivan, these are sister marches around the world.
WATSON: Yes. We've seen them popping up in cities and capitals around the world. Peaceful protests, just in Australia and New Zealand, and at least six different cities. Thousands of people coming out, many of them carrying signs that say things like "Love trumps hate." We've seen a candlelight vigil in the Belgian capital and in other European capital as well. And if you go to the Web site of the group that's organizing Saturday's march in Washington, D.C., they're promoting these as so-called sister marches and they're proclaiming that there are more than 670 of these so-called sister marches around the world.
In addition to this, we've seen some protests against Trump on inauguration that have had a slightly different theme to them. For instance, in Mexico City where you had some theater there, you had demonstrators building a fake wall out of boxes in front of the U.S. embassy there. That of course in response to the campaign promise to build a wall which offended many Mexicans there.
When you get to governments, the governments around the world have been sending congratulatory messages to Donald Trump as is the tradition around inauguration day. Some of these countries like Japan, like Korea, reaffirming long histories of close cooperation with the U.S. And of course then you have the Russian government, a key Russian lawmaker saying one of the most important moments in near future will be Vladimir Putin and Trump meeting. And of course a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry taking a parting shot at President Obama as he left office saying he can never again hurt or criticize Russia in an official position -- Christine.
ROMANS: That parting shot not really a surprise. Kind of the blast in a long volley of insults from them. Thank you so much for that. Nice to see you.
You know, yesterday I saw -- yesterday afternoon, Vancouver, women in Vancouver who were here, a bunch of women from San Diego with matching T-shirts, woman from Colorado and then a lot of women are coming this morning on buses from, you know, all over the mid-Atlantic states to get here.
BERMAN: Yes. Obviously there are big protests here. Again look where there is concern over what people heard yesterday and look where there is, you know, joy.
ROMANS: Right.
BERMAN: We've heard that message of joy from Moscow and today we're expecting protests. Let's bring back the panel right now. One of the questions I think, guys, in this speech yesterday, in the entire event yesterday, is would there be a message of unity? Would there be a sense of coming together? Would there be outreach to people who did not vote for Donald Trump? And there were some words I think that people could cling on to where maybe he was trying.
Let's listen to what Donald Trump had to say about a new national pride.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights and heal our divisions. It's time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget, that whether we are black, or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So that was the line, Eugene, I think that was meant as a message of unity. Did it resonate and was there enough in the speech and in the events yesterday from Donald Trump in terms of outreach?
SCOTT: I think it was progress compared to some of what we heard on the campaign trail, but I don't think it was enough for a lot of people. The nationalism that Donald Trump has campaigned on and wants to promote once he's in the White House, he is in the White House now, is a very specific type of nationalism. I think multiple people have different visions and versions of what they think America should be and the direction in which it should go. And the areas that Donald Trump wants to take the country and resonate with many of these voters some of them who will be protesting all around the country and the world today.
ROMANS: Josh?
[04:50:01] ROGIN: Yes. I just think that, you know, there is still a lack of recognition by the president about how much will the -- many groups in America are unsettled by what happened in the campaign. But those wounds are still pretty fresh. We are talking about Muslim Americans, Hispanic Americans, women. I mean, these are a lot of people who wanted to hear more and I don't think they got it yesterday. And I think that's why you're going to see starting today but really going well into this administration, these groups are going to be mobilized. OK.
They're going to be energized. There's going to be money behind it. There's going to be organization behind it. And for everything Donald Trump does, these groups are going to remember what he did over the last 16, 18 months and they're going to use that to fuel a countermovement. And that's something that unfortunately the speech today didn't do anything to really address that.
ROMANS: Still so much discussion about how he had to be magnanimous, he had to build a bridge, he had to unify and bring everybody. And that's what the pundits yesterday were saying and there was just that one part of the speech where he seemed to try to paint us all as all American together.
There were three balls last night. I want to play a little bit of sound from the Liberty Ball where Trump was being very, very candidate Trump. Some would say thin-skinned, others would say as being very funny about all of the, hey, you did a great jobs, he was getting from people who until then hadn't really liked him. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: People that weren't so nice to me were saying that we did a really good job today. They hated to do it, but they did it. And I respect that. I want to thank all of our supporters. My number one supporter, Melania, what she puts up with. Oh. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Salena, I think this is -- you know, when Donald Trump is unscripted, he is a fighter. And I think you're going to see that unscripted Donald Trump still in Washington.
ZITO: Oh, he loved that moment.
ROMANS: Yes.
ZITO: And they loved it back. I mean, they enjoyed it.
ROMANS: Yes, they did.
ZITO: It was a two-way street and, you know, that was his moment. Everything gets serious today. But yesterday and last night, he got to have that one last -- although he may still continue to litigate this campaign. But he got to have that one moment back and forth between his supporters and as a new president and clearly relished it.
BERMAN: He took a question from Jim Acosta at the White House yesterday.
ZITO: He said, how is your day? And he said, unbelievable. Yes, team, CNN. He did, right.
BERMAN: Progress. Progress.
VALLIERE: Yes. Which surprised me, is that he has to know that his jobs approval rating has fallen in the last month. And we talked yesterday about appealing to a wide cross sections of Americans. He didn't. One olive sound branch, you ran the one sound bite with the olive branch. But I don't think it was conciliatory enough. I don't think his poll ratings are going to go up by much.
BERMAN: It will be interesting to see. Yes.
ROMANS: It will. All right. One of Donald Trump's first moves as president could make home buying more expensive. We're going to tell you what Obama policy he's rolling back. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:56:21] ROMANS: One of President Trump's first moves in office, suspending a cut to the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance premium. The Obama administration set reduction last week. It was one of the final moves of the Obama administration. They wanted to lower mortgage insurance rates by 18.5 percent, saving the average homeowner about $500 this year.
The Obama administration said the insurance pool was well funded so it was passing gains down to borrowers. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer immediately ripped Trump's decision to roll back that rate cut. He said it will make it harder for real Americans of modest means to own a home.
Why would the incoming administration take those savings away? Well, they could disagree about the program whether it's well funded or they want to keep the additional government revenue or they just want to undo the things that President Barack Obama did in his final weeks.
Housing secretary pick Ben Carson told lawmakers in his confirmation hearing that he would closely examine that policy.
Want to bring back our panel. Josh Rogin, Eugene Scott, Greg Valliere.
Greg, you know, look, Donald Trump is going to have to start to make policies that really help the very people who elected him. Right? And we've seen on the margins, some of these companies announcing they're bringing jobs back or keeping jobs here. I think even if you're generous, we're talking about 5,000 jobs. What does he need to do quickly to make working class people feel better about their money?
VALLIERE: Well, I think it's a classic confrontation between perception and reality. I think he wants the perception to be that he's working for people, that he stands up for people in Pittsburgh and Michigan and Ohio. But the reality is, his policies don't necessarily help them and I do think the big litmus test in the next few months is going to be Obamacare. What does he replace it with? I think that could be a long slug.
BERMAN: Josh, what do Republicans on Capitol Hill think? Do they think that he will side with them on many of these issues, including health care reform, where they seem to be in a different place than he is? He talked about health care for everybody. On tax cuts, do they think they are influence him?
ROGIN: Right. They're going to start with the overlaps. So the things that the Republicans and the Trump people agree on. That's the low hanging fruit. So we'll start with that. That's Obamacare. You know, that's plussing up the military. Let's fight ISIS, all that kind of stuff.
BERMAN: Plussing the military costs money, though.
ROGIN: Yes.
BERMAN: You have these freedom costs because you do have people in here who are deficit hawks.
ROGIN: Yes, but, you know, again, where the Trump administration and Republicans overlap is, we got to have a much bigger military. And we'll deal with what that costs later. You know, so the tough stuff, the trade stuff, that's going to be a problem for another day. So it's very clear that whoever you are, if you are a deficit hawk or if you're a budget hawk or if you're a military hawk, you can find some things in the Trump agenda to like and push for and try to stir them up from the inside. But nobody knows if it can really be stirred.
BERMAN: And I just keep on emphasizing because I think we lose sight of this in all this. Donald Trump will get to nominate a Supreme Court justice as soon as he wants. You know, this week, next week, he said the first two weeks, too, and that will unify Republicans. And probably give him some capital to do some other things as well. So pay attention to that.
EARLY START continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We did it. We did it. And now the work begins.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: President Donald Trump hitting the ground running after a busy inauguration day. We're getting a sense of his first priorities in office as thousands, tens of thousands, maybe a couple 100,000 people around the country prepare to protest his presidency.
Good morning. And welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: They were just off a big day in Washington. Today will be a big day in Washington. I'm John Berman. It is Saturday, January 21st. 5:00 a.m. in the East. We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world.
ROMANS: Such a beautiful capitol.
BERMAN: It is.
ROMANS: Look at the mist. The misty, misty day.
BERMAN: I'm biased.
