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University of Washington Moving Classes Online; Airport Screener Among New Virus Cases in Los Angeles; From Mona Lisa to James Bond, Coronavirus Halts Attractions; Hillary Clinton on Trump's Virus Response; "Race for The White House" Airs Sunday. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 06, 2020 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

WENDY REYNOLDS, CHILD'S SCHOOL CLOSED AMID CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK IN WASHINGTON STATE (via Skype): I was a little surprised when they did close school initially but she is smart and she is a real active member in our community.

You'll see her at the school concerts, at the plays. She's everywhere, and I think the community means a lot to her, and she wants to keep everybody safe. I really think she thinks of all -- I think we have like 23,000 kids in our school district, and I think she thinks of them as her kids. She's amazing.

BALDWIN: I love hearing that, and just speaking of the community, Wendy, staying with you, I know that you run this Facebook group with 6,000 members. And I know you told our producers that neighbors are offering to support one another, what sort of things are you all talking about? How are you helping one another, and also just because of so many conflicting messages from the government, do you think that -- is it your sense -- it's up to the community to figure this out?

REYNOLDS: So when school closed on Wednesday, we got an email -- what time was it, like 6:00 Wednesday night? Maybe even later. And for me, you know, Ash is 15, so I don't have to worry about childcare, but a lot of people were panicking about childcare.

And in our Facebook group, so many community members just started offering, hey, I can stay home. I can take three or two kids. It's been really great to see everybody trying to help each other out.

BALDWIN: It takes a village, apparently through all of this. Wendy and Ash, thank you both so much. Appreciate the two of you.

REYNOLDS: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

We got word today that two major music festivals in Miami have been canceled adding to the list of museums and sporting events and theme park closures over the coronavirus. We'll have more on that, the cultural ramifications. And a brand-new interview with Hillary Clinton. She responds to the President blaming the Obama administration for the outbreak and whether she will campaign for Bernie Sanders. Stand by.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It started with the shuttering of the Disney resort in Shanghai. Then it wasn't long before all of Asia's Disney themed parks were closed. As the coronavirus outbreak grows, we're starting to see the different ways it will impact our lives and culture from events, to attractions, museums, major tourist destinations that draw visitors from all over the world. Even Paris's famed Louvre was forced to close its doors.

Alyssa Rosenberg is a culture columnist with "The Washington Post" and Alyssa, I wanted to talk to you just about your op-ed this week where you wrote about this affecting even Mona Lisa and James Bond. How is this affecting our culture both short and long-term?

ALYSSA ROSENBERG, CULTURE COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Long-term I think it remains to be seen, but in the short-term, cultural institutions ranging from the Louvre to the Walt Disney Company are having to make decisions about the fact that it's not necessarily a good idea for public health reasons for large numbers of people to get together and spend time in enclosed spaces.

And that may be prudent, but it also means that people aren't having the sorts of experiences that bring them together. And you know, with something like the Louvre, people crush in to see the Mona Lisa every year, and yes, it can be annoying to wade through this thicket of cameras in order to try and get a glimpse of one of the world's most famous women.

But at the same time the fact that we feel that sort of shared impulse says something about the values that we have in common, and these impulses that we share. And so for people to not be able to have those experiences, denies them that ability to connect with other people, to have a shared experience through art.

From a financial perspective, Disney's decision to delay the release of "Mulan" in China but still at this point to go ahead with the release in the United States. Means that a movie that was supposed to be a shared experience across two of the world's largest movie markets and that was really written and shot with an eye towards showing more respect towards Chinese history and Chinese culture in a way that the animated original didn't, that's not going to be a shared experience anymore. That's not going to be something where audiences get to see it for the first time on the same weekend.

BALDWIN: Yes.

ROSENBERG: It may still have a Chinese premier but it's not going to happen in sync in same way, the discussion won't happen in sync in the same way. BALDWIN: What about, if I can jump in too, you know, spring is

knocking on the door, and you have these big music festivals, Ultra Music Festival, Calle Ocho Festival in Miami announced today they're going to be postponed. So far South by Southwest is still on, Coachella's around the corner. What are you hearing about big events like this?

ROSENBERG: I mean I think that organizers are having to assess the news as it comes in. And one of the things that's difficult is that we're seeing a lag on reporting of cases. We saw it in Seattle, we're seeing it to a certain extent in New York and now Maryland.

And so you know these companies face a lot -- and the people putting on these festivals face a lot of pressure from their insurers to be able to go forward, and they're trying to balance that against the safety of participants. But I think at the end of the day, coronavirus risks making us more lonely and isolated, and this not a moment when that's what we need.

BALDWIN: Alyssa, thank you.

ROSENBERG: Thank you.

[15:40:00]

BALDWIN: Hillary Clinton is responding to President Trump's criticism of how the Obama administration dealt with testing in the past. It's part of a new interview with our own Fareed Zakaria. She is also weighing in on whether she would campaign for Senator Bernie Sanders if he were to become the Democratic nominee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:00]

BALDWIN: In a new wide-ranging interview with Fareed Zakaria, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton openings up about the 2020 race and whether she will be endorsing 2016 rival Bernie Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: If Bernie Sanders is the Democratic nominee, will you campaign for him?

HILLARY CLINTON (D) FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I will support the nominee of the Democratic Party.

ZAKARIA: Will you campaign for him?

CLINTON: I don't know if he would ask me to campaign for him, Fareed, because I have no idea what he is thinking about for a general election campaign. As I've said many times, I do not think he's our strongest nominee against Donald Trump.

ZAKARIA: Is that an endorsement of Joe Biden? CLINTON: I'm not endorsing.

ZAKARIA: There's nobody left.

CLINTON: Well, I guess that's true, there isn't anybody left. But I think what Joe's victories on Super Tuesday showed is that he is building the kind of coalition that I have basically. It's a broad- based coalition. I finished, you know, most of the work I needed to do for the nomination on Super Tuesday, and then it kind of lingered on, and I think Joe is on track to doing exactly the same thing, putting together a coalition of voters who are energized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Fareed also asked her what she thought about President Trump's response to the coronavirus, as the President has falsely claimed, President Obama's quote, botched, response to the swine flu is the reason there's been issues with testing. Here's that response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZAKARIA: The President has said that there were some things the Obama administration did that he questions. He says that the Obama administration didn't handle the swine flu well. He talks about how it changed some of the parameters of testing. What do you think?

CLINTON: Well, I don't think the facts support that assessment. In fact, what we do know is that the SARS epidemic which happened in the very beginning of the Obama administration -- because I was Secretary of State at the time -- really was a full court press by the administration to be sure that at every level, not only national, state, and local, but globally the United States was part of the response.

The Centers For Disease Control had been given the responsibility under the Obama administration to be vigilant and try to get ahead of where viruses like this were formulating, especially if they were animal to people transmission viruses. So there was a lot that was done under the Obama administration, and in fact, the Trump administration severely cut back the CDC budget, cut back on this program of overseas vigilance.

But I don't think it's a time to point fingers whether it's from the past or from the present. What people should expect is that everybody from their President on down is focused on one thing, not on name calling and blame placing, but how are we going to make sure that we prevent the spread of this virus in as much as that is possible. And be sure that we support state and local health officials, particularly on the front lines, doctors, nurses and others so that they are fully equipped and ready to take care of those people who get seriously ill.

I think the experts have all told us that there are probably many, many people walking around with the virus by now, that it has been transmitted in many places of the country already. Many of them will not get sick or will get only mildly sick. Others it will be a more acute experience, and so we've got to be sure that we're prepared to take care of those who get really sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Make sure you tune in for the entire interview on "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" Sunday morning, 10:00. And then it re-airs at 1:00 P.M.

As the field narrows in the 2020 race, CNN is taking you behind the scenes of some of the country's most fascinating presidential elections. And this week's episode of "THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE" takes a deeper look at the four-way race of 1912 that pitted progressives against conservatives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By 1910, America is a nation divided between progressives and conservatives. The split reflected across both political parties.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the Republican Party, Taft's progressive in some ways, and yet his instincts are really quite conservative, I think.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taft was closely aligned with the more conservative factions in the Republican Party who were not at all interested in changing the way things were done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Taft's old friend and mentor, Teddy Roosevelt, is an enthusiastic progressive in the Republican Party.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Roosevelt really felt that the Republican Party under Taft was starting to be lackeys to big business, that they were becoming poodles for the Wall Street entrepreneurs.

[15:50:00]

BARBARA PERRY, DIRECTOR, PRESIDENTIAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA'S MILLER CENTER: Theodore Roosevelt is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the Taft administration and believes he's made a grave mistake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The truth of the matter is that he thought that the only successor to Roosevelt could be Roosevelt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he's starting to think maybe I could do this again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Barbara Perry is the director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, and she is in this series. Barbara, welcome.

PERRY: Thank you, Brooke. Good to be with you. BALDWIN: In that 1912 election, we see the rise of these two new

movements, progressivism and socialism, and I'm just curious, how did the progressivism of that time compare to what we are consider progressive now, in terms of policy?

PERRY: Sure. A lot of similarities actually and a lot of similarities that caused the rise of progressivism and socialism in the early part of the 20th century and the rise of Bernie Sanders and socialism again, and that is societal upheavals, economic upheavals, immigration, economic inequality.

In the case of the 2007/2008 economic collapse you heard in that clip people talk about the plutocrats of Wall Street back in the early 20th century. We're in the sights of the progressives and the socialists as they are in the sights of the socialists or the democratic socialists as Bernie Sanders calls himself now. So a lot of parallels. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

BALDWIN: What's the biggest difference?

PERRY: The biggest difference I think is that I think that we had a true socialism movement in the 20th century led by Eugene V. Debs who is one of the four main candidates in the 1912 election.

And some of that comes from Western Europe where there's a true labor movement. A real class structure and they are able to develop as in England a Labour Party. In this country, you see the rise of socialism that is projecting and hoping to come about having the government ownership of businesses and the means of production. And you don't hear that from Bernie Sanders now, and so that's the big difference I would say.

BALDWIN: When Roosevelt peeled off to start the progressive with the Bull Moose Party, he split the GOP that eventually led to Wilson's victory, what happened to that party? And was it a cautionary tale for third-party candidates in this country?

PERRY: It is for sure. And it's not unheard of course for us to have a candidate or a movement split off from one of the two major parties but it so happens that our two major parties, are the two major parties going back to the founding. Because we have such a system that really biases us towards the winner-take-all two-party structure. But when you these splits, it usually dooms that side. So it will doom the Democrats if they split apart, it will doom the Republicans if they split apart.

So what happens is when they see a third-party movement, a Ross Perot for example for a balanced budget, what did the two parties do back in 1992, but they both begin supporting a balanced budget, even the Democrats under Bill Clinton. So what happens is that third party gets sort of swept up back up into one of the two or both of the two major parties.

BALDWIN: Last question quickly, the race notably had these four candidates, the incumbent Republican William Howard Taft, the progressive former President Teddy Roosevelt, that the Democrat Woodrow Wilson and the socialist Eugene Debs. How did there come to be such a crowded field that year? I love that that's considered crowded.

PERRY: Right, I think you can compare -- yes, well it is by our standards, again, because we usually just have two candidates. But the fact is it's much like our system now where we had so many candidates in the GOP nomination race in 2016 and in this race for the Democrats.

But not to speak of really primaries they start in '12. But there are very few of them, and so you have more few opportunities for the candidates to split off and to run as minor parties than you have now

BALDWIN: Barbara Perry over at UVA, thank you very much., Barbara.

And again to all of you, please do not miss the new episode of "THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE" Sunday night, 9:00 Eastern and Pacific only here on CNN.

Coming up more on the global coronavirus outbreak, shortly President visits the CDC after he says there were concerns that a worker there was infected, he did say that test came back negative.

Plus, his White House task force will hold a news conference. And disturbing news out of Italy this afternoon, we are learning that the death toll there has jumped by nearly 50 in a single day.

You are watching CNN special live coverage. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Today, we are introducing you to first CNN Hero of 2020. Growing up in Maine, Linda Doughty developed a passion for marine animals -- marine mammals. So when government and nonprofit funding to protect these animals dried up, she dove in to fill the gap.

Meet the seal rescuer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA DOUGHTY, FOUNDER, MARINE MAMMALS OF MAINE (voice over): Releasing a seal is really bittersweet. And as much as I'm excited to see that animal be released it's also hard in the sense of seeing that animal now gone.

(You guys know that you're going back to the ocean.

So any seal that we rescue the ultimate goal is for that animal to be released back into the ocean.

I feel this intense responsibility to help the animals and really, this is what I was put on the earth to do.

Yay!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So cute.