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Cuomo Prime Time

Trump Ignores Pandemic With Mostly-Maskless Crowd In Texas Where Virus Is Exploding; Coronavirus-Infected GOP Rep Blames Masks For Positive Test; Trump Again Praises Demon Sperm Doctor As Respected; U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 150,000; Pelosi Announces New Mask Mandate For House Members; Federal Forces To Withdraw From Portland With Conditions; Teachers' Union Supports Safety Strikes Over Reopening. Aired 9-10p ET

Aired July 29, 2020 - 21:00   ET

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


[21:00:00]

CHRIS CUOMO, HOST, CHRIS CUOMO PRME TIME: Very much. I am Chris Cuomo. Welcome to Prime Time. Take a look at this. What the President did in Texas today? You see this? This is why they don't like you, Mr. President. Nobody wants to see you entertaining the maskless masses, let alone in Texas. The people in that state are getting sick in waves. They are setting all the wrong kinds of records, and you do this? I know you heard what I said last night, and I know you didn't like it, but someone has to be straight with you. This shameful inaction by you on this pandemic is making us sick and it is killing you politically.

So, you're wondering why people don't like you compared to Tony Fauci? And then you go to Texas with no mask, in a state that is being savaged by this pandemic? And you encourage them to do the worst things for them. No masks, not socially distanced. And you know they're there and doing it that way because they think that's what you want. They're doing the worst things for them and you encourage them, and the key is for them because brothers and sisters, truth is this. He allowed them to act this way. He encouraged it because even though it is bad for them and he knows it, he thinks it is good for him. But he's wrong. This kind of cavalier attitude, this kind of selfishness, this kind of reckless indifference to human life is killing him in the polls. And if he isn't careful, Mr. President, this casual COVID vibe may make you sick literally.

Did you know that COVID almost boarded his plane today? A Congressman almost hitched a ride on Air Force One just tested positive. Another Republican set to meet with Trump tested positive as well. Texas Republican Louie Gohmert, who likes to cast doubt on the merit of masks and is often seen without one, now has coronavirus. Of course, Trump doesn't have to worry the way you or I would, why? He gets tested regularly. He gets results quickly. He makes sure that happens for him; he just won't fight for that for you. Think about that. No plan, no demand. His boy, Gohmert was struck stupid by the virus apparently. He nonsensically blames the mask for giving him COVID.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. LOUIE GOHMERT (R-TX): I can't help but think that if I haven't been wearing a mask so much in the last 10 days or so, I really wonder if I would've gotten it but I know moving the mask around, getting it sit just right, I'm bound to put some virus on the mask that I've sucked in. That's most likely what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: No, that is not most likely what happened. What that is, is dumb on display right there. Just yesterday, Gohmert was on The Hill, walking behind Attorney General Bill Barr, both without masks on. "Oh, I've been wearing it so much." Yes, just not every time you're seen in public. Barr had to get tested today and we just learned the result came back negative. Thank God. We do not need our leaders sick, OK? And I hope it stays that way.

No mask wearing, OK, is contagious among the non-courageous. Congressman Jim Jordan, another Republican wants to please The President, had to be reminded today to put his on. Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARY GAY SCANLON (D-PA): Mr. Bezos, our investigation -

(CROSSTALK)

JIM JORDAN (R-OH): Mr. Chairman, we have the email. There is no free -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not your time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jordan, you do not have the time. Please be respectful of your time. She controls the time.

JORDAN: But, someone directly -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put your mask on! Put your mask on!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Many in the Grand Old Party are refusing to wear masks. Again, they think this is done in support of The President because there's this perverse rationale going on that the pandemic is bad and it's bad for The President. That's why it's bad. Not because it's bad for all of us. And it's all political. I mean, come on. And by the way, they will only hurt this President because he will be seen as the sponsor of their stupidity. And apparently there is no cure for stupid because even after being told that the ravings he retweeted about this magic pill came from someone who believes in demon seed and alien sex. Trump still backs this lady.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stella Immanuel, the doctor, do you wish you had not retweeted that?

DONALD TRUMP, 45TH US PRESIDENT: I was very impressed with her and other doctors that stood with her. She's a very respected doctor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[21:05:00]

CUOMO: She is not a very respected doctor and you know it. How can you be impressed with somebody who says the kind of crazy things that she says? He can't be. Ignorance meet arrogance. That's what it is with him; this deadly combination. You know he can't respect this doctor. He just likes what she said about hydroxychloroquine and he is willing to dismiss everything else, everything else, because he likes that message but he doesn't like it enough to manifest the message and policy. Does he? Does he?

They supposedly stockpiled all this hydroxychloroquine. Why isn't he demanding that it be distributed? Why isn't he telling the people who work for him to do the testing right now, everywhere around the country with this drug? I think it's the cure. Why doesn't he do it? Because the message is all that matters. That's the part that's good for him, carrying it out.

If I wanted it, I can get it. I took it. That's the truth. Forget about you. He doesn't care. So, he will fight this fight about hydroxychloroquine, but he won't do anything to get it to you. Think about that. Well, they bought a lot of it, and? Does he talk about this every day? Except in these absurd ways? He doesn't need this doctor telling him that you need hydroxychloroquine; you've got the greatest scientists in the world. Have them do it.

The science hasn't been coming back good. Say you don't believe it. Commission your own study, do it. Instead, all window dressing. And it's not just him. I get when you say "Look, just ignore him. He's just noise." No, he's not just noise. He is why we're not having any plans made. Mike Pence is his echo, the Head of the Coronavirus Taskforce. Who did he meet with yesterday? Some of the doctors in that local video, with the one with the science fiction lady, a video that was removed from social media for misinformation.

Now look, you want to have The First Amendment debate about whether the tape should - video should have been removed? I'll have it. It's not the main point for me. The main point is the substance of it and it's being relied on by our President. We just surpassed 150,000 deaths in this country.

We have never in history had a President fail to take a lead in a crisis like this. He looked you in the face and said, "I take no responsibility for what's happening with testing." The Vice President heads the taskforce. He's meeting with people, pushing a magic pill instead of making a plan to help schools open, instead of making a plan to get the testing and the turnaround he promised months ago. There will be tests for everybody, there will be results, it will be easy. None of that is true.

The call remains the same. We must be in this together as ever as one. We must do the things that we know we can do. We must socially distance. We must wear our masks and we must be hygiene obsessed. We can do that. You can do it; I can do it. But we must also force power to account for what they do and do not do, and that starts with us having the right information. What needs to be done right now and by whom? Okay, we can answer that.

We have Dr. Ashish Jha of the Harvard Global Health Institute. Welcome back to Prime Time. So, what needs to be done right now and by who on the federal level to manifest itself in a way that gets us back to school and work anytime soon?

DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: Chris, thank you for having me on. You are absolutely right. Most Americans are not interested in this debate, not much of a debate on hydroxychloroquine. What they want to know is how do they get kids back to school? How do they get jobs back? How do they get some semblance of their life back?

And that's where we really do need federal leadership. We're leaving it to States and local communities. We know what we need to do. We need to suppress the virus. We need to get people to wear masks; we have to fix testing. We have to maintain a certain amount of social distancing. We have to keep bars and restaurants closed.

CUOMO: But how? Ashish, what is the federal government made to do that they're not doing?

JHA: Well first and foremost, actually, what's really interesting about the federal government is that it's speaking out of both sides of its math, right? Because on one hand you have people like Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx who represent the federal government giving good advice. And then you have the President that -

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: They have no juice, Ashish, they have no juice. They can't direct dollars in any real way. They can't make a strategy. It has to be The President. I know people say, "Ignore him; he's ignorant." He's the key to everything.

[21:10:00]

JHA: Yes. No, well, this is my point, is that The President is undermining the message of his own scientific leaders.

And so at the end of the day, they can't be effective if the - if the political leaders, The President, the Vice President and others don't back their own scientists. That's not what's happening and that's why there's so much confusion. And that's why so many states are struggling.

CUOMO: So message matters of course, but action matters more, especially right now. What could the federal government do to get more targeted testing, pool testing and faster reaction times? Is that a fantasy or could they do things to accelerate them?

JHA: No, Chris, we have the technology now. We have a whole set of new testing capabilities that can give results in 15 minutes or half an hour. Those tests exist today. The federal government could partner with those companies, ramp up production and make sure that there are tens of millions of those tests available around the country within weeks. Like this is not some fantasy maybe down the road; we've got that now. The federal government has just got to decide that they're going to make testing available to the American people. They haven't made that decision, and that's what's so frustrating.

CUOMO: Ordinarily, we say haste makes waste, right? Do it right, so you don't do it twice. You say testing is different. That speed actually matters more than accuracy. Help us understand that because people are frustrated that the quick tests are inaccurate, so what the hell worth are they? What's your argument?

JHA: Yes. So here's the bottom line on that. Actually there is new tests, there are new tests that are maybe not quite as accurate as the one we're using right now, but they're cheap. They're available. You get results back in 15 minutes. So here's the bottom line. Right now, so few people can get tested in America. You have to wait 10 days. That is borderline useless.

If we use these new tests, even if they're not as accurate, you're going to capture 80% of people who have it. We test people on an ongoing basis. People can test themselves at home. If we made that available, we could drive this epidemic down and we could bury it and get very low number of cases, opening up our schools. We just have to decide that that's something that we're going to prioritize.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: All right, so let's say that instead of what's on the lower third of our screen right now, which is the most embarrassing thing as an Americans have seen since Helsinki, Trump promotes fringe alien DNA doctors, COVID-19 deaths top 150,000. And let's say he gets struck by lightning and says, "I got to fix this. I got to own this. The States aren't going to get it done. This will actually win me The Election. I'm going to go all in right now." How does he get those tests?

JHA: So you got to sit down with the companies, you got to invoke the Defense Production Act. You've got to figure out what are the supplies those companies need; you've got to get other companies to make those supplies. You got to fix the supply chain. The Pentagon does this all the time by the way. So there are people who have real expertise in this. And we have the technology to make millions of those tests in weeks, not months. We can get this out to people by mid-August; we can start getting a lot of these tests out late August.

CUOMO: So you get consulted about this all the time. You talk to the people in and around government all the time. When you say this, because it's said by a lot of guys on the smart side of this, what do they say to you about why it's not happening?

JHA: So they - well, so first of all, when I talk to folks in Congress, they all agree. The Republicans and Democrats, they all agree this is doable and they all agree it ought to be done. But what they're not so sure about is whether the administration is actually going to execute on it or not, and whether what we need to do at this point is maybe just give it to states and hope that states can figure it out. It's going to be hard for states to figure it out on their own. I do think we need the federal government. Fighting this pandemic at 50 states at a time has been a huge challenge for our nation.

CUOMO. Right. Hey, quick thing. What's the chance that Gohmert's mask made him sick?

JHA: It didn't make him sick. I mean this is sort of like the testing causes infections. Now the masks are causing infections. This is silliness. And in the middle of a pandemic, things are hard enough. And these kinds of distractions make fighting this pandemic so much harder. People need to wear masks. Masks don't cause people to get infected. We need more testing, testing doesn't cause people to get infected. We know our way through this, we just got to focus on what's important.

CUOMO: Now, before I tell the audience to believe anything you've said, you haven't fooled around with any aliens lately, have you?

JHA: Not in last few weeks, no. No.

CUOMO: All right. Well they say, if anything after 10 days, we don't have to worry about it. Dr. Ashish Jha, thank you. Hey, what's ridiculous is The President is listening to her more than he's listening to us right now, more than he's listening to Tony Fauci. That's when the laughs turn into tears.

JHA: I know.

CUOMO: Ashish Jha, thank you very much. Appreciate you giving us a straight deal. The more people know the more they can demand. All right?

Now, House Speaker Pelosi just announced a new mandatory mask policy on The Hill after Congressman Gohmert tested positive. Why did it take so long? Why isn't she more loud and proud about these kinds of tests that Ashish Jha was just talking about? Fair criticism. Now on the Republican side, will they comply?

I mean when so many are resisting out of political favor? Even for their own safety, here to help us get in the mindset of the GOP mask resistance, some sensible party members, next.

[21:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: You know that elected officials saying to you that masks don't matter or masks will make you sick, you know it's BS right? You've known for a long time. So the question has to be, why are they saying this? And why is it all coming from the Republican Party? It certainly can't be based in science. So let's talk about why this is being politicized this way and what we can do about it. All right?

Let's bring in a couple of long-time GOP leaders, John Kasich and Pennsylvania's Charlie Dent. Good to see you both. I'm glad you're healthy, the best to your families.

JOHN KASICH (R-OH), FORMER GOVERNOR: Thanks, Chris.

CHARLES DENT (R-PA), FORMER US PRESENTATIVE: Thank you.

CUOMO: Simple question. Gov, what the hell is going on with Republicans who don't want to wear masks and see it as some kind of show of strength?

[21:20:00]

KASICH: You know, I was talking to my wife and she said, "Look, John, I don't like when government has to tell me what to do. But you know this is science. This is not like the government telling me to paint my house pink. This is science that's telling me that not only I have to be responsible of course for myself, but I have to be responsible for others."

So Chris, I guess one way we can yell at them and tell them, they're crazy or they're wrong. Or maybe we just say to them, "Look, you just can't hurt other people." And there's personal responsibility. That's like a Republican Hallmark, right? Personal responsibility. Personal responsibility not to hurt somebody else and it's idiology that's crept into science and when that happens, this is what we end up with. And it's nuts, is what it is Chris, as you know.

CUOMO: Charlie?

KASICH: Somebody that had it, you know how tough it is.

CUOMO: Oh, listen, it's still tough. My big fear is that a year from now, we won't have the same kind of cases but people are going to have all these funky elements in the after-effect -

KASICH: Yes.

CUOMO: - that they would have never had to have had if we'd just been smart about it. That's my lament, that's fueling my urgency. I don't want people to go through what I went through. Anyway, Charlie, a lot of guys on your side of the ball are seeing this mask as a Scarlet Letter that if you're wearing a mask, it like pisses off Trump. And there's reporting out there from Jake Sherman and others that people have been told "Don't wear masks, man. He doesn't like it."

DENT: Yes. The whole thing is idiotic. I mean what what's happened here is both reckless and unsurprising. It's like saying, "We all wear our seatbelts because it's in the public interest." Nobody hops into car without putting on a seatbelt. Motorcycle helmets don't cause helmet injuries either.

Unfortunately, Congressman Gohmert has a history of being a bit defiant and contrary and in this case, he's being reckless. As I said, this is also one surprising. And John Boehner, look, Louie would get in the face of the leaders quite a bit, Boehner said about it that the Louie was operating without a functional brain. That's how he said he would get removed (ph). He said it. And Louie shouldn't try to prove him right with this whole thing about this defiance and not wearing a mask. It's just -

CUOMO: Where did you get his brain from? It was a woman. Her name was Abby something, - Abby Something, Abby Normal. Do you remember that from Young Frankenstein? And Charlie, I don't want to forget that, you had COVID also.

DENT: Yes.

CUOMO: So you get the urgency of this. You don't want people to go through what we went through, especially for bad reasons. So the question becomes this. Let me get a take from both of you guys on this before we go. The President is talking up this crazy doctor now because he believes in hydroxychloroquine. But John, if he believed in the drug, why doesn't he talk about it all the time and commission a study to vet it, so that he can put it out there? Why doesn't he operationalize his interest, and why doesn't he own a plan and a strategy here the way you would and Charlie you would if it were in your wheelhouse?

KASICH: Well, I can't explain it other than this, Chris. We've now breached 150,000 deaths. So the question is, had we from the beginning not called it a hoax, had we from the beginning said we're going to wear masks, we're going to socially distance, we're going to wash our hands and we're all going to do it. Where would we be today if we had been that aggressive? And that's the trick, that's the tragedy and how many people have been affected? And you're right about the fact that what happens later to the organs where they damage?

So, there was so many missed opportunities here to get it right. And frankly, it's why the voters in this country now are turning away from him. Those who were locked city for him are now saying they don't think so. And it's - a lot of it is connected to this and connected to the economy and connected to the race, and I don't know how he gets out of this spot to tell you the truth.

CUOMO: Well, there's still time though John, and Charlie, that's the point. Look, voting starts in October right? Not really December. You have early voting, but you have a couple of months here and these things turn if the right things are done. What would it take for people in your party to go to him and say, "You're going to kill us with this. And we need a plan on testing and we need a plan to help these states with schools." Is there any chance that the party goes to him and says, "It's not just about you; you're going to kill us with this"?

DENT: Well, it seems like to me that we're long past that time, it would be really helpful if members would go into The President and say, "Your behavior, the way you conducted yourself during this COVID without a serious national plan, by dismissing the seriousness of this whole issue has caused problems for all of us politically. It's the COVID response which is of course contributing to the economic decline and of course the civil unrest." These three things, I've said the cake is largely baked. You're not going to change The President.

He's just got to take this stuff seriously and lead, but his communications on this has been absolutely atrocious for all these months. He has all these experts around him who he's keeping from the public, and how hard is it to allow your experts to stand here on television and make the case and tell us what we should be doing? This isn't hard but it is for this President. He just doesn't have any message.

KASICH: Hey, Chris.

CUOMO: Last word, John, go ahead.

[21:25:00]

KASICH: One other point here. Look, when you think about who are these people that won't wear masks, that's who these Republicans are afraid of. They're afraid if they speak out against Trump, that somehow all those people are going to be against them, but we're not talking about politics here. We're talking about science. We're talking about health; we're talking about our neighbors and our families. And it's a shame.

And we're going to look back on this time and I don't know what the party is going to do going forward. Is it going to be, well, we'll see what happens after November. It's going to be very interesting, but it's a sad time in our country. There's too much fighting and you've said it right. We've got to come together and we're running out of time with this guy, with this President and we're going to have an election and then we're going to see.

CUOMO: The key is the 'we', I'll tell you this much. Charlie, get strong and John, enjoy yourself now and make any money you want to because your party's going to come to both of you and ask you to get back in the game. Remember I said it and I can't wait to ask you what you're going to do when the latest news cycle has both of you back in the game. Gentlemen, be well, the best to your families and thank you for the perspective.

DENT: Thanks, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, states are still waiting for federal help. All right? You heard that from Republicans, they're being forced to wait because The President doesn't want to lead in a time of crisis. And after all that Trump. bluster about the need for the feds to help quash protests in Portland, guess what? Mayor Wheeler on the show last night, he was right. The feds have agreed to pull out. Now there are conditions, but if it's such an emergency, how can they leave? I'm telling you this is a page out of the Trump Fugazy Crisis Playbook. I'll read it to you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:30:00]

CUOMO: Federal forces pulling back in Portland. How far back? Depends on who you ask. The governor says they're leaving town. The Acting DHS Secretary says, they're sticking around just in case. The President says non-sense like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Either they're going to clean up Portland soon or the federal government is going up and we're going to do it for them. Governor and the Mayor who are weak, either they clean out Portland or we're going in to do it for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: I'll tell you what's weak, creating a false crisis and ignoring a real one. The idea that he's cleaning out Portland is garbage. We're talking about a single city block. Here's what the federal courthouse looked like a month ago. There was already graffiti, but otherwise it was fine. Here's what it looks like today. It's still a lot of graffiti. Now there's a barricade. All right? As for whether it was worth it, considering the weeks the feds were in charge, they beat up and pepper sprayed a navy veteran that we had on the show.

They fractured another protester's skull by shooting him in the head with a crowd control round. They gassed the Mayor. They gassed a bunch of moms. They snatched an American citizen off the street and eroded trust in our democracy, and definitely amped up the protests. This is not what these men and women signed up for. I feel badly for these federal officials and agents.

The tactical team sent to Portland work for I.C.E and Customs and Border Protection. They should be doing their jobs where it matters, not here doing the bidding for Trump. In other words, they were pulled away from securing the border. I thought that mattered, Mr. President. A place where this President's practice of claiming credit for a mess he started is still playing out.

The humanitarian crisis on the Southern border, we've shown you on this program, you've seen it on others, shame on me and shame on you because it's still going on and we don't give a damn, do we, even as crossings are up the last two months? For all the BS about the wall being a panacea. "We're a wall way." Crossings are still higher than they were in Trump's first year.

Look again, every politician plays to advantage, but no President is as grotesque in doing it as this. This man creates Fugazy conflict just to claim credit for solving it by finishing and letting things get back to normal, where it was before he created the trouble. Kids in cages, stoking tension in North Korea, having to bail out farmers because of his own Trade War, shutting down the government three times. A pattern you'll see play out when it comes to the recent spike in homicides around the nation. I'm telling you, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, the latest to learn a so-called surge of federal agents is coming their way.

And how do you think the federal agents stop homicides by the way? Was this Cowboys and Indians? It's setting the stage for him to claim a Fugazy win this fall, just in time for the election when homicides normally drop after summer spikes, wait for it. What we need is more federal action on COVID. It's a real crisis. What's the plan for schools being told to reopen? One of the nation's biggest teachers' unions warns teachers may go on strike if they're forced into unsafe conditions, and that's what's happening.

We have The President here of the Union and a mom who's facing what so many of us across the country are. Her call for action, both of their sides. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:35:00]

CUOMO: One of the largest teachers' unions says it will support its teachers going on strike to prevent schools from reopening, if certain safety standards are not met. Meanwhile, Republicans want to tie federal school funding to reopening in the next stimulus bill. So what could all this mean for our kids?

Joining us now is Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, and Tina Carol. She's a mom to a six year old. She's the other side of this equation in the classroom; the parent calling for schools in her Colorado district to offer some kind of in classroom instruction. Welcome to you both. Thank you for being with us.

RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Tina.

TINA CAROL, MOTHER OF A SIX_YEAR OLD IN COLORADO DISTRICT: Thank you.

CUOMO: So Randi, what is the chance that the teachers go on strike?

WEINGARTEN: So as you know, Chris, I worked on your brother's reopening plan and I think in New York that you'll see a lot of schools reopening. I think in New Jersey you'll see some schools reopening, some not. Colorado, I think you'll see some, some not. But I think if in places with a surge like Florida, Texas, Arizona, I think you'll see people saying, "There's no way we can reopen schools when we have huge community spread, no testing and no resources for any of the safeguards that are needed."

[21:40:00]

CUOMO: Quick follow-up question to you, and then I want to turn to Tina for a second. Why am I wrong to hate the hybrid model, which is where kids go to class a couple of days and home a class a couple of days? I see it as the worst of both worlds that you create chaos for us at home, figuring out how to balance work and school, and then they go to school and they get exposed. So, why is the hybrid so popular?

WEINGARTEN: So the hybrid is popular for only one reason, which is that we feel like we need to see our kids and that kids have to have some way of relating to each other and not be as socially isolated as they've been. It's not just about feeding kids. We could do grab-and- goes while you were still in remote, but there are a lot of kids that have not been able to have what they needed in remote. But that's separate and apart from the childcare issues, we really need to have a parallel childcare system, remote, so that hybrid is not a substitute for childcare. CUOMO: Well, that comes to the federal plan. Tina, you're right and

this is right in your wheelhouse.

CAROL: Yes.

CUOMO: You got a six year-old kid; he needs the socialization, but you need to figure out how you balance making money to take care of the kid with being there for the kid because now she can't go to school. Do you believe that your state is going to be able to find a way through this?

CAROL: To be honest, I really don't know what my son is going to do. I think it really puts me in between a rock and a hard place at this point. As I am an essential employee, I must go to work every single day for my livelihood. If the schools don't reopen, I really don't know what I'm going to do at this point. I mean at night, I'm fighting back tears trying to figure out a plan for a single working parent. I just don't know what to do at this point. I have to depend on my community at this point to help me.

CUOMO: And there is no help coming. And that's why the federal government has to step up. You're going to have to pay for healthcare - for home care and for your kid to be somewhere that you can't do on your own right now. Fair point?

CAROL: Fair. I think that's a fair point to say, but I'm really hoping that my district and that the State of Colorado is going to pull together as we've been standing through this entire time together. And I have confidence in them that we're going to come up with a plan that's going to help critical and essential employees.

CUOMO: What is the hardest part for you as a mom in dealing all with this emotionally?

CAROL: I feel like I'm being asked to make a choice between my child and my job. And my career, one that I've looked forward to working in for years; I enjoy getting up, going to work every day. I am doing, seeing my child go to school and really develop and grow, and I think right now I'm being asked to pick between the two. I'm being torn.

CUOMO: Randi, what do you say to this mom? And what do you say to the federal government?

WEINGARTEN: So to this mom, I wish we were not physically distant and I wish we could create the childcare that you need that frankly we created in New York and in other places for essential workers. We cannot put people in this situation of this Hobson's choice between their job, safety for their kids and teachers, and frankly, that is where I blame the federal government.

The federal government should have been giving us this funding since April. You know Chris, we put this plan out in April about how to reopen schools safely. We need the funding to do that and we need the funding to create these safeguards and we need funding for parents like Tina to have childcare for essential workers.

CUOMO: Randi, thank you for fighting for teachers. Go ahead, Tina.

CAROL: Oh, dear. I would prefer someone said educate, not just childcare, for me - for me, it's for me, it's more personal. These are the fundamental years for my child. He's only going to first.

CUOMO: Yes.

WEINGARTEN: Absolutely.

CUOMO: You're absolutely right.

WEINGARTEN: We totally agree with you.

CUOMO: So Tina, let's do this. We got to keep pushing those in power to do the right thing by families and by moms like you. But I'll tell you one thing, your son has going for him already. He's got a mother who is willing to work like crazy and to fight for him. And you can't put a price on that, and we are happy to get out your story and we will fight your fight because that's why we do the job. Tina Carol, God bless, keep fighting for your son. Randi Weingarten, keep fighting for the teachers, Randi. We'll be here covering the story.

WEINGARTEN: Thanks, Chris.

CUOMO: If you had any question about what the pandemic means to the election, the numbers are in. The Wizard of Odds is processing them. We are seeing something we've never seen in an election of a one-term President before. Next.

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[21:45:00]

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CUOMO: Democrat hasn't won Georgia in the Presidential Election since 1992. But this time, have you seen the polls? Trump may want to start checking the numbers if he thinks winning Georgia again is going to be easy. You see this Monmouth Poll? Trump currently tied with Democratic rival Joe Biden. He may well still win the state, but tied, 47%? What does that mean with less than 100 days left? Let's take it to the Wizard of Odds Harry Enten. Harry, give me three reasons to believe that the President really is in trouble.

HARRY ENTEN, SENIOR WRITER & ANALYST, CNN POLITICS: I'll give you four reasons why, and that's besides the polls that we're looking at. Number one, the unpresidential behavior throughout his Presidency. Number two, the coronavirus, the pandemic; most voters think he's failing on that. Number three, race relations. Most voters feel that he's failing on that.

ENTEN: And four, which I think is so important, is obviously when it comes to the economy, all of a sudden we're seeing voters not necessarily loving what he's doing on that.

[21:50:00] CUOMO: What do you see in the numbers that you find to be so damning even in context of polls, just being a moment in time?

ENTEN: Yes, I think what's so important in a state like Georgia, that the polls generally speaking at the end of the campaign have been really, really good, right? If you look back four years ago, what you saw was that the final polls had Donald Trump ahead in that state by five, he won by five.

If you look at the final polls just two years ago on the Governor's race, what did you see? You saw that the Republican Brian Kemp was favored to win that election by three. He won it by one. So to me at this particular point, look, I'm not Miss Cleo, I can't tell you what's necessarily going to happen in a hundred and some odd days, but I can tell you at this point, the polls in my mind are an accurate representation of what's really going on.

CUOMO: What's the demographic shift that we're seeing that we didn't expect?

ENTEN: In a state like Georgia, look, the fact is, as you look at the suburban areas and those are the ones that are powering Democrats in a state like Georgia and more than that, what I think is so important is the African American population in Georgia has risen over the last 15 years, and obviously African American voters are heavily in the Democratic column.

CUOMO: The President pulling ads in Michigan, you think that's temporary or is that, I'm pulling out I can't win?

ENTEN: Well, I mean, take a look at our last CNN poll from this state, right? What do you see? You'll see that he's down by double digits. That looks a lot like the other polling in that state and the fact is, Michigan was one of those states that flipped from Barack Obama in 2012 to Donald Trump in 2016. And to me, it's a sign that - look, the President may come back in, but Michigan is going to be an uphill battle for him going forward.

CUOMO: Is it a surprise that Biden is doing better with white people than was expected that he's taking them from Trump, or was that always the theory of the case for Biden?

ENTEN: Look, I think that's - right, I think in a state like Michigan, that's the key thing that's going on, right, which is that Trump is still leading among white voters but it's by a minimal margin. It's in fact that over a 10 point improvement from four years ago with Hillary Clinton. And that was always the argument, right, for Joe Biden, that he could in fact bring back some of those white voters who had flipped from Barack Obama to Donald Trump in 2016. And right now, we really are seeing that bear out in the poll.

CUOMO: Harry Enten, you're a good man. Thank you, Wiz and be well, Miss Cleo's got nothing on you.

ENTEN: You be well as well, my friend. CUOMO: Alright, the rent is due in three days for a lot of you. The

unemployed now have $600 less in the bank each week. And beyond the lookout, we got a BOLO because this President just made it tougher or actually easier, if you want housing discrimination to thrive. BOLO, next.

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[21:55:00]

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CUOMO: BOLO, that means 'be on the lookout' and you got to look out for this President spending less time trying to hide his racism as he becomes more desperate for votes in November.

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TRUMP: People fight all of their lives to get into the suburbs and have a beautiful home. There will be no more low-income housing forced in to the suburbs. I've seen conflict for years. It's been hell for suburbia.

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CUOMO: Boy, oh boy. He and his father were fighting against having housing for people like this. I remember my father getting into politics to fight back against this kind of classism. Low income housing, that's his code word for ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

His miracle fix, ending a fair housing rule from the Obama era. A law was designed, "to take meaningful actions to overcome historic patterns of segregation, promote fair housing choice and foster inclusive communities that are free from discrimination."

It bolstered the 1968 Fair Housing Act, a law Mr. President, you and your late father knew about at least by 1973, because you were both accused in a federal civil rights case on its basis. This rollback does nothing to make neighborhoods safer. It makes them wider, but not safer.

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss shared a reminder of our nation's ugly past when it comes to openly racist housing practices. Look at this 1926 ad, "Attention White Home Buyers, largest restricted white community in Washington." It was a selling point.

President both sides sees a blatant appeal to the days of white flight and bigoted paranoia. He sees it today as a path to reelection, but in an economy that is collapsing all around us day by day as we near 4.5 million COVID cases, many more of our fellow Americans will need a new place to call home.

And thanks to the President's new round of racism, trouble will only get worse. That Mr. President is the hell you need to think about when it comes to our friends and neighbors. Thank you for watching CNN Tonight, with Don I Created Television Lemon, starts right now. DON LEMON, CNN HOST: You're right, I did. Why was he, I know you

wanted to say something, but I'm not going to let you go there - why would he hide it?

I saw that. Why would he try to hide it when every one of his sycophants around him, the apologists, everyone, the Republicans in Congress, Republicans in the Senate, they make excuses for it, they pretend that it's not racist. They pretend they don't hear it, it's not even a dog whistle. He is saying it out loud to a crowd, I'm sure, who is very receptive to it. And if they are not receptive to it, then they are complicit. And his bigotry--