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Axios Interviews President Trump; Trump Claims COVID Is Under Control; Governors In Unison To Combat Virus Spread; President Trump Downplayed A Hero Activist; Trump's Bet In Kansas Defeated; Massive Explosion In Beirut Killed 78 People. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired August 04, 2020 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Hi, everybody. I'm Chris Cuomo. And welcome to PRIME TIME. We are two hours this week. I'm in for D. Lemon.
This president went from everything is all under control to this is going to disappear, to 156,000-plus dead. Well, it is what it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Right now, I think it's under control. I'll tell you what.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How? A thousand Americans are dying a day.
TRUMP: They are dying. That's true. And it is what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: It is. It is what it is. It is a pandemic that you are not doing enough about on purpose, inaction on purpose. By now, we know that this is happening because it is what it is, and he is who he is. And that is somebody who won't admit that he screwed up, who won't say that now he has to do it differently.
He doesn't want to address the pandemic because he warned that it was going to go away. Don't worry about it. Then what did he say? Well, it's going to get worse before it got better. So, what are you going to do about it? Nothing. And instead of acting, he is distracting. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We are continuing to monitor and monitor particular hotspots across the south, southwest and the west. And we are seeing indications that are strong mitigation efforts are working very well actually.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Look, he's reading it because he doesn't know what he is talking about, and that suggestion is just wrong. It is at odds with reality and for the reality. Here's Erica Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY VARKEY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Our national response to this pandemic should be a national embarrassment.
TRUMP: It's under control as much as you can control it.
VARKEY: The data that comes from the White House Task Force backs up exactly what Dr. Birx said. There is uncontrolled spread in over 32 states in the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Six months into this pandemic, the virus is not under control despite the president's claims, cases surging in southern Illinois.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): The data can tell you if you are winning or losing against the virus. Unfortunately, right now, the virus is winning in Jackson County.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Early gains giving way to spikes in San Francisco.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FELIX CASTILLO, BUS DRIVER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC TRANSIT: People pretty much filing complacency, they weren't scared anymore of what was going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: And while there are some bright spots, California's positivity rate is declining and 14 states, including Arizona and Florida are seeing a dip in new cases over the past week. Of the 28 states in yellow, those holding steady, many are plateauing at a very high level.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICIES: I think these new levels are going to make what we've had already to seem like, boy, I wish we were back in the old days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Deaths which lag by at least two to four are rising in these 27 states, Arkansas and West Virginia seeing record hospitalizations. Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center now a surge hospital again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA, GA: It saddens me that we are
still headed in the wrong direction so many months after we had an opportunity to get on the other side of COVID-19.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: In Georgia's largest school district, 260 employees can't work because they've either tested positive or been exposed to the virus. Two new studies suggest testing and contact tracing are still lacking, are the key to reopening schools.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLEY FISHER, KINDERGARTEN TEACHER: We don't want to endanger one student, one teacher, one support professional, one community member.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Teachers in one Phoenix district calling on the governor to issue statewide safety mandates as Arizona's top education official warns it's unlikely any school in that state will be able to reopen safely for in-person or hybrid learning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, PROVIDENCE ST. JOSEPH HEALTH: If you look at the facts, the U.S. has about 4 percent of the world's population and about a quarter of the cases, 25 percent of cases. We definitely have a problem here in the U.S.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Chris, something else to think about, Goldman Sachs economist are pointed to parents as the next group of workers who could stand to lose their jobs knowing that single parents, those with young children at home and parents who can't work from work are most at risk to not be able to work. And pre-pandemic, we should point about a 3rd of the U.S. workforce had children at home. Chris?
CUOMO: Erica, very important perspective. Thank you very much. We're in a jam, right? So many of the people who watch this show are parents. And you know, one of the bonds we have we have is that I'm living at the same where you are, I don't know what I'm going to do with my kids, I don't know what I'm going to do.
[22:05:01]
I know that the schools are trying to figure out. I don't like the hybrid model, why? I see that as a worse of both worlds. I get that we all want our kids back in school. So do I. Find a way to do it. Find a space, find a way to do it safely and find a way to get the rapid test, and then I'll put my kids in the school.
But why would I want my kids in the school so that they can be exposed to a group setting where they don't really know who is sick and who isn't? And I don't buy this fever thing either. Why? A lot of things can give you a fever. You can have COVID and not have a fever, there's no smell, no taste then? That's a good piece of science that they've been developing that that helps us know.
So, I'm going to send them there, I'm going to send her there, they are going to be exposed, they are going to come home, now I can't have my mother around, now I've got to worry about my in-laws and then I still have to deal with my wife not being able to do what she wants to do work wise because I get it easy, right? I'm lucky because I have to come here and do this.
But we're still going to have the kids at home and have to play that Zoom B.S. again where they won't let you see the lesson but you got to help the kid with the plan and the kid doesn't know what they're doing? And what if your kids not a self-starter, which is 90 percent of our kids.
All of this could have been avoided, and still could be avoided if this president would put his arms around the problem instead of pushing it away and covering his eyes. Get us the rapid tests. Do what the U.K. did, and so, instead, we get this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SWAN: The figure I look at is death. And death is going up now.
TRUMP: OK.
SWAN: That's a 1,000 a day.
TRUMP: If you look at deaths --
(CROSSTALK)
SWAN: Yes, it's going up again, daily deaths.
TRUMP: Take a look at some of these charts. OK?
SWAN: I'd love to.
TRUMP: We're going to look.
SWAN: Let's look.
TRUMP: And if you look at deaths --
SWAN: Yes, start to go up again.
TRUMP: This one, well, right here, the United States is lowest in numerous categories, we're lower than the world --
SWAN: Lowers than the world? What does that mean?
TRUMP: Lower than Europe.
SWAN: In what? TRUMP: Look.
SWAN: In what?
TRUMP: Take a look. Right here. These are case deaths.
SWAN: You're doing deaths as a proportion of cases. I'm talking about deaths as a proportion of population. That's why the U.S. is really bad. Much worse than South Korea, Germany, et cetera.
TRUMP: You can't do that.
SWAN: Why can't I do that?
TRUMP: You have to go by -- you have to go by where -- look, here is the United States, you have to go by the cases. The cases are there.
SWAN: Why not as a proportion of population?
TRUMP: When we have somebody, what it says is when you have somebody that has that where there's a case --
SWAN: OK.
TRUMP: -- the people that live from those cases.
SWAN: Sure. It shows a relevance statistic to say if the U.S. has x population and x percentage of death of that population --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: No, but you have to go by the cases.
CUOMO: -- versus South Korea. Well look at South Korea, for example, 51 million population, 300 deaths. It's like, it's crazy compared to --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: You don't know that.
SWAN: I do. It's on the --
TRUMP: You don't know that.
SWAN: You think they are faking their statistics, South Korea?
TRUMP: I won't get into that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Let's bring in Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.
Look, I'm not going to burn you with the politics. Here's the problem. OK? Is that, he is spending time distracting from the reality instead of addressing it. I don't even get the political play.
I know, Ashish, this isn't your deal, but he's got time to put his arms around this and get as where the U.K. is right now with testing, which creates a solution for the angry gym owners who were on the show, a solution for the angry parents like me who don't want to send my kids back this way. And hate this hybrid model that's like the worst of both in my opinion.
What is the reality of -- he says today. You know, we played this game yesterday, I want to play it again. Yes, we want to get to where the U.K. is. How big a deal is it?
ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: How big a deal what the U.K. is doing?
CUOMO: How big a deal is it for us to get where they are?
JHA: Chris, here's the story. And again, thank you for having me back on.
CUOMO: Always.
JHA: Look, we are -- we are in trouble not just because we haven't built the testing infrastructure we need, but we also don't have a serious federal response anymore. Testing is actually falling and half the states across the country were worse off now than we were two weeks ago.
The only piece of good news in all of this is that today, seven state governors basically announced that they are going to go it alone. They're going to go without the federal government and they are going to go through their own testing and build up their own testing infrastructure. And I think states are giving up at this point on the federal government --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: What does it do to have seven of them bond together? Why is that -- why is that helpful?
JHA: It's helpful because with seven of them coming together, you start getting the kind of market size you need to be able to go to companies and say, look, if you ramp up and we'll help you ramp up, we will be here to purchase your product.
[22:10:04]
This is what the federal government should have done four months ago. They could've gone to companies and said build up your things and we will pay for it, they didn't. And now the states are doing it. We're going to have, I think other states join in. And states are being --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Is it fair to say, Ashish, that's the way it should have always been and the blame is on the president or the federal government, it's on the states for not figuring this out sooner?
JHA: No, there are two reasons why we should have gone with the federal response first, and I guess you could argue that the states maybe should have just given up a little bit earlier, but look, the money sits with the federal government, they have the purse. They also have a bunch of powers that states don't, right? They have the DPA, the Defense Production Act.
And so, while states can do this, I think everybody acknowledges this is plan B. This is the second-best choice. I think at this point it's really incontrovertible that look, the ideal would've been the federal government doing it. They couldn't, or they didn't. So now the states are pulling it out.
JHA: Let's talk brother to brother for a second here with schools.
JHA: Yes.
CUOMO: I can't in good conscience -- now look, it's not my job to do this anyway, but you know, we become proxies sometimes, they see me talking to people like you and know what they're talking about and they think that somehow by osmosis I may know something.
I can't tell people in good conscience to send their kids back to school. I don't even know if I'm going to do it. This hybrid thing sounds stupid to me, that we will only put in there sometimes. To me, it's like, so you are only going to put my kids' hand and fire sometimes? If they are exposed to a classroom and you can't case, then whether it's one week a month or four weeks a month, it's too much.
And obviously, at home has all these logistical issues and problems that are academic, let's keep that away, that's not public health per se, but you know, I guess it's better than going every week in terms of exposure. But at the same day though, you have the same problem, Ashish, that if you can't count cases, then you are not ready to have kids in those places?
JHA: Yes. So, I am a big believer in testing in schools as one of the ways of counting cases as you say and of --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: They say they can't.
JHA: -- opting another layer of protection.
CUOMO: They say they can't get the tests that give you the quick response and they can't get the lab access to get quick turnaround.
JHA: Yes. So, there are two things here, one is -- first of all, and also, schools don't have the money. So Congress has to put in the money for schools to do this and, then yes, like it would've been helpful if the federal government had ramped up these rapid test.
You know, the White House gets a daily test with 15-minute turnaround, can you imagine if our kids were just as important as the folks who visit the White House? If we had done the things to get to rapid testing in American schools, we could open now.
My argument is, if it's not safe to open now, start online, work really, really hard to build up the capacity to do rapid testing, when it becomes available, when you have case numbers low in your community then you go to in-person teaching. It's not my ideal choice but it is better than risking it when it's not ready and it's better than giving up altogether. So that has been my suggestion and advice to schools, superintendents, and mayors across the country.
CUOMO: Because that's what they say to you, right, is we can't do the testing, we're afraid.
JHA: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: And that they don't have enough space.
JHA: The testing is a really --
CUOMO: They talk square footage too, but I got to tell you that bothers me also, Ashish. And this is a little bit of a dovetail into your area and politics. You know, then you know this already, but in 1918 they did a better job at teaching kids in outdoor spaces, putting up tents, doing out, they did that with the courts. We haven't done any of that. We haven't innovated anything here.
JHA: Yes.
CUOMO: Why?
JHA: Why, just because I feel like, there are two reasons. One is, first of all, I think we have way over politicized this. I think there are too many politicians starting from the top who have made this a political issue. I think that's really frustrating to me. The second is I do think people are not being creative enough. And I've been saying to folks, like look at your public libraries, your status space, look at other --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Movie theaters, churches, armories, community centers, nobody is doing any of them.
JHA: Exactly. Right. Go outside look in much of the country, September, October, you can do it outside or maybe with space sitters even in November, but the point is you can be outside for a good chunk of the fall. Let's do that, we know that's safer. But it will require real leadership, if it's not coming from the federal government it's going to have -- it's going to have to come from states, from governors, and then mayors and school superintendents are going to have to do it.
Again, they're not used to fighting a pandemic but they will have to learn how to do this, and there are a lot of us in the public health world were ready to help, we want to help schools, we want to help teachers. We want to help school superintendents figure this out and get going.
CUOMO: Weak people make hard times, and that's where we are now. We are not thinking. We are not thinking like some people who want to survive, who want to get ahead of this who want to beat it and it really is going to be the tale of this administration and really this period in our history.
Dr. Ashish Jha, thanks for being along for the ride and thanks for keeping it straight and what the possibilities are.
JHA: Thanks, Chris.
CUOMO: All right. Be well.
[22:14:58]
So, look, it matters that the president says things about historical figures, about other presidents, about institutions that change our society like the Civil Rights Act. It matters because it is a window into what he is about as a person.
Now he says the pandemic is what it is, he's right. Hold on. And he is who he is. He trashed John Lewis again. Why? A week after his funeral, he trashed LBJ. He diminished the significance of the Civil Rights Act, he said all you have that work out. What? And he dismissed the wildly unequal numbers of black people killed by police all in one interview.
So, what does that interview mean to somebody who was an advocate and an ardent supporter, an implementer of the Black Lives Matter movement? Angela Rye, I'm going to help her jaw back off the floor into her face so that she can speak, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:19:59]
CUOMO: Sorry about that.
President Trump says he's done more than any other president for black Americans, all while downplaying the civil rights legacy of the late John Lewis. Here's what he told Axios' Jonathan Swan about the congressman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SWAN: How do you think history will remember John Lewis?
TRUMP: I don't know. I really don't know. I don't know. I don't know John Lewis. He chose not to come to my inauguration. He chose -- I don't -- I never met John Lewis, actually. I don't believe.
SWAN: Do you find him impressive?
TRUMP: I can't say one way or the other, I find a lot of people impressive, I find many people not impressive. But no, but I didn't -- (CROSSTALK)
SWAN: Do you find his story impressive?
TRUMP: He didn't -- he didn't come to my inauguration; he didn't come of my state of the union speeches. And that's OK, that's his right. And again, nobody has done more for black Americans than I have.
SWAN: I understand.
TRUMP: He should have come. I think he made a big mistake.
SWAN: But taking your relationship with him out of it, do you find his story impressive, what he's done for this country?
TRUMP: He was a person that devoted a lot of energy and a lot of heart to civil rights, but there were many others also.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Let's bring in Angela Rye. It's good to have you on PRIME TIME.
ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Great. Thanks to be here, Chris.
CUOMO: What do you hear in his words, not so much about John Lewis, but the significance?
RYE: Well, I hear someone who doesn't know about John Lewis. I hear someone who has not done any research, has no education about John Lewis's tremendous contributions to civil rights and beyond. After John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, he stepped into a robust and lifelong career and legislative advocacy in public service, something that Donald Trump has certainly learned from.
I'm sure it is convenient for him to erase the legacy of John Lewis, because that would mean that he would have to acknowledge the ways in which Republicans have engaged in voter suppression and he has benefited from it, right?
It would mean that he would have to acknowledge the fact that even though HR1 and HR4 were passed in the House this year, that the Senate has been negligent and taking up any legislative measure that would make elections fair and safe in this country.
So it is not in Donald Trump's interest to acknowledge the lifelong legacy and history of John Lewis, and I also think it's significantly unfortunate, given the fact that we just lost this giant of a man, and Donald Trump is stuck on whether or not somebody attended his inauguration four years ago.
CUOMO: By the way we can both imagine him saying the same thing about Dr. King if he were alive during Trump's inauguration.
RYE: RYE: Absolutely. CUOMO: That if Dr. King said something about Trump that Trump didn't like, he wouldn't care what he was about. He'd say this guy is meaningless.
RYE: That's exactly right.
CUOMO: That's who he is. If you're good to him, you're good. If you're bad to him, you're bad. There is no other context. We're just not used to that in someone who is a leader of the free world. That's why he can say Civil Rights Act, Angela, how did that work out? I did more with bail reform than that.
RYE: And you know, Chris, I think that the trouble here is the one thing I appreciate that fact is we know where Donald Trump stands, and that's nowhere. Unfortunately, with some of the Republicans they have paid a lot of lip service since Congressman Lewis's death. They've talked about how much of a hero he was. But if he was so much of a hero to them and a leader to them, they should be following suit and ensuring these same voter protections.
Donald Trump can create whatever revision in this history he wants to about the legacy and all he thinks he's done for black people, but the facts are not on his side, so it's up and up to an incumbent upon the American public to educate ourselves about the truth that is coming out of his mouth, and it's not much.
CUOMO: And on policing, which is obviously going to be relevant in this election, obviously the pandemic is overcoming everything, but that is going to be a big undercurrent of people's feelings about the state at play in America. Here's what he said about policing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SWAN: Do you believe though, Mr. President, that many police treat black people differently from white?
TRUMP: Well, I hope not. I hope not. And certainly --
SWAN: You've seen the statistics.
TRUMP: The knee on the neck was a disgrace. OK?
SWAN: Yes.
TRUMP: It was a disgrace.
SWAN: I'm talking about what does systemic racism mean to you.
TRUMP: I hope the answer to that question is not, do I, does anybody really answer that question accurately?
SWAN: What about (Inaudible) hope? What about analysis. What's your cold heart --
(CROSSTALK) TRUMP: I have seen where there is a difference and I don't want there
to be a difference. I don't like that there would be a difference, but with that being said --
(CROSSTALK)
SWAN: Why do you think black women are doing --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: -- police have killed white people in a larger number.
SWAN: I know. But why do think black men are two and a half times more likely to be killed by police than white?
[22:25:00]
TRUMP: That I don't know, but I don't like it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Is that enough?
RYE: Of course, it's not enough, and I think again, it goes right to the heart of what we're talking about here, which is where Donald Trump sits. Donald Trump is the chief executive, the commander in chief, right, the leader of the free world.
He doesn't have to not like something, Chris, he's not a pundit on air, right? This is someone who can use the power of the executive. President Obama used to say with the power of the pen, right? He can use the power of the pen and change it. He can engage in executive action and executive orders and sign a legislation.
He can urge the Senate right now to pass justice and policing, instead, he pulled out this watered-down version of an executive order after the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, which by the way, he has yet to speak to. He's not done anything meaningful in this area.
Yes, I give him credit for the First Step Act, but it's time to see some changes after the First Step. The First Step is not what's going to save black lives in this country, right, so he doesn't have to like it. By the way, it's three times more likely to be killed. Black men are three times more likely to be killed than white people.
And I think that if he really doesn't like it then he needs to prove it with executive action and with signing some legislation into law that will actually save lives.
CUOMO: You are what you do, not what you say. Angela Rye, you are right to draw that. And in fact, it happens to be the topic of my life lesson tonight.
Thank you very much for joining me. Be well.
RYE: Thank you, Chris.
CUOMO: I'll talk to you soon.
We have some election results that are going on in a couple of key races. We're going to give you that right after this.
[22:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: President Trump, don't vote by mail, it's all fraud, it will be the most fraud ridden election in history. President Trump, if you are in Florida, you should vote by mail, seriously. He tweeted, whether you call it a vote by mail or absentee voting, in Florida, the elections system is safe and secure.
The home of the hanging chad. So, in Florida I encourage all to request a ballot and vote by mail, why the change? Let's go to the briefing room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to ask you first about what you tweeted about earlier today in regards to Florida, and your comfortableness as it relates to mail-in ballots for Florida voters.
TRUMP: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you, why does that apply to Florida and it doesn't apply to mail-in balloting across the country.
TRUMP: So, Florida has got a great Republican governor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Twenty states with Republican governors allow for voting by mail, with no excuse. OK? Only Florida gets his thumbs up. I wonder why. We have the wizard of odds, Harry Enten here to break it down. What is the answer, wiz?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: The answer is that he is losing in Florida. I mean, that I think is the easiest answer to the question. Right? I mean, take a look at the latest average of polls, he is down by six points, Biden is at 50 percent so he is losing and he feels like he needs to shake things up. This is always what it is with the president, right, he is transactional. He sees he is losing he wants to change up the game.
CUOMO: How important is Florida? Can he win without it?
ENTEN: It would be very difficult. I mean, you go back over the last 96 years, and this I think is the key number, only twice in the last 96 years has the winner of the election not one Florida, 1960 and 1992. And in fact, for a Republican, no Republican since Calvin Coolidge in 1900 and '24 has won the presidency without winning Florida. So, while there are certainly universes in which Trump can win without
winning Florida, they are very, very minute.
CUOMO: What happened in '92 that would happen -- have to happen this time for it to vote against Trump and yet he wins?
ENTEN: I mean, look, obviously if Trump are able to maintain that base in the Midwest, right in those Great Lakes states, if he won Pennsylvania, he won Michigan, he won Wisconsin, in that case if everything else stay the same from the 2016 map, he could lose Florida and win. That's the universe in which it happens.
But it's not really or really probably universe for any number of reasons, not the least of which is that the president is actually polling poor in the upper Midwest in those rightly battleground states than he is right now currently in Florida.
CUOMO: Another aspect here is that the mail-in requests are somewhat indicative. You know, I would hear that what we're seeing in Florida is so far Democrats are jumping out to a huge advantage in mail ballot requests. That is why he was bashing the idea of being able to vote this way, but also probably why he's now asking his own people to do it.
ENTEN: That's exactly right. I mean, the Republicans were so worrying down there over this developing trend right now, take a look at the margin and the request between Democrats and Republicans. It's nearing 600,000 voters.
Back in 2016, the number of requests to the 2016 general election was basically even. So, President Trump is seeing this math, is seeing the polls that show him down and obviously recognizes that something needs to change and that to me is the most logical explanation why all of a sudden vote by mail or absentee is all of a sudden is acceptable to him in Florida while it's not acceptable apparently to anywhere else.
CUOMO: But the problem is, is that he caused his own problem. Because you are seeing in the numbers that his own people are less likely to vote by mail because he's told them not to vote by mail.
[22:35:02]
ENTEN: That's exactly correct. President Trump has caused this problem. And he hasn't just caused it in Florida, Chris. This I think is what's so key is, he is caused it nationally.
If you look at the polls right now and you say OK, how are you going to vote, are you going to vote in person in which you prefer to vote by absentee or by mail, what you see currently in the polls nationally right now is that Democrats overwhelmingly 51 percent of them in a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll said that they want to vote by mail versus just 20 percent of Republicans.
That is a huge margin and much different than what we saw in 2016 when that margin didn't exist. It's very clear that Republican voters have been listening to President Trump and therefore they don't want to vote by mail. And you know what, banking votes before election day especially in a pandemic that's unpredictable puts Democrats at an advantage.
CUOMO: Especially at a time when he hasn't gotten any kind of game together on the pandemic. This starts in September, that early voting those will be people who are voting with kids who haven't gone to school, the economy is not opening, they're not doing the testing. They're seeing it in the U.K. is better. Other countries are going to echo that kind of acceleration and we may not. That's a bad time that voting. That's when mail-in may make a difference.
Harry Enten, thank you.
So, from context to the urgency of consequence here. Breaking news on this election in parts of our country. OK? A primary race is getting national attention. You're going to recognize one of the names even if you don't live them.
Let's bring in Jessica Dean. Thank you for joining us tonight. What is the news out of Kansas?
JESSICA DEAN, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, we can report that Roger Marshall defeated has defeated Kris Kobach there in Kansas. You mention that people might be familiar with one of these names. Kris Kobach of course a hard liner, a Trump ally for a while now. And this really was an interesting race that got national attention because it really illustrates a divide within the Republican Party that we have seen playing out this was kind of a microcosm of that.
And what happened was a lot of the establishment getting behind Marshall, really believing that he was the one that could win the Senate seat coming up in the fall. But Kris Kobach, of course, getting in the race as well. It was a large race, a big field, and President Trump failing to endorse in this race, really kind of staying back.
Republican establishment had hoped that President Trump would weigh in for Marshall. They believed that was their best choice and their best chance of keeping that Senate seat. But President Trump we had reporting from earlier in the cycle that he certainly -- he didn't want to weigh in on this because Marshall had supported John Kasich in the past. And so, he had really kind of hung back.
But again, the big news tonight Kris Kobach getting beat by Roger Marshall. Again, Democrats had hoped it would have been Kobach because they thought that might have set up a better chance for them to actually pick up a seat there in Kansas.
Of course, the Democrats looking to take back the Senate in the fall. But that would be if that happened, Chris, it would be the first time a Democrat won that seat --
CUOMO: Right.
DEAN: -- for the Senate since 1932.
CUOMO: Jessica Dean, thank you very much. And uphill battle for Democrats in that state to be sure. Kobach is also relevant in terms of where we are right now. The president is bashing the idea of voter fraud. Kobach was his boy on that. Remember that's the guy he put him in charge of that fougasse commission to track down fraud in the 2016 election. Remember they had to disband it?
So, it's interesting that Kobach goes down in his own party at a time that Trump is playing that same song that you can't trust the system. You can only trust him.
All right. Another tragedy that needs to be on your radar. In Beirut a massive explosion. All right. As strong as a magnitude 3.3 earthquake. I want to show you this blast because you haven't seen many like it.
I mean, it does look like a bomb went off. Dozens are dead. Thousands are hurt. And there are lots of questions because we don't know that it was a bomb that went off. We don't know whether this was attack, whether this was about a manufacturing accident. Why did this happen? I mean, it is obviously spectacular to see. But what is behind it? Because a lot of people were hurt and killed.
We are going live to our correspondent in Beirut, next.
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CUOMO: It's just about sunrise now in Beirut, Lebanon where recovery efforts are still very much underway after this massive explosion that just ripped through that city, 78 people killed, 4,000 injured. That's something out of a movie. Many remain missing. Buildings miles away from the center were badly damaged including our Beirut bureau.
Our senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman was there when it happened. Here are some observations.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It felt like an earthquake and it looked like a mushroom cloud. The explosion in Beirut Tuesday so massive it shook the ground all the way to Cyprus, 150 miles away. The level of devastation is still being assessed with widespread destruction stretching for miles from the epicenter near Beirut sports.
Firefighters and emergency workers rushed to the scene, one that the city's governor, Marwan Abboud described as resembling Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Look where hospitals were immediately inundated with hundreds of victims, and the Lebanese Red Cross put out an urgent call for blood donations.
[22:45:06]
The casualty count is staggering. Thousands injured, and dozens dead, with the number of dead surely to rise in the hours to come.
Initially, the state news agency attributed the cause of the blast to a fire at a fireworks warehouse, but shortly afterwards the head of Lebanese security said the explosion happened at the site of confiscated high explosive materials.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab later said it is unacceptable that a shipment of an estimated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate was stored in a warehouse near the port for six years. That as the country launched an investigation into the cause expecting an initial report in the coming days.
The Lebanese president has ordered military patrols in the wake of the incident, in a country already on its knees due to a failing economy and the spread of COVID-19. The Lebanese prime minister has announced that Wednesday will be a day of mourning.
CUOMO: Ben Wedeman joins us now, thank God you and the rest of the team are OK. Anybody get hurt on our side?
WEDEMAN: Yes, our cameraman, Richard Harlow was on his scooter and was blown off of it. He injured his hand and he has a larger gash on his leg, but despite that, he came immediately back to the office and did live shots for few hours.
But the office, Chris, is in shambles. This is our studio, was our studio. The windows were blown in, the frames of the windows blown in, much of our equipment is damaged. I'm using this, the only functioning microphone. All of our other cameras are no longer working as well.
This office like many in this building like many houses and offices throughout Beirut have seen their windows blown out, massive destruction. And you know, you are referencing the more than 70 people killed, more than 4,000 wounded. This is really just a very preliminary number.
What we've had all night long is local reporters live on television, going down the list of the people who are missing, and there are many. And also, reading the list of the names of people who are in hospital, but relatives haven't gone to see them, so even though it's almost 6 a.m. here, the city is still trying to pick up the pieces --
CUOMO: Right.
WEDEMAN: -- and we will not have a clear idea of the extent of the damage and of course, the final death toll. Chris?
CUOMO: And the big question looming over at all is why, there. They're looking into whether or not it had something to do with manufacturing. The president here in America said that he was told that it was an attack, now we are hearing at CNN from defense officials that they do not have any proof that it's an attack. So, we'll stay on it.
Ben Wedeman, thank God that you're safe. Send our best to your P.J. and the rest of the team. I appreciate it.
All right. Let's take a break. When we come back, the second installment of our life lessons. I'm turning 50 on Sunday. Can't celebrate anything these days, I'm certainly in no mood to. So, what I want to do is tell you a little bit I've learned in these five decades. It doesn't even feel like five days, but I make it stretch, next.
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CUOMO: Lesson number two is you are only what you do. Now, why do I say this? Because it has complete application. Why am I saying it at all? Because I'm turning 50 on Sunday and I decided to celebrate with the rest of us by just passing along some of the things that are now painfully obvious to me, as someone who has lived a long time, blessed so. Made a lot of mistakes, and has become increasingly aware of their own flaws.
We don't like to talk about that, especially in my position, right? We're supposed to go with some kind of illusion of grandeur, some kind of illusion of somehow being better than the people who watch us, somehow aspirational, but that's rarely the case. And when it seems that way, it's often fake.
But the reality is that I think the more we can relate about our fragility, our flaws, our problems, our struggles, the stronger we'll become. Strong people make good times. Weak people make hard times. That's what we're dealing with right now.
Part of our weakness is that we talk too much, and we believe that too much is achieved by what is said. How? I love you. Yes? Do you live it? Do you show me? Do you do things for me, do you care about me? Do you put me before yourself ever?
I'm a good dad. Really? Do you tell your kids no when they want to hear yes? Are you with them? Are you on your phone? Do you show them that they matter? Do you show them that you can be tough on them but that you still love them, but that's not just some excuse called tough love which is really just harshness as some proxy for strength?
I'm going to do the job for you. Do you? Do you work your ass off? Do you grind every day? I want to lose weight. Do you work out? Do you diet? I want to be better. I'm sorry is my favorite one. Don't say it. Do it. Sorry is a promise to do something better. Show me. Show other people.
[22:55:06]
My goal is to show you. Talk is cheap. Save it. We talk too much. Life teaches you to do more and say less. If for no other reason, so much more is communicated with action then can ever be imparted with even the most eloquent prose.
We are what we do and not what we say. We learn that in politics every day. We're suffering under the yoke of our misplaced trust in words right now as the pandemic devours us. What we do will define us. That is true for all of us and each of us.
Life has taught me that and I hope to not just teach that lesson or learn it, but to live it. You are what you do. That's less the number two. We'll be right back.
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