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New Day

Michelle Obama Says, Trump is Wrong President for our Country; Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) Slams Trump's Pandemic Response at Convention; College Campuses Grapple with Coronavirus Outbreaks. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 18, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is New Day.

A convention like none we have ever seen before, highlighted by a speech like we have never seen from former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Now, we heard from voters, we heard from Joe Biden's former primary rivals, even Republicans, all with a message that the country's future is at stake in this election.

But by far, the moment of the night came from the former first lady, who delivered a surgical dissection -- as if there's any other kind of dissection -- a surgical dissection of President Trump for nearly 19 minutes. And this moment was easily the most loaded. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: The job is hard. It requires clear-headed judgment, a mastery of complex and competing issues, a devotion to facts and history, a moral compass, and an ability to listen.

Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It is what it is, she says. Why? Well, perhaps it was this moment when President Trump seems to dismiss the more than 1,000 Americans dying every day from coronavirus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN SWAN, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: 1,000 Americans are dying a day.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They are dying. That's true. And you have -- it is what it is. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN NEW DAY: So, tonight, we will hear speeches from the people the Democrats consider their rising stars, as well as headliners, Jill Biden and former President Bill Clinton. Expect to hear much more about President Trump's lack of leadership in this coronavirus pandemic.

Also, new this morning, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, one of the largest universities in the country, it had just reopened to in-person classes, and now today it is reversing course. It is going entirely remote after more than 130 students test positive for coronavirus.

UNC's student newspaper summing up the school's coronavirus policy with an F bomb, calling it a cluster-blank.

BERMAN: Charlie Foxtrot.

CAMEROTA: We will talk with an editor from that paper in just a few minutes about why she felt so strongly.

But first, the Democrats' opening night.

Joining us now to discuss it, we have CNN Political Analyst David Gregory and CNN Political Commentators Angela Rye and Bakari Sellers. Great to see all of you.

Angela, the, it is what it is, moment from Michelle Obama, tell us your thoughts and what you thought when you heard her speech.

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, good morning. I was so happy to see Michelle Obama yesterday. And per usual, the closer closed, right? She did everything she needed to do in that speech.

I think more importantly than the, it is what it is, moment that everyone's speaking about, and rightfully so, she talked deeply about empathy and what empathy looks like in this country. She talked about, you simply cannot make your way through the job. She also said that it reveals who you are, the presidency.

I think that when we all reflect upon the last four years, we know what she's talking about, whether it is children at the border in cages, whether it is the way in which Donald Trump has attacked sitting members of Congress or journalists on this very air. We know exactly what she's talking about, not only when she says, it is what it is, but when she talks about his inability to rise to the occasion and to this job.

She also talked about matters of character and it being a reflection of this country and really inviting the American people to make a different choice. I said last night, and I repeat again, I don't think last night her speech was for Democrats who are, ra-ra, and were excited to watch, even the virtual convention on air. She was talking to people who were still on the fence, perhaps even the 53 percent of white women who voted for Donald Trump the first time. Again, I said last night, and I'll repeat, I think the only shortcoming -- and it's hard to pick one from Michelle Obama -- is that there was no mention of Kamala Harris.

[07:05:01]

And I think that as a black woman, which she says in this speech, it's clear that it was -- she recorded it before Kamala's selection -- but I think that was worth a rerecord and an addition.

BERMAN: Hey, Bakari, to Angela's point about who the target of the speech may have been, I'm curious who you think it was directed at and why.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that Michelle Obama's speech last night was phenomenal, as Angela said. She was the closer. She was brought in. The night was going along. It was a decent night. I think that Michelle Obama made it exceptional. She's one of the great orators we have in our party who can take any night to another level, so let's start with that first, giving her her props and flowers where they're due.

I think last night's speech was to disaffected Democrats, and to some people, especially younger voters who sat out 2016. She said something last night that stuck out to me, which bears repeating, which is quote line I hope people will clip throughout the day, which she said, you know I hate politics, right? And she was very real about that.

And everyone knows, we always -- whenever somebody needs a candidate for any office in America, it could be the local mayor of the smallest city in the smallest state, and they say, why don't we get Michelle Obama to run? And everybody's response uniformly is, we know Michelle Obama hates politics. But she loves this country.

And so, you know, she's putting country before anything else, and she's telling people, this election is bigger than that. You don't have to be Gregory, Rye, or Sellers to get out of bed and come be a part of this process. Everyone needs to be a part of this process.

And, John, let me tell you, the last thing that I appreciate last night is something that Angela does to me all the time, and my friends like Britney and LaTosha Brown, something only a black woman can do. The way that she cut Kanye West last night with a smile, without even mentioning his name, it was just so polite and so well done. She told Kanye to go sit somewhere and go sit in a corner and be quiet. This is too important for anyone else to come out here and be playing these games. And so, I appreciated that as well.

CAMEROTA: Well, let's play a little bit more from Michelle Obama last night and then we'll get your thoughts, David.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Let's be clear, going high does not mean putting on a smile and saying nice things when confronted by viciousness and cruelty. Going high means unlocking the shackles of lies and mistrust with the only thing that can truly set us free, the cold-hard truth.

So, let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. If you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this. If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will, if we don't make a change in this election. If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: David, what stuck with you from her speech or from the rest of the night?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, that piece of the speech was so powerful, because I don't think this was about exciting the Democratic base as much as it was motivating the Democratic base, right? The fierce urgency of now, get your mail-in ballot in tonight. There is not a choice here.

I thought that's what she said so powerfully last night, the idea that things can actually get worse. And she means on so many levels, from racial injustice to the pandemic to corruption, to incompetence. She's saying, we've got to act as Democrats. And I think that's what was missing, right?

What is one of the enduring legacies of 2016 is not everybody got out to vote. And then you see what the ramifications are if you are opposed to Trump, if you are a Democrat. So, that's what she said very powerfully.

I thought the other important point was incompetence. You know, I think that is what gets beyond the Democratic base, beyond the Democrat who is a Trump critic to, perhaps, other Republicans, to suburban women, other voter groups that actually -- even Obama voters who voted for Trump, to say he's in over his head. I thought that was an incredibly powerful line.

And just to the T.V. part of this, I do think it's extraordinary, as Angela and Bakari said, how good Michelle Obama is. I mean, she's a better speaker than anybody else you heard last night, and she transcended the medium, which was a bit stilted because it was, you know, all they could do, and yet, she transcended that. That was -- you don't get much better than that if you're the nominee, except to make sure that she's on Monday and you don't go until Thursday.

BERMAN: And, David, what about the non-subtle, like -- I mean, aggressively non-subtle message from the rest of the evening, everyone from Bernie Sanders to John Kasich.

[07:10:03]

John Kasich literally standing at a crossroads when he's telling Republican voters that it's worth voting for Joe Biden and explicitly telling them not to worry about Biden going too far left. How important do you think that message was? GREGORY: Well, I think it's important. I mean, again, it's not about whether Kasich has a big political constituency right now. Does he have any? But he said something that was important to conservatives who would consider Kasich a conservative going back to his days in the House, which is, don't be afraid of the left, right? Because that's going to be the criticism is that, you know, for all the rest that's said is, you may not like Trump, but be afraid of the left. And that's what Kasich was there to do, was to say he's not going to be pushed around.

You know, and I agree with Angela. I mean, I think that talking about Kamala Harris is important on many levels, including, my view, that she does send a message that Biden is saying, look, I'm a progressive, party has moved away from Bill Clinton, even from Obama, but I'm not going to choose someone who is ideologically extreme. Republicans may try to paint her that way, but, in fact, she is not and I'm not, and I think that's what the Republicans were trying to say to others who are not Democrats watching last night.

CAMEROTA: Angela, there was another personal moment last night, a personal story, a young woman whose father had just died from coronavirus. And he had been healthy, a healthy 65-year-old. And she talked about his own pre-existing condition. So, here's that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTIN URQUIZA, FATHER DIED OF CORONAVIRUS: My dad was a healthy 65- year-old. His only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump. And for that, he paid with his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Your thoughts, Angela?

RYE: Yes. Again, one of the most powerful moments of the night, I think, only second to the first lady. This moment echoes and just really hunkers us down in the truth of how severe our lives have shifted since coronavirus. But, yes, we might have to wear masks. We might have to stay inside. People have to wash your hands for longer than you used to, right? But this woman lost her father. And there are too many stories like that.

There's this woman in the Detroit area, Beva Adams, I believe, is her last name, who lost her mother and her grandmother, you know, this year from coronavirus. This is very, very serious. And for so many folks who don't want to just change their behavior a little bit, she reminds us not just that it's a political tactic, but the severity of coronavirus, the fact that it doesn't care what ideological spectrum you sit on, it really is about shifting our behavior and understanding how to deal with pandemics so that American people and everywhere all over the globe can live.

I thought it was a very powerful moment because it also needed to remind all of us that, yes, you might be tired of quarantine and being, you know, where you are and doing virtual Zooms -- I'm really tired of Zoom. But when you think about what's on the other side if you don't do what you're supposed to do, I think it spoke volumes.

BERMAN: Bakari, we only have about 20 seconds left. Bernie Sanders, a different Bernie Sanders than 2016.

SELLERS: Yes. Bernie Sanders has realized something that I'm happy that he has, which is the simple fact that this is not an adversarial process when we get to this point. This is a time when we have to unify. Bernie Sanders got concessions from Joe Biden, but the Bernie Sanders we saw last night was the Bernie Sanders we need going forward. He's one of the most influential members of our party.

And, John, I will just tell you, it was a great night. The only thing that was missing on night one, as you already know, was Taylor Swift.

BERMAN: I saw that coming. I saw it coming. From like 30 seconds away, I saw it coming.

SELLERS: That was the only thing we missed.

BERMAN: You're an open book, Bakari Sellers. Bakari, Angela Rye, David Gregory, thanks to all of you.

SELLERS: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, you heard the unifying message talking about everyone, from Bakari Sellers to John Kasich. One of the speakers last night, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, talking about the president's response to the pandemic, she joins us next

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

CAMEROTA: More than 170,000 Americans have been killed by coronavirus. President Trump's handling of the pandemic is a major focal point at the Democratic Convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will lead by example. It will be science, not politics or ego, that will drive their decisions. They know the health of our people goes hand in hand with the strength of our economy. They know action begets action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: And Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer joins us now. Good morning, Governor.

WHITMER: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Beyond your own speech, what most stood out to you from last night?

WHITMER: Well, I think everyone knows that Michelle Obama knocked it out of the ballpark. She was fantastic in terms of really talking one on one to the American people. And that's a hard thing to do in this virtual convention, but I think she really encapsulated how high the stakes are, what the kind of -- what this job entails and how devastating it's been for our nation, our economy, our health, not to have the person in the White House who gets it.

CAMEROTA: There was also a young woman who told her personal story about how her previously healthy 65-year-old father died of coronavirus. And she said that his only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump.

So, let me just play a few more moments from her speech for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URQUIZA: The coronavirus has made it clear that there are two Americas, the America that Donald Trump lives in and the America that my father died in. One of the last things that my father said to me was that he felt betrayed by the likes of Donald Trump. And so, when I cast my vote for Joe Biden, I will do it for my dad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:20:00]

CAMEROTA: That's heartbreaking, Governor. And, I mean, I'm sure you see those two Americas that she's referring to. I'm sure that you come across Michiganders who do not believe that coronavirus is as bad as doctors and science say it is. And so, how do you convince people so that they -- before they get sick, like her father did?

WHITMER: Well, I think it's by ensuring that we run a convention that is reaching out to people, that is based on science and fact, and tell stories like hers, as heartbreaking as it is and as hard as it must be for her to share that story.

It's important that people understand, leadership matters. Our standing in the world has been diminished by Donald Trump, our ability to fight a virus. We are at the wealthiest country in the world, and yet, we are having the worst outcomes and the worst economic impact because of the mishandling of this virus.

You know, Donald Trump did not create the coronavirus, but he is in charge of our response to it. The numbers of death, the numbers of unemployed, the numbers of bankruptcy are all on his watch. And that's why this election matters so much, and that's why it's so incumbent on all of us to reach out about Joe's economic plan, about Kamala Harris' leadership and vision for America.

And I think that there is a place for everyone in this moment and in this movement. It is, without question, the most important election of our lifetimes and one of the most important elections in our nation's history.

CAMEROTA: CNN released a very interesting poll yesterday, and it looked at where President Trump is versus Joe Biden in the battleground states, and they are neck and neck in this CNN poll. Biden has 49 percent. Donald Trump has 48 percent.

So, to Michiganders who may have voted for Donald Trump in 2016 but who are swing voters, you know, who are independents, what do you think that they heard last night that they didn't know?

WHITMER: Well, I think Michiganders, generally, are good, hard- working people who simply want the opportunity to live a better life and to make sure that their kids do as well. Some of them voted for Donald Trump in 2016. He won Michigan by less than 11,000 votes. I've seen some polling that has a double-digit lead for Joe Biden. I don't buy it for a second, never have. I know that this is going to be a tight election.

And that's precisely why I'm grateful that Joe Biden put out an economic plan that is focused on manufacturing and jobs for Americans, ensuring we have a level playing field, because we can compete with anyone on the planet if we have that level playing field. And to have a president whose gotten an agenda and focused on the economy, on our pocketbooks and ensuring that everyone has a real path to a good life in this country is what resonates. And I think that was heard throughout the speeches last night.

But also, we in Michigan know we've got to follow science. I've had to make some tough decisions, but Michigan is in a stronger position than a lot of other parts of our country because we followed the science. And that's what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris know as well, and that's why we need a national strategy so that we can take care of the health of our people and the strength of our economy.

CAMEROTA: Speaking of Kamala Harris, we haven't spoken to you since Joe Biden picked her as his running mate. And I know that your name was always mentioned as being in contention. Now that it's all over, can you share with us a little bit about what that process was like?

WHITMER: It's nothing surprising. It was intensive, and it certainly was an honor to be asked to go through it. I'm very pleased. You know, I'm really, really enthusiastic, and I think the world of Kamala Harris.

So, this is kind of the best-case scenario. I get to keep my dream job in my home state I've always lived in with three generations of my family and have two best friends in Washington, D.C., when we get them elected.

CAMEROTA: Governor Gretchen Whitmer, thank you very much. Great to get your perspective on everything that happened last night. Thanks for being here.

WHITMER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: And more of the very big guests coming up.

BERMAN: Chuck Schumer's coming up. I can tell by what's on the screen there, coming up in a little while.

CAMEROTA: Senator Chuck Schumer is actually going to come up. BERMAN: And also, coming up, we're going to have much more on the big pandemic news of today. University of North Carolina saying that they are canceling in-person schooling. Much more on that, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: A major development in the national push to get back to school. After just one week, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is abandoning in-person classes after dozens of students were infected with coronavirus. 155 students also under quarantine at Colorado College after a new student arrived on campus with the virus there.

Joining us now is CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, what's happening at UNC is remarkable. It took one week, one week, they had in-person classes, they had the students comeback and they had to shut it down. So, what did they do wrong and what does it tell us about any school being able to reopen?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no, it's a good question. I mean, this is a very unforgiving virus, first of all. I mean, it's very contagious, as we've talked about. It's been the one constant in all of this. If someone is not diligent about their public health practices, if they're not honest, if they're not transparent, the virus will get right in there and start to spread. That's the concern.

And it's very hard on a college campus. I mean, you know, people want to get together. They're going to, you know, probably, maybe be somewhat diligent, at least publicly about these public health practices, but closed-door parties, whatever it might be, and the virus doesn't care. In those cases, it starts to spread.

I think there were some specific things. I mean, there were recommendations made by the Orange County Department of Health, that's the county in North Carolina where the university is located, saying, basically, you should be primarily online, except for people who have absolute housing needs. And the university decided instead to go to about two-thirds of the university being full, and that just wasn't enough.

[07:30:03]

I can tell you, the chancellor of the university, Kevin Guskiewicz, someone I know, smart guy, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient.

END