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New Day

Mother Speaks Out at DNC; Jobless Claims Out; Pandemic Widens Gap between Haves and Have-Nots; Biden Accepts Nomination Tonight. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 20, 2020 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEANDRA DYCUS, TEEN SON PARALYZED IN SHOOTING: Got shot has changed his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: DeAndra Dycus joins us now. She's a gun violence prevention activist now and a member of the Every Towns Survivor Network.

DeAndra, oh my goodness. I mean it's so nice to see you this morning. And what a speech you gave. I mean just your style, your plain spokenness.

But your story, of course, is so gut-wrenching because all parents, all of us can identify with that feeling of the possibilities being endless when you have a son like you do and then in one moment it all changing.

And so, you know, tell me about the message that you wanted to deliver last night.

DYCUS: Thank you for having me this morning.

The message -- the message that I wanted to deliver last night was simply, we need gun sense legislation. And at the same time, I wanted people to see the reality of gun violence. All of my survivor friends, my survivor sisters that appeared last night, it was so amazing and so historic for gun violence to open up -- the platform of gun violence to open up the DNC last night. Our stories are real and our pain is real and that's what we wanted people to see.

CAMEROTA: Your son, DeAndra, his life obviously changed in an instant with that stray bullet. And so did your life. And so what has happened in your life in those years since he was shot?

DYCUS: Our lives have changed on every level. Not just mine, but that of my younger son as well. You know, for so many years after Dre's (ph) injury his life was touch and go. In and out of the hospital for multiple days, weeks at a time. On many occasions I have been told that this is it and that you need to come and say good-bye to your son. So, you know, it has affected us on so many levels from, you know, from my career, to mental health. It's just imperative that people understand how gun violence, it affects us on every level and it's not just in that moment, it's for a lifetime.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, it's unimaginable, actually, to think of all of the repercussions from that stray bullet. And I know that coronavirus has only made it worse. So what's happened since this pandemic?

DYCUS: Wow. A lot of video chats because my son is in a 24 hour care facility. So up until July, I could only FaceTime my baby. And you have to understand how difficult that is when Dre is not verbal or not vocal. So he would just smile. He knows my voice, so he always would just light up during our video chats. And starting in July, we were able to go and see him, but we have to stay six feet apart. I can't touch him. I can't assist him. Dre drools. I can't wipe his face. I can't do those motherly things due to Covid.

CAMEROTA: That's heartbreaking. I mean that is heartbreaking. So the facility won't let you touch or hug your son, basically?

DYCUS: No, you cannot. They put a six foot table between us and a plastic barrier on the table that we have to stay behind. But it's great. You know what, it is for the protection of the residents. That facility has been Covid free and I am really grateful for how they're protecting our children.

CAMEROTA: Was the perpetrator -- the person who shot, who fired that stray bullet ever caught?

DYCUS: No. We are over six years into this and no one has ever been turned in. No one's ever been caught. No one's even been arrested in Dre's case.

CAMEROTA: I mean I can only imagine the injustice on so many levels for you.

DYCUS: Absolutely. It's not just for me. It's pretty common. You know, we really want to teach our community, when you see something, say something, because it is imperative to get those perpetrators off of the streets. I advocate for change. I fight for change. I speak out and I am very vocal about my son's case because I don't want mothers to keep being added to this club that nobody wants to join.

CAMEROTA: I know that Dre lost the ability to speak after he was shot, but what do you think he thinks of your mission and how outspoken you've become?

DYCUS: I can only imagine that he's proud of me, as I am of him and his continuous fight. When Dre was shot and they told me, you know, you need to pull the plug, your son's quality of life will not be one that he would want to live, and I went beside his bedside and I said, Dre, if you just fight, if you just fight for this, I will be your voice, I'll be your arms and I'll be your legs until God brings us a miracle and brings you back to us. And so I'm keeping my promise and Dre is keeping his. So we're in this fight together. CAMEROTA: Well, DeAndra Dycus, your story will stay with us. And you

inspire us. And thank you very much for all you're doing on behalf of all mothers and parents around the country. Take care of yourself and your son.

DYCUS: Absolutely. Thank you so much and thank you for elevating these stories.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

John.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[08:35:01]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we have breaking news.

New jobless claims just coming in.

Christine Romans joins us now.

Romans, the wrong direction here.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We were really hoping to see another week below a million, which is just an elevated, historically high number. But instead you saw the number go the wrong way, 1.1 million new filings for unemployment. First time filings for unemployment in the most recent week. It's been 22 weeks of just catastrophe in the labor market.

Now, the continuing claims fell a little bit to 14.8 million, but that number is still so high. It just tells you what a deep hole we have dug in here in terms of the job market and really having a hard time crawling substantially out of that hole.

Overall, John, there are 28.5 million people receiving some sort of jobless benefits today in America. Twenty-eight and a half million receiving a check from the government to help -- you know, to help -- to help plug the hole from lost wages. So very, very high numbers here. And, again, going in the wrong direction, John.

BERMAN: All right, Christine Romans, very interesting. Obviously very interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks. Thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:02]

CAMEROTA: Income inequality was already a top issue in the United States, but now with the pandemic, the gap between the haves and have not's is widening.

CNN business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich joins us now with more.

Hi, Vanessa.

VANESSA YURKEVICH CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn.

Well, we just got those numbers from the Department of Labor, another 1.1 million Americans filed for unemployment. That's up from the week before. And this is at the same time that tech giant Apple was just valued at $2 trillion. At first glance, it really doesn't make sense. But if this pandemic has taught us anything, it's that it's only widening the gap between America's rich and America's poor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YURKEVICH (voice over): There are two economic realities in the U.S. right now, Wall Street is surging.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got an all-time high for the S&P.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Nasdaq looking to extend those record gains.

YURKEVICH: But on main street the economy is spiraling.

EDDIE TRAVERS, OWNER, FRAUNCES TAVERN: For us it's been a lot of -- a lot of stress.

LUCIE JOSEPH, UNEMPLOYED: It's not getting better. It's getting worse.

YURKEVICH: There's a disconnect. The stock market has recovered from the pandemic while the U.S. unemployment rate tops 10 percent.

JOHN FRIEDMAN, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, BROWN UNIVERSITY: Wall Street is primarily reflecting the profits of firms, which have a very different trajectory than the lives of workers. There's no doubt that this recession is widening the already large inequalities in this country.

YURKEVICH: The Federal Reserve helped corporate America and markets by injecting trillions into the financial system while keeping borrowing rates low. At the same time, more than 100,000 small businesses have closed, taking with them thousands of jobs.

The landmark Fraunces Tavern sits in the shadow of the New York Stock Exchange. Owner Eddie Travers says revenue is down 80 percent, even with government stimulus.

TRAVERS: It, of course, is frustrating for -- for us to look at that. To see that the stock market is doing incredibly well and for us we see it at the moment, it's not -- it's not going to be pretty for us, our families, our businesses.

YURKEVICH: Like the majority of low wage workers, Travers' employees don't have the option of working from home, as most high wage earners do.

TRAVERS: We sell an experience. You know, with an experience of visiting our restaurant, and we can't package that up and put it in the car.

YURKEVICH: That simple difference has dramatically slowed low-wage job recovery.

FRIEDMAN: High wage workers are essentially back to the employment levels that they were in February and March, whereas low-wage workers are still only half recovered.

YURKEVICH: White workers gained back nearly twice as many jobs lost as black workers during the pandemic. Latinos also trail white workers in jobs recovered.

Lucie Joseph was terminated from her job as a gas station cashier in Florida in June after she recovered from Covid. She says she was making $13 an hour.

JOSEPH: My world turned upside. It was like a knife put into my heart.

YURKEVICH: She says she's barely getting by on unemployment while she looks for a new job. A search made even more critical because of her 10-year-old son Bailey.

JOSEPH: When you're a single mother, you've got no one to help you, so you're alone. How am I going to pay rent, you know? I have got to put a roof over my son's head.

YURKEVICH: There are no record highs for Joseph and her son, only lows she's trying her best to climb out of her.

JOSEPH: How you going to say the economy coming back where everything's closing down? That's not the truth. We all suffering. I'm suffering.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YURKEVICH: One of the things that has economists very concerned is that while high-wage jobs have come back online, low-wage job earners, their jobs have stalled. The recovery was moving up, but it has stalled out. You heard from Eddie Travers in our story who is very concerned once October hits. That is when his PPP loan runs out. And that is when the weather starts to change here in New York City, Alisyn. He's very concerned that if he can't reopen indoor dining safely and he has no access to any more government stimulus, he will have to lay off the remaining employees, only adding to this record unemployment rate.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OH, this is a mess, Vanessa, and it's devastating. Thank you very much for telling these personal stories.

So our next guest spent two years as Joe Biden's speechwriter and 200 hours with Kamala Harris collaborating on her book. What could he tell us about tonight's speech and how these running mates will work together?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:48:49]

BERMAN: In just hours, Joe Biden will accept his party's nomination for president. Easily the most important speech of his life. What will he say? How will he approach it?

Standing by is a man who spent two years working with Biden, writing and revising the former vice president's speeches. He also, it turns out, spent about 200 hours collaborating with Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris on her memoir. Talk about being perfectly suited for a discussion this morning.

Joining me now is Dylan Loewe, Democratic speechwriter and strategist.

Dylan, thanks so much for being with us.

You worked on the 2012 convention speech that Joe Biden gave. What's it like to work with him on a big speech?

DYLAN LOEWE, DEMOCRATIC SPEECHWRITER: Well, I -- one thing I'll say about working with Joe Biden on a speech is that you are very likely going to be working on it until the very last moments of the delivery. I'd say 90 percent plus of the speeches that I worked on with Vice President Biden, we worked on it in the office, and then at his house, and then helicopter, on then in the plane, and then in the car on the way there.

In 2012 during the convention with 30 minutes left to go before he went on stage, we were still making final edits while we were in the suite above the convention as the crowds were roaring. So it's a bit of a stressful experience, but I think the end product is really great.

[08:50:02]

And though I have not talked to his speechwriters today, I would suspect that they've got a full day of work ahead of them.

BERMAN: How much does he stick to script?

LOEWE: I think, you know, in big speeches he definitely tends to stick to the script. And, obviously, he's got a reputation for coming off the teleprompter. And as a speechwriter, you know, part of your job is to sort of manage that process. You sit there with the teleprompter operator and your -- your job there is to sort of tell them how to manage it if -- if he comes off the prompter, how to bring him back on, et cetera.

But the thing about him that you realize, as his speechwriter, you know, even if he's coming off the script is that his very best moments come off script almost every time without exception. And so you just have to accept the fact that, you know, he's at his best off the cuff and that it's generally quite a value when he comes off.

BERMAN: You know, it's one thing to go off the cuff when you're speaking to a room of thousands of people. It's another when you're in an empty room or an empty hall. I wonder how hard that's going to be or I wonder how that will affect this speech tonight.

On a different note, again, you've called Joe Biden the most optimistic person you ever met. What do you think he should do tonight? What story is it that you think he should be telling the American people?

LOEWE: Well, I think that there's a story about America itself that ought to be told. I think we're living in incredibly dark times right now. You know, we're dealing with these crises of, you know, the Covid crisis and an economic crisis, a racial justice crisis and a Democratic legitimacy crisis. And so I think, you know, there's a degree to which we are all very afraid of what may happen in November in Donald Trump either is re-elected or seizes power. And so, you know, there's certainly that vision of America that we need to understand. But given his optimism, I think there's an opportunity for him to give us a vision, his vision, of what this country can be if we do prevail in November. And I think that there -- there's a very powerful story for him to tell there about the incredible progress that we can make if we're able to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, if we're able to get Democratic control of the Senate again. You know, there's just going to be this opportunity to pass all sorts of progressive legislation and to do it quickly. I think, you know, the first 100 days are going to be very powerful.

And so I think that it would be important tonight for him to make sure that he hits on that broad, positive vision of what he can do for us and not simply contrast the stakes between him and Donald Trump, which, while important, is something that I think we all know quite well.

BERMAN: How do you deal with the biography when you're writing for Joe Biden? And specifically I mean the pain. Because it's very real. Look, he's had a lot of years to process the death of his wife and daughter. But when he speaks about Beau Biden, you really do get the sense it's still very raw and very real. So how much of that should/do you include?

LOEWE: You know, I think you tend to -- I would tend to defer to him. You know, I -- when I worked for Vice President Biden, Beau was still with us. And so, you know, I hadn't been in the position to write for him since his passing.

But, yes, it is very raw. And I think, frankly, it always will be. And so I think you have to defer to him in terms of how he can speak about this and how he can handle it.

And, you know, there's -- there is -- you know, he has a special way of talking to folks about grief because he has felt that pain and he knows exactly how they're feeling. I think that, you know, over time he was able to do that more fulsomely and openly when referencing his wife and daughter. I think it is still hard for him at times to talk about Beau and to keep his composure. It's still just very much at the front of his mind and something that is very difficult for him. I think that, you know, he thinks of tonight as a night when, you know, one of the main things that's going to be missing is Beau there to watch him and be with him and celebrate with him when it's over.

BERMAN: That is sad.

You've also worked extensively with Kamala Harris. So I'm curious what you saw and what you heard, more importantly, from her words last night?

LOEWE: I thought she was phenomenal last night. I mean, I don't think you could ask for anything more than that. I think she showed the whole spectrum of her skills and her personality. She was warm and funny and kind and also tough and resolute. I think that was, you know, really important for people to see that. I think they think of her, you know, as this tough prosecutor who you don't want to be on the other side of. And, don't get me wrong, you do not want to be an adversary of Kamala Harris, but to know her is to know that you really do want to be her friend. And she's deeply empathetic and I think she sees leadership from a perspective that our current president doesn't, which is that leadership is about -- you know, among other things, it's about consoling people and inspiring people and lifting them up and giving them hope. And you need empathy for that. And she's got a deep well of it and so does Joe Biden. And I think, you know, it's really important for them to continue to show us that that's the kind of leadership that we can have in this country again.

BERMAN: We have about 30 seconds left. I'm very curious about what you think has been lost, or as some people have actually posited, gained with the convention being the way it is without the screaming crowds?

[08:55:06]

LOEWE: I have to say, you know, I was very skeptical and I have just been so impressed by the process. I think that there is something really special about a speech that you can give without applause. I think it's more intimate. It's more focused. And I think there's a real power in that.

I thought that Senator Harris' speech last night, for example, you know, had a really dimension to it of that emotionality. Now, obviously, it's phenomenal to have a giant crowd cheering for you and those are really fun speeches to write, don't get me wrong, but I think there's something really special about this kind of convention. And I suspect that, you know, once we're past Covid, this will still be much of the way that we do these going forward.

BERMAN: Dylan Loewe, appreciate your perspective here. It's unique to say the least. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

LOEWE: Thank you.

BERMAN: We have some new developments on schools and whether or how or if they'll be able to open safely.

CNN's coverage continues next.

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