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S.E. Cupp Unfiltered
President Trump Continued His 2018 Greatest Hits Tour With Greatest Rally Just Hours Ago In Elko, Nevada; President Of The United States Is Using Immigrant Families Fleeing Violence And Pain To Gin Up Fear Among His Base; U.S. Is Pulling Out Of The Intermediate Range Nuclear Forced Treaty With Russia; Polling Indicates Democrats Are Maintaining A 2018 Lead; Saudi Arabia Has Finally Admitted Jamal Khashoggi Is Dead. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired October 20, 2018 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:00:12] S.E. CUPP, CNN HOST: Welcome to UNFILTERED.
Here's today's headlines, 17 days President Trump continued his 2018 greatest hits tour with greatest rally just hours ago in Elko, Nevada, part of a multistate tour of Trump country in intended to fire up voters in front of these crucial midterm elections.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Democrat party is become an angry rootless unhinged mob, so Democrats produce mobs. Republicans produce jobs. That's become hashtag, right. That's called hashtag. The single greatest ally that the Democrats have is the fake news media. This will be the election of Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order, tax cuts and common sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUPP: For more on this let me bring in CNN correspondent Boris Sanchez who is at the White House tonight.
Boris, what did you see at tonight's rally?
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there, S.E. To some degree, this was, as you noted, the President's greatest reiterating lines on Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the caravan, et cetera. But in some ways this was a flashback to the candidate Trump that we saw back in 2016. That sort of doomsday rhetoric elevating the midterm elections potentially to a life or death proposition, not just for his presidency or his agenda but for the entire country.
At one point the President suggested that Democrats were trying to help undocumented immigrants to secure precious resources that belong to American citizens. The President actually said, if you want to save the country, you have to vote presumably Republican.
We can likely expect more of this coming from President Trump as we get closer to November 6th. Sources have indicated he has been warn of what could happen if a blue wave hits Congress, not only a threat of attempted impeachment but a long term intrusive investigations into his business dealings and the people closest to him.
The President does have an event on Monday in Texas, the local for one of the highest profile Senate races in these midterm elections. He heads to Wisconsin later in the week where there is a contested governors, and he ends the week in North Carolina where there are a number of heated house races. We should note that's what's on the schedule right now. It is likely we will see more events added as the week progresses - S.E.
CUPP: Boris Sanchez, thanks for joining me tonight.
There are just over two weeks standing between today and these crucial midterm elections where it's very much a contest between who is angrier in America, the right or the left. Trump knows this. And to that end he is pulling out all the stops.
Earlier today he called Democrats unhinged. He also tried out some new insults for Joe Biden at today's rally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We call him either sleepy Joe Biden or one percent. Which is better? She said creepy Joe. I would never do that. I would never insult him like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUPP: No, calling someone creepy is beneath him. But just the past few days he has called a woman who was suing him for defamation horse- face. He also suggested Democrats are behind the caravan of thousands of hundred Hondurans fleeing violence. Something he double downed on today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The Democrats want caravans. They like the caravans. A lot of people say I wonder who started that caravan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUPP: Let's not forget he also applauded a Republican member of Congress for assaulting a journalist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Greg is smart. And by the way, never wrestle him. You understand that? Never. Any guy that can do a body slam, he is my candidate. He is my man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUPP: It's worth noting the President could be focusing just on a booming economy, record unemployment, but this low hanging fruit is just too tempting to pass up. Here's the deal, Trump is trying out a new line that these midterms
are going to be about Kavanaugh and the caravan. He's likely not wrong. It's no secret the Republican base is motivated by illegal immigration. And I have been saying for weeks now that the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing awakened an angry silent majority that the left is not anticipating.
He is not wrong. But at what cost? The President of the United States has chosen to believe a bogus Saudi explanation for the brutal murder of a "Washington Post" journalist. At what cost to democracy? The President of the United States is backslapping a U.S. congressman for assaulting a journalist. At what caused the freedom of the press?
President of the United States is using immigrant families fleeing violence and pain to gin up fear among his base. At what cost to human decency? Republicans may do very well in November, I think better than most are expecting but at what cost?
All right. For more on this, I want to bring in Former Arizona governor Jan Brewer.
Governor Brewer, good to see you.
[18:05:25] JAN BREWER (R), FORMER ARIZONA GOVERNOR: Hi.
CUPP: Hi. You were at yesterday's rally in Maze, Arizona, your home town where your home state where there is tight Senate race between Martha McSally, Republican interest and Sinema, Democrat. President Trump obviously enjoys giving these performances. He's very good at them. But don't you think that some of this rhetoric gets in the way of an otherwise compelling economic message?
BREWER: Well, you know, S.E. I think that there is nobody better than President Trump to energize the base and mobilize the troops out there. And it is getting, you know, it's silly time now and everybody is doing all kinds of different things. But I think the American people overwhelmingly understand just exactly what is important. And it's like what you related to, you know, I think we are all worried about our economy, our jobs, you know. And we are worried about our security, not only our border security.
CUPP: Sure.
BREWER: But our national security. And I think that President Trump has delivered. President Trump has delivered on his promises.
CUPP: But so how does horse-face fit into that?
BREWER: Well, I don't know how that fits into it, you know. I think that it's given the media a lot of things to talk about. It's not something that I, you know, would say. But he did say it. And, you know, some people I think probably enjoyed it because they just don't like her and they don't like her attorney. You know, is it respectful, in my opinion? Not so much.
CUPP: Well, governor, I ask about horse-face. Woman to woman, Republican to Republican, in particular because Republican Party has been losing ground with educated white women over the past several years. It's a demographic something that they can count on. But, you know, coupled Trumps sometimes misogynist rhetoric within immigration policy that's ripping children away from mothers, his shaming of victims of sexual assault, I just wonder if you think Republicans will pay a price with women, women like me?
BREWER: Well, I think the majority of women care as much as men in regards to the economy and jobs.
CUPP: Of course we do.
BREWER: And taxes. And we know that they have been successful, so. And I think they believe in security in regards to borders. I mean, we have had a terrible problem here in the United States. It's out of control. We can all see the visual images on TV. And it's unrest. It is something that -- it can't be tolerated. We are, as you are well aware, you know, we are a country of rules. We believe in the rule of law.
CUPP: Sure.
BREWER: And to have this going on in our country is not acceptable to most people, including women.
CUPP: I agree with that. And as a Republican women I have been telling people on the left and the media for years, women care about security, women care about the economy, women care about taxes, totally. But are you just hoping that women, this generation, future generations sort of compartmentalize all of the awful things that Trump has said about women and to women and just sort of put that away and just vote on policies?
BREWER: Well, no. You know, I want them to focus on what's good for our country. And what's good for our country -- calling names, I mean, it doesn't mean much to me. I mean, I don't like it but it doesn't mean much to me. I think that if you are educated and you care about your families, that if you see and you look and you receive the benefits of what have been delivered and will continue to be delivered by a Republican administration, you know, they will vote Republican. And, you know, we are looking for Democrat votes and we are looking for independent votes.
CUPP: Right.
BREWER: And he mobilizes people. He causes that excitement.
CUPP: So for the record, governor, you don't agree what Greg (INAUDIBLE) did to a journalist last year, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him to the ground for asking a question, right?
BREWER: Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
CUPP: And I think we can agree that violence of any kind against a reporter or anyone is unacceptable. So when the President says any guy who can do a body slam, he is my type, isn't that sending a really bad message?
BREWER: Well, it is a message that, you know, it's not well received by myself and others, I would assume. But I also believe, you know, Hillary Clinton says, you know, that you are not going to tolerate civil unrest. I mean, if they don't agree with us, then we are not going to be civil I think was her quote. Then you have Rahm Emanuel out there saying when they go low, kick, kick and throwing rocks at our headquarters.
[18:10:09] CUPP: It was Eric Holder.
BREWER: Yes, Eric Holder. I'm sorry.
CUPP: Yes.
BREWER: And they are throwing rocks through our windows at our headquarters here in Arizona with f-Trump through the window. And so, you know, we have this unrest going from New York to California. People need to focus on the real issues. We have got serious issues debate are both is on.
CUPP: Yes. That's what people should step up and listen to. All this other stuff is just, you know, forget it. Just move forward.
CUPP: Wish I could when the President of the United States is saying it though you have to pay attention.
Lastly, you mentioned Hillary Clinton. I do want to get your opinion on something she said this week. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In retrospect, do you think bill should have resigned in the wake of the Monica Lewinski scandal?
HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Absolutely not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wasn't an abuse power?
CLINTON: No. No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are people who look at the incidents of the '90s and they say a president of the United States cannot have a consensual relationship with the intern. The power imbalance is too great.
CLINTON: She was adult. But let me ask you this. Where is the investigation of the current incumbent against whom numerous allegations have been made? And which he dismisses, denies, and ridicules.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUPP: You know, governor, I have discussed the many allegations against Donald Trump which I find to be credible. But I was floored to hear a woman in 2018, any woman but especially a woman and a Democrat who wanted to be President suggest earnestly that the age of consent somehow indemnifies a man against abusing his power. Is Hillary the gift that keeps on giving to Republican?
BREWER: Absolutely. Just keep her on TV and keep her out in public because that was outrageous on what she said because it was adult. That she not think that -- she was 18 years old by the way and it took place in the White House in the oval office, I mean, in our house. And to say that she was a consensual adult, come on. That's outrageous. You know, they talk out of both sides of their mouth.
CUPP: Governor Jan Brewer, I really appreciate you coming on tonight. Would you say hello to my favorite state for me?
BREWER: I will. And come visit us.
CUPP: You know I will.
All right. Up next, Democrats are seeing stars in 2020, but have some already burned out.
And later we will look at whether November polling is worth believing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:16:28] CUPP: The midterms are just a few weeks away but Democrats still looking ahead to 2020. Earlier today, former vice president Joe Biden spoke to union workers in Las Vegas, for no reason I'm sure. Senator Bernie Sanders is swinging through Iowa and South Carolina today for no reason, I'm sure. Yesterday, senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris were both in South Carolina for no reason, I'm sure. And last week, Democrat billionaire Michael Bloomberg was seen glad handing in New Hampshire for no reason I'm sure.
But claiming the for no reason I'm sure prize, Senator Elizabeth Warren this week released a splashy ad about her Oklahoma routes. She is senator in Massachusetts by the way. And her DNA results which proved she was part Native American in no meaningful way.
For more on Democrats 2020 spectacular, spectacular, let me bring in former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party, Democratic strategist, Basil Smikle, and Republican strategist Doug Heye.
Battle. Let's get it out of the way. What the hell was Elizabeth Warren thinking?
BASIL SMIKLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I have no idea. It was a terrible electoral sort of campaign related strategy. So let me say that.
CUPP: Wait. This was a strategy. Let's hear it.
SMIKLE: Apparently, it was. She should have done this like two years ago. But that aside, why this is actually infuriating to me?
CUPP: OK. SMIKLE: Is because whatever she has connection she has with Native
American, migrate great, great, great, that's three greats, great, great, great grandfather is white from Scotland, none of his white privilege translates to me.
CUPP: OK.
SMIKLE: So I can't go around saying that I'm white or that I am Scottish. I can't wear a kilt (INAUDIBLE).
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You can't.
SMIKLE: I could but it would be a little awkward. So that point, you know, it bothers me because, you know, sort of race and ethnicity of minorities that is not something that you wear like a costume. It's a life lived. And if you are African-American sometimes a burden.
(CROSSTALK)
SMIKLE: Well, I don't have problem with identity politics.
HEYE: You should.
SMIKLE: Is your identity authentic? That's what's concerning to me.
CUPP: Right.
SMIKLE: And that's why I think it's just so hypocritical. It bothers me.
CUPP: I mean, that's a really good point, Doug. And far more substantive thank the point I'm going to make. This was so stupid as a PR room.
HEYE: Yes.
CUPP: You are a PR coms, you know, political professional. She didn't call Cherokee nation to ask or tip them off, which would have been like job one, to avoid the backlash that she got. I mean, should she fire everyone that works for her?
HEYE: No, because this comes from her. This was clearly her decision. We are going to do this. We are going to take the lead on this. We are going to do it before the elections to kick this off. This is when the staff rolls their eyes and tries to figure out how they can placate the boss and not make a mistake at the same time. And so, you know, it's not what we have seen this week. It is not Donald Trump getting the best of Elizabeth Warren here. Elizabeth Warren got the best of her. And the story unraveled as the numbers unraveled.
CUPP: Yes, it did.
Let's talk about Joe Biden among the contenders for 2020. He is the Democrat who speaks middle America the most convincingly. I'm not sure he could win a primary. Do you? SMIKLE: Listen, I think he can. And if you are a voter that believes
that our candidate, Democratic candidate should be able to match wits with similar personality as Donald Trump, he is our guy.
CUPP: Do you think he is progressive enough for this new liberal Democratic Party?
SMIKLE: Here is a thing. I actually don't think the next president after Donald Trump four years or eight years.
CUPP: OK.
SMIKLE: It needs to necessarily have that progressive ideology that you are referring to.
CUPP: Right.
SMIKLE: It has to be I think largely custodial. Why? Because that president is going to be undoing almost everything that Donald Trump has done. So, it is less - I think the ideologies support. But if you elect him I think you will have it to some extent. But the key is that person is going to have to, a, get elected and, b, spend a lot of time doing the last four years.
[18:20:18] CUPP: Doug, longtime adviser to Hillary Clinton, Philippe Reines said he leaves the door open to another Hillary Clinton run. What do you make of that?
HEYE: Three words, make it stop. God, please. Make it stop.
This would be like knowing the titanic would sink before the titanic is launch.
CUPP: Yes, right.
HEYE: This is - it is not going to happen. She is not going to win. Her message is I lost to Donald Trump, which is one that really reverberate well in the Democratic community. But I also say one thing that people underrate about Joe Biden. There is no other white Democratic politician who has more credibility in the African-American community than Joe Biden does because of his work with Barack Obama. And he can go in those communities in ways that a lot of white Democrats can't with credibility.
CUPP: Yes.
HEYE: And that is big what in the Democratic Party.
SMIKLE: If he gets Barack Obama's in from the tour, that is the question. Does he actually get that in the conscience of primary (ph), I don't know. I think there is a lot of truth in what you are saying, but that might have been the case if he had Barack Obama not picked him to be his vice president but it remains to be seen.
CUPP: Yes. OK. For what it's worth, here is my advice to Democrats, want to win,
stop defending Hillary Clinton. She is terrible. You don't need her. She lost the presidency, twice, once to another Democrat, and the other to Donald Trump. Get off the Clinton crack pipe. It's rotting your brains. Thank you.
SMIKLE: Thank you.
CUPP: All right. Election Day will be a blue wave or a red dawn or a toss-up. I will read the midterm tea leaves next.
And coming up Trump is taking the Republican Party to total control of Washington, but at what cost to conservatism?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:274:00] CUPP: Breaking now, President Trump just told reporters that the U.S. is pulling out of the intermediate range nuclear forced treaty with Russia. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The Russia has violated the agreement. They have been violating it for many years, and I don't know why President Obama didn't negotiate or pull out. And we are not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons. And we are not allowed to.
We are the ones that have stayed in the agreement and we have honored the agreement but Russia has not, unfortunately honored the agreement so we are going to terminate the agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUPP: President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachav signed the treaty in 1987. But the Trump White House believes that puts the U.S. at a disadvantage when it comes to countering a Chinese arms buildup since China faces no such constraint on intermediate range and nuclear missiles.
Nation security adviser John Bolton is expected to tell Russian leadership about the INF exit on his trip next week.
We will be back in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:27:19] CUPP: In the Red Files tonight, a recent CNN poll shows two-thirds of women voters say they are more likely to vote Democrat. In a generic head to head ballot match-up, 54 percent of voters say they are supporting a Democrat in their district, 41 percent say they are backing a Republican.
So the polling indicates Democrats are maintaining a 2018 lead. Some might even say a strong lead. But are they really? Nate Silver of 538 reports he is seeing a trend for midterm elections predictions that those same over statements that crashed and burned in 2016, particularly in the media. Silver told the "Washington Post" this week there is a 40 percent chance that both houses of Congress will end up in the hands of one party.
Joining me now is senior writer and analyst for CNN politics Harry Enten.
Harry, your latest forecast has Democrats winning the house majority, maintaining the Senate. I have been saying I will not be surprised if Republicans keep the House. Is there is a scenario you can see ha happening?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER/ANALYST: Absolutely. I mean, look. I think the one thing we learn from 2016 is you don't just take one poll and run with it.
CUPP: Have we learned that, Harry?
ENTEN: I would like to think we learned it. I mean, I have sort of tried to get people to learn it, maybe not.
CUPP: Yes.
ENTEN: I mean, look. Take that generic congressional ballot question that you just asked about, right. If you look at the average of polls that actually suggest the Democratic lead in the high-single-digits. That would still put them probably on their way to a House majority, but certainly not as large of a majority to say a 13-point advantage would.
CUPP: So you talk about not taking one poll and running with it. That was a problem. The other problem though was polling didn't accurately reflect what people, how people were going to vote. There were a lot of Trump voters who didn't answer polls. They didn't feel comfortable sharing their inclinations. Do you think we can see that again? Taking poll averages, if people aren't telling us who they are going to vote for, what do they matter?
ENTEN: Sure. I mean, look. Polls garbage in, garbage out, right.
CUPP: OK.
ENTEN: But if you look at the 2017 & 2018 cycle so far, right. We have a number of special elections most predominantly in Alabama. And I looked at those numbers. And what you in fact found was the Democrats were actually outperforming their polling, not the Republicans. So I think one of the key lessons from 2016 isn't so much to think Republicans will outperformed the polls. Rather that polls have a margin of error and we should adhere to that and recognize that hey, there could a narrow that benefit the Republicans, but it is just likely that there could be an error that benefit the Democrats.
CUPP: Right.
OK. So, the women vote as you know could ends up being significant in these midterms. A lot of suburban women voted for President Trump in 2016. That was not necessarily reflected in the poll. Could this be the same case in November for women in particular?
[18:30:07] ENTEN: It could be. I should point out for just overall as well is that we are looking at the largest gender gap dating back since at least in 1978 for a midterm election.
CUPP: Yes.
ENTEN: So, you know, look. I would say, of course, it could be the case that the polls are not measuring women voters in the suburbs. But the other thing that I will point out that I think is important, right, was that there was specific under estimation of Republican strength in the upper Midwest in 2016.
CUPP: Yes, right.
ENTEN: What we are seeing right now is the Democrats are playing a lot of different places, right. They are playing in the upper Midwest but they are also playing in California where they might pick up a lot of seats. Might pick up seats in Texas. They might pick up seats in the interior northeast.
So if there is a polling error that targets a specific group and the pollsters aren't picking that up, Democrats could still get the majority because maybe they are out perform with another group.
CUPP: OK. Yes, specifically, I'm hearing from Democrats they are worried about underperforming with Hispanic voters. So they are trying to sort of balance out the different demos there. On the other side, I'm not hearing a lot of people, even Democrats themselves suggesting that Democrats will win the Senate. Is that a possibility?
ENTEN: I mean, yes, it is. But the math is very difficult, right. Because Democrats need a network of two. They already control 26 seats of the 35 seats that are up. But they are doing OK in Arizona and Nevada so that gets them the two. But then they are trailing badly in the state of North Dakota. So that meant you have to find another seat. The best opportunity is right in Texas with Beto O'Rourke who I think is more popular in the upper west side.
CUPP: One hundred percent. I have been calling him the Wendy Davis of 2018.
ENTEN: Right. I mean, I think he will do a little better than Wendy Davis. Yes, he has a shot on the final phase of the campaign.
CUPP: And a lot of money.
ENTEN: He has ha lot money but he is clearly an underdog or you can go to Tennessee with Bill Bredesen.
CUPP: Sure.
ENTEN: And there is one poll out this week that did show him up by a point, but the overall average hasn't down publicly by about four to five point. That's what my forecast currently has.
CUPP: OK.
ENTEN: So I mean, you are just going through a lot of different scenarios. It is tough for Democrats. But look, they still have a shot. Let's wait and see. There are still margins of error.
CUPP: OK. All right. Harry Enten, jump ball. Thanks.
All right. Up next, is conservatism in a coma?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:36:37] CUPP: I want to take you back to July of 2015. Donald Trump was appearing at a conference for religious conservatives in Iowa and he was asked about John McCain. Remember this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured, OK. I hate to tell you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUPP: Well, to state the obvious, smearing and mocking one of the Republican Party's most respected leaders and one of our military's greatest heroes as a Republican candidate for president would not end up being disqualifying for Trump. For conservatives like me this was the first of many signs that something was amiss in the Republican Party.
The insults of course continued from mocking a disabled journalist to attacking a gold star family. Every time he went low, Republicans in Congress and many Republican voters stooped down to meet him and give him cover.
Now Trump supporters are trying to smear Jamal Khashoggi on behalf of the President. Not because he opposed Trump, but simply to justify Trump's muted response to his brutal murder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COREY STEWART (R), VIRGINIA SENATE CANDIDATE: One thing we have to understand is Khashoggi was not a good guy himself.
HARRIS FAULKNER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Now some things have come out and we are just reporting the facts, you know. Listen, we don't have to fall down one way or the other on this. But khashoggi was tied to the Muslim brotherhood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUPP: And there was this at a rally this week, Trump voters burst into rabbit (ph), almost peril applause when he boasted about a Republican House candidate assaulting a reporter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Greg is smart. And by the way never wrestle him. You understand that? Never. Any guy that can do a body slam, he is my candidate. He's my guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUPP: Guys, here's what I want you to know. This is not conservatism. These are not conservative values. This is, however, arguably and lamentably, today's Republican Party.
Republican U.S. senator and CNN senior political commentator Rick Santorum and CNN chief media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" Brian Stelter join me now.
Senator Santorum, we can talk about tax cuts, unemployment, the Supreme Court, those are very important things to you, to me, to a lot of conservatives. But when we look back, do you think conservatives will be proud of some of the things that Republicans defended?
RICK SANTORUM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. And I don't think we should be defending the things that are indefensible. That's not to say that everything the President says, obviously, is indefensible. But things that are clearly outside of bounds, like attacking a gold star mother. Things like that. I mean, there are things, you know, and I think a lot of Republicans have done that, you are right, a lot have not. A lot have just whatever the President does, they find a reason to justify it.
CUPP: Yes.
SANTORUM: And I think that's wrong. And I think it actually has caused, you know, encourages the President to do more things that are irresponsible that hurt him and hurt the country and hurt the Republican cause and conservative cause.
CUPP: But does it hurt him? I mean, smearing a murdered journalist that is happening.
SANTORUM: Sure it does.
CUPP: Applauding the assault of a journalist. I don't know, maybe Trump supporters would smear a dying child if he said something critical of the President. I'm not sure it's hurting him. His approval among his base is pretty high.
[18:40:01] SANTORUM: Well, I think it's hurting him, obviously. Outside the base, it's clearly hurting him. All you can do is look at all these Republicans in trouble in suburban districts that have traditionally voted Republican.
CUPP: Yes.
SANTORUM: It's hurting him. It's hurting the Republican Party and a lot of areas. And it's unnecessary. That's the thing that's so upsetting about all this. He doesn't need to go there in order to make his case. I think he can be tough on the media. I actually like the fact that he is tough on the media, but he always go, not always, but often goes too far.
CUPP: Too far.
SANTORUM: And I think it undermines and undermines his legitimate criticism of the left wing media.
CUPP: Right.
Brian, to that, Steve Scalise, Republican congressman who I know and respect, tweeted yesterday, President Trump was clearly ribbing congressman Gianforte for the last year's incident which he apologized for last year. It is obvious, he was not encouraging his supporters to engage in attacks and not one person harassed the numerous media reporters who were present.
To Rick's point, you don't have to defend everything that the President says. You don't have to justify it or try to contort yourself to explain it. And yet even decent, good lawmakers like Steve Scalise seem to want to do that for him.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN BUSINESS CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think in some ways, you know, this is one of the rare cases silence would have been better or not weigh in at all. I think when we see where this Gianforte thing where Trump is out there praising the congressman, it is this in group, out group behavior. The crowd there is the in group. The reporters are the out group.
And Scalise is wrong when he says there is no harassment of the reporters at these rallies. He may not have been aware of any harassment of that particular rally. But certainly, reporters out in the press con are harassed at Trump rally. There is a lot yelling for them. There were some troubling incidents especially during the campaign 2016.
But I think what we are seeing here is something deeper. You know, the view of Trump and some of his fans is reporters are pesky (ph). They get in the way. They are annoying. They get in the way of our agenda. So, if you have to body slam a reporter, there is something that's acceptable or even comical about that, again, in this framing of in group and out group, there is something OK about it because somehow you are getting rid of that reporter and they are asking pesky (ph) questions. I think that is the psychology of what is going on when Trump phrases Gianforte. He was also just playing for laughs in the arena, right.
CUPP: Yes.
Well, Senator Santorum, you mention that you don't think this is helpful for Trump. I think a lot of people believe Republicans will pay a price for all of this in November. I'm not sure they will. I think Republicans will do just fine in November. But pitch forward a year, two, five, ten, do you worry that conservatism suffers? That you and I have harder time convincing young people, women, minority, anyone else, that are your policies are better? SANTORUM: Well, look, as you know, S.E., I was one of the original
authors of the blue color conservative movement within the Republican Party.
CUPP: Right.
SANTORUM: I wrote a book about it four years ago, which Donald Trump read before he ran for President. And so, I think the transformation of the Republican Party to a more blue collar party is the direction, frankly, that the party should be taking. And Trump has led us there. So in many respects, you know, I tip my hat to the President. I don't think that his particular style of communication and his aggressive and personal nature are something that are going to attach to the blue collar movement. And I know people, I mean there was a day when I was considered to be sort of the rough and tumble politician.
CUPP: I remember that with nostalgia.
SANTORUM: I mean I'm marking milk toe toast right now in the Republican Party. And so, I don't think that necessarily we are committed to that to having those two things merge together. I think we can be a conservative party. A blue collar conservative party. A party of working men and women of all colors and be very successful without the histrionics.
CUPP: Brian, yesterday, I wondered aloud on twitter if any reporters at Fox would denounced the President for celebrating a member of Congress for insulting a journalist. To my pleasant surprise, at least one did.
Brett Baeir tweeted, body slamming where threatening journalist who were asking questions and doing their job is not OK and shouldn't be. That's all. Not good enough.
STELTER: Well, we have to the ability to think five or ten years down the line and picture what it looks like when a Democratic President in office and some of this is happening in the other direction. And obviously, anchors and commentators at Fox News would be horrified to see a Democratic President praising a congressman for (INAUDIBLE) a reporter. We have got to constantly be doing that. We are flipping it around.
And actually, to the credit of some prominent conservatives this weekend, you know, there was this ridiculous group of protesters that went up to Nancy Pelosi the other day yelling at her calling her a communist. And we have seen a lot of honest conservatives denouncing that behavior saying if you don't like the Democratic mob, so to speak, then don't engage in this behavior either.
[18:45:02] SANTORUM: Amen.
STELTER: We need a lot more of that kind of honesty in both directions because frankly five or ten years from now whenever it may be this is going to be applied in the other direction.
CUPP: Rick, Brian, thanks so much to you both for coming on. I really appreciate it.
SANTORUM: You bet.
STELTER: Thanks.
CUPP: OK. Don't forget you can see Brian Stelter on "RELIABLE SOURCES" tomorrow morning at 11:00 on CNN.
After the break, Trump is buying it but does anyone else believe Saudi Arabia's story about Jamal Khashoggi's death.
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[18:49:56] CUPP: Eighteen days after the suspicious disappearance of a Saudi journalist and "Washington Post" columnist, Saudi Arabia has finally admitted Jamal Khashoggi is dead. But their explanation about what happened inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul isn't flying with almost everyone but President Trump.
"Washington Post" publisher and CEO Fred Ryan, in a statement today, said, this is not an explanation. It is a cover-up.
Saudi Arabia claims the journalist died after an argument inside the consulate escalated into a violent fistfight. A source close to the royal palace tells CNN's Clarissa Ward, the cause of death was a choke hold or strangulation. President Trump has said he believes the Saudis' story to be credible and had this to say about how Saudi officials were handling the investigation into themselves after a Nevada rally earlier today.
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[18:50:48] TRUMP: No, I'm not satisfied until we find the answer but it was a big first step. It was a good first step, but I want to get to the answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUPP: Joining me now is president of the Chicago Council on global affairs, Ivo Daalder. He is also coauthor of "the Empty Thrown: America's abdication of global leadership."
So Ivo, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly changed their story but Trump keeps downplaying the possibility of the Saudi royals' involvement while boasting about our economic ties to the kingdom. Doesn't that signal to the Saudis that there's no incentive to be more transparent about what happened?
IVO DAALDER, PRESIDENT, CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: Yes, I think it does. I think what we are engaged in, both with President Trump and the Saudi leadership is a damage limitation exercise. There is nothing like the complete or thorough or transparent investigation that secretary of state Mike Pompeo said was needed when he was in Riyadh and heard the Saudis say, in fact, they are making up stories to get on with the business as usual and that's, of course, totally unacceptable. CUPP: Well, Trump is out of step, even with his own intelligence
officials on this. And even one of his staunchest foreign policy supporters, Senator Lindsey Graham, said he is not buying the Saudis' explanation.
Lindsey Graham tweeted, to say that I am skeptical of the new Saudi narrative about Mr. Khashoggi is an understatement.
So Trump has options, Ivo, on a broad spectrum if he wanted to use them. What do you think would be the appropriate sort of balanced response?
DAALDER: So, I think there are kind of three things he should do. First, I think it's necessary to go to the U.N. Security Council and to demand an international investigation with the full cooperation of both the Turkish government and the Saudi government. We can't expect the Saudis to be investigating themselves. And frankly, we can't just rely on Turkish leaks to the media to have -- to know what really happened. We really need a serious investigation.
Secondly, the United States should work with Britain and France and other allies to spend any further arms shipments to Saudi Arabia. There is absolutely no reason why at this moment we should be sending arms to the Saudis and we can work with the Brits, we can work with the French to stop those kinds of shipments.
And then third, the war in Yemen that we have supported with intelligence and other means, it's got to come to a halt and come to a stop. And we should press the Saudis to finally stop the indiscriminate bombing that has killed tens of thousands and left millions destitute in Yemen and the prospect of a famine there is very serious.
The time to say, we need to get the Saudis to change their behavior is now. This is the opportunity to do it. And that's what real leadership would mean.
CUPP: Well, according to financial times Russian President Vladimir Putin is using this as a means to gloat about the end of U.S. global dominance. Is that just demagoguing (ph), do you think?
DAALDER: Yes, absolutely. It's Putin being Putin.
CUPP: Yes.
DAALDER: It's trying to find every time there is some situation in which the United States either because of its own actions or because of other actions finds itself in difficulty, he starts poking at it and that's what he does. He is a master at it. And we were seeing it happening again. But we are providing the opportunity here. We are letting the Saudis off the hook. We are letting the Saudis, frankly, like the Russians, who have engaged in killing people, their own people on foreign soil. We are letting this happen. And we shouldn't let that happen. We should make very clear that it is totally unacceptable to have this kind of behavior, particularly from a partner and an ally like Saudi Arabia. CUPP: Ivo, while I have you, I would like to get your response to the
news that President Trump is pulling out of that INF treaty with Russia. What did you make of that?
DAALDER: Well, the Russians have been violating this treaty now for quite a long time, and it is necessary to have a strong response while also trying to negotiate a way to get them back into the treaty. That said, having at this moment, walking out of a treaty that is extraordinarily important and helped end the cold war.
It was Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachav who negotiated this treaty. It is critical to the NATO alliance. And just walking away and saying we are not going to do this anymore is unacceptable.
[18:55:18] CUPP: Thank you, Ivo, so much for your analysis. I really appreciate it.
That's it for us tonight. Stick around for "THE VAN JONES SHOW" as the battle for Congress heats up. VAN talks to vets who are running for office about why they are answering the call to serve again.
Plus, he talks to former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. That's up next on CNN.
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