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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Anti-Trump Protesters Hit Streets for Second Night; Trump Meets With President Obama; Interview with Kellyanne Conway; Gold Star Father Reacts to Donald Trump Presidency; What Trump Supporters Want Him to Do First. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired November 10, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And good evening. Thanks for joining us. And we begin tonight with breaking news. A lot to cover.
Second night of post-election protests in a number of American cities, people taking to the streets to protest the election of Donald Trump. You're looking at scenes at a number of cities around the country. Meanwhile, the White House today, another extraordinary image. The images you are looking at right now are Chicago, Denver, Baltimore as well.
At the White House today, extraordinary images, President Obama after a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump. Trump as you remember tried hard to delegitimize President Obama or Obama's presidency, claiming for years that he wasn't born in the United States. On the campaign trail, the president said that Donald Trump was unqualified and Trump said the president was to blame for ISIS.
Today, though, it was all about the future. Jim Acosta tonight reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was an image designed to calm a nervous world, the president and president-elect fresh off the political battlefield sitting together in the Oval Office, calling on a divided nation to come together.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Most of all I want to emphasize to you, Mr. President-elect, now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed, because if you succeed, then the country succeeds.
ACOSTA: Following his ninety-minute meeting with President Obama, Donald Trump offered his own display of restraint and respect.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel. He's explained some of the difficulties, some of the high-flying assets, and some of the really great things that have been achieved.
So, Mr. President, it was a great honor being with you. And I look forward to being with you many, many more times in the future. Thank you, sir.
OBAMA: Thank you.
ACOSTA: And as reporters were ushered out of the room, Trump added one more compliment for the president.
TRUMP: A very good man.
ACOSTA: And even got a little advice from the president.
OBAMA: Always a good rule: don't answer their questions when they just start yelling --
TRUMP: It's always the last one.
ACOSTA: Away from the news cameras, First Lady Michelle Obama and soon-to-be First Lady Melania Trump met in private, as two key transition figures, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and Trump son-in-law, top aide, Jared Kushner, went for a long stroll on the south lawn. It was all a far cry from the down and dirty campaign that just wrapped up earlier this week.
OBAMA: If his closest advisors don't trust him to tweet, why would any of us trust him with the nuclear codes?
ACOSTA: Mr. Obama argued Trump was unfit for the White House only weeks after the GOP nominee finally conceded the president was an American citizen.
TRUMP: President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period.
ACOSTA: Their last encounter face-to-face came when the president mocked the idea of the Trump administration five years ago.
OBAMA: Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House. See what we got up there.
ACOSTA: Top Trump advisors like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are trying to lower the temperatures, suggesting the new president will not seek to imprison Hillary Clinton as he suggested during the campaign.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Politics are over now. People have spoken. Time to move to uniting the country.
Though Rudy Giuliani made it clear Trump is determined to carry out his plans, including that wall on the Mexican border.
RUDY GIULIANI (R), FORMER NYC MAYOR: The wall, it is going to take a while. He's going to build it. It's a campaign promise.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And Jim Acosta joins us now.
I understand President Obama is standing by what he said on the campaign trail about Donald Trump.
What did the administration say about their differences?
ACOSTA: Well, they still exist big time, Anderson. I talked to a senior White House official today who basically said listen, people at the White House, including the president, they have not changed their minds about Donald Trump. Some of the people here are absolutely mortified that he's going to become the president of the United States.
What they are committed to is this smooth transfer of power that's coming up on January 20th. And they are working towards that.
But you heard Donald Trump say today he's looking forward to having the president's counsel in the future. I bounce that off a senior administration official and that person said that would be, quote, "unbelievable".
So, you know, while this was a good image to show the world today of the president and the president-elect getting along with each other there in the Oval Office, make no mistake, they are still, I would say, bitter political rivals and that is not going to change. It doesn't matter how many times they meet in the White House, that's going remain the same, Anderson.
COOPER: This is the dumb follow-up question. But when that person said unbelievable, did he mean like, wow, that would be unbelievable? That'd be great, or that would be unbelievable, that's not going to happen?
ACOSTA: Meaning that's not going happen. But this person also said --
COOPER: OK.
ACOSTA: But one thing to point out and that has been a question all along is would President Obama stand next to President Trump at the capitol for his inauguration.
Remember, this is somebody as we said in that piece, a question whether President Obama was born in this country and so on and so forth. And what was relayed to me is that look at what happened in the Oval Office today. The president is committed to the smooth transfer of power. He is showing respect to the person who is coming in to take his place.
So, yes, you can expect to see the president with President Trump on January 20th next year, Anderson.
COOPER: We should also point out, respect it seemed was being shown by both men today, Donald Trump was saying positive things there about President Obama.
Jim Acosta, thanks very much.
President-elect also met today with House Speaker Paul Ryan. He showed him the sights, including Ryan's balcony overlooking the Washington Monument and the platform where Donald Trump would be sworn in as president. Donald Trump said the meeting went well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So, we had a very good meeting, a very detailed meeting. And we're going to lower taxes, as you know. And we're going to fix healthcare and make it more affordable and better. And we're going to do a real job for the public. That's what we want to do, and that's why we're excited.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Phil Mattingly joins me now with more on that meeting.
So, Paul Ryan, Donald Trump's relationship certainly had been fraught during the campaigns but a campaign is one thing. Governance is another. He's the president elect.
How did things go today?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's complicated is probably the best way to describe their relationships over the course of the last six months. But I think what you note from today both from the comments from Donald Trump and Paul Ryan after the meeting and also looking from talking to their advisors is they are looking forward. They are not talking about the campaign. They are not talking about what still remain very real policy differences between the two men.
They are talking about what they do together. That's the focus. That's I think what you are going to see from both Donald Trump and House Republicans in the weeks and months ahead. Try and find the things they can work on together and try to move those forward, Anderson.
COOPER: They do need each other obviously in order to make things work.
MATTINGLY: Yes, that's the biggest thing, right? They can't move anything forward without the order. If Donald Trump has crucial agenda items, he needs House Republicans. If Paul Ryan wants to move his better way plan, the six-point proposal he's been pushing in the House for the last couple of months, he needs the White House.
And with that in mind, that's why I think you are going to see them try and to put the past behind them, try and move forward over these next couple of weeks and months.
COOPER: Trump also met with other top Republican congressional leaders today. Many of whom he attacked on the campaign trail. Is there a sense if he was able to improve on some of those relationship, you know, ones which are going to be very crucial, again, to the success of his presidency?
MATTINGLY: Look, I think on a personal side, there is work to do. There's no question about it. You talk to Republicans in both chambers. You talk to Republicans off Capitol Hill. There is work for Donald Trump and his administration to do.
But there is also a cold political calculation here that I think is important. Republicans for the last seven years in the House have been passing basically bill after bill and it's collected dust as President Obama has threatened to veto or it's blocked in the Senate. In the Senate in the last couple of years, they've been passing bill after bill after bill, and it can't go anywhere.
Now, it can. They have a Republican in the White House. There is a lot of enthusiasm. Even amongst Republican whose have a real problems with Donald Trump over the last six, seven, eight months, lot of enthusiasm about what they do going forward. That is what everybody seems to be grabbing onto right now. It will be up to Donald Trump to see if he can prove that that enthusiasm has some merit behind it.
But I think that's what you are hearing right now from Capitol Hill Republicans -- excitement and enthusiasm, Anderson.
COOPER: Phil Mattingly, Phil, thanks very much.
Joining me now is the person behind Trump's winning campaign, Kellyanne Conway.
Kellyanne, first of all, congratulations. An amazing, incredible victory.
There's a lot of news today I want to ask you about. But, first, I want to give you props.
In pretty much every interview I ever did with you, you were out there talking about the enthusiasm gap that you were seeing among voters from your candidate compared to Secretary Clinton. The Clinton followers didn't have the same enthusiasm that Trump's followers did. And you were absolutely right. We saw that enthusiasm certainly Tuesday night. We didn't see it there for Hillary Clinton.
Were your internal polls showing that enthusiasm gap or just what you were feeling out on the campaign trail?
KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Both. I think if you ever showed up at the Donald Trump rally, you would see, there are 20,000 people inside and 5,000 or 10,000 outside, and they're there because they feel like they're part of the movement. They felt like he was giving voice to the forgotten man and forgotten woman.
And they were always very happy to be there, Anderson. I rarely heard people say may I have his autograph, or I enjoyed you in "The Apprentice". They would say, we need jobs in this part of my state, or thank you for running, making the sacrifice and for your patriotism and for talking about trade, immigration, issues nobody wanted to give voice to.
I do want to say, I appreciate the props, but it is just shared by the whole team and most of all, Mr. Trump and Governor Pence. Candidates matter and he was an amazing candidate, an unconventional, nonpolitical outsider. Exactly what voters have been telling pollsters for decades they would like to have in politics, but we never really had anybody ascend to that level and become the nominee.
COOPER: But certainly, when you came on and Steve Bannon came on, you both clearly helped sharpen his message and keep him on focus a lot more than he had been.
[20:10:04] So, I know you want to share the props but I think you get a lot of it clearly.
There was -- Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a senior campaign advisor said that the campaign's internal polling was as off as the rest of the polling. Is that true?
CONWAY: Actually, that's not true. I don't know if she ever saw the poll. I don't know where that comes from. But in terms of the modeling that we were doing internally, we always saw Pennsylvania as competitive, particularly in the last few weeks. It's a state that always felt right for the Donald Trump message. And we kept on.
Mr. Trump and Governor Pence kept returning there. Ivanka Trump, Tiffany, Eric, they've been all in Pennsylvania. Melania Trump gave a fabulous speech there just a week ago tonight, was very well-received, and the county that we ended up doing very well in, that we -- people said we were not going to do well there.
And that is a state where no public poll, Anderson, no public poll had Mr. Trump in the lead in Pennsylvania, but we didn't much care because we knew that the investment of the ground game, the field operation, our state director and his team were fantastic and Trump himself. Whenever he went into the state, we were there last Friday night in Hershey, Pennsylvania, one of these other situations, you have 18,000 inside, you have thousands outside watching on the JumboTron.
And I just want to repeat something because you allowed me to have this platform many times on behalf of the Trump-Pence campaign. You and I also talked many times about the 46 to 47 percent ceiling --
COOPER: Right.
CONWAY: -- that Hillary Clinton seemed to have and indeed she did. That is something else we focused on. It was -- we saw she shad a stubborn ceiling of 46, 47, 48 percent at the high water mark in states that President Obama had carried twice by well over 50 percent of the vote.
And so, we saw she was not going to be able to bring together and keep that Obama coalition. And I think a lot of the external polling that CNN talked about and elsewhere, frankly, it was missing the fact that Hillary Clinton is not Barack Obama. But it was also missing the fact that Donald Trump certainly was a very different messenger with a different message than Mitt Romney or John McCain and your garden variety Republican nominee and I think in the end, it mattered.
COOPER: Well, it was also interesting. I mean, and I was going to bring that up 46 percent as well. There were a lot of Democrats in the final days talking about no longer an Obama coalition but a Clinton coalition. And it doesn't seem like that Clinton coalition, it certainly wasn't as strong as the Obama coalition had been. I mean, there were millions of voters who voted for Obama who just stayed home.
CONWAY: It was not, and I think for several reasons. First of all, every candidate is different. And secondly, I don't think cool is transferable.
And, you know, President Obama did his level best to be out there on the campaign trail for Secretary Clinton, he and First Lady Michelle Obama. I frankly think they did their part in campaigning for her.
But, you know, in the end, I think some of her surrogates also showed that she needed them. I think when you get the rappers out there and you get some celebrities out there, it tends to detract from the messenger.
And, frankly, Donald Trump was his best messenger. You can't take that away from him. He was his best messenger.
The other thing I would just say to you is that this was always a change election. And people missed something that was so obvious in front of them. You simply can't say hey, 70 percent of Americans want to take the country in a new and different direction and yet, they are not going to vote for the guy that represents a new and different direction. They in fact did vote for the guy, and also, I think, in modeling the electorate. There were conclusions in search of evidence.
I think politics today, Anderson, puts people in boxes too easily. Political pundits put people in boxes to easily. The media certainly do. They're only looking at us by our gender, our race, our ethnicity, our religion. And we need to look at people situationally.
If you were one of millions of Americans who was negatively affected by the Obamacare premium increases, you heard Donald Trump loud and clear in the second half of October talking about that religiously every single day. If you were somebody who's in a union household, you looked like a Democratic voter, but you were very, very attracted --
COOPER: Right.
CONWAY: -- to his message of renegotiating bad trade deals and the bringing those jobs back from Mexico and China.
COOPER: Well, which was interesting, because a lot of the union leaders were, you know, vocally for Hillary Clinton, yet the rank and file as, you know, a lot of folks predicted on the Republican side went for Donald Trump.
There's a lot of news I love to talk about. We've got take a quick break. If you could just stay tuned for a couple of minutes.
CONWAY: Sure.
COOPER: We'll come right back. We're also keeping an eye on multiple protests going on around the country. A second night of protests against the election of Donald Trump.
We'll with right back.
(COMMERCAL BREAK)
[20:17:34] COOPER: Well, for a second night in multiple cities across the country, we're seeing protests against the election of Donald Trump.
Ana Cabrera has been following. She joins me now from Denver -- Ana.
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Anderson. We are walking along Denver's 16th Street Mall right now. We started at the state capital and you can see there are literally hundreds if not thousands of people who are walking alongside me.
We're in the middle of this group, that is a group of people of all ages, of all walks of life, of all races. The majority, very peaceful.
This all began with meditation, with prayer, with a lot of peaceful talk at the state capitol in which they said, this is not about hating Donald Trump. This is about stopping hate. It's about rejecting bigotry, racism, homophobia and all of those types of things, oppression.
They said this is about creating change and standing up to those things that they reject. And so, they want a show of force, a show of unity, and a show that there is another way.
You know, a lot of the people we've been talking to here in the crowd have expressed fear after learning the result of the presidential election, because of what they believe Donald Trump has represented, and a lot of his rhetoric that he's said on the campaign trail. And at this point, they are trying to channel their energy and emotion in a more productive way, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Ana Cabrera, we'll continue checking with you.
Now, before the break, I was speaking with one of the people played in a major role in putting Donald Trump in the White House, his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. She joins me again.
Kellyanne, let's start by asking about these protests that we've been seeing. Both last night and tonight. I'm sure President-elect Donald Trump has seen them.
Has he said anything to you directly about them? What are your thoughts on them when you see this?
CONWAY: We have not discussed that, Anderson. But I would just commend the protesters to listen to Donald Trump from his victory night speech where he said, "I will be the president of all Americans, including those who did not support me and who don't support me."
I also would tell them, please take a look at what happened today. Less than 36 hours after being elected of the United States, Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump, our next first lady, went down to Washington and met with President and First Lady Obama.
And I think people should we'll echo what happened today in Washington. It was a great meeting. Mr. Trump described it to me, and said, I never met President Obama. I like him a lot. We had a very warm, professional meeting.
[20:20:01] He was terrific.
First Lady Michelle Obama and Melania had a, quote, "fantastic" meeting and he said to me, they could have not have been more warm and more welcoming to the Trumps.
And I think America should look at that and take their cues from that, that if President and First Lady Obama and President-elect and first lady, I guess almost elect, Trump, could get along, then we should do. I mean, we all share a love of America and of democracy.
And, you know, Anderson, I can't help but think what the conversation would be right now in the media and otherwise if this were the reverse, if Hillary Clinton had been elected --
COOPER: Yes.
CONWAY: -- and Donald Trump protesters were out there. Everybody would be -- they would be having a canary, really. So --
COOPER: You raise the point we actually discussed last night which I raised, which is, yes, if Hillary Clinton had been elected and there were Donald Trump protesters out there saying "lock her up", how would -- how would people view that? And I think that's a valid question when you look at the protesters out there tonight.
You talk about the meeting with President Obama. President-elect Trump said that he, quote, "looks forward to dealing with the president in the future including counsel." Do you expect there will actually be additional face to face meetings between the president and the president-elect between now and January 20th?
CONWAY: There may be. And I'm telling you, Mr. Trump was very happy with the meeting today. And, look, Anderson, as you and I know, it is a very small group of people who are former presidents. And he was all too happy to be there, as were the first ladies, if you will.
And I also talked to Governor Pence after his meetings on Capitol Hill and then, Governor Pence and Vice President Biden met later in the day this afternoon. Governor Pence tells me that the Pence family has accepted the gracious invitation of the Biden family to join them for a meal next week at the Naval Observatory.
And I just think what you see in common here is people who love this country, are willing to serve for the right reasons and want to make sure there is a peaceful transition. And I hope the protesters will follow suit.
COOPER: This morning, as you know, Trump advisor, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said he thought President-elect Trump should start with tax reform because in his words he's got the votes for it. Donald Trump, obviously, on the campaign trail talked about a number of things to start with on day one. He talked about Obamacare today.
Can you say definitively what will be President Trump's first legislative priority?
CONWAY: Well, he has talked definitively about it. He's even laid out he's, quote, "100-day plan". I think that was a big inflection point in the campaign actually in late October, when people saw the 100-day plan, they can read for themselves and decide whether it's something the could support, and many did.
So, that would include repealing and replacing Obamacare. It would include tax reform. It's a very complex issue as you know. His plan is out there for all to see. So, I think that happens in pieces, maybe rolling back the 600 or so regulations that we've had in the last administration.
But repealing and replacing Obamacare is something the House and Senate have voted many times and but you need a Republican president to really complete the attraction and you know, Anderson, I can't help but realize that in addition to electing Trump and Pence as president and vice president, this country also kept Republicans in the House and Senate.
And I think what they are signaling is -- and by the way, 69 out of the 99 legislation chambers as well -- what they are also saying is, look, we're a tired people hiding behind divided government, of getting nothing done in Washington and saying, oh, the government is divided, whether you're the Republicans in the Congress or you're the president. Whatever the case is, you are able to hide behind.
So, people are actually saying, I don't -- it is not just that I liked being part of the movement. I actually want you do get it done. And so, they are poised to do that. And I think that is a message that Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell are sending out tonight, too, privately in the meetings and publicly in their comments, which is, we are poised to help pass this legislation. Also as you know, we have a Supreme Court vacancy, and we'll have other federal judgeships that are vacant. That is also going to be a quick order of business.
COOPER: Do you -- you know, every president has a different leadership style. You know, Jimmy Carter, the stories on him was that he read every piece of paper and got mired in the weeds and details of things. Ronald Reagan was much more big picture, delegating things out to others who were very experienced he brought with him, who were loyal to him.
How do you see Donald Trump as president? Do you see him as a detail guy who is up late at night reading briefing books, as people said President Obama did? Or is he more of an instinctive leader and sort of delegator? CONWAY: Well, he's both and to the extent Donald Trump ever delegates
responsibility, he never abdicates responsibility and there is a huge difference. Everybody knows who the leader is here. Everyone knows who the president and ultimate decision maker is here. It's how he run his campaign, it's how he ran his businesses.
You know, I walk in the Trump Tower every day, Anderson, and I'm quickly reminded that this man did very well for himself. It's an American dream success story writ large long before any of us walked through the door. And I think as president he will continue to be a very detail-oriented decision maker.
[20:25:05] Also, his instinct -- the man is brilliant. I mean, Donald Trump is brilliant and he also -- his instincts are the incredible. Not just his political instincts, just his instincts. He reads people very well. He's a transactional guy who knows what he needs to know for that transaction, that issue, that meeting.
He's also -- you know, on the campaign trail, he's the guy who actually put out the substantive policy. People may not realize that, they may not agree with it, but it is there for them to read, everything from the ten-point plan on reforming the Veterans Administration, to the four or five-point tax reform plan, to the four or five-point plan to defeat radical Islamic terrorism.
You know, the plans, the policies are out there. And I think that everybody -- nobody should be surprised what he does as president. But he's the leader here. I think it is a combination of instincts and detail orientation.
COOPER: Obviously, you are not going say who's getting what position. That's still on transition. But you did push back on Twitter on some reporting that you were reluctant to take an administrative job, saying quote, "False. Could it be those sources want the White House job I've been offered?"
Can you say what White House job you have been offered?
CONWAY: No, I can't.
COOPER: No, you can't. I got it.
CONWAY: That's between President-elect Trump and me at the moment.
And to be frank, I'm not that focused on me. We have transition in the government to form and, you know, I will also tell you that yesterday and today, some of the younger staff members on our incredible team at Trump headquarters who don't get a lot, don't get any air time and probably get no recognition. They have been leaving and we hope to see them again.
But I want to make sure they know how appreciative we are. We had a fraction of the staff that team Clinton had, we certainly a fraction of the budget. And I just, I can't tell you how moved I am by the young men and women who were part of our team and just hunkered down, are impervious to the critics and naysayers, all the slings and arrows and really believe in this man and his movement practically from the beginning. And I just want to say publicly how much I credit them.
But look, I also don't want to speculate. This is Donald Trump's presidency. It's a government he needs to form. And I just think the criteria are very -- are very obvious. He needs people around him who are qualified, capable of doing the job. And also people who are loyal to him.
COOPER: Yes. Kellyanne Conway, appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.
CONWAY: Thank you, Anderson.
COOPER: And congratulations again.
A lot to talk about with our panel in just a moment, as we keep an eye on some of the protests across the country. Should President-elect Trump reach out to the protesters in the name of unity he's now calling for? Some thoughts on that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:31:35] COOPER: Number of anti-Trump protests happening for a second night in cities across the country. Just moments ago in Baltimore, police chased down some of the protesters. One officer seemed to apprehend one of the protesters. This is just from a few moments ago in Baltimore.
Here we go. Tackling down one of the protesters. Looks like the officer put the protester in handcuffs. We're obviously not sure what led to this incident. We're going to continue to monitor the protest.
Joining me now on in the panel tonight, "Inside Politics" anchor John King, CNN political analyst and "USA Today" columnist, Kirsten Powers. Chief political correspondent Dana Bash. Political analyst -- chief political analyst Gloria Borger. Three of our finest CNN political commentators, also Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany, Van Jones co- founder of and president of "Rebuild the Dream" and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona. Also former Georgia Congress Jack Kingston.
John King, you heard Kellyanne tonight, talking about the transfer of power. We saw the images out of the White House today, we're on Capitol Hill with Paul Ryan. How do you think -- how does it seem to be going to you?
JOHN KING, CNN INSIDE POLITICS ANCHOR: I think it is a remarkable moment and she's absolutely right that the American people should watch this and all Americans no matter who you voted for, or who you support, should just feel comfortable that we get this part right. And I think the president has been extremely gracious and she's absolutely right too about Donald Trump's speech.
I do think the point of these protesters, at some point he's going to have to address the mood in the country. He doesn't have to address that now, I think people say why, you know, they're in the street. He just won an election though and he's planning a transition that's incredibly important. But I'm sure he's aware of this. He follows the media, we learned this from the campaign ...
COOPER: Right.
KING: ... he pays very close attention, it's his job and his responsibility now to at some point speak to this and to lead in a way that addresses this. But to say Donald Trump should, you know, come out every 10 minutes when there's a protest, that's unrealistic.
To your point about have the tables been turned? I would hope, if the tables had been turned and the protesters were all overwhelmingly peaceful as they are now. We would say those disappointed Trump voters have every right to go out the street and protests, God bless them, be safe and do it right, bare your concerns. That's most what we're seeing here in this at -- not only is there nothing wrong with it. There is everything right with this.
COOPER: Kirsten, it is interesting, I mean, you know, the freak outs among Democrats and Liberals, you know, I'm sure everybody has friends who is texting them that freaking out. I mean the last several days. I don't know if it calms people, but everything seems to have been -- I mean if you thought there would be kind of a radical revolution in Washington. I mean we're seeing the peaceful transfer of power as we have seen from administration to administration in years past.
KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, but -- we're on a honeymoon period right now, and this is -- I think, a lot about the fundamental respect people have for the office of the president of the United States, right.
So, I think Donald Trump showed up today and showed a certain amount of deference and respect to the office of the president. And I also think Kellyanne is right, you know, I've interviewed Donald Trump a couple of times. He can be very gracious when he wants to be, he can be very charming, where if you have problems is when he feels he's being disrespected, the way he feels he's being attacked
So we have to see what happens once we move forward and he start to meeting some resistance, we've already seen Mitch McConnell suggesting he's going to resist him on some things. I think we will then again start to maybe see this more pugilistic Donald Trump when he faces that.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: But the good news is there is a honeymoon period.
POWERS: Right.
BASH: You right, there's no question of that, the honeymoon period. But in this day and age, after this kind of election, you know, who knows. And the fact that there is normalcy now? That the president and the president elect are treating each other the way that they should, that the -- I mean, because Donald Trump was not the choice of his fellow Republicans that he and his Republican leaders in Congress are treating each other the way that they should and so on says lot. There's no question about it. [20:35:18] I agree with you that he's definitely gracious and charming when he wants to be. But I saw something else in those images from the Oval Office. He actually looked like humbled a little bit. Which I -- was is never ever a word I would ever think, here's to describe Donald Trump. But seeing him sitting in that Oval Office because it is the Oval Office sort of realizing that that is going to be his office, sitting next to the guy that he trashed for five years, realizing, you know what? And saying he's not that bad. He's kind of a good guy now that that I know his character, not his caricature. Was really amazing.
COOPER: It was one thing to run for the White House, it's another thing to actually be sitting in the White House ...
BASH: Exactly.
COOPER: ... realizing it's about to be your White House.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: And just -- he had visited the White House socially, I believe during the Reagan years. But never to have a chat with the president of the United States. And I do think, I agree with Dana. I think he looks humble, I don't think he's president yet, he hasn't proposed anything yet. He hasn't done anything yet. And I was surprised today when he was talking about the president and he said he explained some of the really great things that have been achieved.
And I thought well what did the president say to him? What's been achieved that Donald Trump doesn't know about that he now thinks are really great that he didn't think were so great during the election.
COOPER: You know, Van you heard Kellyanne talking about the protesters and would the reaction be the same if it was, you know, anti-Hillary Clinton protesters had she had won? I mean this going on a second night. You talked about this last night about the fear that some people have expressed. How do you see things today?
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This will continue. This will continue. I agree that it is good that it is peaceful. I do think that if the right were marching there would be more of a freak out from liberals because liberals like to freak out about stuff. And also frankly, the right doesn't march that often.
BORGER: Yeah.
JONES: And so right wing -- if this is almost boar like Jeff was saying whatever. And so the right doesn't march that much. So I do think there would be more of a freak out. Well, I think that those of us here would be saying OK, respect these guys' rights.
I think that if there is one thing that Donald Trump could do now, that might calm some people. We're on track for a tragedy. I predict stuff all the time. People tell me I'm wrong and then they come back and say I was right. Right now there are some people who are reporting from the Muslim community that there's been an increase in women getting punched because they have the hijab. You'll being spit on. There are people -- these kind of things.
At some point I think that Donald Trump could come out and just say we're all Americans and speak specifically to the Muslim communities, specifically to Latino community and show that kind of moral leadership. My concern is if he doesn't is you could be on track to some kind of tragedy which then people say well see it was because of this, this. There are -- you have to make these decisions early on to signal to your followers and to the country who you are. We had -- it's only been 36 hours. He hasn't done it yet. But I'm telling you right now. Right now giving the reports coming out to the Muslim community. We are on track to some kind of a tragedy. He could get out in front of it. I hope he does.
COOPER: Kayleigh?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Everyone asks, you know, what is Donald Trump going to do? How is he going to deal with this? How is he going to unite the country? We got our first indicator when he gave that amazing Tuesday night, he came out and praised his competitor and then said I want to lead a movement of all races and religions and inclusive movement. And then he went in the White House today. It was supposed to be 10 to 15 minutes and ended up being an hour and a half. And you had the president come out and say point- blank if Donald Trump succeeds, this is country succeeds.
We're calling Donald Trump met with the president of Mexico and everyone said, how is this going to be go over. They're going to have an ISI relationship. Donald Trump came out of that meeting with the president of Mexico on board. Donald Trump, Trump he's a unifier. He is someone who can negotiate, that is his best skill set and we're going to see president who makes deals on behalf of the American people.
COOPER: We got to take a quick -- Van ...
JONES: I want to say, the past 36 hours, you could not script a better human being than Donald Trump has been. You couldn't. If you -- I mean if he sat down and tried to come up with up, he has been spectacular and there are more things he can do to carry this momentum forward.
COOPER: All right, more of this conversation a moment. I'm going to -- also I talked to Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father who spoke in the Democratic Convention called out Donald Trump for his proposed banned on Muslims. He joins us ahead as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KHIZR KHAN, FATHER OF FALLEN MUSLIM AMERICAN SOLDIER: I will gladly lend you my copy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[20:43:43] COOPER: This presidential election has been life changing for many parents including the parents of a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq. At a Democratic Convention, remember Khizr Khan with his wife to his side spoke about their son who died protecting his fellow soldiers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KHAN: Donald Trump, you are asking Americans to trust you with their future. Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing, and no one!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well Mr. Trump you may recall spoke back in an interview saying that he'd made a lot of sacrifices by creating thousands of jobs. He also tweeted, "Mr. Khan who does not know me viciously attacked me from the stage in the DNC and is now all over TV doing the same. Nice"
In another Twitter, the story is not about Mr. Khan who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather radical Islamic terrorism and U.S. get smart.
Khizer Khan joins me now. Mr. Khan, thanks so much for being with us. We should say Donald Trump has subsequently said that your son is in fact obviously a hero.
[20:45:04] I'm just wondering, Tuesday night when you realized Donald Trump was going to become the next president, what went through your mind?
KHAN: Of course we were disappointed. We are disappointed. But our faith in the constitutional democracy of United States is affirmed that this process must continue. With that our faith and the constitutional values of this country are affirmed. We are reminded again and again all day today and yesterday of the peaceful transition under the constitution. And I remind Donald Trump and his surrogates that on the next page of the constitution are written my rights are written, rights of all citizens of this country, that they will not be intimidated, that they will not be harassed because of their religion, because of their faith.
Of course we were disappointed because of the results. But with that as I mentioned, our faith is reaffirmed in the process of this country.
COOPER: You know, some of the protests that we have seen over the last two nights, some people are holding up signs saying "Donald Trump is not my president." Will Donald Trump be your president?
KHAN: Well that needs -- he is still president elect. And if he does not follow the constitution which has made him president, how would I have my faith? He's been elected president. But he has to earn our respect. He has to earn the position of the presidency. That needs to be seen. These protests are indicative of how many people have been intimidated, how many people feel that their rights have not been fully guaranteed. And we appeal to the surrogates of Donald Trump and to him, himself, that he needs to take the first step to make sure that the concerns that are being addressed. I have just a few hours ago found out that Muslims are being intimidated by Donald Trump's supporters wearing the t-shirts, wearing the caps of Donald Trump. They're attacking Muslim. Muslim women, snatching their head scarves.
In New York, in Louisiana, in Los Angeles. Mosques are being attacked by people throwing things. And that needs to stop. That does not hearten that the end of this process, the constitutional values and guarantees on one hand we are reminded peaceful transition.
On other hand we are simply left on the street, wandering, and these protesters. They are protesting because of the fear, because of the concern, because of the intimidation.
COOPER: Do you want to -- I mean Donald Trump has, you know, Van Jones was on earlier saying, Donald Trump has done in the last 36 hours, which is the only the time he's been president-elect, he's done pretty much everything he can to sort of try to encourage that message. You know, he said he wants to be president for all the people.
Obviously that's different than rhetoric we heard his opponents would say during the campaign. What do you want him to -- do you want him to actually come out at some point and talk about the importance of respecting the rights of Muslims in America? What do you want to hear?
KHAN: We see the direct result of that un-American rhetoric, hating people, sowing the seed of division, sowing the seed of religious hatred. We want him and his surrogates to come out and calm down their supporters, so that they will not continue in the mode of election. Election is over now. His supporters need to back off. His supporters need to understand that if they had won the election, this intimidation, this harassment of people of faith needs to stop and he needs to come out and not only speak to them, but speak to the nation, speak to people and say that is not -- that is not how we are going to be healing. That is not the path to reconciliation. He needs to stand up and in addition to President Obama is still the president. He has the obligation to address the concerns of these people on the street, people being intimidated and harassed.
COOPER: Just finally, what do you think your son? Humayun Khan, what do you think he would -- you think he would be surprised by how involved you have been? By how public you have been?
KHAN: He would be so proud of us. He -- at the last breath that he took it was in care of others. We did not stand up to speak for ourselves. We stood up, we remain standing and we will continue to speak for the protection, for the benefit, for the protection of rights of others, and he will be so proud to be standing next to us.
[20:50:09] COOPER: Khizr Khan, thank you very much. KHAN: Thank you.
COOPER: Appreciated. Up next, what supporters of president-elect Donald Trump want to see him do once he's in the White House? We'll be right back.
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COOPER: What should Donald Trump do on his first day in office? His supporters in Ohio certainly have some thoughts on that. Here's Martin Savidge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's illegal moochers from Mexico come in, got to get rid, because they've been all illegal aliens (ph).
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If president-elect Donald Trump is looking to organize his to-do list once he's in the White House, he might want to get to listen to the callers in Station 570 WKBN in Youngstown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to get people back to work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jobs, jobs, jobs.
SAVIDGE: This used to be prime Democrat turf. But as the manufacturing jobs disappeared, the business is closed, many here like the factories turned to rusty red crossing over to Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to see him address the health care problem.
SAVIDGE: Caller after caller added on to what they want their president to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Social Security. We haven't gotten a raise in 7 years.
SAVIDGE: Most want the new administration to focus on immigration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Send Mexico an estimated bill for the wall.
SAVIDGE: Get rid of Obamacare. Bring back jobs. And if possible ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rip up that Iran nuclear deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go after and indict Hillary Clinton.
SAVIDGE: At the Royal Oaks, Youngstown's oldest watering hole, I talked across the bar with more celebrating Trump backers.
[20:55:04] JIM NOVICKY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I expected this. I was very confident, actually, in the election.
SAVIDGE: Jim Novicky has been a Democrat all his life until now. What do you want to see Donald Trump do first?
NOVICKY: I would -- first thing I would like to see him do is pick a great cabinet, it's got big job there.
SAVIDGE: Dave Vogel says the same thing. Trump needs to surround himself with the right people.
DAVE VOGEL, REPUBLICAN VOTED FOR CLINTON: I want to see the cabinet. I think he will be a CEO and kind of sit there and let the cabinet do all the work. That's what I think. And then I want to see who is he going to pick for the Supreme Court.
SAVIDGE: Filling the Supreme Court is also near the top of many wish lists, but it isn't long before we're back to the wall.
NOVICKY: One of the first priorities I would say is secure our borders. I want distribute country ...
SAVIDE: Is that build the wall?
NOVICKY: Build a wall, yes, but that is -- that's -- to me that's a rhetorical term. Building a wall doesn't mean brick and mortar, OK.
SAVIDGE: You hear that a lot. The wall, Trump has spoken so much about to many Trump voters is not really a wall at all.
The wall. What is that? Build it? Don't build it? It's a real wall? It's not a real wall?
AL SALATA, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yeah, I don't know whether actual physical wall is the thing to do. I think there is probably other ways that he can curb some of it coming in.
SAVIDGE: Which brings us back to another favorite thing, Obamacare.
NOVICKY: I would get rid of it and start all over. You have to come up with something. You have to take care of people who can't take care of themselves. Everybody knows that.
SAVIDGE: But you can't talk to Trump voters without talking about something else. All those protesters.
RON VERB, WKBN RADIO HOST SHOW: You haven't even given the guy a chance yet.
SAVIDGE: Most I talked to don't believe the demonstrations are spontaneous anger but organized.
NOVICKY: This is the government. They want chaos. They want anarchy and they're going to give it to us. This is just the beginning. This is just the beginning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Many of those when they start talking about the protests, the Trump voters, they say it's disrespectful, disrespectful of the office of president, disrespectful of the outcome of the democratically run election. They say after all when President Obama won in 2008, did Republicans storm the streets? Anderson.
COOPER: Good question. Martin Savidge, thanks very much.
A lot more ahead in the next hour of "360." We're keeping an eye on those protests going around the country. Second night of protests. We'll be taking you on the streets. We have a lot more ahead.
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