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The Lead with Jake Tapper

U.S. Allies Nervous About Trump's Foreign Policy; EU Leaders to Hold Emergency Session Over Trump's Presidency; Dems Come To Terms With Clinton's Stunning Loss; Working Class Whites Give Trump The White House; Van Jones Sits Down With Voters In Pennsylvania. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired November 09, 2016 - 16:30   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Earlier this morning, Donald Trump, the soon-to-be-leader of the free world, pledged to -- quote -- "get along with all the nations as long as they're willing to get along with the U.S."

But during his campaign, he wasn't always so diplomatic, suggesting that more countries should get nuclear weapons, complimenting Vladimir Putin, saying he would reconsider, tear up even, the Iran deal, even proposing to not automatically protect NATO allies.

Let's bring in CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott.

And, Elise, world leaders are obviously reacting in many different ways to president-elect Trump. Tell us about it.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, congratulations are pouring in from around the world for president- elect Trump's stunning victory, but many were laced with shock and uncertainty.

U.S. allies in Europe and Asia are nervous about Trump's promise to remake much of the world order, while, in Russia, hope of a new day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT (voice-over): Tonight, world leaders pledged to work with president-elect Donald Trump, but with a healthy dose of anxiety over how he would confront world challenges with his foreign policy of America first.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I want to tell the world community that, while we will always put America's interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone. We will seek common ground, not hostility, partnership, not conflict.

LABOTT: The question for many American allies, will president-elect Trump make good on his controversial campaign pledges to rip up trade deals, build a wall against the Mexican border and bar Muslim immigrants? In Russia, the champagne was popping, lawmakers breaking out in applause over the election of Trump, who has praised President Putin and promised to work closely with Moscow in Syria and in the fight against ISIS.

Trump has also rejected by multiple U.S. intelligence agencies tying hacking of U.S. political groups to the Kremlin. An enthusiastic Putin sent a telegram to the president-elect expressing hope in a Trump administration.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Russia is ready and wants to restore full-fledged relations with the U.S.

LABOTT: But, in Asia, anxiety over how Trump would lead. South Korea convened an emergency national security meeting, as Japan's financial markets tumbled. Trump's call for both countries to nuclear weapons to defend themselves hit close to home.

In Iran, a warning to remain committed to the nuclear deal, which Trump threatened to undo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The future U.S. president- elect is obliged to stay committed to this not bilateral, but multilateral nuclear deal.

LABOTT: After warning that the fate of the world is at risk with a President Trump...

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This guy is temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief.

LABOTT: .... the White House now turning the page.

OBAMA: The peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy. And over the next few months, we are going to show that to the world.

LABOTT: Across Europe, congratulations, but unease that the U.S. will now move closer to Russia and away from NATO, which Trump said he could abandon unless allies pay their fair share.

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: I will discuss with president-elect Trump the way forward regarding how NATO shall continue to respond to a new and more challenging security environment, to a more dangerous world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[16:35:02]

LABOTT: And leaders of the European Union are holding an emergency meeting this weekend to discuss the implications of Trump's election.

The E.U. has also invited him for a summit as soon as possible to chart the next four years. Some leaders want to talk to the president-elect immediately to clarify some of these controversial foreign policy positions. Today, the French president said that the election of Donald Trump opens what he called a -- quote -- "period of uncertainty," Jake.

TAPPER: Elise Labott, thank you so much.

Now let's bring in our political panel, Kirsten Powers, Ron Brownstein, Mary Katharine Ham, Nia-Malika Henderson, Kayleigh McEnany, Jeffrey Lord, Patti Solis Doyle, and Kevin Madden.

Ron, let me start with you. What happened?

(LAUGHTER)

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, it's a story of unbalanced or disproportionate mobilization.

Donald Trump blew the doors off with Republican-leaning constituencies. He won non-college white voters by more than Ronald Reagan did in 1984 against Walter Mondale in the biggest landslide in modern history. He dominated outside of urban areas.

You look at these maps of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Michigan, and there are just a couple little blue -- a couple blueberries in this red sea really everywhere outside the metro areas.

Clinton did not collapse in the Democratic coalition, but she sagged slightly among minorities and millennials. And among college-educated whites, she gained ground, as we expected, but not nearly as much ground as we expected.

And in this kind of just cultural civil war I think that this election was, she fell just short in those three states, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, that ended up deciding it. She lost by a point or less. She will probably, almost certainly, win the popular vote, but the size of -- by the way, it wasn't a big increase in the share.

It was the margins. The consolidation around Donald Trump in blue- collar white America was overwhelming, historic and decisive.

TAPPER: Speaking of the popular vote, we should just note that in 2012, when it looked as though Barack Obama was going to win the electoral vote, but Mitt Romney was going to win the popular vote, that didn't ultimately happen, Donald Trump tweeted: "The Electoral College is a disaster for democracy."

(LAUGHTER)

BROWNSTEIN: All politics is local.

TAPPER: There it is.

BROWNSTEIN: yes.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: From November 6, 2012. NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm sure

doesn't mean it now. Yes.

TAPPER: Doesn't feel that way now.

Nia-Malika, one of the things that's interesting is that, at least last time I looked, Trump had not achieved the vote count that Mitt Romney had or that John McCain had, close, but not quite, behind a million or two. But it was the plummeting Hillary Clinton lagging five or six million votes behind Barack Obama which is why she lost. Who didn't come to vote for her? What happened?

HENDERSON: You know, I think one of the things that we saw in the Hillary Clinton campaign -- first of all, I want to say a lot of us were wrong, including me, about -- we were talking just yesterday about the hidden Trump vote.

Apparently, there was a hidden Trump vote. It came out strong yesterday. I think one of the things that Hillary Clinton did was that she was to the left really of any other -- more -- any other Democrat I can remember in terms of issues of race, racism, and immigration reform.

And I think she wasn't able to sort of swell the African-American vote and the Latino vote in the way that she expected by moving to the left, and she also, I think, alienated college whites by doing that.

You remember Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton had Sister Souljah moments, right, with African-Americans, and even Barack Obama was able to not even necessarily have Sister Souljah moments with black folks, but essentially say I am with you without having to openly court them. And, in fact, he would sometimes go to black audiences and not talk about not racism, but about black behavior. Right?

So, in that way, I think she just misjudged this electorate. She wasn't able to put the Obama coalition back together. She leaned in too much I think to the race issues. And it ended up alienating some college-educated whites, yes, and non-college whites.

TAPPER: Interesting.

Kevin, let me start with you on this side. What do you think -- where can there be immediate action with this Republican White House, Republican House, Republican Senate? Where are we going to see progress? Will they do an infrastructure bill that they wouldn't do with President Obama? Will they do one now?

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think Gloria Borger pointed out last night -- it was probably one of the more astute observations -- we have now, instead of a conservative Republican majority, we have a populist conservative coalition.

And inside that populist conservative coalition, it's less ideological. It's more focused on some of the economic concerns that many of these voters that really came out for president-elect Trump. And so things like infrastructure, definitely border security, and the other hidden issue, I think, out there that was animating a lot of voter concerns, which is the Obamacare premium spikes that came right towards the end of the campaign and really did give president-elect Trump the momentum he needed at a crucial time when he was trying to get out his vote.

So, those three issues, I think those are areas where, amongst that populist conservative coalition, there is probably a lot of common ground up on Capitol Hill.

[16:40:03]

TAPPER: What do you think he should take on first, Jeffrey, first of all?

Let me just also say, Jeffrey Lord and Kayleigh McEnany, congratulations. Your candidate won.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.

TAPPER: You have been advocating very strongly for him for a long time.

What do you think -- Obamacare is the first thing?

LORD: Obamacare is the first thing.

TAPPER: But just repeal, or replace it with something?

LORD: Replace it with something, but don't federalize the structure. I mean, take -- I mean, this is where we perpetually get in trouble.

This is why this city is physically constructed the way it is and why so many people in -- outside this Beltway have such resentment, because you pass legislation that creates some enormous federal program, and then you basically wind up hiring people at $100,000 a pop in here and then you set up lobby firms to lobby them, and it's a self-perpetuating situation.

For heaven sakes, get it out of here. Put it back in the states. Put it back in the situation where individuals have control of their own health care. If there are different problems, we can work them out.

But for heaven sakes, don't do this in a situation which is now, in my own state, it appeared in the front page of the Pennsylvania papers a week before the election that their premiums were going up 33 percent. I mean, that's -- that was the killer.

TAPPER: Twenty-three, but..

LORD: No, 33.

TAPPER: Oh, 33 in Pennsylvania, average 23 nationwide.

LORD: Right. TAPPER: Kayleigh, let me ask you. There are something like 20

million people who now have health insurance because of Obamacare.

Can Republicans just throw those people off?

MCENANY: Well, I think here's where Paul Ryan does come in.

He has put forth an innovative plan that involves tax credits, where people will be able to purchase health care. He has talked about wanting to leave in place some of the reforms that have worked, like allowing those with preexisting conditions to find health care.

There are ways to do this with conservative market-based solutions, opening up state lines, allowing insurance companies to compete. And Paul Ryan has a good plan for that. And I think that should be the plan put forward.

But, before Obamacare, I think Donald Trump should set a precedent of bringing ethics back to this town and need to do ethics reform on day one. He has talked about five-year bans on executive officials from being lobbyists on behalf to foreign governments. Day one. And he should urge Congress to do the same and say bipartisan let's give the government back to the people. And it starts with ethics reform.

LORD: Drain the swamp.

MCENANY: Drain the swamp.

TAPPER: Patti, I don't have to tell you that there are a lot of very sad people who supported Hillary Clinton.

PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I am one of them.

TAPPER: And a lot of people who are worried because of some of the things that Donald Trump has said during this campaign about Muslims, about immigrants, et cetera.

What would you -- if Donald Trump said to you, Patti Solis Doyle, tell me what I need to do to help unite this country, what would you tell him?

SOLIS DOYLE: Well, first, let me agree with you that, yes, Democrats are devastated today, because he is going to take office with a Republican Senate, a Republican House, and possibly be able to appoint two to three Supreme Court justices in his term. And that's devastating to us.

I hope that Donald Trump first reaches out to all of those people that I think he has alienated, insulted. I know you don't agree with me, Kayleigh and Jeffrey, but we feel insulted, Mexican-Americans, Hispanics, women, African-Americans, Muslims.

TAPPER: Disabled people.

SOLIS DOYLE: Disabled people.

MCENANY: Deplorables.

SOLIS DOYLE: I hope that he reaches out to them. I hope that he has a diverse administration. I hope that he has a diverse Cabinet.

I hope that he reaches -- has a -- gives an olive branch to Democrats. I think he needs to start with an apology, honestly.

TAPPER: Kirsten, what do you think?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that the problem is, what often happens -- and we have already seen Trump people saying that he has a mandate, right?

And this happens, it seems like every anybody wins an election, regardless by how much they win an election. They always believe they have a mandate.

And the reality is, she is probably going to win the popular vote, which means we have a really divided country and there are a lot of people who didn't vote for him. And so can he be somebody who can somehow try to reach out to everybody and not just say, this is the way it is?

And, look, everyone has their grievances, as Kayleigh just brought up the deplorables thing. That is a fair grievance. For Hillary Clinton to have referred to the basket of deplorables, that's a fair grievance.

And so -- but I think Trump is now going to be the president, so he has to, I think, set that aside and say, let's move on and let's just start fresh.

TAPPER: Mary Katharine, you have been in an awkward situation, because you are a conservative and you have not been a Trump fan.

MARY KATHARINE HAM, "THE FEDERALIST": I got real comfortable with awkward.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: What do you -- if he was asking the same thing that I asked Patti Solis and Kirsten -- what would you say to him if he said, I really want to unite the country, and I know -- I don't know that he would say this -- I know that people were offended by things I said, what do I need to do, what would you tell him?

HAM: Oh, look, I think he does need to speak in a more respectable way about these various groups of folks and address that. And I think he can try to do that.

Look, but he broke all the rules getting here. There is not a lot of incentive to change what he's doing. And I think, when it comes to the mea culpas, I think part of understanding this process is saying, like, there were a bunch of experts who said things that were wrong, not just in the election, but in public policy. [16:45:00] There were a bunch of promises made about Obamacare and

experts telling folks this is how it's going to work and it's worked great. And they were wrong. They were wrong. And so, people reading that are saying, "Look, there's good reason not to trust you guys, and there's good reason not to be - to be angry when I'm told, just sit down, little people, and we'll figure this out for you." And so, I think that's where so much of this energy came from that I frankly thought wasn't going to be enough to get him over the line but it was.

TAPPER: All right, Kirsten, Ron, Mary Katharine, Nia-Malika, Kelly, Jeffrey, Patty. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

He may know Trump voters better than anyone, and today, he says Trump and Clinton supporters are, quote, "Living in two separate countries." Insights into what really propelled Trump into the White House, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. Many of Hillary Clinton's loyal supporters are still in complete disbelief, but for many of his nearly 60 million voters, today it's a thrill and long overdue. Especially for working-class white voters, including voters from the rustbelt who helped to pave the way to the White House for a self-described billionaire from 5th Avenue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's going to be a big surprise and an incredible shock to a lot of people, but I say Trump's going to win.

TAPPER: Donald Trump's historic election is shocking, yes. But unpredictable? Not for the Trump supporters we spoke with this year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he's a great man. He ain't lost at nothing he's ever done. He goes up, he don't go down. Put him in president and he'll go up. He'll take us up.

TAPPER: Revitalizing the economy was a message that resonated nationwide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just the lack of job creation in this country. You know, we seem to want to ship more jobs out, the way things have been going here lately, that's pretty much status quo on what's the problem is.

TAPPER: Author J. D. Vance highlighted Trump's white working class appeal in no uncertain terms.

J. D. VANCE, AUTHOR OF HILLBILLY ELEGY: So long as the Democratic Party can do little but cheer about how great things are, I don't think they're going to attract a lot of these voters because for them, not everything is great.

TAPPER: Generally speaking, they kind of - they kind of -- when they say they feel ignored, they're kind of right. VANCE: Yeah, that's definitely true. People feel neglected and maybe

they'll stomach it for an election cycle or two, but eventually that frustration catches up to the political moment, and that's exactly what's happened, I think in this cycle.

TAPPER: The Trump's campaign also turned the tide in traditionally blue states such as Pennsylvania.

Philly is a very democratic city.

VINCENT TERMINI JR.: Sure is.

Tapper: But I wonder, do you hear from Trump's supporters, are there any around here?

TERMINI: We kind of get a lot of leaners, which, you know, people say, I'm voting for Trump. A lot of people are kind of like, they're wondering, are you voting for Trump? We just want somebody to be in office who's going to, you know, take care of the blue-collared workers.

TAPPER: For millions of Americans, the president-elect represents new-found hope and, yes, change.

KERRY GELLOR, LAS VEGAS: Your vote counts and you need to respect that. Many times I voted and the guy I voted for didn't win. So, this is one time I hope it does.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Both Hillary Clinton and President Obama today tried to convince their supporters to get behind president-elect Trump, but emotions are still raw for so many of them. Last night, Van Jones spoke about how he felt after it became clear that Donald Trump would be the nation's 45th president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: People have talked about a miracle. I'm hearing about a nightmare. It's hard to be a parent tonight for a lot of us. You tell your kids, don't be a bully. You tell your kids, don't be a bigot. You tell your kids, do your homework and be prepared. And then, you have this outcome, and you have people putting children to bed tonight, and they -- they're afraid of breakfast. They're afraid of how do I explain this to my children. I have Muslim friends who are texting me tonight saying, "Should I leave the country?" I have families of immigrants that are terrified tonight. This was many things - I -- this was a rebellion against the elites. True, it was a complete reinvention of politics and polls, it's true, but it was also something else.

We've talked about race - I mean, we've talked about everything but race tonight. We've talked about income, we've talked about class, we've talked about region. We haven't talked about race. This was a white-lash. This was a white-lash against a changing country. It was a white-lash against a black president in part, and that's the part where the pain comes. And Donald Trump has a responsibility tonight to come out and reassure people that he is going to be the president of all the people who he insulted and offended and brushed aside. Yeah, when you say, you know, you want to take your country back, you got a lot of people who feel that we're not represented well either. But we don't want to feel that someone has been elected by throwing away some of us to appeal more deeply to others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining me now is CNN Political Commentator Van Jones. Van, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, both said they want to work together to unify this country. Obviously, the onus to a large degree is on the president-elect to reach out to people like you and people that you were referring to last night. What would you suggest that he needs to say, and do you think he would try?

JONES: I hope that he will. I think, you know, the president has asked us to have an open mind about this. I think Hillary Clinton has said have an open mind about this. I just want you to know, I have Muslim friends who are asking, you know, should they leave the country, are they going to be interned. I mean, you can't imagine the level -- you know, all they've heard is ban you, ban you, ban you. They don't know what that means. He needs to clarify what he's talking about.

You know, I have a lot of Latino friends. I had staff members today crying on the staff call because they have families that are just terrified. Should I sell my house? So, I think, you know, you have one conversation that's sort of very, you know, easy and, oh, well, let's talk about the polls, and this and that. And you have people who are in terror right now and who are hurting and who are afraid and who are afraid to send their daughters to school, and their jobs, because they don't know what's going to happen. And so, there's a real responsibility there. It's not just the president, though. All of us have to figure out a way to reach out to each other. With Obama, everything was wrong, Obama had to fix it. No, it's a country that has to come together, not just a political class.

TAPPER: You have a new series that you're hosting called "The Messy Truth." You went out before the election to talk to Trump voters. You spent some time with some voters in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, of course. In this clip you speak with a Trump supporter named Kim about the divide in this nation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM: This is so good and you're making me angry with things you're saying to me. And -- but I love you for it. And I just -- why can people -- why can't they just agree to disagree?

JONES: Part of their frustration and the heartbreak is not that we're mad actually, is that we need you. Mike, we need each other. You know, liberty and justice for all.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: I know that you want to engage in those kinds of

conversations for the country to heal. How hopeful are you?

JONES: Look, I'm hopeful. Listen, we got some hard things to say to each other, but, you know, in other words, the Trump phenomenon is a complex phenomenon. It is a righteous rebellion against the elites. It is a righteous stand for economic opportunity. It is a patriotic movement. But it is also marbled with all kinds of other stuff, all kinds of xenophobias and, you know, the KKK endorsements and all these other things.

And we can't be in a situation where we only talk about the things that are offensive, or we can't talk about the things that are offensive. We've got to be able to talk about both, and that requires real trust, and trust is earned over time. But I went to - listen, I was able to sit in the home with Trump voters, and if you want to look on my Facebook page, you can go, and then you got three episodes there called "The Messy Truth", where we really go back and forth, but it's heartful and it's honest and it's hopeful. And I believe that we're either going to turn to each other or on each other as Americans.

Everybody has got to take responsibility. Nobody has to leave their truth at the door. But we do have to be willing to hear each other's truth, and not agree, democracy doesn't mean you agree, but it does require that you understand. And we've now gone past the level of being able to even understand each other anymore, and that's the danger.

TAPPER: So, a lot of Trump voters that I have spoken with this season, would say -- let me play devil's advocate and say what they might say to you, which is, they don't agree with the Ku Klux Klan. They're not racist, they're not xenophobic, they believe that Washington is broken. They believe that this small towns in Ohio and Pennsylvania and Michigan have been ignored by democrats and republicans. And this isn't against someone, this is for themselves. What would you say to them?

JONES: I would say, listen, you are right to have real grievances. It is in fact, true, there was a bipartisan elite consensus to throw the working class under the bus. Both political parties signed these trade deals, deregulated the banks, built prisons everywhere and left us to, you know, the buzzards. That's happened, that is true. And yet, what these throw-away lines to you about Muslims, about Mexicans, land like bombs in the lives, and the ears, and the homes of other Americans.

And you have to take responsibility for the fact that some of those things really, really hurt. Maybe to you all that wasn't -- he's just joking, he really means this. But if you're that Muslim mom, sending that little girl out the front door with the hijab on, you feel it differently. And if we're going to be one country, when somebody hurts the hurting -- when someone is hollering, they're hollering because they're hurt. And you can't keep telling people your hurt doesn't matter. You didn't want us to say your hurt didn't matter in the rustbelt, please don't say our hurt doesn't matter elsewhere. Let's all come together. TAPPER: Van Jones, thanks so much. It's always great having you on.

We appreciate it.

JONES: Thank you, brother.

TAPPER: Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter. And please check out Van's Facebook page to see his three-part series right now, "The Messy Truth". You can also follow me on Twitter or follow the show @TheLeadCNN. That's it for The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. I turn you over now to one Mr. Wolf Blitzer, who is in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Thank you for watching.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN THE SITUATION ROOM ANCHOR: Happening now, "BREAKING NEWS." Transition of power, after a shocking election victory, Donald Trump begins to process of becoming President of the United States