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Don Lemon Tonight
It is just a matter of 13 hours now, Donald Trump takes the oath of office to become the 45th president of the United States tomorrow at noons; Aired 11-12p ET
Aired January 19, 2017 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:00:37] DON LEMON, CNN HOST: It is just a matter of 13 hours now, Donald Trump takes the oath of office to become the 45th president of the United States tomorrow at noon.
This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon in Washington. Thanks for joining us.
History will be made when president-elect puts his hand on the Lincoln bible, the same one that President Obama used in the take the oath of office. Trump will also use bible given to him by his mother. And then his administration officially began. That the most important speech of his life, his inaugural address. But what will President Trump do when he gets down to business on day one and how will America change?
Let's go back to CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta who has been on the campaign trail seems like forever now. He is lock for us at Blair house where president-elect Trump is spending the night.
Good evening to you, Jim. The president-elect fired up the crowd tonight. He gave a preview for tomorrow. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tomorrow we have a speech, probably around 12:00. It may rain, it may not rain. I don't care. It doesn't matter. I mean, the truth is, if it really pours that's OK, because people will realize it is my real hair and that's OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So Jim, walk us through what happens tomorrow. Trump gets sworn in as 45th president at noon. What happens next?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, depending on how much it rains, Don. We might see the red make America great again hat tomorrow. Who knows on the steps of the capitol? That would be unprecedented for inaugurations.
You know, Donald Trump right now, Don, I should mention, just to lo let you know, he has arrived at Blair house which is right across the street from the White House. That is where he and new first family are spending the night. And as you said, they will be waking up in the morning and then Donald J. Trump will be the 45th president of the United States. He is going to be sworn in and then he will give speech. We are told that the speech is written and it is done. He worked on with his main speech writer, Stephen Miller. Kellyanne Conway, his one of the top advisers and council to the president was telling reporters earlier this evening that, you know, this is a beautifully written speech and that Donald Trump is going to be speaking from the heart tomorrow.
From what we understand from talking to aides, it going to be thematic speech. It is going to be a long laundry list of proposals that you would hear like in the state of the union speech. You are going to hear some ideas, some of the things he is going to be working on in the early days of his administration. He is going to be talking about infrastructure and manufacturing and trying to build up the middle class in the country. You will hear some of that. But it would be largely thematic. And according to the incoming White House secretary Sean Spicer, Donald Trump will be downright quote "philosophical." So we will hear that side from Donald Trump.
More on then, he will do this big parade. Don, I was on the back of the flat-bed truck that was in front of Barack Obama four years ago when he did that drive down Pennsylvania Avenue over to the White House. It's going to be an amazing moment to see Donald Trump and Melania Trump drive up that stretch of Washington D.C. We will probably, as we always see every four years, we will see them get out of the car from time to time and shake with people and we will get some glimpse of that. And then he will get to the reviewing scene and watch an old-fashioned parade make its way through the streets of the nation's capital and to remind everybody that this transition of power has sort of almost folksy Norman Rockwell appeal to it and it is going to have that appeal tomorrow from everything that we heard so far.
But then after that, Don, you know, when the balls are over, I talked to some aides earlier today, and they say they are getting right down to business. They have been told that from Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, on down, this is a working weekend. And so, you are going to hear Donald Trump, you know, get into probably a weekly address on Saturday. And then we are going to see perhaps and fairly significant executive actions over this weekend. And I think this is going to be an action-packed weekend.
This is not going to be one of those weekend where they were just sort of rest and recover from this inauguration. From every indication we are getting, they are going right to work.
LEMON: Yes. I heard Andy Card, former chief of staff on earlier saying there's no rest. Once you're sworn in, you are the president and got to get right to work.
Thank you very much. Appreciate that, Jim Acosta.
By the way, I remember you on the back of the flat bed. We had that moment. I was on the side lines last time and we sort of we were live at the same time. But anyway, I digress. Thank you sir.
Now, I want to bring in Douglas Brinkley, CNN presidential historian. Kirsten Powers, CNN political analyst. Political commentator David Swerdlick. Also Mark Preston, CNN politics executive editor. Contributor Emily Jane Fox and senior political analyst, David Gergen.
Good evening to all of you. Thanks for joining me once again. Let's play some more of what the president-elect said earlier tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[23:05:31] TRUMP: We all knew that last month of the campaign, I think a lot of us knew the first week of the campaign. But that last month of the campaign, we knew that something special was happening. And I can only tell you this, the polls started going up, up, up but they didn't want to give us credit because they forgot about a lot of us. On the campaign, I called it the forgotten man and the forgotten woman. Well, you are not forgotten anymore. That I can tell you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK so listen. We want to be -- the guy is going to be inaugurated tomorrow. So let's cut him some slack. We should be -- everyone is happy for him, it is just, how many times have you heard that speech, Mark?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: No, no, no. Not going to give slack.
LEMON: But, the thing is that, whether it's appropriate. OK, so he won. Many people didn't think he was going to win and he won. Is this appropriate moment for that speech?
PRESTON: No, no. It's not appropriate. I mean, look, the bottom line is you can be a sworn winner and he is now become a sore winner. The fact of the matter is he didn't win the popular vote, but guess what? He did win the electoral vote. He is going to be sworn and behind us. He is going to be the president for at least the next four years. He is going to be one of the most powerful, if the most powerful person in the whole entire world. Why is he litigating a campaign that he already won? It doesn't make any sense.
KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think he is doing it because there are people who have not or not bowing down to him. That he wants to win over people that he hasn't won over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not how you do it.
POWERS: No, no, no. I'm not saying this is the way he should do it. But I think this is the motivation behind it. I don't think it works, but I do think it shows that he is bothered. He is bothered by the fact that he has his base. He knows he has his base, but that he thinks he just going to keep saying this over and over and over again and then suddenly everybody is going to go, you are right.
LEMON: And so many Democratic congressmen not showing up in protest. You think it's getting to him?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: I think it is -- John Lewis controversy got to him. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people may be coming here to protest. If you are having women specifically moms coming on busses to Washington to say you are misogynist, I think that he still has the wounds from the 2016 campaign. We thought they would heal in the Florida sunshine, but he is back here in January and the wounds are still not healed.
LEMON: So what would you have the man do?
DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, when I hear him talk about the forgotten man in that clip, I think on the one hand, he is speaking to people who turned out to get him in office this time. That to a certain degree Democrats, I don't want to say they forgot about then, but didn't campaign properly to them.
On the other hand, he sounds more like a populist and not a conservative. So I think what he is setting himself on for is the situation where he needs to be a little more optimistic. He needs to be a little more about the broad themes of America tomorrow or else he risks sending the wrong message both to his Republican majority in Congress and to the electorate.
LEMON: David Gergen, I hear you and I thank you, the people who voted for me. That those of you who didn't vote for me, I am your president as well. And that we are going to start from here with a presidency for all the country. It was a tough election but that's in the rear- view mirror. Let's look forward now. No?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good speech.
(LAUGHTER)
GERGEN: Short and you wrote it yourself.
LEMON: Yes. Just came up it with top of my head.
GERGEN: You know, I don't think he yet figured out how to be thematic and also to have these policies sit within a theme and then to sort of act out that narrative. There's a disconnect between having a cabinet with a whole bunch of billionaires saying that you are really going to look after the working people and you haven't produced any policies yet other than going after carrier and other people like that, to really do - to really make a difference in their lives.
And I think he has got to figure that out. He is got to have something with (INAUDIBLE). There's consistency between his themes, his policies and what he believes that he is going to express in his inaugural address, his vision for America. And once he gets there and I think keeps his eye on the economic side, on jobs, I think he can recover. I don't think it is not out of the question.
[23:10:05] LEMON: But do you think he realizes, you know, I hate to say president of the world, but he is a leader of the free world. Do you think he realizes that the whole world is watching, not just people who voted for him.
GERGEN: I think one of the stark differences between this inaugural address tomorrow and those of recent past, you know, back to Kennedy. Kennedy's inaugural address which so well remembered was basically about America's leadership in the world. And I think this is going to be a speech about turning your backs on America leadership in the world, coming home, and will tending the things back home. This is going to be very nationalistic speech.
LEMON: And we often pay attention to the families of the president- elect and then our president. We don't report on the children but we do pay attention to the role the family plays, especially the first lady.
Emily, he thanked his family, his daughter Ivanka, his son-in-law Jared Kushner tonight. We will play this and then we will discuss.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have in the audience a special person who's worked very hard, who married very well, it is my daughter Ivanka. Where is she? I sort of stole her husband. He is so great. If you can't produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can. OK? All my life I have been hearing that's the toughest deal in the world to make. And I've seen it, but I have a feeling that Jared is going to do a great job. I have a feeling he is going to do a great job. So he will work with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: If nobody -- if Jared can't produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can. Listen. No shade to Jared but that is a lot of pressure on 36 years old. No government experience.
EMILY JANE FOX, STAFF WRITER, VANITY FAIR: 36-years-old. Has never held office. Never ran for dog catcher as far as I'm concern. He is a man who inherited his father's real estate business in New York and has arguably been successful in doing that. And now, Donald has put the weight of the world on his shoulders. It is not exactly setting him up for a win there.
But Donald Trump really cares about his own win column more than anything. And I think he is happy to have his son-in-law in the west wing with him. I think he is happy to have his beloved daughter right down alongside of him. And he values family loyalty. Is very nice that he thinks so highly of his son-in-law, but it is really setting him up for big failure there.
GERGEN: But this is again example where his views in collision. He wants to have Jared goes solve the Middle East but he also wants to move the capital to Jerusalem. And every president in both sides of that aisle said, if you do that as American, you are going to destroy the chance for Middle East peace. You can't have it both ways, you know. If you are really working for Middle East peace, you have nothing that Jerusalem. I mean, Jared, nobody.
LEMON: Douglas, (INAUDIBLE)?
BRINKLEY: Well, I think that he should employ Ivanka to be the twitter tsar. He makes a deal that anytime he is about to send out a tweet she gets to screen it briefly and she is going to have to let about 99 percent of them go, even some of the wacky ones. But I worry about that kind of behavior on national security fronts with North Korea brewing right now as possible problem. I'm hoping that some family member could say, dad, I mean, Ivanka say dad, don't send that.
LEMON: Yes.
BRINKLEY: This one you can't send.
LEMON: Or do what mentor told me, write it and don't send it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Put in envelope.
LEMON: All right. We are going to - standby panel. We are going to talk about President Barack Obama's final message to the American people.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:17:26] LEMON: We are now really less than 13 hours away from Donald Trump taking the oath of office as 45th president of the United States.
Back with me Douglas Brinkley, Kirsten Powers, David Swerdlick, Mark Preston, Emily Jane Fox and David Gergen.
President Barack Obama has spent the last few days talking about what he is planning to do after he leaves office. He also wrote a note to the American people, they published his final thank you letter to the American people. And here is what he says like, if I can find the moment.
He says I have learned from you. You made me a better president and you made me a better man. And then he ends with this - and when the arc of progress seems slow, remember America is not the project of any one person, the single most powerful word in your democracy is the word, we. We the people, we shall overcome, yes we can. He is ending his presidency with the same optimism with what he started eight years ago.
Do you think he is bitterly disappointed? He says he is not. He says that he deeply believes in this country and the American people.
BRINKLEY: I think he was bitterly disappointed for a few days after the election but he quickly realized he had a key role to play to heal the country that was so divided and he reached olive branch handout to Donald Trump. That brought a lot of Democrats in to calming down a little. There was panic after this election. But since then Barack Obama seems to be falling in that to recognizing himself like Martin Luther King or Hama Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, that he sees himself as a kind of global healer in some ways. And he is also want to keeps us calm and we have to carry on. And so I think one of the things history is going to give him a high
mark for is the way he has navigated this transition, putting up final executive orders where he could, keeping his legacy intact but also we owe a lot for tomorrow's inaugural to the classy way Obama has been able to work with Donald Trump under most difficult circumstances.
LEMON: History is going to be very, very kind to him.
SWERDLICK: Yes. I don't think you can't be effective as president of the United States if you don't have that basic idea that we are going to be OK. Earlier, David Gergen said, look, you know, presidents see themselves on continuum with past and future presidents and they are just sort of a care taker of the role and the head of the state in that time. And I think that's why President Obama sees this at least a bit optimistic.
PRESTON: You know, can I just say something about the whole idea of his peaceful transition of power, which we have been talking about now for several months. It's important to note, and we mentioned this earlier in the night, but often after right now in Gambia, you have an elected president who had to take the oath of office in neighboring country. The sitting president who lost right now is refusing to leave. And right now, we are seeing troops from another West African nations amassing on the border and they are about to invade Gambia and forcefully take out president who refused to leave office.
Tomorrow whether you like Donald Trump or whether you don't like Donald Trump, he is still going to be behind us. You are going to see Democrats and Republicans. He is going to take the oath of office and it is going to be peaceful.
[23:20:09] GERGEN: You know, Barack Obama gave this remarkable interview in the last few days to "the New York Times" about the reading habits, the books that he has been reading as president. I can't remember any president since Teddy Roosevelt who read as voraciously as Barack Obama did while he was in the office. And he said to keep him anchored and help him understand, you know, to deal with the problems. He read at least an hour a night and this remarkable reigns of fictions as well as nonfiction. But I sense from that he had become more philosophical about progress. That he came to understand that man has great capacity for good but also great capacity for evil.
LEMON: Yes.
GERGEN: And as president, you know, you try to move what you can. You can't change human nature. And that he embraced that with spirit of optimism. And I think he was leaving - he wants to leave to the country this notion that it was nice quote wasn't it? Yes we can and we shall overcome, taking those and pairing those up.
BRINKLEY: The noblest Jack Kerouac once said walking on water wasn't made in a day. And I think when he came in he thought he could change things up. Lyndon Johnson, all this legislations, but he is leaving recognizing it is a chapter. And the affordable care act might get beat up and damage now, but it still a progress and it is going to move down over the decades and it is still going to be a major accomplishment.
LEMON: But the thing is that no one is perfect, you know. Barack Obama was not perfect. But the dignity in which you carry yourself in the office. Ronald Reagan was not perfect. You know, George W. Bush o George H.W. Bush, none of them perfect. But there was a certain dignity that those people carry themselves with them in office.
And just to, the difference between now and 2009, because people may think that we are waxing poetic about Barack Obama because he is on the way out. In 2009, the night before his inauguration, he attended a bipartisan dinner for John McCain and called him an American hero and a patriot. We don't see that in Washington tonight. That is not happening tonight. And it is not happening with the president-elect.
POWERS: No. I mean, I do - I think you have to remember there were a lot of ups and downs with President Obama and we are focusing on a lot of the positives I think because he is leaving and partly because of the contrast with Trump. And his approval numbers frankly started to go up a lot during the election because I think people started looking that even at Hillary Clinton and the options they have and say, well, hang on, you know, maybe we don't have it so bad with Barack Obama.
But he also has a fundamentally good temperament. He is a calm person. It is something he has been criticized for it, but it really bore fruit in this transition. He is sort, the calmness and rational professorial way he approach this, I think, and sort of thought it through, realized, you know, when it happened and behaved in a way that I think a lot of us wondered would I have been able to been so generous and so gracious to somebody who treated me so badly.
LEMON: Donald Trump said I hoped to, you know, he said meet many more times with President Obama and maybe get some counsel from him. Do you think that will happen and if so, what can he learn from him? He is leaving a note. He is going to write him a letter.
SWERDLICK: Right now, I don't think, you know, it would be interesting to see what is in that letter whenever that becomes public. I think that Donald Trump can take a lesson from President Obama in his conservative demeanor, whether people think his policies were liberal or conservative, he is conservative - to your point, he is conservative temperamentally. And when you see them meet, like they met two days after Election Day, you saw that reflected in the way Trump was looking back at him. The problem is I think for Trump that it sort of wears off as the days go by between their chats. I think President Trump can be successful in certain things but his demeanor is still --.
LEMON: Yes. They are yelling at me but Ivanka will try to keep him on track with that, I think.
FOX: Well, he is 70 years old and a billionaire. I think at certain point, you are (INAUDIBLE), you just have to accept and you don't have to like who they are but you have to accept it.
LEMON: Yes. I'm 28 years old and I'm not --.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Thank you all.
And when we come right back, it's Obamas last night in the White House. White House staff clearing the photos from the walls in preparation for the new occupants. What will the defining images of President Trump's White House look like? I'm going to ask a former White House photographer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:28:53] LEMON: So you should pay attention to this. There's the White House, by the way. Obamas' last night in the White House. Tomorrow Donald Trump, his family will occupy that building, that house right there on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
We are going to have a discussion now that need to get away from the politics of this and just take you behind-the-scenes, some White House positions are still unfilled, hours before Donald Trump's inauguration. That includes the White House photographer.
Let's discuss now with David Hume Kennerly. Currently, he is the White House photographer for President Gerald Ford.
Thank you so much. It is fascinating. I can't wait to talk about this.
Donald Trump is going to begin his presidency with no official White House photographer but you say he is going to have one?
DAVID HUME KENNERLY, PRESIDENT GERALD FORD WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHER: Right. I don't have any bullets in there but it is my understanding that somebody will be doing that job, but it is not going to be a carryover from Obama. Pete Souza has been President Obama's photographer for eight years. He is gone 12:01. He hits --
LEMON: So you are sure we have a photographer. It is not just going to be iPhone photographs?
KENNERLY: No. I'm hoping. I'm not sure. I mean, I don't want to give anything away.
LEMON: Let's talk about some of your work here. You were the third official White House photographer. Let's put this photograph of -- you took it of Gerald Ford when you served him in the White House. He is at the head of that table right there. It was an historic moment. What was happening?
[23:30:13] KENNERLY: He was ending the war in Vietnam. One of the things about this photo that is compelling, nobody is saying anything and under a portrait of Teddy Roosevelt in the Roosevelt room and key moment in the Vietnam war, NSC staff. But what is important is it was taken and I had the clearance and trust of the president to be there for history. It's vital.
LEMON: I want to go through a lot of these and then I want to ask you what it's like been because you are there almost of every single moment except when they are alone.
KENNERLY: Sometimes then too.
LEMON: Yes. You said Pete Souza is the official Obama administration photographer.
KENNERLY: Just for a short time.
LEMON: First social media photographer. Let's put this one up. This one is President Obama and he is with a little boy here. For a lot of African-Americans, particularly people of color, this is one of the most significant pictures of his presidency.
KENNERLY: I love it.
LEMON: What does this photograph say to you?
KENNERLY: Well, it shows that there is a young man who sees in the president somebody just like himself. And the fact that Pete was in there to get that moment is why you should have presidential photographer. And it's about the history, it is not about the PR.
LEMON: Yes. I have one in my office. One with him on the bus, the Rosa Parks bus.
KENNERLY: Well, that's good one.
LEMON: Yes, I have that one. And I have another one him standing in the portico or something of the White House in the arch and you just see his shadow beautiful.
KENNERLY: You need some Kennerly photos.
LEMON: I will. And I will certainly take some Kennerly photos.
Let's talk about another one. Here is one of President Obama, this one is in the war room, the situation room I should say with security team May of 2011. I remember this. I was on the air that night tracking the operation against Osama bin Laden. Why is this picture so powerful?
KENNERLY: Well, that is where the rubber meets the road with history and having a photographer who was cleared to be there, who was a really good documentary guy. Pete knows a story when he sees it. That's a great story. That's when they got Osama bin laden. And there is picture to show it.
LEMON: Yes. Peaceful transition of power, we are going to witness that tomorrow. This one, though, you have witnessed. It is Gerald Ford with Jimmy Carter. They were en route to Carter's inauguration. What was the mood in that limousine?
KENNERLY: Well, just so you know, I mounted camera in the car and I gave the secret service guy who was riding shotgun a cable. I said take a few shots. When Jimmy Carter saw this picture, he said mentioned this was fairly uncomfortable ride. He had beaten President Ford. That was just minutes before the president will be sworn in. That same scene is going to happen tomorrow. But it will be with President Obama who didn't lose the election to Donald Trump. But they will ride together up to the capitol for the swearing in?
LEMON: In 2009, it was George W. Bush handled it with so much class when he saw both of the men in that limousine going up to the capitol. Unfortunately, though, George H.W. Bush will miss the inauguration because he has been sick. His wife was - they are both have been hospitalized.
Let's put this photograph up. Tell us about this photograph.
KENNERLY: I love it.
LEMON: There is Bush 41 and 43 together. Where was this taken?
KENNERLY: Yes. This is in the rainy inaugural parade reviewing stand. And this, to me, it's not a great photo per see but it really does show the relationship between a proud dad and his kid became president of the United Statesmen statement. The only time that happened before was John Quincy Adams but that was before photographs.
LEMON: I remember this one, I thought it was amazing photograph. You took it, a five living presidents together. George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon and there was also one that has President Obama and Clinton in it.
KENNERLY: That's right in the oval office.
LEMON: Tell us about this one. What was that like? Did they get along?
KENNERLY: That was the first time five presidents and they were stood together on the same turf. Tomorrow will be fourth time there had been six alive presidents alive at the same time. Unfortunately, President George Bush won't be there. But that was an amazing moment. At that point, those are the first five presidents I have covered going back to Nixon then I worked for President Ford. And Ford has lost to Carter. Carter lost to Reagan. And George Bush was Reagan's VP. That was at the Reagan library. And to me it is like a Mt. Rushmore moment. And that's what I live for, to take photos of real live history.
[23:35:14] LEMON: I'll take that one.
KENNERLY: OK. I'll send you a bill.
LEMON: It is interesting that the big guys who have won or lost elections appear to handle it better than many of their supporters or the people against them, which is interesting. They have to.
KENNERLY: I don't know if they have to but they do. President Ford was incredibly gracious loser, and it was painful. I mean there were tears all around. And -- but --
LEMON: What is it like being with them all the time, being in the White House and just witnessing history that close?
KENNERLY: Well, I think for me and the Fords, President Ford was such a great example for me. He was a man who believed in living and let live, and disagreeing with without being disagreeable. He was the most wonderful person. I was over in the U.S. capital today, took a picture of the statue in the rotunda where he had served in Congress since 1948. And it was such a great tribute to such a great man.
LEMON: Yes. Thank you. Beautiful photographs.
KENNERLY: Thank you. You'll get a shot. Five presidents.
LEMON: Thank you so much.
Straight ahead, Donald Trump telling the crowd at Lincoln memorial tonight, he is going to unify the country as president. Can he keep that promise?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:41:08] LEMON: Welcome back. Live from Washington.
Donald Trump on the eve of becoming the 45th president of the United States. Let's discuss now. CNN political commentators, Andre Bauer, Jeffrey Lord, Ana Navarro, they are all here. Political contributor Hilary Rosen, also political commentator Andy Dean and Bakari Sellers.
This is the panel everybody is looking for.
So Andy, Jeffrey, Andre, congratulations, by the way. Big night for your guy, Donald Trump tonight. And tomorrow he becomes the most powerful person in the world. Here is what he said at inaugural concert earlier tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We are going to unify our country. And our phrase, you all know it, half of you are wearing the hat. Make America great again. But we are going to make America great for all of our people. Everybody. Everybody throughout our country. That includes the inner cities. That includes everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So Andy, the burning question is, if it rains are we going to see the make America great hat comeback, make a comeback.
ANDY DEAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Maybe like umbrella? Anything to expand the product line.
LEMON: Do you think he has surprises in store?
DEAN: I think the speech is going to be shorter than a lot of people are imaging. I think that's an important focus. And that Donald gets its work time. And it is not going to be just flowery language. I think that I think it is going to be unifying speech, but I also think it is not going to be as politically correct as people expect. So I think a lot of analysts on TV make it upset. They maybe surprise.
HILLARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Who do you think is expecting a politically correct speech from Donald Trump? (INAUDIBLE).
DEAN: Fair enough. But I still think the reaction to it is going to be it's not as unifying as it should be. No matter what he says, even if he says, everybody hold hands, they will say, well, that one sentence Donald is going to go his own way and he is dancing to my way at the inaugural ball and it is going to be Donald, the dictator. So I think that will be the reaction. But I think the American people are smart enough to kind of see through that. And the Donald that they elected is the Donald we will see tomorrow.
LEMON: Around the table.
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I have found that there are some stories out there that he is looking at two inaugural addresses and specifically, Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, my two favorite modern presidents.
LEMON: Shocking.
LORD: Shocking.
LEMON: Actually, Kennedy does surprise even Reagan --.
LORD: No, as a big (INAUDIBLE). And memorized that inaugural address. And both of those addresses when you go back and look at them, they were about challenges of America's position in the world, challenging the American people to higher goal or higher plane and unifying to some degree and the call for American greatness. And I think that's typical Trump.
LEMON: I don't necessarily agree with what you said. I think if he gives a unifying speech I think that is what people want.
ROSEN: But the bar is low. I mean, you know, the bar is this low, you know this high and it will be easy for him to jump over it to talk about unity and - but, you know, the issue though is I'm expecting he is going to give a good speech tomorrow. At least he is going to say the right things, you know.
But what is he going to tweet the next day is that going undermine everything he has said the day before. And so, I'm where Ana is, which is we cannot expect this guy to change. This country is going to have to learn to live with him as he is and accept that he is a divider with his own agenda and that hopefully the things he wants to get done end up being things that are good for the country and not bad. But I don't think we can expect him to change.
(CROSSTALK)
DEAN: This is why - but the thing is people knew what goods they were buying they selected him. So it is like --.
(CROSSTALK)
ROSEN: This is why. Because he squandered the last two-and-a-half months as an opportunity to bring the country together. He is going into this --
DEAN: According to who? I disagree.
[23:45:00] ROSEN: He is going into this inauguration tomorrow as the least popular new president.
DEAN: According to polls that have been like 10 to 12 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not true. The polls were actually right.
(CROSSTALK)
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Let him explain to you how.
The polls are actually correct because the polls going into the election said that Hillary Clinton would win the popular vote by two to three points. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.
DEAN: Well, give me some state polls to look at.
SELLERS: But that's neither here nor there because we are not back in November. I do think that tomorrow is an awesome opportunity for Donald Trump because as Douglas Brinkley said earlier, I think je said it best. He said that these inaugural addresses are conversations between presidents across generations. The question is, and I don't think it's fair to compare Donald Trump to John F. Kennedy, I don't think it is fair to compare him to Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton or Barack Obama because he is Donald Trump and doesn't have that oratorical ability. He hasn't been able to show that. But with that being said, I do think that if Donald Trump takes the step of acknowledgment maybe first and then goes somewhere we haven't seen him go, which is empathy, may be second. I don't know if he carries that trait.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Humility?
SELLERS: That's kind of getting deep. But if he can get to acknowledgment and empathy and talk about the struggles that many people in this country go to, then that would be a good speech. I'm not sure - He has never done that before.
LORD: Is tomorrow a fresh start, Andre?
ANDRE BAUER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. Look. I think he is going to be unifying. Yes, absolutely. When he puts his hand on that bible and says so help me God, you can see a whole change. And the weight of the world on this guy's shoulder.
Look. I had the honor of being the - Lieutenant governor of South Carolina. It is was a great honor. I can't imagine the literal way weight of the world is going to be on this on guy's shoulders. And he is going to have an amazing day tomorrow. I hope the country comes together a least for one day and gives this guy an opportunity to say thank you. We appreciate you running. And I think you will see that tomorrow. I think you will see less resistance tomorrow. Monday is going to be a different day, but he realizes this is his opportunity.
Look. Donald Trump cares about results. He wanted to win this election --
LEMON: I understand that but I think you have it wrong. I think when you have people who leave their home goes to a polling place, rain, sleet, snow or shine, who go to your rallies, it's up to you to thank them and have that weight on your shoulder, not up to them to come to you, you must reach out to them. And even especially to the people who didn't vote for you. You are the president of the United States of America, not just of the people who voted for you.
DEAN: And he has demonstrated that for the last month.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think so he has.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He sat down with Al Gore.
(CROSSTALK)
ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Let me give you the good news. The good news is we are only going to have to wait about 24, 36 hours to figure out whether he is changed or not because if on Sunday morning we wake up and he has been tweeting against "Saturday Night Live" which is surely going to lampoon the hell out of him, you know, Saturday, then we know it's same Donald Trump.
I give Donald Trump points for consistency. I don't think we-I actually think we have kind of learned to live with Donald Trump in the last two-and-a-half months. You know, I'm kind of getting numb to the crazy tweets and the craziness. I think we have to learn how to live with each other.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Agree.
NAVARRO: Because we are so entrenched in different camps right now. And you know, I have got to be happy and recognize that folks who supported Trump are today celebrating. And we are celebrating 240 years of democratic succession. But they have got to admit that people who are protesting the next day have as much right.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:52:28] LEMON: I'm back now with my panel.
And Jeffrey, I'm going to go to you because I want to talk about there was a powerful op-ed written by Karim Abdul Jabbar and how it reported. Here is part of it. Given that the country is in the throes of the civil rights backlash that threatens to undo the progress we fought so hard to attain, we have to be fearless relentless in speaking up at every opportunity. What's your reaction to that?
LORD: What civil rights backlash? I mean, I'm a conservative. I mean, what?
Look. We have all the civil rights laws are on the books decades and decades ago. And as a matter of fact we had to have a redo because the Democratic Party undid all these republican civil rights laws from the 1860s and 1870s. So, you know, what is he talking about?
SELLERS: No, I mean, I think that there is a lot of historical inaccuracies and I could go at length to talk about how you are just rewriting history. But I think what Karim Abdul Jabbar is talking about here is a large group of people and he was talking about (INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
SELLERS: With the very eloquent point that we have to get out of our silos and began understand the pain that people are feeling in the streets. And a lot of that pain has to do with the fact that there is a fear that we are going to slide back into the era of the 1950s and 60s where individuals because of the color of their skin whether or not they are Hispanic or African-American are treated differently or left out of the process. And I think one of the things, one of the biggest disappointments that many people have had so far, Ana could probably speak to better than I can on Trump's cabinet picks. I mean, he has one African-American. He has no Hispanic-Americans. I mean, in order for us need to have a conversation about inclusion, I mean, we can't even get to diversity with Donald Trump.
LORD: Well, I you think diversity the new segregation, then, you know, it is not right --.
NAVARRO: I think the point that Karim Abdul Jabbar is making -- I don't even know why we are argue about it. We have freedom of speech. One of the things that makes this country absolutely great is it doesn't need to be made great again. It is great. Is because in this country criticizing a president, questioning his legitimacy like Donald Trump did with President Barack Obama's citizenship for eight years does not land you in jail. It does not get you black balled. IT does not get you harassed. It does not get you beat. In places like Cuba, it does. And we have got to remember that.
LORD: Sure. I mean, first amendment rights. Absolutely.
LEMON: You think people should protest the day after?
LORD: Sure. Well, let me say this. I mean, from a political standpoint, I think that kind of think helps Donald Trump as in the day it helped Ronald Reagan and long before that.
ROSEN: It's not a political opportunity.
LEMON: I asked you because here's what Donald Trump tweeted in 2012, the day after Barack Obama was reelected. He said we can't let this happen. We should March on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided.
[23:55:14] ROSEN: So all right. So can we just go to this bigger point which is that, you know, this Trump's task tomorrow, which is to bring together the country in a way that allows people who are literally going to bed tonight afraid, feel better. So you can talk about this as sort of a civil rights agenda. But really, what we are talking about is, is he going to repeal the so-called DACA rules which will send, you know, young Latinos and immigrants back to their countries? Will he, you know, appoint people to the Supreme Court that are going to take away my rights as a lesbian? Will he not enforce voting rights violations in the justice department?
People are legitimately afraid. And you can call that whatever you want. But what Donald Trump needs to do is call us Americans. And he needs to work hard at that.
LEMON: Yes. When we come back, moments away from the beginning of inauguration day in Washington is preparing for a moment that will make history. We will tell you what to watch for.
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