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Don Lemon Tonight
Buttigieg Keeps Narrow Lead in Iowa Caucuses with 100 Percent Precincts Reporting; Trump Celebrates Impeachment Victory with Insults, Profanity in White House Event; Key Impeachment Witness, Alexander Vindman, Expects to Leave White House Post in Coming Weeks; Democratic Candidates Out in Force Ahead of Crucial New Hampshire Primary Tuesday; Monmouth Poll Shows Sanders Leads in New Hampshire, Buttigieg Second, Biden Third. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 07, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: They are. Ivanka obtained more than a dozen Chinese trademarks since entering the White House. Don Jr and Eric Trump received government approval last year for a major expansion of their golf resort in Scotland. So far, they have unloaded more than $100 million of real estate holdings with their father in office as president. You don't think that demands a premium? Follow the money, folks.
Thank you for watching.
Time now for "CNN TONIGHT" with D. Lemon.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: I understand you can't hear me. But I can see you and hear you. You're way over there. I know they can't hear us on the air.
CUOMO: Because it is commanding --
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Chris can't hear me in his ear. But he can hear me because he's right in front of me.
So I won't talk to you.
But that is a lack of self-awareness what you just reported there, buddy.
I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night, or a good morning. See you later.
This is "CNN TONIGHT." I'm Don Lemon.
We're live in New Hampshire, still, where the countdown has begun to Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary, right here in New Hampshire. We just finished two nights of town halls with the Democrats vying to run against President Trump. But looming over all of this, the final batch of votes in Iowa. And
100 percent of precincts are reporting. And Pete Buttigieg holds a one-tenth of a 1 percent lead over Bernie Sanders in the all-important delegate count. Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden are in third and fourth place. Followed by Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer.
The candidates have until 1:00 p.m. Eastern, less than 12 hours, to call for a recanvas or recount, something the DNC chair is calling for, throwing the race into turmoil.
Bernie Sanders speaking for an hour tonight, saying that the Democratic Party of Iowa -- his words not mine -- "screwed up the counting process." But said he wants to move on to New Hampshire.
And Pete Buttigieg reacting to the Iowa results live on the air, calling the news fantastic and saying nothing can take away from what happened on Monday.
Amy Klobuchar telling me, in the wake of the impeachment trial, voters are going to be the jurors in the election. And warning again -- these are her words -- "Democrats better not screw this up."
Deval Patrick praising Romney for voting his conscience on the impeachment.
And all the chaos in this race comes on the back backdrop of a freshly acquitted President Donald Trump. Marking his impeachment victory at the White House.
A so-called celebration consisting of score-settling, grievances and blatant attacks on anybody who dared cost him in more than an hour of stream-of-consciousness ranting. And what he said is really, really ugly.
This is what a celebration sounds like to Trump, the president of the United States. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED SATES: It was evil, it was corrupt, it was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars.
Dirty cops. Bad people.
It was all bullshit.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: We were running against some very, very bad and evil people.
All of these horrible, dirty cops.
Remember, he said the statement, which is a mob statement. Don't call me, I'll call you.
They're vicious and mean. Vicious. These people are vicious. A vicious, horrible person.
A horrible person.
These are vicious people.
They're vicious as hell.
These people have gone stone-cold crazy.
The other side and the bad ones, the leakers, the liars, the dirty cops.
Two low-lives. They can't take it.
When I fired that sleaze bag, all hell broke out. They were ratting on each other. They were running for the hills.
These are the crookedest, most dishonest, dirtiest people I've ever seen.
It was the top scum. These are all dirty people.
A phony, rotten deal by some very evil and sick people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That wasn't an episode of "The Sopranos." That wasn't Tony Soprano. That was the president of the United States.
Have you ever heard a president talk that way, out in the open, at an official White House event? Insults, profanity, language right out of a gangster movie, complaining about dirty cops, low-lives, people ratting each other out.
All that in the East Room, on live TV. Really in front of the world. But standing in front of a room of lawmakers, cabinet officials, family members and Trump defenders. Leaping to their feet again and again to applaud -- there you go. In a "dear leader" moment this president seems to love.
[01:05:04]
But it's not just his language, though, that is bad enough. This is about settling scores, keeping scores, a literal list of compliants (ph) and enemies to be skewered and jeered, mocked for their faith.. At least Richard Nixon tried to keep his enemies list under wraps.
And speaking of previous presidents, I want you to compare what we heard today, what you heard just moments ago, to another president who was impeached. And he said he was humbled by that experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF HE UNITED STATES: I want to say, again, to the American people, how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and on the American people.
I also am humbled and very grateful for the support and prayers I have received from millions of Americans over this past year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We're a long way off from that, aren't we? Anybody who expected soul-searching or humility from President Trump was bound to be disappointed. Instead, he is clearly still steaming over Mitt Romney's voice of conscience, in his powerful speech on the Senate floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): My faith is at the heart of who I am.
I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the president, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. And I was not wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And here's how the president responded, of all places, at the National Prayer Breakfast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say, "I pray for you," when they know that's not so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, let me remind you, that was at a prayer breakfast. A prayer breakfast. Turn the other cheek, humility, values, Christians, people of faith, do unto others.
This president apparently thinks that the appropriate venue -- that that's the appropriate venue to question the faith -- the faith of Mitt Romney. To question the faith of Nancy Pelosi.
Here's how the speaker responded today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): He can say whatever he wants. But I do pray for him and I do so sincerely and without anguish.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: To recap, the president of the United States celebrating his impeachment acquittal by attacking his perceived political enemies for their faith. Hurling insults at others, calling them evil, crazy, dishonest low-lives and a sleaze bag. Those were his words, straight from the White House.
What a celebration. Just imagine what will happen when this race really heats up.
A lot to get to tonight. Let's bring in CNN political correspondent, Abby Phillip, senior political analyst, Mark Preston, political analyst, Kirsten Powers, and political commentator, Mark McKinnon.
Hello, everyone.
KIRSTEN POWER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hello.
LEMON: The words of your president at the White House and at a prayer breakfast. Post acquittal, Trump on display.
What do you think, Mark McKinnon?
MARK MCKINNON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the thing that strikes me is that people -- strong supporters of Donald Trump are used to this kind of tone, this anger, this intimidation, when he's down. But this is new when he's up. At a prayer breakfast, mocking somebody's faith at a prayer breakfast.
I'm just curious that if this is the attitude that he adopts when he's on top, that's going to be a different thing for people to see.
Now, I don't think his base is going anywhere. But for a lot of Americans to say, you can't even have a note of humility at a prayer breakfast, on a day when you've been acquitted and be generous to the people in the room, to acknowledge that you can -- he couldn't even acknowledge at the prayer breakfast, you should love your enemies.
LEMON: Love your enemy --
(CROSSTALK)
MCKINNON: I don't love my enemy. Clearly he doesn't. That's very non- Christian message at a prayer breakfast.
(CROSSTALK)
[01:10:09]
LEMMON: Go ahead.
MCKINNON: How ironic can you be?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Boy. How about this? Things come in threes. When you're a journalist, three things come together, you get a story. People die, three things come together, three people die. They come in threes.
Donald Trump gave a State of the Union that we've never seen ever, crazy, full of lies, outrageous. Then, he goes to the prayer breakfast and he totally flips that on its head. Although, people there seem to love it, which throws into question about where their Christian morals are, whatever morals they have.
LEMON: The prayer breakfast itself. PRESTON: It's a prayer breakfast.
And then, he goes to the White House and uses profanity. And again, I use profanity. I'm said this, and I'm very honest, I wouldn't use it at the White House or on television. He feels it's OK to use profanity. And use the perch of the White House to say I'm going to settle scores with people.
LEMON: Didn't Susan Collins and John Thune say--
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: -- he learned his lesson. That was the punishment.
POWERS: Yes.
LEMON: What was the lesson here?
POWERS: It's interesting because, if think how you teach a child a lesson,, would it be not punishing them? That's not usually how you teach someone a lesson. It was a strange thing to say from the get-go.
We're going to not hold him accountable, say he didn't do anything wrong, by acquitting him, and then he's going to learn a lesson. That's crazy.
(CROSSTALK)
POWERS: But it's crazier that it's Donald Trump. They think that would have any impact on it.
LEMON: Here's the thing to me. We know about the president's behavior, right? For Christians to use the excuse, the Democrats have been after him, people have been attacking him, how did you expect him to act? How about act like a Christian? How about act like the leader of the free world.
POWERS: This is the argument Scott Jennings was making today or yesterday. I can't remember.
LEMON: Yes. Yes.
POWERS: That -- and my response was, Bill Clinton went through the exact same thing that Donald Trump went through. The exact same thing. And he was incredibly contrite.
When he went through the prayer breakfast, he said, I sinned. He said, it's not enough for me to apologize, I have to forgive the people that I'm angry at. It's the polar opposite of what Donald Trump is doing.
Arthur Brooks got up and spoke before him, all about bringing people together and loving your enemies. And he got up and said, Arthur, I'm going to have to disagree with you. Actually, you have to disagree with Jesus. That's who he is quoting.
MCKINNON: I wonder if you had asked, just a blind test for all of the Republican Senators, just, if we didn't have any history, and said laid out this case. If there was one case where you had a president that had an affair and an intern and lied about it. And another case, the president withheld aid from a country to do political research on an opponent. Which would be more problematic for you? One hundred percent the latter.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: It's interesting -- and, Abby, I want to bring you in because I need -- you to report on the president all the time.
But the excuse was from the people around him and the porn star, he did it because he didn't want his wife to find out about it. That was an excuse.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Which is Bill Clinton said the same thing. It's OK for Donald Trump to do it but not OK for Bill Clinton.
You cover the president all the time. You've been standing by. What did you think when you heard him at the prayer breakfast at the White House? What did you learn from this?
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He was focused on retribution to me, at the press conference. The prayer breakfast was his anger and his rejection of love thy enemy or forgiveness or any of that. He was rejecting that in the prayer breakfast.
By the time he got to this press conference at the White House, he was really thinking about how the people who he really hates ought to pay for what they did to him. That was glaring to me.
The second thing that was glaring was the audience. The Republicans sitting in the audience, cabinet members. It's a case study in how political power is the most important motivating factor in Washington.
All of those people, at one point or another, criticized Donald Trump as a candidate, even as president at certain points. In that room, they gave him standing ovations. And Mark Meadows stood up and said, Mr. President, I just want you to know we're behind you 100 percent.
[01:15:05]
And these are acts of signaling to Donald Trump, that they're loyal. So, that they can get what he is offering to them in return, which is one-by-one, calling their names and telling them how he's going to reward them politically for their loyalty.
And it is important to pay attention to that because this is how Donald Trump wields power over the Republican Party. That power gets stronger and stronger as he continues to be president.
And there's no going back from this. People are not going to wake up and be like, OK, I don't want to, you know -- there's a line that I don't want to cross here. No. This is how power works. (CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: And he wields it extremely effectively.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: -- get to some other things.
But I do understand from -- I have spoken to people in the room. They said, when he came up with some of the things about the conspiracy theory and the FBI and Lisa -- Strzok, that -- there were people quiet and uncomfortable. Many of the same people gave him a standing ovation.
Let's talk about the enemies list. Tonight, we're learning, Kirsten, that Lieutenant Colonel Vindman is expected to leave the National Security Council post in the coming weeks.
Trump has reportedly fumed about his presence in the NSC since he testified. His duties have been curtailed. He testifies against Trump. Now, Vindman is on an enemies list, as well.
POWERS: Not surprising, right? This is what Donald Trump is like. He will retaliate against people who were being honest under oath. It's saying you should not fulfill your duty and refuse to testify, which is your duty, or lie under oath.
Those are the options these people had. And he's retaliating. He's using his official power to retaliate against someone who has served this country.
MCKINNON: And just to put a point on how vindictive this is, Vindman had requested a transfer himself to the Defense Department that was going to happen in a month. Trump wouldn't even let him do that.
He talks about leakers and liars. These people testified under threat of perjury. So they told the truth. The people that didn't come forward, were the witnesses that he withheld. They were the ones that --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Right. They would have been under oath. If they had told a lie, would have suffered the consequences of telling a lie. He didn't want those witnesses to come forward.
Very interesting. Wow.
PRESTON: Don, if there was way to look at a song that encapsulated what we saw today, they'd played "Hail to the Chief" before he walked in there today.
(LAUGHTER)
PRESTON: Kind of an interesting song to play on a somber, yet celebratory occasion. (CROSSTALK)
PRESTON: "Hail to the Chief." There you.
LEMON: Thank you.
Stick around, everybody.
The nation's first primary right here in New Hampshire just days away.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:21:41]
LEMON: Let's turn to the state of the race. Democratic candidates duking it out here in New Hampshire with days to go before the first- in-the-nation primary.
Back with me, Abby Phillip, Mark Preston, Kirsten Powers and Mark McKinnon.
Kirsten, let's start with you.
Let's talk about the state of the race. There's a new Monmouth poll out for New Hampshire. Sanders and Buttigieg at the top, Biden third. How do you see it playing out?
POWERS: I'm not going to make any predictions. But I think this is interesting. Bernie Sanders, this is his area. He should do well there. The fact that Buttigieg is so close is meaningful.
Assuming this is right -- and we don't know for sure -- it doesn't look great for Biden. The fact that Buttigieg is four points within Sanders is meaningful. As we get closer, it'll probably tighten up.
LEMON: You have a Democratic Socialist, a self-declared Democratic Socialist, and you've got the mayor of a small town. What does it say about who can beat Donald Trump?
MCKINNON: It's two different visions of who can beat Donald Trump. They're not which one to go with. There's such a divide in the party. But this is a classic point in the campaign where the classic Haley Barbour, from Mississippi, used to say, good gets better and bad gets worse.
Good is better for Pete Buttigieg but bad is getting worst for Biden.
LEMON: For Joe Biden.
But in your column, you said -- this was last year. You said, "The person most likely to beat Trump is a person most unlike him."
Is that what you --
(CROSSTALK)
MCKINNON: That's what we've seen over history. I mean, Carter to Nixon, Obama to Bush, in history.
I said to students, what are the characters of Donald Trump. Lay it on a blackboard. And we went through the leading Democratic candidates. And looked at it. It was almost unanimous. Pete Buttigieg was the most different from Donald Trump.
So, if history plays out, and he's a nominee, you can say he has a shot because he's the most unlike Trump.
It's interesting to imagine. I can see how Donald Trump would go after Biden or Sanders.
LEMON: He's not going after Pete Buttigieg.
MCKINNON: How does he got after Pete Buttigieg? That will be - he's not used to a Pete Buttigieg.
LEMON: Yes.
We know how he went against Elizabeth Warren, calling her the name, what have you.
Abby, Elizabeth Warren is at 13 percent in that poll. What does she have to do to bring that number up in New Hampshire?
PHILLIP: It's an interesting question. You would think that she has an advantage that Bernie Sanders has in the state.
The problem with Elizabeth Warren is, once you start losing momentum, it's like a ball moving downhill. It's hard to stop that slide.
She needs a game-changing moment for her. I don't know if there's enough time between now for that to happen.
She suffers from Bernie Sanders doing well. As Sanders solidifies, the people that might have been with Warren -- she has less of a base of support. It's problematic.
I think Warren suffers as Pete Buttigieg gains, as well. These categories for voters are not as linear as we think they are. People are crossing ideological lines all the time. That's one of the reasons why this is going to be really tough for her.
[01:25:01]
I don't know how she creates a moment in just a few short days. She's just got to hold on past New Hampshire, frankly, and try to make a move in one of the later primaries.
LEMON: We talk about the moderates. I think in your words, you prefer centrist, right?
PRESTON: Yes. LEMON: And left, right?
Iowa showed the results, a tight finish, 100 percent. And it was off by one-tenth of 1 percent. We hear a difference of what Buttigieg is more centrist. Sanders is more left.
How long can that talk go on about left and centrist?
(CROSSTALK)
PRESTON: It's going to go on. I think what Abby is saying is you're going to see folks like Pete Buttigieg, who might appeal to some Elizabeth Warren supporters, maybe not on every issue, but they see him, he's gaining ground, and they see perhaps she's losing ground and they jump ship. It's just human nature.
I do think that you are going to start seeing more definitive distinctions drawn between the candidates moving forward. That's the only way that somebody can get out in front of everybody else.
Bernie Sanders is hitting on every front right now. And that's why Elizabeth Warren is at least stalemating or she's stalling here.
I like when you go fishing. You throw two lines in the water, a fish can only bite on one hook. So you have these two candidates who are trying to get one fish. With Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, same way.
Buttigieg, I think is such an unknown, who knows? If you look at the entrance polls back in Iowa, he did so well across the board with everybody. It will be interesting to see here if a Democrat in New Hampshire is going to have the same characteristics as a Democrat in Iowa. They tend not to necessarily. But who knows?
POWERS: When you move on to other states that aren't so white, then I think it is another question. He didn't do that well with African- Americans. And granted, for people of color. And --
(CROSSTALK)
POWERS: Hold on. Granted, it's a small number of people. But it's still true that Bernie overwhelmingly won them, compared to Buttigieg.
What does that mean when you move into a state where you have an African-American population? Yes, we know the older African-Americans go for Biden. But the younger African-Americans go for Bernie. What happens to Buttigieg in that situation?
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: That is literally the question.
POWERS: Yes.
PHILLIP: This is the million-dollar question for Buttigieg. If he can't solve that problem by the time he gets to South Carolina, there's no path. There's no path to the nomination for a Democrat who cannot build a coalition that involves non-white people. Their bet is that winning begets winning.
PRESTON: Right.
PHILLIP: I don't think that's just true for black voters or Hispanic voters. It's true here in New Hampshire. Voters want to see who looks like they have what it takes to make it all the way through this process. They can win. They can raise money. They are, you know, exhibiting the characteristics where they can see that person up against -- on a debate stage with Donald Trump.
That's a whole ball game when it comes to electability is to show and prove to voters you can start winning things. And you're tough enough to go up against Trump.
It might work for Buttigieg. But I don't think that even his camp expects that in South Carolina, they're going to rival Joe Biden, necessarily. He has to improve. I think they know that.
LEMON: I have to get to the break.
But, Mark, back to you, I've heard people say, well, what if people are overestimating the African-American vote this time around and it may not matter for someone like Pete Buttigieg. Is that being naive? Or is that possible?
MCKINNON: No. I think it's true that Democrats have to generate, have to reach out to communities of color and really amp the numbers up. Biden has strong support in South Carolina that he's going to need now.
I do think, to your point, if Pete Buttigieg wins New Hampshire, everybody in South Carolina is going to give this a look, including people of color.
LEMON: Yes.
MCKINNON: Because they don't know him.
LEMON: Right.
MCKINNON: They don't know anything about him.
LEMON: That maybe the best thing he has going for him.
MCKINNON: Yes, exactly.
LEMON: Everyone, stay with me.
You heard a lot from the Democratic hopefuls in tonight's town hall. But who can unify a divided party?
[01:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: All the Iowa results are in now and Pete Buttigieg holds an incredibly close one-tenth of 1 percent lead over Bernie Sanders in the all-important delegate (ph) count. But, now it's all about New Hampshire with the primary on Tuesday.
And tonight at CNN's town hall Sanders, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Patrick each tried to make their case to voters. Abby Phillip is back, Mark Preston, Kirsten Powers, and Mark McKinnon as well.
Mark Preston -- Mayor Buttigieg, he seemed very confident tonight, do you think that he has gotten some energy coming out of Iowa strong? Did he get that big --
PRESTON: (INAUDIBLE), but I spend a lot of time backstage with the candidates before these town halls, and it's -- you know, you just try to get them calm and in a good space.
What was interesting, I saw tonight the -- from Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg is that they were both relaxed and they were both very happy. Like, they were both in a good space, they were both really tired -- like, really, really tired.
And what I think -- what I find most interesting about Buttigieg, specifically in the last 24 hours, 48 hours is that when he's challenged with a hard question during this time right now, which he was challenged on the view by Meghan McCain today. And when you're really tired you're going to screw up, you're going to make a mistake. For some reason, and this is why I think he could do so well in debates against Donald Trump, he's unflappable. He was...
LEMON: You really thing Donald Trump is going to do a debate?
PRESTON: With Pete Buttigieg...
[01:35:00]
MCKINNON: No, you're right. I have never seen him flinch, and to your point -- by the size (ph) of the Bernie press conference this morning, he also was completely relaxed, and it's as calm as I've ever (INAUDIBLE) -- calm, confident, unflappable, just we're in the zone.
And by the way, an interesting observation about Buttigieg now, which is normally what he's like. But I talked to a friend of ours who was with him on a T.V. set just right before Iowa, and had seen him a long time ago and saw him right at Iowa, and he said man, he was really nervous.
So the day of the caucus he was like, a little wired up but now he's like --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he's got that push behind him (ph).
LEMON: And speaking of Buttigieg, he spoke tonight about being gay in America, take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: At a certain time in my life (INAUDIBLE). And believed that as that reality became inescapable that it might cost the chance to serve in uniform or in office -- and here I am now finding that that very same fact that I thought might prevent me from having an impact in the world, at least a certain kind of impact in a certain kind of way -- is actually very much part of the impact I get to have now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Interesting, and...
POWERS: Yes.
LEMON: ...to a certain degree, I get that. I mean, not to the extent of running for president, but then there is a certain confidence that you get from just being out and being comfortable with yourself -- I certain sense of self-awareness and self-possession that you get from that.
POWERS: Yes, yes.
LEMON: But listen, we were around reporting for -- during the Obama years, right? No, they're never going to elect an African-American president, can this be the same thing? Can he prove them wrong?
POWERS: Yes, I definitely think so. I mean, it's interesting that you -- it's almost a non-issue in a way, right? Now of course that's not the general election, it's a Democratic primary...
LEMON: Right.
POWERS: ... but even in the past, I think even in a Democratic primary it would have become more of an issue. And I think it is so poignant for him -- what he's saying, that this was the thing that I thought was going to be harmful to me, and it's actually almost like my superpower.
LEMON: Right.
MCKINNON: I think it's an asset, I really do. I mean, and the same way for Obama. I think people came out of their -- you know, just came out in droves to prove that, you know, the next president (ph), we will elect a black president.
And even (INAUDIBLE)...
(AUDIO GAP)
Go out of their way to prove that they're not racist, who maybe even were a little bit racist say that this is our opportunity to like, prove it, and...
LEMON: But there's also a certain -- there's a certain thing about confidence. People can sense when you are confident about who you are, and confidence as you said, winning begets winning. Confidence begets confident -- if you're confident you could see
someone -- let's just say you meet someone and they're not so good looking, right, in the traditional sense. But they have this confidence about them that attracts you to them, do you understand what I'm saying?
And I think that could be happening with Pete Buttigieg, especially coming out of Iowa, and having strong (ph)...
POWERS: Well, and I think voters just really want authenticity, you know?
LEMON: Yes, I agree (ph).
POWERS: And so the more authentic you can be...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the most powerful thing there is (INAUDIBLE)...
PHILLIP: Well, it goes back to what Mark was saying about the sort of pattern of opposites and how we choose our president. A voter at one of Buttigieg's events today brought up that very thing, and it was more of a statement, it wasn't a question to him. But it was basically him saying, you as a person, a gay man, a veteran -- you are the antithesis, in my mind to Donald Trump. And the voter said, I can't wait to see you on that debate stage with him.
I think him being gay is an asset in that way, to a lot of voters as well...
LEMON: But also, how does Trump -- how does Trump criticize him and go after him? You said that's (INAUDIBLE).
MCKINNON: Oh, he could find a...
PHILLIP: (INAUDIBLE)...
LEMON: No, I don't think he would, I think he would probably...
PHILLIP: He's going to find some way...
LEMON: ... I think he would get somebody else to do it.
PHILLIP: He's going to find some way, but I think that that -- that becomes part of his reason for being on -- his justification for being on that stage. And you know, there was that video of a priest saying do to not...
LEMON: I was going to just bring that up (INAUDIBLE)...
PHILLIP: A woman had...
LEMON: She wanted to take her vote back.
PHILLIP: She had actually caucused for Buttigieg, didn't realize he was gay and that he was married. And one of Buttigieg's supporters, really incredibly patient human being really counsels this woman through a process of trying to reconcile her faith with voting for Buttigieg.
I don't know that she convinced the woman, but I mean, to me, what that video clip was about was the kind of moment that other people see and they say, actually this is kind of how you -- in 2008 I'm -- for Barack Obama where (INAUDIBLE) up against people with bigoted views, and counseling them through that moment, and that became part of why they wanted to...
LEMON: Like the John McCain moment, right?
PHILLIP: Yes, it's like the John -- I think as a country sometimes we gravitate toward things like that. And I think that's what Buttigieg is kind of hoping for...
[01:40:00]
LEMON: Especially (ph) Abby, when you see the hypocrisy, when you see the prayer breakfast this morning, and all of these people who are supposedly Christians, and Evangelicals and on, and on. The hypocrisy that you see coming out of that, and you say, well, why not? Why not a gay president? Why wouldn't Democrats, or the country elect a gay president, when you see the hypocrisy coming out -- coming from the other side?
So to understand (ph) -- let's talk a little bit more about that. I want to talk a little bit more about that moment, because that woman at the precinct, which surprised me, and maybe it shouldn't when she said, how come I didn't know that? Why hasn't anybody said this?
And you wonder, these are the people -- and I don't mean to disparage that woman, but those are the people who are actually choosing whose going to be president of the United States, and they're not informed.
PRESTON: Well that's every, I mean, that's -- we're focusing on that one woman in Iowa, but I mean, like you could go in, in any of these primaries and probably run in to that woman multiple times, you know, who doesn't know everything about a specific candidate. However, (INAUDIBLE) you know, got to (ph) support that person.
Obviously this is crazy what happened in this situation, and it got caught on film which just goes to show you that like, nothing is ever going to be private...
LEMON: And the woman happened to be there with her son, and said, I teach my son that people are people, and that love is love...
PHILLIP: (INAUDIBLE).
LEMON: And you're like, (INAUDIBLE).
PHILLIP: I mean, if you watch the video, right? And you can see in this volunteer's face, she was afraid of what -- how this would come across. And these people in caucuses, it's not like these are necessarily complete strangers -- these are neighbors, and community members. So there's a certain degree of familiarity there.
I guess, you know, the point is I do think that those moments are going to happen, but in some ways -- if Buttigieg is going to win, if people vote for him because they don't know that about him. There's something else about him that they want to vote for. And he's not necessarily going to win because -- I don't necessarily think it's going to be because people want to like, break that barrier.
He -- the only way to really win in this scenario is for people to not really pay much attention to that...
LEMON: That it doesn't -- it doesn't matter. What matters is his smarts and what's going to do...
PHILLIP: Something else, something that calls the woman to caucus for him in the first place.
LEMON: I thought it was interesting -- I've got to go, but let me just say this before I go. Doing -- holding these town halls, listen, the former Vice President got to talk about stuttering and helping people with that. Bernie Sanders really for a substantial amount of time got to talk about how his faith influences him, which I hadn't heard much about that. Pete Buttigieg got to talk about being gay, and on and on...
MCKINNON: And Yang on the autism.
LEMON: And Yang on the autism, and you had a number of those moments, and I thought that was fascinating to learn. This may seem like we know a lot, but the longer this goes on the more we learn about the candidates and the more comfortable they become with sharing that with the American people.
Thank you, guys, I really appreciate it.
The president's speech got a lot of attention today for its vindictive and off the rails tone, but what about the Republicans in the audience soaking it all in? We're going to talk about them, next.
(COMMERCIAL)
[01:45:00]
LEMON: The president using his so-called celebration of his impeachment victory at the White House to attack perceived political enemies, with a (INAUDIBLE) of Republican defenders hanging on every single word.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It was evil, it was corrupt, it was dirty cops. Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person, she doesn't pray -- she may pray but she prays for the opposite. But I doubt she prays at all.
You have to understand, we first went through Russia, Russia, Russia -- it was all bullshit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Joining me now Alice Stewart and Max Boot. Hello.
ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hi, Don.
LEMON: How are you guys? Max, I'm going to start with you. So the president is claiming victory, lashing out at his opponents in a vicious way, the GOP was there in force -- applause, laughter, standing ovations what does that tell you about how -- about what's happened to your former party?
MAX BOOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well for one thing it tells you that Republicans are the world's worst hypocrites because just yesterday -- literally just yesterday they were complaining, oh how terrible it was that Nancy Pelosi was ripping up the State of the Union address.
And now, you know, look at what Donald Trump is saying about Nancy Pelosi, calling her a horrible person, impugning her faith, saying that Democrats are evil and corrupt -- and Republicans have nothing to say about that, in fact they're applauding what Donald Trump is saying. It's really the corruption of the Republican party that they become the enablers of this kind of unhinged rhetoric.
STEWART: Don, I -- let me just say this, the speech today...
LEMON: Alice, you...
STEWART: The speech today...
LEMON: Go on.
STEWART: The speech today, he used his tone and his tenor, but I looked at this speech as a victory lap and a valid slap, and both of them are completely justifiable (ph) for this president. You look at the last three years, Democrats have engaged in a full-fledged, all- out campaign to delegitimize his campaign and he's frustrated about it.
And much to his victory, it has not been successful for the Democrats. You look at the poll numbers, Donald Trump's latest Gallup Poll approval numbers are up the highest they've ever been 49. And amongst the base, amongst Republicans he has 94 percent support amongst Republicans. So, he is angry at what the Democrats have been doing, but at the same time this has done nothing but reenergize his base.
BOOT: It's not the Democrats (INAUDIBLE)...
LEMON: All right, stand-by, we're going to pick this up on the -- hold on, Max.
BOOT: OK. Sure.
LEMON: We're going to do it on the other side of the break, because we have another block after this. So, we'll be right back -- hold that thought.
(COMMERCIAL)
[01:50:00]
LEMON: Back with Alice and Max -- Max, you were mid-thought.
BOOT: Yes, what I was saying, Don is that, you know, it's not the Democrats who are doing this to Donald Trump -- it's Donald Trump whose doing this to Donald Trump, because you know, last summer, the day after the Mueller testimony it wasn't the Democrats who forced Donald Trump to call up President Zelensky of Ukraine, and try to blackmail him in to impugning Joe Biden -- that was something that Trump did on his own, that's why he was impeached.
Donald Trump is his own worst enemy, and right now he is missing a huge opportunity, just as he did after the Mueller report came out last March which is, an opportunity to show are largeness (ph) of spirit, to be contrite, to try to appeal to the middle of the country -- to try to bring people together instead of further dividing them.
When he lashes out as he did today, when he spews insults and profanities -- he turns off a lot of people and that's a missed opportunity for him, because if he would just bring people together, he would make his reelection a done deal.
STEWART: Oh, the reality is his election is a done deal...
LEMON: Yes, it's -- Alice, let me ask you some...
STEWART: And it's mostly (ph) Democrats haven't accepted...
LEMON: Let me ask you something, Alice.
STEWART: Look, let me just say this...
LEMON: I've got a short time, Alice. No, no -- I want to ask you because we're short time. Alice, I know you. You're a Christian woman.
STEWART: I am.
LEMON: How did you feel about what the president was saying at a prayer breakfast today, and when it's supposed to be Christian values, turn the other cheek, and on and on? You've got 20 seconds, if you can.
STEWART: I've said many times, I don't agree with a lot of the things he says, and the tone and tenor that he uses to say what he wants to say. But again, I support his policies, I support what he was at the prayer breakfast for, mainly to -- to praise and to give worship -- and also to show yet again to the Conservatives that do support him, that he does support the life issue, and he supports religious freedom which is the main reason why Evangelicals support him.
LEMON: I've got to go.
Thank you Alice.
STEWART: Thanks Don.
LEMON: Thank you Max, I appreciate it.
And thanks for watching everyone, our live coverage continues.
[02:00:00]
