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Don Lemon Tonight
Joe Biden to mandate Use of Masks; President Trump Sees the Pandemic Differently; U.S. With Record Breaking COVID-19 Cases; Mass Gatherings Worsen the Pandemic; Biden Wins Last Night's Debate; Trump Don't Deserve Support from African Americans; GOP Lost a Battle in Penn. State Supreme Court. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired October 23, 2020 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Give me time. Give me time.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: You're only supposed to sing that song with me. What happened?
CUOMO: It's too instructive. He is wrong in terms of which Republican president passed to compare himself to. It's not Lincoln. We know why he does it. It's Herbert Hoover. He denied the extent of the depression, he wasn't with the people and it wound up costing him that election.
I don't know that will happen here, but FDR came in with the big ideas about going big. I don't know why he didn't do that. The wall mentality is what everybody needs right now. Throw everything at it.
LEMON: We should have him talk to Margaret? Hoover. She works with us.
CUOMO: Yes, I know.
LEMON: It's her great grandfather.
CUOMO: I know. I know both halves of the Hoovalons, Margaret Hoover and John Avlon.
LEMON: I thought -- I thought corned them the Hoovalons. Yes, it is very instructive. I mean if you watch Archie Bunker from Queens, right, then you get an idea of who's actually sitting in the White House right now. It's that kind of mentality or you think he may represent that sort of, what do you think?
CUOMO: Here's what I think. I think that this election is tough to call because it should be all pandemic.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: However, however, there is a parallel dynamic of this president seen as an agent of people's animus, their fear, their outrage, their humiliation, their distaste for the elites and the system. And I coin the phrase from the movie "Snatch" when one of the characters says, do you know what nemesis means? The righteous infliction of retribution manifested in the appropriate agent.
That's what Trump is. He is their animus. He is their virus. Inserted into the political corpus --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: He's a virus?
CUOMO: -- to make it sick and change.
LEMON: That part is true. But listen, I think that elite word, I wouldn't give too much for that elite word. What is elite? I mean, you know, he's out there saying that they are --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: The rich. The Limousine liberals.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: The people who run universities and institutions who look down on the working class.
LEMON: He's --
CUOMO: Who look down on the faithful.
LEMON: He's like Sean Hannity, like Tucker Carlson, they're all rich, like Donald Trump.
CUOMO: Tucker Carlson --
LEMON: They're all rich.
CUOMO: -- is absolutely --
LEMON: They're all.
CUOMO: -- checks every box of elitism. Hannity has that working man vibe he just made a lot of money.
LEMON: Yes. Well, still, that's rich. It doesn't matter. They're still rich.
CUOMO: Elite deals with looking down on others.
LEMON: Yes, but do you actually --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Hannity never wore a bow tie.
LEMON: But I'm saying, don't just -- don't just give people that because I don't really believe that liberals are looking down on others. I don't think that -- I think that word elite --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Well, it's not just liberals. There are a lot of elites on the right.
LEMON: -- they're looking down to a lot of people. Right. That's my point.
CUOMO: Yes.
LEMON: That's my whole point.
CUOMO: But I see, do you remember --
LEMON: Donald Trump is one of them.
CUOMO: -- Trump bashes Republicans too.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: He bashes Republicans and Democrats. He's his own animal. He's his own thing.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: You know, he talks about Republicans being weak all the time.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: You know, his people aren't necessarily for him because he's a Republican. You hear very few Trump folks say, well, he's a Republican, so I'm going with him. Those flags say Trump.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: They don't say GOP.
LEMON: He gives them --
CUOMO: They don't say Republicans.
LEMON: He gives them license to do and say a lot of things, let's just put it that way.
CUOMO: GOP is grand ole party. His is a rave.
LEMON: Well, we can go a lot of places with that, but I'll just get started with the show.
CUOMO: That was good, you can have it. I love you, D. Lemon. I'll see you tomorrow.
LEMON: I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good one.
This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon.
You know what? It's hard. I didn't get myself in trouble on that one. Normally I would, but it's been a long week, I'm not going to do it. You know why? Because as I sit here tonight, believe it or not, talking to you, there is just one full week left between now and election day. Can you believe it?
And here's the fact. The fact is election day is already happening right now. Fifty-two million people have already voted, 52 million. That's 52 million ballots already cast. Thirty-six percent of people who voted in 2016 have already voted 11 days before election day right now.
But there is one issue that overshadowing everything. You know what that is, don't you? I don't have to tell you. It's the coronavirus. What it's done to this country. What it's done to our economy, and what it's done to all of us. Our lives up ended because of a failure of leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Tonight, we saw the President of the United States lie to the American people, repeatedly lie about the state of this pandemic. We saw him refuse to take responsibility for the crisis that should have been met with real presidential leadership. Instead, it has cost hundreds of thousands of Americans' lives, pushed millions into poverty.
We saw him diminish the pain felt by so many Americans. President Trump said we're rounding the corner. It's going away. We're learning to live with it. There are quotes. But as I told him last night, we're not learning to live with it. We're learning to die with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:05:06]
LEMON: The former vice president not just laying the responsibility for the pandemic at the door of the White House, but also laying out his plan to actually do something, do something, imagine that, about the virus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I'll go to every governor, to mandate mask wearing in those states. And if they refuse, I'll go to the mayors and county executives and get local mask wearing requirements in place nationwide.
As president, I'll mandate mask wearing at all federal buildings and all interstate transportation because masks save lives, period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, here's what is really remarkable about all of this. You know who agrees with Joe Biden? The man running against President Trump on this. President Trump's own top health official, Dr. Anthony Fauci, this country's top infectious disease expert. The man America trusts on this virus. Dr. Fauci saying that there should be a mask mandate, which is what
Joe Biden is calling for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If everyone agrees that this is something that's important and they mandated it, everybody pulls together and say, you know, we're going to mandate it, but let's just do it, I think that would be a great idea to have everybody do it uniformly.
One of the issues though, I get the argument, if you mandate a mask, then you're going to have to enforce it and that will create more of a problem. Well, if people are not wearing masks, then maybe we should be mandating it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: There you go. So, it's not, listen, this is not, this shouldn't be political to wear a piece of cloth, should not. But you know who's made it political, right?
The president, on the other hand, spent all week trashing Dr. Fauci, telling you, America, turn the corner. He's lying to you. How do you know he's lying to you? Well, for one, because it's a safe bet, right? But also know because of what you're about to hear. This is from the president's own surgeon general.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: This week, we will probably have our highest number of cases we've ever had on a daily basis in the United States and we're really concerned that in a few weeks, we will see hospital -- we'll see deaths start to increase in our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The worst week we have ever had, the worst, the highest number of cases we have ever had on a daily basis. Those are the facts. That's the truth. That is not rounding the corner but the president is still insisting that we're rounding the corner, even though that we can all see that it is not true even though every state but one is trending in the wrong direction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- talk about is COVID, COVID, COVID. Because they want to scare people and we've done so well with it. Now it's 99.8 percent. I mean, you look at what's going on, and we're rounding the turn, we're rounding the corner, we're rounding the corner beautifully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Gees. Do you really believe that? Come on. The numbers are here, the numbers are just, go look up the numbers. Rounding the corner beautifully? Usually when someone says you're rounding the corner. They don't mean you're about to run right smack into a truck.
But the president just keeps on with the super spreader tour. Like his rally today at the village's retirement community in Florida with a packed crowd of seniors, hardly any of them wearing masks, seniors, the most vulnerable. This is absolutely crazy.
All those people crowded together, virtually mask-free to see the president so sick with the virus that he ended up in Walter Reed, OK? Ended up in Walter Reed, he got the virus by continuing to put himself in the position of being around a bunch of people without masks.
It wasn't a sacrifice, it was stupid. He says it was a sacrifice, no, it was stupid. He didn't want to get that virus, but it was just going to go away, it wasn't real, right? And it wasn't just him, remember? He ended up in Walter Reed. The first lady was sick. Their son has the virus.
Multiple people in the president's inner circle got sick, again, this is evidence and logic that I'm speaking right now. You may not agree with it, but it is the truth.
The White House went into a quarantine. Chris Christie was in an ICU for seven days. Yet the president keeps doing these rallies. It defies logic because there is no logic to it. He just keeps refusing to wear a mask, encouraging his own supporters to risk their own health and their lives.
[22:10:02]
So, it's interesting to hear him say this today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You got to lead your life. And you know what? Some people want to stay in and that's good, do it, do it. You know, I'm sort of like, lead your life, right? And some people agree with me, some people, but if you want to stay in, if you want to do what you're doing, do it.
If you want to get out, you want to be careful, and socially distance and all of the things, you could wear a mask if you can't socially distance, there's a lot of things you can do. But some people want to stay in and that's OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That would be what you would call, what we call do as I say, not as I do. Before we go, there's a pivot, right? He's got a new tone. Let me play you what the same man said just a few hours earlier in the Oval Office making fun of Reuters' Jeff Mason for wearing a mask.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This is Jeff Mason. He's got a mask on. That's the largest mask I think I've seen, so I don't know if you can hear him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: You know this president never changes, there's never a pivot, there's no new tone, no moment he grows into the presidency or rises to meet the level of the office. You know, President Barack Obama talked about that. We have waited for that for four years. Well, some of you, I mean, I never thought it was going to happen, but maybe you did, I don't know.
He is still the man who said this about the virus six months ago today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I said supposing you brought the light inside the body in which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you're going to test that too? It sounds interesting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll get the right folks who could.
TRUMP: Right. And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs. And it does a tremendous number. So, it would be interesting to check that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That's the president. I can't believe it's been six months, I mean, that's been six months. That's crazy. Seems like yesterday when we had the ole disinfectant bleach comment from the podium in the press briefing room. Does a number on the lungs, knock it out in a minute, one minute, inside the body? The president of the United States.
He claimed during the debate that he was kidding when he said that, right? Doesn't really sound like he was kidding, does it? Because he kept going on and on. There was no smile. Like he knew, I know what I'm talking about. It's going to put it in the body.
And there was something else that he said in last night's debate that shows you that he never changes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I am the least racist person, I can't even see the audience because it's so dark, but I don't care who's in the audience, I'm the least racist person in this room.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Wow. Almost sounds like that was practiced, a rehearsed or like, pulled it out of like, you know, response box or something. Because I'm wondering, where have we heard that before?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Are you racist? I am the least racist person that you have ever met. I am the least racist person.
LEMON: Are you bigoted in any way?
TRUMP: I don't think so. No, I don't think so. I am a person --
LEMON: Islamophobic?
TRUMP: No, not at all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: That was almost five years ago. Boy, time flies when the country is miserable, doesn't matter how many times -- that was sarcasm, by the way, the flying part at least, doesn't matter how many times that he says that. Not as a candidate last time, not as a president this time, because we know what else he said.
We know what he said about deadly white supremacist violence in Charlottesville. We know he just wouldn't give a straight answer to the question of whether he disavowed David Duke, the former head of the Ku Klux Klan. We know he called African nations sending immigrants to this country, quote, and I quote, "shit hole countries."
About Baltimore being infested, I don't know how anyone would want to live there. It was infested. We know what he said about black athletes who dare to protest police brutality and racial injustice. We know. Sons of bitches, remember that?
Just in case you forgot. Words matter. President's words matter, but I've said it before.
[22:15:00]
You have the last word, and you know what that word is? Your vote. All roads are leading now to a must-win Florida tonight. Former President Barack Obama stumping there tomorrow for Joe Biden. President Trump holding two rallies there today and our latest CNN polls shows no clear leader in that state.
The man who ran Barack Obama's campaign and the man who worked on five GOP campaigns both weigh in. They are next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)]
LEMON: So here is the breaking news. I have the numbers right here. The U.S. is reporting more than 77,000 new COVID-19 cases today. As of right now, 77,289 cases, of course, a day is not over yet.
So, the second highest single day since the outbreak of the pandemic and just under the highest day of recorded cases back during the summer spike in July, July 16th. And with only 11 days until election day, the worsening crisis, the key issues on voters' minds right now.
[22:19:59]
So, I want to bring in Jim Messina, he's a former Barack Obama campaign manager, and Stuart Stevens, former Romney campaign adviser. I appreciate both of you joining me, gentlemen. Thank you so much.
You're taking us back to a much more civil time than what's happening right now. Jim, listen, I'm going to start with you. This is a home stretch. You've run a reelection campaign for a president. Give us the state of the race, what do you think?
JIM MESSINA, FORMER OBAMA CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, look, right now, the president is trailing in every single battleground state and by a bunch nationally, and so he's got to turn this race around. And last night, Don, just didn't do what he had to do. And so, you know, you're going to start to see the president continue to play around.
The other problem he has, is everyday he's trying to say, hey, we're turning the corner, COVID is getting OK because incumbents need to say everything is OK. But the problem, everyone in these swing states are seeing these numbers every night and are seeing the cases go up in 49 of the 50 states. And it's exactly the opposite of what the President of the United States is doing.
The other thing is, this isn't just like, look at the polls time. Right? Look at the early vote numbers. I mean, I just got the new numbers about 10 minutes ago, 53.4 million people have already voted, Don. And we know how those people are voting because we run both campaigns, run it through a model, we'll start to look at these things.
And Democrats have some very big leads, like in the state of Florida where 464,000 Biden voters have voted more than Trump which is why President Trump in a smart move in my opinion, Stuart, is in the villages today. I'll know who is going to win Florida when I see the village numbers come out on election day. And so, you know, Trump attempting to come back and start to cut into that Biden lead.
LEMON: Before I go to Stuart, let me just ask you who's winning then on outlining a plan for how to fight this virus? The president says we're rounding the corner. Joe Biden last night saying, you know, we need to have a mask mandate in the country, that it's going to get, you know, worse before it gets better, so who's winning this argument?
MESSINA: Well, look. I watched swing focus groups last night of people watching the debate and when Donald Trump now talks about the coronavirus, people roll their eyes and stop listening to them. They like that he was a little less confrontational, they like his new tone but the moment he starts talking about coronavirus, he just has no credibility left. And CNN's focus group showed that as well.
LEMON: Yes.
MESSINA: At the end of it, not one of those swing voters went to Donald Trump. Not one.
LEMON: Yes. OK. Stuart, let me bring you in because I want you to respond what Jim said about Florida. He said it's a must-win, Florida is, today and for the election. The president is out there campaigning at the villages. He's going to be rallying there tomorrow there as well. So, what do you think? Is he right? Is it a must-win? STUART STEVENS, FORMER CHIEF STRATEGIST, ROMNEY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN:
I don't think, it is a must-win for Trump. I don't think it's a must- win for Vice President Biden. Right now, I think Biden is going to win that race. The key number I look at is senior citizens. You know, no Republican can win without winning senior citizens by a good margin.
And right now, it's the big story in this race, I think, is that Republicans are losing senior citizens. And it's dragging down all the Senate races as well. I mean, why are they losing them? Well, they are losing them because like, they know they're going to die if they don't have a plan out there.
It's a pretty compelling message, you know, when you sit there and campaign, you try to come up with dire messages like, we're going to cut your Medicare or we're going to cut this, that will have some impact on you 20 years from now.
This is pretty direct. You can't see your grandkids. You've planned your whole life for this age of your life. If you're lucky. You can't travel. You can't go to Canada. You can't go to Mexico. The only place you can go in Europe is Serbia, like, great.
And a complete disruption in what they thought was going to be some of the best years of their lives.
LEMON: OK. So, listen, Stuart, you seem that -- you seem to be, you know, really certain about it. Jim says, you know, he's doing -- they've been doing some modelling and they know it's Democrats, but listen, if you look at the polling, there's no clear winner. Let's put it up. In Florida, there is no clear winner. It is neck and neck. I mean, Joe Biden, it's 50 percent. Forty-six percent for Trump but that's within the margin of error.
STEVENS: Yes. I mean, we call this battleground states because they're battles. And I wrote a piece of the book (Ph) a couple of days ago, just telling Democrats. Don't be tempted here. This is your moment. There's a lot more of you than the other side and I would get out there if I was running the Democratic Party, I would say don't worry about being overconfident. Let's turn a victory into a route.
And expect this to be hard. Expect this to be close. Don't be shut, don't be disheartened. They're not give me states. The battle ground states. So, fight. And that's Florida is always close. I mean, I was a Bush guy, 535 votes, you know? I mean, it's always close.
LEMON: Wow.
STEVENS: Don't be shocked by this. Just work harder.
[22:24:58]
LEMON: Yes. Jim, more than 63 million people watch that the calmer Trump, I mean, for him, at last night's debate for a comparison. Seventy -- here's the comparison. Seventy-three million people watched the out of control of first debate. The first debate widened Biden's lead. Did anything about last night change the trajectory of this race? I know you said earlier that he didn't really help, but do you think at all, so many people may have watched and some of those squishy people in the middle, no help at all?
MESSINA: No help at all. I mean, if you just look at these voters, look at every poll, there's three really good polls out that looked at these people who watch the debate. And remember, most of the swing voters won't have seen the debate. They're going to get the coverage of it and they've seen the clips and the back and forth.
You know, I think the president just no question, and I think Stuart would agree did not have the kind of night he absolutely needed to change the trajectory of this race when people are voting all the time.
In fact, I think he really damaged himself. I thought Biden's strongest moment was when he went justifiably very angry about the kids and about the DACA kids being taken away from their parents.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Five hundred forty-five of them.
MESSINA: And I was watching swing --
LEMON: Can't find their parents.
MESSINA: Yes. I was watching swing voters. I was watching swing voters cry during that exchange. You know, all these people kind of sit there and said, I have kids, that could be my kid. And that was one of -- there are moments in a presidential race where it really tells you who these people are. The first debate was that for Donald Trump and I think last night, I think there's a couple of moments where Biden literally looked like the guy who could bring us together and remind people who we are as Americans.
LEMON: Stuart, I'm out of time. If you can quickly, do you agree with everything he said or no?
STEVENS: Yes. What Donald Trump needs to do is ask for a second chance. you'd only get a second chance if you admit that you've made a mistake. He can't do that. So, he's just on the same blood path, it won't change.
LEMON: Yes. Thank you, gentleman. Have a great weekend. I'll see you soon. Thanks.
MESSINA: Thank you.
LEMON: Another major court challenge over mail-in votes. Pennsylvania's Supreme Court dismissing a push by the Trump campaign to reject ballots because of mismatched signatures. Pennsylvania's attorney general is going to fill us in, next.
[22:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: We are just 11 days away from election day and with Americans turning out by the millions to cast their ballots for the nation's next president, you need to focus on protecting your vote. And today, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, another major victory for voting rights.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously deciding that county elections officials cannot throw out absentee or mail-in ballots with signatures they claim don't match versions of those signatures on file. The same ruling comes after U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this week allowing mail-in ballots to be counted if they are received within three days of election day, even if they do not have a legible postmark.
But this latest ruling is really important in this election. Nearly half of the mail-in ballots approved in Pennsylvania have already been returned according to data from the secretary of state's office.
So, joining me now is Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Good to see you again, sir. Down to the wire, are you ready for this?
JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: We're almost there. Ten days and a wake-up, Don. We're almost there.
LEMON: I like the way you put that. Listen, a lot of folks would just like to wake up on November 4th, right, and having it already been decided, but we won't be that lucky.
So, the ruling eliminates the challenge that could potentially have been used to disqualify a large number of votes. What exactly does this mean in terms of getting these mail-in votes counted?
SHAPIRO: Well, you've got to understand what we've been dealing with here, Don, in Pennsylvania. You know, Donald Trump and his enablers are just trying to chip, chip away at our laws to make it harder for people to vote and make it easier for ballots to be tossed out.
You know, with this win today, we're actually 5 and O in court against Donald Trump. We're actually keeping up with the Steelers over in Pittsburgh, and what this ruling, and what this ruling I know you're a Philly guy, but I got to get that in there for the Steelers, but what this ruling means is that if your signature on the back of the envelope that you send your mail-in ballot back in doesn't exactly match the signature on file, they're not going to toss your ballot out.
There's a presumption of inclusion in our election as opposed to what Donald Trump wants which is to exclude more ballots. You know, 2.9 million Pennsylvanians have requested their mail-in ballots, 1.4 million have already responded. We've got half of the electorate already in. We've got to have an election now and we've got to stop, you know, this meddling by Donald Trump and just focus on people voting.
LEMON: I think that's your phone. Your emergency? I do that all the time, when I have a lot of stuff in my hands. I press the emergency thing. Am I right? Was that right? I was right. Right?
SHAPIRO: We're good. Yes, I'm doing good.
LEMON: This is an emergency though, so.
SHAPIRO: Don, I got four kids running around the house, so I'm just try to make it through this.
LEMON: I understand. You know, a lot of kids make appearances now on Zoom videos and even in these television appearances.
But listen, back to -- back to what we were talking about. Are you expecting, Rosh, Republicans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court and do you think that it will happen before or after the vote of Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation on Monday?
SHAPIRO: Yes. The United States Supreme Court ruled that ballots could be counted after election day, provided they were postmarked by election day. It was a four-four decision. Frankly, Don, it probably should have been an 8-nothing decision, based on the Purcell principle. The Purcell principle of course that the federal courts should not meddle in state election law matters, particularly as we get close to having an election.
[22:35:04]
Obviously, if justice -- if Judge Barrett becomes Justice Barrett, she could be a deciding vote in that matter. Late tonight, the Republicans in Pennsylvania seemingly on behalf of Donald Trump asked for sure -- asked the Penn -- asked the United States Supreme Court, pardon me, to consider this issue, again, and we'll see, ultimately, what the United States Supreme Court decides to do.
I would hope they would honor the Purcell principle and allow the top court in Pennsylvania, our state Supreme Court, to just do what they do best which is to interpret matters of state law and just let us have an election. Let's move forward and let's have these votes be counted.
LEMON: Mr. Attorney General, I'll let you get back to your four kids now and your wife. It's Friday night, so enjoy. Thank you so much for appearing. I appreciate it.
SHAPIRO: Good to be with you, Don. Thanks so much.
LEMON: Yes. Joe Biden has got an all- star group of campaign surrogates hitting must-win states. President Barack Obama is hitting Florida tomorrow. Lizzo stumping in Michigan today and there's a whole lot more. I'm going to speak with the co-chair of Biden's campaign that's Congressman Cedric Richmond. He's next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZZO, ARTIST: I want to say, they out there trying to make America great again, but we need to finally bring America together because I don't want to go back to the way it was. (END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Can you believe, 11 days, 11, count them, days until election day. And the Democratic vice-presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris making the case against President Trump's efforts to court black voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You have to know the other side is spinning it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
HARRIS: Donald Trump has this goal to turn 20 percent of black men in favor of him. Donald Trump who pushed as part of his popularity, the theme that the first black man to be president of the United States was illegitimately there. Donald Trump, who, when it came to Charlottesville, on the other side peaceful protests, on the other side neo-Nazis --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
HARRIS: -- with Swastikas who were hurling racial epithet, he said fine people on each side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, President Trump making a last-ditch appeal to black voters, repeating his claim that no one else has done more for black Americans except possibly Lincoln.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Nobody has done more for the black community than Donald Trump, and if you look, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, possible exception, but the exception of Abraham Lincoln, nobody has done what I've done.
BIDEN: Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we've had in modern history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Boy. Here to discuss co-chair of the Biden campaign, Congressman Cedric Richmond. Good evening, Congressman. I mean, before I get to this black vote, what did you think about that when he said that?
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND (D-LA): You know, Donald Trump he is who he is. He is a pathological liar and I don't think he lets the truth get in the way of the argument he's trying to put forth. Remember, he started with the exonerated five in Central Park and (Inaudible) death penalty to them and never back off of it.
When African American athletes were trying to take a social position to improve the lives of black families and protect black men. He called them sons of bitches, and that goes to show you how he thought about those athletes and their cause and about their mothers.
And so, this guy is exactly who he is. He is a blatant racist, he doesn't use a dog whistle. I think Vice President Biden last night said he uses a foghorn, and so, let's just stop pretending about it. He wants to see if he can get 10 or 12 percent of black males to either stay at home and not go vote for Vice President Biden, but it's not going to work.
LEMON: Well, I was just going to ask you that. So, you heard Senator Kamala Harris there saying, she's not having it with the president's goal to turn out 20 percent of black men, as you said, and she said. But, I mean, if he does manage to get the support, how much of a problem could that be for Joe Biden when you look at the overall electorate?
RICHMOND: Look, I think our numbers are solid. I think that we're doing very well with African American men, and of course, all African American men don't think the same way.
LEMON: You don't think he's going to get 20 percent, right?
RICHMOND: Absolutely not. I don't. I think it is somewhere around 10 percent. And so, our African American agenda is the most robust agenda for African American empowerment that's ever been promoted by a presidential candidate. So, as long as we keep talking about it and pushing it, I think both black men and women will see that our plan allows them to be the architects of their own future and empower them to accumulate wealth and all those things that go with it.
LEMON: Well, there are some pages, I think it's 21, 22, but maybe -- I forget, but somewhere in the 20s on, for Joe Biden's plan, I think it's like two pages for Trump's plan. So, I mean, there is a difference there.
So, at his rally tonight President Trump claimed that Biden disrespected former President Barack Obama at the debate. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Joe Biden was very disrespectful last night to President Barack Hussein Obama. You saw that. Barack Hussein Obama. Remember Rush Limbaugh would always do that. He's doing Barack Hussein Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Congressman?
RICHMOND: Do you really want me to respond that on a Friday night --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Yes, I actually do. Go on.
[22:44:57]
RICHMOND: I don't think they have enough sensors on TV for me to adequately describe the foolishness that just came out of his mouth. He was making fun of President Obama by, you know, drawing out his middle name, the same way with Senator Kamala Harris, and Vice President Biden, if you, according to Barack Obama who said that the best decision of his presidency was picking Joe Biden to be his vice president and then gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
And so, that relationship is thick as blood and Vice President Biden holds former President Barack Obama in the highest regard. But President Trump, his whole purpose on life in his little mind is to discredit and dismantle anything that President Obama did.
That's why he's in court right now trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, take health insurance from 20 million people in the middle of a pandemic and then the seven or eight million people that have been affected, God bless them enough so that they would survive and now he will allow them to be treated with preexisting conditions and discriminated against.
But this guy is exactly who we think he is. He's a fraud, he's a con man and at some point, 11 days away, I think America is going to send him a clear message that we are better than this and we're going to unify this country and we're going to uplift the country. So, it's just hard to watch the things that come from him because on one hand, you get mad but two, you're just astonished that so many people fall for it.
LEMON: Well you read my mind in a sense, because if that crowd didn't buy it or eat it up, he wouldn't say it. It wouldn't come out of his mouth because it wouldn't be politically expedient for him. So, the people there listening, or they like it at some level. We have to keep that in mind. Interesting.
Thank you so much, Congressman. We'll see you soon. Be well.
RICHMOND: Thank you, Don. Thanks for having me.
LEMON: So, I want to make sure you know about my podcast. We talk about all these difficult issues. It's called Silence is Not an Option. And I'm taking on the hard conversations about being black in America.
In these weeks before the election, we're looking at voting and social justice, OK, and we're talking about people who are trying to steal your vote, why vote, so you've got -- you've got to listen to these podcasts. They're very interesting, very informative.
So, find an Apple podcast or your favorite podcast app.
Meantime, the coronavirus cases rising to near record numbers. Over -- more than 77,000 cases reported today. That is the second worst day this country s seen since the pandemic began. Stay with us for the very latest.
[22:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So, we have some breaking news in to CNN, and it involves the pandemic. Today, and this is just in. Today the United States reached the highest single day of coronavirus cases, 80,005. Yet this president is continuing to claim the United States is rounding the corner when it comes to the coronavirus. But the data is telling a different story.
Look at this map. Cases are surging across the country. Forty-nine states trending in the wrong direction or holding steady. Today we have seen more than 80,000 Americans diagnosed with the virus.
Michael Osterholm is here -- Osterholm is here. He is the director for the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. Dr. Osterholm, good to see you. Eighty thousand today.
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICIES: Good to see you.
LEMON: Thank you. Eight thousand and five cases the highest alone today, a record setting number. What does it say to you?
OSTERHOLM: Well, first of all, we have to just put it in perspective. Just think at Labor Day we were at 32,000 cases in this country a day, now at 80,000 and we are going to continue to shoot straight up. These numbers are going to grow much, much larger. It's the confluence of a number of factors. And you know, as I've said over the past several weeks, we were just entering the darkest days of this pandemic.
LEMON: Boy, is there any doubt that the fall and the winter surge that experts warned about that it is here that is upon us?
OSTERHOLM: Well, actually it's a combination of things, Don, as we discussed. First of all, it's pandemic fatigue.
LEMON: Yes.
OSTERHOLM: People are just tired of dealing with the virus even though the virus is not tired of dealing with them. And so, when you look at people who are going to bars and restaurants, going to weddings and funerals, going to church, going to family gatherings, all these things are really facilitating transmission.
And then you have about a third of the population unfortunately that are what I called pandemic anger. They are actually believing that this pandemic doesn't exist and that in fact, once the election is held, it will be over with. They are not going to do anything to help public health.
Then you put that mix all together, and indoor air, and that's what you are talking about with the fall and winter. We know the virus transmits much, much more easily in the indoor environment. The virus concentrates there as opposed to outside.
So with that mix, you know, we easily will hit six figure numbers in terms of the number of cases and the deaths are going to go up precipitously in the next three to four weeks, following usually new cases by about two or three weeks.
LEMON: Boy. Listen, I think you can also add, you are talking about bars and restaurants and churches and gatherings. You can add political rallies into that.
OSTERHOLM: Yes.
LEMON: And I'm wondering since we are in the season, if the leadership is even more important now, considering where we are now and where we are headed?
OSTERHOLM: Well, you know, at this point, it's not just about the science. The people have heard that. What we need right now is FDR moments. We need fireside chats. We need to bring people together to understand that these are going to be some of the darkest days in this country's history, at least modern history. And right now, we need leadership than can help people to understand why do we want you to stay apart.
[22:55:01]
We're not asking forever. We're asking until we get a vaccine or vaccines which we will have in the second and third quarter of next year. But between now and then, it's us against the virus.
And if you look at the Asian countries. Look what they have done. They have basically beaten the virus back by doing the kind of things that we recommended. So, it can be done. It's just whether or not we can convince the American public it needs to be done. The leadership is critical to do that.
LEMON: You are the perfect person to have on this breaking news. Thank you, Dr. Osterhom. I really appreciate it.
OSTERHOLM: Thank you.
LEMON: More than 80 --
(CROSSTALK)
OSTERHOLM: Thanks a lot.
LEMON: More than 80 -- yes, we'll see you soon. More than 80,000 cases today, the highest so far. There have been 80,005 coronavirus cases. This is per Johns Hopkins University. This is the highest single day reporting since the pandemic began.
Over 52 million people voting already this year and we are still 11 days out to election day. What could the path to victory be? What is it? John King is at the magic wall right after this.
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