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Don Lemon Tonight
Seven Days Until Election Day, 68.5 Million Early Votes Already Cast; Trump Holds Three Rallies, Biden Stumps In Georgia; President Trump Calls For Winner To Be Declared Election Night; The Path To 270 For Biden And Trump; First Lady Melania Trump Makes First Solo Campaign Appearance Of 2020; Ivanka Trump On Campaign Rally On Differences Of Opinion; Coronavirus Pandemic Is Skyrocketing In The U.S. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired October 27, 2020 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Biden making tow stops in Georgia, a normally reliable red state that he is looking to turn blue. So I want to bring in now CNN senior political analyst, Mr. John Avlon -- John Avlon. Political commentator Amanda Carpenter and senior political reporter for Politico, Florida, Marc Caputo.
That's a lot of political and Politico in there. So, thank you all for joining us. I was just talking about you John Avlon. So someone was making the same point to me before we begin to this about how few -- how not enthusiastic or unenthusiastic people were in Wisconsin about President Trump last time.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I mean, it's kind of stunning. Look, I mean, 2016 was a 20-year low in voter turnout, but in Wisconsin what's stunning to realize is, Donald Trump won the state, shocked the world, razor thin margin but got less votes than Wisconsin than Mitt Romney did four years before.
And so that speaks to I think both to the problem of Hillary Clinton's campaign and appeal to her candidacy. But it speaks to the fact that state there's a lot of room to grow for Joe Biden. And Donald Trump's victory was actually at the lower level than what Mitt Romney did four years before when he lost.
LEMON: All right. Let's continue on a little bit, because Election Day, obviously is a week away. Biden was in, John, was in Georgia today, a state Democrats lost by five points in 2016. Trump was in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska, three states he won in 2016. What does that tell you about how the campaigns see this race?
John.
AVLON: Look, you know, that tells everything you need to know. Follow the money, follow the map. Here's the deal. Donald Trump is defending states he won easily last time around. That is not a sign of strength. It's a sign of weakness no matter what spin they try to sell.
LEMON: Amanda, one week until Election Day, more than 68.5 million Americans have already voted, that's more than half the total of the 2016 vote. I said that in the open. I hope you guys are listening because a lot of people have voted. What does this stunning turnout mean for the state of this race right now?
AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR SENATOR TED CRUZ AND THE AUTHOR OF GASLIGHTING AMERICA: Well, in a broad sense to make this really simple, as John was getting to, a low turnout election would probably benefit Donald Trump. A high turnout election would probably benefit Joe Biden. Now, here is the kicker. The early voting looks to be really high.
We don't know right now if that is actually because of voter enthusiasm, or if we're just cannibalizing the vote for Election Day, because people are concerned about coronavirus exposure or Election Day voting may just be going out of style.
But then, you know, another kicker. I look at what is happening in places like Texas, where they are already at 80 percent of the vote that they reached in 2016. That kind of number is bananas, and as we get closer to Election Day will have a better idea of whether that is voter enthusiasm or not. And the other southern states particularly Florida, North Carolina and Georgia, they are all over that 50 percent threshold.
LEMON: Yes. That is a technical term. The official term is bananas. You're right.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
CARPENTER: B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
LEMON: I don't know if -- OK, now, B-A-N-A-N-A-S. So, listen, I don't know if you guys could see Marc but he has this really like yes, I know, it yes. This kind of thing that's going on in his face. I'm not going to say it's you know what eating grim but he's got on his face and know it all grin. We will put it that way.
MARC CAPUTO, FLORIDA PLAYBOOK CO-AUTHOR, POLITICO: Banana eating grin.
LEMON: A banana eating grin. So, you are in Florida. It's a must win state Trump's path to 270. The New York Times is reporting that younger Cuban voters are coming out for Trump in Miami-Dade County. Are things better for President Trump in Florida than we might think or people -- then they might appear to be?
CAPUTO: I think there's a lot of people who believe that Florida is more locked up in Joe Biden than some of the polling that I've seen would indicate and then just some of my prior experience in 20 years of being a reporter here indicates, you know, we have a history of a really close elections. This is shaping up to be one to Amanda's point, when you look at the early vote and here early vote means in- person early vote, and then there's the absentee ballot vote. Both pre-Election Day ballots. The Democrats are really doing well in those pre-Election Day ballots.
Really dominated vote by mail. But in the past five days, Republicans and the in=person early voting had just kind of poured it on and shrunk what's a pretty big what is big historic margin of Democrats. It's still a big margin currently early as of this morning. It's about 300,000 ballots cast by Democrats or from Republicans.
But at this rate we're looking at a pretty tight race heading into Election Day. Republicans generally do better than Democrats on Election Day. So, you know, we will see what we see. Steve Shale, Democrats consultant here likes to say, if Florida going to Florida.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: You took the words right out of my mouth because listen, you never know in Florida and it always surprises you. Marc, you've been reporting on Michael Bloomberg's $100 million investment in Florida. What kind of impact is that having on Trump's Florida strategy?
[23:05:12]
CAPUTO: Right. It's having an impact kind of across the map and down the ballot. And when I say across the map, I mean, this being Trump's must win state, a hundred million dollars, that's a lot of money. And the president had to kind of double down and refocus his efforts on Florida and what that did is that freed up some of these third party groups that are helping Biden to attack the president up in the industrial Midwest where the president had to pull down some of his ad spending.
So, the president has had the kind of retrenched south to kind of the Sen Belt and leave a bit of Frost Belt more unprotected than he otherwise would have preferred. Also down ballot is the state's house and center that is controlled by Republicans they've had to plow more money and attention into their races, freeing a larger Democratic turnout.
So, the gamble for Democrats is this. Let's try to beat Trump in his must win state of Florida. Even if we don't, he's going to spend so much time here, he'll probably, they calculate lose, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan and then Joe Biden is president. That's the plan. We'll see if the plan actually comes to fruition. As Mike Tyson said, everyone got a plan and then they get punch in the mouth.
LEMON: Oh my gosh, he's got something for everything. Right? Florida is going to Florida, and you get punched in the mouth. All right, what else you got, Marc?
CAPUTO: I'll come up with a banana jokes sometime.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: President Trump has continued to sow doubt in the integrity of our election with baseless claims like this, this is in Wisconsin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now they say we'd like
to get the ballots and maybe get them within a few days of the election and we'll take 10 days to count them up. Oh good let's let the whole world wait. While you count your ballots. And you know what happens while they are counting them? They're dumping more ballots in there, OK? Where did they come from?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What he's trying to is make the case that you don't need to count ballots after Election Day even though this happens every single election. Is this dangerous what he's doing?
AVLON: Of course, it is. Look, the president of the United States is sowing doubt about the integrity of our election system. Democracy is on the ballot this year. And that's in part because the president crates sowing seeds of doubt about our democracy. Saying he's not going to accept results of the election unless he's the winner. And that's a prime example. The election is not over until every eligible vote is counted. Full stop.
LEMON: Yes. Amanda listen, one week out, tight? One week from tonight there's a very good chance that we won't know who won the election. Do voters understand this, or are Trumps lies about needing to know or when on November third working, is it working?
CARPENTER: I feel good about this election because so far there were a lot of early warnings about the system. People saying we have to have a strong early voting program because of the pandemic. A lot of people sounding the alarm about how Donald Trump is attempting to undermine the election with these kinds of calls.
And so I think people got in the memo. I really do, and that is evidence by the early voting numbers. People know it's important to get those ballots in early. And then you also look at how Donald Trump is campaigning. He has -- that message, not a lot of Republicans are even willing to go along with that. When Donald Trump has seen division within the Republican Party it's been on issues of election integrity, delaying the election and these rigged ballot ideas.
And this is why he and members of his families who are the only ones really on the campaign trail touting this message. Where are his surrogates? I think in a strong Republican Party, you would have had other Governors going out on the stop, he would have to go to these tiny areas in Maine, in Nebraska, the hunt for delegates, because you would have other people who had Trumpet his message.
He does not have. He has messaging from a sign of weakness and scrambling for these very far reaching areas, because he is playing very small ball at this point.
LEMON: Well, that's got to be the last word, but all I'll say is, I got the last word. Caputo is going to Caput. That's it.
(LAUGHTER) Thank you all. I'll see you unless we need some levity, right. It's a
little tense lately in this world. Thank you all. Hope to see you soon and be safe. Let's get right to the candidates path to the 270 electoral votes. John King is at the magic wall to lay it all out for us, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, one week from tonight we start to fill this in. And we will get a sense if not a call that night of who we will have as the next president of the United States. And in these final days, follow the candidates that give you a good sense of where they see the state of the race. Let's use the 2016 map as a guide.
Where was the president today? Michigan and Wisconsin. Two states, you see them red in 2016. Absolutely critical to his victory right now he's losing. Trailing in the poll, trailing in the early votes. His mission now, try to bring voters out of the woodwork. He needs a surge right in the campaign to overcome those numbers. Many are skeptical he can, but that's what the president is trying to do.
[23:10:00]
Where is Joe Biden, Joe Biden was in Georgia. Don, you like history? I remember this campaign well, you have to go back in 1992. 1992, Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas won the presidency in part by winning the state of Georgia, a little help from (inaudible) in a very close race. In a wacky wild, three-way campaign. Back in 1992, Joe Biden thinks he can stretch the map. He thinks he can have a states like election by winning states like Georgia, other states that tend to turn red. Can he do it?
Well, we are going to look for this every day and everyday we're looking for any evidence of late Trump momentum. That's what happened in 2016, late Trump momentum. Remember, if you go back to 2016, Hillary Clinton, she won the national popular vote by 2 points, right? We did see a tightening in the end. She came in to the final week up four, went up to five. Then slid a little bit down to three.
On Election Day, she won the popular vote by two. The national polls were not wrong. The problem were in the state polls. Joe Biden has a 10-point lead right now and it's stable. There is no evidence in the national numbers at least yet, that Biden's lead is slipping as we saw Clinton's. Nor is there any evidence in the state polls when you look.
Again, you're looking stable or something shifting. Any volatility. Look at Nevada. New York Times/Sienna College polls out today, Biden's lead was four in September. Six at the beginning of October. Six stable at the end of October.
Again we look every day but right now this is a very stable race. What does that tell us? Still advantage Biden and all of these toss-up states. Bide is in play and every one of them. It doesn't mean he wins them all, it just means he has a greater menu. Even if he loses something and falls below to 270. Let's say he loses in Pennsylvania his got other places to go to try to do the math. So, it is the president who is scrambling to remake the map right now at the end. One more quick point. People say, oh, yes, 2016 Hillary Clinton was
the race. She was leading. You are all wrong. The upshot staff at The New York Times does a great job of crunching the numbers. They say, if you just assigned the winner to anybody leading the poll by 3 points, Biden will get 326 to Trump's to 163. If you just say, OK, anybody who is winning a pool, given the state even though that's unlikely to happen. The close ones could break either way, Biden will get 357 to 181.
And the upshot run the numbers. If the state pollsters is wrong as they were in 2016 they still have Joe Biden at 280 winning the presidency. President Trump would be up to 258. So that's one way to crunch the numbers. Deal with your skepticism if you will. There is no question though, Don, one week out advantage Biden. Period.
LEMON: John King, thank you very much. With just seven days to go until Election Day, coronavirus cases are on the rise all over this country. And the White House says, well, the president has ended the pandemic. Doesn't look that way to me. That as the Trump family is on the campaign trail. The first lady who is married to President Donald J. Trump says this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DONALD TRUMP'S WIFE: Children watching and learning about politics in our country deserve a better display of political responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[23:15:00]
LEMON: I keep saying it, and it's hard to believe I know, but the election is just one week away. And today, the first lady Melania Trump made her first solo campaign appearance of the year. In a crucial state of Pennsylvania. She focused on coronavirus, claiming Democrats have been politicizing the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. TRUMP: The Democrats have chosen to put their own agendas ahead of the American people's well-being. Instead they attempt to create a divide. A divide on something that should be nonpartisan and non- controversial. Let us also not forget what the Democrats chose to focus on when COVID-19 first came into our country. While the president was taking decisive action to keep the American people safe, the Democrats were wasting American tax payer dollars in a sham impeachment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Joining me now, two members of the CNN White House team, John Harwood, and Kate Bennett. Hello to both of you. John, the first lady is accusing Democrats of politicizing the pandemic. She is very much on the same page as her husband there. But ignoring the reality, at the same time.
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Don, pretty much everything she said was nonsense in that clip. And kind of the opposite of the truth. It's a president who has been politicizing mask wearing and other public health measures to try to get a hold of the pandemic. We also know, that first of all, it was not a sham impeachment. And second of all, we know the president was ignoring and downplaying the coronavirus before and after impeachment was over.
I think it was probably some utility for the administration in having her get out and resolve the question, why isn't Melania Trump campaigning for her husband? But otherwise it seems a poor use of the first lady. First ladies always have softer edges and a less partisan profile then the principles, presumably would be the same way when it's the first man.
The principal is in the center of the action and the spouse is able to appeal more broadly. And it seemed that they were not utilizing that asset, especially at a time when women are the principal vulnerability for the president. Where she might be able to have some special appeal or connection, they didn't use that.
LEMON: Kate, this was her first solo campaign event of 2020. Very different from Joe Biden, who is constantly been on the trail, Listen, I guess if you want to count during the, you know the convention, that was sort of the campaign appearance, right. But the first lady still, I mean, the first lady still has an impact on the race. It's just a question, can they this late in the game?
KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I mean, maybe. Possibly. But John was saying first ladies are usually utilized, they are deployed, they are helpful in the campaign trail. The campaign knows this. This just happens to be a first, and John is exactly right. That this just happens to be a first lady who does not like the campaign, who doesn't feel comfortable in front of crowds.
[23:20:06]
She hasn't been on the trail since June 2019. So you know, (inaudible), we're talking about 11th hour, where a week away from the campaign -- from the Election Day, and here is the first lady doing her very first solo speech. So you know, is there still time left? Sure. She's very popular among the Trump base. Could have they used her before, absolutely without question. The first lady has really served an important role as a surrogate for, again, for the candidate.
LEMON: Yes.
BENNETT: But Melania Trump is not necessarily the person who is going to be a prolific presidents, and today she was sort of fight, or she does punch, she does sound more like her husband, than people tend to think.
LEMON: I don't know why. I mean, if you look at the clips from way back when even -- not on this work, but on our sister network, HLN, on Joy Behar show she revealed herself to be a birther, back years ago. Which is you know, I don't know why people are so surprised by it.
But listen, it's not that she has been off the campaign trail, she said last, you know, I guess, because of the coronavirus. But you said the last time she was on was 2019. Well before she had the coronavirus and now she's back, but listen you know, Trump also mentions her husband's use of social media today. Take a listen to this.
M. TRUMP: For the first time in history, the citizens of this country that we hear directly and instantly from their president. Every single day. Through social media.
(APPLAUSE)
I do not always agree what the way he says things. But it is important for him, that he speaks directly to the people he serves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Kate, the president's attacks on Twitter are cruel, they are heartless, they are dangerous, they are tone deaf, many times there are lies. I mean, I can go on. What happened to the first ladies be best campaign?
BENNETT: Well she said before her, she now -- she's going to be criticized for taking on cyberbullying as part of her platform. And she never goes a step further because my husband is a cyberbully. However, she's going forward with it. I mean, what she doesn't want to tie what she does necessarily to him, but (inaudible), we're not responsible for the way our spouses talk to people.
But at the same time, I think there she's trying to acknowledge it's not I don't like the way he says it, but he like to say it. But then again, the hypocrisy is that sort of juxtaposition of how can we believe this, if this is happening? And you know, speaking about COVID, and the events today I was there, in the room in Pennsylvania earlier today when she spoke. And you know everyone else crowded in, there is no social distancing. There were -- most people weren't wearing masks on the president's events.
But yet it's a difference between the east wing and the west wing. But at the end of the day, it's (inaudible) to the administration, so it's difficult to sort of distance, you know, what she is trying to push in terms of kindness and empathy and being nice to one another on social media, and teaching our kids that. When the president of the United States is clearly doing the opposite.
LEMON: Right on.
John, Ivanka Trump was also on the trail, in the critical state of Florida, today. This is what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: We want to culture, with differences of opinion, and debate, respectful debate are encourage not cancelled. Where law enforcement is respected. Where our country's rich diversity is celebrated. And where people of all backgrounds, races, and gender and creeds, have the chance to achieve the God-given potential. This is a future my father is fighting so hard, every day, to build.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. Does this sound remotely, John, like the goals of the Trump administration? Because I don't remember the president defending Colin Kaepernick's right to respectfully debate, when he took a knee in protest?
HARWOOD: Don, that is every bit is odd and shows every ounce of lack of self-awareness, as Melania Trump is saying the best, while her husband is a cyberbully. Donald Trump, a call for the NFL to fire players who peacefully protested by kneeling during the national anthem, more than once he's called for boycotts of companies that do things that he doesn't like. He is the epitome of attempting cancel culture.
What the president -- he also, by the way, make fun of racial justice protest after George Floyd. And talk about (inaudible) sort of violent Antifa anarchy kind of things, which is not the truth, and not the case.
[23:25:05]
What the president tries to do, and what Ivanka is trying to do with his counsel culture, is immunized themselves from criticizing -- criticism of the very unpopular views that they hold. And so, you know, when the president goes into debate and declines to denounce white supremacy, and people criticize him, he wants to say, oh, the left is so unfair, and they are coming after me, and what about you know, Antifa, that sort of thing. This is not a legitimate complaint from Ivanka Trump, this is an attempt to protect themselves.
LEMON: Do these people think we're stupid? When they say stuff like this that is completely outrageous, when all evidence shows exactly the opposite of what their professing?
HARWOOD: No, but I think they think that some of the people whose votes they are seeking are stupid.
LEMON: Yes. Well, they must. Thank you very much, I appreciate it. Oh by the way, Kate I am so jealous, you are a cat person, I see your cat is just sitting there, quietly, enjoying itself over there. And my dogs would be in the screen yelling and barking and biting. And so anyway. Good on you. I should get a cat. Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
Coronavirus hospitalizations deaths and cases are up all across this country. But the president is holding rallies in hot zones, anyway. Plus, promises made promises kept, not so much when it comes to President Trump.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Here's where we are tonight, more than 226,000 Americans dead of coronavirus with cases spiking in at least 37 states. This country is reaching a record-high average of new cases with nearly 70,000 per day. That is the reality.
And yet, this tonight from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, a list of first term accomplishments with ending the COVID-19 pandemic right there at the top. OK. There it is. I mean, you can't even write this stuff. I can't believe they even wrote that.
Joining me now to discuss is Dr. Jonathan Reiner, CNN medical analyst and the director of the Cardiac Catheterization Program at George Washington University Hospital. Doctor, thank you. Ending the COVID-19 pandemic as an accomplishment. Are you kidding me? Are they kidding us?
JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST, DIRECTOR OF CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION PROGRAM AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Yeah, this is mission accomplished, right? Mission accomplished. We had 73,000 new cases today. We've been averaging over the last week, over 70,000 cases. In fact, over the last week, half million people in this country have contracted this virus.
We haven't seen this many hospitalizations, 44,000 hospitalization currently, since the middle of August. And our deaths are now approaching a thousand a day. So, we're spiking the ball, right? We're spiking the ball. Congratulations, Mr. President. It's over.
LEMON: Listen, doctor, they really do -- you heard my conversation just before. Do they really have to think people are stupid or they just don't care what anybody thinks, to actually put in writing that one of their accomplishments, one of the accomplishments of this administration, was ending the COVID-19 pandemic or the COVID-19 crisis? Really?
REINER: Yeah. You know, it's been reported that the coronavirus task force members are incensed at this. But I'll tell you who is really incensed. If you look at the millions of people that work in health care in the United States who are really tired now, they've been working -- we've been working nonstop now for, you know, nine months to put this fire down. And, you know, it's come in waves. Now, this giant wave is coming to the United States, and to hear the White House log basically the completion of a mission well done when we're basically being swamped is outrageous. It does seem like they think we're just stupid.
LEMON: Yeah. I mean, look, just as you were speaking there, we saw the rally that they held in Wisconsin tonight and the cases there are exploding at these rallies. Look, the map shows you. The numbers show you on the map at these rallies, very little social distancing, none at all really, very few masks. As I said, it is skyrocketing in Wisconsin.
Is this another super-spreader event that they're putting on as they're saying they controlled this crisis?
REINER: Yeah, absolutely. In the 1960s, Ralph Nader wrote a book "Unsafe at Any Speed."
LEMON: Mm-hmm.
REINER: It was actually about the Chevrolet Corvair. But it was a book about automobile safety. Any mass gathering now is unsafe at any size. I don't care how you can figure it. If you bring a lot of people together without mask and social distancing, the virus will spread. The virus is all over this country. Why you would do this is insanity, Don.
LEMON: Yeah. Listen. This president keeps insisting that we're -- when they are not writing on their website or whatever their accomplishments that they solved this problem, keep insisting that we're rounding the corner, rounding the corner. How bad could it get if people stop following the safety guidelines now?
REINER: Two thousand people dying a day, 2,500 people dying a day. We can see, you know, in few months a total of half million Americans dead.
LEMON: Wow!
REINER: It can be really, really bad.
LEMON: Yeah.
REINER: We're going to have a vaccine, but we have to get there.
LEMON: Right.
[23:35:00]
REINER: And the way to get there is to hunker down, be safe, and be smart. We're really smarter than this. We just need smarter leadership.
LEMON: Yeah. And before we get there, though, I mean, a lot of people are going to be put in harm's way and many will die.
REINER: Right.
LEMON: So we need to be cognizant of that. Thank you, doctor. I appreciate it.
REINER: My pleasure, Don.
LEMON: He made a lot of promises, but how many has he kept? We are digging into all the president's promises, next. And head, the comedian -- you don't want to miss this -- behind these videos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And I tested very positively in a -- in another sense. So, this morning, yeah, I tested positively toward negative, right? So, no, I tested perfectly this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE/UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): (CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Meaning -- meaning I tested negative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It's the home stretch, people. Just one week to go until Election Day. Polls showing President Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic which has claimed more than 226,000 American lives are a key issue for voters, but hardly the only one.
The president made a series of campaign promises when he was running for president back in 2016. Well, tonight, CNN's Tom Foreman has a report card on Trump's record.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But I didn't back down from my promises, and I've kept every single one.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Really? Let's look. Promise one --
TRUMP: I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Under Trump, as of mid-September, 331 miles of wall had been constructed on the nearly 2,000 mile border, almost all of it replacing existing sections. There are only nine miles of new wall and no evidence Mexico --
(BUZZING)
FOREMAN (voice-over): -- paid for a foot. Promise two --
TRUMP: We are going to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something much better.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Much better.
FOREMAN (voice-over): A republican effort to overturn the law in 2017 failed. But Trump and his congressional allies did kill the requirement for people who have insurance, the individual mandate, and they hope the Supreme Court will strike the whole program down this fall.
But a replacement plan --
(BUZZING)
FOREMAN (voice-over): -- still no sign of it. Speaking of the courts, promise three --
TRUMP: Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to -- I am pro-life. The judges will be pro-life.
FOREMAN (voice-over): None of Trump's three Supreme Court nominees has openly said they intend to overturn Roe v. Wade. Critics fear their resumes suggest a willingness to restrict abortion rights. Same goes for Trump's record number of conservative judges placed in lower courts. Promise four --
TRUMP: We are going to renegotiate the disaster known as NAFTA. We are going to renegotiate.
(APPLAUSE)
FOREMAN (voice-over): He did replace the North American Free Trade Agreement with a similar deal to generally high marks.
TRUMP: With an incredible new U.S. Mexico-Canada agreement called USMCA.
FOREMAN (voice-over): On the other hand, his sharp tariffs on China have been criticized for costing American consumers. His promise to go after D.C. corruption --
TRUMP: We are going to drain the swamp of Washington.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Other than repeatedly calling for his political foes to be investigated, there is little evidence he has drained anything.
(BUZZING)
FOREMAN (voice-over): And more than a half dozen of Trump's associates have been charged with crimes. And about his attacks on President Obama's golfing trips --
TRUMP: I'm not going to have time to go play golf.
(CHEERING)
FOREMAN (voice-over): Trump has teed it up more than twice as often as Obama.
(BUZZING)
FOREMAN: Of course, Trump gets teed off whenever someone points out a promise he hasn't kept, but in that sense, he is becoming exactly what he pledged to never be, another politician. Don? (END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Tom Foreman, thank you so much. They are not her words. It's not her voice. But it's all her humor. Sara Cooper is going to join us with parodies of President Trump, and she is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK, everyone, you've got to sit down to watch this. We need some levity right now. So, Trump says that he has the best words. Well, comedian -- comedian Sarah Cooper is taking those words and showcasing just how nonsense and outlandish some of them can be, and her videos have gone viral, rocking up millions of views.
Remember when the president suggested getting rid of COVID with light inside the body or disinfectant.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP (voice-over): We hit the body with a tremendous -- whether it is ultraviolet or just very powerful light. And I think you said that you're going to test it. And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body 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.
And then I see the disinfectant will knock it out in a minute, one minute. 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 on the lungs? So it would be interesting to check that, so that you're going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds --
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP (voice-over): -- it sounds interesting to me.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Never gets old. You're going to have to use medical doctors.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: The president is bragging about how he performed on a mental acuity test. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP (voice-over): Like a memory question, it's like you'll go person, woman, man, camera, TV. So they say, could you repeat that? So I said, yeah.
[23:49:59]
TRUMP (voice-over): So it is person, woman, man, camera, TV. OK, that's very good. If you get it in order, you get extra points. OK, now he is asking you other questions, other questions. And then 10 minutes, 15, 20 minutes later, they will say, you remember the first question? Not the first but the 10th question. Give us that again. Can you do that again? And you go person, woman, man, camera, TV.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: President Trump loves to compare himself to Lincoln in his efforts to win over black voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): In general, I mean, the economy is the great unifier, right?
TRUMP (voice-over): I think I have done more for the black community than any other president. And let's take a pass on Abraham Lincoln because he did good although it is always questionable, you know. In other words --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (voice-over): Well, we are free, Mr. President.
TRUMP: We are free.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): He did pretty well.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP (voice-over): You understand what I mean.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Yeah.
TRUMP (voice-over): So I am going to take a pass on honest Abe as we call him.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: So, just Sarah Cooper, her camera, and the president's words. Sarah Cooper joins me now. She stars in a new Netflix special, "Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine."
Sarah, thank you so much. I am told that you're actually saying it perfectly along with the segment as we were running it.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I've been so looking forward to this. SARAH COOPER, WRITER AND COMEDIAN: Yeah, I think we both were, right?
LEMON: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I think everyone knows --
COOPER: We were both going, medical doctors.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: So, listen, what is it about using the president's own words in that way? How does it resonate so much with so many people?
COOPER: Uh, I think for one, they like not having to see his face when they hear what he's saying. So that is a big bonus. And I think, you know, having his words come out of my mouth and so convincing, like, coming out of my mouth makes you realize how ridiculous he sounds.
I don't have people behind me nodding. I'm not wearing a suit. I'm not called sir, you know. I don't have all those things that make it look like he knows what he's talking about.
LEMON: Right.
COOPER: So, you see it coming out of my mouth and you're like, oh, that is BS.
LEMON: Yeah.
COOPER: You know, it's complete BS.
LEMON: The presidential accoutrements, as I say, with the helicopter going behind him and the steel and all of that stuff. But you know that moment, Sarah --
COOPER: Yeah.
LEMON: -- specifically the light inside the body moment. The president says that he was being sarcastic, that he was joking when he said it. Do you think he was being sarcastic?
COOPER: Right. No, and you can see it in the clip. I mean, he genuinely thinks that he has come up with a brilliant idea, that he is double checking with other people in the room, and like, yeah, this is good, we should test this. And people are not correcting him.
I mean, that is the thing that is frustrating and why we feel like we have been gaslighted this whole time is because nobody is saying, hey, you sound ridiculous.
LEMON: Mm-hmm.
COOPER: Light under the skin?
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: You know, putting disinfectant into your veins and then like the whole, yeah, we are going to check that with medical doctors. By the way, that was in April. What happened to this checking with the medical doctors?
LEMON: Yeah.
COOPER: Is that also a joke? I don't know.
LEMON: Yeah, right on. Did you have any idea that this was going to happen? I mean, when did you know, because people started sharing immediately from the first one? I am sure you had no idea.
COOPER: Yeah.
LEMON: But then when did you figure it out?
COOPER: Well, I thought it was just going to be that one, you know. That one got, you know, 25 million views and it was so popular. I didn't think I was going to make them anymore. And then he kept giving me material, and so I kept making these videos.
You know, he said, you know, we have more cases because we test more. I made, you know, a clip of me doing that audio. He just said that over and over again. So, he just kept giving me the material. And then, you know, I got an agent, I met Maya Rudolf, I made a Netflix special. It's been an absolutely insane six months.
LEMON: Yeah. Let us talk about your special. You mentioned it. So your new special, "Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine," is streaming now on Netflix. I had to be the only one who didn't know. I was like, when is it coming out? So, it is streaming now on Netflix. It goes beyond the president and hits other timely issues, including race. He's a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Welcome, KJ.
K.J. DILLARD, CHEF: Oh, my god, you've just started me.
(LAUGHTER)
DILLARD: I'm here to the Sarah Cooper show.
COOPER: And we are so excited to have you. This might be the cutest cupcakes I've ever seen.
DILLARD: They are my pride and joy. Now, I would appreciate it if you get Ciara (ph) for me.
COOPER: Thank you. I'm Sarah Cooper.
DILLARD: I didn't say Ciara (ph), honey. I said Sarah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is Sarah Cooper. COOPER: I'm Sarah Cooper, the host of the show.
DILLARD: You're Sarah Cooper?
COOPER: Yup.
DILLARD: Can I see some ID?
COOPER: Here is my licence, passport, and my birth certificate.
DILLARD: No, I need to see some kind of a permit that shows me that you're allowed to be in the premises.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Was that a kind of a Karen moment? What is going on there and what else can we expect from this special?
COOPER: Yeah, that was kind of a Karen moment, you know. We've all been, you know, trying to get into our apartment building and have our keys out because we are trying to make sure nobody is going to call us on not living there. I had a woman say, do you live here?
[23:55:00]
COOPER: What apartment? I haven't seen you around. And so like just this whole idea that I am on this morning show, it is my morning show, but she needs to see some ID. It has been an amazing Karen in that moment. And so we just have a bunch of different sketches, some are in this morning show, atmosphere.
And other ones take you outside and there were some lip syncing. There is a very amazing Access Hollywood bus scene with (inaudible) Helen Mirren and playing Billy Bush that you have to see. So, definitely check it out. And also, there is a scene inspired by you, D. Lemon, you and Chris Cuomo. So --
LEMON: Oh, really?
COOPER: -- check it out. Yes, yes. I just love how you guys toss it off to each other between shows and so I had to put something in the special to pay homage to that.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Oh, thank you. Listen, it is never scripted and usually our producers are like, move on, oh, my gosh. But, you know, we do it every single night. I think the viewers, obviously, they love it. So, listen. Beyond -- thank you very much for that. Do you expand your repertoire beyond the president?
COOPER: Oh, do I lip sync other people?
LEMON: Mm-hmm. COOPER: Yes, I do. I lip sync Melania and --
LEMON: Oh, wow.
COOPER: -- Ivanka and Kellyanne. I lip sync one other person in the end who is not even related to any of this.
LEMON: Oh, wow.
COOPER: It was a lot of fun.
LEMON: Sarah --
COOPER: And also, Fred Armisen got in the lip syncing a little bit, too.
LEMON: Oh, good. Listen, I am so happy for your success. You know, you found something, you did something that was just brilliant, and you deserve all the success that you're having. I will be watching. I hope everyone else does, too. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you joining us, OK?
COOPER: Thank you so much.
LEMON: Thank you very much.
COOPER: Thank you.
LEMON: Sarah Cooper, everyone. Thank you for watching, everyone. Our coverage continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
