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Don Lemon Tonight

COVID-19 on Top of President Biden's Agenda; Kevin McCarthy Changes His Mind; Country Must Come First Before Personal Political Ambition; CDC With New Guideline on Vaccines; Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) Was Interviewed About the Situation of the National Guard at the Capitol and the Plan of the Biden Administration on Vaccinating People; Anti-Semitism and White Supremacy Not Accepted in the U.S. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired January 21, 2021 - 22:00   ET

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

[22:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: That it is for us tonight. CNN Tonight, the big show with the big star, D. Lemon right now.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: You know, Chris, the right doesn't like it when you say people need to be de-programmed. You know that, right?

CUOMO: De-programmed?

LEMON: Yes.

CUOMO: I'm talking about the QAnon people and the conspiracy theorist people.

CUOMO: Yes. You know, I feel like I'm missing something here. Because I know what QAnon is and I know what they teach online. I am not as worried about the duped as I am about the diabolical. The oath keepers the Proud Boys, these other true extremist groups that have membership that have, you know, this mantras and mottos and these mechanisms for change that is violent, I'm worried about them.

There is true domestic terror capability and Trump unleashed the kraken. And it doesn't just go away because he did it.

LEMON: Yes. Well, but also it doesn't just go away because a lot of the people who enabled them are still in power, they're still in Congress, they're still in the Senate. There's still people, a power who even beyond politics or people in the media who still enable them who still capitalize on the conspiracy theories to get them going, to continue to get them to watch their programs.

I mean, look at what's happening with conservative media. There's a whole shift, right, the tectonic shift that's happening there because people need to go and get, you know, pure conspiracy theories. This channel isn't giving me enough pure conspiracy theories. I need to go to the next one and they are going to continue to go to the next one. And so, I think it's just a vicious cycle. It just keeps going.

CUOMO: Let them eat their own.

LEMON: Yes. And that's what will happen.

CUOMO: Anger has an insatiable appetite.

LEMON: But only -- you can only help people who want to help themselves. Remember that. Can't help them if they don't want to help themselves. There's nothing that you or I can do about it.

CUOMO: There are plenty of outlets putting out information, pushing for transparency. If they want it, they can find it

LEMON: Right. Exactly but they got to want to find it. Thank you, sir. I'll see you. Good to see you.

CUOMO: I love you, D. Lemon.

LEMON: I love you as well.

This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon.

Every time someone said the president today, who'd you think of? Huh? What a difference the day makes, the first full day of the Biden administration, President Biden. President Biden signing a flurry of executive orders, memorandums and directives, 28 in all, since he took the oath of office, undoing four years of Trump policies.

With the stroke of his pen, dismantling the previous president's legacy and signature efforts, the border wall halted after the building of, there was a caveat to it, it's not really quite that, but 453 miles is not a full wall. Because just 47 miles of it, new wall. The rest of it, replacement fence so again, that's another big lie that was told to you, so now the truth since he's gone.

The travel bans on largely Muslim countries reversed. The departure from the World Health Organization canceled, United States rejoining the Paris climate accord. President Biden's first priority is the pandemic. That's what he has to deal with, priority number one.

Today marks one year since we learned of the first COVID patient in this country and tonight there are more than 24 million cases, 24 of them, 24 million cases and more than 409,000 Americans have died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our national plan launches a full-scale war-time effort to address the supply shortages by ramping up production and protective equipment, syringes, needles, you name it. When I say wartime, people kind of like at me, wartime? As I said last night, 400,000 Americans have died. That's more than died in all of World War II.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: A wartime effort. The previous wartime president went AWOL on the job then stood by while more than 400,000 Americans died on his watch. January is the second deadliest month of the pandemic so far, and they're still a week and a half left to go. President Biden saying this today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We didn't get into this mess overnight. It's going to take months for to us turn things around but let me be equally clear. We will get through this. We will defeat this pandemic, and to a nation waiting for action, let me be the clearest on this point, help is on the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[22:05:07]

LEMON: The president's plan including a goal of 100 million shots in arms by the end of his first 100 days, requiring masks in airports and on many trains, planes and buses, as well as on federal property.

Ramping up supplies for vaccinations, testing and PPE, and guidance for safely reopening schools. It is a sea change. Look, I talked about the former president day in and day out for years and I know a lot of you would rather never think about him again and just move on, and trust me, I get it. I get it, but its hold over us is broken, right? His hold over us is broken but the wreckage he left behind will be with us for years.

So, we have to talk about the things that he did and not -- this isn't about a cult of personality anymore. It's about scars that are left on the soul of our country that we need to heal. We need to have two deadly viruses that are -- we have to take care of two deadly viruses that are ravaging the country, the coronavirus and the virus of racism and white supremacy.

We are going to have to reckon with what happened at the capitol. We can't sweep it under the rug with calls for unity just because let's move on, it's over, we got to sweep it under the rug. No, you got to figure out what happened and how we got here and there has to be some sort of reckoning and some sort of realization from the people who did it and from the people who spurred it on and who continue to.

We can't forget, there was a violent insurrection that happened just two weeks ago, an insurrection incited by the then president and his attempt to overturn our free and free election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I don't think it's very unifying to say let's just forget it and move on. That's now how you unify. Joe Biden said it beautifully, if you're going to unite, you must remember.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: We can't sweep all that under the rug. You just can't do it. We have to reckon with what happened and even if people don't want to, we're going to have to. Because the former president left office mid impeachment, but the more things change, you know, the more they really stay the same.

I want you to listen to this. This is the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's revisionist history claiming the then president didn't provoke the riot on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Leader McConnell has said that president -- former President Trump and other important people provoked those folks to come to the capitol. Do you believe that president, former President Trump provoked?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I don't believe he provoked, if you listen to what he said at the rally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK, so Leader McCarthy, meet Leader McCarthy who last week flat-out said the former president bears responsibility for the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump, accept his share of responsibility, quell the brewing unrest, and ensure President-elect Biden is able to successfully begin his term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The exact opposite of what he said today, enablers are going to enable. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

And that brings us to Senator Lindsey Graham. Lindsey, Lindsey, Lindsey, who today says the former president doesn't believe he played a role in what happened at the capitol, and I quote, "I don't think he believes he played a role in the defiling of the capitol. I think the argument that the election was stolen was overdone and got people ginned up. I think he's responsible for that. But people's decision to come here and take over the place, that lies with them, but his last couple of statements have been good, you know, rejecting violence. We'll see."

The argument it was stolen was overdone, it got people ginned up? Lindsey, this you?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): There's a civil war brewing in Georgia for no good reason. It's not unreasonable to ask the legislature to come back in and order an audit of the signatures in the presidential race to see if the system worked. What is unreasonable is to sit on your ass and do nothing when you got a chance to save the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[22:09:55]

LEMON: So, I wonder where people got that idea. Lindsey? These people, man. He's still saying that, weeks after that it was reported that he was allegedly pressuring the secretary of state. Remember it was just two weeks ago when Lindsey Graham, hours after the attack on the capitol said that he was done. He was done with the then president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: Trump and I, we've had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. My God, I hate it. From my point of view, he's been a consequential president but today, first thing you'll see. All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Takes a special kind, right? In spite of all that, the fact is there has been a sea change in the White House. We've gone from a president who refused to condemn white supremacists who said that there were very fine people on both sides in Charlottesville to a president who ran in opposition to the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville and vowed in his inaugural address to defeat them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: A cry for racial justice, some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: A cry for survival comes from the planet itself, a cry that can't be any more desperate or any more clearer now, a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A sea change, and one you think this country's leaders would get behind when they saw that their own -- with their own eyes what happened when a mob, including white supremacists, stormed the seat of our government, when a confederate flag was marched right through the capitol, then we have false outrage from Republicans, false outrage from Republicans, like Rand Paul, claiming President Biden called Republicans white supremacists and racists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): If you read his speech and listen to it carefully, much of it is thinly veiled innuendo calling us white supremacists, calling us racists, calling us every name in the book, calling us people who don't tell the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Is that what you got from that? I don't know. My mom -- I don't know, my mom used to say a hit dog will holler but I'm just saying, I don't know, I don't know, Rand, because to me, that's a knee-jerk attack on the new president, because your guy lost or either maybe a talking point that are you guys doing, because you want to try to spin this? I don't know what it is, but that's not what anybody heard but you all.

Look, we need to be willing to have tough conversations in this country, tough conversations about race, about the reality of being black and brown in America, and our path forward. The fact is, these conversations will be uncomfortable, but we cannot unsee what we've seen. You cannot.

We should probably just continue to play that video of what happened in the capitol on a loop, because it is -- it should be that disturbing to you. You cannot unhear, we can't unhear what we've heard. We can't just sweep all of this under the rug in the name of unity. Unity based on lies is no kind of unity at all.

And now with the new president in the White House, it is time for all of us to face up to that and do the hard work of finding a way forward. Not just talking words about unity, but maybe digging deep and wondering why you didn't want unity, when you were in power, when your party held the White House, when you were spreading lies about election fraud? When you were calling people enemies of the people. Why talk of unity then? But now, OK.

One hundred million shots in arms in the first 100 days. Can the new president make that happen? And is the bar too low?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: When I announced it, you all said it's not possible. Come on, give me a break, man.

UNKNOWN: Come on you guys. Let's go.

(CROSSTALK)

UNKNOWN: Mr. President --

BIDEN: One hundred million.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[22:15:00]

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LEMON: So, on his first full day in office, President Joe Biden signing a series of executive orders to battle the deadly COVID-19 crisis calling it, quote, "a wartime undertaking" with COVID now claiming nearly 410,000 American lives. Biden warning that things will get worse before they get better.

And now that's in charge, Biden is not holding back, calling the vaccine rollout program a dismal failure.

So, let's bring in, let's talk about this. Our chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins and our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. They are both here. Good evening to both of you.

Sanjay, I want to start with you, because we have some breaking news about new CDC guidance that just came out on vaccines. What do you know?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is a question that I think I get more than just about any other, and it has to do with these two vaccines that have been authorized, the Moderna one and the Pfizer one. They are both the same type of vaccine known as mRNA. The question has been, can you interchange them? So, if you get the first dose of a Moderna vaccine, could you then get the second dose of a Pfizer vaccine.

The guidance really is, has been no and frankly is still no except in exceptional situations when you really have no other options. They say you could you potentially interchange them. You got to wait at least four weeks between the two doses but you could interchange them if you have no other options.

The other thing they're saying, and this is all in response obviously to the sort of shaky rollout of these vaccines, but the other thing they're saying is you can wait up to six weeks, up to 42 days into between the two doses as well if you have to. So, you can interchange and possibly extend the time frame a little bit more.

[22:20:03]

LEMON: Six weeks and you can mix and match but only in --

GUPTA: Mix and match.

LEMON: -- mix and match and under certain circumstances. Right? I just want to make it clear because people ask you a lot and I don't want them confused by the segment so I just want you to say it again just so we get it, doctor.

GUPTA: yes. No, and exceptional situations. I mean, the science, the trials, they -- all the data is based on the way that it's currently administered, to wait three weeks in between the two shots for Pfizer and four weeks for Moderna. But if you have gotten the first shot you obviously cannot find the second shot of the same dose you could mix and match at that point, exceptional situations.

And again, six weeks as Dr. Fauci has described it. He says, it's taking a chance because all the data really is on the current dosing administration plan but, you know, we might be in these situations where this is your only option.

LEMON: Al right. Thank you for reiterating and repeating that for me. So, Kaitlan, President Biden on his first full day signed a series of executive orders on the COVID response laying out a wartime national strategy. What are his priorities right now? What are the priorities?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think the biggest takeaway that we are starting to see coming from them is this is going to be a much more federally driven COVID response than what you saw with the Trump administration.

Because remember back in December when we realized we were not going to hit the vaccine targets that the administration officials -- administration officials had promised us. They said well, you know, we came up with this vaccine, we gave it to states. It's up to them to distribute it from here.

I think what we are hearing from President Biden earlier today from his chief of staff Ron Klain, who is just a few doors down doing an interview here on the north lawn of the White House, it's going to be much more federally driven response than state controlled than the way that you've seen it so far.

But you did hear Biden say today as he was signing that about a dozen executive orders related to this, he knows that he is going to solely be judged on how he handles this. You could argue that President Trump is also going to be as well. He knows it's a big deal. It's make or break. And so, I think that's why they are putting so much emphasis on it in the beginning of their time in office because they know just how dire the need for help is, given what we're seeing play out across the United States. And they know that they also want to make sure that they have a better response than what the last administration did.

LEMON: Yes. They can't fail on this one. I mean, this is make or break for them. Dr. Gupta, Dr. Fauci is pushing back on the administration saying that they're starting from scratch with vaccines. This is -- this is what he told Chris just a moment ago. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: A lot of good things that when that happened with the development of the vaccine program. Operation Warp Speed had a lot of successes. There were some missteps but a lot of successes there.

We're going to build on things. We're not going to be destroying it, putting aside saying it's useless. We're going to take the good parts and amplify them and make them better and we're going to go for the gold, and that is to get as many people vaccinated as you possibly can, as expeditiously as you can. That's the goal. We're not going to trash anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Listen, it's so -- I'm sure you've heard way more than I have. So many confusing stories about people trying to get vaccines or they -- so I've had people tell me I just happened to be near a clinic at the end of the day and they had like some extra left over and I got a shot. And I'm not in the age range. So, there's a whole host of things. But he -- I'm not sure he addressed how bad this vaccine distribution is. Clearly, it is a huge problem.

GUPTA: Yes. I mean, you know, it's interesting. Because he is sort of the only bridge really especially when it comes to this particular issue between the previous administration and this administration. Obviously, Dr. Fauci worked on the vaccine and the whole Operation Warp Speed. He was involved with that. So, I think that's what he's responding to.

But I think, you know, the way that Kaitlan sort of outlined it, this kind of the issue here is that, the federal, sort of getting the vaccines to the states, that was -- that's kind of what they did. But the idea that the states then sort of had to pick up the ball with very little preparation, very little infrastructure, not enough funding and get this -- turn these vaccines into vaccinations was the problem. I mean, that's been the disappointing part.

I think Dr. Fauci has even used that term as well, that it's been disappointing. We were supposed to be at 50 million vaccinations by the end of this month and we're obviously going to be nowhere close to that. So maybe not from scratch. We have two authorized vaccines after all but vaccines are not vaccinations and that's the problem.

LEMON: I think when people heard, you know, and we did from the, especially the vice president a whole of government approach, they thought that that meant everything, right, that meant the federal government getting it to the states and the states and local municipalities putting it into people's arms and that turned out not to be the case.

GUPTA: Right.

LEMON: Yes.

GUPTA: Exactly. And when you hear a whole of government, I mean, for the first time I sort of heard more of a whole of government approach, you know, here is what FEMA is going to do, here is specifically what the CDC is going to do. Here is what HHS is going to do.

[22:25:07]

So that's what we've been waiting to hear. Today, frankly, is the first time I've heard that.

LEMON: Yes. Kaitlan, let's talk a little bit more about that. Because President Biden is calling the vaccine rollout so far, a dismal failure. So, are they -- are they trying to buy themselves time to ramp up here? What's going on?

COLLINS: I think it doesn't hurt for them to lower expectations. Because they're saying hey, this is not what we wanted to inherit, it's not in the condition we wanted it to be in. It's obviously not what the place they thought it was because look how many people have actually been vaccinated so far. But I don't think it's in the condition that they wanted to inherit

this in. So, I do think they are lowering expectations. Of course, that politically would make sense for them given of course they just got into office.

One thing I just heard Ron Klain say, that's Biden's new chief of staff, he was talking about how he was going to use the Defense Production Act. And there was so much confusion over this in the beginning days of the pandemic over here when Trump was in office.

I remember asking about it several times in the White House. Because it's not just waving a magic wand just because the president has signed it. It's like, how are you actually going to utilize it to make things better, to use the power of the federal government to actually compel private companies to help with this response.

And one thing he just said was that basically they're going to sign the DPA to create these syringes where you can get six doses of the vaccine out of a syringe instead of five. He was saying that once those syringes are available, they're not yet, they just signed the Defense Production Act in the last, you know, 36 hours, but he said that would increase the supply 20 percent as soon as those are available.

So, it's not just the scale of how they're passing out the vaccines what's going on. It's something as granular as that can make a really big difference for the states. So that's the thing to watch as we go forward and as we're judging this response compared to the last administrations, is how they use things as simple as the Defense Production Act and if they can be more successful with it than we saw in the prior instances.

LEMON: Well, we'll see how this continues. But I got to tell you it was good to see experts out front leading the briefing when it comes to the science and what's really going on instead of politicians. Thank you very much. I'll see both of you very soon.

Out with the old. President Biden dismantling four years of Trump policies today. But my next guess says that we haven't even begun to comprehend how much work we've got ahead. Tom Friedman is here next.

[22:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The United States of America ushering in a new chapter this week. President Joe Biden making it clear his administration will be nothing like his predecessors with a focus on truth, science and transparency.

Let's bring in now New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, he is the author of the book "Thank You For Being Late." thank you, sir. Good to see you. I appreciate you joining us.

I know you're feeling relieved, you're feeling grateful but we've got some huge problems to face as a country. What do you think of day one and what do you think of what's ahead?

THOMAS FRIEDMAN, COLUMNIST, NEW YORK TIMES: Well, I think a lot of day one. I think President Biden is off to a good start and especially, Don, you've been talking tonight about the contrast. I mean, you know, President Trump declared war on the coronavirus, but it was if -- it was as if on D-Day, you know, Eisenhower said to the troops OK, I got these -- got these boats, these landing craft, here's the guns, here's the helmet and there's this beach over there called Normandy. Like, take the beach and call me when you get there. You know?

That's basically what we did. We armed the states to some degree with vaccines, but there was really no coordinated plan to deliver it, because we had a war with a general who is AWOL. So, the exciting thing that we're seeing right now the general is there, he's in charge. They have a plan.

You know, Don, I'm an NBA fan. And one of the things you learn about the N -- watching basketball is that a team where five players are playing together as a team will always beat a team with one or two great stars or almost always, you know. And I think that's going to be the difference here and I'm hopeful.

LEMON: We're told that President Biden will invite congressional leaders to the White House, possibly as early as tomorrow. But McConnell is already slamming Biden saying that he took several big steps in the wrong direction. Is this a sign of what's to come for the next four years?

FRIEDMAN: You know, Don, I think it's a sign of the utter confusion in the Republican Party today as to who they are as a party. Because you have three obvious factions. You have those who want Trumpism with Trump, they want Trump to come back or Don Jr. or someone else. You know, those who want Trumpism without Trump, Josh Hawley, Cruz, they want to take over the Trump base.

And then you had people like McConnell who would like to go back to the old, you know, Republican Party, where they could hang out with corporate executives and go to retreats or whatever, but they have this little problem that the base of the party is still with Trump.

So this is a party that really doesn't know who they are and what their priorities are, and so I think you're going to see just a lot of back and forth now as they really sort of bob and weave and try to figure out who they are and by the way, who is with who because I think they really don't know.

LEMON: It's interesting to me about, you know, all the hoopla about executive orders, because remember in the beginning when Trump was signing those and he was like showing them around like he had won the showcase showdown on the price is right, he is this like, he was displaying it all over the place.

Republicans are frustrated by Biden signing a flurry of executive orders reversing Trump's policies but that's exactly what Trump did to reverse Obama's policies. Is this cycle part of the problem? FRIEDMAN: Yes, it is. Like, you know, if you look at China over the

last 15 years, you know, they've probably had three, five-year plans, probably made some progress and some failed in others, you know. But you know, that's not the system I don't -- I want. I don't want an autocratic system, but unfortunately, we are getting, they're getting about I would say 80 percent out of their really bad system.

[22:35:00]

Unfortunately, Don, we're getting like 10 percent out of our good system. I want America to work the way America should work, where two parties come together and compromise in the middle.

But if we think we're going to stay the world's leading economy and have this thing where you come in and I undercut you, then I come in and you undercut me, and we just go back and forth like this, when our rivals and not just China, if you look at Korea, when you look at Germany, these are allies in the Democratic sense but global competitors, there is an ability their to plan for the long-term and not have this complete back-and-forth.

And so, it's really, this is no way to run a railroad, and what we're doing, Don, to make up for this is printing money. You know, one bailout after another.

LEMON: Well, can I read something from your piece that may help you make this point. Because you called the Trump presidency, you said it's terrible, terrible, a terrible, terrible experiment, adding it's not that Trump never did anything good. It's that it was nowhere near worth the price of leaving our nation more divided, more sick and with more people marinated in conspiracy theories than at any time in modern history. We need to be time simultaneously reunited, deprogrammed, refocused and reassured.

So, talk to me, is that in the spirit of what you were saying before?

FRIEDMAN: Yes. I mean, look, Biden is going to try. I think he'll try to build some level of consensus he can. I'm not optimistic that he's going to get big buy-in from the Republicans but I am hopeful that over time, there are some center right Republicans who on certain issues will want to come with him because we saw little demonstration of that, Don, during the last stimulus debate at the end of the Trump administration.

We had this problem solvers caucus, because I do think in the country, in the country there is a desire for people to solve problems. And if McConnell is planning to spend the next two years just trying to undermine Biden, I make no predictions but I sure hope that they will be punished for that because I know one thing, we will all suffer from it.

LEMON: Yes. So, listen, that's what you say about the politicians. But you're asking Americans to give Joe Biden a chance to surprise them. Is that realistic considering a large number of people still believe Trump's dangerous lies about the election and still believe that it was rigged or stolen? FRIEDMAN: You know, who knows where the country fully is these days,

especially Republicans now that Trump is gone, but I do believe, you know, if you look at the two parties, Don, the Democratic Party I would say is about 70, 80 percent center left, and 20 percent farther left. The Republicans are just the flip. They're about 20 percent center right, and 80 percent far right or Trumpist.

So, the question to me is, you know, can you get enough of that 20 percent of the Republican Party to come over and collaborate with Biden? That's going to be the challenge and that's really going to determine whether we make progress or not or whether we're going to have just this kind of one party trying to govern while the other just tries to put a spinner in the works.

If we do that, if we keep doing this, Don, we're really headed for the shoals. OK? We can't just keep bailing ourselves out. We need to be investing, investing in infrastructure, investing in future technologies. That's what all the countries -- you know, countries that don't think about the future, they tend not to do well there, and right now, we're not -- we're not thinking about the future in a strategic way.

LEMON: Well, here is a dilemma, and basically for the last four or five years, that the dilemma is been how much oxygen to give the former president, and even I said it at the beginning of the show, this isn't about talking about a cult of personality. This is about the American carnage that he left behind.

I mean, we agree that talking about Trump just gives him the attention that he craves but with -- he's got an upcoming impeachment trial, multiple investigations into insurrection at our capitol. Isn't that going to be a challenge to not discuss at least the things that he is on the hook for and that he's left behind?

FRIEDMAN: Yes, look, we're going to have to face up to them. It looks like there's going to be an impeachment trial. I hope it is swift. I hope he is convicted, and then I hope we can really move on, because he's going to be out there, whether he has Twitter or Facebook or whatever, but you know, the best way obviously to weaken him is if Republicans begin to repudiate him.

I don't know that's going to happen. Don, the meta - meta problem we have as a country right now is that one of our two parties has been radicalized in a way where a majority of the people in that party believe a big lie, and that is the product of four years with social networks obviously and we're not going to cure that overnight.

[22:40:01]

But one -- there's two ways you cure it, it seems to me. One is that they be out of power. There's nothing that cures radicalism or crazy than being in a corner and out of power for a while. The other is Joe Biden being able to deliver some big things. Get us over the virus, the biggest stimulus for this economy is if in three months this virus is in our rearview mirror. And if Biden can get a few big wins and establish that credibility,

because what I've learned in covering Washington is success breeds authority and authority breeds more success. If he can do that, and if Trump can -- if the Republicans can take care of Trump, I don't know that they will. You only hope. But this party is completely off the rails, and this country is built on a two-party system, and you can't have a healthy America if our conservative party is really, has been radicalized and is lost in space right now.

LEMON: Thomas Friedman, I really enjoyed this conversation and it was a nice long one. I appreciate that and I hope you come back. Thank you, sir. See you soon.

FRIEDMAN: Thanks for having me, Don.

LEMON: Thousands of National Guard troops banished to the garage they were on capitol hill to protect Congress but now they're sleeping on the hard ground. What's up with that? The latest, next.

[22:45:00]

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LEMON: So, Joe Biden spending his second night in the White House as president, after reversing a slew of Trump policies through executive actions. President Biden setting an ambitious agenda for his first 100 days in office.

Joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter, she is the deputy chair of the congressional progressive caucus. Good to see you, Congresswoman. Thank you so much.

So, before we get to that, I want to ask you about some news that's coming in to CNN. We learn tonight that thousands of National Guard members have been moved to a parking garage after they were told that they had to leave the capitol grounds, many were sleeping on the ground. Now after word got out, it appears that they have been invited back. They were there to protect lawmakers. Is that -- is that any way to treat the guard?

REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): I have no knowledge of why they were asked to move and why they're moving back. You know, to be clear, having walked a lot of miles around the capitol complex, these National Guards people are already sleeping on hard marble floors and they were uncomfortable. We should be looking at what we need to do to make them more comfortable, not uprooting them and sending the wrong signal.

LEMON: Yes. So, Congresswoman, we hear a lot about executive orders. Thank you for answering that question, by the way. So let's talk about the executive orders. Has the incoming administration started working with you guys in Congress yet on getting actual -- getting some laws passed instead of doing, you know, executive action?

PORTER: Those conversations are beginning and they actually began during the transition where members like myself were ask to identify our top priorities. For me, for example, dealing with the mental health pandemic that's accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic, and then to elevate those priorities early to the Biden team as they began to plan the transition.

And part of that is making sure that people who are taking on these new roles in the executive branch know what's on Congress' mind that they're hearing from people who represent people across the country.

LEMON: Democrats have the White House, both chambers of Congress, right, but the margins are narrow especially in the Senate. Do you think enough Republicans want to cooperate?

PORTER: I certainly hope so. And I think there's a, you know, a responsibility on them to do the right thing, to reject President Trump, to reject that kind of hateful language, and to turn a corner and show that they want to work. I think there's an opportunity for us as Democrats to focus on the problems at hand, and how we engage all Americans regardless of party in those problems.

So, one can describe the situation we're facing in our economy with an unprecedented number of women, particularly women of color facing job losses, the crisis we face in hunger. We can talk about those things without blaming one party or the other and talk about solutions.

And so, I think, you know, I represent a very, very purply district, even numbers of Democrats and Republicans so I always try to focus on what's wrong and how can we fix it.

LEMON: So, we hear a lot of talk about unity. Does that mean different things right now to Republicans and Democrats. What does it mean?

PORTER: Well, I definitely cannot put myself in the shoes of some of my newer Republican colleagues who are I think really violating some of the important norms and traditions, and in some cases even laws, certainly rules regarding wearing masks, not bringing weapons on the House floor.

But I do hope, and I think Joe Biden is giving us a road map. He's offering a set of language, opening a door to a way for us to talk about unity, to talk about working across the aisle and I find it very inspiring and I'm excited to be trying to echo those same kind, that same kind of language as I work with Republican colleagues.

LEMON: The president is saying that COVID is his top priority. Your state of California reported its second highest single say death toll yesterday with nearly 700 deaths. What are you telling your constituents because the president say the worse is yet to come. He said it's going to get worse before it gets better.

PORTER: I think that people need to hear the truth. I think they know on the ground how bad it is. People are losing loved ones, they are spending hours and hours or days and days trying to get a vaccine appointment. They're struggling to find a COVID test.

And so, I think that the American people know how bad this is. I think what Joe Biden is trying to do, President Biden is trying to do is level with the American people, establish where we are and then begin to lay out a plan for how things can get better, and they need to get better.

[22:50:04]

We need to ramp up vaccine production and distribution. We need to commit at the federal level to state and local funding, but we have to have a plan. We have to know what's going on. The Trump administration was hiding so much important information from us and it's really important now to let people like Dr. Fauci do their jobs and exercise their competence. And it will take some time for them to make a difference.

LEMON: Congresswoman Katie Porter, thank you. I appreciate you joining us. Stay safe.

PORTER: Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you.

There was a lot of attention on rioters waving confederate flags and symbols of anti-Semitism. But what happens when a Nazi flag gets put up in a small town? Take this. I guess it's taken down.

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LEMON: Take this. As President Biden vows to take on white supremacy from the White House, citizens in North Carolina are doing their part to reject hate in their own community.

Let me explain to you what happened. Prior to the inauguration, police say a man nailed a Nazi flag underneath the Biden/Harris campaign sign. Right? That flag is a white supremist anti-Semitic symbol of hate, there is no place for it anywhere in this country.

Well today, an unidentified man yanked it down the Nazi flag and replaced with an American flag. Now notice that the man had to put it over a confederate flag that had also been posted to the tree. This reporting is coming from our affiliate WRAL.

Only three weeks ago, violent insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol with confederate flags, some wearing blatantly anti-Semitic clothing. These symbols of hate perpetrate harmful beliefs and backwards points of view. They are used to endorse white supremacy, and that they can be seen out in the open from North Carolina to the capitol proves that the country still has a lot to reconcile when it comes to hate. A lot to reconcile.

And I certainly wrote a book about that and I truly believe that it could help. It's called "This is The Fire," what I say to my friends about racism. It's full of honest fearless conversations that I have with my own friends and family, so I hope you'll check it out. You can get anywhere you buy books, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and so on. So, check it, you can pre-order it now.

Next. President Biden calling for unity. But with the pandemic raging and Trump's second impeachment looming, will the country come together? Stay with us.

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