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Union Workers In Pittsburgh; Trump Visits New Hampshire; Tlaib Canceled Trip To Israel; Men Jump In Water To Save Cruise Passenger; El Paso Widower Mourns Wife; Greenland For Sale; Trump Asks Aides About The U.S. Buying Greenland; Stephen Colbert On Comedy & Satire In The Age Of Trump; Woodstock At 50: The Festival That Changed America. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired August 17, 2019 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: You're live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thank you for being here.
Tonight, a troubling memo and a little bit of mystery. Union workers in Pittsburgh were given this choice ahead of a visit by President Trump this week. Show up if you want to get paid or burn one of your vacation days. And, by the way, if you're not there, you're not eligible for overtime.
CNN obtained the memo that was sent to some Shell union workers at the Beaver Creek plant in Pennsylvania. And it includes these words: No yelling, shouting, protesting, or anything viewed as resistance, will be tolerated at the event. Those who are not in attendance will not receive overtime pay on Friday.
Workers who did show up had to be there at 7:00 a.m. to scan their I.D. cards and be prepared to stand for hours in order to be paid. The time commitment included the lunch hour but no lunch was provided. Again, the event was at 2:00 in the afternoon.
Now, here's the mystery. No one on the Trump team wrote this memo, we are told. But we're not sure who did, because Shell insists it didn't come from them either.
CNN's Kristen Holmes is in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, near the president's Bedminster estate. Kristen, what is Shell saying about all this?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, that's right. They're denying they wrote the memo. And I want to note here, they're taking particular issue with that line you read about protesting, saying that any language about worker conduct did not come from the company.
But when it came to that overtime section, it was a bit of a different story. Here is what the spokesperson told us earlier today. He said it was understood that some would choose not to attend the presidential visit and were given the option to take paid time off instead. As with any work week, if someone chooses to take PTO, they are not eligible to receive maximum overtime. So, essentially, it is only mandatory if you do want to get paid.
Now, we have reached out to the White House about this and we have yet to hear back.
CABRERA: OK, Kristen Holmes, thank you for that update.
Now, to Portland, Oregon and the tense scene created by dueling protests from far-right extremist groups and counter-protesters, including some on the far left who identify as ANTIFA or anti-fascist.
On Twitter this morning, before the rallies began, the president warned, quote, "Major consideration is being given to naming ANTIFA an organization of terror." But it's important to remember, the U.S. doesn't have a domestic terrorism law, and no government agency designates domestic groups as being terrorist organizations.
Joining us now is CNN Political Commentator and senior columnist at "The Daily Beast," Matt Lewis. And former Obama White House senior director, Nayyera Haq. So, Matt, the president called out the far left, but far right groups, like the Proud Boys, have also been accused of carrying out violence. Why is the president staying silent about that end of the spectrum?
MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that it's selective, of course. Now, Donald Trump did get dinged after Charlottesville when he talked about both sides. But, otherwise, I think it's just --
CABRERA: And, remember, Charlottesville was two years ago this week.
LEWIS: Right. I mean, I think -- I think that this is partisanship, you know? Their bad guys are bad. Our bad guys, we won't mention. So, I hate to be that simplistic but I think that's what it is.
CABRERA: Nayyera, the president held a rally in the official primary state of New Hampshire this week, where he basically ruled out the idea of any competition in 2020. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You have no choice but to vote for me because your 401Ks, down the tubes. Everything's going to be down the tubes. So, whether you love me or hate me, you've got to vote for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Nayyera, what's your takeaway from the president's tone there?
NAYYERA HAQ, FORMER SPOKESMAN, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: Yes, I'm not understanding that logic, because he came in with a good economy and claims that he would bring back the manufacturing sector. We now know, because of his erratic trade positions, that even though he's walked back from the China trade tariffs that China insisted that they're going to continue on their end.
So, that's now been passed off to consumers as a tax on consumers. The tax cut business investment, it went down. Businesses did not put that back into communities. And now, this morning, that manufacturing has slowed down.
So, all of his economic promises he's made, he's failing at. And, frankly, two years in, the economy belongs to him. And people aren't feeling that change. So, I think there's at least, I lost count, 18 or 19 alternatives to Donald Trump. And, you know, ultimately, it'll end up being a binary choice. But not sure what he's trying to project, other than this false sense of bravado.
[20:04:58] CABRERA: But I will say, Nayyera, I mean, the economy is strong in many ways. Unemployment is at near-record lows. We know wages have been going up. There are other signs of strength in the economy. So, I mean, there has definitely been some volatility this week on Wallstreet. But to say, like, the economy is, you know, just tanked, I feel like is not true.
HAQ: And I think this is part of -- yes. I think this is part of the -- I think this is part of the disconnect, when we talk about financial indicators and then how people are actually feeling, right? So, if you look under the hood of the indicators, we know that wages are increasing only at the top, but at the lowest portion. So, the big chunk of the middle, it's not.
And that's been pretty consistent, even though -- and the majority of Americans, I think 60 percent, actually saw a tax -- a bill increase. People are working two jobs, so unemployment technically down, but it's not because people are employed in the jobs that they've been trained for. Almost that they're underemployed.
So, the story for an average person who's working, you know, they scratch their heads. Like, I'm being told that GDP is increasing, but I'm not feeling the benefit directly. And I think that's where this talk of the Trump recession is really starting to build up, particularly now that Wallstreet and world markets are reacting.
CABRERA: And, Matt, a Republican source close to the president told "The Washington Post" this about how the president feels about the recent economic headlines. Quote, "He's rattled. He thinks that all the people that do this economic forecasting are a bunch of establishment weenies, elites who don't know anything about the real economy and they're against Trump. What do you make of that?
LEWIS: Well, look, I don't know if he thinks that this is some conspire -- some deep-state conspiracy to talk down the economy or something like that. But I do think he should be rattled, in the sense that Donald Trump -- you know, there were all these expectations. If he goes on Twitter, he's going to rattle the market. It didn't happen. You know, if he -- if he does these tariffs -- free traders said, if he does tariffs, it's going to hurt the economy. It hasn't mani -- you know, it hasn't manifested, so far.
Will it catch up to him? And if that happens, and there's a lot of time still between now and November of 2020, it's hard to imagine Donald Trump -- we talk about reelection. It's a completely different scenario, if there's a recession. I think that's an obvious point. He should be worried about it.
CABRERA: Staying with 2020 for a minute. "The New York times" is reporting that former President Obama told Joe Biden, his former vice president, this just last year. You don't have to do this, Joe. You really don't. And this was in a talk about Biden's potential 2020 bid. It was before, you know, he threw his name into the hat. "The Times" says the former president worried about Biden's team of advisers being too old. We know Biden is 76.
Nayyera, should that be a red flag for Democratic voters, what we're hearing about the former president's thinking?
HAQ: I don't think it's a matter of age, because we certainly see some dynamic candidates receiving a lot of attention. I mean, Bernie Sanders is not a spring chicken, neither is Elizabeth Warren. But I think it's the age of the ideas that people are feeling -- feel a little stale. And that's going to be critical for Biden to overcome. It's how he can connect with the younger set of voters who are now -- millennial voters are going to equal, if not surpass, boomers in the voting block for 2020.
CABRERA: Matt, I want to turn to the battle between the president and Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. He helped convince Israel, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to ban her from entering Israel for a time this week. She was also heading to the West Bank to see her 90-year-old grandmother. Tlaib was finally allowed to go, but then called off the trip, because of the conditions imposed by Israel.
And, last night, while she was talking about it, this is how she responded. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D), MICHIGAN: I should be on a plane to see her. I'm still a granddaughter. More than anything, I'm a granddaughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: And, meantime, here's what the president wrote on Twitter. Quote, "The only real winner here is Tlaib's grandmother. She doesn't have to see her now."
Matt, what does that contrast in feelings here tell you?
LEWIS: Well, look, I think that Tlaib and Omar have said and tweeted anti-Semitic tropes. I don't think that they are great actors here. But Donald Trump makes them seem sympathetic. I think that this is a P.R. coup for Tlaib. I think that she looks like the victim here. Israel and Trump look bad here. It's bad optics. It's bad politics.
I think what Trump is trying to do is to elevate the squad to make them the identity, the brand of the Democratic Party. He thinks that helps him in 2020. Maybe it's a short-term strategic move that might help Donald Trump.
I worry about the long-term consequences of elevating these pretty radical left-wing politicians who are actually in a battle against Nancy Pelosi for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. We should be rooting for Nancy Pelosi, I would say, not Tlaib.
CABRERA: All right, Matt Lewis, Nayyera Haq, thank you. Good to see you both.
LEWIS: Thank you.
[20:10:00] HAQ: Thank you.
CABRERA: Coming up, the incredible rescue. A wheelchair-bound girl plunges off a dock, leading two men to dive into action.
Plus, caught on camera. Kayakers getting a little too close for comfort to a collapsing glacier. The sightseeing tour that almost cost them their lives.
And hungry anyone? A family finds a live frog in their packaged salad.
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CABRERA: We're seeing dramatic new video of the moment when NASCAR legend, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and his family escaped a fiery plane crash in Tennessee. You have to see this footage. It shows the plane's front door popping open, as flames pour out of the back of that plane. A man steps out, reaches back to pull Earnhardt's baby girl through the door.
A second man then jumps from the plane, followed by Earnhardt's wife, Amy, who briefly trips before running to safety, followed by the family dog. Again, everyone made it out safely. We now know the plane bounced twice during that crash landing. Officials say everyone on board is lucky to be alive.
Two men in the U.S. Virgin Islands are being cheered as heroes for rescuing a Carnival cruise ship passenger in a wheelchair who fell off a dock. Now, the woman was being escorted by a family member, when she and her wheelchair went into the water. A local man, who was working nearby as a stilt dancer, saw what happened and literally jumped in to help. He says he got the woman out of her wheelchair, so she wouldn't sink with it.
[20:15:10] Then, another local man jumped in to take over until cruise ship staffers could throw them the rope and help pull the woman up to the dock. Carnival says that woman was not hurt.
Airport security workers are often busy and may not have time for warm welcome. But one airport worker in New York is now out of a job for giving a traveler a decidedly unfriendly message. Surveillance video from the Rochester Airport shows the female employee handing a handwritten note to Neil Strassner, as he went through her security line. But it wasn't her phone number. It wasn't a message, like, hey, have a good day. The note read, "You ugly." Strasner says he initially shrugged it off. But then, crew -- he grew concern that this could happen to other travelers. The TSA says the woman was a contract employee and has now been fired over that incident.
How organic is too organic? A family in Wisconsin says they found a live frog in a salad package that they bought from a grocery store. The little guy was just crawling around in their organic lettuce which is supposed to be triple washed, ready to eat, and frog-free. The family says they let the frog go. They returned the lettuce. They got a refund, but they still don't want to know how this happened or maybe they do want to know how it happened.
Two kayakers in Alaska capturing a moment that a giant glacier collapsed. The men were getting a closer look at the Spencer Glacier when they heard cracking. And then, suddenly, you saw it, they were pelted with chunks of flying ice and water. Both men say they feel like they're lucky to be alive. Right now, Alaska's temperatures are warming at a faster rate than any other state. And just last month, Anchorage reached an all-time record of 90 degrees.
She was the love of his life. His only living relative. So, when his wife was killed, he worried no one would come to her funeral. But the exact opposite happened. Coming up, the incredible show of support today for an El Paso widower. That's next.
[20:17:26]
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CABRERA: This is the best of humanity. The people of El Paso, Texas, showing tremendous love and support for a victim of a mass shooting in their city. This is a cemetery in El Paso today. Hundreds of people went there, paying their respects to a woman almost none of them knew. Margie Reckard was buried today. She and 21 others died when a gunman opened fire at a crowded Wal-Mart earlier this month.
And our Gary Tuchman spoke to Margie's heartbroken husband who was worried nobody would show up for her memorial.
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tony Basco loved only one person in the world and now she's gone.
(on camera): And she loved you a lot.
TONY BASCO: Oh, I'll tell you what, I don't know even what she seen in me sometimes. We had wonderful years. The best years of my whole life.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Tony has no other family. His wife, Margie Reckard, had a just few family members, but none in the El Paso area. Attendance at her funeral was expected to be minimal. Until the Internet took over. Tweets from journalists, the media outlet, set up messages of support for Tony.
Then, there was this Facebook post from the funeral home, reading, "Mr. Antonio Basco was married 22 years to his wife, Margie Reckard. He had no other family. He welcomes anyone to attend his wife's services." People from all over the United States had contacted the funeral home, as well as Tony to say they planned to attend Margie's funeral.
(on camera): There are going to be hundreds of people here probably, from all around the country. How does that make you feel?
BASCO: It's nice to see people really care about people. There's going to be a lot of people here. I told you you were important.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): They had been married for 22 years. Tony says his life had been very difficult prior to meeting her. What would you like people to know about Margie?
BASCO: She was a caring, loving, the most beautifulest person.
TUCHMAN: Every day now, he goes to the memorial site next to the Wal- Mart, taking exquisite care of Margie's memorial, making sure the flowers and the wind chimes, which she always loved so much, looked the best they can.
(on camera): Where did you meet her?
BASCO: Omaha, Nebraska in a bar.
TUCHMAN: And you were single. She was single?
BASCO: Yes.
TUCHMAN: And was it love at first sight?
BASCO: Oh, man, you can't imagine.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Tony is still waking up each morning in disbelief that she is gone.
BASCO: I sit at my table, looking at the front door, just waiting for her to walk in. I've even tried calling her on the phone.
TUCHMAN (on camera): You have?
BASCO: I've tried to.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): At the memorial site, Tony tells Margie that someday, he will meet her in heaven.
BASCO: So, what have you've been up to? What do you guys do up there? I wish you could tell me something.
TUCHMAN: Tony is now beginning a new life alone. But for at least one day at Margie's funeral, he won't be.
BASCO: She made me the happiest man in the world and the luckiest. There's nobody (INAUDIBLE) in this whole world.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, El Paso, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: Coming up, getting the cold shoulder from Greenland? The world's largest island declares it's not for sale, after the president floats the possibility of buying it.
[20:24:27]
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CABRERA: Location, location, location. President Trump is, reportedly, eyeing a new real estate purchase. We're not talking skyscrapers or golf courses this time. Sources say he has his eye on a whole country, Greenland. But the owner of the world's largest island is making clear it's not for sale. CNN's Tom Foreman has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Completely insane. He's gone crazy. No thank you. The uproar in Greenland over the whole idea that President Trump thinks maybe the United States should buy the world's largest island has been swift and strong.
NUNGO PEDERSON (translator): I can only laugh. He's lost his marbles.
FOREMAN: The White House is not saying if this is a serious proposal. And "The Wall Street Journal" which broke the story, says, well --
VIVIAN SALAMA, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": It's definitely real, in the sense that he's talked about it a lot and it's something that's definitely on his mind. As far as how real, I mean, it's not just how real, it's can he actually do it? The answer is probably, no.
FOREMAN: No, because despite Trump's boast about his business skills.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Anybody read "The Art of the Deal" I'd assume? (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
FOREMAN: Greenland is owned by Denmark and home to 55,000 people, whose autonomous government has tweeted, "Greenland is rich in valuable resources, such as minerals, the purest water and ice, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy, and is a new frontier for adventure tourism. We're open for business, not for sale."
But why does Greenland, which is 80 percent covered with ice, matter anyway? That's a clue. Greenland is a gateway to the Arctic. And as global warming opens the region to more exploration and traffic, a lot of countries are showing interest, including China and Russia. The U.S. already has its biggest northernmost-military base there.
REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY (retired), CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: It's located 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, which remains a critical area of the globe, in terms of our ability to thwart and defend against, particularly, Russian threats.
[20:30:05] FOREMAN: And history suggests this truly may not be a crazy idea.
In 1867, the U.S. bought another huge cold place which was mocked as a folly. But Alaska has worked out pretty well for American interests. And two times before U.S. officials have raised the notion of buying Greenland. Still, the outlook for this real estate deal is not promising.
"It's not something you buy or sell. If countries want other territories, it's war."
Next month President Trump will travel to Denmark to meet with the prime minister and the premier of Greenland. Whether he will take his checkbook, no one knows.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Joining us now, contributor and Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio, author of the book "The Truth About Trump."
Michael, this is a president who has talked about building a wall, who told North Korea they had great beaches for hotels and condos who now wants to expand U.S. territory to Greenland. Do you think that after more than two years in office this president still thinks like a real estate mogul?
MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, TRUMP BIOGRAPHER: Oh, I think, in many ways, that he does. He thinks like a real estate developer. He also, I think, thinks like a promoter. And those are the two professions that he pursued most avidly, that and entertainer.
In a way, this has all three wrapped up in one package. It's kind of entertaining us all, especially entertaining the folks in Denmark and Greenland. It's a way of promoting himself and his presidency and distracting us from the problems of his presidency. And he is a developer, so he is probably thinking, well, global warming actually is real, one day, there will be a lot of oceanfront property there. Maybe we ought to get in on this deal.
CABRERA: Hmm. The president has made clear he wants a big page for himself in the history books. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Donald Trump could be remembered as one of the greatest presidents in American history.
Trump is the greatest president ever and there will never be one like him.
Now, here's what I do. I'd asked whether or not you think I will someday be on Mt. Rushmore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Is that what it's going to take for him to be happy with his legacy?
D'ANTONIO: Well, he does like to put his name on things. Maybe if we acquired Greenland, it would be renamed Trumplandia. But it is remarkable that his ego is both so enormous, but also so needy that he has to go around proclaiming his greatness rather than letting other people notice it. There is something, as he would say, sad about this.
But, you know, I also think he looks at China developing islands out of atolls off its coast. He looks at Vladimir Putin annexing Crimea, invading Ukraine. He sees that there is this sort of 1900s -- or 19th century game of territorial acquisition going on among the other powers and he wants to join the game.
CABRERA: I do want to ask you about this moment from a New Hampshire rally. When he mocked a person that he thought was a protester but he was actually a supporter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: That guy has got a serious weight problem. Go home, start exercising. Get them out of here, please. Got a bigger problem than I do. Got a bigger problem than all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Now, we're told when he found out it was a supporter, not a protester, that he did call that person and thanked him for being a supporter, didn't apologize for the comments or anything, Michael. But is there something in his past that has created this instinct for him to insult people's looks?
D'ANTONIO: Well, you know, I think he's frozen at a certain point in his life, maybe adolescence where that was the moment he was sent away to boarding school. And I think it was pretty traumatic for him. His view of people and how to deal with people was formed there. And, you know, adolescent boys make fun of how people look. And they are also, I think, quite sensitive to their own appearance and whether people would criticize them.
[20:35:01] And, you know, this little hint that he dropped that this fellow's got a worse problem "than I do." It was more self- deprecating than I think we've ever seen the president be. And it was a reality-based comment. So, you know, there's something in this that has to do with his own concern about his own appearance and how he views people and what he thinks is valuable and worth criticizing.
CABRERA: Michael D'Antonio, good to have you with us. Good to see you. Thank you.
Coming up, we have a CNN exclusive, late night host Stephen Colbert on comedy in the age of Trump, and what he sees as the odd thing about our current president.
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STEPHEN COLBERT, AMERICAN COMEDIAN: We don't know anything about him, that's the odd part. For a guy who likes to always have a camera pointed at him and always talk about himself, there's very little we can say about him with certainty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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CABRERA: Here's something you really don't see very often. Stephen Colbert in a rare sit-down interview, getting serious about comedy in the age of Trump, whether he'd ever have the president on his show, and why he thinks Trump's supporters are drawn to him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[20:40:04] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Even though you're in comedy, though, you are still doing the same pace that we are in news.
COLBERT: We do five nights a week, and an hour a night, which is what we --
COOPER: And in comedy, normally, people spend all day or in some cases, if they only have one show a week, all week, writing the material, and thinking it, and honing it, you have to change stuff 15 minutes before air, five minutes before air.
COLBERT: Right. We have an idea of what the show is going to be in the morning, after we do the pitch meeting, actually, in this room. We have some sense of like what the things that people are talking about, because we want to talk about what people are talking about. I'm here to educate the audience. I'm here to like give us our opinion. It's like a long editorial is what it is.
But that can all be thrown out the window, even though we have a plan, starting like 10:30 in the morning, we have a general plan. Many is the time, as you know, and it's only accelerating.
COOPER: Right. It also feels like --
COLBERT: At 4:30, when I go on a 5:30. 4:40, 4:45, 5:00. Pop at their head and they're like, chopper talk.
COOPER: Chopper talk?
COLBERT: Chopper talk. The president is standing in front of Marine One, we call it chopper talk.
COOPER: Oh, I get it. OK.
COLBERT: You know?
COOPER: Yes.
COLBERT: He should just stand in front of like a margarita maker --
COOPER: Uh-huh.
COLBERT: Because it's just the same noise. Well, and at least there would be a cocktail at the end of it.
COOPER: Max Boot wrote about this recently that there is -- the president -- you know, concerned -- he used to make fun of liberals for victimhood, that they were always portraying themselves as victims according to conservatives.
Now, Donald Trump, I mean, he is promoting a sense of victimhood that is seems appealing to a lot of the people listening to him, that he and they are being discriminated, that he's such a strong Christian, as he told Chris Cuomo once after a debate, that that's why the IRS is auditing him, allegedly, no proof actually offered.
COLBERT: Sure. I agree with you.
COOPER: That he's a strong Christian?
COLBERT: No. I agree with you that that is one of the appeals of Donald Trump, is that there are people who feel that the -- strangely feel like they are like him or that he is like them, when I don't know anyone like him. He says you and me are the same and I am being victimized, therefore, I understand your experience.
But, a, he's not being victimized, and he's like no one. He is born with a gold spoon in his mouth. And maybe he is like everybody else, I don't know. I suppose people have a commonality. The odd thing about the president is that we don't know anything about him. We don't know his -- we don't know stupid things. We don't know school grades. We don't know his actual skin color. We don't know what his actual hair is like. We don't know what his worth. We don't know anything about his conversations with other world leaders. We don't know anything about him. That's the odd part.
So for guy who likes to always have a camera pointed at him and always talk about himself, there's very little we can say about him with certainty.
COOPER: On a serious level, does it worry you, because it worries me, about abnormal behavior being normalized.
COLBERT: Of course. That was the first worry.
COOPER: The daily repetition of this stuff, after a while, you start to think, OK. It's normal that he is just accused the Clintons of being involved in the killing of Jeffrey Epstein, even if it was just in a retweet.
COLBERT: Right. Every so often, metaphorically, we have to pull over the car of our show, get out and take a breath and go, where are we now? Because you have to be -- you have to remain shocked. You have to be reminded that something -- you have to remind yourself that this is insane.
COOPER: Would you want to have Trump on your show again?
COLBERT: The quick answer would be no, because I -- it would be hard for me to be properly respectful of the office, because I think that he is so disrespectful of the office that it's very hard to perceive him as I would want to perceive a president in terms of their status and their dignity and their representation of the United States. So I think just for safety sake, it wouldn't be a good idea.
COOPER: How do you think -- I don't want to say eternity, but history is going to view this president?
COLBERT: Poorly.
COOPER: You don't have doubt about that?
COLBERT: Oh, no, no, no.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: You can catch more of Anderson's sit-down interview with Colbert tomorrow night at 8:00 right here on CNN. We'll be right back.
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[20:45:03] CABRERA: Disney's upcoming live action version of "Mulan" is now at the center of an international controversy. That's because the star of the film, Chinese-American actress, Liu Yifei, took to social media with a caption saying "I support the Hong Kong police. You can beat me up now."
This comes amid the violent antigovernment protests that have rocked Hong Kong now for months. Protesters accusing the police of using excessive force. The actress's post sparked the hashtag #BoycottMulan on Twitter. Critics saying she's an American citizen living in a democracy, enjoying the freedoms that protesters in Hong Kong want to secure.
Tonight, Hollywood is remembering actor Peter Fonda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were born to be wild, we can fly so high, I never want to die, born to be wild.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: The son of Henry Fonda, brother to Jane Fonda, he broke out as a star with his own turn in the 1969 blockbuster "Easy Rider," getting an academy award nomination for best screenplay. He was also nominated for best actor for the title role in "Ulee's Gold" in 1998. His family says Fonda died at his home from respiratory failure due to lung cancer. He was 79 years old.
From the "Wizard of Oz" to "King Kong," "Casablanca," and "Some Like it Hot," tomorrow night's finale of "The Movies" explores the biggest films and stars of Hollywood's golden age, including Marilyn Monroe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KENNETH TURAN, AMERICAN FILM CRITIC: I think we don't give Marilyn Monroe enough credit as a dramatic actress or as a comedienne. She could do it all and Billy Wilder knew it.
BILLY CRYSTAL, AMERICAN ACTOR: "Some like it Hot" was Marilyn Monroe's most memorable film because she puts everything together for herself. You really start to see her as a person that you care about emotionally.
[20:50:03] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the girls drink. It's just that I'm the one that gets caught. The story of my life. I always get the fuzzy end of the lollipop.
RENEE GRAHAM, COLUMNIST, THE BOSTON GLOBE: When you're in the hands of a Billy Wilder, it's the right person saying the line in the right way. They hear the comedy of it. There's a music to a punch line.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This may even turn out to be a surprise party.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What surprise?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh-uh.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not yet. When?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had to drink first.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a ridiculous movie in a lot of ways. Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemon played these two musicians in 1920s "Chicago," and they accidentally witness the St. Valentine's Day massacre, and they have to escape. They decide to join an all-girl band disguised as women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) just called me Daphne.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jack Lemon becomes Daphne. And without really trying to, he attracts a millionaire, who falls in love with him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm engaged. Congratulations, who's the lucky girl?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Some Like it Hot" is the greatest comedy of all time with the greatest last line. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't understand Osgood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, nobody's perfect.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: Catch the movies tomorrow night at 9:00 right here on CNN. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CABRERA: Fifty years after Woodstock music festivals are a $32 billion industry, what became of the values and ideals of all those concert goers and the hippies and the mud.
[20:55:06] CNN's Bill Weir explores the legacy of those three days of peace, love, and music in a new CNN special report, "Woodstock at 50." Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Almost exactly 50 years ago, a former army paratrooper from Seattle walked on to a plywood stage in this field and played an old song in a new way.
America would never be the same.
You could see it in the Oscar-winning documentary, by the time Jimi Hendrix ended Woodstock, it was Monday morning, and only a few thousand dazed in dirty souls remained on what looked like a civil war battlefield.
But it was just the opposite. This was a peace field, and 50 years later, it is hippy hallowed ground. Because right here, in the middle of a cold civil war, nearly half a million people came together for three days, peace, love and music, sex, drugs and rock and roll. It should have been a humanitarian disaster, but that weekend held enough human connection to shape generations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do we want?
ALL: Justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When do we want?
ALL: Now.
WEIR: Fifty years later, there is still so much protest song inspiration, so much hunger for harmony. But festivals are an industry now, and with so many messages on so many stages.
Could a Woodstock ever happen again?
(END VIDEOTAPE) CABRERA: Bill Weir is here with us now. Wow. What an incredible journey.
WEIR: It was really fun.
CABRERA: It was for you. You've said that now more than ever, it seems that Woodstock kind of connection is so vital.
WEIR: Yes. Well, we see the mirror images as I did there deliberately between '69 and now, between divided factions in America, people talking past each other, and it was even more violent then, I mean, that's the backdrop of this is after the horror of '68, the assassinations, the civil rights marches that were turning violent.
And for some reason, these three days, and I hear these stories from state troopers who picked up hippies out of the mud after cutting their feet and laying them down gently, and then hippies pushing the cop car out of the mud. The fences came down, the tickets were worthless. The organizers instead of trying --
CABRERA: They just gave up.
WEIR: They just gave -- you know, they give up. And it turned into the biggest freebie in sort of cultural history. I just wonder if we're capable of that 50 years later and try to look for the answer to that question.
CABRERA: Of all the Woodstock stories you heard along the way, there's one involving Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young you say that really moved you. Tell us about that.
WEIR: Yes. So these guys gave us some of the most beautiful harmonies in rock history. This is the rock's first super group. They played their second gig at Woodstock. Instead of peace, love, and music, for the rest of their career, it was infighting and it was jealousy, and they don't speak to each other anymore.
And I asked David Crosby, like if you guys can't get along, what hope is there for the rest of us? And his point to that was, look, we were fighting before Woodstock and after Woodstock, but that was a bright shining moment. And that's what we should think about it, not as failed promises that somehow those hippies were going to give us 50 years of warless peace, and love but that's -- it's something to aspire to when things get rough.
CABRERA: That's interesting, and I just like contemplate, like how do you get there?
WEIR: Yes.
CABRERA: I mean, do you think -- I mean, we saw the effort was there to have a Woodstock 50th festival this year, which we know crashed and burned, won't happen. There are plenty of other festivals. Do you think that we have seen or we'll ever see something that's at that same level? WEIR: I tried to figure that out. I've been going to Bonnaroo out in Tennessee for years since it first started. It's a big festival in a hayfield there. I love Lollapalooza and Coachella. I think because it's part of this $32 billion live music industry, and at least for the generations of my kids, they go to festivals as a diversion, not as a political action, you know, it's a rail against the war in Afghanistan.
The comparison between the protest music in '69 against Vietnam and now you go to Bonnaroo or Coachella, you wouldn't know that we've been fighting in Afghanistan longer than a lot of those kids have been alive, because they're more worried about getting shot at schools these days, you know what I mean? Like priorities have shifted. So I think it was a product of its time, like that shining moment when everything came together and, miraculously, there were virtually no casualties.
CABRERA: Be sure to.
END