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Trump Talks Economy in Ohio; Long Beach Mayor Loses Mom to COVID, Stepdad on Ventilator; "Represented" Highlights 100 Years of Woman's Suffrage; Michelle Obama Says She's Dealing with Low Grade Depression. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 06, 2020 - 15:30   ET

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

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: All right, let's take it down to Ohio to President Trump.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- I'm sure you never heard of him, he's a warrior. A great, great wrestling champion and a great guy, Jim Jordan. Jim, he is a warrior!

Thanks, Jim. And he's tough. I'm not going to wrestle him ever, I promise. And another warrior, a great fellow who has been right at our side. He works with Jim and I so much and so hard, Bob Latta. Bob, thank you very much. Thank you, Bob.

Also, Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted. Thank you, Jon. Thank you, Jon. Thank you. State Senate President Larry Obhof. Larry, thank you very much. Thank you, Larry. Thank you, Larry. Clyde mayor, Scott Black and many other distinguished guests. Great people, great representatives, thank you, fellas. Thank you very much.

As we celebrate Whirlpool's 109-year legacy of American manufacturing excellence, today I want to lay out my vision to bring millions and millions more jobs and thousands more factories back to American shores where they belong. We've been doing it long and hard.

One of the reasons you're successful today happens to be a meeting I had probably four years ago with a very good representative of your company and saying what they were doing to you and how badly you were being treated by other countries. And you know what I did and here we are today the most successful plant.

And we've done this in a lot of places. The duty of a President is to put this nation's own citizens first. That's why my administration swears by two simple but crucial rules. Buy American and hire American.

And no one knows better than the workers of Whirlpool, the high cost of past administration's economic blunders and surrender. On the question of foreign trade previous leaders were guided by a shameful policy of capitulation, submission and retreat. For decades you watched as politicians let foreign nations steal our jobs, loot or factories and plunder the crown jewels of the U.S. economy. And the word "plunder" is capitalized.

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Washington stood idly by as other countries engaged in unfair trade practices. Such as massive subsidies, currency manipulation and in the case of your industry and your company, the wholesale dumping of foreign-made products sold below cost for the sole purpose of driving you out of business so they could give us product at double, triple and quadruple the price.

But we didn't let that happen. Did we? For eight years, Whirlpool begged the Obama/Biden administration who did nothing to protect American workers from the flagrant dumping of foreign washers/dryers into America, but your cries for help fell on deaf ears. You didn't see any action. They didn't act, they didn't care, and they never will. For eight long years under Obama/Biden administration, American factory workers received nothing but broken promises and brazen sellouts and lost jobs.

The last administration tied America up in one globalist debacle after another. They catered to the special interests while allowing foreign nations to siphon off our wealth, our dignity, our dreams, our money. The suffering of our workers was met with nothing but cruel betrayal and callous indifference.

In 2013, the U.S. International Trade Commission found your competitors from Korea and other countries guilty of dumping washers into the U.S. market and ordered them to pay anti-dumping duties as high as 79 percent, but rather than pay these very high tariffs, LG and Samsung relocated production to another country. A country called China. Have you ever heard of it? And the last administration did nothing as they kept on dumping washers into the U.S. market with impunity.

The Obama/Biden administration was laughed at. They were a joke and they were perfectly happy to let China win. Your jobs disappear and your factories to close, and you know what it was know what it was like.

I came through today and everybody was out there, tremendous crowds. Waving and cheering. I said, I must have done it right, because you had people that were really, really something.

Just four or five years ago this place was a disaster. In 2017, Whirlpool won relief from the ITC once again. Once more your foreign competitors moved their factories to prevent a level playing field and to avoid liability. Shifting production to Thailand and to Vietnam. Thailand and Vietnam, two places that, I like their leaders very much. They're very nice to us. Do they take advantage of the United States? Not so much anymore.

But this time there was one big difference. Instead of an administration that sold out American workers and sold your company out and couldn't have cared less for you, you finally had a President who stood up for the American worker. On January 23, 2018 at my desk in the Oval Office I proudly signed the

order to impose a 50 percent tariff on all foreign-made washing machines. As a result, Whirlpool's nine factories across the United States were soon thriving like never before. Investing in new products, new infrastructure, and hundreds of new American jobs.

And I just took a tour and I actually wanted a couple of those machines for myself. But I just didn't know it was going to be appropriate to ask. But they are beautiful. That includes thousands of new jobs across the Ohio supply chain from right here in Clyde to Findlay, Ottawa, Greenville And Marion. All of them.

Your company became a shining example from, really a company that was down and out, it became a shining example of what tough trade policies and smart tariffs can bring to jobs and prosperity, to communities like this one all over Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and plenty of other states. They're all doing well.

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They were doing great and the plague came in and now they're doing great again. We closed it up. We saved millions of lives, but now we're opening, and it looks like I was right about the V because you're seeing the kind of numbers that are coming in and they're coming in strong. They're coming in strong.

Should have never happened. Should have never happened.

BALDWIN: Numbers are coming in strong. Mr. President, look at the numbers on the screen, the deaths just in the United States alone. Nearly 160,000.

Gloria Borger, I want to bring you in, chief political analyst and what I want to focus as I'm listening to the President, you know, I'm thinking about the economy. Right? He's talking about the economy. He's at this Whirlpool manufacturing plant in Ohio. And I'm thinking about the more than 1 million Americans who just this week, you know, filed for their unemployment benefits. We're going to be getting job numbers tomorrow and yet you have the President there talking about arriving in Ohio and how many people showed up to greet him. It just feels -- is it tone deaf at all to you?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it feels like he's talking in a time capsule. It's as if, and, again, he was reading this speech. And we can talk about what he said earlier today when he didn't seem to be reading.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BORGER: He was reading this speech talking to employees of Whirlpool and saying, here's what I've done for you. You know, I imposed these tariffs. 50 percent on washing machines coming in from overseas and this is what I've done for you, and this is how the economy is going to be great for you. And the mention of, that we heard so far was, as you pointed out, on coronavirus was, we closed it up. We saved millions of lives, and I was right about the V. Meaning the V of growth. We don't know that.

BALDWIN: No.

BORGER: We have no evidence of that. So it's as if he's campaigning in some kind of weird capsule without looking at the reality of what is really going on in most of the country.

BALDWIN: It's like, just because you say the sky is purple doesn't mean the sky is purple. You know? It's --

BORGER: Right.

BALDWIN: Go ahead. Go ahead.

BORGER: Yes. Well, no, I mean, he said, you know, the Obama/Biden administration was a joke, he said. They were happy to let China win. But, of course, then he goes off on China and what China did to him on the pandemic. And "him" meaning the President personally, which is hurting his re-election chances is I think the way he looks at it.

BALDWIN: Again, I go back to the numbers that we have on the screen. Each and every day of the total cases of coronavirus not just in the U.S. --

BORGER: Yes.

BALDWIN: -- but globally. Just facts on the side of your screen as we all listen to this President. Gloria Borger, thank you, thank you very much.

BORGER: Sure.

BALDWIN: Coming up, we're going to talk to a mayor of a city, half a million people, in southern California who is going to talk to us about what he's been going through these last couple of weeks losing his mother, his stepfather's on a ventilator and he's running the city. How he's doing it, next.

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BALDWIN: The battle to curtail the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the nation is extremely personal for one public official who lost his mom and whose stepfather is now on a ventilator. Robert Garcia is the mayor of Long Beach, California. His 61-year-old mother, Gabby O'Donnell died last month of COVID-19 complications. He says his mother worked as a medical assistant for more than 25 years in the same southern California clinic.

Mayor Garcia tweeted, quote, she helped thousands of patients, nurses and doctors, she was a health care hero. Our health care workers need your support to fight COVID-19.

And Mayor Garcia is with me now. So, Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for being here and again my sincere condolences just to you and your family.

MAYOR ROBERT GARCIA, (D), LONG BEACH, CA: Thanks for having me, and she was an amazing person. So, thank you.

BALDWIN: So, for most, you know, public officials battling COVID and keeping their constituents safe is challenge enough. Right? But then on top of running your city, you are dealing with this loss of your mom, who as I've ready read, you know, you described her as your best friend. How are you holding up?

GARCIA: I mean I'm doing OK. Obviously, anyone that loses a parent or a mother, is really hard. She was an amazing woman. An immigrant, came to the U.S. just for the American dream and worked in health care to support patients. She was a frontline worker. So, it is hard obviously losing her. Now just a week or so.

But we also, you know, we've got a big city to run and there's a huge health crisis and economic crisis. So, I have a job to do as well. And so, it's important that only I'm able to grieve with my family and take care of them but also do the job running of our city. So, we're moving forward to protect people and people need to respect the health orders in the country and do the right thing.

BALDWIN: I want to get to your sort of day job in just a second. But do you have any idea how your mom got sick?

GARCIA: We don't know exactly how she got COVID. I mean obviously, you know, I've got pictures of her. She would send me pictures of herself in complete PPE at her work, at her job. She obviously was the most careful person I know as a health care worker. She took COVID very, very seriously. And so, we don't know exactly how she got it but obviously she got it and she lived, of course, with my stepdad and so they both tested positive and within a week were both hospitalized.

BALDWIN: And so, how is he?

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GARCIA: He is still on a ventilator. He is stable. We're obviously praying and hoping for the best. But this disease, I have learned, we don't know a lot about it as well. And my mom was actually recovering, doing much better, and she quickly turned for the worse and within days lost her life. And so, it's still very serious, we're hoping for the best.

BALDWIN: And so all of this as you are running a city. You know, you're the mayor of Long Beach, which is a city of nearly half a million people in a state with the most COVID cases in the entire country. How have you been able to take your own personal experience with COVID in your family and any wisdom gained through tragedy and apply to help to protect the people of Long Beach?

GARCIA: I think first growing up in health care environment and having -- going to work with my mom. She's always around nurses, around doctors, have always taken this pandemic very seriously. And so actually Long Beach was actually had the slowest reopening schedule of, and I believe any city in southern California as it relates to, we reopened businesses up and the state did.

We've been pretty aggressive here. We have had 180 deaths. Which is very serious. Leading cause of death in Long Beach. And that can be repeated in every city probably in the state of California. And so we've taken it seriously.

But since my mom's death, it has really reinforced what we already know. That this is a deadly virus. People need to be serious. And it is painful to watch images of people walking around without masks or not following the health orders.

This can happen to any person. If it could happen to my mom, who was a health care worker, who took care of herself, it could happen to anyone's parent or anyone's kid. It's very serious.

BALDWIN: I wanted to ask you, I was reading today, just a couple, you know, 20 or so miles north of you is L.A. and the mayor there is threatening to turn people's water and power off if they even go so far as to have large house parties in violation of the health order. Is that something you would consider implementing in Long Beach?

GARCIA: Absolutely. We're doing the same thing. We've had to do the same thing for businesses. And so if there are businesses that defy the health order we've had to go in and shut those down as well.

You do have some defiance out there from some. And we take this very seriously but absolutely. Large house parties not acceptable in Long Beach and we'll work to shut your power and water off as well.

BALDWIN: Mayor Garcia, thank you so much. And again, I'm so sorry about your mom. Thank you.

GARCIA: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote in the U.S. In our new CNN series, "Represented" celebrates the suffragette spirit by spotlighting modern activists in action. And so today, I want you to hear from Tarana Burke. Her simple phase, "Me Too" started a global movement against sexual violence.

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TARANA BURKE, ACTIVIST: Trans women, disabled women, women of color, black women, people who are generally pushed to margins in every other area are also at the forefront of people experiencing sexual violence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Tarana Burke promoted the phrase "Me Too" in 2006 as a declaration of unity bringing attention to sexual violence and harassment endured by marginalized women.

BURKE: It was inspired by my life, by being a black girl survivor who did not have a pathway to the healing process.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In 2017, Actress Alyssa Milano tweeted about Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein's widespread harassment and urged women to share their own abuse with Burke's #metoo.

BURKE: You had 12 million people in one day who came forward to say this thing has affected my life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The movement was a reckoning for a number of high-profile men and it led to new pushes for stronger victims' rights. But Burke points out, there's still a lot of work to do.

BURKE: You cannot simply legislate for progress. If we don't have a cultural shift in this country, those laws and policies won't make a difference.

We believe you unnamed survivors and we care.

This is a people's movement, it's a survivor's movement. For anybody who has experienced sexual violence.

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BALDWIN: CNN is exploring the past, the present and future of women's rights in the United States and around the world. So please, check out more of this reporting. Go to CNN.com/represented.

Coming up, Michelle Obama opens up revealing she is suffering a light form of depression, as she put it, the three big reasons she cites, the pandemic, racism, and the current President. Her words ahead.

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BALDWIN: The coronavirus is taking a very real toll on the mental health of Americans. Just last week the Kaiser Family Foundation released this poll showing that for the first time a majority of American adults, 53 percent, say that worry and stress about the pandemic is taking a toll on their mental health.

And so in her new Spotify podcast, former first lady Michelle Obama said she feels like she's suffering from low grade depression herself.

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MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: These are not -- they are not fulfilling times spiritually. You know, so I know that I am dealing with some form of low grade depression, not just because of the quarantine but because of the racial strife and just seeing this administration, watching the hypocrisy of it day in and day out is dispiriting.

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BALDWIN: Let's talk about this with Abby Phillip joining me from Washington. And Abby, I remember reading "Becoming" her book "Becoming" I remember when she acknowledged that she and Barack Obama had gone to couple's therapy at one point And that, you know, very personal admission made headlines. And now this. And I say kudos to her. I think it takes a strong woman to be so vulnerable.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and you know, Brooke, this podcast is going to be, I think -- they are about two episodes in. Her outlet for some of this

She's talking here to her friend, Michelle Norris, about some of these issues. And actually her first podcast episode featured President Obama. But it is in this episode where she's talking to a girlfriend where she gets real about how's she's been handling the coronavirus pandemic. She says at one point, you know, I usually go to the gym all the time. I'm big on working out. We all know that about Michelle Obama. But over the summer because of the pandemic and everything going on, there have been days I haven't been able to do it, weeks in fact when I haven't been able to do it.

And Michelle Norris seemed actually kind of surprised to hear that but it's a window into how all of these things are even for first lady Michelle Obama, putting a lot of pressure.

The pandemic, she talks about a feeling as if the Trump administration's hypocrisy in that realm and also in the issue of racial injustice is weighing on her. So you know, she's like a lot of us, really figuring out how to deal with this. And she does say that one of the tools that she's using is trying to stay connected to her family and friends as much as possible even with social distancing.

BALDWIN: She talked also just about the, you know, racial unrest, the racial injustices in America. What did she say?

PHILLIP: Yes, this was really interesting. A big part of the conversation. And I want to play you a little bit of that conversation. Take a listen.

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OBAMA: Waking up to yet another story of a black man or a black person somehow being dehumanized or hurt or killed or falsely accused of something. It is exhausting. And it has led to a weight that I haven't felt in my life in a while.

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PHILLIP: Now, Brooke, to hear her say a weight that she has not felt in a long time, really, it is really stunning because this is a woman grew up in Chicago. She is married to the first black President. And yet this moment for her is one of the toughest that she has experienced. It goes to show how this summer has been profound for many black Americans in this country even for the former first lady.

BALDWIN: Appreciate her being so real and so open and honest there. And Abby Phillip, appreciate you. Thank you very much.

Thanks for being with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

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