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Democrats Take Aim at Trump in Convention, "Uniting America"; Potential Super Spreader Events at U.S. Colleges; Father's Death Due to COVID-19 Blamed on Trump. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired August 18, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
On the first night of an unconventional national convention, Democrats had their opening arguments for a Joe Biden presidency. It came down to this: Joe Biden is a man of good character and Donald Trump is not.
It was a U.S. political convention like we've never seen before. No cheering, no balloons no streamers, the virtual format and many speeches was streamed live, meaning some to struggle while others, like former first lady Michelle Obama, recorded her speech days earlier.
And that speech by Michelle Obama was promoted as the highlight of the first night. For 18 minutes, she sliced, flayed and diced Donald Trump.
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MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: A president's words have the power to move markets. They can start wars or broker peace. They can summon our better angels or awaken our worst instincts. You simply cannot fake your way through this job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Earlier while, on a campaign swing through Minnesota and Wisconsin, President Trump spoke of fascist Democrats and left-wing extremists and warned the only way he could lose the election would be if it's rigged. Four Republicans broke party ranks and endorsed Joe Biden on the first night of the convention.
Former Ohio governor John Kasich said despite politics disagreements, Biden will be able to unite the country. And two-time nominee runner- up, Senator Bernie Sanders, appealed to the progressives within the party, focusing on Biden's policy shifts to the left. But it was Michelle Obama's speech that brought to life a relatively
dull night. Four years ago, she famously urged, when they go low, we go high. And in the past few hours, she delivered a very different message.
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OBAMA: Four years later, the state of this nation is very different. More than 150,000 people have died and our economy is in shambles because of a virus that this president downplayed for too long.
So let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.
So right now, folks who know they cannot win fair and square at the ballot box are doing everything they can to stop us from voting. We have got to grab our comfortable shoes, put on a mask, pack a brown bag dinner and maybe breakfast, too, because we have to be willing to stand in line all night if we have to.
So if you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this: if you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don't make a change in this election. If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Live to Los Angeles and CNN political commentator Van Jones, a veteran of the Obama administration.
Van, it is good to have you with us.
How much of this speech will resonate with Americans because they don't usually hear a first lady or former first lady, especially Michelle Obama, give a speech which is that pointed and that political?
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VAUSE: Kamala Harris tweeted, "Michelle Obama tweeting truth to power."
And it was delivered in a way that was almost like sitting down the kitchen table.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think Michelle Obama may be the most effective communicator on Earth. If you have not seen the 17- 18 minute speech, it's a master class in communication, period.
She is able to appeal to young people, talking about their experience of seeing all these killings and disrespect on their cell phones. She's talking to moms, she's able to prosecute the case against the president.
And she's also able to talk about empathy, not just famously empathy that Joe Biden has but as a characteristic of the American people that we need to revive. It is a tour de force, it's a master class in communication and I think it may well be the highlight of the entire convention.
VAUSE: On the issue of race and justice, as far as I can tell, there wasn't a lot of mentions by Michelle Obama. This is when she brought the issue up.
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OBAMA: And here at home as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and a never- ending list of innocent people of color continue to be murdered, stating the simple fact that a Black life matters is still met with derision from the nation's highest office because whenever we look to this White House for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division and a total and utter lack of empathy.
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VAUSE: I know this was addressed by the speakers but as the keynote speaker, the star of the night, shouldn't the speeches have been a little more than 30 seconds or a minute on what is a key issue, driving one of the largest protest movements in U.S. history, the demand for racial justice?
JONES: Well, I think she has a lot of confidence that the Democratic Party is going to be able to address that over and over again. And I think that, part of the great thing about a Michelle Obama is, she didn't have to prove that she cares about that stuff.
You know there are millions of people who are marching; not a single one of those millions of people around the world think Michelle Obama is other but an ally.
But I think what she was trying to do was to actually create a permission structure for people who maybe so disaffected by what they see that they feel like they shouldn't participate at all.
You have a lot of young people in the United States who are that the entire system is corrupt beyond measure. We're just not even going to vote. It doesn't matter. So I think she didn't have to prove to that crowd that she cares. She had to prove to them that they do matter. I think she did a great job, actually.
VAUSE: A couple of things about Michelle Obama on this opening night. We learned she is an effective communicator. And as much as Democrats may wish it, she has no wish to be the party's nominee.
JONES: It's so sad, because --
(LAUGHTER) JONES: -- if she were the nominee, the Democrats would not only take the Senate very easily, extend our majority in the House very easily but also you would have a lot of people in the Republican Party who would feel very comfortable crossing over to be a part of the Democratic Party. And that would then isolate the Republicans and they would have to disgorge this racist, white nationalist element that has so poisoned the party.
And then we could have two functioning parties again. Michelle Obama is such a powerful person that she could single-handedly clean up both parties. But unfortunately, it ain't going to happen. But it sure was good to see her tonight doing her thing.
VAUSE: Yes, it was a very memorable speech, to say the least. Thank you, Van Jones live with us there in Los Angeles.
Former democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders took a different approach than in 2016, this time empathizing the need for party unity to back Joe Biden. He said the price of failure is too great to imagine.
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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And to heal the soul of our nation, Joe Biden will end the hate and division Trump has created. He will stop the demonization of immigrants, the coddling of white nationalists, the racist dog-whistling, the religious bigotry and the ugly attacks on women.
My friends, I say to you, to everyone who has supported other candidates in the primary and to those who may have voted for Donald Trump in the last election, the future of our democracy is at stake. The future of our economy is at stake. The future of our planet is at stake.
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SANDERS: We must come together defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president.
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VAUSE: Meantime at a campaign stop in the battleground state of Wisconsin, President Trump seemed to foreshadow what will happen in November if he does not win.
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TRUMP: We have to win the election, I can't play games, get out and vote, those beautiful absentee ballots, ballots make sure because the only way we're going to lose this election, is if the election is rigged, remember that. The only way we will lose if it's rigged.
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VAUSE: A new CNN Poll of Polls shows Biden leading president Trump by a 9 point margin nationally (INAUDIBLE) recent polls Biden is backed by 51 percent of registered voters, (INAUDIBLE) 42 percent for Trump.
Ron Brownstein is CNN political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic." He is live again from Los Angeles.
Ron, thank you for being with us. And forget about the polls; that's a national poll. But the theme for the four nights of this Democratic convention is "Uniting America." It seems the president is doing more than anyone else to unite Americans against him.
Is it fair to say comments like we just heard will only strengthen and grow that anti Trump coalition?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: It certainly energizes them and I think it does grow it. There are two words really to define tonight for the Democrats: breadth and depth.
You saw the case against President Trump being made by everyone from John Kasich and three other Republicans, as well as ordinary Republican voters on one side, to Bernie Sanders all the way on the other with Michelle Obama, somewhere in between.
So it's trying to manifest what Kamala Harris called a coalition of conscience the other day. The other thing was the depth of the accusations against him.
You had, as with Bernie Sanders, speakers credibly accusing the president of the United States of trying to subvert democracy and move the nation toward something and some kind of authoritarian government. I don't think we've ever heard that charge before.
The other obvious big charge was that 170,000 Americans are dead through some combination of indifference, incompetence and negligence.
And beyond anything that Michelle Obama said, it's probably the most memorable line of the night, was from the woman from Arizona, whose father died from COVID-19, when she said his only pre-existing condition was that he trusted Donald Trump and that proved fatal.
VAUSE: The first night was themed "We, the people."
Some of the people included every Democrat who ran for president, just have a listen.
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SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): We will run!
I ran for president because I think it's urgent that we heal the divisions in this nation.
ANDREW YANG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We are still in control of our own future and we need to provide millions of Americans a real path forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A green jobs program --
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- increasing the minimum wage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Passing a national (INAUDIBLE) bill.
YANG: Student loan debt --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mental health, starting with our veterans.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): Reproductive justice --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Economic justice.
BOOKER: Racial justice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there is so much a new president can do to bring us together.
JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's time to get up.
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VAUSE: It was one of the emotional moments of the night. We also had four Republicans, the former Ohio governor John Kasich speaking with the first Latina woman elected to the Senate, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.
There were other speakers, in particular African Americans, but not one Muslim and there were just three speakers representing the progressive base of the party.
So it seems like, we, the people, who won't scare wavering Republicans.
BROWNSTEIN: Maybe. But first of all, what a difference for years makes, right, 4 years ago at the Democratic convention, there was all sorts of tension on display, Bernie Sanders supporters heckled speakers, including a night of generals who were supporting Hillary Clinton to (INAUDIBLE) bona fide foreign policy bona fides.
So very different tonight. And they could not ask for anything more from Bernie Sanders. He seemed genuinely committed to this.
But you are right, there is going to be an issue for -- you know Joe Biden has undeniable strengths as a candidate, particularly his ability to reassure those previously Republican center of right voters and to do better among older voters than any Democrat since Al Gore in 2000.
And his big weakness is connecting with and inspiring and mobilizing younger voters, younger voters of color and progressive younger voters. That is still a challenge for him.
All of this, you know, anything anybody else can do for him ultimately comes down to his speech and his ability to convince those voters that he understands their problems and is relevant to their lives 50 years after he was first elected to office. VAUSE: Very quickly, would you say the overall strategy at this point is play it safe, don't talk policy, let this be a referendum on Donald Trump and not a choice between Trump and Biden.
BROWNSTEIN: There was very little policy tonight. So (INAUDIBLE) with Bernie Sanders, who delivered it, yes.
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BROWNSTEIN: Right now Donald Trump is not so much running against Joe Biden; Donald Trump is running against the virus and he is losing. His approval rating is stuck well below 45 percent.
And it's very hard, no matter how many doubts Trump can seed about Biden, it's going to be hard for him to win unless he can improve that by at least a few percentage points.
VAUSE: Ron, thank you so much, Ron Brownstein there for us.
Democrats seized on what they saw as Donald Trump's greatest failure, the staggering death toll from the virus, which the president insisted would just disappear. More on that in just a moment.
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VAUSE: Well, with the death toll from the coronavirus, approaching 180,000 in the United States, the failure by the Trump administration to respond to the pandemic has been a major focus of the Democratic convention.
The virus has claimed another 445 lives on Monday. The number of the confirmed cases, approaching 5.5 million. Still some Americans are partying like it's 2019. Two dozen people just tested positive in Maine after attending a wedding. With universities back in session, the college parties are picking up. CNN's Nick Watt has the very latest.
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NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A college party in Georgia, can't see any masks, not a lot of distance. Crowds also snapped outside student bars in Alabama.
And four COVID clusters, uncovered this weekend at UNC Chapel Hill, where classes resumed one week ago. UNC will now, from Wednesday, shift to online only for all undergraduates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) cases at colleges. There's no question about it. The question is whether you can stop at five cases or at 500 cases. WATT (voice-over): Meanwhile the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. just
passed a staggering 170,000.
DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: COVID is now the number 3 cause of death in the U.S.
WATT (voice-over): Young people are not immune, infection rates among under 18s rose steadily from March through July, says the CDC.
Meanwhile more evidence that minority communities are hardest hit. A study just found that, for example, in Ohio, 13 percent of people are Black but 31.8 percent of hospitalized COVID patients were Black.
In Virginia, less than 10 percent of people are Latinx but more than 36 percent of hospitalized COVID patients were Latinx.
And the latest on testing: experts have long said we should be doing 5 million a day. Here's President Trump late April.
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TRUMP: Oh, well, we're going to be there very soon.
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WATT (voice-over): But we have never achieved even one-fifth of that 5 million goal.
DR. WILLIAM HESELTINE, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: We are probably missing eight of 10 people who are contagious.
WATT (voice-over): Since July the average number of tests every day has actually fallen.
HESELTINE: Supplies aren't being shipped to places that can test. I think it's part of a strategy not to count how many people are infected.
WATT (voice-over): But a newly-authorized quick and cheap saliva test could be a game-changer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) the same day results from most situations (ph) and (INAUDIBLE) reopening strategies.
WATT: An interesting admission from Dr. Deborah Birx from the White House Coronavirus Task Force that basically the U.S. did not lock down well enough. She says that she wishes this country looked a bit more like Italy, where people during lockdown weren't even really allowed to leave their houses.
But as she said, Americans don't necessarily respond well to that kind of prohibition. Comparison of how the two countries are doing right now, well, Sunday Italy reported four deaths from COVID-19; the U.S. 517 -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: A global health expert from Harvard says the U.S. response has been one mishap after another. But what really sets the U.S. apart he says is denialism, from believing the virus was a hoax to now believing the pandemic is nearly over.
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DR. ASHISH JHA, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: I think it is pretty fair to say we may have the worst response of any major country. You could argue Brazil's response is as bad as ours or worse. But when you are competing with Brazil for the worst response in the world, it's not where you want to be.
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VAUSE: Dr. Larry Brilliant is a CNN medical analyst and one of the world's most renowned epidemiologists and he is with us from Mill Valley in California.
Dr. Brilliant, it's good to see you.
DR. LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Thank you, John. Thank you for inviting me back.
VAUSE: You are welcome.
I want to pick up on the comment we just heard from Dr. Jha about the U.S. response being the worst of any developed nation.
Now is that an objective statement, an accurate statement that can be backed up, simply by looking at the data and the science?
It is not a political one.
First of all, I deeply respect Dr. Jha and he's a terrific epidemiologist and scientist. It is hard to use the right language to characterize the U.S. response as anything other than an abysmal betrayal of public health.
The United States, with 4 percent of the world's population, has 25 percent of the disease. Country after country is closing its borders to American citizens because we indeed are the ones who are carrying the greatest risk.
That is not the way America is during epidemics. Look at how well we behaved in Ebola. It was America that brought so much money and talent, CDC's expertise, to the fight against HIV/AIDS. I admit we were late and we made some very bad first steps, but we recovered.
VAUSE: Which brings us to a new ad which features a young woman who spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night. Her father died from COVID-19. Here's part of the ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KRISTIN URQUIZA, DAUGHTER OF COVID-19 VICTIM: My dad woke up on June 11th with a fever, a cough and extreme exhaustion.
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URQUIZA: The Trump administration was downplaying the virus and that was a death sentence to my father. My dad voted for Donald Trump and he basically told me he felt betrayed.
We are told to follow our leaders in times of crisis. That's what my father did and it cost him his life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So clearly, this is political but if the president had followed scientific advice and acted sooner, take the politics out, is it possible to quantify what that would mean in terms of the death toll?
Where might we be now, as compared to you know the reality, is 170,000 more Americans dead at the present time?
BRILLIANT: Politicians take stories of individuals and make them come alive. And epidemiologists try to take numbers and make them become people.
And a really wonderful modeler, Jeff Shaman (ph) at Columbia University, approached answering that question. He looked at the cases that began on the West Coast and in New York in the East Coast. And he computed what were the orders that were given by the government to stay at home, to wear face masks, to social distance. And when were they done?
Then he reran that model, trying to do those same interventions 30 days earlier and two weeks earlier. And he determined that if President Trump had acted one month earlier, he would have saved 50,000 American lives, prevented 50,000 deaths.
And he did that model in May. I think if he reran that model today, the number would be much higher of lives that were lost needlessly by delay.
VAUSE: And we should know that the DNC convention is underway. You are an adviser on pandemic safety protocols and these are very strict, it seems. Everyone is tested every day during the convention. They must obey social distancing rules at all time, self isolate for at least 72 hours before arriving, wear PPE traveling to Milwaukee and at the convention site.
Avoid bars and restaurants, wear a mask at all times outside the hotel.
So assuming most people do their best to follow these guidelines, does that mean zero spread for the virus at this event?
And is this the future for the time being for mass gatherings? BRILLIANT: Well, let's talk about the second one first. This is the
way that you could make a place safe for a week but it's not a way that you can make a country or a world safe. It is an intensive use of resources.
And whether you are trying to create a movie studio for a musical event or a studio event, you have to do extraordinary things during a pandemic to make a safe. And yes, I think that following these protocols will make a convention as safe as science could make it.
VAUSE: At least until there is a vaccine.
Dr. Larry Brilliant, thank you so much for being with us. It's been a while.
BRILLIANT: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Always a pleasure.
BRILLIANT: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: Well, no confetti, no balloons, very little applause but Democrats did manage to land some blows on Donald Trump on the first night of the convention. More ahead on that. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, gone 2:31 here in the morning. I'm John Vause. Thanks for staying with us.
On the first night of the Democratic Convention, it was all about unity, not just party unity but building an anti-Trump coalition. Progressive, moderates, Republicans, all spoke out on why they're supporting Joe Biden for president while at the same time making a devastating case against Donald Trump. Here's Jeff Zeleny, reporting in from Wilmington.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: In the age of a pandemic, an unusual Democratic National Convention now underway. Very unconventional. Democrats in here the U.S. are not gathering in one space but certainly watching from across the country, a virtual convention.
But the highlight of the first night of speaking, no question, Michelle Obama. The former First Lady delivering one of the most political speeches we have seen her give in her time in public life. Going after Donald Trump, saying he is the wrong man for the job, he is not fit for the presidency. And then she delivered somewhat of a stark warning to Americans. She
said that if you think things can't get worse, they can. She also implored progressives and others, who may not love Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to support the ticket anyway. And she urged young Americans to vote. It was something that we have not heard Michelle Obama speak in this way, almost as much of a moral authority speech as a political one.
But Sen. Bernie Sanders, of course, was the last man standing to Joe Biden during this Democratic primary campaign. He too delivered a forceful endorsement of Joe Biden and urged progressives to vote for him as well. Said elect the Democrats in November and then progressives can work on their agenda.
So, certainly the Democratic convention, at least, in the first evening, the speeches ran a gamut of ideology from progressives to moderate. Even some Republicans got in on the act. The former Ohio Governor, John Kasich, and a handful of other Republicans said that it is time to put country over party and support Joe Biden.
So, the question here, of course, is going forward, this race is going to be a very competitive one. President Trump also out campaigning here in the U.S., watching these convention as well. But it will all culminate on Thursday when Joe Biden will really fulfill a lifelong dream and accept the Democratic Party's nomination to be president. Should he win in November, he would be this country's 46th president.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
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VAUSE: To Washington now and CNN's Senior Political Analyst, Mark Preston. OK, Mark, good to see you. If there are two themes tonight, repeatedly it was Joe Biden is a good guy, he's a man of character, Donald Trump is not. He's totally lacking in character. With that in mind, he's a little more from the former First Lady Michelle Obama.
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MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER U.S. FIRST LADY: I know Joe, he is a profoundly decent man guided by faith. He was a terrific vice president. He knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic and lead our country and he listens. He will tell the truth and trust science. He will make smart plans and manage a good team and he will govern as someone who's lived a life that the rest of us can recognize.
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VAUSE: OK. That was nice, Michelle, because then after it came kind of like attack Michelle. I mean, she went about Trump in a major way. It's a blistering critique.
[02:35:04]
At the end of it, the message seemed to be a bit like that catchphrase from the Terminator, come with me, if you want to live.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, and does so in such a level of sincerity that it almost draws you in. This is a one of those nights where I think a lot of people didn't know what to expect, John, and it was slow at times. But when you have Michelle Obama as your anchor speaker, as somebody who is going to bring it home, she did that tonight for the Democrats on what was a very difficult night and she did it in a way that was very encompassing of all but also was also very motherly and also very plainspoken.
There was a level of sincerity there, John, that you don't often hear from professional politicians. Not that she's professional politician, but she clearly is about as close to professional politician as you can be without being one.
VAUSE: Well, speaking professional politicians or lack thereof, I mean, overall I know they've never done this before and it's uncharted territory, but the whole thing kind of felt like public access TV, a bit of a telethon. Everyone gets a tote bag or something. It just kind of lacks something.
PRESTON: Yes. Well, it's hard to compare what we saw tonight and what we're going to see over the next couple of days as well as what we're gonna see from the Republicans next week as well and try to compare it to what we've seen in the past. These conventions were not necessarily about all of the speeches that occurred. It was about the energy the excitement, the build up, and the raw gems that would come out of these conventions, Barack Obama himself being one of these raw gems that came out of a political convention, he ended up using the 2004 democratic convention to springboard to run for president himself.
But it doesn't have that energy and I think that people who were tuning in tonight, trying to plug into that energy, probably were disappointed but having said that, given the situation. Michelle Obama certainly delivered tonight, I think, to the Democrats.
VAUSE: yes. But it took two hours to get to her by the time she delivered that speech. There was some expectation that maybe with this sort of different scale down format of a convention that they'd be more focused on policy, let's focus on the politics and the other stuff. There was virtually no policy on this first night, doesn't seem to be policy on any of the lines either.
PRESTON: Well, I think that when it comes to trying to build up this character of Joe Biden or at least rebuild this character of Joe Biden, reintroducing to the country, what they try to do tonight was to create the foundation, the moral foundation, the character foundation, the guy that we can trust foundation.
I do think as you go along, you're going to hear more and more stories from people who look at the policy proposals that Joe Biden has either championed or says he'll champion and try to compare those against what Donald Trump is doing. And I think that's how they're going to try to compare and contrast the policy between the two, John.
VAUSE: OK. Well, there's three more exciting nights to go, plenty to talk about. Good to see you. Thank you.
PRESTON: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: Still to come, the Republican to endorse Joe Biden on this first night of the DNC and the case they make for other conservatives to do the same.
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VAUSE: Well, more now on our top story. The opening night of the Democratic Party's National Convention, extraordinary because it was mostly virtual and notable for the number of prominent Republicans who were given prime time speaking spots to endorse Joe Biden.
Among them, the former Governor of Ohio, John Kasich. He said he cannot imagine four more years like the ones we've just had.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KASICH, FORMER OHIO GOVERNOR: I'm a lifelong Republican, but that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country. That's why I've chosen to appear at this convention. In normal times, something like this would probably never happen, but these are not normal times.
I'm proud of my Republican heritage. It's the party of Lincoln who reflected its founding principles of unity and a higher purpose. But what I have witnessed these past four years belies those principles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Rick Wilson is a political strategist, a former Republican and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. His latest book is Running Against The Devil. He's making a return appearance this time from Tallahassee in Florida. Rick, good to see you.
RICK WILSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good evening. Thanks again.
VAUSE: OK. On opening night of the DNC, count them, four Republican speakers given prime time convention spots, that's more than the entire number of Latinx speakers for the rest of the week. Is it really that hard to convince wavering Republicans or Independents it's OK to vote for a democrat and against the guy who advise them to drink bleach and eat poison in the middle of a pandemic?
WILSON: Well, look, there's a very simple rule in American politics and it's called base plus. The republicans cannot win without capturing Democratic voters. The Democrats cannot win without capturing Republican voters. There's a squishy middle in this country. It's gotten smaller over the years, but it's still there.
And in the electoral college states in which this election is waged, you have to win those people in the center. And in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Arizona and Florida, you're going to have to go and get some Republican voters if you're going to win.
VAUSE: Does it hurt that the speeches were not carried by Fox News, the most conservative of all news channels?
WILSON: No, not at all. I expect Fox News to be running their MyPillow ads and doing whatever else they're going to do. But they have no interest in having their voters see anything outside of their bubble.
VAUSE: Well, OK, the former Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security, Miles Taylor, he's gone public with a blistering attack on the President while at the same time endorsing Joe Biden. He is in an ad which is funded by Republican voters against Trump. Here it is.
WILSON: Yes.
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MILES TAYLOR, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY STAFF CHIEF UNDER TRUMP PUBLICLY ENDORSES BIDEN: He told us to stop giving money to people whose houses have burned down from a wildfire because he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn't support him and that politically it wasn't a base for him.
The policies at the border, he said he wanted to go further and have a deliberate policy of ripping children away from their parents to show those parents that they shouldn't come to the border in the first place. And even though I'm not a Democrat, even though I disagree on key issues, I'm confident that Joe Biden will protect the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Taylor is one of the most senior former Trump officials to endorse Biden. It's a safe bet, no one has a clue who this guy is. So where are the risks, where are the big names and where's Rex Tillerson and James Mattis? In this case, does silence give consent?
WILSON: There are a lot of people that have worked for Donald Trump who have said affirmatively on the record that he's an insufficient manager, terrible leader, the wrong man in the office.
[02:45:02]
But there is also something in this country that American politicians and American leaders fear and that is Donald Trump's Twitter feed. And he will use that Twitter feed like a weapon against them and they all know it. They all hate it. They live in terror of it, because Trump's base essentially are Trump hotties at this point and they're afraid of becoming the focus of Donald Trump's social media anger mob and so they stay quiet.
VAUSE: Yes.
WILSON: And, I think, it's an insufficient response to it. I think that as folks like me have learned once you deal with it for a little while, you become hardened to it, you become brave about it and it's a liberating feeling. I wish they were doing that right now in masks. I wish they were pushing this out in a way that got them the notice and got their experience the notice that it should have, but here we are.
VAUSE: Yes. Most of the polls show pretty similar story at this point that more voters are voting for a Democrat president in opposition to Donald Trump than in favor of Biden-Harris. The enemy of my enemy is my friend strategy, I guess. So where's the weakness in that? What are the dangers here for the Democrats in putting together this coalition?
WILSON: Well, it's important for the Democrats to remember that this is a referendum on Donald Trump. This is a decision based on Donald Trump's horrifyingly terrible leadership on every axis. It is not a referendum saying that the Democrats should go out in this convention or in this campaign and say, oh, our policies are these.
Because in a lot of ways Trump really wants that fight. He wants a fight where he can say, oh, it's me versus the socialists, it's me versus the big government liberals, when in fact, the Democrats are advantaged by a Donald Trump campaign that is about Donald Trump and his ego and his failings and his corruption and his cruelty and all the things that have defined his brand during the course of this presidency.
VAUSE: Yes. Rick, we're out of time, but really it is (inaudible) on this election like no other. Thanks for being with us. I appreciate it.
WILSON: Pleasure as always, thank you.
VAUSE: And when we come back, under pressure to step down, the President of Belarus says, "Not until you kill me."
Also, as many parts of Europe report rising infection rates, what France, Italy and Spain doing to stop a flare up from becoming an outbreak.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:51:18]
VAUSE: The Coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force appears to have broken ranks bigly with President Trump. Dr. Deborah Birx says the country's pandemic restrictions did not go far enough particularly with the lockdown which she now wishes was tougher.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: I wish that when we went into lockdown, we looked like Italy. But when Italy locked down, I mean people weren't allowed out of their houses. Americans don't react well to that kind of prohibition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Italy is reimposing some restrictions after a rise in new confirmed cases, just one of a number of European countries trying to prevent another major outbreak. We have details from CNN's Melissa Bell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Here in France sharp rises over the course of the weekend in the number of new coronavirus cases, the highest rises we've seen since the end of the lockdown and authorities really looking for fresh ways of trying to bring those numbers under control. Parts of Paris and other French cities have now seen an extension of that rule mandating the wearing of masks, even outdoors.
We've seen similar rises also in neighboring countries in Spain, particularly, but also in Italy. And both countries authorities announcing that they're closing down the nightclubs, a reminder of the demographic that's really seeing the most of these rises in the number of new cases. Authorities trying to find that careful line between ensuring that the economy can continue and the lockdowns can stay in the past and yet ensuring that those new coronavirus numbers are brought back under control.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And perhaps a glimpse of what life could be like if everyone follows the science and breaks the chain of transmission. In Wuhan China where the virus was first detected, a city which endured a weeks long draconian lockdown, thousands of partygoers gathered at this waterpark over the weekend for an electronic music festival. No masks, no other social distancing, just a lot of partying and fun. The city has not reported a single new case of the virus since mid May. Officials have been trying to boost the economy by waiving ticket fees at popular tourist sites.
Officials in New Zealand have reported another 13 confirmed cases, most linked to a recent outbreak in the main city of Auckland. This comes a day after the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern postponed the general election by a month, citing the steady rise in infections.
The U.S. president has called the cluster in New Zealand terrible. Prime Minister Ardern corrected the record.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: I don't think there's any comparison between New Zealand's current cluster and the 10s of thousands of cases that are being seen daily in the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: New Zealand has reported about 1,300 cases since the pandemic began. The United States is approaching five and a half million.
Well, with anti-government protests in Belarus down there second week, longtime president, Alexander Lukashenko, is growing mortified. He says there will be no new election until 'you kill me'. CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports from Minsk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT(voice over): Belarusians banding together to oust longtime dictator, Alexander Lukashenko. These are industrial workers supporting state media workers on strike, saying they're fed up with untruthful reporting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE(through translator): I've decided to quit because many of my friends ended up locked in prisons and tortured. And these are not just some people I read about. These are the people I know personally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN(voice over): The journalists want to finally report on the massive opposition protests that are bringing hundreds of thousands to the streets and tell the truth about a brutal crackdown and thousands of arrests and reports of torture after last Sunday's election, which the opposition says was rigged.
[02:55:08]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: The opposition has called for a general strike here in this country and that means that many factories are also walking off. And they say that pressure is not going to stop until Alexander Lukashenko cedes power and also allows for a new election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN(voice over): Lukashenko's answer, a clear no.
"My response to this," he says, "we held the elections, and until you kill me, there won't be any new elections."
Lukashenko tried to speak at one factory but was booed, workers yelling 'get out'.
Many Belarusians fear Lukashenko might be trying to drag Vladimir Putin into invading Belarus. Lukashenko falsely claimed NATO is amassing forces at Belarus' borders. The alliance has denied that. And Lukashenko says the protests in Belarus are a threat to Russia as well.
But while Putin has said he would help if needed, so far there are no signs he has any interest in moving his army into Belarus like he did in Ukraine in 2014.
While European leaders have strongly condemned Lukashenko, weaker comments from President Trump. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's a terrible situation, Belarus. We'll be following it very closely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN(voice over): But for many Belarusians, there is no turning back. They vow to continue their action until they finally get free and fair elections.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Minsk, Belarus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. Rosemary church takes over after a very short break. You're watching CNN.
