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COVID-19 Cases Soar At Colleges Nationwide; North Carolina Begins Sending Out Mail-In Ballots Today; Biden Comments On Report Trump Disparaged U.S. Troops. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 04, 2020 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: That IHME projection says that will more than double by the end of the year unless Americans start wearing masks, more Americans start wearing masks and socially distancing.

BRITTANY SHEPHERD, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, YAHOO NEWS: Well, yes, John, in a couple of these other economic speeches that Biden has given, he basically tried to say that Trump's coronavirus numbers are practically honestly in a different universe and that he is the kind of candidate who listens to scientists who every day has briefings with Dr. Vivek Murthy and others. And I think we're going to hear a lot of that today.

Disconnecting the dots mindsets called intersectionality. And I think today especially we're going to hear a lot about how race, coronavirus, and the economy all interplay. I think we know very well now that communities of color are disproportionately affected. More black and people of color die from coronavirus and other communities and face economic hardship and you're going to hear a little taste of what Biden's picked up in Kenosha traveling around, I think today.

I mean, I think black turnout really is going to be in the background of all of this. I think context is super important here. I mean, between 2012 and 2016, black turnout dropped by 6 percent. And in Wisconsin, I think it was five times that, 19 percent, 20 percent. So you're going to have Biden speaking to those voters specifically saying that they're not going to enfranchisement under Donald Trump if they're thinking to vote for him.

KING: And Phil, even on conventional campaigns have some traditional cycles to them, if you will. We're in the post-convention pre debate phase, the first debate scheduled at the end of the month. And if you look at the numbers, Joe Biden is in a strong position, especially as a challenger beating an incumbent is difficult. We've had three two term presidents in a row, but he leads in the national polls, he either leads or is very competitive in most of the key battleground states. The challenge is and especially with an economic speech like this today, can you solidify, add a little cement if you will, to the lead you have now before you get to the next phase, which debates can swing things?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I don't think there's any question about that. I think it's also a pretty big reason why you've seen the vice president out on the road, right? Not relying on, you know, if you talk to campaign folks, if you talk to people surrounding him in the two or three months leading up to now they thought, look, look at our numbers, look at how we're doing, our message is getting across even though we don't need to be out in the swing states, we don't need to be out, giving more than, you know, one speech every week or one per week or one every two weeks.

And I think the reality is they recognize that at this moment in between the debates, post conventions, that this is a moment that if they strike, if they're able to lock in the leads that they've had nationally, if they're able to lock in or stretch some of the leads that they've had in swing states, and again, this is pulling, we don't know exactly what's going on right now, the snapshot in time, that perhaps you basically put this thing out of reach, and almost make it impossible for anything to happen in the month of October that could change that.

I think one of the interesting elements here is oftentimes, we and others, kind of look past policy speeches or focus on them for people brief moment in time and then move on to whatever the bigger shiny object is. I think what's interesting when the Vice President and the President himself when he talks about policy, these speeches are important, and they matter because of the moment in time that we're in, right? If you look at the stock market, you think everything's great. If you look at the jobs number that we got today, it's far better than any economists predicted it would be a couple months from now.

But if the vice president can make the point that there are essentially two separate economies right now, you talk about the racial divergence as well. There are things going on right now that go much deeper than the top line. And the ability to get that message across given that the economy remains the President's biggest strength, I think will ultimately decide whether or not today's speech and frankly, the campaign itself for the Vice President is successful in the coming weeks.

KING: And Dana, this is a speech about the economy. But obviously, when a candidate has a big platform, they can answer other things as well. One of the things we saw last night is we do know, these two candidates have a very different approach, they have consistently on the use of masks on social distancing in their events. I think we have some pictures we could show the crowd in the airport hangar last night. The President was in Latrobe, Pennsylvania as he likes to note the birthplace of Arnold Palmer. It's a great little airport. And you can see people in the crowd here. These are Trump supporters. You see one mass there.

But I've watched a bunch of these pictures last night too. And it's not that many masks in this crowded airport hangar and the President of the United States deciding to mock his rival, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But did you ever see a man that likes a mask as much as him? And then he makes his speech and he always has it, not always, but a lot of times he has it hanging down because you know what, it gives him a feeling of security, if I were a psychiatrist, right? No, I'd say this guy's got some big issues, hanging down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It reminds you a couple things. Number one, that's just irresponsible leadership. But number two, in the context of the campaign, this President is not reaching out for new people. He is not trying to appeal to a suburban mom, who is probably wearing a mask and getting worried about our kids going back to school. This is a President playing to that crowd and playing to that crowd only.

[12:35:03]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And that suburban mom trying to make sure that her kids and suburban dad at their kids are wearing masks so that they're safe as well. But that was that was Donald Trump the entertainer. He sees the crowd, he plays to the crowd. He thinks he knows and generally speaking, he does know what his crowd wants, and they want to be entertained in a very stark, frankly crass way, politically crass way, and that's what he gave them.

Never mind, as you said, it is not responsible when it comes to leadership. And it also flies in the face of what his own message was very brief, but his own message had been for a moment of time. Remember, he tweeted wear a mask, it's patriotic. Where did that go? Well, the answer is it went by the wayside because that is really not who Donald Trump is and what Donald Trump's message is. And I think you're exactly right. They are focused. They're trying to focus a little bit on those suburban voters, but they are focused on people who are out there in these key swing states who didn't vote in 2016 and are lit up by a message like that from Donald Trump and make go out trying to find the, quote unquote, hidden Trump voter.

KING: Dana, Brittany, and Phil, appreciate that. We're going to continue to wait as we watch for the former vice president come out, appreciate the reporting and insights.

Still ahead for us, if the former vice president doesn't start speaking coronavirus outbreaks now rising on college campuses. We'll break down the numbers, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:41:10]

KING: Colleges nationwide now seeing a dramatic spike in coronavirus cases. Let's take a look at what's being done on campus and where these spikes are happening. First, let's just look at our 50-state trend map. This is just the states right now.

Fifteen states trending up that's the red and the orange, try to remember where they are, 15 states trending up, 24 holding steady that's the base, 11 states going down, that means fewer cases now compared to a week ago. Eleven states in green including Texas and California. This is our national map.

Now let's lay in the colleges, the state highlighted like this means it's one of 40 states, at least 40 states now have COVID cases reported back on college and university campuses, over 27,000 cases total on these campuses so far. So if you're in a state like Texas, you see it's green, they've been making progress, right? They're lowering their case count. Can they keep it going that way when you have outbreaks on campuses, the same with California and Nevada?

But especially in the smaller states, here's a different issue, outbreaks in states that are having a problem. We have more cases this week than last week. Then you get clusters on college campuses, complicates efforts to push down the baselines include the Dakotas there, a lot of these areas in the Midwest, you see Ohio, you see Missouri Kentucky, already trending up then you get these breaks on college campuses makes it harder to push the numbers down, which is why you hear the governor of Ohio, the governor of Missouri appealing to young people, please, please follow safety guidelines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE PARSON (R-MO): And some Missouri college communities, positivity rates have soared as high as 45 percent in one day, just among the 18 to 24 population. Through August alone, nearly 7,000 individuals in the age range have tested positive.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): And to our friends in college, you know, again, we asked you to be careful because while all of us when we were at your age, we thought we were invincible. You can pass this on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Joining us now is Elissa Nadworny. She's a reporter for NPR covering higher education causes. And Elissa, you are on your own version of a college tour. You're traveling around the country visiting these campuses. And you've been in the Carolinas, you've been in Georgia, you've been, now you're out at the University of Illinois.

First and foremost, what are you seeing as you visit these campuses? What is different in terms of best case examples? What are they doing well here, but maybe not there?

ELISSA NADWORNY, EDUCATION REPORTER, NPR: Well, I would say the biggest thing that's different between campuses is the way that they're testing for the coronavirus. So, you know, we've seen mass wearing and social distancing, pretty universal, right? Lots of signage that say masked up. But the big difference is testing.

So I'm here at the University of Illinois, and they have a mass testing program. So they're testing students and staff every two times a week. Yes, every couple of days. But some campuses we visited are just testing students who are sick. Or maybe they tested students when they arrived back on campus. And they're not doing regular math testing. And so that's just a big thing that we're seeing in terms of the differences.

You know, experts say, the ones who are testing a lot, they're going to see a lot of cases. But that means the ones who aren't testing a lot or just testing six students, they really have no idea what this outbreak looks like on their campus.

KING: And so as you travel, I think you've been on 10 campuses so far if my count is correct, as you travel, you know the advice from whether it's Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, many states as well saying if you get a case if you get COVID on campus, stay, please do not go home. Please do not go home and spread this in your community. In terms of quarantine on campus, I talked to one student the other day at Baylor who said it was cool. I found that kind of striking actually. I guess it when you're younger, you have a better attitude about these things. How -- what is your experience and how different campuses are handling the quarantine issue?

[12:45:01]

NADWORNY: Well, we're seeing a range, you know, some universities are telling students to go home to leave campus that they've tested positive which as you said, not a good idea. There are campuses, of course that have shut down all the way. UNC Chapel Hill was a big one, Chico State out in California, they've shut down and send students home. It's unclear if those students have been tested before they sent -- they were sent home. So, you know, that's a big worry, I hear from communities in those states.

But in terms of quarantine, you know, here at the University of Illinois, just this week, they announced that they're having a real challenge with students actually obeying those quarantine and isolation rules. So they have specific cases where students found out they were positive and hosted a party or attended a party, they weren't isolating, they weren't staying where they're supposed to. And that's a big problem.

KING: It is a big problem. So expand on that a little bit in your travels in the sense that and I've seen this in your reports. You know, you're back to college. A lot of these kids were sent home early last fall. You haven't seen your friends in months. It's supposed to be a social experience. You're supposed to be hugging. You're supposed to be close together, whether it's sports activities or just other fun social activities. What is the tension on campuses about I assume you just mentioned a party, I assume you some people see a party, and then other people think one of those knuckleheads up to?

NADWORNY: Yes, sure. Yes, the range is, is wide. And I will say, you know, the challenge with this virus is that you can have so many students following the rules, and just a few students not following the rules, feed the infection for the campus. So that's a really big thing. I'm seeing lots of students who are following the rules. They're doing the right thing. And they're still having problems on campus because of course, this thing, spreads, it's a contagious disease.

I will say, you know, students are they want to be here, right, like they are excited to be here and I think that is kind of an important thing. The behavior, that's the big question. We have seen bars pass downtown in college towns. You know, we've seen gatherings. So I think that's the big thing that schools are focused on right now.

KING: Elissa Nadworny of NPR, not only an excellent reporter, you can see from these images a very good photographer as well. Keep in touch as you continue this journey circle back with us. We'll check in again.

NADWORNY: We'll do. Thanks for having me.

KING: Thank you very much. And as we noted a bit earlier, we're waiting for the former vice president, now Democratic nominee Joe Biden to deliver a speech in the economy. We'll take you there live as soon as that happens. Also coming up for us, mail-in ballots are being sent out. Voting begins today in North Carolina.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:52:03]

KING: We're still waiting for the former vice president of the United States, the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. He's delivering economic speech. You see the room there Wilmington, Delaware. He's running a little late, but we do expect him any minute. We'll take you there live when it happens.

On this day, ballots for the election are being sent out. That would be in North Carolina. Demand for absentee ballots has more than tripled over the number requested back in 2016 when now President Trump carried the state by about 4 percentage points, a little less.

That could explain of course, why the President is trying to sell a little bit of confusion and mistrust. He doesn't like this mail-in voting. Remember when he was in the state of North Carolina earlier this week, he told his supporters voted twice, mail your ballot in and then show up to vote again. That's not exactly what he said. But he suggested something that would be illegal. State officials were quickly -- quick to point that out. CNN's Dianne Gallagher is on the ground for us in Charlotte today. We keep saying Election Day is two months away, but not really the process starts today.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And look, John, they're sending out absentee ballots today. You said that it's triple what they saw in 2016, well, at this point in 2016, compared to what we have now, more than 16 times the number. We're talking more than 640,000 absentee ballots that have been requested in the state of North Carolina so far. And you know, this they have until the week before the election to request them.

So this number is just going to get bigger and bigger. Now, state election workers in North Carolina say they are ready for this. They've been preparing for this. They've upped their staffing. They have people who are making sure they send it out. They also have a ballot tracking system. So exactly what the President suggested on top of being illegal, it's unnecessary, because they can go online and track their ballots.

But there are concerns about just how many people are going to, you know, send those ballots in. North Carolina is a postmark state. So as long as it is postmarked by Election Day, up to three days after Election Day, they can continue counting those. And even more interesting and maybe not I mean, depending on what you feel, but come Election Day, we may not know the actual winner. And that's because we're looking at these election ballot requests right now, John, more than 50 percent of those 640,000 requests so far are from registered Democrats, only about 16 percent from registered Republicans usually in the state of North Carolina.

Republicans actually outnumber Democrats when it comes to requesting absentee ballots. So we are seeing a shift in this state. The good thing about North Carolina is they are able to process our absentee ballots as they come in. They tabulate them all on Election Day. Some states can't do that, meaning that we probably aren't going to have results on November 3rd.

KING: Nope, I think Dianne we're going to be up November 3rd. We'll get as far as we can. And then we'll be out the 4th, the 5th, the 6th, and the 7th probably still counting votes, but that's OK. That's OK. That's what we do. We count them until they're done. Dianne Gallagher, very much appreciate the reporting and again, the election process beginning today in the state of North Carolina.

[12:54:56]

Up next for us, we're still waiting to hear from Joe Biden and economic speech and also, the first study of the rushes for coronavirus vaccine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: To Wilmington, Delaware, the Democratic nominee for President Joe Biden, you see him walking in checking his watch about to take off his mask and deliver a speech on the economy. Let's listen.

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm late. I was sort of mesmerized as walking out of the office that listening to an interview of former general Barry McCaffrey and Bill Cohen, former secretary of Defense.

And before I begin, I want to speak a little bit to what they talked about and the revelations about President Trump's disregard for our military and our veterans. Quite frankly, if what is written in the Atlantic is true, it's disgusting. And it affirms what most of us believed to be true. And Donald Trump is not fit to do the job of President, to be the commander-in-chief. The President reportedly said and I emphasized reportedly said that those who sign up to serve instead of doing something more lucrative are suckers.

Let me be real clear, when my son was an assistant U.S. attorney and he volunteered to go to Kosovo when the war was going on as a civilian, he wasn't a sucker. When my son volunteered and joined the United States military as the attorney general, he went to Iraq for a year, won the bronze star and other commendations. He wasn't a sucker. The servicemen and women he served with, particularly those did not come home. We're not losers. And these statements aren't true.

The President should humbly apologize to every gold star mother and father and every blue star family that he's denigrated and sold it. Who the heck does he think he is? Is it true? Well, we've heard from his own mouth his characterizations of the American era John McCain as a loser in 2015. Donald Trump said he was not a war hero. I like people who weren't captured. Well, good for him.

And his dismissal of the traumatic brain injury suffered by troops serving in Iraq as mere headaches not too long ago. He stood by failing, failing to take action or even raised the issue with Vladimir Putin. While the Kremlin puts bounties on the heads of American troops in Afghanistan. It's a sacred duty. And you've tired hear me say this, so you can cover me for years. No, I get in trouble for sermoning. I'd say it again. We have many obligations to the government. We only have one truly sacred obligation, equip and support those who we send into harm's way, care for their families while they're gone, and care for them when they're home. That's the only truly sacred obligation the government has.

Duty, honor, country, these are values that drive our service members to an all voluntary outfit. President Trump has demonstrated he has no sense of service, no loyalty to any cause other than himself. If I have the honor of being the next commander-in-chief, I will ensure that our American heroes know I'll have their backs, honor their sacrifice. And those who have been injured will be in military parades.

[13:00:02]

I'm always caution not to lose my temper.