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It's Clear Why Many Republicans Are Skeptical of Vaccine; . Sarah Silverman Slams Political Parties: "Both Suffer from "Righteousness Porn"; GOP Governor: Being Conversative Is More Than "Owning The Libs"; Cruz Defends FOX Host for Sexist Remarks Mocking Women in the Military; Texas Restaurant Vandalized After Owner Battled Maskless Reopening; Soon, Biden Kicks Off "Help Is Here" Tour Promoting $1.9 Billion Stimulus. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired March 15, 2021 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And they may want to run some of those ads on FOX's propaganda network.
Only 50 percent of Republicans say they've either gotten a dose or they want to get a dose, 28 percent of Republicans say they'll refuse to get vaccinated, and another 10 percent of Republicans say they'll only get it if they're required to.
That includes some lawmakers in the House of Representatives, like freshman Congressman Madison Cawthorn, who told "Axios" in December, quote, "I won't be taking it. The survival rate is too high for me to want it."
We asked Madison Cawthorn's office if he still feels that way and we're told he thinks younger Americans should wait if they're vaccinated first, which is different from what he originally said.
Here's another Republican in Congress pushing a nonscientific reason to avoid it. Senator Ron Johnson says he won't get a vaccine.
Quote, "No, I had COVID so I don't believe I think that probably provides me the best immunity possible actually having had the disease."
Well, that is wrong. The CDC is health experts say you should still get vaccinated even if you've already had COVID.
Why is that? Because antibody immunity to COVID fades over time. And this is happening pretty quickly in some cases. The CDC says a repeat infection can occur 90 days after the first one.
Its examples like these that are forcing medical experts to implore former President Donald Trump to tell his supporters that it is safe to get the vaccine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER: I just don't get it, Chris, why they don't want to get vaccinated.
We've got to disassociate the political persuasion from what's common- sense, no-brainer public health things.
ANDY SLAVITT, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER FOR COVID RESPONSE: President Trump because now that we know he had the vaccine, he ought to be talking to his supporters and followers and let them know why it's an important thing to do.
FAUCI: It would be very helpful for the effort for that to happen. I'm very surprised that the high percentage of Republicans who say they don't want to get vaccinated.
I think it'll make all the difference in the world. He's a very wildly popular person among Republicans.
DR. JONATHAN REINER, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE & SURGERY, GEORGIA WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: The vaccine has not been promoted to this group. And, indeed, for months and months and months, the pandemic was presented as a hoax to this group by the former president.
And if he wants to do something in his post presidency, he should get on his soapbox and start go getting his acolytes to get vaccinated.
FAUCI: The history of vaccinology has rescued us from smallpox, from polio, from measles, from all of the other diseases. What is the problem here?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: The problem in this vaccine-skeptical group is clear. Donald Trump helped lead the charge to politicize the pandemic from the start.
He thought that people looked silly in masks and made fun of Joe Biden for wearing one, so he refused to wear one most of the time.
He downplayed the pandemic. He told Americans, again and again, it would soon be over. Clearly, it was not. And he admitted this when he was interviewed by Bob Woodward for the book, "Rage."
He promoted conspiracy theories, unproven treatments. He elevated discredited experts who thought the guidance on social distancing from his own administration was ridiculous. So he risked peoples' health by holding rallies while insisting he wasn't risking his own health.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Aren't you concerned about getting COVID?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not concerned. I'm on a stage and far away so I'm not at all concerned.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: When it comes to the vaccine, the scientific achievement for which he demands credit, he and the former first lady got their vaccines secretly before they left office in January.
Didn't tell anyone. Didn't signal to his supporters it was OK, even as the death toll climbed, skyrocketed.
And on propaganda TV, it was back to politics about something apolitical, as somehow the health and well-being of all Americans is a political issue.
The other night, when the FOX discovered the 1990s TV feature picture in a picture, and slapped Tucker Carlson's smug mug in the tiny box, he raised his eyebrows when Biden discussed the safety of the vaccine, once again, enforcing the skepticism of his audience.
Though that was hardly the first time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX HOST, "TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT": What about this vaccine? Why are Americans being discouraged from asking simple straightforward questions about it?
Questions like: How effective are these drugs? Are they safe? What's the miscarriage risk for pregnant women, for example? Is there a study on that? May we see it?
SEAN HANNITY, FOX HOST, "HANNITY": I don't know when my number gets called. I'm actually beginning to have doubts.
I've been telling my friends I'm going to get the vaccine, half of them agree and the other half think I'm absolutely nuts. They wouldn't take in a million years. I don't know who to listen to.
CARLSON: If the vaccine was so great, why are all these people lying about it?
The media rollout for the vaccine came out like a Diet Pepsi commercial at the Super Bowl. Tons of celebrity endorsements, not a lot of science.
Bill Gates is getting extraordinary powers over what you can and cannot do to your own body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[13:35:00]
And there's this, something a guest said on Laura Ingraham's show that was apparently so good she felt the need to tweet it out afterward. Quote, "You're becoming guinea pigs in a huge gene experiment conducted on humans." She put that out into the world.
No. FOX viewers are guinea pigs in a huge disinformation experiment conducted on humans.
And Americans, whether they are FOX viewers or not, will pay for it with their health or their livelihoods or their lives because no price is too high for FOX to right its rating ship.
Ahead, Texas Senator Ted Cruz accuses the Pentagon of bully a FOX host after he made sexist comments about pregnant women in the military, and the rank-and-file, not just the Pentagon responded.
Plus, the Republican governor of Utah has a stark message for his party and he says it's not about owning the Libs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:40:51]
KEILAR: America's political division has been on full display over the last several years and it is obviously very deep-rooted.
In a recent podcast, comedian, Sarah Silverman, took a swipe at party politics including her own, the progressives. Silverman says both parties are suffering for what she calls "righteousness porn" or "cancel culture."
And she, of course, has had her own experience of being canceled you may recall. Years ago, she says she was fired from an old acting job when they found an old skit she did in black face. And at the time, she told "G.Q." she did not standby the skit and she was horrified.
Silverman says the absolutist mentality with party politics has stopped America from being a nation of ideas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH SILVERMAN, COMEDIAN: It's the absolutistness of the party I am in that is such a turn off to me. It's so (EXPLETIVE DELETED) elitists.
For something progressive it allows for zero progress. It's all or nothing. No steps toward. All or (EXPLETIVE DELETED) nothing. Again, righteousness porn.
And I've been thinking about this a lot, just in general. I just -- I don't know that I want to be associated with any party. I really -- I think I don't want to be associated with any party anymore. It just -- it comes with too much baggage.
Every party, it comes with so much (EXPLETIVE DELETED) baggage that no ideas can be taken at face value. And without ideas what are we? Without a common truth, how can we talk about it?
You know, Republicans might hear an idea that they would totally agree with, but if it comes from AOC, then they hate it. And of course, you know, to be honest, when I hear an idea that comes from a Republican, it's suspect to me.
We all put too much (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on this stuff. We no longer are able to be a nation of ideas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: CNN political commentator, Amanda Carpenter, is with us now to discuss this. She's also a political columnist for "The Bulwark" and former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz.
Amanda, I wonder what's your reaction as you listen to what Sarah Silverman said there.
AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hey, I think she's exploring really tough questions.
And it's important to remember who Sarah Silverman is. She is a very raunchy comedian. I was refreshing myself on some of the clips. I felt like I had to wash my computer speakers with dish soap after I was done because she really pushes the edge on all kinds of issues with race, sex, you name it.
At the same time, she's extremely active in democratic politics. She's a strong Bernie Sanders supporter, who went to support candidates like Clinton and Joe Biden.
She's really trying to walk a line that I think is almost impossible to walk, for her brand of comedy to do what she does, which I think is valuable.
But you have to be ready -- you have to be prepared to hear what she has to say and also recognize she is deliberately pushing the envelope and trying to explore complicated issues, but at the same, time trying to do mainstream politics I think it's almost incompatible.
But she's also a raunch comedian who's somehow been able to do voice- overs for very popular children's movies. I think she can do it. But she would probably find a lot more freedom in just doing in the comedy, which she's known for.
KEILAR: She does really tap into the tribalism. She says, if she, as a liberal, listens to something coming from a Republican, to her, it's immediate suspect. And there's this extreme distrust right now that goes both ways.
[13:45:03]
I wonder if you see any way out of that, Amanda.
CARPENTER: I do think people have to be willing to walk away to pursue what they want to do. I am sure she gets a ton of flak from the progressive left for the comedy she's done in the past.
You mention the fact she's done black face and she's lost jobs because of that. And she says, listen, I want to talk about these issues. We all have to grapple with that.
I've been attacked in the past for opposing Obamacare. People said that was racist. But, no, I want to talk about the issues of Obamacare.
I think it's important for people, whatever policy it is you do want to discuss, don't let that stuff become a distraction because you just can't make it such a partisan issue.
And the first time someone says something is racist, you back down and say, OK, I'm not going to talk about it anymore.
KEILAR: Silverman can find some common ground with Spencer Cox, who spoke to the news podcast last week. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SPENCER COX (R-UT) VO): I'm very worried that we've lost kind of our foundation. We've lost our way, our core values as a party.
I don't enjoy the culture wars. I think there's more to being a conservative than just owning the Libs. I think there are opportunities to do really good things and to bring people along.
I still believe in a Republican Party, in a conservatism that lifts everyone and really is about opportunity for everyone.
And we don't do that by turning people away or ruining people's lives or, again, just these fake controversies, these false choices we keep presenting people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: He later, Amanda, gave the example of the debt ceiling, a core issue for Republicans in the past year that's been ignored for four years.
Are policy discussions just being completely cast aside in the middle of all this tribalism?
CARPENTER: Yes, unfortunately. It's really interesting. He comes from a Republican state. It's Utah. He's talking about having a problem, talking about policy, Among Republicans with Republicans.
And you have to think about his perch there considering the 2020 election. Utah is an all mail-in-voting state. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is essentially declaring war on mail-in voting. Based on what? The big lie the election was stolen from Donald Trump.
And meanwhile, Republicans there like that system. This is the fake culture war they're getting dragged into over nothing.
And meanwhile, what is going on with the debt? What is going on with the spending? Apparently, Joe Biden just spent $1.9 trillion while Republicans were distracted and spun up over Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato head.
Republicans, like me, and I expect Mr. Cox, want these strong Republican parties so there's some kind of balance on these issues and doesn't become this endless debate over nobody cares about spending anymore because we want to go to war with stuff that doesn't matter and gets ratings.
KEILAR: I want to turn now to your former boss, Senator Ted Cruz, who, over the weekend, wrote a letter to the secretary of defense and asked for a meeting with it commander of the Marine Corps over the military's response to the sexist comments made by Tucker Carlson, who, to be clear, called pregnant women in the military a mockery of the military.
And Cruz argued it goes against military rules to stay nonpartisan in an official capacity. He called the Pentagon's response political attacks outrageous and childish.
I would point out it wasn't the Pentagon. It was sort of an all ranks, men, women, all branches. He's making it out like it's just the Pentagon that attacked Carlson. It was big, right, because, in the military, they realize that women serve and they should serve.
What do you think about this side that he has chosen in this debate?
CARPENTER: Yes, well, by all appearances, it looks like Ted Cruz is trying to drag President Joe Biden into a -- essentially, into a Tucker Carlson created culture war, right? He's not actually trying to have a debate about women in the military or anything like that.
And, sure, you can have questions about the unprecedented response that the military had to Tucker Carlson's comments because it was unusual for them to speak out like that.
But if you read the letter that Ted Cruz issued, it's almost as if he's trying to create this new Deep State conspiracy. And it's really unsettling because he keeps using the words that the military, under Biden, is launching a political attack, a political attack on poor Tucker Carlson.
[13:49:58]
I mean, really, as you pointed out, they're just defending women in their work force, which we need to keep the country safe, which, apparently, people like Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz didn't bother to do.
They didn't serve in the military. So we have lots of women doing that. And they would like to keep having women in the conspiracy that somehow under president is out to get Tucker Carlson.
It's a bad version of Trumpism. I don't think it's effective. And I would love to know what the secretary of defense tells Ted Cruz in the meeting. Maybe they should live stream it.
KEILAR: Can I ask you -- because you said a debate to be had over the military's response. And one of the points that critics of that are making is that the military got political.
But how is it political to say that women are not a mockery of the U.S. military? I mean, I would think that insofar as that is political it's only because some people made it so. That doesn't seem like a political debate.
CARPENTER: Yes, I mean, if you want to make it a political issue, let's make it one. Do you want women serving in the military or not? That's the political issue we're having. Let's have that debate.
The military says yes. The Biden administration, I'm sure, says yes. Are Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz saying no? Let's talk about that.
KEILAR: That ship sailed a long time ago.
CARPENTER: I know. I know.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: We have all kinds of debates that are, like, centuries old.
Amanda, thank you so much. Great to see you. We love having you on.
CARPENTER: Thanks.
KEILAR: Just in, the CDC is considering guidelines that could change physical distancing at schools from six feet to three feet.
Plus, a Texas restaurant owner becomes the victim of a hate crime after speaking out about the governor's removal of the mask mandate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:56:40]
KEILAR: A tax restaurant owner says his restaurant was vandalized just days after he spoke out on CNN against Governor Greg Abbott's decision to lift the state's mask mandate.
Vandals spray painted hateful and racist messages on the windows of the Noodle Tree Restaurant after owner, Mike Nguyen, said this on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE NGUYEN, OWNER, NOODLE TREE RESTAURANT: I will say the governor doesn't have us Texans' interests at play at this point. I think it's more of a personal interest.
I think the decision to drop the mask mandate is selfish and cowardly. And there's no reason to do it. Dropping the mask mandate will not help us open.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Police say they are investigating the incident at criminal mischief.
I want to bring in CNN's senior writer for race and equality, Nicquel Terry Ellis, to talk about this.
Nicquel, what can you tell us about the backlash this restaurant owner received?
NICQUEL TERRY ELLIS, CNN SENIOR WRITER FOR RACE & EQUALITY: This restaurant owner tells us, on Sunday morning, he discovered racist anti-Asian-American messages written in red spray paint across his restaurant in San Antonio.
He shared pictures with CNN with the hateful messages that say things such as, "Go back to China. I hope you die, kung flu." Hate speech consistent with the attacks against Asian-Americans in recent months.
The owner also tells us he is now receiving one-star ratings on Yelp from people that are upset about his stance on masks.
And police in San Antonio are looking into this. The San Antonio mayor has also come out against the attacks, saying, I quote, "We must work together to eradicate racism from our city."
Despite the backlash, Mike Nguyen, the owner, tells us he stands by his comments and he will remain open -- Brianna?
KEILAR: Nicquel Terry Ellis, thank you very much for that.
Any moment now, we'll hear from President Biden. He will spend the next week selling that $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan to Americans. And we will take you to the White House live White House live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: We're just moments away now from President Biden giving remarks about his $$1.9 trillion COVID rescue plan. This is an event scheduled to happen from the White House at any moment. We are bringing that to you live.
[13:59:59]
In the meantime, let's chat live with chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins. We have CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, and CNN economics and political commentator, Catherine Rampell.
