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CNN This Morning
Florida Bees Starving After Hurricane Ian; Ben Smith is Interviewed about his Reporting on Twitter. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired December 12, 2022 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And then I grew up.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: And then you grew up. But, you know what - but - but, hold on. First of all, not a typical for young college students at the time. Reagan did very well with young voters.
LEMON: Right.
AVLON: And it just speaks to the essential diversity of our experience. We're much more interesting when we take the time to get to know each other.
LEMON: Yes. I - look, that -- what happened with me with that was with the whole stance on gays.
AVLON: Understood.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: I need to look this - I don't understand (ph) -
LEMON: And then I was like, I'm out.
HARLOW: I haven't seen this.
AVLON: I got you.
LEMON: And then it - I - it sort of woke me up. But it was kind of fun to be part of something that felt different.
AVLON: And folks probably don't know that about you as well.
LEMON: Yes. Yes.
HARLOW: I think we've got to go.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Don Lemon just told everybody.
HARLOW: That it's about -
LEMON: Yes.
AVLON: He - he's been public about it, you know. HARLOW: But the - but the -- it's also about the -- you said like founded on an idea. I'm looking at --
LEMON: Oh, you - but it was Charlie Crist as well.
HARLOW: There was a hug. I'm just trying to prove --
LEMON: When a hug becomes a kiss of death (ph).
HARLOW: I'm trying to prove myself.
ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There you go.
HARLOW: I'm like, I know it's early, but I really think this happened.
AVLON: There are two hugs in (INAUDIBLE).
LEMON: Yes.
HARLOW: But, anyways, my more serious point, the American experiment.
LEMON: Yes.
AVLON: That's it.
LEMON: Talk to each other.
HARLOW: I'm not guaranteed it (ph).
LEMON: That's -- I'm not going to promote my book, but that's what my book said, John, we've got to give -
AVLON: Yes, it did.
LEMON: We've got to -
HARLOW: "This is The Fire."
LEMON: What I - what I say to my friends about racism.
HARLOW: So good.
LEMON: And even like Republican friends, everyone.
AVLON: It's a good book.
LEMON: We are a little loopy, guys, because we were up for heroes. So, anyways.
HARLOW: Speak for yourself.
LEMON: I'm a little loopy, and I also took an Ambien by the way.
HARLOW: What?
COLLINS: Not - not before the show, last night. LEMON: Last night.
COLLINS: (INAUDIBLE).
HARLOW: When -- should we go -
LEMON: I need some sleep.
HARLOW: Kaitlan, should we go to commercial?
LEMON: Yes.
AVLON: Want some coffee?
COLLINS: I think the audience is begging us to.
John Avlon, Errol Louis, a really good conversation -
LEMON: Bye, guys.
COLLINS: And very (INAUDIBLE).
HARLOW: Thank you.
COLLINS: So, thank you both.
All right, this morning, the effects of Hurricane Ian delivering a crushing blow to Florida's bee population. Of course, remember that storm. We covered it here closely. We'll also take a closer look at these bees and their fight for survival and actually what it means for you in the global food chain.
HARLOW: Yes, you'll want to see this.
Also, new warnings this morning from Idaho police following the murder of four college students. Why they are now telling everyone to travel in groups. We'll have a live report from Moscow in just a few minutes.
LEMON: Is this story ever going to - are they going to find something (ph).
HARLOW: It's so sad. They need answers.
LEMON: Yes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:36:14]
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Look at that, New York City this morning.
Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING, everyone. Here's what's coming up.
Hurricane Ian ripped through Florida and damaged a whole lot of properties, including thousands of bee colonies. Plus, how concerned is the White House since Elon Musk took over
Twitter. They say that they're not stressed, but how are other Democrats reacting? We'll talk about that.
And remembering soccer journalist and friend Grant Wahl. Grant Wahl died at the World Cup. How colleagues are honoring him this morning.
HARLOW: Well, we reported a lot, of course, on Hurricane Ian, but here's something you didn't really hear about. When the storm smashed into central Florida, it took out hundreds of thousands of bee colonies and wiped out a vital link in our food chain. Well, now, beekeepers are still struggling from the losses.
Our Bill Weir met with some of them, and he joins us now.
I never thought about this.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Me neither.
HARLOW: However, I know bees are very important to the whole ecosystem.
WEIR: More than ever. When we talk - when we have the birds and the bees talk, it takes on a whole new importance now -
HARLOW: Yes.
WEIR: Because one out of every three bites of food is courtesy of a pollinator, like a bee or a butterfly.
HARLOW: Wow.
WEIR: And they're in deep trouble as a result of sort of colliding climate crises.
I went down to Acadia, Florida, to get a state of things. These guys know the state of agriculture better than ever anyone really and few are sadder and more worried.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH COUNCELL, OWNER/BEEKEEPER, COUNCIL FARMS: Now, you've got to get a handful of bees.
WEIR: Really?
COUNCELL: Yes.
WEIR: OK.
WEIR (voice over): I'm not usually in the habit of accepting a handful of stinging insects, but Keith Councell has a 40-year professional relationship with honey bees.
WEIR (on camera): And you never -- rarely wear a vail or gloves or anything?
COUNCELL: Don't really need to.
WEIR (voice over): And these days they need all the love they can get.
Hurricane Ian arrived at the worst possible time for this business, just as beekeepers from around the country were set up to catch the autumn bloom of the Brazilian pepper tree.
JEREMY HAM, OWNER/BEEKEEPER, OLD FLORIDA BEES: The whole yard went under.
WEIR: The storm drowned and crushed hundreds of thousands of hives, killing countless, millions of bees.
HAM: It's gone. We're going to have to come back. There ain't nothing left.
HAM: You could actually see a water line where it came up to here.
WEIR: And because Ian blew away so much vegetation, those that survived are starving.
HAM: Some of these bees have gotten three shots of feed, and that's a gallon. So you're talking about 36 pounds of feed already and you can still go back after they suck the feed down and it look like they never were fed at all.
WEIR (on camera): They're just starving?
HAM: They're just starving, yes. It's nonstop. So, it's just an added cost. And you're just trying to do the best. You have to make that tough decision of, really, is it worth the money, the financial cost to try to save it, or do you just have to walk away and take your medicine?
WEIR: This is all bee food?
ANDREW WAGNER, MANN LAKE BEE AND AG SUPPLY: This will be used for liquid bee food, yes.
WEIR (voice over): At Mann Lake Bee and Ag Supply, they're mixing sugar water as fast as they can. And while some bee farmers filed for federal relief, the Greater Good Charity is giving away of quarter ton of pollen substitute.
CASEY PAHOLSKI, SENOR PROGRAM MANAGER, GREATER GOOD CHARITIES: Or we have donated meals to food pantries for humans, we've donated animal supplies to animal shelters, and now we're donating this bees pollen substitute to these farmers here.
WEIR (on camera): You can't forget the bottom of the food chain, right?
PAHOLSKI: Yes. Yes. You can't forget what helps get all the other food to the table as well. WEIR (voice over): But even if their bees recover, the whole business
depends on the health of the almond crop in California, now shrinking under mega draught.
WEIR (on camera): If the drought takes out the almond crop in California, that --
WAGNER: The whole bee keeping industry is going to be in trouble. And - and there's no feral bees. There's no -- wild bees can't survive on their own.
WEIR (voice over): He explains that pesticides, development and invasive pests have made it impossible for bees to survive without deliberate human care.
[06:40:01]
WAGNER: And if all the beekeepers released all of their bees, every beekeeper in the country, if they just released all their bees into the wild, we estimate it would be about two to three years before bees would just collapse.
Bees are the most important farmer. They're the most forgotten as well. And that's why we just need the entire public to really continue to get involved in bees. And a little -- two beehives makes a big impact.
COUNCELL: They went totally underwater. Somehow made it.
WEIR: In the meantime, all Keith can do is pick up the pieces and focus on the survivors, like the hive he found drowned inside a water meter box near Fort Myers Beach.
COUNCELL: It's a different feeling when you have bees walking all over you.
WEIR (on camera): It really is. It really is.
COUNCELL: Yes. And nobody's getting stung.
WEIR: No.
COUNCELL: You know, they're doing their thing.
WEIR: Maybe they can sense that we're rooting for them, you know.
COUNCELL: Well, and that's -
WEIR: We appreciate them.
COUNCELL: That's part of the thing. You have to - you have to treat them with respect. When you get down to it, the bees are the pillars to all agriculture and they're the pillars to our whole civilization.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WEIR: Of course, he's a trained beekeeper. Don't try that at home, reaching into a hive. But no stings. They were completely chill as long as we were.
HARLOW: Wow.
WEIR: I brought you some Old Florida Bee Company honey.
HARLOW: OK.
WEIR: Orange Blossom and Florida Palmetto here from down there. This is Jeremey Ham's company you saw in the piece there.
I got you some, Don and Kaitlan.
COLLINS: We're counting two jars over there. There's three?
WEIR: I've got a third jar for you guys. You can fight over the cinnamon spread. That's the best.
But, really, I mean, that's the thing that scared me is that, we're now in a place where bees can't live without us and we can't live without bees.
HARLOW: So we've got to do something better.
WEIR: So we've got to pay attention to what's happening to those little busy business partners of ours.
HARLOW: Busy - I was telling Bill, guys, in the break that this like what I give to my kids whenever they're sick or under the weather. Like - it's like this natural healer of anything.
WEIR: It's good for allergies. It's an anti-inflammatory. It's - and they're keeping us alive.
HARLOW: Thank you, Bill.
WEIR: We're feeding them. They're feeding us.
HARLOW: Thank you, Bill.
LEMON: And it tastes good.
WEIR: And it tastes good as a bonus.
HARLOW: A spoon of honey for you in the break. OK.
LEMON: Oh, OK. Thanks, Bill.
WEIR: You got it.
LEMON: I guess that's to me.
So, up next, we're going to talk about this, that chilly reception that Elon Musk received from a crowd at a Dave Chappelle show. You don't want to miss that.
COLLINS: Also, new CNN reporting that the new special counsel is moving very fast on two criminal investigations surrounding former President Trump. We'll tell you more, next.
HARLOW: I love that story.
LEMON: Are we at a point now where -
HARLOW: I had no idea.
WEIR: Yes, neither did I. I was like (INAUDIBLE).
HARLOW: Do we really get to keep this?
WEIR: Yes, you really get to keep those.
HARLOW: Thank you. All right -
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:46:42]
COLLINS: New reporting this morning that President Biden and his White House don't seem to have the same concerns about Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter as many in the Democratic Party do. It comes from Semafor, the new digital media startup.
And so joining us now is Ben Smith, the site's editor in chief, who was formerly of "BuzzFeed," "Politico" and the influential media column at "The New York Times."
Now that we've made it through your resume, this reporting is really interesting because this is something that is constantly being talked about on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers are asked about it almost every day. We've talked to many of them about it here on the show. But it seems to fit with the Biden campaign ethos, which was basically, in two words, ignore Twitter. And now they seem to be ignoring Twitter's new owner.
BEN SMITH, CO-FOUNDER AND EDITOR IN CHIEF, SEMAFOR: Yes. And thanks for having me on. Thanks for pointing out that I cannot hold a job.
The - yes, I mean I think what's so interesting is right now I think a lot of Democrats are very freaked out that Elon Musk, you know, the richest man in the world, buys this powerful platform for speech and just -- he's immediately tweeting all sorts of just kind of far-right jokes and in-jokes, theories. And the White House doesn't -- I think just isn't that focused on it. I mean Biden became president in part by telling his staff, ignore Twitter. Twitter represents not the right but Twitter represents the left of his party. You know, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets all the retweets. Joe Biden doesn't. And I think one of the reasons he won his primary was by realizing that there were many, many voters who were, you know, less online, older, less educated, more diverse than the group of people on Twitter, and that those were the people who would vote for him. And so I think he's just as happy to have Twitter turn into something
else and for the - for Democrats to ignore it.
HARLOW: This - go ahead. Were you going to say something?
COLLINS: No, it's just fascinating because it does have real world implications.
HARLOW: Yes. And the danger of the -- spreading of misinformation and -- that can lead to real violence. But it - but it makes me think of what you always say.
LEMON: I always say that Twitter's not real life and we sort of over index that. And I think the smartest thing that the Biden administration did, or when he was running, not the administration, the Biden campaign did was ignore the fringes of their party, as you pointed out, because it's - I always say it's a ladies in church hats who actually go to the polls, right? And it's the guys who -- with the lunchbox who actually go to the polls and vote and not necessarily the people on Twitter. So, he ignored it. Trump did the opposite and leaned into the extremes of his party and the people on Twitter, and he lost. Biden won. I think it's a smart strategy. I think they're right on.
SMITH: Yes. And what they told us is, you know, in their internal meetings they think about television, they think about Facebook.
LEMON: Yes.
SMITH: And that those are the places where, as you said, you know, people -- a lot of working people are getting their news.
LEMON: Yes.
SMITH: I mean that said, the people who are on Twitter are us. And the thing they -- that the White House uses Twitter for is to work journalists and to try to persuade us of what to say, what to write about.
COLLINS: Yes.
The question, though, for this is, is ignoring what's being said on Twitter and the conversation the same as ignoring who's running Twitter and the implication of that? I don't know if those two are the same exact things.
SMITH: No. And I don't - I mean I don't think they're particular fans of Musk. I think they just don't see it as - I mean they see it as a problem in the world, like many problems the White House thinks about, but not as something that really affects, you know, Biden's re- election chances particularly.
LEMON: Speaking of Musk --
HARLOW: What?
LEMON: Dave Chappelle.
HARLOW: Oh, yes.
LEMON: Yes.
HARLOW: Should we play it?
LEMON: Yes. Can we - Dave - so, let's - we should say, Dave Chappelle - this was at a comedy arena in San Francisco. Comedian Dave Chappelle brought out Elon Musk on stage and Musk was booed for several minutes.
[06:50:03]
We'll get your response, but watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE CHAPPELLE, COMEDIAN: Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for the richest man in the world.
Elon.
ELON MUSK: Hey, Dave.
CHAPPELLE: Controversial, buddy.
MUSK: Weren't expecting this, were you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I couldn't hear Dave there.
HARLOW: OK, but why - OK, he has time to go to a Dave Chappelle show? He's like running Twitter, Tesla's mad he's not there enough. But, sorry, I digress.
LEMON: Yes.
HARLOW: What do you make of it?
LEMON: Yes. And - and we were - is it boos? I'm sure some people were happy for this. But does it sound like mostly boos to you? And that was in Silicon Valley. That's his hometown.
SMITH: Yes, I mean, I think, you know, in a way it's like the power. I mean we're talking about, you know, Joe Biden not caring that much about Twitter. I mean that actually is the power of Twitter to change how Elon Musk is seen very, very rapidly.
HARLOW: Is viewed.
SMITH: And I think, you know, he's been tweeting essentially a lot of right-wing politics. And so when he shows up at -- in San Francisco at a comedy show, tough reception.
COLLINS: Well, and not even just right-wing politics. What he tweeted over the weekend, which is the latest thing that he's been under fire for, which, you know, when you talk to some of the people around him, it - this -- they think this is distracting when he tweets the things that we've been talking about for weeks on the show, but the thing about Fauci saying his pronouns were prosecute Fauci, and now all these lawmakers have been criticizing that as well, just saying (ph).
HARLOW: And Mark Kelly calling him out. Yes.
COLLINS: Yes.
HARLOW: I mean Scott Kelly, I'm sorry.
LEMON: Well, that's what you were saying the dangers of, misinformation and the dangers of what Twitter can do is it can incite people to - towards violence and it can - it also - it can also incite people towards -- to - it can - it - to do good things, right? It can encourage people to do good things, but it can't incite people to violence, and it can give out misinformation.
But that is a, you know, public sentiment. You know, that's not just people tweeting, that's people saying -- voting with their mouths going boo to Elon Musk.
SMITH: Yes, I mean it can definitely incite people toward booing apparently in this case. And, I mean, and I think, right, more broadly, it's - you know, I think you had people managing the platform who were very worried about the things that you just talked about, particularly after January 6th, banned Donald Trump from the platform, banned sort of a spectrum of people on the right because I think of their concerns about violence. And Musk is pulling - is saying, you guys, you went too far trying to pull it back.
There is a - I think there's a reasonable argument going on about free speech but Musk is separately just totally torching his own brand for lots of people who liked him.
LEMON: I know we have to go, but let me just say this one thing. We can sit here in America and -- because we're privileged when it comes to free speech and we can criticize Twitter and say, oh, they shouldn't do this, they shouldn't do that. But if it goes away, it does have real world consequences for people who are in countries without free speech and who use that, especially like Iran -
HARLOW: I'm so glad you said that.
LEMON: Who use it to get the word out about the, you know, mistreatment of women and LGBTQ community and so on. So it's important for us. But we're at -- as Americans we're like, free speech, you know, what do we do, take it off, because we have other outlets, but some people - some countries don't.
HARLOW: Come back for that free speech debate.
SMITH: Any time.
HARLOW: (INAUDIBLE) here for it. I think people misunderstand how it applies to a company like Twitter.
Thanks for the donuts and the coffee on the first day of the show, by the way.
SMITH: That's what we supply at Semafor (INAUDIBLE).
HARLOW: Thank you, Ben. Great to have you.
COLLINS: Such a good friend of CNN THIS MORNING.
LEMON: Very much, we appreciate that.
HARLOW: Also, inflation still very much here, driving the price of many of the - your Christmas gifts for your kids higher. How folks are able to stretch their dollar this season. Our reporting, next.
LEMON: I haven't bought - have you bought any presents?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:58:18]
LEMON: Well, inflation is hitting middle class families really hard just ahead of the holidays. And even though numbers cooled a bit in November with gas prices coming down after record highs, parents are feeling the pressure to provide their kids with a memorable experience this Christmas.
CNN's Gabe Cohen has more now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Hyattsville, Maryland, Anya Remy, an HR professional, is Christmas shopping for her children on a stricter budget than ever before.
ANYA REMY, HR PROFESSIONAL: It's a few items for the kid this year, as opposed to getting them all of the things on their list.
COHEN: High inflation has made holiday budgeting a more complication equation for middle class families. A November poll found 47 percent of Americans have less savings than a year ago, and 42 percent plan to spend less on gifts this season. Only 8 percent plan to spend more. But up to now the National Retail Federation says overall holiday spending hasn't slowed. Families are just making sacrifices.
Janette Duvall, a school bus driver, is relying on coupons for the first time.
JANETTE DUVALL, SCHOOL BUS DRIVER: Probably not everybody will have the same quality of gift they used to have.
JOE PARKER (ph): It's a little pinch.
COHEN: Joe Parker says he won't limit spending for his family, just for himself. PARKER: They're good kids. They do what they're supposed to do, so I'm
supposed to fulfill my part.
COHEN: In a new poll, 55 percent of Americans say rising prices have caused financial hardship for their household.
LINDSEY COOK, TEACHER: It doesn't take much.
COHEN: Lindsey Cook is one of them. She's a teacher. Her husband, a school security officer. Higher prices have forced them to dip into savings the past few months.
COOK: I'm living paycheck to paycheck. So, there's no sort of wiggle room. And it's kind of scary.
COHEN (on camera): How has your holiday budget changed?
COOK: How do you create a budget when you don't have any sort of extra income.
COHEN (voice over): She decided to spend no more than $100 for each of her two children.
[07:00:03]
COHEN (on camera): I sense the stress in your voice.
COOK: I don't want to disappoint my kids. I don't want them to be upset.
