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Universities Pushing Agendas; New Labor Department PPI; Taylor Swift's Film on Streaming Platforms. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 13, 2023 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:13]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: We want to show you this stunning video that we got in in morning. A far-right Polish lawmaker, during a Hanukkah celebration, he grabs a fire extinguisher and instantly starts spraying as he walks into the lobby of parliament and then puts out the candles burning on the menorah. He was quickly stopped and rebuked by onlookers, but it didn't stop him from taking to the podium a short time later and calling the Jewish Festival of Lights, quote, "satanic." He defended his actions by claiming he was restoring, quote, "normality." He was promptly kicked out of the chamber. The speaker says the lawmaker will lose half of his salary for three months and parliamentary expenses for six months.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Fareed Zakaria offering his take on the controversy surrounding colleges and universities. It's getting a lot of attention. He argues, quote, "America's top colleges are no longer seen as bastions of excellence but as partisan outfits." And this criticism comes after three university presidents faced quite a bit of backlash over their answers at a congressional hearing last week. Asked whether calls of the genocide of Jewish people would be considered against the codes of conduct at their institutions, all three presidents initially answered that it would be context dependent.

The questioning led to the resignation of the University of Pennsylvania's president, but Fareed argues this shift in college campuses goes beyond last week's viral hearing. It is rooted in something deeper.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, CNN'S "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": American universities have been neglecting a core focus on excellence in order to pursue a variety of agendas, many of them clustered around diversity and inclusion. It started with the best of intentions. Colleges wanted to make sure young people of all backgrounds had access to higher education and felt comfortable on campus. But those good intentions have morphed into a dogmatic ideology and turned these universities into places where the pervasive goals are political and social engineering, not academic merit. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Fareed's take went viral, capturing the attention of more than 50 million people on X, including Elon Musk, who posted, "brilliantly said," and the editor-in-chief of "Jewish Insider," who called his analysis, quote, "a tipping point moment."

And Fareed Zakaria is at the table with us this morning.

Thanks for getting up early to be with us. I always - I always watch your take and read your "Washington Post" column. I was particularly structurally by this one where you begin saying, "watching it all I wondered, does anyone believe in free speech anymore?"

Why did you write this?

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, CNN'S "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": Well, because I -- it's growing frustration. I mean I love these institutions. I went this them. For me it was gamechanger. I was a scholarship student at Yale. I got a scholarship when I got my Ph.D. at Harvard. I was on the board of Yale. So, it's been very sad to watch over the last 10 or 15 years the way in which these universities have, you know, as I say, moved away from a core focus which should really just be about education, research, learning, teaching, and they've gotten into all these political issues. You know, they start telling students how to speak, how to even dress. You remember that case of a dean at Yale telling students, don't wear Halloween costumes that might offend certain people.

And I think it was - you know, they've created these ideas of safe spaces and all that detracts from two things. One, you know, what should be the focus, education, but the other is it creates these categories of protected people, almost a kind of racial hierarchy, you know, that they -

HARLOW: Protects some not others?

ZAKARIA: Exactly. And that feeling is what I think led to so much of the anguish of Jewish students and Jewish faculty, which was, wait a minute, for 15 years you've been talking about safe spaces and microaggressions and telling students how to talk and dress and eat. And none of this applies to us? None of this applies to Jews? None of this applies to, you know, to people who are attacked (ph)? So, having compromised so much on freedom of speech, you know, now they suddenly found their - they've found freedom of speech as they --

HARLOW: Why does it not apply to us?

ZAKARIA: Right.

HARLOW: You put this issue, as you often do, in such an important, much broader, much more global context. I thought it was interesting that we heard you quote Van Jones towards the end of it saying, "the point of college is to keep you physically safe, but intellectually unsafe." Can you talk about the - that for us? ZAKARIA: It feels to me central to - to college. And I think Van Jones

so brilliantly put it. It -- the whole idea of college is to expose you to ideas that you have never heard before, that you might really, strongly disagree with and to force you to engage those ideas by banning them, by telling people that, you know, you shouldn't hear this stuff because it will - it will offend your sensibilities. You're doing sort of the opposite of what college is meant to do.

[08:35:02]

And I fear that even in response to this most recent thing, that's the path down which colleges are going. They're now saying, oh, there's, you know, there's new protected categories, there's new things you can't say. So, people going through colleges, it's like a minefield. Students don't -- I got an email from a very senior former CEO who teaches at a big business school and he said, here's what I feel. I totally agree with what you've been saying. The students are so bright, but they - it's - they're walking through a minefield. They don't know what to say because they are so scared that they might offend somebody. And so you don't actually clarify your own thinking, which is, again, the point of college.

HARLOW: As you know, I went back to school a couple years ago, to your alma mater, to Yale.

ZAKARIA: Right.

HARLOW: And one of the most important parts of it was actually hearing all of these opinions from kids much younger than I in those classrooms and having those debates. That was sort of central to it, outside of the -- sort of the core curriculum. I --

ZAKARIA: I have say -

HARLOW: Yes.

ZAKARIA: Amazing that you were able to go to Yale Law School while holding down a full-time job. I don't know how you did it.

HARLOW: I have a great husband and a great employer who let me figure it out.

I will say, I was struck by who was complementing you for this. You've got Elon Musk saying "brilliantly said." One viewer posted, you seemed like a, quote, "DEI opponent and you sounded like Ron DeSantis."

ZAKARIA: To me, you know, look, when you tell -- when you say things, I had - I had a college professor who I really respected who always said, if you're telling the truth, you can't worry about who agrees with you. Sometimes that happens. You know, there's --

HARLOW: I'm not asking if you worried. I wonder what you made of it because --

ZAKARIA: I think it was a moment where -- so to me the most gratifying thing was the emails I've gotten have been overwhelmingly from senior academics at American universities who say, thank God somebody is saying this.

But I think this is an issue that unites left and right. You know - you know Bill Maher has been on this -

HARLOW: Yes.

ZAKARIA: These kinds of issues. But I do think that there are people on the right who have, you know, detected it and then weaponized it for their reasons. But that cannot be a reason not to take it seriously, you know? You have to -- sometimes criticism comes from -

HARLOW: All parts.

ZAKARIA: Interesting quarters and you judge by the argument, not by the person who's - who's making it.

HARLOW: There you go.

Because we're lucky enough to have you here, I want your take, Fareed's take, on this growing public - public divide between President Biden and Bibi Netanyahu and yet what seems to be a commitment to unconditional aid still from Israel - for Israel.

ZAKARIA: I think it's - right, I think it's very important because what Biden -- Biden's strategy was premised on this idea that he was going to hug Israel close, partly was he deeply believes in it and is committed to Israel, but also because he realized, look, they're the ones with the guns at this point, they're the ones with the power, and the only way we can influence them is if we built political capital with them. So, he's hugged Israel very close and privately been telling them lots of things about how to conduct the war with greater restraint. They didn't want the -- the Biden administration didn't want a ground invasion of northern Gaza. They wanted much more selective use of force, much more -- you know, sending in special forces rather than bombing indiscriminately.

They have been frustrated by the fact that Bibi Netanyahu has essentially pocketed all the support, but resisted all of the pressure, all the advice. And so what you're beginning to see is a public coming out of that disagreement. First you saw Lloyd Austin. Then you saw the secretary of state.

HARLOW: Now it's the president.

ZAKARIA: And now Biden himself, who used the phrase "indiscriminate bombing." Now, indiscriminate bombing in certain circumstances is considered a war crime. So, for the president to say that -

HARLOW: Interesting.

ZAKARIA: I think it's a big deal. Will it ultimately mean they'll move away? I don't know. But what you're seeing is also very strong international pressure. The UAE, yesterday, said at the U.N., we will not give a penny for the reconstruction of Gaza unless Israel commits to a two-state solution and a path to get there. This is, as you know, something Bibi has been opposed to for his entire life. HARLOW: He just reiterated it.

ZAKARIA: Right.

HARLOW: No way with the Oslo Accords.

ZAKARIA: The president said something else, which was, I think, meant to be caught on mic but was caught on mic. He said, you know, I wrote -- I signed a photograph to Bibi Netanyahu 35 years ago in which I said, Bibi, I love you but I disagree with every word you say. And then he stopped and he said, it's about the same today.

HARLOW: Well, that says a lot.

Fareed, thank you so much. We will tune in, obviously, on Sunday morning. Appreciate it.

Thanks.

ZAKARIA: Thank you.

HARLOW: Phil.

MATTINGLY: Well, the Labor Department just released a key report, giving us a critical look at the state of inflation in America. We're going to break down those numbers and how it could affect your wallet.

And tributes are pouring in this morning for Andre Braugher. The career acter had a career that lasted more than four decades. Perhaps best known for playing two TV police officers, first winning an Emmy for an incredible performance on "Homicide: Life on the Street," and then later flexing his extraordinary deadpan comedy chops in "Brooklyn 99."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDRE BRAUGHER, ACTOR: (INAUDIBLE). Where is my dog?

[08:40:01]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aren't you standing right next to him?

BRAUGHER: This bitch? Please. Watch. Shake. Shake. Idiot.

When people say good morning they mean hello. When people say, how are you, they mean hello. When people say, what's up, they mean, I am a person not worth talking to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: An immense talent. Braugher's publicist said he died from an undisclosed illness. Andre Braugher was 61 years old.

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[08:45:01] HARLOW: Welcome back.

Here are "5 Things" to know for this Wednesday, December 13th.

House Republicans set to debate and vote on a resolution to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Biden in just hours. Democrats have called the potential inquiry a political stunt, pointing to the lack of evidence so far from Republicans.

MATTINGLY: Rudy Giuliani back in court today after harrowing testimony from one of the Georgia election workers who says she feared for her life because of the election lies Giuliani spread about her.

HARLOW: Later today at the White House, President Biden will meet with those families of loved ones who are still being held hostage by Hamas. At least eight Americans have been missing since the start of this war.

MATTINGLY: And tonight it's Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's turn to answer questions from voters in Iowa. He's going to be joined by CNN's Abby Phillip for a town hall live tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

HARLOW: And the Federal Reserve will close its final meeting of the year later today. Chairman Jerome Powell will announce the latest decision on interest rates and give an idea of where his mind is on what is in store for next year.

MATTINGLY: And, of course, that decision comes as more data, big data, is coming out. The Labor Department releasing a key report that gives us a critical look at the state of inflation in America. Let's get straight to CNN business correspondent Rahel Solomon to break down the numbers.

All right, we saw them earlier in the week. This iteration of telling us where inflation is.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

MATTINGLY: What do we know?

SOLOMON: Yes. So, yesterday was CPI, consumer inflation, today is PPI, producer inflation. So, this is the inflation that essentially businesses face. And what we saw in the month of November is that on a monthly basis prices actually were flat. They were unchanged. That's some good news and that's actually better than what we had been expecting.

On an annual basis you saw prices increase slightly less than 1 percent. Let's call it 0.9 percent in the report. Now, when you look under the hood here and you look at the difference between prices for goods, physical things, versus services, think things like hotel fares, airfares, both of those prices, on a broad level, were unchanged. Also some good news. I should say that the fall in energy prices was part of this. The reason why we pay attention to this report so closely is because,

again, it's what businesses pay. So, the thinking is that the inflation that businesses experience could be passed on to consumers. So that's why we pay really close attention to it.

The Fed also paying close attention to it. As you said, this is their last meeting of the year. We're going to hear from Jay Powell in almost exactly six hours. Three things to watch. Of course, what they do with interest rates. The expectation, broadly, is that they will keep rates steady where they are. They will hold steady.

But then watch what he says. There is going to be a lot of questions about when we can start to expect rate cuts in 2024. I imagine he will probably be pretty guarded about his language, but I can tell you that, if he raises his eyebrow a different way, if he coughs a different way, it will be closely scrutinized because everyone's looking to see, when are we going to start talking about cutting rates.

And then, finally, watch what they expect. We're going to get the summary of economic projections. We don't get this every meeting. Every other meeting. This tells you what they expect for GDP, what they expect for unemployment, and what they expect for the federal funds rate. So, a lot to watch here. It all kicks off in about six hours. Can't wait. Go team.

MATTINGLY: I love watching the markets while he's speaking. The eyebrow thing is true, by the way.

SOLOMON: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Rahel Solomon, thank you, as always.

HARLOW: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, are you ready for it?

HARLOW: I'm here for it.

MATTINGLY: Oh, I see - I see what we're doing here. Taylor Swift's "Eras" tour movie is available to stream right now, today, on her 34th birthday. A look at the pop star's record-breaking year. That's next.

HARLOW: It's so good. Have you seen it, "Eras"? It's - I took Sienna, but like I --

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[08:52:10]

MATTINGLY: Well, if you haven't made it to Taylor Swift's Era's tour or seen her concert film in theaters, or if you did all of the above and still can't get enough, honestly if you didn't do any of those things, what's wrong with you? But there is some good news. Regardless -- I'm not judging -- you can now enjoy the singer's blockbuster concert film from the comfort of your own living room because, beginning today on Taylor Swift's 34th birthday, the film is available to stream on several platforms.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you ready for it?

TAYLOR SWIFT, MUSICIAN (singing): I'm drunk in the back of the car, and I cried like a baby coming home from the bar. Said, I'm fine, but it wasn't true. I love you ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?

People come up to me and they be like, are you going to just like do a show with like all the albums in it? And I was like, yes, it's - it's going to be called "The Era's Tour." See you there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Noted film critic Poppy Harlow gave it like 30 thumbs up. Can you --

HARLOW: I loved it so much.

MATTINGLY: Enjoy it.

Joining us now, Gannett and USA Today Networks Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West.

Bryan, we appreciate your time.

I've been -- I think we've all read a lot about the process for you to become the Taylor Swift reporter, which I'm fascinated in from an industry perspective. But on the Taylor Swift perspective, this film, it has been a smashing success. Her ability to maintain control over just about every element of it and make it a success, what does this talk -- say about the future of these types of projects?

BRYAN WEST, TAYLOR SWIFT REPORTER, GANNETT AND USA TODAY NETWORK: What's really interesting with this is she was able to do what most studios and streaming services at the time couldn't. So, she made a deal with SAG-AFTRA and then was able to market and promote this movie. It's now gone on to shatter the one-day sales, $100 million for AMC. She's seeing $250 million globally.

But what's interesting is she's now nominated for a Golden Globe in a brand-new category with seven other nominees, including "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer." All that power from Taylor.

As you said, what's different? She went straight to AMC. So, I think we might see more artists or maybe even filmmakers kind of cutting paths.

HARLOW: She didn't just go straight to AMC, she went to the CEO of AMC and was like, let's hash this out, you know. And I just love this power of hers. Also re-releasing all of her albums, Taylor's version. What does it set the bar at for artists as they are coming up? WEST: So, in the music industry, what we've seen with her impact is

some of the contracts for up and coming artists have already changed because of the re-recordings. But as far as her success and her popularity, 1989 was the most recent that she re-released in October and she broke her old record. So, it's Taylor just beating Taylor.

HARLOW: I love that.

OK, Phil hasn't seen it. My experience with this film, because I haven't gone to the show yet --

WEST: What?

HARLOW: Was -- I haven't gone to the show. It was like five bazillion dollars. But other than that, I will go at some point.

[08:55:00]

But the movie was like $30 for two tickets and it was complete with glow in the dark like wands that the theater gave us and we were dancing in the aisle with my daughter. It's such an experience, right? It's not just about going and watching it. It is a true experience in the movie theater, Bryan.

WEST: It's a complete experience. We see fans that are getting up and dancing and they're singing during all of the songs. There's even TikTok's of people performing -- we'll call it "Vigilante," that number in the aisleways. And so, Phil, you have to go. And you - what I think is interesting about this is, it's almost like bring your friend to work day but it's bring your non-Swiftie to a Swiftie concert. And that's why I think her popularity has been growing so much is because when people watch this concert or this film they see kind of how incredible she is as an artist.

MATTINGLY: For the record, I like her music. It's not, you know --

HARLOW: But this is my 40th birthday present to you, Mattingly.

MATTINGLY: I can't wait.

HARLOW: I like that.

MATTINGLY: I can't wait.

Bryan West, we appreciate it, man. Thanks so much for coming on.

HARLOW: And thanks to all of you for joining us.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" is after this.

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