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Harris Promises Tax Cuts; Hollywood Heads to Chicago for DNC; Ron Klain is Interviewed about Biden and Harris; Clinton Among DNC Headliners. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired August 19, 2024 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: That Donald Trump infused into the economy. Then there was more spending from Biden. I am just - I'm just offering you the counterpoint. I'm letting you make your argument.
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think - I don't know - I don't -
HUNT: I will say that Republicans would push back and say that this contributed to it.
SELLERS: I would - I have to go to - I have to go to the facts.
HUNT: Now, I am not an economic expert.
SELLERS: No, I'm going to go to the fact -
HUNT: That is the political argument.
SELLERS: Which means I'm going to search on Twitter in a minute to see -
HUNT: Go right ahead.
SELLERS: And see if that's true.
BEDINGFIELD: But the Inflation Reduction Act didn't cause - the Inflation Reduction Act didn't cause inflation in Europe.
SELLERS: Correct.
BEDINGFIELD: It didn't cause inflation in Asia, where we've seen -
HUNT: I should be clear, I'm not arguing that it did or it didn't.
BEDINGFIELD: So, it's - it's, I think, you know.
HUNT: I am just saying that the political argument -
BEDINGFIELD: But I think the other problem - SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, but - but to continue -
BEDINGFIELD: Can I just say -
HUNT: Yes.
BEDINGFIELD: I think the other problem with where Republicans are on this on trying to attack the price gauging proposal, for example, is, you know, government setting prices and - so, if you strip that argument down to its - it's studs, you have Democrats saying - you have Kamala Harris saying, I'm going to take action to further bring prices down. And you have Republicans saying, no we're not going to, and no you shouldn't.
SELLERS: That's a fair (ph) question.
HUNT: And that is a (INAUDIBLE).
SINGLETON: No, that is not - that's not - that's not - that is -
BEDINGFIELD: That is a losing - in this environment, that's a losing argument.
SINGLETON: No. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, that's not - Kate, no, that is not what Republicans are saying. What Republicans are simply saying is, how in the world can the federal government decide the cost of a good today compared to tomorrow? That's simple - simple supply and demand economics.
BEDINGFIELD: But it's not - like, that's also not what the proposal is though. I mean it's -
SINGLETON: I mean how - how - no, no. no. No, but - and Republicans are also saying, if you're going to control cost of goods, does the federal government all of a sudden determines how much of that good should be in the marketplace?
I mean this is really disruptive to the economic principles in general.
SELLERS: So, let's say -
SINGLETON: And that's what Republicans are warning against.
SELLERS: Let's say - let's say - let's say we give you that argument -
BEDINGFIELD: No.
SELLERS: Which we don't. But for the purposes of -
SINGLETON: But it's a factual argument, Bakari.
SELLERS: But for the -
BEDINGFIELD: But it's - it's - SINGLETON: Not to get into economic theory here, but that's a factual argument.
SELLERS: No, that's a - but - but for the purpose -
BEDINGFIELD: It's not.
SINGLETON: It absolutely is, Kate.
SELLERS: But for the purposes of - of people eating breakfast right now, right. So, let's say I give you that argument.
SINGLETON: Sure.
SELLERS: So, what is - what - and the problem that I have is, what has Donald Trump articulated as his view or policy point to rein in inflation?
SINGLETON: Bakari, that's a fair point. And I can give -
SELLERS: No, I -
SINGLETON: Give you - that's a fair point. And I can give you what I think Republicans, generally speaking, should - should -
SELLERS: No, no, no. No, no, no, what did Donald Trump - no, no, what's -
SINGLETON: I can - I can give you what Republican, literally speaking, should - should be on that page. I can tell you where Shermichael should be on that issue.
BEDINGFIELD: Republican generically aren't running for president.
HUNT: OK.
BEDINGFIELD: Donald Trump is running for president.
HUNT: OK.
Mark, let me kind of bring you in here, because I will say, on Harris' economic plan, the editorial - "The Washington Post" editorial board wrote this, quote, "the times demand serious economic ideas. Harris supplies gimmicks."
Now, you note that what she is saying there is a very overwhelmingly popular idea. Do you think that what she did on Friday helped advance her case or did she do her - do damage to her campaign?
MARK MCKINNON, FORMER ADVISER TO GEORGE W. BUSH AND JOHN MCCAIN: Well, I'm a shallow media guy. I love fights (ph).
Like you said, it's political. It's a campaign. It's a plus 42. Yes, it works.
But to the point - I mean, if you have "The Washington Post" criticizing your economic (INAUDIBLE), you've got to - you've got a potential problem there.
SELLERS: Listen (ph).
MCKINNON: And it's an opening. And to your - I mean what Trump and Republicans have to do is keep focusing on the economy, inflation, and the border. Those three, period, end of story.
HUNT: Yes, fair enough.
All right, still to come here on CNN THIS MORNING, tonight, President Biden passing the torch to Kamala Harris. His former chief of staff, Ron Klain, joins us live here in just a few minutes.
Plus -
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIA LOUIS DREYFUS, ACTRESS: I am not leaving. POTUS is leaving. He's not going to run for a second term. I'm going to run for president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Oh, "Veeps" star Julia Louis Dreyfus is just one of the many celebrities set to be in attendance at the DNC this week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:37:49]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN LEGEND, MUSICIAN (singing) (August 25, 2008): Tomorrow starting now.
KATY PERRY, MUSICIAN (singing) (July 20, 2016): You're going to hear me roar.
SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ACTRESS (September 6, 2012): Re-elect President Barack Obama.
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, ACTRESS (August 20, 2020): Joe Biden goes to church so regularly that he doesn't even need tear gas and a bunch of federalized troops to help him get there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Oh boy.
The Democratic National Convention will be buzzing this week with celebrities performing and speaking in support of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. The a-listers include Kerry Washington, Mindy Kaling, Anna Navarro, dozens more stars in attendance. New to this year's DNC, however, will be remarks from social media influencers invited to speak each night to try to appeal to young voters.
Mark McKinnon, go ahead. MCKINNON: Yes, I've got something to say on this.
HUNT: Yes.
MCKINNON: I had the worst job in the world, which was, I was responsible for entertainment for two Republican conventions. And I made a thousand phone calls because they were like, get Bono, get 50 Cent. And at the end of the day, every time, it was Lee Greenwood, the Oakridge Boys, and Wayne Newton.
HUNT: Did you book Clint Eastwood? I don't think you did.
MCKINNON: No, I - no, that's Stewart (INAUDIBLE). Stewart and Russ (ph).
HUNT: I remember one of them throwing up in a trash can after that happened.
MCKINNON: Yes.
HUNT: No, but, I mean, in seriousness, this is something where Democrats tend to have a lot more options than Republicans. How much do you think it matters?
MCKINNON: I think there is a margin where there's just a - it's a cultural sense that this ticket is in tune with where the culture is. I think it's just a cultural sort of signal. I - you know, I think you can overplay the Hollywood card for sure. And - and that's how Republicans work against it to say, oh, it's just the Hollywood elites. But if you've got everybody in cultural - you know, big cultural people, like Taylor, you know, et cetera.
BEDINGFIELD: Well, it -
SELLERS: I just think it's about the message.
Oh, I'm sorry.
BEDINGFIELD: No, no, go ahead.
SELLERS: I think it's about the messenger too because we live in such non-traditional times now that, you know, voters don't necessarily listen to the five of us as much as we wish they would, right?
MCKINNON: Yes.
SELLERS: Or believed they do. When we wake up in the shower, I'm going to go out here and move public opinion today, right?
So, I do think, though, that, you know, when you have these kind of non - the streamers, for example, that I don't really even know how that works, but there is an entire generation of people who - who watch streamers and want to hear what they say.
[06:40:06]
Swifties are.
I mean, look, Taylor Swift has practically destroyed ISIS, right? They made the mistake of trying to attack Taylor Swift, and she's like taking them out. And so if - if Taylor Swift or Beyonce or John Legend or Katy Perry or Kerry Washington, the list goes on and on and on, they are able to communicate to people in ways that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and these - these voters may have a trust with them.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes, from a very -
MCKINNON: That's a -
HUNT: I - I take your point about culture, but the - Taylor Swifts still seems to me like in a category by herself, if were talking about that.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes.
HUNT: I mean she could literally get tens of thousands of people to volunteer (ph) to vote.
SELLERS: Ma'am, ma'am, have you - have you heard of Beyonce?
HUNT: I have. Yes.
SELLERS: OK.
BEDINGFIELD: Taylor -
HUNT: I have.
SELLERS: So, those categories are in rarefied air together.
BEDINGFIELD: Taylor and Beyonce are on their own -
HUNT: Yes, that's fine. And we can add - we can put Beyonce up there. Let's - let's put them both up there.
SELLERS: I'm just trying to keep you out of trouble.
HUNT: OK. Yes, thank you. Fine. Fair enough.
But, I mean, the - Kate, I mean, it - there is this kind of fragmentation and this - that's kind of what this speaks to.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes. So, first of all, I agree, Taylor, Beyonce, and their own - in their own. If either of them are listening, we would love your endorsement.
But - but at a tactical level, I mean, this kind of goes to what Bakari is saying. But, I mean, these are people who have followings of people who aren't tuned into politics. I mean that's - you know, and in a marginal race -
MCKINNON: Yes. BEDINGFIELD: In a race that's going to be very, very close, if you have a following on Instagram or TikTok of people, you know, young women, young men who aren't, you know, watching cable news or even paying attention to politics, you know, that can be - that can be helpful.
MCKINNON: The way to get to low information voters.
BEDINGFIELD: I mean you're trying - right, you're trying to flood the zone and it is a way to reach low information voters who just aren't otherwise dialed in.
SINGLETON: I mean you've even seen Trump talking with a lot of guys who are streamers. You've seen that, because they recognized, at least from the Republican perspective, that there are - there are these disengage, low propensity voters, specifically men, who don't vote. They're not really calculated in the numbers that we currently have. To say, hey, maybe some of these guys can help us reach those demographics to help them turn out. Democrats have always recognized that and they've, I would argue, have been fairly well - or have done fairly well, I will say, for a couple years now of getting those younger voters to turn out. We saw it in 2020. President Biden's coalition, I think, 26 percent were younger voters, individuals who had never voted before. And I think you're going to see that replicated again.
HUNT: Yes, I mean, it is a contrast, Mark, with - like we saw Hulk Hogan at the RNC this time. That was - you can see kind of the messaging and the cultural differences, the things they are choosing to highlight.
MCKINNON: Yes, but, I mean, this is a really good example of how Republicans are trying to reach out to cultural messengers.
HUNT: Yes.
MCKINNON: And, you know, that's how you get it. You get it through one-to-one now instead of, you know, broadcast.
HUNT: Yes.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes.
HUNT: There he is, Hulk Hogan.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes, that's also where you can see the gender gap in this race big time on display.
HUNT: A hundred percent. A hundred percent.
All right, let's turn now to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (1980): I'm not at all offended that none of you have any idea who I am. BIDEN (2004): It's time to elect John Kerry.
BIDEN (2008): I accept your nomination to run and serve with Barack Obama.
BIDEN (2012): With great honor and pleasure I accept.
BIDEN (2016): We owe the finish line.
BIDEN (2020): I accept this nomination for president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, 52 years after attending his first Democratic National Convention, President Biden will take the stage in Chicago tonight to speak to his party. This time, not as a senator or vice president, but as the occupant of that office that he has worked so hard to seek as president the United States of America. And tonight he'll pass the torch to Kamala Harris, representing a new generation of Democratic leaders.
As he ascends the convention stage at the conclusion of his political time in the spotlight, Biden's speech is an opportunity to lay out the legacy that he set out in his first DNC address back in 1980.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN (1980): The essential spirit of our party and our country was best summed up in a less noted passage for President Kennedy's inaugural address, which if anything is more relevant today than it was 20 years ago. President Kennedy said then, with a good conscience, our only reward, with history the final judge of our deeds. Let us go forth and lead the land we love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Joining me now is President Biden's former chief of staff, Ron Klain.
Ron, good morning. I'm so grateful to have you on the show.
I -- interesting to hear how his cadence seemed to echo John Kennedy -- John F. Kennedy's cadence then, we've obviously seen him evolve on the stage.
I was just hoping to start with your reflections on tonight because ultimately, this is going to be about President Biden's legacy. Clearly, there are some hard feelings about how this all played out.
But Kamala Harris winning this election would make a huge difference to Biden's legacy in the long term, no?
RON KLAIN, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, yeah, I think it goes way beyond his legacy.
Look, the president and the vice president worked together very hard these four years to bring the country back from the pandemic, to get our economy growing again, to fight climate change, to address problems here at home and around the world. They've made a lot of progress, but there's a lot of work left to do.
[06:45:02]
And the president's decided the person to lead that work is Vice President Harris and her running mate, Governor Walz.
And you'll hear him tonight not so much talk about his legacy, but talk about the future, what America can be under Harris-Walz and his enthusiasm about our future as a country, his optimism about the kind of country we can be if we choose wisely in November.
He's very enthusiastic about going to Chicago tonight. I talked to him last night. He's very enthusiastic about -- enthusiastic about the chance to make the case for the path forward for these next four years under Vice President Harris and Governor Walz.
HUNT: What else can you tell us, Ron, about what to expect if you've spoken to him recently?
I know one thing we've reported here is that he's going to focus on the threat to democracy that Donald Trump represents. That's clearly something that's been personally animating for him even if it's kind of a darker way of looking at it, and perhaps Kamala Harris has presented in her run.
KLAIN: Well, I think he will talk about the challenge we face as democracy right now here at home and around the world. And it's been a signature of his presidency, signature why he ran for president in 2020, why he won, and why we did so well in the midterms in 2022. And he'll make that case again tonight, as he said, we addressed the country from the Oval Office when he announced his departure from the race.
You know, democracy is on the line this year, and the Vice President Harris is the right person to save our democracy here at home, and around the world and make our country a better place.
And he's very excited about it. I think Democrats are very enthusiastic about this ticket, very enthusiastic about where we're headed, and I think you'll see Democrats to try to go (ph), H-O-T-T-O- G-O, hot to go for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
HUNT: Fair enough, Ron.
Can I ask you about Dr. Jill Biden, who we're also expected to hear from tonight? She, of course, is someone who was standing by her husband when he was staying in this presidential race. How hard are the feelings there? And what should we expect from her tonight?
KLAIN: I don't -- there are no hard feelings at all. There's just a lot of -- the president and the first lady are just giant fans and friends of Vice President Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. The two families are very close.
She's very enthusiastic about the vice president's candidacy. She -- I know one of her big concerns when the president is off the race was making sure that the party would unite behind the vice president as it has. And she's very enthusiastic about that.
You'll hear her make her own strong case for Vice President Harris and the leadership she can provide our country on things like women's rights and reproductive freedom. The vice president's been a leader since the Dobbs decision came down on trying to protect women's rights in this country.
And that's very important to Dr. Biden. And, you know, I think you'll hear her make the case for Vice President Harris tonight as well.
HUNT: Ron, why in your view, is Donald Trump attacking Kamala Harris the way that he has been?
KLAIN: Well, I think he's a little perplexed about what to do. I think he has only one playbook. It's a combination of misogyny and racism.
It's been his playbook. It was -- you know, the misogyny part of it was his playbook in 2016 when he ran against Secretary Clinton. He's trying to recycle those old tired arguments.
But I think the country is ready for Vice President Harris to lead our country. She's done a superb job as vice president. She's been in the room on key decisions. She's represented our country overseas at the Munich Security Conference.
She sat down face-to-face with world leaders on behalf of the U.S. --
HUNT: Right.
KLAIN: -- including president of Ukraine and other leaders.
And so, I think that he really doesn't know what to say about her, so he's just throwing old garbage at her.
HUNT: All right. Ron Klain, thanks for being here. Very grateful for your time this morning. I appreciate it.
KLAIN: Thanks for having me.
HUNT: All right, still ahead here - of course - on CNN this morning, we are just hours away from the start of the Democratic National Convention. A lineup leads things off with heavy hitters from the party. Plus, we're going to hear from President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
And 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton will talk to our panel about what they expect from those Democratic leaders coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:54:04] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (July 28, 2016): Tonight we've reached a milestone in our nation's march toward a more perfect union. The first time that a major party has nominated a woman for president.
After all, when there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Eight years after that moment, Hillary Clinton takes the DNC stage again tonight. A person familiar with her thinking telling CNN, quote, "she'll talk about how many cracks have been put in the glass ceiling, but she'll also talk about what she sees once the glass is shattered, once Harris does it."
Our panel's back.
I want to kind of spin through quickly as we wrap things up here, what are you expecting, hoping to see tonight, Kate?
BEDINGFIELD: I think what we're going to see is a harnessing of this energy that is so palpable in the Democratic Party right now. I think Hillary Clinton is somebody who Democrats have enormous respect for, I think. You know, I also think that, you know, there's the audience in the convention hall who's going to be, I think, absolutely crazy for her.
[06:55:06]
And then there's also the audience at home. And I think that after - as now that we've seen four years of Donald Trump in office, we've seen that chaos. We see what that looks like. I think there are a lot of swing voters who say, man, we might have made the wrong choice in 2016. And I think she's going to help sort of remind people of that.
SELLERS: I would love to hear from some of the strategies to my left. But one of the things that I believe Hillary Clinton's going to be able to do that Kamala Harris won't do is lean into identity. One of the things Kamala Harris hasn't done since she's been running is talk about the fact that she is a black woman, or lean into just being a woman, or being a woman of color. I think Hillary Clinton is going to be able to do that tonight.
One of the things that we always say about Kamala Harris is the same thing we said about the reason Barack Obama didn't necessarily lean into that either is because you can see the history,. They're walking history.
HUNT: Yes.
SELLERS: I expect Hillary to be able to tackle some of that.
HUNT: Shermichael, quick. SINGLETON: Well, look, she's ran against the former president before. I think she understands what it takes to potentially get that close to beating him. I expect - and I'm very impressed by Hillary Clinton, just broadly speaking, as a politician, I really expect her to send a case to not only older white woman, but younger white woman about the importance of them rallying behind Kamala Harris.
HUNT: Mark.
MCKINNON: That's a - that's a great point. I'm thinking about my daughter, who in - my youngest daughter, who in 2016, I couldn't get out of bed for three days. She's out of bed right now and she's thanking Hillary Clinton for making it all possible.
HUNT: Very interesting.
All right, thank you all for being here with us.
Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere, "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" next from right here in Chicago.
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