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Trump's First 100 Days; Stock Market Reaction to Election Results; Electoral College Versus the Popular Vote. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired November 10, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00] DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The other thing that I heard Rudy say was still mulling over whether there should be some prosecution -

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, he wants to get some easy wins, which makes sense for a new administration, especially with a president- elect who's going to be as sensitive as Donald Trump will be to his approval ratings.

AXELROD: Well, do you think a - I'm talking about the - the case of Hillary Clinton. Do you think prosecuting Hillary Clinton would be an early win?

CUOMO: I think that Rudy Giuliani has very definite feelings about that, that may or may not be shared by Donald Trump, president-elect.

AXELROD: I think the president-elect should think long and hard about what that would mean for the country. I think - first of all, I don't think it is warranted from what the FBI director said. So it would look like a political - a political escapade, but really vengeful. And I think it would be a huge mistake.

I remember when we took office, there were many people on the left who thought that there were figures within the Bush administration who should be prosecuted for actions that were taken during the Iraq war.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

AXELROD: And the president said, we need to look forward and not back. It's a good example.

CUOMO: Well, it's on President Obama a little bit, too. Will he pardon Hillary Clinton? We'll see.

CAMEROTA: David Axelrod, thank you very much. Nice to see you.

AXELROD: OK, guys. Have a great day.

CAMEROTA: You too.

Donald Trump's transition kicking into high gear. He made a lot of promises for his first 100 days. What can he actually get done? We will speak with former White House chief of staff, Governor John Sununu, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:35:25] CAMEROTA: President-Elect Donald Trump has 71 days before he officially moves into the White House. His transition team now focusing on the task of picking a cabinet and vetting appointees to key departments, many of which require Senate confirmation.

Let's discuss it all with John Sununu. He is the former Republican governor of New Hampshire, who supported Donald Trump.

Congratulations, governor.

JOHN SUNUNU (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: Well, it was an interesting night, wasn't it, Alisyn? A lot of surprises. But, I must admit, for the first time in a long time, I think my kids and my grandkids might see a greater America. So it's good.

CAMEROTA: Well, let's hope that you are right. And congratulations to your son, as well, who won his race.

SUNUNU: Thank you. Thank you. Now there's two Governor Sununus.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that's confusing, but good for you guys. So -

SUNUNU: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Governor, let's talk about what Donald Trump has promised to do in his first 100 days.

SUNUNU: Right.

CAMEROTA: Let me put up on the screen his legislative agenda. He says that his action plan for the first 100 days are deliver the biggest tax cut since Ronald Reagan, tariffs to stop companies from going overseas, infrastructure investment, end Common Core, that's part of the public school agenda, promote school choice, repeal and replace Obamacare, enforce that - or include that child care tax deduction that he's talked about and child care services, build the wall along the Mexican border, create a task force on violent crime and rebuild the military, eliminate the defense sequester.

You've done this job. How realistic is that?

SUNUNU: Well, I think it's realistic to get a good start on all of that. You know, it - Congress is a - even when it's your own party, Congress has to be recognized as having an internal process of committee hearings and so on. But I think he can lay out those things with Congress and lay out a path to completion on most of that.

Whether it gets all done in the 100 days, I'm not sure. I suspect it won't all get done. But certainly enough progress will be made that I think the public will recognize it's on its way.

CAMEROTA: What do you think about Congress' appetite for being cooperative with a President Trump? SUNUNU: I think with the victory - the size of this victory and the

strength of this victory, I think there's going to be a lot more willingness in Congress to follow the agenda that matches the driving force for the victory. Congress needs leadership. And if Donald Trump leads, Congress will respond. People do not understand that the gridlock that we have seen is because, in my opinion, there's been zero presidential leadership.

CAMEROTA: But explain that, Governor Sununu, because, you know -

SUNUNU: Yes.

CAMEROTA: As we've heard -

SUNUNU: Sure.

CAMEROTA: Hold on a second. President Obama, when he took office, went over to Congress to try to get them on board with his jobs plan and we've all heard the stories of how Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell had this secret meeting that then was widely reported that they said we're going to block him at every turn. Our main goal is to keep him a one- term president. We are going to say no to everything he wants.

SUNUNU: Same thing happened when Bush - the first George Bush came in, the Democrats in Congress were determined to obstruct. They had 260- 175 in the House, 55-45 in the Senate. But George Bush kept at it. He didn't take the first negative response as reality. You have to remember, Congress was bitter at Ronald Reagan because of Iran Contra. So Jimmy Baker had to go up and break that logjam. George Bush got personally involved.

So a president that's willing to lead, and spend political capital can make the change. A president that wants to go down and dictate, which I really do believe Obama went down trying to tell them, this is what we're going to do and you either take it or leave it, they won't respond to that.

CAMEROTA: Hmm.

SUNUNU: George Bush showed how it could be done and I think that's a model even when it's your own party down there, go down there and work with them to find -

CAMEROTA: Yes.

SUNUNU: Where the sharp edges have to be removed.

CAMEROTA: Governor, very quickly, I want to show you the names that have been floated for Donald Trump's cabinet picks. Here are just some of them. You see Rudy Giuliani, you see Newt Gingrich, you see General Michael Flynn, you see Jeff Sessions, who was an early supporter, Reince Priebus, Ben Carson. Do you think that there will be a woman in Donald Trump's cabinet?

SUNUNU: Oh, I'm sure there probably will. The most important appointments he has to make is his national security adviser, his chief of staff, and his legal counsel in the White House and his secretary of state, secretary of treasury and his director of OMB. And in those places, there's certainly room for talented women, not only in those places, but across the cabinet.

[08:40:09] CAMEROTA: Any name you want to float right now?

SUNUNU: No, I don't. But I'll tell you one who's not going there.

CAMEROTA: Oh, yes?

SUNUNU: An old, cranky former governor.

CAMEROTA: I don't know who you're referring to. Governor John Sununu, thank you very much.

SUNUNU: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Nice to have you on NEW DAY.

SUNUNU: Thanks, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Chris.

CUOMO: All right, the markets have reacted negatively in the past to Donald Trump, and futures tanked when he won. But, guess what? The market did well. In fact, stocks are staging a surprise rally on the heels of Trump's win. So, what's going to happen today? Some suggest it may be an all-time high. We have analysis ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: The stock market defying conventional wisdom. The chaos that some expected upon Donald Trump being elected did not materialize. So with the market set to open in 45 minutes, what do we expect today? Chief business correspondent Christine Romans has it all.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I love covering the markets. Predicting the markets is folly, I'm telling you right now. But I'll tell you, 24 hours ago I stood here, remember, and it was a freak-out. It was - it was for a hot second there was chaos and then things really stabilized. And here's where we stand right now.

[08:45:09] You could see the Dow Jones Industrial average open at a record high. Never has been so high if it holds here. I mean that's kind of remarkable considering all the gloom and doom you heard if Donald Trump were elected president, there could be a global recession because of his trade wars. Well, instead, you've got the Dow Jones Industrial average really close to new highs here.

So, why? Let's look at the movers yesterday. Bank stocks did great. Huge gains for bank stocks because he has said he would dismantle banking regulation that President Obama put in and Congress put in after the Great Recession. Construction, I mean things like Caterpillar, a bunch of steel stocks because they think Donald Trump is going to push through a huge infrastructure bill that will be really profitable for those companies. Hospitals, real big losses. Crashes for some of the hospitals because they think if he does repeal and replace Obamacare, it could be very disruptive for these hospitals who have seen a whole bunch of new customers, uninsured people who need health care.

When you look at global markets, also a bounce back here. Look at this. Remember that big loss I told you about in Tokyo, completely turned around. London has now turned down a little bit, but Paris and Frankfurt are higher. Gold, though, still up and that might be a really important note here, guys, because if gold is up, that still shows that there's some concerns and uncertainty.

So I predict unpredictability. That is my call.

CAMEROTA: I think you've said that two days in a row. I see you're sticking with that.

ROMANS: I'm sticking with that call.

CAMEROTA: Christine, I like that. Very good.

CUOMO: All right, here's some food for thought for you. A lot of people are discussing right now, why did one person win the popular vote and there - and she's not president but the Electoral College is - why do we have it? The answer's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:17] CUOMO: Campaign controversy. Take a look at the numbers. Clinton won the popular vote, but she lost the electoral vote. This is the fifth time a president has won without the popular vote. Most notably the last time was in 2000. What does this say about the Electoral College? Why do we have it? Let's discuss with Julian Zelizer, historian and professor at Princeton University and author of "The Fierce Urgency of Now."

Why do we have this? No other country has it.

JULIAN ZELIZER, HISTORIAN & PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Well, this is part of our Constitution. Part of it was to protect small states. Part of it was to protect slave states. And also part of it was, we didn't have a democratic ethos in some ways when this country was founded, so it was about electors rather than the populist. It's a relic, though, and many people don't like this system because of what happened the other night.

CAMEROTA: Right, because if you're going to tell people that every vote counts and get out there and vote, and then you find out that she can lose the popular vote, every vote does not count. If this was based on protecting slave states, what does that mean? How was it going to protect slave states?

ZELIZER: Well, it helped small, rural states instead of very big, populous states and -

CUOMO: Because it was an offset for a slave population.

CAMEROTA: Because (INAUDIBLE) -

ZELIZER: Right.

CUOMO: Because they couldn't vote, they had to bump up the relevance of those states -

ZELIZER: Right.

CUOMO: To make up for the difference in population.

ZELIZER: And you still see that dynamic in this election. Meaning, Hillary Clinton did very well in very diverse, pluralistic states like California, and in smaller states he won by a narrow margin and was able to get the victory.

CAMEROTA: Can we get rid of the Electoral College?

ZELIZER: So, there's been many times we've tried to reform it. In 1969 was the biggest effort by Senator Bayh, who is Evan Bayh's father, and it was after the 1968 election was very close. And so there was an effort to reform it. It didn't work. It's a Constitution -

CUOMO: Why? Who wants it?

ZELIZER: It's a constitutional amendment process.

CUOMO: I know. You can do it.

ZELIZER: Yes.

CUOMO: A constitutional amendment is tough. Lots of different -

ZELIZER: Liberals. Often it's a liberal cause. It's the idea that we need a popular system and we need to empower these bigger states, otherwise it's bias toward more conservative states. And after 2000, you had a more bipartisan interest in it, after the 2000 election.

CAMEROTA: So why didn't they fix it after that? (INAUDIBLE) -

ZELIZER: It's the kind of issue on polls most people support a different kind of system, popular vote, but it's not an issue people vote on. People on bread and butter issues and there's not a lot of pressure to get that amendment through.

CAMEROTA: I have an interesting tweet from Donald Trump. This was after Mitt Romney's loss in 2012. Donald Trump tweeted, "the Electoral College is a disaster for democracy."

ZELIZER: Right. That's now all over the place. But it benefited him that time - this time. And that's part of the -

CUOMO: He lost if he did it on just popular vote.

ZELIZER: Right. There was a moment in 2012 it looked like Romney might get more of the popular vote and he didn't. That's another reason the reform doesn't work. It's often promoted by the losing side. CUOMO: The loser.

ZELIZER: And so it's hard to get that through.

CUOMO: Having taken a breath -

ZELIZER: Yes.

CUOMO: What is your gut now on how this election is remembered in history? For - you know, for what? What will be the biggest memory?

ZELIZER: Well, it will be the most controversial, divisive election that we have had in a long time. It will be the election where we had the victor with the least experience in politics of anyone that we've seen. I believe it's an election where the wounds will be deep from the campaign that were created as a result of the rhetoric and ideas that were put out there by the victor. And we'll see what happens in the - in the first year. And it's also the biggest upset. It is one of the biggest surprises and upsets that we've seen.

CAMEROTA: Look, I know it's hard to write history in real time, but when you say the wounds will be the deepest, I mean already the rhetoric coming from the Democratic side, Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, has been - President Obama, has been one of healing and reconciliation.

ZELIZER: Right. Give it a day. It's like the letter. It will change. And I -

CUOMO: Especially with the Democrats, right?

ZELIZER: Sure.

CUOMO: Because if you ever see the Democratic Party in modern - in the modern era less in touch with who they're about and what they're about than right now.

ZELIZER: And the Democrats have a fundamental problem. They lost the vote of many blue and working class Americans who should be at the core of their constituency. So they're sitting and scratching their heads and saying, why is there disconnect between the policies we promote and where people are voting? So I think, as this gets deeper and deeper into the presidency, those nice words will end.

CAMEROTA: We'll see if your jaded view takes hold.

Professor, thanks so much for being here.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Late night comics wasted no time getting their jokes in order after Donald Trump's big win. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": The big story is that America woke up this morning and was like -

STEVE URKEL, "FAMILY MATTERS": Did I do that?

FALLON: That's right, Donald Trump is going to be president. Republicans hope he'll keep his promise to build a wall, and Democrats hope he'll keep his promise not to accept the election results.

[08:55:04] SAMANTHA BEE, "FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTHA BEE": Our democracy just hoisted up a marmalade hair ball with the whole world watching. What we did was the Democratic equivalent of installing an above-ground pool. Even if we're lucky and it doesn't seep into our foundations, the neighbors will never look at us the same way again.

SETH MEYERS, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": My wife and I went to watch the election returns at a friend's house, and before we left, we put our eight-month-old son to bed, and I was holding him and I said to him, when you wake up tomorrow morning, we might have our first female president. And then when we came home around midnight, I went into his room, shook his crib until he woke up and screamed, we have to get out of here!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: The elites need to learn to laugh less and listen more and they would have understood a little bit more about this.

CAMEROTA: Profound.

CUOMO: And, look, we heard it early on traveling around the country, right? That's what we started saying, you can joke about Trump. Don't joke about the people behind him.

CAMEROTA: Look, who doesn't like an Urkel reference?

All right, on that note -

CUOMO: (INAUDIBLE).

CAMEROTA: On that note, let's get to "Newsroom" with Carol Costello. It will pick up after this very quick break. We'll see you tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. And thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello, live in Washington, D.C.

[09:00:01] President Obama, just a couple of hours away from meeting with the man who vows to dismantle the key pillars of his legacy. Behind closed doors, Obama will sit down with his successor, President-Elect Donald Trump, in the Oval Office.