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New Day

Conservatives Form Factions In Battle For Party's Future; Lone Survivor Of Lightning Strike Near White House Joins New Day; Brett Baty's Family Reacts To His First MLB Home Run. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 18, 2022 - 07:30   ET

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


[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, Noah, take a step back even further than that. You're not so sure that the lane metaphor is the right metaphor here. You're looking at another object.

NOAH ROTHMAN, AUTHOR, "THE RISE OF THE NEW PURITANS: FIGHTING BACK AGAINST PROGRESSIVES' WAR ON FUN": Yes. Well, there are distinct strains within the Republican Party -- intellectual strains -- and I think we saw a lot this come to the fore in the immediate wake of this search of Mar-a-Lago, in part because we didn't have enough details to understand what actually happened here, so we treated to our priors.

And within the Republican Party, there are two dispositions. One, the Mike Pence wing, which is very institutionalist and regards themselves as the defenders of propriety and good working order of government, and what have you.

And there's another wing of the Republican Party that regards themselves as -- forgive the metaphor -- insurrectionaries outside the status quo, outside of institutions, banging on the door to get in and more inclined to say well, all right, this institution is illegitimate just because that is their predilection.

This is probably the dynamic that I think defines -- will define the party moving forward into the 2022-2024 midterms -- the idea that there are -- there's a lane that a moderate can occupy and an institutionalist can occupy, and a more populist can occupy I think is betrayed by the fact that there really is one giant funnel of lane for a populist voice -- a Donald Trumpian voice, a Ron DeSantis voice. And then smaller -- you could call them lanes -- I call them tributaries -- that also contribute to -- into that funnel.

BERMAN: You're more about waterways.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, HOST, PBS "FIRING LINE": I really -- I love -- I love the metaphor of waterways and tributaries. The foremost scholar of the American -- modern America conservative movement. George Nash actually writes about how conservatism is a big river with many tributaries.

Unfortunately, those days are over, OK? Let's just be really, really clear there is one river. It is Donald Trump. Donald Trump has absolutely -- there -- this notion that there is like this really diverse patina of intellectual tributaries fueling the movement -- only one person has political power within the Republican Party in the primary base. He's got a 35 percent chokehold on the party and that's the part of the party that shows up in the primaries.

And so, while you do have Pence making the case for blue; and you do have -- I don't know, Tom Cotton making the case for a strong national defense and not withdrawing from Afghanistan, and; you do have these other intellectual strains. None of them have political coherence or palpability. Donald Trump has all of the power.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: It -- but it -- I do think it's possible for someone -- and I know it is because I'm that person -- to believe in the -- in the need for legitimate and strong institutions, but to also simultaneously believe that some of those institutions have, in fact, been rigged, to borrow a word, against the conservative movement.

This was what Donald Trump exposed was that we're out here playing their game. You can't -- you can't -- you can't play their game and expect to be treated fairly.

This is why the other day, when Ron DeSantis turned down the opportunity to go on "THE VIEW" -- it was like the most brilliant thing because the old wisdom would have been oh, you want media exposure if you're going to run for president. But he said I'm not going to play that game. Why would I go play their game?

That's the vibe. That's the vibe. That's my metaphor. It's the vibe in the Republican Party to believe that institutions could be important but you can't play the game they want you to play inside the way they're currently constructed.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: We can all acknowledge based on what we've seen over the last several months, specifically with Liz Cheney being so soundly defeated, Donald Trump still has a very strong hold on the Republican Party in the primaries, and that is undeniable.

But we need to look at the general election. What is the winning formula for the general election? That's where I think we have the three lanes.

We obviously have Donald Trump but we have those who have surrendered to him -- say, Mike Pence. That is one lane. We also have those that are solely focused on Mike Pence, Liz Cheney. And then we have those that are a little bit more savvy.

I think the winning formula are the savvy candidates like a Glenn Youngkin, who will co-exist with Donald Trump but focus on policies that unite the party and policies that the people are interested in -- the economy, jobs, and education. That's the winning lane. That's the lane I would be swimming in if I were running in 2024 because it has worked in a general election. HOOVER: Let me ask you a question, though, Alice. Because in the general election, for so long, so many Republicans said God, I just don't like Donald Trump but his policies are great.

After January sixth, and especially everything that has become -- and I know that January sixth is not viewed from the base of the Republican Party as a legitimate exercise, but in a general election where you have the public looking at all of the information that has come out and what will come out from these FBI raids, is it -- can you beat Glenn Youngkin? Can you not take a stand on the extra- constitutional and unconstitutional stands that Donald Trump has taken?

Can you be neutral in a general election? I'm not so sure.

STEWART: You absolutely can because we saw it in Virginia. People are not focused on the grievances of --

HOOVER: No. I mean in a presidential election in 2024. I apologize.

STEWART: Absolutely, and the reason is because people are still concerned with pocketbook issues. The economy is striving today.

[07:35:02]

They're not focused on the 2020 election and not on January sixth. They won't be focused in 2024 on this raid on Mar-a-Lago. They're going to be focused on education, the economy, and crime. Those are the issues that people are concerned with. And the candidate that focuses on that and talks about those issues and how it impacts them -- that's the candidate I see that has a winning formula.

ROTHMAN: A scenario that presupposes that Glenn Youngkin is the nominee in '24 or Ron DeSantis is the nominee in '24 is a year without Donald Trump at the top of the ticket, which makes it very easy to ignore him. But the unspoken conceit of the we didn't lose 2020 election narrative is that they don't like to lose. If we -- if Republicans end up leaving a lot of winnable races on the table in 2022 because of these narratives -- these conceits that they tell themselves -- that's an easy off-ramp I would think for a Glenn Youngkin type, for a Ron DeSantis type.

JENNINGS: Well, we did -- we've already -- we've already seen this work. I mean, we left races on the table in Georgia because of what Donald Trump did, and look at the cost to the -- if you're a Republican, the results of Republicans not voting there -- the cost to the country leading Joe Biden to be an unmitigated disaster from the Republican point of view.

That all flowed out of the debacle in Georgia. Yet, it doesn't seem to have dented Donald Trump in some ways, although I don't know a single Republican operative who believes anything other than Donald Trump absolutely cost the Republican Party those races in Georgia, which the consequences of which have been disastrous.

STEWART: Yes, which cost us the Senate -- which there, in turn, we haven't been able to get our policies put into place and the Democrats have been able to really steamroll through a lot of policies without a bipartisanship vote.

HOOVER: I think the new puritan in the Republican Party is the puritanism towards Trump. There's just no other way around it. So while you might be for puritanism on the left, we have it on the right, too.

BERMAN: That's a peg.

ROTHMAN: That was a perfect transition. This is the mystery that my book begins with. For all of my adult life, a tendency that saw in seemingly innocent cultural traits -- the capacity to corrupt you and degrade your environment was a right-wing thing. Now, within the last 5-6-7 years, we are treated to moral crusades from the left.

Why are we seeing entertainment companies introduce didactic plotting narratives into plots even at the risk of removing you from your suspension of disbelief in order so that serves a higher social value than mere entertainment? Why are comedians focusing on the pain that somebody had to go through so that you could enjoy something as trite as a punchline?

Why is it that you can't watch sports without digressions on the lamentable states of American race relations and when fans object, as they do, they're admonished for clinging to their escapism over their need to dwell on the pain of existence in an imperfect world at all times?

The book postulates that this is a strain of American puritanism, which has found a home in both political coalitions that is deeply ingrained. Puritanism or progressivism arose from the ashes of the puritan experiment. Its traits are Utopian. A hatred of idleness, a fear of idleness. That which does not contribute actively to the progressive project is a threat to it.

So that is the theory that I advance in this book, which also recommends sort of sitting back and mocking and making fun of a lot of the stuff that is objectively hilarious.

BERMAN: You just -- Noah just wants to have fun, which is -- which is a good song, by the way, and why he didn't wear a tie today, specifically.

ROTHMAN: It's a cool author.

STEWART: And we also hear this is a great beach read.

ROTHMAN: Yes.

STEWART: A great beach read.

BERMAN: Look --

HOOVER: (INAUDIBLE). BERMAN: The book is "The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back Against Progressives' War on Fun." You don't have to agree on it to learn something, which is also I think a theme of the book here. So, thank you --

ROTHMAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: -- very much for being with us.

Noah, Margaret, Scott, Alice, great to see you, one and all.

STEWART: You, too.

BERMAN: So, a Boston hospital facing threats after a false tweet about a procedure offered to young girls goes viral.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And the director of the White House National Economic Council, Brian Deese, will be joining NEW DAY with the state of the country's economic recovery.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:42:57]

KEILAR: Despite the political divide in the U.S., Congress has been passing landmark legislation -- doing quite a lot. John Avlon with our reality check.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Short-term thinking has been killing us as a country. We see politicians more worried about losing their partisan primaries than actually solving problems. CEOs more focused on quarterly earnings than long-term value creation. And culture war controversies that get much more attention than existential threats like climate change.

Now, newsrooms aren't immune. Journalism, like life, is a constant struggle between the urgent and the important. We focus a lot on problems but not nearly enough on solutions.

And when it comes to politics, horse race campaign coverage can eclipse what should be the main event -- covering governing. Because for all the division and dysfunction and attacks on basic facts in our democracy, there's actually a lot getting done in Washington, and much of it is on a bipartisan basis.

Now, you know that presidents, for example, have talked about infrastructure reform for decades, but this Congress actually got it done with 19 Republican senators voting with Democrats for a $1.2 trillion package. That's not all shovel-ready projects but in the long run, it will strengthen society.

Now, likewise, there hasn't been a gun safety bill passed in decades, but two Democrats and two Republicans corralled their Senate colleagues to get a modest but meaningful deal done.

And here's another one. America doesn't do industrial policy but the bipartisanship CHIPS and Science Act invested in semiconductor manufacturing and next-generation tech to keep the U.S. competitive with China, and it passed with 17 Senate GOP votes.

And that's not all. On this bipartisan front, we've seen massive COVID relief, military support for Ukraine, NATO expansion, a ban on products made in Uyghur force labor camps, saved the Postal Service from insolvency, and passed an anti-lynching bill almost a century after it was first proposed.

And even South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham gave President Biden credit for these bipartisan accomplishments.

Now, that's not to say there haven't been plenty of mistakes and missteps, especially over the past year. In particular, the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the rise of inflation to 40-year highs, which caught this administration flat-footed.

[07:45:03]

But that brings me to this week's landmark legislation signed into law, officially known as the Inflation Reduction Act. Now, this one was along party lines and critics groused that it was fundamentally misnamed because it didn't do much to directly reduce inflation. But that almost misses the point because this is legislation that aims to tackle long-term problems like health care costs, energy innovation, combating climate change, all while reducing -- raising revenue to reduce the deficit. And it just might prove that good policy can be good politics.

Now, I know that seems crazy, right, but bear with me here. Capping prescription drug costs for seniors is massively popular. A KFF poll found in March that 92 support in Congress acting to limit out-of- pocket health care costs for seniors. Likewise, lowering prescription drug prices by allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies is a big win. The same poll finding 89 percent of Americans calling it a top or important priority.

Climate change has been a political lightning rod. But according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, 78 percent of registered voters support providing tax rebates for folks who produce energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels, while 79 percent say they support funding more R&D into renewable energy sources, like solar or wind.

And again, remember, this is super-majority support at a time when our politics seem hopelessly divided. Raising more revenue to pay for a plan is something that used to be called fiscal responsibility. What a concept.

And this act, for example, aims to ensure that billion-dollar businesses can't avoid paying taxes, instead imposing a 15 percent minimum tax on large corporations while putting a surcharge on stock buybacks.

And perhaps not coincidentally, a PEW survey from last year found that two-thirds of Americans support raising taxes on big businesses. And get this -- it's predicted (PH) to reduce the deficit by roughly

$300 billion, which is also a political winner with 84 percent of Americans telling PEW back in May that the federal budget deficit is either a very big or moderately big problem. That outpaces climate change, education, and illegal immigration.

The top issue, by far, inflation -- just like the name on the bill suggests -- despite the fact that it's actually a problem for the Fed to tackle.

Now, I'm mentioning all of this because we so often obsess over short- term problems that we miss the bigger picture. And despite all the very real threats to our democracy right now, bipartisan progress is still possible in Congress and that's still a reason to remain a determined optimist.

And that's your reality check.

KEILAR: John Avlon, our optimist. Thank you.

So next, we're going to speak to the sole survivor of that lightning strike that I'm sure you saw near the White House. How she is doing this morning. What she remembers and doesn't remember from that day.

BERMAN: And soon, the former CFO of the Trump Organization expected to plead guilty to a 15-year tax fraud scheme. We are live outside the courthouse.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:50:40]

KEILAR: Two weeks ago, there were four people who were struck by lightning in Lafayette Park near the White House after seeking shelter underneath a tree from a rainstorm. Three of the four died from their injuries, including James and Donna Mueller of Wisconsin, a married couple celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary. And, Brooks Lambertson, a 29-year-old Los Angeles man who was in Washington, D.C. for business that day.

The sole survivor of that deadly lightning strike, Amber Escudero- Kontostathis, is with us now. Amber, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

It is amazing to talk to you after what you've been through. Can you just tell us how you're doing?

AMBER ESCUDERO-KONTOSTATHIS, SURVIVED LIGHTNING STRIKE NEAR WHITE HOUSE: I'm doing really great considering. I'm recovering pretty quickly minus the nerve damage. You know, trying to get back to normal as far as the regular day-to-day activities, but still processing -- still not feeling like it's a real thing that I went through. Just kind of waiting to wake up from this. That's how I kind of feel about it.

BERMAN: Look, I get it. There's the physical and there is the emotional. Just on the physical, you said nerve damage. What exactly do you mean? What does it feel like for you at this point physically, and what are doctors telling you about what it's going to feel like going forward?

KONTOSTATHIS: So, the doctor part -- they kind of have an idea based on some other patients that they've worked with that have nerve damage for other reasons -- some people with electric shocks and things like that.

But I've been reminded that they have never had a patient that has kind of survived and gone through what I have -- not just the strike itself being such high voltage with six strikes in that half-second that we absorbed through the ground, but on top of that the emergency E.R. nurses actually brought my heartbeat back twice. And there was 10 minutes between those two heartbeats where I didn't have oxygen to my brain. I didn't have a heartbeat at all.

So there's just a lot of other factors that they just have never seen before, so it's a day-by-day process.

The nerve damage, though, is from basically my waist down where I can't -- I can't feel the backside of my legs. I'm able to walk, sometimes without the walker, but sometimes my legs just don't want to do what they're supposed to. It feels like -- almost like pins and needles is the best way to explain it, but just really magnified. Sometimes it feels like my feet are on fire or really cold because the nerves don't know how to process pain.

So a long road ahead but I'm grateful to be here and grateful to be on it.

KEILAR: Yes, and we are grateful to be speaking to you. And the emotional piece of this I don't think can be overstated, as you are the sole survivor. And also, the fact that you're missing time from that day. How are you dealing with that and trying to make sense of things?

KONTOSTATHIS: That part's been really tough. I feel like I catch myself trying to find out more through news articles, bystanders, interviews that have happened by others that were there that day to kind of fill in blanks.

Luckily, I got to meet two of the traveling E.R. nurses that were there to help save my life and one of the Secret Service officers that was rotating through and doing the chest compressions that helped save me.

And they filled in a lot of those gaps for me because literally, they were like you were dead twice. Like, you were completely unresponsive. My body was blue basically from the waist up and gray from the waist down. So I guess that's not going to come back. The doctors told me to kind of accept that amnesia.

But I do remember talking to the couple from Wisconsin earlier on in the day. I don't remember being huddled under the tree. But when I was finally made aware that there were other victims and that they had passed, I saw their photo and I do remember talking to them and stopping them. And they were just really lovely, wonderful people. My heart is constantly breaking for both of those families that are going through that loss.

BERMAN: And we have to let you go, but what are the explanations for how you survived? I understand your shoes may have played a role?

KONTOSTATHIS: So, the shoes get a lot of attention. The Doc Martins have really thick rubber soles. However, they probably helped reduce the shock that I absorbed somewhat.

But I would not be here if it were not for the emergency responders, the EMTs, the ICU nurses, the burn center, Secret Service, and others. Don't just go out in a thunderstorm wearing Docs because that will not save you. That's for sure.

[07:55:09]

It's the miracle makers that allow miracle stories to happen, so they get all the -- all the props. All the attention goes to them.

KEILAR: Yes, it's -- look, it's amazing what they did that you are here today talking to us, Amber. We know you have a lot of plans ahead in your life and those things that you are going to accomplish are going to honor the people who are not able to speak with us today.

Amber, thank you so much --

KONTOSTATHIS: Yes.

KEILAR: -- for being with us. We really appreciate it.

KONTOSTATHIS: Thank you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

KEILAR: And if people do want to donate to the International Rescue Committee, which is why Amber was there in Lafayette Park, they can go to rescue.org/Amber.

BERMAN: So the clock is ticking for former President Trump's legal team to respond to requests to unseal the Mar-a-Lago search affidavit. We are live outside the courthouse in Palm Beach.

(COMMERCIAL)

KEILAR: Actor Jonah Hill says he's not going to be promoting his new movie. He's writing in an open letter that in working on his new documentary "STUTZ," quote, "I have come to the understanding that I have spent nearly 20 years experiencing anxiety attacks, which are exacerbated by media appearances and public-facing events."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Fly ball hit well hit right.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: Brett Baty, of the New York Mets, hit his first home run in his very first swing in the Major Leagues. His whole family was there from Texas to see it. You can see his father crying there. Baty was supposed to make his debut Tuesday but missed his flight. What a moment.

KEILAR: Papa Johns is now serving toppings -- hold the pizza.

[08:00:00]