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New Day Saturday
How the Shutdown Impacts Americans; U.S. Government Shutdown as Senate Rejects Funding Bill; Lawmakers Resume Talks Today to Reopen Government. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired January 20, 2018 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:00:00] VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: -- live in Washington where despite last minute, negotiations and huddles and votes, the government is shut down for the first time in more than four years.
The art of the deal, president could not reach that deal with democrats and a few republicans. Just a few hours ago, they marked the one year anniversary of his presidency by rejecting a budget bill.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: The president is reacting on Twitter this morning as well saying democrats, "Could have easily made a deal but decided to play shutdown politics instead.
BLACKWELL: CNN's Ryan Nobles is live on Capitol Hill. Ryan, we've learned that some lawmakers are expected back on the Hill in just a couple of hours.
RYAN NOBLES, CNN Washington CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right Victor and Christi. The House will return here to Capitol Hill to begin negotiations. In fact, they will gavel into session at around 9:00a.m. this morning.
Then at around 10:00, House -- House republicans and democrats will go their separate ways and begin to have conversations behind closed doors about what to do next. Then, the big moment comes at noon, that's when the Senate gavels back in.
The ball's really right now in the Senate's court. They're the ones that have to take the next move because the House has already passed to short-term spending plan. The question is, can the Senate gather the 60 votes necessary to do that themselves?
At this point, that doesn't seem possible. In fact, listen to what was talked about last night on the Senate floor right before the shutdown went into effect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Perhaps across the aisle some of our democratic colleagues are feeling proud of themselves but what has their filibuster accomplished? What has it accomplished? The answer is simple, their very own government shutdown.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: President Trump if you are listening, I am urging you, please take yes for an answer. The way things went today, the way you turned from a bipartisan deal, it's almost as if you were rooting for a shutdown.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: And you could tell just from the back and forth there between Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer that this is really more about a blame game. There doesn't appear to be a real effort right now to begin the hardcore negotiating that is necessary to come up with some sort of a grand bargain.
In fact, what is likely to happen today is a conversation about another continuing resolution that will be a bit of a short-term fix to this problem instead of a month long continuing resolution, one that would end around February 8th. This is a deal being floated by Senator Lindsey Graham.
And in fact, Lindsey Graham was among a group of senators who voted no yesterday and it was both republicans and democrats who flip side. There was a group of four republicans who said that they were not going to support this continuing resolution and then a group of five democrats all from Trump friendly states who said that they could support this continuing resolution.
So you can see, this is a problem for both republicans and democrats and there's a lot of talking that needs to be done today that there's any hope of this government shutdown ending anytime soon. Christi and Victor --
PAUL: All right. Ryan Nobles, appreciate it so much sir, thank you.
BLACKWELL: President Trump tweeting this morning about the shutdown, four tweets within the past hour blaming democrats for the political panic on Capitol Hill.
PAUL: CNN's White House Correspondent, Abby Phillip with us now live from the White House. And we should point out, the White House came out initially with some pretty strong language. The president doing the same again this morning.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right Christi. The president waking up in this building right behind me with a government shutdown on the one year anniversary of his inauguration when he thought he would be in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago resort celebrating and instead he sent out this tweet this morning noting his inauguration anniversary today calling it a nice present from the democrats he said.
"This is the one year anniversary of my presidency, democrats wanted to give me a nice present." But he then also went on to talk about the fact that he thinks that this shutdown proves the need for more republicans in Congress. He wrote, "For those asking, the republicans only have 51 votes in the Senate and they need 60 that's why we need to win more republicans in 2018 election. We can be even tougher on crime and border and even better to our military and veterans." Now, White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders last night channeled a little bit of President Trump's anger and frustration about this situation with some Trumpian language. She put out this statement calling this, "The Schumer Shutdown."
She wrote, "Tonight, they put politics above our national security, military families, vulnerable children, and our country's ability to serve all Americans. We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demand. This is the behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators."
Obstructionist losers, the kind of name calling we would typically see on President Trump's Twitter feed. Now, after these talks between Senate democrats -- Senate Democratic Leader, Chuck Schumer and President Trump failed to produce any kind of deal yesterday, it is not clear whether we are going to restart any negotiations today. The White House is putting their foot down, they do not want to talk about immigration. They only want to fund the government. Christi and Victor --
BLACKWELL: All right. Abby Phillip, of course at the White House. Abby, thank you so much.
[07:04:14] PAUL: So let's bring in Stephen Moore, CNN Senior Economics Analyst and a former Trump Economic Advisor. Matt Viser, CNN Political Analyst and Deputy Washington Bureau Chief for the "Boston Globe." Patti Solis Doyle, CNN Political Commentator and Hillary Clinton's former Presidential Campaign Manager. And Andre Bauer, CNN Political Commentator and former Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina.
Got it all out. Welcome everybody, glad to have you here. Want to listen real quickly to President Trump, then citizen Trump back in 2013 when the government shutdown and who he said then was to blame.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the president in all fairness, he's the leader, he's the one that has to get everybody to get in a room and get it done. They're not going to be talking about Baner and Reed and all, they're going to be talking about President Obama and what a disaster the administration was. So he does have a lot of pressure to get this problem solved. He's got a big problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Andre, does President Trump have a big problem? Does this sit on his shoulders?
ANDRE BAUER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well it does in some ways. I mean, he's missing the opportunity he bought not to be talking about so many accomplishments in the last year.
I walked by when we broadcast last year this very day and thought about how exciting it was to see him take over and he's had a lot of victories. But the fact that we're not talking about those victories really hurts him. I don't know what he could have done any different, he sat down with Schumer yesterday, they tried to work out a deal, didn't sound like Schumer want a deal. It may very well be a smart move on the democrats to not have people talking about the accomplishments of Trump Administration the first year but instead talking about a government shutdown technically would be a good move.
PAUL: So you're saying you think that the democrats did this to avoid the subject of the positivity but it could come out of the president's first year?
BAUER: But so much is done in Washington, it's not about the people, it's about politics. It's not why -- I believe that the president said we need more republicans, I think we need term limits. I think we need all of them to know this as a part time job, not for a long, long time and part of the big problem is as everybody is posturing about getting reelected more than anything else and it's disappointing.
I saw it when I served in elected office in both Houses and then in the executive branch and people so often make all their decisions based on what's best for me in the next election and that's what's best for the people I represent and I think you saw that happen yesterday.
BLACKWELL: The latest CNN poll number show that as compared to funding the government, DACA comes in priority at 34 percent of the respondents but funding the government is 56 percent. Do these numbers work for the democrats in drawing these line on protections for DACA recipients?
PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think -- first of all, I think DACA is very important. We have 700,000 dreamers who basically don't know what their future holds for them. They are living in great angst.
But the republicans had every chance to fund the government. They control the House, they control the Senate, they control the presidency. And this is their fundamental job of Congress is to fund the government and they haven't been able to do it. We've been working on CR after CR after CR.
For the democrats I think, it is about DACA but it's also about disaster relief, it's also about C.H.I.P., it's also about military, it's also about funding the government. And the republicans haven't been able to get any of that done on a permanent level, on a two-year budget deal.
PAUL: So matt, I want to ask you because a lot of people are waking up and they're going, "Look, both parties new this was coming. They knew what the deadline was. Why is it that they cannot come to some sort of an agreement?"
When you're talking about government employee, some of who makes $500 a week, they live paycheck to paycheck, why when you know that this is on a horizon, you cannot come to some sort of agreement?
MATT VISER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Its striking and kind of ridiculous frankly. I mean, everybody knew the issue set, everybody knew where the sticking points were for weeks leading up to this.
The republicans knew that DACA was a big deal for democrats and they knew that they had to win over some democrats on this. It wasn't a secret that they could not do this alone and democrats says that they're one point of leverage really in a minority is to use the budget frankly, to have that.
And President Trump had that big meeting a week ago to sort of set the stage for negotiations around DACA and around immigrations. So Congress doesn't operate well without a deadline, so they sort of put all of those sticky discussions until really the 11th hour or almost literally, you know what I mean? There was very little activity throughout the day aside from Schumer going to the White House.
There seem to be no urgency on the part of either party because they -- I think they both felt like they had a winning hand heading into last night. And now is the question over do -- does either party have a winning hand?
BLACKWELL: And Stephen, looking forward, we know that Senator Graham was excited about this potential for a three week continuing resolution.
[07:10:16] Although they couldn't get the votes for 30 days. I mean, it -- why would he be optimistic that he could peel off a few more of at least those red state democrats to support three weeks when they wouldn't support 30 days? I mean, is that fool's errand?
STEPHEN MOORE, CNN SENIOR ECONOMICS ANALYST: Well look, I would -- I thought that cooler heads would prevail last night and they would get some kind of deal to keep the government -- I mean, this is silly. This is just stupid. Why are we shutting down the government and disrupting people's lives?
Although, the good news for people out there, this will have about zero impact on people's lives because it's a weekend and it's only nonessential services of government that are affected. But this does come down to the immigration issue. Look, it's not fair to say, "Well republicans could control everything, they could keep the government open."
The democrat -- just to be real clear about this, the democrat's filibuster of the budget yesterday in the Senate which required 60 votes. You're right, republicans have 50 votes, they don't have 60. And so unless they could get 10 democrats to come over, the government was going to get shutdown.
It's interesting on the politics of this that the three democrats and the Senate who voted with Trump and the republicans were the three e that are in the most vulnerable seats in Indiana and West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota. So I think the democrats understand the politics might not be on the side on this. One last point, you said, could -- should we open the government for three days, three weeks, four weeks, six weeks? We're still going to ultimately come down to this issue about what to do about this immigration issue.
BLACKWELL: The immigration issue.
MOORE: And there is a big divide. Republicans are essentially saying, "Until you help build the wall and until you participate in border security, DACA isn't going to happen." And democrats I think are vulnerable on the charge that they are very weak on border security.
BLACKWELL: But Senator Schumer said yesterday that he put the wall on the table in that meeting with the president, we'll talk about that. We got to take a quick break but everybody stay with us. Much more to discuss.
Hundreds of thousands of workers, billions of dollars, this government shutdown will be felt far and wide.
PAUL: How will it affect you, we'll talk about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:15:16] BLACKWELL: Well the first anniversary of the Trump presidency overshadowed by what lawmakers call an avoidable government shutdown.
PAUL: And I know you're sitting at home going, "What does this mean for me? What does it mean for the economy?" Well CNN's Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans is trying to answer that for you.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: So as shutdown in 2013 caused the U.S. $24 billion, that was 16 days. This time around, forecast put a price tag about $6 billion per week.
Federal workers will feel right away, during a shutdown, most federal agencies close, hundreds of thousands of workers will be furloughed or take a leave without pay. But that's not all federal workers, those deemed essential they still work: air traffic controllers, law enforcement, national security, federal court staff. But they won't be paid until after the shutdown ends.
What about the U.S. military, the biggest loser according to President Trump? Well good news, the troops have already been paid for January, so it would be a prolonged shutdown that would hurt them. A problem wouldn't be realized until really February 1st.
And you still get your Social Security check, that program is mandatory. Your mail would still be delivered on time, the postal service keeps running and you could also get a new passport but move quickly, funding will run out if the shutdown drags on. You're out of luck if you plan a vacation to a national park, a museum or a monument, at least at first. Taxpayer funded sites will be closed, but the Trump Administration is looking for ways to keep limited access where possible.
So, who does get paid during a shutdown? Those who have constitutional duties like the president, the Supreme Court, oh yes, and members of Congress who can't agree on how to fund a government. Christine Romans, CNN New York.
BLACKWELL: Christine, thank you very much. Our panelists back. I want to remind everyone, the basic narrative of a Trump presidency, this is candidate Trump during the campaign explaining how he will be different from every other president and bringing people together, watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm going to make the great deals. I am going to make great deals for our country. I've built an extraordinary business on relationships and deal that benefit all parties involved always. I make deals, I negotiate. Everybody wants me to negotiate, that is where I'm known as as a negotiator.
I'm so anxious to negotiate, nobody can out-negotiate these deals. I will make a great deal and lots of great deals to the American people. We don't make great deals anymore but we will once I become president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: All right. So Stephen to you, not only did the president hear, I guess, not negotiate the deal to avoid the government shutdown. During that meeting two Tuesdays ago, he outsourced the deal making to the people at the table and said, "Talks amongst yourselves, bring it back, I'll sign it."
MOORE: Yes. I think -- by the way, sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't make and a bad deal is worse than no deal at all and I think that's the way the White House and a lot of conservatives feel about this.
But you mentioned that meeting which was what, 10 days -- two weeks ago. I think Trump made a mistake at that meeting and just, "Just give me a package and I'll sign it." And a lot of conservatives like myself said, "Wait a minute, what's in the deal matters a lot."
Immigration policy which is really what's caused this impasse is maybe the most important issue to the future of our country. Who we are going to allow in as a citizen? What will they be eligible for? If we let -- if we legalize these illegal immigrants, can they bring in family members, can they become a citizen, will they be eligible for all sorts of government programs? None of those issues have been resolved yet. It's important we get this right rather than rush into a decision.
PAUL: Why does immigration have to taxed to this?
MOORE: Good question.
PAUL: Is it -- well Matt, let me ask you this question. VISER: Well, I don't -- I think, again, it's -- democrats are sort of pushing that.
[07:20:17] I think that it is their leverage point to get that issue on the table because otherwise, it's not being brought up and it's not something that republicans right now are really pursuing. So, I think that's why they're tying DACA to the budget deal.
PAUL: They feel like they have to.
DOYLE: Well democrats have negotiated in good faith time and time again on this issue. From that meeting --
PAUL: Senator Flake -- Senator Flake said, "I will" --
DOYLE: Senator Flake, Senator Graham, Senator Durbin, they all went and they came up with a deal. They gave confessions that I'm clearly -- I'm actually not happy with. The democrats gave confessions on chain migration, on the lottery system, they gave them a down payment on this wall which really is kind of stupid.
BLACKWELL: Are they going to fund the wall?
DOYLE: Well Schumer talked about, "Put the wall on the table yesterday." And then Trump pulls the rug out from under him time and time again. And even -- so that -- after they talked to the president in that meeting which was televised and the president gloated about it said, "I got letters from anchors telling me what a great job I did in that meeting and what a great deal maker I am."
Durbin called him, Lindsey Graham called him and said, "I think we've got a deal." And in that phone call, Trump said, "Great. Come on over." That was at 10:00 in the morning. Within two hours, by the time they went over at noon, it had fallen apart. Why?
BLACKWELL: Do you think --
MOORE: Could I just make one quick point about this? You know how long we've been debating this issue of DACA? Fifteen years. It's not like --
BLACKWELL: And it's not going to be solved in 30 days though.
MOORE: Pardon me?
BLACKWELL: It's not going to be solved in 30 days and not three weeks.
MOORE: Well that's my point. And by the way, democrats as I recall back when Barrack Obama was president, they had 60 votes in the Senate, they had a majority in the House, they had a democrat in the president.
If they want -- they could have done this eight years ago. So -- I mean, the idea that somehow we've got a rush to make this decision, right now we have to shut down the government, I think that's kind of (INAUDIBLE).
BLACKWELL: But the deadline was clearly about the president, right? When he said, "I'm going to resend DACA, send it to you, deadline March," right? That was created by the president.
MOORE: Well, you know what he ought to do is say, "Nobody's going to get deported, we're going to settle this issue." I agree with you on that. I think the idea of deporting anyone or arresting someone at this point, before we get this resolved, it is a mistake.
BLACKWELL: Andre, you know what the president wants?
BAUER: I do not. But I think like --
BLACKWELL: That seems like a fundamental element of negotiating.
BAUER: He ran on building a wall, he ran on border security, and so many folks like myself have seen -- even back in the Reagan when we've said, "OK, we're going to let this group in as well." So it's been president after president.
At some point in time, there's a lot of us that feel like we need a true -- well, I mentioned on this show before, I'd like to walk on Augusta National and play golf. I haven't been invited and they're not going to let me just jump over the fence and do it, there are borders. When I came up here, I had to go through security and I was vetted.
Everybody that comes in this country should be vetted just like all of us as citizens when we come back. So I have --
BLACKWELL: Understood. And some of those elements were part of the framework that we're taking to the president last Thursday, right? Some of those elements were discussed, at least Senator Schumer says they were in the meeting yesterday in the Oval Office.
What does the president want? What is his starting point? What is, here is the dollar amount I want, here is the number of diversity of these lottery spaces I want eliminated? Are there all 50,000? Does he want the $18 billion for the next 10 years up (INAUDIBLE)? What is his starting point? (INAUDIBLE) answer it, how do you negotiate when you don't know what the person's (INAUDIBLE)
BAUER: I wish he was bringing me in on those meetings, I'd love to be a part of it. But I think it's an overall thing. I think that with Trump, if you gave him one thing to settle up here, we're going to fund $50 million for the wall.
I think he would give and take. I think part of the art of the deal, he's a business guy like I am. If you give some, you're willing to give up something else and that's part of working together, collision of trying to say, "OK, well I'm getting this much, I'm not getting everything I want but I feel like we're making steps towards building the wall, cutting down on the immigration issue." But I don't see a whole lot of positive movement towards substantially reducing illegal immigration. PAUL: OK. So listen, listen, this is the thing, we're two and a half hours away from the House meeting, we are -- we know that the Senate's going to meet at noon and try to reconcile this as soon as possible. How do you start that conversation? Stephen, what is the -- when they sit down (INAUDIBLE) for the last 48 hours? Get this done.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
MOORE: Well first of all, (INAUDIBLE) ice the federal budget (INAUDIBLE) your way. I mean, I love to see --
BLACKWELL: Did the rule apply in 2013?
MOORE: Pardon me?
BLACKWELL: Did that rule apply in 2013?
MOORE: Look, the party that usually takes the blame, I went through five or six of these shutdowns, I'm maybe the oldest person on this panel, I go back to the early 1980s, the party that gets the blame, and this is a blame game thing, is the party that wants the government shut down.
If the democrats didn't want the government shut down, they could have allowed the budget to go through. My only point is, yes, let's -- I'm pro-immigration, I think immigration is important, I think it's really critical, we solve this and let the immigrants in who are going to be beneficial to our country.
[07:25:19] But you don't do it under a gun. I mean, it's just a wrong way to do immigration to do immigration policy.
BLACKWELL: Matt, you were going to --
VISER: I don't think there's any way that immigration gets solved as a part of this. I think the most immediate thing for both sides is to reopen the government with some kind of parameters for how to deal with immigration.
BLACKWELL: I agree.
VISER: Which I --
PAUL: With an agreement in place or a timeline.
VISER: Something for a timeline because -- I mean, Trump (INAUDIBLE) you don't know where (INAUDIBLE) mess up and you could see that in real time during the meeting that he had 10 days ago where he --
BLACKWELL: Yes. To pass a clean DACA deal and then what we need -- the DACA bill paired with security but then we get the comprehension and then the majority leader had in something.
VISER: Yes. And you could even see him -- you could even see him agreeing with Diane Feinstein or Kevin McCarthy time. So he is flexible which in some cases is welcome by everybody because he could be convinced but it's that last person in the room and going back to Patti's point about those two hours, he was convinced kind of with Durbin and Graham and then somebody else got to him and he's unconvinced.
BLACKWELL: All right. We go to take a quick break. Matt, thanks so much for being with us this morning. Stephen, Patti, Andre, you're going to stay with us. Exactly a year into Donald Trump's presidency, the government is shut down for the first time since 2013.
PAUL: We're going to take a look back at the highlights of the first year of the Trump Administration and look ahead to what's to come.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:31:04] PAUL: All right, welcome back. 30 minutes past the hour. I'm Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you.
PAUL: So, let's talk about President Trump, because this is his first year, the anniversary of his first year in office. And of course, we're in the middle of a government shutdown this morning.
BLACKWELL: Let's take a look at some of the major moments of his first year in office.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES: Please raise your right hand.
TRUMP: From this day forward, it's going to be only America first.
SEAN SPICER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period.
TRUMP: This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.
AMERICAN CROWD: The Muslim Ban has got to go!
AMERICAN CROWD: No fear, no hate.
TRUMP: We have to make the move and we decided to make the move.
SCHUMER: This executive order was mean-spirited and un-American.
TRUMP: I am the least racist person that you have ever met.
JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: That's the big news here is Russian interference in our election system.
JAMES COMEY, FORMER, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: I take the President at his word that I was fired because of the Russia investigation. Something about the way I was conducting it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you fire Director Comey? TRUMP: Because he wasn't doing a good job.
There's been no collusion, there's been no crime.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): What we see is merely the growth of anti-Russian hysteria.
TRUMP: I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election.
They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.
NEIL GORSUCH, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm humbled by the trust placed to me today. I will never forget that to whom much is given, much will be expected.
TRUMP: I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP: But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.
VAN JONES, CO-FOUNDER, DREAM CORPS: He's actually cheerleading for one side and defending one side. He's not defending the humanity of the people who were run over.
TRUMP: Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners -- to say, get that son of a bitch off the field --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This just in -- the Twitter in chief has fired off a new one this morning.
TRUMP: He's in a Twitter storm! Again, I don't do Twitter storms.
We're going to get health care taken care of in this country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motion is not agreed to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- promise to refill and replace Obamacare and we failed.
TRUMP: Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's always a lot of fun when you win.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your tax rates are going down, and your paychecks are going up.
TRUMP: Together, we will make America strong again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And yes, together we will make America great again.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLACKWELL: One year, that a lot.
PAUL: A lot going on in one year.
BLACKWELL: My goodness. All right, so, the President celebrating his first anniversary. The President during this entire time has pointed to the economy as a win. Unemployment down, the down hitting records. And really no one could take that from him.
PAUL: Right, but people do say how much credit does go to him for that.
BLACKWELL: Absolutely, important question.
PAUL: Yes. So, we'll going to bring up panel back to talk about that. Stay close.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:39:13] BLACKWELL: 21 minutes to the top of the hour now. President Trump, during this first year in office, has taken full credit for growth in the stock market, the highs we've seen, unemployment numbers sinking, as well. So, how much of the trend can be directly traced to the President and the policies he supported? Let's bring our panel back. We've got Stephen Moore, CNN senior economic analyst, and former Trump economic adviser. We also have with us Patti Solis Doyle, Democratic strategist, CNN commentator. And with us, as well, Andre Bauer, President Trump supporter and former lieutenant governor of South Carolina.
Welcome back, everybody. Let's start first with the big economic number that the President pushes as often as he is in front of a camera. Unemployment numbers down and we're seeing heights in the stock market. We saw that President, Coraopolis, at his speech in Pennsylvania. Why aren't we seeing that narrative from the President? He was praised for that tone for that type of speech, instead of the tweets that we've seen over the last year. Why aren't we seeing that President we saw in Coraopolis?
[07:40:17] BAUER: I think this is a business guy, he continues to evolve. You know, there are days when he's like so many in this world, he's happy and there are days when he's frustrated. I mean, he has tried it both ways, he's tried to embrace the other side and work with them. And he's had small victories and somebody also seen the pushback of folks that fought him on things that he felt were more than reasonable. But at the end of the day, I think he gets a lot of credit.
For more than anything, this guy is a businessman. And he has come in and changed how Washington is operating. And that no matter what numbers you look at, they're astounding, whether you look at African- American unemployment, whether you look at people off of food stamp roll, whether you look at the stock market, whether you -- no matter what barometer you use right now, I can tell you, my personal business last year, I did better last year than I did the previous ten years which is astounding, it's unbelievable. The number -- because you've got a guy that understands business first and foremost running the country.
PAUL: Patti, I saw you shaking your head.
DOYLE: Well, yes. Well, first of all, I think the argument can be made that he inherited an economy that was clearly on the uptick. While President Obama inherited an economy -- an economy that was in a deep recession. The biggest recession since the great depression.
So, I do think that Trump gets some credit for the economy because he's been in office for a year and the economy is going very well, and unemployment is down. But he did inherit an economy that's going on the uptick. But I think the reason doesn't his approval is historically low --
BLACKWELL: 40 percent, the latest seen in poll.
DOYLE: Right. I think the reason he doesn't get the credit is because -- you know, we're talking about asshole countries, we're talking about very fine people on both side during Charlottesville. We're talking about the Russia investigation. He cannot help himself.
Let's say very divisive and very hateful things, and really put our democracy under assault on a constant basis. And you know, people are just too tired. I mean, I saw the year in review for the Montage guys did, the year in review, and I was just exhausted looking at it. It's just we are fatigued by this President.
BLACKWELL: You know, Stephen, we heard that the last just a couple of seconds ago from Andre when Patti said that President Obama deserves a significant amount of credit for the economic conditions right now. But the American people seem to agree the latest gallop polling shows that when, you know, ask Americans who deserves the credit for what's happening now, 49 percent of them say -- compare -- combined to your great deal and moderate amount, say President Trump deserves that. But when you go to President Obama, people say 56 percent of them say that this is the result of improvements made by President Obama.
MOORE: Yes, and I think -- I think you nailed it actually. I think part of the problem for elect that the economic news is sensational. I mean, record stock market, record low unemployment rate, business confidence, investor confidence great. We saw the Apple the news. I mean, it's all really, really good.
But Trump, you're exactly right. Trump has a way of walking over in stomping on his own headlines and saying crazy things. And he's got a -- If he's going to be more successful in a second year, he has to maybe just shut up a little bit and let these -- let these results speak for themselves.
I think, look, I think the reason that people are attributing this economic success to Obama, look, he gets some credit. And there was -- it's true, the economy was growing when Trump came in. It is people have a more positive opinion of Barack Obama right now than Trump. I would simply add one other thing, if the economy continues to roll on as, you know, over the next year, then, you know, as you get deeper into his presidency, he'll get more credit work. PAUL: So, when we look at, say, look ahead at midterms, if the economy is still doing so well and stylistically, as Jack Kingston said, you know, he just does not particularly eloquent. He really sabotages himself to some degree when something is going well and then he detours the conversation. Are people willing to overlook that for the money, Andre?
BAUER: Well, first and for most, there was a big argument this year as to whether people were really going to see a difference in their paycheck. Were they really going to get a tax break? And next year, when those individuals -- they can't quite figure out all if they'll going to get it or not because we've seen so many different pro-form as that say, where your not really get. When they get that, they're going to say, proofs in the pudding.
We -- they actually deliver. The Republicans delivered, President Trump delivered, and they're going to see a difference. And they're going to say, "Wait a minute, we have improved. My paycheck has improved." And you see all these companies coming back.
I don't know how President Obama, with all due respect, should get any of the credit with these companies are saying, "I'm coming back now because of what you did to change policy." I don't -- there's no way to equate one with the other. When the President or the CEO of Apple says, we're coming back, and he's not even a fan of the President, because of what you change in in policy, this is why we are bringing new jobs start to back to our country.
The Republicans are going to be able to own that in 2018. There's -- I don't know how you argue that any other way, but the fact that they passed a comprehensive tax reform bill that has been talked about for decades. And it was argued by the other side, it was only going to help the rich. But at the end of the day, the hard-working people of this country, almost all of them are going to feel a difference.
[07:45:28] BLACKWELL: I think we can put up on the screen, at least some of the companies that have announced that they'll going to be giving bonuses to some of their employees or investing heavily in the United States. Some of the major companies that are doing that.
So Patti, to Andre's point, I mean, Democrats said that unless you write into the legislation that the tax breaks that these companies are getting will go to their employees or will go to investment or go to their shareholders. But we're seeing that at least from these companies. Should Democrats be concerned?
DOYLE: Look, I think what these companies are doing, that's fantastic. And we've also seen Walmart, you know, close down, you know, 20 Sam's Clubs across the country and you know, let go thousands of thousands of people. But to Andre's point, we just had a special election in Wisconsin last week where Democrats flipped a State Senate seat that Trump won by 17 points. We won a Senate seat, a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama. Alabama --
BLACKWELL: But Republicans helped you win that -- BAUER: Republic -- the own -- the United States Senator that is a Republican helped the Democrats. I mean, I don't think that's a good barometer to use as a win when the Republicans weren't supporting it.
DOYLE: You know that Wisconsin is a good barometer, and Virginia where we almost flipped the State legislature there that's been in Republican hands for 20 years. New Jersey, where we've elected a women. In Virginia, we elected the first transgender woman. I think that despite the good economy, despite the good economy, President Trump is bringing his Party way, way down.
MOORE: And you know, if you go back, you've been showing a lot of these polls. I think one of the interesting poll results is when you ask the American people, what do you think about the condition of the economy? And, I think it was a CNN poll, about 66 percent of Americans rate the economy now as good or great. That's a dramatic reversal from where we were two or three years ago where -- look, when I was working with Trump on the campaign, we were looking at those numbers.
The number one issue for the American people is jobs and the economy. Now, that people are feeling good about those, I'm hoping as a Trump supporter that if people will go back to what Bill Clinton said, it's the economy, stupid.
BLACKWELL: But the generic balance there is still that the advantage for Democrats continues to grow even as the unemployment falls --
MOORE: That's true.
DOYLE: That's exactly right.
BLACKWELL: As we see new heights for the stock market. So, how do you explain that?
DOYLE: Because President Trump is bringing his Party down. Again, with the divisiveness, the hatred, the assault on our democracy. You know, in this country, we value diversity. Diversity that makes us better, makes us stronger, and he's -- you know, saying there's good people on both sides when the other side is Nazis.
MOORE: Well, if he could come -- if he could -- this goes back to our previous conversation over the immigration.
Blackwell: Yes.
MOORE: If he can pull out a victory on immigration, where all sides feel this is a good compromise, I think, you know -- and because I agree with you. I think, you know, that's the problem for the Party right now, Trump is not popular. If he can -- that's a huge issue for the economy. I'd love to see him come to a bipartisan agreement on that. And boy, would he be heroic if he can.
PAUL: Yes, but is that -- but is that -- is that enough? I mean, is that enough to turn things around for him --
MOORE: in terms of his public --
PAUL: In terms of his popularity? When you look at that he has the lowest number --
MOORE: Yes.
PAUL: --of any President his first year in, how does he remedy that?
MOORE: the actions like -- my attitude about Donald Trump, I've been around him for two years now, watch what this guy does, not what he says. Because you know, he's --
PAUL: But don't they go hand in hand? He's the President, how they go exactly? How can you not listen to the President of the United States when he's speaking and tweeting?
MOORE: Well, he's got to -- he's got to use his language a lot more judiciously. And yes, look, I want to see this President unify the country in a way that it's -- we're polarized right now. And that's a problem. But were polarize, there is polarized in Obama, as well.
DOYLE: But people want worthy, the people want --
PAUL: But he is done more to divide the (INAUDIBLE) get any other President in history --
BLACKWELL: But, in the context of the economy, it seems really risky to tie your political fate to the stock market, unemployment.
PAUL: Yes.
BLACKWELL: But this can turn at any moment.
BAUER: But in the stock market, because it's been so strong for so long. I look at the every day and go, how does it continue? At the rate is in, it actually concerned me a little bit not only from an electoral standpoint but as a business guy. I mean, that some point --
DOYLE: You waiting for a correction?
BAUER: I just know that it can't continue to do that forever. That's why I am concern not to take policy as out of it as an American I go, How do we continue to keep this trajectory going, and it seems, you know, it can continue if that rate forever.
DOYLE: Which is why --
BLACKWELL: All right, now, put you're -- put your political commentator head back on --
BAUER: OK/
BLACKWELL: Because Andre supported the President when he says, you know, he name what? 60-80 record since Election Day. He claims, you know, that the growth from Election Day to inauguration which most Presidents don't.
But, if this turns right, and he says this is the Trump boom, and this is the Trump growth --
[07:50:13] BAUER: All of a sudden the Democrats will going to let him own it like they have never owned it before. You know, and I have this set me point out but we talked about Barack Obama turning around, he spent $8 trillion making that happen. This President actually has cut his staff, he's cut the cost to run the government.
If you start looking it Republican values that what we preach, a lot of them preach it, but they don't do it. He's actually done it, he's reduced --
Blackwell: Yes.
BAUER: -- the cost of running so many agencies. Mick Mulvaney, what he's doing to reduce the cost of spending is what I believe in wholeheartedly from way back is a small --
BLACKWELL: But there also some serious questions about the cuts and specifically what are you cutting? Cutting two civil rights divisions, so specific, a department that launched a U.S. civil rights commission investigation. No funding request for a consumer protections bureau. I mean, cuts the EPA.
MOORE: He's cutting in his own office.
DOYLE: Well, that's because he can't get anybody to work for him.
BLACKWELL: Who cuts with his own office like -- we got to take a quick break. We'll continue the conversation picked it up there. Patti Solis Doyle, Andre Bauer, Stephen Moore. Thank you all, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIANNE SHELZI, DEEP BREATHING PRACTITIONER: I manage about 40 rental units. If someone came to me with a problem, I was consumed by it. When issues happened, I would feel personal about them. That was when I realized, I don't want this taking space in my head. The deep breathing is helpful, this allows me to stop and just be quiet.
DARSHAN MEHLA, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, BENSON-HENRY INSTITUTE FOR MIND BODY MEDICINE: Just simply take a pause and just say, "Ha". Let me just take a few deep breaths. Then showing to have improvements in anxiety and a sense of panic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Imagine that you're blowing up a balloon in your belly. And when you release your breath, it's just like releasing air from a balloon.
[07:55:08] MEHLA: When someone is anxious or stressed, their breathing rate gets faster. Takes some slow deep breaths. The rate of breathing actually goes down. We have a reduction in our blood pressure, we also have reduction in our heart rate.
SHELZI: And you can be anywhere, standing, going to the post office, rather than flipping out about the line. This is an opportunity to relax. It's so handy, it's available 24 hours a day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: "STAYING WELL", brought to you by Aleve, al day strong, all day long.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Good morning, I'm Victor Blackwell.
PAUL: And I'm Christi Paul. We're live in Washington with you here. And this isn't really how the President expected to celebrate his first year on office. That's what would here, it is the one year mark for the President. And right now, you --
