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tv   CNN Tonight With Don Lemon  CNN  August 29, 2018 11:00pm-12:00am PDT

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optimistic because that's where hope lives. >> yeah. you get that from your dad, and your mom. i understand where it comes from. it comes from a good place. i'm not so optimistic in this -- in these times right now. >> all right. have i something to make you optimistic, and you're going to want to hear it. >> all right. >> both of my dogs were recklessly let out of my house tonight and they escaped. >> oh no. >> a man found them on the street. took them to petco. somehow found out whose dogs they were. and do you know what? when he called me, he said. he said i watch you on tv. i don't agree with you -- >> no, that's too obvious. let's get after it? >> i love don lemon. >> you're kidding me. >> i am not kidding. you said you were at the kentucky derby with his daughter. i thought that meant he would hurt my dogs. i said listen, i just work with don. take it easy. he said he loves don lemon. he brought my dogs back to my house. >> see? you can thank me for that. and you also thank me for your great ratings on cnn. people are tuning in to see what you, because they love me.
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i'm messing with you. i have to say something. you made a good point about antifa, because i saw the trump channel, and you listen to conservative radio and you read it, and you're oh, my gosh, don lemon is defending and supporting antifa. and they take one smattering of what you say and they leave out a whole thing. and i think you made the point exactly on your program when you were talking to steve cortes about antifa. it's wrong. nobody is supporting that. >> there's no reason to support anybody who breaks the law. there's no reason to draw moral equivalency as if everybody who is fighting against hate is the worst part of antifa. that's unfair. that's false moral equivalence. new engla any way, let me let you get on with the show. thanks for being you, pal. >> people love me. >> i know one guy that does. >> one day it will be. this is cnn tonight. i'm don lemon. you know what? that did not take long.
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keep benefit of the doubt in mind. benefit of the doubt, keep that in mind. this didn't take long. only after a few hours ron desantis declared victory in the florida primary, the trump endorsed candidate said this to fox news about the democratic candidate, andrew gillum, the mayor of tallahassee who happens to be the first african american nominee for govern of florida. >> the last thing we need to do is monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. >> does anybody else hear that dog whistle? kind of bullhorn. he actually said "monkey this up." sadly, it's not even surprising anymore when one of president trump's supporters says something racially insensitive. if you think that was a slip of the tongue, listen to this. >> he is an articulate spokesman for those far left views, and
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he's a charismatic candidate. >> articulate. popular slur described as a compliment. as if it's surprising when a person of color speaks well. gillum telling cnn this. >> i actually believe that florida and its rich diversity are looking for a governor that is going to bring us together, not divide us, not misogynist, not racist, not bigots. >> so the president had a golden opportunity to condemn desantis' language today. but listen what happened when jim acosta asked him about it. >> andrew gillum down in florida, what ron de santis said >>, no i didn't. >> said it's not time to monkey around with the economy down in florida. >> no, i didn't hear. honestly. >> a racist conversation? >> i didn't hear that, jim. i have been working on the deal with canada. i have not heard it. i tell you what, i know ron desantis. ron desantis is extraordinary, harvard, yale, brilliant.
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ran an incredible campaign. really beat a lot of people he wasn't supposed to beat because he came into the race and a lot of people didn't know him. he's an extreme talent and he will make a fantastic governor of florida. i think ron is extraordinary in so many different ways. i haven't heard that at all, no. >> didn't hear it. whether you believe that or not, that's really not the point. a true leader would condemn any racist comment, any unseemly comment full stop. but this is the man who launched his campaign with an attack on mexicans. >> when mexico sends it people, they're not sending their best. they're bringing drugs. they're bringing crime. they're rapists. >> who responded to deadly white supremacist violence in charlottesville by infamously claiming, his words, very fine people on both sides.
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>> you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. you had people in that group -- excuse me. excuse me. i saw the same pictures as you did. >> who has never stopped attacking nfl players protesting what they see as systematic bias against people of color. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get thatson of a [ bleep ] off the field right now, out. he's fired. he's fired! >> this is the president who reportedly still clings to the racist birther lie that president obama was not born in this country. so on and so on and so on. so no. it's not surprising that a trump supporter would say something racially insensitive. he's just following the president's lead. this is where the whole benefit of the doubt thing comes in that gets me to that. let me just ask you this.
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okay? just being honest here. you can write on twitter, whatever, let me know how you feel. think about it before you respond. all my life, some five decaded, i have witnessed people, mainly white people giving people who say or do racist things the benefit of the doubt, claiming that racism is something from a time gone by, that the person exhibiting the racist behavior is not racist or didn't mean to be racist. why is that? ask yourself, why are people at this critical moment in our existence so willing to overlook so many things, especially racism and expect, demand really that they not be judged or criticized for it. why do you give this president the benefit of the doubt over and over and over again about so many things? infidelity, lying.
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racist behavior. same thing with the supporters. his surrogates, his administration. same thing with the candidates who model themselves after him. why are you so willing to overlook and give the benefit of the doubt to that but not the people who are telling you that your behavior is offensive to them? why are you purposely ignoring the racist history and present of america? what does that say about you? and to those who say, well, let's just give ron desantis the benefit of the doubt, that he didn't mean it? okay. i say this. shouldn't someone who is running to be a leader, especially the governor of a state, shouldn't he be more aware? shouldn't he know better? shouldn't we expect better of our public servants? quite frankly, ourselves. >> so right now, we're going to get to all of that. but i have breaking news to get
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to. that just came in. president trump's allies reportedly more and more worried that he's not prepared for what could be a democratic takeover of the house in november. that is according to the "washington post." josh dawsey, cnn political analyst and white house reporter for "the post," who helped break the story, joins me now by phone. josh, thank you for coming in. this is late-breaking news. thanks for calling in. i should say. you and your colleagues at the post spoke to 26 white house officials, advisers, others close to the white house. one trump ally saying, quote, "winter is coming." talk to me about that. >> so what i'm reporting tonight indicates that white house don mcgahn left his job. the ranks have thinned by about 20, 30%. rudy giuliani, his outside lawyer, the president is increasingly talking about
quote
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impeachme impeachment. there is talk to bring abbey and to help represent the president and people around the president tell him it's unlikely we're going to keep the house of representatives when the democrats get in. they're likely to try to impeach you, and things are going to be difficult times. obviously, 65, 70 days left to go. anything could happen, as we've seen with the president repeatedly. but there seems to be a growing consensus with the michael cohen verdict, manafort verdict, mueller continuing. his lawyers believing that there may be some challenging times ahead for the president. >> so abbe lowell, by the way, jared kushner's attorney he is considering according to your reporting bringing in. let me ask you this, josh. how much is the president starting to really talk about the possible impeachment as you note in your piece? he calls it the i-word.
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>> a good bit, don. it's not just that he's afraid of being impeached and in fact at times it's the opposite. a number of telephone president's advisers have told him we don't know or not. but democrats and the president will not -- so the people that are close to him a pretty resolute that it's a very likely outcome. increasingly the president is asking what they would investigate, how many subpoenas would they get, what all in our administration would they do -- you know, conversations. again, rudy giuliani is denying the president is talking about impeachment with his lawyers. the president is talking
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about more lawyers. the things are happening increasingly frequently these days. >> josh, i appreciate your reporting. again, thank you for calling in. thanks so much. >> thanks, don. i want to bring in now cnn global affairs max boat as well as laura coates, cnn legal analyst. thank you, guys, for waiting. i was going to start with you. let me get your reaction first to this breaking news that the "washington post" is reporting. max, you first. winter is coming. as a trump ally put it. what do you think? >> it's clearly the case. i think something major changed last week when you had first the president's campaign manager getting convicted on eight felony counts, but more importantly the president's lawyer pleading guilty to eight felony counts and implicating the president himself in a conspiracy to violate federal law. the president of the united states is basically an unindicted co-conspirator, and that's just one of the many counts that can be lodged against him in an impeachment inquiry. the obstruction case is going to be strong and getting stronger all the time with the attempts
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to intimidate jeff sessions and robert mueller into doubt, denigrate their probe and to try to perhaps even fire the leaders of that investigation. and there's also the evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia. i think that's getting stronger. i think it makes sense for the white house to recognize they're in deep trouble. the only thing that's been saving them so far is the fact that republicans will not do their duty and investigate the white house. but if all of the sudden the republicans lose control of the house in november, look out. katie bar the door. all of this stuff will come out into the open. it's going to be big trouble. >> what do you think, laura? >> well, the big number here is 52, because that's exactly the number of times that the democrats have asked and the house oversight committee to have subpoenas issued to investigate the very things "the washington post" has talked about. and 52 separate times they were told no. remember, the idea of the subpoena power if you're in the
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house committee and the oversight committee, you're not able to actually exert your authority. you have to rely of the majority here, the republicans to do that. so 52 separate inquiries would then be able to be looked at from jared kushner to security clearances to, of course, collusion and far beyond that, including even what happens in puerto rico. all these things could be taken up if they actually reclaim the house. the swirling legal storm is not simply about the president's personal relationships with robert mueller. it also includes at least 51 other things that he would have to prepare for. >> interesting. max, president trump tweeting out that the white house counsel mcgahn is out after the kavanaugh's confirmation. he was reportedly blindsided by the tweet. here's the president today. watch this. >> about what you said to the mueller? >> no, never. >> i knew he was going also. i had to approve it. we didn't claim executive. no, i don't have to be aware. we have -- we do everything
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straight. we do everything by the book. don is an excellent guy. >> we do everything straight. we do everything by the book. i mean, i don't know what book that is. the book that only trump has read, i think. >> do you think this has to do with mcgahn speaking to the special counsel for some 30 hours, something the white house only learned about 11 days ago? >> that could well be the case. first let me note briefly, this is kind of typical lack of class on trump's part. because in typical behavior, he's essentially a bully who loves to talk tough on twitter but shies away from personal confrontation. so he doesn't actually want to get rid of people in person. he fired rex tillerson by tweet. he is firing don mcgahn by tweet. we can speculate why that is. it could well be related to the fact that don mcgahn did speak to the special counsel for 30 hours. i think it's also related to the fact that don mcgahn is somebody
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who has been a brake on trump's more extreme instincts. it's been widely reported that don mcgahn has stopped trump from firing -- he is literally a firewall because he stopped trump from firing jeff session, from firing robert mueller, from firing rod rosenstein. and obviously, trump chafes against that. in the pattern of the last year and a half is he gets rid of anybody who acts as a firewall on him, as brake on him. he got rid of h.r. mcmaster. he got rid of rex tillerson. he getting rid of don mcgahn. he is basically trump unbound. this is like trying to put a straitjacket on the incredible hulk. you can do it for a minute when he's bruce banner. then he hulks out and donald trump is hulking out and he feels frustrated by aides who try to tell him what not to do. we're entering a dangerous phase right here where you lose the restraint of don mcgahn and you wonder will trump go out and fire jeff sessions, which is something he's itching to do. now he's being encouraged to do by some members of the senate. of course, a replacement could get rid of robert mueller.
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>> let's talk about this. let's drill down a little bit more on this, laura. as senate judiciary committee chairman chuck grassley was surprised by the news. here's what he's tweeting. the president, the real donald trump. i hope it's not true mcgahn is leaving white house counsel. you can't let that happen. majority leader mitch mcconnell called it, quote, sad news for our country. so when you read those comments, do you get the sense that there is almost a fear about mcgann leaving among republicans? >> not almost. i think there is a real sincere fear of what is happening. let's go back more than 11 days ago when the president essentially had learned that don mcgahn spent over 30 hours with robert mueller who has been the twitter arch nemesis at the very least and has no idea the full extent of what they conversed about. let's go back in time when he was also the presidential transition committee's general counsel. i wonder what he could have learned at that point in time or when he oversaw the campaign
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related issue in finance when a part of the trump campaign. i wonder if he has information about that now infamous trump tower meeting or any correspondence or contributions that may have been concealed as reimbursements, et cetera. i wonder if he thinks about, as max was talking about, the fact that don mcgahn has literally been there for almost all of the key moments that everyone has talked about, save james comey. he's been there as the person who ex-attorney general sally yates came in and said, excuse me, i want you to be aware that michael flynn may have lied about the extent of his discussion with russians and i want to tell you about that. don mcgahn was the person they went to. he was the person they went to about the recusal of jeff session, and of course about firing robert mueller. last summer we reported at cnn that he in fact was the person who threatened to quit to stop what he thought would be another saturday night massacre. this is somebody who mule worry be keenly interested in speaking with. and why republicans and in particular donald trump would be very nervous to have this person
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unleashed. remember, donald trump and his team could have invoked, although it would have been difficult to have it go into court battles eventually, he could have invoked the privilege. he chose not to. everything he said was fair game and can be used against him in the court of law and a court of public opinion. >> thank you both. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> when we come back, don mcgahn and his deputy both leaving the white house counsel office at what might just be the worst possible time. i'm going to ask a man who himself served in that office what must be going on behind closed doors. when did you see the sign? when i needed to jumpstart sales. build attendance for an event. help people find their way. fastsigns designed new directional signage. and got them back on track. get started at fastsigns.com.
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breaking news. president trump's allies and advisers reportedly fear that he doesn't have a strong enough legal team in place if a blue wave sweeps through washington. let's bring in cnn's chief legal analyst, mr. jeffrey toobin, the author of "the nine" and former white house counsel to president clinton. so good to have you both on. jack, i'll start with you. the "washington post" is reporting that trump allies fear that the president isn't prepared for the gathering legal storm that would come if democrats retake the house. you were quoted in this piece in the "washington post," noting that when you served in the white house as white house counsel under clinton, you had 40 to 60 people. in your office. current white house counsel only has about 25 lawyers. what does that say to you? >> well, i think the thrust of
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the whole article is that they're not prepared for the oncoming onslaught. again, a lot of this assumes, of course, that democrats take control of the house of representatives. we lived through something similar when the republicans took the house and the senate in 1994. speaker gingrich in particular instructed the committees and subcommittees to just begin to launch investigations. you know, i did not much more than -- that's not true. the bulk of my work as white house counsel had to do with government investigations. particularly over on the house side but also on the senate side. so you know, look, i think the president is totally unprepared here. first of all, depressingly, he does not understand and this is part of the tension he had with don mcgahn, the role of the government lawyer. the president seems to think that his lawyers, both his personal lawyers and his
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government lawyers should be his protecters. the government lawyers owe their first obligations to the united states, to their citizens, to the constitution and the laws of the united states, and last to their boss, their particular governmental boss. private lawyers have a totally different loyalty and that is to their client. when i was white house counsel, president clinton -- again, we had a host of investigation, some directed very directly at the president himself and the first lady for that matter. you know, the president was incredibly well-represented by david kendall and bob bennett and others and we worked together but it was always clear who had what responsibility. >> that the white house counsel worked for the actual office rather than for the president personally. i got to get jeffrey in here. >> absolutely. >> talk to me about that. abbe lowell is jared kushner's, he is considering abbe lowell,
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jared kushner's attorney, son-in-law. >> you think about what the house of representatives and the senate have been like. they have existing to protect the president from investigations for the past two years. there have been no investigations of the white house. that would change on a dime. what happens if jerry nadler says we want to subpoena the president's tax returns. they could do that. who is going to represent the president there? we want to get michael cohen to testify before the house of representatives. we want to see his e-mails. all of that has to be dealt with by the white house counsel's office, at least in part, as well as the president's personal lawyer, and they have had absolutely no experience in dealing with this so far because the republicans have done the opposite of investigating the president. >> can we talk about mcgahn now? go on. >> if i may. >> go ahead. >> i'll go to mcgahn. as you well know, jeffrey, one
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of the complications here is that the president on the one hand is very angry at don mcgahn for the 30 hours he spent purportedly because he was concerned about being set up, so he went in and gave apparently very detailed interviews to the special counsel's office. but none of that would have happened or at least not all of it would have happened had they asserted executive privilege. the president, as he said on that tape that led into this segment, waived executive privilege. so he's angry at don mcgahn for something he did. >> that's common. >> do you think that with mcgahn out, there's a greater chance, jeffrey, that he might pardon manafort? >> you know, i don't think don mcgahn's presence or absence has a lot to do with it. he's going to pardon him or not pardon manafort based on his own sense of whether it helps him. remember, the president does things based on the influence it will have on him, not because he has sympathy or affection for other people. >> do you think the stage is set
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for axing the attorney general? >> of course. >> well, it's -- he's been a dead man walking ever since senators started to abandon him. i don't think it will happen before the election but very soon afterwards. jeff sessions will be gone. then the question will be, will the senate confirm someone if that person doesn't promise to preserve robert mueller's independence? that becomes a gigantic issue. >> we have -- i got to move on to get this in. we also want to talk about cnn's original programming. it's called "rgb." it's an intimate look into the personal life and professional life of justice ruth bader ginsburg. here's a preview. >> even though they had differing points of view, they were dear friends. i'm sure they were at each other the whole time. but they kind of enjoyed it. >> justice scalia would whisper something to me.
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all i could do to avoid laughing out loud is sometimes pinch myself. people sometimes ask me what was your favorite scalia joke. i tell them, i know what it is but i can't tell you. >> they enjoyed discussing going to the operas together, discussing particular operas, and of course they appeared together in an opera. >> so "rgb" as they call it clearly is having a moment right now. you have covered the supreme court for years now. you wrote the book about them. called "the nine." why are people so fascinated by her? >> because she spans the history of women's rights in america. when she started practicing law in the 1960s and '70s. married women couldn't get credit cards independent of their husbands. there were advertisements in the newspaper for women's jobs, just an inconceivable world. and she brought cases as lawyer that really started to change the legal projection of women in america.
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she would be a major figure in american legal history if she never became a judge at all. but she did become a judge in d.c. and 1993 on the supreme court and has had in many respects kind of a tough time on the supreme court because she's been a liberal in a generally conservative time. >> you think about, you say it's an inconceivable world. that was the world at one point. it makes me think about what's happening now. if you live long enough, people are going to look back and go oh, my gosh, what was i thinking? i was on the wrong side of that. why did i dabble in racism? why did i do all of this? why was i complicit? >> you know, the famous martin luther king quote, the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. all i can say is i hope he was right, but i'm not totally convinced. >> i am sure he is. looking back now, when i got out of law school, she
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says, there wasn't a firm, a law firm in new york that would hire me. the world has changed in a better way. >> by the way, this documentary, it's really fun. it's entertaining. this is not homework. she had a great love story with her husband. friendship with justice scalia. it's an extraordinary piece of work. >> rgb, original film premieres next monday, labor day 9:00 p.m. airs on 9/3. we'll be right back. that's why we designed capital one cafes. you can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. and one of america's best savings rates. to top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. this isn't a typical bank. this is banking reimagined. what's in your wallet?
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this wi-fi is fast. i know! i know! i know! i know! when did brian move back in? brian's back? he doesn't get my room. he's only going to be here for like a week. like a month, tops. oh boy. wi-fi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. in many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40's. so we're now just a little over two months away from what could be the most consequential mid terms in years. i want to talk about the state of politics in america with a james ballas, a national correspondent for the atlantic who is co-author of "our towns" a one thousand mile journey into the heart of america with his
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wife. interesting read. thank you for coming in. politics is increasingly polarized within the parties themselves. what do you see when you look at the political landscape right now, james? >> as one of the senior members on the commenting crew over the years, you know, i've seen a number of these midterm elections before, and what i actually realize is how much this resembles some other big wave elections we've seen before. would you like me to list some of them? >> sure. >> i have four in mind. one is 1974 when richard nixon resigned, was the so-called watergate baby's election where the democrats had huge gains both in the senate and the house, and people who were on the landscape for a long time like gary hart and patrick leahy, they made their way into the senate at that time. that was a big wave election. in '94, in bill clinton's term, you had a sort of -- you had the newt gingrich contract with
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america wave election where the republicans for the first time since harry truman had control of both houses of the congress. lots of people still on the landscape, including joe scarborough. came to the congress then. in 2006, after the -- after katrina and the iraq war, you had the democrats take over the house and senate with nancy pelosi and bernie sanders got into the senate then. and then in 2010 you had the tea party revolution against barack obama. would you like to know the pattern i see here, mr. lemon? >> there's a method. i won't say madness. just a saying. go on. >> there's a method to my list. the method is that you see these big democratic wave elections after nixon in '74 and after the iraq war and katrina in 2006. after something bad has happened. like a natural disaster or watergate or something like that. the republican wave elections seem to come after legislation, after clinton tried to get through the -- his health care program and after obama did.
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they both had budget and tax increase plans. which makes me -- it's depending whether you think this coming election is about a scandal or something terrible happening, which has historically fared the democrats or whether it's about legislation. that's my historical lesson for the evening. >> we are all the better for it. thank you for teaching us, professor. thank you for the lesson, professor. but it is becoming nearly impossible, though for a republican candidate to win a primary election unless they are endorsed by president trump or become trump-like or further to the right. but then actually winning a general election, that's an actual story. what does the gop do about this dilemma? >> it is as you say. donald trump certainly has held on to his base. the 38, 40, 42% of the public that really believes in him, that is loyal to his version of the republican republican party. and that is enough to win a general election if the
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democrats are dispirited, if the people that don't usually turn out in the midterms don't turn out. the various categories of voters who aren't usually mobilized, the question is the degree of intensity between that part of republican base that donald trump's candidates seem to depend on or can depend on and the counterveiling force of democrats in general, of women, of ethnic minority members who have more of their representatives running in these races. i think that intensity battle is what the republicans may be concerned about right now. >> so you blame the leaders of the republican party, paul ryan, mitch mcconnell specifically? >> i blame them for what's happening or not happening in the congress now. every single senator and member of the house of representatives took an oath to defend the constitution, not the party. if you defend the party, that's a parliamentary system of government like in england or the commonwealth countries. we haven't thought of our system being that. we have thought -- we have this
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myth that especially individual senators will use their individual leeway to filibuster or hold up proceedings if they think something is going wrong. i think the fact that republicans who two years ago were saying that donald trump was unfit and who know he's doing things they stand against are not doing anything to stop him. that will be noted historically, i think. >> all right. james fallows, always appreciate it, sir. >> thank you, don. >> we'll be right back. the digital divide is splitting this country. we have parents who are trying to get their kids
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off of too much social media and computers, and then we have parents who would only hope their children have access. middle school is a really key transition point, right. the stakes start changing. students begin to really start thinking about their futures. what i like about verizon's approach is that it's not limited to just giving kids new tools, it's really about empowering educators to teach in different ways, and exposing kids to more active forms of learning. giving technology is not a total solution. teaching technology, now that is.
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just hours after winning the republican nomination for florida governor, ron desantis kicked off day one of his general election campaign saying this on fox news. >> the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda
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with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. >> hmm. i want to bring in now bill kristol of the weekly standard, editor at large and bakari sellers and alice stewart. here we go again. jesus, jesus. okay. so what do you think, bakari? i mean, good evening, everyone. was it a racist comment or figure of speech? >> actually, my largest concern, he is using a bullhorn. people don't use dog whistles. it's the part of trump. it's red meat for the base. my larger issue was the fact before then, and it's something we oftentimes have to explain, and it's become exhausting when he says that andrew gillum is articulate. it's something that joe biden said about barack obama. it's a faux pas made that doesn't have any party. the reason that that is offensive to many is because it does not take some superhero
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power or special talent for a black person to speak properly. i'm hard-pressed to know many times when you're walking down the street and you say boy that white kid was articulate. that just doesn't happen. i think that many times we have these subconscious implicit biases and desantis is proof positive of that. we were talking off air, though, about the fact that 48% of arizona voters voted for joe arpaio, who is a law-breaking racist, or kelli ward who has some issues with the truth and seemed to be crazy as she was going down further in this campaign. this party of trump has issues with sanity and race. >> okay. so let's -- and especially when you said you never see a white kid as articulate. i was just thinking we have someone who is not very articulate who happens to be president. that didn't escape me. alice, listen, let me get the
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comment in and then you can respond. after he started to get backlash, the campaign came out with this statement. ron desantis was obviously talking about florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies that andrew gillum espouses. to characterize it as anything else is absurd. you know, given the history of "monkey" being used as a slur against african americans or black people, is it really absurd, alice? >> no. look, that statement should have been pretty concise and said i'm sorry, bad choice of words, terrible mistake. let's move on. game on to the primary. that would be the best way to resolve this. that being said, his entire message about the -- that gillum, his policies are wrong for florida, socialist agenda and his tax policies that would increase taxes and hurt florida completely got lost. that is a solid message. that is a solid contrast between the primary and the general moving forward. that got lost. >> doesn't that politicize it,
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alice. kwloun say -- like you said, full stop, listen, i'm sorry, bad choice of words. i should never have used it. i should have known better. boom, done. then when you bring the whole other thing in, it politicizes it and excuses, sounds like you're trying to excuse something you said by adding another layer on top of it. i know that was bad, but this is worse. that's not a real apology. >> no. there's no excuse for it. that being said, that's why my advice would have been go out there, clear the air, make your apology, move on. pivot and let's get back to politics as usual and go into the primary. but the best answer to this and the best response is to apologize, acknowledge that what you said was insensitive and move on. >> thank you for that. once upon a time, don, i worked in -- in 1976, i worked in the primary campaign of daniel
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moynihan of new york, the last democrat i worked for for white a while there. the party moved away other policies. he won by a percentage point. the next morning, james buckley the incumbent senator had a press conference and congratulated pat moynihan on winning and said he look ed forward to debating him as they had differences on the general issues. that used to be what people did on the morning after a primary victory at or -- your opponent winning the primary. that shows how far we've come. we take it for granted. of course, you get out there -- i mean, gillum was impressive, ran a pretty impressive campaign. he was outspent massively by three other candidates i think. >> yep. >> he won. if i were ron desantis, as a matter of clinical calculation, wouldn't it look for gracious, to say you know what? i'm very much looking forward to debating mr. gillum on a million issues. i just want to say that was an impressive primary campaign. congratulations. i look forward to the rest of the campaign. but no, we're in such a crazy partisan hyper political trumpy,
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not just trumpy, but political world that you've got to begin the attack the morning after the primary. >> yeah. well, you said it. >> socialist, really? that's a little childish, isn't it? >> the whole thing is just -- the whole thing is just -- people don't even know when they're racist. we'll be right back. we'll talk about it. my name is jeff sheldon, and i'm the founder of ugmonk. before shipstation it was crazy. it's great when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize i've got a hundred orders
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and trouble swallowing may occur. you're more than just your bipolar i. ask about vraylar. back with the panel, bill was on with chris cuomo tonight and had a chance to respond to that statement. from the campaign. here it is. >> looking at the whole clip, i think he was clear about what he meant. he understood the dog whistle he was blowing, and i understand
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that he intends to speak to a particular part of the base to insight them but there is majority of us who disagree. with that brand of politics. >> >> bill, is he right? that a dog whistle? do you think it will incite the right wing base? >> if so, it's stupid. he's running against a liberal democrat. the conservative voter doesn't excite them anymore. he will be turning out for a race with real ideological differences. it was idiot. i don't know if it was a racial slip or bungling of a term. >> as i said in the open, shouldn't you know better as a thinking person -- >> yeah, look, whatever, he should just apologize. i totally agree. maybe you should know better. i would hope i wouldn't say that for example. if you say it, you say it, whatever.
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he's up late or something but he should apologize and muck it up. i agree with the point when you apologize in the next sentence but i want to say the guy is a socialist, that just takes away the whole thing. you got to come out and say this is wrong, i very much regret i may have got this race off to a bad start. i want to make clear there is no place for this in our politics. would that be hard to do? >> no. florida is 25% non-white. do you think it will galvanize people against him? >> they are excited in georgia for stacy abrahms and maryland and mississippi for mike espy. the list goes on and on and on and i reject the fact andrew or stacy or any of these individuals are socialists. that's a tag that's cute because of the fact donald trump uses it. in fact, the republicans have
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used the material socialist so much because they beat barack obama over the head with it with 84 straight months of job growth. and this achievement. people don't know the term. you have progressive democrats running and this isn't your bernie sanders progressive per se you have a new black progressive we're starting to see, especially in the south and we'll see how that transforms the party and see how that plays out in november and hopefully i include myself as one of those. hopefully there are electoral success for us all. >> i give you the last word, ms. stewart. >> this clearly is a bernie sanders type socialist candidate. those are the kind of policies that florida can't afford. i worked on rick scott's campaign in 2010 and his main motto that got him elected to the governor of florida is jobs, jobs, jobs and the economy and we cannot afford, they cannot afford to run the state of florida with the programs and the tax and spend policies he's implementing and supporting. that will not sustain in
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florida. desantos has the right policies and message that will resonate in florida like donald trump's message resonated in florida. he got off on the wrong foot. the problem with the primaries being so late, you have a short time to get your message out for the general election. it's time to get on the right footing and push his message. >> wouldn't it be great if that was the conversation we could have had rather than talking about someone saying something bigoted? thank you. appreciate it. michael cohen's legal future. don't want to miss it. we'll talk about that next. if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce
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this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. white house counsel don mcgahn set to leave his job.

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