Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Key Races Across U.S. Tomorrow Could Set Stage for 2026; Trump Claims Not To Know Crypto CEO Pardoned; Miles And Miles Of Decimated Communities In Jamaica After Cat 5 Storm; Catastrophic Damage In Jamaica After Hurricane Melissa; Scott Galloway Tackles The Male Loneliness Crisis In New Book; Trump On Former Prince Andrew: "I Feel Badly For The Family"; Documentary Filmmaker Ken Burns On His Grief & Loss. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired November 03, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Obviously, we're hours away, hours away here, are you ready? Do you expect it's going to be a big night for you?
ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D) NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I'm hopeful, I'm confident but I'll never be complacent. But look, if people want to vote for Donald Trump and Elon Musk, they should vote for Andrew Cuomo. If people want to vote for change, they should vote for me.
BURNETT: All right, Zohran Mamdani, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
And thanks so much, as always to all of you for joining us. We'll be here tomorrow night for special coverage on election night right here on CNN. AC360, in the meantime, begins right now.
[20:00:30]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, the final hours before Americans vote state and local races with big national implications and a President facing new and dismal job approval numbers now weighing in on some of them.
Also, the President pardoned a crypto king who reportedly helped make his make his family company billions. So, why is he now claiming he doesn't know the guy?
And later, Scott Galloway on the crisis he sees facing boys and men today. What's causing it and how to fight the forces seeking to fill this vacuum of hope with hate?
Good evening, thanks for joining us. We begin tonight with breaking news in our first chance since the Presidential election and before the 2026 midterms, to learn what voters are thinking. Not to mention decide who governs key states in America's biggest city.
There's a live video from Democrat Mikie Sherrill's rally tonight in Montclair, New Jersey. Her race for governor, perhaps the tightest of several closely watched contests tomorrow.
Governors races there in Virginia, a key ballot initiative on redistricting in California, which could determine who wins the House next year.
Democratic socialist, Zohran Mamdani running for mayor of New York, of course and according to the polls, comfortably ahead.
Democrat Abigail Spanberger, also leading in the Virginia's governor race with the race significantly Mikie Sherrill and rival Jack Ciattarelli now especially close in a blue state that got significantly redder in 2024.
Hanging over it, though, new CNN polling showing a full 63 percent of voters now disapprove of the job that President Trump is doing. That is higher than when he was getting ready to leave office after January 6th. He's been weighing in tonight on social media telling New Yorkers to vote for Andrew Cuomo, not Mamdani, who just reacted to that on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAMDANI: Look, this is something that we've been speaking about for months. We've known since the primary that Andrew Cuomo was funded by the same billionaires that gave us Donald Trump's second term. He denied that, then he had a phone call with President Trump trying to coordinate to stop our campaign, he then denied that.
And even just until these final days, he denied that he was Donald Trump's preferred candidate. But now, it's written out for the entire world to see. This is the man that Donald Trump wants to be the next mayor of New York City, and not because he's good for New Yorkers, but because he'll be good for Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, the President tonight also warned New Jerseyans and Virginians not to vote Democratic, saying, "You will rue the day that you voted to destroy your life." New Jersey's Republican candidate for governor, Jack Ciattarelli got a nice surprise on the campaign trail today when his son, a U.S. Army officer, came all the way from Kuwait to show his support.
Some polls show Ciattarelli within striking distance of Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill, as we said, an event for Sherrill is underway in Montclair, New Jersey.
CNN's John Berman is there for us tonight. So, President Trump did better than expected in New Jersey a year ago. What's his impact expected to be tomorrow?
JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Mikie Sherrill campaign hopes its central and they are betting its central.
Mikie Sherrill the congresswoman from Montclair, where I am right now, she's been elected four times here. She is out on the trail constantly talking about Donald Trump, but not so much about threats to democracy, Anderson. She talks about Donald Trump in terms of affordability. That's one of the main issues she has focused on this entire campaign, and it's one of the issues that people in this small crowd here in Montclair have told us is central to their election.
She criticizes her opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, as being a pawn of Donald Trump, who will be a rubber stamp to him and will not stand up to Donald Trump. And one of the things I heard from the Sherrill campaign just tonight is that, in a way, they've been perplexed that Jack Ciattarelli has tied himself so closely to President Trump, because what they say they see in their polling is that Donald Trump is deeply underwater in New Jersey, like CNN showed in its poll just out today.
The Sherrill campaign also putting some early voting numbers that they say shows enthusiasm is on their side. They say they are outpacing the governor's race four years ago, that year they had a 266,000 voter advantage in the early in-person and mail-in votes. They say it's already a 290,000 vote advantage this time, and could get even bigger by tomorrow morning.
The one thing they're trying to buck, Anderson, is a little bit of history. Not since the 1960s has one party held the Governor's Mansion for three consecutive terms. If Mikie Sherrill wins, she would be a Democrat to hold the Governor's Mansion for a third term. As I said, that hasn't happened since 1961 -- Anderson.
COOPER: John Berman, thanks very much. Now to the high profile race for Virginia's governor, where the Democratic candidate, Abigail Spanberger, has had a consistent lead in polling.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in Virginia's capital city of Richmond. How much does President Trump a factor in the race there?
[20:05:11]
JEFF ZELENY, CNN, CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, he is a major factor in this race. Everywhere you go, talking to voters, really on both sides, they mentioned President Trump. Democrats, of course, are excited and enthused to send the White House a message. This is really the first big electoral test of the Trump administration, if you will, of the policies of the actions and that federal government shutdown now already into its second month, it hits hard here in Virginia.
Of course, the size of the federal workforce is huge. Federal contractors, military members as well. But just a few moments ago, President Trump, actually from the Oval Office, had a conference call with Virginia Republicans and New Jersey Republicans as well right after that.
And on the Virginia call, he was trying to rally Republican voters. He said that the Democratic ticket is not fit to hold office. But one name he didn't mention the Republican candidate for governor, Winsome Earle-Sears. She's currently the Lieutenant Governor and President Trump has not issued an endorsement of her candidacy. That also has been a sort of curious thing hanging over this entire race.
But there is no doubt about it, the Democratic ticket here and the Spanberger campaign believes that Virginia will send a message to The White House. They are confident tonight, Anderson.
Usually there's an election eve rally that most candidates have, like the one that John is in there in New Jersey. The last rally here ended at midday today. So Abigail Spanberger is preparing to address voters tomorrow evening, what they believe will be a win here in Virginia -- Anderson.
COOPER: Thanks very much, appreciate it. Joining me now with analysis, two Davids, both goliaths, CNN senior political commentator and former Trump campaign adviser David Urban and CNN chief political analyst and former senior adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod.
So, David Axelrod, what is a good night for Democrats tomorrow night look like? And what would be a good outcome for President Trump?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, a good outcome, let me do it backwards. A good outcome for President Trump, as if he were to win one of those governor's races. I think that would be read as a repudiation of Democrats. I think Democrats are in line to win the kind of midterms that you want to send a signal -- I mean, the kind of victories that you want to send a signal going into the midterms, winning two governor's races. I suspect the margin in Virginia is going to be quite large. And you know, that goes directly to some of the policies that he's engaged in right now. The shutdown, the layoffs and so on.
Jersey may be a little bit closer, but remember, the Republican candidate there came pretty close four years ago against an incumbent Democrat. So, any kind of sizable victory would be seen as progress. And then, you know, New York, obviously, Mamdani is a heavy favorite. He's separated himself from Mamdani.
One thing I would say, Anderson, is the fact that the President is doing conference calls with Republicans on the eve of the election, but no appearances, no television tells you (A) how much of a liability they think he is, and (B) how much of a liability he fears they may be tomorrow night.
COOPER: David Urban, I mean, do you think it's a candidate problem or do you think it's a reflection on the President?
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, Anderson, you know, this is kind of an off year election with strong candidates.
Look both governor races have very strong candidates, you know, in New Jersey where it's a little bit more of a purple state, Jack Ciattarelli is fighting a very good fight, and if there's going to be an upset tomorrow night, it will be in New Jersey. But make no mistake about it. You know, Spanberger is a very solid candidate, kind of a what used to be called a blue dog Democrat back in the day. Conservative kind of right of center.
If you looked at her bona fides, her resume, you'd think she'd almost be a Republican. So, you've got good candidates in those two races. And look, in New York, there is no doubt that it was going to be a Democrat. It's a little surprising that a Democratic socialist is going to win who is promising, you know, the moon and the stars.
So, come Wednesday morning and David Axelrod and I talked about this, come Wednesday morning, I think Democrats are going to have a little conundrum on their hand on which brand sells better, right, the Mamdani brand of Democratic politics or the Spanberger brand.
I think you know, David's former boss, President Obama, kind of had a little bit of a tell there by showing up to support the New Jersey gubernatorial candidate, but not taking that long trek across the bridge into Manhattan and supporting Mamdani.
COOPER: David, is it obviously not such a long trek just across the bridge? He did support the Democratic candidate in New Jersey, as David was saying, and also Virginia as well. President Trump still routinely goes after him, including just last night on "60 Minutes". When President Obama goes on the trail, how much of it is personal for him?
AXELROD: Well, look, I think he -- you know, I listened carefully to those speeches that he made. And I hear echoes of things that I've heard for as we've worked together for many, many years about the power of people to change the direction of the country. And I think one of his concerns and he kind of articulated it there is that people not lose heart, that people not buy into the idea that they can't do anything about these kind of affronts and trespasses to democracy.
[20:10:41]
So, I think he takes that. He's devoted his life to these ideas. He takes it seriously. And, you know, he's tried to pick his spots because he doesn't think he should be a constant commentator. But certainly, on the eve of an election urging people to lean in and not lean out is something he desperately wants to do.
COOPER: Yes, David Axelrod, David Urban, thanks. Our special election night --
URBAN: I would have given him the toll money, Anderson.
COOPER: I know you would have.
AXELROD: Give back the money for that gateway project. That's what they want.
COOPER: All right, we'll see you guys tomorrow night. Our special election night coverage begins tomorrow, 5:00 P.M. Eastern here on CNN, streaming on the CNN App.
Next for us tonight, almost two weeks after pardoning the man whose crypto platform is helping make his family richer, the President says still, he doesn't know him. We're keeping them honest.
And later, CNN's David Culver and some of the hardest hit parts of Jamaica devastated by that Cat 5 hurricane and haunted by the lives it took.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did you know this gentleman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His mom is supposed to be here. His mom lived at the white house.
CULVER: But nobody has come to collect his body?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not yet. Not everybody know that he died.
CULVER: Just lying lifeless in there. I mean, it's absolutely horrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:16:14]
COOPER: Keeping them honest tonight, here's a question, would a billionaire so interested in money that he once famously cashed a 13- cent check? Not remember a guy who helped enrich his family by billions of dollars? The man in question is President Trump and the other man is Changpeng Zhao, the convicted and recently pardoned co- founder of the crypto exchange, Binance. And the answer, if you asked Mr. Trump, is yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NORAH O'DONNELL, "60 MINUTES" CORRESPONDENT: Why did you pardon him?
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Okay, are you ready? I don't know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's the President on "60 Minutes" last night and just to refresh everyone's memory. In 2023, Mr. Zhao and his company pleaded guilty to money laundering related charges, which did not stop the Trump family from hosting their own new crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, on his exchange Binance. Here's the World Liberty Financial's meet our team page. The President of the U.S. listed as co-founder emeritus. His three sons, Eric, Donald Jr. and Barron, all named as co-founders.
Since then, according to "The Wall Street Journal", their company, again hosted on Binance, has added nearly five billion dollars to the Trump family fortune. Yet even on the day of the pardon, the President sounded foggy about it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Today, you pardoned the founder of Binance. Can you explain why you chose to pardon him, and did it have anything to do with his involvement in your family's --
TRUMP: Which one? Who is that?
COLLINS: The founder of Binance. He has an involvement in your family's crypto business.
TRUMP: The reason -- I believe we're talking about the same person because I do pardon a lot of people.
I don't know, he was recommended by a lot of people. A lot of people say that, are you talking about the crypto person? A lot of people say that he wasn't guilty of anything. He served four months in jail, and they say that he was not guilty of anything, that what he did. Well, you don't know much about crypto. You know nothing about you know nothing about nothing, you are fake news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, you heard him say it -- Who's that? But he also knew he was, as he put it, the crypto person and knew how much time he had served. Yet a couple of weeks later, on "60 Minutes", as you just heard, he doesn't know who he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: Why did you pardon him?
TRUMP: Okay, are you ready? I don't know who he is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Now, whether you believe that or not, he certainly should know who the man is, if only for the reason his press secretary gave in her answer to this question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: How do you respond to the allegations from Democrats that this is a corrupt act?
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I would respond and say the President is exercising his constitutional authority to grant clemency requests, and the President and The White House have a very thorough examination of every pardon request that comes to the President's desk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So, according to her, both the President and White House thoroughly examine every part and request coming across his desk. But according to him, he doesn't know the guy he pardoned, who also happened to help make his family a lot richer. This is a President who, along with Republican lawmakers, have been criticizing former President Biden for not knowing who he was pardoning or, as the President puts it, who the autopen was. Problem with the video. That was then, when asked today about what the
President said on "60 Minutes" how Speaker Johnson gave what's become a familiar answer.
All right, Speaker Johnson has also said he hasn't seen videos of a DHS agent hitting a minister with a pepper ball. Didn't know about the January 6th riot, or allegedly threatening the top House Democrat.
Let's turn to Jeffrey Toobin here. Is there -- I mean, there's no constitutional requirement that a President know whom they're pardoning is there.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: There is no requirement, and there are no limits. The President -- this is one of the few powers in the Constitution where there's absolutely no check and balance. The President can pardon anyone he wants for any reason he wants, whether they've been convicted of a crime or not.
And thanks to Trump v United States, the Supreme Court's decision last year that there can be no prosecution of the President, even if it's an open bribe, because it's an official duty and the Supreme Court said there can't be any prosecutions for official duties.
[20:20:20]
COOPER: But it's been this way in terms of -- I mean, the rules on pardoning is not just under President Trump, it has been the rule for all.
TOOBIN: For all eternity and, you know, that's why it's so interesting and I think significant to look at who gets pardoned under each President because this is something, they don't have to worry about what any other branch of the government thinks. This is solely within their power and this tells you a lot about Donald Trump.
COOPER: I mean, it is remarkable, the benefit that the family has received, who, you know, the sons who are involved in this crypto business, the profits are extraordinary from this guy's Binance.
TOOBIN: Billions of dollars, and, you know, the idea that the President wouldn't know someone who was in a position to give or assist his family in making that kind of money defies belief.
COOPER: Even if you don't know the person personally, but if you're the President, you would think somebody around them would say, you know, it would be a discussion you would at least think of like, you know what, I know you don't know this guy, but this may cause some public relations issues. It might look like, you know, pay for play. You would think he would get to know him in that discussion.
TOOBIN: You would think and one of the frustrations of the "60 Minutes" interview, I thought, was that he says, I was told that he was treated badly. Who told him? I mean, obviously, the people who have a tremendous interest in telling him that's business. Was it his sons his sons who told him that Mr. Zhao was treated -- perhaps someone else will ask. COOPER: And in terms of -- I mean, I remember when I mean, I was kind
of -- I was basically a kid, but I remember Jimmy Carter's brother was selling Billy Beer, and it was a big deal because not only was it sort of, you know, he was Billy, you know, Billy Carter, but it was viewed as he's profiting off the presidency. Has there ever been a case where a family has enriched themselves so much while in the, in the --
TOOBIN: I mean, nothing remotely this close. I mean, every President, to be honest, has had troublesome relatives who have tried to profit or get attention because of their proximity to the President. But this kind of money, billions of dollars, nothing close.
COOPER: Jeffrey Toobin, thanks very much.
Still ahead tonight, what President Trump has said about the Royal exile for Andrew, as the former prince faces a growing scandal over his ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
And we take you to areas hard hit in Jamaica by last week's monster Category 5 hurricane.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no words to describe it. I said to you, apocalyptic. That's the only thing I can use.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, everything is gone. Everything in the house is gone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:27:48]
COOPER: For miles and miles in Western Jamaica, there are communities left in ruins after Hurricane Melissa. Tomorrow marks one week since the storm Category 5 slammed into the island, and now the death toll stands at 32. Our David Culver is on the ground where there's an urgent need to reach both the living and the dead.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are catching some water because that's the only way we can get water. We are all damaged here in Jamaica, real bad.
CULVER (voice over): Across much of Western Jamaica, the storm has passed, but you feel it everywhere, survival mode has kicked in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In here in Belmont, we are very distressed and we really need some help because you have persons who are very homeless and we don't really have any food supplies.
CULVER (on camera): This is where you live here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CULVER (voice over): Now, they're coming to terms with what's left. And for many here, it's not much.
CHILD: My bed there.
CULVER (on camera): This was your bed?
CHILD: Yes, and my mother's bed. Look, our bed mashed up.
CULVER (on camera): It's all mashed up. You're right. You're right.
CULVER (voice over): As were heading out, a man points to a nearby house. He just told us that. That there's somebody in this house up here still. That his body hasn't been recovered yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody's right there.
CULVER (on camera): Right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CULVER (on camera): Did you know this gentleman?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His mom is supposed to be here. His mom live at white house.
CULVER (on camera): But nobody has come to collect his body?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not yet. Not everybody know that he died.
CULVER (on camera): It's just lying lifeless in there. I mean, it's absolutely horrible just by himself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ain't nobody not sure when he dead. They're not sure when he died.
CULVER (on camera): They're not sure when he died.
I mean, seeing that is obviously very, very difficult. And it's worth pointing out, I mean, the neighbors there, it's not neglect on their part. They simply don't have cell service or any sort of connectivity to be able to report that and they say that they were trying to tell passersby, but nobody came in to actually inspect.
So for them, we were the only ones who they could tell. And we ultimately, once we had connectivity here, our colleague Omar here made the call to report that that body was in fact still in the house.
CULVER (voice over): Night brings relief from the days heat and humidity.
[20:30:21]
CULVER: You get around with the flashlight on your phone, huh?
ANDREZ ANDERSON, BLACK RIVER RESIDENT: Yes, yes, man. So this is --
CULVER (voice-over): But there's no water. ANDERSON: This is the only water we have here. You see.
CULVER (voice-over): And no power.
ANDERSON: We have no roof there. You know, just this alone. So the rain actually coming now. So you feel it inside.
CULVER (voice-over): Yes.
ANDERSON: You know, so it will be more damages, you know, as the rain comes by. So we just keep deteriorating until we can get so --
CULVER (voice-over): How do you live in this?
ANDERSON: It's really rough, it's very hard. It's hard to cope. We just have to try to keep the kids mentally stable and try to tough it out, you know?
So, you know, we are just grateful here right now to know that we are alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Line up. Line up.
CULVER (voice-over): Mornings bring no rest, just long lines. People here waiting for hours for gas.
CULVER: You've been out here for this morning?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around 4:00.
CULVER: Which time -- gosh, seven hours.
CULVER (voice-over): And if water's not running in your home, you go to the source.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm (INAUDIBLE).
CULVER (voice-over): Nearby, along the riverbed, dozens gather.
CULVER: They're saying that nobody has come to help at all.
SIMONE GARDON, MONTEGO BAY RESIDENT: I guess it doesn't really hit us yet. Because after two weeks when it's all settled down, and we're all like wow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I start (INAUDIBLE).
GARDON: The hungry (ph) kick in. Worse than water. So we need a lot of help.
DR. SHERIFF IMORU, SENIOR MEDICAL OFFICER, BLACK RIVER HOSPITAL: You have to understand that even up to this point in time, we don't even know what our death toll is.
CULVER: Do you think you're going to find more bodies?
IMORU: Yes, man. I would think so. I hope not, but I don't think so.
CULVER: But the reality.
IMORU: Yes, man, the reality is there.
CULVER (voice-over): At the hospital in Black River --
CULVER: No power.
IMORU: No power, no water.
CULVER: No water.
IMORU: No.
CULVER: But the emergency room is still operating.
IMORU: Yes.
CULVER (voice-over): Dr. Sheriff Imoru walks us through what's left.
CULVER: I mean, this is your hospital.
IMORU: Yes, yes.
CULVER: And when you look out now, I mean, I know you're focused on patients day-to-day as well.
IMORU: Yes, yes.
CULVER: But, like, have you been able to process this moment?
IMORU: No, no, no. The one thing I can tell is that I'm very heartbroken, extremely heartbroken when I see this.
CULVER (voice-over): And still his staff shows up.
IMORU: Every single person you see here --
CULVER (voice-over): Even though, like him, many have lost their own homes.
IMORU: There are no words to describe it. I said to you, apocalyptic. That's the only thing I can use.
SHANIEL TOMLIN, SON INJURED DURING STORM: No, everything is gone. Everything in the house is gone.
We need help towards my kids, my house, and everything.
CULVER (voice-over): Shaniel Tomlin's baby, Jamar, just a year old, fell after the storm.
TOMLIN: Yes, they are going to look up this stitch, but they give me a prescription to follow.
CULVER: But where do you fill a prescription around here?
TOMLIN: I don't even know.
CULVER (voice-over): It's tough to find the words to describe the level of devastation, destruction, and loss that we're seeing here. And perhaps it's best to just look at the visuals, which, yes, are overwhelming, but really tell the story of several communities. Not just towns like this one, Black River, where we are, but we go mile after mile after mile along the southwest coast of this country, and you see communities that are simply wiped away.
LISA HANNA, FORMER MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, JAMAICA: We are resilient people already. There is almost an empathetic solidarity across the island and across the world to get things here. We're not going to make our people starve, and anyone that comes here and visits us are not going to starve.
CULVER (voice-over): Officials are here, trying, but it's a lot. And when you're desperate, help can't come soon enough.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are (INAUDIBLE) kindness. We are the strongest people in our world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: David, how much aid is getting to people at this point?
CULVER (on-camera): In certain pockets, Anderson, it is trickling in, and it's doing so effectively. The problem is not lack of effort, and you're seeing folks come in, foreign aid from governments, but also from NGOs, of course, too. And even from the east of this island, which remains mostly untouched, they're coming over and they're bringing as much help as they can.
It's the scale of this. I mean, it is just really difficult to describe how widespread the destruction is. Roughly, when you're looking at the geography of this country, you're talking about close to a third of the island that, as one former lawmaker described it, is decimated.
And when I ask them, how do you overcome something like this? And they all acknowledge it's going to take time. Even the folks who we meet here, they say, we still have hope but -- and we need things today, but we also know it's going to come eventually.
[20:35:10]
So they still hold on to that aspect of it, but it doesn't take away the desperation. But it's described as, according to this lawmaker, you try to get folks in shelters, in places to start their homes to be rebuilt once again. I mean, that's --
COOPER: Yes.
CULVER (on-camera): -- just the magnitude of this.
COOPER: David Culver, thanks. Appreciate it.
Coming up next, why are so many young men and boys falling behind? Author and podcast host Scott Galloway about the biggest dangers facing them and what can be done about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT GALLOWAY, AUTHOR, "NOTES ON BEING A MAN": The right has incorrectly, and I think stupidly, conflated masculinity with coarseness and cruelty, and I don't think that's working.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And later, you're likely seeing Ken Burns' remarkable documentaries about American history, which you might not know is his own history of grief and loss. He's the guest on this week's edition of my podcast, All There Is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN BURNS, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: And then he said to me, look what you do for a living. I said, what? He said, you wake the dead. You make Abraham Lincoln and Jackie Robinson come up. Who do you think you're really trying to wake up?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:40:57]
COOPER: There is a crisis facing boys and young men in this country. My next guest, author and podcaster Scott Galloway, says it affects everything from their ability to form friendships, go out on dates, find jobs, find purpose in their lives. Scott's the host of the Prof G Pod and co-host of the Pivot and Raging Moderates podcast. He's a bestselling author, and his latest book is "Notes on Being a Man."
And Scott joins me now. I want to read to you, you write in this book, "Algorithmically generated content on social media contributes to and profits from young men's growing social isolation, boredom, and ignorance. With the deepest-pocketed firms on the planet trying to convince young men that they can have a reasonable facsimile of life on a screen, many grow up without acquiring the skills to build social capital or create wealth."
The statistics are insane. Like --
GALLOWAY: Yes.
COOPER: -- 45 percent of men 18 to 25 have never approached a woman in person?
GALLOWAY: Never asked a woman out in person. And what they're up against, think about it, you could largely describe America right now as a giant bet on AI. Ten companies have driven all the growth in GDP, are responsible for 77 percent of the earnings growth.
Our economy literally rests on 10 companies now, often referred to as the Magnificent Ten. And they do several things, but quite frankly, they're in the business of enragement, polarization, and then sequestering young people from all other activities. Now I'm not --
COOPER: And that's only getting worse given where AI is going. I mean, with, like, you know, agents and chatbots who are, you know, sexually- clad anime-type figures chatting with young men.
GALLOWAY: Well, it starts pretty innocent. When you use AI, have you noticed the prompts that are almost irresistible at the end? Let me put this in a series of tweets.
COOPER: Right.
GALLOWAY: Before you know it, you're three hours deep. But effectively, these companies have attached the entire economy and literally trillions of dollars to trying to get people to -- or trying to convince young people, specifically young men who are more susceptible because, quite frankly, their prefrontal cortices isn't as developed, to try and convince them they can have a reasonable facsimile of life online.
Why go through the hierarchy of trying to make friends? It's not easy, right? Why try to figure out how to navigate a corporate, you know, all these when you can go on Reddit or Discord and find friends or you can trade crypto or stocks on Robinhood or Coinbase? And why, Anderson, would you go through the rejection, the dressing well, the effort, the expense, the humiliation, developing a kindness practice of trying to establish a romantic partnership when you have literally lifelike synthetic porn?
So what are we doing? I think we have our economy attached to one objective, and that is to evolve a new species of asocial, asexual males. Unintentionally, we have an economic interest right now, I would argue, in planning our own extinction.
COOPER: So what -- I mean, what do you do? I mean, because this juggernaut is not about to slow down anytime soon, the AI juggernaut.
GALLOWAY: I think there's a variety of things you can do, starting very young. I think you need to redshirt boys.
COOPER: I mean, you have boys, I have two boys.
GALLOWAY: Two boys. Yes, two boys.
COOPER: It's terrifying when you look at these stats.
GALLOWAY: I think you -- a couple things, education. We need to redshirt young boys. They're just less mature, and you're going to see as you get older, my 15-year-old has a party. The boys are dopes. Some of the 15-year-old girls could be the junior senator from Pennsylvania.
COOPER: I see that in 4-year-olds.
GALLOWAY: So redshirt start kids in kindergarten and 6th. Get more men involved in K through 12, where 70 percent to 80 percent are women who are naturally going to champion. People remind them of themselves. Boys need more male role models.
Immediately have a social zeitgeist, where the moment a boy comes off the tracks, which is typically when he loses a male role model, at that point, he is more likely to be incarcerated than graduate from college. Whereas girls in single-parent homes have the same outcomes. It ends up that boys, while being physically stronger, are emotionally and neurologically much weaker.
[20:45:00]
COOPER: And yet, also, I mean, at age 3 and 4, I see it already, girls have the vocabulary, or at least the desire, to talk about what they did in school, whereas boys, it's like getting -- pulling out teeth.
GALLOWAY: The reality is our brain doesn't catch up until they're 25. Goes into college. Any school, any college, in my view, that has over $1 billion endowment and isn't growing its freshman class faster than population growth should lose its tax-free status because it's not a public servant. It's a hedge fund with classes.
And my industry is so corrupt that we've decided the ultimate way to create artificial scarcity and extract more margin from middle-class homes is to limit our supply. Dartmouth sits on an $8 billion endowment, lets in 1,100 people, which is what a good Starbucks serves in a weekend. There's no reason why they couldn't let in 11,000, quite frankly.
More vocational programming, and, quite frankly, put more money in their pockets. We've had tax and fiscal policies for the last 40 years that have made my generation, on average, 72 percent wealthier than we were 40 years ago, and people under the age of 40, 24 percent less wealthy.
So what do you have? 60 percent of 30-year-olds used to have one child in the house 40 years ago. Now it's 27 percent.
So we have-- they're up against technology, trying to separate them from their friends, make them less mammalia. We have fiscal policies, quite frankly, making them less wealthy. And then we have social media reminding them 210 times a day that they're failing.
And what do you know? They wake up at 30, they're more obese, anxious, and depressed. And if we don't -- my generation has a debt. We got -- we recognize America from 1955 to 2000, garnered a third of the world's growth with 5 percent of the population.
And then within that 5 percent, 30 percent of us who were born white, heterosexual males got the majority of that prosperity. So there's a natural gag reflex when I start talking and advocating for young men. But the reality is, my advantage, my privilege, they should not have to pay the price for it. People in my generation have a debt. We need to get more emotionally involved in their lives. Men aren't stepping up. In this city, there are three times as many women applying to be big sisters as there are men applying to be big brothers.
And then we have figured out, when I say we, my generation, how to vote ourselves more money. And we keep extracting more and more capital from young people to old. The prices of housing have gone absolutely crazy. The price of education has gone crazy because we've realized the way to get our houses more expensive is through a lack of permits, make it more difficult for people to get in college.
And what do you know? The child tax credit gets stripped out of the infrastructure bill, but the $120 billion cost-of-living adjustment in Social Security flies right through. So they have less money, less opportunity. And we also have to acknowledge a basic reality.
75 percent of women say that economic viability is important in a mate. Only 25 percent of men state that. Beyonce could work at McDonald's and marry Jay-Z. The other way couldn't -- wouldn't happen. So when you have the pool, men mate socioeconomically horizontally and down, women horizontally and up.
And when the pool of horizontal and up, in other words, economically and emotionally viable men, keep shrinking, we have less household formation. And just to finish off this word salad, the cartoon of a woman in her 30s who doesn't find romantic love, and what a tragedy she's living alone with her cats, that's not the tragedy. She's fine.
Men need relationships much more than women. A widow is happier after her husband dies. A widower is less happy. Women in relationships live two to four years longer. Men in relationships four to seven years longer.
The zone of self-harm and suicide for a man is the year after he gets divorced, when he loses his primary relationship. And what is the reason, the biggest cause for divorce amongst young people? It's financial strain.
We need to put more money in their pockets. We need an education system that restores sort of bias or fixes the bias for women. And we basically need to level up all young people, which will disproportionately help young men.
COOPER: Do you see anyone in the political sphere -- I mean, we had Wes Moore on -- governor of Maryland, he has talked about this publicly. He's tried to focus on young men. But you don't hear this conversation very often.
GALLOWAY: I'll tell you, Anderson, the conversation has become so much more productive. Five years ago, when I started advocating for men, the immediate gag reflex, and I understand it, was -- so you're Andrew Tate with an MBA, and you got shamed.
And when I went to the Democratic National Convention, they talked about every special interest group on the planet except for the one that had fallen furthest, fastest, young men. And the people who are leading this fight and made the conversation much more productive, very simple -- mothers, who see what's going on.
And the dialogue goes something like this. I got three kids, two daughters, one son, one daughter a pen, one daughter in PR, and my son is in the basement playing video games and vaping. Mothers see this. Governor Moore, Governor Newsom, a lot of senators are basically talking about, for the first time, they are coming out and saying, there is a problem with our young men.
Governor Moore has said he's going to devote his next year to the struggles facing young men and to boys. This has become a much more productive dialogue.
[20:50:07]
COOPER: Yes. Scott Galloway, thank you. Appreciate it.
A lot to learn. The new book is, "Notes on Being a Man." It comes out tomorrow.
Over the weekend, President Trump broke his silence on Britain's King Charles revoking the royal titles for his brother Andrew and evicting him from a Windsor mansion. All this comes as the now former prince faces a growing scandal over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The administration continues to face questions about the so- called Epstein files and Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
More now from CNN's Royal Correspondent Max Foster.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I feel very badly. I mean, it's a terrible thing that's happened to the family. That's --
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Donald Trump extending his sympathies to Britain's royalty.
TRUMP: I mean, I feel badly for the family.
FOSTER (voice-over): After King Charles stripped his own brother, Andrew, of his titles. No mention, however, of Virginia Giuffre pictured here with then Prince Andrew and Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. For years, Giuffre has accused Andrew of sexual abuse and she's doubled down in her posthumous memoir. She died by suicide earlier this year. Andrew denies the allegations.
I spoke to Giuffre's family after the announcement of Andrew's titles being stripped but before the latest comment from President Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our president has not shown the same courage, the same respect and acknowledgement that these survivors deserve.
FOSTER (voice-over): One of their issues is Trump's unwillingness to rule out a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell.
TRUMP: I'd have to take a look at it. I would have to take a look.
FOSTER (voice-over): Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking on behalf of Epstein. And in October, the Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal, leaving the presidential pardon she appears to be seeking, as one of her few remaining options to leave prison.
Also at the heart of the matter, the Epstein files, which Trump said he would declassify and release whilst he was campaigning in 2024, but he now calls the issue a democratic hoax. Trump and Epstein had a well-documented friendship before falling out sometime in the mid- 2000s. But none of Epstein's victims have made any claims of criminal behavior against the U.S. president, and Epstein's accomplice told the Deputy Attorney General the same.
GHISLAINE MAXWELL, JEFFREY EPSTEIN ACCOMPLICE: I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way. The president was never inappropriate with anybody.
FOSTER (voice-over): In her memoir, Giuffre, who once worked at Mar-a- Lago, writes positively about Trump, part of why her family wants Britain's King Charles to urge the president to release the files.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he has his influence, he has that relationship with Donald Trump. Donald Trump is in the position to do the right thing here and we're looking for that collaboration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER (on-camera): As far as the king's brother is concerned, some democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee are asking Andrew to testify about Epstein. It's an idea that at least one British lawmaker supports.
As far as Giuffre's family are concerned, this certainly marks a milestone, the very idea that he's been stripped of his privileges. But they won't be truly satisfied until all of Epstein's associates are held to account. Anderson.
COOPER: Max Foster, thanks so much.
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is known for keeping the American past, American history alive. On my podcast, All There Is this week, he's sharing a deep loss from his own past, the death of his mom from cancer when he was young.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: There was never a moment, Anderson, when I wasn't aware that there was a sword of Damocles hanging over our family, our life. There's something wrong with my mother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:58:25]
COOPER: Last week, we launched the new season of my podcast, All There Is. Country star Luke Bryan was on the first episode, and tomorrow we release the second episode with legendary documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. Burns' mom died when he was just 11 after a long battle with cancer.
And when I sat down with Ken, I was stunned to learn how similar our experiences were in the wake of one of our parents dying. His mom's death and my dad's death when I was 10 shaped both of our lives in very profound and similar ways and continues to impact how we interact with the world.
Here's part of that conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: There was never a moment, Anderson, when I wasn't aware that there was a sword of Damocles hanging over our family, our life. There's something wrong with my mother. So I loved baseball, for example, and people would say, yes, I loved it when my dad and I could get together, or my mom.
Nobody ever came to my games. It was this stuff I did alone. And a good deal of my life right now is like that, too, kind of isolated. I'm in touch with people all the time, but also completely, you know, alone.
COOPER: I'm exactly the same way.
BURNS: And so you're -- you've got the social aspects of whatever the professional life is, but there's also, you know, you come in and you take off your coat and you just want to talk to your dog, and that's it.
COOPER: Does it -- I mean, I was hoping that would go away.
BURNS: So the half-life of grief is endless, and that's OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Ken Burns, that podcast episode releases tomorrow evening. The full episode will be available, I guess, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch the entire episode and listen to it as well at CNN.com/AllThereIs.
In addition, we launched a new weekly online show called All There Is Live. It's kind of a companion show to the podcast. It's going to be every Thursday night live at 9:15 p.m. Eastern time. I hope it's a place where people living with grief and loss can come together and not feel so alone in their grief. You can find that also at CNN.com/AllThereIs.
The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now. See you tomorrow.
