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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Speaking at First Post-Election Rally in Ohio. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired December 01, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:01] RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: ... for another 45 minutes, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Rene thanks very much. That's it for me, thanks for watching. "Erin Burnett OutFront" starts right now.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Erin Burnett. "OutFront" tonight, the breaking news, Donald Trump about to take the stage, his first rally since winning the White House. It's an unprecedented event, the president-elect of the United States going on the road kicking off what his aides are calling a "Thank You Tour" through the battle ground states.
Now, right now live pictures at Cincinnati, Ohio. That's a state that Trump won by nearly 9 percentage points over Hillary Clinton. Here's what going to happen. Mike Pence will be introducing Trump at any moment. We're going to bring you Mike Pence live as well as the president-elect, this as we're following more breaking news.
Donald Trump wants the retired Marine General James Mattis for Defense Secretary according to two sources with knowledge of the transition. Trump's spokesman Jason Miller told CNN no decision has been made yet regarding Secretary of Defense.
But, Mattis, who is, of course, been known for the nickname "Mad Dog" led troops during the Persian Gulf War later in Afghanistan and in Iraq. He kept his career as the head of U.S. Central Command where he oversaw the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
I'm joined now by my panel. They're going to with me throughout this hour, this major event here for Donald Trump. I want to begin with Jim Acosta who's "OutFront" at that rally in Cincinnati. And Jim, as you're getting ready for this rally here and Trump approaching the stage, what more can you tell us about General Mattis? This is obviously a very significant pick for Defense Secretary.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Erin. And we do believe that Donald Trump is closing in on making that selection. But sources, as you said, are saying at this point that this is who Donald Trump wants to be his Defense Secretary, the retired Marine General James Mattis, known as "Mad Dog."
He was the Chief of the Central Command, but because he has been on active duty as a general within the last seven years, he's going to need a waiver from Congress in order to become the next Defense Secretary.
Talking to transition official, they've been indicating over the last three weeks that General Mattis has always been Donald Trump's top pick for Defense Secretary and they don't think that getting that waiver from Congress is going to be that big of a deal. But it appears the president-elect is getting close to that selection, but as you said, no final decision yet.
BURNETT: And, of course, General Mattis has to say yes. What can we expect tonight? This is obviously an unprecedented event that you're at tonight, Jim, and a major event for Donald Trump?
ACOSTA: That's right, Erin. It feels like old times, even though old times would be just about three weeks ago. As a matter of fact, people are starting to file into this arena. About an hour ago it was looking pretty grim.
There were thousands of open seats, but I talk to a transition official within the last several minutes who said that there were several road closures that would come with a president-elect coming into a city like Cincinnati and that was holding up a lot of the people coming in here.
I can tell you right now, this crowd has fired up. They are chanting, "USA, USA." A few moments ago, they were chanting "lock her up," speaking of echoes of the 2016 election and also "drain the swamp." I have told by transition official that Donald Trump would be talking about how he's going to deliver for the American people tonight.
BURNETT: Yup.
ACOSTA: Obviously, he's feeling a bit of a high after that event earlier today in Indiana when he announced that deal to save those factory worker jobs at the Carrier plant there in Indianapolis. Erin?
BURNETT: All right, Jim, thank you very much. Something pretty incredible tonight, they're already chanting, lock her up, something, of course, Donald Trump has said he will not pursue. (Inaudible) Hillary Clinton, how different tonight could be from his normal rally stumps speeches.
The excitement among the crowds who cheered him for those kinds of comments in Ohio tonight begs the question, what do his supporters and those who frankly personally opposed him need to hear tonight? Phil Mattingly is "OutFront."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was the linchpin in the Midwest strategy that propelled Donald Trump to the White House.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT: This is the place I want to win. This is the place. This is going to do it. Ohio is going to make America great again. MATTINGLY: And it delivered big league.
WOLF: We' will make a projection, right now Donald Trump will take Ohio.
MATTINGLY: Now, as he comes back to the scene of one of his most rockies rallies, Ohioans are ready for their president-elect to return the favor.
DAVE CIGAGAS, OHIO RESIDENT: I think we've been on the wrong track for number of years, so I'm thinking about true change.
MATTINGLY: Just one day after securing a deal in Indiana to keep more than a thousand manufacturing jobs scheduled to move to Mexico, here in Hamilton county expectations are high.
MATTINGLY: Do you think that can be replicated in places like Ohio or Pennsylvania or otherwise?
MONICA PERIDOMO, OHIO RESIDENT: Certainly. I mean, it's just a matter of, you know, what would it take.
CIGAGAS: He really truly wants to make a difference and actually same jobs here, so I think that he's already doing that and not even in office yet, I think just kind of proves that.
[19:05:05] MATTINGLY: A clear reminder that voters here care most about Trump's ability to turn things around.
JOSH TIMKO, OHIO RESIDENT: If you're looking at personal character I don't think he's respectable person in that way, but his ability around the country is a completely different.
MATTINGLY: Top local GOP officials many of whom were caught in the middle of a fight between the states popular governor and Trump himself cognizant of a new power center.
GREG HARTMANN, FORMER HAMILTON COUNTRY COMMISSIONER: These aren't Republican voters. These are Trump voters. And so for the party we've got to make those voters Republicans now. Trump forged an alliance of a lot of, you know, the old Reagan Democrats and he did it masterfully.
MATTINGLY: Kay Wagner supported Hillary Clinton remains extremely wary of the president-elect.
KAY WAGNER, OHIO RESIDENT: His sexism, his crudeness and his willingness to say irresponsible things that even a man on the street certainly knew it was irresponsible. It turned me off. We don't need that in politics.
MATTINGLY: But after Trump won Ohio by a stunning eight points, even Wagner concedes. She's willing to give him a chance.
WAGNER: Oh, sure. I think we have to. That's the game, you know. Winners are winners. No, I think we should support him and just hope he cannot disappoint us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: And Erin, giving someone a chance who nobody thought had a chance, that's what we're hearing over and over again as the interim speakers kind of roll through behind me and it's what you hear also from the crowd.
They believed, nobody else believed, they were right and now they want their president-elect to deliver. Everybody I've talked to throughout the day around and also in this arena right now, they're looking for results, but they also want to kind of rub it in people's faces a little bit, Erin.
BURNETT: All right, thank you very much. And "OutFront" now, David Gergen, former Presidential Advisor of four presidents, Mark Preston, our Executive Editor Politics, Dana Bash, our Chief Political Correspondent, Ben Ferguson, Conservative Radio Host, Charles Blow, Op-Ed Columnist for the "New York Times," and Kayleigh McEnany, a Conservative Columnist, sorry.
Dana, let me start with you. You just heard Jim Acosta. They're chanting, "lock her up". You heard Phil Mattingly, they want a little bit of -- to rub it in the faces of the people that they defeated. That's what the people in this crowd want. But Donald Trump can be broadcast live around this country. What is at stake tonight?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Tune in. I mean, that's the -- you and I looked at each other when we heard Jim Acosta report that they were screaming, "lock her up," which is the campaign rhetoric that you heard at every single rally.
BURNETT: Right.
BASH: And as you said very well that the president-elect has said very clearly he's not going to pursue now. It's going to make a lot of people there who loved to chant that unhappy. Having said that, you know, I think that this is going to be fascinating to watch, because I was told that he's hoping to do a lot of these rallies ...
BURNETT: Right, right.
BASH: ... throughout his presidency because, first of all, it keeps him in touch with voters which should be applauded, but -- and Americans, but also because it is his oxygen. It's who he is.
He is a performer. He feeds off these crowds and to take that away from him, especially, when he is in the ultimate bubble which is the oval office that would be very difficult. But the balance of getting the oxygen and not feeding it too much, so that you're going to, you know, make it more inflamed is going to be tough one.
BURNETT: Because he has -- he's going to have a choice tonight, Mark?
MARK PRESTON, CNN EXECUTIVE EDITOR POLITICS: He does. BURNETT: They're going chant this when he's there, because they chanted it every time and he let it go and he fed off of it. Now tonight, does he let it go? Does he talk over? Does he saying, no, no? What does he do? He has to make a choice, because a lot of Hillary Clinton supporters are going to be watching him tonight, too.
PRESTON: Right and there's a lot of supporters that voted for him that probably don't agree with the "lock her up" theme, either.
BURNETT: Right.
PRESTON: You know, if I was a betting man which I am, right, I would say that he will probably let it go a little bit, right?
BURNETT: Yup.
PRESTON: Because he wants it to be out there and then he'll say no, no, no, let's just stop. Let's just stop. You know, she suffered enough humiliation or something like that.
BURNETT: Something like that. I think you're right, yeah, yeah.
PRESTON: And then he'll say, but, you know, let's talk about what we're going to do for you or something like that and then try to channel that energy into whatever his message is going to be tonight.
But, I do think that if you do a percentage wise, this rally tonight is going to be about 80 percent of we saw during the campaign and 20 percent of him being president-elect, somewhere along there.
BURNETT: How big is tonight?
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR: In the sense that he's going to make a choice now in my judgment about whether he's going to continue to do what he did in the rallies during the campaign, that was to try to rally his base.
BURNETT: Right.
GERGEN: He can do that or he can now try to broaden his appeal to try to reach out to the people that he's going to need in order to govern. It's important to remember that he goes in as a president-elect with the lowest approval ratings of any, but they were seeing contemporary history and were more people disapproving of him, and approving of him.
There are a lot of people out there. A lot of women out there as you well know who are not preparing to go to his inauguration, but want to march the next day against him.
[19:10:07] And so I can -- to me the testimony is whether he's going to try to broaden his appeal. If he does that, I think he'll serve himself well. If he goes the other way, I think he's going to bring a lot uncertainty.
BURNETT: So Kayleigh, what does he do tonight if they chant -- when they chant, lock her up?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think that he will engage in that. You know, we've seen Donald Trump come out as president-elect and seek to unify. That was what he said the night that he was -- that he won the presidency. That's what we've seen throughout.
And I think tonight he's going to tell his supporters, "Thank you for putting me here, because I'm only here because of you, the American people and now I'm the president of all of people." And I think that you will see a call for unity and a heavy focus on the policy that he wants to put forward to remedy anomalies that the American people face.
BURNETT: So Ben, the last time Trump speaking before a large campaign, he was running for president.
BEN FERGUSON, RADIO HOST, "THE BEN FERGUSON SHOW": Yeah.
BURNETT: OK. He hasn't had -- he wants to go in a picture tour (ph) right away ...
FERGUSON: Yeah.
BURNETT: ... as we reported, but then they waited. They said, "You're going to wait. You're going start at cabinet members." Now, we're 23 day in. He was trying out red meat campaign promises, "lock her up" being one of them.
FERGUSON: Absolutely.
BURNETT: Every single day.
FERGUSON: Yeah.
BURNETT: Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.
When we win on November 8th and elect the Republican Congress, we will be able to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare.
She deleted the e-mails. She has to go to jail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OK.
FERGUSON: Yes.
BURNETT: He's made it clear he's not going to pursue her going to jail, we made that point. But he's backed down on all of those promises actually. The people that are there tonight cheered him on, voted for him because of those promises.
FERGUSON: And I think many of them are coming around to the idea and the understanding that they want him to have victories and successes with things like Obamacare, which I'm sure he will mention tonight with the big victory today with the air-conditioning and saying, what this great brand is and he was very thankful ...
BURNETT: For Carrier.
FERGUSON: Yeah, for Carrier. He was very thankful to them today for what they did. I mean, if you look at his speech earlier, he was saying thank you to a lot of people and to the worker and the people back stage. If he takes that same type of speech, they talked about the wall today.
They said there's going to be doors in it. People are going to come in legally. This is I think a little bit of privative Donald Trump that you're now saying which is were he -- people completely underestimate him and he's going to be ought to go -- he'll probably smile in thing when they say lock her up, but he's not acting on it. He made it clear that he's not going to do it and I think you will see a little bit of, "Hey we won, let's enjoy it, but I got a lot of work to get done and I need you guys behind me."
BURNETT: But when you say we won, Charles, obviously a lot of people what? In that arena, right, these are going to be thousands of the people who are die hard Donald Trump supporters. But watching around the country are going to be a lot of people who aren't. And we're still at the fact that 2.3 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton in this country than voted for Donald Trump. Can he win any of them over tonight while satisfying the people in that room?
CHARLES BLOW, OP-ED COLUMNIST, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, I mean, if you are a leader that's what you do, right? But it is not clear to me that Donald Trump is that kind of a leader. But the idea -- you were talking before about broken promises. People promise that then that Donald Trump with the pathological liar and they voted for him anyway.
And the idea that he may continue to break promises or you may not know what he's saying is true or he may go back on it, I think that's the kind of baked into the cake now. That is the president we have. We have that president going into the White House.
I don't think that bothers the people in that room at all. I think it bothers other people, the majority of Americans who did not vote for him tremendously. The idea of ...
BURNETT: Except for they're happy, right because they don't want those promises kept. I mean --yes?
BLOW: I don't know if you can be happy about uncertainty. The idea that you don't know exactly where he stands on so many issues, the fact that he will say anything with in any room to try to please that audience, you know, that he will, you know, he will attack "New York Times," every chance he got on Twitter and then come into that building and say you are a jewel of America. I mean nothing you say -- everything you say reeks of fraudulence.
FERGUSON: If you don't support him. But the majority of the Americans and this is where I think the "New York Times" and many people that voted against him do not understand why he won, which -- now at this point it's almost becoming comical to me is the fact that you -- there's obviously massive disdain from, but the majority of the people who voted for Donald Trump did not think he's a pathological liar.
And every time you do that, the supporters that are going to be watch him tonight and these people that are watching right now that support him are just going to relish in the fact that you cannot accept the fact or even give this man a chance.
I even gave Barack Obama chance, but the longer you do this is going to fuel the fire of Donald Trump. I think you'll actually be more successful when these attacks keep coming because he's going to sit -- they're going, I'm going to prove you're wrong at again.
BLOW: The flaw in that is that you assume that I care what his supporters think.
(CROSSTALK)
BLOW: I do not -- actually, I do not care at all with (inaudible) about Donald Trump, at all.
FERGUSON: I do care about Donald Trump.
BLOW: I do not care at all what -- I'm not interested in any way in convincing someone else who supported him that they shouldn't have.
[19:15:07] I am interested in promoting the idea of right and I believe that Donald Trump is simply wrong on a number of issues that are important to me and I will write about that as often as I get a chance and I will talk about that as often as I get a chance. But it has nothing do with ...
(CROSSTALK)
BLOW: But I don't care.
FERGUSON: But you do care.
BLOW: I don't care about this.
FERGUSON: I'm happy because you do care. You care that there's people that support him.
BLOW: I'm so happy that you are inside my head.
FERGUSON: No, it's obvious from your passion to say that you don't care ...
(CROSSTALK) FERGUSON: ... means that you do care and it drives your nuts that people in your terms voted for a pathological liar and you cannot understand why they voted for Donald Trump.
BLOW: Ben, I don't understand it. I do understand it on a lot of different levels. I do understand that people turn a blind eye to his racism, to his bigotry, to his sexism, to his mocking of the disable.
FERGUSON: And this is what will fuel Donald Trump as this conversation right here.
BLOW: That's fine.
MCENANY: And most people -- you're part of the extreme left, but most people outside of the extreme left want to see their president succeed. Most people we've seen his favorability ratings ...
FERGUSON: And keeper of job to America is part of that?
MCENANY: Absolutely. We've seen his favorability ratings go up, because most people want to see the president succeed. We see people -- I saw at Carrier air-conditioned, people who kept their job saying, "Look, I didn't know whether to believe in this guy, but, well, I now have a job."
Most people want him to succeed, because -- as by the way your president, President Obama, our president that if Donald Trump succeeds, America succeeds. Far left might not get that, but the president gets that and the president-elect gets that.
BURNETT: All right, we're going to hit pause for just one moment. We're going take a break. When we come back, we are standing by. We're going to continue our conversation, but Donald Trump is going to begin speaking at any moment.
Mike Pence will be coming on first. We're going to bring that to you live as well any moment from now. Plus, new details on how Trump convinced Carrier to keep those thousand jobs from going to Mexico. And Mike Pence, he's about to introduce, as I said Donald Trump in Cincinnati. He has become the key player for the Trump team, low key, but the key. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:30] BURNETT: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Tonight, looking at live pictures, these are out of Cincinnati, Ohio that you see on your screen. Thousands gathering awaiting the president-elect, Donald Trump, this is his first post-election rally, something frankly that is unprecedented in this country.
Trump also taking a victory lap earlier today. He toured the air- conditioner company, Carrier's plant in Indianapolis celebrating his deal with the company, getting them to keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana that were going to go Mexico. He said his going to keep calling companies individually who threaten to take jobs away from America. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. If they say it's not presidential to call up these massive leaders of the business, I think it's very presidential. And if it's not presidential, that's OK. That's OK, because I actually like doing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Sunlen Serfaty is "OutFront." And, Sunlen, Mike Pence reportedly when he was governor before he won obviously try to do a deal with Carrier but it didn't work. So what's in the deal now?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. And it notably does seem that this deal was given a big boost with the force of a new president-elect behind it. And there are certainly are some measurable to validate the victory lap by Donald Trump and Mike Pence. They namely that big headlines, I guess 1,000 of those jobs are going to be staying at that plant in Indianapolis rather than going to over to Mexico.
Now we know according to the deal that in exchange, Carrier got $17 million in financial incentives. That's over a 10-year period. $500,000 a year in state income tax returns as long as they keep those jobs here and $200,000 a year to retrain workers.
You know, it's very notable though, Carrier had previously said that they would save $65 million if they moved along with the intended plan to send all of those jobs to Mexico. So, notably, they're receiving much less savings with this new deal brokered by Donald Trump and certainly raises some big questions on what other incentives potentially were thrown in there, especially, when they're talking about the parent company of Carrier, United Technologies, that's a lot of contracting with the federal government.
BURNETT: Right. It's a big defense contract. And now, Sunlen, Trump and his supporters, you know, he is saying this is proof he delivers on his promises. I know this was very important to him after he won to get this Carrier deal done. But he actually revealed this was a promise that he didn't mean or he didn't intend to keep at first. Here's what he said today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He said something to the effect, "No we're not leaving, because Donald Trump promised us that we're not leaving." And I never thought I made that promise. And then they played my statement. And I said, Carrier will never leave, but that was like a euphemism. I was talking about Carrier like all other companies from here on in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Pretty amazing that he admitted that, Sunlen. SERFATY: This was amazing. And before that, Trump said earlier in his speech that he was reminded when he's watching a piece on the nightly news about a week ago that he had made this promise.
So really saying that he was reminded of this, that he decided to go ahead and go forward with that. And I thought it was interesting that he use the word, "euphemism" for Carrier. Certainly, this euphemism now turning into a big moment for him, certainly not lost than anyone that the very first in public appearance that he made in the three weeks since winning the presidency was at this Carrier plant surrounded by images of cheering employees that goes along way for the new president-elect.
BURNETT: All right, Sunlen, thank you very much. And as we await Mike Pence and Donald Trump taking the stage at that rally on your screen, David, could Donald Trump have gotten better optics? Or hoped for better optics than he got today at Carrier?
GERGEN: I don't see how. Maybe some magician would figure out -- figure that out. But tonight he's on the road as president-elect. Based on the number of things now, I think his transition looks little more orderly.
You know, he's talking about people like James Mattis as Defense Secretary, you know, very major solid choice. And so, you know, he's doing better, but I think -- I don't think he's cleared the bar. He obviously hasn't gotten anywhere with convincing, Charles, right? So he's a long, long way to go with an awful a lot of people and there are more people opposing him than supporting him.
[19:25:03] So that's why I think the test tonight is can he broaden his appeal? He's showing signs that he can actually do that. I think what he's done in the last -- today and what he's done in the last few days, I do think he can broaden his pace.
BURNETT: But the other day, Wilbur Ross, his nominee for Commerce Secretary was here and he told me very clearly, Trump is going to have to no problem calling company after company individually, but it sort of sounds outrageous how could you actually manage to do that but he said he would do it and now the Vice President-elect Mike Pence saying in an interview earlier tonight said that's exactly what's going happen. And he explained how Trump did the deal with Carrier. Here is Mike Pence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: Well, it all began with a phone call by President-elect Donald Trump, almost about a week to the day after the election. He picked up the phone. He called the chairman of the parent company and just asked them to reconsider their decision to move jobs to Mexico from here in the state of Indiana.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Does that win over more people, because you heard him he said I don't care for some presidential. I like picking up the phone and calling these guys.
BASH: It's who he is. It's the reason why people voted for him, because he's different, because he doesn't follow the rules. That could hurt him, eventually and depending on the forum, but it also could help.
Like when he's one CEO talking to another CEO saying, you know, you got do this differently. You know, I think you asked David about whether or not he could have created -- whether the optics could be any better. He created those optics. He made those optics happens. I would be statesmanship ...
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: I cannot even imagine that part of the conversation was not, "Listen, you do this. I'm going to come there. I'll do my first trip. I'm out (ph) of Carrier logos behind me and I'm going make this happen." There's no question in my mind that was part of the deal, the publicity that he's giving them, because publicity is for Trump, but it's also for Carrier.
And then one other thing I will say is that just based on the conversation that those who had before that I think this is just one example, of -- just, no matter the differences and there are such deep passions and you guys expressed that earlier that I think any president probably should get a chance.
And he's -- and we're going to give him a chance, but I think to David's point this speech he gives tonight where he's giving a speech in a rally forum to his supporters will go very far in determining how much of a chance he's really going to get from people who really don't like him like Charles.
BURNETT: And Ben, you know, what interesting is when you look at the terms of this deal and you talk about whether he can do this across the country, whether he can win over more people. You know, you look at this, he's getting $7 million. Carrier is getting $7 million in tax benefits. OK, that means somebody, some taxpayers are paying $7 million in tax incentives to Carrier. There is a flips side here.
FERGUSON: Yeah, there is.
BURNETT: There are costs to somebody American taxpayer.
FERGUSON: Yeah, there is and I think the American taxpayers will get this and they say if you can have a thousand American workers have quality jobs and get retraining, which is something that even Barack Obama said we need do, we need to retrain the workforce. That is something they that they're willing to pay for because it's a success and something you can be proud of.
I also think one of the things Donald Trump did today is states are willing to give incentives. He's going to have to broker those deals, and when he picks up the phone call in any state and talks to a CEO and says what do you need? And his next call is to the mayor and then to the governor and to the senators and they say, "Get this done." Here is what has to happen. That's where he's going to thrive and then when you have one success after another success, I think companies also say the business climate in America has just gotten a lot better. They want to stay here probably now more than they did, maybe 60 days ago and that's what you saw today and he's going to keep doing and moving forward.
BURNETT: Is there anything in there that gives you calm, that makes you say this is a good thing? It is a thousand jobs.
BLOW: Whenever somebody keeps a job that is a good thing, right? But, you know, when people question whether or not you can continue to pass out subsidies in order to fix what is basically a structural problem that globalization is a real thing.
BURNETT: Yes.
BLOW: That you have to stop focusing so much on making appliances and focus more on generating ideas and it is idea at economy and that that is the fundamental shift in the economy of the world, not just America.
And that -- and you kind of have to remake the entire American workforce and you have to let have buy-in from the American workforce that it must be made and what's -- I mean, I think you have -- people are making that argument or making a solid argument.
And so that doesn't take away from anybody who kept the job. That doesn't have to worry how the mortgage get paid tomorrow or how the kids are going to go to college in two yeas. It simply says that we don't have enough subsidies to give to every person who are free.
BURNETT: I think the point you're making is that the message matters, over time. In the individual case, the message may not matter. You get the headline, you keep the jobs and that's important. But if you're going to replicate this across an economy, the message matters.
Bernie Sanders who like Donald Trump stood up for the American worker. This is something that they had in common that Hillary Clinton did not recognize to her (inaudible) in that for Midwest. Bernie Sanders wrote an op-ed about the Carrier deal. He said it's horrible. He said in part, "Trump was pledging to force United Technologies, which of course if the parent of Carrier, to pay a damn tax. Instead of a damn tax, the company will be rewarded with a damn tax cut. Wow. In essence, United Technologies took Trump hostage and won."
Is there something to this point?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I don't think so. And here's where the left doesn't understand that, that Donald Trump is going to remedy the structural problems we face. Donald Trump by saying he wants a 15 percent corporate tax rate, that actually creates jobs. It creates business. It creates wealth. It creates more revenue by which you can invest and employ more people.
It's a typical Keynesian versus capitalism argument, trickle down argument. And I think Donald Trump will fix those structural problems. There is no question.
And the proof I have is that Carrier was offered similar incentives by the state of Indiana. They didn't take it because they didn't believe in the philosophy behind President Obama, but they believe in the philosophy behind President-elect Donald Trump or --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Mark, or they are scared of President Donald Trump who's going to control the defense budget of which a vast majority of United Technologies business comes from.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: $15.6 billion --
BURNETT: So, what is it? Seventy-five minus seven, you know, so you are going to look at what, $68 million versus I don't know how many tens of billions at stake here. So that makes sense.
PRESTON: No, it totally makes sense. In business, what you call a loss leader, right?
BURNETT: Yes.
PRESTON: You expend money knowing full well that you're going to lose money, knowing full well that that is eventually going to help you make a lot more money.
But I do think that it's very important that this argument about Carrier right now is really the divide in America at this point.
BURNETT: Yes.
PRESTON: And here in New York, as we're sitting around these tables we're talking about how a band-aid right now, we're talking about in a macro sense. But in a micro sense, we're talking about a thousand jobs which are going to affect several thousand people right now. And you can understand why people in Middle America will say, look, at those folks in New York. They think they know what they are talking about.
But do you know what? I need a job. That doesn't mean, though, when talk about it, because quite frankly, this is affecting people and this is a big win for Donald Trump, but there are structural problems and they need to be addressed.
BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I listen today to Barack Obama -- something he said on NPR, mocking Donald Trump, saying there is no way this man is going to be able to save these jobs right before the election. He said in that sit down interview and he mocked it. And he said, you know, we're going to lose jobs.
You can save jobs and Donald Trump just did it. He said, no, we're going to have these new jobs that are going to come in, they're going to be in different industries. There is nothing wrong with saving somebody's job that creates an air conditioner, because everyone has one in their house. And I think that's what Donald Trump is saying, is I'm OK with doing new things but we're going to do other basic things and we're going to keep them --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: But the strength of one man only lasts so long. And to --
(CROSSTALK)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: No question.
BURNETT: -- is going to require policy.
BASH: Absolutely. And to your point, this was an easier deal to do because United Technologies had --
BURNETT: So much to lose --
BASH: Yes, because it's directly affected by government contracts.
You're exactly right that this is a band-aid. This is something that is kind of an easy win for him. Because it's a thousand people, you can actually, it's more relatable I think. No question.
But he can't do this with every single corporation. Some corporations aren't going to have to government contracts and they are going to say, buzz off, Mr. President. Others will or will not. But you do have to do this the right way in that he can use the bully pulpit not just to call one on one, but to tell Congress, we need to fix this.
BURNETT: Well, the bottom line is that at some point, the math has to make sense. You can't replicate doing it at a loss across an entire economy. That does not work.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think Donald Trump deserves credit for saving these jobs. And I think he's had an important political message to working people of America, I'm on your side. And that helps his leadership.
But we shouldn't over-read what's happened with 1,000 jobs, as if we're on the road now to, you know, closing off all t problems we've had. We had massive tax cuts under George W. Bush and between 2000 and today, we've lost 5 million manufacturing jobs.
Those tax cuts did not change the decisions of many, many corporations to move their operations overseas because the savings are so dramatic. The tax cuts may be helpful.
(CROSSTALK)
GERGEN: Exactly, there are a lot of costs. I talked to a company the other day who has employees, over 200,000 nurses now in India. They're never coming back here. They told me, I don't care what he does. We're not coming back because we have two big cuts.
I think the issue here is that he's done well, but let's not kid ourselves. We don't have the answers to these structural problems yet. We simply don't have the answers yet. FERGUSON: There's one thing, though, if you are a governor, Republican or Democrat, tonight, could you have picked up the phone and called Barack Obama and said help me out on a deal here. The answer is that phone call didn't happen.
The fact that you have governors which can actually pick up that phone up, that's going to inspire a lot of them to be more proactive in their state which will save more jobs.
[19:35:07] I think if you are an American sitting back and you're in flyover country tonight, and you see this, forget who you voted for. This is something that is exciting for you that you can get behind me saying this makes sense to my life and to my family moving forward.
PRESTON: That is an apple and orange argument I will say, because -- I mean, never trying to compare what Barack Obama did bringing -- helping to bring the economy back. The economy was coming back. But the fact of the matter is Barack Obama did do a pretty good job of the trying to bring jobs back from the brink.
FERGUSON: This is tangible.
(CROSSTALK)
CHARLES BLOW, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Tangible for a lot of people. Maybe you don't remember -- I'm sorry, I'm talking. Maybe you don't remember what was happening in 2008 and the panic. I mean, the literal panic. You could get on a subway and people -- you could see the panic at people's eyes and worrying about whether or not their 401(k) was solid and worrying about if the kid was in college whether they were going to be able to finish because they were depending on money that just dried up. People were panicking.
The idea that we now have the luxury --
(CROSSTASLK)
FERGUSON: You've had people that were panicking --
BLOW: Incredible --
FERGUSON: You've had people that were panicking in industrialized states that have been far before their 401k in 2008.
MCENANY: Look at the number, this has been one of the slowest recovers this country s ever seen. Not only that, President Barack Obama is going to leave office being the first president in the history of presidents to not attain 3 percent growth. This has been a slow recovery by anyone's standards.
We might feel good here, but I can tell you this, the people between the polls of L.A. and New York are not feeling good and they don't feel like they're in recovery.
BLOW: Right. But if we want to pitch this as a battle, some sort of urban/suburban battle, in the end -- (CROSSTALK)
BLOW: Well, what it sounds like, because we keep saying flyover, and keep saying playing safe --
MCENANY: It's a real thing.
BLOW: Let me say this. Can you let me talk please? That would be fantastic.
MCENANY: Right.
BLOW: Sixty-two percent of all Americans live in urban environments, in cities. If you just -- if you loop out beyond the cities and take in the suburbs around the cities, that number gets up to about 70, 80 percent. You have to look at what people are saying across the country.
And Donald Trump's America now is everybody. And it includes those people in L.A. and New York and in all of the cities that are all across the country. And they have a voice too. And if you try to continue to say that they don't, that you lose, even though if you don't --
(CROSSTALK)
FERGUSON: I'm not saying tonight at all.
MCENANY: And I love that you are advocating listening to the people because two-thirds of the country --
BLOW: You are not advocating listening to me because you keep interrupting. Completely rude.
(CROSSTALK)
BLOW: Well, you didn't let me finish.
MCENANY: When you go on for 60 seconds --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Let make here point and then --
BLOW: I don't understand this.
MCENANY: Two-thirds of the country believe we're on the wrong track, far above a majority. Seventy-five percent believe we need change. We want to listen to the people, they don't want the status quo. They don't want eight years going forward that look like the last eight years in the past.
The numbers don't lie. I love that you're advocating listening to the people, but people want change.
(CROSSTALK) BURNETT: Charles, go ahead.
BLOW: So, what do you think?
MCENANY: Two-thirds don't like Donald Trump. He's the president of the United States and --
(CROSSTALK)
FERGUSON: Charles, here's my thing -- how is today possibly this bad of a day for you when a thousand Americans and their children and their wives they go home to and they say, I've got a job? That's more important than their 401k. That's their livelihood keeping the lights on.
How can you be this negative about a thousand jobs that we're saving in America today. This should be a point where you and I should say, you know what, that's a decent day, I may not like Donald Trump, but I can cheer for this every day to happen.
BLOW: Not that I may not like him. I don't like him. It's obvious.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Yes, go ahead.
BLOW: So, like I said in the very beginning, any day that somebody gets to keep a job and knows how to pay the mortgage and they can know how to put the kids through college is a good day for those people. It has nothing do with the structural issues. That band-aid has nothing do with whether or not we'll fix this in the long run.
We have a lot of people in America who are hurting and, you know, we can do everything from raising the minimum wages to infrastructure spending which I hope he does. But this is a band-aid.
BURNETT: Charles, I'm going to interrupt you now, just because this rally is starting and Mike Pence is beginning. He's going to introduce Donald Trump. Let's listen in.
MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: I'm Mike Pence. Because of your hard work, your support and your prayers, I am deeply humbled to say that 50 days from today with my family by my side, I will take the oath of office to serve as vice president of the United States of America.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
[19:40:12] And I'm here tonight to say thank you.
I'm here tonight to say thank you for electing a president who will make America great again.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
So, thank you to the people of Ohio, the people of Kentucky. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And I'll bet there are a few Hoosiers in the room.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Thank you for doing your part, to make Donald Trump the next president of the United States of America.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
He did it. And we have you to thank.
Before I go on, let me just say from our families to yours, our hearts go out to the victims and families of those who were injured in the horrific attacks that took place earlier this week, in Columbus, Ohio. The victims are in our prayers and we commend the swift and courageous action of law enforcement in that perilous moment.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
But let's be clear. Thanks to all of you. In just 50 days, we will have a president who supports the men and women in law enforcement at every level.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We will have a president who will suspend immigration from all countries and territories compromised by terror.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And we will have a commander in chief who will haunt down and destroy ISIS at its source.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(CROWD CHANTS "USA, USA, USA")
And thanks to you, we're going to have a president who will make the American economy great again.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We'll repeal Obamacare and replace it with American solutions.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We're going to cut taxes, roll back regulation, have trade deals that put American workers first and we're going to get this economy moving for every American.
And thanks to you, right next door, in my home state of Indiana. Today in Indianapolis because of the bold leadership and vision of President-elect Donald Trump, a company that announced back in February that they were closing to Mexico, announced that now, more than 1,100 good-paying jobs will stay right here in America. And the president elect made it happen.
(APPLAUSE)
Make no mistake about it. Carrier chose to stay in Indiana because America chose that make Donald Trump the next president of the United States.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And thanks to you. Thanks to you we are going to enforce the laws of this country, for the citizens of this country. We're going to build a wall and we're going to end illegal immigration once and for all.
(CROWD CHANTING "BUILD THE WALL")
Oh we will.
And thanks to you. And thanks to you, we're going to have a president who will appoint justices to the Supreme Court of United States who will uphold our Second Amendment and all the God-given liberties enshrined in our Constitution.
(APPLAUSE)
[19:45:05] So, we're here to say thanks. But mostly I just want to say to you from my heart as a fellow American: thank you for giving America a new president.
Thank you for giving America a new president whose strength, whose vision, whose leadership will make America great again faster than you could possibly imagine.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
So, let me say to my friends from here in Ohio, and Kentucky, from Indiana, and all those looking on -- it is my high honor and distinct privilege to introduce to you the president-elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump.
(MUSIC)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Thank you, thank you.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Thank you, everybody. Wow. Thank you.
So, I didn't know this. I love you too. Look at this place.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
So, I didn't know what came with this position. And I didn't know that they closed down the roads around the stadium for an hour and a half. We got to work out a new deal with our Secret Service. But we love them, right? Thank you. Thank you, everybody, for being so patient. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Thank you.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Oh you're going to be happy. We're all going to be happy.
I'm here today for one main reason: to say thank you to Ohio. Thank you.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We won the state by almost 10 points, which they say is totally heard of. In fact, I don't know if you know, but the beginning, they said you have to win in Ohio. You must win Ohio, right? You heard it. Over and over and over.
And we started off sort of even and then we were one up and two -- we didn't have much help at the top levels, you know that, right? And that turned out it didn't matter.
But we had help with the people and that is what really did matter. So --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
So, I kept hearing, "You must win Ohio, you cannot win the presidency without Ohio." So, we started, really we were about even at the beginning. And then point by point by point. And then we had a couple of little troughs, but with Ohio, there was no troughs. It just kept getting better and better. Just better and better.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And the end result is incredible. I love you, Ohio. This is a great place. I have so many friends. Thank you. Thank you.
In the true sense, history called and the people of this great state answered. And you are going to be very happy. We're going to say right now, what are we going to do? We're going to make America great again. You watch.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
You went out and you pounded the pavement, organized your fellow citizens and propelled to victory a grassroots movement the likes of which the world has never seen before. This is what they say.
[19:50:02] Today on one of the networks they said, "Maybe Andrew Jackson." I said, when was that? It was like in 1838? And somebody else said, well, that was great but nothing like what happened here, OK? So it really has been fun.
And more importantly, I heard Mike saying about what happened today in Indiana, we're going to do that all over the country. We're going to do it all over the country.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Carrier, thank you, Carrier.
Today, we made history and how to the real work begins. That is the second reason that I'm here today. I'm going to discuss our action plan to make America great again. We're going to discuss.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Although we did have a lot of fun fighting Hillary, didn't we?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Right?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And, by the way, the people are continuing to pour in. So let them come in. We could wait -- we could wait a half hour, an hour. But I don't think we're going to do that, right? Let them pour in. Let's blame them for being late, right?
But as I said, just today, I was in Indianapolis to announce that we're saving the jobs at the Carrier plant from going to Mexico, 1,100 jobs.
And I'm asking all companies to keep their jobs in America, and we will work to make America a better environment for workers and businesses. And we will crack down on all foreign trade abuses that undermine your ability and your company's ability to compete. Those days are over when those companies are going to leave.
We have so many problems to fix in our country. But I know that if we set aside our differences. And we do have differences. We're a very divided nation. But we're not going to be divided for long.
I've always brought people together. I know you find that hard to believe. Although this group probably doesn't find that hard to believe. But we are going to bring our country together, all of our country. We're going to find common ground and we will get the job done properly. We'll get it done properly.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And so importantly, America will start winning again, big league. We're going win again.
But to succeed, we must enlist the effort of all Americans. For too long Washington has tried to put us in boxes. They separate us by race, by age, by income, by geography, by place of birth.
We spend too much time focusing on what divides us. Now is the time to embrace the one thing that truly unites us. Do you know what that is? America, America. It's America. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Because when America is unified nothing is beyond our reach. I mean that. You are going to see. You are going to see. We're going to have a country that was never so great. You watch, in so many different ways.
You hear a lot of talk about how we're becoming a globalized world. But the relationships people value in this country are local -- family, cities, state, country. They are local. We'll compete in the world. We want to compete in the world, but we're going to compete in the world where it's a two-way road, not a one-way road.
The advantages are going to come back to our country. And they haven't for many, many years. There is no global anthem, no global currency, no certificate of global citizenship. We pledge allegiance to one flag and that flag is the American flag.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(CROWD CHANTING "USA, USA, USA")
[19:55:13] From now on, it is going to be America first, OK? America first. We are going to put ourselves first.
We seek peace and harmony with the nations of the world. But that means recognizing the right of every country, including our own, to look after its citizens.
We would put other countries first, we had people running our country that truly didn't know what the hell they were doing. Didn't know what they were doing.
We're going to defend the American worker. Look what's happened right here. They forgot about the American worker. They forgot that it was the American worker who truly built our country. We are not going to forget. Believe me.
One of the reasons we're so divided today is because our government has failed to protect the interests of the American workers and their families, making it too easy for us to see ourselves as distinct groups and not unified, as a whole. We're not unified. We're going to be.
Washington's politicians have spent so long appealing to competing interests, they forgotten how to appeal to the national interests, combining the skills and talents of our people in a common cause. And we have unbelievable talent.
But that is all about to change. Our goal is to strengthen the bonds of trust between citizens to restore our sense of membership in a shared national community. Global is wonderful. But right now, we want to focus on our national community. Never again will anyone's interest come before the interests of the American people. It's not going to happen again.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And over the last two weeks, since our victory, I've spoken to many foreign leaders. And I will tell you, they have such respect for us. They all tell me how this was amazing. They all tell me how they sat in their magnificent rooms in different countries, throughout the world. These are the leaders, the prime ministers, the presidents, all of them. How they sat in their magnificent rooms watching in wonderment and hearing how people came to vote that didn't vote in twenty years. People came to vote that haven't voted before.
And they had Trump shirts on. And they had make America great hats on. And they had buttons pouring off. And they thought it was amazing.
And honestly, one of them told me I truly respect the United States again, because of what happened.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We're going to seek a truly inclusive society, where we support each other, love each other and look out for each other. And that means that people coming into our country have to be people that have the potential to love us, not to hate us.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We condemn bigotry and prejudice in all of its forms, all of the hatred and we forcefully reject the language of exclusion and separation. We're going to come together. We have no choice, we have to, and it's better. It's better.
We seek a future where ever American child is fully included in the American dream. We're going to have our own American dream. And we're going to bring back the American dream.
The problems that plague our inner cities or that afflict poor, rural communities, and we do have, those rural communities. Some of them are poor. We are going to help those people. We're going to rebuild those communities. They are not permanent features of American life. They can be fixed and together we're going to fix them. We are going to fix them.
We've spent as of this week according to the latest count, we've spent $6 trillion in the Middle East. And the Middle East today is far worse today than it's ever been.
(BOOS)
END
