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Pence: "Trump Is Wrong, I Had No Right To Overturn The Election"; Biden Celebrates Record Year Of Job Growth; Public Health Officials Debate Next Pandemic Steps; Cities Nationwide Plagued By Violent Crime Spike; Football, Race And Politics. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired February 06, 2022 - 08:00   ET

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

(MUSIC)

[08:00:22]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST (voice-over): A party divided. The GOP censures two leading anti-Trump Republicans.

JOHN KASICH, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: They're trying to shut these people up, because they're standing on principle.

PHILLIP: While Mike Pence rebukes his former boss.

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.

PHILLIP: Plus, another strong jobs report gives the president something to celebrate.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America is back to work.

PHILLIP: And with omicron cases plunging, when is it time for cities and states to lift COVIID restrictions?

LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We cannot be in a perpetual state of public health emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There can emerge a new variant. You don't play a stronger hand than what you have.

PHILLIP: INSIDE POLITICS, the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters, now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIP: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Abby Phillip.

Legitimate political discourse, that is how the Republican National Committee has now officially labeled the violent insurrection of January 6th. But you be the judge. This is new video released over the weekend of that Capitol riot.

(VIDEO CLI PLAYS)

PHILLIP: Legitimate political discourse. That phrase was part of the censure resolution targeting Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. They are the two Republicans on the committee investigating the riots and the related attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

But hours later, former Vice President Mike Pence made what may be his final break with his ex-boss, rejecting Trump's claim that he could have and should have overturned the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone. And frankly, there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: But this is coming after more than a year has passed, and Pence has still not said anything to dispute Trump's false claims of election fraud.

Joining me now with their reporting and their insights, Tamara Keith of NPR, Laura Barron-Lopez of "Politico", Meridith McGraw of "Politico", and CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

So, Laura, a couple of ways that, you know, we've seen over the last couple of days Republicans describing this RNC resolution, circular firing squad, insane, and then on the other hand, you have Pence finally stepping out and saying, Trump was wrong. What's the significance of all of this?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the bottom line is that former Vice President Pence is one of just a handful of Republicans that are willing to do this. There aren't that many Republicans in the party that are willing to do this.

It's not a half of the party is saying "no" to Trump and half is saying "yes." he's -- it also took him a very long time to say what he said, which was that, no, I could not have overturned this. You would have thought that he would have said that the day after or the day of.

The bottom line here, I think, is that we are seeing the two-party system that we have covered the majority of our careers, it's not existing anymore. And there is one party now that is deciding to operate asymmetrically, that is deciding that they are going to be anti-Democratic because they are in pursuit of power.

And so, that's what the majority of Republicans are doing. And everything has proven that all along the way from the evidence that Trump was involved in deciding that he wanted to seize voting machines, was involved in decisions to get Pence to overturn the election. PHILLIP: It's more than just the -- I mean, the riots are bad enough,

right? But it's more than just the riots. It's also an actual effort within the government to subvert the results of a legitimate election. That's what this is about.

And now, Rana McDaniel, the RNC chairwoman, she went back and said, she corrected her statement, saying that she meant it's the peaceful protesters she was referring to when she talked about legitimate political discourse, but that's not what the January 6th committee is about. The January 6th Committee is about the violence. It's about the attempts to overthrow the election.

But, Meridith, help us understand here. You've got Mike Pence. He said what he said.

I think the bar is a little bit low for him, I'll be honest, but here's what John Kasich had to say about what this moment might be for Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:01]

KASICH: Mark my words, he's losing influence, and you'll see more people taking him on. He is losing influence. It is happening

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: By "he," he means Trump. I mean, is he right or wrong?

MERIDITH MCGRAW, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: It's hard to say that Trump is losing influence when he continues to have such an incredible power over the party. And I think that was on such stark and vivid display on Friday, when you saw the RNC censure Kinzinger and Cheney. That was them showing that they were willing to tow whatever Trump wants. And he wanted them to be rebuked for being involved in the January 6th committee.

And obviously with Pence saying that President Trump is wrong for saying that he could have overturned the election, that's a majority of voices right now.

PHILLIP: What is Pence even doing?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Let's also be clear about what this debate is actually about, right? It is not a debate within the Republican Party over whether or not the 2020 election was legitimate or whether it was stolen, at least in the way that Pence is stepping in here. He was stepping in to say, I couldn't overturn it. He is not --

PHILLIP: It's not on me.

DIAMOND: It's not on me. He was not stepping in to say, we shouldn't even be talking about all the illegitimacy. He, back in March, I think it was, talked about the fact that there were some fishy things and a lot of questions over the results and all of that.

So, he's not fully stepping out in terms of the main thrust of the Republican Party and its argument, that is still very much happening and alive. I do think it's notable that Trump didn't go after Pence as forcefully as I think he might have. Maybe that has to do with --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: We'll put up -- let's put up another statement. The former president put out this statement, you kind of need a little bit of a chart to figure out what is going on here.

But he says: I just saw Mike Pence's statement on the fact that he had no right to do anything with respect to the electoral vote count, other than being an automatic conveyer belt for the old crow Mitch McConnell to get Biden elected president as quickly. I was right and everyone knows it.

So, sure, he's not crying Mike Pence or --

DIAMOND: By Trump standards.

PHILLIP: By Trump standards, this was a pretty weak denunciation. But that statement made really very little sense. Trump is -- he also put out another statement praising Ronna McDaniel. Trump is pulling the strings on this stuff behind the scenes. And Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chairwoman, has been praised by some in her part by managing the Trump wing and everyone else, but she's fully in the Trump wing. I mean, I don't think there's any doubt about that.

TAMARA KEITH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NPR: I mean, she lost the Romney from her name years ago to stay in the Trump wing.

PHILLIP: And her -- Mitt Romney, who is a relative.

KEITH: Who is a relative.

PHILLIP: Put out a statement basically denunciating her.

KEITH: Right. So, every time former President Trump is even mildly crossed by someone. He said he would consider pardoning the January 6th defendants, and Lindsey Graham, his usual ally said, well, maybe that is not okay, he calls him a RINO.

What does RINO mean? Republican in name only.

Donald Trump has redefined what it means to be a Republican to be completely and totally loyal to whatever he wants people to say or do, to be completely and totally loyal to him and his version of Republicanism, which is completely out of line with traditional conservative Republicans.

The reason he was able, Mike Pence, was able to get applause, is because he was at the Federalist Society, which is -- if he had said that at the RNC meeting, he would have been booed. BARRON-LOPEZ: Trump's entire version of Republicanism is anti-

democracy right now, that's what it is. He is every -- almost every statement he puts out is about the fact that the election was stolen, the fact that Republicans need to get smart and potentially steal the 2024 election, and that if that means cheating, then that means cheating.

So, that's what this Republican Party is about now. Then you see, I mean, compared to -- we're talking about the fate of the democracy and frankly, you know, Senator Romney and Mike Pence's comments to Jeremy's point are pretty weak when we're talking about this.

PHILLIP: Yeah, there is no alternative agenda for Trump. It's really all about the election. And that is incredibly frustrating to a lot of Republicans.

Listen to Scott Jennings, who is a former aide to Mitch McConnell and speaks for a certain kind of Republican. They're frustrated about what's going on right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT JENNINGS, FORMER AIDE TO MITCH MCCONNELL: It sounds ridiculous because it is ridiculous! You cannot crash the Capitol, defile the House and the Senate, and do -- attack the police. That's not legitimate. This phrase, legitimate political discourse will be hung around every candidate's neck for the next two cycles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: This is about 2022. And do you believe that? Do you buy that? Will this damage Republicans electorally? Will this actually hang over their necks?

MCGRAW: I tell you what? I spoke to a few senior Republican officials who were at the event there in Utah this week.

[08:10:06]

And they were very disappointed that the headlines that came out of this past week were all focused on Trump and the censorship of Cheney and Kinzinger at a time where they personally feel like that they are at a political advantage when it comes to talking about the Biden administration, the economy, their handling of COVIID.

And instead of focusing on things that they really do feel like they have a winning message on. Instead, what came out of the past week and what continues to come out of so many Republican events is a focus on Trump, a focus on 2020, and not a focus on the future or what their message might be.

And this is what happens when you have a party that's being driven by fear, right? Because they are being driven by fear of what Donald Trump would say, do, at any moment --

PHILLIP: Audience of one. DIAMOND: And that has been what has happened not only for the last

several years, but as it relates to the 2020 election fraud claims.

I think back to conversations that I had with White House officials and senior officials back in December of 2020, when Trump was pushing these fraud claims, Ronna McDaniel was going to Michigan and giving a forum for some of these claims, the response I kept getting, I was like, why are you doing this? You know, like you, source whom I'm talking to, understand that this is not fraudulent.

And he was like, millions of people already believe. It so they have to keep on feeding it rather than a moment of leadership, which has been sorely lacking from the Republican Party to say, this is not true, we need to move forward.

KEITH: But if you look at money, Donald Trump is raising a lot of money. The candidates he's endorsed haven't raised that much money yet this cycle.

PHILLIP: Donald Trump is raising a lot of money for Donald Trump.

KEITH: Absolutely. And there is probably almost no hope that he will send all that money to the candidates who are running in 2022. But he is -- he has the power of being able to get all of those small donors who probably don't know that they checked a box and are probably still sending him money, he has the money in the party.

PHILLIP: It's a stranglehold, if maybe you're on the right side of it, it will work out, but it's a real risk for Republicans, many are starting to be more vocal about that.

But stick around, guys. Coming up next for us, the Biden economy and why the president's problem might not be about economics, but about psychology.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:36]

PHILLIP: It's been a tough few months for President Biden to say the least, but last week, he got two pieces of very good news.

First, a commander in chief moment that he'd been waiting for. A counterterror raid that took out the head of ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Thanks to the bravery of our troops, this horrible terrorist leader is no more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: And 24 hours later, on the domestic front, a blockbuster jobs report to cap off an historic year of job gains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BIDEN: And over that period, our economy created 6.6 million jobs, 6.6 million jobs. You can't remember another year when so many people went to work in this reason country. There's a reason. It never happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: What you see there is a Democratic president bragging about job growth. That has made some people very happy, but is this, you know, the White House is taking a victory lap, as they should.

Were they under-promising and over0delivering or were they genuinely surprised by this job report? That seemed to -- you know, everybody else seemed very surprised by it.

DIAMOND: It certainly ended up working as a strategy to tap on the potential for a bad jobs report and be buoyed by a good one. I think in this case, it was legitimately what they expected and what most economists expected.

The problem is, of course, that as we were just talking about, you know, most Americans don't feel it. You look at the latest Gallup poll, I think it says that a third of Americans are satisfied with the state of the economy. And that's a problem for President Biden.

You also think about who the previous record holder was for the most jobs gains in a single year, Jimmy Carter. So if you're looking for a model of a president who, you know, was -- saw his prospects sink because of the economy, that's Jimmy Carter. And President Biden is going to have to contend with the same things like inflation, which are also problematic for Democrats more broadly.

PHILLIP: Right.

DIAMOND: So, I mean, the question right now for economists, for the White House is why? What is going on here that this is a roaring economy, inflation is high, but it's a roaring economy and economists don't feel it. I want to take a look at -- let's start with Biden's approval. You've seen this downward trajectory and it started last summer, July. The delta wave starts to rise and you see Biden taking a plunge and you have this period here in August, this is Afghanistan.

So, Biden is dealing with something that is maybe not necessarily about his policies and you see consumer confidence going in the same direction at around exactly the same time. Maybe it's not about policies, maybe it's about people's perception of his leadership, his competency, something else?

KEITH: Certainly, this summer was not good for the perception of Biden as being super competent. And what he ran on was being super competent, bringing in super competent government officials to run things professionally. What you also had was a series of job reports that came in under expectations. Many of which were later revised to be vastly higher than --

DIAMOND: That is story of this jobs report. Not just what happened in December, but what happened the rest of 2021, which is job growth pretty consistently.

[08:20:02]

KEITH: And if you tell people it's true that these jobs reports were disappointing, then nobody pays attention to the revisions.

PHILLIP: Right.

KEITH: So, you end up with a situation where people feel that they're sort of in a funk about the economy. And the economy is, when I was covering economics during the financial crisis, and as America was coming out of the financial crisis, what I discovered that the economy is very much tied up in how people feel about the economy. It's this -- it's this feedback loop.

BARRON-LOPEZ: And it's tethered to COVIID, right? There are multiple things happening, which is there's still inflation, and that's why people aren't feeling as though the economy is as good, because consumer goods are more expensive right now. They still can't go back to a totally normal life, because, you know, we just had the omicron wave and they're having to wear masks, still, you know, slightly stay indoors, there's that.

Yes, wages are up, people have more job options than they've ever had. With that also comes sometimes a strain on industries like hospitality, right, because you see all of these businesses where they don't have as many workers as they need, because of the options.

PHILLIP: And to add to that, I want to show you, this is what's hidden within the numbers, right? So, you have job growth, but look at what's going on with women, 1.3 million fewer positions now than before the pandemic. Women -- men are doing much better. They're still down a few hundred thousand positions, but it's nowhere near what's going on with women.

Women across the board, black women in particular, as well, they have left the workforce because of this pandemic and for all kinds of different reasons. There are things hiding in these numbers that are not reflected in the top lines.

MCGRAW: I think, too, we talked about how people feel. I do wonder if people are seeing their wages go up, inflation, they might not see actual changes when they go to pay for their groceries or go to go about their daily lives, but I do wonder if Biden and his administration are going to be able to turn around public perception ahead of --

PHILLIP: Because Republicans are ready to pounce. But can day do that if the economy is actually good and jobs are growing, can they actually do that?

KEITH: Absolutely.

MCGRAW: I think for a lot of people, how they feel about the economy is already baked in right now. And so much of that has to do already with their party politics. DIAMOND: I think the problem is that inflation sometimes something

that you can feel way more than you can broad economic numbers like job growth, like the rate of growth of the economy year over year, but even still, I think this jobs report on Friday shows that there's a lot that can change. A lot that can happen between now and November to change the narrative and change people's perception of things. Whether or not that will happen is an entirely different question.

But I think we've just seep in the last few weeks, after Biden had a pretty rough few be honest he had a Supreme Court pick, he got the ISIS leader killed and a stunning jobs report.

PHILLIP: There is a lifetime between now and November, as we all know.

Coming up next for us, is the U.S. nearing the end of pandemic restrictions? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:47]

PHILLIP: The omicron appears to have peaked here in the United States. Cases are now falling in 47 states, but deaths remain high, more than 2,400 every single day.

And still, though, many Americans say they're over it. Seven in ten are ready to move on with their lives and accept that we have to learn to live with this pandemic. The reaction from public health experts, though, is mixed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, ASSOCIATE DEAN OF PUBLIC HEALTH, BROWN UNIVERSITY: Today is not the day. We are still in the midst of a surge. We still have hospitalization rates that rival those of last winter.

WEN: We cannot be in a perpetual state of public health emergency. That's not credible. It's also allowing many other problems to go by the wayside. And we have to give people some respite.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So the White House is taking -- you know, that's a snapshot of actually a much bigger debate in the public health world about where to go next. And the White House is in the midst of that debate, too.

So, what's going on inside? How are they viewing this?

DIAMOND: Yeah. I mean, I think it's pretty clear that the White House is trying to move towards preparing, at least, for the endemic phase of this pandemic, where Americans can learn to live with this virus, it's around, it doesn't disrupt the economy as much, it doesn't disrupt people's daily lives as much. There is a little bit of hesitancy in terms of how -- when exactly they declare that and when they do that, PHILLIP: Because they've been burned before.

DIAMOND: There was a certain declaration -- independence from the virus that may have happened last --

PHILLIP: Freedom summer.

DIAMOND: Yeah.

PHILLIP: From COVID.

DIAMOND: So that is one of the reasons why they're being very cautious about that. But when you talk to public health experts within and around the administration, it's very clear that that is the status they're moving towards. I think one of the big questions is, does President Biden, can he still get credit for a virus that doesn't disrupt people's daily lives when he promised to stop it altogether? And that's a political question.

[08:29:40]

PHILLIP: Yes, that's exactly right. And then there's also this problem where there are some people who are just not ready to go there.

Masking has become, you know, a cultural signifier. You know, whose team are you on? Pro-mask or anti-mask?

But this is actually really interesting snapshot. The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, a Democrat, Mayor Quinton Lucas, he told the "New York Times" this. "The mayor said there was a gap between how the Biden administration and the national media talked about COVID-19 and how the pandemic was now being experienced in his city. He says, I just don't think that the government frankly has that much runway left in terms of telling people what to do.

Because he's in a city, a part of this country, which is actually maybe a lot of this country, where people have actually already moved on. And in the big cities, in D.C. and New York and maybe L.A. or whatever, there's just more reluctance.

KEITH: The Biden administration is in the greater Washington, D.C. area. They are living in a bubble. This is a bubble that is not like much of the rest of America. Obviously, there are some places where even having a mask in your pocket is seen as like not cool. But here in Washington, D.C., everybody wears masks. They show their vaccine card to go into a restaurant or a bar or a concert venue. And it's a very different world.

The Biden administration is also dealing with the challenge that parents of young children haven't been able to vaccinate their kids yet, those that are really worried. Of course, 70 percent of kids under the age -- or between 5 and 12 haven't been vaccinated yet.

PHILLIP: Right.

KEITH: So that also shows a share of reluctance. But I think that the Biden administration is trying to find the timing to say like, ok, we can move on. And right now, the timing is a little difficult because the antiviral pills from Pfizer are not yet in wide availability, because vaccines are not yet widely available for young children, because their home testing program where they're mailing tests to people's houses so that people will have something on hand -- not all of those have been sent out yet.

PHILLIP: To your point, I mean the vaccines are available to a lot of kids. Parents are not vaccinating their kids. And we've discussed on this program, more parents now say in polls, that they would rather their kid be in a consistent, educational setting. Yes, most schools are open, but not have the disruptions of the pandemic, than they are worried about their kid getting COVID.

And, you know, you're a parent, every parent has to make those choices. But as a political matter, this is how Republicans are, you know, this is how it's playing in Republican ads. This is how they're approaching parents on this issue of masking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAPHIC: They see the excitement.

They see the joy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Emmy goes to --

GRAPHIC: They see what they are missing.

Democrats are putting kids last.

Teachers' unions are putting kids last.

Tell them to give kids their childhood back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: To put a finer point on it, your children are at home learning on a laptop, Hollywood is out there, you know, hugging and kissing, then you have this photo of the Los Angeles mayor out there maskless with Magic Johnson.

You know, it's a really tricky situation that Democrats are in. These are messages that, you know, parents are fed up. They're frustrated.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Yes. You also can't -- I mean look, that's a political ad, so it's not going to be truthful or honest or any of those things.

What's also happening here is that Republicans for the majority of this pandemic have told their base, have told people in their states, don't wear masks, don't get vaccinated. We may even give you incentives to not get vaccinated, you know. You die, ok.

Like that's the way that they've treated this pandemic. And that's contributed to the fact that their children can't go back to school. That kids can't go back to school because people are deciding that they don't want to get vaccinated and care about other people.

So that's a part of this whole thing --

PHILLIP: Right.

BARRON-LOPEZ: -- that you know, if you had asked I think any of us 10 years ago or 12 years ago, that that's the way this country would have handled a pandemic, I don't think we would have said that, which is that it would have been become such a culture war around public health.

But that's what the administration is also facing. And they do understand that they need to be more careful this time around in terms of setting expectations for the public than they were last summer. Because it did come back to bite them.

PHILLIP: Republicans to your point are perpetuating a pandemic and then running on it politically.

According to the CDC, you are 97 times more likely to die of COVID if you are unvaccinated. And if you watch conservative television, they are telling people not to get vaccinated. They are spreading lies about the vaccines.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Even though those anchors are vaccinated.

PHILLIP: Even though they're all vaccinated.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Yes.

[08:34:48]

PHILLIP: So I mean, it's a really important point.

But you know, Meridith, I mean where do you think the politics of this goes at the end of the day? You know, that may be true, but at the end of the day voters are going to, I think as we've been discussing, cast a ballot in part based on how they feel about how this pandemic is going.

MCGRAW: I think a lot of people are looking for an exit ramp right now. There's such pandemic fatigue at this point. And I think when you see photos like that one of Newsom and Garcetti at the L.A. Rams stadium in Los Angeles, it's hard for a lot of people to stomach the idea that their kids can't take their mask off unless they're eating and yet they can see public figures at a huge, crowded event be able to take their masks off and sort of live their lives.

So I think a lot of people are just really desperate and looking for some sort of consistent messaging on how we can move forward. And right now, we just haven't found that.

PHILLIP: And I want to be clear, that we are discussing the politics of this, but within the public health community, you heard Dr. Leana Wen earlier in the segment, they are actively discussing the need to roll back some of these pandemic restrictions to have credibility in the public health space, but also because they recognize that it loses effectiveness when people just stop wanting to do things that the government tells them to do.

So it's not just a political conversation. It's a real public health one that will continue.

But all of you guys, stay with us. Coming up next for us, with violent crime spiking, the New York City Mayor Eric Adams says it's the city against the criminals.

[08:36:27]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIP: Fund the police. That is the message that Democrats like New York City Mayor Eric Adams are pushing as crime surges across the country and President Biden seems to agree.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Time to fund community policing to protect and serve the committee. The answer is not to defund the police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: The two men embraced this mutually beneficial partnership during a New York City meeting last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: We want to get stuff done. That's the administration of the Biden administration and the Adams administration -- to get stuff done for the American people. And Mr. President, Eric Adams, is reporting for duty and read to serve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: He's calling himself the Biden of Brooklyn. So what is -- what is the mutual benefit here? I mean, one of the interesting things is that Eric Adams is a moderate, right? And Biden is also a moderate -- question mark? I mean I think that there has actually been some question now about how Biden wants to position himself ideologically, and is it where Eric Adams is?

KEITH: President Biden has a pretty incredible ability throughout his career to find the middle of the Democratic Party and plant himself right there. And the Democratic Party has shifted to the left and so he has shifted to the left.

I interviewed Adam on Friday for all things considered and I was like, what is up with this President Biden of Brooklyn thing. And he was like, you know, we're just like both working class guys -- but really what he wants is federal help.

He needs federal help with guns, he needs federal money. And so part of this is about saying, like, all right, we have a similar brand and also, send your help.

PHILLIP: Yes. I mean on the issue of crime, I mean this is a real thing. It's not as bad as it was in the 90s, let's just put that out there. But here's how voters have shifted in just a few months in terms of how they think Biden has handled the issue of crime.

From August 2021, he's gone from a 46 percent approval to a 34 percent approval today January, 2022. That's a pretty big swing and as we were just discussing with the economy, there's perception and then there's reality, but there's a real reality of people feeling less safe, right?

DIAMOND: Yes, Absolutely. And that's why you see the president ramping up his efforts. I mean he talked about a lot of the things that he was doing in New York this past week over the summer, ghost (ph) guns and stepped up federal enforcement, but he's bringing it back up, as we have now entered this midterm year, where this is going to be a very, very salient issue for a lot of voters.

And the way that he's approaching it is interesting, because it plays to a lot of different aspects, politically advantageous aspects for Biden, right. It's addressing the crime issue, which Republicans are going to come after him and other Democrats in the midterms, but it also addresses guns which is a big base issue for Democrats and --

PHILLIP: And a big contributor of this violence.

(CROSSTALK)

DIAMOND: And a big contributor of the violence. So there are practical and political benefits for Biden to address it.

PHILLIP: How are progressives handling this though, Laura? I mean you're really plugged to that part of the party. They know that there is a problem, but they're worried.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Yes so, with this attachment to each other, between Biden and Adams is that, you know, Biden believes in this what the White House calls a holistic approach, which is being tough on crime, but also doing steps that are far more progressive criminal justice steps, such is funding community violence intervention programs.

He visited one of those programs and I was with him in New York when he was visiting it. But you know, we spoke to Al Sharpton ahead of the visit, and he said, look, tough on crime, if it's getting guns off the streets, I'm all for that. Tough on crime if you're racially profiling, no, I'm not ok with that.

And so they are watching Biden closely to see exactly what elements of Adams' proposal he gives his stamp of approval to and which ones he doesn't. And that he also follows through on all of the other policing reform issues that they want. We're still waiting for an executive order from the White House on that, which they say will probably come some time this month.

And they also still want to see that funding. That community violence intervention program funding -- that's in that social spending bill that is stalled in Congress that doesn't have the votes.

[08:44:55]

PHILLIP: And meanwhile, Meridith, as we know, Republicans, whether crime is up or down, they run on crime. They're going to this time.

MCGRAW: They're going to run on crime no matter what. And it's something that Republicans traditionally have polled well with people on as well. So make no doubt that as we move forward, that that is going to be in just about every political ad that you see.

PHILLIP: Absolutely. Well, thanks guys for being here.

Coming up next for us, an ex-NFL coach is suing the league for racial discrimination and thrusting football back into this national reckoning and conversation about race.

Stay put.

[08:45:25]

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PHILLIP: An explosive lawsuit from a former NFL coach accuses the league of being, quote, "rife with racism and run like a plantation".

Brian Flores was fired by the Miami Dolphins and then passed over for a job with the New York Giants in favor of a white coach. And there is just one black head coach in the league now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN FLORES, FORMER MIAMI DOLPHINS COACH: I still want to coach. Let's be clear about that. But this is bigger than coaching. This is bigger than me. And I just felt like in this instance, you know, it was my turn to step up and be an agent for change, and I'm proud to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: The NFL, of course, denies his claims of racial discrimination but is promising to review its diversity and equity policies.

Donte Stallworth is with us now. He's a former NFL player who spent ten years in the league. And Donte, as you know, the last, let's say, five years or so, the NFL constantly in the political headlines in part because former president Trump would always drag them there, attacking players, you know, over kneeling for the national anthem, making football about politics. But as we all know, there's no separating sports and politics, and really the politics of race in this country.

DONTE STALLWORTH, FORMER NFL PLAYER: No, there isn't. And when you look back to 1968, just a couple months after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated and you had Tommy Lee Smith and Mr. Carlos were in Mexico City protesting, you know, with their fists up, and they were called everything from, you know, the new Nazis to just -- just disparaging names when they were just protesting in the middle of what became the civil rights era in the United States.

And so you look back to those times and you fast forward to Colin Kaepernick in 2016 taking a knee and how that kind of shifted the spectrum of protesting, not just during the NFL and other sports in this country, but protesting around the world.

And then the unfortunate events of Mr. George Floyd being murdered in Minneapolis sparked protests all across the country, from west coast to east coast and all around the world in multiple cities.

So when you see what protests can do in galvanizing people, it not only hits the athletic world, but when you get down to it in the political spectrum, including these Olympics, you know, it's really a stage for players to come out and show like who they support and what they support in human rights.

PHILLIP: And we'll talk about that in just a second.

But all right, staying on the NFL for a second. I do want to read Roger Goodell's statement. He says, "Racism and any form of discrimination is contrary to the NFL's values. We have made significant efforts to promote diversity. However, we must acknowledge that particularly with respect to the head coaches the results have been unacceptable."

This lawsuit, you know, Brian Flores puts it almost in the category of a protest as you alluded to. It's also about whether systemic racism exists. That's a big conversation that is deeply involved in American politics right now.

What's the impact you think of all of this?

STALLWORTH: I think it's going to have a huge impact because you don't make any noise, then things stay silent and no one really -- no one really moves the ball. But the fact that Brian Flores is actually coming out with these allegations and saying what the NFL has done in its discriminatory hiring practices, I think it's something that's been an open secret -- maybe not necessarily even an open secret, just something that people have known for a very long time.

If you look at the last two coaching cycles in the NFL, 16 openings for head coach have been available while only one black coach was hired.

And we currently have one black coach in the NFL right now. So obviously they need some help in what they're doing in hiring, you know, young black coaches to become head coaches in this league.

PHILLIP: And Donte I want to get you take on the Olympics as you just alluded to. Just listen to Nancy Pelosi quickly on what she thinks athletes should be doing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): You're there to compete. Do not risk incurring the anger of the Chinese government because they are ruthless. I know there is a temptation on the part of some to speak out while they are there. I respect that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So this is a tough spot that they're in. What do you think athletes should be doing as they're in China to speak out or not speak out about the human rights violations of the Chinese?

[08:54:52]

STALLWORTH: It's hard for me to say that any athlete should speak out. But I think for the ones that do speak out, they should be protected. And obviously it would be a little bit harder in China to do that. You can't expect these athletes to leave their conscience on the edge of the stadium as they enter the Olympic field.

PHILLIP: Well, Donte Stallworth, always a pleasure to have you on. Thanks for being here.

And thank you at home for joining us on INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can join us back here every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. Eastern time and the weekday show as well, at noon Eastern time.

Don't forget, you can also listen to our podcast. Download INSIDE POLITICS wherever you get your podcast.

Coming up next on CNN, "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Jake's guests this morning include Senators Lisa Murkowski and Joe Manchin for an exclusive joint interview that you will not want to miss.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. Have a great rest of your day.

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