Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
DNC Night 3 Midnight Oil Analysis; Harris Accepts VP Nomination; Obama Delivers Direct Message; The Hits and Misses of the DNC's Third Night; Health Experts Urge Getting Flu Shot to Avoid "Twindemic"; Black Voters Pivotal to Joe Biden's Chances. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 20, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JASON BOSWELL, UNDERWATER CINEMATOGRAPHER: My name is Jason Boswell, and I'm an underwater camera operator and technical diver based in Cape Town, South Africa.
I normally get to spend my days out in False Bay getting to film all the amazing wildlife that lives in this incredible part of the world.
Owing to the current situation, the beaches here have been closed and therefore access to the ocean is severely restricted. Which means that I now spend my days on the deck using a pair of binoculars to look longingly towards the ocean.
But I've been lucky to see massive pods of dolphins, maybe five or 600 strong. There's seals playing in the kelp forest, there's loads of bird life.
Whilst it's been fun being dry-docked on my deck and getting to look out on the ocean and see things from a bit of a different perspective, I'm really looking forward to the day that things normalize and we can get back out there.
(ENDS)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, you late night East Coasters and you regular hour West Coasters.
Welcome back to another special hour of live CNN convention coverage.
I'm Don Lemon along with (whispers) Christopher Cuomo.
It is early Thursday morning in Delaware and that means tonight Joe Biden will be accepting the Democratic nomination for president.
CUOMO: Big night.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Couple hours ago, his running mate, Kamala Harris, accepted her historic nomination for the VP spot. Historic because she is the first women of color on a major party
ticket.
And she marked the moment paying tribute to all those who paved the way before her and some beautiful words about her mother and what her mother would think of this moment.
LEMON: She also marked the moment, Chris, by -- those words -- that was amazing, that was the part that was touching -- but she also marked a moment by promising to be a champion for the voiceless and the forgot Americans.\
And asked voters to join her in combatting racism and xenophobia and bigotry and on and on.
Passing the torch, of sorts, to Harris was history making first black president of these United States, Chris.
CUOMO: Now this was big.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: And you've been doing a good job of dividing the moment. You've got to give the shine to Kamala Harris because of what it meant.
But this is a dark moment in our history, and we saw a Barack Obama tonight that we have never seen before. He went to Philadelphia on purpose.
He was in a museum there commemorating our founding in all the artifacts of our colonial movement in 1776 for a reason. And he went at Donald Trump by name directly for a reason.
Now, they say well, he and Trump have a thing. I don't see it that way.
When Trump comes out of the box saying that you weren't born in this country, I don't see it as a two-sided fight.
But President Obama has definitely developed a animus for the way Donald Trump has taken on this office. And he believes that this administration, and he said it tonight -- this is no time for subtlety and this he wasn't subtle about it.
That this man will do anything to win even if it means tearing down our democracy.
Here's a taste.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Any chance of success depends entirely on the outcome of this election.
This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that's what it takes for them to win.
[01:05:00]
So we have to get busy building it up. By pouring all our efforts in these 76 days and by voting like never before for Joe and Kamala and candidates up and down the ticket.
So that we leave no doubt about what this country, that we love, stands for. Today and for all our days to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Yes. Well -- what else, what can you?
CUOMO: It was a good follow up on his wife's message, "Go get the ballot now." It was a little bit more ominous.
Michelle Obama was like, "Listen, if you care, do it." Barack Obama was like, "Hey, you better do it because this matters more than you think."
And Kamala Harris dovetailed with that by saying and ask yourself, why don't they want you to do it? Why are they making it hard for you to do it? Why are they worried about voting being too easy?
The message this is not a time for subtlety. This stuff with the USPS -- they can play it with politics and say we're buying into a conspiracy theory.
No, when the president says he doesn't like the idea of mail-in balloting and he controls the post office and he put in a patsy in to run it, it's going to raise questions.
LEMON: And he's voting by mail?
CUOMO: And when they start -- yes, right. And when they start yanking out equipment and it's in parking lots and they're doing all these things that are destructive to getting things on time, like medicines for veterans and elderly, it's time to ask questions.
LEMON: But he also talked -- listen, it was a well-rounded speech where he -- and you're right, it was -- I don't know if it was so much somber as serious.
CUOMO: Serious? Grave.
LEMON: Yes. This is a call to action. You need to steady the course, Americans because you're off course right now. And you may become cynical because you think things can't get any worse or you think things can't get any better. So why should I even try?
CUOMO: And you know who helped the message the most? Trump.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Trump was tweeting in real-time all this B.S. Which was just making Obama's case.
LEMON: Yes. I wonder -- you know how I feel about reading his tweets.
Listen, I think it's important that we have to do it now to show, again, his desperation, right? And that he's scared.
CUOMO: And what's not true.
LEMON: And what's not true.
CUOMO: Every time he says something that's not true, we have to correct it. Real time.
LEMON: Yes. I think sometimes we overstate it. Sometimes we give too much significance and too much importance to his tweet.
Because sometimes I know -- most of the time he's just sitting there going, "I'm just going to say this, let's see what they say now. Let's turn it on, the stupid news and see how they -- let's see what they do, and let's change the subject." Well --
CUOMO: Yes. And then you're getting a coffee and somebody says to you, "Kamala Harris was born here, right?"
LEMON: Yes. Yes. Well --
CUOMO: And you're like, "Course she was born here."
LEMON: Well, I'm glad you mentioned that. Because he talked about our ancestors and he talked about the trials and the tribulations of our ancestors. What our ancestors -- the sacrifices they made for this country.
But also, more importantly how they believed in this country. And considering -- I know it's a tough time now but for people during the Depression, for people during slavery, for people who --
CUOMO: Hasidics.
LEMON: -- like your family, Italian immigrants and (inaudible) and what women had to go through the Women's' Movement. What gay people had to go through in the '60s at the Stonewall Riots. And on and on.
Considering that those people are Americans who loved this country, who fought for this country and who believe in the rights to a free and fair election, you need to take this seriously, you need to get out and vote.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Black Americans, chained and whipped and hanged. Spit on for trying to sit at lunch counters. Beaten for trying to vote.
If anyone had a right to believe that this democracy did not work and could not work, it was those Americans. Our ancestors.
They were on the receiving end of a democracy that had fallen short all their lives. They knew how far the daily reality of America strayed from the myth.
And yet, instead of giving up they joined together and they said somehow, some way, we are going to make this work. We are going to bring those words in our founding documents to life.
You can give our democracy new meaning. You can take it to a better place. You're the missing ingredient, the ones who will decide whether or not America becomes the country that fully lives up to its creed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:10:00]
LEMON: Now, I want to think about this, Chris. Think about the criticism that this president and his apologists give to people of color like me, to Kamala Harris.
"You don't love America because you criticize bigots and racists and lies." "You don't love America." "They don't love America."
I think of my parents and my ancestors didn't love America I wouldn't be sitting here next to you.
Kamala Harris would not be accepting the nomination for vice president of the United States if they didn't make sacrifices and if they didn't believe in what our constitution says.
Think about your ancestors. If your father and your grandparents didn't make the sacrifices and believe in America and love America in spite of what was happening to them -- of the degradation, of the inequality, we would not be sitting here today.
So for this president to continue to criticize people of color who are especially in positions of power, in the halls of congress, in the senate, and say because they criticize this country and they have a vision of what they think as Americans this country should be like that they don't love this country. That is in fact unamerican.
Every action shows otherwise from our ancestors. That our ancestors believed and loved it enough -- and especially their offspring -- enough that they set us up to put us in this position.
So if you don't go out to vote on November 3rd or before then I say shame on you. Voting or supporting a candidate is not about falling in love with someone. It's not about getting 100 percent of what you want from them.
It's like taking public transportation. A rideshare. Hitchhiking. It may not take you exactly to your destination, but it takes you the closest to where you want to get so that you get there sooner or you eventually do get there. It doesn't mean sitting at home. It doesn't mean saying "Oh, well I'm
going to vote for this person because there's no other" -- it means voting, knowing who your allies are.
Voting for the person, going to the polls and voting for the person who gets you the closest to your destination as can be. That's what it means.
CUOMO: You're sitting at home ordering stuff online anyway, you might as well get a ballot. It's time for people --
LEMON: You haven't been out of the house in six months, you may as well get out and pack a picnic bag.
CUOMO: It's time to walk the walk. Look at where we're living. We're living in heavy times.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Black Lives Matter is a movement much bigger and more pronounced than any flash point that we've had in my lifetime. Right?
1970 to now, I wasn't active in the '60s. Since then, these types of riots, the succession of cases, the protests, the protestations, the promises, the calls to action.
This is the first chance to show how you want to make it manifest, whoever you want to vote for.
But if you don't come out and do this, I don't know what better motivation you need.
That was -- I've never seen him like that before, by the way. And I'm not a big fan of this hype parade about speeches, oh, she was so good, he was so good. Look, these people are pros and they're good.
But on a emotional level I've never seen Barack Obama --
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Remember, there was nobody in that room with him.
You and I speak, we communicate for a living. it's not easy to generate emotion alone. You've got to feel it.
When you drawing off a audience you can get a lot of resonance, by proxy, you can draw a lot of emotion from a crowd. He's alone and he was wet in the eyes with his message tonight.
And that should mean something to people who take him seriously.
LEMON: I'm going to share something that one of my friends who you know, his name is Gunner, he said to me at dinner the other night.
He said, "Listen, I have been quarantining, self-isolating, social distancing for the past six months. But this election is important enough, I believe it's important enough for me to go to the polls and take the chance and put my health on the line if need be to make a change in the administration in this country.
I'm going to wear two masks if I have to, I'm going to wear three pairs of gloves if I have to. But I'm going to get out there to the polls and I'm going to make sure my voice is heard."
And I thought it was quite telling that someone would share something -- like me.
[01:15:00]
That they would consider in the middle of a pandemic that they might put their health on the line if they had to, if it comes to that, with this mess with the post office, to go out and vote.
I thought that was telling. And very profound.
CUOMO: But in many of the states that's not even necessary.
LEMON: Right.
CUOMO: Look, it's great for people to want to exercise the franchise. But don't make it any harder than you have to.
LEMON: Right.
CUOMO: That's the message from the Obama's. If you're in a place where you can get a ballot, get the ballot.
LEMON: Get it in. As you said, never got a late bill from the post office.
CUOMO: That's right. I believe in the post office.
LEMON: I do too.
CUOMO: I don't like when people mess with it. And my concern is not just the election.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: I don't like these stories that I'm hearing from my mentor and others saying hey I'm a veteran, I need my medicine. I had a heart transplant. All of a sudden it's late. It's not right, Don.
LEMON: Yes. It's not right.
CUOMO: We must be better than this.
LEMON: I've got to ask you something. Do you still write checks?
CUOMO: Yes, I do.
LEMON: I still do it. I'm old school, I still write checks, go send them through the post office. CUOMO: Never written me one.
LEMON: Well, I don't have to write you one. Listen, on this program --
CUOMO: This friendship's not free, pal.
LEMON: On this program tonight, don't write a check --
CUOMO: I get a tax deduction for being your friend.
LEMON: Don't write a check. You're behind King Cash.
CUOMO: Oh, please.
LEMON: So watch yourself.
CUOMO: I get a tax deduction for being your friend.
LEMON: Wait. I'm coming over there. We'll be right back.
CUOMO: They silenced us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:20:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I am here tonight as a testament to the dedication of generations before me.
Women and men who believed so fiercely in the promise of equality, liberty, and justice for all.
I accept your nomination for vice president of the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: This is proof that the promise of this country, that our development is in our diversity, is still alive.
My father, as you know, Mario Cuomo back in 1984 give a big speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Geraldine Ferraro, obviously personally important to my father, an Italian American. But a woman was on the ticket. And that was huge.
He wrote about it, he spoke about it. It was a big deal at the convention. The idea of a woman. Back then the idea -- yes, imagine if it were a black woman. An Indian black women, forget it.
And now here we are.
That is not a left, right issue. That's a reasonable positive sign about this country and an act of faith in our future.
Regardless of her politics, you don't have to vote for her. The fact that she exists and is taken seriously and rewarded by a party with this way -- on the merits.
It's a good night for us.
She is, Kamala Harris, the senator, already a big deal now the vice presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. Big deal.
Angela Rye, Karen Finney. Big deal for me, bigger deal for you. Because proof positive of the promise. Not just we can, we did.
And as Americans -- again, she wins, she doesn't win; you like her, you don't like her.
The fact that what she represents, Angela, as a human being as not disqualifying, that's proof positive in the promise of this country, no?
ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It absolutely is. And I think Kamilla had a wonderful moment tonight where she started her speech standing on the shoulders of many great black women.
She called the names of Diane Nash and Constance Baker Motley and Shirley Chisholm and Mary Church Terrell and Mary McCleod Bethune and Fannie Lou Hamer.
She knew exactly who set the stage for her to get there tonight and she also did not forget about her mom. She gave equal attention to her black and Indian heritage.
For all the haters, like I said this morning, that she was going to have to check and let them know that she knows that she is a strong black woman.
And that just like Shirley Chisholm instructed, she pulled that folding chair right up to the table where she belongs. Where she's pledged to fight against racial injustice, police violence, economic inequality, maternal issues with death rates in the black community.
She's pledged so much already and she has a legislative record to stand on to show for it.
And she showed all the more reason tonight why she is the candidate for vice president of the United States. And she was perfect.
CUOMO: Now what she represents, aside -- Karen, I think the value she brings to the ticket is she's a straight punch thrower.
And she backs around -- I've interviewed her plenty, I've been with her on the stage plenty. She and Elizabeth warren both shared a quality. You look them in the eye, you throw punch, they look you in the eye and throw the punch right back.
That is not Joe Biden's best quality. Kamala Harris -- he could not hang with Kamala Harris nor Elizabeth Warren in the debates.
I think you need a fighter on this ticket because you have an opponent who's going to do nothing but try to knock your head off the moment that they get a chance to.
What does she mean as a formidable adversary for the sitting president?
KAREN FINNEY, FMR. SNR. SPOKESPERSON, HILLARY CLINTON 2016 CAMPAIGN: Well, let's just say the prosecutor was on deck tonight. Right?
She had to do three things, and she did them beautifully.
She had to tell her own story and introduce herself. She had to start -- make the case for Joe Biden, but then show that she is going to be the person who will prosecute this case against Donald Trump and what Trumpism has done and is doing to this country.
And I think we can't separate those two things. Because it's not just about defeating Trump it's about defeating those forces of darkness that he has brought to this country.
So I think what she showed is she is very much up to the task.
[01:25:00]
Part of the reason I thought she was so brilliant and able to in a room full of -- a handful of reporters, and let's be honest, reporters are not going to cheer for you if you have a good line. And she was able to deliver it as if she were in a room full of people.
That's a prosecutor. That's a prosecutor who -- you're a lawyer, Chris -- who knows how to deliver your opening argument, your closing argument to 12 people in a jury box.
You know who your audience is, you know what your facts are and you come with it. And that's what I think we saw tonight.
And I think she and Biden, one of the beautiful things is they are a wonderful complement to each other. I think -- and he understands that this is about not only undoing the damage that Trump has done and making that case but talking about the future.
And Kamala represents the future. Her life experience, her lived experiences represent who this country is and where we're going.
So many of us come from these families that are a little bit of mixed masala, as I like to say.
So I just thought she did a beautiful job. And last thing I want to say on this. "There is no vaccine for racism."
CUOMO: It was a good line.
FINNEY: C'mon. That was -- RYE: Oh. That was a barb (ph).
FINNEY: That the was -- go, go, go.
CUOMO: It was a good line.
FINNEY: I'm with you.
RYE: That was so good.
CUOMO: And I got to jump to break. But I've got to give Angela credit.
I remember early on in the primary process one of the many interviews we've done together. I was talking about how you don't have to be a person of color to respect the issues and understand that.
And you said, yes, but if you don't have people of color involved in positions of power and intimately involved in the change then it's not going to happen. You need both.
And that's what this ticket has. We'll see what it means to America. We'll see how they make their case and we'll how people respond to that case.
But it's true. You have to be represented for it to be real and not just an idea. And that's what you now have in the form of Kamala Harris.
It's a big night, no matter what your politics are.
Angela Rye, Karen Finney. Thank you very much. Always a pleasure to have you both.
RYE: Thank you.
FINNEY: (Inaudible).
CUOMO: All right. Chris Cillizza, he's coming on deck. He's got a new list of -- oh, look at him, he's deep in thought. He's deep in thought coming up with the best and worst moments.
Look at that. He's in character. Oh, he's back, he's pensive.
Let's go to break, let's see if he can hold it. Hold it. Don't laugh.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:33]
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: For the third night the Democrats ramped up the number of big names. And we saw the party's last two presidential nominees and that's before we got to this year's groundbreaking VP pick. The question is, did the star power deliver?
Let's bring in now Chris Cillizza. Are you still pensively looking at -- what are you looking at?
CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR AT LARGE: No I was -- you know usually about this time of night, Don, I like to just read old college essays I've written. No, I was just --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Looking at pictures of Chris Cuomo on the Internet?
CILLIZZA: I was doing what I do 90 percent of the time scrolling through Twitter, unfortunately.
LEMON: So, listen I always -- my fiance doesn't just annoy me, he says so what were your highs and lows for the weekend? I'm like come on, please, don't ask me.
But I'm going to ask you. So what were your highs and lows? What stood out as the hits of the night?
CILLIZZA: So I would say in general, to answer your question most broadly, I thought it was a pretty good night. You had a lot of star power, as you said. And I think they mostly delivered.
But I think Barack Obama is your biggest obvious hit of the night. The guy is the best public speaker in American public life. So I don't think we should be that surprised that his speech was good. I think what's important about his speech and you guys have been talking about it, what's important about his speech is that is as aggressive as you will see a former president go after a current president maybe ever. Obama has been begged by lots of Democrats to be more aggressive about Trump over these last three and a half years. He did it tonight and I think last night and I think a lot of people will be happy about that.
And again, really good speaker delivers what I think is a really good speech that is probably going to be right now my two best speeches of the convention are Barack and Michelle Obama. They probably will still be that at the end of this convention because I don't think Joe Biden can give a better speech than those two but it was solid.
LEMON: And Harris' speech. What did you think?
CILLIZZA: Yes. I mean look --
LEMON: Yes.
CILLIZZA: Yes. I agree with Angela and Karen. I think that -- I thought she started; she was nervous which honestly it's understandable. It's the biggest speech of her political life --
LEMON: You thought she was nervous?
CILLIZZA: -- just at the start.
LEMON: Ok.
CILLIZZA: I thought she was a little nervous going through her bio, but once she got to the "I know a predator when I see one", or "I know what a predator looks like" -- I'm paraphrasing, right then she pauses after she does that line and then I thought she was way better.
And you know there's no vaccine for racism is a line you're going to hear a lot more. We have to do the work. And just the fact that she was up, I think to the moment which is a gigantic moment, right? The first African-American, South Asian American woman to be in this role giving a speech like that. It's hugely important. And I think she did a very good job.
It's always tough to follow Barack Obama when you're giving a speech.
LEMON: Right. I thought she did -- I thought she did a really good job.
I agree with you. He's -- you said he's the best speech but his wife is not bad either.
CILLIZZA: Yes. No, no.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: She gave a pretty good speech.
CILLIZZA: They're the two -- I think they're the two best speech givers in the country. And I just -- I want to add one more hit here, Don, just quickly.
LEMON: I know you were going to say.
CILLIZZA: I do think --
LEMON: Gabby Giffords.
CILLIZZA: I do think Gabby Giffords --
LEMON: Yes, I know.
CILLIZZA: Yes., look I remember the day. It was a Saturday when she was shot at an event in Tucson, Arizona when she was a member of Congress in 2011.
Look, to go from there to now, right, that speech is not easy for her to give. She was shot in the head. It's been a long road of ups and downs, for her to give that speech to talk about what you need to overcome, how you need to fight. The speech obviously was about gun control but it was also about her struggle.
I think all of us, you have highs and lows. Many of us not as low as she struggled with but that was a real high and I felt a real emotional high point in the night. And maybe in the convention overall.
LEMON: Well, I don't disagree with you. I was on the air, not sure if I was on the air at the time but I know I was on the air that day when it happened because I was a weekend anchor on CNN for a while and it happened on a Saturday when she was at an event.
CILLIZZA: Yes.
LEMON: So ok. So then, let's talk about what you think, part of the way that this equation will play out is that the other party trying to pull attention away from the convention. And you say those moves were misses.
[01:34:57]
CILLIZZA: Yes, so let me group Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo together in the misses category. Look, Trump sent out a bunch of tweets. Two during the Barack Obama's speech, another one during Kamala Harris' speech.
The thing about this, you and Chris know this, I've learned this in my life, the worst way to make someone who is trying to attack you, trying to get your goat -- the worst way to show them that it's not working is to immediately respond.
LEMON: Respond.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: You have to ignore them. But my response was when I heard he was tweeting is like hey, shut up the President is talking right now.
CILLIZZA: Like it is just --
LEMON: You missed that.
CILLIZZA: No, I got it. It's -- thing about it is it's unpresidential to do but at this point with Trump, you know, I mean he's sort of thrown what presidential is out the window. But if your goal is to say this is all just junk, no one is watching. Who cares? Then you shouldn't be watching so closely.
Pompeo, you know, he tweets out gif Lisa Simpson crying and ripping up the speech in --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: During Pelosi.
CILLIZZA: -- Nancy Pelosi is -- like yes, I get it, we'll ignore America's top diplomat. Like let's leave the trolling to the Internet, they do it very well. Like you are the secretary of state. I just -- it just feels to me like --
LEMON: I don't think they do it well, Chris. I think it is sophomoric. I think people are over it. I don't think people buy into the lies anymore.
CILLIZZA: It's not up to the moment.
LEMON: It's not up to the moment and the country is sick of it. Thank you Chris Cillizza. Get back to scrolling through Chris Cuomo's Instagram.
CILLIZZA: Best of Chris Cuomo what I'm always looking at.
LEMON: You always see something like this or, you know.
CILLIZZA: It's always those extra small shirts he orders out, Don.
LEMON: No it's smedium, extra smedium.
CILLIZZA: Smedium, baby.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true.
LEMON: Do we ask you?
CUOMO: It's not true.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: -- bring him back in.
CUOMO: My job is to check facts in real time
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Every shirt I have is an XL.
LEMON: Yes. I have to tell him, give Mario his shirt back because --
CUOMO: You're a hater.
CILLIZZA: This is a women's medium --
CUOMO: You're a hater. You're both haters.
LEMON: All right.
What happens when this pandemic runs into flu season? We're going to talk about that. It's fluvid, right.
Imagine our doctors and nurses fighting both at the same time. We're going to talk about that.
Last night, Dr. Amy Compton Phillips was on. So what does she think about the states new flu shot requirements for school kids? We'll talk about that next.
[01:37:26]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: Well, there is a new term that I can add to my lexicon of nightmares -- fluvid. You're going to hear more about it as you will long-haul syndrome; people with COVID and that some things don't go away; you're going to hear more about it. And it's getting worse because we're learning more about and there's more of it than we thought.
Fluvid will now be an added challenge. What is it? It's what it sounds like. Right, a scenario on top of the nightmare we are already living where somebody may get COVID and the flu. You could call it a twindemic, right?
At least one state, Massachusetts is trying to get ahead of it by requiring students in public schools and day care to get the flu vaccine. Now, for some, that will sound like a no-brainer. For others, it will sound like a fundamental restriction of personal liberty.
Let's bring in Dr. Amy Compton Phillips, the ethical guideline of what to do vis-a-vis implementation, let's say, of vaccines. At one point can you mandate -- do we mandate any vaccine?
DR. AMY COMPTON PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, most states in order to go to elementary school require a vaccine, right. You can't get into school if you don't have your shots, and it's how we've actually been able to stay on top of things like measles, mumps, rubella -- all those old-time childhood conditions that unless people skip their vaccines, like happened last year in New York, we've beaten here in the U.S. So absolutely we mandate vaccines all the time. And it's how we've beaten these old childhood scourges.
CUOMO: But we don't mandate the flu vaccine, why? And what would be the consideration in doing so?
PHILLIPS: So we don't mandate it. In the past we've used it actually for older people. Flu is one of those diseases like COVID that is more lethal the older you get. And so, in the past, we used to target older populations with it until we realized that older people didn't mount that strong of an immune response to the vaccine.
And then we started immunizing people when they were younger, realizing that if we kept younger people from getting the flu and passing it on, we could actually save older people.
And so that's how we ended up really morphing the flu vaccine. And so in the past, it hasn't been mandated for kids, but now this year with the burden of disease we have circulating in the community, it makes total sense to have kids in school be immunized against flu.
CUOMO: Two points of pushback. First --
PHILLIPS: Yes.
CUOMO: -- flu vaccine sucks. It's never right. You guys get it wrong three-quarters of the time, people get reactions to it. They get the vaccine; they still get the flu. I'm not doing it.
PHILLIPS: So, the flu vaccine is definitely not perfect. You know, the flu morphs a lot and it's how we make the vaccine based on what is circulating in the southern hemisphere. And this year because -- probably because people are being really cautious about COVID, they are having a lesser flu season. So using the circulating virus in the southern hemisphere to make our vaccine in the northern hemisphere so that we need it for our flu season, it's going to be a little tougher.
And so, you know, a good year, the flu prevents about 50 to 60 percent of the flu. And so it's not perfect but again, it lowers the level of circulating virus in the community even if you do get the flu after you've had the vaccine, that's partially effective typically it's less severe. So it adds benefit even if it's not perfect.
CUOMO: Quick second one which is, you guys make us so afraid of COVID, like 90 percent of the cases, if you get it you don't even know you had it. And you guys are just making us afraid because that's what you do or it's your politics. What do you say?
PHILLIPS: I would say that we need to get more people's stories out there because COVID is real. COVID -- it's not 90 percent asymptomatic. It's about 80 percent not severe enough to be in the hospital. But that's still a lot of people with bad symptoms.
You lived through it, Chris. You know how bad those symptoms are.
[01:45:00]
CUOMO: I'm living it now. I'm living it now.
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: I forgot yesterday that my daughter was at a dinner with me last week. I have recall issues with words I've never had in my life. I have weird physical symptoms and more importantly I now know I'm lucky, Doc, because I have dozens and dozens of people from all around the world hitting me with symptomology that I'm now getting echoed by big shots in your business in your field who are researching long- haul.
We're going to learn a lot more. And I know you will be there to help people know what they need to know and get where we need to go.
Dr. Amy Compton Phillips, God bless, and be well.
PHILLIPS: Thank you so much.
CUOMO: All right. So here's something that I don't get about what's going on, on the Democratic side of the election right now.
This sitting president has been more obnoxious towards people of color in this country than anything I've seen in my lifetime out of leadership. And yet, Joe Biden is not doing as well as Hillary Clinton did with voters of color. So why, first of all. Second of all, what does Kamala Harris do on that level?
The wizard of odds looks into the numbers, projects backwards, forward -- let's see where it leads us.
Next.
[01:46:15]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: History making. No matter what your politics, Kamala Harris officially accepting the Democratic nomination for vice president is historic. A woman of color, child of immigrants, now beside Joe Biden as the Democratic ticket. Will they win? I don't know.
But I will tell you what, a pivotal bloc of voters will be black and brown voters, the same group that turned the primaries around for Joe Biden taking a lot of them from Kamala Harris. So what does she mean? What does that bloc mean? And what does all of this mean?
Harry Enten, digging into the numbers. One, let's check our premise. The importance of the black and brown vote for Democrats is?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER AND ANALYST: Huge. Black voters particularly are the base of the Democratic Party. They were what, as you pointed out, turned Joe Biden's entire primary season around.
If it wasn't for older black voters in the state of South Carolina, he's not the Democratic nominee. So he owes them a tremendous amount and black voters in a number of states are what make Democrats competitive in the fall elections. So the premise is 100 percent correct.
CUOMO: Why is he not doing as well with black voters? Is that right? Is it black voters or should I be saying black and brown? Are you folding Latinos in there also or no?
ENTEN: I am not but I should point out, you know, if you pull up the numbers right now to sort of look at them, and this is so key. He is still winning black voters by an overwhelming margin, right --
CUOMO: But not as much as Clinton.
ENTEN: -- but not as much as Clinton won in the end, right. He's around 8 points less than she is and given what black turnout normally is, that's a point in the national vote. I should also point out though Chris, to your premise, your question. He's also doing work with Hispanic voters than she did as well. So both apply but this particular graphic is just looking at African Americans.
CUOMO: But why? What's your guess as to -- now hold on. Are we doing apples to apples? Is this how she did with them ultimately? Like in the actual voting? Or are we doing polling to polling?
ENTEN: This is looking at the final pre-election polls. if you were to look back at the day after convention in 2016, you would see her doing about the same part that she did at the end.
CUOMO: Ok. So she really just did do better.
ENTEN: Yes.
CUOMO: Assuming he doesn't get any better from here on out. Why? Why do you think?
ENTEN: I think the key reason is the age breakdown. I think this just tells the entire story of the campaign. If you look at black voters 50 and older versus black voters under the age of 50, you see he is winning black voters 50 and older by 86 percentage points. That's not the same as Clinton. Black voters under the age of 50, he's only winning them by 63 points. That is the entire story.
That was the story of the primary as well where he underperformed with younger black voters, Bernie Sanders easily carried those under the age of 30 in the primaries.
CUOMO: He did have a much tougher field than Clinton though. But then again, then you'd think that after he got the nomination he would start getting more of their vote because the other people are gone.
Which leads us to the next point, Kamala Harris -- does she change the game for Biden?
ENTEN: The answer, in all honesty, is I don't know. I'm sure -- I'm sure Joe Biden is hopeful that she does but it should be pointed out that Harris was not able to pick up significant African-American support during the primaries. So the idea that all of a sudden she would be able to do so in the general election to me is a little bit of a questionable premise and it should also --
CUOMO: Why didn't she do well with them in the primary?
ENTEN: Why didn't she? She didn't do better with them for any number of reasons, not the least of which was that first of all Joe Biden had long connections with the black community, right. Harris was a mostly unknown figure nationally and younger black voters had been big fans of Bernie Sanders back in 2016 so they continued on with that support.
So the idea that all of a sudden she's going to come in and add to that maybe it's true, right? Maybe it's true. Maybe she does help but it's a questionable premise at least.
CUOMO: Let's bring in D. Lemon. And no, not just because he's black, but when we are talking about the significance --
LEMON: That will do too. That's good enough.
CUOMO: I don't know what I'm saying. You know --
LEMON: That's good enough.
CUOMO: That's never your only value to me in any evaluation.
LEMON: There's nothing wrong with it. CUOMO: But this is confusing to me. Now, Harry makes a good point that
age matters. Maybe Biden's age. But Hillary Clinton wasn't like some spring chicken. So I don't understand how when you are faced with an opponent in Donald Trump who is the most openly-offensive to people of color that we've seen in our lifetime in leadership, how is Biden not doing better with that group?
[01:54:50]
LEMON: Well, that doesn't mean that Donald Trump is doing better which as you said, that maybe the voter enthusiasm isn't there. But I also think there's an element of -- what Trump supporters do. Are you going to vote for Trump? Oh, yes. Oh yes, I'm going to vote for him, right. We ask black voters that.
I also think that people are just exhausted, Chris. And they don't want to engage. I had a very good feeling about the last election, and as you know I said, you know, Donald Trump has a very good chance of winning. I thought that he might possibly win the last election and he did.
And I also have the same feeling about this election. African- Americans will come home to this election and they're going to come home to Joe Biden. And Kamala Harris didn't do well and I think Harry put it correctly. The simple answers is he didn't do as well in the primaries -- or she didn't do as well in the primaries because of the Joe Biden effect.
Joe Biden has a long history with the black community. He was also the vice president of the first black president of the United States. And people love him for that. He stuck by him, has never said an ill word about Barack Obama. Supports him. Thanks him for giving him the position.
Two people from two generations, two different backgrounds completely growing up differently in different places. They got together, had a great relationship. And so people remember Joe Biden for that.
Kamala Harris is not known. Barack Obama, who became the first black president of the United States -- guess what -- black people didn't support him in the beginning either. They supported Hillary Clinton. The black caucus didn't support him. All those people who are out there now championing Barack Obama, didn't support him at first. He had to prove himself.
So in the next 76 days, Kamala Harris will have to do that. She started off on a good footing tonight and I predict that she will continue to do that until election day. And I think black people will come home and come out in droves to vote for her.
I think they are being quite right now. There's a silent majority that's just sick of it. They are not engaged. They're going to go out and vote or vote early, or vote by mail, whatever they have to do. Mark my words. You will see it.
CUOMO: I just marked them. Harry Enten, thank you very much. D. Lemon, I appreciate the perspective.
All right. Guess what?
LEMON: We'll be right black.
ENTEN: Oh God.
CUOMO: We have got a lot of energy. A lot of energy. Let's do another hour. What do you say?
We'll be right back.
LEMON: Black, right. Black.
[01:57:09]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
