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CNN Live Event/Special
DNC Night 4: Midnight Oil Analysis; Biden Accepts Democratic Presidential Nomination; Biden Promises A Presidency For All; Biden Fails To Address Average Americans; CDC: Are We Achieving Partial Herd Immunity; Joe Biden Promises to End Season of Darkness; Beau Biden Tribute on Final Night of DNC; Julia Louis-Dreyfus Roasts Trump in Final Night of DNC. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired August 21, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I think we should call this one the hour of power. You got to be strong to get through live TV at this hour.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Long and strong, all night long.
LEMON: Long and strong. Welcome -- all morning long. If we keep this up, they're going to have us on. We're going to be throwing in "New Day," your old show.
Welcome back everyone. This is CNN's live coverage of the final night of the Democratic National Convention. I don't know. Is it -- should we say final morning? What? We've been on TV a long time.
CUOMO: Yes. Just keep going.
LEMON: Joe Biden's night drawing one of the starkest contrasts, yet, between -- starkest contrasts, yet, between he and the man who currently sits in the Oval Office.
CUOMO: And Joe Biden really did wind up making it about fundamentals.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: Light and dark. Good and bad. And he cast this president on the side of the negative. Now, clearly, this president still has a grip on many of the voters in this country because that's what we see from the polls.
However, Biden was starting to create a new metric. Lives have been lost on his watch -- 170,000 of us have died, and he has watched this and he has done nothing about it.
So Biden made a point about trying to connect with that loss. All right? He made every attempt to try to change this situation of these people being forgotten. And letting him -- them know that he is here for them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The current president has cloaked American darkness for much too long. Too much anger, too much fear, too much division. Hope is more powerful than fear, and light is more powerful than dark. This is our moment. This is our mission.
Now, history will be able to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here, tonight. As love and hope and light join in the battle for the soul of the nation. And this is a battle we will win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: They made a mistake teeing him up to be a babbling idiot tonight, by the way.
LEMON: You took the words right out of my mouth.
CUOMO: It was like the inverse Joe Namath.
LEMON: I was going to say --
CUOMO: You know, they guaranteed a victory and they wound up securing a big, fat L because he was on point tonight.
LEMON: I do -- I hate that whole narrative about, you know, Joe Biden and he's going to be bumbling, and then mental acuity and all that because that is a strategy on the right.
CUOMO: We don't know of any doctor asking him the old man, woman, t- shirt, ice cream, alligator, or whatever the hell that thing is, test.
LEMON: We've talked about that before because, you know, I've talked to my doctor and said, how does --
CUOMO: Patients don't ask for that test. Clinicians offer it.
LEMON: Yes. I said how does one ask for that? And my doctor said, Don, a patient doesn't ask for that. There has to be a reason.
CUOMO: Because they offered it to you, right?
LEMON: Yes, they did. They actually made me take it. But in all seriousness, my doctor said patients don't ask for that. Doctors ask for that and there has to be a reason or reasons they ask for that. Some sort of episode, some sort of situation, maybe they're forgetting something. But patients don't get that unless there is legitimate reason, a legitimate concern.
CUOMO: Right. It's like someone coming home and saying, hey, they made me walk this line and touch my nose and spin around and I aced it.
LEMON: Yes, I asked him -- CUOMO: Wait a minute, you got stopped because they thought you were drunk?
LEOMON: I pulled the cop over to, yes, to make sure that I was driving correctly. Yes, that's how that is. But you're right. But, so I hate that whole narrative because it's a strategy on the right or for Biden opponents because people, oh, Biden doesn't know where he is half the time. That's BS.
CUOMO: They also, foolishly, set too low a bar for Biden to leap over.
LEMON: One -- let me finish.
CUOMO: Go ahead.
LEMON: I have interviewed Donald Trump, god, I don't know how many times. You for at least, what, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, if not more times.
[02:05:00]
And I interviewed Joe Biden right before the quarantine. Sharper than I've ever seen Trump in any interview. That's all I'll say about that. So, I think you are right. They sure picked the wrong narrative with that. I'm sure they are going to try to continue on with that, but that was not on display tonight in his speech.
CUOMO: Well, look, you keep on picking people in their mid and upper 70s, you're going to keep having these conversations, you know, so I don't think it serves either camp. They should leave it alone and figure out which man, at this position and at this stage is offering the best deal to the American people?
And that was Biden's real thing tonight. And fortunately for him, the basic ground of morality, principle, and decency has been ceded (ph) by this president.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: You know, ordinarily, you don't get to argue as the insurgent, that you're here to make things better because we're in a hard time. Usually, that's the incumbent's argument.
LEMON: Right.
CUOMO: That I'm here fighting this war. I'm here fighting this pandemic. You need to keep me. This is unusual where we have a president who is refusing to lead in a dark time.
LEMON: Well, and this president wrote the strategy for Joe Biden. I do have to say, though, you know, I don't know if this was a strategy to inoculate him against the whole idea, you know, and I'm talking about Braden Harrington, the 13-year-old who is a stutterer.
CUOMP: Stutterer, yes. LEMON: And perfectly explain why, you know, possibly why Joe Biden
sometimes, you know, his mind goes faster than what he could say because that's what stuttering is. It's faster.
CUOMO: That's what stuttering is. Their mind, if anything, is more powerful. It's processing more quickly than their voice that the communicated signal can keep up with. If anything, they're smarter.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: You know, the idea that you make fun of someone for stuttering because they're not smart enough to get the words out, they're actually working at a higher functionality. Anyway, the kid was beautiful. He was beautiful.
LEMON: No, no, we talked about it, but I want to get to this and listen, he was beautiful. I don't want to cry on TV anymore because, I mean, that truly -- I was crying at home when that kid --
CUOMO: It's good to cry. It's good to feel.
LEMON: But let me say, one moment that made me -- the moment that you just played, that was a look up at the television moment because many times we were listening, it's on in the background. And when Joe Biden said what he said in the sound bite played earlier, I looked up.
Another moment when I looked up is when he talked about his son, Joe Biden.
CUOMO: Beau.
LEMON: I mean, Beau Biden. The late Beau Biden. He also talked about his military service and he talked about fighting for the men and women in uniform. And he got very passionate about it. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I'll always have the strength that can only come from family. Hunter, Ashley, all our grandchildren, my brothers, my sister, they give me courage. They lift me up. While he's no longer with us, Beau inspires me every day.
Beau served our nation in uniform. A year in Iraq. A decorated Iraqi war veteran. So I take very personally and I have the profound responsibility of serving as commander-in-chief. I'll be a president who will stand with our allies in France and make it clear to our adversaries the days of cozying up to dictators is over.
Under President Biden, America will not turn a blind eye to Russian bounties on the heads of American soldiers nor will I put up with foreign interference in our most sacred democratic exercise. Voting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Strong. CUOMO: It is strong. And again, its ground he shouldn't have, right?
Because it's a no brainer for a sitting president to go after Russia for trying to destroy our democracy. And we have this really puzzling, inactivity by this president in this regard. We can't figure it out. That's why people want his taxes. It doesn't make sense.
Guy picks fights with everybody except the guy who is bullying us most. Very odd. And then, you have the humanity effect. You know, it's very interesting. I'm listening to the fringe right/right in their processing of this convention and of Biden tonight. And, oh, you know, Joe Biden and everything's about, oh, poor Joe and poor Joe.
The cynicism isn't going to work here, and here's why. Any adult knows that our character is forged through pain. Life, on many levels, is pain management. And if you want to know how somebody is going to be when the cards are down, any man or woman that you can measure, and how they went through loss, is more indicative than any BS that's going to come out of their mouth about what they'll do and what they'll promise.
I know what this was for Joe Biden. I know what Beau Biden meant. I know who Beau Biden was. And you don't need to know any of that to understand that the idea of a parent losing a child, let alone twice, is an unbelievable pain to overcome.
[02:10:00]
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: And that tells you something about Joe Biden. He knows pain. He sees it in others. It affects him. He is not somehow insulated by self-interest from the pain of others. He feels.
Now, is that what you want in a leader? That's an open question. It's an open question, but it's real. And in a time of frauds and fakes all over us in politics, when it comes to his humanity, the guy is the real deal.
LEMON: Yes. And I'm not going to tell the story again, but I know it's real. And you know it's real because you've had experiences with it. I do have to say that, you know, looking at the videos of the family and hearing the family talk about it, and the grandkids -- the grandkids.
No matter where he is, if he's on stage giving a speech and we call, he's going to pick up in the middle of the speech and say, hey, what's wrong? What are you doing?
I got to tell you, you can't find a better looking family. I was looking at those pictures of Beau and Hunter and the grandkids and I'm like, wow. What a great looking --
CUOMO: Beau was something special. Beau -- I'm not lionizing him because he's gone. Beau was a generational leader.
LEMON: Yes. CUOMO: Beau was one of those guys who when you are around him, you'd be like, I got to step up my game. You know, he was just a special guy.
LEMON: We have this saying where, and I don't mean this in a derogative way so please don't take it that way. When you say, like your son, they'll say, man, Chris looks like he spit Mario out because he looks just like you.
I was like watching the pictures of Beau and I'm like -- he looks just like -- he looks like Joe Biden just spit him out because they look exactly -- if you look at the young Joe Biden and Beau Biden, they look exactly alike.
CUOMO: He was the dream of every father, in that he was better than his father in every way. Joe will be the first one to tell you that. It's my proudest moment when I assess any of my kids. When I see that my kids are ahead of me already in different ways that matter as humans, it's the greatest joy in the world.
I dream of the day that my son is taller than I am. We want them to be better. And Joe had that dream come true in his son and it was a dream that he was awakened from way too soon. Now the question is this. Ordinarily, Don, we wouldn't be doing this because ordinarily -- all right, how much does it matter that she's a nice lady? I get it. She's a nice lady. I get it, he's a nice guy.
LEMON: Because we have someone who's not nice.
CUOMO: You know, but right now, we got somebody who's not nice and we're not used to that.
LEMON: Terrible actually. He's a terrible person. Sorry.
CUOMO: We're not used to having a guy who's okay with his followers attacking your family.
LEMON: Yes. And don't we know --
CUOMO: So him being a nice guy is actually a political asset.
LEMON: And you know, more than anybody else. And also, something else that you know. I hope we get a chance to talk about it in this show. You've been in the room. You know what it's like to be at one of these conventions and why people are doing (inaudible) speech.
CUOMO: I've been in the room where it happened.
LEMON: Yes. So let's talk about that later, but first, Chris, I want to talk about with you about what comes next, all right. And that is with Angela Rye and Paul Begala. We're going to talk about what comes next now. Now what?
CUOMO: Oh yes. I see you looking at me Rye and I'm coming fist of fury. Yes, that's right. Yes, that's the smirk of somebody who doesn't know what's coming. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:15:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, ACTRESS: When Donald Trump spoke at his inauguration about American carnage, I assumed that was something he was against. Not a campaign promise. We can help you find the best and safest way to vote in your state. Simply text vote to 30330 to learn more -- 30330, it's actually not that hard to remember.
Watch. Person, woman, man, camera, TV, 30330. Anyone can do it. Just remember, Joe Biden goes to church so regularly that he doesn't even need tear gas and a bunch of federalized troops to help him get there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Good move or bad move? Don lemon likes it. That was Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She was the emcee tonight and obviously roasting Trump at every turn. Is this a plus, minus, or a neutral? Does it not matter? Let's bring in Angela Rye and Paul Begala, the author of "You're Fired: The Perfect Guide to Beating Donald Trump."
LEMON: You're fired! You got to say it right --
CUOMO: Well, it's up to Begala to say it. Angela Rye, plus, minus, or doesn't matter?
ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it was fine. You know, I think that they needed to try all the things because it is a socially distanced, virtual convention and it was hard. I think it was nice and a breath of fresh air.
I think earlier in the week, with Eva Longoria, felt very telethonish and this was like a nice change of pace especially like her driving (inaudible) existed since "Seinfeld," which I was not a fan of personally, but I thought it worked. I thought it worked. I was smiling just now like, okay, I see you --
CUOMO: Wait, you didn't like "Seinfeld"?
RYE: No, I was a "Cosby Show," "A Different World" kind of kid.
CUOMO: Wow! Okay.
LEMON: Have you watched "Curb Your Enthusiasm"?
RYE: I don't like "Curb Your Enthusiasm" either.
LEMON: I'm out of here.
CUOMO: I told you about her, Don. I told you. I told you. You keep telling me give her a chance, give her a chance. I told you. I told you.
RYE: If you don't, there's a whole culture out there who embraces me. It's totally fine.
CUOMO: Here it comes. God forbid anybody says something about Angela.
LEMON: Paul, what do you think? I think, listen, it was at points, a little cringey because, you know, there was no audience to play off of.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.
LEMON: Right.
RYE: I know.
LEMON: But I like that. I like being uncomfortable and like, oh, this is really making me uncomfortable. So, it gave me a reason to actually watch to look up at the TV again.
BEGALA: Don, we know you like being uncomfortable. You're sitting next to Chris Cuomo.
LEMON: Boom! I set you up for that.
RYE: Bam!
CUOMO: Bunch of losers.
RYE: Now what, Chris? Now what, Chris?
BEGALA: Try the veal, tip your waitresses. No, let me say. Julia, first off, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is one of the great comic actresses of ever, of all time. And she was great on "Seinfeld." "Veep" is one of the greatest --
LEMON: Amazing.
BEGALA: -- comedies ever, and I happen to be sitting in the White House where I thought it was a documentary, at first. But it's -- she's just so gifted. She's so -- and to do comedy without an audience is very nearly impossible. And I have to say, in my house, we were laughing.
[02:20:00]
We thought it was very funny. They're just trying. And this is the first time anybody's trying to do something like this. And I really have to say the folks who organized it, Steph Cutter and the rest of the people at the Democratic Party did a really good job.
CUOMO: All right, by the way, I'll say it was a mistake. I want to change topics because it doesn't matter that much. But one, you open yourself up to the Hollywood shot that they're dying to put on you. And --
BEGALA: And you do it anyway.
CUOMO: -- and you're in a dark time and I think you would have been better served by having people who were living different challenges taking us from one section of the show to another. But this is stylistic, more than anything else.
LEMON: Speaking of haters, what'd you call us, losers? Come on now. They're going to do that, anyways.
CUOMO: Right.
LEMON: They're going to say that it's a Hollywood or whatever. It's a Hollywood --
CUOMO: Yes, but I'm saying, you know, I try not to give people an easy chance.
BEGALA: Their candidate -- their candidate is a reality TV star and they're going to say that we're the showbiz party?
LEMON: Another boom!
BEGALA: They're going to say it anyway.
CUOMO: Yes, I know.
BEGALA: Let them say it. And then they'll have their convention next week --
CUOMO: But what I'm saying is it's not an even playing field. They are a party --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: They are a party who all get in line and swallow the same stuff. You guys are a bunch of cats. So I'm saying if they can come at you, there's a vulnerability that you didn't need to create. But again, I've spent too much time on this.
RYE: But here's the thing, Chris Cuomo.
CUOMO: Damn it (ph).
RYE: The whole thing was so dry. Like, I mean, can we get something? I mean, I'm sorry, yesterday was my favorite day. Today, again, I was like snooze.
CUOMO: Are you saying the Democrats don't know how to properly season their food?
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: Everybody's talking. What?
CUOMO: Angela --
BEGALA: Did you see John Legend and Common? They were phenomenal.
RYE: Yes. Kudos. CUOMO: Angela, are you saying that -- are you saying the Democrats
don't know how to properly season their food?
RYE: Chris Cuomo with the burn and the shade on today.
LEMON: Are you saying you don't want potato salad from a Democrat?
CUOMO: Paul, you're a speechwriter.
BEGALA: Yes, sir.
CUOMO: What did you think of Biden's substance and delivery?
BEGALA: I thought it was masterful. It was masterful. Not even just as a speech but as a strategic document. This -- you know, some people think it should like the platform. A laundry list of liberal wishes. It's not. This is a strategic vision for winning the White House and then reuniting the country.
It was an x-ray of Joe Biden's soul. I was really moved by the conversation you two were having. You've had direct interactions with Joe. I've known him for 34 years, good times and bad. This was an x- ray of his soul.
Maybe you didn't like what you see. I think most people saw that this is a deeply good man who gave a truly great speech.
LEMON: There you go. I wanted to go back to --
BEGALA: I can go on. I just didn't want to --
LEMON: No, I just want to go back -- I thought it was -- I think that, Chris, the criticism about Hollywood would come because, you know, they started with Eva Longoria. And then they went to Tracee Ellis Ross, and they went to Kerry Washington, and then Julia Louis- Dreyfus.
I have to say, I have to give A-plus to all of them. I think Tracee Ellis Ross is one of the most gifted and talented actresses, and really funny. She is one of my favorites so I've really enjoyed her. Who doesn't love Kerry Washington? She was amazing. Eva Longoria, everything -- and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, I thought it was really good.
At first, I was a little bit -- the first night, I was like Eva Longoria? I don't what's going on. I love -- don't get me wrong -- I love Eva Longoria. I was like, but I wasn't sure of what was going on and why they had her.
And then as it went on, I got it. And then to have women, every single night. I thought, you know, that was great, and that was the reason behind that. And I'm glad they had these diverse women, every single night. Really smart and talented women.
Also, you had to have somebody up there who could carry a show. They were really carrying a show. It was like hosting -- you need a host of the Oscars or the host of the Grammy's. CUOMO: Could have had AOC. Could've had Stacey Abrams.
LEMON: You don't know if AOC can carry a show.
CUOMO: She can handle it. They read the teleprompter --
CUOMO: And everybody doesn't -- and everybody doesn't want to watch AOC for the entire -- I'm sorry. AOC is a gifted politician. Nothing -- I'm not taking anything away from her. But AOC is not the entire star of the show.
These people are stars, but they weren't the stars of the show. They were presenting the stars of the show. They know how to present. They know how to be on stage. They know how to read a teleprompter. And they know they have comedic timing, and they know timing from being able to carry a show. AOC doesn't do that.
CUOMO: It's not off Broadway.
RYE: Everybody wasn't funny, though. And I think that --
LEMON: Exactly.
RYE: -- it's not a requirement it should be a comedian. What we should acknowledge is that AOC did not have the time that she probably should have. Ayanna Pressley was missing from the convention stage.
LEMON: That part is true.
RYE: I would say that Julian Castro was missing from the convention stage.
LEMON: That part is true.
RYE: And the panel of former Democratic primary nominees -- I mean, candidates. So when you think about where there were misses, I hate to be that person, but I can't sit here and pretend like there weren't things where we could have sharpened.
I think that the role of the party isn't to celebrate blind spots, too. It is to say, hey, there's some places where we should really double down and strengthen before November. Like, we got some things that we got to get right. I don't really recall there being a strong faith leaders moment, either.
[02:25:00]
I saw a big union moment today. Of course, there was a domestic violence moment yesterday. But I just feel like there were a few blind spots that really need to be tightened up.
CUOMO: Good to have your top four finishers two more nights each.
LEMON: Don't steal my joy, Angela.
RYE: I'm not stealing your joy, honey, but I'm going to tell you the truth.
LEMON: No, I'm kidding. It doesn't matter to me.
BEGALA: None of that is going to matter in 75 days.
CUOMO: I agree.
BEGALA: No one is going to say --
RYE: What does that mean? What does that mean none of that? What is none of that?
BEGALA: -- I didn't like Eva Longoria or Julian Castro should have spoken.
CUOMO: Who hosted.
BEGALA: They're going to say we have 170,000, god forbid 200,000 by Election Day, dead from COVID. We got 50 million people filing for unemployment. We got 10 million people losing their health insurance. We have a social justice, civil rights crisis. That's what people are going to be voting on. Their lives, not which politician got 96 seconds versus 10 minutes. It just -- it's our job to analyze, but it's not what's going to drive this election. This is a very, very big election.
RYE: But, Paul, you know, the one thing that I would say to you, as someone who's, you know, been a part of the Democratic Party for years, is that it would be great if you could at least acknowledge that this is a space where there are consistent blind spots.
Every convention, there are challenges around the minority vendor utilization. There are challenges around staffing and hiring and all of these things, and who and how diverse the stage is. And it's not just a reflection of the program. It's a reflection on candidate recruitment.
It is a reflection on Capitol Hill offices and how diverse state and local offices are. We can't say that we are a big-tent party when it's time to collect the votes, but not when it's time to distribute the power.
And I'm saying those are the things that we need to reckon with and really ensure that we're tight. This is not a case that I'm prosecuting against Donald Trump. I want the party to get better because the party should get better. Forget Donald Trump. He's a nonfactor, right? Like he is not --
BEGALA: No. Never forget Donald Trump. He is the president of the United States and 172,000 people are dead, who shouldn't be dead because of his incompetence.
RYE: Paul, and I appreciate you and your message (ph) of discipline.
BEGALA: Our troops have bounties placed on their heads because of his, whatever, his lack of leadership. RYE: Paul, I'm saying in this moment --
BEGALA: This is an existential crisis. I think President Obama had it right.
RYE: I understand that. I'm not confused by that. In this moment --
BEGALA: And I think we should -- I'm going to just follow what President Obama said.
RYE: I appreciate you and your messages (ph) of discipline is sticking to what President Obama said. In this moment, as we talk about how to ensure the party is its best and how you can drive turnout and we're not arrogant like we were in 2016, we have some things to tighten up. Full stop.
We -- I'm not talking about Donald Trump, the impact of coronavirus, the way in which he's used --
BEGALA: I know.
RYE: -- used the military or voter suppression. I know all of those things. I am crystal clear. There still remains a fact that the party is not leaning into and ensuring that they're growing a base of younger voters and people who they need to turn out this year so we don't repeat the (inaudible).
LEMON: Angela, let me ask you. Is this the moment to talk about it? If you're a Democratic strategist or if you're a Democrat, is this the moment and the platform to discuss that or is that in a DNC meeting when what you're trying to do in an election and with politics is to win?
Is that what's going to get you to win right now by focusing on those things or is it, as Aaul says, the big picture? The existential threat. The other things can be handled. You talk about that when you have a DNC meeting. When you're doing the postmortem after the election and you have won the election rather than getting distracted by things, yes, that are important, but that may not get you over the finish line.
RYE: And here's the thing. We lost in '16 in part because of some of these things. So we can continue to say --
LEMON: Right, you lost because -- you lost in '16 because you were focusing on the wrong things. People were shouting down their allies. People were helping Donald Trump shout down Hillary Clinton in public. People were helping the other party, and the Democratic Party at least, to focus on things that maybe you didn't want to focus on in public. Things that did not get you to win.
That is why -- that is why, I believe the Democrats lost because there just was not the right strategy. You got -- you guys got stuck in the weed instead of looking at the big picture, which is to win an election, which is to know who your allies are, which is to whoever gets you the closest to your destination who doesn't necessarily take you to the exact address you have on your Uber. It may take you down the block. It may take you around the corner --
RYE: And here's --
CUOMO: All right, final point to (inaudible).
LEMON: -- but it doesn't get you there. But that's what -- you know, that's why I feel the Democrats lost in '16.
RYE: I don't. I think it's because we thought that it could -- we could be anti-Trump and that was sufficient. And it's the same thing that we're doing right now. And I'm saying be anti-Trump and be clear about why he does not represent the values of this country.
LEMON: But Angela, yes, you're right. But people were not necessarily pro-Hillary.
[02:29:59]
Everybody -- everybody, and I've said this before, everyone --
RYE: And we have the same problem like how many times we have to repeat this?
LEMON: When I was at the Republican Convention, people -- everyone said they, before, we don't like Donald Trump, we don't want him to be our representative, we don't want him to be the nominee.
Every single person on that stage, the 19 people or however many, fell in line except for what's his -- John Kasich who didn't speak or what you. And what's his name, the other guy who got up there and didn't say anything? Ted Cruz. OK. Except for those two maybe.
But everybody fell in line. Everybody at the Republican Convention was screaming, "Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump."
We got to the Democratic Convention, people were screaming during Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech, booing her, "Bernie, Bernie, Bernie."
RYE: Yes. And that's I think --
LEMON: They didn't have their priorities straight. The thing is to win. Whether you like the person --
RYE: But I don't think --
LEMON: -- or fall in love with them or not.
RYE: Yes. So he's going to win the people he already has. With Kamala, that base grows.
RYE: What I'm telling you is that I'm talking to people on the ground in ways that I wasn't in 2016.
We still have a problem. And we have the ability in these next several days, to solve for it. It's not a comfortable conversation but we do have to fix it.
It's not a comfortable conversation but we do have to fix it and all of it's not inside baseball because these aren't party establishment people. But I bet you we need their butts at the polls or the drop boxes or wherever we're going. We need them.
And that means we have to have honest conversation. It's not a message discipline conversation but what is the truth? And what is the variations of that truth for people's variety of experiences?
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: All right. Begala, give us a last point, let's go to break.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The United States of America faces an existential crisis. Barack Obama is, I think, the most brilliant and level-headed person in our public life.
And he gave a speech last night that should keep us all up. He said the American democracy is at risk. With American democracy at risk, this is an all hands on deck moment.
I think Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have remarkable ability to unite all the factions of this party and hold it all together from four-star generals to Black Lives Matter.
And that is a very difficult challenge of leadership. I'm going to do all I can to help them do that. And I hope every Democrat will.
CUOMO: All right. Let's jump to break. Angela, thank you, as always.
LEMON: It was a great conversation.
RYE: Yes.
CUOMO: Appreciate your candor.
LEMON: Thank you, guys.
CUOMO: Paul, loved it. Loved listening to it. We'll do more of it. We've got a long way to go.
This is going to be the longest 70 something days of our life. My hairline's going to look like Begala's at the end of this.
LEMON: What hairline?
BEGALA: There you go. You wish, you wish.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(CNN HIGHLIGHT)
DR. WILLIAM HANAGE, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: I would suggest that masks need to be used alongside other things like just simple physical distancing. We know that it's much less likely that transmission occurs if you're
outside.
[02:35:00]
If you're outside and you keep your distance, six feet or more from other people then that's going to do alone a great deal to stop the transmission of the virus.
So don't think that masks are the solution. They are a part of the solution.
There is no silver bullet that is going to destroy -- that is going to defeat this virus.
It is unquestionable that if you deny the virus the opportunity to transmit, that slows the pandemic down. If you deny it enough opportunities to transmit, it will go extinct.
So everything that you can do to stop giving it the opportunity to infect another human being is extremely helpful.
Masks are a large part of that. And I urge everyone to wear one.
(END)
LEMON: So Joe Biden is now the Democratic nominee.
President Trump is getting ready to make his case to you in the Republican National Convention. Kicking off, that kicks off on Monday.
Let's discuss now.
Kirsten Powers, Ron Brownstein, both here. Good morning to both of you.
KIRSTEN POWERS, "USA TODAY" COLUMNIST: Good morning.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SNR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.
LEMON: Kirsten, CNN is learning that President Trump is pushing for next week's GOP Convention to have more live speeches and even some kind of audience for him to feed off of.
He will give his acceptance speech at the White House though. How different do you think this RNC will look?
POWERS: (Inaudible)
LEMON: Can't hear Kirsten. Kirsten, we can't hear you.
Ron, I'll ask you the same question.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
LEMON: Do you think it's going to be different?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I do. I think the president is already holding in- person events. He was in Yuma reprising his language from the original announcement speech about rapists and murderers before a crowd an airplane hangar that was not socially distanced and had very few people with masks.
The strange -- kind of the bullishness of going forward in this route for the president and the RNC, of having a live audience wherever possible is, I think, just strangely counter-productive.
In a sense that it guarantees that we'll be talking at least as much about the way he delivered the speech as what he says.
He is sending the signal to voters, as he has been for months, that reopening the economy is the overriding priority over safety on every front from school athletics, to K to 12 classes.
And consistently, somewhere between 60, and 65 percent of the country, say their priority is the opposite.
The Democrats may be constrained this fall by their determination not to go anywhere if they can't project it is totally safe. But I think the president is taking the bigger risk there.
LEMON: OK. So then what is going to look like, Kirsten? That's what everyone -- and did Republicans look at this convention and learn?
Can the president do a convention without socially distancing, as Paul mentioned, in the airplane hangar, and so on? How different is it going to be?
POWERS: Well, I think he wants -- the president wants it to look very different. He wants to produce -- he has his producer's hat on according to reporting, and he wants to make it look very different than what this looks like.
At the same time, I don't think he obviously can have the kind of crowds that he would like to have but he wants to have some sort of audience.
I guess he wants to have people there who are going to -- it's been sort of cryptically described, people who have been traumatized, somehow -- I assume that's by liberals. I don't know if that's cancel culture or what he's going to do.
But he wants to do something that is different than what the Democrats did.
And obviously, I think he's going to be -- play a much bigger role in it than Joe Biden did in the Democratic Convention.
POWERS: Well, you know what, Kirsten, people familiar with the president speech say that it's going to fan culture wars --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. POWERS: Right.
LEMON: Democrats ran with the theme of unity. Is the president go in the opposite direction?
POWERS: Yes. He's going to do what he always does. His entire message from the word go has been divisiveness, and darkness and us against them.
And I think that that's exactly why the Democrats did the opposite is because they're offering a different vision. Which is a vision of bringing the country together.
LEMON: Well, Ron, is that going to work? Give us your final thought, what do you think?
BROWNSTEIN: Look, as Kirsten said, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
And the president's go-to move always has been cultural division. And I think that a lot of Republicans are frustrated because while that obviously energize -- there is an audience for kind of racial and cultural division but it's an audience that's something like around 42 percent of the electorate. And it hardens the rest against him.
The one opening I think the Democrats left him all week, even after tonight's speech, was that Biden did not -- I think, no one really delivered a coherent, concise critique of the president's record for average working families or a clear vision of what Biden would do differently to make their lives easier. Sort of the same problem Hillary had in 2016.
[02:40:00]
It doesn't look like the president is heading in that direction though.
He's kind of going back to this culture war the leaves him playing on the short end of the field, and alienating all of the constituencies and the electorate that are growing.
LEMON: OK.
BROWNSTEIN: Young people, people of color, college-educated white voters.
LEMON: Thank you both. We're out of time. Late into the night, early in the wee hours.
Thank you, I'll see you both soon. I appreciate it.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks.
LEMON: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CUOMO: All right. No matter where you are, it's getting a little
late, so let me give you a few punch points on the coronavirus.
The CDC now estimates as many as 60 million Americans may have already been infected with coronavirus. He says this is partial herd immunity, and it may be helping control the spread.
Let's bring in Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips here for perspective.
One, where does he get this 60 million number, do you trust it? And do you buy the idea of partial heart immunity?
DR. AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, it's a pretty far estimate so you have to really extrapolate to get to 60 million.
But there was a study done earlier that, based on antibodies, that it could be up to 10 times as many people have had the virus as have been diagnosed, with all the shortage of tests. Obviously, we're not diagnosing everybody.
And so somewhere -- it is definitely more than five million and could be, as high as 60 million. But it's probably somewhere a little lower than that.
And partial herd immunity. Well, in other countries -- in New York, obviously, the infection rate's gone down but the population's doing a lot to keep from getting it, right? You walk around the streets, Chris, you see people wearing masks and being super careful, right.
In other countries that also had big infections, they're now seeing resurgences. So in Italy and in Spain, Spain in particular, and Sweden is still getting transmission.
And so it's pretty tough to say. It would be a big extrapolation to say that we have herd immunity going already.
[02:45:00]
CUOMO: Vaccines don't stop the outbreak. And yet, they are a very effective tool. And what do you see as a reasonable timeline?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Yes. I think it's going to be in the spring, summer of 2021 where it gets really widely available.
CUOMO: So it's going to take that much time.
And then, is it true -- do you buy into this idea that you need a couple of rounds of it -- not personally -- but to see how it works on the virus and kind of working with the vaccine and who gets it before you really get the right prophylaxis protocol?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: I think it's really speculative to even know that right now. So I think it's going to be something that we learn over the testing and all these phase three trials, the hundred 100 some odd vaccines that we have in development right now. So I think that different vaccines will probably work different ways and we're going to have to see whether or not it's one and done or whether you get like a flu shot once a year.
We'll just have to sort it out as we go.
CUOMO: The good news is unlike most of our experiences with this administration, this Operation Warp Speed is supposedly populated by a real all-star team.
And knowing some people who are in and around it, they feel good about the people they have on it and the commitment to it. So hopefully, it's being done the right way.
CUOMO: Dr. Amy Compton-Philips, always a plus. Thank you for being with us, especially at this time.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Thank you so much.
CUOMO: All right. Take care. We're going to be back with some final thoughts, OK, on the final out of the DNC.
And I'll give you a little bit of a different perspective on it.
I was there, OK, many cycles ago, when the moment for the Democrats was very similar to the one right now. Things were different but there were some big similarities.
And the message, the continuity from then in 1984 to now, personally and professionally, is going to be a little bit interesting for you.
Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(VOICES FROM THE PANDEMIC)
MARIO FIRPO: I am Mario Firpo from Naples in Italy and I am owner of two restaurant in Milan.
During the lockdown, all the people became chef. Became -- all people was cooking. And personally, I had two or three party for friends that had the birthday during lockdown where every one of us cook the same dishes and we eat together.
But I was in Milan, some friends was in Naples, other friends was in London or in Turin.
But we eat, talk together --
[02:50:00]
-- because for Italian people, the sociability during lunch or dinner is very, very important.
Because for us, to embrace, to kiss, to touch is very, very important, is -- very signal (ph) a friendship.
I believe that the world will be able to find a new balance, probably the normal of before will be different of the normal of the future. But I think it will be better than before.
I don't know how long it takes to reach this new balance, but I am hopeful for the future.
(ENDS)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIO CUOMO, FMR. GOVERNOR (D-N.Y.): A shining city is perhaps all the presidencies from the portico of the White House and the verandah of his ranch, where everyone seems to be doing well.
But there is another city, there's another part to the shining city. The part where some people can't pay their mortgages and most young people can't afford one.
There is despair, Mr. President, in the faces that you don't see. In the places that you don't visit in your shining city.
Mr. President, you ought to know that this nation is more a tale of two cities then it is just a shining city on a hill.
CROWD: (Applause)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That could be today. That was great.
CUOMO: Right.
LEMON: I've been waiting for this segment, Chris. You were in the room where that happened with that. And that was beautiful with your dad, that was amazing.
CUOMO: I was there sitting next to Mrs. Mondale, Eleanor Mondale -- may she rest in peace. Senator and Vice President Mondale, Walter Mondale, still alive -- 92 years young, God bless him.
And here are the three wows. The message is the same. America is still a tale of two cities.
That's why there are people in the streets screaming for an end to systematic (ph) inequality. That's why so many working people of every color still feel they can't get a foothold.
It was as true then -- I don't have the poetry of my father and I don't have the passion because he had to fight his way through that system.
I'm one generation later. Italian American has basically just graduated into being another white guy. And there are different opportunities afforded me than he had. But that's the same message.
The second thing. Joe Biden was a senator known as being a working class guy, then VP. So was Mondale.
Now Biden is much more formidable against Trump than Mondale was against Reagan. But the big sell of the ticket at the time, Don, was Geraldine Ferraro.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: The first woman. And now what do we have? Kamala Harris, the first woman of color being on a ticket.
My father recognized that then. Seeing it as a beautiful chance to show what this country could be about.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIO CUOMO: We will have a new president of the United States.
A Democrat born not to the blood of kings but to the blood of pioneers and immigrants. And we will have America's first woman vice president, the child of immigrants.
CROWD: (Applause)
MARIO CUOMO: She will open with one magnificent stroke a whole new frontier for the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: He ends with saying: "It will happen if we make it happen. If you and I make it happen.
I ask you now, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, for the good of us all, for the good of this nation. For the family of America and for the love of God, please make this nation remember how futures are built."
It's the same message, the clarion call to the collective that we're seeing now.
The third wow. I was just about 14 years old when that happened.
And I was sitting next to, again, Mrs. Mondale. And I remember her grabbing my hand and being wowed. Because nobody knew who Pop was. He was a new governor, just -- this guy, this upstart.
LEMON: I knew he was. I was -- I had just graduating high school. May of 1984.
CUOMO: You knew who he was after that.
LEMON: I knew who he was after that, yes.
CUOMO: After that. And then within six months, he would give that speech and then his talk at Notre Dame, which was -- at Notre Dame University which was all about the conflicts of being a Catholic and a public politician that now how you bring in your faith.
Those were the two speeches within six months that would market his entire career. But it's not about Pop, it's about the message.
And my son now is 14 years old. Now he's not going to have to live going through some convention and being -- through all that craziness. But the time in his life is the same. We are on the same precipice.
Will this country come together around the promise of what it can be or will it stubbornly hold on to a very unconstructive concept of what it once was?
LEMON: Well, it shouldn't go without saying that your son is named --
CUOMO: Mario Cuomo.
LEMON: -- Mario Cuomo.
CUOMO: Sure.
[02:55:00]
LEMON: And I think -- I know your dad would be very proud of you.
He would be proud of your brother but he would be especially proud of you, because of what you do every night. You hold truth to power in a different way.
Not as a politician, but as a person who has a giant platform all over -- you're on worldwide television, Chris Cuomo. Think about that.
Did you even think about that when you were a 14-year-old kid sitting in that arena watching your father who -- as you say, was an upstart -- I don't believe he was an upstart. But did you have an idea?
And again, I know he would be very proud of you.
CUOMO: Oh, I don't know. He was no big fan of the media. But I know this.
If you kept your mouth shut often enough, Pop was OK with you. As long as you were taking care of your family and you were trying to do the right thing.
Pop was very simple. For all his sophistication intellectually, his life rules were very simple.
But I'll tell you this, what matters most. He would be very worried about where we are right now. Because he always felt it was very dangerous for people to tear at the fabric of this country. It's a very fragile thing. And when we're together, we're the strongest, nobody can touch us.
But it's easy to break us apart.
And Donald Trump knows that. And my father knew that about him. And he knows Joe Biden, and he thought Joe Biden was a good man.
Is he ready for the moment? Pop would be saying, "We'll see." And so should we.
LEMON: That is -- this is a perfect segment and a perfect sentiment to end on. All right.
CUOMO: Works for me.
LEMON: I'm so glad that you were there, I'm so glad that your father was there. And I'm so glad that your father did the work that he did.
And I'm proud of you. And I am thrilled that I get to work with you. But more importantly, I love being your friend.
CUOMO: I love you, D. Lemon.
LEMON: I love you, Christopher Cuomo.
CUOMO: I wouldn't work two days in a row with anyone else.
LEMON: Oh, shut it. You're such a -- I almost said it again. You heard it.
CUOMO: Don't say it. Don't say it. All right.
Let's say goodbye. Thank you for watching.
LEMON: Thanks for watching, everyone.
CUOMO: We're going to do it again next week, right?
LEMON: Yes, yes. For the Republican National Convention. You can join us every night at midnight Eastern, 9:00 pm Pacific. And make sure you stay tuned.
The news continues here on --
CUOMO: CNN.
