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CNN Live Event/Special
RNC Special Live Coverage Night 2; Trump family dominates RNC; Eric Trump: Fact checked Live; Pompeo breaks diplomatic protocol; Republican Convention; Unrest in Kenosha; Coronavirus Pandemic. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 26, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: They're saying look what the left wants to be OK. And bring to your cities in the form of Cory Booker --
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Yes.
CUOMO: A black guy.
LEMON: Well, that's the thing they say.
CUOMO: And it's moving the polls.
LEMON: That these are -- well, that's all B.S.
They say these are -- they call them Democrat cities -- I hate it, it's like terrible grammar. It's Democratic cities.
CUOMO: But it works.
LEMON: It's not the Democrat Party --
CUOMO: It works with white voters.
LEMON: It's the Democratic Party.
LEMON:. It's the Democratic Party.
CUOMO:. Seeing it in the polls.
LEMON: But here's the reality. If you say that most liberals or these cities are blue places then your folks don't live there. So then why are you concerned about it?
CUOMO: There are plenty --
LEMON: These people --
CUOMO: -- of red cities --
LEMON: I get it.
CUOMO: -- that have problems.
LEMON: I'm making --
CUOMO: Of the same nature.
LEMON: Absolutely. But I'm doing this to make a point. You understand what I'm saying. And if you -- they're telling you -- this president is telling you look out, this is going to come to your neighborhood.
There's no riots in suburban neighborhoods, there's too much suburbia to cover. People, the rioters, the people who are out there and up to no good, they want to be in big places where the cameras are so that they can get attention.
And also, they're not coming to your neighborhood. They want to go to places where there's a Gucci or an Yves Saint Laurent or whatever. They want a big store so that they can go loot and rob, they're not coming to your neighborhood. You don't have enough jewelry, you don't have enough furs.
CUOMO: The fear has always worked.
LEMON: There's too much suburbia.
CUOMO: McCarthy did it in 1953.
LEMON: It's fear. And all --
CUOMO: It's always been done.
LEMON:. But it's all --
CUOMO:. It's what NIMBY is, Not In My Backyard.
LEMON: I get you. It's B.S.
CUOMO: Whites don't like the idea of blacks moving in.
LEMON: It's B.S.
CUOMO: But the president is using it now because demagoguery works.
LEMON:. I --
CUOMO:. And these movements in the polls. If the democrats don't counter it, it can beat them.
LEMON: I agree with you on that. I'm just telling you -- but we have to point out the truth, and the truth is that it's B.S.
Is it working in the polls, yes, I agree with you. I said that at the top of the show.
CUOMO: Perception is reality in politics.
LEMON: OK. All right.
CUOMO: Feel over fact.
LEMON: Let's go -- let's move on. Are we going to run animation?
CUOMO: Two more hours. Whoo.
LEMON: Do I start now?
Do you see how that worked? My little pen from the hotel said boom, and they ran the animation -- like a wand.
CUOMO: Wow.
LEMON: Magic.
CUOMO: Nice.
LEMON: Television is like magic. Hey, Chris Cuomo, how you doing?
CUOMO: How you doing, D. Lemon?
LEMON: Are you ready? Two more hours. You feeling strong?
CUOMO: All day long.
LEMON: Yes. We need some coffee here.
Welcome back to CNN's special live coverage of the second night of the Republican National Convention.
I'm Don Lemon, he is Chris Cuomo. If you want it real, you're in the right place.
We're not going to sit here -- can we sit here and do -- let's do our regular analysis.
So, Chris, how did you feel about what happened tonight at the convention?
CUOMO: Well, I must say the presentation was very impressive.
LEMON: It was fantastic.
CUOMO: I think her outfit bespoke the kind of seriousness of the night.
LEMON: I thought --
CUOMO: But also a little bit of levity, yes.
LEMON: And when she walked down to the Rose Garden --
CUOMO: Yes. Very good.
LEMON: -- as (inaudible) second runway model (ph). It's amazing. CUOMO: Rose Garden? Don't know how I feel about it. It's really not
their house.
LEMON: Did you expect -- actually expect the First Lady of the United States to say something horrible about her husband on national television?
Hell, no. Really, c'mon. What do you think? Of course she's going to say (inaudible) things.
CUOMO: You can just see all those people at home in America tonight. "Should they be using the White House? Is this a Hatch Act violation?"
LEMON: Yes, yes.
CUOMO: This is what they expect from politics and politicians now.
LEMON: Yes. It was great. Guess what? She was a birther. I mean, c'mon, she believes all of it. She's in. In like Flynn.
President Trump putting the United States government to help his reelection.
During tonight's convention programming, we saw a presidential pardon. Believe that? Stagecraft.
Naturalization ceremony at the white house and a blatantly political speech by the secretary of state.
CUOMO: Were any of them from Norway? They didn't look Norwegian.
LEMON: This is off the rails, come on now.
CUOMO: No, it's not. That's what he said. Why can't we have more people like from Norway?
LEMON: Yes, he did.
CUOMO: This is a president who enlisted his administration to reduce legal immigration.
LEMON: Well, that's the whole point. Remember the "s-hole countries?" And now they're saying he's great on immigration, he's doing the ceremony. C'mon, people.
CUOMO: Where are the Norwegians at? And --
LEMON: My neighbor's, the guys. You know them.
CUOMO: They are not necessarily the best proof of the policy.
Melania spoke very passionately and I think very compellingly about the yearning to come to this country and how hard she worked and her family worked to make it here.
If her husband had his way, she would not have been able to succeed in bringing her family here.
LEMON: What about chain migration?
CUOMO: That's the policy.
LEMON: Reunification.
CUOMO: They call it reunification. He calls it chain migration --
LEMON: Right.
CUOMO: -- because it's pejorative, like everything else about immigration. He has spoke about it in the negative until this convention.
But it is too little too late in terms of changing the reality. Now how it works in the election, we'll see.
And he's doing something else that's unusual.
Usually, family of any age they come on, they say, look, obviously, I'm going to tell you to vote for my father, my mother. Whoever's running.
[01:05:00]
But here is how they are personally. And Eric Trump was there tonight using his father's distraction technique. Name checking everything from monuments to athletes taking a knee to protest police brutality and systematic racism.
Nothing about my daddy's a good guy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC TRUMP: They want to destroy the monuments of our forefathers. They want to disrespect our flag, burn the stars and stripes that represent patriotism and the American Dream.
They want to disrespect our national anthem by taking a knee while our armed forces lay down their lives every day to protect our freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Look, they make a decision. When they enter the political fray, they're going to start getting scrutiny.
Obviously, i grew up in politics. I'm sensitive to leaving families alone, but they're all adults here.
And one of the things I feel is most pernicious, it's kind of a wicked spin is they want to take down monuments of the forefathers. That is B.S. I don't know who the "they" is.
But conflating the desire to remove confederate leaders and founding fathers are very, very different things. Yes, I'm sure they could pin it on some fringe leftie but they are
tacitly, by ignoring the confederate flag, by ignoring the confederate symbols, they are empowering the vestige of that legacy of enslaving people.
LEMON:. Yes.
LEMON:. That's the code.
LEMON: I know. And I know not to cut you off. When that finger goes up like this, I'm like don't cut him off because he will start yelling at me.
But do you think any of those people who talk about the issues of monuments, do you think they've ever actually done any research on these monuments and on these figures?
Yes, there are some figures -- as you say, some of the -- as you said blaming it on the liberal leftie.
They go too far, they take down the wrong monument. That should not happen. Or there's an argument about is that true that that they don't understand, meaning the people who want to take it down.
But did do you ever do the real research on the monuments? When they were put up --
CUOMO: And when they came. When they put them up.
LEMON: When they were put up, why they put them up. And are you really upset? And people have asked them for decades, please take these down. These should be taken down, can we vote?
CUOMO: Nikki Haley took down that confederate flag, it almost launched a presidential bid. For her.
LEMON: Can we vote on taking them down? No. Can we please -- can we come to a consensus about taking them down? I'm insulted by them, I'm a person of color.
This this person owned people, this person fought against me, said I should be property for the rest of my existence and my ancestor's existence. Can we please take these down? No.
Some people say, OK, fine. Now -- especially the young folk, they say these damn things are coming down.
Many people say, as the president says, you had your chance to do it the right way, to figure out which ones you wanted to come down. So you have an actual argument about them and you didn't do it. So now here we are. It is what it is.
CUOMO: It is what it is.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: And he is who he is.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: And they're trying to depict him differently. That's what a convention is about, that's what an election's about. That's fine.
I thought using the first lady to do that is protocol.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: That's what you do. The wife is supposed to come in and bolster. I thought, if anything, Melania Trump's speech should stand out for how much she talked about her own record versus her husband's record.
But when she did turn to her husband -- and look, I think it's good for her to be proud about what she did there.
Look, let's be honest. She has no chance at success with "Be Best" because she is tied to a man who makes that a complete hypocrisy every time he opens his mouth.
How can you be against cyberbullying, which is a great cause for a first lady --
LEMON: When your husband is a cyberbully?
CUOMO: Yes.
LEMON: Well, she wasn't the only one who spoke, Eric wasn't the only one who spoke as well -- and they all attacked the media.
You got that line about the media and the liberal media and the media making things up. And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Tiffany Trump was there as well, his youngest daughter.
CUOMO: Yes.
LEMON: Baron's his youngest son. She spoke out tonight and also talked about the media as well.
Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIFFANY TRUMP: If you tune into the media, you get one biased opinion or another.
And what you share if it does not fit into the narrative that they seek to promote then it is either ignored or deemed a lie, regardless of the truth.
This manipulation of what information we receive impedes our freedoms.
Rather than allowing Americans the right to form our own beliefs this misinformation system keeps people mentally enslaved to the ideas they deem correct.
This has fostered unnecessary fear and divisiveness amongst us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Was she talking about her dad and his administration?
CUOMO: No. Look, again, it's like no win. It's her daddy. Obviously, she's going to see him differently than other people do.
[01:10:00]
But look, you can't make a case that Donald Trump is honest.
He is a liar when the truth is a better story for him. He is inherently deceptive and always has been. He's just expanded as president.
And if they don't know it, better for them. But for the rest of us, we've got to deal with the real guy. Not who we idolize him as, as you do with a parent.
And that's the problem with having your kids involved in the campaign, and that's why so many don't. But you know the reality is, Don? This president doesn't have enough people who aren't related to him to sing his praises to not use his family.
That's the reality. But if you're going to sit here and take the stage and say that this president is honest, whether we like it or not, even if you're the first lady, even if you're Melania Trump -- who I believe deserves some insulation from her husband, not complete insulation --
LEMON: I assume (ph) you'll say why.
CUOMO: Birtherism and calling him honesty, honesty incarnate, authentic?
LEMON: Why would you want to say she deserves some insulation from her husband?
CUOMO: Well, sometimes I believe --
LEMON: She's there. She's a grown --
CUOMO: -- that you don't blame the first lady for everything a president does.
LEMON: No. It's not blaming her for everything a president does. But you certainly blame for her role in it, her complicity.
CUOMO: Absolutely.
LEMON: What she had to do with birtherism for her -- on a night like tonight saying the president helped people with the coronavirus. And talking about "Be Best" and cyberbullying. And -- CUOMO: And then saying you want to keep families safe --
LEMON: And --
CUOMO: -- when her son as has comfort?
LEMON: Right. So --
CUOMO: And she has a comfort with her son? And look, I'm happy she does. I'm happy their kid can get tested and I'm happy the people around him are being tested so that he can stay safe.
But that's what he should be fighting for --
LEMON: Right.
CUOMO: -- and she should be fighting for, for the rest of us. And they're not.
LEMON: I say first ladies are grown people and they can handle their own. And she is a smart lady like the former first lady and the first lady before that are smart women who can handle their own.
So I think it's all fair criticism. She's going to put herself out there to do a speech in the Rose Garden for the convention then she has fair criticism.
And I don't want to hear that stuff about, "Oh, my gosh, they attacked the first lady with" -- no, it's not like the first lady chose not to speak, it's not like she chose not to be involved in politics at all.
It's not like he chose not to do an interview on a CNN network, HLN, with Joy Behar and talk about how she believed in Trump's birtherism, her husband's birtherism.
She chose to do all those things as a grown woman. She is fair game for criticism.
CUOMO: Agreed.
LEMON: There is no attacking.
CUOMO: And her saying that we all deserve honesty from the president and then saying he's an example of it.
LEMON: Yes.
CUOMO: She knows that that's B.S. She has to know it is.
LEMON: Yes. But it goes beyond family because it's also -- there was also a sitting secretary of state. I'm talking about --
CUOMO: In in Jerusalem.
LEMON: Yes. Boy, wait till we get to that. I'm talking about Mike Pompeo. A blatantly political speech to the
convention, the Republican Convention, while he is supposed to be recommending this country abroad.
Chris said Jerusalem. Well -- and we're going to have more fact checks on some of tonight's false claims. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:15:00]
CUOMO: Listen, you put your family in the game they're going to be exposed to the rules.
And Eric Trump tonight made a number of wild and false claims.
Here's a sample.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
The moment President Trump or his special forces kill some of the deadliest terrorists on the planet, the day the mighty MOAB was dropped on insurgent camps is the day America took a stance to never be defeated by the enemy.
Al-Baghdadi, Soleimani, dead. Over and over, issue after issue, the economy, the wall, the military, moving the embassy to Jerusalem, peace in the Middle East.
Never-ending wars were finally ended.
Promises made and promises for the first time were kept.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Why isn't that like a big senator saying that for him? Yes, they've got Tim Scott but why aren't there more of them?
Why does he have to have his son say stuff like that when he knows that it's not true. At least if it was coming from a sitting official they'd be able to argue some rationale.
But even something as simple as the wall. Remember the genius of the wall, which was a device he made up in a campaign stop, right? As a quick way, a thumbnail sketch, to get people on board with change.
Remember the key? Who was going to pay for the wall? Remember? Mexico.
Peace in the Middle East? You mean what he tasked his son-in-law with? We're nowhere on that.
Now, let's talk about all this with Susan Glasser, Laura Barron Lopez and Mike Shields.
Mike, I start with you. How do you feel about having the family -- I know they're adults, I know they're adults.
But I you say use the family because you don't have enough rank and file people of enough status to come out there and do it for you. Because it's weird to expose your kids to the scrutiny they have to get when they take this position.
But how do you feel about it?
MIKE SHIELDS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, the most important family member that spoke tonight was the first lady.
And I think you'll agree with me, somewhat ago on, chris -- know me by my partner, by my wife.
And the president wants to be known by his wife. She did a tremendous job tonight. And that's -- the number one advisor in the Trump Administration is the first lady who talks to him every day.
And so when you start with family, I think you have to start with her.
But with the kids, with Eric and Don Jr., Ivanka, Jared, the people that are involved. They were involved with Trump's business before he came to office --
CUOMO: I know.
SHIELDS: And Trump told the American people, I'm a businessman, this is who I am. I'm not a politician, I don't do things the way they've always been done.
And the American people said good, doing them the way they've always been done like someone like Joe Biden who's been in Washington for 47 years or Hillary Clinton is not what we want. That's not what gets things done.
CUOMO: Right. But that doesn't mean they wanted it to be corrupt either, Mike.
SHIELDS: So they want the family to be a part of this because they're a part of the Trump business.
[01:20:00]
CUOMO: Right. And Eric is wanted for questioning in at least one investigation. And Don Jr's got his own issues. And Ivanka was going out and getting those nice patents from China when she was supposed to be representing the U.S.
So you're going to have a problem when you mix family and business. That's why people don't usually do it.
But you make a good point about the first lady. So Laura, when you look at what the first lady said tonight -- look, how you have a "Be Best" initiative when your husband is often at his worst? How can you be against cyberbullying when your husband is such a cyberbully?
That's tough for the first lady to take those on but they're good initiatives.
But when she said tonight we all deserve honesty from our president, and that's what we get from Donald Trump. Is that something that even a wife should not say in this instance?
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, as you and Don said earlier, Chris, there's no real expectation for the first lady to say negative things about her husband, the president.
That being said, that line is stunning considering the fact that as of a July fact checker count, Trump had made some 20,000 false or misleading claims. And on coronavirus alone, as of that July count he'd made some 1,000 false claims.
So it doesn't -- the facts just don't track with that line and the history of the administration as we know it.
CUOMO: Susan, one of the interesting that we haven't heard a lot about in a long time is foreign policy.
And they used Eric Trump to kind of hit a couple of those points tonight. About how he has done abroad, this president.
What do you think the plus minus is on people assessing the role of this president in dealings abroad?
SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, it's a good question. I think we may have heard a lot more about it if we weren't in the middle of a global pandemic.
You also had, of course, the norm-shattering speech by the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, from a rooftop in Jerusalem, on a diplomatic mission.
This is something that really undermines, I think, U.S. diplomacy if you turn it into a partisan exercise.
And I was struck by in Eric Trump's speech, in Pompeo, it's not really a selective view of the world and Trump's impact on it, but deeply misleading from both of them.
Obviously, the war in Afghanistan continues. Trump has tried to make a peace deal, and Pompeo. It actually has not succeeded.
Same thing. This idea that somehow peace in the Middle East has broken out is a wild overstatement.
Some very misleading word from the secretary of state as well tonight about North Korea. Remember that Pompeo was claiming this was as a breakthrough for Trump, but my reporting, John Bolton, the former national security advisor, has credibly said that Pompeo laughed at Trump's diplomacy in North Korea. Said it was destined to fail, which, in fact, it has.
And so, again, I was surprised that they were even bringing it up. But it's another example of the sort of alternate reality view of the world meant to soothe voters with the idea that somehow all is just fine.
CUOMO: Right. Pompeo, one of the guys on the list, of course, Mike, who used to trash Trump but now is in a position where that doesn't work for him.
So we get a different reality. That's politics, that's why people hate politics.
On coronavirus, I believe this election comes down to two issues, to Susan's point. Covid and Kenosha.
One works for this president, sadly -- and we'll discuss that in a second, the other one is very tough for him.
We're in the middle of a pandemic, it's the biggest health crisis of your and my generation.
And he for some reason refuses to do something that may turn the election for him. Which is jump all over rapid testing.
Use the Defense Production Act, use it as a metaphor for bringing manufacturing back, put his arms around it, say the governors couldn't get it done, I will.
Why not, Mike, why not go all in on rapid testing?
SHIELDS: Look, I think the president both tonight and last night, this convention, highlighted the things he is doing to fight COVID.
You had a nurse last night who lauded the president for the actions that he took that helped save lives. You have --
CUOMO: Like what?
SHIELDS: You had a doctor come on and talk about the convalescent plasma that he's been working on. There are many, many things that they are doing.
I think it's interesting that the critics are saying why aren't they talking about COVID enough --
CUOMO: Mike, they didn't get the PPE.
SHIELDS: -- when, in fact, they had a whole section last night --
CUOMO: And he won't do the testing.
SHIELDS: -- on COVID. And it was mentioned again tonight. And so -- .
CUOMO: And he said don't wear a mask. C'mon, Mike, you know better than this --
SHIELDS: (Inaudible).
CUOMO: You know better than this. SHIELDS: Look, you asked me a question, I'm answering it.
CUOMO: Yes. Answer it honestly.
SHIELDS: The reality is the president is doing everything he possibly -- and it was interesting in the news yesterday. There are warehouses now full of ventilators.
Remember when ventilators was the big criticism of the president? Why aren't you using the Defense Production Act to get ventilators?
We did that. Now we have excess ventilators that they're now putting in a national stockpile --
CUOMO: Yes. Because you got them --
SHIELDS: -- why are you storing these ventilators (inaudible)?
CUOMO: For two reasons, Mike. Actually, three reasons.
One, we're really good at keeping people alive in our health care system with our workers and professionals even when they don't have what they need.
[01:25:00]
Two, we wound up overestimating what we would need. Which is OK, Mike, it's OK to have more than you need.
And three --
SHIELDS: Right. He sent the "Comfort" to New York and they wound up not using it.
CUOMO: That's right.
SHIELDS: I mean --
CUOMO:. So --
SHIELDS: Those actions, in other words --
CUOMO: No, no. Yes -- but what did they not say?
SHIELDS: -- to be helpful and to save lives.
CUOMO: He didn't get PPE --
SHIELDS: To hear from the left, it's as if he's not done anything.
CUOMO: Hold on, Mike. Mike. Talking a lot is not the same thing as saying something.
When they needed PPE, he wasn't on it. He said he would have it sourced here in this country, he got one company working on it in Maine. Now we need testing. He said he'll be all over it, you said he's doing everything he can.
You want to say that again? You believe when it comes to establishing rapid testing in this country, this president's doing everything he can, everything? Say it.
SHIELDS: Yes. I think when governors make -- talk to the governors and ask them if they've made a request --
CUOMO: I have.
SHIELDS: -- (inaudible) and haven't got what they need.
CUOMO: They just put their own consortium together, Mike, because he's not doing what they want. You're not being honest about this.
We're out of time.
We can't talk about Kenosha now but we will. Because it's going to be ongoing.
But, Mike, we have a responsibility in what's happening. And you know damn well they're not doing everything they can on rapid testing.
SHIELDS: Chris --
CUOMO:. And that's why our kids are not back in school.
SHIELDS: To listen to the left and the Democrats, the president's doing anything. And that is not true either.
CUOMO: Why isn't it -- hold on a second, Mike. Just because it's wrong to say that they've done nothing doesn't mean that you should empower B.S. and say he's doing everything.
That's not balanced, Mike. That's jaundice.
SHIELDS: I don't believe I said he's doing everything, Chris.
CUOMO: You did. You said he's doing everything he can.
SHIELDS: Of course, of course. We're fighting a worldwide pandemic that has multiple challenges on it. The --
CUOMO: Testing is the key.
SHIELDS: They're working on --
CUOMO: You wear a mask --
SHIELDS: -- meeting the needs of the country.
CUOMO: -- you socially distance --
SHIELDS: And there's a lot of amazing --
CUOMO: -- and you test.
SHIELDS: -- work being done to do it.
CUOMO: Mike, you don't know what you're talking about. Every country that's gotten through this, the triple is obvious. You socially distance, you wear a mask and you test.
He said, don't wear a mask, he said it was a hoax and he hasn't what he had to do on the testing. And he still hasn't and it could win him the election if he would turn it around.
I'm sorry to have to belabor the point, but it matters.
This election's going to come down to two things, and this is one of them.
But thank you, everybody, for being here. Mike, you too. Thank you for making the case.
SHIELDS: You too, Chris.
CUOMO: All right. Night two of the Republican National Convention -- look, I'm sorry -- could have had a wider discussion, I had three great minds there.
But this is bullshit, do you understand? The idea that he's doing everything he can with testing in this country is bullshit. It's not true.
And as a result, your kids and mine are not back in school.
We're all hearing it from our schools. Why can't they go back, what is this hybrid thing we've got to deal with? So my kid can go to school and get exposed and then they have to come home -- and it ruins people's work lives.
Why? Well, we can't test, we can't get the turnaround in time. Why not?
MAGA-baby, why aren't we bringing back the manufacturing? Why isn't he calling up companies and saying I'll give you an output contract, I'll buy you all you can make. Why not?
That's the question for you to answer with your vote. Stay with us, we've got more coverage.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:29]
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: So the Trump family is front and center at the Republican convention. I tried to make the case for the President. Let's discuss now. CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers here as well as Michael D'Antonio, the author of "The Truth about Trump". So good to see both of you. Where shall we start?
Michael, let's start with you.
We heard from a bunch of family members last night and tonight. But there haven't been any personal stories about Donald Trump from his kids and from really anyone, why not?
MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, isn't that remarkable? So we've gone four for four with Trumps speaking at what is really the Trump national convention, not the Republican National Convention. And we haven't heard a single warm story about the president. Now, these are the people who are closest to him.
One is his wife, for goodness sakes, and she didn't share a single anecdote. Nobody offered a funny story about him. No one poked gentle fun at him. There was no warmth at all.
And the kids reminded me that they have become trolls. They are sort of like the troll family now.
Now, to give Melania credit, you've got to say that she was the warmest speaker so far at the convention. She almost made me forget that I first heard about her politics when I learned that she was a birther. So I almost forgot that, but not entirely.
And yet even with her effort to be more human, there was no connection with the president, no spark between them.
LEMON: Yes. And you heard from -- and this is just a comparison that when you heard from the Biden grandchildren. And even the Biden children, Kirsten, because Republicans, including the Trump children talk often about Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and nepotism with a complete lack of self-awareness. Do they not see or do they not care about the nepotism in that family and when they're pointing out the speck in someone else is eye?
KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I mean I do think, to Michael's point, there is always a lot of trolling going on. So there's -- I think a lot of times they're saying things knowing it's going to get under the skin of certain people. I mean the entire motivation of so much of what they do is to quote, "own the libs", right. That is sort of their motivation and everything.
So I do think it is very stark to compare how people talk about Joe Biden. And not just people and his family, you know. The people who have developed relationships with him, you know, very warm relationships with him.
And you know, at a time like this in particular, I think people are looking for that. They are looking for that empathy and they are looking for that connection. That said, I have to say I think overall, they're probably accomplishing what they want to accomplish with this -- with this convention. I think that, you know, tonight in particular, my guess is that they are giving permission to some people who are probably on the fence who -- who don't like some of the demagoguery and racist language and things like that.
[01:34:56]
LEMON: The first lady talked about women's suffrage tonight, Kirsten. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: We recently celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment. Yesterday, on the north lawn of the White House we unveiled an exhibit dedicated women's suffrage. The exhibit called on children from across the country to send art honoring the meaning of this important time in women's history.
When I was judging the entries, I reflected on the impact of women's voices in our nation's story, and how proud I would be to cast my vote again for Donald this November. We must make sure that women are heard and that the American dream continues to thrive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I love the cutaway of the men. Anyway, they all know -- everybody knows the trouble, back to the subject, that Trump is in with female voters, Kirsten.
POWERS: Exactly. Yes, I think -- so I was thinking as I was watching this tonight that there is this progress in the sand (ph) that Republicans don't normally talk as much about women's empowerment and women's rights in those kinds of things. So to the extent that they were talking about it tonight, it's like it's become more normalized in that sense and so I like that.
That said, it's not really -- you don't really have the policies to back it up, right? So it's a lot of lip service but at the same time, it is -- they are saying things that have typically been said by Democrats and not by Republicans. And it is (AUDIO) the reason that you are saying.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: We've all heard -- we heard from Don Jr., we've heard from Tiffany and Eric, and we're going to hear from Ivanka on Thursday night, along with the president.
Hey, can I ask you something that we didn't talk about, Kirsten. You have a very good point about the rioting and this whole message about law and order from Republicans. Can you share that with our viewers, please?
POWERS: One, you know, I was just listening to you earlier talking and it was a point that I had made to a friend yesterday is that it's always so interesting to me that the people who live in the cities where the protests are happening and even sometimes rioting, but let's be honest it's usually just protesting. Like I live in D.C. Nobody here is scared.
And you know, people describe what's happening in the cities, and then everyone is like, that's not happening here. And then the people who live in the Midwest, some small town in the Midwest, are convinced that someone is going to like, come break the window and their house. And it's like they are not going there. Like they're always -- like they always happens in major cities.
So it's such an interesting thing that they always feel like people are coming for them and yet the people who live in the cities where it is happening don't feel that way, right.
It's -- like it's unrecognizable to me when I hear people talking about what's going on in D.C. I mean I felt completely safe, I went to one of the marches, I felt completely safe. It's -- it's this sort of fascinating psychology.
LEMON: Yes. I've got to run, Michael. We'll discuss more -- I wanted to talk more about it but we've got to run. Michael lives close to the big city and we are good. We are going to be fine.
Thanks everyone, appreciate it.
D'ANTONIO: Thank you.
LEMON: Another night of unrest on the streets of Kenosha after police shot Jacob Blake multiple times in the back. That as Trump's campaign, the Trump campaign is doubling down on their message of law and order every night. We're going to discuss that next.
[01:38:57]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Another night of protests in Wisconsin. Why? Police involved shooting of a 29 year old, Jacob Blake, happened on Sunday.
CNN's Omar Jimenez is on the ground in Kenosha and joins me now. Don and I have been saying, this election may come down to two things, Omar, COVID and Kenosha. What is the latest?
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well those are two things that have really defined 2020. When you look at what we are seeing right now, this is essentially the calm after the storm on what has been a third night in a row of demonstrations and in some cases violent confrontations with police on a third day now since Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back.
Now you may notice these barricades over my shoulder. That is new, outside of the Kenosha County Courthouse, which has really been the focal point of a lot of these demonstrations that, for the most part, have been peaceful during the day. And then at night, that's when things grow a little more contentious.
And what we saw tonight was people began to rattle some of these fences before police were even out, that then prompted a response from officers who then launched crowd dispersal into the crowd, tear gas and they were met with bottles and fireworks even launched back at them. And all of a sudden hour upon hour things began to slowly escalate.
Police even brought in -- it's really hard to describe in any other way than a tank sort of vehicle that came in behind demonstrators at one point trying to disperse them, literally with someone on top firing into the crowd as well.
And you had a feeling that law enforcement would try and make a statement tonight after last night we saw fires engulf many locations here in Kenosha. We got that feeling because Governor Tony Evers reinstated the curfew for another night in a row. He also doubled the amount of National Guard that he approved of.
There are also a hundred other officers coming from other jurisdictions to help here in Kenosha. And I could tell you what we saw was the most forceful we have seen law enforcement yet be with trying to disperse these crowds once they declared it, in their words, "an unlawful gathering".
CUOMO: Yes, it's interesting. You wonder if the people there are listening to Blake's mother and her message that she gave tonight. She gave today, she gave it tonight to Don just a few moments ago that riots ruin the demand for justice.
[01:44:53]
CUOMO: And also, I want to know, Omar, what is the impact there locally to the footage that came out that suggests what happened before the moment that we've seen on video of Blake getting walked down and then shot?
JIMENEZ: Well, this new video I would say locally amongst the demonstrators here didn't quite have as big of an impact as the first video did, obviously, since that is what brought so much attention to this case.
But what this video does is it does add a little bit more context as to what was happening before that now infamous cell phone video cut and we see that there was a little bit of a struggle beforehand. And I want to play some of that video for you. But I would just want to warn that some of what you're about to see maybe considered graphic.
CUOMO: Well, we're watching it now. And you see what seems like a scuffle with police and Blake. He then gets up, walks around the car -- and we are looping it now, Omar. He's on the ground. The cop is on top of him. Now he's going to get up and he's going to walk around the car.
And it's now the vision that we've all -- the view that we've all had of them following him. Now, this is going to play two ways -- a little bit of a Rorschach test as these incidents often are.
Did they have to do it that way? Why couldn't they control him? Or why didn't he comply? And that is going to be this analysis that we will see play out.
And Omar, I want to appreciate you for being there on the ground. You and the team stay safe, ok?
So let's discuss this deeper analysis with Cedric Alexander, the former president of the National Organization of Black Law Executives. It's good to have you, as always.
CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Thanks, Chris.
CUOMO: So you heard what I just said. Does that kind of square with your reckoning at this point as we are developing our understanding?
ALEXANDER: You know, what's going to be troubling to people, and I think troubling mostly to anyone when you look at that piece of footage and you see that tussle there on that side of the vehicle.
And for whatever reason, they drew their weapon and followed him around until he got to the front of the car. And then that's where the shots were fired.
I'm not attempting to second guess anything here, but just looking at it, I think to any reasonable person it doesn't make very good (ph) sense because first of all, what was the reason for drawing your weapon? Clearly, he wasn't armed. That was certainly not the case.
And before he got inside that vehicle, Chris, couldn't they have tackled him and done again and done something? Now some people will say this is Monday morning quarterbacking. No, it's not Monday morning quarterbacking. It's looking at what is in front of us.
And then when we ask the public to try to make sense of these types of scenarios that's just what we are seeing where such force is used, then it creates this continued environment that we are in where we see this use of force that is clearly questionable.
But there is going to be an investigation. We will see what comes out of it, but what we see here is what we see and it is troubling, it is confusing to people and you certainly can understand why our nation at large is still very much concerned about these events as we see them continue to unfold and appears to be totally unnecessary.
CUOMO: you have a micro and a macro issue. The micro is going to be -- was what happened in this case reasonable of an officer in this circumstance. And then you have the macro which is -- is this practice reasonable that you have the guy on the ground, he gets up and walks away and you go from zero to a hundred?
ALEXANDERS: Right.
CUOMO: Which is with the use of force.
And I think that comes down to training that should our officers get more time being trained in how to deal with people who don't comply?
And I want your take on something else because it's playing out in the election and you are not a politician. But this is a Rorschach test, this case in Kenosha. And there are two different narratives on it.
One is, you see those riots? That is the problem. Angry blacks, anarchists, crazy lefties and this is what they do, they destroy their community because they want lawlessness and they hate the police and they're coming where you live. Versus the riots are wrongful outgrowth of a righteous situation. They are a symptom of an underlying ill that must be discussed. They are not the illness, they're a symptom of the illness. Which one of those do you see and how concerned are you that the wrong message is going to get relayed to a lot of white people?
ALEXANDER: Well, the wrong message is already being relayed to a lot of people throughout the community -- period. And I think we have to understand and most of us understand this is being politicized. These incidents across the country are being politicized. And there is no time to politicize this.
We've got police officers out there and someone who had been a chief twice in this country. We've got police officers out there tonight who want to be safe. I need for them to be safe, but also need for community members to feel they have a sense of confidence in their police department.
[01:49:55]
ALEXANDER: And if there's anyone that's in a leadership position who are trying to politicize this and make it other than what it is that we have community still have had and continue to have issues around policing.
This is a long-standing issue. It didn't start with Kenosha. It didn't start with George Floyd. It goes back historically throughout the history of this country ever since policing.
Have we made gains? Yes. But to continue to make those gains it is wrong for anyone that's in a political position to continue to try to make this something that it is not. We need to deal with the issues of social issues that occurred in many of these communities.
How do we better train our police departments, Chris, which I am hugely a supporter of and always have been, because when we have better trained officers, when we have communities and policing working together, we see less of these types of incidents.
But what we saw in Kenosha really raised question two. You lose the fight right there on the ground. He gets up, he walks away you go live (ph) with your weapons. It doesn't make sense. Maybe it will make sense at the conclusion of this investigation but for people who are looking at that footage as you and I have looked at it, it doesn't make sense. We can't politicize this.
CUOMO: I got you.
(AUDIO GAP)
CUOMO: Cedric Alexander, thank you very much as always.
ALEXANDER: Thank you Chris.
CUOMO: We'll be right back.
[01:51:15]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: As the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. passes 178,000 there is some encouraging news tonight. The summer surge appears to be slowing but there's growing concern about an uptick in cases in the middle of the country.
Let's bring in Dr. James Phillips, physician and assistant professor at George Washington University Hospital. It's been a while. Good to see you. You doing ok?
DR. JAMES PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes, good morning. Yes, doing well. How about you?
LEMON: I'm doing really well. Thank you so much. It's late or early depending but I'm ok.
Let's talk about the first lady was the only one to speak about the coronavirus this evening, but few people in the Rose Garden, Doctor, were wearing masks and attendees were not tested, according to our reporting, because the message of this convention is COVID is in the rearview mirror, right? This is something we've dealt with and it's over.
DR. PHILLIPS: Well, I think it was a real missed opportunity. The first lady, I appreciate her making an effort to bring up the virus that exists and being sympathetic to the victims and their families. It's important. And unlike, you know, Mr. Kudlow who talked about it in the past tense, she acknowledged that it's real and it's ongoing, you know.
But it was a real missed opportunity for the entire RNC, and I watched every minute of it, to talk about masks and talk about social distancing and how important those things are.
You know, when you watch the other convention, even the presidential candidate was wearing a mask, even when it was really not necessary. But it was sending the right message to the people that it's the right way to behave and the right way to keep each other safe. So what I saw tonight was just a series of missed opportunities.
LEMON: The FDA commissioner, Stephen Hahn apologizing for overstating the benefits of convalescent plasma at a news conference with President Trump over the weekend and he says, and I quote here, "I've been criticized for remarks I made Sunday night about the benefits of convalescent plasma. The criticism is entirely justified," he writes. "What I should've said better is that the data show a relative risk reduction, not an absolute risk reduction."
This therapy is considered to be safe. Just how effective is it though in treating coronavirus?
DR. PHILLIPS: That's what we want to know and that's what we should know before an EUA go forward. Now, what I understand and what I have discussed with experts that I trust that know more about it than me is that this is not the level of data, the quality of data that would typically be required before an EUA is brought forth.
So the question is, you know, did he make a simple error in biostatistics which can be hard, or you know, ostensibly it was just an error? However, given the timing around the RNC and given the politicization of what this pandemic has brought forth so far, you know, I think that there is a need for transparency in the decision- making process within the FDA to make doctors more comfortable that this wasn't done for political reasons and was done truly because of the science.
LEMON: All right. Dr. Phillips. Thank you. Hopefully you'll come back sooner and there won't be so much time between visits here. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.
DR. PHILLIPS: Take care.
LEMON: Night two of the Republican National Convention and this seems to be designed to convince you that what you've seen from the president over the past four years, it never really happened.
[01:58:35]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
