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Smerconish

Trump Reaches Across Aisle; Angers DACA Supporters. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired September 16, 2017 - 9:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN: I'm Michael Smerconish in Philadelphia. We welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. The president reaches across the aisle to get things done for the second time in a week, and angers some of his loudest supporters; first on the debt ceiling, now on DACA.

What's next for Donald, Chuck, and Nancy, and are the conservative pundits right to say that he jeopardizes his base? I'll ask Republican Congressman Steve King and Charlie Dent; and the White House also taking a stand about an ESPN host who called the president a white supremacist. Famed picture Curt Schilling sees a double standard and he's here.

Plus, sure everybody is excited about the latest iPhones, but are Smartphones leading the next generation into an unprecedented mental crisis? And 16 years after the horrors of 9/11, a heartwarming story of how the children of two of the victims found each other, and a way to heal.

But first, he did it again. For the second time in two weeks the president has reached across the aisle. He cut a deal with democrats, kept the government open, raised the debt ceiling and paid for storm victims, in that case Hurricane Harvey.

That was as a result of his dealing with Chuck and Nancy; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Then Wednesday night Chuck and Nancy were among the dinner guests at the White House after which the Democratic Leaders announced they reached agreement with Pundits to prevent DACA's undocumented immigrants from Deportation and enact border security without funding for the wall.

The president was quick to say that any deal would include "massive border security but that the wall comes later." The idea of a Republican President and Democratic Congressional Leaders working together has alarmed some.

Namely those in the Pundit class, Breitbart gave a president who is himself known for assigning nicknames, his own moniker, Amnesty Don. Ann Coulter tweeted at this point who doesn't want Trump impeached? Laura Ingraham, Dems border security pledge is meaningless. When does American working class without real wage increase in 15 years and who send their kids to over crowed public schools get an amnesty? And Lou Dobbs chimed in huge loss for make America great again at POTUS betrayed.

To be sure there was grumbling on the left as well. Hispanic Congressional Leaders want to stand alone vote, a stand alone vote on DACA not being tied to border security. But here's hoping the president listens to none of these critics and continues his new tact.

For far too long we have seeded the political debate to the loudest voices, namely media personalities who don't give a dam about governance, they're after listeners and viewers and mouse clicks.

They know that discord drives passion and so the amplify our differences and they rely on rhetoric. Senator John McCain, he gets it. Remember his recent speech to Senate colleagues just before he dramatically cast a thumbs down vote over repeal and replacement of ObamaCare?

The 80-year-old had just been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer; speaking to colleagues with a surgical scar above his left eye he lamented the passing of days when the senate was the world's greatest deliberative body. He said things had become more and more tribal, more partisan. He embraced compromise and then he took aim at the provocateurs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: Stop listening to the bombastic loud mouths on the radio and television and internet. To hell with them, they don't want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood.

(STOP VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: McCain knows that the keyboard commandos reach the most reliable voters. Those who have great power and closed primary elections, and sadly politicians they pay too much attention to them.

Hopefully, the president cares more than to just auction his power to the political party that will pay them the most with compensation in the form of a tote board of legislative victory without regard to merit.

That's not good if he only cares about passing something, anything. But if he works earnestly with both sides and pulls them closer to the center, we'll all benefit.

[09:05:00]

Here's my question, does the president really risk alienating his base by working with Democrats? I spoke earlier with one of the president's earliest supporters and a vocal critic of his reach across the aisle. Iowa Congressman Steve King. Congressman I see a president who for the second time in a week has reached across the aisle to try to get something done and I it. Why am I wrong?

KING: Well, Michael I think you're right on principal. A president should speak with Democrats and Republicans and especially the leadership. But on this case the president made a campaign promise that he was going to end DACA and he more or less served that up to congress.

And as I would describe it as he threw a cat into the kennel and said, congress, you fight over DACA and now it looks like he's got a side conversation going on with -- with the Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and the implication was that there'd be a legalization, and amnesty served up in exchange for something; and they said it won't be a wall.

And so now we have a scramble going on in congress. And I wasn't looking forward to another great big immigration fight. I think America is tired of them, we had those under George W. Bush, and we had them under Barack Obama. The American people delivered a referendum that said we want border security, we want a wall, we want domestic enforcement and we want the end to DACA the unconstitutional amnesty that Barack Obama created.

I just want the president to follow through on his campaign promises and get along with the other tasks of government.

SMERCONISH: Do you have buyer's remorse for your early and strong support of President Trump.

KING: Well, you know I have to say no and -- and I say that because the all long it was a mission to get a platform, the planks of the platform first hammered out in Iowa under the caucus process, and then through New Hampshire, South Carolina and beyond.

And that platform is now in the Oval Office. Presidents do have a constant -- I don't if it's constitutional, but they've got a right to change their mind. I don't know that the president has, I think he wants all the enforcement he can get, but if I had any the thing to do over again I -- I don't know what I'd do differently again.

I think that I made the right decisions at the time that I made them and I'm asking the president now to recall the commitments that he's made, keep them, so that he can keep his base, and I'm afraid that if there's any one thing that would cause the Trump base to leave him, that is for him to grant amnesty in any kind of a deal when it was such a strong campaign promise to end the unconstitutional DACA program.

SMERCONISH: I asked about buyer's remorse because of one of your Tweets in particular. I'm going to put it up on the screen where you said "@realdonald trump, if the AP is correct, Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable and disillusioned beyond repair." When I saw that part I thought is Congressman King talking about himself, that you will be disillusioned beyond repair?

KING: And I can understand why that what might read that way, but I said you know if this is true and if it uphold -- if it's upholds itself for that proves out to be true over the long term. But here is my job, and you know none of us should be attached to a person or personality as a priority over policy.

And all this planks in the platform, I support the entire Trump agenda. I support the agenda that was -- that was sworn January 20th of this year, and even if we part company in a great big way on immigration, I still want to move the rest of his agenda.

SMERCONISH: I want to play for you 30 seconds of sound from Rush Limbaugh's program on Thursday because it speaks to the concern that you have that he will lose his base. Roll that tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to give up on Trump even if he starts to move to the left to get something done with tax reform.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I truthfully think he will drain the swamp and he's showing people that the swamp has nothing to do with party affiliation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that he's always three steps ahead of Pelosi, the Democrats and the Republicans and so I thing this was a power that he did.

LIMBAUGH: Every Trump person that I've talked to, everyone from any walk of life has said pretty much the same thing. If Trump has to work with Democrats to get some of what he wants done go -- so be it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: Is Rush Limbaugh incorrect Congressman King when he says the base is fine with it, if this is what it takes to get things done?

KING: I do think that Rush is incorrect when he says that. And he's been correct on a lot of things, but on this I would say people like Mark Living excuse me Mark Levin, and --and others out there that have made a strong statement, Sean Hannity and others, this -- this base is not something that he necessarily has his finger on.

But I'm in and out of Iowa, the base for Trump grew there, it started there. I hosted the first event when he ran for president. We have our finger on the pulse out here

[09:10:00]

KING: and I have people that are calling me, texting me, emailing me for months now and they're saying please support the president unconditionally.

But the thing that brought this into the campaign and their strong committed support to President Trump which I have applauded for a long time and still -- and still I want to get behind him and stand behind him for the agenda that he committed to.

But there's -- they came in because of immigration, They -- they knew that America was eventually destroyed if we don't secure the border, cut down the illegal immigration, they eliminated it if possible and restore the respect for the rule of law.

And if that's not going to be a part of the Trump agenda, the base is not going to stay with him that's the only thing I can think of that would cause those loyal supporters to leave him. And I'm hoping the president understands that, and I do think Rush is wrong on this one, although I know he raised my name the other day in one of his stories too.

SMERCONISH: Quick final question because I'm out time, will you leave him if this is the way it goes?

KING: No, I'm -- I'm going to stick with President Trump for all the rest of his agenda and I'm going to do everything I can --

SMERCONISH: OK.

KING: -- to help him keep his campaign promises. That's my commitment, and by the way it would be petulant to walk away from a president because you disagree with him on a single issue.

There's a -- there's a whole lot of things we need to accomplish and even if we don't get everything we want, including the president, we need to follow through on all of things that we believe are right for our country.

SMERCONISH: Congressman King, thank you so much.

KING: Thank you I appreciate it Michael.

SMERCONISH: The president's efforts at bipartisanship comes just after three moderate Republicans have announced that they will not seek re- election to the house. Including my next guest Charlie Dent has been the co-chair of informal caucus of 50 moderate Republicans known as the Tuesday Group.

Hey Congressman react to what you just heard from Steve King. I find it interesting that he says it would be petulant to leave the president on one issue. He wouldn't do it, and yet he fears that the president's base would do it. Does the president jeopardize his base if he provides protection for DACA?

DENT: Oh, I don't know about that. Michael, I've got to tell you, there is strong support in congress for the agreement that was reached last week on the debt ceiling, and there's also strong bipartisan support for an agreement on DACA and enhanced border security.

You know the debt ceiling agreement that we reached last week passed overwhelmingly, and there are a minority of people who beating their gums saying that this a terrible thing. No, it was actually the right thing to do; the president should be given credit for that.

The truth is there we're not 218 Republican votes to extend the debt ceiling for three months, six months, or eighteen months. Everybody knew that and so the point is if you're not able to vote for say the debt ceiling increase you become irrelevant so we have to reach across the aisle and get the Democrats to help us. That's what happens, same thing on DACA. The American people support us protecting these children who came here no fault of their own, no -- no other country. They -- we have the votes we will be able to pass it, there will be a small fringe of people who would be yelling and screaming about this every step of the way even though we have the votes.

Republicans want to take care of this issue apparently the president does too, and I applaud him for wanting to do this and tie it to border security, enhance border security. That is an obvious compromise it will pass if we ever get a bill on the floor.

SMERCONISH: Are you leaving at the wrong time? Compromise is suddenly in the air that's a good thing.

DENT: Well, it is -- it has been the past two weeks I hope we see more of it. No my reasons for leaving I've been thinking about for this some time, I've run for office 13 times, I'm 13-0 you know six times in the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, State House, State Senate and seven times in Congress.

And I've just thought about it and obviously there's been frustration this year, I won't -- I won't kid you about that, that's true. There has been frustration and I'm concerned it might be very difficult to get some things done, but if we're going to get anything done there's going to have to be negotiation, dialogue and inevitably some kind of a compromise on this issue of DACA, on infrastructure and probably on tax reform.

So what everybody better start getting use to that's how our system is constructed, that's how it works, and that's how it's always worked.

SMERCONISH: Three decades Charlie Dent has been in public service. When you announced you wouldn't seek re-election I want to put on the screen something that you said that popped out at to me.

"I've worked to instill stability, certainty, and Predictability in Washington. I've fought to fulfill the basic functions of Government, like keeping the lights on and preventing default. Regrettably that has not been easy given the disruptive outside influences that profit from increased polarization and ideological rigidity that leads to dysfunction, disorder and chaos."

Aren't you and I talking about the same people? Those that I name in my opening monologue who said they don't want Democrats and Republicans working together, they want dysfunction. As McCain said, their incapacity -- our incapacity is their livelihood.

And if that's not going to be a part of the Trump agenda, the base is not going to stay with him that's the only thing I can think of that would cause those loyal supporters to leave him. And I'm hoping the president understands that, and I do think Rush is wrong on this one, although I know he raised my name the other day in one of his stories too.

SMERCONISH: Quick final question because I'm out time, will you leave him if this is the way it goes?

KING: No, I'm -- I'm going to stick with President Trump for all the rest of his agenda and I'm going to do everything I can --

SMERCONISH: OK.

KING: -- to help him keep his campaign promises. That's my commitment, and by the way it would be petulant to walk away from a president because you disagree with him on a single issue.

There's a -- there's a whole lot of things we need to accomplish and even if we don't get everything we want, including the president, we need to follow through on all of things that we believe are right for our country.

SMERCONISH: Congressman King, thank you so much.

KING: Thank you I appreciate it Michael.

SMERCONISH: The president's efforts at bipartisanship comes just after three moderate Republicans have announced that they will not seek re- election to the house. Including my next guest Charlie Dent has been the co-chair of informal caucus of 50 moderate Republicans known as the Tuesday Group.

Hey Congressman react to what you just heard from Steve King. I find it interesting that he says it would be petulant to leave the president on one issue. He wouldn't do it, and yet he fears that the president's base would do it. Does the president jeopardize his base if he provides protection for DACA?

DENT: Oh, I don't know about that. Michael, I've got to tell you, there is strong support in congress for the agreement that was reached last week on the debt ceiling, and there's also strong bipartisan support for an agreement on DACA and enhanced border security.

You know the debt ceiling agreement that we reached last week passed overwhelmingly, and there are a minority of people who beating their gums saying that this a terrible thing. No, it was actually the right thing to do; the president should be given credit for that.

The truth is there we're not 218 Republican votes to extend the debt ceiling for three months, six months, or eighteen months. Everybody knew that and so the point is if you're not able to vote for say the debt ceiling increase you become irrelevant so we have to reach across the aisle and get the Democrats to help us.

That's what happens, same thing on DACA. The American people support us protecting these children who came here no fault of their own, no -- no other country. They -- we have the votes we will be able to pass it, there will be a small fringe of people who would be yelling and screaming about this every step of the way even though we have the votes.

Republicans want to take care of this issue apparently the president does too, and I applaud him for wanting to do this and tie it to border security, enhance border security. That is an obvious compromise it will pass if we ever get a bill on the floor.

SMERCONISH: Are you leaving at the wrong time? Compromise is suddenly in the air that's a good thing.

DENT: Well, it is -- it has been the past two weeks I hope we see more of it. No my reasons for leaving I've been thinking about for this some time, I've run for office 13 times, I'm 13-0 you know six times in the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, State House, State Senate and seven times in Congress.

And I've just thought about it and obviously there's been frustration this year, I won't -- I won't kid you about that, that's true. There has been frustration and I'm concerned it might be very difficult to get some things done, but if we're going to get anything done there's going to have to be negotiation, dialogue and inevitably some kind of a compromise on this issue of DACA, on infrastructure and probably on tax reform.

So what everybody better start getting use to that's how our system is constructed, that's how it works, and that's how it's always worked.

SMERCONISH: Three decades Charlie Dent has been in public service. When you announced you wouldn't seek re-election I want to put on the screen something that you said that popped out at to me.

"I've worked to instill stability, certainty, and Predictability in Washington. I've fought to fulfill the basic functions of Government, like keeping the lights on and preventing default. Regrettably that has not been easy given the disruptive outside influences that profit from increased polarization and ideological rigidity that leads to dysfunction, disorder and chaos."

Aren't you and I talking about the same people? Those that I name in my opening monologue who said they don't want Democrats and Republicans working together, they want dysfunction. As McCain said, their incapacity -- our incapacity is their livelihood.

Dent: Yes, you and Senator McCain are absolutely spot on. Look, these -- these groups are out there fighting for market share. They're not going to pat us on the back and congress if we reach an agreement on these children and debt ceiling. They're going to rip it apart. And in order to get ratings they have to drive discord and distant. So that's their business model isn't getting 50% plus 1 coalition to pass the bill.

Their job is retaining whatever percentage of the market that is. I don't know what is. People have to understand they're profiting off of this. Their business is making money. And that's me as public officials have to understand that and act accordingly.

SMERCONISH: Right, people need to stop conflating news and entertainment. Which was morphed into, congressman, wish you good things. Go do great things.

DENT: Thanks Mike. Great to be with you. SMERCONISH: Hey what are your thoughts tweet knee@smerconish.wait , Trump's not reaching across to the D's his plan is to blame them for ending D.A.C.A when they won't support his Trump wall. The blame game, I'm sure will ensure, I just want the roughly 700,000 who are through no wrongdoing of their own to be protected. Because I think they deserve it.

However that gets done. I don't care to watch how the sausage is made. I just want to make sure that we get that resolution. One more quickly, if I may. Michael you said parties exist to win. Donald Trump elected to do people's business. Maybe he is. #hopeful.

Stephanie, I've been highly critical of him. As you know, during the course of the campaign, when he won, I said I'd give him a fair shake. And I said here on CNN maybe we've elected a compromiser in Chief. Now nine months, that's where he appears to be.

Up ahead, the White house thinks that ESPN should fire an afternoon here tweeted that the president is a white supremacist. And Curt Schilling himself fired on ESPN for something he posted. And Pam Oliver, an anchor for Fox Sports.

{09:20:00}

SMERCONISH: It's not often that the White House calls for a sports network to fire one of its anchors but that's what happened this week. The president tweeted happy Friday, quote EPN is paying a really big price for it's politics and bad programming. People are dumping it in record numbers. Apologize for the untruth.

He was referring to a tweet earlier in the week for one of the network's anchors, Jamelle Hill who called him a white supremacist. Trump is the most ignorant offensive President of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result white supremacy, period. He's unqualified, and unfit to be a President. He is not a leader. And if he were not white, he never would have been elected. When press secretary Sara Sanders about here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO):

SANDERS: That's one of the more outrageous comments that somebody could make. And something that I think is a fire-able offense by ESPN.

(END VIDEO)

SMERCONISH: Hill later released a statement regretting her personal beliefs. And ESPN issued a follow-up statement saying she has, quote, a right to her personal opinions but not to share them on a public platform that in any way implies she was speaking on behalf of ESPN.

Of course, Hill was hired for her outspokenness about sports. ESPN is not a governmental entity and an employee's behavior does impact the employer. ESPN in a classic bind on what some say is political correctness. SMERCONISH,: So, what's the right path? Joining me now someone who

has himself been fired from ESPN. He also pitched 20 years in Major League Baseball, was a six-time all-star best remembered perhaps for the 2004 A. L. Series against the Yankees when he pitched with his right sock bloody from a recent surgery. Here's the 2016 Facebook post he got fired over on the issue of transgender restrooms. It included the line, "I don't care what they are, who they sleep with. Men's room designed for the penis, women's not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic."

Curt Schilling joining us on the phone from the road. He's driving back from Texas and Florida where he's been helping to deliver supplies to victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Hi Curt, you believe you were fired unjustly for speaking your mind. I'm curious, do you therefore support Jemele Hill on the grounds that she was unjustly fired for speaking her mind?

CURT SCHILLING, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER AND ESPN CORRESPONDENT: Well two things--first off I wasn't fired for speaking my mind; I was fired for being a conservative. With my opinions comparing as long as extremists and Nazis and there's facts to back that up, and my commentary around the transgender bathroom law was basically citing the fact-a logical fact that men should use the men's room and women should use the women's room.

And we don't need our government to tell us either. Jemile Hill, I haven't heard anything differently, you just said that she was fired. I was under the impression that nothing happened to Jemile, actually. The station issued a statement just saying that her opinions are her own. The frustrating part, and you're right. The First Amendment has not been abridged or violated here. They're a private company. They can come and go as they please and do as they please. The problem is for me, if they're also-ultimately support what I see racist liberal agenda platforms while denying they do which is kind of frustrating.

{09:25:00}

SMERCONISH: I misspoke if I said that she was fired, of course, she has not been fired. And what I meant to ask was do you support her right to speak her mind, given you that believe you were canned unjustly for speaking yours? I would think on some ground, you would be one of her greatest advocates?

SCHILLING: Absolutely. She shouldn't be fired. I would fire her. I would have never hired her. She has no place in any platform that represents sports. I think she's openly racist. I think she has been openly racist. I don't need to tell you guys that. You guys have been at the forefront of his conversation with CNN since Trump's been elected.

SMERCONISH: What's meant by that last assertion?

SCHILLING: Oh, well, you guys, CNN, not you specifically, Michael because I haven't heard anything specifically from you, but CNN has been at the Vanguard from everything from the fake Russia (inaudible) to calling Trump a white supremacist time after time. Anchor after anchor with no validation, no support for their

comments, the guy has been announced (ph) KKK and David Putin (ph), supremacy, white supremacy since what 27 years ago on the Oprah Winfrey Show. But this is the same station that showed us foreign female news anchors with their hands up with the hands up, don't shoot even though that's been a complete fabrication and a lie.

I never heard anyone at CNN retract that, I never heard CNN retract that. And Officer Darren Wright's (ph) life was ruined for doing his job.

SMERCONISH: Listen, I would love on a different day to litigate each one of the points you've made here because there's a response for each one of them. But instead what I'll do is I'll respond to you saying you were fired for being a conservative but I'll drill down on that.

Put back on the screen that Facebook post that Curt Schilling distributed where you cherry picked an abhorrent photograph that you used to besmirch an entire class of individuals. That is why you got fired. Now do you want to have that conversation? Because I will have it.

SCHILLING: That's not true Mike. I didn't besmirch an entire group of people. I said men should use the men's room and women should use the women's room.

SMERCONISH: Of course you did. Do you think the image that's on the screen is typical of the transgendered among us? Seriously?

SCHILLING: No. And I never said it was. That wasn't my picture.

SMERCONISH: By implication you did. Come on. Cheap shot.

SCHILLING: Of course, right, I get that. I understand how you guys work. You guys are about getting ratings and you need to be bombastic and you have to make assumptions for the viewers because you guys operate on the notion that we are too stupid to think for ourselves. The fact of the matter was that I don't need my government to tell me where to pee. And we've never needed our government to tell us where to go to the bathroom.

SMERCONISH: Let me tell you something, ideal in evidentiary thinking. I don't like the you guys and your network. If you have a beef-

SCHILLING: That's fine.

SMERCONISH: Hold on a second. Hold on a second, you know what; you are pompous when you were in Philly and you are pompous today. You come on my program and you make a number of wild assertions and none with specificity relative to me and my program. Now give me the final word out of decency. Go ahead.

SCHILLING: No, I made it very clear Mike, I wasn't referring directly to you when I said that. Because I haven't heard you say anything. I was referring to the company you work for. You work for a company that is openly displayed hatred for our President, and has lied time after time about event after event from reporting a buzz feed report that was completely fabricated and you're are part of the reason, and I say you're being CNN. You're part of the reason we're here. You are part of the reason Trump won.

SMERCONISH: You know what the funny thing is to me. I've got to say this. Like one of the mantras of conservatives is this notion of personal responsibility.

SCHILLING: Right.

SMERCONISH: And yet when it's you own conduct at issue, it's a dodge. It's like to point --

SCHILLING: No.

SMERCONISH: -- in every other direction. Why don't we have a conversation about your behavior that caused you to get fired from ESPN. Instead of you turning around and wanting to talk about the dossier that Buzz Feed produced. I thought we were having a conversation about ESPN having canned you.

SCHILLING: Right. They should have canned me. That's what they believe. My First Amendment rights were not abridged. I got fired for saying things my boss disagreed with. I'm alright with that. I got fired for reasons of my own doing. I don't have a problem admitting that.

SMERCONISH: OK, good, I'm happy to hear you say that. You were fired for your own conduct. I mean that's the bottom line. By the way I'm for consistency. In case you are curious. I'm for consistency. If, in fact, they're going to say, you're political, you're a distraction, that's not our business, we're sports, you're out of here. I'm going to tell you something that may come as news to you, I want them to hold that same standard for everybody-you, her, and whoever is next.

SCHILLING: But you'll have to, you can agree with me that that's not even remotely close to what they do. They have made it-again, this is their right, Michael. They're a privately owned company. They can do whatever they choose to do. Disney and ESPN have decided that they will support the Bomani Jones and Jemile Hills of the world who are every bit as racist and intolerant as they say everybody else is. That's their prerogative.

SMERCONISH: Curt Schilling, I appreciate you being here. And now to Fox correspondent and sideline reporter, Pam Oliver. Aren't you glad you came out to play today, Pam?

{0:9:30}

PAM OLIVER, FOX SPORTS: Oh my gosh, what is happening here? I'm thinking about Curt Schilling was fired because they didn't like him. Its mind boggling the conversation you just had. And the thing that bothers me -

SMERCONISH: Ok, but does he have a point?

OLIVER: No.

SMERCONISH: Let me sort of clear my head and say does he have a point that there's a double standard in that he's gone and she's still there.

OLIVER: I think you have to look at these cases individually. Obviously, with Curt Shilling, he's kind of way out there on planet Mars. He's kind of insulting in his assertions here. As far as the transgender matter goes. And I feel that with Jamelle, her comments were basically just her personal opinion.

She did not spout this stuff on the air. She did it by Twitter. And to call her a racist because she's made certain comments is ridiculous. I think what we're looking at with Curt Shilling. I don't know if the conversation was supposed to go this way, but what he has to say is disturbing. And it's no wonder that he doesn't have a job with ESPN.

SMERCONISH: But you know for each of us, I think we recognize that through out our social media, we are so indentified with out respective employers, in your case, Fox Sports. In my base, CNN, I've been drilled by CNN, I've been warned, hey, if you do something on your social media account you're out of here. Isn't it the same with her?

OLIVER: Well obviously, they've reached a different agreement or she would have been let go. I think they looked at the information. I think they sort of, I don't know, bowed to public pressure, or came out with a statement that was kind of wishy washy, and made it seem like they took her to task.

But if you know Jamele, she's strong, pointed and well versed on the topics she discusses. So she's not the kind of person that goes away. I understand it wasn't dinner party conversations. But how far out were those comments that she made? President Trump tweeted about Mika Brzezinski a very rude kind of text.

But at the same time, or tweet, it just seems like to me you know, you get your feelings hurt when someone calls you a name. But when you turn around and exhibit some very poor behavior, then its okay. It's just all so childish at this point.

And it makes absolutely no sense that we are talking about this two or three days later when there's so many important matters to discuss. It is - it's confusing to me. And it's just vitriol that we just heard from Curt Schilling that these people automatically have to be racist because they differ in opinion that you may have.

It just speaks to, I think the individual. And you too him to task on that. And rightfully so. I'm proud of you, Michael.

SMERCONISH: Pam Oliver. Thanks for being here. Hoping that the eagle cover against the chiefs. What do we have time for? Let me see it, Smerconish nice job handling that pompous ass Curt Schilling. You know, what kind of regret that I said he was pompous when he was in Phili. Ahead, have smart phones changed a generation. Teens are driving

less, having less sex. Is this good or bad, we'll discuss.

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{09:35:00}

SMERCONISH: The internet went bananas this week when apple unveiled it's newest models of the Iphone, the 8 and 8s. But are smart phones contributing to mental health problems for an entire generation of Americans. The I-Gen, those born between 1996 and 2012 have never known a world without smart phones. My next guests say the devices they hold in their hands have both extended their childhoods and isolated them from true human interaction.

The result, teens are not hanging out as much with friends, in no rush to drive, dating less, having less sex and getting less sleep. The author of this new book Igen, why those are growing up less happy and completely unprepared for adulthood. A doctor of psychology for 20 years you've been studying generational differences. Looking at the data, all of a sudden, in the year 2012 a number of things take you breath away. What?

{09:40:00}

DR. JEAN TWENGE, AUTHOR IGEN: That's exactly right. There's a big national data set of teens right around that time, 2011, 2012, more of them started to say that they felt sad and hopeless and useless, that they couldn't do anything right. Those are classic symptoms of depression. More started to say they felt left out and lonely.

Other big data, a national screening study of mental illness finds 50% increase in clinical levels of depression between 2011 and 2015. The suicide rate starts to go up. So, there are all of these very concerning symptoms of men health issues among teens.

SMERCONISH: I'm going to put up a number of graphs that come from your book, because the data is overwhelming. First, not hanging out with friends. Take a look at what happens in 2007, when the iphone is released. Or how about less dating, same effect comes in 2007. More likely to feel lonely, again, on the time period and how it escalates after the iphone release. Less likely to get sleep. You say we're only the world crisis in decades. Explain.

TWENGE: Yes, I think especially given this substantial increase in depression and the suicide rate, this is what teens are telling us, teens are telling us that they're suffering, that they're struggling. We really need to listen to that. And also try to find out why. So, looking at this, I wondered what the cause could be, as you can see, in these graphs, it's these changes start to show up around 2007.

And then they really get going around 2012. That is the year when the percentage of Americans with a smart phone crossed 50%. That's a time when the economy was getting better. So, it seems awfully coincidental that these things happened at the same time. SMERCONISH: Listen, people will watch this, they'll wonder, well what can we do about it? And I'm not being patronizing when I say, you can read the book. Or you can go to the Atlantic and look fro the encapsulated version and do what we've done under our roof which is to have our kids read. And prompt a conversation. It's really a great read. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for being here.

TWENGE: Thank you.

SMERCONISH: Still to come - the story of a couple of kids who both lost parents in 9/11, and found an amazing path to happiness.

[09:45:00]

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SMERCONISH: It's important to remember that good things can sometimes be borne of tragedy, especially at a time when so many are dealing with so much adversity. Storms in the south, wild fires in the west, a nation-wide opoid epidemic; last week brought the 16th anniversary of September 11.

But that sad day led to a wedding this past weekend that was as the bride told me, destined by faith. Let me explain. On September 11, 2001 Victor Saracini age 51 was the captain of United Flight 175, the airplane that hijackers directed into the south tower of the World Trade Center.

Inside that building on the 84th floor, Patrick McGuire, age 40, was working at Euro Brokers incorporated. His plan could be evacuate had been interrupted by the announcement that the situation was under control. Each man left behind a wife and hildren.

The Saracini's seen here had two. The McGuire's had four. Last weekend in Austin, Texas, Victor Saracini's daughter Brielle married Patrick McGuire's son Sean before gathering that included their mothers, Ellen Saracini and Danielle McGuire.

The meeting of Brielle and Sean was hardly a coincidence. Each was only 10 years old when they lost their fathers. They met two years later at Camp Better Days, that's a camp established to provide support for the children who lost a parent on 9/11.

It was founded by Amy Callahan who lost her fiance that day. They were just kids hanging out together, playing pool and basketball, as Brielle said in their vows, they grew up together, shaping each other, learning from each other and grounding one another.

Sean is now a CPA, Brielle works for the Yankees Yes Network and promotion, when lst weekend was offered to them as a wedding date, they seized it, said that it was time they called is #takebackseptember. It was the second wedding this summer for the Saracini's.

Brielle's sister Kirsten was married in June Ellen their mother said she felt a great void not having Victor there to walk the girls down the aisle. Brielle told me that they had a moment of silence in the ceremony to recognize their father's presence in their relationship and in their lives.

She also wanted to mark a spot for her dad so she placed his captain sat on a seat in the front row. In her wedding vow to Sean she said, "The biggest takeaway from 9/11 for me was that you might be able to break down steel and structure, but you can destroy love." We wish these two children of 9/11 victims many years of health and happiness. And we'll be right back.

[09:50:00]

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SMERCONISH: Hey, if you ever miss any of the program, you can catch us at any time on cnngo, online and through your connected devices and apps. Please follow me on Twitter and hit my Facebook page.

Here's what you're thinking this week. Show it to me, Katherine. "Smerconish, during a recent power outage when electrical devices shut down, I talked to my wife for three hours. She seems like a nice person."

Bill, I'm sure that she is. Hey, that book iGen is really a stunner our kids are being raised with such con-activity and yet never been further apart from one another. What's next?

[09:55:00]

Actually Jemele Hill called it like it was and now racist Curt Schilling is running his mouth off on Smerconish, what a racist idiot. Hey, Derrick, here's the deal. I want consistency, I mean here's the irony relative to Schilling, I want consistency.

If -- if you're going to assess political statements and make hiring and firing decisions based on them, then I want there to be consistency. That's what I'm for, and he'd probably agree with that, but I'm not going to sit here for some ad hominem attack that was completely unwarranted and without merit by any guest of my program.

I regret that I called him pompous, because that's not the way I roll, but that was not right. One more, Smerconish, when I want political insight I'll listen to Smerconish, not ESPN that's for sports. Right and you can find me here Saturdays on CNN and CNN International and during the week on SiriusXM POTUS. See you next week.