how president-elect trump does with that one small way even with the media, his relationship's got to change. thank you, you helped us understand him better this morning. appreciate it. there is a lot of news for you this morning. let's get to it. >> now it's time for america to bind the wounds of division and unify our great nation. >> we must accept this result, and then look to the future. >> this needs to be a time of redemption, not a time of recrimination. >> i promise you that i will not let you down. >> we who believe in freedom will not rest. >> we're not democrats first, we're not republicans first, we are americans first. >> this is "new day." with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day." and up first, president-elect donald trump is going to

washington to meet with president obama. this is part of the formal transitioning of power. the oval office meeting at the white house is going to be awkward with a capital "a." why? because trump is not only a critic of president obama, he's the guy who tried to prove that obama wasn't born here. >> so we're hearing about unity. but we're seeing a different picture in some cities. protesters taking to the streets, some blocking highways as you can see. others setting fire and chanting, quote, not my president. we have it all covered for you. let's begin with athena jones live at the white house. hi, athena. >> hi, alisyn. this is not the meeting president obama was hoping to have or expecting to have he spent months saying that he didn't think donald trump would ever be president. well, now donald trump is going to be president, and so the focus has to shift to the peaceful handover of power. the white house has talked about how much they appreciated the way george w. bush's team handled that transition back in 2008.

and 2009. it was smooth. it was professional. this is something the president spoke about again yesterday in the rose garden. >> i have instructed my team to follow the example that president bush's team set eight years ago and work as hard as we can to make sure that this is a successful transition for the president-elect. because we are now all rooting for his success and uniting and leading the country. the peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy. >> now white house press secretary josh earnest says that it's too early to say what sort of impact trump's election will have on president obama's top policy pry or if is. but we know that trump ran on promises to undo much of obama's legacy. we can expect him to get to work right away on repealing and replacing obamacare. reversing some of the president's executive actions on things like immigration, and regulations of power plants.

trump has also said he wants to withdraw from agreements like the iran nuclear deal, the trans-pacific partnership trade deal, and also the paris climate accord. and i can tell you, we're getting some indications from congress that tpp, that trade deal, is all but dead. so there's a lot to discuss. and a lot that could change under a trump presidency. after president-elect trump meets here with president obama, he and vice president-elect mike pence will go on to meet with house speaker paul ryan. so a lot on the schedule. a lot to watch today. >> it is going to be a very busy day. thanks for setting it up for us. donald trump now has two months to fill thousands of jobs as he prepares to take office. it's one of washington's fave rt parlor games. who will get the top posts in trump's cabinet? cnn's sunlen serfaty is live in washington with a look at some of the names being floated. who are you hearing? >> a lot of possibilities here, alisyn, as president-elect donald trump and his team may have really been hunkered down and huddled up, going over all

these potential names for these top jobs. i can tell you a lot of the names just won't be a surprise to you because many of the people are ones that we've heard of standing by donald trump during the campaign trail, in his inner circle during the campaign, now they could go on to fill out his cabinet and turn into his new inner circle in the white house. on day two as president-elect, donald trump now looking to turn his promises into policy. beginning with his call for unity. >> now, it's time for america to bind the wounds of division. >> reporter: words echoed by president obama and hillary clinton both pledging a peaceful transition of power. >> we are now all rooting for his success and uniting and leading the country. >> we must accept this result and then look to the future. donald trump is going to be our president. we owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.

>> reporter: trump now in the throes of building his administration. >> we have to get ready to form a government. >> reporter: potentially rewarding some of his top supporters. rnc chairman reince priebus. one prospective option for trump's chief of staff. >> i haven't thought about it. and right now i'm chairman of the party. i'm excited about that job. >> reporter: new jersey governor chris christie who has led his transition team also being eyed for top posts. former new york city mayor rudy giuliani under consideration for attorney general, or secretary of homeland security while newt gingrich is being floated as the prospective secretary of state. other possible cabinet picks. alabama senator jeff sessions for defense secretary. billionaire businessman carl icahn for treasury secretary and retired army general michael flynn for national security adviser. when trump takes office in january, he will have extraordinary power to push through his agenda with republican majorities in both houses of congress. >> he heard those voices that were out there that other people

weren't hearing. he just earned a mandate. >> reporter: and certainly new are attention is being paid to what candidate trump said on the campaign trail about what his first 100 days in office would look like. he made several big, broad, sweeping proposals. things like cleaning up washington, protecting the american worker, and restoring rule of law. but he also did, at times, make very specific detailed promises, like repealing obamacare, renegotiating some of the specific trade deals and chris perhaps the most notorious promise that we heard time and time again from the campaign trail, to build that wall along the mexican border. chris? >> all right, sunlen thank you very much. many provocative questions. but forget the questions. let's get some answers. i can do that for you right now. i got former new york city mayor rudy giuliani. he is trump's campaign senior adviser, and many more, soon, maybe more soon. good to see you. congratulations, mr. mayor. so, let's get some answers here.

you just said something to me while we were coming out of sunlen's piece. something happens to a man who becomes president. how does that inform your idea of what we will see out of president-elect trump today? because many people are concerned, whoo, obama and trump, they hate each other. this has been really ugly and bitter. this could be bad. what do you say? >> i say you're going to see a ve very, i hate to use the word cordial, because it's used almost as a diplomatic term, you know, when people yell at each other you say they had a cordial meeting but i think you're going to see a very professionally run meeting between two men who actually have a lot of charm. we know donald from some of his comments that weren't so charming. and we know obama now on the campaign trail from some of the comments that weren't so charming. but sitting together, i think they're going to be able to talk like two of the very few people

in the history of the world. one who has the power, and one who is going -- >> that may be him. you want to answer that? >> and one who is -- >> what are you doing on with cuomo? a >> and one who is going to hold the power. so i would say that -- yeah we got to do something with this thing. off. ♪ okay. >> was it him? >> no. >> can't have the president-elect interrupting my interview. you were saying two of the few men who understand -- >> that this is a -- the weight of the world is on their shoulders. and donald, i think, realized it the last couple of days of the campaign. i think he really realized it when he saw -- >> you've seen a change? >> yeah. >> now, so people are going to come to you, and they're going to say, okay, he won. democracy affords him an opportunity. people say have an open mind. it's trickier here, though,

because when someone comes out and says we should be unified. okay. when they are the person who is blamed with creating the division, now it's more complicated because which one of these people do you believe? is this the trump that we saw as president-elect? or the one who was stoking intolerance? >> my advice would be the same advice that i gave president bush when he won in '04, and kind of was a follow. you go with the things you know you can pass. like for example, way back then bush could have passed immigration reform. just like obama could have when he first came in. and both of them passed on it, so now they leave it for now. >> so you think he should start -- >> no i think he should start with tax reform. >> tax reform first. >> because i think he's got the votes for it. he definitely has the republican votes for it in house and senate and i think he probably has maybe 20% of the democratic vote for it. so he could get it done with a bipartisan majority. >> but people whether say, wait

a minute, i'm here for the wall. i'm angry, i want the wall, i want to drain the stwamp. >> the wall is going to take awhile. he's going to build it. it's a campaign promise. he's not going to break a campaign promise. >> guys in congress don't want it. on both sides there's resistance. >> well, he can do it by executive order by just reprogramming money within t the -- within the immigration service, and not only that, they have actually approved a wall for certain portions of the border that hasn't even been built yet. so you could take a year building that out, with what has been approved. >> so go with what you can get done. let bygones be bygones, move on to the policies. >> after you get a couple of credits under your belt, like tax reform which i think can get done. like a stimulus program but a real one for infrastructure, this time the commitment has to be the money gets spent on infrastructure. and not to go back over old wounds but i think president obama made a big mistake with his stimulus program when he promised it would be spent on

infrastructure. >> but it wasn't. >> there were no shovel ready jobs. right now we need it. that will put americans back to work. that will be a good long-term investment in america. it's going to help grow our economy. >> but if this is -- if this is to not be about settling scores, politics at its worst, keeping a list, that raises an interesting issue that i want your take on, specifically. hillary clinton. big part of his campaign rhetoric, some of his angriest talk was, i am going to appoint a special prosecutor to look into her. chris christie was tv this morning, other surrogates of trump have said, look, that's politics. it's over now. leave it alone. you haven't said that. >> well, i think it's a tough decision. i think it's a tough decision, because you have to weigh what chris is going, which is that it's been a tradition in our politics to put things behind us. on the other hand you have to look at how bad was it? because suppose somebody comes along a year from now and is

alleged to have stolen $50,000 from a charity. and she was never investigated for hundreds of millions. >> so do it then? >> well, not after you pardon her, you can't do it. >> is it about pardoning her or leaving her alone? how do you expect to get anything done with democrats if you're still going after haley. >> i don't know what the right answer to that is. i think it's a tough one that should be given a lot of thought and shouldn't be an off-the-cuff answer. equal administration of justice. is one of our most important principles. >> but you have the fbi that's taken a look at the foundation stuff. they haven't moved on it. >> why not? because they were denied a grand jury. they were denied a grand jury by the eastern district of new york. >> but you had comey who didn't recommend anything. you had the doj -- >> he never got to investigate. he never got to investigate the foundation. so, there are legal questions that are more complicated than just saying let's forget about it. if, in fact, you believe you have a justice department that's

been corrupted, you got to fix it. and he needs an attorney general who's going to be like edward levy was after watergate. got to be an attorney general -- >> you think comey has to go? >> that's a decision for the president. that's a presidential appointment. he's got to make that decision. >> it's not easy to get someone -- by the way it's not a political -- he's got a term involved. >> i would think if the president wanted jim out, jim would leave. fbi director can't function without -- >> so you think it's a possibility but it's up to the president? >> that's up to the president. and i think it's a close one. personally, i trust jim. i like jim. he worked for me. he was an assistant u.s. attorney that i trained. and although i had a severe disagreement with him -- >> you've been beating on a fairly big stick about what happened with clinton. >> but i never said i believe he was corrupted or dishonest. i believe his judgment was incorrect. >> you, if they asked you to be the special prosecutor, would you accept that role? >> no.

>> if they asked you to be attorney general -- >> that is a closer question -- >> how do you say no to the president of the united states if he says i need you to do this for me? >> well, if it really was just me and i couldn't point to three others that would be just as good or better -- >> who's just as good? >> i don't know yet, we'll see. >> you think chris christie is just as good as you? >> christie is an excellent, excellent choice for any job in government. >> notwithstanding he has a close relationship with my brother the governor of new york? you don't think he's tarred by the bridgegate situation? >> i think the bridgegate situation was an exaggerated political situation. >> two convictions, all kountds. >> i know. >> i know. >> that's exaggeration? >> i think it was exaggerated. never should have gotten to that. >> two convictions, all counts. >> chris -- >> i'm just saying. in a world where nobody ever goes to trial -- >> a good lawyer can convict you in a lot of different ways. >> i mean are you kidding me? >> i don't know -- i have no idea. >> the same ring tone as my

mother. what is it with you old -- >> i don't think it's my wife. i don't know who it is. it can't be my mother, otherwise it would be -- >> a channel. so do you have it in you to be attorney general? do you feel that you have the energy? do you feel -- >> oh, my god. >> the desire? >> i certainly have the energy, and there's probably nobody that knows the justice department better than me. >> so nobody's better than you. you just said -- oh, i got you. i finally got you. taken me 35 years. you just said -- >> 17 years. >> if i couldn't point to three other people who are as good as me then yes if it's just me. you just said nobody knows it better than i do. >> well, i was -- an assistant u.s. attorney. >> that's right. >> i was the associate attorney general of the united states. >> yes. >> third ranking official under ronald reagan. i've argued in front of the supreme court of the united states. >> mm-hmm. >> i've argued in almost every circuit. and i tried as a personal lawyer, and u.s. attorney, over 50 cases. >> right. >> and -- >> it's a good resume. >> so i know -- i know the

bottom of the justice department and i know the top of the justice department. >> would you be okay leaving your travel all around the world and the different enterprises you're in? >> those are things i would have to give serious thought to and also, really, my interest in this election, and i know people have a hard time believing it, is -- they have a different view of it, i felt that hillary got elected we were going to move in a socialist direction. and i didn't want to leave a country behind for my children that was moving in that direction. i want to move more in the opportunistic american direction of hard work, good education, straighten out the educational programs, the kind of america my parents left to me. so that was my -- that was the reason i was working 20 hours a day. plus, as you know, my close personal friendship with donald trump. getting a job is secondary to me. i wanted to have a good administration. and if it's the right fit and

everything works, okay. if it doesn't, i'm perfectly happy with that. >> would you accept the position if it came with the condition of i don't want to go after clinton? leave it alone. let's focus. we've got a lot of other things. i don't want to create -- >> well i think -- i think that's a presidential decision, also. >> so if it came to you that way, from the president -- >> that's -- >> then you're all right with it. >> we would have to talk about that. we would have to talk about what the -- what the ramifications of that to other prosecutions, future prosecutions, how would you couch that suppose more evidence came forward a year from now that we don't know about now that makes it a much worse situation. i don't think president obama should pardon her. i don't think that would be right. because if he pardons her he's got to pardon about 15 other people who helped her. it wouldn't be fair to pardon her and not pardon the guy who hammered the -- the cell phones. you got to pardon that guy, too. >> but none of those people are looking at any charges. >> the guy -- that guy didn't

get immunity. >> right but he also hasn't had any recommendation of prosecution against him. >> that doesn't mean he can't be investigated. the fbi still has an ongoing investigation and we don't know what it's going to uncover. so you have to cut that off. >> well comey has said several times now it's not even a close call. >> he has never said anything about the foundation. >> oh, you're talking about the foundation. you were saying destroying -- >> yeah, but -- >> the phones -- >> the e-mails may very well have been destroyed. because the e-mails show the connection between the state department and the -- and the foundation -- >> but do you believe that the value of that investigation is worth the political instability it would cause? >> i told you i think it's a very close question. i think that -- i think that somebody should review that very carefully as to how bad is that evidence. and if it isn't as bad as some of the exaggerators think it is, then maybe the best thing to do is to forget about it and move on. if it is really bad, then

somebody's got to look at it who is independent. >> well you won't know until you're in the role. so, maybe that will influence you in terms of your decision. mr. mayor. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. as you know, my job doesn't change. we've got to speak truth to power. if you're here i look forward -- >> i found every one of our sessions excellent. you know, here's my view, i was taught this by david garth, david taught me the following, there's no such thing as a bad question, there's just a bad answer. and you want to get asked the bad questions because you want the constituents to hear your answer to them. >> well, that's why we're here. thank you. not to ask the bad questions but the tough questions. >> tough questions. the ones that nail you on the things people are worried about. why do you feel this way? why do you look at -- >> that's what we try to do -- >> and you do a great job. >> thank you, sir. alisyn. he said me, not you by the way. >> i also like that he said sessions as though it was a therapeutic quality to this. thank you, mr. mayor. and chris. president obama about to meet

face-to-face with his successor, president-elect donald trump. how will they get past all of the bad birther blood? we will speak with former obama senior adviser david axelrod. next. your insurance company

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about two hours from now, president obama will meet with president-elect trump. president obama thomasing a peaceful transition of power in spite of a very heated election. >> remember, eight years ago,

president bush and i had some pretty significant differences. but president bush's team could not have been more professional or more gracious, so i have instructed my team to follow the example that president bush's team set eight years ago, and work as hard as we can to make sure that this is a successful transition for the president-elect. >> all right, let's discuss this with former obama senior adviser and cnn senior political commentator david axelrod. hi, david. >> hey, guys, how are you? >> you know president obama very well. so what happened today when he confronts and comes face-to-face with the man who questioned his birth and his citizenship and his legitimacy? >> well, first of all, i remember very well that period eight years ago when we were in transition. and he was quite right. president bush and his whole team were incredibly welcoming to us. i remember ed gillespie who was in my role in the bush administration inviting me over to the white house and spending

hours with me talking about his job, and how it's done, and how the white house works, just the mechanics of it. and it was very helpful and it was very welcomed by me. and president bush himself was kind to all of us during that period. and that was after a campaign that was really predicated on reversing the policies of the bush administration. president bush took a beating in that campaign. and yet, he saw it as his responsibility to ensure the peaceful transfer of power in a proper way. and i think president obama did learn from that, that this is the way it should be done. and i expect that he will be very professional when he meets with donald trump this morning with the president-elect in talking about the mechanics of how this transition will occur. >> so, what do you say to the reverse of that notion? that from the angry democrats, from those who feel this

election was won the wrong way, and that president obama should represent that disposition? is that -- is that a fair request of the president of the united states? >> yeah, i think so. i don't think people -- he's not asking anybody to be happy about the result. i don't think supporters of john mccain, or mitt romney were happy about the result. and we've had acrimonious elections in the past. what he's saying is, respect our democracy, respect the system that says once the election is over, we have one president. that doesn't mean that we shouldn't fight vigorously over differences on policy moving forward. it does mean that we have one president at a time, and you should start from the -- premise that we should find ways to work together. because the success of the country depends on it. so, i understand how strongly people feel and how offended

they were by some of the things that were done in this campaign. but this isn't about respect for one man. it's about respect for our democracy, and for our institutions. because those have to endure. >> david, what do you think is the future of president obama's legacy, given that donald trump has basically stated that he's going to dismantle as much of it as possible, starting right away with obamacare? >> yeah, we'll see exactly how this thing moves forward. it's one thing to say i'm going to dismantle, repeal, and replace obamacare. it's another thing when you realize that 20 million people are getting health coverage under obamacare today. it -- it's different when you realize that that's the law that made it illegal for insurance companies to ban people with pre-existing conditions from getting insurance. which is incredibly popular in this country. and there are so many other features of this that are very, very popular, even if the name

or the, you know, the headline is not with some people. so, how this is done in such a way as not to create massive unhappiness on the other side of the ledger is going to be a challenge for him. but, i think president obama's legacy is much larger than simply the affordable care act. he is the president who led the country through the worst economic crisis since the great depression. he is the president who came to office when there were two wars raging, 180,000 troops in active duty in afghanistan and iraq. he's, you know, led the country through so many other things, transitions on things like gay rights, you know, education, and so on, higher education, access to higher education. there are many, many parts of this legacy that will endure, and maybe the greatest, although it's not as tangible as the

others, is he brought dignity to the office of the presidency and honor to the office of the presidency. i think he'll be remembered for that in the future. >> eight years, not one personal scandal. i mean, some people say well that's too low a bar. but look around you. it's -- it's something that is -- >> it's unusual. >> it's unusual. especially because often people are looking for scandal even if it's not actually there. also, telling that rudy just said tax should be the first priority, not obamacare. do you think that's a nod to the complication of dealing with obamacare that it's more than just a political promise, there are legal and practical problems that may not make it a good first choice? >> yeah. i just don't think that you want your first act to be taking away from the american people something that is a real value and importance to them. i confront people who've had -- who've been helped by obamacare all over the country, who have tears in their eyes about what

it's meant for them. so i think that they should go slow on that. i know mitch mcconnell said it would be his first act and it's red meat for some in the base, but the other thing that i -- i heard rudy say was still mulling over whether there should be some prosecution -- >> well he wants to get some easy wins which makes sense for a new administration, especially with a president-elect who is going to be as sensitive as donald trump will be to his approval ratings. >> i'm talking about the case of hillary clinton, do you think prosecuting hillary clinton would be an early win? >> i think that rudy giuliani has very definite feelings about that that may or may not be shared by donald trump, president-elect. >> i think the president-elect should think long and hard about what that would mean for the country. i think -- first of all i don't think it is warranted from what the fbi director said. so it would look like a political -- a political escapade. but, really, vengeful.

and i think it would be a huge mistake. i remember when we took office, there were many people on the left who thought that there were figures within the bush administration who should be prosecuted for actions that were taken during the iraq war. >> yeah. >> and the president said, we need to look forward, and not back. it's a good example. >> well, it's on president obama a little bit, too. will he pardon hillary clinton? >> david axelrod. thank you very much. >> okay, guys. have a great day. >> donald trump's transition kicking into high gear. he made a lot of promises for his first 100 days. what can he actually get done? we will speak with former white house chief of staff, governor john sununu, next.

president-elect donald trump has 71 days before he officially moves into the white house. his transition team now focusing on the task of picking a cabinet and vetting appointees to key departments, many of which require senate confirmation. let's discuss it all with john sununu. he is the former republican governor of new hampshire, who supported donald trump. congratulations, governor. >> well, it was an interesting night, wasn't it, alisyn? a lot of surprises.

but, i must admit for the first time in a long time i think my kids and my grand kids might see a greater america. so it's good. >> well, let's hope that you are right. and congratulations to your son, as well, who won his race. >> thank you. thank you. now there's two governor sununus. >> yes, that's confusing but good for you guys. >> thank you. >> governor, let's talk about what donald trump has promised to do in the first 100 days. let me put up on the screen his legislative agenda. he says that his action plan for the first 100 days are deliver the biggest tax cut since ronald reagan. tariffs, to stop companies from going overseas. infrastructure investment. end common core, part of the public school agenda, promote school choice. repeal and replace obamacare. enforce that -- or include that child care tax deduction that he talked about and child care services. build the wall along the mexican border, create a task force on violent crime and rebuild the military, eliminate the defense sequester. you've done this job.

how realistic is that? >> well i think it's realistic to get a good start on all of that. you know, congress is a, even when it's your own party, congress has to be recognized as having an internal process of committee hearings, and so on. but i think he can lay out those things with congress, and lay out a path to completion on most of that. whether it gets all done in the 100 days i'm not sure. i suspect it won't all get done. but certainly enough progress will be made that i think the public will recognize it's on its way. >> what do you think about congress' appetite for being cooperative? with a president trump? >> i think with the size of this victory and the strength of this victory, i think there's going to be a lot more willingness in congress to follow the agenda that matches the driving force for the victory. congress needs leadership, and

if donald trump leads congress will respond. people do not understand that the gridlock that we have seen is because, in my opinion, there's been zero presidential leadership. >> but explain that, governor, sununu, because, you know, as we've heard -- >> sure. >> hold on a second. president obama when he took office went over to congress to try to get them on board with his jobs plan and we've all heard the stories of how eric cantor and mitch mcconnell had this secret meeting that then was widely reported that they said we're going to block him at every turn. our main goal is to keep him a one-term president. we're going to say no to everything he wants. >> same thing happened when bush the first george bush came in, the democrats in congress were determined to obstruc. they had 260-175 in the house, 55-45 in the senate. but george bush kept at it. he didn't take the first negative response as reality. you have to remember, congress

was bitter at ronald reagan because of iran/contra. so, jimmy baker had to go up and break that logjam. george bush got personally involved. so a president that's willing to lead, and spend political capital can make the change. a president who wants to go down and dictate, which i really do believe obama went down trying to tell them this is what we're going to do, and you either take it or leave it, they won't respond to that. >> hmm. >> george bush showed how it could be done and i think that's a model even when it's your own party down there, go down there and work with them to find -- >> yeah. >> -- where the sharp edges have to be removed. >> governor very quickly, i want to show you the names that have been floated for donald trump's cabinet picks. here are just some of them, rudy giuliani, newt gingrich, you see general michael flynn, you see jeff sessions, who is an early supporter, reince priebus, ben carson. do you think that there will be a woman in donald trump's cabinet? >> oh, i'm sure there probably

will. the most important appointments he has to make is his national security adviser, his chief of staff, and his legal counsel in the white house and his secretary of state, secretary of treasury and his director of omb. >> mm-hmm. >> and in those places there's certainly room for talented women, not only in those places but across the cabinet. >> any name you want to float right now? >> no. i don't. i'll tell you one who is not going there. >> oh, yes? >> our old cranky former governor. >> i don't know who you're referring to. governor john sununu. thank you very much. nice to have you on "new day." >> thanks, alisyn. >> all right the markets have reacted negatively in the past to donald trump, and futures tanked when he won. but guess what? the market did well. in fact, stocks are staging a surprise rally. on the heels of trump's win. so, what's going to happen today? some suggest it may be an all-time high. we have analysis ahead. potato r and i finally found our big idaho potato truck.

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the stock market defying conventional wisdom. the chaos that some expected upon donald trump being elected

did not materialize. so is the market set to open in 45 minutes what do we expect today? chief business correspondent christine romans has it all. >> i love covering the markets. predicting the markets is folly. 24 hours ago i stood here remember and it was a freakout. it was for a hot second there was chaos and then things really stabilized. here's where we stand right now you could see the dow jones industrial average open at a record high. never has been so high if it holds here. i mean that's kind of remarkable considering all the gloom and doom you heard if donald trump were elected president there would be a global recession because of his trade wars. well, instead, you've got the dow jones industrial average really close to new highs here. so why? let's look at the movers yesterday. bank stocks did great. huge gains for bank stocks because he has said he would dismantle banking regulation that president obama put in and congress put in after the great recession. construction, i mean things like caterpillar, a bunch of steel stocks because they think donald trump is going to push through a huge infrastructure bill that

will be really profitable for those companies. hospitals, real big losses. crashes for some of the hospitals, because they think if he does repeal and replace obamacare, it could be very disruptive for the hospitals who have seen a whole bunch of new customers, uninsured people who need health care. when you look at global markets, also a bounceback here. look at this. remember that big loss i told you about in tokyo, completely turned around. paris and frankfurt are higher. gold, though, still up and that might be a really important note here, guys. because gold is up that stills shows that there's some concerns and uncertainty. i predict unpredictability. that is my call. >> i think you've said that two days in a row. i see you're sticking with that. >> i like that. >> here's some food for thought for you. a lot of people are discussing right now why did one person win the popular vote and she's not president but the electoral college, why do we have -- answers ahead. "when the ship comes in" by the hollies ♪ oh the fishes will laugh as they swim out of the path ♪ ♪ and the seagulls they'll be smilin ♪

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campaign controversy. take a look at the numbers. clinton won the popular vote but she lost the electoral vote. this is the fifth time a president has won without the popular vote. most notably the last time was in 2000. what does this say about the electoral college? why do we have it? let's discuss with historian and professor at princeton university and office of the fierce urgency of now. why do we have this? no other country has it. >> well this is part of our constitution. part of it was to protect small states. part of it was to protect slave states.

and also part of it was we didn't have a democratic ethos in some ways when this country was founded so it was about electors rather than a populist. it's a relic though and many people don't like this system because of what happened the other night. >> right. because if you're going to tell people that every vote counts and get out there and vote and then you find out that she -- she can lose the popular vote, every vote does not count. if this was based on protecting slave states, what does that mean? how is it going to protect slave states? >> well it helped small, rural states instead of very big, pop louse states. >> because it was an offset for slave population. because they couldn't vote they had to bump up the relevance of those states to make up for the difference in population. >> and you still see that dynamic in this election. meaning, hillary clinton did very well in very diverse, pluralistic states like california. and in smaller states he won by a narrow margin and was able to get the victory. >> can we get rid of the electoral college? >> there's been many times we've

tried to reform it. in 1969 was the biggest effort by senator bayh who is evan bayh's father and it was after the 1968 election was very close. so there was an effort to reform it. it didn't work -- >> why, who wants it? >> constitutional amendment -- >> i know. you can do it. constitutional amendment is tough -- >> liberal. often it's a liberal cause. the idea that we need a popular system. and we need to empower these bigger states. otherwise it's bias toward more conservative states and after 2000 you had a more bipartisan interest in it. after the -- >> so why didn't they fix it after that? >> it's the kind of issue on polls most people support a different kind of system. popular vote. but it's not an issue people vote on. people on bread and butter issues and there's not a lot of pressure to get that amendment through. >> i had an interesting tweet from donald trump. this was after mitt romney's loss in 2012, donald trump tweeted, the electoral college is a disaster for democracy. >> right. that's now all over the place. but it benefited him this time.

and that's part of -- >> he lost if he did it -- >> there was a moment in 2012 it looked like romney might get more of the popular vote and he didn't. that's another reason the reform doesn't work. it's often promoted by -- >> the loser -- >> it's hard to get that through. >> having taken a breath, what is your gut now on how this election is remembered in history? you know, for what? what would be the biggest memory? >> well it will be the most controversial, divisive election that we have had in a long time. it will be the election where we had the victor with the least experience in politics of anyone that we've seen. i believe it's an election where the wounds will be deep from the campaign that were created as a result of the rhetoric and ideas that were put out there by the victor and we'll see what happens in the first year. also the biggest upset. it is one of the biggest surprises and upsets that we've seen. >> look i know it's hard to write history in realtime. but when you say the wounds will be the deepest, i mean already

the rhetoric coming from the democratic side elizabeth warren, hillary clinton, has been, president obama, has been one of healing and reconciliation. >> right. give it a day. it's like the letter. it will change -- >> especially with the democrats, right? because if you ever see the democratic party in the modern era less in touch with who they're about and what they're about than right now. >> and the democrats have a fundamental problem. they lost the vote of many blue and working class americans who should be at the core of their constituency. so they're sitting and scratching their heads and saying, why is there a disconnect between the policies we promote and where people are voting? so i think, as this gets deeper and deeper into the presidency, those nice words will end. >> we'll see if your jaded view takes hold. late night comics wasted no time getting their jokes in order after donald trump's big win. there you go. >> the big story is that america woke up this morning and was

like -- that's right. donald trump is going to be president. republicans hope he'll keep his promise to build a wall. and democrats hope that he'll keep his promise not to accept the election results. >> our democracy just hoists up a marmalade hair ball with the whole world watching. what we did was the democratic equivalent of installing an above-ground pool. even if we're lucky, and it doesn't seep into our foundations, the neighbors will never look at us the same way again. >> my wife and i went to watch the election returns athe a friend's house and before we left we put our 8-month-old son to bed, and i was holding him and i said to him when you wake up tomorrow morning we might have our first female president. and then when we came home, around midnight, i went into his room, shook his crib until he woke up and screamed, we have to get out of here! le. >> the elites need to learn to

laugh less and listen more. and they would have understood a little bit more about this. >> profound. >> look, we heard it early on traveling around the country, right? that's what we started saying. you can joke about trump. don't joke about the people behind him. >> who doesn't like an herbal reference. on that note. on that note let's get to "newsroom" with carol costello. it will pick up after this very quick break. we'll see you tomorrow.

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good morning. thank you so much for joining me, i'm carol costello live in washington, d.c. president obama just a couple of hours away from meeting with the man who vowed to dismantle the key pillars of his legacy. behind closed doors obama will sit down with his successor, president-elect donald trump in the oval office. it's a long-held tradition to assure americans that even the most bitter folks will work together on a peaceful transition. but few presidential races have been this bitter and polarized. in fact, just hours after trump's stunning victory, angry protests bubbled up in at least 25 american cities. from new york to san francisco, and seattle to nashville, thousands rallied in the streets to disavow their next president. cnn's athena jones previews the trump/obama meeting this morning. jason carroll looks at the huge challenge of assembling a trump administration. but let's begin at the white house. good