tv Inside Politics CNN September 14, 2017 9:00am-10:00am PDT
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secure our border so those who come here only come legally. >> not giving up on health care and need to see details on any daca deal. senator bill cassidy, thank you so much for joining us. inside politics with john king as the president continues his travels in florida starts right now. >> welcome to ideas politics. getting a firsthand look at the damage done by irma. >> we are going to see some of the folks and make sure they are happy. we are trying to keep them as happy as we can under the circumstances. in many cases they lost their homes. it's a tough situation. >> we will keep an eye on the president and the conservative revolt as the president makes another deal with nancy pelosi
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and chuck schumer on a plan conservatives worry is not only a broken trump promise, but amnesty. >> we are not looking at amnesty. we are looking at allowing people to stay here. we are working with everybody. republicans. we are working with democrats. i spoke with paul ryan and everybody is on board. >> not everybody is on board. >> if you cast a ballot for hillary clinton and stayed home, here it is straight from the source. you are not forgiven. >> do you give ab solution to those who didn't vote? >> no,i don't. look, when it first started happening, it was so soon after the election and the election was so bizarre and close. it was hard for me to comfort somebody who was coming to you and say i wish i had done more or i'm sorry i didn't vote. because i think this was one of the most consequential elections that we have faced in a long
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time. no ab solution. >> no ab solution. a lot happening this hour. paul ryan any moment will begin his weekly news conference. the big question is how does he feel about the latest deal with top democrat, this one designed to protect the dreamers. the president said the speaker is on board. the speaker is less than thrilled and for the third time, president trump is getting a 50 hand look at damage left behind by a hurricane. hurricane irma killed at least 33 people on the mainland and homes and businesses still without power. the president began his visit in ft. myers where he was briefed. meeting this hour with storm victims in naples, florida. we will bring you there live when it happens. with us to share their reporting and insights, julie and michael from the "new york times." harry bacon and cnn's sarah. let's start with the president
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on the ground. this has been an unexpected challenge and one of the surprises of being president. hurricanes tend to come in august, but you don't know how hard they will. we expect to see him in napnapl florida. the dreamers, when it comes to how the administration handled harvey and irma, high marks, right? >> so far high marks. these storms have the short-term and the long-term recovery and the long-term is more complicated because the attention goes away and there is not as much daily focus on what's happening and you are talking about rebuilding. the president has jumped on the opportunity to look like the commander in chief. to look like he is in charge of the recovery here. a lot of photos at the white house and "the situation room." these trips being his third down to an area that has been hard. high marks initially, but we know from experience that there is a lot of work still to be
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done. >> two things to think about. president trump benefits from eight years in which fema and the disaster infrastructure and since katrina, the disaster infrastructure has completely reinvented and reimagined itself. that doesn't matter who the president is. he benefits from the tact that the responses are going to be better than they used to be. the other thing that is interesting is we are seeing -- we had eight years of obama and the empathizer in chief. he e moded with the tears rolling down his eyes and the victims and that's not trump's style. he is finding a way to seem presidential and seem appropriate to the moment even if it's not the same way that obama did. >> this honey boo boo a challencha
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he is hitting his own strive and rhythm when it comes to this and to go to these places and explain and how we are prepared. he approaches it from a ceo perspective and a builder perspective, but again if you are a person whose home has been demolished and there is a shelter to go to and the power will be turned back on and there will be efforts to rebuild, he goes and makes that pitch. he said they are going to do that. again, the proof will be in the pudding in the long-term. >> you see a different style. he's not a hugger like president obama. not even like george w. bush. he shows up with the first lady and the vice president. the acting secretary and the fema director and rick perry is there. he had the small business administration. all hands on deck. i am here with you. this is an important message. >> this seemed like bush was disengaged. trump is on the ground and not flying over the top.
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he is engaged in the issue. this is a contrast in the presidency where he doesn't say the right thing or not engaged in this issue. he is nl heading it well. >> you make an important point with the lessons learned from katrina. george w. bush deserved a lot of heat and he had a mayor and a governor who did not help the cost. there was a collapse at every level of government. you have an amazing revolution in recent years where people are applying and once they get back to power, plug their phone in, you can apply for your fema money this way. that's one point and you raise the other one. a month or six months from now, will the president be checking in as often to make sure for the people who still need help and see they are getting it. there are disputes about who qualifies for what. handling that? in a quick fashion. >> we're wonder about trump because he watches coverage and has seen a lot of scenes from florida and texas. it's front of mind for him.
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at a certain point that won't be the case. that is what governing is about. about doing the things when they are not in front of you and keeping on top of the things that are not as sexy as what you are seeing on television. that could be a challenge for him because he is easily distracted by what's in front of him. >> keeping congress's attention. if we are talking about aid packages that are supposed to be the first shot in a multishot injection to rebuild the areas, he irks the folks with the way he did the first time around. when the stories are not at the top of our broadcast every day, how easy is it going to be for the president to go back into the places and what will that executive leadership look like in the long-term? >> that's an important point. the president on the ground, i think that the president has critics and critics early on. he went to houston and why didn't he hug people? the president is on the scene and not going on the scene in a
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way that disrupts active in the case of harvey rescue and recovery efforts. he is taking ownership and just by being there and saying i am accountable and responsible. he is interested to hear him give credit to other people. in this case he is blessed politically in the sense that he has two supportive republican governors. people who are allies with the president anyway. if they were not happy with what they were getting, they would protect themselves. there were a lot of democratic mayors in texas and florida. bill nelson who is not at this event today, if they were not happy, they would find an opportunity to lay blame on this president. it's buries chirping. >> when the president goes there and he releases the images from camp david with the briefings and all of that, he is saying judge me on how this turns out.
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so far the reviews and what he is watching on television had reinforced the idea that he is doing the right thing. we will see how it goes when a year or two years from now, we had that fault too in the media. we don't check in as much as we should. but we will and we will see how people are doing. >> there is a ripple of complaints from the u.s. virgin islands that got hit a lot harder than mainland florida. there was talk that perhaps the president would go there on his first stop. i don't know why that didn't happen. maybe it was out of speculation. >> maybe it's further down the road. they wanted to do one thing at a time and it's harder to go to an area that has been so disrupted. you can go to florida and not be as disruptive in the recovery efforts. what the virgin islands probably doesn't neat is a visit from the president that will draw resources away.
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>> it's so devastating and horrific that it probably is t not -- it makes sense to put it off. >> we have seen whether it is michael flynn to be pushed out as adviser and bad personnel call by the president of the united states. he left the chief of staff and not a fan or didn't work. the relationship was not working and we have seen other nominee names that pulled back and the reason they can't get confirmed. the promise to hire the best people. when it comes to this one, a former deputy administrator that was alabama's fema director, john kelly who was the differently homeland security, this is the acting secretary and general manager. in the chapter of disaster relief that we have gone through, high marks for his people in that department. that's in contrast to earlier stories. >> remember that fema has said
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michael brown's name. >> very good tip. >> you should not know their name and they should be doing their job. it's good that he is doing the job so well we are not focused on him making mistakes. >> the president's homeland security adviser has been up front about it and keeping the press updated and these are people who have done this before. these are people who watched what went wrong with katrina and who have been thinking about that for years and years and taking all of that and applying it to this current situation. that's one thing the administration tried to get across to people. the president may be new to this and it may be his first or second natural disaster, but it's not. >> what the effect could be having now lived through this. trump came in and was dismissive of washington and so many people on the bush administration and this is the reality. having experience. it sometimes can be a good
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thing. >> to sarah's point, when she said that boss effort is briefing the press, they are briefing in contrast to the early days of the administration where there was no cohesive effort to say look at what we are doing. here there has been a step by step not only what you do, but also telling people what you are doing. >> everybody had a group of people who know what they are doing. you can have that, i guess. >> what's the deal with daca and the deem reamers. we will help you clear up the confusion. allergy sufferers if you have symptoms like these
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to questions, the first that will likely come up is like this. >> we are working on a plan for daca. people want to see that happen. you have 800,000 young people brought here no fault of their. we are working on a plan and we will see how it worked out. the wall will come later. we are renovating large sections of wall. massive sections. making it brand-new. we are doing a lot of renovation. we are building four different samples of the wall to see which one we are going to choose and the wall is going to be built. it will be funded later. >> that was the president. earlier today outside the white house discussing the latest bargain with democrats made over dipper last night. the latest would break two more campaign promises. the daca and the dreamers and the wall. >> we have to have a wall to be
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constructed. we will be determining how much we need. >> if i don't get the wall at some point. number one, we are waiting to hear from speaker ryan. we know a lot of conservatives are mad at the president, but the president called the dreamers and said giving status to the dreamers he said that would be amnesty. the conservatives want to hold to that letting anybody stay who came illegally is amnesty to them. number two, the president agreed to this dinner last night to do a dreamer deal. give me border security money, but in that bill you don't have to have the wall money. i will get it eventually. what's at play starting with the idea that republicans are furious the president is doing
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business with democrats. even if they agree with the deal, it's how he is doing it. it's supposed to be the republican president and writes laws and try to bring in democrats. he had dinner and cut the framework of a deal with democrats and now saying we know how hard this is for you, but go get me the votes. >> you have to start with without the republicans there in the first place when there was already tension about that. he calls it a deal and i'm not sure what he got out of this. at least right now. usually a deal is not as one-sided. you start from there and it appears he is talking about paul ryan approving a deal. when wasn't clear he talked to paul ryan yet. it's not clear what was going on and the comments were contradictory. he has already gone far out there and saying he wants to sign a daca story.
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that's a big story. >> that's a big story and we will take you there as soon as he talks about relevant issues or takes questions. what does the president get out of it? the president clearly wants legislation that gives legal status, the democrats want citizenship and the president wants legal status for 800,000 people who came into the country illegal. they were brought over when they were young and had nothing to do with it. they were carried into the country. most of the countries is with the president, but candidate donald trump, we have sound, he was clear about this. >> i will immediately terminate president obama's illegal executive order on immigration. immediately. >> i want dreamers to come from the united states. i want the people in the united states that have children to have dreams also.
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we are always talk about dreamers for other people. >> we will immediately terminate president obama's two illegal executive amnesties in which he defied federal law and the constitution to give amnesty to approximately five million illegal immigrants. five million. >> the president uses the term amnesty there, but he is saying for the dreamers and in a compassionate position. it is not what the trump base thought he was going to do. >> it's important to remember immigration more than anything else is what animated the trump base and the policies. you go to the rallies and talk to people. it wasn't that they were drawn to the idea of trump as a reality. they actually really believed in the immigration policies. the wall and getting rid of what they saw by amnesty by president obama. to walk both of those back in
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one deal would be a massive undermining of his pledge to those supporters. >> we continue the conversation about the immigration debate. you see the president on the ground in naples area. he is walking through a trailer park and you see governor scott there and senator marco rubio there as well. if he stops and talks in any way we can hear, we will interrupt the conversation. to julie's point, the president said he would be a deal maker in washington. i don't think anybody is surprised, but he is giving legal status to the dreamers. he might get more security money for cameras and down the road i will get the wall? >> i think that as julie pointed out, people are animated about immigration and a lot of people who supported president trump would be fine with a deal that has real border security in it. i don't think what animated people was the dreamers except
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so much the way that president obama did it. that's the line that he walked. he did it through his own action and that was not overreach and for congress to do it would be a different thing. what animated the trump base in a lot of ways had more to do with border security. you have to get something there. it's not clear that the president had that. >> approximate are let's list-- listen for a second. [inaudible] >> they the love people are working hard and you are working hard. >> they have been wonderful. >> it is has been an honor. thank you so much. >> thank you for coming. >> thank you very much. of. >> thank you for all you have done.
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>> you hang in there. [inaudible] >> mr. president, what is your message to all the people impacted by the hurricane? >> we love the people of florida. they went through something that i guess the likes of which nobody has seen before. they have never seen aing is like this. it came in at a five. you look at what happened with the keys. we love these people and we will be back and the job that everybody has done in terms of first responders and everybody has been incredible. by the way that includes the people that live here. you see the people immediately getting back to work to fix up their homes like bobby and the others. i want to tell you we are there for you 100%. i will be back here numerous times. this is a state i know well as you understand. these are special, special people and we love them.
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thank you. [inaudible] >> the president continues his walk with the community in naples, florida. shaking hands with the residents who want to get their lives and property back together. different degrees of damage where you are in the state or the neighborhood. some people had wind damage and others had tree damage. the president said i'm with you 100% and i will be back several times. you see the leadership in the state. the first lady and the vice president along with the president. he makes his way through here. it's a bit of a bouncing ball. that's what make this is fun. if you are in the white house, you are chasing the president.
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we have all done that and it's an interesting experience. keep our eye on that and we are not trying to give you whiplash, folks. here's the president on the ground telling the people we are with you 100%. he doesn't care if they are republicans or democrats. this is what a president should do. a spending and debt ceiling deal with the democrats. now the outlines of a deal to give legal status to 800,000 dreamers. the top democrats want it and top republicans want it too. is the president repositioning himself and willing to stand up to the voices in his own party who helped him win the nomination and helped him win and pushing him to stick to the campaign promises. i almost don't want to interrupt the pictures, but steve bannon is now fired and runs breitbart news again, he calls him amnesty don. is the president willing to stand up to the people who
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helped him win? >> i think there are a couple of questions. whether he can stand up to the pressure of breitbart. the message he sends with the daca thing has the potential to bring in other parts of the base. moderate republicans. the other question is can he really -- can a republican president really work with the interest groups? immigration is an issue that has been fought in the city for more than a decade and more than two decades. interest groups are liberal on who are the ones to fight for. can he align himself with the groups to get it done? >> i guess my question is, is this a new trump who learned the lessons and blames the republican leadership and said he will try to do it a different way or is it this week's trump? it worked for him and he got the harvey money and thinks that worked and now i will try it on
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something else. if this goes into the quick sand like most conversations in this town do, does he pivot again or is this a new trump? >> i mean i really think it would be difficult for us to overinterpret this. trump does both of those things that you said. it is very possible that he did see the negative reaction to health care and feel like he had to go in a different direction or it's possible he woke up and said i think i will start dealing with the democrats. that could change next week. >> the first lady is serving meals in the tent. this is in naples, florida.
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set your politics in a way. the president and the first lady and the vice president and the heads of agencies all standing there in a place where people are cleaning up a downed tree or maybe they are ripping out dry wall and mold in the house after flooding and the water of a hurricane. after having done in a community like this, it helps. when you have nothing or when you are exhausted. huh a lousy week. it helps to see the leadership support you. >> you talk about that and sarah knows this very well. the advance teams in the white house were horrible. in these last couple of weeks t got a lot better. they are getting the images out there and putting him in places
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he needs to be. >> you have to think about what this president was like as a candidate. five or times a day. this guy did not do it. he did a little bit here and there, but not a lot. he would make work lines at rallies, but the retail politicking like interacting with people like this and serving up a lunch. i remember being with mitt romney serving up ice cream in 2012. that's not what donald trump did as a candidate. as we talk about how he is coming into his style as president and how he changed, this is a good example of how he changed into president trump. he and the people around here are getting a better understanding that fine, maybe some people think it's cheesy thaw go out and serve people
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sandwiches and you put this on, but to some of the people it's not cheesy. it's nice to see the commander in chief on the ground and shaking their hand. that is a lesson that the president is learning too. >> you are right about that and to the point of being relevant and showing up close and personal that you care, one of the reasons he is president, but he did go into the communities in wisconsin and michigan and say i care about your factories and made a connection in the way hillary clinton didn't. he is more up close with the people here. this is a tribute to any white house. the first trip to texas. about melania's shoes getting on the plane and why wasn't the president hugging people or why is he there or he should have been in a place that had more damage. everybody should get a grip. set politics aside.
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>> i was wearing heels there in the rain. >> she there. there is a feisty debate about how it should be leading with the republican leadership. those are great and fun conversations. when a president of the united states whether his name is barack obama or george bush or the next president of the united states, all americans should say thank you. that's what you get elected to do. >> a john king special. >> we know he recognized that shirt. >> there is something inherent in the office of the presidency that they expect. even with the highly unconventional candidate and now president like donald trump, in these moment, americans come to
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expect seeing the president on the ground and seeing him reaching out to people and showing that he cares. we are sort of unique in that way that we have these expectations of our leader. >> whether you voted for them or not. probably with obama to southern states after horrible tornados where people didn't vote for him, but they were happy to see him there. it is what we expect of the american president. >> the traditions of the presidency at large. he didn't like them and didn't think he had to follow them. when you see him in these moments, it's beginning to don on him that you can without losing your ideological views big or small government, you can embrace the traditions of the white house and of the presidency. that can be okay. and take accountability and show people you care. people who are exhausted number one. three weeks and three months from now, is people to is still paying the bills and are people
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getting what they need. the system that responded well at the beginning did it stay good or collapse down the road. we will get to the accountability question. after days and weeks to see the president like this is a big deal. paul ryan is on capitol hill and we are waiting to hear what he thinks. the president said 800,000 dreamers. conservatives say it's amnesty and the president said they should be allowed to stay.
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>> just moments ago while we were watching the president, paul ryan and the republican house speaker reacting to a deal or the framework of a deal that the president of the united states, also a republican, cut with the top two democrats in congress. the issue, the so-called dreamers. does ryan like it? >> we have not begun negotiations. we are talking with ourselves
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here in the majority to make sure we are all on the same page before we proceed in all of these things. it's right and proper that the president talks with the other party. these were discussions and not negotiations. there is no agreement. the president was talking with democratic leaders to get perspectives. >> for they do, it's right and proper -- >> he will have to work with the congressional majority to get a solution. >> a little bit of spin there. if you read through this. and mr. president, we are the majority. lead with us and bring in the democrats. that's what the speak speaker was saying in the polite way. am i wrong? >> you remind the president of who is in charge and the problem for ryan is the same thing that speaker boehner had. you can get to the majority another way with the democrats
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and the more moderate way to bring the republican conservatives and moderates together that can be more difficult to do. trump potentially could be trying to expose what we have known about speaker ryan's tenuous grasp or control of his own majority. he is right. he puts the bills on the floor and mcconnell puts the bills on the floor. >> they have used that power to cater to the minority, but a vocal minority in the senate and more importantly the house. that's why john boehner is gone. he gave up with it. every week, they are coming after you next. is this a play and that's the biggest question. they are forcing this issue. is he trying to isolate and steve king with any status that is amnesty. i'm going to force them to the fringe. >> we talked about the new trump. i think it's a warning shot to republicans. the president has a lot of people around him who impressed
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upon him the fact that he needs legislative accomplishments to show for himself. he is moving forward and trying to do that. this is his warning to republicans. if you cannot help me get this done, i know enough people in this town that you may not like who will help me do it. >> he has dinner with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. chinese food and chocolate pie in case you care at home. if you look at the house, nancy pelosi is the poster child. all the advertisements about she is liberal and will raise your taxes and ruin your health care and donald trump is sitting down making her a player. >> those are the ads that the democrats are start and they will counter the idea that she is the devil or whatever the republicans would say. i agree that we don't know that this is a mundamential change, but he's a transactional guy and has been about figuring out a way to the end.
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how many stories did we do about the fact that he has no legislative accomplishments. the question is, if you can get there another way, i think he is inclined to do it. >> he is. he is a disruptor. last week with speaker ryan and connell standing right there, he cut a deal. surprises in the oval office. he has this dinner and the speaker saying it's not a deal, but it's the framework. he agreed to defer getting his wall money. the speaker is clearly unhappy and reminding the president we are the majority and let the majority work it out and we go hunting for more votes. do you trust him? >> do you trust the president of the united states and should the dreamers trust him? >> now, that a fair question? >> absolutely. >> the -- when we are talking
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about this legislation to protect the dreamers, yes, i can trust that the president is sincere in understanding that the public support is overwhelmingly knocking these young people back. >> that are is a grenade. >> first the pregnant pause. that was delicious if you cover politics. is the prosecute sincere about getting that for the dreamers. that's rolling it into paul ryan's room. >> the president is, is paul ryan in charge or is donald trump? it looks like paul ryan is going to say i decide when we vote and when we don't. i don't think he has that power. if they push it enough, they will throw it around. >> here complicates things because you are not only trying to do the dreamer bill, but you have tax reform and you come back to the spending bill and the debt ceiling and everything
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that is quick sand or worse. the president could make them mad. >> the president may learn that pelosi and schumer are under a lot of pressure from the left as well. even though it looks like the democrats are aligned, there are lots of folks in the immigration debate who do not want to see the other half of the deal. the increased enforcement and the idea that you have what trump called a massive new amount of border security or interior enforcement where you have the ice agents going all over the country tracking down and taking illegal immigrants and deporting them. that part if the republicans insist on that, the whole thing could fall apart. >> we will watch to see what the definition is when they put it on paper. how much money it is. we will see. a lot of questions to be answered. very different in washington. up next, hillary clinton blaming bernie sanders yet again. does that help or hurt the democrats.
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sanders is not even a democrat. he can not explain when impressed. >> i was arguing with a lot of supporters about why they had to quit complaining that i didn't win and get out and support barack obama. and i didn't get that respect. >> he's not a democrat. he makes that clear. he could be helpful if he so chose. that's what i'm calling on him to do. >> she is still feeling the bern. is that returning the bern? the grievance is raising a lot of democratic eyebrows. anderson cooper asked her to respond to the criticism that her book is not helpful to democrats right now.
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>> i don't buy that at all. from my perspective, i have a lot of experience and expertise and insight that i'm sharing with the world and particularly with democrats. >> a reminder after a long conversation about the fractures in the republican party about the democratic party having issues too, shall we say. >> the one thing is do we expect hillary clinton to be over this. if you lost would you be over it? i for sure would not be. you can understand why democrats said we are just relitigating the last election that we already lost. why are we not trying to pick up the pieces and figure out what we are going to do next and why we are not mounting the challenge. he is out there right now with single parent health care. something of a litmus test and
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seen potential 2020 contenters starting to lineup behind it. this is bernie's role. he is not the democrat and he never claimed to be one. >> hillary looked at that and the big thing that happened is kamala harris and elizabeth warren and the leading figures came out for medicare and hillary may think it's helpful and bernie sanders is much more of a powerful figure and hillary clinton is right now. >> the question is who will stand up to oppose him and say that's going too far to the left. she did win the popular vote. she reminds us of that repeatedly. she said time to get rid of the electoral college. >> here didn't win the popular vote and squeaked through the electoral college. several candidates won the popular vote and lost the electoral college.
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that said the system designed for another time no longer works. we have moved towards one person, one vote. that's how we select winners. it needs to be eliminated. >> the founders were well aware this might happen. they put it there for a reason. so the small states didn't get blown away. the people in today's world like california and florida and texas and new york and leave the middle states behind. any chance that's going happen? >> never. she is exactly the wrong messenger for that even if it were. she lost in the system that she is now asking to have eliminated. at some point in the future, if there was a ground swell from somebody who won in the current system and said but still i think it's my way. it's not going to. >> the witness has no standing is i believe how they would say
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>> i'm wolf blitzer from wherever you are watching for around the world. president trump and the democrats play let's make a deal. the two sides said they will work on a plan to protect the so-called dreamers, 800,000 resident who is were brought to the country when they were children. he said a border wall is vital, but everyone agrees on protecting the dreamers. >> everybody is on board. they want to do something. we are not talking about amnesty. we are talking about taking care of people, people that have done a great job.
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