i'm chris cuomo welcome to "prime time." we are two hours this week. i'm in for d. lemon. this president went from everything is all under control to this is all going to disappear. to 156,000 plus dead. it is what it is. >> right now it's under control. >> how? 1,000 people are dying a day. >> that's true. it is what it is. >> it is. it is what it is. it is a pandemic that you are not doing enough about on purpose. inaction on purpose.

by now, we know that this is happening because it is what it is and he is who he is. that is somebody who won't admit he screwed up and has to do it differently. he doesn't want to address the pandemic. he warned that it was going to go away. don't worry about it. then what did he say? it will get worse before it gets better. what are you going to do about it? nothing. instead of acting he is distracting. >> we are continuing to monitor. and monitor particular hot spots across the south southwest. and the west. and seeing indications that are strong mitigation efforts are working very well actually. >> he's reading it because he doesn't know what he's talking about. and that's suggestion is just wrong. it is at odds with reality.

for the reality here's erica hill. >> our national response to the pandemic should be a national embarrassment. >> it's under control as much as you can control it. >> the data that comes from the white house task force backs up exactly what dr. birx said. there's uncontrolled spread in over 32 states in the country. >> six months into the pandemic, the virus is not under control. despite the president's claim. cases surging in southern illinois. >> data can tell you if you are winning or losing gensz the virus. unfortunately right now the virus is winning. in jackson county. >> early gains giving way to spikes in san francisco. >> people filing complacency. they weren't scared anymore. >> there are some bright spots, california positive it rate is declining and 14 states including ads arizona and

florida are seeing a dip in new cases over the past week. of the 28 states in yellow. many are plateauing at a high level. >> i think the new levels will make what we have had already seem like i wish we were in the old days. >> deaths which lag two to four weeks are rising in 27 states. arkansas and west virginia seeing record hospitalization. georgia a surge hospital again. >> it saddens me with reheaded in the wrong direction so many mnt os after we had an opportunity. >> 260 employees can't work because they tested positive or been exploezed to the virus. testing at contact tracing still lacking are the key to reopening schools. >> we don't want to endanger one

teacher or student. one community member. >> teachers in one phoenix district calling on the governor to issue statewide safety mandates. arizona top education official warns it's unlikely any school in the state will be able to reopen safely for in person or hybrid learning. >> if you look at the facts the u.s. has about 4% of the worlds population. and a quarter of the cases. 25%. we have a problem here in the u.s. >> something else to think about. economists are pointing to parents as the next group of workers who could stand to lose jobs knowing single parents of young children at home and can't work from home are most at risk to not be able to work and prepandemic. we should point out a third of the u.s. work force had children at home. >> very important perspective. we're in a jam. so many people who watch this are parents.

and one of the bond we have is i'm living it the same wa you are. i don't know what aye going to do with my kids. i don't like the hybrid model. it's the worst of both worlds. we want kid back in school. find a safe way to do it. find the space, do it safely. and get the rapid test. then i'll put my kids in school. why would i want them in the school to be exposed to a group setting where they don't know who is sick and isn't? i don't buy the fever thing. why? a lot of things can give you fever. you can have covid-19 and not have a fever. the i'll send her there and there. and exposed and come home. i can't have my mother around. still have to deal with my wife not doing what she wants to do

work wise. i have it easy. i'm lucky. we're going to have the kids home and play the zoom b.s. again. they won't let you see the lesson you have to see the plan and 90% of the kids are not self-starters. this could have been avoided and still could be. if this president would put his arms around the problem instead of pushing it abay and covering his eyes. get us the rapid test. did what the uk did. instead we get this. >> death is going up. a thousand a day. >> if you look at death. >> it's going up again. >> take a look at the charts. >> i'd love to. >> death -- here's one. well, right here, united states is lowest in numerous

categories. lower than the world. lower than europe. >> in what. >> take a look. >> right here. here's case death. >> you're doing death in cases. i'm doing death sp population. the u.s. is really bad. much worse than south korea and germany. >> you can't do that. you have to go by -- look. here's the united states. you have to go by the cases. >> why not proportion of population? >> when you have somebody that has it where there's a case. the people that live -- >> it's irrelevant statistic to say if the u.s. has x population and x percentage of death ot of population. >> south korea for example. 51 million population. 300 death. it's crazy. >> you don't know that. >> i do. >> they're faking statistics?

south korea? >> let's bring in dr. ashish ja. here's the problem. is that he is spending time distracting from the reality instead of addressing it. i don't get the political play. this isn't your deal. but he's got time to put his arms around this and get us where the uk is with testing. which creates a solution for the angry gym owners on the show. a solution for the angry parents. who don't want to send kids back this way. and hate the hybrid model. the worst of both in my opinion. what is the reality of he says today we played this game yesterday. we want to get to where the uk is. how big a deal is it?

>> how big a deal is what the uk doing? >> for us to get where they are. >> yeah. here's the story, and again thank you for having me on. we are in trouble not just because we haven't built a testing infrastructure we need. we don't have a serious federal response anymore. testing is falling in half the states across the country. we're worse than two weeks ago. the only piece of good news in this is that today, seven state governors basically announce that they are going to go it alone. without the federal government. and go through their own testing and build testing infrastructure. and i think states are giving up at this point. >> why is that helpful? >> because with seven of them coming together, you get the kinds of market size ewe need to

able to go to companies is say if you ramp up and we can help you, we will be here to purchase your product. this is the federal government should have been doing four mornts ago. build up things and we will pay for it. they didn't. now states are doing it. we have other states join in. >> is it fairs to say that's the way it should have been. and the blame isn't on the president it's on the states. >> two reasons why we should have gone with the federal response first. you can argue the states should have given up earlier on the federal government. money sits with the federal government. they have the purse. they have a bunch of powers that states don't. the defense production act and so while states can do this, everybody acknowledges this is plan b. this is the second best choice. it's really the idea would have been the federal government

doing it. they couldn't or didn't. now states are. >> brother to brother for a second. with school. i can't in good conscience. we become proxies sometimes. they think i may know something. i can't tell people to sen kids back to school. i don't know if i'll do it. this hybrid sounds stupid. to me. that we'll put them sometimes. it's like you're only putting my kids hand in fire sometimes? if they are exposed to a classroom and can't count cases. it's too much. obviously at home has issues and problems. that's not public hell. i guess it's better than going every week in terms of exposure. don't you have the same problem if you can't count cases then you're not ready to have kids in

the places. >> i'm a big believer in testing in schools as a way of counting cases. >> tests that give you the quick response and can't get the lab access to get quick turn around. >> two things here. one is first of all also schools don't have the money. congress has to put in the money for schools to do this. and it would have been helpful if the federal government ramped up rapid tests. the white house gets a daily test with 15 minute turn around. could you imagine if kids were just as important? we could open now. my argument is if it's not safe to open now, start online. work really hard to build up the capacity to do rapid testing. when it becomes available and you have case numbers low in the community. then go to in person teaching. it's not my ideal choice.

it's better than risking it when it's not ready and giving up altogether. that's my suggestion. and advice to superintendents and mayors. >> we can't do the testing. we're afraid. >> they don't have space. that bothers me. this is a little bit of a dove tail. you know this already, in 1918 they did a better job. at teaching kids in out door spaces and tents and with the court. we haven't done that. we haven't innovated anything. why? >> because i feel like there are two reasons. first of all, we have way over politicized this. too many politicians starting from the top who made this a political issue. that's really frustrating to me. the second is i think people are not being creative enough. i have been saying to folks lock at public libraries. use that as space. >> movie theaters. churches.

community centers. nobody is using them. >> right. go outside. in many of the country september and october you can do it outside. maybe space heaters in november. you can be outside for a good chunk of the fall. let's do that. we know that's safer. it will require real leadership. it will have to come from states and governors and mayors and school superintendents have to do it. they're not used to fighting a pandemic. they will have to learn how to do it. we're ready to help. we want to help schools and teachers and superintendents figure it out. >> weak people make hard times. that's where we are now. we're not thinking. who want to survive and get ahead and pebeat it. it will be the tale of the administration and period in history. thanks for being along for the ride. and keeping us straight with the

possibilities. it matters that the president says things about historical figures, other presidents. about institutions that change our society. because it is a window into what he is about as a person. he says the pandemic is what it is. he's right. and he is who he is. he trashed john lewis again. why? a week after his funeral. trashed lbj. he diminished the significance of the civil rights act. he said how'd that work out? what? he dismissed the wildly unequal numbers of black people killed by police. all in one interview. what does that interview mean to somebody who is an advocate and

supporter and implementer of the black lives matter movement? angela rye. i'll help her get her jaw off the floor into her face so she can speak. next. - when i noticed my sister moving differently, she said it was like someone else was controlling her mouth. her doctor said she has tardive dyskinesia, which may be related to important medication she takes for her depression. td can affect different parts of the body. - [narrator] in today's trying times, we're here to help you manage td. visit talkabouttd.com for a doctor discussion guide to prep for your next appointment in person, over the phone, or online. - we were so relieved to learn there are treatments for td.

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president trump says he's done more than any other president for black americans. all while down playing the civil rights legacy of the late john lewis. here's what he told john swan about the congressman. >> how do you think history will remember john lewis? >> i don't know. i don't know. i don't know john lewis. he chose not to come to my inauguration. he chose -- i never met john lewis actually. >> do you find him impressive? >> i can't say one way or another. i find a lot of impressive and not impressive. i didn't -- >> do you find his story impressive? >> he didn't come to my inauguration or state of the union peaches. that's okay that's his right. nobody has done more for black

americans than i have. he should have come. he made a big mistake. >> taking your relationship with him out of it, do you find his story impressive? what he's done for the country. >> he was a person that devoted a will the of energy and heart to civil rights. but there were many others also. >> let's bring in angela rye. good to have you on "prime time." >> nice to be here. >> what do you hear in his words. not so much about john lewis. but the significance. >> i hear someone who doesn't know about john lewis. someone who hasn't done research or no education about john lewis's tremendous contribution to civil rights and beyond. after john lewis crossed the bridge he stepped into a long career in legislative advocacy and public service.

something trump learned from. it's convenient to erase the legacy of john lewis because that means he has to acknowledge the ways in which republicans have engaged nd voter suppression and he benefitted from it. he would have to acknowledge the fact that even though passed in the house this year, the senate has been negligent in taking up either measure to make elections fair and safe in the country. it is not in donald trumps interest to acknowledge the lifelong legacy and history of john lewis. anden fortunate given the fact we lost the giant of the man and trump is stuck on whether or not somebody attended his inauguration four years ago. >> we can both imagine him saying the same thing about dr. king if he were alive. that if he said something about trump that trump didn't like. he wouldn't care.

he would say this guy meaningless. if you're good to him you're good. if your bad to him you're bad. we're not used to that in the leader of the free world. he can say civil rights act, how'd that work out? i did more with bail reform than that. >> i think that the trouble here is the one thing i appreciate the fact is we know where donald trump stands. that's nowhere. unfortunately, with some of the republicans they have paid a lot of lip service since congressman lewis's death. they talked about how much of a hero he was. but if he was so much of hear row to them and leader they should be following suit and ensuring same voters protections. trump can create whatever revision history he wants to about the legacy and all he thinks he's done for black people. facts are not on his side. it's up to the american public to educate ousts about the truth

of the what is coming out of his mouth. it's not much. >> on policing which is obviously going to be relevant in the election. pandemic is overcoming everything. that is going to be a big under current of peoples feelings. here's what he said about policing. >> do you believe that many police treat black people differently? from white people. >> i hope not. certainly the -- >> you have seen the statistics. >> the knee on the neck was a disgrace. >> i'm talking about systemic racism. what does it mean to you? >> i hope the answer to the question is does anybody really answer that question accurately. >> what about analysis. >> i have seen where there is a difference and i don't want there to be a difference. i don't like the difference. with that being said -- >> why do you think black -- >> larger number police killed

white people. >> why are black men two and a half times more likely to be killed by police. >> i don't know. but i don't like it. >> is that enough? >> of course it's not. again it goes right to the heart of what we're talking about. which is where donald trump sits. he is the chief executive. the commander in chief. the leader of the free world. he doesn't have to to the like something. he's not a pun dit on air. he can use the power of the executive. president obama said with the power of the pen. he can use the power of the pen and change it. he can engage in exec fif action and order sign legislation. he can urge the senate right now to pass justice and policing. he pulled out a watered down version of an executive order after the death of george floyd and breonna taylor. which he has yet to speak to. he hasn't done anything

meaningful in the area. i give him credit for the first step act. it's time to see changes after the first step. it's not what's going to save black lives in the country. he doesn't have to like it. it's three times more likely to be killed black men are three times more likely than white people. if he really doesn't like it, he needs to prove it. with executive action and signing legislation into law that will actually save lives. >> you are what you do. not what you say. you were right to draw that and in fact it happens to be the topic of my life lesson tonight. thank you very much for joining me. be well. we have some election results that are going on. a couple key races. we'll give you that after this. hike!

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president trump, don't vote by mail. it's all fraud. president trump, if you're in florida, you should vote by mail. seriously. he tweeted whether you call it vote by mail or absentee voting. in florida the election system is safe and secure. the home of the hanging chad. so, in florida, i encourage all to request a ballot and vote by mail. why the change? let's go to the briefing room. >> i want to ask you first about what you tweeted out earlier today in regards to florida. and your comfortableness as it relates to mail in ballots for florida. why does that apply to florida and not mail in across the country? >> florida has a great

republican -- >> 20 states with republican governors. allow for voting by mail. with no excuse. only florida gets his thumbs up. i wonder why. we have the wizard of odds to break it down. what's the answer? >> the answer is that he's losing in florida. that i think is the easiest answer to the question. take a look at latest average of polls he's down by six points. biden is 50%. he's losing and needs to shake it up. he sees he's losing and wants to change up the game. >> how important is florida? can he win out it? >> it will be difficult. 96 years this is the key number. only twice in the 96 years has the winner of the election not won florida. 1960 and 1992. in fact, for a republican, no

republican since coolage in 1924 has won without winning florida. there are universes in which he can win without florida, they are very minute. >> what happened in 92 that would happen this time for it to vote against trump and yet he wins? >> look, obviously if trump were able to maintain that base in the midwest and the great lake states. if he won pennsylvania and michigan. and wisconsin. in that case if everything else stayed the same from the 2016 map, he could lose florida and win. that's the universe in which it happens. it's not a real probable universe. the president actually polling poorer in the upper midwest in the great lake battleground states. >> another aspect is that mail in requests are somewhat

indicative. what we're seeing is florida democrats are jumping out to a huge advantage in mail ballot requests. he was bashing the idea of voting this way. also probably why he's asking his own people to do it. >> that's exactly right. the republicans were so worrying down there over this developing trend. take a look at the margin in the requests between democrats and republicans. it's near will 600,000 voters in 2016 the number of requests for the general election was basically even. president trump is seeing this map, seeing the polls that show him down and obviously recognize the something needs to change and that to me is the most logical explanation why all of a sudden vote by mail or absentee any of that is acceptable to him in florida. but not to anywhere else. >> the problem is that he caused his own problem. because you are seeing in the

numbers his own people are less likely to vote by mail. because he told them not to. >> that's exactly correct. president trump is caused this problem. and hasn't just caused it in florida. it's so key. he caused it nationally. if kwou look at the polls now and say okay, how are you voting? in person and ab ten see or mail. you see current will in the polls nationally is that democrats overwhelmingly 51% in a "washington post" poll want to vote by mail. vs. 20% of republicans. that is a huge margin and much different than 2016. when that margin didn't exist. it's very clear that republican voters have been listening to president trump and therefore don't want to vote by mail. banking votes before election date especially in a pandemic that's unpredictable puts democrats at advantage. >> especially at a time when he hasn't gotten any kind of game

together on the pandemic. this starts in september, that early voting. will be people voting with kids who haven't gone to school and economy not open. not doing the testing. other countries are echo that acceleration. and we may not. that's a bad time. mail in may make a difference. thank you. from context to the urgency of consequence. breaking news on this election. in parts of our country. a primary race is getting national attention. you'll recognize a name. let's bring in jessica dean. thaurng for joining us. what's the news out of kansas? >> we can report that roger marshall defeated chris. in kansas. you mention that people might be familiar with one of the names. of course hard liner a trump ally. for a while now. this really was an interesting

race that got national attention because it really illustrate ts a divide reason the republican party. what happened was a lot of the establishment behind marshall believing he was the one that could win the senate seat coming up in the fall. coback of course getting in the race as well. it was a big field. and president trump failing to endorse in this race. really staying back. republican establishment had hoped president trump would weigh in formarshall and believed that was a best choice and chance of keeping that senate seat. president trump we had reporting from earlier in the cycle he didn't want to weigh in on this. because marshall supported kasich in the past. he kind of hung back. the big news tonight chris coback beat by roger marshall. democrats hoped it would have been coback.

they thought it might have set up a chance for them to pick up a seat in kansas. of course the democrats looking to take back the senate in the fall. that would be if that happened it would be the first time a democrat won that seat for the senate since 1932. >> thank you very much. uphill battle for democrats in that state. coback is relevant. the president is bashing the idea of voter fraud. he was his boy on that. he put him in charge of the commission to track down fraud in the 2016 election. remember they disbanded it? it's interesting he goes down in his own party. a time when trump is playing the same song. you can't trust the system. you can only trust him. another tragedy that needs to be on your radar. in berut. a massive explosion. as strong as mag nude 3.3 earthquake. i want to show you the blast. you haven't seen many like it.

>> i mean, it does look like a bomb went off. dozens are dead. thousands are hurt. and lots of questions because we don't know that it was a bomb that went off. we don't know whether this was attack or a manufacturing accident. why did this happen? it is obviously spectacular to see. but what is behind it? people were hurt. and killed. we're going live to our correspondent next. when we started carvana, they told us

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just about sunrise now in lebanon. recovery efforts are very much

under way after this massive explosion that just ripped through that city. 78 people killed. 4,000 injured. something out of a movie. many remain missing. buildings miles away from the center were badly damaged including our bureau. our senior international correspondent was there when it happened. here's observation. >> it felt like an earthquake. and looked like a mushroom cloud. the explosion tuesday so massive it shook the ground all the way to cypress. 150 miles away. the level of devastation is it still being assessed with widespread destruction stretching for miles from the epicenter near the port. firefighters and emergency workers rushed to the scene. one the city governor described

as resembling atomic bombings. hospitals were inundated with hundreds of victims and urgent call for blood donation. the casualty count staggering. thousands injured and dozens dead. with the number of dead surely to rise in the hours to come. initially the state news agency attributed to the cause of the blast to a fire at a fire works warehouse. but shortly after, the head of the security said the explosion happened at the site of confiscated high explosive material. lebanon prime minister said it is unacceptable that a shipment of estimated 2,750 tons of ammonia nitrate was stored in a warehouse near the port for six years. the country launched an investigation into the cause expecting an initial report in the coming days.

the president ordered military patrol in the wake of the incident. in a country already on its knees due to failing economy. and the spread of the coronavirus. the prime minister announced that wednesday will be a day of mourning. >> you and the rest of the team are okay. anybody get hurt? >> yes, our camera man was on his scooter and blown off of it. he injured his hand and has a large gash on his leg. despite that, he came immediately back to the office and did live shots for a few hours. the office is in shambles. this is our studio, was our studio. the windows were blown in. frames blown in. our equipment is damaged. this is the only functioning microphone. and cameras are no longer

working. this office like many in this building, like many houses and offices throughout berut. have seen windows blen out. massive destruction. and you were referencing the 70 people killed. 4,000 wounded. this is really just a very preliminary number. what we have had all night long is local reporters live on television going down the list of the people who are missing. and there are many. also reading the list of the napes of people who are in hospital. but relatives haven't gone to see them. so, even though it's almost 6:00 a.m. here, the city is still trying to pick up the pieces and we will not have a clear idea the extent of the damage and of course the final death toll. >> the big question looming over it all, why?

they're looking into whether or not it had something to do with manufacturing. the president in america said that he was told tfts an attack. now we're hearing from defense officials that they do not have proof it's an attack. we'll stay on it. thank god you're safe. send our best to the team. >> all right. let's take a break. the second installment of our life lesson. i'm turning 50 on sunday. can't celebrate anything. i'm in no mood to. so what i want to do is tell you what i have learned in five decades. doesn't even feel five days. i'll make it stretch.

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lesson number two is you are only what you do. now, why do i say this? because it has complete application. why am i saying it at all? because i'm turning 50 on sunday and i decided to celebrate with the rest of us by just passing along some of the things that are now painfully obvious to me, as someone who has lived a long time, bless lid so. made a lot of mistakes, and has become increasingly aware of their own flaws. we don't like to talk about that, especially in my position, right? we're supposed to go with some kind of illusion of grandeur, some kind of illusion of somehow being better than the people who watch us, somehow aspirational, but that's rarely the case. and when it seems that way, it's often fake. but the reality is that i think the more we can relate about our

fragility, our flaws, our problems, our struggles, the stronger we'll become. strong people make good times. weak people make hard times. that's what we're dealing with right now. part of our weakness is that we talk too much, and we believe that too much is achieved by what is said. how? i love you. yeah? do you live it? do you show me? do you do things for me, care about me? do you put me before yourself ever? i'm a good dad. really? do you tell your kids no when they want to hear yes? are you with them? are you on your phone? do you show them that they matter? do you show them that you can be tough on them but you still love them, but that's not some excuse called tough love which is really just harshness as some proxy for strength? i'm going to do the job for you. do you? do you work your ass off? do you grind every day? i want to lose weight. do you work out? do you diet? i want to be better.

i'm sorry is my favorite one. don't say it. do it. sorry is a promise to do something better. show me. show other people. my goal is to show you. talk is cheap. save it. we talk too much. life teaches you to do more and say less. if for no other reason, so much more is communicated with action than can ever be impart ed with the most eloquent prose. we are what we do, not what we say. we learn that in politics every single day. we're suffering under the yolk of our misplaced trust in words right now as a pandemic devours us. what we do will define us. that is true for all of us, and each of us. life has taught me that. and i hope to not just teach that lesson, but learn it, but to live it. you are what you do. that's a lesson number two.

we'll be right back.

time for cnn tonight with laura coates. it is what it is. that's an upgrade for d. lemon. >> it is what it is. that phrase is going to haunt me forever. it's so cavalier, chris. do you know what's not cavalier? i love your closing, the life lessons we're giving. i'm wearing my flowers for you. i feel like you have to have your flowers while you can still see them. >> that's good. thank you very much. i applaud the president for saying it is what it is. he happens to be right. his problem is that it is what it is means that it is a pandemic, it is real. it's not a hoax. it's not going to magically disappear and he's not doing a damn thing about it. he's not even talking the right