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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  August 25, 2020 8:00am-9:00am PDT

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. hello, everyone. i'm kate balduan. thanks so much for joining us this hour. i'm going to throw some numbers at you but here's the point and the encouraging signs with the fight against covid. things are coming down and heading in the right direction, but, of course, with the important context that they are coming down from a very high point. just under 40,000 new cases reported yesterday. over the last two weeks the average number of daily new infections is down nearly 21%. just look at that curve. only ten states are now showing an increase there. many of them in the midwest which we will talk about more in just one second.
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23 states are seeing a decline. the virus killed another 450 americans yesterday, but the rolling average of deaths is slowing, slowly falling, and the all-important
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you can see the huge rise in cases but thin a decline but as cases decline in the sun belt you can see the danger ahead in the midwest with the cases on the rise there. which does beg the question,
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what we can call kind of a rolling hot spot. are they now the new normal? if so why and what's working and what isn't. do you think that is the new normal? >> i think it is the new normal for the near future and the challenge is that as a virus rolls into a community people start doing the things that we know stop the virus including things like shutting down bars, incredibly good about wearing their masks and social distancing, and then as peop people -- as it's real, neighbors are getting the disease, people are very adherent to the guidelines. as things start to wane, people
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mingle more and maybe i left my mask at home and they get more complacent. this waxing, waning and how we live through the length of time that we have to manage is going to be the challenge over the next 18 months or so until we get the vaccine not only made but fully deployed across the country. >> yeah, and you're answering my next question but just to put a fine point on it, we've been looking for so long at the sunbelt, the southern tier of the united states and how bad it had really gotten but also now the change. the percentage changed from week to week has dropped by at least 10% for the last two weeks in terms of cases. why is the sunbelt getting better? what have you seen from arizona to florida to texas? what are you seeing that's working? >> so i think the measures we are hearing about, the governors in those states actually did start taking the mitigation
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measures that we have to be able to do to shut down the virus which includes shutting down those places where you can't wear a mask and still go about your business, bars and restaurants, indoor dining and bars seem to be the social behavior that are really correlated with the highest risk of transmission. so they shut down the bars and restaurants. they started making masks more mandatory. they started increasing rules around social distancing. and, after a time lag, because it takes a little while to get control of this thing once it's out of control, you start seeing the improvements. and those are the proven practices that we need to make sure are consistent as viruses start to creep up in a community. we need to clamp down on those behaviors and can hopefully stop those peaks from getting too high before we're able to control them. >> there's a lot of see what we've done here or there to learn what you should be doing right now especially in the
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midwest. dr. redfield said he's nervous about a third wave hitting the middle of the country. a lot leaders can learn right now from leaders in the sunbelt, leaders in the northeast of how to make sure it doesn't spike what we've been looking at. i want to get your take on elizabeth's reporting. what does it mean if you can get a good estimate of how many children in a particular community are asymptomatic? how helpful do you think this is? >> i think it's a little bit helpful but, to be honest with you, it really is the burden of disease that matters, how many cases per 100,000 and how many tests are positive because the more disease in a community, the more likely you will have children who are carrying the germ whether symptomatic or asymptomatic. the challenge is what are those thresholds that allow us to get kids back to school, do we have testing available for when kids in school get infected because
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it's not if. it's always a when, so we can start containing the virus and do we have mitigation strategies so that if a child comes to school and is infected it won't spread like wildfire through the rest of the school. and so it's good to know but no means the only factor we need to understand. >> it's the factors, doctor, you've been talking about all along, that need to be listened to in order to open up safely and when to open up safely. thank you very much. i appreciate it. the national hurricane center just released a new forecast on laura and its path. it is expected to become a major hurricane before slamming into the gulf coast. let's get straight over to cnn meteorologist chad myers. he has been tracking this. chad, what is the latest you're seeing with this storm? kate, the hurricane center did take the storm and nudge it a little bit to the west, a little bit closer to houston. and that's concerning because we're 115 miles per hour making landfall and we always say
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that's plus or minus 10% t. could go either way. this is a storm in very warm water, not much here to tear it apart like marco got torn apart, absolutely destroyed. this is not going to have that kind of shear and will make landfall plus or minus 70 miles left or right. think how many coastal locations, not so much in louisiana along the coast but how many places that affects in texas. it will affect you in lake charles. this isn't going to slow down anytime soon. water is over 90 degrees. the inland push all the way to lufkin, alexandria. that's 110 miles per hour or more in some spots. this could be pushed well inland if it gets to the category 3
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plus or minus 10%. a lot of rainfall coming down as well. we'll probably see rain somewhere in the 10-inch range. now this is not hard. this isn't going to stop. it is going to roll through the midwest, roll over nashville, but not stopping like harvey did. houston, you are so close to the cone. in fact, houston, sugarland is not. you need to pay big attention. this is going to be a significant damage maker. a significant surge maker. if it's east of there that will be the lake charles area. if it's west like some models are taking it further west, houston, you are in it. make your preps now. you have 24 hours and then the wind will get too strong to put up boards. >> we'll stick close to you. the next 24 hours will be critical and people are preparing an emergency response
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especially in the midst of a pandemic. coming up for us we have wisconsin now at the center of nationwide protests after police shoot a black man in the back in front of his children. this morning new details about jacob blake's condition. and day one of the republican national convention painted a portrait of president trump that doesn't fit with reality. we'll sort through the fact and the fiction. for the past 25 years, masimo has been
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police clark during demonstrations over the outrage of a death of another black man in the hands of police. and this time in front of jacob blake's children. joining me now, sara, you've talked to jacob blake's father. what is he telling you? >> reporter: he says that his son has gone through multiple surgeries after being hit so many times by bullets and that at this moment he is paralyzed from the waist down. now he says doctors haven't been able to tell them if indeed this is something that will be permanent or if he will regain some movement at some point in time. a devastating bit of news for the family and jacob blake and his family that at this point he is paralyzed from the waist down. we also heard from his uncle, justin blake, who talked about how strong his nephew is, how he was a wrestler and how he was
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surprised that he even survived this. he called it a miracle after looking at the video himself, said he was devastated by it and he knows the three children ages 3, 5 and 8 who were inside of the car watching this are completely traumatized. they are cared for by loving family members and are trying to get them some help, some therapy. he talked about the devastating phone call this family had to endure, the familicall no famils to get. >> this is the call parents talk about, the phone call you don't want to get, and we got it. so you have to sort of be strong for each other, let your faith lead the way. after talking to his mother and my brother we are asking people in kenosha and around this
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nation to protest but protest nonviolently. >> we may have lost sara. sara, thank you. joining me right now to talk more about this is the president of the naach, derek johnson. thank you for being here. i just want to get your reaction to the video of the shooting and also what we have now heard about this entire thing so far. >> it's unfortunate for those children. can you imagine having your children in the car to witness such violence? this father exemplified why we need to do a qualified immunity, why there needs to be a national
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database of police misconduct. it will be interesting to find out how this law enforcement agency responds. how the district attorney will respond and whether or not these law enforcement officers have had past disciplinary problems. no community, no parent, no father of children should be faced with the vivid pictures of what we've just seen. we must do something different to make sure law enforcement agencies are actually protecting and serving our community and not creating this time of harm, trauma and violence. >> this, unfortunately, sounds and feels and is so familiar. that's what this entire moment has been about, right? what do you want to see happen now in wisconsin? what's your message to, i don't know, local leaders, the governor, the head of police? >> accountability must be in
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place. when you have qualified immunity you have so many officers who are actually good cops, but their profession has been tainted by individuals who are ill-equipped, ill trained, not provided with the right type of de-escalation methods and strategies and is causing and creating a really negative view of officers and agencies. the george floyd situation was not an aberration. so many african-americans had to live with and be faced with for years. the only difference we have social media. we have cameras on our phones. this stuff is being taped. growing up in detroit i was confronted with some of these things. we must as a nation deal with holding law enforcement agencies accountable to ensure that good police officers are able to be proud of their profession as we
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weed out officeers who are bad apples and i call on law enforcement officers to weed these individuals out. we must create a new standard of what we're witnessing today and this is a national problem, not a local problem. it's a national problem. >> put into context of everything that is going on even just this week. you have massive demonstrations that are planned for today in louisville, kentucky, demanding justice for breonna taylor and the naach is one of the organization is behind the march on washington this friday. we've talk a lot about kind of this moment, what this means during the protests after george floyd's death. what does this moment mean? there were massive protests throughout the summer in response to george floyd and racial injustice and systemic racism and now we have jacob blake, another name that has to be added to this tragic list.
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what is this moment, and where are we in this moment now? >> we are at a place we have to move those many protesters. we have black and white. we all are saying the same things that black lives matter. it's a statement of fact. it's a statement of fact that the value proposition we must carry to the polls in november. the naacp, we are proud to host a virtual march on washington. we're using this moment as a stopping point to re-energize to move to november. senator pelosi, senator booker will be joining us for the virtual march on washington. the goal is to prepare for the election in november around a valued proposition that black lives matter. structural racism is a problem and we must as a nation address the aggressive policing that we're seeing in our communities.
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the murderers of breonna taylor should not be walking free when this young lady was simply sleeping in her home in her bed not causing any peace and she was murdered by law enforcement officers. they must be arrested. the killers of any individual must be -- there has to be an accountability standard. we have to set a different tone moving from protests in the street to power at the ballot box with a value proposition that individuals who are elected begin to adopt public policy to have a true accountability system for law enforcement agencies who are sworn to protect and serve not kill black people for being black. >> much more about this ahead. derrick, thank you for coming in. i appreciate it. still ahead for us, the first night of the republican convention touted president trump's leadership. how much of it was reality or
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more what they want voters to believe? we're going to take a look at the trump campaign's alternative reality ahead. ♪ come on in, we're open. ♪ all we do is hand you the bag. simple. done. we adapt and we change. you know, you just figure it out. we've just been finding a way to keep on pushing. ♪ they get that no two people are alike and customize your car we've just been finding a way to keep on pushing. insurance so you only pay for what you need. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪
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the official theme of day one of the republican convention was land of promise. it was described more appropriately as trump's alternative narrative. you could also consider it an alternative reality because republicans promised an optimistic and uplifting four nights of speeches and delivered on night one largely darkness, doom and gloom. also because the depiction of america and this president was riddled with glaring falsehoods and, dare i say, alternative facts. an alternative reality on the pandemic, on democrats, and an alternative reality on trump's support among black americans. we'll break this down right now. daniel, let's start with the attempt to rewrite history on president trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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you fact checked this in real time but let me play for everyone some of what we heard last night. >> from the very beginning democrats, the media and the world health organization got coronavirus wrong. one leader took decisive action to save lives. president donald trump, banning travel from china and coronavirus epicenters. president trump was right. >> president trump saved lives by shutting down flights from china and europe. >> and, daniel, that's only a slice of what you heard last night. what is the reality there? >> there are a lot of issues here. i'll go through them quickly. number one, trump did not shut down flights from china and europe ever. there was no ban. he imposed a partial travel restriction that contained multiple exemptions and tens of thousands of people continued to travel after he posed that restriction. the suggestion that president trump, unlike democrats, did not get the pandemic wrong, did not
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downplay it like some of the people in that video is laughably misleading. trump said that we would go from 15 cases to about zero. he's the one who kept saying into march it was under control. he's the one who kept saying until this summer, until just recently it was going away, that it was disappearing. it's contested by many public health experts who say he was critically slow to take action on things like testing. it's not clear if joe biden did, indeed, call those travel restrictions xenophobic. he accused trump xenophobic the same day but his campaign insists he didn't even know about the restrictions at the time and was just talking about trump's general record of racism. >> and we also know from actual facts and data that the virus was already here in the united states before the travel restrictions set in place from europe. we know that clearly and also, as you mentioned as recently as last month the president was
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saying the virus was just going to disappear. that's not leadership. that's diminishing the threat and not facing reality still. so then, jeff, let's move to the other. when it came to democrats and their agenda, one speaker warned they are brainwashing you, literally said that, and that was just the tip of the iceberg last night. let me play some more. >> they want to control what you see and think and believe so they can control how you live. >> they'll disarm you, empty the prisons, look you in your home, and invite ms-13 to live next door. >> it's clear what they're trying to do, jeff, but can they make that stick to joe biden? >> unclear if they can make it stick to joe biden, kate. they are trying to undo, perhaps, all the work of the democratic convention last week. we saw a parade of republican speakers, several others who put
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their names behind endorsements to joe biden along the way saying they believe it's time to put country over party. so this series of speakers were intended to do was call these republicans home, essentially shake these trump supporters' base by lapels, if you will, it's not just joe biden. you are electing the entire democratic party. it's much more complicated to sort of tie joe biden to bernie sanders, to elizabeth warren. he defeated them during the primary. his view a one out. there's no question it's more difficult to rebrand joe biden after all this time. the challenge here is trying to go after some of those republicans who may be on the fence, kate. >> one thing we know that is real is fear is a very real and effective motivator. gets people out to vote. gets people to give you money. you can see that in play for
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sure. we also heard a lot about president trump's support for and from the african-american community. let me play some of what we heard. >> i take it as a personal insult people would think i've had a 37-year friendship with a racist. people who think that don't know what they're talking about. growing up in the deep south i've seen racism up close. i know what it is, and it isn't donald trump. >> the democratic party does not want black people to leave their mental plantation. and i'm part of a large and growing segment of the black community who are independent thinkers, and we believe donald trump is the president that america needs to lead us forward. >> is that right? >> well, first of all, it's incredibly offensive to say the majority of black voters who tend to vote for democrats are not free and independent thinkers. people make their own choices who to vote for and black voters
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like every other group are independent thinkers and choose democrats of their free will. so, first of all, that's incredibly offensive. the broader point is the president and his campaign have a couple of different audiences. yes, they are trying to improve their anemic numbers with black voters, most single digits in most polls, up to the low teens in some polls. but pretty low support among black voters who have seen 3 1/2 years of this presidency and by and large consider him a racist and want him to be removed from office. there's also another audience. the president is trying to show suburban white voters he is not the ratest that the majority of voters see him as, they're trying to show a large number of black supporters saying if i have all of these friends who support me, who are people of color then i can't be a racist. we know that's not true, but that's the strategy they're trying to use. by using some language about
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plantations and independent thinking, that probably is going to push a lot of voters away just as much as maybe appeal to some as well. >> absolutely. >> guys, we fit in a lot in a little bit of time. that is all night one of the republican convention. stay tuned to night two. cnn's special coverage of the republican national convention continues tonight starting at 7:00 eastern. coming up still for us a new warning from dr. anthony fauci on the idea of approving a vaccine before safety checks have been finished just as cnn is reporting white house officials suggested doing just that. businesses are always making choices. here's a choice you don't have to make. the largest 5g network... award-winning customer satisfaction... or insanely great value. now, with t-mobile for business, there's no compromise. network. support. value. choose. any. three. t-mobile for business
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dr. anthony fauci has a clear message for the country and the white house when it comes to approving a covid vaccine before it's fully vetted, do not do it. president trump has raised the possibility of pushing it out early and sources say white house officials have raised the possibility of an emergency use authorization of the vaccine before phase three trials are complete. dr. fauci telling reuters this. to me it's absolutely paramount
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that you definitely show that a vaccine is safe and effective, both. joining us dr. jesse goodman, a professor at georgetown university medical center. thank you for being here. why is this so concerning, doctor? >> well, i think a vaccine is very different than a treatment. a vaccine is given to a healthy individual and so before we use a vaccine we need extremely strong evidence that it's safe and effective. >> dr. fauci says his concern is not only that if you jump the gun, if you will, it not only hurts this vaccine with this virus but also then hur vaccine efforts and enrollments in trials in the future. it almost makes it not difficult but almost impossible in the future. do you agree with that?
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>> well, i think what he's talking about is if vaccines are out there prematurely before the trials are completed it could affect our ability to ever learn fully how well vaccines work considering we have multiple vaccines being looked at and some may be better than other populations. it's important these studies get completed. >> this brings into the spotlight again a fear and concern that the fda is being influenced by political pressure from the president and the white house, that they are playing politics with science. do you think that is happening? >> well, clearly there has been a lot of pressure on the fda. we saw that around the emergency use authorization of hydroxychloroquine and we saw pressure and statements from the
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president accusing the fda of being the deep state and trying to withhold approvals around the authorization of convalescent plasma. i'm very concerned about the effects of that pressure on the fda but even more on the public's confidence in the fda making independent science based decisions. that confidence is going to be critical both for any safe, effective covid vaccine helping us get out of the pandemic but it's critical for americans in the world on an everyday basis. the fda is a trusted agency that makes sure our foods and medicines are safe. threatening to create a perception the fda is acting under political pressure rather than according to the science. >> the fda commissioner says that all of the decisions being made are based on science and data and is defending the fda,
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but you have been there. you've been in the ranks. you've been in the trenches with these people. can you say with confidence that, unfortunately, politics is impacting decision making by the fda? >> well, i have to say i have tremendous confidence and respect for the scientists at the fda and i think they will only speak the truth. however, relentless pressure affects people and it also affects the public's trust even if they are made by fda staff. i think fda leadership needs to stand up against this pressure and not participate in it or what we saw in the last day was sort of overhyping and talking up of the results of this unproven convalescent plasma therapy. we need to review the data and
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make its decisions. >> dr. goodman, thank you for coming in. >> you're very welcome. ahead for us, he was one of president trump's leading evangelical supporters. m now what is going on with jerry falwell? is he resigned? what is happening after this alleged sex scandal? hey there people eligible for medicare. gimme two minutes. and i'll tell you some important things to know about medicare. first, it doesn't pay for everything. say this pizza... [mmm pizza...] is your part b medical expenses. this much - about 80 percent... medicare will pay for. what's left... this slice here... well... that's on you. and that's where an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company comes in. this type of plan helps pay some of what medicare doesn't. and these are the only plans to carry the aarp endorsement. that's because they meet
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and the hidden smiles.. the foggy glasses... and the muffled laughs. a simple piece of fabric makes a big statement:
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i care. wear a mask. let's all do our part to slow the spread. a sex scandal engulfing a most well-known evangelical school in the country. jerry falwell jr.'s future is uncertain this morning after apparently resigning and then retracting the resignation overnight. this starts with a photo of him on a yacht and now involves a former employee who claims having a year's long affair with both falwell and his wife. athena jones has more. >> i'm going to vote for donald trump because i believe he's the best qualified to be president of the united states. >> reporter: jerry falwell jr. lending a helping hand to then candidate donald trump in
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october 2016 after "the new york times" reported allegations that trump touched women inappropriately without their consent, a claim trump denied. >> i'm one of the 85% or so of evangelicals that supported him. >> reporter: a prominent evangelical supporter standing by him again in 2018. today the former president of liberty university might be in need of defenders. a man confirming to cnn of a year's long extramarital affair with falwell's wife. and that jerry falwell enjoyed watching from the corner of the room while they had sex. jerry falwell admitting she had an inappropriate relationship in a statement to cnn but denied being involved at all let alone having watched. becky had an inappropriate relationship with this person someone i was not involved n. a statement referring a fatal attraction-type situation and included multiple references to
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scripture, falwell said it led to stress, weight loss and reflection and has forgiven his wife and seeking professional help. reuters reported texts and said it happened at hotels in miami and the falwell's home in virginia. >> anybody should get applauded and should get standing ovations for what he's accomplished. >> reporter: in one from 2012, becky falwell who's on the board of women for trump allegedly writes to him, right now i'm just missing you like crazy, have you had this affect on all of your lady friends? a june 2020 exchange describes how the relationship deteriorated. granda allegedly writing it is a shame because i wanted to reach a peaceful resolution and just move on with our lives but if conflict is what you want then so be it. jerry falwell allegedly replying
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you should by now understand i will not be exploited. i have been restrained in response to the threats because i didn't wish to ruin your life. going forward, stop contacting me and my family. granda denied the blackmail accusation. >> we must unite behind donald trump and mike pence. >> reporter: falwell whose january 2016 endorsement of trump helped him win the support of white evangelicals had already been on an indefinite leave of absence after posting this photo on instagram with the woman he says is his wife's assistant and latter said was meant in good fun. a troubled moment for a conservative voice who nabbed a coveted speaking spot at the convention? 2016 and told "out front" in 2018 -- >> we are all sinners, we believe we all need forgiveness.
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>> reporter: and now the very latest update is that jerry falwell jr. has resigned from liberty university. that's what he told "the wall street journal" last night after a series of late night phone calls back and forth but now we can tell you that the executive committee and the full board at the university are meeting to make it finally officially official that falwell will be stepping down and this is not a criminal matter but it's still noteworthy to see yet another important ally of the president dealing with unflattering allegations like this. kate? >> thank you. coming up, what is in store for today's republican convention? after promising optimism and then morphed by doom and gloom terms america. ♪ come on in, we're open. ♪
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all we do is hand you the bag. simple. done. we adapt and we change. you know, you just figure it out. we've just been finding a way to keep on pushing. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
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hello, everybody. i'm john king in washington. thank you so much for sharing this busy day with us, day two. first lady is a highlight of the republican convention program. day one offered constant assaults on both joe biden and the truth. and offered a clear look at the president's comeback strategy, fixing the struggling standing in the suburbs is one big convention hope. >> they want to abolish the suburbs altogether. >> it's a horror film, really. they'll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home and invite ms-13 to live next door. >> they want to destroy this country and everything tha