joining us now with some perspective is cnn's senior political analyst, david gergen. he served as an adviser to four u.s. presidents and cnn political analyst, carl bernstein. david, before you went to washington, you interned for north carolina governor, terry sanford, and became deeply involved in civil rights efforts. as you compare the unrest then and now, what's different and what concerns you most about this moment? >> sure. well, there are parallels, of course. and there was a -- 1968 was a terrible year in american history. there was a great deal of fear and anger expressed in that year. we had -- martin luther king was assassinated. protests sprang up in a hundred different cities across the country. bobby kennedy was assassinated. we had the height of the draft, vietnam, very controversial. walter cronkite said it was an unlivable war. there were a lot of tough things happening and we wondered if the center would hold. i must tell you, and i would be curious what carl bernstein would have to say. i must tell you, this is worse and it's scarier than what we ha

joining us now, cnn political analyst david gergen. david, i wonder, you look at this list here and notably taking place on friday afternoons and evenings to sort of sneak it through. you have the state department i.g. gone. you have might atkinson, he's the one that alerted lawmakers to a ukraine whistleblower complaint. he was gone. glen fein, department of defense, he was going to oversee $2 trillion in pandemic spending. trump angry over having barely any insight. and the defense i.g. was pushed out after raising an alarm for a shortage of health equipment for first responders in the pandemic, which is a fact. are there going to be any consequences for this? >> it's hard to tell whether there will be consequences. a continued erosion of trust in the government and the administration, i'm afraid. i'm glad you went over this of how many have been fired, because it's worth remembering this law, this program of the inspector general's, has been in place since 19578. it's 42 years old. they realize it holds everyone on the team accountab

let me bring in cnn's senior political analyst david gergen. david, good to see you.s been a while. i know you've been doing what you need to do to stay home and protect yourself, your family. you've also advised presidents nixon, ford, reagan, and clinton. and from your vantage point, you've had a front-row seat to some very challenging times, obviously, in this country. but on a weekend dedicated to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for other americans, have you ever seen the country this unwilling to come together for a common good? >> no, i'm afraid not. i don't think any of us have seen anything like this before. listen, i think what we're seeing today is people not just ignoring the guidelines but intentionally defying the guidelines. and this has been a country, it is important to remember, that has long had a tradition of individualism, you know. personal freedom has been central. we're much more -- we had much more emphasis upon individuals than most other western country. we're different in that respect. so, we have to expect that at a time like this peo

cnn senior political analyst david gergen joins us. f course, a former adviser to presidents reagan, ford, nixon, and clinton. we have lived some of his parallel universe, alternative reality, since day one of the trump presidency. but in the middle of this as we approach this moment, 100,000 americans dead, that's the population of tuscaloosa, alabama, for the president to be saying things that are just reckless, and if you tweeted them or if i tweeted them, we would be fired in a snap. >> right. right. we might have been institutionalized too, john. listen, this should be a week of national mourning, to have 100,000 deaths, the number we'll reach in the next two or three days, and the country is saddened by that. traditionally, presidents bring us together for occasions like this. they are iconic moments you can remember with crises in the past, going back to reagan and the challenger, when the challenger blew up and he went on television that night, or bill clinton going to oklahoma city after the bombing, or george w. bush there at

but it's not helping the country. >> all right, david gergen, thank you very much. and next the president says the administration is now investigating a serious illness that could be linked to coronavirus that has left at least three children dead. plus as more states reopen what do restaurants need to do to keep people safe? celebrity chef tom kalikio is my best. like, quitting every monday hard. quitting feels so big. so try making it smaller, and you'll be surprised at how easily starting small can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette. many of life's moments in thare being put on hold. are staying at home, starting small can lead to something big. at carvana, we understand that, for some, getting a car just can't wait. to help, we're giving our customers up to 90 days to make their first payment. shop online from the comfort of your couch, and get your car with touchless delivery to keep you safe. and for even greater peace of mind, all carvana cars come with a seven-day return policy. so, if you need to keep moving, we're here for you. at carvana

me now, former presidential advisor to four presidents and now a cnn senior political analyst, david gergenavid, again, remarkable images from minneapolis right now and we've seen pictures from philadelphia, newark, new jersey, chicago, los angeles. what goes through your mind as you see this? >> well, of course, a lot of memories do come back from the 1960s and '70s when we had two protest movements, first the civil rights and then the anti-war to vietnam protest movement. and i think there, john, a couple of lessons that should be learned or were learned by people who were in charge in white houses in those days, one is, the first thing you do need to do is get -- bring order. you do not want to escalate violence. but that also means this for the police. it's really important that the state, that the police, that people who represent the armed -- the security forces in our country not use excessive force. we saw the pictures of bull connor unleashing dogs on those kids in the civil rights days. that escalated things hugely and really broadened and deepened the protests, made it very angry