david gergen, let's stick with secretary of state here.es you think he faces as he heads into %-p? >> i think the main thing is to represent the president around the world. i can't imagine -- i imagine joe biden will want to invite various heads of state to washington. somebody's going to need to go out while he is in his first hundred days and talk to leaders. and blinken is ideally suited for that. he does, as david axelrod points out, he does speak for -- he's not a stranger to biden. that makes it enormous -- it gives him a lot more power and leverage, in addition to the fact he's widely known as a very decent guy. so i think there is going to be strength in this. john, i cannot remember a time when the democrats have had such a -- in foreign policy and national security. two, three, four levels down, you find real excellence. and i think joe biden has chosen from that group thoughtfully. not only is he bringing talent and experience but this diversity point is extremely important. and diversity is not just about having more women, whi

joining us now former adviser to nixon, reagan, ford, clinton, david gergen and staff writer, global affairs analyst susan glasser. thank you both for being with me tonight, david. if trump leaves the white house kicking and screaming and he never backs off of his claims of a rigged election, will his 73 million voters ever accept joe biden as president? can the country heal? >> that's an excellent question. it appears the intentions and goals of the trump fema go well beyond shortened transition period, as important as that is. the real goal, ultimate goal is to sabotage the presidency. i hate to say that. i think that's what we're seeing. the longer this process plays out with trump more and more expecting fictitious votes to change. the longer this goes on, deeper the feeling sinks in among trump voters this was not a fair and free election. strikingly there was a survey taken by "politico" morning consult before the elections, 35% of elections thought the elections were not going to be fair. after the elections, a second survey, more recent, that number has doubled. we're now at 7

david gergen joins us. also, with us, presidential historian, douglas brinkley. and former michigan governor, jennifer granholm, who is a senior member now of the biden-transition team. david, you wrote a piece today and you say, quote, never before has the opposition undermined the legitimacy of a new president before he has even taken office to anything like this degree or in this fashion. so you served in both republican and democratic administrations. how unprecedented is this, on the way in? >> very. very. when people like doug brinkley and i were growing up, little older than doug. presidents had honeymoons. they usually got six, eight months of time when the opposition, the media, other groups, you know, were very supportive. wanted to see them succeed and it made a major difference. got things done. then, we went from a period of bill clinton to today, where presidents were denied their honeymoons. they sort of had to make it on their own, they had no honeymoon. that was rougher. this is the first time we have ever seen trying to knee cap an incoming presi

david gergen, a former adviser for nixon and our political analyst, rick santorum. kirsten, i want to start with you, the difference of these two events on a day of 2200 new deaths reported, for the 16th day in a row, the president is talking about the election he lost weeks ago. how do you explain it? >> well, i mean president trump has basically checked out in terms of even trying to be president and is just out spreading conspiracy theories and further dividing the country. the country is already so divided. the last thing we need is to have somebody claiming the election is stolen when it clearly was not. he's trying to save face for the fact that he lost. joe biden is acting like a president, sort of what we remember from the past whether it is republicans or democrats preceding donald trump, trying to unite people when we are facing a pandemic, trying to encourage people and showing empathy, the kind of things that we associate with the president. >> david gergen, each message and very distinct message that we heard today. what did they send to the world? what

david gergen joins us. he's seen quite a lot from the inside, but not quite this. also douglas brinkley and jennifer granholm who is a senior member now of the biden transition team. david, you wrote a piece for cnn.com today and you say, never before has the opposition undermined the legitimacy of a new president before he has even taken office to anything like this degree or fashion. you served in both republican and democratic administrations. how unprecedented is this on the way in? >> very. very. when people like doug and i were growing up -- i'm a little older than doug -- presidents had honeymoons. they got six, eight months of time when the opposition, the media, other groups were very supportive, wanted to see them succeed. made a big difference. they got things done. then we went through a period for bill clinton to today when presidents were denied their honeymoons but left unschoolyard coming out. they had to make it on their own. it was rougher, but they made out on their way. this is the first time we've ever seen trying to kneecap an incoming presiden

perspective now from david gergen, former adviser to presidents nixon, reagan, ford. and also, cnn senior political analyst. and rick santorum, a former republican senator from pennsylvania and a senior political commentator. kirsten, i want to start with you. just the difference between those two events where, on a day when there are 2,100 new deaths reported, on a day where there are record hospitalizations for the 16th day, in a row, the president's talking about the election he lost, weeks ago. how do you explain it? >> well, i mean, he -- president trump has basically checked out, in terms of even trying to be president. and is just out, you know, spreading conspiracy theories, and further dividing the country. the country's already so divided. the last thing that we need right now is to have somebody claiming that an election was stolen. when it clearly wasn't. so, he seems to be trying to save face for the fact that he lost. meanwhile, you know, joe biden is acting, you know, like a president acts. sort of, you know, what we remember from the past. whether it's

. >>> back with us, david axelrod and david gergen. you know a lot of people, you know them.oes it strike you? >> they're all people of deep experience. they are people who have grown up in the national security world. they have people who are close to biden and worked with him on foreign policy issues. when tony blinken travels the world, people will know he'll speak for the president of the united states because they know how close their relationship is. tony has been secretary department of state and security adviser for years. he was biden's top staffer and jake sullivan, the national security add vizviser at the wh house was a top aid to hillary clinton at the state department also. deep ties both to foreign policies and biden and all of them share a philosophy of engagement in the world of strengthening alliances of using alliances to improve american security and prospects and it was interesting that jim mattis wrote an article that was published today where she urged the foreign policy of the country to move in that direction. finally i would say diversity. the presid

and also former new jersey governor, david gergen, cnn's senior political analyst. president trump continues to try to overturn the results in the election. he did it in pennsylvania and michigan, trying to convince people to throw out the votes. that's still happening and is still happening. i don't think we can ever forget that. with that said, the transition itself does seem to be beginning, how can the two walk hand in hand? >> well, first of all, i am glad to be with you john and christie. i think there are two different tracks that are going down here. one is candidate trump administration in the court that's going fail miserably. the second track is whether they could succeed in the public. we have evidence coming in that this country is deeply divided. we'll have to wait and see how people respond to biden's press conference today of the introduction of his national securi security. i am going to be curious of people who have been supporting trumper, is there going to be continuing noises or new effort pushed. b biden is getting off to a great start. it is u

joining us, kathleen sebelius and david gergen. sebelius, with all the scenarios you went through while preparing for a possible pandemic, was there ever a time that you talked through the possibility of almost an entire political party fighting the science and fighting you on public health measures that would be needed to deal with a possible pandemic? >> erica, none of us ever contemplated this scenario. the president never contemplated this scenario. never in the history of the united states have been see a public health crisis be politicized the way this one was. i go back to april when the cdc put out very clear step-by-step guidelines. the cdc was asked and did follow through with a step-by-step here's what you do to protect the health system. here's what the positivity rate should be, here's how much testing should be in place, what the contact tracers should look like. the number one goal was to keep americans safe and secure. the following day the president of the united states chose to begin attacking governors, demanding

david gergen, the formal transition has gup. you know this all too well working with so many administrations. how important is it for president-elect joe biden to sort of stay on top of this narrative during this sensitive time before his inauguration to make sure the americans dent don't think the president can throw this into chaos and unravel everything. >> i think joe biden has been an comforting influence and i think he has played this well and set the tone well. we are going to have a lot of the twists and turns ahead. the president say he would create news the next 50 days and whether it's the pandemic or iran, we don't know. donald trump can create a lot of chaos as president and leave behind a legacy that ties biden's hands on a lot of fronts and that is really so distressing about this. it's so anti-democratic and undermining our system and unfair to joe biden and his people. we are where we are or it is what it is as the president would say. >> it certainly is. we will leave it there. thank you all for joining me. >>>

. >>> let's get more from david gergen and bacarri sellers is with us with a new book "my vanishing country and jessica dean is back with us once gagain. david, you've been advising presidents from both educators. have you seen a an assault on democracy like we are from this president and how worried should we be? >> we should be worried because a direct assault on democracy but on the incoming president joe biden. i think both are threatening to our democracy over time. even as trump is losing badly in the courts of law, in the court of public opinion he is doing better than anyone could have expected. there are 70% or so of republicans thinking -- 70% of republicans think that biden would be taking office as a result of fraud. they basically think he is an illegitimate president. they will be trying to destroy him and democrating our democracy. i think these are troubling times. i think the president not only awful about giving the traps circumstances keys to the -- transition the keys to the biden team but the effort he has made to sabotage biden and kneecap joe biden is disgraceful and

let's get perspective from abby phillips and our david gergen and miles taylor. he was revealed as the author of a "new york times" op-ed that was highly critical of the president. miles, you worked in the department of homeland security. you were hired the same day as mr. krebs, you guys worked together in your time there. why does it matter? >> well, first of all, it is a couple of things. i think this demonstrates how unhinged the president is becoming towards the end of his presidency. but the bigger takeaway is chris krebs is not a super partisan figure. he was a political appointee of the president. but this is someone who has more integrity than almost anyone i know. chris and i started the same day and there was no one that i respected more than the government because he wasn't a partisan. he's focused on the mission. what matters more to him than anything was making sure our elections in 2020 were more secure than they were in 2016. on chris' first day, he said, i want my mission to be that make sure that the bad guys, the russias and chinas in the world

joining me now to discuss, cnn senior political analyst and former advisor to four presidents, david gergen to play a reminder of what happened after he won the election four years ago and his assessment of how things went at that point. take a listen. >> every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power. and we are grateful to president obama and first lady michelle obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. they have been magnificent. thank you. thank you. >> the president's press secretary, kayleigh mcenany seems to be doing her best to rewrite history. >> something that i would note is just we talked a lot about transfer of power and the election and it's worth remembering that this president was never given an orderly transition of power. his presidency was never accepted. >> so, sabrina, we know there was an orderly transfer of power. we know that there was a transition. we know the former president obama and former vice president biden reached out pretty quickly after the election. when we look at the latest messaging tha

. >> joining us now, cnn's senior political analyst david gergen. he's also a former adviser to presidents nixon, ford, reagan and nixon. and kirsten powers, cnn political analyst and columnist for "usa today." great to have both of you. i know you've been working hard over the last several days. thanks so much for taking the extra time tonight. david, the gravity of this moment, a u.s. president refusing to concede while the country and seemingly the rest of the world are moving on. this is unprecedented, is it not? >> yeah. one more thing in the trump years that is unprecedented and sadly so. the person getting hurt the most by this is trump. he's ruining his reputation. he could go out as a classy guy and he said, i've lost this. i'm going to support biden, and i want to make sure that the country moves forward. instead he's got this childish response. and he's obviously like a blowtorch in the white house. you get anywhere near him and suggest to him that he might want to concede, you know, you just get really burned like it. look at melania, yo

presidents, david gergen, april ryan, cnn correspondent and analyst and doug brinkley cnn presidentialrice. all of you have such important perspective. let me start with you, april. i just said joseph r. biden and kamala debby harris. okay? that just her name alone says so much. right? the first woman, the first woman of color, the first black woman. the first south asian woman. and she is now the vice president-elect of the united states. >> yes, you know, for the last 23 years i've covered presidents. i've seen history. i've called the first black president mr. president. now, as a black woman, i will raise my hand and ask a question of madame vice president, the first woman of color to become the vice president of the united states. and not only that, she identifies as black. she looks like me. that is huge. when we look back in history we see white men. white men. and washington is still a white male fraternity but it is changing. gender and by race. >> david, people are celebrating in the streets across this country. you know as we've said in jest it is a saturday night. it's goin

ben ginsburg, dan ebber hart, david gergen. really interesting discussion. i appreciate you coming on and sharing your time with us. >> thanks. >> thanks. >> thanks. >>> out front up next we have breaking news for you. as cases and hospitalizations hit new records the cdc is prepared to hold an emergency meet being who gets the vaccine first. >>> plus i will speak to a woman whose father was infected with kprirs and died just a few days before thanksgiving. tonight she has a message that every american needs to hear. >>> and why the president is having to shift his message after claiming georgia's elections are riddled with fraud. we'll be back. does your deodorant protect you all day? we gave new dove men+care to mike who transforms homes for those in need. i feel comfortable and protected all day long. dove men+care 48h freshness with triple action moisturizer. we're all finding ways to keep moving. but how do we make sure the direction we're headed is forward? at fidelity, you'll get the planning and advice to prepare you for the future, without sacrifici

david gergen and abby phillips. congressman jackson lee is back with me. not a surprise. we know people in the administration who tells the truth. what does it tell you abou about -- well, we may hold before president trump showing us the door. >> we are living in a surreal time now. democrats could shot take this likely. i believe that we are more as a rule infomercial with t vulnerable with the firing of krebs. i can assure that the concern is that the gaping hole that'll be left after director krebs have left is very challenging. secretarily what i would say is that we started looking at election security with director krebs as early as 2018. the committee had several hearings. it was specifically on the question of election security that we came together that said we did not want to happen in 2020 to happen in 2016. director krebs worked with us to ensure that and presenting us the work. he was looking to ensure that we have a safe and secure election. one of things i remember asked him of the intelligence of each states. his agency is an open book ready to receive th

david gergen and david axlerod are no strangers to the comings and going at the white house. between them, they have advised five different presidents. they spoke earlier about their reaction to the biden team formally getting the go ahead. >> the president has done the right thing by allowing this to go forward. he has a vital step to take before democrats can feel sorry for him and pleased with him. and that is it's vital that this president tell his base, and tell the whole country that he believes joe biden is the legitimate president, that he has not been put there by fraud. until he does that, democrats have every reason to resent what he has done, stirred up the base, and pushing politics still, and they will never forgive nor forget these last couple of weeks, unless he makes it clear that the joe biden is the legitimate president of the united states. >> i can't speak for all democrats because they are a nervous species, so there may still be some hand wringing until january 20th at noon. it's a line of demarcation, and it's the most important. it doesn't matter what

joining me now, is chief political analyst gloria borger and malik henderson and david gergen.n the final hours before election day we can't overstate the magnitude of this moment at this hour both candidates have a path to victory, don't they? >> they have a path to victory. the question is how either one of them is going to get there. wolf, we have an energized electorate like i don't think i've seen. you have two-thirds of the number of voters that voted in the 2016 election so you can see how that number is going to increase. you have incredibly polized electorate. you have the pandemic and economy and race relations. everything seems to be on the line here. and you have two candidates who could not be more polar opposite. you have one talking about unity saying i'll be the president of all america, and you have another president stoking divisions inside this country. you also have a current president of the united states who is already saying before the votes have all been cast and counted that this election is going to be rigged should he lose. put that altogether and it'

david gergen joins me now. you have been in these moments. you have worked with so many presidents. the reporting you just heard from kaitlan collins from white house acknowledging he recognizes the imagine won't work in trump's favor but maintaining a prolonged court battle will sow enough doubt. that is the mindset president of the united states. joe biden is primed to make a teach tonight. he may be declared the victor and he may not. what does he do at this moment? >> first of all, erin, it's important to remember the tradition that the loser is the one who calls the winner and has a private phone calls and goes before the public to make a gracious concession speech and promise to do everything he can to help the next president of the united states. of course, we have, stead, a very childish and irresponsible response from our current incumbent. under these circumstances, i think it would be helpful if the president were to go on a double track. he has every right to go file lawsuits. >> yes. >> and make his complaints but he is also president for the next 11 weeks. during that

let's bring in david gergen and jamie gangel. ates hang in the balance, we don't know who the next president of the united states will be. give us the 30,000 foot view here. >> john, the democrats as you well know have just come through a long time of the soul when a lot of democrats went to bad last night they were very, very depressed, but today, this morning in this dramatic turn about, you know, democrats are now seeing a much brighter ray out there and at least a couple pathways to victory, one with pennsylvania, the other without pennsylvania. i have found it fascinating that without pennsylvania the democrats could still make it. nonetheless i do think it emphasizes how important it is to be patient. there are a lot of people that said why didn't we finish last night starting with the president. well, in six out of the last 15 elections the counting has gone well beyond midnight and we've done it very patiently, throughout our history. we have had long waits. you know, george washington when he was elected after his second

so we have jamie, david gergen with us. so good to see all of you. home. yone is excited. everyone is nervous. we'll try to walk them through it right now. so hello david, let's start with you. trump and biden have made the case and it all comes down to turnout at this point. what are you watching for, david? >> i'm watching for how long the lines appear to be as the day goes on. so far, don, i'm going to say i'm optimistic about what's happening. i think it's good for the country. there was all this talk about the country and our democracy entering a dark chapter. now we have seen two things in the last few days. first, the avalanche of voters, people insisting that, no, to voters are insisting that they control our politics, they select people. the voters are in charge. i think that's and woreful sign for our democracy. and today, secondly, we have these lines that develop at the various polling booths and very, very importantly, everything has been peaceful. you know, we've gone through all sorts of cities in america today that are boarded up, awaiting p