. >> joining me now is lonny chen, former public policy adviser and director with mitt romney. and gary locke, former secretary of commerce, and governor of washington. thank you for being with me. >> my pleasure, poppy. >> lonny, you know mitt romney inside and out. you know the mind of the man. take us into the mind of the man. i think he can get past the personal barbs, because that's politics. can he get on the same policy page as donald trump? >> remember, poppy, the biggest thing that we've got to know about mitt romney is he's a patriot and always has been. it was a tough campaign, no one can dispute that fact. but immediately after the election, he issued congratulations to mr. trump. they spoke by phone. it's his desire now to help mr. trump govern as he becomes president-elect and to do it effectively. on the policy side of things, obviously there are some differences, certainly in tone, perhaps in substance with respect to russia. but fundamentally, i think things people need to realize is that governor romney's foreign policy perspective is based on the idea of placi

alice is with me, simone sanders, lonnie chen in california, and julian salazar is here. julian one of the thing you wrote about today on cnn.com is what trump taught everyone you have to speak to the people. that's not just through big rallies. every politician did big rallies. he did it threw twitter in a very controversial and aggressive fashion, but it worked. >> absolutely. his style of communication really did work. we saw the results in this election. not only did he response many, most republicans, to stay with the republican party, he also was able to slightly broaden the reach of the republicans into blue collar territory. and part of that was the way that he spoke. and the mechanisms that he used to speak. i think it's something frankly the democrat need to emulate and think about. not the substance, obviously the substance is a big difference. but i think there are certain strategic decisions he made in how to run a campaign in the modern media age that were very effective. >> the front page -- i moan i want to got to you. the front page of the l.a. times toda

joining me, lonny chen, and mitt romney's former public policy director. also with us, former congressman jack kingston and former adviser to the trump campaign. lonny, let's just listen to this two men, okay, during this election. let's roll it. >> donald trump is a phony, a fraud. >> mitt was a disaster as a candidate. >> he's playing the members of the american public for suckers. >> romney let us all down. he was a poor campaigner. >> he gets a free ride to the white house and all we get is a lousy hat. >> romney choked like a dog, he choked. >> his promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. >> i have a lot of trends. by the way, mitt romney is not one of them. >> so first of all, if he gets the secretary of state gig, if it's offered, he definitely has to give romney a hat along with it, right? >> it's a great hat. >> honestly, on the personal stuff, you know mitt romney, can they get past it and get they get on the same page with policy? >> governor romney expressed his point of view, as did donald trump. now the campaign is over, mi

thank you ben stein, and lonnie chen. appreciate it. >>> top of the hour. i'm poppy harlow in new york. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. it is 2:00 a.m. here on the east coast. and none of us need sleep. do you? so glad you are with us. 11 p.m. out west n. mere hours voters will make their choice for the future of make. this hour, the battle ground, the campaigns, and the kmooed comedians. a little bit of late night for you. happy voting day, america. this is cnn's special election day coverage. hillary clinton and donald trump just wrapped up their closing arguments to voters at duelling late night rallies. both clinton and trump emphasizing a common theme, you have got to get out and vote. clinton made her final pitch in raleigh, north carolina. trump's last event took place in the traditionally blue state of michigan. trump told his supporters today is their independence day. clinton ended with this line "love trumps hate". let's go out to the clinton campaign in raleigh, north carolina. she came out with with a lot of st

lonnie chen, to you. if there's a silent majority of blue collar whites cracking clinton's blue wall of wisconsin, pennsylvania, this is what trump banked on since the inception of his campaign. he hasn't polled well in these states necessarily. it's getting a lot tighter. do you believe there is a silent trump vote? secret trump vote? >> yeah. i don't necessarily buy into it being a significantly large number. i do think it's an open question. >> does it need to be significantly large? >> i think it needs to be large enough to overcome the deficit like michigan and wisconsin. pennsylvania may be a different story. but certainly michigan and wisconsin are states that republican presidential candidates have coveted for a long time. in 2012 we would have loved to have been competitive in wisconsin and michigan. donald trump is a different candidate and represents a different value proposition. i just don't know if the demographic he's appealing to is big enough to get him over the top where he needs to be.

. >>> let's bring in cnn political commentator and former mitt romney public policy director, lonnie chen. also with us, former georgia congressman and former senior adviser to the trump campaign, jack kingston. thank you, gentlemen, for being here. and lonnie, let me just begin with you. as you know, these two men have said not the nicest things about one another. let's take a walk down memory lane. >> donald trump is a phony. a fraud. >> mit was a disaster as a candidate. >> he's playing the members of the american public for suckers. >> romney let us know. he was a very poor campaigner. >> he gets a free ride to the white house, and all we get is a lousy hat. >> romney choked like a dog. he choked. he went -- >> his promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. >> i have a lot of friends -- i have a lot of friends, by the way, mitt romney is not one of them. >> maybe that changes after today. you wrote in mitt romney in this selection, you really wanted to see him as president four years ago and wanted to see him this year again. what do you make of all of this? can the

thank you ben stein, and lonnie chen. appreciate it. >>> top of the hour.e united states and around the world. it is 2:00 a.m. here on the east coast. and none of us need sleep. do you? so glad you are with us. 11 p.m. out west n. mere hours voters will make their choice for the future of make. this hour,

i'm joined by cnn political commentator and former mitt romney policy adviser lonny chen and david eaglesdavid also worked with mitt romney during his 2012 campaign he is now director of the center for presidential transition. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> so, lonny, is it possible that mitt romney would agree to take some sort of position in -- in a trump administration? >> well look i think it's difficult to say right now there's a lot of speculation out there. what i will say is clearly,ing after the election was over you saw governor romney, with the very supportive tweet of the president-elect, and then calling him to congratulate him. i think mitt romney is focused on the future of the country. and he's always been a patriot. and i think that whatever we see in this meeting this weekend we see mitt romney and donald trump getting together in an effort to move the country and the party forward. >> but, but david it's difficult to believe romney would accept a position because his views on foreign policy differ so much from mr. trump's especially on russia, right? because m

. >> want to bring in lonnie chen, former adviser to mitt romney in his presidential campaigns.en that mash-up of sound a few times. we have all been involved with a lot of elections where people say mean things about each other, but then get together. this is more than that. the things these two guys said about each other is more than the normal saying mean things about each other during elections. let's preface the whole thing by that. along those lines, level with us. how surprised were you to learn that governor romney was going to meet with donald trump this weekend? >> well, obviously the meeting itself came as news to me. what i will say is i think it's consistent with how governor romney has approached donald trump since the election, with the tweet and the con grasp la tore phone call. governor romney wants to help donald trump be successful now that he's the president-elect. did i expect them to be meeting this weekend? no. no. >> i love your honesty. when you look at this meeting and you look at the talk of romney would love to serve in government again, he has been i