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EARLY START

Democratic National Convention Opens; Trump on the Trail. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired July 26, 2016 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A big push for unity on day one of the Democratic National Convention. Amidst protests, amidst screaming, amidst shouting, speaker after speaker calls for unity behind Hillary Clinton.

[04:00:05] Did it work?

Welcome back to EARLY START, live at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, July 26th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East. We are here at the CNN grill.

And we are talking about last night. Last night, impassioned calls for party unity, enthusiastic endorsements for Hillary Clinton on night one of the Democratic National Convention.

Now, to the concern of the Clinton campaign, the day began with a sense that it might be dominated or even overshadowed by those disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters. Oh, no. But it ended with a steering speech by Michelle Obama, a speech that some are placing in the convention halls of fame. And then -- and then there was Bernie Sanders himself.

Joining us now is CNN's Phil Mattingly outside the grill. Hi, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christine.

For the Clinton campaign, it was a dual-pronged approach to the first night of the Democratic Convention. Inside the arena, ease the tension, tension that had been flaring throughout the day, as you noted, Christine. Outside the arena, ease the concern of the broader general public, who has a negative view of Hillary Clinton. What better way to do that: rollout the Democratic Party's biggest stars, speaker after speaker, not only vouching for Clinton as the person, but also Clinton's character. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life. I'm with her.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: Together with Hillary Clinton as our president, America, we will rise. God bless America. Let us rise together.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: A woman who fights for children, for women, for health care, for human rights. A woman who fights for all of us. We're here today because our choice is Hillary Clinton. I'm with Hillary.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

MATTINGLY: Obviously, the Bernie Sanders speech was a very big moment. He was the last speaker of the night. There has a lot of lead-up to that moment, but it was Michelle Obama who really had the most important speech of the night, not necessarily because of content, but because it was a tipping point for the first day of the convention itself. Throughout the day, there had obviously been a raucous scene at delegation breakfast and protest outside. Inside the arena, boos and chants and screams and chants at all of the speakers really leading up to Michelle Obama.

That stopped. Michelle Obama clearly with the biggest speech of the night. So much so that "The New York Daily News" actually changed their front page to feature her moving away from the raucous protest and instead going with Michelle Obama on the front page. It was a big night for Michelle Obama, but also a big night for the Clinton campaign. They fully plan to fully deploy the first lady regularly throughout the weeks and months ahead as a top level surrogate, certainly proving her worth last night.

Now, guys, there were not just big speakers last night, there were also be a pair of big names tonight. Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, and the independent, to not only endorsed Clinton, but speak at the convention. And then, Bill Clinton, the former president of the United States, will also be speaking.

So, big names again to look forward to tonight. But also, keep an eye on the simmering tensions below the surface. Moved them aside at least for the time being, but they certainly still exist -- guys.

ROMANS: Yes, they are still there. But, boy, that Michelle Obama speech really silenced those critics at least during that part of the night.

Thank you so much, Phil Mattingly.

Let's discuss more on the first night of the Democratic convention. We've got our team back. CNN political analyst Josh Rogin is here. He's columnist for "The Washington Post". Also, we've got three CNN political commentators to walk us through this. Angela Rye, she's the former executive director for the Congressional Black Caucus. John Phillips here, he's a talk radio host to KABC. He's a Trump supporter. And Democratic strategist Bob Beckel.

Let's play more of Michelle Obama, because really everyone was talking about her speech, everyone's talking about how well it was written, and how well it was delivered and the way she was able to weave so many different things together to bring it back together to Hillary Clinton. There was one moment that I think every person there had goose bumps, when she wakes up every morning in a house built by slaves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Leaders like Hillary Clinton who has the guts and grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in the highest and hardest glass ceiling, until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her.

(APPLAUSE)

[04:05:14] That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the sting of segregation. But kept on striving and doing what needed to be done so today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.

(APPLAUSE)

And I watch my daughters, two beautiful intelligent black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.

(APPLAUSE)

And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: I love watching your face, Angela Rye. You have seen it several times now.

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It is like new every single time. I can't get over the fact she did such a good job. It's not just because she is the current first lady and she knows that experience. It is not because she is this beautiful, strong, African- American woman, lawyer. It is also because -- think about the bridge they had to build in the 2008 election. This is someone who is now Hillary Clinton's most compelling surrogates.

And they had a bitter battle for what they were putting together today, which was this ticket of unity. She was the perfect messenger, I think even more compelling than Bernie Sanders today for that. BERMAN: John Phillips, we had a bit of this in the Republican

convention. No one can say anything bad about Ivanka Trump. Likewise, I just watched you watching the clip of Michelle Obama. I can tell you were impressed by the political impact.

JOHN PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, she is one of the most popular figures not only in the Democratic Party, but probably in American politics. What she did masterfully last night is take the personal, take the political and bake it into the cake and just make it seem natural.

And that's something that Hillary Clinton has a hard time doing. The one time I can think of where s did that was back in New Hampshire when she started tearing up when she ran back in 2008. The public sees her as an operator. The public sees her as Democrat's Nixon or like a "House of Cards" operator.

If she's going to take it to the next level and she's going to win this election, and she's going to make people trust her, she's going to have to find a way to do what Michelle Obama did last night.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, it is smart of the Clinton campaign and Michelle Obama to focus on the historic context of Hillary Clinton potentially becoming the first woman of the United States. It draws a contrast, I know the Clinton people think this way, between the Trump campaign, which is to say, make America great again, in other words, looking backwards, and they want to portray as looking forward, and that is an opportunity for them.

ROMANS: And she said America is great. The America that I live is great. This is the greatest country on earth. You heard Elizabeth Warren say, America is rich. It is a rich country. But we need to address income inequality, raise the minimum wage, et cetera, et cetera, so that everyone shares in that.

I want to play another sound bite from Michelle Obama. She also talked about trust, because you've got two kind of attacks against Hillary Clinton. One from the Trump people who call her crooked Hillary and one from the Bernie Sanders people who are very angry over the past couple of days what they see as machinations by the DNC in Hillary's favor.

So, let's listen to Michelle Obama kind of talk about the trust issue with Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I trust Hillary to lead this country because I have seen her life long devotion to our nation's children. Not just her own daughter who she has raised to perfection, but every child who needs a champion -- kids who take the long way to school to avoid the gangs, kids who wonder how they'll afford college, kids whose parents don't speak a word of English, but dream of a better life, kids who look to us to determine who and what they can be. You see, Hillary has spent decades doing the relentless thankless work to actually make a difference in their lives. (APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Bob Beckel, she is flipping the script, you know, that script that Hillary has been around so long. You can't trust her. She is part of the establishment.

She is flipping the script, oh, look, she has been around so long. She has been trying to work for people so long, and this is the chance to get her to the final marker.

BOB BECKEL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that is a good point. But, also, I caught the glimpse of John Lewis in the audience. There is a person who went -- my dad worked on the civil rights movement. John Lewis was there at the very beginning, beat up and jailed, and to watch this happen this night, to see John Lewis and that continuity is what she has really done here for Hillary Clinton.

Let's also remember, she is the most popular politician in the country. Her favorabilities are higher than anybody and her unfavorabilities are lower. She's a perfect weapon and they rolled her out at the right time. Now, they've got something left in her. I think she's going to do well.

BERMAN: I think you're going to see that speech cut up in a lot of ads in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Colorado in the coming months.

Stick around, guys. The Democrats, Michelle Obama and the like were not only saying nice things about Hillary Clinton, but they were bashing the heck out of Donald Trump. It wouldn't be a convention if they didn't get rough and tumble. We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:15:24] WARREN: Well, I've got news for Donald Trump, the American people are not falling for it. We've seen this ugliness before and we are not going to be Donald Trump's hate-filled America. Not now. Not ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Welcome back to the CNN Grill. Christine Romans here along with John Berman.

The Democrats came into the convention saying they would portray an optimistic vision for the country. A contrast, they say, to what they call the darkness of the Republican's world view.

But the Democratic version of sunny and bright is a full frontal gloves off, throw the sink at him assault of Donald Trump. That is what they did. Our panel is back, including political commentator Amanda Carpenter.

Let's talk a little bit about this attack on Donald Trump and Cory Booker I think, one of many people last night who went to the heart of the Democrats over Donald Trump.

Let's listen to Senator Booker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOOKER: Here in Philadelphia, let us declare again that we will be a free people. Free from here and intimidation. We are a nation of interdependence and that America, love always Trumps hate. Let us declare.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Josh, I was saying it felt like he was just yelling this speech. You were saying in the crowd, he was trying to yell over the Bernie supporters.

ROGIN: Yes, two perceptions. Inside the crowd, it seemed like he had a command. Of course, he was very loud at the beginning. And he did seem to have the crowd with him at the end. The crowd got with him. By the end, they were definitely with him. He had done his job. He had gotten their energy up and he had his points.

BERMAN: Most people who heard the speech weren't in the room because he as shouting loud to hear him all of the country.

(LAUGHTER)

RYE: That is not fair, John.

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He was quoting the Founding Fathers so much, I thought we were at the Tea Party.

RYE: I think he was trying to make it real for some us who did really feel like they were talking to us, actually appreciated that. I think the other thing that is interesting, we continue to kind of say that Donald Trump was hit hard at this convention. I think that we have to draw a contrast, and what I mean by that is, him saying we should declare that love trumps hate is not an attack on Donald Trump like you saw at the RNC where they would say things like Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment, and people would chant, "lock her up". And she doesn't want to abolish the Second Amendment. I think that's an attack. These are just pointing out facts and using his words.

BERMAN: They are essentially calling Donald Trump a racist, though.

RYE: I think Donald Trump has definitely demonstrated that he will pander to racist if he's not racist himself.

CARPENTER: There was an interesting kind of thing going on there. You're right. The speakers didn't go at Donald Trump hard, the videos did. They played if between with Donald Trump's words, Donald Trump's mocking the disabled reporters. The speakers did not want to do that, but they want Donald Trump in his own words doing that, which is something I expect to play out.

BERMAN: Do you think the viewers at home get that distinction, Amanda?

CARPENTER: No, but all of these things are testing it. You want to see what works. We know now Donald Trump's mocking of the disabled reporter works. They played the clip. They had the little girl come out who is -- had the disease. They're going to keep going there.

Frankly, I was surprised to see how hard the Democrats went on illegal immigration. I can predict what radio talk is going to say this week. They had illegal aliens, undocumented people on the stage. I think they are overplaying their hand.

Listen, the only reason Donald Trump is a dominant national candidate is because he went hard on illegal immigrants. Hillary Clinton is choosing the extreme opposite wing. She's essentially saying, "We won't break up any families. We won't deport anybody." Donald Trump is saying, "|I will deport everybody."

There is no middle ground here and so, it's going to be very interesting with the election. I think Hillary Clinton staked out too extreme of a position here.

ROMANS: Well, and Elizabeth Warren, though, I mean, she kind of doubling down on that and she's saying, look, when you look at the Donald Trump position, that is a position of fear and hate. You want to beat that spectrum. Listen to what Elizabeth Warren said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: Here's the really ugly underside to his pitch. Trump thinks he can win votes by fanning the flames of fear and hatred, by turning neighbor against neighbor, by persuading you in America is your fellow Americans, people who don't look like you or don't talk like you or don't worship like you.

[04:20:14] He even picked a vice president famous for trying to make it legal to openly discriminate against gays and lesbians. That's Donald Trump's America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: They're trying to show the n of America and the Donald Trump America in very dark tones.

ROGIN: Right. And it's also based on the numbers. Let's remember that when you look at the numbers for Donald Trump and minorities, especially in the swing states, especially in the southwest, the numbers are clear. He's doing terrible with minorities, with Hispanic-Americans and African-Americans. Yes, he says the Hispanics love me. That was in the Republican primary. So, they're leaning on their advantage here, opening the field.

BERMAN: Yes. But Donald Trump just widened his gap with non-college graduate white voters in a big way, which has got to be a big concern, Bob Beckel, in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

BECKEL: Yes, John, but I keep tell you, these post-convention surveys are just not worth looking at. But with all do respect, CNN paid for it.

BERMAN: Paid for me, too.

BECKEL: And for me. Let's remember that 17 percent of the electorate will be Hispanic, 30 percent will be of color. When Ronald Reagan won in 1980, he took 53 percent of the white vote and won in a landslide. Mitt Romney took 59 percent of the white vote and lost in a landslide.

If Donald Trump is going to win and he has the negatives he has among people of color and they held up and they will, he's got to win almost 80 percent of the white vote which is why I listen to people say, oh, Trump's got a shot. I mean, I'll go out on a limb and say, he doesn't have a shot, not close to a shot.

Hillary Clinton could beat him from the maximum security jail --

ROMANS: All right. We're gong to leave it there because that's something to think about.

CARPENTER: How does that work with elections law?

ROMANS: Let's think about that and come bag after the break with Donald Trump and Mike Pence on the road together for the first time as running mates. Trump has a new nickname or Hillary Clinton. Bob Beckel, it will be interesting to hear that.

BERMAN: I want what Bob is asking for. I want both of what he's saying right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:26:43] ROMANS: Donald Trump is hitting the road and hitting Hillary Clinton hard. This morning, Trump will be in North Carolina addressing the VFW. On Monday, he campaigned with his running mate Mike Pence. They were in Virginia. Republican presidential nominee debuting this new nickname for Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Why did Hillary get rid of her middle name? Huh? Hillary. No, But why did she get rid of it? Hillary Rotten Clinton. Rotten Clinton. Hillary Rotten Clinton, right?

Maybe that's why. It's too close. No, no, it's too close. It's too close. You think Mike Pence would say this? I don't think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Trump lashed out at Clinton as low energy, that she needs naps, reviving that old attack line he used against Jeb Bush during the primary season.

BERMAN: I need a nap.

ROMANS: You know what? We all need sleep.

BERMAN: That's right.

Democrats pushing for unity on night one of their convention. Did it work and will they nap? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)