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Donald Trump Attends Church Service in Detroit; Donald Trump Visits Childhood Home of Ben Carson; Tropical Storm Hermine Threatens U.S. East Coast. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 3, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


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[14:00:55] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, hello again, and thank you for joining me. I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

Donald Trump is still in Detroit today trying to shore up his support among African-American voters. He's touring African-American neighborhoods, including visiting Ben Carson's childhood home just a few minutes ago. Trump's visit started this morning at a black church where his trip was met with fiery protests before he even took the stage. Inside, a much different story. Trump was warmly welcomed by the congregation and he used the opportunity to stress cooperation and economic prosperity for the black community.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nothing would make me happier and more fulfilled than to use what I have learned in business and in traveling all over the world, I've sort of seen a lot, to bring the wealth and prosperity and opportunity to those who have not had these opportunities before. And that's many, many people in Detroit.

When I see wages falling, people out of work, I know the hardships this inflicts and am determined to do something about it. I will do something about it. I do get things done, I will tell you. Some people have strengths. That's one of mine, I get things done. I'm going to get things done for you.

Please know this. For any who are hurting, things are going to turn around. Tomorrow will be better, much better. The pastor and I were talking about riding up the street and we see all those clothes stores, people sitting out on the sidewalk, no jobs or activity. We'll get I turned around, we'll get it turned around fast, believe me.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We're going to win again as a country, and we're going to win again for all of our people. I want to work with you to renew the bon of trust between citizens and the bonds of faith that make our nation strong. America's been lifted out of many of its most difficult hours through the miracle of faith and through people like Bishop Jackson and Dr. Jackson, so important.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: People have no idea how important they are. Now in these hard times for our country, let us turn again to our Christian heritage to lift up the soul of our nation.

I am so grateful to be here today. And it is my prayer that America of tomorrow, and I mean that, the America of tomorrow will be one of unity, togetherness, and peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, for more on Trump's visit, I want to bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond who has been reporting on this. So Jeremy, where are we now in terms of whether Donald Trump is still touring communities there now after his appearance inside that church?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it seems that Donald Trump, his visit in Detroit is about over here. He came to this church right in front of where we're standing and he spoke to the congregation as you heard in those remarks there. A very subdued tone that he was using, reading from prepared remarks, addressing that church. He also did an interview with the pastor of that church.

And then after that what he did was he got in his motorcade with Dr. Ben Carson, who is a native of Detroit, and they went to visit Dr. Carson's childhood home. And there you had Donald Trump there for just a few minutes on the ground. He spoke with a couple of the residents on the block, and Dr. Carson showed him the outside of his home.

I then was able to catch up with Dr. Carson, and I asked him a little bit about Donald Trump's tone lately and the way that he's been doing this outreach when he talks about, you know, "what the hell do you have to lose?" Listen in.

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DIAMOND: We're talking about in 2016 Donald Trump saying to African- Americans, "what do you have to lose for voting for me?" How does that language --

[14:05:00] BEN CARSON, (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, what you have to do is listen to what he's actually saying. He's saying that 50 years of these kinds of progressive policies have not led to a good place. So why would you continue to go down that pathway and expect something different to happen?

And there are a lot of people who want to concentrate on -- well, he said this and he said this, without actually asking themselves, what is he saying? What is the actual message? And this is part of the problem that we have in America today. We don't listen to what a person is saying. We listen to how they said it. You know, case in point. Go back and do some homework and look at Bill Clinton's state of the union address in 1995. And you will find a section where he says, illegal aliens are creating big problems in our country and they are getting welfare benefits and they're getting employment -- we need to stop them from doing that. We need to deport people. We need to get border agents.

Now, if Donald Trump says the same thing, they say he's a hate mongering. What does that say to you about our society? It says when it's the person who says it rather than what's being said, we're not using our heads.

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DIAMOND: We also talked with Dr. Ben Carson a little bit about what it was like being with Mr. Trump here today in Detroit. He said that Donald Trump is actually gets very attentive and is very -- he gets very into talking about the problems affecting inner cities. Of course, a lot of the conversations that they had were behind closed doors, but certainly Donald Trump has finally taken his message of outreach to African-Americans right here into the heart of the African-American community.

WHITFIELD: Jeremy Diamond in Detroit, thank you so much. We'll have much more on this interview in the 5:00 hour, also straight ahead as we talk to a panel about what just happened. Will Trump's strategy work? How is his outreach going to translate into votes?

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[14:10:51] CROWD: No Trump! No Trump! No Trump! No Trump!

WHITFIELD: That was the scene greeting Donald Trump today outside a church in Detroit, dozens of protestors gathering outside, angry over the Republican presidential candidate's attendance at the service and his messages over some time.

Inside, Trump took a seat in a pew at the front. You may know the woman next to him, that's Omarosa, famously known for her appearance on Trump's reality show "The Apprentice." And then one of his spokespersons there to, Katrina Pierson.

All right, so let's talk more about all of this. We are joined now by Julian Zelizer, a historian and professor at Princeton University, good to see you, and CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson. Good to see you as well. Julian, you first. Does this potentially move the needle as it pertains to the African-American vote?

JULIAN ZELIZER, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: No, I don't think so. I think right now he is facing historically low polls with the African-American community. Much of his campaign has been very divisive and not received well by African-American voters. And I don't think a speech like this fundamentally changes the dynamics of that.

WHITFIELD: And he was very subdued in terms of his style and his promise as well that there would be more prosperity not just for Detroit but to African-Americans as a whole. Was that effective?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: You know, I think probably not. I mean, I agree with Julian here. He is facing a train that has gone back to the 1930s in terms of African-Americans increasingly being more Democratic. African-Americans are the most partisan voting bloc in the country. And you have in Donald Trump someone who says nice things in this very nice church environment, but he doesn't have any policies to back it up.

I think if you look back at George W. Bush very smartly did, he much courted a very specific segment of African-Americans, first of all African-American Republicans and African-American Republican black evangelicals. And so he was very vocal against same sex marriage. He also used his office of faith-based initiatives to connect with black pastors all across the country. And so that is why he was able to do so well in 2004, and by so well, he basically got about 11 percent of the African-American electorate, did better in certain states like Ohio, Virginia, and Florida. But that took so much work. I mean, he laid the groundwork for years as president and he was only able to get 11 percent.

So I think, you know, Donald Trump is coming in here very late in courting black Republicans and doing it in a very scatter-shot way. On the one hand, he likes to have a message in front of white audiences that I think a lot of African-Americans find condescending and stereotypical and bigoted. And there he is in a very different way in that black church. I don't think it is going to move the needle very much at all.

WHITFIELD: So Julian, is it perplexing that it seems as though Donald Trump keeps missing the opportunity to be specific in certain scenarios? The expectation was among many who are watching this moment in front of the African-American church in Detroit that he would be very specific. He wasn't specific. That he might be very specific on his immigration plan days ago. Not specific. That he may be more specific about the cornerstone of his campaign while in Mexico. He didn't take advantage of that opportunity. What does that say that he won't take advantage of those venues that could be advantageous for him potentially?

ZELIZER: Well, some of it is an effort throughout his campaign to remain ambiguous intentionally so that as people read into his campaign what they think of it, it gives him some leeway to say I didn't actually say that. And that space, that blank space can be used as a political asset.

On the other hand, in some of these moments, such as with immigration, such as on issues of race, I don't think he really wants to get more specific because I don't think the base of his support is willing to go there.

[14:15:05] They don't want progressive issues on race. They don't want a progressive immigration policy. So I think he is doing these events to try to soften his image somewhat to the electorate, but he doesn't want to go so far that he actually alienates the people who brought him to the dance.

WHITFIELD: So in the end do you see it that way? I mean, there's an intentional avoidance, I mean, there's a plan behind that plan? HENDERSON: Yes, I think that's right. There's an intentional

avoidance, kind of an intentional vagary there, almost so that he can be all things to all people, but also keep those very passionate Trump supporters in his camp.

But I think it is very difficult to maintain that and also give credibility with new groups of folks, right. I mean, he's very good about really keeping a hold on the core supporters. But as we have seen so far, he just hasn't been able to grow his base.

And we'll see. We have got some time. You know, I'm fairly certain that a lot of people have made up their minds, and the folks who haven't probably have a lower propensity to vote than folks who have made up their minds. But we'll see. We have got the debates coming up. We'll see if he's consistent in terms of this outreach. I talked to his folks. They suggest that he's going to sort of take his outreach tour to different African-American communities across the country. He was in Philly yesterday, of course, in Detroit very briefly today. We'll see if he continues to do this.

WHITFIELD: So Julian, with those upcoming debates, is this an issue for either candidate of growing support or potentially losing support?

ZELIZER: Certainly these debates are going to be important ones, and I think they might be different than debates of the past. We have seen that in the primaries. Certainly Donald Trump needs to grow support. I don't think there's any question unless you're ignoring the polls that this is essential. So he needs to find ways beyond his speech here or there which tends to be pretty ambiguous to show non- base supporters that he's someone to governor and represent broader portions of the electorate.

Hillary Clinton, I think the goal is not to lose support at this point. She is ahead. She is in a position of strength. But she has to shift the conversation away from issues like e-mail and scandal to the domestic issues where I think she has a lot of strength in foreign policy.

WHITFIELD: Julian Zelizer, Nia-Malika Henderson, thanks to both of you, appreciate it.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

HENDERSON: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Straight ahead, tropical storm Hermine gaining strength as it floods parts of the Carolinas. But where it might go next has a lot of people concerned. Live report, next.

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[14:21:38] WHITFIELD: Welcome back. We are following more on tropical storm Hermine as it moves up the east coast. A dangerous storm surge of up to five feet is expected from Virginia to New Jersey where Governor Chris Christie has already declared an emergency. Hermine slammed into Florida as a category one hurricane and is expected to regain hurricane strength before the weekend is over. CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray is in Atlantic City, New Jersey. So Jennifer, what are you seeing there?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Fred, things are starting to pick up a little bit. You can definitely tell we have gusty winds. We haven't gotten into the rain yet, but just look offshore and you can see the waves starting to build just a bit.

Now, the beaches are closed. No one is allowed in the water. But you can see just a couple people on the beaches. Of course, this is Labor Day weekend. A lot of people in town, so typically the beaches would be a lot more packed than this. But the crowds are still here. You can see all these people behind me. They're from out of town. The says they're going to ride it out. And you can see the boardwalk behind me, quite the crowd. There are a lot of people in town despite the dangerous storm that is going to be pushing this way.

Now, let me show you the track, because we have been watching this, I was in Apalachicola just a couple days ago, now we're here waiting on this storm. This is going to be very different than what we saw in Florida because this storm, Fred, is just going to sit offshore for several, several days. It could gain hurricane strength, but we do need to pay close attention to that track because that large circle, the center of the storm could be anywhere in that circle. So if the storm jogs a little bit to the west, it's going to be mean worse conditions for people all up and down the east coast. If it jogs a little bit to the east, that could be slightly better news.

The rain is coming soon. We are not quite in it but it should be coming soon, and it is going to be a messy, messy Labor Day weekend, a lot of rain and a lot of wind. And the storm surge I think is going to be the most important factor with this storm. We could be seeing up to five feet of storm surge all up and down the Jersey Shore. We could see it along Long Island as well.

But Fred, the fact that this storm is just going to sit here possibly until Wednesday, is just going to batter the coast and chip away at that coast. So coastal flooding is going to be a huge, huge concern. Hopefully people have made the preparations and people right along the coast will get to higher ground.

WHITFIELD: That's going to be a tough scenario over the course of a few days. Thank you so much, Jennifer Gray, there in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Of course we are hoping for everybody to brace for this very potentially serious storm.

Thanks so much to you, everyone, for watching today and being with me. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. CNN Newsroom continues at the hour. But for now, we'll take a break with "Vital Signs" right after this break.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember it was one night where my father was missing and my mother and sister where having an argument at the table, and I just eating and eating and eating and could not stop. I just wanted to kind of shut down the emotions and went upstairs for the first time and threw up.

I'm Shannon Kopp, writer, eating disorder survivor, and animal advocate.

My childhood was a bit chaotic. My father became an alcoholic. The home started being an unpredictable place to be at times. The bulimia started just before my 17th birthday. I didn't realize that within eight years I would be hospitalized. I couldn't think straight. It hurt for me to swallow.

[14:25:06] And as I started battling suicidal thoughts, I would find that I could be nowhere but inside of a dog habitat to calm down.

Good girl.

The San Diego Humane Society is the most special place in the world to me. And the comfort of an animal is what really rescued me from myself. I'll celebrate seven years free from bulimia, and I work at a residential eating disorder treatment center. I help people who are looking for treatment to find the care that they need. I wanted to be the voice on the other line saying, yes, we can help you. And that has changed my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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