Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Talking Politics at Thanksgiving Dinner; Thanksgiving in the War Zone. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 24, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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


[09:30:00] SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Take you to get here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huh?

GANIM: You can see the smiling faces not just of the kids but the adults, too, because this is a parade, a morning where everyone gets to be a kid. Hopefully same thing to you guys watching at home. So all of you, Happy Thanksgiving. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turkey with a side of drama? That is on the menu for families across the country this Thanksgiving. And if the thought of mixing politics and pumpkin pie gives you heartburn you're certainly not alone.

A new CNN-ORC poll finds that 53 percent of Americans say they dread the thought of talking about the election over Thanksgiving dinner. Not surprisingly, most Republicans, about 58 percent say they're happy to talk about Mr. Trump. 63 percent of Democrats on the other hand say they do not want any more servings of politics, please.

If the conversation gets too out of control, don't worry. Ellen has recruited someone who knows a little something about moderating debates. Cue Wolf.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[09:35:09] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course he should build the wall. They're coming across by the millions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's nowhere near a million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary should be in prison.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: If we could just --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She won the popular vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody else should get away --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Mrs. Douglas, Uncle Lou. If we could just please get back to the original question, could someone please pass the salt? (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Everybody needs a Wolf Blitzer at Thanksgiving Day dinner. I'm joined now by Nancy Sundin who is opting out of Thanksgiving dinner with her parents and extended family of Trump supporters, Sarah Jane Cunningham is also here. She was uninvited to her family's Thanksgiving because of politics and psychologist Jeff Gardere is here so you can make, like, them feel better about everything this Thanksgiving Day.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: So, Nancy, you're really not having Thanksgiving Day dinner with your family?

NANCY SUNDIN, OPTING OUT OF THANKSGIVING WITH PARENTS AND EXTENDED FAMILY: Yes, I come from a family where we've always talked about politics. So that's nothing new for my family. My dad is a community member and so part of his job growing up was to talk politics but a couple of weeks before the election, you know, I had some differences with my mom and asked her to stop talking in front of my kids and she didn't.

And then the day after the election I was texting back and forth with my brother and telling him that I was trying to explain why hate wins and his text back was pretty typical, and that's was he was explaining to his kids that his opinion matters. And so, you know, for a couple of different reasons my husband and I decided that we wanted to kind of preserve our Thanksgiving, and you know, for two reasons, one, for our own selves, you know, we didn't want to get into it with the family.

And, two, our children, you know, this is memory making for them. So we just decided that they really look up to my parents, and what they say -- we all live in the same town. So to see each other is a common thing but, to -- to, you know, preserve them, and, you know, they -- they look to my parents and what they value and so we just decided that it could be confusing for them. And so we just decided to opt out this year. Yes.

COSTELLO: Hopefully just for this year. So, Sarah Jane, your family, they actually told you not to come?

SARAH JANE CUNNINGHAM, UNINVITED TO HER FAMILY THANKSGIVING DINNER: Yes. So my mother, I was posting something -- sharing some articles on Facebook about Trump, and the election, and everything, and she told me to stay in Boston. If I wasn't going to be able to be respectful to my family.

COSTELLO: Really? So how did feel when your mom told you that?

CUNNINGHAM: I mean, obviously it doesn't feel good to feel like you're not welcomed with your family on a day where you're supposed to be with your family. But I am not too upset that I'm avoiding all of that confrontation today, to be honest.

COSTELLO: You have someone to spend Thanksgiving day with?

CUNNINGHAM: I've gotten so many offers, actually. I have more friends than I thought I did. I think I will be spending it at my house with my cats.

COSTELLO: Oh. Oh, that makes my heart hurt.

Dr. Gardere, it makes my heart hurt.

JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely. It's making a lot of our hearts hurt. And I have to tell you personally, my son is having an issue with my future son-in-law. And I'm not forcing him to come to Thanksgiving dinner tonight. He said that he absolutely refuses not to be there. But that's not stopping me from reaching out to him as I wish Nancy and Sarah Jane and their family continue to talk to one another.

They can agree to disagree. As you said, as you asked the question, how are you feeling, that's my job. But yes, you know, they're feeling really bad about that. So I think it's important that this be the last Thanksgiving that this happens. But I think it would be wonderful if both of these young ladies still showed up to Thanksgiving dinner and said, we have things to contribute. Our love. We want to help heal the rift that we have in our families and there are some real rifts out there. But I think we have to continue trying. At the same time, without forcing people to have to resolve the conflicts over Thanksgiving dinner.

COSTELLO: OK. So --

GARDERE: But if they could it would be wonderful.

COSTELLO: So, Nancy, would you feel comfortable showing up for, say, I don't know, dessert?

SUNDIN: Well, we invited the family for dessert, and they chose not to and we have guests coming so I have a full house.

COSTELLO: How about you, Sarah Jane, would you -- I know you're in a different city, so that would be difficult. But a call on this day to your family?

CUNNINGHAM: Of course. I would love to be with my family. And I was told afterwards by my mother that she didn't mean it, she was a little harsh, and it was just something she said in the moment.

[09:40:03] But unfortunately, I can't come home today. But I would -- I would love to talk to my family today. That would be amazing.

COSTELLO: OK. So for the families who are getting together, Dr. Jeff.

GARDERE: That would be great. Yes.

COSTELLO: And there are many across the country who are putting politics aside to get together for this day, but you know, politics is going to come up.

GARDERE: It is.

COSTELLO: You know the drinks are going to be flowing.

GARDERE: That's right.

COSTELLO: And passion is -- right?

GARDERE: That's right.

COSTELLO: And the families, things get testy anyway, so what sorts of things should people avoid at this Thanksgiving Day table?

GARDERE: Well, I think more than avoiding certain things, it's important that they direct certain things. So the host of the party, whomever is giving the dinner, it's important that they guide the conversation. And they should set respect and personal attacks should not be happening. All of those are part of the ground rules.

There should also be an exit strategy, answering your first question, what they should avoid, if the conversation gets too heated. There should be a designated person who says, let's change the subject, or find a personal space in the home where you could just take a few minutes break, a time-out, where people could collect themselves. And go back to the conversation with respect. It can happen.

COSTELLO: It can happen?

GARDERE: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: You also talked about, let's say someone is sitting at the table say, you know, Hillary Clinton should be in jail. And the other person responds by saying, well, perhaps the FBI should look into the case once again.

GARDERE: Mm-hmm.

COSTELLO: But you know, is that something we can all agree on? Is that the sort of thing that you want to see happening at the dinner table?

GARDERE: Well, I think it's important that we look at our language. And our language should be impeccable. Certainly you can have the opinion that Hillary should be in jail. But explain why. And your own fact-checker. Make sure that you give the reasons why and they're based in reality. And the person who disagrees can do the same thing.

Listen, if they want a model for this, all they have to do is tune in to CNN and look at the way that your experts do agree to disagree and how you manage to steer conversation in a positive way. There are things that, and this is why I think preparation is important, before you leave home and go to the dinner, know that you're not going there to make war. But it really is about sharing ideas, learning about the person who you're talking to, and more than anything else, just really having a good time. It can happen. And I'm so glad that the two folks that you have,

these lovely ladies, are saying that they will reach out, whether through dessert, or whether through, you know, making a phone call. Keep communication open. It's so important.

COSTELLO: OK, but I do want to ask both of you. Nancy, do you think that this will be a permanent rift with your family? Have you said things that just cannot be taken back?

SUNDIN: No. And it's not a permanent rift. Like I said, we all live here. We just decided that Thanksgiving is, like, a long period of time with your family. But we see each other on a daily basis so no, this is not permanent for us. We're very close.

COSTELLO: Sara Jane, I want to ask you the same question. Were there things said between you and your mom that can't be taken back?

CUNNINGHAM: I think obviously when we argue, there's some things that l wish I could not have said, probably the same on her end, too. But, we -- we talked it out. I think we understand each other a lot better and even though we still disagree, we respect each other a lot more and of course this is not going to be anything permanent. I still love her. She's still my mom. Still my family.

GARDERE: That's wonderful.

COSTELLO: I feel so much better.

GARDERE: That's wonderful.

COSTELLO: Well, happy, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. And thanks for spending part of the morning with us. I do appreciate it.

Still to come --

CUNNINGHAM: Thank you.

SUNDIN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Thanksgiving in the war zone. And I mean an actual war zone. We'll hear from the troops who are spending this holiday in harm's way. And boy, doesn't that put everything into perspective, right?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Staff Sergeant John, I miss being home definitely for the holidays, but I'd like to say hi to my wife, Danielle, and I love her very much and I'll be home soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:48:33] COSTELLO: Millions of Americans will spend today celebrating with their families. But others will spend today putting their lives on the line in the fight against ISIS. Army undersecretary Patrick Murphy talked earlier about the sacrifice America's service men and women are making on this holiday and every day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK MURPHY, UNDER SECRETARY OF THE ARMY: These soldiers are doing what they love. And that's serving their country. And they're hoping they're making all the families, and especially their families back at home, proud of their efforts because, you know, we're asking these soldiers, less than 1 percent of America, to deploy during the longest wars in American history in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I'm talking to you from Kuwait, but just north to here is where our soldiers and the Iraqi army, specifically, is taking the fight to ISIS in Mosul. And we have a lot to be proud of with the gains that they're making.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. As you could see Murphy is spending time with troops in Kuwait, not far from them the fight against ISIS is raging.

CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is embedded with U.S. forces who help keep the warplanes flying.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This Thanksgiving, Americans are in harm's way, fighting ISIS. On the ground, and in the air. We're on board a KC-10 Extender refueling jet flying over Iraq and Syria. Captain Clark Palicka commanding the massive airborne gas station.

CAPT. CLARK PALICKA, U.S. AIR FORCE: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The dynamic air space, challenging environment. But it's very rewarding.

PLEITGEN: The first batch of planes, two F-15 Eagle Strike aircraft. Getting them hooked up to the tanker at around 400 miles per hour, a challenge for the crews of both planes, Boom operator Uriel Escamilla says.

[09:50:11] STAFF SGT. URIEL ESCAMILLA, U.S. AIR FORCE: It is two moving aircraft but they are moving at around the same speed, so at the end it's just the rate of closure that the aircraft has towards you when they stop and you are actually able to give them that contact.

PLEITGEN: The KC-10 refuels planes from all members of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS. Including C-130 Hercules transporters and the mighty A-10 warthog with its massive cannon and many bombs clearly visible through our window.

(On camera): Without the help of these tankers the planes that are flying missions against ISIS could only stay in the area of operations for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. But thanks to the tanker airplane, they can get fuel in the sky and stay in the area to fight ISIS for up to seven hours. (Voice-over): So instead of turkey and football, for the KC-10 crews

it's eight to 10-hour missions hovering over this key battlefield. The pain of being away from their loved ones mitigated by the contribution they are making to the war against terror.

FIRST LT. TYLER JOHNSON, U.S. AIR FORCE: I love flying. I wouldn't rather be doing anything else. It is hard being away from family but I love this job. And I enjoy supporting our country.

STAFF. SGT. JOHN LEORA, U.S. AIR FORCE: So I'm actually honored to be here. You know, being away from family, they understand it. We were doing it at home. But right now it's my time to be out here and I'm just happy to be serving.

PLEITGEN: Around Mosul, we see the billowing smoke of oil fires ISIS has started to try and distract coalition planes. But thanks to the tanker jet, U.S.-led aircraft can stay airborne as long as it takes to find their targets and take them out.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, with the U.S. Air Force over Iraq and Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it's one of Donald Trump's favorite phrases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT: If we go out and win, this is another Brexit, believe me. There's going to be a lot of Brexit happening in about two weeks. A lot of Brexit. This is going to be beyond Brexit. I call it beyond Brexit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Coming up in 10 minutes, I talk to Mr. Brexit, Nigel Farage. What is Farage discussing with Team Trump and what does he think of Trump's calls to make him ambassador?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:56:37] COSTELLO: Checking top stories for you at 56 minutes past, the tragedy in Chattanooga deepens. A sixth child involved in that horrific school bus crash has died. Keonte Wilson was 8 years old. Investigators -- and now investigators say the driver, Johnthony Walker, was speeding and he was not driving on the bus' usual route. Another victim's cousin told CNN about the conversation with the driver's sister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAFREDERICK THIRKILL, COUSIN KILLED IN SCHOOL BUS CRASH: I know that her family is grieving as well and I have to believe that he must feel remorse, you know, with this accident and I pray for his family as well as I do mine and the other families that were involved in this terrible accident. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Police say tests for alcohol and drugs came back negative on the driver. Walker is now facing a sixth count of vehicular homicide.

If you are looking for one reason not to smoke, take a look at this surveillance video from a liquor store in New York's Grand Central Terminal. That would be an e-cigarette exploding. It exploded in the pocket of a worker here. That man's attorney says he needed surgery overnight for third degree burns to his leg, thigh and hand.

If you play the Powerball, no news is good news. Nobody had the winning numbers in last night's Powerball drawing. That means the estimated jackpot for Saturday's lottery is now up to a whopping $403 million.

It is the nation's highest civilian honor and this week, President Obama awarded his last Medals of Freedom. The ceremony included some well-known faces. Here's President Obama awarding Bill and Melinda Gates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For two decades, the Gates Foundation has worked to provide life-saving medical care to millions, boosting clean water supplies, improving education for our children, rallying aggressive international action on climate change, cutting childhood mortality in half. The list could go on.

These two have donated more money to charitable causes than anyone ever. Many years ago Melinda's mom told her an old saying. "To know that even one life has breathed easier because you lived, that is success." By this and just about any other measure, few in human history have been more successful than these two impatient optimists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Few people have had the profound global impact of Bill and Melinda Gates. Through their work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, they have demonstrated how the most capable and fortunate among us have a responsibility to use their talents and resources to tackle the world's greatest challenges. From helping women and girls lift themselves and their families out of poverty to empowering young minds across America, they transformed countless lives with their generosity and innovation.

Bill and Melinda Gates continue to inspire us with their impatient optimism that together, we can remake the world as it should be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.