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CNN TONIGHT
The Battle of the Heads; The Friendliest SCOTUS in Trump's Era; Senator Kennedy Calls John Dean A Rat At Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearing; High School Student Asked To Leave Trump Rally After Making Faces During Speech. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired September 7, 2018 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Thank you very much for being with us all this week. CNN Tonight with a very fetching Don Lemon starts right now.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: You only said that because you see you are losing the internet battle. Everyone agrees with me.
CUOMO: About what?
LEMON: About my hair. They like it. Or lack thereof.
CUOMO: Sympathy. You are lucky you're handsome.
LEMON: You are right about that and you're not.
CUOMO: Thank your momma.
LEMON: Hey, listen I agree with you. You know what else I agree with? I agree I'm talking about your closing remarks there. I agree with Meghan McCain. America has always been great.
CUOMO: A hundred percent. Best days lied ahead.
LEMON: You have a great weekend -- by the way, how was the first week at school with kids? I heard -- I heard they weren't happy.
CUOMO: A little sideways. They could use Uncle Don time.
LEMON: Yes. Tell them -- I tried to see you this weekend but you're all busy. So, maybe time.
CUOMO: We'll make it work.
LEMON: Have a good weekend.
CUOMO: I want to see momma. Take care, buddy.
LEMON: All right. I'll tell her you said hi. Have a good night.
So this is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon.
And today we saw today something stunning. A clash of titans. Former president speaking out publicly and directly against the current occupant of the Oval Office. The former President, Barack Obama calling President Trump and his policies bad for America and bad for democracy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA (D), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It did not start with Donald Trump. He is a symptom, not the cause.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: He's just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years. A fear, an anger that's rooted in our past, but it's also born out of the enormous upheavals that have taken place in your brief lifetimes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The 44th president going on to deplore President Trump's attacks on the press, and his targeting people over race and religion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I complained plenty about Fox News, but you never heard me threaten to shut them down or call them enemies of the people. It shouldn't be Democratic or Republican. To say we don't target certain groups of people based on what they look like or how they pray. We are Americans. We are supposed to stand up to bullies.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: Not follow them. We are supposed to stand up to discrimination. And we are sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to Nazi sympathizers.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: How hard can that be saying that Nazis are bad?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Amen, Barack Obama who also warns that our democracy, our country is in danger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: As a fellow citizen, not as an ex-president, but as a fellow citizen, I'm here to deliver a simple message, and that is that you need to vote because our democracy depends on it.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: You know what, it's not as if this is the first time that the former President Obama has warned us. I want you to listen to this.
This is what he said in the final stretch of the 2016 campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: If you disrespect women before you were elected president, you will disrespect women when you are in office.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: If you accept the support of Klan sympathizers, the Klan, and hesitate when asked about that support, then you will tolerate that support when you are in office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Very fine people on both sides. That was after President Obama said that. And this in the day is what he said after Trump's election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around a 'us' and a 'them.'
[22:04:53] And I will never apologize for saying that the future of humanity and the future of the world is going to be defined by what we have in common as opposed to those things that separate us and ultimately lead us into conflict.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I mean, those warnings sound pretty prophetic now. And in his speech today the 44th president also unloaded on the Republican Party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Over the past few decades, the politics of division and resentment and paranoia has unfortunately found a home in the Republican Party. It sure isn't normal. It's radical. It's a vision that says the protection of our power and those who back us is all that matters even when it hurts the country. What happened to the Republican Party?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That is a great question. What happened to the Republican Party? What happened? The party of Lincoln. What happened to Republicans like Lindsey Graham who said this about Donald Trump back in 2016.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I think he's a cook. I think he's crazy. I think he's unfit for office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: But now--
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: You know what concerns me about the American press is this endless, endless attempt to label the guy as some kind of cook, not fit to be president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He's the one who said it in the first place. So you can't make this up. What happened to Republicans like Ted Cruz who said this about Trump? This was 2016.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: It's not easy to tick me off. I don't get angry often. But you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that will do it every time. Donald, you are a sniveling coward. Leave Heidi the hell alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Who earlier this year wrote, "President Trump is doing what he was elected to do, disrupt the status quo. That scares the heck out of those who controlled Washington for decades. But for millions of Americans their confusion is great fun to watch."
It must be extra great fun for Ted Cruz after president -- the president smeared his wife and accused his dad of being involved in the assassination of President Trump Kennedy. Good times.
What happened to Republicans like Kellyanne Conway? Kellyanne. She was on this show a lot. She's on the show almost every week before the campaign who said this about Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR: And I think instead of worrying about them and insulting them as lying Ted and John Kasich who eats like a slob and everything else that was said today which is fairly un-presidential, then, I think he should just ignore them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And who said this.
CONWAY: It's one thing to hold personal insults at somebody's wife and that cost Mr. Trump dearly in Wisconsin and dearly among women voters all across this country that we would just brush it off. But it just shows you the danger of just saying things that aren't true and getting people to believe it and getting 20,000 people in a rally today to just lap it up as if it's true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I think I'm living in an alternative universe. Well, that same Kellyanne Conway joined the Trump White House and then said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONWAY: You are saying it's a falsehood and they are giving Sean Spicer, our press secretary gave alternative facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONWAY: Most of the strength in the leadership skills and the decisiveness the resoluteness that I think this country was craving from its president from a leader is the same in public as it is in private. I find him to be very kind and generous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: My how things have changed. How the Republican Party has changed. You heard them tell us before the election what to expect from Donald Trump. You heard President Obama tell us. And you've heard and you've seen President Trump.
He ran on his promise to break all the rules. He's kept that promise. Now with 60 days to go until the midterms, every one of us will have the chance to be heard. Don't waste that change no matter what side you are on.
So here with me now is CNN global affairs analyst Susan Glasser, CNN political analyst Ryan Lizza and April Ryan and we are going to talk about all of this when we come back.
[22:10:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The 44th President Barack Obama back on the campaign trail today in a speech in Illinois he offered some of his harshest criticism yet of President Trump and his party.
Susan Glasser is back with me, Ryan Lizza and April Ryan, as well. April's new book by the way "Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House" available at book stores and online in any place near you. You can pick it up. Thank you all for joining us this evening. Good evening to you.
So Susan, President Obama he's not holding back on his return to the campaign trail clobbering President Trump. What do you make of Obama breaking precedent and taking on his successor by name?
SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, you know, clearly President Obama has been very reluctant to do this. He's facing increasing calls within the Democratic Party really for the entire time of Trump's presidency, he's refrained, he's issued some criticism as President Trump has gone after his legacy but mostly written statements until now. I think, you know, I've watched him at John McCain's funeral, it
wasn't even a week ago, although this week seems like a year, but it wasn't even a week ago. That eulogy was widely seen as a rebuke of President Trump but he really he never uttered his name.
Today he use President Trump's name, he called him a demagogues, he called him a bully. To huge contrast by the way, to how George W. Bush vowed to be silent basically during Obama's presidency and he more or less stuck to that.
It's a big shift. And you know, I think that it's a sign of how important the midterm elections are to both parties. This is really your base election. And in a weird way Obama's speech may be helpful to Trump's quest to get his base out in the same way that every time Trump makes a divisive speech in a rally it may be useful to Obama's base in getting them to come out this fall.
[22:15:02] LEMON: So Ryan, you know, as I pointed out President Obama had not a lot to say before the election, but I mean, it didn't make much of a difference. It's weird watching he predicted all of this as a lot of people did. Do you think it's going to make much of a difference now?
RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think, look, I think that his speech is being misinterpreted a little bit by a lot of people today. I didn't think it was -- there were a lot of lines in that speech which were attacks on Trump but a lot of his case against Trump is not a political or ideological case, right.
What were the big things that he criticized this president for? Don't coddle Nazis, don't use your Justice Department to go after political enemies. Don't violate or, you know, criticize the First Amendment and call reporters the enemies of the people. And you know, don't suck up to foreign adversaries like Russia. These are all not that long ago, those were all pretty non-ideological ideas.
LEMON: Ryan, I think you're right. So then what does that say--
(CROSSTALK)
LIZZA: And I think--
LEMON: -- what does that say about Trump then? Because.
LIZZA: Well, it's just like with the funeral.
LEMON: Yes.
LIZZA: It's like the funeral where people would make -- people would say bipartisan is great, McCain had character.
LEMON: These are statements of facts. These aren't political attacks.
LIZZA: And the people interpreted that as an attack on Trump. Why do we interpret that as an attack on Trump? Because those are -- those are things that are not shared by him, right. But I think it's dangerous if we start thinking of, you know, let's not -- you know, don't coddle Nazis as a political or partisan thought, right. These were just normal bipartisan ideas that are suddenly becoming political. And that, you know, I think we are losing something if we see it strictly as a Republican Democrat thing.
LEMON: You are such a smart man. Because I've been -- I've obviously thinking that since the campaign. There is right. There is wrong.
LIZZA: Yes.
GLASSER: Yes.
LEMON: There is normal. There is not normal. There is facts. And there is not facts. And non-facts and reality and not reality. And if you are on the side of facts and reality, you somehow seem to be against this president and the administration.
That is a very odd and strange place to be in. The president today the former president simply giving statements of fact and people interpreted it as attacks against this president.
Think about that, people. Think about that. April, you know, the former president said a lot of harsh things about Trump today. Again, a lot of it just he was speaking in fact. There is no red America, there's no blue America. There is America.
So I want you to listen again. This is him calming out Trump for his response to white supremacist, that white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Watch this.
APRIL RYAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We are sure as heck supposed to stands up clearly and unequivocally to Nazi sympathizers.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: How hard can that be saying that Nazis are bad?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I'm sure he has been waiting to say that for a while, April.
RYAN: I'm sure he has been. But here's the thing, and he's probably been saying it, you know, in his home and to those who he's close with. But the bottom line is, is that during Charlottesville, that was a water head movement. That is a moment of history for this president.
We will always go back to that when we deal with matters of how the president deals with a national crisis. That was a crisis moment.
And how did he rise or fall? It took him six or seven times to try to get it right and he never got it right. If he was on the script on the teleprompter we were able to wipe our brow and say wow, we took a deep breath. But if he was just on his own impromptu, the world came to an end.
And what former President Barack Obama did, what he did was basically talk about this nation in 2018 harkening back to a time that we don't want to go back to. He's saying that this nation, the pillars of this nation, the pillars of the democracy are shaking, be it Donald Trump or whomever, he's come out and said this.
And I want to go back to a statement that was made earlier talking about prior presidents would not do this. One thing that George W. Bush did for Barack Obama he behave the opportunity to rise and fall on his own understanding that his presidency was unique al into its own and he did not want to chime in.
And I remember a conversation with then President George W. Bush after he came back from his last Africa trip and Barack Obama was running against John McCain. And he talked about, George W. Bush have talked the fact that there is subtle and overt racism against President Barack Obama.
So that's one of the reasons, one of the key reasons why George W. Bush stayed out of the freight and did not comment on anything that happened with Barack Obama during his presidency.
[22:20:06] But at this moment for Barack Obama for him to speak he understood what George W. Bush did and he understood the moment in time and he had to do it.
LEMON: Yes. So I hope people don't concentrate on that one sound bite right there. Because he also talked about hacking. He talked about Russia. He talked about e-mails.
RYAN: Yes, he did.
LEMON: And all those things then that seem to matter so much but really didn't matter, you people were being bamboozled.
Susan, we all know that Trump likes to take credit -- this is another thing. Trump like to credit for the economy. Here's the problem, though. Obama can do the same thing and he did it today. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: By the time I left office, household income was near its all- time high, and the uninsured rate had hit an all-time low, and wages were rising and poverty rates were falling. I mention all this just so when you hear how great the economy is doing right now, let's just remember when this recovery started.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He's got a point, Susan.
GLASSER: He's got a point. You know, look, we are dealing with two presidents who are in alternate universes. And they come complete with a fact set in the case of Barack Obama, a rationale set of argument as a package of American values as Ryan pointed out that didn't used to be partisan.
And then you have President Trump whose ability to create his own reality is no longer dependent upon any facts.
LEMON: Yes.
GLASSER: So you know, it's not an argument that they are having with each other. It's a question of which America is going to turn out in some ways at the polls in November.
LEMON: Yes. That's got to be the last word. Thank you all. I appreciate it.
LIZZA: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: When we come back, a warning about the danger of deference to presidential power. That warning coming at Judge Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearing. And the man who gave it knows it inside and out. I'm talking about former Nixon White House counsel John Dean. He joins me next.
[22:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: John Dean, the man who took down President Nixon warning today that confirming Judge Kavanaugh will lead to, this is a quote, "most presidential powers friendly Supreme Court in the modern age."
Citing the lessons of his Watergate testimony back in 1973, Dean said today in his prepared testimony, again a quote, "There is much to learn from unchecked president who is inclined to abuse his powers that is a fact I can attest to from personal experience," end quote.
CNN contributor John Dean's joins me now. John, thank you so much. I have to tell you it was odd seeing you testifying today, you know, knowing what you did back in the 70s. What is your biggest concern about Judge Kavanaugh becoming a justice?
JOHN DEAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, as you quoted there the fact that we are now going to have a court that is so pro-president and needless to say we have a very dangerous president. He's incompetent at the moment but when he does learn where some of the levers are he might even be worse. So that's what was driving me to go there and testify today.
LEMON: So, again, you said that if you join this high court it's going to be the most presidential power in the modern era. Explain the consequences of that, John.
DEAN: Well, as one of the professors who was there and agreed with me, went through some of the cases and the types of cases that this court has been leaning towards, at least the not quite full majority of conservatives yet, and some of the descents and what have you.
Well this is going to give them the majority. And being pro-president means it's one less check on the presidency. And the founders really envisioned all three branches sort of competing with one another and checking each other. And that's going to end when Judge Kavanaugh is out there on the Supreme Court.
LEMON: You know, John, you were attacked at today's hearing by Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. I was watching especially close because I am from Louisiana. My mother is here visiting me from Louisiana. So this sort of meant something. This meant a lot to us beyond you know just watching the hearing. I want to play that exchange. OK?
DEAN: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R), LOUISIANA: I remember vividly the early 1970s as well, when you worked in the White House. I think you and your co- conspirators hurt our country (Ph). I believe in second chances. But you did the right thing ultimately.
But you only did it when you were cornered like a rat. And it's hard for me to take your testimony seriously. And I'm going to give you a chance to respond, but I couldn't sleep tonight if I didn't tell you that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That was--
(CROSSTALK)
DEAN: Don, I had several actions as he was winding that up. First of all, it was the very end of the hearing. He was the only Republican left in the room during most of the hearings because they all scattered very quickly. They realized it was a strong panel and they didn't want to tangle with it.
So, as he was preparing to go after me, and I had really tweeted long before I even got to Washington that there would be a Republican who would troll me. And this was clearly it.
My first reaction was to say, I remember a new John Kennedy and you are no John Kennedy, and I said, I don't want to -- he's probably heard that all his life. But then next thing that flashed in my mind was our former first lady, Michelle Obama, when they go low, we go high.
So I decided the way I would respond to it is explain to him he didn't know what he was talking about.
LEMON: Yes.
DEAN: Because I wasn't cornered like a rat. I broke rank and first internally trying to convince my colleagues to end the cover up and when they wouldn't I told them I was going to the prosecutors. LEMON: Well, I can just tell you as a Native Louisiana as Native
Louisianan we were embarrassed by that exchange. So, you know, I apologize for that.
But you pointed out that the president has also called you a rat. It seems like a lot or at least some Trump supporters could use a Watergate history lesson even Senator Kennedy. What does it say to you that some people in Trump world view you and not President Nixon as a villain of Watergate?
[22:29:58] DEAN: Right. Well, some of them don't really know the history like John Kennedy today. But others are, obviously, they're upset with the fact today, for example, Kennedy was upset with the points I was making in the hearing room. They are not good for their candidate. This candidate has got some real problems. And they are suppressing the entire paper record of his career in government and it's going to come back to haunt him, Don. Once he is sitting on the Supreme Court these things start trickling out and it will go on for a long time. And I use the example of two other justices who got themselves in trouble, Rehnquist during his confirmation hearing and Clarence Thomas in his, and they didn't want to hear that. So that is why he tried to undercut me and attack me.
LEMON: Kavanaugh is not polling well. I mean, you know, among average Americans, or among Americans, people, he polls very low. And you took down President Nixon back in 1973 with your testimony. Do you think that there is anyone who will stand up, really, and be the John Dean of the Trump administration?
DEAN: There may be many. I don't know. Anonymous did a pretty good job in the "New York Times". They are going to investigate him, which is absurd. I can't believe Jeff Sessions will actually start an investigation, but that was sort of the frame of mind I was in when things were going a rye in the Nixon White House.
LEMON: Thank you, John Dean.
DEAN: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: I appreciate it. When we come back, a teenager up staged the President at his rally last night, but some pretty animated facial expressions. And things got really interesting, he is now famous as plaid shirt guy. And he joins me next.
[22:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Something stood out to us at the President's rally in Billings, Montana last night and you might have noticed it too. I want you to take a look. Look at the guy in the plaid shirt to the left of the President. He is actually standing behind the President's right shoulder, OK. So you can see him making faces and even seeming to mouth something in response to the President's speech. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's hard and harder to win than popular vote. Popular vote you go to three, four states and boom, boom, boom, you win it's like the 100 yard dash versus running the mile. You practice differently. She forgot that. She forgot to go to a couple of very important states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: His reaction to the President's comments went viral earning him the nickname plaid shirt guy on social media. Well, his real name is Tyler Linfesty and he is a senior at Billings West High School and he joins me now. Tyler, thank you for joining us. Good evening. You have become a viral sensation since this rally last night. I'm going to play another clip and then we are going to talk. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We picked up a lot of support, because at some point this whole thing is going to be exposed.
More Americans are working today than ever, ever, ever before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I think that was a not true, but listen, you are not a Republican, but you are not a Trump supporter. In fact, you were wearing a Democratic Socialist America pin which you are wearing now. Why were you there?
TYLER LINFESTY, PLAID SHIRT GUY: Yes. Well, I originally signed up to go to the rally about a week before the rally was going to happen. I bought three of my friends with me. And honestly I just wanted to go just to see the President and hear what he had to say. I mean, I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to see the President of the United States.
LEMON: So, Tyler, were you deliberately making faces or was that a natural reaction?
LINFESTY: All of those reactions were my actual reaction. I would have made those faces if any one were to say that to me. I was not trying to protest. Those were just my actual honest reactions, yes.
LEMON: So what was it like? Because we know the President often says things that are not true, but the people there eating it up, do you think they know it's not true? You did, you said at one point not true. And then you said what? And I think you said have you? When he said he is gained more supporters?
LINFESTY: Right. I said have you, yes.
LEMON: Yes.
LINFESTY: Well, you know, each time I see one of these rallies, I see people behind Donald Trump clapping and cheering and being super enthusiastic. And I've always wondered myself, you know, are those people really being genuine. So when I got back there, I knew that I was going to be genuine. I was going to give my actual reaction to the things he said. So whenever I disagreed with him, you could tell that I disagreed, but when whenever I agreed with him, I clapped as well. You know, at one point he ruled against NAFTA, I personally don't like NAFTA.
At one point he said he thought that the primary election was still under way from Bernie Sanders I clapped at that as well. I also think the primary was stolen away from Bernie Sanders, but yes there are also plenty of things I disagreed with as you saw. You know, he talked about his tax plan a lot. I, you know, 82 percent of the benefits of the tax plan go to the top 1 percent of Americans. So clearly this tax plan was not for the middle class. You know, it didn't help people like me, people like my friends.
LEMON: OK, so then during that at some point they realized right that you were, I guess they weren't happy with what you were doing. Then they sent someone in to relieve you.
LINFESTY: Yes.
[22:40:00] LEMON: And then they also replaced your two friends even though they weren't making the same facial expressions you were.
LINFESTY: Right.
LEMON: Why were you and they, told to leave? What did they tell you?
LINFESTY: Well, I think, they didn't really tell me anything, but I mean I think I know why they removed me. It's because, well, before the rally, they told us that, you know, you have to be enthusiastic and be clapping. You have to be cheering for Donald Trump. And I wasn't doing that because you know, I wasn't enthusiastic and I wasn't happy with what he was saying.
LEMON: So it's like they warned you up before like a game show they tell you have to be enthusiastic?
LINFESTY: Yes, they told us we have to be enthusiastic. They tried to make me and my friends where the MAGA hats, Make America Great Again hats. I was not wearing one as you saw. So the woman she came in and she just said I'm going to replace you. And I just walked off. I knew I was getting kicked off for not being enthusiastic enough, so I decided not to fight it and then some secret service guys escorted me into the back room area. And, yes, they just sat me down for ten minutes looked at my I.D. and then just told me to leave. Very respectfully told me to just leave and not come back.
LEMON: You're officially known as plaid shirt guy. There are memes on the internet saying buy that guy a beer. Another one said not all super heroes wear capes some of them wear plaid shirt. How does your new found fame feel?
LINFESTY: It feels unbelievable. I can't really comprehend everything that is going on. The past 24 hours has been completely insane. You know, I see people like people at school recognize me hey that is plaid shirt guy. Yes, that is me. That is hard to believe. At first you hear plaid shirt guy, and like what is that. Then you realize oh, right, that is me.
LEMON: Well, congratulations. You made our day and everybody in the studio is laughing and we love you. We think you are hilarious. Listen, you are an American. And you can express yourself and you did it. And more power to you. Thanks for coming on. OK.
LINFESTY: Yes, thanks for having me.
LEMON: Thank you. When we come back, the President claiming that he doesn't speak the way that he is quoted in Bob Woodward's book. You heard him. What do you think? We'll do a deep dive. That is next.
[22:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The President out with a new line of attack against Bob Woodward explosive new book "Fear" claiming on Twitter that the book is a scam, because quote, I don't talk the way I am quoted. Except he does. Here to discuss, John McWhorter, professor of linguistics at Columbia University and the author of the book, "Words on the move why English can't sit still." Hello to you. Thank you for joining us.
JOHN MCWHORTER, PROFESSOR OF LINGUISTICS, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Hey, Don.
LEMON: Let's play this. This is what the President said today about this in North Dakota continuing to insist he doesn't talk like this. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: By the way, this I had you Woodward who wrote this book which is all fiction said, that I said something like put in I a very accrued manner, the concept is true, but the way it was said was very, you know, hey I went like to the best college. I did lots of good things. I mean, you read this thing, the quotes were wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I'm really smart. So, listen, I mean, you and I have had so many really compelling conversations about this. President says oh I don't do this, but we have seen what he said. And heard him say it the way it's quoted in the book.
MCWHORTER: Yes, I'm written about him using like. He does talk that way. You what it is, fish don't know they were wet. He doesn't know he is wet. He doesn't know that he does talk that way because it's only way he knows how to talk. His basic form of speech, some of us like greetings. Some us like to make observations. What he likes to do is make fun of people. That is what he does because he is 11. So we have to understand what a simple creature he is.
And I don't mean simple in terms of insult, quite. I mean that he is a very elementary creature. So for example today Obama says, and I understand where he is coming from, that Trump is playing upon divisiveness, playing upon people's fears. No he is not playing upon it that is the only way that Trump knows how to talk. Sophisticated people say that Trump is disregarding of or contentious of the constitution. No, no, he hasn't read it, he is not thinking about the constitution at all. Complete transparent simplicity. So of course he has the self-awareness of a penguin.
LEMON: Wow. All right. Listen one of the claims in the book is that he called Attorney General Jeff Sessions mentally retarded, but he claims he doesn't talk like that, but as you know, there is a tape for everything. Check it out.
MCWHORTER: Yes.
LEMON: Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I was criticized in one magazine where the writer was retarded. He said, Donald Trump put up $7 million, they put up a $193 million and they are 50/50 partners. Why isn't Donald Trump putting up more money? And you know, it's supposed to be because I'm smart.
I have a golf pro who's mentally retarded. I mean, he is like really not a smart guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So we've heard him twice on two different occasions. What's it like that he said that about Sessions?
MCWHORTER: Well, we could be certain for the simple reason that I think you and I both remember that saying people who are retarded, you're retard, that was very common of a certain kind of usually male person from about 1965 to 1985.
[22:50:00] I remember that. That was the way people talked. It sure as heck is the way he talked, especially since he likes to put people down and here is the thing. Trump never changes. He never does anything to expand beyond where he is. We can know that. That is the rule about him, it is like physics.
And so why would he stop saying something that you know sure as shooting that he was saying all the time before and here we have the tapes so we can be sure that he is probably, you know, in his dressing room or laying on the couch eating Cheetos and calling somebody retarded right now.
LEMON: Yes. The "New York Times" actually interviewed a former "New York Post" editor Jean McIntosh, right. Who claims Trump used that term in regards to his own in-laws back in the day when he was married to Marla Maples. Here's the quote. He asked her are you old enough to remember the show "The Beverly Hill Billie's?" that is her family except they came to New York City instead of Beverly Hills. I said what do you mean? And he said she was constantly surrounded by an entourage of dumb southerners. Right, he even adopted a fake southern accent to mimic Miss Maple's mother, Ms. McIntosh said. Yet again, this is exactly how the President talks and that is what is quoted in the book.
MCWHORTER: It's pretty simple once again. Donald Trump has respect for two things -- one, money. Two, with being a big dude. So would really think that he would have basic respect for the south? No. To him the south is (HUMMING) that is what he thinks the south is. This is what we would expect. And so for him to claim that he never said things like that is almost like him claiming that he is learning Slovenian or that he is ever done anything that he hasn't always done. So the President is lying in a very charismatic way. It is kind a fun watching people lie sometimes, but he is lying.
LEMON: The book, you know, it raises some very serious questions about his fitness for office and it's true that he is often incoherent, right? So, this is just a sample of some of his strangest moments. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So then I said, all right, I made a mistake. You know what kind of mistake it was, right? Bing, bing, bing. OK? Don't kid yourself. Good chance of that. Because everybody's -- you know, the front row people know exactly, right? Written by a nice reporter, now you have to see this guy. I don't know what I said. I don't remember. He is going I don't remember. Maybe that is why I said. I just learned that crooked Hillary along with her friend, you know, she is got this goofy friend named Elizabeth Warren, she is on a Twitter rant. She is a goofiest, she is married to Anthony Weiner. You know the little bing, bing, bing. I love you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That didn't stop him from becoming President. Why is that?
MCWHORTER: this are the things that he does for him to claim that he doesn't use abusive language is simply lying and what he just did, let us face it, even to us, was kind of entertaining. We wouldn't be able to see so much of it if we didn't basically have the world in our pockets. And between that and the fact that our society became much less uptight in some more innocent ways about 40 years ago, you know, we don't have to wear fedoras, women don't have to wear corsets, we let it hang out.
It means that you don't seem as Presidential when you talk like Mitt Romney. I think its part of why he lost that he seemed to stiff. Whereas I think he would have won for that sort of reason, 50 years ago. So you have this person who he is shaggy, he is real, but the problem is the reality that he is indicating is that of an abusive, naughty-nosed pasty little boy. And the tragic thing is that for some people, I don't think they like it. Nobody elected him, because he is paste, but they elected him because they didn't think it was a priority. Then you have to get into what the reasons are and it does make you very sad about a lot of our populists that they would pull the lever for someone like him, but as we hear about these things in the White House, what hurts even more that there are people there who think that it's OK to protect somebody who's obviously this unfit for leading anything. And he shouldn't be leading a 7-eleven and here he is there.
LEMON: John McWhorter, always a pleasure. Words on the move.
MCWHORTER: Thank you.
LEMON: Words on the move.
We'll be right back.
[22:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: When this week's CNN hero started bringing children to the United States for medical treatment 20 years ago she was working out of her bedroom walk in closet in Staten Island, New York, and had no clue what she was doing. Now she is gotten it down to a science, helping more than 300 children from 46 countries with life changing medical procedures. Meet Alisa Mantani.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are empowering them, because we are giving them back what they lost. A chance to stand on their own and write and go to school and to contribute to society.
They come from different corners of the earth and they all heal together, laugh together. They don't speak the same language, but love is universal. So often people will say why can't you help your own? Aren't they our own? Don't we share this earth?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: To see how Alisa is transforming the lives of these children, go to CNNheroes.com.
Thanks for watching, make sure you stick around for our special report, Jake Tapper talks with former Trump campaign aide, George Papadopoulos who was sentenced to prison today.
