Man or woman goes, that the legacy lives on. Of course. If people fight in that name, theres a big difference between good trouble and bad trouble. People are doing what they did in his earlier days. Confusing the two. And doing it for their own agenda and its dangerous. I didnt hear the entire show. Did your dad know him . My dad did know him. His legacy is far bigger than any familiarity. I will tell you, my father was greatly inspired as an Italian American by the black american experience. I know people have stereo types and stigmas. There was a lot of bigotry and violence. My pop came out of a slice of the immigrant reality that was poor. He grew up around a lot of black americans. He was in their weddings and friends and ballplayers. He was inspired that you fight the good fight. Take on power and lose a lot. It doesnt feel the same. It hurt my heart. I couldnt watch a lot of it. I was talking to brenda his person in d. C. Over the weekend texting. It hurts. Were losing a lot of i spoke with andrew the young. The night he died. Ambassador young. Its tough. We want him to live a longer life. Were losing icons and people who fought the good fight for americans. Imitation is the best form of flattery. People fighting for rights over the years including Womens Movement and lgbtq Gay Rights Movement have mimicked the black movement the civil rights. Its a great thing. People like john lewis taught us how to fight. Well miss him. Sacrifice is great. Obviously it was significant on a lot of levels that a few people in the right confused pictures of john with elijah cummings. There are similarities there. It was also interesting. Elijah had picked up the mantle and ran. And i knew him well. I spent a lot of time. I walked the streets with him in baltimore. He saved my ass more than once down there. And see how people came around him and respected him and responded to what he was saying ability the enemy awas and wasnt. The kids out there will pick up the mantle. We have to in our way. Heres the baton. We can do thank you for passing the baton. Run like you were running to the buffet. I didnt see you all weekend. Everywhere you went. Chris is here. You have your fancy friends now. Youre a big deal. Youll come back to many ne in winter. Ill be there. So, this is cnn tonight. Im don lemon. Just as they say sit right back and hear a tale. Ill tell you the truth. Maybe a better way of putting it is, class, well review something we have studied before. We have discussed. So take out your notebooks and flip back. Well talk about alternative reality and facts. Remember that chapter . President is living in one. Alternative reality. Remember alternative facts the things that actually werent facts at all. Tonight in the president s alternative reality, things are going just great. America is turning a corner. And things will be rosy in matter of months. Its like a new episode of fresh new episode of leave it to beaver. Except, there are 148,000 americans who have died from this virus. Tell that reality to the 4. 3 million americans who have been infected. They arent part of the president narrative. He didnt mention them at his Coronavirus Briefing today. And instead he is purk governors to reopen states. Even with a virus raging. If therapy you cannily euticp with answers. Youll have a tremendous recovery. And a vaccine is ahead of schedule. Ahead of anything that has taken place in terms of vaccines. If those happen and one of those happen, youll go right back into that. And youre in the v anyway. I believe a will the of the governors should be opening up states that theyre not opening. And well see what happens with them. Not opening up quickly enough. Its like ward cleaver. Telling a fancy story of how great everything is. Opening too quickly is how we ended up with surges in texas and arizona and florida. Cases are up 1,500 . I said it right. 1,500 . Since florida reopened in may. 1,500 . Even california where Governor Newsom seemed to be doing everything right. It is surging there. But the president cant stand the thought of states in lock down. Not when it threatens him politically. Thats why he is insisting governors should reopen. Compare that to this this is from the truth teller. This is dr. Fauci. Unless we get our arms around this and suppress it we will have further suffering and further death. Thats the reason why as i often said many times there are things that we can do right now in the absence of a vaccine that can turn us around. The fundamental things of avoiding crowds, physical separation, universal wearing of masks. Closing the bars. Hand hygiene. Those matter. They can make a difference. He is right. I misspoke. Gavin newsom. Dr. Fauci is right. Those things matter. We can all do them. Remember when he threw out the first pitch between the yankees and nationals. Did that last week. Remember we were just joking about it and he was kind of outside. The ball was socially distancing. Remember when the president said that he had been invited to throw out a first pitch too, watch this. A great friend from the yankees asked me to throw out the first pitch and i think ill do that august 15. At yankee stadium. That maybe an alternative fact too. The New York Times is reporting it came as surprise to the yankees and a white house staff. The president was so annoyed by the first pitch he had the aid to call the yankees to take them up on a long standing offer to throw a pitch. And never set a date. Then he cancelled conveniently claiming hes too busy handling the coronavirus. Cant throw out the first pitch. He only really seems to care about the virus when it threatens him politically. Thats exactly what we see in our new poll. Take a look. Joe biden leading the president in a critical battleground state in arizona, florida and michigan. States that he carried in 2016. But the president says he has his own polls that tell him exactly what he wants to hear. We have polls that show many leading in almost every swing state. And substantially in other states by even more than i won in 2016. Florida for example you have thousands of votes out of the ocean on the intercoast. You look at states like wise you have thousands of votes and all waving the trump sign. Trump pence sign. And so proud. Thousands and thousands you have seen it. Where you have bikers for trump with lines miles long on highways going along on weekends. I think theres more spirit now than theres ever been for my campaign. We better start counting bikers and boaters. Counting votes and bikers is not a reliable polling method. His internal polling is bad. Revealing a growing majority of americans disapprove of his handling of the coronavirus. They convinced the president to resume the briefings like the one you saw today. Thats how they convinced him to Pay Lip Service to masks and seen wearing one. Like he did today. Look at that oh my gosh. All hell will break loose. He said he wasnt going to do it. Sitting behind the desk with dictators. And a mask. Okay, so, just imagine how Different Things might be in this country if the president had worn a mask from day one. Instead of saying this on the very day he announced the cdc recommendation everyone wear a mask. Somehow sitting in the oval Office Behind the beautiful remdesiv resolute desk. Wearing a face mask greeting president s sp prime ministers. Dictators. Kings, queens. I dont know. How i dont see it for myself. Vanity. In the middle of a pandemic. I just dont see it. 140 something thousand people though. That as were learning the coronavirus struck again in the president s inner circle. National security adviser a top aid testing positive and reportedly experiencing mild symptoms. Lets hope he is okay. Source telling us he was last in the office last thursday and left the white house. And two weeks ago he traveled to europe where he and his top deputy met with officials from the uk. From france and germany and italy. No mask. No social distancing. Again we hope hes okay. The white house says theres no risk to the president. You have to wonder whether he is rethinking his defense that he is tested all the time. He doesnt need to wear a mask in the white house. All of that as the nation mourns congressman john lewis. Civil rights icon lying this state today with socially distanced and mask lawmakers paying their respects in the capitol. Also paying respects. Form r Vice President joe biden and his wife jill. Members of the public. Filing past the casket for hours. That viewing outside because of the virus. The president of the United States wont be paying his respects. I wont be going, no. It would be easy to say that the president should go pay tribute to the remarkable life of john lewis. A legend. Except my sense is john lewis didnt really care all that much what the president thought of him. John lewis didnt believe in paying lip service to things you dont believe in. To people whose values you dont share or respect. In fact, he refused to attend the president s inauguration. Agree or disawe gree with that, he took a stand. He did it on principle. He had done his entire life. Congressman lewis explained his actions in 2018. On the view. I felt strongly during the inauguration of the so called inauguration. That i couldnt be at home with myself. If i had to participate or be part of it. The movement taught us to withdraw from evil. And i never felt his election was legitimate. Yes, im with you. On this. Dr. Kings daughter thinks her father would have met with trump if he were alive. Do you agree with that . I knew her father very well. I met him when i was 18. I heard of him when i was 15. Meeting him, working with him and knowing him. I think he would have took the same position that i took. Who are you, america . Who are we. The difference here lt difference between the two men is how have you spent your life . Have you stood for principle . Put your life on the line for inservice of what is right. What is just. Like dr. King and john lewis. Have you spoken out in times when it was uncomfortable . Or have you act td in your own narrow selfinterest fuelled by grievance and hurt feelings. Are you a President Trump or are you a congressman lewis . Its simple. You see something thats not right, not fair, not just. You have a moral obligation to do something. Say something. Speak up. The great john lewis. We also have breaking news on the coronavirus tonight. Nfl announcing preseason games are cancelled. Going ahead with the regular season. Will things be any safer then . Last nights sleep, interrupted by pain . 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And doctor the director of the program at George Washington university hospital. Good evening. Last week it seemed the president was going tor more realist k about this pandemic. Why he is pushing governors to open up because Kellyanne Conway said some people the governors opened up too fast and against our rules and blah blah. All the numbers show that is how we got into this mess in the first place. What is going on . Youre right. Kellyanne conway said the reason the president is starting the briefings and they felt like some states opened up too soon. And we saw the president today revert to what he had been saying. He believed governors were not doing enough to open up and werent going far enough. Even though that comes as dr. Birx and Vice President right hand woman during this has been going around and saying that there are certain areas that need to scale back openings. They have gone too far and too quickly. What you saw today is the president saying what he really thinks. What our sources say he thinks on this. He was making it clear those we have seen him going into moments where he did today, hes urging people to wear a mask. Hes wearing a mask. Social distance. Hes taking a different tone. And he denied its about polls showing people reject his response to coronavirus so far. That is a multiple sources told us is really the root that is driving this change in tone that the president clearly today veered off from. He was all for not wearing a mask and pumping people up to not wear them in public. So, i want to ask you about the breaking news. Nfl announcing it is cancelling the preseason games. If its not safe enough to have preseason games, why is it safe enough to regular season games . Please explain. I cant explain that. I think what were seeing from the story with the Miami Marlins is that its tough to have professional sports during a pandemic. Its just a harsh reality. And theres no sport where its less possible to socially distance than professional football. And i think we have to face hard reality now. And the hard realities are there are a will the of things we enjoy and love but cant have them now. The quickest way to get them back is do the hard things. Wear masks, socially distance, closing down states out of control. In terms of new cases of the virus. If we do that now, we can have all that back for next season. And thats what we should be doing. Focus our attention on that. And i think it will be less of a disappointment to cancel the season now than to get a game into the season and have to just disassemble everything. The same apply to College Sports . College football . Yeah. Theres a lot at stake. We can replace seasons and we can do all kind of inventive things. We can have a spring season. We cant replace human lives. Lets face that now. Were fwoing to put the pandemic down. Were smart people in the country. And we have the will to do it. We need the leadership. Well get that eventually. And when we do that well start to reassemble our lives. We cant replace the people we lose. We have to be smart. Lets cut our losses and i love baseball, i live for baseball. We may not be able to have it. Lets be smart and be adults about this. I want to talk about the National Security adviser. Testing positive for coronavirus. Is the white house saying anything about his contact with the president . They said they dont believe the president or the Vice President is at risk for exposure. Its interesting because what theyre not saying is the last time he met with the president. It wasnt that long ago press secretary says he meet him twice a day. He was talking about how much they do interact and today the president was asked about the diagnosis and the only thing he said is i havent seen him lately. Which raises questions why hasnt he seen him recent will . But also when the last time they met was. No one has gotten back to us. He was at the white house last thursday chlts he got a call and he left the white house campus. And didnt come back. We know hes isolating off campus. I want to point out as we were report today we found out he didnt tell his staff ever formally he tested positive for coronavirus. Some of the senior staffers on the National Security counsel found out from the press today their boss tested positive from covid19. Through that. They didnt find out through any other means. It was notable. They sent an email saying a cafeteria staffer tested positive and warning people. We want to give you a heads ip. Not similar for the National Security adviser to the president of the United States testing positive for coronavirus. Theres a story there. Thank you. I appreciate it. Labs are struggling to keep up. Why months into the coronavirus pandemic there are still huge delays in testing and how its impacting the spread of the disease. Well talk about that next. Dr. Fauci with a stark warning tonight that the u. S. Could still see tens of thousands more deaths from the coronavirus. Lets discuss now. A former fda commissioner and director of the duke center for health policy. Doctor, how are you . Good to be with you. Lets talk about what dr. Fauci did. Making it clear that this isnt over yet. Tens of thousands more deaths still possible. It is shocking and just doesnt need to be this way. I never thought i would be in the middle of a summer still discussing this. Still telling people to wear masks and saying theres an out break here. A surge there. I thought we flattened the curve and on the way to the fall. Lets see what happens with the second wave. We have this under control. Hee here we are. It didnt have to be this way. We dont have it under control. The growth in cases in states like texas and arizona sloed in many parts of the state. Thereto are people Wearing Masks and more people paying attention to the guidance. But were seeing more states having their own out breaks. Were not there yet. Six months into this crisis, testing still a mess. Capacity has increased dramatically and the u. S. Is conducting 770,000 tests a day. The problem is we need to be testing millions per day. This was back and forth between him and jake yesterday. Doctor . I heard the back and forth. I thought you were going to a package. Yes they were going back and forth. We are testing more than ever. We need more tests than ever. The virus is in virtually all of the communities. And were seeing not only more people with symptoms and contacts who need to be tested and need to be tested quickly to figure out if they need to isolate and contain more out breaks. Also were trying to open back up. And so for people who are getting procedures in the hospital. For the baseball players. For businesses that are trying to reopen. For nursing homes. Were doing more screening tests too. And the problem is we doept have enough capacity for the lab tests. We wrote about this recently. Actually today. And urged take more steps to bring on more point of care testing for people who dont have symptoms or are going back to work and working in high risk area. And the foundation is called for Something Like 30 million tests a week. A different kind of test. It can be done point of care, using labs. That were not using for clinical diagnosis. It could really help augment capacity. Were falling behind without that capacity. We were having dinner with my partner with a doctor who said not that he believes that we should be testing people. We are just way so far behind in testing we have missed the dropped the ball on testing that its almost too late at this point. What everyone should do is pretend they have it. And just treat themselves and other people as if they have it. Wear a mask. Stay socially distanced. Its obviously the government will not get their act together when it comes to testing. At this point, have no faith in the government and pretend everyone has it. And well all be much better off. Similarly, we should pretend we have it. That is the recommendation. Everybody should be wearing a mask. Keeping a standistance. And are we putting too much emphasis on testing because we should be testing. But the government is just not going to do it. They just cant do it. They missed the boat. Do you agree . I do think we can do better. First of all we need to priority the lab test for people who have symptoms. There are now things that we can do for people who have the coronavirus including especially if they get real severe cases. What do we need . Quest said it is struggling to handling the enormous demand. Cant government compel Testing Companies to hire more people . Expand capacity . What do we do . Id lig to see congress provide more resources to increase Testing Capacity and not just the lab test, we use a will the of tests for other conditions like flu or strep throat. Called antigen tests. That can be in the point of care. In the Doctor Office or workplace or high risk like a nursing home. We provided those tests as well. We cathedrneed to ramp them up. Everyone needs to act like covid19 is around them. We can use testing to contain the out break and get out of the spot were in now. Doctor, i hope everyone is listening. Thank you for coming on. I want to make sure you know about my new pod cast. Silence is not an option. I taped part of it. This will be the best one yet. Tough questions about race in america, being black in america. Policing as well. Well talk about that on the one thats coming out thursday. Find it on apple or your favorite app. Up next, republican senator tom cotton commenting on slavery and how the Founding Fathers felt about it. And catching heat for the use of quote Necessary Evil. Republican senator tom cotton on the defensive tonight after remarks he made about the role of slavery in the founding of the United States. Some important context. He is pushing to block schools from teaching the 1619 project. New york Times Initiative that reframes American History around the date of august 1619. The first slai ship arrived on america shores. Heres what he told the newspaper. He said we have to study the history of slavery and the role in impact on the development of the country because otherwise we cant understand our country as the Founding Fathers said it was the Necessary Evil upon which the union was built. But the union was built in a way as lincoln said to put slavery on the course to its ultimate extinction. Okay. So thats what he said. The Necessary Evil. As i quote from him. That didnt go down well with many people. Including democratic congressman jeffreys who said this on the house floor. Slavery was not a Necessary Evil. It was a crime against humanity. Anchored and kidnap, rape, torture, lynching. And the systemic oppression and enslavement of people of africanamerican decent. Century after century after century. We are still living with its legacy today. Senator cotton is defending what he said. Hes claiming that those werent his views. But the views of the Founding Fathers. What i said is that many founders believed that only with the union and the constitution could we put slavery on the path to extinction. Thats what lincoln said. Of course slavery is a evil institution. And all the forms and all times. In americas past or around the world today. But the fundamental moral principle of america is in the de declaration. All men created equal. The history of the america is the long and difficult struggle to live up to the principle. And evil institution. Facts first. There doesnt appear to be a roord of the founding fathering arguing slavery was a Necessary Evil. Many of them owned slaves. Others werent against it out right. There was nothing the Founding Fathers wrote in the constitution that puts slavery on the path to ultimate extinction. But imagine just for a moment that senator is right. And the founding fathering did believe it was a Necessary Evil. If the nation koud only be formed with a compromise over slavery and not have been formed without compromising on slavely. Logic tells us slavery was a vital component to our nations founding. A vital component and a deeply racist one. And that gets to the heart of what the 1619 project is asking us to consider. It is asking us to look at slavery and racism as part of our national narrative. It is asking to understand the consequences of the nations original sin. I would like to have the conversation with is that right cotton. When we asked him to come on the staff said he was in the available. So, here to talk about it all for us. The creator of the 1619 project. Theyll both be here right after the break. When you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea pepto bismol coats and soothes your stomach for fast relief and now, get the same fast relief in a delightful chew with new pepto bismol chews. combative yelling he used to have bad breath. Now, he uses a capful of therabreath fresh breath oral rinse to keep his breath smelling great, all day long. combative yelling therabreath, its a better mouthwash. At walmart, target and other fine stores. So senator cotton is trying to defend the claim the Founding Fathers saw slavery as a Necessary Evil and tries to push legislation to stop schools from teaching the 1619 project. Lets discuss now. A reporter at the New York Times and creator of the project. And cnn president ial historian. Again, i want to say we asked the senator to appear tonight. He declined. I really wanted to talk to him about it. Good evening to both of you. Id like to start with you and get your reaction on what the senator is saying ability the role that slavery played for Founding Fathers. So, certainly i would disagree that slavery at our founding was a Necessary Evil. As congressman jeffreys said it was a crime against humanity. And our founders had choices and this was a choice they made. You cant say the enslavement of ancestors the forced labor through torture and violence was a Necessary Evil. However, in saying that he also basically confirmed the thesis of the 1619 project. He proved the big picture point. That america really needs to grapple with how foundational slavery was to the yeah, i mean, he said that oush country, the union was built upon slavery. We were built upon it. And that is what the 1969 argument argues. It was the foundation of the United States, and it at your founding, we decided to continue with the ings constitution and he is saying we are saying to be prohibited from being taught in your schools. Interesting. Lets let me talk to timothy. Give us a reality check on senator cottons claims. What do we really know about what the Founding Fathers really thought about safety . First, we cant talk about it, its a product of a compromise. So new england Founding Fathers and the southern Founding Fathers, the virginians in particular, they didnt see eye to eye. So to say this is a Necessary Evil is wrong. They did agree within 20 years, the country should reexamine the issue of the slave trade. There was a lot of oppositioned to the slade trade in 1787. There with was a good number of them that wanted the United States to get out of the slave trade. Its not the same thing as say you want to end slavery. There were amongst them people who dont want to extend slavety. And Thomas Jefferson himself would say that the newer states would be free and not slave states. So there was adys agreement amongst them, and one of the thing sthas clear, they were not talking about eventually ending slavery. Nor were they arguing it was necessary to maintain it for a more perfect union. What is amazing about cotton is that he should he knows better in. You look at this mans educational background, he understands the nature of the struggles that shape this country, and he knows the ideas that he always talking ability, the enlightenment ideas, i hold true to myself, the ideas under mine the institution of slavery. There is an interaction between the ideas that Thomas Jefferson spoke of and didnt live up to, and the institutions of the time. There was no necessary outcome other than the fact that there was a deep inconsistency between the institutions that nicole has described starting in 1619 and the idea of the enlightenment ideas of the 18th century. And that interworking made us the country we are, good or bad today. Cotton knows that and he doesnt want to teach it. You said that he is taking lincoln out of context here when he is quoting lincoln, right . Oh, well by the way, is not a founding father. First, he is not a founding father. But the thing about lincoln and the thing about all of her great president s is that evolved and changed on the job. The lincoln of the 1850s is not the lincoln of 186 had 3, the time of the emancipation pr proclamation. So incon also said that slavery was evil. The question is what to do about it. And during the sooifl war, he decided to make the big play. We wish that he could have made that decision before. He didnt. But in the context of the civil war, he did, so lincoln would never have said that slavery was a Necessary Evil when he was president and overseeing the fight. Before we run out of time, we talked about it just a little bit. Senator cotton wants to stop the 1619 project, and the 1619 project is left wing propaganda. Its revisionist history at its worst. Some of the stories did take issue with the project, and slavery was a main reason why the columnist reclaired independence. Give me a response to that . We should be concerned that a powerful senator wants to use the force of a government to stop the work of journalism from being taught in public schools. That to me is in direct con ticket witext with the First Amendment that we hold near and dear. It was not intended to replace curriculum. It was intended to supplement kr curriculum, and we should reconsider what we have been taught. Only 8 of American High School students even know that slavery was the cause of the civil war and only 60 of american teachers know that slavery was the cause of the civil war. So if he was truly concerned about the accuracy about the history that students are learning, he would go after the textbooks that are teaching a false narrative about what our country really and how it came to be. And the false narrative that is taught in school, and many of sit a concerted effort that happened after the civil war. Listen, i wish we had more time to talk about this, and listen, your Founding Fathers, the Founding Fathers are not under attack. What people are trying to do is get to you learn me about them, and the real history of this country. Nicole, thank you very much. And thank you, timothy. We will see you both soon. Be well. Thank you. Well be right back. This isnt about today. This is about the next 10 years. Pero hoy, tu puedes hacer algo. You can make a difference today by completing the census. The census impacts everything from hospitals, schools and public transportation. It is more important than ever before that everyones voice is heard. The census builds america, so the census count should look like america. Shape the future of brooklyn. Kansas city. Tucson. Atlanta. Oregon. Los angeles. D. C. Start here at 2020census. Gov. This is cnn tonight. Im don lemon. The coronavirus pandemic spiralling out of control in in country. More than 4. 2 million america