How . Many americans are dying a day. It is what it is. But that doesnt mean we arent doing everything we can. Its under control as much as you can control it. Reporter Infectious Disease experts disagree. Our natural response to this pandemic should be a national embarrassment. And the data that comes from the White House Task force backs up exactly what dr. Birx said. There is uncontrolled spread in over 32 states in the country. Reporter adequate testing and tracing still lacking six months into the pandemic. States that were doing well seeing cases climb again, including new jersey, which just scaled back indoor gatherings to 25 people, down from a hundred. The actions of a few knuckle heads leave us no other course. Reporter there are some bright spots. Californias Positivity Rate is declining. And 14 states including arizona and florida are seeing a dip in new cases over the past week. But of the 28 holding steady, many are plateauing at a very high level. If you just look at the facts, the u. S. Has about 4 of the worlds population and about a quarter of the cases, 25 of the cases. We definitely have a problem here in the u. S. Reporter deaths which lag by two to four weeks are rising in 27 states. Two teens in florida among the more than 7,400 covidrelated deaths there. Arkansas, georgia, and West Virginia among the states seeing record hospitalizations. Atlantas Georgia World Congress center met with surge hospital again. It saddens me that we are still headed in the direction so many months after we had an opportunity to get on the other side of covid19. Reporter teachers in one phoenix district calling on the governor to issue statewide safety mandates. We dont want to endanger one student, one teacher, one support professional, one community member. Reporter as arizonas top education official warns its unlikely any school in that state will be able to reopen safely for inperson or hybrid learning. As states look to control the spread of this virus, the new york tristate areas, new york, new jersey, and connecticut all adding the state of rhode island to that list of 35 states and territories. Territories from those areas must quarantine for 14 days when entering any of these three states. Delaware and washington, d. C. Though have been removed from the list. Erica hill, thanks for breaking it down for us across the country. And joining me now is cnn chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta to dig a little bit deeper into all of this. First off, sanjay, its great to see you. I want to get your reaction to what we heard the president say in this interview that the virus is, quote, under control as much as you can control it. Well, thats not true. I mean, we have realworld evidence from many countries around the world of what a greater control of virus will be. It is a very contagious virus. There is no question as you open things up, you will have increased spread. But its worth looking at the terms here. Were in whats called mitigation mode. It means were trying to slow down the spread of this virus and were not doing a very good job. What control would mean from a Public Health standpoint is more containment mode. That would mean roughly one in a million new cases to 1 in 100,000 new cases per day. So thatd be roughly 350 new cases per day in the United States. Were at close to 50,000 new infections per day. So, strictly speaking, were not in control. And i think even just more sort of tangibly speaking were not in control. Right. And you look at the states 34 states have a Positivity Rate of 5 or more. W. H. O. Recommends it should be less than 5. So that gives you an idea. There are so many numbers. And i think sometimes people might look at these numbers. Its confusing. What is the story . Right now six months into this pandemic, how would you tell the story of the pandemic in the United States . Its a really good question. The arc of the story keeps getting rewritten. If this were a baseball game, i think we could have been closer to the 8th inning and instead were closer to the second or third inning because the numbers continue to grow. Thats sort of the concerning thing. We didnt do enough testing initially. And as a result we werent able to find people who were infected, isolate them and trace their contacts and keep the numbers low. There was a lot of just widespread infection during that time that was largely unchecked. And because people, you know, can be asymptomatic, not have any symptoms and still spr ed it, that added a whole other complicated dimension to this whole thing. So when you look at the right side of the screen and say heres the number of people who have contracted the coronavirus in the United States 5 million, it could be five to ten times higher than that, pamela. And we just havent been able to test those people. Were in a situation now where we dont know and we dont know everything that we dont know at this point. Were not even sure where to look for some things at this point. Okay. So given that, and then when you hear the president say, hey, its under control as much as it can be, do you think the president just doesnt grasp how bad things are right now . I dont know. Its hard to say. Or is he just trying to is this just a sales job . I dont know. I mean, everybody wants to be hopeful, obviously. But the thing is that we know that the Coronavirus Task force members have been, you know, briefing the president , have been telling the president , showing the president these numbers. And the thing is that this is a different sort of story in the sense that there is objective data here. You do have numbers and facts and figures as opposed to theories and subjects. He is hearing the real data and if one looks at the real data and says were not even 5 of the worlds population and we have 25 of the worlds infections and deaths, i think that would take anybody, you know, and make them say, hey, look, this is serious, we have to do something about it. And youre hearing his own Public Health experts, dr. Fauci, saying that he agrees with dr. Birx calling this current widespread outbreak of the virus, quote, insidious. What does that mean practically speaking . I think what that really means is that we have never really had full eyes on the extent of this problem in the United States. Again, i talk about testing all the time. I think its going to be the thing that i look back on this time in my life and say ive talked about that more than anything else. But we didnt test, and i think there was a minimizing of the importance of testing. So now insidious means that this continues to spread, this virus continues to spread unchecked. The role of testing right now in this country is to identify hot spots in the country. The problem is we dont know places that seem like were okay right now just fine, nothing to worry about here. You dont know because theres not adequate testing in those places, and the problem is if you start to get behind, if all of a sudden there is a small outbreak, it can spiral into exponential growth very, very quickly. The curve can get away from you very, very fast. So you say this and now as parents i know both of us are parents. Were weighing whether to send our children back as you are laying out this picture of, hey, this is an insidious pandemic, you dont know whats going to happen. I should say this virus. Dr. Fauci is saying, hey, look, the default position should be to keep schools open, but the primary consideration should be safety. What does that even mean . Like yeah. Of course the schools should be safe, but given what you just laid out, how will you guarantee safety . Yeah. Its tough. I think dr. Fauci is saying i think what were all thinking. But, look, every parent really in america has to become an amateur epidemiologist right now to figure this out. Let me show you some of the actual dating criteria. This came from the white house itself in terms of what we should look for before thinking about opening schools. Now, just think about your own community. Have covid cases been going down for 14 days in a row . Have hospital visits been going down for 14 days in a row . Are hospitals adequately staffed . And then this bottom one, pamela, i think is the big one. Do you have Testing Programs in place . Could you get your child tested . Could you get yourself tested . Could you get a rapid result quickly . Because thats going to be the key if you do open a school to keeping it open. Youve got to quickly there will be new infections, almost a guarantee because its a contagious virus. There will be people who become infected that otherwise wouldnt. Can you identify them quickly enough to not let this spiral into exponential growth . If you dont have adequate testing in place, i just dont see how you do it. And most places in the country right now still dont have that so many months into this. And were actually later on in this show were going to be doing a deeper dive into the testing issues that still exist right now. Really quick, i want to go to this study showing two major keys to reopening schools are successful testing, also contact tracing. Public Health Experts say that both arent where they need to be in this country, as you know. So just the bottom line here, sanjay, as things stand today, and as we know its fluid, things change all the time. But what would you advise parents weighing whether or not they should send their child to school . I think those criteria for your own community are important. If the numbers really have been going down 14 days in a row, as i laid out there, and you do feel very confident in testing, then perhaps. But the issue is going to be what happens if you do have a significant number of people who test positive . And you also got to remember while it is true that children, young people, are less likely to get sick from this, they can still transmit it, and you have faculty and teachers and staff in these schools, a third of which according to some studies would qualify as being vulnerable in some way because of their age or preexisting conditions. That all has to be accounted for. Its going to be tough. This is a bad viral storm. You want to use a metaphor, this is like a bad hurricane. We all have to sort of hunker down. It will pass. Its just going to take a long time. But its going to be tough to do things where youre clustering people together inside possibly with Vulnerable People and hope that it all goes right. Thats the big difference. Its like a hurricane but its lasting a lot longer than a hurricane does. Even though people have pandemic fatigue doesnt mean were out of the woods or even close to it. Dr. Sanjay gupta, thanks so much. You got it, pamela, thank you. Well, President Trump says you can do too much testing for the virus. That is not true. This and his other questionable claims on a wide range of issues. Plus, a massive explosion, a Mushroom Cloud and its effects felt 150 miles away. We are live with the latest on this mysterious deadly blast. Wayfair has everything outdoor from grills to play sets and more one of a kind finds. It all ships free. And with new deals every day you can explore endless options at every price point. Get your Outdoor Oasis delivered fast so you can get the good times going. Wayfair. Youve got just what i need. The coronavirus is wrecking stif the senate doesnt act, it will mean painful cuts to essential Public Services across america. Fewer teachers and nurses, longer response times, dirtier streets. But some say our states should just go bankrupt. Text fund to 237263 to Tell Congress to fund our essential Public Services. Afscme is responsible for the content of this ad. Stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. And take. It. On. With rinvoq. Rinvoq a oncedaily pill. Can dramatically improve symptoms. Rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. And for some. Rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. Thats rinvoq relief. With ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. Rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. Rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious infections and blood clots, sometimes fatal, have occurred. As have certain cancers, including lymphoma, and tears in the stomach or intestines, and changes in lab results. Your doctor should monitor your bloodwork. Tell your doctor about any infections. And if you are or may become pregnant while taking rinvoq. Take on ra talk to your rheumatologist about rinvoq relief. Rinvoq. Make it your mission. If you cant afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. Turning to our politics lead now, President Trump saying it is what it is that 156,000 americans have died of coronavirus. One of the jawdropping moment with his interview with axios on hbo. At one point he suggested he thinks you can test too much. The president couldnt explain who those people are. And his answers leave you wondering whether he understands just how bad the pandemic is. Reporter even though his own Health Experts are warning that the u. S. Has entered a worrisome new phase of the pandemic, President Trump is insisting its under control. Heres one right here. United states, you take the number of cases, were last, meaning were first. Reporter in a new interview with axios he says things are improving. Despite how more than a thousand americans have died on average per day for the last week straight, the president stuck to his talking point. Right here, United States is lowest in numerous categories. Were lower than the world, lower than europe. In what . Take a look. Heres case death. Oh, youre doing death as a proportion of cases. Im talking about death as a proportion of population. Thats where the u. S. Is really bad, much worse than south korea and germany. Reporter he also claimed that there are more cases in the u. S. Because there is more testing. Though Health Officials say its because the virus is spreading. There are those that say you can test too much. You do know that. Who says that . Just read the manuals, read the books. What manuals . What books . Trump also defended putting thousands of his supporters indoors without requiring masks or social distancing during his attempt to return to the campaign trail six weeks ago in tulsa. Well, because that area was a very good area at the time. It was an area that was pretty much over. After a month later it started going up. Thats a month later. Reporter trump argued that he canceled another planned rally in New Hampshire out of concern for Public Health. I canceled another one. We were going to have a great crowd in New Hampshire and i canceled it for the same reason. Reporter but his own staff told reporters that it was only postponed because of bad weather and that it would be rescheduled. It never was. And, pam, youll remember the president S National Security adviser who tested positive for covid19. He is now back at work at the white house. He was seen inside the west wing today. Remember, on july 23rd, he left the white house. The white house confirmed three days later he had actually tested positive for coronavirus. But now he is back to work after testing negative, the white house says. All right, kaitlan collins, thank you so much for that report. And turning now to breaking news in our world lead. A massive blast rocking the lebanese capital of beirut creating a massive Mushroom Cloud above the city which could be seen and felt from miles away. What what reporter at first lebanese officials blamed fair works but now they say it was confiscated high explosive materials. Ben, the blast was felt as far away as the island of cyprus. What did you experience . Reporter it was just after 6 00 p. M. In the evening local time about five hours ago, pamela, when i felt what i thought was an earthquake. This is an earthquake zone. But just moments later, the windows in our bureau and the window frames were just knocked out by the blast. The office is in shambles. But we were relatively lucky our cameraman was slightly injured when the blast blew him off his scooter. But we understand from the Lebanese Health minister that at least 50 people were killed and more than 2,750 wounded. And this is just initial reports. I spoke to someone whos in a neighborhood near the port who said that buildings have collapsed, that the neighborhoods are unrecognizable, that in the immediate aftermath of the blast, there were wounded people lying all over the streets. Shortly afterwards people were trying to provide first aid to some, providing cpr to others. The hospitals are overwhelmed. We spoke to somebody at one of the main hospitals here who said that they were treating at least 400 injuries. And the lebanese red cross, for example, has called on all its ambulances in the entire country to rush to beirut as soon as possible. As far as the cause of this blast, as you mentioned initially the official news agency said it was a warehouse full of fireworks. But now it appears there were some sort of confiscated high explosives in that warehouse which might explain the size of that massive blast. Pamela . All right, ben, were glad youre okay. Live for us in beirut. While President Trump claims the u. S. Is testing too much and his testing chief says theyre doing enough, cnn talked to more than 20 labs, Health Officials, and experts who say theyre wrong. What they still need, up next. [ thunder rumbles ] [ engine rumbling ] [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] uh, you know theres a 30minute limit, right . Tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. [ beeping ] did yocould be signs that syour digestive systemwn isnt working at its best . Taking metamucil every day can help. Metamucil supports your daily Digestive Health using a special plantbased fiber called psyllium. Psyllium works by forming a gel in your digestive system to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. Metamucils gelling action also helps to lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. So, start feeling lighter and more energetic. By taking metamucil every day. Sfrench fry. Iced chai. Rapad thai. Baked pie. Half stack taco pack. Lobster mac. Baby back. Pork chop. Soda pop. Kebab. Soursop. Hot pot. im hungry now noodle soup. Cantaloupe. Ice cream scoop. Whipped cream bloop. Dumpling. Chicken wing. Peking. And those crispy onion rings. We are americas kitchen. Doordash. Every flavor welcome. Walk to end alzheimers alzheis everywhere. Tion all of us are raising funds for one goal a World Without alzheimers and all other dementia. Because this disease isnt waiting, neither are you. Go to alz dot org slash walk. Simon pagenaud takes the lead at the indy 500 coming to the green flag, racing at daytona. Theyre off. In the kentucky derby. Rory mcllroy is a two time champion at east lake. He scores stanley cup champions touchdown only mahomes. The big events are back and xfinity is your home for the return of live sports. We are back with our health lead and a new cnn investigation into the continued coronavirus testing crisis in the u. S. Six months into this pandemic. The Trump Administration testings told our jake tapper the federal government is doing enough with testing. But our cnn Senior Investigative correspondent drew griffin talked to more than 20 experts who made it clear what the federal government is doing is not enough. Heres what they said. Reporter why is coronavirus testing in the u. S. Still a debacle . Cnn spoke to state Health Officials, testing labs, test suppliers, hospitals, and industry insiders more than 20 testing experts. The overwhelming consensus, no federal plan. We need to have a Better National strategy to deal with testing. Reporter but wait a minute. Wasnt there supposed to be a plan . A white house Coronavirus Task force and wasnt this man Admiral Brett Giroir tasked with fixing testing . The answer to all three is yes. And according to Admiral Brett Giroir, the federal government is doing all it can. Its not enough. Of course its enough. Tell me one thing that we should be doing with any of these private labs that were not doing or theyre not doing. And im happy to do it. Reporter well, here, admiral giroir, is what the federal government should be doing according to those experts. First, National Coordination of supplies. You have, whether intentionally or not, competition across states, across labs. Reporter there is not enough of anything. The swabs, pipettes and reagents which is leading to huge competition between states and labs. So if we had all of these supplies that we could use, we could perform around 10,000 tests per day. But we just dont have all of the supplies or all of the people. Reporter case in point, new mexicos largest medical lab is running just 3,700 tests a day instead of the 10,000 it could handle. Nowhere near its capacity. We need goals at a federal level and the support at the federal level for us to get to where we need to be for testing. It sounds like a very polite way to say that if there is a national strategy, nobody in new mexico knows about it. Probably, yes. [ laughter ] reporter one way to get more of those supplies is increase use of the defense production act or dpa. Cnn previously reported how the administration isnt using the dpa as much as it could. A plan released by the Rockefeller Foundation said the government should immediately invoke the act, specifically to increase supplies for reagents and machinery to process testing. What we have seen is that industry left to its own devices is not going to produce the types of tests and the scale of tests necessary. Reporter and several of the experts say the Trump Administration needs to abandon its idea that the competitive marketplace will solve supply issues. It simply wont. And if you want proof, the doctor of the Rockefeller Foundation says turn on your tv and watch some sports. If you are a multimillion dollar baseball or basketball player, youre getting tested quite often so that you can go to work. But if youre a teacher, if youre a health care worker, youre out there doing your job and asked to do your job without the benefit of support for testing. Thats not fair and thats not right. The association of american medical colleges says its time to let science lead this u. S. Response. That is not a marketdriven response. That is something that requires the engagement of the Public Health community, the academic community, and the government Public Health forces. Reporter in other words, a federal plan. Pamela, the response to this story from the department of health and Human Services is that it does have a plan, its working with states every day. But a Single National plan is not appropriate because states have different needs. As for the supply issue, the department of health and Human Services says its simply unfeasible, unmanageable for the federal government to supply every single lab. Pamela, they think that this is working. Well, and i read that same blueprint as you did. And the only plan i saw was to leave it to the states, and were all seeing how that is playing out. Thank you so much, drew. We do appreciate it. And lets dive a little bit deeper into this with an epidemiologist at Johns HopkinsBloomberg School of Public Health. Jennifer, thank you for being here. Reiterating again were around six months into this pandemic. How would you say the state of things are with testing across the country . Like, how would you lay it out . Yeah. Were in really dire circumstances right now. I mean, you heard in the before clip about the challenges, about not having enough tests, despite all of the work being done across the country and by individual states to try to increase the amount of testing that theyre doing. But right now were also having another and a possibly more important issue is that its taking a really long time to get test results back. Sometimes a week or more, which is essentially makes these tests useless. If we cant get these test results back in a couple of days like in other countries, were not going to be able to act upon these test results. The president boasts that the u. S. Is doing more testing than any country in the world. But how meaningful is that metric if people are waiting days and weeks for their results . I mean right, exactly. We shouldnt be patting ourselves on the back for tests that come back a week or so later. Thats functionally useless and doesnt allow us to do the work necessary to stop the virus it. Makes it hard to intervene when people are infected, to make sure theyre staying at home and not infecting others. It makes it almost impossible to do contact tracing, to find people who may have been exposed and to make sure that theyre staying home so that they dont infect others. So you just laid out why people should get tested and why they should get the results back soon. President trump, on the other hand, insists that the u. S. Is testing too much. Heres what he said. You know, there are those that say you can test too much. You do know that. Who says that . Oh, just read the manuals, read the books. What manuals . Read the books. What books . No, im sorry, wait a minute. Let me explain. What testing does is shows cases, it shows where there may be cases. Other countries test, you know when they test, they test when somebodys sick. Thats why they test. Do you know any Public Health experts who say you can test too much . Is there any scenario in which that is possible . So thats not what is happening in the United States right now. One of the things we look at to know if were doing enough testing is positivity. People probably heard about this term by now. Its basically the percentage of people who get tested that come back positive. One thing that we have seen across the world, the countries that are doing well with respect to responding to covid19 all test enough to keep their positivity low. And right now across the United States, test positivity is above where it needs to be, which means that we need to test more. With that said, if were testing more and were still getting results back a week later, its almost pointless. So, i would frankly rather see us possibly do less testing in that case if that means that we can get test results back in a couple of weeks. But just on the bare facts are we testing too much . The answer is no. We still need to cast a wider net with the tests that we have in order to find infections. Again, you mentions these other countries. Essentially, some of the other countries who have been successful in largely containing the epidemic, they had a more tailored testing regimen. They looked at the epidemic at hand in their country and the percent positivity to determine who should get tested, right . Yeah. Its true, we should really be targeting the people who we think are most likely to be infected and then make sure that they at least can get tested in a timely enough manner. Right now we dont really have that. We have people who maybe have symptoms or may be exposed to a case which are very much a priority for testing and then they dont hear a week or more later. In other country its takes a day or two to get a text response to tell you whether you are positive or not. So lets talk about that disparity because you have people who can get test results back in 15 minutes. Professional athletes are getting tested all the time and getting results back right away. Then you have the other people across america who are waiting days even weeks to get results. Why is there that disparity . What does the federal government need to do to bridge the gap . So this is where the absence of a National Testing strategy is really turning out to be problematic. Because there are these discrepancies out there. There are some technologies that can give us test results back quickly. But if you wanted to go get tested, would you even know where to go to get that test . And the answer is no. So we should really be thinking about how should we be using testing given what we have . How should we be trying to fix the supply chain such that we can do more and meaningful tests . And then think about what technology is best poised to give us test results in the time period that we need them . And the absence of this kind of leadership of coordination has really hindered our ability really quickly before i let you go, the administration keeps saying, look, every state is different. Montana is different from new york as it pertains to testing. But weve seen this virus doesnt respect boundaries. What do you think about that argument . Well, first of all, no state is going to be safe until all states are safe. And im sure if you ask almost every state, they would welcome additional federal help. Jennifer, thank you so much. That sums it up. Thanks. Well, President Trump has been blasting mailin voting. But now hes suddenly reversed course, sort of. Thats next. Or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can become your big moment. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. 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Dont wait. Talk to your veterinarian and learn more at itchingforhelp. Com. I do motivational speakingld. In addition to the substitute teaching. I honestly feel that thats my calling to give back to younger people. I think most adults will start realizing that they dont recall things as quickly as they used to or they dont remember things as vividly as they once did. Ive been taking prevagen for about three years now. People say to me periodically, man, youve got a memory like an elephant. Its really, really helped me tremendously. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. In our 2020 lead, todays primary elections in arizona, kansas, michigan, missouri, and Washington State arent just about the local races. This is also a test. All of these states are offering mailin voting, no questions asked. Washington state has been voting by mail since 2011. And even though President Trump and joe biden arent on the ticket, todays events could foreshadow whats to come in november. As cnns Jessica Schneider reports, this comes as the president continues to attack mailin voting and the post offices ability to handle absentee ballots. Reporter the president reversing course in part on his conspiratorial stance on mailin voting. On a tweet this afternoon he snalged his approval for floridas mailin and absentee voting. A sudden departure from his continued attempts to discredit mailin ballots across the country. There is no way you can go through a mailin vote without massive cheating. Reporter trump has been floating these false claims about mailin voting fraud for months. Universal mailin ballots is going to be a great embarrassment to our country. Reporter but the truth is mailin voting fraud is exceedingly rare. Why . Its the states that administer the vote and all have systems and processes in place to prevent forgery and theft. The president has also floated the false claim about possible foreign interference of mailin ballots. But that too has no basis. The director of the National Counterintelligence and security senior sa senior said this. The president is also casting doubts about the vote count. You know, you could have a case where this election wont be decided on the evening of november 3rd. Absolutely. Whats wrong with that . This could be decided two months later. Reporter the president pointing to a democratic primary in new york city that still isnt decided. Theyre six weeks into it. They have no clue whats going on. And i think i can say here now, i think you have to rerun that race because its a mess. Reporter while the u. S. Postal service tells cnn it has ample capacity to handle what could be a surge of ballots by mail for the general election, there could be and have been problems at the local level getting ballots back on time, making sure theyre postmarked and ensuring there are enough election workers to sort and count. But while that will delay the results, it does not mean that the numbers will be manipulated as the president suggests. Eight states plus washington, d. C. Will be conducting a primarily votebymail election in november. Colorado, washington and oregon have had mailin voting in previous elections without major problems. And hawaii and utah plan to hold vote by mail even before the coronavirus pandemic. And in total, 35 states allow voters to vote by mail for any reason. There are seven more states that do require a reason from voters before they get that mailin ballot. And, pamela, recently several states have actually changed their rules because of the coronavirus pandemic, which will allow more and more voters to send those mailin ballots. Pamela . All right, thanks so much, jessica. We do appreciate it. And meantime, President Trump is also dismissing the legacy of the late civil rights leader congressman john lewis and instead complaining that lewis did not attend his inauguration in this interview with axios on hbo. Do you find him impressive . Uh, i cant say one way or the other. I find a lot of people impressive. I find many people not impressive. Do you find his story impressive . He didnt come to my inauguration. He didnt come to my state of the union speeches. And thats okay, thats his right. And, again, nobody has done more for black americans than i have. I understand that. He shouldve come but i think he made a big mistake. But taking your relationship with him out of it, do you find his story impressive, what hes done for this country . He was a person that devoted a lot of energy and a lot of heart to civil rights. But there were many others also. Joining me now is democratic strategist and cnn political commentator paul. First off, i just want to get your reaction when you hear President Trumps thoughts on john lewis, what do you think . Well, mr. Lewis was a friend of mine. And im quite sure this would not have bothered mr. Lewis. His place in history is secure. I think he would tell us. In fact, i got his book back here. He gave it to me 22 years ago. He wrote in it, with faith and hope, paul, keep your eyes on the prize. Im thinking of that as i listen to the president. Mr. Lewis shed blood, risked his life for the Voting Rights act. The Republican Supreme Court gutted it. Thats where he would want this focus to be. And i thought jessicas report is really important. Voting by mail is safe, its honest, its ethical, it is clean, it is fraudfree. I think john lewis would be saying dont worry about personal attacks on me. God knows he endured a lot worse from the beatings from George Wallaces state troopers 50 years ago. But he would say vote, register and vote. And i think thats what mr. Lewis would want his legacy to be. All right. Well, we cant help but notice the background where you are. Your new book is out, its titled youre fired the perfect guide to beating donald trump. And in this book you write that you would not be surprised if President Trump tries to cancel the election. We just heard the president , jessicas piece, as you pointed out, trying to undermine mailin voting, saying he will fight it in the courts. Do you think hes trying to set the stage for a delayed or canceled election . What do you thinks going on here . I think he is trying to set the stage to claim that the vote was fraudulent. He knows or should know he has no power to delay the election. Thats set by congress. Thats set by states. Its in the constitution. He cant stop that. So i think hes trying to sow the seeds of doubt. I think that he sees hes in a lot of trouble politically. But i think what hes trying to do is undermine this. This is a pattern as i show in the book when the communist leader who was not voted by anybody, President Trump instead of, gee, in america we have freedom, we believe in voting he said instead, gee, id like to have that here. So hes an autocrat wannabe. And people need to know that if they want to fire this president , theyre going to have to register and vote and their votes will be counted and their votes will count. If he loses even if he doesnt like it, i think hes going to have to vacate the building because thats freedom. Its interesting you pointed out sowing the seeds of doubt. Basically theyre concerned that that is amplifying what foreign adversaries are trying to do to undermine democracy around the election. Just reading through your book, there is one major thing youre warning democrats against. You write in your book, im worried that some democrats will swing from sense to nonsense trying to answer trumps division with our division, his vulgarity. Therein lies the path to defeat. If we try to outtrump trump, we will not only lose the election, we will deserve to. So are you saying the democrats should not return any attacks President Trump makes intelligence the biden family . Yes, in short. And its not that you dont respond. But that you respond with what matters in peoples lives. I suggest in the book that people go back and study what barack obama did. Boy, he had a lot of attacks including from donald trump. Remember the racist birther nonsense. What president obama did wasnt just say, oh, yeah, i really was born in hawaii. He said, look, theyre trying to steal this from you. This is what trump does. He uses division as diversion. He divides us by reprehensible. But i think he does it to distract from the fact that hes in court trying to take away health care from millions of americans, that hes got a budget that would cut medicare and medicaid and social security, that he is doing a completely incompetent job on the coronavirus. Those are the sorts of defenses in the debates. I dont advise politicians anymore, but i know joe bidens watching. Hey, joe, when he comes after your family, dont defend your family. Defend the families of the american people. Defend the families of those soldiers who had bounties put on their head by vladimir putin. Thats the way to do this. And i watched barack obama do that. I watched bill clinton back in my day do that. Thats the way you do this. Its not by staying on his turf but shifting it to the turf that the voters was tonight hear about. Thank you so much for that. And, again, your new book youre fired the perfect guide to beating donald trump is out now. Congrats on your book. Meantime, millions of americans are without power as the Tropical Storm turns deadly. And it is not done unleashing its wrath. The latest forecast up next. Rs, whove got their eczema under control. With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. And help heal your skin from within with dupixent. Dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderatetosevere eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. Dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. Many people taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin, and, had significantly less itch. Dont use if youre allergic to dupixent. Serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. Tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. If you take asthma medicines, dont change or stop them without talking to your doctor. So help heal your skin from within, and talk to your eczema specialist about dupixent. If your financial situation has changed, we may be able to help. If your financial situation has changed, and get way more. Ith wso you can bring yours vision to life and save in more ways than one. For small prices, you can build big dreams. Spend less, get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair today. The coronavirus is wrecking stif the senate doesnt act, it will mean painful cuts to essential Public Services across america. Fewer teachers and nurses, longer response times, dirtier streets. But some say our states should just go bankrupt. Text fund to 237263 to Tell Congress to fund our essential Public Services. Afscme is responsible for the content of this ad. Curry. Cacciatori. Chimichurri. Fried turkey. Blueberry. Mcflurry. Cheese cake. Grilled steak. Clam bake. Milkshake. We are americas kitchen. Doordash. Every flavor welcome. Cmon pizzas here. Whoa is that shaq . This is my new pizza the shaqaroni and its bigger than pizza because for every shaqaroni sold, 1 is donated to the Papa Johns Foundation for building community. Californias economic challenges are deepening. Frontline workers stretched too thin. Our nurses and medical professionals in a battle to save lives. Our schools, in a struggle to safely reopen, needing money for masks and ppe, and to ensure social distancing. And the costs to our economy, to our state budget . Mounting every day. We need to provide revenues now, to solve the problems we know are coming. Turning to our politics lead now, republican senator Susan Collins of maine has a message for lawmakers negotiating with the who us on the next stimulus bill. Today telling reporters if we cant get this done in the midst of a persistent pandemic, then we have failed the american people. Collins is facing a difficult reelection battle and says she wants a package passed and recess delayed if they cant reach a deal. Still, progress seems far away as millions of americans dependent on Unemployment Insurance still have no answers from congress. Cnns Phil Mattingly is live from capitol hill. So, phil, still no resolution on Unemployment Insurance, food assistance, even the total price tag. Whats going on behind the scenes there . Reporter yeah. But other than that everything is going swimmingly. I think the reality has remained pretty static over the course of the last several days on the major issues. And you can start to tick through them. Funding for states and localities, food assistance, eviction moratorium, even postal service. None of these issues have at least reached any type of path forward at this point in time. Now, as we speak right now, pamela, treasury secretary steven mnuchin, white house chief of staff mark meadows are once again meeting behind closed doors with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader chuck schumer. Before that meeting they met with Senate Republicans and said very clearly that there had been no progress, that there was a stalemate according to people who were in the room. They are going to try and jar that stalemate loose in this meeting right now. Mnuchin saying before the meeting he had a couple of proposals he wanted to present. He hoped democrats would hear them out and view them favorably. But if they dont the white house is still considering some type of executive action, kind of a threat to bring democrats to the table. The bottom line here is this. Democrats right now feel like theyve got all the cards that they dont need to give. And until that changes or until the white house comes their way, theres no deal in sight. That is not very encouraging. But that is the reality that were dealing with right now. Thank you so much for bringing us the latest. And turning to our National Lead right now, more than 100 Million People are at risk for flooding and high winds. 2. 5 million customers are without power as a Tropical Storm barrels up the east coast of the United States. At least two people were killed and others injured when a tornado from that storm tore through a North Carolina mobile home park. High waters took streets and neighborhoods in philadelphia. Tom, now that the storm has made landfall, what are the biggest threats . Reporter well, we still have a threat for more power outages. We still have a threat for more severe flooding thats going to occur. The winds alone are still hanging into new york city, even though the rain has moved out. Weve been watching this for over seven days. Its been named for six, flooding puerto rico, making its way over the mountains of the dominican republic. Spared florida. Made landfall just after 11 00 p. M. Winds went to 85 miles an hour. Swift water rescues. Massive surge and flooding and evacuations. The storm continues to make its way now north of new york, but those winds are still strong still trying to alleviate the problem as it makes its way toward the canadian border. Weve got over 3 million customers without power. Thats not people. Theres more people over 3 million customers more suffering in the days ahead until they can get that power restored. If you look at the tornados, 21 tornados in five states. Ten states have a total of over 100 tornado warnings. That threat continues. But look at the winds. A water spout hit a weather station in new jersey, long beach island. 109mileperhour winds. But look at new york, battery park at jfk, 78mileperhour winds. We talked about it yesterday. This could be the greatest wind Event New York City has seen since super storm sandy. Its surpassed that. So crazy amounts of rainfall still in new england tornado watch for this area until 9 00 p. M. Till we say goodbye at midnight. Tom seder, thank you so much for that. Thanks for watching. Our coverage on cnn continues right now. This is cnn breaking news. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Were following breaking news. We are standing by to see if President Trump takes questions from reporters at a Coronavirus Briefing about to get underway after a jawdropping interview where the president said of the more than 150,000 deaths here in the United States, and im quoting now, it is what it is. He then went on to demonstrate a seemingly stark lack of understanding of the fundamentals of this pandemic. The virus has n