Involved. Then, just hours before the rally, six of president Trumps Campaign staffers doing advanced work on the event, stetesting positive for coronavirus. And then the crowd size at the rally. President trump failing to fill the arena after bragging that 1 Million People were trying to attend his rally. Entire sections had empty seats. Almost no one was in the overflow area. We havent even mentioned some of the content of his speech. Theres lots to get to this hour. Lets begin with ryan nobles. Hes at the b. O. K. Center. A shocking headline. President trump telling the crowd he wants to slow down on coronavirus testing in the middle of a pandemic. Reporter yeah, boris, the president touched on a lot of topics here tonight. He made a little bit of news on many fronts. Well get to that point you made on testing in just a second, but we should also point out tonight the president went after Vice President joe biden. He also accused the news media and protesters for depressing the crowd size here today. And he also even called for a oneyear prison sentence for americans that are caught burning the american flag. But youre right, it is that suggestion that he made about testing that testing is the reason that covid numbers are spiking across the country. And the president even went to suggest that perhaps testing should be rolled back in the United States. Take a listen. You know, testing is a doubleedged sword. Weve tested now 25 Million People. Is its probably 20 Million People more than anybody else. Germanys done a lot. South koreas done a lot. They called me, said the job youre doing heres the bad part. When you do testing to that extent youre going to find more people, youre going find more cases some i said to my people, slow the testing down, please. Reporter now, we should point out that the administration and a Senior Administration official telling cnn the president was joking when he said that they should reign in the number of tests of coronavirus across the country. We should also point out that Public Health officials would argue against that point exactly, that the more you test, the more you are able to locate the virus, and that ultimately allows the number of cases to drop. We have seen that across the world, countries that increase their testing. Were able to locate it, Contact Trace it and ultimately reduce the number of cases. So a peculiar claim by the president , but there were many of those tonight. No shortage of those. Notable with 120,000 americans dead because of the coronavirus, the president is making jokes about testing during the pandemic. He address the fact that there were protester outside his rally. What was his message about that . Reporter yeah, again, boris, this is something that has us scratching our heads. Part of this is an expectations game, right . This was a very big crowd here tonight. I dont think anybody can deny that. If youve covered Campaign Rallies its difficult to bring as many people to an arena like this as the president did. But its also worth noting he expected a lot more people to show up. He said they didnt expect empty seat. They also expected huge crowds outside the arena, saying as many as 40,000 people could jam the streets outside the arena. It was nothing like that. They didnt fill the arena, there was no one outside and they cancels the event outside the arena. The president saying it was because protesters prevented people from getting into the arena. Now, there were some protesters outside. There were scuffles, but they were very minor and as far as we can tell weve reached out to police. We have had reporters spanned out outside the b. O. K. Center all day today. It did not prevent any of the entrances into that arena being closed for any significant amount of time and it certainly did not prevent some 50,000 people from not getting into this arena and into the streets outside the arena, as what the original expectations were. Boris, i want to emphasize. Were only going by what the campaign told us. They expected that many people to show up here tonight and the simple fact of the matter is it just did not happen. The president blaming protesters and the medias the well. Interesting the president thinks that his supporters are listening to warnings from the media to stay away from gatherings like this even though he is encouraging them. Ryan nobles reporting from tulsa. Thank you. Here now to discuss the president s rally, a star studded panel. Dana bash, gloria gorger, abby phillip in tulsa, and dr. Women shafner. Doctor, i have to start with you. The president said he told his people to slow down testing. He says testing is a doubleedged sword, because it counts in cases where young people have to sniffles. Doctor, i am not an expert, but it seems like the worst thing to do during a pandemic is to scale back testing. Boris, i think it surprised and displayed every doctor and every Public Health person who was listening this evening because they couldnt figure it out. As ryan said, when you test more, you find more cases, surely. The testing doesnt cause the cases. And the importance thing is, when you find someone whos positive, you can provide them good medical care and you can do the contact tracing. And from a Public Health point of view also, you get a better sense of where this virus is in your community. So for all those good reasons, testing is very important. You know, we test people for diabetes and for high Blood Pressure so we can provide them good care and also find out how common this problem is in our communities, and that informs our Public Health policy. So for all those good reasons, testing is important. Gloria, to you. There was a lot of anticipation for this event. President trump back on the campaign trail after three months off. This was amid multiple national crises. More than 120,000 americans dead because of coronavirus. No question, many of his supporter haves friends and family that have been affected and this was almost just like any other trump rally. He spent a long time talk about himself, attacked the media, the radical left. According to his campaign he was joking about slowing down testing. The president is making jokes about the pandemic. Well, it is as if he is back in 2016 and hes kind of clearing the deck. The pandemic is not the problem that it is, with 120,000 people and counting dead, that the questions about Race Relations in this country are not there, and that he sort of its the same old, same old. And i think this is a president who could probably use a new act right now. Because you cover the president. You know. This is the same act that we heard in 2016, and of course it worked really well in 2016. I think the question is whether its going to work given where we are. This is a president who looks backwards. He looks to the 60s and 70s, law and order, as if thats a way to handle Race Relations. Jokes about covid. Used racial epithets to talk about covid, as he did do not. The moment in the country demands a seriousness, a seriousness of purpose. It doesnt demand a 20minute riff on what he looks like walking down a ramp at west point or how he held a glass of water. Thats what he spent his time doing tonight. This rally was intended to kick off the 2020 campaign, to restart the president s 2020 campaign, but it raises the question, what exactly is his Campaign Message . It really does, and i think in some ways this did not go as planned. Not just because of what the crowd looks like, but also because of the message that came out of all of this. Earlier this afternoon, you know, our own David Axelrod was saying that in some ways what has happened is trump has highlighted two of his greatest weaknesses. One is the inable to address the deep concerns in this country about racial divisions as evidenced by the protests. And secondly, his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. This rally has epitomized the problem with the president not following his administrations own messaging on the greatest Public Health crisis this country has faced in many, many decades. The fact that there werent that many people here at this rally seems to suggest some of the president s own supporters believed that they didnt want to risk it, they didnt want to risk coming into this environment where they would be shoulder to shoulder with people so. Instead of restarting his campaign on a message that is perhaps forward looking or on a message that is about his accomplishments or hopes for the country it highlighted a lot of things that are some of his greatest weaknesses right at this particular moment. And his attempts to attack joe biden, which there was a whole section of the speech where he riffed a lot of new lines or tried out some licennes on bide when he was reading on that speech. It seemed to fall short. It was a laundry list of items. The crowd didnt respond particularly well. At a time the country is struggling and theyre looking for leadership, attack lines people are looking for the president to give them something that elevates himself. He is right now the president of the United States, and this is an opportunity to rise above it and i dont think, necessarily, that we saw that tonight. Zbl dana, its really not been the day that trump hoped for. Sources toll us trump spent most of the day upset with tonights event overshadowed by the fact that six of his Campaign Staffers tested positive for coronavirus. You spoke to sources that said he was kind of upset over the issue with attorney general william barr firing the u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york. Hard to call this a transition to greatness. Right. And also just on that note, if you just kind of go back in time to earlier today before the rally, which he was still hoping at the time, you know, this morning and into the early afternoon, would be the arena full, outside overflow situation that they had predicted inside the campaign. But even before that, we were in a situation that until the pandemic, we and especially someone like you, boris, who covers the white house every day has seen so many times, which was the president was embroil in the a crisis of his own making, and that is the really shocking and we cant let this go really shocking move that the administration made, that the attorney general president made to fire the attorney general excuse me, fire the u. S. Attorney who is in one of the most prominent districts, the Southern District of new york, but more importantly, has been investigating the president s allies and has been had a lot of tension with the administration and the president in particular because of that. It is his prerogative and that is why im told he was saying to allies that he didnt understand why he was getting such bad press for it, but just because it is his prerogative it doesnt make it right, it doesnt make it palatable. It just feeds into the notion he just does what he wants especially when it can be perceived as blatantly corrupt. Dr. Shafner, this probably isnt on the top of the lift of things were examining that the president said that was controversial, but nevertheless it does raise eyebrows. Listen to what the president said about reopening schools. The kids are much stronger than us. When you see a little kid running around, say, boy, oh, boy, do you have a great immune system. How about a piece of your immune system . They dont even know about this. Lets open the schools, please. Open the schools. Open the schools. We got to get them open. In the fall, we got to get them open. Doctor, what would be your professional advice to educators, teachers, parents . Well, boris, everyone would like schools to open. Wed like colleges to open also. And everyone responsible for those institutions is figuring out how to do that in the most reduced risk way possible. Theyre thinking about everything from how children are arranged in class, how they can go to the cafeteria and eat, how you can use the gym safely, athletic events. All of that is being thought of very, very carefully by School Administrators across the country. And my hats off to them, because the way we open up is carefully and very, very thoughtfully. And if we do that, then i think well be in good shape. But we cant be frivolous. We have to be very thoughtful and careful. Abbie, i want to get your thoughts on something that you noted earlier, and thats the unrest we have seen nationally over relations between police and the africanamerican community. Tonight, the president said, quote, they want to demolish our heritage. Hes talking about the push to remove confederate memorials and symbols. You spent the week in tulsa. We cannot ignore the history, the context for this rally, what happened in tulsa 99 years ago, this racist massacre, one of the darkest chapters in american history. The president choosing to hold this rally on juneteenth, ultimately deciding to postpone it by one day. Im wondering what the people who you have been speaking to in tulsa this week think, perhaps, about what the president said . How do you think his message was received . Yeah, i talked to a lot of people in tulsa about this very issue over the last week. Just to give you one example of how resonant this issue of removing the names or the images of these figures from the past associated with the confederacy or other bad parts of this american history, there was a big debate here in tulsa about removing the name of the founder of this city that was on a street sign, and that person was also a kkk member. He was also believed to be one of the people involved in that 1921 massacre. So for black residents here its extremely important to think about whose heritage the president is talking about. If hes only talking about the heritage of white americans that ignores the needs of people like some of those here in tulsa who say the names the images that represent slave owners, that represent people who were racists or segregationists, they need to come down from places of prominence and i think that every person that i spoke to here from tulsa, many of them have are descendents of people who survived that massacre. They say these issues are not just theoretical. Its about who do we venerate, and who do we hold up 100 years or more after they committed really atrocious acts . And the president ignored all of that. I thought it was really stunning to be in this place where that issue is so deeply felt for the president to simply ignore the feelings of so many people here who have been fighting over issues like that for so very long. All right. Abby phillip and dr. Shafner, thank you for joining us. Dana and gloria, dont go anywhere. Plenty to talk about. Stay with us. Well be right back. Ower of 1,2,3 medicines with trelegy. The only fdaapproved, oncedaily 3 in 1 copd treatment. With trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, im breathing better. Trelegy works 3 ways to open airways, keep them open, and reduce inflammation for 24 hours of better breathing. Trelegy wont replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. Trelegy is not for asthma. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Do not take trelegy more than prescribed. Trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. Call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. Think your copd medicine is doing enough . Maybe you should think again. Ask your doctor about oncedaily trelegy. We know times are hard and were here for you. 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And making Coverage Even more accessible when its needed most. Here for you now, and always. This is the benefit of blue. This crisis is going to be over know exactly when and we dont know exactly when the stock market will reach its bottom, weve got to be prepared for this to last a long time. If you assume that youre out of work for nine months but you end up only being out of work for three, well thats great. But if you think youre going to be furloughed for three months and it lasts for nine, well thatll be emotionally devastating. So, weve got to prepare ourselves. Tangibly and practically, as well as psychologically and emotionally. Welcome back to the cnn newsroom. Dana bash and Gloria Borger still with me and were joined by douglas brinkley. Douglas, starting with you, im hoping you can put tonights rally into perspective with us. Crowded arena, middle of the a pandemic. President is joking supposedly about the seriousness of the pandemic. I think it was smart people in tulsa just didnt show up. Its going to be remembered as a yawn of a launch for a president ial campaign, bleachers empty on the second deck. They had a big stage with bullet proof glass for Vice President pence and trump to speak outside. Nobody came. Part of the misunderstanding is tulsa has been coping with its africanamerican history and heritage long before this rally. They have the great oklahoma jazz hall of fame in tulsa. They just built the most fabulous park along the river with the help of the kaiser association. Woody guthrie is on a mural with a guitar saying this machine kills fascists. We dont want to stereotype tulsa as a