Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20201108

Confidence you placed in me. I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify. Who doesnt see red states and blue states, only sees the United States. [ cheering ] i work with all my heart with the confidence of the whole people to win the confidence of all of you. And for that is what america i believe is about. Jake, this was certainly the kind of speech that at least half of the country had been so anxiously waiting to hear for four years. Thats right. More than half of the voters at the very least. Lets check in with articlette saenz in wilmington, delaware. Arlette, whats the latest . Well, things have wrapped up at the chase center as the crowd heard from tpresident elect joe biden for the first time. A message of unity is what he was projecting this evening, acknowledging the disappointment of people who may have voted for President Trump, but telling them to try to give each other a chance. He also talked about the need to move away from demonization, that youve seen play out in politics over the past few years. And as joe biden spoke here in his native delaware to a hometown crowd, he also started to look forward a bit to what these next few weeks are going to look like. He specifically in that speech mentioned that he would be announcing his team on monday to address the coronavirus pandemic. We are told that is really going to be the central focus of the opening days of this campaign. O need to tackle that crisis. And he has made clear that he wants to get immediately to work, not waiting until he is in the white house to start addressing this issues. He has talked about how he wants to start reaching out the republican and democratic governors to hear about the needs that they need to have addressed in their states as the coronavirus pandemic is still raging across the country. Now over the course of the campaign, joe biden spoke very little about the transition. Hes superstitious and did not want to get ahead of himself. But in these coming days, he will be diving in to that transition work as he and Kamala Harris prepare for their path to the white house over these next few months. Now one thing that still remains unclear is whether there has been any outreach to or from the white house. The Biden Campaign, his advisers have not addressed that at this moment. But that is something that we will be watching whether there is any type of communication between him and President Trump in these coming weeks as he is putting this transition together. I mean this is about the governance of the United States of america. 330 Million People. It doesnt have to do with anybody being petulant. Arlette saenz, thank you so much. Appreciate the reporting. Lets check in with Kaitlan Collins who is at the white house. Kaitlan, you heard what arlette just said, the biden team not really addressing whether or not they have heard from the outgoing president of the United States. Can you shed any light for us . Yeah, we can tell you that there has not been any outreach. The president has not made any calls to former Vice President joe biden, and of course if the president hasnt made my callan calls, so no outreach yet from the president. We have not heard from him in several hours, since he returned from his golf course earlier, which is where he was when cnn made the call that joe biden was projected to win the presidency. And then the president drove back the washington in a motorcade that wove through streets that were filled with thousands of people cheering the fact that joe biden has won and donald trump has lost the presidency and will not be reelected to a second term. So thats why it was so notable in that speech there, as you listened to joe biden. He did not mention donald trump. And he did not mention any call coming from President Trump to talk about his victory here. And thats so different, jake, because i went back and reread what donald trump said in 2016 the night that he was elected. And right out of the bat he opened and said i just got a call from secretary clinton. He congratulated her in turn on her hard fought campaign. None of that tonight because the president has not called joe biden. And this comes as the president is publicly and falsely saying that he won the election. We know that is not the case. And jake, im told that privately, the president has also acknowledged that this is the outcome of the election, and he has lost. But he is not saying that publicly. Instead, see encouraging his attorneys to move forward with these legal challenges, knowing that it will delay possibly the formal certification of these election results. We had republican election attorney ben ginsburg look at the lawsuits and complaints. And as of now, they all seem to be without merit, with the one exception of the one having to do with ballots in pennsylvania that came after the election that have not been included in any count. So it just seems like a lot of frivolousness. To what end, kaitlan . It doesnt matter if he accepts or is in denial, he is going to be leaving that building. Its just a question about whether or not he wants to look like a sore loser and a petulant child or whether or not he is going to be a man. An adult. And his advisers are realizing that. The question is can people successfully break through to the president . Because this is a president who has long run on this pattern of creating a lot of noise about something, as he did at the start of his political career when he promoted the birther conspiracy about president obama. He basically can create a lot of noise around something that makes people believe what he is saying, even though there is no evidence around it. And kind of following a similar pattern here, where the president is challenging the results. Its going to allow some of his supporters to also question the legitimacy of joe biden, and thats a dangerous thing. And the president s allies realize that. People who work in this white house realize it. Im sure the Vice President , mike pence, someone who has been a longtime in politics also realizes it. By doing this the president can delay the formalization of the ballots. For the president who obviously does not want to lose, that is what he is going to do. He will at some point, jake have, to come to terms with reality. He will have to actually leave the white house. He cant deny that. But he can go and not grant joe biden, you know, the Public Acceptance of his victory, which is likely what hes doing. Its definitely what he is doing right now. Likely what he is going to continue to do for the next several days. I guess we shouldnt expect anything different. Kaitlan collins, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Abbi, before we came back from break, we were talking about i saw a tweet from a writer at reason magazine that perhaps in many ways joe biden is the only democrat that could have beat donald trump to give donald trump his due. He is a political force. Yeah. Despite acting the way or maybe because of acting the way he acts, 70 Million People voted for him. It was an election that was not an immediate landslide, as a lot of democrats were hoping it would be. It took some time to count the ballots, and some of the states were pretty close. But biden it seems to be in many ways was the right person at the right time. Yeah, and i think the democrats four years ago widely believed that they underestimated donald trump, and they didnt do that this time around, understanding that what trump did four years ago was really changed the Political Landscape for the republican party. I think a lot of people believed that the demographic change in the country, even republicans beli believe this, if you read their autopsy report after mitt romney lost in 2012, they believe that the demographic change would force the party to appeal more to more diverse constituencies. And what donald trump did was say no, we can just bring out more of white america, White Working Class america. And i think that has changed the dynamic for a little bit of time, and joe biden is a candidate who was chosen by voters, chosen by black voters to take that on directly. Someone who a lot of black voters i spoke to in the primary believed was the only person in that primary who could adequately speak to people in the upper midwest, pennsylvania, michigan and beyond. And maybe it turns out that that was the case. Because were sitting here talking about president elect joe biden. We were talking on what was election night, five days ago, about the fact that joe biden was likely i think you said it, abby, joe biden was likely to build a different coalition than any democrat had before. Most winning candidates have unique coalitions. And biden did that in such a way that he was a unique figure that could build that blue wall because he was so relatable. David axelrod says he remembers in 2008 because biden had such a connection in those areas, they parked in those areas. Because its genuine. So i want to play just a little bit from president elect bidens acknowledgment, appreciation, thanks for his victory in which he acknowledges what you just mentioned, abby, how the black community got him there. Take a listen. The African American Community Stood up again for me. You always have my back, and ill have yours. So theres i would say in addition to that, in addition to having the black community having his back, which is obviously a huge part of his victory, there are a couple of other things that made joe biden the candidate who could beat trump. And there are a lot of people who thought that maybe a fresh face like Pete Buttigieg or a progressive like warren or sanders might be able to do a better job. In this theory of the case, its only biden. A couple other reasons. Why, according to this theory of the case, joe biden is such a known quantity. He has been in politics for 47 years. He was Vice President for eight, including Barack Obamas Vice President. Therefore the demonization, the attacks from trump failed to stick. Yeah. People thought they new him. They felt that they knew him. They knew joe biden, and you couldnt make him into this sleazy, disgusting leering gross person. There is something else, though, is that donald trump couldnt get out of his own way to to attack joe biden in such a way that it would stick. What i mean is every time the campaign would try to define joe biden, which is code for attack joe biden in political parlance, the president would mess it up by doing something on his twitter feed or at a rally that would distract from the very message that they were trying to do in order to make joe biden unpalatable as an alternative to donald trump, even those who didnt really like donald trump for whatever reason. It didnt work or the that reason, and i think the fundamentals i think youre right, that he was just undefinable in that way. Another thing that i think was made joe biden so special for this moment is donald trump, President Trump has a lot of political gifts. One of them is not empathy. He comes across as cruel. He can even, nazi the first debate come across as emotionally abusive at times. The difference between a guy like donald trump and a guy like joe biden on the issue of compassion and empathy was so stark that there was nowhere to go if that was a quality that was important to you other than joe biden. Joe biden has a stutter. His campaign the trump campaign, trumps daughterinlaw would make fun of it. Joe biden would go and embrace people with disabilities. Donald trump would make fun of them. And in fact somebody from the disabled Community Just reached out the me on social media and said this is the first time hed ever heard a president acknowledge the Disability Community in a speech. I dont Pay Attention to these things. This is not a community that gets a lot of attention as a political force, the disabled community, although theyre out there. If you follow the crip the vote, you can see theyre out there and theyre very active. Joe bidens speech said we must make the promise for everybody, no matter their race, their ethnicity, their identity or their disability. Something i didnt even notice. But the disabled community heard it. And theyre there and they vote and they have family members and they vote. And how does President Trump treat the disabled community . He makes fun of them. He makes fun of them. I think typically we think about politicians with long histories as a liability because it makes it in some cases easier for them to have a long rap sheet. But for joe biden it actually functioned in a completely different way in this election because it was easier for him to say and actually the democrats did this repeatedly during their convention, they talked repeatedly about these personal stories of joe biden with one person, joe biden with that elevator conductor at the New York Times building. Oh, yeah didnt get the endorsement of the editorial board. Got the elevator conductor. Right. But, you know, going back to our conversation about why joe biden may have been perfect for this moment, its because its hard to demonize somebody whose life story is sympathetic and who has the history that is backed up by photographific evidence and Video Evidence and testimonials and people after people after people willing to come forward to say this is the person i knew. The trump campaign, they were stumped by this. Republicans really preferred that the president talk about policy and fracking and taxes and the economy and not all of this other character stuff that was clearly not as effective because joe biden was inoculated in some ways because his story seemed to be wellknown to people. His tragedy and his triumphs seemed to be people felt like they knew it, and it was hard for the president to get around that. One thing that if i may, i want to go back to what kaitlan was reporting on about the kind of toing and froing inside trump world right now about getting him to the place that he can concede the fact that none of us remembers a time in our political coverage where the losing candidate doesnt give at least a speech or even a phone call. And im just again taken back to that night in november of 2008 when john mccain made that concession speech, and a friend, mark salter was just reminding me. I was reading it in one of the books that that was so powerful about not just about him and his character, but what that means about what american democracy represents. That when mccain would travel around the world, people would recite that speech back to him because they were taught that this is what democracy should sound and look like. Pretty amazing. Its amazing. And the fact that we dont even have a phone call right now, even if its not a concession, but just the acknowledgment that hey, you know what . You got looks like you got more votes than me. Im not quite there yet. Lets see these lawsuits play out. Im kind of spitballing here. But nothing. Its telling. President elect joe biden and Vice President elect Kamala Harris calling on americans tonight to unite in the wake of a bitter and hard fought actions. Were going take a look at celebrations across the country tonight as our coverage continues. For as little as 5, now anyone can own companies in the s p 500, even if their shares cost more. At 5 a slice, you could own Ten Companies for 50 instead of paying thousands. All Commission Free online. Schwab stock slices an easy way to start investing or to give the gift of stock ownership. Schwab. Own your tomorrow. Schwab. Just it just takes a lothats happeninof the burdener body, of diabetes management off my shoulders. I can see arrows trending up, trending sideways, trending down and that tells me what kind of care shed going to need in the next few minutes. When she went to argentina i didnt have to freak out but i did a tiny bit, still. Its really hard for a mom to prick her 2yearolds finger. So having no fingerpricks makes me a very happy mama. So having no fingerpricks you know when your dog is itching for an outing. Or itching for some cuddle time. But you may not know when hes itching for help. Licking for help. Or rubbing for help. If your dog does these frequently. They may be signs of an allergic skin condition that needs treatment. Dont wait. Talk to your veterinarian and learn more at itchingforhelp. Com. Fireworks over wilmington, delaware. It was a big finish to his celebration victory. Meanwhile, huge crowds of biden supporters were inspired. They gather in the streets of many major u. S. Cities to share this moment they had been hoping for. Lets check in with our reporters first. Lets go to gary tuchman in atlanta. I see theyre still partying. Theyre still celebrating where you are, gary. Wolf, the jubilation here in the midtown section of atlanta is intense. This is atlantas Biggest Dance Party tonight in the streets here in midtown. Its also its longest dance party. This has been going on for ten hours after cnn projected joe biden this morning. People started gathering out here. This is the impromptu spontaneous party with no guest list, no start time, no end time. And people just started pouring into the streets when this began, there were cars still in the streets. Hey, you guys, you guys. Let the viewers hear me, okay . You can yell and scream, but dont say that, please. There hasnt been any violence. Its been very peaceful. People have enjoyed themselves. And thats an important thing to point out, wolf. Like i said, there were a lot of cars and trucks moving through in the beginning. Police closed the streets. We havent even seen any police here. Its been going on for ten hours. People have been celebrating. Whats really interesting when joe biden and Kamala Harris spoke, everyone got very quiet, and they started gathering at the restaurants on the street that had their tvs on. And people started watching the speech very quietly. When the speech was done, they all came back out and started celebrating. People here take a lot of pride that the state of georgia could possibly end up going blue and they voted in what could be a very important election to change whats happened in this state. The louisiana time a democrat won was bill clinton in 1992. Before that native son jimmy carter in 1976 and 1980. These people have a lot of pride have their votes could mean that georgia turns blue and a lot of pride that joe biden is going to become the president of the United States. Biden, biden one other thing i want to point out, there is no social distance in here. That is not cool. Most people have been wearing their masks. Now its less. Thats not cool either. But the fact is there has been no violence, and thats certainly an important point. They should be Wearing Masks for sure. All right, gary, thanks very much. Adrian broadus is in chicago for us. Adrian, what it is like over there . Hey, wolf, i can tell you, this is a vibrant party. This is the celebration that has turned into a parade. Take a walk with me. I want you to see what were experiencing. That is the soundtrack of victory, and it has been going on here throughout the night. Were on michigan avenue, many of you know this as the magnificent mile. Take a listen just for a quick second. [ honking ] and weve heard those horns blowing throughout the day. And well have been attracted to this area, perhaps of what is behind us. Take a look at whats behind us. Trump tower. Inside it houses condos and a hotel. Outside of trump tower throughout the day, weve seen people waving the flag and blowing their horn, a lot like this. Just listen for a moment. [ honking ] im not going to fight, wolf, with the sound of victory. Earlier in the day, i spoke with a 90yearold woman who is a civil rights activist. She told me it is a blessing to see and witness this in her lifetime. She also talked about the significance of harris. She says too often black women work in the background. But now black women in the front. And i spoke with some young girls earlier. Growing up, their parents often told them you can be whatever you want to be. But that is something they really didnt believe until now. And a moment ago a man walked by me and said tonight america is great. Wolf . A lot of happy people over there in chicago, adrienne. Thank you very, very much. Shimon prokupecz on the streets of philadelphia. Shimon, whats happening there . Hello, wolf. Philly is certainly doing it right tonight. Its just been a party all day. Of course philadelphia playing such a key part in this election. And that is not lost on anyone here tonight. I just want to show you this here, wolf. There is a dj. This is a rolling dj. Weve been walking now for blocks. And many of the people have been following along. And dancing. And thats been the atmosphere here all day. People out celebrating. I just want to bring tell me whats todays been like. To me today has been good. Everyone is behaving. Everyone is happy. Were a community. Humans are tribal creatures. This is a good way to display our life. Life is not that bad. Were doing pretty good. Kamala harris as the next Vice President. How does that make you feel. Honestly, it doesnt matter who won right now, the fact that were together. Unity is the key . Unity is the key. Were together. Its a tribe. And wolf, thats been what a lot of people out tonight certainly have been doing and saying. They want to be together, and they want to be out here. And were seeing that, wolf. Shimon, thank you very much. Shimon is in philadelphia for us. Lets go back to dana. Thank you so much, wolf. And like to bring in kate bedingfield, who is the Deputy Campaign manager, was the Deputy Campaign manager for the Biden Campaign. First of all, congratulation, kate. Nice to see you. Thank you. Thank you. So first. Nice to see you too. Describe the feeling in the campaign, and specifically, from the president elect himself. I noticed at the beginning of his speech, i dont know if it was an ad lib or what, he made mention of what we just reported on from cities across the country, the people spilling into the streets, celebrating. Was he expecting that . What was his reaction behind the scenes . No, he certainly wasnt expecting it, but he was incredibly encouraged and gratified and humbled to see it. He was really moved by it. Weve been really excited and inside the campaign its incredibly thrilling to see this kind of excitement and energy and outburst. And for everyone to feel so joyful about the fact that we are now finally going to turn the page on this presidency, that were going to move forward in the spirit of unity, and that were going to put the ugliness of the Campaign Season behind us and get to the hard tasks in front of us. But the fact that were seeing people pouring out into the streets spontaneously all day to celebrate, its just an incredibly exciting moment for the country. And the president elect was really humbled and really grtified to see it. And is he and the Vice President elect both said now the hard part begins. And there are so many hard parts. Its not even clear where to start. But what he can try to do in the shortterm is begin to bring people together rhetorically and in other ways. How was he actually going to turn the rhetoric into action, even before he takes the oath . Yeah, well, i think you saw him start to do it tonight. He got into this race 19 months ago, making a promise to bring the country together. He talked about the need for us to unify, for us to Work Together to overcome the challenges we face as americans. Tonight in his first address to the nation as president elect, you saw him start to do that. You saw him talk about the fact that we can come together. Were not always going agree on everything. Of course not. But we can start to see each other again. We can start to hear each other again that is going to being pr is going to lead. The biden harris ticket has gotten the most votes of any ticket in the history of president ial politics. People overwhelmingly came out and said this is the kind of leadership we want. This is what we want to see happen. As a country, weve always been able to come together to overcome challenges. And the challenges were facing right now are no different. So i think you saw Vice President biden, now president elect biden and Vice President elect harris really lay out a commitment tonight to the American People that thats the way theyre going govern. And i think thats exactly what the American People are looking for. So we have been reporting from our white house reporters and others about the fact that the current president has no intention of conceding any time soon. Has not scauld your boss. Has there been any communication at all between anybody in trump world, anybody in the campaign, and anybody in yours . There has not. And obviously, we would hope that in this moment, this incredibly important moment for the country, that President Trump would choose to do the right thing, to do the thing that president s have done was f. Obviously the peaceful transition of power is a core bedrock principle that our democracy is founded on. And of course we would hope and it would be a god thing for the American People to hear from President Trump. But thats his decision. Obviously president elect biden and Vice President elect harris are going to be focused on talking directly to the American People, starting to come together to do the Work Together, starting the work of tackling this virus as they move into the transition. Theyre going to stay focused on the future and what theyre going do as president and Vice President. So as the president elect said tonight, he got the most he considers it a mandate, the most votes for any candidate for president it seems in history. But the current president got 70 million. Which is a lot of people who said that they wanted him to stay in for a second term. How is again, beyond the rhetoric, how do you think that there are concrete ways for the president elect to show that hes listening to their concerns. Well, by speaking directly to them, by listening, by not dismissing them out of hand. I think you saw them do that throughout the campaign, throughout the primary. There were doubts from the pundit class about whether joe biden trying to appeal to a broad swath of the country was really the right way to go. But for him, thats fundamentally the way he believes thats a core conviction that he has, that it is the obligation of a president to not just be president for the people who voted for him. Throughout the campaign, he has talked about if he is elected, he is going to listen. He is going reach out, you know, he is going to make sure that people who didnt vote for him and who disagree with him feel hurt. It doesnt mean theyre going to agree with every policy. It doesnt mean that theyre going agree with every decision. He fundamentally believes that treating people with dignity, that treating people with integrity is the start of that process. Thats how hes always conducted hymn. And thats how hell conduct himself in the white house. He cut many a deal with the Current Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell when he was Vice President. And when he was a senator as well. Have the two of them spoken . They have not. But i expect that they will. And certainly as you say, he has a working relationship with senator mcconnell and anticipates working with him as we move forward, and as he takes the white house. And our understanding is that as a candidate, president elect biden was careful not to engage with World Leaders one president at a time. But now that he is president elect, is he going to begin to reach out . He will begin to do that in the appropriate transition process. Youre absolutely right. Obviously he believes, as you say, one president at a time. Now that we have moved into the transition process, yes, hell begin to reach out and have those conversations. Obviously, he believes a big piece of what he can accomplish as president is to restore americas standing in the world. And as you heard him say tonight, for us to once again not just lead by the example of our power, but by the power of our example on the world stage. So, you know, reengaging with the world, rebuilding our alliances. Thats going to be an important part of his presidency, and thats something that hell start to do as we now move into the transition. What happens tomorrow . He wakes up tomorrow and . Hell be with his family. Hell take a minute to enjoy some time with his family because he has been on the campaign trail for 19 months. And then hell continue to make calls and the hard work of going into the transition will begin. But tomorrow he is going to take a moment to enjoy being with his family. A hard earned day with his family. And i cant let you go without calling out your mask with the 46 on it. I saw others were wearing it. A quick trip to the manufacturer there, where did that come from . We wanted to be ready. We are incredibly proud of president elect biden and incredibly proud of Vice President harris, and we were eager to show it off tonight. Very 2020. Kate bedingfield, you have been with now president elect for a very long time. And i want to say congratulations to you. I know for you and a lot of people on that campaign there was a lot that you give up in order to put your focus with what resulted tonight. Congrats. Thank you, dana. I appreciate it. Thank you. Wolf . Jake, you look so different. What did you think . I thought it was very impressive what was going on. This was a kind of speech that is a traditional speech that a president elect of the United States gives after a tough campaign. And ive heard it before. Weve covered these kinds of situations before. Tough campaign. But once you are the president elect, you want to unite the country, bring in everybody together and do the best that you can, democrats, republicans, liberals and conservatives. One thing dana asked what the president elect is going to do tomorrow. I assume hell go to church. Thats my guess. He is a devout catholic and thank the lord for what has happened. I would think so. He has been to church pretty frequently, especially as weve gotten closer to the election. Its a touchstone for joe biden. Its a place where he goes because he is a devout catholic, but because it has a lot of resident meaning for him and his family, for all the loss that he has experienced. And it will also be i think if youre the Biden Campaign, youre thinking the day after you give a speech like this, what do you signal to the American People about who joe biden is . And i think it would be an obvious choice for him to go to church first. He will be the second catholic president of the United States after john f. Kennedy. Americans hear for the first time from joe biden and Kamala Harris as president elect and Vice President elect, both calling on the country to unite. Our special coverage continues right after this. When paneras chef claes makes a pizza, he doesnt just make a pizza. He uses fresh, clean ingredients to make a masterpiece. Taste our delicious new flatbread pizzas today. Panera. With this seal, this restaurant is committing to higher levels of cleanliness. The expertise that helps keep hospitals clean, is helping keep businesses clean too. Look for the ecolab science certified seal. Yoat natures way, that startsn with quality ingredients. Like our sambucus made from elderberries grown and picked at their prime. Choose the way to quality immune support, choose natures way sambucus. Foreall those of you who voted for President Trump, i understand the disappointment tonight. Ive lost a couple of times myself. But now lets give each other a chance. Its time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again. Listen to each other again. And to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies. Theyre americans. Theyre americans. President elect biden earlier tonight. What a strange next couple of days its going to be. Transitions are always odd, but this one in particular. I want to show a picture from november 10th in 2016. This was awkward. Com. President obama inviting then president elect donald trump to the oval office. Awkward, yes, but traditional. And that is what traditionally happens. Do you foresee a meeting like this happening . No. Its what, november 7th. So that was november 10th. I really dont. Donald trump is somebody who wouldnt even unveil the president s portrait inside the white house. So graciousness is not something that i think comes naturally to him. And i think biden is all about relationships, and he doesnt burn bridges, and he believes you cant expect loyalty unless you give it. Theyre completely different human beings. There is no doubt in my mind that if the roles were reversed, trump would be in the white house meeting with the president. By the end of the day, though, the train has left the station. Yeah. This thing is moving. There is momentum to it. Other republicans, other World Leaders have reached out, at a certain point, the calculus i assume would be what sets me up for whatever this next chapter of my life is going to be. Does being the person who never met with the president , who didnt go to the inauguration, who, you know, leaves with a bag of grievances that i was robbed, does that set him up for his career in television or podcasting or whatever he is going to be doing . First of all, i think that the notion that he was not treated fairly and that this election wasnt fair is central to his narrative. You know, and weve discussed before, i dont think hes not going to leave a loser. He is going to leave as someone who was robbed. And grievance is so central to his political project. But that i think, yes, whether its running the resistance from some television outlet, which i think is the most likely thing, or anything else, i think that he will leave on that basis. So were not going to see a picture like that. But i think the biden people and the Vice President himself, the president elect is handling it exactly the right way. The train is leaving the station. And what it says is that these institutions of our democracy, even if donald trump disdains them, they have power. They have meaning. And theyre going to go forward with or white house him. I just want to say one other thing. I said a long time ago that elections, president ial elections are mris for the soul. Whoever you are, youre looked at so closely. People know who you are by the end. Joe biden benefitted from that. People saw his soul in this campaign, and he is a good soul. And thats what they wanted in their president right now. And just one shout out. I dont have a long list, so just give me one. Mike donilon is a strategist ive worked with in the past. He was involved in the obama campaign. Been with biden for years. I think hes written most of the words that biden has spoken, written words biden has spoken, with biden, and has i think part of the message discipline of this campaign. Even when it was hard during the primary was because of their relationship and mikes brilliance. And that has paid off tonight. And he deserves to get some credit. Before we get to vans oscar nomination speech. Its coming. Its coming. I just want to say, what were hearing from the Trump White House is that the president is willing to concede if certain conditions are met. The answer what conditions, that he is comfortable that he has run the race through the tape, which is that this race was conducted fairly and that theyve pursued all of the allegations and all you need to do is pick up your phone and youll see allegations and allegations and allegations. His legal team is telling him they have a case. So the president is going to follow through with that. But i think the idea was sugges other day that were going to have to transport the president out of there, thats just ridiculous. But time is going to be necessary for the campaign and the lawyers to run the traps. Look, georgia is 9,000 votes. Arizona is 19. Pennsylvania is 37. And there are still votes to be counted. And now the projectors say well, we know what those votes are. But President Trump has a right to see what those votes. I just got an email ten minutes ago from the trumppence committee. Theyre trying to steal this election. Theyre still saying it. I understand that. My point is the question is he convinced they havent done that. Thats my point. I understand the president feels the need to be convinced. Is the president adult enough to actually call the president elect and say just that, to say you know what . Congratulations on the race you ran. I want to play this out in the courts, but i, you know, and thats what were going to do as opposed to a press release saying the election has been stolen, he is going to continue to go on fox saying that. There is ways to do that that are adult and ways to do that that are not. There is ways to do things and there is Donald Trumps ways of doing things. And donald trump does things not the way joe biden would or a whole lot of other people who have occupied that house or with the congress for that matter. So you, for joe biden and president elect biden moving forward at the end of this day, what are your final thoughts . Well, i guess for me, this has been a morality play. You got to remember, you got a whole generation of kids who saw their parents get completely obsessed with politics. Somebody said mommy, how long are you going to be watching the map show, talking about john king. And those kids are trying to figure out how the world works. Theyre trying to figure out whats right and whats wrong. To axelrods point, i think it should be clear to every kid that the guy you want to be like is the joe biden guy. The guy who when you win, you are nice to your opponent. The guy when he wins, he is trying to be good. The guy you dont want to be like is the one thats a sore loser, that wont shake the other guys hand, that seems to be more concerned about himself than the rest of the team, and to me thats the most important thing. But well get to policy. Well get to all of that stuff. Well get executive orders. Well have all that kind of stuff. But this weekend is a great weekend to be parent, as i said before. All the young people who are watching this stuff, it turns out that sometimes nice guys finish first. Can i just say one more thing about biden. When you think of the sweep of his life and where he is now, one of his former staffers said to me, and it just has stuck with me. She said to me the worst thing that you can imagine happening to you, which is losing a child, has happened to him twice. And yet he survived. He persevered. He found a purpose, which he always talks about. And you have to think about him, that maybe the next political step is not what hes all about right now at this point in his life. Maybe its about getting things done. And you have to think about that when you think of biden in the political world. So will he make deals . Will he anger some people on the left . He has a purpose. He has been through a lot. He is not a young guy. He is who he is. Knows who he is. And there is a sense that that matters because of where he is and where the country is. Thats a great point, because he has the freedom if he chooses to seize it of someone who has no other race in his future who doesnt have to be making those longterm calculations and who can take risks for the greater good. And if he takes advantage of that, you know, great things can happen. I also think its important just one of the messages that joe biden said tonight was about this sort of the grim era of demonization. Thats something that all of us should think about, not just in the political world, but just weve so gotten used to feeling its okay to kind of say things to other people in ways. And i want to take responsibility. A couple of days ago i said a cruel thing about i used words i shouldnt have towards the president , and got a lot of pickup, and people thought it was funny and stuff. But ive been spending the last couple of days felt bad about it . Terrible about it. Because, a, its not who i am and its not who i want to be. I dont want to be that person. Other people can be that person on, you know, Comedy Central or whatever. But thats not my job. And thats not the citizen i want to be. I just feel like all of us and i feel bad about it, and i think all of us and i personally am going to be thinking a lot about it in the days ahead, the weeks ahead about the words i use and the tone that i want to set in my own life for my own child. We have to find the humanity in each other. And that is a strength of bidens. He brings out good things. The ability to put yourself in someone elses shoes and try, try and see the world through their eyes and their experience. Thats what you have to do if youre a legislator and youre trying to work with people who have different views to get something done is you have to try and figure out what is their perspective. And he has a gift for that and for the empathy thing is not just about comforting people. Its also helpful in dealing with people. Lets go back to wolf, dana and abby. All right, anderson, thanks very much. Its been an incredible, very long, dana and abby. We were sitting. You had to stand for five days straight. The ironman of television here. Its a privilege to be be able to cover a story like this. It sure is. Its a bless indeed. Give us a final thought what youre going to be looking for. Its kind of along the lines of what i was trying to ask kate bedingfield, which is rhetoric matters, but there are things that joe biden and his team can do to make moves towards the 70 Million People who said that they wanted President Trump to have another term. And how they actually act on those is going to be very interesting for me to watch. Not just this weeker, but from now until inauguration day. To cooperate, to Work Together, bring the country together. Yes, we have differences, but we need to unite. Thats easier said than done. Oh, absolutely. And its so difficult even now because of this environment that we are in. The country is in the middle of a pandemic that is getting worse by the day. The economic crisis is severe. And frankly, there is still only one president , but that president feels absent, and he is silent and seems to be cloaking himself in conspiracies. And its creating a vacuum that is different for joe biden than it might be for any other president in waiting in history. He has to fill that vacuum now, which is why were going hear him on monday rolling out a Coronavirus Task force. One thing that i was i was surprised to find was that the Biden Campaign didnt also roll out an Economic Task force because of these twin problems that this country is facing. So we will see if that will come in the future. But this is an unprecedented time for a president elect. And there is no time, really to wait until january 20th. And you sense that the Biden Campaign and now the biden transition believes that that is the case. We know because of our reporting that over these past several months, the biden team already has had a Transition Team getting ready for what obviously is now going to happen. Theyve been working very hard on this. So they will be ready. Just irishe required. Its not that they were being presumptuous. A lot of them have a ton of working in the white house, elsewhere in the government. So they me what theyre doing. Well watch it all very, very closely. Were going to have much more on this truly, truly historic night. Our special coverage continues. Thats coming up next with chris cuomo and don lemon, right after a short break. Thanks very much. [narrator] with the ninja foodi power pitcher, you can crush ice, make smoothies, and do even more. Chop salsas, spoon thick smoothie bowls, even power through dough, and never stall. The ninja foodi power pitcher. Rethink what a blender can do. And the din and hum of Technology Fall away. Thats pure gold. 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Welcome to cnns special election coverage as it continues. Im chris cuomo with of course don lemon. Good to see you. Sharing history once again. And tonight is a big night for america. What does it mean . Well, well discuss it together. But we know this. For now, we have a president elect, joe biden. And he came out. He addressed the nation. He gave a call to give each other a chance, he said. That this is a time to heal. And literally, he is right. We are sick from covid right now and a poison politics that is every bit as virulent, don. How you feeling . Ah, its i almost cant talk right now, because of the emotion. That we will get to. So im not sure how much i want to say right off the top. But you know ive said all along we have two viruses that are infecting this country, and thats covid and racism. And what we witnessed tonight was the complete