And ammunition sales. We have a look at what this could mean for the hotbutton political issue. Live from cnn headquarters here in atlanta, we welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Im George Howell. The cnn newsroom starts right now. 4 01 here on the u. S. East coast. Thank you for being with us this day. What was once Hurricane Dorian is no longer a hurricane but still packing a punch in canada right now. It slammed nova scotia, bearing winds of 100 Miles Per Hour, about 155 kilometers per hour, and it knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses as well. This is the image in the bahamas. A very different story. A story of just a lot of devastation there. Officials there ramping up efforts to recover to help people get back to what they can find. This after dorian left the islands in total ruin. The storm killed 43 people there. But that number is expected to rise. Some on the island who lost everything are now scramble to go try to escape. Just take a look at that image. The United States says it has evacuated more than 1,400 people to the state of florida so far. One of the evacuees spoke with cnn about what theyre dealing with. The roof caved in. The wall caved in. It was flooded. It was awful. But im here. I made it. One resident from grand bahama now fears the island fay never fully recover. Cnns Patrick Oppmann has more on how people there are dealing with all of this. Reporter washington smith, smitty to his friends, who longer recognizes his backyard, the island where he has lived all his life. Hurricane dorian stalled out over the eastern end of grand bahama island, ravaging everything and everyone in its path. Dorian punched holes in concrete, tore foundations from their houses, and flung his humvee through a wall. Worse than the storm, he told us, is the lack of government response. Over a week now after the storm first hit the bahamas. Smitty, like many people, is running out of patience. Grand bahama right now is dead. Its dead. And now this makes it worse. This makes it worse. One part of all of this, all of this happened in the east grand bahama. And i havent seen a Government Official yet to come to say, well, here is a bottle of water or to see whats going on. Reporter the damage to smittys home defies description. A wall of water crashed over this part of the island. Smitty and his teenager daughter survived. Many others did not. This is the hole that Hurricane Dorian punched in the house of washington smith, i should say one of the holes. It t his work. Sent boards with nails flying at over 100 Miles Per Hour through his house. Everywhere you go you see damage. You see how shrapnel shredded the ceiling. Be careful of this. You see a nail sticking out of a board that came flying through. And then the most frightening thing, see where the water rose to. All along here. It came up, up, higher and higher, until here. This is over 20 feet high. And it stayed this high for 50 hours. He said it was 50 hours of pure torture. Little aid has reached this area. In many places, the only road in is blocked or under water. As they wait for government assistance, some residents, like marilyn ling, in the town of high rock, have taken it upon themselves to organize a relief effort, distributing supplies donated by friends and family. Staying busy, she tells us, keeps her from reliving the horror of the storm. I have no words to say how bad. Maybe 1 in 10 houses is standing. Reporter there is silence in these hardhit towns. The stench of death in the arras bodies are still being recovered. U. S. Coast guard helicopters hovering low, residents say, usually means another victim of the storm has been found. There has never been a storm like dorian before here. From 1962, i ran out every storm here. Would you ride out the next storm . No. I tell my daughter, when i hear a storm coming now, with the help of the good lord, i will pack up and get as far as i can from here. Reporter dorian has scarred the bahamas and bahamians forever. Patrick oppmann, cnn, grand bahama island there is a massive aid effort under way now in the bahamas. And to talk more about that aspect of the recovery, lets bring in luis david rodriguez, with direct relief joining us from nassau. Good to have you with us. Reporter hi. Good evening, george. Food, water, medicine. Talk to us about how critical those items are for people so many days after dorian made its mark there. Reporter yeah. Like you said, its all very critical. Especially in the area of grand bahama and abaco, freepoverty and Marsh Harbour and abaco. Those people really need all the help they can get. Most people in Marsh Harbour are being evacuated. Especially food, water and medical aid. And where are there in nassau, things are someone normal. That is the nerve center of the rescue effort. But when you get out to grand bahama island, high point, freeport, how difficult is it to get around there to reach people . Tphfirst of all, its not as easy to get to those islands. Everybody is trying to help in some way, somehow. Transportation is kind of difficult to find a way to get help is not easy. Once you get out there, communication is still kind of fragile. It is not easy to communicate with everyone there. It is kind of tough to find out where they need us, actually whats needed and what items, what area. Im curious to ask you from an organization like yours, what is the planning . How do you fan out, how do you make sure you reach all of those different areas. There are so many different areas that are affected here. You have to corroborate with the local government. For us with the ministry of heating, find out what the needs in different places, how they assess. And that way you try to reach the most people as possible. For example, we got here tuesday and delivered some meds to marsh har harbour. From what youre seeing on the ground. Ive been in, you know, many of these places where storms hit hard. There is the shortterm where you reach the people, get people exactly what they need, food, water, medicine. Then the long term, the look at recovery. How long do you think it will take for the shortterm and also the longterm. Well, being in abaco and Marsh Harbour, there are only a few buildings Still Standing up. Its going to take a long time. Im actually from puerto rico. They have a long process ahead of them. From what i have seen, they are very resilient people. It is something they will get around to. You know, look, given the fact that you have experienced a major storm coming through puerto rico and the recovery effort after that, you know what its like to go through this, as you say. So when you speak to people there, what is the mood right now . Because the images that were seeing, you know, here in the u. S. , around the world, the images are quite devastating. Yeah. You know what, actually i can speak from my experience the last couple of days being in Marsh Harbour and flying around some of the items. For these peoplewho lost everything, literally they lost everything, their spirits are actually pretty high and pretty positive. Obviously you see there is a little bit of 6th station and uncertainty of whats going to happen in the near future and the long road ahead. They dont know what to expect. But from what i have seen, they are resilient people, they are uniting and helping each other in the efforts to recover. Luis david rodriguez, we appreciate your time. Certainly thankful for all the work that you and your group are doing there with people in need of a lot of help. Thank you. Thank you. And the other big story were following, the u. S. President is canceling a secret meeting with the taliban leaders at camp david, this just days before the u. S. Marks 18 years since the 9 11 terror attacks. President trump tweeted that a bombing in the Afghan Capital of kabul derailed talks. That killed a u. S. Soldier. The taliban are claiming responsibility. The president says that he was also meeting separately with afghan president ghani. He wanted to set up a meeting with ghani and a founding taliban member. Sir john from the asiapacific joining us live from london. Thank you for being with us. Good to be with you, george. Theres a lot to unpack here. I mentioned the optics around 9 11, inviting a Senior Member to the taliban during such a sensitive week. We can talk about the optics in a moment. The meeting the president says he canceled, it suggests he felt he was truly close to a deal here. Well, the president may have felt that and that could have been based on basis with his consultant to the taliban. But no one else felt a viable deal was actually possible. They have been skeptical. The President Trumps own military advisers were also saying that this is perhaps too premature, too much ground is being conceded to the taliban. And senator lindsey graham, a close adviser to President Trump, has been quite vocal about his concerns about this potential deal. Because the taliban were not conceding on any ground. And it was very worrying they potentially were going to maintain their ties with terrorist groups like al qaeda, and that was also sending out alarm bells around the world. You pointed out the taliban not giving any ground here. It is important to underscore the taliban and afghan deposit are still not willing to meet facetofa facetoface. They wont meet and talk. So what would talks like this accomplish . Well, the Afghan Government has been willing to talk to the taliban. It is the taliban themselves who referred to negotiate. Therein lies the problem. The taliban has not changed since 9 11. They remayna maimain ardent in beliefs. This is a group that has been openly active in cultivating poppies for opium production. So they are involved in narcotics. And they retain very strong ties with terrorist groups. And the other important thing, george, is the taliban is not a single monolithic group. The Trump Administration was negotiating with a faction that is controlled by the pakistani military. And they are also the weakest faction. They dont speak to the other ones. If they were willing to negotiate, the other factions certainly werent. By speaking with the taliban, politically speaking here, the u. S. President inviting them to the United States, does it risk rel rel rele gentlemen mitt tphaoeuzzi . It. Is one thing negotiating with the head of state of north korea. The dictator kim jongun, not president. Well, right. He is the official representative of north korea. Whereas the taliban have no official recognition in afghanistan. They are not represented by anybody inside afghanistan itself. And what is so disturbing about this is the fact that the taliban harbored al qaeda. They refused to give up Osama Bin Laden after 9 11, which removed the taliban with operation freedom. And to bring them to camp david, to give them legitimacy has rightly shocked people across the u. S. , not just the democrats but republicans too. Just a few days before 9 11, it sends out a bad message. It is important to find out who pushed for this invitation to camp david. They obviously had no sensitivities to what transpired on september 11, 2001. That leads to the other question i have for you. Lets talk about the optics of this in mind. It was al qaeda, not the taliban, who were behind the 9 11 terror a, ta. The taliban is considered a terror group. Your expert tears. What do you make of the optics, inviting the taliban to the United States during such a sensitive week . Its flawed. And it doesnt have any logic to it. And im also skeptical that President Trump canceled the meeting just because of the recent attacks that took place in which a u. S. And romanian soldier were killed in kabul. There was Something Else hiding behind the scenes were not privy where to. It could be the that the reality was daunting, that this deal was not going to be a result in a drawdown. His own political advisers were speaking out. The only one who seemed to be in favor of it was al swrad. We have to remember the taliban have not changed. Many of their factions are prescribed terrorist groups. They have issued messages for strong support with al qaeda. As people are warning, al qaeda is growing. They are reemerging in pakistan. Their tentacles could spread into afghanistan if we abandon their country. One of the more important metrics to remember is such Operation Enduring freedom, there has not been a single terrorist attack from afghanistan thats been hatched against the west. So western intervention was very important in the first place. It prevented terrorism from growing in afghanistan albeit it has now found a home in pakistan. No one better to get expert analysis. Thank you for your time. Well keep in touch with you. The 2020 democrats are pounding the political pavement, you could say, in the state of New Hampshire this weekend. That is a crucial early voting state. Well get analysis on how its going for them. Also ahead, walmart being hailed as an unexpected champion of gun safety. Now other retailers are following suit. Will Corporate America change the tragic narrative of Mass Shootings in the United States . Its the last thing i want to do. Well i switched to swiffer wet jet and its awesome. Its an allinone so its ready to go when i am. The cleaning solution actually breaks down dirt and grime. And the pad absorbs it deep inside. So, it prevents streaks and haze better than my old mop. Plus, its safe to use on all my floors, even wood. 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Thats why 19 u. S. President ial candidates are in New Hampshire this weekend speaking to the states party convention. Its critical for the president ial hopefuls to win supporters now and a lot of eyes are on Bernie Sanders who beat Hillary Clinton there back in 2016. This country cannot continue to have a president who is a pathological liar, who even uses it sharpie pen to lie about the direction of a hurricane. How crazy is that . No sharpies here, just analysis with natasha lynn stad joining us from cole chester, england. Thank you for being with us thanks for having me. Looking at the democratic party, it is set to host its annual convention, attracting nearly the entire 2020 field. Joe biden still the frontrunner. What do his competitors need to do to stay viable as we have watched gillibrand and others drop out. And there is interest in Bernie Sanders and what happened with him here . Normally, you would advise candidates to go after the frontrunner to pick them apart to attack, you know, on their vulnerabilities and then to also focus on the issues that democratic voters are interested in, which seem to be health care and the environment. But we have a very interesting year this year. Polls are revealing that democrats and independents leaning left, 65 to 70 of them believe the most important thing affecting their vote is who has the best chance of beating trump. That has a couple implications. One is that it may mean to attack the frontrunner may not go over so well because democrats feel they need to put up a united front to beat trump. It also means you have to present yourself as someone who has a chance of getting elected. You have to focus on your issues as well, but you have to project to the voters that you have a chance of being elected and thats why biden has been benefiting so much in the polling. So you talk about joe biden, the frontrunner, even before the leadup to this election, the former Vice President was known for his gaffes. Heres the question, natasha, the u. S. President is also known for all sorts of things that he does and none of it turns his base away from him . Do you think joe biden has that same untouchable quality with so many gaffes but keeping his base of voters . He seems to be not affected too much by his gaffes just as trump is not affected by all the things he has. Bide especially has high levels of likeability because people believe he has a chance of beating trump. He is the far frontrunner in this regard. 45 of polls of those polled believe he has the best chance of beating trump compared to who comes in second, which was Bernie Sanders with 14 . So theres a really big gap there. And voters think that is the most important thing. Now, if we were to look at history, history shows while most of the time the lead in the republican primaries goes to the primary is won by that particular candidate. That is not true on the democratic side. The frontrunner usually actually doesnt win. We have seen many cases, you know, thinking back to 1992 with bill clinton where in 1991, coming up into the election, he never polled much above 7 . He was in fourth position, and he was able to come back. So though biden is the frontrunner, history says that doesnt always work out so well. But this is a very