Playing that music, there was no bigger knicks fan than me. I had a lara starks hat and jersey. Thank you very much. Just saying. Put that out there for a second for you, chris. Just letting you know. You are new blood. Okay . This isnt an accident. All right. Ive been around a lot longer than you. You were here for the gravy days with starks. Ive been watching that team. Theyve been bad for a long time, and ive been here for all of it. Well, look, i wont let the camera zoom in. Ill let you have the gray hair today. But you are absolutely right when you say this is a time and the idea of music being able to soundtrack what is happening. I mean, you see the protests on the streets as sort of a rallying cry. You hear about whats going on. You have people talking about the yes men. You have people pointing guns at people on the street for peaceful protests and otherwise. You see whats happening on capitol hill. I mean, these are the soundtracks of our lives right now, and i will be curious to see what everyone sings as a chorus, right . Soundtrack is the right word and a beautiful analogy to what it will be. Well done. Look. This is cnns time. Stop messing with chris cuomo right now. Im laura coates. Im in for don lemon. Before he stops calling me an upgrade here. You know, the coronavirus is surging. And the nations top experts warn, unfortunately, things could get a lot worse. Cases on the rise in more and more states. I think were now up to 36 and, frankly, only two of the 50 states are even down, right now. Youve got texas hitting its highest daily number of new cases. Theyve got almost 7,000 reported, just today. And dr. Anthony fauci says that america should be prepared for things to get a whole lot worse. We are now having 40plusthousand new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day, if this does not turn around. And so, i am very concerned. 100,000 a day . I cant even imagine that number. I mean, here we are, right now, were all very concerned, as hes saying. And that, as the president s own experts are are reiterating the very guidelines that he is ignoring. Especially, the one thats as clear as the nose on his face. You know the one. Its simple. Three words. Wear a mask. Please, please, please, wear a Face Covering when you go out in public. It is not an inconvenience. It is not a suppression of your freedom. It, actually, is a vehicle to achieve our goals. It is critical that we all take the personal responsibility to slow the transmission of covid19, and embrace the universal use of Face Coverings. The Surgeon General was pleading for people to just wear a mask. And members of the president s own party are even trying, and i mean desperately trying, to convince him to do the right thing. Ive suggested that the president , occasionally, wear a mask. Even though, in most cases, its not necessary for him to do so. The president has plenty of admirers. They would follow his lead. Wearing a mask is just a good idea. And it will, we know, from experience, will slow the spread. Of the coronavirus. Well, of course, theyd follow the lead. I mean, hes called the leader of the free world, right . I mean, even the president s rideordie stalwarts are trying to send him a message. Its like, somehow, were in gotham city, and there is a bat signal thats going up. But its saying, please, mr. President , just wear a mask. I think they work. And i said especially if i wear a mask, and it opens up baseball, concerts, nfl football, id rather wear the mask and go to the game to protect grandma, grandpa, mom, and dad. We must have no stigma, none, about Wearing Masks. For my home state, i do believe in Wearing Masks. Wearing the mask is the best opportunity for us to keep this economy open. I think that if the president wore one, it would just set a good example. Hed be a good role model. Maga should now stand for masks are great again. Theyre trying so hard to get through to him. You see where this is all playing. It just does not seem to be working. The president has said he has no problem with masks. That he encourages people to make whatever decision is best for their safety, and to follow what their local jurisdictions say. Cdc guidelines are still recommended but not required. And the president is the most tested man in america. Its his decision whether to wear a mask. The most informed man in america . Wow. Well, you know, we dont really need, truth be told, for the press secretary to say what she just said. I mean, the president , himself, has told us. And by the way, hes done it in his own words, multiple times. Precisely, how he feels about wearing that mask. I think wearing a face mask as i greet president s, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens. I dont know. Somehow, i dont see it for myself. Well, how about for the people of the United States of america . I mean, youve even got former Vice President joe biden, whos calling out the president s, how can you describe as, woefully inadequate coronavirus response. It seems like our wartime president surrendered. Waved the white flag. What white flag . We left the battlefield. And the president . Hes just, seemingly, holed up behind closed doors at the white house. Apparently, just rage tweeting. All the while, americans continue to die. And hes blaming china for the virus. Hes giving you a window into what hes really thinking with an allcaps tweet. Proclaiming himself the lone warrior. And hes repeating that old favorite that he last tweeted. Not at all coincidentally, by the way. Shortly after the vote the vote in the house to impeach him, quote, in reality, theyre not after me. Theyre after you. Im just in the way. The president , yet again, playing the victim. And frankly, ignoring who the real victims are. And by the victims, i mean the more than 127,000 americans who have lost their lives to this virus. Let alone, the ones who are battling from the affliction. And the loved ones who are still trying to process all that is happening, at this pace. Hes ignoring his own supporters. And all the republicans, all those republicans whove finally seemed to find religion on that simple task of wearing a mask. Just ignoring reality. And the president stands alone. Lot to talk about today with cnn White House Correspondent john harwood. And dr. Jonathan reiner. You know, director of the cardiac Catheterization Program at George Washington university hospital. Pleasure to have both of you here. John, if i can start with you. I mean, you see that weve got now top republicans, including Vice President pence. Theyve all seen the light. And theyre now talking about the wisdom of wearing a mask. This epiphany, now, that everyone seems to be having, except for the president of the United States. John, why do you think the president is not, at least, acknowledging the epiphany, let alone getting on board . Laura, its a bizarre situation. And all those republicans are talking to the president , as if he were a child. This is irrational by the president. It is selfdefeating. It counters his objectives of getting the economy back in shape, resolving the Public Health crisis, and reelection. The only conclusion you can draw, since theres no more scientific debate. Its unanimous, even within his own government, his own aides. The only conclusion you can draw is that the president is psychologically incapacitated from doing this. He thinks, as in the byte you played, that it makes him look bad, personally. He thinks it makes him look bad politically because it suggests all is not well with his fight against coronavirus. He thinks the masks are a sign of disapproval of him. It would be an admission that hed been wrong before. What ever all those reasons are, most of them have been uttered by the president , himself. They make no sense, and he simply is unable to do what smart, rational people working for him are begging and pleading for americans to do. And hes hurting himself by the process. Including, by the way, his own Vice President. And of course, the irony, dr. Reiner, in all this, is when he talks about not seeing himself wear a mask with these other foreign leaders. Guess what . Theyre likely wearing a mask. Its not as if the pandemic just hit the United States of america. But, you know, dr. Fauci is saying that he wouldnt be surprised if the u. S. Saw 100,000 new cases per day. And of course, if we dont have real leadership, i mean, is it even possible, doc, for the country to reverse course . We can, absolutely, turn this ship around. The people of this country have accomplished much greater feats than this. We can do this and its not hard. We need to get the entire population to wear a mask when you go out in public. Its not a big sacrifice. You know, our parents and our grandparents sacrificed a lot more. So thats easy to do. We need to get the states to continue to increase the amount of testing they do. Particularly, in the south, which where the states have lagged substantially behind the northeast in testing. And we have the ability to do this. We, absolutely, have the ability to do this. We just dont have the Political Leadership to do this. Heres the ironic thing. Roll the clock back three months. If, at the end of march, the president of the United States had come out wearing a mask, and had said, this is your patriotic duty. Wear a mask. And he was wearing, lets say, a maga mask. He probably would have sold millions of them. We would be, right now, where spain and italy are. We would be almost done with this first wave. And the president would be way higher in the polls. Thats the irony of this. He would be lauded for his management of this pandemic. Instead, he banked on magical thinking. That the warm weather was going to make this go away. That hydroxychloroquine was a magic bullet. And he wished it away, and this is where we are. And lets not forget, again, bringing the light, somehow, into the body, dr. Reiner, as well. And of course, you know, one thing i think about, usually, you would say hindsight is 2020 and were too harsh on leadership who are trying to make these decisions. But we do know it wasnt as if the United States was the first country to grapple with this, right . I mean, the idea that we had the idea and the benefit of what other countries were going for going through, we could have learned from them as well. The president , as you know, dr. Reiner, is actually headed to mt. Rushmore for a fourth of July Celebration and the governors saying theyre not going to enforce social distancing but they will provide masks. How risky is this sort of optional thing to be able to wear masks, if you feel like it . This president seems to enact every policy that one would enact to propagate the virus. Right . He doubts he doubts the ability of masks, to prevent the virus. He calls testing overrated. He brings together thousands of people in rallies and now at this fourth of july gathering in south dakota. What is the benefit to the country . What is the benefit to the folks of south dakota . And what is even the political benefit to him . You know, maybe theres some ego tonic he gets from it. Maybe his people are trying to get him out and boost his spirits. But whats going to happen is this is going to send exactly the wrong message. I dont want people out en masse over the weekend on the fourth of july. I want them in their own backyards, grilling some hot dogs. Thats your patriotic duty and thats what the public should listen to. Of course, as john was talking about, we have got a large event like this. Thousands of people. But its not just an isolated example. I mean, its the latest example, right, of the president downright ignoring the fact that we are in a pandemic right now. Not in the future. Right now. Trying to come out on the other side. President barely talks about it anymore. Hes trying to direct attention elsewhere. But even Vice President pence, who heads the Coronavirus Task force. I was at a briefing with him today that was oddly disconnected from the crisis that were now experiencing in the southwest. Vice president pence talked about what a great job weve done on testing. Weve ramped up testing. Weve got ppe. Weve got Better Therapeutics. He was so proud of the job that weve done. And said we flattened the curve. And then, two weeks ago, we noticed an increase in cases. And now, were on it. Were prepared for it. Well, thats not really the point. The point is, your objective was to crush the virus, not to have a resurgence of the crisis. It is true that death rates are down. And we do have Better Therapeutics and better treatment regimens and all that. But weve got a real problem, right now, in the administration, which is in grave political difficulty, is not inclined to acknowledge the extent of the problem. Even Governor Abbott of texas had said we reopened bars too quickly. Vice president pence said, oh, yeah, some people think states reopened too quickly. That wasnt the problem. Well, if the governor of texas was, ill take him at his word. John harwood, dr. Reiner, thank you for your time and of course tell people who are continuing to suffer, particularly black and brown populations in this country, that were in the clear. You know, the governor of florida says he wont roll back his states reopening. Even though floridas reporting more than, get this, 6,000 cases, as of today. New cases. The mayor of miamis going to weigh in with us, next. Audible is a routine for me. Its like a fun night school for adults. 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Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again i got this Mountain Bike for only 11. Dealdash. Com, the fair and honest bidding site. An ipad worth 505, was sold for less than 24; a playstation 4 for less than 16; and a schultz 4k television for less than 2. I won these bluetooth headphones for 20. I got these three suitcases for less than 40. And shipping is always free. Go to dealdash. Com right now and see how much you can save. The white house Coronavirus Task force says its paying very close attention to florida. Which, we know, is one of the states where the cases of the coronavirus are just soaring. Florida is reporting more than 6,000 new cases, just today, alone. And theyve got more than 38,000, since friday. And, of course, youve got the governor, ron desantis, saying were not going back, closing things. Well, joining me now, is miami mayor frances suarez. Good luck to you. I know you will be great in that leadership position as well. Mayor suarez, i have to ask you. Youve got cases in florida. They are obviously surging. Your governor is still not making masks mandatory. And he is now claiming that its not reopening thats doing this. Its not reopening thats driving these spikes. What do you say to that . Do you agree . Well, first of all, we made masks mandatory last week. We think its similar to wearing a seatbelt. You are required to wear a seatbelt. If you dont wear it, you could lose your license. If you are driving without a license, you can go to jail. Its for your protection and protection of others. So i definitely think wearing a mask in public is something we should have, not only in the city but, certainly, across the state, given the numbers that were seeing. Secondly, you know, i dont think you can discount the possibility of having to reclose or having to potentially reimpose a stayathome order. Im not saying we want to do that, and i know that its a measure of last resort. But you cant take that possibility off the table, given the numbers that were seeing. If these numbers our death rates going to go up. If our death rate goes up, like we have seen in other parts of the country or other parts of the world like italy or spain. Thats something that is going to create a health crisis, that will lead to unacceptable consequences. So we just cant take somebodys options off the table. You know, im glad you are talking about consequences, mayor suarez, because so often, i think people believe, somehow, everyone will conform to behavior, even in the absence of consequence. We know thats not the case. And so, if someones not wearing a mask in miami, they could be fined up to 500. Of course, theres other things that happen as well. But given the large number of people who arent complying as were seeing, i mean, particularly young people, are you seeing any change, even with those consequences hanging over their heads. Yeah. What we did was we created a consequence structure for people who are not wear masks. If youre not wearing it the first time, you get a warning. Our police officers, actually, are going to have masks with them so they can actually give people masks that are not wearing them. The second instance is a 50 fine. Then, 150. Then, 500. Then, ultimately, you could be arrested. The same thing for businesses. If you are a business thats not complying with the rules. Before, you would simply proffer a plan and the next day, you could be open for business. Now, we decided were not just going to do that. Were going to penalize businesses that dont conform with the rules. And were going to make it so that they have to close for ten days the first time. 15 days, the second time. And 30 days, the third time. We want to make sure that businesses understand its not just about th