Transcripts For CNNW Reliable Sources With Brian Stelter 202

Picture all of us americans in a car together. President trump is the driver. And he is trying to drive us off the road. He is trying to crash the car. In this analogy, the car is our democracy. It is old. Its got a lot of miles on it but its still running, strong. Its been well maintained. It stays humming along. It stays on the road through voting, through elections. But the driver, ever since 2016, i dont know, either the he wants to go offroading or he wants the car all to himself or he doesnt know where hes going. Somethings going on with the driver. Hes trying to crash the car. But all of us are along for the ride. The president s rhetoric about the coming election is the equivalent of trying to crash a car. Through his tweets, through his statements he is eroding confidence in the democratic process, making a crash more likely, and hes doing it for no good reason. Its just his own ego. And his media pals are helping him do it. So everybody else, besides the protrump media, all the responsible newsrooms, elected officia officials, everyone else has a huge responsibility in the next three months. This falls election, culminating with a Big Broadcast on november 3rd is probably not going to look like these past elections. You know, we all think about Election Night in america. You sometimes know the outcome by 11 00 p. M. , a little later at night in 2016, 2020 was the anomaly. Well, 2020 is an unprecedented situation. Were not going to see balloon drops in Massive Convention halls and arenas. You know, were not going to be seeing Campaign Stops with huge rallies in all these different states. And thats largely due to the pandemic, due to mailin voting and other reasons, election day will be more like election week. Thats the way to think about it. In fact, Television Networks like this one are already planning for much longer votecounting coverage. Were probably going to see long lines, short staffed, poorly funded precincts. Were probably going to hear concerns about mailin ballots not getting delivered and counted on time due to Postal Service problems. And the president is going to keep lying about the likelihood of voting fraud. Factcheckers are going to keep debunking those lies, but lots of people will be left confused, not knowing what to believe or maybe not even knowing how to vote at all. So, in november, in december, they will be left wondering if the whole thing was legit. That is the car crash. And the president is behind the wheel. Keep in mind, theres an entire universe out there designed to make trumps claims seem true or, you know, at least truish, true enough. Hes taking a lot of his talking points from fox, including that tweet which was spurred by fox friends. Keep in mind, fox news calls its election coverage democracy 2020. I hope theyll live up to that word in 2020. Democracy. Because we are witnessing creeping authoritarianism in america. The New York Times called it Trumps Campaign to undercut democracy. And you can say it was just a tweet and you can say he was just kidding. It is still creeping authoritarianism, even if the guy is joking. Of course, the good news this week is the republicans did immediately challenge trumps musing about delaying the election and more good news, news outlets did a good job truthsquatting pointing out immediately in the headlines that trump didnt have the to either to delay anything anyway. But its august 2nd. The elections november 3rd. Theres going to be three more months of this. Three more months of the lies, three more months of the sowing doubt of delegitimizing the election. Three more months of this. And the president still has the keys. He is still behind the wheel. His words still have power in this looming car crash. So, thats where were going to start the program and go in depth about the next three months and about what news outlets need to prepare. We have standing by with us the executive editor of one of the worlds biggest newsroom, sally buzbee of the Associated Press. She will join me in a moment. Lets begin with new yorker staff writing susan glasser, erin geiger smith, the author of the new book thank you for voting, the maddening, enlightening and inspiring truth about voting in america and rick hasen, hes the author of election meltdown. Rick, your book is subtitled, did irty tricks, distrust and the threat to american democracy. What is the biggest threat today . I think the biggest threat is were not going to have a Fair Elections or were not going to have an election that voters a good chunk of voters will accept as ledge ma the. We had a lot of challenges before the coronavirus hit, but now its going to be harder for a lot of people to vote. A lot of people are going to vote by mail, have not done it before. The rate by which ballots will be disenfranchised will be higher. On top of that, you have the president making statements that undermine the legitimacy of the election. Im worried about a nightmare scenario where we hold the election many more of trumps voters have switched to voting in person, and trump is ahead, say, in pennsylvania. Thats a key Electoral College state on Election Night. And then a week later biden is declared the winner. Is trump going to say, as he said in 2018, only accept the votes that arrive on election day and try to claim that hes actually the winner when hes the loser. The kind of statements hes making are really undermining the publics confidence in the fairness of the vote count for no good reason because theres not good evidence theres any massive voter fraud problem with the mailin ballots that are going to be come in. This could go side ways a dozen different ways. Its important to game out the scenarios and think about what could go wrong between now and november. Susan, you wrote for the new yorker, trump is the election crisis he is warning about. Youre not in the camp that says, oh, he was just kidding, he was messing around, he was just having fun on twitter. You know, brian, you and i both remember very clearly back to the beginning of the Trump Presidency when people who said, listen, hell become more president ial, dont Pay Attention to the tweets, Pay Attention to the policy. That actually was a surefire way for misreading the Trump Presidency and the actions that followed those words. And heres what i would say to you. Donald trump, to follow your analogy, he drove off the cliff this week. Hes not just taking us there. Trump has actually unh lly hund times in his shortlived political career attacked the legitimacy of elections, rigged elections, that sort of thing. Thats been his playbook since he entered politics. Whats new is this is the very first time weve ever had a president of the United States suggest we should delay the election outright. It was no coincidence that just a day later after that tweet, the chinese leadership said they were going to postpone hong kongs elections because of the coronavirus, using that as an excuse. Thats the authoritarian playbook. Elections have survived since the civil war of the United States, the world wars in the United States, and this is driving over the cliff for the president of the United States to question even having an election. There he goes, he gets us all fired up, people like me all concerned. Is this a distraction from the actual truth about the vote this coming fall . Well, i think that what the constant talk of these baseless voter fraud claims have caused, as rick said, is a lot of confusion. Whats so important for the media to do, as we move forward, is not just to address those issues and push back on false claims, but we have to do our jobs and let the voters know about the part they can actually control, which is voting. We really need to educate on how vote by mail works, what the voter can do to make sure their own vote counts. Its not the sexy part. Its the brass tacks part. I really think any story that we write talking about the problems has to also answer the question, am i giving the voter the information that they need to make sure their vote can count . Because theres very little that voters can do about funding the election or getting the usps money. They can push their senators to do that. They can volunteer to be poll workers. When it comes down to it, they need to know how to vote by mail in their state and whether vote by mail is the right choice for them. We have to get that basic information to people. Its a great point. Let me get rick and susan as well. Number one thing the press should be doing between now and november, rick, first to you . I think the president needs to educate the public both about how to vote, especially in places where you know, in georgia they have 36,000 people vote by mail in 2016 in the primary compared to 1. 2 million. People are learning. So, first, how to vote and, second, to not knock down these conspiracy theories about voter fraud and things that are going to convince people that the election is not being done fairly. People in the media should be letting the public know that a slow count is a fair count. And that trying to rush things is just going to create sloppiness. We dont want that. We want something people are going to accept in november. So youre saying election week, instead of election day, thats a good thing. Its actually it may be better. It means were getting a more accurate count. So y susan, your shot on what the press should be doing now and november. I think its been screening out the noise and understanding what makes this presidency uniquely different from that of either a democrat or republican predecessors. For me, i think you come down to two things. One is the other obviously is the president s unique character and willingness to behave in ways that no leader ever has in the United States. So, keeping a relentless focus on that, truthsquadding is not in and of itself the substitute for meaningful action but its crucial at this moment in time to do it in real time and to be very, very clear in the face of an assault on the truth, insisting upon it as independent. Its not partisan to tell the facts. And finally, erin, this came up most prominently with former president barack obama at his eulogy at the funeral of john lewis. He talked about poorly funded voter boards and these bakes of democracy that get overlooked. We need leaders to point out about the basis of democracy. Its very true. I think i think we shouldnt look at Voting Rights and access to the polls with convenience as a partisan question. Its not. We want everyone who can vote to do it and we need to make it convenient for them to do so. Weve got a lot of Big Questions and we just have to do our part to give voters all the information they need to make sure their vote counts while also handling all these other major issues of funding and everything else. But theres an education of the voter focus moving forward. Right. Three months, one day until election day. The beginning of election week, apparently. Susan, erin, rick, thank you very much. Coming up, what are newsr m newsrooms going to be doing about these problems. Were going to ask one of the most powerful editors of the world, sally buzbee of the Associated Press. A dangerous conspiracy cult qanon is seeping into the mainstream. Well show you how coming up. Hey, can i. Hold on one second. Sure. Okay. Okay safe drivers save 40 guys guys check it out. Safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 thats safe drivers save 40 . It is, thats safe drivers save 40 . Hes right there. Its him hes here. Hes right here. Hi hi. Hey thats totally him. Its him thats totally the guy. Safe drivers do save 40 . Click or call for a quote today. Safe drivers do save 40 . The countdown has begun. til everyone can enjoy a professional clean feel. At home. Ive been involved in. Communications in the media for 45 years. Ive been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. For me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. And i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. It has helped me an awful lot. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. To visit all the places we didnt know meant so much. S to get out and go again. But were all going at our own speed. At enterprise, peaceofmind starts with our complete clean pledge, curbside rentals and lowtouch transactions. With so many vehicles of so many kinds, you can count on us to help you get everywhere you want to go. Again. Whenever youre ready, were ready for you. Enterprise. Looking to repair dry, damaged hair without weighing it down . Try pantene daily moisture renewal conditioner. Instead of just coating hair with heavy moisturizers, pantenes smart conditioner formula microtargets damage where you need it most, to repair and hydrate without weighing hair down. Plus, the colorsafe formula is free from parabens and helps prevent frizz. To help renew dry, damaged hair, try pantene daily moisture renewal conditioner. Brand power. Helping you buy better. Its not just a sandwich, far from it. Its a reason to come together. Its a taste of something good. A taste we all could use right now. So lets make the most of it. And make every sandwich count. With oscar mayer deli fresh five blades and a pivotingglide flexball and make every sandwich count. Designed to get virtually every hair on the first stroke, while washing away dirt and oil. So youre ready for the day with a clean shave and a clean face. We are back on reliable sources talking about the looming president ial election. Why it will be so different this year and how it will be covered by the press. The Associated Press has a 50state network of local reporters, an entire infrastructure for counting the vote. Its been doing that, of course, for more than 170 years. The ap is out with a story this week, a guide to how they are planning to tackle this election and the inevitable delays. They say delayed Election Results may be, but not because of fraud. An important distinction to make in the coverage. Sally buzbee is the executive editor of the ap and joins me now. You used to head the d. C. Bureau. Now you run the whole operation. Whats happening now, three months before election day or week or month or whatever, whats happening now to prepare for this . Well, obviously, many states are still setting their laws. President u. S. Election system is very decentralized. Its run by each state runs its own election. Many still have primaries that are still set to happen. Many are still setting their laws around how much mailin voting theyre going to allow and things like that. What were doing is doing an enormous amount of research to make sure that we understand how each state is going to handle its elections, what is laws and procedures are going to be, how theyre going to handle mailin voting and things like that so we can communicate that to our customers and the news organizations that depend on us for that vote count on Election Night so everyone can have as clear and factual and transparent of an idea of how this election will work is possible. The pandemic means that many more states are doing mailin voting. With regards to that, and the vote counting part, do you expect it will take weeks . Is that your planning . You know, we dont really have i mean, with are preparing for it to go beyond Election Night. The reason it really doesnt have anything to do with fraud or anything like that. The pandemic and other forces in the country mean that more states are doing more absentee and more mailin voting. There has been absentee voting and mailin voting very successful mailin and absentee voting for many, many years. Washington state, oregon state have run incredibly clean elections with all mailin votes. So, it happens but there are going to be, you know, additional states this year that are dealing with this for the first year. And it probably means they will go slower. It does not at all mean there will be necessarily fraud or anything like that. Those two things are not kebted. But they probably, to be careful and to have accurate vote counts, will probably tabulate the results more slowly. So, we are anticipating for that reason that the vote will probably be slower this year. Sometimes also there are differences you know, people who vote ahead of time and people who go to the polls may be different types of voters. So, you know, one of the things we all need to be very cautious about this year is that if the early vote shows one trend and then later that changes, thats also not a sign of fraud. That could just be different groups of voters in the state voting at different times and their votes being counted at different times. Of course, if theres a landslide in any direction, its a lot easier to know it happened right away. If there are close races, its going to be tougher. Let me try a theory on you, and maybe this is farfetched but i grew up watching Election Night like everybody else. Isnt it the ap and Major Networks that show the show the country what happened . Yes, there are these institutions and theres an Electoral College and everybody agrees on the result, but isnt it basically a bunch of Major Networks in the ap that affirm the result and cause the country to believe the result . I bring that up because were in this age of distrust now, where these fake news lies have hurt media trust. I wonder, you know, are people going to trust the networks and the ap on election week or Election Night . So, yes, there is a very decentralized system in the United States. Theres not a federal elections agency. Each state runs its own vote. What we do and what other news organizations do is we pull together that vote. So, we gather what california has reported and what florida has reported and what ohio has reported. You win the presidency in the United States by winning the Big Broadcast<\/a> on november 3rd is probably not going to look like these past elections. You know, we all think about Election Night<\/a> in america. You sometimes know the outcome by 11 00 p. M. , a little later at night in 2016, 2020 was the anomaly. Well, 2020 is an unprecedented situation. Were not going to see balloon drops in Massive Convention<\/a> halls and arenas. You know, were not going to be seeing Campaign Stops<\/a> with huge rallies in all these different states. And thats largely due to the pandemic, due to mailin voting and other reasons, election day will be more like election week. Thats the way to think about it. In fact, Television Networks<\/a> like this one are already planning for much longer votecounting coverage. Were probably going to see long lines, short staffed, poorly funded precincts. Were probably going to hear concerns about mailin ballots not getting delivered and counted on time due to Postal Service<\/a> problems. And the president is going to keep lying about the likelihood of voting fraud. Factcheckers are going to keep debunking those lies, but lots of people will be left confused, not knowing what to believe or maybe not even knowing how to vote at all. So, in november, in december, they will be left wondering if the whole thing was legit. That is the car crash. And the president is behind the wheel. Keep in mind, theres an entire universe out there designed to make trumps claims seem true or, you know, at least truish, true enough. Hes taking a lot of his talking points from fox, including that tweet which was spurred by fox friends. Keep in mind, fox news calls its election coverage democracy 2020. I hope theyll live up to that word in 2020. Democracy. Because we are witnessing creeping authoritarianism in america. The New York Times<\/a> called it Trumps Campaign<\/a> to undercut democracy. And you can say it was just a tweet and you can say he was just kidding. It is still creeping authoritarianism, even if the guy is joking. Of course, the good news this week is the republicans did immediately challenge trumps musing about delaying the election and more good news, news outlets did a good job truthsquatting pointing out immediately in the headlines that trump didnt have the to either to delay anything anyway. But its august 2nd. The elections november 3rd. Theres going to be three more months of this. Three more months of the lies, three more months of the sowing doubt of delegitimizing the election. Three more months of this. And the president still has the keys. He is still behind the wheel. His words still have power in this looming car crash. So, thats where were going to start the program and go in depth about the next three months and about what news outlets need to prepare. We have standing by with us the executive editor of one of the worlds biggest newsroom, sally buzbee of the Associated Press<\/a>. She will join me in a moment. Lets begin with new yorker staff writing susan glasser, erin geiger smith, the author of the new book thank you for voting, the maddening, enlightening and inspiring truth about voting in america and rick hasen, hes the author of election meltdown. Rick, your book is subtitled, did irty tricks, distrust and the threat to american democracy. What is the biggest threat today . I think the biggest threat is were not going to have a Fair Elections<\/a> or were not going to have an election that voters a good chunk of voters will accept as ledge ma the. We had a lot of challenges before the coronavirus hit, but now its going to be harder for a lot of people to vote. A lot of people are going to vote by mail, have not done it before. The rate by which ballots will be disenfranchised will be higher. On top of that, you have the president making statements that undermine the legitimacy of the election. Im worried about a nightmare scenario where we hold the election many more of trumps voters have switched to voting in person, and trump is ahead, say, in pennsylvania. Thats a key Electoral College<\/a> state on Election Night<\/a>. And then a week later biden is declared the winner. Is trump going to say, as he said in 2018, only accept the votes that arrive on election day and try to claim that hes actually the winner when hes the loser. The kind of statements hes making are really undermining the publics confidence in the fairness of the vote count for no good reason because theres not good evidence theres any massive voter fraud problem with the mailin ballots that are going to be come in. This could go side ways a dozen different ways. Its important to game out the scenarios and think about what could go wrong between now and november. Susan, you wrote for the new yorker, trump is the election crisis he is warning about. Youre not in the camp that says, oh, he was just kidding, he was messing around, he was just having fun on twitter. You know, brian, you and i both remember very clearly back to the beginning of the Trump Presidency<\/a> when people who said, listen, hell become more president ial, dont Pay Attention<\/a> to the tweets, Pay Attention<\/a> to the policy. That actually was a surefire way for misreading the Trump Presidency<\/a> and the actions that followed those words. And heres what i would say to you. Donald trump, to follow your analogy, he drove off the cliff this week. Hes not just taking us there. Trump has actually unh lly hund times in his shortlived political career attacked the legitimacy of elections, rigged elections, that sort of thing. Thats been his playbook since he entered politics. Whats new is this is the very first time weve ever had a president of the United States<\/a> suggest we should delay the election outright. It was no coincidence that just a day later after that tweet, the chinese leadership said they were going to postpone hong kongs elections because of the coronavirus, using that as an excuse. Thats the authoritarian playbook. Elections have survived since the civil war of the United States<\/a>, the world wars in the United States<\/a>, and this is driving over the cliff for the president of the United States<\/a> to question even having an election. There he goes, he gets us all fired up, people like me all concerned. Is this a distraction from the actual truth about the vote this coming fall . Well, i think that what the constant talk of these baseless voter fraud claims have caused, as rick said, is a lot of confusion. Whats so important for the media to do, as we move forward, is not just to address those issues and push back on false claims, but we have to do our jobs and let the voters know about the part they can actually control, which is voting. We really need to educate on how vote by mail works, what the voter can do to make sure their own vote counts. Its not the sexy part. Its the brass tacks part. I really think any story that we write talking about the problems has to also answer the question, am i giving the voter the information that they need to make sure their vote can count . Because theres very little that voters can do about funding the election or getting the usps money. They can push their senators to do that. They can volunteer to be poll workers. When it comes down to it, they need to know how to vote by mail in their state and whether vote by mail is the right choice for them. We have to get that basic information to people. Its a great point. Let me get rick and susan as well. Number one thing the press should be doing between now and november, rick, first to you . I think the president needs to educate the public both about how to vote, especially in places where you know, in georgia they have 36,000 people vote by mail in 2016 in the primary compared to 1. 2 million. People are learning. So, first, how to vote and, second, to not knock down these conspiracy theories about voter fraud and things that are going to convince people that the election is not being done fairly. People in the media should be letting the public know that a slow count is a fair count. And that trying to rush things is just going to create sloppiness. We dont want that. We want something people are going to accept in november. So youre saying election week, instead of election day, thats a good thing. Its actually it may be better. It means were getting a more accurate count. So y susan, your shot on what the press should be doing now and november. I think its been screening out the noise and understanding what makes this presidency uniquely different from that of either a democrat or republican predecessors. For me, i think you come down to two things. One is the other obviously is the president s unique character and willingness to behave in ways that no leader ever has in the United States<\/a>. So, keeping a relentless focus on that, truthsquadding is not in and of itself the substitute for meaningful action but its crucial at this moment in time to do it in real time and to be very, very clear in the face of an assault on the truth, insisting upon it as independent. Its not partisan to tell the facts. And finally, erin, this came up most prominently with former president barack obama at his eulogy at the funeral of john lewis. He talked about poorly funded voter boards and these bakes of democracy that get overlooked. We need leaders to point out about the basis of democracy. Its very true. I think i think we shouldnt look at Voting Rights<\/a> and access to the polls with convenience as a partisan question. Its not. We want everyone who can vote to do it and we need to make it convenient for them to do so. Weve got a lot of Big Questions<\/a> and we just have to do our part to give voters all the information they need to make sure their vote counts while also handling all these other major issues of funding and everything else. But theres an education of the voter focus moving forward. Right. Three months, one day until election day. The beginning of election week, apparently. Susan, erin, rick, thank you very much. Coming up, what are newsr m newsrooms going to be doing about these problems. Were going to ask one of the most powerful editors of the world, sally buzbee of the Associated Press<\/a>. A dangerous conspiracy cult qanon is seeping into the mainstream. Well show you how coming up. Hey, can i. Hold on one second. Sure. Okay. Okay safe drivers save 40 guys guys check it out. Safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 thats safe drivers save 40 . It is, thats safe drivers save 40 . Hes right there. Its him hes here. Hes right here. Hi hi. Hey thats totally him. Its him thats totally the guy. Safe drivers do save 40 . Click or call for a quote today. Safe drivers do save 40 . The countdown has begun. til everyone can enjoy a professional clean feel. At home. Ive been involved in. Communications in the media for 45 years. Ive been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. For me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. And i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. It has helped me an awful lot. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. To visit all the places we didnt know meant so much. S to get out and go again. But were all going at our own speed. At enterprise, peaceofmind starts with our complete clean pledge, curbside rentals and lowtouch transactions. With so many vehicles of so many kinds, you can count on us to help you get everywhere you want to go. Again. Whenever youre ready, were ready for you. Enterprise. Looking to repair dry, damaged hair without weighing it down . Try pantene daily moisture renewal conditioner. Instead of just coating hair with heavy moisturizers, pantenes smart conditioner formula microtargets damage where you need it most, to repair and hydrate without weighing hair down. Plus, the colorsafe formula is free from parabens and helps prevent frizz. To help renew dry, damaged hair, try pantene daily moisture renewal conditioner. Brand power. Helping you buy better. Its not just a sandwich, far from it. Its a reason to come together. Its a taste of something good. A taste we all could use right now. So lets make the most of it. And make every sandwich count. With oscar mayer deli fresh five blades and a pivotingglide flexball and make every sandwich count. Designed to get virtually every hair on the first stroke, while washing away dirt and oil. So youre ready for the day with a clean shave and a clean face. We are back on reliable sources talking about the looming president ial election. Why it will be so different this year and how it will be covered by the press. The Associated Press<\/a> has a 50state network of local reporters, an entire infrastructure for counting the vote. Its been doing that, of course, for more than 170 years. The ap is out with a story this week, a guide to how they are planning to tackle this election and the inevitable delays. They say delayed Election Results<\/a> may be, but not because of fraud. An important distinction to make in the coverage. Sally buzbee is the executive editor of the ap and joins me now. You used to head the d. C. Bureau. Now you run the whole operation. Whats happening now, three months before election day or week or month or whatever, whats happening now to prepare for this . Well, obviously, many states are still setting their laws. President u. S. Election system is very decentralized. Its run by each state runs its own election. Many still have primaries that are still set to happen. Many are still setting their laws around how much mailin voting theyre going to allow and things like that. What were doing is doing an enormous amount of research to make sure that we understand how each state is going to handle its elections, what is laws and procedures are going to be, how theyre going to handle mailin voting and things like that so we can communicate that to our customers and the news organizations that depend on us for that vote count on Election Night<\/a> so everyone can have as clear and factual and transparent of an idea of how this election will work is possible. The pandemic means that many more states are doing mailin voting. With regards to that, and the vote counting part, do you expect it will take weeks . Is that your planning . You know, we dont really have i mean, with are preparing for it to go beyond Election Night<\/a>. The reason it really doesnt have anything to do with fraud or anything like that. The pandemic and other forces in the country mean that more states are doing more absentee and more mailin voting. There has been absentee voting and mailin voting very successful mailin and absentee voting for many, many years. Washington state, oregon state have run incredibly clean elections with all mailin votes. So, it happens but there are going to be, you know, additional states this year that are dealing with this for the first year. And it probably means they will go slower. It does not at all mean there will be necessarily fraud or anything like that. Those two things are not kebted. But they probably, to be careful and to have accurate vote counts, will probably tabulate the results more slowly. So, we are anticipating for that reason that the vote will probably be slower this year. Sometimes also there are differences you know, people who vote ahead of time and people who go to the polls may be different types of voters. So, you know, one of the things we all need to be very cautious about this year is that if the early vote shows one trend and then later that changes, thats also not a sign of fraud. That could just be different groups of voters in the state voting at different times and their votes being counted at different times. Of course, if theres a landslide in any direction, its a lot easier to know it happened right away. If there are close races, its going to be tougher. Let me try a theory on you, and maybe this is farfetched but i grew up watching Election Night<\/a> like everybody else. Isnt it the ap and Major Networks<\/a> that show the show the country what happened . Yes, there are these institutions and theres an Electoral College<\/a> and everybody agrees on the result, but isnt it basically a bunch of Major Networks<\/a> in the ap that affirm the result and cause the country to believe the result . I bring that up because were in this age of distrust now, where these fake news lies have hurt media trust. I wonder, you know, are people going to trust the networks and the ap on election week or Election Night<\/a> . So, yes, there is a very decentralized system in the United States<\/a>. Theres not a federal elections agency. Each state runs its own vote. What we do and what other news organizations do is we pull together that vote. So, we gather what california has reported and what florida has reported and what ohio has reported. You win the presidency in the United States<\/a> by winning the Electoral College<\/a> votes. Whether we like it or not, whether its the right system is not for me to say, but that is how the system works. So what we do is tabulate those, you know, you win florida, you win this many electoral votes. So, we count it. We the Associated Press<\/a> count it and we declare it. So, why should people trust us . We have been doing this since 1848. We have done it through the civil war. We have done it through the pony express. We have done it through the troubles of the 60s. We did it through world war ii. On Election Night<\/a> in 2016, we were the first people to declare that donald trump had been the winner. We did that at 2 26 a. M. We did it based on facts. We did it based on accuracy. We did it based on no fear, no favor. We are completely nonpartisan. And what we do is we report the facts. And thats why people can trust us. We will be entirely transparent on Election Night<\/a>. It is not our role to say who should with inthis election. It is our role to factually report to the United States<\/a> and to the world what has happened. And that is what we will do. You have our pledge. Were also totally willing to talk about how we do this. We put out Research Reports<\/a> that explain exactly how we do this. We educate news organizations. We are here to be transparent. A Simple Mission<\/a> statement but so important to articulate it. Sally, thank you very much. One tag about this, you might have read stories in headlines over the weekend about the rnc saying the Gop Convention<\/a> in charlotte will be closed to press. What the heck is going on . Now, theyre claiming this is because of social distancing. Heres a new statement we just received from the rnc saying that no final decision has actually been made and we are still working through logistics and press coverage options. So, thats the statement from the rnc saying this is about the pandemic and social distancing. But, come on, the democrats are finding a way to make it work, finding a what i to make sure press members of the media are in the room where it happens, are included in the process. It would be unprecedented and unacceptable for the Republican National<\/a> committee, for the party and the Convention Planners<\/a> to keep the press out during the convention. That would be absolutely unacceptable. Well keep you up to date on this and the rest of the news in our nightly newsletter. Sign up for free at cnn. It reliable. Well have the latest on this convention nonsense and all the rest. Coming up on reliable sourc sources, every time i hear trump sure gates saying joe biden is hiding in the basement, i think to myself, its more like hes smashing through the roof. Have you seen the polls lately . T. J. Ducklo, Bidens National<\/a> press secretary, is going to join us live. Well talk about the press strategy in a moment. No wrong. Where did you learn that . The internet. Yeah . Mmm with no artificial preservatives or added nitrates or nitrites, its all for the love of hot dogs. Wow. Jim could you ipop the hood for us . . There she is. Turbocharged, right . Yes it is. Jim, could you uh kick the tires . Oh yes. Can you change the color inside the car . Oh sure. How about blue . Thats more cyan but. Jump in the back seat, jim. Act like my kids. How much longer . Exactly how they sound. Its got massaging seats too, right . Oh yeahhhhh. Oh yeahhhhh. Visit the mercedesbenz summer event or shop online at participating dealers. Get 0 apr financing up to 36 months on select new and certified preowned models. I dont have to worry about that, do i . Are irritated. Harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line. Crest gum detoxify, voted product of the year. It works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. Gum detoxify, from crest. President trump sucked up all the oxygen in 2016. Think back to that election season. Everybody was talking about trump. It worked to his favor. But now it is hurting him. He is still sucking up all the oxygen, but it is to his detriment. Take a look at this data from news whip. It shows social media interactions with joe biden. Now add trump to the graphic, youll see theres far, far more social Media Chatter<\/a> about trump than about biden. Now, just for fun, heres what 2016 looked like. Hillary clinton and donald trump were much more evenly matched. But tweets are poor substitutes for polls. In the polls biden is way ahead. Look, make america boring again is a logical strategy. It makes sense. The Washington Post<\/a> calls it a less is more campaign by biden. Nbc calls it a do no harm strategy. Politicos Jack Schaeffer<\/a> says the medias biggest favor to biden was ignoring him. Which didnt obviously literally true but theres a grain of truth to it. Lets bring in t. J. Ducklo, the National Press<\/a> secretary for the biden campaign. When i read a headline is less is more campaign and a do no harm strategy, does that offend you all at the campaign or are they right . Look, brian, we are 93 days from election day. Our job is to present a clear choice for the American People<\/a>. Do we want four more years of the kind of erratic behavior, the kind of divisive rhetoric, the kind of failed leadership we see every day from donald trump or do americans want Something Different<\/a> . Do they want the experience that joe biden brings to the table . Do they want a leader who can lead with compassion and empathy, who knows how to get this virus under control, and to make government work for people. We have had hundreds of surrogate events across the country led by folks like mayor pete, senator warren, senator harris. Our field teams, thousandses of volunteers are making calls and texts to voters, talking about the issues folks care about and also making sure they know how to vote. Look, were also being creative how were reaching people. Like a lot of your viewers probably saw the video with president obama and Vice President<\/a> biden, that got 12 Million Viewers<\/a> in the first four hours and an organizing tool. We added tens of thousands of names to our email list. We are getting his message out there, being creative and finding new, compelling ways to get Vice President<\/a> s biden for america out to the country and i think thats what youll see us do. The contrast about the amount or number of interviews hes doing, tv interviews. Youre getting a lot of heat from trump world about the lack of tv interviews. We counted 15 interviews for biden. 30plus interviews by trump this summer so far. Isnt that shouldnt you be providing biden to the press more often . Well, we had a press conference this week, brian. I think cnn was the first question on that press conference. Look, since march 1st, Vice President<\/a> biden has done nearly 100 interviews with every network, including fox news, with cable, with local media, which during an emergency, as folks know, is where a lot of people turn to get their news. With other platforms, like maro, he did peter hannitys snap show. Donald trump continues to talk to fox news and friendly outlets. One interview with world renowned journalist donald trump jr. Mixed in there. Thats fair. I think the last brian, i think the last time i think the last time donald trump was on your network was over four years ago, july 2016. So, we are very comfortable with our interactions with the press. Particularly up against the president , who routinely attacks journalists for doing their jobs. It is true that the president has not agreed to speak with cnn in a sitdown interview since taking office. Look what he said to Chris Wallace<\/a> a couple weeks ago. He said, let biden sit through an interview like this, hell be on the ground crying for mommy. Biden did to an interview on msnbc the next day. Hes going to keep lying. Hes going to keep saying it for the next three months. Why not prove him wrong every day by giving Daily Press Conferences<\/a> and giving daily interviews . Brian, as i said, we had a press conference this week. He took questions from every network. We are couldnt constantly getting the Vice President<\/a> s message out there. As i mentioned, over 100 interviews since march 1st. I think President Trump<\/a> could take a lot more questions and do a lot more interviews with outlets that are not fox, fox business. Sure. He absolutely could. I think what your candidate is doing is hes dodging trumps punches with silence, which is probably an Effective Campaign<\/a> strategy. I just think that biden owes the Public Access<\/a> all the time, even in the midst of a pandemic. Well, look, we will continue to i think we are, absolutely. And i think we are drawing a contrast for folks, that this election is a choice. It is a choice between two candidates. And donald trump excuse me, joe biden is the polar opposite of donald trump in every way and his experience, in his character, in his empathy. We are drawing that contrast extremely sharply in everything we do, including our interviews with the press. Can you tell us what date is the vp selection, before you go . Brian, no announcements on that front today. We are winding down april very thorough and robust process. We look forward to sharing that news with the American People<\/a> very soon. T. J. , thank you for coming on. I appreciate it. Up next, here on reliable sources, the media marked the day when americas coronavirus death toll passed 50,000, then 100,000 and now 150,000. How many more miserable milestones are there going to be . The daily times now putting pages and pages of obituaries. This morning the North Carolina<\/a> news and record newspaper showing new grave sites on the front page. Yet some commentators are still wasting time talking about ineffective treatments. Were going to call that out next. Today, were facing a serious threat. We have to meet it as one country. Numbers dont lie. Infection rates are now going up in more states than they are going down. Weve got to fight this together. Wear a mask, keep your distance, limit the size of crowds. It may be inconvenient and may be uncomfortable, but its the right thing to do as an american. We need a president who will level with the American People<\/a>, a president who will tell us the unvarnished truth, a president who will take responsibility instead of always blaming others, a president who will listen to the experts, follow the science, allow them to speak, a president who will lead and be an example for the nation. We have to do all we can to keep our fellow americans safe and healthy. Im joe biden and i approve this message. When you start with a better thats no way to treat a dog. You can do no wrong. Where did you learn that . The internet. Yeah . Mmm with no artificial preservatives or added nitrates or nitrites, its all for the love of hot dogs. Twofront war on the truth these days politics and the pandemic. And hydroxychloroquine connects the two fronts. As you know, the malaria drug known as hcq is still being touted as rightwing media as a miracle cure for covid19. There was this press Conference Held<\/a> in washington with these doctors. Doctors who are not representative of opinion or of medical fact of scientific fact, but because they were out there promoting this drug, fox, breitbart, latched onto this and precious days were spent debunking this nonsense. Dont fall for this video, Kaiser Health<\/a> news rote. Study after study has shown it is not effective in dealing with covid19. Thats what dr. Anthony fauci has said. But trumps media outlets, his allies, continue to tear down fauci and claim fauci is part of this elaborate crazy plot to keep the country locked down to help the democrats and 5 Million Viewers<\/a> watch that stuff and hear it every day. Trump keeps getting fed terrible information from people he believes, like the man who runs one america news, that fox news wit wanab e channel. He was hyping hqc with trump in a phone call earlier this week. They have these fringe or exception to the rules study that show somehow this drug is effective in treating patients. Again, the governments own experts say it is not. But, of course, the gops gohmert said when he was diagnosed positive he was going to take the antihiantimalaria when he tested positive. Every bs narrative is to make trump feel good and deflect blame from the rising death toll. When the u. S. Surpassed 150,000 known deaths from covid19, and remember, the real number is higher due to testing failures and people dying at home, but at the 150,000 mark, news outlets pointed out america is in far worse shape than other countries. And ever since then, ever since trump read those stories or head heard those stories, hes been talking about rising case counts in europe and other parts of the world. Distract, deflect, every bit of this disinformation is a waste of time. It is a waste of breath. Things we cannot afford to waste right now. But this alternative universe is strong. Weve got to know whats happening in it because it does affect the president and his political choices. Now, let me bring back susan glasser, new york staff writer and media Global Affairs<\/a> analyst. Susan, i think to come back to this key about the pandemic and what the president chooses to do with his time, just feels to me like the media, we had to go ahead and look into these doctors and find out about the doctor who believes in alien dna and explain how she was such an aberration from whats the norm in the medical universe. But we have to do it because the president is spending his time on it. Well, brian, i think this is an excellent point. Whats different. Theres always been conspiracy theories, theres always been, you know, the world of promoting alternative facts, especially in a Public Health<\/a> crisis, in a pandemic. Whats different is the president of the United States<\/a> is the one person spreading the misinformation. I was looking at robert drapers new book about the starting of the iraq war by george w. Bush. You know, propaganda and misinformation existed at that time. In fact, there was a moment in time when a majority of the American Public<\/a> believed incorrectly that Saddam Hussein<\/a> was responsible for the 9 11 attacks. The difference is george w. Bush had people surround him saying things that were untrue. They were walking the line. He himself never directly said this untruth about Saddam Hussein<\/a> and 9 11. But created an atmosphere in which people believed it. Now you have donald trump even getting rid of that and going directly to spreading the untruth and the propaganda himself. So, i think thats the line that has been breached very definitively in the Trump Presidency<\/a>, especially with this pandemic, with peoples lives on the line. You will never hear the president offer genuine condolences more than 150,000 dead. I mean, you know, weve almost lost our capacity to be shocked. What i would say to people is, you dont have to be surprised to maintain your sense of shock. And i do agree with you, its very important to cover this universe of misinformation and lies that is being hoisted on the American People<\/a> and the accountability for trump and his advisers for spreading it is something that is really different in our politics right now. Its astonish yeah, we all wanted hydroxychloroquine to work. The studies have proven it doesnt. We need to move on, unless there are more studies that suggest it is effective after all. The science is pretty clear. By the way, drapers book is titled to start a war, brandnew, it is xl eexcellent. This is from the Washington Post<\/a> which obtained intel reports about two journalists, note, quoting they leaked intelligence reports about dhs operations in portland during the protests. Dhs is embarrassed, reassigning one of the persons involved. Whats the significance of this . Look, if you tell the American Public<\/a> and your own employees for years that journalists are the enemies of the people, and specifically target them and call them out, eventually bureaucrats will do what they think pleases the president , pleases the political masters. Another lesson, by the way, of that iraq war buff, the bu bureaucracy is very atune to picking up signals from the top which is why Leadership Matters<\/a> and why, in fact, people like the president do play a role in affecting things with their own words. And i think this is a very clearcut example of that. Yeah, were going to find a lot more examples when history of this administration is ultimately written. Yeah, i have the same feeling. What else we dont know yet. Its mindboggling. Susan, thank you very much. Coming up on the program, when a moment of unity actually revealed about the media divide. D the wrong getaway driver. Theyre going to be paying for this for a long time. They will, but with accident forgiveness allstate wont raise your rates just because of an accident, even if its your fault. Cut sonny. Was that good . Line the desert never lies. Isnt that what i said . No you were talking about allstate and insurance. I just. When i. Lets try again. Everybody back to one. Accident forgiveness from allstate. Click or call for a quote today. Accident forgiveness from allstate. New fixodent ultra dual power provides you with an unbeatable hold and strong seal against food infiltrations. Fixodent. And forget it. Are made with farm grownal apples as the first ingredient. And key nutrients you want. So you can have a daily multivitamin free of stuff you dont want. One a day Natural Fruit<\/a> bites. A new way to multivitamin. Its not just a sandwich, far from it. Its a reason to come together. Its a taste of something good. A taste we all could use right now. So lets make the most of it. And make every sandwich count. With oscar mayer deli fresh for the same medications as the vet, but up to 30 percent less with fast free shipping. Visit petmeds. Com today. Some new intrigue in the house of murdoch this weekend. Ruperts younger son james resigned from the news corporations board, nixing his finally formal link to the business. Cited disagreements over certain editorial content published by the companys news outlets and certain other strategic decisions. It means the companys financial struggles, but disagreements about editorials, thats about racism, xenophobia, ignorance, Climate Change<\/a>, denialism. Hes leaving the publishing side too. Papers at the wall street journal, papers in australia. What does it mean . Harold lewis is here with answers. Does it mean anything to have james breaking off from the Family Business<\/a> . I think it means a lot actually. The stated reasons, weve called it Climate Change<\/a> denialism but what happened in australia where the murdoch papers are dominant, was a real travesty, where they were editorializing and putting fact information on page four in some cases, in melbourne papers, even as the country was burning. Its a travesty what happened down there. Inning James Murdoch<\/a> decided this was too much, he wasnt going to watch a radical disservice of the viewers and readers of the murdoch Media Companies<\/a> be something that he was going to be in charge of. Lets talk about one of the most important events of the week, celebration of life for john lewis which included his extraordinary Funeral Service<\/a> in atlanta on thursday. Every channel was live, all the broadcast networks and cable channels, but i saw something in the ratings that blew me away. I dont usually talk about ratings, look at this from wednesday, a typical day on cable news, typical daytime cable news, fox is on top, cnn and msnbc are a little below. Thursday, during the funeral, the red line is fox. The ratings fall off a cliff. Fox viewers didnt want to watch the funeral. Fox went from about 2 Million Viewers<\/a> from the funeral down to 500,000, to 600,000. Right after the funeral and obama, fox viewers came back. This is stunning. I know people arent surprised by this and say foxs programming doesnt appeal to africanamericans or the minority groups, but have democrats been so demonized by fox news that even the celebration of life of a civil rights legend is something they dont want to watch . I mean this is what were dealing with. We talk about a polarized america, this is your proof positive. Yeah. Something we should be teaching in journalism schools. When people see that three living expresident s are all speaking and so forth and decide im going to watch soap on er ras or turn it off or look at Something Else<\/a> it confirms you have to look for Something Else<\/a> because there was it was across all the channels. You did. It sort of confirms that this is, you know, fox news is basically functioning as an ajungts of the Trump White House<\/a> press operation and trump campaign. It was distasteful, it didnt fit the narrative theyre fed 24 hours a day and they couldnt make sense and didnt want to see it and moved on to Something Else<\/a> apparently. To foxs credit at least it carried the funeral live like everybody else but the viewers turned the channel. You had to you definitely have to. Speaking of fox, errol, this thing about a week ago but i want to bring it because i think its troubling that foxs jesse waters promoting on his weekend fox show and later claimed he doesnt believe it, but he was on the air saying they found a lot of stuff about the deep state and jeffrey epstein. It is a cult that is pred cated on the idea that democrats and other elites eat children, abuse children, have massive sex trafficking Conspiracy Networks<\/a> and theres jesse waters promoting this cult. This is a group labelled a domestic Terror Threat<\/a> by the fbi. Is this the main stream of qanon . Its a fringe idea becoming known to millions and being mainstreamed . How that craziness gets laundered into the mainstream is a mechanism youve done a lot of reporting on and something we have to call out at each and every opportunity. Jesse waters can play cute as if hes the controversy and talking about a debate or Something Like<\/a> that, but its nothing of the sort. Its more akin to frankly of the coronavirus, you know, just like in that case, we have to have social distancing, we have to stop the spread, we have to warn people that this can happen, and we have to do everything we can to find the vaccine. Its a great point. Thats a great way to view it. Weve got multiple congressional candidates running on the gop ticket that espouse qunon beliefs. This is going to continue and well see this get more mainstreamed and folks have to stand up to it. Errol lewis, thank you for being here. Go ahead. Real quick, kudos to social media for kicking off thousands of people spouting that nonsense. We have to do more of the same. Thats an interesting point. Twitter took down thousands of qunon accounts ps. Were going to see more takedowns by these companies. Thank you. We are t minus 3 weeks until hoax my book about the past five years. Go to buyhoax. Com. The book full of scoops about trump and fox an the distortion of truth. And if you preorder now at buyhoax. Com enter a special sweepstakes for a virtual happy hour in september. More to had on that later. A plug for this weeks reliable sources podcast. Peter talks about the netflix effect and how netflix has bended the world to its will. Listen on apple podcast, spotify, wherever you find your podcasts. Last but not least, kamel is back with a brand new episode of united shades of america. This season has been stellar. 10 00 p. M. Eastern time on cnn. Heres another cleaning tip from mr. Clean. Cleaning tough bathroom and kitchen messes with sprays and wipes can be a struggle. Theres an easier way. Try mr. Clean magic eraser. Just wet, squeeze and erase tough messes like bathtub soap scum. And cakedon grease from oven doors. Now mr. Clean magic eraser comes in disposable sheets. Theyre perfect for icky messes on stovetops. In microwaves. And all over the house. For an amazing clean, try mr. Clean magic eraser, and mr. Clean magic eraser sheets. Ive been involved in. Communications in the media for 45 years. Ive been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. For me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. And i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. It has helped me an awful lot. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Apps except work. Rywhere. Why is that . Is it because people love filling out forms . Maybe they like checking with their supervisor to see how much Vacation Time<\/a> they have. Or sending corporate their expense reports. Ill let you in on a little secret. They dont. By empowering employees to manage their own tasks, paycom frees you to focus on the business of business. To learn more, visit paycom. Com its called ubrelvy. The migraine medicine for anytime, anywhere migraine strikes without worrying if its too late or where you happen to be. One dose of ubrelvy can quickly stop a migraine in its tracks within two hours. Many had pain relief in one hour. Do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. Few people had side effects, most common were nausea and tiredness. Ask about ubrelvy. The anytime, anywhere migraine medicine. New hot spots. Troubling signs in more states as coronavirus cases rise in the midwest and new data raise alarm bells about how children are affected. Give back by wearing a mask, by socially distancing. What should americans expect this fall . Ill speak to the White House Coronavirus<\/a> response coordinator dr. Deborah birx and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson<\/a> next. Pay cut. 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