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Poll; Obama Approval Rating Increases; Clint Eastwood: I'd Have to Go for Trump; Air Assault on Miami to Fight Zika. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 4, 2016 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[14:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Donald Trump got a bounce from his Republican National Convention. Hillary Clinton, for hers. And in a twist now, President Obama's getting his own sort of post-convention boost. A new CNN poll giving the president the highest approval rating of his second term at 54 percent.

Let's start there. David Chalian, CNN political director; and Tim Neftali, CNN presidential historian and former director at the Nixon Presidential Library.

I think between the two of you we have all things politics and history entirely covered for all of time.

That said, David Chalian, how might the president's numbers, highest in, what, four years, help Clinton?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, listen, there is no better path to success for Hillary Clinton than to recreating the Obama coalition that existed in 2008 and 2012. So African-Americans, Hispanics, young people, single women. These are the building blocks that created two big victories for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. So when he's politically healthy at 54 percent and can barnstorm the entire country on her behalf and we saw --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: The embrace --

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: Yes. That, indeed, is a boost. They're a lot happier in Brooklyn today. It's really important.

BALDWIN: More numbers, Tim. Two Gallup polls last month showed huge unfavorables, 57 percent for Clinton, 61 percent for Trump. So what do you think this Obama approval rating is really about?

TIM NEFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Can you connect any of that? NEFTALI: Brooke, think about it. Hillary Clinton has two running

mates now. And she will deploy Tim Kaine and Barack Obama in different parts of the country. You will see Barack Obama go back to North Carolina. You will see Barack Obama go to Nevada. You'll see Barack Obama go to Colorado. Barack Obama's going to go to certain parts of the country that, as David said, were part of the Obama coalition. Tim Kaine is going to go and do what Biden tried to do. He's going to try to hold on to Rust Belt areas. He's going to try to keep the losses among white men down.

BALDWIN: Where she's not doing well.

NEFTALI: Where she's not doing well at all.

It's interesting, Ronald Reagan also got a bounce in the summer after the conventions. And Obama and Reagan are about at the same level right now. It's really a good thing for a third-term, if you will, candidate to have a healthy presidential assistant. The one who didn't use it well was Al Gore. Bill Clinton was at 60 percent at this point, and Al Gore, for reasons, including the impeachment, didn't use him.

(CROSSTALK)

NEFTALI: Well, there was a reason, but he later regretted it.

CHALIAN: Of course, Bill Clinton's 57 percent at the time was due to beating back impeachment and all the support that he was receiving from hard-core Democrats throughout that process. But Al Gore still was worried about the middle and distanced himself.

BALDWIN: Donald Trump repeating his line, "Barack Obama is the worst president in history." Smart move?

CHALIAN: Well, listen. This is -- the Republican Party has become the opposition party to Barack Obama more than anything else over these last eight years, as a loyal opposition party should be. That is the animating principle for Donald Trump's most hardcore supporters. And, listen, 54 percent is a very healthy number but it still means that there that are Independents skeptical about Barack Obama still. We know he's pretty polarizing figure still, even sitting at 54 percent approval. It makes sense for Donald Trump to continue to rally his base. Nothing -- we saw it in Cleveland. Nothing unifies the Republican Party more than taking the fight to Hillary Clinton on a daily basis. Right now, uniting the Republican Party still seems to be mission number-one for Trump.

BALDWIN: It is. It is.

David Chalian, Tim Neftali, thank you both. I appreciate it.

CHALIAN: Thanks.

NEFTALI: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Up next, he chatted with a chair in support of Mitt Romney. A chair, like the kind that you sit in. Four years later, what does Clint Eastwood think of Donald Trump? His remarks and the no-so- politically-correct language of his very own.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:38:29] BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

One of Hollywood's most brash, outspoken, tough, handsome talkers is praising those same qualities in Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINT EASTWOOD, ACTOR: Get off my lawn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Clint Eastwood telling "Esquire" magazine the world is far too sensitive. Let me quote a piece of this interview. "He is on to something," referring to Trump, "because, secretly, everybody's getting tired of political correctness, kissing up. We're really in a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) generation. What Trump is on to is he's just say is what's on his mind. He's said a lot of dumb things. So have all of them, both sides. But everybody, the press, and everybody's going, oh, well, that's racist and they're making a big hoodoo out of it. Just (EXPLETIVE DELETED) get over it. It is a sad time in history."

Eastwood stopped short of endorsing Donald Trump but did say he would have to choose Trump over Hillary Clinton.

With me now, the man on the other end of the interview, Michael Haney, at "Esquire" and he's also executive editorial director; and Ellis Henican, political analyst and author of "The Party's Over, How I Became a Democrat."

Gentlemen, welcome.

ELLIS HENICAN, POLITICAL ANALYST & AUTHOR: Hey, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Hey.

I mean, colorful language for an octogenarian. But what did you make about that?

[14:40:02] MICHAEL HANEY, EXECUTIVE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, ESQUIRE MAGAZINE: He's a guy who's always spoken like he does. He interviewed him seven, eight years ago. There is not much difference between the Clint on screen and the Clint you get in real life. As I say, every sort of presidential cycle, he seems to insert himself, whether actively or sort of impulsively. Ronald Reagan was the one who like "make my day." I think even Trump somehow -- he must be practicing the Clint squint, the sort of tough guy affectation. But Clint is -- he just sort of calls it like it is.

BALDWIN: You mentioned the Grand Torino script. HANEY: One of his producers said you're not going to like this

script. He read it. He came back the next morning and said we're putting this in production right away.

BALDWIN: What do you think of his points about we're being too politically correct?

HENICAN: First, kudos for Michael. It was a great piece. I'm reminded of the lesson that sometimes our great directors and actors ought to let their talking be done on film.

BALDWIN: You think he took it too far?

HENICAN: I like the character, the sort of real feeling of it. But some of this stuff is a little dumb, isn't it? I mean, no, a whole generation of people are not, to use the bad word --

(CROSSTALK)

HENICAN: America is not going to hell. It's not -- let us not confuse a crotchety 86-year-old brilliant artist with a political analyst. Is that fair?

BALDWIN: Is it fair?

HANEY: I don't think he is a political analyst. I think he's simply saying his mind and saying what a lot of people are feeling this year, which is I don't get -- I think that people should toughen up a little bit.

BALDWIN: He did thrust himself -- or probably was asked to -- during the Romney Republican National Convention. The chair moment. We remember. Let's remind everyone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINT EASTWOOD, ACTOR: -- because --

(CHEERING)

EASTWOOD: I think attorneys are so busy, they're always taught to argue everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I remember being in there and watching him. Clint Eastwood is talking to a chair. This is the first time, Michael, that he's addressed this, calling it silly.

HANEY: Right. He actively owned it. He sort of rolled his eyes and laughed. He said, I'm standing backstage, hearing all these guys talk amazing, he's great. He says, I got to say something different. All of a sudden, it came into my mind --

BALDWIN: Neil Diamond.

HANEY: -- the Neil Diamond song.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: As one does.

HANEY: I mean, it was a metaphor? He said, give me a chair, I'm going to go out there and try to do something. So he laughed, you know, some performances work, others don't. But you move on.

HENICAN: We learned something in the piece on that. I had never known that. Did anyone else know that?

BALDWIN: No. First time.

HENICAN: I mean that was a memorable moment in pop culture. Again, I'm not going to confuse it with great political oratory. But it is kind of interesting to know.

BALDWIN: Fair point.

It is in "Esquire." It is the cover piece.

Michel Haney, great job.

HANEY: Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

86 years old. You said he works out in the morning, half-an-hour on the elliptical and half-an-hour --

HANEY: Of weights.

BALDWIN: -- of weights.

HANEY: A vegetarian.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: 86.

HANEY: So he's an inspiration --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Yeah, 86 years young.

And Ellis Henican, thank you so much. Come back.

HENICAN: Thank you. You, too.

BALDWIN: Please come back, to both of you.

In one hour, as planes blanket the city with pesticides, pregnant women in Miami are rushing in to get tested for Zika. Coming up next, we'll talk to a Miami mom who is six months pregnant who was just tested for Zika today. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:54] BALDWIN: You saw it there -- actually, first up here -- just a reminder that President Obama's been meeting with his security chiefs in Washington. In the video, among many of those men and women, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Joe Biden. There they are. And this is ahead of a big news conference that the president will be holding at the Pentagon in just about an hour from now where he will be taking a number of questions. We'll take that live.

Meantime, to Miami. An all-out air assault is being launched against the Zika Virus in south Florida. Miami-Dade County is now conducting aerial spraying for mosquitoes. This is near the Wynwood neighborhood. The Centers for Disease Control has issued a travel warning for this community of Wynwood. Spraying zone covers 10 square miles just north of the downtown Miami. The mosquito-borne virus has been linked to Microcephaly, small heads in children, brain damage, blindness, deafness in babies, all born to infected mothers. This has led to a sharp rise in expectant moms wanting to be, of course, tested for the virus.

Tracy Towle Humphrey just got tested for Zika today and joins me live from Miami.

Tracy, thanks for coming on.

TRACY TOWLE HUMPHREY, EXPECTANT MOTHER TESTED TODAY FOR ZIKA VIRUS: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I just wanted to go straight to -- I know you are about to be a months. And you went today. Are you nervous at all or no?

TOWLE HUMPHREY: Today, I got tested and it definitely has been nerve- racking. I'm glad to have gotten the testing done and anxiously awaiting my results.

BALDWIN: So how -- to what extreme are you going to avoid -- I know you are a runner. I understand you have been bitten by mosquitoes down in Miami. But to what extreme are you going around your home to keep them at bay?

TOWLE HUMPHREY: We've been really cautious, very careful. We have a bunch of mosquito zappers inside our house, as well as outside of our house. We just got a mosquito magnet contraption for outside of our house and we are very diligent about we put on natural mosquito repellant before we go outside and we try to avoid times when the mosquitoes are most prevalent during sunset. So we've been very, very careful and cautious most definitely.

[14:50:20] BALDWIN: What about the chemicals they're spraying to fight it off, to fend it off? Does that worry you at all?

TOWLE HUMPHREY: It's disconcerting. I mean I put trust that our city is doing what's safest, especially for animals, children, and everyone. The nice thing is they're doing it very early in the morning when most people are still inside. But I was careful. I wanted to make sure when the spraying was going to occur and be sure that my 4-year-old son and my husband and I were inside and not outside during the spraying.

BALDWIN: By the way, when we talk about this area of Miami, Wynwood, it's an area where a lot of people go. It is a pretty hip little spot, right? I mean it's not like it is some far-flung part of Miami where no one really has to worry.

TOWLE HUMPHREY: Oh, yes. No. Wynwood is an incredible place, amazing restaurants, art galleries. It is a place where people come from all over to visit. And people are inside, but mostly outside. And it is a place that my family and I love to visit. And, unfortunately, during this Zika outbreak, it's been scary and we have avoided the area. We do live very close to it. But Miami being in the tropics, the best place to be is outside. Unfortunately, where also the mosquitoes are.

BALDWIN: Well, I wish you the best with baby number two. We're thinking, of course, -- couple months ago we thought it was just South America but it's here and this is a very real issue for a number of people, including you.

My best to you, Tracy. Thank you so much.

TOWLE HUMPHREY: Thank you. Hopefully everyone can stay safe and work together to fight this problem. But thank you very much.

BALDWIN: You got it. We're right there with you.

Coming up next here on CNN, as we mentioned, the president speaking in a little bit. So is Donald Trump. Live pictures here at a town hall. We'll hear from him in a couple of minutes. Will he be on message again today? More criticism from party leaders, especially in the wake of that radio interview that House Speaker Paul Ryan did this morning.

Also ahead, the man who admitted killing nine people in that Charleston church, Charleston, South Carolina, he was assaulted today behind bars. We'll tell you what happened, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:39] BALDWIN: Just in to CNN, the gunman who admitted to killing nine parishioners at that Charleston church two Junes ago, he has been assaulted by another inmate at the Charleston County Jail. According to the sheriff there, the gunman left his upstairs jail cell to go take a shower downstairs when another inmate ambushed him outside of the stall. The inmate's cell door should have been locked. The sheriff's department is investigating. The gunman is required to shower alone under a guard's supervision. No weapons were used in the attack and the extent of his injuries include bruising on his face and his back. He and his attorney told officials they will not be filing charges against the other inmate.

A gymnast is diagnosed with leukemia at just 12 years of age. How her coach's support and her own determination empowered her to beat the odds and return to the sport she loves. Her remarkable story in today's "Turning Points."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE FOSTER, GYMNAST DIAGNOSED WITH LEUKEMIA: I started gymnastics. And that really clicked with me. I loved it. When I was 12 years old, we had acute myeloid leukemia. I had rounds of chemo. One of the reasons my hospital stays were so long was because of my complications. My first hospital stay I got a gangrene infection.

BARB FOSTER, KATE'S MOTHER: All of a sudden, we went from cancer patient to she was on life support for three days.

KATE FOSTER: The day before my bone marrow transplant they found another infection in my knee joint. That's when any finally said we have to amputate. I knew and my family knew that it was my leg or my life.

And then my coach said something that really changed what I thought. She said, "I've never taught a one-legged gymnast before but I'm willing to try if you are." I started working on my events again and getting my skills back. I wasn't going to let cancer change what I did and what I was going to do. I compete against able-bodied gymnasts.

LYNN FOSTER, KATE'S DAD: They do not change the rules for her, which is fine for her. She doesn't want the rules to be changed. She's the epitome of it doesn't matter what bump in the road you hit, you can still make things work.

KATE FOSTER: I'm just doing what I love. I hope that everyone can look at my story and be like, if she can do it, so can I.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right. We continue on. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

A reminder to all of you. We are watching and waiting to hear from Donald Trump -- live pictures there in Portland, Maine -- as he speaks before another rally. This is just one in a lineup of major political events this afternoon, with Hillary Clinton and President Obama also expected to speak over the course of the next 60 to 90 minutes. We'll take all of it live.

Now when Donald Trump comes to the podium there in Maine, one of the questions is, will he address House Speaker Paul Ryan, as Speaker Ryan did this morning in a radio interview with regard to Mr. Trump. The House speaker brushed off Trump's refusal to endorse him in the Wisconsin primary in just nine days. What's more, Speaker Ryan did not rule out that he may revoke his endorsement of the Republican nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. PAUL RYAN, (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE (voice-over): If I see a situation where our conservative principles are being distorted, I'm going to stand up for those conservative --