President-Elect Trump's "Thank You" Tour; Trump Picks Gen. Mattis for Defense Secretary; Trump: "We're Going to Have a Safe Country"; Clinton and Trump Camps Clash
DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: You know what's a great way to celebrate being elected President of the United States? Road trip. This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon. Donald Trump kicks off what he is calling his "Thank You Tour" in Cincinnati.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF UNITED STATES: We spend too much time focusing on what divides us. Now is the time to embrace the one thing that truly unites us. You know what that is? America. America. It's America.</s>LEMON: Meanwhile, questions swirling about the incoming first family, particularly Ivanka Trump. Is she a good role model for girls and young women? We'll discuss all of that this evening. But I want to bring in Jim Acosta in Cincinnati. Jim?</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Don, true to form, Donald Trump did not pull any punches at this rally here in Cincinnati. And the equivalent of an election touch down dance, Trump railed against the news media and vowed to repeal and replace Obamacare and build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. But the big news of the night came when he announced his pick for defense secretary, retired Marine General James Mattis. Here's how Trump put it to the crowd here in Cincinnati.</s>TRUMP: We have a great, great cabinet. I'll tell you. It's coming and wait till you see what we have next week. Are we doing a good job with our cabinet and our people? And I don't want to tell you, I don't want to tell you this because I want to save the suspense for next week. So I will not tell you. I refuse to tell you. Don't let it outside of this room. Do you promise? Raise your hand? Promise. So I will not tell you that one of our great, great generals, don't let it outside, right? And, of course, the press is very honest. So I'll never let this go. We are going to appoint "mad dog" Mattis as our secretary of defense. They say he's the closest thing to General George Patton that we have, and it's about time. It's about time.</s>ACOSTA: Trump made that announcement despite the fact that earlier in the evening his own transition spokesman Jason Miller took to Twitter to deny that any decision had been made on secretary of defense. Trump has more stops on this so-called "Thank You Tour" planned for next week. Don?</s>LEMON: All right. Jim Acosta, thank you. Here to discuss all of this, CNN Politics Executive Editor Mark Preston, CNN Political Analyst Kirsten Powers and Political Commentator David Swerdlick. That was kind of like a "Oops", right, for that announcement. But first, before we get to that, Mark, we have never seen a president-elect hold a thank you rally before. What's your reaction to the speech?</s>MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Look, I don't think it was necessarily a thank you rally as it was a "Guess what, I won the rally."</s>LEMON: He did say, "Thank you, America," right?</s>PRESTON: Yes. Well, he did say thank you, America, but he went out and he definitely rubbed the nose in the dirt a little bit. But he did win. You know, and this has been the way he has run his campaign and certainly has been running his transition. And that's fine. I think that it's okay that he did it. Give him props for winning. I wouldn't suggest going forward that he would continue to carry this tone going forward. I think he did try tonight to be conciliatory but probably not the best strategic thing to do.</s>LEMON: Kirsten.</s>KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I'm in the same place. I think that -- I mean this was sort of flashback to the election. Clearly there has bee no pivot yet. And so we're sill seeing the same Donald Trump sort of doing his entertainments and getting his energy off of the crowds and taking things with the media, which, you know, I said in the last hour I think we deserve. And I don't know if you agree with that, Don. But I think the media did, you know -- at a bare minimum, he had to listen to us say that he was not going to win that he was never going to break through the blue wall and industrial Midwest and things like that. And he did ultimately win. And so if he wants to attack the media a little bit, we can handle it.</s>LEMON: What do you think, David?</s>DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think Mark's right that there was a slight aspect of, you know, how do you like me now, I won, type element to this. But on the other hand, I think there's a lesson to be learned. Maybe a little lesson to be learned from democrats and that's that you have to maintain eye contact with and keep the faith with the voters that brought you into office. I think democrats lost a little sight of that over the last number of cycles and that hurt them.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>POWERS: Yes.</s>LEMON: I want to get all of your reactions to general James Mattis, his choice for secretary of defense. And again, he surprised everyone at this rally making that announcement when one of hl spokespeople said like two hours before, was it Jason Miller?</s>PRESTON: Yes. That is, you know, the de facto decision had been made. And clearly a decision had been made. And, you know, but Trump put his spokesman in a very bad spot. But Trump should be lauded for this pick. Mattis is a soldier's general, somebody who is known as mad dog, you know, clearly for his military acumen and his desire to win, but also very learned, very smart, somebody who talks about the need to read and understand history and is a really a big proponent of that. He has spent the last three years out at Stanford at the Hoover Institution. I just think it's a smart pick for ...</s>LEMON: No.</s>PRESTON: Having said that, he needs to get through a senate confirmation and get a waiver, but because he hasn't been out of the military for seven years.</s>LEMON: I think it's interesting that, you know, everyone is going, "Why this guy?" You know, no ones -- I mean everyone -- people are not saying. The media is not saying that. People are not, you know, questioning why he picked this person.</s>POWERS: Right. Well, I think he's very respected. That's true. I mean he's considered sort of a warrior scholar. But there is an issue of putting somebody who's in the military in charge of the defense department, you know, that you don't have any civilian leadership over the military. And so that should be I think maybe getting a little more attention and then you have general Flynn running the, you know, retired General Flynn, running the national security apparatus in the white house. And so that to me is a little concerning and we need to look at it a little more.</s>LEMON: What do you think, David?</s>SWERDLICK: Like everybody is saying. He's a respected general. He's had one or two minor controversies about some of the language he's used to describe warfare. But I think the issue with General Mattis as with General Flynn, as with whoever becomes the secretary of state is ultimately less about the resume of these individuals and about whether or not down the road when some hard decisions have to be made, whether or not they're going to still be on the same page with President Trump when it comes to things like whether we're going to stick with the Iran deal or how we're going to approach Russia. Policy is going to wind up being an issue and how everyone reacts to world events in realtime as we get into the Trump administration.</s>PRESTON: You know, Don, to that point, Mattis is body who is not on the same page or in past his remarks have not been on the same page regarding Russia as we've seen from Trump himself. So it will be interesting to see what he's going to say. But Mattis also is not on the same page when it cops to the issue of torture. You know, when he sat down with Trump and Trump said, "What do you think of water boarding?" And Mattis said, "Give me a pack of beers and a pack of cigarettes so that I can get a lot more done."</s>POWERS: Yes.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>PRESTON: I mean, that's a guy's kind of guy, a woman's kind of guy, like a military kind of guy. So you know, but here's to Kirsten's point there could potentially be up to five flag officers and Mike Pompeo who has never won at West Point serving in the Trump cabinet. That's a lot of the military folks.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>POWERS: Yes. I mean to me that's the thing that we just need to be looking at more and sort of asking Trump what is this attraction you have to all of these retired military people in your administration, because it's highly unusual. And also in particular with I think the department of defense which is supposed to be under, you know, civilian control. I mean he's -- Mattis is going to have get a waiver in order to get this job because you have to be I think ten years out. Isn't it?</s>PRESTON: Seven.</s>POWERS: Oh, seven years. OK. Seven years out from serving. And so, you know, there's a reason that we do things this way.</s>LEMON: What's your concern now at military states? So what's your concern?</s>POWERS: Well, the concern is that you have too much of, you know, a military perspective and not people who are looking at it from a nonmilitary perspective. I mean clearly the president will be, but I think that you want to have people who have a different way of looking at things.</s>LEMON: Let's talk about unity, because Donald Trump spoke about the importance of it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP</s>TRUMP: I've spoken to democrats and I said to them, look, we can't go on with the gridlock. It's gone on for so many years. It's gone on for so many years. They can't get together. We're going to get together. And I believe they want to get together. You know why? Because it's time and the people are angry. And they're going to get together. We're going to make joint decisions. We are and the nice part our victory was so great. We have the house. We have the senate. And we have the presidency.</s>LEMON: David, this really was the first time that Donald Trump spoke as president-elect, not only to his supporters but also to more than the 2.3 million people who voted for Hillary Clinton. Did he win over anyone who didn't support him?</s>SWERDLICK: I'm not sure that he did, Don. There was nothing wrong with what he said there in that clip that you played. But I think that given how divisive the campaign was over the course of a year and a half, the us versus them tone of the Trump campaign day after day, there is an opportunity here that I think he could take and probably should take in the transition to give a speech not exactly like but similar to the more perfect union speech that a president or then Senator Obama gave in 2008 that really outlined his views on race in America. Trump doesn't necessarily have to give a strictly race speech but a speech that really speaks to people in the country who worry about his presidency who didn't support him and want to know. If he's going to appoint people to the Supreme Court who might potentially vote to roll back same-sex marriage, what would he do that? People of color, Muslims, other folks want to understand why his campaign was run in the w it was run and he has an opportunity during the transition or shortly after he's elected to do that. But eventually he's going to wind up. If he doesn't do something like that, he's going to wind up in a situation where folks may have a closed mind to what he's proposing.</s>LEMON: And Kirsten, then there's your reaction to Trump supporters is to say, oh, you know, whining, you know, the liberals are clutching their pearls and they're upset because of Hillary Clinton. That's not exactly the full story, though, considering what happened. Or is ...</s>POWERS: No. Look, I think there's a lot of us who are trying to understand the Trump voter. But there's not a lot of people on the Trump side that seemed to be understanding why other people might have different feelings ...</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>POWERS: ... and have really legitimate grievances with him. And so it would be nice if they would you know -- I mean I have to say, I don't think they're the most gracious winners, frankly, you know. And that they could stand to maybe at some point maybe it doesn't have to be at this minute but really look at them and consider that there are legitimate grievances. These are not people who are whining. There are real problems about things that were said, there are real concerns about Steve Bannon, for example, that need to be addressed. And you know, if he is interested in unifying then he needs to do that. If he's not interested in unifying and he just wants to shore up his base which he may decide that's what he wants to do and he just wants to keep his, you know, people fired up. But if he's going to say he wants to unify, then he's going to have take a different tack.</s>PRESTON: I don't think it's that hard. I really don't. I mean I think that at some point to David, what David is saying, I think going out and giving a speech and talking about unifying and leaving out all these other little extra things that kind of cloud what the message that he may have been trying to deliver tonight. If he does try to stay with his base, that's going to be a losing strategy. I mean it will be a losing strategy. At some point, he's going to sacrifice some of his base in order to get things done in Washington. And quite frankly, he's going to need democrats. He doesn't have allies (ph). Republicans aren't necessarily the allies of Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. But look, when he says he wants to get things done, I mean I take him at his word. I think we all should take him at his word. And he wants to get some things done. But the fact that matter is we are government's setup is that some of the things he wants to get done, democrats will try and stop and quite frankly they'll be successful in doing so.</s>LEMON: Here's what Donald Trump said earlier on Fox tonight.</s>TRUMP: Made some great selections and actually more than a few, but it's been really a well-oiled machine. We're doing well. We're getting fantastic people and actually getting very good reviews. People are respecting the process and what we've done.</s>SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Since you've been elected, some people have had a hard time dealing with it and poor kids on college campuses have their professors giving them cocoa and aromatherapy and pep therapy and coloring books and Play-Doh. They're apparently upset they couldn't deal with it. Anything you'd like to say to them that reassure there're sensitive feelings that it will be okay?</s>TRUMP: I think they're going to be very happy. I think we're going to have a very safe, country, a very prosperous country. We're going to do things that are going to create jobs for their parents in many cases where their parents are going to be able to do a lot better, although most of their parents voted for me. So I think they don't have the problem. But we're going to have a very prosperous and safe country.</s>LEMON: So the question that was the wrong -- that is exactly what should not be done. But his response was actually very good.</s>PRESTON: His response is very good. That is a leading question.</s>LEMON: It was a stupid thing to say.</s>PRESTON: It was a stupid thing to say. And yes, we did see some of that afterwards, which by the way ...</s>LEMON: Right.</s>PRESTON: ... was stupid afterwards, you know, following the election where some kids we're saying I can't take my exams. But that's what's wrong with the division in America right now. Where those are statements, they're not questions by journalist. And quite frankly, if we're going to come together as a nation then everyone is going to have to give a little bit.</s>LEMON: And that's to your point to what you said that there are some very real, you know, feelings and as you said, you're going to win. You always say be a gracious winner, right?</s>POWERS: Right. Yes. Right. Which like I said, I don't think we're necessarily seeing a lot of that. I will give a little.</s>LEMON: His response was very gracious I do think.</s>POWERS: He was very gracious there and he could have really gone to tell that (ph). And particularly because what Sean Hannity was sort of talking about was political correctness ...</s>LEMON: Right.</s>POWERS: ... which is Donald Trump's favorite thing to talk about. So he wanted to. He could have really piled on there.</s>LEMON: Yes. David, do you want to weigh in on this?</s>SWERDLICK: Just simply to say that, look, there's a kernel of truth to the point Hannity was making about democrats or non-Trump voters needing to sort of get their heads around the idea that Trump came out on top. But to Kirsten's early earlier point, you know, being dismissive, the way Hannity was being dismissive of folks that are genuinely concerned, genuinely have anxiety about the Trump administration, it's not helpful. And, you know, it's not just to me bad loserism or bad winnerism. There's something about it that is hypocritical. There was a ton of complaining on the part of conservatives and republicans in the early years or really throughout the Obama administration. So, you know, a little self-reflection I think is worth it on both sides.</s>LEMON: David, I want to talk about what happened at Harvard University panel where ...</s>SWERDLICK: Sure.</s>LEMON: ... top Trump and Hillary Clinton advisors met. And one heated exchange, Clinton Advisor Jennifer Palmieri accused Trump of pedaling racism by providing a platform for white supremacists by hiring Steve Bannon. What's your reaction?</s>SWERDLICK: So, you know, we've talked a lot about Steve Bannon. I'm still in this position where I might -- look, I think it is very fair to say that Breitbart, his website traffics in anti-Semitic stereotypies, traffics in stereotypes about people of color, Bannon has been a divisive figure, you know, whether Bannon himself holds these views, I think it's still sort of up for debate. And I'm trying to reach into it as much as I can. To Jennifer Palmieri's point, look, they have a point that the Trump campaign was very divisive and I think some of the responses that were reported out by Kellyanne Conway, for instance in that same Harvard forum, that democrats didn't do a great job of messaging also as a point. And, you know, you could go back and forth on this endlessly. Democrats need a shake-up bill. Whatever they're saying now, they need to move forward and think about 2018 and 2020.</s>LEMON: Time to move on.</s>POWERS: Yeah.</s>LEMON: You think, right?</s>SWERDLICK: Well beyond.</s>LEMON: Yes. Do you think the Clinton campaign is still in denial?</s>POWERS: Yes, they're definitely in denial. And I think if you read about what happened there, they're totally in denial. Because that's a piece of it, what Jennifer Palmieri is talking about, that there's a much bigger problems. And as much as I think democrats would like to make themselves feel better and say the only reason he won was because of racism. It's just not true. You know, a lot of these voters are people -- not a lot but a certain number of voters were people who voted for Hillary before. You know, these are people, you have union people. So democrats have to look at this and say, "What happened? How did we use to dominating the states? How did this used to be our voters?" And now, you know, we have you Bill Clinton arguing we need to go there and Robby Mook is saying we'll never get to voters again. What happened? We need to understand that. And I think if you just constantly yelling racism, it's not going to get to the bottom of the problem.</s>LEMON: One thing, though. I think that, you know, you're right on that, but it's not just democrats. There's also some republicans, some people who were anti-Trump who feel ...</s>POWERS: Right.</s>LEMON: ... the racism thing as well played a big role.</s>POWERS: Yes.</s>LEMON: And that you said it's not entirely it, but it did ay a role.</s>POWER: Right. It played a role. But I don't think. Here's the question. What if had been Joe Biden? I think Joe Biden very well could have beaten Donald Trump. So there's something about Hillary Clinton's candidacy and something about how they ran the campaign that also plays into this.</s>LEMON: Exactly. Yes. All right. Thank you. Another fascinating conversation. Thank you guys. When we come back, will Ivanka Trump have a role in her father's White House? And is she a role model for girls and young women?