Trump White House Begins to Take Shape; Political Divisions in America
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: Tonight, China's President Xi Jinping and Donald Trump speak on the phone with fears that a Trump presidency could spark a trade war. China's Ambassador to Washington tells me Beijing won't start one.</s>CUI TIANKAI, CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: We never want to have any war, trade war or other wars with other countries. And besides, both China and United States are members of the WTO. So we should all play by the WTO rules.</s>AMANPOUR: Also, ahead the U.S. president-elect says he is the champion of America's forgotten man and woman. Who are they and what are they hoping for? Prominent lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson joins the program. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the program. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. The Trump White House is taking shape and it is off to a divided start quite literally. As chief-of-staff, the most powerful White House job, Trump picks the establishment candidate Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, but he's appointed a far right media boss as chief strategist. Steve Bannon, who also helped run Trump's campaign has build a career of spreading the views and conspiracies shunned by mainstream society. A member of the so-called Alt Right, head of "Breitbart News." The question is how will the two come together to keep the main promise that Trump has made, especially then in his victory speech.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.</s>AMANPOUR: So who are they, the forgotten men and women? According to the demographics and the exit polls, 58 percent of white Americans voted for Donald Trump. Among non-whites, 74 percent voted for Hillary Clinton. She also won among the poorest Americans. The truth is that the pendulum of the forgotten has swung between white and black communities, although throughout American history, African-Americans of course have been the most oppressed. Over the weekend, one of the most important chronicles of black American culture, the comedian Dave Chappelle issued this challenge to the new administration as he described a White House party for the African-American community that he recently attended.</s>DAVE CHAPPELLE, COMEDIAN: I saw how happy everybody was. These people who have been historically disenfranchised and it made me feel hopeful and it made me feel proud to be an American, and it made me very happy about the prospects of our country. So in that spirit, I'm wishing Donald Trump luck, and I'm going to give him a chance, and we, the historically disenfranchised demand that he give us one, too.</s>AMANPOUR: So throwing down the gauntlet there, joining me now from Montgomery, Alabama, is the renown U.S. civil rights lawyer, Bryan Stevenson.</s>AMANPOUR: Bryan, welcome back to this program at this incredible time.</s>BRYAN STEVENSON, U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYER: Yes, thank you. It's good to be with you.</s>AMANPOUR: Can I just ask you, do you accept the challenge and the opportunity that Dave Chappelle just put out there?</s>STEVENSON: Well, I don't think there is any way that you can lead this country without being mindful that this is a very diverse society. You can't be the president for some subculture, for some cohort, for some group. President Obama struggled really hard to make it clear to people that he wasn't just an African-American president. Many criticized him for trying too hard to elevate and make the interest of other communities a priority. I think this president, President Trump, can't lead effectively if he pretends the country doesn't have a vibrant, strong, diverse and dynamic community. And I think what the comedian is saying is that if you continue to talk in the somewhat bigoted, xenophobic way, if you talk as if minorities, people of color, disenfranchised communities don't matter, then the problems of this nation that we've seen are just going to get worst. And I think we all want to see something better than what we saw during the campaign.</s>AMANPOUR: OK.</s>STEVENSON: The opportunity now is really in front of President Trump.</s>AMANPOUR: With that in mind, I would like to play for you a sound bite, a bit of an interview that Donald Trump gave to "60 Minutes" last night, when he was asked about this sort of spike in hate crimes that's going on since the election. Muslim women being attacked; their veils being ripped off. Hispanic children at school being taunted with "Build the Wall," "Build the Wall." Let me just play this and get your reaction afterwards.</s>TRUMP: I would say don't do it. That's terrible. Because I'm going to bring this country together.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're harassing Latinos, Muslims.</s>TRUMP: I am so saddened to hear that. And I say stop it. If it helps, I will say this. And I'll say it right to the cameras. Stop it.</s>AMANPOUR: What do you make of that, Bryan?</s>STEVENSON: Well, I think it's encouraging that Mr. Trump recognizes that this kind of hatred, this kind of animosity will destroy this country, but it's regrettable that people are responding in this way based on what he has said over the last year. You can't mock people of color. You can't characterize Mexicans as rapists. You can't talk about banning Muslims and demonizing whole communities and religious groups for a year and not expect that people aren't going to react to that when they feel empowered. So he's going to have to do more than say stop it. He's going to actually have to articulate a vision that gets to the heart of this problem.</s>AMANPOUR: It brings out the elephant in the room and that is the hiring of Steve Bannon, which has caused real shockwaves certainly around America and here in Europe. A very far right media boss, who has entertained all sorts of conspiracy theories, anti-Semitism on his Web site. Evan McMullen says saying stop to racist means little, when you name white supremacist darling Steve Bannon chief strategist in the very same day. I mean there is a conundrum, right? I mean, this has to be addressed?</s>STEVENSON: I don't think there is any question. I mean, I really think the moral integrity of this nation is now at risk. We have great wealth in America. We have great power. And I really do believe in that biblical injunction that says, "To whom much is given, much is required." And for us to be a leader, we've had to use our status responsibly, thoughtfully, carefully; otherwise, we become abusive, we become destructive. And I think the appointment of someone who gives voice to so much hate, who has championed the politics of fear and anger has got to be seen as a real threat to global security, to the kind of moral influence that this nation claims to want to have, and a world that's increasingly violent and at risk. And so we've got to do better than to be silent about these kinds of appointments. And I do think it's a very serious moment. Not just in American history, but in world history. If we're going to give space to the politics of fear and anger, to the voices of hate, and distrust, we are all going to be at risk.</s>AMANPOUR: In America, the forgotten have gone from white working-class under FDR who tried to address them with the new deal, and then all the way to Lyndon Johnson, who realized the black community was being left out and tried to address some fairness for them. And then it sort of swung back and forth. Is that what is happening in the United States?</s>STEVENSON: Yes, I don't think there is -- that's a credible analysis. I mean, the truth is that the electorate in this nation has always been dominated by a white majority, and no politician could get power at the presidential level without trying to respond to the anxieties, the challenges, the perspectives of the white middle class. I think, you know, the war on poverty had the optics of dealing with world poverty in the black belt and in poor black communities, but they have always been more white people on welfare in this nation than black people. It was design to help all Americans living in that space. Forgotten in this context, it's not economic in my view. It is not even political. It's social, because we've had to talk about the challenges of undocumented people and immigrants. We've had to talk about the continuing narrative of racial difference that puts people of color at risk, and talking about this has become more of a priority. People have reacted against that. And that's about a narrative. It's not actually about politics or economics or status. It's about who we are trying to address in the challenges that we face. And so I don't actually accept this idea that the people who empowered Donald Trump are forgotten. What I think Mr. Trump did was revive the politics of fear and anger. And whether you're in the United States or whether you're in Britain, wherever you are in the world, if you allow yourself to be motivated, shaped, governed by fear and anger, you will tolerate abuse. You will tolerate inequality. You will tolerate injustice. And the disfavored will always be at greater risk.</s>AMANPOUR: Given the fact that the current vote count has Hillary Clinton more than 600,000 votes ahead and it's not over yet. What is the way forward?</s>STEVENSON: Well, I do think that people who have a different vision are going to have to become more politically engaged, more politically active. We've had this bad habit in America where people like to protest, they like to make a lot of noise and then they'd like to go home and wait for someone else to do something. I think we didn't do a very good job of engaging communities that were going to be at risk, who had been targeted. And I think they've got to get politically active in a democracy. If you protest and then don't work at trying to change things in your local community, at your state community, at the national community, you do not succeed. With protests, there has to come activism. And I don't think we've been as active. I don't think we've been as committed. You know, many people have grown up with an African-American in the White House. They've made assumptions about the character of this nation. And I think those assumptions have been proved false. We've got a lot of work to do in American, become the kind of society that we claim to be. We have historic poverty, historic disenfranchisement. That tension between communities of color and the majority, I think worse than they've been in a long time. We've got this mass incarceration problem. One in three black male babies is expected to go to jail or prison. These kinds of conditions mean that we've all got to be more active, more tactical, more strategic and more vocal about uplifting the issues that are priorities.</s>AMANPOUR: Bryan Stevenson, thank you very much for joining us today.</s>STEVENSON: Happy to be with you.</s>AMANPOUR: Thanks, Bryan. We'll keep checking in with you.</s>AMANPOUR: And this ugly election cycle has left many American distressed. Donald Trump has pledge to unify the country. But his own hometown New York City, which voted overwhelmingly against him, one subway station there is now serving as a therapy outlet. Straphangers are expressing themselves with post-it notes, leaving colorful messages of kindness and strength. Coming up, a new world order. Trump has promised aggressive action against China. My exclusive interview with a worried Chinese ambassador to the United States. That is next.