McConnell Health Care Bill; On-Camera Press Briefing Today.
CUOMO: So what's the political reality here? You've got the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. Senator Mitch McConnell saying, I'm going to get a vote. I'm going to get this done. And he's got this reputation for being able to pull out things just when it seemed like it wasn't going to happen. Will it happen this time? Let's get "The Bottom Line" with CNN politics reporter and editor-at- large, Chris Cillizza. Mr. Cillizza, you have defined an emoji legend for a daily appraisal of whether or not this is going to happen. Will you, please, approximate the emoji face for today's prospect?</s>CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Sure. How about this one?</s>CUOMO: Hmm. All right.</s>KEILAR: I like it!</s>CUOMO: That seems less --</s>CILLIZZA: Was that good?</s>CUOMO: It seems less than optimistic.</s>CILLIZZA: Yes. I'm glad Brianna liked it. It was really for her. Um, yes. Look, if you were a on the -- I mean listen to Lindsey Graham. If you're an on the fence Republican about this, the CBO report suggesting that 22 million more people would be uninsured under this bill than Obamacare is pretty much everything you need to vote against it. It's a -- a huge political problem. A huge -- a huge human cost here, obviously, in rural states, older states, a state like Maine and state like Alaska, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, two people -- Susan Collins is against, Lisa Murkowski very much on the fence. It would really have a significant impact there. This is caught between their base and a hard place, right? The Republican Party base wants elected, views this as essential, getting rid of Obamacare. Republicans live in fear of -- both parties live in fear of the base, Republicans more so more than ever, and so they want to figure out a way to appease that base. The problem is the cost, both real and political, that come with it. You're right, Chris, Mitch McConnell does have a reputation, unlike some of the House Republican leadership, of being able to pull a rabbit out of a hat. So I'm not going to say it won't happen, but I would say today, right now, it -- I'm skeptical.</s>KEILAR: So, guys, guess who we're going to see today who we haven't seen in a while?</s>CUOMO: Who?</s>KEILAR: Sean Spicer, right?</s>CUOMO: On camera?</s>KEILAR: That's right.</s>CUOMO: Stop.</s>KEILAR: So we just found out that we're going to be seeing the White House press briefing on camera, Chris Cillizza.</s>CILLIZZA: Yes.</s>KEILAR: And also that Sean Spicer is going to have a guest with him, Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Not unusual for him to bring someone in to talk about an issue. But what does this mean to you that now, after days of not seeing this on camera, we're going to see it?</s>CILLIZZA: Right. So we had three straight days, work days at least, of off-camera gaggles as opposed to on-camera briefings. Mark Knoller (ph), who works for CBS News, who keeps track of everything as it relates to the White House and has done for a very long time, eighteen workdays so far in June. There have been 15 briefings, 10 of those have been off-camera, five on-camera. Obviously, we'll have six after today. Look, I just think it's a bad thing. Not because I work for a television station, but because holding power to account means asking questions and having responses that people who are not in that briefing room can view. If you think that -- if you buy the Sean Spicer line, which is, well, the off-camera briefings are more substantive. I would urge you to go listen to one of the off-camera briefings because they are not more substantive than the on-camera briefings.</s>KEILAR: That's right.</s>CILLIZZA: Neither are terribly substantive. But this is an attempt to have the briefing as we know it wither on the vine. I think that is a bad thing for democracy. It's certainly a bad thing for journalism. And I think we have to call it out and say, this is not how this process is supposed to work.</s>CUOMO: Well, one of the things he'll probably be asked about today is that Putin and Trump are battling it out in this think Pew poll.</s>CILLIZZA: Yes.</s>CUOMO: Is a battle of the barrel -- the bottom of the barrel.</s>KEILAR: Race to the bottom.</s>CUOMO: So, Putin's at 27, Trump's at 22. There's all this negative feedback from 37 different countries' worth of polling. It will probably be dismissed by the White House as another poll that's wrong about the president. How do you see it?</s>CILLIZZA: Oh, it won't probably be dismissed, Chris, it will be. But that doesn't mean it's not important. Look, Donald Trump isn't going to spend a lot of time worrying about what France or -- or Canada -- to name two countries included in that 37 -- think about him. What their citizenry thinks about him. But there are real world implications here. When we, as the U.S., try to do something on the world stage, I think the way in which we are viewed, the way in which the president is viewed, the way in which the country is viewed, does matter. It either gives us good will or bad will to try and get things done. If you look in that poll, look deeper. Two things that Donald Trump has done in his first five months, more than seven in ten people in that poll reject. One is pulling out of the international trade deals. The other is pulling out of the Paris Accord. So, you know, it is -- he is redefining what America means to Americans, but also what America means in the world. And the world community, whether you think this matters or not, doesn't think much of it.</s>KEILAR: Yes. So he would say it's maga (ph), not mafa (ph).</s>CUOMO: Yes, that's exactly what he would say.</s>CILLIZZA: Right.</s>KEILAR: Right? That's what he would say. All right, Chris Cillizza, thank you so much for the insight on that. And next we have "The Good Stuff."</s>CUOMO: We need it. It feels like Wednesday.</s>KEILAR: Yes.</s>CUOMO: But it isn't.</s>KEILAR: It isn't.</s>CUOMO: An immutable fact.