Trump Recognizes Protesters in His Own Way
NATALIE PORTMAN, ACTRESS: One year ago, on this stage I was very pregnant, and we talked about the beginning of a revolution. Today, my new daughter is walking. And because of you, the revolution is rolling. I was so excited at 13 when the film was released, and my work and my art would have a human response. I excitedly opened my first fan mail to read a rape fantasy that a man had written me. A countdown on the local radio show to my 18th birthday so I euphemistically would be legal to sleep with. A world in which I could wear whatever I want, say whatever I want and express my desire however I want without fearing for my physical safety or reputation, that would be the world in which female desire and sexuality could have its greatest expression and fulfillment.</s>BALDWIN: Natalie Portman speaking at the women's march in Los Angeles, one of dozens of cities, hundreds of thousands of people back on the streets today on the one-year anniversary of President Trump's inauguration. That was San Francisco. And now we go to San Francisco, and Dan Simon is standing by there. Dan, how's the crowd?</s>DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke. First of all, it is a beautiful sunny day here in San Francisco, and that means that you will have a lot of people flooding downtown San Francisco. We are here in city hall. Things are underway about 30 minutes ago, and this being San Francisco, one of the most liberal towns in America, you do, of course, have a strong anti-Donald Trump undercurrent here. And I would say a majority of the signs have Donald Trump messages. But I do have to say that the organizers here are trying to keep the focus off Trump and trying to get more women elected. I wanted to introduce you to one of the organizers here, Sophia Andary, who helped to lead the march here in San Francisco. And what is the main message that you want to convey to people out here.</s>SOPHIA ANDARY, WOMEN'S MARCH CO-ORGANIZER: Thank you so much for having me. And last year was more about mobilizing and we talked about hearing our voice, and getting out on the streets and doing that, and this year we want more action, so we are doing it based around here our vote. Talking about registering to vote and the importance of it, and actually getting out and voting, voting for women and progressive allies and then for women to run for office. I think it is very important for anything to change we need to be represented in all government, all right. Whether it is local, whether it is for the Senate or the House, we need to be at those tables for things to start changing.</s>SIMON: Understood. Thank you for talking to us.</s>ANDARY: Thank you so much.</s>SIMON: And it is looking like a very large turnout. And you will be marching through downtown all of the way to the embarcadero which is a very famous landmark in San Francisco. We appreciate your time. Brooke, back to you.</s>BALDWIN: Dan, enjoy the beautiful weather in San Francisco. Listen, people, as I mentioned, hundreds of thousands of men and women and children out protesting and speaking up throughout the country, and the president has recognized it in his own way. I will read the tweet and bring in the panel here. The president tweeted early this morning, "Beautiful weather all over our great country. A perfect day for all women to march. Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success, the wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years." Mark Preston, you first. What do you make of how the president put that?</s>MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It could have been worse. He was trying to do a play on words and really trying to point out the accomplishments that he has had and specifically the tax cut which is the accomplishment for President Trump this past year. But taking a poke at those who it appears are several thousands across the country.</s>BALDWIN: Mary Katharine Hamm, what do you think?</s>MARY KATHARINE HAMM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's trolling but it is good-natured trolling, and he does have a strong suit. He does have a product to sell on the economy and it is good one, and even for many women, even though many of them oppose him. So as Trump responses go, give me more of that. That is A-OK.</s>BALDWIN: OK. Let's get to the substance of this impasse. We heard from the White House briefing last hour, essentially, they are saying that they are anxious to get the government back up rocking and rolling again, and they are frustrated. They are pointing the finger at Democrats, and specifically those Senate Democrats who did not quite give them that 60 they need for this to pass. And, Juana Summers, I don't know if you heard Luis Gutierrez here from the Hispanic National Caucus, because of this notion of the wall discussed between Chuck Schumer and the president, which was huge news, he said, I will go to build it myself to get protection for the DREAMers. What he was saying -- and I want you to the respond, too -- that the White House would not take that, and they don't want to deal with this illegal immigration issue.</s>JUANA SUMMERS, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER: What's interesting, and I want to point out, having something done with the so-called DREAMers is popular politically. It is fascinating to watch it breakdown because most people want to do something for these young people.</s>BALDWIN: Most people.</s>SUMMERS: Yes.</s>BALDWIN: Republican and Democrat.</s>SUMMERS: Yes. Most people don't want a shutdown. And most people want to expand the Children Health Care Program. And it is incredibly popular. And yet, we saw two sides who could not get it together and, yet, most people would say they agree on these thing, and that is bewildering.</s>BALDWIN: Beyond the bewilderment, but the fact that Chuck Schumer put on the table, and he would infuriate members of the base for saying that we will help you the build this wall, and why not a deal? The president himself said that when there was a shutdown in 2013 about President Obama, he is the guy who should get into the room and make the deal, and where is the deal, Mr. President?</s>PARIS DENNARD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it is an unfortunate time for the American people, because at the end of the day, the American people are losing. The president is a great negotiator and dealmaker, and when you have a party who is willing to make a deal with him, and what we have seen is that the 47 Democrats are unwilling to make a deal to not include the DACA piece right now.</s>BALDWIN: But wasn't the fact that that the leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate, the fact that he came down the White House yesterday to negotiate, and isn't that the epitome of the willingness to deal?</s>DENNARD: It is a willingness of Chuck Schumer. And the president and Chuck Schumer is willing to, but that is not how it works. He has to go back to the people who make up the caucus and this is what we need to do, and they are not willing to do it. If that is the case, they would have voted, and the government would be open.</s>MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: But, Paris, that also means, if I may jump in, that President Trump has to go back to Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and House Speaker Ryan that this is the deal, and when Chuck Schumer went down there and we have been told through our sources that the congressional Republicans were frightened, you know, to use the word, because they didn't know if he would cut a deal, so it does cut both ways on this.</s>MARY KATHARINE HAMM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And if that is indeed a good-faith proposal and you mentioned it earlier, isn't this is a beginning point. Great, sure. You vote for the thing that you agree w and give it three weeks and figure the deal.</s>HAMM: It seems that we are in a decent place if both sides have good faith intentions --</s>NADEAM ELSHAMI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Let me set the record straight here. The C.R. that was passed by the House and Senate to the Senate rejected the Democrats were not at the table negotiating that. That is one. Number two, if President Trump was talking to Chuck Schumer, Chuck Schumer went back to the Senate and talking to Mitch McConnell and Mitch McConnell got a call from Speaker Ryan and said, hold on, don't talk on anymore and no more negotiations and move forward with the bill that you know is not going to pass, and we are done. So this is a party that has problems negotiating with the Democrats and themselves and President Trump and within their own conferences as well.</s>HAMM: It is the Democrats who walked away for the table.</s>HAMM: And ultimately, last night, it is the Democrats who walked away from the table --</s>HAMM: -- because there was a deal to be made and there was a negotiation ongoing, but they shut it down.</s>ELSHAMI: And three times, three times the president walked away from the agreement. First one was with Durbin and Senator Graham. The second time was with when Pelosi and Schumer went down there and the third time, it was with Chuck Schumer. And then the fourth time just to cap it all off is when Speaker Ryan called Leader McConnell and said no more.</s>BALDWIN: Which is why you had Leader Schumer today saying that n negotiating with the president is like negotiating with Jell-O, and how do you respond to that some.</s>HAMM: That is not making sense.</s>BALDWIN: He doesn't move? Jiggles a little bit?</s>HAMM: Well, the idiom does not make sense, nail the Jell-O to the wall.</s>DENNARD: And you are at a place where you can have a deal and get something done on DACA and put a fork or a pause on it, and say, listen, keep the government open, and real Americans, and the lives are being impacted and not just the billion workers who are working at HUD or the White House, but talking about the military, and talking about --</s>DENNARD: -- the CHIP program, and so, let's keep it going, and talk about 2013, and President Obama actually said, I am not going to negotiate on the debt ceiling and health care when we need to keep the government open. So even he --</s>BALDWIN: You are looking at President Obama has a guiding grace, Paris Dennard?</s>DENNARD: Well, I am saying if the Democrats are willing to look back at that and if the president back then was unwilling to tackle on all of the extra things to keep the government going, why can't we do it today.</s>ELSHAMI: President Obama did not create the debt limit problem.</s>DENNARD: But he created the DACA problem.</s>BALDWIN: Jinx.</s>ELSHAMI: President Trump got rid of President Obama's executive order.</s>HAMM: Because he did not do it legislatively --</s>HAMM: -- and so he opted not to, and he did it in an extrajudicial way.</s>HAMM: -- and he didn't work, and put these people in a bad position, and it is a sad thing.</s>ELSHAMI: The last thing they want to do is to vote on the immigration bill. And you are hearing in the messages right now, and all of the sudden, talking about the Democrats shut down the government because of illegals. What happened to the DREAMers? All of a sudden --</s>HAMM: Well, we just heard a Republican Senator just say that.</s>ELSHAMI: Look it on Twitter, every single message from President Trump on down, and the Democrats shutdown the government because of the illegals and what happened to the DREAMers.</s>PRESTON: And so, the Democrats and the Republicans both shutdown the government, OK. The blame doesn't just fall in one party. And I mean, we could talk for hours here how the government was set up as Senator Kennedy said by geniuses, OK, and now, run by idiots, right. Well, the geniuses are the ones who set up the 60-vote threshold in the United States Senate. So the bottom line is that Chuck Schumer, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and every Democrat and Republican needs to come together. And to your point, Paris, I agree with you, it is ridiculous that the government is shutdown right now, and it is absolutely ridiculous, and ridiculous point that there is no deal on DACA.</s>BALDWIN: OK, have to hit pause. Hold on.</s>HAMM: The priority for the American people is 56 percent to keep it open, even though DACA isn't --</s>BALDWIN: And we will keep talking about shutdown and nailing Jell-O to the wall, although Mary Katharine is correct, it's impossible.