California Hospital Beds Fill To Capacity
ALLEN: Take a look at this. This was the 4th of July celebration in Texas for America's Independence Day there in Houston. Drone video here shows the fireworks sparkling and shimmering over Houston on Saturday night. That city, of course, having a tremendous spike in coronavirus cases. They probably welcomed that beautiful show. Welcome back to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen and this is CNN NEWSROOM. The United States observed its 244th birthday Saturday. The coronavirus pandemic forcing much of the country to cancel or curtail the usual public celebrations. But Washington, D.C., went ahead with its traditional concert and fireworks show hosted by the president and first lady. Beautiful, beautiful sight there, a little slice of normalcy as well in a year that has been anything but normal. CNN's Alex Marquardt was at the National Mall in Washington. Here's his report.</s>ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The smoke is still settling here after what was a spectacular fireworks show here in Washington, D.C., not at all a muted celebration during this time of coronavirus and social unrest. People gathering all along the National Mall to watch a show that was billed as one of the largest ever, 35 minutes. It included some 10,000 fireworks shot off from two main locations. The first at the Washington Monument, the second a mile long stretch between what is essentially Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. People out here did have plenty of room to social distance. There were far fewer people out here than normal. The crowds were, indeed, much thinner. The National Park Service, which helped coordinate the celebration, they were bracing for large crowds. They had asked people to spread out across what is federal land here. They had prepared some 300,000 masks to hand out. Now it's important to note that this was a celebration that was called for by the Trump administration, by the White House. The mayor of Washington, D.C., had canceled the city's celebrations, asking people to stay at home, to celebrate in or around their homes. But of course, this celebration went forward. People came from far and wide, from as close as Virginia. I also met families from Florida, from Georgia, from Chicago and elsewhere, as well as families from overseas, from Brazil, from Argentina, from South Africa, all of whom wanted to come see America celebrate its birthday -- Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.</s>ALLEN: This 4th of July will not just be remembered for coronavirus and fireworks because of divisive rhetoric from President Donald Trump. With me now to discuss the president's stance over the holiday is Leslie Vinjamuri, the head of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House, a think tank based in London. Good morning, Leslie. Thanks for coming on.</s>LESLIE VINJAMURI, HEAD OF U.S. AND AMERICAS PROGRAM, CHATHAM HOUSE: Good morning, Natalie. Well, first up here, the president has used dark and divisive language over this holiday addressing the country. He framed the hundreds of thousands of protesters demonstrating over race issues as, quote, "nefarious left wing mob" that intends to end America. What do you make of his words and his message that we've heard in the past two days?</s>VINJAMURI: So I think we're seeing a president, who is grasping for straws, who is desperate to hold on, who sees a country he is leading respond to a pandemic, a health crisis and economic crisis on a scale that we haven't seen in decades, respond very poorly because of his leadership. And it's showing up in the polls. So President Trump is doubling down on his racist narrative. He is looking to probably a hard core of his base to mobilize them, to energize them. But Natalie, it's not working. If you look at the data that's coming out on, for example, the number of Americans who engaged in the protests surrounding the Black Lives Movement after the brutal killing of George Floyd, people are estimating between 15 and 26 million Americans have participated in these protests. They've been peaceful. The call out from Americans is very clear, for unity, for equality and for reform. So the president is pushing back. And he is targeting a very, very narrow segment of the population. Unfortunately, it's tremendously divisive. And if you sit where I sit in London, in Europe, looking back at America, it's just devastating. It's devastating and, quite frankly, it's shocking to watch.</s>ALLEN: And on that, the "shocking to watch" part, I do want to elaborate a bit, because a former U.S. ambassador to Russia called the president's Mt. Rushmore speech as the most U.N.-American speech ever given by a U.S. president on the 4th of July. The words he is using have raised concern. I want you to listen now how a noted presidential historian said earlier on CNN about what he is hearing from President Trump this weekend. Here he is.</s>DOUG BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Donald Trump is showing us how Joe McCarthy would have acted if he had become president. McCarthy was obviously just a senator from Wisconsin but who raised havoc with his anti-Communist crusade. And here you have a President of the United States on July 4th, in the middle of a ceremony on the National Mall, TV cameras around the world, using the opportunity to divide our nation, to call his opponents "radicals" and "good for nothing anarchists" and the like. This is appalling.</s>ALLEN: And as you said, Leslie, it's shocking as well. Is there any surprise, though, that this president is taking this approach? Or is this his same playbook that appeals to his base?</s>VINJAMURI: It's the same playbook, Natalie. You know, the words that we just heard are exactly right. It's the same playbook but he is taking it really in a darker and more dangerous way. If you go back to the beginning of his presidency, he was speaking out against immigrants, against foreigners. It was very divisive, very problematic. But now he is turning that inwards. And he is dividing Americans against each other by attacking a certain segment of the American population, which, frankly, doesn't exist in the way that he portrays it. So it is devastating. It is a bad move. This is a president who can stand up. He can call for unity. He could ask people to wear those masks. He could double down on testing, on contact tracing and help to pull the country back and drive the economy alongside the public health response in a positive direction as he leads up to November. He is doing exactly the opposite. He is preventing the country from coming back together, from responding as effectively as it could. But he is pushing back against so many extraordinary people at the state level. He is losing some of his Republican governors, who are actually taking a much firmer line on the health crisis, in line with what Dr. Fauci has been calling for, for a very long time. So I think the president is on a losing strategy. But it's creating in these months a very divided platform. He's using a platform to create division. And as we run up to November in the election, it's going to be extraordinarily complicated, just simply at the operational level. Just holding an election, having a president who isn't calling for unity on July 4th of all days in the face of these protests is unconscionable.</s>ALLEN: Right. In 2016, it was "build a wall" and subsequent ban on Muslims. It's now protect our Confederate heritage. As you mentioned about the mood of the American public, recent polls indicate most Americans and more whites than ever believe the country needs to come together over racial issues. Can he win a second term, Leslie, if he ignores that?</s>VINJAMURI: You know, Natalie, so much is going to happen between now and November. You know this more than anybody. We're going to wait and see what happens with the economy, the virus, the development of a possible vaccination. There is a lot of news yet to come. But I -- we've seen those polls. You're right. Americans want to see unity. And I can tell you anecdotally, watching people on my Facebook page, on either side of the electoral aisle, in the Midwest, on the East Coast, across the country, people want unity. They're not -- they're not buying into this line of division. So I think it is a losing strategy. But time will tell. And it's going to be a very, very difficult few months and a difficult election.</s>ALLEN: And as you say every week, there is something different. So it's hard to predict right now. Leslie Vinjamuri, we always appreciate your time and insight. Thank you.</s>VINJAMURI: Thank you.</s>ALLEN: From coast to coast the coronavirus has America in its grip. Florida has seen yet another record, the highest number of new cases in a single day of any state since this pandemic began. In New York, people mostly heeded the warnings to socially distance. On the West Coast California is having a hard time of it as well, with hospital beds filling up to record capacity. CNN's Polo Sandoval has more on the Independence Day festivities in New York. First, Paul Vercammen is in California with a look at how the virus has changed one big holiday tradition.</s>PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Part of the strategy to stop the spread of coronavirus: shut down beaches in southern California. This is Huntington Beach. Normally on a 4th of July weekend, people would be laying down their towels and they would be right next to each other, enjoying a day at the beach and later on a huge fireworks display. The fireworks, canceled. They have a big 4th of July parade here, canceled. They had a smaller sort of community parade where they weaved through and by people's homes. The idea, again, is to have all these counties in lockstep with each other and not having the beaches open. Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange Counties shut down their beaches. San Diego did not. But as a police spokeswoman said here in Huntington Beach, important that four of those five did shut down.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not the only one that's open, we're not the only one that's closed. So the message is there. We're closing down. Let's do it for just a few days, let's try and flatten this curve again and make sure we can stay safe.</s>VERCAMMEN: So good vibrations up and down the California coast.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Big time. Let's keep it chill.</s>VERCAMMEN: So almost an eerie sight, as this beach is shut down and some people in Southern California getting creative. I came upon a group of three sunbathers in Manhattan Beach. And what they did was, they laid their towels down on a cement walkway. They said they just needed to get in their rays. California, at times, is a source for unique innovation -- reporting from Huntington Beach, I'm Paul Vercammen. Back to you.</s>POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Families were certainly present on the beach and on the iconic Coney Island boardwalk, though certainly not in the numbers we are used to seeing, especially for the 4th of July. From the families we did see, many taking precautions and keeping their groups about 6 feet apart. Also wearing those masks. Those people did not have facial coverings, there were volunteers and workers who were handing out those masks, which is really the main recommendation right now. But nationally, when you look at other parts of the country, certainly you see that sharp increase that has been seen not just in Arizona but California, Texas.</s>SANDOVAL: And, of course, Florida continues to see high numbers. In fact, on Saturday, the number of daily COVID cases hitting what is really a record number, at least 11,400 cases there, when you compared to the numbers than New York saw, for example, when it was seeing the largest numbers back in April. It is almost in line. So it is certainly concerning for authorities in the Sunshine State. So much so that some of the beaches were closed over the 4th of July weekend. But here in the New York tri-state area, there is also one disturbing trend that authorities in the neighboring state of New Jersey have noticed, specifically in the city of Hoboken, New Jersey, where they saw a significant increase in the number of COVID cases. Many of those are young individuals who had traveled back from states in the Southeast and also out west, those areas of concern. That is one of the reasons why authorities in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey are requiring anyone who is traveling from some of those affected regions to quarantine for at least two weeks, even if their COVID tests come back negative -- Polo Sandoval, CNN, Brooklyn, New York.</s>ALLEN: The virus is spreading at an alarming rate in the Middle East. Next, how Iraq is grappling with a spike in new infections and bracing for more.