President Obama Invites Trump To The White House
GORANI: Welcome back. Our top story this evening, there has been no shortage of shock over the outcome of the American presidential election and the lead up to the vote, many polls showed Hillary Clinton with an edge. Now her supporters will trying to digest the news and find a way forward. But they admit, it will be a tough road ahead.</s>VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You tell your kids, don't be a bully. You tell your kids, don't be a bigot. You tell your kids, do your homework and be prepared. And then you have this outcome, and you have people putting children to bed tonight, and they're afraid of breakfast. They're afraid of how do I explain this to my children? I have Muslim friends who are texting me tonight saying, should I leave the country? I have families with immigrants that are terrified tonight.</s>GORANI: And that is Van Jones reacting yesterday. He worked in the Obama White House. He's a Democratic strategist, a supporter of Hillary Clinton in this presidential race. Of course, he is disappointed. You also saw Jeffrey Lord there who supported Donald Trump and he is very happy this evening. Someone who is probably extremely disappointed is CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona. She joins us from Washington. All right, first of all, your reaction, Maria, where when you first heard the results and it became obvious that Donald Trump was going to be become the next president. What went through your mind?</s>MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was absolutely crushed. Hala, there is no other way to describe it. This was something that I think a along with the majority of the American people, including frankly a lot of Trump supporters, you know, they thought, we all thought that Hillary Clinton was going to win. And it is -- it's so crushing for so many people who worked for it, who really believed that she was the best candidate, who really believe that she was going to be the best one to lead this country and be the leader of the free world, but you know, this is our democracy, right. This is our country at work and clearly Democrats and all of the analysts missed something. There is a lot of anger out there. There is a lot of resentment against the status quo, against leaders who clearly were not focused on what was going on in a lot of the electorate.</s>GORANI: And that was going to be my next point, Maria. Because really I do wonder when you look at this, are the elites, the academics, the journalists, the pollsters, clearly living in this bubble of privilege, and incapable really of measuring the true level of support for a candidate like Donald Trump. Because it seems as though they really completely, completely missed it and I wonder why is that? It's not just the pollsters. If you travel around the country, all the yard signs for Donald Trump, et cetera, what happened there and how does the country heal itself going forward?</s>CARDONA: So to your first question in terms of how it happened, I believe that what a lot of the Trump supporters were saying ended up being true which was there was this silent, secret Trump voter who didn't make themselves known to pollsters for whatever reason, I think they were made to feel embarrassed about supporting somebody like Donald Trump. And they either lied or they didn't say anything, but then on the day of the election they came out and their voices were heard loud and clear. But Hala, I want to make one thing extremely clear to you and your audience. And I know that this is probably something that is very confusing because I think even to people in this country it's confusing. Hillary Clinton will most likely win the popular vote in this country. She is on track right now, I think she is ahead of Donald Trump by almost 200,000 votes and the states and the precincts and the counties that are still -- that we're still waiting to come in are Democratic leaning because they're on the west coast. So this is going to be another one much these elections, the second one in 16 years where the Republican candidate wins the Electoral College and therefore the presidency --</s>GORANI: But sadly for the Democrats -- sadly for the Democrats, that's the U.S. system, nobody's talking about -- nobody is talking about changing it. I wonder, where is the soul searching going to happen here in the Democratic Party? Because is there the sense that really perhaps this party is not reaching out, is not understanding the real grievances of a big, giant portion of this electorate. We're talking of course white working class voters among others, but also the Hispanic vote went a lot more in favor of Donald Trump than anyone predicted.</s>CARDONA: Actually, actually --</s>GORANI: Where did they go wrong?</s>CARDONA: That is not true. Let me talk about the Hispanic vote for a second because it is not true that they went for Donald Trump in numbers greater than Mitt Romney. I know that's what the exit polls show --</s>GORANI: But more than expected is what I'm saying.</s>CARDONA: No, not more than expected. I was talking to Latino Decisions, which is one of the premier polling firms that actually knows how to poll Latino voters, the exit polls, Hala, are wrong when it comes to Latino voters because the places where they do their exit interviews are not places of high propensity Hispanic voters. So right now with the analysis that Latino Decisions did, the number for Hispanic support for Donald Trump was 18 percent and it was 78 percent for Hillary Clinton. And that is exactly what we had seen in the early vote in the historic numbers that they were coming out in Florida and in Colorado and Nevada. And we are seeing that across the board and all of the places where you have a robust Hispanic population. Those are the numbers that showed up for Hillary Clinton. But what happened was, in the white vote, especially the white male vote, Donald Trump doubled his percentage of what Mitt Romney got. So, while his Hispanics came out in record numbers, we can't do it alone. There'll be a lot of soul searching, that's for sure.</s>GORANI: Well, certainly, no control of the House. No control of the Senate. Of course, the presidency is now e going to be a Republican President Donald Trump. So we're going to have many, many months, I think, to analyze what happened. This very surprising result. Thank you Maria Cardona in Washington. We appreciate it.</s>CARDONA: Thanks so much, Hala. Appreciate it.</s>GORANI: And what about the Middle East? It's always a question. Every U.S. president has to deal with it and the Middle East is in a worse shape now than it has been in living memory. President-elect Donald Trump is going to have a lot to deal with. There are these conflicts in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Libya, with Washington tangled up in every single one of them, at least on some level. And where there isn't fighting in the region, there are massive problems. So, what would a Trump presidency mean for the Mideast? Here's CNN's Nic Robertson.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): No previous president has inherited such chaos in the Middle East. A rampant ISIS, supporting terror worldwide, wars in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan drawing in U.S. forces.</s>DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: Total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.</s>ROBERTSON: And no president has this Muslim region so worried about his intent.</s>TRUMP: There should be a lot of systems. We should have a lot of systems and today you can do it.</s>ROBERTSON: Anti-Muslim rhetoric on the campaign trail risks dependability of allies. With sectarian and other tensions threatening an arc of instability from Tehran to Tunis, President Trump will have his hands full. Adding to the complexity of dealing with tribes and faith, his predecessor, President Obama arrived with fanfare, a great expectations.</s>PRESIDENT OBAMA: I'm also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people and a greeting of peace for Muslim communities in my country.</s>ROBERTSON: Eight years later, Obama is widely viewed as squandering America's standing by drawing down on troops in Iraq too fast, failing to enforce red lines in Syria, letting President Putin build regional influence. Trump offers a more muscular approach.</s>TRUMP: I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me. I would bomb the (inaudible) out of them.</s>ROBERTSON: Iraq's prime minister has welcomed Trump's election. Tweeting, "Congratulations to president-elect, look forward to continued U.S. support for Iraq in the war against terror." But smashing ISIS alone won't reclaim its ground loss to Russia and may even help sheer Muslim Iran's growing regional ambitions. They dominate in Iraq. Threaten the same in Syria. That's not sitting well with America's Sunni allies, like Saudi, who by billions of dollars' worth of U.S. weapons and support the U.S. fight against ISIS and hate Iran. The region is a house of cards built on sand. Turkey is another card in that shaky construct, an ally provides vital air bases, but it's increasingly autocratic president is chasing their own regional agenda. (on camera): And then there is Europe, a vital help in the fight against ISIS, roiled by waves of refugees coming from and through the Middle East, pull any card and the house comes down. Do nothing and your enemies gain. Nic Robertson, CNN, Irbil, Iraq.</s>GORANI: NATO leaders are cautiously pondering what Trump's election may mean for the future of the alliance and the security of Western Europe. Trump has questioned over the summer he did it America's obligation to defend other countries if they don't pay their bills. And some of them are worried about his seemingly cozy view of Russia. Anders Fogh Rasmussen is a former NATO secretary general who joins us now in London. Thanks for being with us. Of course, you heard and read what Donald Trump said about NATO, about the U.S.'s responsibility to protect NATO members. But he has questioned this saying if they don't pay their bills, we might not protect them. Are you worried?</s>ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN, FORMER NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Yes, I'm very much concerned about this campaign statements because that will undermine the credibility of NATO's collective security. If you cannot trust America's commitment to defend all allies, then it is not credible. But I would say, I think we should distinguish between the campaign of Trump and President Trump. And I hope he will realize the president of the United States can never, ever publicly doubt Article Five.</s>GORANI: So you think he's going to be a changed man once he steps into the oval office and those were all campaign promises he made in order to get more votes, you think that's part of it?</s>RASMUSSEN: Well, of course, you never know, but I took note of the fact that in his acceptance speech today he already distanced himself a bit from his campaign statements.</s>GORANI: OK, and that his tone was also different and had kind things to say about his rival Hillary Clinton. But what about the Baltic States? I mean, they are very nervous after Russia annexed Crimea. They're seeing Russia, Putin's Russia as being very aggressive, expansionist, should they be worried?</s>RASMUSSEN: Well, I don't think they should be worried that Russia will attack them openly because they are members of NATO, they are protected by NATO, but there's always a risk that President Putin will pursue what I call hybrid warfare. That is sending in small green men, combining with sophisticated disinformation campaigns.</s>GORANI: And what -- so -- would NATO be under an obligation to intervene at that stage?</s>RASMUSSEN: It could be. Actually NATO has decided that for instance cyber security is now part of collective security, which means than it could invoke Article Five.</s>GORANI: Yes, we know the Democrats accused Russian hackers of going into the DNC servers and of releasing some of these e-mails that were sent between Clinton campaign staffers and operatives from the Democratic National Committee. Let me ask you about Syria because this is going to be the question that any U.S. president would have to deal with. Interestingly, Donald Trump seems almost more aligned with Barack Obama on Syria than Hillary Clinton. In that, he sees his only enemy there as ISIS and he's sounded OK with leaving Bashar al-Assad in place whereas Hillary Clinton was call for a no- fly zone, a very different approach.</s>RASMUSSEN: Yes. And actually I think President Trump will also be faced with certain realities. So if he is to put America's interests first, then he will also realize that he needs a more tough minded approach for instance Russia, also President Assad. I think you will have to consider no-fly zone as one measure to improse and maintain a credible and doable ceasefire that could pave the way for long-term political solution.</s>GORANI: And I've got to ask you, anything that happens there is going to mean a discussion between future President Trump and President Putin and they've certainly been kinder to each other perhaps than what Putin has said about the current president or potentially Hillary Clinton in the White House. Would you think that will be a positive thing? I mean, how do you assess the impact of that?</s>RASMUSSEN: In a way I think President Trump will experience exactly the same as his predecessor, President Obama, which you all recall, he also started to reset relations with Russia --</s>GORANI: Yes.</s>RASMUSSEN: Just to realize during the last part of his mandate that Mr. Putin didn't share that vision. Mr. Putin is the same, he will remain the same, also under a President Trump --</s>GORANI: No matter who's in the oval office, Mr. Putin will stay Mr. Putin is what you're saying?</s>RASMUSSEN: Exactly. So you will need a tough line because the power language is the only language understood by Mr. Putin.</s>GORANI: Thank you very much, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, for joining us. We really appreciate it here in London. Well, some in Europe and I'm sure you've heard this, Mr. Rasmussen, are openly welcoming Trump's victory. The leader of France's right wing anti- immigration National Front Party says Trump's election is part of a growing movement worldwide to embrace conservative values.</s>MARINE LE PEN, FRENCH NATIONAL FRONT LEADER (through translator): The French referendum in 2005, the Greek referendum in 2015, the recent electoral success of patriots in different European countries, the massive vote of the British for Brexit, and now, Donald Trump's election. These are so many democratic choices which buried the old worried and so many Brits which can build the world of tomorrow.</s>GORANI: Certainly Marine Le Pen is welcoming this election in the United States and hoping that some of that movement will translate into her own electoral success when France elects it's president next year. This is THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. Hillary Clinton needed Latino voters to come out at the same level President Obama got four years ago. Well, quite plainly put, they did not. We take a look why, next.