Disney World Proposes Phased Reopening of Parks on July 11; Trump Pushes Conspiracy Theories about TV Show Host
KING: Just moments ago, Walt Disney World announced its plans to reopen doors and welcome back visitors. CNN's Natasha Chen is following this for us. Natasha, what are we learning? How fast is this going to happen?</s>NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Walt Disney World, John, is actually going to be the latest of the major theme parks in Orlando to reopen if their plan is approved. What they have proposed -- and we'll show you on the screen -- is to open two of its theme parks of July 11th and the other two on July 15th. So Magic Kingdom, that flagship theme park there, will be first on July 11th, along with Animal Kingdom. Keep in mind that Animal Kingdom is the type of park where there's a lot of outdoor space. And then on July 15th, you're going to have Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios open, again, if this is all approved. How this works is the Economic Recovery Task Force that they're presenting to right now is going to vote. This, then, is considered by the Orange County mayor. And all things considered, it looks like the mayor would be making his decision rather quickly because county staff have already been making site visits to the theme parks on Tuesday of this week. And then, that goes to the governor of Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida would then approve this plan. That also happened very quickly for Universal last week, so that's what we expect here. CNN business reporter, Frank Pallotta, is going to be interviewing Disney CEO, Bob Chapek, today so that story will be online for us as well later.</s>KING: More details as we go through it. Noting in the announcement there will be a new reservation system, reserve in advance. I guess that's an attempt to limit how many people, right?</s>CHEN: Exactly.</s>KING: Natasha Chen, appreciate it very much.</s>CHEN: Thank you.</s>KING: Thank you very much. We'll get more details as we go. The president is saying and tweeting things that would frankly get most people fired. Calling a morning television host psycho and recklessly suggesting he might have committed murder.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A lot of people suggest that. And hopefully, some day people are going to find out. Certainly, a very suspicious situation. Very sad, very sad and very suspicious.</s>KING: The president is also accusing his predecessor of illegal conduct. And he's just making things up and alleging voting by mail is an invitation to massive fraud.</s>TRUMP: People that aren't citizens, illegals, anybody that walks in California is going to get a ballot. We're not going to destroy this country by allowing things like that to happen.</s>KING: Now, the president's casual relationship with the truth and his Twitter rants are not new, of course. But it is especially jarring in the middle of a pandemic, as the country he leads approaches 100,000 coronavirus deaths. CNN senior political analyst, David Gergen joins us. David, of course, a former adviser to Presidents Reagan, Ford, Nixon, and Clinton. We have lived some of his parallel universe, alternative reality, since day one of the Trump presidency. But in the middle of this, as we approach this moment, 100,000 Americans dead -- that's the population of Tuscaloosa, Alabama -- for the president to be saying things that are just reckless. And if you tweeted them or if I tweeted them, we would be fired in a snap.</s>DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Right. We might have been institutionalized too, John. Listen, this should be a week of national mourning, to have 100,000 deaths, the number we'll reach in the next two or three days, and the country is saddened by that. Traditionally, presidents bring us together for occasions like this. They are iconic moments you can remember with crises in the past. Going back to Reagan and the Challenger, when the Challenger blew up and he went on television that night, or Bill Clinton going to Oklahoma City after the bombing, or George W. Bush there at the World Trade Center standing on top of that crushed police car with a bull horn, and Barack Obama in the Ebenezer Church singing "We Shall Overcome." Those are moments that brought us together. Presidents gave meaning to the crisis we were going through. They brought comfort. They met privately with the families of the victims and cheered people up. In each case, they strengthened our own resolve as a country. And here now, we have completely the opposite. Very, very sad. And it really reflects the fact that the president's ducking and dodging every way he can to talk about the central issue, and that is how many people have died and how do we prevent this from happening in the future so we protect people and jobs.</s>KING: And the question is -- I know the answer -- but the question is, why can't anybody stop him in the sense that we're also in an election year. You are absolutely right. We should be focused on the pandemic and the moment and the challenge. For the country and for everybody who lives in the country, who would like a president to lead them through it. But we're also in an election year, and Republicans are apoplectic, even more so in recent days because they remember 2018 when Nancy Pelosi was elected speaker, when Democrats had big wins in the House race. It was this kind of behavior that contributed to that factor. Despite the good economy, the Democrats swept through in 2018. Republicans are worried. The "Wall Street Journal" put it this way today in an editorial. This is about the Joe Scarborough smearing from the president of the United States. "We don't write this in any expectation that Mr. Trump will stop. Perhaps he even thinks this helps him politically, though we can imagine how. But Mr. Trump is debasing his office and he's hurting the country in doing so." Those are strong words. They are true words. But you know, a lot of Republicans complain privately about this, David, but where are they? Where are they? Very few are willing to come publicly and say, Mr. President, stop.</s>GERGEN: I think, for the first time, we are seeing some. People are willing to break with him. And it's not just politically. Dr. Fauci coming out on the masks, sending a very clear signal that he was going to wear a mask. He was a role model for people. He understood that, for Americans. But that the president is expected to be a role model, too. When he denigrates Biden, when he mocks Biden for wearing a mask and he refuses to wear one himself. He dodges every cameraman he can so we don't have pictures of him in a mask, because he thinks it will hurt his re-election chances. And I just think we have lost our way here. I do think more Republicans are splitting. Like Governor DeWine of Ohio, for example, has been very responsible. Governor of North Dakota spoke up. Here and there, we're starting to see people break with the president because they see the train is coming in November.</s>KING: They see a train that's coming in November. That's one way to put it. We'll see how that plays out. David Gergen, appreciate all your thoughts and insights --</s>GERGEN: Thank you, John.</s>KING: -- as always. Thank you, David. Coming up for us, Joe Biden weighs in on his search for a running mate. The CNN exclusive interview up next.