Backlash Growing Against Bannon Appointment; Trump: "Very Organized Process Taking Place."
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Continued changes on President- elect Donald Trump's transition team, Former Congressman and CNN Commentator Mike Rogers is out. We're moving a key establishment of national security voice from the planning process. So how will this shape, Trump's foreign policy agenda? Our next guest has a fascinating new article out on the cover, "The Atlantic" December issue, the title "China's Great Leap Backward". National Correspondent James Fallows is with us. Good morning.</s>JAMES FALLOWS, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE ATLANTIC": Good morning.</s>HARLOW: Great piece, we'll get to it ...</s>FALLOWS: Thank you.</s>HARLOW: ... in a moment. We will. But, let's just begin to Mike Rogers being out. You say the reason here for part of this is it Trump has a really unique challenge. And that is it a lot of sort of the establishment, the base abandoned him either before or in the case of Eliote Cohen for example after the election. So he's got a smaller pool to pick from.</s>FALLOWS: Right. And I think it's important to keep emphasizing how unusual the process is that we're seeing right now because in most cases when a president-elect, you know, a day or two after election and once he's recovered, they're all this teams who have their briefing memos and they say here is the choices you have to be making next week, here are the leading candidates for this job. They're just -- it does not appear to be any of that on cap for Mr. Trump right now. And in addition, there's this -- I think unprecedented situation where a hundreds of people who have been the usual suspects for previous Republican administration said they're not going to work for him. So we'll see how that sorts itself out.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN "NEW DAY"ANCHOR: How big a deal is Bannon in that influence on the minds of Republicans? We're thinking about whether or not to put both arms around the Trump administration.</s>FALLOWS: I think at the time when these letters were ripped mainly in June and July and August of this year, Bannon was -- he was already with the campaign. But I don't I think many people suspected he'd have a central White House role. So I think the fact that he's been given this job apparently reinforces the sense that maybe there's going to be something that if the dilemma that these Republican, life long or Republican have whether they want to serve. I think the note yesterday from Eliote Cohen ...</s>HARLOW: Yeah.</s>FALLOWS: ... who is a long time defense experts who wanted to approach the -- new administration said, wait a minute I'm not sure we can work with them. That's a factor.</s>HARLOW: He actually said after meeting with the transition team, my recommendation has changed. He said they are angry, arrogant, and screaming new laws. I mean, he could have been more emphatic. Let's talk about John McCain who came out without using Trump's name in a statement made very clear who he was talking to. Speaking about what the active administration does with Russia. Let's pull it up. "The Obama administration's last attempt at resetting relations with Russia culminated in Putin's invasion of Ukraine and military intervention in the Middle East. At the very least, the price of another reset would be complicity in Putin and Assad's butchery of the Syrian people. That is an unacceptable price for a great nation."</s>FALLOWS: I think there's a real split here, not only within the Republican Party but in the country as a whole of the international community. On the one hand, nobody wants actual hostility with Russia. You know, if you can get along with them fine, that's great, we're good, develop great powers. On the other hand, both in the Caribbean and in Syria and other places, you know, Putin is making big problems for the U.S. Plus there was the National Security Agency director comments yesterday.</s>HARLOW: Yeah, Admiral Michael Rogers.</s>FALLOWS: Yes.</s>HARLOW: Yeah, yes.</s>FALLOWS: Of that there would have been some kind of "nation-state" involvement directly in our election. So I think we'll see another schism between potentially Trump and some of the Republicans.</s>CUOMO: So let's give people some brain food on a larger concern they should have. We're all obsessed with the micro right now around the election. But if you talk to national security officials and experts about what their biggest threat profiles order to the country, ISIS is like third or fourth. Terrorism is like third or fourth. China, South Korea, how you deal with those two agencies are seen as priorities. You are taking a big look at China and what they pose as a risk of stability on their own end, what do you want people to know?</s>FALLOWS: So the main point I want to get across through this article is that over the last 40 years, Nixon through Obama, there was more or less a constant policy from the United States which was that it was better to keep engaging China more and more. That they were -- it was better for us that they prospered than if they didn't. You know they'd be more dangerous if they were falling apart et cetera. And the question now is, people who have looked at China for a long time they're wondering if things have changed significantly enough and their internally with repression (ph) and externally in aggression that United States needs to basically rethink its policy. Not in the way that brings our new cold war, not that confronts China but just says there are things that are getting outside the normal band we expected over these past 40 plus years and what can we do to stir things back into a cooperative direction.</s>HARLOW: You're right in this piece, one line has sit out to me, "No sane American leader would choose confrontation with China." What are you ...</s>FALLOWS: So, you know ...</s>CUOMO: That code.</s>HARLOW: What is that code?</s>CUOMO: What is that code, James?</s>FALLOWS: Well, I had -- I wrote this obviously when we didn't know who'd be the next president came out a day or two after the election. And China has a 1.4 billion people, it's a nuclear power. The two economies are essentially one in a lot of their function. Every university in the United States depends on Chinese students. Every company in the United States has both Chinese markets and Chinese supply lines. And there's not necessary tension between U.S. and China so it's not a fight you pick if you can avoid it. But there are also problems that are developing on the Chinese side apart from whatever problems maybe developing on our side right now. So it's a very important thing to manage for the next administration.</s>HARLOW: They like TPP likely not going through.</s>FALLOWS: They're very much so because that was seen as an anti- Chinese flanking move.</s>HARLOW: So, keep them in check ...</s>CUOMO: Yes.</s>HARLOW: ... and now ...</s>FALLOWS: Exactly.</s>HARLOW: ... it's not going to happen probably.</s>FALLOWS: Exactly.</s>CUOMO: There's a lot in the piece. People should read it for themselves. It's in the "Atlantic", its out right now, James Fallows is the author.</s>HARLOW: Thank you.</s>FALLOWS: Thank you.</s>CUOMO: Pleasure to have you. So, there was a standing ovation for a United Airlines pilot for what he told his passengers about politics. What exactly happened? You're going to want to hear it. This is next.</s>CUOMO: California Senator Barbara Boxer introducing a bill to scrap the Electoral College and determine the presidential winner purely on popular vote. This is in context of what we're seeing with Hillary Clinton right now. She is closing on an million more votes nationally than Trump. Now this disconnect between the college and the popular vote, it's just the fifth time we've ever had that happened. In an election last time, of course was in 2000 when Al Gore lose to George W. Bush.</s>HARLOW: Meantime, a United Airlines pilot intervenes following a fight about Donald Trump on this plane, listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand everybody has their opinion, that's fine. If you support him, great, if you don't I understand. However we're out here to go to Puerta Vallarta, we are supposed to be having a good time, and what I do ask is that as people we have the common decency to respect each other's decisions.</s>HARLOW: A passenger says the feud broke out when a man said something racist to an African-American woman making her cry. The pilot immediately spoke up urging passengers to keep calm or choose another plane to get to Puerta Vallarta. He was met with cheers after issuing that ultimatum.</s>CUOMO: All right, there will be quarterback controversy in Dallas. At least not for now and that comes from the former starting quarterback Hines Ward as more in this morning "Bleacher Report" unusual. Unusual, to hear the guy who got hurt come out and weigh in, in favor of the other guy.</s>HINES WARD, CNN SPORT CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, very unusual. I mean, Tony Romo says that the Cowboys now belong to rookie Dak Prescott. Now, if you remember, Romo broke a bone in his back in the preseason and Dak -- while Dak take -- while he was taking over the starting quarterback job. Is this the end? The Cowboys have gone eight in one. Now Romo is healthy and ready to play but in a prepared statement yesterday, he said that Dak is the man in Dallas right now.</s>TONY ROMO, DALLAS COWBOYS: He's earned the right to be our quarterback. It's hard as that is for me to say he's earned that right. He's gathered our team do an eight in one record and that's hard to do.</s>WARD: And number 1 Duke taking on number 7 Kansas at Madison Square Garden. The score tied at 75 with 8.2 seconds left. Jayhawks' Frank Mason III race, the short jump and to take the lead. The little man came up big for Kansas but Duke inbounds the ball and he's up, a half court shot but no good. Kansas pulls off the upset 77-75. Now this is the eight win in over number 1 ranked team in school history. So, it's all good in Kansas. So, back to you, Poppy.</s>HARLOW: Hines, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Coming up next. People versus the President-elect Donald Trump, facing dozens of lawsuits as he heads for the White House. We're going to take a closer look at his legal battles and how they could impact his presidency? What ends, what doesn't? When he -- this many of a lawsuit, next.