CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview with Tate Reeves

Interview

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TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.

Forget boosters. In some states, a majority of people still haven't gotten their first shots, such as Mississippi, where just 42 percent of people are fully vaccinated, ranking just 46th in the nation. And that's partly why Mississippi now has the highest death toll per

capita from COVID-19 in the entire United States. About one out of every 320 people in Mississippi have died of coronavirus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And the Republican governor of Mississippi, Tate Reeves, joins me now.

Governor, thanks so much for joining us.

Take a listen to President Biden singling out your state in a speech on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: In Mississippi, children are required to be vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, hepatitis B, polio, tetanus and more.

I proposed a requirement for COVID vaccines and the governor of that state calls it -- quote -- "a tyrannical-type move"?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:20:06]

TAPPER: Now, Governor, I understand the distinction between the federal government imposing a mandate and state law.

But just stepping aside from the idea of President Biden imposing this, why are you and the Mississippi legislature willing to impose mandates for other vaccines, but not when it comes to the COVID vaccine that you yourself have gotten?

GOV. TATE REEVES (R-MS): Well, the Mississippi legislature has enacted laws, Jake -- and, again, thanks for having me on today.

The Mississippi legislature has enacted laws for many years regarding vaccines of many types. It is unique to kids and their ability to go to our public schools. It's not vaccines mandated in the workplace.

But the question here is not about what we do in Mississippi. It's what this president is trying to impose upon the American worker. The president very much wants you and everyone else to believe that this is a fight between politicians.

The reality is, this is an attack by the president on hardworking Americans and hardworking Mississippians, who he wants to choose between getting a jab in their arm and their ability to feed their families. And I just believe that's a false choice.

The president does not have the authority to do this. He knows he doesn't have the authority to do this, in my opinion, but he wants to change the political narrative away from Afghanistan and away from the other issues that are driving his poll numbers into the ground and focus on anything, particularly a political fight, other than those issues.

TAPPER: Well, I mean, the virus has killed more than 660,000 Americans.

You're calling the move tyrannical. Just so our viewers understand it, President Biden says he's using a workplace safety law called the Occupation -- Occupational Safety and Health Act to justify the mandate.

That law says that the government can impose an emergency order if it determines -- quote -- "that employees are exposed to great danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards, and that such emergency standard is necessary to protect employees from such danger."

I mean, if there ever were a reason to use this law, wouldn't it be during a pandemic, with almost 2,000 Americans dying every day?

REEVES: Well, again, Jake, over 9,000 Mississippians have passed away with COVID, and every single one of them breaks my heart. It is -- it is a very difficult situation that we, as Mississippians, and we, as Americans, find ourselves in.

But we also have to understand that, as we look forward, if this president has the ability to mandate vaccines, what powers do we not grant this president? What does he not have the ability to do?

And for my friends on the left, I just want to point something out. This should scare as you well. This should scare Democrats just as much as it scares Republicans, because the fact is, if we give unilateral authority by one individual to do anything that he wants to do, whether it's a jab in the arm or anything else, then this country is in deep, deep trouble.

And that's not something that I'm willing to stand by and allow him to do. Obviously, we have made it very clear that we are prepared to sue once we actually see the rule.

TAPPER: Yes.

REEVES: That's another point that I think your viewers need to know, Jake, is that we haven't seen the actual rule itself. All we've had is a press conference. It was 10 days ago or so...

TAPPER: Right.

REEVES: .. when this initially came out.

And so let's see what the rule actually says, or let's see if it's like the eviction order that the president signed on to, knowing that he was going to get thrown out by the Supreme Court. And, of course, he certainly did.

TAPPER: Let's talk about what you and the legislature in Mississippi is doing, because I'm sure I don't need to tell you Mississippi this week became the state with the worst number of coronavirus deaths per capita.

In fact, if Mississippi were its own country, you would be second in the world, only to Peru, in terms of deaths per capita. That's a horrible, horrible, heartbreaking statistic.

So, with all due respect, Governor, your way is failing. Are you going to try to change anything to change this horrible statistic from what you're doing already?

REEVES: Yes, well, obviously, the -- in Mississippi, our legislature is a part-time legislature.

I -- sometimes, I wonder if in America if our Congress was part-time, we wouldn't be in a better position.

But let's talk a little bit about...

TAPPER: Better position than what?

REEVES: ... Mississippi and where we are with the virus.

TAPPER: Your state is second worst -- second worst in the world.

I mean, I -- how can you say that?

REEVES: Let's talk about where we are and why -- well, Jake, let's talk about where we are and why we are there.

In large part, just like the summer of 2020, it was the Sunbelt states that saw the initial surge from the Delta variant. It started -- the first state that I saw seeing upticks was Missouri, and then it was Arkansas, and then it was Louisiana. And now it's Mississippi.

[09:25:06]

Our surge went from less than 100 cases per day in Mississippi to 3, 600, much like what happened in the country of Israel, much what -- like what happened in the country of Great Britain and in England. We saw a very quick spike, and now we're seeing a very could -- a very, very quick decline in the total number of cases.

We spiked at about 3, 600. We're now half of that in our state.

As you know...

TAPPER: Right.

REEVES: .. unfortunately, fatalities is a lagging indicator when it comes to the virus. It is a lagging indicator.

And so timing has as much to do with where -- with that statistic that you used as anything else, as we see in 2021 what occurred in 2020 as the Delta variant moves around the country. and it's going to happen.

The president wants you to believe...

TAPPER: But...

REEVES ... that this is -- the Delta variant is only affecting Republicans in red states.

TAPPER Are you going to change anything?

(CROSSTALK)

REEVES: That's just not true. That is not a fact.

TAPPER: I understand. I understand. But you're -- you're...

REEVES That is just not true.

And so what you're going to see...

TAPPER: Mr. Governor, my point is this.

REEVES: What you're going to see, Jake, is the...

TAPPER: You compare yourself to Israel. Israel has something like the...

REEVES: ... Delta variant is going to continue to move around the country.

TAPPER: Yes.

REEVES And you're going to see fatalities rise in other states.

And so here's what we need to focus on, Jake, OK? Let's focus on this.

TAPPER: But my question is, what are you going to do to change...

REEVES The best way in which America...

TAPPER: What are you going to do to change this?

REEVES The best way that Americans -- the best way -- the best thing for Americans to do to protect themselves from the virus -- and, again, we believe in personal responsibility.

Individual Americans and individual Mississippians...

TAPPER: So, you're not going to change anything?

REEVES ... can take -- make those decisions to take care of themselves.

The best thing that Americans can do, number one is to talk to their doctor about potentially getting the vaccine because...

TAPPER: Right.

REEVES ... in our state, some 89 percent of those hospitalized and some 87 percent of those who are of the deaths are actually coming from those who were unvaccinated.

So, the number one thing that you can do is you can get -- you can talk to your doctor about getting vaccinated.

TAPPER: Right.

REEVES: The number two thing is if you get the virus -- and this is very important -- if you get the virus, please talk to your doctor about the monoclonal...

TAPPER: So you're not doing anything?

REEVES ... antibody treatment.

TAPPER: You're not going to change anything?

REEVES: That is the best way in which to do that.

And, unfortunately, the Biden administration continues to try to reduce the allocations of the red states like Mississippi and Florida of that monoclonal antibody treatment.

TAPPER: OK, Governor.

REEVES: It's outrageous.

TAPPER: Governor, if Mississippi were a country, you would have the second worst per capita death toll in the world.

And I'm saying, are you going to do anything to try to change that?

REEVES: Jake, as I mentioned earlier, deaths, unfortunately, are a lagging indicator.

Our total number of cases went from 100 to 3, 600 and, over the last two weeks, has declined. They have been cut in half from 3, 600 to 1, 800.

When you wanted me to come on...

TAPPER: So you think it -- so you think this is successful?

REEVES ... three or four weeks, you wanted to talk about our number of cases. And then you want to talk about our hospitalizations. Now you want to talk about a lagging indicator, which is sad.

And -- and it's true.

TAPPER: I'm trying to talk about the dead in Mississippi, is what I'm trying to talk about.

REEVES: And I -- my heart breaks for all 9,000 Mississippians that have passed away.

But let's put this in perspective, Jake. I mean the reality is, Mississippi accounts for 1 percent of the U.S. population. We account for 1.1 percent of the total number of cases in America. And we account for 1.29 percent of the total number of fatalities in America.

TAPPER: Right.

REEVES: And so the reality is, the Delta variant is very transmissible, and it is moving around the country.

If you want to talk about cases right now, talk about Kentucky or West Virginia or what's happening in North Carolina, or moving into Southern Virginia. This virus is very transmissible.

TAPPER: I'm asking you about your state. But -- I'm not going to ask you about West Virginia or Kentucky. I'm going to ask you about your state.

And I'm just saying, you seem to be very, very activated when it comes to fighting the mandate from the federal government. And I understand the arguments you're making.

But what President Biden is trying to do is save lives. Now, you can think that policy or it's unconstitutional, and that's fine. We can have that discussion. We already have. But he's trying to save lives.

I'm saying to you, your way's not working. And whether you say it's a lagging indicator or whatever your argument is, Mississippi now has, if it were its own country, the second worst per capita death rate in the world, behind only Peru.

And I'm saying, are you going to try to do anything to change that? And I'm -- I'm not hearing an answer.

REEVES: Well, what I have said to you repeatedly, Jake, is that Mississippi has taken action.

Mississippi has seen a significant uptick in the total number of Mississippians that have gotten the vaccine. We've seen -- our case numbers have fallen dramatically in the last two weeks.

And so, ultimately, as I've said, deaths, unfortunately, is a lagging indicator. We've seen cases, again, cut in half in Mississippi. In these other states that you refuse to talk about, perhaps because they have Democrat governors, you don't want to talk about them.

[09:30:06]

But the reality is that you and the president and so many other people...

TAPPER: Yes.

REEVES: ... want to make this about politics.

TAPPER: The governor of West Virginia is a Republican.

REEVES: This virus is not just attacking Republicans in red states.

This -- this virus is not just attacking Republicans in red states. This virus is attacking Republicans and Democrats in red states and in blue states.

TAPPER: Yes.

REEVES: And what we ought to be talking about is, what can we do to minimize the deaths going forward?

The president's not focused on saving lives. The president's focused on a -- taking unilateral action to show -- to show his power, to show that he's doing something, but that's not going to solve things.

TAPPER: OK.

The governor of West Virginia's a Republican.

But, Governor Tate Reeves, I'm obviously not going to have a governor come on to talk about other states. I'm going to talk about your state.

But we hope that the case rate continues to go down and that the death rate follows and also goes down.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

REEVES: Thanks for having me on, Jake.

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