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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
CNN Exclusive Poll Finds Public Turning Against Trump On Economy; Illinois Governor Pritzker To Dems: "Time To Stop Surrendering"; White House Defends Deporting Children Who Are U.S. Citizens, Calls It A "Parental Decision" By Their Undocumented Mother. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired April 28, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Are you ready to do it right here on "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" for the world to see?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: I don't think so. Do you really want me to do it? It's not good.
SANCHEZ: We have, like, 20 seconds --
KEILAR: Let's put it this way. No, I'm not going to share it with you because I was doing it and the entire floor crew had no idea what I was doing. Which tells you I didn't sound like.
SANCHEZ: No, you did. You did though. You did.
Hey, this is a good chance for us to promo go online because she's going to post it on her Instagram, and I'll repost it.
"THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT" starts right now.
SANCHEZ: Plugging the digital.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: It's the president versus the polls. Let's head into THE ARENA.
We're just moments away from unveiling.
CNN's brand-new snapshot of public discontent and outright fear about President Trump's economic policies on the eve of his 100th day back in office.
Plus, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker blasts members of his own party as do-nothing Democrats, pleading with them to fight Trump everywhere, all at once. I'll get reaction from key House Democrat James Clyburn.
And the White House defends the deportation of children who are U.S. citizens, while the president argues that nothing will ever be perfect with his immigration crackdown.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Welcome to THE ARENA. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Monday.
We are starting right here at the magic wall to break down CNN's exclusive new polling being released right now. What's it show? Americans are increasingly turning against the president on the central issue that got him reelected. You guessed it, it's the economy. And this just as he's about to mark 100 days back in the White House.
Let's get straight to our CNN political director and Washington bureau chief, David Chalian.
David, nice to see you.
The president's approval has sunk to a historic low here. And now we're getting really more detailed data about the economy. It doesn't look good.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR AND WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah. Which is, as you stated, and no issue number one. And clearly, what delivered him back to the Oval Office. And we asked people in our poll, these are brand new exclusive numbers from SSRS, 28 percent of Americans in this poll rate the current economic conditions in the country as good, 71 percent as poor.
Take a look here when we asked, have Trump's policies affected U.S. economic conditions? How have they affected it? Fifty-nine percent, nearly six in 10 Americans say they've worsened conditions. Only 27 percent say they have improved conditions.
How does that compare over time? Look here. Back in March, it was 51 percent who said his policies worsened conditions. Thats up eight points. Just since March. Clearly, the tariff announcement, the chaos around that is, is having a negative impression with voters.
HUNT: So, David, at this point, I mean, this has been the kind of thing that has held Donald Trump up throughout his political career, right? What was going on in his first term that has really changed here?
CHALIAN: Yeah, no doubt about it. And take a look when we ask, you know, it's all about how you feel about your personal financial situation that politicians sort of respond to and look at. So, feelings on personal financial situation. It's a little more evenly split here, 47 percent satisfied, 52 percent dissatisfied. We also asked that question over time.
And take a look here, Kasie, that 47 percent now though, that has gone in the wrong direction from where it was in March. In March, it was 50 percent who said that they were satisfied with their personal financial situation. How have Trump's policies affected local cost of living? Six in 10 Americans say it has increased local cost of living. He said he would lower prices on day one.
And then if you look here about we asked sort of what is your family's top economic problem? Inflation at 28 percent. Food costs at 16 percent. This is the stuff that he promised on day one would change after he was elected. Thats a troubling sign that that's still the top concern for people about their family's economic condition.
HUNT: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, one of the things that, of course, Joe Biden learned the hard way is that the economy can actually be okay. But how people feel about the economy is actually what matters at the end of the day. How are people feeling about the Trump economy?
CHALIAN: Not great. In fact, the plurality 37 percent are downright afraid. Afraid 29 percent pessimistic. Add that up. Thats 66 percent. Two thirds of Americans say they are either pessimistic or afraid. And then their predictive sensibility is a recession likely in the next year, seven in 10 Americans in our poll say yes.
HUNT: That's really -- that previous slide to 4 percent of people say that they are enthusiastic about the economy.
CHALIAN: That's it.
HUNT: I mean, that's -- that's like basically zero. That's really remarkable.
So, we also I think looked at tariffs and exactly how people are feeling about that because that, of course, seems to be the thing that, you know, that that rollout did not go the way the White House would have liked.
CHALIAN: But it is also the big economic bet that Donald Trump is making from a policy perspective.
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And that is what's concerning here. Twenty-eight percent called the tariffs good policy, 55 percent call it bad policy. Does Trump have a clear strategy on tariffs, Kasie? Fifty-eight percent, nearly six in 10 say no. He does not have a clear strategy. Only 42 percent says that he does have a clear strategy.
How will Trump's tariff policies affect the U.S. economy? This I think, is really interesting, 72 percent say in the short term it's going to hurt. 53 percent say that in the long term it's going to hurt.
That shows a little bit the success of the Trump messaging. Short term pain for long term gain that is resonating for some people, but yet, still a majority of Americans say that the tariffs will hurt, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. David Chalian, for us, thank you very much for bringing us those brand new numbers here at the top of four. We really appreciate it.
And our panel joins us now. CNN political commentator, Republican strategist Kristen Soltis Anderson; the host of "The Chuck Toddcast", Chuck Todd; CNN political commentator Ashley Allison; and CNN political commentator Scott Jennings.
Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here. Chuck Todd, this picture is not -- is not pretty for the president. I
guess it makes sense that he's railing against all the polls on his Truth Social platform. He's basically trying to discredit it.
But I mean, this is -- this is some proof, you know, were getting this data about what we've seen in the last month. We don't have the big economic numbers yet, GDP, the jobs, et cetera. What do you make of all this?
CHUCK TODD, HOST OF "THE CHUCK TODDCAST": Well, it's remarkable because it's in his first 100 days, how quickly this has now gone backwards for him on the economy.
And I think part of the problem is he won swing voters because of the economy. So in some ways he's going to be -- this is how he's going to get graded by the public, particularly those, you know, not -- not the hard partisans, the hard partisans are going to grade them in different ways, but on the soft partisans and that's what you're seeing, the real movement here, it's among independents and the soft partisans, and they're very economically sensitive.
And I go back, look, this tariff, what he did with the with the tariff announcement is he took ownership of this economy, arguably before he had to. You know, I'm old enough to remember when Barack Obama was blaming George W. Bush for the economy for two years, and he kind of got away with it. George W. Bush was able to sort of say, hey, you know, I inherited a recession from Bill Clinton type of thing.
You kind of want to own, you know, and he instead the tariff announcement. And that's why I've described it kind of like what Afghanistan did to Biden, that was his best subject as far as voters were concerned. And you messed up that. And this is what Trump -- this is his best subject and you messed up this? This is why I think it's been so catastrophic to him politically.
HUNT: Kristen, you're our pollster at the table. What are you taking in as most significant from this new data?
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, if you look at under the hood, Donald Trump's own voters and Republicans still seem to like what he's doing. But if you are trying to figure out how do I sift through all these numbers, I always find it instructive, do independents look more like Republicans or like Democrats under the hood? And unfortunately for Donald Trump in this poll, the independents look a lot more like Democrats. On the question of, has Donald Trump's policy improved U.S. economic conditions? Republicans, 63 percent say yes. But for everybody else, independents, it's only 17 percent. Democrats, it's only three. We know that's going to be low. But that's where I think the real issue is.
The second problem is on intensity. You're talking about enthusiasm, optimism. When you look at Republicans, only 7 percent of Republicans say they're enthusiastic about what Trump is doing on the economy. They're looking to their president who they voted for, and saying, I'm going to need you to tell me a little bit more about where this is going. SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, they're still
-- they're still looking -- I mean, we've had an organ transplant in the Republican Party. The new organ is tariffs. This has not been part of the body Republicans. And so, Republicans I think are still --
TODD: How are you taking it? How is it?
JENNINGS: I mean, we'll see because I think what's on deck here and what will help reverse this trend in the polling, trade deals, announcements are good peace deals. Less chaos is good. Tax deals, lower, taxes is good. Budget deals, looking like the Republicans are a competent governing party.
So, it's time for let's make a deal and that will, I think, help people see the future, see the trajectory changing from something that they're nervous about to something where they can see. And we had a question about does he have a clear plan? That would tell you, yes, they have a clear plan because it looks like they're announcing deal after deal after deal. That's what they have to do next. That's what will reverse it.
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: If these numbers were anything different, I would be worried about the American people. We have been on this stage. Multiple, multiple days. Oh my gosh, my 401(k) this day, the stock market.
Of course, people are not going to like what Donald Trump is doing right now to Chuck's point, yes. This was his -- his blue chip issue, right? That he's supposed to be the economy guy.
And people are scared to death. They can't afford things. Their 401(k)s are going down. They don't know. They don't know what the plan is. Show me, tell me a little bit more. But instead, it's just, oh, polls don't matter. I would be surprised if the numbers were any better.
Now, we, first week, I heard a lot -- oh, it's just his first week. Oh, now we're on the eve of 100 days.
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If this administration does not change course, maybe not on the policy. I think the policy are bad, is bad, and many economists think it's bad too. But if they do not start explaining to the American people how to get on the other side of this nervousness and anxiety, I bet you those frontliner Republicans will start to distance themselves from Donald Trump too, because these are not numbers that you can win in a midterm.
JENNINGS: I just don't think Republicans running are going to be able to do that. I mean, Trump is such a dominant force in the party, and in politics, but that's why they have a job to do. They have to cut taxes. They have to make the tax cuts permanent.
This reconciliation process is going to give every Republican a chance to vote for several things that you can take home and say, we're doing our part, we're knocking taxes down. We're unleashing American energy. We're doing our part up on the Hill to help the president be successful. Because I just don't think divorcing yourself from the president is a possibility.
TODD: You're 100 percent right on that. But this is where I think there was some political incompetence here, meaning they should have started with tax cuts and done tariffs down the road. You give -- if you're supposed to release the spirit animals of this economy, then don't get in the way.
You know, they could have started. You sort of start with the goodies. They could have started with the tax cut, frankly, been a lot easier to get Congress going. And then now I know they want to use the tariffs to kind of help come up with the math to pay for it.
But I think in hindsight, they're going to this tax cut is now going to get harder to get through. Congress would have been easier this is --
ALLISON: I think, the reason why he did he went so fast, is Johnson going to be able to keep his conference together? I mean --
JENNINGS: Yes, magic Mike has pulled so many rabbits, so many rabbits out of so hats. I have --
TODD: Well, Speaker Trump has. Don't forget the speaker. Don't forget the other speaker of the house.
JENNINGS: Look, time and again, you've asked this question a hundred times on TV, and every time, what does Mike Johnson do? He and Trump find a way. They're going to find a way.
HUNT: Trump finds a way.
JENNINGS: They have to find a way.
(CROSSTALK)
TODD: No, a failure is not an option. You're right, you're right. It's sort of like this is all too big to fail because the margins are so small.
HUNT: Yeah, I'm going to have to pull that that movie clip. I mean, look, we've been talking about these house Republicans, one of them, Mike Lawler, who is again, there are fewer and fewer right of members of the House who are in who represent districts where voters go back and forth in a really significant way.
Here was Mike Lawler of New York in his district over the weekend. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): During my time in Congress, I've been rated the fourth most bipartisan member of Congress.
I've also been rated the most effective freshman member of the 118th Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, I mean, who's even for that?
ANDERSON: Yeah, I don't think the idea that these members, even the ones who are in these frontline districts being able to break with Trump, even if all of this with the tariffs goes really south, it's just very hard in today's Republican Party where when I ask Republicans, do you think of yourself as a Republican first or a Trump supporter first? I've been tracking this for four years.
We are at the high watermark for Republicans, saying I'm a Trump supporter first. That could all change. That number varies a lot, but right now, it is Trump's party.
JENNINGS: And what's true is more than ever. Politics is a team sport. People don't believe that you're necessarily an independent agent, especially if you're in Congress. So the only way through is to go through and to make it all successful. And that means helping the president.
TODD: We'll know for sure.
ALLISON: Not long ago in the midterms, when Donald Trump name on the ticket, he does okay when Donald Trump's name is not on the ticket, which it will not be in midterms, watch out for.
TODD: One year from now, there will be three primaries that we'll all be talking about in Republican primaries and Senate races, with Tillis, Cassidy and Cornyn. We'll know then whether there is any appetite for this inside the Republican Party. I'm skeptical, but we do have a test on the ballot a year from now.
HUNT: All right. We'll be watching that.
All right. Up next here, we're going to continue to dig into more exclusive news, CNN polling, and we'll take a look at that striking comment from Donald Trump to "The Atlantic", where he said he runs the world.
Plus, we'll get live reaction from a longtime leader in the Democratic Party about the new message from one of its most prominent members.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JB PRITZKER (D), ILLINOIS: Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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HUNT: All right. Welcome back.
We're learning more today about how exactly Americans feel about the state of the U.S. economy. Just shy of day 100 of the Trump presidency. A new CNN poll out this hour showing the Democrats, Republicans and independents see the impacts of the president's tariffs very differently.
Take a look. An overwhelming majority of Democrats and independents thinks that the tariffs will hurt the economy in the short term. And nearly half of Republicans, 47 percent, agree that there's going to be some short term pain. But let's look at the long term. Republicans are much more optimistic. Nearly 3 in 4 believing that tariffs will help the U.S. economy. Democrats and independents? Not so much. Clear majorities of each thinking that the pain will be both short term and long term.
Kristen, you're looking at this and saying, yep.
ANDERSON: Yep. There's been an argument around Donald Trump for a long time that. He is an experimental cure to a disease that people have felt like they've had for far too long, and they're kind of willing to take all of the side effects with it, if he offers the prospect of a cure.
And that's what you're seeing in those Republican numbers there. They get that it's going to be short term pain. They are holding out hope that somewhere there is a light at the end of this tunnel. But what I don't yet know is how much runway will Republicans give Trump when it is his strongest issue? It's the number one thing that I would hear Republicans tell me. This is why I really like this guy. We know that his base is still with him on a lot of other issues. How long are they willing to let this go if it does not begin yielding the economic benefits he promises before they begin to say, come on, let's move on already.
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TODD: Look, there is -- he can actually take some solace in Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton, the only the only -- you know, he had a slightly better first hundred days than Donald Trump, but not much. It's a pretty bad first hundred days. He ran on it's the economy, stupid. He had to sell a tax cut in an economy that people didn't feel good about. And he was saying, hey, just trust me, this is going to work.
Well, it didn't work in time for the '94 midterms. It did work in time for his '96 reelect. So, if he can, if the Bill Clinton model holds right and he can show, I think you're right. He's got to show deals. But it's actually got to make the economy -- I do think he's, you know, he can has the second half of his term. If it's the economy really is getting better. That's what Bill Clinton had.
HUNT: J.D. Vance is so invested in cutting that trade deal.
TODD: If it actually works. And if you're J.D. Vance, you're desperate actually to see this stuff happen first if you think you're the heir apparent.
HUNT: Right. So let's talk about big picture for a second. And, Scott Jennings, I'll put this to you because, of course, the president spoke to reporters at "The Atlantic" magazine. Here was the quote that they gave him or that he gave them.
So, they write this: We asked the president if his second term felt different from his first. He said it did. The first time, I had two things to do. Trump says, run the country and survive. I had all these crooked guys, he said.
And then the second time I run the country and the world. So obviously this is speaking to a lot of different things, especially that he has stacked this administration with people who are loyal to him. He was able to do that because of how the Republican Party has changed.
But I think in the context of the economy, one of the things that I keep coming back to is the thing that spooked Wall Street was treasury bonds, and the question of whether U.S. economic hegemony is going to continue or not. Is that what Trump is putting at risk here? Like, can he actually run the world? Can America run the world if that piece of this breaks?
JENNINGS: Well, I think that's why all these conversations they're having with these countries is so vital. They need to roll out a couple of deals with a couple of our biggest allies, even if everything else takes a long time, that would show the rest of the world. Okay, the United States is here to make deals. We're here to do deals with our allies that are mutually beneficial, that put American workers at the center of our economic policy.
But just the mere announcement of having done it, I would think, would calm things down regarding this idea that he runs the world. I mean, this phrase was coined, I think, in 1948, the president of United States is the leader of the free world.
And you look at all the things he's involved in, economically, trying to solve the war in Ukraine, stuff going on in the Middle East. There is no doubt that he, Donald Trump, as the president, is the leader of the free world, and we ought to all be rooting for his success. But I do think the secret sauce here is showing people that progress can be made in short order. And it sounds like things are on deck.
HUNT: All right. Coming up next here, the governor unplugged. J.B. Pritzker's new call to action for Democrats. The reaction that's getting. We'll talk about it with a longtime leader in the party, South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn will be here, live in THE ARENA.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRITZKER: Fellow Democrats, for far too long, we've been guilty of listening to a bunch of do-nothing political types who would tell you that America's house is not on fire? Even as the flames were licking their faces? Today, as the blaze reaches the rafters, the pundits and politicians -- well, the pundits and politicians who simpering timidity served as tinder for the arsonists. They urge us now not to reach for a hose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The Illinois governor, J.B. Pritzker, delivering a frank message to fellow Democrats in New Hampshire over the weekend as the party continues its internal battle over messaging and strategy to oppose Trump. Pritzker, who was appearing in the longtime first-in-the-nation primary state ahead of what is going to be an incredibly contentious 2028 Democratic presidential nomination cycle. He called for mass protests and mobilization and pointed his finger at those in his party, who he says, enabled a, quote, culture of timidity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRITZKER: A culture of timidity is on full display. Those same do- nothing Democrats want to blame our losses on our defense of Black people, of trans kids, of immigrants, instead of their own lack of guts and gumption.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Wow. Okay. Joining us now, Democratic Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina, of course, a longtime leader in the House Democratic caucus.
Sir, I'm very grateful to have you in THE ARENA today.
And I want to start there. Who is Governor Pritzker talking about, and what was your reaction to that?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, thank you very much for having me.
Well, it's nice to hear and I think he may have felt good delivering it. I don't disagree that there are some people who are timid. There are some people who are simmering but for the most part, Democrats are out in the hustings. I just finished two weeks of town halls and listening sessions all over my congressional district or my state, for that matter.
And I can tell you, Democrats are engaged. Democrats are coming back, and we all have to get over losing an election that none of us thought that we would lose. I thought that we should have lost, but we lost simply because of some of the things I think the governor is talking about.
[16:30:03]
So, I don't disagree with him. I just don't believe that he is talking about all Democrats.
HUNT: Can you go a little bit farther? You say you don't disagree with him entirely. There were some things. Some of this was why you lost. What -- what parts of it were?
CLYBURN: Well, I think that our party, has a tremendous message for the American people. And all you got to do is look at the results of the polling, and you see that we are, in touch with the American people as far as substance is concerned. I think the party has come up short stylistically, and I think that all of us know that that has been a problem for Democrats. And I think that's what the governor is talking about.
That kind of speech that he just gave the sits fire on the people. It expresses in a very fiery way, what Democrats are feeling is just -- is a different style that say, Joe Biden had and a lot of other Democrats still have. And so, you have to sort of reconcile those two, two things. When you look at the polling data, you tell people what the different parties stood for, Democrats came out fine on substance. We just lost on style.
HUNT: So, speaking of style, I want to show you what Senator Chuck Schumer had to say over the weekend when he was talking about how Democrats are fighting back on what the Trump administration is doing with universities. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): So we sent him a very strong letter just the other day, asking eight very strong questions about why this isn't just a pretext.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Is that the style that's going to win Democrats elections?
CLYBURN: I think that's exactly what I'm talking about. The letter is great because it's got all the substance in it. In fact, I was on Harvard University's campus on the day they made their announcement to push back against what the president was doing and that was a style that people wanted. And they rallied to that cause. And that's exactly what I'm talking about.
When the senator from New Jersey, Senator Booker, stood on the floor for more than 25 hours, people loved it. People loved --
HUNT: Well, I mean, that's a distinctly different example from the letter I would say.
CLYBURN: Totally different. Totally different. But standing on the floor was one thing the substance of what he had to say. Most people can't tell you a whole lot about what he said. They just liked the way he did it. And I think that that's what I'm talking about here.
What we Democrats have got to do is marry these two, get the substance of our programs into the style within which we deliver it. And I think we'll begin to show better in the polls. That's already beginning to happen. And I think that you'll see that a whole lot more of that going forward. HUNT: Sir, at the White House Correspondents' dinner over the weekend,
one reporter who won one of the awards spoke about former President Joe Biden. Of course, you played an enormous role in his initial winning the Democratic primary and then, of course, went on to win the presidency.
I want to show you what Alex Thompson said. We'll talk about it. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: President Biden's decline and its cover up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: With everything that has happened with Donald Trump, do you believe that President Joe Biden bears any responsibility for Trump's election because of that particular reality?
CLYBURN: Well, we all have some responsibility for this. The fact of the matter is Joe Biden on substance once again, was an outstanding president. You can look at his record, you can look at the records of all presidents, Democratic presidents going -- going back. And you aren't going to find anything that matched his record until you get back to Lyndon Johnson back during his Great Society efforts.
Now, the fact of the matter is, whatever may have or may not have been the decline, I've never worked in the White House, so I was not around Joe Biden enough to tell you anything about his decline.
[16:35:03]
I'll talk to him on the phone a lot. I saw him at events a lot. I saw no more in his declination than I've seen in anybody else's. I'm two years older than Joe Biden. I just have a different style than he has. And so, people all age differently.
And so, for us to sit here and talk about Joe Biden as if we are physicians and can make these kinds of evaluations a lot of us are interacting with him could not make an evaluation like that. And I still can't.
HUNT: All right. Congressman Jim Clyburn, I'm very grateful to have you on the program, sir. I hope you'll come back soon.
CLYBURN: Thank you very much for having me.
HUNT: All right. Our panel is back now.
Chuck Todd, there's a lot there.
TODD: It's always a communica -- nobody ever wants to say that they have a substance problem. It's always a communications problem. I've never met a president who didn't think that all of their problems were because they just didn't communicate it correctly.
You know, it's always whether it was George W. Bush after the '06 midterms, Barack Obama after the 2010 midterms. You know, this is nobody wants to admit that maybe the dog didn't like the dog food.
You know, I don't think the Democratic Party has gone through the -- you know, if Coca-Cola had a bunch of people no longer drinking Coca- Cola, you'd want to actually go interview people who used to drink Coca-Cola and ask them, how come you're not drinking Coca-Cola anymore? I don't get the sense of that at all.
There's -- there's -- there's still this idea. Oh, no, no, no, no, if we just sell it better, if we just do it better. And then on the on the last comment, it's just kind of interesting. I do think what happened to the Democratic Party is they kept comparing Biden to Trump rather than Biden to what a president should be able to do.
And I think it was like, well, Trump's kind of out there and he's -- so it's -- it's good enough to go against Trump. Well, no, like that doesn't -- shouldn't have been the -- but I do think whatever that explanation is, I think it all had to do with them judging Biden through the prism of, well, Trump's sort of out there. So, it's good enough for that.
HUNT: Ashley Allison what do you think?
ALLISON: Look, in 2022, after the midterms, I said, if you want to run for president and be the Democratic nominee, anybody who wants to run should be able to run. Unfortunately, nobody -- well, a couple people but.
TODD: Dean Phillips.
ALLISON Right? Dean Phillips stepped up. Democrats, we should have had a primary to for this midterm election. And we didn't. And so now, we're living with the consequences of it. I hope that our party wakes up and realizes it and that me saying that doesn't mean that I don't respect Joe Biden.
But there's a reality, and that we should have given our voters an opportunity to make a decision for themselves. And by the time we had to make a decision, it was too late.
TODD: By the way, it's just three straight nominations where Democratic voters didn't get a chance to pick the nominee. The elites picked Hillary Clinton, the elites picked Joe Biden, and the elites picked Kamala Harris. There was no actual set of voters who felt like they had a say in this.
ANDERSON: I'm also still wondering, so let's -- let's just assume that Democrats do not decide that they are interested in
reformulating the pizza. They just want to spend time focused on refashioning the pizza box. I still don't even know what that's going to be.
I mean, here we were talking about a strongly worded letter and that got the endorsement of like, yep, that's what we need to be doing. More strongly worded letters. I'm not really sure that Democrats yet have figured out stylistically how do we want to --
HUNT: I mean, the voters think that that\s incredibly lame right now. Thats what they're saying.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Remember the paddles at the state of the union?
Okay. I think I think that there are some different conversations that are happening in the party. There are people like myself who are like, I'm getting out of Washington, D.C. I didn't stay here for the correspondents' dinner. You know why? Because the voters I want to talk to, they aren't watching the correspondents' dinner, whether there was a comedian or not.
That is not what people are focusing on. They're not, sadly, getting their news from CNN. They're getting their news from online.
And so, I will -- I have also said this, that when Donald Trump lost in 2020, Republicans didn't change their message. They actually doubled down on it.
I do think Democrats have policies that people like. I do think we have a communications and I think we have a messenger problem right now, which goes to the candidates. So, we need to make sure we have -- we talk about being the big tent coalition. We actually need to be the big tent coalition, which means sometimes you will have in your coalition people you don't always agree with.
But that's what was so special about the Democratic Party. I don't have to get 100 percent at it, but --
JENNINGS: Saying you are going to send a strongly worded letter in today's political climate is roughly the equivalent of putting a slice of cheese on a frozen hamburger patty on a grill, which Chuck Schumer is famous for doing. Youve totally missed.
TODD: I was wondering where you were going there.
JENNINGS: You like you have completely and totally misunderstood the way political communications work. Just the way you misunderstand the way grills work.
They're not -- that is not going to cut it for them. And by the way, Clyburn saying he had no idea Joe Biden was in decline and wasn't in a position to know whether he was in decline, his biggest supporter in Congress?
[16:40:07]
Lord, have mercy. The scandal deepens, is what I took away from that.
HUNT: All right. Coming up next, something a little bit different. The Philadelphia Eagles at the White House right now to celebrate their Super Bowl win. What we're learning about who is and isn't there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: If you choose to have your citizen child knowing you're in this country legally, you put yourself in that position. You put your family in that position. What we did is removed children with their mothers who requested the children depart with them.
This was a parental decision. Parental one -- parent -- parenting 101.
[16:45:02]
The mothers made that choice.
And I tell you what? If we didn't do it, the story today would be Trump administration separating families again. No, we're keeping families together.
Parents will make the decision what happens to their child. Having a U.S. citizen child does not make you immune from our laws.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The Trump administration is defending its decision to deport two undocumented mothers and their children who are U.S. citizens. The kids, aged two, four and seven, were deported, were deported to Honduras last week after their mothers were detained during meetings with officials. The four-year-old was receiving treatment for metastatic cancer, according to the family's attorneys.
This comes as a new poll shows that a majority of voters now disapprove of the president's immigration policies. In March, 51 percent supported his handling of immigration. That has since dropped to 45 percent.
Kristen Soltis Anderson, one of the things that has become sort of a feature of covering this administration is that when there are stories that are very negative for them, like the economy, they really want to change the subject to immigration, right? And you saw them kind of take this and, you know, they -- they sent Karoline Leavitt and Tom Homan out to do a briefing far earlier in the day than these briefings are normally held, right?
It was at 8:30 this morning. But in this case, I'm just really interested to know if you think, considering the data, you see, that there is a point where Americans would turn on Trump over -- there have been other instances where people will say that for this administration, the cruelty is the point of it. There's been some of that around DOGE and the federal government. They want to do this. Is there any sort of potential for backlash here?
I mean, these kids are U.S. citizens. One of them had cancer. And then there's also this detail that the father of one of them filed a petition, an emergency petition, to say that he wanted the kid to stay. So, there was apparently a dispute between the mother, who the government says wanted to take the child back to Honduras. But the father who's here did not.
These are really sticky situations. These are tough questions. But ultimately, voters voted for Donald Trump to do a couple of things lower cost of living, secure the border, get immigration under control. We're always top of that list.
And so, he gets a very long leash from voters, especially from his own base on this issue. And I think you've had a couple of instances where stories have popped up and they have been outrageous. The headlines really, you know, grab your attention and then slowly but surely, other details come out that kind of paint a very slightly different picture. Oh, this person may have had this record, et cetera.
In this case, it's horrifying to think of, you know what? What that two-year-old or what that four-year-old must be thinking.
At the same time, Donald Trump's own base. I have not seen any sign of atrophy in terms of his voter support for him on this issue, because they believe our immigration system was so broken before that even if there are going to be these headlines for them, just getting the system fixed and addressing illegal immigration is worth it.
HUNT: Should we be deporting these kids, Scott?
JENNINGS: Well, I think we should keep the families together. I think Homan is right about that. And I think he's also right that if they weren't, people would be howling about it. I don't think Republicans believe that we should let the perfect be the enemy of the good when it comes to controlling what was a massive crisis created by the last administration.
There are always going to be individual stories, but the overall program is pretty clear. Deport people who came here illegally, especially violent criminals. Get the border closed, which they have effectively done, and you deal with the individual situations along the way.
And you have to keep one thing in mind whenever you make exceptions, whenever you say, well, in this case, well give you some dispensation, the message then to everyone else is clear. Just get here and maybe you'll find a way to stay. That's what everyone else has done. They're not communicating that.
HUNT: Are these people, though? I mean, the White House has also today put up pictures of people on the White House lawn with the crimes underneath them. I don't think there's any, you know, I mean, the Kristen is very clear on that, right? Here's -- here's what it looks like, right? Americans overwhelmingly say they want these people removed from the country, but these are mothers. And to my knowledge, there are no details of criminal allegations aside from, of course, coming to the country.
But there were rules where you could come and claim asylum, right? They're showing up at their hearings. They haven't, like, disappeared into the country, and they have these little kids who are U.S. citizens.
JENNINGS: Yeah. I mean, the question, the policy question is how many exceptions do you want to make? And the Trump administration and President Trump has always said, were really not going to make any exceptions. And that's as Kristen just said, that's what the American people voted for, exception after exception after exception got us into the mess in the first place.
ALLISON: You know, I don't agree with the policy, but I don't disagree with your assessment of this. This is elections have consequences.
Now, when Donald Trump said that he was going to deport criminals and, the violent folks, I don't think when a lot of Americans voted, they wanted the mom and the kid deported.
But it is very clear now to the American people that there are no exceptions that this administration wants.
[16:50:02]
They want all immigrants gone that have come here without papers. Now, this will come back in the midterms. This will come back in the next election.
This is an opportunity. I hate to talk about this because these are real peoples' lives, but this is an opportunity for Democrats. And the first Trump administration, the one time the issue of immigration actually started trending to become a more positive issue that broke through was during family separation. It was the one time in the years about this issue, if this becomes a family separation 2.0, where you see American citizens being deported, that one story could make it the break.
The question is, will Democrats be able to take it and use it for their advantage?
HUNT: All right. Coming up next here, something totally different. The presidential lunch guest that's ruffling some feathers.
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[16:55:27]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Are you planning on visiting the White House next week?
JALEN HURTS, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES QUARTERBACK: Um -- REPORTER: Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts acting coy when asked if he would visit the White House with his Super Bowl winning team. CNN has learned that hurts did not attend the ongoing reception today due to a, quote, scheduling conflict. His teammate, the running back Saquon Barkley, on the other hand, did attend and Barkley actually got a little bit of a head start. He was seen getting off Marine One with the president yesterday after hanging out at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
After he took some incoming on social media, Saquon Barkley posted this on X, quote: Some people are really upset because I played golf and flew to the White House with the president. All caps on president. Maybe I should just respect the office. Maybe I do just respect the office. Not a hard concept to understand.
He also told people to, quote, get out of his mentions with the politics.
Chuck Todd, I have to say, I mean this like, yeah, everyone now, I mean this this is not just the Eagles, by the way. There are all sorts of public figures who don't do politics, who want nothing to do with it because of how divided --
TODD: No. And look, the president makes it harder because look what he did to Eagle. You know, he literally said, I'm not rooting for the Eagles because he thinks the owners against him and all this stuff. I mean, I -- I wish he'd go back to the way Ronald Reagan handled these sports things. He made it easy to be sort of apolitical or nonpartisan about this.
The problem is President Trump loves to use these moments for his own political gain. It's good politics for him. I mean, look what he did with the NFL draft. He was looking for somebody to insert his way in, and he found Clay Matthews to do it on his behalf. Clearly, the NFL wasn't going to give him that sort of opening there.
So, I do think the presidents does make this feel more divisive than nobody wants this. I think everybody wants to be where Saquon is. That's where I want to be.
HUNT: I mean, look, it's, Ashley Allison, like the idea. You know in the past, it's always been the president of the United States, the leader of the free world. As we were talking about earlier. But I don't know. Has it permanently changed in this way?
ALLISON: Probably. Yeah. I mean, until the president decides for it not to be this way anymore, I mean, guess what? He has a lot of power and plays an important role in there.
Look, I think Hurts not going is fine. Like he's an adult. He can make his own decisions. And Barkley going is a choice, too. And what we do know is that choices have consequences.
TODD: This happened to Obama though. There were guys that didn't show up.
ALLISON: Yeah.
TODD: And Obama didn't make a big deal out of it. ALLISON: Yeah. He knew that there were some people weren't going to
be.
JENNINGS: And the president is a commentator of many things.
TODD: On everything.
JENNINGS: Sports, culture, movies, Canadian politics, whatever. This man is our pundit in chief, he's our commentator in chief. Of course, he has opinions about sports. It's fine for him to have opinions about sports. It's fine for the athletes to love it or hate it and come or not come.
I think it's fine for people. I mean, it's sports. We all have opinions about sports and they can do what they want to do. They're all grown men. They do what they want to do.
ALLISON: I actually though, appreciate Jalen Hurts, if that is his position. Being bold enough to say it is that we see now that there are a lot of people who had certain positions during Trump 1.0 and are not doing the same thing anymore, and I appreciate the consistency of it. To each his own.
HUNT: Kristen, what do you what do you see just in terms of like it just feels like it used to be a little bit of a separate realm. There used to be kind of official -- the government. You could go and meet with your congressman or, you know, if you were lucky enough to be invited to the White House, it was kind of a moment of, you know, American pride, right?
And now, it seems like people are forced to decide you know, that's not an option. They have to play for one team or the other.
ANDERSON: Well, just look at presidential job approval -- I mean, I'm always coming back to polls. Presidential job approval, going back decades, right? There was a time when it was not inconceivable that a president could hit 70 or 80 percent job approval. And then we got into an era where 60 percent was pretty darn good. And now we're in an era where like 50 percent is like, really incredible.
I mean, this has been a slow erosion of interest in and trust in institutions of all kinds, including government, things like the presidency that's been happening for a long time.
HUNT: Yeah. All right. Jake Tapper, fellow Eagles fan, is standing by for the lead.
And I think we should return to what's most important here, which is that the Eagles won the Super Bowl.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "THE LEAD": Yeah, by a lot.
HUNT: And therefore were invited to the White House. And I think the real question is whether or not the NFL is going to try to outlaw the brotherly shove, because that would definitely offend me. TAPPER: The tush push. Well, the fact is there are a lot of teams out
there who are weak and sad and they are looking for ways to be able to beat the Eagles. And so they're trying to ban the tush push.
HUNT: They're just trying to change the rules, man.
TAPPER: One other thing about the Super Bowl I'd like to say is that the actual score of the Super Bowl was 34-0. Eagles, I mean, like in the last few minutes, they let some of the second team in and they got the score up to I think what was it, 44 to 20 or something. But the actual score was a blowout of 34-0.
And the Eagles are the best team in Super Bowl. I'm with -- I'm with Saquon on this. This is just about football for me. I'm not really focused on the politics of it all.
But, Kasie, we'll see you back in. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. I know you mean that, too.
HUNT: I do.
TAPPER: We'll see you back in THE ARENA tomorrow.
HUNT: Bye.