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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Now: Final Hours Of Bitter GOP Battle In Texas Senate Primary; Iran Threatens Retaliation After U.S. Strikes In Southern Iran; Trump Gets Physical Exam Ahead Of Turning 80 Next Month. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired May 26, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: I was being positive and practicing gratitude. Sometimes a little fear -- a little fear over here.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Sometimes it's hard to practice gratitude. Nevertheless, we're grateful that you joined us this afternoon.
THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT starts right now.
(MUSIC)
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hey, everyone. Welcome to THE ARENA. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's great to have you with us on this Tuesday.
Right now, voters are voting specifically in Texas as Republicans once again decide whether to listen to President Donald Trump and oust a longtime incumbent member of their party, Senator John Cornyn, in the political fight of his life, against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Trump endorsed Paxton last week, saying that Cornyn was insufficiently supportive of the MAGA agenda.
And, of course, time and time again, we have seen what happens to incumbent Republicans targeted by the president. So is it at all possible for Cornyn to buck the trend? The president writing this morning, quote, "Texas, vote for ken Paxton, our country's best attorney general," end quote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN PAXTON (R), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: What is John Cornyn accomplished not just in the 24 years in the Senate? Look, he's running for a fifth term, which no ones done, as you know, in Texas history, no one served 30 years in the U.S. Senate. He's been in office since I was in college, and I'm 63, so 42 years in office. I've been asking every voter, whether it's one voter or thousands, what has John accomplished that's good for the state of Texas or the country?
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): Texans have learned that you can't trust a thing that Paxton says because he's lied to taxpayers. His senior staff got impeached by a Republican led House of Representatives, and hung taxpayers with $6.6 million in a judgment from whistleblowers who turned him into the FBI.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, lets get off the sidelines and into THE ARENA. My panel is here.
CNN chief political analyst, former senior adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod; the host of "The Chuck Toddcast," Chuck Todd; CNN political commentator and former Biden White House communications director, Kate Bedingfield; and former Republican speaker pro tem, Patrick McHenry.
Welcome to all of you. Thanks very much for being here on this primary election day.
Congressman, this is a story we seem to be rinsing and repeating as we sit here and look at how these primaries are playing out, when the president starts to get involved. This is when he got involved in pretty late, right? People were asking him to do it earlier. It seemed a little bit like the writing was on the wall.
Is there any chance that Cornyn keeps this seat?
PATRICK MCHENRY (R), FORMER FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Unlikely. But also this is this a couple of things that President Trump does, which is he let the primary develop and then endorses the winner. Like this is what happened in Kentucky. Andy Barr had the race in hand for the nomination. And President Trump came in and took him from a 55, 60 percent victory. And, and juiced it. And I think we'll see something similar in Texas, where Paxton is a deeply flawed candidate.
There have been I don't know what the final tune of the dollars spent defining this. And yet, he's going to still win the Republican primary or runoff in Texas.
This is a problem. This is also a problem back here in D.C., where you now have the YOLO caucus, chaired by my friend and North Carolina senator, Thom Tillis, who is going to say, let's just have fun for the last seven months and -- of this Congress and --
HUNT: By "have fun", you mean let's do what we really think and believe?
MCHENRY: Yeah, I think that's -- that's what it is. So it's going to be interesting. That's going to be interesting to see.
HUNT: I want to play just to kind of remind everybody why Democrats are looking at this and saying, oh, maybe this race is going to be on the map because of the way Trump has intervened. Now, Ken Paxton have won this race regardless of President Trump's involvement. But it certainly helps underscore -- underscore it.
This was an ad that John Cornyn aired targeting Ken Paxton in the primary, in the course of the primary election. We have to note here, CNN has not verified the claims that have been made here, and we have reached out to Paxton's campaign for comment. But to give you a sense of what were looking at going forward, watch. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: Let's cut through the bullshit. Crooked Ken Paxton cheated on his wife. She's divorcing him on biblical grounds. And remember this, crooked Ken has increased his net worth by as much as 7,000 percent since taking office. Now think of Paxton dirty deeds we don't know about -- yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: David Axelrod is --
DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Who could get elected with things like that being said about them? I can't even imagine. I'm sorry you had a question.
HUNT: No, I -- please feel free to take the floor. I mean, I'm interested to know if you think Democrats really are going to have a shot at this if Paxton wins.
AXELROD: Well, look, it is interesting. He's been hit with, like, $100 million of negative media. So the question, you know, the problem for Talarico, the Democratic candidate who's very, very talented is he's also unknown to a lot of voters. So whatever they hear about him, even if it doesn't compare to this, is going to be new information.
And the Paxton PAC turned around.
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I mean, I think they're confident of a landslide. And they turned around and started running a 60-second ad against Talarico that kind of unloaded on him. And it seems in part aimed at -- well, it's not -- it's aimed at making him look not just left wing, but weak.
HUNT: You know, we actually have a piece of that. Let's play it. And then you can pick it up on the other side and sort of explain what you're -- what you're talking about. This is a pro-Paxton PAC, and it's -- well, it's called "Low T Talarico". Take that for what you will. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: God is non-binary. It is now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption. The American flag is such a complicated symbol for most of us. Prophetic voices like Jesus have helped me reckon with my own whiteness, my own masculinity.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hhe Democrats have a weird, a weird candidate.
AD NARRATOR: Low T Talarico, too weak for Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP) AXELROD: Yeah, man. I mean, we'll have to -- I don't know how much we want to conjecture about what "low T" means, but I think this was heavy with inference. And I think there's a target. I think Hispanic voters are one big target for this, because one of the things that the Republicans have to worry about there is their Hispanic support has fallen way off. And that is what gives Democrats hope.
And so, you know, we'll see. I will tell you this, there are states when you are on a party where you say, you know, we've never won that in 20 years, 30 years. But this year we think we can do it. And it often turns out to be fools gold. I think Talarico is talented. They could win that race. I wouldn't put it in the top pantheon of surprises that I expect in November, but.
CHUCK TODD, HOST OF "THE CHUCK TODDCAST": Well, I'll say this -- the best Senate campaign committee chair the Democrats have had the last 10 years has been Donald Trump, right? You know, they got the Senate in 2020 because of Donald Trump and how he mismanaged the runoffs. And it handed in the Senate. They held the Senate in 2022 because of Donald Trump and his eye for talent in people that he decides to endorse. And it looks like now he's trying to take what is a Republican majority and make it as vulnerable.
HUNT: As it could be a really tough year for --
TODD: In general. And he's -- but he's now making it harder. This is going to be Paxton being the nominee is going to cost somebody money. Is it Michael Whatley in North Carolina? It cost him money. Is it going to cost Jon Husted money in Ohio? Is it going to basically -- do they pull their targeting of New Hampshire?
I mean, the amount of money theyre going to have to unload on Talarico because this committee does not want to run a single ad promoting Ken Paxton. They haven't done it yet, but theyre going to drop the anvil on Talarico. Right?
AXELROD: Yeah. He's going to -- he's going to find out what carnivores are.
TODD: Right, there is -- there is going to be -- it is going to. And it may work. I'm with David. There may be just -- Democrats just may have a numbers problem at the end of the day in Texas, where they -- we know they can get to 48 because Beto O'Rourke got to 48. I don't know if they can get to 50 percent plus one. And we're -- and we're going to find out. But Donald Trump has put the Democrats in the game. And more importantly, it then means, hey, you know, theyre targeting Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Alaska.
None of these are easy states, but theyre much cheaper than Texas. And Democrats can sort of -- Texas is a luxury. It is no longer a luxury for Republicans. And it's that costliness that actually could help Democrats win the Senate and other states.
BEDINGFIELD: Yeah. I mean, I think that's the key. This is going to be a financial drain for Republicans. Now, Trump is basically ensuring that by putting Paxton on the ballot, who is an incredibly. Let's -- let's not -- like we're looking at all this advertising that may well wind up defining Talarico in a way that makes him unpalatable to a majority of voters in Texas.
But Paxton also has massive, massive baggage and is going to face having to, you know, deal with a lot of this -- this incoming. And I think this is a year where you have -- if you look at the primaries over the last few weeks, you had 150,000 more Democrats turned out in Georgia than Republicans in the primary. You had -- in the gubernatorial primary, you had 450,000 more Democrats turned out in Pennsylvania a couple of weeks ago than Republicans.
There is an enormous amount of energy, and I think a candidate like Paxton, while I tend to agree that it is unlikely that a Democrat wins a Texas senate seat, the amount of money Republicans are going to have to spend is significant. And by the way, there's also been reporting, you know, that Abbott is telling people privately that he's concerned about his race. So there --
TODD: He should be.
BEDINGFIELD: There is -- there is anxiety.
AXELROD: Talarico is a monster -- has become a monster fundraiser himself. And he will have --
BEDINGFIELD: He is and Paxton is not.
AXELROD: A huge amount of resources, by the way.
BEDINGFIELD: And Paxton's not from traditional Republican --
AXELROD: Senator Tillis got the best line of the day yesterday when he said saying that Paxton is ethically challenged is like saying Jeffrey Dahmer had an eating disorder, which I thought was -- you have a lot of fun. That goes to -- this goes to the fun you can have when you're leaving.
TODD: But here's the irony Donald Trump's already lost control of the Senate.
HUNT: Right, because --
TODD: He doesn't have control of this Senate at all.
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HUNT: And it only takes --
TODD: And now we're -- and now we're about to find out whether he --
AXELROD: Yes. Yeah.
MCHENRY: But we're basically, what's left -- what's left for the Senate. You got to reopen part of DHS. What else?
TODD: By the way, that's potentially -- that's quite difficult. HUNT: Potentially.
TODD: They got to decide whether a slush fund. They got to decide whether a slush fund of $1.8 billion.
MCHENRY: No, that may not -- that may just keep two parts of DHS closed. But let's get back to this. Are the Democrats going to go spend $250 million to put the Senate, the Senate race in Texas on the map? No.
But what will this do to the chessboard? That is the senate and allocating resources. That is what David spoke to. This has ramifications for the person we've not talked to, talked about this whole election cycle, Jon Ossoff, who is a presidential candidate.
I would -- I would say he wins this in Texas. He's running. He's running for president. And you'd be crazy.
HUNT: In Georgia.
MCHENRY: In Georgia, sorry.
HUNT: Yeah, yeah, in Georgia.
MCHENRY: But -- in Georgia, he is the beneficiary of the fact that you have to spend a single dime on the Senate race in Texas. This is an astronomical failure on the part of Republicans, incompetence driving this, which then has implications across the map, including in states like you mentioned, New Hampshire, where we have a high quality candidate who has won, and Alaska, which is going to be a complicated beast. And that's before we even talk about other races that are really online now.
So this map for the senate should be a lay-up for Republicans, and were making it unnecessarily hard because of active bad choices in primaries. And this has history --
TODD: I think it's great that you say we. It's the choice of one person.
BEDINGFIELD: Well, and Trump has --
MCHENRY: I'm a Republican, and I am a Republican still. And you know, I -- so this is -- this is the tough part. I want a Republican Senate. I do, and it makes it really unnecessarily hard. But also you have flawed candidates.
So Paxton on one side and then the Nazi tattoo guy for Democrats in Maine, both parties have problems with really stupid people getting the nomination. And this is a very expensive example in both cases.
BEDINGFIELD: And Trump, by the way, for his political dominance and his domination in the Republican Party, has a track record of supporting candidates who cannot win general elections like Kari Lake. And so, I think, you know, there -- there's no question that he has he has the iron grip. He remains. He still has the iron grip. Now well see what as --
(CROSSTALK)
TODD: There's a specific detail on that, but that I'm obsessed with, which is election deniers in general, which is who he ends up endorsing. If there's a choice between an election denier and a denier, he goes to the election denier.
BEDINGFIELD: Yeah, because they're a Trump --
TODD: Every swing state has rejected election denier nominees, right? Georgia did. Arizona did. Wisconsin has, right? Because Ron Johnson always walked the line. He didn't do it. He actually knew. I'm in a swing state. I can't go that. I can't go over there.
HUNT: Walked right up to it.
TODD: We're going to find out in Texas, we don't know whether how swing state of a swing state is Texas wanting to be. If they can elect an election denier to the U.S. senate, which he is, that will tell you something about that.
HUNT: Last word.
AXELROD: Yeah. No. Look, I also -- one of the questions I have is for Trump. You're right. Trump is a huge weight. And, you know, it's not just the choices. It's that you've got a president who's deeply, deeply unpopular. But one of the things I wonder about it. Does Paxton have the ability to bring out any of those Trump voters? Is he so much part of that MAGA deal? Can he bring out Republicans who otherwise wouldn't come out? And does that offset the Republicans who are Cornyn Republicans who may just sit this race out?
HUNT: Yeah. Good questions, all.
All right. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, what President Trump is saying about the physical he got today at Walter Reed as he prepares to turn 80 years old next month.
But first, the chairman of the -- vice chairman, excuse me, of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner is here live as new U.S. strikes on Iran potentially throw a wrench into the ongoing talks for a deal to end the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think, like anything with something like this, and it's going to take a couple days to settle on, even down to the disagreements over a word, sentence. So we'll have to work through that. If there's going to be a deal, we're going to have to work through that. But this is -- you know, it's either going to be a good deal or there isn't going to be one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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RUBIO: I think there's strong alignment and agreement on what a preliminary draft should look like. I think like anything with something like this, it's going to take a couple days to settle on, even down to the disagreements over a word sentence. So we'll have to work through that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Just hours after the U.S. military carried out what it called self-defense strikes in Iran overnight, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that an Iran deal still remains a couple of days away. As those talks intensify and as President Trump faces continued political pressure over the war here at home, President Trump's cabinet is expected to converge for a rare meeting at the secluded and historic Camp David compound tomorrow.
Joining me now in THE ARENA to discuss, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia.
Senator, thanks very much for joining us here.
I was hoping we could just start with the latest on what you know, what you understand about where things are with Iran, the strikes that were conducted. What does that say about how close a deal is or isn't?
SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Well, Donald Trump's war of choice needs to come to an end you know, were more than 80 days in. He's not accomplished any of the goals from regime change to getting the enriched uranium to getting rid of their missiles or Lord knows, the Strait of Hormuz was not a problem before the war started.
[16:20:03]
But the economic cost this is taking on the American economy -- gas prices, fertilizer costs, diesel fuel, he's got to get out of this. And I fear that he will -- we almost have to take whatever he wants to declare victory to get our economy back on the hot -- a -- more productive grounds. We obviously have had our international reputation sullied, and clearly, Iran will still have a lot of capabilities. Ironically, we may end up back where we were under Obama by having an inspection regime, but no ability to really get the enriched uranium out.
But I will take that. And if Donald Trump wants to declare victory, so be it. Just because, you know, they keep our troops potentially in harms way and the economic damage and international damage on his war of choice needs to come to an end.
HUNT: What can you say about the current relationship between the United States and Israel? Certainly, it's a complicated one that's also based on intelligence, right? And there were significant ties, especially in the beginning here. Have we pulled apart from them in your understanding?
WARNER: Well, I think it's the prime minister -- Israel's government, and it has very different interests here than the American government. We obviously support Israel's right to defend itself. And if, Hezbollah in Lebanon continues to attack, Israel has a right to respond but Prime Minister Netanyahu wanted a elimination of Iran. That didn't happen. I don't think there's any way that will happen through a bombing campaign only.
And I sure as heck don't think the American people want to put thousands of troops on a ground war in Iran. And yet, it seems like will the prime minister agree because it appears that this whatever deal with Iran will include some level of cease fire between Hezbollah and Israel? Israel will adhere to that. I don't know.
And then I don't know why the president keeps adding more conditions. The idea that somehow he's going to get the Saudis, the Qataris and all the other Arab nations in the region to agree to the Abraham Accords simply because he requests this seems like it's -- he's making his goal of trying to claim victory even harder. And obviously, he made those comments after the calls over the weekend.
And Saudi Arabia has already rejected it. And if we go back to what happened today, and there's so much of this is, I know, so confusing, how can we be claiming were close to a deal? And then we are striking Iran militarily? Part of that is due to the fact that the secretary of state, I think, is negotiating with the Iranian foreign minister that has some power.
But the real power in the Iran now resides with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who has control of the military. And I think it's more than likely that you'll see some retaliation from the Iranians because of our -- our strike. I don't criticize our strike because if they were further putting further mines in or our troops were in danger but I would not be surprised at all if the IRGC may go ahead and feel it has to retaliate.
And I'm not sure where that means for this deal that seems to get more and more. I would simply quickly add that it does seem like president Trump says the deal is close over weekend, so we can get a good bump from the stock market when it reopens, whether the deals are close or not. We've seen this a couple of times now.
HUNT: Senator, I also want to ask you about what's going on here at home. We saw, of course, we learned Tulsi Gabbard is not going to remain as director of national intelligence. She, of course, appeared in Fulton County, Georgia, when there was an FBI raid on ballots there.
My question for you, do you think this change at the DNI could somehow impact our midterm election?
WARNER: Well, first of all, I hope Tulsi Gabbard does well. Her husband is sick, and I wish them the best. But boy oh boy, do we need a nonpolitical DNI. One of the things I'm concerned about, reports of whether the
president is getting all the accurate intelligence. Have we so intimidated the intelligence community that they're not telling all the facts? I hope and pray they are. But, you know, we have clearly seen a politicization and people fired if they don't agree with the Trump administration.
In case of the election, as I said to you, I'm more worried today than I was a few months ago. The president, whether it's taking the Fulton ballots, which we've not retrieved yet, whether potentially it could be using a false piece of intelligence to use an excuse to put troops at the polls or move elections back. I think there are a great number of lawyers and others working on how we could stop illegal interference, but I'm particularly concerned about a false piece of intelligence being used as an excuse to do to interfere in these elections.
[16:25:01]
Because, again, don't take my word for it. Just look at the president's own comments about the Republicans should count the vote. And we should you know, Stephen Miller's comments about being able to use forces or martial law. These are all things that are unprecedented as we get towards an election that, at least on the surface, looks like the president's party is not going to do well.
HUNT: Are you -- are you saying that your concern that President Trump may use -- let me just kind of put a fine point on what I think, what I think you just said. There may be intelligence used to justify a nationalization of our election and potential national security actions around that?
WARNER: There was a report. Again, don't take my word for it. Use the president's own words where he said that about 15 places Republicans ought to -- ought to take control. He has talked about using troops in the past. There was a report of a Washington -- a "Washington Post" source report. I didn't see it in my intelligence where they were potentially Ms. Gabbard and others were going to use a case of Chinese intelligence, maybe from years before, as a precedent.
I hope I'm wrong, but everything that the president has said he would do in terms of interference, he's done in the past and I -- I just hope and pray that my, you know, all of the people who talk about free elections in our country, particularly some of my Republican friends, if they see this or if there's evidence that false flag operations are taking place, that they will stand up and speak out.
HUNT: You wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security to Secretary Mullin, and you said that their cyber agency, CISA, their work must never be used as fodder to limit states' constitutional authority to administer elections. CISA and DHS broadly, must refrain from participating in or supporting unconstitutional unilateral efforts to nationalize or take over elections.
Can I ask, is there anything that you can tell us that you know, in your capacity as vice chair of the intelligence committee about why you're concerned about this?
WARNER: Well, I can tell you that CISA, which frankly, was stood up in President Trump's first term and the irony of all this, many of the protections that were put in place in the 2020 election were done by President Trump's intelligence community in the first term by CISA. CISA did -- it's a voluntary -- it's an agent that works voluntarily with organizations. It had great outreach to local election officials all across the country, in terms of making our elections in 2020 and 2024 safer. The irony is CISA, which had, you know, almost a couple thousand people, has been cut by about 60 percent. All of the collaboration, again, voluntary between CISA and local election officials have been dismantled by this administration.
So you're darn right I'm concerned that, you know, in an age where we have new tools like Mythos from Anthropic that opens up cybersecurity vulnerabilities that are unprecedented, if we are taking down the cybersecurity agency that again, works in a voluntary, nobody's mandated to work with them, but dismantling them. When there's greater cyber threats and when there is the potential, at least from folks who've been supportive of President Trump.
Look at Steve Bannon's comments. Anyone that doesn't think that we could see, you know, actually the interference in our elections at a -- at an unprecedented scale, I think is a bit naive. Again, I pray that I'm wrong and I -- and I could be wrong. If people in both parties find a spine and say, you know, no, we got to have free and fair elections in this country. But all -- so much of the evidence I'm seeing so far doesn't lead me to that conclusion.
HUNT: All right. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and the intelligence committee -- sir, thanks very much for your time today. I really appreciate it.
WARNER: Thank you, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Coming up next, the one word President Trump is using to describe his physical exam today. I'm going to bet you can guess what it is.
Plus, new setbacks today for Republican-led redistricting efforts. A federal court blocking one map and lawmakers in another state defying the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STATE SEN. RICHARD CASH (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: South Carolinas citizens are going to the polls today, and neither my conscience nor my common sense will allow me to stop an election that is already underway
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Who's the healthiest of the three? He said President Donald J. Trump by far. If he didn't eat junk food, he'd live to 200 years old. He was my doctor and he said, I'm the healthiest human being.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: President Trump earlier this year, claiming his doctor agrees he's healthier than either Barack Obama or George W. Bush when they were serving as president. Earlier today, the president went to Walter Reed Medical Center for what he called his semiannual physical, his third medical exam at the military hospital since his inauguration.
So while we wait for the White House physicians report, President Trump says the visit went, quote, "perfectly".
My panel is back.
Chuck Todd, this obviously, of course, the health of presidents a becoming a perennial issue as our president seemed to be older as they are serving in office. This president is about to turn 80 years old. This is something that they, you know, Trump's doctors have for the entirety of his time in public life, offered various descriptions with, you know, different types of flowery language about just how well he's doing.
[16:35:00]
But you can see some of, you know, the doc -- in the doctor's notes through 2025. One thing that they acknowledge in one of the notes is that there have been recent photos of the president that have shown minor bruising on the back of his hand. This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent hand shaking, the use of aspirin. This is, of course, something that the Internet really has focused in on.
I mentioned only to say that, you know, these things have a way of kind of snowballing, potentially out of control. And there have been so many questions about the president's health.
Do you have any questions about the president's health?
TODD: I will just say this. I go with the same judgment that I had on the -- on the Biden presidency, which is you can't take what theyre saying, but you just sort of watch what you see. And what I see with Donald Trump is not first term Donald Trump. First term Donald Trump traveled the country a lot. You saw him a lot. You don't see him a lot.
He's definitely moving less. They're very careful. I think it hurts for him to walk because of his ankle issues. I don't know that, but I don't know if that's the reason.
But if you -- you know, he moves less. He's usually standing less often, usually seated more, things like this. Look, he has incredible medical care. In fact, if it wasn't for presidential medical care, he wouldn't be alive today because he got COVID at a time when other people, if they had gotten --
HUNT: You and I spent that entire day on the air together.
TODD: Yeah. I mean, he would have he would have died as a civilian. He only was able to get the treatments that he needed because he was president -- when he was helicoptered to Walter Reed, when he was president of United States.
So, look, he's got all of the -- you know, this bruising. I don't know why they can't admit he's on a blood thinner, because this is pretty -- it's obvious he's on a blood thinner. He's -- they've kind of said he's on a blood thinner.
HUNT: They called it. They said aspirin.
TODD: Right. But it's more than aspirin. It's another blood thinner that gives you that kind of bruising. Anybody that has some family members that take blood thinners is very aware of it. Like it's a -- it's a normal thing.
It is. You know, he is so vain. He doesn't like to -- he doesn't want to admit some of these things. I actually think there's no harm in it. I think the way they treat this because they hide it makes it -- makes you think, what else are you hiding?
AXELROD: You know --
HUNT: So I think the way they've handled this is introduced more suspicion than what's in front of us.
AXELROD: First of all, we should have a system whereby people get to hear an independent report. A president has an exam, someone examines the president. We're going to have 80-year-old presidents. We should know. We had problems in the last administration.
We have questions now, but I'm just trying to think, Kate, if Joe Biden regularly dozed at his own events.
BEDINGFIELD: I mean --
AXELROD: I think that the world would be -- I mean, can you imagine that?
BEDINGFIELD: Yes. I can, in fact --
AXELROD: That does -- that does -- that does -- it does -- it -- these things do raise questions. And people have a right to ask them. We only have one president and, you know, we ought to be able to have some confidence. I don't think we do right now.
BEDINGFIELD: And this is a president who has a history of putting forth fabricated reports about his health. I mean, that was the first doctor's note from 2017.
TODD: That guy's dead, by the way. OK, by the way, his first doctor. Yeah. That guy. BEDINGFIELD: You mentioned him getting COVID. They were not forthcoming about how severe the COVID was. And we really didn't learn about it until he was forced to be essentially medevaced to Walter Reed. So this -- this administration, Trump's team has a history of not being forthcoming.
I also think it's interesting, you know, not to feed conspiracy theories, but it is interesting that he goes to Walter Reed and now he's going to Camp David, which is really like the one place a president can go and not have to be on camera.
So, you know, there are just there are questions to be asked. They should be forthcoming.
TODD: Not saying anything. You're just asking questions.
BEDINGFIELD: Hey, you know, if the press isn't going to do it, I'm going to do it. But I --
MCHENRY: A lot of fun. I think this is a lot of fun to hear. I've enjoyed all of this. It's been fantastic.
Those press conferences are way too long. And if you have stayed awake for every single one of them, you've not watched them. They are way too long.
So I can do all the dance you want about President Trump.
AXELROD: He ought to talk to someone about that.
MCHENRY: But I can do all the dance you want about President Trump and his health. But what he has done and his whole adult life is over-brag about his physical prowess, right? And the only thing that's true about his physical prowess is he's a really good golfer. That is actually a truth even before the presidential deference on putts.
But, but it's really rich. It's really rich with this, with this discussion because we watch Biden, we watched Biden deteriorate. And so, to over-respond to President Trump, who --
BEDINGFIELD: I argued the opposite, who just --
MCHENRY: Who gave the longest State of the Union, if I may, who gave the longest State of the Union Address, who is the same age that we've actually born in the same decade that most of our presidents have been, except for President Obama in the last 40 years. It's an extraordinary thing, given the fact that he has eaten terribly and he is -- you know, we see all this stuff.
So all this stuff, the easiest response for any Republican is but Biden.
[16:40:02]
And having sat through negotiating with Biden on the debt ceiling in 2023 -- BEDINGFIELD: I would argue they just --
MCHENRY: -- I'm grateful that President Biden's team said yes to the -- to the debate early, so the American people could actually try to -- actually have a --
BEDINGFIELD: I would argue the opposite. I think all of the focus on Biden only further necessitates focus on Trump. I'm not -- I'm not -- I don't think anybody's sitting here saying --
AXELROD: I mean, I worked in the White House. You worked in the White House. I worked right next to a president. I had a feeling for how hard that job is and how demanding that job is. So it's not really fun to say there are concerns when you have 80 year olds in this office dealing with a 24/7 job, the most stressful job on the planet.
And so, having a text message from the president saying it went perfectly is not that reassuring.
BEDINGFIELD: And I agree --
MCHENRY: I don't think any of these physicals for the last 30 years have been reassuring to anyone. I think -- I think all of this stuff requires some sort of check, and regardless of party.
AXELROD: I'm with you. I'm with you. Let's do it.
HUNT: Exactly right. Yeah.
MCHENRY: I mean, the every picture the president at the beginning of -- in four years later and eight years later is markedly different. So we see the stress before our eyes.
TODD: The three of us grew up during Reagan's presidency. And we saw and I will say this, Reagan's White House put out their doctors. They would be at press conferences when he was in Walter Reed getting surgery. At the time, there would be. So there was a time we actually handled this not as partisans, but as sort of like, here's what the presidents going through.
And in some ways, hey, it's you do -- you know why you did the story? Because you're in the mainstream news media, because there were other people going, hey, the presidents just like --
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: Let's just stipulate they all age. But when you start in your mid 70s or late 70s, it's a more profound issue.
BEDINGFEILD: There should be independent --
MCHENRY: Let's actually have age limit.
AXELROD: I'm down for that, too.
HUNT: It's also worth noting to your point about what he eats, his own health and human services secretary, RFK, Jr., citing his McDonalds, candy and Diet Coke, says, quote, "I don't know how he's alive, but he is." So there's that.
TODD: But I don't know if I would take that guy's prescription medication every day either.
HUNT: Coming up next in THE ARENA, it is not just Republican versus Republican in Texas today. Democrats are facing off against each other as new maps go into effect. We're going to talk with one of them.
Congresswoman Julie Johnson is here live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:46:56]
HUNT: President Trump today facing dueling setbacks in his push for new midterm maps. In South Carolina, Republicans stopped an effort that would have likely ousted longtime Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn. And in Alabama, a federal court temporarily blocked Republicans from using a new map that would have netted the party one additional seat.
Joining me now is Texas Democratic Congresswoman Julie Johnson, who has been pitted against a fellow Democrat in a newly drawn district after last year's successful redistricting effort in that state.
Congresswoman, thank you very much for joining us. It's great to have you on the show. I want to start kind of big picture. How do you think these redistricting efforts affect the voters that you currently represent and are fighting to continue to represent?
REP. JULIE JOHNSON (D-TX): Well, I think they have a huge impact on the voters for from a multiple perspectives. One is continuity of representation. You know, we have casework. We help people with cases all the time. There's a lot going on with that.
And they're constantly having to shift offices and members that they're dealing with, every two years or so, which is very disruptive. And then also just the collective right to vote. You know, it's really a problem to have political shifts like that. We're going to redistrict now. Oh, were going to change legislatures. We'll redistrict again.
I really do think we need to stop this madness and have it be once every decade in line with the census. And Congress needs to step in and do something about it.
HUNT: What do you say to Democrats in blue states who are pushing aggressively to respond to redistricting in states like yours? What do you say to California Governor Gavin Newsom about his efforts? Considering what you just said about what you think the country needs, do you think Governor Newsom did the right thing?
JOHNSON: Absolutely. I mean, you have to play by the same rules, right? The rules are the rules, and Democrats have to play by the same rules. We can't just say, oh, Republicans, you get to go do these rules. We're going to have a different set of rules.
As long as the rules are what they are. We all need to be playing under that same playbook. But I do think that the rules for both sides need to change. We need to have a fair and independent redistricting map structure that happens once every decade to keep -- to keep the system fair and balanced is what's appropriate.
For what all these new lines are not taking into account, population shifts, and it's just really messing up the whole system.
HUNT: I want to ask you about another House race in your state, the one for the 35th district, the Democrat, one of the Democrats, Maureen Galindo, has used some pretty antisemitic language, tropes in her primary campaign. Her rival is Johnny Garcia. What will it say if she wins that Democratic primary tonight?
JOHNSON: Well, I have a hard time envisioning her winning. I mean, I have renounced her comments along with so many of my colleagues. What she has said is reprehensible and its inappropriate in the political sphere. And I think we're all rallying behind Johnny Garcia because she doesn't represent Democratic values.
[16:50:00]
She doesn't represent the mainstream of the Democratic Party.
And I really -- I really just don't see her prevailing tonight.
HUNT: If this race doesn't break your way tonight. And of course, you did a trail Colin Allred in that previous race. Will you continue to stay on the stage? What are your future plans?
JOHNSON: Well, we're feeling really confident about tonight, actually. Turnout is really favoring us right now. What we're seeing here on the ground. But in any event that we're not successful, you know, I'm still a Democrat. I'll be involved. I'll still be in congress.
We'll use the platform that I have to elect Democrats up and down the ballot. And a lot of my friends in Congress are in some tough races. And so that's who I am. That's what I've been doing for 30 years. That's what we'll continue to do also.
HUNT: All right. Texas Congresswoman Julie Johnson, thanks very much for spending some time with us today on this election day. Really appreciate it.
JOHNSON: Great to see you.
HUNT: All right. My panel is back.
I want to play one -- something that my colleague Manu Raju, who is on the ground in Texas with Senator John Cornyn, who's, of course, fighting for his political life today. They just spoke and Cornyn made these comments to Manu. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): He is a an embarrassment. His misbehavior, and he's completely unrepentant. I mean, it's one thing for a person to make a mistake and then say, you know, I'm sorry. I'll do better next time.
But that's not Ken Paxton. It's just emboldened him to the point of recklessness and now to the point of self-destructiveness, especially with regard to his own family.
The basic problem is you can't trust Ken Paxton. He's lied to Texas taxpayers. He's lied to his senior staff who turned him into the FBI. And then it's his own family. And of course, with the -- his wife allegations made of unfaithfulness. I just think you cannot trust Ken Paxton.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Would you endorse Paxton if he's the nominee?
CORNYN: I've said before, and I'll say it again that I would support the ticket.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Chuck Todd, there's a lot there.
TODD: Well, there is, and I don't -- look, I don't know if there was a larger frame, but if you're spending your last hours on the campaign trail and you're just talking about your opponent, you're in deep trouble. Okay? I mean, that's-- that's obviously, that -- that's the words of a candidate that's losing. That's not the words of the candidates winning.
HUNT: Look, I've covered -- I've covered Cornyn for a lot of years in the Senate, right? I mean, in many ways, what you just saw there embodies what we have seen happen to the Republican Party. I mean, that is someone who was part of an establishment who comes across on camera, like many of the older guard politicians and who -- I mean, at the top, I wasn't quite sure he could have been talking about president Trump, but he was not.
TODD: It's just such a fascinating -- you know, I remember when they recruited him in '02, and it was because he was, you know, part of the moderate wing of this new sort of conservatives with -- a compassionate conservative. And it was out of the sort of the Bush wing of the Republican Party.
And he was this sort of, hey, you know, he's not -- he's not, you know, he's a different type. He's not a religious-based Republican. He's a little more of a businessman Republican.
And it's just -- been to watch, you know, he is -- look, he is the definition of his party left him right. He is not really changed. But the party in Texas has changed. Ken Paxton, Dan Patrick, the Greg Abbott -- these were not the Republicans he came in to --
AXELROD: I don't know what this means, that "I'll support the ticket". But I'll tell you what? Those words and many others will live on if the Talarico campaign is at all alert and I'm sure Cornyn is aware of that.
TODD: Don't take my word for it. Take John Cornyn's word for it, right?
AXELROD: Exactly.
HUNT: Yep. Yeah.
MCHENRY: Yeah. Well, this is what happened to Senate Republicans a number of times over the last, over the last 20 years, which is they get behind the eight ball on the nomination and therefore put the seat at risk in the fall. The first time this happened was the, you know, the Tea Party revolution. That happened --
TODD: The witch -- she's not a witch.
MCHENRY: Yes.
TODD: Yes. Which then cost -- so you can count --
HUNT: Christine O'Donnell --
TODD: Senator Mike Castle.
HUNT: Just to translate, Chuck Todd.
TODD: Right. Senator Mike Castle. Senator -- I can't remember the name of the woman who should have --
MCHENRY: Got about a dozen over the last 20 years that would be firmly Republican seats, but they lost because of errors in the nomination process. Texas is going to be a problem. It's going to be an expensive problem.
What you saw here is a man uncomfortable with his closing message of his campaign. He's a -- he's a good man. John Cornyn is a good man, a high quality senator, a thoughtful leader. And the times, the pugilism of these times not fitting with the man like that cut.
AXELROD: But there is -- there is a class of -- there is a class of Republican in Texas who are there -- there is a Cornyn Republican there. It may not be a very large contingent. And the question is, what do they do now?
HUNT: Yeah, last word, Kate.
BEDINGFIELD: Well, look, the Democrats have a huge opportunity here. This is a chance across the country. You've got independents. You have voters who came over to Trump in 2024 who are frustrated with what they're seeing. And somebody like Ken Paxton having theyre having his hand, their hands been laid on by Trump sort of being anointed by Trump as yet another sort of representative of the Trump Republican Party.
[16:55:05]
That's a huge opportunity for Democrats. Whether they can pull it off, the demographics in Texas are tough, but there's huge opportunity here for them.
HUNT: All right. On that note, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: All right. Thanks very much to my panel. Really appreciate having all of you. Thanks to you at home for watching as well.
Don't forget, you can stream THE ARENA live, catch up whenever you want to. It's all in the CNN app. Just scan that QR code below on your screen.
You can also catch up by listening to THE ARENA's podcast. You can follow us on the show on X and Instagram @TheArenaCNN.
But don't go anywhere. Jake Tapper is standing by for "THE LEAD".
And I hear, Jake, you have a very special guest today.
