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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
GOP Rep Breaks With Trump In Ad: Hispanic Voters "Feel Betrayed"; Trump Calls Surging Gas Prices "Very Expensive Price To Pay"; Trump Seen With "Kennedy Center Demolished" Poster; Macklemore Pledges His Ed Sheeran Tour Salary To Palestinian Aid. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired September 17, 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]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The conversation makes you want to grab a snack.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Let's go do it.
THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT starts right now.
(MUSIC)
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt.
Welcome to THE ARENA. It's great to have you with us on this Thursday.
Election Day is fast approaching. If you want to know just how tough President Donald Trump's role is making this for Republicans, just take a look at this new ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR (R-FL): Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. In July, 50 percent of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record. Be careful what your advisors are telling you about immigration policy. The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar of South Florida openly breaking with President Trump on the key issue of immigration. He won her district by almost 15 points just two years ago.
And she is not alone in distancing herself from him. A new CNN analysis found that President Trump was mentioned in, get this, just 12, 12 of more than 500 Republican ads that aired in the first half of September.
One veteran Republican ad strategist who's involved in a number of midterm races told us this, quote, "The president is not the best message or our best messenger at this point," end quote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have to say, you have a little higher, you have a higher -- it's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done. Remember that it's a little more, even if it was -- frankly, even if it was a lot more, but that's going to come tumbling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So why are Republicans either avoiding the president, challenging him, bragging about working with Democrats?
Well, it could be that diesel is more expensive than it's been at any point in history, $6.40 today. That's up almost 75 percent since the beginning of the war with Iran. Gas prices are continuing to rise too, well over $4 a gallon in most of the country. And so maybe Republicans don't want to run ads with a president who simply insists that these numbers are not a big deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I have to say, you have a little higher. You have a higher -- it's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done. Remember that. It's a little more. It's -- even if it was -- frankly, even if it was a lot more. But that's going to come tumbling down. That's going to be like a rocket ship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: President Trump has repeatedly pleaded for voters to pretend that he's on the ballot to make this election a referendum on his policies. Problem for Republican candidates is that voters by a very wide margin say that his administration has failed on the number one issue. Almost two-thirds say the economy has gotten worse on his watch, and that's why.
Democrats are, of course, feeling confident about their chances of retaking the House and maybe even the Senate.
Probably why Vice President J.D. Vance is headed to Iowa tomorrow, races that just weren't competitive six months ago seem like they certainly could be today. Here is Republican Senator, the ever- quotable, John Kennedy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): We've got to talk about the economy. We've got to talk about the cost of living. I've been to -- this weekend, I'm going to Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa to help raise money and campaign for our very good candidates there.
If you told me six months ago I was going -- to be having to spend my time in those three states, I wouldn't have believed you. This ought to be fat guy layups for us. Now we're going to win there, but the races are close.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, let's get off the sidelines, head into THE ARENA. My panel is here.
Managing editor at the "Cook Political Report", Carrie Dann; CNN political commentator Jonah Goldberg; CNN political commentator, former DNC senior advisor and communications director Xochitl Hinojosa; and former Trump administration official, Matt Mowers.
We are also joined by CNN senior political commentator Ana Navarro.
Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here in THE ARENA.
Ana, let me actually start with you. We didn't quite get, there's an ad that we were supposed to have at the top there from Ashley Hinson in Iowa, where she essentially says she wants to work across the aisle. But then we also saw that that spot from Salazar, which I know is your neck of the woods where you come from.
Were you surprised she was willing to do that? What does that say to you about where Trump is with voters in places that honestly have been pretty sympathetic to him in the past?
ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, it's not, it is surprising and it's not surprising. Maria Elvira Salazar actually represents Congressional District 27, which is my district where I live. And I am hearing this more and more from Cuban Americans who supported Trump, Venezuelan Americans who supported Trump, Nicaraguan Americans who supported Trump.
[16:05:01]
Understand that this is 75 percent Latino, and people are hurting because what is national news, what might be on cable news when it comes to immigration, that is our local news. And we have seen the cruelty, people being sent to Cubans who have been until now untouchable when it comes to immigration. They're being sent to places like Sudan and Yemen and Eswatini in Africa, where they are living in the most deplorable of conditions
There is TPS, which is being removed from Haitians, and Trump is trying to remove it from Venezuelans and Nicaraguans. These are crucial communities that have established themselves for decades in South Florida. And so having them all of a sudden lose status and be deported in these cruel, cruel ways It's something that is affecting us economically, it's affecting us emotionally, it's affecting our families, our schools, our colleagues, our job places.
And also remember, this is where Alligator Alcatraz was. Where we just learned this week that they were holding people in metal cages four feet by eight feet. So, you try explaining that cruelty, Maria Elvira Salazar to the people who voted for you. People voted for Trump with incredible enthusiasm in that district. And they did so because they thought that it would bring a change to Venezuela, it would bring a change to Cuba.
Instead, Cuba is under great distress and we don't know when that's going to end. In Venezuela, the Maduro regime, the remnants of that regime are still intact and in place, and the woman who actually won the election, her party, Maria Corina Machado, the U.S. government is not allowing her back in Venezuela.
So, Venezuelans are upset. Cubans are upset. Nicaraguans are upset.
HUNT: Yeah.
NAVARRO: These are communities that voted for Donald Trump overwhelmingly.
HUNT: Right. And of course, Latino communities also care deeply about the economy, just like all other voters in America.
And Carrie Dan, let's watch what Ashley Hinson put out again. She's campaigning in Iowa, which for -- listen, I remember going in 2012 to Iowa with Mitt Romney. He felt like he needed to stop there, but that was kind of the last time Republicans felt like they needed to do a ton of work in Iowa to get people to vote for them.
And Hinson had previously embraced the president wholeheartedly. But this is her latest spot. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEY HINSON (R), IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: Used to be that reaching across the aisle wasn't just okay. It was expected. Some people in Washington forgot that. I never have.
That's why I worked with Democrats to expand mental health care for veterans and with President Trump to take on health insurance companies to lower your costs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: What's going on out there?
CARRIE DANN, MANAGING EDITOR, COOK POLITICAL REPORT: I mean, here's one -- Iowa keeps coming up in my conversations with Democrats and Republicans as a unique sort of center of where things are going wrong economically, right? I had a Republican tell me the Ag economy is the worst it's been right now in 25 years, communities like those rural communities in Iowa where it's not just the tariffs, it's also fertilizer costs, it's fuel costs, those diesel costs that you mentioned.
So I think that you are seeing Republicans like Ashley Hinson say, I need to show some independence from Donald Trump, the Democratic brand isn't popular there either.
HUNT: Yeah.
DANN: But you have to show something -- and another thing that's happening there, too, is that there's three potentially online congressional races there, and there's a governor's race where the candidate Rob Sand has been distancing himself from the Democratic Party to great success and is doing -- is doing well in that race with down-ballot effects. And I'm not surprised that Hinson made an ad like that.
HUNT: Yeah. I mean, Jonah, what do you say? I mean, 12 out of 500 spots mentioned Trump. Twelve.
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. Well, first of all, the weird thing about that ad is just giving away stuff to people on the other side of the aisle. I mean, that's a weird thing to do.
But negotiate --
HUNT: Honestly, honestly, I feel like I'm watching an ad from 15 years ago.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, yeah, no.
HUNT: It all sounded like that 15 years ago.
GOLDBERG: Nature is healing.
(LAUGHTER)
GOLDBERG: Look, I think, I saw some data that maybe was in "The Washington Post" about how Democrats aren't mentioning Trump in their ads very much either. And I think it's because after 11 years of Trump and Trump's omnipresence, you don't have to remind people about Trump, right? I mean, he's in everybody's faces.
HUNT: It's fair.
GOLDBERG: And since the Democratic brand, it's like the Democratic brand is not good and Trump is the Republican brand. So, it kind of makes sense that no one's actually talking about Trump because they don't want to, like the Democrats don't need to remind anybody about him and Republicans don't want to be associated with him.
And it was, I thought it was really interesting J.D. Vance saying, well, here's how you win is you just talk about Abdul El-Sayed. And like, that might work in some races, but Abdul El-Sayed, whatever his problems, he's got a lot of problems by my analysis (ph). Donald Trump's brand's a lot worse and he's omnipresent across the entire country.
[16:10:03]
And it's just -- it's a huge headwind.
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I mean, I also think that on the Trump part of it, Republicans control everything. They only -- not only control Congress in the White House, they can control governor's mansions all across the country. Democrats almost don't need to run on Donald Trump because these Republicans are running against have their own record and they there are higher costs because of them. There's people don't have access to health care.
They have had time to prove to the American people that if they're in power, they had time to prove say, hey, we are going to do something for you. And they didn't deliver.
So, Democrats are pointing back to the candidates they're running against and like, this person has not delivered for you. This is why I am the better choice.
And I think that the culture wars and the Abdul El-Sayed, all of that stuff, if you ask an average voter in Texas where I'm from or in Florida or whatever, they don't know who Abdul El-Sayed is.
HUNT: Yeah.
HINOJOSA: I mean, it is -- and also, it is the culture war stuff we've already seen, they've been using it for so long. they were semi- successful with it, I would say, especially with Latino voters in 2024. They thought they would be successful again, and so far, it has not helped Republicans the way they thought it was going to help in 2024.
And so, they need to switch their strategy because they're not going to win on culture wars at this point.
HUNT: Yeah. Well, so it's worth noting that we actually do have the numbers on, Jonah, the ads that you mentioned. So just less than one percent of Republican money is being spent on ads that mention their president, OK? About a fifth of Democratic ad spending does mention the president in its ads.
But like to the point that you were making -- and I don't want to play the soundbite again because we played it twice yesterday -- but you may have seen that J.D. Vance said, when he was asked what's the closing message, to give us another chance, OK?
Now, Republicans control the White House, the House, and the Senate, right? And the vice president is saying, give us another chance.
Here was Charlamagne That God on this with kind of cutting through some of the noise here. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, RADIO HOST: What happened with the chance you already have? Okay, you're the vice president right now. Donald Trump is the president right now. Republicans control Congress right now.
I'm not the highest grade of weed in the dispensary, nor am I the strongest avenger. But based on my calculations, this is the chance. If the Trump administration believes it has accomplishments it can point to, then point to them. Okay, make the case.
I don't give a damn about you pleading for another chance. If you were doing the things you promised, you wouldn't even have to ask. It's just a stupid thing for a sitting vice president to say when he's sitting in the White House right now with all the power.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I mean, Matt, he has all the power. How do you argue with that?
MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, I think there's a couple things. Even if you go back to 1980 to 1982 for the midterm elections, it takes time to make big transformational changes. You look at the spending cuts that Ronald Reagan was trying to enact, you look at the fact that he was trying to combat inflation, it took time, and it was tough to show that politically in 1982.
It's similar right now. I mean, Donald Trump has done a lot to fundamentally change the way the American economy works. Now, tariffs and the rest of it --
HUNT: They Sort of have opposite approaches, Ronald Reagan --
(CROSSTALK)
MOWERS: I'm saying is if you look at --
GOLDBERG: For more time.
MOWERS: Well --
GOLDBERG: Trump said you're already in a new golden age and we've never been better and that --
MOWERS: Well, because there's a few different things coming into play here right now. If you look at the poverty rate down to historic lows you look at wage growth it's up significantly unemployment numbers are actually pretty good the stock markets are incredible highs. There's a lot of good in the economic data but ultimately, they're still having to deal with the cost of living and they're still trying to drive a lot of new growth in manufacturing here in the United States which byproduct of the tariff policies.
But that takes time. It takes a lot of time to make those deals to put a shovel in the ground. I do just want to touch on one thing, though. I think Donald Trump's numbers in 2024 mask how competitive some of these places we're talking about are.
It was six years ago that Joni Ernst in Iowa was down in polling to her Democratic opponent. You look back at Maria Salazar and Ashley Hinson, they knocked off Democratic seats in 2020. These are swing areas.
I mean, the 2024 numbers were blowouts in these areas, 15 points in Maria Salazar's district, big wins in Iowa, despite the lousy polling we saw on the very end of the general election there. There's still competitive areas.
I mean, Ashley Hinson's congressional district, she actually represented the district that had more Obama-Trump counties, swing counties, than any congressional district in the country. That's the type of state they're running in. That's the type of ad that she asked for on.
HUNT: That's interesting.
(CROSSTALK)
HUNT: Oh, I'm sorry, Anna. Go ahead. Jump in. Yeah, please.
NAVARRO: You know what happens when you see, and I say this as a voter, right? When you see an ad like Maria Elvira Salazar's ad, a woman who won by 15 points in 2024, I wasn't even paying attention to this race, thinking, okay, you know, Democrats don't have a shot. It's Florida.
Then I wouldn't. points in 2024 I had I wasn't even paying attention to this race thinking okay you know Democrats don't have a shot it's Florida then I would have looked at the polls today they're practically even at 45-45 with over 10 percent undecided.
[16:15:05]
And so then you say to yourself wait there's blood in the water, and I think -- I guarantee you there is interest in the Elliot Rodriguez candidacy. That's the man running against Maria Elvira Salazar today that there wasn't yesterday because of this ad as she put out.
This ad -- putting out this ad tells you that they're nervous, that they're feeling vulnerable because there is no way that Republican in Congress would purposefully a break with Donald Trump this publicly if it wasn't because they feel that they could lose their seat.
HUNT: Yeah, when you're an incumbent, you're sitting below 50, you ought to be biting your nails.
Ana Navarro, thank you very much -- I'm sorry, you're actually sticking with us. So is the panel.
Coming up next here in THE ARENA, inside one race that suddenly exploded onto the map. We're going to talk live with Adam Hamilton. He's running to be the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Kansas in nearly a century.
But first, new developments on the Kennedy Center, including the new order today from a federal judge.
And just what was the poster the president was looking at last night on Air Force One.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: This threat from the president to tear down the Kennedy Center if he doesn't get recognition, does that alarm you?
SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): Well, I stopped being alarmed a long time ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:20:41]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: For the Trump administration, for me to get involved and to take that on long term and to carry it or to raise money to carry it, I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition because, frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close.
It'll end up being ripped down. It's in very, very bad shape, very dangerous shape. You see steel falling down. You see plaster falling off ceilings. You see a lot of dangers. It's been very badly maintained for 25 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A federal judge today ordering the Kennedy Center to provide at least 30 days' notice before moving forward with any new construction or demolition plans. This after President Trump was pictured aboard Air Force One yesterday with a poster that appears to read "Kennedy Center Demolished", just hours after his administration told the court that the building had to be closed for a week due to, quote, "structural deterioration".
The judge has now ordered the administration to provide more details about this temporary closure by next Wednesday. These latest developments raising more questions about the future of the storied institution amid the president's unrelenting efforts to put his name on the panel -- on the building.
My panel is back, including CNN senior political commentator Ana Navarro, and we should disclose that Xochitl is working with the law firm that is involved in the Kennedy Center case.
And, you know, to set the stage for this conversation -- you know, I want us to think back a little bit here to some of the history. Why, why is this building named for President John F. Kennedy? It is a living memorial to the assassinated former president.
And part of why it's the place where he is remembered in this kind of living way is because of the way he spoke and felt and patronized the arts when he was the president of the United States and the way he viewed it in the context of the world. And less than a year before he was shot, he and Jackie Kennedy spoke at a fundraiser or appeared at a fundraiser at the building, it was not then called the Kennedy Center.
Here is what then-President John F. Kennedy said about the arts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: As a great democratic society. We have a special responsibility to the arts, for art is the great democrat, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color. The mere accumulation of wealth and power is available to the dictator and the democrat alike. What freedom alone can bring is the liberation of the human mind and spirit, which finds its greatest flowering in the free society. Thus, in our fulfillment of these responsibilities towards the art lie our unique achievement as a free society.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A unique achievement as a free society. Jonah Goldberg. And we talk about this story so much in the context of President Trump, his ego, his interest in renovation and gilding things. I just think it's important that we underscore that this particular piece of it is about more than that.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, well, so for me, public funding of arts and all that kind of stuff makes me on the queasier side. I think the Kennedy Center is fine and a good thing, and Trump shouldn't do it.
What bothers me about it is that this is the most open and shut legal constitutional argument. It's like Congress flatly said, this, the Kennedy Center is for this and not for something else and not somebody else's name. It's black letter law. And you just got this guy.
HUNT: And that's why they did it, right?
GOLDBERG: And that's why they did it. That was their intent. And if Congress wanted to change the rules about it, they could and all that kind of stuff.
But instead what Trump just did was he packed the board of it's sort of like a couple clicks shy of Caligula appointing his horse to the Roman Senate, but it's pretty much the same sort of thing. It's just these yes men and yahoos who go in and then he gets to say, oh, this is what they wanted to do when it's obvious that it was all set up in the first place.
[16:25:07]
And the idea that he's presenting the American people in Congress and the courts with this choice of destroy this thing or let me have my name on it, it's a weird strategy right before the midterms, I'll tell you.
(LAUGHTER)
HUNT: There's that, of course. And I want to read you what Maria Shriver, of course, a member of the Kennedy family, had to say about the president's most recent statement about the Kennedy Center.
She says this, "This statement from Trump blows my mind that a sitting president would not let any renovations to a public building go on unless he gets to first put his name in the said building. What a sad state of affairs, what a tragedy. Actually, how small-minded, how narcissistic. Actually great men devoted to public service and the public good do not act like this."
Ana?
NAVARRO: Yeah, endorse, fully endorse every word that Maria Shriver just said. I think it talks to Donald Trump's smallness, the frailty of his ego, and just also his insanity, right?
But look, if Donald Trump is on Air Force One looking at a giant poster that says Kennedy Center demolition, he obviously wants the press to notice, he obviously wants us to be talking about But as insane as it may seem, the thing is that with Donald Trump, you cannot pretend that the insanity cannot become reality, because we saw it with the East Wing. We saw it with the reflecting pool. We've seen it with Jackie Kennedy's Rose Garden.
There is nothing that he loves more than to demolish and destroy anything that has Kennedy-esque characteristics to it. But I also want us to remember that not too long ago, the Kennedy Center had a functioning board chaired by David Rubenstein. You, of course, Kasie, know and love him because he is the --
HUNT: He owns my team.
NAVARRO: -- owner of your beloved Baltimore Orioles.
There was a lot of private funding that went into the keep-up. of the Kennedy Center. David Rubenstein himself donated over $100 million, raised over a billion dollars for the upkeep of the Kennedy Center.
So, this is a model that can work. People are invested. The American people are invested in the Kennedy Center. They want to see it continue.
And -- but I think that when Donald Trump says he's thinking of demolishing it, we better take him seriously because he's done that before.
HUNT: Yeah, well, I think that's part of why I carry down you're seeing the essentially say, listen, you've got to give us a month's notice if you want to do anything to this.
And let's pick up on what Jonah was saying, because, I mean, if you look at the polling on changes to the Smithsonian and the Kennedy Center, 60 -- nearly 60 percent of people told CNN they think that President Trump has gone too far on this. And this does not even account for what happens when you ask them if he has the right priorities.
DANN: Right. And even when you ask, like, MAGA voters, they're kind of like, this is not motivating issue for them either. This is solely a motivating issue for the president.
And to your point, Jonah, I don't think most voters are following this and care about the Kennedy Center individually, right? They care about their kitchen table issues and cost of living. But the combined sort of the reflecting pool and the East Wing and the ballroom and this, they care about how the president spends his time. And cumulatively, it is becoming more and more obvious over time that
these are the things that are really animating him, that he cares the most about and is talking about this far more than he's talking about what we're doing to bring down gas prices or what I'm going to do to address your ability to get health care for your family.
HUNT: All right. Ana Navarro, thank you very much for your time. Always appreciate having you.
The rest of my panel is going to stand by.
Ahead here in THE ARENA, we've got new developments in the music tour that's become a flashpoint in the debate over free speech and the deadly fighting in the Middle East.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:33:26]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MACKLEMORE, RAPPER: I wanted to stand up here on stages and stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart -- free Palestine.
(CHEERING)
MACKLEMORE: I said, free Palestine!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Those comments from Macklemore have become a flashpoint in the conversation over the support for Palestinian people and free speech. Macklemore made the comments nearly two weeks ago as he opened for Ed Sheeran. Macklemore has since been dropped from the tour ahead of scheduled performances in Boston.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft saying that Macklemore would be unwelcome to perform at the stadium. All of Sheeran's other supporting acts then quit the tour in a show of solidarity with Macklemore.
On Wednesday, Macklemore announced he would donate all the money he made on the tour to organizations supporting Palestinians, and he invited Kraft to match him. Kraft said he had already committed to donate $2 million to aid in the region.
Here's a little bit more of what Macklemore said on stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MACKLEMORE: To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way it is a criticism of you.
(CHEERING) [16:35:01]
MACKLEMORE: My message is for peace, love for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality.
So, I say free Palestine. I say free Lebanon. I say free Cuba. I say free Congo, free Sudan, free all people in America living in fear over this terrorist organization, ICE.
(CHEERING)
MACKLEMORE: None of us will be free until we are all free.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. CNN senior entertainment reporter Lisa France joins our panel now.
Lisa, it's good to see you. Thank you so much for being here.
Can you walk us through how we got here? And I mean, Kraft plays a unique role here. He has unique power. And clearly, it has rippled -- it has had significant ripple effects.
LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN SENIOR ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Yes. How we got here is you had the statement, and then it turned into a thing where Mr. Kraft reportedly got other owners of stadiums to kind of join forces with him to let it be known that the concert would not be welcomed in their venue, or venues, I should say, because according to Mr. Kraft, he felt like this statement crossed the line and went too far in terms of with the Jewish community. And then there was a large outcry for Ed Sheeran to speak out and basically give us what his position was, what his thought was, because people were upset that Macklemore was let go from the tour. And then of course you had all of the opening acts pull out.
And then when Ed Sheeran presented his statement, it was once again very apolitical. He's been very clear about the fact that he does not like to discuss politics, and what he had to say was pretty much that just because he's not being very public and vocal about his feelings doesn't mean that he has feelings. And as I've pointed out before, that really doesn't fly in today's, you know, very charged political scene, especially with a lot of young people who are used to social media, they're used to being able to have their say, they very much want the people that they support, the celebrities, the stars, the actors, the music artists to pick a side, say what they believe in, what they support, and then basically share it with their full chest, with their full self.
And so here we are now. Macklemore has said that he is going to donate the money, as you just pointed out. Mr. Kraft came back and said that Ed Sheeran had already spoken to him even before that declaration was made, asking him to support and provide $2 million.
But I think it's interesting that you're seeing other people rally around. Just today, Ms. Rachel, who if you have a child, you know who Ms. Rachel is. You know, she's a very popular YouTuber and educator. She's been very vocal about her support for Palestinian children.
She posted on social media today that she plans on matching Macklemore's donation. And so, it's just really stirred up this whole conversation about what you can say publicly, how you should treat it because you exercise your right to free speech, but also the conversation about how you can be anti what you believe you're seeing happening in Israel. You can be, you know, as he has said, people have said that this is about genocide and things like that, and that does not necessarily make anti-Semitic just because you disagree with the things that many people around the world believe that they are witnessing that is happening in this country.
And so, it's just really kicked off a lot about the responsibility of celebrities, their support, but more importantly to a lot of people is just letting it be known where you fall on this particular, you know, subject, where you fall when it comes to this humanitarian crisis that many people believe is happening there.
HUNT: This of course has, I mean, this political conversation has expanded out and Fox News was talking about it.
And this is what Jesse Waters had to say or at one point on Fox. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: So what did he say that was it was bad? He said free Palestine? Is that all?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He went on a genocide.
WATTERS: Okay. Okay. Well, all I heard was free Palestine. I don't think that's hate speech.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Jonah Goldberg, what do you think?
GOLDBERG: Oh, I'm not sure you should come to me first.
(LAUGHTER)
HINOJOSA: That's exactly the question.
GOLDBERG: Yeah. So first of all, I think the use of censorship in this whole thing is ridiculous. Robert Kraft has free speech rights, too. It's his venue. He has every right as a private citizen who owns the venue to say there's certain things I don't want in my venue.
Second of all, I think Macklemore, I'm sure his heart's in the right place, is basically a virtue-signaling cliche generator. And while I agree, the criticism of Israel, I have criticisms of Israel is not necessarily anti-Semitic but the disproportionate wildly disproportionate in terms of media coverage Israel is more covered as a country than like the next 20 countries combined. That can't be explained solely because what's going on in Palestine
not when like say China which is actually is an apartheid state. They practice Han supremacy there. They are destroying Tibet. They're destroying the Uyghurs and putting the millions of Uyghurs in concentration camps but people want to talk about apartheid in Israel even though Arab Israelis have full voting rights are represented in the Knesset.
It starts to feel like a selective prosecution in a lot of ways to me and this kind of thing is very faddish it's pumped out a lot on social media and I don't have a huge amount of patience for it. I also take the issue of Israel and I also don't think genocide is happening in Israel in Gaza.
That said, I'm just also exhausted by this argument that comes up every 15 minutes in our culture about artists thinking that they have this special place in our culture to give their opinions, often uninformed, not just on this, but on plenty of things. They use their status as a platform. Every year at the Oscars, someone gets an award and then pees from a great height on people that everyone in the room also dislikes and everyone salutes their bravery for saying things that they're only going to get applause for.
It's a boring argument. It happens all the time. And like nothing new can be said about the fundamental issues about free speech and all this, because government has nothing to do with censoring anybody.
HUNT: All right. On that note.
MOWERS: Tell us what you really --
GOLDBERG: I told you, you shouldn't have gone to me first.
HUNT: And now we're out of time, you know, that's how it works.
Lisa France, thank you. I really appreciate it.
FRANCE: Thanks.
HUNT: Come back soon.
Coming up next here in THE ARENA, Kansas hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since Herbert Hoover was president. We're going to talk with a man that polls say might be able to change that. Adam Hamilton will be here live.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID HUDNALL, COLUMNIST, KANSAS CITY STAR: This is a state that's generally becoming bluer. And so, it's like, if you add all of that together, can that erase a-- I think it was an 11-point loss in 2020 the last time. And that's a lot to make up in, whatever, six years. But I don't know. I've seen crazier things happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:46:44]
HUNT: All right, welcome back. A new analysis today from "The New York Times" shows that Republicans are increasingly worried that even some usually deep red areas could fall to Democrats this November. Among them, Kansas, where in the Senate race there, the state's two- term former Republican governor, Bill Graves, has endorsed Reverend Adam Hamilton, who describes himself as a, quote/unquote, "independent-minded Democrat", in his bid against Republican incumbent Roger Marshall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL GRAVES, FORMER KANSAS GOP GOVERNOR: The nation facing increasing partisan gridlock and division. It's time Kansas does something different. For the last six years, Senator Roger Marshall has turned his back on Kansas. In contrast, Adam Hamilton stands as a bulwark of kindness, humility, and service to others.
His current way of doing things isn't working, and it's driving our nation into the ditch. Adam provides a breath of fresh air, a new look at the old way of doing things that served us so well for many years. I believe he's a bet worth taking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Joining me now in THE ARENA is Reverend Adam Hamilton. He is the Democratic nominee for Senate in Kansas.
Reverend, thank you so much for being here. I'm very grateful to have some of your time today. And of course, as we said, Kansas has been deep red for years. I mean, 1932, Herbert Hoover was the last time there was a Democratic senator elected there. And yet, there's a reason why, you and I are talking here today, there's a reason why the polling is saying what it's saying.
How do you understand what is going on? How do you explain why voters might be willing to send you to the Senate this year?
ADAM HAMILTON (D), KANSAS SENATE CANDIDATE: Yeah, well, I think, first of all, people feel like what's happening in Washington doesn't seem normal. It seems abnormal, sometimes indecent, the rhetoric, the policies that are happening there, the corruption that's taking place. I mean, people are asking a lot of questions. Republicans are asking questions. They're saying, this doesn't look like us.
And Kansas is a state of really decent, good people. They have strong values, and when they see what's happening in Washington, they're saying this is not okay. And they look at our senator, Roger Marshall, and they're saying, A, he doesn't seem to spend much time here in Kansas, and B, it feels like he's acting as the spokesperson for the White House, not as a champion for the needs and the concerns of Kansas.
So, I'd say that's one thing, but you go beyond that. It's everyday life. It's the price of gasoline, which today hit $4 a gallon in Kansas. We usually have pretty cheap gas, $4 a gallon for regular, $6 a gallon for diesel.
And when you're talking farmers who this is how they make their living is their equipment and it's diesel fuel or phosphate for their fields, their crops, that's gone up double in price. And people who voted Republican, they voted for Roger Marshall the first time are saying, this is not working. This is a problem for us. More farm bankruptcies coming up.
So, it's, you know, every day the cost of living, it's the fact that things seem so broken in Washington, Republicans and Democrats not solving problems. And I think they're saying it's time for change. We have to do better than this.
HUNT: One of the things that we are not seeing the way that we did perhaps during President Trump's first midterm and his first term in 2018 is the Democratic brand benefiting from people being upset about all the things that you just outlined. People are pretty down on the Democratic Party as well.
So, I'm curious, if you are elected to the Senate, would you support the current top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, to lead the party forward in that body?
[16:50:11]
HAMILTON: I mean, no disrespect for Chuck Schumer, but we need new leadership. We need new younger leadership, young blood. We need people, and I don't mean just age, but people who are bringing fresh ideas and fresh leadership.
In Kansas, Chuck Schumer is a liability for Democrats, and we've got to have leaders that can unite us, bring us together, not just Democrats, but bring together Democrats and Republicans to solve real problems. And I think people are frustrated with the gridlock. in the sense that people are not working together to solve problems.
The Farm Bill is a case in point where the Republicans actually have compromised a bit and brought a compromise forward. The Democrats are saying, yeah, we're not going to go there. When I travel across Kansas, I'm hearing farmers say, please, the folks in the Ag industry, please help us with this. We've got to get this through.
And as an independent-minded Democrat, I'm going to work with Republicans on that and we're going to get this through. And that's true for a lot of things right now. I think people are frustrated we have to do better.
So, you wouldn't support Schumer for leader?
HAMILTON: I'm not supporting Schumer for leader. I'm saying let's look to see who might we have that would be a better leader to unite us and bring us together.
HUNT: One other dynamic, of course, in any midterm election, but especially into the wide-open presidential race we're going to see in 2028, is surrogates coming to campaign. And you had said that you would prefer if Kamala Harris, who was the Democratic nominee, campaign for you in Kansas. Can you explain that?
HAMILTON: Yeah, sure. So I think there are a number of national Democrats that actually would be a liability in Kansas. I think Kansas are independent minded and we've got 45 percent of our state are Republicans and I need those Republicans.
And by the way, I've been a pastor for 38 years, 35 percent of my congregation are Republicans, 35 percent of Democrats and about 30 percent are independents.
I love my Republican members, care about the things they care about. I love my Democrat members. And there's a lot of things that we see in the National Democratic Party that in Kansas just don't fly. That's just not who we are.
And so, I think they're willing to vote for a moderate or independent minded Democrat who listens and cares for people on both sides and is going to fight for everybody, Republicans and Democrats. And this is what I'm hearing across the state when I travel across the state.
About 30 percent of the people who come to my events are Republicans, saying we're with you and we support you. You have our values, you care about us. We may not agree on everything, but we know you're going to be a better senator for us and you're going to try to work for all of us in Kansas. And that's where Kansas is.
So, there's a number of national Democrats I just say, thank you so much for wanting to support, but really you're not going to help me in this case. And I'm a little bit different kind of Democrat than many of them.
HUNT: Fair enough. I did want to ask you actually, you mentioned that you are a pastor, of course, a reverend. And the polling shows that religious voters in America are some of those who are the strongest, the most aligned with President Trump. Among Protestant Christian voters, Trump's approval sits at 57 percent, voting for Republicans in Congress in this midterm, 57 percent. Those voted for Donald Trump in 2024, 56 percent.
I mean, how do you explain that, and what is your pitch there?
HAMILTON: Well, here's my pitch. First of all, when you look at that, there's 43 percent of those Protestant voters who are not supportive of President Trump. But if you break it down even further, you're looking at mainline Protestants who typically are not as supportive of President Trump. Conservative evangelicals are, white evangelicals versus black evangelicals. There's just a very -- you have to really break it down.
And there's some of that vote I'm not going to win, but I'm going to win, I think, a significant number of those people who are devout in their faith, but maybe aren't those Trump supporters, or maybe they have been Trump supporters in the past, but they feel like our sitting senator is not serving them well. And so, you know, they know.
I wake up every morning, I get on my knees and I'm like, here I am, Lord, I belong to you. Help me to use me, lead me, guide me, help me to be light and salt in the world around me.
I spent 20,000 hours reading the Bible. I carry my Bible with me everywhere I go. So, in my back pocket right now is my pocket testament, began the day reading Scripture. They know that.
And yet I'm not running for the U.S. Senate to be the chaplain to the Senate. I'm running to protect the rights of all people because I feel like the Constitution is under assault right now. And so, I've had a number of people who in the past might have been that conservative evangelical vote who say your values, your faith more aligns with mine than what I see in Washington, D.C. and some of the Christian nationalism and what I see in the values and the rhetoric coming out of Washington.
So, I think we're going to win many of those people. We're going to win a number of Republicans, and we're going to carry the Democrats and the independents. And that's how we're going to win.
HUNT: Do you pray for President Trump?
HAMILTON: I do, actually. I prayed for him. I pray for Roger Marshall.
We had a debate Saturday, and two or three times before the debate, I was praying for him. And not for him to lose the debate. I was praying for good things for him and praying that he would do well and that it would be a chance for people to see and hear both of us as candidates.
[16:55:09]
By the way, I'm -- when I was on the debate stage, on my podium, I had a little piece of salt to remind me to be salt and light. That's what I try to be every day.
HUNT: All right. Reverend Adam Hamilton, thank you very much for spending some time with us, sir. Appreciate it. I hope you come back.
HAMILTON: Kasie, thank you so much. Have a great day.
HUNT: Of course. You, too.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: All right. Thanks very much, my panel. Really appreciate you. Really appreciate all of you at home for watching as well.
Do not go anywhere because the one and only Jake Tapper is standing by for "THE LEAD".
Hi, Jake.
