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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt

Trump Set To Campaign In Deep-Red Alabama As Final Jobs Report Before Midterms Shows Weak Growth; New York A.G. Appointed Special Prosecutor In Alleged Cornell Rape Case; "I Don't Know What The Hell's Wrong": Trump Vents Frustrations; House Dems Look To Expand Map Into More Red Districts. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired October 02, 2026 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT starts right now.

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KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Welcome to THE ARENA. It's great to have you with us on this Friday. We made it to Friday.

Right now, with just about one month until Election Day, President Donald Trump is heading to the next stop on his red state tour, the battleground state of Alabama? This is just a day after he visited Texas and Oklahoma with this message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only thing we're doing badly at is public relations. In other words, we're doing a phenomenal job, but by a combination of maybe we're doing a bad job in selling it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: President Trump has been making that argument a lot lately, insisting things are great. If only Republicans could just get voters to believe it. But a lot of the numbers are not on his side. Today, the Bureau of

Labor Statistics announced that the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2 percent, with the economy adding just 29,000 jobs in September. That's the last jobs report we're going to get before Election Day. Time is really running out, which means right now both parties are making tough decisions about where to focus their attention and spend their money.

A source tells CNN that Republicans' top Senate PAC is pausing its spending in North Carolina. The latest polling there shows that the Democrat, former Governor Roy Cooper, is leading the Trump-backed Republican Michael Whatley by double digits.

And in a sign of just how much defense Republicans are being forced to play right now, that PAC is instead going to spend its money in Kansas. Kansas.

Here's how Republican Senator Steve Daines, who's not running for reelection, sees the field right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. STEVE DAINES (R-MT): There's an argument, if you look at history, that 2026 feels a lot like 2006. Think about the condition of the country back in '06, an unpopular war. Six in 10 Americans opposed the Iraq War at that point. Gas prices had doubled. Does this sound familiar?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Sound familiar? So, what happened in 2006? Democrats picked up six seats in the Senate and 31 seats in the House. President George Bush famously described it as a thumping.

All right. Let's get off the sidelines, head into THE ARENA. My panel is here, along with CNN correspondent Arlette Saenz, who is in Alabama. That's where the president's going to be tonight.

And, Arlette, I know just as we're coming on the air here, we got some new reporting around this messaging aspect of the campaign, which of course the president has been publicly complaining about as recently as last night. What's new here? What can you tell us?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kasie, President Trump has said the issue facing Republicans is a messaging one. And one of the ways that the president hopes to try to fix that is through that controversial taxpayer-funded ad campaign. And CNN has actually learned that there are more TV spots in the pipeline. There have already been three of those ads that have aired across television, including right here on CNN.

But our colleague Betsy Klein actually obtained clips of additional spots that have been created, a total of 12 spots, which included two that have already aired at a time when the president has tried to use these taxpayer-funded ads to try to promote himself and his policies. The White House has defended these ads saying that they are public service announcements.

But here's a sample of one of those new ads that has been created that Betsy Klein had obtained. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald was the young man who was going to conquer Manhattan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He takes chances that would make a less daring man shudder. To think about the arc of where he's been, it's like some sort of mythical story or something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now these ads have been created. It's not entirely clear if they will air on television or on digital, but this campaign has faced a lot of scrutiny from Democrats and some Republicans who have said it's unwise to spend taxpayer money in this fashion. Now this all comes as President Trump is really in this full court press heading into the midterm elections.

He is currently on this midterm blitz in red states yesterday appearing in Texas and Oklahoma, and today he will be here in deep red Alabama. He is here in Mobile which is really considered the birthplace of that Trump MAGA rally. Remember back in 2015, this is the city where he had more than 30,000 people turn out as he was running for president the first time and turning out Republican based voters is what the White House and President Trump are trying to do in this final stretch of the election.

There is a lot of concern from Republican strategists that the president could create a drag for GOP candidates across the country. There is a lot of voter frustration about the economy stemming from those high gas prices and other high costs, but Republicans know that if their candidates are going to be successful, they need base voters in places like here in Mobile, Alabama, to turn out and also be able to use these types of rallies to encourage other Trump supporters to turn out in the midterm elections.

Now, there were some rough economic numbers for the White House today. As you saw, job growth came in a lot lower than expected. The unemployment rate rise. That is all factors that are difficult to sell to voters who are already very frustrated and skeptical with the economy.

But for President Trump today, at least, his focus is going to be on trying to turn out those base voters as many Republicans in critical battleground states across the country are currently in jeopardy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Arlette Saenz for us, in Alabama -- Arlette, thank you very much.

All right, my panel is here in THE ARENA. White House correspondent for "The New York Times", CNN political analyst Zolan Kanno-Youngs; CNN's political director, and our Washington bureau chief David Chalian; two former White House communications directors, CNN political commentator Kate Bedingfield, who, of course, worked for President Biden, and Mike Dubke, who worked for President Trump in the first term.

We're also joined by CNN's senior political commentator Ana Navarro.

Thank you all so much for being here. I'd actually like to start us off by playing another one. We're still bringing these into our system as we are just seeing them for the first time. The president is expanding the taxpayer-funded ad campaign that you may have seen in such places as NFL football last weekend, as well as on cable news networks. You saw Arlette play one of those for us.

There's another one that we just got in here to CNN that invokes a higher power. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, God made Trump. God had to have somebody willing to go into the den of vipers, call out the fake news for their tongues as sharp as a serpent's. The poison of vipers is on their lips, and yet stop. So, God made Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Go to church on Sunday. Preacher might tell you that God makes all of us in his image, so there's that.

But, like -- I'm sorry, like, the government is paying to air these ads, David Chalian. Like, what, we have crossed some sort of Rubicon here. Like, what?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, I mean, there's no doubt that the legal -- the legality of these ads will be, like, looked at and explored.

HUNT: But this is what Trump does, right? He does a thing and challenges the system to stop.

CHALIAN: That's precisely right. but as a political strategy, this is him delivering on the promise that they've told us for a year was going to be their strategy, which is putting Donald Trump at the center of this entire campaign, which, when he sits at 33 percent job approval, raises the question if that is the best strategy or not for them. But he's clearly doing that.

And to listen to the president say the problem we have is a P.R. problem. This is a man who prides himself on his P.R. prowess. I mean, this is a man who used to play the fake role of his own P.R. agent.

HUNT: Yeah, he would call newspapers and pretend to be his own spokesman, yes.

CHALIAN: If P.R. is a problem, like, does he look in the mirror when he says that?

HUNT: He would call control room sometimes when he was upset or he wanted to be on T.V. He would say, come talk to me.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Also, I feel like every president, when they're facing tackles the economy, is going to blame, as some folks here by know.

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR: Communication directors are never blamed, are they?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Never, no.

DUBKE: Never blamed.

KANNO-YOUNGS: It's interesting, my colleagues do have some reporting out about these ads that just published as well, showing that the number of figures that were involved in this, the White House turning to Russ Vought, to get signed off on these ads, then bringing in the Department of Homeland Security, which I think might surprise some people that the Department of Homeland Security would be involved in going to get a contractor to go and develop these ads as well.

That's taxpayer money as well, so it does show that the apparatus in the design of an administration that is really designed to turn the president's impulses and his aspirations, including for something like this advertisement into actually a concrete action. I don't know if you would see this in the first term, right? You might see some more deliberation about whether or not you're breaking norms --

HUNT: Or somebody saying like, hey, don't do that.

KANNO-YOUNGS: But that's not --

DUBKE: We need to -- we need to -- yeah, probably not but we need to draw a couple lines here. First of all, this is from a Dropbox. I work on political campaigns we do a lot of campaign ads that never see the light of day and they're shared with different people inside through Dropbox in order for people to comment on them. This also could be an oppo dump in the sense from the White House that they put it out there, I don't know how Betsy Klein got it, but I -- if it was me and I wanted this ad to be aired for free, this would be a perfect way to do that.

So again, I don't know where these ads were supposed to go.

HUNT: It's called earned media coverage actually if you want to use the technical term.

DUBKE: I will.

[16:10:00]

But for your audience, I'm just making drawing very bright lines on this. So --

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: Like we do think the ads to be aired, right? Forget what's in this --

DUBKE: Let's talk about those.

CHALIAN: That there are government funded ads.

DUBKE: Let's talk about those because he is not a candidate. So technically he's not breaking any of these FEC rules. But yes, should the taxpayers be paying for that? I'm already on record saying -- no, this is -- this is a step beyond.

But these ads, some of the ones that are even far-reaching, they may never see the light a day, except for on news channels.

BEDINGFIELD: But even if they, I mean, that actually, that segues to a point I wanted to make, which is that there, aside from the fact that you have Donald Trump, who is at 33 percent approval, putting himself front and center, I understand why the MAGA base sticks with him. He's trying to up turnout. I get it on paper.

But he's also doing -- he's doing it in a way that is exploiting the thing that people say they are most frustrated with him about, which is that he's focused on himself, he's not focused on delivering on the campaign promises that he ran on, he's not bringing down costs, he's not doing anything that's impacting their lives, he's focused on himself.

So even if this were purely unearned media play, having this narrative of God made Trump and he's the most, what is the word, what did they say, he's like the most resilient man ever, people are -- tell me about me, not about you.

HUNT: Right, right.

Ana Navarro, jump in here.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, there's also the timing of it, right? This is happening at a time when I think most Americans do not feel that the economy is peaches and cream.

And so, if it's an earned media campaign and what the media is talking about is that these ads are being paid by my taxpayer money while diesel is at six bucks, gas is at four bucks. People can't afford meat. People can't afford to pay for their health insurance premiums. I'm not sure that this is a good tactic for earned media when people are as mad as hell as they are about the economy and what's going on in their own households.

HUNT: Yeah, I mean, David Chalion, it's the same point, similar point to what Kate is making. And you are seeing the numbers here and you obviously are very familiar with our own polling and polling across the board. There is this sense here in the final weeks that this is sliding away from Republicans.

I mean, do you think there's any way they can reverse that at this point? Maybe this is what the White House is trying to do with this. CHALIAN: Well, I don't know that it could be reversed, but you look for ways that they could mitigate potential losses and the enormous war chest that Republicans have is one way that is going to get seeped into the bloodstream over these next few weeks, and that may, in some contests, mitigate some potential losses.

And of course, they're playing on a map, especially for the battle for the Senate, that is deeply Republican territory, and that may mitigate some potential losses, even given the favorable democratic environment. But I do think of what you're pointing about the polling, Kasie, and to get at what Ana was saying and what Kate was saying, what is so clear, and this has been clear for months this year, the American people, by like large majorities, think he's focused on the wrong priorities.

And I don't see how these ads change that perception. They seem to feed into that perception.

HUNT: Yeah.

DUBKE: As Republicans, we need two things to be true to be -- we need two things to be true in order to succeed in this environment. We need to localize these races so that they are -- the voters are focused on the opponents because I think we have better candidates and I'll just say that. The other thing that we need to be true is we need the low propensity voters of Donald Trump to turn out.

And it's really hard to have both of those things be true at the same time and that is the needle that Republicans are trying to thread at the moment.

HUNT: Yeah. Ana, were you trying to jump in there?

NAVARRO: Yeah, you know, so I'm in Florida. I'm actually in District 27 in Florida. This is the congressional district where you saw Maria Elvira Salazar, the Republican congresswoman, put out an ad distancing herself from Donald Trump, particularly on the issue of immigration.

But here, as I sit here, there is a governor's race going on where the money gap has been enormous. Byron Donalds, the Republican, the Trump- endorsed Republican, the guy who calls Donald Trump his daddy, has spent upwards of $80 million on TV ads since January. David Jolly, the Democrat, has spent about a million and a half dollars.

And if you believe polls, and I'm somewhat skeptical, but if you believe polls, they're practically even or within the margin of error. So, it's telling you that all of that money that's getting dumped, even in red states, is not having the effect that they would wish for.

HUNT: Yeah, that's a good point.

Zolan, I know there's some reporting that you had referenced from "The New York Times", and some of this looks at an Oval Office meeting on August 7th that says that the president was in the Oval Office with James Blair, Susie Wiles, Natalie Harp. And they were trying to get him to sign off on spending from the super PAC, according to "The Times", for midterm candidates, after months of all of this anxiety.

[16:15:00]

But during that meeting, "The Times" reports, the president was much more interested in looking at videos of himself. And he turns to Ms. Harp and asked her to show the group the type of imagery that he favors.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Right. I mean, that's I think it speaks to sort of an issue that we've been discussing here, where you have voters that are wanting solutions to a central campaign promise for the president, which is driving down cost of living. Instead, he's focused on putting the spotlight on himself as a solution for those voters.

It's not worked up until this point. Again, that meeting I do think is a prime example, once again, of how this administration was designed to say yes to the president.

HUNT: Right. Well, what's the quote? Phil Rucker, longtime "Washington Post" reporter and book author, now a great person here with us at CNN. The quote was, "I alone can fix it". I guess we're still there.

All right, Ana Navarro, thank you. Really appreciate it. I hope to see you soon.

Our rest of our panel is going to stick around. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, inside that roller coaster interview that the president gave to "Time Magazine", one of the reporters who spoke to the president will join us live.

But first, New York's governor appointing a special prosecutor to investigate an alleged gang rape at Cornell University that's ignited outrage among students and the community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D), NEW YORK: No public official gets to look the other way when the system breaks down and fails our young people. And as governor, I will not allow anyone to sweep this case under the rug.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:20:53]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOCHUL: No public official gets to look the other way when the system breaks down and fails our young people. And as governor, I will not allow anyone to sweep this case under the rug. We are ensuring that all the facts of this case are brought into the light.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The alleged gang rape at Cornell University, now a state criminal investigation. New York Governor Kathy Hochul appointed State Attorney General Letitia James to take over the case from the local district attorney, vowing to unravel the investigation's failures.

In her lawsuit, the woman referenced as Jane Doe said that she had drunk alcohol and accepted drugs and was then raped by several men at a Chi Phi Park fraternity house. The incident happened in 2024 when the student was 20 years old. Jane Doe's attorney told CNN he believes his client did not consent to any sexual activity that night because of her high level of intoxication. According to her 2024 statement to Cornell police that was obtained by CNN, the accuser said that she was, quote, "pretty okay with aspects of the initial encounter but did not consent later on in the night".

State Attorney General James said the investigation will take time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: We will review the facts. gather evidence, interview witnesses, and if warranted, pursue prosecutions. I know that you want answers. I do, too. A comprehensive investigation of this nature takes time, but my office is committed to seeing it through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, joining us now in THE ARENA to discuss victims' rights attorney Gloria Allred and criminal defense attorney Bill Brennan.

Nice to have both of you on the show. Always good to see you.

Gloria, let me start with you. What are going to be the next steps here and what needs to happen for this Jane Doe?

GLORIA ALLRED, PARTNER, ALLRED, MAROKO AND GOLDBERG: Well, I do have confidence that the Attorney General, Letitia James, will do a very comprehensive investigation. There was an investigation, which I feel was a good investigation, by Cornell. However, it failed when it got to the D.A. because, number one, it's been revealed that not only did the D.A. not have or review the transcript of the interview with Jane Doe, he only reviewed the six-page statement that she signed.

And also, he didn't send any follow up D.A. investigators to look into this case, which I think he should have done. So now it's out of his hands because the governor, Governor Hochul, has taken it out of his hands, and we'll see what happens. It's noteworthy to me that she didn't say that, as the attorney general did not say, we're going to review the law. She said only that they're going to review the facts, which is interesting because the law is a problem in this case.

It's not a complete bar, but it is a problem. And that's the law that many women's rights activists are trying to change in Albany.

HUNT: And just to put a finer point on that, Gloria, I know which law you're talking about. I believe it's the one that deals with whether or not if you consume drugs and alcohol, are you able to consent? Can you just explain that briefly and then we'll talk to Bill?

ALLRED: Sure, exactly. Because in other words, what the law is saying, and I hate to paraphrase the law because we never should, but I will, is that, it's an issue of consent. I mean, if a person can, an adult, consent to sexual intercourse, but if a person, this is in New York, under New York law, voluntarily becomes intoxicated by alcohol or drugs or both, which she says she was drunk when she got there.

[16:25:02]

If a person voluntarily then consumes under New York law, she cannot claim that she didn't have the mental capacity to consent. If a person doesn't have the mental capacity to consent, then they haven't consented. So, for example, a person with mental issues may not have the capacity. But she still could prove that factually she couldn't consent.

The law needs to be clarified, but as I said, it's not a complete bar. But I will say this, and I've never said it before, which is the law was made by men for the benefit men and at the expense of women.

HUNT: So, Bill, "The New York Times" reporting on the men here, on the accounts of those accused men, differ, and some of those accounts contradict each other. There are four fraternity members that said this was consensual. There were three that denied any sexual contact. How does that play into this?

WILLIAM J. BRENNAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I don't find it shocking that when you interview seven people, young, you know, fellows that are probably scared to death, that a few of them may just deny, or maybe that's their perception of what happened. But Gloria makes a good point that New York's a little bit behind the times with current trends, you know, post-MeToo America has really looked at some of these consent laws.

And my understanding of the current New York law is that if you're voluntarily intoxicated, it's a problem for the prosecution. Now, the states I primarily practice in, that's not the case.

But it's important to remember that these men are presumed, and it's that they're not charged with any crimes now. This local district attorney, I presume, has reasons for doing or what he did.

But he may -- the Duke University Lacrosse rape case may have had a chilling effect on him, because in that case, there was an allegation of a gang rape. There were some racial overtones there. Charges were filed.

There was a recantation at some point later, but the prosecutor in that case, as I understand it, was disbarred by his local bar. And I think he did some criminal time, I think, for criminal contempt.

But, you know, these cases are very, very difficult for a lot of reasons. There's substances involved, alcohol, ketamine.

I was involved in the Penn State hazing case, which got a lot of attention a number of years ago. And in that case, unfortunately, there was a fatality. The young man that I represented had his charges, at least when I represented him, dismissed. But that was a case where, similar to this, there was great public outcry, but it's important to remember that not every tragedy is a crime, and not every morally reprehensible act, between people are crimes.

I mean, if I had a daughter, a 20-year-old daughter --

ALLRED: Bill, may I?

BRENNAN: I wouldn't care about consent. I would be infuriated that this happened, but it may not be a crime under New York law.

HUNT: Gloria, go ahead.

ALLRED: But it may be. It may be. And because, I mean, the typical person, non-lawyer, has common sense. Some lawyers don't. You do, obviously. But some don't.

Common sense says if a person, even if she voluntarily consumed alcohol and was drunk or drugs and was under the influence, to say that they might have the mental capacity to consent, it defies logic and reason and common sense. That's why the law needs to be changed.

The point is, I'm glad she reported there are going to be factual problems because she spoke to the police, she spoke to Cornell investigators, and, you know, her statement may have some inconsistencies with the transcript. That doesn't mean it's fatal to the case.

Maybe it can still be prosecuted, but I think the defendants all have the presumption of innocence unless and until they're proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

HUNT: Yeah. So --

BRENNAN: Kasie, again, Gloria makes a great point. I think it's very important for two things. I can't say it enough. These men are not charged with crimes. They're presumed innocent.

I was encouraged to see General James employ a measured approach. If we're going to investigate this, it'll take time. But equally important is to not demonize this young woman.

I mean, whatever happened in that room, it seems the facts that are undisputed are that there was some type of sexual activity. But this is a 20-year-old I would say kid because I'm getting old now, but it's a 20-year-old young lady who is feeling public shame, and it's important to remember that they're not charged with crimes and they're presumed innocent. It's equally important not to demonize this young lady, and hopefully, General James will do a full and thorough investigation, and maybe there's charges, maybe there's --

ALLRED: You know what? Even, Bill, even if she doesn't do a full, fair investigation resulting in a prosecution, the Jane Doe now has an attorney, and she can win justice in her own case. The criminal case is not her case. The civil case is her case.

And whether or not there's a prosecution, she could proceed with that, and there could be a settlement. Now, it's being litigated, but there could still be a settlement at some point for her. So, she still has an opportunity to win justice.

I'm glad that she has an attorney. And that's what I think all rape victims should do. Reach out, get some legal advice, even before you go to the police, even before you go anywhere. And I think that will be helpful to you.

HUNT: All right.

BRENNAN: And, Gloria, of course, it's a different standard. In the civil courts, it's a bit of a lower standard. You know, criminal courts require --

ALLRED: It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because --

BRENNAN: It could settle.

(CROSSTALK)

ALLRED: It doesn't matter -- that's true.

But wait, it doesn't matter because civil attorneys can give advice.

(CROSSTALK)

BRENNAN: -- consensual.

HUNT: All right.

BRENNAN: But there's always the possibility that this was a consensual act. People do these things.

HUNT: All right. We got to leave it there. But Gloria Allred, Bill Brennan, really appreciate the conversation. Very valuable today.

ALLRED: Thank you.

BRENNAN: Thank you, Kasie. Thank you, Gloria. Bye-bye.

ALLRED: Thank you, Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, what exactly did the president mean when he told "Time Magazine", quote, "I don't know what the hell's wrong"? We'll ask the reporter who interviewed him. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:36:05]

HUNT: All right, welcome back. President Donald Trump broke a new record this week for being on the

cover of "Time Magazine" more than anyone else ever. The president's wide-ranging interview for this month's cover touched on a range of topics, including the Iran War, the Supreme Court, various White House renovation projects, and, of course, the midterms.

During the 75-minute conversation, the president was, quote, "discursive and grievance-fueled," veering from the crises of his presidency to resentments old and emerging.

At one point, he even said this, quote, "You haven't asked me one effing positive question. All of this. What about this? What about that? What about that? What about this? All negative."

All right. "Time Magazine's" Eric Cortellessa joins our panel. He is the one who interviewed the president for this month's cover.

Eric, fascinating interview. I'd honestly be really interested in your takeaways. You have interviewed the president multiple times over the course of the last couple of years, in April of 2025, again in October of last year, and then, of course, now this sit down.

When you actually go and read the transcript of this lengthy interview you did, it was striking to me -- I'm so used to watching him speak this way. When you actually read it, it's fairly remarkable. And I was wondering what your takeaways were about the president's overall state of mind, the way that he is feeling now compared to the way he was a year ago.

ERIC CORTELLESSA, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, TIME MAGAZINE: Yeah, I mean, it's fascinating. It's a different experience to read it on the page in the transcript, and that's one reason why we do it, for transparency's purposes.

I felt like President Trump during, you know, the time we spent with him this week, he did seem in some ways more subdued. He seemed more fixated on the renovation projects at the White House in particular. A lot of times he would circle back to that when you asked a question on another topic. And, you know, he has such attention to detail and such a preoccupation when it comes to these specific kinds of projects.

He's, you know, repainting doors in the White House. He's replacing doorknobs that are with ones that are gold. You know, he's bringing in marble and granite from California and Italy. And what really struck me was that at this precarious moment in his presidency, when so much is slipping beyond his control, the war in Iran is going much longer than he said it would, there does not seem to be an end in sight, inflation is high, rates are going up, mortgage rates are above seven percent now, the more that all of these forces are slipping beyond his control, the more he seems increasingly fixated on the things he can which are these sort of beautification projects at the White House.

HUNT: Really fascinating. Can you give us some insight into what his demeanor was like when he was talking to you in the way that we just read out where he said, you didn't ask me one effing, you know, positive question, basically? I mean, was he as angry as the quotes suggest?

CORTELLESSA: Probably not, no. I don't think it was as dramatic in the room as it might read on the page. It was sort of standard Trumpian, you know, expressing of a grievance. He does feel like he's not getting the -- you know, depiction of his presidency in the press that he would like. He always blames the press as an intermediary.

And you know, it came in a moment in time where he's been attacking reporters whose coverage he doesn't like. He's obviously barred certain news organizations, including CNN, from covering him in various parts of the White House on Air Force One.

And, you know, it just strikes me that attacking the press has always been advantageous terrain for him politically. And at this moment, where a lot of other challenges are bearing in on him, it makes sense that that's someplace that he would want to go.

HUNT: Yeah. Eric, one thing too that stuck out to me is that there seemed to be times in the interview where he had struggled to hear you, to hear the question. There are, of course, a lot of Democrats that are already making allegations about his health and fitness for office.

[16:40:08]

How do you view his overall kind of stamina and demeanor now, since you have been able to observe him over the last year or so?

CORTELLESSA: Well, I do think he maintains a very high level of stamina. I mean, he's traveling all across the country. He doesn't sleep a lot. He works from the wee hours of the morning to late at night.

His stamina seems to be just as high as it's been. He was more subdued in some ways. He's also sort of unbound. by many things. He doesn't seem to be too concerned about the outlook in the midterms. You know, he sort of resigned that if Democrats take control of Congress and he has to face investigations and subpoenas and potential impeachment proceedings, that's just what will happen.

He said -- when I asked about that, he said they'll probably go after me and I'll go after them. But, you know, this is someone who has been reaffirmed in his impulses for so long and that when things seem bad and it seems like he cannot mount a comeback, he has.

And I think that's just led to President Trump feeling comfortable. when, you know, the chips are down and feeling like at the end of the day things will work out for him. There are people close to him who worry that leads to acts of hubris. Of course, there are many who believe that it was a similar dynamic when, you know, he launched the attack in Venezuela to oust Maduro, that that is what gave him the confidence to go into Iran, and, you know, now we've been there for seven months.

HUNT: Yeah. David Chalian, what stood out to you reading this interview? CHALIAN: Some of what Eric is saying, like, you see a president sort of dipping into the well of some of the hits such as like on the press or whatever in an attempt to not only make himself feel better and express a grievance that he often expresses but maybe to motivate some voters again. I think so much of what we're seeing right now his travel some of the lines that he offered in this interview, it seems like he wants to awaken this base that has been with him all along that he may see evidence of not so psyched to show up right now.

And I just think a lot of his communication has tried to remind them he is their guy and they got to show up. It's why he says, I'm going to be impeached if they do this. So I think we're seeing a lot of that in this interview.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Just how much more agitated he is as well. I mean, I was reading the transcript, and then I went back and looked at the transcript when me and my colleagues interviewed the president earlier this year. That was right after the Venezuela operation.

You could argue that the president was at the apex of his power. He certainly felt that he was at the apex of his power. Congress really wasn't making moves to push back against him, nor were other institutions in Washington. Now look at just what's happened in the past couple weeks name taken off of the Kennedy Center, more and more Republicans willing to rebuff him as well and actually criticize his agenda.

His polling has absolutely declined, and I think you're seeing his frustration in this interview where he's more agitated and trying to lash out at an entity that he still feels he can assert power over, that being the press.

HUNT: All right. Eric Cortellessa, thank you so much for your time. Really enjoyed the interview, and I hope you come back.

CORTELLESSA: Will do. Thank you.

HUNT: All right. Ahead here in THE ARENA, House Democrats reportedly eyeing even more districts as potential flips in November. We're going to talk with Congressman Jake Auchincloss about the pros and cons of his party's priorities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: House Democrats right now are competing all over the country in areas that were comfortably won by Donald Trump 'cause the American people know that Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have been a complete and total disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:48:14]

HUNT: All right, welcome back. With just about a month until the 2026 midterm election, Democrats are

feeling increasingly bullish about their chances to take back majorities in the House and potentially the Senate. So much so that the DCCC, which is, of course, the Democrats' campaign arm in the House, just put eight more traditionally red districts on their offensive target list.

And according to "Politico", Democrats are now pushing for a spending spree in deep red districts in the hopes they could eke out a couple extra wins. One House Democrat telling the paper that another five or so seat buffer would be a game changer, adding that it would help a future Speaker Jeffries, quote, "rise above some of the incoming B.S. that he's going to have to deal with."

All right, joining me now, Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, Jake Auchincloss.

Congressman, always good to see you. Thanks for being here.

Of course, there are going to be a number of liberal Democrats who, you know, won primaries and are on track to be elected to the House. They're even potentially naming themselves, perhaps calling themselves the Bloc. Do you think that incoming Speaker Jeffries is prepared to deal with the havoc that that could create?

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): Yes. Obviously, the more seats, the better, and the bigger the margin, the better we saw, you know, Speaker Johnson have to wrestle with a small margin. I think he wishes he had more, and certainly we will as well. And I feel good about it.

I think Democrats are competing in places that felt out of reach maybe even a year ago. What we have to do, though, is the day after the midterms when we do have that mandate, we then need to turn around and deliver on it. We got to end this expensive war and then we've got to tackle the cost disease that is making health care and utilities in particular outpace wages for the middle class.

[16:50:04]

HUNT: Congressman, a lot of these elections can turn into expectations games and right now, you are seeing in the polling, you are seeing kind of in the overall narrative that Democrats are feeling very bullish and expecting to do really well.

Is that potentially a challenge come election night or a concern?

AUCHINCLOSS: Well, I think I would probably say the concern I have is the Republicans spending advantage. Their outside money gives them something like a five to one, maybe even a 10 to one cash advantage over Democrats, both for House and Senate races. And you stack up all those ads, they have an impact.

And I do worry about their ability just to spend their way towards a tighter margin. It underscores how desperately necessary it is to overturn Citizens United, get this dark money out of politics because you've got a very small subset of ultra high worth donors who are plowing in dollars to this administration's agenda.

HUNT: So when you raise this concern, too, about the margin, you're saying this money could potentially cut the margin if Democrats do, of course, win, but potentially more closely. The closer it is, as you've acknowledged, the more power any small faction or group could potentially have.

What message would you send to those members who are perhaps on the left of your caucus coming in and who are going to be fighting the status quo?

AUCHINCLOSS: I think the whole Democratic Party should be fighting the status quo. If this is framed as a debate between the, quote, "establishment" and, you know, the quote, "left", frankly, the establishment deserves to lose because the American public doesn't like the status quo. I think we've seen that for the last decade.

You can be insurgent and disruptive in a way that is cross- ideological, though, in a way that takes on both corporate power and government bureaucracy to lower prices, for example, in energy or in healthcare or in housing. So, to me, I think the party itself needs to rediscover its roots, its Jeffersonian roots as a disruptive force that believes in equal opportunity for all and special privileges for none. That is a radical idea. That is an idea that should be disruptive to the status quo.

But we've got to demonstrate that we do so in a way that actually lowers prices because affordability has been a hot potato for six years now. And if we pass that hot potato back again to the Republicans, Shame on us as a party.

HUNT: Yeah. Congressman, just as we were coming on the air this hour, we got a look at some new potential ads that the government has cut. The president has been using government money to air ads in NFL games and cable news networks.

I want to play for you one of the new ones, and then I'd love to get your reaction on the other side. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God looked down on his planned paradise and said, I need a caretaker. So, God gave us Trump.

God said, I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, fix this country, work all day, fight the Marxists, eat supper, then go to the Oval Office and stay past midnight at a meeting of the heads of state. So, God made Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Your reaction, especially to the idea that that could be paid for with public money?

AUCHINCLOSS: I mean. It's shameful. It cuts against the grain of The First Amendment of, you know, the separation of church and state, of American taxpayers' rightful expectation that their funds are used for public services and programming, not for the advancement of an individual candidate. It's astounding.

I think it also demonstrates where we are this political moment that we are in in which Trump has sucked up the oxygen on both sides of the aisle. He's a hero to one side, a villain to the other. And, you know, maybe you agree with me.

I'm kind of exhausted of the whole thing. I'm just so sick of this guy. I really want us to make the American middle class the hero of this story. I want to be talking about them, what they worry about, and what they worry about is that half their income is eaten up by housing, healthcare, and utilities. Those three things eat up half their take-home pay.

So, you know, when Democrats are in power, I want our narrative arc not to be about hagiography around any individual Democrat or any villainizing an individual Republican. It's like, how do we lift up the middle class in this country?

HUNT: All right. Congressman Jake Auchincloss, thank you.

I do worry -- I do wonder if the American public is simply exhausted. And that's part of what we're seeing here. But I guess we're about to find out in a couple of weeks. Thanks for your time, sir. I appreciate it.

AUCHINCLOSS: Take care.

HUNT: All right.

[16:55:00]

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right. Thanks very much to my panel. Really appreciate all of you being here late on a Friday afternoon. Have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. I hope you also have a wonderful weekend and I would love it if you spent some of it with us. You can tune in tomorrow for THE ARENA SATURDAY. It airs at noon and then again at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

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