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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
CNN Poll: Trump's Approval Hits New Low Ahead Of Midterms; Trump Again Uses Campaign Rally To Compliment Male Senator's Butt. Eagles' Jalen Hurts Will Miss Rest Of Season Due To Blood Clots; 2025: Trump Begins Demolition Of White House East Wing; The Chore Debate At Airbnb. Aired 12-1p ET
Aired October 24, 2026 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: -- first female president said, "It will be because women decide to show up in leadership and work in allyship with men that we can achieve a more sustainable and peaceful world. Hear, hear."
And that's all we have time for. Don't forget, you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms.
I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you again next week
[12:00:38]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Welcome to The Arena Saturday.
Is 10 days enough time to turn around an entire election? If so, what would it take? With just a week and a half until Election Day, early voting is underway in dozens of states, and more than 20 million ballots have already been cast.
This week, we here at CNN released our latest polling of the cycle, and Democrats have plenty of reasons to be optimistic, if perhaps cautiously so. In the generic House ballot, they lead Republicans by 10 points. That's their biggest lead since just before the 2020 election.
And President Trump's approval rating is at the lowest point it's ever been in CNN's polling. And so, with just 10 days to go, is there anything that the President or his party can do or say to turn things around?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My rallies are having a huge impact and a positive impact on the Republican Party.
If Republicans win the House of Representatives and the Senate, I am going to give all adult citizens in the United States of America $5,000.
When you see burning steeples and raging fires in France, just remember that is what the radical Democrats want to do to America.
If I can get my voters, MAGA, Republicans, whatever you want to call, if they get out to vote, we'll win in a landslide.
And he made a commercial. He put it up, you know, like I would do. So I told him, leave it up and look upstairs and say, 'Thank you, God, very much. I appreciate it.'
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: OK. My panel is here in The Arena. Former Federal Prosecutor, CNN Legal Analyst, Elliot Williams, Co-Host of the Flagrant & Funny podcast and a CNN Contributor, Cari Champion, the Former Director of Message Planning in the Biden White House, Meghan Hays, and Former Republican Congressman and Speaker Pro Tem, Patrick McHenry. Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.
Congressman, I was asking this before we came on the air here, where do things stand just a week and a half or so out from the election? Do you think Democrats are going to take the Senate? And how bad is it going to be for Republicans in the House?
PATRICK MCHENRY (R), FORMER SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE: So having been through many midterms, I can tell you it's better to be off the ballot than on the ballot this year as a Republican. And, look, the numbers don't lie. And I think we'll see this early on election night as returns come in and with exit polls, whether or not this proves out true -- to be true.
But there's a narrow divide among all these key Senate races. We have six Senate races that are within the margin of error, distinctly to the Democrats' favor, but within the margin of error. And we're talking about a demographic shift of slight proportions could have an outsized impact on the control of the U.S. Senate, and I think that's what everybody's watching on election night.
The interesting thing about the CNN poll, though, is the top line says good things for Democrats. But underlying this, when you ask the question, "Would a Democratic Congress be good for you?", the American people are split and not convinced. That is a problem for the Democratic Party long-term. Even if in the short-term, things are quite beneficial to the Democrats right now.
HUNT: Right. Well, and Meghan, I mean, if you dig into that polling, the approval rating for the Democratic Party is not -- is down there with the approval for the Republican Party, right? People are not happy about the party.
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING, BIDEN WHITE HOUSE: That's absolutely true, and I think that that's a nationwide feeling, and it's a more, a more holistic view of the Democratic Party. That's not what's going on in communities. Democrats have been over- performing or winning elections since 2024. But that's a lot about candidate selection and who we have up on the ballot in individual community.
So I do think where people are happy with Democrats who are running for office right now, they don't necessarily think that we have a message that we can go forward with, and that's what's going to be troublesome if we do take back the House and the Senate next year.
HUNT: Let's take a look at how the President is playing in some of these key Senate races. There's one ad from the Republican who is running in New Hampshire. Now fair to say, New Hampshire is a little bit more of a Democratic-leaning state than where some of these other critical Senate races are in places that are often, in fact, red states.
But still, this was not a message that most Republicans have been able to use with President Trump in the last 10 years that have been dominated by the President. Let's watch John E. Sununu's ad. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN SUNUNU (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE SENATE CANDIDATE: The way Chris Pappas tells it, I'm President Trump's long lost son. I've never even met the man. When the President's policies are bad for New Hampshire, I'll oppose them, just like I opposed the war in Iran and the trade war with Canada. That's New Hampshire independent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[12:05:16]
HUNT: I've never even met the man.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, I mean, but let's be clear, for him -- and you teased this a little bit, Kasie. For him, there is no other message that he could have put out there. John Sununu, one, New Hampshire being what it is, but also the Sununu family and its history both between you know, Governor Sununu, Senator Sununu, and White House Chief of Staff Sununu, none of them have ever really been sort of card-carrying MAGA members. And so that sort of made sense and we should treat New Hampshire a little bit differently, I think.
CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That goes back to the information, the soundbite you played earlier. It was very -- I thought it was interesting when Trump just said, you know, MAGA, regular Republicans, if they all come out, I think we'll do well. He knows there's a very significant divide.
That's him saying to his base that we all are supposed to be together as one. But this is something that I've been paying close attention to, the distancing, and it's been very clear. And they're getting more and more clear that they have to distance themselves from him.
HUNT: So one of the other major storylines we saw this week comes to us from the State of Ohio which has been a red state for a while, but which has a couple of top races trending toward the Democrat. There's, of course, Sherrod Brown trying to return in the Senate, but it was the gubernatorial race that really took headlines this week with the Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy really doubling down on an ad that they released with Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee's estranged mother.
Now, of course, if you've been following this, you know that Acton's stepfather, her mother's husband, was arrested for raping her when she was a 12-year-old girl. The Ramaswamy campaign went -- found her mother, and produced this ad. Let's watch it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONNA ARTHUR, AMY ACTON'S ESTRANGED MOTHER: Not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She's lied her entire life.
My daughter needs help, and she can't help you if she needs help herself. Don't vote for people who lie. Don't let her become your governor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: This, of course, was met with widespread condemnation from Democrats and also from many Republicans, including the Republican Senate candidate who said that he would not have released this ad, that's Jon Husted.
Our John Urban (ph) said on this set earlier this week that that ad makes Willie Horton, you may remember that ad, look like a Hallmark movie. But guess who's not distancing themselves from this ad? The President of the United States and the Vice President of the United States. And we should note JD Vance is from Ohio.
Here's what he said when he was campaigning with Vivek Ramaswamy this week. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JD VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But I have to admit that I'm a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the Congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America.
Politics is a tough business. And my message to my fellow elected Republicans is if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days. Next question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Congressman, stop whining is the message from the Vice President.
MCHENRY: Yes, there's a lot of whining right now, though. I mean, with a party with the -- like being the Republican Party right now, there's a lot of whining, and that is true. But let's go -- let's get back to the question of this ad. There's something we see, which is Vivek Ramaswamy is down in the polls, but within the margin of error.
He's down three points on the RealClearPolitics average, maybe four. And so when you see an ad like this is the Hail Mary. And so his way of winning is to break through, number one, the media roar, right? There's so many ads running in Ohio because it's such a competitive state, to break through with what you think is a really compelling message, number one.
And number two, going after the heart of his opponent's campaign. Now, that's the campaign tactic. What I would question, though, is whether or not you go after the most endearing part of your opponent's story and the one that people think you're disgusting for attacking.
And so this, I don't think, benefits him. I view this as not something to whine about, but to step back and say, this is really kind of dumb. You shouldn't do this because it's bad for your campaign. And people view this, the voters view this.
If you want to run for governor, they want you to be much more of a caretaker and understand them than to be a voice. And when you look at this, they question your judgment for putting an ad up like this in such a way that is -- it is something uncomfortable for us to talk about on a Saturday morning, and we think the person who's pushing a message like this is disgusting for raising it.
[12:10:10]
So I just question the judgment of this, and I rate it as pretty damn stupid in a pretty damn stupid election cycle. Sorry about that on a Saturday morning.
HUNT: No, it's all good.
All right. Coming up next here in The Arena, some have called it the midterm man crush. Another headline declared it, quote, "All the President's hotties." What exactly is going on with the President and some of his recent comments? That's our quote of the week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I looked at his ass. And then I looked at his legs and it might -- I said, "His ass is -- it's like a pile of muscle." Then I looked at his legs and I said, "Man, his feet are big." Then I looked at his shoulders and I tapped him on the shoulder and it actually hurt my hand. It was like a piece of steel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[12:15:45] VANCE: Now, this is a tough act to follow, ladies and gentlemen, because what could I possibly say about Jon Husted that Donald J. Trump has not already said? Don't worry, I'm not talking about Jon Husted's ass.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was the Vice President, JD Vance, poking fun at his boss's comments about a certain Republican senator's physique. President Trump, of course, has been crisscrossing the country hoping to burst turnout for his preferred candidates. The mission took him to Ohio, where he took to the podium and rattled off a list of reasons why voters should back Senator Jon Husted.
And he invoked the senator's backside as part of his pitch. That is our quote of the week. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm studying his body. I've never studied the body of a man before. It's not my thing. Nothing wrong with it, of course. Nothing. I always precede it by saying nothing wrong, but it's never been my thing, to be honest with you. But I looked at his ass. And then I looked at his legs, and it -- I said, "His ass is -- it's like a pile of muscle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I mean, honestly, like, I'm tempted to just, like, leave it there.
CHAMPION: And that's it.
HUNT: Photographer's full frame. Elliot?
WILLIAMS: Yes. You know, yes, you know, it's interesting. The President's 80 years old. If he's going through things with his own sexuality and exploring and sort of finding himself, I think he could be a role model to millions of Americans who are fighting the same issue and the same question here.
So God bless the President. I mean, I actually think --
MCHENRY: Oh, come on.
WILLIAMS: -- there's a gay teenager somewhere who can look up to, so you don't end up with a tragedy like Larry Craig or something like that where he has to --
CHAMPION: No, he's playing to his audience. He is an actor. We love that, right?
WILLIAMS: I know. I know.
CHAMPION: Though we as in them love that.
WILLIAMS: I know.
CHAMPION: But this conversation about this man's ass is really making me uncomfortable. And the sad part is is that JD Vance thinks he can follow it up and be the same person. It's not hitting the same brain.
MCHENRY: OK, so what else do we know about Senator Jon Husted?
CHAMPION: That's it. That's it. That's it.
HAYS: They have no substance.
MCHENRY: So here's the point of it, right? So when the President goes and makes fun of Ken Paxton and the way he looks, he's making fun of the obvious thing, right? And, and saying, "It's OK to make fun of the guy, but just go vote for him."
Here, he's trying to give color to somebody who's relatively colorless and not defined by the voter and trying to make it a thing. He's obviously made it a thing.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
MCHENRY: Now, this is what he consistently does when he's talking about the way men look especially. And I'll give you one example of this. I'm in the Oval Office at some signing ceremony, and he looks at me and says, "Let me introduce Patrick McHenry. This guy is out of central casting." Right?
And he is obviously making fun of me to my face, right? Because of my height and the way I look and everything else, and has so much fun messing around with people in the audience to actually make these things much more entertaining rather than sort of a boring third event of the day.
CHAMPION: Also a great tactic because you do remember the person now.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
CHAMPION: Because everyone knows who he is.
MCHENRY: Yes. And also I am kind of weird-looking, so I'm OK.
CHAMPION: But central casting means good things, not bad things.
WILLIAMS: The irony, though, and I mean, I understand it, I get it but the irony is how this idea of men's sexuality is used against Democrats. Like, if you look at how they talk about --
CHAMPION: Yes
WILLIAMS: -- Jon Ossoff, if you look at how they talk about James Talarico, it's mocking their manliness or whatever else in a way that he's getting away with because what the audience wants. But it just --
HUNT: Well --
WILLIAMS: -- oh, irony --
HUNT: I mean, I think too, like, I absolutely take your point that he's trying to do something, but he also has shown over many years that he simply is obsessed with how people look.
CHAMPION: That's it.
HUNT: Whether it is men or women.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
HUNT: We happen to have a, you know -- let's just watch. I mean, honestly, honestly, the sound speaks for itself. Let's just watch a series of things where he is commenting on current candidates' bodies, and then in, after that, we'll take a trip down memory lane. But let's start with this election cycle. Watch.
TRUMP: I looked at his ass and I looked at the whole -- and then I looked at his hands. Look at his hands. He's got these, like, claws.
[12:20:03]
Would you give some of those votes to Andy? I'm here to help him and to help some of your great congressmen. They're warriors. Thank you, fellas. Handsome people and a beautiful one.
I actually think Mike Collins is a good-looking man. And he's all man. He's all man. I actually think that Rick Jackson's a very handsome, distinguished, beautiful looking guy.
I took Ed Gallrein along with me. He's so great, that guy. Central casting.
We're going to elect Jon Husted to the Senate. I examined his ass, and then I looked at his shoulders, I looked at his feet. I looked at his hand, I looked at his jawline.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Makes you wonder what else he did or didn't look at.
WILLIAMS: I know.
HUNT: Because his commentary has, of course, extended beyond those lists of body parts. Let's watch a series of his previous comments about men's bodies. It starts with Arnold Palmer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Arnold Palmer was all man. When he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, "Oh my God. That's unbelievable.
President of El Salvador, another friend, Nayib Bukele. You were young and handsome. Now you're older and handsome. I wish I looked just like Jackson. He's -- there's this guy, I said,
"Is he a male model or what?" He's a handsome guy, like a beautiful guy.
I wish Tim didn't look that good. You know, he's a very handsome guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Congressman, Ashley Parker with the Atlantic --
MCHENRY: Why are you starting with me?
HUNT: Well, I guess I can put this on the table if that would be your preference. I might let you off the hook this one time.
CHAMPION: Like, enough with the conversation.
HUNT: Just one time.
WILLIAMS: It's a lot of talking people's preferences today, Kasie.
HUNT: Ashley wrote this earlier this year, calling Trump the king of queens. "To be clear, Trump says he is attracted only to women and in fact, he's been married to three of them. But there is also little doubt that Trump has unabashedly embraced the aesthetic -- the je ne sais quoi -- of a certain kind of gay man."
WILLIAMS: Well, you know what? Even if it's not -- but, you know, joking aside, even if it's not gay man, there is a type that the President's talking about here, and it's sort of big, butchy white guys. And it's sort of that frontier man, American John Wayne ethos that sort of is the idea behind a lot of American strength and MAGA and all of the above. So it makes total sense to me. I am not surprised that he's out there doing it.
HAYS: So I don't want to be the wet noodle here and --
WILLIAMS: Yes.
HAYS: -- like take this the more serious. There are some real problems in the United States that are happening, and these people are running for office to impact people's cost of groceries and healthcare and groceries, and we are sitting there talking about what people's bottoms look like or what they -- the President thinks they look like.
This is so unserious that I cannot even believe that we're having this conversation. And I, again --
MCHENRY: It's Saturday morning. We're laughing about this.
HAYS: I hear you.
MCHENRY: But the substance of these rallies --
HAYS: I hear you that we are 11 days from an election --
MCHENRY: I know.
HAYS: -- and people need actual substance.
MCHENRY: And the substance of these rallies --
HAYS: And they're hearing about someone's bottom.
MCHENRY: When the President goes and speaks for two hours at these rallies, the vignettes of these things that make -- that they're the viral moments, the ones that go around, are things like this. And for him to break through on this, he obviously does. I mean, to his point --
HAYS: Because he doesn't have any substance.
WILLIAMS: Well, I --
MCHENRY: No, no.
HAYS: He doesn't care.
MCHENRY: He does have substance, but an hour and a half of substance, we're not running on that.
WILLIAMS: No.
MCHENRY: So this story is interesting because the cultural touchstone that this President's been about since he was a kid in New York is very clear. And so he, this is a continuation. Yes, he loves beautiful things. Yes, he does have preference on art and architecture and everything else. And it's a very different thing than the assumption of what this President normally projects.
WILLIAMS: I think --
MCHENRY: And I think that's the interesting story.
WILLIAMS: Real quick, I think to Cari's point earlier here, his audience eats that up and loves it. That is the audience that he is speaking to, and it works. Now, to your point, Meghan, that's sad, and that is a problem.
HAYS: And those are not the people who are voting.
CHAMPION: It may be also --
HAYS: There's so many more people who are voting.
WILLIAMS: But that's the thing -- like, but this is, you know, this happened earlier this week on this program where someone watched a -- on this network, where someone watched a clip like this and said, "Ugh, I love him so much. That's what I love about him."
And I think people -- there is an audience that loves seeing this from President Trump --
CHAMPION: Well, that's all he can do.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
HAYS: Yes.
CHAMPION: That's all he can do.
HAYS: That's right. There's no substance. There's --
CHAMPION: To your point, there's nothing else. That's her point. That's all he can do.
HUNT: Well, he both -- he won two elections, both in part because he was entertaining. People found him funny. He was able to grab attention. It's also true that a lot of Republicans who are on the ballot this year are really frustrated that he is not paying attention to all of the things that Meghan just laid out -- cost of living, the Iran war, et cetera.
All right. Coming up next here in The Arena, what a difference a year makes. We're going to discuss the major White House renovation. But, first, say it ain't so. Why one of the biggest stars in the NFL on my Philadelphia Eagles suddenly out for the rest of the season.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Jake, are we going to talk about the Birds --
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: No.
HUNT: -- this year ever again?
TAPPER: No, I'm sorry.
HUNT: This season?
TAPPER: Again, yes, this season, though.
HUNT: OK.
TAPPER: I can't talk about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[12:29:31]
What's your view of -- and understanding of what happened with Jalen Hurts and the care that he received, and what's your reaction to the NFLPA calling for an investigation?
ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: Well, we welcome that, and that's part of our processes. That's fine. We have chief -- our chief medical officer's been through the protocols that were followed, so we welcome that. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell there telling reporters that the league will welcome an investigation into the handling of Jalen Hurts' scary and confusing blood clot diagnosis. The Philadelphia Eagles announcing this week their star quarterback, our star quarterback, will be out for the rest of the football season due to a blood clot in his calf that traveled to his lungs.
The NFL Players Association now demanding a full review of whether Eagles medical staff followed the appropriate protocol after it was revealed that Hurts made two transatlantic flights and played in a London game against the Jacksonville Jaguars while his injury progressed.
While the NFL has continued to defend the team's decision-making, the whole saga has raised serious questions in the sports world about how the league handles player safety and even prompted some accusations of outright negligence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't let this joint statement fool you. The Eagles are scared out of their ass because you might have cost this kid -- it could have cost him his life and you might have could have cost him his damn career.
STEPHEN A. SMITH, HOST, "THE STEPHEN A. SMITH SHOW": How the hell is he on a football field? These are the kind of things that you're going to ask if you're a player who's prone particularly in a multitude of situations that they find unfavorable to remind everybody of this "plantation mentality" that exists within the National Football League that teams have too much cloud, too much influence, too much power and clearly this is not something that appears at least to fall in line with the NFL and its apparent commitment to safety measures to protect players from themselves. This certainly doesn't fall under that category. I need an explanation for the Philadelphia Eagles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, Cari Champion, do you agree with Stephen there?
CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I agree, the optics are bad. I think that there are so many different things that have happened and there is just truly this appointment and when you think about how we feel about football and it's America's favorite pastime arguably, right? But at this moment what they did to Jalen Hurts and what we're learning how this timeline went is simply against what I think most people would have advised.
You have a superficial blood clot then you travel to London and then you get more x-rays and then they tell you this is where it gets mixed. OK you can still play but don't sleep but OK wait we didn't say he shouldn't stay up for 36 hours and play. There are all of these mixed signals and miscommunication and misinformation and then Jalen comes home and he gets a second opinion outside of what the team doctors have told him.
It looks as if the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles at least at the very least, were negligent in the way in which they cared about him. And so now he's out for the rest of the season. Sorry, I know this is your team.
HUNT: Well listen we want him his health is obvious --
CHAMPION: Yes, no, that's the first priority.
HUNT: Yes. It is devastating as a fan.
CHAMPION: Yes. And fans are like, wait, well, why didn't -- if he had this issue when he played the Rams, right, a week before why didn't we just sit him then? Why did we travel across the country and play a game and injure -- and endanger his life? It's really unfortunate what we are looking at.
WILLIAMS: You know, Kasie, as you know I personally really like ragging on Philadelphia sports.
HUNT: You do you do.
WILLIAMS: I do.
HUNT: It's often occasionally almost gotten you disinvited.
WILLIAMS: You know what, but I actually don't think the Eagles and maybe even the NFL are the problem here. I think there's a much bigger -- this idea in American sports and life that playing through injury is a virtue.
CHAMPION: Sure.
WILLIAMS: It's something that characterizes pretty much every professional sport. Best example I can think of 1988 World Series the Dodgers Kirk Gibson's home run that wins it for them. But what people cheer about is the fact that he's limping through the bases because he could not, you know, he had a torn I think or injured MCL he had a strain and somehow could have ended his career that night but we see it as an act of heroism.
That is a lot of what's driving this here in addition to, you know, the whole question of the profits of the NFL and how they need to get close. I just want people to play hurt.
CHAMPION: That's true because it's a business. Yes. They got that in the bottom line, yes.
MEGHAN HAYS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's a business. They only care about making money and yet you're breaking all these people's hearts.
CHAMPION: Yes. But I think the doctors are not fair here though. Like if the team doctors knew he had a superficial blood clot and then still OK'd him to fly he's trusting the team doctors. Now there's a deep mistrust and we have seen over and over again when someone gets a second opinion. It happens in the NBA.
Kawhi Leonard many years ago decided to leave the Spurs and said you know I don't trust the way you guys are handling my knee injury. It turns out he could never play as well as he could because they mishandled the injury. That's what we're looking at right now. Do I believe the team doctors? Do they really care about me or is it all about winning?
HUNT: Yes. Let's watch what Patrick Mahomes of course the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback had to say about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: It's extremely scary. I mean just because I mean that -- it comes from I guess a cleat or something like that. I don't know all the details but that's something that happens every single week in the NFL. You kind of put -- it puts it in perspective how like much football means. I mean we love it and we love playing football. We love being out there every single week and we give everything we have. But at the end of the day we're human beings and we have families and stuff that want to take that want to be there for, for a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[12:35:05]
HUNT: I mean and this Meghan is a little bit what you're speaking to, right, like the different interests between the player and the team and the league.
HAYS: Well, they're there to perform a job and get paid to do it at all costs. So there's always going to be someone that's younger and faster that they can pay less money to. So if they can bench him they'll find somebody else to replace him and they don't, you know, he also probably make -- they probably make a lot of money off of his jersey sales and appearances and all these different things for him but it's completely unfair and it's going to be interesting to see how the NFLPA really reacts to this and how it plays out.
PATRICK MCHENRY (R), FORMER SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE: Yes. But the NFL has credibility issue here. The football has a credibility issue on health issues period. This does not help the NFL brand, number one. Number two, we don't fully know what role Jalen played in this decision. He was obviously had capacity here too. But the question of health here is a real one.
The second the final thing I'd mention is, the NFL has this hope of global going globally.
HUNT: That was what the London game was about.
MCHENRY: When you put these players on these long haul flights it does bring out blood clots. This is a larger issue they're going to have and taking these players and putting them in different time zones across the planet and that is going to have its own level of -- HAYS: But again for the business of the NFL to make money because the only way they can grow their audience is --
MCHENRY: But they're all there to make money. To be clear.
HAYS: But the NFL can only grow their audience is if they go globally.
HUNT: You're saying the decision to take that additional risk is in search of additional profit.
HAYS: Yes. Like look at what -- I mean you saw all the coverage of them going to Australia and the different flights that they were taking it's again a way to grow their business for the teams in the NFL to make money.
HUNT: Well, we should just say, we wish Jalen all the best in his recovery.
All right ahead here in the arena two years into the President's second term. One year into his extreme home makeover.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They said sir you can start tonight. I said what are you talking about. You have zero zoning conditions. You're the president. I said you've got to be kidding. You mean I can actually do something that I really want.
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[12:41:47]
TRUMP: You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back. You hear that sound? Oh, that's music to my ears. I love that sound. Other people don't like it. I love it, Josh. I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. In this case, it reminds me of lack of money because I'm paying for it. So it's the opposite. But it's going to be one of the most beautiful ballrooms anywhere in the world.
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TAPPER: This week in history, the one-year anniversary of the demolition of the East Wing. Yes, you heard that right. It has already been an entire year. This new footage, captured for Marine One by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, shows what it all looks like now. The ballroom appearing to very much take shape. Over the past year, the project has transformed from just that ballroom to a high-tech military complex.
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TRUMP: We'll have the most beautiful ballroom in the country. So you'll have drinks, cocktails, everything on this floor.
It's got all bulletproof glass. It's got all drone, they call it drone-free roof. The drones won't touch it.
This will be the greatest military complex slash ballroom anywhere in the world.
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HUNT: This, of course, Congressman, has been one of the President's top focuses over the course of the last year. He basically blew through any and all legal challenges, just kind of did what he wanted, is now moving forward with it. Is this what Americans are actually looking for? Like what --
MCHENRY: No, but he can do multiple things at once. I mean, the helipad in front of the White House was done. It's not that the President's actually out there digging it himself. It's the fact that the President's talked about these things has become the focus of media attention. There's a lot going on.
HUNT: Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan reported something like, what did they say, like 60 percent of his headspace is basically devoted to his legacy complex?
MCHENRY: And their communication about it. What would he rather talk about? There are a lot of other things he'd rather not talk about with the media, and these things are great deflections from that, in my view. I think the question for the ballroom long-term is, what does the next President do with it? When there's a Democratic president in a Democratic primary, who's going to be the first one to say, I want to tear down the ballroom? What does that effect have? And I think the question is whether or not this is enduring, whether or not these building projects the President is focused on and is interested in, in this second term, actually stick. And if they do, that's his own sort of, you know, landmark to his presidency.
HUNT: You hope Democrats don't tear it down?
HAYS: No. As someone who worked in that building and understands the space intimately, he did not need to destroy the East Wing. He could have built a ballroom somewhere else. There does need to be a bigger space. The helipad was necessary. Those new helicopters were burning the grass, so they needed to do something.
Some of this stuff is not wrong. It's just more of how it's being done, how he's paying for it, and I think that's the problem. We think that these companies paying for this ballroom, it's straight-up corruption happening, and I think that's the problem that we have there.
WILLIAMS: Yes, and I think, you know, and it's important that you say that, Meghan. It's just, we have to fact-check the President right there. It's not -- he is not paying for it.
HAYS: That's right. CHAMPION: Yes.
WILLIAMS: He might be contributing money to it, but there are corporations and taxpayer money paying for it. You know, just to step back, I think most Americans had no idea what the East Wing was prior to all this duss-up, and probably, you know, if asked about it, probably wouldn't care if it were knocked down or not. That's not the issue. It is the utter lack of process that the President has followed in blowing through legal deadlines.
[12:45:15]
CHAMPION: I think it's money.
WILLIAMS: It's the spending.
CHAMPION: Yes.
WILLIAMS: And it's also --
HAYS: The disrespect for our entire --
HUNT: I was going to say, he did the pictures, though, of the -- I mean, and Cari, I know you -- honestly, you live more in the world of, like, the stuff that breaks through with real people than I do. Like, the pictures of a piece of the White House torn down did seem to break through.
CHAMPION: Yes, people were -- well, first of all, too, I really -- good point. What -- it's the process. What do you do -- the money, where is that coming from? You didn't pay for that. What are people -- excuse me, why are we paying for this? Because we know it's not true. I will tell you, in common language, people are saying things like, well, the ball house has to -- the ballroom can't pay for itself. When we see -- we hear of some scandal, something where there is impropriety, and it all goes back to the ballroom can't pay for itself, and that means that we're paying for it in some form or fashion. And you --
HAYS: And now can't pay for our gas and our groceries, but you have money to pay for this. I think that's the whole problem here, is the corruption based into people not being able to afford their daily lives.
WILLIAMS: And again, you know, yes. No, I agree with you all. You know, it's -- the ballroom is a symptom, not the problem, of a President that has consistently -- quite frankly, going back to being a private citizen, been fast and loose with the law, and fast and loose with, when it comes to construction, you just knock things down and wait for the instructions thereafter. And he's doing it again.
He did it as a builder in New York. He's done it as President with virtually every legal issue that's come up since he's been President.
CHAMPION: I can do whatever I want. I'm the President.
WILLIAMS: And then once the damage has been done, who's going to tell me that I can't fix it? So --
CHAMPION: I have immunity.
WILLIAMS: Yes, it's just a ballroom that many people didn't care about.
CHAMPION: Yes.
WILLIAMS: That's just a building. But I think it's just a symbol of the biggest rot of, you know, President Trump as a president that will haunt him for history.
CHAMPION: I thought what you said was -- you said who's going to tear it down next. I was thinking the same thing. I was like, who will come in and try to do exactly what he did -- he's done on the Democratic side? Who will have the audacity to say, you know what? Not us. We don't want it. Let me build something else.
HUNT: So to that point, question for you. So we have this ballroom, right? And to your point, maybe somebody tears it down, maybe they don't. There are all kinds of other places where the President is trying to put a stamp on things. He's trying to put his name on the Kennedy Center.
We just had a headline this week that the triumphal arch that he wants to build between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, they could start construction in just two weeks. Is there anything that you think that -- where his name shouldn't stand? Like, if he gets his name on the Kennedy Center, should that come down when the administration changes?
MCHENRY: The organization of the Kennedy Center is underwritten by a law, and the law is the naming of those centers. So without absent law, these things are not long-lasting for naming or those circumstances. Building an arch in an empty circle in Washington, I don't think there's anything to clutch our pearls about there.
HUNT: Just the veterans that are suing because they want to be able to see Arlington where their loved ones are buried.
MCHENRY: Yes, but we have this overreaction to everything the President does, even things that are legal and perfectly fine. The fact that I can walk home from CNN this afternoon is because the President, and in coordination with the mayor, have made the walk safe to be around CNN's, you know, global, you know, Washington headquarters. I think there's a lot that is good.
HUNT: Hold on, hold on. I know we can keep going, but unfortunately we're out of time. We're out of time.
Coming up here is something totally different. The battle now brewing on Airbnb.
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[12:48:38] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are literally like, oh my God, I'm going to have to strip my own bed. I'm going to have to load my own dishwasher in my house. What are we going to do? Should we invent our own platform? Go for it. There's so many things to cry about in the world right now, but that ain't going to be one of them for me.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Airbnb recently changed the rules to challenge something that all of us who've used Airbnb in the last two years have realized, which is that going to an Airbnb has become essentially like staying at the house of an oppressive and clean freak auntie who doesn't want you there. Bad silence.
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HUNT: This week, Airbnb announced a change to its policies, limiting the number of chores that guests are required to do before checking out. If you stay, you won't have to wash dishes, strip beds, or even take out the trash before leaving. And to no surprise, this change has Airbnb hosts saying, I'm sorry, what?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can no longer require people to take out trash. People to put up the --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It smells so bad if it's like left out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't make people start the dishwasher.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can't make people --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That' so -- hold on, let me take these.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you don't want the responsibilities and you want to be able to do whatever, then go stay in a hotel. You don't necessarily need to stay in somebody's house.
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HUNT: A change.org petition created by hosts against this policy change now has more than 10,000 signatures. They argue that there's a, "Clear distinction between preparing a property for the next guest and clearing up the consequences of the previous guest's everyday activities." They also write, "Washing the dishes you have used is not equivalent to cleaning an entire property." Does anyone here have an opinion?
WILLIAMS: You know, ma'am, I think it's Gen Z taking us all over. It's the boundaries --
[12:55:02]
HUNT: OK, old man. OK, old man. What?
WILLIAMS: Oh, God, my hearing.
CHAMPION: That was -- listen, I think if you pay for a cleaning fee, they should clean it. It just should be that simple. It's not even a big deal. And I can't believe that people are that irritated by that.
WILLIAMS: They bleed into each other, though. It's sort of cleaning up after yourself, taking the garbage out. I don't think it's too much to ask. And that sort of bleeds into --
CHAMPION: Sure.
WILLIAMS: -- they're asking me to clean --
CHAMPION: If you stay at a hotel, you don't have this problem.
HAYS: Yes, just stay in a hotel.
WILLIAMS: Stay in a hotel.
HAYS: Stay in a hotel.
MCHENRY: It shows how competitive the marketplace is right now. I think that's what it is. And this is a cost savings measure. I think that's what it is, so.
HUNT: All right. Well, looks like if you're staying now, you won't have to do as much work. Guys, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thanks to all of you at home for watching. Don't forget, you can see The Arena every weekday right here on CNN at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. You can also catch up by listening to our podcast. You can follow the show on X and Instagram. We are at TheArenaCNN. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. The news continues next on CNN.
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