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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Trump Signs Order Renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America"; USPS Says Its New Mail Ballot Regulations Are In Effect; Soon: Trump To Headline RNC Fundraiser In TX For Ken Paxton. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired August 27, 2026 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[17:00:32]
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: President Trump says Lake Ontario is now Lake America effective immediately. The Lead starts right now.
President Trump says Canada is ripping off the United States. So on top of the tariffs, he's formally changing the name of Lake Ontario. A Canadian mayor whose city is on the lake is here to respond.
Brand new video showing moments of impact in Nepal. A landslide triggering a massive wall of water, leaving valley (ph) towns buried in thick mud. CNN is in Nepal as crews search for those missing, including Americans.
And the legal fight over the Kennedy Center. The Trump administration taken to court today calling the building, quote, dangerous. Wait until you hear why they say Trump's name needs to be on it now and can't wait until after renovations.
Welcome to The Lead. I'm Phil Mattingly in for Jake Tapper. We start with the World Lead, President Trump escalating his tense trade war with Canada. Today at the White House, surrounded by large maps on poster board of the Great Lakes, Trump followed through with his threat and declared this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario effective immediately to Lake America.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MATTINGLY: Canadian Prime Minister pushing back on social media, pointing out that Wendat word Ontari'io means the lake is beautiful, the big -- lake is big. After declaring the new name and musing about past action to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, Trump suggested he do this next.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now all we need is an ocean. So maybe we'll have to change the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Now Trump said he's been thinking about renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America for a long time. But perhaps he and his staff forgot one important point. As a Midwesterner, I can say it's a new acronym to memorize the names of the Great Lakes. Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior. Right now, many school children in the U.S. remember the phrase homes. As Democratic Representative Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania pointed out, like America could change that phrase from homes to shame.
We start with our homes. Kristen Holmes at the White House from the North Lawn.
Kristen, name change, I assume, is not a sign that things are going to get better anytime soon with the negotiations that broke down a few days ago. What triggered all this?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, also, I totally forgot about home. So that was a great reference. What triggered all this is that President Trump is unhappy with the way that these trade negotiations are going and the entire thing completely fell apart. Now you see both side sides blaming each other. But he was asked specifically in the Oval Office why he would do this, why he would continue to needle and take on an ally. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The Canadian officials have treated us very badly. They're nasty people. People oftentimes they'll ask me, who's the worst to deal with on trade? And I said, that's easy, Canada. They are the worst and they feel entitled and just we can't have that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We also know there's been no love lost between him and the Prime Minister Carney of Canada, who also responded, as you noted, you read the first line. I'm going to read the last line. This is kind of been the way that he has taken on Donald Trump. He said, "We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Can Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario, then, now and always?" It doesn't seem like anything is going to change anytime soon. I mean, the big question is whether or not they can get both sides to the negotiating table to come up with something before Canada's retaliatory tariffs go into effect on September 8th. This is going to greatly affect a region of the United States that President Trump desperately needs in these midterm elections. There are three critical Senate races that basically depend on this trade relationship with Canada. Maine, which they are hoping Susan Collins can cling on to New Hampshire, which they believe there is a potential to flip.
Same with Michigan, which they believe there is a potential to flip. It's not going to be easy or made easier by these kind of tensions with their northern neighbor.
[17:05:01]
MATTINGLY: It's such a great point. Kristen Holmes, great work in the Oval Office today from the North Lawn of the White House. Thank you, as always.
I want to bring in now Andrea Horwath, the mayor of Hamilton, Ontario, which sits on the western edge of Lake Ontario.
Madam Mayor, thank you for joining me. I guess I would start with just the reaction to the president renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America.
MAYOR ANDREA HORWATH, HAMILTON, ONTARIO: Well, I'm happy to be here, Phil, and thanks so very much. We're on the edge of Lake Ontario, but we're also known as the head of the lake. So if Hamilton's the head of the lake, does that make me the head of America? This is -- this is how silly things have gotten, right?
I mean, if I was the mayor -- the head of America or the mayor of America, I'd drop the tariffs right now and get people back to work. But I'm Hamilton's mayor, so what I'm focused on is getting people working, making sure that we're doing everything we can to protect and support our workers. I don't have time for silly name games.
MATTINGLY: I very much appreciate your response because I, like you, don't really find any of this worthwhile at this point. We've already done the name change thing with Gulf of -- Gulf of Mexico slash America.
HORWATH: Been there. Done that.
MATTINGLY: Yes. I think what matters here, though, is to your point and Kristen Holmes did a great job of laying out kind of the U.S. domestic difficulties from the economic perspective, also the political perspective. From your perspective, what are you thinking about right now in terms of the economic impact this will have on your community?
HORWATH: Well, one of the things I know for sure, and I've had the pleasure of meeting many of them, there are mayors around the entire lake, so all the way around, who are very concerned about how these tariffs are impacting their communities and their workers. And I think the focus needs to get back to that. If we could just get our heads around the fact that real working people, hardworking people in the American workforce or on the American workforce, in the Canadian workforce, are hurting. And what people want to do and what I want to see people do is get back to work and be able to put food on their table. And that's what should be the focus of any leader.
So I stay focused on that here in Hamilton. But to say there aren't concerns would not be the case. Obviously, we're very concerned, but we're also focused on making sure that our economy works for Canadians and we have some real commitment there. We are Team Canada. We've always been Team Canada.
We're not going to stop being Team Canada. But we also -- I also want to say that I'm concerned about American workers just as much as I'm concerned about Canadian workers. These tariffs have to stop and we have to get people back to work and some stability so that the economic situation can rebound the way it should be.
MATTINGLY: I don't know anybody that I've spoken to on either side on the ground level, on your level, on the labor market level that was happy when talks broke down. Do you wish the Prime Minister would not have called his negotiators home or did you think that was a necessary step here?
HORWATH: Well, I've said to the Prime Minister and I've said to the people of my city and the people of Ontario and Canada that a bad deal is a bad deal and we don't want a bad deal. And when I talked earlier about Team Canada and our commitment to our workers, we're also committed to our country. And when the Prime Minister decided that the threat was so far that it threatened our sovereignty, that's when it's over.
Look, we're hard working people here in Hamilton. We're made of steel. Really we are. We're a steel come -- we're a steel community. But our entire country has the strength of that steel in our backbone.
And we are not going to allow another country to threaten our sovereignty. And that's the big concern that we all have. But we all want to see workers get back to work. We all want to see prosperity for everyday families, for people in communities on both sides of the border. That's what's necessary.
So let's focus on that, not on the sniping and the name calling and the threats of name changing. Let's get back to what matters. And that's real people, real companies, real business and an economy that supports everyone.
MATTINGLY: There are obviously the Canadian retaliatory tariffs are set to go into effect on September 8th. It just -- it doesn't seem like this is going to deescalate anytime soon. When you think through kind of the economic realities of the coming weeks, potentially months depending on where this goes, what's your immediate -- what's your biggest concern right now in terms of impact?
HORWATH: My biggest concern is workers and families, the impact it's going to have on them. We are -- we're about 28,000 in the steel manufacturing and agricultural food, more or less food production sectors. And that's -- this is going to be very concerning and it's going to be a very hard hit if that's what happens.
[17:10:00]
Having said that, Canadians have been telling me -- you know, people of Hamilton have been telling me that they're prepared to weather the pain because the alternative is not acceptable. And my focus now then is fighting for our workers to make sure that we have the supports from our governments, from our provincial government and our federal government to help us weather the storm. Because our community, if things go as you've described and we do end up in that place, then we will -- we will need a lot of support. We don't want to end up in a situation where there's -- where there's no support for our workers and no ability to keep our companies afloat, because it's those companies that are going to help us rebuild and stabilize our own economy if this -- if this tariff war continues indefinitely.
MATTINGLY: Yes. We hope cooler heads prevail sooner rather than later.
Mayor Andrea Horwath of Hamilton, Ontario, I really appreciate your time. Thank you.
HORWATH: My pleasure. Thank you, Phil.
MATTINGLY: Well, breaking news, day one of jury deliberations just wrapping up in the Lindsay Clancy trial. We'll go live to Massachusetts. And President Trump en route right now to Texas. His swipe today at the Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico as he tries to raise money for the Republican candidate, Ken Paxton.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:15:08]
MATTINGLY: The breaking news in our Law and Justice Lead, jury deliberations in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial have ended for the day with no verdict. Prosecutors say the Massachusetts mother deliberately killed her three children in 2023. Clancy's defense argues she's not criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
After weeks of testimony, jurors heard closing arguments today and began deliberating whether to accept Clancy's insanity defense. CNN Jean Casarez was in the courtroom today.
Jean, walk us through the final arguments from both sides.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they were very different, and the emotions were very different. First of all, Kevin Reddington for the defense was angry. He was disgusted that there was even a prosecution in with this, saying that Lindsay Clancy did not deserve to have a prosecution here because she was mentally ill, she was sick. He focused on that she was a loving mother, that she had loved her children so much, and that she would never intentionally do something like this. He really focused on the health care system that she went to doctors.
She was trying to find an answer for her anxiety that had become postpartum depression that veered into bipolar and no one diagnosed her with bipolar disorder. Now, at the hospital, by the way, where she is, the state mental hospital, they have diagnosed her with bipolar. And he went on to say that because of it morphing into psychosis, that created a situation where a voice commanded her to kill her children. And it was like she was a puppet on a string and just did what the voice was telling her to do.
Now, the prosecution was softer and it was gentler. They were talking about the fact that Lindsay Clancy knew right from wrong, focusing in on January 24, 2023, all the deliberate actions she made. Her husband testified that it was one of her best days. She had taken her daughter to the pediatrician, come home, made a snowman with her children, sent photos over social media to her mother with her kids out in the snow, and then starting at 4:00 p.m. started googling the restaurants that -- to get her husband out of the house to get the takeout and the CVS. I want you to listen to a little bit of why the prosecution says she ultimately killed her children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER SPRAGUE, PLYMOUTH COUNTY ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: So why did she specifically do it? She was depressed. She was exhausted. She was done. She didn't want to try anymore.
She felt damaged. But those kids, those kids were her protective factor. Those kids were keeping her from ending her misery. And so she had to remove the protective factor. And I'm not saying she was happy about it.
I'm saying that it was what she had to do to end her misery. But it was a choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: The prosecution argued that she definitely seriously wanted to commit suicide, but she did know right from wrong and did not want to leave her children without a mother. And that was the motivation to kill her children. Phil.
MATTINGLY: Jean, you've been watching the jurors closely throughout this trial. What have you noticed about their reactions? And what do we know about the jury deciding Clancy's fate here?
CASAREZ: Well, first of all, it's nine women and three men. So that is the deliberating jury, and deliberated about three and a half hours today. But when I was in that courtroom, they were so focused. I mean, they were intent on the witness. They didn't look around the room.
They didn't look at the attorney that was asking the questions. They were just focused on the answers. And so many notes, predominantly women, were writing in their notebooks. But remember, we started out this morning with 12 females and six men, because we have 18 altogether. That's been pared down. But just a jury that knows that they have to make a decision here, they want to understand this. I just saw that in them, and not a peep this afternoon. Didn't ask a question. They were just focused and deliberating.
MATTINGLY: Jean, this trial has obviously drawn intense public interest. People lining up outside the courthouse today as early as 2:00 a.m. some traveling from out of state. Describe what you've seen outside.
CASAREZ: Well, it's preliminary women. That is who is coming to this courthouse and wanting to be in that courtroom. The courtroom was filled to capacity, and there was just a line. When I got here this morning, there was just a very long, long line starting at 2:00 a.m., just as you're saying, because people are concerned. Women are concerned about the postpartum depression, the postpartum aspect to this that may not be fully understand by the medical professionals.
[17:20:07]
And that's what they want changed here. And they hope that this verdict can help produce some change. So it's something that's talked about, acknowledged and understood.
MATTINGLY: Jean Casarez, great work of reporting as always, my friend. Thank you.
Well, incredible video is just coming in showing another view of that gigantic wall of water in Nepal crushing waterside homes along the way. CNN is on the ground in Nepal with the aftermath next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MATTINGLY: A brand new video showing the very moment a wall of water triggered a landslide -- triggered by a landslide rushed downstream, flooding small towns along the border of Nepal and China. The number of people dead or missing continues to rise. At least 389 people have died. More than 1,300 people are unaccounted for, including at least 700 foreigners from two dozen countries, including the U.S.
[17:25:18]
Also concerning, fears of a secondary disaster are growing because landslides have created a new lake, increasing the risk of landslides, mudslides and flash floods with three days of rain ahead and collapsed earth forming unstable dams. Search and rescue operations are underway. But a lack of connectivity, power and resources are complicating those efforts. The flood wave was a cascade of water, pulverized ice and rock. And a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute said it first descended at an average speed of 120 miles per hour, leaving anyone in its path completely helpless overnight.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery arrived in this hard hit area and she brings us a closer look at the jaw dropping devastation and search for survivors. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPONDENT (voice-over): This is the moment floodwaters tore through Nepal's valleys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God. Oh my God. Mario.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): A furious wall of water, mud and debris swallowing everything in its path, forcing Nepali workers to run for their lives. The flash flood rushed through communities along the Nepal-China border, submerging homes, ripping through roads and vital infrastructure. Even bridges were no match for the water's force. Some were torn clean in two, severing roads and cutting off some of the worst hit areas.
The destruction stretches for miles. Homes sit buried beneath thick layers of mud while entire communities were ripped apart by a torrent that left almost nothing in its path.
MONTGOMERY: We're just driving to one of the worst affected areas right now, which is a couple hours northwest of the capital Kathmandu. And we're taking the main highway. This is where a lot of supplies go towards the capital. But you can see there are hardly any cars on the road, which goes to show just how badly damaged this highway is because of the massive flooding we've seen.
So I'm walking down one of the main roads in Nepal and this entire place used to be covered in mud. They've cleared part of it now. And I want to show you some of the damage that we've been seeing. This house, I mean, its first floor is completely submerged in floodwater. You can see some of the windows and doors just caked in mud.
This house over here, I mean, its walls have completely collapsed. It's unlivable. And down here is a gas station. And again, just completely inaccessible and totally destroyed by this flood water and the mud and debris that it brought with it. And this village that we're currently in is actually several dozen kilometers away from the worst of the damage.
So you can imagine if you get higher up in the Himalayan Mountains, just how many people have lost their homes, their livelihoods and their loved ones.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MONTGOMERY (on camera): And Phil, terrifyingly, this nightmare might not be over yet. Nepali authorities are warning of a potential another flood surge as new water around a new lake that's beginning to form in the Himalayan Mountains continues to rise. And of course, those conditions could be exacerbated by forecasted rain in the coming hours. Now they're warning people along the Bhotekoshi River, which saw that immense flooding more than 24 hours ago, to remain vigilant, to remain alert, as again, another disaster could be right around the corner. Phil.
MATTINGLY: Hanako Montgomery near the Nepal China border, thanks to you and your team. Incredible work.
I want to go to CNN's Tom Foreman at the Magic Wall.
Tom, can you give us a look at the before and after photos from this area?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we know what we were talking about earlier, the sense of that enormous explosive power she was talking about right there. And the Bhotekoshi River, which is important to look at here. Let's look at one of the areas here. This is Tupche, one of the towns in the middle of all of this.
This is the view beforehand. You can see the Bhotekoshi right here, kind of under control the way rivers are. But now look at what happens when I bring it over and show you the after picture and you see it simply exploding out into these communities along the river, which is, of course, where we build communities throughout antiquity.
Go down -- let's go down to Ratmate, another town down there. You see the river here, same thing. We bring it back forth and look, look at how wide this thing spread out into that community, just smashing everything around it. And the same with the town of Devighat. If you go there, you see the river here nice and clean, and there are all the houses and all these places, and yet look at how the river just burst out there with this tremendous blast of damage out there.
And of course, if you to fly over it, you'd see more of what we were seeing there on the ground as well.
One assessment from the New York Times had it that this was like a thousand empire state buildings being dropped into this river valley when this -- when this collapse happened and this landslide happened up above, forcing all this water and mud and ice to just go blasting through everything, Phil.
[17:30:10]
MATTINGLY: It's a remarkable contrast, the before and the after. Can I just ask, why is this, the area that was impacted the worst here, why does it seemingly draw a lot of tourists?
FOREMAN: Well, if you're going to Nepal, this is where you're going to go. You're going to go to Kathmandu, which is generally, I want to point out, the area we're talking about is kind of around here. OK, Mount Everest, which you hear a lot about, is over here. But this is where you're going to the capital here.
It's about 120 miles north to south in here. And this is really where a lot of people go for trekking or if they want to go to visit many of the religious sites that are important there. There are supposed to be really a lot of visitors from India, Hindu and Buddhist, coming to see these sacred sites, many of whom will go right up through this border crossing to see some of the sites that are actually up in Tibet.
So these are the towns we just showed you there, Ratmata, Devighat and Tupche, all in this whole area there, right near Kathmandu, right down here. So that's why they're all drawn to this area. And of course, if you're a trekker and you want to go to this region, this is the very same area that you're going to go to.
And this is the area that was hit the very hardest. I will say, one of the nicest things about it, not nice thing, I guess, one of the better things about it, this is not the highest tourist season. It is popular, but that's a little bit later on in the fall and then also in the spring. So it could have been worse with more people. But I'm sure for people there, it can't possibly be worse in their own minds because this is truly just wiped out communities in ways that, you know, honestly, Phil, it looks like something from some kind of disaster movie. I've seen a lot of disasters.
This kind of explosive power like this, I've just never seen anything quite like that before. Maybe, maybe the tsunami, maybe some years ago, but really almost nothing like this.
MATTINGLY: Yes, it's truly extraordinary, extremely helpful. Thank you, Tom Foreman, for that great work.
Well, 68 days out from the midterm elections. I'll speak with a leading attorney trying to stop the Trump administration's changes to mail-in ballots. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:36:22]
MATTINGLY: Back in our Law and Justice Lead, in the legal fight over the mail-in voting with just 68 days until the midterm elections. Today, the U.S. Postal Service said its new mail ballot rules ordered by President Trump are in effect. Those rules would require the Postal Service to use specific envelope designs and unique barcodes for every ballot envelope, force state and local election officials to upload the names and addresses of all mail ballot recipients to a government portal before they go out, and forbid the Postal Service from sending mail ballots from any state that does not comply with Trump's order.
But several legal challenges against these rules could force a judge at any point to block them from being further implemented. An attorney leading one of the legal battles joins us now, Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund. Norm, can you just kind of cut through for a minute? If I have difficulty understanding where exactly this rule is at this moment in time, I imagine our audience does as well. Lay it out. What is in place right now, and what is kind of your view of the legal fights ahead?
NORM EISEN, CO-FOUNDER, DEMOCRACY DEFENDERS ACTION: Phil, no mail-in voting is currently being affected by this rule. It's grossly unconstitutional, and we and others have gone to court to stop it. We will stop it. And voters should know that this idea that the Postal Service is going to screen every mail-in voter and mail-in ballot in the country is not going to happen. Phil, they can't even deliver my utility bill on time. They cannot turn into a kind of super registrar for every voter in the land, and most importantly, it's profoundly against the Constitution. The courts are going to stop it. MATTINGLY: What is your message to voters right now? There's a lot of concern after the stays were lifted. A lot of lack of clarity, I guess, would be some hyperbolic language as well from Democrats on Capitol Hill. What should voters know?
EISEN: Voters should know that under the United States Constitution, the existing voting systems, including mail-in voting and absentee ballots, are entrusted to the states with oversight by Congress. The Constitution, Article 1, Section 4, doesn't even mention the president when it sets up who's in charge of our elections. This rule is a fantasy. The Supreme Court has -- did not rule on it. They simply said, we need a final rule in order to reach the issues. They expressly said the other day that they're neither approving nor disapproving what the president has done.
My organization, Democracy Defenders Fund, went to court, and with our wonderful partners like Campaign Legal Center, headed by the former Republican Federal Election Commissioner, Trevor Potter, we went to court with our partners. We stopped the president's last E.O. when he tried to assert control, unconstitutional. We're going to stop this. Every voter should know they can vote. Voting is safe, free, and fair.
And the reason Donald Trump keeps trying to mess with it is he's afraid of what the voters are going to do. They should not be concerned. Continue on. Keep calm and carry on.
[17:39:57]
MATTINGLY: Yes, noted absentee by mail voter Donald Trump, I should say. I also want to ask, you are also, we were talking, you're in a lot of different spaces right now. You're also part of a lawsuit challenging Trump's effort to get his name back on the Kennedy Center. There was an emergency hearing today. I just want to point out there's still a tarp in front of the Kennedy Center after a judge ordered at the end of May to have Trump's name removed. The Kennedy Center official said Trump's name was removed in June. Do you believe Trump's name is actually still there? Why is it covered?
EISEN: Yes, we have evidentiary proof. We have photographs. We were there when it was taken off. Phil, he's covering it up because it's a tantrum. He doesn't want people to see that his name was removed from the front of the Kennedy Center. But you know what? Putting that tarp there just means we continue to talk about it. Now, he says, unless we put his name back on the building twice, that's what today's hearing was about. And then a third time for the plaza in front of the Kennedy Center, he might tear the whole thing down.
It's illegal to put his name there. It's illegal to tear the whole thing down. We had a hearing today. We put our best foot forward with Judge Cooper. I think he gets it. And like with the mail-in voting, this is another action by Trump that is not going to take place. Don't worry, folks. The Kennedy Center is not going to be torn down. And Donald Trump's name is not going back up there.
MATTINGLY: Were you surprised that there hasn't been a ruling yet? I know this is an emergency hearing. I'm not totally sure what the time I was expected to be. When do you expect to rule?
EISEN: Well, we need to give the judge an opportunity to digest the briefs, very substantial arguments today. Our wonderful client, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, myself, my colleagues at Democracy Defenders, the Washington litigation group, Nathaniel Zelinsky, have given the judge a lot to think about. The briefs have just been filed in recent days. He's been very fast before, Phil.
So I think in the next day or two or a little bit after that, we'll soon know his view. But in the meantime, Donald Trump's name has not gone back up there. Obviously, they're not tearing down the building. Indeed, they're under court order requiring them to keep it open. You can't do that if you tear it down. So we're confident and the congresswoman is confident that we're going to succeed here once again.
The judge already ruled. You can't put your name on the building and you have to keep it open. So how can you put your name back on the building and tear it down, which is the opposite of keeping it open.
MATTINGLY: Norm Eisen, there are no shortage of things keeping you busy. I appreciate your time, my friend. Thank you.
EISEN: Thanks, Phil.
[17:42:58]
MATTINGLY: Well, President Trump is just moments away from landing in Houston. He's raising money tonight for Republicans, notably Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who's running for the U.S. Senate. Earlier this afternoon, he took a swipe at the Democrat in the race, James Talarico. Hear it for yourself, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MATTINGLY: In the Politics Lead, any moment now, President Trump will touch down in Houston, Texas, where he'll headline an RNC fundraiser for the U.S. Senate candidate he's endorsed, Ken Paxton. As Paxton's campaign accounts lag behind his Democratic rival, James Talarico. Or, as President Trump referred to him this afternoon --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Talafreako, they call him, because he is a little freaky, and that's not a man that represents the value of Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: My panel is here. Jason, I don't really need to hear an 80- year-old President talking about anybody being a little freaky. I'm just going to put that out there. The money issue for Paxton. Trump is going to raise a ton of money. You go down to any part of Texas as a Republican, odds are you're going to raise a ton of money, which, in part, kind of draws attention to the fact that Paxton's struggling right now, not just in the polling, not just in terms of coalescing Republicans down there, but on the financial side, too. How do you think it changes that?
JASON RANTZ, CONSERVATIVE RADIO HOST: Well, it changes it by bringing attention to a campaign that hasn't been getting a whole lot of attention. I know, you know, the general thinking is you wait until after Labor Day. That's when our side tends to pay a lot more attention. That's Democrats as well. I don't know if that's necessarily true. I think part of this is, look, Ken Paxton is a weaker candidate in the grand scheme of things. We knew that going in, but it doesn't mean that he's the weaker candidate.
And all this does is bring more attention to some of the crazier positions from a Texas perspective that James Talarico holds. And they've got a lot of video of him on the record saying these things. And the more money that goes into exposing that, the better it is for Paxton. And that's been the thinking this entire time. Wait until the money comes in, really expose Talarico, and then we see how things shake.
MATTINGLY: That is undeniable. Republicans I'm talking to say the same exact thing. They are concerned. At a level that they weren't in the Beto year, they weren't in every time you guys try and turn Texas blue. You have a personal stake in this campaign down in Texas. Obviously, your sister is the Democratic nominee for governor. What are you hearing right now in terms of how this is going to develop in the coming weeks?
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Democrats feel really good. They're cautiously optimistic. As you know, we have been saying for quite some time that we've been trying to turn Texas blue. But whenever you are down in Texas, I was just there in August for a few weeks, it does feel different. And the reason why it feels different is because it's an issue of data centers, for example. People, Republicans, people in rural areas are really upset about the data centers being built, taking over their land, taking over their water. And they have sort of had enough with Republicans in the state when it comes to that issue.
[17:49:54]
The other issue I think that is big in the state is health care. It has the highest uninsured for children right now. And so all of these issues are issues that Republicans are not worried about. What Donald Trump calling James Talarico, Talafreako, is just what Paxton and other Republicans have been doing. And you'll notice that over the last few months, they have been trying to hit Talarico on previous statements, calling him Talafreako, calling him all sorts of different names, and it hasn't been sticking. And so now it seems like Republicans are changing gears, trying to talk more about issues. I think that Paxton was talking a little bit about China this week and his previous impacts and Talarico's previous votes.
And so you're seeing it play out to where Republicans are nervous. The culture wars are not working, and so they're trying to talk about the issues. But Paxton's very vulnerable.
RANTZ: So I think the culture wars are working. I mean, there's a reason why James Talarico spent a good part of the summer making sure he's eating a whole lot of barbecue. There's a reason because it was, in fact, sticking. And he knows that the money hasn't been spent to really target him, and it's going to be. We know that the money is coming in, and we know exactly what it is they're going to do. The President going there is going to excite the base. That was the worry, and it is a worry, no doubt, because of the weakness of Paxton, whether or not the base is really going to step up. And I think all of this that we're seeing is specific to that.
HINOJOSA: But I will just say on the base, if they're just focusing on the base, they're going to lose this election. The reality is that independents are overwhelmingly supporting James Talarico. And the polling that I have seen, Donald Trump's approval rating is actually tanking in Texas. Obama is more popular in Texas than Donald Trump right now. And so the fact that Donald Trump is going to spend a lot of time there honestly is not a bad thing.
It's probably better for him in terms of money because Paxton needs the money, and there is money in Texas. And I don't know if MAGA Inc. is actually going to come through with pro-Paxton instead of pro-Trump ads in the state. So that will be interesting to see.
MATTINGLY: Can I ask you something? In terms of the President being there physically raising money, big deal, but he's also having the midterm convention there. And our colleagues here had some great reporting about this midterm convention in a few weeks, September 10th. There's an overarching fear that an event once dubbed Trumpapalooza will indeed end up being far more about promoting the President than the candidates who are actually on the ballot.
I kind of always assumed that would be what it was. But the idea of trying to drive energy, Texas and nationally writ large, do you feel like this works in Republicans' favor having this midterm convention?
RANTZ: I mean, yes and no. It depends ultimately on how this is going to work. I mean, ultimately, Trump gets butts in seats and gets eyeballs on T.V. That has always been the case. And sometimes that goes against him, and usually for the base, it helps. Right now, his key concern, and I think there's validity to this, is that he's not getting any favorable coverage at all from the media landscape outside of conservative media. And he does have a story to tell.
He has a story to tell at the border. He has a story to tell about bringing down the prices of drugs, which we've been talking about for a very long time. And he's actually been able to do it, but he's not getting the coverage for it. And so this forces the coverage. And we'll see ultimately how the media treats this and what happens on stage. If they lean into some of the more wacky messaging, then it's not going to work.
But if he is able to tell a story, and he's very good at storytelling, he's very good at branding, then I do think ultimately this can be the start of the midterm for him and for the party.
MATTINGLY: You make an important point, though, because Republicans believe they have a story to tell. They believe his administration has a story they could tell. The problem tends to be the President. When you do things like, I don't know, speaking of wacky messaging, we're going to rename one of the Great Lakes today.
RANTZ: You're not the audience, though. The audience for that specifically --
MATTINGLY: I'm an Ohioan. I am a damn audience member.
RANTZ: But it is for the base. There is concern that the base is not as energized right now. And generally going into a midterm when you have total control, they're not ultimately on your party. They're not all that energized. This is for them specifically.
MATTINGLY: The other thing that it also does is it triggers Democrats. Democrats lock in on this. Of all the other things they could be focused on, and they're freaking out about the renaming of a lake, which literally has no impact whatsoever on anything besides Google Maps. How do you stay away from that? Because there's going to be a million of these things in the next few weeks.
HINOJOSA: You're right. And if Democrats are smart, the way that they talk about it is that doesn't lower mortgage costs. That doesn't lower costs at the grocery store. When he should be focused on costs and when he should be focused on making your lives easier, instead he is focused on picking a fight with Canada. And so I think if Democrats were smart, they would focus on that. I mean, I think a little bit about the President.
When you are a very unpopular President in a midterm election, you normally give your party the space to bash you, to disagree with you. And you kind of tell them, I am going to stay away. I will go wherever is helpful. Trump is not doing that, and it is putting Republicans in a really difficult position. Because if they bash him, then they lose the base. But if they embrace him, they lose independence. So it's going to be tough for the Republican Party.
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MATTINGLY: The war chest that he has. You talk about a potential difference here. Like, no one is going to get cross-eyed with him, people who have learned their lesson. None of them are even in Congress anymore. You've got $400 million plus at this point that he has. You spent about a million, Darline Graham. Other than that, hasn't spent anything at all. How much does that move the needle?
RANTZ: It's going to be significant. It's not just MAGA Inc. dollars. It's the RNC. And you put that up against the DNC, which is in debt. It's a good money picture for the Republicans. And again, if they are able to control the narrative, they are going to be able to get some leverage here.
MATTINGLY: Thank you, guys, both. I want to talk about data centers.
HINOJOSA: We should. We should. I'll come back and talk about it.
MATTINGLY: Yes, thank you both. Appreciate you guys. Thank you. A question before the court today, should Trump's name appear again on the Kennedy Center or not? The noticeable frustration from the federal judge overseeing the case. And here why the Trump administration says the President's name needs to go up right now. Stay with us.
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MATTINGLY: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Phil Mattingly in for Jake Tapper. This hour, will President Trump's name go back up on the Kennedy Center? That question was at the center --
