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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Trump Walks Back Tariffs as More Chaos Hit Economy; Trump Puts New Limits on Elon Musk Amid DOGE Turmoil; Trump Vows to Use Scalpel and Not Hatchet in Firings. House Democrats Repurposing A Protest Song To Protest On The House Floor. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired March 06, 2025 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Tonight, delays and delusions. Donald Trump postpones tariffs one more time as his promise to make America rich again clashes with job cuts mirroring the Great Recession.
Plus, muzzling Musk, the president takes away Elon's hatchet, and replaces it with a scalpel, while promising his cabinet will get a say in what is surgically removed from the federal bureaucracy.
Also, clever or cringe, Democrats choose a TikTok trend as a way to fight back in the Trump era.
Live at the table, Scott Jennings, Ashley Allison, Chris Sununu, and Xochitl Hinojosa.
Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here, they do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP (on camera): Good evening, I'm Abby Phillip in New York.
Let's get right to what America is talking about, tariff tennis match. Tonight, the country probably feels like it's watching a head spinning match, trying to decipher if the tariffs are on or are they off. Here is what the past month has looked like, and apologies if it's hard to follow, because the president appears unable to make up his mind about this.
On February 1st, President Trump said tariffs would start on February 4th. The day before that, on February 3rd, Trump said, never mind, Canada and Mexico, they're going to get another month. Okay, February 4th, Trump did put tariffs on China, and China put tariffs on the United States. The next day, Trump made even more exceptions, this time for China.
Fast forward to Monday, the end of a long reprieve, and Trump said there was no way tariffs would not go into effect, and no exceptions would be made. So, the next day, March 5th, there were in fact exceptions for automakers. And today, March 6th, there was another month-long delay for Mexico and for Canada. Did you get all that?
Joining us now in our fifth seat at the table, CNN Global and Economic Analyst Rana Foroohar. Rana, the markets are sending the president a pretty strong message, look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average from earlier this week until now, it's pretty much down, down, down, and they're going up a little bit just to say, hey, you're headed in the right direction. But there's clearly a sense that this upheaval is not being welcomed.
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL AND ECONOMIC ANALYST: Oh, 100 percent. I mean, markets love certainty. They hate uncertainty and this is day by day something different. You know, just put aside the fact that. You're slapping tariffs on adversaries and allies like which the market doesn't like that.
The fact that you just don't know what's going to happen is eroding trust in, frankly, the good faith and credit of the U.S. I mean, I've been on the phone with money managers and pension fund managers this week that are saying, you know, we don't know about what the U.S. is going to look like economically in the next year, in the next three or four years, and that's the bigger worry here.
You know, I mean you can argue that we need to reindustrialize. I actually agree with that. I was for China tariffs But I think the fact that you're seeing this, you know, blanket tariffs on folks that, you know, Canada and Mexico that we've been integrating trade with. I mean, Trump won during the -- when he put the China tariffs on, you actually saw more trade coming to North and South America. That was regional integration that we wanted.
PHILLIP: He negotiated a trade deal, USMCA.
FOROOHAR: That's right. He negotiated a deal.
PHILLIP: That these tariffs would effectively violate.
I mean, Governor, it would be one thing if it were just the back and forth on the tariffs, but the overall picture is starting to look very bleak. I mean, tomorrow, we will get some numbers and there are flashing red signs everywhere that those numbers could be quite grim.
If you're a Republican, and I hear all the time, Republicans are supposed to be the party of stability and confidence, and you'll want to invest in the United States, that's not the message that businesses are going to have.
SEN. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): He's playing the long-term. And I think he's doing it actually pretty smartly. We knew tariffs were going to come. They're going to keep coming, they're going to keep going, he's going to use them for leverage on various things. If you have a president that only worries about the stock market tomorrow, it's not -- because he's not worried about the immediate, per se. He's worried about the long term, making sure America is strong for the world. PHILLIP: But I just want to understand just the logic of this. If he wants tariffs, why not just put the tariffs in and stick with it? Why go back and forth all the time?
SUNUNU: Because he's going to go not just back and forth with countries, he's going to go back and forth with specific industries, with different areas. It's about using leverage. He's going to talk about fentanyl when it comes to Canada, Mexico, and China. He's going to talk about opportunities as we get peace eventually with Ukraine and Russia, opportunities in leveraging Europe, making sure Europe's doing their piece.
[22:05:07]
PHILLIP: So, as what we get between Tuesday and today from Canada and Mexico, that is the utilization of leverage, as you just laid out.
SUNUNU: Well, again, those discussions are constant. He doesn't do this just in a complete vacuum. The discussion is constantly moving back and forth. He was very clear trying to make a point that there's a heck of a lot of fentanyl coming over that northern border.
PHILLIP: Okay. Hold on. All right, well, let me just -- we have, yes, we have it. 0.2 percent of all fentanyl seized is from the northern border. Just 1.5 percent of all migrant apprehensions are on the northern border. And then let's go to the next slide. Fentanyl trafficking offenses in 2022, 88 percent were Americans.
SUNUNU: There's 200 times more fentanyl that came over the northern border in 2024 versus 2023. You can say it's 0.2 percent but it used to be virtually nothing.
PHILLIP: I'm not saying (INAUDIBLE). I'm saying it is 0.2 percent.
SUNUNU: And people are dying. This isn't just a commodity. People are dying every single time it comes across.
PHILLIP: Look I admire the spin but nothing has changed.
SUNUNU: There's nothing being spun about people dying of fentanyl. You guys are saying it's not a problem. I lived on the border. I had a state on the Canadian border.
PHILLIP: Let me give it to you. I agree. It's a huge problem. What did Trump get between Tuesday and today that rectified that problem?
SUNUNU: Again, Canada picks up the phone and says, what do we have to do to cooperate more? Let me show you that we're going to put more.
PHILLIP: What have they done?
SUNUNU: It's not a matter of what they do in the next 24 hours. It's a matter of what they're going to do over the next 24 years. It's a long-term plan.
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But what's happening right now is there's economic uncertainty. And we're going to see that in the jobs numbers tomorrow. And this is not only causing uncertainty in consumer confidence, but it's also causing uncertainty for business.
There are people that are being laid off in businesses. I have a friend who was laid off just this week from a corporation because of the uncertainty and his wife was laid off from the federal government because of DOGE. And so I think that what you see the jobs numbers in an economy that is already extremely fragile, it does not help things It does not help the American worker.
And this back and forth, just like Abby was talking about, and not getting anything yet, you know, from Canada or Mexico is only hurting the American people. So --
SUNUNU: You guys are looking at it over the next two weeks. He's looking at it over the next two years.
HINOJOSA: The American people are looking at it.
(CROSSTALKS)
HINOJOSA: People are losing their jobs.
FOROOHAR: I actually don't think he's looking for the long-term. I think tariffs need to be used in a really, really surgical way to create space for industry to happen in the U.S. But that requires an industrial strategy. We haven't seen any coherent industrial strategy from this administration yet.
Now, you know, like that, like him or not, Biden had an industrial strategy. It's not just about tariffs. You've got to convince business, okay, what's the competitive strategy here? How are we going to train workers? How are we going to work with allies? You have to build capacity. Is Europe going to want to be in your supply chain alliances with us? Maybe not, because you know, we're talking about slapping tariffs on Europe too. I just don't buy it over the long haul.
I'm for reindustrialization, but, boy, it's a tough thing to do. You have to do it carefully.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think Biden's industrialization strategy was to industrialize more government. I mean, a lot of jobs created government during Biden.
FOROOHAR: American brought back a chips industry in 18 months.
JENNINGS: Yes. And what was the announcement this week? That a chips maker from Taiwan is opening up a massive operation in Arizona. What was the auto industry announcement this week that Honda is putting a plant in Indiana? $1.7 trillion already in announcements from this administration on investing in the U.S. economy.
I agree with you, what you said earlier. Reindustrializing, juicing American manufacturing, it is a worthy goal. And that is the mission of the tariff plan. He strongly believes in tariffs. And if they're slapped on over a long period of time, we'll see if he's right. But the governor is exactly right about it.
PHILLIP: I guess you guys are defending a tariff strategy that's actually not being put in place.
FOROOHAR: It's not a strategy.
PHILLIP: The tariff strategy that you're describing is Trump saying, I believe in tariffs carte blanche, let's just put them on there. But what he's actually doing is saying tariffs one day, no tariffs the next day, tariffs one day, no tariffs the next day. If he really believed in what you were saying, he would just stick with his strategy. He's not doing it. Why?
JENNINGS: He's trying to find the sweet spot with countries and industries. And he said today there'll be no more extensions past April.
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I just have to say, I feel --
PHILLIP: I'm not even seeing that happening. I mean, there's no -- he didn't say, okay, we're going to take tariffs off China and Mexico for these specific things. He said, we're going to just do another month.
ALLISON: Yes, it's a haphazard approach. I want to say that. I think there's a lot of things at this table that people agree with. I don't want fentanyl in this country. I want it to be stopped. I don't take it lightly. If one person dies from it or another person dies from it, if it comes out from the country. But I also think that when you are applying and you're looking at the totality of circumstances, you can't just swing a pendulum back and forth with the American economy.
[22:10:05]
I understand you all are saying it's a strategy, but what it feels like, and we talked a lot about feelings before November 5th, that the people felt like the economy wasn't good, even though the numbers said it was good, what we're saying is that people are feeling like the economy still isn't good, and the numbers are not good, because the Dow is going down, because you slap a tariff on in 1 hour, and 18 hours is later. That feels unstable. It doesn't feel like a strategy.
I hear you. You all think there's something there, but I think In short order, the American people are going to say. And to just callously say, people are going to lose their jobs? I didn't ever hear that before November 5th. People are going to lose their jobs. Americans, are you okay with losing your jobs? You be the judge.
SUNUNU: Bill Clinton said it really loud in the early 90s when he said we're going to get rid of 13 percent of the workforce.
ALLISON: I was eight years old, so I can't really say that.
SUNUNU: That's the reality. ALLISON: But I'm talking about now, that I'm an adult.
PHILLIP: Let me just play what Republicans in Congress are hearing from their districts and what they're saying about all of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Almost every industry in Kentucky is going to be inset. It will hurt our industry and push up prices of homes, cars. And so I want to continue to argue against tariffs.
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Should he back off a bit if it goes, if it starts to hurt the constituents?
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-SD): When we start losing, you back off, you know? There's such a thing as a strategic retreat.
At the end of the day, I think we have more leverage than any other nation, but we got to be smart and we don't have all the leverage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Maybe Thom Tillis is right. This was a retreat. I mean, he backed off. He absolutely backed off.
JENNINGS: There is no question that inside the Republican Party, there is some resistance to this. I mean, that's just a fact. And there are issues particularly on trade issues where Trump is not an orthodox conservative. He didn't run on it. He has been very open about it. Some of the party supports him. Some don't. In my home state of Kentucky, both Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, not often aligned on issues, are both against it. You hear this from some corners of the party, but I'm just -- Donald Trump believes in this. And I suspect there is going to be some tariff strategy over the entire first term.
And the people --
PHILLIP: But, Scott, I hear what you're saying, Trump believes in, but do you think it's a good idea?
ALLISON: Right? Yes, that's my question.
JENNINGS: I trust the president to deal with Canada and Mexico.
PHILLIP: Okay. But do you think it's a good idea to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico and then take them off and then put them back on and take them off?
ALLISON: And what happens in a year? What happens in a year? I'm curious from --
JENNINGS: Everybody yelled at me. Then I'll answer it.
ALLISON: Cut it out. Don't do that to me.
JENNINGS: Everybody go and then I'll answer. ALLISON: Don't do it, Scott. Don't do it.
As your colleague and friend that we have these debates because we actually care about this country. I am curious. Okay, if this is the strategy, but in six, we've been saying it's only 40 days. What happens when it's 40 months? Like what happens when the strategy hasn't paid off? When is the intervention?
JENNINGS: That's your prediction. Well, the interventions in American politics are elections. I mean, his whole economic strategy is not just tariffs. You've got the Congress working on the reconciliation package. You are going to try to see some cuts in federal spending, make permanent the tax cuts, changes in energy policy. In his mind, it all works together. And you know when you get a report card? At the next election.
PHILLIP: Can I ask you really tomorrow could be a very big, maybe a very bad day economically. What are what are the markets expecting?
FOROOHAR: Downturn, for sure. I mean, the jobs cuts, the sense that consumer spending is buttoning up, the sense that businesses, because of the uncertainty, are pulling back. You know, I agree with what's been said about fentanyl, but let's put things in perspective. 0.2 percent of fentanyl coming across Canada. Guess what does come across Canada? Lumber. energy. I spoke to a home builder that said, you know, we want to put a stop on building right now. We're going to pull back at a time when we have a housing shortage because we don't know what the lumber costs are going to be. Those are the kinds of things that business does not want to hear.
And, by the way, this is a very -- even if Kamala Harris were in office, this would be a very delicate moment economically. We are six years overdue for a recession, if you discount the COVID blip, which I would, because of the pandemic This is not a time to be playing fast and lose --
JENNINGS: The Canadians, by the way, aren't totally innocent in this tariff business. You know, they tariff the heck out of our dairy and butter and cheese and stuff. I mean, they have played this game with us too. So, they're not like totally innocent.
PHILLIP: Hey, look, I mean, I think Rana would agree, look, if you want to have targeted tariffs, even reciprocal tariffs in that respect, fine. But that's also not what we're talking about here. It's across the board. And it's over an issue that, you know, when you're talking about 0.2 percent fentanyl, the question is, what is it going to take for Canada to get out of that trouble?
JENNINGS: I would not downplay the amount of fentanyl.
PHILLIP: But Trump himself said there's nothing that Canada can do. He said that. So, that's what we're dealing with here.
Rana Foroohar, thank you very much for joining us. Everyone else, stick around. Coming up next, Donald Trump takes Elon Musk's chainsaw away from him after complaints from his cabinet and from Congress. We'll debate what that's going to mean.
Plus, I'm sure that Scott will love this one, more questionable moments from the Democrats.
[22:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIP: Maybe Elon Musk doesn't have as much power as everyone thought, or at least that's now what Donald Trump wants everyone to think. The man who appeared to be a shadow president just a few days ago is now the subject of the will of the cabinet secretaries. That's according to the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Keep all the people you want, everybody that you need. People that aren't doing a good job, that are unreliable, don't show up to work, et cetera, those people can be cut.
We're going to be watching them. And Elon and the group are going to be watching them.
[22:20:01]
And if they can cut, it's better. And if they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: So, what's really interesting about this is that's what he told -- that's what Trump told reporters today. But what he told the cabinet privately in a meeting that was not on his schedule, even though virtually everything else Trump has done for the last 40- something days has been on camera in front of everybody in the world was to basically say, you guys are in charge. That is very interesting to me.
ALLISON: Get it together. That's what it felt like. It was like, this is not going as planned. I don't think Trump is abandoning Elon right now at all, but I do think he is hearing from people who are going to be up for election in 2026 and could lose the House, most likely not the Senate, but potentially. And they're saying, stop it. This is causing havoc. And at the end of the day, you have won the White House, but we all have political futures. And it's just not -- it's not aligning with what is happening with DOGE and how the American public are really experiencing it.
JENNINGS: I think a couple things. Number one, I do think the new cabinet secretary's said to the president, hey, we would like to have some say in this. It's perfectly fine for them to do that. And I think Trump empowering them is a good thing. There's no question though that Elon Musk has jumpstarted a conversation in this country about cutting waste, fraud and abuse and about, you know, really going through line by line what we're spending. That's not a bad thing. And so if he works with the cabinet secretaries to do that, they're going to know their departments as well as anybody and they work together. I think, ultimately, it will be a good thing. But I'll tell you, Donald Trump reminded us today who's the president. Donald Trump's the president. He gives the orders. He told Elon what to do. He told the cabinet secretaries what to do, and he told them to work together on it.
PHILLIP: Yes. And I think that that is a marked change from what has been happening. I mean, I think this seems to be an acknowledgement that mistakes have been made. And when, you know, Susie Wiles was on Capitol Hill, she was hearing from Republicans, they were saying when are you guys going to give us some ammunition to deal with the real mistakes that are happening, the cuts that shouldn't be happening, that are then getting undone, and then people are calling us every single day about it?
SUNUNU: So, I think this is actually a little more structured than people are giving credit for. Remember, most of these secretaries are literally just getting into their offices in the last couple weeks. Elon was appointed immediately and could actually start even before Trump took office, right. And to Scott's point, it's a great point, he has set a bar, a bar that has never been seen in Washington, but desperately needed. He said, we move fast, we move hard. And all Trump has said is, hey, now that we have our secretaries, we're going to work in partnership.
He's not cutting power away from Elon. He's saying, this was the transition that was planned. Work with the secretaries. They know their teams. They're going to be able to be more surgical and strategic about it. But they set an amazing white boarding process that has been desperately needed.
And, by the way, I would always add, we wouldn't be even talking about DOGE if Congress had done their jobs over the last 25 years. There's been no accountability. There's been no cutting costs.
PHILLIP: That's true. I mean --
SUNUNU: Both Republicans and Democrats alike are responsible for the hard and fast --
PHILLIP: That is very true. I think Congress has dropped the ball completely on this, I mean, including --
ALLISON: And the American public thinks that too, actually.
PHILLIP: Yes, and --
ALLISON: On both parties.
PHILLIP: Look, it's been Last eight years, four of them were Trump, four of them were Biden, nothing was done in that time.
HINOJOSA: Well, I think that the reason that this meeting happened is because there hasn't been structure to these cuts. You've had chaos. You had an email that went out to the workforce, naming the five things that you have done this week. You know who that email went to? It also went to FBI officials and DOJ prosecutors, people who are dealing with grand jury information. Elon Musk should not have his hands on grand jury information, or investigative information, or national security information, all of these things.
And so it went out, they didn't really think about it. It isn't Elon Musk that's getting the incoming. It is these cabinet secretaries that have to hear from their workforce, the fork in the road email, the same thing. People took that payout, and people are leaving the federal government. Guess what happens? When you don't have a workforce, you can't implement the policies that Trump wants at the speed that he wants. Now, they're trying to figure out what do they do.
PHILLIP: I do think this is a critical moment politically for Trump, though, because, you know, just to give you a sense of the polling, this is from CNN's poll earlier this month. 51 percent say the DOGE cuts have gone too far. And then there's another poll, a Washington Post poll, that asks, okay, is the spending wasteful? Is it necessary? Are you not sure? And, basically, my read of this is that, you know, a lot of Americans, maybe about the same, think it's wasteful, not when some of them think that these programs are necessary, but a good chunk of Americans are just not sure. And if Trump doesn't can win that war right now, they could turn on him very, very quickly on this.
JENNINGS: So, I do think what they're doing is popular. Harry Enten actually had on our air this morning, a really good report on the popularity of it. I think people have low confidence in the federal government, so they're anxious for radical change, and that's why they're getting some leash on it.
But the greatest public relations thing they could do here is, at some point in the very near future, take all of their findings, everything they've come up with, you know, maybe in concert with the cabinet secretaries and take it up to the Hill.
[22:25:04]
They could have the mother of all cutting government hearings with the Republicans up there. They control the Congress. And you could lay out a compelling presentation for the American people about why this was necessary, take the incoming from Democrats, they've proven this week they don't know how to handle themselves and actually show the American people, here's what we've got.
PHILLIP: I think it would also have to show -- I mean, one of the big challenges here is cuts are fine in theory, but then what are the things that are not happening as a result of the cuts, and things are not happening for sure.
ALLISON: And how do -- so I actually would love to see the number of people that are gone too far, not, what's the class breakdown of that, how many people are living below the poverty line, how many people are, quote/unquote, if you actually think there's a middle class right now in this country, how many people live, you know, make more than $250,000 a year. I think that actually is going to play in.
And I think that what we're seeing right now, it's not that like people don't believe you should be aspirational and believe you could be a billionaire. It's that when billionaires have the opportunity to exploit poor people and middle class people and say they're cutting stuff, but then nothing actually changed in the quality of those poor middle class people's lives, that's the comma behind going up to Congress Hill and doing your press conference.
PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, I think what I'm hearing Ashley say is you can make all these cuts and you'll have a big number at the end of the day. But I think a lot of American people feel like the bargain is you cut the government. I get more and if they don't get more, then I think that's going to be a political fall (ph).
JENNINGS: The cost and size of government has exploded since 2019. We spent $4.4 trillion. Now, we spend $6.2 trillion the government spending and the size of it got enormous. A lot of it was during COVID. I think people are rightly asking What if we just went back to the immediate pre-COVID era. Could we not operate the government for that amount or just slightly more? That's a basic Republican question right now.
PHILLIP: All right, everyone. Coming up next, Democrats are searching for a way forward in this second Trump term. But the question is, are their stunts missing the mark? A special guest is going to join us in our fifth seat at the table to discuss that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:30:00]
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, two scenarios, two episodes of Democrats trying to do something. Episode one, civil disobedience or just plain uncivil. House Democrats repurposing a protest song to protest on the House floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE JOHNSON (R) SPEAKER OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Representative Al Green be censured with public reading of this resolution by the Speaker.
(CROWD SINGING)
JOHNSON: The House should come to order. The House should come to order.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Episode two. Clever or cringe. The House Democrats cribbing, actually very old TikTok trend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: Choose your fighter. (DEMOCRATS DOING TIKTOK TREND)
PHILLIP: Joining us in our fifth seat at the table, Democratic Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland of Washington State. She's the secretary of the Congressional Black Caucus and whip for the new Democrat coalition.
Congresswoman, that TikTok chat, I don't even know where to begin. I'm not sure why this is necessary. I mean, there is like serious stuff happening in this country, but that seems to be just inviting ridicule.
REP. MARILYN STRICKLAND (D-WA): So, when you think about TikTok as a trend, we are trying to reach out to different people and different voters. And the woman who produced this is an influencer with seven million followers. So, this is lighthearted, it's fun. And every time you do something creative, you're going to get criticism, right?
But I actually applaud them for trying to do something different. And here's the reality. Seven million followers, whether you think it's cringe or you like it, we're on CNN on a Thursday night, and we're talking about it on national TV.
PHILLIP: But I guess my question is, to what end? I don't get it. Like, I -- I don't get it. I mean, maybe you will get seven million eyeballs. But what is the point?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I am not accustomed to helping your party do anything. But let me give you some advice. This was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. And if you read the comments today, Lord have mercy.
Look, scrambling for new social media and communication strategies is not a replacement for fixing what's actually wrong. Your party has a 21 percent approval rating right now, Congressional Democrats according to the Quinnipiac and -- and, and what --
STRICKLAND: But let's talk about fixing what's wrong. Donald Trump is doing nothing for the American people.
JENNINGS: And he has a 50 percent approval rating so he's beating you by 30 points.
STRICKLAND: But he's doing nothing for the American people. He's not lowering the cost of living. He tells lies.
JENNINGS: And so my advice, my strong advice would be fix the policy and leave the gimmicks behind.
STRICKLAND: Yes, and let's make policy.
(CROSSTALK)
UNKNOWN: Well, let me finish here.
PHILLIP: The Congresswoman -- let me respond to that. STRICKLAND: Yes, absolutely.
PHILLIP: I just want to let the congresswoman respond to that because I think the underlying --
STRICKLAND: Right.
PHILLIP: -- what he's kind of saying, is this question of the party itself has a trust issue with its own voters, frankly.
STRICKLAND: Right. Right.
PHILLIP: So, what is being done about that?
STRICKLAND: So, as we look at trust issues with the Democratic Party, there are a lot of things happening. Remember, the Democratic Party is a very large tent with diverse people. We have people saying, do something.
[22:35:00]
We have some people saying, you've gone too far. We have to stay focused on what is important right now to the American people. President Trump promised to lower the cost of living. He has done none of that. And the Trump administration and Elon Musk are demonstrating one thing with all these random cuts.
They don't care if you get sick. They don't care if you get injured. They don't care if you can't pay your bills. And they don't care if you're safe. All these random cuts they're making, all these departments that they don't even hardly know very well are hurting the American people. How is putting veterans out of work lowering the cost of living?
JENNINGS: Why would --
STRICKLAND: How is taking away food from children lowering the cost of living? How is kicking women off of healthcare who get Medicaid, lowering the cost of living. So, I know that these things are distractions that we're talking about, but why won't Donald Trump deliver on his promises? Because he lies, that's why. They're doing nothing to support the American people.
JENNINGS: Why would or should the American people trust Democrats to lower the cost of living after the last four years?
STRICKLAND: We have created more jobs.
JENNINGS: No, no, cost of living. You brought it up. You said Trump's not delivering. I just want to know why we should trust Democrats who skyrocketed inflation. Why? Why would I trust you? Why would I trust you?
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think it's about -- I don't think it's about, you all won.
UNKNOWN: Yeah.
ALLISON: So, now fix it. You said you were going to fix it. Now, now --
JENNINGS: Wait, we're doing it for 40 days.
ALLISON: Okay, right, right.
STRICKLAND: But you're trying to take a victory lap for the Chips and Science Act for all these investments coming into the United States. So, you're going to take credit or not. Donald Trump is a president. He promised a lower cost of living. He is cutting jobs across the board from civil servants who have to support their families.
JENNINGS: So you believe in government jobs? You want more government jobs?
STRICKLAND: No, actually I want jobs that actually help people. Do you know what civil servants do? They keep our air clean. They keep our water clean. They keep our food safe.
JENNINGS: They take taxpayer money to fund the whole thing.
STRICKLAND: You know what? Oh, let me --
ALLISON: They also pay taxes.
STRICKLAND: Yes, yes.
PHILLIP: You're saying they take --
JENNINGS: They take taxpayer money to fund it.
PHILLIP: Yes, but they're employed by the government.
JENNINGS: This is the Democrat and they're doing it --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Go ahead, Governor.
CHRIS SUNUNU (R) FORMER NEW HAMPSHIRE GOVERNOR: But let's not forget. Yes, Donald Trump and the Republicans won, but the Democrats severely lost, and you're digging your whole deeper.
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But you're saying severely?
SUNUNU: Excuse me, especially in a week after the debacle of what happened during that -- the President's speech, the embarrassment. I don't know who's creating this strategy, but believe me, no one is getting on board.
The Democrats have lost. I would argue the Democrats are far more exclusionary. If you don't agree with them, you're canceled. If you say something inappropriate, you're out, and there's never a coming back in. The Democrats have told the American people you agree with them.
PHILLIP: Although I would say that Democrats are giving them a run for their money these days on a whole host of issues. But let me just point this out. This is John Fetterman talking about largely what happened at the joint address in Congress this week.
He said that, you know, "A sad cavalcade of self-owns and unhinged petulance is how he described his own party. It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained. We are becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to, and it may not be the winning message."
HINOJOSA: So, I don't think that John Fetterman is someone that our party should be listening to more broadly, but what I will say is that when it comes to Democrats, you're right. There is a trust issue. Congress' approval rating is in the tank. It is terrible. And I don't think that they should necessarily be the messengers all the time.
I completely agree with the Congresswoman. We have an amazing story to tell in the sense that Donald Trump is ruining our country. There are people out there right now that are hurting and we should be lifting those stories up as much as possible.
But I don't think it should be Democrats telling their stories. I think it should be lifting up the stories of people who have been impacted by these policies. I would have loved to have seen the night of the State of the Union instead of Senator Slotkin having the veteran who lost his job because of DOGE give the address.
STRICKLAND: Yeah, but we did have people here who were our guests at the joint address who were affected by these cuts. So, a lot of people bought red ones here.
ALLISON: Can I just say that -- I think that we have to hit a reset as a party. And I think the thing that is nice about the Democratic Party is that we are the big 10 party.
STRICKLAND: Right.
ALLISON: I actually think that in the, I think, I know you don't agree that's why you're not a Democrat, but you're welcome. That's why we're a big 10.
STRICKLAND: Right.
ALLISON: So, I think in the Republican Party, what I see is that if you disagree with Donald Trump, you get iced like Nikki Halley (ph), right? You're not, you don't, there's no place. There is no place if you don't fall in line for Donald Trump.
I think Democrats, I'm not saying we've got it right. I'm not saying we're perfect. I want the party that have grown up with that I even at this point in my time I'm questioning like where do I fit in it to find the authentic voice.
STRICKLAND: Exactly. ALLISON: It is not about performance. It is not about that. I want to talk to the people who are in my family, who are my friends who are hurting in this country and ask them what do you need and what do you want from us right now and then work to develop policies to deliver.
SUNUNU: He's been pretty loud about that and you ignored him. You've lost the African American vote.
[22:40:00]
You're losing the 92 percent of black women voted.
(CROSSTALK)
ALLISON: We did not lose the African American vote. That is misinformation.
(CROSSTALK)
UNKNOWN: That is a gross overstatement.
(CROSSTALK)
SUNUNU: Trump did better than any Republican in history. You are losing them.
ALLISON: Just reframe that.
SUNUNU: You are losing the Latino vote because they are leaving you. Why? They don't have to tell you today because they've been telling you for 20 years and you've ignored them.
ALLISON: Yes, and if you listen to the Latino vote right now, they are asking you, why are you deporting their family? They thought that they were going to be the exception to the rule and they are disappointed in the way that immigration policy is being. So, I would just say, don't be so cocky right now. You all won. You lost six straight years though, after Donald Trump, to be clear. You got to win. You put a win on the board.
SUNUNU: It was clear that he was shutting down the border and they supported him for it.
ALLISON: And then when you talk to them now, they say, I didn't think it was going to impact me. But it is. Poor people, poor white people, are saying, I didn't think the cuts were coming to my farm in Kansas, and now I have silos filled with grain because you closed yours and they never --
SUNUNU: The Democrat Party shouldn't be talking about people in poverty. Go to California and you tell me one Republican policy that drove the highest homeless rate, the highest mental health crisis.
ALLISON: I'm not saying it's perfect. I'm just saying --
SUNUNU: They do nothing. And there's no Republican policy there. You just look at California, thank you Gavin Newsom, you're the biggest -- you're the biggest pitch man for why the Republican party cares about results and getting things done, and not just big talk that has failed the folks that backed them for so many years.
ALLISON: Catch me in four months. Catch me in four months.
STRICKLAND: Yeah, well, speaking of big talk, I want to go back to the promises that Donald Trump made during the election.
ALLISON: That's right.
STRICKLAND: I'm going to lower costs. I'm going to make us more safe. Look at what's happening with the Department of Defense, our relationship with NATO, what's happening with the economy. The Dow Jones is sinking like a rock. And so we're talking about economic security and all the things that are happening because he's turned the keys to the White House over to Elon-Trump is the exact opposite.
Elon-Trump is making cuts in departments that he knows nothing about. That's why he's making cuts and saying, oh, whoa, wait, that's not what I meant. Air traffic controllers. There was already a shortage of workers.
JENNINGS: Not a single air traffic controller.
STRICKLAND: They went in there.
JENNINGS: Not a single one. That's false.
STRICKLAND: They went in there.
JENNINGS: That's gross.
STRICKLAND: And now he's actually doing something. Say, oh, wait, please come back.
JENNINGS: Totally false.
PHILLIP: Congresswoman, since we have you here, I mean, though. The gist of this is also to talk about what Democrats are doing, okay?
STRICKLAND: Absolutely.
PHILLIP: And we played the TikTok video, but earlier on the House floor, the singing of "We Shall Overcome", again, coming back to the strategy --
STRICKLAND: Right.
PHILLIP: -- what really would you like to see actually happen? And is it what you saw today on the House floor?
STRICKLAND: I mean, what happened on the House floor today was Representative Al Green of Texas was censored. This is a 77-year-old man who has lived through a lot in this country. And when he was speaking out during the joint address, he was saying, you do not have a mandate to cut Medicaid. You do not have a mandate to cut Medicaid.
Food for children, healthcare for people, cutting -- cutting funding for nursing homes for senior citizens. You do not have a mandate to cut Medicaid. That's what he was saying over and over. And he also said one thing, I'm willing to accept the consequences of speaking out like this.
So, today in the well when they censored him, and I admit, I voted and I left because I had other meetings. And they were there supporting him. They were singing the song. And I think the main message of doing this was, we are not afraid.
SUNUNU: Is that what was in the fundraising emails that went out from the Democratic Party immediately after? That's -- that's the consequence.
STRICKLAND: Oh, like you don't do that. Like you don't do that.
SUNUNU: Never.
STRICKLAND: Please.
SUNUNU: Zero. Never. They state something and they raise --
PHILLIP: Wait a second. I mean, look.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Hold on.
UNKNOWN: Your party, nice try, but no. Your party?
PHILLIP: One at a time. One at a time please. Hang on a second.
SUNUNU: But don't say that there's consequences. That was done as a money grab. That's a hundred percent money grab.
PHILLIP: Governor, governor, I get all the emails, okay? I get all the emails, right?
SUNUNU: But if you're talking about why that was done that was clearly why that was done.
PHILLIP: I get all the fundraising emails and they come from your party and they come from her party. They absolutely do it every possible moment. I don't really think that's the hell we want to die on.
JENNINGS: I feel like over the last few weeks there's been numerous instances of Democrats breaking out into song and all I've been able to discern is that when Democrats are singing, Republicans are winning. I mean it was a bipartisan resolution that passed today. Some people in your party voted to censure Representative Green.
You said something earlier that really piqued my interest which was you said the Democrats should not be listening to John Fetterman. I think he's maybe your most authentic voice. Who's a better representative? Green or Fetterman for the Democratic Party?
PHILLIP: Yeah, and I'm not actually, I'm actually -- I mean, but on that point, Fetterman is a senator from a very critical state. I mean, why not listen to John Fetterman?
HINOJOSA: Because I think John Fetterman is doing what is popular at the time. I'm not necessarily sure that John Fetterman is being driven by what is best for his district or his constituents. What I was trying to say is that I don't actually think that there should be a politician that should be driving the messaging.
I think that if Democrats are smart, they'd be putting ads of people who have been impacted all across the country.
[22:45:01]
The reality is, is Democrats have two years before we have a 20 person primary and people can make their case for running for president all they want in two years. But for the next two years, we need to be telling --
JENNINGS: No Fetterman.
HINOJOSA: -- the story of the people.
ALLISON: Yes. If Fetterman wants to run, let him run. That's because we're the big tip party. Right now we shouldn't be --
JENNINGS: You said we shouldn't be listening to him.
HINOJOSA: Well, personally do not that we should be listening to him, but I also don't think that people should be trying out for the presidency right now. I think that we should be listening to voters and highlighting the stories of people impacted. That is the only way that we are going to get to voters because voters do not trust politicians.
SUNUNU: So that's a great question. Who is the voice of the Democrat Party right now?
ALLISON: The people.
STRICKLAND: The people.
HINOJOSA: The people.
ALLISON: The people.
STRICKLAND: And again, we have a big tent.
SUNUNU: The ones that have said that the Democrats in Congress have a 20 percent approval vote.
ALLISON: Yes, and so you know what you do to change things? You know what you do? You listen. You don't just say, you know what, when you get a bad grade in school, you can say I'm going to say at a D- level, I'm going to work my tail off to become an A student. We have work to do over the next --
SUNUNU: So, what's the change? I mean I'm honestly asking what's the change? You listen to the American people, what are you hearing and what's the change? Do the Democrats in Congress --
STRICKLAND: I'm so glad you asked that question. Here's what we are hearing. We are hearing from people, I'm afraid for my livelihood, everything is so uncertain. Why am I getting fired from the V.A. when I served my country in the military for 20 years?
What is going on? Am I going to be safe? Am I going to be securely housed? Those are questions that are very important. And someone once asked me, if you were in charge, what is the one thing you would focus on? I would focus on a massive investment in housing.
We have a housing crisis in this country. And the tariffs that are being given by Canada, that's affecting the cost of lumber. That's driving up the cost of everything. We know that we need more people in the building trades. We need a supply chain that's reliable, but we need to build more housing.
SUNUNU: So why don't you do that in the four years that Biden was there and you controlled the House and the Senate?
STRICKLAND: We tried to pass a bill. We tried to pass a bill.
SUNUNU: But you controlled the House and the Senate. So why don't you just pass i
ALLISON: But you know there's a thing called the filibuster that we're getting it from.
JENNING: I don't think anybody filibustered housing.
SUNUNU: I know, nobody filibustered housing.
STRICKLAND: Build Back Better? No one had six votes, you know that. So I want to come back to one thing, Abby, though. So, we were talking a lot about Al Green on the floor and what happened, but I want to remind folks the Democrats are not the only people who've had these types of passionate outbursts during a State of the Union or an address.
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert were howling and screaming at Joe Biden. Joe Wilson screamed, "You lie" at Obama. So, I don't want you all to understand that what happened with Al Green, he said he was going to take the consequences, but he was very focused on one important message. "You do not have a mandate to cut Medicaid."
PHILLIP: All right, Congresswoman Strickland, thank you very much for joining us for that conversation. Coming up next, the panel is going to give us their nightcaps. They'll tell us what they want to be turned into a reality show that's inspired by one of the best known war games.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (22:52:35)
PHILLIP: We are back and it's time for the "NewsNight" cap, Monopoly edition. So Hasbro announced that they are looking to make a Monopoly reality competition show. Think Survivor, but with Boardwalks. That'll be interesting. So, you each now have 30 seconds to tell us what else should become a reality show. Scott, you're up.
JENNINGS: Kids love Monopoly, by the way. I may have them try out for this. All right, here's my view. Here's my view. I would like to have a show where we challenge Millennials and Gen Z people to just answer the phone or make a phone call, because --
PHILLIP: Use a phone.
JENNINGS: -- like literally use the phone. Now, we used to have a show called fear factor. I think we could maybe have an up Joe Rogan's fear. We could maybe upgrade it and all we're going to do is put a telephone in front of these Gen Zs and millennials and say, make a call, I want to see how long it takes somebody to actually do it. There's my idea.
PHILLIP: It should be like 1990s technology.
ALLISON: Rotary phones?
PHILLIP: Like a rotary phone.
JENNINGS: They can't talk on the phone. They're afraid of the phone.
ALLISON: Oh, they don't know how to talk.
JENNINGS: They can't talk on the phone.
ALLISON: As a millennial, we can talk, okay?
PHILLIP: When she said -- he's talking about Gen Z, that's a millennial.
ALLISON: Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, we will win, the millennials will win. Okay, let's do it. Okay, I would say let's do this, a reality show. A lot of people wonder, like they see this on television and then what happens before and after, they don't know how we get here. They don't know how we decide our topics.
You know, we all have lives out of this thing other than our political perspective and so wouldn't it be interesting if you went a day in the life of the four commentators on "NewsNight".
PHILLIP: This isn't reality enough for you Ashley.
ALLISON: As long as we don't have to live with Scott.
JENNINGS: Hey, easy.
ALLISON: We're not living in a house together. PHILLIP: You're so chill. Okay, your turn.
JENNINGS: Until last time I give you a chance.
HINOJOSA: And I think we all need a little bit of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce reality TV show. I bet you if anyone were to charge a monthly fee they would make a ton of money for this reality TV show. And I mean, who, I mean look at what she did with her sales for her concerts.
PHILLIP: I mean --
HINOJOSA: I think everybody needs this.
PHILLIP: I think this would be like the most expensive reality show.
JENNINGS: I've had enough of this Kelce.
HINOJOSA: You know, I'm happy to participate in it and help with it. Let me know, Taylor. Let me know.
SUNUNU: Anchor Island. Let's put all the TV anchors from different news organizations on an island. No teleprompter, no make up, we see who survives. I say you're all, you'd all be gone.
JENNINGS: Can we get some of the ones that aren't with us anymore?
PHILLIP: What?
SUNUNU: Oh, bring them back from the density.
JENNINGS: No, I mean that aren't with us anymore.
[22:55:00]
PHILLIP: I hate that idea, but I also love it at the same time.
ALLISON: That's a good idea. I actually think it would be very good. That'd be great. All right everyone, thank you very much. We'll be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:59:50]
PHILLIP: Just in, the Social Security Administration is telling its employees effective immediately they can't access what they're calling general news websites from work-issued devices.
[23:00:00]
That's according to a new memo obtained by CNN. Employees also can't access sports websites or online shopping, and any exceptions will have to be approved by the employee's supervisor. Just in time for March Madness. Thank you all very much for watching "NewsNight". "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
