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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
GOP Lawmaker Turns on Trump, Calls Him Out in Campaign Ad; Gas Nears $4.50 a Gallon as Analysts Warn It'll Get Worse; Leftist Streamer Hasan Piker says America Worse than Al Qaeda Pound for Pound; Trump Seen the Kennedy Center Demolished Poster as Judge Orders 30 Days to the Center for Any Changes. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired September 17, 2026 - 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 VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Tonight, Donald Trump tells voters he's on the ballot, but you wouldn't know it by watching Republican ads, unless it's like this one.
REP. MARIA SALAZAR (R-FL): Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far.
PHILLIP: Plus, as Americans see $4.50 at the pump --
FMR. REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): This is Trump's fault. This should not be this high.
PHILLIP: -- the president hits the gas.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done.
PHILLIP: Also, the podcaster many Democrats want off the stage refuses to exit stage left.
ALEX THOMPSON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Do you think America then is worse than Al-Qaeda?
HASAN PIKER, FAR-LEFT STREAMER: Pound for pound, as far as the number of deaths, yes.
PHILLIP: And demolition man. Is Donald Trump plotting to East Wing the Kennedy Center?
Live at the table, Scott Jennings, Keith Boykin, Joe Borelli, Sabrina Singh, and Jeff Flake.
Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here, they do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP (on camera): Good evening. I'm Abby Phillip in New York.
Tonight, a remarkable moment in today's Republican politics. While Donald Trump is telling voters to pretend that he's on the ballot, his party is not only keeping him out of their campaign ads, but one of his candidates is calling him out directly.
In the first half of the month, Republican advertisers produced more than 500 political ads, and just 12 of those, 12 airing on T.V. mentioned Trump by name. And while Democrats flood the zone with ads mentioning him, one Republican is going further. Listen to Florida Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, who's trying to get re-elected to a fourth term. Listen to her break with the president on immigration and the record number of immigration-related arrests in her district.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALAZAR: Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. In July, 50 percent of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record. Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policies. The same Hispanics who help you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.
You can be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism. I'm not talking about giving them amnesty. I'm talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Before we open it up to the table here, we invite you at home to join the debate. Head to cnn.com/abby. Weigh in there. We'll get to some of your comments as we go throughout the show.
Jeff, Senator, Ambassador, all the different titles, what do you make of the fact that this congresswoman really felt the need to not only distance herself, but to basically denounce the president at this point?
FMR. SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R-AZ): Well, that, that's what was striking. I mean, often candidates will ignore the president, pretend he doesn't exist, you know, and run away. But, rarely, this is a first that I've seen where a candidate actually goes out, you know, against the president from their party. And that was striking. That was significant.
And the fact that she had said early in the campaign -- or not early in the campaign, but early in the presidency, Trump presidency, that, no, it's going to be okay. He's just going after the violent criminals and whatnot, and those who have been here five years or those who are abiding by the law won't be touched. And that clearly isn't the case. And, yes, this is striking, really striking.
SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Can I just add to that point? I think she's seeing how the environment politically is changing, particularly in her district. In 2024, Donald Trump won this district, I think, by 15 points. But in 2020 up against Joe Biden, Joe Biden lost this district by just a half a point. And Bill Nelson has won this district. And these districts were drawn based -- I mean, because of gerrymandering, they're drawn based off of the Trump 2024 numbers.
So, I think what's interesting here is the district that she represents is 70 percent Latino. So, she is seeing how the environment is changing. And there was a poll out today that shows this race is basically statistically tied.
So, I think the fact that she did this in front of the White House and, you know, you could tell the emotion in her voice, I've never seen -- I mean, I'm sure other candidates have done it, but I have not -- I cannot recall one that has done something like this so publicly, and, you know, you could really sense her anger, I think, through that ad.
PHILLIP: And on this issue, I think it's even more striking because this is actually one of those issues that when Republicans or whoever disagrees with the president, they tend to kind of do it quietly. And they were doing it quietly up until this moment, but one of the reasons that it's not so quiet anymore is because of these poll numbers from Fox today.
[22:05:05]
56 percent of registered voters disapprove of Trump's job performance on immigration. And that number is pretty consistent with other polls that have been coming out.
This is an issue that he ran strongly on, he won on, and now he is significantly underwater on. And in a district that is 70 percent Hispanic, it's a serious problem.
KEITH BOYKIN, FORMER CLINTON WHITE HOUSE AIDE: It is a serious problem because the Trump brand has become toxic, and obviously she can read the poll numbers in her district and throughout the country, and she knows that Hispanic voters are abandoning Donald Trump.
We also see that if you look at the ads across the country, only, what is it, 2 or 12 out of 500 ads are actually even mentioning Donald Trump from Republicans.
PHILLIP: Yes.
BOYKIN: That's like less than two -- that's about, just about 2 percent. That means that 98 percent of Republicans are essentially fleeing from the standing current president of the United States. And that tells me that Donald Trump is something, somewhat of a liability.
JOE BORELLI, FORMER REPUBLICAN LEADER, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL: I don't know if that's true. Look, all politics are local, right? As you pointed out correctly, this is a 70 percent-plus Hispanic district. Obviously, the president's numbers on immigration are not as good as he wants them to be, but you look just a few miles up the road up in the Boca Raton Delray area, you have a Republican who's about to unseat a Democrat, Jared Moskowitz, based on his affinity for Donald Trump. Trump MAGA Inc, the PAC, just put in $9 million against Moskowitz in this race. And you have a candidate who's not running away from Trump, he's embracing Trump.
I get it. You know, this was an issue that propelled Republicans to victory in 2024. This was the defining issue, if not anything else. And that -- those high poll numbers on Trump on immigration were because of the problem. And I think the problem has been taken off the table because the border issue is solved. Now, we're looking on how immigration is being enforced, and, yes, I mean, you're right, the president's numbers are not where he wants them to be.
PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, yes, on how immigration is enforced. It's a toxic issue for him. But if you're J.D. Vance and you're saying, put Donald Trump on the ballot, you're Donald Trump saying, pretend I'm on the ballot, that's clearly not working.
Let me play what John Kennedy, the senator, said about some of the races that he's getting involved in to try to help Republicans out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): This weekend I'm going to Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa to help raise money and campaign for our very good candidates there. If you'd told me six months ago I was going to be having to spend my time in those three states, I wouldn't have believed you.
REPORTER: Does your travel --
KENNEDY: Those ought to be fat guy layups for us.
Now, we're going to win there, but the races are close.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas --
SINGH: Kansas, yes.
PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, that's not a good -- that's not a good sign.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: A lot of close races out there. I agree with him. I think we're going to win. Republicans will win in all those places.
But, you know, there's no escaping the reality. There's a bunch of close races out there. Some are statewide, Senate, gubernatorial. Some are in individual Congressional districts. You know, as a strategist, you would just tell all these candidates, you got to do what you got to do to win.
You know, ultimately, if Salazar has a problem with the president on one issue, for Trump, it's better for a Republican to return than for a Democrat to come because we know what they would do. They would reopen the border and try to impeach the president. I mean, that's their main animating issue. So, to get her back would be certainly a better political outcome. And if she has to run an ad like this to do it, I don't know that anybody should have a huge problem with it. I do question on who the ad is for because the people being detained are not citizens and therefore shouldn't be voting, in theory. So, I don't know who the ad is for exactly.
PHILLIP: Their family members are citizens.
SINGH: Their family, yes, and they're non-violent criminals.
JENNINGS: But I would trust her to run on immigration just to run.
PHILLIP: Their family members are citizens. Their employers are citizens. I mean, there are a lot of people who are being affected by immigration.
But it is a fair question. I mean, who is she talking to? And can they believe her considering that a few months ago she was funding ICE, defending deportations, the whole thing?
BOYKIN: I don't know that -- I don't know if they can believe her because, I mean, the Republican Party has a problem right now. The country is really mad about everything. They're mad about immigration, they're mad about the economy, they're mad about gas prices and inflation. But the big issue is the Republicans control the entire government. They control the White House. They control the House. They control the Senate. They control six of the nine seats on the Supreme Court. They control the majority of the governorships in the country. If you're not happy with the way the country is running, America, blame the Republicans. They're running the country. Who else can you blame?
So, we're in a mood right now, the country's in a mood where they don't want to -- they don't want these people in power, and the people who are in power are majority Republican. So, it's going to be -- I think if this continues this way, Republicans are going to be in for a really bad night in the midterms.
[22:10:01]
SINGH: Can I just say one thing on Scott's point, too, because you made the point of these candidates need to run on what works for their district just to win? And I remember working at the DCCC and Nancy Pelosi coming to speak to the caucus and saying, you want to run against me, run against me. Just win, baby, win.
And what's interesting about this though is at the Republican midterm convention, Donald Trump was like, pretend I'm on the ballot, and basically made it all about himself, which I think this is --
JENNINGS: Well --
PHILLIP: I think the RNC said recently in a memo, if you try to distance yourself from Trump, you're going to leave the base behind. And you're going to lose 20 or 30 points.
SINGH: But just wait one sec, because I just want to say that, like, this is a very unique moment in where Republican strategy and Democratic strategy are actually aligned. Donald Trump wants to talk about himself and Democrats are happy to do that. And we're having those conversations in House races.
BORELLI: But it's a division of labor in this sense. You have Donald Trump, who is a proven vote getter of base Republicans. We need base Republicans to turn out in higher numbers than they would've otherwise if he had not been on the ballot, which he's not, so hence the pretend Trump's on the ballot.
And then you need the candidates to play with whatever works in their district. I think Nancy Pelosi, for the first time in my life, was 100 percent right. If you got to run against the speaker to pick up Democratic seats, go after her.
I think you're going to see a little bit more tolerance on the side of the Trump world for people to be a little distanced when they have to be.
JENNINGS: It's not uncommon, by the way, for candidates in midterms to stray away from national leaders. You've mentioned how many ads Trump is in. How many ads are Democrats featuring Biden or Harris or Schumer or --
BOYKIN: They're not there. They're not on the ballot. They're not even in office. They have no power.
JENNINGS: There is Trump, Schumer and Jeffries.
BOYKIN: Donald Trump is the sitting president of the United States.
JENNINGS: How about Schumer and Jeffries?
BOYKIN: Nobody runs on the House minority leader or the Senate minority leader. It's never an issue.
JENNINGS: My point is there's not a single national --
PHILLIP: You mean right now?
JENNINGS: There is no single national Democrat leader being featured in any ad.
BOYKIN: That's because the Republicans run the government, not the Democrats. The Republicans are the ones who run the government.
JENNINGS: They seek to want to run the government.
PHILLIP: And also, I mean, even when Biden was in power, he never said, put me in, Coach. I'm on the ballot. He never said that.
Let me just read this quick viewer remark and then have you respond. This -- the viewer says, Donald Trump forces his own early designation as a lame duck, and his party is jumping ship.
Just one part of this that I think is also interesting, Trump has intimated recently that he wouldn't mind being a lame duck because he feels like the way that he feels the most comfortable governing is just by playing defense against Democrats. And even if Republicans lose, he's just going to, as he said, block it all.
So, sometimes I wonder, I mean, does he really care whether they do well or not?
FLAKE: Well, some would argue the way he's been campaigning and what he's been going on, that he doesn't clearly, because none of what he's doing or talking about is really helping that much. You know, he's not addressing the affordability issue, at least not effectively. The war in Iran, he just can't get a straight answer there.
So, yes, people can be excused for thinking that --
JENNINGS: Can I offer a brief rebuttal? His political operation just dumped a couple of hundred million dollars into Republican campaigns around the country. That's the size of an investment that you could reasonably conclude someone cares about the outcome, otherwise they wouldn't be doing that.
BOYKIN: He had to. He did it belatedly at the end of the process, too.
PHILLIP: I mean, there's always what Donald Trump's apparatus does, and then there's what Donald Trump does.
JENNINGS: He raised the money and he wouldn't be spending it if he weren't okay with it.
PHILLIP: Well, those two things are not always aligned.
JENNINGS: They're not.
PHILLIP: The president -- when you put the president out there on the campaign trail, he does what he thinks is best. And whatever that script says is what it says, but he may not read it.
SINGH: Well, I think, Senator -- well, two points. I think the Republicans are spending in places where they didn't think they'd have to spend before, and they're dumping millions and millions of dollars into Texas, a seat that I think never should've been, or they never considered to be in play, and yet they are going to have to spend so much money to potentially pull Paxton over the line.
And those are resources that are not being diverted to other candidates that could really use the help, which is giving Democrats --
BORELLI: But they're able to spend the money because they've outraised Democrats at every level of government consistently for the entire year because there's a lot of momentum behind them.
SINGH: I will say Republicans always outraised Democrats.
BORELLI: This year is fairly significant. The difference between the RNC and the DNC is pretty significant. (CROSSTALKS)
PHILLIP: What she's talking about is the state of the national parties, the DNC, RNC.
BORELLI: And the House arm and the Senate arm.
PHILLIP: The DNC is in debt, the RNC is not.
SINGH: Sure.
PHILLIP: So, I mean, there is an imbalance, and then we didn't even talk about the Elon Musk money, that there's a lot of outside money.
So, money is going to be a factor here. But I don't know. When you talk to Republicans, if they thought that was enough, they wouldn't be as worried as they are. They are worried even with the advantage of money.
BOYKIN: All the money in the world will not save the Republicans in this cycle because, I'm not predicting the outcome yet but based on where things are right now, if they continue at this pace, Republicans are in for a really horrible time.
[22:15:06]
PHILLIP: All right. Next for us, gas prices are nearing $4.50 a gallon, and Donald Trump says that it's a very inexpensive price to pay for the war.
Plus, as Hasan Piker says, America's worse than Al-Qaeda when it comes to terror, more Democrats are telling him to go away. We'll discuss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIP: With the midterm elections just weeks away, President Trump doesn't seem to think that the surging fuel costs are a problem for Americans.
[22:20:00]
Right now, diesel is more expensive than it has ever been, and that's impacting the price of basically everything that we ship. The average price for regular gas is now more than $4 a gallon in most of the country, and there's no relief in sight. But if you ask Trump, these numbers really aren't a big deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I have to say, you have a little higher, you have a higher -- it's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done. Remember that. It's a little more. It's -- even if it was -- frankly, even if it was a lot more, but that's going to come tumbling down. That's going to be like a rocket ship.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIP: Not for nothing, but he's been saying that for months. But as we're, you know, what, less than 50 days before the election, is that really what you want to be telling Americans?
BORELLI: Well, just for the record, I mean, gas did go down below $80 a barrel earlier in the summer. Gas went up recently because Iran told its proxies in a second country to attack an oil pipeline in a third country. That's why oil is up right now.
We were debating whether the U.S. has control over the strait. I think the fact that Iran has to resort to its proxies in these other countries is certainly indicative that we've regained some control there.
PHILLIP: What?
SINGH: Isn't that a bit --
BOYKIN: What the hell are you talking about?
BORELLI: That's 10 million barrels a day going through the strait.
SINGH: That's like such a glass half full of a glass that's completely empty.
PHILLIP: Okay, listen. I think that you laid out -- I think you totally laid out the facts actually pretty accurately.
BORELLI: That's what happened, yes.
PHILLIP: However, the conclusion doesn't make any sense.
BORELLI: Gas was -- a month ago, the gas was the same price it was under Joe Biden.
PHILLIP: If Iran still has the ability to spike oil prices globally, we are not in control of that situation. We have not neutralized that. We have not neutered that.
BORELLI: That Iran has the ability to spike gas prices globally is justification for continuing finishing the job.
PHILLIP: We're not arguing that Iran is doing great. They are not doing great. But we have not neutralized the central problem that is causing energy prices to go up. Wouldn't you agree with that?
BORELLI: The central problem was resolved until they decided to, you know, go --
(CROSSTALKS)
SINGH: I mean, Joe, it's not resolved. We have a naval blockade still that --
BORELLI: The price of gas was lower than where it was under Joe Biden just a few months ago, okay? And it will be there again. (CROSSTALKS)
BOYKIN: That's going to be your argument going into November?
SINGH: You can't just blame Joe Biden because Donald Trump's policies led to this moment.
BORELLI: I'm not saying Americans aren't upset about it. I'm not debating that. I'm just saying that the gas prices will come down.
SINGH: Joe, in California, in my home state, people --
BORELLI: California is $2 higher than other states, California, Oregon and Washington.
SINGH: Yes. And you have Republican voters in California. Shouldn't you care about those too?
BORELLI: Why do you think California, Oregon, and Washington that pays $2 more a gallon is because of Democratic policies.
SINGH: You are making my point. In Midwest states, in Iowa and Michigan, the gas went up 25 cents, 25 cents overnight in 24 hours. Is that a good policy?
BORELLI: Do the Democrats in California deserve --
SINGH: No, Joe, is that a good policy?
BORELLI: No, but do the Democrats in California deserve to lose because they gave us $2 more gas than anywhere else in the country?
SINGH: Joe, let me just --
BORELLI: If you think Trump deserves to lose the election because of the price of gas, why don't Democrats in California deserve to lose?
SINGH: Joe, hold on.
PHILLIP: Hold that one second, okay? Let's just try to --
SINGH: Give me a break. Every fact that you outlined at the top, except for your conclusion, was correct, that we have -- the Strait of Hormuz is closed, now you have the Bab el-Mandeb closed, and the Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline has been --
JENNINGS: The strait's not closed. 18 million barrels comes out every day.
SINGH: Only two ships went through yesterday, Scott.
JENNINGS: 18 million barrels --
SINGH: It is not open. It is not open.
JENNINGS: We're in control of it and oil is flowing. SINGH: 100 million barrels are going out of --
PHILLIP: I don't think it's 18 million every day.
SINGH: No.
PHILLIP: They hit 18 million.
JENNINGS: It sounds like a big number.
BORELLI: It doesn't matter. The oil markets reacted --
(CROSSTALKS)
JENNINGS: To say it's closed is false. Oil is flowing and we're in control of it.
PHILLIP: Hold on. Hold on a second. Hold on a second. All right, look, the United States military is working really hard to try to get as much oil through as possible. The problem is it is not enough.
BOYKIN: Thank you.
PHILLIP: Okay? That's demonstratively true because you just have to look at the price of gas in the United States. $4.44 on average across the country for gas, diesel is $6.40 a gallon, okay? If it were back to normal, we wouldn't be looking at those numbers. It is not back to normal.
BOYKIN: It's not only not back to normal, but diesel is the highest it's ever been, Joe, higher than it was under Joe Biden, Joe. Diesel fuel prices are causing truckers to pay higher prices now to ship their goods, which means American consumers will pay more money because the truckers are paying more money.
This is a problem that you can't negotiate away in an election cycle by saying, oh, well, it was better -- it's better now than it than it was under Joe Biden, because the American people are suffering every time they go to the gas pump. They're not going to buy this argument about who cares about what Joe Biden did two or three or four years ago. They're looking at what they have to pay right now today, Joe. That's what people are focused on.
SINGH: And voters are smart. They know it's Trump policies.
FLAKE: Well, the fact that Houthis feel emboldened to start attacking in the Red Sea again shows that, you know, we don't have the ability or the desire to address that issue as well.
[22:25:00]
So, it doesn't matter if a little more, you know, oil is coming out of the Strait if the Houthis are emboldened to go after another area.
So, the reason that, you know, John Kennedy is going to Iowa and Nebraska is because diesel prices are so high, and those elections are at risk for Republicans. That's where it comes home politically. And that's going to be difficult to explain away in saying that, well, hey, we're making real progress, or Iran is -- you know, their military is gone, their navy is at the bottom of the sea. You can say that all day long. When diesel and gas prices are still high, it doesn't matter.
JENNINGS: Just one point of further information, and I don't know how much difference this would make in a political campaign, but it is true. Oil is flowing and what is not happening in many cases is refining. You know, oil doesn't come out of the ground and go right into your car. It has to be refined. And the Russia-Ukraine war has cut down on refining capacity. And I would argue --
BORELLI: Specifically diesel.
JENNINGS: And I would argue that decades of Democrats trying to squash refining capacity in the United States has also not allowed us to do that. So, there is a refining argument that could be made here.
SINGH: But Democrats also tried to diversify energy sources with solar power. That was now rolled back.
JENNINGS: Would you say solar power for the cars?
SINGH: For anything, buildings.
PHILLIP: You obviously were arguing up until this moment that Trump had restored U.S. energy dominance and we didn't even need oil coming out of the Strait of Hormuz. That's what you were arguing.
JENNINGS: Well, mathematically, you don't. We could stop dealing with the rest of the world right now, which is fine.
PHILLIP: So, for them to turn around and say it's because other presidents reduced our refining capacity that we're in this position that --
BORELLI: And governors, you have --
JENNINGS: Abby, are you arguing we have enough refining capacity? Is that your position?
PHILLIP: Here's what I'm arguing. I'm arguing that the reason --
JENNINGS: Are you arguing that the Ukraine-Russia war has had no impact on refining?
PHILLIP: Scott --
BOYKIN: That was the war that Trump said he was going to end on day one, right?
PHILLIP: -- what I'm arguing is that the reason that gas prices are high around the globe are largely because of the war in Iran, and to some extent because of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine that Donald Trump promised he would solve on day one. And we are 18 months into his presidency, and we're not even close. So, that's a problem.
JENNINGS: How do you know? What if they solve it tomorrow?
BOYKIN: That's still not day one, Scott. That's still not day one.
JENNINGS: You said we're not even close.
BOYKIN: Do you not understand day one?
JENNINGS: You're doing the thing again where you're pretending we're 20 feet away when we're a foot away.
BOYKIN: Because what you're saying is 20 feet away from reality. It's still not day one.
PHILLIP: So, voters are not stupid.
SINGH: Yes.
PHILLIP: And they have very clear views on where we stand right now. Democrats right now have a 15-point edge over Republicans on inflation and lowering prices. The voters also say, 64 percent say tariffs have hurt the United States economy. When you put all of that together, but then you have the president going out on the campaign trail and saying, eh, don't worry about it, it's all going to just go away, he seems to be just ignoring the problem rather than even trying to identify a way to get Republicans to navigate this issue.
JENNINGS: I didn't hear any flippancy in his voice. You're saying he, he made a flippant argument. What I heard him say was, I made a decision to stop the Iranians, and it's worth it. That's different than saying, eh. That's a totally different.
PHILLIP: He said it's a small price to pay.
BOYKIN: It sounds like Marie Antoinette telling people, just suck it up, folks. He's basically telling people that it doesn't matter that you have to pay $6.50 a gallon as a trucker to put fuel in your gas tank.
JENNINGS: He believes in his mission, and the message wasn't flippant. He said, we made a decision, and it was worth it because of what the outcome is going to be.
PHILLIP: He also promised months ago that gas prices would go down. That didn't happen.
JENNINGS: I'm just saying I think you're characterizing it a little bit incorrectly.
PHILLIP: So -- well, listen, I mean, fine.
JENNINGS: It's not flip.
PHILLIP: I think it's fine to disagree with the characterization, but I also think that when the message is, it's a small price to pay, that sounds to voters like it's your -- the fact that you are hurting doesn't matter as much as these other things.
SINGH: And I think voters are very smart, and they know who's in power. To your point, Republicans control every chamber in Congress. They control the White House. These are Trump's policies, and they can link it directly, whether it's going to the grocery store or driving by the gas pump. They see it. They see it physically change.
And, you know, again, 25 cents for gas going up in 24 hours, that hurts a family that has to make the decision, okay, what am I putting on the table? Am I driving? Can I afford the gas to even come home? And that -- and I think I will give credit, like I think Vance does a better job of saying, I understand that you're hurting, and like tries to walk a finer line.
PHILLIP: He says, give us time.
BOYKIN: Give us time.
SINGH: Give us time.
BOYKIN: Give us more time.
PHILLIP: Give us a second chance, is what he said.
SINGH: Yes, exactly. It's a little desperate. It's a little desperate, but I don't -- I think if Trump embraced -- like if he had gone to the American public during the State of the Union and outlined and said, we're going to feel some hurt in the economy, but this is worth it, this war is worth it, I think we'd be having a different conversation today than we are right now.
PHILLIP: All right. Next for us, some Democrats are telling Hasan Piker to go away after he said that America is worse than Al-Qaeda when it comes to terror.
[22:30:01]
So, how are the candidates that he's campaigned with reacting to this?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIP: With less than 50 days to go until the midterms, left-wing streamer Hasan Piker is creating new headaches for Democrats who were hoping that he would just go away. Listen to this bold comparison that Piker made during an interview with Axios.
[22:35:02]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: Do you think America then is worse than Al-Qaeda?
HASAN PIKER, LEFT-WING STREAMER: Pound for pound as far as the number of deaths. Yes, we've caused tremendous terror all around the world.
One clear example of this is what we did in Minab, right? There's no distinction between blowing up a school, triple tapping it with Tomahawk missiles.
If you're killing 140 schoolgirls, that is an act of terror. This doesn't mean that all Americans are terrorists, but the reality of the matter is we have to create an environment of accountability to ensure things like that never happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Keith, if you're a Democrat, you're probably wondering what is he doing? He's already very controversial, but comments like that make it way worse.
KEITH BOYKIN, FORMER AIDE, CLINTON WHITE HOUSE, AND AUTHOR, "WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE ABOUT RACE?": Yes, and if I'm a Democrat running for office, I'm like, why don't you talk about this?
So I wouldn't talk about it because the American people don't care about it. The voters don't care about it. So I think what's happening here is that we're getting distracted, not necessarily we at the table, but we in the campaign cycle are getting distracted.
My mom, who watches you all the time and watching probably right now on T.V., watches the news all the time. She votes in every election. She's never heard of Hasan Piker.
PHILLIP: So then why are Democrats campaigning with him?
BOYKIN: I'm telling you, something in the past, but you know what?
PHILLIP: We wouldn't be talking about Hasan Piker if he wasn't showing up.
BOYKIN: I get it that's campaigning with Democrats in the past, but you don't see him campaigning with any right now. He doesn't hold any public office. He's not running for office himself. Yes, he has campaigned with Democrats in the past.
I don't know. I didn't even know who the guy was until a few months ago. I don't know why anybody would want to campaign with him, but if they do, that's on them.
But the reality is the American people don't care. Even in Michigan, I looked at the poll last week in Michigan. Of the top 25 issues from the latest Detroit News poll, not one of them is Hasan Piker. It's the economy, it's healthcare, it's inflation.
(CROSSTALK)
BOYKIN: No, he didn't even come up as an issue. No, they asked people, what are your concerns? And out of the 25 issues they listed, they didn't even mention the guy's name.
(CROSSTALK)
JOE BORELLI, FORMER REPUBLICAN LEADER, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL, AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, CHARTWELL STRATEGY GROUP: You made the accurate case, right? This is someone who was largely irrelevant and still is to most Americans, except for Americans who live in districts where Democrats thought that there would be an advantage by having this radical, far-left, terrorist-loving man campaign with us.
Now, maybe Keith would have been smart enough at that time during the primary to say, wow, I don't want this guy near me. But a lot of Democrats embraced him. And what he said about Al-Qaeda, even with respect to the Minab strike, the U.S. military makes mistakes, there's no question about that.
But to say there's some equivalency with the U.S. military and an organization that tries to kill civilians, including people that I knew very well on September 10, 2001, is wildly inappropriate and morally illiterate. So if you're a Democrat who campaigned with him in the past and you had a problem distancing yourself in the past from him, this is a pattern. This is not a gaffe. This is a pattern form.
PHILLIP: I think that, first of all, your point about his false equivalency on the Minab strike is completely correct. I mean, even it should be investigated, has not been. But that doesn't mean that it was intentional, which it was not.
SINGH: Right.
PHILLIP: This is not the only interview that he's doing. He was on with MS NOW host Symone Sanders on their podcast, and they had this exchange. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SYMONE SANDERS TOWNSEND, MS NOW HOST: I used to work campaigns aside, and I have to tell you, if I was a strategist or a consultant or, you know, the political director on one of these campaigns, I would absolutely be telling my people to disavow you because, depending on where we are, I really would, because we want to win. We want to win. And so, like, if you're not going to help people win.
(CROSSTALK)
UNKNOWN: That's the disagreement we have.
(CROSSTALK)
SANDERS TOWNSEND: I've elected people, though, and you've never elected anybody.
PIKER: I know. You're right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Okay, important point, because you have to ask the question, what exactly is he doing in this moment? Is this about electing Democrats or is this about Hasan Piker?
SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR, AND FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY DURING THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: I -- oh, sorry, go ahead.
JEFF FLAKE (R), FORMER U.S. SENATOR, ARIZONA: I just say for him, it's all about him.
UNKNOWN: Yes.
SINGH: I agree.
FLAKE: He's not trying to elect anybody, but why is it so difficult for Democrats, who have campaigned with him, or even if they haven't, denounce the man, denounce those views. I mean, have your Sister Soulja moment. I mean, you want that during the campaign, no matter if you've never heard his name before.
(CROSSTALK)
BOYKIN: If I were a Democrat candidate and it wasn't an issue in the campaign, I wouldn't bring it up. If somebody asked me about him, I'd say I don't agree with them and move on to the issue of, what does Hasan Piker have to do with the high gas prices in this country?
SINGH: I will say, I agree with that.
(CROSSTALK)
SINGH: I mean, to your point, like I was watching a focus group the other day, Hasan Piker did not come up. The issues that came up were grocery prices, gas prices, energy costs. And so this is a person -- I totally agree with you. I think this is a person that's trying to be provocative, trying to, I mean, that statement was truly something.
And I think he does not understand what the values that America was founded on, because you cannot equate this country, which believes in the right of freedom of expression, religion, speech, to a terrorist organization that is responsible for killing, you know, Americans and our allies as well.
[22:40:09]
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, HOST OF "THE SCOTT JENNINGS SHOW" ON SALEM RADIO, AUTHOR, "REVOLUTION OF COMMON SENSE", AND FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, it stands to reason that he would believe Al-Qaeda is morally superior to the United States because he has in the past said the United States deserve 9/11.
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: So it would stand to reason. Now, he said that a long time ago and he said that today. And in the middle of the whole thing, El- Sayed, the Democrat running for Senate in Michigan, invited him into his campaign, brought him to events. There's footage. There's pictures. This wasn't incidental contact.
Symone said, you've never elected anybody. I'm not sure El-Sayed would agree with that. He might believe Piker actually is the one who helped him keep out a primary victory.
BOYKIN: That's not true. El-Sayed --
JENNINGS: He was invited to campaign with him, was he not?
BOYKIN: I didn't dispute that. I'm saying that he's never endorsed any of those controversial views that you're talking about. And he probably never would, because he knows it's politically toxic to do so.
JENNINGS: Bringing him doesn't, isn't some tacit endorsement?
BOYKIN: But, you know, it's interesting, though, because even though I don't agree with what El-Sayed said, and I don't think most Democrats don't either, it's really ironic, though, the Republicans are making this an issue when Donald Trump consistently invites people who are racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, transphobic, all kinds of anti-Semitic bigots to come to the White House to meet him at Mar-a- Lago.
And Republicans have a really difficult time distancing themselves from him when he does that.
BORELLI: I want to be clear on something. We saw those MS NOW hosts, who I won't mention their names, but they didn't say, Hasan Piker, you're wrong about what you said.
PHILLIP: I don't think it's fair to say that. I don't think --
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: They said, stop saying it because we want to win. That is awful for them to say that.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Well, no, let me just be clear. We played a clip that was 26 seconds long.
BORELLI: I don't watch that channel, so --
UNKNOWN: I don't watch that channel.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: It was a 26-second clip of a long podcast interview. We did not play the entire thing. I don't think it's fair to characterize their exchanges with him in that way.
To your point, though, about what does El-Sayed say about why he talks to Hasan Piker, here's what he said on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: The reason I talk to Hasan isn't because of Hasan. It's because of the 3 million people who pay attention to what he has to say. And I think it's important to be able to offer those folks a pathway back into our politics. I believe in a politics where we actually show up and talk to each other, even if we disagree.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Jeff, does that resonate with you?
FLAKE: No, it doesn't. I think you know what he said and distance yourself from it. I mean, that is not distancing yourself from it. So I think that that's a mistake, both substantively and politically.
JENNINGS: He's admitting, by the way, how big of a part of his campaign Piker is. That's the thing. It's not incidental contact, he's not an ancillary figure. Listen to El-Sayed. He is a core part of how he expects to win.
PHILLIP: So, well, one thing I will just say is like, I think both parties are going to be dealing with things like this.
SINGH: Nick Fuentes.
PHILLIP: But you don't even have to go to the Nick Fuentes. Tucker Carlson, he has hosted basically Holocaust deniers on his podcast.
JENNINGS: He's endorsed El-Sayed, by the way.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: He's said all, I mean, yeah. He said all kinds of things that some Republicans have --
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: He's for El-Sayed.
PHILLIP: And then you see people like J.D. Vance saying exactly what El-Sayed just said there about Tucker Carlson. We can't dismiss the millions of people that watch this person.
This isn't going to be a common theme that we're going to see where the pod sphere -- the pod sphere of people who have controversial views are going to be in real life campaigning with candidates. And they're going to be pandering.
SINGH: Well, what about someone like Laura Loomer, who has not only access to the White House --
PHILLIP: But she has direct access to the President.
SINGH: The president. Exactly. And goes out there and will either support a candidate or not. But like she, I mean, her platform is incredibly hate filled.
(CROSSTALK)
And yet I don't see Republicans getting asked, do you disavow Laura Loomer?
JENNINGS: Is she supporting terrorist organizations?
SINGH: I mean, her stance is on so many things.
JENNINGS: Is she supporting Al-Qaeda?
(CROSSTALK)
SINGH: I'm not comparing it. I'm just saying like you should disavow something.
(CROSSTALK)
SINGH: And I said the same thing about Hasan Piker.
BORELLI: When you're El-Sayed and you have on camera repeatedly associated yourself with this person and then continue to support them. And as the point you pointed out, Scott, was he said directly how big of a part of this man's campaign he was.
(CROSSTALK)
BOYKIN: But let me say one thing. One thing I just saw this year, this summer, really bothered me. A man got up at the White House on the South Lawn at the UFC event that Donald Trump hosted and called Michelle Obama a man.
UNKOWN: (inaudible) agree with that.
BOYKIN: And Donald Trump never repudiated it. The President of the United States, I don't care about what you say, Joe. Your President, Donald Trump, never once repudiated that. That's shameful. That's shameful.
PHILLIP: Next for us, a judge tells Trump he can't destroy the Kennedy Center without warning after the president is seen with a poster reading Kennedy Center demolished.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIP: Tonight, is Donald Trump planning to demolish the Kennedy Center? Hours before his administration told a judge that the institution had to be closed due to safety risks, Trump was pictured reviewing a poster that appeared to read Kennedy Center demolished. Trump warned Wednesday that the Kennedy Center would end up being ripped down without his support, adding it's in very bad shape.
This afternoon, the judge in the case ordered the Kennedy Center to provide at least 30 days' notice if a demolition or new construction is planned at the site.
[22:50:09]
I can't even believe we're having this conversation, to be honest. But Scott, I mean, aren't they thinking about doing what they did with the East Room and in the dark of the night, really going to tear down a memorial to a president that Congress established?
JENNINGS: I mean, I have no idea. I certainly think they're thinking about at a minimum renovating it because it needs it. I mean, it needs renovations, needs to be spruced up, needs to be modernized, there's leakage, there's all kinds of issues.
And so I would hope that the end result of all of this would be that the Kennedy Center is restored as a place that you can go and enjoy it. And it's good for our national art scene, but it's not a place where the ceiling is going to crash in on you if you happen to walk down the hall.
BOYKIN: The Kennedy Center had a $41 million surplus two years ago in 2024 when Joe Biden was President. It now has a $23 million deficit under this guy, Donald Trump.
BORELLI: Why didn't they fix the roof then?
BOYKIN: First of all, let me finish my point. That's a $64 million drop. What happened to cause that? Donald Trump had to put his name on it. Donald Trump had to make himself the chair of the board. Donald Trump had to make it all about him, and the revenue started dropping.
The artists started dropping out. No one wanted to be associated with it because Donald Trump's name is toxic. He ruined the Kennedy Center in less than two years, it took him two decades to have six bankruptcies for his businesses. He's moving at a faster rate to ruin the country than he did to ruin his own country.
PHILLIP: Why does Trump feel the need to put his name on something in order to -- let's say he wants to help fix the Kennedy Center. Why can't he just do that? Why does he feel like he needs to put his name on it?
BORELLI: Well, yeah. I mean, I think just going back to the original premise, though, the Biden White House apparently had a --
SINGH: Okay. Joe Biden's fault now?
BORELLI: I'm just saying if they had a surplus of money for the Kennedy Center and the ceiling is falling down --
(CROSSTALK)
SINGH: Wait, but why does Trump need to put his name on the Kennedy Center?
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: Doesn't that show some indication that people who are governing the Kennedy Center under Joe Biden didn't keep the place in a state of good repair?
(CROSSTALK)
UNKNOWN: It's a 50-year-old building.
PHILLIP: Why does the president insist on putting his name on something in order to do the right thing? If it needs renovation, it needs renovation.
BORELLI: I mean, I've seen his name on buildings --
PHILLIP: If it needs to be fundraised, it needs to be fundraised. Why does he need to put his name on it? Why does he need to threaten to demolish the building if he doesn't (inaudible) --
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: I've seen his name on buildings in New York, in Chicago, in Turkey.
PHILLIP: And?
(CROSSTALK)
BOYKIN: On somebody else's gravestone? On somebody else's memorial? It's a memorial to a dead person. A dead president.
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: Yes, and I'll just go back to this. If it was so sacred, right? And I'm not saying it's not, but if it was so sacred, why wouldn't Democrats or any President have previously kept this place in a state of good repair?
BOYKIN: Don't buy into the logic that they've not. You're talking about a five-foot (inaudible) -- you're talking about a 50-year-old building that had one rainstorm --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: The members of the board of the Kennedy Center have said that they actually had a plan to renovate the Kennedy Center. So there's that. So the idea that they were doing nothing appears to not be true.
BORELLI: They had a plan, oh. How did the plan work out?
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: But I've been to the Kennedy Center many times, and it's not falling apart.
UNKNOWN: It's beautiful.
PHILLIP: That's not.
(CROSSTALK) PHILLIP: That is actually just not --
UNKNOWN: It's beautiful.
BORELLI: The ceiling fell down in a minute.
BOYKIN: The ceiling did not fall down. Stop lying. It was a small section that happened in a rainstorm for a 50-year-old building.
(CROSSTALK)
BOYKIN: Ten-year-old buildings do have instance like that. No, that means you fix it.
PHILLIP: Do you think that justifies demolishing the building? Trump says that that's what he's going to do.
BORELLI: I mean, I don't know. I don't know the details of what they want to do.
SINGH: You don't know? I mean, come on, just say no.
FLAKE: The normal progression of these things where, you know, there's a board and President Trump as well, they want to name something after me. I'm flattered, but whatever else. That progresses to if my name is not on it, then we demolish it. And we're seeing this in other areas as well. And so it's just, frankly, pretty unseemly for a president to --
PHILLIP: The U.S. Institute of Peace is another one they're suing right now to stop him from literally engraving his name on the front of that building that was established by Ronald Reagan.
Next for us, we're going to react to your feedback from cnn.com/abby. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIP: Now, some viewer feedback from cnn.com/abby.
The first one says, J.D. asked for a second chance. Isn't Trump's second term his second chance? And he's blowing it.
BOYKIN: Are you asking?
PHILLIP: Yes.
UNKNWON: Yes. BOYKIN: How do you ask for a second chance when you're already in your second term? And you're in the -- you just finished two years of the second term when you claim you're going to fix everything in the first day. On day one, he was going to solve the gas prices, solve inflation, solve Ukraine. He hasn't fixed any of that.
JENNINGS: We did omit the intervening period in there where the country was run so deeply into the ditch that it's going to take us forever to climb out. But sure, let's just gloss right over it.
BOYKIN: Because of the COVID crisis that Donald Trump started, happened --
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: Yes, Donald Trump created COVID.
BOYKIN: Donald Trump was President when it started.
JENNINGS: He created COVID.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Okay, Borelli, this one is for you. It says, when Borelli's asked why he didn't wash the dishes after dinner, he says, Joe Biden didn't wash them either. Was that your wife?
[23:00:07]
BORELLI: Rachel, I'll be home soon. You know, I'll do the dishes, honey.
PHILLIP: And Scott, one for you, too. Hi, does Scott Jennings push everyone down as he runs to that seat, or does he pay a premium to sit there? I've never seen him sit anywhere else. He just looks best in that seat.
JENNINGS: I think this is a little known fact. This is the best lighting. And that's why I've chosen this particular one.
PHILLIP: All right, everyone, thanks for watching "NewsNight." "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
