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Dr. Elizabeth Comen is Interviewed about JFK's Granddaughter's Cancer Revelation; Numbers on Trump and the GOP Base; Haley Berg is Interviewed about Holiday Travel. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired November 24, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: When inflation currently has remained stubbornly high, it's stuck at about three percent. The president continues to deny that prices are rising at all. The real question is, how do we get inflation down from three to the Fed's target of two? And that's occurring at a moment when we've got tariffs that are pushing things in exactly the wrong direction.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, the Treasury secretary just seemed optimistic that 2026 will be a better year. And the vice president of the United States, seeming to quote Guns and Roses, says, "all we need is a little patience."

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Even though we've made incredible progress, we understand that there's a lot more work to do. And the thing that I'd ask for the American people is a little bit of patience. This economy was not harmed in ten months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, what do you think? That if Americans wait, things will get better?

WOLFERS: I just want to take you back to my junior year of high school. I didn't do very well, actually. I came back and I brought my report card home and showed my grades to my mom. And my mom said, what do you think here? And I said, well, mom, patience. Next year, my senior year, is going to be a whole lot better. I think any parent, they would recognize that the subtext there is actually what I was doing was recognizing the reality that I just had a pretty bad year. I couldn't continue to talk about where I was or where I -- or how things are currently going. And so, I was making hopeful promises about the next year.

BERMAN: The president, just a short time ago, and you've spoken out regularly against the president's tariffs as, you know, contributing to an increase in prices, in holding back the economy. He -- but I'm not going to read people the statement he just made on social media, because it's a lot of words here, and it doesn't -- it's a little hard to digest here. But he basically says, the full benefit of tariffs has not been calculated yet. And the United States is just going to keep making more and more money off of them and it's going to be better and better. What do you say to that?

WOLFERS: Well, I think he's -- I think he's right to say, if there's a benefit of tariffs, it hasn't come yet. Because if there is a benefit, the benefit would be that you make it more profitable to build a new factory in the United States. And it takes a long time to build a factory.

Now, here's the thing. If that's your logic, you will also understand that the current tariff regime is also not going to yield that benefit, because in order for me to break ground on a new factory, I'm going to sit down with my finance nerds and we're going to crunch some numbers, and we're going to think about how profitable will this be over the next ten years, 20 years or 30 years? The problem is the tariff regime, whatever it is on Monday, it's changed by Tuesday. And then the president's in a bad mood by Wednesday. And then someone said something mean in the middle school cafeteria on Thursday, and the tariffs are back on or back off. And there's nothing here that allows me to rely on this being an enduring change in the business environment.

So, if there were benefits, they'd be in the future. But if you wanted future benefits, you would behave. You would create a very different tariff regime.

BERMAN: Professor Justin Wolfers, I am very grateful that you turned things around after your junior year, and I imagine the kids in your Economics 101 class feel the same way. Thanks so much for being with us.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up for us, doctors say the granddaughter of JFK has less than a year to live. What she is now revealing about her battle with terminal cancer and the harsh words she also has for her cousin, HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.

Plus, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene sets the record straight around speculation of her political future. What she is now saying about 2028.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:38:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The 35-year-old granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy has revealed she has terminal cancer. In a deeply personal essay in "The New Yorker," Tatiana Schlossberg says after giving birth in May of 2024, her doctors noticed an abnormality in her white blood cell count. She was later diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, with the rare mutation called inversion three. She says her doctors gave her about a year to live. In her essay, she talks about the prospect of dying but also uses her words to call out her cousin, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for the devastating impact she says his anti-vaccine stance and budget cuts to critical research could have on all of us.

With me now is Dr. Elizabeth Comen, medical oncologist at NYU Langone.

Thank you so much for being here this morning. I always am happy to see you, even in these really hard times.

What does this form of cancer sort of do to the body? What -- how difficult is it to deal with this?

DR. ELIZABETH COMEN, MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST, NYU LANGONE: So, this is acute myeloid leukemia, which means she has a very abnormally elevated number of white blood cells. And this deeply affects the immune function. And, unfortunately, she was diagnosed with an even rarer mutation on top of that, which makes it a very aggressive cancer to treat.

SIDNER: She's just 35 years old, and she writes that she was able to swim a mile. You know, she was eight, nine months pregnant, regularly running five miles in Central Park. And then she has a healthy baby. I mean, does it surprise you that she was able to do all of these things while she had this? It was undiagnosed at the time, but she clearly had it.

COMEN: Yes. Unfortunately, with this type of leukemia, it can change overnight, rapidly transforming and progressing in exactly the way it unfolded with her. As rare as it is.

SIDNER: When a doctor says something like, you have a year left to live, I have always wondered, how do they know? How do they figure this out? What -- how do they find these timelines?

COMEN: Yes. Well, statistics are never destiny. And we do our best as doctors to help frame a diagnosis, even a terminal diagnosis, in the context of the data that we have but we never perfectly know.

[09:40:10]

And, on the other hand, we want to give patients some sense of clarity to face the uncertainty of such a horrific, gut-wrenching diagnosis.

SIDNER: It's always an estimate because you always hear people who have lived a lot longer.

COMEN: Yes.

SIDNER: And then sometimes it's so aggressive that you live a shorter amount of time. But it's based on sort of data and what you know about where the disease is and how it's progressed in the body now.

What -- I am curious also about this because some of the words that she used, this really struck me. And I want to read a little bit of what she wrote. She says, "when you are dying, at least in her limited experience, you start remembering everything. Images come in flashes, people and places and stray conversations refuse to stop. Maybe my brain is replaying my life now because I have a terminal diagnosis, and all those memories will be lost. Maybe it's because I don't have much time to make new ones, and some part of me is sifting through the sands."

You wrote in your book, "All in Her Head," about your experience with cancer patients in their last moments. I mean can you share any insights with us on how you help patients through. What sort of happens in the room when you have to give this diagnosis, and then when it comes to fruition?

COMEN: You know, there's no perfect playbook because, for as complex a medically diagnosis can be, it's even more complex from an emotional standpoint. We try to meet patients where they are. And I think part of the sacred job of being an oncologist is not just focusing on the biology, but being there for suffering, being there present, no matter what the outcome, no matter what the diagnosis. And really treating not just the patient, but the whole family there.

SIDNER: Yes, I think that's a really good point, that the whole family is going through this and so you have to sort of be there for all of them. And it's just such a heavy thing for everyone involved. But thank you so much, Dr. Comen, for coming on. I do appreciate it.

COMEN: Thank you for having me.

SIDNER: All right. Over to you, John.

BERMAN: All right, so, we've been talking about the president's poll numbers, which are at a second term low overall, as numbers on the economy are at an all-time low --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: All-time, yes.

BERMAN: Which has raised the question in some circles, is the president at risk of losing his base? Are there cracks among Republicans? One man, and you can see him right here, can answer that question.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

So, is the president losing Republicans?

ENTEN: No. Look, this is still Donald Trump's Republican Party. And we can see it here. They -- it's like a rock, to quote Bob Seger. I mean, take a look here, Republicans who approve of Trump. Six months ago it was 87 percent. Now, well, hello, it's the same number, it's 87 percent. He has not lost any support among Republicans compared to six months ago. As I said at the beginning, he's like a rock. He's like a rock. The Republican base is sticking by Donald Trump at this point in time.

BERMAN: It really is interesting to watch his overall approval rating go down, down, down, down, but see this be completely constant here.

ENTEN: It is among independents. It is not among Republicans. BERMAN: OK, so how does this compare to past presidents in a second

term.

ENTEN: Yes, OK. I think this gives the game away, right, which is, Donald Trump, you can look at 21st century president's own party approval at this point in term two. Who leads the pack? It's Donald John Trump, 87 percent of Republicans approve of Donald John Trump. You go back to 2013, 78 percent of Democrats supported Barack Obama. And it was 78 percent of Republicans who supported George W. Bush back in 2005 at this point.

So, Donald Trump has the biggest own party, highest own party approval of any president who served their entire second term in the 21st century.

BERMAN: You could look at this one of two ways. You could say, obviously, he's doing way better than past presidents, or you could say there is still room to settle if there is a reversion to the mean here, if that does fall further, that could chip into his overall approval rating.

OK, Marjorie Taylor Greene resigning from Congress in January. One of the concerns is, is that Donald Trump backed someone in a primary against her. How has Donald Trump done in his congressional endorsements?

ENTEN: You know, when you go up against Donald Trump, you're going up against a buzz saw because Donald Trump's endorsement record is -- it's hard to find anyone else who beats it. Times Trump endorses won GOP primaries. In 2020 it was 98 percent, 2022 it was 95 percent, in 2024 it was 96 percent. And I will note, the majority of times that Donald Trump backed a challenger to an incumbent like Marjorie Taylor Greene, that challenger won a majority of the time.

The bottom line is this. There was a real reason why Marjorie Taylor Greene decided, you know what, it's not worth the fight because more times than not, when you go up against Donald Trump in a Republican primary, you lose.

BERMAN: Not just more times than not. Almost all times.

ENTEN: Almost all -- almost all of the times, yes.

BERMAN: All of the times based on these numbers.

All right, Marjorie Taylor Greene, she's saying she's not going to run for president. But there are other questions, which is, hey, is she going to stay a Republican even? What do the markets think about that?

ENTEN: All right, so we go to the prediction markets here. And the chance to leave the Republican Party by January 1st of 2027. You can see it, 31 percent.

[09:45:01]

I think this is a pretty good baseline, which is more likely than not Marjorie Taylor Greene will stay within the Republican ranks. But there's actually a pretty decent chance that she doesn't. And then that becomes really interesting to see what she has to say about Republicans and Donald Trump in particular, if she decides to wave adios, amigo.

BERMAN: This is the Republicans. The prediction markets saying there is a chance. A chance.

ENTEN: There is a chance.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much for that.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, this morning, actor and musician Donald Glover revealing he suffered a stroke last year.

[09:50:04]

He canceled his tour last September, at the time saying it was because of an ailment. Doctors also discovered he had a hole in his heart, which then required two surgeries. He is back performing now and told the crowd at a recent concert what he went through.

All right, today marks the kickoff to the Christmas season at the White House. First Lady Melania Trump will welcome the official Christmas tree at noon. And White House tours will resume next week after months on pause. They were stopped in September while the East Wing was torn down to make room for President Trump's new ballroom.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Okey dokey. So, whether you are flying, driving, going by train or something else, a record number of people are expected to travel this Thanksgiving. AAA says about 73 million people will be on the roads. And if you are renting a car, Hertz expects Wednesday to be the busiest day to pick one up. So, prepare for that. As for gas prices, they look familiar. About the same as this time last year at roughly $3.06 a gallon on average.

To the airports now. TSA expects more than 17 million people to pass through screening into next week, including more than 3 million people just on Sunday alone. Best advice for it all? Let's find out.

Joining me right now is Haley Berg, lead economist at Hopper.

It's good to see you again. Thanks for coming in.

So, what, with all of that, those big numbers, what is it going to look like? What can travelers expect and should be prepared for in terms of how packed it is at airports and where it's going to be most packed and busiest in the coming days? HALEY BERG, LEAD ECONOMIST, HOPPER: Listen, Thanksgiving week is one

of the busiest travel weeks of the year because we all typically fly on the same days. Tomorrow and Wednesday are going to be the busiest by far for people hitting the skies, headed home for the holidays. We're expecting over 3 million seats to depart from U.S. airports. That means a lot of passengers in line at TSA and in line at the gates.

In terms of where it's going to be busiest, Atlanta, Chicago O'Hare and Dallas will be three of the busiest, but all of the major U.S. airports are expecting to see crowds as millions of Americans are headed home for the holidays.

BOLDUAN: And, Haley, are you seeing when you -- especially when you talk about those busy airports that had to see those slowdowns, is there some residual tangles and slowdowns from the government shutdown still that people are going to be dealing with?

BERG: Thanksgiving week and Christmas week as well typically do see higher disruption rates even when we're not coming off of a huge shortage in staffing and significant disruptions. We are expecting to continue to see some delays and cancellations into the holiday season.

What I will say is that whether travelers experience a disruption or not, it is their number one concern headed into this vacation week. Seventy percent of Americans say that they are very concerned about being impacted by disruptions over Thanksgiving or over Christmas vacations, so it's very top of mind for travelers.

BOLDUAN: So, what is best advice other than, you know, be kind for everyone, especially if you're traveling on Sunday, which is set to be the busiest day?

BERG: Sunday is the busiest day. And if you're traveling Sunday, definitely pack your patience. But there are some tactical things that you can do. First up, download your airline's app or sign up for proactive SMS or app notifications so that you're getting real time information about anything from a disruption, a schedule change, or even just a gate change.

When you have that app, it also helps you in the event of a significant delay or cancellation. Sometimes you can rebook yourself directly in the airline's app if you do need to change your plans at the last minute, or if that flight is canceled, get to the airport early. Typically, we say about two hours early for a domestic flight and three for an international.

Check your airport's website. Oftentimes they'll give you a red, yellow, green on how those TSA lines are looking. If it's red, try to get there at least 30 minutes earlier than you typically would. Give yourself a little buffer time so you're not rushing through security.

BOLDUAN: Advice I truly need to take to heart.

What does it mean for this -- this all mean for December travel, do you think? I mean is it too late for people to book for that? I mean are we looking -- like, when you're looking at prices and how booked things are, should people, like, already be looking far into next year to be booking?

BERG: If you're thinking about last minute Christmas trips, and it would be last minute if you're booking your Christmas flights now, you do still have a little bit of time. The key date is Tuesday, December 2nd. So, the black Friday, cyber Monday spending weekend has extended in recent years to include travel deal Tuesday. It's the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. And it's when we see the widest range of discounts on travel in that post-Thanksgiving shopping period. So, if you're thinking about a last-minute December trip, definitely plan to book on travel deal Tuesday.

[09:55:04]

Airlines like Alaska Air and American Airlines have already said they're going to participate. There will be discounts on hotels, on the Hopper app or TripAdvisor. So, it's a good day to book a last- minute trip.

BOLDUAN: Love it. Good advice.

Haley, great to see you. Thank you so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: For me last minute is like this week. And I'm leaving this week. But that's just how I roll.

BOLDUAN: I mean that's part of your charm. That's part of your charm, Sara.

BERMAN: You're not leaving for the holidays.

SIDNER: I'm not. In fact, I'm unpacking my patience because I'm going to be right here.

BERMAN: I know what you're doing on Thanksgiving.

SIDNER: And we hope that you do the same.

BOLDUAN: Oh, really?

SIDNER: Make sure that you wake up with us CNN Thanksgiving morning for live coverage of the biggest parades across the country. Join myself, John and Erica for live coverage of "Thanksgiving in America." It starts Thursday, 8:00 a.m. Eastern on CNN. It will also be on the CNN app.

So, you don't have to go anywhere. You can just let us be cold outside, right?

BERMAN: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

BERMAN: Are you going to be there?

BOLDUAN: No.

BERMAN: OK.

Thank you for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" up next.

BOLDUAN: But watching every minute of it. But watching every minute.

BERMAN: That's right. It's OK.