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Polls on Republicans Splitting with Trump; Monitors to be Sent to Polls on Election Day; Trump-XI Summit Wrapping Up; Fromer Trade Rep. Jeff Moon is Interviewed about China; Singer-Songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff is Interviewed about Farm Aid. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 25, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:22]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: About 39 days until the midterm elections, and we are starting to see some Republican candidates splitting from President Trump on issues. Whether it be immigration, the war in Iran, even ICE. Why? What are they seeing?

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

What might be one of the reasons some of these candidates are saying, you know what, a little distance might be good?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: You know, we have been talking about how President Trump has historic unpopularity going into a midterm election, but I'm not quite sure that goes far enough when looking at the data. Because when we break it down, the approval ratings by how strongly people feel, President Trump has the highest strongly disapprove rating going into a midterm election on record.

Look at this, 50 percent of Americans now say that they strongly, strongly disapprove of the job that President Trump is doing. That is, they don't just dislike him. There's record hatred for the president of the United States going into a midterm. The previous record holder was Trump going into the 2018 midterm, but then he was only at 45 percent. Before that it was George W. Bush going into the '06 midterm at 41 percent.

So, right now, what we're seeing is President Trump with record hatred towards him going into this midterm election. No wonder Republicans, at least some of them, are running away from him.

BERMAN: OK. Is there a converse of this? Are we seeing any changes among those who say they really, really approve of him politically?

ENTEN: You know, President Trump has been historically polarizing, right? Yes, there are those people who really don't like him, dare I say hate him. But there have also been those people who really love him, right? And those two counteracting forces have sometimes worked to the president's benefit, but not anymore. Why is that? Because take a look here. OK. The strongly approved

rating here. Strongly approve of the president of the United States. Apparently, something doesn't want me to share this. Anyway, strongly approve of the president of the United States. Someone is clicking through here. Here we go. Strongly approve --

BERMAN: Whoever -- whoever in the CNN system is playing with Harry's wall, please stop.

ENTEN: Whoever is doing this. You're playing with me.

BERMAN: If you are playing with his wall right now on the internal computers, stop. You can do it after we're done with this segment.

ENTEN: Thank you very much.

BERMAN: All right.

ENTEN: OK, strongly approve of the president at this point in a midterm election. What you see here is Trump, look at this, just 18 percent strongly approve of the job that President Trump is doing. That's actually less than the average president going into a midterm at 27 percent. It's less than Trump had going into the 2018 midterm at 27 percent. So, Trump actually has fewer people loving him than what we see with the average president.

So, what's going on here is, normally Trump is able to counteract that strong hatred with strong love, but not anymore as that strongly approved number has actually dipped below what we normally see for a president going into a midterm election.

BERMAN: A number so provocative it can hardly stay on the screen.

ENTEN: That's exactly -- apparently. Apparently the number just wanted to jump off the screen.

BERMAN: All right. What about the key swing group, independents?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, you see this 18 percent, right? And you see the strongly approve. And you see this strongly disapprove at 50 percent. What about the independents?

Look at these numbers. Look at this. Independents on Trump with strong feelings. Fifty-six percent. Fifty-six percent of independents strongly disapprove of Trump, compared to just nine percent who strongly approve. Among the group that determines elections in this country, you see the hatred for the president of the United States. This is what the voters are saying, now north of -- north of 50 percent. It's a majority of them. And that is a difference of, what, Johnny B., of 47 points in the negative direction in terms of the strong feelings on Trump from independents.

BERMAN: Sending a strong signal, to be sure.

ENTEN: Sending a strong signal. And we got through it, Johnny B., despite the technical difficulties. BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I shall take it.

We are less than 40 days away from the election. There is new CNN reporting also today about an unprecedented effort by the Trump administration now to essentially blanket the polls with election monitors. The Justice Department saying it will dispatch more than a thousand monitors to polling sites on election day, calling it the biggest election observer effort in history.

CNN's Gabe Cohen helped break this story. He's here with us now.

Gabe, what did you find?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, Kate, it's not just the Trump administration and the Justice Department. It's also the RNC who is launching this enhanced effort to put more monitors at the polls.

And to be clear, those two separate efforts, at this point, there's no clear evidence that there are going to be any disruptions at polling places or that any Americans are not going to be able to vote on Election Day. We want to make that very clear.

But what we're seeing here from these records that we've been able to review is quite interesting. So, the Justice Department, they have said that they're going to launch the biggest monitor effort in history during the midterms. They're going to have more than 1,000 monitors out there. And what we found is that some of the monitors that they have sent out during the primaries are actually attorneys, who are now working within the administration, who have some ties to the legal efforts to challenge or overturn the 2020 election in Trump's favor years ago.

[08:35:16]

We also learned that there is this conservative attorney, now working at DOJ, who, back in 2016, actually pled guilty to two misdemeanors and served 20 days in jail after he was accused of essentially committing a cyber-attack in order to infiltrate a county election's website. So, some of those folks have been out there at polling locations, or at least near them during the midterms.

Now, we have spoken with election officials in various parts of the country who are out there during the primaries who said, look, this monitor program was business as usual. Everything went fine. And yet what we saw in Wyoming, a red state with red officials, Republican officials, who said that there was this incident where two monitors, federal monitors, there were being very aggressive, they said, were trying to interview voters at polling locations, were trying to get information about voting machines. And, actually, the Laramie County election director, Debra Lee, who is

a Republican, put out this statement not just criticizing the Justice Department for those monitors, but saying, my advice to you, if you are an election official in a red state is, don't think this isn't going to happen to you. So, that's from a Republican official.

But again, to be clear, the Justice Department has defended the actions of their monitors, both in Wyoming and around the country. And at this point, we don't know what is going to happen on Election Day.

BOLDUAN: Right.

COHEN: But there has been this growing concern about, you know, this Justice Department has been overhauled. And is every one of these new attorneys, some of them with deep Trump ties, are they all going to follow the historical standards of this department, which has long sent monitors out to polling places, but not quite at this scale?

BOLDUAN: Yes, it's the scale and who's going to be involved, as you're pointing to, that then now becomes a question.

But it's great reporting, Gabe. Thank you so much for bringing it to us.

COHEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much, Kate.

Joining me now, White House correspondent at "Semafor," Shelby Talcott, and chief Washington correspondent for the "MeidasTouch Network," Scott MacFarlane.

Thank you both for being here.

Let's start with the meeting that is ongoing in -- the Xi-Trump meeting, to be precise. It's pretty heavy on praise and pomp and circumstance. It seems a bit light on substance.

Shelby, what are you observing in this meeting so far?

SHELBY TALCOTT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "SEMAFOR": Yes, I think that's exactly right. I think that there's a lot to talk about, right? You talk about A.I. You talk about Iran. You talk about trade. But in terms of major, hardcore announcements, it's been really light on that. And to be fair, you know, I don't think that administration officials were expecting this meeting to go any other way.

Before the Chinese leader came to Washington, I was talking to administration officials who were sort of tempering expectations on that front. But it has made, I think this is really interesting, some Republicans really frustrated. We talked to a number of Republicans ahead of this trip who were frustrated and confused by the sort of fanfare around this visit, particularly this close to an election. The White House's argument, of course, is that the president went to China earlier this summer, and so this is the president reciprocating that visit. But it's made a lot of Republicans kind of uncomfortable and frustrated that he is rolling out the red carpet while the Iran conflict is going on, while gas prices are high and while a host of other issues are going on here in the U.S., you know, under 50 days before the midterm elections.

SIDNER: Yes, I mean all of those observations, a lot of people are wondering if there are going to be some demands before the end of Xi's trip here.

To you, Scott. You know, Shelby mentioned A.I. And while the country is really clear in polling about its fear of A.I. without some kind of regulation, without being reined in in some way. But the president is just continually bucking that strongly and saying, hey, look, I want to do what Xi is doing. Like, we want to just leave it alone.

Why do you think that is when you juxtapose that with the polling and the fact that the midterm is just around the corner?

SCOTT MACFARLANE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK": Yes, voters aren't being subtle about this.

SIDNER: No.

MACFARLANE: I mean, they're being unequivocal. This is a profound concern. If you look at the front page in Terre Haute, Indiana, 24 hours ago, there were three stories about A.I. and Flock cameras on the front page. It's an all-consuming issue in so many communities where they're worried about those police cameras, worried about the jobs that A.I. can steal, they're worried about the economic and environmental impacts from east to west. It's a big deal.

I'm wondering about the optics of all this, though, Sara. That state dinner last night had sea bass, pumpkin soup and cherry dessert.

[08:40:03]

I was talking to the food bank in Lorain, Ohio, last night. They have a threefold increase in what they're paying for the diesel. They have to substitute chicken for beef because they can't afford it anymore. They're giving out beans instead of meat for protein because of costs. It just doesn't look right to have the -- what -- I guess the white gloved, red carpet dinner at this moment in time.

SIDNER: Yes, that's a juxtaposition.

There's another juxtaposition happening here, Shelby, that I want you to talk to me about.

You know, during the visit with Xi, there was this ad that was released. It's really sort of a pro-Trump ad talking about defeating communism, while the president is actually kind of buttering up the Chinese president. How do you explain this, and what are some of the things surrounding this ad that have caught your attention?

TALCOTT: Yes, this is really interesting. That part in particular has caught my eye, not just because of this Xi meeting, but also because, you know, the Republicans writ large have really tried to make this sort of a referendum on the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party, right? They are -- they are -- they're taking people like Mamdani and sort of saying, this -- these are the leaders of the Democratic Party now. They are too far left. You're going to risk going into communism, going into socialism. That's Republican's arguments heading into this midterm election.

And you're seeing, on one hand, how the president himself is echoing that message. But at the same time, he is hosting a multi-day event with the Chinese leader. And at the same time, he is going to New York City and hanging out with Mayor Mamdani, who he has an unusually sort of, I think, good relationship with that going into this people were skeptical that they were going to have that sort of a good relationship and a good rapport.

And so, I think for voters, it is a little bit confusing to see those two things exist together. And I think for Republicans, it's also confusing because they're trying to paint the Mamdanis of the Democratic Party as too extreme to be able to really do anything with. And then you have the president saying, yes, we don't want communism, and the Democratic Party stands for communism. But also, I have a good relationship with Mamdani.

SIDNER: Yes, confusing or maybe frustrating for some in the Republican Party watching all this.

Scott, to you. "The Wall Street Journal" had an interesting insight into the Texas Senate race that I wanted to ask you out about between a Democrat, James Talarico, and Republican Ken Paxton. Right wing podcasts are talking a lot about Talarico and not talking about the president. What do you make of this?

MACFARLANE: They're going to go where the audience is. And if the audience want to hear about these new people emerging on the political scene, that's where the podcasters are going to go.

There's a fatigue factor that I think Democrats are counting on. That there's a fatigue with Trump or a fatigue with Republicans, and they're going to try to leverage that. You see James Talarico positioning himself as a change agent. You see the same with other candidates trying to oust Republican incumbents. We'll find out if that works or not. But Democrats are very much banking on fatigue being a factor in this election.

I talked to Hakeem Jeffries yesterday, Democratic leader. He says they've got enough money to make all these new battleground races happen in the House and Senate leaders believe the same, trying to position themselves as change agents the same way Trump did ten years ago.

SIDNER: It will be interesting, and we're getting ever closer to that midterm.

Thank you to you, Scott MacFarlane and Shelby Talcott, I do appreciate you coming on this morning for us. John.

BERMAN: I want to pick up now on the discussion they were having there on China at the beginning.

With us is Jeff Moon, former assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs.

Thanks so much for being with us.

Look, people have been saying, you know, light on substance, heavy on style. But what are some of the advantages of having three days of relatively pleasant meetings with a competitor/adversary?

JEFF MOON, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE FOR CHINA AFFAIRS: There are many issues between the two countries. It is always useful for the two countries to clarify their views and prevent misunderstandings. The government systems are completely different and it's easy to come to false conclusions.

However, if I were looking at things from Xi Jinping's perspective, I'm hearing Trump say that I have a great friendship, relations have never been better, I'm getting red carpet treatment. Under those circumstances, why would I change anything? And this is looking really good. Why would I meet any of my past commitments? Why would I promise anything in the future? Why would I deliver on that?

So, I think that, you know, I tell my clients that if you let China know that you are a pushover, you will get pushed over. And I think President Trump needs to be warned about this excessive flattery that he's using in his diplomatic visit.

BERMAN: That's interesting. So, that's how you think China and Xi perceives sort of the fawning treatment and welcome he got.

How do you think he perceives the politics that were going on behind the scenes, sometimes in front of the scenes, at these meetings?

[08:45:05]

You know, the president throwing out reporters on Friday. That some of those reporters were still banned at the beginning of Xi's visit. What do you think he sees there?

MOON: I think he sees a delicious irony. Here in the United States, President Trump is not allowing U.S. journalists into the White House for national security reasons, but he's letting the Chinese in. And then today, as one of the final parts of the visit, they're going to visit the national archives, which is the repository for the bill of rights, where the U.S. declares that we have freedom of the press. What could be better than that? What's not to like from Xi Jinping's perspective?

BERMAN: Well, as I like to say, it's the one profession with protections enshrined in the Constitution. We appreciate that. I will say this. What do you think the United States could get out of

China right now? If the United States were to press for concessions, what concessions do you think are achievable?

MOON: Well, what we came into this summit thinking was that the Chinese would meet the obligations that they took on back in May. You know, there are no new deliverables that we're talking about. All of them are old and recycled. So, there are Chinese purchases. There was supposed to be -- you know, and those include 200 Boeing airplanes. And we haven't heard anything about that. And there was supposed to be tariff cuts, which would be beneficial to both sides, especially to American consumers who are suffering under Trump's tariff policy.

What Taiwan wants is concessions on -- or China wants is concessions on Taiwan policy. They want us to change our formulation of how we talk about Taiwan policy. And I know for viewers, this is confusing. It looks like a word game. But there's 50 years of policy here at stake. And in the meantime, the Chinese militarily have been exercising and squeezing Taiwan in various ways and also trying to prevent Taiwan from having ties with the rest of the world.

So, there's quite a bit at stake here. It would be a major concession. It's the top priority of the Chinese. They mentioned it today on the front page of "People's Daily" in Beijing. And I think Trump needs to stand firm. There's no reason to change that policy.

BERMAN: What's interesting is, is that there are probably two more meetings between President Trump and Xi in the not too distant future. This is a lot of one on ones between the president of the United States and the leader of China. We don't usually see this.

And what leverage do you think the United States does have? Because we keep hearing that Xi at home, he's not as domestically strong as he has been at times.

MOON: Yes, we forget that Xi presides over a cratering real estate market that -- and the circumstances are unique to China and it's all the fault of Chinese leaders. I can't find any expert that tells me where the bottom is on that real estate market and the deflation that is occurring in that market.

Nonetheless, what's interesting about the two meetings that are coming up is actually there's been a lot of talk about the trade truce between the United States and China. That trade truce was arrived at on the margins of an APEC meeting. And there's going to be another APEC meeting in a couple of months. We didn't need to have a state visit in order to get the trade truce that we're now talking about. In fact, we didn't need any of the pomp and circumstance.

I see this as a vanity project by Trump to highlight his and Xi's status as superpowers, without regard really to American interests. Because we have state visits when we have close friends or allies, or when we're on the cusp of some major, diplomatic breakthrough. Neither is the case here.

So, the next two visits will be sort of routine check-ins on the sides of already scheduled meetings. And those would have done just fine. We didn't need to have a grand state visit, as many Republicans are telling us.

BERMAN: Well, Jeff Moon, we will watch today, see if any new or different happens. In the meantime, great to have you on. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Celebrity chef David Chang is on a cross-country journey to find the best off the beaten path gems. No frills, no phones, and tons of incredible food. This week, Texas.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRISTELA ALONZO: That brisket is so good. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). The lime.

DAVID CHANG: That's great.

ALONZO: And all the stuff she smothered all over it.

CHANG: This --

ALONZO: Incredible.

CHANG: It tastes like this has been missing in the world, and now it exists, right?

ALONZO: Uh-huh.

CHANG: And it should have been around longer.

ALONZO: It's so good. It's so good. Steaming hot. Steaming hot. And you've had a lot of barbecue.

CHANG: I have.

ALONZO: Are you constantly still finding places that completely blow off the top of what you thought barbecue could be?

CHANG: No, and that's sort of the reason this show is happening is to get off my (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Now with family and kids, I -- I'm just becoming more of a curmudgeon. This has been really a cathartic thing for me to go back out there and discover things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:50:04]

BOLDUAN: I mean, it looks amazing, but also it's so cruel to do to us right now as we're like wrapping up the show. I'm like, I'm starving.

Be sure to tune in. An all-new episode of the CNN Original Series "The Detour with David Chang" airs Sunday, 9 p.m. Eastern, and the next day with All Access subscription.

Now, a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right.

BOLDUAN: Or not.

SIDNER: Oh.

BOLDUAN: Not yet.

SIDNER: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: That was -- oh, wait. That was a preview to the next hour.

SIDNER: I was -- I was confused, but I was hungry, so I wasn't paying attention.

BOLDUAN: I think maybe --

SIDNER: That was a preview to the next hour.

BOLDUAN: Let's just attribute it to that and move on.

SIDNER: OK.

BOLDUAN: OK. Let's do that.

SIDNER: Drink later.

All right, ahead, the woman who had an affair with a former "American Idol" contestant on trial for murdering his wife did not want to admit what she texted before he ended up being accused of murder. But the defense forces her to on the stand. And you'll hear it in just a bit.

And the powerful fall noreaster gathers strength along the East Coast, threatening 40 million people. We're tracking the storm's path this morning.

Those stories and more ahead.

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[08:55:49]

BERMAN: This year's Farm Aid benefit concert Saturday night in Virginia Beach. I will be there for CNN's special live coverage. I am super excited.

Since 1985, Farm Aid has raised more than $90 million to support programs that help farmers. This year's star studded lineup includes organizers Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Margo Price, and new Farm Aid board member Nathaniel Rateliff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATHANIEL RATELIFF, SINGER-SONGWRITER (singing): Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Come on, let me hear you, everybody. Whoa. Come on now. Whoa. Whoa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Singer and Farm Aid board member Nathaniel Rateliff joins me now.

I loved seeing you perform that song last year in Minnesota. The place just went bonkers.

Why is Farm Aid so important to you?

NATHANIEL RATELIFF, SINGER-SONGWRITER AND FARM AID BOARD MEMBER: I grew up in rural Missouri in the midst of a bunch of small family farms. And, you know, it's still hard to get great food in some of those areas. And you can -- and I've watched family farmers struggle. I worked alongside with them. Some of them at even a plastic factory where they were just trying to make extra money.

And that struggle really hasn't changed. And Farm Aid was started 40 years ago. And this year will be the 41st year. And we're still doing it to try to make sure that the small family farm has more control over what they earn for the work they do.

BERMAN: And you've been doing it for about ten years.

RATELIFF: Yes. My first Farm Aid was 2016. And, you know, the family continues to grow. And my relationships have grown stronger with everyone there. And it feels like Christmas to everybody who's involved. To the workers, and the people who contribute their time. And also, you know, it's a great time to reconnect with my peers and my friends.

BERMAN: You're a board member now, which is pretty cool, right?

RATELIFF: Yes.

BERMAN: Especially when you're talking about folks like Willie Nelson and Neil Young and John Mellencamp and now Nathaniel Rateliff, Dave Matthews. So, it's just got to be like, hey, like I'm doing something important with some really cool people.

RATELIFF: You know, it surprises me to find myself in these circles sometimes, but, yes, I just pinch myself and go, you know, go with my instincts, I guess.

BERMAN: This has been a tough year for farmers, which is unfortunately something we've been able to say for the last few years. But this has been particularly tough through really no fault of their own. It has to do with the war in Iran. Diesel prices are way up. Fertilizer prices, way up. Why is this particular moment so important to be there for our farmers? RATELIFF: Well, you know, I -- it can -- I feel like every year is

equally as important because things still continue to not change. It's, you know, tough.

BERMAN: The numbers are --

RATELIFF: And there's more family farms than there are large factory farms. But those larger farms are still the ones that are negotiating the price for everything, but they can also operate at a loss. And these small farms take such a huge hit. And these are also -- you know, some of these places that are generational. And so, people aren't just losing the business, they're losing what their family has been connected to for generations in the land.

BERMAN: You get to talk to farmers when you're out on the road?

RATELIFF: Yes, it's one of the most -- things I enjoy most. And I've built relationships with even a group of farmers from just outside of Columbia, Missouri, which is close to where I grew up. The Missouri Rural Crisis Center, Patchwork Farms and -- and they've been trying to fight legislation in Missouri and help farmers since the 70s. So.

BERMAN: So, I understand you've been working on a new album and that we might hear some of those new songs Saturday night?

RATELIFF: Absolutely. Yes, I have a new album coming out in mid to early March, and excited to share the material with people.

BERMAN: Nathaniel Rateliff, thank you for the work that you've been doing with Farm Aid. Congratulations on being a board member. Can't wait to see you on that stage. It will be fantastic, I'm sure.

RATELIFF: Thanks for having me.

[09:00:00]

BERMAN: All right. And again, this year's Farm Aid, Saturday, September 26th. It is in Virginia Beach this year. And, of course, we will cover it live right here on CNN.