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Inflation is Hitting Farmers on Everything; Polls on Senate Races; Kal Penn is Interviewed about his Role in "Trust Me, I'm a Doctor." Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 16, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:33:13]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, it's no secret higher prices is hitting nearly every aspect of American life right now. And farmers are being hit harder than most. And the double dose of bad news on inflation just this week isn't helping. The Producer Price Index, which measures wholesale inflation, shows that diesel rose 115 percent since last September. Animal feed up seven percent. The cost of fertilizer rose 21 percent. The average cost for a gallon of diesel this morning sits at $6.33. That's up by more than $2 since the war with Iran began.

Farmers, ranchers, they have been raising the alarm and speaking out for months about what they are up against. But now, just 18 days ahead of the midterm election, what is on the line for them?

Joining me right now is John Hansen. He's the president of Nebraska Farmers Union, a sixth generation farmer himself.

It's good to meet you. Thank you for being here.

I just want to first get your reaction to just what those numbers that we kind of speak about at a, you know, kind of a 30,000-foot view, what those numbers mean in real life for farmers you know -- you know and you represent.

JOHN HANSEN, PRESIDENT, NEBRASKA FARMERS UNION: Well, good morning. It's good to be with you.

What it means is that the financial pressure continues to grow. The squeeze gets tighter. The financial pressure gets greater because we continue to set records year after year for record high ag input costs and yet our ag commodity costs and prices on the other side have not kept pace. And so, we continue to get squeezed more and more. And, unfortunately, this is not the first year, but it's really two, three, sometimes four years or more of really belt tightening.

[09:35:07]

And finally, we're running out of room in that belt to tighten up, unfortunately, for a lot of cash flows and a lot of farm operations. BOLDUAN: I was going to ask you, you know, how far can -- how far does

the belt stretch, to continue with the analogy? I mean what choices -- what choices are farmers needing to make at this point?

HANSEN: Well, a lot of farmers have already done the normal management things where they've tightened up family living, they've tightened up operating costs, they've delayed capital purchases, they've not replaced equipment. They've done all of those normal production management things. And so we have a lot of good producers that have been around for a long time that have fairly low debt ratios that are losing $100 to $150 an acre on the corn and soybeans they produce.

And, unfortunately, we have a lot of producers that have been squeezed hard enough, long enough that they've needed to refinance their long term debt and be able to tap into that to make up for short term cash flows that did not work. So, they refinanced one, and sometimes two times if they've already refinanced twice, then, and their cash flow doesn't work this time around, there's going to be a lot of bankers that are going to be having some very tough conversations with their borrowers, and we're really fearful of what's going to happen later this fall and this winter.

BOLDUAN: The president was just in Nebraska, and he -- and when he was there he made the announcement that he was pushing off or trying to alleviate taxes on red dye diesel, saying that it was going to save truckers over $100 every time they fill up, save farmers, the way he put it in his words, were -- save farmers millions and millions of dollars. Are you seeing it having any kind of effect even close to that?

HANSEN: Well, it's -- just look at the numbers. So, we're $2.55. The last time I checked, which is earlier this week, between last year and this year, relative to diesel fuel costs. So, here we are at the biggest diesel fuel using part of the year, where our tractors that pull the grain carts, that run the augers, the combines in the field, all of those things are using diesel. The only diesel cost savings that comes from what the president has talked about is the fuel that goes in farm trucks. And that's for three months. And importantly, I've read the fact sheet from the White House. And the word that they use is not abatement, it's deferral. So, if we're talking about simply deferring taxes on that part of the cost, then that's not a -- that's not a savings, that's just delaying the payment until later.

BOLDUAN: If there's one thing you would ask of the president or the next majority of whoever controls Congress that would help alleviate some of the pain, what would it be?

HANSEN: Well, the first easy, low hanging fruit, simple thing to do would be to pass an updated farm bill. And so, the farm bill just hit the fourth September 30th expiration deadline last September 30th. And so here we are three years out, not having a permanent farm bill put back into place. So, Congress has simply not done their job. The president has not pressured Congress to do their job. And so here we are trying to have some sense of certainty and some positive signs that we can send to our ag lenders, as well as our producers, that something's going to happen. It's going to be at least minimally better. We can't -- here we are in the middle of a farm crisis, and we can't get Congress to pass an updated farm bill for three years. Actions speak louder than words. And what we're saying is, Congress simply has not done their job. And that's why there's a lot of political unrest out in the country.

BOLDUAN: I'd say so. John Hansen, thank you for coming in and giving us that window into what you're -- what you're seeing right now. I appreciate it.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, what we just learned the pope will be doing this weekend as he recovers from lung surgery.

And the unusual path Democrats might be on to gain control of the Senate and maybe reshape politics beyond.

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[09:44:07]

BERMAN: President Trump heads to Georgia today, even though the Senate race there might be increasingly out of reach for Republicans. What does that tell us about the state of the race for control of the Senate this year, and maybe beyond?

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

Let's talk about Georgia and the incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, who looks better and better in terms of being re-elected.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Jon Ossoff is absolutely dominating this race. What a campaign. What a year for the senator from the great state of Georgia. I mean, take a look at here. This is the race ratings provided by The Cook Political Report in Georgia.

You know, start off the year, hey, it's a toss-up. Then by June it was lean Ossoff. And now it is likely that Jon Ossoff wins re-election in the great state of Georgia. And this, of course, sets him up a lot of people think very nicely for a potential run for president two years from now.

[09:45:06]

BERMAN: And, of course, a lot of the key races in play this year are in the south.

ENTEN: Yes. This, I think, is exactly right, Mr. Berman. The southern United States has been a waterloo, has been a waterloo for Democrats over the last few decades. No more. No more.

I mean, just take a look at these polling. OK, key southern Senate races. Dems are 13 points up in Georgia. How about Roy Cooper, the former governor in North Carolina, we're not really even talking about this race anymore. He's up ten. And in Texas, we obviously have that close race. But James Talarico nominally ahead. Of course, that race is too close to call at this point, but he is up three.

So, we see Georgia, North Carolina, Texas. You never think that even in the polling, even if you're up by just a little bit margin, that you'd see all three of these in blue at this point. That's quite something.

BERMAN: Yes. And Democrats need this. They need to change the map going forward because the map has been changing against them in other ways here. Where does this sort of fit into history?

ENTEN: Yes. OK, you know, as Johnny B. said, Republicans have been doing better in the Midwest, right? The Democrats are doing better in the south.

You know, I was thinking about, when was the last time that Democrats in the same year won all three of these states in a Senate race?

BERMAN: Wow.

ENTEN: You have to go all the way back to 1960, when Lyndon Baines Johnson was running for re-election in Texas.

BERMAN: And created the Lyndon Baines Johnson rule, where you could be on the ballot as a senator and on the presidential ticket.

ENTEN: Correct. Exactly right. That was something that Lloyd Bentsen, of course, did in Texas in 1988. But in that year, you did not have those wins for Democrats in all three of these states.

BERMAN: OK, the Senate race might be out of reach for Republicans in Georgia, but there is a hotly contested governor's race there. What are the prediction markets saying?

ENTEN: Yes, this is -- this is what we're talking about right here, the chance to win the Georgia governor's race according to the Kalshi prediction market. You can't really get any closer than this. I mean Rick Jackson, look at this, a 52 percent. Keisha Lance Bottoms, a 48 percent chance.

This is what Georgia's going to be about on election night. Who wins in this Georgia -- in this Georgia gubernatorial race? Will Keisha Lance Bottoms be the first African-American governor from the great state of Georgia. We'll just have to wait and see. Or do Republicans hold on to the governor's mansion there? There has not been a Democratic governor elected in Georgia since 1998.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: Have a great weekend.

ENTEN: You as well.

BERMAN: A lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.

ENTEN: Go Bills!

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[09:51:18]

BERMAN: A new movie out this week tells the true story of late model and reality TV star Anna Nicole Smith and the doctor who was, for a time, implicated in her death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I call you Sandy (ph) or you prefer Dr. Kapoor (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, Anna, look, today I am just your friend, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have many of those. Everyone around me is someone I pay. Even you, doc. Come on, you're riding with me today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What, like in the actual parade?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course. Oh, and by the way, I love your shirt. Come on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Kal Penn stars as Dr. Sandeep Kapoor in "Trust Me, I'm a Doctor." And Kal Penn is with us now.

It's great to see you.

KAL PENN, : It's good to see you. Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: So, I have this confession, which is that somehow I missed almost the entire Anna Nicole Smith story when it was happening in the early 2000.

PENN: Sure. Yes.

BERMAN: How much did you know about what was going on?

PENN: So, obviously not enough because when the email came for this movie, there was a little logline and the script was attached. And I very cockily sort of read it and was like, oh, I remember this. This is that doctor who's in jail for his role in Anna Nicole Smith's death. And then I started reading the script. I'm like, oh, that's actually not at all what happened.

And then I was like, am I now one of these people who reads three tweets and thinks you're an expert on something, right? So, it was -- it was juicy. It was -- it was a -- the kind of role that I hadn't expected when I -- you know, when I clicked on that email.

BERMAN: It's a really good role. What drew you to Dr. Kapoor?

PENN: I think, you know, he makes a lot of mistakes throughout the -- throughout the movie. A lot of bad decisions. And there's a vulnerability to his character that I hadn't had the chance to play before. And plus, I haven't, you know, I haven't played somebody who's still alive, right? I've had the chance to play characters from books, obviously fictional ones, that just came out of a writer's head, not based on a novel. But this was a new, you know, a new avenue for me. And I wanted that challenge.

BERMAN: You met him?

PENN: I met him, I met -- he was wonderful. The real doctor was so gracious. I could, you know, I did all the nerdy actor stuff. He can -- he let me shadow him for a couple of days. Had had a few dinners with him. Got to know him and his family, which is, you know, like a -- it's a -- it's a blessing to have that kind of access if you're -- if you're playing somebody, bring them to life.

BERMAN: The film also touches on the idea of fame and the excitement and the glitz and the glamour.

PENN: Yes.

BERMAN: What do you think you have learned about this over the many years you've been in and out of the public eye?

PENN: I mean, you know, I thought about that when we made this movie because he's a guy who -- he, like a lot of us, right, it's human nature, you sort of think, I love my privacy. I don't ever want to not be a private person. But then he's got a patient who becomes his friend, who invites him to all these fancy things where the paparazzi's there and there are cameras and all this attention on him, and he finds it intoxicating. And I think that yin and yang is something that I think a lot more people can relate to now that there's social media and there are TikTok stars and influencers who, if you're as old as I am, you're kind of like, what do you do exactly? I don't -- what is your skill, right? And -- so -- but you try to learn that. And it's that conversation (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: You're famous for being famous, right?

PENN: Right. Yes. Yes.

BERMAN: Did he tell you he liked the film, Dr. Kapoor? Did he like it?

PENN: He did. I actually texted with him yesterday because I was curious, you know, what -- and I saw him last week. We had a screening in L.A.

I just thought, look, I've written a memoir. This script is based on a book he wrote. I would never be as transparent and vulnerable as he is in his book. And so I'm like, what did you think of the final product? And I think he was happy with it, which is -- which is great.

BERMAN: When I introduced you I said actor Kal Penn. I should have said former White House official too.

PENN: Briefly, yes. [09:55:00]

BERMAN: I mean you were. You worked in the Obama White House in the office of public liaison.

PENN: Yes, sure. Two years.

BERMAN: Two years is a long time.

PENN: Yes. Yes. Yes. Sure.

BERMAN: I mean, do you miss it? I mean do you miss the energy of being inside the White House? And what did you do it again?

PENN: I loved the time that I had there. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I think it's a very different world now. And, you know, I worked on youth engagement, right? This is 15 years ago.

The thing that excites me is the way that young people are getting involved with things now, right? We're in New York City. We have a mayor that's very popular, especially among young voters. Same thing with like a Nixon in Florida and El-Sayed. You know, you've got really exciting candidates. I don't know that at the -- in the executive branch we've seen that, whether it was Biden-Harris or Trump. So, I am very happy making movies. That was my career, first and foremost. I love making people laugh. I also got to say, I think in this crazy, polarized world we live in, I get to do. as an actor, a thing that still exists in sports and in comedy and in food. And that's -- you can actually still bring people together around a TV screen or a -- or a -- or a movie screen and make them laugh together. It's a magic that I love that I -- you just can't get in politics these days.

BERMAN: Well, we're glad you still get the chance to do that.

PENN: Yes. Thank you.

BERMAN: Thank you very much for being here. Kal Penn, I really did enjoy the film.

PENN: Thank you, I appreciate it.

BERMAN: It is, "Trust Me, I'm a Doctor," and it is out today.

I think he just announced he was running, basically. That's what I take away from that.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I think that's exactly -- uh-huh. Yes. For sure.

SIDNER: But we could use more laughs everywhere, even in politics. Don't see that often.

BERMAN: No.

BOLDUAN: No. Love you guys and all of our laughter together at least.

SIDNER: And it's the end of the week. BOLDUAN: This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" up next.

SIDNER: Have a great weekend.

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