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National Guard Deploys in Streets of D.C. Amid Federal Takeover; Taylor Swift's Marketing Genius. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 13, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

M.J. LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Olive Garden transformed one of their famous breadsticks into its own version of a showgirl.

[06:00:10]

Even the University of Texas Longhorns jumped on the trend. And while there were no sparkles, "Sesame Street's" Elmo showed that he, too, is anxiously awaiting Swift's 12th album.

And that does it for us. Thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm M.J. Lee in Washington. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: National Guard troops now patrolling the streets of the nation's capital. What do these images say about the state of America today?

CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the crime is up. I think they're fudging the numbers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm quite sure the feds got something else better that they can be doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The debate over those crime fighting numbers and how to make America's cities safe again. And leaders in other blue cities bracing. How do they fight back? One Democratic mayor joins us in just minutes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is a listening exercise for the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And anticipation builds for the Trump-Putin war summit. Why is the White House downplaying expectations?

And there's a new MAGA-friendly boss crunching the numbers for the Department of Labor. Can we count on the data we get from him? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Doors are opening in the same places that we were struggling many months ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: A Democratic socialist could soon lead America's biggest city. How Zohran Mamdani has opened up a huge lead in the race for mayor.

CORNISH: Economics, Taylor's version. How the Swifties help power one of the greatest marketing machines in music history.

It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here is a live look at Washington, D.C.

Good morning, everybody. It's Wednesday, August 13. I want to thank you for waking up with me. I'm Audie Cornish, and this is CNN THIS MORNING.

So, we're going to start here, where National Guard troops hit the streets. And President Trump leaned into his campaign to clean up local crime with U.S. military resources.

Eight hundred National Guard members are now supporting law enforcement, armored vehicles and soldiers have been seen along the National Mall. An Army official tells CNN they are on patrol without openly carrying their rifles.

Hundreds of officers from the FBI and DEA are also out, suited up in bulletproof vests. All this bringing mixed feelings for the people in the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is your opinion of this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it. I think this is long overdue. I've been wanting the National Guard in this area for years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hire more police officers, instead of -- I'm quite sure the feds got something else better that they could be doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The city keeps saying crime is down, but do you feel safe?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't think so. Crime is down. Crime is up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crime is down where? In D.C.? Who told that lie?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Mayor Muriel Bowser says she is working with federal partners, but she's also warning that this isn't just about D.C. but how Trump could use his power against other cities. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), WASHINGTON, D.C.: Well, good morning, everybody.

BOWSER (voice-over): We all need to -- to do what we can in our space, in our lane, to protect our city. And get to the other side of this guy and make sure we elect a Democratic House so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Garrett Graff returns. He's a journalist and historian. Lulu Garcia-Navarro, CNN contributor and "New York Times" journalist. And Doug Heye, Republican strategist. Good morning to you all.

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.

CORNISH: Doug, I'm going to start with you, because I'm sure your group chats are lit with all the winning that is happening. But it is very much, as you could hear from the response, hitting a nerve.

So, what do you think of how the president has approached this?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, first, it's a very different tone that were hearing from Mayor Bowser today and yesterday than we did just a couple days earlier.

She is one of the real, I think, one of the smartest operators in Washington, D.C., in how she's been trying to navigate these waters with Donald Trump, given the role that the federal government has with D.C., not just over the past week, but over the past several months.

Clearly, Donald Trump feels, though, that this issue of crime -- and I think Republicans, writ large, it's terra firma for them. Whenever they can talk about being tough on crime, they're really where they -- they want to be. And D.C. is ripe for -- for these issues.

You know obviously, the capital Mall [SIC] -- the National Mall is a safe place. Nobody really gets in any trouble there.

CORNISH: I mean, not obvious from the imagery, but yes. Now it is.

HEYE: But if you -- if you walk in the Mall, whether it -- whether it's today or two weeks ago, you feel safe. You go in different neighborhoods, and you start to feel less safe very quickly.

Three blocks from here is Union Station, where I unfortunately encountered a girl brawl at the metro stop just two weeks ago. And the things that I see at Union Station and smell at Union Station every day, every week, are troubling.

[06:05:08]

And it's one of those things that allows Donald Trump to send this signal that he can.

The thing I would say, while I don't like Donald Trump always finding something to declare an emergency, that, by the way, always increases his powers. What a shock. If you want to -- if you want to solve this, one of the fastest things you can do is appoint judges --

CORNISH: Hold on a second.

HEYE: -- because the backlog that we have on prosecution is massive.

CORNISH: I want to bring in the others here, because you're bringing up a good point, that this is about two things at once. Does -- how does crime exist? How bad is it? One question.

What should you do about it? What's legal or just, et cetera, is another question. And I think Democrats are struggling answering.

GARRETT GRAFF, JOURNALIST AND HISTORIAN: I think that's true. I also think this tells us a lot about the dynamics inside the Trump administration, which is -- the federal.

This is an incredible misuse of federal resources in terms of the deployment, of having, you know, FBI agents, DEA agents, Border Patrol agents, walking beats in the city, which is something they're not trained to do. They don't have the equipment to do. They don't even have the legal powers to do it.

I mean, one of the things is, like, a lot of these federal agents don't actually have the powers to do the things that the, you know, Metropolitan Police does here.

And so, it's interesting to me that someone like Kash Patel, the FBI director, is unwilling to say, Actually, I have a really good plan for addressing crime in D.C. Let me do -- you know, let me surge agents to a violent crime task force, to a fugitive task force, to a gang task force, and let the FBI agents do the things that they're supposed to do. And he's willing to let his agents be compromised for a political stunt.

CORNISH: I want to say that the police chief has tried to clarify the issue of just chain of command: who's in charge if you get, you know, arrested in the district. Here they are, answering that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you answering to Terry Cole?

CHIEF PAMELA A. SMITH, WASHINGTON, D.C., POLICE: I answer to the -- I answer to Mayor Muriel Bowser. And I -- let me just say this. Let us not have any controversy with that, OK? Because I know people want to build upon and create division. We're here to work together with our federal partners, and that's what we're going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: We live in the dumbest timeline, to say what the kids say. The fact that we have a president who is deploying federal forces on the streets of their capital city and meeting with their enemies for a "listening tour" -- I'm talking about Vladimir Putin -- shows how unserious this is to tackle what you know is, of course, a problem in every city across the world, where you have many, many people together. There's always going to be crime.

When you're talking about girl brawls, which I've seen, too. You know, we should have maybe better social media policies and better money for schools, not take away $1 billion from the D.C. budget, and instead, give money to schools to help children.

And I'll also say that I live in D.C. in a historically black neighborhood. And last night, you know, there were helicopters whirring over my head. I'm a former war correspondent. I've spent many years in conflict, and I never thought that this would be something that I would feel in an American city, other than, of course, on January 6th, which was, of course, as we know, the biggest episode of crime in the city.

You know, D.C. is a city where last year alone, it had the highest rates of tourism, I think historically. Over 24 million people came to this city. People did not feel unsafe.

And so, this is a solution without the kind of problem that Donald Trump and his administration is presenting it.

CORNISH: We're also going to hear from a city mayor about whether it presents other kinds of problems that they might be worried about.

I want you guys to stay with me. We've got a lot to talk about.

Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, the standoff in Texas, for example. Are Democrats getting ready to give up and head back home?

Plus, Queen Bee gets her flowers. Beyonce just won her first Emmy.

And the White House wants to purge the U.S. of DEI in their next target, the Smithsonian.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to tell the whole truth. The complete truth. Not a sanitized, homogenized White House whitewashed version of the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[06:14:01]

CORNISH: It's almost 15 minutes past the hour, and here is your morning roundup.

Texas Democrats who fled the state to block a redistricting plan are talking about when they might return. Looking live at the state house in Austin right now.

This all comes as Texas Republicans discuss calling a new special session to help them get five additional U.S. House seats.

No word yet on when those Democrats will head back.

And a wave of water from a glacial outburst is threatening Alaska's state capital. Juneau officials say it could bring record-breaking flooding.

A glacial outburst is when melting snow and ice and rain drain quickly. It's basically like pulling the plug out of a full bathtub, and it overtops the glacier holding it back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEYONCE, SINGER (singing): This ain't Texas. This ain't no hoe-down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Best thing she never had. You can add Emmy Award winner to Beyonce's extensive list of accolades. She won her first Emmy for the Beyonce Bowl, the Netflix special of her NFL Christmas game-day performance.

Queen Bee is now halfway to an EGOT.

And after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, a key meeting before the war summit with Russia. Today, President Trump will talk with Ukraine's president, who was not invited to the negotiating table.

Plus, the number 12, the color orange, and so many breadcrumbs. The strategic genius of Taylor Swift.

And good morning to you all in St. Louis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:19:48]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC'S "THE TONIGHT SHOW": During the Eras Tour, the second to last song they played before Taylor came on stage was "Applause" by Lady Gaga, which was followed by a countdown clock that started at two minutes and 24 seconds.

Today is the 224th day of the year, August 12. And when did the song "Applause" come out? That's right. August 12, 2013. Exactly 12 years ago today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK. Are you ready for it? Taylor Swift is entering her latest era, which means Swifties are down bad. They're breaking out the red string and push tacks, looking all the way back to 2013 for Easter eggs about her 12th studio album, "Life of a Showgirl."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the "Anti-Hero" music video, we have the two Taylors that are both wearing orange and green.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Glitter blood. The showgirl is inside of her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It starts with track 22, and it has 22 songs on it. It's an hour and 22 minutes long.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taylor Nation posted 12 images, and in each one, you're wearing orange.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Needless to say, Swift has become a mastermind of marketing, and it seems like everyone wants to get in on the action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

GRAPHIC: See you next era...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Yes, that's the Empire State Building, lit up in orange for Swift.

She's also an economic and market-moving force beyond music, and that's why you see other brands leaning in: Betty Crocker, United Airlines, FedEx, Crumbl Cookies, and even Dr. Seuss.

Joining me now, the professor of economics at Virginia Tech, Jadrian Wooten. Thanks so much for being here.

JADRIAN WOOTEN, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, VIRGINIA TECH: Thank you, Audie.

CORNISH: OK, so I remember after her tour, there was a lot of economist goss about the economic, Swiftonomics. How does her, like, fan base and their behaviors work to her advantage?

WOOTEN: She has a massive force, basically, wherever she goes. So, she shows up in a city for a few days, and Swifties take over, selling out hotels, packing restaurants, buying merch, and just really transforming a city around her.

CORNISH: How is that different from other kinds of artists, though? I mean, Beyonce is a great example. Somebody who can sell and move a lot of product. Is there something about the scale of this or her approach?

WOOTEN: There is some -- There is something that feels different. You know, I am very fortunate. I got to go to two of her concerts. And

I've been to other artists' concerts in different places. And there is something about Swifties that is -- it just feels different. And their ability to just consume a lot of her merchandise and then be part of a really, really big community.

So, I was in the New Orleans show, and that entire area was just filled with people talking about Taylor Swift. The bars were packed, songs were playing everywhere. It just does feel a little different.

CORNISH: So of course, she's the No. 1 records for any female artist. Highest grossing tour of all time. I think more than 2 billion.

Can you give me a sense of sort of how much she is propping up the industry itself?

WOOTEN: You know, for a while there was this big transition where we were talking about sort of what was going to be the impact of streaming? You're going from, you know, physical CD sales a couple decades ago to Spotify and Pandora coming in.

And there was a lot of concern in the music industry about whether the streaming industry was a sustainable sort of market for artists. There was a lot of controversy over how much people were getting paid and whether each platform was paying enough.

She has the ability and the -- sort of in the streaming space to really make sure that artists are getting their attention, that Spotify and Pandora are paying attention to what they're doing, that Apple Music is curating deals.

I think the streaming companies have realized a lot of it is thanks to Taylor Swift; that there are fans out there willing to pay higher prices for artists that are on their platforms.

CORNISH: I want to ask you about this in this particular economy. We had one of our panelists here maybe suggest a little bit of fatigue, right? This is her 12th album, and we're in a moment of a lot of economic anxiety. And do people want to spend more?

Can you talk about whether she can kind of defy the economy?

WOOTEN: I feel comfortable saying that she can. You know, there -- there's a fatigue to every artist, right? At some point, we think that their music is going to subside a little bit, that, you know, they're not going to make the same type of music that they were making.

But if we look at her last album, "The Tortured Poets Department," she broke records, streaming almost 2 billion global streams in a week. She has -- she's at the top of her game.

In this particular economy, we are in a place where people are really nervous about job market outcomes, tariffs, unemployment rates, inflation rates. This is an opportunity for a lot of people to just participate in an

economy that they don't feel like they're able to participate in other ways. Being able to buy a record is a very cheap way to participate when you don't feel like you can buy, maybe it's a -- maybe it's even a new car or a used car just feels out of our price range.

But a record, being able to stream her on a -- on a music platform that you love, lets us participate even when we feel like we can't participate in the rest of the economy.

[06:25:07]

CORNISH: So, essentially, little economic treats?

WOOTEN: A little treatonomics. Yes, a little treat culture, I think, is what they're calling it.

CORNISH: OK. Jadrian Wooten is professor of economics at Virginia Tech. Thank you.

And we can't let a good Taylor Swift segment go to waste. Who is -- Doug, you said you actually went to a show.

HEYE: Yes.

CORNISH: You were prepared to spend.

HEYE: Yes, I saw her in Paris last year.

CORNISH: Which is a flex. We got it.

HEYE: Yes, I get it. Well, I needed a lot of tutoring for my niece, Cecily, on which songs I needed to know and so forth.

But what amazed me wasn't just how she boosts things for the Taylor Swift economy in Paris. It was overrun with people wearing Kansas City Chiefs gear. That didn't happen the year before, certainly.

CORNISH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What I will say about Taylor Swift -- and I think it was touched on there -- is that, in a moment when there is no tent pole to the culture, we all talk about how everything is fragmented. There is no big cultural conversation.

Taylor Swift took over the Internet when she announced her new album. It's what we're talking about this morning. She is that tent pole to the culture. It is a place where everyone gathers and can feel community. And long may that live.

CORNISH: And it will not be escapable today. Don't even try, because she's going to be on her boyfriend's podcast. So, you're going to get, as you said, the football vibes. You're going to get the Taylor vibes and your daily dose of podcasts, which I endorse.

Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, there is a new jobs stats chief. He's a sharp critic of how those numbers have been collected.

Plus, the one-on-one between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. Why the White House says it will be a listening exercise for Trump.

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[06:30:00]