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CNN This Morning
Jamaica Hit by Widespread Flooding, Wind Damage from Monster Storm; SNAP Benefits Expire Saturday, Millions Face Hunger Risk; Turning Clicks into Votes: Mamdani's Social Media Strategy. Aired 6- 6:30a ET
Aired October 29, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANTONIA MORTENSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): -- is already open for the 2026-27 academic year, and rent will be significantly below the market average. Organizers hoping that the games will leave a positive legacy on this fast-growing city.
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Antonia Mortensen, CNN, Milan.
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BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Looking forward to that. Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington, D.C. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Jamaica severely battered and Hurricane Melissa not done yet. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
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DESMOND MCKENZIE, JAMAICAN MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT: The entire Jamaica has felt the brunt of Melissa.
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CORNISH: Destruction and despair on an island paradise. Where will this historic storm strike next?
And President Trump about to meet with the leader of China. Can they turn a tariff war into a trade deal?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hunger is not waiting for Washington. People need to eat. Children need to eat.
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CORNISH: Millions of Americans facing hunger if Congress can't reopen the government in the next three days. And Trump 2028 hats on display at the White House. What President
Trump now says about another run after consulting with the House speaker.
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ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: We just do not want to let our confidence become complacency.
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CORNISH: Some call him the Internet's mayor. But can Zohran Mamdani turn followers into votes to become New York City's mayor?
And Ohtani is human after all. This otherworldly World Series, now tied at two games apiece.
It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. This is a live look at Jamaica's capital, Kingston, after the strongest hurricane in the island's history made landfall yesterday.
Good morning, everybody. It is Wednesday, October 29th. I want to thank you for waking up with me. I'm Audie Cornish, and here is where we begin.
The latest with Hurricane Melissa. The storm just made landfall in Cuba, actually a few hours ago. Making that the next island in the path of this historic storm.
And as Cuba braces for the worst, Jamaica is now taking stock of the damage.
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(WIND)
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CORNISH: So, Melissa slammed into the island as a Category 5 storm; made it the most powerful hurricane to ever hit the country.
The storm knocked out power to more than half a million people. Widespread flooding is also being reported as the storm dumped upwards of 30 inches of rain across parts of the island. You can see this extensive damage left behind here in Black River, which is near where the storm actually made landfall.
Local police say that they used their own police station as a refuge of last resort for people whose homes ended up underwater.
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MCKENZIE: Jamaica has gone through what I can call one of its worst period. Our infrastructure has been severely compromised. Saint Elizabeth is the breadbasket of the country, and that has taken a beating. The entire Jamaica has felt the brunt of Melissa.
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CORNISH: Joining us now with the very latest from Jamaica is CNN meteorologist Derek van Dam.
Derek, good morning. And can you first just describe a little bit about what you've seen so far?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Audie.
The damaging winds are subsiding here in Jamaica, certainly across Kingston, the nation's capital, where we are located. But the storm isn't exactly over yet.
Authorities are still urging residents to seek in their safe shelter until sunrise, which is in about an hour for first light here, local time.
And of course, the rain and the trailing end of this storm continues, with National Hurricane Center warning an additional 3 to 6 inches of rain, bringing some storm totals over two feet, especially in the higher terrain of this mountainous country.
So, what we have seen unfold here is truly catastrophic, especially West of Kingston.
We were removed from the most catastrophic winds that occurred with the landfall of this Category 5 hurricane, the strongest to ever strike this island nation in its modern record keeping.
But it is that Western parish, the Western half of the country, where the infrastructure, as you heard, is so severely compromised. Full structural failure. In some instances, communities will be isolated for days.
When we get first light, we're going to pack up our crew, and we're going to see what we can find and try to tell the stories from this country that is in so much pain this morning.
[06:05:03]
You can imagine it was an agonizing overnight period with the storm still ongoing, the threat of mudslides and landslides.
Of course, we know it's not done. It's impacting Eastern Cuba as it traverses the Eastern half of the country. And then it's got its eyes set -- even its outer rain bands already impacting Southeastern portions of the Bahamas. And then even Bermuda later this week.
So, still a formidable Cat 3 hurricane. That is a major hurricane. Regardless of it moving over land and terrain, this thing will produce another couple of feet of rain, potentially across these islands as it races off to the North and East.
A truly historic and deadly storm, unfortunately -- Audie.
CORNISH: All right, Derek. Thanks so much for being there. We're going to be watching for your reporting today.
And in the meantime, Jamaica's prime minister has now declared the entire country a disaster area. He says the declaration will help prevent price gouging as people scramble to secure essentials, including food and water.
The country has also set up a website to help with international relief efforts, which will be needed in the hardest hit areas like the Western part of the island, which took a direct hit from the storm.
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JONATHAN PETRAMALA, JOURNALIST & DOCUMENTARIAN: It's a race against time, because every day that passes, not only are folks that are injured or in need of help suffering; but the fact is that the world's attention gets divided so quickly and it gets shifted away from what's happening here. And that can really impact aid that comes in.
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CORNISH: Joining me now to talk about some of this, Imani Duncan- Price, former Jamaican senator.
Thank you so much for being here, Imani. I don't know what the overnight was like for you.
IMANI DUNCAN-PRICE, FORMER JAMAICAN SENATOR: Thank you for having me.
CORNISH: What has the last couple of hours been like?
DUNCAN-PRICE: Well, post the brunt of the hurricane hitting the island, and thankfully, Kingston was spared. But so much of the country, central Western Jamaica, brutally damaged.
But the nighttime continued with torrential rains and wind as the storm, which is about 400 miles wide. I mean, so much larger than continue to impact the island. The rains only subsided towards late last night, towards midnight.
But as you know, as you rightly said, the mudslides that will be happening, the landslides, the impact, the aftermath is not yet finished.
And so, we stay alert. We stay alert and support each other because so many were homeless last night. The calls coming in watching the videos, the photographs, getting the reports from across the country.
We really give thanks that people opened their homes. Apart from the shelters that were open, as well, neighbors took in neighbors who were homeless last night what reports are you hearing about that Western region of the island that was damaged?
Or is it essentially cut off, either in communications or physically? DUNCAN-PRICE: Well, so far, the reports from friends and family from parishes such as Westmoreland, where you have Negril of tourist area also saint Elizabeth, the breadbasket, where so much of our produce, agriculture is grown. Family and friends in that area.
And Manchester, where we have some intermittent communication, is that devastation.
The flooding, some houses, two -- two-story homes, waters went up as high as that. And we had to have firefighters and volunteers saving people from those types of homes. Solid structures. But the flooding was just too intense. I mean, a Category 5 hurricane is something which -- it's beyond belief. A hundred and 76 miles per hour winds and so forth, so forth.
In Montego Bay in St. James, another strong part of our tourism base, very, very heavily impacted. Homes, roofs. The airport damaged. Hospitals, unfortunately. The roofs in two of our hospitals were compromised.
And we give thanks for the health workers that moved quickly to secure the patients that were exposed, to get them to safety.
I mean, it really was a day and an evening of resilience and bravery and courage, and now we have to rebuild and restore in a very concentrated way for a very long time.
We've done it before. Jamaica is an island. We've had hurricanes before. Nothing as large as this. But the commercial center was not severely hit. That being Kingston.
And so, I believe from this point, where I live in Kingston, we can support others across our country. I'm hoping that many of the viewers who have come to Jamaica and experienced our hospitality, experienced our spirit of -- of a people.
CORNISH: Yes.
DUNCAN-PRICE: The efforts at rebuilding.
CORNISH: Well, Imani Duncan-Price, thankfully, you are safe. You're able to talk to us, and I know there's going to be a lot of difficulty ahead.
DUNCAN-PRICE: Yes.
CORNISH: Thank you for speaking with us.
And in the meantime, for our viewers, if you need more information about how you can help Hurricane Melissa victims, please go to CNN.com/Impact.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about the fight over the government shutdown. Tens of millions of people could potentially go hungry. Will this get lawmakers back to the table?
We know the group chat is going to have some thoughts about that. There they are.
Plus, more Republican states redrawing the maps. I'm going to ask the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee how they're fighting back.
And the constrictions of the Constitution. Is he trolling or is the president serious about pursuing a third term?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's going to be having to -- have to be an evaluation from President Trump's viewpoint to the Constitution. But don't ever close the book on President Trump.
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[06:1
CORNISH: This is Hurricane Melissa, now making landfall for a second time overnight. This time in Cuba.
It's still a Category 3 storm, which is considered a major hurricane. But Melissa isn't just powerful; it's big. We're talking Texas big. This storm is roughly as wide as Texas when you account for its full wingspan.
And I'm going to be talking live to a -- the climate minister of Jamaica in our next half hour.
In just three days, however, tens of millions of Americans face the very real prospect of going hungry if the government shutdown does not end.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we don't receive relief soon, it can put people in desperate situations to make mistakes that they cannot come back from. And that's not OK.
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CORNISH: So, money to pay for SNAP, also known as Food Stamps, runs out Saturday. Eight billion dollars is needed to fund the program through November. And that's where politics comes into play.
Republicans claim that they can't tap into the Agriculture Department's $6 billion contingency fund to keep the program afloat. Democrats disagree.
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REP. ROSA DELAURO (D-CT): I am the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, and I promise you that there is funding available to provide SNAP benefits beyond November 1.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): I think that the White House, obviously, is faced with a tough decision. They have to figure out how do they, you know, reallocate, reprioritize funding; where it goes; where it doesn't go.
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CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Cari Champion, host of "Naked Sports with Cari Champion"; Antjuan Seawright, Democratic strategist; and Kristen Soltis Anderson, Republican strategist and pollster.
So, I want to start with you, Cari, because we always are healing [SIC] -- hearing from the kind of political world. How much of the shutdown conversation do you feel spreading in the general, like, podcast world.
CARI CHAMPION, HOST, "NAKED SPORTS WITH CARI CHAMPION": Sure. Sure.
CORNISH: Like, when people really start just talking about it as part of their lives?
CHAMPION: It's interesting. Before we even came on this morning, I was looking online, and I had been texting with a few friends. There are people from all walks of life trying to figure out how they can help. Just the common everyday, how we can help.
And churches are saying instead of tithing, please bring food. We're hearing people that are in the sports world saying, I'm trying to get together and use my resources and my platform to try to help people, because they understand.
You can see everywhere that people understand that this is very significant.
And the other thing that I find really, truly disturbing is, because no one is really focusing on the children on this whole --
CORNISH: Yes.
CHAMPION: Like, I understand. Yes, you say you don't have the money. Sure, that's fine, but what about the children? So many children will be affected by this.
And I think for me, that's the most painful thing to watch and pay attention to. And that, if anything, means people should be ready to help.
CORNISH: So, I wanted to start here, because it feels like a political game of chicken where everyone thinks the maximum amount of pain will come, but the blame will fall on the other guy.
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: And part of why Republicans feel like they may be in the better position here is that, for many, many years, when government shutdowns have come around, the argument has always been pass a clean bill. If you want to negotiate over other policy matters, negotiate it separately. Open the government, and let's do that. But normally, it's been Republicans that have been the ones saying,
we're not going to open the government unless you do X, Y, and Z.
It's now flipped, and it's Democrats saying we will not reopen the government until you do X, Y, and Z on these subsidies.
I think the Republicans by -- you know, in the Senate, John Thune has brought up this bill that would have kept the government open, I suppose, now, November 21.
CORNISH: Yes.
ANDERSON: Which is coming up. They may need to get a new one in there. To keep it open and say, look, let's separate these two things.
And you even had the head of one of the biggest government employee unions sort of yesterday publicly saying, look, I get it. These health care subsidies are important. But can we please just separate these two issues?
CORNISH: She got ahead of me there. That -- the federal union leader coming out and saying, OK, Democrats. Literally, I think they were saying we get the point.
Does that undermine what you all are trying to do?
ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: well, you can't separate the two issues, but -- because Republicans have zero credibility when it comes to affordable, quality health care in this country.
Seventy times since 15 years ago when the Affordable Care Act was passed, they've tried to repeal and displace.
But think about this course collision we're going to see on November 1: 42 million Americans are going to go without SNAP benefits; 27 -- 37 percent white American, 26 percent African American, 15 percent Asian American/Pacific islander.
CORNISH: Yes. But do you know what I mean? So basically, for the regular person listening, it's like, oh, I guess we have to wait until November 1 to be in pain, if Mike Johnson doesn't bring back the House to even have these conversations?
[06:20:05]
Because there is an alternative, which is go to the table and make a deal. And are we just going to -- like, we're all waiting for people to decide whose pain is more politically problematic?
SEAWRIGHT: I don't think it's about pain. I think it's purely politics. Because if Donald Trump wanted the -- his House and Senate to do a deal, they would have done a deal.
November 1st is when that marketplace opens up: 18.2 million Americans in red states are depending on those subsidies when they go to sign up for an insurance plan; 76 percent of those who received those plans are in places Donald Trump wants.
CORNISH: All right. We're going to --
SEAWRIGHT: Republicans wanted to do a deal, they would do a deal.
ANDERSON: See, Republicans have a political challenge, in that the Affordable Care Act has been in place. It was not repealed and replaced. And health care is not affordable.
And it's not affordable, and it's -- you need these extra subsidies on top of the Affordable Care Act to even attempt to make health care affordable.
And so, Republicans don't really want to, like, save Democrats from their own policy.
CORNISH: People don't seem to know, like, the nuances of health care policy, right?
ANDERSON: Yes.
CORNISH: Like, I haven't met anyone once who's like, well, they did repeal and replace four years ago. Like they just don't do that.
But it is interesting to me that you have lawmakers occasionally passing money for things here and there. So, it's like, let's do veterans. Let's do SNAP.
It's like, if you can do it, then do it for everyone else.
CHAMPION: If they wanted a deal done, the deal would be done. And we can both decide, OK, we can argue and say, this is what it should be, this is what it should be. But a deal could be done.
SEAWRIGHT: But Audie, I think it's important to remind on the SNAP conversation and the health care conversation, $186 billion cut to SNAP early this year in the Big Ugly Bill; $1 trillion cut to Medicaid.
And if we don't deal with this at the end of the year, 500 plus billion-dollar blow to Medicare.
So, Republicans, where there's a will, there's a way.
CORNISH: Yes.
SEAWRIGHT: They will do what they want to do when they want to do it.
CORNISH: Pretty soon you're talking about real money, as it's said. We're going to talk about all of this this hour. So, you guys stay with me.
After the break on CNN THIS MORNING, he's doing well in the polls and with people on the Internet. Can Zohran Mamdani turn that into votes?
Plus, the Blue Jays bounce back to up the World Series, to tie up the World Series.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's an 11th one for the 19th in Yamamoto.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a fly ball to deep left center field.
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[06:26:28]
CORNISH: As the sun comes up, cleanup begins in Jamaica. People surveying the damage after the island's strongest hurricane in history made landfall.
We're talking about roads washed out; homes, hospitals and schools ripped apart; and a lot of debris.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is clear that wherever the -- the eye of the hurricane hit, there would be devastating impacts.
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CORNISH: Right now, the storm is moving over Cuba. The National Hurricane Center warned that similar damage could be seen there.
The Bahamas and Bermuda are next in the path.
I'm going to turn next to this: New York City. That mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, is, of course, a viral sensation. Can he turn clicks into votes?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The name is Mamdani, M-A-N-D-A-N-I. The name is Mamdani.
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CORNISH: So, he's built his run on followers, likes, shares. The 34- year-old is a millennial, after all. We saw a similar strategy play out in last year's presidential election.
Social media hype, however, didn't pay off come election day for Kamala Harris.
But Mamdani tells "Wired" he's expecting a different outcome.
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MAMDANI: I don't think you can divorce the political approach to social media from the political approach to young people. There's so often a condescension about both the medium and the people themselves; that it doesn't require that kind of time and study and approach, when in fact, it requires just as much, if not more.
And if you show that, then people are willing to engage with you.
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CORNISH: And now "Wired" calls him the Internet's mayor, crediting his quote, "really, really good social strategy" in making him a media machine.
Joining me now to discuss, Katie Drummond, global editorial director at "Wired."
Katie, thanks for being with us this morning and bringing us that tape. You spoke with Mamdani.
Can you talk? He is a community organizer. He has come up in organizing, so he understands retail politics. How has he turned the Internet and social media into its own kind of retail politics?
KATIE DRUMMOND, GLOBAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, "WIRED": Well, first of all, thank you for having me.
And you know, that's exactly right. I think what Mamdani has done from the beginning is he has used these social platforms where he is able to amass enormous scale to connect directly with an electorate, right; to connect directly with different populations; to do it in a way that feels authentic to them; and to galvanize them from digital platforms into physical spaces.
So, we see that, you know, with several initiatives that his campaign has undertaken. For example, they announced, you know, a scavenger hunt through New York on TikTok. They had 5,000 people turn up in the streets of New York to participate.
So, he has really effectively been able to take his online reach and influence and translate that into physical sort of feet on the ground. New Yorkers showing up for his campaign.
CORNISH: How does that work for campaigns, though? When I look at Kamala Harris, and we think about "brat slash coconut summer," there was this sense of, like, a wave of intense support, right, and attention. Why do you think that that didn't quite translate the same way?
DRUMMOND: Well, you know, it's hard to tell. We were talking in that federal election about a vastly different context.
But I think that one differentiator for Mamdani and what he has done online is that, you know, he's not just talking about coconuts, right? These are not just like memes and jokes.
He is using the platform, sometimes in a lighthearted way, but always to articulate his campaign priorities. And to do that with very simple, clear language. [06:30:00]
