Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Today: South Carolina GOP Runoff for Lindsey Graham's Seat; El- Sayed Distances Himself from Piker's Comments on Jewish Americans; Personal Bankruptcy Filings Climb Three Years in a Row;. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired August 25, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:15]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. Right now in the group chat, the fact that the president wants voters to pretend he's on the ballot today in South Carolina's Senate runoff.
Why is he so totally sold on a political newcomer who admitted this in a live debate?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DARLINE GRAHAM (R-SC): I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not, on national security, that -- I'm not that informed on national security. So --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Plus, Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed now trying to distance himself from Hasan Piker. Was it worth the political risk to pal around with him in the first place?
And A.I. threatens to disrupt Texas politics. Could the rural revolt over data centers turn parts of the Lone Star State blue?
And Trump says the economy is booming, but personal bankruptcies are soaring. What does that say about affordability in America?
Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Here is where we start today: the runoff in South Carolina.
Voters are set to choose between Darline Graham, the political newcomer who is the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham; and Ralph Norman, the ultra-conservative congressman who backed President Trump's agenda but did not earn his endorsement.
President Trump is all-in on Graham. His MAGA PAC has spent more than $827,000 to support her, despite her not having very much political experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: I know some people have said I'm not a politician. Guilty as charged. I am not a politician. But you know who else wasn't a politician? President Trump was not a politician, and he's done a doggone good job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: After a string of losses for candidates the president has backed, is risking political clout on a rookie the right move?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They say that Trump does great when he's on the ballot, but when he's not on the ballot, his people don't come, and they don't vote. So, what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot. Just come and vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Today in the group chat, Sara Fischer, CNN senior media analyst and senior media reporter at Axios; Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns; and Jesse Arm, vice president at the Manhattan Institute and a pollster.
So, let me turn to my politicos first. In the past, it wasn't unusual for, if a lawmaker to pass away for his partner, his wife, usually, to somehow end up in that seat. I think modern-day voters haven't really seen some version of this before.
Is that enough to carry her?
CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It is. And normally, they win. I was saying offset that I was the last one to beat a widow of a congressman who had died. And that was in 1998. That's how long ago that was.
CORNISH: You mean, like on a campaign you were working on?
ROCHA: Absolutely. I was working to replace her. And we were running against the widow, who the widows never lose. And so, this is almost the same thing with the sister.
The thing to pay attention to in this race today, though, is we have been on -- the Republicans have been on Donald Trump to start spending his money on Republicans in the general election. He's got $350 million that he is sitting on that he can spend wherever he wants to defend his --
CORNISH: Yes, so 800,000 is actually not that much, given what he's sitting on.
ROCHA: Not that much. That's right.
So, everybody's like, when's he going to start spending? Well, he started spending a little bit here.
And the next thing I'll say, and turn it over to Jesse, is that also, we should remember that Lindsey Graham is not super-duper popular in South Carolina. Still very popular. But just in the last election, in the primary, 40 percent of the Republican primary in South Carolina voted for somebody else, of the folks that voted.
And I think that's the key here. It's going to be a really small electorate in this race.
CORNISH: Yes. Meanwhile, poor Ralph Norman, Republican in South Carolina, who's been running for a minute.
ROCHA: He's done more than kiss the ring. Let me be clear.
CORNISH: He has done more. And people have said, Hey, are you bummed you didn't get the endorsement? Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RALPH NORMAN (R), SOUTH CAROLINA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I would have loved the president's endorsement. Didn't get it, and that's fine.
It's a head scratcher, because I've supported him. And I will continue to support him. I -- my race is not against other Republicans. It's against the socialist agenda that I will fight against every day I'm in the Senate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE ARM, POLLSTER/VICE PRESIDENT, MANHATTAN INSTITUTE: Well, look, Ralph Norman didn't endorse the president in 2024. He endorsed Nikki Haley.
So, there is this weird constellation here of people who have run against President Trump. Mark Sanford, who ran for this seat at one point, Nikki Haley, as well.
[06:05:05]
And also, the kind of a Turning Point Action crowd has -- has endorsed Ralph Norman in this race.
CORNISH: Really?
ARM: Yes, yes. So, there's this weird constellation of both the people who are sort of, maybe aggressive about moving past Trump, wanting to go into the J.D. Vance era of GOP politics.
And also, the people who were Trump-skeptical at various different points throughout his presidency, who are aligning behind Norman.
But I've got to say, you know, you had some clips up from that debate, where Darline Graham kind of botched on one question related to Taiwan.
CORNISH: She wasn't able to answer the question.
ARM: Norman's answer wasn't a whole lot better, if we're all being frank.
And I think that, at some level, this is about the fact that Donald Trump thinks, you want to be a U.S. senator? Vote the way I tell you to vote. I don't want you to give long speeches and articulate a new agenda for the GOP. That's my job. I'll handle it in the White House.
In many ways, I take some issue with the notion that Lindsey Graham wasn't a popular figure in South Carolina. He faced a lot of opposition in his primary.
CORNISH: Can I jump in --
ARM: Sure.
CORNISH: -- on the point you just said.
ARM: And won.
CORNISH: That was fascinating. The idea that he doesn't want you to make long speeches and do a bunch of stuff as a senator.
And I think that's what voters know, right? They look at senators, and they say, well, what do you do anyway, but vote the way you're told?
SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. I mean, especially right now with Congress. Donald Trump just gave a really interesting interview with Punchbowl News, where he basically said, I'm the agenda setter here, and I expect everybody to fall in line.
One thing I'm watching for in South Carolina, Donald Trump isn't bashing Norman. Like, he's trying to hedge here.
CORNISH: Yes.
FISCHER: In case Darline Graham doesn't take the nomination, he doesn't want to be in a position where he has bashed the person that he now needs to win in the general.
CORNISH: Right.
FISCHER: And to cost him, potentially, the House [SIC].
So, he's trying to do this delicate dance of endorsing Darline Graham but not totally going out of his way to bash Norman. And that's different.
I remember when Trump put his weight behind Ken Paxton --
CORNISH: Yes, in Texas.
FISCHER: -- in Texas. He wasn't bashing John Cornyn, but it was a much stronger endorsement.
CORNISH: And the relationship here is personal. I mean, he liked Lindsey Graham. I think him being kind of kind to the family makes sense. FISCHER: He still is in a situation where, from a messaging
perspective, the Iran War is tenuous. And so, to have somebody in his corner who backed the war, who was sort of like --
CORNISH: Yes.
FISCHER: -- more of a hawk, that really matters. And I think that's the proxy that he sees in Darline Graham.
CORNISH: OK. We're going to talk more about what's going on at the White House.
Coming up on CNN, she's not a cabinet secretary or chief of staff, but Natalie Harp has extraordinary access to the president. So, is she one of the most powerful people in the White House?
But first, Abdul El-Sayed distancing himself from streamer Hasan Piker. Can the Michigan Senate candidate really change their relationship once the Internet has receipts?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:12:13]
CORNISH: OK. In Michigan, the Democratic Senate candidate, Abdul El- Sayed, is putting some distance between himself and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, the left-wing influencer he has appeared with several times on the campaign trail.
Now, Piker recently made some remarks suggesting American Jews supporting Israel would make antisemitism worse.
El-Sayed's opponent, Mike Rogers, condemned the comments and called Piker El-Sayed's running mate.
Now, El-Sayed released a statement saying in part, quote, "Nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople. And while politicians and pundits try to make this race about a Twitch streamer, we're going to be talking about gas, groceries, good schools, and health care."
The group chat is back. Before we begin, let me just play for you what Hasan Piker actually said on his Twitch stream last week so you can understand why this is kicking up a fresh furor. Here we go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HASAN PIKER, TWITCH STRAMER: If Jews in America keep putting this -- this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually, someone is going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: All right. So, talk about the backlash to him and the role of these outside voices in campaigns, because I think ever since the Joe Rogan backing of Trump, all I've heard is we need a Rogan for the left, from the left. And now they get something like it, and it's not working out so great.
FISCHER: Well, when you think about a surrogate, which is a voice that you're using from the outside to promote your campaign, you typically want it to be somebody who shares your values.
And so, I think the challenge here with Piker, and why El-Sayed is trying to distance himself, is because he's clearly saying, We don't have shared values. This is not the person that should be the surrogate for me.
I also want to note that, when it comes to Twitch, the way that you engage an audience, the way that you're successful is by being intense.
CORNISH: Yes.
FISCHER: Is by playing into the reward system of your audience in real time.
CORNISH: Because you're speaking for a really long time.
FISCHER: Yes.
CORNISH: And they are responding over time.
FISCHER: And the way that the platform works, so you can obviously pay to subscribe to somebody's channel. You can reward someone in real time for what they're saying, almost like giving kudos.
It's going to reward you to double down on the things you say, or it's going to incentivize you to double down on the things you say that your audience in real time says they like.
CORNISH: Right. They're going to come to your defense, your stance.
FISCHER: Yes. That's why Twitch streamers tend to be -- I don't want to say polarizing -- but they tend to be very intense and compassionate [SIC] about what they're saying and their views.
When you're trying to run --
ARM: You don't want to say "polarizing"?
FISCHER: Well, not every Twitch streamer is that. There's like --
ARM: I'm sorry. I said we're -- I think this frame is incredibly charitable.
CORNISH: Do it.
ARM: At the front end there, you were -- or we were -- or the show was suggesting that Piker's comments were essentially just that antisemitism is rising, because Jews are Zionistic.
CORNISH: To be clear, we played the comment so that you can characterize it yourself, Jesse.
ARM: Well, the -- right, but --
[06:15:03]
CORNISH: I did not characterize it.
ARM: OK. So, here's -- so here's what the comment --
CORNISH: Just to be clear.
ARM: Well, there was. You did characterize it at the front, anonymously.
CORNISH: I said, Hey, here's the clip. So now, you have it in your hand. Go ahead.
ARM: Well, before that, you said that it was about pro-Israel sentiment within the Jewish community is making antisemitism rise.
CORNISH: It doesn't say that, Jesse.
ARM: In reality, though, Piker said that's --
CORNISH: If you're going to come on the show, I need you to listen. I really need you to listen and respond to the things I say, because I --
ARM: I understand.
CORNISH: -- we spend a lot of time writing this stuff, and I didn't use any of the words you just said.
ARM: You didn't use any of the words I just said?
CORNISH: And I want to be very clear. Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed putting some distance between himself and Hasan Piker. OK?
ARM: OK. So, the distance he put between himself and --
CORNISH: Piker recently made remarks suggesting -- Piker recently made remarks suggesting American Jews supporting Israel will make antisemitism worse.
ARM: That's what you said.
CORNISH: And then we played the clip.
ARM: OK, so --
CORNISH: Do not put words in my mouth.
ARM: I didn't put words in your mouth.
CORNISH: I will tell you right now. It's -- it's something that really bothers me, because I spend a lot of time --
ARM: But what --
CORNISH: -- trying to be careful with the audience.
ARM: What did I say that was wrong?
CORNISH: So, if you want to tell me what you hear in what Piker said, let's do it. But please do not put words in my mouth.
ARM: OK. What did -- all right, we're moving on.
Hasan Piker said that Jews singularly focused on Israel is what is making them more upset. That suggests that they don't care about the United States. That's a major problem.
Also, this comment that El-Sayed is putting distance between himself and Piker, I don't think is accurate, because the statement that went out supposedly doing that made no mention of Hasan Piker by name.
Clearly, El-Sayed is not interested in condemning his campaign's top surrogate throughout this cycle, because they're simpatico. And I think that's going to be a major problem if you're trotting out the guy who says, America deserved 9/11.
CORNISH: So, the person who agrees with you, Hakeem Jeffries, said, "The malicious claim that American Jews are inciting violence against themselves is dangerous and antisemitic."
So, then Piker responded to him. This was all on social media. Piker said, "Look, this argument is about false conflation between Zionism and Judaism."
I found it interesting that you have the Democratic House leader feeling like he has to step in here.
ROCHA: Because it's --
CORNISH: Because it's not even the -- it's a Senate race. Right?
ROCHA: Right.
CORNISH: So, what is he doing here?
ROCHA: First of all, surrogate, as Sara said, is -- is a -- is a word that we use in campaigns for somebody who's paid or allied. Friends, not friends; campaign with; campaign or not.
He came out with a statement that said, I speak for this campaign, and my official statesman -- spokesman speak for this campaign. But those --
CORNISH: But that doesn't work if you spent all this time on stage with the guy.
ROCHA: Absolutely, absolutely. ARM: Would you say they're allied?
ROCHA: Paid. Maybe allied is how you define allied.
ARM: He brought him to campaign events.
ROCHA: Yes.
ARM: And brought him out on stage and giving speeches, is what I just said.
ROCHA: Yes. I brought -- I brought girlfriends to campaign events. It don't mean that they speak for my campaign. You can bring anybody you want to.
ARM: But if you put them on stage and have them speak at the campaign rally, he's speaking for your campaign. I'd assume your girlfriends weren't doing that.
CORNISH: No, they weren't. But anyway, regardless, I think that what he needed to do is -- and on top of all of this, the voters of Michigan still like him.
He's still at almost 70 percent in Kalshi odds. And in everything that's come out after the primary, win, lose, or draw. Whether you love him or hate him, he's winning, because he's talking about gas and groceries, and he's not talking about some --
ARM: He's not winning according to most polls, and the voters of Michigan don't draw Kalshi odds.
CORNISH: So, he was -- he was on FOX News last night with Jesse Watters. Strangely, this did not come up. But here is what El-Sayed had to say about how he's characterized in general.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EL-SAYED: If the only answer that Mike Rogers and Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have to this economy is to point to me and say, there are scary words associated with him, I'm just going to tell you those scary words are not raising gas prices or keeping you from seeing your doctor.
JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes.
EL-SAYED: I'm interested in getting money out of politics, putting money in your pocket, passing Medicare-for-all. And I think that actually will solve problems in Michigan.
WATTERS: Yes, I'm not scared of you, Abdul.
EL-SAYED: Now, if you think running against name or --
WATTERS: I just think you're a little misguided.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CORNISH: Felt like soft treatment. That's not coming up. And I don't
know. They started joking about circumcision at one point and the NFL. I was like, what's happening here?
FISCHER: I definitely felt that there was, like, unusual chemistry almost in this interview. I thought it was so notable from both ends -- that Jesse Watters had him on, that El-Sayed was willing to join. It clearly suggests that he's willing to do whatever it takes to reach as many voters as he possibly can.
But also, I think when you think about the position that he's in, Michigan is such an interesting state, especially as it comes to this issue around Jews. And FOX is such an interesting network for him to position himself and try to go and -- and reach out to people.
Like, he's not trying to do this conversation just on MSNOW. Like that, to me, is significant and important.
CORNISH: OK, you guys.
After the break this morning, millions of Americans rely on mail-in ballots. With weeks to go before the midterms, did the Supreme Court just help President Trump make it harder to vote?
Plus, you've got the president touting a strong economy. We are going to talk about the half a million folks who have filed for bankruptcy last year and see whether there's a disconnect.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:24:09]
CORNISH: So, President Trump says that the economy is booming, but with bills piling up, more people are waving the white flag. They're hitting legal -- legal reset on their finances.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Filed for bankruptcy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I filed for bankruptcy in September of 2025.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was $67,000 in credit card debt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just file that bankruptcy. Just file -- wish we could do it all the time. File bankruptcy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt so guilty and disgusting doing that. But I want to tell you something. I have zero regrets, because the calls, the letters stopped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, so the number of personal bankruptcy filings climbed three years in a row. More than half a million Americans filed for bankruptcy in 2025. So, joining me now is Jay Zagorsky. He's a professor at Boston
University's Questrom School of Business. And he's also the author of a book called "The Power of Cash: Why Using Paper Money is Good for You and Society."
[06:25:01] So first, I want to talk about that number: 549,0000-plus bankruptcy filings in 2025. So, then I thought, let's look at it by year. And I am seeing this nudge up post-pandemic.
So, what is it about the last few years that's changed for people?
JAY ZAGORSKY, PROFESSOR, BOSTON UNIVERSITY'S QUESTROM SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: What's been happening over the last few years is that disposable income, how much money we're getting in, has been relatively flat for the last few years after adjusting for inflation.
But the price of things like gas, food have been going up, as well as for many people who are in bankruptcy credit card. Credit card interest rates about four years ago were just 14 percent. Today, the average credit card interest rate is 21 percent, Audie.
CORNISH: Yikes. I know that people kind of look at bankruptcy as something that is -- you know, it's self-inflicted. You got the debt yourself. This is your problem.
And I notice that there are some Chapter 13 bankruptcies that are up. Chapter 7 bankruptcies that are up. And then, I also notice what states they're in. It's clustered in the South.
When you look at all these different data points, do you have a picture? Is there something that we aren't seeing?
ZAGORSKY: I don't think so. I think that credit card, and the banking industry and finance industry in general, has done a very good job of selling people on this idea that just use electronic means, and you'll be rewarded. You'll get free trips. You'll get money back.
You know, the way to riches, the way the advertisements go, is that the more you spend, the richer you become.
But I think in common sense, that just doesn't make any sense. There's no way you're going to become rich by spending your way and getting 2 or 3 percent cash back.
CORNISH: I often look at bankruptcy filings and credit card delinquencies as sort of canary in the coal mine for any given economy.
And, you know, we're coming off of super-high gas prices and oil prices being way up. And the president did warn, right, when he had the memorandum of -- with Iran that he was concerned about recession.
Are we seeing the glimmers of something, of people who are finally at the point with this economy that they can't keep up? ZAGORSKY: This is the problem. Bankruptcies over the last two years
have risen by 25 percent. We have 25 percent more bankruptcies than we did two years ago.
And I think this is suggesting, at least for people who are financially fragile, that the economy is just not working for them anymore.
For people who are not financially fragile, I think the economy is doing quite well.
But we are seeing a lot of people, as you mentioned, geographically. We're also seeing more bankruptcies among people who are, particularly, divorced and people who are not particularly financially savvy.
CORNISH: OK, that's Jay Zagorsky. You can check out his book. It's called "The Power of Cash." It is out now.
And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, Democrats have been trying to turn Texas blue forever. Could data centers finally give them the opening to win more voters?
And later on CNN, the firefights. Finally gaining ground on the massive Hawk Fire in Nevada. Tens of thousands of people still cannot return home. An update on the conditions in the next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
