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Trump is Betting on His Record: Will it Save the GOP?; Meta Agrees to Time Limits for Teens on Instagram & Facebook; Fired General Was Advised to Drop Kid Rock Probe. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 27, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:10]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Today in the group chat, President Trump reportedly plans to spend MAGA campaign money on ads about himself. Do Republicans trying to win midterm races even want that?

Plus, Meta's massive court deal promises two-hour limits for teens on Instagram. The problem is what about TikTok or YouTube?

And did Pete Hegseth want a top general to bend the rules for a rich rock star? New questions about discipline and the warrior ethos at the Pentagon.

And the J.D. Vance text that says, quote, "Groceries cost what they cost." What happened to the guy who wrote "Hillbilly Elegy"?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Like, my life is -- dude. Totally transformed. I don't go to the grocery store anymore. People go to the grocery store for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right. Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Here's where we start. Donald Trump bets on himself.

The president reportedly plans to spend that massive MAGA PAC war chest -- we're talking some $400 million at last count -- on midterm ads that tout his own record. This is according to "The Atlantic."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSIE WILES, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Typically, you -- in the midterms, it's not about who's sitting at the White House. It's -- you localize the election. And you -- and you keep the federal officials out of it. We're actually going to turn that on its head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right. So, is this a risky move? I want to show you some approval ratings. They are down and more states now toss-ups. So, will this actually help Republican candidates on the ballot? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: So, what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot. Just come and vote. It's so important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right. Today in the group chat, we've got Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst and national political correspondent at Axios; Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications director; and Meghan Hays, former Biden White House director of message planning.

So, I'm going to come to you guys for message, because it was interesting to hear Wiles there just lay this out. But first, usually, for political types, we're saying, Oh, this is going to be a referendum on the president.

And I feel like every Trump election is a referendum on Trump, weirdly. What would be different in these midterms?

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, in this case, Trump would be leaning into that. Whereas in 2018, you know, he sort of let Republicans distance themselves if they really wanted to.

And that's basically the bet. Like, the election is a referendum on Trump anyway. So, I'm going to lean in and try to get my message out as much as possible, and also maybe try to excite those low-propensity voters that will turn out when he's on the ballot but didn't turn out in the 2018 midterms.

Now, the risk is it's so different than the conventional strategy, as Susie Wiles laid out there, because, I mean, Meghan Hays will remember in 2022, the Biden administration let any Democrats distance themselves if it meant they could win their race. And they actually had a better than expected midterm.

Now, this is, like, basically a high-risk, high reward strategy.

CORNISH: OK. He has said -- he posted this on Truth Social: "I don't think the GOP fully grasp how badly they are 'F'-ing up right now. I'm very worried the GOP is sleepwalking towards a midterm reckoning they don't see coming."

And then, in an interview with Punchbowl News, he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The question is, will they vote? Because a lot of them are very angry at Republicans, to be honest with you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is that?

TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, they're angry at Republicans, but they're not angry at me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's an interesting thing about why, though?

TRUMP: They're not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: The level of delusion here is off the charts. But he should go ahead and spend all of his money that -- all the $408 million that he has on ads for himself, because that will only help Democrats.

This is an anti-incumbency election. So, that also is going to impact some Democrats.

CORNISH: Meaning any incumbent?

HAYS: Any incumbent. But the fact that the economy is so bad, we are at a war that nobody wants to be in, and his approval rating is so low, only ads that he runs against [SIC] himself are going to help Democrats.

CORNISH: I don't want people to think you're just saying this. So, Mike, before you speak, I just. No, no, I want to make sure there's some facts here.

So, we went to look at the approval rating --

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I guess we're factual.

HAYS: I know.

CORNISH: -- on key votes. OK?

Prices and inflation, net approval down 48 percent. Sorry, I'm not Harry Enten. So, you guys are going to have to bear with me.

[06:05:04]

Crime and public safety, negative 13 percent. Border security, negative 5. I'm surprised that's even on there.

Foreign policy, negative 27. Immigration -- immigration, negative 15. Jobs and the economy, negative 30.

Is he doing this because they have nothing for him to campaign on?

DUBKE: No. Look, I think two things can be true at the same time.

One, this is an anti-incumbency year. both on the right and the left. I couldn't agree with you more.

On the other side, and to be intellectually consistent here, I have been saying that it is -- it is amazing, when you look at '16, '20 and '24 and compare it to '18, '22, and now we have coming now to 2026.

To Alex's point, when Republicans are on the ballot without Donald Trump, there is an underperformance --

CORNISH: yes.

DUBKE: -- of low-propensity donors. Now --

CORNISH: Donors or voters?

DUBKE: I'm sorry.

CORNISH: OK.

DUBKE: I'm sorry, voters. I apologize.

CORNISH: And for people at home, low-propensity --

DUBKE: Money is always on the mind.

CORNISH: No, no. For low-propensity means those of you --

HAYS: Typical Republican.

DUBKE: I'm a typical Republican.

CORNISH: -- those of you who, instead of swinging from Democrat to Republican, you swing from the couch or actually going --

DUBKE: Exactly.

CORNISH: -- to put in your ballot.

DUBKE: Exactly.

CORNISH: This is the race. Always trying to get those people to participate.

DUBKE: Right. And right now, we've got a problem. If we have seen in special election after special election, Democrats turn out at levels that are at presidential rates.

CORNISH: Yes.

DUBKE: We have seen Republicans stay home. How do we fix that? If Donald Trump is on the ballot, that's how it gets fixed.

And I guess what the White House is banking on is, if we can't have Donald Trump's name on the ballot, the best thing we can do is have him in your living room or on your phone, or on your computer.

CORNISH: What if you're a fundraiser for -- at a state like a Senate candidate, like, say, Texas. Ken Paxton.

THOMPSON: Or Michigan.

CORNISH: Yes, and you're just like, Yo, can I have some of that money?

DUBKE: Very different -- very different -- CORNISH: Like, why is that money not doing what everyone thought it would do, which is, like, actually helping them on the lower level? Because --

HAYS: Because Trump doesn't care about anybody but himself.

CORNISH: All right. But all of a sudden, Texas is within reach.

HAYS: I mean, that's, like so clear, over and over again.

DUBKE: Or you make the argument that the party, I think, is going to try to make, is that when Donald Trump is on the ballot, these voters, who generally aren't out there, will come out.

HAYS: But I don't know that that -- that will counteract people who feel like they don't have any money in their pocket. I don't -- I just think that there's -- we are grasping on something here that, if you don't feel like you can pay for your gas, and your groceries --

CORNISH: Yes.

HAYS: -- and you have no one to blame, you are probably going to stay home. Because you didn't think Democrats could help you. And now, Republicans aren't helping you.

DUBKE: Well, we --

HAYS: So, you're for sure not going to turn out because Donald Trump has an ad.

CORNISH: Can I give an example of something interesting in terms of lawmakers, and Trump, and this White House responding to the concerns of people.

So, right now, we keep reporting on, like, flock cameras and A.I. data centers, and it's turned into a real movement. So, I want to give you an example.

You've got this donor that didn't want to spend money on Ken Paxton, according to "Politico," talking about how they just, you know -- they didn't feel like they needed to directly do that.

And then here's a Texas lifetime Republican voter about why he is leaning towards a Democrat. Because this answer surprised me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM WEEKS, LIFETIME REPUBLICAN VOTING FOR DEMOCRATS: We've been fighting this for three years. And we realized that the Republican Party has given us nothing more than the middle finger.

I have been a staunch Republican my entire life. I'm done. I would vote for the devil before I voted for Governor Abbott.

I've been listening to Talarico. I've been listening to, for the first time in my life, a lot of Democrats. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: This is about data centers.

THOMPSON: Well, I would say the data center thing goes well beyond Texas. In Texas, you also have a toxic candidate.

CORNISH: Of course. I'm just saying like -- and you actually had to have the point where Abbott had to say, I'm going to do a temporary moratorium.

THOMPSON: Oh, yes. He --

HAYS: Well, he took $20 million from data centers. So, no wonder why he's tied with Gina Hinojosa. Like --

CORNISH: Do people feel like they are heard from Republicans or heard from the party in general, which is when they get angry at incumbents, on a variety of issues?

THOMPSON: Well, I mean, this is why you're seeing every single member of, you know, all the people on both sides of the aisle that were touting data centers as, like, local investments just two years ago are now running, you know, away from them.

You know, Bernie's moratorium, which, you know, got a lot of scorn just a year ago when he introduced a moratorium on data centers. You know, now you're having Republicans openly, you know, in some cases, maybe too late politically --

CORNISH: Yes.

THOMPSON: -- embrace, you know, a month-long moratorium or more.

CORNISH: Well, it's going to be interesting to see what the Trump ads look like, because it seems like you have a lot of voters waving their hands, being like, Hey, hey, hey, I'm going through bankruptcy. Hey, hey, hey, I don't like this thing in my backyard. Hey, hey, hey, I don't like the economy.

DUBKE: Well, I think that -- I think we're going to know what they're going to be about, because there's actually some -- to -- to that voter. And I didn't realize that he was talking about data centers there.

I was -- I was going to react to say, there's a lot of things that Republicans have brought to the table. We have historic tax cuts. We have no tax taxes on tips. Over time. We have the Trump accounts for anybody having a child. I mean, that -- that $1,000 is actually --

CORNISH: Yes.

DUBKE: -- over compound interest is a real big darn deal.

CORNISH: Well, I'm going to put up those --

DUBKE: I was going to say "damn," but I can't do that in the morning.

CORNISH: Actually, people have been saying wild stuff this week.

DUBKE: And Trump -- and TrumpRx.

CORNISH: Yes.

[06:10:03]

DUBKE: So, I mean, we've got lower prices. They don't talk about it.

And so, if I was going to say anything, if you're going to put the president out there, have him talk about what this this administration has actually accomplished.

CORNISH: Yes.

DUBKE: I would love that.

CORNISH: Well, I appreciate that, because we showed all those numbers with negative net approval. So, there's a lot of work that 400 million has to do.

Coming up, we're going to talk about how the president talks about affordability, claiming that it's basically an attack line from Democrats.

Then there was this text from J.D. Vance about the cost of groceries. And like the Internet is saying, that's not helping.

And Meta just agreed to put new limits on how kids and teens use Instagram. So, are all the other platforms going to follow suit?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:22]

CORNISH: So, Meta is going to have to pay a massive settlement of $18 billion that could radically change the way it does business. So, will it end social media addiction?

There was a trial going on which claims that the company knew their products harm children, but didn't do enough to prevent it.

And Meta doesn't admit to any wrongdoing here, but it is agreeing to a host of changes for teen users. So, here are some examples.

They're going to set daily time limits. They're going to implement this like default night mode and a school mode so that there won't be as many notifications during those hours; and changes to how the algorithm works; and maybe even disabling likes and reactions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF JACKSON, NORTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Today we are announcing the largest big tech settlement in American history. Litigation would mean that we were still many years away from bringing any of these child safety upgrades to these platforms. It would risk losing another generation, and that's a risk we cannot take.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now, Lauren Feiner, senior policy reporter at "The Verge." Welcome back.

LAUREN FEINER, SENIOR POLICY REPORTER, "THE VERGE": Thanks for having me.

CORNISH: So, he said it would risk more of this risk more of that. What was the risk to both sides? Like, was the state afraid they were going to lose? Was Meta afraid that it couldn't survive a jury?

FEINER: Yes, I think for the states it was that they could have lost and they also could have won and then lost on appeal, or had much of the verdict and the resolutions that they come to overturned and not actually instated, especially because of the potential free-speech implications of some of the resolutions.

For Meta, I think the risk was that they lost way more money; that they were made to take on more changes that they didn't actually want to make; and just the uncertainty hanging over their heads over this.

CORNISH: All right. Let's talk about some of those changes. There was actually one of these sort of former employee whistleblowers who was on air last night. And here's what he had to say in terms of thinking about those limits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARTURO BEJAR, FORMER META EMPLOYEE, WHISTLEBLOWER: A good way to think about this is, while there is goodness in those limits, it's the equivalent of telling kids they can smoke cigarettes for two hours a day. Because the content is still harmful, the way it's delivered, the way the addictive features work. All that doesn't change in the settlement.

And so, they get to have the same harm, less time a day. And until they address the connections with strangers, the things that we know are what's behind the harm in their product design, teens are not going to be that much safer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: How do people think of the limits that have been suggested? Because they've been putting so many new little rules and guardrails.

FEINER: yes.

CORNISH: But this is different, right? It requires more parental involvement.

FEINER: This is definitely -- definitely more than we've seen in the past. You know, I think it remains to be seen how these get implemented: if

they're really as robust as they might seem on paper; and if kids can get around them, which is really the key thing.

But I think these are definitely big changes. You know, seeing a usage limit. You know, some of these changes can be overturned by parents. But having the defaults, I think, is meaningful to some extent.

CORNISH: Instead of having to opt in.

FEINER: Yes.

CORNISH: Yes. OK. So, the other thing is when I actually looked at what teens use -- Pew research did -- and Facebook's down pretty low. It's 31 percent, right? YouTube is higher. TikTok is higher.

And I think Meta has said, Look, we shouldn't be the only ones who have to do all this. And if the other guys don't do this stuff, we're going to go back to business.

So, will this litigation and the pending Meta lawsuits -- I'm going to show some -- scare others in the industry? Or does everyone think this is Mark Zuckerberg's problem?

FEINER: It very well might. I mean, an interesting thing about this settlement was that they actually named these companies, these other companies in the settlement.

You know, settlement is only between the parties. They can't make Meta -- I mean, YouTube and TikTok do anything.

CORNISH: Yes.

FEINER: But they're saying, actually, $5 billion of what Meta said it would pay is contingent on other industry players getting on board. So --

CORNISH: Can the state force those others? Or now, that's the next question?

FEINER: They can't force them. But that's the next question. And Meta is kind of launching this public campaign to get the rest of the industry on board, which of course is helpful for them.

Because if they're imposing two-hour usage limits on their own products, it's helpful if others in the industry do that, too, so that teens don't just flee to those apps when they get off Instagram.

CORNISH: Yes. Especially TikTok, which has new ownership, right, that the White House lobbied for.

FEINER: Yes.

CORNISH: It's like in the White House just say, hey, take a look at this. Now is the time.

OK. We're going to have you back, because I'm going to be interested if any of this happens.

And then after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, there are two Republicans questioning the use of flock cameras. Of course, police use these cameras to solve crimes. So, we're going to ask whether this is going back on the old law-and-order themes of the GOP.

[06:20:09]

Plus, you've got Secretary Hegseth, who wants to restore this sort of warrior vibe at the White House, at the Pentagon. But does bending the rules for Kid Rock fit the bill?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CORNISH: So, days before America's top Army general was fired, he was reportedly advised to stop an investigation into the Army flyby that happened near Kid Rock's home back in March. That's according to a "Washington Post" report.

It says that General Randy George was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth without explanation.

Despite orders to back off the Kid Rock incident, sources told "The Post" that General George felt it was important to follow through.

[06:25:02]

So, we're going to talk about whether or not this bending of the rules became a problem for this general with the group chat. I wanted to talk about this, because over the weekend I was reading this "TIME" story that said, "Hegseth's purge of top generals leaves the Army rudderless."

And it is pointing to the fact that, of course, we are in multiple missions, running out of specific supplies, and that he -- it's a struggle, because you're missing a tier of generals.

THOMPSON: Yes, well, and you're losing all the institutional memory that comes along with them.

CORNISH: Yes.

THOMPSON: And the fact that, in some cases, from all the reporting, it appears that dissent is not always welcome, let alone tolerated in Pete -- Secretary.

CORNISH: Say that again.

THOMPSON: Dissent is not always tolerated in Pete -- Pete Hegseth's Department of Defense; that he really want -- that he bristles when people push back, I think, is a potentially troubling -- you know, troubling thing to happen at any time, let alone a time of war.

CORNISH: Yes. But hard to balance, because it's by nature, a hierarchy. I mean, isn't that -- THOMPSON: Well, that -- well, that is true, but it is a civilian on

top of the hierarchy. And if you are then pushing, you know -- at the end of the day, like, some of those top generals, they're also there to advise.

CORNISH: Right. I'm going to show on screen while you guys are talking some of the roles these folks had. Chief of staff. We mentioned George, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. The chief of naval operations, head of Army's transformation and training command.

We're not even showing the other tier of people who are coming up in the ranks.

Back in March, the president was actually asked about this Kid Rock flyby, just because I think people were like, hey, that's weird. What's going on with it? And here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a viral video this week. I don't know if you saw the Army helicopters hovering near Kid Rock's house in Nashville. Did you see that?

TRUMP: I didn't see it, no. But I'm sure they had a good time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, so the Army just said the crews of these helicopters have been suspended. What do you think of that?

TRUMP: Well, it depends. Are they -- well, they probably shouldn't have been doing it. Yes. You're not supposed to be playing games. Right?

But I'd take a look at it. They like Kid Rock. I like Kid Rock. Maybe they were trying to defend him. I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: That little sentence: "The crews of the helicopters have been suspended." It sounds like there was more going on in the background there, in terms of an investigation, than we all realized.

DUBKE: Oh, no. I thought at the time that they were looking into this. And then they made a political decision that the video was more important for recruitment and other things than to suspend these -- these individuals. And that some of this -- some of this has been --

CORNISH: So, George was pushing too hard?

DUBKE: Well, no. I -- look, I'm going to -- I'm going to take a step back here.

CORNISH: Yes.

DUBKE: I think the whole -- tying this into Kid Rock is the wrong way to look at it. I'm going to go back to Alex's point, which is really the chilling of frank and honest speech within the Pentagon. We want that.

I think the downside of what we've seen here, and the real harm that Hegseth would be bringing with this, is chilling of that speech.

If you are a junior general who is rising up through the ranks, and you see everyone that's above you get tossed, because they had the audacity of telling civilian leadership something they didn't want to hear, what is that going to do to you? That is going to make you probably shut your mouth a little bit more and not give the honest assessment that we need, that the civilian leadership needs, that the administration needs to hear.

That is what's worrying to me.

Dan Driscoll on the way out. That's a civilian leader. If Driscoll is out -- and the reports are that he and Hegseth butt heads. And he may, you know, the scuttlebutt in Washington --

CORNISH: Yes.

DUBKE: -- was he was the obvious choice to replace Hegseth. I'm sure Hegseth is purging him.

These are the things that disturb me, because I want civilian leadership over an honest military that will tell the civilian leadership things they don't want to hear. They don't have to do it, but they should hear it.

HAYS: There is also something in that "New York Times" article that was basically saying, our lack of unpreparedness now in the firing of these generals is going to cost lives later down the line. And I firmly believe that.

These generals have so much institutional knowledge. They have been in wars. They have been on -- on the battlefield, and it doesn't seem to matter.

And it just is a place -- we're putting people's lives in danger. We're -- we are fighting a war that we should not be in. We had a boat out for 200 and something days before it saw port and we -- they didn't even do anything until people -- there were news reports that people were jumping overboard.

CORNISH: Yes.

HAYS: That, to me, shows a lack of leadership. And if we are saying that you are not listening to your generals who have been there and done this for years, and this is what we're having, that is a problem, long-term, for our military and our preparedness.

CORNISH: OK. Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, three Secret Service officials are now on leave after a misconduct investigation. And a former Secret Service agent joins us with insight about that investigation.

Later, did you know closing arguments are set to begin today in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial? So, at seven, the questions the jury now have to face about this mother who says she was in the grip of psychosis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]