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Iowa Cost of Living Tops List of Important Voter Topics; Michigan Senate Candidate Breaks with Trump; El-Sayed Dares Trump to Visit Michigan; Rubio's Speech in Greece. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired October 08, 2026 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:33:30]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: So, this just in. New CNN polling shows a tight race for a Senate seat in Iowa. No clear leader, but Republican Ashley Hinson holds a narrow two-point advantage over Democratic nominee Josh Turek.
But one issue is clearly dominating the minds of voters. When likely voters in the state were asked which topic was the most important, the economy and the cost of living topped the list. When asked if Trump's policies have increased the cost of living in Iowa, voters across the political spectrum, including half of Republicans, blame him.
So, in a debate last night between the two candidates, Turek was eager to remind voters who else was to blame.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH TUREK (D), IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: Ashley Hinson has voted five times in favor of continuing these chaotic tariffs, and seven times in favor of this war in Iran. Both have hurt Iowa, I believe, more than any other state.
When I'm out there with farmers, and especially at harvest time, talking about an all-time high of diesel, this is because of this war in Iran and a war that Ashley Hinson has voted in favor of seven times. It is hurting Iowans, and it's hurting Iowans in a unique way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, joining the group chat is Carrie Dann, managing editor of "The Cook Political Report."
So, just a reminder for people, when it comes to Iowa, where they rank in national farm production, number one in eggs, number one in pork, number one in corn, number two in soybeans, both vulnerable to counter terrorism. China, for example.
[06:35:02]
But same thing, tops in -- top four in cattle. And then even -- we're throwing turkeys in there just to complete the screen grab. So, it means that these policies, like the tariff war or like diesel prices, this is the industry that's going to feel it the most. Do they specifically blame Trump?
CARRIE DANN, MANAGING EDITOR, "THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT": I think you are seeing voters, especially in the Midwest and especially in some of these agriculture -- very heavily agricultural states, drawing a line directly between particularly the Iran War and the cost of not only fuel, but also fertilizer, which is a major issue in some of these states.
CORNISH: Right.
DANN: I think Iowa might be the most fascinating state in these midterms for very -- very much that reason. This is a unique headache, I think, for Republicans because of the agricultural economy.
I had a Republican tell me recently, this is the worst ag economy that he's seen in 25 years. And I do think that voters are drawing that line.
It is a really fascinating Senate race, though. I think Ashley Hinson, the Republican that you saw in that debate, has been touted as sort of one of the best recruits that Republicans have.
CORNISH: I was about to say, she's a good candidate.
DANN: She's a good communicator.
CORNISH: But is he a good candidate, too? I mean, I definitely believe that Trump and whatever the disapproval is could hurt, but it also helps if you're a pretty good candidate. And when it comes to the Democratic side in Iowa, have they hit on something?
DANN: Well, I think Josh Turek has a great biography, and that's one of the reasons that Democrats in Washington were very eager to recruit him as the -- as the candidate there. He's a former Paralympian. He represented the USA in the Paralympics. He's wheelchair bound. He's just got a very sort of -- a story about personal grit, which Democrats are very eager to highlight.
Republicans' theory of the case here, though, is this is a deeply Republican state. And what they believe is that if they are able to motivate, not only MAGA voters, but also those people who may be undecided, maybe are Republican leaning but are a little bit upset with the president about these costs. They think that if they can motivate those people enough and remind them, oh, by the way, we don't like Dem -- we don't like the Democratic brand, those people will put on their jerseys. They will go and vote in November.
CORNISH: Right. And she still is very connected to Trump on the things that matter. Here they are going back and forth over immigration policy, where you have Hinson defending ICE and Trump and how the deportation policy has played out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOSH TUREK (D), IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: I believe that we need to have safe and secure borders. And I want to ensure that every Iowan and every American has safe and secure borders and safe communities. And I'm willing to work with anyone, including President Trump, on this issue.
REP. ASHLEY HINSON (R-IA) IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: Yes, you trashed the president during the primary, and now you're doing ads saying you're going to work with him. It's a tale of two Tureks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Can I have you jump in here, Meghan, just because that's a good example of when you're in a red state, you can't be the Democrat that's saying abolish ICE, right? Like, it's a different answer. And does that answer that he actually gave even help?
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: Well, to be clear, most Democrats do not think you should abolish ICE. That's a completely different party in the DSA that think that. So, I'm not sure that that's an actual policy that Democrats believe in. And I don't think that saying you're going to work with somebody is a bad thing to do.
Ashley Hinson has voted 100 percent of the time with Donald Trump on these economic policies and not -- done nothing to help stop this war in Iran. And it's deeply impacting the people in this state. And that is what people have a problem with.
The other thing here is, we have a governor's race that is going to be a huge play in this. Rob Sand is polling well above, and he is -- the Democrat candidate for governor in Iowa, and he could pull Josh Turek across the line on this.
CORNISH: So, one plays into the other.
I want to turn to a state like Iowa for -- I'm sorry, Ohio, for a minute. That's where you have a Senate race, I think it's Sherrod Brown and Jon Husted. But we have some polling here that's specifically among independent likely voters. That's why I want to show it. And it's showing a 56 percent lead among those independent voters.
Now, I think there's some aspects of Brown's politics that are maybe playing in here, but what do you see when you look at this race?
DANN: This race is so interesting to me because Sherrod Brown has obviously represented the state for decades. He's -- his name I.D. is sort of 100 percent in the state as the former Democratic senator there.
CORNISH: Yes.
DANN: Jon Husted, who is actually the incumbent, has sort of taken pains to try to paint Sherrod Brown as the incumbent.
CORNISH: As the out -- yes, yes, yes.
DANN: There -- well, as the incumbent there.
CORNISH: As the incumbent. Right.
DANN: They have ads saying, you know, Sherrod Brown has represented the state for 50 years. It's time for change. Jon Husted is the incumbent who's actually representing the state right now.
What I think is also really interesting here is data centers has played -- have played an enormous role specifically in this race. Jon Husted really embraced them. Sherrod Brown staked out a very early position on the populist side against the construction of data centers.
It was interesting to me, recently the president was in Ohio campaigning for Jon Husted and went out of his way to say, data centers are great. And you could sort of see Jon Husted like grimace a little bit, because the race is so much revolved around that.
CORNISH: Yes.
DANN: But Sherrod Brown has a brand that has been consistent throughout. Obviously, it wasn't enough two years ago when he ran. This year he's going to have millions of dollars spent against him.
[06:40:02]
But those kind of numbers track with what we're seeing nationally, especially --
CORNISH: Yes, yes.
DANN: And especially in the Midwest, where these issues are particularly acute.
CORNISH: OK. Well, Carrie, thanks so much for being here. Hope to have you back.
Next on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to look at Michigan. You've got Republican Mike Rogers calling out Trump's tariff war. Also suggesting that he can use his influence with the president to solve it. We're going to talk about whether voters are responding.
And then, remember Jimmy Kimmel, looking for payback. Why he says it's now his turn to call the FCC on Trump.
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CORNISH: Another high-profile Republican breaking a bit with President Trump?
[06:45:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: And here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end this tariff war now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: That's a new ad from Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers, who vows to use his relationship with the president to end the tariff war. Rogers, a Republican, is in a tight race with Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who is now taunting President Trump to pay a visit to the state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Please, I'm asking you, come to Michigan, all right. You're -- clearly, your candidate can't speak for himself. He doesn't have anything to say. Clearly you are the answer. And you should tell everybody why they should imagine you on the ballot.
I think you are too afraid to come to Michigan because you know when I beat your candidate and you came, I'm actually beating you. So, Donald, welcome to Michigan. I dare you to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The group chat is back.
Right now, when you look at Michigan likely voters, there is not a clear winner according to the most recent Fox News poll. Very tight there. Margin of error really.
Can we talk about this idea of like, come at me, bro. Like, what? I mean, which, in any other year, the president would be going to a Michigan and not three times to Texas.
EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. You know, I was in Michigan last week for some reporting, a story that was up on our site yesterday, about the state of the race that I found there, which has a lot of things in there of people, Democratic supporters, saying that they are not sure that Abdul El-Sayed is doing what he needs to do to close this race. People, black leaders, Jewish leaders, saying that they feel very wary about being with him or actually just opposed to him.
But Mike Rogers has been very hard to find on the trail. In fact, I had to track him down in Grand Rapids on Saturday morning, where he was marching in a parade, and that was the only campaign event that I could find that he was doing over the time --
CORNISH: I was about to say, that's not a mystery if he's in a parade.
DOVERE: Well, it was a mystery --
CORNISH: But you were saying there weren't that many events?
DOVERE: They weren't telling people he's going to be there. So, I found out that he was going to be there. I watched him march for about an hour -- a mile on the parade route. And then I interviewed him on Saturday. And he -- which is also rare
that he's doing interviews. But he made a similar point to me then about what he says in this commercial, that he feels like he can be the one to work with President Trump on things, even when they disagree.
Importantly, I asked Rogers, would you vote to end the Iran War? Would you vote to confirm a Supreme Court nominee that the president made? And he ducked both those questions.
CORNISH: He didn't answer?
DOVERE: He didn't answer those questions when I asked him.
CORNISH: OK.
DOVERE: He said some other words that were not answers. And -- but when I -- even of those Democrats and Democratic leaders who feel reluctant about El-Sayed, what they do feel is they like the idea of somebody standing up to Trump.
CORNISH: Yes.
DOVERE: So, Rogers saying, I'm going to work with Trump is not what other people in Michigan are responding.
CORNISH: So then let -- that brings us back to this, him saying, please come to Michigan. It's sort of the opposite, right? Trump goes to Texas to turn out his partisans. Republicans, get excited, come out. Whereas El-Sayed would be like, come to Michigan because I want negative partisanship. I want Democrats to be so freaked out that Trump is the symbol and they will somehow turn out.
HAYS: Yes, I think it's the opposite of what's going on in Texas. But I also think that people -- has Abdul done enough to build the coalition amongst black people and Jewish people to get them to turn out, or are they going to stay home? I'm not necessarily sure that they're going to go vote for Mike Rogers, but will they stay home? I think that is the question that --
CORNISH: Which is why probably Obama was visiting a few days ago.
HAYS: That's right.
ABIGAIL JACKSON, EXECUTIVE VP, ONMESSAGE STRATEGIES: And I will say, there was a very interesting op-ed in a Detroit paper yesterday from a Michigan rabbi saying that he typically voted Democrat, and he couldn't do it this time because El-Sayed was on the ballot. And, you know, Sayed is running a -- El-Sayed is running a campaign, a very online campaign that Democrat staffers in D.C. get excited about. But the question is, is that what Michigan wants? It seems like the answer is, no.
CORNISH: Well, we are in the age of an online presidency, right?
JACKSON: Right, but you don't want -- CORNISH: I mean, Trump also was an online candidate.
JACKSON: But, like, but he shouldn't be appealing to --
CORNISH: Yes.
JACKSON: D.C. Democrat operatives who get fired up when he's like, come to my state, Donald Trump.
CORNISH: Well, if he does, the response from Trump on Truth Social is to call him Mohammed, which is extremely subtle. He says, Mohammed El- Sayed is a "terrible candidate" for Democrats. He calls him "radical extremist, terrorist." So, Trump is willing to engage. Is he willing to go there?
JACKSON: I mean, I --
CORNISH: Physically to Michigan?
JACKSON: Right. I think when Obama visits the state, I think he's expected to go, what, end of -- end of the month maybe.
CORNISH: On the 24th, yes.
JACKSON: I think what I'll be more interested to see is, is there any tension between him and El-Sayed, given El-Sayed's past comments about Obama? Like, that's going to be awkward backstage, right? CNN had a -- had a great article yesterday that El-Sayed trashed Obama's presidency. He said he wasn't, you know, an effective leader.
CORNISH: Yes. And they had a phone call about that, I think.
JACKSON: Yes.
DOVERE: Yes.
HAYS: I mean this has been known. It's been out in the world for a long time. Obama is still going there. He's the most popular politician in America in person. He's 57 percent popularity. So, that's kind of neither here nor there I think in most Democrats' minds.
DOVERE: But Obama, and he's always been popular in Michigan. In 2014, the one campaign rally that I remember him doing in those -- that midterm year, which was a very bad one for Democrats, was in Detroit.
[06:50:06]
He -- but that he is going speaks to the fact that El-Sayed needs black support.
JACKSON: Yes, that's right.
CORNISH: Yes.
DOVERE: However -- CORNISH: And doesn't have --
DOVERE: I will also --
JACKSON: And I think that speaks to the fact that he is -- he is way too far left for the Democrat voting base in Michigan. He has to bring in a popular figure.
CORNISH: Well, we're talking about who goes where and why. Yes.
DOVERE: The other things is, I asked Rogers whether he wanted President Trump to come in. And he said, yes. Now, maybe he's saying yes because he doesn't want to say no, because the president doesn't tend to respond nicely to that sort of comment. But what he -- the argument that he made to me is that there are a lot of voters in Michigan, more than maybe get thought of, who are still inclined toward President Trump. Remember, that's a state that was very narrow results in 2016, in 2020, in 2024. Two of those three times Trump won in those, right?
CORNISH: Yes. And different constituencies stayed home.
DOVERE: Yes.
CORNISH: So, that's the difference here.
I want to talk about something else. It's a little bit in the realm of foreign policy. Stay with me. You've got the secretary of state, Marco Rubio. He lands in Portugal. And this is the last stop on a European tour before he returns to Washington.
Now, yesterday, there was all this pomp and circumstance in Greece because he delivered this speech against the backdrop of the Acropolis. And he said this about the future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Over time, we and the west came to feel ashamed of the very things that made us exceptional.
The word nationalism became a dirty word.
And now, today, we find ourselves at a crossroads, because the next decade and the decisions we make will write the story of the next century.
Under President Trump, the United States has made its choice. We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power.
We want to win together. We must win together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: I feel like then you're supposed to see, like, violins play, and then you cut the ad and it says, like, Marco Rubio, 2028.
Now, I made that up, but what does it mean for him to give a speech that has this kind of tone?
JACKSON: I'll say, Marco Rubio gives a lot of fabulous speeches. He has, you know, throughout his entire career, and his time in the Trump administration, given a lot of meaningful speeches that excite all kinds of Republicans. I think he's a fabulous messenger. Yesterday's speech was excellent. I received rave reviews. But I think we can look at this speech as just a speech without speculating on what that might mean for his future political career.
CORNISH: That's fine. But if I see that on the air, then I'm sending it to you in the group chat, OK, just so you know.
The other thing that was interesting is he basically is trying to say, this is the foreign policy that MAGA can have going forward. You know, for the longest time we were all like, what is the Trump doctrine. Now that we're in, you know, a war or two, now that we have a different approach to Latin America, and Latin America is a different approach to us, it feels like Rubio is the natural inheritor of that, and now he's making himself the interpreter.
DOVERE: No, like when Donald Trump won in 2016, there's a question in a lot of people's minds in America, all around the world, is whether that was an aberration. And, in fact, I was on a trip with Barack Obama a week after the election, 2016, to Greece, where he was trying to tell European leaders, maybe this is just a thing that happened.
There is no question in anybody's mind that Donald Trump is part of the American story now.
CORNISH: Yes.
DOVERE: And that is a -- something that the European Union has been thinking about, that America's have been thinking about.
CORNISH: Yes, Foreign policy wise, rewritten it, yes.
DOVERE: Right. But the other part of this is that we are, with all of that, now starting to get to the phase of this where Donald Trump is going to -- whether you call it the lame duck or whatever else, that he is going to start to be part of the past story of America.
CORNISH: You think?
DOVERE: And it's a question --
CORNISH: Yes.
DOVERE: Well, I mean, it's a question of what builds forward from that, right? His term has two years left, and Rubio is one of those people, whether he's running for president or not, who will be part of thinking about what is the Republican Party, what is America?
CORNISH: Yes. And he certainly owns the foreign policy in a myriad of ways.
DOVERE: Yes. CORNISH: Rubio in particular.
HAYS: Well, he is the secretary of state.
CORNISH: Yes.
HAYS: So, I would hope that he has some say here.
But I think that what is --
CORNISH: But, I mean, compared to a J.D. Vance, who I think was involved in the kind of Gaza, Israel --
JACKSON: Well, I think you hear --
CORNISH: Like, there's lots of people involved in foreign policy --
DOVERE: Yes.
CORNISH: But Marco Rubio is the guys.
HAYS: But he's trying to distance himself, right? Like he is trying to distance himself from the Iran War. He is trying to distance himself from Israel and Gaza. And any negative decision the Trump administration is making, and let J.D. Vance own that.
And you also see a much calmer tone in some of these speeches that Marco Rubio -- and it gives you sort of reminiscent of the past of what foreign policy -- you may not like what he is saying, but the demeanor and the tone and sort of the backdrop --
CORNISH: Yes.
HAYS: That is what people are seeing, and that's the calm of what those are, are much different than what you saw J.D. Vance giving at the Munich Security Conference a year ago. What you see Pete Hegseth doing. So, it's just a very different vibe that Rubio is taking.
JACKSON: I don't really think there's much of a gap, though, between Secretary Rubio and Vice President Vance in terms of their foreign policy beliefs. I mean the vice president even --
HAYS: No (INAUDIBLE) America sees it, how -- who owns it.
JACKSON: I mean the vice -- and the vice president even amplified this speech yesterday and said this was a great speech. So, you know, they're on the same page.
CORNISH: Yes, because he was like, nationalism used to be a dirty word.
[06:55:02]
It's great. I was like, yes, J.D. Vance is going to like that.
JACKSON: Right. CORNISH: Everybody is on the same page.
I want to turn to this. The president actually repeated these comments that he made a couple of days ago about Los Angeles and San Diego, where he sort of suggests that if it wasn't for, you know, his policies against Iran on -- Iran would be able to take them out.
So, here's what he said at a rally last night in Texas. And I'm going to just note, there's a little extra sentence at the end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You want to see trauma? You want to see problems? And I said it the other day, let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles on the way. Let them hit -- you want to see a (AUDIO GAP)? You want to see problems? Let them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles if you want to see some bad things happen. You want to see a country that would be in freefall. We're not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country. We're not letting that happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: In his speech, Trump's critics still believe the original comments were, quote, "deranged and dangerous."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": You know what? I'm going to report him to the FCC. I think that's -- that was a joke. Or was not a joke. Now -- the hypocrisy is so glaring you can't even turn your head toward it, and you will get blind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Jimmy Kimmel reenters the chat.
HAYS: I mean, like, I don't -- I don't understand why --
CORNISH: You're just three dots, thinking, yes.
HAYS: I don't understand why Jimmy Kimmel's reentering the chat. I don't understand why Donald Trump is threatening a city like San Diego that's mostly Republican and has over 100,000 military there.
JACKSON: I don't think he's threatening the city. I think his --
HAYS: That's what -- that's what -- that was what the people think. And that's what was clarified. And they can clarify all they want, that's not what was said and that's not how people are reading it. But I just think the whole thing is stupid. And I think we should be focused on lowering costs.
JACKSON: I think that Democrats intentionally took out of context what the president said. He was saying, well, sure, like, what if they did this? That's why I got involved. And that's what he was saying the first time he said it. It was disingenuously taken out of context for a straw man attack to get clicks online. And, you know, he -- this --
CORNISH: Do you think he would ever say that with a Republican city like a Dallas or like --
JACKSON: I don't --
CORNISH: Would there be another city name in a sentence like that?
JACKSON: If there were --
CORNISH: And I don't mean that disingenuously.
JACKSON: If there was another city that was at risk of attack. That's the argument he is making, right?
CORNISH: Yes.
CORNISH: That like, if I didn't get involved, they would hit -- they could potentially hit a city. That's the argument he was making. And it's been consistently the argument he's made about his involvement in Iran throughout the course of the conflict.
CORNISH: Yes.
OK, group chats.
DOVERE: Well, we will see what "The Social Reckoning," the new Aaron Sorkin movie about Facebook actually looks like, coming out tomorrow.
CORNISH: Yes, starring Jeremy Strong, I believe.
DOVERE: Yes.
CORNISH: Yes.
DOVERE: And, you know, of course there's a journalist who plays an important role in it. So, it's very important to us, Audie.
CORNISH: Oh, really? Someone in their khakis just wandering past talking about democracy.
DOVERE: Exactly. We'll see how -- we'll see how authentic it is.
CORNISH: That's how Hollywood sees us.
DOVERE: Exactly.
CORNISH: Yes, exactly. Exactly. You can't handle the truth.
OK, I'm interested in that. I'm also interested in that Nathan Fielder --
DOVERE: For sure. Yes.
CORNISH: Sort of documentary of the ex-Theranos CEO, Elizabeth Holmes. What are you in -- have in your group chat, Abigail? JACKSON: So, I think I sent a photo to your team. I don't know if we
have it on camera. This is my brother's dog, Onyx. She's really cute. And every single day she gets a new fall bandana. And my family --
CORNISH: Wait, every day?
JACKSON: Every day.
HAYS: (INAUDIBLE).
JACKSON: Every day she gets a new fall bandana. So, this was yesterday's. It has some ghosts and pumpkins with cowboy hats on it. So, I'm looking forward to the family group chat today to see what Onyx is wearing.
CORNISH: I'm just glad Onyx isn't wearing like Christmas trees, because I've been going into the stores and y'all are moving too quickly.
JACKSON: She waits until after Thanksgiving.
CORNISH: Yes, thank you. You have to wait until after Thanksgiving. And don't we --
HAYS: My whole pumpkin spice argument. You can't start that in August.
CORNISH: Yes.
HAYS: And it's an October game.
JACKSON: We can agree on that. Yes.
CORNISH: OK. What's in your group chat?
HAYS: So, in Denver over the weekend, there was a ultra-marathon, or a 50k, that included stopping at 11 Taco Bells and you had to eat at ten of them.
CORNISH: I'm sorry, wait, slow down.
HAYS: Yes.
CORNISH: This is a marathon. Is it sponsored by Taco Bell?
HAYS: I'm not sure who it's sponsored by --
CORNISH: OK.
HAYS: But you have to run in between the Taco Bells.
CORNISH: Oh.
HAYS: You have to --
CORNISH: It's an ultra-marathon? HAYS: Yes. You have to eat certain things at different Taco Bells
while you are doing this, and you have to finish in within 11 hours. And they did note that drinks don't count, but bathroom breaks are acceptable.
CORNISH: I mean, I'm sure it was (INAUDIBLE).
HAYS: Everyone knows how much I love fast food. I'm not a, obviously, an ultra-marathon runner. But I was like here for the fastest --
CORNISH: I feel like you could handle 11 hours and a Taco Bell or two.
HAYS: I think I could walk it.
CORNISH: I think you have to walk it if you're eating every few --
HAYS: It's 10. It's 10 Taco Bells.
JACKSON: That's tough.
HAYS: You have to -- you have to eat at 10 Taco Bells.
JACKSON: That's a tough combo. It's a tough combo.
CORNISH: No, it's protein. We're protein maxing. Yes.
JACKSON: Allegedly protein.
DOVERE: There's enough suffering in the world. It doesn't seem like we need to add to it with that.
CORNISH: No. No, actually, you're right, this is a joyous thing. Like for people who want to have the suffering of running, but also the joy of fast food, I'm sure it's --
HAYS: I mean I'd rather go to like Chick-Fil-A or McDonald's, but here we are at Taco Bell.
CORNISH: I don't really think that's the point of this.
HAYS: No, I don't either. I think it's -- I think no --
JACKSON: The point is adding joy there (ph).
CORNISH: Yes, like offering your preferences here.
[07:00:00]
HAYS: Yes, can I -- can I have my own ultra-marathon thing?
CORNISH: I guess they can afford to do it. If I did that, I would have to roll the rest of the marathon. I don't really understand. But here we go. She's having a blast.
All right, you guys, thank you so much for sharing your group chats. Thank you so much for waking up with us. We know there are a lot of places you could be, and I'm glad you chose to be with us. I'm Audie Cornish and "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" is next.
