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Inside Politics

Trump Speaks with Zelenskyy, European Leaders While Flying Home from Whirlwind Trip to the Middle East; Trump Appears to Shed Isolationism During Mideast Trip; Bill Containing Trump's Agenda Fails to Pass Committee; House Budget Committee Votes Down Bill with Trump's Agenda. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 16, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today in "Inside Politics", pageantry mixed with policy. President Trump is U.S. bound after soaking in the Gulf's opulence, fanfare and regal recognition, he loves. A dramatically different approach toward countries he once reviled and renounced.

Plus, a bill on the bubble. We're following a critical meeting on Capitol Hill right now as Republicans butt heads on how to advance President Trump's agenda. And from progressive to pragmatic, California Governor Gavin Newsom is shifting to the center on a series of issues.

Will this rebrand help a potential 2028, run? I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines and "Inside Politics". We start with a very long and very busy flight. It's been a whirlwind few days for President Trump, with formal dinners, parades and meetings in the Middle East, but he doesn't seem to be napping on his plane ride home.

Instead, the president is weighing in on congressional drama, participating in major geopolitical conversations, and slamming two of America's most popular singers. He spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders about the first direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine since 2022. They just ended, but as of now, there are no signs of a breakthrough. Here's what the president told reporters on his plane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, are you planning to call Vladimir Putin? How do you think you could get those talks on track?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I may, I may. We have to meet. He and I will meet. I think we'll solve it, or maybe not, but at least we'll know. And if we don't solve it, be very interesting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: CNN's Jeff Zeleny is still in Abu Dhabi, where the president left just a few hours ago. What a week, Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It certainly has been, Dana. The president's first foreign policy trip since he's been back in office. Certainly, lived up to the White House's billing, but it was different in many ways. There was a mix of deal making and diplomacy, there's no doubt about it, but also some change in foreign policy along the way.

I think if you have to look at one of the biggest headlines that comes from the U.S. lifting sanctions on Syria and the president meeting with the Syrian President, the first time a U.S. leader has met with the Syrian leader in 25 years. So that certainly hung over all of this, but Dana, along the way, we also are seeing a glimpse of the sort of some new policies and some new agenda items, perhaps a new Trump doctrine, if you will.

We will see if he sticks with it. That is far more of a globalist agenda than the American First agenda that he campaigned on and he really rallied behind his first time in office. He was talking about, you know, in many respects, the meeting with the Syrian President certainly falls under that.

But as you said, some changes in policies. He was walking into a mosque yesterday for the very first time as president. We all remember his Muslim ban from 2017, such as one example, he obviously spoke out against the policies of Qatar, and he blamed them for a terrorism, at this time, he walked side by side with the leader and the Emir of Qatar.

So certainly, many differences, but it was transactional all along the way. There's no question about that, Dana.

BASH: So, as you just laid out, there is so much going on when it comes to fundamental, very important policy, not only what happened this past week, but what is happening right now on the plane as the president is making his way back to the United States.

ZELENY: Right.

BASH: In addition to really important phone calls with the European leaders and the Ukrainian leader about what's going on there. He did take the time to post about Taylor Swift. Can you explain that?

ZELENY: Dana, it makes you wonder, and we have wondered this for a long time, covering him for nearly a decade now, as a candidate and as president, how does he have the bandwidth and why does he have the bandwidth to do these things?

[12:05:00]

But yes, he posted about Taylor Swift. Let's take a look at what he said. He said, has anyone noticed since I said I hate Taylor, that she's no longer hot? Unclear what prompted that. We will probably find out when he lands, and we can ask him and his aides about it. But look, she's not on tour, obviously. A year ago, she was on her global tour, but clearly, she was on his

mind. What we don't know, Dana, is if that message came after or before his phone call with world leaders and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Dana.

BASH: I mean, I just, I'm speechless. Jeff, thank you so much for all of that. Appreciate it. I'm joined here by a terrific group of reporters, CNN's Lauren Fox, Zolan Kanno-Youngs of "The New York Times", Laura Barron-Lopez of PBS NewsHour, and Tamara Keith of NPR. We're not going to spend a lot of time on Taylor Swift, unless anybody disagrees.

I would just say, fact check, I think she's pretty gorgeous, but, you know, I know that is in the eyes of the beholder. She obviously was very much against him in his campaign, which we know is part of this. Let's talk about foreign policy and most importantly, kind of the way this all went.

Jeff really laid out the difference between the way that the president talked about these countries, even as back as far as 2015 and 2016 but it's also so interesting that this America First politician when it comes to the Gulf, when it comes to perhaps economic deals, he's totally in a different space.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, I've always thought that it's saying Trump is an isolationist, or that the American First approach is strictly isolationist. Doesn't exactly get it right. And I feel that even more as I could cover him this term, it really is. And Jeff, used this word transaction.

BASH: Totally.

KANNO-YOUNGS: This trip diplomacy and any sort of foreign policy strategy wasn't really at the forefront. It seemed to be business deals, you know, a sense of going there and with each of these leaders, what can you do? What have you done for me lately? And what can you do for me at this time?

And what can I bring back and declare as a win. There didn't seem to be sort of a broad, sort of diplomatic strategy there that would fall into any of those traditional labels of expansionists or isolationists. It really is just sort of a transactional approach, whether that's getting a new plane.

You know, in the case of Qatar, AI deals as well, or even just being able to take back the optics of being greeted with, sort of the pump and all of the palace, you know, intrigue that we saw, and sort of the optics of this, and being able to come back and say, look at how I was greeted now, you know, as a present visiting --

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This is also important context here, which is that, as he is going there, and yes, maybe striking deals for the country, his family and their organization are also in the middle of deals with a number of countries there, whether it's the United Arab Emirates that just funneled 2 billion into the Trump family crypto business their firm, or it's Qatar and working with them on, I believe it's luxury villas and a Gulf course there.

And then there's also the residential towers that the Trump organization is trying to build in another part of the Middle East. So, there are all these business dealings going on that are funneling money to his family and in some cases, potentially directly to the president himself.

TAMARA KEITH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT FOR NPR: Yeah, other things that he said was, essentially, we're not going to tell you how to run your countries. We're not going to talk to you. We're not going to lecture you about democracy. The thing that stood out to me, though, is he then also said, we will defend these countries.

These are our allies, and we will defend them, which was much fuller throated than the way he has, for instance, talked about our European allies.

BASH: -- right.

KEITH: He has, you know, played a little footsie with backing out of the NATO alliance, or just, you know, demanding more of the NATO alliance. And with these countries, it was different. It was as you say, it was more transactional. And the other point that I would make is these aren't deals that are just good for the United States.

And I think we'll have to wait to see how good these deals ultimately end up being. These numbers are very large, but it's not clear how quickly some of these business transactions could even happen. But these are deals that are good for the countries that are making the deals, you know, Saudi and UAE and Qatar.

They want access to our AI infrastructure. They want access to our tech industry. They are generating jobs for them too. This is not purely a pro America.

BASH: Yeah.

[12:10:00]

KEITH: America comes out ahead --

BASH: Yeah, I mean, in the case of Qatar, I mean, they have spent years and years spending untold gobs of money, you know, sort of infiltrating the academics of America, the business of America, it goes on and on and on. It's been a very long game there. Let's listen a little bit to how President Trump talked to and talked about the leaders he met.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did you find the Syrian President?

TRUMP: Great. Great, I think very good. Young, attractive guy, tough guy.

We came from Saudi Arabia, where we have another great man over there that's a friend of yours. And you two guys get along so well and like each other, you sort of remind me a little bit of each other. If you want to know both tall, handsome guys that happen to be very smart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, this is if I'm a Trump voter and I'm watching this all play out. This is just kind of classic Donald Trump that I voted for. This is the guy that can go out on the world stage, can schmooze. And I think that part of his adaptability, when it comes to, is he an isolationist, or is he want to play a bigger role on the world stage, is just what accommodates his needs now and what is working for him in the moment.

And I think that that's part of why you saw him going into all these countries, not talking about human rights, not lecturing about human rights, not bringing up issues that past U.S. Presidents bring up when they go to the Middle East, is because that's just not going to work in this moment in terms of how he wants to be viewed.

KANNO-YOUNGS: The only thing I am excited to hear, you know, from -- I'm curious to hear from Trump voters after this is, you know, the president often sorts of touts the strong man, personality and retribution has been a theme so much when you look at his policies back home, you really didn't see that here.

I mean, you saw him, you know, not bring up human rights violations past ties. In the case of meeting with the Syrian leader, the U.S. has taken a critical approach at times to his background as well. You didn't hear any of that. You heard just complimentary tone as well.

BASH: Yeah. Let me just -- I just quickly, before we run out of time here, want to remind people that he's not only coming back to the U.S. He's coming back to Earth when it comes to the economy. And just this morning, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell 2.7 percent and what that means in context is that it's the second lowest on record, at least preliminarily touch above its lowest in June of 2022.

And he is coming back to a big question about whether or not he can make all of the deals that he said that he wanted and needed to make on tariffs and Walmart, one of the most important stores in the United States of America, said that they were going to have to increase prices to accommodate the tariffs.

I talked recently to the president's commerce secretary about consumers and how much they would pay. Listen to what he said, and then listen to the CEO of Walmart on the other end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The cost of tariffs, are paid by American consumers. We've been talking about this. So, should Americans be prepared --

HOWARD LUTNICK, SECRETARY OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, I just -- you know. BASH: Wow. OK. But many, most economists, I would say, disagree with

you on that, and we have seen it being passed off time and time again to the American consumer.

LUTNICK: We do expect a 10 percent baseline tariff to be in place for the foreseeable future, but don't buy the silly arguments that the U.S. consumer pays.

DOUG MCMILLON, CEO OF WALMART: Given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren't able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARRON-LOPEZ: Yeah, I think, look, the reality is that it's not just the majority of economists. The majority of conservative economists that you talk to will say that what Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, are saying, what the president is saying about Americans not absorbing this cost is just not reality.

I mean, you see local businesses here in D.C., small businesses that say, yeah, maybe now I may not have to increase the price of this stroller as much as I thought I would, but it still is going to go up. There are still costs that we're having to pass on to the consumer.

KEITH: And the 10 percent tariff is actually a significant tariff.

BASH: Right.

KEITH: This baseline that they've acclimated everyone to is actually quite significant compared to historical tariffs.

BASH: That's such an important point. OK, everybody standby. Coming up, we are following breaking news on Capitol Hill, where Republicans just voted down the bill carrying out the president's legislative agenda, including those tax breaks that he so desperately wants. Stay with us.

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BASH: Breaking news, President Trump's legislative agenda, what he calls his one big, beautiful bill, just failed to make it out of a key committee. Five Republicans jumped ship and joined Democrats to vote down the bill. Our smart reporters are here, including and especially our All-Star Capitol Hill Reporter Lauren Fox.

Lauren, I want to bring you in, but I first want to play a sound bite from Chip Roy Republican of Texas, who has been kind of leading the charge on concerns about his fellow Republicans and this bill.

[12:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): This bill falls profoundly short. It does not do

what we say. It does with respect to deficits. We are writing checks we cannot cash, and our children are going to pay the price. So, I am a no on this bill unless serious reforms are made today, tomorrow, Sunday.

We're having conversations as we speak, but something needs to change, or you're not going to get my support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Lauren, he's pretty emphatic.

FOX: Yeah. And let's just put this into context. The speaker wanted to move forward with this bill, get it to the House floor, pass it before the Memorial Day recess. That's next Thursday. Obviously, this is a huge setback for the speaker. I'm really surprised that they ended up having this vote in committee because these holdouts had been voicing concerns over the course of the last 24 hours.

There have been numerous meetings, including Steve Scalise, the majority leader, meeting with these members in the anteroom off the committee as it was ongoing, when they came back into the room, each of them spoke. It was very clear they still had concerns, still had opposition.

They want to see some of these spending cuts sped up, rather than delayed into later years. There's a reason Republicans did that, because it does take time to implement some of these things, but that's not enough for these Freedom Caucus members, and unlike past budget committees, this budget committee is full of conservatives, and that has really potentially slowed down this process.

BASH: So, the spending cuts and the demand for more and earlier spending cuts is a big part of the reason why this big bill is stuck right now. Another is the fact that to pay for some of the spending cuts that are already in there, the Republicans are putting cuts to Medicaid.

Right now, the changes to Medicaid include adding a work requirement for able bodied adults, implementing stricter eligibility rules like re verifying who is eligible every six months, adding copayments, cutting funding for states that allow undocumented people to enroll. I want to go to Tom Foreman, because Tom, you're at the magic wall. And I'd like for you to walk through how Medicaid actually works currently, who it covers and what it costs?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and think about those changes you just mentioned there as we go through it. When you talk about Medicaid, it is a government health insurance program for low income and disabled Americans, including children. It's not Medicare, which is generally for older people, Medicaid for people who are struggling.

72 million people, they pay little, if any, out of pocket for their care, as established 1965, by Congress. Who's on it? 4 out of 10 children in this country, 1 out of 6 U.S. adults, people with a median income of $36,000 a year, so not much at all. What does it cover? Usual stuff, births, hospital stays, nursing home, home, health care, vaccinations, prescription drugs.

This is where it gets sticky. When you get to the cost of it. It is paid for more by the federal government, $606 billion in funding a year less by state governments. But it is a mixed program out there. It is not the most expensive entitlement program, about 9, 10 percent of the budget.

The work requirement question, interesting. 64 percent of the people who are getting it right now already work full or part time, not working because of care giving. That's about 12 percent if you're a parent, and it costs more for care for your children or for your parents than you can make in a job.

Well, then this is the right decision, economically for you, at least not working due to illness or disability. 10 percent not working because they're in school trying to get a better job make more money. 7 percent and 8 percent are either retired or they just can't get a job for some other reason.

And importantly, when these lawmakers look at it. Everyone has skin in this game. Look, if you look here, the lightest states have the least number of people enrolled by a percentage. The darker it gets, the more it's enrolled. But yeah, would this hit big states like California and Oregon that tend to vote blue, absolutely.

But there are a ton of red states in here with a tremendous number of people, on average, 28 percent, there's not one lawmaker who can touch this without having a significant part of his base feel the pain.

BASH: Tom that last map really does tell the story of why this part of the fight on this bill is so critical, and it does not fall on partisan lines or even geographical lines, because of how much Medicaid affects every single district. Thank you so much. Tom, appreciate that.

And Zolan, on that note, I mean, I am old enough to remember back when Obamacare passed, one of the things that you heard from the president and his top aides, Rahm Emanuel, was that when you pass a new right or something that people can have, whether it's Obamacare, but specifically within Obamacare was Medicaid expansion, it's hard to take it back. What we're seeing now is that play out?

[12:25:00]

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's right, and the anxiety amongst public officials on the Hill, but also some people in the White House I've spoken to.

BASH: Yeah.

KANNO-YOUNGS: And some people around the president who fear what would happen if you did slash a program that many of the president's own supporters rely on here as well. I don't -- the reporting I have thus far. I don't think the president is in the details of these negotiations at this point, but he does want to walk away with this, from this, with his little political backlash have you seen.

And sometimes that even means, like, a Truth Social post that would go against Republican norms, like, OK.

BASH: Yeah, exactly.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Tax the rich for this to pay for it. But I -- do know that for those around, close to the president, that when it comes to benefits, Medicaid benefits, they don't want the political backlash --

BASH: Well, which is why I just want to play this, because it really does speak to that, you hear the semantics and the attempt at branding what they are trying to do to Medicaid as reform, but it's not just Democrats who aren't buying that. It's some of the most prominent Republicans. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not cutting Medicaid --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then you can look at Medicaid cuts, Medicaid reforms. I should say.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): We're not talking here about just work requirements. The House goes much, much, much further than that. This is real Medicaid benefit cuts. I can't support that. No Republican should support that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARRON-LOPEZ: Even Steve Bannon has said, you cannot cut Medicaid. It will hurt us with our voters. It's not just Democratic voters. So that's why you also saw the president not even put in his budget proposal the word Medicaid.

KEITH: Yeah. And if you go back, there are numerous instances of President Trump saying, we will not cut Medicaid, precious Medicaid. We will keep Medicaid, though there is sometimes some nuance in the way he says it, indicating that, you know, he's talking about people who are disabled, children, mothers. You know, he -- able-bodied thing is where I think he has left a tiny bit of nuance in his rhetoric.

BASH: Yeah, I mean, and the challenge, as Tom pointed out, is that some of those able-bodied people, 12 percent are taking care of their loved ones, and that's why they're taking getting Medicaid. Everybody standby. Coming up, California Governor Gavin Newsom is inching away from progressive policies. But is it enough to shed the San Francisco liberal label if he steps into the presidential arena. Stay with us.

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