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Trump Orders New Census That Leaves Out Undocumented; The Economic Impact Of Trump's Megabill In Battleground Arizona; "American Prince: JFK Jr." Premieres Saturday At 9PM ET/PT. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 07, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:32:44]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: The census, for citizens only. President Trump is issuing a new order to his government to take a new measurement of the country and to leave undocumented immigrants out of the calculations. CNN's Alayna Treene joins us now from the White House. Is there an actual plan behind this or was this sort of one of those Donald Trump posts that he hopes people follow along with?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: I think it's the latter, Dana. It's very unclear as of now whether or not his team is going to try and move forward with this. But also, I mean, this is something we've seen before from the President himself. I remind you back in 2020, in the lead up to that census, the President was fighting repeatedly to try and insert a citizen question into that. It would be the first time that that was changed since 1950.

Now, ultimately, the Supreme Court had blocked it then, but we still saw the President try and move to kind of request citizen data ship from other agencies. But I also think what's important is that this is, of course, would be a longstanding shift in census practices. The surveys historically counted all residents, regardless of immigration status. And the census website actually cites Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution on that reasoning. But I think what's really important here about all of this, Dana, of course, is the timing of it.

It comes as the President is really encouraging Texas Republicans and other Republicans in red states to try and redraw congressional maps to help boost their chances in the 2026 midterms. And redistricting, of course, usually takes place after the census is -- is done. And that happens every 10 years. The next time it's up is not until 2030.

All to say, I think we still have to figure out whether or not how committed the President actually is to this. But I do think everything that's going on with him looking forward to the midterms is definitely playing a factor in this.

BASH: All right, Alayna, thank you so much for that reporting.

[12:34:37] Up next, the summer heat and a burning question. Will President Trump's policies help keep Arizona red? John King's latest All Over a Map -- All Over the Map is coming up.

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BASH: Passing President Trump's so-called Big, Beautiful Bill was hard enough. Selling it to voters may be even harder. For the latest edition of All Over the Map, CNN's John King traveled to a congressional district, a key district in Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A scorching summer in the Arizona desert, a risky time to open a new restaurant, add in higher beef prices, and an unpredictable economy.

RAY FLORES, ARIZONA VOTER: Confident, hopeful, I believe a lot in this brand. I believe a lot that what we do is different.

KING (voice-over): Charro Steak North is just about ready. The bar is stocked, supplies delivered, the team is hired, and for that, Ray Flores gives President Trump some credit, specifically the new law lowering taxes on tips and overtime.

[12:40:07]

FLORES: We had a really robust hiring fair, lots of applicants, way more than we've had in previous hiring fairs, a lot of quality applicants, a little higher quality. I do believe that those messages of some kind of tax relief created some of this.

KING: This is Arizona's sixth Congressional district, one of the battlegrounds that will determine whether Republicans keep their house majority after next year's midterms elections. It is a district that covers a ton of ground. This is the edge of Tucson, but the district stretches 110 miles that way. That's east to the New Mexico state line. And 60 miles, my right is south, that's the U.S.-Mexico border, 60 miles that way. The district is a battleground because it is evenly divided politically. And because of that, it offers a great test of the big midterm questions.

KING (voice-over): Republican Juan Ciscomani is the incumbent. Charro Steak North is in his district. And Flores, an independent, has supported Ciscomani in the past.

KING: How they sell that bill, whether that bill actually improves the economy because of the tax cuts or the no taxes on tips or overtime, that's a big deal for his political fate.

FLORES: Yeah.

KING: What do you think at this moment? Got a ways to go, but what do you think now?

FLORES: I mean, I think unfortunately for them or for us, to give a good answer right now, we're in the middle of the off season.

KING: Right.

FLORES: I think it's probably a question that needs to be asked a year from today.

KING: Here's another big test. 25 percent of the residents here in Arizona Six are Hispanic and Republicans are hoping in next year's midterms to continue their recent important gains among Latino voters. It makes a big difference. Take a look.

KING (voice-over): Here in Arizona, for example, Donald Trump won 37 percent of the Latino vote in 2020. He lost here and statewide.

KING: But in 2024, Trump's share jumped to 44 percent. He not only carried this district, he won statewide in Arizona on his way back to the White House.

KING (voice-over): 15 months, still to the midterms. But we will get a clue about Latino sentiment next month. There's a special election in the neighboring seventh congressional district. It is overwhelmingly Democratic, but also 60 percent Hispanic.

CLAUDIO RODRIGUEZ, ARIZONA VOTER: So welcome back to Sun Arizona.

KING (voice-over): This food bank serves both the sixth and seventh congressional districts, and is already dealing with some Trump changes.

RODRIGUEZ: I believe, these are from Mexico right now.

KING: Right. You are correct.

RODRIGUEZ: That's going to change pretty soon with the tariffs and all that. So we are -- we're going to be definitely seeing less produce come in.

KING (voice-over): But the biggest test is down the road. The Trump agenda bill makes big changes to Medicaid and food assistance programs critical to the working families who come here for help. Claudio Rodriguez wrote Congressman Ciscomani on behalf of the food bank, urged him to vote no, but he voted yes.

KING: So when you say, you know, "Sir, with all due respect, we think that's going to hurt people." What does he say?

RODRIGUEZ: He believes that it won't, that he's attacking the fraud, the abuse, the scam. But I don't know. When we come here every day on the line, we don't really see any of that. And if it is, if it is one or two people that do do that, why punish the rest? Why punish the seniors? Why punish the kids? The veterans? We have a lot of veterans that come through here.

KING (voice-over): The food bank served 171,000 people last year and projects that number will jump significantly as the Trump changes kick in. But the timing there is noteworthy. The politically popular tax break on tips and overtime takes effect immediately. But the biggest and politically risky changes to Medicaid and food assistance don't take effect until 2027, after the next election.

RODRIGUEZ: I know some things are going to roll out after the midterms, which is a -- it's a very nice play, you know, for some folks to wait until after that.

KING (voice-over): That timeline just one of the Trump agenda flashpoints in a place far away from Washington, yet critical to the Republican grip on power there.

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BASH: And John King is still here at the table, obviously, even back from Arizona. It's so fascinating to see how people are absorbing this, both personally in their own personal politics, but in this case, with regard to their businesses. As you said, the Medicaid cuts, that's not going to take effect until after the election. But just taking this conversation back to where we started this program on the tariffs, they're bracing for it.

KING: Right. So a lot of that food is donated. A lot of that food, they actually raise money from private donations and they buy fresh produce so they can give to the working families that come in. And their costs are going up because of the tariffs on some of that.

So they're trying to, number one, how much federal money we're going to lose. Number two, what's going to be in the farm bill? That's another thing that still hasn't happened in Trump's Washington. What's in the farm bill? How much federal surplus commodities do you get?

So everybody is trying to make these projections. How many people will have their, you know, lose their SNAP benefits, food stamps? How many people will lose Medicaid or have to do the work requirements? They don't know that. And that doesn't kick in till later, which is an advantage for the incumbent like Ciscomani.

The popular stuff kicks in right away. Democrats do the same thing, but the popular stuff kicks in right away. The unpopular stuff or the risky stuff is down the road a little bit. But this is one of the few actual 50-50 districts. And again, you can connect the dots back to our previous conversation. Why does Trump want five more seats out of Texas? Why does Trump want another seat or two out of Indiana and any other red state? Because an incumbent like this, a Republican who won twice under Joe Biden, is now on the ballot when Donald Trump's approval rating and Donald Trump's policies are going to decide what happens in that district.

[12:45:20]

BASH: Yes, it's a fascinating district. So much at play. Thank you.

KING: Welcome.

BASH: Up next, we go inside a new CNN original series profiling an American icon, John F. Kennedy, Jr. His friend and colleague, Kurt Anderson, joins us to talk about his legacy as a magazine publisher.

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[12:50:03]

BASH: John F. Kennedy Jr. was about to turn three years old when his father was assassinated. But the final years of his life, a life that was cut short way too soon, were highlighted by an iconic love story and the creation of a new type of political magazine, George.

Now a new CNN original series tells the story of the man JFK Jr. was and the legacy he left behind. Here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KURT ANDERSEN, AUTHOR, "EVIL GENIUSES: THE UNMAKING OF AMERICA": I was the editor of New York Magazine when John Kennedy whom I never met said I'd love to have lunch with you and my partner Michael Berman. And we did, of course, at Royalton Hotel. And I was -- he was -- I was impressed by it. He was an, you know, intelligent, thoughtful, charming, not arrogant-seeming, not entitled-seeming, but of course to have been in existence probably. But -- but he -- I liked him and -- and he wasn't stupid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought you were a lawyer.

JOHN F. KENNEDY, JR., CO-FOUNDER, GEORGE MAGAZINE: I was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you were a D.A. Are you now? This is it. This is going to be your life, editing, publishing magazines, writing said it.

ANDERSEN: I don't remember the specific presentation of this is what I want to do, but he I understood it to be a magazine about politics and political figures that would be smart, but in a -- in a sassy, glossy way. I -- I thought, oh, this is worth it. Some version of this is worth a try.

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BASH: That was author and co-founder of Spy magazine, Kurt Andersen, who you see there, joins us now. Thank you so much for being here. The title of this series is "American Prince." That is how JFK Jr. was so often referred to. How would you describe him?

ANDERSEN: Well, certainly that's as good as any. You know, he was -- he obviously grew up with in this extraordinary family attention. He was a beautiful, beautiful man and intelligent. So he was all those things. I mean, "American Prince" sort of underdoes it, as it were, for almost any human being.

But, you know, he also didn't say that clip. He had a great sense of humor, which sort of surprised me in a certain way. I -- I -- the first time we met, I said, you know, and I was only half joke, I said, you know what? You should really start because Martha Stewart had just started her magazine in the 90s, John -- John F. Kennedy, Jr. living. And he laughed and laughed at that.

And, you know, so he had a sense of he wasn't solemn about himself and his legacy.

BASH: Yes, we're self-aware. Let's talk about George. It was a first of its kind magazine. It's kind of hard to imagine now in the world in which we live, but it did focus on the intersection of politics and pop culture. I want to play for our viewers some of what John himself said. This is in 1995, talking about how he thought the 1992 election changed things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNEDY, JR.: Americans were accessing information about politics and politicians was changing. Candidates were appearing on late night talk shows, on talk radio, on sitcoms. And there was a kind of a leveling process. And while the rest of media clearly had caught up with that, we felt that political magazines, per se, hadn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: He was really trying to fill a gap of something that was missing in that climate.

ANDERSEN: He was indeed, and it made some sense, although in that history, it's a little foreshortened because, of course, his father going on T.V. first in the debates with Nixon in 1960 really started this intersection and overlap of entertainment and politics. And God knows Ronald Reagan continued that. So, yes, it was -- it was getting more and more that way. And it made sense to do something like this in the 1990s.

BASH: Yes, I mean, of course, you think about his father and Frank Sinatra and -- and all of the Hollywood types that he had around him, which really helped to create an aura around -- around Kennedy's and Camelot. Did John Kennedy Jr. change or at least challenge, try to change the political orthodoxy?

ANDERSEN: I would not say that. And -- and, you know, the political orthodoxy at that moment was being changed by -- by the -- the world, the -- the part of the Democratic Party out of which Bill Clinton had come, which is to say the moderate, you know, wing and -- and that he got elected. So that was changing. No, he wasn't, because, you know, it was -- it was, at that point, actually, I think in the 1990s, it seemed more about -- it was beginning to be less about ideology and like, oh, the Republicans and Democrats are not that different.

[12:55:04]

Let's just talk about the celebrity of it all. So, no, he wasn't. And -- and, you know, my great disappointment in it was when he did -- when -- when George failed to cover properly the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton affair, which was such an opportunity. And -- and they sort of dropped the ball.

But again, he and his partner didn't have any magazine experience, which, you know, it's hard to start an instantly paid attention to magazine when -- when you've never done it.

BASH: Yes. No question about that. And as you're talking, I find myself wondering how George, the magazine with John F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm would be covering the Trump White House in the Trump years since, I mean, by definition, he is the -- the combination of sort of pop culture, celebrity and politics.

Unfortunately, we are out of time. Kurt Andersen, thank you so much for being here. We look forward to seeing more of you in this documentary. Always a pleasure. Great to meet you virtually. And please tune in to the new CNN original series, American Prince: JFK Jr. premieres Saturday, August 9th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

Thank you so much for joining Inside Politics. CNN New Central starts after the break.

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