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Vance Wins 2028 CPAC Straw Poll But Rubio Gains Ground; Trump Allows Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker To Reach Cuba Amid Blockade; Cuba Energy Crisis Deepening Under U.S. Pressure; Poll: 43 Percent Of Young Americans Are Struggling To Get By Or Getting By With Limited Financial Security; Forbes: Trump's Net Worth Soars To $6.5 Billion; Pope Leo Condemns "Those Who Wage War". Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired March 30, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: -- attendees of the conference, I should say, what they said about Rubio versus Vance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As much as I would like to say someone like Vance, I just -- I hate seeing the President and Vice President run. I want someone new and different, someone younger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't really like Vance. I think Marco Rubio is the only person in the administration I would support going into 2028.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have voted for Vance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would go with Vance too. I like Rubio too. They make a good team. Too bad they couldn't co-president, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think Vance is in the position and I don't think it would be wise for Rubio and his supporters to try to jump ahead to Vance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Tell her how much room is there for another candidate in the GOP, because it's very clear that I think that you can -- we can probably safely assume at this moment, which will change that we're far away from 2028, that those two are probably viewed about as the front runners within the larger Republican Party.

But how much we expect a messy Democratic primary in 2028. I think that's a crowded one too. How to -- is there room for another candidate?

TYLER PAGE, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I mean, we just heard from voters there that there is some interest for newer, younger voices as well. I mean, Rand Paul said publicly in recent days that he's thinking he's 50-50 about whether or not he's going to run for president.

And we know that there are other Republicans, Ted Cruz and others, not just senators, but governors as well, that are mulling and potentially going to jump into the race as well. And I think once one or two get in, it makes it more likely that others will feel that they can jump in as well.

RAJU: Yes.

PAGE: I think to Sabrina's reporting and what she saw at CPAC, I think one of the really interesting things is we've seen Secretary Rubio much more aligned with President Trump on foreign policy than JD Vance. Not publicly, but privately in reporting, we've seen that the Vice President is much more uncomfortable with some of the use of military force overseas. And so it's interesting to see Marco Rubio making inroads with CPAC voters at a time when Vance is the one who seems to be much more skeptical of overseas intervention.

RAJU: Yes. And speaking of the evolution of Marco Rubio, this is the 2013 Time magazine cover, Marco Rubio, The Republican Savior. And remember, he ran in 2016, did not go so well, particularly after the New Hampshire primary. Chris Christie, that debate was brutal for Marco Rubio, if you recall.

JD Vance hadn't even graduated from law school yet back in February 2013. Just shows you how long Rubio has been on the scene here and how he's been managed to really survive and at this moment thrive within the GOP.

SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: Well, those are polite terms, you know, Manu, in a way for the fact that Marco Rubio of today has jettisoned many of the principles that Marco Rubio, back when my friend Mike Reynolds wrote that Time magazine cover, the principles that he had at that time.

RAJU: He's evolved on --

GLASSER: Yes.

RAJU: -- immigration, Ukraine, foreign aid --

GLASSER: Yes. I mean, again, evolved --

RAJU: -- taking a much different line now.

GLASSER: Evolved is a polite term.

RAJU: Yes.

GLASSER: He's actually disavowed the positions that he had at the time. For example, he was a leading moderate on immigration who was very close to making a deal with Democrats that would have avoided, you know, what we're seeing right now --

RAJU: He did cut that deal.

GLASSER: Yes.

RAJU: It's passed the Senate, didn't go anywhere in the House.

GLASSER: Well, exactly. If you tell him that, though, he'll -- I doubt that he will own up to that if you had an interview with him right now. And I think it speaks to the challenge you asked. Is there someone other than JD Vance or Marco Rubio who will end up being a credible candidate or even the winning candidate in a Republican primary in 2028?

And I think the answer is certainly there is the possibility of that because that Trump sort of takeover of the Republican Party is a story of an outsider and a movement type appeal to Americans, a renegade who took over then the Republican Party. Is it going to just be the new Republican Trumpist establishment?

And then we revert to a sort of Republican Party of old where whoever was in line for the nomination tended to win it? Or is it still the Republican insurgency that dominates? In which case, I would say an outsider who is neither JD Vance nor Marco Rubio would have a real shot --

RAJU: Yes.

GLASSER: -- at winning the post-Trump mantle of the Republican Party.

RAJU: Yes. It's going to be a fascinating, fascinating couple of years. We'll say the world is going to change a lot. No question about it before we get there.

All right, coming up next, Cubans get their first oil delivery in months. But just how long will it be -- will it buy the island facing an energy crisis? We're live in Havana. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:39:06]

RAJU: Relief, however, brief in Cuba today. President Trump allowed the first oil delivery to the island in months. A Russian-flagged tanker. The blockade has exacerbated a longstanding energy crisis. Nationwide blackouts, disrupted water supplies, trash pileups around the cities, shortened school and hospital hours. Now, overnight, President Trump downplayed the decision to let a Russian ship through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not going to have an impact. Cuba's finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership. And whether or not they get a boat of oil, it's not going to matter. I'd prefer letting it in, whether it's Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need.

(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: CNN's Patrick Oppmann is there in Havana for us live. So, Patrick, how much does one boatload of oil matter from the Cuban perspective?

[12:40:03]

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Listen, any safety line at this point is certainly very welcome here. This is a government and a country running on fumes. But you're absolutely right, it's 250,000 barrels of oil. And so that's going to help this country operate, keep the lights on a little bit more for about two more weeks, is what energy analysts tell us.

So while it is significant that a boatload of oil got through the Trump administration blockade, it is not the solution to Cuba's energy problems. And we've seen in the past that Russia says they simply cannot afford to finance this island like they did the Cold War.

RAJU: Patrick, President Trump has said it directly and repeatedly, Cuba is next. So what do the Cubans actually say about this?

OPPMANN: You know, if you're a supporter of the revolution, you really do bristle at President Trump saying that he will decide the future of this island. But there are Cubans who say that if he opens the economy, that could be very good for them, that if this deal happens peacefully, one of them who I talked to over the weekend might surprise you.

Sandro Castro, yes, of that Castro family. His comments to me were more than a little surprising. Let's hear what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDRO CASTRO, FIDEL CASTRO'S GRANDSON (through translation): It's complicated. Perhaps many Cubans would have liked to have been capitalists. I think the majority of Cubans want capitalism, not communism. That has created differences, a hatred which are not productive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPMANN: And so here you have a Castro, a member of the family that brought communism to Cuba, saying that they think more Cubans are capitalists now than communists. Sandro Castro has been a thorn in the side of the government. He posts videos, the most recent one showing Trump coming to Cuba, trying to buy the island, opening a hotel at the end of that.

Of course, if your last name is Castro, you can get away with this kind of thing. Most people cannot. We'll see if it has any implications for him, his criticisms of the Cuban president, the Cuban system, and him saying that at this point, I think it's Donald Trump, if he does not threaten this island, if they strike a peaceful deal, that that would be good for Cuba.

RAJU: A fascinating conversation with Sandro Castro. You can catch more of that on CNN.com, of course.

So, Patrick Oppmann, thank you for bringing that to us live from Havana.

And coming up for us, a tough job market, a new war. There are a lot of reasons for young Americans to be pessimistic. What does Gen Z want the rest of us to know about their hopes and their fears?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:46:53]

RAJU: It's a tough time to be entering the workforce or trying to strike out on your own. 43 percent of 18 to 29 year olds say they are struggling to get by or are only limited getting by with limited financial security. 59 percent of young Americans say AI is a threat to their job prospects. So it's not surprising that many Gen Zers probably see themselves in this 22-year-old.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's very concerning breaking news every day, whether it's like ICE, legal things happening, or just like foreign wars and people saying things about World War III. And I think it's having young people especially feel like, well, what am I supposed to do? Like, am I supposed to enjoy my life? Am I supposed to get a job? Is the world going to end?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And joining me now is Rachel Janfaza, a researcher who focuses on Gen Z and is a member of the generation herself. She's the founder of the Up and Up and a contributor to the Bulwark. Rachel, thank you so much for being with me. When you hear that, it makes sense that younger voters entering the workforce may just say, OK, maybe nothing matters. So tell us what you found.

RACHEL JANFAZA, FOUNDER & AUTHOR, THE UP & UP: Well, thanks, Manu, for having me. This quote came from a listening session that I did at the end of last week. And it sounds very similar to what I'm hearing from a lot of young people right now about their fears and really just insecurity in thinking about how to start their futures when there is new breaking news every day, like we heard about, and the threat of a global war and an unstable job market.

It's just really daunting. And it can feel, you know, this is a time when young people are trying to get prepared for their futures. And that can be really hard, given all of the noise around them at all times. And also they're scrolling through it constantly every second on their social media feeds.

RAJU: You talk about the two sub-generations within Gen Z. One started college during the first Trump administration. One started in the Biden era. And they have vastly different cultural moments that shaped them. The Women's March, March for Our Lives on one side, and the kids who lost parts of their high school or college years to COVID lockdown. So in this political moment, how are these groups looking at Trump and thinking about politics?

JANFAZA: Yes. So Gen Z 1.0 and Gen Z 2.0 have grown up in vastly different political moments, media environments, and global context. And when you look at Gen Z 1.0 versus Gen Z 2.0, the environment is really Trump 1.0 compared to Trump 2.0. And in those first Trump years, there was tons of social activism.

That was when I was in college. There was different movements every week, it felt like. And now, you know, thinking back to this past weekend, the latest round of the "No Kings" demonstrations, I think that's something that attracted a lot of older Americans.

But I didn't see very many young people showing up at those demonstrations across the country. And I think, you know, that's a very interesting point. Gen Z 2.0 looks at Gen Z 1.0's activism and asks, where did it get us? And I think they feel like they're still in many of the same situations today that they were in, or that the generation a little bit older than them were in eight years ago.

[12:50:08]

And it can feel just a little bit hopeless and like, what's the point? And so I think --

RAJU: Yes.

JANFAZA: -- that's part of why we're seeing that show up differently.

RAJU: And just a Fox News poke that came out just recently about how voters under 30 view Trump. Approved 36 percent, disapproved 64 percent. But let's talk about how they view Democrats. Because of course, Trump has dominated politics while this generation was coming of age and aging into the electorate. But how do they feel about Democrats? Do they view them as out of touch with their concerns?

JANFAZA: Yes. I recently held a listening session and a young man had said that it seems like Democrats are running around like chicken with their heads cut off. And so, while young people are certainly moving away from President Trump, they are not necessarily moving towards Democrats. They are looking for leaders who are going to offer a post- Trump vision.

We're going to talk about what the next phase of politics should look like in this country. You know, we're coming up on America's 250th, and there's a lot of conversations about patriotism and where should we go from here. And for young people, that's what they want their politicians to be talking about.

To look beyond this current moment and say, here's our vision for the future. And that's what's going to resonate. So whether it's what they're looking for on the left or the right, I think they really need leaders who are offering something new and something different. And, you know, sometimes that might mean a younger face, but it doesn't necessarily have to do with age.

They really are just looking for someone who's speaking to them and their daily concerns. And certainly economic security, affordability is top of mind.

RAJU: Yes. And I want to show you a few ways Gen Z voters describe the job market to the New York Times. They called it, quote, "a scam, uncertain, unfair, rough, a struggle." What are these voters telling you? How are they looking for a way in?

JANFAZA: They are looking for, whether it's leaders in the workforce or educators, to really be helping them prepare for the future and to really be leveling with them about what the reality is. I think a lot of times they feel like they're being talked down to and that they're being taught things that might not actually be relevant for the future of work.

I hear this a lot from high schoolers when they're thinking about applying to college in the first place and thinking about what type of education would set them up best for their future career. And then I also hear from a lot of early career professionals who might be trying to get a job in the first place or move between jobs who say that those entry-level jobs are just so hard to come by right now.

And so they are looking for the employers where they are to really work on mentorship and manage them and to have formed strong relationships between the employer and the employee. That's something that really matters to this generation, especially when they're looking at such a thin job market and opportunities elsewhere.

RAJU: All right, Rachel Janfaza, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you so much for sharing your finding with us. Really appreciate your time.

And coming up next for us, how deep are President Trump's pockets? We have new numbers on his net worth, which has soared since his return to the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:57:50]

RAJU: Topping our political radar, agree to disagree. It's a smart strategy in marriages if -- even if your spouse is the Vice President. In an interview with NBC, second lady Usha Vance admits she's not always on the same page as her husband.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

USHA VANCE, SECOND LADY: One of the benefits of being in a marriage as opposed to, you know, being, I'm not a staffer, I'm not involved in this in any professional sense, is that there's no expectation that we are going to see eye to eye on everything. The expectation is that we are going to be open-minded and have a conversation and that I'll provide meaningful input from, you know, the perspective of someone who loves him and wants him to succeed. So even if we don't agree, I think it's always very productive.

(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: Now, Usha Vance also announced she's launching a podcast called "Storytime with the Second Lady" as part of her work to increase childhood literacy rates.

President Trump rarely misses a chance to flaunt his fortune, but just how rich is he? According to a new analysis from Forbes, he's worth $6.5 billion. And it seems being in the Oval Office is boosting his bottom line. His net worth jumped by $1.4 billion over the past year, and it's nearly tripled since 2024.

He can thank crypto for a lot of it. His digital currency ventures added nearly $2 billion to the President's bank account last year. He was also helped by a judge striking down the $500 million civil fraud judgment against him.

And Pope Leo is condemning leaders who use God to justify war. As First Palm Sunday Mass' pontiff, he delivered this message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translation): Brothers and sisters, this is our God, Jesus, Prince of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying, "Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: The first American pope and Chicago pope didn't name names, but his comments appear aimed at the Trump administration's war in Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in particular, frequently invokes Jesus when defending the war.

Thanks for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts right now.