Return to Transcripts main page
Inside Politics
Ex-State Senator Troy Jackson Poised To Become New Dem Nominee; Don Jr.'s Investment Firm Soars During Trump Presidency; Americans Locked Out Of Home Ownership In Affordability Crisis; Seventh Time's A Charm? U.K. Gets Another New Prime Minister; Bill Maher: Yes, I Could Vote For Vance In 2028; Vice President Vance And Second Lady Usha Vance Welcome Baby Boy. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired July 20, 2026 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TROY JACKSON (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: You know, what a great job I did, and I didn't do a goddamn thing. All of you just smoked it, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I mean, it's really, really incredible.
We're well on our way to getting the government that we (INAUDIBLE) deserve, and that's what I'm --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's awesome.
JACKSON: -- that's what I'm excited about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[12:30:20]
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: So I mentioned that this candidate is somebody who hasn't gotten an endorsement from Bernie Sanders, who didn't endorse anyone after Graham Platner, but certainly is aligned with a lot of his policies now. Who is he? Well, he lost the Democratic primary for governor this year. He was the President of the Maine Senate. He first ran for office as a Republican. He became a Democrat in 2004. He once opposed abortion and LGBTQ rights, and he now supports Medicare for All and abolishing ICE.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: I think the most -- if you talk to Democrats who are, like, so singed to the degree that, like, fully burned from Maine right now for obvious reasons, the thing that they will tell you right now is his ability to organize in a manner that just blew this race out of the water on a delegate side, which is not easy. The way this was all set up was impressive in and of itself.
Does that mean that he's going to be able to organize against a woman who just does not lose in the state of Maine? No, not necessarily. She's got a ton of money, and he's going to have to raise very, very quickly. But they say, look, if nothing else, given how awful the last couple of weeks have been, that was a good sign that we've got somebody in that has a team and has a ground -- some semblance of a ground operation and an alignment with the Sanders kind of group and their abilities that could give them something to work on in the months ahead.
BASH: Yes, it was remarkable to see --
MATTINGLY: It have it fast.
BASH: -- one by one --
MATTINGLY: Yes.
BASH: -- yes, over the weekend all of his leading opponents saying, nope, we're out.
SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, POLITICS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Yes, I mean, it shows the power of the organizing. Talk about what a shift Troy Jackson's had in the span of two months. Just six weeks ago, he came in third place in the ranked choice primary for governor, and then now we're talking about him being the presumptive nominee for the U.S. Senate in Maine.
So it's fascinating, the shift, but it is, to your point, it's the power of that organizing that happened. You saw very quickly the progressives in Maine, and nationally, really, a lot of them kind of coalesce around him. We saw Our Revolution, the progressive group founded by Bernie Sanders. The same day that Platner was dropping out, come out and say that they were throwing their support behind him, the support of labor unions.
It'll be really interesting to see because he's from the same rural county as Susan Collins, so they sort of hail from the same part of the state, which is not where the biggest cluster of voters is. So I think just electorally, there'll be an interesting dynamic there. But certainly, again, to us talking about this fight that's happening within the Democratic Party, this is another bright spot for the progressive movement to point to, that they were able to coalesce like this.
BASH: Yes. I was talking to a Maine Democrat yesterday who was reminding me that labor unions make up a minuscule percentage of the vote there. But still, the point is, is that this is somebody who is, again, coming from the progressive wing. I mean --
CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG: Right. I think the hope is that he appeals to some of the same voters. I do think one question, it's kind of the flip of what Phil is saying, is to regular voters and people who maybe don't always vote, who aren't that invested in process, do they feel like there was enough of a process? You know, if other people have dropped out, if -- and I think a lot of Democrats feel really burned by how everything happened in 2024 with Harris and Biden.
And do they -- so do they feel like enough sort of due diligence was taken here? Will be a question to see.
BASH: Yes. The big question is, can he beat Susan Collins?
AYESHA RASCOE, NPR HOST, "WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY" AND "UP FIRST": Look, listen --
BASH: I'm not asking you to answer that.
RASCOE: It's -- it was going to be an uphill battle for Platner, even without all the baggage. It's going to be an uphill battle for Jackson. But I think what you have Democrats here, whether they're progressive or not, you're going to hear this phrase, turn the page. It's time for us to turn the page and do something different. And now let's move on from Platner and let's focus on Jackson.
This is what we got. And let's throw everything we can at it. But, you know, it's going to be hard. She -- this senator, like Collins has won so much for a reason. It doesn't happen by accident.
BASH: Yes.
RASCOE: So she's going to be tough to take out.
BASH: Yes, no question.
All right. Coming up, a new CNN investigation tracks the rapid rise of Donald Trump Jr.'s business venture during his father's second term. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:39:06]
BASH: Now to a CNN investigation on the first family business boom. After the Trump family disclosed making hundreds of millions of dollars since inauguration day, CNN has found that an investment firm Donald Trump Jr. is a partner has skyrocketed during his father's presidency, while companies in its portfolio have seen a jump in federal contracts.
CNN Senior Investigative Producer Curt Devine joins us now. Curt, what have you found?
CURT DEVINE, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER: Yes. Hi, Dana. So Trump Jr. announced he joined that firm, 1789 Capital, days after his father's reelection in 2024. Since that time, assets the firm manages have more than tripled. We've seen they've grown from less than $1 billion to what its leaders say is more than $3 billion today.
And we found that 10 businesses the firm invested in have been awarded more than $1.6 billion from federal contracts and grants. So in under two years, they got more than they got in the entirety of President Joe Biden's term. And that's not counting more than $1 billion in federal money that may go to other startups the firm has invested in.
[12:40:11]
BASH: And how has Trump Jr. talked about the firm? DEVINE: Right. So when asked why people should invest with 1789 Capital, this is what Trump Jr. said at a business forum last year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF DONALD TRUMP: The administration wants to do because we help craft some of that messaging. So we can be on the outside but still have that understanding of what they plan to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And Kurt, talk about any connection specifically between the President's son and these contracts.
DEVINE: Yes, I want to be clear. We have seen nothing that shows 1789 has tried to influence federal contracts and other major funds, investment funds like 1789 have invested in some of these same companies. But government watchdogs still say this trend raises questions because taxpayer dollars are boosting these companies that the firm has invested in.
I asked Donald Trump Jr.'s spokesman about all of this and he sent me a statement saying, "Don does not interface with the federal government as part of his role with any company that he invests in or advises." An attorney the -- an attorney for 1789 Capital said the firm has done nothing with respect to these companies, private companies, other than making the same smart investments as other well- respected funds and investors. And the White House said there are no conflicts of interest.
BASH: All right, Curt, thank you so much for staying on the story. Appreciate it.
And up next, families across the country open their homes and their lives to CNN's Phil Mattingly, who's on a mission asking the most important question -- why is it so hard to afford the American dream?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOLENE SIMECEK, RENTER: I feel that we shouldn't get discouraged and not allow these people to still be able to partake in the American dream and buying a home and stuff like that.
MATTINGLY: Why did your tone change when you said the American dream?
SIMECEK: Because it's -- it sounds like a joke anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:46:28]
BASH: What happens when hard work is no longer enough? Politicians, and yes, we in the media, throw around the term affordability all the time. But Phil Mattingly actually traveled the country to find out what it means to real people. He started in his home state of Ohio, with a look at Americans being locked out of the housing market.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIMECEK: It's not affordable to live on your own as a single person anymore.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): For generations, Cleveland was the promise kept. One of the last places a family of almost any income could own a home that was theirs.
SIMECEK: I wanted, you know, a yard for my kid and just the normal American dream. Just a house, a picket fence, a yard. And it just seems that that's more and more not, it's out of touch, not reality.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): For Jolene Simecek, that deal has come undone. A working mom and a nursing student, she's always had a job. But she can't keep up with the skyrocketing rents in her Cleveland suburb.
SIMECEK: It went from $785 to nearly $1,600 a month.
MATTINGLY: Your rent effectively doubled.
SIMECEK: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Over what, seven years?
SIMECEK: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Six years, seven years?
SIMECEK: Yes.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): And your income presumably did not follow the same path over that period of time?
SIMECEK: No, it did not go up at that rate at all.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Her next best option, a room in her sister's basement.
SIMECEK: They were lucky enough to rent it to me for $450 a month.
MATTINGLY: $450? OK.
SIMECEK: Yes.
MATTINGLY: And the alternative was roughly $1,600-ish?
SIMECEK: $1,600, or yes, sleep in my little hatchback, so.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Nearly one in four Clevelanders now hand over more than half of what they earn just to stay housed.
SIMECEK: I've already paid a $250,000 in rent in my life, you know. I should already have the home with the equity paid off, but I didn't make the right decisions, you know. If you rent, that's what you get. MATTINGLY (voice-over): So how did it get this bad? Frank Ford has spent decades tracing the forces that shaped these streets. It starts with redlining, lenders starving black neighborhoods of home loans.
FRANK FORD, SENIOR POLICY ADVISER, WESTERN RESERVE LAND CONSERVANCY: There's a shift that took place in the late 90s where some mortgage lenders flipped that and realized, well, wait a minute. Instead of denying people loans because we perceive them as high risk, what if we make loans and use that perception as the reason to raise interest rates?
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Those predatory loans inflated a bubble that burst in 2007.
FORD: The banks found themselves sitting on 600 homes in Cleveland, 800 homes in Cleveland. They started to offload those properties for pennies on the dollar to investors.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Thousands of homes swept up by phantom investors charging market rent while letting them rot. The paradox of a broken market. Homes are cheap because families can't buy them, but the rents stay high. The spread is a magnet for out-of-state LLCs.
Buy all cash, collect rent, ignore the repairs. Nowhere is it clearer than Shaker Square.
ANDERSON WALDON, SHAKER SQUARE RESIDENT: OK, this is my one bedroom. These are the water blisters that dried out I told you about. These here are the holes where all the water came through.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Anderson Waldon came here in 2020 to retire somewhere safe and walkable. Instead, three of every four neighbors left, and the buildings crumbled around the few who did stay.
[12:50:05]
WALDON: I have my drills. I've tried to fix everything myself because I can't wait until it gets done because it never gets done.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: I mean, honestly, I'm trying not to cry because it's so clear, Phil Mattingly, who is here now, that the people who you talk to, first of all, are sadly not unique, but they're so articulate about the struggle that they have, and they're trying to do, and they have done everything right. What is the defining trend on this housing issue that you found in talking to all these people?
MATTINGLY: That, look, I would actually take one step back real quick to say that going into this, the people that I wanted to talk to were the people that had done everything right, right? The people that had worked their entire lives. The woman, Jolene Simecek, had worked since she was 13 years old, had decided to go back to school to get her nursing degree, put herself into more debt because she thought that was the only way to get the type of stable job that would allow her to potentially buy a house to help her 17-year-old son. So everybody we talked to was somebody who did not make bad decisions or did the wrong things. They did all the things they were supposed to do. And what was so striking when it comes to the housing issue, and I think Cleveland is such a good microcosm of what the entire country is dealing with, is how every single link in the kind of the causal chain that defines homeownership in this country, from initial renters to first-time homebuyers to people who are now locked into their 2 percent, 2.5 percent to 3 percent interest rates from COVID era that don't want to get out, all of it is broken.
And when it starts to fracture at kind of the lower end of the spectrum, as we were showing you in East Cleveland, and how that filters all the way through into not just Jolene Simecek's suburb of Parma, but you push out even further into Bay Village. These are really, really nice areas of Cleveland where the ability to get the house, not only are prices skyrocketing, you're battling everybody and their mother, right. Somehow they all have all cash.
They all don't want any contingencies. And you see this around the country over and over again, and people are just getting locked out and are unable to afford what we all assumed was like, oh, this is what we do. Like, you have the job, you rent. Once you have enough money, you buy the first house, and then you move on to the next house, then you move on to the next house. In a place like Cleveland, that was what it was all about.
BASH: Yes.
MATTINGLY: And it very much is not the case right now.
BASH: Yes, no, it really isn't. And, you know, Jolene was saying, well, I made mistakes and that I should have bought earlier. But I think the whole point of what you're describing is that it's not that easy to buy earlier, even with the lower interest rate during the COVID era. You have to have a down payment.
MATTINGLY: You have to have a down payment. You have to, like, if you think through the process of buying a house, like the amount of preparation that goes into that is significant. The amount of money you have to have going into that is significant.
And I think one thing I would just say, it's both with Jolene and everybody we talked to, the ability -- the biggest takeaway I had, I think, was not only are these people amazing because they were willing to talk about a situation. Like if somebody came to you and was like, Dana, let's talk about your finances line by line.
I don't even want to talk to my wife about that most of the time. Not only were they willing to do that, but they were willing to do it in a way that really underscored what I heard over and over again, which is nobody's listening to us.
BASH: Yes.
MATTINGLY: We want someone to listen to us --
BASH: Exactly.
MATTINGLY: -- and hear us because we don't believe anybody cares.
BASH: Well, you care, you're listening. And this series is, I've watched all the pieces, Phil, they're so good. And I encourage everybody to check out the full series. It's called Priced Out in America. It's exclusively on CNN All Access. You can see them all there. You can also, obviously, you saw a portion of it just now, and we're going to do another portion tomorrow.
Thank you, Phil.
Coming up, he calls himself an old school liberal, but now comedian Bill Maher says he's open to voting Republican in 2028. Hear his reasoning next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:58:34]
BASH: Topping our political radar, the United Kingdom has a new prime minister, again. Labor Party Leader Andy Burnham officially took over after meeting with King Charles at Buckingham Palace. He's the country's seventh leader in a decade, and he's promising the biggest changes to the nation since the Margaret Thatcher era.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY BURNHAM, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again. And that is our challenge, to make politics work, to make it work better.
It's about putting the right values and the right standards at the heart of government. I will put the care of people at the heart of everything I do. I will give this my all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And comedian Bill Maher says if the Democrats keep moving left, the HBO host might just vote for a Republican in 2028. In an interview with ABC News, the self-described old-school liberal said he'd abandon the party if its, quote, "communist wing took over."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL MAHER, HOST, REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER": This wing of the party, this new wing with all the energy, and it's not just a few people anymore. I read -- every day I read about a new person in some Colorado, in Wisconsin, somebody who is saying some variation of not defund the police, abolish the police. No prisons, no police. Like, what world did they think we could possibly live in under these conditions?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you see yourself voting for JD Vance?
MAHER: Yes. If this is the Democratic side, yes. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Maher also condemned Trump's election lies and criticized Republicans like Vance who echoed them.
And congratulations are in order for the Vice President and the Second Lady, Usha Vance, who welcomed their fourth child to the world yesterday. Baby boy Alec Neel Vance joins older siblings Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel.
President Trump shared a photo of the two of them meeting little Alec for the first time. Vance is the first Vice President in more than 150 years to have a baby while in office.
Thank you so much for joining Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts right now.
