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Inside Politics

Trump To Vulnerable Republicans: I'll Campaign For All Of You; Will Trump Spend His $400M War Chest To Help Republicans? GOP Candidates Concede Rising Prices In New Ads; North Carolina Prepares To Mail Nation's First Absentee Ballots; Roy Cooper Quietly Builds Momentum In NC Senate Race; Democrats Bullish But Cautious On Flipping Open Senate Seat; Whatley Attacks Cooper On Crime, COVID Responses In Ads; Trump's Pitch For Paxton: Believe In The Man, Not His Suit. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired September 03, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR, INSIDE POLITICS: Will President Trump be the GOP's superpower in November or its political kryptonite?

I'm Phil Mattingly in for Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

He's going to be everything, everywhere, all at once. That's what President Trump is telling his party, 61 days ahead of the midterm elections. But is it what Republicans on the ballot actually want?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're going to do something like I did for myself in the last presidential election. Four months out, I said, OK, no days off. I'm going to go to every one of those 35 places, and we're going to see if we can get everyone elected. Give me some names where I say, is either tied, or you're winning by a little bit, or you're losing by a little bit. In some cases, you can be losing by a lot, and we'll bring you over the line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: President Trump is historically unpopular. The country is six months into a war most oppose, and Americans are still worried about rising prices and an unequal economy. On the flip side, no one fires up the GOP base like the president, and no one has as much money to spend right now. As of last month, the president's Super PAC was sitting on $400 million of cash, and every Republican wants a piece of that. If nothing else, definitely the money.

I'm joined now by a terrific group of reporters. And Kristen, I think it's like the fascinating conundrum for Republicans right now. You need low propensity voters. You need Trump base. Do you want Trump with his approval ratings in your district, in your state, on the trail with you right now, but oh, by the way, you definitely want his money. What's your sense of things right now? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, the lawmakers that I've talked to, even in competitive districts, they feel like they have Trump on the ballot no matter what. So, the way that these lawmakers, and again, it's not everybody. Some people don't want to be anywhere near him right now. But the lawmakers that I've been speaking to say, no matter what, I'm running with Trump on the ticket because that's what my opponent is doing. Every ad has Trump in it. Everything points to policies that people think are unpopular.

So, if I can actually use this to my advantage by driving turnout, and internal polling for Republicans has shown across the country that there are a lot of pockets of undecided voters, and this is Republican polling that are Trump voters, that are not decided if they're going to come out. So, if I could drive traffic with him while still getting this onslaught, then maybe is something that I should consider, but again, we know that's not everybody.

We know there are certain lawmakers who aren't going to go to this convention, who don't want to be seen on the stage with him. This is just what I've been told from a group of lawmakers that I've talked to.

MATTINGLY: Aaron, I think the most fascinating part right now is like having been through many administrations, the president heading into any midterm always wants to be thinks that they are a valuable utility, and is often told or hinted at, like not, maybe just stay somewhere else. But to Kristen's point, like Trump is a valuable utility for Republicans in certain districts, in certain states, no question.

However, Trump -- let's pull up the kind of comparative on approval ratings right now. Trump is at 35 percent. That's the lowest among any of the presidents heading into a midterm, going back to George W. Bush. I mean, one of the questions is if they start spending, can his approval rating tick up a few points? Maybe that helps nationally. I just -- like, I wouldn't want to be a Republican right now, trying to figure out how to navigate the thicket.

AARON BLAKE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: They're going to have to walk a very fine line on this, and then we have in recent days something that's been very interesting, which is that the president has started talking about this situation as if the problem with the Republicans are having right now is not him, but it's actually the rest of the people in the party. He's saying people like me, but they don't like these other Republicans.

There's some truth to the idea that they need him to turn out his base, which doesn't turn out in elections where he's not on the ballot. But he is not much more popular than the Republican Party, he is in fact weighing them down. And generally speaking, you'd see that people don't like political parties. So, the idea that he's as unpopular as the political party is actually pretty bad for Republicans right now.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. It's like everybody hates incumbent's period. No matter who you are. He's no longer the outsider as his run for president three times, second term in office. Nia, the money is obviously huge. Like you talk to any Republican right now, and they're like, when are they going to spend? Like you just dropped 800,000 on a Republican primary in South Carolina, can you spend elsewhere?

My sense and Kristen know better than me. They're going to spend. They have a plan. There's a timeline that's mapped out. The president was very specific about candidates and timelines and places he wants to physically go, the money will be there as well. What's also interesting is Elon Musk started spending his Super PAC, started spending last night.

The FEC filing came in late, and while it's less than a million dollars, it's indicative of a pretty sharp strategic sense in terms of the races he was targeting, the fact he's going to spend, spend significant amounts of money. What's your sense of like where the money comes in in the next couple weeks?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, BLOOMBERG POLITICAL & POLICY COLUMNIST AND CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Listen, I mean, money is going to be very important, and people have denying this $400 million. He hasn't really spent it yet. I think there is reason to doubt how much of that he is going to spend and how much he wants to sort of --

[12:05:00]

MATTINGLY: Do you think so? Like, I get it. I know the anxiety from Republicans for -- it's kind of stinging with his own money.

HENDERSON: Yeah. He's stingy with his own money. You know, he hasn't spent any so far. There have been lots of promises from this White House, not only on him being out there previously, right? Remember, he's supposed to barn store in the country after the State of the Union and all sorts of times. So, we'll see if he makes good on any of these promises to actually campaign.

Listen, I think if you're Republican, you sort of hope that he's over promising being out there as much as he is and will essentially underdeliver -- under deliver in terms of his presence, but maybe over deliver in terms of the money because that's what they need. They need a way to get folks out. In ad spending, I think, you know, sure that'd be great, but actually mobilizing, turning people out, getting them to the polls. These low propensity voters is what's going to be most important for the Republicans.

BLAKE: I would argue that they don't necessarily know that he's going to do these things. That he's going to spend money on these races. I mean, you see Republican senators coming out publicly over the last several days, going on Fox News and basically pleading with him to spend money in the Texas Senate race. There's almost a game of chicken that's going on there, where the Senate Republicans don't want to spend money on Ken Paxton. They're kind of waiting for Trump to do it, but he hasn't done it yet.

MATTINGLY: You're going to actually cite your story and that headline in the next block, don't give it all away. BLAKE: We could talk about it then, but I do think that there is a -- there is a real concern that he's not ponying up in the way that they want him to. And Trump likes to keep these things close to the vest and that's going to make people nervous.

HOLMES: Well, they also -- you have to keep this in mind. President Trump doesn't want these candidates to completely rely on his money, neither do their political team. They want to be able to spend the way they want to spend, where they want to spend it, where they see it's necessary. There is some belief when you're talking to political advisers that Trump is going to spend, that there is a plan for spending. But they don't want to preview it because they want these candidates to feel like they have to spend every dollar they have to support their own candidacy, and then they can come in as an ad and an extra, not as we're going to prop you up and fund your entire ad campaign.

MATTINGLY: Yeah.

HOLMES: So, I think there is some of that too. They want these candidates to feel like they need to be doing the groundwork as well.

MATTINGLY: And I understand, like, there's a theory of the case there. One, it's understanding where there are gaps, where there are opportunities to spend, where are other groups coming in, so you can map out across that. Man, people are freaking out, and it's kind of funny on some level. Though I do worry about some of them sometimes and their mental health.

One of the other, like, add another layer of complexity to this, it's the messaging. We saw two Trump aligned groups put out their first TV ads yesterday. One of them was like, Trump is awesome, narrated by Dana White. One of them is like, we are awesome, which I think was more the ad Republicans would want. But then you watch Republican messages on the trail. Here's a snippet of a couple of them.

(PLAYING VIDEO)

MATTINGLY: Ads for three Republican candidates who are trying to capture the Americans are pissed, and affordability is the number one issue they're pissed about, but that's not where the president is.

HENDERSON: Yeah, that's not where the president is. He wants to talk about anything but affordability. Listen, there have been sometimes there have been affordability events at the White House, but by and large, talking about affordability is seen by this White House and certainly by Trump as a failure, right, that this president didn't deliver on his central campaign promise, which was to lower costs. That hasn't happened. Americans feel it, and Americans connect it to Donald Trump's policies, whether it's the war in Iran, or its tariffs, right?

You think about the Michigan Senate race, for instance. Michigan has paid the highest because of these tariffs, and so that's why this is going to be very difficult for these Republicans to run away from affordability in the way that Donald Trump sort of wants them to. MATTINGLY: Yeah. It's a high wire act across like 15 different layers here. I'm going to see how many ways I can say metaphors that we all say over and over again. All right. When we come back, we already heard Aaron Blake kind of tease what we're going to be talking about. Why the Democrats' best chances at picking up a Senate seat may be the race no one's talking about. Plus, remembering an icon of the feminist movement, Gloria Steinem's towering legacy, advancing women's rights. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: North Carolina owns a number of firsts, the first vote for independents, the first public university, the first in flight because it had a windy, sandy area after Ohio conceived, engineered, and built the plane that they flew. The first in the country to begin voting in midterms when the state sends out the first mail-in ballots tomorrow.

CNN's Manu Raju is there in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Manu, you spoke to one of the Senate candidates on the ballot, Democratic former Governor Roy Cooper. What's his sense of things right now?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's uncertain, particularly when it comes to the mail-in voting. He particularly raised concerns about the impact that this could have in rural areas, Phil, because of just the -- how these -- this court fight will play out over the mail-in ballots. Whether the president will be able to actually implement this executive order. Whether the USPS will actually listen to what the president says when it comes to mail-in balloting, and whether it actually will suppress the vote in any which way.

[12:15:00]

And I asked Cooper about this, given the fact, as you mentioned, tomorrow that's when these ballots will be sent out in North Carolina, making it the first state in the nation to engage and start voting in the midterms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: The mail ballots coming out on Friday, absentee ballots. This is the first state in the nation that's really going to start voting, and we've seen the president try to clamp down on the USPS. And are you concerned about the impact that this may have in mail-in voting --

ROY COOPER, (D) NORTH CAROLINA SENATE CANDIDATE: Well, I think it's violation of the law, and yes, I'm concerned about the impact because look at who it affects. It affects rural people. It affects veterans. It affects people who are disabled, people who rely on the absentee mail system in order to be able to let their voices heard through the vote. And if they're going to get the post office picking and choosing which of these ballots go through and which don't, that's crazy. (END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And there's a real belief among Cooper and his allies that this race, Phil, is perhaps not a runaway the way that a lot of people nationally think that this Cooper has this in the bag against Republican Michael Whatley, which is one big reason why he has been stumping across the state, trying to remind voters about the significance of the state and the Democrats, where they absolutely have to flip North Carolina if they have any chance of taking back the Senate, Phil.

MATTINGLY: Manu, that's actually what I was going to ask you because it's weird that it's almost like people are just banking this as a Democratic flip. It's a reddish state that Democrats constantly fail statewide, with the exception of the governor's race, constantly fail in presidential elections to actually flip their way. What's your sense on the ground right now?

RAJU: Yeah. There's a real feeling, Phil, that this is a much tighter race than a lot of people nationally give it. And that's -- it was actually born out a poll that came out from High Point University just recently had this race within the margin of error, despite Cooper holding a more significant lead in weeks prior.

Both Cooper and Whatley's team believe that come October, that's when a lot of Republican voters will come home. Plus, there's so much money going across the airwaves, Republicans have not given up on this state. They're spending tons of money, mostly attacking Roy Cooper on the issue of crime. And Cooper knows very well that he is -- he's well known in this state, having been governor twice.

But there's a belief that he sort of hit his ceiling in terms of name ID. And Michael Whatley is not as well known in this state. Can he get defined more favorably heading into November? Will Republicans come home? And Phil, as you know, Trump won this state three times, and the last time a Democrat won a Senate seat in North Carolina was 2008 when Kay Hagan won that seat during the Obama wave.

So, it just shows you that Roy Cooper scratched his head a bit when he -- and I asked him about this. He said, well I don't know why people are simply thinking that we're going to win this race. It's going to be much more -- much tighter than he believes that a lot of people nationally are giving the state credit for, which is known for these very close races, Phil.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, that's such a great point. Manu Raju for us in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Thank you, my friend. Well, my panel is back. Nia, to Manu's point, like if you look statewide electorally, with the exception of Cooper, who's also been able to have the benefit, and the current governor as well, had the benefit of running against candidates that weren't necessarily always the Republicans' best. You talk to people, and this isn't in like the top five or six races that anyone's talking about. It is currently held by a Republican. It would be a flip. Are we overlooking this right now?

HENDERSON: Yeah. I think that's right. Particularly if you look at how the polls have fared so far in some of these races, they've been very, very wrong. So, I imagine that going down the stretch, this is going to get tighter. Whatley will certainly raise his name ID. It is more of a purplish state. Trump, I'm sure, maybe this will be on his list of going down there and trying to turn up those base voters, so we'll see. But yeah, I mean, I think if you're a Democrat, don't sleep on this race. Don't think it's automatically in the bag. You're going to have to work for it.

MATTINGLY: I want to place a Cooper ad because I think Nia hits at a good point here, and Manu mentioned as well. Like Whatley is not defined and doesn't have massive name ID. Cooper trying to get out in front and do that. Watch this.

(PLAYING VIDEO)

MATTINGLY: Aaron, obviously threading the number one issue on voters' minds with Michael Whatley. The Whatley piece of this, I think, is the -- is a underappreciated driving force behind the underappreciation of this race, which is Republicans haven't been blown away by his candidacy up to this point. He can put up the fundraising. I think Cooper's at 20.7 million cash on hand. Whatley was at 3.4 million right now. There's a fundraising issue, which is weird for a former RNC chairman to have money issues. Does that change do you think in the near term?

[12:20:00]

BLAKE: I mean, what we do see in these races sometimes is that there's kind of these preconceived notions. In this race, we had a Democratic former governor who has been a very popular governor over the years. But a lot of times that doesn't translate necessarily to a federal race where people are looking at these races as one out of a hundred votes. And so, you may not love the Republican in the race, but you view him as a member of a team and somebody who's going to vote for a certain agenda.

And so, I think that's making this race a little bit closer. I do think that the Whatley situation is interesting because he did come in this very -- not very well known, you know, Republican National Committee chairman is somebody that we as reporters know pretty well, but people out in the country don't know. So, this is the kind of race that can close over time, and I think that's what we're seeing.

HOLMES: And I want to commend you on saying that Republicans haven't been blown away by his candidacy, because I think that the Republicans I'm talking to are not using such kind terms. They have been incredibly disappointed with how this has played out, and with him as a candidate, just personality-wise, he has had a hard time defining himself. Even when we, you know, he is somebody who is always in the background. He is not a skilled politician when it comes to talking to people, talking to the press.

If you look at that ad with Roy Cooper, you can see the ease at which Roy Cooper is looking and acting during that ad. I mean, he seems comfortable in his own skin. These are two very different candidates. I would say this. Republicans are definitely seeing something that they are not sharing publicly. Even though we're saying the race is close, even though we're looking at this, a lot of these Republicans have written off this race.

What we should keep an eye on is as we move closer to the midterms, is does that polling shift, and where do we see Trump spending money? Do we see Trump spending money? Because that is going to be the greatest indication that they believe they can move the needle and get Whatley across the finish line. If we don't see that money going in there, there's likely no chance that they believe that he's going to win.

MATTINGLY: That's such a great point. Like SLS is going to have to spend. It's a toss-up race, or it's a race that that they currently hold. Trump money, I think, is going to be a guide, not just in North Carolina, kind of across the country of what they're seeing. Real quick, Aaron, the national message, which I think was really effective for Trump in 2024, was on the issue of crime, and Whatley is focusing on that right now in his ads. Watch?

(PLAYING VIDEO)

MATTINGLY: Context is important here. I was actually referring to a court settlement during COVID, Cooper opposed the release, and then, based on an ACLU lawsuit, ended up coming to an agreement that was reached. But that message was very effective for the Trump campaign. One of several on these issues. Does it still play? Like, you know, playing the hits, does it work in a mid-term?

BLAKE: I think crime and immigration have worked very well for Trump. I think they probably work a little bit better when you're in the opposition, and that's what Whatley is trying to do here. He's saying I'm the opposition. Cooper was governor for a number of years, and he's got a record that he needs to answer for. I do think it's more difficult to make that penetrate now, given how focused people are on prices. That is the far and away the number one issue, if you look at any poll and it's not even close.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, that's a really great point. We're going to keep watching it. Up next, President Trump finesses his pitch for Ken Paxton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He was the best attorney general in the country, perhaps. He was one of the best in the entire country, and that speaks a lot louder than the suit he's wearing that doesn't look so great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Just epic nagging. We have new reporting on how that message is going over with Republicans in the Lone Star State. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: In case you weren't aware, because we've already been talking about it for months. Republicans have been waiting for President Trump and his Super PAC and aligned outside groups to start spending money to help Trump's pick Ken Paxton in Texas. The Paxton campaign is still waiting for a financial boost. For now, they'll have to settle for this compliment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have a guy named Ken Paxton, and some people don't like the way he dresses. Some people, I'll be honest, some people don't like an interview that he'll do. Ken Paxton, you might not like the way he dresses, and I say this, it's so insulting to him, but I might as well say it. You might not way -- like the way he looks, you might not love his look, you might not love his television interviews, but he was the best attorney general in the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Nia?

HENDERSON: Yeah. By you he means he doesn't like the way he looks, by the way.

MATTINGLY: Like the evolution of him just getting more and more specific about -- yes, there was one day that was like, just like -- it's like no and there was no -- there was no like reconsideration after the first one of being like maybe I should just keep it focused on. No, I'm just going to keep doubling down on this right now like, look, they need this race. They're going to spend in this race eventually. Trump said he's going to physically be down there, I think Republicans if he's going to go anywhere would be happy to have him just camp out there.

HENDERSON: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: What is the deal though with like the, is it the shirts he's wearing, is it the watches?

HENDERSON: You know, I mean, I think Trump likes men and women who are straight from central casting, right? It's why we have Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, right? He surrounds himself with, you know, people who look the way he thinks that newscasters should look the way you look, Phil, may I say the way you look, Aaron.

And so, I think when Trump is saying this about Ken Paxton, he is talking about some of this the discomfort that he might have as he is looking at Ken Paxton that he isn't maybe as handsome as he would like him to be. And so yeah, I mean it's almost a sort of a nervous tic that he has where he just can't help himself in talking about you, almost are in his body looking, you know, as he is looking at Ken Paxton on TV.

[12:30:00]