Return to Transcripts main page
Laura Coates Live
Airports Set to Begin Flight Cuts; Nancy Pelosi Plans to Retire; Tesla Shareholders Approve $1 Trillion Pay Package for Elon Musk. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired November 06, 2025 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I like sand, so I'm going pick Pet Rock. Pet Rock.
ARTHUR AIDALA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I saw you more of like a -- I saw you more like a Holly Hobbie oven. Do you remember Holly Hobbie oven? You get to cook with a light bulb.
SIDNER: The oven is in there.
AIDALA: I knew it.
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, we said Easy-Bake. We said together Light Bright.
AIDALA: Light Bright.
ALLISON: The problem with Light Bright, though, is like if your parents didn't re-up your -- your slice, then it was over after two days.
SIDNER: It was over. All right, we are done. That was really fun. Everyone, thank you so much. And thank you for watching "NewsNight." "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Tonight, the shutdown comes to an airport near you with flight cuts set to begin just hours from now. How bad is it going to get? And is this the flight that breaks the shutdown camel's back? Well, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is here to answer that question. Plus, Dr. Evil, eat your heart out. One trillion dollars for Elon Musk as the Tesla board approves a historic pay package. But is he worth it? And later, Nancy Pelosi calls it a career. But does anyone expect her to stay quiet on the sidelines? You know what? We'll ask one of her former senior advisors tonight on "Laura Coates Live."
This should never happen in America. It's what a federal judge said tonight after the administration's refusal to pay SNAP benefits in full right now. That judge ordered the USDA to pay up by tomorrow. And the administration basically smirked and said, how about an appeal?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's an absurd ruling because you have a federal judge effectively telling us what we have to do in the midst of a Democrat government shutdown. We can't have a federal court telling the president how he has to triage the situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: So, now, here we are. Day 37 of the government shutdown. We're already not paying people, facing a crisis of not feeding people. And now, we're about to face a crisis with traveling people. Starting tomorrow, the FAA is cutting flights at 40, 4-0, 40 major airports all across this country. You can see them right here on the map. These aren't puddle jumping areas. We're talking major airline hubs.
And the reason? No, not a plane shortage. No. There aren't enough air traffic controllers. Yeah, air traffic controllers, the people who keep the planes running on time and the airspace clear so that planes won't crash into each other. Air traffic controllers. They don't work for private airlines. They're federal employees. And ever since this shutdown started, this is what their paychecks have looked like. Zero dollars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK DANIELS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION: Controllers resigning every day now because of the prolonged nature of this shutdown. They're calling and saying, I don't have enough gas to get to work. To their employer, to their supervisor and manager, and saying, what do you want me to do? I can't put gas in my car. Who's going to help me?
UNKNOWN: Because they don't have money.
DANIELS: Because they haven't got paid for over 37 days. I can't pay for my child care. What -- can I bring my kids to work? They're not calling in sick. They're not calling in protests. They're calling with real-life situations. These are real people dealing with real-life circumstances. And when you don't pay somebody for 37 days and say, hey, just keep showing up and do your best, people are going to have issues, and they're mounting daily.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: What are they supposed to do? Well, the secretary of Transportation says, this isn't about politics, it's about safety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN DUFFY, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: My mission number one is to keep people safe. That's one. Number two is gridlock in -- with the traveling public. That's a secondary issue. Delays are a secondary issue. Safety is primary. And so, this is not politics for us. Again, politics are around what's happening. But this was not a political decision. This was a data-driven decision to make the right calls, to get ahead of any issues that could happen, you know, in the airspace that could have negative consequences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: So, the airlines, they're all cutting hundreds of flights. You realize that hundreds of flights. And as the shutdown drags on, it's not going to get any better. The numbers are going to keep growing. I mean, just -- we did the research, okay? Here's the outlook you need to see. A 4% cuts in flights, that starts tomorrow. Then it goes to 6% on November 11th.
[23:05:00]
Then you're talking about 10% on Friday, November 14th. And I'll do the math for you tonight. How it all adds up? Thousands, thousands of flights being cut. You remember what it's like to travel when there's a horrible storm, right? Well, this one is entirely manmade. And it's daily. And it's nationwide. And, you know, you know it's bad when the airlines aren't even bothering to use that ever annoying cliche of pack your patience. This chart is telling you. It's going to be bad.
Frontier's CEO saying -- quote -- "If you are flying Friday or the next 10 days and need to be there or don't want to be stranded, I highly recommend booking a backup ticket on another carrier." A backup ticket on what carrier? And won't the next one tells me the same thing? Because that's where we are.
Now, the big question is whether any of this, the lapse in SNAP funding, the airport mess, does it do anything to break the log jam happening over on Capitol Hill? All we know tonight is that Senator John Thune is planning a vote on some sort of measure to reopen the government tomorrow. But, apparently, it has nothing, nothing concrete about extending the Obamacare premiums, which you remember sparked this entire standoff in the first place, which then brings us right back to square one, square 37.
Let's begin this conversation with Democratic congresswoman from Texas, Jasmine Crockett. Congresswoman, thank you for being here. A lot has happened. We've now learned the Senate may stay in D.C. over the weekend to address this obvious longest shutdown ever. What kind of agreement, though, would Democrats need to get from Republicans to make this end?
REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): In my mind, they need a trigger. We know that this particular president, uh, he may sign it into law, and then just do whatever he wants to. And we need to have an automatic trigger in this bill. Um, it is one of those things that we saw under the Biden administration, is that if certain things weren't met by a certain amount of time --
COATES: Uh-hmm.
CROCKETT: -- then things that Democrats really want, which is like more money for the people, they automatically kicked in. So, we're going to have to do something, so that if he signs it into law, that ultimately, if he fails to distribute all the things that the American people want, the things that the Democrats are negotiating for, that there will be some sort of backlash or trigger, something that we can go to court about.
COATES: Do you trust that those triggers being in place would actually be followed?
CROCKETT: Um, I -- I don't know. But if we put the triggers in place and it's something that he signs into law, then those organizations that are supposed to be the beneficiaries of those items can then go ahead and go to court --
COATES: Uh-hmm.
CROCKETT: -- and at least get a court order now. Obviously, we're dealing with SNAP benefits right now, and we have an administration that wants to fight against feeding over 40 million people. So, granted, we still would have a lot of fighting on our hands, but we at least need to make sure that we are in a better position than we historically have found ourselves --
COATES: Yeah.
CROCKETT: -- with this administration.
COATES: You know a judge today ordered the administration to fully fund SNAP benefits. They were told earlier that it'd be a partial payment, which helps not the 40 million people who need everything about it. The vice president, though, Vice President J.D. Vance called it an absurd ruling. They are vowing to appeal in the Justice Department. I can see from your facial expression that you are either not surprised or dumbstruck by this.
CROCKETT: I'm --
(LAUGHTER)
I'm not surprised. Um, it -- you know, it honestly breaks my heart. Like, I don't really care how people feel about me as an individual. I'll be real with you. I signed up to do this work because I care.
COATES: Hmm.
CROCKETT: And we are in a position to really make people recognize and realize the American dream. And instead, every day, people are waking up with nightmares. And these nightmares are because we have decided that we are going to be the ones to deal them to them.
And when I say we, I have to take this as a collective because I am a part of the federal government at this point in time. And it is so frustrating to me to have people that believed in me, to represent a district of 766,000 people, and to know the numbers, to know that the people that will be more impacted detrimentally, knowing that it's their elected officials.
COATES: Hmm.
CROCKETT: We know when it comes to healthcare, whether we're talking about SNAP benefits, we know that we are fighting so much harder for the people that Republicans elected to represent them than the Republicans that were elected to represent them.
[23:10:07]
And I just want people to remember this because it seems like there was a bit of amnesia by the time we got to this last presidential. And right now, we saw amazing results on November 4th. But it doesn't stop there. It can't stop there. As soon as you relax and believe that everything is all good, I am here to tell you that the Grim Reaper is lurking. And sadly enough, the Grim Reaper is the president and his minions at this point.
COATES: Does it concern you that it's not the SNAP benefits or even the ACA that might be the straw that breaks the camel's back, but instead the flight situation? You've seen the footage of Houston. You've heard about flights being reduced, chaos at the airports, coming to an airport near every American. Is that what's going to move the needle?
CROCKETT: I personally believe it is. Um, we know that this president definitely is good at setting certain records, and they're usually losing issues. He had the longest shutdown before. And, as you opened up, you talked about the fact that we are sitting in now the longest.
COATES: Uh-hmm.
CROCKETT: So, he topped his old record. But when you look back at history, it was the air traffic controllers that were able to finally bring this thing to a halt last time. Now, what they did is they modified the law. Instead of allowing these federal workers to do what is best, not only for them, but best for the rest of federal workers, best for the rest of the country, they decided that they wanted to minimize their ability to organize in that same way so that they could not ultimately stop a shutdown going forward. So, it is no surprise.
And honestly, I applaud all federal workers that have consistently decided to show up with no guarantee that they'll get their money, uh, any time soon, right? Knowing that they could probably go and get a job somewhere else, knowing that they were never paid their due in the first place, and knowing that the members of Congress, especially the House, that we are continuously being paid. And if there is anybody that is not working, it is the House.
And we know that the House Republican speaker has failed to bring us in. He could have brought us in and passed all 12 appropriation bills and sat them right there on the desk of the Republicans in the Senate. They could have been voting. They could have been opening up different parts of the government gradually. We could have been doing work. But because he has decided to prioritize protecting pedophiles, we couldn't get it done.
COATES: You know who agrees with you? Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Listen to what she said to say just this night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): With this upcoming crisis, with health insurance premiums skyrocketing, um, I think this is like a five-alarm fire. And to me, it is incredibly embarrassing. And I find absolutely pathetic, really, that all of us are not here in Washington, D.C. working every single day to make sure that we can get the government open, but also, uh, solve the problem of affordability for the American people and come up with a good solution once and for all for health insurance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: Your reaction?
CROCKETT: Yeah, uh, hell may have frozen over --
(LAUGHTER)
-- because we are agreeing more than we're not. But I will tell you that, um, while there is a new Marjorie, as some people have said, I -- I do want to give people an opportunity to do their research. And the reality is that the big ugly bill, it only passed with one vote. And if one more Republican would have defected, which we had maybe two Republicans that defected, if we would have just had one more, then we would not be talking about higher insurance premiums.
Marjorie Taylor Greene voted for this. Point blank period. Her constituents were the ones that were on the receiving end of this. In fact, I'm sure that we can find tape in committee of me going down and talking about how many people in their Republican districts were going to lose health care. How many children were going to lose health care because of that bill?
Now, maybe she didn't care about those on Medicaid and Medicare and Democrats spent a lot of time talking about the fact that 15 to 17 million were going to lose their health care, but they didn't fully understand, I guess, that when you remove 17 -- I'm sorry, when you remove $1 trillion from the healthcare ecosystem, everybody else has to pay in. Also, that the top one percenter can keep more money in their pockets. At the same time that we've not raised the minimum wage, we're seeing record-breaking profits from those at the top. We know that there are talks about Elon becoming the first trillionaire that we've ever seen in the world.
So, you tell me if I am feeling so sad for Marjorie or buying into this because I don't understand why she didn't do the right thing when she had a chance.
[23:15:00]
So, there's two issues that we have going on. The big ugly bill is what caused our insurance premiums to go up. But in addition to that, Republicans have decided to kick people while they're down.
So, if you are on the marketplace, if that's where you get your health care, then that tax subsidy is set to expire at the same time that they made the tax cuts permanent for those at the top and they have decided they don't want to talk about giving them subsidies. So, while your insurance may go from, say, $200 a month to, say, $1,000 a month, but if you were on the marketplace, you were going to get, say, $250 credit a month, now they're saying we also want to take that away.
COATES: I hear affordability to what you're talking about, which was the precise message in the mayoral election and a lot of Tuesday night's victories for Democrats. Do you see that as instructive of what will happen for the midterms?
CROCKETT: I do, if we keep it up and we make sure that people understand. Right now, we know that the Supreme Court is looking at whether or not they are going to overturn the tariffs that -- in my opinion, there is no question about the fact that they have been illegally inflicted upon all of us. These tariffs have been one of the many reasons that our lives are more unaffordable.
So, what I don't want to happen is once and if the Supreme Court decides to save Donald Trump from himself and things may be, uh, reduced in cost that people say, well, everything is going well, and they don't fully understand, it wasn't him. It wasn't him. If it was up to him, you still would be suffering. He still will be telling you, maybe you won't have 10 baby dolls, but instead two for Christmas. He would still be looking at you crazy every time you're like, well, Mr. President, Canada is our friend or Mexico is our friend, so why is it that you're making it more difficult, why is it that we are not going to have the great trade partners even when you're in Texas? Our biggest trade partner is Mexico, you know.
So, I want to make sure that we communicate. If there is any kind of relief that comes because of tariffs, that it was the Supreme Court. And you all know I don't love the Supreme Court. So, I mean, if I'm giving credit there, then that means they deserve the credit.
COATES: We'll talk to you about communication in the form of advice you would give to Mayor-elect Mamdani. You've been at the receiving end of a great deal of criticism. A lot of visceral reactions and vile rhetoric thrown your way. He receives a great deal of it. What is your advice to Mamdani?
CROCKETT: Listen, I don't know that he needs my advice. He has been a master. And, frankly, he could do a master class for all Democrats on communication, whether you're talking about speaking with passion and heart and just talking to -- to the -- the working class. Not worried about the billionaires. They're going to be fine. In fact, the better that the working class does, the better they do. That means that they've got the employees that they need to make the profits that they need. And ultimately, we are the ones that spend the money. I don't think he needs me.
What I think is that our party needs to learn from Mamdani. They need to learn about organizing people on all levels. They need to learn to talk to everyone and not just those double D's or triple D's which are the people that always come out. They need to not necessarily give up on anybody. They need to go to places that they aren't used to seeing Democrats. Like one of the things that I did on the presidential is I kept telling them, send me to rural America, I have things that I need to say, I lived in East Texas, and I understand it.
COATES: Will you use that advice possibly for a run for the Senate? (LAUGHTER)
CROCKETT: We, uh, we're still evaluating that. But, yeah, I think that it is about expanding the electorate and making sure that people know, especially as Texans, number one, that I'm Texas tough and that ultimately, my priority will be Texans, whether you are in rural Texas or urban Texas. People need to understand that we have more in common than divides us, and that is exactly what I would hope to do, is to bridge that gap.
COATES: Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, thank you. Next, the white nationalists starting a war for the future of the Republican Party. Espouse racist views, check. Denied the Holocaust, check. The tip of the iceberg, check. But my next guest says the distance between his views and the mainstream GOP is getting smaller and smaller.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COATES: One man has ignited a full-blown civil war in the GOP. It centers around a man named Nick Fuentes. Heard of him? He's a white nationalist, popular podcast host, among the far-right wing of the party. He has said some of the most abhorrent and racist and antisemitic comments you could probably imagine. He said the Holocaust is exaggerated. He has called immigrants -- quote -- "third world invaders." I really just scratched the surface. Last week, he was interviewed by a conservative commentator and former Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, for his podcast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK FUENTES, WHITE SUPREMACIST POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND LIVE STREAMER: If you are a Jewish person in America, you're sort of -- and -- and again, it's not because they're born, but it's sort of a rational self-interest politically to say, I'm a minority, I'm a religious ethnic minority. This is not really my home. My ancestral home is in Israel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: The interview is drawing intense backlash in conservative circles. But Carlson, he is defending platforming Fuentes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: You know, do your own interview the way that you want to do it. You're not my editor.
[23:25:00]
Buzz off. I mean, I don't know. You want to go yell at Nick Fuentes? I'll give you a cell. Call him. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: It's also embroiling one of the biggest conservative think tanks in Washington, the Heritage Foundation. They're also maybe better known these days as the architects of Project 2025, the blueprint for Trump's second term. Its president, Kevin Roberts, initially defended the interview and said, Carlson shouldn't be canceled for platforming (INAUDIBLE) Fuentes. Now that led to an all- out revolt by his staff, saying that he was overlooking antisemitism. Well, now, Roberts is apologizing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN ROBERTS, PRESIDENT, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: I didn't know much about this Fuentes guy, I still don't, which underscores the mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: My next guest says the GOP, well, they should have seen this crisis coming. And he writes in "The Atlantic" -- quote -- "The firewall against Nick Fuentes is crumbling."
Ali Breland joins me now. He covers technology and politics and the internet at the magazine. Good to have you here, Ali. I mean, you write that the gap between Fuentes and the rest of the right, you say, is narrower than it has ever been. Why do you believe that? And why do you think his views might be becoming, dare I say, more mainstream?
ALI BRELAND, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Yeah. Thank you for having me. The gap between what Fuentes says and what the GOP stands for is certainly narrower than it has ever been. And the reason I say that is because for a long time, Fuentes has been operating since at least the 2010s. He has been doing this since he was like 19, he's 27 now. But in that time, he was fundamentally ignored by most segments of the party. There were moments where he would flare up. He had dinner with Trump.
COATES: Uh-hmm.
BRELAND: Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke at one of his conferences, but he would be rebuked after these moments. This is kind of the first time that Fuentes is being welcomed into the fold. Even Kevin Roberts's apology just now that we saw, he didn't say that Fuentes is doing something bad. He said, I don't know about him still, which -- I mean, you can Google him. Like, it's very obvious. You just did this segment that went over everything about him. We know who Nick Fuentes is.
COATES: And, obviously, you're not saying that every member of the GOP is in line or embracing what he is saying, but you do describe that he is becoming the voice of the younger far-right voters. How?
BRELAND: Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, to zoom out really quickly, you can see Nick's influence and fingerprints on all sorts of segments of the party. The posting style of the White House and agencies is this sort of trolley (ph), deeply on right style, that was popularized by Nick and his fans. They call themselves Grapers. We don't have to get into it just to know that that's the case. It's about, like, a cartoon frog.
But this is like Nick's influence is everywhere. It's in that younger staffers who kind of often espouse this kind of racism. Anecdotally, you hear stories from younger staffers that they're engaging with Nick's content all the time. And even when they're not engaging with Nick's content, they're engaging in his rhetorical style of making these -- quote, unquote -- "edgy, racist and antisemitic jokes." And we have clear evidence of this from The New York Young Republican Club text that leaked to Politico a couple of weeks ago that show people making these kinds of, like, insidious, Nick-style jokes.
COATES: Why do you think Republicans might be reluctant to just call this out for what it is?
BRELAND: I think that at one point in time, they might have been more willing to, but they've been reluctant lately because I think that they understand that Nick has a sort of very strong hold on the youth wing of the party, and to rebuke Nick and to reject him and censure him is to sort of like potentially ice out the younger generations that are the future of the party. I also do want to note that there have been people who have rejected Nick --
COATES: Uh-hmm.
BRELAND: -- people like Ben Shapiro --
COATES: Yes.
BRELAND: -- Congressman Randy Fine, who have been talking about these kinds of things. But like -- I don't know. Congressman Randy Fine has also said a lot of these Islamophobic things. So, it's like the rod is really deep like even when Nick Fuentes isn't present, there's still like other issues that are kind of like floating around the right on these matters.
COATES: I mean, thinking about that cost-benefit analysis, a bigger tent, yet who you let in it. Ali Breland, thank you so much.
BRELAND: Thank you for having me.
COATES: Up next, nearly 40 years in office, and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi says she's ready to retire. One of her former senior aides will join me. And ahead, he's already the richest man in the world, but we may need to find a new adjective because he could become the first trillion-dollar man. We'll take you inside his brand-new deal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COATES: Nancy Pelosi, the first female speaker of the House, says that she will not run for re-election. This ends a political career that has spanned nearly five decades. You know what? Let's take a trip down memory lane.
Starting in 2007 when President George W. Bush gave her a warm embrace after Pelosi became the first woman speaker of the House to preside over the state of the union. But those fuzzy feelings would evaporate under President Trump. She frequently clashed with him like in 2019 where, you remember, she stood up and waved her finger at Trump during a meeting about Syria. She mocked him with this clap from the 2019 State of the Union.
[23:34:59]
And at his 2020 address, she literally ripped up his speech after he finished. Well, she's now bowing out of the fight, but urging a new generation to carry on her progressive legacy. And how?
My political insiders join me now, Ashley Etienne, who used to be the communications director for Nancy Pelosi, and CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton. Wow, what a political trailblazer. I have always wondered, what was it like to work for her?
ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER FOR SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI: Um, this is the question I'm asked most often, and I answer it with one word, intense.
COATES: Hmm.
ETIENNE: If she were to call me right now, I think I'd be overcome and overwhelmed with anxiety.
(LAUGHTER)
Just -- she just is, uh, that much of a focused leader. But I will say this, though, Laura. Um, I believe Nancy Pelosi, if you strip away gender, strip away politics, political party, is an object lesson in leadership and in power. How she leads with the clarity of purpose, conviction, a deep sense of responsibility to the country, I mean, it is admirable and really should be studied by all.
I mean, if you want to be a badass and be the best at what you do, you should be studying Nancy Pelosi because she's more so than anyone in our nation's history. Not only is she the most effective speaker, but the most prolific legislator of all time. And it's primarily because she knows power. She knows how to wield it, build it, and when to spend it. And I think if you're smart, you're taking copious notes.
COATES: Yet she's leaving. Why now?
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's her time. She's 84.
ETIENNE: Yeah.
SINGLETON: Forty years. I think it is time to pass the torch on to the new generation, next group of leaders. I think she recognizes that. I wish more people in this town would recognize that. It's interesting you talk about power and wielding power effectively. And that's what politics, at least on the electoral side, is really all about. How do you get it? How do you maintain it once you have it? And I would argue --
ETIENNE: Well, what do you do with? That's the question.
SINGLETON: And I think a lot of politicians could learn from her, Republicans and Democrats alike. That said, on our side, we really created a caricature out of her. I mean, I remember going all the way back to when Michael Steele was chair of the RNC and he had to fire Pelosi bus tour. We took back the House during that time. I mean, you send out an email with Nancy Pelosi's name, Republicans will raise a lot of money. Yet there was always a level of respect for how she commanded. That gal was speaker of the House, and that can't be denied.
COATES: There's zero love lost between herself and Trump. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: About Nancy Pelosi?
UNKNOWN: Nancy Pelosi, correct.
TRUMP: I think she's an evil woman. I'm glad she's retiring. I think she did the country a great service by retiring. I think she was a, uh, tremendous liability for the country. I think she was an evil woman who did a poor job, who cost the country a lot in damages and in reputation. I thought she was terrible. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: Something would tell me she would think he's projecting.
ETIENNE: Absolutely. And it would actually make her blush, that he actually, you know, thinks that much of her to come up with that many adjectives. But I will say this. Here's the thing. If we look at where we are now, we're in the middle of a shutdown with both sides digging in their heels.
What's so exceptional about her leadership, why she's an object lesson is because she did dislike George W. Bush. She said he was the worst president of our time. She said that. But she still worked with him to save the economy, to -- to increase the minimum wage, to pass landmark clean air, clean, uh, energy legislation. She even worked with Donald Trump to do -- to replace NAFTA, right?
I mean, so, even if she didn't like you, even if she didn't like your politics, she was always trying to find common ground with you to do what's in the best interest of the country.
COATES: Well, has that voice been filled? ETIENNE: That's the type of leadership that's missing. That -- well, clearly, that's the type of leadership that's missing right now. I don't know that either of these sides are talking to each other about the crisis that's before us right now, which is not just the economy, a failing economy, but a shutdown where 900,000 workers are not getting checks, where kids are going hungry. I mean, that's the -- that's the type of leadership that she represents that I don't think people give her enough credit for.
COATES: Well, there is majority of Republicans. Who is the Pelosi Ken (ph)?
SINGLETON: Oh, I don't know. I currently --
COATES: Don't you need one to stop a shutdown?
SINGLETON: Look, I think on our side, what our focus is right now is solidifying Republican control in a majority in the House however we can.
COATES: How do you do it?
ETIENNE: However we can. I'm glad you said that.
SINGLETON: However we can.
ETIENNE: The quiet thing out loud.
SINGLETON: I mean, I look, I think you focus on what the American people gave Republicans, the power and the keys to the palace to do, and that was affordability.
COATES: But wait, respond to her intimation that the idea of however you can is nefarious.
SINGLETON: No, it's not nefarious.
ETIENNE: Can I get 11,000 votes, guys? That's not nefarious?
SINGLETON: Are we really going that far?
ETIENNE: Yes, absolutely. That's not that far ago. I mean, that's what's happening right now.
SINGLETON: I think it's a recognition of people's demands.
[23:39:56]
And this is not just a Republican thing. This is a Democratic establishment issue as well because when you don't listen to those demands, that discontent, disillusionment, you get people like Mamdani. And I don't think Republicans or Democrats want to see more Mamdanis across the United States. But that's the result when neither party listens to what people are struggling.
ETIENNE: Well, can I brag on Nancy Pelosi one more time? What also makes her exceptional --
SINGLETON: -- tonight.
ETIENNE: No, no. What also makes her exceptional is she's always five steps ahead of us. She knew this was coming. She pulled former Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama to the table almost 10 years ago to start working on redistricting because she knew this day was going to come. She spearheaded Prop 50 in California. That's what makes her an exceptional leader. She knows how to look around the corner and anticipate moments like these and prepare for it.
SINGLETON: I also think, Laura, there are some faults, right? Because I wonder, five, 10, 15 years in the future, when Democrats look back on Trump's return, his comeback, think about the impeachment, some may have argued --
ETIENNE: I was there.
SINGLETON: -- maybe -- well, I know you were. Some may have argued maybe that wasn't the best decision for Democrats strategically because it only made Trump stronger.
ETIENNE: And I'm glad you raised that. I'm glad you raised that because this gets back to me bragging more about my former boss. It was not about the Democratic Party. It was about the country. What's in the best interest of the country? I remember --
SINGLETON: (INAUDIBLE).
ETIENNE: I was in the -- no. Sixty percent of the country believed us.
SINGLETON: But you didn't --
ETIENNE: No, no. We ushered in Joe Biden. We won 40 seats.
SINGLETON: And then you lost.
ETIENNE: What do you mean?
SINGLETON: But then you lost, Ashley.
ETIENNE: Lost what?
SINGLETON: You lost the White House.
ETIENNE: I don't know that we've lost.
SINGLETON: The House, Senate.
ETIENNE: It's long game. It's not a short game. The reality, though, is the -- when you're in situations like that, just like we're in right now, you have to ask yourself the question of, am I going to do what's in my political interest or am I going to do what's in the interest of the nation? Am I going to protect those documents that we all take an oath to, that we all subscribe to? And we decided in that moment it was better for us, if we lose, to protect and defend the country, and that's what we did.
COATES: Do you feel you've won if you say she has lost?
SINGLETON: I think we've won for now, but there isn't any --
ETIENNE: But what about the Democrats?
SINGLETON: -- there isn't any naivete on my end that the pendulum can easily swing back to the other side. And so, again, as a strategist, I think about what do people want. What are they demanding? The 46% of Hispanics, the 21% of Black men, the 24% of young voters who all came over and said, look, we don't traditionally vote Republican, we're not really conservative, but we're going to try this out.
ETIENNE: But now, they're coming back home. That's what we saw on Tuesday. So, the question is --
SINGLETON: Perhaps --
ETIENNE: -- whether or not you guys are going to recalibrate, whether or not you actually learned some lessons.
COATES: Hmm. Well, the pendulum just swung. And now, I say thank you to both of you.
SINGLETON: Thanks, Laura.
COATES: Up next, the trillion-dollar man. Elon Musk's pay package approved by Tesla's board today. Is it really worth it? I'll ask one of the company's earliest investors. And ahead, the first look at next year's Michael Jackson biopic. It has dropped and it's incredible.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, CEO OF TESLA MOTORS, LEADER OF DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY: First all, I'd like to just give a heartfelt thanks to, uh, everyone who supported the (INAUDIBLE) votes. I super appreciate it.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you, everyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: Who wouldn't super appreciate the chance to become a trillionaire? Today, Tesla shareholders approved a pay package that would make Elon Musk the first person ever to accumulate that level of wealth. And to be clear, that doesn't mean Musk gets a trillion-dollar check right away. No, no. He first needs to meet a number of extremely lofty targets over a period of time.
But a trillion dollars is no joke even if you're already the world's richest man. I mean, just take a look for a second at what you could buy with that much money. Upset the Dodgers keep winning the World Series? Well, with this, his $700 million contract, you'd be able to afford over $1,400 Shohei Ohtanis. You'd buy a brand-new Ferrari, you say? But why stop there when a trillion could get you every single car sold in the U.S. this year? Feel like popping some champagne? Well, how about Coca Cola? And I mean lots of it, because you would be able to purchase the entire Coca-Cola Corporation and still have enough leftovers to give every human being on the planet their very own 12- pack. And, of course, there's always that person who claims they'd give it all to charity. Well, you could write everyone in America a check for nearly $3,000.
With me now, someone who is an early major shareholder of Tesla, but now a harsh critic of Musk, Ross Gerber. Ross, welcome back. I mean, Tesla's board has argued that the package, it's not a gift or a freebie, it's meant to incentivize him so he'll devote far more attention to growing the company. Musk is also ready to leave if shareholders rejected it. By the way, that's a part of it. But in your view, is this pay package justified?
ROSS GERBER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, GERBER KAWASAKI WEALTH AND INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT: Well, you brought it up. I mean, 1,400 Ohtani. It's kind of hard to justify that anybody deserves that kind of compensation or the other way to look at it is that we're all extremely underpaid, you know. But, you know, I think Elon wrote a set of goals for himself over the next decade.
[23:50:00]
And -- and he basically presented to the board, if you want me to, you know, do this, it was almost like a blackmail thing, you know, you got to give me 12% of the company. And if I achieve all these things, and he spill -- spelled it out, and the board said, fine. But that's not typically how compensation discussions go with boards.
And then there's this idea of just rational reality of life, like what somebody should just be getting paid. But you can just throw that all out with Tesla and just it is what it is, right?
COATES: Rational reality of life. I haven't seen that in a long time, my friend. But let me ask you this. You know --
GERBER: I know.
COATES: -- one economist from Duke was quoted in "The New York Times," questioning whether this would actually really motivate Musk at all, saying -- quote -- "He wakes up and he does what differently? He drinks more coffee, he sleeps less, he sleeps more, he exercises less, he talks to people, he thinks harder. What exactly would he do?"
So, Ross, let me ask you. At what point does his motivation tap out? GERBER: Well, see, I -- I disagree with that statement. I think this actually will motivate Elon a lot.
COATES: Really?
GERBER: I think it was very clear to him. Oh, absolutely. You know, this is all about ego. You know, most people function on some, you know, different set of right values, but his value is ego. So, he put it out there that I'm going to accomplish all these things. And if I do, I'm going to get paid some obscene, ridiculous amount of the company. And -- and he's going to set out to do that. And I think without that really clear set of goals, it's very hard for him to focus. And you've seen that over the last several years with him moving into project after project and not really seeing success with any of them.
So, by doing this, I think it really -- I -- actually, I thought they really did a great job today laying out what is this vision that Elon sees for Tesla, how he's going to actually try to achieve this and what it actually would look like if he does achieve it and what his reward will be for doing that.
So, you know, as a Tesla shareholder, I wasn't like upset about it. I did expect it to pass. I think you know what you're getting. And when you're in the stock market like what I do for a living, you vote with your dollars. And I've sold a lot of Tesla stock over the years. And if you don't like what he's doing, this is a great time to sell your stock because you're getting a huge premium to do that.
COATES: Hmm.
GERBER: If you don't like it, you just move on. So, I've kept some of my stock. You know, I thought about it today, you know, my opinion of it, and I said, look, you got to bet on crazy people sometimes. I've made a lot of money doing this over my career. I never bet against people. That's always a big mistake, I think, over time.
And Elon is one of these crazy innovators. He has made me a lot of money and my clients a lot of money over the years. And I don't know if he's going to do that again. But I'm not going to bet against it and I rather bet for it.
And so, I think when you compare it to companies that we invest in, it's still an exciting company and it has a lot of opportunity. But this whole situation is an absurdity that is beyond absurd. And that's what you're getting. I don't think it's unclear.
COATES: Wesley Snipes said it best, always bet on Black. Ross, thank you so much.
GERBER: Thank you.
COATES: Up next, 30 million views in just six hours. The trailer for the Michael Jackson biopic, it's out. It is starring his real-life nephew, and it is breaking the internet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COATES: Well, it's almost midnight here on the East Coast, which means it is time to bring in my late-night friend, Elex Michaelson, out in Los Angeles. Elex, how you doing?
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: I'm doing well, Laura. Always great to see you.
COATES: Always great. Look, you know what's great? A good origin story. And now, we're getting a biopic for the King of Pop. And the trailer, I mean, the internet losing its mind. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNKNOWN (voice-over): And embrace the future. That's what people want.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNKNOWN: Q, can you lower the lights for me, please?
UNKNOWN: Okay. But remember, in here, keep those feet still, my man.
(LAUGHTER)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: I mean, I got the white glove for Christmas as a kid. What do you think about this?
MICHAELSON: Well, you think about this. So why does this guy look so much like Michael? It's his nephew. His actual nephew is playing him in this movie. And it just looks awesome. And whenever you think of Michael Jackson, there was certainly a complicated back story there --
COATES: Uh-hmm.
MICHAELSON: -- for a lot of reasons. But the music is as good as any music ever. The beats that him and Quincy Jones put together are timeless, even better now, and you see the striking similarities between the two of them.
COATES: I know. Look at that. I mean, that's -- this is his nephew, Jaafar, but this is crazy. I mean, this is resemblance.
[00:00:00]
And, of course, makeup and wardrobe help this. But my god, this is going to be -- I mean, millions and millions and millions of views in, like, hours. I'll be watching. I have a lot of thoughts. I'll watch it all. But tell me, I'm watching you tonight, what else you got coming on?
MICHAELSON: Yeah. Well, we're talking about Nancy Pelosi stepping aside. We've got Barbara Boxer. Her longtime friend is joining us.
COATES: Yes.
MICHAELSON: We've got Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, and a lot more. And we're looking forward to it.
COATES: I can't wait. Love the show. Elex, have a great one. Now, I'm going to go. We learned thriller.
(LAUGHTER)
MICHAELSON: Yeah.
