Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Event/Special

Trump Elected 47th President of the United States; Elon Musk's Net Worth Rises $12 Billion-Plus After Trump Win. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired November 06, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. America goes back to the future. Donald Trump now has a new old title, president-elect. The Senate has flipped to the Republicans. The House may soon too. So, what does that mean for the next several months and years?

I'm John Berman. I'm still John Berman. We've been at this a while now, and you are still watching CNN special live coverage Election Day now in America.

And the map is still the map and it is fairly red all over. Donald Trump currently sitting at 276 Electoral College votes, we will most likely see that number grow over the next several hours. You can see it right there. It's at it 276. But there are still some states outstanding. Pennsylvania, Wisconsin already going for the former president. Michigan may soon follow suit. Kamala Harris could not replicate what Joe Biden did, losing ground with the very groups that delivered a Biden win four years ago.

We are all now waiting to see if Kamala Harris addresses the American people when she does to concede and what might be the end credits for her time on the public stage, at least for now.

We are hearing from Donald Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance. He just tweeted, quote, thank you to my beautiful wife for making it possible to do this, for President Donald J. Trump, for giving me such an opportunity to serve our country at this level, and to the American people for their trust. I will never stop fighting for all of you.

Let's go straight to the magic wall, Phil Mattingly, still there, I should say, to talk to us about what we saw overnight as this unfolded.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Let's take a step back 36 hours ago. We were all probably still working at that point. There were several paths that we could walk through for Donald Trump to get to 270, several different combinations of states of those seven battleground states that could get him there. One path we probably didn't get into enough was all three blue wall states, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada, those still aren't called, neither is Michigan, but every single one of the seven battleground states going to Donald Trump, or at least right now leaning toward Donald Trump. That underscores the scale of what happened last night, and not just in battleground states.

I want to walk people through it. In case you weren't paying close attention, when Kentucky and Indiana started reporting, this is when first votes started being reported. First in Kentucky, we started watching whether or not some of the perhaps suburban-like counties, one Hamilton in particular, in Indiana, whether or not they had some signs. You know, we're trying to tell you, there's not a lot you can do with very limited data.

We moved on into Trump as Georgia, North Carolina, we started getting results, reported vote in from two of the blue wall states as well, Trump taking the lead in North Carolina. Trump taking the lead just a few hours later at 10:05 P.M. in Pennsylvania.

And I think just to remind people, for a good chunk of the first hour counting in the blue wall states, all three were blue. Democrats held an advantage, particularly in the suburbs in Philadelphia. By 11:00 P.M., Trump had taken the lead in Arizona and Wisconsin had followed suit. Now, you saw Michigan flip back and forth a couple times over there in that period of time. Then 30 minutes later, Trump took the lead in Michigan.

By 11:40, the first of the seven battleground states, the one state Donald Trump was defending from his 2020 map, North Carolina, was called in favor of Trump. About an hour later, Georgia, which Joe Biden flipped in 2020 for the first time since 1992 for Democrats, was called for Trump.

By 20:5 A.M., Pennsylvania was called for Trump. We all knew that was the lynchpin state. We all knew that was the key for both candidates and their pathways. And by 5:30 A.M., one John Berman, still John Berman, standing a couple feet over there, projected that Donald Trump would win the presidency of the United States.

John, I think the reality is when you look at this, and we've been digging through every different slice of every different demographic of how each of these economic and industry kind of sectors worked throughout the course of the night, it's not just the blue wall states. It's not just the Sun Belt states in the Southeast or those states out west. The scale of this across the country in close counties that Donald Trump dominated from 2020, in swing counties, in counties that Joe Biden won, that Donald Trump was able to win back, but also right there. I know we're not a popular vote country in terms of how the election is decided. There's a lot more to be counted out west, but, I mean, I would defer to Harry Enten, popular vote might be an option right now.

BERMAN: Absolutely will be an option, and Donald Trump will be the first Republican since 2004 to carry the popular vote.

[10:05:00]

Phil, don't go far. We're going to come back to you in just a second. I want to go over to Harry Enten here and talk about the exit polls and talk about the gender gap, the gender divide that would have been crucial to a Kamala Harris victory and turned out to be crucial to a Donald Trump victory.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: You just hit on it. I think oftentimes when we talk about the gender gap, we say, or we imagine that it helps Democratic candidates. But let's take a look in Pennsylvania, among female voters, Kamala Harris won them, won it by 12 points, but that is only a smidgen better than Joe Biden did four years ago among women voters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Look at male voters though. Look at male voters. Remember that 12 point divide among female voters? Donald Trump did even better among male voters, winning them by 16 points. So, the gender divide in Pennsylvania worked for Donald Trump this time around. He did significantly better than he did four years ago.

And then, finally, you know, again, the gender divide, we often talk about female voters, and that's working in the Democrats advantage, but look among Latino men nationally. Look at that. Donald Trump won among Latino men by ten points. I was on my computer while you were talking with our dear friend, Phil, over there, and I look back at every exit poll that I could find since 1972. I believe that this is the first time ever that a Republican candidate for president won among Latino men, and that supercharged Donald Trump among Latinos overall, and it's why he put forward the best performance among Latino voters since the advent of exit polls in the early 1970s.

BERMAN: And it's why people are using the word realignment this morning.

ENTEN: You've got it.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much. I'm going to do like this tennis match. Now I'm going to go back to Phil Mattingly over here. So, walk us in a little bit closer.

MATTINGLY: I want to bounce off Harry and talk about suburban, suburban women in particular, but the suburban vote, right? There was a theory of the case from the Harris campaign that, look, we may shed a few percentage points when it came to black voters. We may shed a few points in some of our urban strongholds. We would make up for it and go even further in the suburban areas and be able to push in to ex-urban areas.

Now what do I mean by that? Back in 2020, this area right here, obviously Philadelphia, but also the collar counties, was a massive vote driver for Joe Biden. Those suburban counties, even Bucks County, which was the closest of those collar counties, Joe Biden winning it by 4.5 points. What happened last night? Donald Trump won it back, won it back.

What about Montgomery County, where Joe Biden, back in 2020, really blew out a huge margin, winning by 26 points? Well, Donald Trump narrowed that gap. Move over here to Chester County. 56 to 42 back in 2020. Joe Biden, a 1.5 up.

And you saw this throughout the battleground states, you can go over here to Michigan as well, where the thing that sticks out to me more than anything else is right here, Oakland County. What happened in 2020? This is where it stood, Joe Biden winning this county. It used to be GOP DNA, Republican DNA in the state of Michigan, Joe Biden winning it by 14 points. What happened last night? Kamala Harris winning it by less -- fewer than 11 points.

And I think we saw this throughout, where the Harris campaign came in saying, we are going to run up huge margins in suburban counties, driven by college educated women. And the Trump campaign had a very clear theory of the case on the gender divide towards their side, on the male side, particularly younger male voters. One side got it right. It was not the side that was counting on Oakland County to far surpass what Joe Biden did in 2020, John.

BERMAN: With us now is Republican Congressman from Florida Michael Waltz, along with being projected to win his seat in Florida. Congratulations. He has been a big adviser to Donald Trump and the Trump campaign. Thanks so much for being with us, Congressman.

What do you think, the one thing was, if you had to point to one thing that was the key to victory for Donald Trump last night, what would you say it was?

REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): Well, John, I think that people were voting on actions and not words or rhetoric. And you know, Kamala's campaign was about turning the page and the American people overwhelmingly chose to turn the page on the failed policies of this administration on the economy, on the border and on foreign policy, and go back to the policies that worked for their lives, once in a generation tax reform, border reform, the Abraham Accords that brought peace across the Middle East, minority opportunity zones, justice reform, veterans reform, all the things that President Trump got done despite everything thrown at him.

And at the end of the day, people voted on what affects their everyday lives. Not a bunch of rhetoric that the media, frankly, likes to obsess on day in and day out, but on what affects their families, what makes them feel safer, what makes them wealthier, what makes them feel like they have a better opportunity for their children and puts responsibility and power back in the hands of people and families and away from unelected bureaucrats, frankly, in Washington, D.C.

[10:10:00]

BERMAN: So what do you think?

WALTZ: It is decisive and overwhelming.

BERMAN: It absolutely was decisive. And we saw the traits of that almost everywhere in the country and not just in the battleground states. I think it is important to recognize that.

What do you think the average voter will notice first? How will their lives change? And be specific if you can. What policy will change their lives first and how?

WALTZ: Oh, I can be especially specific. Right now, the stock market is exploding on anticipation of President Trump's presidency and his economic policies. Just next year, all of the tax cut and jobs acts were all on the table. And when Harris is endorsing a capital gains tax that would penalize business owners trying to sell their business when they're talking about unearned income, or I guess some bureaucrat evaluates, you know, your life, when you're talking about everyday taxes for, say, a small business LLC, and then further, you've got a massive trade deal between Mexico and Canada, the USMCA. Those terms are up next year. So, all of those things are on the table.

But for seniors, for fixed income, for people trying to save, watching, waking up this morning and watching the stock market hit all-time highs, I think this is just day one of a new Trump presidency and turning the page on the failed policies of the last four years.

BERMAN: No dispute that the market is happy this morning. I will note the market's way up during the Biden administration, two people done really well in the market the last few years. And I will note that investors were talking to you saying that one reason --

WALTZ: But their wages -- but the problem was, John, their wages didn't keep track when inflation is eating up what they're gaining in the market, then it was a net loss for them, and they voted on that.

BERMAN: And just trying to give context to what you're saying, they're not at all disagreeing with what you're saying about what people are excited about, and some investors certainly excited about -- one thing I know they're excited about is that the election's over, right, and it's not going into overtime. Uncertainty is something that they would have hated, investors.

I do want to ask you, because foreign policy is a big concern of yours, if you're a frontline soldier in Ukraine who's been fighting the Russian invasion for nearly three years now, how do you think you would feel?

WALTZ: Well, first, just speaking as a soldier and a veteran, there is at least some form of accountability today for the 13 gold star families from Abbey Gate and that despicable, disgraceful withdrawal and how that was conducted, that I think was the match that lit both Europe and the Middle East on fire in terms of projecting American weakness.

But in Ukraine, you know what that soldier should be thinking about? Finally, we may have an administration that's going to start enforcing the sanctions, Ukrainian, on Russia. The Ukrainians have been trying to hit Russian energy infrastructure that's fueling the war, yet Russia is selling more oil and gas through China, through India than it did before the war. That is literally fueling it. The Europeans are having to buy Russian gas again because of the LNG ban here in the United States, and because Biden decided to kill Keystone XL.

So, there is a way to drive this war to an end. We can do it economically. We can do it diplomatically. And let's end this war rather than perpetuating it in perpetuity. That Ukrainian soldier is thinking, maybe I'll get out of this trench line sometime in their lifetime with their lives. BERMAN: What job would you take in a Trump administration?

WALTZ: John, you know, I just got reelected to my district. I'm not going to -- you know, the worst thing in the world in Washington is start measuring the curtains. President Trump needs to get his -- I hope he gets a little bit of rest, get his team in place, get the agenda going. And whether I can support that agenda from the House or anywhere else, I believe his policies are good for the United States, good for our national security and good for maintaining America's leadership around the world.

BERMAN: So, you're saying there's a chance?

WALTZ: You know what, John, anytime the president of the United States calls and asks you to serve, I think anybody should take it seriously. But right now, I'm thankful to my constituents in Northeast Florida that gave me another chance to serve them.

BERMAN: Congressman Mike Waltz, nice to see you this morning. Thank you very much for your time. We'll talk to you again soon.

WALTZ: All right. Thank you, John.

BERMAN: All right. Elon Musk is in the Donald Trump business, but what does Donald Trump's win mean? We'll talk to you again soon for Elon Musk's businesses?

This is a CNN special live coverage. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. This morning, Democrats confronting the striking reality that they may find themselves without any check on Donald Trump's power in his second term. In fact, of all of the reasons that Donald Trump won this election, we're going to talk about this now, the Elon Musk factor cannot be overstated.

In Pennsylvania, Musk essentially took over Trump's ground operation. He held a daily million dollar giveaway for swing state voters. He donated at least $119 million to his America PAC to help Trump. And in case you missed it, on the eve of the vote, Musk went on the most popular podcast in America and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA MOTORS: If the Dems win this election, they will legalize enough illegals to turn the swing states and everywhere will be like California. There will be no escape.

JOE ROGAN, HOST, THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE: That is so insane.

MUSK: This is the final -- this is it. This is the last chance.

ROGAN: Has anybody tried to push back -- MUSK: Now, people, like go out and vote. Vote like your life depends on it. Vote like your future depends on it, because it does. This is the last chance, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:20:00]

HUNT: Today, following Trump's win, Musk's net worth rose by, get this, $12 billion, billion with a B.

Our panel is back. Scott Jennings, the Elon Musk effect.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, he's pretty freaking cool, I got to be honest with you. I mean, we got electric cars, we got rockets --

HUNT: I feel like there might be a gender gap on this issue, Scott. I'm just going to raise that question, but continue.

JENNINGS: Okay, well, I mean, look, everything this guy gets into kind of it's been turning out the cars, the rockets.

HUNT: Catching the rockets, I will -- I mean --

JENNINGS: It's really cool. And then he gets involved in politics and manages to be a huge part of an overwhelming victory.

And, you know, Democrats have been going nuts about his involvement in this all year long. I mean, you know, I guess it's, we'll have to litigate what kind of a billionaire it's okay to have involved in politics. You know, theirs seem to be fine and they're mad at ours. But not only did he just donate his money, he donated his time, he donated his expertise and all that came with it.

And, you know, you cannot deny that he was a huge part of how Donald Trump won this election. Not the only part, but certainly a large part.

HUNT: So, what's next for him? And we're joined by Brad Todd, by the way, who -- a Republican strategist who was working on the Pennsylvania Senate race as well. I mean, did he have an impact, Musk? I mean, what, what did you see in that?

BRAD TODD, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, John Fetterman said that he did have a huge impact in part because a lot of young men thought he was Tony Stark, basically the coolest guy in America, and that certainly was important.

I also think though in Pennsylvania, he didn't do the only -- America PAC did a great work, but they weren't the only ground game. The Republican State Legislative Committee and the Sentinel Action Front from Heritage had a joint ground game effort. They may have flipped the Pennsylvania House. They'd been doing it for a year and a half and they didn't come late. They did a lot of voter registration. So, it really was a team effort. A lot of Democrats made fun of the bifurcated ground game on the Republican side, but I think we viewed it as an entrepreneurial ground game. And Musk and the Republican State Legislative Committee had a lot to do with it.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, look, they also increased some seats in the House, I believe, as well. And we'll see by --

TODD: Beat two Democrats, yes.

SINGLETON: So, that's a good thing. I mean, look, a lot of young guys do like Elon Musk. I mean, he's a futurist. Some of the things he's doing with Tesla, the Cybertrucks we were just talking about. I know Karen's not a big fan, but I love the Cybertruck. I think it's incredible. It's self-driving cars. People like --

HUNT: I mean, if you can drive it off a lot, sure.

SINGLETON: Sure. I mean, okay, fair, fair.

HUNT: Have you read about the problems that people have driving their brand new Cybertrucks off the lot? Come on.

SINGLETON: But I will say, if you're looking at his success as a manager, the guy has a track record. And I think if you're a Republican, you're happy to have him on our side, going to Pennsylvania, spending not only his money, but his time. I think he moved there for two months, because he believed so much so in these efforts, and I think it made a difference.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And spent a fortune on ads talking about trans people, which, you know, of all the issues that, you know, seemed to really dig in for people, that one clearly was one of the things that was on voters' minds, even on Election Day.

So, yes, you got --

TODD: I think it was Democratic extremism on trans issues that was a -- yes.

FINNEY: No. Actually it was the -- that's not quite how it happened.

TODD: It's an 80-20 issue and it was a major factor with independents.

HUNT: Kate Bedingfield, there is this open question about what his role might be in the Trump administration. I mean, they've talked about him looking at government efficiencies, among other things. Is that -- you know, as Brad points out, there are a lot of people out there who think he's cool, but what does that actually look like?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, bureaucracy and government jobs are very different than being in the private sector. I know Republicans would say that's a feature, not a bug. But it would be interesting to see how somebody who is as unconventional as Elon Musk would do in a government role.

I don't -- you know, look, I'm not, I'm far from an expert on Elon Musk's managerial challenges, shall we say, or -- so, you know, look, but I think there is an open question of whether you want somebody who is a like unabashed, like billionaire pouring money into your campaign to be given a plumb job in the government, and are we okay with that? We will see, I don't know.

JENNINGS: Let introduce you to the way Joe Biden appointed ambassadors. I might not --

HUNT: That is not just a Democratic thing, okay?

(CROSSTALKS)

JENNINGS: But let me make a comment about the unconventional thing.

FINNEY: But also how every, by the way, president -- well, come on, Scott.

JENNINGS: She used the word unconventional. That's what people just voted for. They want unconventional. They don't think the government is working and the bureaucracy is working for them. So, they're asking for something a little unconventional.

Do I expect him to be sitting in a little cubicle somewhere with a pocket protector, you know, crunching, whatever, wearing a green vise? No, but the people asked for something unconventional here.

[10:25:00]

BEDINGFIELD: I get it.

JENNINGS: And at a minimum, I would encourage you all to remember, I think we're dependent upon this man to rescue our astronauts next year. So, why don't we just be nice to him for a few months?

(CROSSTALKS)

HUNT: Hold on one second, because Kara Swisher is actually now has found her way to join us in this conversation. Kara, wonderful to see you.

As we're having this conversation, look, you know, pick your -- choose your own adventure in terms of weighing in on what the panel is discussing. I think my question as I was listening to Kate was that, I mean, how long would Elon Musk last in a bureaucracy like the United States government? I mean, getting things done in the government is not at all like walking onto the floor of your Tesla factory and ordering your workers to do something different. What are you looking at?

KARA SWISHER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I'm looking at a lot of things, the instability, the decisions that he makes are sometimes haphazard and strange often. I think one of the issues you have is, sure, you have an entrepreneur here and what works at startups is very different than works in a federal government. Elon Musk has been successful in rocketry, no question, but he's allowed to blow up rockets. He's allowed to do that and it's because he can do it and take those risks and shareholders go along with him.

It's quite a different thing when it comes to the federal government. You can't blow up rockets, Scott, by the way, all laughs aside. You really can't because people's lives depend on it. I know you think it's funny, but I don't think it's funny at all.

I think one of the issues around him is that he's very innovative and different, but cutting two third -- a third of the federal budget. And we all know that government doesn't work in lots of ways, but it's not meant to be like a startup. It's not meant to be like a business. It's not meant to be like shareholders. And if you treat it that way, we have a very different system where the least among us suffer, and it's just the way it is.

And he has a history of doing that. He has a history of lack of safety at certain of his facilities. He has a history of firing people. He has a history of not paying people. He has a history of being a haphazard, firing someone who talks back against him. And if for someone who's for free speech, he certainly clamps down on speech a lot when he doesn't like it.

So, if you want that too, sure. That's great, and ha, ha, ha, if you want to do it that way. We need innovation in government. There's absolutely no question. But there's a difference between move fast and change things and move fast and break things. That's about destruction rather than creation.

HUNT: Kara, how do you -- one second, Scott wants to jump in and I'm going to let him in one second. But, first --

SWISHER: I'm sure he does.

HUNT: I want to ask you about X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and how a Musk role in a Trump administration would interact with his ownership of that platform.

SWISHER: I would suspect he's going to try to merge Trump Social. I've heard from a number of people today with X and take it public, because there's a meme stock now, Trump Social already, which is a terrible business. So, is X, by the way. X has always been a terrible business and that was preceding Musk and now it's worse than ever. But they could merge them and make it a meme stock and make a lot of money for themselves. That could be interesting and incredibly corrupt.

They could also -- he'll use it as a propaganda organ, which is precisely why he bought it. People misunderstood they kept saying he was losing money and I think it was very clear it wasn't about money. This was a great investment by Elon Musk in Donald Trump and that's how he sees it, to make -- he spent hundreds of millions to make billions and he could be our world's first trillionaire.

If you're comfortable with a single person who has interests all over the federal government, including $15 billion in contracts deciding things, and I know it's gone on in history, but nothing like this. No one's owned such an organ and such an ability, a public city organ. And that's what it is, a propaganda organ that he's created in this way.

It's not the same as before. It is not even close to the same. He has control over a number of important things, and we have to be very careful of a single person doing this. That -- I think in history, that's always been the case.

HUNT: Scott Jennings, your name was invoked.

JENNINGS: First, he wasn't elected. He supports Donald Trump. And now he's going to have some influence because his side won. Mark Cuban would have had influence had his side won. And I think, honestly, I hear all this carping about Elon Musk and it just truthfully sounds like sour grapes from the side of the ball that shunned this guy and now they're paying for it. And they shouldn't have shunned him, and a lot of liberals have admitted it. They did it, and now they're going to own it. And now he got on another team because he has ideas for the United States that I think we ought to listen to.

And Trump's going to listen, and maybe they don't all get implemented, but you can't begrudge this man his opportunity to participate in the political system in the way that he sees fit and then, and then to have, and then to have, and then to have influence over it if you win. That's the way it works in this country.

TODD: I want to take issue --

SWISHER: That's not what they begrudge.

HUNT: Go ahead.

SWISHER: Nobody begrudges his ability to speak. What they begrudge is the flood of misinformation and all kinds of things that happen on that platform, which is uncontrolled. And it's not about free speech because he decides when and where to do it. He's very -- in India, he clamps down.

[10:30:00]

Other places, he complains. It's just at the behest of one person.

If you're comfortable with one person with this much power and Mark Cuban's power would have been much more diminished.