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CNN Live Event/Special

Trump Wins Presidency; GOP Takes Senate; House Still Undecided; Dow Surges After Trump Wins Back Presidency. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired November 06, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, you can see it, but you don't know. What do people really say? It turned out to be accurate. Kamala Harris did not do better than Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton when it came to support among women --

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Among white women specifically, actually.

BURNETT: Yes. Why -- why is that?

FINNEY: Oh, books will be written about this. One of the many reasons I will say women as voters tend to be very hard on women candidates. Just that's just the data. You know, probably all kinds of reasons for that. I mean, she did do very well among young women, which is I think interesting.

BURNETT: Those lines at college campuses, we saw that.

FINNEY: Yeah. So, look, I think part of it is there is -- there is something cultural going on. We saw this in 2016, where one -- in the aftermath, one of the things that was found was that one of the top reasons that people who had voted for Trump voted for Trump again, he had the strong majority of white voters that he was able to turn out. It was cultural anxiety. And sort of where do I fit in in this changing world?

BURNETT: Right.

FINNEY: And this time around, I think what he was able to do was to identify the anxiety among young men, particularly young white men and turns out Latino men, and to embrace them with the same kind of I see you, I feel you, I can relate to you and give you a place. And so I think he identified that. And if you look at the data, that's where the surge came.

BURNETT: That's where the surge. Although, you know, I don't think that anybody really had on their bingo card, Jonah, that you'd be looking at a Republican Party, or I guess, let me just be more specific, Trump's party, where you had so many different groups across racial, ethnic lines on that side.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, look, it's -- it's -- there -- it's remarkable election returns. And we were saying during the break earlier, I think basically the Harris campaign's theory of the electorate was right. And so was the Trump theory of the electorate. It's just that the Trump theory was more right, right? And so they turned up the gain in rural counties, they turned up the gain with -- with men, particularly Gen X men.

And I think that, you know, one of the problems that this illuminates, and it's not just on the gender stuff, but it's also on like a whole broad range of identity politics kind of things, is that these categories become sort of shorthand cliches for -- for punditry and politics. But like, Trump is -- I haven't seen the numbers on married women, but going into it, it looked like he was going to win with married women, right? And so it's young, single women that Harris did really, really well with. And so at some point, the utility of talking about the gender gap obscures the actual other differences and things going on with the electorate.

BURNETT: Right. Well, and David, somehow, and I guess this is where we all can have reflection, but comments like "Childless Cat Ladies," or these things that were said, which rightfully incensed many people, they didn't land the way that people anticipated they would land across the board. Maybe they did with some younger single women. But the things that sort of became shorthand for how it would go were not the accurate indicators.

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, can you imagine what the vote total might have been if you didn't say those things, right? I mean, look, I don't -- I'm not a data analyst, and I don't know the numbers, but there's obviously a big number increases, African American men, Trump won 25% in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it's a big number.

What I think you see too, and this -- this has been discussed is, it's socioeconomic divide, right? So it's college educated versus non- college educated, right? It's working class versus, you know, the kind of, you know, upper middle class, right? People who work with their hands versus people who sit behind a desk. That's kind of how the parties are now breaking down, right?

BURNETT: Right.

URBAN: I worked for Arlen Specter. I was Arlen Specter's Chief of Staff, kind of a moderate Republican in Pennsylvania. Arlen Specter, Republicans are now Democrats. And the people I grew up with in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, who are blue-collar working-class Democrats are now Republicans.

BURNETT: Yeah.

URBAN: So that's -- that's what's taking place. And so I think a lot of that makes up for -- doesn't matter if you're black or white, it matters where you work, right? Where you live. That's --

BURNETT: Well, it's fascinating. Maybe even history will show, we don't have the perspective, what happened in COVID, who went out to work every day and who didn't. These things, we do not understand how they marinated, even now. But now it seems that perhaps these things really did.

URBAN: If you grew up, like where Ashley and I kind of share, we were like, she's from Youngstown, I'm from Aliquippa, but kind of across the border, but it's structurally the same place, right? That's very different than if you grew up in Shaker Heights, or if you grew up in the main line in Philadelphia. It doesn't matter if you're black or white, Hispanic, it matters where you grew up more. So, your zip code is more about like who you voted for this time than where, if you're black or white or Hispanic.

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I mean, I don't think COVID --

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: We're coming back. We're coming back. Don't worry. Hey, everybody. Lots to talk about.

FINNEY: We're going to be here for a long time.

[11:35:02]

BURNETT: But I hope that all of you will be as well as everyone tries to understand the meaning and the significance of this very historic moment.

By the way, what's the market going to do? You know, you'd heard all the things about, well, the economic experts say Harris' plan will be better. Well, that is just not how the markets see it. That's not how they saw it. The Dow right now is up more than 1,300 points. That is a record high. That's just an initial response. Doesn't mean where it'll go. It's still stunning. Donald Trump's return to the White House sparking that.

Much more on that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:17]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN special coverage of the 2024 election. Donald Trump is heading back to the White House. As we all know by now, Republicans also have control of the incoming Senate. Control of the House of Representatives, though, still hanging in the balance.

I want to bring in the House Republican Conference Chair, Elise Stefanik. She was a surrogate for the Trump campaign. CNN is projecting, she easily won re-election in her upstate New York 21st District.

Congratulations, Congresswoman. Thanks so much for coming in. I want to get to what's happening in the House in a second. But what's your immediate reaction to Donald Trump's very impressive, very decisive win in the Electoral College and the popular vote? REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY), HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE CHAIR: Well, this was an overwhelming victory for President Trump. We, the people made our voices heard. And you can see a new big tent Republican Party. He made historic gains among African American voters, Latino voters, women voters, Asian American voters, Jewish voters. And you also see in every single county across America, Kamala Harris underperformed Joe Biden. Donald Trump overperformed his 2020 outcome.

So this was a -- a successful campaign and it was successful on the issues. The top two issues for voters were the economy and the border. And President Trump day in and day out presented his message of how he was going to grow the economy, crush inflation and secure the border. And his America first message appealed across party lines.

BLITZER: Your party, the Republican Party, Congresswoman, certainly looks like it's flipped the Senate. But the House of Representatives and you're a member of the House, of course, is still pretty much in play. How important is it for the incoming president, President Trump, and for your party to retain the House?

STEFANIK: Well, it's very important. And we're very optimistic that we will not only hold the House, but that we will pick up seats. And here's why.

If you look at the turnout in support of President Trump and how he was able to provide coattails to these Senate candidates with flip Senate races, we believe we're seeing the same thing. We've already had two pickups in Pennsylvania. Of course, there were three losses in New York, but that was an overall win for us.

Democrats tried to defeat five Republican incumbents in New York state. We're also watching the Upper Main District closely, as well as California seats, which are trending in our direction. So we think we're going to pick up seats, obviously having unified Republican government to allow us to secure the border, focus on America First economic policies. That is a top priority. And that's why we worked so hard campaigning side by side, President Trump.

BLITZER: If the House doesn't go in Trump's favor, Representative Stefanik, do you think he's ready to actually come to the negotiating table on any important issues with the Democrats?

STEFANIK: Well, I think the House is going to go in Republicans' favor, and President Trump said so last night, and he knows how to read these votes better than anyone. But this is why I think the media did not give President Trump enough credit in his first term, Wolf. He delivered many bipartisan victories, whether it was the USMCA updated trade agreements to support American manufacturers, small businesses and farms. He passed the first step back. He passed right to try to make life-saving drugs available for Americans.

The media never wanted to give him the bipartisan credit, but he actually delivered major, major bipartisan wins in that first term. And certainly, we're going to have a Republican House to work to pass our agenda, secure the border. The real question needs to be asked, why did the Democrats fail to reach out to voters? They lost independence. They underperformed consistently. And it's because their radical message is woefully out of touch. To tell the American people the economy is OK when people see it at the grocery stores every day. President Trump won on the message, won on the substance, and just outworked Kamala Harris.

BLITZER: We did give him a lot of credit for the Abraham Accords, as you well know, Representative Stefanik, when he brought new partners for Israel to work with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco. That was a very significant achievement on his part, as I'm sure you appreciate as well.

You are the Republican conference chair.

STEFANIK: Yes, sir. I want to add to that.

BLITZER: Go ahead.

STEFANIK: Yes, let me comment on that, because I think that is really important, Wolf. People are paying attention to what's happening around the world, particularly the Middle East, particularly our precious ally, Israel, under attack by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists and Iran directly. And to compare that with the historic Abraham Accords, as you laid out, the biggest breakthrough for peace normalization in a quarter of a century, and we had peace and stability around the world, that was a driving issue as well that President Trump won overwhelmingly.

BLITZER: It certainly helped him win a significant representative of the Jewish vote out there in your district and other districts, as well, as I'm sure you appreciate.

[11:45:00]

You're the Republican Conference Chair, Representative, what do you see as the party's top priorities when the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump, takes office?

STEFANIK: Well, we've been very straightforward telling the American people it's securing the border and it's growing our economy. President Trump has laid out his vision and policy plans on both of those. The good news is we know what a secure border looks like. We can go back to President Trump's successful border security policies.

And the House passed the Secure the Border Act with every Republican vote, and, you know, voters held Democrats accountable. Not a single Democrat voted for that border security bill. So we intend to pass that. Growing the economy, unleashing energy independence, that is key. We passed that bill among House Republicans. President Trump is ready to get to work unleashing American energy dominance.

And then, of course, growing the economy by ensuring that we continue to cut taxes for hardworking Americans. That means no tax on tips, no tax for Social Security. These were actually policy agenda items that President Trump rolled out that then Kamala Harris took and rolled out after the fact because they were resonating so significantly among the American people. But crushing this inflation is top of the mind. And we believe a path towards economic growth will help crush this skyrocketing inflation.

BLITZER: Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York, thanks very much for joining us. And congratulations once again on your very impressive win -- in your reelection win in Upstate New York.

And stay with CNN, our special coverage continues right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:09]

BURNETT: All right. Right now, that market surge you can see on your screen. Re-election of Donald Trump causing a total surge, more than 1,330 points right now for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Let's bring in Kevin O'Leary, Chairman of O'Leary Adventures. Adventures, I guess it's adventures at times.

KEVIN O'LEARY, CHAIRMAN, O'LEARY VENTURES: We do have some adventures.

BURNETT: I'm sure you do. Of course, Shark Tank fame and all of that. All right. So here we are. I know that you've been a supporter of a number of Trump's economic proposals. Can I just start, though, with where we are this morning? Because I'm sure there were moments last night that you were sort of as shocked as everyone else was that this is how this is really going.

What went through your head? And then you start to see the markets surge and that immediate reaction.

O'LEARY: First market I saw move was Bitcoin, actually, because it trades 24/7. We started to see that just after midnight. And by the way -- by the way, Erin, I just always preface my comments. I don't show for politicians. I show for policy. And so I'm looking for pro- business policy.

So when I saw Bitcoin moving, a lot of that coming from Asia. Those markets and the Middle East -- those markets were already watching you probably and other outlets that they can feed there, deciding this county information is getting interesting. And Bitcoin was a huge winner.

BURNETT: Right. And Trump obviously has been a big supporter of Bitcoin.

O'LEARY: Well, he's also supporting the policy around digital payment systems. So this is going to be a good sector for us.

BURNETT: Right. OK. So can I just ask you -- and this is the age-old question, so I know that you're going to have to caveat it with you don't know the answer for sure. But he says a lot of things. He has said a lot of things. Do you really think he's going to do all these things? Do you really think that he's going to put tariffs in across the board? Or is that negotiating strategy that he was doing to say something to signal to China? O'LEARY: As you know, going through Congress right now is a reciprocal tariff bill, which is very fair. If Germany taxes us or tariffs us at 10% on cars, we do the same to them. It'll be reciprocal with the exception of China.

I'm an advocate for turning up the heat on China so that we get them to the table to join that act because they're not -- they came into the WTO in 1999. Trump is using these. People think they're sales taxes. They're not. It's a negotiating tactic. This is what he does well, I would argue.

If the supreme leader now knows that Trump is going to run the show, if Trump says, look, I'm going to crank you up to 400% until you get over here to Washington, he'll fly to Washington. That's what we need. We need Trump's negotiating tactic, his uncertainty that he brings to the table. These adversaries get nervous when they don't understand the direction he's going.

BURNETT: OK, so now let me ask you a couple of other important questions. First, let's talk about Elon Musk.

O'LEARY: Yes.

BURNETT: You know him and he was an instrumental part of this, right?

O'LEARY: Yes.

BURNETT: He got on board early, instrumental part of it. OK. So Trump says he's going to run the Doge. I kind of name it after the Doge where I used to run Venice back in the day.

O'LEARY: Yeah.

BURNETT: OK, the Department of Government Efficiency. Do you think Elon Musk is actually going to come in and do that? Do you think he's capable of doing that in a good way? I mean, is this, again, more rhetoric than reality?

O'LEARY: No, actually, think about -- I used to work for Steve Jobs. I'm going to draw an analogy I think you'd appreciate.

BURNETT: Yeah.

O'LEARY: He was not a nice guy to work for, by the way. But he was 85% signal, 15% noise. The only other entrepreneur that I've ever seen that is more efficient than Jobs is Elon Musk. He's 100% signal. Difficult social skills as a result doesn't matter. Every mandate --

BURNETT: Diplomatically.

O'LEARY: Well, I'm pointing out to you that every mandate that he's decided to take on, he's executed on. There's no man on earth with executional skills like that. If he says he's going to do it, he'll surround himself with advocates and he'll put them to work as he does.

And if you look at his business models, he brings really good talent in. And then he comes in and runs the show. He's going to need Trump to back him on this because no agency wants to be downsized. So if they do this, they can find a lot of savings.

[11:55:09]

BURNETT: And do you believe, from what you're hearing now, and maybe the fact that Trump looks easily on track to win the popular vote, the fact that this is such a mandate, it wasn't just a narrow, victory, right? Overall, it wasn't. Does that change the fact, the big worry that people have is, who's he going to attract to work for him? After last time, after what the general said. After --

O'LEARY: I've got good news for you, Erin, on this one. Howard Ludwig is running the transition team. I've had a chance to speak with him very briefly. A-listers coming in. We're not going to have the same volatility we had on mandate one. Trump 2.0 really wants this to work. It's not going to be a rotating doors of guys coming in and writing books the next week about their horrible experience. They're going to find great people to run this mandate, because this is his legacy mandate. He's going to be good for three years before he's a lame duck. He knows that. I think it's good.

BURNETT: You think he does know that? You think he cares about legacy?

O'LEARY: He does know that. You know, being shot at twice kind of sobers you up a little bit. I think that's changed him. He's an older guy now. He's a far more pragmatic guy. I'm an advocate to let him go do his thing and watch him go to work. He cares a lot about the economy, and he's made promises he wants to keep.

You get to that point in your life where you want to leave something behind that was a great thing you did, and I think this is going to be what Trump's focused on.

BURNETT: Right.

O'LEARY: And I want to say something about the outcome. We corrected ourselves last night. America corrected itself. We were going to a crazy place, and that's what I love about democracy. It fixed itself. We're all better off. And even the Democrats, this was good for them. They're going to get to reboot. This party will be much stronger in 36 months.

BURNETT: Yeah, well, it will change. It will change, and obviously could be very much stronger.

All right, Kevin, thank you very much.

And stay with CNN, because Election Day in America Continued is back after this short break.

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