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CNN Saturday Morning Table for Five. President Trump Comments Repeatedly that He Deserves Nobel Peace Prize; Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Release Videos of Their Immigration Enforcement Activities; Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene Comments in Interview that Republicans Should Negotiate Health Care Subsidies with Democrats to End Government Shutdown and that U.S. Economy is Faring Poorly; Puerto Rican Rapper and Singer Bad Bunny Draws Controversy for Stating Americans have Four Months to Learn Spanish before He Performs at Next Super Bowl. Aired 10-11a ET.

Aired October 11, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Today, Donald Trump demanded Israel and Hamas give peace a chance, and they did. So does he deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.

PHILLIP: Plus, Kristi Noem and Homeland Security debut their version of "Cops," a TV show featuring drama crimes, cuffs, and scenes on American streets getting darker.

Also, as the GOP faces anger over the shutdown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very disappointed in my party, and I'm very disappointed in you because you do have the power to call the House back.

PHILLIP: Are Republicans suddenly taking truth serum on the Trump economy?

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, (R-GA): Prices have not come down. People's wages have not gone up.

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R-KY): Tariffs are killing the family farm. Tariffs are killing the bourbon industry.

PHILLIP: And Charlie Kirk's group announces an alternative halftime show to the Super Bowl after Bad Bunny tells Americans to start brushing up on their Spanish.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you didn't understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.

(APPLAUSE) (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Here in studio, Jamal Simmons, Lance Trover, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and J.C. Polanco.

It's the weekend. Join the conversation at a "TABLE FOR FIVE".

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Hey there, everyone. I'm Abby Phillip in New York.

Donald Trump may be sowing division and chaos here at home, but does he deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for his work overseas? The world is now on edge for the release of the hostages after two years of war between Israel and Hamas. The extraordinary peace deal crafted by the president's administration looks to end this bloodshed and the spiraling public opinion of Israel's actions after the October 7th attacks. Now, for this, Donald Trump has made no secret that he wants to be honored.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you deserve the Nobel Prize, do you think?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: Everyone thinks so, but I would never say it.

I think I'm going to get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things, if they gave it out fairly, which they don't.

If I were named Obama, I would have had the Nobel Prize given to me in 10 seconds.

I should have gotten it four or five times.

Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They'll give it, they'll give it to some guy that didn't do a thing.

What about the seven others? I should get a Nobel Prize for each one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: On Friday, the prize did, in fact, go to Venezuela's opposition leader, which the White House called political. They did leave out, however, that the nominations are proffered before January, which of course, is before Trump even took office. That being said, I mean, we also still need to wait to see what happens this weekend if this deal sticks, what happens in the Gaza Strip. But those are a lot of ifs. If, if, if, Jamal, all of those things happen, does he deserve consideration for the peace prize?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that Donald Trump is suffering from a split screen that is really hurting him. On one hand, you've got him solving peace negotiations around the world, particularly what's happening in the Middle East. I think all of us can celebrate that. I don't root for Donald Trump's failure. I root for his fairness, because on the other side of that split screen are troops that are moving into American cities. Our American pastors are being hit by pepper spray bullets, our people being snatched out of cars by ICE agents. Those families and kids, those are things that they just don't work when you put them together. And it's hard to see how anybody in the international community would say this man is the symbol of peace.

PHILLIP: It is, I think, Lance, perhaps -- look, I don't know what's going on with the Nobel Peace Prize, right? Like, this is not an open process. Also, I think, yes, it would probably be true that he would be considered next year, and he has a four-year term. It's not over yet. But to Jamal's point, I mean, is this complicated by the fact that Trump's actions at home are also on the table, in addition to what he's doing overseas?

[10:05:00]

LANCE TROVER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I'm pretty sure the Nobel Peace Prize is to fostering relations and creating peace internationally. It doesn't have anything to do with domestic policy and the decisions that you make. And those instances --

SIMMONS: You would give it to Putin if he was doing --

TROVER: What are we talking about? Come on, Jamal, this is not this is nothing to do with Putin. What you're talking about, what's going on in the streets, are the chaos caused by these leftwing lunatics who want to go in and corner the ICE agents who are just doing what they were told they needed to be done by the voters last November. So, I mean, that's what I'm talking about.

SIMMONS: People dressed up like stuffed animals dancing in the streets, those are the leftwing lunatics that are causing -- that need to be have military --

TROVER: You see the images out of Portland and Chicago where they trapped the ICE agents last weekend?

SIMMONS: The pastor who was standing there praying, who was hit by a pepper spray bullet?

TROVER: Come on, man. This has everything to do with --

SIMMONS: Did you see the pictures of the pastor being hit by pepper spray?

TROVER: Did you see the picture of the ICE agents being gunned down on the streets of Chicago?

SIMMONS: Gunned down?

SIMMONS: We're talking about the Nobel Peace Prize here. We're talking about a committee that is completely politicized.

PHILLIP: So, OK, but to this conversation, here's one thing that the Nobel committee warned of in its announcement. "We see the same trends globally, rule of law abused by those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed toward authoritarian rule and militarization." As they awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to an opposition leader in Venezuela, where freedom is being squashed, essentially, domestically.

So again, it's a complicated picture for Trump. And I don't want to suggest that we should dismiss this, because I do think it would be a massive moment for the globe if this conflict were to end and be put on a path toward some kind of stability in the region. However, Donald Trump does have to address in a way it seems, his conduct at home.

JUAN CARLOS POLANCO, FORMER CANDIDATE FOR NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC ADVOCATE: Yes. Look, two things can exist simultaneously. On one end, President Trump is putting out fires internationally. There are eight places where the president has either brought peace or at least tried to bring peace, the latest one just being a couple of days ago. So we've got to give him props. I mean, this is huge. People are going to survive another day. Kids are going to live to see another day. That's important, and it should matter.

Simultaneously, he's creating a lot of divisions here at home. So it's very tough for the committee to get together and say we found someone that brings peace worldwide and fits our criteria when what we're seeing at home has been a campaign that railed people against each other. We see in the way he speaks is Democrats and Republicans divided. We see how he talks about undocumented immigrants. It's very tough to get folks internationally to sign up and give someone a holistic international peace award under those conditions. But this is the good news for President Trump. He has three more shots. He got three more chances of getting this. Yes, he has time.

PHILLIP: He has time. And by the way, we didn't even talk about the fact that the DOD is bombing boats off the coast of Venezuela. We don't really even know what the situation is with that. But I mean, again, this is a very complicated picture for Trump in terms of the peace making of it all.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, listen, I also think we should note that the Venezuelan opposition leader, Machado, absolutely deserves this. It's aligned with the Trump administration's policy, in fact. And Marco Rubio as a senator, actually, supported her being nominated for this position.

But I actually feel extremely strongly that if this ceasefire holds, Donald Trump absolutely should be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize next time. This has been one of the most egregious examples of suffering that we've seen in a long time, hostages who have been starved, who have been abused, who have been killed, using sexual violence as a means of so-called resistance. And also the human suffering on the side of the Palestinians, innocent Palestinians who have been caught up in Hamas's terror. If this ends -- if you're somebody who called it a genocide, if this ends, Donald Trump deserves credit regardless of anything else you feel about Donald Trump.

Certain things are bigger than domestic politics, and even things I might strongly disagree with that are happening in our country, and this moment might be that. And I think he, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner should be --

PHILLIP: Perhaps even bigger than the Nobel Peace Prize, you could argue, but there is a desire on the part of a lot of people in MAGA, and this is channeling, I'm sure, what Trump is feeling for credit. President Obama put out this post talking about the peace deal and the prospects of it, and Don Jr. responded to it, "I'll finish it for you. Thank you, Donald Trump." Honestly, it's not unfair to say if President Obama is going to write a whole post about a peace deal, maybe he should acknowledge the president that brokered it.

SIMMONS: If Donald Trump gets a peace deal, he deserves the credit. Joe Biden got cease fires. Joe Biden got hostages released. Now let's see if not only will we have a ceasefire to get hostages released, but we also get the next step, which is some sort of self-determination for the people who live in Gaza, more security for the people who live in Israel. Is there a way for us to get to a place where we can have actual fairness across that region and people can have a future for themselves? That's what's on the table. So let's celebrate the ceasefire, the return of hostages. It's a hugely important thing. Now let's see if we can go to the next step.

TROVER: But will Democrats do it? I mean, let's be honest, you guys can't give him credit for it. Will you? Will the Democrats --

[10:10:02]

SIMMONS: Donald Trump is perhaps the most powerful political leader of my lifetime, right. But he plays the victim in these moments, and it's just not a good look. I would rather he would be magnanimous in the way he grows into this role instead of making all -- making himself always the one who is the victim in these moments.

POLANCO: But that's a good question. Are the Democrats going to give him credit?

TROVER: No, of course not. The same way this committee has given for United States presidents a Nobel Peace Prize, three of whom have been Democrats. Barack Obama got it when he was like five months into office. I mean, they gave Al Gore one for being a climate alarmist --

PHILLIP: I think to Alyssa's point, I mean, look, the amount of suffering, the amount of destruction, if this is a real peace, and we still have to see if that is true, yes, everybody should give President Trump credit, and everybody who was involved in it. But we will see what happens over the course of this weekend, which is a critical moment for all of these families who have hostages that are set to be returned.

Next for us, though, as Trump's ICE tactics get more brazen, Homeland Security is turning the crackdown into a made for TV show.

Plus, as the administration begins to fire federal workers in the shutdown, some Republicans are starting to break with their party. We'll discuss that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:16:27]

PHILLIP: Donald Trump's power struggle with blue cities may be starting to falter. A federal judge temporarily blocking his efforts to send troops into Chicago while an appeals court is considering whether National Guard troops can be deployed to Portland. And then there's what is actually happening on the streets. The tactics of ICE agents are getting more intense, more brazen. A Chicago pastor, for example, is suing the administration after agents fired pepper balls at his head in a week's old incident.

Now, all through this, there is a trend emerging. Homeland security is making a show of it all. Secretary Kristi Noem constantly in front of the cameras, whether it's confronting arrested suspects or standing on roofs staring down at protests. the social media accounts beat their chest, promoting crackdowns and trolling critics, including a country star who released an anti-ICE song.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're having an all-night revival. Some call the women and someone steal the Bible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: That's been one of the more interesting parts of this whole thing. Whenever you see videos of Kristi Noem out and about in her ICE hat and whatnot, there is always a videographer. And there are videographers as their conducting arrests. There are videos being glossily produced. all the while, they're also saying ICE agents are so in danger they have to hide their face with masks. Make it make sense, Lance.

TROVER: Well, if you're an administration that has to deal with the mainstream media, which they believe they are treated unfairly. I, frankly, agree with them. I think they are, mostly Donald Trump is treated unfairly. There have been plenty of reports about it. You need to go out and do your own marketing and campaign to tell the voters what you're up to.

I personally have no problem with it. I don't think there's anything wrong with showcasing what you're doing, exactly what the voters last November sent you to do. I saw a Harvard-Harris poll this week, 56 percent of voters still want illegal immigrants out of this country. It jumps to 75 percent when we're talking about criminal illegal aliens. They're just doing what the voters want them to do. I don't think there's anything wrong with promoting what you're doing.

POLANCO: I don't think so. I don't think that the voters of this country wanted someone who was wholly unqualified to be the secretary. She's wholly unqualified. She's in the Bronx with an entire TikTok influencing marketing team as she goes into buildings bringing undocumented immigrants out of the house. She's a TikTok influencer. And unfortunately, she's creating a divide where people are now losing trust in ICE because they're seeing it as a showboating experience as opposed to keeping us safe.

And quite frankly, you know, the people that are working with ICE, these people are dedicating their lives. They're putting their lives on the line. These are good people that are trying to do a good job, and they have a leadership that is having them do things that they never thought imaginable, putting kids in cuffs, bringing them out of high schools, coming into places like right in the Bronx in the fashion what they're doing, non-criminals being paraded on TikTok as if it's as if it's a war zone. I think it's a problem for us and with the secretary acting like a TikTok influencer.

PHILLIP: Let me play what Joe Rogan had to say about this this week. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE ROGAN, HOST, "THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE": Let's just talk about the immigration thing. The way it looks is horrific. It looks -- when you're just arresting people in front of their kids, and just normal, regular people that have been here for 20 years, that -- everybody who has a heart can't get along with that. Everybody who has a heart sees that and goes, that can't be right. That can't be right. That can't be the only way to do this right. Because you have to think, look, yes, we have to have a border.

[10:20:02]

Yes, it should have been secure. Yes, they should make sure you know who everybody is before they get in. But when people have been here for 20 years, like, come on, man, that's crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: You know, what he's talking about is honestly, probably what most people are seeing if they are on social media, because ICE is, I think, to Lance's point, they are trying to create a sort of counternarrative to the videos of just hundreds of people just out in the country recording what they're seeing outside of their doors. And I'm not sure it's working because all of those other videos of people recording these arrests of people outside of schools, of domestic workers, of people in front of their families, of men sitting in cars with their baby children, those are getting seen a lot. And it's creating a really problematic narrative that Joe Rogan is talking about there.

GRIFFIN: Well, listen, I do think this White House is incredibly adept at new media, and they get the environment that they're working in. And I think that Donald Trump wants to show that he's constantly in motion and that he's delivering on what he said he'd do.

But this big debate, I think you and I actually debated this during the election, and I'm going to give you credit. You were right, and I was not. We always point to the stat that 93 percent of Americans support deporting undocumented migrants who committed crimes in this country. I'm one of those. I wanted the worst of the worst out. I don't think you should be here. I'm a RINO in the sense that I think you deserve due process and a

pathway to citizenship, if you've been here your whole life, you know no other home, and you've contributed to society. But you said at the time, no, Donald Trump said we're doing mass deportations. They had signs at the RNC saying "Mass deportations now." So I'm a little surprised by this narrative now, almost a year later, of, oh, he was just going to lock up the worst of the worst. He actually was very blunt that he was broadly going to go after the entire undocumented population. The problem there is only about half the country supports that. Many are rabidly, rabidly opposed.

PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, to your point, I mean, here's -- OK, here's The "New York Times"-Siena poll from just maybe about two weeks ago, 53 percent say that Trump has gone too far in terms of deploying the National Guard to cities. And then there are several other polls that talk about just the concern about deporting people who their only crime is being here illegally.

But, you know, one of the other things is that the way that they're conducting these arrests, right? They're being transparent, I'll give them that, that they're going after people for all kinds of reasons, including, according to the border chief Bovino, because if they are approached by ICE, maybe you look a little bit afraid. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY BOVINO, CBP CHIEF PATROL AGENT, EL CENTRO SECTOR: Perhaps you look panicked when you see a Border Patrol agent. Perhaps you look scared. Perhaps your demeanor changes. Perhaps you're gripping the steering wheel so tightly that I can see the whites of your knuckles. There's a myriad of factors that we that we would look at to develop articulable facts for reasonable suspicion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMMONS: You know, this is exactly -- this is exactly what the problem is, because people are scared to death. I was talking to a woman recently. She's a Jamaican immigrant. She's here legally. She sent her daughter home to Jamaica to go visit her family. And I said, well, why don't you go with her? She said, no, I'm not leaving the country because I'm afraid that I won't be able to get back in. No telling what they'll do with the rules. Friends in Los Angeles talking about people who are not showing up for their jobs, legal immigrants.

Listen, I think you're right. People do want border control. The president is still right about that. People do want border control. People also want the worst of the worst to be gone. But if you ask them, is he going too far, that poll just shows you people also think it's going too far. And I think that is the problem in this entire narrative is he's scaring people in this country from being able to live their lives.

PHILLIP: Well, look, you would be right to be scared regardless of your citizenship status or immigration status if you see Border Patrol because based on the way that this has gone, they will stop anyone and perhaps detain just about anyone, regardless of their status, and then check it out later. So that's what people are actually responding to when they look scared if they are approached by Border Patrol agents.

Coming up next, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene breaks with her party on the government shutdown and makes a surprising admission about what's going on with Trump's economy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:28:47]

PHILLIP: As the shutdown drags on and Donald Trump's firings begin, there must be some truth serum going around in Washington, because according to an interview on CNN, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is explaining why she's breaking with her party, and she's demanding that Republicans begin to negotiate with Democrats on these Obamacare subsidies. But in the course of that interview, she made some admissions about Trump's economy that sound exactly like the opposite of what the president has been saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: Were bringing down prices a lot. And we're bringing down grocery prices.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, (R-GA): Cost of living is so high now.

TRUMP: And the average American worker has already seen a $500 wage increase this year.

GREENE: People's wages have not gone up.

TRUMP: We're really, I think, become the party of good health care.

GREENE: Health insurance is a crisis.

TRUMP: European electricity bills are now four to five times more expensive than those in China, and two to three times higher than the United States, and our bills are coming way down.

GREENE: Electricity bills are $100 more than it was last year. Prices have not come down.

TRUMP: Now our inflation is down to a perfect number, a beautiful number, hardly any at all.

GREENE: The inflation crushed people in the past four-and-a-half, and the costs have not come down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:30:01]

PHILLIP: Alyssa, what is going on? I honestly want to know what's going on with Marjorie Taylor Greene.

GRIFFIN: Well, it's also remarkable that Marjorie Taylor Greene has become the voice of reason in Washington. I am someone who always opposes government shutdowns. I think they only hurt the people. I think that many Democrats said that they shouldn't have shutdowns over policy matters who are now supporting this one. I think that it's unhelpful to everyone, including CBP, ICE, and our troops that aren't getting paid right now and are going to miss a paycheck just in a couple of weeks.

But listen, she knows her district. She's clearly listening to her constituents. Whether it's Obamacare subsidies that are going to affect her constituents or the reality that the economy is lagging. Now, you don't -- you can't blame that squarely on Donald Trump. You can blame it on the former administration as well. But she is speaking truth of what she's hearing from her constituents rather than just who's in the White House.

PHILLIP: Can I play one more thing that might surprise you? Here is Senator Rand Paul talking about what he is hearing in his district.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R-KY): Most of our conversations at home have been with people affected by tariffs. So the number one issue I get wherever I go in the state is tariffs are killing the family farm. Tariffs are killing the bourbon industry. Tariff is killing the cargo transport industry. So there's all kinds of talk, but mostly tariffs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: That's not a good look for Trump's economic policies. And I mean, he's been consistent on that because his state is getting hard hit by these tariffs. And farmers across the country are hard hit. We know that because the government is literally about to bail them out. So when is there going to be an acknowledgment that things are not going so well in terms of the economy?

TROVER: Well, I think, that's a broad swath of saying. I mean, egg prices are down, gas prices are down, employment is at full. We're at like four percent employment. So to say that the economy is not doing good, I don't think is absolutely correct.

Look, the whole idea of the Obamacare subsidy is happening because it clearly shows you they had to do a subsidy because Obamacare wasn't working. The cost was still too high. What does that tell you? That's the whole reason they need a subsidy in the first place.

PHILLIP: I mean, look, you can make that case, but prices are still going up in terms of health care. I mean, and also, I mean, OK, so you brought up some things. I mean, we pulled some of the prices a year over year change. Eggs are down from the top of the year, but still up 12 percent year over year. Coffee up 40 percent, bacon up six percent. Your breakfast meal is getting really expensive. Whole milk, three percent. Tomatoes 3.6 percent and a whole chicken 4.4 percent. So I mean, Marjorie Taylor Greene, that's what she's talking about. People are still going to the grocery store, and they're like, what is happening?

SIMMONS: I'll tell you, Marjorie Taylor Greene has also been flirting with the statewide run in Georgia. And I think she probably is thinking about the entire composition of what that might look like one day --

PHILLIP: Yes, 100 percent.

SIMMONS: -- as she's moderating herself here. Listen, I was in Michigan a couple of weeks ago. Auto parts suppliers there are very worked up about what's happening because of the cross border traffic between Mexico and Canada for parts on the auto industry. You heard about this with farmers already. The economy, while it may be in the prices show up, the prices may show up OK. What's happening underneath, people are burning through the inventory that they had stocked up in anticipation of the tariffs. They're worried about the prices going too high. This is going to be a really tough next year. Every time I talk to a businessperson, what they say to me is be prepared for 2026. It could be a rocky ride.

TROVER: It's all the more reason we should lower interest rates, in my view, because that would spur business growth.

POLANCO: Hopefully --

PHILLIP: Interest rates have gone down.

TROVER: But not enough.

POLANCO: Hopefully they'll come down even further. The truth is, the economy is terrible. As far as Marjorie Taylor Greene, even a broken clock is right twice a day, to be honest with you. So I'm excited to see her come to the middle on some of these.

But this is more about self-preservation. You're right. She knows her district. It's not as if she has a come to Jesus moment. It's coming out now to say the truth. The truth is this -- this shutdown is hurting Americans, and it's going to hurt us even more as we move forward into it. And she's begging the speaker, please come back in, open up the house. Let's talk about it. Let's figure out a middle path to find a solution to these subsidies, because these subsidies are important, because we're talking about the costs for these payments are going to double if we don't do something about it now. And those are her constituents.

PHILLIP: And Georgia is one of the states that has dramatically increased their enrollment in ACA programs. So a lot of her constituents are getting those subsidies. But, Alyssa, whatever happened to the days when if we were in a situation like this, you would have like a group of senators on either side, a gang, some kind of gang come together to solve -- because it's never going to be the leaders that sort out these problems. It's got to in a way, it's got to be rank and file that are somewhat blessed by leadership who figure this out. Where are these people? Do they exist in Congress anymore?

GRIFFIN: Well, it does kind of feel like if a shutdown happens and nobody notices, did it? Because I was on the Hill for shutdowns. I was in the White House for the longest one in history, and there was always momentum and movement and negotiations happening. And it doesn't feel like that is.

But what I think, a prediction I'm going to make is this. Donald Trump is not a traditional conservative.

[10:35:00]

He's not a Paul Ryan who is looking to cut entitlements. He's somebody who will be responsive to the needs of his voters. Just this week, the White House announced they're going to use tariff revenue to basically fund WIC, because WIC benefits, women and infant children, was going to expire in October. I think they're going to look for a way that they may be able, through executive action, to temporarily extend these Obamacare subsidies, because Trump's electorate looks very different than George Bush's electorate.

PHILLIP: Why do that when you could just cut a deal?

GRIFFIN: Because why give the Democrats a win ahead of --

PHILLIP: And reopen the government?

(CROSS TALK)

PHILLIP: -- deeply problematic for. Yes, I mean, I think you're right. That is deeply problematic if you're in this world, this country, and you're like, what's going on in Washington? And they refuse to just make a deal, open the government, and they would rather use --

POLANCO: The best conversation we've had all week has actually been between Mike Lawler and Hakeem Jeffries in the middle of --

PHILLIP: I don't know.

SIMMONS: That wasn't a great conversation.

PHILLIP: That wasn't a great conversation.

POLANCO: I bet you that's as close to a conversation as we've had between Republicans and Democrats to try to come and to me, to a meeting, as opposed to not conversing at all.

TROVER: Let's talk about the hypocritical nature of the Democratic Party here, though. For years, when they were in charge and Republicans wanted to cut a deal, no, no, no, we will only do a clean cr. Thats how were going to operate, because you will hold us hostage. Well, so the next vote would be like November 20th. Thats what were only talking like a few -- like a month for this deal. But they want to do the subsidy issue in. So what comes on November 20th? What's the next deal? What's the next hostage that will be held for the Democrats?

GRIFFIN: Let's be fair. This is driven by politics by the Democrats, too. Chuck Schumer sees AOC in his shadow. He's terrified of a primary. Hakeem Jeffries feels like he has to feel like he's fighting. They got so much backlash for funding the government last time. There is definitely politics.

PHILLIP: I think there are politics. But I am -- I've heard the AOC thing right, and I and I get that she is an important figure. But I'm not sure AOC's future is just Chuck Schumer.

TROVER: No, but Chuck Schumer believes it.

PHILLIP: I just think that there are -- I think that the bigger problem for Democrats is that the entire country, including Democrats, does not feel like congressional leadership is doing a single thing to fight for them. And they want they want people to fight for them.

TROVER: So you shut down the government?

PHILLIP: I'm just saying, I'm just telling you -- I'm not endorsing it. I'm just saying that is the view of just rank and file people is that they're not fighting enough.

SIMMONS: That's been a challenge for the Democrats is that people don't feel they're fighting, and now they are fighting. Not just they're fighting, they're fighting for something people actually want and they need. They know when Senator Warnock stands up and says, or gets online and says, if you don't fix the health care problem, I have a constituent $65,000 a year. They pay $300 plus in health care costs. That's going to go up to $960 plus in health care costs. We've got to fix this for the American people. So the Democrats have actually picked a fight that people agree with them on. And you know how we know it's working? Because Marjorie Taylor Greene has come out and said that she wants to figure it out. Donald Trump is trying to find a way to show that he wants to figure it out.

PHILLIP: Mike Lawler wants to figure it out. He wants a one-year extension. So, I mean, they're part of the way there, I don't know.

All right, next for us, Bad Bunny has a message for the critics as the Super Bowl drama heats up and a rival show jumps in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:51]

PHILLIP: The uproar over Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl is taking new turns after the singer dismissed his critics by telling them to learn Spanish.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAD BUNNY: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

(APPLAUSE)

BAD BUNNY: And if you didn't understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Charlie Kirk's group announced that they're going to have an alternative to, quote, "the all American halftime show." And it's worth noting that Bad Bunny is from Puerto Rico. The president also reacted to this for the first time this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: I never heard of him. I don't know who he is. I don't know why they're doing it. It's like crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter that they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it's absolutely ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Some promoter, I think he might be talking about Jay-Z? Anyway, the point is a MAGA alternative to Bad Bunny, I don't know. I mean, do we really even need this?

POLANCO: Ay dios mio? We don't need this.

(LAUGHTER)

POLANCO: It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. Puerto Rico is an American. It's an American story. And Bad Bunny tells the story like no other. Look, a quarter of a million Puerto Ricans have put on the uniform and served in our military, have died in every single one of our wars since World War I. To portray Bad Bunny as un-American or not one of us is absurd. Bad Bunny means a great deal to us Latinos. He brings our culture to the world stage, and created something incredible. He's made it so that everyone from Latin America feels a connection. Whether you're Puerto Rican, Dominican, from Argentina, Colombian, we all feel a connection to the to the artwork of Bad Bunny. Bad Bunny represents the best of us. And when he goes there and does that show, I hope it is the most watched halftime performance in history. And something to note, he is an American citizen.

[10:45:00]

You know who wasn't? Rihanna. You know who wasn't? The dude from Coldplay. The Weeknd, The Weeknd, Shakira. We go down the list and. I never wondered about the politics of the performers.

PHILLIP: Yes.

POLANCO: I'm so angry. You know, if I'm Puerto Rican today, I am angry at what I'm seeing from the right. You're going to lose potential voters who care about economic development who would have voted for you on tax cuts. They're completely turned off by this nonsense.

PHILLIP: Why do we have to make a fight about every little thing? I mean, just let the man perform.

SIMMONS: I'm not a huge country music fan, but I love to watch country music when it's performed. I like to listen to it. I think people will enjoy it. When you have hip hop out there.

GRIFFIN: I thought you were saying Bad Bunny was country. I was like, you know less about him than me.

SIMMONS: No, no, no. But the Super Bowl is one of these places where we bring out artists from all kinds of different perspectives. And so you end up having a hip hop day, a hip hop Super Bowl. You have a country music Super Bowl. You're going to have a Bad Bunny Super Bowl, like Latino music. Like, let's just enjoy the whole fabric of what America is. It's a beautiful country. We all love it. let us love it.

PHILLIP: So here's the thing. Let me just read a quote from Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House. He said, "I didn't even know who Bad Bunny was." OK, that's fine. "But it sounds like a terrible decision, in my view. From what I'm hearing, it sounds like he's not somebody who appeals to a broader audience. There are so many eyes on the Super Bowl. A lot of young, impressionable children. In my view, you would have Lee Greenwood, Lee Greenwood, OK, or role models doing that. Not somebody like this." I mean, a broader audience. Does he understand how big of an audience Bad Bunny has?

GRIFFIN: Well, so that was going to be my point. The NFL is a money making, massive, global machine, by the way. They're now taking football games all over the world. And they looked at an artist who has twice over been the most streamed artist on Spotify in Bad Bunny, somebody with a global brand, a huge following, a younger following as well. And I think they baked into it, controversy sells. I think there's actually going to be more people who tune in and more engagement from it because they want to be offended by it.

PHILLIP: What happened with Kendrick last year.

GRIFFIN: One-hundred percent.

PHILLIP: It was their most watched halftime show, but lee greenwood.

TROVER: Don't knock Lee Greenwood. I was about to say, let's knock Lee Greenwood.

(CROSS TALK)

TROVER: I'm OK with that.

POLANCO: You know what I would like to see? Lee coming out with Bad Bunny. Wouldn't that be great?

TROVER: America is fine.

PHILLIP: OK, but why are they fighting over this?

SIMMONS: Or Snoop Dogg.

PHILLIP: Why is MAGA making a fuss over this?

TROVER: My position, the Zach Bryan thing and all this stuff? If you're an artist and you, in this day and age, and you want to tiptoe into the political sphere as he has done, as Zach Bryan did this week, guess what? You may have to deal with the ramifications of that. Maybe people won't download Zach Bryan's songs. Maybe people won't tune in to Bad Bunny this weekend. That's the life you lead. I do think telling Americans they have four months to learn Spanish.

SIMMONS: Maybe they'll just go to the bathroom and get some chips during the halftime show, and we'll go back to the game in 20 minutes.

(LAUGHTER)

POLANCO: I want him to appreciate what's part of the American fabric. And Puerto Ricans and Latinos, are too often we get ignored. And for once, we have the most wide sports contest ever watched, and it's going to be Bad Bunny. Don't leave to go get chips. Watch it.

TROVER: Telling people they need to learn Spanish was a little over the top, but --

PHILLIP: It was a joke. But yes, go ahead and learn another language, folks. There's nothing wrong with that either.

Coming up next, the panel's unpopular opinions what they're not afraid to say out loud.

But first, a programing note. Journalist Kara Swisher and comedian Zainab Johnson join in on the fun this week of "Have I Got News for You" tonight, 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:53:21]

PHILLIP: We're back, and it's time for your unpopular opinions. You each have 30 seconds to tell us yours. J.C., you're up.

POLANCO: Hear me out. I'm a big Buffalo Bills fan. I think it's going to be Buffalo Bills versus Detroit Lions for the Super Bowl. I don't think one game tells the story of the whole season. I want to see the Super Bowl series. Whoever wins two out of three. And no neutral random stadium. Whoever has the best record gets two out of those three games. First game, best in the third game would go to the best record. So I think whoever wins two out of three. Go Bills.

GRIFFIN: That's actually a good money maker, so listen, NFL.

But my unpopular opinion, which I actually don't think is unpopular, despite what some on the right and the left have said, Taylor Swift is more popular than ever. Her "Life of a Showgirl" album broke the record for debut sales in its first week, with 3.5 million being sold. She caused literal earthquakes during her Eras tour. She, despite the fact that she somehow manages to tick off both the right and the left, she's being called a tradwife by the left, and the right just doesn't like her for all those reasons, she's more popular than ever, and the new album is fire.

PHILLIP: This Taylor Swift has -- GRIFFIN: And that is a direct response to Scott Jennings.

PHILLIP: -- a tradwife. That is wild. OK. All right, go ahead, Jamal.

SIMMONS: All right, it's not popular in America. It is not popular in my household. We do not let our children watch "K-Pop Demon Hunters."

(LAUGHTER)

SIMMONS: It seems a little bit mature. The music, they do listen to the music. That is enough annoyance in our household from "K-Pop Demon Hunter."

PHILLIP: You know what? When I was growing up, that would have been --

GRIFFIN: It's like the most streamed thing right now.

PHILLIP: Not of the lord.

SIMMONS: Exactly.

TROVER: I'm going to piggyback off the sports front. I've been watching the Cubs and the Brewers play the last couple nights. I'm just going to go and say, I think the Cubs are going all the way. They're going to win the World Series this year.

[10:55:01]

PHILLIP: We've got a lot of sports takes tonight. We'll see how you guys fare.

Everyone, thank you very much. Thanks for watching "TABLE FOR FIVE". You can catch me every weeknight at 10:00 eastern time with our News Night Roundtable and anytime on your favorite social media, X, Instagram, and TikTok. In the meantime, CNN's coverage continues right now.

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