Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Event/Special

CNN Saturday Morning Table for Five: Ongoing Federal Government Shutdown Negatively Affecting Food Assistance Benefits And Air Travel For Americans; Some Republicans Say Party Needs To Focus On Affordability After Losses In Recent Off-Year Elections; Federal Judge In Chicago Says A Border Patrol Agent Lied About Being Hit In Head With Rock before Deploying Teargas On Protesters; Border Patrol Agent Contradicts Video Evidence Of Him Using Force On Suspect; New Study Finds Average American's Technology Use Is Equivalent to 32-Hour Day Due To Multitasking; Musical Artist Uses Artificial Intelligence To Top Charts. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired November 08, 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, shutdown symptoms spread.

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT: The American people are, unfortunately, about to start suffering some very real consequences.

PHILLIP: SNAP payments delayed, paychecks missed, and chaos at the airports.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I almost canceled my trip. I'm just sick of it. It's like, what about us?

PHILLIP: When will it be enough? Have D.C. lawmakers lost touch with the rest of the country?

Plus, a bad case of whiplash for Republicans at the ballot box.

STEVE BANNON, FORMER ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: The husk of the Republican Party is a stiff. It's a loser.

PHILLIP: Will the messenger in chief take the hint?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: We did a great job on groceries and affordability.

PHILLIP: Also, does the Trump administration have a credibility problem in court? A Chicago judge is calling them out. What it means for enforcing Trump's policies.

And, think your day is packed? That's because it is. A new study says technology is jamming 32 hours of information into a 24-hour day. Are we hitting max capacity?

Here in studio, Cari Champion, T.W. Arrighi, Arthur Aidala, and Nayyera Haq.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

Donald Trump campaigned on a promise of making America affordable again starting on day one. But here we are, nine months into his presidency, and Americans are paying more for nearly everything. Prices are up at the grocery store, from coffee to beef to cereal. And this week, voters showed their frustration. The Democrats scored big wins in New Jersey and Virginia and New York City, sending a message about affordability.

Now President Trump, though, he says that he doesn't want to hear about it, calling it a con job and blaming the media. But a new report on Friday shows that Americans are feeling worse about this economy. U.S. consumer sentiment declined to a more than three-year low, and layoffs for October surged to a two-decade high, all while record breaking government shutdowns, that's going on every day now, frustrating air travelers, leaving over a million federal workers without a paycheck. Families are now wondering whether they'll be able to pay for their next meal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CURLEY, TRAVELER IMPACTED BY FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS: People are really hurting out here, and it's not just the traveling public, but it's affecting the whole economy. And you people are to blame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: This is a disaster, honestly, for Americans, for regular people. The government shutdown has no winners. But on top of that, I mean, it strikes me that we don't even really know how the economy is doing because for the last two months, we haven't had a jobs report. We don't know what the condition of the labor market is. But everybody suddenly is really feeling like something is wrong.

NAYYERA HAQ, ASSISTANT DEAN, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY'S MAXWELL SCHOOL: And it feels like we're being gaslit, that everything is going to be great. You know, someone is making $1 trillion a year now for their salary when meanwhile, my kids' school, public school, which is only a few blocks away from where Justice Kavanaugh lives, so this is his local community, is running, the PTA were running a food drive, a coat drive. Like, this is one of the most educated areas in the country, and they are concerned about families in that community not being able to make ends meet right now.

So this is this is the reality of what happens when you try to take the economy, bring it back a couple of decades, and try to leverage everything off the back of some tariffs that just haven't materialized in anything material for the American public.

ARTHUR AIDALA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Abby, you know what I wonder, if Congresspeople don't make an enormous amount of money, those who at least live in like metropolitan areas where things are very expensive, right, we're going to talk about affordability, I wonder if their paychecks were frozen during these shut outs, whether we'd be going on almost five or six weeks, because their paychecks aren't frozen. And if those congresspeople and those senators went to their home constituents and went into those streets and saw the food drives and heard about people who don't have enough money to put gas in the car to go to a job, I wonder if both sides would take off their little Democratic pin and their little Republican pin and say, you know what I am? I'm an American, and these are the people who I serve, and they are hungry. They are literally hungry. And so I'm going to put aside, and Trump and this and let's just fix it, and let's feed, let's feed our American citizens.

[10:05:06]

CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Arthur, I don't know if I have a fever or what. This is the first time I've ever agreed with you on this show. Thank goodness. He's on -- I'm kidding. But you're so right. And even what makes it even more scary is how tone deaf this administration appears. And I'm referring to the president. Like, you know, it's like ballrooms over baby food. Like, what are we talking about here? Why are we showing bathrooms? What's really going on?

Most Americans, I read, maybe can afford to miss one paycheck. I don't know how many Americans can do that. When I was growing up, it was paycheck to paycheck, literally. So you miss one. Now we're at two. This administration has repurposed funds, billions of dollars, and given them to certain folks that actually feed his agenda. And I'm all like, wait, why, why don't you want to give these people money? Tell me again how this helps your agenda?

And this is also with the Democrats. I understand you're going to present a bill, and you think that you're taking a moral high ground, but nobody wins at the end of the day, nobody.

PHILLIP: To your point about Donald Trump, though, I just want to play what -- he was asked, not just about the shutdown, but also about just the state of the economy and what Americans are saying repeatedly that they are feeling. And here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: Our general costs are very low, and I just saw that Walmart came out with a statement last night. They've done it for many years, that Thanksgiving this year will cost 25 percent less than Thanksgiving last year under sleepy Joe Biden. So that's a big difference. Energy prices are way down from what they were last year. Inflation is almost nonexistent. We have inflation down to a very low number, whereas Biden, as you know, is the worst inflation in the history of our country. So we're doing very well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Isn't this the same trap that they're falling into that you know, the Biden administration fell into where they just kept reciting a whole bunch of numbers. And by the way, his numbers are not even all that accurate, but reciting a whole bunch of numbers in response to people saying, I don't feel like this economy is affordable. And they're right because prices are going up.

T.W. ARRIGHI, VICE PRESIDENT, PUSH DIGITAL GROUP: No, I think James Blair, the political director at the White House, was exactly right when he talked about last Tuesday and that Republicans have lost the thread on the message of affordability. We need to get back to talking about that.

And I think when the American people look at Washington, they, to all the points you just made earlier, this is not a way to go about doing business. OK. You've laid some blame at the feet of the president. My thought is, and I echo what John Thune said a couple of weeks ago when he was irate, in a rarity on the Senate floor. And he said, we're just learning now that there's consequences of keeping the government shut down. And I think the American people are keeping the government open. Address my health care concerns, address my cost of living concerns, and do them in that order. But there's no reason to take it out on air traffic controllers, on SNAP recipients, and military members.

HAQ: Well, the part of the challenge is that it's really coming to fruition, this idea of when you fire a whole bunch of people willy- nilly, like DOGE did just last spring, they fired 1,300 people from the FAA. Of course we're now going to be seeing the consequences of slower flights, right? If you are going to be cutting benefits and telling the Department of Agriculture you're not allowed to give out money that you've already been given, even though many of those people are in places like Louisiana and Mississippi, the MAGA faithful, then yes, the truth does start to come out.

The challenge I see is who is going to force the Trump administration to change? Because Congress is congress. It's a broken mess. The majority right now jumps to whatever Trump has to say. And if a judge has said, give out this money, make sure people can eat, and Trump just decides --

(CROSS TALK)

PHILLIP: Theres a divide between what Trump is saying and what the administration is doing. It sounds like they will actually follow the judge's order. But when Trump was asked about SNAP by a reporter on Thursday, here's what he said in response to that question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's your message to folks as they work this out in the courts and in Congress? As were heading into thanksgiving?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: And you know one other thing, our country has to remain very liquid because problems, catastrophes, wars, could be anything. We have to remain liquid. We can't give everything away based on a number.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIP: I mean, just remember he's talking about food assistance to Americans, and he's saying that the country has to remain liquid, presumptively can't spend the $9 billion to feed Americans because we have to be liquid for catastrophes and wars?

AIDALA: Well, listen, he's -- hold on. That is being, look, he is being -- he's speaking like a businessman. I run a tiny, tiny, infinitesimal business. However, I know what he means about liquidity, about being there. If something happens, you need to have funds. If COVID all of a sudden blows up again, or something --

[10:10:00]

PHILLIP: But $9 billion is a rounding error in the federal government budget.

AIDALA: OK, but --

PHILLIP: But $9 billion is a is literally a rounding error in the Department of Defense budget.

CHAMPION: Thank you.

PHILLIP: So why are we acting as if this is an insurmountable amount of money that we cannot find and feed Americans?

AIDALA: Because he's trying to put pressure, he's trying to put pressure to land this plane. He's trying --

HAQ: That's politics then.

AIDALA: He's trying to -- it's all about politics. Look, for the government, for the congressional Democrats, this is known as Trump's shutdown. So the longest it goes, it goes down in history that Trump had the biggest failure, the biggest shutdown. So they have no real impetus to end this. When you say, what's going to make this end? The people are going to -- when tomorrow people go to the airport, tonight people go to the airport and they can't fly, that's what's going to make this.

PHILLIP: Yes, that's true.

ARRIGHI: I would just add this. I would just add that Donald Trump is talking about the contingency funding. I'm not a legal expert. I don't know what those funds can and can't do. And that's what he's referring to. Neither Donald Trump nor Mike Johnson nor John Thune wants to see anybody go hungry. The bill that the White House supports, that the House supports and the Senate passed is a C.R. that would fund SNAP. We voted on it 13 times yay. The Democrats voted nay. And the addendum that John Thune put up that was voted down this week by the Democrats also included paying all federal workers and going beyond the normal scope of --

(CROSS TALK)

CHAMPION: All due respect, all due respect, Donald Trump is doing what he did to win this election. He's trying to convince the American people that it's not an issue, and maybe he can convince us that January 6th really didn't happen, or that somebody stole the election from him. He maybe can convince people of that.

But when I go to the market or when I put gas in my car, when the American people can't feed their kids, you can't convince me that I can kind of feed my kids. You can't convince me that I can kind of do things for my family that I can't do. And that's what he's trying to do.

HAQ: Or the idea that, hey, the country is liquid. And, you know, we need to continue to be able to send military weapons to Israel like all of these other --

CHAMPION: I don't care about any of that. I want to eat. I want to do that.

ARRIGHI: And to address that affordability issue, we need to get the government back open and fully functioning.

PHILLIP: All right, coming up next for us, will Republicans respond to those Democratic victories this week? Plus, what former President Obama said was the key takeaway from Election Day on Tuesday. We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:17:04]

PHILLIP: As Republicans recover from the whiplash of the elections this week, they are getting some mixed messages from the White House about how to respond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES BLAIR, POLITICAL DIRECTOR OF THE TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN AND RNC: The president is very keyed in to what's going on. I think you'll see him be very, very focused on prices and cost of living.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: But here is the messenger in chief at the end of the week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't want to hear about the affordability, because right now we're much less.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Beyond the big Democratic wins in Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans ran into roadblocks in red and deep purple states, too. In Georgia, two Democratic candidates claimed seats on the state utility commission with about 60 percent of the vote, the first nonfederal statewide Democratic win since 2006. And that's while energy prices are soaring. And in Pennsylvania, Democratic Supreme Court justices kept their seats for a new 10-year term, preserving the party's court majority despite heavy conservative spending in that state.

And in Mississippi, of all places, Democrats broke the state GOP supermajority, flipping two state Senate seats and one House seat after court ordered redistricting corrected discrimination against black voters.

So what does this all mean for the midterms? Well, T.W. it certainly raises, as you pointed out, that voice you heard in the in the intro there was a top political adviser to President Trump, and he gets it. But Trump seems to think this is all a mirage. And also, the policy from the White House does seem to be doubling down on all the other stuff, on immigration, on a crackdown on crime. And the American people are speaking pretty loudly that it's actually the economy.

ARRIGHI: Well, I do think he -- I don't think he thinks it's a mirage. When he was on the Capitol, he mentioned that the shutdown, the economy and that he wasn't on the ballot were also reasons why they lost and they were going to have a closed door meeting to talk about it.

Look, the president is moving at a breakneck speed. I think, like him or hate him, he's going to be one of the most consequential presidents if he keeps -- of all time, if he keeps up this pace. And he needs to walk and chew gum at the same time if he's going to do it.

But look, these elections and these races come down to three things -- a message, a good candidate, and energy. The energy is obviously on the left. These are states that did not go for Trump. They are -- we obviously are in the midst of a shutdown. It's an off-year election. The energy is with the Democrats right now.

They also had good candidates. Zohran Mamdani, I think he should be disqualified from running given all the stuff he said. But the fact is he's a tremendous candidate and a gifted, gifted politician. But -- so you need that, you need the energy, and then you need the message. They focus relentlessly on affordability, and we need to get back to that. Republicans --

PHILLIP: And guess who agrees with you -- Barack Obama. Here's what he said about the candidate part of this that you just discussed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:20:01]

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: It turns out that if, number one, you have candidates with integrity who believe in something and are in it for the right reasons, they can win. And what we also learned is that when young people are engaged and involved, then we win.

Tuesday was nice, but we've got a lot of work to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: You know, Arthur, I know you're a New Yorker at heart, and I and I'm sure that you disagree with Mamdani on a lot of things, but he really understood what was happening in the city, which is that it's not actually just sort of poor working class people, but it's also a lot of middle class people who feel really priced out. And he spoke directly to them.

AIDALA: Anyone who denies that has got their head in the sand. I couldn't agree more. Someone used the term recently, middle class millionaires, because, you know, if you're a millionaire, half of that money goes away, between federal, state, and local taxes, and then the other stuff that's in there, the FICA. And then you want to send your kid or kids to private school. Well, now that's another $60,000, $60,000, that's $120,000. And there's rent, there's the mortgage. And all of a sudden you're this rich person in midtown Manhattan, and you're like, well, honey, I don't know if we're going to go on this vacation. And he grabbed it and he ran with it. And you have to compliment him.

Also, look, Andrew Ccuomo ran the same campaign he ran for his father in 1994, et cetera, with, you know, lawn signs and posters. Mamdani, you know, he grasped -- he grasped the young people. He's energetic. He did -- but, I mean, I agree with T.W. I mean, the stuff that he said in the past about Jewish people, the stuff that -- giving the finger to the Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Circle, in a place that has more Italian Americans per square inch than Italy, you have the most Jewish folks, the most Italian folks. And he's basically saying to both of those groups, yes, I'm not a big fan of either one of you.

HAQ: So Mamdani got the support and endorsement of the Satmar Hasidic community in Brooklyn. I'm a native New Yorker.

AIDALA: Did you see the votes?

HAQ: I'm granted on Staten Island, my hometown people said Andrew Cuomo killed my grandmother, but I still voted for him. So I think a lot of the antagonism against Mamdani is really not about policies or past statements. It's the idea of a scary Muslim person suddenly leading New York City.

Luckily, I mean, I was on the Capitol property at my first job on 9/11. I think in 20 years we've evolved and moved past these scary images of halal meat coming for you. But this is a personal point for me. Someone like Mamdani being able to be his full, truthful self, be authentic about what it means to be a New Yorker right now who is struggling, that works.

CHAMPION: That works.

HAQ: I wish it was integrity, as my former boss said, but we've seen a two-time impeached president with multiple corruption scandals get reelected. I think it's the authenticity, because that's what --

CHAMPION: Because that's what Trump has. And so why can Trump be as authentic and divisive as he is and what Mamdani does is completely inappropriate? I don't understand. Those aren't two different things.

AIDALA: I don't think anyone who says -- he's already said we're not going to invest in any of our funds. Thank God the comptroller who controls the funds is Jewish, but he's already said were not going to invest any more funds with anyone who works with Israel.

HAQ: What does being Jewish have to do with it?

AIDALA: The comptroller makes the decision. He decides where the pension funds go. And if you invest in Israel, then, according to Mamdani, he doesn't want the pension --

CHAMPION: What's the difference. Between their authenticity, what is the difference?

AIDALA: I don't -- I don't know what you're saying Donald Trump is. Mamdani, he's already apologized for things that he said.

HAQ: Trump has never apologized for anything.

AIDALA: So then who is more authentic? The person who is sticking to his guns, or the one when he was running for reelection, changed his tune?

Absolutely. Let me just -- I just want to pivot us back a little bit for a second, because I think one of the big reactions on the Republican side to Tuesday was, well, these are all just blue states. It doesn't matter. We don't need to really worry that much.

But if you are -- I mean, what do you think Republicans should be most on the lookout for right now? Because Mississippi, Georgia -- Georgia is the place I think you should be the most worried about when you see statewide Democrats winning, because there's a governor's race coming up there. Theres a Senate race. What are you saying Republicans should be concerned about?

ARRIGHI: I also would throw in two big mayoral wins in New Hampshire that flipped in a state that's also a battleground, two Republicans. So look, it's a mixed bag. But again, it's an off-year election. The energy is with the Democrats.

And I think you are right, authenticity does matter, broadly speaking, for a candidate, always has. But at the end of the day, when a when an issue is polling 20 percent higher than the number two issue, which is affordability is number one, and we're not fully focused on talking about that. Winsome Earle-Sears was running ads on trans in sports, that's a problem. We're not talking about --

[10:25:04]

PHILLIP: It's kind of like fighting the old fights.

ARRIGHI: That's exactly what it feels like.

PHILLIP: In politics, you can fight the fight that is happening now or the one from the election past. And I do think Trump, Winsome Earle- Sears, all this culture war stuff, the immigration stuff. It's feeling like that is not working anymore. HAQ: The idea that's gotten stale, right. So Winsome Sears did not

talk about the fact that three hospitals are closing in Virginia, right, and that this is going to be devastating for a community that not only has federal workers, but also has been reliant on Medicaid and Medicare payments. All of that tied to the big, beautiful bill.

CHAMPION: I want to know what's happening for me. And that's like, that's all that matters.

HAQ: Abigail Spanberger was able to make a very direct tie to this is what's happening in Congress. I, as your governor, understand this, and I will take care of you.

ARRIGHI: But a quick side note on that, Glenn Youngkin's approval rating as of Election Day was 52 percent.

PHILLIP: Which speaks even more to the losses at the governor.

ARRIGHI: Sure, but it's not an end of the game.

PHILLIP: Yes.

I mean, coming up next, judges are now raising some questions about the Trump administration's credibility in the court of law. We'll debate next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:40]

PHILLIP: Does the Trump administration have a credibility problem in the court of law? Well, this morning, several cases around the country are pointing exactly to that. A federal judge in Chicago says a top Border Patrol agent was lying Thursday when he said he was hit in the head with a rock before deploying tear gas on protesters. Judge Sara Ellis called the government's portrayal of Chicago untrue, finding the evidence presented by that agent simply not credible.

In another embarrassment for Trump's DOJ this week, a man who threw a Subway sandwich at an officer in Washington has been found not guilty of the only misdemeanor assault charge that he was charged with. And prosecutors were initially seeking a felony charge for that man, and they failed to secure an indictment.

Lastly, a magistrate judge is slamming prosecutors in James Comey's trial for their handling of evidence, accusing Trump's hand-picked attorney and prosecutor of taking an indict first and investigate second approach.

There's a lot in the courts happening, and I and I will say Trump is winning in some cases. But in the -- on the question of can the government's word be trusted, that's being called into question many times. And I'm actually flabbergasted by this because let me play for you what Gregory Bovino, he's the Border Patrol agent that has been sent over to Chicago, this is the exchange where he is asked about the use of force, and particularly his use of force. And here's what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said on October 30th. That from what you have seen, all of the uses of force by yourself and the men under your command have been more than exemplary, your words. You still stand by that?

GREGORY BOVINO, BORDER PATROL OFFICIAL: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So when you tackled Scott Blackburn, as shown in the video marked for identification as exhibit eight, that use of force on your part was more than exemplary?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objective. Form lacks foundation.

BOVINO: As we talked earlier, that was not a use -- a reportable use of force.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not a use of force?

BOVINO: I placed him under arrest. I didn't tackle him. I placed him under arrest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gotcha.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: The judge looked at that and said, that's a lie. There's a video. You clearly tackled him. I think it is really ballsy, frankly, to go to a court and then straight up lie like that.

AIDALA: OK, so --

PHILLIP: What is happening?

AIDALA: You know what I do my day job, right, when I'm not playing a lawyer on TV?

PHILLIP: Yes. Yes.

AIDALA: Of course, I couldn't agree with you more. That's what I do all day long is I cross examine law enforcement officers, and I try to say that they're either exaggerating or blowing things out of proportion, and that my client is not guilty.

But so this is, like, nothing new. I mean, this is being, you know, I look, I bleed blue because I need them to protect us. But law enforcement officers lying in a court of law is not exactly something that's unique and new under Trump. I mean, it's been going on forever and ever and ever.

PHILLIP: That's on video? About something that's on video.

AIDALA: Well, now there are videos --

PHILLIP: That's the issue, right?

AIDALA: Look, Derek Chauvin went to trial, right. The whole thing was on video. And that's his constitutional right to contradict what we saw on video. So, but, I mean, look, Trump's Department of Justice going to trial and someone being found not guilty, luckily, under my law firm, over the last five presidents, the Department of Justice has gone to trial and they've been found not guilty by lawyers in my office. So that's not so unique.

But I will say there have been some arguments by the Trump administration in the Supreme Court of the United States and in other courts of appeals that have strained credulity. Is that the right word?

PHILLIP: Yes, it is.

AIDALA: But the flipside of the coin is that often is what makes new law. I mean, that's often what makes people think --

PHILLIP: It can also be just, yes, it's just you --

CHAMPION: You're lying.

PHILLIP: -- nobody believes this, because also, again, when you're talking about things, not just legal theories, but like actual events that have occurred, and actual evidence -- there was a case of an incident in which, you know, I don't want to say Border Patrol, but immigration officials arrested a woman who they drove into. And everybody watched the incident and said, you drove into her. And then they dragged her out of the car and arrested her. And then dropped the charges later. These are the things that are happening.

[10:35:05]

HAQ: And part of this challenge is the there are people who feel empowered and emboldened to just make baldfaced lies. And then there's people like this young man who was the security guard at a farm where there were undocumented workers on the farm. And he's like, here's my passport. Let me just get it for you. I'm a U.S. citizen, and they didn't care. Just dragged him out, brought him in, put him into custody. He was detained for two or three days. So those of us who have to now prove that we are legitimately U.S. citizens don't feel that confidence that the American justice system is going to be treating all of us equally.

PHILLIP: So on a lighter note, the sandwich guy.

CHAMPION: I was going to say/

PHILLIP: We've got to talk about the sandwich guy.

CHAMPION: He's free.

PHILLIP: Because he is free. This is the testimony from the Border Patrol agent. "You could smell the onions and mustard," he recalled. He said the sandwich exploded on him. He could feel it through his ballistic vest, and to which a jury said, not guilty.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIP: I mean, they tried to charge this guy with a felony. They raided his home, essentially, in this sort of, like, major operation, only to charge him with throwing a sandwich.

CHAMPION: We're in a Twilight Zone. This is the same world that we live in where we don't have enough money -- I want to go back to what we've already talked about -- to feed the 42 million Americans, but we have enough money to bring somebody to court over a sandwich. This sounds insane to me that this is even a conversation. You look on social media, you see it, every five seconds you see someone doing something illegal under the name or under a guise of authority, and they feel as if they're empowered to do so. You just said --

AIDALA: It's been going on for a long time.

CHAMPION: It's been going on for a long time. I know. I agree with you.

AIDALA: I was in the D.A.'s office and we dismissed cases because cops did the wrong thing.

CHAMPION: Arthur, no one is disagreeing. I am saying, look, I come from the world of sports. No one has ever fouled, ever. Like, every guy is like, I didn't do it. That was him. I didn't do it. You do it. But like, I understand. But the world that we live in today, I'm watching in real time, and people are out here doing whatever they want to, taking law into their own hands. Because if they feel as if they can. It starts from the top. They feel as if --

PHILLIP: I've asked this a number of times, but I will continue to ask it, because I think every time these videos come out, and it's every single day, and also, you know, the DHS spokesperson keeps making false statements in trying to diminish the effect of these videos. How much longer will they be able to keep this up? Because there is going to be backlash. There already is some backlash to some of this.

ARRIGHI: Yes. First of all, with the sandwich incident, I think the, you know, it's a crime for two reasons. First of all, you shouldn't really be throwing it at a cop.

CHAMPION: Come on, C.W.

ARRIGHI: But secondly, here's the thing.

HAQ: They said it was thrown at point blank range. It was a dangerous sandwich.

ARRIGHI: I don't think -- you never should be screwing around with a law enforcement officer, but I understand the tensions of the of the issue. Whatever.

The point I'm trying to make is, with any great sort of change or some big effort being undertaken, there comes a great deal of responsibility. And so I support the men and women of ICE, but there has they have to hold the mantle of responsibility and hold themselves to a higher level, because at some point, like you said, there might be -- there will be negative backlash. There already is. It's also a P.R. campaign to keep your deportations popular. When I was on the show, when after Trump got elected, we saw polling in favor of mass deportation. Now that number has flipped. Why? Because of the way things have been carried out. So I think there needs to be changes to the process to ensure that we're doing the right thing by the American people, we're carrying out the will, and we're following the law.

PHILLIP: With power comes a lot of responsibility. I think you're totally right about that. And, you know, I don't know, I feel like this administration is just sort of flaunting that as if it doesn't matter, but it really does.

Next for us, a new study says that Americans are multitasking so much on their phones it's leading to a 32-hour day. We'll explain and discuss the consequences of all that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:43:35]

PHILLIP: This morning, is our culture's obsession with information actually making our days longer? A new study found that the average American's tech use is the equivalent to a 32-hour day, largely because of multitasking. More than 13 hours are spent using media and other technology, to which all of you say, duh, right? Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

AIDALA: I've got two of these things. I mean, it's -- and, you know, we're going to do the next segment of like, what we should change or what's unpopular. You'll see what I have to say, but it has to do with this. The last four nights I've gotten sleep four hours, four hours and 12 minutes, four hours and 30 minutes, because it doesn't stop. I lay in bed, well, I'm like, let me just check my emails. And I'm like, shoot, I forgot this, blah blah blah blah blah blah, and I'm sending off emails at 1:30 in the morning. That wasn't the way when my dad practiced law with a typewriter and a landline phone. And it's horrible.

HAQ: I set a app to block other apps and limit my time. Shout out to Opal.

CHAMPION: Does it work?

HAQ: It did. It did. But I did have to like, change --

(CROSS TALK)

HAQ: The crazy thing was like I blocked social media. I knew that was becoming a bit of an issue and I had to actually like do work. My usage of text is out of control. Text and email at the same time, same people trying to hit you up in all of this, and we're just the constant multitasking and the lack of rest and creativity. That's the trade-off we're making.

PHILLIP: It's only going to get worse because A.I. is here, and it's also driving people deeper.

[10:45:00]

CHAMPION: To feel like they have to learn and master that. That's one more thing, like, OK, so I've got TikTok down. Now, I'm on A.I.

PHILLIP: I mean, this Pew poll says that, OK, you ask people it doesn't make it better or worse to think creatively? Worse. Form meaningful relationships -- worse. Make difficult decisions -- worse. Solve problems -- worse. I mean, people are expecting the worst.

ARRIGHI: Well, when you just saw that article came out, I think, from "The New York Times" talking about the relationships people are having with A.I. bots, people --

HAQ: We just talked about that.

ARRIGHI: Yes, exactly, people being married? What the hell are you -- look, and I mean this and I mean this sincerely. If that is you or someone you know or love, you need to confront them, because you cannot -- we are so screwed as a society if we accept that as normal.

CHAMPION: No, I know, I've been hanging around people and I -- OK, so talk to just random folks, right? Just, you know, I try to have a swath of ages around me, up older, down younger. The younger generation is very much like, if I feel bad about something, if I go through a bad breakup, if I want to get through something mentally, I go to ChatGPT and ask them what to do.

PHILLIP: What?

CHAMPION: That is a real thing that is happening in real time.

HAQ: I am seeing this with my undergraduate students who have not had as much in real life contact as the rest of us, right? They are a digital native generation. So the threshold for individual interpersonal communication is so much more anxiety --

CHAMPION: They don't talk.

HAQ: -- with it. And so then to go to something that is just going to give you the answers you want is so easy. I mean, this is why, this is why --

AIDALA: COVID, right? Didn't they have that COVID isolation?

HAQ: There's all sorts of issues there that ultimately I've just decided I'm going to prepare for my children to one day be dating robots.

PHILLIP: Did you guys hear about the A.I. artist who is topping the charts?

CHAMPION: Yes.

PHILLIP: So the person behind it was on "CBS Mornings." Listen to what she said about A.I. music.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TELISHA "NIKKI" JONES, CREATOR BEHIND A.I. ARTIST XANIA MONEY: I wouldn't call it a shortcut, because I still put in the work. And anytime something new comes about and it challenges the norm and challenges what we're used to, you're going to get strong reactions behind it. And I just feel like A.I. is the new era that were in, and I look at it as a tool, as an instrument, utilize it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: I mean, so she's like, I can't sing, but I wrote these songs, and like, it's a bot that's basically singing them and rising in the charts.

CHAMPION: Now, what did T-Pain do, right?

ARRIGHI: It's Autotune.

CHAMPION: Is that not the same?

ARRIGHI: No, T-Pain can sing.

PHILLIP: T-pain can ac. Sing.

(CROSS TALK)

CHAMPION: Yes, I mean, auto tune, I'm like, you know, Jay-Z said, Autotune ruined music.

PHILLIP: This is a whole fake person.

CHAMPION: OK.

PHILLIP: OK, like a fake person.

ARRIGHI: By the way, I'll tell you this. The music that A.I. is putting out is good. If you -- at our firm, we made an A.I. song in the form of --

CHAMPION: Who says it's good?

ARRIGHI: Trust me.

CHAMPION: Who says?

ARRIGHI: I'll show you later.

CHAMPION: OK.

ARRIGHI: It's called LFG for a candidate of ours. And I listened to the first time, I'm like, who recorded that? AIDALA: People are drawing the line. So in a courtroom, at a

sentencing where you're allowed to speak and you're allowed to put out videos like, this is my family, the defendant asked the judge, can I play a video? And the video was an A.I. lawyer. And the judge goes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're going to have real lawyers in here. We're not going to have the lawyer on the screen telling you why --

PHILLIP: OK, all right.

CHAMPION: Don't tell me about your A.I. song.

HAQ: Or your A.I. girlfriend.

PHILLIP: A.I. is coming to steal Arthur's job, apparently.

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

But first, a programing note from bread baked in an Icelandic volcano to Tokyo's renowned milk bread. Join Tony for the back-to-back episode finale of the CNN original series, "Tony Shalhoub Breaking Bread." It airs on Sunday at 9:00 p.m. on CNN, and the next day on the CNN app.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:53:30]

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

AIDALA: Well, I did -- I gave my unpopular opinion to your team before I knew what the last segment just was. I think that Verizon or AT&T, they'll pick a day a week, preferably Sunday, and your phone gets shut down. And, you know, you talked about the Satmar community. My Hasidic Jewish friends, it doesn't matter what they're in the middle of, whenever sun goes down on that Friday night, everything goes away. And the streets fill with the kids playing in the street and they're reading books. They're reading like real books, and they're eating together. And there's family together, and there's no technology for 24 hours.

PHILLIP: Yes.

HAQ: So I mentioned I grew up in New York, grew up on Staten Island, and not going to lie, I'm totally here for Shakira law. Shawarma law, I'm good with that, too. Sriracha law, I mean, listen, hips don't lie.

CHAMPION: OK.

HAQ: The establishment does.

PHILLIP: OK. Who can disagree?

CHAMPION: Hips don't lie, the establishment does.

OK, so I think my unpopular opinion might be quite popular, but we'll just see once it hits the masses. Everything inside of Trader Joe's frozen food section is Michelin rated. It's perfect. You're welcome. Everything inside of Trader Joe's frozen food section. You all should do it. The thing that I'm recommending to everyone at home, and you can thank me later with Thanksgiving coming around the corner. And this isnt necessarily frozen. This is just a little special something. The Thanksgiving seasoning, seasoning flavored popcorn. So it's popcorn with Thanksgiving seasoning.

[10:55:04]

PHILLIP: All right, T.W.?

ARRIGHI: I am going to make some people mad right now, so let's just get at it. Buffalo sauce is gross. Yuck. You have so many other options. You have teriyaki, lemon pepper, barbecue, you name it. I find buffalo sauce to be bum gross stuff.

AIDALA: You know why? Because you're a Patriots fan. Because you're a Patriots fan

ARRIGHI: While I'm at it, while I'm at it, this whole hot sauce on everything, I am sick of being at a restaurant flagging over the waiter. Do you have any hot sauce? Do you have hot sauce?

PHILLIP: My reaction was isn't buffalo sauce just hot sauce, essentially, with a little bit of butter in it.

ARRIGHI: The whole kid-n-kaboodle stinks.

AIDALA: It's the Patriots thing.

PHILLIP: All right, thank you very much for watching "TABLE FOR FIVE". You can catch me every weeknight at 10:00 p.m. eastern with our Newsnight Roundtable and anytime on your favorite social media, X, Instagram, and TikTok.

But in the meantime, CNN's coverage continues next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)