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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Trump Tries To Ease Economic Concerns, But Is Anyone Listening?; New Polls: Trump's Approval On Economy At Or Near Record Lows; "An Alcoholic's Personality": Susie Wiles On Trump. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired December 20, 2025 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[08:00:26]
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasey Hunt. Welcome to The Arena Saturday.
Donald Trump is talking, but is anyone still listening? In poll after poll, many Americans say that the economy is not great, that prices are too high, and that the president's focused on the wrong issues. President Trump seems to realize this. He has tried to pivot to the economy ahead of the midterm elections next year, but the messaging may not be landing. And he seems to be running the risk that Americans who are struggling to get by might simply ignore his next primetime address if it sounds like he's just telling them that they can't believe their own bottom lines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast. They are all coming down and coming down fast, and it's not done yet. But, boy, are we making progress.
Wages are going up much faster than inflation. Prices on electricity and everything else will fall dramatically. Mortgage payments will be coming down even further. After 11 months, our border is secure. Inflation has stopped. Wages are up. Prices are down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, my panelists here in the arena, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams, CNN Washington bureau chief political director David Chalian, former DNC senior adviser Xochitl Hinojosa, and Republican strategist former Brad Todd there, of course, both CNN political commentators.
Welcome to all of you. It's wonderful to see you. David Chalian, this is a president of the United States who has just absolutely dominated our politics, the narrative for basically a decade, right? This week, he feels like he needs to use a primetime address, right? That previous presidents have used for things like when Nixon announced the end of the war in Vietnam and Obama said he got bin Laden to do what we just saw there. And I'm not sure that sitting here on a Saturday, anyone would still remember that this happened on a Wednesday.
What does that say about the president's ability now to take the narrative and shape it the way he wants to?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I mean, listen, he's still the president, United States. He's the most popular, not the most popular. He's the most powerful political figure on the planet. There's no doubt about that. But to your point, Kasie, I do. Earlier this week, as I was thinking about this, I was thinking back to the George W. Bush administration. There was a point in 2005, after Katrina, as the Iraq war was going south and he was becoming more unpopular, where I do think Americans just stopped sort of listening, like he couldn't sell anything anymore to the American people and they just turned their attention away.
I don't know that we know we're in that moment with Donald Trump, but I know that's an open question that we'll be looking throughout the midterm season to see. I would just note you said at the top that he felt the need to do this speech. I know we know that his chief of staff felt the need for him to do this stage.
HUNT: His teamed it.
CHALIAN: Because he said that Susie Wiles made him do it, right? I don't know, given the way he delivered it, that he felt he really needed to give this speech. But we do know that the chief of staff has said he is going to be on the ballot in 26. She believes she wants to flip this and not say, oh, these midterm races are local, but make Donald Trump a significant campaigner.
And that's why we saw him give that primetime address. We saw him in Pennsylvania earlier this month. We saw him in North Carolina on Friday night. This is now the strategy that they're putting in place. and the question is that going to be the right strategy given where he is in his disconnect on the economy with the country right now?
HUNT: Well, the person we can ask about this is Brad Todd, who is sitting down here, whose job it is to get Republicans elected. I mean, Brad, would you want Donald Trump to show up in every race you're running? Some of them, not all of them.
BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think there's no question he's going to be a factor. And I think we also have to have low propensity Trump voters vote for him. The Republicans who like Donald Trump the most are the ones that are the least likely to vote in a midterm election. So they do need to think he has a stake in the midterm.
It's funny. Democrats want to make it about Donald Trump and Republicans might need to make it about Donald Trump, too. I do think this week's speech, though, points to something important. You know, voters don't tend to elect anyone because of what they've done. They elect people on what they might do or promise to do in the next one. And I think this administration understands that. And I think that's why he gave this speech. This speech is about things they intend to do. He talked about a
housing reform bill he's going to roll out. He talked about lower interest rates. He talked about bringing energy prices down more. I think this is a White House that is now trying to look forward so that the voters understand what they will get in 2027 if they vote Republican in '26.
[08:05:04]
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But about that, I will say that Joe Biden had this problem in the sense that the American people did not trust Democrats and that is why they lost the last election. They didn't trust them on immigration. They didn't trust them on the economy. They didn't trust them on pretty much major issues that they cared about. And so the risk is that he does not deliver and they, therefore the Republican Party loses trust.
A lot of what he said was not accurate. Inflation has not stopped. You continue to see high prices at the grocery store, things like that. If that continues, Democrats will say, why should you trust the Republican Party? They have not delivered for you. And I think that will be their message in November.
HUNT: Well, and Eliot Williams, one of the biggest factors here is that, you know, even when I think I've heard you say this on a thousand conference calls, David, that even when Trump lost the election to Biden, he still was doing pretty well on the economy, right.
That is not the case anymore. A recent Fox News poll showed only 39 percent of Americans approve of what the president's doing on the economy. And that lines up with his overall approval rating in a recent CNN poll that is, it seems to me that this is why Susie Wiles thinks that Donald Trump needs to give a primetime address about affordability, right?
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right. And moreover, he looked into the camera and ultimately told Americans that the things they were feeling were not true. And you know, as I've said on your weekday show before, you see this in the context of public safety, too. And it's sort of what dogged the Biden administration, which was, everything's fine. Don't worry about cities, don't worry about the border, because everything's fine. We've got it under control.
When people are concerned about something, a politician looking them in the eye and telling them that's not the case doesn't really work. And I think that's, you know, some of the points that David was making about the president kind of losing his mojo. You kind of saw that in the speech this week.
HUNT: Yeah. Let's watch a little bit more of how the president, and also his vice president in the wings, waiting in the wings, have been talking about this issue of affordability and whether any of it is their responsibility yet. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But they have a new word. You know, they always have a hoax. The new word is affordability. So they look at the camera and they say, this election is all about affordability.
JD VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We are making progress. And I never forget where I come from. I never forget who I serve. And I know that there is so much more progress to be made. It takes a little bit of time to fix something that was so fundamentally broken.
TRUMP: I inherited a mess. Democrat politicians also sent the cost of groceries soaring. The Democrat inflation disaster again, the worst in the history of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: You know, David, it's so interesting, the contrast between those two men. What do you make of it?
CHALIAN: And we've seen it not just JD Vance out in Pennsylvania this week, but in the Cabinet room recently, he also sounded that tone of both a plea for patience. I hear you. I feel your pain a little bit, right? There's a little bit of that. And have confidence in the plan.
That is not how Donald Trump is talking about the economy at all. Because for Donald Trump, that would require some sense of admission that what he's done to date hasn't yet fully worked, which is like not constitute he's not constitutionally capable of having that kind of admission. So you hear the contrast to me is so informative because Vance, who obviously is looking at 28 and beyond.
HUNT: Sure is.
CHALIAN: Is clearly choosing to be in a different place on issue number one rhetorically than the president is. And I think a lot more Republicans who wish when you talk to them on Capitol Hill that Donald Trump would sound a little bit more like JD Vance on this.
TODD: You can't start with voter pessimistic and say you need to be optimistic. What you can say is the plan will work. And I think JD Vance is threading that needle.
HUNT: Yes, really interesting. All right, coming up next here on The Arena Saturday, the cultural and long lasting impact of the Hollywood giant Rob Reiner. New reflections on his legacy and how he's being remembered.
But first, is it considered a compliment to be described as having a, quote, "alcoholic's personality?" The fallout from the bombshell interviews with one of the most powerful women in Donald Trump's orbit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": Like when she said the president has the personality of an alcoholic, she meant a fun alcoholic like Barney from the Simpsons.
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[08:14:08]
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VANCE: You know why I really love Susie Wiles? I've never seen her be disloyal to the President of the United States. And that makes her the best White House Chief of staff that I think the President could ask for.
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Our great White House Chief of staff, Susie Wiles, whom I'm very proud of to call a boss and a mentor and a friend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Everybody loves Susie Wiles. That's the message coming out of the White House following Vanity Fair's very candid interviews with Donald Trump's chief of staff and had all of Washington talking this week. Trump said that Wiles is doing a quote, "great job" and he appeared unfazed by Wiles. Blunt, one might even say clear eyed assessments of the President's inner circle.
Pam Bondi, well, "She whiffed on the Epstein files." According to Wiles. Elon Musk, a quote, "odd duck" and quote "avowed ketamine user." JD Vance, well he's been a quote "conspiracy theorist for a decade." Which brings us to our quote of the week regarding the president himself. Wiles told Vanity Fair that President Trump has a, quote, "alcoholics personality."
[08:15:18]
David Chalian, the president actually basically confirmed this. He then talks to the New York Post and he says, well, "I don't drink alcohol. Everybody knows that. But I've also, we said that if I did, I have a very good chance of being an alcoholic. I've said this many times about myself. I do. I'm a very, it's a very possessive personality. I'm fortunate I'm not a drinker. If I did, I could, well, what's the word? Not possessive and addictive type personality. I've said it many times before."
I mean, a remarkable thing to say about yourself. But also he's standing behind Susie Wiles.
CHALIAN: Without a doubt. The circling of the wagons just so clearly put into relief for everyone to see the position she has inside the administration that it was so important to immediately fortify around her. And for all the palace intrigue about the personalities, I thought in the interview what was so much more revealing was on the policies where, whether on tariffs or deportations, some of the major policy pursuits that Donald Trump is enacting and has put forth fourth this year in his first year, where she sort of disagreed or thought it wasn't landing quite the way that she hoped that it would. And I thought that raises a lot of questions, I think, about some internal debates that we haven't heard a ton about.
TODD: I think a lot of people don't give Donald Trump enough credit for being a listener and for wanting disparate opinions inside it. I thought the Vanny Fair article, that's what it was, the big reveal. The big reveal was there is dissent inside the inner circle and the president is obviously encouraging that or it wouldn't exist.
There are about 140 million Republicans in America. And I think the number of the people who would like to keep Susie Wiles chief of staff among that group is about 140 million. And so the rallying around her is not just among the Cabinet, not just among the president. She's the right person for this job and I think everyone who has an opinion about that thinks so.
HUNT: Were you surprised that she did this?
TODD: She doesn't do many interviews and she's allergic to profiles. And so this had to be a bigger decision that the whole administration wanted to do because this, it's definitely very much unlike her to participate in the program.
HINOJOSA: But it's also a recent decision because she did a podcast right before this. So she has been out there a little bit more, which to me signaled that someone told her she needed to be or that she was looking to leave sometime soon and wanted to get some interviews in before she potentially leaves. What I found interesting about the whole thing is that Donald Trump cares deeply about his retribution agenda, deeply about potentially prosecuting Tish James and Adam Schiff and all of these other people. And she just put an ax to that retribution agenda by essentially saying, admitting that it is a retribution agenda and that the only reason that they are bringing this is because the President wants it.
And so if I were Tish James or I'm Tish James or Adam Schiff or Jack Smith, you're going to use this in court. And I think that's kind of what came out of it.
Also, Pam Bondi, we knew that there was some. There are some inner workings and sort of fights within the White House by the White House taking over the Epstein file, messaging and communications. But this just further confirmed that the White House is not pleased with Pam Bondi and her handling of the Epstein files.
HUNT: On the question that Xochitl was raising about retribution. I mean, Susie Wiles essentially said, well, I was giving him 90 days to do it, but he's obviously just totally blown that deadline.
WILLIAMS: Right.
HUNT: What do you make of it?
WILLIAMS: No, absolutely. And, you know, to your point, they -- lawyers right now have pulled out their laptops and are making their filings based on that statement. That was devastating for the Justice Department, if, in fact, they're serious about prosecuting these people.
Now, to be clear, none of the revelations that she made are actually that remarkable. The ketamine use. The Wall Street Journal has reported on it already, or at least allegedly. The, you know, allegations of someone being odd or whatever else other than the alcoholic's personality, which is sort of a spicy detail and an interesting way to frame something about the President of the United States.
You know, if you read any one of those quotes, they're really not that groundbreaking.
HUNT: David, on the alcoholics personality question, I mean, how much of that description by her and Trump's own subsequent acknowledgement of it explains our national life for the last 10 years?
CHALIAN: I mean. I mean, excellent question. I mean, the president is right. He has talked about this a bunch. Remember, he had a brother who died due to alcoholism, and that has forever made him, you know, not a drinker. And we heard stories all the time about him telling his kids, no drinking, no drugs, that was a huge priority for him as a parent. But the but he has he is accurately telling the New York Post that he has talked about this.
So when Susie Wiles used that quote, I think anybody would see it as familiar to understanding how Donald Trump has actually characterized himself. To your point, maybe some of the personality traits that he took through with the Post do they do help explain these last 10 years.
HUNT: I mean, is he addicted to attention?
[08:20:11]
CHALIAN: Well, I mean, I don't think that's an open question. I think that's, I think that's been decided.
TODD: You know it was the other note that was notable or was really important I thought was when she talked about in 2016, in October when she told him he was going to lose Florida without some changes, he threw a fit. She left and she said, you know, if you want somebody just to spin around and get there, get all worked up, I'm not your girl. If you want to try to win and fix it, I am.
And then Trump pursued her for weeks after that. I think that tells you a lot about who he wants around him in the top job. He wants someone who will stand up to him and then not take the bait when he loses his mind.
WILLIAMS: And God bless the fact that someone in the White House has acknowledged publicly that Pam Bondi is wholly responsible for the mess up on the Epstein files, literally, she willed that to happen by going out there with those binders and claiming that she had all this material to release. It was just a screw up on the part of the attorney general. And I'm kind of glad the White House chief of staff recognizes that.
HUNT: All right, coming up here in the arena, the one word Republicans think will help them in the midterms. It's one Democrats are jittery about even mentioning. But first, from "When Harry Met Sally" to "All in the Family" and so much more, the long lasting impact on American culture from Hollywood icon Rob Reiner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COL. NATHAN R. JESSEP, A FEW GOOD MEN: You want answers?
LT. DANIEL KAFFEE: I think I'm entitled.
JESSEP: You want answers?
KAFFEE: I want the truth.
JESSEP: You can't handle the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[08:25:59]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRY BURNS, WHEN HARRY MEET SALLY: I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend a day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night.
And it's not because I'm lonely and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: It's going to make me cry watching that. If it wasn't for Rob Reiner meeting his wife, Michelle Singer Reiner on the set of that movie, "When Harry Met Sally", that scene, which is arguably one of the greatest in any rom com ever, wouldn't have happened the way that it did.
And you know, so much has been said this week in the political sphere about Rob Reiner, but, you know, I wanted to take a few minutes to just remember some. I mean, these are some of the greatest contributions to Hollywood, to our cultural lives. You may remember starting, of course, with his role as "Meathead" in "All in the Family".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE STIVIC, MEATHEAD: I mean, with or without protesters, this country would still have the same problems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What problems?
STIVIC: Well, it's the war, the racial problem, the economic problem, the pollution problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. If you want a nitpick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Then there was his film directorial debut, this is "Spinal Tap". It was a pretty groundbreaking mockumentary and it inspired some of your favorite sitcoms that came much later. "The Office", "Parks and Rec", "Abbott Elementary". Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot more. Why don't you just make 10 louder and make 10 be the top number and make that a little loud.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These guards were 11.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: His films left their own legacy. And even if you haven't seen a Rob Reiner movie, let me tell you've probably seen a Rob Reiner movie. And if you haven't, you're quoting these movies without even potentially realizing it. This was "A Few Good Men."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSEP: You want answers?
KAFFEE: I think I'm entitled.
JESSEP: You want answers?
KAFEE: I want the truth.
JESSEP: You can't handle the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I mean, it's just. Just absolutely iconic. And we asked all of our esteemed panelists to share what was your favorite part of a Rob Reiner film? And David Chalian. I was -- I laughed when I learned that we share the exact same moment, which is one that I'm constantly in this job thinking about and thinking back to. And it's a moment from the American President, right? Michael J. Fox, Michael Douglas, just like absolute film legends. Here's the moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LEWIS ROTHSCHILD, THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT: People want leadership, Mr.
President. In the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it, they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.
ANDREW SHEPHERD, THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT: People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Oh, it's so good, David, talk about this.
CHALIAN: I know. I feel like the American President has gotten short shrift in this horrific. In the aftermath of this horrific tragedy. Everyone's playing the you can't handle the truth clip, but the Aaron Sorkin, Rob Reiner combo that I love --
HUNT: So epic.
CHALIAN: -- is the American President. First of all, it has something for everyone in terms of partisans in this town, right? It's the idealized version of a liberal presidency with Andrew Shepard that Democrats like. But the Rumson character, the Richard Dreyfus character who's, like, running against him, is this classic conservative that people can rally around as well, and it's this incredible love story.
So to me, it's like what Hollywood wished in the Clinton era. It was really like. And that's what Rob Reiner put together. And it's just a fantastic political love story.
HUNT: Yes, no, it. Absolutely. I can't even tell you the number of times. I mean, can kids these days are not going to sit around watching movies on cable with commercials. But if there was a movie that I watched on cable with commercials more than any other, it was probably this one.
CHALIAN: I know. Every single line of the movie.
HUNT: I know all the words as well. She gets lost in Dupont Circle, remember?
[08:30:10]
CHALIAN: Which doesn't make sense because she said she was on the hill. It's a whole thing.
HUNT: Yes, it's a geography issue, but it's fine. Elliot Williams, I'm a little surprised, to be honest, that you didn't go with the Princess Bride.
WILLIAMS: Oh.
HUNT: That was my prediction. WILLIAMS: Yes.
HUT: But you -- Spinal Tap, Is that right? All right, let's watch Elliot's favorite moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want large bread so that I can put this right. So then it's like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But this doesn't work because then it's all --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it hangs out like that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you be holding this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I wouldn't want to eat. I wouldn't want to put that in my mouth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, A. Exhibit A. And then we move on to this. Look, look. Who's in here? No one. And then in here, there's a little guy. Look.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So it's a complete catastrophe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you're right. Nigel. Nigel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, I don't calm. It's not a big deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a joke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I mean, it's hilarious. The range of this man.
WILLIAMS: Range of this man. And I almost did "Princess Bride" because Fred Savage is all of us in the movie, watching and ultimately getting more invested in the show as it goes on that scene. If you think about "Spinal Tap," think of how much comedy that movie launched. Think of how many careers you're talking. Fran Drescher, "The Nanny," who's Bobby Fleckman, all those Christopher Guest movies, "The Simpsons," Harry Shearer and Michael McKean all came from there.
And it's basically the 80s and 90s and into the 2000s of some of the greatest works that got produced to make people laugh. And just think of how we talked about "The Office" there and "The Tease," but how revolutionary the movie "Spinal Tap" was. Yes, it's wry and silly, but it's such a great film.
HUNT: Yes, no, it really is. Xochi, we came in on yours, which is --
HINOJOSA: Yes.
HUNT: I mean, look, this is one of the iconic romantic comedies, if not like kind of the OG, right?
HINOJOSA: It is. Its.
HUNT: Of "When Harry Met Sally." And in this clip, I believe we're going to get to see Rob Reiner's mother as well with this iconic line. Look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes. Oh, oh. Oh, God. Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll have what she's having.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That is Rob Reiner's mom right there delivering that.
HINOJOSA: It's so good. I don't think I could put my kids in front of that show at all. But what I will say is that, listen, this was a tragedy that occurred. And it's the fact that the love story with his wife and the fact that their love story really changed the ending to this movie I think just encompasses just their relationship overall.
Now, they did not have a complicated friendship the way that Harry and Sally had that complicated friendship.
HUNT: Right.
HINOJOSA: My understanding is that they fell in love pretty quickly. But it is, I mean, it is while there is such a tragedy, celebrating his life and celebrating his marriage and the amazing talent and everything that he has brought to our culture. I mean, you can't go wrong with Harry and Sally.
HUNT: And Brad Todd seems to have missed the assignment, which is totally fine. So, Brad, tell us, what is your favorite moment from a Rob Reiner movie?
TODD: "Stand by Me." You know, "Stand by Me" was a group of boys. It was a throwback picture, somewhat of a period piece in 1986. But I picked it because in 1986, in 1987, I was a junior in high school and it was theme to our prom at my high school. And at the time I thought it was way back picture. Well, now it's really a way, way back picture. So that's a better, more simpler time in life.
HUNT: Yes. So this is a clip from "Stand by Me." I have seen this one pop up among many of my male friends and in a way that seemed to suggest it has a lot of meaning across the board. Would you guys agree? TODD: It was such a brotherhood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TODD: So if you were a young boy at that time --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TODD: -- and growing up, you recognized so much of how your friendships formed, even though it was from an earlier time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
TODD: That is a period piece, but --
HUNT: Yes, really interesting. All right. Well, it has been a joy to remember him. Obviously, incredibly tragic circumstances, but he gave us so much in such an incredible life. So thank you, Rob Reiner. Thank you, Michele Singer Reiner.
Ahead here in The Arena, what happened nearly three decades ago today and how it's impacting next year's midterm elections.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I ask the American people to move with me to go on from here to rise above the rancor, to overcome the pain and division, to be a repairer of the breach, all of us, to make this country as one America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:34:17]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: On the floor of the House of Representatives, President William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd president of the United States, was this afternoon impeached on two articles one and article three. Articles two and article four were defeated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Wow. That was part of CNN's coverage 27 years ago today when Bill Clinton became, at the Time only the second president in U.S. history to be impeached, the House approved two articles, one accusing the President of perjury, the other of obstruction of justice.
After the vote, the President, joined by the first lady, then Vice President, and basically every Democrat in Congress, spoke to the nation from the Rose Garden.
[08:40:02]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I have accepted responsibility for what I did wrong in my personal life and I have invited members of Congress to work with us to find a reasonable, bipartisan, and proportionate response.
For six years now, I have done everything I could to bring our country together across the lines that divide us, including bringing Washington together across party lines. Out in the country, people are pulling together. But just as America is coming together, it must look from the country's point of view like Washington is coming apart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So as we all know, the Senate went on to acquit the president. The whole impeachment saga actually turned out to be a political positive for Bill Clinton. In the summer leading up to the House vote, his approval rating, these numbers are just a blast from the past, hovered around the mid-60s.
And in December, when Congress took up the four articles against him, his approval rating spiked to 73 percent. A number like that is basically unthinkable now.
David Chalian, I mean, in some ways I watched that and it's like, oh, wow, simpler times in the 1990s, which is wild considering how, you know, what it was like when that was the front and center of the news all the time.
How do you, like -- how do you see the evolution from that moment to where we are today?
CHALIAN: I actually think that is a breaking moment in our politics. I do think our politics change. You said that kind of approval rating wouldn't be thinkable now. I think since that moment in time, I think that because of the -- it happened simultaneously with Fox News and MSNBC coming on board to the cable landscape, we got as a society much more into our partisan quarter corners, our media culture. And that has compounded and compounded on top of itself.
And so that moment, rather than being the unifying moment that Bill Clinton was trying to will, it actually, I think, defined our politics for the next several decades that we live in now, which got more polarized and more partisan.
WILLIAMS: No, I agree. And one hearing the president strike sort of what attempted to be a unifying tone after that most partisan of occasions in American politics. Pretty wild. The other thing that I can't help but think about every time I see images of Bill Clinton from the 1990s is the way Monica Lewinsky got treated in that compared to how were this to play out today? No, I just think Google the words Jay Leno, Monica Lewinsky, and just look at how popular culture treated the other individual who got wrapped up in this.
And it's just a different time in America in terms of how we saw women, what was quite clearly behavioral misconduct from the President of the United States. And Democrats were the first to basically turn a blind eye and actually be quite defensive of the president. If you look at who was behind him right there.
HUNT: Brad Todd, how do you see, you know, one thing that I keep thinking about as we head into this midterm election cycle is, I mean, the two impeachments of Donald Trump and the fact that he was subsequently reelected has really made a massive statement about the state of our politics.
And you're already hearing some, I mean, there was a vote on impeachment in the House, you know, just a few days ago, right, because there was some -- there was a member that put a resolution on the floor, and, you know, some Democrats that want to win back the House weren't happy about it because it seems like it's become a reaction to everything in a way that it was never intended to be.
TODD: Well, if the Democrats take the House next year, the left wing of the Democratic Party will impeach Donald Trump, and Hakeem Jeffries will not have the guts to stop them, even though he knows it would fail in the Senate. I think that has bearing on the midterms.
There have only been two times in modern history when the president did not lose seats in the House. One of them was 1998. And it's because the country recoiled at what they viewed as a partisan impeachment of Bill Clinton. That's where he was standing up there talking about in the Rose Garden.
Now that we know Democrats are going to impeach Donald Trump and they might try to impeach him every day if they take over the House, I just don't think Hakeem strong enough to stand up. I think voters have to bear that in mind. If you want more impeachment, vote for the Democrats. If you don't vote for the Republicans.
HINOJOSA: Democrats understand affordability is the name of the game, and they're not going to be running on impeachment. I will say, though, if Democrats take over the House, which it looks like it's very likely, there will be accountability. And I'm not sure it's impeachment, but there will be subpoenas and other things that occur, because right now, there is no accountability when it comes to this administration whether, you know, Congress has not held the president accountable when it comes to oversight or anything else you have. He has replaced inspectors general all across agencies. He has fired career officials when they don't agree with him.
And so there is no check on the president right now. And Democrats understand that, and Democrats in Congress should be doing their part, Republicans and Democrats, to hold this administration accountable and ask the serious questions.
[04:45:06]
And you've seen that in a few instances, like Venezuela, the Epstein files. But there will be more of that will occur and especially when it comes to this retribution agenda and Pam -- and what Pam Bondi is doing at the Justice Department.
HUNT: All right, coming up next here, something totally different. What the various words of the year. Tell us about 2025. And apparently they were all the rage. We'll explain.
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[08:50:09]
HUNT: Slop, parasocial, rage-bait and you know it. Six, seven. These, my friends, are, according to the world's most accredited dictionaries, the words of 2025. I'm sorry, what? You have probably heard the Gen Zer in your life say them. Just for all of our edification, we're going to run through what they actually mean.
In case you don't know. Slop is Merriam Webster's word of the year. It has been used to describe digital content of low quality that is made using artificial intelligence. You may have seen the words AI slop used to describe the memes flooding your social media timelines. Indeed.
Then there's the word parasocial. That's the case Cambridge Dictionary's word of the year. It is defined as a connection someone feels with a famous person they do not know or a fictional character. Cambridge used Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce and the millions of fans who are very invested in their relationship as an example of this word.
Rage-bait is Oxford's word of the year, which they define as online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage to increase social media traffic or engagement. You can rage bait or be rage baited in real life too. Perhaps you are frequently rage baited by the next one, which is six, seven. That is Dictionary.com's word of the year.
It is viral, totally ambiguous slang term, totally nonsensical. It is paired with, I am told, this hand gesture, six, seven. It's believed to have come from a rap song. I guess it's called Do Parentheses six seven. I didn't actually know that. How crazy has six, seven made you this year?
WILLIAMS: I can't. My house is taking all things over. But all of this, if you look, the thing they all have in common is how digital communication has affected and completely upended the world. Every single one of those things, including six, seven, which I can give you the whole background about Lamelo Ball, the basketball and the memes online and the kid at the basketball game.
But they all were online and the kid going like this. Our lives have been transformed immeasurably by AI and sort of the way we communicate. And the words of the year aren't just words anymore. They're about digital.
CHALIAN: I was thinking the same thing as you were going through them. If everybody put their phones down, there would be no words of the year. It would not exist.
TODD: We would just use words from yesteryear, forsooth.
HUNT: Yes. The other thing here, you know, as we're sort of heading into the end of the year, the Time Person of the Year cover, they chose the architects of AI to be the person of the year. Now, such, I realize, like, they sometimes at Time magazine choose a person who is, you know, reviled or disliked for whatever reason, because they are the most influential. It may be true that this -- these are the most influential people of the year, but the -- I think the sort of underlying tide of fear, anger, potential displacement that AI represents is maybe our most undercovered story of the year.
HINOJOSA: I think that's right. It is 100 percent an issue that people are worried about. People are worried that they're going to be replaced, that their jobs will no longer exist. Will we all be here, you know, in a decade? It is -- it is -- it is something that I think is frightening. And companies are trying to figure out how to deal with it.
People are trying to figure out how they deal with AI and are in with the times. And so I think it is -- it is interesting because it is something that Americans worry about and it is talk, but nobody knows what to do about it.
WILLIAMS: And every aspect of life, this comes up a lot when talking about the law on air. Every aspect of life is affected now, literally, how people go into court and AI crafting their court pleadings, or one family had an AI avatar of the dead guy come testify, you know, yes, in open court --
HUNT: But I'm sorry. There was an avatar of someone who died --
WILLIAMS: They literally animated an image of the decedent who addressed the court, like sort of. And it's creepy and weird, but this is the world we live in. And law is just my world, every other one. Think about politics and how AI can sort of help, but also cause huge problems.
TODD: But it's also already upended us, right? We already see birth rates low that correspond with the rise of online dating. We already see political division that corresponds with the rise of social media, as David pointed out, putting us in different camps all day. So it's not will I change us. It's how has it already changed us, I think is the question.
WILLIAMS: But just to be fair, there's two different really important things happening in the point you made right there. There's the AI and sort of how that affects all of us, but also algorithms feeding us information that we want to hear and that we're validating, right? And so we are -- if you can scroll and only see news and comments from people who absolutely agree with you, you're going to get more metastasized in your views and sort of hate other people. And it's getting worse.
[08:55:08]
CHALIAN: I'm in the camp of more excited than fearful about it. I think, like it's -- I think it's power and how it can make us work differently and help us think differently. To me, that's really exciting. I just think we have a lot to learn about how to harness it. HUNT: I'm going to hang on to that, David, for dear life because I'm not sure I share it with you, but I'm glad someone on the panel has that perspective. Thank you all very much for being here today. Thanks to all of you at home for watching as well.
Don't forget, you can see The Arena every weekday right here on CNN, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. You can also catch up by listening to The Arena's podcast. Follow along with the show on X, Instagram or at The Arena CNN. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. The news continues right here on CNN.
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