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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Platner Blasts Dem Establishment As He Leaves Senate Race; Exclusive: New Video Obtained By CNN Shows McConnell Was Loaded Into Ambulance On A Stretcher Last Month; White House Press Secy's "Laziness" Gen Z Remark Sparks Backlash. New Report: Record 25 Million Young Adults Living With Their Parents; Is There Actually A Trump Sports Curse?; Soap Opera's Newest Star Is John Oliver? Aired 12-1p ET
Aired July 11, 2026 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTIANA AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: -- "The Sun Also Rises," which was published exactly 100 years ago. That would have been 1926. In it, Hemingway wrote the unforgettable lines, at noon of Sunday, the 6th of July, the fiesta exploded. There is no other way to describe it. He was the wordsmith.
That is all we have time for. Don't forget, you can find all our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you again next week.
[12:00:48]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Welcome to The Arena Saturday.
This was the week when the dam finally broke for Graham Platner. For months, the Maine Senate candidate weathered numerous controversies with a Trumpian defiance. And Democratic voters rewarded him for it, further cementing his image as an outsider, threatening the establishment. But unlike the President, Platner lost the support of his party following an allegation of rape, an allegation that ended his campaign even as he denied it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM PLATNER (D), FORMER MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: The brutal political reality is that they are going to take everything away from us. Those in power who have the ability to do so are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all of the things that we need to run a campaign. They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, my panel's here in The Arena. CNN Legal Analyst, Former Federal Prosecutor, Elliot Williams, Republican Pollster and CNN Political Commentator, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Democratic Strategist and also, of course, the CNN Political Commentator, Paul Begala, and former Republican Congressman from Michigan, Peter Meijer. Welcome to all of you. Great to have you with us.
Paul Begala, Graham Platner, says there, they're trying to take it all away from us. And yet they're not. I mean, what -- they -- Graham Platner's approach to the end of this campaign and he, you know, has, you know, at the end of the week, he had said he wasn't going to actually take his name out of the running permanently until right before that Monday deadline. When I have talked to especially women in the party, I mean, the ego stands out, I think, is what I would say.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, and I think you're right in the intro to compare him to Trump, which is the worst thing you can say about a Democrat. It's like that old country song, how can I miss you if you won't go away? Just go away.
HUNT: How can I miss you if you won't leave?
BEGALA: Yes.
HUNT: Yes.
BEGALA: Go away. Get out. He betrayed 156,000 Mainers who put their faith in him. He betrayed that faith. He -- and by the way, those consultants who put him up to this -- I don't know them, but I've seen them online, these Ivy League idiots, champagne socialists, who parachute in from out of Maine and decide, this is the guy we need.
No vet, no significant vet, no -- so the whole thing has been a catastrophe. And it's Mr. Platner and his senior team who need to pay the price for that. And Maine Democrats, good people who put their faith in him, have been betrayed.
HUNT: How do you think it happened? Like, how did we get this far?
BEGALA: There is a real anger in both parties. I'm sure Peter could tell you about his, but in my party, there's a real anger. People want to fight her. But even more than that, they want to win her. And the thing I've been saying, because I have run campaigns for a living, Graham Platner was the weakest Democrat of any of the eight major Senate races that we had.
It's the only race we were running in a state that Kamala Harris actually won. He was running five points behind Kamala Harris. Sherrod Brown from the hated establishment is running 12 points ahead of her. Roy Cooper is running 17 points ahead. Jon Ossoff is running 13 points ahead. James Talarico is running 14 points ahead.
So we had these great Democrats in all of these swing states. And in the one blue state where we got a win, we had our weakest candidate.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You also --
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So --
WILLIAMS: Well, I would just say real quick, the best thing I've read about that whole point is that many people said that Donald Trump was a poor person's idea of what a rich person would be like, and that Graham Platner is a rich person's idea --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
WILLIAMS: -- of what a poor person would be like. And you use the term Ivy League socialists and carpetbaggers who came in from out of town with a person who, based on the spreadsheet, checked all of the boxes. He's got the Carhartts and the beard and the tattoos, wink wink, and all of the above that made him in many ways seem relatable and appealing to many people. It's a rich person's --
ANDERSON: Well, but the credulousness with which he was treated I think is another -- like setting aside the main of it all, the fact that he was able to get away with, "Oh, I'm this like hardscrabble guy," when his oyster farm allegedly only sells oysters to his mother's restaurant, mainstream reporting said, oh, he got a VA loan. And it was, frankly, conservative media that said, no, actually, this guy got a $200,000 loan from his father.
[12:05:12]
And there was just this credulousness, this like hunger to believe that this guy was the image he had portrayed. And a lot of people just shut their eyes and were like, oh, I'm sure he's great. I'm sure he's great. And only now that these new allegations come out, can it be told? But all these people are going, oh my gosh, how did he betray us? Well, for many of us, we're saying, this was all there all along.
PETER MEIJER (R), FORMER MICHIGAN CONGRESSMAN: The Washington Free Beacon has been reporting all this for months, and then you have Axios and New York Times being like, "Oh, my gosh, guys, look what we just found." Megan McArdle from The Washington Post, that was her comment about the rich person's idea --
WILLIAMS: Yes.
MEIJER: -- of a poor person to just to give that credit.
WILLIAMS: Yes -- sorry.
MEIJER: To your point, like, the dam breaking and the 'we want to find a winner' are sort of one and the same because --
BEGALA: Right.
MEIJER: -- it became unsustainable. Nazi tattoo, sexual assault allegations, just like bad behavior was excusable as long as he was still a viable candidate. As soon as the last thing broke, it didn't matter what Genevieve McDonald, his political director, was saying a year ago at great personal and reputational peril of what Lindsey Fifield said a couple months ago. You know, it wasn't until --
HUNT: She was another accuser but a Republican.
MEIJER: Yes, not specifically of rape but of just again --
BEGALA: Right. MEIJER: -- incredibly scummy, skeezy. This is not a guy you can trust.
HUNT: Toxic and borderline violent behavior toward her in their --
MEIJER: Yes.
HUNT: -- dating relationship.
WILLIAMS: But --
MEIJER: Yes.
HUNT: Yes.
WILLIAMS: And it's interesting. I mean, a lot of the narrative over the course of the week was that it wasn't until left-leaning accusers came out that this became an issue. I don't know if that's entirely true. It's just that his poll numbers started to suffer and Democrats realized they were going to lose with this individual. And I think people in politics have an amazing ability to overlook candidates' flaws when they're winning and this guy was going to lose.
BEGALA: But also, his immune system had been compromised. These stories -- like, I was off the deal with the tattoo, OK? I was for Janet Mills. OK, the Nazi tattoo was a deal-breaker for me. And then you add to that more and more things.
A lot of people who didn't get off the train on the tattoo, it compromises the immune system so much that this last allegation was not just a cold. I mean, it was the most toxic allegation you can imagine. He denies it in for -- in his defense legally, but that's what finally did him in. It was the accumulation.
It wasn't just that everybody just ignored it, but it's -- you're right, the power to rationalize is very powerful in all of us.
MEIJER: And he's denied essentially everything.
BEGALA: He has. But I do think, just like, as a lawyer, you've got to make sure --
MEIJER: Sure, sure.
BEGALA: -- but he's denied these things
WILLIAMS: Yes. And moreover, when in the world of sexual assault do you ever have the person say, yes, that was me, I did it.
MEIJER: Good point.
WILLIAMS: I mean, I just think, yes, he denied it. However --
BEGALA: Right.
WILLIAMS: -- that's a typical playbook --
ANDERSON: But the way he's going out of this race, I think, even if you were a Democrat who was, like --
BEGALA: Yes.
ANDERSON: -- willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, the graceless way in which he is exiting/not really exiting this race, I mean, this is someone who -- but I guess you can never say never in politics, right? Like, you would think would never have a future in the Democratic Party, but --
MEIJER: To his credit, he's been consistently kind of a scumbag and a bad person. So there's a consistency. There's a through line there.
HUNT: I mean, I will say, when you listen to what some of the people that he's dated have said about what it was like to date him, perhaps you are seeing similar, you know, I mean, we're all -- anyway. I mean, John Harris, Paul Begala, put it this way in Politico.
He wrote, quote, "There just aren't many people, even ambitious politicians, who are wired like Trump. It takes a kind of sublime self-possession to defy censure when it comes from influential quarters -- fellow politicians, the New York Times editorial page, and so on. Trump has that. Even many people with long years in the public arena, for example, former Senator Al Franken -- who was run out of the Senate for less than what Graham Platner has been accused of -- "typically do not." I mean, because the reality is, like, Graham Platner doesn't have to drop out of the race.
BEGALA: He doesn't, but the parties are different this way, I think, culturally, right? Al Franken was run out of the Senate for so much less that I don't think it was worthy of driving him out of the Senate. But he's gone. He quit. Eric Swalwell is a more comparable case. He's a congressman from California and the leading candidate for governor, and the Democrats drive him out of the race and drive him out of the Congress because of very serious allegations against him. That's called accountability.
And there were sort of movements toward accountability. Remember way back when, when there was that Access Hollywood tape with Trump? A lot of people, I mean, you were hearing Paul Ryan, the House Speaker at the time, saying this guy is unacceptable.
But when he overcame that and when he won anyway, again, for me, the deal breaker with Trump is that he was adjudicated by a civil jury unanimously in New York City for having sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll. Now, you can't get around that. It's a simple fact. It's a legal fact.
And I do think it's instructive that the Democrats drove their leading candidate for California governor out. Now they're driving their candidate for --
[12:10:02]
HUNT: Well, there was no risk -- real risk. I mean, I suppose Steve Hilton could become the next governor of California. But --
BEGALA: All the time we're seeing candidate. Time -- Hilton search --
HUNT: I just mean the stakes potentially are lower if you are looking at a blue state in a purple --
BEGALA: But I'm just saying accountability should matter. And --
WILLIAMS: I would also add to that, it's also potential criminal misconduct that Eric Swalwell is being accused of. It's not -- you know, it's not --
BEGALA: Right.
WILLIAMS: -- you know, whatever. I don't want to justify anybody's behavior but --
BEGALA: But Graham Platner.
MEIJER: Right, If Platner did what he's accused of, it's a crime, too, right?
WILLIAMS: Sure. I know. But I just --
BEGALA: But there is a culture of accountability
WILLIAMS: (INAUDIBLE) everybody's misconduct when you're talking about people who literally might have committed crimes.
BEGALA: Right.
WILLIAMS: All of these guys. That's it.
HUNT: All right, on that cheerful note --
WILLIAMS: All right. All right, sorry.
HUNT: -- coming up next here in The Arena, why a top White House official is calling younger Americans lazy and how she's trying to clean up those comments. But first, our quote of the week as questions grow about the status of one of the most well-known men in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: All the rumors about him being dead or brain dead or, you know, being his body's being hidden somewhere. I've seen all kinds of crazy things on the Internet. That's obviously not true because he picked up the phone and called me. And that was that was a good thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Do you think he'd be willing to call into the show? Could we get him on the phone now? JENNINGS: You know, I wasn't really expecting him to call this morning, to be honest. So when the phone rang and I was able to talk to him, I was frankly pretty grateful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[12:16:02]
HUNT: Senator Mitch McConnell trying this week to tamp down what's become rampant speculation over his health. CNN obtained exclusive video capturing the moment that the senator was rushed into an ambulance after emergency responders got a call about an unconscious person. His office, asked multiple times by CNN and by other outlets, won't say why he's been hospitalized or offer details about his condition.
On Wednesday, the governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, formally asked for answers, saying he wants to know, quote, "direct from the source if McConnell is still fit to serve in Congress." That letter coming one day after some friends and lawmakers say that McConnell called them.
One of those people, Scott Jennings who you regularly see here in The Arena, he has our quote of the week batting down any notion that there's anything seriously wrong with his former boss.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNINGS: I think it's a fair question about transparency. I think it's a fair question about whether they've done enough. But ultimately, these office holders, you know, they're in charge of their own operations. All the rumors about him being dead or brain dead or, you know, being -- his body's being hidden somewhere.
I've seen all kinds of crazy things on the Internet. That's obviously not true because he picked up the phone and called me and that was that was a good thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Our panel's back. Congressman Peter Meijer, what is the duty here that an elected official has to the people they represent when they are confronted with a situation like this?
MEIJER: I think you have an obligation within your chamber to make sure that whoever is leading that chamber that that you are informing them of your own ability to fulfill your task, number one. And then you have an obligation to your constituents I think to find the right balance because obviously there are some things when it comes to health and medical issues where, you know, even an elected official should have some privacy.
But to the point that it's now interfering with your ability to do your job and send it back in session next week for votes, you know, I think transparency to some extent should be expected. We saw this with Tom Keene (ph) in the house. He was gone for close to three months. You know, we've certainly had --
HUNT: At least Tom Keene came back with an explanation at the end.
MEIJER: He did, but --
HUNT: Right?
MEIJER: -- I think, you know, kind of ghosting your constituents is also not a good thing.
HUNT: That is fair.
MEIJER: In the -- in Senator McConnell's case, the Senate's been on recess. So, you know, he's not running for re-election. Maybe there are some constituent services and some, you know, chicken bakes he could have gone to. Otherwise, next week is really when that starts to be OK.
If you're missing votes consistently, you know, there should be some more transparency here. I think at the end of the day, it's an 84- year-old man. You know, whatever the health incident was, you just don't bounce back as quickly as you do. And apart from the transparency issue, just the question of our gerontocracy is a very real and live one.
WILLIAMS: You know, it's an interesting point, you know, because the point you hear from time to time is, well, everybody knows that Senate staff is what's most important. And even with the senator not there, the staff can still function. They can perform, you know, constituent services and so on.
Explain that to most people around the country and it's mind blowing. The idea that someone could be at the top of an office and that we're relying on unelected 25 year olds to be driving the show. Do your point, yes, absolutely. It's -- everybody is --
HUNT: If you think about any other job --
WILLIAMS: Any other job.
HUNT: -- in the country, right? Like if you're a normal person in America and you can't go to work because you've been hospitalized for a month, right, there's going to be consequences.
WILLIAMS: Kasie, if I --
HUNT: Right?
WILLIAMS: -- did not show up to CNN for a month, I'd probably be fired, but also I would owe you and others an explanation as to that absence. And I just think it's a basic obligation to one's peers, particularly when there's millions of them potentially who voted for you and put you in that role.
BEGALA: And Mitch McConnell has very good health care. We want him to. I wish him good health. WILLIAMS: Yes.
BEGALA: He has very good taxpayer government-provided health care, which he opposes for those very taxpayers. He has paid medical leave, which he opposes for those very taxpayers. So there's two rules in Washington, for the ruling class, and then there's the rules for the rest of us. And this is what he opposes for those very taxpayers.
[12:20:03]
So there's two rules in Washington, for the ruling class, and then there's the rules for the rest of us. And this is part of why people are so angry out there. And I have to say, I share that anger. It's nonsense. It's the only job in the world where the hired hands get better benefits than the owners. And that's baloney.
ANDERSON: I do think that there's a generational shift of power that is coming. And I think the Democratic Party is one where for a long time, the younger people in the party have been clamoring to sort of take over. On the Republican side, actually, some of that happened, oddly enough, like with the Tea Party movement. Like a lot of the GOP's old guard kind of got swept away over the last decade.
HUNT: And they also have some rules in the House that actually benefit I think the party.
ANDERSON: Yes.
HUNT: They have term limits on chairmanships. They have ways in which the leadership turns over that the Democrats don't have. Sorry.
ANDERSON: Yes, but -- and even though Mitch McConnell, notoriously Republican. This is also not a -- I mean, this is a problem that defined the 2024 election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
ANDERSON: Aging politicians who do not know when it's time to say enough and walk off into that sunset and hand the reins to another generation that is more than capable of doing it.
WILLIAMS: I think just --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry.
WILLIAMS: So real quick, just to say for viewers that aren't as familiar with this as we live it, the average age in the United States Senate is about 65 years old. There is a critical mass. I don't have the number off the top of my head of senators above 80. And if you go to 75, my God, it's pretty much the entire United States Senate. It is a gerontology. It is an old body of people.
BEGALA: And to Kristen's point, it's not a partisan thing. Peter and I were talking during the break about Ed Markey, the very senior senator from Massachusetts, who's 80 years old, I think, today and is running for another six-year term. So I went back and looked. He first got elected to public office 53 years ago when gas was $0.39 a gallon. And he's a Democrat. He's a good Democrat. I have to say, I hope Seth Bolton, the congressman, young, veteran, Marine, I hope he beats him in that primary, OK? But one of the reasons is, come on. 80 years old and you want a full-year -- a six-year no-cut contract. That's nonsense.
HUNT: Well, how old is Chuck Grassley now?
BEGALA: Oh, he's 89. He's still vacuuming.
WILLIAMS: No, he's over 90.
ANDERSON: Chuck Grassley honestly probably does more cardio in a week --
WILLIAMS: Yes.
ANDERSON: -- than any of us here on this set.
MEIJER: The median age of the -- sorry, not median, but the average age of a member of Congress, and again, that's House and Senate being 65 --
WILLIAMS: Yes.
MEIJER: -- most Fortune 500 companies, you have a mandatory --
BEGALA: Yes.
MEIJER: -- retirement age for your executive at 65.
BEGALA: That Catholic Church makes every bishop. Submit a letter of resignation at age 75. The Holy Father can accept it or not, but 75. By the way Rahm Emanuel, my buddy --
HUNT: And you can't vote for the Pope, right?
BEGALA: After 80.
HUNT: After 80.
BEGALA: Cardinals can't vote after 80. But --
HUNT: Sorry to interrupt you.
BEGALA: My buddy Rahm is thinking about running for President. One of the things he's floated is mandatory retirement at 75. And let me tell you, in my household, all my 20-something kids, they think that's the greatest idea they've ever heard.
WILLIAMS: You see the problem with --
HUNT: I'm told Chuck Grassley is 92.
WILLIAMS: Yes. BEGALA: OK.
HUNT: Yes.
WILLIAMS: The problem with all of these, though, is that in corporations or wherever else, there isn't a constitution that sets the rules for how people are elected and so on. And the constitution does not -- is silent as to forcing people out at a certain age. I think you run --
HUNT: Because it wasn't an issue back then.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Theoretically, the solution to this would be, if voters actually don't want people over the age of 75 in office, then they wouldn't vote for people.
WILLIAMS: And Paul Begala --
ANDERSON: I mean, that's why the Constitution doesn't say it, because it's like, well, voters --
WILLIAMS: Yes.
ANDERSON: -- you can decide that you want to put Ed Markey back in the Senate.
BEGALA: Yes, he can.
ANDERSON: Voters have the right to make that decision.
WILLIAMS: Paul literally, as we sat here today, said, I'm supporting Ed Markey in this race, even though he's 75 years old and running again.
BEGALA: No, no, I'm supporting Seth Moulton.
WILLIAMS: Oh, my gosh.
BEGALA: I'm opposing Ed Markey.
WILLIAMS: I'm so sorry --
ANDERSON: No, but you said --
BEGALA: No, no, I'm with Seth.
ANDERSON: Not to go after Governor Janet Mills, but how old is Governor Janet Mills?
BEGALA: She's 79.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
BEGALA: I think that's one of the reasons she lost. But I very much want a younger --
WILLIAMS: Kristen's (INAUDIBLE) that's true. Yes.
BEGALA: I want Seth to win that.
HUNT: Well, and to be clear, like, this all speaks to the problem that, frankly, the public has identified, which is that the people in power protect the other people in power. And part of why there has been such a culture of silence around this age is because no Republican has wanted Democrats to go after them when they face it. No Democrat has wanted Republicans to go after them when they face it.
That code of silence has started to break in recent years, in no small part because of what we saw with President Biden. But I think that's a kind of a fundamental reality that Americans rightly identify as being a big problem.
All right, coming up next here in The Arena, the White House likes to tout what it calls the Trump effect. But what about the Trump curse? This week's outcome for the U.S. in the World Cup lighting up the internet.
But first, young Americans setting a record, but not one they necessarily want, as the President's spokeswoman tries to clarify some of her own comments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I hate to say it, Gen Z and those younger than me have been raised with just silver spoons in their mouth, just getting everything handed to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEAVITT: In my generation, I hate to say it, Gen Z and those younger than me have been raised with just silver spoons in their mouth, just getting everything handed to them. That's not the values this country was built on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
LEAVITT: It was built on meritocracy and hard work, pulling up your sleeves, pulling yourself up from your bootstraps.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[12:29:34]
HUNT: The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, under scrutiny for those comments, saying that some Gen Z Americans are turning to democratic socialism because of, quote, "laziness and the liberal indoctrination." Shortly after that interview, Leavitt posted a more than 400-word tweet trying to set the record straight. She stood by her stance that laziness is a reason in her view that younger voters are buying the, quote, "false promise of free stuff."
[12:30:00]
Going on to write, quote, "There are far-left educators pumping students' heads with garbage, convincing the, that hard work and sacrifice won't pay off down the road because they want them totally reliant on the government instead."
This comes as a new report out this week shows a record number of Americans under age 35 are living with their parents. Just how many is that? More than 25 million. And those numbers from realtor.com show that most of those young adults have a steady job or jobs, plural, and a growing percentage of them have a college degree.
Kristen Soltis Anderson, how would you put this in context for us? I mean, I think it's also worth noting that now the median age to buy a home, your first home, is 40 years old. What -- like, what is actually going on with people this age?
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, so I was fascinated when you put that chart up because you saw that, that chart looked at a 20-year time horizon of how it has gotten harder for young people to buy homes.
The biggest increase in that chart was actually not within the last 10 years. It actually was from 2006, great financial crisis, up through 2012. And it reminded me a lot of an ad that I worked on for a group trying to help Mitt Romney win young voters in the 2012 election. Mission not totally accomplished, but we did our best.
And that ad was one where it showed a time lapse of a young boy's room from when he's a little boy through him obviously getting sports trophies growing up and then goes off to college and has an Obama poster on the wall. And the end of the ad was he comes home, he graduated from college, doesn't have a house of his own, moves back in with his parents, takes the Obama poster down.
And then Paul Ryan used that statement, in -- like he said, these college kids are all taking their Obama posters down. The reality was that that message was actually not really that impactful with young people. For many of them, the idea of moving home with their parents was disappointing, but something that they'd get through.
It was actually the parents who were the ones that found that ad most resonant, because for them it was what's wrong with the kids these days. And to me, that's what it feels like Karoline Leavitt is kind of pandering to with this message of like, yes, I'm the good Gen Z or something's wrong with the kids these days.
The reality is, if you have come of age in the economy in the last two decades, it has been rough out there. And a lot of things that Millennials and Gen Z were told, work hard, play by the rules, get a college degree, get married, have kids, do all those things. And they looked at some of those -- they felt like they were sold a bill of goods. Wait, I got a college degree, but now I have all this debt.
Well, you told me to get married and have kids, but now having kids is really expensive and childcare is really expensive. And you all's generation went through a massive amount of divorce. And like, I just don't feel like I trust what older generations have told me anymore, is kind of the vibe of the moment, I would say.
And so to me, that message, I think it's unfortunate. And lots of Gen Zers work very hard. But it's also a message that goes over very well with older Americans who for time immemorial have looked down at younger Americans and been like, what's wrong with the kids these days?
PETER MEIJER (R), FORMER MICHIGAN CONGRESSMAN: Kids these days, literally kids these days. But we've also lived through, I mean like a half a dozen moral panics about underage drinking, you know, teen drug use, teen pregnancies, all of these trends that, you know, you freak out, have a "Time Magazine" cover about it. People talk about it for several years. All those trends have trended down because the kids these days are a lot more risk averse.
And so that has obviously positive consequences in terms of things like teen pregnancy and substance abuse and otherwise. But then you have this sort of inertial challenge where you're not necessarily taking those risks because on the one hand, you've been taught and inculcated to not be as risk seeking, which has both a very strong upside, but also this downside. On the other hand, if you do take that risk, how do you know that you're going to be able to get out of it if you're burdened by college debt?
If you were told to take on hundreds of thousands of dollars, because that was a thing. If now the white collar job opportunities and, you know, you have a PhD, but you are working as a barista. I get why then you have that sense of resentment that then leads you to love something like the democratic socialist component that says, listen, this is not just you. Your problems are not your problems.
This is the system and we need to change the system at large, as opposed to minor tweaks to like student housing, trying to make housing more affordable, loan issues. As a Democrat, I just want to thank Karoline Leavitt for that in-kind contribution to my party.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She's either a Democratic plant or a fool because insulting voters is not a good thing to do going into an election. Donald Trump spiked up in 2024 with young voters. He got 36 percent against Hillary and 36 percent against Joe, went up to 43 in the last election. Why? He made very specific promises.
I will reduce the cost of your housing. He hasn't done it. I'll reduce the cost of your groceries, gas and rent. Hasn't done it. I'll keep you out of forever wars, which you hear a lot from young people. Hasn't done it. So they're very angry for very good reasons. And for Ms. Leavitt, on behalf of the President, to insult those voters, it's just the dumbest thing. I should shut up. So she keeps doing it.
[12:35:01]
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, it's funny. As a Gen Xer, I am just watching with delight as Millennials are looking down on Gen Z as the lazy generation. We were saying that for all of the time.
HUNT: She's a Gen Zer. Karoline Leavitt is 1997. First year of Gen Z. So sorry to bust your bubble.
MEIJER: This is an intros, Millennial --
WILLIAMS: It's the introsy point. But no, it's, you know, it's fascinating. Just even looking at where we live. Many of us live here in Washington, D.C. If you look at some of the affluent neighborhoods, it's a lot of people that have been in their homes for five decades that could speculate and could never afford the same homes today, certainly compared to when they bought them. Things are just more expensive.
That is leading to the disillusionment of an entire class of people, this entire generation that even to a point that we were talking about college a moment ago, and yes, college brings you lots of debt, but now trade school has gotten expensive and people who thought that they could have avoided the big bills of going to a fancy college or thinking, well, I'll learn small engine repair or cosmetology or whatever else are also racking up a mountain of debt. Things are expensive and it is leading to an entire generation just losing faith in systems. And this is to Paul's point about turning to things like Democratic socialism and whatever else.
MEIJER: Well, you have these sloppiness policies getting proposed too. I mean, for the point on those seniors living in homes they couldn't afford right now, instead of it being we need some churn in this housing market so that that single family home that's occupied by one person, a family could move in there. No, no, no. Let's, you know, abolish senior citizen property taxes like this sort of like, OK, on the one hand, you're getting their votes.
On the other hand, you were screwing over to your point. You're screwing over younger generations. And so you consistently have this pattern of answers to the frustration being things that will only make it worse, like rent control, rents too high. So let's freeze the rent. Great. Now you see all the rental properties getting taken off the market. And if you qualify, that's awesome. You just pulled up the ladder for everybody behind you.
BEGALA: Well, Mr. Trump's housing is particular problem, right? And Mr. Trump is refusing to sign a bipartisan housing bill. It may be a good bill, bad bill. But when you tell people Trump won't sign the housing bill, when they -- my -- I have some insight in this. My son, 20 something, is working on this project called Speaking with American Men targeting young men. There is a crisis with young men.
HUNT: Yes.
BEGALA: And he told me something really interesting is one of the guys told him, my old man busted his tail and he could afford a house and a wife. I can't afford rent and a girlfriend. And I'm working harder. My old man ever did. There is a real crisis. I think it's more pronounced with men just because I guess I have boys. But it is real. And when Ms. Leavitt insults them, maybe they should be like Donald Trump and make $2 billion a year on a part time gig, which is what he did last year. Gee, maybe my kids could do that.
HUNT: All right. I head here in The Arena. Is there a Trump sports curse? We'll explain and discuss.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people argue that the U.S. went from being underdogs with international sympathy to underdogs with, you know, much of the world against them because of President Trump's intervention. And so the question becomes, does that background noise doesn't get to you on the pitch?
[12:38:06]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bingo, 100 percent?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I understand sports really well. All I did, I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul. And, you know, again, I'm good at this stuff. I didn't think it was a foul. But I didn't know what the hell a red card was. When I found out, I said, you got to be kidding. This guy just hands up. OK, your best player is not going to play next week or in the next game. I said, wow, that's a lot of power. That's terrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: This week in history, the U.S. men's national soccer team got knocked out of the World Cup. They were in the midst of their best run since 2022. And then President Trump involved himself to overturn a red card. And then they lost. Coincidence? Or is the President bad luck? We looked at the professional sports events that Trump has attended this term, and his teams have a losing record. You only have to think back to last month when he attended game three of the NBA finals at Madison Square Garden. Yes, the Knicks snapped their 13-game winning streak, and it was the only finals game they lost. Elliott?
WILLIAMS: Is there some supernatural curse that the President brings? No. With respect --
HUNT: Sports fans are very superstitious.
WILLIAMS: OK, fine.
HUNT: Are you not? I mean -- WILLIAMS: Agreed, agreed, agreed. However, I just think with respect to the World Cup, he inserted himself into a matter that took away the goodwill, any goodwill the team had had. We talked about it on your program during the week where America, the team, we are underdogs in soccer globally. We'd actually become a little bit of a Cinderella story at this tournament. They were doing well. They'd made it through their group and so on.
And just that cloud that got put over the team by that phone call that he made really just sort of took that away for virtually every, certainly every global fan and many, many American fans had a bad taste.
HUNT: I think that we also shouldn't ignore that, you know, for any sports team, right, for any group of people, there is something about the way you feel going into a match, right? What are the vibes, so to speak, that can affect, like, how the team performs? This was the goalkeeper, the former U.S. goalkeeper, on Trump's intervention speaking to NPR. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[12:45:04]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's that background noise. Does it get to you on the pitch?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bingo, 100 percent. There was a certain level of, like, flying under the radar. And once that situation happened and our President got involved, I for sure know it kind of shifted the focus to now have all the eyes in the world and to now be sort of demonized in a way. I do feel for the guys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I mean.
MEIJER: You got the yips.
ANDERSON: And Donald Trump is so unbelievably polarizing that the United States men's national team, this unifying force, gets a red card that is nonsense, that everybody who knows anything about soccer looks at and goes, this is a terrible call. And the moment that Donald Trump agrees with the 100 percent of people who said this is a terrible call, 50 percent of them go, you know what, maybe that red card, maybe that guy shouldn't have been in the game. Maybe that guy shouldn't have been in the game.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: I'm sorry. Look, ridiculousness. The U.S. men's national team played terribly. I was rooting for them so hard. I wanted them to win. They did not lose that match just because of a phone call. That -- it was a bad, bad soccer game. But I am -- I do think it's so funny the way people like suddenly being clutching their pearls about this red card getting overturned. Before Donald Trump was involved, everyone was kind of in agreement that it was a terrible call.
WILLIAMS: I think there's a difference between we can be in agreement with the terrible call and should world leaders be picking up the phone to meddle in what happened on the field of play. Like when Keir Starmer did it with the British team. Well, that's a safety issue. That is a totally different map. Well, we're scheduling because FIFA. No, no, listen, we're in agreement that FIFA is a shady organization. FIFA wanted the British team to get off a plane and play in Mexico City at high altitude. The question was whether they ought to play in the evening.
We all, you, OK, Kasie --
HUNT: Yes.
WILLIAMS: You are a Baltimore Orioles fan.
HUNT: I am.
WILLIAMS: Worst call in the history of your team was my beloved New York Yankees getting that homerun in 1996, right? The derrick to your homerun. Every Baltimore Orioles fan remembers it, right? Here's the thing.
HUNT: I was very young, but I do remember that. How bad it was.
WILLIAMS: You don't. I don't. Nobody wants the president of the United States calling the head of Major League Baseball to get a call overturned. That's just not -- that's unprecedented, regardless of what he thinks about it, regardless of how bad the call was. It's just unprecedented behavior. And it's not about Trump liking it or not. It's the phone call to me.
BEGALA: Well, in fairness to Trump, it's not just sports. Everything he touches turns to poop. Look at the look at the Reflecting Pool. Look at the casinos he bankrupted. Like he's just a curse on everything he does. That said, it's the team's job to win, period. That's why I love sports. That's why I love politics. You win. I don't want to hear the sun was in my eyes. The wind was in my face. The President was in the stands. He made a call. Shut up and win. I'm sorry.
WILLIAMS: Well --
BEGALA: That's the -- I think I subscribe to.
ANDERSON: What I hope we wind up taking away from this World Cup. The U.S. team's journey has come to an end. It came to an end in a very unfortunate way. Not great. But there is so much else that has been great about this World Cup.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
ANDERSON: All of these people coming from around the world, discovering how wonderful America is.
BEGALA: That's a good point.
ANDERSON: The tournament is so exciting. The best soccer players in the world are playing at the top of their game. I have loved this. I hope this creates even more soccer culture.
BEGALA: Can we just get off of kickball and get back to a real sport like baseball?
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: I'm done with the kickball more than anything. Let's get back at baseball.
HUNT: It's been amazing to have the World Cup in America.
[12:48:35]
All right, coming up, something totally different. John Oliver, the soap opera star, we'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: John Oliver, T.V. personality, comedian, Brit, now soap opera star?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I spent the whole night praying that she was going to be OK. And I can't even get into a room to check on her because your agents won't let me.
JOHN OLIVER, COMEDIAN: An oversight, I'll have your name added to the list of approved visitors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to be added to the list. I want my daughter back.
OLIVER: Then let me put this in language that you will understand. That ain't going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I'm sorry, what was that? This week, "The Last Week Tonight" host starred in the long-running daytime drama "General Hospital." So there, he was playing Z, the head of the World Security Bureau. It was a three-episode arc. Oliver had pleaded publicly for a, "juicy role on a soap, any soap, earlier this year." The show's executive producer said that one of John's requests was to be slapped.
And apparently, this is the end of his soap opera career. He is expected to make an appearance on "Days of Our Lives" next month. Do we have any soap opera viewers here with us today?
ANDERSON: All my children are IP.
HUNT: I sort of had missed that John Oliver was, like, begging to be on soap operas, but, like, watching him in that role is unsettling for somehow.
ANDERSON: Yes, I watched that whole segment with, like, my jaw on the floor. Like, what am I looking at? I'm amazed that the actual, the medium of soap operas has continued. And if you think about it, it's like a production miracle. Like, think about prestige T.V. shows nowadays. Like, they do a season and they're, like, great. Three years from now, you'll get your next season. Soap operas put out a new episode every freaking day.
[12:55:10]
WILLIAMS: Lots of slaps.
ANDERSON: Incredible.
MEIJER: And I'll be honest, not having watched soap operas, but just my impression was that a "General Hospital" was sort of generally, like, about a hospital. Maybe, like, an E.R. kind of thing.
ANDERSON: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
BEGALA: It's like there's a World Security Bureau, like, kind of black helicopters.
WILLIAMS: There's --
MEIJER: All right. I'm not saying I'm intrigued, because an episode a day, that is also a commitment not only on their production, but on the viewer, right?
BEGALA: More John Oliver. That's all I want.
HUNT: I learned everything I know about soap operas from a guy named Jocko Riggs. He runs the NBC camera at the Russell Rotunda, and he is one of the most loyal viewers while he waits for the rest of us to show up. So here's to you, Jocko. Thanks very much to all of you guys for being here today. Thanks to you at home for watching. Don't forget, you can see The Arena every weekday right here on CNN at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. You can also catch up by listening to our podcast. You can follow along on X and Instagram. We're at TheArenaCNN. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. The news continues coming up next right here on CNN.
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