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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
El-Sayed Attacks "Ohio J.D. Vance" As VP Campaigns In Michigan; Supreme Court Allows Trump To Continue Ballroom Construction; Trump Defends Data Centers: "Let Data Reign"; 955-Plus Killed, 4,400-Plus Missing After Catastrophic Nepal-China Floods. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired August 31, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She said she had to talk her way past all the secretaries at NASA because they assumed she was another secretary. She just died a few years ago, but she's the reason Hubble's in space, and now they've named this one after her.
So, a great -- a great testament to the women of NASA and of science.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A great testament indeed. We'll see what she finds out there.
Tom Foreman, thank you so much.
And thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.
"THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT" starts right now.
(MUSIC)
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Welcome to THE ARENA. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Monday.
Right now, a race that could determine control of the Senate heats up with the vice president hitting the trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not asking you to vote for Mike Rogers because you're going to agree with him 100 percent of the time. I'm asking you to vote for Mike Rogers because he's going to go to Washington and he's going to fight for you rather than the people trying to keep illegal drivers on the road.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Vice President J.D. Vance today campaigning in Michigan for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers. The high-profile deployment assigned the White House recognizes just how close the race is between Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Ohio J.D. Vance went to a particular university south of the Michigan border that does not deserve the dignity of being given its full name. We refer to it here in Michigan as Ohio because -- well, Michigan beats Ohio. And I think Michigan is going to remind J.D. Vance why he should send his ass back to Ohio at the end of this day, at the end of November, when we deliver a victory for Michiganders in this ridiculous trade war we have no business fighting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: El Sayed today invoking Michigan's famous football rivalry to attack the vice president. The Democrats' latest comments coming just days after he apologized for his reaction to an attempted terror attack at a synagogue near Detroit. El Syed telling Jewish Democrats in Michigan that he made a mistake, saying, quote, "Hurt people hurt people".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: My comments might have been misconstrued to be justifying something I did not intend to justify, right? To anybody who feels like my comments might have been perfect, I'm really sorry, that was not my intention. We condemned that terrorist attack. We condemned it outright. What I was trying to do is offer context from what happened, but it wasn't the time for context, and you don't ever want to trample somebody's pain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So the Vice President today really latching on to El Sayed's original comments, accusing the Democrat of trying to divide America along racial and religious lines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: There's something about Abdul El Syed that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today. And it's people who see themselves not as citizens of a combination fighting for every single person, whether they're Jewish or Christian, whether they're white or black or brown, but see themselves as fighting for one group at the expense of others. And that is how, ladies and gentlemen, you destroy the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, let's get off the sidelines, head into THE ARENA. My panel is here.
CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor Elliot William; CNN political director and Washington bureau chief David Chalian; CNN political commentator and former DNC communications director, Xochitl Hinojosa; and CNN senior political commentator, Republican strategist David Urban.
We are also joined by former Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow, who you of course saw appearing with El Sayed there.
David Chalian, I want to start with you though, for the big picture on this race. Remarkable that we saw this apology from El Syed. Then you listen to what the vice president is saying today, and the rhetoric from a big picture perspective is, well, you know, existential, really.
What do you make of this, and where is this race in the bigger picture on the map?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I mean, seeing the vice president there today and giving this sort of scathing critique of Abdul el-Sayed sort of game on, right? The calendar is about to flip from August to September. We've got 64 days to go until the votes are counted in November.
And this is the administration, you know, circling the state of Michigan as a huge potential opportunity to flip a currently Democratic-held seat to Republican. And obviously, that makes -- if that were to happen, if Mike Rogers were to win this race, it just -- just exponentially complicates the Democrats' math to a majority.
I will just say this. Abdul el-Sayed, as you just showed, from the weekend apology to now, obviously, no fault of his own, but Vance being there and bringing the attack to him directly, Abdul El-Sayed is going to have to learn how to not make the story every day about Abdul El-Sayed.
And he has had trouble doing that since this primary. And I think that's going to be one of his main problems is how to figure out, you saw him trying to do it with this presser today on the Canadian tariffs thing. He's going to have to figure out how to make Trump and the Republican agenda the story and not himself.
And I don't think he's successfully done that yet.
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XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I think that that's right. He is using this opportunity. You rarely see politicians apologize, first of all. They never apologize, especially in the Republican Party. And you are seeing him say that he was wrong and apologize for his previous comments and hopefully trying to put this past him. The ultimate goal for Democrats in the state is to unify the party. They had a brutal primary and now all of the candidates are coming together to back him.
But to your point, Mike Rogers has not had any accountability whatsoever. We have tariffs that are impacting Michigan. And I think one thing that voters need to realize is that you're not going to have Mike Rogers go out and speak out against Donald Trump. He's going to be a checkmark for Donald Trump.
So as much as El Sayed can make that point and to move the narrative away from him and to the voters, the better. But to your point, he needs to get past this initial phase and the only way he does that is to apologize and hopefully it's behind him.
HUNT: Mallory McMorrow, can I bring you into this conversation because you've obviously spent some time with El-Sayed here. What do you make of the advice from David Chalian to El-Sayed to, hey, figure out how to make this about somebody other than yourself and kind of help us understand -- I mean, he did apologize. It is rare in politics, but there's a reason why he did it.
How's it going over from your vantage point?
STATE SEN. MALLORY MCMORROW (D-MI), FORMER MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Yeah. Also, I appreciate the nod to the brutal primary. So hello, participant in the brutal primary here.
And there's a reason that I was standing alongside Abdul today because the panel is absolutely right. Mike Rogers hasn't had to answer for anything. Michigan is now paying the price for these tariffs more than any other state in the country, $5,600 so far. And Rogers put out a very, very long statement. effectively saying President Trump is in his right.
And I was listening to some of the attendees, even of his rally today in Macomb County with J.D. Vance, where some of the attendees said, Yeah, I'm really hurting. It costs a lot, but I trust him. I trust that they have to be doing the right thing.
That is the race right now. And it is going to be on all of us coming together to recognize that the stakes are way too high for us to be fractured. And you're right, it is rare to see any politician apologize. I want a senator who is going to apologize when they do something wrong, who is going to make outreach and inroads and try to expand the tent and not that make it smaller, and that's what we're seeing right now.
But it is going to take all of us because it is not a mistake that the first event from MAGA, Inc., Trump's super PAC, is right here in Michigan.
HUNT: Mallory, Hasan Piker has obviously become a flashpoint in this race, and it's something that some, you know, Jewish Americans in the state have raised concerns about.
Do you think El Sayed needs to disavow Piker more strongly if he's going to unify Michigan Democrats?
MCMORROW: Here's what I can tell you on the ground from Michigan. We are sick of talking about Hasan Piker. Hasan Piker is not running for anything that I know of. If I'm wrong, I hope that somebody corrects me.
But I know that members of the community are deeply concerned about anti-Semitism, and that is part of the conversation. I know Abdul attended the Michigan Democrat Summer Simcha yesterday, and was a part of those conversations.
So, there is a lot of noise. There has been more ink spilled about a streamer than about the fact that Mike Rogers, in some reporting by "The Bulwark", wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, wants to charge $50 for every cancer screening, every routine doctor's appointment, which means that a lot of my constituents are just going to go without care, and thinks that it's okay for insurance companies to deny care if you have a pre-existing condition.
It is a lot of distraction. And that is what I hear from Michiganders is, first of all, a lot of people have no idea who that is that people want to keep talking about, but they want to talk about the fact that we are paying more.
HUNT: So why not? I mean, if he's such a distraction, couldn't you just put it to rest?
MCMORROW: Yeah. So let's do that, let's put it to rest right now.
HUNT: But isn't that what it would take though? I mean --
MCMORROW: Yeah, yeah. And I have heard Abdul say he does not plan to campaign with him. We are all moving on and want to move on to what J.D. Vance and Trump and Mike Rogers are doing here, which is trying to hurt Michiganders.
This is a party that has been taken over by MAGA Republicans who were fawning all over themselves trying to see who can impress more, whether it's John James introducing Trump as the three-time winner of Michigan the last time they had a rally, or Mike Rogers applauding these tariffs or saying the war in Iran should continue.
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Michiganders literally cannot afford to lose in November.
HUNT: David Urban, jump in. I've been watching you.
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There's so much to unpack. Well, because of course they don't want to talk about Assad Piker, right? Of course, they don't, because it's a terrible thing to be associated with. But you know what? When Hasan Piker was needed to win the primary to get out votes when he's very popular amongst the Arab community in Dearborn and other places, he was welcomed into Michigan to campaign, right?
I've not heard Abdul El-Sayed. He's a smart guy, very bright guy -- Rhodes scholar, lots of advanced degrees. He needs to come out and condemn him and say somebody who supports Hamas, the brutality that happened on 10/7, a gentleman who said America deserves to be attacked on 9/11. It's the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
This is not some -- this is somebody should be easy. My good friend Xochitl here, super smart, said, look, we should not campaign with this guy. He should be cut off. Everyone's like, oh, he's just some Twitch streamer. He's got four million views. He was definitely needed during the primary. They welcomed him in.
So, I don't understand. I saw Abdul El-Sayed say I'd give his apology, not apology. Well, I'm sorry what I said offended people. I'm sorry I never meant to offend people. Just say I'm sorry, not I'm sorry for what I said offended you. If I said that to you, you'd be like, well, yeah, that's not a real apology. That's B.S.
And when he said, I am -- this isn't about some Twitch streamer. We just say, I disavow the guy. It's easy. Move on.
If Ms. McMorrow wants to say, she could just say his name. We think he's terrible. We regret campaigning with him. We think that all those things he said were terrible, right? We disavow like anybody who supports Hamas and Hezbollah and the things took place on 10/7.
Until they do that, this race is going to be about him every day, every day.
HUNT: Mallory, go ahead, jump in.
MCMORROW: Kasie, I mean, look, that's all great that you want that level of accountability here. Please call on the Republicans to do the same. Every time I see Republicans campaigning with Ted Nugent, with Tucker Carlson, with all these people, yes, let's move on.
URBAN: But by the way, I'm pretty sure you guys make it about those folks when that happens. So, this is a big race. If you want to win -- listen, I don't care. Keep doing it. You're going to lose. It's great.
If you want to win, this is my advice. Disavow the guy is a terrible human being. Terrible human being.
MCMORROW: Nobody in Michigan is continuing to compete. We want the campaign to be about Michigan and to be about Michiganders. And I would love, love to see any of the Republicans, just one, disavow the comments of the president. who posted an A.I. video of ducks with rifles, long guns, and Trump haircuts parading along the Canadian border to taunt Canada.
Do you know what that does to us? I live within 20 minutes. of the Canadian border. They are our strongest allies. There are people who cross the border every single day. And we have a president who mocks us, who mocks them. And I don't hear any calls for disadvantaging remarks of the president.
URBAN: Let me just say this. I don't know if you lost anybody. My West Point roommate was killed on 9/11. I worked in this town in the Capitol on 9/11. I don't know if you remember what it felt like to be here in America on 9/11 or 9/12.
It's completely different than some goof meme with Canadian ducks and Donald Trump haircut. And for you to compare the two is just reprehensible and beyond the pale. So, what he said about 9/11 is in a different category, a completely different category of abhorrent discussion, a comment that should be pushed back on by everybody from day one.
And so, to say that it's somehow comparable is a joke. It's a joke. It's terrible. And it's only going to get worse because guess what? People, they're going to read those 3,000 names on 9/11, and every one of those people is going to remember. And you're going to remember, and the Michiganders are going to remember as well. You've got to dig out of that hole.
MCMORROW: David --
HUNT: Mallory, go ahead.
MCMORROW: David -- yes, we know people who were lost on 9/11. One of my husband's friends was lost on 9/11. I remember being in school and having some of my classmates orphaned on 9/11.
I also have a constituent today who was about to be evicted from her home because of the rising costs here on Michigan, the mother of a one-year-old. So, I get it.
I saw CBS post today an Islamophobic headline that said that he will have to answer for 9/11 why because Abdul is a Muslim, it is Islamophobic, it is racist, and it is not addressing the real pain, the real pain that my constituents at Michiganders feel today.
Yes, he is doing outreach in the community that feels rising antisemitism. I feel that within my own family, my husband is Jewish.
[16:15:01]
I have talked about concerns not only in the Democratic Party but rising some antisemitism across the board.
People are hurting. Michigan is hurting more than any other state in the country because of the callous actions of this president. So while you may dismiss it as A.I. slop, that is not the same, I can tell you that when I am listening to a story of a mom of a one-year-old who was about to be homeless because of the actions of this president, that is what is on the line right now, and that is why we are all standing together united to win in November.
HUNT: Let's watch a little bit of what El-Sayed said this morning when he was on The Breakfast Club with Charlamagne Tha God who, if we're going to continue this conversation in a slightly -- with a slightly wider lens about the Jewish community, Mallory mentioned that her family, she has -- her husband is Jewish. This is a big part of this.
And El-Sayed did address that when Charlamagne actually pressed him on it. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, HOST, THE BREAKFAST CLUB: Do you have a special responsibility to recognize when Jewish Americans feel that same collective judgment happening to them?
EL-SAYED: Yeah. I mean, this is the thing is, Judaism and the Jewish people are not the same as Israel and AIPAC. They're not the same.
CHARLAMAGNE THAT GOD: I wish more people would say that. EL-SAYED: Yeah, and I think it needs to be said. And, you know, I always use the example of Egypt. My family immigrated from Egypt.
When I'm elected, I'm probably going to be the loudest critic of the Egyptian government in the whole U.S. Senate. And I would hate if somebody were to say, well, you're now accountable for what the government of Egypt did because you happen to share the same ethnicity of the people who live there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: David Chalian, big picture here. Obviously, Israel has become such a central issue. It's part of why we're having this very emotional conversation that we're having right now. How did you hear him address that there in terms of this race overall and the way this debate is taking place?
CHALIAN: I mean, I think that has been pretty consistent where El Sayed has tried to separate out, and you hear, not just El Sayed, lots of Democrats trying to do this, separate out their criticism of the Netanyahu government and its actions, separate and apart from anything that they would say criticizing Judaism or Jewish people broadly. And I think you saw El Sayed trying to do that here.
You know, you talk about the weight of this issue, how much attention it gets, the real divides that exist in the party, and yet, consistently, it is not where voters say their minds are most when it comes to their vote. That is on the economy. That is on cost of living. That is where the vast majority of voters are.
This is clearly an issue. And we see it, by the way, the Republican- Jewish Coalition is getting together in Las Vegas. J.D. Vance is on his way there to talk to that group there. You do see this happening in both parties, this divide over Israel, and it's something that both parties are going to work through, but I don't think, given the loud attention it gets, that it actually as where voters are on what is driving them to their votes.
HINOJOSA: Yeah and I also think that where it might matter is if the base whether it be Republicans or Democrats end up staying home because they do not feel like their candidates are arguably fighting for them enough when it comes to this issue. I agree with you the vast majority of voters want to talk about cost of living. Mallory was right. They want to talk about tariffs. That is a thing that is impacting people in Michigan and whether it be grocery prices, et cetera.
But I do worry that when it comes to the base, some people will not necessarily turn out because they're angry at both parties for that issue.
HUNT: All right. Mallory McMorrow, thank you very much for being with us. I really appreciate your perspective and I do hope you'll come back soon.
The rest of our panel is going to stand by here. Coming up next in THE ARENA, breaking news, the Supreme Court weighing
in once again on President Trump's big ballroom project. Ahead, what they are now saying.
Plus, A.I. data centers have become a major issue in the midterms and beyond, probably in your community. And now both the president and the vice president are stepping in to defend them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: I don't think the data centers are that controversial. It's when the utility bills get so much higher, that's when it's a real problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:23:43]
HUNT: All right, breaking news, the Supreme Court this afternoon is allowing President Donald Trump to continue to build his ballroom for now.
CNN's Betsy Klein, CNN senior White House reporter, has more details on this breaking story.
Betsy, what did we learn from the court today, and what does this mean for -- I mean, it's basically been a hole in the ground for a while. What's next?
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's a great question, Kasie, but this case has gone all the way to the Supreme Court starting late last year over President Trump's sprawling 90,000 square foot ballroom project. The challenge here is coming from a preservation group, the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
And the crux of the legal issue here is not whether the president had the authority to take down the East Wing or the structure itself, but it is whether he skipped key processes when he did so, including namely seeking approval from Congress.
Now the court ruling today that the president can proceed with that construction and this really marks a major victory for President Trump. It's going to give him the time he needs to largely complete this project even as the litigation continues to play out. This was a 5-4 ruling and notably conservative Chief Justice John Roberts penned the dissent. He said that the construction was, quote, "likely unlawful".
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And the court here is not opining on whether the ballroom is legal. A majority says that the National Trust for Historic Preservation likely cannot sue over this project. But this is not yet over. The litigation is going to continue to play out over a matter of months. But for President Trump, he really views this the foundation of his
legacy in his second term. It's been a major priority, as we have seen. And he's also argued that it's a matter of national security, including that underground bunker project that's about six feet -- six stories deep.
Now, work on this project has moved with remarkable speed so far. The superstructure, according to court filings, is expected to be completed in the coming months around November. They say that it is about 65 percent of the way done, a 250-person crew working 20-hour days, seven days a week. So, we'll have to see how much more of this they can continue to complete as all of this litigation plays out, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Betsy Klein, thank you very much for that report.
So, Elliot Williams, obviously she explained why this is in some ways procedural, but This also is not the only pending litigation. It is fascinating, though, that John Roberts is the one who said, actually, I think this ballroom is probably illegal.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right. That is really fascinating here because when I heard that there was a little bit of a split on the court, I would have thought perhaps it might have been the liberals. It's interesting that the chief justice is the one who writes the dissent here.
Now, a number of us on this network had sort of predicted a ruling like this on this standing issue, the idea that in order to file a lawsuit, you have to be the person who's hurt. If David and Xochitl are having a dispute, I can't sue on social's behalf only she can, and what had happened
URBAN: By the way, they get along.
WILLIAMS: They do however you know litigation is funny and if she has she has legal rights. So, but the point is in the event here it was the National Trust for Historic Preservation on behalf of one individual claiming that as a citizen and as a member of the community she was empowered to sue on account of the White House being demolished in this manner.
It's interesting the chief justice says here the White House is just special and the White House is just different, and even a citizen ought to be able to sue, at least on behalf of a preservation organization, that they have suffered.
HUNT: Because literally everybody is potentially injured as a citizen. It's so interesting.
WILLIAMS: Yeah, I mean, ultimately, and this is where I came down on this when we read this the first time, Congress is the party that ought to sue here, either the chair of a committee of Congress or some member of Congress said, you did not follow the process here. We were wrong as a co-equal branch of government, therefore stop this building. HUNT: Well, honestly, if you look at the pictures and you listen to what Betsy's describing there, David, this seems to be one of those things where the president is just racing against the courts in terms of time, daring somebody to stop him. I mean, he demolished it, and then now he's building something in its place while this is all playing out.
CHALIAN: Which I think actually can fit a Trump pattern going back from prior to his president of the United States. You know, I think the larger picture takeaway when things like this develop, when we cover a development out of the court on this issue, and then we play all the pictures of Donald Trump taking tours of the hole in the ground and explaining it, it reinforces for voters how focused the president is on these projects rather than on the things that they say are most important to them. And that becomes a political problem in this midterm period for his party.
And so, I think -- I talked to a lot of Republicans who would say they'd be happy if these issues just never came up again over the next 64 days. That's not the case because of the way that the president went about this. This is going to keep coming up.
WILLIAMS: Yeah, and you know, it's interesting. A lot of people who are opponents of the president say, what's to stop him from X, whatever the X might be. And here there's a practical problem.
If you just start digging a hole and building, even if a court tells you, you can't do it anymore, there is still a giant hole in the ground with concrete poured in it and so on. There's a practical problem. What do you do with it?
And here, like you said, it's a -- it is a playbook that the president has played out before, which is just start bulldozing, just start building, and well, those pesky courts, whatever, who cares, we will perceive them there. And I think that's what a lot of people have. when they raise concerns with the president, his approach is what they're talking about.
HUNT: David, where do you come down on whether this is a thing the president should be worried about at this juncture?
URBAN: Listen, I clearly -- I agree with Mr. Chalian in that American voters are concerned about one thing and one thing, right? And that rings true no matter what election is, right? It's the famous Carville-esque, it's the economy, stupid, right? And that's no matter what election is, whether it's dog catcher or president or midterms, people vote about their kitchen table issues and what hurts them at home and if they're better off. Kids are people going back to school. A lot of people are already back to school.
But when you're going to buy the trapper keeper binder and you can't afford it, it's more for your kid than it was last year, or they've got to get new sneakers. All those things cost money. And real people feel that.
And that causes a great deal of angst for a lot of people in their family. They can't buy your kids what they want, sneakers, all those things cost money. real people feel that and that causes great deal of angst for a lot of people in their family. They can't buy their kids what they want.
[16:30:00]
And that impacts real people. And until you can really speak to that and let people know you feel your pain, the famous Bill Clinton kind of thing, right? We feel your pain. That's a missed opportunity, a missed opportunity.
WILLIAMS: This ties right into what we were talking about at the top of the program in the Michigan Senate race, which is that if the elections around the country are about the president and about the economy, he loses spectacularly. The problem is that that race is a lot about --
URBAN: And I will agree with you, but the thing that Xochitl and our colleagues have to do is, like, I always keep saying this, it's like we're running against Trump, we got to stop him, we got to check him, we got to do these things. Okay, but then what's your plan? What are you going to do next?
So that's A, what's B, C, D, and E? How are you going to make it better? What are you going to do in Iran to keep them from exporting terrorism? How are you going to turn the economy around, get interest rates down, inflation under check? What are you going to do?
I've heard a lot of we got to stop Trump. I've not allowed her to like B, C, D, E, F, G, right?
HINOJOSA: I will say --
URBAN: Xochitl is smart, so she may have.
HINOJOSA: -- my home state of Texas where my sister is running for governor, I will say in that state generally, Talarico isn't really talking about Trump. Talarico is talking about Ken Paxton.
There are states -- in states where they're deeply red states or purple states, the topic isn't Trump. The topic is what is this candidate doing to help people?
I will say Donald Trump, his party does not want him to talk about this construction project. But Donald Trump wants to. Donald, he's obsessed with it. It's in his bones. He wants to be the very --
URBAN: He's a builder.
HINOJOSA: He's a builder.
WILLIAMS: He's president of the United States.
HINOJOSA: And I keep on going back to, is the president trying to sabotage the Republican party ahead of the midterms? He will not talk about cost of living, but he will talk about everything else. He'll be on Truth Social shortly, you know, talking about the Supreme
Court bashing some people but when it goes to having a speech on the economy, the man does not have the discipline. And that I think is just problematic for the Republican Party and will continue to be.
URBAN: But even interesting let's acknowledge when things are going well and the administration for the economy when things are going great like Trump didn't want to talk about policy doesn't want to talk about the economy wants to talk about different things and that's always been a problem for the president messaging for Republicans
HUNT: Yeah. We're out of time but -- I mean, the president did say as recently as this month the people that are opposing the ballroom people that, in my opinion, are very disloyal to our country. So, if you're interested in the stakes, okay, that's how high it is for the president.
All right, coming up next here, Rahm Emanuel will join us live in THE ARENA to talk about the midterm elections.
And later, we're going to take you live to Nepal, nearly a week after flash flooding devastated communities there. We're going to show you the rescue efforts that are happening above and below ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there are about 45 to 50 people inside the powerhouse.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: That many, 45 to 50?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, because they are the working team inside the powerhouse.
COOPER: And they were here when the flood came.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the flood hit this area, they're inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:37:14]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: I think probably 99 percent of the backlash to data centers has come in areas where building a data center means higher utility and higher electricity for the people on the ground. If you build the data center, you should be putting power back into the grid, not taking it out. And if that is happening, I don't think the data centers are that controversial. It's when the utility bills get so much higher, that's when it's a real problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: Vice President J.D. Vance today defending President Trump's stance on A.I. data centers. It is a hot button issue really shaking up the 2026 midterms.
In a post this morning, the president praised data centers as a, quote, "golden goose", arguing that communities that reject them will, quote, "end up being backwards and poor". "If they want to be successful and rich with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let data reign," Trump wrote, before adding that, quote, "China could not be happier with this anti-data center movement."
Joining us now in THE ARENA, former Ambassador Rahm Emanuel. He is former mayor of Chicago, former Obama White House chief of staff, former chair of the DCCC, which I will ad lib onto there.
I always never know how to introduce you. Rahm, it's great to see you here in person.
RAHM EMANUEL, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Yeah. Thank you.
HUNT: Let's talk about data centers and A.I., because this issue has really exploded in a way that is fairly unusual, although anyone that, if you're a homeowner -- I mean, most Americans will tell you this has been bubbling in their community for a long time, and it's now exploded on the national stage.
What do you make of the way the president and the Vice President, in their defense of them, are handling this issue, and are they on the wrong side of history with it?
EMANUEL: Yeah. Well, a couple things. One, if you're worried about the golden goose that's going to blow it, it's the President's corruption. Corruption is antithetical capitalism. You can't have the two go together. Number two, for a President of the United States that's literally proposed 40 percent cuts in the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, that too will destroy the golden goose.
Now, as it relates to data centers: A, every data center going forward should have a community benefit agreement, at the core of it, a bill of rights for the rate payers.
Number two, if you want it to be for a kind of pause, you're going to say, OK, what are we going to use the time? Not whether you're for or against a pause.
One is, are we going to pass, finally, permitting reform to do what we need to do to moderate the system? Two, are we going to train the 500,000 electricians we need to do? Three, are we going to add 50 gigawatts to the energy system? Four, are we going to modernize our transmission system, which the hyper-scalers should pay for, and get about $100 billion and 30 percent more efficiency out of it so the ratepayers don't have to pay that?
To me, we're actually missing the debate. And the President of the United States, as it relates to this position and his take, I'm going to payers don't have to pay that. To me, we're actually missing the debate. And the President of the United States, as it relates to this position and his take, I'm going to give him a couple bucks just to make sure everybody knows his position, because he's on the wrong side politically and he's showing no leadership to actually resolve the issue.
HUNT: I really -- I mean, I appreciate very much sort of your deep knowledge of all the various issues here. I think the question that I have is whether this for Americans is really about all those things you just outlined about what J.D. Vance said, like this is about electricity, or is it really about how people feel about A.I. and A.I. in their lives?
EMANUEL: I would say the short rabbinical answer is yes and no. So, what I would say, there is a sense at the deeper level, at the current that's underneath the surface, a sense of loss of control, and more importantly, a loss of control that they're not going to give up to a bunch of tech titans who don't have their interest.
Whether that's having 16-year-olds accessing or younger social media. Meta has lost three for three. And there is a sense also of A.I. You have a bunch of guys not only going to make more money, but going to control your wives in a way that you lost control.
Now, at the other level, there is two things. There is this competitiveness with China, but there's also a sense that nobody's watching. The fox is watching the hen house here.
And you need a government, and more importantly, a president says, okay, this is a different technology, it's not electricity. Electricity required us to improve it this is a technology that self- improves and gains control, and the smart guys have lost control of it.
So, you need the government to step in, which the president has refused to do, to give the public a sense that somebody, an adult that has their hand on the tail, steering this in the interest of the country, not in the interest of five or six guys who are making all the money and making all the investments and control the technology, that, yes, will control your life.
HUNT: Are you in the camp on A.I. that --
EMANUEL: No.
HUNT: Do you think it's something that potentially benefits humanity? Or are you in the camp of, hey, we're probably destroying ourselves?
EMANUEL: Well, I actually think there isn't this binary. It is both going to -- it's going to be a double-edged sword. There will be things -- and I can tell you this directly personally. I was starting to have-- my brother talked about this. I went on A.I. to check something because I -- you know, we were just talking about I love fly fishing. I was getting cold sweats. Why? Because I was allergic to the protein on the fish. And I did it with Dr. Claude and his assistant.
HUNT: OK.
EMANUEL: Google. Didn't get it from a medical program. I got lots of blood tests. So, it's going to find out that it's going to save lives. It's going to actually be a tool. But it will be also destructive.
So, I don't think it's an either/or. I think it will be both. And that's why you need an authority, an advisory board that is making real decisions in real time equal to the pace of the technological change that actually looks out for the national interest.
I'm for a tax on these tokens that go back to investing directly in the people and giving them the revenue they need to make both the educational investments they need for themselves for their own children to deal with this. That's just a piece of it. I don't think you should have the technology come onto the market that hasn't been reviewed by the government to make sure it's in our national interest.
So, one of the things we were talking about earlier on the program is the Senate race in Michigan. And I would say just one of the features generally of our politics is how angry people are at politicians, at the establishment. And you certainly saw that in the elections of Donald Trump, but you're also seeing that with progressives on the left.
And Hasan Piker has become a flashpoint in this race because he, of course, with El Sayed. Now, back in March, "Politico" asked a whole bunch of people who were thinking about running in 2028, you among them, whether they'd go on with Piker. You said yes. Would you still say yes today and why?
EMANUEL: So, I can give him a two by four upside his head because of what he said. You have an attorney general in Michigan that cannot show up at their own party because she's Jewish and fears for her safety. You know, even paranoid people have enemies. Okay? You have two percent of the population is Jewish and 75 percent of all hate crimes are directed at Jews, religious hate crimes.
Now, if this was any other constituency, the party would deal with this. But everybody seems to be like, oh, this is okay, whatever. You also have a person who thinks 9/11 is okay.
It's not okay. America didn't invite this. America has its problems, but it didn't invite this and it's not right.
And so, yeah, I'd go on because I think I give him a lesson in what he is perpetuating and the advocacy and the rhetoric of what he's doing. He needs to be challenged on it. And anybody associated with that rhetoric needs to disassociated with them, because if it was any other group in America, any other group, people would be worked up and in tizzy appropriately.
And in a period of time of not just rising anti-Semitism, also divisiveness in America, you have a person, and if I can't say it about him, you clearly can't attack people who go around chanting, "The Jews will not replace us," and have a president of the United States saying, there are good people on both sides.
[16:45:11]
So, when it comes to this, I'm equal opportunity jerk, I'm unacceptable to it. And what he said the other day, I think I'm glad he said it, Piker, because it's out front that somehow that we invited the violence against ourselves.
So, to me --
HUNT: We need to note he has just disavowed those comments that they were taken out of context.
EMANUEL: Well, my view -- well, how about his 9/11 comments?
HUNT: Those comments are the ones I meant.
EMANUEL: Yeah, OK. So, my point is we need to deal with this out front. I'm not just going to condemn the rhetoric. Put it out front, 75 percent of all religious hate crimes are directed at one religious faith in a country built on religious freedom. Any other group, appropriately, you are looking at a person, the first Jewish mayor of Chicago, who held Ramadan dinners every year.
When I was ambassador, I did it at the embassy residence, because that's how you build bonds of humanity. But everybody seems to get tongue-tied when it comes to anti-Semitism, and that to me is unacceptable.
HUNT: Do you think that Jewish Americans are starting to feel not at home in the Democratic Party?
EMANUEL: I think Jewish -- let me say, as I said in Israel, and I'll say this, Jewish Americans are -- it's not about in the Democratic Party. Given what Tucker Carlson is saying and given what others are saying --
HUNT: Well, you brought up what happened at the convention in Michigan --
EMANUEL: Yeah. Well, I'm saying it's a larger issue. Given what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, and people chanting "Jews will not replace us". It's not a Democratic Party problem. That's a convenient political -- I know I'm on a political show. That's a convenient political way of just kind of boxing it.
There is a larger thread when you have Governor Shapiro, whose house where he lives --
HUNT: Yeah, Pennsylvania governor.
EMANUEL: -- the Tree of Life synagogue, when Amy and I were overseas in Japan, somebody spray printed Nazi insignia on our home. You have Colorado, you have here in D.C. at the embassy, how many more
examples would you like me to give across the board? So, it's not a party problem. This is a problem where you have 75 percent, according to the FBI, all religious-based violence is based to two percent of the population. And if you segregate it as somehow this is political or partisan, you're actually allowing it a pass.
It should be dealt with, and I will then say one thing, in the district I ran in as the mayor I ran, Jewish community is only two percent. People will judge you on your character and your faith.
My faith is not your problem. The fact that Americans have lost faith in America, that's our problem. That's what we should work on.
HUNT: All right. Rahm Emanuel, always grateful to have you, sir.
EMANUEL: Thanks.
HUNT: Thank you very much for being here.
Ahead here in THE ARENA, we're going to take you live to Nepal, where the death toll continues to climb, nearly a week after flash floods upended thousands of lives within minutes.
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[16:52:28]
HUNT: All right, welcome back.
In Nepal, rescue crews and specialists are racing to find survivors trapped inside hydropower tunnels. More than 900 workers remain missing after thick mud buried the facilities during last week's devastating flash floods. And according to Nepali and Chinese authorities, the death toll has risen. At least 955 people were killed in the disaster. Nepal has established mass burial sites for hundreds of unidentified victims. And just under 4,500 people are registered as missing.
CNN's Will Ripley is in Nepal for us.
Will, thank you so much for being with us. It has been several days since the floods. How hopeful are people that survivors might still be found?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So the hope is fading somewhat, given that we've now passed the 72-hour window where if somebody was trapped in a collapsed building or if they're somewhere without access to food or water, it would become increasingly difficult for them to survive.
There is some hope that there might be survivors who found a way somewhere out in the remote areas that haven't been accessed yet, found a way to survive, and just haven't been able to contact their loved ones yet, and I think for the thousands and thousands of missing people, that is something that they're holding on to right now. They're also holding on to stories like the one that I'm about to tell
you about six-year-old Manisha, whose parents thought that she was dead when the floodwaters destroyed their home, basically swept it downriver right in front of their eyes. Manisha was inside the house. They watched the house go away. They searched for 2-1/2 days for her body, thinking that they had lost their daughter, they mourned their daughter, they grieved her.
But then there was this extraordinary rescue and we have video of it where there were people searching far downstream from where her house was. And they heard what a very faint cry that they thought was the sound of a cat. But when they started digging into the building, they realized that it was in fact this six-year-old girl Manisha and that she was alive.
And her parents gave their first interview to us here in Kathmandu where Manisha is being treated at a Children's Hospital, they said she asked them, why they didn't come get her. They said she was calling while she was there in that building asking, calling for her mom, calling for her dad.
They're now reunited. She's in the hospital. I got a chance to meet with her. She's covered in bruises on her face, but she's doing okay. Even asking her parents for a cell phone so she can play video. But of course, both of the parents' cell phones were also washed away, so they have no way to give that to her right now.
But I just wanted to play you a portion of the interview with Manisha's father, Loke (ph), when I asked him about that rescue video and what he thought about it when he watched it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Her face wasn't recognizable as there were multiple wounds. Her condition was serious. wounds and blood all over. After seeing the video of her, I could confirm it was my daughter. She was on oxygen in Dhunche Medical. She was being kept like that on the day.
RIPLEY: What is it like as a father to look at a video like that and see your daughter in that condition?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Now in that. She's my child. That's it. That's all I have to say. I just can't speak.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: Obviously, incredibly painful for him because he was with her. Their mom was already at work when the flood hit, and he was blaming himself, thinking that he was somehow responsible for stepping outside of the vegetable garden when the flood hit and washed their home away.
But now the family's back together and even though they have lost all of their possessions and of course lost their house don't know where they will rebuild they are very much aware that they are some of the luckiest ones here in Nepal considering how many others have been killed or are missing with no idea, no closure on the part of their remaining loved ones as to if or when their bodies will ever be found.
HUNT: One story of hope there amid so much tragedy.
Will Ripley, for us, in Nepal -- Will, thank you very much.
All right. We'll be right back.
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HUNT: Thanks so much, my panel. Really appreciate all of you being here today.
Thanks to all of you for joining us as well.
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