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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Biden Congratulates Trump, Promises Smooth Transition; Trump Prepares To Retake Power, Carry Out Campaign Promises; Fed Cuts Interest Rates By A Quarter Point; Mountain Wildfire Near L.A. Has Destroyed Dozens Of Homes. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired November 07, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: -- trying to entice them with as far as food.
[16:00:03]
Banana is the easy answer.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Bananas, yeah.
SANCHEZ: But I don't know.
KEILAR: Any kind of fruit I would think. Maybe some --
SANCHEZ: Popeyes chicken sandwich, spicy chicken sandwich?
KEILAR: That is always a good bet, right? Maybe --
SANCHEZ: It's going to be my -- my afternoon meal.
I'm sad that we didn't talk about Raygun, friend of the show, parasocial friend of the show. I don't know if she knows that we exist.
KEILAR: You could be attracting the monkeys with some breaking.
SANCHEZ: The Australian break dancer is retiring from break dancing, we didn't talk about it today. What a travesty.
THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Election Day has come and gone. Time for a new countdown. How about this? Only 74 days until the new president takes office.
THE LEAD starts right now.
President-elect Donald Trump putting the pieces in place for his second term as allies around him float names of who could be in the next Trump administration.
Plus, the sitting President Joe Biden, his first big moment since the election what he told Trump on the phone, while angry Democrats blame Biden for not stepping aside sooner. And breaking news, a life-threatening fire in California at one point burning through the size of a football field every seconds. We're live in the danger zone as the danger zone expands and evacuation orders are issued.
(MUSIC)
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
Election Day is in the past, the rearview mirror. Inauguration Day is just over two months from now.
Today, President Biden promising a peaceful transition of power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I assured him that I direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That's what the American people deserve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Meanwhile, President-elect Trump already is making moves for his defiant return to the White House and arguably the biggest political comeback in American history.
Sources tell CNN that Trump could start announcing new staff picks within days, as Trump allies already are vying for high-powered spots in the new administration. We will talk to one of those possible cabinet secretaries coming up.
So what might Trump's second presidency look like? Well, here are some of the promises he made during his campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got to have the largest mass deportation effort in history.
We're going to put the tariffs on your products coming in from China.
My plan will massively cut taxes for workers and small businesses and we will have no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security benefits for our seniors.
We're going to take care of Israel and they know that.
Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we win the presidency, we -- we win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine totally settled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Those are just some of Trump's intentions for his second term in office. Let's go to CNN's Kristen Holmes in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Kristen, what's the latest reporting on Trump's transition back to the White House?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake. I mean, talking about all these promises that he made, there is a lot there that he's going to have to get through and he met with his transition team both today and yesterday, in addition to having several conversations with them over the past several days, talking about what they can get done and how quickly.
That means drafting executive orders. That means what actually has to go through Congress and what doesn't have to go through Congress. What can they actually do on day one? We talk about what this White House is going to look like. One of the most important roles that has been in discussion has been Trump's chief of staff.
This is going to be his right hand. We have some new reporting on that. As we have been saying, Susie Wiles, the co-campaign manager is likely the front runner for that position. That's what we are told at this time, and my colleague Steve Contorno is learning from a source close to Wiles that she is up for this job, that she is interested in taking the chief of staff job but not without some conditions. In fact, this source told Steve that the clown car can't come at will to the White House. That was one of the conditions that Susie Wiles had.
Now, just to keep in mind here, Wiles, one of her main jobs on the campaign trail was knowing that she couldn't control her candidate, but trying to control everything around him. And that meant trying to keep people certain specific people who were controversial who could cause problems for the former president as far away from him as possible. She wasn't always successful but now she is saying that that would be something that would be very important for her to have control over if she was to be chief of staff.
One other interesting thing about Wiles is she's really creating an army across the Republican Party on all spectrums. Earlier today, Kevin McCarthy, former speaker of the House, somebody who had been considered to possibly be chief of staff, said he didn't want it, that Susie Wiles should do it. Charlie Kirk, pretty much on the opposite side of Kevin McCarthy, also endorsing Susie Wiles for this job. So it certainly looks as though she could be front runner and she could be given this job as they move forward which would be critical for not only the transition but obviously for the administration.
[16:05:01]
TAPPER: And, Kristen, President-elect Trump made a lot of promises on the campaign trail about his agenda. What -- what is his main priority for his first day in office?
HOLMES: Well, that's really what the conversations about -- are happening right now. I mean, he believes that because he won the popular vote in particular, that he has a mandate to act on some of the policies that he talked about. In particular, he is hyper-focused on immigration. One of the things that we reported on coming into this election was the fact that Donald Trump even though his advisers told him the economy was the most important issue, continued to believe that immigration was the most important issue and he is still focused on that today.
He has been having conversations with these transition team members about how exactly and what exactly he can do in terms of the mass deportations, of the building of the wall, of implementing some of the things that he promised, banning sanctuary cities on day one, with just executive orders, and not having to necessarily go through Congress, although, of course, as we know Senate is going to be in control of by Donald Trump or by the Republicans, so likely there filled with allies of Donald Trump's and the House is likely to be Republican as well, meaning that Donald Trump might not have to worry if things do have to go through Congress and go through it quickly.
TAPPER: All right. Kristen Holmes in West Palm Beach covering President-elect Trump's transition, thanks so much.
Trump's second term may be one with fewer guard rails now that there are few political or legal restraints to keep him in check. During his campaign, Trump vowed to go after his political rivals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: For those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution. I am your retribution.
I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Let's bring in some folks closely watching what might -- what might come next.
Sara Murray, let me start with you. So I don't know who's going to be on this enemy's list, and who he might seek retribution against. But what methods will he have at his disposal?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think obviously one of the big concerns is that revenge is going to be an animating factor early in this administration. I think it can look a lot of different ways. One of the ways is, you know, they basically wipe out people they feel like won't be loyal to them at the Department of Justice, at intelligence agencies. You know, at the kind --
TAPPER: You mean firing them.
MURRAY: Firing people, yes.
TAPPER: I just want to be clear.
MURRAY: Yeah, firing people.
TAPPER: You said wiping them out. I just want to make sure we're clear.
MURRAY: Yeah, people that they perceive to be part of the deep state.
TAPPER: Yes, yes.
MURRAY: Trump's agenda, I mean, I think the other option is what Donald Trump has talked about publicly which is a special counsel that's designed to look into his political enemies, whether that's the Biden family, whether that's the Clinton family, whether that's prosecutors who have prosecuted Donald Trump.
And then I think the other option is leaning on his political allies in Congress to be able to sort of make life hell essentially for the people who have investigated him. And we've seen a little bit of that already from Jim Jordan and his, quote/unquote, weaponization of government committee while Joe Biden has been the president of the United States, but they have a basically a variety of options at their disposal when Donald Trump comes into the White House if they decide what they want to spend a lot of their time on is revenge.
TAPPER: So, Manu, let's talk about Trump's allies in Congress who are the key figures that are going to help him with his agenda whether it's retribution or securing the border and on and on.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, one of those, assuming the Republicans keep the House, we have not called that yet. Republicans certainly on track too at the moment, there are still racing outstanding Democrats but there's still a narrow path to flip the House. We'll see how that ultimately plays out.
But assuming he stays in GOP control, one of those, Speaker Mike Johnson himself, in fact, I asked him last week if he would dissuade Donald Trump from seeking retribution against his political enemies. He said Trump's not going to do that, don't worry about it Trump's not going to do that. So we'll see if Johnson is ultimately right or if Trump carries out with his promise.
But there's also others as well, the number two, who's expect wants to be the number two still, Steve Scalise, will implement the agenda on the House floor. Also, Tom Emmer, the Republican whip, who is wants to be Republican whip again.
This -- that's going to be a key position because if they do have a majority, it's going to be another narrow Republican majority which means they had to keep their members in line to get bills through along party lines and then there is the Senate and there's a whole leadership scramble right now in the Senate. There's a leadership election on Wednesday to succeed Mitch McConnell. That person will be essential especially the early part of the administration to get Donald Trump's cabinet confirmed, secretaries confirmed, and move along his agenda. Two of those who are the leading contenders John Thune, the number two Republican, John Cornyn, the former number two Republican.
They have not always been in line with Trump. Cornyn was the Republican whip under Trump in his first two years, helped him with some of his agenda. Thune has been supported Tim Scott for the presidency, initially, ultimately they've been trying to bolster their ties with Trump. Rick Scott who's more the long-shot candidate says that he is the true Trump candidate. So we'll see how the senators ultimately decide when they vote next.
TAPPER: Yeah. When I asked Rick Scott about it, he pointed out that Trump had backed him when he challenged Mitch McConnell which was not a successful effort.
What do you think, Machalagh, what do you think Trump has a mandate to do?
[16:10:02]
Obviously, he has a mandate. It was a sweeping -- sweeping victory. I don't know that everybody who was voting for him was voting for him to initiate this era of retribution against his political enemies. I think it's fair to say that most people were thinking about other things like bread and butter issues and the -- and the border. What do you think he has a mandate to do?
MACHALAGH CARR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, SPEAKER MCCARTHY: I think you're exactly right. I think that's what we should be talking about, and I think Trump made it clear when on election night that it was time to kind of end the divisiveness. That's what he said.
But I think when we look at the mandate, they look at the numbers, the sheer numbers it is going to be do what you said you're going to do which is let's focus on the economy, let's focus on getting some of these ridiculous regulations peel back, so that we can have a prosperous economy, let's focus on the 2025 extenders that are going to expire for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act so we can have a pro-growth agenda and let's focus on immigration.
We have a really good road map from when he was first in office in 2016 to get those executive orders back in place but I think more than that he's going to want to actually implement law so that whichever if -- if he doesn't have a Republican successor to office, they can't just undo what he had successfully done and lead us to an additional open border era.
TAPPER: So, Maria, let me -- let me ask you because obviously this mass deportation looms large, people wondering how serious is this going to be, how big is this going to be. You ask -- when I ask Republicans about what does this mean, and immediately they start talking about the one, you know, the people who are in this country legally who are criminals, who are violent criminals, and my response is, of course, get them out. I -- who cares? Nobody wants them in this country anyway.
The question though is what about the other 20 million?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah.
TAPPER: Right? I mean, and the ones who are married to American citizens, the ones who are children? CARDONA: Dreamers.
TAPPER: And then you -- then do you know what Republicans say? Well, Donald Trump has a mandate to do that and the Latino vote moved towards Republicans.
CARDONA: Yes, and I'm so glad you brought that up because if you look at where Latinos are, there was slippage among support for the vice president and for Democrats, no question but if you look at the actual exit polls and there's going to be a briefing of the Latino organizations who did a 3,000 exit poll for -- of Latino voters across the battleground states, Latino men actually did give the majority of their support to Kamala Harris.
Slippage in support, no question, and there's going to be a lot of recrimination and inward looking and analysis as to why that happened. We have to do that. But the majority of Latinos that we spoke to voted for Trump on the economic issues. They don't believe that he's going to embark on this mass deportation, which is very worrisome because that is exactly what he said he was going to do.
It was the first tweet that his campaign press secretary put out when it was clear that he was going to win. It said he is going to embark on mass deportation on day one.
TAPPER: Uh-huh.
CARDONA: That means massively separating families, tragic images of kids who are U.S. citizen, children, by the way, who are going to be separated from their mothers and fathers. I hope it doesn't happen, but if that happens, there will be a huge backlash in this country the way that there was in when he embarked on it the first time.
TAPPER: Yeah.
CARR: I just think that the hyperbole and the fearmongering if we should learn anything from this election is that that should stop, right? You're already painting a picture of like these devastation when what we're talking about --
CARDONA: But he said it.
CARR: No, he did not say that he was going to separate -- he absolutely did not say that he was going to separate children and take parents, he didn't say any of that.
CARDONA: But you know what?
CARR: And so like how about look at exactly what Jake said, which is exactly what he has said he is going to do is start with deporting the people that are here illegally with criminal records, full stop.
CARDONA: OK, if you're going to --
CARR: And then let's move forward. CARDONA: If the administration is going to embark on mass deportation, it means deporting the 12 to 20 million that they believe are here. That means separating families, Machalagh.
CARR: Well, the good news is there are so many millions and millions and millions of illegal immigrants who have come in this country who are have criminal records that have been coming in under the Biden- Harris administration that it's going to take us a long time to catch up. So why don't we just start with what he has said?
TAPPER: I --
CARDONA: Well, good luck with that. There will be families separated if in fact that's what he's going to do.
TAPPER: I think -- I think the issue and I think you both would agree with this is we don't know. They haven't laid out any sort of detailed plan.
CARDONA: Exactly.
TAPPER: And so if it's all 20 million or whatever the number is because we don't even know.
CARDONA: Right.
TAPPER: Then that would mean that because there would be undocumented immigrants who are parents of legal kids.
CARDONA: That's right.
TAPPER: But if it doesn't mean that then it won't and there hasn't been any comprehensive description of what is.
CARDONA: I hope you're right, by the way. I am -- I am willing to have an open mind and to not have that be a tragic imposition on the community and on Americans because there will be a backlash.
TAPPER: I look forward to getting the details from the Trump -- President Trump transition team.
Thanks one and all for being here.
Then there's the other side of what was the race and so many questions today at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Does the president have any regrets about when he chose to leave the race? Does President Biden believe he could have won if he stayed in this race?
REPORTER: Does the president have worries about what the country and what this office will look like after January 20th?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Be their focus in the upcoming remaining days you heard --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Poor Karine Jean-Pierre, they're not paying her enough. What was answered, what we're hearing from the president himself. That's next.
Plus, the specific type of voter who repeatedly sided with Trump on their ballot over Harris.
[16:15:01]
Why is that? We'll get into the attraction for that one specific demographic, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: In our politics lead, as we parse out the election results, one thing is becoming clear, men -- men were key to Donald Trump's electoral success. He won a majority of them over 30, nearly half younger than that. It was the largest gap among men between presidential candidates in nearly 40 years, since 1988, more men voted, the biggest chasm when it comes to men voting.
Here to help us understand it and what this means in the moment, CNN's Elle Reed and Peter Hamby, host of "Good Luck America" at Snapchat and a writer for "Puck".
Peter, what do you think is the reason Trump did so much better with men than any other candidate in decades.
PETER HAMBY, HOST, SNAPCHAT'S "GOOD LUCK AMERICA": There are so many reasons for that, a lot of people I feel like in the Democratic Party right now Jake are sort of on safari and talking about how do we win back Joe Rogan voters.
I traveled the country for all of October on college campuses talking to young men, there were a lot of reasons. A lot of them were scared of global conflict, a lot of them were talking about masculinity, some people talked about how it'd be hard to get a job these days.
[16:20:05]
The economy came up over and over and over and over again, even among Kamala Harris supporters and that came up among people of all races and all genders, by the way.
This goes back though years. Remember, Trump was president before and was making appeals to men, but it just became clear as I was listening to voters that that they just weren't listening to Democrats. There wasn't a lot to say.
Democrats can go into media spaces that are masculine, the manosphere, but unless they're not -- if they're -- if they're not saying anything salient to those young men, they're not going to win them. Kamala Harris got so many views on TikTok, but what was she saying in those TikToks. I mean that seems to be a big dynamic at least that I noticed.
TAPPER: Elle, you've done a lot of reporting talking to men, specifically many men who feel angry and isolated, often forgotten in today's society. How -- how is success -- how is Trump successful at reaching them?
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for one thing he went on all those podcasts. These guys have a really deep emotional bond to someone like Joe Rogan who they listen to for three hours a day. And voters have been saying for a decade now, Trump doesn't talk like a politician and I feel like we haven't really taken the lesson from that. He seems natural and he's informal and he can go on Theo Von and talk about what it feels like to do cocaine or at least ask about what it's like to do cocaine.
And -- and they relate to that, or is they think the Democrats are just repeating like a rigid ideology that they haven't thought through. They see the left, which they would consider CNN a part of, of course, we don't see it that way, right?
TAPPER: Uh-huh.
REEVE: But as having this rigid repetition of ideology that they haven't thought through.
TAPPER: Peter, I want to play this ad which I just honestly can't get over this. This is an ad made by Harris supporter in which I thought it was a joke, I thought it was a Republican making fun of what a Democrat would think avatars of masculinity are, but no, he was sincere, take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm man enough to support women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man enough to know what kind of donuts I like.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man enough to admit I'm lost even when I refuse to ask for directions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man enough to not ban young women from reading little women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or one of those pants books that the sisters like.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm man enough to raw dog a flight. It sucked, not worth it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I mean, again, I still at this moment can't believe that that was done sincerely thinking that any man would see those as avatars of masculinity. You've seen this I assume, Peter.
HAMBY: Yeah, I look I looked that up, Jake, I think it might have even been made by a comedian out here in L.A. But I it did go viral as an earnest example. By the way, the reason that it's so believable as an example of how this current version of the Democratic Party would communicate to men is because it doesn't seem implausible that some Democratic super PAC trying to reach out to men would make that.
I went on Dana's show a few months ago and pointed out you know Tim Walz was going around the country right after he was picked, presenting a joyous version of masculinity. That kind of masculinity appeals to men who already wear futurist female t-shirts. They're not bringing in I think the kind of men that l is talking about who have spent years listening to podcast are very removed by the way from the conventional media ecosystem.
And so, you know, this feels like 2004 all over again, Jake. We live through that. Democrats have to go out into the country. Remember NASCAR dads and Howard Dean talking about putting bumper stickers on pickup trucks. I mean, it kind of feels like Democrats are going to have to go through that reckoning again because the gender gap this time for the first time in many cycles did not favor Democrats. It favored Republicans because Donald Trump moved men in his direction more than Kamala Harris was able to move women in her direction, compared to Biden's 2020 margins.
TAPPER: And, Elle, talk about the social and economic forces of play here, because obviously there have been huge shifts in education, more women earn college degrees than men now, and obviously there's also been a backlash to efforts for diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI, pushes in business.
REEVE: Right, like Elon Musk didn't invent this phrase woke mind virus. That is just the trickling up of ideas that have been on 4chan for a really long time, that women, especially go to college and they just are indoctrinated with these ideas. Whereas these guys, you're Joe Rogan's or whoever, they are without ideology. They think they're the ones who see clearly and they're speaking the truth and the whole world's gone crazy and they see Donald Trump as someone who will cut through that, who won't be cowed by scolding women who say he should be more respectful of say trans people.
TAPPER: Elle Reeve and Peter Hamby, thanks to both you. Really appreciate it.
President Biden addressed the nation from the Rose Garden earlier today.
[16:25:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable. The America of your dreams is calling for you to get back up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Biden's speech comes as he, Vice President Harris and the campaign face many tough questions about what Donald Trump's decisive victory means for the future of the Democratic Party.
Joining us now to discuss, CNN's MJ Lee and Jeff Zeleny as well as "Reuter's" White House correspondent Jeff Mason.
And, MJ, you're hearing from some angry Democrats these days. What are you hearing?
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, certainly and understandably, there a lot of second guessing of the Harris campaign strategy, you know, did they focus on certain issues too much, not enough on the economy did she do enough to shore up support among working class voters.
I haven't though picked up on anger being directed at Kamala Harris. I think the general sense is that she really did her best and her team did her best with the weird truncated 107-day campaign that she had to run.
There is a lot of anger though being directed at President Biden and I think the sort of big "what if" question that is going to be haunting Democrats for the years to come is what if Joe Biden had dropped out of the race years ago, not even sought a second term and actually kept the promise that he initially made of being a transition and a bridge president which was what he said when he was running back in 2020.
And you know, Jake, as you know, Democrats had a lot of concerns even pre the CNN debate about his health and his age and I think what I'm picking up on is the thing that is really fueling the anger at Joe Biden right now is this idea that whenever those concerns were raised, the president himself and the advisers close to him just found it so intolerable to have that decision be questioned.
And if I could, you know, CNN did a big story back in July I think Jeff Zeleny and I were both by lines on this story about Democrats and their wide- ranging concerns about the president's health. And in that story, I remember talking to a senior Democrat who said everyone's aware of the concerns and they said everyone who expresses any level of suspicion or contrary views, they, being Biden's inner circle, call everyone and they beat the shit out of them and say, stay on message.
So that's just like the kind of reporting I've been thinking back on a lot this week as Democrats are telling me they just feel like they didn't get their best shot at trying to defeat Donald Trump because of the president's ego.
TAPPER: Jeff Mason, you were at the speech today, President Biden's speech. What can we glean from that speech about how he is trying to salvage his legacy?
JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: Well, he's trying to set an example. He's trying to show that even though he wasn't extended the courtesy of an invitation to the White House in the Oval Office when he won four years ago, that he's going to extend that and has extended that to President-elect Donald Trump. That will be a piece of his legacy, that he's trying to hold up these institutions and these norms that he sold himself as a defender of four years ago and that he will try to solidify as he's going out.
But MJ is spot on. This will also be a huge part of his legacy now, and the anger with and Democrats at both the president and his inner circle who one Democratic official told me yesterday had committed malpractice is real.
TAPPER: And, Jeff Zeleny, what about the Harris campaign. It's only been a couple days uh so they're probably just waking up now, and nursing their hangovers and the like, but do they see areas where they -- they did things they could have done things better.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I mean, this is a bigger problem than the seven battleground states. Look at the vast swaths of the country that moved rightward.
So, a couple different questions here. I mean, in these battleground states, it actually was fairly close. I mean, it was just -- in Wisconsin, 29,000 votes the other way, 0.9 percent. So in those areas, they think they maybe could have done better by perhaps not focusing so much on abortion rights. There is a sense that in the suburbs, there was too much of an overreliance that abortion rights was sort of a metaphor for freedom which was really going to drive out a turnout.
And the Liz Cheney campaigning a sense that the democracy was really going to win over some suburban women rather than talking about the economy.
But the bottom line of all of this obviously the vice president is limited to how she could separate herself from President Biden, but even in those limits, she just didn't do it. But it was that one answer to the question on the view where she said that, you know, she can't think of anything she would change.
That became an ad that was played again and again and again. Speaking of ads, in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, the ads the Democrats decided to not push back on, the biggest cultural issue probably in advertising this campaign the trans issue. That was something that the Democrats just could not get their minds around, how it could move votes. That's something that a couple Democrats believe they should have pushed back harder in paid television.
But, look, the bottom line of all of this is, in these battlegrounds, it was kind of a door by door thing. But this is a bigger problem. Look at the map, when you see the rightward shift here.
TAPPER: Yeah.
ZELENY: A big part of it is how the country gets its information, that is a large part of it there's disinformation, there's misinformation and Democrats are behind the ball here in terms of communicating, and that's their burden as well. And this -- that is a large part of it there's disinformation there's misinformation and Democrats are behind the ball here in terms of communicating.
[16:30:08] And that's their burden as well and this reminds me a lot of right after 2012, when Republicans were saying, oh, we have to do an autopsy, Democrats will do one but it'll take a deep one.
TAPPER: After 2012, people were saying, oh, Republicans are never going to have the White House again. I mean --
ZELENY: And here we are.
TAPPER: Yeah.
ZELENY: We've been through a few of these.
TAPPER: Yeah, I've been through -- yeah, exactly.
Round robin, one word, when it comes to your sources in Biden world, what one word best describes their mood.
MASON: Depressed.
LEE: Despondent.
ZELENY: Demoralized.
TAPPER: Nice.
MASON: Get a literation team.
TAPPER: Depressed, despondent, and demoralized.
All right. Thanks. The Jeffs and MJ, thanks to all of you.
Already at least one high-profile name saying just moments ago he plans to stay on as Trump takes office but does the incoming president share that sentiment?
Plus, the big interest rate drop today. How this fits in with the economy Trump is going to inherit. Trump's former secretary of the treasury, Steve Mnuchin, is here and I'm going to talk to him about what comes next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:35:00]
TAPPER: In our money lead, the Federal Reserve just cut interest rates by a quarter point. This is the second rate cuts in September intended to lower the high cost of loans such as credit card and mortgages. President-elect Donald Trump has been promising that interest rates will come down on his watch even though rates are set by the politically independent Federal Reserve.
We're learning that Trump is likely to allow Fed Chair Jerome Powell to serve out the rest of his term through May 2026.
Listen to what Powell says would happen if Trump were to change his mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Some of the president's elect's advisers have suggested that you should resign. If he asked you to leave, would you go?
JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Okay. With us now, former Trump Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
Steve, good to see you. Congratulations.
Do you think Trump could try to pressure, influence the Fed share to make decisions either publicly or privately?
STEVE MNUCHIN, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Well, I know President Trump wants interest rates to come down. He's been very clear on that and I think the good news is Chair Powell is lowering rates. They did it today. I guess they're on a path to quickly lower rates to 3 percent and that will help the economy, and I think President Trump is really focused on his economic plan and clearly he had overwhelming votes because give his great success in the first term on the economy and I expect he'll repeat that again.
TAPPER: You worked very closely with Trump in his first term for people who don't remember you survived the entire four years, you were there at the very beginning and the very end and you left on good terms with the -- with the president, and I assume you're still on good terms with him.
What is happening behind the scenes right now as President-elect Trump considers matters such as whether to leave Powell in place? Who else is he considering for other big administration roles when it comes to the economy?
MNUCHIN: Well, let me just say it was a great honor to serve President Trump in the first term and I'm -- I'm really proud of all the work we did together both the tax cuts, all the sanctions, that we put on, Iran, make sure they didn't do anything and I think that this work will continue in this term. The president will have a lot of great people who want to come and work for him and I'm confident he'll put together a great economic team, not just the treasury secretary but commerce secretary, USTR and NEC, and you know, we all work well together. That was something we did very well in the first term.
TAPPER: If President-elect Trump were to ask you to serve again as treasury secretary or perhaps in a different role, economic advisor, any number of positions, would you consider it?
MNUCHIN: Well, I'm really focused on helping him on the outside. So, you know, that that -- that's really my focus. You know, I'm -- I'm proud of what we did together and I'm -- I'm happy to help him in any way I can. TAPPER: Mr. Trump's going to inherit an economy that's strong on
paper, on paper, low unemployment, high growth, falling inflation. Obviously, prices are roughly 20 percent higher now than they were when Biden took office.
How will President Trump -- President-elect Trump make day-to-day life for Americans more affordable?
MNUCHIN: Well, I think President Trump is very focused on inflation, we had very low inflation in the first term. I think his priority will be to extend the Trump tax cuts. I think he'll add in some additional cuts to that that will be pro-growth and continue to grow the economy. I think he's very focused on a trade agenda, and I think tariffs are very effective in negotiating and creating free and fair trade.
We don't have free and fair trade. So as it relates to China -- the China tariffs going up will be very effective in bringing them back to the table. They're not honoring a lot of the commitments that they made in our phase one trade agreement.
TAPPER: So beyond --
MNUCHIN: I also think cutting regulations will also help a lot in energy policy.
TAPPER: Beyond using the threat of tariffs to get China to the table, which I certainly understand when it comes to actually implementing tariffs of 60 percent or more as president like Trump has talked about, so many economists, left, right, and center argue that that's without question -- those -- those costs will be passed on to consumers and that will lead to higher inflation.
On an earnings call in September, the CEO of AutoZone said, quote, if we get tariffs, we will pass those tariff costs back to the consumer, unquote, are you not worried about these tariffs actually being implemented, not just using them to get the China to the table but being implemented and hurting all the people who just voted for President Trump.
MNUCHIN: Well, I do -- I do believe they will be implemented. They may come back to the table after they're implemented but I think they will be implemented. I think President Trump clearly understands the impact of inflation, and I think he's going to be very careful.
I mean, Ambassador Lighthizer in the first term, he granted lots of exceptions to the tariffs on things that we're going to have impact to U.S. companies.
[16:40:03]
But we did it very strategically and on things like critical technology, we should keep very high tariffs on that because we don't want their critical technology coming into the U.S.
TAPPER: Are the CEOs or anyone else in Trump's orbit telling President-elect Trump directly that using tariffs as leverage might, might, might make some things even more expensive than they are now beyond -- beyond the targeted examples that you're talking about of high technology?
MNUCHIN: Well, I'm not going to speculate on what CEOs are telling him and what they're not. But I'm -- I'm confident that the economic plan which in the first time was tax cuts trade and regulatory relief, the same playbook will work well here. And I think that we did it very effectively in the first term and I'm confident he'll do it again and we'll have a great economy.
Steve Mnuchin, thank you so much. Good to see you, sir.
Let's bring in CNN's Julia Chatterley.
Julia, your reaction what we just heard from Steve Mnuchin.
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: I think it was interesting when you were pushing him on the prospect of tariffs and Steve Mnuchin was talking about the prospect of them being strategic and targeted and that tariffs will go up.
Remember that's the antithesis of what Trump has promised he's talked about blanket tariffs on all imports of up 10 to 20 percent in China's terms, 60 to 100 percent. There's nothing strategic and targeted about that. If that's what they end up doing, that could be a very good leveraging way of bringing people to the table, perhaps negotiating them, reducing tariffs on their side, and leveling the playing field as Mnuchin mentioned there.
But these blanket tariffs that have been threatened I think do risk slowing growth and they do risk higher prices and that's what a consensus of economists are saying. I do believe he was a moderating voice for the former president or the president-elect. So it is a shame to hear him say look, I'm going to stay on the sidelines.
And I think it's ironic what he did say about for the first time and certainly not in the four years when the former president was in the White House to see the Fed chairman. He aligned -- the Fed chair is trying to cut rates. President Trump or President-elect Trump wants to see rates come down and one of the only things that could fly in the face of that is targeted immigration policy, blanket tariffs which would perhaps force the fed to slow down. So, on that point, balling the president-elect's court.
TAPPER: I want to read you a Twitter post or X post from Harvard Professor Jason Fuhrman who was the chair of the Council of Economic Advisors for President Obama. Fuhrman writes, quote, the macro economy is strong, high growth, low unemployment, falling inflation, the best of any advanced economy.
But there was reluctance -- he's talking about the media and progressive economists, there was a reluctance to present and understand how families were still not out of the deep inflation hole and too much masked by cherry-picking misleading statistics, unquote. He goes on to talk about some of the statistics that people not might not be aware of in terms of family incomes and the like. Are exit polls reflect the fact that that people failed to see the economic positives that so many progressive economists argued because of how high inflation was. What do you make of this argument?
CHATTERLEY: Look, there I think -- I think a lot of things that they could have explained better to the people. Inflation was a global phenomenon. It was a cost of living crisis basically wherever you looked in the world. It just -- wasn't just an American problem, and I think that mattered because this administration took a lot of heat for that in ways that they couldn't necessarily help.
And they let Trump browbeat them on inflation with facts and fiction all the way along. I think the other thing is they didn't talk enough about the strength of the jobs market, in particular, too. They didn't talk about the fact that growth was much stronger than just about everywhere else in the world.
But you know what they really didn't do, Jake, and it goes to that stat. They didn't reassure the public that over the next four years, they would feel richer than they did when this administration started and whether it's nostalgia or otherwise, that's how they felt about the term under President Trump.
Let me just show you because 75 percent of people in our exit polls were saying, look, we feel the same or worse than we did in terms of wealth. Now, let me just show you a chart very quickly because this shows you exactly what people were feeling and it's real. Wages went up under both President Biden and President Trump.
This is very important but look at the level of inflation which is that dark green bar. It was much higher overall under Biden. The bigger the gap between those two bars, the more money you have in the end of the day to spend on the fun things and makes your life easier and that's one of the critical differences for me.
The policies of putting food on the table trumped, pardon the pun, the policies of fear and I think that played a crucial role.
TAPPER: All right. Julia Chatterley, always great to have you. Thank you so much.
CHATTERLEY: Thanks.
TAPPER: More in our money lead, Donald Trump reportedly is euphoric over Wednesday's stock market rise following the news of his election victory.
[16:45:02]
A source saying he sees it as a validation of his agenda. The rally also happened to help make the world's richest people even richer.
Altogether they gained $64 billion in wealth, the biggest daily increase in wealth since the Bloomberg billionaire index begin in 2012. Elon Musk gained nearly $27 billion. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos gained about $7 billion. Oracle founder Larry Ellison, another Trump supporter, added nearly $10 billion.
Nice work if you can get it, I guess.
We are also following an absolute horror situation unfolding in California, wildfire that exploded in size. Thousands to leave their homes immediately. We're going to go live to the area, next.
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TAPPER: And we're back with breaking news in our "Earth Matter" series. A life-threatening wildfire continues to burn northwest of Los Angeles. The Mountain wildfire which started only yesterday has already burned nearly 20,000 acres, torched dozens of homes. More than 14,000 evacuation notices have been issued.
CNN's Nick Watt reports now from Camarillo, California.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Millions of Californians facing extreme and life-threatening fire behavior. At the Mountain Fire just northwest of L.A., nearly 20,000 acres burned, more than 14,000 people under evacuation orders, schools closed, a major highway closed, still no count on just how many homes have been lost.
Another blaze burning in Malibu, firefighters have somehow kept that contained. Power intentionally cut to nearly 70,000 customers for fear of sparking even more blazes in bone dry vegetation.
RICHARD GALANTE, LOST HOME IN MOUNTAIN FIRE: You can't even pick it up.
WATT: Richard Galante smelled smoke when he woke up Wednesday.
GALANTE: The wind was so fierce. It was unbelievable. I lived here all my life and we always used to winds, but lately, last five years --
WATT: It's got worse.
GALANTE: It got worse.
WATT: By lunch time, his house was gone.
GALANTE: There was no getting anything. My wife got one handbag. She doesn't have any shoes.
WATT: We were around here yesterday when wind whipped flames ripped through this neighborhood.
This is not a backcountry wildfire. We are in a city right now, the city of Camarillo, population around 70,000. These firefighters right now are trying to contain this blaze. This is a satellite image of the fire within an hour of ignition and this a time lapse showing how fast the blaze spread, scorching a football fields worth of land every three or four seconds, for seven hours. Embers on the wind can burn one house to the ground, while others around sit untouched, on his street, Richard Galante just happened to be the unlucky one.
Are you going to try to rebuild here?
GALANTE: I am going to rebuild.
WATT: You are?
GALANTE: Where the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) am I going to go? Where am I going to -- the views incredible. I knew it would happen someday. We pay for certain things. Unbelievable.
WATT: Fighting fires like this is very difficult because of that wind, because an ember, Jake, can travel three miles in the wind, land, and set another fire.
Also some neighborhoods like the one I'm in right now, you can see the wall of flames just barreled through here, destroying absolutely everything.
Now, they are still trying to figure out how many homes were lost they've got teams out right now trying to count the losses here.
And you know the wind has drop now. The wind's going to drop a little bit over the weekend.
But, Jake, the problem is come Monday, Tuesday, next week, these Santa Ana winds that we get this time of year in California, they are going to pick up again and that has everybody anxious that there's going to be another round either here or somewhere else in the area where all this dry vegetation is just waiting to burn -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Nick Watt in Camarillo, California, thank you so much.
Let's put these wildfires into perspective with CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir.
Bill, good to see you. New data shows that 2024 will officially have been the warmest year on record. Is there any turning back or halting this -- I don't want to call it progress but this -- this phenomenon of climate change, or is this just how it's going to be from now on?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm afraid any hope of holding the globe at 1.5 degree Celsius of global warming, that was the whole promise of the Paris Accord, that was hanging on a thread, even before this election. It is dead now with the election of really the most notorious climate denier in Donald Trump.
No, there's no -- Greenland's not refreezing anytime soon and we're setting records with carbon fossil fuel pollution year by year. And the more that gets put up into the sea and sky, the hotter it's going to get. This -- the physics are real simple. TAPPER: So Trump has said that on day one, he would implement, drill, baby, drill, although obviously domestic oil and gas production I believe is already its highest levels.
WEIR: Yeah.
TAPPER: What are his plans for the environment? He's talked about clean air and clean water which I know is not necessarily the same thing as combating climate change.
WEIR: Well, we have clean air and clean water compared to the '70s, thanks to the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, and the EPA, and in the first term, he gutted those -- all of those things and has promised to lift as much regulation on fossil fuel industries as possible, thanks to hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign donations from that sector as well.
But these days, things have changed. Running a gas-powered economy, a fossil fuel economy, is just too expensive these days. The whole world is electrifying and this would cede ground to China and Europe and all these emergent clean technologies that are really taking off now.
In Republican districts, 80 percent of Biden's IRA money is being spent in bright red districts. Ground is breaking, they're seeing these jobs. So a lot of that will be hard to claw back.
[16:55:02]
But he can stop the momentum at a time when it is crucial for everybody to go.
TAPPER: All right. Bill Weir, thanks so much. Keep up the important journalism, the important reporting on the climate beat, and we'll keep bringing it to our viewers who I know appreciate it.
WEIR: You bet.
TAPPER: I'll speak to the person floated for multiple jobs in the new Trump administration coming up.
Plus, the new deadline set today for Rudy Giuliani to turn over valuables to these election workers he defamed after the 2020 election.
And some new reporting is coming in. Chinese hackers tapping the cellphone of a Trump attorney. That sources are telling CNN, ahead.
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TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
This hour, we are breaking down some of the plans that a new Trump administration could enact starting literally on day one, including Trump's promise to begin deporting millions of undocumented migrants in the United States right now. How exactly might not plan work? Plus, there are still crucial races left to call that to decide
whether Republicans or Democrats control the House of Representatives. If Republicans keep it, that would be on top of controlling the White House and the Senate. How are Democrats preparing for the possibility of one-party control? Will they be able to get any Democrat priority passed?
And leading this hour, Donald Trump preparing for his return to the White House, meeting with --
