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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Trump Says $4 Gas Prices in U.S. are Not Very High; Democratic Lawmaker Says, Doctor Jesus Spending $2 Billion Each Day on War; Hegseth Compares Reporters to Biblical Enemies of Jesus. Trump Comments Gas U.S. Prices Not Very High; Hegseth Says Reporters Comparable to Jesus' Enemies; Pope Leo XIV Condemns Wars; More Women Now Use Cannabis to Cure Illnesses. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired April 16, 2026 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Tonight, gaslighting on gas.
REPORTER: How much longer will America's continue to see these high gas prices?
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, they're not very high.
PHILLIP: Why the cost of America's war against Iran is taking its toll.
REP. SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE (D-CA): This dude, Dr. Jesus, okay, is wanting to spend $2 billion of your money every single day.
PHILLIP: Plus, the holy war of words goes to new heights.
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Our press are just like these Pharisees, it's incredibly unpatriotic.
PHILLIP: The defense secretary compares Donald Trump to Jesus to attack scrutiny of the war.
Also, more Democrats than ever vote against military funding for Israel. Is the war a turning point for America's longtime support?
And a supreme diss.
JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence.
PHILLIP: In rare remarks, Clarence Thomas takes aim at the nation's, quote, intellectuals.
Live at the table, Ashley Allison, Noah Rothman, Xochitl Hinojosa, Elizabeth Pipko and Peter Meijer.
Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here, they do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP (on camera): Good evening. I'm Abby Phillips in New York.
Tonight, while the war with Iran is fast approaching its eighth week and gas prices and economic uncertainty continue to rise, President Trump is claiming that the economy is booming stronger than ever before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We had the best economy in the history of our country in my first term, and we're blowing it out now. We're blowing it away now.
And despite our little diversion -- despite our little diversion to the lovely country of Iran, a lovely place, but we had to do that because otherwise bad things could happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: The stock market has largely rebounded, but Americans are still feeling it at the gas pump. And if you think gas prices are too high, President Trump disagrees with you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: How much longer will Americans continue to see these high gas prices?
TRUMP: Well, they're not very high if you look at what they were supposed to be in order to get rid of a nuclear weapon with the danger that entails. So, the gas prices have come down very much over the last three, four days.
The stock market's up. Everything's doing really well. And the big thing we have to do is we have to make sure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. Because if they do, you want to talk about problems, you'd have problems.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Right now, the national average for a gallon of gas is $4.9. That's significantly higher than the $2. 97 it cost at the start of the war.
But critics say that Trump is downplaying just how much the war is impacting Americans' wallets, like Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove has said, who used some profane words when she was talking about the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Are you concerned about the impact that this war in Iran is having on our national debt? KAMLAGER-DOVE: Oh my God, yes. Of course, I am. You would -- Stevie Wonder can even see how much this is costing us. So, gas prices are going up, it's almost $10 in California, and fertilizer's going up. I mean, you name it, the prices have gone up.
And this dude, Dr. Jesus, okay, is wanting to spend $2 billion of your money every single day rather than help you get healthcare. Fuck his ass.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Well, if the president's tone deaf on the economic concerns of Americans, his treasury secretary is right there with him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: The consumer, while they may be sounding grim, is actually quite buoyant. So, we are seeing spending has been very solid across most categories.
REPORTER: So, they might not feel good but --
BESSENT: Well, look, in their heart of hearts, they feel good. I'm not sure what they're telling the survey people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Man, it's like deja vu, Ashley. I remember not that long ago in the -- you know, to their point in the Biden administration and inflation was nearing 10 percent, when gas prices were in the $5, people were telling voters that actually they're doing fine. You know, they're feeling good about their own economic situation, but maybe they're telling the surveyors something else.
[22:05:05]
What's the lesson?
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Don't do that. Don't tell people how they feel. The only person that really knows how they feel is the actual American voter, the citizen that is going -- some people might not think gas prices are too expensive because they are making a significant amount of money, but the majority of people feel like you can just read the numbers on the chart and there is just like numbers are numbers. And from February, gas prices are higher, and from a year ago, gas prices are higher.
Now you can compare it to Biden, or you can -- but the point is they're higher. And if you try and tell an American they're not, they feel like you aren't being disingenuous. And Democrats try that and it did not work out.
So, you know, maybe take a lesson from their books or plan to lose in the fall. I don't know what else to tell the Republicans.
PHILLIP: Elizabeth? ELIZABETH PIPKO, FORMER RNC SPOKESPERSON: Look, no, I'm glad that you admitted the Democrats made the same mistake, right?
ALLISON: I made -- no, because you all are making it right.
PIPKO: I get it. The problem is that's not exactly the case because what was happening years ago was a war between Russia and Ukraine. And when that was happening and Kamala Harris was asked to justify why prices were where they were. She specifically said, this is for democracy, it's because of the values that we share with Ukraine. The American public understands that, and that's why this is worth it. We're years later --
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: (INAUDIBLE) wasn't our president.
PIPKO: That's not the point. Let me finish. She --
ALLISON: Also, isn't basically what Donald Trump is saying, that this is for democracy.
PIPKO: He said this is for democracy for Ukraine? No, he said this was for our democracy. So, would you -- do you think the American public wants us to support the democracy in Ukraine or our own national security in the United States?
ALLISON: Well, I think what Kamala Harris' point, even though she's not the president, was making, is that if Ukraine's democracy falls, it does jeopardize our democracy.
PIPKO: And what if America's national security falls?
ALLISON: They were also arguing that if America's national security would be --
PHILLIP: So, if I'm understanding your point, I mean, is the argument that it's fine to ask Americans to suffer?
PIPKO: I don't think you were asking Americans to suffer. What Donald Trump did not say there, as you pointed out incorrectly, was that prices are not high. He said they're not as high as we unfortunately expected them to be knowing we were going to strike Iran. Also, the comparison stands because we're still dealing with the cost of Ukraine. That war is still going on. This is the opposite of a never ending war. It's a few weeks of strikes with Donald Trump more than anyone else wants to end as soon as possible, and he's, I think, the only one with the record of proving that he actually can lower gas prices like nobody else.
HINOJOSA: Wait. So, no, he did actually say and his administration has said several times, not only with tariffs, but now with gas prices, that, yes, the American people will -- should need to make sacrifices and they will feel that prices are increasing. And that has been his message.
It was last year. They did not like it. You've seen his poll numbers go down. Democrats have been winning in special election after special election, and you're seeing him do it again, which I would say that probably the vast majority of Republican voters in swing districts don't agree with this message as a midterm message heading into the election this November.
The other thing I'll say is, I'm sorry, Donald Trump has not pumped gas in 50 years. He has no idea --
PHILLIP: not sure if he has ever pumped gas.
HINOJOSA: I'm not sure he's ever pumped gas, and I don't even actually know if anyone in his family has ever pumped gas at this point. But I will say he's not necessarily someone I would take advice on on what Americans are feeling and what -- whether or not prices are up. He bases everything on the stock market. And even then he paints --
PIPKO: But he just said prices are up.
HINOJOSA: And he paints a different picture. But, yes, he's also saying that he has had the best economy since God knows when, which is also not true.
PIPKO: He said in his first term he had an incredible economy. That's not true. And it was.
(CROSSTALKS)
HINOJOSA: Well, that's the first term. But in his first year, prices have increased.
PIPKO: But that's what he said. I'm making sure we're accurate about what he said.
NOAH ROTHMAN, SENIOR WRITER, NATIONAL REVIEW: I wish I had heard the president say, Xochitl said, that he's asking the American people --
HINOJOSA: My name is Xochitl.
ROTHMAN: Xochitl, I'm sorry. I apologize, my fault. But I really wish I had heard him say, as you said, to the American people to bear this burden more, to enlist the American people in this national project, because it is something that Americans will have to endure and they're enduring it because we're engaging in a war with Iran that Iran has engaged with us over the last 47 years.
The American people know the kind of threat that Iran represents. They understand the degree to which Iran has spilled American blood over the last 50 years, continues to threaten Americans every day. Our national security professionals are very good at interjecting that threat, but the threat is live all the time. And I think the American people would bear that burden if the president was a little bit more honest about it.
He has been saying, yes, it's a journey. It's a sojourn, it's -- you know, it's a little excursion that's just minimizes the nature of the conflict. The nature of the conflict is epochal. We're not talking about November. We're talking about the next 20 years --
HINOJOSA: They don't approve of it. They don't approve of the war, and that's what we're seeing in the polling.
ROTHMAN: Not so with Republicans.
PHILLIP: To Xochitl's point, they don't -- Americans, majority of Americans, a pretty large majority of Americans don't approve of the war.
The Atlantic had an interesting story today quoting a Trump supporter, Thomas Montoya, who voted for Trump in 2024 and now is frustrated about where things stand. He says the president is bragging about the economy even though everyone Montoya knows is hurting.
[22:10:01]
He promised to start war -- to stop wars, but started one in Iran.
And here's what Montoya says. When Trump opens his mouth, three quarters of what he says is stories, lies. He plans to vote in the midterm elections in the fall, but he may not choose a Republican.
And CBS poll from just a couple days ago, April 8th to 10th, Trump's disapproval on the economy is at 65 percent. His disapproval on inflation's at 69 percent. It does not seem that Americans are willing to give him a buy on this because they think Iran is such an important threat that they're willing to sacrifice for it. They're just not.
PETER MEIJER, CO-FOUNDER AND HEAD OF STRATEGY, THE NEW INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION: No. And they're also hearing every single night how terrible things are. The sky is falling. The manufacturing reports that were released today from the Philadelphia Fed and yesterday the Empire Fed -- Empire State reporting, we are beating expectations on manufacturing.
I want to talk about tariffs, the reindustrialization of this country and the fact that we're bringing a lot of those supply chains back. That is going well.
PHILLIP: In what sense?
MEIJER: Jobless claims --
PHILLIP: In what sense?
MEIJER: In manufacturing output.
PHILLIP: Because manufacturing jobs were basically flat for the entirety of 2025.
MEIJER: Yes, it takes time to build factories.
PHILLIP: Job creation overall for the entire economy also basically flat. We've seen -- we've heard consumer spending that Scott Bessent likes to talk about, but a lot of that is coming from people who are rich. Rich people are spending a lot of money right now. Poor people do not have a lot of money to spend.
And so I think the point I'm trying to make is, you can look at a lot of different statistics, but Americans are being crystal clear, they are not confident in this economy.
And I think there's a lot of reason to suggest that the pain is not evenly distributed. And if the White House doesn't want to acknowledge that, they might be making a political mistake.
MEIJER: I mean, again, I'm getting back to jobless claims, manufacturing output, the fact that right now the U.S. has gone to a net exporter petroleum for the first time since World War II. Our natural gas prices are at the lowest they've been in three months. They're at historic lows across the board. Meanwhile, in Europe, they've skyrocketed. And we are exporting more LNG than ever before. Thank God the Biden administration couldn't continue their idiotic pause on LNG export facility permitting.
I'm saying, yes, I get it. Every night, ee're talking about gas prices are too high. They're 50 cents higher than they were two years ago. They're $1 lower than they were four years ago. They're too high. I hope they go down, they're trending down with where the oil futures are going and where we can expect them to be in the coming months. And the administration wants them to be there too.
ALLISON: I think the thing is that Biden had four years. He made some promises on the economy. Voters did not like what he was able to deliver, and so Democrats lost. And the claim is, yes, they might not be as high as they were with Biden, but Americans are still not satisfied where they are.
And so you can, quote, statistics about all the gas and the petroleum, but if you don't feel it today that statistic feels like you are living -- you might as well be in the Artemis right now.
MEIJER: But also what is impacting how people feel? It's what they watch on T.V.
ALLISON: No.
(CROSSTALKS)
PHILLIP: I mean, that is literally what the Biden people said, and they were wrong.
ALLISON: Yes, what people feel is when they go --
PHILLIP: You know they were wrong.
MEIJER: But they were wrong when gas prices were about $5. They said it was transitory, it will get back to normal.
ALLISON: Yes, and they were wrong.
PHILLIP: They were wrong, because there were statistics that supported their view. GDP growth, our relative position to the rest of the world, you could argue all of those things. They were right. There were statistics that showed that our inflation was lower than the rest of the world, that we were relatively doing better than Europe and the rest of the world.
MEIJER: Sure.
PHILLIP: They could point to statistics all day, but that ain't going to cut it when Americans are saying, that's not how we see --
ROTHMAN: What were Democrats asking us to sacrifice for in the Biden years? I mean, the notion here that this -- you played that congresswoman who's all of a sudden very concerned with profligacy? Give me a break. What were they asking us to sacrifice for and inflate the economy? It was healthcare was domestic spending. All of this goes into the gaping maw of American entitlements that are utterly insatiable. This is a project to advance American freedom.
PHILLIP: Just to be clear, you're talking about -- you're characterizing domestic spending as the gaping maw of entitlement programs. But a lot of Americans see that as where our money should be going.
HINOJOSA: Yes.
PHILLIP: Just to be clear.
ROTHMAN: It is where our money is going. It's for the vast majority of --
PHILLIP: Hold on, no. Yes, but many people -- I think you just have to acknowledge that there are a lot of -- for you, foreign wars are super important, but for a lot of Americans -- when you look at the polling, a lot of Americans say, actually, we want fewer of those. We want more spending at home. And that's actually what Donald Trump ran on. That's why this man, Thomas Montoya, is so upset.
ROTHMAN: Just to respond --
ALLISON: I think you're -- I don't think you're wrong. I'm not using Biden as a comparison point to say, let's do what Biden did. That's what I'm trying to like get you all to realize is like I'm giving Republicans free advice for an era that I just lived through for the last four years, right? I sat on the set and gave statistics and Americans were saying, no, no, no, and now you all are just switching the seat.
[22:15:04]
What I'm saying, I think that right now Americans are frustrated with where prices are and they're blaming that on Republicans.
Now, the issue will be, is will Democrats present a winning case on what they can do better? Now if they go backwards, right, I won't think they will but they could --
ROTHMAN: There's another (INAUDIBLE) polling very briefly. Everybody's against the war, right? But if you go to CBS News polling, and you look at YouGov/CBS and they say what they want from this war and it's an 80-20 proposition, they want freedom in Iran. They want Iran to stop threatening its neighbors. They want its nuclear program decimated. They want all these things from the war. They're skeptical we might get it, but they're not wholesale against the notion that we should be (INAUDIBLE).
ALLISON: We all agree with that, yes.
PHILLIP: I think most Americans would agree with all those things.
Next for us, a new chapter for the administration using religion to hit back at scrutiny at the war against Iran, this time calling reporters enemies of Jesus, and one lawmaker saying that Trump is the second coming of Christ. We'll discuss.
Plus, the pope is refusing to back down condemning, quote, tyrants who use religion for military and political gain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:20:00]
PHILLIP: Tonight, a new chapter in the administration using religion to attack scrutiny of its war. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called reporters covering the war in Iran unpatriotic, but what he claims is relentless negative coverage. And then Hegseth made this comparison invoking religion with this Bible passage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: And in the passage, Jesus entered a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees came to watch.
You see the Pharisees, the so-called and self-appointed elites of their time, they were there to witness, to write everything down, to report, but their hearts were hardened.
They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda.
As the passage ends, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him, how to destroy him. I sat there in church and I thought our press are just like these Pharisees.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: So, there was a time when, I guess, I don't know, cabinet secretaries, defense secretaries in particular, understood that their job was to defend the whole Constitution, not just the parts that they like, including the part that talks about the freedom of the press. Why is it that suddenly, first of all, religion is being used to attack journalism and to call journalists effectively enemies who are trying to tear down the president by simply doing their job?
ROTHMAN: Arguing with the press, criticizing the press and impinging on their First Amendment rights are two very distinct things. I didn't see any impingement on anybody's constitutional rights there. You can criticize what was said. You could say rhetorically that was inappropriate. But that has nothing to do with the liberties that reporters are free to engage in.
His question that -- you know, his suggestion that it's an unpatriotic to question the war, I don't agree with that. I certainly share Pete's suggestion and Pete's inclination to say that the coverage of this war has been relentlessly negative has been exclusively negative to a degree that has perhaps altered public opinion, but it certainly doesn't necessarily reflect the entirety of what's going on in theater.
And the secretary of defense is right to say, listen, you're not giving the American public the full picture of what's happening in theater or even in the geopolitics around this region. You know, you could say, well, the American press hasn't focused on the geopolitical realignment that's happening all around us in the Gulf states. The American press hasn't focused on the degree to which Iran is struggling economically, is struggling militarily, and that's having certain, you know, problems within the command and control structure inside this country.
The Wall Street Journal has a piece today quoting a lot of experts who don't get a ton of play are getting them now indicating that the Iranian regime is beginning to turn on one another over the extent to which the devastation to its economy is so significant that absent sanctions relief, its prospects for long term, much less short, even medium term survival aren't perhaps negligible, certainly in doubt.
So, it's the sort of thing that the secretary of defense should say --
PHILLIP: So, you're contradicting yourself because you're suggesting that journalists aren't covering all these stories and yet you're quoting a lot of journalism to make your point.
ROTHMAN: I'm quoting a piece today.
PHILLIP: I'm not understanding --
ROTHMAN: That's what I'm grateful for, but it's related.
PHILLIP: Like everything that you know that you just recited, you know, because journalists have been doing their job --
ROTHMAN: No, actually no.
PHILLIP: So --
ROTHMAN: I know it from watching those press briefings. I wish I could hear more from the Pentagon press.
PHILLIP: Hold on a second. The press briefings have been about the military operation, as they should be, right? But what you're talking about are the political dynamics. You're talking about the regional dynamics. You know those things because journalism is happening, okay? Journalists are doing their jobs.
So, I'm not suggesting --
ROTHMAN: Quite a lot of that is from open source intelligence investigated by the likes of --
PHILLIP: -- that he doesn't have a right to, as every, you know, politician perhaps wants to have a right to criticize the press. But what I'm saying is that it's not the press's job to cheer lead a war. Am I wrong about that?
MEIJER: No. They should be looking at it objectively, not coming in with their preconceptions of, oh, Donald Trump is doing it, it must be bad, or if Joe Biden is doing it, it must be bad.
PHILLIP: Well, we also should just know that Pete Hegseth has pretty much explicitly said, we are not rooting for America enough. He has said that.
ALLISON: He also is like excluded journalists from --
MEIJER: Yes, which I think is to their detriment.
ALLISON: Yes. So, it's like you can't like not want let press in and restrict if you are going to be critical and then be mad that the press is not covering you in a positive way. I also think that like, look, when the strikes happened, I think all Americans held their breath and they were waiting.
[22:25:00]
I think part of the reason why the war is being covered this way is because what has been coming from this administration. I do feel confused. I do think Iran is a threat to America. And I do think that we are justified in not allowing them to have a nuclear war. I am not clear though from this administration what the endgame is for this war. And I would like our leaders to be fair.
Now, I know I'm not going to know war plans and yet I still don't feel like we really know what the actual endgame is. And even like calling the press the Pharisees, the reason why they're bringing religion in there is to invoke a sense of emotion to make people feel, their base to feel like the press is the enemy. It is, again, an effort to undermine the fourth of state, which is this administration, and Trump's like fake news, all of that. That is just their M.O.
And so it's hard. Just, I'll be honest, as a Christian, it's hard for me to listen to Pete Hegseth quote bible verses and be like, dude, come on.
PHILLIP: Well, let me play it. This is the pope. This -- I'll just say, this is what he said. And you can determine whether what he might be talking about. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) POPE LEO XIV: Jesus told us, blessed are the peacemakers but woe to those who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic, or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: There are -- you know, the Iranian regime is a theocratic regime. We don't do those around here because we are a democracy. But Pete Hegseth, on a regular basis, perhaps daily, he is painting a very different picture of what his job is and whose work he is doing.
HINOJOSA: That's right. And I think the pope has had a point, it's not out of the ordinary for a pope to make a comment like that, especially at a time of war, and especially when this administration has been using faith and the church and as an excuse and to cover, you know, for, and like -- and essentially making this war political.
One thing I'll say about what Pete Hegseth has been doing though is that the reason why the coverage is so bad is also because this administration continues to lie to us. We've been lied to before around a war. And we all saw, and we never wanted that to happen again.
And the fact that the media is covering the fact that Donald Trump lied to us saying that Iran's nuclear capabilities had been obliterated, that did not happen, he lied to us saying the Strait of Hormuz had been open, that did not happen. He -- you know, time and time again, he has not been honest with the American people.
And it is right for the press to talk about it. Not only that, it's not only the press, it's MAGA. And if MAGA is speaking out and saying that the Trump's own base, that they don't agree with the war, you want the press to turn a blind eye and not cover the fact that your own base --
MEIJER: No, Marjorie Taylor Green is on CNN every freaking night.
HINOJOSA: And I would --
(CROSSTALKS)
ROTHMAN: But it's very useful to hear the pope on this, that anytime the pope speaks is newsworthy. But it's also useful to advance what Hegseth is critiquing. We're not playing clips of the Iranian diaspora, which is beside itself with glee over the prospect that this regime is going to collapse. We're not playing clips of figures in Abu Dhabi or in Oman or in Saudi Arabia saying that this has to happen.
PHILLIP: We have them as guests on our air all the time. It is not accurate to say that.
PIPKO: I'm sorry, are pretending Donald Trump has not for ten years been covered notoriously negatively? Is that we're pretending has not happened for the last ten years? I mean, everyone knows that this is what happens to President Trump in office or out of office. HINOJOSA: He has had 24 sexual assault allegations and you don't see any of us talking about anything --
PIPKO: First of all, I have seen CNN talking about it since 2015, every single day. That's talking to --
(CROSSTALKS)
PIPKO: We aren't talking about Eric Swalwell tonight. Why are we not talking about Eric Swalwell?
HINOJOSA: CNN is talking about Eric Swalwell every night, and I am proud of CNN's coverage for doing that as a Democrat. But I don't Republicans actually going out and criticizing Donald Trump and instead they defend Donald Trump every single night regardless of what he does.
PIPKO: I will continue to defend him because I don't believe those allegations to be true.
But on the actual topic, number one, the pope did say right there, blessed are the peacemakers, I'd like it known that Donald Trump is literally going into office trying to make peace. I mean, no one's talking about the fact that Lebanon and Israel sat down for the first time in 34 years. He's literally risking his own political capital knowing midterms are right around the corner trying to make peace, and that should be celebrated, number one.
ALLISON: He is doing that because his numbers are tanking, because he is in a war --
PIPKO: Because he's in a with Iran, his numbers are tanking?
ALLISON: Well, I don't think he thought that his numbers would tank when he went to war with Iran. But the reason why --
PIPKO: I think 100 percent that his numbers were tanking --
ALLISON: No, I think he miscalculated. I think he thought first that this might be like Venezuela, and it wasn't. I think, second, he thought that Iran --
MEIJER: Venezuela didn't help his numbers either, by the way, despite that --
(CROSSTALKS)
ALLISON: But he thought that it could just happen and like kind of be done.
[22:30:00]
We're not talking about Venezuela tonight and we didn't talk about it basically like a week after it happened. But now we're in -- how many weeks are we now in this war? I think he realizes, and I think the Iranians realize that he feels vulnerable right now because of this war and he is looking for a way to end it. Now, I do -- I --
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Elizabeth, you can respond and then we are going to move.
ELIZABETH PIPKO, FORMER RNC SPOKESPERSON: Thank you. Look, I'm sorry. The press has been very negative towards Donald Trump for nearly 10 years, everybody knows that. Last year after 100 days in office, I think the Media Research Center said 92 percent of his first 100 days was negative, everybody knows that. And when it comes to the war, he's going in knowing it's hurting his chances of midterms because this is the right thing to do.
PHILLIP: Is it possible that that's because of Donald Trump's actual actions and conduct in office?
PIPKO: Which part?
PHILLIP: That the coverage has been negative and public opinion.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: It's not possible at all that Americans are smart enough to make a determination about whether or not --
(CROSSTALK)
PIPKO: No, it's because people didn't want him to win. They wanted Hillary Clinton to win and they're slandered that she lost. Sorry.
(CROSSTALK)
ALLISON: Hillary Clinton?
(CROSSTALK)
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, FORMER DNC SPOKESPERSON: Do you know what he said on Easter Sunday? Do you endorse what he said on Easter Sunday?
PIPKO: If you want to go back --
(CROSSTALK)
HINOJOSA: No, he's the President of the United States. Do you endorse what he said on Easter Sunday?
PIPKO: I think after what he has been through, he can say whatever the hell he wants.
(CROSSTALK)
ALLISON: Just be clear, do you remember what he said this Easter Sunday?
(CROSSTALK)
ALLISON: And you think he has the right to say it because his coverage is bad?
PIPKO: Not because his is bad, because of the way that he has been treated. There are so many people --
(CROSSTALK)
ALLISON: So, because Donald Trump was treated poorly, you think that he could erase all Iranian people in the --
(CROSSTALK)
PIPKO: I think the decency we have all wanted our country to continue to stand with was denigrated when Donald Trump went into office. People believed that they should risk all that we stand for as Americans to ruin him and his family.
ALLISON: So, because Donald Trump was mistreated, we can eliminate Iranians the entire --
(CROSSTALK)
PIPKO: Because the reputation of the United States of America was put on the line to hurt Donald Trump. I am sad every single day about what has happened to our country.
PHILLLIP: All right, we got there. Next for us, is the tide turning inside America for support for Israel? A rising number of Democrats are flipping and voting now against sending arms to Israel. We'll discuss next.
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[22:36:43]
PHILLIP: Tonight, Lebanon's army is accusing Israel of multiple ceasefire violations after President Trump announced a 10-day truce between the two sides. Meantime, in Washington, the war is highlighting deep divides among Democrats over Israel. Forty Senate Democrats out of 47 voted to block some arms sales to Israel, specifically sales of dumb bombs and military bulldozers.
Only seven, including minority leader Chuck Schumer, voted against that ban. And in a sign of the party's shifting position on unconditional military aid to Israel, it's important to note that many more Senate Democrats voted to advance similar measures in the last year.
That change, that shift of -- among Democrats reflects a broader shift that's happening in the country. It's not just Democrats, it's independents, it's also Republicans, perhaps to a smaller degree, but it's happening. And it's largely happening because of Israel and its actions, the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, you could name a bunch of things.
PIPKO: No, I completely agree. I've watched this happen. I saw it start before the war, but no one's going to sit here and argue that things have not gotten worse when it comes to sentiment towards Israel and the United States after the war that began, unfortunately, on October 7th. I thought I'd see a little bit of a different response from the world, but of course, it's only gotten worse and worse considering the imagery that's come out and considering that Americans overwhelmingly are unhappy that this is still going on in the Middle East.
It's hard to watch this growing up, thinking that we were always going to be allied with Israel and seeing how many people overwhelmingly don't feel that way anymore, especially people in my age group. I'm proud to see Republicans kind of standing firm on what we always have. But it's obviously taken over the Democrat Party. And I think it's taken over a lot of that, you know, base of young voters, whether we're talking right or left.
And I think it's going to change for the worse the next couple of years. I don't see that going the other way. And it'll be interesting whoever wins in 2028 to see them balance that for the first time and at least, you know, my lifetime.
PHILLIP: And this specifically -- it was targeted at the bulldozers and so-called dumb bombs, which are controversial because of their role in, you know, clearing out you know, Palestinian areas in Gaza and in the West Bank. And so, it does raise some questions about whether we should be providing those materials to Israel.
PETER MEIJER, CO-FOUNDER AND HEAD OF STRATEGY, THE NEW INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION: And there's a very interesting debate even among some very fervent kind of pro-Israel supporters, especially on the Israeli side saying dependence on the United States, even if it's nominal, because the Israeli military defense industry is incredibly impressive. We have a lot of collaboration.
Iron Dome was a U.S.-Israeli collaboration or benefiting from some of that research and that effort for our own ballistic missile defense program. But there's frustration on the Israeli side in some corners, too, but do we want to have that dependency? Do we want to have that reliance? And so, there's an extent to which that support does give the United States leverage. It does give us some benefit.
Politically, it's become a very big problem. And I've even seen this on the Democratic primary side, how many folks are treating among Democratic primary voters calling Israel's operations in Gaza a genocide has become a litmus test akin to 2020 stolen election rhetoric.
[22:40:03]
NOAH ROTHMAN, "NATIONAL REVIEW" SENIOR WRITER: I'm disinclined to pretend that this reaction from Democrats has very much to do with Israel at all or Israel's actions. It has to do with Israel but it has to do with the prejudice towards Israel. Voting against, for example, defensive interceptor munitions. They'd say that, this gives them a license to act out, to lash out, right? That is just predicated on historical ignorance. You have to have no not understanding of Israeli history before 2009
when Israel had to lean more heavily into interventions and costly occupations in places like Gaza and southern Lebanon. Those military bulldozers, for example, clear mines, clear buildings that have been booby-trapped as they're doing in southern Lebanon. Nobody asks why. Lebanon is sitting down with Israel even as it's being invaded -- hang on -- because it has nothing to do with Israel they're clearing out a terrorist group and they're working together --
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PHILLIP: But hold on. But they also --
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ROTHMAN: --- was subset of being invaded it would say something.
PHILLIP: They are also being used to claw down West Bank homes, bulldoze corpses and unmarked graves, leveling thousands of Gaza and civilian buildings in controlled demolitions. It's all those things and so, you know, these are two high-profile Democratic senators who are not typically in the camp that you're describing.
Elissa Slotkin says, being pro-Israel today is not simply about supporting the political or military agenda of Prime Minister Netanyahu, just like being pro-American should not be equated to loyalty to Trump. Ruben Gallego says, I won't vote to send half a billion dollars of hardworking American taxpayer money to Israel for bulldozers and bombs.
ROTHMAN: I'm looking at two Democrats with national ambitions. You know who I'm not seeing right there? Chuck Schumer. I'm not seeing the head of the Senate. You know why? Because he's not running for president. This is all about appealing to Democratic voters. It has nothing to do with Israel.
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ALLISON: I'm not naive enough to also think that, like, people aren't maybe being more thoughtful in the way they're voting right now because they may have political aspirations. I don't disagree with you on that but I think that is on both sides of the aisle. I think some people don't turn against Trump because they also have political aspirations. So, it happens on both sides.
What I do think is true is that Israel is still our ally. But I also think October 7th happened and I think the world was outraged and disgusted, and believed Israel had a right to defend itself. I also think people have seen what has happened over the last couple of years and they feel like what has happened to the Palestinian people is unjust and inhumane. And that doesn't minimize what happened on October 7th, but you can have empathy and compassion for Palestinians and Israelis.
And right now what it feels like is that Netanyahu is waging war on various -- on innocent people in Palestine, not Hamas, but innocent people in Palestine. And disregarding, much like the comments that Trump kind of made on Easter about eliminating Iranians, his approach to striking Iran has also felt like some of the care to humanity has been dismissed.
PHILLIP: We're going to take a quick break and then Noah can respond on the other side. We'll be right back.
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[22:47:40]
PHILLIP: Welcome back. Before the break, Noah, Ashley was saying that a lot of Americans, and I think she's right about this, have been very unhappy with seeing how the Israeli government has carried out retribution for October 7th, that they were entitled to, but how they were doing it in Gaza. And that is what has brought us to this moment.
ROTHMAN: Yes, I wouldn't necessarily call it retribution because that makes it sound like biblical. It was a defensive operation because --
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PHILLIP: I mean, I think it's their entitlement. I mean, any country would have done what they did. But over time, how they did it is the problem for lot of Americans.
ROTHMAN: Well, how they did it is to try to extirpate Hamas from the Gaza Strip and trying to extirpate Hezbollah from southern Lebanon, which, by the way, the United Nations should be doing under 1701 and doesn't. And it is incumbent on the Israelis to take their own citizens' safety into their own hands. And wish that -- and I agree with the empathy point. I think we should never surrender our empathy and we should look upon war as a horrible thing because it is.
But I wish the people who are exuding this level of empathy, noble as it is, would exude the same sympathy for the Palestinians who have lived as hostages to this terrorist regime since 2006, Southern Lebanese, who have lived as hostages under Hezbollah since the early 1980s.
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PHILLIP: But isn't what they're saying? That the way that the war has been carried out has been effectively collective punishment and that the Palestinians are both -- they are both dealing with an oppressive regime in Hamas, but they're also -- the children and the women and the people in hospitals are being bombed.
ROTHMAN: Yes, critics of this war insist that there is --
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PHILLIP: I mean, that's exactly what you're saying.
ROTHMAN: I'm arguing with the characterization because I think it's mischaracterization. PHILLIP: There should be empathy.
ROTHMAN: I think it's inaccurate to say that there's collective punishment going on here because that implies the intent to harm civilians, which has not been demonstrated at all. In fact, if you have people who study war, like Lord Roberts is one of the war theorists and students of war history and urban combat, they demonstrate that the Israeli tactics are designed to preserve as much civilian life as possible in ways that the United States doesn't even observe when we were bombing --
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HINOJOSA: I think there are big questions about --
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ROTHMAN: -- the level of layered efforts to get the civilians out of these combat zones as quickly and as clean as possible.
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ALLISON: I strongly -- and I would just strongly encourage I think what is often absent is listening to people who --
[22:50:04]
I think if you listen to Israeli families who had hostages trying to have a simple inkling of how much pain they were feeling during that experience of people who lost. But I also strongly encourage you to talk to Palestinians who have family members, who have lost family members before October 7th and after October 7th.
What you are saying right now, parts of Gaza have just been leveled. Children are starving there and they have been for some time. And I think you cannot just pretend like that is not happening and why it's happening.
HINOJOSA: Well, also there were questions in the Biden administration when I was at the Justice Department about whether or not the administration was investigating Israel for war crimes. And those questions should still be asked rightfully of the current Trump administration. Do I think the federal government has really looked at this?
No, because I think that we have supplied weapons to Israel and that puts the U.S. in a very difficult position. If we have supplied weapons to Israel, we cannot necessarily investigate Israel for war crimes, right? And so --
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ROTHMAN: But seems to be assumption abroad here that Israel doesn't investigate itself, that it doesn't have an independent judiciary or inspectors general or release reports about misconduct that sometimes happen and individuals are punished for it. (CROSSTALK)
HINOJOSA: Hold on. And you trust Netanyahu to do --
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ROTHMAN: Well, you actually talk about this like it's an opaque regime, like it's some sort of evil force, but that is just inaccurate.
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ALLISON: October 6th, you're wrong about On October 6th, and days before actually, many Israelis were actually protesting Bibi Netanyahu because of some of the exact same things that you were saying.
ROTHMAN: Because it's a free country.
ALLISON: Yes, but because some of that opaqueness, some of that checks and balances was actually in question. That was actually happening in Israel before October 7th. And many Israelis actually blame Israel being distracted and more vulnerable on October 7th because Bibi was trying to do so many things to undermine their democracy. So, I'm not sure that that --
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UNKNOWN: The judicial issue is a completely different issue.
PIPKO: Yes, can I just say, I mean, you started the prompt kind of asking why we're in this position and why the American sentiment on Israel has changed. And I think we can sit here and debate all we want, but much like you asked me about Donald Trump's tweet, I don't think it matters what I think, I think it matters what the American people think.
Same here, I think our government needs to do a better job of explaining why we are allied with Israel because we have a problem if the sentiment has changed as much as it has with one of our closest allies. That's the real issue.
PHILLIP: All right everyone, thank you very much for being here tonight. Coming up for us, a new look at the rise in cannabis use among women. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins me next.
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[22:57:08]
PHILLIP: CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has been reporting on cannabis for over a decade now. And his latest documentary, number eight in his weed series with CNN, looks at how medical cannabis is on the rise with women. He travels around the country and visits somewhere you might not expect to learn about all the many reasons that women, young and old, are turning to cannabis. Here's a preview. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Women of all ages, mothers and grandmothers growing, selling, using cannabis. Women searching for a better, healthier, happier life.
UNKNOWN: I was a soccer mom. Trust me, if we had all had an edible before those games, we would have been great.
GUPTA (voice-over): From menstrual cramps, to morning sickness, to menopause. Women in Oklahoma and all over the United States are turning to cannabis for relief, now more than ever.
UNKNOWN: Women are largely underserved and underrepresented in medicine. And for lack of any other option are more than willing to try cannabis and cannabinoid-based therapies.
GUPTA (voice-over): In fact, for the first time ever, women are outpacing men in the use of cannabis. These women say they are changing their lives and their health for the better. But in some cases, also potentially putting themselves in harm's way. The scientists searching for answers are all research pioneers. And perhaps no surprise, many happen to be women, as well.
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PHILLIP: So, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here with us. So Sanjay, this is really fascinating. There's so much debate about this. What was the most surprising thing? I mean, this is weed eight. You've seen a lot. What's the most surprising thing that you found in this report?
GUPTA (on-camera): I think the biggest thing really was that women have now begun to outpace men when it comes to cannabis. I mean, it was very different a decade ago. And to put an exclamation mark on that, if you drill down, it's actually women between the ages of 45 and 60.
PHILLIP: So, middle-aged --
GUPTA: Middle-aged women. That's what's really driving that change. And, you know, I think a lot of it's just because there haven't been a lot of alternatives to treat many of the things that ail women of that age. You know, sleep problems, mood problems, pain, things like that. A lot of them are seeking out alternatives. We did find a group of women that really surprised me who have increasingly been using cannabis during pregnancy for nausea.
PHILLIP: I heard that and I was like, whoa.
GUPTA: That was shocking to me.
PHILLIP: Is that safe?
GUPTA: Well, I think there's lots of concerns, pre-term birth, you know, all these terms -- problems. But the idea of untreated emesis, untreated problems that they might be using cannabis for depression, anxiety, also a concern. So overall, look, as a doc, I think for anybody that was shocking, but the reality is that it's happening. About a quarter of women in some of these studies are doing that now.
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PHILLIP: This is so fascinating. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.
GUPTA: You got it. Thanks for having me.
PHILLIP: It's always great to have you here on the show. Be sure to watch "Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports, Weed 8, Women and Weed" this Sunday, April 19th at 8 P.M. right here on CNN.
And thank you for watching "NewsNight." "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
