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Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) Discusses Where Democratic Party Should Be Heading; DoorDash To Let Users Eat Now, Pay Later For Food Delivery; Upstarts McNeese State & Drake Bust Brackets On NCAA Tournament Day 1. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 21, 2025 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: At an event in Arizona that drew thousands of voters, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also called on Democrats to fight harder.

And we have Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado with us now. He is co- chair for candidate recruitment.

Is that right, co-chair? Are you?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): I am, yes.

KEILAR: OK, for the House Democrats political arm.

So you have to go out there and try to attract candidates to run? And I do want to note, as you are doing this, there's a new "New York Times" opinion piece that is just out about you and kind of your theory for where the party should be heading, which, newsflash, is not exactly where it's been.

What are Democrats missing?

CROW: Well, first of all, we just have to be real and authentic and just connect with people. You know, I have this saying that if there's something that needs to be said, just come out and say it. Don't try to wrap it up in some kind of slogan or message.

You know, people know when you're not being authentic. And there's plenty of politicians out there that think that the answer to getting back into working-class areas and rural areas is to walk into all Walmart, buy a Carhartt jacket, slap it on and go to a construction site.

But listen, people in those communities, where I grew up, where I'm from, no bs when they see it. You just have to be authentic. You have to be yourself, and we've got to be bold and strong.

There is a time, and this is that time, to be fiery, to be clear, to be strong and to really lean in.

KEILAR: So you have -- you know, when you look at your bio, you can definitely do that, right? You're a veteran. You're a former -- former Army Ranger, ROTC. You worked in construction.

You can sort of speak from experience about some of these things. Some of your colleagues cannot. What do you say to them?

CROW: Well, you know, I'm pretty clear eyed about the problem that we're facing right now, and that is we just need political power in Washington. We, being the Democrats and those who oppose Donald Trump and what he's trying to do to our democracy.

So for me, this is about the midterms. We absolutely need to win the midterms. We need to retake seats. We need to retake the House and put a bulwark in place against Donald Trump and his efforts to destroy our democracy. That's what this is about.

So to do that, we have to win in red areas. That is just the simple fact. We got to win in areas where Donald Trump won this last November. We have to win in areas that are currently held by Republicans.

And when you do that, you need the right people, right? You need people with the right backgrounds that can resonate in these areas so that those voters will say, listen, I may not like the Democratic Party, I may not feel like they see me, but this person, this woman, this man, I will support this person.

KEILAR: Because as the Democratic Party has been seen as more a party of elites, you're -- it seems like you're arguing that it's -- it's -- and you do have an argument that it's about the issues.

But it's about how people identify with it. Do you think they're not like they're not seeing themselves in it, is that the biggest problem, or how does the how do the issues fit in?

CROW: Well, you know, I grew up in a working-class family. I started working when I was 15 at McDonald's and Arby's, and I worked in construction.

And you know what, I know the people that I grew up with, I still stay in touch with, many of whom support Donald Trump, is -- you know, and tell people -- know and understand that you actually see them and respect their way of life. And you don't look down on them.

They don't care what you have to say. Right? We think all the time that we're having a policy discussion that if we just explain how good our policies are, that people will come our way. That's not what's going on here.

What's going on here is people need to be seen and heard and respected, right? When I was working in construction, we would walk onto the construction site that morning and shake each other's hands.

And you know what it was? It was a callous check. We were -- we were feeling each other's hands. We wanted to know, were you one of us? Did you understand our way of life?

You know, in a lot of parts of the country, they divide the world between whether you shower in the morning before you go to work, or you shower at night when you get home from work.

That means something, right? Identity, culture means something in this country. So getting back to the basics and connecting with people and truly listening to them and finding the right candidates in those areas that actually understand that experience.

KEILAR: There are soft hands up on Capitol Hill. I mean, those folks are going to have to convince people that they still understand them there, though.

And you say, don't let echo chambers go uncontested. Are you telling members they need to get on FOX? They need to get on news outlets and go places, not just the liberal parts of their district, but maybe the conservative parts?

CROW: Absolutely. We have to go everywhere. You know, Steve Bannon has this "flooding the zone" thing. Well, you know what? We should be flooding the zone more than they're flooding the zone. Go everywhere.

Don't leave any -- any space uncontested because you may not be reaching the primary person in a living room listening to an outlet, but maybe you're reaching their spouse. Maybe you're reaching their children. Maybe there's a -- you know, a TV show on in a reception area being cast. So you're reaching somebody.

Go everywhere, make the case, have the debate, don't back down. You know, I was just on FOX News yesterday having a fierce debate about important issues. I'm going to go everywhere and Democrats need to go everywhere.

[13:35:04]

KEILAR: And on the issues, how do you argue that? Because there is an appetite for, if not the way Donald Trump is, for instance, downsizing the federal government, there is an appetite for that.

Tariffs, a lot of people look at that and say that's not the right way to go, left and right. And yet there's an appetite for that among the electorate.

I was just texting with a veteran that I've been talking with for a long time out in Kansas, a veteran Trump supporter, fired from the federal government, reinstated on administrative leave, but still supports Trump.

CROW: Yes.

KEILAR: Those are the folks you're trying to make some inroads with. How on the issues do you win people over who are that stuck --

CROW: Well, you're right that --

KEILAR: -- to Donald Trump?

CROW: Yes, you're right that there's an appetite. And actually, we need to acknowledge that there is something driving all of this. And it's -- it's real, right, that government does need to be reformed, that there is an efficiency that is actually not working.

That it takes eight years to build a bridge when we could do it in one year, right? That there's all these things that people see every day in their life that say, this doesn't work, this isn't efficient, this is wasting my taxpayer dollars.

It's actually true. Right? And that's not to say that that government doesn't serve important functions, because it does. Right? But we have to acknowledge the fact that DOGE is an outgrowth of people seeing that things aren't working the way they should be working.

It is the wrong answer. And it's going to do far more damage than it's going to solve anything. But we have to start by acknowledging the reality that people actually do see, feel and experience in their life.

And then we have to propose our own answer and our own solution by going back to the Democratic Party as the party of government reform, which we used to be. Right?

And there's a difference between defending institutions and defending the services that we want to be providing.

So we should not be defending institutions, but we should say, you know what, we're trying to provide a service or a solution or an answer. And we are going to be the best at figuring out how to do that.

KEILAR: Jason Crow, thank you so much for being with us, Congressman. We really appreciate it.

CROW: Thank you.

KEILAR: And still to come, dumplings with a side of debt? DoorDash will soon offer loans for your food delivery. Next what it says about consumers and the state of our economy.

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[13:41:51]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: "Eat now, pay later." Food delivery app DoorDash will soon allow customers to pay for their meals over four interest-free payments or in full, quoting a press release, "at a more convenient time."

But with Americans owing a record amount of debt. Does this signal something more worrying about the economy?

Joining us now is CEO and founder of TheMoneyCoach.net, Lynnette Khalfani-Cox.

Lynnette, thank you so much for being with us. For those who may not be familiar, talk to us about the rise of "Buy

Now, Pay Later" services. What are financing services like this typically used for?

LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, CEO & FOUNDER, THEMONEYCOACH.NET: Well, we've seen a huge explosion of "Buy Now, Pay Later" in the last several years. Certainly, over the 2024 year, we saw about 90 million Americans using BNPL and spending more than $130 billion.

So it's massive, it's widespread, and it's definitely here to stay. People are using it for all kinds of things. You know, Boris, we used to see people buying big-ticket items like travel or household purchases, furniture, things like that.

But now we're seeing people use it for everyday items. Stuff like utilities that, of course, have to be paid every single month without fail, as well as, as you just mentioned, food, just basic necessities.

And so that kind of spending really does start to worry me.

SANCHEZ: Well, why is that?

KHALFANI-COX: Well, I think for a couple of reasons. We already know that Americans are, by and large, struggling as a whole. 70 percent of folks live paycheck to paycheck and don't even have $500 worth of savings.

We have high interest rates, so there's massive amounts of credit card debt already. We have inflation surging. Layoffs are on the rise. And overall, people are just struggling with tighter budgets.

So you add in now all of this "Buy Now, Pay Later" debt and you're putting a lot of American households on the brink potentially of financial disaster.

When I say debt, too, you know, it's not just this installment debt. We're up to our eyeballs in all kinds of debt. Mortgage debt, of course. But then the consumer debt that tends to get people in trouble, credit cards, auto loans, student loans. Those three categories alone top $4 trillion.

And now here comes the rise of "Buy Now, Pay Later", which, you know, in the not too distant future is going to start being from the hundreds of billions, potentially up to that trillion dollar level as well.

SANCHEZ: I guess you would not recommend me financing Chipotle burritos or Popeye's spicy chicken sandwiches with a side of lemon pepper wings. Not a good idea?

KHALFANI-COX: Not a good idea. You know, listen, I recognize, of course, that folks are struggling and that people have to make ends meet. But I do think the caution has to come into play.

Because we see that people who have "Buy Now, Pay Later," who frequently use it, they're already at risk. They're already the more vulnerable financially in society.

[13:45:03]

For example, younger people, under the age of 35, tend to be far bigger users of "Buy Now, Pay Later," rather than Gen Xers like myself or Baby Boomers.

And that's, you know, kind of dangerous, if I can say that word, because those younger folks have less experience overall in terms of money management and, generally speaking, lower incomes.

We also know that research shows that a lot of folks who've used "Buy Now, Pay Later" struggled later to repay it, or regret those purchases.

And then many of them have already had a financial setback. They've gone through a divorce. They've lost a job. They've had illness in the family. Something happened in the 12 months prior to them using "Buy Now, Pay Later" that kind of triggered them to need to be able to have another payment solution.

So all of these things suggest that they're already financially precarious. So my advice to folks is, no, you don't really want to be, you know, extending the payment terms for everyday purchases like the food that you need to be able to -- to eat every day.

You want to make sure that you are judicious in your use of "Buy Now, Pay Later," and that you have a payment plan and that you know the terms involved for all of these things.

Do you have to pay weekly or monthly? Some of them will offer you extended terms, kind of making it like a credit card. But, yes, if you stretch it out to say, 24 months or so, that's going to cost you 24 percent and above in interest as well.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate the free advice.

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, thank you so much.

KHALFANI-COX: Thank you for having me, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

So if you didn't predict the upsets on day one of March Madness, you are not alone. More than 33 million people who filled out the brackets just threw a huge air ball. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:51:16]

SANCHEZ: Its March Madness, and only about 36,000 perfect brackets are still left out of the 34 million that we're filled out. Here's why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHEERING)

ANNOUNCER: McNeese has its first ever NCAA tournament victory.

ANNOUNCER: Just look at the clock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That post-game celebration there from Coach Will Wade highlighting the first Cinderella moment of this year's big dance, his 12th seeded McNeese Cowboys knocking off number five, Clemson, busting so many brackets in the process.

KEILAR: Eleven seed Drake also spoiled plenty of bracket predictions, beating Missouri 67 to 57.

And joining us now is Nick Kostos, host of the podcast "You Better, You Bet."

All right, Nick, only 1 percent of brackets are still perfect after day one. Will there be any after the first round ends later tonight?

NICK KOSTOS, PODCAST HOST, "YOU BETTER, YOU BET" Well, Boris and Brianna, really appreciate you having me live here from Las Vegas.

And I would say there is a 0 percent chance there will be any perfect brackets remaining after today.

And if by chance there are perfect brackets after today, there won't be any after this weekend. Way too difficult to predict all of this correctly.

It's hard enough to get game by game stuff, right? Individual games, much less predict an entire bracket. So if someone does it, kudos to them. I don't anticipate it happening, and neither should anybody else.

SANCHEZ: Nick, you did famously predict, the last time we got a chance to speak, that at the Superbowl, the Gatorade that was poured on the Philadelphia Eagles head coach was going to be lime green. So you got that right.

Did you actually predict McNeese State or Drake getting these upsets?

KOSTOS: Well, I so -- I did bet both of those teams to cover the spread. I didn't necessarily think that they we're going to win.

And I -- Drake, I gave a much better chance to win than McNeese. You know bad year for the rapper, Drake, better year for the college basketball team right now.

Missouri is an all offense, no defense team. And there are a bunch of those, honestly. We can talk about some of them as we move along here.

So I thought Missouri was on upset alert. I didn't think McNeese would beat Clemson, but I did think they would keep the game close. That one was a little surprising for me, Boris, McNeese beating Clemson yesterday.

KEILAR: All right, so day-two action underway already, of course I'm sure no one is here watching at work at all. Who are the best bets today and over the weekend? And which of the higher seeds are on upset watch?

KOSTOS: All right. So I'll go through all of this as quickly as I can.

North Carolina, for -- for sports fans out there, maybe if you're not a sports fan, you saw this over the weekend. So North Carolina, one of the premier programs in college basketball, made the NCAA tournament. And everyone got really mad.

And when people get mad in the year of our lord 2025, they log online and they express their displeasure. How could North Carolina make it? They don't deserve it.

And then Carolina beat San Diego State by 40 to officially make the field of 64 earlier this week. And I think Carolina keeps it rolling today. They're one and a half point favorites later against Ole Miss. I think Carolina wins the game by 10-plus. Absolutely love North Carolina.

As far as this weekend goes, I have two bets that I really love for tomorrow. Now I'm from Queens, New York. Shout out, 718. So this really makes me upset to say this.

I think Arkansas is going to beat Saint John's tomorrow. Great coaching matchup. Two legacy coaches, John Calipari and Rick Pitino, legends of the sport.

Arkansas is a six and a half point underdog. I think Arkansas is going to win that game outright.

And then we have a major pivot point in the Midwest region. This is a pretty epic second-round matchup. This is a matchup that we could see in the elite eight much farther into the tournament.

Two awesome teams, Houston, the one seed in the Midwest, against Gonzaga. I think Houston takes care of business. I'm laying the points with Houston, and I think Houston will eventually make the final four.

And I have two really good teams on upset alert later tonight. One is Michigan State, the two seed in the south region. Terrible three point shooting team. I think Brian can keep that game close.

[13:55:05]

And Kentucky is facing Troy later today. Kentucky, like Missouri, guys, all offense no defense. That makes them susceptible to losing basically any game they play in. I will take the points tonight with Troy.

SANCHEZ: Fantastic advice it sounds like.

To get serious for just -- (CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: -- for just for just one moment. There are some officials warning of potential March Madness scams. What would you tell folks to be on the lookout for?

KOSTOS: Well, I'm -- Boris, I'm big time on team. Like never click any links.

(CROSSTALK)

KOSTOS: So someone sends you a link, I don't -- why would you click it in 2025? Never click a link.

And look, I am a BetMGM ambassador. BetMGM network Odyssey's "You Better, You Bet."

Here's what people should do. You don't want to get scammed, you want to bet online? Do it at BetMGM. Do it at a domestic sports book, a sports book that's -- that's regulated where you know where your money is going.

So just good life advice for everybody. Don't click on suspicious links, please. And sign up at BetMGM. And yes, I am an ambassador.

SANCHEZ: Free play right there.

KEILAR: Couldn't tell at all.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Nick, thanks so much. Really appreciate it.

KOSTOS: Appreciate it. Wishing all the great viewers minimal sweats, winning bets. The absolute very best of luck.

KEILAR: Ah.

SANCHEZ: Thank you.

KEILAR: Thank you.

Ahead, we're standing by for a major hearing as lawyers for the Justice Department are going to be meeting face to face with the judge who tried to stop President Trump from deporting hundreds of migrants over due-process concerns.

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