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Growing Number Of Influencers Pushing Health Benefits Of Nicotine; NASCAR Legend Kyle Busch Dies At 41; Trump Not Attending Don Jr.'s Weeding In Bahamas This Weekend; How To AI-Proof Your Job. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired May 22, 2026 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Nicotine of all things is having a comeback. It is a highly addictive chemical but it is now being pushed by a growing number of influencers and they're talking up its supposed health benefits even as the fight over vape regulation heats up on Capitol Hill. Here's Meena Duerson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH MARCELONA, INFLUENCER: This is nicotine and you've been lied to about it your whole life.
MEENA DUERSON, CNN REPORTER (voiceover): In the land of the influencer, nicotine is having a moment.
TUCKER CARLSON, COMMENTATOR AND PODCAST HOST: Nicotine, which I would highly recommend to every person in this room as a life-enhancing documented chemical. That's just my view.
JOE ROGAN, PODCAST HOST: Nicotine is a cognitive enhancer.
DUERSON (voiceover): Long thought of as dangerous, nicotine is now being discussed by some biohackers, lifestyle creators, and podcasters for its potential health benefits. It's even getting kind of a rebrand from this administration.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Nicotine itself does not cause cancer. There is no evidence that it's carcinogenic. It may, in fact, have some health benefits.
DUERSON (voiceover): Nicotine is a chemical found in the tobacco plant, which triggers dopamine release in the brain, temporarily making you feel good. But the effects on the body vary depending on how it's consumed from cigarettes to oral pouches to topical nicotine patches.
[15:35:00]
The American Lung Association calls nicotine highly addictive and slammed influencers for promoting it, saying they "... often fail to account for the danger and long-term harm of using it, even in small doses." And that nicotine rapidly affects the entire body and causes "blood vessels to narrow, restricts oxygen flow, and alters brain chemistry."
But some big voices in or adjacent to the Make America Healthy Again movement are embracing a new curiosity about nicotine in conversations on their public platforms.
JILLIAN MICHAELS, PODCASTER AND FITNESS TRAINER: The whole MAHA group of people live by it.
DAVE ASPREY, BIOHACKER; There is good evidence, unless you have cancer, that you should use a small amount of nicotine if you want your brain to work better.
ANDREW HUBERMAN, NEUROSCIENTIST AND PODCASTER: Nicotine is neuroprotective. Nicotine is great for us, not that everyone should take it.
DUERSON (voiceover): Nicotine enthusiasts say it's gotten a bad rap because of its association with smoking and that it's the tobacco in cigarettes that causes most of the health risks.
ERIN OPREA, FITNESS TRAINER: Remember, weights or not weights.
DUERSON (voiceover): Fitness influence Erin Oprea has been using nicotine as a health supplement for years.
OPREA: I started researching about, like, the perimenopause, the brain fog. I'm like there has to be something to this.
DUERSON (voiceover): She started wearing a nicotine patch regularly.
DUERSON: Do you remember the first time you used it?
OPREA: Absolutely.
DUERSON: Tell me about it.
OPREA: Energy was through the roof.
DUERSON: Was part of the appeal that it's maybe something that's like a little controversial sounding?
OPREA: Yes. That's when I'm, like, this sounds a little weird but that's when things get really exciting.
The stories I get are unbelievable.
DUERSON (voiceover): Oprea does not have a medical background but regularly shares her experience with her hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers.
DUERSON: You get DMs about nicotine every day?
OPREA: Every day. Not a single day that goes by that I don't.
"It has changed my 86-year-old mother-in-law's life. Within a couple of days of wearing the patch she improved dramatically." DUERSON: So what's qualifying you, if you're not a doctor, to give medical recommendations?
OPREA: Oh, I don't give medical recommendations. I share information and then I say hey, go study on your own and find out if it's best for you.
DUERSON (voiceover): Like a lot of nicotine fans, Oprea's entry point came via podcaster Dr. Bryn Ardis.
DR. BRYAN ARDIS, RETIRED CHIROPRACTOR, HOST, "THE BRYAN ARDIS SHOW": Nicotine alone is known to improve, reverse or can cure Parkinson's diseases, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, all arthritis.
DUERSON (voiceover): A retired chiropractor who promotes COVID conspiracy theories and cites study after study to tout nicotine as a cure-all.
ARDIS: I wear a seven milligram nicotine patch every single day. I will for the rest of my life. And I invite all of you at home to come to my wake one day and I want you to pull up my shirt when you come by the casket. I will have a nicotine patch on my body before I'm buried. That's how committed I am.
DUERSON: Have you talked to any of these researchers behind these studies?
ARDIS: No, I haven't talked to those research study authors. Oh, no. You can read their findings, and any human being on earth can read it. So the qualifications are can you read English? Do you understand medical terminology?
DUERSON: So you feel confident in your understanding of these studies and what you're delivering to your audience?
ARDIS: Absolutely.
DUERSON (voiceover): But Dr. Paul Newhouse, a leading figure in nicotine research, says Ardis is mischaracterizing the data.
DR. PAUL NEWHOUSE, DIRECTOR, VANDERBILT CENTER FOR COGNITIVE MEDICINE: If these benefits were as widespread as he -- as he's suggesting, I think we'd know it a lot more clearly than we do.
DUERSON (voiceover): Newhouse has been running studies on nicotine for decades.
NEWHOUSE: We think that nicotinic stimulation may have cognitive benefits for some people under some conditions but not a general benefit for everyone.
DUERSON: How risky is this?
NEWHOUSE: Well, I think the short-term risks are not large. Many people will get side effects from using nicotine and they will find it unpleasant and they will stop. But certain people may find it habit- forming. I just think we should be a little cautious about just taking anything because some influencer said it. I just think that's a risky way to run your life.
DUERSON (voiceover): Oprea has now been wearing 3 1/2 milligrams of nicotine almost every day for around two years.
DUERSON: How would you characterize your relationship with nicotine?
OPREA: It's a good friend of mine. Me and nicotine are pals.
DUERSON: When I was telling people that we were coming to do this story a lot of people thought I was kidding. They were like nicotine? That's disgusting.
OPREA: We're all told it's been bad. That's what we've all been told our whole life.
DUERSON: What do you say to people who think it's incredibly dangerous that you're promoting nicotine?
OPREA: I say that's OK, you can believe that but then go study. And then once you've researched and you've learned and you've listened to both sides of it, then come back and let's talk.
(END VIDEOTAPE) JIMENEZ: Meena Duerson in the middle of it. Thanks for the reporting -- Boris.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're learning more about the sudden death of NASCAR legend Kyle Busch. According to a 911 phone call obtained by CNN, the two-time champion needed an ambulance the day before his family announced his death at just 41-years-old. Here's a portion of that call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got an individual that's shortness of breath, very hot, thinks he's going to pass out and is producing a little bit of blood, coughing up some blood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: CNN's Dianne Gallagher joins us now in Charlotte where Kyle was set to race tonight. Dianne, Busch is the first full-time driver to die during racing season since Dale Earnhardt.
[15:40:00]
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, this honestly just feels so surreal here in Charlotte today, Boris. This is the Coke 600 weekend. It's kind of like a home game experience, if you will, for these drivers.
Kyle Busch should be signing autographs, attending Fanfest, and getting ready to drive in the truck race tonight. Roughly 24 hours, though, after that 911 call you just heard, NASCAR was announcing his death at just 41-years-old.
Now, Thursday morning, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champions family announced that he had been hospitalized due to a severe illness and was not going to participate in the races this weekend. There were fans who obviously had no idea how serious it was at this time. They were actually at a Fanfest hoping that they were going to get his autograph at the time.
But the AP, citing several unnamed sources, reported that on Wednesday afternoon, Busch became unresponsive while testing in a race simulator. Now, no cause of death has been revealed at this time. About 11 days before he passed, he did, over the radio during a race at Watkins Glen in New York, ask for some medical assistance after that race.
The broadcast had said that he'd been battling a severe sinus cold. Now, NASCAR did issue a joint statement with the Busch family and Richard Childress Racing, calling him, quote, a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation.
Kyle Busch is the winningest driver in NASCAR history. He has 234 victories across the top three series. His last win came exactly one week ago at a truck race in Dover, where after he did his signature victory bow, he was asked what it all meant to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Busch, your 69th victory in this series, your fifth right here. Why do these moments never get old, Kyle?
KYLE BUSCH, NASCAR CHAMPION: Because you never know when the last one is, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: Now, look, Kyle Busch was a polarizing figure. He was somebody who fans either really loved or really hated. But I promise you, everybody had an opinion on Kyle Busch.
For so many, though, myself included, Kyle Busch's legacy will endure and what he did off the track. He was a family man. He mellowed out from sort of the villain on the track as he became a father.
He and his wife, Samantha, struggled with infertility for years, and they were incredibly open about it in a time period where a lot of people were not. Now, they eventually did have two children, Brexton, age 11, and Lennix, who just turned four. And Richard Childress Racing just releasing a statement this hour saying that they are going to suspend the use of Kyle Busch's number eight, and they're going to use a different one instead in honor of Kyle Busch, saying no one can carry it forward to the level that he did.
But they did add at the end that the number eight is reserved and ready for Brexton Busch when he is ready to go NASCAR racing.
JIMENEZ: Wow. Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much for that. Our thoughts are with Kyle Busch's family.
Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.
[15:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JIMENEZ: President Trump says he will not be attending his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding this weekend. Don Jr. will marry Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson in a small ceremony in the Bahamas. I want to bring in CNN's Kevin Liptak at the White House, who joins us now.
So can you just explain why isn't President Trump going to be there?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, you know, this is, as you said, going to be a small ceremony. Fewer than 50 people. According to the sources that we've talked to, this has always been the plan.
You know, it would be extraordinarily complicated to get the president of the United States to the Bahamas for something very private. It could potentially be quite inconvenient, not only for the couple, but for their guests as well. And so our understanding is that it had always been the plan that Donald Trump Sr., the president, wouldn't be in attendance at this very intimate ceremony. There will be other members of the Trump family, their friends. It will be small. But the president himself will not be there.
Now, he, the president, is explaining some of this. He wrote on True Social earlier this morning that, quote, "Circumstances pertaining to government and my love for the United States of America do not allow me to go to this wedding."
We don't know exactly what that means. Is it Iran? Is it Cuba? Is it any other of the issues that the president is contending with? We're not quite sure.
He also spoke about this yesterday from the Oval Office. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you attending your son's wedding this weekend, by the way?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He'd like me to go, but it's going to be just a small little private affair. And I'm going to try and make it. I'm in the midst.
I said, you know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIPTAK: So not good timing, maybe something of a disappointment for Donald Trump Jr., who I'm sure would have loved to have his dad at his wedding. It just wasn't meant to be.
JIMENEZ: Hey, it is what it is. Kevin Liptak, appreciate the reporting.
All right. Some peace of mind for those worried about an A.I. jobs apocalypse. We're going to show you a few ways you can protect yourself and your jobs from an A.I. takeover next.
[15:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Breaking news into CNN. A federal judge has dismissed the criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man mistakenly deported by the Trump administration last year. The judge found that the Justice Department's prosecution of Abrego Garcia was vindictive.
When he was transported back to the U.S. last year, he was immediately charged with two counts of allegedly transporting unlawful migrants back in 2022. His attorney said the charges were selective and vindictive because of the administration's public missteps in deporting him. The judge apparently agreed, writing the evidence before this court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power. We'll stay on top of this story and bring you the latest as we get it.
Artificial intelligence obviously having a major impact on the U.S. job market. Goldman Sachs reports the technology has already reduced payroll growth by roughly 16,000 jobs in just the past year.
JIMENEZ: Yes, so what can people do to AI proof their jobs? We've got our very own CNN AI correspondent who is a real person. Covers AI. Hadas Gold here with some answers. Hadas, what are the experts telling you?
HADAS GOLD, CNN AI CORRESPONDENT: I think I'm real. But anyways, we have reported a lot in the past. No, as far as I know. Just a mask of makeup.
We have reported in the past a lot on companies that are laying off thousands of people and often they are pointing to AI as one of the reasons. So we wanted to talk to some experts and get some advice because this technology is coming to the workplace, whether you like it or not.
So we wanted to get some tips on how to, as much as possible, AI proof your job. So the first thing to do is just take a look at your job and audit your job. Break your job down into tasks and think about which tasks are done at a computer, are repeatable and predictable, especially those that involve taking data, whether that's words or numbers and converting them into something else. Those types of tasks are the most vulnerable to AI.
Then next is invest in those skills that an AI can't do. So think about if you're in sales, those relationships that you're building, the networks that you make, because people will, even if they're going to use an AI to research, they're going to want to deal with a human being when they're actually signing a contract.
Guys, for us in journalism, that's going to be our interview skills, our sourcing skills, like trying to get the best investigative reports out there versus other skills, again, just taking numbers and turning them into a story. Then, of course, is just embrace this technology. Again, it's coming, whether we like it or not.
So really get to know these AI systems. Even if you're somebody who's like, nope, I don't want to deal with AI, I think it's all fake, you're going to have to. So you need to start working with the Gemini, with the ChatGPT, with Claude, understand how they all work and try to go even beyond a chatbot.
There are things called AI agents. These are AI systems that work autonomously. They can do multiple tasks, make decisions on your behalf.
That is really the future of AI and where that's going. You can actually go to a chatbot right now and ask it to take you through step-by-step to build your own agent. You need to remember, you can go to these chatbots and say, hey, I don't know how to do this. Help me understand how to build something.
Because the people who are utilizing AI more and more in their work to help with their tasks, those are the people that are likely going to be the ones to stick around in this AI revolution.
SANCHEZ: You're definitely going to have to go through those journalism bits of advice again for me pretty soon, Hadas. But I wonder what experts are saying about the role of humans in some of the jobs that are being most affected by AI, like coding, for example.
GOLD: Yes, one thing we hear of all the industries is coding is the one that's being most affected because AI is so good at coding and making software and the like. What we are hearing from people in that industry, for example, Dario Amodei, he's the head of Anthropic, said, I have a lot of engineers who don't code anymore, but they're still the ones who have to edit and manage the AI system. So one thing to keep in mind is that humans will still be involved because it's going to take a while before AI can completely do something on its own.
There will have to be a human involved who's going to manage a project and then, of course, review that product before it's done because AI still makes some things up and can hallucinate things. So what's going to happen is instead of maybe AI replacing everybody, AI might just make teams smaller. So two people might be doing the jobs of 10 because they'll have AI assistants who can help them in their work.
JIMENEZ: And it's about trying to find those intangibles as you laid out, Hadas. Again, we were taking notes for ourselves too, but you know what? That's for a separate time, maybe sooner than we think. Hadas Gold, good to see you.
Meanwhile, the final generation of World War II veterans returned to Normandy, France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. SANCHEZ: And the powerful new CNN film, "WHY WE DREAM," weaves an emotional and intimate history of 20th century society as told by the diverse voices of those who lived it. Here's a preview.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had always wanted to go back to Europe to see and understand that I could have been part of one of those tombstones. Here I am, I'm present to see the slaughter of humankind because of so much hate. How blessed I was and so many of us who had been part of that own slaughter and were able to return home.
And although it was segregated, we were working on that understanding, that misunderstanding of humanity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Wow, a powerful new CNN film, "WHY WE DREAM," premieres Memorial Day at 8 p.m. Eastern on CNN and streaming on the CNN app.
Before we go, we want to introduce you to the newest member of the CNN NEWS CENTRAL family. Meet baby Melisa Loren, born on May 19th, weighing in at a healthy eight pounds, five ounces.
[16:00:00]
JIMENEZ: So, so cute. Congratulations to mom, Alisha Dionicio, one of the very best associate producers here at CNN. We wish you and the whole family all the best in this new chapter of your lives. So cute.
SANCHEZ: Thank you so much for joining us, Omar. Always great to be with you. Safe travels as you head back to New York. The weather not so good on the East Coast this week.
And "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.
