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Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) is Interviewed about the Army Secretary's Resignation; Polls on the Midterms and Trump; Author Patrick McGee is Interviewed about Apple. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 01, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:28]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the Army's top civilian official is calling it quits. Sources say that Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has resigned after months of tension with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. One source says the Driscoll raised concerns about Army transformation and readiness and accused Hegseth of blocking those efforts by firing the generals responsible for them. And this, of course, comes six months into the war with Iran.

With us now is Congressman Pat Ryan, a Democrat from New York. He's a member of the Armed Services Committee, an Army veteran, a West Point grad, who we like to note does represent the district where West Point resides.

Congressman, good to see you.

You know, the Army secretary, the job isn't exactly a household name for most Americans. So, what's the significance to you of this resignation?

REP. PAT RYAN (D-NY): It's a really important job. And there's several key points. I mean, one, as you said, we're in the middle, now six months into a war. So, to lose any senior military leader, whether a general officer, like General George who was fired in April, and now the secretary, it leaves us without those key players and leaders in the midst of what is clearly a failing war, which pains me to say it, but that that is the situation.

The other thing that I think is really important here is, as you said, Secretary Driscoll had been one of the few voices of reason and logic and actually focused on real war fighting, not culture war fighting. So, for him to leave means that there will be less focus on getting the Army in a good place to fight and win wars, to keep our troops safe, to keep the American people safe, and more distractions.

And frankly, I think the last thing to say here is, he was one of the few truth tellers to the president. And now Hegseth alone scares the heck out of me and I think everybody in the country as the sole voice on these matters to the president.

BERMAN: Why does Secretary Hegseth, as you say, scare the heck out of you? And what would you say the state of the U.S. Army is right now?

RYAN: Well, our Army is incredible and well trained and committed and patriots, and I think that's very important to say, of course. You have a layer of political appointees, particularly in Hegseth, who just don't understand what they're doing. And again, rather than focusing on, for example, the fact that we've had a carrier strike group deployed in the Middle East for the longest time in modern history and figuring out how to prevent that and deal with that, he's essentially going around and making -- sort of playing Army, making these weird social media videos that are the opposite of what he should be doing as the secretary of defense, as were, as I said, continuing to not succeed in this war.

So, it is making our troops less safe, the American people less safe. And a big part of the reason why we're stuck in what is now increasingly looking like a quagmire in Iran.

BERMAN: So, Congressman, as you well know, this is an election season here with Democrats running against Republicans in November. But Democrats running against Democrats up until this point in primaries. And your colleague, Jared Moskowitz from Florida, a Democrat who did win his primary, says that there are some Democrats who are making his job harder. He's talking about the DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America here.

Listen to what he said to Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): I think they've given Republicans in swing districts something to run against, because Republicans have nothing to show the American people that they've done.

This is a time where we try to -- try to make Hakeem Jeffries speaker. And instead, they're busy trying to take out Democrats that can win general election seats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, how do you feel about that? Do you feel the DSA, in some cases, is making your job harder?

RYAN: No, I think my job is about my constituents and about not these internecine inside baseball kind of battles, which, you know, I know make for good TV with respect, but really don't get at the root of the existential affordability crisis made worse by this war. You know, what is our plan to come together as a team and recognize we may hold different policy views, but at a values level, we want health care for every American. We want to get rid of these tariffs that are driving up costs. We want to end this war.

There are a multitude of critical issues that matter to the American people, that the Democratic Party is aligned behind. That's where I choose to focus.

[09:35:03] And that's what our -- I think my constituents and the American people want.

BERMAN: One of the issues that voters say they care about a great deal right now is this data center construction boom. And politicians on both sides of the aisle have expressed reservations about this the last few weeks. One politician who has not is President Trump, who put out a statement yesterday that said, "the only reason that communities throughout the USA should not want data centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If they want to be successful and rich with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let data reign."

Do you feel that people who are opposing data center constructions want to be poor and backwards?

RYAN: Obviously, not. Another incredibly tone deaf and insulting thing from a president.

Look, what's going on here is the American people are wise. They understand these are put in place by tech oligarchs, including our first trillionaire, Elon Musk, who wants to get richer and richer on the backs of us, make our water dirty, make our utility bills go up while they get more money and more power. And the American people see through that, thankfully. And I've said, we don't want these here. Or if we do, they need to actually benefit us and let's have a serious conversation about that.

Trump said what he said yesterday because he is bought and paid for by these tech bros who were all in the -- in the literal front row of his swearing in to this second term was filled with these guys and they're all -- they're all guys. And we've seen, they're really the only ones that have benefited in a year and a half, not the American people. And this is another example of that.

BERMAN: Congressman Pat Ryan from New York, we appreciate you being with us, as always. Thank you.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much, John.

Apple turning the page today. Tim Cook officially stepping down. It -- we'll look back at how his influence on Apple and Silicon Valley and what it means for the future.

Also, two NASA astronauts are about an hour into their spacewalk outside the International Space Station. These are live pictures that you're looking at right now. They're there to replace a key navigational aid, and they're installing jumper cables. And with this spacewalk, her seventh one, Astronaut Jessica Meir, will move into third place for total spacewalks among women at NASA. Amazing.

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[09:41:51] BERMAN: President Trump has made crystal clear he wants these midterm elections to be about him. You know who else thinks that? Democrats want the midterm elections to be all about him. Who might it be better for?

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

OK, what do -- what do we think? Should the election, should Republicans want the election to be all about President Trump?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Democrats are down on their knees. They're begging, please, please, please allow this election to be about Donald John Trump. Because if you could see this right now, Republicans are actually outperforming President Trump. Look at that, choose Republicans for House, you get 41 percent of the electorate who say that. Approval of President Trump. He's only at 37 percent. So, right now, Democrats are actually underperforming where they should be, given where President Trump's popularity is and Republicans are overperforming. Democrats are begging, please, President Trump, get involved in these midterm fights. We can do even better than we're doing right now. And, of course, they are, in fact, leading right now in the generic congressional ballot by about six, seven or eight points, depending on how you average the polls.

BERMAN: So, if it is about Trump, you know, what do some of the numbers tell us there?

ENTEN: Yes, OK, there's another reason that we know that Democrats want this election to be about President Trump. And the way we can see this is, break down your congressional vote, right?

The choice for Congress, if your vote is a message about Trump, either positive or negative. Look at this, Democrats lead by 27 points among those voters, 27 points. Among all the other voters, the voters who say this is not, in fact -- their vote is not, in fact, the message that they're trying to send about President Trump. Look at that. Republicans are leading by 19 points. So, Democrats absolutely want this midterm to be about Trump, because the voters who say that their vote is about sending a message to Trump, Democrats are crushing. The voters who say it isn't, Republicans are actually the ones leaving.

BERMAN: So, if the president is trying to reach a higher number of voters with this message, hey, make the election about me, are there voters out there who might be attracted to that message who aren't already with him?

ENTEN: No. No. This is the whole thing, right? I think part of the reason he wants this to be about him is because maybe there's those Republican voters who would stay home. But if it's about me, hey, those are the ones who come out in presidential years, right? Maybe they'll come out in a midterm.

But take a look here. Republicans approval of President Trump. If you're already motivated to vote in 2026, right, your approval rating of Trump is 81 percent. If you look at those who are not motivated to vote, those who aren't either extremely or very motivated to vote at this point, look at this, Republicans approval of President Trump. Their approval of President Trump is just 58 percent. The Republicans who are depressed right now are the ones who actually are far more likely to dislike the president of the United States. The ones who are already motivated to turn out and vote, they are the ones who like President Trump.

So, if you're going to motivate those Republicans on the sideline, the ones you're more likely to motivate are actually those who are more likely to dislike the president of the United States. Again, this is why Democrats are begging, please, please, please, let's make this a midterm about President Trump because the slew of data suggests that would be a very good midterm for them indeed.

BERMAN: Well, a couple months to go. What are the prediction markets saying about the odds for the House?

ENTEN: Yes, if you take a look at the chance, take a look since June 1st, you see that the Democratic chances are way up. They've been north of 80 percent versus south of it on June 1st, you look back three months ago.

So, the bottom line is this, if this is a midterm about President Trump, Democrats are going to have a very happy election day, election week, indeed.

[09:45:03]

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much for that.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: We have a lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A big transition is unfolding this morning for one of America's largest companies. Tim Cook's 15 year run as the CEO of Apple comes to an end today. He's stepping back from the role to now become Apple's executive chairman.

The man taking the reins is John Ternus, the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering, who spent a quarter of a century working at Apple.

[09:50:02]

"Bloomberg" reports that Cook sent a memo to employees before leaving, saying, in part, "I will miss this work in ways I can only begin to imagine even as I remain completely at peace with my decision." And adding that, "few people understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does."

So, what does this mean? Joining me now is Patrick McGee, a writer for "The Financial Times," columnist for "The Free Press," and author of "Apple in China."

It's good to meet you. Thanks for coming in, Patrick.

PATRICK MCGEE, AUTHOR, "APPLE IN CHINA: THE CAPTURE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST COMPANY": Hi, Kate.

BOLDUAN: What do you expect from John Ternus? What should customers of Apple expect?

MCGEE: Well, the new iPhone comes out next week and it's supposed to be the first foldable iPhone. Now, on the one hand, you could say we've had foldable phones since 2019. So, why is Apple so late to the game? On the other hand, there's certainly going to be a lot of pent- up excitement for more than a billion people who use the iPhone. So, that should be a pretty exciting start for John Ternus.

Aside from that, I think this is probably going to be about the smoothest transition possible. When you look back to when Tim Cook took the reins from founder Steve Jobs, he, of course, passed away. So, Tim Cook sort of had to make his mark. But even there, it was more than a year before he really took a move that I think Steve Jobs probably wouldn't have taken, which was the firing of software chief Scott Forstall.

I don't know how quickly we're going to see John Ternus make a big decision that sort of says there's a new sheriff in town, but I'd put my money on this being at least 12 months out.

BOLDUAN: And this kind of gets to, though, is it the times that are going to change him versus him changing because he wants to show that he's the new sheriff in town? Because I've really seen reporting that one thing that Ternus is facing that's different from Cook is managing an exodus of top talent to companies like OpenAI, managing through what could be the biggest technology shift in a generation. What does the A.I. race mean for Apple and this transition? Are there signs? Are there clues?

MCGEE: So, in software A.I., you know, Apple has sort of failed there and even capitulated, right? They're not really in the running to create a large language model. Instead, they've basically capitulated to Google. And so, Google Gemini is going to be running the enhanced Siri that comes out.

On the other hand, in hardware, which is the very specialty that John Ternus brings to the table, the Mac Mini, the Mac Studio, these products, with their unified memory, are basically little A.I. private server workhorses that are seeing huge pickup in the A.I. community. So, in software, they're not doing so well and they need to demonstrate that they can do something with this Google partnership. But in hardware, they're knocking it out of the park. And at the end of the day, Apple is a hardware company. So, they're saving money by not investing tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars (AUDIO GAP) centers and instead they're sort of trying to bring that from the cloud to your own little private server. So, if they can knock it out of the park there, and I think they probably are, then they should be just fine in A.I., but they're not going to be a competitor to OpenAI or Anthropic anytime soon. BOLDUAN: Let's talk about the money because you've written a lot about

Apple and its impact globally. A columnist for "The Washington Post," I was just kind of looking through, put it this way. "Apple, however, is among the enduring giants of American business. It will probably still be around in 100 years, and perhaps even 200. That was not a given 15 years ago. That is Cook's achievement, and it is far greater than anything Jobs accomplished in his lifetime."

And you argue that by investor metrics, Cook is leaving as a rock star. But what's the but?

MCGEE: The but is that Apple invested huge sums into China. I mean we're talking greater than the west invested in the Marshall Plan into devastated Europe after World War II, and it trains some 30 million people in the supply chain, greater than the population of California. The preponderance of them are all in China, and Apple has basically created the industrial clusters that makes China the absolute juggernaut it is in electronics manufacturing.

So, "The Washington Post" columnist is probably going to be correct if we do not have a major blow up with China. But if Beijing decides that they're actually going to make good on their promise to take Taiwan back, you know, TSMC, the world's best fabricator of chips, is the choke point that gives rise to Nvidia, Apple, Google, Meta, Amazon, anyone who is supplying advanced chips to the world. So, Apple might design those chips, but it makes zero of them and it has zero capability to do it. Same thing with Nvidia.

So, if we have some sort of issue there, all of those companies effectively collapse. I mean I don't know how to be so -- I don't want to be so melodramatic about it, but the west has really no capability of creating advanced chips. And that's only one of Apple's problems. The other problem is that they're entirely reliant on a China-made supply chain through investments that Beijing sort of lured in over the last four decades and Apple basically played its hand into and ended up investing so much money that China is just the only place on the world where you could possibly build the iPhone and other products at the quality, cost and quantity that Apple requires.

[09:55:16]

You also, right in the way you put it is you said, based on my research, I'm convinced that no company has done more to enable president xi. But you also argue every decision to deepen his footprint in the country, meaning, um, Tim cook made sense at the time. How do you square it

BOLDUAN: You also write, and the way you put it is, you said, "based on my research, I'm convinced that no company has done more to enable President Xi." But you also argue, "every decision to deepen his footprint in the country," meaning Tim Cook, "made sense at the time."

How do you square it?

MCGEE: Yes, I mean, I like to write that my book has no villains. It's written in a sort of neutral tone of how it happened. And I think China's emergence on the world stage over the last four decades is arguably one of the top one or two events that has taken place during our lifetimes. And I'm really just trying to explain how it happened. And it's remarkable that one company played such an enormous role.

I mean, we're talking about a company that was literally having to convince United Airlines to fly to Chengdu (ph) and Hangzhou (ph) three times a week because so many Apple engineers were flying first class in order to get to these otherwise fairly obscure Chinese cities to build products. I mean, the number of people that they trained, the investments that they made, billions of dollars spent on machines in someone else's factory is of a sort of nation building effort, which is a fairly big claim for a nation with 1.4 billion people and a GDP only second to the United States.

BOLDUAN: And when I hear that music, it means we got to go, because we're also talking about money on the clock.

Patrick, it's really great to meet you. You're so fascinating. Thanks for coming in.

SIDNER: "SIT ROOM" is next.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, madam.

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