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Cost of Gas, Food, Shelter Contribute to 40-Year High Inflation; Protesters Rally Outside Justices' Homes Despite Police Warnings; CNN Poll of Polls Shows Bien Job Approval at 39 Percent; Democrats Attracting More Support from White College Grads. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 14, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Another key inflation measure confirmed what you already know. Prices for just about everything continue to rise. Producer prices jumped 11.3 percent in June from a year ago. Inflation for consumers has reached a 40 year high. Driven in large part by rising gas prices.

Joining us now is the personal finance expert Jean Chatzky. She is the CEO of HerMoney.com and host of the HerMoney podcast. Jean, we need you to help with her money, his money, their money, everybody's money because inflation is so high. Some things you've got to buy. You've got to buy food. You have to get to work. You have to have a place to live. So, help us how to spend less when shopping for groceries.

JEAN CHATZKY, CEO, HERMONEY.COM: Sure, so groceries go on sale and if you are an active grocery shopper, you may have realized this. But they go on sale in kind of a six-week cycle. So, every six weeks you can count on chicken breasts, or ground beef, or your favorite brand of cereal going on sale. The trick is to stock your pantry. Load up on those items. Stock your freezer when they're on sale. And during the rest of the time, just buy the perishables. That'll bring grocery prices way down so will the tricks that you used during the pandemic. Make a list, stick to your list, cook more than you eat out. It all works together to bring your prices down and your leftovers. We throw away so much food in this country. That alone can save you a bundle.

BLACKWELL: And if you stock up, that means fewer trips to the grocery store. Maybe you save a few pennies on gas. Gas is coming down though. $0.40 in the last month or so, still high. Average about $4.61 per gallon for regular. How do we save at the pump?

CHATZKY: Well again, we save by driving less. We save by recognizing that if you've got a loyalty card to your grocery store, it may come with points that help you earn money off gas or you may have a credit card that works the exact same way. But the thing that you can control the most is actually the number of trips that you make out of the house or whether you are carpooling. I know it sounds like tried-and- true old-fashioned advice but that's because it has worked for a very, very long time. So, don't run 10 different errands a day. Make a list of all the different things that you do during your day and leave the house once.

BLACKWELL: Now let's talk about housing. Rent is up. Manhattan always expensive but the average is up 30 percent year over year in June to more than $5,000 for the average apartment rental. Interest rates are up so home ownership is out of reach for some people. What do people need to consider when finding a place to live.

CHATZKY: Yes, so if you are a renter, there's no doubt it's a really difficult time. The game is to try to expand the 12-month rental cycle, right. So, if you get a notice from your landlord that your lease is up and here's the lease to sign for another year, try to stretch that out a bit. Offered to stay for 15 months or 18 months or even two years and asked for a reduction in the rent because of it.

You got to recognize, there is a cost to the landlord to replace you. They've got to advertise the place. They may have to paint the place. You want to make it easier for them particularly if you have been a good tenant in order to stay there.

When it comes to mortgages, you want to make sure that you're shopping around with a credit score that is in as good a shape as it possibly can be, and that means knowing what it is, paying all of your bills on time, making an effort to pay down your credit cards so that you're not using more than say 10 to 30 percent of the credit that you have available on that credit card. That will help reduce the interest rate that you qualify for.

And if you don't have to move right now, if you don't have to buy a car right now, don't do those things. Inflation is coming down, not just at the pump, it is coming down in any different areas. You can bide your time as much as possible.

BLACKWELL: Yes and moving is not cheap. If you're moving to save $100 a month, you factored that into the cost of staying where you are, maybe it is not worth moving to the new apartment. Jean Chatzky, thank you so much.

CHATZKY: Thank you.

[15:35:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Well, dozens of protesters showed up at the Supreme Court justices homes, prompting Maryland's law enforcement to warn that they are about to start enforcing laws against some of these protesters. What does that mean exactly? We're going to speak to the Montgomery County Police Chief about it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Last night, about 30 protesters showed up outside the home of two Supreme Court justices. Now these demonstrations followed the court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

[15:40:00]

CAMEROTA: So now, Montgomery County police are warning that officers will begin enforcing laws against disturbing the peace. And joining us now is the Montgomery County Police Chief, Marcus Jones. Chief, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. So, what has changed in your county? Can people still peacefully protest?

CHIEF MARCUS JONES, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND POLICE: Yes, and good afternoon. Yes, people can still peacefully protest. What we are now focusing on is really trying to create a balance of people's rights to protest and to also have peace in the community. So recently, we really had a disturbance of the protesters causing many people in the community to complain about the noise, noises that these protesters are making.

So, therefore, we made a change in our focus to make sure that the protesters understand they have their right for a peaceful protest, but they don't have the right to disturb the community. So, this is where we have changed our focus to go about changes in the peaceful protest to make sure that the noise level is really low.

BLACKWELL: So, Chief, the protest have been going on for a couple of months now. It's our understanding that there had been complaints during that period. It's been about a month or so since there was that man who showed up at Justice Kavanaugh's house. And he's been charged with attempted murder. What changed this week to a change your approach to these protesters?

JONES: Well, it's not so much what changed this week. What we have done is we've met with community members over the past couple of weeks. And we've listened to their complaints and their concerns. We have, for example, we've got children that are in the neighborhood who are scared. We have parents who are having difficult times explaining this to their children and having difficulty even getting them to go to bed at night. And it's really just disrupting many people in the community's normal routine.

So, you know, the decision that came out quite a few weeks ago and, again, these protests continue. But again, because the protests have been ramped to become louder and more disturbing, we decided that we needed more legal advice about what the other options would be in order for us to be able to make sure that people don't disrupt the neighborhood from that perspective.

CAMEROTA: So Chief, just to be clear, do these have now be silent protests? Can people still chant their messages?

JONES: No, it does not have to be a silent protest. They can chant. But they can't make -- we have protesters who are coming in with drums. They're coming in with loud amplifiers. They are coming in again, making lots of noise beyond the norm. And that's where the disturbances really lie. And therefore, we need to make sure that our protesters are abiding by the law here in the residential area which is normally quiet.

OK, Chief Marcus Jones, we really appreciate all of that clarification. Thank you for being on.

JONES: You are very welcome, thank you. BLACKWELL: As inflation rises President Biden's approval rating falls.

What can he do to turn that momentum around? We'll talk, next.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: As inflation climbs, President Joe Biden's job approval seems to continue to fall. New CNN poll of polls combines the latest six national surveys and finds 39 percent of the Americans approve of the job the president is doing.

CAMEROTA: Joining us to talk about this and more, we have CNN Senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. He's a senior editor at the "Atlantic." And CNN political commentator Scott Jennings, a "USA Today" columnist. He also was a specialist assistant to President George W. Bush. In the house, guys. We have you in studio, which is such a luxury. Great to have you. Ron, your thoughts on President Biden's poll numbers?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, you know, really for the last three decades, really since the early 1990s, one of the powerful trends in congressional elections is a growing correlation between the way people feel about the president and their willingness to vote for candidates from his party. There are fewer split tickets in the House, fewer Senators winning in states that usually vote the other way for president.

But there are some intriguing signals in the polling that is going on now that there may be a decoupling of attitudes about Biden from attitudes about Democratic candidates. Today the ARP put out a poll in Georgia done by pollsters for Trump and Biden in 2020 and Warnock, Raphael Warnock was winning 24 percent of voters who said they disapproved of Biden -- according to the figures they provided me. That's incredible, by recent standards. Usually, you lose 90 percent of the voters who disapprove.

And similarly in that New York Times/Siena poll that's gotten a lot of attention this week, numbers they provided me, 20 percent of the voters who disapprove of Biden say they will still vote Democratic for Congress in November. In 2018, 8 percent of the voters who disapproved of Trump said they were voting for Congress. And I think both of those are a sign, that even though there are doubts and disenchantment with Biden, there are still portions of the electorate that are very skeptical about the Trump era GOP.

BLACKWELL: On this Georgia polling is that the contrast between Warnock and Biden or is it the contrast between Warnock and Walker?

BROWNSTEIN: It's both. It's both. Right. It's a similar kind of number is showing up in the latest Wisconsin poll, in the latest Pennsylvania poll.

[15:50:00]

And the ability to create that contrast against another candidate, even that is unusual for the last 20 years. I mean, yes, there are obviously in Senate races you have more ability to make it a choice between two individuals in kind of a parliamentary referendum on the parties. That's more of the function of the House races. But the ability to levitate that far above a sinking president is really unusual for the last three decades and it's an open question whether the Democrats can sustain it until November. If they can, it's probably their best chance, obviously to avoid a bad election.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think the Senate races are easier to do this in a standard congressional race. So, the decoupling Ron talked about. It's more possible in these Senate races. And in Georgia specifically, you know, Stacey Abrams gets the publicity down there but actually I think Warnock's the better politician. Great fundraiser was a pastor -- you know, is a pastor. Used to having constituents. I mean, the guy's an operator and it shows.

You know, at the beginning of the cycle Republicans really thought of Georgia as maybe the number one pick up slot. I actually think that's now gravitated to Nevada where Republicans feel better about that race than they do about Georgia race.

CAMEROTA: And Scott, the wild card in what will happen maybe -- even before the midterms is Donald Trump. And so, there's no reporting out today in New York Magazine this follows previous CNN reporting from last month. It's not if, it's when he will announce that he is running for president. He's to decide apparently between before the midterms or after the midterms. How do you think establishment Republicans like your friend Senator Mitch McConnell feel about this?

JENNINGS: Well, I'm sure that they would say anything that takes the focus off of Joe Biden and his 38, 39 percent approval rating and the fact that 80 percent of the country thinks we're on the wrong track, and we have, you know, rampant inflation. Anything that takes the focus off of those things -- which are helpful to Republicans -- is bad.

And so, they want to maintain the status quo political circumstances which in their view tilts towards Republican victory in November. So, if Trump gets in, obviously that's going to drive attention towards him.

Also, if you look at Trump's electoral history, when he's at the center, Republicans don't always do well. He won, obviously, but got fewer popular votes in '16. We had a terrible midterm in 2018 and he lost in 2020. Even though in the House Republicans did pick up seats in 2020. So, when you put him at the center of an election, we know one thing that happens, the Democrats get really excited to vote. They may not be excited about Biden, they certainly get excited about Trump or at least opposing him.

BLACKWELL: What do the numbers say about his influence?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, it's interesting. I mean, traditionally really going back all the way to the civil war, the biggest problem for the party holding the White House in midterm elections is that the other side is more energized, is more, you know, is more ready to vote. I mean, that's been true for 150 years.

For Democrats, there could be no better motivator than Donald Trump. You're already seeing the intensity or engagement gap narrowing because of abortion and the mass shooting and January 6th. And putting Trump, you know, front and center, as Scott was saying, would obviously help Democrats.

On the other hand, it is pretty rational for Trump to think that on his own, you know, calculus announcing before the midterm would be beneficial for him. I think he believes that if he does it makes it harder for either Georgia or the Justice Department to indict him. It makes it easier for him to claim credit for a tide that's already rolling if Republicans win back the House. So, it is one of many examples where his interest diverge from the party interest and I guess we'll look through history. Whose interest is he likely to prioritize more?

CAMEROTA: But that's not the riddle. Ron, tell us about the shifting sands of the demographics of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party now suddenly.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, will look, I mean, you know, we have been watching -- again, this is something going on for 50 years. Among white voters there's been what I call a class inversion. Where Democrats from the New Deal to the 60s they ran better among blue-collar voters and white-collar voters. That's all flipped around. I mean, blue-collar, noncollege whites are the absolute foundation of the Republican coalition at this point and Democrats are running better than ever, again in the Trump era, among college educated whites who tend to take liberal positions on issues like abortion and gun control.

The question is what is happening among Hispanic? Are we seeing the same dynamic move among them? I think the jury is out. What we're seeing I think now is largely about inflation. All voters across racial lines who are economically squeezed, who don't have a lot of wiggle room are feeling really pounded by inflation. But the idea that Hispanics are gravitating towards Republicans because they feel more comfortable with Republican values, two-thirds of Hispanics opposed overturning Roe. Two thirds say the gun laws should be stronger. 90 percent want to legalize DREAMers and all of those put them against Republicans. So, Republicans I think will do well with Hispanics in this midterm, but I think it's going to be largely around inflation.

JENNINGS: Well, I do think they also live in communities where crime is a big issue right now and right now, they're blaming Democrats who obviously are in full control and most of the cities in the country on crime issues. So, I think that's another topic that's motivating them to move towards the Republican Party.

[15:55:00]

CAMEROTA: Scott Jennings, Ron Brown, great to have you guys here.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you. BLACKWELL: A grand jury has indicted a former prominent attorney in

South Carolina on murder charges for the killing of his wife and son. We have details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Breaking news now. Ivana Trump, former President Donald Trump's ex-wife has died at the age of 73. She was the former president's first wife, mother of Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump. There's no word yet on the cause.

CAMEROTA: This is very surprising, at least to me. She's only 73 years old. I hadn't read anywhere that she was ill. Though of course, she hasn't been in the spotlight that much as of late. But here's a statement from, is this one from Donald Trump?

BLACKWELL: Yes, that's Donald Trump.

[16:00:00]

CAMEROTA: OK. I'm very saddened to inform all of those that loved her, which there are many, that Ivana Trump has passed away at her home in New York City. She was a wonderful, beautiful and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life. Her pride and joy were her three children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. She was so proud of them, as we all -- as we were all so proud of her. Rest in peace, Ivana!

That is from Donald Trump.

BLACKWELL: Eric jump, Jr. placed on Instagram. Our mother was an incredible woman, a force in business, a world class athlete, a radiant beauty and a caring mother and friend.

CAMEROTA: More on this as we get it.

And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.