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Senator Elizabeth Warren Demands Airlines Crackdown Amid Travel Chaos; White Christian Nationalist Movement Growing in U.S.; Top Democrats Call for Inspector General to Recuse in Secret Service Texts Probe. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired July 26, 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: Delays and cancellations and the expensive tickets. If you've flown recently, you know that air travel is a mess. Well, now Senator Elizabeth Warren is demanding federal regulators do something about it.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: In a letter first obtained by CNN, Democratic Senators Warren and Alex Padilla urged the transportation secretary to crack down on the airline industry. CNN's Matt Egan joins us now. Matt, what do they want the secretary to do?
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Alisyn, Victor, they want regulators to essentially throw the book at the airline industry, right. They're fed up with, like many of us, with all these cancellations and delays. Yesterday alone, more than 1,300 flight cancellations, another 540 plus today.
Senators Warren and Padilla, they're essentially calling for three things. One, hefty fines when airlines cancel flights in response to reasons under their own control. Two, they want to fine airlines when they intentionally over book flights, and they also want to crack down on airline mergers that are anticompetitive.
Now the lawmakers point out that this travel chaos isn't just coming two years after the industry was bailed out by the federal government. Let me read you a key line from the letter.
They wrote, quote: After receiving tens of billions of dollars in assistance from American taxpayers, major airlines have reciprocated by dramatically increasing ticket prices and reaching new lows in their treatment of travelers.
Airlines, they blame this spike in cancellations on shortage of workers, in particular, shortage of pilots, also some of this extreme weather. Industry trade group, they told me they're doing everything they can to meet what they describe, quote, an unexpectedly rapid rebound in travel demand. I don't know about you guys, I'm going to probably steer clear of the airport if I can. I'm taking the train down to Washington tomorrow morning.
CAMEROTA: OK, all right, well it's probably quicker anyway. Let's talk about Walmart dropping prices on clothes, other items piling up on their store shelves. Of course, lower prices good for consumers, what's this signal for the economy though?
EGAN: Yes, well it's so interesting because I think this is really clear cut evidence of how this 40-year high in inflation is having a real impact on the economy. Walmart shares as we speak, down about 8 percent, dragging the rest of the market down. Walmart issued this rare profit warning. They said that high food prices, high fuel prices, it's altering how consumers spend their money. It's left Walmart with bloated inventories, essentially too much stuff, forcing the company to cut prices. Now that is good news for consumers because that means lower prices and other retailers may have to do the same thing.
I think the concerning point here is that this shows that some consumers are starting to feel the pressure of this really big spike in inflation, and remember, consumer spending, that is the main driver of the economy. Consumers stop spending, all bets are off for the economy.
CAMEROTA: What's happening with home prices and mortgage rates.
EGAN: Yes, so new numbers out today showing that home prices spiked by 20 percent -- just under 20 percent year-over-year in May. A really impressive figure. That is actually a slight slowdown from the gain in April. Not surprisingly, the hottest housing markets is in the Sun Belt. 30 percent plus spikes for Tampa, Miami, and Dallas.
The big question is whether or not there will be a bigger slowdown in home prices because mortgage rates have gone up. They've almost doubled over the past year. The higher rates go, the less home that people can actually afford.
[15:35:00]
So, the question is whether or not we're doing to start to see a bigger slow down, new report out today showed that new home sales declined in June by more than expected. The slowest pace in more than two years. At some point, something's got to give, right. High prices, high mortgage rates, it's not sustainable.
BLACKWELL: All right, we'll see the influence of the Fed's decision tomorrow on housing markets.
EGAN: Thank you, guys.
BLACKWELL: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: Thanks, Matt.
BLACKWELL: Highways are clear. All bridges are back open in St. Louis after record rainfall caused flash flooding last night. Emergency crews spent the day rescuing several stranded motorists from cars floating in that high water.
CAMEROTA: People were also trapped inside their homes. Emergency officials reported responding to at least 18 homes needing help. Police and firemen also walked around neighborhoods warning residents to leave their lower level apartments, they were in danger of getting flooded. Nearly 8 inches of rain fell overnight in the greater St. Louis area, making it the wettest day on record in the last 150 years.
BLACKWELL: Wow.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene calls herself a proud Christian nationalist. A sociologist says this growing movement is a threat to democracy. We'll discuss it with him, next.
[15:40:00]
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BLACKWELL: During the January 6th attack on the Capitol, there were Trump banners and confederate flags, the dancing flags, there's also Christian imagery, the wooden cross, people in prayer, the Jesus saves slogan. Now much of the House January 6th's Committee's focus so far has been on right wing extremist groups. But there are Americans who have adopted Christian nationalism who were there as well.
Samuel Perry is an associate professor at University of Oklahoma and the coauthor of "The Flag And Cross: White Christian Nationalism and The Threat to American Democracy." Professor, good to have you. Part of the reason we're having this conversation is because Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene just said that the Republican Party should become the Christian nationalist party. We'll get to that in a moment. But first, what is it? What is Christian nationalism?
SAMUEL PERRY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA: Christian nationalism is an ideology that seeks to idealize and advocate for a fusion of American civic life with a very particular kind of Christianity. And when we say Christianity, we don't really mean people who love Jesus. Who try to, you know, live Christ-like lives. We mean Christianity is code word for people like us who are conservative natural born citizens who think like us and look like us. And so, Christian nationalism is really this ideology that seeks to fuse and institutionalize that kind of Christianity with American policies and symbols and founding myths and our kind of deep story.
BLACKWELL: And when the book says white Christian nationalism, there is -- is it almost exclusively based on race, explain that element?
PERRY: Sure. We find in all of our studies that we're looking at these things with national survey data. We find that when white Americans hear the language of Christian nationalism, when they hear about Christian heritage and Christian values they tend to think with nostalgia for a time where people like us, the right kind of people had cultural and political influence. When say people of color, African-Americans for example, hear Christian nationalist language, they often think more aspirational, in terms of accountability. The kind of nation that we never quite lived up to our own values.
And so, we call white Christian nationalism this ideology that seeks to take back America for all, lack of a better phrasing, white -- ethnically white, racially white, traditional conservative Americans. Again, people like us, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks.
BLACKWELL: Yes, now there are some even in the Republican Party who would say that some of Congresswoman Greene's views are fringe. This though you say is not, this is central, this is their mainstream.
PERRY: Yes, we find in survey after survey that the kinds of beliefs that Marjorie Taylor Greene affirms that we would be proud Christian nationalists, that the Republican Party ought to be the party of Christian nationalism.
Now, Marjorie Taylor Greene may seem fringe in the fact she has been outspoken and so blatant about this. But this is actually a very common ideology, that Americans believe that America was found on biblical principles, that Christianity made us prosperous as a nation. That we ought to, not only celebrate that path but we ought to return to it. We ought to institutionalize Christianity as our national identity. We ought to make policy in light of it, and ought to really privilege Christianity in the public square above other religions. And we don't have to give equal time, we don't even have to recognize other religions as much as we do Christianity.
BLACKWELL: Obviously a natural segue into why the second half of that title is the threat to democracy. How do you then confront it? Because it sounds like as encompassing as the white Christian nationalist identity is that it's not just confronting religion, it's confronting privilege. It's confronting one's view of one's self. How do you confront something like that?
PERRY: Right and you said it exactly right. I think this is I think this is an ideology that is fundamentally us versus them. It is not about maximizing space for everybody else who does not celebrate diversity in any kind of form, and it really takes the idea that this nation is for people like us whom we ought to have primary say, primary influence, so it is fundamentally antidemocratic in that regard.
[15:45:03]
It is not for voter access. It is very much against maximizing democratic opportunity for everybody else.
So how do we confront it? We have to return to our democratic principles, our idea that this is a society that celebrates legal equality and access to the vote. That we will not privilege one religious group over the other. That we don't have established religions in this country. That is a fundamentally un-American idea. And so, I think it requires, those of us who are concerned about this white Christian nationalist movement to link arms, to unite with one another. Both as those of us who are people of faith, those of us who are not people of faith but are at the same time very worried about this ideology. You have to unite and say this is not who we are as Americans, and this is not what we're about. That includes Republicans as well as Democrats.
BLACKWELL: And you genuinely think in this political landscape that that would be impactful? PERRY: I think that's the only choice that we have is to speak truth
to this kind of movement, to say, you know, this may not be fringe in the sense that not a lot of people hold it. I'm not talking necessarily about the majority of Americans who are white Christian nationalists. I'm not saying that. But I am saying that that very vocal and influential group of people who are now becoming more radicalized and militant, to say that we can push our agenda now and this is the time, and you mobilize their base with this kind of angry and fearful rhetoric.
It is to speak back to them and say this is un-American, this is not what conservatives are about. This is not what Republicans are about. I hope they believe that. I hope they affirm that this is a nation where religious liberty and religious diversity and racial and ethnic diversity are celebrated, valued, we want those things to be our ideals. And so, I think it requires us to link arms and to I think unite against this movement.
BLACKWELL: All right. Professor Sam Perry, I thank you so much, sir.
PERRY: Thanks so much for having me.
CAMEROTA: We're just getting this into CNN, two top House Democratic committee chairs are asking the inspector general to recuse themselves in a Secret Service missing text message investigation. We've all the new reporting next.
[15:50:00]
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BLACKWELL: New information now just in about the investigation into those Secret Service text messages that are missing from the day of the Capitol insurrection and the day before. Two top House Democrat committee chairs are asking the DHS inspector general to recuse himself from the investigation.
CAMEROTA: CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez joins us now. Evan, why?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn and Victor, these two important chair people of these two committees are saying that the inspector general for the homeland security department took too long to inform them and to inform Congress that they were not able to get these messages, these text messages that we now know the Secret Service says were deleted. These were text messages from January 5th and January 6th. They say that the delay in informing Congress about this casts serious doubt on Joseph Cuffari's ability to do this important investigation. I'll read you just a part of their letter.
And they say, quote: These omissions left Congress in the dark about key developments in this investigation and may have cost investigators precious time to capture relevant evidence.
One of the things they cite in this letter is that they say that the inspector general learned in December 2021 that these messages were lost as part of a phone migration system that was happening at the Secret Service. And they say that instead of telling Congress this information didn't make its way to Congress until very recently.
Obviously, that's a huge thing for Congress because they believe obviously if they had known this earlier, they could have been pressing the Secret Service to do more, to try to recover this information. And of course, we know the January 6th Committee is investigating everything related to the days leading up to January 6th and January 6th itself. So, this letter from Carolyn Maloney and Bennie Thompson is saying that they want Joseph Cuffari to recuse himself because they've lost faith that he can do this investigation effectively -- Victor and Alisyn .
CAMEROTA: That's a big development, Evan. Thank you.
OK, so up next, we have new CNN polling that's about to be released showing whether the January 6th hearings have had any effect on public opinion. Stay with us.
[15:55:00]
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BLACKWELL: Debris from a Chinese booster rocket could fall to earth early next week as early as Monday.
Oh, great. The 20-ton rocket took off Sunday but has now gone into an uncontrolled descent towards earth. It's not clear where it will land, but federal officials are tracking it. It's expected to break up into pieces, but large pieces, Victor, as it enters the earth's atmosphere. This is the third time that China has been accused of not properly handling space junk. The debris does supposedly -- well, does not pose a high risk to humans, we'll see.
BLACKWELL: Well, enjoy the weekend. Apparently, something is falling from the sky on Monday. This happens every month. It always flies by or falls somewhere where it's not going to hit, until it doesn't.
CAMEROTA: So, keep track of that. Meanwhile, sad news guys. The Choco Taco is going away.
BLACKWELL: And on a taco Tuesday, too. Now, this is the ice cream taco. You got ice cream, a taco shaped cone, now discontinued. Klondike said they had to cut this to preserve the rest of their products.
CAMEROTA: OK, if you don't know, here is the beauty of the Choco Taco. According to its inventor. When you eat a regular ice cream cone, you eat all the ice cream at the top and are left with an empty cone, OK. But with the Choco Taco, you get the ice cream, the cone --
BLACKWELL: Did we run out of Choco Taco video? Put that back up.
CAMEROTA: Rerack the Choco Taco, and the chocolate in every single bite.
[16:00:00]
Did you see how that works? That's better, right? It's -- come on, Victor. That's better. In every single bite. So, the Reddit cofounder is already launching a campaign to save the Choco Taco. He tweeted at Klondike's parent company, I'd like to buy the rights to your Choco Taco and keep it from melting away. Thank goodness somebody is on top of it.
BLACKWELL: Let it go.
CAMEROTA: No, no. No, Victor.
BLACKWELL: See I like tacos, I like ice cream, this, I'm not in love with it.
CAMEROTA: We should stick together --
BLACKWELL: Yes, I'm not sold.
CAMEROTA: -- in great taste.
BLACKWELL: But I'm glad they sacrificed this to preserve the Reese's ice cream bar. Thank you, Klondike. Thank you.
CAMEROTA: And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.
