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President Trump Musing On A Third Term; President Trump Angry At President Putin Over Ceasefire Negotiations; Musk Spending Money In Wisconsin Supreme Court Race; Search For Quake Survivors Continues; Trump Says He 'Couldn't Care Less' If Auto Prices Rise Because Of Tariffs; Plane Lands Safely After Hitting Kite. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 30, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Jessica Dean in New York. I'm not joking. President Donald Trump on the record saying he's not ruling out another run for the White House. To be clear, the president is limited to two terms by the Twenty-second Amendment to the Constitution. But Trump telling NBC News, quote, "There are methods by which he could do it." Now Trump has mentioned this idea before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It will be the greatest honor of my life to serve not once, but twice or three times or four times now. Headlines. Headlines. Headlines from the fake news. Now, it will be to serve twice. Should I run again? You tell me.

(CROWD CHEERING)

There's your controversy right there. There's your controversy.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Betsy Klein is in West Palm Beach following developments. Now, Betsy, as I mentioned at the top, this time, Trump did say he's not joking. What else did he say?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Yeah, Jessica. President Trump, as you mentioned, it's not the first time that running for a third term has come up. He's mentioned it kind of tongue in cheek in the past, but now is openly musing about seeking a third term in office and saying it is not a joke. I want to read you the transcript from this phone interview he had with NBC's Kristen Welker. Welker says, "Sir, I'm hearing you don't sound like you're joking. I've heard you joke about this a number of times."

And Trump says, "No, I'm not joking. I'm not joking." He goes on to say there are methods by which he could do it. And Welker asked if he could have Vice President Vance run and then pass the baton to him. The president concedes that that's an option and says there are others too. He repeatedly said, however, it is too early to be thinking about this.

Now the Twenty-second Amendment to the Constitution, as you mentioned, it says, no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice. And repealing that amendment would require a two- thirds vote in the House and Senate and then ratification by three- quarters of states. So extremely unlikely.

However, Steve Bannon, who's a top outside ally to the president, has suggested that because the Twenty-second Amendment doesn't have specific language about consecutive terms in office, there could be a loophole there. We should also note that President Trump will be the oldest president at the end of his term, topping Joe Biden at 82 years and seven months old in January of 2029. And asked if he even wanted to serve a second term, the president said he likes working.

DEAN: And Betsy, Trump also threatening additional tariffs against Russian president Vladimir Putin, had some choice words for him too. What was that about?

KLEIN: That's exactly right. In the same NBC News interview, the president threatened secondary tariffs on Russian oil. He said if Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine and if I think it was Russia's fault, which it might not be, but if I think it was Russia's fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia.

But here, Jessica, is why that just doesn't make sense. The U.S. hasn't imported any oil from Russia since Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2022, so he could double, triple, quadruple the tariffs. It wouldn't make a difference. What's also notable here, as you mentioned, is Trump's stark language about Russian president Vladimir Putin. He said he was, quote, "pissed off" at the Russian leader for going after Ukraine's President Zelensky's credibility and calling for new elections in Ukraine. Of course, that stands in such stark contrast to the president's own words about Ukraine and Zelensky in recent weeks, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Betsy Klein with the latest from West Palm Beach. Thank you so much. Tonight, the world's richest man is once again flexing his influence in a pivotal election, this time in Wisconsin.

[17:05:00]

Musk is hosting a town hall tonight in Green Bay. That's ahead of Tuesday's election for the state Supreme Court. Now this is a pivotal contest that could shape abortion and voting rights in the state. It's also being seen as a referendum on Musk's political power. He's poured millions of dollars into the race. And tonight, he is set to give out a million dollar prizes.

It's the same controversial move he used in last year's presidential election. Wisconsin's attorney general is calling on the state Supreme Court to intervene and block Musk's giveaway saying, quote, "If this court does not take prompt action and the prizes are awarded, the injury to public confidence in the validity of this election cannot be undone."

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten is joining us now. Hello, Harry. To talk more about this --

HARRY ENNTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hello.

DEAN: -- Wisconsin getting so much attention right now. Tell us more about what's at stake.

ENTEN: Yeah. What is at stake in the great state of Wisconsin? Milwaukee is on my mind. All right. So we're talking about the Supreme Court case. You mentioned that liberal Susan Crawford taking on conservative Brad Schimel in this race. Look, control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is on the line in this race.

Right now, it's a 4-3 liberal majority. Remember, it's nonpartisan in these races, but we know who's liberal conservative aligned. And a liberal is retiring. Now there have been very few polls, very few polls and certainly very few that I would trust, but the betting markets right now do suggest that Crawford is the favorite with about an 85 percent chance of winning.

Now you mentioned Elon Musk, right? So let's talk about this race. And just in terms of the money that's being spent, holy cow. I mean, we're talking well over at this point, $75 million. That makes it the most expensive court race ever, ever. That's how much we're talking about. You mentioned Musk. Musk and his aligned groups has spent, we believe, northward of $20 million, but it should be noted, it should be noted that the Crawford groups, the pro-Crawford groups have actually outspent him and the pro-Schimel groups. So it seems to be that they're on an even plane at this particular point.

DEAN: Okay. Let's also take a look at Florida. There's a special election in its Sixth Congressional District. This is the seat that was left vacant by Mike Walz, who's now the national security adviser. What can you tell us about that?

ENTEN: Yeah. So this is a race I didn't think we'd necessarily be talking about because Trump won this seat by 30 points back in 2024. But if you look right now at the early vote plus the mail vote, and we believe that'll make up the majority of vote based upon history. Right now, the GOP's edge in terms of party registration is just nine points, is just nine points. So there's this idea that this race may in fact be far more competitive than, say, the 2024 baseline would suggest.

DEAN: And even though Republicans seem likely to win, does it really matter if Democrats then make big gains compared to last year?

ENTEN: Right. So, you know, you see this party registration edge, GOP plus nine. Obviously, that's less than the 30 points, but it does still suggest that Randy Fine, the Republican, is the favorite over Josh Weil, the Democrat. But here's what's important to keep in mind. If we look so far at the average special election, there have only been really state legislative one so far. Democrats are doing about nine points better on average than Kamala Harris has done.

Now you might say, okay, who cares? So on so forth. But here is why that's important. I want to take you back through history. We're gonna go all the way back. We're gonna go all the way back since 2005, the 2005, 2006 cycle. And what we know from those cycles, at least in midterm elections, when one party outperforms in the special elections, guess how many times they have then gone on to win the U.S. House of Representatives? Five out of five times.

So the fact that Democrats have been outperforming so far is a good sign for them heading into 2026. If in fact they're able to outperform in Florida again on Tuesday, that would just build the blocks that would suggest, hey, you know what? We can't win in the Sixth District, but that district is so far to the right. All of a sudden, we get more towards the center of the electorate. We may be able to pick up seats that, say, Trump won by five even if you can't pick up seats that Trump won by, say, 30 as he did in the Sixth District Of Florida.

DEAN: Okay. So let's say hypothetically that the Democrat, Josh Weil, pulls off an upset and flips the seat. Then that takes us to the House where Republicans have this teeny tiny majority. What would it mean for control of the house?

ENTEN: I mean, you talk about teeny tiny majorities. Right now, it's 218 to 213. That is the smallest GOP majority at this point in the Congress since 1917. And all of a sudden, you can do the math with me. You can add and make this a 14, and then it's just a four seat majority, Jessica. A four seat majority. It would just make things so difficult to get done. You're already dealing with such a small majority, and this would just make it, I don't even know, crazier than the political environment is already, and it's already so crazy.

DEAN: Yeah. Yeah. No doubt about that. Okay, we keep our eyes on all of these. Harry Enten, as always, thank you so much.

ENTEN: Thank you.

[17:09:57]

DEAN: Joining us now is the Chair of the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, Ben Wikler. Ben, it's always good to have you on. Thanks for being here with us.

BEN WIKLER, WISCONSIN DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR: Thanks for having me on today.

DEAN: I want to go back to this court filing from the state attorney general in just a moment. But first, if you can, for all of our viewers watching across the country, not just in Wisconsin, explain why this race is getting so much attention? Why people in other states should be paying attention?

WIKLER: So the rest of the country has a stake in what happens in Wisconsin judicial races for two reasons. The first is that Wisconsin is offering the tipping point for the entire country. So voting laws like the right wing Supreme Court banned drop boxes, the more progressive Supreme Court allowed them again. That could affect who wins a presidential election because the entire electoral college can hinge on Wisconsin. The House majority, the Senate majority, those things can depend on hairline races in Wisconsin, the only state where five of the last seven presidential races has come down to less than one percentage point, and both of the last two U.S. Senate races.

Those are national consequences that affect every American across the nation. You know, things like the abortion ban just affect Wisconsinites. But the other dimension for this is that the question of whether Elon Musk can blunder into any state, drop tens of millions of dollars, and buy control of the state's highest court. That's at stake here. If Elon Musk succeeds in helping Brad Schimel to defeat Susan Crawford, then you can expect that this movie will be repeated again and again.

He will go in and try to use these giant giveaways to bribe voters in state after state. If you don't want to see that happen, you have a stake in ensuring that Susan Crawford wins this election so that this country is not transformed into an oligarchy where the richest man in the world can buy whatever electoral outcome he wants.

DEAN: And so you mentioned Musk and what he's doing with his money. The state attorney general's court filing argues that Musk's million dollar prizes could really affect public confidence in the validity of this election. Do you think that's true? And how likely is it do you think that this Supreme Court is going to intervene here?

WIKLER: Well, it's a crime to offer someone something of value in order to induce them to vote, or to not vote. But whatever happens with the court, what we know is that Elon Musk sees Brad Schimel as someone who's for sale because he's seen that Brad Schimel's been for sale throughout his career. And Brad Schimel and Elon Musk are desperate and willing to try anything to win in this election.

I think that voters are gonna reject that kind of corruption. They want a common sense judge who rules no matter who's in front of them, whether they're the richest person in the world or a regular person, that everyone gets the same set of laws. They don't want someone who gives special treatment to their ultra-wealthy, far-right campaign backers. So I think that there's a real chance that this backfires on Elon Musk, on Brad Chimel, and that voters choose Susan Crawford in part to say absolutely not to this hurricane of money howling into a state to try to tip a judicial outcome and buy off a judge.

DEAN: So I do want to listen to what Brad Schimel said on Fox News this morning about Musk's influence on this race. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD SCHIMEL, WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT CANDIDATE: I don't control any of the spending from any outside group, whether it's Elon Musk or anyone else that has an organization spending money in this race. I've run a 72 county race in Wisconsin. I've campaigned in every county for 16 months. I'm not running for anything, for Elon Musk or any other person. And, frankly, the only thing that anyone, including President Trump and his endorsement of my campaign, all he asked of me was, Brad, do you reject activist judges? Are you gonna follow the law? That's exactly what I've committed to anybody, whether it's president Trump, Elon Musk, or any donors and donors or supporters or voters in Wisconsin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, Ben, that's his argument. What's your reaction to that?

WIKLER: Well, he's saying that on TV now right before the election. He's also said that he had to go to Menards and buy kneepads so he could crawl around on his knees and say, please, please, please to national donors to invest. He said that Donald Trump keeps losing in court, and this can only stop in the courts, and Trump needs a support network. He's campaigned in front of a 20-foot inflatable Trump balloon. His TV ads are all about Trump's endorsement for him, and they say that if Susan Crawford elected, what Trump is doing may not trickle down to Wisconsin.

Elon Musk's flyers all say that Brad Schimel will advance Trump's agenda. He's sure running like somebody who's gonna operate as Trump's bag man, just the same as he described himself as Scott Walker, a former Republican governor's bag man when he was attorney general. None of that has anything to do with the law. That is a political agenda to support MAGA and to support, you know, everything that Elon Musk is trying to do as he floods money into this race.

That side is, I think, the thing that voters find repellent. There's a real sense that things are out of control in this country and that Brad Schimel would be part of making that happen in Wisconsin as well.

DEAN: I do want to ask you before we go about what President Trump was saying today, his talk about a potential third term. He said he's not joking, but he also said, that it's really too early to be discussing this.

[17:15:03]

That being said, in terms of a state level -- a state level options, you mentioned Wisconsin being a very critical swing state in any presidential election. Does the state party have any options here? Do you all have any way to go on trying to get people on the ballot?

WIKLER: Well, the ballot access decisions, sometimes come down to our state Supreme Court. And what we could see very clearly is with Donald Trump, he tried to overturn the election result in 2020. Wisconsin is the only state where the Supreme Court seriously entertained Trump's lawsuit to try to overturn the election result and it came down to a 4-3 decision. A single vote kept Wisconsin from tipping and throwing out the hundreds of thousands of ballots that resulted in the Biden victory.

Brad Schimel has been asked whether that case was correctly decided, and he's refused to answer. He's kind of winking that he'll support, you know, whatever election sabotage or subversion that Donald Trump might try to advance. So when we think about this horrific idea of Trump circumventing the

United States Constitution to hold on to power, what you really want to make sure you have is the judges who make final decisions about ballot access and state after state, not to be people who see their job as to do whatever it is that Donald Trump is ordering them to do. You want independent jurists who see their job as swearing an oath and following it to the constitution and to the laws, not to a king.

DEAN: All right. Ben Wikler, thanks again. We really appreciate it.

WIKLER: Thanks so much for having me on today.

DEAN: Yeah. Still ahead. Trump, in his own words, pissed off at Vladimir Putin. We have more on the tension between the two leaders as Trump threatens tariffs on Russian oil.

Plus, rescuers desperately searching for survivors after the deadly earthquake in Southeast Asia.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

A staggering 700 people confirmed dead with likely many more to be confirmed. We are live in the disaster zone.

Plus, yet another incident at D.C.'s Reagan National Airport. A plane hit a kite while landing. More on that when we come back here in the "CNN Newsroom."

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[17:20:00]

DEAN: President Trump says he is, quote, "pissed off and angry" with Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Trump threatening to impose secondary tariffs of up to 50 percent on Russian oil if Putin does not cooperate in his efforts to end the war with Ukraine. And joining us now is CNN contributor and former CNN Moscow chief Jill Dougherty. Jill, good to see you. This is striking.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Jessica.

DEAN: We almost never hear President Trump saying something critical about Putin. How does pissed off translate to the Kremlin?

DOUGHERTY: Well, I think -- let's talk about the sanctions or whatever this secondary tariffs.

DEAN: Yeah.

DOUGHERTY: It's not clear exactly what that means. So just to define terms, it appears that if you're another country and you buy oil from Russia and you export to the United States, there would be tariffs on the goods you export to the United States. Now how this would work, who it would affect? I mean, it might, you know, affect China, it might affect India, but a lot of other countries already have tariffs and all of that on Russia. So that wouldn't work. But I think what we're dealing with is the desire by President Trump

to get this deal ASAP. And if you note, when he apparently was angry about the comments that President Putin made about President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. Now he's not saying Putin doesn't think that he's, you know, a democratically elected president or anything like that. What he's saying is if you get a new government in Ukraine, it's gonna slow down the process to getting a peace deal. So, again, it's Trump's desire to get this solved whatever way as soon as possible, I think.

DEAN: And you think this escalation in language is just him genuinely being frustrated that it's not going as quickly as he would like?

DOUGHERTY: You know, there are or at least one diplomat that I have heard described a conversation between both presidents, the second one, I believe, as not going very well. So, you know, there could be some problems. I think, you know, if we stand back and look at these two men, they both are -- I think that you would describe them as alpha male presidents who are right now negotiating, but also kind of maneuvering with each other. And both of them have domestic constituencies.

Now here, you know, there is democracy and we have elections. In Russia though, they do pay attention to public opinion. And so if Putin looks weak or if Trump looks weak, that's a problem for both of them. So I think you have a bit of this kind of mano a mano, you know, negotiating taking place. That could be a factor, or it could be just, again, this timing. Let's get it done ASAP.

DEAN: Yeah. It will be interesting to see as in as you're saying, like, Putin does the meet, you know, kind of fire back something a little more terse as well and, you know, to match the pissed off language. Now, the White House was pushing for a 30-day ceasefire that has not materialized.

[17:25:02]

The Kremlin says that a U.S. broker deal on the use of force in the Black Sea will only begin when its needs are met. So to that end, to your point, where do the talks go from here?

DOUGHERTY: Well, I mean, that is a good question. So when they say their needs are met, what they mean is they want sanctions. There are sanctions on agricultural products that Russia exports and also on their agricultural bank, and that would give them access to the, you know, world banks and the ability to exchange money, etcetera. So that could be a big deal. And so far, they're not getting it.

So I think that's what's happening. You know, Putin has been very specific about what he wants. And President Trump has shown, you know, he is open to ideas by Putin and has been actually very complimentary of Putin. But when it comes right down to it, Putin isn't doing what Trump wants to do in the time that Trump wants. And so I think, you know, Trump, again, wants us hurried.

But I would add, Jessica, it is expected that both leaders will be speaking this coming week, this week. And that, you know, gives Putin exactly what he wants. He wants to keep the conversation going. He wants negotiations with President Trump, not with Zelenskyy. And, so, you know, here again. I mean, if the president of the United States said I'm not gonna talk to Putin unless he does, you know, does something, to bring about peace, that might be effective. But right now, President Trump is talking to him, and that's exactly what, President Putin wants.

DEAN: Very interesting. All right, Jill Dougherty, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

DOUGHERTY: Sure.

DEAN: Still ahead, more victims being pulled from the rubble after an earthquake in Southeast Asia. We're gonna go there live. That's next.

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rescuers are searching around the clock for survivors after a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar on Friday. This video shows crew -- crews pulling a man out of that wreckage alive. This was more than 40 hours after that earthquake hit. Officials say at least 1,700 people are confirmed dead. Experts fear that number will rise in the coming weeks. Buildings toppled as far away as Bangkok, Thailand where rescuers are working there to free dozens of people who may be trapped under a collapsed high rise.

Our Will Ripley is there right now. And Will, I know you've been covering those rescue efforts. What's the latest?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jessica. Well, we're now more than 60 hours after the massive earthquake and the multiple aftershocks and there is still, we're told, a small window, a matter of hours, really, where they believe there's a chance that they could find somebody alive buried in the rubble.

And if you look up at the very top of what was a 30-story skyscraper, you can see that rescue cage there and a number of rescue workers there to the right. The reason why they're focusing the reference up there is they think they have found somebody. They don't know if that somebody is alive or if that somebody is dead, but all eyes have been trained on this exact spot for several hours now. Unfortunately, this type of thing is not happening in the hardest hit areas in Myanmar because they are completely cut off due to the extent of devastation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Voice-over): If hell had a name, it might be Sagaing, ground zero of Myanmar's worst earthquake in more than a hundred years. Stories and images are just now beginning to trickle out. The destruction, as awful as we imagined, maybe worse. The heroes are everyday people like Po Po, a kindergarten teacher. She was with her students when the massive earthquake hit.

PO PO, TEACHER (voice-over): On that day of the accident, we were able to evacuate all the children. many children and teachers in some school lost their lives due to the earthquake.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Po Po's school is in Mandalay, Myanmar's Second largest city. Her home is across the river, in Sagaing, a historic city known for ancient pagodas and monasteries, many of them now in ruins. She says 80% of the city is gone. The old Sagaing Bridge collapsed, cutting off aid, leaving survivors to fend for themselves. Even first responders are powerless. The fire station flattened. Trucks crushed beneath the rubble.

About 200 miles away, Myanmar's famed Inle Lake almost unrecognizable. Entire villages submerged. So many iconic homes on stilts collapsed into the water. Some here wonder if the world has forgotten them.

In Mandalay, near the quake's epicenter, a moment of hope. Big brother, we are coming for you, he says. We found you. Your heroes are here. After this, we will sit and sip tea. Against all odds, one life saved. Not everyone is so lucky. Minutes later, another powerful aftershock. The remaining structure gave way. Just like that, gone.

In the capital, Naypyidaw, a small miracle.

UNKNOWN: Hello.

UNKNOWN: Hello. Hold on.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Forty-four hours after the quake, rescuers from Singapore pull a survivor from the rubble.

[17:35:00]

A rare bright spot in the grim search for any sign of life. Hope of finding more buried survivors all but gone.

Back near ground zero, Po Po says no rescues are happening. Sagaing is almost totally cut off. Survivors are desperate for food, clean water, medical supplies. Every passing hour brings more uncertainty, more heartbreak.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN: And Will, just the scale of the devastation, it -- it really takes your breath away, and I'm sure seeing it in person even more so. How are the people you're talking to, who are either waiting on news for family members or who survived this earthquake themselves and are trying to get help, how are they dealing with all of this? I mean, emotionally, this is very hard.

RIPLEY: Emotionally, physically exhausting because a lot of the family members have barely slept. They've been out here since the hours immediately following the earthquake looking at this pile and just holding on to hope that one of the people they bring out might be alive and that that person might be someone they love. I mean, I've spoken with wives, children, husbands, parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles. They're all out here just watching this, watching this process and just sitting silently. I think there's probably a certain type of shock that sets in, an emotional detachment, and -- and until they actually see proof that -- that somebody did or did not survive, they just hold on to that small glimmer of hope.

DEAN: Uh-hmm.

RIPLEY: There -- there's resources out here to try to help them. They're going to need a lot of help. A lot of people, thousands of people will need help in many different ways as a result of this.

DEAN: So devastating. All right, Will Ripley in Bangkok, thank you for bringing us that update, though. And for more information about how you can help Myanmar earthquake victims, you can go to CNN.com/impact. You can also text the word "quake" to 707070.

Still ahead, Trump says he -- quote -- "could not care less" if car prices spike because of his new tariffs. What to expect as those tariffs are set to go into effect Tuesday. You're in "CNN Newsroom."

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[17:40:00]

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DEAN: Surprising words from President Trump. He was asked if he pressured automakers to avoid raising car prices after his tariffs. He told NBC News -- quote -- "I couldn't care less. I hope they raise their prices because if they do, people are going to buy American-made cars. We have plenty."

Now, in just a few days, President Trump's sweeping tariffs are set to go into effect. That would put 25% tariffs on imported cars and parts. Auto industry experts have said it will mean all new cars, both foreign and American-made, will cost thousands of dollars more.

CNN global economic analyst and "Financial Times" global business columnist and associate editor, Rana Faroohar, is joining us now. Rana, thanks for being here with us. I want to listen to what Peter -- Peter Navarro, who's Trump's economic adviser, said about these tariffs. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR COUNSELOR FOR TRADE AND MANUFACTURING: Trust in Trump. We have the example from the first term. We know that we imposed historically high tariffs on China. We imposed aluminum and steel tariffs. We imposed on washing machines, on solar. All we got out of that was prosperity and price stability. And the reason why we're not going to see inflation is because the foreigners are going to eat most of it. They have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, he's essentially saying trust the process. The foreign people in other countries that are being tariffed are going to pay for this. Do you agree with that assessment?

RANA FAROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST, GLOBAL BUSINESS COLUMNIST: Well, look, there's a couple things to say. Navarro is right in the sense that in 2018, 2019, during the first Trump term, the tariffs didn't have an appreciable effect on inflation in part -- those were tariffs on China -- in part because the Chinese made adjustments to their currency. And so, yeah, in that sense, you know, the foreigners did eat the price increases. I guess you could say that.

What I would say is this, though. The auto supply chain is much more complex. You're dealing with a lot of inputs and outputs. This is a much bigger experiment in real time adjustment to tariffs and inflation. And you're also dealing with a Trump that has been, let's say, a lot more aggressive, not just with the Chinese but with Europeans, with the Canadians, the Mexicans. So, the -- the issue has become more highly politicized.

So, I -- I think there's evidence to show that the U.S. market can weather tariffs better than some commentators would predict, but I'm also not holding my breath yet. I want to see, you know, some weeks and months of this to really see how things are trickling through the supply chains.

DEAN: And we have some new reporting that says Americans are headed to car dealerships. They're worried about car prices, that they're about to jump. What do you say to people who are -- need to buy a car or thinking about a car in the next -- let's call it six months to a year?

FAROOHAR: Well, you know, it's interesting. I would say probably by now because I don't think inflation is going down no matter what happens. Even if we didn't have tariffs in place, I think that we're in a slightly higher inflationary environment at the moment.

[17:45:02]

But it's interesting because that impulse to go out and buy today because you're not sure what the price is going to be tomorrow, that's exactly what causes inflation longer term. In fact, that's a lot of what economists worry about when -- when you start to see an inflationary spiral because people aren't trusting what's going to be around next week, next month. So, it's a very, very delicate moment and -- and the jury is out about what's going to happen.

DEAN: Yeah. I also -- this new CBS News polling is interesting. In part, it found that 42% of Americans think that Trump's policies are -- that they are worse off now financially. And if you look at it, it's almost like the numbers from three months ago or a couple months ago, early January, it's flipped. It's -- it's -- it's a stark change when just --

FAROOHAR: Yeah.

DEAN: -- 28% thought that they were worse off. What do you think about --

FAROOHAR: Yeah.

DEAN: -- this data that we're getting?

FAROOHAR: So, you know, I've said this over the years. I think presidents get too much credit and too much blame for the economy. I believe, no matter who was in office, that we were probably heading into a slightly more inflationary environment as -- probably a slight economic slowdown. But what I would say is I don't think Trump has helped situation with the uncertainty of his policy.

So, it would be one thing if you're saying, yeah, we're going to have tariffs, we're going to try and bolster more domestic manufacturing, and we're going to take little higher prices as a tradeoff for that potentially and communicate it clearly and consistently and maybe work with allies. That has not been what has happened. It has been on again, off again, a lot of conflict. The markets haven't like that.

And I think the fact the markets have been jittery makes people who have money in 401K or, you know, have any kind of really stock investments feel anxious about the future. And so, that's part of what's happening, too.

DEAN: Yeah. All right, Rana Faroohar, thank you for that analysis. We really appreciate it.

FAROOHAR: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, another close call on Washington's Reagan National Airport as a United Airlines flight coming in for a landing hits a kite. More on this when we come back. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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DEAN: Another aviation incident just outside Washington as a United Airlines plane hit a kite yesterday while landing at Reagan National Airport. Authorities saying a family was flying that kite at a park just off the runway, which is not allowed. The United 737 was flying in from Houston. It did land safely, but it is the latest in a string of aviation incidents at DCA.

Our Brian Todd joins me now to talk more about this. Of course, Brian, we're going all the way back to January where there's that absolutely tragic collision between the helicopter and the passenger jet. But since then, we have seen a number of events.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really astonishing, Jessica. Two months, as you mentioned, two months after that deadly collision over Reagan National Airport, they've had congressional hearings about that incident. They have banned helicopter traffic, at least military helicopter traffic around Reagan following that incident. And yet, as you mentioned, these incidents just incredibly still keep happening around Reagan National Airport. Here's the latest of what we know about the this latest one. United Airlines telling CNN it is aware of reports that a kite struck one of its planes landing at Reagan National Airport yesterday afternoon. This was United flight 654 coming in from Houston. It would have occurred yesterday as the plane was landing at about 4:15 p.m. Eastern time. United says that the plane landed safely, that the passengers deboarded normally, and that they inspected the aircraft and there was no damage to it.

But there were warnings that we've picked up from air traffic control, warnings of people flying two kites at about that same time, at about that same place, at Gravelly Point right next to the airport. Take a listen to this air traffic control audio of the two warnings.

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UNKNOWN (voice-over): At the beginning of the runway, there is a kite being flown. United 654.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Use caution for a kite around short final.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Alaska 8, thanks.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Alaska 8. That kite is about 100 feet right somewhere along the final approach path.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): All right. We'll be looking, Alaska 8.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Okay, Bluestreak 5388, we just got a report there is two of them. One is like a bright yellow one.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Even better. Thank you. Bluestreak 5388.

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TODD: So, warnings that two kites were being flown at that time around Gravelly Point, near the airport, and we have to reiterate that kite flying is not allowed at that -- at that spot because of the planes coming in so low.

The Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority says its police responded to reports of kite flying yesterday, and then they briefly confiscated a kite.

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You see an image there of a police officer with the kite in his vehicle. They confiscated a kite. They gave it back to the owner. No charges were filed. But today -- I think we showed this video a moment ago. Today, one of our photojournalists, Manny Klimiko (ph), went back to Gravelly Point. And incredibly, he was there when another incident occurred where a man was trying to fly a kite and a police officer came up to him.

Here's some of the video. This gentleman in the red shirt flying a kite. This police officer come -- comes and kind of accosts him and says, you know, you got to get that thing down and reel it in. And if the video plays out a little longer while I'm speaking here, you can see just how close an incoming plane is to the kite when this gentleman is still trying to kind of keep it aloft there.

This was apparently the same place where the kite flying occurred yesterday. Take a look at that plane coming in and how close it could be. If that kite was at some height there, that could've been another potentially problematic incident.

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Not clear whether that kite was -- yesterday was from that park or it might have been a kite that got away from a festival that was on the mall not too far away from that place. But, Jessica, again --

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TODD: -- these close calls and these incidents keep happening at Reagan National.

DEAN: All right, Brian Todd with the latest. Thank you very much for that. Tonight at 10, the final episode of "Twitter: Breaking the Bird." It follows Jack Dorsey's return to Twitter as CEO. Here's a preview.

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UNKNOWN: One team was the whole team got together in one location for announcements to where things were going.

UNKNOWN: There we go. Okay. Okay. We got some sun. How's everyone feeling?

UNKNOWN: When one team came around, they really made Jack's sort of health stuff, his personality, a key part of the programming. So, Jack would fast for, you know, days at a time. He would do ice baths and -- and cold tubs and saunas. He walked to work. He, every day would drink what he called salt juice.

UNKNOWN: There were, like, little salt juice packets under everybody's seats. It's, like, the weirdest Oprah "check under your seat" giveaway you can imagine.

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DEAN: Tune in "Twitter: Breaking the Bird." Final episode airs Sunday night at 10 p.m. Eastern Pacific only here on CNN.

So, tonight, President Trump's -- quote -- "not joking about a third term." We're going to talk about it with our political panel just ahead. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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