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Trump Makes New Tariff U-Turn, Excepting Electronics Made In China; Comedian Bill Maher Recounts Time Spent Speaking With President Trump; Investigation Into Cause Of Deadly NYC Tourist Chopper Crash; Pilot, Spanish Tourist Family Of Five, Killed In NYC Chopper Crash, Trump To Trade The Oval Office For The Octagon With UFC Appearance; Revealing Look Inside The Manosphere. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired April 12, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:01:03]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Thanks for joining me in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Erica Hill in for Jessica Dean tonight.

Another day, another pivot when it comes to President Trump's tariffs. Late last night, the Trump administration announcing that certain electronics, including smartphones, will now be exempt from the president's steep new tariffs. This, of course, comes amid that escalating trade war between the U.S. and China.

CNN's Kevin Liptak joins us now from West Palm Beach, Florida, with more of the details.

So this is also part of what the administration is pointing to, is part of the plan to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. It's not like that is happening today, though.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, that could potentially take decades. You know, these electronics companies, their supply chains are so entrenched in Asia. It could take many, many years and many billions of dollars for those jobs to move into the United States. Obviously, that's not going to happen overnight. But the president had really been hoping to use these tariffs to try and bring those manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., which I think is why it's something of a surprise, at least, that he has now announced these new exemptions.

You know, for weeks we have been hearing from administration officials, including the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who had been saying, no, there would not be any exemptions when it comes to these tariffs on China. But now, in this late-night posting last night, we do hear from CBP, which is responsible for collecting these tariffs that a lot of the electronic products that are shipped from China to the U.S. will now be exempted. It includes smartphones, laptop computers, transistors, flat panel monitors, hard drives, semiconductors, all products that, for the most part, are not manufactured in the United States.

It's important to note that some tariffs will still be applied to these products. This exemption is for the sweeping 145 percent reciprocal tariff that the president announced earlier this week, but there still will be some tariff, the 20 percent tariff that the president applied for China's role in the fentanyl crisis will still be applied to these items. But certainly when it comes to that broader tariff, this will be good news potentially for American consumers who had been worried about higher prices on, for example, their iPhones.

It's also good news for the companies that make them. You know, Apple has spent the last two months really trying to cultivate President Trump. Tim Cook has been at the White House several times. Apple donated millions of dollars to his inauguration. In some ways, we're starting to see some of that effort pay off in this reprieve. The big question going forward is how long exactly it might last, because when you talk to White House officials, they do make the point that the president has advocated in the past for more specific tariff rates on specific products, essentially leaving the door open that he could apply more targeted rates on these products, potentially lower rates going forward.

I also heard from a White House official who said that the president will be ordering up a national security survey into semiconductors. Those are those microchips that power many of these products. Oftentimes those studies result in tariffs down the line. I think bottom line here is that the door is not closed. This is not the end. Final word on these tariffs for these products. But certainly it does sort of lend to the sense of uncertainty, of instability in global trade that the president has injected into the global economy with his trade war with China -- Erica.

HILL: Yes, there is certainly still plenty of that instability and uncertainty.

Kevin, appreciate it. Thank you.

Also with me to discuss this hour, CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein.

Ron, always good to see you. You know, when we look at this --

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Erica.

HILL: Hi. There's the uncertainty. There's the instability. There are questions about the U.S. markets overall. I'm also struck by this exemption, right, which is great for businesses. It is great for those tech companies.

[19:05:03]

A lot of those items are nice to haves. They are not must haves as food or shoes or clothing maybe for people. And those goods are a major concern for the average American consumer right now. So what is the messaging on this from the White House?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, a really good point. Yes. Yes, I mean, it is really hard to articulate or discern what the theory is at this point. Certainly consumer electronics and semiconductors are one of the industries that President Trump would over the long run, as Kevin noted, want to see repatriated to America. And yet, here he is exempting, you know, billions of dollars of commerce in those industries from the tariffs while maintaining them on a lot of other things that Americans need.

Toys and clothes and cars and things that really hit at the budget of the, you know, in many cases, blue-collar voters who put him over the top last November. I mean, what is the theory at this point, what you are covering in tariffs and what you are not, other than maybe the political influence of the industries and how loudly they can squawk or how visible the political pain may be. But, I mean, there's no question that what he is leaving in place still represents an enormous political challenge because he is raising prices on a lot of daily goods that Americans rely on after an election in which he was elected, above all, to help bring down prices and help people get control of their cost of living.

HILL: And when we look at this, I am struck by comments from former Treasury secretary Janet Yellen just earlier this week, I believe it was on Thursday, talking to CNN about how she views this moment. Take a listen to her assessment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, FORMER CHAIR, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE: It's the worst self- inflicted wound that I have ever seen in an administration impose on a well-functioning economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: You know, part of that self-inflicted wound is the constant back and forth. We're not going to negotiate, now we're negotiating. We're never going to remove the tariffs. Oh, wait, we've exempted a bunch of technology. I mean, it just -- it's sort of the hits keep coming to the administration from the administration.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, I mean, the -- you know, despite what President Trump says, he did not inherit an economy in crisis. Unemployment was low, inflation, although the cumulative price increase had been significant over the Biden term, had significantly abated by the end of the term, there were more manufacturing jobs, 600,000 more when Biden left office than when he when he arrived.

And another I think about 1 million construction jobs. We were in the midst of a factory construction boom, spurred by the incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Bill and the Chips Act, all of which Trump wants to undo, which may erase many of -- any of the gains that his tariffs produced, by the way, going forward. But he, you know, domestically and internationally, I mean, he has viewed his return to the White House on a pretty narrow victory as a mandate to fundamentally, you know, reorder the political world, whether it's, you know, on what he's doing on civil liberties and civil rights at home or how he's dealing with alliances and trade abroad.

And so this this kind of sense of Trump unbound, I think, is kind of the common thread. And what you see is this desire to kind of remake the entire post-World War II, you know, international economic order in one fell swoop. But as we're discovering, as Kevin noted, you know, no one believes that these products can be manufactured in large scale in the U.S. anytime soon. So all you are doing is raising prices on American consumers and, of course, your own voters. In the hope that someday down the road there will be a payoff. I mean, this is the kind of sweeping ambition or hubris that often trips up presidents.

HILL: We've seen consumer sentiment plummeting. Right? And this was, you know, from just days before the tariffs were increased. You have Larry Fink, the CEO of Blackrock. His comments on CNBC Friday morning, getting a lot of attention, saying we may already be in a recession. He's petrified. Look, this feels like, you know, sort of a boulder rolling down a hill, gathering steam here. The price increases, to your point, haven't even hit yet.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

HILL: Can Trump recover from this? I mean, what's the window? I spoke with someone earlier this week who said maybe it's a 30-60 day window before there's permanent damage, but we're already about halfway into that window.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Well, first of all, there is already permanent damage in the way the rest of the world is viewing the U.S. both diplomatically and economically. And increasingly, I think you are going to see other countries look to build alliances, both diplomatic, military, economic, strengthen all of those kind of alliances that will make them less reliant on the U.S. There is a lasting cost to that.

[19:10:01]

You know, when Trump had his much more limited tariffs in his first term, for example, I wrote about this a few months ago, as you recall, he spent billions of dollars to try to keep farmers afloat, U.S. farmers afloat because they were losing foreign markets. And in fact, those payments did help farmers, but they never got back the markets. I mean, U.S. soybean producers never got back the share of the market in China that they had before Trump started all this. China turned to Brazil, which they viewed as a more stable source.

And I think you're going to see that on a lot of fronts with a lot of products going forward. So, you know, there is already, I think, a cost to what they are doing. Now, look, the U.S. consumer has, you know, shown an incredible capacity to keep pulling the sled up the hill and to keep driving the economy forward. So it may be premature to assume that a recession is inevitable, but there is no question that the -- what we are watching in consumer sentiment is really almost unprecedented.

We are back to the highest level of inflation expectation in the University of Michigan since 1981, when inflation itself was an awful lot higher than it is now. So Trump has really shaken the American public. His economic approval ratings are now routinely weaker than at any point in his first term. And I think that that is the most immediate political threat he faces and that Republicans will face in 2026. He was hired to do one job above all, Erica, to get people's cost of

living under control and he's moving in many ways in the opposite direction.

HILL: Yes. You bring up an interesting point, too, about farmers. I spoke with a soybean farmer just yesterday who said to me the other change that he's noticed, he said he doesn't want to have to have a bailout again. Right? But that he's also noticed that there is no communication this time around with the Trump administration and he wants a seat at the table and so far can't get it. So we'll see if that changes, too.

Ron, really appreciate it. Good to see you, my friend.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

HILL: Still ahead here, a voice that is often critical of President Trump now sharing the details of his recent visit to the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: Millions of liberal sphincters just tightened. Oh, my god, Bill, are you going to say something nice about him? What I'm going to do is report exactly what happened. You decide what you think about it. And if that's not enough, pure Trump hate for you, I don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). So --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:54]

HILL: Gracious and measured. That's how comedian Bill Maher described President Trump after meeting with him recently at the White House. Maher, who has often been an outspoken critic of the president, dishing on the dinner they shared together, which was organized by their mutual friend, apparently, Kid Rock.

Maher came armed with a list of dozens of insults the president has used to describe him over the years, which he said Trump signed good naturedly. Last night, he recounted a little bit more of that visit with Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHER: Just for starters, he laughs. I'd never seen him laugh in public, but he does, including at himself. And it's not fake. Believe me, as a comedian of 40 years, I know a fake laugh when I hear it. And I thank you for them.

(LAUGHTER)

MAHER: Example, in the Oval Office he was showing me the portraits of presidents, and he pointed to Reagan and said, in all seriousness, you know, the best thing about him? His hair. (LAUGHTER)

MAHER: I said, well, there was also that whole bringing down communism thing, waiting for the button next to the Diet Coke button to get pushed, and I go through the trapdoor.

(LAUGHTER)

MAHER: But no, he laughed. He got it. Look, I get it. It doesn't matter who he is at a private dinner with the comedian. It matters who he is on the world stage. I'm just taking it as a positive that this person exists because everything I've ever not liked about him was, I swear to God, absent at least on this night with this guy.

I never felt I had to walk on eggshells around him. And honestly, I voted for Clinton and Obama, but I would never feel comfortable talking to them the way I was able to talk with Donald Trump. That's just how it went down. Make of it what you will. Me? I feel it's emblematic of why the Democrats are so unpopular these days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Of course important to note "BILL MAHER" airs on HBO. We're part of the same parent company, yada, yada. We know how that works.

Joining me now, CNN media analyst and Axios correspondent Sara Fischer.

Sara, good to see you. It was interesting to hear that recount, right, from Bill Maher and for him to talk about how, in private, he found Donald Trump to be a totally different person than what you see in public. And talking about that difference, it seems, as I'm reading some of the reaction, the issue that people have with that is they want the same person in public and in private.

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, I completely agree with Bill Maher. I've been to Gridiron Dinners, which are sort of these private, no camera dinners in Washington, D.C., where the president roasts himself, and he is funny and he can laugh and he can handle a good joke. I think the disconnect for Bill Maher's audience with this Trump monologue was that Bill Maher was considered for a long time to be more of like a progressive comedian.

And over the past sort of year or two, he's really leaned more into his sort of centrist self. And one area in particular, he's been very pro-Israel. He has condemned some of the pro-Palestine protests on college campuses. That has also rattled his audience. And so anytime he tries to dip into this center, his audience doesn't like it.

[19:20:01]

I think they don't like his comment about him being a different person, you know, in private versus in public because if you're a progressive person, your response to that would be, what we need is a president who is just competent and capable regardless of what stage that they're on, public or private. But, you know, he's still Bill Maher, right? Like, I don't expect this to impact his ability to get anybody on his show or impact ratings. This is a comedian who knows where the line is.

HILL: He also brought up in talking about, and look, he went on for a fairly long time, I believe it was a full 12 minutes when he was talking about that dinner, part of what he discussed was also when he brought up Iran with the president. Let's listen to that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHER: At dinner he was asking me about the nuclear situation in Iran in a very genuine, hey, I think you're a smart guy. I want your opinion sort of way. And I said, well, obviously you're privy to things about it and I'm not. But for what it's worth, I thought the Obama deal was worth letting play out because we made Iran destroy 98 percent of the uranium, and they were 15 years away from a bomb. And then I said to him, but we got rid of that. You got rid of that? He didn't get mad or call me a left-wing lunatic. He took it in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: And of course, today there were those talks in Oman, as Donald Trump is pushing for a deal when it comes to Iran's nuclear program. It's so interesting. I mean, we've heard a lot about how Donald Trump does like to hear from everybody in the room. He likes to poll people for their opinions. So that tracks.

FISCHER: It absolutely tracks. He also know that Bill Maher has a big audience. So for him getting to understand who somebody who reaches a lot of people, what their point of view is, that's very valuable to Donald Trump. Donald Trump cares. He does care deeply about what the American people think about his policies, especially right now with these tariffs.

You know, there's been reporting that suggests part of the pivot on tariffs does come from fears over what this would mean for the economy, what that means for voters in the midterms. And so I think he wants to understand how everyday people are going to react to certain policies. And if you're sort of a left-center comedian who has a big audience like Donald Trump cares what you think.

HILL: Yes, yes. Reaching out to an important audience. I also just wanted to get your take. It was a big moment this week, a federal judge ruled that the White House's punishment of the Associated Press was unconstitutional. Journalists everywhere cheering this move. But it also has a broader impact beyond just the White House and coverage of the White House.

FISCHER: It's a huge, huge deal, Erica. First of all, I'm not surprised because during the first Trump administration, Donald Trump had made efforts to sort of undercut press access. You'll remember he tried to take away press passes. He tried to block certain people on Twitter and courts, you know, generally ruled in favor of the first amendment. So when it came to this AP ruling, I'm not surprised that the judge who, by the way, a Trump appointed judge, ruled in favor of the AP. The precedent that this sets is that Donald Trump and the government

writ large cannot block reporters or the press from public spaces or semipublic spaces that taxpayers fund being Air Force One or the Oval Office just because of their political views. It makes it much harder for Donald Trump to block them.

Now I will say, though, Erica, the judge made one interesting comment. He said, look, I'm ruling in favor of the First Amendment here. I'm serving this injunction to the AP and granting it. However, I can't stop Donald Trump if he wants to decide who he's going to give an interview to or who he's not going to give an interview to. So there are still places where the Trump administration and the White House can leverage some power over who they want to work with.

HILL: Absolutely. But we see that in every White House, don't we?

FISCHER: Exactly.

HILL: As they make decisions about who they actually want to sit down with.

Sara, always good to talk to you. Thank you.

FISCHER: Thank you.

HILL: And of course, you can catch an encore presentation of "REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER" right here on CNN coming up after our show, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Federal investigators are still in the Hudson River. They are looking for additional clues as to why that tour helicopter fell from the sky into the Hudson killing all six people on board.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:28:24]

HILL: Dive teams continue to scour parts of New York's Hudson River, searching for clues as to what may have caused that deadly crash of a tourist helicopter this week. A couple from Spain and their three children were killed on Thursday, along with the pilot, when the chopper crashed into the murky waters off of Manhattan. New CCTV video obtained by CNN captures a loud noise as that helicopter fell from the sky.

Joining us now, CNN transportation analyst and former inspector general for the Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo.

Mary, always good to get your take here. You know, there's been in the wake of this tragic and deadly crash, there have also been renewed calls to improve the airspace over the Hudson, over New York City. What, though, based on what we know about what happened, what we know so far, I should say, what happened with this crash, would changes to the airspace to perhaps the way it is regulated, could that have changed anything? MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, yes, sadly, I think it

would have. You know, the NTSB has been calling for changes in the way the airspace especially over the Hudson River and with helicopter traffic operates, those calls for changes in those regulations and increased oversight started back in 1995 when I was inspector general. And it's the NTSB that has called on the FAA to make those changes.

They did it in '95. They did it in 2009 after there was another deadly crash in the Hudson. I worked on that accident. Two families from Italy were lost. They worked again on it in 2018 when there was another crash. And so the NTSB, I think, will once again call for renewed regulation and oversight. Right now helicopter traffic, tour traffic over the Hudson River operates as if it's a private enterprise, it's called Park 91. The NTSB says that's ridiculous. It should be regulated strictly as a commercial operation.

[19:30:17]

So, indeed, there might be some changes coming. And they've been calling on them the FAA to make them since 1995. I was there when they did it the first time.

HILL: We'll see and we'll see. Now, you know, some 30 years on, if perhaps this is the moment that some of that changes. There was also, as we were talking about earlier today in the show, there was another small plane crash. This was outside of Boca Raton yesterday.

We have January's crash, of course, there between the U.S. military chopper and a commercial jet, outside near Washington's Reagan Airport, a Delta plane flipping over on the runway.

There have been so many incidents, and I feel like every time I see you, I have to ask you, is it just that there are more incidents happening? Is this a dramatically higher rate, or is it just that we are hearing about them more?

SCHIAVO: No, for this year and the FAA keeps accident and incident statistics year by year. For this year, there will be a dramatic based on prior years, there will be a dramatic increase in the statistical accident incident and death rates, particularly the death rates, because it had been almost two decades since we had a commercial passenger service accident with a U.S. carrier in the United States. And then this year, already, there had been 67 deaths plus other accidents like the helicopter, which doesn't get classified as commercial passenger service. But this year, the statistics at least for deaths, are up and for other things.

Remember the NTSB uncovered in their investigation of the Reagan National Airport midair that there were 15,214 near-misses there in the last three years and the FAA seemed oblivious to that. And so, that's a bad statistic and also, there were 1,700, I think it was 1,758, what's called runway incursions, which is a near collision at the airport last year.

So, the statistics are not good. But, you know, the FAA certainly has to turn them around. And they have an air traffic controller shortage to top it all off. So, those things must change and they must change soon.

HILL: And there are questions about what is contributing to all of them. And could it be that staffing shortage? We'll continue to follow it all, Mary, always appreciate your expertise, thank you.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

HILL: Still ahead here, President Trump and Elon Musk both heading to Miami for a UFC fight tonight as the President taps in to the pop culture mainstream. Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VERA PAPISOVA, JOURNALIST: They're only listening to independent media and they're only listening to men talking to men.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Unpacking what's now known as the "manosphere," a growing digital space where macho and in some cases, macho Trumpism is taking root.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:16]

HILL: President Trump is expected to depart West Palm Beach shortly for a very short flight to Miami to attend a UFC fight. This is the latest of several premier sporting events the President has attended since coming back to the Oval Office. He was at the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the NCAA Men's Wrestling Championships.

CNN senior White House producer Betsy Klein joins us now from Miami. So, maybe his latest one, but this is -- he has a long history with UFC -- Betsy.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: That's exactly right. The President trading in the Oval Office for the octagon of the UFC tonight moments from now here in Miami.

His attendance at this Mixed Martial Arts event really a notable one for a few reasons. One, it really underscores how the President has reemerged as a mainstream figure in American popular culture. He was really somewhat of a pariah and really enjoying the status that he had during those "Apprentice" years now that he has been reelected and returned to office.

So, as you mentioned, he attended the Super Bowl. He attended the Daytona 500, as well as the NCAA men's wrestling championship, receiving a warm welcome at all of those premier sporting events.

Stephen Chung, who is the Communications Director at the White House, said in a statement to CNN: "President Trump and the UFC are cultural icons. He is a fan of the sport and the elite competitive spirit of all the athletes who stepped into the Octagon." The President also has personal ties to Dana White, the CEO of UFC, who really emerged as a top surrogate during the 2024 campaign.

He was the one who introduced the President at the RNC back in July. He was also on stage with the Trump nearest and dearest when the President gave his victory speech on election night. And third, it really underscores this alignment between the UFC brand and the young men who propelled Trump to victory in November of 2024.

We saw the President tap into that male oriented podcast sphere. Tonight, we are learning that he is going to be there in attendance alongside Elon Musk -- Erica.

HILL: All right, Betsy, appreciate it as always. Thank you.

Well, ahead of tonight's fight, CNN's Donie O'Sullivan got in the cage with former UFC star turned podcaster, Jake Shields to explore the so- called manosphere and to better understand why it's become so popular.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAPISOVA: They speak liberal, they have liberal friends, and then they go online and they are a White Supremacist.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is Vera Papisova, she spent the last year dating far right men in New York City for a story for a story for "Cosmopolitan" Magazine.

PAPISOVA: They're the most insecure man. I've ever sat down with. It was really difficult to have some of these dates because they were so insecure because they don't really know who they are, and they don't know how to figure that out.

[19:40:10]

O'SULLIVAN: She said the men she dated got all their news and information from the so-called "manosphere."

PAPISOVA: They did not listen to anything else. They're only listening to independent media and they're only listening to men talking to men.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): The "manosphere" is made up of macho podcasters and influencers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no such thing as an independent female.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most women have zero concept of White money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Females don't have independent thought.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): It's a space where UFC fighters are among those who reign supreme.

PAPISOVA: They love the UFC guys. They love the MMA guys. Because those guys do what they can. They're modern gladiators. They're badass.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Badass, like Jake Shields, a former UFC star turned podcaster.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): All right, now I'm starting to feel nervous. Thanks for having us.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): We met at an MMA gym in Las Vegas.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Like all great MMA pros, I've never hit anyone in my life.

JAKE SHIELDS, FORMER UFC FIGHTER TURNED PODCASTER: I'm not punching back. Hit me.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): K.O., K.O., K.O. This is CNN. Do you miss being full time pro? Like, in terms of --

SHIELDS: Oh yes, you know. Of course I miss it, to go from professional athlete which is the highest of highs to retirement. I guess the -- podcast has helped. You could fall into depression if you just go from the most amazing career where you're famous and spotlights to all of a sudden you're a nobody.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Sure.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Like other podcasters in the "manosphere," Jake, regularly hosts controversial guests.

SHIELDS: I named the podcast "Fighting Back." I feel like we have to fight back what we're told were allowed to do. I just don't like being told you're not allowed to talk to this person. Like, why can't I talk to him? I'm not saying I agree with his ideology, but I should hear what he has to say.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): He's hosted the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

SHIELDS: Today, I have a very, very special guest, Dr. David Duke. I know you're controversial, but I know how controversial.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): And Thomas Russo, the leader of the White Supremacist group, Patriot Front.

SHIELDS: Lets go -- we disagree a little bit. Let's hit race because you're a White only group.

THOMAS ROUSSEAU, LEADER OF PATRIOT FRONT: So the organization only allows people of American ethnicity. And all Americans I believe come from Europe, so they're White.

The true heir of the American spirit, fight on.

SHIELDS: You know, I understand and talk to these guys, but I've also not brought anyone hateful. If I do, I'm going to be really, really on top of them.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): But you, saying that you brought some hateful on race. People say well you brought Grand Wizard of the KKK. You brought on Patriot Front.

SHIELDS: Yes.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): They're hateful.

SHIELDS: No, I think those are excellent questions. But people go and watch the actual interviews. I think they would be like, oh, this guy is not near as hateful as if I expected it.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): But Vera says hate isn't what the men she dated were really looking for.

PAPISOVA: One of these guys brought me to a political meeting.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): And did they talk about politics?

PAPISOVA: Barely, they talked about -- it was a bunch of men complaining about girlfriends and wives. Regurgitating Andrew Tate type of advice about how to train your girlfriend, how to train your wife to be submissive.

And so, this group was supposed to be a political group, but they're talking about relationship problems. And, the fact that that's what most of the time was spent on. You don't need to be a Neo-Nazi. You need therapy.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): The appeal of Jake's podcast speaks to a need among young men in this country that Vera says can't be ignored.

PAPISOVA: You have to incentivize someone to want to -- to be better. You can't just say, let's make men better. The thing about. These guys is their biggest support system is online. But that also is very isolating and isolation is what breeds hatred.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Groups like Patriot Front offer community, but community based on racism and hate.

PAPISOVA: People have to really think about do you have the capacity to talk to people that you don't agree with? Because that one nice conversation you might have might change someone's day enough to not have to seek out help in an online support group which is actually a bunch of White Supremacists using political beliefs as an excuse for how they feel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: And Donie joins me now. It's such a fascinating -- such a fascinating piece, Donie. And I know there's more to come. But I'm struck, too, by the woman who -- I mean, she spent a year dating, I guess all of these people. And just, what surprised you the most about what you learned from her? Because you've been so deep in this world for so long.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Yes, Vera Papisova wrote a piece. I recommend reading it. It's -- she wrote it for "Cosmopolitan" magazine. And look, she had to sit through a lot of conversations of men telling her with a straight face that that women should not be able to have the right to vote.

And what she also found surprising was that this was all happening here in New York City, you know, sort of what is often thought to be a liberal city. But as she was saying, like a lot of these men appear liberal, even act liberal in public spaces and then go online and have the very different personas and identify in this way.

[19:45:22]

And look, I mean, I think it's important to point out, Erica, you know, the UFC in itself is not inherently problematic, at least in that hateful or antisemitic sense. And, you know, I have plenty of friends who will be watching the UFC fight tonight and enjoying it and not engaging in that space at all.

But the issue, I think, and what you know, for parents and others who are -- who are watching this is, is that, you know, there is a lot of folks, a lot of men who are seeking out male orientated content online, find themselves being sucked into these more hateful spaces. And I will just mention that actually, one of the fighters who's fighting in Miami tonight, his name is Bryce Mitchell. He recently on his own podcast because a lot of these guys have podcasts now, said that Hitler was a good guy, that he was a great guy. That was condemned by Dana White, the head of the UFC and of course, a prominent Trump supporter.

But yes, that just kind of gives you an example of, of really how, you know, one thing can lead to the other here.

HILL: Yes, yes, absolutely. Donie, really appreciate it. Always good to talk to you. Thank you.

O'SULLIVAN: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: And of course, you can catch more of Donie's reporting on a special episode of "The Whole Story: Misinformation: Extreme America." It airs tomorrow night at 8:00 right here on CNN. We'll be right Back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:22]

HILL: Myanmar is still in desperate need of temporary shelters and medical supplies weeks after a devastating earthquake killed more than 3,500 people. This is one of the strongest quakes to hit the Southeast Asian Country in a century.

The U.S. sent just three staffers from the Agency for International development. Days after they arrived in the country. They were told their jobs were being eliminated.

CNN's Will Ripley has a closer look now at what this means for Myanmar's recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): What the earthquake didn't take, the, fire did. This was Seine Pond, one of Mandalay's poorest districts built over an old garbage dump.

Survivors describe an inferno when the Earth split open.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The fireball emerged from the ground just after the earthquake. It wiped out all. 400 houses. Everybody ran. Now, nothing remains.

RIPLEY (voice over): More than. 2,000 people homeless. A neighborhood vaporized in minutes.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)

RIPLEY (voice over): "I just want my home back," this survivor says, she sleeps outside. And like many here, prays for help.

Aid workers say help from the United States, at least, is nowhere to be found. No American rescue teams, no visible U.S. presence in Mandalay. No American flags on the food trucks.

FRANCISCO BENCOSME, FORMER USAID OFFICIAL: The United States only sends a paltry amount of assistance and it sent only three workers, which then subsequently were fired.

RIPLEY (voice over): Those three U.S. staffers arrived days after the quake. They were notified, their jobs would be eliminated while in the disaster zone. The U.S. initially pledged just $2 million, later increasing it to $9 million. Compare that to 2023, the U.S. pledged $185 million and full search and rescue teams to the Turkey earthquake, deploying more than 200 U.S. staff.

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We're not the government of the world. We are willing to continue to help on the humanitarian crisis, other countries need to do so as well.

RIPLEY (voice over): And others are China, Russia, India, Japan, more than 15 countries have boots on the ground. Search and Rescue units, field hospitals, mobile clinics. Heavy machinery. Chinese teams were pulling survivors from the rubble just 48 hours after the quake. Beijing also pledged nearly $5 million more than the U.S.

TOM FLETCHER, RELIEF COORDINATOR, U.N. OFFICE FOR COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: So the fact that the U.S. is cutting back heavily hits us here as you know, it hits us everywhere.

MATTHEW SMITH, FORTIFY RIGHTS: It's an embarrassment but beyond that, it is deadly.

RIPLEY (voice over): The U.S. used to be a leader in global disaster response, sending elite rescue teams, dogs, cranes, food and water -- all of that feels like a distant memory now.

EI MON KHINE, MYANMAR RECOVERY WORKER (through translator): We need proper machines to dig through collapsed buildings. Without them, people die. We can't save lives without real support.

RIPLEY (voice over): This is the first major natural disaster since the Trump administration dismantled most of USAID, firing thousands, freezing funding and ending contracts.

In Myanmar, almost 20 million people were already in need, displaced by four years of Civil War. Then came the earthquake. The suffering is immense.

The United States, once a lifeline, now missing in action.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: And our thanks again to Will Ripley for that report. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Get ready for an all-new episode of "Have I Got News For You" tonight on CNN. Guests, pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson and comedian, Eugene Mirman. How about a little preview?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY WOOD JR., COMEDIAN: Hours before the tariffs kicked in, President Trump spoke at a fundraising dinner and bragged about ongoing trade war negotiations. What was his claim?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That he was not going to back off of them.

AMBER RUFFIN, COMEDIAN: He did say that. He tripled down and was like, I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm really, really doing it. Cut it today.

WOOD, JR.: President Trump claimed everybody in the world was begging to make a deal with MAGA America.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'm telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass. They are -- they are dying to make a deal. Please, please, sir, make a deal. I'll do anything. I'll do anything, sir.

RUFFIN: Did you see how happy he looked when he was like, everybody's calling me. No one calls him on the phone.

That was the end goal. This man wants human contact.

(APPLAUSE)

RUFFIN: Someone call him on the phone. Call him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: You can tune in tonight for the full episode of "Have I got News For You" at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN. Thanks so much for spending your evening with me. I'm Erica Hill. Jessica Dean is back here tomorrow night. You can see her starting at 5:00 Eastern.

Stay tuned "Real Time" with Bill Maher is up next.