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Trump Lashes Out At Zelenskyy, Calls For New Leader In Ukraine; Public Firing Squad Execution Order Caught Army Off Guard; A Personal Look At Days After Salman Rushdie's Stabbing; Salman Rushdie On Decades-Long Fight For Freedom Of Speech; Trump Store Sales Take A Hit Amid Voter Discontent; Americans Sour On Economy Amid High Inflation. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 10, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:52]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And tonight, President Trump lashing out against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Zelenskyy criticized Trump's deal to allow Russia to sell its diesel, saying it will prolong Russia's war on Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Zelenskyy could have settled this war many times -- many, many times. And he chose -- he chooses not to.

I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal, because he could have made many deals but for some reason he never does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The latest sparring between the two leaders comes with President Trump under pressure for high energy prices here in the U.S. Trump criticized Ukraine's attacks on Russian refineries, which a U.S. official says helped lead Trump to that Russian diesel deal.

Let's bring in CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak, who is joining us now from the White House.

Kevin, you did speak with the president as he was traveling today, leaving the White House. What did he say about this new U.S. Russia diesel deal?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. And he's clearly furious at Zelenskyy for opposing the deal. And he sounded angry not just that Zelenskyy, in his view, has failed to compromise in a way that would bring the Ukraine war to an end. But he's also blaming Zelenskyy for these higher diesel prices in the U.S. because Ukraine has been targeting the refineries in Russia. The president suggesting that that was an affront to American workers

and to American farmers. This is the reason why the president entered this agreement with Vladimir Putin that he announced yesterday after a phone call with the Russian leader, Putin saying that he will allow millions of tons of Russian diesel to go onto the international marketplace.

The president is hopeful that that will bring down diesel prices, although analysts suggest that Russia's ability to refine the amount of diesel that would actually have a meaningful effect on prices is negligible.

And so the president, in a way, extending Putin a lifeline by allowing him to profit off of these sales. Many experts say that that could just have the effect of prolonging the war in Ukraine.

And that is the criticism that I put to President Trump today. And here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He wants to make problems for our farmers and ranchers with diesel fuel, because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world.

And we told them, do whatever you want, but don't hit the diesel fuel because there's a big problem, a big shortage. And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel.

I said to him, do what you want. Don't hit refineries. There's plenty of targets. Don't hit refineries. And he went out and he hit. And he's not going to affect our farmers, and he's not going to affect our ranchers, and he's not going to affect the rest of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, the relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy has always been on something of a pendulum. It obviously started off very badly when the president screamed at him in the Oval Office.

Over the summer it seems to have been improving. The president called Zelenskyy brave. He said that he had been leading the Ukrainians well throughout the course of the war. But obviously now this has swung back in the opposite direction, really on a very low ebb.

I thought it was interesting what the Ukrainian foreign minister said after the president made those comments today, which is that Zelenskyy, quote, "has the support of the Ukrainian people", and they have the right to decide. He said statements from abroad only confirm that he is doing his job well, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Kevin Liptak with the latest from the White House. Thank you for your reporting.

And we're joined now by CNN political and global affairs analyst and correspondent for Axios, Barak Ravid. Barak, great to have you here with us. I know you spoke with President

Zelenskyy after President Trump announced this deal. What did he say to you?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think, before we talk about what he said, I want to say a few things about how he sounded.

[17:04:46]

RAVID: And I think he was stunned. I think he was highly disappointed. I think he did not see this coming. I think he thought that he managed to get to a totally different place with the Trump administration, with the president himself on a -- on a personal level.

And I think he was, more than everything, he was, I think, offended and insulted and disappointed.

What he said was that, you know, he thought that this was a birthday gift from Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Putin had his birthday a few days ago. And this is how Zelenskyy described this -- this diesel deal.

He said it was a signal of weakness by Trump. He said that he thought it was not an honest move, that it was not fair. And I think that also led to what we saw today, this reaction from Trump, very angrily pushing back and saying that the Ukrainian people should replace Zelenskyy.

But I think that if yesterday was a very bad day for Zelenskyy, I think that the attack by Trump today, sort of improved the situation, as strange as it may sound, because Zelenskyy was very unpopular lately domestically in Ukraine.

He went down in the polls. He got very bad numbers and a lot of Ukrainian political analysts that I spoke to today said that they think that domestically, in the Ukrainian domestic politics, the Trump attack against him was the best thing he could have hoped for.

DEAN: And so knowing that, what does that mean potentially for this relationship going forward? I mean, as you note and as we have followed along, this is a very tumultuous relationship between Zelenskyy and Trump. Where do you see this going from here?

RAVID: So I think it's going to a very negative, or at least it has a potential to go to a very negative place. The irony is that this, diesel deal was announced while Trump's envoys, Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff met with Ukrainian negotiators and European diplomats and actually made quite a lot of headway into getting some sort of a unified position that Witkoff and Kushner were planning or still planning to present to President Putin.

They're planning to go to Moscow, maybe even in the coming week, maybe next weekend. And there was progress yesterday in those talks.

And the announcement on the diesel deal, I think, sort of derailed that they could still go back to those understandings from yesterday. But I think we, at least in the next few days, we are in a place of, quite deep crisis between the U.S. and Ukraine.

DEAN: And to that end, do you see these negotiations having a meaningful end game here, that this can actually produce some sort of agreement? I mean, we have -- we've talked about this for many years now, it seems, you know, and yet here we still are.

RAVID: Yes, I think I don't see any prospect of any deal between Russia and Ukraine. First, in the call between Trump and Putin yesterday, Trump told Putin that he wants to resume trilateral talks, high-level trilateral talks between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine, maybe even leader level talks. Putin sort of told them, I'll think about it, didn't give much more. Did not say yes. Basically blamed the Ukrainians for, a lot of stuff and didn't really bite on the proposal to move forward in the negotiations.

That was the result of the phone call. So if that's the situation after such phone call, Putin gets sanction relief, then why would he go to negotiations?

DEAN: Right? I do, before I let you go, I want to ask you about the Saudi -- the airport attack in Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia. President Trump had said he's been briefed on this.

It happened in Riyadh at that airport. There's been no claim of responsibility. But it comes as the Houthis have been escalating attacks. What are you hearing? And what is your reporting around what happened there?

RAVID: So I think this was the most serious attack by the Houthis against Saudi Arabia since this renewed -- since this war has resumed several weeks ago.

[17:09:51]

RAVID: Definitely the worst attack by the Houthis since the Saudis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni forces started the counteroffensive, the ground counteroffensive, 8 days ago.

And I think at least at the moment, we're talking about 12 or even 15 people killed. It was a direct hit to the terminal of the of the international airport. Several dozen people, wounded.

I think it's -- more than everything, I think it just shows again that, you know, many times, people think that, you know, the Houthis are, a bunch of guys with flip flops and AK-47.

That's not the case. It's a terrorist organization that has ballistic missiles, that has drones, that has anti-ship missiles, that has air defense, that has radars. It's the most equipped terrorist organization in the world today.

And the fact that, you know, they can launch ballistic missiles at an international airport in a key city in the Middle East, I think says a lot about how big is the threat from this group. DEAN: All right. Barak Ravid, always great to have you. Thanks so

much.

RAVID: Thank you.

DEAN: At least four people are dead after what's left of Hurricane Isaias pushes further across the southeastern United States. We're going to get a live update from the National Hurricane Center. That's next.

Plus, new reporting by CNN as people across the Pentagon and Army were caught off guard when the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the execution of the Fort Hood shooter would be live streamed.

And also ahead, my interview with author Salman Rushdie about the moments after he was nearly killed by an attacker.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:11:38]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Sources tell CNN Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth caught the Army off-guard when he said the Fort Hood mass shooters execution would be livestreamed for the public to watch.

Earlier today, President Trump told reporters he, the president, will ultimately make that decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There are two thoughts. Don't show it and show it. Because, you know, by showing it, maybe other people won't be doing what he did. So I'll make a decision ultimately.

I know what the military would like to do, but we'll make a decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN national security reporter Haley Britzky joins us now. Haley, you report even people inside the Pentagon were caught off guard by Hegseth's announcement. Tell us more about your reporting.

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Jessica.

So, sources are telling me here that officials in the Army and in the Pentagon heard for the first time in that interview from Secretary Hegseth aboard the USS Lincoln that this would be public. And they were sort of scrambling behind the scenes to figure out, well, what does public mean?

There are regulations that determine who can witness a military execution. But sources saying that this was ultimately decided by Hegseth, by acting Army Secretary Adam Tell and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell that "public" would mean it was live-streamed, which is obviously unprecedented, to livestream a firing squad execution in this way.

And so that is what we're hearing from sources that is of particular concern. It's not necessarily that the death sentence is being applied here in the case of Nidal Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009 and of 32 counts of attempted murder.

But sources are saying that there is concern about what the message it sends to live stream something like this.

And it's not just being criticized by Democrats, Jessica. We're hearing from Republicans as well who are taking issue with this.

Senator Thom Tillis yesterday calling it beyond disgusting, saying -- likening it to what happens in Iran and under the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Joe Kent, a former Trump administration official who was the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, saying that it's beneath the dignity and decency of our nation and would give terrorists free propaganda to recruit more terrorists.

So something that sources are really taking issue with and concerned about, also concerned about the psychological impact this could have on the soldiers and other personnel who are involved in carrying out the execution.

But President Trump was asked about this yesterday and his views on this situation. Let's take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you -- do you want the execution of the Fort Hood shooter to be live streamed? And are you worried that the video would be used as propaganda to radicalize more terrorists.

TRUMP: -- determination about that but he will be killed. He will be through firing squad. He killed 13 -- 14 people, badly wounded 20-some odd people. And he's totally nuts.

So I really don't care how he goes as long as he goes. And I think that the death penalty is a very worthy way of going for him.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to watch it? Are you going to watch it?

TRUMP: He's one of the worst killers. He walked into a room, he started killing everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BRITZKY: So clearly some questions still remaining here on if it will be carried out on a live stream. We heard from Vice President J.D. Vance yesterday saying that he would not be watching it if it did happen, but that he wasn't sure it would actually go through.

But a lot of questions still remaining here for the Pentagon as to how this would be carried out, how the soldiers would be chosen to carry out this execution, and what sort of regulations this would fall under, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Haley Britzky, with some great reporting there. Thank you so much for that.

And stay with us. We'll be right back after a break

[17:19:51]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: It's now been four years since a man rushed the stage where author Salman Rushdie was about to speak, stabbing him 15 times. He was gravely wounded. He lost sight in his right eye.

And a new documentary is taking viewers behind the scenes in the days following that attack. It is a raw and personal look at a long road to recovery, both physically but also psychologically.

For years, Rushdie lived under heavy security and secrecy in London after Iran's leader called for his death.

[17:24:49]

DEAN: That religious decree coming after his satirical novel "The Satanic Verses", prompted protests around the Muslim world. And he's lived under that shadow of threat ever since.

Earlier this week, I spoke with Salman Rushdie about this new documentary, and here's our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: We're joined now by Salman Rushdie. He recounts his survival in the book "Knife: Meditations after an Attempted Murder", which this new documentary is based on.

Thank you so much for your time. We're really pleased to have you here with us. You say that --

SALMAN RUSHDIE, AUTHOR: It's great to be here.

DEAN: Yes, it's great to have you. You say one of your first coherent thoughts after that attack was we need to document this. And we see that in this incredibly personal footage, very vulnerable footage filmed by your wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths.

Explain why you and she both felt it was so important to capture those moments.

RUSHDIE: You know, truthfully, I don't know why I said that. I just -- it was just an instinct at the time that this was an important moment in my life, you know.

And that initially I thought what I meant by that was just that she would take the odd iPhone photograph every couple of days just for our own reference.

But she had a better idea. She's a very good cinematographer as well as writer. And she sent for her professional camera and started making a kind of video diary.

And it became for us a way of discussing what was happening to us. And in a way, taking control of what was happening to us, making it our story that we were telling and had no real sense that it would have a public life until much later.

It was really after I was feeling much better, I wasn't completely recovered, but I was back home here and we sat and watched all the footage that she had made.

And at that point, we began to think that maybe it has a wider audience than just the two of us. And so we began to think about a documentary.

DEAN: Yes. And it had to be -- I think when you're in a moment of trauma, like you were, you probably there were pieces that you maybe, I would assume didn't even remember until you rewatched them back. Did that happen to you?

RUSHDIE: Yes. And things that I had misremembered, you know, things -- things that I had remembered one way, but which the film showed me had actually happened another way, you know?

And for instance, Eliza rather wisely removed all mirrors from my trauma ward. So I actually didn't know what I looked like until I saw the footage. And that was by that time, I no longer looked like that because I had recovered quite a bit.

And I was kind of horrified when I saw the footage. I thought I really looked terrible. And, you know, in hospitals, people, people -- people tell you fibs. They say you look much better than you did yesterday and you want to believe them. So you do.

But actually I didn't. I looked terrible. I mean, it was a discovery watching the footage for me because I hadn't seen myself at that time.

(CROSSTALK)

RUSHDIE: I remember, you know, and a shock, but also I thought the actually I praised her. I said the footage is very well shot, which given the emotional state that she was in Also, it's quite remarkable.

And so we began to talk to documentary filmmakers. And, and when we were introduced to Alex Gibney and he came to our house and sat with us and watched the footage and was also very moved by it. And just the way he spoke about the kind of film he thought he could make, is we both immediately thought, yes, this is -- this is the film we want to see. This is the guy we want to work with.

DEAN: It's important to find a partner when you're doing something like this that can take what you're trying to do and put all of those pieces together and also have that outside perspective as well to add to something that is so deeply, deeply personal. And there are some -- obviously there are very heavy moments of you just really, you know, on the edge of possible death and obviously recovering from these incredible wounds.

But there are also lighter moments, like starting to dance again to music while you're there in the hospital. You guys have your little date night one night when you're starting to kind of get better.

I'm curious more broadly, knowing that this whole experience contains so many things, how it's changed your outlook on life.

RUSHDIE: Well, you know what you mentioned those kind of happier moments because I think the film is, in some ways, it's also a love story, you know, as well as being a story about great violence.

[17:29:48]

RUSHDIE: And it's a story about love overcoming violence really is how I -- how I think of it.

You know, coming back to kind of position that I am in now, which is substantially recovered, I remember that. I remember how important that was.

And what it showed me is the importance of just focusing on the most important things in life. You know, the people you love, the work you love, and forget about everything else.

So, it's focused my mind. It's given me a kind of clarity, extra clarity about how I want to use this fortunate extra lease of life that I've been granted.

DEAN: And you have spent so much of your life fighting for freedom of speech, and there are several that has woven so much through in this -- in this documentary. I was reading too that when the judge was sentencing your attacker, the judge in this case said that, that attack didn't just attack you, but it, in his words, went to the very heart of what our country, the United States, stands for.

So, how are you thinking about that fight for freedom of speech now?

RUSHDIE: I was very pleased to hear -- I was very pleased to hear the judge speak in those terms, because I did feel, and I actually say it somewhere in the documentary that this event is bigger than just me. You know.

It's about an assault on freedom. It's about an assault on the thing we assume is our right, which is to say, to speak as we believe, and to say our piece, to write our stories, to tell -- to tell -- to tell our truth, and this attempt to murder that was an assault on not just on me but on that entire principle, and I was -- I was actually very struck that the judge brought that up.

DEAN: Yes. And to that end, so much of this goes back to your satirical novel, the Satanic verses and the fallout after that. Iranian leadership, of course, calling for your death following the publication of that novel decades ago.

RUSHDIE: Yes.

DEAN: And you had to go into hiding. You had to have armed security with you. I'm curious if the death of the late Ayatollah earlier this year alters how you see the current threat to your life, and how you view all of that now.

RUSHDIE: No. No, I mean, I think that it doesn't really change anything for me. You know.

I mean what does change is because of nobody wants a repeat of this kind of assault. That we have to take extra precautions, you know, security precautions whenever I'm in a public situation like that. You know.

And I had got used to the fact that life had gone back to normal. You know. I mean, for more than 20 years, living here in the states, doing events all over the country, doing -- you know, leading the kind of normal life of a writer, writing books, doing literary events, giving lectures, book signings, without ever being there -- never being a hint of trouble for 20 odd years.

And so, this felt like a kind of blast from the past. You know, it felt like something out of -- out of -- out of the distant past coming back.

And I mean, it's so strange because this young man who attacked me, by his own account, had not read anything I'd written. Had not been born at the time that the fuss around the satanic verses happened.

Had no previous criminal record, and yet, was prepared to commit murder. You know, and that -- that's -- it seems to me a kind of extraordinary demonstration of how far fanaticism will take you.

Perfectly ordinary kid growing up in New Jersey decides to be a murderer without taking the trouble to inform himself very -- at all about the person he has decided to kill. It's bizarre.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: And our thanks to Salman Rushdie for sharing his story here with us.

Still ahead tonight, more signs of trouble for the Republican Party ahead of the midterms.

The once popular MAGA shop in Virginia that has taken a hit on sales. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:38:38]

DEAN: President Trump's all-time low approval ratings has Republicans on edge with just weeks now until the midterms. But it's not just the polls that has them worried, there are also some troubling signs along the campaign trail.

CNN's Elle Reeve returned to a shop in rural Virginia that's become a one-stop shop for MAGA merchandise. Now, sales are taking a hit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITEY TAYLOR, OWNER, TRUMP TOWN USA: Come here. Let me show you the hottest two items that we have in the store. And the wokeness ice cube maker, when it comes --

(CROSSTALK)

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's Trump's face.

TAYLOR: Yes.

REEVE: It's Trump ice face.

TAYLOR: Yes.

REEVE: OK, that is kind of cool.

TAYLOR: The liberals, they bought -- I designed this glass myself.

Says, I took a shot for you, now take one for me.

REEVE (voice over): Things are not like they used to be at Whitey Taylor's Trump Town USA.

TAYLOR: It's not selling like it was.

REEVE: At the peak, how much were you selling a day?

TAYLOR: We had a lot of $12,000 days, maybe a $15,000 a day occasionally, but yes.

REEVE: And now what is it?

TAYLOR: Well, $1,500, $2,000, sometimes hit $3,000.

REEVE: It's a really big falloff.

TAYLOR: Well, it is. It is.

REEVE (voice over): When we first visited Taylor's store in December 2023, sales were better and they gave us a sense of the energy around Trump before he won the Republican nomination to be president again. Taylor took issue with our report.

TAYLOR: You said the place was almost vulgar. That was your conclusion.

REEVE: Well, there are --

(CROSSTALK)

TAYLOR: Oh, gosh.

REEVE: Let's go look at them. Let's go look at them. Let's go look at the Trump balls.

[17:40:01]

TAYLOR: I'm still selling a lot of them because of you. Yes.

REEVE (voice over): Taylor disputes the idea sales are down because Trump supporters are mad at the president and says sales will pick back up once he leaves office.

TAYLOR: They will come here by the droves, and say, what do you got, man? I know you are still there. So, we will be here waiting on it.

REEVE (voice over): But his customers say they see public opinion turning.

STEVIE LOVELL, CUSTOMER, TRUMP TOWN USA: I've seen a lot of Trump supporters just say, heck with him, put his sticker upside down or not fly his flag or put a red zero on it. You know, I've seen a few of those. Very few people still support Trump.

REEVE (voice over): Stevie Lovell says he still backs Trump and he will vote straight ticket Republican in the midterms. But he has a lot of criticism.

LOVELL: I am not a supporter of the war in Iran. And just like later on, we found out information about the war in Iraq. We found out that we shouldn't have been there.

This thing that's going on in Gaza is horrible. I think it's more horrible than what's going on in Iran, personally.

REEVE: What do you think about the ICE raids and arrests and stuff?

LOVELL: The ICE raids?

If you give to -- if you give people absolute power, they abuse it. I listened to a report that was very, very reliable. It showed where Trump had made more money in the office in his position than any other president.

REEVE: Yes, that is true.

LOVELL: Yes, it bothered me a little bit. But I still like him. Profit isn't a dirty word, but it kind of does bother me a little bit that he is in office and he is gaining a lot.

REEVE (voice over): Two-thirds of Americans say Trump has made the economy worse. And majorities say the Iran war and tariffs have hurt them financially. According to a September CNN poll, the president is at his lowest approval rating ever.

BARBARA KEITH, CUSTOMER, TRUMP TOWN USA: What I don't understand is how can we make agreements with, like, Venezuela and yet the gas prices are still up?

What's going on there?

REEVE: What do you think about that?

KEITH: Well, I don't think it's Trump's fault.

REEVE: OK.

KEITH: You know, everybody blames Trump for everything. It's a whole bunch of people.

REEVE: Do you think, though, that the war is making gas prices worse?

KEITH: Well, that's what they blame it on. But explain it to me when you still have oil but yet you already raised the prices but you are still using the oil that you had. They do it all the time. That's why I don't think grocery prices are going to go down, because they saw that we could afford it, so they are going to keep them high.

JAMIE VARELA, CUSTOMER, TRUMP TOWN USA: My son is 17, my daughter is 14. My grocery bill is anywhere between $800 to a thousand dollars a month.

When you are going to the store and you are paying $5 for a pineapple --

REEVE: Yes.

VALERA: -- then, you have got to choose fruit or gas, like, it's really, really hard.

REEVE: Do you think any of the responsibility for those high prices falls on Trump?

VALERA: Yes, because of the war.

REEVE: Are you going to vote in the elections coming up?

VALERA: Yes.

REEVE: Who do you plan on voting for?

VALERA: I'm not sure yet, to be honest.

REEVE: What are you weighing?

VALERA: Well, to be honest, I need someone who is going to continue on with closed borders.

REEVE (voice over): A couple customers brought up that they felt like people were not as nice to each other anymore and that people need to come together and not be so mean about political differences.

VALERA: Doesn't matter what you believe in, what religion or if you think the color purple is better than the color pink. Like, all that matters is that they bleed, we bleed, we are human. If you don't agree with someone's opinion, that's fine. That's what our forefathers fought for, is that everyone could have their own opinion.

REEVE: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Well, you are saying you want people to be nicer to people. But look at the thing that you're buying.

VALERA: Oh, I do believe she should go -- off. No, I can say she should kindly go -- off, but I don't think that she should be around at all.

REEVE: I know. But you see what I'm saying, that there is a little bit of, one might say, a contradiction.

(CROSSTALK)

VALERA: OK. Wait, wait, what if I said, please tell her to go -- off, take a hike.

Or I could say, -- that bitch (INAUDIBLE).

REEVE: Right. Sure.

VALERA: That's what I'm talking about. The way you say things versus how you say things can be completely taken different.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm freezing my balls off.

TAYLOR: The balls, he is freezing his balls off.

Oh, shut up, Trump. We have had enough of you today.

REEVE (voice over): Taylor says Trump's made him millions of dollars.

TAYLOR: People ask me all the time, say, oh, so when are you going to close? You know, I said 2040.

They said 2040, why?

I said, well, it gives all the Trump kids time to run through the office first.

REEVE (voice over): Elle Reeve, CNN, Boones Mill, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: All right. Elle, thank you for that.

Tonight, comedians Rosebud Baker and Larry Wilmore join. "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU?" And here is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROY WOOD JR., AMERICAN STAND-UP COMEDIAN, ACTOR, AND WRITER: Here is your headline: Police recover $400,000 worth of blank after cargo heist.

LARRY WILMORE, AMERICAN COMEDIAN, WRITER, PRODUCER, AND ACTOR: In this economy, it could be eggs, you know.

WOOD: Police recover $400,000 worth of stolen almonds after cargo heists.

ROSEBUD BAKER, AMERICAN COMEDIAN, ACTRESS, AND WRITER: And they were like, oh, nuts!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, take a victory lap, baby. You did it! Yes.

WOOD: Police in California arrested at least four people after a cargo shipment of the nuts went missing in Kerman. Net theft is actually a real problem in the state of California, which grows more almonds, walnuts, and pistachios than anywhere else in the country. Which is why Wikipedia has an entire page titled "California nut crime."

What do you do with all these almonds? Like, look, cocaine. You know, you already set up a bar with the Colombians, and they put you in touch with the Venezuelans, and you already got a couple of houses who could take that and chop it and package it.

[17:45:05]

But with almonds, do you have that same infrastructure?

BAKER: This is why they need law and order California nut crimes

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Tune in tonight at 9:00 p.m. and streaming tomorrow with an all- access subscription.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: President Trump at a rally tonight in Tennessee, once again, claiming Americans are better off than they were a year ago.

However, Americans' confidence in the economy is in a tailspin as those midterm elections approach.

And CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten runs the numbers on all of it.

[17:50:02]

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Hey there, Jessica. Happy Saturday to you.

And hey, welcome back! Welcome back! Boy, do you know how to time it? Just a few weeks before the midterm election, you have to join in on this fund. You are an election junkie, just like me.

Look, and speaking of the election, the name of the game of this election is the exact same name of the game as it was for the last presidential election in 2024: inflation, cost of living, affordability. That's what it is all about.

But while that issue worked for Donald Trump and the Republican Party back in 2024, it is now the issue that is dragging them down in the polls against the Democrats.

What are we talking about here? Well, let's take a look at Donald Trump among all voters. We are going to start off here. Take a look at this: voters on Trump and inflation. You know, back in 2024, look at this. Look at this. He was more trusted on inflation by eight points over Kamala Harris.

But take a look at his net approval rating now. Oh, my goodness gracious! He is 45 points underwater on the key issue of inflation. What is that? That's a switcheroo of 53 points in the wrong direction for President Trump, and I will note that this negative 45 points is actually one of Trump's better polls on inflation. Their polls have a minus 50, minus 55, minus 60, or worse on the cost of living or inflation.

And that, my dear friends, is definitely an issue that could drag President Trump and the Republican Party down with him in these Midterm Elections.

Now, Jessica, you are a student of politics. You know. You know the name of the game when it comes to voter groups. The most important voter group, independents. You tell me how independents go, I'll tell you how the election's going to go.

And independents have done a 180 on President Trump and inflation. I mean, look at this. Look at independents. OK, independents on Trump and inflation. You know, you go back to 2024. Look at this. President Trump favored over Kamala Harris on inflation by 12 points. That is a big reason why independents shifted to the right. Shifted to the right back in the 2024 election cycle.

But a big reason why independents are now coming back to the left is take a look at this. President Trump's net approval rating on inflation: 57 points underwater. That is a very not nice 69-point swing in the wrong direction for the president of the United States on a key group of voters that the polling definitely suggests is moving away from the Republicans and towards the Democrats as we head into these Midterm Elections.

But independents are one key group. What's also important in politics is your core base of supporters, and perhaps, there is no group -- no group of voters that has stuck through -- stuck through it, thick and thin with President Trump more than white voters without a college degree.

They were the fuel that propelled President Trump back in the 2016 cycle, and they are the fuel that allowed him to win back in 2024. And look at white voters without a college degree now.

On inflation. Look at this. Look at this. Non-college whites on Trump and inflation. In 2024 versus Kamala Harris, look at this. He was favored -- get this, by 32 points.

Look at his net approval rating now with white voters without a college degree. He is deep down there with the Titanic. 36 points underwater. That's a switcheroo. We are going to do the math right here of 68 points. Oh, that's not a very nice eight. There we go. 68 points in the wrong direction on a key core group of voters for President Trump going against him.

Now, of course, if you are a Republican running for Congress, maybe you are thinking, hey, I could outrun President Trump on the key issue of inflation. But you know what? When we match up the two parties, look at this.

OK, which party is more trusted on inflation? Democrats now have a 15- point advantage on the key issue of inflation, and that appears to be their largest lead in 50 years.

In at least 50 years, you got to go all the way back to the Gerald Ford administration. And despite the fact that my beard is looking whiter and whiter, I -- isn't that old yet. I was not alive back in the mid-1970s.

But Jessica, I feel alive today because I'm back with you, and boy, you surely do know how to make an entrance, a Broadway entrance, just before the midterms. Welcome back.

DEAN: Thank you, Harry Enten. Good to see you. We always appreciate it.

Still to come, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugan joins us to talk about the new film "The Social Reckoning". Plus, her thoughts on the A.I. industry and if history is ultimately repeating itself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:58:41]

DEAN: We are recognizing Mama Shu in Highland Park, Michigan. For more than a decade, she is been transforming her once abandoned block to a thriving community, Avalon Village. From community gardens and STEM labs, she is fostering a space for children to work and play, all emanating from her own grief from losing her son.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHAMAYIM HARRIS, FOUNDER, AVALON VILLAGE: I would look at this block like, wow, man, if we just clean up this block and do this and do that, and I just had dreams about it. I really did.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): In 2007, Mama Shu lost her 2-year-old son when he was hit by a car. Determined to turn her pain into purpose, she began buying abandoned lots in her beloved Highland Park and building a better future for her community.

HARRIS: We kept buying the land because it was so many things inside of my head that I wanted to actually build for the people.

COOPER (voice over): In 2023, she was honored as a CNN Hero for her remarkable efforts to transform her block into Avalon Village. Today, it covers dozens of lots and includes a homework house, basketball court, STEM lab, and community gardens.

And Mama Shu isn't slowing down anytime soon. She hopes to build a cafe and laundromat in the village. Recently, she completed the addition of bleachers around the basketball court, giving the community a space to gather and renovations on the village healing house are set to begin soon.

[18:00:08]

HARRIS: I remember every inch of how this whole block use to look.