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Trump Touts Immigration Policies; Trump and Trudeau to Discuss Tariffs; Gov. Matt Meyer (D-DE) is Interviewed about Democrats Pushback to Trump's Policies; Trump Reveals Letter from Zelenskyy; Slotkin's Rebuttal to Trump. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 05, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:54]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: It is half past the hour here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at Charlotte, North Carolina. Good morning, Charlotte, and good morning to everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

And here's what's happening right now.

Elon Musk heads back to the Capitol. He's set to brief House Republicans on his efforts to reduce the federal government. His DOGE team has laid off thousands of federal workers and frozen or canceled billions in government contracts.

The mayors of Chicago, Denver, New York and Boston set to appear before a House committee today. Republicans are looking into so-called sanctuary cities as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement.

And outside of Washington, Vice President J.D. Vance heads to Texas today to visit the southern border. In a social media post, Vance said he wants to highlight the administration's progress in securing the border, which has included the deployment of the U.S. military.

And look, if President Trump has a signature issue, it is immigration. Last night that was a big part of the speech. He touted his administration's efforts so far. For instance, the sweeping immigration raids across the country, and also his declaring a national emergency at the southern border.

He also acknowledged the family of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old student killed by an undocumented migrant while she was on a run. Her mother and her sister were actually guests of the first lady.

Trump also previewed what he says is to come on immigration reform with Republicans in charge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The cartels are waging war on America, and it's time for America to wage war on the cartels, which we are doing.

I have sent Congress a detailed funding request, laying out exactly how we will eliminate these threats to protect our homeland and complete the largest deportation operation in American history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Let's talk more about how President Trump addressed this topic with the group.

OK, I feel like this is his sweet spot. This is what he cares about. This is what he has the really full-throated support of Republicans for.

What do you make of how they're moving forward, Vance to the border today?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think this is an issue that the president wants to talk about as much as possible. One, because public opinion is very much on his side on this issue. They think it's important. And he has the numbers to back him up, not just in the polling, but in terms of reduced encounters at the border since becoming president. It is true that there has been a change in what has happened along our southern border.

CORNISH: Yes. It's also winter, so the numbers go down. But, yes.

ANDERSON: Yes, but the other - but even relative to a year ago. I mean he's able to point to numbers that are in his favor.

The other thing that I think Republicans in particular really like about the way Trump is handling this issue is, for a long time Republicans were told that they were mean for wanting to be the ones to be tough on immigration, tough on the border. That it was not -

CORNISH: (INAUDIBLE) an unaccompanied minor thing or -

ANDERSON: Yes.

CORNISH: Yes.

ANDERSON: That by being tough on immigration you're somehow not compassionate. And what Trump is really trying to do, you see it with him featuring the family of Laken Riley, et cetera, is say, no, by being tough on immigration, we are actually the compassionate ones. We are the ones who are keeping track of, what is the negative effect on those here in the country.

CHUCK ROCHA, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO BERNIE SANDERS' 2016 AND 2020 CAMPAIGN, PRESIDENT, SOLIDARITY STRATEGIES AND DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: But here's how this could backfire. I think everybody can agree - I can agree as a Democrat, folks who come here, break our laws, hurt people, do horrible things that we - that were talked about last night should be taken away, they should be deported, all the things. But you only have so many of those people. And what you're going to see is the stories that you're starting to see in papers of folks who have just been here undocumented, working for many, many years, law abiding citizens who are getting swept up into this and shipped away.

CORNISH: OK. Let me put this in here, though. We have been seeing that for the last couple of weeks. Where is the outcry from the communities that Democrats said would feel impact and would be upset? I mean you campaigned in a lot of these border states.

ROCHA: Absolutely. And you see these stories bubbling up. They're not on news programs, but in the social media feeds, in the WhatsApp groups and things that Sabrina has covered, that I have covered, part of these groups are out there. You see this happening in city by city. But you're right, there's not a mass movement of it. Right.

CORNISH: Yes. OK, he just tagged you. Have you been reporting on that? Do you actually see a movement?

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I mean, I think -

CORNISH: I remember seeing like some groups like Venezuelans for Trump and stuff being like, oh, we need to change our name.

[06:35:04]

ROCHA: Exactly.

CORNISH: But I haven't seen a groundswell backlash.

RODRIGUEZ: There has not been a groundswell, yes. And I - and I think part of it is, again, Democrats struggling to get their footing on the issue. Democrats, if we talk about, you know, Trump touted his first piece of legislation that he signed into law, the Laken Riley Act, you know, that one, for example, we saw dozens of Democrats on The Hill end up voting in support of it. I mean there is not a united front on this issue right now. A lot of people saw how the American public has moved to the right on immigration. And I think for some Democrats, especially more moderate ones, they're just trying to figure out, OK, how much can I support this, because you don't want to come out and criticize him right now when he has had a historic low.

CORNISH: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: It's the lowest level since 2000.

CORNISH: And we know the moderate voices surging, as we saw in the response.

I want to pause here because we need to turn to something very briefly, which is tariffs.

Today, President Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada will actually be on the phone talking about tariffs. Now, during Trump's address to Congress last night, the president actually acknowledged the tariff war he had just started with basically the U.S.' largest trading partner could cause some pain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs, they're about protecting the soul of our country. Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it's happening. And it will happen rather quickly. There will be a little disturbance. But we're OK with that. It won't be much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK. It's hard to upset Canadians, but the president has. The prime minister of Canada not mincing words about this trade war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: No, it's not in my habit to agree with "The Wall Street Journal." But, Donald, they point out that even though you're a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: He is referring to this headline from "The Wall Street Journal's" editorial board.

All right, you guys, we are back about this.

Yesterday we were talking a lot about the severe stock market declines. Markets aren't, you know, like gospel, but they are, in a way, a temperature reading, a pulse check.

Chuck, what do you see in the focus on this topic?

ROCHA: There's - there's a whole lot of people that voted for Donald Trump who don't like Donald Trump. Let me make my point. And this is to this point exactly. Is when we were in focus groups and in Senate races and House races around the country, there were a whole lot of what I would call common sense, economic driven Republicans who were going to vote for Donald Trump because they did not like Joe Biden. They thought he was old and feckless. But they wanted somebody in there who would at least make sure they made money, that the - that the corporations had some fair dealings, that regulations was lower, and that we just kept moving things along. Working class people wanted it because they wanted their prices to be lower. These kind of things make prices higher, make the stock market go down, and it makes those Republicans who voted for him very mad.

ANDERSON: The best outcome for Donald Trump on this is if he doesn't actually have to follow through with tariffs for any long amount of time -

ROCHA: I agree with you (ph).

ANDERSON: That he can get some kind of win on -

CORNISH: Yes, I keep hearing that, this is a negotiating tactic. This is temporary. ANDERSON: We're going to shut down fentanyl, et cetera. That's going

to be the biggest win for him because it will show, oh, I'm strong, I was able to use this as a negotiating tactic, without having to grapple with the potential economic fallout.

CORNISH: Let me show you some Pennsylvania voters who watched Trump's address and what they had to say specifically on this issue of tariffs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think that he understands how tariffs might be inflationary. And I think that he did not spend nearly enough time talking about what we're experiencing right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are the breadbasket of the world. They want our products, OK. So, they're going to - they're going to hold us hostage on our agriculture products, but they're going to come back and they're going to buy it.

We're going to take a dip in our products, but it's going to come back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Sabrina, I feel like this sums it up, it's a gamble. People either feel like this seems bad, don't do it, or, don't worry about it, it's just a way of x.

Is there like a plan b? Like, does the administration be like, OK, well, if it actually goes for a long time, here's what we're going to do?

RODRIGUEZ: I mean, frankly, I'm surprised that Donald Trump went through with it without having more negotiations with Mexico and Canada, without potentially pausing it again. I covered trade throughout the first term of the Trump administration, and he often threw around trade threats when he was frustrated on different issues. So, it's not new that Donald Trump would use tariffs as an opportunity.

CORNISH: Yes. But can you follow up on that idea? I mean basically - you - so you were reporting when those tariffs went through the first time. Were they temporary pain? Did voters say, well, it wasn't so bad?

RODRIGUEZ: Well, he - he didn't end up putting in blanket tariffs in the first term.

CORNISH: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: You know, it was more targeted. It was, OK, steel and aluminum tariffs, which people did feel pain from.

CORNISH: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: Or it was specific ones to specific goods from China.

CORNISH: Like soy. I think I remember.

RODRIGUEZ: I mean it was a much more targeted.

CORNISH: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: But this is something that Trump has been itching to do since his first term. And here we see him now following through on it.

I think one of the things that this really raises for me is sort of the question of Donald Trump, the dealmaker.

[06:40:03]

He spent a good chunk of his first term negotiating the U.S.-Mexico- Canada agreement, the replacement for what he called the nightmare NAFTA. At the time he called it the fairest, most beneficial trade agreement that the United States had ever signed.

CORNISH: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: He talked about how he was going to level the playing field. And here we are. And I think it raises questions. He's talking again about trade deficits with Mexico and Canada. So, the deal he spent all those years negotiating didn't pan out.

CORNISH: All right, I want you guys to stay with me because there's obviously more reaction to this, this morning.

After the break on CNN THIS MORNING, a sanctuary state. Delaware's governor, Matt Meyer, joins us next. He's going to discuss how his state is standing up against President Trump's immigration policy.

Plus, it's why they call him King James. LeBron James making - marking a huge milestone, doing something no other player has ever done. The group's going to be back to talk about that and more, next.

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[06:45:04]

CORNISH: As the Trump administration ramps up its immigration enforcement, Democrats are pushing back at the state and at the local level. One of those Democrats is Delaware's governor, Matt Meyer. He's instructed state law enforcement not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement unless there's a court order or a public safety risk, according to "Spotlight Delaware."

Joining me now is the governor here in studio.

Thank you for coming to CNN THIS MORNING.

I want to ask you about this specific order because, do you feel pressure in this environment to show your citizens that you're taking public safety into account? GOV. MATT MEYER (D-DE): I feel a lot of pressure to do the right thing

by Delawareans and by Americans. We are a nation of immigrants who also, as you said, needs to keep our population safe. All sorts of research and data shows that immigrants are a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of our crime problem, in spite of what you might hear from various elected officials. We're doing what we can to target our public safety resources to actually address crime.

I was -

CORNISH: Do you worry about punishment or being penalized for that by the federal government for not cooperating?

MEYER: No, you do the right thing. I've made clear that we're eager to work with the Trump administration in - in our state of Delaware. I'm a middle school math teacher who was elected to fix our schools and address health care issues in our state that aren't that different than what communities across our country are addressing. We're eager to work with the Trump administration, but it starts, for me, with governing with compassion, with intelligence and compassion. And we're going to do that. And no one's going to make us waver in those big, core principles.

CORNISH: We've got these city mayors who are going to be talking about their policies. Here's what New York Mayor Eric Adams wrote in an op- ed recently. He said, "we must continue to ensure that those who commit violent crimes, no matter long-time residents or new arrivals are held accountable, and that the public is kept safe."

MEYER: I agree with that. I agree with that 100 percent, that if someone's - and I don't agree with everything Mayor Adams does .But if - if someone is committing a crime in our community, we've made it clear that our state police are - we're encouraging every police agency in the state to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement when there's an outstanding felony warrant.

CORNISH: Yes.

MEYER: When there are issues of serious public concern.

CORNISH: So, you're finding a way to walk the line, you think, to have compassion, but also not draw the ire of the administration?

MEYER: It's not about the ire of the administration. It's making sure that in immigrant communities across our state, people feel free to engage with law enforcement. If you're a survivor of domestic violence and want to call the police or call a hotline, we don't want you to pause for a second to be concerned about what documents you have or a family member has. It helps make us all safer if - if there's community policing. And that means involving everyone in our community.

CORNISH: One more on this topic.

When I think about - J.D. Vance is going to the border today for the Trump administration - one of the most effective kind of messaging tools Republicans have used, the president and also governors, is the southern border, right? Whether it's sending migrants to northern cities, whether it's just standing there, whether it's saying Kamala Harris, why didn't you go? What is the Democratic kind of counter message to this?

MEYER: The counter message is comprehensive immigration reform that our immigration policies in the country -

CORNISH: But I can't think of a phrase more ignored by Congress in the last -

MEYER: Than comprehensive -

CORNISH: Than comprehensive immigration reform.

MEYER: It's not about - as I think the current president shows us, it's not about Congress' response. It about - it's about American's response and sort of the shock (ph) -

CORNISH: But I think the thing that Democrats have been saying forever is, Trump is not compassionate, right? Talking about putting kids in cages. Talking about the deterrent effect. It feels like there was a little bit of a rejection of that messaging, even from Latino communities. So, how do you reorient? What is the new way of talking about this?

MEYER: Well, I think more than anything Americans - what Americans said last year, last November, I think is, they wanted their prices to go down. They wanted there to be greater job opportunities in increasingly digital and AI work environment. Those are the issues that the president is not paying attention to. And that's - we heard almost nothing about that last night.

As I said, I'm a middle school math teacher. I was elected more than anything to fix our schools in Delaware, to make sure - my wife is an emergency room doctor. It's a mess. Our health care system is an embarrassment for 2025 America. Let's fix those things rather than talking about these issues that are important in - in - to small groups of people. But we really need to fix the core of America. Having a 25 percent sales tax effectively on Americans already struggling to make ends meet is not the way to do it.

CORNISH: Yes.

You know, looking at late night television, I think we saw John Colbert kind of - Stephen Colbert mocking Democrats at the address for not really doing anything, right? Holding - holding up their paddles, et cetera.

[06:50:02]

Is the Democratic effort to counter Trump administration policies, is that going to fall on governors, on cities, on attorney generals? Do you think that is where, if there is a push, it's going to be?

MEYER: Audie, I woke up yesterday morning. I got about three, four weeks to write a budget for our state. A state budget. I was hoping - obviously, there's a lot of uncertainty. There are threats of dramatically decreasing our Medicaid funding. There are threats of dramatically decreasing our education funding. Various other sources, agriculture, veterans. I was at Milford Veterans Home a couple weeks ago where people are scared, veterans, heroes, who were in the Vietnam War, who were in Iraq, Afghanistan are scared that they're going to lose their health care.

Last night I was hoping to hear answers for that. This morning, I don't have answers. I got to wake up. I got to write a budget. I can't stay in Washington and play politics and argue about who's going to the border, who's - I got to find out how to deliver better schools to Delawareans in blue areas, red areas, cities, suburbs, rural areas. That's my job. And that's what I'm going to do, like the other Democratic governors across the country and, quite frankly, the other Republican governors as well.

CORNISH: All right, Governor Meyer, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate your time.

MEYER: Thank you.

CORNISH: Now it's about 50 minutes past the hour. We want to give you your morning roundup. Some of the stories you need to know to get your day going.

So, first, the IRS making plans to cut as much as half of its workforce right now. About 90,000 people work there. Sources say this will be a mix of layoffs and buyouts and 7,000 probationary IRS employees have already lost their jobs just in time for tax season.

The Tate brothers are now the subjects of a criminal investigation in Florida. The state's attorney general not specifying the charges, but Andrew and Tristan Tate are under investigation in Romania for charges including human trafficking. Florida's AG says the brothers have publicly admitted to what appears to be, quote, "preying upon women around the world."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES UTHMEIER, FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: People can spin or defend however they want. But in Florida, this type of behavior is viewed as atrocious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Andrew Tate responded on social media, calling Florida's announcement absolute communism, and saying, quote, "this isn't the America I know." The Tate brothers have denied all wrongdoing, and a spokesperson for them provided no comment to CNN on Tuesday.

And a storm that brought dangerous winds, fires, blizzards, threats and even dust storms is heading east this morning. Right now there's a tornado watch for parts of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. And you're actually seeing what strong winds did to one neighborhood in Louisiana. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: I'm super blessed to be able to, you know, put that many points up in the best league in the world with the best players in the world over my career. So, it's pretty special.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Another milestone for the king. LeBron James becoming the first NBA player to score 50,000 career points. He put up 34 last night against New Orleans in the Lakers 136-115 victory. Fifty thousand. Steph Curry had 50 in a game and I was like stoked.

ROCHA: That's why they call him the GOAT. That's why there's an ongoing debate about him and Michael Jordan every day.

CORNISH: That's true. That's true. And he's coming up. He's coming up.

All right, we've got a little more news here.

Regrets. He's got a few. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy acknowledging his Oval Office meeting with President Trump last night did not go according to plan, but that he's ready for an end to the war with Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: What happened in the White House instead of our talks is regrettable, but we need to find the strength to move on, to respect each other, as we have always respected America, Europe and all our partners, and to do everything together to bring peace closer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: In Trump's address to Congress last night, he revealed that he received a letter from Zelenskyy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The letter reads, Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians, he said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, back to the group chat.

Sabrina, I want to ask you, I was wondering if all this needed to end with some sort of public apology from Zelenskyy. And when Trump mentioned the letter, he didn't say the letter said, I apologize, right? So, clearly, there was something in it to allow all parties to come back to the table. What's your sense of things?

RODRIGUEZ: I mean, I think Zelenskyy was in this difficult position where, you know, he said he wasn't going to apologize, he said he didn't feel that he owed Trump an apology, but has been trying to tow this line. And I think him saying, you know, it was regrettable, him really expressing his desire to come back to the table, his desire for peace, I think his repeated comments in the days since about how that was not the way he wanted to go down, I think was sort of enough to satisfy the White House.

Also because they want to get that rare minerals deal done, you know.

CORNISH: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: They had the pens ready to sign at the White House.

CORNISH: Yes, everyone said they wanted to sign, but.

[06:55:00]

RODRIGUEZ: They wanted to do it. So, this sort of open - gave that opening I think Trump needed to say, OK.

CORNISH: Yes.

I want to bring you guys in with the rebuttal from Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. She actually did refer to Trump's handling of the Ukraine crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): President Trump loves to say peace through strength. That's actually a line he stole from Ronald Reagan. But let me tell you, after the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling in his grave.

Donald Trump's actions suggest that in his heart he doesn't believe we're an exceptional nation. He clearly doesn't think we should lead the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Kristen, I see you giving side eye.

ANDERSON: Well, I - the message that America should lead the world is one that most voters would agree with. But the question is, what does that look like? And there has been a really big shift over the last 40 years within the Republican Party from a posture of, let's be the tough ones that take on the Russians, to George W. Bush administration, let's go be the foot soldiers of democracy around the world, to now, Donald Trump and the real vibe of the Republican Party these days is, nope, we need to focus here at home first.

CORNISH: So, it doesn't work to do the whole Reagan is spinning kind of -

ANDERSON: I don't think there's -

CORNISH: Because I hear that even from some Republicans. ANDERSON: Yes.

ROCHA: Remember the Republicans I talked about who didn't like Donald Trump but voted for him because they wanted to see their stocks continue to rise. What they also saw, which is normally not something you recognize, is, all the chaos in the Oval Office, that wasn't normal. It wasn't statesmanlike. Folks did not like that across the country, unless you already had a -

CORNISH: But Slotkin didn't lean into the chaos thing. Like, she mentioned it, but it was not a Democratic response. I mean, correct me - that was like, look at the craziness. It was -

ROCHA: It wasn't talking about the response.

CORNISH: OK.

ROCHA: I'm talking about just how normally in political stuff that I'm working on in races around the country right now in off - off years, foreign relations, things that happen at the White House don't normally matter. This was on people's minds.

ANDERSON: It just feels like this is a message that's tailored at that mythical Liz Cheney Republican that is going to vote for Democrats and -

CORNISH: Why are you calling it mythical?

ANDERSON: I - well.

CORNISH: No, you're -

ANDERSON: I mean they're - they're - I know these people.

CORNISH: Yes.

ANDERSON: But I also know how few of them there are.

CORNISH: Sabrina, can you talk to me about the CNN poll on Ukraine? Nearly two-thirds of Americans who watched President Trump's address felt that his level of support for Ukraine was about right. Now, this, of course, viewership in these polls always skews towards the party that is in power. So, in this case, Republicans. But does this mean that it is the - the project of the Trump administration to shift the public view on this issue is working?

RODRIGUEZ: I mean, I think that there is some shift. But what Donald Trump was talking about last night is not what we saw on Friday necessarily that played out in the Oval Office. I mean this was a far more moderate message. This was one about his desire to reach peace, his desire to bring both sides to the table. There was not a back and forth. It was not a blow up.

CORNISH: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: It was not, you know, what we saw on Friday. And I think that poll looking at how things went Friday would look a little different than what we saw him last night in that setting talking about Ukraine-Russia.

CORNISH: I want to ask you guys about one more thing, which is the economy. Day one it was supposed to be fixed. When he gets to that part of the speech, what I hear is, we're going to drill and also we're going to make some committees and not much else. Am I misreading that or being too quippy?

ANDERSON: I don't know that it's a misread, but I think it's an understanding that messaging is not what's going to make people think the economy's working. The economy working is the whole thing.

CORNISH: Yes, but I didn't hear any, like, pass this bill, do this thing.

ROCHA: The economy was working under Joe Biden. Let me finish for everybody who's jumping off their couch at home. What the problem was is that the regular American workers didn't feel that. We talked about how great the stock market was, and we've created all these jobs. And regular folks were like, I don't feel that. Well, 30, 60 days into this administration, they still don't feel it. So, I think that's the big thing here.

CORNISH: But he did say, egg prices, Biden.

ROCHA: He blamed it on Joe Biden. Joe Biden ain't the president no more. That's tired and old, just like Joe Biden was.

CORNISH: Tired and old. Can you poll on that?

ANDERSON: People definitely do worry that we don't have a next generation of leadership rising up in this country. I'll say that.

CORNISH: Yes, but do you think it works to be like, that's not my problem. That's, everything that's bad is the old guy. At a certain point, especially when you're making cuts to the federal agencies dealing with this stuff, do you think people will start to connect - at what point does this economy become his?

ANDERSON: I think it's a good question. I think it becomes his the moment that he takes some sort of dramatic action that alters it one way or the other. I think for the moment people understand that the eggs that are on the shelf in the grocery store probably were laid while he was giving his inaugural address, or shortly thereafter.

CORNISH: I want to fact check. That's an amazing reference. I just - immediately, Daniel Dale.

ANDERSON: I mean don't - yes. I'm pretty sure that they had - the carton that says 30 days from the - anyhow.

CORNISH: But, I love it. Yes.

ROCHA: And with Easter approaching, I don't want to have to have all the kids have plastic eggs. It'd be nice if they had some regular eggs.

CORNISH: Yes.

ROCHA: We're not going to be able to afford Easter.

CORNISH: No. At a certain point, an economy does become a president's economy, even though, if we're being honest, the levers that presidents have to adjust the economy are few.

RODRIGUEZ: But that's the thing. I mean, I spoke last year to hundreds of voters ahead of the election. And talking to folks who had made the decision to vote for Donald Trump before the election and in the wake of the election how they were feeling, many people were saying, they recognized that things weren't going to change overnight.

[07:00:04]

So, I think there is that grace period that he's going to have for at least a few months.

CORNISH: Well, thanks to the group for hashing this out the morning after. Thank you for waking up with us.

I'm Audie Cornish. And "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.