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Zelenskyy Meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Just Wrapped Up; Cut, Paste, and Resist: Gen Z's Zine Revival. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 14, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

M.J. LEE, CNN ANCHOR: -- figures in the Trump administration. This week's new episode roasts Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Take a look.

[06:00:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to the team, recruits. I'm Kristi Noem, head of Homeland Security.

TREY PARKER, VOICE OF MR. MACKEY: She seems nice. Mm-kay? Very pretty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A few years ago, I had to put my puppy down by shooting it in the face. Because sometimes doing what's important means doing what's hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Paramount says this was "South Park's" highest rated episode since 2018 and got the biggest audience shares in the series history.

You can catch the next episode on August 20.

And thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm M.J. Lee in New York, and CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump talks tough before his war summit with Vladimir Putin. Is he prepared to back it up? CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't have to say. There will be very severe consequences.

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CORNISH: Just ahead, what Trump says he will not do when he's one-on- one with the Russian leader.

And tension on the streets of D.C. Federal agents deployed for Trump's crime crackdown draw protests overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: We've got to do the right thing, which means we've got to fight fire with fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Gavin Newsom's bold prediction. How the California governor says he'll end the Trump presidency.

And is it an art transformation, a pop culture obsession? The president names his new Kennedy Center honorees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER: This podcast has done a lot for me. I owe a lot to this podcast. This podcast got me a boyfriend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: But will it get her another No. 1 record? Taylor Swift's podcast debut with Travis Kelce.

The most online generation in history goes offline. Why Gen Z is going retro tech, sometimes in the name of safety.

It is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here is an epic view, frankly, of New York City's cloudy start to the day.

Good morning to everybody. It's Thursday, August 14th. I want to thank you for waking up with me. I'm Audie Cornish, and this is CNN THIS MORNING.

And we're going to start with that tough talk from the president on the eve of his summit with Vladimir Putin. And along with those threats, there is a healthy dose of doubt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will Russia face any consequences if Vladimir Putin does not agree to stop the war after your meeting on Friday?

TRUMP: Yes, they will.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will the consequence be?

TRUMP: There will be consequences.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sanctions? Tariffs?

TRUMP: There will be. I don't have to say. There will be very severe consequences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Trump and Putin are set to meet Friday at a U.S. military base in Anchorage. On Wednesday, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, met with

European leaders in Germany. President Trump reportedly told them he will not negotiate territorial issues with Putin.

But when he was asked if he believes he can get the Russian president to stop targeting civilians in Ukraine, Trump said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I've had that conversation with him. I've had a lot of good conversations with him. Then I go home, and I see that a rocket hit a nursing home or a rocket hit an apartment building, and people are laying dead in the street. So, I guess the answer to that is no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And that is a sobering assessment, especially for the people of Ukraine.

Now, remember, Trump promised to end this war in Ukraine right away, and he's not throwing in the towel just yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And we'll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they'd like to have me there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: CNN's Clare Sebastian has the latest from London, because that's where Zelenskyy is meeting with the British prime minister.

I want to start with the start of that meeting, Clare. What can you tell us?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's just finished, Audie.

We've just seen Zelenskyy, in the last 10 or 15 minutes or so, come out of the door of 10 Downing Street. He went straight to his car. He didn't take any questions at all.

They were in there, I can tell you, for just over an hour. At this stage, we don't know what came out of it. What we do have, though, is a picture that emerged of the two leaders sitting in what appears to be the gardens of Downing Street. They seem to be drinking tea together. And in between them is a bouquet of flowers with sunflowers, which is, of course, a symbol of Ukraine.

So, I think that picture really sums up this week, where European leaders have pulled together to try to put on this real display of solidarity and support for Ukraine, going into these talks in Alaska.

And to pull together, as well, to try to really get their point across to President Trump. They were able to hold the summit, this virtual summit involving the U.S. president on Wednesday. It was set up by the German chancellor.

The noises coming out of that summit do suggest a level of optimism. They do appear. The French president said that Trump was very clear on the need to push for a ceasefire in Alaska. He was very clear on the idea that no territorial concessions can be negotiated over Ukraine's head; that Ukraine needs to be involved in that.

[06:05:09]

And of course, the noises coming from President Trump, as well, saying that, you know, he would threaten severe consequences against Russia if the meeting doesn't go well, also sparking a level of optimism.

But I think it's clear that the job is nowhere near done yet. So, I think what the leaders here in Europe now have to focus on is the day after Alaska. What comes next?

If it goes well -- and we don't exactly know what that means -- then we move to another meeting, which could involve Zelenskyy and President Trump. So, they need to start preparing for that -- Audie.

CORNISH: That's Clare Sebastian. Thank you.

I want to bring in the group chat now to talk about this. Today, we've got Rachael Bade, "Politico's" Capitol bureau chief; Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright; and Jonah Goldberg, co-founder and editor in chief of "The Dispatch."

Rachael, can I start with you? What exactly is the White House approach? What would be a good outcome to them?

RACHAEL BADE, CAPITOL BUREAU CHIEF, "POLITICO": You know, it's interesting. You've seen a little bit of contradictory messaging, actually, out of the White House.

I mean, on the one hand, they're sort of trying to set expectations right now, saying this is just a conversation. President Trump wants to get a sense of where Putin is in terms of -- of ending the war.

But on the other hand, President Trump himself came out yesterday and suggested that, unless Putin agreed to a ceasefire, there would be severe consequences. I mean, that raises the stakes dramatically.

But look, in terms of stepping back here, this is going to be a really fascinating summit because of the relationship between these two men.

I mean, we know from years of President Trump talking about Putin, how much he actually really admires the guy, and he believed coming into office that he could work with him to end the war.

Putin snubs him, and he's been out there saying for weeks now he feels like, you know, he's been strung along. Can he sort of bring Putin to the table in a way --

CORNISH: Yes.

BADE: -- other world leaders have not been able to? This is really going to be a test for that.

CORNISH: And Antjuan, you -- some people have said this; like, there's some caution. You're saying the talks are unserious altogether. Why would you go that far?

ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, because the Ukraine leader has not been a part of the conversations or will not be involved in this initial meeting.

And plus, the president, President Trump, shows up with zero credibility to many people in America and around the globe, because he promised to end this on day one. That has not happened.

And Putin's power grab exercise in Ukraine has implications that go beyond the Trump presidency and have -- have implications or impact that will be on the world.

And I don't think the president is taking this seriously. And when given the opportunity to hold Vladimir Putin accountable on many regards, including election interference in previous elections, and --

CORNISH: Yes.

SEAWRIGHT: -- extending the sanctions this past Friday, economic sanctions, the president passed on that.

And so, we've got to get to a place where we have serious discussions around serious issues.

CORNISH: Now, we've heard Ukraine's president say, obviously, you can't have peace without us in the conversation.

What I also found interesting is where Europe is in all of this, essentially locked out. Here's the prime minister of Poland talking about that summit, and he is kind of hinting at this area about this concept of land swaps. And here's how he talked about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TUSK, POLAND PRIME MINISTER (through translator): No one during the peace talks, these future peace talks, should think of recognizing Russia's right to areas seized by force, through aggression and in violation of all possible treaties and international laws.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, kind of laying the groundwork for, if you agree to some of this stuff, it's actually not kosher to the rest of us.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CO-FOUNDER/EDITOR IN CHIEF, "THE DISPATCH": Yes. I mean, two things.

One, there was some reporting that Trump has said he's not going to talk about territory swaps. We'll see. Right?

I mean, the problem with this is, Trump sees this as a real estate guy. I mean, he said the other day this thing about Ukraine having oceanfront property is, you know --

CORNISH: Yes.

GOLDBERG: He just talks that way. He talks.

CORNISH: Real estate politique.

GOLDBERG: Yes. He talks that way about Gaza, too. And the -- the problem is, as with Gaza, in Ukraine, the -- the territories aren't just pieces on a "Risk" board. They have human beings in them. And the human beings don't want to live under Russian rule.

If -- if Putin takes over those territories, including territories he's not yet conquered, you're going to have people fighting, resistance within them. You're going to have efforts to keep absconding with Ukrainian children and brainwashing them into Russians.

You know, there are tens of thousands have already been stolen by the Russians.

And so, the problem with looking at this as if it's just a thing about a map, rather than a thing with populations in it, is one of the reasons why Zelenskyy is, like, incapable of going along with something that cleaves off huge chunks of his own population.

CORNISH: Yes. We're going to talk about that more in the show. Somebody talking about what happened the last time Europe sort of ceded ground to somebody who was aggressive about taking land, and it actually led to another world war.

I want you guys to stick with us. As we said, we're talking about this a lot.

And also, President Trump and Putin's high stakes one-on-one will be covered by Jake Tapper in Alaska and Anderson Cooper in Washington. We're going to do that and have some special coverage about the Trump- Putin summit this Friday here on CNN.

[06:10:07]

All right. Coming up on the show this morning, one mega bill wasn't enough. Republicans are eyeing more spending cuts to Medicaid. Can they get enough support in their own party?

Plus, "South Park" spoofs DHS Secretary Kristi Noem again, and it sent ratings through the roof.

President Trump makes his picks for Kennedy Center honors, including KISS, George Strait, and Sylvester Stallone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC'S "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": Sylvester Stallone makes sense. I mean, he really deserves it. And when you think about Trump's first seven months in office, the word "rocky" definitely comes to mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[06:15:13]

CORNISH: It's 15 minutes past the hour, and here is your morning roundup.

Israel -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government is in talks with multiple countries about taking in Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): In Ukraine, millions left. In Afghanistan, millions left. And suddenly, they determined that in Gaza, the civilians must be trapped? Give them the opportunity to leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The Associated Press reports Israel is in discussions with war-ravaged South Sudan about the possibility of resettling Palestinians there.

And "South Park's" relentless mocking of the Trump administration is working in their favor, at least ratings-wise. Last week was the highest rated episode since 2018. Nearly 1.6 million people tuned in.

That's where we saw their depiction of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her running of ICE, and her puppy-killing scandal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Baby shark, doo, doo, doo-doo, doo-doo. Baby shark, doo, doo, doo-doo, doo-doo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: A victory in court for Pinkfong, the Korean creator of the iconic children's song "Baby Shark." They've been cleared of plagiarism charges.

Back in 2019, an American songwriter claimed Pinkfong copied his work, but South Korea's Supreme Court just ruled against him.

Ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, rapper Kid Cudi speaking out after testifying against Diddy. Why he says it gave him peace.

Plus, why the generation who grew up with the Internet is now going low-tech.

Good morning, Kansas City. Chiefs kingdom got a lot of love last night because of Taylor Swift's podcast debut. And we're going to bring you more of that later on.

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[06:21:10]

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Especially if you struggle with spending too much time on the Internet and scrolling your phone too much, I think this is a fantastic alternative. Zines are basically little booklets that fit into a pocket. They're very short, and they're usually self- published.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, like flip phones and low-rise jeans and -- I don't know -- vinyl, zines are back, right? These little cut-and-paste way of communicating way before the algorithm controlled everything. And they dominated especially '90s activist culture.

And now, they're finding a new staying power with an unlikely crowd: Gen Z activists.

So, I was speaking with a creator from Baltimore who is doing this in her town. And here's what she told us on this week's "Assignment" podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNEDY MCDANIEL, ZINE CREATOR/MAKER: Instagram, TikTok. All of these different pieces of social media or spaces on the Internet that were meant to connect us and increase engagement across the world. These have also been co-opted in many ways.

There's a lot of disinformation and misinformation. There's a lot of censorship and suppression of information. There are also even safety elements such as, do I want to be posting about a protest, knowing that my face may be identified? My face may be connected to my Instagram. The cops may open my phone using my face I.D. and now see all of this information online that I -- And now all of a sudden, we're being tracked.

And that wasn't necessarily always there when we first started thinking of hashtag activism and --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK. Group chat is back. I wanted to bring this to you guys, because it was a conversation that was supposed to be like fun, like zines, what are they?

And it kind of turned political as she raised something that I think would be very particular to a generation that has been raised watching activist movement after activist movement after activist movement, both here and abroad. Right? I remember with the Hong Kong protests, the police were holding

people's phones up to their faces to open them. Jonah, what do you think of what you're hearing?

GOLDBERG: Yes. What's -- what's sort of interesting to me about it is it's -- what they're describing with the zines is what Russian dissidents called Samizdat. Which were these, basically back then, mimeographed copies of Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago" that were passed around, you know, below the radar because they were illegal.

CORNISH: Yes.

GOLDBERG: And, nothing they're talking about passing around is illegal. But the sort of panopticon sort of digital universe now makes people -- like, they -- you can't be anonymous in a way that you can --

CORNISH: No.

GOLDBERG: -- with stuff on dead tree.

CORNISH: Yes.

GOLDBERG: And that's one of the reasons why I still like paper a lot, and I think it's kind of cool.

GOLDBERG: Yes. But it's also interesting in light of the Gaza protests on campus last year, watching students get doxed. What do you think, Antjuan?

SEAWRIGHT: Well, my environmental friends will have something to say about the use of paper. OK.

GOLDBERG: You're coming in hot for the trees. Respect.

SEAWRIGHT: But also, I think that they are -- this is the beauty about America. We can do high tech and high touch. The high tech with the Internet and Instagram and all the things. But we can do high touch with traditional hand-to-hand paper.

CORNISH: And she did say that there was something about having a IRL interaction.

SEAWRIGHT: So, I think -- I think there's room for both. I think that -- I don't think it's generational. I think it's just whatever the mood is for each individual and the actual movement.

Because I think different movements, different opportunities require different things and different uses of force.

CORNISH: What I was asking her is like, it's not the same reach.

BADE: That's what I was going to point out.

CORNISH: Like one of the things. Oh, go ahead. BADE: I was just going to jump in and say, you know, how much -- how

much can you actually get in terms of movement and building a movement with this sort of method?

I mean, look, I am on this way too much. I welcome any sort of notion of like, let's put the phone away, stop looking at Twitter, stop looking at, you know, Instagram, et cetera.

Like, the issue, though, is in terms of, like, reach and how -- how are you going to get people involved? And like, by the time this is printed and written up, printed and you're passing it around, it's old news. What has already happened online that you actually want to put back in that pamphlet?

[06:25:07]

So, I think idealistically, sure, it makes sense, but it's challenging.

SEAWRIGHT: Well, there are some core things that may not move as fast. Like, you can be principled in certain things. Broad stroke issues.

And I'm guilty of this in campaigns. Like, you can be core with some issues that may not change, but then you change the framework, and you supplement that with the online digital aspect. And I think that's something to consider.

And please don't tell my mother and my aunt that traditional paper does not work.

CORNISH: OK, OK.

BADE: It is by the time you get it.

GOLDBERG: Anything that gets young people, even lefty -- lefties I disagree with about all sorts of things, to retrieve --

CORNISH: You don't even know if you disagree with her about anything, Jonah.

GOLDBERG: I was -- well, I read the prep piece that you guys sent me from "Wired."

CORNISH: OK.

GOLDBERG: And it was a lot of people I disagreed with.

But at the same time, I think the Internet is basically bad for young people. I definitely think social media is bad for young people. And I'm sort of a partisan of the Jonathan Haidt stuff.

And anything that gets people to live in the IRL is much better, I think.

CORNISH: Yes. GOLDBERG: And even if they're not going to completely give up on social media, but something that just gets them to physically interact with other human beings is something that we should welcome.

GOLDBERG: She also was raising a question about the information itself. She's like, they're reflecting like we don't necessarily even trust the things we are seeing, which is not wrong.

BADE: Well, I was going to say, if you look at Twitter, for instance, ever since Elon Musk's takeover, I mean, your feed is a lot different than it was before the takeover.

It used to be that, you know, the people you followed in terms of A.P. or other news outlets, et cetera, it would often come up.

Now when I look at Twitter, it's always, you know, far-right MAGA sort of information and influencers. So that's -- that's definitely true.

But I just feel like, you know, this is like asking to put the toothpaste back in -- in the tube, right? I mean, at this point, we have the Internet.

And I agree with you, Jonah. Like, it would be great to have more one- on-one, personal interaction.

CORNISH: But this is the opinion from "Politico," which started as a blog. So --

BADE: I know. It's true. But I just think, you know, Internet is like --

GOLDBERG: Particularly, you give somebody something physical, like in campaign work, it's a way to introduce a conversation.

CORNISH: Yes.

GOLDBERG: Right? So, it's -- it's a totem as much as it's a document.

SEAWRIGHT: Here's where I agree with her totally. The misinformation, disinformation. Down South, we call it lies. It's come -- it's come to an all-time high online, with bot farms and all the things: outside influencers, foreign countries influencing the conversation in America on social.

"Forbes" had an interesting article maybe a week or so ago, about the bots that have taken over X and some of the other outlets. And I think we have to pay attention to that, because that can really influence how we think and how we maneuver, particularly from a news standpoint in America.

CORNISH: Yes, or you can just opt out, which I think a lot of people are doing, but not this group.

Group chat, stay right here. And if you want to know more about our conversation, new episodes of "The Assignment" drop every Thursday. This latest one is out now. Next, we're talking about the redistricting fight, because it heads to

California, where the governor promises to fight fire with fire. Is he taking a page from President Trump's playbook?

Plus, Taylor Swift spilling the tea in a rare two-hour interview on her boyfriend's podcast. And she talked about everything.

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