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CNN This Morning
Erin Brings Dangerous Rip Currents & Winds Along the East Coast; Today: Texas & California Vote on Rival Redistricting Plans; Dating Apps Boom, but Users Burned Out. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired August 21, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: -- major publishers and some smaller independent studios. Organizers say one of the big draws will be hand- held gaming, such as Nintendo Switch 2. The Switch 2 launched in June.
[06:00:11]
That event runs through Sunday.
Our run here this hour, though, is over. Thanks for joining me so much on EARLY START on this Thursday. I'm Erica Hill in New York. Stay tuned. CNN THIS MORNING with Audie Cornish starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: A life-or-death situation warning for millions on the East Coast: Get out of the water. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
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GOV. JOSH STEIN (D-NC): No one should be in the ocean.
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CORNISH: Hurricane Erin threatening millions. It won't make landfall, but it could still be deadly.
Texas Republicans approve a new gerrymandered congressional map. Can Democrats fight back?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Crime statistics all over our country were massively underreported.
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CORNISH: The Trump administration defends its D.C. takeover. So, why do most of the people who live there feel less safe?
Abandon woke, go broke? The bosses at Target could be learning a painful lesson about dismissing DEI.
The Menendez brothers about to face a parole board. They want their freedom, 36 years after the murder of their parents.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The online dating scene has just tainted my view of how to approach someone in the wild.
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CORNISH: Looking for love in all the wrong places. Why people are starting to dump dating apps.
It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at Virginia Beach as Hurricane Erin moves up the East Coast.
Good morning, everybody. It's Thursday, August 21. I want to thank you for waking up with us. I'm Audie Cornish, and here's where we begin.
That massive storm, Hurricane Erin, making its way along the East Coast, bringing dangerous conditions along with it. And Erin isn't expected to make landfall. Still, it could impact hundreds of miles of shoreline from the Northeast all the way down to the Carolinas.
New Jersey beaches are bracing for high winds and beach erosion.
In Rhode Island, ferry boat trips are canceled. And homes on North Carolina's Outer Banks are dealing with massive waves and dangerous rip currents.
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STEIN: I want to emphasize the importance of taking this storm seriously, because it's a serious storm. And conditions can deteriorate quickly.
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CORNISH: We're going to get right to CNN meteorologist Derek van Dam for the forecast. Derek, what's the latest?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Good morning, Audie.
Listen, the -- the hurricane right now is making its closest approach to the North Carolina coast. So, it's only going to get better from here, right?
So, we do have the outer rain bands of this hurricane kind of scraping along the Outer Banks, the coastal areas of North Carolina.
But a lot of this activity will impact the coastline of Virginia and into the Delmarva Peninsula. I'll show you a wider view in just one moment.
But here's the center of the storm, right? And wow, we are so fortunate that we did not get a direct landfall. Only 200 miles separates the Eastern United states from the worst that Hurricane Erin has to offer.
And this is the current situation on the ground. We've kind of plotted these individual cities: Ocean City to Virginia Beach. You can see Hatteras gusting to just under 40 miles per hour.
Remember, for this to be tropical-storm force, it has to be sustained 39 miles per hour or greater. But that happens frequently at a drop of a hat, especially when these outer rain bands move in. They move out. The conditions fluctuate.
It could even go sunny and clear this morning for a brief period of time before another rain band moves in. So that is the nature of the outer rain bands of a hurricane.
So, here are the future forecast wind gusts, right along the Virginia coastline into perhaps Atlantic City, parts of New Jersey.
And then as the storm starts to exit the Northeast, maybe even into tomorrow morning, right along the Eastern shoreline of Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Nantucket.
And then I want to point your attention to this. We are approaching high tide this morning, and it is cosigning with that closest approach. So, both of those factors working together, the rough seas on the ocean there.
Overwash will still be a concern right along the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
CORNISH: OK. It looks like we're losing you here, Derek. We will come back, of course, because we are watching this storm for most of today.
I want to move on to the story about the Texas redistricting maps. You've got lawmakers in both Texas and California taking a big step forward with rival redistricting plans.
The Texas Senate will vote on new congressional maps that would give Republicans an edge in next year's midterms. The House passed it after a weeks-long standoff with Democrats, who fled the state to delay the vote. They vow to take it to court.
[06:05:05]
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REP. JOHN BUCY III (D), TEXAS STATE HOUSE: This is not democracy. This is authoritarianism in real time.
REP. NICOLE COLLIER (D), TEXAS STATE HOUSE: Today is not the end. And we will push and push and push until we take over this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Today, California lawmakers will vote on a plan to redraw congressional maps there to favor Democrats. Heavyweights, including former President Obama, have voiced support.
The fight won't stop there. GOP-leaning states Florida, Ohio. They're also talking about redrawing the maps. Joining me now in the group chat to talk about this, Eugene Scott, op-
ed writer at "The Boston Globe"; Mike Dubke, former Trump communications director; and Meghan Hays, former Biden White House official.
So, I'm actually going to start with you, Eugene, just because there were some numbers here I found intriguing.
Voters in California saying that they do not want gerrymandering to come back to their state, right, because they have an independent voting commission. Sixty-four percent of Californians saying they want to keep that independent redistricting commission, 36 percent don't. Can you talk about the politics of this?
EUGENE SCOTT, OP-ED WRITER, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Sure. I mean, that's why we saw heavyweights like Obama jump in, trying to perhaps persuade Democrats, voters at least, to look differently. That's where you're going to see the uptick in support for this.
Republicans in the state and independents are not going to favor this. As you said, they previously said, about in 2008, they want independents determining who their -- who decides their districts.
But there has been some competing polling. There was an Axios poll that came out that said a Democratic pollster said 60 percent of California residents actually do want redistricting. So, this is another one of those moments where we're reminded that you can find a poll to support what you want to support.
CORNISH: But what you cannot find is, the -- Governor Schwarzenegger with this T-shirt that he was wearing saying, "I'm getting ready for the gerrymandering battle."
And he also is voicing opposition. Obviously, in California, he was part of this effort, which is a reminder, this was bipartisan at one point.
Mike, what do you see in what the governor is saying? He was telling "The New York Times," "I hate the idea of Republicans redrawing the district lines in Texas as much as I hate what the Californians are trying to do."
MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: And I must have missed talking about New York in 2024 when those district lines were, you know -- I -- I went back. I was trying to find the outrage when the New York Democrats were redrawing 22 lines for the 2024 elections.
I mean, Gavin Newsom --
CORNISH: That was just before the midterms.
DUBKE: That one that one was right after the midterms --
CORNISH: OK.
DUBKE: -- just before the '24 elections. Because they had -- the Democrats had so gerrymandered the districts of New York that a court had to step in and say, this is -- you guys have gone way too far. Drew the lines in '22, and then the Democrats came back in '24 and redrew them.
CORNISH: So, you're like, Sorry, Arnold.
DUBKE: This is not --
CORNISH: You should have spoke up sooner.
DUBKE: Well, no. I'm saying -- I'm saying --
CORNISH: He's big. I'm -- I wouldn't --
DUBKE: No, no, no. Absolutely. And -- and we also need to recognize that Gavin Newsom is the only one in this debate that's defying the will of the people right now.
California voted twice for an independent commission. They want an independent commission. They showed it at the ballot box.
Now, Gavin Newsom, playing national politics so he can run in 2028, is trying to be the big, bad Democrat on the national stage and redistrict.
Texas has every right to do this, every right to do this. It -- it just blows my mind that folks get all upset at Donald Trump for writing an executive order that really has no staying power on mail-in voting and saying he's nationalizing elections.
We have to allow the states to do -- exercise their will. And then when Texas exercises their will, it's like, oh my goodness; they're nationalizing elections. You can't have it both ways.
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL: But what's different? California is actually taking it to the voters in November. So, Gavin Newsom is giving the people of California the opportunity to vote on whether they want to redraw their lines.
DUBKE: Their third bite at the apple that they've already eaten twice.
HAYS: It doesn't matter. This is what he's still doing. Texas is just doing it midstream. And this -- I think that we both agree that this is not something that should be done mid -- mid-cycle.
DUBKE: No. I do agree with you on that. Yes.
HAYS: But it's -- we're having the argument, because people are doing this out of turn anyways.
But I just think California is taking this to the voters. California is having a ballot initiative, and voters will decide.
And if voters do not want this, it will show where the American people are. And it will definitely show where people think of Gavin Newsom and where his state views him. DUBKE: And I love the high-stakes nature of this, because if Newsom
loses this battle in California, I -- I think it's going to be difficult for him to run in 2028.
CORNISH: OK, you guys stay with me. We're actually going to have someone from the Democratic organization filing suits about this here in the show.
But coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy actually looking less likely to happen. The Kremlin now downplaying -- downplaying the idea altogether.
Plus, we're getting a better snapshot of how D.C. residents feel about the National Guard patrolling their streets.
And devastating testimony from the parents of the children who died during that catastrophic flooding at a summer camp.
[06:10:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I told her camp was the safest place she could be, and she would make new friends and learn new things. I lied to her. She not only wasn't safe; she died.
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[06:14:46] CORNISH: It's 15 minutes past the hour, and here is your morning roundup.
Parents demanding action after their children were killed in catastrophic flooding at a summer camp in Texas.
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CECE WILLIAMS STEWARD, MOTHER OF CAMP MYSTIC CAMPER: Obvious common- sense safety measures were absent. Protocols that should have been in place were ignored. As a result, my daughter was stolen from us. Cile's life ended not because of an unavoidable act of nature, but because of preventable failures.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Now these parents are urging the Texas Senate to pass a bill that would improve safety measures at youth camps across the state.
Twenty-six campers and counselors were killed in that flooding.
And Russia not ready for a face-to-face meeting between Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's president. Instead, the Kremlin wants to send higher- level officials for talks with Zelenskyy.
That's in direct contrast with the White House narrative, saying plans for the direct negotiations between the two leaders were already underway.
And it appears the only thing harder than getting the motivation to go to the gym is canceling your membership. A new lawsuit is fighting back against that.
The Federal Trade Commission is suing L.A. Fitness, claiming it is exceedingly difficult to cancel memberships. Customers are being charged hundreds of millions of dollars in unwanted fees because of it.
At L.A. Fitness, you can only cancel in person or by mail.
And it's kind of ugly. It's kind of cute. Regardless, everyone's going crazy for the Labubu. The monster toy is raking the big bucks. It's made its toy company more valuable than the creator of Barbie.
Pop Mart's profits have skyrocketed almost 400 percent during the first half of this year.
And ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, sales are down. The CEO is stepping away. What went wrong at Target?
Plus, it's a uniquely modern challenge. Why it's getting harder and harder to search for love on your phone.
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[06:21:15]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing more degrading than a dating app.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. Maybe it's correlation bias, but I feel like the dating apps make me evil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, dating apps can be brutal. Many of you who use them say you're fed up.
A "Forbes" survey finds that 78 percent of dating app users felt emotionally, mentally, or physically exhausted by them. So, what's fueling the frustration?
Well, politics is part of it. MAGA and other ideologies shape the outlook of some of the people you might be finding on the apps, and that is becoming a deal breaker for some daters.
We were talking with "The Atlantic's" Faith Hill in this week's episode of "The Assignment" about the consequences of searching for love online.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CORNISH: In what ways have political trends poisoned the dating well? FAITH HILL, WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": So, I think that we are in a very
tricky political and cultural moment for dating, just because, you know, men and women are kind of growing further apart in a lot of ways, and especially among young people. And you see that young men are moving further to the right, young women growing more progressive.
And I think for a lot of women, in particular, it can just sort of feel like this is not a time where I trust men, I feel respected by men. I don't necessarily want to go out and meet strangers who are men.
We have an administration that is, you know, stripping away reproductive rights and protections against gender discrimination.
And -- and you can see in surveys that there is this kind of resentment among a lot of men, kind of a backlash to #MeToo, a backlash to women gaining financial independence, going to college more than men now, where, you know, there's -- among Gen Z, even, far more women who identify as feminists than men.
So, I think there is a real feeling among women that the -- the sort of larger political backdrop is -- it's seeping into individual relationships and making it really hard to trust people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CORNISH: OK. Group chat is back. We talked about a lot of things in that discussion, but I wanted to bring that one to the table for obvious reasons.
There was a long time ago, probably in our vintage, where people talked about opposites attracting and having different backgrounds. And you can have a relationship whatever your politics are. And she said this interesting thing about it's actually seeping into those conversations.
SCOTT: I can imagine that. I mean, I think one of the real challenges, as someone who has been on the dating apps, is that you don't always know where someone falls, even when they're in your tribe.
CORNISH: But should it matter?
SCOTT: I think shared values, worldviews, principles, convictions, all of these things matter when you're trying to find someone that you want to, you know, assume -- presumably share your life with.
I think a real challenge I've seen is that a lot of people don't even know what their convictions are and what their values are. And so, you're thinking someone cares about this thing that you also care about, because they say they identify politically like you, and -- and they actually may not.
CORNISH: Oh, you guys, what do you think?
DUBKE: I mean, isn't that the journey of discovery when you're dating somebody? You find out if you have shared values or whatnot? I mean, if it's listed on an app, I just find this -- look, I met my
wife the old-fashioned way. We met at work and, you know. So, for me, this is a little bit foreign.
CORNISH: Yes.
DUBKE: But I -- I have two children, one who I think is on dating apps, and the other just got married last year, so -- And he did it the old-fashioned way, as well. He met his -- his wife at college.
[06:25:02]
So -- But isn't that journey of discovery totally destroyed when you list everything on an app?
SCOTT: I would imagine, but I think what we're doing, this is just the -- the logical conclusion, next step of a culture that is really consumed with efficiency. Right? And they're trying to learn as much as possible.
CORNISH: Yes. She said the same thing. Yes.
SCOTT: Right?
DUBKE: Efficient love. That sounds so romantic.
SCOTT: And the question then becomes -- the question becomes when do you ask these questions? When's the right time?
CORNISH: Yes, it's changed the etiquette.
HAYS: But also, I think that the reasons people get married now is very different than it was, probably, even 20 years ago. Women now have -- are much more independent, just sort of like she was saying. They have their own careers. They -- they also can have children on their own now. There's a lot different reasons that people get married.
So, if you're getting married for companionship, that is much different. And you probably are not going to have the same connection on an app that you would have meeting someone in person.
But if you're getting married for the traditional reasons, then all these shared values are really important.
But I just think that we need to take a step back and look why people even are getting married and why they're using the app. So, it just -- there's a -- there's a balance shift --
CORNISH: Yes.
HAYS: -- in even, like, why women even are --
CORNISH: The economics come into play.
HAYS: -- like, looking for relationships and getting married now. CORNISH: Right.
SCOTT: Marriage is not the only reason people use these apps.
HAYS: Well, there's that.
CORNISH: Oh, really? We'll save that for after the break.
You can look for new episodes of "The Assignment" every Thursday. Catch this one today.
All right. On CNN THIS MORNING, large waves and dangerous rip currents. We're going to be live from the coast as Hurricane Erin churns offshore.
Plus, the Menendez brothers finally get parole hearings. But their fight for release is not over.
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