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CNN This Morning

Cassidy Ousted In Louisiana, Giving Trump Major Victory; Thousands Rally Against Redistricting In Alabama; Russian State Media: 3 Dead After Ukraine's Massive Drone Assault; U.S. Aircraft Carrier Returns Home After Record Deployment; Trump Mulls Further Iran Strikes After Return From China Summit; Driver Rams Crowd In Italy, Bystanders Tackle Suspect; White House Hosts All Day Prayer Event On National Mall; "The Last Laugh: Stephen Colbert" Airs Tonight At 8PM ET On CNN. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired May 17, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:31]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to "CNN This Morning." Good to have you along. A major upset in Louisiana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn't turn out the way you want it to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: GOP Senator Bill Cassidy suffered a bruising primary loss to a challenger backed by President Trump. The President was quick to weigh in. We'll tell you his message to Cassidy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not going back! We're not going back! We're not going back! We're not going back!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Rallies in support of voting rights were held in Alabama Saturday. The fiery message from Democratic leaders in response to redistricting measures across the South.

And new this morning, Ukraine launches its largest attack on Russia in more than a year. The new details we're learning about this latest strike. Those are coming up.

And after a year at sea, the sailors aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford are finally home. And CNN was there as those sailors were reunited with their families after being apart for nearly a year.

Welcome to a new week. It is Sunday, May 17th. Good to have you with me. I'm Victor Blackwell.

We're starting with a huge win for President Trump and a stinging defeat for Senator Bill Cassidy in the Louisiana primary. The Trump- endorsed Representative Julia Letlow and Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming will advance to a June 27th runoff, but finished well ahead of Cassidy.

President Trump took a victory lap on social media last night. He posted his disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now a part of his legend. And it's nice to see that his political career is over.

Cassidy did not mention Trump by name in his concession speech, but he did say this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASSIDY: Our country is not about one individual. It is about the welfare of all Americans and it is about our Constitution.

And if someone doesn't understand that and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they're about serving themselves. They're not about serving us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, once most of the votes were counted, Letlow was quick to acknowledge the assist that she got from the President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JULIA LETLOW (R-LA): I want to say thank you to a very special man who you all know, the best president this country has ever had, President Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Thousands of demonstrators were on the streets on Saturday in the cradle of the modern civil rights movement, Montgomery, Alabama. They were there to rally against a movement by conservative led states to gerrymander congressional districts that had to help secure black political representation. The rally and demonstration started in Selma with crowds chanting, we won't go back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): It is time for all of us to come to Georgia, to Louisiana, to Tennessee, to Mississippi, and let them know exactly what they have on court with this injustice.

REP. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): Are you ready to use your voice?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Yes!

WARNOCK: Are you ready to vote like you've never voted before because your lives depend on it?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Yes!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Rafael Romo has more from Alabama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Victor, good morning. The rally started at 1:30 p.m. Central Time and it lasted several hours here in Montgomery at the steps of the Alabama State Capitol, where thousands of people gathered to express concern because they say their voting rights are being diluted, especially after the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court less than three weeks ago. This day of action called All Roads Lead to the South started in historic Selma at 9:00 in the morning local time with the prayer service at Tabernacle Baptist Church, followed by a silent march across the iconic Edmund Pettus Bridge site of the bloody Sunday police assault on unarmed protesters in 1965.

Around 600 people had been expected to march there. Here at the rally in front of the capitol, political leaders including Democratic Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Raphael Warnock of Georgia delivered speeches as well as New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Senator Booker told CNN this movement is not only about rights for black people but protecting democracy for all Americans.

[06:05:16]

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): We see what they're trying to do. They're trying to rig maps and dilute African-American voices in the House of Representatives.

This is overt. We know exactly the end they're trying to create, which is a removal in some states, completely of black representation in the House of Representatives. This smacks of the post reconstruction period. There they use terror. There they used poll taxes. There they lynched people. And they used the law, a broken law, immoral law, to try to stop blacks from voting and having representation.

ROMO: On April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark ruling made it easier for Republicans to disassemble the majority minority districts that are about all Democrats today have in the Deep South. The GOP has quickly set about doing that.

Tennessee has already carved up a majority black district based in Memphis to give Republicans a 9-0 map, and Louisiana is expected to soon eliminate one or both of its majority black districts. Alabama, the state, has petitioned to lift a court order that requires it to keep a second majority minority district.

Victor, now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Rafael Romo, reporting for us. Thank you so much.

Joining me now is CNN politics reporter Arit John. Arit, good morning to you.

Let's start with the Louisiana primary and Bill Cassidy, sitting senator, finished third in that race. What does that tell us about the endurance of the President's grip, his influence on the base of his party?

ARIT JOHN, CNN POLITICS REPORTER (on-camera): It tells us that President Donald Trump is still the most influential person in Republican politics. And we've seen that throughout this year. We saw Indiana lawmakers who declined to redistrict in that state. The President and his allies targeted several of them, and they lost their primaries earlier this year. We saw that in Georgia when there was a special election for a Marjorie Taylor Greene seat. Despite there being a very crowded primary, the President's chosen pick still won the primary and was elected to Congress.

So when it comes to the President's endorsement, it doesn't mean that it clears the field, but it does mean that his picks tend to get through.

And in the case of Senator Bill Cassidy, it also shows that when the President decides to go after some of his enemies, the ease succeeds. In this case, Bill Cassidy was one of seven Republicans who voted to impeach the President -- who voted to convict the President during his impeachment trial in 2021. And as we saw last night in his concession speech, he didn't directly mention the President, but he did contrast himself from the President in that he was willing to acknowledge that he lost the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASSIDY: I've been able to participate in democracy. And when you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn't turn out the way you want it to.

But you don't pout. You don't whine. You don't claim that election was stolen. You don't find a reason why. You don't manufacture some excuse. You thank the voters for the privilege of representing the state or the country for as long as you've had that privilege.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN (on-camera): So looking ahead, we're going to see other challenges. The President next later this month is going after Kentucky Congressman Tom Massie, somebody who's voted against the President on several key issues. And we'll see if he's able to survive that primary in Kentucky.

BLACKWELL: He's also asking now online if anybody's running against Lauren Boebert. So, we'll see where that goes as well.

Let's talk about the redistricting fights that we're seeing playing out across the country. We talked about, and Rafael was just there, this big demonstration in Alabama on Saturday. We saw some Democratic lawmakers who spoke at the event.

But more than rallying Democrats, is it clear now what the Democrats' strategy will be heading into the midterms?

JOHN (on-camera): We're seeing Democrats sort of take this on in multiple prongs. On the one hand, this historic trend suggests that Democrats would do well this year because of the, you know, when the President and the party of the President in power tends to do worse during midterm elections.

But we've seen that the Democrats' fight fire strategy during redistricting hasn't panned out. In Virginia, there was an effort to redistrict there that was overturned by the state Supreme Court. We've seen an effort in Maryland stall out. But Democratic leaders are looking at redistricting in New York, redistricting wherever they can to try to get back to at least a draw in this redistricting fight.

[06:10:04]

But it's not clear when you have states like Florida redistricting. And again, the President's influence of looking at different states and really pushing them to carve out as many additional seats as they can reach on.

BLACKWELL: Arit John, thank you so much.

New this morning, Ukraine has unleashed its largest drone attack on Russia in more than a year. Three people have been killed, that's according to Russian state media, which released these images of the damage including a huge fireball that engulfed a home near Moscow. A Russian state media reported that Ukraine fired off more than 500 drones.

This is after Russia's massive attack last week and those killed 25 people, injured dozens of others according to Ukrainian authorities.

Let's go now to CNN's Anna Cooban with the latest. Anna, hello to you.

ANNA COOBAN, CNN REPORTER (on-camera): Hi. So yes, I mean you've painted it there, we've seen this really sort of deadly attack in Moscow yesterday. Russian state media and media saying that this is the largest attack in over a year.

But that then follows this heavy bombardment of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine across Wednesday, Thursday over 1,500 drones, over 50 missiles, at least 25 people killed. And it's difficult to sort of well, it paints a stark picture to where we were this time last week, where we'd had comments from Putin saying that he believes the war is drawing to a close there was this limited ceasefire that was brokered by the U.S. an agreement to swap her prisoners and prisoner exchange. But then Zelensky saying that after Wednesday and Thursday's attacks by Russia that this is not the action of somebody referring to Putin who believes the war is coming to an end.

But I also just want to zoom out and say that it's important to acknowledge that Russia's progress, territorial progress in this war is stalling. Last month was the first month since August 2024 when Ukraine actually liberated more territory than Russia was able to take. And this is due in part to Ukraine's Superiority with -- with drone warfare more mid-range long-range strikes right into the heart of Russian territory. But really this is still a raging war, a deadly war Russia still controls around a fifth of Ukraine's territory and it doesn't really seem that there's much that was really an end in sight at the moment.

BLACKWELL: Anna Cooban reporting from London. Thank you.

Still ahead, hundreds of sailors back home after a year-long deployment. We were there for the homecoming.

Plus, faith leaders and members of the President's cabinet will be on the National Mall today. Coming up the concerns about the eroding wall between church and state.

And tough news for tech fans, Southwest says you cannot bring your robot, human or animal like on planes. Will tell you what led to this interesting policy announcement.

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[06:17:40]

BLACKWELL: This morning, thousands of sailors are back home in Norfolk, Virginia, after a 326-day deployment.

The USS Gerald R. Ford and two other ships returned after supporting U.S. military operations around the world. This was the longest deployment for a U.S. aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War.

CNN's Brian Todd is there, or was there, with more on the return and what this deployment meant for sailors and their families.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the end of an exhausting deployment. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the aircraft carrier, pulled into Norfolk here a short time ago after the longest deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group since the Vietnam War, 11 months out at sea.

During that time, they had some issues on board. There was a fire that tore through the laundry area on board the ship that required 30 hours for crew members to put it out and keep it from reigniting. Then they flew sorties just two days after that, but also, they had plumbing issues on board. The toilets didn't work, and they had to be fixed. So, a lot of that had to go in for repairs at port.

But, you know, family members told us about just kind of the nature of this deployment and the pure length of it. Two different times this deployment was extended. So, we talked to family members about what it was like to go through that.

What was the toughest part of this deployment?

JALYSSA DELAROSA, WIFE OF PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS OMAR MORA: One him being gone for 11 months and him getting extended over and over and over. And then the pregnancy doing all by myself because, you know, obviously he had to go and the labor and delivery by myself. That was very emotional for me having to deliver him.

DAKOTA KLINEDINST, PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS, U.S. NAVY: I think anybody that's been on a deployment on a ship, it feels the same. It's like, ah, you know, that's a bummer. But we got to do what we got to do, you know, like just we'll be home eventually. We got to come home eventually.

TODD: Can you tell us there what the toughest part of the deployment was for you?

SARA KLINEDINST, WIFE OF PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS DAKOTA KLINEDINST: Just my husband missing everything, missing his first steps, missing his first birthday.

TODD: So family members telling us they missed important events, that their spouses on board here missed important events like first steps, birthdays, but also actual births. One Navy official told us they believe that about 57 babies were born among the families of those deployed during this 11-month deployment.

Brian Todd, CNN Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, well, welcome home, everybody. Welcome home. Brian Todd, thank you for that.

[06:20:03]

More than a quarter million people will have to find a different way to work tomorrow or work from home. Workers on the country's largest commuter rail are on strike.

Coming up, we'll have what led to the walkout.

And Allison, we're watching storms.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on-camera): Yes, that's right. We are looking at millions of people have the potential today not only for strong tornadoes, but incredibly large hail. We'll break down the timeline, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Checking top stories. A high-profile Senate primary in Louisiana ended with a major defeat for the incumbent and a win for President Trump.

[06:25:03]

CNN projects that Senator Bill Cassidy will finish behind two Republican challengers in yesterday's primary. One of them, Congressman Julia Letlow, backed by President Trump. Cassidy's defeat follows years of political blowback after he voted to impeach the President.

The World Health Organization says an Ebola outbreak in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo is a public health emergency of international concern. The WHO stopped short of declaring it a pandemic, but health officials say at least 80 people have died amid a surge of more than 200 suspected cases.

There are no approved vaccines or treatments for this rare strain of the virus, and that, of course, raises concerns of potential cross- border transmission.

A transit strike in New York has left more than a quarter million commuters in limbo ahead of the work week. Workers with the Long Island Railroad are on strike, and that's crippling the North America's busiest commuter rail system. The unions failed to reach a deal with railroad management on wages and work rules on Friday.

Now to the war in Iran, where Iranian state media report that Iran is in talks with Europe about passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Now, there's been no immediate response from European countries to that claim, but it comes as President Trump is deciding whether to continue strikes on Iran after returning from China.

The summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping produced no significant breakthrough on how to wind down the war with Iran.

CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene has more on what we're learning about the President's thinking as he's mulling next steps.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Good morning, Victor.

So, yes, President Donald Trump is back in Washington after that whirlwind summit, two days of meetings with President Xi Jinping in Beijing. But one thing remains unchanged, really, from prior to this trip, which is the state of play on Iran. It does not appear that his meetings, those face-to-face meetings with the President of China, led to any significant breakthrough on the Iran war and really trying to get the Iranians to come to the table in a more serious way.

Now, I will tell you, in the conversations I was having with my sources prior to the President's departure on Tuesday evening for China, they had told me that Trump had grown increasingly frustrated with the closure, the continued closure, of the Strait of Hormuz, of the way that he believes that the divisions within Iranian leadership is what is preventing them to coming to a significant compromise on a deal, and that he was closer than he had been in weeks to wanting to order more strikes in Iran.

But, of course, the China trip, a lot of his advisors wanted to see how that would play out and whether or not his discussions with Xi could lead to a change. Now, I want you to listen to what he told Fox News in an interview about this and specifically about this idea of not wanting to ask the Chinese for help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BRETT BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You said that President Xi said he would offer assistance on Iran and specifically --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: I also said we don't need assistance.

BAIER: You didn't ask for it. You said that he was offering it specifically to open the Strait of Hormuz.

What do you think he will do?

TRUMP: I think he's been very nice about it. He gets 40 percent of his oil there. He didn't send anybody. He didn't send ships. He didn't send ships with big, fat guns on them that we would have had to repel. We would have.

They cannot have a nuclear weapon, because (INAUDIBLE) --

BAIER: The President of China agrees with you on that and --

TRUMP: He agrees with me on that. He agrees with me that he wants to see it end. He'd like to see it end. He would like to help. If he wants help, that's great. But we don't need help.

And you know the problem with help? When somebody helps you, they always want something on the other side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE (on-camera): I think that last line there that the President says about, you don't want to ask for help because they expect something in return is a notable one. I think a lot of people were wondering whether or not the Chinese would try to use the Iran war as leverage during their meetings over the past several days. And, you know, I think the President was hesitant to allow that to happen.

So all to say, we kind of see the President, he's back in Washington, back kind of in a similar place that he was before this trip, needing to make a decision now on how he believes to end this war. Does he resume trying to give diplomacy a chance, allowing for more time? Or does he order more strikes in Iran? We'll have to see what he decides as he meets with his national security team, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, week 12 of this war. Alayna Treene, thank you.

This morning, we're keeping an eye on a multi-day severe weather threat. These storms could bring tornadoes, damaging winds, large hail, heavy rain across several states.

CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking it all for us. And multi-day, we're in day two of it now.

CHINCHAR (on-camera): Right, yes. And so it actually gets even stronger as we go into the early portion of the upcoming week, especially Monday. So yes, this is going to be the long game here for a lot of these areas. Here's a look at what the radar shows right now. We've got some active storms at the moment across the Northern Plains, even stretching into areas of the Midwest. We don't have any warnings at the moment. We've had them off and on throughout the morning. That's why you have this severe thunderstorm watch.

[06:30:08]

So at any given time, some of these storms could kind of ramp up enough, at least to the credentials that they would get a warning. But we do expect warnings as we head into the later morning hours, and especially the afternoon once we've had that heating of the day to help fuel a lot more of these showers and thunderstorms.

But this is where those main lines are moving. They'll continue to slide off to the east as we head through the rest of the next couple of hours. So states like Illinois, Wisconsin, you're going to start to see more of those stronger thunderstorms ramp up in the next couple of hours.

This is the main target point. You do have this little area of strong thunderstorms across portions of Georgia and Florida, but the main concern is really going to be here across areas of the central U.S. and into the Midwest. This is where we have the potential to see not just hail, very large hail. We're talking tennis balls to baseball size hail, especially in those orange and yellow shaded areas you see there, and strong tornadoes. You're talking EF2 or stronger.

So again, this is going to be a considerable threat that begins today and then continues into tomorrow. But now you'll notice in tomorrow's map, we actually have the red color. That's because the intensity of these storms are going to increase tomorrow as we move in. So again, you're not only going to see pretty much the same elements you saw today, but they're going to be a little bit stronger and a little bit more widespread tomorrow.

So all of these areas, essentially from the U.P. of Michigan all the way back down into Texas, that's where you have the area that has the potential for these strong thunderstorms. Obviously, the orange and the red areas are really going to be the target point again, especially for the larger hail sizes. You know, you're talking tennis ball to grapefruit size hail. And then again, tornadoes that could be EF2s, EF3s in that particular area.

So, let's break down the timeline again. We start later this morning. You can see a lot more of the storms. We talked about Illinois, Wisconsin getting that first round. Then later this afternoon, you start to get more of them that fire up across areas of South Dakota, Nebraska, and then eventually into Kansas as that line continues to move off to the east.

They will continue overnight and into the early morning hours, just moving eastward as they do. And then we'll continue right through into the next couple of days.

BLACKWELL: All right, Allison, thank you so much. Everybody stay alert.

Still ahead, members of the Trump administration will attend a day- long prayer event hosted by the White House on the National Mall. What we're learning about this event that's being framed as a rededication of America.

And if you're heading out, remember, stream my show from anywhere in the U.S., right from the CNN app. You can go to CNN.com/Watch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:13]

BLACKWELL: A man drove into a crowd in Modena, Italy, yesterday. At least eight people were injured, four of them seriously hurt, including one woman whose legs were amputated after being hit by that car.

Police say the driver got out of the car. He was holding a knife. Four people helped tackle him and hold him down until police arrived. We got some video here.

We want to warn you, though, that some of what you're about to hear may be disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUCA SIGNORELL, EYEWITNESS (through translation): I forced it open. I opened the door, the car door. The suspect left the car, and while I was trying to help the woman whose legs had been amputated, he ran away. So, I chased him.

A fight broke out. I was stabbed twice, once in the heart and once in the head. I managed to dodge one of the two, and during the other one, I grabbed his wrist and blocked him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I threw myself into Tigota. In fact, he swerved, crashed into the shop windows at Dilauri's (ph), smashing them and severed the legs of a woman who was standing there. He crushed her right against the shop window.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That driver is 31 years old. Authorities are now questioning him as they're working to determine a motive.

The White House is hosting a day-long prayer event on the National Mall today. It's called Rededicate 250. It's to mark America's 250th birthday celebrations.

The event is funded by a mix of private donations and taxpayer dollars. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson will speak at the event. President Trump will appear via a video message.

Organizers say that all are welcome. The faith leaders attending, though, are overwhelmingly evangelical Christians and legal experts, they're split on constitutionality of this. Critics say the event is just a government-run church service.

Joining me now is CNN religion contributor Father Edward Beck. Father, welcome back to the show.

Listen, it's Sunday morning, and there are plenty of people who are watching this show who would get up and go to early service and say, listen, what's wrong with getting together on the National Mall to pray for our country? And to them, in this context, you'd say what?

Father, we have an issue with your audio. Is your Zoom muted? No? All right, we'll check it.

We'll have the control room do this. I can't do this live on television, figure out the audio issue.

We'll take a break. We'll figure that out. We'll come back. Quick break. See you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:44:19]

BLACKWELL: We fixed it. The audio issue has been resolved. Father Edward Beck is back with me now to talk about this day-long event branded as Rededicate 250.

Father, and the question I posed to you before the break, what's wrong, many may ask, with getting people together to pray for the country on his 250th birthday?

FATHER EDWARD BECK, CNN RELIGION CONTRIBUTOR (on-camera): I mean, nothing, right, Victor? I'm a fan of prayer, obviously, and prayer is wonderful. May 17th is actually a date that George Washington himself designated for prayer back in 1776. I mean, so the historical hook is legitimate.

[06:45:00]

But I think when the government organizes prayer, I think the founders would object in this way. There's a significant difference between a community of faith gathering on public land and the White House organizing, funding, and staffing a national prayer rally. I mean, this event is run by this organization Freedom 250, which is a commission that was begun by President Trump, and cabinet secretaries are on the program.

And as you mentioned, $100 million of the Interior Department funds is behind this broader initiative, and they had corporate sponsors such as ExxonMobil. I don't know, the founders drew the church-state line precisely because they had watched state-sponsored religion tear Europe apart, right? And yet I think here we're walking the line again with an event like this.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and I -- I just want to be more specific on this. In -- in this space I look toward our reporter John Blake, who focuses on religion, and in his reporting on, you know, the framework here of the white Christian nationalism and that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, he reports that the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797, ratified by the Senate, at that time half-filled with signers of the Constitution, declared, quote, the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on Christian religion.

I mean, how does this, this movement, what we're seeing not just around the President, but have seen for some time now, reconcile with the concerted effort by our Founding Fathers to create a secular nation?

BECK (on-camera): Well, I'm not sure it does. I mean, you have the White House faith advisor, Paula White-Cain, she said last month that this Rededicate 250 would not include leaders praying to all these different gods.

So I mean, that one sentence cancels out every claim about welcoming Americans of every background, right? I mean, Pastor Jeffress, who is going to be speaking today, he said that if America's going to rededicate herself to Christ, it means I must rededicate myself to Christ. Well, not to God? What about Jewish people, Muslim people, Hindu people, non-religious people? I mean, Americans are full of different citizens in this country.

So I think if you have 14 Christian speakers and you do have one Orthodox Jewish rabbi, no Muslim, no Hindu, no Buddhist, no mainline Protestants to speak of really, it's -- it's not an interfaith gathering. It's really a Christian revival. And I think that's where it becomes very problematic.

BLACKWELL: Broader question here. There's a recent poll from Pew that shows that 51 percent of respondents out it came out last month. It says that the Bible should have a great deal or at least some influence on U.S. laws, but only 13 percent believe the government should stop enforcing the separation of -- of church and state.

Not a direct contradiction, but seeming to be kind of not a contradiction, a conflict there, I should say. What do you see as kind of the complicated relationship that some people have with the role of religion in public life?

BECK (on-camera): I think where it gets complicated is when -- I mean, it's supposed to protect both, right? It's supposed to protect religion, too, from being controlled by the state. So freedom of religion is also freedom from religion, so it's -- it's both.

And I think if you don't have that separation, then, I don't know, you start to have political campaigns going on. You have them funded by churches. You have them funded by government. All that money bleeds together. I don't think people can depend on the motivation of faith anymore, because it becomes partisan. It becomes about power. All the stuff that faith is supposed to be. As we know, politics you know, can be a very corrupt business.

And so I think when all of that bleeds together, you risk people losing faith in faith.

BLACKWELL: Well --

BECK (on-camera): And so I think the separation of church and state was done for a reason, and it's helpful for a reason.

BLACKWELL: Father Edward Beck, always good to have you. Thank you so much.

In other headlines we're following this morning, there's been a setback for President Trump's White House ballroom plans.

Senate Democrats say a key funding piece has been ruled out of order in the GOP's latest budget bill. That makes it harder for Republicans to pass it with a simple majority. The plan includes about a billion dollars for security.

Around $220 million is tied to the ballroom project. Republicans now have to rework that proposal.

If you're flying Southwest, you may need to leave your robot at home. The airline is now banning humanoid and animal-like robots from both carry-ons and checked bags. The reason is the, the lithium-ion batteries inside them, which have caused fires on planes.

[06:50:09]

Now, this comes after a few recent incidents, including one that delayed a flight out of California. Southwest says the new rule is not about any one event.

For more than a decade, Stephen Colbert has sat at the really the epicenter of late night where comedy and politics and culture collide. And as he prepares to take the desk for the final time, a new CNN FlashDoc, "THE LAST LAUGH," examines his legacy and the importance of American satire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Satire is never more important than in times of strife, and I think we're certainly in one of those times now.

SOPHIA MCCLENNEN, AUTHOR, COLBERT'S AMERICA: SATIRE AND DEMOCRACY: There's no question that we're in crisis. I think that it's unsurprising that we're seeing a huge amount of political comedy aimed at helping the public make sense of it.

JORDAN CARLOS, COMEDIAN & WRITER: The comedian's job now is to say, you're not crazy. This isn't normal. We're going to point this out.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Comedians and journalists are like the front line when it comes to the ability to criticize people in power. And if they are chilled into silence, then it will have an impact on the public as well.

CARLOS: But just as long as comedians keep using their comedic skills to speak truth to power, we going to be a'ight. But it won't be easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Joining us now to discuss, comedian and writer Jordan Carlos.

Jordan, good morning to you. Thank you for -- for being with me.

I wonder, just --

CARLOS: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: -- we'll start broadly, what you're feeling and thinking, having obviously worked with -- with Stephen now that this, this show is coming to an end?

CARLOS: Yes, I mean, I haven't fully processed it really, I have to admit. I mean, it's kind of just been there, you know, as one of the big late night shows, and when it is gone, then maybe I will really feel its lack of presence, right? It- it's -- it's a weighty moment, and we see the tail end of what has been a lot of kind of high political intrigue and cloak and dagger that, you know, has brought us to this point where we lose this very pivotal comedic voice. The end, and yes, I'm not ready for it.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes.

CARLOS: Plain answer, I'm not ready for it.

BLACKWELL: And it's not only the end of The Late Show, right, which has been an institution that, of course, predates Stephen Colbert's time as hosting that show. It's a movement at least. We don't know what is next for Colbert, but his role at that spot at 11:35, also The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. Talk more about --

CARLOS: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- his influence and his role, not only in comedy, but at this intersection of comedy and politics.

CARLOS: Well, Stephen has had this facility with making amazing punchlines and insights about comedy that it seems like nobody else can, right? Almost like, you know, how gifted -- gifted soccer players are. They have a blessed foot, right? Like, that's what he is, and I -- I don't know if we fully appreciate that about him.

He -- he reminds me of, like, the cartoonist Thomas Nast from back in the day, who could, like who took down Boss Tweed. And to have that voice missing from the landscape, it's going to be terrible, especially because he's just funny, you know? That's a big part of it. He's just so funny.

And I feel bad that people were, are going to miss out on that. Younger generations will miss out on that, you know? So he has been that staple since the early 2000s. He's there from The Daily Show. Daily Show, Colbert Report, and then onto Late Night, right? So it's like, he's been there in all these iterations, and been this wonderful voice of satire comedy, and, like not letting us forget about maybe some of the things in the back page of the newspaper that we would -- would have otherwise ignored, right?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CARLOS: He just cast that light, that wonderful comedic light.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And -- and how dare I forget his role there on the, The Daily Show, where the Colbert character that we saw on The Colbert Report actually started --

CARLOS: That's where it came from.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CARLOS: It's OK, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Where it started.

CARLOS: You don't have to be as big of a Colbert fan.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CARLOS: It's all right.

BLACKWELL: But talk to me more about the -- the --

CARLOS: You -- you're forgiven. It's 6:35 in the morning. Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- the role of satire in our current landscape. There are some at the White House who are not a fan. But talk to us about its role in our political and -- and national fabric.

CARLOS: We need it. It's -- it's the Kevlar. It's the canary in the coal mine, right? It's the canary in the coal mine.

You have to be able to laugh at your leadership in order for it to remain vibrant. Authoritarianism does not -- it -- it does not respect and it does not respect and it does not tolerate comedy, right? It's just like, Victor, I cannot get booked at the North Korean Comedy Festival because it does not exist.

[06:55:18]

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CARLOS: So yes, it's important to have these w- to have comedy in a vibrant -- in a vibrant society, right?

And we see certain ironies come up, right? Like legalized comedy. Elon Musk, like a couple of years ago was just like, we got to legalize comedy. We got to legalize comedy. And now, we hear the same voices, right, if someone's making jokes or at -- at Trump's expense, they're going too far, right? So what is it, right? What is it? I -- I feel like in the arena of comedy, you have to allow for a plurality of voices. Sometimes I don't agree with -- with someone's jokes. You know, like I was just at the club last night. I don't agree with somebody's stance or -- or -- or -- or vantage point, but I laugh despite myself sometimes.

But I'm not going to shut them down just because I don't agree with what they're saying, right? And that, I think comedy is the perfect microcosm for the commons, right? Perfect, perfect microcosm for the -- for the First Amendment.

BLACKWELL: Well, certainly there will be --

CARLOS: And we need that freedom of speech.

BLACKWELL: -- millions of people who are fans of the show and fans of Stephen who will miss his role there at CBS. We'll see what's next for him.

Jordan Carlos, I appreciate your time this morning.

CARLOS: Thank you. Thank you. Keep laughing, please.

BLACKWELL: Be sure to watch "THE LAST LAUGH: STEPHEN COLBERT," tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. It's also streaming now on the CNN app.

We'll be right back.

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