Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Sen. Cornyn Raises Funds with Former President Bush; State Attorney's General Settle Paramount Merger; Trump's Media Ban Backfires; Jake and Logan Paul Give Talk at Pentagon. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired September 22, 2026 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:33:13]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: OK, we're just a couple weeks out until the midterm elections. So, we're talking about Texas. Republicans are looking to rally voters there in a Senate race that should be close but now it's a fight to the finish.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Texas has become a battleground. The enemy has set his sights on Texas.
KEN PAXTON (R), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: Texas is the battleground. Republicans are getting united and we are getting focused.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Are Republicans in the lone star state united and focused? As Paxton and Cruz try to rally voters and donors in Houston last night, you had the outgoing senator, John Cornyn, hosting a fundraiser in Dallas. But here's the thing. It was alongside former President George W. Bush. And "The New York Times" is reporting that this event helps out around six different Republican nominees for Senate. And none of them are named Ken Paxton.
So, I'm bringing it to the group chat.
The call is coming from inside the House. It was funny seeing Cruz be like, the enemy, it is I, it is here, it is there. This guy has been struggling.
CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: And he did it with Baptist hands.
CORNISH: Yes, he did Baptist hands. I was like, is Ted Cruz preaching? Here we are.
Ashley, my Bush era Republican, is your time arise? Are you back?
ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL UNDER PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, I don't think like the right-right side of the party likes -- still likes us anymore than they did before. But I think that 100 percent of them was shocked that he did a fundraiser, because the president doesn't usually get much into politics.
CORNISH: President Bush, you mean?
DAVIS: President Bush.
CORNISH: Yes. Yes.
DAVIS: Absolutely.
Money is not going to be an issue in the Paxton race because there's so much money, whether through Elon or through the president, MAGA Inc, that it's going to make up --
CORNISH: You think help is on the way.
DAVIS: Yes, I don't -- there's not going to --
CORNISH: As much as they kind of are speaking in a way like they're panicking.
DAVIS: But Cornyn's not going to raise money for Paxton. And I would assume, and I don't know for sure, that Paxton is not a George W. Bush candidate.
[06:35:01]
CORNISH: I think one thing that's interesting to me, can I just add this context for people on the right side? Paxton does not have a good relationship with Republicans in Texas on a bunch of different --
DAVIS: Well, he won the primary.
CORNISH: He absolutely won the primary, but he was impeached by his own party at one point, right? Didn't go past the Senate. His wife clearly spoke out about their divorce. And he's had his own staff, ex- staff, turn on him.
So, there's this weird -- it may be just a Texas thing, frankly, that he has a lot of people who, you know, aren't out to help him.
DANA MILBANK, COLUMNIST, "WASHINGTON SUN": And Trump keeps saying he looks ugly.
CORNISH: He does. He keeps mentioning that he's got a rumpled suit and things like that, which I don't know. Nobody brought that up before.
MILBANK: Yes. No, that's the big -- that's the biggest problem of all.
Yes, there's a lot of division right at the moment just because things are going badly. As much as I would like to see the Ashley-W. restoration, I don't think --
DAVIS: You didn't like us back then though, I'm sure. MILBANK: I didn't. I know. But every time I'm talking to one of the
old, you know, Bush people, I was like, can you remind me what we were all fighting about back then? It seems like it was all within the 40- yard lines (INAUDIBLE).
DAVIS: Well, Iraq.
MILBANK: Yes, there was that.
DAVIS: And the banks (INAUDIBLE).
CORNISH: OK.
ROCHA: Let me give --
CORNISH: Here we go. Chuck. Chuck about to preach.
ROCHA: There's two things -- there's two things I know. Number one, Paxton is not very popular within his own party. And I know that Ashley's shoes probably cost more than a trailer house I used to own in east Texas.
DAVIS: Oh, my goodness.
ROCHA: Also, I know that if you think about Paxton's race, he's no George Bush. I even yearn for the days of George Bush.
CORNISH: Yes.
ROCHA: To my dear friend Ashley, who I like to pick on like a sister. Like, Paxton is not popular in the own party for this reason is that he's never run a general election. He can win a primary. He can win a runoff. He can be everybody's savior in the Republican base. But you got to win a general election. And when diesel is $6.15 in Texas, we drive a lot of tractors in Texas, that's why he's under water. You can go to the independent numbers probably there and tell us all we need to know.
CORNISH: I did not -- I went to the Hispanic voter numbers in Texas because --
ROCHA: That's like my Nirvana. Yes. Let's talk about those too.
CORNISH: I know. I shouldn't have said it. But right now Paxton, 35 percent. Again, you know, I grew up in a family with a black Bush era Republican, and they are no longer that because they feel the party has abandoned them.
Meanwhile, when it comes to governor of Texas, again, a race that is not -- that is closer than it could be. Gina Hioajosa, Democrat, right now among Hispanic voters, 60 percent lead. So, just because every four years I have to write a story as a reporter that's like Democrats hope to flip Texas, is this the year we are finally going to see whatever little seeds grow from Democrats in Texas?
MILBANK: Maybe. I mean, as you mentioned, Abbott's in trouble. We've got the railroad commissioner with the --
CORNISH: Yes, which spurred Karl Rove, another Bush era Republican, to say no way.
MILBANK: Racist outburst. So, it's -- yes, so it's not just Democrats saying, oh, I think Beto could, you know, do really well this time.
CORNISH: Yes. Exactly.
MILBANK: There's something else going on because it's not just Texas. It's Kansas.
CORNISH: Iowa.
MILBANK: It's Iowa.
CORNISH: Yes.
MILBANK: So, you know, if there's this huge wave, then, of course, you know, Texas and, you know, the -- all of their gerrymandering could actually backfire.
But let's not forget, there's a big wall put up with gerrymandering and there's this huge Republican spending advantage.
CORNISH: Yes.
MILBANK: So, I don't -- I'm not going to get out there right now and say these guys will do --
CORNISH: Right. And we'll talk more because there's a fundraising advantage difference. And then there's a spending advantage. Those are actually two different things, even though we're always talking about money.
DAVIS: And the TV just started attacking Talarico. I know he's your client, but I mean --
CORNISH: Yes, the ads are coming on.
DAVIS: And so, the ads are coming. And we'll see. I read yesterday that we won't know how that influences any -- like the polls for like two weeks.
CORNISH: Yes. And coming during football games we were talking about yesterday.
Next on CNN THIS MORNING, what do YouTubers turned pro fighters know about lecturing America's fighters? The Paul brothers head to the Pentagon and ask why they were there.
Plus, is Trump's press ban backfiring?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:43:04] CORNISH: Paramount gets the green light in its merger with CNN parent company Warner Brothers after state attorneys general agreed to settle their lawsuit to block it. So, California A.G. Rob Bonta had led the charge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger. It is not a blessing of the broader merger. But as I've said before, and I'll say again, I'm always willing to come to the table for honest, good faith negotiations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: He says the agreement includes this, a commitment to increase the number of films they put out each year, a minimum additional $1.5 billion investment in domestic production, specifically protections for those workers, and restrictions on how the company handles cable negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, looks like Paramount is going to own Warner Brothers and our American media is going to be even more consolidated and owned by billionaires.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once it's all intertwined, you can't tell the difference between propaganda and bullshit and real news and real facts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was taught that the government isn't supposed to allow these mega mergers of these mega corporations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: All right, joining us in the group chat, Sara Fischer, CNN senior media analyst and senior media reporter for "Axios."
I wanted to bring this to you, and especially those people, because it's not every day that a media merger leaps from inside "The Wall Street Journal" to, you know, TikTok, where people are talking about this. Tell me what this settlement allows and what it does not.
SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: So, it allows these two companies to combine without having to divest any entities, Audie. And that's what's such a groundbreaking thing here.
CORNISH: Meaning, they don't have to sell any parts of it.
FISCHER: They don't have to sell anything. It's a massive win for David Ellison, who is the chair and CEO of Paramount, who was looking to buy Warner Bros and everything within it. It does require them to make some behavioral promises. So, you have to promise that you're going to release a certain amount of movies in theaters every year.
[06:45:00] You have to promise to keep a certain amount of production jobs in the United States. He has promised to make an editorial board to oversee the independence of CBS and CNN.
So, the critics of this deal say, look, you let them off the hook. You're letting them do this big merger without having to get rid of anything. The proponents of this deal say it was never the state's place to demand that they had to get rid of anything in the first place.
CORNISH: Yes. Although some of the states, be it New York, certainly California, they were talking about the workers, for instance, in the film industry. I want to play for you, I think it's a driver. We're going to play someone reacting to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY WHALON, DRIVER: Typically, mergers mean less jobs and less competition. So, that really is a big, big concern of ours right now. I want businesses to be successful and we all want that. And yet at the same time, if that success means we're cutting the workers, we're cutting the -- we're cutting the benefit from the people making the films to one or two or three people, that's a -- that's a whole different story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, the Writers Guild of America also settled its suit, saying, quote, "as a non-profit, the WGA must contend with the reality of forging ahead alone with no backing from government enforcers." And that would be a "complex anti-trust lawsuit that would cost millions of dollars." So, the workers giving up.
FISCHER: Yes.
CORNISH: Because they're like, hey, if the A.G.'s aren't behind us, what can we do?
FISCHER: Yes. OK, so what I see has happened here, you had 12 A.G.'s that sued to block this deal. Bonta, the A.G. from California, had a unique vulnerability in that he was the one that was trying to protect jobs in his state of California. Most jobs were there. So, when David Ellison, the CEO and chair of Paramount, threatened to leave California, suddenly Bonta was backed up against the wall.
You had Democrats like Gavin Newsom step in and say, listen, you don't want that on your hands. You don't want to be the reason that all of these production jobs up and left the state. So, Bonta now has a reason to settle.
And on top of that, there's a time clock, Audie, because Paramount had promised Warner Bros Discovery shareholders that it would pay them roughly $7 million a day for every day the deal didn't close by September 30th. So, Bonta now knows he needs to settle. You have other state attorneys general in the settlement group that don't want to necessarily settle. CORNISH: Yes. They started fighting. Yes.
FISCHER: But the thing is, they don't have the resources. California's a big state. Their Justice Department can bring resources forth into this fight that the smaller states --
CORNISH: Yes.
FISCHER: You know, Connecticut, might not be able to. So, they ultimately had to buckle. And you saw that they had some statements, some of these state attorneys general, saying, like, we were devastated that they weren't forced to divest certain assets here. But I think this is just a proof point that even after a full year of fighting and chaos, ultimately, David Ellison has proved himself to be a very shrewd operator in Hollywood.
CORNISH: OK, and to quote from him, he says, "our goal has always been to build a stronger Hollywood, one with more stories told, greater choice for consumers, and stronger competition." I'm going to end with this, with the president of Warner Bros, the CEO, David Zaslav, saying, "while the timing is not yet fixed, we expect the merger will close no later than early October."
Thank you so much for being here. I think we're having you stick around for this next topic.
FISCHER: Right.
CORNISH: Also media.
Major TV networks are actually standing by CNN after the president tried to ban this network, along with MS Now and "Politico," from coverage of the White House. So, a ban which may already be unraveling in the most unexpected ways.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. So, there is no microphone because -- there's no microphone because the pool cameras aren't there. So maybe, Tim, this is one example of it backfiring just a little bit.
Obviously, the ramifications are right here. Can't hear what the president's saying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, that is the voice of a reporter of "Newsmax." They were covering it. But the major networks, that means there was no press pool, no audio, no pictures. And still photographers with outlets like "The New York Times" and "The Associated Press" and Reuters and Getty Images, I'm still going, AFP, they also withheld images of Trump's appearances in solidarity on Monday.
Now, the AP actually confirmed its part in the boycott in a statement that says this, "no news organization or person should be retaliated against by the government over the words they use."
So, it's fascinating that the first major event after doing this ban is one that is for a helipad. A notoriously difficult place to hear anything.
Dana, tell me, what do you think about that moment?
MILBANK: Well, I mean, it was -- it was delicious and very funny. And it was -- it was sort of the just reward for this.
I think -- I think the president fundamentally miscalculated that the other news organizations wouldn't get on board, particularly Fox News, which, let's be -- let's be honest, that's probably the only one he cares about. But Fox joined in this boycott of basically stepping out of the pool.
[06:50:01]
CORNISH: And we -- again, just for -- to clarify for the audience, a lot of these media organizations -- first of all, CNN is suing. So, that's our disclosure.
But second, the other organizations said, basically, if we let him pick and choose now, other presidents in the future will pick and choose. And we don't want to go down that road. And that's how this boycott came kind of together.
FISCHER: Yes, and I think for Fox, they remember in 2009 when President Obama, at the time, had wanted to remove a Fox reporter from an interview and the other networks stood behind that reporter and pressured the administration and said, no, no, no, you're not going to let him in, we're not going to do it. And that pressure campaign worked. And so, I think Fox is acutely aware of the fact that if they don't back their peers in this time, if the shoe's on the other foot, their peers are not going to back them.
CORNISH: Yes. Also, this moment was interesting to me because it reflects the fact that the president has talked about the press as having a privilege. It's a privilege to be at events. It's actually a working relationship that is constitutionally mandated. Quite literally we can see in him having no mic, right? That would be a working relationship where he would have a mic.
DAVIS: Why doesn't "Newsmax" have -- like, why aren't there other -- why wouldn't "Newsmax" have a mic?
FISCHER: It's extraordinarily expensive and difficult and challenging.
DAVIS: OK.
FISCHER: And it requires a network with a lot of resources to be able to show up. And remember, the pool is basically 24/7 coverage of the president. It's one thing, and it's expensive enough, to provide a camera for one event. Can you imagine just five networks having to rotate that responsibility the full year.
CORNISH: Yes. Yes, hence the term "pool," to share the resources.
DAVIS: Pool, yes. Yes, yes, yes.
FISCHER: Yes.
CORNISH: There was some great reporting from CNN's Kaitlan Collins. I want to play for you what she was saying last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It was the president being shown a graphic of negative coverage last week by "Politico," we're told, by his close aide, Natalie Harp, someone who's often in the Oval Office, often with him on Air Force One, and is actually joining him and traveling with him on this trip to New York just now, according to the reporters who are still traveling with him. She showed him a graphic of negative coverage from "Politico." And we are told that it so infuriated the president that he decided to loop these outlets together, lump these outlets together, and ban them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIS: Yes, I -- from what I understand, it was a reaction that a lot of the internal staff did not know about. Some did. Some did not.
CORNISH: Did not know about.
DAVIS: Not everybody. And Susie was out of town from what I understand.
CORNISH: And this is Susie Wiles, chief of staff.
DAVIS: Correct.
CORNISH: I did see people on the internet being like, where is Susie Wiles. Yes.
DAVIS: But I -- this does rally the base that despises the mainstream media. And so I -- there are -- folks like myself think that it was a poor decision. But I think that there is a lot on his right-wing flank that are happy.
CORNISH: That's a good for you for standing up for yourself.
DAVIS: Yes, yes, absolutely.
CORNISH: Yes.
ROCHA: Yes, and most of Americans out there just see this as more chaos. They don't understand how the pool works.
CORNISH: Exactly.
DAVIS: Right.
ROCHA: They don't have the back end workings of our government or how the press works, or the White House Press Association. They think it's all the same. They're just looking back at gas this morning and what they're paying for cereal for their kids and going, what's this got to do with bringing costs down or getting us out of this war so diesel ain't as high. I mean that sounds like that's Chuck Rocha's answer for everything, but that's where people are.
CORNISH: Can I add one more thing? I -- because it's relevant. In the absence of verified news coming from reporters who see if a thing is true and tell you, this is where you can put whatever you want. So, here is a video, an A.I.-generated video. It's a clip of a popular government figure that I've been seeing go around this week, and I'm showing this because it looks official. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (A.I. LIKENESS OF VICE PRESIDENT J.D. VANCE): Are we going to make your life better in the next two years? Probably not. But are we going to get a lot richer doing it? Hell yeah. That's why I'm asking for your vote. We deserve a do over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: I'm showing this because this is where we are now. I can't say this is the future.
FISCHER: Yes.
CORNISH: This is where we are right now. And if you kick to the curb the people who do the job of verifying things, this could be what you're left with.
FISCHER: Yes. And we have no parameters in place for disclosures so that people understand when things are A.I.-generated and that things are not real.
CORNISH: Yes. Seeing this in Texas, an ad with Talarico.
FISCHER: Exactly. I think that the American people understand that there is a crisis of truth and information and trust, but they have no idea where to turn or what to do. But if you look at the numbers, and I do all the time, of the businesses that are established news organizations, it is clear that there is still a good amount of trust because they do get a lot of viewers and they do get a lot of audience.
CORNISH: They do. Yes.
FISCHER: I mean, just to give you a quick like little sense of that, you still have tens of millions of people who go to everyday websites of news organizations like CNN and MS Now and "Politico." You know, for some of these smaller, little niche outlets that back the president, I see those numbers in like tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands. Like, the audience is small. And so, I think even though there is a ton of chaos --
CORNISH: You're saying you're looking at the data. FISCHER: All the time.
CORNISH: Yes. Yes.
FISCHER: If you look at the data, the data shows that people still tune in to mainstream organizations because they know that there's stuff proliferating out there online that they can't trust.
CORNISH: Well, here's the thing, Sara.
FISCHER: Yes.
CORNISH: There's the internet and YouTube, OK.
FISCHER: Yes.
CORNISH: So, maybe we don't believe you.
[06:55:01]
For instance, look at the YouTubers turned pro fighters, Jake and Logan Paul. They were at the Pentagon and they were giving pep talks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE PAUL: Each one of you matters. Take this moment and be proud of yourselves for what you do. This is the greatest country in the world, truly. We are blessed to be born here and come here. And we should never take that for granted. That's what God created us for is to lift each other up in the hard moments, to be there for each other in the hard moments, and to come together as a collective and fight for good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, celebrities talk to troops all the time throughout the decades. Not a big deal. The way people reacted to it, funny. Some of the reaction on Twitter, of all places, quote, "what a stupid time to be alive," Stephen Gostkowski. Adam Kinzinger, "we aren't a serious country at the moment." "Idiocracy now." And "laser focused on everything but what the government is actually supposed to do." And my favorite from Justin Baragona, "clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right."
Why hug the Pauls? What do they give you?
FISCHER: Well, access to a very broad audience of young men.
DAVIS: Yes.
CORNISH: Still?
DAVIS: Yes.
CORNISH: Still?
FISCHER: Absolutely. DAVIS: Totally.
FISCHER: I mean, they are very in the zeitgeist right now. I think about --
CORNISH: Yes, here's the Treasury secretary shaking hands with him.
FISCHER: Yes. Jake Paul is getting into sports betting. These guys have big audiences on YouTube.
CORNISH: Oh, say that again, he's getting into sports betting.
FISCHER: Yes, he has a company --
CORNISH: Which is currently being regulated in battles in states around the country.
FISCHER: That's true. That's true.
CORNISH: Fascinating.
FISCHER: Although, I don't associate his appearance here necessarily with that. But I do think that --
CORNISH: With the Treasury secretary?
FISCHER: Yes, exactly.
CORNISH: OK.
FISCHER: But I do -- I do think that it's just -- they have big audiences of young disenfranchised people that they want to target ahead of the midterms.
CORNISH: For sure. Who are also frustrated with the president because, since the last couple of months, I keep turning to you because there will be an image of a Democrat trying to lift weights, for instance, or talk about the hunting they've done or the fly fishing they've done. Clearly, there's this sense that you need to do man things to get man votes. And are you still behind? Are you still behind this?
ROCHA: I'm not behind those two, but I'm behind all the things you just said. I will lift weights this morning. I was fly fishing this weekend. And I'm a pretty manly man, even though I shaved off my beard. I will tell you --
CORNISH: Yes, but people keep calling you the guy with the hat because they think you're a rare bird when it comes to the Democratic Party.
ROCHA: Here's what pisses me off about these two is that I live in Washington, D.C., and I pay 50 cents on the dollar in taxes. And I don't mind. That goes to my government. These two ran to Puerto Rico so they wouldn't pay any taxes to the government that pays the salary of these people in the Army.
CORNISH: The seeds (ph) -- ROCHA: So, kiss my butt.
CORNISH: Oh, wow. OK.
Ashley.
DAVIS: No, I think we're just missing exactly what you said, Sara. I think we're missing a whole demographic. I didn't know who they were, to be honest with you. I had to ask my son.
CORNISH: Not your demographic.
DAVIS: But --
CORNISH: But, yes. We showed some stats this week about how down the president is with young men and independents.
DAVIS: Yes, this -- I mean, first of all, the message that they were saying is exactly what, no matter if you like Pete Hegseth or not, doesn't matter. That's what you -- that's the message that you would want our troops to hear, that you like our country.
MILBANK: But this is not happening in a vacuum. We have Hegseth talking about, you know, making sure everybody gets tested for testosterone. We've got him doing all of his exercise videos.
DAVIS: Yes.
CORNISH: And when you have events, you have to look a certain way and have a body ratio mass to get tickets.
MILBANK: Right. They were saying, no more fat generals. And the -- but the -- but the backdrop for all of this is, we seem to be losing a war. You know, the CNN poll has him at 34 percent --
CORNISH: Yes.
MILBANK: Which is just a few points better than the president.
CORNISH: Yes, but no war heroes there.
MILBANK: And the vice president, but --
CORNISH: We've got -- yes.
MILBANK: Right. So, we -- we're struggling. We have no munitions left. But, yes, let's get the -- let's get the polls out here to go. So, (INAUDIBLE).
CORNISH: OK, Sara, I know what's in your group chat because I've been watching you. It's the mergers and the various other things, the ban.
Chuck Rocha, what's in your group chat?
ROCHA: Oh, hat tip to CNN's Isaac Dovere on the great thing he had put out on Sunday talking about Texas and Latinos. We were talking about it earlier. And what was left out of that conversation is, Donald Trump won Latinos. The swing is the difference there. Is that not just that they're supporting Democrats --
CORNISH: Exactly.
ROCHA: But this giant swing of that vote. And then the last part is, Ashley, you should know that I'm going to be the keynote speaker at the Symposium of Young American Men on Friday, speaking (INAUDIBLE) men. I'm the keynote.
CORNISH: Live from Mars.
ROCHA: Thank you very much.
CORNISH: OK, Venus. Tell me, Ashley, what's in your group chat?
DAVIS: So, I'm doing pop culture. So, the new museum in L.A.
CORNISH: Yes. Yes.
DAVIS: Yes, I'm very excited. So, I had an opportunity to actually honor Mellody Hobson because she supports women artists. So, we, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts here in Washington. And all --
CORNISH: Now, this is the new George Lucas Museum with all you expect inside.
DAVIS: Yes. And all of her art will be there as well that she supports.
(CROSS TALK)
DAVIS: So, I'm very -- it opens today. It was kind of a soft opening. I missed my invite with Kim Kardashian.
CORNISH: Yes.
DAVIS: But --
CORNISH: I couldn't find my children because they had put a stick and a little hobo bag over and they left me because they're going to go to the Star Wars museum --
ROCHA: You going to make (ph) some shoes.
CORNISH: Yes. OK.
Dana, what's in your group chat?
MILBANK: Well, we were talking about Republican troubles in Texas. I was looking at Florida yesterday where the president has lost his lead among white voters in Florida.
[07:00:03]
Like, this was never supposed to happen, down 27 points from where he was in March.
CORNISH: Did you say 27?
MILBANK: Down 27 points from where he was in March.
CORNISH: OK.
DAVIS: What poll is this?
ROCHA: Chuck Rocha's Democratic special poll.
DAVIS: Yes.
CORNISH: That's not a poll.
Sara, last to you.
FISCHER: I am excited that it is no longer summer, Audie. No one has to put me in a bathing suit. It's pumpkin spice latte officially today. Everybody's happy (ph).
CORNISH: Yes. It's turtleneck time.
FISCHER: Turtleneck time.
CORNISH: Thanks to the group chat. Pumpkin emojis. I'm Audie Cornish. The headlines are next.
