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Inside Politics

Trump Transition Speeds Ahead As Congress Awaits Final Results; With Eye On Next Fight, Democrats Take Stock Of What Went Wrong. Behind the Scenes: How Trump's Second Term is Coming into Shape; On Verge of Power Senate Republicans Set to Pick New Leader. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired November 10, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:51]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): Clean sweep.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to fix everything about our country.

RAJU: As Trump allies jockey for roles, the president-elect's plans take shape.

TRUMP: This will truly be the golden age of America. That's what we have to have.

RAJU: Maggie Haberman joins to talk Trump's mind-set. How will his second term differ from the first?

Plus, Dems in disarray.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Lots on the line right now. People will be tested.

RAJU: After widespread losses, how will the Democratic Party emerge from the wilderness?

And full house.

SEN.-ELECT JIM BANKS (R-IN): The American people spoke loud and clear on Tuesday.

RAJU: Republicans could control both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Are they ready?

INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (on camera): Good morning and welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.

It's been an historic and whirlwind week, and now, Washington and the world are bracing for what's next. Just last night, CNN projected Donald Trump carried Arizona, completing a stunning seven swing-state sweep, and now the electoral map is set. And in just 71 days, Donald Trump will take the reins of power in the White House once again.

But how will his second term be different than the first? And what can Trump actually accomplish?

Right now, he and his team are in full- blown transition mode. The big priorities, trying to hire the people in his administration who will carry out his agenda. And as allies jockey for those top spots, Trump has already named his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and more names have been floated all weekend long.

Now, executing Trump's agenda will hinge on large part over how much power Republicans have in Congress. They have already flipped the Senate with at least 52 seats and are in position to add potentially one more. And in the House, they have the clear edge in holding their majority, although it would be razor-thin once again.

And right now, they only need to win five more seats to get to that magic 218 seats to hold the House. Democrats on the other hand need to flip five Republican seats. But right now, they're only leading in two GOP districts, while Republicans are leading in two Democratic districts.

Now, single- party rule would certainly be a boon for Trump, but with thin margins in Congress, it won't be easy to fulfill these promises.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: For those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.

We're going to put the tariffs on your products coming in from China.

When I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips.

We're going to take care of Israel and they know that.

I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine totally settled.

We will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out of our schools.

Going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship.

On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals in American history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: All right, a lot to unpack this morning, the first INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY since the election.

Joining me now to break this down is CNN's Jeff Zeleny, CNN's Kayla Tausche, "Semafor's" David Weigel, and Marianna Sotomayor with "The Washington Post".

Good morning to you all.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

RAJU: Thanks for being here.

All right. So just to remind viewers about the how the popular vote turned out on Tuesday, Trump won the popular vote. Right now -- as of now, 3.7 million votes, he won by. We're still counting some votes.

We'll see how that ultimately changes. That was less than Biden in 2020. More than Hillary Clinton -- of course, Hillary Clinton lost the Electoral College in 2016. And less than Obama in those two cycles. The first time a Republican has won the popular vote since Bush won in 2004.

And some of Trump's campaign promises that we just heard on the trail there -- from that clip, from his comments on the trail, everything from deporting undocumented migrants on a large scale to imposing tariffs, to dealing with tax cuts, they don't have to deal with right away in the new Congress, and overall in the government, parting January 6th defendants.

Jeff, you spent so much time on the campaign trail.

[08:05:03]

How much different is a second Trump term going to be than the first Trump term?

ZELENY: We'll find out. The beginnings of it are much more orderly. The beginnings of it are much more, I think, less shocking, both to the outside and the inside Trump world.

The hiring of Susie Wiles is really a key sort of data point here. Susie Wiles is not a household name in America, but she sure is in Washington and definitely is in Trump world. And she is someone who is going to be the chief of staff, the first female chief of staff ever in the White House. And I think that is sending a signal that, A, things have to go through her. You're not going to end run around.

But we shall see. I do not expect a complete orderly process, because there's a lot of jockeying going on behind the scenes. Just yesterday, the former president said who was not serving in the administration. And that also sent an interesting signal, Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo.

So, that on the foreign policy side is a reminder of his very isolationist view who is going to be front and center in his policies.

RAJU: And just on the Pompeo and Nikki Haley, this is what he said. We have not heard much from Trump since election night, when he spoke after his victory.

This is what he said on social media. He's not going to be inviting Nikki Haley or Pompeo to join his administration. He went on to say he enjoyed their service and that was the last time that he was in office.

Why send that message now? And what message does that send?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think it sends a message about the type of ideology that he wants in his inner circle and the type of people that he wants serving alongside him. I also think that it serves to discredit a little bit of the discipline that people like Susie Wiles are going to inject into this process. Donald Trump in his heart wants this to be a reality show and he wants this to be a spectacle. Because he wants to have this very public display of essentially knocking people out of the running, who are going on TV, in essence to audition for these roles.

You know, back in 2016, this process plaid out very publicly, because he was in New York at Trump Tower, which was much more accessible to the media. We were all camped out in the lobby and on Fifth Avenue. Now, the backdrop is Mar-a-Lago. It's a private members club. Cameras are not allowed.

That doesn't mean that the jockeying isn't happening. That the knives are not out for the different candidates. I mean, one person who's in the running describes it as a vipers nest on the patio at Mar-a-Lago.

So, there is still this dynamic of the "Game of Thrones" that's happening. It's just that, you know, because were not able to see it with our own eyes, it gives the perception that it's much more orderly and disciplined, even though that is the aura that Wiles is trying to inject.

RAJU: It's only a matter of time that we hear more about the viper pit that people are describing at Mar-a-Lago. But you mentioned the jockeying, the look of a number of people that are being considered. There could be a lot more. Maybe there's less. Who knows exactly what Trump is thinking about any of these number of people, from -- that are serving in his role.

Do you think that Trump is he looking for loyalty? Trump has always prized loyalty over everything else, or is there a chance that he presents people that represent more traditional Republican orthodoxy?

DAVID WEIGEL, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, SEMAFOR: I think the first part of this, because if you were talking about mandates, he won the election, a topic that came up again and again from Democrats is people who worked for him last time don't want to work for him again. They're worried about him, say he's dangerous. They lost and he won.

And he has Republican Party in the Congress, as you know, all the guys you could go to for a quote in 2017 that might have a problem with the nominee or the decision, your Bob Corker, they've all been replaced by Trump loyalists. I'm interested on what happens below the cabinet level, below the bold-faced name level, because one significant thing in this campaign was Democrats began attacking the Heritage Foundation's plan to staff the administration with loyalists. He's going to bring back scheduled, and he's going to be say more low-level employees can be replaced.

The assumption those are loyalists. The plan of conservative think tanks was to be pro- Trump loyalists. And now there's a debate on the right, who is a Trump guy who knows how to do this dismantle various parts of the administrative state, but can be trusted by him? and I think part of that is going to be outsiders who spoke out for Trump during the campaign. Your Tucker Carlsons, your Elon Musk, they're going to a hold in saying, who is credible to staff these positions. We might not see, but who are going to be doing all the hard work for mass deportations, for tariff, for the entire agenda.

RAJU: Yeah. I mean, meantime, Elon Musk, which on that screen, people that are -- the question mark over RFK Jr. and Elon Musk, as you can see, on the bottom right there. A possible Trump administration officials. Musk was on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he called Trump on Friday. Musk doesn't have a role in this government, but he -- it just shows you how Trump may bring these outsiders to play these advisory roles without any real -- you're not going to have to be confirmed by the Senate. I don't think Elon Musk will have, but they'll play these roles that could influence policy.

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: Absolutely. Elon musk is not one to have a security clearance. And usually to be on the phone with a former -- either a former president or a current president worldwide, you would think that you would need someone with a security clearance. This is probably something that we're going to continue to see in Trump's orbit.

And I think you're right that whether it's Elon Musk or RFK Jr., I don't know if they're going to get Senate confirmed. Of course, we are seeing a more MAGA-like Senate, with 53 as of right now, Senate Republican, Senate majority. Yes, there aren't as many MAGA- style senators left.

However, there is still enough with the margins that it could be very difficult to have a simple major to try and confirm some of these more controversial figures.

TAUSCHE: Btu we've heard in our reporting that maybe they don't even want Senate confirmations. Elon Musk has very tangled business interests. Maybe he even if he wanted to, could not physically divest them. And then for RFK, you know, the Senate confirmation process, the background check process, it's a very politically correct process. And it's something speaking with sources around the transition that he doesn't necessarily want to go through that gauntlet.

RAJU: Yeah.

TAUSCHE: So, is there a czar like role that spans a bunch of different agencies that gives him a very broad portfolio direct access to the president? That's what he wants he wants to sort of be above the fray. RAJU: You know, I remember when Republicans didn't like czars and the

Obama administration, but suddenly I think well see a lot of that coming back. One of the things that always when a new majority comes in, there's always the risk of overreaching. And the question, one of the big things, of course, that Trump talked about on the campaign trail was immigration. And this mass deportation that was going to happen, the biggest in history, as he said, what exactly that looked like. That's unclear.

Just on the exit polling about this issue of immigration. This is interesting national poll exit polling asked about undocumented immigrants, he said among voters nationally, 56 percent said they that they should be offered a chance at legal status, 40 percent said deported this is the people who voted on Tuesday also the same exit polling asked the question about immigration and the big issues that concern them nationally democracy actually ranked pretty high above the economy, which is surprising since there was a big Harris campaign point. But immigration ranked lower.

Is there -- immigration will be obviously central to the president's agenda. What's the risk of overreaching here? Is there a significant one?

SOTOMAYOR: It could be. I mean, obviously, we've seen from voters that this immigration was a huge issue. You can point to even you know, New York is a perfect example of where we have seen a slight shift to Trump on that issue, on public safety. But yeah, I mean, there could be. I mean, we all remember the images of children being separated at the border that did play a role in kind of helping the Biden campaign in 2020 make an argument for immigration. Of course, immigration is still front of mind, and many voters rebuked what the Biden administration has done. But it is a very thin line.

RAJU: Yeah. I mean, does -- does Trump -- what does this? Does Trump go carry through with this?

ZELENY: We'll -- we'll find out.

RAJU: You know, he promised it, but he has not really explained how he would do it.

ZELENY: He'll carry through with a lot of it. I think well find out exactly specifically. But in terms of overreaching, he doesn't care likely. This is a one term. That's why the dynamic of this is so much different. He's not thinking about his reelection. He is thinking about what is going to get done in the here and now.

So I think that all that will drive him, of course, the, you know, the word overreach, I'm not sure is in his vocabulary. And I think that they are going to have the latitude to do a lot. But loyalty to your point, when we see the picks for attorney general and other things, that will be the most telling sign of all.

His biggest regret, Jeff Sessions, because he wasn't loyal to him. So who is at the department of justice? I think that is probably the most important position, and we'll find that out I think, soon. RAJU: And although he wasn't loyal to him, he was loyal all the way

-- you know, he was one of the first person to endorse Trump.

ZELENY: The first senator.

RAJU: Exactly. And then he didn't do what he wanted on the investigation with the Mueller investigation. But we don't need to relitigate that. But that was, you know, that just shows you his mindset at this key moment.

All right. New overnight, a first look at Kamala Harris since her concession speech. Spending time with her grandnieces.

And meanwhile, party leaders are still reeling from Tuesday's massive loss. We'll dive into what went so wrong for Democrats.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:18:34]

RAJU: For Democrats finding their way out of the wilderness will not be easy. They lost significant ground with key voting blocs.

Their message did not resonate in critical battlegrounds, and the man they warned was a threat to democracy -- well, now he has four more years in the White House so now what? It depends on who you ask.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RITCHIE TORRES (D-NY): I have a concern that the far left is pressuring the party to take policy positions that are deeply unpopular.

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): We do need to reconnect with working class voters. We haven't done enough for them.

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): You have a lot more misinformation and disinformation that is being pumped out. I don't think as a country or even as a political party that we've reckoned with how powerful that can be.

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): We're getting a message from a lot of people that we're not hearing them. And I hope we take the time to do the soul-searching we have to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And the people that the congresswoman is referring to is just about the number of voters who shifted towards Trump, key voting blocs who supported Democrats in large numbers in the past. They still did in some occasions. But Trump cut into that margin.

First time voters, Trump increased by 24 points. Look at Latinos 14 points. Voters between the ages of 18 and 29, and he was up 13 points from 2020 to 2024. Veterans and men between 18 and 29. And then just overall map. Look at the counties that experienced a red shift, even in blue states, the blue counties, even a shift to the right that those dots on your screen, those red dots on your screen indicate the counties in which America experienced this shift to the right.

[08:20:06]

And as you can see, a majority of counties in America experienced -- America experienced that.

So, Dave Weigel, you spent so much time on the ground talking to people in the aftermath of this, what went who is -- I guess, who is to blame for Democrats' bad night?

WEIGEL: Well, there's no faction of the party that escapes blame right now, and there have been attempts to do it. But the losing the popular vote changes the discussion that they had in 2016. It's no longer we lost a fluke. And but for a Comey letter, we could have won. It is systematically what happened to us losing all these groups. And so, that's party strategists.

But that's also the third party groups like Latino advocacy groups, immigration advocacy groups, progressive, racial justice groups. A lot of them have to answer for why all the things they advocated, didn't -- did -- were not popular. You saw some of that in the interviews.

And the -- there are two schools of thought. One is inflation was unescapable and a lot of voters can be won back as the out of party -- out of power party, when Donald Trump is in office. The other is look at all the people who lost, who we lost over cultural issues and that's -- that's why the fight is so complicated because Democrats can blame who want to blame the left for both of those things. They implemented the economic policy. But it was with a lot of Bernie Sanders allies, Elizabeth Warren allies, doing it and advocating for it.

On the cultural issues, much tougher. And you've already seen a couple members come out and criticize the way they talk about gender and transgender rights and be asked for resignations by gay rights groups and by local politicians. It is a complete mess. It is how to assign blame.

RAJU: And it was also just misreading the anger in the electorate. I mean, just look at the exit polling about the number of people who felt dissatisfied or angry, 73 percent felt that they were dissatisfied or angry. And when they were asked if they felt that the country was going in the right direction, just 25 percent of the country were enthusiastic or satisfied with the direction.

That was a fundamental misreading by the Harris campaign. And if they did know that was the case, they did not message that accordingly.

TAUSCHE: Well, and it was also a fundamental misread by the Biden administration even before it was Harris as a candidate. They believed that the poll numbers were wrong, that they didn't reflect this sort of groundswell of support that they still had across America, which simply, as we now know from the data did not exist.

And now in some of the hindsight conversations that I'm having, they feel that the election result was just a broad repudiation of progressivism writ large. They say in 2020, Joe Biden became the nominee because he ran as a centrist. He didn't support things like Medicare for all or even student debt forgiveness, which became a central pillar of his administration.

But then in his effort to try to unite the party, which had a very wide spectrum of views, he became a very progressive president in his governing style and in the policies he pursued, and that his advisers now say, is maybe not what the American people even told him that they wanted in 2020.

ZELENY: And his decision to you can look back to the midterms of 2022. And when he decided that he was going to run for reelection, that set everything into motion. And it ended up in complete disaster for the Democratic Party had he decided to step aside at that point, there might have been a release valve in terms of like the change election would have looked so different. There could have been a primary, et cetera.

So, he is at the considerable blame. Vice President Harris to a smaller degree. That's why this is so different than 2016. I mean, that was seen as a fluke, sort of. This is a generational realignment in many parts of the country.

And Joe Biden is at the center of this. This is going to be a big part of his legacy.

RAJU: And speaking of Joe Biden being at the center of this, that's how Nancy Pelosi has been talking about this in the days, in the recent days, in fact, yesterday in an interview with "The New York Times" came out yesterday in which she talked about President Biden's role.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Had the president gotten out sooner there may have been other candidates in the race, Kamala. I think still would have won, but she may have been stronger having taken her case to the public sooner. Because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

RAJU: But, look, when Biden was running, she was defending Biden even as early as June. Remember "The Wall Street Journal" story that came out that questioned Biden's mental fitness, they defended him.

She tweeted at the time: Many of us spent time with "The Wall Street Journal" to share on the record our firsthand experiences with POTUS sees wisdom, experience strength, strategic thinking. They were while this is a lot of second guessing now, but they were on Biden's side up until that debate, absolutely. SOTOMAYOR: They fell in line. And you know, Pelosi was definitely the

first one after the debate to send the signals of maybe Biden should reconsider. And we know from that time that she was also one who was for open primaries.

So, of course, Democrats are pointing to the lack of timing, right?

[08:25:03]

They're saying well, if Harris had maybe had a chance earlier, as we heard Pelosi say, or maybe another candidate come through, that could have helped, we don't know.

RAJU: Yeah.

SOTOMAYOR: We don't know, but it is pretty significant I think now in terms of what I am hearing, the conversations that are happening. I hear a lot of we should not be embracing the far left. We need to rebrand even what progressive means, because we are seen as these elitists who are campaigning with celebrities. We're putting more emphasis on social media and TikTok to a small segment of the voting population versus just going out there and again, listening to the working class.

What does the working class need?

RAJU: And, you know, tactics also are key in all of this as well.

You had mentioned Dave about the attacks on transgender people, transgender policies, and it was the decision by the Harris campaign not to respond to this. And it's very similar to what we've seen in elections past, dating back from the time when Michael Dukakis ran against George H.W. Bush and John Kerry ran against Bush's son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

AD NARRATOR: Dukakis not only opposes the death penalty, he allowed first degree murderers to have weekend passes from prison. One was Willie Horton, who murdered a boy in a robbery, stabbing him 19 times.

AL FRENCH, ENSIGN, 2 BRONZE STARS: I served with John Kerry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I served with John Kerry.

GEORGE ELLIOTT, LT. COMMANDER, 2 BRONZE STARS: John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam.

FRENCH: He is lying about his record.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Surgery --

MODERATOR: For prisoners?

HARRIS: For prisoners, every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access.

AD NARRATOR: Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

RAJU: And those attacks littered the airwaves, the Harris attacks. They chose not to respond much the way that Michael Dukakis chose not to respond.

ZELENY: And it was -- you know, we saw him at every football game and other things, it was the most successful and highly run Trump ad.

But that was about so much more than just a transgender rights. It was also about the economy. It was also just, you know, the brand of the Democratic Party writ large. So that is the primary that actually probably helped to do Vice President Harris in was her 2019 primary.

You know but look, the Democratic Party, much like the gay marriage debate in a 2004, um, it was just a cultural issue that the party did not respond to. And that's something that they have to deal with, no doubt.

RAJU: Yeah. All right. Okay. All right, guys, there's so much more to discuss and digest.

And also, you know, the fact that she did -- Harris did a lot worse than down-ticket Democrats. Just a quick look on your screen there, a look at between Harris and Senate Democratic candidates from Arizona down to Wisconsin. Harris just generally did worse.

And that's something that some Democrats will take home. And they may feel better about that. They can at least deal with the headwinds, but the headwinds hurt them, and potentially in control of the House as well.

All right. We're going to discuss more of that. But coming up next, Maggie Haberman is here to bring us the latest from Mar-a-Lago and what she's watching amid the frenetic race to shape his new administration.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:10]

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: We have heard little from Donald Trump since his decisive win last Tuesday. So what actually is happening behind the scenes at Mar-a-Lago as the president-elect and his team plan to wield their power in the second term?

And who better to give us some fresh insight into Trump's mindset than "New York Times" senior political correspondent, and CNN analyst, Maggie Haberman.

Maggie, thanks so much for joining me this morning. You and your colleagues wrote that Trump's doing what he tends to do. He calls around to friends and associates, asks them who he thinks they should pick for his administration. So, what are you hearing, Maggie, about what Trump's most interested

in as he's -- and what he's focused on, as he's looking to fill out his cabinet?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN ANALYST: Yes, so Manu, I want to caveat this as we did in that piece, that all of this is heavily, heavily asterisked right now. There are lists going around. There are people floating names. Trump is soliciting names. He's suggesting names that he's considering for people.

None of this is real until he actually says what he's going to do. And it's notable that he started out by eliminating people with a Saturday night Truth post about Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley.

He's most interested in a handful of cabinet posts, and that's been the case the whole time. He was not interested in most of his cabinet during his term. He's interested in the attorney general, the secretary of defense, the CIA director.

And he is interested in the secretary of Homeland Security, because that's the piece that deals heavily with immigration. And that is something that he's campaigned on aggressively.

What those posts end up looking like really remains to be seen. What we have heard is that there is not a ton of consensus around who could fill any of those spots right now. And unlike what we saw when he was coming in as new president in 2017, there are not a bunch of big names from, you know, established Washington or, you know, prominent companies like Rex Tillerson, the head of ExxonMobil, who became the secretary of state.

This is much more people who are coming from Congress or people who are coming from the states or who are known to Trump. And we'll see what that ends up looking like.

They are aware that they have a Senate majority now that makes it easier to get a bunch of people confirmed, but it's still -- there's the possibility of losing a bunch of Republican votes if Trump nominates controversial people.

RAJU: Obviously, you mentioned attorney general, that clearly is going to be a key thing that he is considering here.

One, who do you really think is actually his front-runner? Do we know who his front-runner could be?

And two, he talks so much about retaliation against his political enemies on the campaign trail. Is that a real consideration as he weighs his attorney general pick?

[08:34:44]

HABERMAN: Look, I don't think that there is a clear front-runner right now, Manu. There are a bunch of overlapping camps around Trump right now and they all have to sort of align on a consensus in order for him to go ahead with somebody. There's a bunch of names that you've put up there, I think some are

more real than others. But whether those people end up being the person is anybody's guess.

Is he serious about retribution? He's been talking about retribution or revenge pretty consistently over the last, you know, two years, but certainly most of his life. So yes, I expect that will be a thing.

He talked earlier in the show about his desire for loyalty. We heard him ask a number of people about when he was in office previously. That will be the case this time.

The constraints on him in terms of what he needs for loyalty, Manu, are a little different because the Supreme Court ruling about presidential immunity for official acts gives him a lot more latitude to do things that people would have stopped him from doing that last time he was president.

But he still wants somebody who is going to be basically an extension of him, which Jeff Sessions was not. Jeff Sessions honored the (INAUDIBLE) norm of judicial justice from independence.

Bill Barr was more in lockstep with Trump in terms of how he viewed the world. But there were things he wouldn't do either.

RAJU: Yes.

HABERMAN: But we'll see what this looks like.

RAJU: Yes. And you mentioned the Supreme Court decision on immunity, which gives him a wider latitude, potentially, to take decisions that may not lead to some legal jeopardy for him.

So how do you expect his second term to be different than the first?

HABERMAN: Look, that's so speculative because we're dealing with a person who is serving one term, who has, again complete control over -- or one-party control over Congress and the Senate and the White House. And that's what he went in with last time, but not a whole lot got done because of various things.

I think you're going to see him try to get a bunch of things done, particularly on the personnel side in the first six months.

I do think he will impose tariffs, although of what size, we don't know. I do think that he will try to take an immigration enforcement action within the first six months. I think he will try to get most of what he wants to do done in the first six months.

I know there is this theory that he is just bluffing or he's using language or he's going to -- you know, he's negotiating. And sometimes that's true.

One of the things that tends to be a bulwark against what he wants to do is press coverage. I understand that his campaign has very effectively used podcasts and non-mainstream media to sell his message.

Trump is still, you know, he's an almost 80-year-old man who does care about legacy media and headlines he sees and cable coverage he sees. We'll see how he reacts to it as he goes in because that's what happened last time.

RAJU: Ok. We'll see how much different it is.

Maggie Haberman, thank you so much for sharing, of course, your expertise. We really appreciate it this morning.

And there's still one more --

HABERMAN: Thank you.

RAJU: -- election to be had. Donald Trump might be the most important vote, as Senate Republicans decide who will take Mitch McConnell's place.

[08:37:38]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: Just how big Republicans' Senate majority will be in the next Congress remains an unsettled question since there are two races yet to be called.

In Arizona, Democrat Ruben Gallego leads Kari Lake by only 1.5 points with 14 percent of the vote outstanding.

But in Pennsylvania, Republicans have a clear shot at adding another a seat since GOP challenger Dave McCormick 0.6 percent lead over longtime fixture in the state, Democrat Bob Casey while the possibility of a recount looms as ballots are still left to be counted.

Regardless, Republicans will have at least 52 seats. So just who will lead that new Senate GOP majority and champion their agenda, all while working with Donald Trump.

There are three candidates in the running for one of the most consequential jobs in Washington, but Trump has yet to weigh in on his preference. And senators don't know if he'll try to tip the scales.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): Obviously, if he wants to, he could exert a considerable amount of influence on that. But honestly, I think my preference would be, and I think it's probably in his best interest to stay out of that. These Senate and secret ballot elections are probably best left to senators and he's got to work with all of us when it's all said and done.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Working with President Trump, he's going to (INAUDIBLE) Rick Scott. So I urge the president to come out and endorse Rick Scott publicly. It's probably what Rick is going to need to become a majority leader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: The panel is back. But this is a risk for Trump, right? Like if he were to endorse somebody, this vote is on Wednesday, it's a secret ballot election. And they can vote however they want. And these are based on relationships.

He may endorse someone and say, Rick Scott may be more in line with them than say a John Thune or a John Cornyn, but Rick Scott may lose and then that would look bad for him on his first day decision as president-elect.

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST": He doesn't want to be embarrassed on endorsements. And it is a secret ballot. So we won't know unless there are some senators who -- there's a few amount who have come out publicly to say who they're supporting.

But it is probably going to come down to John Cornyn and John Thune, the Johns as we casually call them on Capitol Hill. And obviously Rick Scott does have a significant support and advantage with that MAGA wing. And they, of course, want someone who is a loyalist to Trump.

Thune and Cornyn have been very critical of Trump in the past, but they have -- their orbits have been working behind the scenes, even on the lead up to election day, to try and mend those relationships. We've been seeing that a good bit also on the House Republican side as well.

So as of right now, it seems at least that all of these three are in the good graces, but we'll see if even MAGA personalities kind of come out and say, no --

RAJU: We saw Tucker Carlson come out for Rick Scott last night, some of those who are on the right. But they actually also don't have votes in the Senate Republican conference.

You mentioned the criticism of Trump that Thune and Cornyn has leveled in the past. Thune has been more critical of Trump, at least he was for the last several months.

[08:44:51]

RAJU: Here's a taste of a couple of things they've said over the years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORNYN: You have to appeal to a broader segment of the population in a general election. And President Trump seems to have loyal support in the primary, but not so much in the general election.

THUNE: I think that people in this country are ready for a generational change. And I think a change in tone in our politics. There's an exhaustion factor. There's a fatigue factor with the American people. And always a lot of drama around the former president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Thune endorsed Tim Scott. But they have tried to bolster their ties with Trump over the past several months. Cornyn was actually on the tarmac in Austin, Texas when Trump was there to film his podcast with Joe Rogan on that day. And there's a picture with Trump and Cornyn on Trump's plane.

But this just shows the evolution of the Senate GOP under Donald Trump.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Without question. That's probably one of the biggest differences between the first term and the second term, is just that the Senate and the House as well, it just is -- it's a MAGA Senate. I mean -- and this is -- you know a lot of loyalists (ph).

(CROSSTALKING)

RAJU: You have potentially establishment leaders like Thune and Cornyn -- (INAUDIBLE) Republican Congress.

(CROSSTALKING)

ZELENY: Right. The last gasps of the establishment Republicans could be in leadership. So we'll see what the former president does. I'm kind of with you, Manu, I think on that secret ballot. He knows the politics of this. Weighing-in, you know, may not have an effect, but the outside people like potentially pushing a Rick Scott, that could also have an effect.

But Senate Republicans are the only ones who get a say in this. And that secret ballot will be one of the most interesting things of all.

But John Thune is probably -- and John Cornyn are worried about all of those old interviews they gave you over the years.

RAJU: The things that they said --

ZELENY: Putting them on the record with Trump.

RAJU: Yes. Yes, indeed.

ZELENY: Roll the tape.

RAJU: That's right.

Speaking of Trump critics, it's interesting how much the Senate has changed over the years. You just look at -- there's a number of Senate Republicans who were critical of Trump in the first term. They're gone.

And we still have like, Mitt Romney, he's on his way out. Others you can see there on your screen were much more critical of Donald Trump. This is a much different Senate GOP that Trump is coming into. KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And Trump is

still clapping back at some of those senators. He said the other day when someone was talking about tariffs and the possibilities that they would hurt the economy, he said, you know, there was a senator from Pennsylvania, a Republican who spoke out about tariffs and said they would hurt. And he's not in office anymore.

RAJU: Yes. That's Pat Toomey.

TAUSCHE: That's Pat Toomey. So clearly, he believes that he's vindicated in the things that he's already done and the things that he's bringing to his second term now.

I also see a shifting dynamic in sort of the tail wagging the dog because back in 2017, it was really the party and the RNC that was trying to shape who Trump was and what his agenda would look like.

You have Reince Priebus as the chief of staff, Sean Spicer as the press secretary, and a lot of people from the establishment, Paul Ryan, leading the charge to overturn Obamacare. And all of that really failed in Trump's eyes.

And so now you have him leading the party. He's essentially dictating what party leadership looks like, what the party's agenda is, and they're sort of reshaping themselves in his own image.

So now it's up to him, really, leadership races aside, to dictate what the agenda looks like, and Project 2025 is a big difference. Because when they tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017, they had no replacement. That was why John McCain voted against it.

Now even if Trump doesn't think he supports Project 2025, it at least gives him a first draft of what they might want to do.

RAJU: And just about the Senate Republican majority, they could be the majority for some time.

I know we just had 2024 election but the 2026 map is not good for Democrats again and the point is that things can be -- they could be in the minority for some time, the Democrats.

DAVID WEIGEL, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, SEMAFOR: This is fewer seats than they had in 2004, when George Bush came back into office and Democrats flipped that one election, but they flipped it in Missouri and Montana and places where this version of the party has been declining without a way out of it.

When it comes to Trump's decisions, again, much changes of the executive branch, the loyalists, and the courts that are now going to back him up, when he makes a lot of these decisions, these unilateral orders.

You're not going to have these Republicans in the Senate contradicting him. And it won't matter as much.

RAJU: Yes. It's always a different, different dynamic. Great discussions, guys. Thank you so much for joining me this

morning.

But we still have more to discuss, including Biden who is set to meet with Trump within days. Remember what happened when the Obamas hosted the Trumps last time.

[08:49:18]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: It's a tradition that Donald Trump did not afford to President Biden four years ago, when he refused to concede his election loss.

But it will once again be reinstituted on Wednesday and that's when Biden will host Trump at the White House, a courtesy the sitting president typically gives to the victor of the election.

Even though it can be awkward, with the defeated president meeting with his foe, and the president of the incumbent party welcoming a candidate they have vilified into the White House after a bitter campaign. But it's all meant to demonstrate an orderly transfer of power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He has been most gracious and most cooperative, he and his people with regard to this transition and certainly have made it much easier time than it could have otherwise have been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: The first time Trump won, then-President Obama hosted him in the Oval Office, while Michelle Obama shared tea with Melania Trump.

[08:54:46]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president-elect is successful.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mr. President, it was a great honor being with you. And I look forward to being with you many, many more times in the future. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Even though Trump had never admitted that Biden won in 2020, he did continue another tradition on his way out, leaving a letter for Biden in his desk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The president wrote a very generous letter. I have -- because it's private, I will not talk about it until I talk to him, but it was generous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: We'll all be watching on Wednesday.

That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can follow me on X @mkraju, follow this show @INSIDEPOLITICS. Follow me on Instagram @manu_raju.

If you ever miss an episode, catch up wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for INSIDE POLITICS.

Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Dana's guests include Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressman Jim Jordan.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.

[08:55:53]

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