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Inside Politics
Today: Musk & Ramaswamy Meet With House GOP & GOP Senators; Social Media Star Debuts Documentary On Israel-Hamas War; Mitt Romney Warns Of Those Who "Tear At Our Unity" In Senate Farewell Speech. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired December 05, 2024 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[12:34:30]
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Moments ago, we saw Pete Hegseth making another trip to another senator's office. That is going to be happening -- has been happening this morning, will continue to happen throughout the day as he tries to keep his nomination alive.
Also today on Capitol Hill, we are going to see Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy meet with congressional Republicans. They are going to present plans to make government more efficient, starting with millions of dollars in cuts.
My panel is back here.
[12:35:01]
And as we were in the commercial break, one of the Republican senators who was going to be meeting with them, Thom Tillis, said that the conversation is going to begin with what he said is the, quote, "art of the possible", starting to deal with what he calls regulations that are unfair and too oppressive from the Biden administration.
And it just kind of is a reminder that this is obviously a huge campaign promise and you have two very big personalities in Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk. These are just the beginning of the conversations but it ain't going to be easy.
HANS NICHOLS, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Oh it's going to be exceedingly difficult especially on the spending side, right? All the non-defense, non-discretionary spending, it's very difficult to touch that. But on the regulations there is a bipartisan pathway forward.
Remember during the Inflation Adjustment Act, Replacement Reduction Act, there's a lot of talk about permitting reform. You read Elon Musk, the biography on Musk, he's very kind of upset about all the mother may eyes at least in the space industry.
And so at least in some areas, on the reg side, you can see them clearing out a lot of the underbrush. But spending, that is going to be much more difficult.
BASH: And I'm just going to put on the screen as I bring you in, just some of what they have been talking about when it comes to cuts. Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, some international organizations, and then some progressive groups like Planned Parenthood.
The one that is most fascinating is ending daylight savings time, which is such a niche yet almost like a cult pet project. You don't have to talk about that. But inefficiency in defense spending, which is also noteworthy since Elon Musk has a lot of defense contracts in his companies.
MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Absolutely. It's going to be interesting exactly what they propose. And at the moment, Republicans are very open to having the conversation. They have always been the party of cutting spending and trying to reduce the deficit, all those things.
But if this current Congress has taught us anything with the House Republican majority is that there is no fight that Republicans can't overcome than trying to figure out how to actually parse spending. Because when you start to say, let's take away from here, let's take away from here, let's take away from here, sounds great.
In practice, especially in those swing districts, those Republicans who make up the majority, they're like, wait, but I need this in my district. And that's when those fights start to come to play. There's obviously so many more demands that are going to be happening too.
Border security. Let's talk about just even that. That requires so much more money. It's likely going to add to the deficit. Where else are you actually going to make those reductions? So I think that when you hear Thom Tillis say, let's talk about what's possible, there's also going to have to be a conversation of what's legitimately realistic.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Yes, I also, I just find that them being on the Hill right now, I know we're seeing all the other Donald Trump's Cabinet picks on the Hill worrying about their confirmation fights. I think it's significant to have Musk and Ramaswamy on the hill because that's not what they're about. They're about trying to convince these different lawmakers to get on board with some of what they want to do.
And part of that is because they don't really have this Department of Government efficiency agency that they're creating will not have the authority to make cuts on their own. They have to go to Congress. Congress controls the purse strings. And so they can make recommendations all they want.
They need to work with Congress in order to do it. And I think that's why you're seeing them try to get up there early and start to work on their relationships with these different members. Because Donald Trump wants to do a lot. And I think when he gave Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy this power to create this new agency, they recognized that they're going to have to follow through on a lot of those promises that Donald Trump had made. And this was also Musk's idea in the first place.
And so there's going to be a lot of, I think, back-and-forth intention, honestly, between Musk and Ramaswamy and Congress to carry out what they want to do versus what Congress will allow them to do. And that's why I think Tillis's quote was so striking.
BASH: Yes. And then going back to what I was talking with the -- about with the Ways and Means chairman, the incredibly narrow majority in the House of Representatives. I'll just put it up again now. 220 Republicans, Democrats, 215. And Jason Smith said he expected to be even narrower once they actually take office because of the nominations and vacancies.
NICHOLS: Look, the math is on Jason Smith's side here. They have tighter majorities in the House than they do in the Senate. And that's just basic. And so this whole idea that this House is going to be easy and the Senate's going to just sail through, like everyone's in for a wake-up call.
I mean, reconciliation is always difficult. My only question on reconciliation right now, and I don't know if I'm allowed to have an opinion on daylight savings times, but I definitely do. Can you jam daylight savings time into reconciliation? I open it up to the (INAUDIBLE).
BASH: I think we should say reconciliation more on cable TV --
SOTOMAYOR: Yes.
BASH: -- and make sure that people --
NICHOLS: Yes. Drive up those viewers. Drive up those viewers.
BASH: Reconciliation is important, trust us. But in all seriousness, I mean, it does put the question not just about the Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, what they're trying to do, but really everything and anything. Even though there was a across-the-board Republican sweep, it was a narrow sweep. It wasn't very deep.
[12:40:08]
SOTOMAYOR: Absolutely. And I think that's why you hear Jason Smith still sticking to what House Republicans were hoping in passing one big package. Throw it all in there, because there are going to be extremely narrow votes. House Republicans will have literally a zero- vote majority.
You have to get all Republicans on board. And we've seen how impossible that has been, where every single Republican can just say, nope, I don't like that, and sink a big deal. This is going to be what is threatening House Republicans and also Senate Republicans for a while. BASH: We're going to have to leave it there. Thank you for bringing all of your reporting.
Coming up, social media. A star there is speaking out after suffering backlash online over her stance on Israel. That after the break.
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[12:45:22]
BASH: Intimidation and resilience. The politics of speaking out on the Israel-Gaza conflict hit home for a major social media influencer. Montana Tucker lost hundreds of thousands of followers over her support for Israel.
She says that won't stop her and she, in fact, made a documentary called "The Children of October 7th". The film premiered this week in front of the president of Israel. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister, excuse me, CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister sat down with Tucker.
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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Montana Tucker's dance videos made her a social media star with over 9 million followers on TikTok alone.
MONTANA TUCKER, SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER: I've collaborated with people like Terry Crews or Ciara or Paula Abdul.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): But it was this.
TUCKER: Calling for the release of innocent hostages.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Support for Israel after the October 7th attacks that sent many of her followers fleeing.
WAGMEISTER: You've lost hundreds of thousands of followers since October 7th. Have you also lost brand deals?
TUCKER: Oh yes, I would do multiple brand deals a week and then now the only brand deals I've received as of recently have been people that are like, we love your advocacy dancers that I've danced with for years that I've collaborated with. They have flat out, told me they won't collaborate with me because of my support for Israel.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): That support is deeply personal. Tucker is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors.
TUCKER: My grandma specifically is survivor of Auschwitz. So my grandma had to see her mother get beaten up and dragged to the gas chambers.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Horrific stories like those motivated Tucker to speak out. In the aftermath of October 7th, she traveled to Israel often, meeting with released hostages and their families.
She danced with survivors of the Hamas attack on the Nova Festival site that killed nearly 350 music lovers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It started to come more and more terrorists to our house.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Now, Tucker is releasing a documentary to introduce the world to some of the Israeli children who lost their parents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'm proud of you dad. You deserved better.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): But Tucker says her advocacy for Israel is unpopular in the entertainment business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love your pen mark.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Where stars often use their platforms for political and social causes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free the people of Palestine, please.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Nearly 500 celebrities and peace advocates have signed the artists for ceasefire petition, calling for an end to the war that has killed tens of thousands in Gaza.
WAGMEISTER: We're seeing so many images come out of Gaza, of children being killed, of children suffering.
TUCKER: Of course, both sides are suffering. Of course. Of course and it's terrible. But there's like this stigma. There's this thing about around Israel calling for the release of the hostages deemed as political.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): The petition does call for the release of the hostages. But Tucker sees it as a watered down attempt to include the other side.
TUCKER: Why can't they do a whole other list saying the hostages need to be released? There are Americans that are still there.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Speaking publicly on the Middle East is a fraught topic for any viewpoint, but remaining silent can be too. A social media movement to call out celebrities who have stayed silent on the topic has its own hashtag and put pressure on many A-list stars.
TUCKER: Because I don't feel like this is political. I don't think it's political at all.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): We first met Tucker back in February at the Grammy Awards where she wore a dress to call for the release of the hostages. She told us she wished speaking out didn't come with so much risk.
WAGMEISTER: So do you ever think I should go back to being an influencer who solely dances and sings and acts? TUCKER: Would it be easier? Yes. But I can never imagine going back. If you have influence and you're not using it for what you believe in and standing for what you believe in, what's the point?
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BASH: And Elizabeth joins me now. Elizabeth, there is so much misinformation on social media, really, about everything obviously but particularly about this conflict. Given the fact that Montana lives on social media, what did she say about that?
WAGMEISTER (on-camera): Yes, she said that that is actually a major component of what continues to propel her to speak out for what she believes is right and to really underscore the power of these influencers, Dana.
According to the Pew Research Center, a new study from them that came out last month says that 40 percent of young Americans get their news from influencers like Montana Tucker. So that's exactly why we wanted to sit down with someone like her.
[12:50:00]
But as you heard her say in this piece, she faces a ton of backlash for even stepping into this conflict. And just this morning, CNN reported that the live stream platform Twitch has had advertisers pull out because of their content creators speaking about Israel and Palestine, Dana. So this is just a very controversial hot button issue for any social media star to step into.
BASH: Yes, it sure is. Thank you so much for that terrific report, Elizabeth.
And coming up, a parting shot. Mitt Romney is warning against those who, quote, "tear at our unity" as he says goodbye to the U.S. Senate. That's next.
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[12:55:02]
BASH: Three decades ago, Mitt Romney launched his first political campaign in Massachusetts. And while he lost that one to Senator Ted Kennedy, he went on to earn the titles of governor, Republican presidential nominee and U.S. Senator from Utah. Romney decided to retire from the Senate and is leaving elected office.
Here is his parting message.
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SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R), UTAH: I will leave this chamber with a sense of achievement, but in truth, I will also leave with the recognition that I did not achieve everything I'd hoped. There's some today who would tear at our unity, who would replace love with hate, who deride our foundation of virtue or who debase the values upon which the blessings of heaven depend.
Politics alone cannot measure up to the challenges we face. A country's character is a reflection not just of its elected officials, but also of its people. I leave Washington to return to be one among them and hope to be a voice of unity and virtue.
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BASH: Thank you, Senator, for your public service.
Thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after a break.
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