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Inside Politics
TikTok Shuts Down In United States As Ban Takes Effect; Brand- New CNN Poll Numbers On Eve Of Inauguration; Most Dems Support Major Changes To Party; Israel-Hamas Ceasefire In Gaza Takes Effect Overnight; Tomorrow: Trump To Be Inaugurated For Second Term. Aired 8- 9a ET
Aired January 19, 2025 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:32]
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MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): Trump 2.0, 24 hours until Trump takes office in a rare indoor inauguration, and brand new CNN poll numbers on what's next for Democrats.
Plus, ceasefire. Israel and Hamas halt fighting overnight as hostages prepare to come home. We'll bring you the latest from Israel.
And blackout. TikTok goes dark for 170 million Americans. Will Trump bring it back? Or is TikTok gone for good?
INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU (on camera): Good morning. And welcome to special edition of INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.
There's breaking news this morning on multiple major stories. After a brief delay overnight, a ceasefire now taking effect in Gaza, a pause in the fighting for the first time in months. As soon as this morning, the first three hostages are set to be released by Hamas in return to Israel. All three are Israeli women.
We're also expecting the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israel. More on the details in moments.
But here at home, millions are waking up to find the popular social media app. TikTok has gone dark on their phones. A ban passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed into law last year by President Biden took effect this morning. The outgoing White House signaling it would not enforce the law because of the timing. That leaves the implementation to Donald Trump, who said yesterday he is likely to attempt to delay it.
All of this coming as we are just 28 hours away from Trump taking the oath of office for the second time. Last minute preparations are in high gear in the Capitol Rotunda as Washington prepares for the first indoor inaugural ceremony in 40 years, all due to the brutal cold here in Washington.
And when he assumes the Oval Office tomorrow, there is plenty of news on just how Trump will kick off his second four years. We'll dig into all this and more.
But first, I want to bring in CNN's Jim Sciutto and -- in Tel Aviv and Jeremy Diamond, who is near the Gaza strip.
Jim, I want to talk to you first. What are you hearing about the three Israeli civilians who are set to be released today?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yeah, well, I think we should take a moment to emphasize just what a moment this is for the Israeli people and the people of Gaza. After 470 days of almost relentless war and suffering, the hostages held in captivity, their lives in danger every day, experiencing torture, really, for that period of time.
Then, of course, the people of Gaza, many tens of thousands, more than 40,000 of them killed during a relentless bombing campaign there, thousands of homes and buildings destroyed, desperate need for food and medical supplies. Now, a ray of hope, a pause in that fighting and the hope is that it will last longer, that in a second phase this will become a permanent end to these hostilities.
The very first Israelis to find their freedom are three women not in the military. They are Romi Gonen, 24-years-old. She was taken from the Nova Music Festival, where so many, particularly of the young, were killed in those horrible first hours of October 7th. Her family says she was injured, shot in the hand and that her wounds have grown worse during the captivity.
Also released today, Emily Damari, 28-years-old, she was taken from the kibbutz Kfar Aza. She's a British Israeli, also wounded as well. Beyond, of course, the psychological wounds that all these hostages have suffered.
The third, expected to be released today. She is Doron Steinbrecher, 31 years old. She's a veterinary nurse, also taken from her own apartment in Kfar Aza.
So three families in Israel today will get some sense of relief to see their loved ones again as well as 95 Palestinian prisoners expected to be released in the first hours from a prison in the West Bank. A moment here to be celebrated, but also, Manu, the first in so many small steps towards, its hoped, a longer pause in the fighting.
RAJU: Yeah, a ray of hope. Jim Sciutto from Tel Aviv, thank you.
And Jeremy Diamond, we're learning moments ago that the first World Food Program in trucks, eight trucks have entered Gaza. You're there near the border.
[08:05:01]
Walk us through the process of the hostage release and what we expect to see.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. That's right. Well, this road that you see right behind me is actually exactly where we saw hostages coming out of Gaza, being driven out of Gaza and towards Israeli hospitals in late November of 2023. The last time there was a hostage release deal.
And we don't know yet exactly where they are going to come out from. The Israeli military has prepared three different crossing points from which the hostages will emerge. One of them is indeed the Kerem Shalom crossing that lies behind me.
We expect the hostages to first be handed over to the International Red Cross inside of Gaza. The Red Cross will then transfer them to the Israeli military, and from there they will either be driven to Israeli hospitals or taken in helicopters. We expect that today, the Sheba Medical Center just outside of Tel Aviv is where they will arrive.
But as you said, we are also witnessing the first hours of the ceasefire in Gaza and what it means for the people of Gaza. Not only have we learned that dozens of aid trucks have begun to enter the Gaza Strip, the first of what is expected to be as much as 600 trucks of aide per day, that have been prepositioned in Egypt, along the border with Gaza and getting ready to go inside.
We also know that inside of Gaza, this ceasefire took effect nearly three hours later than it was supposed to. We did see Israeli military strikes early this morning, after Hamas failed to initially produce that list of three hostages. But now that ceasefire very much appears to be underway, we have seen scenes of celebration of people returning to their homes. And I've also now learned that the Israeli military has indeed been from certain areas in Gaza, both in Rafah in the southern part of the Gaza strip and also in northern Gaza -- Manu.
RAJU: All right. Jeremy Diamond, near the Gaza border and this developing story this morning. Thank you for that report.
And let's -- let me bring in my panel of experts to break this all down. CNN's Kim Dozier, David Sanger from "The New York Times" and "The New Yorker's" Susan Glasser.
Good morning to you all.
Let's just take a step back about what this deal entails. Just to remind our viewers at home about this first phase, the first phase of the deal, the Israeli military is going to begin to withdraw from population centers. Palestinians that are expected to be able to return to Gaza. Aid efforts as Jeremy reported, they're starting to increase in the region. Much needed aid efforts.
Then the release of 33 hostages by Hamas, and then about a thousand Palestinian prisoners from Israel. Those 33 hostages, about three per week, is what we are told, what to expect. David, you're what -- we're watching this all unfold. Walk us through
the significance of this moment and the challenges ahead.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the first significance of this moment is that it's happening at all. As you heard from Jeremy's report, the last prisoner release we saw was 14 months ago. And we thought at that time that there would be fairly regular and that wed be on a path to a ceasefire.
It didn't happen that way. And tens of thousands have died since. So the very fact that were not seeing the Israelis continue to bomb there, and that we are beginning to see some releases from Hamas, is a good sign.
The delay today may well tell you that we're in for more hitches along the way. And then the big question comes once you get through these 42 days, can the Trump administration new to this, but having worked alongside the Biden administration in getting the release, are they ready to pick up and get to the phase two, which is a lot more complex? And they don't have very much time to go work out the details. When you read the agreement, it's a little vague about how you get from here to there.
RAJU: Yeah, I mean, the phase two is incredibly complicated.
KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Phase two is a lot of the tough stuff. Much of the tough stuff has been left for phase two. The Israelis want to stay in the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt. Hamas says no.
Who's going to rule Gaza later? Will Israel agree to let some form of Hamas keep imposing peace on the streets?
Reconstruction of Israel prior to this operation, measured down to the ounce, every bit of cement that went into Gaza. You've got 40 billion in reconstruction estimated by the U.N. that needs to happen. All of these different things are going to be part of the phase two and phase three discussions. And that's why you have the Israeli government, Benjamin Netanyahu already saying if we don't like what happens after these 42 days, it's back to war.
RAJU: And, you know, speaking of Netanyahu, is having his own political issues back home. He's got some blowback from the far right within his coalition. A couple of people stepped down, called on him, pushed or voted against this.
[08:10:01]
This is going to be more complicated for Netanyahu to negotiate in the weeks and months ahead.
SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: No question about it. So first of all, he faces the threat, as you pointed out, of his own far right coalition collapsing at any moment. And that's why you're hearing the internal messaging in Israel, which is, well, this isn't an end to the war. This is a hostage release deal. And well see, you know, if it leads to
an end to the war. So that's important for his internal domestic politics.
I also would spotlight the emerging relationship. What is it going to be with the new Trump administration? It was, I think, pretty remarkable the extent to which you had the incoming team and the outgoing U.S. team of President Biden and his advisors working together on this. In many ways, it was Trump sending his Mideast envoy to Jerusalem to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu last weekend that produced the final results of this deal. There was pressure that needed to be applied.
So the question is looking to phase two, to what extent is Trump going to go along with Netanyahu's future plans? He wants, for example, a more aggressive policy toward Iran and its nuclear program. He may be looking for the U.S. to give commitments there.
There may be pressure on what does a peace look like in Gaza? And I think that's where you're going to see furious politicking inside Israel, but also here with Washington.
RAJU: And, you know, this obviously comes a day before Donald Trump takes office. The parallels to 1980, 1981 are really remarkable here. Of course, that was during the Iranian hostage crisis in 19 -- in 1981, Ronald Reagan, during his inaugural lunch in the capitol, announced that American hostages had left Iranian airspace during the inaugural luncheon -- during that inaugural luncheon. Pretty remarkable.
SANGER: It was, of course, at that time, you remember that Jimmy Carter went out and flew off and greeted the hostages. The Americans. So, yes, there is that obvious parallel. There are also some important differences here. While there are some Americans among the hostages who are going to be released, most of them are not Americans.
So the effects here --
RAJU: There are seven American hostages out of out of this group.
SANGER: We have to all be, you know, acutely aware of the fact that of the 33 that we hope to see in this phase, not all of them, I'm afraid, are probably going to be alive. We will see the return of some remains, I suspect. And that's going to be a little bit heartbreaking along the way.
But I think Susan got to the most important point here, which is that when Steve Witkoff, president, President-elect Trump's Mideast representative, went to Jerusalem last weekend, he basically lowered the boom and said, President Trump wants this agreement before he gets inaugurated. He does not want to inherit this thing.
You know, still having to be negotiated out. And I'm not sure Netanyahu had expected that. I suspect that, you know, his plan, which is the more you can keep Israel in sort of a state of low level war or higher level, the better it is for him holding on to power. I think he believed that he would just kick all of this to the Trump administration and win his way. He may have that wrong.
RAJU: Yeah. And he's going to have Trump may want it done beforehand, but he's going to have to deal with the next two phases, as we just discussed here.
All right. There's a lot more of this to discuss in the hours ahead. But next, we're just hours away from Trump's return to power. Our political panel is joining me to break down what were hearing about Trump's first actions.
Plus, a shock for tens of millions of Americans this morning as TikTok goes dark. The latest when we come back.
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JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it so long as we seize it together.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America has been tested, and we've come out stronger for it.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: That was just a taste of the historic moments when past presidents put their hands on the bible to take the oath of office, and then deliver an address to the nation.
For Trump, there is high anticipation and anxiety in Washington about what his second term will look like. But for now, Trump and his supporters are celebrating, kicking off last night with a reception and fireworks show at his Virginia golf club. And today, the president elect is heading to Arlington National Cemetery for a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier ahead of a victory rally in downtown D.C.
And tomorrow, Trump will attend a service at Saint John's Episcopal Church and then go to the White House for tea with the Bidens. Yet all the pomp and circumstance of the inauguration ceremony will move inside the Capitol Rotunda because of the arctic blast coming through D.C. It's something that has not happened since President Reagan's second inauguration indoors in 1985.
Joining me now to talk about all of this, "NPR's" Tamara Keith, John Bresnahan of "Punchbowl News", "The New Yorker's" Susan Glasser, still with us. And we're also joined by CNN's David Chalian.
Good morning to you all.
All right, David, you are a connoisseur, an expert, as someone who has been through many, many inaugurations.
[08:20:07]
Tell us what this one you expect tomorrow. What are you going to be watching to unfold? And how are you going to be watching Trump's speech?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah, I mean, first and foremost, the tone and tenor of the speech is something that I'm curious to see what it is, because that first speech in 2017 from Trump, you remember, it was so dark, everyone observing. I mean, you played the clip there of American carnage, which was sort of the headline from it, but the picture he was painting of America that he was taking over. It was not an uplifting kind of speech at all.
And so his transition has had a totally different tone than his transition did eight years ago. And I'm curious to see if that carries through in the way he sets forth the course ahead for the nation at this inaugural address.
RAJU: What are you expecting, especially when this moves indoors?
TAMARA KEITH, NPR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, so he is talking about this as a unity speech. Fun fact American carnage was also supposed to be a unity speech. And so I think how he defines unity is going to be something that we have to watch closely and not -- not necessarily just say, oh, its going to be a unity speech. Kumbaya. Everything's going to be great.
CHALIAN: He said that after he was shot in Butler for the convention speech this summer, that didn't prove to be a unity speech, either.
RAJU: It was for the first five minutes or so.
KEITH: Yeah. So what is fascinating here is that this the stagecraft is going to be completely different. He's not going to be looking out onto a field of hundreds of thousands of people. He's going to be in a mosh pit in the rotunda, basically.
And I have real questions about where all the VIPs are going to go. There are a lot of people who are going to be jilted by this. And then if there were supposed to be 200,000, 250,000 tickets, there is an overflow viewing party now indoors at the Capital One Arena that does not hold 200,000 people. So there are going to be a lot of very disappointed people.
RAJU: What are you hearing about this? JOHN BRESNAHAN, PUNCHBOWL NEWS FOUNDER: Well, it's the same thing. I
mean, there was chaos on Friday when they came. The announcement and we were hearing from the Hill. Everybody was flipping out, you know, like, because all these donors, all these Trump supporters who are also supporters of the House, Republicans in the House and Senate were flying in. They spent a lot of money to their hotels, airfares, everything.
And they're --
RAJU: Not to mention all the supporters that are coming in from all over the country.
BRESNAHAN: All over the country and internationally, too. So there, you know, there was a lot of people on the Hill were going frantic. They didn't even know spouses could get into the rotunda. What I'm curious to see is how many Democrats go.
I really -- it's -- it wasn't going to be heavily attended by Democrats to begin with.
RAJU: Pelosi is not going.
BRESNAHAN: Pelosi is not going. I think a lot of progressives are not going. The leadership will go and they'll go -- and they'll -- and they'll act the way they're supposed to act. But, you know, rank and file Democrats. I'm dying to see how many try to go to the rotunda, because I don't think its going to be a lot.
RAJU: But we do know that a lot of Trumps supporters, including some of the big tech billionaires, will also be in attendance. Just a list of some of those folks there. What will you be watching, Susan? Will it be the people who are in attendance? The people who skip Trumps message? All of the above.
GLASSER: Yeah. Well, look, there's a couple of things. First of all, for a populist not to have any real people at the inauguration, I think is a challenge in terms of what the speech was meant to project and how it will end up looking. That's important.
I think its really important to note, too, that whatever the tone of Donald Trump and I would point out that his whole campaign this year was not only as dark as American carnage, but in many ways was even darker. He -- he really campaigned in 2024 on the idea that America was a hellscape, a horrible parade of disasters, all of which he blamed on his Democratic predecessor.
And so, you know, that's going to be a pretty abrupt and sharp pivot. So we'll see that.
The other thing is that Donald Trump has made a remarkable list of first day promises. So in many ways, he will be the first president who's broken a lot of his promises within hours of taking office. For example, his well stated over and over again pledge to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. Not going to happen. His -- his -- he and his advisers have pledged to end birthright
citizenship despite it being, you know, a constitutional guarantee. So that's very unlikely to happen in the first few hours. What does mass deportation now actually mean?
So I think unlike many inaugurals you played those clips, they tend to be very high altitude to summon big ideas and big themes about America for the next four years. But in this case, Donald Trump has set himself up to be a policy actor on day one and even an hour one.
RAJU: Yeah, and you mentioned those promises. Among one, from august 2024, he said, starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again. That is a big promise. We'll see if he's able.
CHALIAN: They've already started resetting expectations on a lot of things.
KEITH: I was just at the market and eggs were $7.50 for just the plain old white eggs. No fancy happy chickens, 7.50 for a dozen.
[08:25:05]
RAJU: That's right.
BRESNAHAN: Can I -- can I buttress (ph) real quick? It just popped something in "Punchbowl News". He's going to meet tomorrow with Johnson and -- Mike Johnson and Thune. And then he'll meet with the entire Republican leadership.
RAJU: Oh, there you go.
BRESNAHAN: So he's getting -- he's like, go back to what you were talking about. He's going to hit the ground running. But it will be policy heavy.
RAJU: And he'll -- and he'll need to talk about what he wants to do on day one and beyond, and the day one promises. As we talked about, he talked about the launching of the mass deportation operation. He's been talking a lot about that in the recent days. And, as Susan said, ending birthright citizenship a little bit much harder. Close the border, he said, much harder.
What are we going to do about imposing tariffs? Still a question about exactly how that will be implemented.
And pardoning January 6th defendants, a huge question about that, and one that is rife with controversy.
CHALIAN: Well, there's no doubt about that. I mean, all of the polling on that specific topic has shown that that will be an unpopular thing for him to do right out of the gate. But he has made crystal clear that he intends to do it in some part. He doesn't suggest that he's going to pardon everybody that has been jailed and convicted of January 6th related crimes, but I think the list is pretty robust. And that will be an unpopular move, right -- right from the start. RAJU: And -- but the mass deportation, he has been saying all along
and they've been very clear. I mean, we have this from "The Wall Street Journal". His -- his border czar said in Chicago. He said, we're going to start right here in Chicago. And if the Chicago mayor doesn't want to help, he can step aside. But if he impedes us, if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien, I will prosecute him, to which the governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, said, I'm concerned that the Trump administration and his lackeys aren't going to follow the law.
So this is going to be a huge fight.
KEITH: It is, I think, the word mass might be a critical word in that phrase, because the ability to do actual mass deportations is going to require money. It is going to require facilities. It is going to require manpower that they don't yet have.
But they can go to a big blue city and have a big fight with the Democratic governor and the Democratic mayor, create a lot of noise, create a lot of storm, shock and awe, as Homan has described it, and get credit with their base for mass deportations, without the mass part of it actually happening.
RAJU: Yeah, that's good. A lot of these things a lot easier said than done. We'll see as the first day kicks off tomorrow, another historic day coming tomorrow.
And coming up another day one problem for Trump. TikTok now dark for tens of millions of Americans. So what will the incoming president do and how will Congress respond? That's next.
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[08:32:03]
RAJU: And we're following breaking news in the Middle East this morning where a Gaza ceasefire took effect overnight. And later today, the expected release of three Israeli hostages. We'll bring you more on that as the story develops.
But shifting gears, here in the United States, another major story this morning, and it was a message delivered by TikTok just before midnight, saying the popular social media app has now been banned in the United States.
But the company added this. "We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office."
Indeed, Trump said yesterday that he is likely to try to delay the TikTok ban for 90 days. And this morning on Truth Social, he posted, quote, "Save TikTok."
It's the latest in Trump's evolution on an app that is popular with millions of younger Americans, even as he used to side with critics who had raised national security concerns over its Chinese ownership and access to Americans' personal data.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're looking at TikTok. We may be banning TikTok. We may be doing some other things. It'll either be closed up or they'll sell it.
We have to have the total security from China.
We love TikTok. I'm going to save TikTok. Biden wants to get rid of TikTok. You know why? Because he has no idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Perhaps there's a reason why he has flip flopped on this issue. A Pew Research poll about the support, whether the Americans support a government ban on TikTok.
Has there's been a decrease, a substantial decrease -- now 32 percent of voters support a ban. That is down from 50 percent from March of 2023. That explains everything right there.
TAMARA KEITH, NPR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. Trump likes things that like him, and TikTok is a space where Trump did very well during the campaign. He was -- he was made aware of the fact that TikTok was helping him, and his tune changed.
Also, it is worth noting that the CEO of TikTok is supposed to be one of the special guests at Trump's inauguration, along with all the other tech giants and billionaires. So these things are not entirely unrelated.
SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER, "THE NEW YORKER": Well, it's also important to point out that, in fact, you know, some of Trump's financial supporters may also have financial interests in the company and in a possible deal to sell it to an American entity, which I think is what Trump still has in mind. So one thing is the politics.
Another thing is this as a platform, is it benefiting Trump? Is it benefiting Republicans?
And then the third thing is, what does it tell us about the very non- transparent financial backers?
[08:34:43]
GLASSER: Remember we were talking about this before. Donald Trump is going to take office now without the MAGA supporters there to cheer him on. But with the richest people in the world there who have now come over to support him.
And I think this is a classic example right now. It's not an evolution as you said, Manu. It's a -- it's a flip flop.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: And the fourth part is the national security concerns that caused the bill to be passed on a bipartisan basis for Trump to initially support it, for Joe Biden to sign into law -- those have not disappeared --
RAJU: Yes. Great point.
GLASSER: And by the way --
CHALIAN: Those still exist.
JOHN BRESNAHAN, PUNCHBOWL NEWS CO-FOUNDER: : I read you what Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Tom Cotton put out this morning.
RAJU: More news from John Bresnahan.
BRESNAHAN: Well, he put it -- he put out a statement this morning. He commended Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft for getting rid of TikTok, the app. And then he said the law after -- now that the law has taken effect, there's no legal basis for any kind of extension of its effective date.
This is Tom Cotton --
RAJU: Yes.
BRESNAHAN -- Intelligence Committee who's going to oversee Tulsi Gabbard confirmation, By the way, the DNI chair. You know, he's a big Trump supporter. They're very comfortable, the Republicans. It's the Democrats who are in the eight ball.
RAJU: Yes.
BRESNAHAN: Which is amazing to me. And we've talked about how Trump has played this. It's amazing.
RAJU: Well, you know, if he does go this route, Trump is saying he's going to delay it. It's -- try to delay, we'll see, he'll get -- he'll get blowback from people like the senator from Arkansas, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and others who say this should be banned.
There could be bipartisan pushback.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: What do you think of this effort to try to delay the ban on TikTok?
SEN. DAN SULLIVAN (R-AK): I don't know. I think we should just follow the law.
SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): So let me be crystal clear. There will be no extensions, no concessions, and no compromises for TikTok.
SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA): The issue is there was ample time given to divest. and this is a national security issue and the administration should continue to move forward with it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think of the TikTok CEO coming to inauguration?
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-M0): Not my favorite thing.
RAJU: What do you think of the fact that the TikTok CEO is coming to the inauguration for Trump on Monday?
SEN. ED MARKEY (D-MA): It makes sense that he would, in fact, be trying to find a way to have a negotiated resolution of this issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: So it just shows you -- bipartisan opposition. And there's some on the left, like Ed Markey, up for reelection, who is pushing to delay this TikTok ban.
So Trump may be on a bit of -- a little bit of an island, maybe some support from people like Rand Paul or Ed Markey. But the more mainstream Republicans and Democrats are going to push back.
KEITH: He's on an island with American teenagers and 20-somethings.
RAJU: Exactly. And he's happy -- probably happy with that.
(CROSSTALKING)
KEITH: Yes.
RAJU: Yes. That's right.
KEITH: Yes.
RAJU: Which explains that -- which explains a lot. But just to show you, maybe Congress is out of step with the American public. Look at the vote that -- that happened last year.
Significant number of Democrats and Republicans -- overwhelming, now, this has rolled into a larger bill. But this was in there. And it just shows you, we know where Congress is on this even if the American public --
BRESNAHAN: 200 members of Congress, 170 million Americans.
RAJU: Yes.
GLASSER: Well, including Marco Rubio, his incoming secretary of State, who was one of the first members of Congress to push a TikTok ban.
He may be the very first person confirmed into the new Trump cabinet. And right there, you suggest there will be fault lines, even if we're not talking about them as much right now.
RAJU: And Rubio said, I think, to you guys that he's going to walk, he's not going to push forward on the TikTok ban --
BRESNAHAN: He will follow the president's lead.
RAJU: Exactly.
BRESNAHAN: Which is they're all going to fall in line behind Trump on this. They are. They'll make noises about Cotton and all those guys. They'll fall in line eventually. Right.
RAJU: Ok. We'll see. And we'll see if Trump is able to delay it. And if there's any blowback in the courts and on Capitol Hill. A lot to digest.
All right.
Coming up, Trump's inauguration day also means Democrats need to figure out what's next for them.
David Chalian will be at the Magic Wall to walk us through our brand- new CNN poll about what voters are saying about the Democratic Party. You won't want to miss it.
[08:38:40]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RAJU: As Donald Trump assumes power tomorrow, one of the big questions remains about the state of his opposition. How will Democrats handle his return to power as they're now in the minority in both Houses of Congress and saying goodbye to Joe Biden?
As you can see here, movers outside the White House this weekend packing up some of his belongings. So how are voters feeling right now about the two parties?
David Chalian is here with me at the Magic Wall with some brand-new CNN numbers. What are you learning, David?
CHALIAN: So we asked folks, just this is the overall opinion. Just the favorability numbers, the popularity of the two major political parties in America at this dawn of Trump second administration.
And what you see here, neither party is in great standing. They're both underwater. But the Republican Party at 36 percent favorable, 44 percent unfavorable with the American people. The Democratic Party is even worse, 33 percent favorable, 48 percent unfavorable.
But Manu, look at the trend over time of the Biden administration. And this tells the story of why there's so much Democratic soul-searching.
January 21 four years ago, 49 percent favorability among the American people for Democrats. Look at how that tanked all the way down to 33.
Republicans have stayed pretty steady over the Trump years, but actually started at 32 percent. And now its uptick the favorability at 36 percent.
To Bresnahan's point in the last block about Tom Cotton folding and others following Donald Trump. Want to know why?
Who do you trust to handle in a disagreement? This is just among Republican and Republican leaders.
[08:44:46]
CHALIAN: This is Donald Trump's Republican Party. 55 percent say they trust Donald Trump. 23 percent of Republicans say neither. Only 22 percent of Republicans trust Republican leaders in Congress in a dispute with Donald Trump.
And then if you look here, what is it that is very important to being a Republican? We asked Republicans, what is the identity of a Republican?
Holding conservative positions -- 54 percent. Right there at the same level, is supporting Donald Trump. Nothing else gets really majority support here among Republicans.
Less powerful government supporting Republicans in Congress, opposing Democrats. Nothing's as important as supporting Donald Trump.
RAJU: That is fascinating. It is very much Trump party, not so much the conservative party any more.
But David, after tomorrow, it's up to Democrats to figure out how to resist and how to fight back, counter the Trump agenda. What are the numbers telling us about that?
CHALIAN: Well, listen, we asked Democrats, what is it that you think needs to happen here, that in your party, what do you need?
Look at this. 13 percent of Democrats say complete reform, 45 percent say major changes. So this here adds up to 58 percent say Democrats say they --
RAJU: Democratic vote.
CHALIAN: -- Democrats say complete reform or major changes. Only 5 percent of Democrats think no changes are needed, Manu.
And then we asked, what about how effective Democrats in Congress are going to be at resisting Republican policies?
This, to me is really interesting. This is we asked of overall. Very somewhat effective, 46 percent of Americans say. Democrats will be 54 percent -- a majority of Americans say not too effective at all.
But if you look inside the numbers here Democrats themselves, there's a whole slice that do not think that they are going to be all that effective at pushing back at Republican policies --
RAJU: A big deficit to overcome.
And David, thank you for walking us through those numbers.
I actually talked to a number of Senate Democrats in the past week about how exactly they should be confronting Donald Trump.
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SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): I'm just going to speak for my approach, and that's to work with this administration when I can, to best represents -- represent my constituents and make sure we move this country forward.
And when things are not consistent with our values, then you know, to be the opposition.
MARKEY: Well, obviously, we're going to have to fight the most extreme part of the Trump agenda. if he wants to dramatically increase defense spending, cut taxes for billionaires, and then slash all of the social programs that affect ordinary families in our society that makes no sense at all.
RAJU: And I just want to drill down a little bit deeper into the numbers with my panel here.
Just that last point that David showed about the need for changes -- major changes. Look at this on your screen. From December 22nd to now, then in December 2022, I should say, 8 percent of Democratic voters believe that their party needed change, complete reform.
26 percent thought they need major changes. That is up to 45 percent now say they need major changes, 13 percent major reform. 58 percent -- that is a massive increase in just two years.
KEITH: And it is worth noting that that moment in time that you're looking at was before President Biden decided to run for reelection. That was at a moment when many Democratic voters were crying out saying, we would like another choice.
Well, they didn't get another choice. The Democratic establishment rallied behind President Biden. There really was no primary. We've -- everyone has just lived through this last, very tumultuous year.
And in some ways, it's surprising more people don't think there needs to be change, given just how challenging a year Democrats have had.
RAJU: What are you hearing about how the Democrats are trying to figure out how -- the way out of the wilderness here.
BRESNAHAN: Well, I think --
RAJU: They don't -- they don't really have a plan.
BRESNAHAN: No. And they don't have a leader, right. So they -- I mean, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, the minority leaders in the House and Senate, they're the top Democrats in the country right now.
I do think this is whole bad news for Kamala Harris. And you know -- I think right now at this moment. But I will say this --
RAJU: It reflects badly on her.
BRESNAHAN: -- I think, for her to try to come back in two years and start running for president, I think that's going to be tough based on what we see right now.
I would say this. I think the Democrats in Congress, there are opportunities for them. The government funding bill in March, the tax cut bill, their offer. If Trump goes too far and Trump always goes too far, ok. They will -- they can, you know, counter him there.
And I think that's what they're waiting for. They're waiting for their -- look, Mike Johnson barely survived a speaker vote. You have a Speaker only in place because of Trump.
He -- Trump is running Congress. So things are going to be -- if things happen badly in Congress. For Republicans, Trump will be blamed for that.
And I think they say the 2026 for the House especially, they can win it back. The Senate is not as good, but I think they feel like there's a lot of opportunities.
Just the problem was in 2017, the party tacked so far left. You won't see that again, I think.
[08:49:45]
GLASSER: Well look, I think you're right. First of all, President Biden is leaving on a very sour note for even many of his supporters, for many of the Democratic Party's stalwarts.
You know, I've been struck by the fact that rather than sort of repair his legacy in the months since he decided to drop out of the election, if anything he's done himself more damage with traditional Democratic constituents. So that's number one.
And he doesn't have decades to resurrect his image in the way that Jimmy Carter did.
RAJU: Yes.
GLASSER: And then number two, you know, to Bresnahan's point, like so many Democrats are essentially adopting a different approach right now. They're saying, in effect, let Donald Trump screw himself up. You know --
RAJU: Yes.
GLASSER: -- that he can be the agent of his own undoing. And we're going to be in much more wait-and-see mode and assume that right now is the high-water mark for Trump.
RAJU: And sometimes it's easier as a minority to sit back and watch the majority fail. And we'll see if that's what the Democratic strategy is.
All right. We're staying on top of the latest developments on the ceasefire this morning and expected hostage release in the Middle East.
We'll be right back with more news.
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RAJU: And that's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.
Stay with CNN for the latest on the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, plus the latest on TikTok.
And of course, we will have full coverage of the presidential inauguration all day tomorrow.
Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Dana is joined by incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz. Plus, Congressman Jim Jordan and former ambassador Rahm Emanuel.
Our coverage continues after this quick break.
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