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Government Shutdown Coming with Funding Deadline 12 Days Away; RFK Jr. Faces First Big Test as Measles Outbreak Grows; Cuomo Entrance in NYC Mayor Race Sets Up Clash with Adams; New CNN Poll: 52 Percent Disapprove Of Trump's Performance In Office; UK PM Starmer Embraces Zelenskyy After Tense Trump Meeting; Amid Unprecedented Shake-Up, Trump Set To Address Congress. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired March 02, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:54]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): Back in the House.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president of the United States.

RAJU: Trump is set to address Congress weeks into his executive power grab.

ELON MUSK, TECH BILLIONAIRE: We will make mistakes. We won't be perfect.

RAJU: We have brand new CNN polling. What do Americans think?

Plus, breakdown.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Complete, utter disaster.

RAJU: New reporting on the fallout from that remarkable meeting.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't tell us what we're going to feel. You don't have the cards.

RAJU: And clash of the titans.

ANDREW CUOMO, FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: We know that today, our New York City is in trouble.

RAJU: Andrew Cuomo says he's running. What are his chances to come back from scandal?

CUOMO: As you probably know, I'm stepping aside as your governor.

RAJU: Will he stand up to Trump?

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.

In just two days, President Trump will deliver his first address to Congress of his second term after an unprecedented and tumultuous start, roiling national politics, gutting the government he runs and reshaping the world order, especially in the aftermath of Friday's stunning meeting with the Ukrainian leader.

And this morning, we have news on how the American public views his first 41 days in office. A brand new CNN poll out for the first time right now shows that more than half of Americans, 52 percent, disapprove of his job in office, although his approval rating of 48 percent does sit a few points higher from where he was when he first addressed Congress in 2017.

Now, his speech will have to assuage a skeptical public concerned about his priorities. With 52 percent in the new CNN poll, saying he has not paid attention to the most important problems facing the nation.

Now, the poll was conducted notably before that Oval Office meeting heard around the world, where Trump's dramatically different vision of America's place in the world was on full display.

So how will Trump address that stunning episode and sell his agenda to a divided American public on Tuesday?

Well, my excellent panel is here to break all of that down with me. Leigh Ann Caldwell from "Puck", Astead Herndon from "The New York Times", and Jeff Mason from "Reuters".

Good morning, everyone. Good to see you.

So we're going to talk a lot about the fallout of that meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday. But let's just dig in a little bit into the brand new poll numbers, just to get a sense of where the American public actually sees things right now with Donald Trump.

And this is just a cross-section of American public. He's underwater among most age groups here, at least among younger Americans and older Americans, I should say 18 to 34 year olds disapprove of him from 59 percent to 41 percent. Older Americans disapprove of the job that he's doing as well.

What does this tell you? Jeff, you covered the White House. What is this, a warning sign for Trump that, you know, in the aftermath of really remarkable past month that things may be slipping in the wrong direction?

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: Two things. One, of course, it's a warning sign. Whenever you see your poll numbers go down. That's not something the White House wants to see. Two, it probably doesn't matter because they are only six weeks in. We

are only six weeks into this administration and they're going full speed ahead. And there's not going to be a poll that's going to make him decide all of a sudden that he wants to change course on the goals that he's had and the policies that he's implementing.

I do think he's sensitive to polls, but I also think he's very, very confident that what he's doing is the right thing and that's not going to have an impact.

RAJU: And 52 percent say that he has not paid attention to the problems, as most important problems facing the country.

ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. And I think that is, you know, a sign that this White House might not be taking the mandate from the exact set of voters that put them there. But it feels to me as if they don't care.

To Jeff's point, like, you know, I think it's kind of baked in the cost that they might lose the House even in the midterms, or whatever it is, and they don't seem to be governing with that in mind.

[08:05:01]

And I actually think that that's a big lesson, I feel like from the Trump administration is they know kind of how this process goes, and what they are focused on is the exertion of power, is the completion of their kind of goals. And they'll take whatever kind of political consequence comes from it. And I think the point is that they feel like a broader, in a broader sense of confidence that they can make that pitch when it comes time to do so, like in electoral wise, I think a poll is not going to sway them either way.

RAJU: Yeah, you know, because Trump has always had bad poll numbers. But this is he's been high. He's higher, though now than where he was in 2017 even if he is slipping. Yeah. Suggesting the honeymoon period could be over.

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: Yeah, I mean, well, he also won a lot by a greater margin now than he did in 2017, 2016 too. And so his numbers should be higher.

What's interesting about that poll is the younger people and the older people is where he's underwater. What he's doing now, what is he doing that's really speaking to younger people? DOGE, they probably don't care much about it. They probably care more about their rental costs, trying to buy a house.

RAJU: Cost of living.

CALDWELL: Yeah. And those are the things that really impact especially people who are trying to get started in their lives, their adult lives. Older people, too, probably a lot of talk, a lot of talk about potential cuts to Medicaid, is might be worse, to a lot of those people. And so the demographic is really interesting where Trump is struggling. RAJU: Yeah, it is interesting.

All right. So, let's turn to what has been of course discussed. And we've seen this fallout from what happened on Friday that blow up in the Oval Office with the Ukrainian leader in that high stakes meeting with President Zelenskyy, President Trump, J.D. Vance and others. Yesterday, Zelenskyy was in London meeting with the U.K. Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. A much different scene there. You see Starmer there on your screen, embracing Zelenskyy.

Starmer indicating that it's going to be up to Britain and France in many ways, to try to come together with some sort of agreement to deal with security guarantees that perhaps the U.S. may not be involved with. Now, today, there is a meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders in London.

This is what the German president said in the aftermath of Friday. He said the scene at the White House yesterday took my breath away. I would have never believed that we would ever have to defend Ukraine from the United States. Where does the U.S. go from here?

MASON: Well, I think for starters, they -- they wait and see. What if Zelenskyy changes his position at all? I mean, I don't think you're going to see President Trump backing down, and I don't think you're going to see President Zelenskyy backing down. He made very clear in the Oval Office his views on President Putin and his views on the -- the impact that Russia has had on his country. He's not going to just -- or at least he's suggested he's not going to stand down away from bullying, be it from the United States or from Moscow.

RAJU: So is the deal dead? Is the minerals deal? And these and the efforts for Trump to help cut a peace deal, is that over?

MASON: I don't want to say it's dead, because even President Trump said when he came out and spoke to reporters at the White House after the meeting on Friday, that it could all be revived if President Zelenskyy says he wants peace. But his definition of Zelenskyy saying he wants peace is different from Zelenskyy's view of peace.

RAJU: Perhaps this also could prolong the war in some ways. I mean, Putin could see this as if the U.S. is backing away. Why give in now? Maybe there's going to be a better deal down the road if the U.S. is going to walk away from Ukraine at this key point.

HERNDON: And that's the -- and that's the important point from the kind of Ukrainian allies and Zelenskyy, I think if the United States is not providing those types of security guarantees or providing the type of allyship, the question is why would Putin and Russia come to the table? But I think it's a -- to me, like there's a broader question that's not being asked, which is that the American public has decreased their support for like Ukrainian aid, right?

And so if your argument is that supporting Ukraine is in the interest of America, you haven't won that argument with the public right now. And so I think there's a lot of folks who I definitely from the Biden position to the Trump position, have been kind of 180. But I think there's a -- there's a -- there's a reason why the Trump White House feels confident about this, and its partially because they think that foreign aid is unpopular. They think that the amount of money that folks have been giving Ukraine is not popular among the public. And there's a lot of polls that prove them correct.

And so I think that it's an interesting kind of broader question about how does the kind of America first interest play into this? At least when it comes to the electorate. And for the folks who want -- for folks who make the argument that supporting Ukraine is an American interest, they have to make that argument with the public first. And Donald Trump is a reflection of that.

RAJU: How is Trump going to address this on Tuesday when he delivers that speech to congress? Just look at how past presidents have talked about America's role in the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: When strategically vital parts of the world fall under the shadow of soviet power, our response can make the difference between peaceful change or disorder and violence.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk.

JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you he will not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: How do you think Trump's going to talk about what happened on Friday and what happened, how he's going to deal with Ukraine?

CALDWELL: He's not going to sound like all the other presidents.

(LAUGHTER)

RAJU: He's not going to be like Reagan, Bush, Biden or Obama.

CALDWELL: No, no. I think he's going to defend what happened on Friday. He's probably going to make fun of Zelenskyy. He's probably going to, you know, I'm interested to see if he goes so far as to say, again that Russia started the war or I'm sorry that Ukraine started the war, and how Republicans in the room respond.

RAJU: Yeah. Even if he doesn't say that, how will Republicans in the room respond to anything suggesting a retreat from Ukraine? Because they are divided. The party is divided over Ukraine.

CALDWELL: Yeah, but there is also -- look at Speaker Mike Johnson, for example, who was willing to lose his job last year by providing billions of dollars to Ukraine and now is backing Donald Trump in his strategy on -- on these peace talks. So I think that there is a lot of even though they're divided in the room, its going to be hard for some of these people not to cheer --

RAJU: Yes, indeed.

Jeff, I want to ask you about J.D. Vance on Friday. He was the one in a lot of ways. Yes. He was responding to a question from Zelenskyy, but he amped it up. And it went to a totally different direction when he got involved.

What are you hearing about -- you know, some people said, was this staged? The White House officials seem to say it was not staged. But what are you hearing about his role in this blow up?

MASON: I was also told that it was not staged from the White Houses perspective. Now, the Democrats have a different view of that. But it was a -- it was J.D. Vance in full attack dog mode, and it elevated him to some extent with the president. Obviously, he's the number two.

But he also has other Trump lieutenants that he is elbowing with a little bit, Elon Musk being one of them and coming out in that high profile setting, taking on Zelenskyy in the way that he did and doing it in support of his boss. We, my colleague Andrea and I spoke or we had had a source who said this -- this showed him flexing and that's politically good for him.

RAJU: Yeah, it is from the Trump White House.

All right. Coming up, more brand new numbers from our just released CNN poll. But first, "SNL" had some fun last night with that Zelenskyy meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to welcome President Zelenskyy here to this incredible trap. It's going to be a big, beautiful trap. And we're going to attack him very soon for no reason, right, J.D.?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch out because this kid, he's got claws.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, with all due respect --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me? I'm sorry. What? I'm sorry, I have to jump in here because that's how we planned this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:42]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, look over here, Mr. President.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joe --

TRUMP: And God bless America. Thank you very much.

OBAMA: The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

REP. JOE WILSON (R-SC): You lie!

(BOOS)

OBAMA: It's not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: The president's annual address is a moment for him to present a policy vision for the coming year. And take some shots at the opposition.

And as you just saw, the event often stirs up plenty of emotion. Democrats still trying to find their footing. Could we see any of that on Tuesday night? My panel is back.

So, you know, look, this is a narrowly divided Congress. Democrats are still trying to figure out their way forward here. Nancy Pelosi, as you saw on the screen there, the last time Trump addressed Congress, she was the speaker of the House. She tore up that speech very infamously in that moment.

And she said to "The Washington Post", to her friend Paul Kane of "The Washington Post", she told him any demonstration of disagreement, whether it's visual or whatever, just let him stew in his own juice. Don't be any grist for the mill to say this was inappropriate. That is her advice to Democrats.

CALDWELL: Yeah, we'll see if any people they're all able to contain themselves. It's going to take some self-discipline on the part of Democrats.

Yeah, I its going to be this is always a speech of, you know, self, I guess, patting on the back for the president. It's usually quite divided. Everyone always watches the moments of bipartisanship. Where are the Democrats going to stand up? You can expect --

RAJU: Maybe they'll boycott, maybe some members will boycott?

CALDWELL: Yeah. I'm interested to see, actually, if Senator Mitch McConnell goes, especially after the Friday Zelenskyy meeting. But this is a moment where people try to stake their political, you know, positions and make political points not only for the president for, but for members of Congress, too, and who the guests they're going to bring and what sort of statements they're going.

RAJU: To make little political points here and there. And, of course, the president will have to decide the themes that he wants to press and doing it at a time, as we've seen from the polling, that suggests a bit of a warning sign for the White House. [08:20:01]

One of that is just from our new CNN poll that just came out this morning, that 45 percent say Trump's policies are moving the U.S. in a wrong direction. Just 39 percent say the right direction, 15 percent are unsure.

So when Trump takes the stage, how will he address that? Do you think? And you know, we've heard Trump from -- Trump almost every single day. How will Tuesday be any different from what he's been saying for the last 41 days?

HERNDON: Well, oftentimes in those more informal speeches, he sounds like a somewhat different version of himself, right? Like these, you know, these moments, at least in the first term, can almost sound kind of Jekyll and Hyde from the day to day president that you would see.

But I think at this time, there's more cohesiveness of message. I think they're fairly confident about where they're going, but to the point about Democrats, like, right. Like the thing about Trump is, you know, polling will tell us this. The reporting tells us this. His -- what he's doing is often more -- more appreciated than him himself, right?

And so I'm saying there was times polling that shows that his targets, whether its DOGE or reshaping the federal government or immigration or all that stuff, are largely supported things. It's oftentimes the way he's executing. And I think that this is what this next year and a half is about is how does he take a mantle of disruption that I think is legitimate from American people and execute it?

And whether that reality matches up with, I think what the, the, the type of improvement that folks expect. And so he's not actually doing that right now. Right? Like I don't think what people voted for him they're thinking about disrupting USAID, right.

And so I don't think that that's happening right now, but I think he does have a little bit of a leeway on that.

RAJU: But how does he deal with, you know, the thousands of people have been fired across the government?

HERNDON: Yeah.

RAJU: You have a lot of questions, concerns about Elon Musk's role, even policy Republicans are concerned.

First of all, is Elon Musk going to go? Do we know if he's going to go? Where will he sit? And secondly, how does Trump address DOGE?

MASON: We don't know if he's going to go, but if I were a betting man, which I'm not, I would guess that he'll be in the first lady's box. I mean, Rush Limbaugh was in the first lady's box.

RAJU: Yeah, that was another story. MASON: Exactly. I'm sure he'll bring up DOGE. I mean, it's a key part

of his administration's agenda.

RAJU: How does he address the firings, though? Its really impacted so many people and obviously deeply personal level.

MASON: Absolutely. I mean, to the extent that he gets into the firings directly from -- from during the speech in Congress, he probably will talk about government being bloated. And he uses this rhetoric of waste, fraud and abuse. And he applies that broadly to people in addition to contracts and spending, et cetera. So I think he'll probably do that.

But to your initial point too, about the polling, the blowback from people's neighbors getting fired from people themselves getting fired. I've seen Republicans complaining about their daughters, their sons in other states because the Washington, D.C., of course, is not the only place that has government workers getting fired. That's probably trickling in to some of the polling that you're seeing, and that to circle back to the very beginning is also a warning.

HERNDON: And a huge point is the fact that, like they have taken on the federal government disruption, the way that hurts people all across the country. And so they've acted like this is a Washington, D.C. thing and that's not what it is. The forest industry, the NIH, that's not where those things are impacted. And so it's been a little bit of a sleight of hand that I think is impacting some of the poll numbers and perception you're talking.

RAJU: And just look at the map here about where this is impacting the federal workforce by House district. It's really across the board. I mean, there are lots of districts, red districts, blue districts in which people there are federal employees who have been impacted. And just yesterday, Elon Musk, DOGE inspired effort, there was another email that went out to roughly 2 million federal employees saying, justify your work. You're going to be asked to do this on a weekly basis. That's something that's going to continue to come up.

And in talking to Republican members, too, they're very clear that a lot of them are starting to feel the heat back home. And they wanted message this a bit differently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Give me a sense on your concerns right.

REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): Now to be a little bit more compassionate the way we message this, it matters to people. And I want to make sure that we don't come across as insensitive. We care about people. That's why we're making the case.

REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS (R-NY): This idea that they're going to just fire people via Twitter, Elon Musk, that to me seems rash. It seems not appropriate.

RAJU: DOGE specifically, but the cuts. Do you have any concerns about that?

REP. JUAN CISCOMANI (R-AZ): We're having conversations with our district about all that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: That last, Congressman Juan Ciscomani from Arizona, in a swing district. People are hearing about it back home.

CALDWELL: Yeah, they absolutely are. And, you know, Republicans are trying to back-channel with the administration, tell them about how it is impacting their districts and see if some of these cuts can be either misdirected or directed elsewhere.

You know, I called it the -- the NIMBY Republicans who say, you know, these cuts are great, but just don't impact my people, but that's why at the State of the Union, to bring it full circle, you're going to see a lot of Democrats bring people as guests who are impacted by these DOGE cuts.

[08:25:08]

You're going to see them bring veterans. There are a lot of veterans. I think a third of the federal workforce are veterans.

There's a lot of veteran contracts as well. Of course, the Veterans -- Department of Veterans Affairs, and so this is a point that as the pain is starting to be felt around the country, that Democrats are going to continue to hit on.

RAJU: Yeah, no question about it.

All right. Coming up, a deadline is fast approaching that could send Washington into a state of crisis. How will Donald Trump handle it?

And remember, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo? Well, can he come back from disgrace?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:08]

RAJU: Can President Donald Trump and Congress stave off a crisis in just 12 days? Well, that's when the government is set to shut down unless there's a bipartisan deal to avoid it. And sources in both parties tell me it is highly uncertain whether a deal can be reached.

My reporting with my colleagues Sarah Ferris and Lauren Fox, highlights how the DOGE cuts in particular are raising shutdown fears. A major question -- will Trump allow Congress to fund federal agencies that he and Elon Musk want to dismantle?

And for Democrats who have leverage because their votes will be needed, they want to force Trump to spend money appropriated by Congress. But the GOP chairwoman of a key Senate committee, Susan Collins, tells me that the Democratic demands won't fly in the GOP-led congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: What do you say to Democrats who say that they should force the administration to spend money here? Is that feasible in this effort?

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): Well, you know, Manu who controls both chambers and who's in the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And my excellent panel is back. Just a reminder about the shutdowns that occurred over the last several presidencies. There were two that happened with Donald Trump. None that happened with Joe Biden.

The one with Trump, of course, was the longest shutdown in the history of the United States, about 35 days or so. That was after Trump seemed to be on board with what the Republicans were doing in Congress, and then decided to change his mind and said he would oppose it. And that led to a shutdown here.

Trump now says he will support a long-term extension through the end of the current fiscal year. Democrats are concerned that could lock in those DOGE cuts.

Just how does Trump going to handle this now?

JEFF MASON, REUTERS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So number one, history shows from most of these shutdowns that the blame goes on the administration. So it's not a positive thing for him if a shutdown occurs.

Number two, in terms of blame, Republicans control as the senator was just saying both Houses of Congress and the White House. So any attempt by the president and no doubt he would make one, along with other Republicans, to blame a shutdown on Democrats, it's just that would be a hard sell.

Your question is, what is he going to do? I mean, I think given that criteria, it would make some logical sense that he will support a clean CR. But logic does not always apply.

RAJU: Yes. Because the question is, is he going to get behind a bill that funds USAID and all these agencies he wants to dismantle? And if you're the Democrats, your base wants you to fight, but you also risk blowback if you are seen as responsible for shutting down the government.

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, PUCK CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. The DOGE cuts are going to be critical as you reported. This is something that Democrats have been protesting. And so any codification of DOGE cuts in this short term or this government funding bill there -- it's going to be very difficult for them to support. Now Republicans say, look, Democrats are protesting cuts to the

government and they're going to do that protest by shutting down the government. So they think that they have a more winning message.

Democrats are having very serious conversations about what to do. We obviously -- it's going to matter what this CR looks like. Donald Trump tweeted or truthed (ph) the other day that he wants a clean CR, which means just straight government funding.

RAJU: Yes. Straight extension of government funding.

CALDWELL: Yes, we don't know what clean means to Donald Trump. And so there's still a lot of details that need to be put forward.

I'm told we're not going to know those. Probably most of those details are not going to move forward until after the president's address on Tuesday.

RAJU: Yes. And look, the one thing that I hear also is that if there's a shutdown, maybe it helps Donald Trump's efforts to dismantle government because everything is shut down.

ASTEAD HERNDON, NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, I'm like, the problem here is he's playing with House money, like he's thinking about this in the kind of broader way that I think includes the possibility of shutdown as negotiation tactic, like what we have seen, whether it be foreign policy or domestic concerns or relationship with congress, is that this is how they negotiate and they're comfortable with that kind of brinksmanship that I think, some administrations haven't been.

And so I think that we should expect that from them, because that's been their track record. The question will be like whether they're willing to kind of go as far as they did.

And I think remember last time in the shutdown in the first term, like, you know, Trump was kind of humbled or I think I think -- I think it was dealing with a Washington that was retraining him last time.

And this time it feels as if he's come in with a different type of vision about how he's going to work. And so I wonder whether things like shutdowns are still on the cards.

RAJU: Yes.

[08:34:50]

HERNDON: But we know that they're willing to play that as a means of negotiation. And so, you know, whether it's clean CR or not, we know they like the secrecy of us not knowing whether they are going to --

(CROSSTALKING)

RAJU: -- have to make some decisions very soon.

HERNDON: Absolutely.

RAJU: But as that is happening, there's a whole separate issue which is trying to move forward with this larger agenda that includes a whole host of issues ranging from spending cuts, ranging from raising the debt limit, raising from energy production, immigration issues, a massive tax overhaul.

And one of the big questions is, where are they going to cut the budget? That has not been clear on the GOP plans here, and they've been promising that they will not touch any of those major entitlement programs -- Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid, even though that is a significant part of the budget.

So how are they going to cut $1.5 trillion of federal money without touching those -- some of the biggest drivers of the federal deficit?

MASON: I mean, I wish I had an answer to that because it's -- how do you do that and have the impact and meet the goals that Elon Musk is saying he wants to do in terms of cutting and that the president wants to do?

It will probably almost certainly include cuts to programs that affect the poor, that affect food aid. We've obviously seen the cutting of jobs and closing down of departments, but the point that you're making Manu, is spot on that the biggest chunk of the budget is a set of entitlement programs that the president has said he's not going to touch, because it would be very politically unpopular.

RAJU: In the challenge is he would lose votes, critical votes, if he were to go that route among Republicans.

CALDWELL: Yes. So, yes, there's a one, two, maybe eventually three seat majority in the -- in the house, depending on the day. You have the hardliners who think $1.5 trillion is not good enough.

You know, I talked to Chip Roy the other day and I said, look, they're talking about just work requirements. That's only $100 billion of savings over ten years. That is a fraction of how much they're going to cut.

And Chip Roy said, exactly. We need to actually cut these programs because people are dreaming if you don't cut these programs and can find the savings.

Then you have the centrists, the ones from the swing districts whose constituents will be impacted and who care that their constituents are impacted by some of these cuts.

So this, you know, they passed this budget framework. That is the easy part of this process. It's only going to get complicated.

RAJU: And you mentioned the swing district ones. There's some conservatives, too who are concerned about the Medicaid cuts --

CALDWELL: Yes. RAJU: Josh Hawley being one of them, who told me that last week it could affect, he said, 21 percent of residents in his state who receive Medicaid or also Chip funds. So that's significant as well.

All right. Next, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. raised eyebrows with his comments on the measles outbreak in Texas. Are big changes coming to the nation's health policy?

[08:37:38]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: The deadly measles outbreak in west Texas has put the spotlight on the new Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who has a long history of vaccine skepticism. During his confirmation hearing, Kennedy said he supported the measles vaccine. But at this week's cabinet meeting, he seemed to downplay the recent outbreak.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: There have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. Last year it was 16. So it's not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, doctors say Kennedy was wrong to downplay the outbreak. And following the blowback from those remarks, Kennedy posted Friday, quote, "I recognize the serious impact of this outbreak on families, children and health care workers." And the measles outbreak was a quote, "top priority" of his.

Now, he still has not explicitly encouraged vaccination. But the CDC, which is part of his department, does.

My panel is back. So, you know, Jeff, you covered the White House and the administration. You know, this all comes as there have been some of these vaccine meetings the CDC has had that have been canceled, at least the flu vaccine. The FDA canceled a meeting to update next seasons flu vaccine. Another one was postponed for the CDC.

How does the White House view RFK -- how he's handled his job so far?

MASON: I remember speaking to then president-elect Trump in December about RFK. And the president came out in favor of vaccines, largely. So I think that it's something that they're probably sensitive to this issue broadly.

On measles, specifically, the United States declared it eradicated in this country in 2000. But the Health and Human Services secretary is not wrong to say that there are outbreaks that still come because of international travel, et cetera. But it's the messenger here and his history of being anti-vaccine that is the problem.

RAJU: And he hasn't explicitly called for people to get vaccinated. I put that question to Senator Bill Cassidy. He is one of the -- he actually gave a decisive vote to get him confirmed to the post. Cassidy himself is a medical doctor, a Republican from Louisiana.

I asked him about Kennedy's comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: RFK Jr. said that it's not unusual for a measles outbreak to occur. As a medical doctor, do you have concerns about that?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): Well, I'm very concerned about the measles. I'm very concerned about the measles outbreak. And so -- and I'm strongly encouraging people to get vaccinated. The vaccine is safe. They need to speak with their physician.

RAJU: Should RFK say that, though? Should RFK say that?

CASSIDY: I think everybody should --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:44:49]

RAJU: I think everybody should -- not explicitly calling him out there. But Cassidy, of course, is in a unique position.

CALDWELL: Yes. Senator Cassidy is running for reelection in a Republican state where a primary -- he has a primary challenger. And that primary could be very ugly, especially if Donald Trump endorses his primary opponent.

So yes, Senator Cassidy not only is in a unique position because he's at, you know, has a primary, but also he's a doctor and leading the Health Committee. But he ultimately voted for RFK.

RAJU: Yes. And the question is, will any of them begin to speak out if there are more of these issues that ultimately come up? Right now they have not. They're waiting to see how he does.

But how does -- the how does the public view some of these issues, including vaccines? There's an interesting poll that came out from the Kaiser Foundation -- family foundation, that talked about how Republican parents and Democratic-leaning parents, how they -- whether they keep their kids up to date on vaccines.

There has been a significant drop off, 15 points for among Republican- leaning parents from 2023 to 2025, about keeping their kids up to date on vaccines.

HERNDON: I think there's been a huge shift on this issue, and I think it's a post 2020 thing, like not just a kind of I think about like Dr. Fauci and the kind of expertise of that time.

But this is what Donald Trump is backlashing against and has empowered RFK to really embody that. And so, you know, I think it's an open question because Donald Trump is proud of what he did in Operation Warp Speed. Like understands the kind of impact it had.

RAJU: Though he doesn't speak about it very much.

HERNDON: But he has stopped talking about it because of the larger Republican kind of reaction to that.

And so I think RFK is in this interesting position where he'll have to speak to that, while also speaking to the skepticism, because that's who he is.

RAJU: It'll be interesting to see how much those numbers shift in the next four years as well.

HERNDON: Yes.

RAJU: All right. He's back. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo enters the race for New York City mayor after a damaging sex scandal derailed his career. But is he a shoo in?

[08:46:46]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW CUOMO, FORMER NEW YORK STATE GOVERNOR: As you probably know, I'm stepping aside as your governor.

It was the COVID hunger games. The federal government was nowhere to be found.

We know that today, our New York City is in trouble. Did I make mistakes? Some painfully. Definitely. And I believe I learned from them. And that I am a better person for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: It wasn't too long ago that former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was in the political wilderness. He resigned in disgrace in 2021 after 11 women accused him of sexual misconduct. But now Cuomo sees an opening in the crowded June Democratic primary for New York City mayor, where the current mayor, Eric Adams, has faced accusations that his corruption charges were dropped by the Trump Justice Department in exchange for his help to deport the city's undocumented migrants.

My panel is back. So Astead, this is a crowded primary. Eric Adams has his own issues. He denied that there was any sort of quid pro quo with his corruption charges. But can Cuomo pull this off?

HERNDON: Absolutely. I mean --

RAJU: Is he the favorite?

HERNDON: I would say he's the favorite. I think actually, like, he -- Cuomo not pulling it off would be the story. There is a desire for that type of return. I think Eric Adams has laid

the groundwork. And, you know, more broadly, there's a -- there's a backlash from even some of the cancel culture that brought Cuomo to disgrace in 2021.

I don't think that's -- I think that's separate from the reality and legitimacy of the charges. I don't think anyone doesn't think that, like I haven't heard someone say, Cuomo's a nice guy.

But I think there's a sense of maybe some of this went a little too far. And so I think that, you know, in my life in New York, I will hear an interesting collection of people saying, at least Andrew Cuomo will clean up the subways, you know.

At least, you know, Andrew Cuomo will get things done. You know, he knows what to do with Donald Trump in the White House.

And that type of understanding, I think, is what's behind his return to political office.

RAJU: And he had roiled relations with Democrats when he was governor, with many, many Democrats who were not happy with him.

MASON: Yes. And that doesn't just go away. But I think the political climate nationally actually helps him locally --

HERNDON: Yes.

MASON: -- because President Trump being in office gives him a foil in the same way that Andrew Cuomo served as a bit of a foil for Trump during COVID and vice versa.

The strength that the governor then showed and the very clear difference in terms of health policy that he displayed was very popular with Democrats then.

Can that overcome these other obstacles? That will be up to the people of New York City to decide, but the contrast will be useful to him.

RAJU: He had the sexual misconduct scandal. He had the nursing home scandal during COVID. But in a lot of ways, you know, Trump has rewritten how politicians can rebound from scandal.

(CROSSTALKING)

CALDWELL: Yes, sexual harassment and sexual assault are no longer disqualifying thing for candidates running for office. Well, at least in the Republican Party, it hasn't been. So we will see in the Democratic party if it is.

You know, Cuomo has more than that. You mentioned the nursing home scandal during COVID, which impacted a lot of -- a lot of New Yorkers. I'm not sure specifically how many New York City residents.

But he also had the book writing scandal, too, which was part of that that's still in court and using. [08:54:46]

CALDWELL: So he definitely has the most name recognition outside of New York for us in D.C. But it's a four-month primary.

RAJU: Yes, it is June primary and we'll see. Crowded primary, as Astead said he very much seems like the favorite. Can he win? We'll see.

All right. Great discussion guys.

That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can follow me on X @mkraju. Follow the show INSIDE POLITICS and follow me on Instagram @Manu_raju. 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 House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senator Chris Murphy, U.S. national security advisor Mike Waltz.

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

[08:55:25]

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