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Inside Politics

Trump's Tariffs Spark Chaos, Confusion And Uncertainty; Musk Wants U.S. To Have "Zero Tariff Situation" With Europe; Judge Orders Trump Admin To Bring Wrongly-Deported Man Back. GOP Anxiety Brewing over Potential Texas Senate Primary; Millions of People Protest Against Trump and Musk; "Late Show" Poke's Fun at Manu's Exchange with Sen. Booker. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired April 06, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

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[08:00:23]

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): Sticker shock and awe.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We truly can be very wealthy. We're going to come back very strongly.

RAJU: Trump's trade war jolts the global economy.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): We're in uncharted waters.

ELON MUSK, TECH BILLIONAIRE: Europe and the United States should move, ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation.

RAJU: What is the president's end game?

HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: You got to trust Donald Trump.

RAJU: And will Americans buy it?

Plus, hands off.

PROTESTER: Hands off us!

(APPLAUSE)

RAJU: As millions turn out with a message for Trump, Democrats see their moment.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: It is up to all of us.

RAJU: And primary problem. My new reporting on a potential senate primary. Is the GOP midterm map in jeopardy?

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

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

So just how far will Donald Trump's trade war go? As chaos and confusion grips much of the world with uncertain economic and political consequences in the short and long term, right now, 10 percent tariffs are in effect on imports from all countries, on top of the 25 percent auto tariffs that Trump already imposed.

Then, on Wednesday, Trump is slapping tariffs of up to 50 percent on dozens of other countries. In other words, this is just the beginning. As voters will now begin to see the effects on their wallets. And already, U.S. stock markets lost trillions of dollars in market value, with the Dow shedding nearly 4,000 points in two days. We haven't seen these kind of losses since March 2020. Of course, that's when the world was shutting down for covid.

Fears are now growing about the U.S. succumbing to a recession. But Trump is showing no signs of concerns. While stocks are plunging, the president was golfing and apparently the chaos didn't have much of an impact on his game. The White House put out a statement yesterday that quote that said this the president won his second round matchup of the senior club championship today in Jupiter, Florida, and advances to the championship round tomorrow.

So, let's break this all down with my excellent panel this morning. CNN's David Chalian, Amy Walter of "The Cook Political Report", Jeff Mason with "Reuters", and CNN's Priscilla Alvarez.

Good to see you all. Happy Sunday.

You know, most presidents might care about optics. They may want to go somewhere. Make the case that they're on top of the situation, especially with the economy. Apparently in freefall or seriously a meltdown. Of course, these are the headlines from this weekend, though, of Trump hitting the golf course.

David Chalian, Donald Trump -- what do you make of the way he has handled this? And the fact that optics don't seem to matter to him?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, on Friday, after the first day of a plunging stock market in response to his tariff policy, he did talk twice, right? He -- he talked to reporters on his way to the aircraft and then again on the plane on the way to Florida. And I actually thought we were going to hear from him a bunch this weekend because I -- I think he thinks. I know he thinks he is his best messenger on this. And so I -- I was thinking we were going to hear from him again and again.

Listen, presidents play golf or do their leisure activities like through times of crisis and the job stays with them. I don't begrudge anyone doing that. But to your point about the optics, somebody who is so completely consumed by his media, by his own press and like, loves to absorb that.

In fact, I think we saw a photo of him, like looking at a picture of himself in "The New York Post" while riding to the golf course this weekend. I do think that, you know, that that he is not, more aggressively combating those.

RAJU: Yeah. I mean, look, they have a choice. They can make it look like he is on top of this. But they put out that statement that I just read about him winning the advancing to the next round of the senior championship at his club. They made the choice to essentially say it doesn't matter.

AMY WALTER, PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT WITH AMY WALTER: Well, I guess you can look at it this way, which is to say, I'm not worried. You shouldn't be worried either, America. Come on. This is just hyperbole. This is overreaction.

Markets go up, markets go down. Everything's going to be great. Just trust me, which is really what Donald Trump's big message and his big takeaway is, you've got to trust that even though everybody else, economists all over -- from every political stripe are saying this is going to be a disaster. You have to trust me because I know better.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But this is also coming against the backdrop of the. President saying and his advisers warning that there was going to be, quote, short term pain while they were trying to put the country back on course.

[08:05:08]

That is what they were saying in the very beginning. So, I've been looking at these images against the backdrop of that. There is an acknowledgment that there might be some pain, but he is saying, trust me, this is all for the right. And so therefore, if you look at it against that backdrop, like, yeah, he'll be on the golf course while this is happening.

RAJU: And his message, he has put out some posts on social media as he tends to do, he's making clear he's not backing off. He says my policies will never change. That's in one post, despite all the concerns. And he also says this big business is not worried about the tariffs because they know they are here to stay.

Big businesses are not worried about the tariffs. What is he talking about?

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: I think that's factually untrue. I mean, I think also when he says in his announcement about tariffs that we're going to make America wealthy again. Well, the facts show and I don't need to tell anybody this. With the drop in the stock market on Thursday and Friday that most people who have retirement accounts or have any money in the markets, and that's not everyone, but it's a lot of people, particularly retirees and others who use who are ready to -- to take money out of those accounts now got poorer on Thursday and Friday.

That's -- those are just the facts. I was at the White House watching one of the -- one of his advisers stand and look at the market go down on TV, and he said that was a temper tantrum and hope that it would be better the next day. And it wasn't. So, there's worry -- there's absolutely worry in the corridors of power. And I think that would include the C-suites of major businesses.

RAJU: No question. And there's also concerns, of course, among the American public. The polls certainly show that this is from a "Wall Street Journal" poll out this weekend, 54 percent of Americans oppose the Trump's tariffs, just 42 percent favor it.

And then you look at the support for Trump's economic plan in general. This is how a Republican voters view whether or not Trump's policies will actually bring down inflation. There's been a 14-point drop since December, according to this Marquette poll, about whether Trump can actually effectively deal with inflation. And this is before the stock market tumbled.

There's fear.

CHALIAN: I mean, the numbers in this "Wall Street Journal" poll are clearly concerning. I should just note one of the pollsters of the poll is Donald Trump's pollster. But it would be concerning for the White House, because -- and we've seen this in a whole bunch of polls over the previous few weeks, Manu, and you are right, all of which are taken before the public has absorbed the tariff policy here. So, imagine what could potentially get worse.

On the economy, issue number one for voters and one of Donald Trump's strongest suits in his first term. And throughout the campaign, his numbers are looking almost downright Biden-like at times right now, which is a real problem. And so, on the economy, on inflation, on tariffs, these are positions where he is pretty unpopular right now. That's new turf for Donald Trump to be in.

WALTER: And they really haven't even started to hit consumers yet.

RAJU: Yeah.

WALTER: What I'm hearing, you know, listening in to focus groups where people are frustrated about right now is the idea that Trump's not spending enough time on the stuff they were upset about back in November, which is grocery, still costs too much, housing still costs too much. And he's focused on other things.

Now, if you say groceries cost too much and they're going to cost more, I mean, we really have yet to actually have this come to a head for so many of the folks who are already feeling frustrated.

MASON: Actively implementing policies that are going to do the opposite of what he promised on the campaign trail, when I mean -- I mean, he certainly promised tariffs and that that's --

WALTER: For sure. MASON: He's doing that. But those tariffs are going to have an impact

on the bottom line.

RAJU: And meantime, there's been -- there's actually some interesting comments that Elon Musk made yesterday about tariffs seeming to suggest he didn't exactly agree with where the president is going.

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MUSK: I'm hopeful, for example, with the tariffs that -- that at the end of the day, I hope it is agreed that both Europe and the United States should move, ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America.

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RAJU: And he went after Trump's top trade adviser on social media, Peter Navarro. He criticized him about having a PhD in economy from Harvard. He said it's not a bad thing. He said not a good thing. And he went after him as well.

What do you make of Musk breaking from the president?

ALVAREZ: Well, let's see how this all unfolds behind the scenes, right? I mean, yes, Elon Musk has incredible influence, as we have seen with his DOGE cuts. And he has also marketed the agenda of the administration by saying, we are here for you. Thats what these DOGE cuts are about, right? When he talks about them, it's like we are getting rid of fraud and waste.

So, you know, let's see how it plays with -- with the president. He has his own trade advisers. We haven't seen how it's hit consumers yet. But when it comes to Elon and the immense reach that he has with voters, even, you know, voters going to rallies just to see him in these states like Wisconsin last week.

[08:10:09]

Well, like, let's -- I think it's a wait and see, not only with his influence on this particular issue, but also with how consumers react.

RAJU: In all, the Trump advisers are sort of all over the place about what is happening next.

Here's another question about what happening next. How will Republicans deal with this going forward? I put a question to a lot of Republicans about just simply, look, prices are going to go up. Are your constituents okay with that?

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RAJU: What about the higher prices that your constituents may face?

SEN. KATIE BRITT (R-AL): Look, we know that ultimately there will be some adjustment period. But at the end of the day, we believe that American wages will be driven up.

RAJU: There's going to be a significant increase on cars, for instance. Are people -- you think people want to pay more for cars?

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): People want American jobs. This is about American jobs.

RAJU: But there -- I mean, there are also people who have be buying cars. If people want a new car market, they may have to pay more.

SCOTT: More American jobs, and they're going to be better paying American jobs.

RAJU: How long are you going to give the benefit of doubt?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- predict that.

KENNEDY: And in the long run he's right. But as I've said repeatedly in the long run, we're all dead. Short run matters too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: He's right about that. Long run, we're all dead.

WALTER: And this goes to the core challenge of the messaging. It's going to bring back American jobs. But at the same time, there's also this argument from many Republicans that he's just trying to cut better deals, right? So, if Vietnam comes to us and says, hey, were going to get rid of our tariffs, great. We get rid of our tariffs on you.

But then that just means that were manufacturing textiles still in Vietnam. I mean, we're not -- we're not -- the whole point I thought was so that textile manufacturing comes back to the U.S.

So, the message is, right, I think if you're business community, what you're thinking is, okay, this is just about negotiation. He's going to negotiate this all down. We're going to be like Elon Musk sort of theory, which is great, we'll get to a place where we just have all free trade.

RAJU: Yeah.

WALTER: But that's not going to bring jobs back. That bring prices down.

RAJU: Exactly. Is that a sustainable position to say in the long term?

WALTER: That's right.

RAJU: Things will be okay.

CHALIAN: Well, that's the whole thing. Listen, this is a big gamble of a policy that he has been committed to for decades, right? So, I don't think Donald Trump is at all interested in a total free trade scenario that Elon Musk, I think he's made that crystal clear. I think he believes in these tariffs. And I think it's a bet and it's a race against the clock politically. So, it's a bet to see if the policy is going to work. But it is a race against the clock when it comes to the political realm.

RAJU: And that's such a good point because the ramifications could be felt very soon. And we'll see how Trump and Republicans ultimately react.

All right. Next, Trump officials admitted they wrongly deported a Maryland man to El Salvador. Will they ignore a judge's deadline to bring him back by tomorrow?

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[08:17:12]

RAJU: While you were watching your 401k, you might have missed some other moves the Trump administration has been making, from book banning at the naval academy to deep cuts to federal agencies that protect Americans. And now a looming fight with the courts over a man the U.S. mistakenly deported to El Salvador.

Now, a federal judge said the U.S. must bring him back by 11:59 p.m. tomorrow night. But the Trump administration is appealing that ruling and sidelining a Justice Department attorney who expressed frustration with the case.

My panel is back with me now.

So, Priscilla, you were actually in court on Friday. Explain to us what is going on here, especially now that they've sidelined this -- this attorney who seemed to have some concerns about the way this was handled.

ALVAREZ: Well, a quick reminder of the case that we're talking about here. This was a Salvadoran national. He was a resident of Maryland. And in 2019, an immigration judge had granted him what we call withholding of removal. That is to say that he could not be deported to El Salvador for fear of persecution, even if he was still removable from the United States.

It's complicated. It's immigration law. But the point is, he could not be sent to El Salvador. Now, last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him and a few days later sent him to that notorious mega prison in El Salvador. That was part of those flights that went there and that are still in dispute. And another court case. So, the -- and they admitted they were wrong to do it, admitted that they were wrong.

On Monday, there was a late-night filing where the administration said this was due to, quote, an administrative error. Essentially, his name was put on the flight manifest and it shouldn't have been there to begin with. So fast forward to Friday, and they were before a federal judge having to explain what it is that happened. And frankly, it was a fascinating hearing to watch because the DOJ

attorney did not have additional evidence. The judge asked multiple times for evidence that he was tied to MS-13 for why he was detained to begin with by ICE. And every single time, he said, the government has decided not to produce evidence in this case.

And he said himself that he was frustrated by that. He also at one point suggested that he had told the government to just bring the guy back. They had clearly admitted it was a mistake and the government did not heed.

RAJU: Why did they want? Why didn't the administration, why do they not want to bring him back?

ALVAREZ: So, the administration's position on this --

RAJU: Was wrongly -- they admitted they wrongly deported him to El Salvador.

ALVAREZ: Right. So, the administration's position is that he is in Salvadoran custody. And every U.S. official I've spoken with says that is the case. The migrants that they sent there are now in Salvadoran custody.

Here's the caveat, though. The federal judge made the point that $6 million has been spent by the United States to El Salvador to hold some of these migrants. Therefore, the judge was saying, if the United States is paying for this, how is it possible that the United States can't make a call to get somebody back?

Now, the administration had -- has appealed the case. They have also asked for an emergency stay. The circuit has not yet ruled on that.

[08:20:01]

So, they are trying to avoid bringing this man back.

The attorney for the man, however, makes the point that there was a mistake that was clearly put in court filings by the administration. So, they are hopeful that other courts will see it the same way.

RAJU: Will the administration just ignore the court's order here?

MASON: Well, I mean, their argument that they have no authority and -- I mean, it seems to -- seems to be sort of a broader argument to say we don't want to play.

And the question about the money, I mean, I'm not an attorney and would not be able to weigh in on what's possible and what's not possible. But logically, you would think that the two governments are speaking because they've made this arrangement for that prison. So being able to call and say, hey, we made a mistake, we need to get this guy back.

RAJU: You would think so.

MASON: Seems logical.

RAJU: Right.

ALVAREZ: But they've also said that this man is tied to MS-13 repeatedly, despite the lack of evidence to that end.

CHALIAN: Not just tied to MS-13. The vice president say that he was convicted.

ALVAREZ: That he was convicted, which is not the case. And that did come up in the hearing. Therefore, it puts them in a position of, are they really going to bring back someone they said is a bad guy?

RAJU: It's the larger the political question, since this is, of course, inside politics is, look, Trump won in a large part because he campaigned being hard -- taking a hard line on immigration. Is there a risk, though, of him overreaching on this issue?

WALTER: At this point it is his highest approval rating is on the issue of immigration. And in many cases, I think part of the reason why, for all the numbers that David mentioned earlier about frustrations with how he's handling the economy, Trump's overall approval rating has not cratered. And in some cases, it's because those very same people who are saying, I don't think he's doing a great job on the economy, but I like what he's doing on other things. One of those things being immigration.

So, my sense is if they admit -- they have admitted in court that this was a mistake, but if they start bringing him back, who else are they going to have to bring back? And then it becomes this idea that, well, maybe this they're not doing this in a way that is -- you know, it's -- it's a -- it's sort of a mess.

RAJU: Yeah.

WALTER: And I guess I was looking for a nicer word than mess.

RAJU: Technical term.

WALTER: But I couldn't -- I couldn't come up with a technical term there.

RAJU: Exactly. So, let's talk about, you know, the -- how the Trump administration, the president, they seem to sideline the people who don't necessarily toe the line, shall we say, as we saw with this Justice Department attorney.

And then we saw last week with national security officials, there was that far right conspiracy theory activist Laura Loomer, who was came to the White House, met with Donald Trump after Trump, according to our reporting, talked to her by phone. She called him, reached out to him. They had a meeting, then several national security advisers were fired here, including Timothy Haugh, who's the director of the National Security Agency, as well as several other key officials here.

What is your takeaway from this episode of Trump pushing these significant officials out of the government?

CHALIAN: A couple of takeaways. One, this plays right into Donald Trump's natural suspicion of the so-called deep state. And so, when -- when somebody, an ally of his, even a conspiracy theorist is expressing concerns in this area, there is an opening. And the other thing that my big takeaway is these lines of communication are still open to Donald Trump.

I mean, do you remember Laura Loomer, in the midst of the fall campaign, she was on the Trump campaign plane on the way to the debate in Philadelphia. And it was all of this concern about how did she get manifested on the flight? And there were all these optical concerns and that the campaign, some in the campaign were expressing that it's not just from outside critics.

And yet, you see here, here he is welcoming her to the Oval Office. These people who have outlandish theories of politics and personnel, don't -- they may be like at times banished publicly for a moment. They don't ever seem to lose their ability to get in the president's ear, and that's the other thing --

RAJU: Has the White House explained this, why these officials were pushed out?

MASON: No, not -- not with any sort of -- they haven't -- the president himself, let's start with, has said it's not because of Laura Loomer, but you can draw those conclusions yourself pretty directly because of the timing.

RAJU: And she posted about it afterwards --

MASON: Yes.

RAJU: -- boasting about these firings.

MASON: But what I think is interesting and to piggyback on David's point is, you know, more than two months in Susie Wiles-run White House has not had a lot of the palace intrigue. That was a big characteristic of Trump 1.0.

And this week, having the Laura Loomer incident and some of this back -- or these backstabbing with regard to tariffs seems to be a little bit of a shift. I think Amy's numbers are what matters. We'll see how the approval ratings stay.

RAJU: Yeah.

MASON: But if they start to move down, we may look back at last week with the tariffs and with this sort of beginning to let in some of Trump's other impulses in terms of listening to Laura Loomer as a -- as a --

RAJU: And --

MASON: -- breaking point. RAJU: And this is what Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader,

said to "The New York Times" just yesterday. He said if decades of experience in uniform isn't enough to lead the NSA, but amateur isolationists can hold senior policy jobs at the Pentagon, then what exactly are the criteria for working on this administration's national security staff?

WALTER: Yeah, I mean, he's definitely not holding anything back these days, retiring.

RAJU: Voting against Trump nominees, retiring.

WALTER: He has, or retiring. All of this coming clear.

RAJU: He represents the wing of the party that doesn't speak up anymore.

WALTER: I was just going to say, this -- well, and he represents a wing of the party that has been thoroughly defeated. And it feels like it's the last gasps of that part of -- the so-called establishment, which is just no longer, it has no more sway either on the Capitol, at the Capitol side or in the White House.

RAJU: There's no question about it. It's certainly not.

All right. Next, my new reporting on a feud inside the GOP that party leaders fear could cost them big in the midterms, and how it's putting some Republicans in an awkward spot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Do you plan to support John Cornyn for reelection?

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Call our press office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[08:30:50]

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: New this morning, President Trump is in the middle of a brewing Republican battle that has GOP leaders worried it could upend their Senate map in the midterms.

My new reporting with my colleague Sarah Ferris highlights a growing GOP rift over veteran Senator John Cornyn's seat in Texas. Behind the scenes, GOP leader John Thune has urged Trump to back Cornyn, with party leader's eager to avoid a protracted primary that could siphon away money from other critical battlegrounds.

But Texas attorney general and MAGA loyalist Ken Paxton is sending loud signals he plans to enter the race.

Plus, we've learned about new signs that conservative Congressman Leslie Hunt appears to be moving closer to challenging Cornyn as they both try to woo Trump.

For Cornyn, who has served in the Senate for more than two decades, he knows the Trump factor looms large.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Have you talked to Trump about getting an endorsement, or do you expect a Trump endorsement?

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I talk to President Trump regularly, and I know he's got other things on his plate. And I'm sure he'll make an endorsement when HE'S -- when he's ready.

But I have a very good relationship. Looking forward to supporting him and his agenda as I always have.

RAJU: Do you think that he'll make a difference in this race?

CORNYN: I think his endorsement would be important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: His endorsement will be important. Perhaps an understatement, but this is why it matters. Because the map is complicated for Democrats to get back in the majority in the Senate. But there are some key pickup opportunities for the Democrats in North Carolina and Maine. Two of them they could pick up.

But the Republicans are trying to pick up seats in Georgia, in Michigan and New Hampshire. And if they have to spend $100 million, which is what we were told, they could be forced to defend Cornyn just in the primary alone. That could impact their ability down the map.

AMY WALTER, PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Yes, that it's not something that is particularly fun, I'm sure, for the chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee to think about. That with the -- you're right, with the map the way it is, even if Democrats did hold both of their most vulnerable seats or three of their most vulnerable seats, and knocked off the two most vulnerable Republicans, they'd still be two seats short.

So even picking up Texas, that's not enough to get into the majority. But it is a great deal of money. To me, it's really fascinating, though, to watch the continuing battle here between the forces. The -- as you said, the MAGA forces, the Trump loyalists and John Cornyn, who's not anti-Trump but he came in in a different era. He came in as establishment --

RAJU: Bush era Republican.

WALTER: Exactly.

Ted Cruz, obviously is from a different wing of the party. So it would sort of be the completion in the state of Texas of that MAGA takeover.

What I'm also fascinated to watch is on the Democratic side, what kind of intraparty fights are we going to see? Already this idea of you're not fighting Trump hard enough has been taking over certainly that the internet and the chatter here in Washington, whether it's going to actually matter to Democratic primary voters, could also be really important in the sense of, you know, maybe Democrats nominate candidates who are not as strong in a general election, but scratch the itch of --

(CROSSTALKING)

RAJU: Yes.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Although we do have a recent example of Democratic primary voters in a Trump era, right, because it was the 2019 2020 presidential primary that we saw --

WALTER: That's right.

CHALIAN: And they did appear more pragmatically. They decided Joe Biden had the best chance to defeat Trump, not everybody else on the stage who was appealing and trying to outdo each other of being the Trump slayer.

They decided, hey, we see this one who has the best chance of defeating Trump? They were proven right about that.

WALTER: Yes.

RAJU: Yes. And just on the Cornyn of it all, as you were saying, how he's trying to align himself with the MAGA forces, which, of course, are on the rise and are dominant in the GOP right now.

Just watch Cornyn's launch video as he came out and said that he was running for reelection.

[08:34:51]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In President Trump's first term, he made America great. And Texas Senator John Cornyn had his back.

CORNYN: In President Trump's first term, I was Republican Whip, delivering the votes for his biggest wins.

Now, I'm running for reelection and asking for your support so President Trump and I can pick up where we left off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER: I mean that the first image is not of the sitting senator, but of the president.

RAJU: And look at this tweet, too, just from a couple of weeks ago. Trump -- Cornyn is reading art of the deal and is praising that book.

JEFF MASON, REUTERS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, how many times did he mention President Trump's name in that 30-second commercial? It's obviously super important. And it's -- and it's the political reality.

I mean, it doesn't matter what state you're from as a Republican running for office, running for reelection, or kicking off a new campaign. The Trump forces are the dominant forces you need to win over.

RAJU: And you know, obviously, there's been a lot of -- there's been some special elections recently. There was a big Wisconsin Supreme Court race from last week. Democrats did win there.

There are some signs that Democrats perhaps are looking better. This is still very early, but the margin in some of these races is tighter -- its tightening over the past -- since November, certainly.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the Democratic-supported candidate there won by ten points. Trump, of course, won Wisconsin by one point.

But there are a bunch of other state Senate races in one district in Pennsylvania Trump had won that by 15 points. The Democrat narrowly won there by one point.

Priscilla, you talked to Democrats all the time. How are they feeling about their standing right now as they head into -- you know, the midterms are still a long ways away. But in the aftermath of Trump and DOGE.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the thing, it's DOGE. A lot of what they were -- a lot of the argument the Democrats were making was tying all of this to Elon Musk, who has been very aggressive in his cuts in the government, which affect Americans not only in the Beltway but also across the country. So they have been leaning in on that.

I think what's interesting, though, about that argument is how long does Elon Musk stick around? Like right now DOGE is very -- is the thing that the administration is doing. How does this bear out leading up to the midterms when the administration, by the way, is also trying to ram through as much as they can before the midterms, especially on immigration?

So I think the Democrats are feeling pretty good. But again, if you're only tying things to Elon Musk, then how does this argument hold in the months to come?

WALTER: If he's not in the --

ALVAREZ: If he's not in the picture?

WALTER: -- in the picture.

The one -- the other thing to think about going back to Texas for a minute. Remember the last time Democrats got really, really close in Texas was 2018?

RAJU: Yes.

WALTER: Right. Which it feels very similar right now with the backlash to Trump. And that was Beto O'Rourke and his sort of rise started and ended pretty much after that.

MASON: Also, to bring things full circle to what we were talking about at the top of the show, you had Ted Cruz saying this last week that if the tariffs spark a recession, that there will be a bloodbath for Republicans in the midterms.

RAJU: Yes.

MASON: Now, you're right. The midterms are a ways away. But that timing that David was talking about earlier is going to collide -- the economic timing and the political timing of whether or not the promises he's made are going to come into fruition in time to affect that vote.

RAJU: And you mentioned Ted Cruz. You showed -- we showed before the break, I asked him, will you support John Cornyn for reelection? He said, call the press office. We did call the press office, we did not hear back.

All right. Next, in the streets, the Trump opposition is on full display this weekend with huge protests all around the world. But can Democrats take advantage?

[08:38:37]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: This weekend, the opposition to Donald Trump and DOGE took to the streets as millions of people gathered in all 50 states and around the world on Saturday. So Democrats see an opening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MARYLAND): Our founders wrote a constitution that does not begin with "we, the dictators". The preamble says "we, the people".

No oligarchs, no broligarch, no autocrat, no theocrat, no kleptocrat, no monarch from Moscow or Mar-a-Lago is going to turn us around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: That, of course, was Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland. Is this Tea Party 2.0?

CHALILAN: Well, let's be clear what this is. This was by far the best week Democrats have had in a very long time. When you go -- you mentioned in the last segment the election results, undoubtedly, especially that Wisconsin race was a dramatic victory for progressives and Democrats.

RAJU: Is it ground shifting? CHALIAN: Well, what you have here is an energized opposition to Trump, along with a non-presidential cycle where most reliable voters tend to show up and they have been aligning themselves with the Democratic Party.

But even in Wisconsin, it wasn't just -- I mean, turnout was blown out of the water. It was a big turnout election. And still, the progressive candidate won by ten points.

[08:44:45]

CHALIAN: So this is -- this was a big moment. You had Cory Booker's speech, which animated activists and progressives and donated money. And you have these protests. I mean, put all that together. We just haven't seen the Democrats have a week like this.

Now, I'm not suggesting that that means Democrats have solved all their problems. And in fact, Democrats will be the first to tell you they have not. There's a lot of intraparty conversation still about how to move forward, but moving forward from a week like this is very different than moving forward from November's election.

WALTER: Yes. And to that point, even looking at the polling in Wisconsin, Democrats' approval ratings were in the basement in Wisconsin, and they still won by their --

(CROSSTALKING)

RAJU: And nationally. They're still in the basements.

WALTER: -- by 10 points. Nationally.

But if you're just specifically looking at how well they did in Wisconsin, where Trump's numbers aren't terrible. He was, you know, maybe he's at 48 percent approval rating. And again, Democrats numbers in the basement and you win by ten points.

Why do you win by ten points? Because you have that energy and enthusiasm of people who are coming out against Trump.

So look, every midterm election is a reaction to the party in power. That has been the case forever and ever and ever. And so already Republicans start on their back foot.

The question is at this point next year, what are we talking about? And given the amount of stuff that has happened just in less than 100 days --

(CROSSTALKING)

WALTER: -- I was talking to a Republican the other day who said, we can -- I cannot tell you what we're going to be talking about in October.

RAJU: Or tomorrow. WALTER: And this was -- this was -- this was pre tariff commitment. But even then in October of 2026, any -- there's any possibility of a topic.

RAJU: I know you can only imagine what the world will look like. But if you're the one in the White House what do -- you see these protests. You brush it off. Are they brushing it off?

MASON: Yes, they are.

RAJU: They are.

MASON: I think so. I mean, I think and that's based on their kind of game plan for all things that is anti-Trump is dismissal. It's a reference. They'll reference back to the election. And they'll reference to the mandate that they say that he has.

That's -- those are their talking points and that's what they believe. I mean it's also what they believe for the reasoning behind all of their policies.

I mean, we talked I keep coming back to tariffs because I'm a Reuters reporter. But like, he genuinely believes that the tariffs are the right thing to do. That's what -- that's his view of the economy. It's his view of immigration. And they believe they have the public.

RAJU: Yes. Reaction be damned.

But it's interesting this week we heard from the former President Obama. We have not heard from him much. We certainly have also not heard from Kamala Harris after she lost in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are seeing organizations stay quiet. We are seeing those who are capitulating to clearly unconstitutional threats.

I'm not here to say I told you so.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think people tend to think democracy, rule of law, independent judiciary, freedom of the press. That's all abstract stuff because it's not affecting the price of eggs.

Well, you know what? It's about to affect the price of eggs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Do you think we'll hear more from Obama as this administration plays out?

ALVAREZ: I think it depends on what the continued policies are, what's happening on national security, what's happening in the world of immigration? Immigration, I think is kind of a bizarre one because the approval

rating is so high. But and I've been talking to Democrats about this because they have been quite quiet despite everything we've seen. And I think it's because the administration kind of played into these nuanced issues.

I mean, the activists and the visa revocations that was for -- that was connected to the Israel-Hamas war. So that's already touchy. The deportations all happening to, you know, go back to the Biden era.

All of this to say that what they've all told me is that there could always be that watershed moment where everyone comes out and they don't think that we're there yet.

RAJU: Yes. All right. We shall see.

And for much more on the path forward for the Democratic Party, be sure to tune in to CNN this Wednesday night. Anderson Cooper is hosting a town hall with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, fresh off of his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour across the U.S. You can watch that town hall at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Coming up, I asked Cory Booker the question everybody wanted to know after he stood on the Senate floor for more than 25 hours. And Stephen Colbert had some thoughts.

[08:49:13]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: After Senator Cory Booker emerged from his record breaking 25- hour plus speech on the Senate floor earlier this week, the New Jersey Democrat was a bit tired, to say the least.

Booker stuck around though, to take questions from reporters, myself included, and Stephen Colbert, and "The Late Show" took notice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, TV HOST: Even after that marathon floor speech, Booker was not done once he left the chamber and I'm assuming against doctor's orders, he went out into the hallway and took questions from CNN's Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): I didn't know how long I could go, but I'm so grateful that I lasted for 25 hours.

RAJU: Senator Booker -- Senator Booker, was it your goal coming in to speak longer than Strom Thurmond? And a question that so many people have is, how do you maintain the stamina? How did you not have to use the restroom for 25 hours?

COLBERT: Manu, look at his face. Let the man rest.

I'm being told we have footage of what Cory Booker was seeing while Manu Raju was asking the question.

[08:54:52]

RAJU: Senator, was it your goal coming in to speak longer than Strom Thurmond? The question that some people have is how do you maintain the stamina?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Classic. And Senator Booker told me that even after he got home that night, after being up for more than 25 hours, he had so much on his mind that he could not fall asleep.

And that's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can follow me on X @mkraju, follow the show @INSIDEPOLITICS and follow me on Instagram @Manu_Raju.

If you ever missed an episode, just catch up wherever you get your podcasts and search for INSIDE POLITICS.

Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH" Jake's guests include Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

And before we go, I want to wish my parents a very happy 50th wedding anniversary. They've had a very rich and colorful journey, and I owe them so much.

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

[08:55:50]

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