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Inside Politics

Trump's Approval At 100 Days Is Worst Since Modern Polling Began; FBI Arrests Wisconsin Judge, Accuses Her Of Obstructing ICE; Trump Skips Annual Dinner and Heightened Attacks On Press; New CNN Poll: Trump Approval on Foreign Policy Falls under 40 percent; Democratic Leaders Host a Sit-In Outside the U.S. Capitol; FLOTUS in the Spotlight. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired April 27, 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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JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST (voice-over): Underwater.

Breaking right now, extensive new CNN polling shows Trump at a historic low, bleeding support on the economy and immigration, while his team amps up the pressure on anyone getting in their way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are talking about a sitting judge.

PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We will come after you and we will prosecute you.

As Trump approaches 100 days in office, has the president lost the middle? We'll dive into the numbers.

Plus, deal or no deal? The president holds a surprise one-on-one meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the pope's funeral. Now, he's threatening Moscow with new sanctions and says a peace deal could be close.

But can he really convince Vladimir Putin to end the war?

And under the radar. How has Melania Trump spent her first 100 days?

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

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DEAN (on camera): Good morning and welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Jessica Dean, in for Manu Raju.

And Tuesday will mark President Trump's 100th day in office. We have a brand-new CNN poll showing Americans are turning on him after propelling him back into office just six months ago.

According to this brand new poll, Trump's approval rating now standing at just 41 percent. To give you some context, that is the lowest for any president at this point in his term in the history of modern polling, going all the way back to Eisenhower. This beats the record, Trump himself said at the 100-day mark of his first term back in 2017. Trump's approval sliding down seven points from just late February.

There's very little good news in this poll, and for the president.

And CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten is joining us here in Washington to break down the numbers.

Harry, very good morning to you.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Good morning to you.

DEAN: You're here. Brand new polling. Where are we? A hundred days, almost 100 days into President Trump's second term as compared to his first.

ENTEN: I mean, these numbers are just horrible. There's no way to sugarcoat it. And the first way will sort of point that out is well look at where Donald Trump is now versus where he was 100 days into his first presidency. And you see it here. You don't have to be a mathematical genius, 41 percent approve of him now. It was 44 percent back in 2017 around the 100-day mark.

And what's so notable here is that throughout his second term as president, he tended to be running ahead of where he was in his first term. No longer is that the case. He has fallen below where he was at this point in his first term.

Of course, this is just Trump. Let's compare him to other presidents. And I really think this kind of puts a bow on it. And you can see it here. You see the 41 percent that is 12 points below Joe Biden. Thats three points below where he was in his first term. Look at where Obama was, 63 percent. He's 22 points below that.

And George W. Bush at this point in 2001, he is -- I mean, again, 21 points below. And as you pointed out in your opening, Jessica Dean, I look back at all of the polling you possibly could. Long before I was born and Trump's 41 percent at 100 days is the worst on record. He has broken his own record for being the worst. The American people do not like what they are seeing at this point from Donald John Trump.

DEAN : It's just also amazing to see the 60s not that long ago.

ENTEN: Long ways away.

DEAN: Yeah. Now Trump ran obviously on immigration and the economy. What kind of marks are people giving him on those two issues?

ENTEN: Yeah. Okay. So, let's take a look at the issues, right? Because it's not just about overall it's about the issues. Theres only one data point where Trump is above 45 percent. It comes to his handling of gender identity policy. He's at 51 percent.

Every other issue immigration where he has long been above water. Look at this. Below water 45 percent. How about the economy? My goodness gracious. He was elected to fix the economy just 39 percent. And of course, the tariff war, 34 percent on that.

I mean, the bottom line here is just very simply the numbers for Donald Trump are awful, awful, awful in this poll. And then, of course, you look again on the economy. We compare it to where we were back in 2017. You see the 49 percent there.

Look here, 39 percent, ten points below where he was. I'm going to make the green mark a little bit better there 49 percent. And again, I went back and looked at all the presidents I possibly could since 1977 and Donald Trump on the economy here. It's not just the lowest for this term, it's the lowest for any president on record 100 days in to a presidency.

[08:05:06]

Just no bueno, Jessica.

DEAN: That is really remarkable.

Okay, so how confident are people that he's going to use the office of the presidency responsibly?

ENTEN: Yeah. Okay. So, we're talking about the issues. Let's just talk a little bit here about just the overall way that Donald Trump is going about his business, right? Use presidential power responsibly. No confidence Trump will.

Well, back in December of 2024, it was 46 percent. Look at where we've jumped to now. 54 percent of Americans have no confidence that Trump will use the power of the presidency responsible.

And so, this just tells you, on every single different data point you could possibly look at, whether it be Trump's overall approval, whether it be the issues for Donald Trump or how he conducts himself in office, all of these numbers are pretty much terrible for Donald Trump at this point.

And so, you just see it here, 54 percent who say that no confidence he's going to use presidential power responsibly. It's just no good, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Harry, thank you so much for walking us through the numbers.

And joining us to break it all down this morning, "The Wall Street Journal's" Molly Ball, Joanna Coles of "The Daily Beast", and Tia Mitchell of "The Atlanta Journal Constitution".

Good morning to all of you.

Thanks for -- for being with us early this morning.

Molly, I want to start with you. First. I want to get all of your thoughts on this new polling. What's striking to you when you start looking into these numbers?

MOLLY BALL, WALL STREET JOURNAL SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think what is striking is the fact that Trump's ratings have slid across the board, right? There's been a clear trajectory in this and other polls, really, since the beginning of his second term. I think, number one, the fact that he's lost his advantage on the economy is a really big blinking red light that a lot of Republicans are concerned about because for so long, that was his -- his signature advantage. People could say, maybe I don't like, you know, his character. Maybe I don't like him overall, but I do like what he's doing with the economy.

The fact that that has turned upside down and his ratings on the economy are now worse than his overall ratings is a really big red flag, I think, for him and for the entire Republican Party. And then just the fact that people don't like how fast he's moving, I think early on, a lot of what you heard, including in some sort of focus groups, was, well, at least he's doing something, right? He's moving fast. He's breaking things we may not like every detail of, say, what doge is up to, but at least he's doing things. You know, we're tired of this sort of passive presidency where nothing gets done, and now you actually see the American people sort of saying, maybe we should put the brakes on.

DEAN: Yeah, that is interesting. And Joanna Trump also was doing well with independents. I mean, that's where you have to win, to win the presidency is to get independents on board. It is interesting to see that now he's down to 31 percent approval.

JOANNA COLES, CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, I think it's important to point out, too, that this isn't just a CNN poll. This is Republicans who are saying this about Trump and probably the most powerful voice this week has been Ken Griffin. You know, a huge Republican donor who said that the country is 20 percent worse off since Trump was inaugurated, that the brand of America, which is not just a financial brand, it's a cultural brand, its a military brand, has been really dinged.

And I think not only has he lost independents, but he you can see clearly within the Republican Party there is enormous concern. And you hear about the rouse going on backstage with Scott Bessent at treasury, with Elon Musk saying Elon Musk over promised, saying he was going to cut 2 trillion. Of course, he's overpromised and under- delivered. It feels chaos and you're seeing it reflected in the polls here.

DEAN: Tia, should we be surprised by any of this?

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: So, in a way, yes and no. I think we all say, you know, Trump ran on immigration. He ran on some of these culture war issues. He ran on really, you know, turning the federal government upside down. But I think what the polling is showing us is even on the culture wars issues and on immigration, he still tied that into an economic message. You know, he said, were going to kick out the illegal immigrants because they're taking resources away from cities. They're taking your black and brown jobs.

And so that has not turned out to be true. The economy has not turned around, even as he's cracked down on immigration. The economy has not turned around as he's focused on these culture wars. And I think that's what's being reflected in the polls.

People are saying, you promised that you were going to help lower the cost of goods, put more money in our pocket, put more jobs in the economy. And that is not what's happened, even though you promised it would on day one, I don't think, quite frankly, President Trump is as worried about his -- his approval ratings right now.

He doesn't plan on being on the ballot again, even if he plans on remaining in the White House. But what I think is concerning to a lot of Republicans is the fact that they know these polls could mean a disaster for Congress in 2026, and he doesn't seem to be that concerned about that either.

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DEAN: I do think that that is the key, right? Because in these midterms, it's going to be these House, all House members that are going to be on the ballot. It's going to be these congressional members that are going to have to face the consequences. And Trump, Harry doesn't have -- he's not going to have to.

ENTEN: He's not going to have to. But I'll tell you, there is pretty much zero chance if Donald Trump's approval rating is 41 percent in November of 2026, the Republicans have any shot of holding the House of Representatives. There is no -- I repeat, there is no precedent for a president's approval rating being as low as Donald Trump's is right now. And then his party holding on to the House in the midterm elections.

We were talking about it yesterday. I mean, when you look at approval ratings this low, this early, you look at where the generic ballot is this low, this early, that usually spells doom for the president's party when it comes to midterm elections.

DEAN: Yeah. To that point, Republican Don Bacon of Nebraska saying that maybe he's going to be considering retirement, trying to figure out if that's going to be worth it or not for him, which obviously all of these people have to do.

And, Molly, you have a piece in "The Wall Street Journal", the never surrender president retreats.

And I think there is the question of how much is he internalizing any of this? And does -- does he care?

BALL: Well, you do see him backing down on a few fronts recently, right? The way we've seen him handle the tariffs, the on again off again, the fact that he's paused them in the face of blowback from the markets and from his own party the way that this week he went back on his seeming threats to want to terminate the chairman of the Federal Reserve, which the markets did not like at all. But even the way he's approaching, you know, things like DOGE, the sort of gradual phasing out of that Elon Musk effort, as Joanna talked about and on Ukraine now threatening to walk away from these talks entirely.

Now, we did see some, some potential progress with the Zelenskyy meeting yesterday at Pope Francis's funeral. But these are a lot of different fronts on which, you see, you know, a president whose popularity is declining, starting to potentially moderate some of these vast promises that he's made, even as, of course, he is still being maximally confrontational in a lot of different ways.

But even, you know, you saw the student visa issue, right? The administration just completely abandoning that attempt to take away thousands of student visas on Friday. So, you see, in a lot of places they are backing down to some degree.

DEAN: Yeah. And immigration, obviously a key issue. One of the ones he really what -- what Donald Trump thought was the central issue of that campaign, a couple of notes of what we've just seen lately with this federal judge saying that a two-year-old U.S. citizen was deported with her mother to Honduras. That was from earlier on Friday.

And then the ACLU now saying that the New Orleans Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE field office deported at least two families, including two mothers and their minor children aged two, four and seven years old. One of the mothers is currently pregnant.

How do you think this hits with the average American?

MITCHELL: So again, I think, you know, for the average American, unfortunately, we saw at the beginning of Trump's term that a crackdown on illegal immigration, on undocumented immigrants was something that at least a plurality of Americans said they welcome. Right. But the way it's being carried out, I think, is starting to draw pause from a lot of people, especially the lack of due process, the inconsideration of the directives that have come from judges across the nation.

And now we have minor children, and I think it's being framed, I think in some circles as like, oh, well, the mother, of course, you want a kid to stay with their mother. And this is a custody battle. No, there was also a lack of communication. They weren't even allowed to speak to the fathers. A lot of these mothers and fathers weren't necessarily in disagreement. They were not allowed to be in communication. Period.

So, I think a lot of these details are going to be troubling to people as they learn more about these U.S. citizens. And at least one parent also appears to have been a U.S. citizen. And yet these children were removed from the country.

I just -- I mean, the word I would use is chaotic. It's all chaotic. And it all kind of clouds over. You know, we talk about the economy individually from immigration. But you were saying how they're interconnected.

All of these issues are interconnected, and they really just go to the man in the office. And I think that last point I was making there over at the wall will use the power responsibly. No confidence. You get 54 percent of Americans who say they have no confidence that the president of the United States will use his power responsibly.

I mean, I don't understand how you can govern with that in an effective way, at least as far as the American people are concerned.

DEAN: All right. Much more on this to come. Still to come, this morning, the FBI arrested a judge in Wisconsin and boasted about it on social media, a message the White House is sending about executive power.

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BONDI: They're deranged is all I can think of. I cannot believe I think some of these judges think they are beyond and above the law, and they are not. And we're sending a very strong message today. If you are harboring a fugitive, we don't care who you are. If you are helping hide one, if you are giving a TDA member guns, anyone who is illegally in this country, we will come after you and we will prosecute you.

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DEAN: That's Attorney General Pam Bondi and her warning to judges coming after the FBI arrested Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan Friday.

[08:20:00]

And then the FBI director posted about it on social media and a potential violation of DOJ policy. Authorities accused Dugan of obstructing ICE for allegedly directing a Mexican national who was facing domestic battery charges to leave through a private door in order to avoid immigration officers. And our panel is back with us now, and I think just kind of an overarching question here is this is a continuation of the just trying to see how far they can take this and how hard they can come down on, on all these different avenues and all these different avenues to accomplish their goals.

COLES: I think this is about the audience of one, isn't it? And we started off the show talking about how Donald Trump's approval ratings are low. I think he sees this as television ratings, and I think the characters around him are all playing for his attention. They're all grandstanding. I think people can see that that's what they're doing.

They're going, look over here, I'm doing my job. And in fact, it's actually what the public doesn't like. And it's reflected in these figures. And so far, as far as we can tell, they don't appear to be being very effective.

And so, you think of Kristi Noem in charge of homeland security, who had her own bag stolen as she was having dinner when she had a security person on either side of her? It's not very competent, is it? And I think those are the things that people look at and they think, is the country safe?

I'm down here for the White House Correspondents weekend. Entire weekend has been taken up by people talking about the replacement for Pete Hegseth, who's really not been remotely impressive at the Department of Defense. His own team has been fired. He fired them. And now all I'm hearing is that J.D. Vance and Susie Wiles are spending their entire time looking for his replacement.

And I think this is playing out. And its why the ratings or the polls are so bad for Donald Trump. People can see what's going on here.

DEAN: Right. People have eyes, right? I mean, they are going to make their own judgments. Yeah.

BALL: Well, on immigration specifically, though, I mean, the overarching sort of thesis of a lot of Donald Trump's political operation has long been that the American public had a much higher tolerance for a much tougher approach to immigration than the conventional wisdom had previously held. There had previously been a thought, even among Republicans, that if you were too tough, people would recoil. And early on in this administration, they were pushing the boundaries, trying to see how far they could go, what people could accept.

And to Tia's point, earlier, people did welcome it. People said, this is why we wanted to turn the page from the approach that the Biden administration had taken. We really do want to see a tough approach. We really do want to see people deported now that they are pressing on what their critics say are, you know, unconstitutional means or threatening the separation of powers with things like this. Judges arrest you do see this skepticism starting to set in. You do see people questioning.

And I think to Joanna's point, it's not just are they going too far, but it's also is it effective because we also see them not hitting the high deportation numbers that they promised? Not primarily necessarily deporting only the criminal illegal immigrants, but seeming to target, you know, U.S. citizens and children and judges. And so, I do think that you now see a more of a skepticism setting in about the immigration agenda, that they really wanted to be the sort of flagship centerpiece of the sort of politics of this administration.

DEAN: It keeps coming back to the thing I've heard over and over again. It's -- it's not the issue. It's how they're doing it. It's how they're going about it.

Joanna did mention it is White House correspondents' dinner weekend here in Washington, D.C. I do want to touch on that before we go to break, because this is such a particular moment for the First Amendment, for the media. Tia, again, how they're going about it you know, this this White House

has been very deliberate about who they're putting in in the White House to cover them, who they're giving access to, who they're not giving access to.

MITCHELL: Yeah. And I thought there were a couple of powerful moments. I was at the dinner last night. Of course, "The Associated Press" won a couple of awards, and there was a standing ovation for the entire Associated Press White House bureau, which we know has been targeted in particular only over an editorial judgment over renaming the Gulf of Mexico, of all things, you know.

But also, I was struck by President Eugene Daniels speech when he said, you know, the media, we are here to hold the powerful to account. We are here to bear witness to history. But we are not the enemy of the state. We are not the enemy of the White House.

And that got a big applause and a standing ovation, because I think it just got to the core of a lot of what the conflict is, particularly with the Trump administration. We know as much as President Trump craves the media as much as he, quite frankly, makes himself accessible to the media and likes being on networks like CNN, we also become a punching bag a lot of times.

[08:25:11]

And I think it was good to kind of try to level set before a big audience that we are not the enemy, we are just trying to do our jobs.

DEAN: Yeah. And, you know, you think about what's going on with "60 Minutes", like the most venerable news program that people gets incredible ratings. It's been around for decades. And just this week, their executive producer resigned amid this huge legal battle. Trump has sued "60 Minutes" for $20 billion last fall, claiming it deceptively edited that interview with Kamala Harris.

And it's kind of an -- talking to people around this weekend, I also heard the same thing, which is if it can happen to "60 Minutes", this -- this real stalwart of journalism, then then it can happen to, to really anybody to any, any outlet.

COLES: I actually disagree with Tia on -- I thought last night was a missed opportunity actually. And first of all, I thought it was terrible that they canceled the comedian. One of the great traditions about the White House --

DEAN: Right, Trump wasn't there. No comedian.

COLES: Right. But importantly, she wasn't there because the White House Correspondents Association had instructed her to be equally tough on both sides, which is not actually the tradition of the dinner. And the great thing about a democracy, and actually, one of the great things about the White House Correspondents Association and the president is -- the president has always turned up to be roasted by a comedian, and that's the sign of a democracy. It's the different -- Putin didn't do that. The first thing Putin did

was get rid of a puppet show when he came into power. So actually, I felt it was wrong that they fired Amber Ruffin because she'd said that she was going to go after the Republicans.

And I felt the whole dinner was a missed opportunity. This was a government that campaigned against censorship, and the press is now beginning to self-censor because they're afraid of him, and that's the wrong way to go.

DEAN: All right. Stay with us. Coming up, a push for peace. The extraordinary meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at the Vatican. Now, 24 hours later, did Zelenskyy change Trump's mind about Vladimir Putin?

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[08:31:50]

DEAN: A day after that striking meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy right there in Saint Peter's Basilica before Pope Francis' funeral, Trump is now floating potential new sanctions and suggesting Vladimir Putin, quote, "maybe doesn't want the war to stop" -- want to stop the war."

All of this is our new poll this morning now showing 60 percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of foreign affairs.

Our panel back with us.

Harry, 60 percent disapprove. In a second slide, we have the confidence in Trump to handle foreign affairs: 27 percent say they have a lot of confidence; some confidence at 23 percent; 50 percent, no confidence.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes. I don't think that that's a particularly good rating. Any of those numbers are just horrible and there is no historical precedent.

I think this is just the thing I keep going back to. You compare where Donald Trump is right now on foreign policy, his approval rating. You can go all the way back through the record books. We've been testing foreign policy approval rating at this point of presidency since Carter in '77. It's the lowest on record.

You know, you just look on issue after issue on issue, whether it's our poll or other polls when it comes to foreign policy and Trump is consistently below water.

They do not like what he is doing. They don't like the way he's conducting himself. And, you know, the Republican base might go rah, rah, rah as he goes after Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. But the American people on this, fed up. They don't like it.

DEAN: You know, what I think is worth noting is that in terms of what he's actually doing, he was pretty clear about what he wanted to do in terms of foreign policy, Molly. And he's -- he is doing those things. What he is not getting is he kept saying over and over and over again, I'll end the Ukraine war on day one, day one, day one, day one.

Well, we're at day almost 100, and that's proven to be harder.

MOLLY BALL, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Exactly. I mean, what -- I think what people aren't seeing -- it is the conduct, but it's also just the lack of results.

And to give Trump the benefit of the doubt here, you know, they are saying that progress was made in that meeting with Zelenskyy. You do see him taking a slightly more skeptical tone toward Putin. We don't know much about how that last meeting with Putin went with Steve Witkoff.

So if they are inching closer to the deal, if he is able to pull the rabbit out of the hat here, if he is able to bring this to a conclusion -- And I think that's the important caveat to all of this 100-day polling is that 100 days is a very short time.

And this administration did come in trying to do a lot at once. And people are starting not to withhold judgment. They're starting to sour.

But there is obviously still an opportunity to bring these things to a better conclusion. And I think you would see those ratings change if that happened.

That being said, the day one promise was always unrealistic. And of course, it has turned out to be a lot harder than that in practice.

And you look at all of these different foreign policy crises that the administration is --

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BALL: -- is working with.

DEAN: And there's a lot of them.

BALL: There are a lot of them.

DEAN: Yes.

BALL: And it turns out they're all really difficult.

DEAN: Yes. It turns out they're very difficult.

[08:34:46]

DEAN: We have seen Trump kind of shift his tone a bit with Vladimir Putin. On Thursday, he said, "I'm not happy with the Russian strikes on Kyiv." That's what he posted. "Not necessary. Very bad timing. Let's get the peace deal done. Vladimir, stop."

Then yesterday we saw him right after talking with Zelenskyy. He also posted and said that maybe -- these were his words -- that that maybe Putin doesn't want the war to stop and he's tapping him along.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION": Yes. I mean, welcome to what some people have been trying to tell Donald Trump for months when it comes to Vladimir Putin.

And remember early on when he first came back to the White House and made some statements and floated kind of the framework of a ceasefire that people thought was way too friendly towards Russia, way too accommodating of Vladimir Putin.

And I think it goes to show you that, again, this is way more complex than maybe the White House initially acknowledged, but maybe he's starting to come around that some of the things he thought about Putin, some of the grace he was willing to give to Putin -- Putin has not earned. And we'll see if that bears out as to how these negotiations continue to unfold.

DEAN: And, Joanna, obviously, you're based in New York. Steve Witkoff businessman from New York who is doesn't have a background in foreign policy, is the guy that they keep sending in to deal directly with Putin, to deal with the Israel and Hamas war and not Marco Rubio, the secretary of state. Which I kind of find striking that Trump leans on these -- an old friend versus his secretary of state.

JOANNA COLES, CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, "THE DAILY BEAST": Well, it's a little bit like him appointing Mark Burnett too as a special envoy to London, which is tormenting the poor man who's waiting to be confirmed as ambassador.

I have -- I was so fascinated by the whole sort of playing out of the Pope's funeral, I guess, right, as opposed to memorial.

Donald Trump in a blue suit when we know he has a black suit because he was wearing a black suit the last time he met the Pope. So why wasn't he wearing it this time?

Lots of suspicion because he's lost a lot of weight. Who knows how he's lost weight? We know that Robert Kennedy Jr., his health minister, doesn't approve of people taking Ozempic because he thinks it shows a lack of moral power. So who knows how Trump has lost weight.

But I found the suit color very interesting. And for someone like me who as a boss, is a huge believer in getting people together as opposed to doing things remotely, I think you see the power of bringing world leaders together to have impromptu meetings.

Whether or not Macron refused his handshake in the initial meeting during the piece, they actually shook hands, which felt like a step forward. And then this extraordinary -- as Tia was referring to -- change of mind about Putin on the way back, saying, what if Putin's been tapping me all along? That felt like a really powerful move from Donald Trump.

DEAN: And we'll see if it sticks. That's the thing with Trump. You never know if that tone shift sticks. All right. Well, take a look at this, live this morning on the steps

of the U.S. Capitol. Top Democrats hosting what they're calling a sit in, an urgent conversation just there on the steps. We're going to talk about this strategy when we come back.

[08:38:00]

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DEAN: Ok. So this is live, right now on the steps of the U.S. Capitol just down the road here. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is talking. He's there on the left. Senator Cory Booker on the right.

They have been hosting a cast of Democratic friends, holding what they're calling an urgent conversation. This is a live stream. And it started very early on this Sunday morning.

Our panel back here with us.

We've been talking a little bit about this as a strategy. Obviously Cory Booker got a lot of attention for that marathon floor speech from the Senate floor. And Democrats writ large are trying to find a way to connect with not just their voters, but anybody else they could bring in, in an authentic way. What do you make of all of this?

MITCHELL: Yes, and I think we need to put it in the context of what's going to be happening in Congress over the next couple of weeks which is --

DEAN: Right.

MITCHELL: -- Republicans, Republicans are going to be ironing out the details of the reconciliation bill, what Trump calls the big beautiful bill.

Democrats are not a part of that process. This legislation can pass without the support of any Democrats if Republicans stay unified.

So what I see from this live stream is Democrats saying, ok, the legislation on the floor is not including us. How do we create a path for us? How do we create a voice? It's through, you know, stunts like this.

DEANGELIS: Yes. Is it a stunt? Like, is this something people will be -- will be excited about?

ENTEN: I just think you got to do something different if you're Democrat. And that's what this really is. We'll throw stuff against the wall and see if it sticks.

You know, when Cory Booker went on that Senate floor, I thought it was the biggest, you know, it felt just so ridiculous. But people actually liked what he was doing. And people got people talking.

Look, the Democratic Party's brand amongst their own voters is at an all-time low. Chuck Schumer's favorable rating among Democrats in New York is 52 percent.

The percentage of Democrats nationwide who have any confidence for their party to actually in Congress, their leaders, to deal with the economic problems of the day is the lowest number on record. It's 39 percent, according to Gallup.

[08:44:52]

ENTEN: So they're trying to do something different. This is something different. Whether it will work, who's to say?

BALL: What, I do think you see though, is that there are these two sort of conflicting mandates that Democrats are trying to satisfy on -- because on the one hand, their base wants to see them fight, their base wants to see them on the barricades every day, you know, resisting authoritarianism.

And so this is pitched as sort of like a sit-in, an urgent warning. Clearly with the Booker floor speech, this was an attempt to show their base that they are doing something to meet the moment.

At the same time, the American people overall want to see that they're normal and relatable and not, in Trump's word, you know, a bunch of lunatics.

And you see them trying to do that too, right? Oh, we're just friends hanging out in sneakers. Here we are.

(CROSSTALKING)

ENTEN: Yes.

DEAN: Yes.

BALL: We're regular folks just like you. And you can see us as human and relatable, and they clearly need to do that too.

But it's very difficult to do both of those things at the same time.

DEAN: And it is this particular moment for Democrats, as you talk about Harry, where they are in terms of favorability. You also see kind of this struggle playing out or even just this whatever we want to call it, the road forward.

We have a number of Democratic senators who have announced their retirement. They're all older. Dick Durbin is 80 years old, but in their 70s, their late 60s, 80s.

And Joanna, there is now this question of what is the way forward for the Democratic Party.

COLES: Well, clearly it's to have a new generation of leaders, right. And I think what you can say that Donald Trump has been extremely successful at in his first 100 days, is cleaving all the attention to himself, right. And the battle now for the Democrats is how do they get any airspace

whatsoever? We spent the entire first part of this show talking about Donald Trump.

The Democrats have just, you know, they're trying things. They're throwing things at the wall. But what they really need is some of Harry's energy.

Harry, I don't know how you start your day, but it's very important.

DEAN: We all need it.

ENTEN: And it's no caffeine.

COLES: I'll have what you're having.

ENTEN: Thank you. I'll send you a note.

DEAN: But yes. No, I think I think that's -- it's -- they -- it's the energy. And I think the people are questioning too, is it this more progressive liberalism, the AOC and the Bernie Sanders wing of the party? Is it a more moderate wing of the party forward?

ENTEN: I think that they have to be tough. They want to go after Republicans, but they don't want to be too progressive either. That sort of meeting of the middle. I know it's tough, but they're going to have to somehow square that round peg.

DEAN: just try to find a way to bring it all together. All right. Thanks to all of you.

Up next, a big week for first lady Melania Trump. She just celebrated her birthday and made two rare public appearances. We're going to talk about her first 100 days back in the White House, and what to expect for the rest of the second term.

[08:47:29]

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DEAN: First lady Melania Trump marked her 55th birthday yesterday in an unconventional way, accompanying her husband to the Vatican for Pope Francis' funeral.

Now, this was the second of two of what have become rarer appearances that she made over the past week, the first being the White House Easter Egg Roll.

And joining us now to talk more about it is Kate Bennett. She's a former CNN White House correspondent and also the author of the book "Free Melania: The Unauthorized Biography".

Good morning, Kate.

KATE BENNETT, AUTHOR, "FREE MELANIA: THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY": Good morning. DEAN: Thanks for being here.

BENNETT: Of course.

DEAN: When you were reporting on Melania Trump, you first reported this back then that she's the first Catholic first lady since Jackie Kennedy.

BENNETT: Yes.

DEAN: So to see her there at the Pope's funeral yesterday, kind of what were you tracking?

BENNETT: I mean, I think this really meant something to her. People didn't realize she was Catholic. I didn't realize she was Catholic until her first visit to the Pope back in 2017 and she was holding rosary beads, which he then blessed.

And so I, you know, I said, is she Catholic? And her office said, yes, she was. And she is a religious person at her core. Her mother was. Her sister is. Her family has lots of people from Slovenia are Catholic.

So I think yesterday really resonated with her that that first visit years ago was important to her. And I think like having the memory, having the memorial moment, being able to there to honor the Pope was really important to her.

DEAN: Yes. And worth noting that she chose to accompany President Trump on this trip because we really haven't seen a ton of Melania Trump in this second term. How is she approaching the second term as first lady?

BENNETT: I mean, if you followed her as closely as I did the first term, it's not a surprise that she's not there. I think when we kicked off the inauguration and she wore that sort of very severe suit, sort of like, let's get down to business and that hat that didn't show her eyes. I felt like, ok, she's ready to go, but has since been sort of MIA from the White House.

Of course, her son Barron is in New York, and she's been spending time there as he starts college. But I'm not super surprised. She's very private. She's not policy driven.

And for her, this is just a part of the deal with her husband that she is going to be a first lady who's sort of behind the scenes. And that's where she's, you know, suited. And that's where she wants to be.

DEAN: Yes. And she really is, as you note, really laid that roadmap the first time, but was more present.

BENNETT: Absolutely.

DEAN: Do you think that was kind of the thinking going into this? This is the second time. This is the last, last time in theory. Like let's just I'm going to do it my way.

BENNETT: Yes. I think she got a taste of it the first time of what it really involves. I think living in the White House is a challenge. I think the day to day is a challenge.

She's not an east wing that's super staffed. She doesn't have a lot of objectives in terms of just besides helping kids with her "Be Best" protocol.

[08:54:49]

BENNETT: But yes, I think this is the level that she's comfortable with. I think the base will always love Melania Trump. I think she can do no wrong in their eyes. And therefore if she's ok not being a completely present first lady then that's what she's going to do. Melania Trump will do what Melania Trump wants here.

DEAN: I do think we've learned that lesson.

All right. Kate Bennett, thank you so much. Really good to see you.

BENNETT: Good to see you.

DEAN: And that's going to do it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can follow me on X @JessicaDean and follow the show @INSIDE POLITICS.

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

Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". And today, Dana's guests include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

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

[08:55:36]

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