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Inside Politics

Trump Deploys National Guard To L.A. Amid Immigration Protests; One-On-One With Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY). Trump's Break Up with Musk Threatens His Agenda and Coalition; Crucial Primary in New York City Mayoral Race; Trump Heads to Theater for "Les Mis" and Fundraiser. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired June 08, 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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[08:00:37]

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): California clashes.

PROTESTERS: Set them free. Let them stay.

RAJU: Trump deploys the National Guard to crack down on immigration protests.

TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: We're making Los Angeles safer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The federal government is going to step in.

RAJU: As sources say the president could cut funding for the Golden State. How will this end?

And breakup.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot.

RAJU: Trump's feud with Elon Musk threatens his coalition.

REP. TIM BURCHETTT (R-TN): The two biggest dogs in the pound. They're going to turn on each other eventually.

RAJU: Can the president's agenda survive the onslaught?

Congressman Mike Lawler joins us live.

Plus, election night. What will the first big primaries in Trump's second term tell us about how voters feel.

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 a dramatic escalation overnight, President Trump deployed the National Guard to quash ongoing protests in southern California. His decision to send 2,000 troops to Los Angeles followed two days of protests against sweeping federal immigration raids in the area. Now, hundreds of protesters clashed with local police and federal immigration agents as law enforcement used tear gas and flash bang grenades to disperse the crowds, some of whom vandalized buildings and threw objects.

Now, it's the first time a president has taken the rare step to take control of the state's National Guard since the deadly Rodney King riots in 1992.

Now, overnight, California Governor Gavin Newsom called Trump's decision, quote, purposefully inflammatory and said it would, quote, only escalate tensions. The president posted on Truth Social at 2:14 a.m., praising the National Guard and criticizing Newsom as incompetent, even calling him "newscum". But L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said shortly after the troops had yet to arrive.

CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem joins me live now.

So, Juliette, tell us about the significance of the events that are unfolding and the implications of Trump's move.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, there's what Trump says he's doing and what is actually happening. And then the second one we don't know much about, because we don't know the nature of the deployment or where they've even shown up.

But even just sort of going by what he's saying, it is significant because the National Guard traditionally and by Constitution reports directly to a governor. They are needed as a sort of additional asset that a -- that a governor can use to support local and state entities, local police, emergency management in an emergency or disaster.

I used to oversee the state National Guard in Massachusetts. They work in tandem with state and local, so that there's rules of engagement, understanding of what the mission is.

What Trump did yesterday is, is not typical and quite extreme given the circumstances on the street, even though there was unrest. That's why police departments exist. When a president federalized under Title X, the National Guard, he puts them under his authority to be deployed without knowledge of what the rules of engagement are, what the mission is, how are they going to work with locals and does have the risk of heightening tensions rather than de-escalating.

In law enforcement, you want to de-escalate the tensions, arrest those who have committed crimes. Permit First Amendment protest, which is allowed and not escalated as Donald Trump did.

RAJU: So, Juliette, we're expecting more protests today. We're also expecting --

KAYYEM: Yes.

RAJU: -- the troops to actually come on the ground in Los Angeles sometime later today.

What are you going to be watching for today as the events unfold? And what if the situation leads to what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last night? He said the violence continues there. Marines could be deployed.

KAYYEM: Yes. Here's another series of rules regarding whether the military can use law enforcement or serve as a law enforcement agency in the homeland. People will -- some people will know that this act, the Posse Comitatus Act.

So, the deployment of the National Guard under Title X still requires them to take a support mission, at least for now, as far as we know.

[08:05:05]

So it may be that they're just deployed to surround the areas. Again, I am not minimizing the violence that people are seeing, nor that it is unlawful to disrupt immigration -- federal immigration proceedings that, you know, regardless of how you feel about ICE. But that, again, is why we have police departments, state police to stop it which is essentially what L.A. and California said.

Pete Heg -- Secretary Hegseth sort of steps in with a tweet late last night saying that he has the active military, the marines on standby. We don't know what he meant by that. We know that Secretary Hegseth hasn't been in charge of a military before. We don't know if that was just him sort of waxing, you know, sort of saying what he wants, but that would have to come under the Insurrection Act. And nothing we've seen so far would qualify for the deployment of active military in the United States under the Insurrection Act.

RAJU: All right. We'll see how the develop -- the events unfold today.

Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much for your expertise. Really appreciate it.

And I'm joined now by an excellent panel this morning. Astead Herndon from "The New York Times"; "The Wall Street Journal's" Olivia Beavers; and Jeff Mason from "Reuters". Good morning. Another eventful Saturday, to say the least. The White House very much seems to want this fight with California.

I mean, J.D. Vance was tweeting about this last night, talking about how insurrectionists, he says carrying foreign flags are attacking immigration officers. He called on them to pass Trump's bill. Stephen Miller says stand with ICE, passed the big bill. But regardless of the legislative issue, which we'll discuss later, this is a fight the White House very much wants. JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: Sure. Stephen Miller,

I think, also referred to the protesters as insurrectionists, which is sort of in line with the messaging that others within the administration are using. Keep in mind, in terms of the politics here. California is a state that is governed largely by Democrats. The governor, of course, is a Democrat. The mayor of Los Angeles is a Democrat.

President Trump has been critical of Newsom before, though they have been able to work together before as well during his first term. But certainly setting this up as an ideological and a broader clash between what President Trump wants to do on immigration, on getting people out of the country who are not supposed to be here, versus this bubbling protest up against that and trying to stop ICE agents from doing these actions in Los Angeles, that is not just a local issue that is sort of kind of encapsulates the clashes more broadly within the country. And I think you're spot on that the White House wants to see it.

RAJU: And it's rare. I mean, the reason why this is so significant is that this rarely happens. The president coming in and federalizing the National Guard. 1992, the last time that happened, the Rodney King Verdict. But before that, not until 19 -- it hadn't been used since 1970.

And this is the first time since 1965 that the president has activated the state's National Guard without the request from the state's governor.

ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, it shows a feature of this administration, which is to use the levers of federal power against its enemies and as a as a means of kind of exerting its own ideological prism. But, I mean, we should roll this back maybe a little bit. You know, Stephen miller wanted to up deportations in the United States. They were not satisfied with just the decreased crossings in the southern border. And that's led to these sort of immigration raids in places like Los Angeles.

You know, Donald Trump supports specifically the public opinion swings we've seen in immigration have largely come from communities that have gone from few immigrants to some. But in places like Los Angeles, where folks are -- those communities are built in. We expected to see this type of pushback. And the White House knew that that was a possibility.

And so, I see these actions as kind of intentionally inflammatory from the White House because they want this escalation, they want this fight with Gavin Newsom, and they want to be able to use the levers of federal power in that fight. And so they're picking this bone intentionally, as you mentioned, but they're also doing so, I think, to show the executive authority expansion that's been a feature throughout the last several months.

RAJU: Yeah, it has very much a feature, whether it's this or the Alien Enemies Act --

HERNDON: Right.

RAJU: -- deporting migrants, some with and some without due process, sending them out to prisons overseas. This is a feature of this administration.

OLIVIA BEAVERS, CONGRESS REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: This is a feature, and I think even like Jeb was just talking about with California, we're seeing Trump taking shots at California in different ways, right?

There's the high-speed rail, where they said they're going to be clawing back money that the federal -- that the government had granted as a federal grant. But here, Newsom is warning them that if you send the National Guard in, you'll be making it worse and you'll be eroding trust. You'll possibly. Be escalating it on the ground when they're trying to contain it. And so you're seeing very kind of like friction just in how Trump is trying to look like he is having this strong man moment.

RAJU: Yeah, as Olivia is saying, that Trump's fights with California have really been intensifying really, over the last week or so, threatening to withhold federal funding in the state, including University of California schools, as from reporting from our colleagues here at CNN.

[08:10:12]

There's also cutting funding for flood prevention program projects. There was this battle over this high school transgender athlete. Trump had warned that California funding could be gone. Newsom fired back on that as well.

So, this has been escalating between California and Washington.

MASON: California is a microcosm of all the things that President Trump thinks is wrong with the country. I mean, and the tool that he has used to fight back against that, he's used in other areas as well, universities, Harvard, for example. Let's take their funding away if they don't do what we asked them to do.

So, now, he's considering doing the same thing for California -- his crackdown on the press, his crackdown on law firms. They're all, as you were saying, the use of executive authority to remake the country, remake U.S. society. And his image. And California is a left leaning state. President Trump has not.

RAJU: And there is also the governor of California, who is a potential 2028 candidate. And how he handles this will be instructive as well. He tweeted last night about Pete Hegseth's comments about that the Marines could be deployed if violence escalates there, he said. Secretary of defense is now threatening to deploy active duty marines on American soil against its own citizens. He called that this is deranged behavior.

What are you watching for, as Newsom handles this escalating situation? HERNDON: I think it's going to be interesting to see the night and

day, I imagine, from how Democrats handle these in 2020. Part of what Republicans and Trump are trying to do is flatten those two events and try to stoke that argument that Democrats let kind of riots run amok, and even the use of the term insurrectionists, I think, is on purpose because of the moment of January 6th and the brand that caused for Republicans.

And so, it's going to be Newsom's job to kind of push back on that. I see this as a kind of larger fight, taking up a larger fight among the public as well.

Are we going to see and touch points of grassroots pushback against these type of immigration rights? Is this just Los Angeles, or are we going to see this start to spread in other corners of the country? Because we know that Stephen Miller and Donald Trump are going to ramp up these deportation rates. That is a goal of theirs going forward.

RAJU: Democrats need to be a little careful. They know immigration has been obviously not an issue, a winning issue for them in recent elections.

BEAVERS: No. And I think that that's something that they're still struggling to figure out is where to draw the line. What to make their message on immigration. But it's funny because I actually saw Gavin Newsom last year on Capitol Hill when the wildfires were raging, and I asked him about his relationship with President Trump. And he spoke quite highly of him.

But now, if he is gearing up for a presidential run, it will be, I'm the one who stood up to President Trump. I'm the one -- it's going to be about how they clashed versus how -- probably how they work together.

RAJU: Yeah, no question about -- especially in the Democratic primary.

All right. Much more to discuss on that. And up next, President Trump takes on blue state California. So, what is next?

Plus, I go one on one with the congresswoman at the center of Republican infighting that is threatening President Trump's agenda.

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[08:17:31]

RAJU: As tensions escalate between President Trump and California, back here in Washington, his massive domestic policy bill is hanging by a thread. And it's not just because Elon Musk wants to derail it. GOP senators are ready to cross a red line drawn by a bloc of New York Republicans who cut a hard-fought deal to win their votes in the House, all over the amount people can deduct from their state and local tax payments that's known as SALT.

But now GOP senators say that deal is too expensive and must be pared back.

So, what happens to Trump's entire agenda if that happens?

Joining me now is one of the central players who helped cut that deal in the House, New York Congressman Mike Lawler.

Mr. Lawler, thank you so much for joining me this morning.

So, if -- can --

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): Thanks for having me.

RAJU: Absolutely.

So, can this massive bill become law if Republican senators pare back this deal your group cut with the speaker?

LAWLER: Look, we entered into a good faith negotiation with the speaker, with leadership, going back really over two years. When I first came to Congress, I made very clear that I would never support a tax bill that did not adequately address the issue of SALT.

And this is an issue that not just impacts blue states. It impacts nearly every state in the country. Twenty-nine states blew through the current $10,000 cap over the last seven years.

And so, lifting the cap on SALT is critically important to provide middle class tax relief. And that's exactly what we did here by negotiating a $40,000 cap with a $500,000 income cap and 1 percent growth over the 10-year period.

And so, I've been very clear with leadership all this past week that if the Senate changes the SALT deduction in any way, I will be a no. And I'm not going to buckle on that.

RAJU: So --

LAWLER: And I know in speaking to my other colleagues, they will be a no as well.

RAJU: So if they're no and this is -- so, this has changed, and you're no, that means that this bill collapses, does it not?

LAWLER: That's up to the Senate and the leadership. The fact is that SALT is a pay-for for other provisions in the bill.

So, when I hear some of my Senate colleagues or even some of my House colleagues say that, you know, this is a giveaway to blue states, you know -- it's not.

[08:20:04]

The fact is, the cap on SALT has been used to, for instance, pay for the doubling of the standard deduction to pay for no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, because unlimited SALT would be $1.3 trillion. So, we came to an agreement at about $350 billion in total cost of

what it is for the $40,000 SALT cap. But that is something that is vital to the middle class and working class. We're talking about a cop and a teacher in New York who are getting hammered by property taxes and state income taxes.

New York is the only state in the country that still requires the counties to pay a quarter of the cost of the Medicaid program. So that's why -- part of the reason why our property taxes are so high in New York.

RAJU: But, Mr. Lawler, just to put a finer point on it, if this has changed in any way, paring it back, you are a no? Is that correct?

LAWLER: Absolutely.

RAJU: Okay. All right. I want to talk about Donald Trump's -- and that's news, I must say.

I want to talk about Donald Trump's feud with Elon Musk. Musk was one of Trump's biggest supporters, and now he's trying to kill this bill. He said, shame on you -- to supporters like you who backed the bill in the House.

Are you concerned at all about Elon Musk now becoming an enemy of the president and his agenda?

LAWLER: No. Look, in politics and in life, there's going to be disagreements. You know, I've said many times, anybody who's ever been married knows you got to find compromises along the way. Well, here --

(CROSSTALK)

RAJU: But he's got 220 million followers and -- on X and unlimited money.

LAWLER: Sure. But at the end of the day, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. And I was duly elected as a member of the House.

The fact is I am focused on addressing the issues that matter to my constituents. Number one was the affordability crisis and reducing the tax burden. Number two is reining in the size and scope of the federal government. This bill will (AUDIO GAP) $1.5 trillion in savings. That's about $150 billion in savings per year on an annual basis.

You're talking about 1.7 percent of the overall spend of the next year -- of the next 10 years, which is about $86 trillion.

So, we are working through finding savings. In addition, obviously, border security and strengthening our defense, that is the core of what this bill has been about.

Now, what Elon Musk is talking about is discretionary spending, and discretionary spending in large measure cannot be dealt with in a reconciliation bill. That is what the appropriations process and the rescissions process is about. And those will be coming up in the coming months.

And that's what we're going to be dealing with, with respect to DOGE, and a lot of the savings that they found.

RAJU: And he certainly wants even deeper cuts to mandatory spending.

But I want to ask you about what he's also saying about he's taking credit for Republicans keeping control of the House. His super PAC actually spent nearly $2 million on your race last year.

So, are you worried about what this Musk Trump fallout could mean for Republicans like you, who benefited from Elon Musk?

LAWLER: No, not at all. My race in total cost $42 million last cycle. So even if, you know, that $2 million in super PAC spending went away, you're talking about $40 million that was spent on my race.

I raised over $9 million in support of myself. You know, I'm expecting that in this election cycle, given the fact that there's really only a handful of races that are actually competitive, my race will cost somewhere upwards of $50 million.

I mean, Manu, think about this -- in 2024, only 35 races were decided by less than five points. Okay, mine was not one of them. I won by six and a half points in a district Kamala Harris won.

So, look, there's going to be a lot of money spent on these races one way or the other, because there's really only a handful of races. I'm not concerned about the money. I'm concerned about the results for my constituents. That's why I'm fighting --

RAJU: Yeah.

LAWLER: -- so hard on issues like SALT, the border, reining in the size and scope of the federal government so that we reduce inflation and cost of living.

RAJU: Congressman Lawler, I want to ask --

LAWLER: That's what my focus is on. I'm not worried about the money.

RAJU: I want to ask you about you have been considering a run for governor. You said by June, you'd be making a decision.

It's June. Are you moving closer? Are you -- are you leaning towards running for governor?

LAWLER: I am still in the process of working through that.

[08:25:01]

We are evaluating the pathway.

To me, this is very simple. Theres no pyrrhic victories in politics. It's 50 plus 1. And you either get to 50 plus 1 in a general election or you don't. And the fact is, you know, this is not a function for me of concern

about a primary. It's a function of understanding what the pathway is in a general. I've won two times in a 2 to 1 Democratic districts.

RAJU: Can Elise -- can Elise Stefanik -- can Elise Stefanik -- can Elise Stefanik win a general election in New York?

LAWLER: So let me -- let me just make the point. I have won three times in 2 to 1 Democratic districts because I've been able to appeal to Democrats and independents. That is what you have to be able to do to win in a state like New York, where we are outnumbered about two and a half to one.

And, you know, certainly, President Trump made significant inroads, moving the needle in New York, but he still lost by a million votes. Lee Zeldin came close, but he still lost by 350,000 votes.

Whoever the nominee is, is going to have to be able to bridge that divide and bring Democrats and independents into the fold on the issues that matter from the affordability crisis to the crime and migrant crisis.

Kathy Hochul is the most disastrous governor in the country.

RAJU: Mr. Lawler --

LAWLER: And there is an opportunity here in New York, and that's what we're focused on.

RAJU" One last question to you, very quickly because we're out of time here. But there's this news from overnight about the president deploying the National Guard, federalizing -- really the first time it's been federalized since 1992.

Are you comfortable with him doing that in California?

LAWLER: Well, let's be clear: anybody who interferes with the ability of law enforcement to do their job should be arrested and prosecuted. It is a violation of federal and state law. And the fact is that you have these protesters who are interfering with the ability of ICE to do their job and remove dangerous criminals from our country.

So, if people are interfering with a law enforcement action, then they should be held accountable. And if the National Guard needs to be called up for the purpose of assisting law enforcement, I have no problem with that at all.

Again, these individuals who are choosing to violate the law and choosing to interfere with law enforcement activities should be held accountable.

RAJU: All right. Well, Mike -- Mr. Lawler, thank you for giving your perspective. Really appreciate that. The governor of California has a different perspective on the use of the National Guard, but that's for another time.

Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us.

And up next, big, beautiful breakup. The impact of Donald Trump and Elon Musk's epic feud and what it all means for Trump's agenda.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:27]

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: The question still dominating the political world this morning, the stunning fallout between the world's richest man and the most powerful man, and what it means for President Trump and the Republican Party.

Elon Musk had been a potent weapon by Trumps side, spending a staggering $200 million in the last election as he used his megaphone to amplify his message to his 221 million followers on X.

Now Trump says that that's over. The president, though, was back in friendly territory last night, attending a UFC fight in New Jersey. But unlike the previous UFC fights he attended, Elon Musk this time was not by his side.

My excellent panel is back.

So what is the impact for Trump of having Elon Musk now a foe not just for his agenda, but also for the midterms?

ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't know if we can suss out the impact yet. Like right now, were still in the messy stage, right?

RAJU: We're still in the breakup phase.

HERNDON: Right. Right. In the iconic words of Azealia Banks, "the girls are fighting". I mean, I think that when we think about like, the ways that Trump and Musk have broken up here, I feel like Musk feels like someone who thought that Washington would bend to his will when he came here. You know, invested the money, kind of sheer force of personality.

And he's frankly lashing out now that that hasn't ended up being true. He served his purpose for the Trump administration. DOGE, his legacy in terms of data collection, the legal fights about executive authority, the ways they reshape government.

But he hasn't been able, I think, to really what he feels like, particularly with the EV subsidies and others get the bill he wants. And now we're seeing him basically try to turn up the megaphone on X and others to scare Trump out of it.

But what is the Musk constituency? It sounds like one man kind of devolving from this coalition, rather than him being representative of like a larger group of people.

RAJU: And Musk is talking about a third party. And this is what Trump said yesterday about funding Democratic candidates when he was asked by NBC. He said if he does that, he'll have to pay consequences for that. Very serious consequences, Trump said.

OLIVIA BEAVERS, CONGRESS REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Certainly. And I think that one element here that is not being discussed is if Democrats win the House, they will also go after Elon Musk. They will also want to know about his business dealings and what he was doing with DOGE.

So I think that there's also an incentive for him to not mess too much with these primary races while he's having all these other warnings.

And some Republicans I talked to said if he wants to put up an independent candidate, that makes it easier for me to get reelected, that's great. Let's go.

[08:34:48]

BEAVERS: So Musk, if he does actually have to get involved, needs to be pretty savvy with where he places these challenges.

RAJU: And the challenge is going to be Musk has so much business interests before the federal government. And Trump threatened eliminating contracts for Musk in the aftermath of all this,

Musk over the weekend appeared to delete some of his more incendiary tweets attacking Trump. Those are some of the ones on your screen that he deleted, including his allegation -- unsubstantiated -- that Trump is in the Jeffrey Epstein files. That has now been deleted.

Perhaps this is one reason why "The Washington Post" Chris Davenport reported NASA Pentagon pushed for SpaceX alternatives amid Trump's feud with Musk. So this is a potential problem for Musk.

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: Oh, it is. I mean, it's a potential problem for both. Let us not underplay how important Elon Musk was to the first four months of President Trump's term, leading the DOGE service, going with him to various things personally on Air Force One, hanging out in the Oval Office with his son, X.

He was a major, major force. But it is -- it is also not like other breakups in that -- we're talking about the world's richest man and the world's most powerful man. And to jettison Elon Musk is to potentially put at risk some of these other elections coming in the midterms.

I spoke to a Republican leader last week who said Elon Musk was a huge part of the ground game in 2024.

RAJU: He really was. He funded so much. And there was so much that's coming out about Musk's relationship with the cabinet, including an apparent fight between the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Elon Musk, where apparently, according to "The Washington Post" story, multiple people stepped in to break up the scrum. The two men reached the national security advisor's office, and Musk was shuffled out of the West Wing. This came after Musk rammed his shoulder into Bessent's rib cage like

a rugby player, and Bessent hit him back.

HERNDON: Yes, I mean, it's clear from the behavior we saw publicly from Elon Musk that he was not -- he was behaving as someone who was used to doing whatever they want. And that really didn't work in this setting. It didn't work in Washington. It worked in this White House.

And I honestly think that, you know, Donald Trump might be the only politician who might -- who is somewhat insulated from the potential impacts of what someone like Elon Musk can do to them politically.

Donald Trump is someone who gets their message out there no matter what, right? Donald Trump is someone who has universal name recognition and is someone who has already kind of a played in the controversy lane enough. He doesn't need Elon Musk really to play that role for him.

So I just think that, like what Musk is so used to being able to do is dangle over that money and be able -- and folks act because of that incentive. And Trump is the one person that may not work with.

RAJU: And I want to jump in because Republicans have decided who they're going to side with and it's Trump over Musk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TROY NEHLS (R-TX): Come on down in the Texas 22nd district and run against me and see what happens.

STEVE BANNON, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO DONALD TRUMP: Elon Musk Is illegal. He's got to go too. Ok? You're going to ship these other people home, let's start with -- let's start with the South African. Ok. And I got a couple others to go, too but he's illegal. Deport immediately.

RAJU: Musk versus Trump, who wins this fight.

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I'd to go with Trump politically.

RAJU: In the battle of Trump versus Musk, which side do you choose?

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): I choose math. I trust The math from the guy that lands rockets backwards over the politician's math.

If they start tinkering with it in the Senate, it's probably fails in the House. Because people over here are now looking for more reasons to be against it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: That last point coming from the one critic of this bill, Thomas Massie, who voted against it. But for the most part, we are seeing Republicans choose Trump.

BEAVERS: Oh, how quickly they moved away from praising Elon Musk right after President Trump decided that he could publicly attack Musk.

And so now we're kind of wondering where does Musk stand? The left? The liberals don't like him after DOGE. And does he lose MAGA after this? Where is his, you know, his big, strong base of support?

RAJU: Yes. It's going to be so interesting to watch. And as you say, the breakup is still ongoing. The fallout will be assessed in the months ahead.

All right. Next, we're just two days away from a key vote in a blue state that shifted red. What that election could tell us about Democrats' fight against Trump.

Plus, the gloves are off in the race for New York mayor. Will former Governor Andrew Cuomo be able to escape the scandals of his past?

[08:39:12]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: June marks a big month of elections that could give us a sense of how voters are feeling about President Trump and Democrats ahead of next year's midterms. The primaries for the New York mayoral race are on June 24th, and despite leaving the governor's office in the wake of scandal, Andrew Cuomo is leading the polls on the Democratic side.

And then in just two days, there are primaries in the New Jersey gubernatorial race in what will be one of the biggest bellwethers in this off-year election cycle.

My panel is back.

Look, New Jersey is an interesting state. It has actually shifted to the right. Trump only lost by six points. That's compared to Biden, who won it by 16 points back in 2020. Hillary Clinton by 14 points.

Trump is very much making himself an issue both on the Republican side and the Democratic side. He's endorsing Jack Ciattarelli there, who is a candidate in that Republican primary.

How involved do you think Trump will get in this race in the general election in a blue state but he'll be the issue.

[08:44:48]

MASON: If you look back at his 2024 campaign, and this was different dynamics, of course, because he was on the ballot. But he was very eager to show that he was someone who could get votes in Democratic states. That was in part because he wanted to boost the popular vote.

But I think he will be just as invested in this one as a way of showing look I have control or I have an influence. I have an impact in all of these places. And, you know, whether he wanted to have an impact or not, his policies are going to be driving the conversations in New Jersey and New York and in other states. RAJU: And it's on the Democratic side -- he's, of course, the star

player. On the Democratic side, here are the candidates that are running in Tuesday's primary. It's a very crowded field -- a couple of members of Congress, there are a couple of other local leaders as well.

But they're all trying to make the case that they're the ones who can fight Trump. That's their position.

BEAVERS: They are. And who will Trump fear the most if they are elected to that position is sort of how they're framing it in these different races.

I do think it's interesting. Mikie Sherrill, some of the candidates are trying to be careful not to be making their campaigns too centered on being anti-Trump, but coming up with policies that they would use to counter different Trump policies in addition to state, local -- local issues.

But Trump is going to be a thread that runs throughout this. And it's hard to imagine that he wouldn't be in in any other races coming up.

RAJU: Also one in the New York Democratic mayoral primary -- another very crowded primary -- Andrew Cuomo, the former governor who resigned in 2021 amid a sexual misconduct scandal. He denied allegations that he sexually harassed 11 women.

But he is very much the frontrunner in this very crowded field, as we saw in a pretty -- pretty heated debate last week.

HERNDON: He is the frontrunner. I mean, I guess from my lens, you know, New York City resident, I don't know if it's much about Trump as much as it is about Democrats, as much as it is different maybe from the left, right, center than I think establishment, anti- establishment, disrupter, kind of protector of institutions and how much that falls on generational and class lines.

Zohran Mamdani has been the surprise in this race and someone who has shot kind of from unknown to a clear second place. And that's happened because there is a constituency, particularly among under 40, for that kind of reimagining of government. And he's rising.

RAJU: He's got AOC's endorsement.

HERNDON: He's got AOC's endorsement, and he's doing so -- and I think it shows how much even Israel's actions in Palestine have become a litmus test for the left and liberals, and how he's rising because of some of those stances, not in spite of.

I think the Cuomo voter is still the most interesting, though, because this is the person who's most against Trump on the national stage, but supporting someone who is having some Trump-like qualities in this race has a kind of not laid out an agenda, has really kind of small- timed his opponents.

And I think that Cuomo is banking on the distaste of the left being what unites his coalition. But ranked choice voting really is what's going to this is going to come down to. Remember New York City changed that a couple of years ago.

So which one of those candidates is most unacceptable to a lot of voters might be even more important than how much they like either one of them.

I mean, what does it say about the Democratic party willing to look past these pretty significant allegations about Cuomo's past, assuming he is able to win the nomination?

MASON: It's fascinating. I mean, it's -- but it's -- in a way, the parallels between Cuomo and Trump are multiple in terms of the rises and the falls. Cuomo fell and now is back.

President Trump, you know, after January 6th, after his first term, I remember speaking to Republicans and I wrote a story about it that has not held up, who said, you know, his career is over. And now look who's president again.

I mean, so they both have risen and fallen. What does it say about the Democrats? I think it says that people go back to people that they know.

BEAVERS: I like -- I like Cuomo saying, forget the controversy. Vote for me because of competency. So that's sort of his pitch right now.

HERNDON: It's trust based. It's, you know me and the kind of disruptors I think while they're imagining something maybe inspiring some young folks, the type of people who vote in those races are usually people who vote most consistently. That's who Cuomo is seizing on.

RAJU: Yes. That's so fascinating.

All right. That's going to come up in a couple of weeks. But in just two nights, we're going to see what happens in New Jersey, a big race there.

All right. Coming up, as ticket sales reportedly plummet, Trump has a new plan to fix the Kennedy Center, and he's at the center of it. But will it backfire? That's next.

[08:49:07]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: President, commander-in-chief, and master of the house? Donald Trump has tried to institute a MAGA makeover on the arts since his return to office. And this Wednesday, he's planning to host a high dollar fundraiser for the Kennedy Center here in Washington.

It's all tied to the play "Les Miserables". Now, Trump, Vice President Vance and their wives plan to attend the famous show. Sources tell CNN that for a $2 million donation to the Kennedy Center, guests can sit close to the president during the performance and attend a reception with the Trumps ahead of time.

But at least 10 to 12 cast members are planning to boycott Trump's visit after they were given the option to sit out the show.

Now, Trump effectively took control of the Kennedy Center soon after taking office. He's repeatedly criticized its current state, including its programing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The programming was out of control with rampant political propaganda, DEI and inappropriate shows. They had a Marxist anti-police performance and they had a lesbian only Shakespeare, which is different. Who thinks of these ideas, really?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:54:51]

RAJU: Now, Trump has long been a fan of musicals, blasting songs from "Phantom of the Opera" and "Cats" at his campaign rallies. He even played music from Les Mis at this Miami rally in 2016.

But his moves since taking over and installing an ally as its president have led some artists to pull out from planned performances, and the center's sales have reportedly plummeted, with purchases of single tickets and subscriptions down drastically in recent months. That's according to reports this week from "The New York Times" and "Washington Post".

Now, the Kennedy Center disputed those characterizations, saying in an all-caps statement that this year, quote, "We strategically launched later", and promised a quote, "strong appeal across all audiences".

That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can follow me on X @mkraju. You can follow the show @INSIDE POLITICS and follow me on Instagram @manu_raju.

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". Dana's guests include Senators Bernie Sanders, Ron Johnson, and Markwayne Mullin.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. See you next time.

[08:55:57]

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