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Inside Politics

David Hogg Out As DNC Vice Chair; Axios: More Than Half Of Democratic Reps Who Are 75 Or Older Are Running For Re-election In 2026; Trump's Top General Undercuts His "Invasion" Claims; Trump Says Israeli Strike In Iran "Could Very Well Happen"; Trump Voters Respond To Massive Agenda Bill. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 12, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: -- for the Democrats.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, I don't think this is how Ken Martin wanted his chairmanship to kick off as the new chair of the Democratic Party while their problems are already so vast in terms of actually formulating a viable opposition to Donald Trump.

Although, as John noted, you know, poised to have a pretty good midterm cycle if Trump's numbers stay where they are. But this kind of messiness, I think it exposes a couple things. One, they're not all buttoned down, right? And clearly, there is this generational piece that is not resolved for them yet.

I mean, we saw them lose some ground with young voters in the election, especially young male voters. Hogg is trying to inject some youthful energy and communication into it, but he did it in a way that is so against the grain of how party leaders believe party money and energy should be spent, which is not taking out Democrats in safe districts, but instead investing in the battleground districts that'll make a difference here.

And so I think all of that just was a toxic brew, his approach, even though what he represents is very much on the to-do list for the party.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a fight the party has to have. It's hard to get elected into a senior position in a party and then say, my party sucks, forgive my language. But, you know, it's sort of like, if you take the job, aren't you supposed to be a responsible employee, right?

So I get the party saying, you can't do this. You can't be at the table and say we're terrible. But the fight is a party -- is a fight the party has to have, ideologically, generationally, regionally, on these issues. Normally, we do that through primaries. And you do that through, you know, in the midterm elections, whether you're talking about the state of Michigan.

We just had a primary for governor in the state of New Jersey. But sometimes you do it through fights. I remember back in the day when I had fewer white hairs. You know, Bill Clinton and his fellow Moderates founded the Democratic Leadership Council to essentially take on the Democratic National Committee.

David Hogg tried to do it from within. So it's messy. David's right about that. They're nowhere right now. But this is a fight they have to have somehow, some way.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I get what the Democrats are saying, and I get your point. But I mean, if not someone pushing back at the table, who are they going to listen to? I mean, I guess at the end of the day, it feels like they've been having the same conversation now for the better part of eight or 12 years.

And sure, do I think that he went about it the right way? No, obviously. This entire thing was incredibly messy and blew up. And it's kind of embarrassing for the Democratic Party as they're trying to navigate all of this stuff.

But the idea that someone actually came to the table and then was trying to enforce power that way, I mean --

BASH: Yes.

HOLMES: -- who are they going to listen to?

BASH: So there are lots of different -- you name just some of the really big challenges that they have to try to figure out internally. And one of them is generational. So when David Hogg said that he wanted to primary ineffective Democrats, that's code for old Democrats.

And it is a problem that Democrats have not necessarily resolved, because now they have a very big perception issue. We just have some examples of Democrats who are running for re-election who are at least 75 years old. It's a pretty -- I think we have it, put it up -- it's a pretty long list. It starts with, goes from Maxine Waters at 86 all the way to Joyce Beatty at 75.

Now, I just want to say for the record, just because somebody is old in number does not mean that they are ineffective. There are a lot of people on that list -- present company excluded. There are a lot of people on that list who prove themselves every day as quite effective at their jobs. But just -- this is the argument that David Hogg was trying to make without using those words.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And it's something you hear from voters too, when it comes to the Democratic base. That members of Congress, the White House, particularly this last administration, did not have leaders that represented the demographics or sort of the rising demographics and age of their base. But I don't think it's just age, as you noted.

When I hear that comment from Hogg, it's also -- it's not just age, it's also a party that may be institutionalists, may be respecting a camaraderie in the Senate and Congress that no longer exists. The thing I often hear from voters is, who is a leader of the party that's currently fighting for the party? And that could be Bernie Sanders, who's an older member of the party too.

BASH: And not a Democrat.

KANNO-YOUNGS: And -- right, and not a Democrat, right? But they're rallying behind him and OAC -- AOC, who's completely different than him when it comes to demographics. It's about also just this hesitancy in picking your punches going up against Donald Trump.

The problem here is you have this inter-fighting right now in the party when voters are looking for somebody to fight against the current incumbent. And at this point, they have not decided who that's going to be or what message to land on.

BASH: Just quickly before we go to break because you took us back in the way back machine to Bill Clinton. You know, I've not talked to a single Democrat who has not said, yes, this is happening, it needs to happen, but we're waiting for our next Bill Clinton.

[12:35:05]

KING: But we thought we were in a different age. So you had Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, three presidents. One of them were Republican, two Democrats who were elected in their 40s. Left office before they were 60, I think, after serving two terms.

So we lived in a different age. Then we had Biden, then we had Trump. But you wouldn't focus on the age if you found the people to be -- if you found them to be credible, if you found them to be relevant to your life, if you liked what they were doing and you trusted them.

When you're mad, you look for, why am I mad? And then you look at those numbers and you take them out, you know. And so, this is about who are we as a part, what are we about as a party, how do we fight and where do we fight. Are we -- are you fighting in a way that's relevant to our lives as younger people? Or are you going on television all the time?

Well, those younger people --

BASH: Yes.

KING: -- are not on -- they're not doing it. Sorry, they're not watching us right now, most of them.

BASH: Yes.

KING: And so the age becomes a proxy for we are unhappy. We want something different.

BASH: It's such a good point because --

KING: Yes.

BASH: -- the sitting president is going to be 79 years old --

KING: Yes. BASH: -- on Saturday and you don't hear anybody in the Republican Party complaining about his age.

CHALIAN: No. No.

BASH: They have lots of fights, but that's not one of them.

CHALIAN: You start hearing -- Gavin Newsom started --

BASH: Yes.

CHALIAN: -- complaining things this week (INAUDIBLE).

BASH: Yes. OK.

All right, stand by. Coming up, President Trump's top general is undermining his main defense for mass deportations. We have details after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:51]

BASH: President Trump's top general just undercut one of the most frequent claims you hear from him, and that is that the country is under invasion. And he's not the only Trump insider who appears not to be totally in line and in step with what the president has been saying when it comes to big issues in front of him.

I want to start by playing an exchange with Brian Schatz, the Democratic senator on Capitol Hill yesterday, and General Dan Caine, who's the chair of the Joint Chiefs, the president put in place.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

SEN BRIAN SCHATZ (D), HAWAII: Is the United States being invaded by a foreign nation?

LT. GEN. JOHN CAINE (RET.), CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Sir, thanks for your question. I think at this point in time, I don't see any foreign state-sponsored folks invading, but I'll, you know, be mindful of the fact that there has been some border issues throughout time.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: If we use -- if we sound effects on the show, it would be a screeching sound.

KANNO-YOUNGS: 100 percent. I mean, this -- if you're out there in the audience, you might be wondering, OK, so why is this significant? Well, actually, you just had a top general undermine the administration's justification for the primary way that they've been trying to remove migrants, to deport migrants, including to a terrorism prison in El Salvador. This is the main justification behind the Alien Enemies Act, saying that a foreign state is invading the United States. Here, you have a top military official saying, well, actually, that's not the case. We're not under invasion. Completely undermines a major argument by the administration, and it also is backed by reporting that we did -- that found that intelligence assessments also found that the United States isn't being invaded by a foreign state, which probably many Americans that are living their average lives would say, well, of course we're not being invaded by a foreign state.

BASH: And so -- so that was kind of where we set the table of the problem, that legal problem that the White House seems to be facing, particularly as Gavin Newsom is taking the Trump administration to court, kind of as we speak, in California on this very legal issue. And Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, just said what, David, about the court?

CHALIAN: Well, I think he was asked if he was going to follow a court order, if it were to say that what the administration is doing with deploying Marines is not illegal, and he refused to answer whether or not he would follow a court ruling, whether it be a district court or the Supreme Court.

Now, as you know, his boss often says he's going to follow the Supreme Court, basically, so I'm sure Pete Hegseth will follow anything Donald Trump says. But obviously this now raises yet again --

BASH: Yes.

CHALIAN: -- the question of one branch of government perhaps being willing, or at least not willing to commit, to follow the other branch of government.

BASH: I want to take a turn. We saw that the president was speaking at the White House. He did mention something that is really important and quite scary, and that is the potential for some military action with Iran. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great. Mr. President, how imminent is a greatly strike on Iran?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I don't want to say imminent, but it looks like it's something that could very well happen. Look, it's very simple. Not complicated. Iran cannot have a nuclear war. Other than that, I want them to be successful. I want them to be determined.

We'll help them be successful. We'll trade with them. We'll do whatever is necessary. You know, I stopped a war between India and Pakistan, and I stopped it with trade. Nobody -- I don't think I've ever seen a story written about it, but it was pretty cool.

They were getting ready. Pakistan was now --

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: So, Kristen, the answer to that question about the potential for an Israeli strike on Iran.

HOLMES: Yes, I mean, they've been looking into this, preparing for this since yesterday. We know that they removed -- the State Department, Defense Department removed all nonessential personnel from areas in the Middle East.

[12:45:06]

There is clearly heightened intel that's coming in here. So they are preparing for this. Donald Trump has continued to say, wait and see. Now I do want to point to one thing. We also know that the sixth round of talks between the U.S. and Iran is supposed to happen on Sunday, which is why you hear Donald Trump kind of striking a little bit of a more optimistic tone there.

Steve Witkoff is still expected to be at Oman to really mitigate these talks, trying to say we want them to be successful. But right now, I mean, there really is no indication that they are any closer to a deal as you continue to hear Donald Trump fighting against this idea of enriching uranium.

BASH: Final word, this isn't scary stuff.

KING: It's very scary stuff. And so the next question is, if the president has any confidence, number one, in the diplomatic track, or two, if he just thinks it's a bad idea, even if the diplomatic track is off the rails at the moment for this to happen, does he pick up the phone? Does he call the prime minister of Israel and say, do not do this? That's the question on the table.

BASH: All right, we're going to sneak in another quick break. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:30]

BASH: There are a lot of opinions here in Washington about President Trump's massive domestic spending bill, the price tag that comes along with it, but what do people in the country, those who voted for President Trump, think?

Well, Sarah Longwell, the publisher of The Bulwark, has been talking to voters about just that on her podcast, The Focus Group. And Sarah, as you see there, joins me now.

Sarah, I want our viewers to listen to two voters. And again, these are people who voted for Joe Biden in 2020, not Donald Trump, and then voted for Donald Trump the second time around when he won.

Alexandra from North Carolina, James from Pennsylvania. They have different perspectives on the question of Medicaid cuts.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ALEXANDRA, NORTH CAROLINA: I draw SSI disability. I get Medicaid and I get food stamps, and I don't draw money for my kids, OK? So I'm supposed to live off $900 a month from the government and with them turning around and cutting Medicaid, I'm already struggling to pay for medications. They're going to take and take and take until there's nothing left.

JAMES, PENNSYLVANIA: More requirements for Medicaid, I think was good. And also the overtime, the taxes on overtime and tips, I thought was good, too. I know it increases the national debt, but I think if we get some of these programs like under control, it'll eventually even out.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: Sarah, what was your takeaway talking to these voters?

SARAH LONGWELL, PUBLISHER, THE BULWARK: Yes, well, there's a bunch of interesting things, but the number one thing I want to draw your attention to is a lot of the voters who are part of the MAGA coalition are sort of new to being Republicans. They came because of Trump.

And so a lot of them are lower income. They are working class voters. And for those voters, I'm hearing a lot of concern about the cuts to Medicaid, especially and cuts to other social services that would come at the expense of them for Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy. That is a piece of the conversation that is really breaking through.

And I think because the coalition for Republicans now looks different than it used to, it is fewer highly educated, wealthy people that make up their voting coalition. The cuts that they're talking about in this bill go directly now at a lot of their voters. And the more voters learn about the bill, the less they like it.

BASH: Sarah, was it your sense that these voters didn't know that this was on the agenda that the president has, really his big legislative agenda? A lot of things, but including keeping the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in place, making sure that they don't expire, but also making some pretty deep cuts.

LONGWELL: Yes, look, I think for a while, Republicans have been not telling the truth about what's in their bill. And so I had been doing some focus groups with people who sort of didn't believe that the bill was going to cut these things.

But as time has gone on, and I think there's a reason Republicans are trying to move so fast and jam this through, because the more people learn about it, the more they realize that the cuts are in there, the more they realize that Republicans are kind of playing some verbal jujitsu with how they're talking about it. And that actually a lot of them do stand to lose these benefits. And the more people learn about it, the less they like it.

BASH: I want to listen to Tamar from South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

TAMAR, SOUTH CAROLINA: I'm not quite sure about the budget increases and the debt ceiling. Putting everything into one bill. It seems kind of crazy to try to push all these things through at the same time without people picking and choosing what they think is not good.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: I mean, there's a lot that strikes me about what Tamar is saying. I think the biggest thing is how well informed she is about what is going on here in Washington.

LONGWELL: Well, I think this is something now that I've been doing focus groups for many, many years now. And voters do not like these big, omnibus bills, right? And what's happening in Washington is that they do these huge bills now so that they can basically get around the reconciliation process and they can try to jam something through that has just as laden with everything.

And voters understand that. And so they understand that these bills are opaque, that their own legislators don't know what's in the bill. And so they get nervous about what it could mean when they feel like, they -- look, they know what the price tag is. They know how many pages the bills are, but they often then don't know the ins and outs because it's very difficult.

[12:55:07]

In fact, legislators in Washington don't know lots of the ins and outs of what these will do. And so, as voters get their heads around it, or as they try to understand what it could mean for them, and they realize that it's just too big to digest, that's frustrating for them. And you hear a lot of people vocalize that frustration about why in Washington they keep having to jam through these enormous bills instead of voting for them in chunks.

BASH: I mean, I'm old enough to remember John Boehner on the floor of the House of Representatives with the giant bill saying, you know, we don't have time to read it. That was really one of the rallying cries of the Tea Party, which has morphed into the MAGA Republican Party. Really fascinating stuff.

Sarah, thank you so much. Always good to see you.

LONGWELL: Thank you.

BASH: And thank you for joining Inside Politics.

Before we go, I want our Inside Politics panel to answer your big questions. Well, just scan that QR code, you see that at the bottom of the screen, and you can submit your questions. And you might see us pose the question, answer the question on this show very soon. And you can find my link -- find the link of this QR code and the way to submit the questions on my social media pages as well.

CNN News Central starts after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)