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Inside Politics
What Are Trump's Next Steps In Wake Of Charlie Kirk's Killing?; Economic Double Whammy Poses Political Threat For Trump; Trump Issues Ultimatum To NATO Nations, Sidesteps GOP Pressure. Interview with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA); The Case for Democrats to Force a Government Shutdown; Trumps Hop Across the Pond for Royal Visit. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired September 14, 2025 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:24]
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MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): Reckoning.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The radicals on the left are the problem.
RAJU: The nation reels from Charlie Kirk's killing.
ERIKA KIRK, WIFE OF CHARLIE KIRK: The movement my husband built will not die.
RAJU: And the White House promises payback.
STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: We will not live in fear, but you will live in exile.
RAJU: Could a voice of calm break through?
GOV. SPENCER COX (R), UTAH: At some point, we have to find an off ramp or it's going to get much, much worse.
RAJU: Plus, island of one, as Democrats plot a bold move.
EZRA KLEIN, COMMENTATOR AND JOURNALIST: Donald Trump is corrupting the government.
RAJU: Senator John Fetterman tells me exclusively they should tone it down.
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): This is not an autocrat. This is a product of a democratic election.
RAJU: How does he want to turn things around?
And tea party. President Trump takes his royal fascination across the pond. What do the first lady and Princess Catherine have planned?
INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.
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RAJU (on camera): Good morning and welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.
Charlie Kirk almost singlehandedly brought a new generation to the conservative movement. And the aftermath of his stunning murder continues to unsettle the political world. Yet as authorities are still trying to understand what motivated the suspect accused of killing Kirk, the messages from political leaders have ranged from seeking calm to seeking revenge.
For President Trump and his top officials, it's clear how they view this moment -- a time to go after what Trump calls the radical left.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER: We are going to do what it takes to dismantle the organizations and the entities that are fomenting riots, that are doxing, that are trying to inspire terrorism, that are committing acts of wanton violence. It has to stop.
And my message is, to all of the domestic terrorists in this country spreading this evil hate, you want us to live in fear -- we will not live in fear. But you will live in exile because the power of law enforcement under President Trump's leadership will be used to find, will use to take away your money, take away your power. And if you've broken the law, to take away your freedom, Sean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: So, is America entering a dangerous new chapter?
To break this all down, we have CNN's Jeff Zeleny, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, and "The New York Times'" Astead Herndon.
Good morning to you all. Nice to see you all this Sunday morning.
You know, different presidents deal with moments of crises in different ways. Oftentimes, you hear an effort to try to calm things down on both sides, particularly when one side in particular is feeling a lot of pain. You had George W. Bush post-9/11 famously say, we're not at war with Islam, making clear that Islam is not a war -- is not a religion of -- is a religion of peace, he said.
Trump in this White House, based on what we heard from Stephen Miller there and what Trump said in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's killing, viewed this moment much differently.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, as we know now, more than a decade on for President Trump's time in the White House, he does not view his role as a unifier. He does not view his role as a healer. He views his role as someone who motivates and energizes his own base. I mean, we don't need to hear Stephen Miller to know what President Trump is thinking, but that is very key because Stephen Miller now is one of the top advisers.
And the difference between this term and the first term, some of those other voices, like Ivanka Trump, for example, or Jared Kushner or others who kind of soften president Trump's edges occasionally because there were a few moments in his first term when he would try to reach out or try to heal or comfort. That is gone. He does not see that as his role.
In the very early moments of the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk, President Trump made clear that he blamed it on the radical left. So even as I was struck Friday, he was being interviewed on "FOX & Friends", the anchors there tried about two or three times to kind of lead him to water on, is this a moment of healing? And boy, he did not accept it or go there.
This is who he is, us against them. So, none of this should be surprising.
I think the bigger question is, how do others respond? And Utah Governor Spencer Cox sort of stood alone this week as a -- as an example of a different voice.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, CO-HOST, NPR'S "ALL THINGS CONSIDERED": I think it's interesting, too. We've all watched in the absence of information, conspiracies, and partisan accusations fly and fill the void.
[08:05:07]
This week, for the first couple of days, we had a void in terms of identity -- we didn't know who, we didn't have a suspect, we didn't have identity, and we didn't have motive.
We now have someone in custody. We have a name. We have an age. We have information starting to come out.
According to county officials, this 22-year-old was registered to vote, had not voted, grew up in a home with Republican parents, and yet we still don't have really any idea about motive. As we continue to piece this together, but we have not watched President Trump back off his rhetoric or his aides backing off rhetoric about the radical left, which we don't know, but there is no evidence to support that right now --
RAJU: Yeah.
KELLY: -- if there is radical left with fingerprints on this.
RAJU: Yeah. Look, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, we'll learn what his motive is. We'll hopefully learn what his motive is. He's alleged to have committed this heinous crime. But Trump was very quick on Wednesday night in the aftermath of the murder, to go out and get that oval office address and highlighted a number of episodes of political violence that occurred against Republicans in recent years.
But this is sadly, a epidemic that's happening to both political parties, this era of political violence. Just look on your screen, the number of since 2011, when Democratic Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot in Arizona all the way. You know, Steve Scalise, the Republican leader now currently 2017, was shot in that baseball practice here in Washington.
But look, just this year, there are several Democratic incidents affecting Democrats. Governor Josh Shapiro's home set on fire. There was Melissa Hortman. The was -- in her husband were tragically killed. The Democratic legislature legislator in Minnesota.
Trump didn't mention those Democratic episodes. But this is violence that is happening against officials from both parties. And this is the -- the era that we're in right now.
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. I think, you know, I've heard some people say, you know, this marks a new era of political violence. I mean, as that graphic shows, we are already in that era as we see cycle after cycle. These are targeted instances, and these are ones where the political motive is super clear.
I mean, I think that we've actually, you know, I think there's kind of cavalier rhetoric right now about violence and civil war. You'll hear this kind of from the right and left. And I think because the idea of polarization is so deep and feels like endemic to American electorate, I think folks have kind of resigned themselves to say something like, this is core to our politics.
But I don't think that we should really flatten the degrees here, like when we start talking about sectarian violence, political violence and people resolving disputes kind of outside the marketplace of ideas, that messes everybody's life up. And I think that's kind of antithetical to the idea of American politics.
And so, this moment, I think, crystallizes the change in which we've seen over the last several years. And I think it really is one that American electorate has taken to heart. They recognize that our politics has changed. And it's part of the reason so many voters have become increasingly distant from it.
ZELENY: And if you look at that graphic there, 2011, when Gabby Giffords was shot, that was such a staggering moment. But look how many are in 2024 and 2025. The frequency with which these events are occurring on both sides is very notable here, and we are united in our own divisions. Algorithms and other things drive our thinking that way. So, a lot has changed since 2011, in our society, but certainly on both sides of this. And it's just stunning.
KELLY: Yeah. To inject one piece of reporting that our team at NPR has been doing this week, which was interesting, is, you know, we there's often this assumption that political violence in this country maps right alongside political divisions in this country, that if someone on the right has been attacked, you got to blame somebody on the left and vice versa.
And in fact, it's not nearly that clean or neat. Again, so much we don't know about motive and what was happening this week with the shooting of Charlie Kirk. But if you look, one of my colleagues, Odette Yousef, has done really interesting reporting. And she said, look back at the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last year.
RAJU: Yeah.
KELLY: The first -- the first attempt, last summer was quite the summer. But the one in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was at an open air rally, the individual involved in that had also been looking at events where Joe Biden was going to be out and might be vulnerable.
So, yes, there are political divisions. Yes, there's political violence. There is also, you know, a lot of data that suggests that some of this doesn't map quite that neatly. And maybe we're looking at people who also just want some high-profile incident on political violence to get attention.
HERNDON: I think, in general, that right-left dichotomy is becoming increasingly useless.
[08:10:02]
I mean, it's becoming harder and harder for us to map, I think, folks, on to this. And so, I think it's important to bring up what happened last year with President Trump, because for several of these alleged shooters, you don't see a consistency of belief. If anything, you see a kind of brain poisoning from what I would call a growing generation of kind of Internet like folks who have who have really kind of molded their identity in the kind of irony poisoned Reddit subreddit.
You know what I'm saying? That is much more --
KELLY: I think, access to guns.
HERNDON: Yeah. Yes, for sure, for sure. But I'm saying that is much more reflective of the political makeup than a strict right center left. And I think that's important to point out.
RAJU: You mentioned, Jeff, that Spencer Cox, the Utah Republican governor, he's taken. He's been prominent in the aftermath of this assassination against Charlie Kirk. He was -- his tone on the -- how to handle the next phase of this has been much different than Donald Trump's. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don't want to see crime. The radicals on the left are the problem, and they're vicious and they're horrible.
COX: Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now, not by pretending differences don't matter, but by embracing our differences and having those hard conversations. I -- I think we need more moral clarity right now. There is one person responsible for what happened here, and that person is now in custody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: So much different. I mean, there's one person responsible here. That's not what Trump is saying.
ZELENY: Not at all. I mean, Governor Cox, this has long been central to who he is long before this. He believes that, yes, we can disagree, but should be done in a much friendly, neighborly way. But he is not a lone voice, but certainly a rare voice among leaders in this party.
KELLY: And he has not just talked the talk but walked the walk. I'm remembering he's done events with, for example, his Democratic counterpart, Jared Polis, Wes Moore, you know, next door in Colorado saying, look, there are ways we can work together.
RAJU: Yeah.
All right. We'll see. We'll hear more from him later this morning as well. And for more on this story, tune in tonight to the whole story. Anderson Cooper will examine the history of political violence in the United States. That's tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on CNN.
Coming up, wait until you hear what Republicans are now saying about Putin playing Trump.
Plus, my exclusive interview with Democratic Senator John Fetterman and what he says about his own party's stance on the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FETTERMAN: This is not an autocrat. This is a product of a democratic election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[08:17:21]
RAJU: President Trump has had a very difficult time fulfilling two of his biggest campaign promises, ending the Ukraine war in a day and reducing the price of household goods. And this week, both could come to a head.
On the economy, the Fed could cut interest rates this Wednesday amid a slew of bad economic signs, from rising prices to rising unemployment.
And on Ukraine, the president this weekend issued a new ultimatum to NATO countries, not Russia, despite growing calls to slap Vladimir Putin with punishing sanctions.
My reporters are back. The Trump's post from yesterday on Truth Social went after NATO. Look,
the world's been waiting for Trump to make a decision on Russia's sanctions. And he said I'm ready to do major sanctions on Russia when all NATO nations have agreed and started to do the same thing, including to stop buying oil from Russia.
He went on to say in the same post, this is not Trump's war. It would never have started if I was president. It is Biden's and Zelensky's war. He did not say Putin's war.
KELLY: Yeah.
RAJU: And what's your reaction to that?
KELLY: I think, as you say, this is Trump adding new conditions on American sanctions, which is we're all in the U.S. is all in with new sanctions on Russia, so long as NATO. Also, every single member state also adds sanctions and stops buying oil from Russia.
The salient point being, that's not going to happen. And I believe I'm correct in saying that the two biggest European buyers of Russian oil are not France and Germany that's a problem here. It's Hungary and Turkey --
RAJU: Yeah.
KELLY: -- led by autocratic leaders who President Trump likes.
So, it's not going to happen. So, you get back into, you know, this is President Putin acting this week with an escalation. We saw this in the Middle East as well, different story, in direct contravention of what President Trump has explicitly stated.
RAJU: I mean, Trump has constantly given Putin deadline after deadline.
KELLY: He said, I want an immediate ceasefire. He didn't get it. He said, I want a summit between President Zelensky and President Trump. We haven't seen that yet. He wants a trilateral summit. We see no sign that that is happening.
And this week, with Russia sending drones across into NATO airspace in Poland, you see President Putin asking -- acting with impunity, apparently thinking because he can get away with it. And so far, that has proven right.
RAJU: And the question that some have on capitol hill is why is Trump blinking? That's not just from Democrats. But increasingly you're hearing Republicans say that as well.
[08:20:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Russia's playing, really playing us like a piano right now. He's gotten everything he wants. He's gotten access to the president with a red carpet reception.
SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): I think it is time to move on Russia's sanctions. President Trump wants to make sure that he is giving every opportunity for peace to get this war resolved. But Putin is playing him right now. And I think the president understands that.
REP. DON BACON (R-NE): He's been weak on Russia. I think he's been great on Iran, but he has been terrible on Russia. He is unable to call Putin out as the invader and have a more moral clarity about who's at fault in this war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: I mean, a unifying theme between all three of those Republicans is that none of the three are running for reelection.
RAJU: That's a good point. Very good point.
Although there are, you know, just to be clear. There are more than 80 members of both parties have signed on to the sanctions.
(CROSSTALK)
ZELENY: Lindsey Graham and things.
RAJU: Yeah.
ZELENY: But I mean, with Putin, this is not a new development. I mean, this is just the latest in the Trump-Putin relationship, but Trump knows he has been played. I mean, to Senator Ernst's point, he, you know, has had these flashes of sort of disappointment that his friend Vladimir Putin has not sort of acquiesced to what he wanted?
But the idea yesterday, saying that NATO countries all must agree to this was just one more example of, for whatever reason, President Trump is just afraid to take that or unwilling, I should say, to take that step toward Putin. How many times has he talked about secondary sanctions? He's been talking about it for months and months and months. We will see what happens here.
One thing we know is clear that Putin has been lifted up by all of this. We're more than a month on from the Alaska summit. And he, of course, has been to China since then. And the world stage of Vladimir Putin is much more strengthened. And Trump looks incredibly weak on this and other points of global crises.
KELLY: Yeah, it is worth just noting, if I may, that this happened the same week that Benjamin Netanyahu acted in direct contradiction to what President Trump has said he would like by having Israeli airstrikes on a U.S. ally in Qatar.
RAJU: Exactly. And Trump said he disagreed with that. But what does that actually lead to? And that's one set of issues that Trump promised to resolve has not, of course, been resolved.
But what about the economy? Really significant warning signs this week. And the economy, consumer sentiment has been -- is going down. But just because of the inflation, it's going up 2.9 percent. Unemployment, the highest in four years.
The headline from "The Washington Post" was "Trump faces the same economic challenges that cost Harris her White House bid."
HERNDON: Oh, absolutely. It's what. And put another way, that gave Trump the White House again. I mean, if there was any other issue, as we all know, more than any, he was able to capitalize on this front.
But I think on several kind of places in this administration, the sequel is not as good as the original, and we're seeing that reflected in some of the voter sentiment, too. There's been a big reversal about Trump's, about voter sentiment, about his handling of the economy, driven through a sense that he has not come in and prioritize prices as he wanted. But whether through the bill or through tariff has introduced economic uncertainty.
And, you know, when you're arguing process, you're losing. And they're focusing on Lisa Cook. They're focusing on the Fed. When I think that, you know, what we saw in terms of revisions last week from the Labor Statistics Bureau really shows that there has been a downward turn job market for longer than we knew.
And I think if Democrats or Republicans, even two, can learn an example, it's they gaslit a lot of folks in the American public who are -- who are really sounding alarm bells about a slowing job market years ago. And so, now, Donald Trump is going to try to shift blame and say he inherited a worse economy than he may have said going in, but he has already clarified the issue because he has introduced a self-created crisis through terror.
RAJU: I want you to listen to what the top Republican campaign chairman, Richard Hudson, said about the political impact. Of course, this is going to play out. There's going to be the big debate as we head into the midterms next year. How does he think this will go down?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RICHARD HUDSON (R-NC), CHAIR, NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE: I'll tell you that, you know, the economy really concerns me. Affordability for people back home. And that's why the Working Families Tax Cut Act was so important, because I believe it will drive down costs.
RAJU: Do you guys got to do a better job messaging that?
HUDSON: Well, I -- you know, I think -- I think there's the reality and there's the messaging and both need to be moving in the right direction for the American people. I mean, you know, people are hurting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: You know, Trump has not really been selling this bill, that signature policy achievement that Richard Hudson and others hope will bring down prices.
ZELENY: He's not been selling it at all. He's tried to rebrand it by something else.
The bottom line here is affordability, a soundtrack of the midterm election campaign, which is why Trump is trying to change the subject to crime.
RAJU: Yeah, no question about it. We'll see ultimately, if that works.
[08:25:01]
All right. Coming up, my exclusive one on one interview Senator John Fetterman right after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RAJU: John Fetterman has held a unique role in the Democratic Party, winning a pivotal Senate seat in the purple state of Pennsylvania in 2022, despite suffering a stroke that impacted his speech. The following year, he checked himself into Walter Reed Hospital for six weeks as he battled clinical depression.
Now he's defined himself in a different way, an outspoken critic of his party, particularly its left flank. Now, moments after Charlie Kirk was shot and right before we learned he had died, I sat down with Fetterman to discuss the issues dividing his party as it charts its way forward.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): I'm never going to change my Party, but clearly we've lost the argument. And now, right now, I think it's entirely appropriate to really be honest and just figure out why exactly have we effectively lost two out of the last three cycles. And a lot of the things we've really kind of -- really lost our connection with American voters in ways.
And I think we can't just be well, Trump is always wrong or that we're going to set the country on fire or whatever. That's just not true either, of course.
But, you know, when I represent a state like Pennsylvania, that keeps you honest and you always can't forget that a lot of Americans happen to disagree with you. That does not mean that they are fascists, or now they want to shred the Constitution.
RAJU: When you hear some Democrats saying Trump is acting like an autocrat.
FETTERMAN: Yes -- no, that's the thing. I -- if you actually compare him to an actual autocrat, that is not just that.
Now, last night, for example, people were complaining, they were protesting about, oh, that's Hitler, Hitler. I think you just don't ever, ever compare anyone to Hitler and those kinds of extreme things.
Now, look what happened to Charlie Kirk. I mean, the man was shot. Now, we have to turn the temperature down. It's like we can't compare people to these kinds of figures in history.
And this is not an autocrat. This is a product of a democratic election.
RAJU: So you don't think that Trump is at all shattering any of the norms of democracy in any way?
FETTERMAN: I'm saying he's definitely different, but that's what America voted for. Again, I don't agree with many of these things, but that does not make him autocratic.
RAJU: But one of the things that I hear from Democrats, a lot saying the reason why voters may not like Democrats because they don't fight hard enough. Democrats should be fighting harder. What do you say to folks who say.
(CROSSTALKING)
FETTERMAN: Well, what exactly -- what exactly is fighting? What is fighting? You know, delay more votes, or just vote every no on everything, or saying, well, if they're doing x, well then that means it's wrong -- that kind of thing.
It's like, what exactly is fighting?
RAJU: I'll give you an example. It could be shutting the government down, like some Democrats say. If this happens, it will be Trump's fault.
FETTERMAN: But that's -- that's not fighting, that's mutilating our nation. If you vote to shut our government down, you are going to harm millions of Americans.
And why would you do this? Where is our leverage? It was wrong. It was wrong for the -- for the Republicans to do that. Absolutely. That's true.
It is wrong for the Republicans to do that. It would just be wrong for us for those things.
RAJU: Bigger picture -- has your party shifted or have you shifted ideologically?
FETTERMAN: My party is acting in a way they have forgotten. They have forgotten -- one of the reasons why we lost in 2024. Some of the most extreme things were weaponized against that.
And now some people think, now we have to double down on those things or we must become more progressive or more extreme. That's absolutely just not -- that's absolutely not true.
The seven or eight states that are going to determine who's going to be our next president, you know, we have to win in those states. And I understand what that takes.
And a lot of these ideas that are now pushing back and being reintroduced are not going to carry, you know, Pennsylvania.
RAJU: Speaking of which, you're talking about what's happening in New York. Zohran Mamdani Democratic socialist. He is the Democratic nominee. And polls do say that he is ahead by a significant margin in that race.
I mean, is this where your party is headed? And is it a wake-up call to Democrats like yourself?
FETTERMAN: I do not -- I don't believe that. New York City is not reflective of our national political things. Certainly, the states are going to determine who's going to be the next president.
So I don't take any kinds of lessons or anything from that election.
RAJU: Trump is, is threatening to send the National Guard into a number of these blue cities and blue states. We're seeing Democratic mayors in Chicago and in Baltimore resist federal help, additional federal help. Is that a good idea to fight Trump on this?
FETTERMAN: No. What I'll say is, like, I experienced that, you know, it's like I live in the Navy Yard. I would walk to work and I would see a lot of National Guard people. It wasn't -- it wasn't -- honestly it wasn't a big deal. They were just -- they were friendly. They were standing around.
And this wasn't like they weren't Russian, Russian army. This was you know, it's our sons, our daughters, our fathers, our mothers kind of a thing.
[08:34:47]
FETTERMAN: If you actually experience it on hand, on the ground, it's really not like an -- it's not occupying -- occupied a city or anything.
So for me, when I was a mayor -- I was a small-town mayor. I actually -- I asked for help, I asked for help to, to confront gun violence and crime.
If I -- if I was a mayor and I had a significant kind of violence situation, I would be happy to get, you know, help honestly for that.
RAJU: Should they -- should they ask for help?
FETTERMAN: I've done that. I've done that.
RAJU: And do you think they should do it -- Chicago, Baltimore and the like? They should accept it.
FETTERMAN: All I'm saying is that it's like when 600 people are killed in Chicago once -- every year, you know, roughly, I think it's entirely appropriate. RAJU: Are you comfortable with the way these ICE raids have been
carried out in some of these cities?
FETTERMAN: Not entirely. No. You know. I believe we should have a secure border. And I absolutely believe you should round up all of the criminals. And I do think you should deport those.
But I don't think it's really helpful to raid a factory and round up all of them and deport them. I don't think it's appropriate to go to like a slaughterhouse in Nebraska and round them up and deport them things. That's not true either.
You know, I don't think America really supports those things. I think two things must be true -- a secure border, round up all the criminals. But we don't and shouldn't target otherwise hardworking migrants that are just effectively making a significant contribution to our economy.
RAJU: I wonder politically, you talk about what happened and Democrats may not have learned the lessons from the last election. Do you think the issues of crime --
FETTERMAN: Like the border, for example, the border, those kind of things. We are living in the backlash -- the backlash of a lot of the things and the mistakes that we have made as a party.
RAJU: Yes, because that's what I was going to ask you. Are crime and immigration -- are you worried that they will be liabilities for Democrats in the midterms next year?
FETTERMAN: If you -- if you are willing to sink, yes. You know, like if 600 homicides a year are ok, you know or we don't need help. You know, if I was mayor, I'd be like, absolutely, I'd be grateful for help.
Just because if Trump is calling for something x, y, and z, then that doesn't mean you have to necessarily oppose that.
I was -- I think I was the only Democrat that supported striking the Iranian nuclear facilities too. I mean, that was entirely appropriate. I think that was the right thing to do. And I really believe that, too.
RAJU: Do you think they have -- the party has not learned the lessons from last year? That's fair to say, right.
FETTERMAN: It's not -- it hasn't been -- it hasn't been a year. It hasn't been a year yet right now. And that's what I'd like to remind people. It's like a lot of those things really cost our election now.
You know, like I don't think there has been an effective evaluation. I don't have an exact answer, but I'm not going to just spit out things and pretend that I know. Absolutely right.
RAJU: One of the issues you found yourself on the opposite sides of your parties on the issue of Israel. Are you comfortable with the way that Netanyahu is waging this war in Gaza right now, including these strikes in Qatar?
FETTERMAN: I absolutely, fully support continue to destroy Hamas for that. And now -- of course, the situation in Gaza, it is difficult. But for some people, they choose to blame Israel for that.
I blame Hamas, I blame Iran, and I blame that. So for me, that's what -- and people don't -- speaking the truth that Hamas could send the hostages home and disarm.
And then that's the first opportunity that we can all move on. And the Palestinians could finally have an opportunity to live in peace. And they could start to rebuild their lives.
RAJU: Were you ok with the strike that they just had in Doha against the Hamas leadership, the Israeli? Are you ok with that?
FETTERMAN: Yes, yes. Absolutely it's appropriate unless Hamas is willing to surrender and send people home. That's a war and it's a just war.
Theres no ethnic cleansing. It's not a genocide. This is a just war. And I don't know why people blame Hamas for those circumstances right now that it's not -- it's not Israel's.
RAJU: They say that Israel is using starvation as a weapon. Are they?
FETTERMAN: No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Israel is not deliberately starving people, absolutely.
Those conditions are miserable there. And it is hell on earth. Why? Some people blame Israel for that? I blame Hamas and Iran for that thing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU: All right. A lot to digest there. But up next for us, a top liberal pundit argues Democrats have no choice but to shut it down.
Senator Fetterman, who you just heard there, may not agree. But we'll look at the argument many on the left are making to force a government shutdown fight later this month.
[08:39:29]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the case for a shutdown is. A shutdown is an intentional event. It's an effort to turn the Diffuse crisis of Trump's corrupting the government into an acute crisis that the media, that the public will pay attention to.
Right now, Democrats have no power. So no one cares what they have to say. A shutdown would make people listen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: As you heard it there, are growing calls among Democrats to force a government shutdown and use their power to fight back against President Trump. But can they actually convince voters they're right?
My panel is back.
[08:44:46]
RAJU: Now, the timing is key because they have to do this by September 30th to avoid a government shutdown. And the votes are key. The Democrats have to supply at least seven votes to avoid a shutdown by the end of this month.
Republicans are indicating that they want to try to just simply extend government funding. They suggest they won't attach any extraneous provisions on there.
But that's not good enough for Democratic leaders who are trying to use their power to fight back against Trump. If they don't supply the votes, there is a shutdown. What are the political ramifications of that?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The political ramifications are stark for both parties. I mean, it all depends on who owns the shutdown.
As we've seen from many of them in previous years, the party in power generally does. But we're already seeing the arguments being made going into this that Democrats would be to blame or whatnot.
We will see. This is the biggest test for Senator Schumer. There's no doubt about it. We always get to the edge or often and then some things worked out.
This case feels different to me.
RAJU: Yes --
ZELENY: It feels very --
RAJU: Because when he pulled back in March, he got so much blowback from the left. And that's changed how the perception --
ZELENY: -- need to be energized and agreeing to a CR does not energize the party.
RAJU: Yes.
ZELENY: But look, it's a test for Schumer, there's no doubt.
RAJU: What did you think about Fetterman arguing against the strategy of Democratic leaders right now? But not just that. The broader criticism of the Democratic Party, whether it's on Israel, whether it's on crime, whether it's about how they talk about Donald Trump. ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I'm going to separate
those issues a little bit, but we shouldn't make any mistake. Criticizing the Democrats is popular among Democrats right now. The base itself is upset with its own leaders of the party.
And so I think it's clear whether you see Fetterman or even some of the midterms candidates rising, that's having some support, even in terms of driving small dollar donations and others.
You know, two things stuck out with me to the Fetterman interview. First, it reminds me of, I think, a tendency that's been exposed since the election for that more centrist, more establishment wing of the party where they have been completely defined by just their opposition to the left.
What's his answer about affordability? What's his answer about the different vision about how Democrats can actually provide for the type of voters they lost? They're not really laying that out, more so than just blaming the other side.
And so I think the reason why the Mamdanis have risen in this moment is they're providing not just a fight, but a value alongside that fight.
The second thing I would say is Fetterman has to recognize Democrats have changed on Israel. 8 percent of Democrats, per the last Gallup poll, support Israel's military actions. Theres a fundamental break between the elected officials --
RAJU: Yes.
HERNDON: -- and the party's base on that issue.
RAJU: That's such a good point. To that point, I mean, he was to the right of Donald Trump on the issue of Israel.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, CO-HOST, NPR'S "ALL THINGS CONSIDERED": He was more hawkish than a big feathered flying hawk if it flew into the studio. He was he was way more hawkish than Donald Trump, who came in after the Israeli airstrikes on Qatar this week, on Hamas targets in Qatar and said this does not advance U.S. or Israel's or the world's interests.
You know, the Qataris are American allies. They just gave Donald Trump a big old plane. President Trump went out of his way to have dinner with the prime minister of Qatar in New York on Friday night, after he had met with Vice President Vance and Marco Rubio here in Washington.
So that was interesting to hear. Very different take than a lot of his fellow Democrats and Republicans too.
RAJU: Yes, very much a man on an island. All right. Great discussion here.
But coming up for us, President Trump is set to trade the royal "me" for the royal "we", as he and the first lady head to England to meet the king. What Melania Trump and Princess Catherine have planned. That's next.
[08:48:18]
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This is a letter from His Majesty, the King. It's an invitation for a second state visit.
This is really special. This has never happened before. This is unprecedented.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: President Trump accepted that invitation from the King earlier this year. And this week, he and the first lady are headed across the pond for a second state visit to the United Kingdom.
CNN's Betsy Klein is joining me now.
And Betsy, there will be a lot of pomp and circumstance, of course. So walk us through what to expect this week. And just like so many Americans, Trump is fascinated with the Royals.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Certainly, President Trump and the first lady will be treated to the royal treatment at this state visit in the United Kingdom, kicking off later this week.
And King Charles' invitation, as you saw, delivered -- hand-delivered by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Oval Office back in February really underscoring the close ties that Starmer is seeking to cultivate with the Trump administration at what's been a diplomatically-sensitive moment.
President Trump, for his part, has spoken fondly about his mother watching Queen Elizabeth's coronation. And he has developed a similar affinity for the royal family.
Starmer, keenly aware of the president's taste for pageantry. And here, we are going to see him deploying the royal family and their capacity to impress.
So I want to get to the agenda. When the Trumps arrive on the grounds of Windsor Castle, they will be greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Catherine.
There will be a royal salute followed by a royal carriage ride across the castle s grounds. They will inspect the troops, have lunch with the royal family, then lay a wreath at the tomb of Queen Elizabeth. All of this before a grand state banquet.
[08:54:45]
KLEIN: And the first lady is going to be feted with a slate of events of her own. She's going to tour the Queen Mary doll collection alongside Queen Camilla. And later in the day have an event alongside Princess Kate focused on scouting -- very closely watched and rare public event for both very private women.
All of this before the president gets down to business. He will travel to Chequers, the country estate of the prime minister, where the two leaders are expected to discuss trade as well as Russia's war in Ukraine, Manu.
RAJU: Yes, so much to watch. And Trump loves pageantry, so. And there will be a lot of that.
Betsy Klein will be covering it for us as well. Thank you so much for joining us, live.
And thank you for watching INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can follow me on TikTok, Instagram and on X, and follow the show @INSIDE POLITICS.
If you ever miss an episode, you can catch up wherever you get your podcasts and just search for INSIDE POLITICS.
Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Dana's guests include Utah Governor Spencer Cox and Oklahoma Senator James Lankford.
Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.
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