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Inside Politics
16 Days Left: Biggest Races of Trump's Term Enter Final Sprint; Bernie Sanders-Backed Candidate in Damage Control in Key Race; Where is GOP as Trump Weighs $40 Billion to Help Argentine Ally. Massive "No Kings Rallies Confront Trump As He Targets Foes; GOP Congressman Critical As Trump Frees George Santos. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired October 19, 2025 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:16]
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MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): Thrown out. Huge crowds rally nationwide against President Trump as the GOP tries to paint the left as un-American.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We refer to it by its more accurate description, the hate America rally.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): We're here because we love America.
RAJU: Is this the start of an emboldened opposition?
And pledge of allegiance. Trump keeps up his campaign of retribution while he frees an ally. So does loyalty to Trump trump all else?
A Republican who wants George Santos in prison, Congressman Nick LaLota, joins me live.
Plus, okay, boomer. A new generation of Democrats rises up as primaries get messy.
GRAHAM PLATNER (D), MAINE U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: I don't want you to judge me on the dumbest thing I ever wrote on the Internet.
RAJU: And elections come down to the wire. What message will voters send to Trump?
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. This weekend saw one of the biggest signs of resistance against
President Trump in his aggressive second term agenda that has shattered norms and rewritten the rules of the presidency. Massive crowds of Americans gathered at more than 2,700 "No Kings" rallies, covering city blocks and showing what appears to be the largest public display of opposition Trump has faced so far.
So, what does it tell us about the strength of Democrats? Just ahead of an important referendum on the president in elections just two weeks away?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): We are in the middle of an authoritarian takeover. But Trump has not won. Our democracy is in peril, but it can be saved.
SANDERS: My fellow Americans, we rejected the divine right of kings in the 1770s. We will not accept the divine right of oligarchs today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: There's a lot to get through with my excellent panel of reporters this morning. Astead Herndon, who starts a new role at Vox tomorrow. Congratulations, Astead.
CNN's Alayna Treene, Jackie Kucinich of "The Boston Globe" and CNN's Aaron Blake.
Astead, of course, the longtime "New York Times" reporter, now Vox reporter. Well, welcome. Congrats on the new --
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you. I'm pumped for it.
RAJU: So because you have a new role, you get to answer my first question about the rallies. The organizers say there's about 7 million people there. We don't actually know an official account, but that's about 2 million more than similar rallies earlier this year. But the question for Democrats is, is this a lasting moment, or is this just a vocal minority who is getting a lot of attention right now?
HERNDON: Well, one, we shouldn't minimize what happened over this weekend, Democrats have been looking for a sign that their voters will be more engaged, that they can show public opposition to Trump, and that happened over this weekend.
I think what the kind of distinction here is, is about, like the diagnosis of problems that Trump did to win in November versus the solutions that he has done while governing, which there is a real disconnect from, things like tariffs are unpopular. Things even like DOGE were unpopular. The ICE raids are unpopular.
Like Donald Trump's proposed solutions to his diagnosed problems have really created friction with the electorate. That's where Democrats are trying to seize on. But I would just, you know, as a as a warning flag, you know, we did
some of these efforts, even with voters we were talking to over in the lead up to the election, calling them back to try to see if the recent actions of Trump has kind of made them more enraged. That was almost universally true, kind of the outpouring of discontent we saw at "No Kings".
But when we posed, what would they change their vote? Would they -- do they regret voting for? Would they vote for Kamala Harris?
If we put Democrats next to him? Then the answer became more complicated. So, I think that Democrats are correctly identifying legitimate discontent with Donald Trump in the White House. The question will be when they do, they have an affirmative vision themselves that they can put next to it come November.
RAJU: I mean, is it broader than the Democratic base? Are these independents are coming out there, or is it the people who would ordinarily vote for Democrats anyways?
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, Democrats want to harness this for sure. But I think if you talk to some folks in those crowds, that and you're seeing it, they're not happy with what Democrats are doing. They're just really unhappy with what's going on in Washington. And you you've seen this from the Democratic base since go.
They want to see more fight from their legislators. They want to see more people getting out there like you saw Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy and showing that they're on their side. Whether or not Democrats are able to turn what we saw this weekend into votes in places like, you know, New Jersey, Virginia, we'll have to see.
[08:05:03]
RAJU: And the Republicans were very quick to discredit this. I mean, they've been spending days, in fact, discrediting this. Aaron, you wrote about this. You said the GOP's extraordinary rhetoric about the "No Kings" rallies, and you saw a lot of comments from the Republican, the Republican leaders calling these hate America rallies.
And among the tweets over the weekend from Congressman Richard Hudson, who chairs the Republican effort to keep the House, he says, imagine hating America so much you skip college football on a fall Saturday. Senator Barrasso, the number two Republican, called it an extreme, dangerous, scary wing of his party.
What do you make of the Republican effort to discredit this effort?
AARON BLAKE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: You know, it was in a lot of ways weird. I think, you know, there's one way in which when you're when your opponents are protesting, you paint them as being having illegitimate concerns or being extremist. But there was a lot of cases in which we saw members like Speaker Mike Johnson come out and basically call these people terrorists, sympathizers and antifa and things like that. And that was weird because, you know, we were going to have this rally
in a few days time. We were going to see the people that were out there. There were not large scale arrests. There was not large scale violence, just like there wasn't large scale violence back in June when we had these same protests.
And so, I think Republicans kind of tried to shoehorn the president's, you know, quest against his opponents to paint them as being irredeemably violent into this situation. And then we got a very different situation over the weekend. So, I kind of wonder if that's going to undercut this larger enterprise of painting the left as, as irredeemably violent.
RAJU: So how is Trump himself responding, one might ask. And I just have to warn our Sunday morning viewers here, this the president of the United States posting this.
So, we are showing his response to this and the White House Twitter account retweeted, reposted this of Donald Trump flying in a fighter jet. Of course, A.I. generated image. Okay. And yes, that is defecating on streams of protesters. So this is -- went on social media last night.
Okay, Alayna, you cover the White House.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: You agree with me.
RAJU: You can react to that.
TREENE: I mean, well, one with the video. Every time you post a video like this, it's obviously not the first time he shared, some kind of crazy video, A.I. video online. You think it can't get weirder? And then it does.
Look, I mean, the president obviously doesn't like anyone who criticizes him, especially these types of protests that come out in mass force. And I was actually surprised we didn't hear more from the president yesterday, despite that very bizarre video that he shared.
Look, I think Aaron's point was a very good one. I know that when I was talking to people last week about the "No Kings" protest, I mean, everyone in the White House was trying to just dismiss it, saying, you know, you heard the president himself on an interview yesterday say, I'm not a king. These are ridiculous protests.
But I think the fact that they weren't violent, that so many people turned out, I mean, I was reading it was around 100,000 people in New York alone. Definitely, of course, is resonating with people. The president's very unhappy. And the fact that he's sharing this video as his way of responding.
I mean, I don't really know what to say about it. It's -- it's --
RAJU: I think there's much to say, but --
TREENE: I'm always -- RAJU: A reaction.
TREENE: I mean, it's crazy how I'm always shocked by some of these videos. And then more and more you're like, all right, White House, they're sharing this on the official White House account.
RAJU: The official White House account. It's the president, United States sending it to his millions of followers. So, it's, of course, going to get some reaction.
Now, this all comes, of course, as we're dealing with here in Washington, the government shutdown now the third longest in American history, 16 days, sorry, 19 days and counting, just surpassing the 16- day government shutdown of October 20th, 2013. The longest, of course, was 35 days. It was 2018 into 2019.
This dispute over how to fund the federal government. The Republicans want to extend reopen the government with no strings attached. Democrats want to attach those strings. They want to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies are set to expire at year's end. They warn that if they're not dealt with now, people's premiums will increase and they're not backing down.
And it goes to what we saw here over the weekend, these rallies. You were saying this earlier, these are they're pushing these Democratic leaders to take a very firm stand against Donald Trump. And the Democrats in Washington are responding in kind.
KUCINICH: I mean, look what happened to Chuck Schumer when he didn't in March, right? He was, I think, roundly dragged by most people in the party because he decided to keep the government funded. And now, yes, this is a fight that they think is worth having. And it -- at this point they've gone so far where at least in this potentially until October 31st, right?
[08:10:02]
RAJU: Yeah.
KUCINICH: That's when the next paychecks will be missed.
RAJU: And notably, Schumer was at these rallies yesterday. Republicans said that that was the reason why he's been standing so firm.
BLAKE: I mean, yes, it actually is. And Jackie's right, going back to March when he kind of gave up before they even got to the point of kind of no return on the shutdown. I think this is a different situation, though, in that, you know, Democrats went into this with a looming deadline, which is these Obamacare subsidies, the notices that people are going to be getting the deadline at the end of the year where these subsidies will be expiring.
And I think they recognize that that is going to be putting pressure on Republicans moving forward. And it has done that. We saw last week something that was pretty remarkable. And I don't know that people necessarily understood it.
But John Thune, the Senate Republican leader, came out and basically said, yeah, I'll give you guys a vote on these things, which is not something that Republicans were offering at the very start of this process. So, in these shutdown situations, you very rarely see anything amounting to a concession. That's a minor concession, but it is a kind of --
RAJU: And it was not nearly far enough.
BLAKE: Yeah.
KUCINICH: Yeah, Democrats are kind of like --
BLAKE: Yeah, they still want more.
RAJU: And the question is how does this land the American public? Look, the public blames everybody here. I mean, this is -- Trump is responsible for 58 percent, say, a great deal or quite a bit. Republicans, 58 percent a great deal or quite a bit. Democrats, 54 percent.
I mean, this is American. The American public hates shutdowns.
TREENE: They do. And --
RAJU: Does Trump change his approach?
TREENE: Well, this is what I was going to say. The one thing that predicting how much longer this is actually going to last, I actually think the actions that the president has been taking are releasing or removing a lot of the pressure that people normally feel during a shutdown. I mean, the fact that he's moving around money to pay the militaries, moving around money to pay law enforcement, those are signs that are, I think, making it easier for a lot of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to actually dig in and prolong this, despite, of course, it being so unpopular, they feel like, okay, we're making it easier finding ways to maneuver around this so that we can continue to have these fights.
RAJU: Yeah, we'll see. I mean, this is going to drag on. It could be the longest in history. A lot of people do expect that, unfortunately, here in Washington.
All right. Suddenly, George Santos is a free man after President Trump commuted the sentence of the ex-congressman. Next, I'll speak with a sitting Republican who's not thrilled about it.
But first, "Saturday Night Live" weighed in on the drama last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, who I do like is George Santos. He's weird. He's a liar. I think he's great. We don't know anything about him. He's one of my favorite people. I don't know him at all. I don't know anything about it. He's one of
our favorites. You know, the people are marching because they're happy he's free, right? It's a yes king march. They're saying, yes, king.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:17:12]
RAJU: George Santos' litany of lies took him from being an obscure freshman congressman to a national laughingstock, to an expelled member from the House, and then ultimately to a felon when he pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and wire fraud last year. But now, he's a free man thanks to President Trump, who commuted his more than seven-year prison sentence after less than three months.
And not everyone is happy about it.
Joining me now is another New York Republican, a man who helped lead the charge to make santos just the sixth house member ever to be expelled, Congressman Nick LaLota.
Mr. LaLota, thank you so much for joining me this morning. Appreciate your time.
So, Mr. LaLota, do you --
REP. NICK LALOTA (R-NY): Good morning, Manu. Good to be on with you.
RAJU: Absolutely. Thanks for being here.
Do you think that George Santos should be a free man right now?
LALOTA: I don't. Three months is not enough of a sentence for all the crimes he committed. George Santos was and is a distraction from serious lawmakers. And last Congress, he was a distraction from Republicans' ability to hold President Biden accountable on his policies on the border, on the economy, on the wokeness in our schools and elsewhere. His lack of strategy in Ukraine and Israel, and everywhere else.
He was a distraction then. He was a distraction now. He's distracting right now from President Trump's awesome accomplishments on the border, on the economy.
Gas prices are down. Interest rates are down. Investments in the stock market are up. Trump is creating peace in the Middle East and elsewhere.
George Santos is a distraction. He stole -- he's not only a liar, but he stole. He stole $3 million in campaign funds from many of my constituents, many of my supporters who got built by him and his lies. He stole an election, defrauded voters of New York's third congressional district, a district that borders mine.
He's a distraction. He's a shame. And we need to be able to move on sometime soon from George Santos.
RAJU: You know, given the gravity of the crimes that he pleaded guilty to, what message does it send to the country that he was given clemency and also no longer has to pay $370,000 in restitution to victims he defrauded? And it's all simply because he's an ally of the president's, it seems.
So, what message does that send?
LALOTA: Yeah, I'm not happy about it, but let's -- the conversation on clemency is only a complete one if we analyze all the different executives who have granted clemency or pardons or commutations to other individuals, Biden to his own family members to preempt what inevitably was going to be charges on his family's corruption, on the money it took from overseas entities, adversaries of ours.
My own state's governor, Kathy Hochul, the worst governor in America, who pardoned people who murdered and convicted of manslaughter. You know, there should be an entire conversation about clemency powers.
[08:20:03]
And it ain't just George Santos.
RAJU: Yeah. And to that point, I mean, yes, Biden did those sweeping pardons and right before he left office. But for Trump, this is at least the 10th GOP official who's pleaded guilty and received clemency. And also, there are about 1,200 people who were convicted of crimes during the January 6th riot and given clemency on Trump's first day in office.
Can you defend those moves?
LALOTA: So, I came out early against the pardons for the violent January 6th offenders. Those -- if you hit a cop, I think you should do your time in jail regardless. But you should bring up that that that slide you had on before about the 10 GOP folks. But you should add to it, some Democrats, former Governor Blagojevich from Illinois, there was a former mayor of Detroit, a Democrat.
This is not just Trump pardoning Republicans. He's also pardoned some prominent Democrats, shown them some leniency to. It's been a bipartisan endeavor to be wrong, to characterize it as just him helping his political.
RAJU: But bottom line, he made a mistake, made a mistake with giving Santos clemency.
LALOTA: Listen, if I was president, I'm not. I'm a sophomore member of Congress from Long Island. But Article Two of our Constitution grants the president that discretion. But if I was president, I wouldn't have done it.
RAJU: All right, let's turn to the government shutdown. The House has not been in session since September 19th, and the speaker is trying to pressure senate Democrats to back the house bill to reopen the government. The Democrats have blocked that bill now ten times. And so he's decided to keep the house out of session in order to pressure Democrats to pass the bill. But they're not budging, congressman, and there are so many bills that have nothing to do with the government shutdown that the house could be acting upon if they were back in session.
So why not bring the house back to session now and deal with all these other issues that are important to the American public?
LALOTA: Yeah, I think Chuck Schumer is the focal point here. Chuck Schumer, I'm a New Yorker, as is Senator Schumer. And what's going on right now with his mindset and his actions is he's a -- he's fearful of his left flank. He's fearful within his own state of personalities like AOC and Zohran Mamdani. Those are the features of the Democrat Party, which is trending way more socialist than Democrat.
This is not the party of Kennedy, Clinton or even Obama anymore. The party is trending to the left. Schumer needs to be seen as fighting Trump and keeping his base. He's fearful of his own job, but Schumer needs to channel a Kevin McCarthy at this moment in time.
Kevin McCarthy 25 months ago put the country before his own party and his own political ambitions, knowing that about eight people from his own party wanted him to shut the government down and be seen as fighting Biden. But in October of 2023, Kevin McCarthy passed a continuing resolution a clean status quo, no cuts, no gimmicks, one the same bill that Schumer has rejected now, I think it's 10 times.
RAJU: Yeah, 10 times.
LALOTA: Schumer needs to put the country first so that we can get the government back open and deal with all those rest of the bills.
RAJU: Yeah, but you could still come back into session. Why not come back into session and deal with all those other issues? That's -- what Schumer's strategy should not impact what the House is doing. Why not come back into session and deal with these major issues?
LALOTA: So ironically, we were on track to deal with some of the issues that Schumer is saying this shutdown is about, specifically those ACA premium tax credits. My friend, Congresswoman Jen Kiggans, Navy veteran from Virginia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, has a great bill, a bipartisan extension of those of those credits, 28 members of congress cosponsored, 14 Republicans, 14 Democrats. I'm one of them.
That's a partial solution to help put the nation on a better course with respect to our health care. Those credits are valued by constituents like mine and those across the nation.
RAJU: But, Mr. LaLota --
LALOTA: We're having those conversations. We're having those deliberations, that bipartisan manner.
RAJU: Mr. LaLota, on that -- on that --
(CROSSTALK)
RAJU: On that point, though, the Republican leaders are saying we're not going to negotiate any of that until the government reopens. Democrats are saying, well, we need to negotiate this now.
We're in a stalemate. This government shutdown is getting very, very painful for so many Americans who have been furloughed, who've lost jobs. So, why not change strategies? Why not for the good of the country, really, sit down with Democrats and just try to negotiate a solution right now?
LALOTA: Great question. The C.R., the clean C.R., no cuts, no gimmicks, no partisan riders is the negotiated solution to help move our country forward. It's what we did 13 times under Biden.
Republicans and Democrats said, hey, listen, we can't get along. We don't agree on the border. We don't agree on the woke policies. We don't agree on continuing covid era spending. But responsible Republicans crossed the aisle and funded Biden's government to keep ensure that our air traffic controllers are paid, our military is paid, our national laboratories are funded.
[08:25:04]
And every important thing that we do as a country was done responsibly last Congress under Biden, because cooler heads prevailed. The action, Manu, that needs to be taken is Chuck Schumer or five Senate Democrats. It only takes five to do the very thing they did 13 times --
RAJU: But bottom line --
LALOTA: -- is clearly in their court. The clean C.R. is the negotiated tool that we should use to move on from.
RAJU: The bottom line, and we got to wrap it here. But bottom line, you don't think Republicans should negotiate right now with Democrats, is that correct?
LALOTA: You can't negotiate with a hostage taker. It would merely reward more hostage taking in the future. It would say to the minority party, and one day the Republicans will be in the minority, too. It would say that the minority party is right to hold the government hostage, withhold pay from government employees, hurt our national security, don't pay our air traffic controllers.
It would tell the minority party they're right to do that until they exact some sort of policy win. It's the wrong road to go down. They can't reward a hostage-taker, Manu.
RAJU: All right. Congressman Nick LaLota, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us this Sunday morning. Really appreciate your time.
LALOTA: Thanks, Manu. Be good. RAJU: Coming up next, two governor's races, a battle for New York
City mayor and a redistricting war that could boost Democrats. Where the races stand, and who is getting nervous just 16 days to go?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:31:02]
MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: There are still a lot of questions unanswered about the mood of the electorate. How angry are voters at Donald Trump? Do they believe the Democratic Party is too far left or should go even further left? And which side is more energized ahead of the midterms?
In just 16 days, we will start to get some of those answers with the biggest races since Trump's victory last year.
My panel is back with me.
Of course, the big ones were watching -- the New York City mayoral race, the Virginia gubernatorial race, the New Jersey gubernatorial race. And Astead, in his swan song for "The New York Times", wrote this cover story for "The New York Times Magazine" about the "Improbable, incredible, unstoppable rise of Zohran".
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So far.
RAJU: So far. Is there any way he loses this race?
HERNDON: It would be a huge shock. And I think that we should acknowledge from the forefront that that's not where people were on primary night, which is frankly, when I started my reporting efforts.
At that time, there was still a lot of sense that maybe Eric Adams or Andrew Cuomo could make this a complicated general. And it's gone in the opposite direction because of what Mamdani has done.
And that reporting, it makes really clear how much of his effort has been to reach out to folks who are skeptical and present a kind of more inclusive version of himself.
But I think the takeaways for me are really somewhat beyond left, right specifically. He works from the premise of his beliefs.
And I think that, for one, a lot of Democrats feel like, particularly in a post-Obama moment, had like mastered this triangulation dance where it feels like sometimes they're trying to say nothing.
I think one takeaway I really have is I feel like in this era that doesn't work. And so what -- what Mamdani starts with is what he does believe. And I think whether you're left, right or center, that's something that can be taken away.
RAJU: It's authenticity.
HERNDON: Yes. RAJU: Even regardless of where you may come down --
HERNDON: Exactly.
RAJU: -- ideologically.
HERNDON: But I think also you can't remove the centrality of his advocacy about Gaza from this too. You know, it really comes through clearly there that the reason, I mean, as many folks said, that he was able to bring some folks back who had turned away from Democrats in 2024 -- first generation Americans, working class people of color, young people -- was partially because of that advocacy. And it's a reason why he's trusted on things like affordability.
And so even when people try to separate those issues, it was clear why you're being (ph) out there that they're kind of connected. He doesn't have to talk about it all the time because it's baked into the litmus test of trust that voters have with him as a reason why they think he'll stand up to real estate companies and stand up to others.
RAJU: And he's got the energy on his side so far, just the polls from Fox News poll -- extremely, very enthusiastic about voting among registered voters. 75 percent of Mamdani supporters are excited; just 43 percent of Cuomo supporters.
HERNDON: Yes.
Can I say one thing about -- I really feel like a big takeaway for me with this race is also about the kind of collapse of the center by itself. You know, separate from Mamdani --
RAJU: Yes.
HERNDON: -- the focus on affordability really does expose, I think, Andrew Cuomo's lack of answers on that question. What is his solution to the core question that New Yorkers are asking? He doesn't really have one.
And I think it really reflects in the kind of way that they've treated this race. He's now demanding he would drop out, rather than actually trying to go court and win those supporters.
RAJU: Yes.
HERNDON: That comes to the core of that (INAUDIBLE)
RAJU: Why are the Democrats -- I mean, they see the energy on the left. They're not harnessing that. The Democratic leaders, they're scared of Zohran Mamdani.
AARON BLAKE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. And I think that we saw after the primary, they kind of took a wait-and-see approach. They wanted to see if this was going to be their reality, if the lead that he was showing the Democratic primary was going to translate into the general election.
I think we've seen over time that that has become a reality. And so they have to figure out what they're going to do about that.
And we've seen them still to this day, kind of struggling with this question about whether they support this guy. I think that he has now gotten to a position where he's forcing them to reckon with who he is.
The idea that this kind of approach could be a future of the Democratic Party, what are they going to do about that? But I think that it's a -- it's a reality now. And as we proceed over the next month here, that's going to become pretty clear.
[08:34:50]
RAJU: And Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday, my conversations will continue with Zohran Mamdani when he was asked about an endorsement.
You know, this all comes as there were questions about the two big races, the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial race. Question about concerns among some Democrats about how New Jersey is playing at the moment.
There are signs that that race could be tightening. Just a five-point lead, according to the Fox News poll.
This is an interesting quote from Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster in "The New York Times", was asked about the -- how the party is focusing again on Trump, as they do in election after election.
"I worry," she said, "that Donald is like crack cocaine for our party." Her view is that the party needs to put more of a positive vision rather than being anti-Trump party.
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, but I think they're running into exactly what Astead is saying. They don't want to say the wrong thing.
So they -- so they're falling back on what they know unites Democrats, which is the fact that they don't like Trump.
And, you know, in New Jersey, we know that Republicans have gained more voters in the last four years, and Democrats have lost voters. And so who turns out and -- but look no further than the parade of Democrats going to New Jersey to campaign.
Like prominent Democrats, you know, Obama endorsed -- like, really they're trying to throw everything at it in order to hold that seat.
RAJU: What about Trump in this? I mean, he did better in New Jersey than he did in 2020. We saw that that margin narrow. He's all in for Jack Ciattarelli, Republican nominee. Not so much Winsome Earl-Sears in Virginia. He still has not given a full-throated endorsement.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: No. And Jersey -- I mean, I'm -- it's my home state, I will say.
I mean, one of the most remarkable things when I was on the campaign trail last year, covering then-candidate Trump was when I went to Wildwood, and he had that massive rally on the beach. I was like, holy cow, I didn't -- I mean, it was insane how many people were there?
Look, I mean, one thing about that race, too, in New Jersey, separate from the Trump side of it, I think is just worth pointing out, is that Jersey does have a history of electing Republican governors.
And they also, particularly at this time, I mean, we had Phil Murphy for however many years. It actually I mean to see Mikie Sherrill losing a lot of the support after having seen the race tightening at this point, that's where I think some of the Trump factor does come in, to be honest.
But I also think you know, to have a Republican doing better at this point is not actually that atypical for the state.
RAJU: Yes. And, you know, it's an off-year election, midterm environment. The turnout is going to be obviously key, as it is every election. What side is more energized. And if Trump -- they pull off an upset here in New Jersey, that would be monumental.
But we will see, comes just 16 days away.
All right. Next a Democrat endorsed by Bernie Sanders in a key Senate race. Well, he is apologizing after a slew of reports about controversial past social media posts. What it all means for his campaign and what it says about the fight within his party.
That's next.
[08:37:57]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RAJU: New this weekend: the Bernie Sanders-backed candidate in the crucial Maine Senate race is in damage control. Graham Platner is a military veteran turned oyster farmer who has galvanized the progressive wing of his party.
And earlier this week, CNN reviewed social media posts mostly made under Platner's Reddit handle five years ago that were deleted ahead of his campaign launch.
In them, he once called himself a communist, dismissed all police as bastards, and said rural white Americans actually are racist and stupid.
Now Platner put out a video Friday apologizing after more outlets reported on other deleted messages, including about sexual assault.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM PLATNER (D), MAINE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: As I read through them, I read things that I absolutely do not agree with. This was a time in my life where I was struggling deeply. I got out of the army in 2012. I had PTSD. I had depression. It left
me feeling very unmoored. It left me feeling very disillusioned, very alienated, and very isolated.
And I think, like a lot of people, I went on the Internet to post stupid things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: All right. My panel is back.
I mean, Aaron, you've covered many Senate races over the years. This one is a very, very important race -- one of the most important in the country. Susan Collins is very difficult to beat.
Democrats have a debate over what's the best candidate. Yes. He's got the energy on the left, but having an untested newcomer raises a lot of questions and risks for the party.
BLAKE: Yes. I mean, if I were the National Democratic Party right now and I were looking at this race, I would say this is exactly why we're skeptical of candidates like this.
I mean, if you look at the comments in our colleague Andrew Kozinski's story, these are basically comments that feed exactly into Republican caricatures of where the Democratic Party is right now.
And so this gives the Democratic base a very difficult choice right now. They love the energy of this guy. They're very concerned about Janet Mills, who would be the oldest elected senator in history -- like a newly-elected senator.
RAJU: And the Democratic leaders have urged Janet Mills to get --
(CROSSTALKING)
KUCINICH: He was a big recruiting win --
BLAKE: -- a joint fundraising committee with her. They're clearly on her side to some extent. And so now it's a -- it's a question for the Democratic base about whether they think these comments go too far and raise electability concerns in the general election.
[08:44:47]
RAJU: And you have this generational divide, as Aaron was referring to, not just in Maine, but also in Massachusetts.
You have there, Ed Markey, incumbent veteran Democratic senator, 79 years old, running for reelection. You have Seth Moulton, congressman, 46 years old. And he's putting that age right at the heart of his decision to challenge the incumbent.
KUCINICH: Yes. They don't really -- ideologically, he's not really separating himself from Markey. He said he doesn't really have any problem with any of his views. It has everything to do with the fact that Markey is old.
And this is something -- this is very Seth Moulton's whole thing, though. I mean, he went after Pelosi. He ran for president.
RAJU: Yes, he did.
KUCINICH: He was -- he was one of the first to come out and say Biden was too old to run. So this is very -- this is consistent for Seth Moulton.
He will need at some point, though, to explain to Democratic voters in Massachusetts why Ed Markey should be fired, other than the fact that he's aging.
RAJU: But the post Biden --
HERNDON: Yes.
RAJU: -- is this what the Democratic Party, the base is looking for? Younger candidates, or is that still an open question?
HERNDON: I think there is absolutely a desire for generational change. I think there's a recognition that the gerontocracy of Democrats cost them in the election, not just with the literal choice of Joe Biden, but in terms of a deference to process, a deference to kind of insider thinking that I think really was an overarching theme of the last several years.
I think it's been interesting that many of Graham Platner's national endorsers -- you know, Bernie Sanders, Ro Khanna haven't moved, you know.
I think that they're making a kind of case saying that in this digital age, we're going to get more and more people, more and more candidates who have said things previously.
I've seen -- I saw -- I saw someone kind of make an argument to me. When you ask for authentic candidates, you're going to get some rough- and-tumble kind of controversies. This is what primaries are for.
And so to me, the interesting question is, you know, the kind of Senate Joint Fundraising Committee putting the thumb on the scale to usurp that process.
RAJU: Yes.
HERNDON: The voters of Maine will decide if Graham Platner's comments go too far or not. And that goes beyond, I think, the kind of imposing top down that Democrats are very used to.
And some of the Democrats have come to -- who've defended Graham Platner, like Ro Khanna, who's endorsed him, said that, you know, if we're positive about the way he addressed this head on. Do you think that he can survive all these damaging stories?
TREENE: I know, I think, as Astead said, it's going to be up to the voters. I think the hard thing with those comments, though, and his -- I do think the apology hopefully goes, you know, we'll see if it goes a long way with his supporters.
But -- and I think to Aaron's point is what I keep thinking about the danger, though, of having him be successful in spite of this is that he does represent everything that Republicans -- I mean, I can already imagine how the president would react if he was to succeed, to say this is exactly the type of Democrat that we've been warning about.
RAJU: Yes.
TREENE: This is what Democrats represent and stand for. And that is a very dangerous place to be. It's one thing, you know, of course, in Maine, but for an election that is so important, particularly when you look at, you know, the majorities in the House, the way that that state votes, it's going to be a fascinating thing to see whether or not voters can stomach it.
RAJU: And Democrats are contending with all these messy primaries and a bunch of Senate races around the country. Michigan as well, not just to mention Maine.
BLAKE: Yes. And in the House, too, there's a lot of, you know, Steve Cohen facing a very young primary challenger. It's going to be a very interesting primary season.
RAJU: Yes, most certainly is, a significant one as well.
All right. Coming up next for us, Marjorie Taylor Greene is hammering President Trump again. We'll get into the latest. That's next.
[08:48:27]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RAJU: It was the rallying cry of the Tea Party movement to end bailouts at all costs. But flash forward to this week, the Trump administration bailed out the country of Argentina to the tune of $20 billion, swapping U.S. taxpayer dollars for Argentine pesos.
Now the Trump administration is suggesting another $20 billion could come from the private sector. Now why? Argentina's President Milei is an ally of President Trump's. And he has overseen a struggling economy ahead of his reelection bid.
Trump even spelled out that the money would go away if Milei loses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If he wins, we're staying with him. And if he doesn't win, we're gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: So Republican leaders must be absolutely furious now that the Trump administration is bailing out a foreign country and a political ally with U.S. taxpayer dollars, right? Well, not so much.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I think if there's a way to help -- help our friends and allies, and to keep them our friends and allies, then we ought to consider it.
RAJU: (INAUDIBLE)
The president -- the president gave -- is offering his $20 billion bailout to Argentina. Are you ok with that given the debt that this time of shutdown (INAUDIBLE).
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I'm trying to get the details on that.
I didn't talk about it with the president last night, but I was there. And I'm not sure calling it a bailout is right.
RAJU: It's not a bailout.
(CROSSTALKING)
JOHNSON: I don't -- Manu, I don't know anything about it yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Still, there are some Tea Party aligned Republicans who are upset.
Take Senator Rand Paul, who rode that 2010 Tea Party wave in his first victory. He says the potential deal will actually hurt American farmers.
[08:54:50]
RAJU: China typically buys half of all U.S. soybeans, but they're boycotting over Trump's tariffs and are instead getting them from, you guessed it, Argentina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): I'm not for bailing out any country. I think it's a bad idea. We borrowed the money from China to send it to Argentina.
To make matters worse, Argentina competes with us. And right now, soybean growers in my state and other states, China's not buying any of ours because were basically at some -- in an economic war with China.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: There are some on the hard right who are fuming like MAGA- aligned Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said, quote, "Tell me how it's America first to bail out a foreign country." But not many other elected Republicans are echoing that refrain.
That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can follow me on X @mkraju. Follow the show @INSIDEPOLITICS. You can also find me on TikTok and Instagram.
If you ever miss an episode, just catch up wherever you get your podcasts and search for INSIDE POLITICS.
Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH. Dana's guests include Alabama Senator Katie Britt and DNC chairman Ken Martin.
Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.
[08:56:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
