Return to Transcripts main page
Inside Politics
Trump Demands GOP Nuke The Filibuster To End Shutdown; John King Visits All Five Boroughs To Unpack The NYC Election; Creator Of "Nobody Wants This" On Hit Show's New Season. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired October 31, 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: -- President Trump didn't just kind of tweet like two words. He put an entire long post up. This is just part of it. "It's now time for the Republicans to play their Trump card and go for what is called the nuclear option -- get rid of the filibuster and get rid of it, now!"
This is something that the Senate Majority Leader John Thune told me recently on this program. Most other Republicans, even Mike Johnson, who isn't in the Senate but has an opinion as Speaker of the House, just said this morning he thinks that's a bad idea.
MELANIE MASON, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: And how rare is that, that you're hearing from both Republican congressional leaders that they are not on the same page as Trump. And perhaps they'll hold the line on this one. This does feel to be like the one red line that Senate Republicans have -- even when they have sort of complied with Donald Trump and his increasingly norms-breaking sort of actions over and over again.
The filibuster seemed like it was the one sacrosanct thing --
BASH: Because it'll help them now. But as soon as Democrats retake the Senate, it's going to be a nightmare for Republicans.
MASON: Absolutely. I mean, look, we had sort of the mirror image of this debate when Senate Democrats controlled, right? That they were -- Democrats were constantly getting frustrated. They couldn't get things done. And there was a real movement, in fact, among the base of, is the filibuster almost a litmus test question?
And you did have people like Kyrsten Sinema. Joe Manchin say, wait a minute, you know. So there's always just that threat looming. It could always be worse when the other guys are in charge.
PETER HAMBY, FOUNDING PARTNER, PUCK NEWS: It's an interesting test of John Thune, I think, in particular, as an institutionalist, someone who worked under Mitch McConnell, versus what his party is now, which is beholden to Donald Trump. And there will be a divide on this question. I mean, we'll see if they get rid of the filibuster.
It's already been weakened over the years --
BASH: Yes.
HAMBY: -- between the sort of Josh Hawley, Tuberville set, and over here, the more establishment Thune, Murkowski set.
BASH: We're going real Inside Politics --
HAMBY: Well, you know, you used to be Capitol Hill person.
BASH: I love it. I love it.
HAMBY: I'm trying to impress you, Dana.
BASH: No, I said, I love it. I love it. Consider me impressed.
Thank you both. Don't go anywhere.
Up next, CNN's John King hits all five boroughs to get New Yorkers take Mamdani, Cuomo, or Sliwa.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:36:41]
BASH: This weekend is the final blitz for New York City mayoral candidates who are hoping to win over every last vote. CNN's John King is talking to New Yorkers visiting all five boroughs to hear what they really think about the candidates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How are you today? We're here to figure out who's going to win the mayor's race, that's why we're here. Who's going to win? Cab drivers know everything, don't they?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no. You know, most of the people say that the Indian guy.
KING: Mamdani.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
KING (voice-over): Brooklyn is critical to Mamdani's chances.
ALICE HENTY, NEW YORK VOTER: I believe in socialism, so for me, he's a beacon.
KING (voice-over): The liberal Bushwick neighborhood is home to Diego and filmmaker Alice Henty.
HENTY: Well, I think the country's just going really badly down the toilet, and I think Zohran is like the glimmer of hope for me and for everyone I know.
KING (voice-over): Not swayed by Trump's threat to slash federal aid if Mamdani wins. HENTY: No.
KING: Too bad?
HENTY: No, I just think that's what we're going to live in fear and only do things in reaction to Trump for the rest of our lives, because then we're really (INAUDIBLE). Excuse my French, but we ought to stand up.
KING: I don't think that's French.
HENTY: It is in France.
KING: And in New York.
GIOVANNI LANZO, NEW YORK VOTER: It's pizza. It never fails.
KING (voice-over): Luigi's is in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, opened 52 years ago by Giovanni Lanzo's father.
LANZO: I'm tossed up still.
KING (voice-over): That's Brooklyn for undecided, but a clue here. Mamdani says he's changed his mind, but he did in the past call for defunding the police.
LANZO: Now what am I going to do? I say get rid of them, and then when I need them, I'm going to call who? Superman. Clark Kent don't exist.
KING (voice-over): A taste test.
KING: Simple excellence. Sauce, mozzarella, a little basil, lunch.
KING (voice-over): Off to Manhattan.
Up the stairs, way uptown.
KING: After most of the day in Brooklyn, this is evening in Manhattan. Manhattan is by far the wealthiest of the five boroughs. The median income here, $106,000 a year. It's also the most educated.
65 percent of Manhattan residents have at least four years of college, meaning a bachelor's degree or higher.
KING (voice-over): Trivia night at the Gaffe East draws a lively crowd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll tell you, we have a few rules for trivia.
KING (voice-over): This table, all in for Mamdani.
KING: What do you think is the single most important issue for the next mayor of New York?
ANNA ST. CLAIR, NEW YORK VOTER: I definitely think it's affordability.
LAL LOPEZ, NEW YORK VOTER: To protect us from what's going on on the federal level.
KING (voice-over): Anna St. Clair works in public relations. Lal Lopez is a nurse. 29 and 40. Young professionals who welcome Mamdani ideas others call socialist, unrealistic, and worse.
LOPEZ: And everyone just calls him a communist, and you know, and I don't have reservations with him. I think he's fully capable.
ST. CLAIR: He has like new ideas that are like different, like the grocery stores, which like, you know, something like that, OK, like maybe that won't work out. But I think the idea that he's like, I have this new policy proposal, or like the free buses is like, inspiring.
KING (voice-over): Up with the sun on day two --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome aboard the Staten Island Ferry.
KING (voice-over): -- on our way to the city's conservative outpost.
[12:40:01]
KING: We're starting our morning on the Staten Island Ferry. Officially, Staten Island is Richmond County on the map, famous for these ferries. You see us here, passing by the Statue of Liberty behind me, heading over to Staten Island. We started in Manhattan.
Staten Island is the least populous of New York's five boroughs. Still, about 500,000 people. That's roughly the size of Oakland, California, or Raleigh, North Carolina. It is also unique among the five boroughs because Staten Island is majority white. About 56 percent of its residents are white.
And here's another unique Staten Island distinction. It is the only borough Donald Trump has ever won in his three runs for president, and Trump has won it all three times.
KING (voice-over): The Island Coffee Shop is a Staten Island landmark.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought you everyday. I thought you everyday.
KING: Well, then you need to find something better to do.
Abelardo Alemin sees his vote as a message to Trump.
ABELARDO ALEMIN, NEW YORK VOTER: If Mamdani wins, I mean, it will be probably a relief, probably for our immigration, immigrant community, you know, because he gives us hope.
KING (voice-over): Joe Rinaldo prefers a counter seat.
JOE RINALDO, NEW YORK VOTER: Yes, I've been all over the world. This is probably the best breakfast place in the world.
KING (voice-over): Rinaldo believe Sliwa was still has a chance to beat Mamdani, especially if voters accept his test for picking a mayor. RINALDO: 12:00 midnight, you're on a train. Three thugs get on the train. You want him but you and the other car, or do you want the guardian angels? Tell me who you want. Tell me the truth. You, tell me the truth.
KING: I don't answer questions. I ask questions. Sorry.
RINALDO: If you love your daughter, you can't vote for Mamdani. You can't vote for him.
KING (voice-over): The coffee and service are great. The conversation crackling, but we have a lot more ground to cover. So back to the ferry, and then a drive up to BQE.
Title Brothers is on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, an Italian grocery founded by a Jewish family, 110 years ago.
KING: How's business?
KING (voice-over): Gil Teitel is a registered Republican, a Trump voter, maybe Cuomo for mayor, if he thinks he can win. Teitel says Mamdani's math just doesn't add up.
GIL TEITEL, NEW YORK VOTER: He will raise real estate taxes. He will freeze rent, but then how do you go about paying real estate taxes?
KING (voice-over): Michael Teitel doesn't live in the city anymore, but his daughter does.
MICHAEL TEITEL, NEW YORK VOTER: She's 30 years old. The girl is 30 years old.
KING (voice-over): And he worries about her safety. Michael's gift to a visitor, his signature Italian combo.
KING: That is spectacular. Wow.
The Bronx is the poorest of New York's five boroughs. The median income here is about $50,000 a year. That is less than half of what it is in Manhattan. And while all of New York's boroughs are diverse, the Bronx has this distinction. It is the only borough of the five that is majority Latino.
KING (voice-over): This auto shop is busy. More Trump-Cuomo talk in the blue-collar Bronx. Jose Hernandez is a 47-year auto body veteran, also a Trump voter.
JOSE HERNANDEZ, NEW YORK VOTER: Mamdani, no. I don't like. He talk too much. I don't believe it when the people talk too much. Promise too much things.
KING (voice-over): Four down, one to go.
KING: This is Astoria in Queens. In terms of population, Queens ranks second among the five boroughs. It's right in the middle of the five when it comes to median income. And Queens is the most diverse of the five boroughs, 28 percent Hispanic, 26 percent Asian, 23 percent white, 16 percent black.
KING (voice-over): Mamdani is a fan of this Bangladeshi restaurant. So is Soleyman Abu.
KING: What's the biggest problem in the city or the biggest challenge?
SOLEYMAN ABU, NEW YORK VOTER: The crime and rent control.
KING (voice-over): Abu favors Cuomo because of his experience, but Mamdani has a lot of fans here.
KING: Who's going to win the mayor's race?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mamdani.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mamdani. Mamdani.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mamdani.
KING: We sure about this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we hope so.
KING: Yes, why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?
KING: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New. We need somebody new.
KING (voice-over): Five distinct boroughs. One giant choice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Up next, a rabbi and a sex podcaster walk into a studio. It sounds like a -- maybe a joke, but it turns out it's a huge Netflix hit. And the creator, Erin Foster, will be here. And everybody wants this interview. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:48:48]
BASH: It turns out a show called "Nobody Wants This" is in fact the thing that millions of viewers can't get enough of. Season 2 of the Netflix hit comedy has it all. A hot but still mature relationship. A beautiful and complex depiction of sisterhood. Poignant discussions about faith and an overbearing mother. Rec league basketball. I could go on and on and on, but let's see some of it for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has come to my attention that you hold some opinions about --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a terrible email.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god, how does she do everything?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your approach is all wrong. That's what it is. You need to treat her kind of like a mob boss, right? You got to shower her with compliments, pay her the utmost respect.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if I can do compliments.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me take a crack at it. I speak Bina. OK, god. She is not your biggest fan right now, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought it couldn't get worse. That's what's crazy --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you just write the email?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, shit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, this show is loosely inspired by the creator, Erin Foster's life, although she's been careful to say that her mother-in-law is not inspired by that woman right there, Bina.
Erin Foster, the creator and writer of "Nobody Wants This," is here live and joins me now. It's so good to see you.
ERIN FOSTER, CREATOR, "NOBODY WANTS THIS": Hi. So good to see you too.
BASH: Thanks for coming in. Congrats on all the success of this show.
FOSTER: Thank you.
[12:50:09]
BASH: I heard Kristen Bell talk about the second season as a love letter to sisterhood.
FOSTER: Yes.
BASH: Is that what you think? Or is that what your intention was?
FOSTER: You know, I don't really go into a season with this sort of, like, overarching intention of what the message is. But then as we start to write in the writer's room and map it out, it kind of reveals itself a little bit, you know? And it really did become a sister story, which was really cool.
BASH: Yes. I mean, that makes sense.
FOSTER: Yes. BASH: Because you and your sister --
FOSTER: Yes.
BASH: -- Sara, have such an amazing relationship. Now, for people who don't know, you did not grow up Jewish.
FOSTER: Correct.
BASH: You converted after you met your husband, Simon. And the show, you created the character, Kristen Bell, sort of based on you. But I should want to -- I want to make clear to our viewers, your husband, Simon, is not a rabbi.
FOSTER: He's not a rabbi. Although when we do Shabbat dinners, people tend to ask him to do the prayers. And he's like, I'm just a Jewish guy. I'm not a rabbi. I don't have all the answers.
BASH: Well, a lot of the tension around the show is navigating the relationship --
FOSTER: Yes.
BASH: -- between hot rabbi and Kristen Bell because -- Joanne is her name in the show -- because of the fact that she is not Jewish. And she's trying to figure out if that's something that she wants to do.
FOSTER: Yes.
BASH: And how much -- I mean, this is probably an obvious question, but can you talk about your own journey as it relates to what you write in the show?
FOSTER: Yes. I mean, you know, everything is a seed of truth. For me, my journey to being Jewish was different than Joanne's. But in Season 2, she's really waiting to feel this thing that she wants to feel. And I had a similar experience in the sense that I was 37 years old getting married.
I was this fully formed person who was then sort of taking on this new identity. And I really wanted it to be meaningful. And I didn't want to fake it or phone it in to get married. I really wanted it to feel like something that was connected for me, that I would carry throughout my life, you know, with or without the partner that I was doing it with.
And that's something Joanne really struggles with. And so for me, you know, I sat there in the mikveh, like the final step to becoming Jewish. And I didn't feel this sort of like earth shattering experience that I was wanting to feel. It really wasn't until I was living as a Jewish person in the world that I really felt so connected to being Jewish. And, obviously, experiencing antisemitism as a Jewish person was a really different experience than sort of learning about it or hearing about it before.
BASH: That's really interesting to hear. So you talk about the little steps that you took in your own journey and that is a little bit of a spoiler alert. That is how this season culminates. And I want our viewers to watch this exchange between Esther and Joanne.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're a true givetzer (ph). You're always getting in everybody's business. You ever heard of a yenta, Joanne? That's you. You're a yenta.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a yenta?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, of course you are. I mean, you're obsessed with your family, even though they are so nuts, Jewish. You're always eating the challah before you're supposed to. We all do that, Jewish. Like, I don't really know what you're waiting for, whether it's a sign or the waters depart or what, but the whole thing is just a feeling. And enjoying all those little things is the feeling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And you can see the light bulb going off over Joanne's head there.
FOSTER: Yes. You know, I think being Jewish is -- there's a big question mark around what that means, right? Is it a race? Is it a peoplehood? Is it a religion? Is it a culture? And I think that it kind of is all of those things.
I think when you convert to Judaism, it is a lot of the culture that you're converting to. And for me, I really enjoyed all of the aspects of Judaism that was about family and togetherness. And there's this concept in Judaism that all Jews, past, present, and future, were all at Mount Sinai at the same time, and that you have this connection with that person. And I really felt that once I became Jewish.
BASH: That's fascinating.
OK, I have to ask you about the hot rabbi. Let's give the people what they want.
FOSTER: OK, yes, let's talk hot rabbi.
BASH: Yes. An entire generation swooned over Adam Brody when he was Seth Cohen in "The O.C." Was that something that you thought about? You thought, OK, now those people are a bit older. They would love the same character as the hot rabbi, or did it just kind of fall into place and the stars aligned?
FOSTER: No, it was tricky. I mean, casting is so interesting. You know, Kristen has such a commercial appeal, and Adam has such a commercial appeal, that I sort of didn't know what it was going to look like together, because I really wanted the show to have emotion and depth and contrast.
[12:55:15] And the truth is that they have such layers in them as actors and as people that I got incredibly fortunate and very lucky that they really just fit the roles perfectly. So I didn't know I was creating a millennial fantasy, but I'm really glad that I did. You're welcome, everybody.
BASH: Yes. Well, I'm not a millennial and I'm here for it.
Thank you so much, Erin. Thanks for coming in. So nice to see you.
FOSTER: Thank you so much for having me. It's so nice to see you too. And I love your favorite daughter jacket.
BASH: I thought you would never notice.
FOSTER: OK, guys, we have to acknowledge for your daughter, our brand, she's wearing the top. It looks so good.
BASH: Nice to see you.
FOSTER: Nice to see you too.
BASH: Thank you so much for joining Inside Politics.
CNN News Central starts after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
