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Hundreds Of Flights Canceled As FAA Limits Air Travel; No Deal Appears Imminent As Longest-Ever Shutdown Keeps Going; V.P. Vance: Judge's Demand To Fund SNAP Benefits Is "Absurd Ruling"; Rep. Elise Stefanik, Close Trump Ally, Jumps Into N.Y. Gov. Race; Democrats Celebrate Sweeping Wins A Year After Devastating Logs. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired November 07, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: It came out too late, past the window for eligibility with the recording academy, so you will have to wait to talk to me next year because she will undoubtedly sweep the nominations next year.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: All right. Thanks for clearing that up, Elizabeth Wagmeister. Great to see you.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CO-ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: We are swifties.

BROWN: We are swifties. Absolutely, Wolf Blitzer is definitely a swifty.

BLITZER: And to all of our viewers out there, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media @wolfblitzer and @pamelabrowncn.

BROWN: And we will see you back here tomorrow -- or Monday morning, I should say, and every weekday morning at 10 Eastern. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Dana Bash, starts right now.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, grounded by gridlock. We're following coast to coast, air travel disruptions as the FAA slashes flights due to government shutdown, staffing shortages will outraged. Passengers finally push Congress to cut a deal.

Plus, seizing the message, slamming the messenger. Republican Elise Stefanik's campaign launch for New York governor is putting mayor elect Zohran Mamdani front and center, borrowing not just a page, but a whole chapter on the issue he won on.

And no litmus tests. That's President Obama's post-election message to Democrats. Three of his former top advisors now of Pod Save America fame are here to unpack what's next for their party.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We start with hundreds of flights across the country canceled on the first day of air traffic cuts at 40 of the nation's busiest airports. Right now, it's impacting 4 percent of flights, but that could go way up to 10 percent by next Friday, if a deal is not reached to reopen the government.

This is all because air traffic controllers, the essential workers who keep planes from crashing into each other, are working without pay, leading to some calling out, maybe to pick up another job just to make ends meet. As for the lawmakers that could do something to end this mess, well, they're at a standstill, just like so many flights, and passengers are fed up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just difficult to understand how they just can't figure this out. You know, it's going to impact everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wish they'd get their stuff together and do what's needed for the people, because the people are suffering out here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm renting a car. I have to be back in Utah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are really hurting out here. It's not just the traveling public, but it's affecting the whole economy, and you people are to blame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: To be clear, when that traveler said, you people, he was referring to the lawmakers here in Washington, D.C. I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here. Nice to see you all. Seung Min, I'll start with you. You know, yesterday, at this time, it felt like they were getting close. There was momentum, and now here we are, it's Friday. People are stuck quite literally in airports and Congress is, just can't get it together.

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, AP: Right. There's discussion in the Senate about potentially keeping lawmakers here through the weekend, but in order to do that, you have to have something to vote on and something positive to vote on, not necessarily a messaging bill for political purposes. There was optimism yesterday, but I think you're seeing a lot of push back from Democrats.

When it did look like there were at least this kind of core group of moderate Democrats were willing to compromise with Senate Republicans on getting some sort of a government opening bill passed. A lot of Democrats are very buoyed by Tuesday's election results, saying voters rewarded us for holding the line and fighting back.

So, after the resounding victories that we had on Tuesday night, why would we fight back? And the White House sort of saw it differently. They felt, you know, a senior White House official told us that they felt, once the elections were out of the way, and the political posturing could disappear than the actual negotiations could happen. So, they're very -- there are those two competing dynamics right now, all while millions of travelers are getting kind of caught in that -- it caught in that mess.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, the political pressure points are obvious, but irrelevant when you're talking about, yes, it's the air traffic, but people who are not able to actually eat because of this -- this political nonsense, frankly, that's happening that they can't actually get something together.

Let's look at John Thune, the Senate majority leader. He went on Fox this morning, and he talked a little bit about what you just said. The dynamic that he sees as they thought that they were there, then the Democrats, from his perspective, move the goalposts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): What's happening is the far left, which is the tail wagging the dog, is bullying the reasonable Democrats out of coming to the table. We have a proposal that they have been reviewing and looking at now for several days, mostly with things that they asked for, including a normal appropriations process. We open up the government. They get a vote on their Obamacare fix.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:05:00]

HANS NICHOLS, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Yeah. What his diagnosis there isn't that controversial, right? There is a group of progressives in the Democratic caucus that is driving a lot of this. These are these closed-door meetings that we're all trying to report out. And the group of say, 10, 11, of this sort of real progressive saying, don't compromise. And they're 10 to 12 in the group that you're talking about is saying, let's cut a deal. That dynamic hasn't changed.

I didn't hear a solution there from Thune on how to get out of this dynamic, and how you actually advance talks, to actually get to an outcome. And in terms of just the overall where we are, it feels, and you guys correct me if I'm wrong, it feels like this was a wasted week. It feels like -- it feels like we can't -- there's a great deal of optimism the beginning of the week. There are the elections.

I quibble a little bit with the White House analysis, in large part because Donald Trump himself is saying that voters are blaming Republicans for the shutdown, and when the president says the quiet part out loud, that makes it a lot harder to kind of tamp down Democrats and force them to take a deal. But here we are, it's Friday. We don't have their votes this weekend and we definitely don't have a deal.

BASH: Well, it is true. I don't -- I think you said it's not controversial. I think it's factual, that Democrats, who are in these conversations, and I've spoken to some of them are now saying, you know, well, we won. So, we're not the ones who should back down. You Republicans should back down. And the sticking point right now is where it has been, which is the Obamacare premium benefits.

Listen to Chris Murphy talking about this specific point of view by Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Mostly a referendum on Trump's corruption and his chaos, but voters were telling Democrats they want us to stand up for what we believe in, and they want us to use our power to try to keep costs down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and that has been the discussion in the Democratic Party for the entire year. Is what is the message they rally around? It's the resist Trump. Well, now they're in a position where it weren't the longest shutdown in history. They have to come out of it with something to show for it. And that had been the discussion early on in this government shutdown as well, and now it's a push come to shove.

And to your point, it's unclear how they get out of it, but what we are seeing is the pile on of the effects of this. Not long ago, we were talking at this table about how Americans weren't quite feeling the shutdown yet, but they certainly are now, and now, following what we're seeing with SNAP, the Democrats -- we still don't have a solution, and SNAP is huge for Democrats.

BASH: Well, let me just read to you what a judge ordered for the administration to pay full SNAP benefits. We're talking about government assistance for people who can't afford to eat or feed their children for the entire month of November. The judge said, without SNAP funding for the month of November, 16 million children are immediately at risk of going hungry. This should never happen in America, saying the administration has the power to open up a fund to pay this and they should.

Here's what J.D. Vance said about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's an absurd ruling because you have a federal judge effectively telling us what we have to do in the midst of a Democrat government shutdown, which what we'd like to do is for the Democrats to open up the government of course, then we can fund SNAP and we can also do a lot of other good things for the American people. But in the midst of a shutdown, we can't have a federal court telling the president how he has to triage the situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Isn't that -- I mean, when Congress and when the legislative and executive branch aren't functioning, isn't that like exactly what the judicial branch is--

KIM: It's sort of resolve those disputes, right, right? But I mean, in a broader sense, we've seen the Trump administration repeatedly push back against judicial rulings that they found, you know, that they themselves disagreed with. But it's really interesting to see what this administration has prioritized during the shutdown.

Obviously, the president and his administration made it very clear that finding a way, for example, to get members of the military paid was a high priority for them. And just kind of, you know, flip over the couch cushions to find some extra pennies here and there to make sure that--

BASH: Or get donations from the outside.

KIM: That as well. Flip other people's couch questions. But on SNAP, it's been fascinating me how -- even though they kind of have this cover, if you will, from a judge, to actually pay out these benefits. They're repeatedly fighting it in court. So, you do it, it helps you see kind of where their priorities have been in the shutdown. Maybe they see SNAP as a leverage point for Democrats, we don't know.

BASH: Well, except that and we're going to have to go to break. Except that, it's not just Democrats who are going hungry.

KIM: Exactly.

BASH: It's just Americans who need it, Democrats and Republicans. And as we go to break, just look at some of the headlines from across the country. Texas, in Tennessee, in Indiana, in West Virginia, these are red states. All right. When we come back, a Trump favorite versus a Trump foil. The New York governor's race promises to pit them against one another. We'll explain ahead.

[12:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: It's a headline, 2026 race, and it now has its main characters. Elise Stefanik is running for governor. The Republican congresswoman did what most everyone expected her to do this morning, making her challenge to the Democratic incumbent, Kathy Hochul official. Stefanik is a Trump favorite. She's running in his native state.

[12:15:00]

So, expect her candidacy to attract a lot of attention and plenty of cash. And if her announcement video and morning appearance on Fox are any indication, Stefanik plans to win by coopting Zohran Mamdani's message, but attacking him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): She's an accidental governor. She's only in this position because she was Cuomo's lieutenant governor, and when New Yorkers were looking for strong leadership from a governor not to bend the knee to Zohran Mamdani. Kathy Hochul bent the knee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And the panel is back now. Before we start our discussion, I do want to play a little bit of the video that she put out this morning as she made her announcement. And just watch it and look for some very familiar themes.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

BASH: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, just in that part, and it was a longer video, the word affordable or unaffordable?

NICHOLS: Yeah. I thought you were going to trick us. I thought it was going all be about Mamdani.

BASH: It was later, which we'll talk about.

NICHOLS: And that's going to be like, a noun, a verb, Mamdani--

BASH: Yeah, yeah.

NICHOLS: --which would be her message.

BASH: That's the second part.

NICHOLS: Yeah. Look, this is like, I mean, Trump's feeling this. Joe Biden felt it. You know, prices go up. Inflation is real. They're really difficult to get around.

BASH: But he just won New York City, which I know is not all of New York because of this issue, but she obviously was well aware.

NICHOLS: Yeah, by addressing it, yeah.

BASH: Correct. Yeah.

NICHOLS: So, I guess we're going to have an affordability contest with, like, millions of dollars. There's going to be so much money spent in this race, at least Stefanik is a fundraising machine that will be an expensive race. I don't like, have any interest in owning a television station in Syracuse or Buffalo, but free investment advice, if you were. There are going to be--

ALVAREZ: Well, that -- but also missing from that video is the president. If I recall from watching it, he was not shown. He did not come up in that video. And affordability is also something that the White House is grappling with as the administration in power and the President Joe Biden similarly dealt with this, having covered the White House then.

But he also does not engage with this issue as much, despite his advisers wanting him to. So, as much as she is leaning into affordability, it's his native state. He is someone who may not be at the forefront.

BASH: It's such an important point that I don't remember her talking about Donald Trump in the video. No, she is running for governor in New York. He left New York. OK, so we maybe understand that. But you know who is reminding people of her relationship with New York? The people who like Kathy Hochul.

So, let's watch a little bit of what Elise Stefanik is doing and making it just on the people, making it all about Zohran Mamdani and Kathy Hochul's people are making it all about Donald Trump.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

KIM: Right. This is why, you know, the observations that she didn't put Trump in her ad is really interesting look. I've been talking with people close to her for the last several months as she's flirted pretty openly with running for governor, and they're obviously not naive to the fact that New York is a blue state. But what they have pointed to over and over is the crossover appeal that she's demonstrated in her upstate New York District.

If you look at the numbers from 16, 20, 24, she had outperformed Trump by a lot, by double digits in her district. Now, obviously, in one district where she is well known is not a statewide race, but she does have significant statewide ID. They feel like the 20 to 25 percent of Democratic voters that she's getting in her district can be translated statewide. However, it will be hard to escape her close ties to Trump, as Democrats are going to continuously remind us about next year.

BASH: Yeah. But -- and remember that district, she came into that district as a George W. Bush former staffer, as somebody who was a more traditional Republican, even a more moderate Republican, and then in the age and era of Trump. Well, first of all, her district became more red, but she became more Trumpy.

ALVAREZ: Well, and there's also time to see how the administration responds to the new New York City mayor. I remember during the first Trump administration when they tried to levy consequences against New Yorkers through the Department of Homeland Security.

[12:20:00]

When they were fighting against the sanctuary law and that hurt people with their renewing of global (Ph) and applying. So, there's still time to see what the president does. It doesn't just affect Democrats. It can affect many and how she responds to that.

NICHOLS: That's one bright spot for Republicans on Tuesday night, when you -- we're all talking to our sources. They did well in Nassau County. And I'm not making a joke about Nassau County. They actually -- the Nassau County commissioner there won by an increased margin that he did four years ago.

And so, they think that that's a Mamdani effect. So yes, Mamdani won by talking about affordability, but the spillover effect in those suburbs -- suburban counties, Republicans like what they see there, and that's why it's going to be all about Mamdani.

BASH: You're way too smart to make fun of Nassau County.

NICHOLS: (inaudible) I don't want to be too granular on a big, broader picture.

BASH: We get it. It's Inside Politics, man.

NICHOLS: You're right. (CROSSTALK)

NICHOLS: Well, inside Nassau County, we're taking the show on the road. We're going ahead Hempstead.

BASH: Thank you. Coming up next. Talk about insiders. Democrats, look at that. They haven't had much to celebrate, but they certainly did this week, and three of those Democrats celebrating. You guys don't look like you're celebrating. Let's see you're celebrating faces. OK. There you go.

Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, and Dan Pfeiffer, we'll talk to them after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: That was last night at Crooked Con, a strategy session for Democrats hosted by the Obama White House alums behind Pod Save America, and you saw that surprise cameo from their former boss. It came, of course, after a great night for Democrats on Tuesday, sweeping major races, Virginia, New Jersey, California, New York, winning a lot of down ballot races as well across the country.

So here to talk about that and what comes next for Democrats are the hosts of Pod Save America, Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, and Dan Pfeiffer. Hello boys. How are you? Nice to see you.

JON FAVREAU, CO-FOUNDER, CROOKED MEDIA & CO-HOST, "POD SAVE AMERICA": Good. How are you?

BASH: I just scored that cameo last night. You know, a guy?

FAVREAU: He actually, he reached out to us, which is really nice, and said, that he wanted to do it, which is really cool. Too bad his mic was off at the top.

TOMMY VIETOR, CO-HOST, "POD SAVE AMERICA": You know, we fixed it eventually.

DAN PFEIFFER, CO-HOST, "POD SAVE AMERICA": We decided we weren't going to bother him with it. But he volunteered because he heard there are all these people here. So, we're very lucky.

BASH: Very cool, very cool. So, let's start in on this week. As I mentioned, and as you know, because you're among the Democrats who are excited and energized after Tuesday night, lots of reasons to see encouraging signs. Ultimately, though, I'm not going to be Debbie Downer here for you, but we know, and you know, these are off, off year races in blue states.

The DNC Chair, Ken Martin, called the results a sign of a really systemic sea change. Fabs, I'm going to start with you. Do you agree with that? Or is he over reading it?

FAVREAU: I think that -- I mean, I think it was the most successful off year election of my lifetime, certainly, because look, you'd expect Democrats to do well in blue places, in Virginia and in New Jersey. But like, if they had just -- the Democrats running had just matched Kamala Harris's margin, or even just had a few extra points, you'd think, OK, it was a pretty good night.

But the size of the margins and sort of the size of the victory even down ballot and in places like Georgia, where we won two statewide elections for the first time in decades, and they were non-federal and all over the country. And the fact that it wasn't just turnout that helped Democrats win, but also persuasion and so that some of the vote, like 7 percent of the voters in Virginia and in New Jersey, who had voted for Trump in 2024 switched to vote for Spanberger and Sherrill. I think that shows that it's a much bigger victory than usually get in a typical Lafayette election.

BASH: Dan?

PFEIFFER: Yeah. I mean, I think Jon's right. Like there -- look, we're not naive about this. We're to win the majority in the House and the Senate, and then when the White House in 2020, we're going to have to win in states a lot redder than New Jersey, Virginia. But there is something happening here, right?

As Jon said, 7 percent of voters in New Jersey and Virginia voted, Trump voters voted for a Democrat. In New York City, 9 percent of 2024 Trump voters voted for Zohran Mamdani. In California, 12 percent of Trump voters voted for Gavin Newsom's redistricting.

There are voters who pulled the lever for Trump with great reservations because they thought he was going to lower their costs. He's felt miserably to do that, and they're willing to look at Democrats. Now, we have a lot of work to do to win them over, to win in '26 and beyond, but it's a very positive sign. And frankly, Dana, we haven't had a positive sign for a long time, like, let us have this.

BASH: Yeah, that's fair. Tommy, I want to pick up on that and play a little bit more of what your former boss, President Obama, said last night when he joined your event about the results and the direction of the Democratic Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, 44TH U.S. PRESIDENT: Your task is going to be not to impose litmus tests. We had Abigail Spanberger win and we had Zohran Mamdani win. And they are all part of a vision for the future. Our job is to say that we want everybody engaged.