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Democrats Celebrate Sweeping Wins A Year After Devastating Loss; "Pod Save America" Hosts On Maine Democrat Graham Platner; Trump Takes Questions As He Meets With Hungarian PM Orban; Zohran Mamdani Elected As NYC's First Muslim Mayor. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired November 07, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:30:00]

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- you know, 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Tommy, the use of the word litmus test is really interesting to me, because effectively what he's saying is Democrats, stop being so judgy.

TOMMY VIETOR, CO-HOST, "POD SAVE AMERICA" & "POD SAVE THE WORLD": Yes, I mean, I think, you know, sometimes in the wake of elections, there is a very reductive sort of false choice presented, like we should be more liberal, we should be more progressive. No, Democrats need to be more moderate and pragmatic.

And I think what Obama is getting at is, we just need to run great candidates that focus on the cost of living, that focus on economic issues. Those candidates are going to look and sound different in different parts of the state, we should all be comfortable with that. Because the way you beat an authoritarian movement like the Trump administration is by building the biggest tent possible.

We've seen that all over the world. And that needs to be our approach in this moment as we all figure out how to combat the Trump administration. And I think Barack Obama has always been a big tent guy, he's always been someone who cares about persuasion and bringing people along and bringing people to our side.

Like Dan and Jon, like I'm really excited about these, you know, Sherrill and Spanberger crossover voters, you know, they got Trump voters to come to their side. So I think, you know, that's what's actually really exciting about this moment.

DAN PFEIFFER, CO-HOST, "POD SAVE AMERICA": Yes, I mean, look, if -- look at the Senate, right? If Democrats want to -- if we just win all the blue states and all the purple states, that gets us to like 52, 53 Senate votes. BASH: Yes.

PFEIFFER: If we want to have a true governing majority where we can do big things the next time Democrats win the White House, that requires going back to an era where we can win in Ohio, win in Iowa, win in some of the states down south, win in the Great Plains states, and that's going to require at times politicians who don't agree with every Democrat on every issue, right?

We'll be -- it'll be true to our values. We'll fight for healthcare for all, we'll fight to help working people, but we're going to have some disagreements on some issues and we should welcome that because we need to do that to win.

BASH: So there's issues and then there's the candidates themselves. And I do want to ask you about Graham Platner -- Jon Favreau, I'll put this to you. You all had him on your show when he first talked about the tattoo he had on with Nazi symbolism that he's since covered or changed.

He said he didn't know the history when he got it, but now there is reporting from our colleague here, Andrew Kaczynski, that he eventually did learn about it. Didn't seem to do anything about it until, you know, maybe that moment that you had him on. And I was thinking if this were a Republican, I think many Democrats would be up in arms.

But his supporters, at least his high profile backers are sticking by him. Why do you think that is?

JON FAVREAU, CO-HOST, "POD SAVE AMERICA": I think it's because they know he is someone who never thought he was going to run for office. He's been very open and honest about his experiences. I'm like, this is a guy who went to war, he came back by his own admission, was really screwed up, had PTSD, was -- had an anonymous Reddit account, was posting a bunch of stuff, and then went to a really dark place, and then, you know, had therapy and found his wife and his community.

And I think that the people that are getting excited about him just believe his story because he's showing some vulnerability, he's admitting mistakes, he apologizes. And so I think that in this era, and it's not just because of Trump, it's that like, people are going to be more attracted to candidates who are just honest about their failings, honest about their shortcomings, honest about when they make mistakes, but are really committed to trying to fight for people.

And I think that's true, whether it's Graham Platner or anyone else who's running for office, like people don't expect perfect candidates. Especially now, they expect candidates who are going to fight like hell for them. So I think that's -- I mean, we'll see.

It's going to be a long primary. The more people get to know him, maybe they won't like him, right? Maybe they'll like Janet Mills instead. We'll see.

But it's a long primary and it's early. And so I think the people of Maine are just willing to give him more of a chance than a lot of us who are just like used to one gaffe or one bad scandal like ending a campaign.

BASH: Yes, I know --

VIETOR: I did that interview, right? And the kind of threshold --

BASH: Yes.

VIETOR: -- for me was, did this man knowingly get a tattoo that was a Nazi symbol? And if the answer was yes, deal breaker. End of conversation would never support him.

His story is that, you know, he was a young Marine. He was drunk with his buddies and he got a stupid tattoo. We were just talking to Ruben Gallego, a U.S. senator who also served in the Marine Corps. He said, you know how many buddies I have who got God-awful, stupid tattoos, including in the German language when they were in the service because they thought it meant something.

So look, I'm not making excuses for Graham Platner. I think since my interview with him, there have been totally fair conversations and great reporting by Andrew and the K-File team at CNN about kind of what he knew when and why he decided after our conversation to get it removed.

[12:35:13]

I think that scrutiny is fair and warranted. But I think there is the kind of threshold character question like, is this man someone who believes the things that Nazis believed? And so far, it seems like voters --

BASH: Yes.

VIETOR: -- do not think that he does.

BASH: Yes, it's really interesting. It is definitely --

PFEIFFER: Yes, what sort of bothers me about it, I think, is this idea --

BASH: Go ahead. Go ahead, Dan.

PFEIFFER: No, go ahead, Dana. I was going to say, just people are, like, some people may think he's a secret Nazi, and if you do think that, you should not support him, obviously, and we wouldn't either. There's not a lot in his many, many, many writings on the Internet that suggested those feelings, and a lot of what he wrote about was the opposite of that.

But the reason that I think some people are reacting is they're making electability judgments, that he therefore can't beat Susan Collins because he did this. And maybe that's true, but I certainly don't know that. And after what's happened in the last 10 years of politics, I think people should have a lot of humility about electability and just let the voters in Maine decide, right? He has vulnerabilities, Janet Mills has vulnerabilities. They both have strengths. Let's let him pick, and whoever the people of Maine pick, we're all going to support and fight like hell to help them beat Susan Collins so we can take the Senate majority.

BASH: Yes. You took the words out of my mouth, that this feels like a shift in politics, because instead of what we would have seen -- and not that long ago is, like, a push to push him out. You're saying, what, I think the three of you said in different ways, you're going to let the voters decide.

All right, thank you all -- actually, don't go anywhere. We're going to come back because we have a few more questions. So stand by.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:41:11]

BASH: And we're back with three of the co-hosts of "Pod Save America," former Obama White House aides, Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, and Dan Pfeiffer. We're going to do a little lightning round, guys. And we're going to put up or at least talk about some of --

PFEIFFER: Exciting.

BASH: -- the headlines of this week. Not the big ones, but important ones. OK, you know what? I think this is good to start with you, Fabs (ph), because it's about Maine. In Bangor, the Daily News, Congressman Jared Golden says, "I don't fear losing. What has become apparent to me is that I now dread the prospect of winning."

FAVREAU: Yes, that's a terrifying reality because he's -- we'll he's worried. One of the reasons he said he wasn't going to run again is because he's worried about the prospect of political violence in his family.

BASH: Yes.

FAVREAU: Which is like, just an awful thing to hear in this political environment. So before even -- you know, it's upsetting, of course that we're not going to -- it's going to be harder to keep that seat, though we might still be able to. I just feel bad for him and his family that this is the -- that had to factor in his decision to run.

BASH: Yes. And also, he's just not having fun in Congress anymore, which he can probably take a number --

PFEIFFER (?): Yes.

BASH: -- in saying that. OK, in Politico, Vance is the frontrunner for 2028. Rubio privately confides. Tommy?

PFEIFFER: Tommy, you want this one?

VIETOR: For me?

BASH: For anyone.

VIETOR: That sucks.

BASH: Jump all.

VIETOR: JD Vance is terrible. No one likes him. Republicans don't like him. Democrats don't like him. It's not clear to me that his own family enjoys his company. He will say and do anything to accumulate power. He is as shameless a person who exists in politics today.

He will write op-ed-length screeds like Bill Ackman. If a Democrat criticizes him, but when a literal neo-Nazi in his own party attacks him and his family, JD Vance has nothing to say. I don't think it's good for him to claim the mantle and be the frontrunner for the Republicans, no.

PFEIFFER: We have no strong feelings on JD Vance.

VIETOR: Yes.

FAVREAU: I think Rubio's going to run with him. I've been --

PFEIFFER: Yes.

FAVREAU: -- hearing this from --

VIETOR: Yes.

FAVREAU: -- conservative sources.

PFEIFFER: Your sources?

BASH: Yes.

FAVREAU: I have -- yes, I've -- I heard this is the plan.

PFEIFFER: OK, all right.

VIETOR: Hydro coach (ph).

BASH: I heard that speculation from a very good source this week.

OK. News yesterday, jurors find Sandwich Hurler not guilty of assault. Dan Pfeiffer?

FAVREAU: Perfect for Dan.

PFEIFFER: Perfect. Huge victory for democracy. We really thought about trying to have the sandwich guy come to our show last night after Obama and throw a sandwich at Love It,

VIETOR: Yes.

PFEIFFER: But we couldn't make it happen.

FAVREAU: He's running in 2028.

PFEIFFER: He might be. He --

FAVREAU: Yes.

PFEIFFER: I was just asking --

BASH: Why not?

PFEIFFER: I was just talking to someone about who the secret candidate is and maybe it's sandwich guy.

FAVREAU: Maybe it's sandwich guy, so.

PFEIFFER: Yes.

BASH: OK, this is one that you're going to love. Tom Brady says he cloned his family dog. You know who this is for.

FAVREAU: Dude, this is so weird. This is so weird.

VIETOR: No.

PFEIFFER: Defend your guy. Defend your guy.

VIETOR: Not only did he clone his dog, he announced it as part of some corporate thing where he was investing in the company that did it because that company acquired another company that had cloned Barbra Streisand's dog and Paris Hilton's dog.

BASH: Yes.

VIETOR: I hate everything about this. I love my dog so much. She might as well be a third child to me, but I will not be cloning her because we've all read Pet Sematary or at least seen the movie and it doesn't go well.

FAVREAU: Also, the clone, it's not your dog. This is like trying to fool yourself, right?

BASH: Yes.

FAVREAU: That like you're cloning your dog. Like you're just -- this is a new dog and it's -- I don't like it. I don't like that.

PFEIFFER: Yes, the worst part is it's a paid partnership.

VIETOR: Yes.

PFEIFFER: In fairness, Tom Brady needs money, so I understand he has to do this.

FAVREAU: That's (INAUDIBLE).

PFEIFFER: I don't want to shame him.

FAVREAU: That's hurting,

BASH: All right. We're going to have to end it there. I'm sorry. Thank you all for joining. Really great to have you.

We're going to go to the White House now. President Trump is taking questions, meeting with Viktor Orban of Hungary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- very issue.

[12:45:06]

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sure. We're looking at it because it's very difficult for him to get the oil and gas from other areas. As you know, they don't have the advantage of having sea. It's a great country. It's a big country, but they don't have sea. They don't have the ports.

And so they have a difficult problem. There's another country that has that same problem, by the way. But when you look at what's happened with Europe, many of those countries, they don't have those problems. And they buy a lot of oil and gas from Russia.

And as they know, I'm very disturbed by that because we're helping them and they're going and buying oil and gas from Russia. So that question could be really asked maybe more accurately if you talked about many European countries, not Hungary necessarily because Hungary is in a different position, but many European countries are buying oil and gas from Russia. And they have been for years.

And I say, what's that all about, right? Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President of Hungary --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. Orban.

VIKTOR ORBAN, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER: So that will be one of the issue for today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

ORBAN: To explain clearly what would be the consequences for the Hungarian people and for the Hungarian economy not to get oil and gas from Russia because we are supplied by pipelines. Pipeline is not an ideological or political issue. It's a physical reality because we don't have port exactly as the President explained to you.

So we will negotiate on that point. It's vital for us anyway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Orban, there are two pipelines, as I understand it. There's a pipeline from Ukraine and there's a pipeline from Croatia. And my understanding is that the pipeline from Croatia can provide all of Hungary's energy needs. As a result, why would we need an exemption if that's the case?

ORBAN: OK. So when we discuss that issue, you should separate the gas and the oil. On the gas issue, which is very important for us, 90 percent of the Hungarian households based on a heating system based on gas. So we have only one pipeline delivering gas to Hungary, which is the main pipeline, the Turkish one.

What we got from Croatia is a very small-volume supplementary gas pipeline. OK, that's gas. Oil is another issue. So oil is coming from the Druzhba pipeline, which is the main supply, and that is a Croatian one, which is the secondary and supplementary pipeline.

We would like to convince the Croatian government to enlarge it and make it possible to deliver more. Under the circumstances, it cannot be the main pipeline. It's just supplementary. But later on, with some big investments, it could serve better the interest of Hungary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President?

TRUMP: Yes, please, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President (INAUDIBLE), many people see this issue not just as an encounter in their country, but as the symbol of the strengthening of the new conservative world alliance. Would you agree with that interpretation? And how do you see the future of Europe in the light of leaders like Viktor Orban, who stand up to Brussels bureaucracy and the globalist agenda?

TRUMP: Are you from Hungary?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I am.

TRUMP: I figured. The fact is that he's a great leader, and he's respected all over. Not necessarily like by some of the leaders but, you know, those leaders have proven to be wrong. If you look at his stance on immigration and other things, you know, if you look at Europe, they've made tremendous mistakes on immigration. It's really hurting them very badly.

He has not made a mistake on immigration. So, he's respected by everybody. He's liked by some. And I can tell you, I like and respect -- I'm a double, I like and respect him. And that's the way Hungary is being led. They're being led properly. And that's why he's going to be very successful in his upcoming election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --

(CROSSTALK)

ORBAN: May I have a comment --

TRUMP: Please.

ORBAN: May I have a comment on that?

TRUMP: Please.

ORBAN: Your language is important, because the Anglo-Saxon terminology is different from the European one. So to use categories can create some misunderstanding. So, I would like to be clear as much as we can. We are the only government in Europe which considers itself as a modern Christian government.

All the other governments in Europe are basically liberal leftist governments. So we try to do something from 2010 which is different from what the others are doing, even at the philosophical level and at the level of practice as well, as just the president described, it's like migration.

So we are kind of a special island of difference in a liberal ocean in Europe. And we consider ourselves as a modern Christian government. That's the proper category to describe what we are doing.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To both of you --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) happen in Budapest.

TRUMP: We're talking, but we'll report on that later. Meetings with Putin.

[12:50:00]

We were talking about that with Viktor. He understands Putin and knows him very well. And I feel that -- I mean, I'm going to let you say what you think, but I think that Viktor feels we're going to get that war ended in the not-too-distant future.

Viktor, do you want to talk about that?

ORBAN: I'm strongly convinced. So the question is whether we, Westerners, are unified or not. The problem is that the president has huge peace efforts which are just splendid and very positive for the European continent and all the peoples of Europe.

But at the same time, we are not unified because Brussels and the Europeans have a different approach to the war. So the only pro-peace government is the United States government and the small Hungary in Europe, anyway. All the other governments prefer to continue the war because many of them think that Ukraine can win on the front line, which is a misunderstanding of the situation.

So it's a complicated issue. We will discuss it. It's -- it requests not just two minutes to respond to your question, but rather than an hour lecture. Sorry, not to continue more in that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To both of you, to both of you -- TRUMP: So you would say that Ukraine cannot win that war?

ORBAN: You know, a miracle can happen.

TRUMP: Yes, that's right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To both of you, you got --

TRUMP: Yes, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President. What is your message to the E.U. because -- about Hungary and the E.U. want to impose their war policies on Hungary? What is your message?

TRUMP: Well, I think they should respect Hungary and respect this leader very, very strongly because he's been right on immigration. Look what's happened to Europe with the immigration. They have people flooding Europe all over the place and it's hurting it.

It's -- the crime rates are way up. A lot of bad things are happening. He -- his crime rates are very low. They're the same as they always were, which is very little crime because he's kept it the way it should be.

Europe, I mean, I don't want to go into individual countries. They're all friends of mine, everyone. As you know, in the -- in NATO, they voted to go from 2 percent to 5 percent and, you know, that -- nobody thought that was possible. And we had just about almost, other than Spain, a unanimous vote.

No, I think that --

BASH: OK, we're going to continue to monitor this meeting and this discussion that the president is having with the leader of Hungary. I'm going to go to Kristen Holmes at the White House. Kristen, you know, a lot of praise as we suspected would happen by Donald Trump for Viktor Orban.

That quip that Orban made about Ukraine when he said, you don't think Ukraine can win, the president did, and Orban said miracles can happen, was interesting.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, look, there's a couple of things going on here. One, the big question was whether or not Hungary was going to get an exemption, and all signs point to yes, based on what we just heard from President Trump.

He essentially said the country's landlocked, they have all these issues, they have to use Russian oil. And just to be clear, the reliance on Russian oil from Hungary has only increased enormously since the Ukrainian war started. It was at 61 percent before that. Then it's at 86 percent now.

So this is a huge deal for Hungary if they do have to pay these sanctions. We know that Orban came in here wanting the exemption. We'll see if there's anything that President Trump or the United States gets out of granting that exception. But of course, as we just heard from President Trump, it certainly sounds like he is leaning in favor of that.

Not that surprising given the relationship between the two men. Orban was constantly with President Trump checking in on him even when he was out of office. But the other part of this that we cannot ignore is what we just heard from Orban which sounded much more like Russian talking points than what we have been hearing from the Europeans or even from the United States as they try to negotiate some kind of peace deal as saying that the Europeans want this war to continue because they think that Ukraine can win.

What we have heard from the Europeans is that they are giving them weapons to fight back when it comes to protecting their people. No one that we have heard from has said they want this war --

BASH: Right.

HOLMES: -- to continue in any way.

BASH: All right, Kristen, thank you so much for that reporting and that context. Appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:57:15]

BASH: For the first time in history, a Muslim man will lead the largest city in the nation. Zohran Mamdani was elected New York City mayor while making a calculated decision not to shy away from his faith. The intersection of politics and faith is something I think a lot about and faith in particular is something I plan to start talking about more on this show.

Joining me now is Jenan Mohajir who is from the Interfaith, the company -- or sorry, the group Interfaith America. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.

I do want to start with your work, which it really centers around faith, mind centers, and politics. There is a significant overlap between the two. Tell me your reflections seeing a Muslim man who speaks openly about his faith win the New York City mayoral election.

JENAN MOHAJIR, VICE PRESIDENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, INTERFAITH AMERICA: Yes, thank you for that question and thank you for having us. So Interfaith America, which is the nonprofit that I work for, really believes that civic pluralism is America's founding promise. And what civic pluralism is, is a place where people can bring their whole selves, their religious identities, their cultural identities, their political ideologies, and be contributors together in building the common good.

And for me as a mom watching this election happen, I don't live in New York City, I live in Chicago, and watching it with my young kids, it was really momentous to watch Mayor-elect Mamdani be elected and also to really think about the pluralistic coalition that brought together this win.

BASH: And specifically, I know that you believe that there is a through line between some of his key policy goals, plans to increase taxes for wealthy New Yorkers, make the city more affordable, and his Islamic faith. What do you think those are?

MOHAJIR: Yes. So as Muslims we believe, you know, we have a responsibility to make sure that those among us who are in need of resources, in need of help to make sure that they have living -- a living life that is fulfilling, it is our responsibility to care for them. So there's a concept of Zakat for Muslims which is a charitable contribution that every Muslim is responsible for making.

There is also the concept of Sadaqah, which is good deeds, both financial and otherwise, that you do, you know, showing up for your neighbors and helping them with their groceries during COVID, or making sure that the soup kitchen in your neighborhood is fully staffed on Christmas so that the Christian folks who work there have the ability to celebrate their holiday.

There's different ways of showing up for our communities and I really think that this mayor-elect in the ways that he is talking about a living wage, affordability, free child care, et cetera, is really coming from those -- from that aspect of his faith tradition.

BASH: What did you say the word is? Sadaqah?

MOHAJIR: Sadaqah, yes.

BASH: Well, you know --

MOHAJIR: Which is very similar to the Hebrew word. Yes.

BASH: Hebrew is Sadaqah. So, boy, there are a lot of similarities. I wish we could continue to focus on that. And you know what? We're going to.

Thank you so much. Really appreciate you being here. Sorry we had a short time. We'll have you back for sure.

Thank you for joining Inside Politics. Tune in to State of the Union this Sunday. California Governor Gavin Newsom is on the show. That's 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

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