Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Trump At Tipping Point As Polls Worsen & GOP Breaks Ranks; Supreme Court Hands Trump A Midterm Lifeline - For Now; Messy Texas Primary Puts Trump & Republicans In A Bind. Messy Texas Primary Puts Trump & Republicans in a Bind; Interview with Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX); Marjorie Taylor Greene Resignation Begs Question What's Next for MAGA Movement; Trump Brings in Jack Nicklaus for Presidential Golf Refresh. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired November 23, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:21]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): Shifting sands.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I refuse to be a battered wife.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Once I left her, she resigned.

RAJU: As a MAGA hero shocks Washington, the president confronts growing fractures in his party and plummeting poll numbers. Can he stop the slide or will he muddle the message?

MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK: I appreciated the time with the president.

TRUMP: It was a great meeting.

RAJU: Plus, the mess in Texas.

REP. WESLEY HUNT (R-TX): The United States senate is not a retirement community.

SEN. JOHN CORYN (R-TX): This could well be the end of his political career.

RAJU: Will Trump jump into a bitter election that could threaten GOP control of the Senate?

How pivotal is his endorsement in this race?

HUNT: It's critical.

RAJU: I go one on one with the candidate roiling the race.

And paint job. New details on Trump's ballroom blitz and why he's enlisted golf legend Jack Nicklaus for another presidential makeover.

RAJU: INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (on camera): Good morning and welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.

President Trump has long had an ironclad grip on his party, but this week showed some real cracks and raising some larger questions for the president as Republicans begin to worry about their own political fortunes, not his.

The GOP revolt demanding the release of the Epstein files and effectively backing the president into a corner was the most dramatic example of that. Yet his ability to strike fear into wobbly Republicans is still stronger than ever. His zero tolerance for any dissent set the stage for the stunning and abrupt resignation of his one-time MAGA loyalist, Marjorie Taylor Greene.

But how long will most Republicans continue to toe the line, given that Trump is facing some of the worst poll numbers of his time in office? Yet overnight, Trump continued to press a feud with Democrats that have left many in his party uncomfortable as he renews demands for Democrats to be jailed for urging members of the military to disobey unlawful orders.

Let's break this all down with my excellent panel this morning, Anna Palmer of "Punchbowl News", CNN's David Chalian, and Seung Min Kim of "The Associated Press".

Good morning to you all.

David Chalian. I want to start with you to set the stage of where we are in Trump's presidency right now because we are seeing numbers that are not good for the president, that have been very bad, which well get into in a second here. We saw what happened with Marjorie Taylor Greene or abrupt resignation. We saw what happened with the Epstein files and these fractures within the party.

Is this a natural place where a president would be at this point in his presidency, in his second term? Or is this a larger and more worrying sign for the White House?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, I think both things can be true. I do think it could be. It is a natural point for somebody serving a second term. Remember, you start serving your second term, as soon as you put your hand on the Bible on inauguration day, you are technically a lame duck, right? The Constitution says so.

Now, I don't want to take away -- Donald Trump, as we all know and have covered for a decade. Like there is no politician who has strong -- as strong a connection with his core base of support as Donald Trump does with his. We just haven't covered someone like that. And I'm not sure that that is irreparably broken in this moment.

But I do think for somebody who is defied political reality time and again, it does catch up with you. And by the way, Donald Trump himself diagnosed this just three weeks ago when the Democrats had those sweeping victories in the elections. What did he say the next morning? He said, I think one of the biggest problems is I wasn't on the ballot.

RAJU: Yeah.

CHALIAN: And that is going to be true. And I think his party, certainly the Epstein situation was a catalyst for this. And those election results have started having a conversation now about, you know, he's not going to be on the ballot again. So, what does this Republican coalition look like post-Trump?

RAJU: Yeah, it's such a good question. And the question is how does the White House deal with this?

Because we're seeing all these fractures and this is just a handful of them. Just in recent days, everything from the Epstein files is pushed back within the Indiana state legislature over redistricting. The Republicans were pushing them to change the Senate filibuster rules. They've said no to that.

He's called on Democrats to be jailed, as he did last night. A lot of Republicans very uncomfortable with that.

And then the news that's going to really dominate this week, this Russia, Ukraine peace plan that a lot of Republicans see is a total capitulation to Russia. And you're already hearing that from some of the more establishment Republicans.

Seung Min, you covered the white House. Is there a fear that this lame duck. David's right. You're lame duck the moment you put your hand on the both of you take that oath of office on January 20th in your second term.

[08:05:04]

Is there a fear that his party -- that his grip is slipping in any way within the White House.

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYTS: Within the White -- I mean, I think you can look at the resignation of Marjorie Taylor Greene on Friday night as a sign that it's not. I mean, she specifically pointed to a potentially very bruising primary after having lost President Trump's support, which shows just how strong that political power is within the Republican Party.

Now, for the broader electorate, for the midterms in 2026, that's certainly a different question. You're seeing the White House not only talk a lot about messaging and talking about his accomplishments in a more fulsome way. President Trump certainly pointed to that as a potential political problem that you just need to kind of talk about his accomplishments more. But you do see how they're also slightly recalibrating their policies

to address the big issue of that. The big issue right now, which is the affordability crisis and the cost of things, you saw them remove some tariffs from Brazilian goods this past week to in an attempt to lower those costs, even though there wasn't a major fanfare when the president did that.

RAJU: So things are doing without trying to say look like they're pivoting when they are --

KIM: Exactly. Because, I mean, President Trump, again, like fundamentally believes in tariffs. He -- you're not going to bring him off that. But that to me showed me there is there is a need for some recalibration of these policies to make sure that the American consumers aren't being hurt.

RAJU: Yeah. And there's always this point where the party starts to freak out. I'm not sure we are at that point yet. We saw that in presidents as they head into midterms. This has happened with Barack Obama back in 2010. We saw that Tea Party wave happen, and one of his chief political chief political analyst of CNN.

But his former political adviser, David Axelrod, said this to "The New York Times" just a few days ago. He said, "Unless the economy and his numbers rebound, Republicans are going to feel less willing to follow him blindly. And that trend will accelerate once election filing periods pass in individual states. And they are clear of potential primary challenges that he holds over their heads."

And it's a -- it's a -- it's a good point because there are big filing deadlines. The two have already passed in Illinois and Arkansas. There are a bunch coming up in Texas and Georgia, Pennsylvania, California, Kentucky and North Carolina. But there's always that moment where Republicans down ticket start to -- want nothing to do with the president. The problem is that this president demands loyalty at all costs.

ANNA PALMER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS CO-FOUNDER & CEO: I mean, I think this is the challenge for Republicans is the fact that they're trying to figure out what they're going to run on, right? The one big, beautiful bill did not do well in terms of message testing. They tried to recalibrate. I think they just came off the longest shutdown in U.S. history, and now, Republicans are saying, what are we going to run on in 2026?

And so, that's why you're starting to see all this activity when it comes to potentially extending the Obamacare COVID subsidies and other things because they are looking at their future, saying this is going to be a really challenging time, especially if the economy doesn't do really well, especially if inflation, if tariffs continue to actually hurt people back home, they're really worried about their future. And we see that time and time again,

And we're starting to see it on the Hill, right? You saw it this week when it comes to some of these appropriations bills, they're not doing spending levels that Donald Trump wants. They're doing much higher spending bills that are being led by Senate Republicans.

RAJU: Can Trump just cheerlead and say the economy is going great, everyone, listen to me, the economy is going great and hope that voters believe him? He said that over Truth Social this weekend. Everything is going great in the economy. He said my poll numbers are the best.

Well, I mean, look at what the actual poll numbers say. The public poll numbers, Fox News poll just from this past week, this is on the economy. Look how much it has changed for him. Approve versus disapprove.

He's lost five. He's got five points in the wrong direction on disapproval when it comes to the economy. That's from March to November, 61 percent of the American public, the registered voters in this poll, disapprove. And then you break down among his approval rating among subgroups, white voters who especially white working class voters, that is his base. He is down seven points in terms of approval from March until now.

And black voters, which he did much better with in the last cycle, he's now at 12 percent approval in this poll.

David, what is your takeaway from that?

CHALIAN: Well, I think this was also reflected in the elections in New Jersey and Virginia that we saw that some of the pieces of his coalition that proved so successfully put together for him just a year ago drifted away. You see, Hispanics in that poll showing flat, but we saw them drift away in the elections. Independents had drifted away.

So, there are key pieces of his coalition that clearly have sort of reverted back to where they were before he put that together a year ago. I would just note, though, as you said, the piece about the economy and, can Donald Trump just say what isn't true for peoples lived experience -- I would argue that the administration itself broadly doesn't think he can, because we just heard J.D. Vance, his vice president, this week, take a different message out in public than the president usually does.

[08:10:04]

It wasn't this isn't true, everything's fine. It was we hear you. And it was a plead for patience, a plea for patience that this will take some time.

Convinced that the economy will get where it needs to go for the American people. But an acknowledgment from J.D. Vance that we don't usually hear from President Trump.

RAJU: Is this why, when Trump had this, you know what many people are calling a love fest with Trump and Mamdani at the White House? Like, is this why? Because of the acknowledgment implicit that it is that Trump realizes that he has to shift on this issue? Or is it just because Mamdani was being very nice to him? KIM: Well, it's also like Trump likes winners and Mamdani is a

winner. I'm not sure its more complicated than that. It did. It did seem like before the press was brought in, they did have a very cordial meeting.

I'm sure -- Mamdani we were told that he had gotten some advice on how to handle these oval office meetings from his fellow New York counterparts who had been in these types of situations before. But I do think a lot of it is, you know, Trump respects winners. He obviously had a resounding election in New York.

And I think when the mayor elect told the president that, you know, one in 10 of my voters were your voters, I think that kind of helped bridge any sort of divide that they may have had.

RAJU: Very quickly.

PALMER: Yeah. I mean, I just think this is a message for Republicans. This is not the side by side they wanted. They want to tie Democrats to social Democrats, Mamdani and run on it all during 2026. And now you've got a bear hug by the president.

RAJU: I think the comment by Liz Stefanik's criticism when he was asked about that, and that was a remarkable moment when Trump tamped that down. Oh, boy.

All right. Up next, the war over gerrymandering, the Supreme Court may hand Trump and the GOP a lifeline, but Democrats say things have shifted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): I told that to Mike Johnson months ago directly. This is not going to end well for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:22]

RAJU: President Trump's strategy to divide the odds in the fight for control of the House has been clear for months -- strong arm enough Republican states to gerrymander district lines so Democrats can't win. But Democrats efforts to respond in blue states may be paying off. Amid this unprecedented mid-decade gerrymandering war, which could end up being nothing more than a wash, a big question now is what the Supreme Court will do after a temporary pause. A lower court order that had struck down the new GOP maps in Texas. And if the Republicans win that case, that could mean five more House seats in their column.

My panel is back.

So just look at the map, because this has been going on for month it's been under the radar thing that has gotten a lot of headlines, but also gotten overshadowed by so much else that's going on, but has huge implications for control of the House. This is the -- this is what you're looking at on your screen is the maps and how some of these district lines have been redrawn. It was started by Trump's push here in Texas.

And now it's spread out all across the country. All right. So what does this mean? So, the maps that are already enacted right now, not including the Texas maps that's been put on hold by the Supreme Court. We don't know how that's going to end up with the Supreme Court.

Democrats have a two-seat lead right now under the ones that have already been enacted. Now, if the Republicans do win that Texas Supreme Court race, they would take a three-seat advantage. But there are several other states that have not moved ahead on Democratic state like Virginia, Republican state like Florida.

So here's my question. So much money has been spent on this. Millions and millions of dollars. This is supposed to happen at the beginning of a decade. It's happening mid-decade now, but it may all turn out to be, you know, basically no party may end up with an advantage here at the end of it.

PALMER: It's stunning. I mean, this is a fight that Donald Trump wanted. His team picked it because they know that if it gets to divided government, it's going to be bad for him for his last years in office. Right. You're to have impeachment investigations.

But this is stunning to me, is that not only are Democrats moving forward in California have had wins in unlikely places. Utah, they're picking up. Ohio was basically they were able to kind of maneuver it, you know, so that that things didn't get as bad for them as they thought it was going to be.

And you have Republicans on the Hill who said, and in Texas, this is not something that they wanted. The Trump administration didn't ask them for their feedback about how they were redrawing these districts. And they are upset about it.

RAJU: Yeah, there's no question about it. I asked the speaker of the House, actually, about this Texas ruling if he was concerned when the lower court came in and blocked the Republican maps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Mr. Speaker, are you concerned about this Texas redistricting ruling? I mean, it seems to be --

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: No, it's going to be overturned on appeal.

RAJU: You think?

JOHNSON: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: So, he was confident he overturned on appeal. It very well could mean the Supreme Court tends to side with the Republicans. But can they gerrymander their way to the majority, David?

CHALIAN: Well, it depends what the political environment is going to be. And if indeed history is a guide, if the Democrats -- if the president's numbers can stay as low as they are now, if he can't turn around perceptions on the economy, I'm not sure how many seats the Republicans could draw to prevent, since it's such a narrow majority right now to prevent a Democratic takeover. We'll see about that.

But the point is, they believe that a key component to keeping the majority was to do this mid-decade redrawing of districts that that that sort of padding their majority in a way, was a path to hanging on to the house. And if that is going to be a wash, that becomes a problem sign for them in this narrowly divided world.

I will just note, though, the other thing about the presidents numbers here, places that you showed on that map, like Kansas and Indiana.

[08:20:00]

If the president was at 52 percent approval right now instead of 40 percent approval, maybe those Republican legislators would not feel as emboldened to stop his effort to do this. Redrawing in their states.

But because of where he sits politically right now, because he's at a weak point in his presidency, his power to rejigger the entire map as he envisioned doesn't seem to be as great as he thought it was.

RAJU: Yeah, I mean, the Indiana case is just fascinating. Theres so much pushback there, and Trump is threatening to primary these Indiana state legislators there. So far, some are holding firm. We'll see the impact there.

But you're right. Look, it's also essentially evens out this fight over redistricting. Then we look at other factors, including the generic ballot. And the question is the asked voters, who do you prefer in control of -- control of Congress?

Theres this one poll from NPR, PBS. It seems like a bit of an outlier, 14-point Democrat advantage. To me, that just seems not where things are, but Democrats are ahead in two other polls by five points. That seems potentially more realistic. So that has to also be a little bit unnerving for the GOP.

KIM: Certainly unnerving for the GOP. You're talking about the typical midterm environment for the incumbent party. You're talking about the president's approval ratings, and you're also talking about the fact that no matter how much they try to promote their agenda, it is to Ana's point earlier in the show that it doesn't seem to be sticking with voters.

And I think Republicans are experiencing a lesson that Democrats certainly learned under the Biden years that voters don't often reward you for what you've already done. They want what's next? What are you going to solve? My problems that exist right now? And that's certainly the case when you do see the level of discontent generally that we see with voters in the country. I mean, you look at the right track, wrong track polling constantly. Voters will tell you that the country is on the wrong track.

So that's why you see Republicans lean towards the Mamdani messaging, even though that might be a little tricky now or other factors. And that is also going to be a really big challenge for Republicans. How to, you know, how you know, just how to sell what they've done to the voters.

RAJU: And that was such a good point, because you're right, there's been all over the place. Their message has when they came back into session last week, it's been about censures and punishment and for. Lots of censures. Yeah. They're not pushing forward. And their message, what is their message heading into the midterms? That's going to be a big thing that Republicans need to figure out, because a lot, of course, is riding on it.

All right. Next, a big splash in a pivotal race. Why one Republican is defying the orders of his party leaders. And what that means for control of the Senate. What he told me about his plans and the White House is watching very, very closely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The United States Senate is not a retirement community at the end of the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:06]

HUNT: GOP leaders have been nervous about Senator John Cornyn's seat in Texas. The longtime incumbent had been trailing his GOP challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a controversial firebrand who Democrats want to face in a general election in the fight for the Senate majority. But as Cornyn allies have been pummeling the airwaves, the senator has been gaining ground.

Yet now, a twist a new candidate, Republican Congressman Wesley Hunt, wants the seat as well. That means the primary would get even more expensive and likely extend another two months. Since the top two finishers would have to compete in a May runoff, which is why GOP leaders had pressed hunt to drop out since he had yet to file paperwork declaring his candidacy.

But Hunt tells me he's digging in for a fight.

(BEGIN VDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So, the filing deadline in this race for the United States Senate, for John Cornyn seat that's coming up in December. You still have not filed in this race. Are you running? HUNT: I absolutely am running. And I'm absolutely going to file here

very soon. Actually, my plan was to file during the government shutdown, but when things kind of stopped, we had to figure out kind of what we were going to do and recalibrate that, but I will be filing very soon in the next few weeks.

RAJU: Of course. So, talk to us about your path here, because, look, it's been a generation since a House member has won statewide in Texas. You're going up against two pretty well-known candidates, people who have a lot more money than you.

So, what is the path for Wesley hunt?

HUNT: Well, I really want to point this out. You talk about the filing deadline rapidly approaching, but imagine if you are a 24-year incumbent, the first time that John Cornyn actually got into office was in 1984, and I was two years old. Imagine spending that much time in an elected -- as an elected official, and then getting to the point to where you are now polling in second and third place after spending almost $50 million before the filing deadline.

What that simply tells me is that the people of Texas want an alternative. Look back here, back -- back in the summer, John Cornyn was polling in the high 30s-ish. He has dropped 12 points since then since I have gotten into the race,

Our momentum is moving upwards. And you are correct, this is like a David and Goliath kind of story. I have a couple of smooth stones to throw at it, but guess what? They are very effective.

And even though I may not have as much money as him, let me tell you something. Theres a lot of momentum behind our campaign, and there is clearly a path. And that's exactly what we are going to exploit.

RAJU: The Cornyn people see you as a spoiler in this race. They don't think that you can win. They think that what's going to happen is that more likely this is going to be a runoff, which is going to force the party to spend millions of dollars, not just in the primary, but in the runoff as well. What do you say to them when they see you as a spoiler?

HUNT: Well, they clearly don't care about money because they've already spent $50 million. And you know, we Have tight races that's going to be in North Carolina and in Georgia and in Michigan.

So at the end of the day, I don't want to hear about the resources conversation because you've already spent all that money.

And I think it's time for young, vibrant America First patriots which is exactly what the state of Texas voted for because President Trump just won by 15 points to step into the breach and lead this country for the future.

The United States Senate is not a retirement community at the end of the day. And to see young faces like me in the vein of a JD Vance, who is 41 years old, in the vein of Marco Rubio, who is in his early 50s, in the vein of our Secretary of War, who's in his mid-40s.

Look, our founding fathers were in their 20s and 30s when they founded this great nation. It is time for us to bring that average age down a little bit. And it's time for the next generation to step in and lead this great country.

RAJU: I know GOP leaders did not want you to run in this race. What about the White House? Has anyone at the White House urged you not to run?

HUNT: Well, the thing about the White House that I find to be very interesting is this. No one speaks for the White House. No one speaks for Donald John Trump. That man speaks for himself.

The only thing I can point out is that he has stayed out of this race throughout the entire time. It's up to somebody to not be given his endorsement. It's up to somebody to earn his endorsement and to work and to show the numbers and to realize that, look, we do need some young people to step into the breach. Time now.

I'm a combat veteran. I'm a West Point graduate. I'm a former Apache pilot. I'm the kind of guy that looks at an opportunity like this and says, you know what? It doesn't matter how long I've been in Congress. It is time to burn the boats and let's go lead this country for the future.

And so if Senate leadership does not like me being in this race, you know what I say? Good. Because Senate leadership does not pick the leadership in Texas. The people of Texas pick our leadership.

It is my job to bring more Texas to D.C., not D.C. to Texas. If they don't want me, that just put a smile on my face.

RAJU: I didn't hear you say that though -- so has anyone at the White House actually urged you not to run?

HUNT: Well, I visited the White House because I really want to take us to the UFC fight. A lot of people, there were rumors saying that, you know, they're urging me not to or to run. Really, I was just trying to, you know, get --

(CROSSTALKING)

RAJU: But no one has said -- no one has told you that.

HUNT: Nobody has told me a word. And so what I've done is I've looked at their silence so far on this race, and I'm stepping in to earn their support.

But no, I've heard nothing from the White House. I don't speak for the White House.

RAJU: And have you talked to the president about a possible endorsement or about your interest -- about your plans to run in the Senate?

HUNT: Under no circumstances will I ever disclose the conversation I have with Donald John Trump.

RAJU: If he -- how pivotal is his endorsement in this race?

HUNT: It's critical.

RAJU: I mean, if he chooses -- if he gets behind Cornyn, would you drop out?

HUNT: If he gets behind Cornyn, the problem is this. Our data shows that even if he does support Cornyn, he's so far behind. You have an incumbent polling at 25 percent and Donald John Trump's endorsement is absolutely incredible in any Republican primary in this great nation.

But I'm sorry you cannot revive that dead campaign. Not even Donald Trump could do that, in my humble opinion.

So that's why I got in this race to give him an option, to give the people of Texas an option of somebody that can win the primary and win the general. And it won't cost us hundreds of millions of dollars.

RAJU: So I talked to John Cornyn about you. And no surprise, he was very critical about you. What he pointed out was that he said that you have not voted -- you missed 27 percent of your votes this year. Why?

HUNT: We were actually talking about that. First of all, you know, the hit on me missing votes, I find to be kind of quite interesting. In the beginning of my time here in Congress, my son was actually in the NICU, so I missed a large tranche of votes then.

And then also, I was a top surrogate for President Trump during the campaign. I was the one that campaigned for him in Iowa and in Georgia and in Pennsylvania and in Nevada and in California.

And when the president says, I want you to campaign for me, guess what? You show up to work for the president at that time.

But the issue is not about the votes that I've missed. It's about the votes that I've taken because people can see through the idea of, are we going to really talk about he missed votes? I mean, what is this, elementary school?

RAJU: Yes. Because --

(CROSSTALKING)

HUNT: I mean -- what do I get, a certificate for showing up to work and voting on naming another post office after Sacajawea? No.

What they want us to see are did you support the Big, Beautiful Bill? Are you going to defend the rights of Texas? Are you going to defend the First Amendment rights and our Second Amendment Rights? That's what the people of Texas care about.

RAJU: So you're ok missing some of the votes because you're saying it's -- those are meaningless votes? Is that what you're saying? HUNT: Some of them -- some of them absolutely are. Some of them

absolutely are. But when it came time for the votes that mattered, that impacted Texans, I will always show up and I will always be there. And the people in my district and the people of Texas know it.

RAJU: I want to read you, as we close here, what Cornyn said to me. He said -- I said, well, it looks like, you know, Wesley Hunt's going to run. He said, well, if he runs, he can't win. It's going to be the end of his political career.

What do you say to him?

HUNT: What, I say to that is I have survived combat. I flew 55 combat air missions in Baghdad. The end of my political career? I'm still alive and well,. And I'm still fighting for this great nation.

[08:34:46]

HUNT: And at the end of the day, I am not going to be a 30-year guy that hung around the hoop for this long and not pass the mantle on to somebody else when it's time for you to go.

Look, if that means this ends my political career, I'll find another career. But it is absolutely my job to follow what I believe is the best use of my time, is to continue to serve this country in the halls of the Senate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: All right. My excellent panel is back.

Just to look at a snapshot of where the polling says this race is. There's really not much reliable polling that's out there. This was actually done before Hunt said he was going to run. So as you can see, there's no clear leader from the public polling there.

And there has been a ton of money. He's right. There have been $52 million spent overall by Republicans in the Senate GOP primary, $40 million of which were spent by Cornyn's super PACs.

Does Wesley Hunt actually have a chance to win this race?

ANNA PALMER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS CO-FOUNDER AND CEO: I mean, it's obviously a long shot. What this is, is clearly going to make it be a runoff, which is exactly what John Cornyn does not want to happen. The White House isn't getting involved.

I mean, this -- they are spending so much money in Texas. It is pretty insane.

RAJU: Yes. I mean, will Trump get involved? That's a question that I put to Senator Cornyn himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I wish he's hang around the House of Representatives, where he is currently employed and where he's paid by taxpayers.

Well, he can't win, so this could well be the end of his political career if he decides to make this race. And he may be thinking about that.

RAJU: And what's been your message to Trump?

CORNYN: If I'm at the top of the ticket in November, chances are it will help down ballot races including these congressional seats that are now in litigation.

So I think it's in the president's best interest. And that's what I've explained to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: He first knocked Wesley Hunt for his voting record and then he talked about Trump. Is that -- if you're Trump, this is a big risk to stay out of the race because who knows how it's going to end up.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, obviously we'll all be watching that closely because it seems like any politician would say I don't need to get involved with this because it is going to be like but --

RAJU: He's the one who could actually clear the field if he wanted to.

CHALIAN: He could indeed, no doubt his weight still is a ton inside of these Republican primaries. And he could have a huge impact.

It's just that he also would go against the grain of some of his core supporters. He's not -- he's not sure that he's fully aligned with John Cornyn, obviously.

If it was an easy bet for him, he would do it. He also doesn't want to pick the wrong horse here in case that power is on a diminishing curve.

I will just say, though, listening to that interview, it is amazing to me that the Democrats and the Republicans are having a similar conversation about this generational divide.

Everything Wesley Hunt was saying about not a retirement home or citing the ages of the next generation. That is what we're hearing inside a lot of these Democratic Party conversations.

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, President Trump has been asked about this primary several times. Maybe not since Wesley Hunt declared his intention to get in.

But he keeps saying over and over, you know, they're both my friends. I don't know if I want to get involved.

So, I mean, it could -- he could make a difference. But right now he's shown no inclination of wanting to get in.

RAJU: Yes. No question about it.

All right. That's a fascinating race.

Of course, Democrats have their own messy primary in that state as well. And that's going to be a big question how they sort out their issues.

All right. Up next, after President Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene's dramatic split, who will carry the MAGA mantle into 2028?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I said go your own way. And once I left her, she resigned because she wouldn't have -- she would never have survived a primary. But I think she's a nice person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:38:21]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, (R-GA): If I am cast aside by the president and the MAGA political machine, then many common Americans have been cast aside and replaced as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So is Marjorie Taylor Greene just the latest Republican who defies President Trump and then lands in political exile? Or is this a sign of a broader rupture within the MAGA movement and of the party's debate over its direction since President Trump -- once President Trump leaves the scene in 2028?

My panel is back.

So just as we were on air -- some breaking news itself -- Marjorie Taylor Greene, responding to a report in "Time Magazine" contending she was having some discussions about possibly running for president.

She says she's never going to run for president. She says, I'm not running for president and never said I wanted to and have only laughed about it when anyone would mention it.

She goes on to say, in this very lengthy post on X that running for president requires traveling all over the country, begging for donations every day to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, arguing political talking points, and basically, she says, never being able to fix any of America's problems.

Ok, what do you make of this post? Is this a I am not --

CHALIAN: No. I don't think this is Shermanesque (ph). I mean, I don't know if she's going to run for president or not, but to say I'm not running for president currently and never said I wanted to has nothing to do with whether or not she may run for president in the future.

So I would not say this is Shermanesque. But what I do think in this post, Manu, I think she lays the foundation that if she does have a future in politics, if she seeks office again, president or otherwise, she's laying a foundation of what she'd be running on which is this running against what she calls the political industrial complex.

I mean, she is still smarting, obviously, over her battle with Trump saying things like, I am not willing to make the deals you have to make to get to that office.

I mean, that seems like a little left-handed compliment to the current occupant in some way.

[08:44:52]

RAJU: Yes.

KIM: Yes, it's been a question as to, you know, who carries the MAGA mantle after President Trump leaves office.

But what I think Marjorie Taylor Greene has emphasized over and over is how much she's hearing from her constituents and the broader movement about what they want to see.

And that was the basis of a lot of her critiques that really blew up this fight with her and the president when she kept saying, my voters -- our voters, do not want him to be so focused on policies abroad. They want -- they want him to be working at home.

And I think she, more than perhaps many Republicans, does have a pulse of where the movement is, which is why, you know, her denials aside, she's going to be constantly looked at as someone, you know, 2028 and beyond.

RAJU: Is there a room for someone who has offered this dissent at Trump, or had this feud with Trump post-Trump? I mean, you look at just a list of Aaron Blake, our colleague tweeted this about a number of the people who have feuded with Trump over the years and are no longer on the political scene.

Everyone from Jeff Flake to Bob Corker, Richard Burr, among other people, the senators and congressmen is there.

But Marjorie Taylor Greene occupies a much different space within the GOP. Is there a room for that post-Trump?

PALMER: I mean, most of those folks were never with Trump, right? And so -- and it was always uncomfortable with where he stood politically.

I think the question that we don't know is this a long-term divorce from Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump? Is there a reunification? What does her future look like?

I mean, she is very savvy. I think that people underestimate her and have for a long time. And so we'll have to see. She's playing this this card right now. But I think it's a wait-and-see moment.

RAJU: And people are starting to make moves or at least starting to suggest that they're carving out their own lane come 2028.

One possible 2028 candidate -- Ted Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): And in the last six months, I've seen more anti- Semitism on the right than any time in my life. And it is wrong and from my perspective, I'm going to do everything I can to stop it.

I don't want to wake up in five years and see the Republican Party have gone down the path of the Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: What do you think of Ted Cruz's positioning himself here?

CHALIAN: I mean, I think Ted Cruz wants to be president of the United States. I think he made that clear in his first run. And I don't think it's gone away as a desire.

I do -- you know, I would say if we were talking a couple of months ago, my thinking was this 2028 Republican primary could be real short, real fast. I could see Donald Trump just sort of getting behind JD Vance and sort of having it be a fait accompli.

I'm not sure that that is the case anymore because as Donald Trump hits a new low politically for himself right now, I do wonder if indeed a more robust Republican primary to figure out this post-Trump era is going to take place.

RAJU: Yes. It'll be fascinating -- fascinating to watch, and I'm sure there'll be a lot of people expressing some interest and denying their interest and then maybe jumping in later.

All right. Coming up, what job is Trump now giving to the most decorated golfer in the history of the game?

[08:47:50]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: It's been just over a month since President Trump began the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make way for that massive new ballroom.

And now he's taking a swing at another presidential makeover, this time with the two 18-hole golf courses on a nearby military base where presidents have traditionally teed off.

Now, to avoid any hazards, Trump has enlisted the Golden Bear and yes, the golf icon Jack Nicklaus and the winner, of course, of more major championships than anyone in history to lead that effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Meeting with the great Jack Nicklaus. Jack will be the architect who will design it. Two existing courses that are in very bad shape so we can, for very little money, fix it up for the Air Force base.

CNN's Betsy Klein joins us now. Betsy, so Trump has taken so much interest in all these remodeling projects, so much focus of his presidency has been on these makeovers.

What do we know about -- one, how much does it cost? Do we have any idea about that. And then two, what is happening behind the scenes on how Trump is dealing with this.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right, Manu. Well, we don't know at this point how much this is going to cost or who is going to pay for it.

What we do know is that President Trump has been remarkably hands on when it comes to remaking Washington. Spending hours, just yesterday, with the golf legend turned golf course developer Jack Nicklaus, taking aerial tours at Joint Base Andrews.

But the president is also paying very close attention to that White House ballroom renovation. He leads weekly meetings at the White House, where they discuss details as small as the size of windows to the placement of bathrooms, to interior finishes.

And he's also been quizzing visiting foreign leaders and members of Congress on their opinions on design choices.

We also know that the president has personally selected the limestone for the White House rose garden. He's chosen new chandeliers for the Palm Room. He's chosen the type of flagpoles on the north and south lawns.

And the president has really moved at remarkable speed to impose his style and tastes on the White House.

But there is one place where he has been slowed down, and that is the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. He went on Fox News a couple of weeks ago and floated the idea of painting the EEOB white. that is, that sprawling, gilded age building.

RAJU: Beautiful building.

[08:54:47]

KLEIN: Right. Very, very polarizing, though, and it serves as office space for most White House staffers.

But a group of historic preservationists stepped in and is asking the Trump administration to pause any changes to this building unless they go through the standard review process.

The Trump administration, for now, has agreed to halt any changes. They signed a sworn declaration saying that they are not going to paint that building until at least December 31st, Manu.

RAJU: We'll see if they actually listen to that. Do we know when the ballroom is going to finish yet? Is there --

KLEIN: He is hopeful that this will be complete by the end of his second term in office. We'll see.

RAJU: All right. We'll see. As we know, most development projects they run a little longer than anticipated.

But thanks for that update. Obviously, a big focus of the president's here.

All right. That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can follow me on X @mkraju and follow the show @INSIDEPOLITICS. Follow me on TikTok and also on Instagram.

And remember, in the United States, you can now stream INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY live or just catch up later on the CNN app. Visit CNN.com/watch for more.

Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Jake's guests include National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, and Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.

[08:56:04]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)