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Inside Politics
Trump Refuses To Apologize For Sharing Racist Video Of Obamas; Trump Calls GOP Lawmaker Thomas Massie A "Moron". GOP Leaders Fret as Trump Sits Out Close Primary Battles; The Super Bowl and Politics; New on CNN: Sen. Murkowski Won't Run for Alaska Governor. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired February 08, 2026 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:25]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): No apologies. President Trump won't say he's sorry for posting the now deleted racist video of the Obamas.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I didn't make a mistake.
RAJU: But will the White House narrative be enough to quell the rare Republican rebuke?
Then they say everything is bigger in Texas. The GOP Senate primary battle is no exception. So why hasn't Trump endorsed yet? My new reporting on the growing GOP fears with the Senate majority on the line.
Plus, dueling halftime shows.
BAD BUNNY, RAPPER: They don't even have to learn Spanish. They just learn to dance.
KID ROCK, MUSICIAN: We're just going to go play for our base. You know, people who love America.
RAJU: Will politics be out of bounds for Bad Bunny Super Bowl performance as Kid Rock headlines the MAGA alternative?
INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU (on camera): Good morning. Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.
President Trump's party has been pleading with him for months to stay focused on the economy, be in touch with voters concerns about rising prices, and make the case on what Republicans are doing about it. And as Washington barrels towards another partial government shutdown this week, Republicans say their party must remain united instead of once again, the president is being asked about a controversy of his own making.
This weekend, it is that racist video depicting the Obamas as apes. And unlike past Trump posts where Republicans ignored them or acted like they didn't see them, this time there was significant GOP backlash and demands for an apology, something Trump rejected amid mixed messages from the White House about why or how that video got posted in the first place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I saw it and I just looked at the first part. It was about voter fraud and some place Georgia. There was a lot of voter fraud, 2020 voter fraud, and I didn't see the whole thing. I guess during the end of it, there was some kind of a picture that people don't like. I wouldn't like it either, but I didn't see it. I just -- I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud. And, and the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is.
Then I gave it to the people to generally, they look at the whole thing, but I guess somebody didn't, and they posted it and we took it down and we did it, you know. But that was a voter fraud. And nobody talks about -- they don't like to talk about that post. We took it down as soon as we found out about it.
REPORTER: Mr. President, a number of Republicans are calling on you to apologize for that post. Is that something you're going to do?
TRUMP: No, I didn't make a mistake. I mean, I look at a lot of thousands of things. And I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine. And they had that one post, and I guess it was a takeoff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: All right. Joining me now to break this all down, Margaret Talev with "Axios", Zolan Kanno-Youngs with "The New York Times", and Jonah Goldberg with "The Dispatch".
Good morning to you all.
So, Trump was at Mar-a-Lago yesterday playing golf with some of his close allies. You see on your screen, Eric Schmitt of -- senator from Missouri. And Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina. And this came after what we've seen this significant backlash from Republicans after that post came out -- a whole wide range. I mean, so many members, I mean, just a handful on the screen right there posting tweet after tweet criticizing Trump, some asking him to apologize, some saying he should delete this immediately.
What does it -- you covered the White House, Zolan. What does it say to you about this episode with Trump? How they handled it, and the Republican reaction to it? ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This week, the White House
got a reminder that they are not immune to political backlash. And they've had a lot of reasons to believe that, you know, over the past year. But, you know, they try the White House initially when you track this episode, tried to do the thing they usually do double down and laugh off criticism, you know? Yes, this post was eventually deleted. You know, you had the president's comments there.
The initial response was -- is worth highlighting, the initial response of calling this fake outrage.
RAJU: That's what Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary.
KANNO-YOUNGS: That's right, that's right. And that was her first response to this. Right? And then the post stayed up for a bit, and then they deleted it. Once you saw that rare Republican pushback.
RAJU: You know what Trump said. Oh, we deleted this right away.
[08:05:01]
No, they didn't know.
KANNO-YOUNGS: No, they didn't. No, they didn't. They were being asked about this. It stayed up. It was then deleted.
And you saw this cleanup duty. And that is a trend that we've seen from the White House when you point out -- when they -- when they're facing controversy of various types, when my colleagues have reported on other social media accounts that the government organizes, facing criticism for posting dog whistles to white nationalist groups, right. They have laughed this off. Said, what are you talking about? Right?
This is a difference here. And it's because you saw this rare pushback here. But I think it's important to note this. You know, many when you talk, many people when you talk about this point out this really wasn't a one off.
This is a president that very much rose to political power, in part by also questioning the citizenship of the former president by leaning into birtherism as well. I mentioned that you've had other social media accounts that have also faced questions about this as well. You had just a couple months ago, a xenophobic tirade also against Somalis. There has been other data points that have gotten this type of criticism, but for this, it seemed to be just to blunt for fellow Republicans.
RAJU: I mean, that's to Zolan's point. I mean, there have been a history of these racially charged racist posts that the president has put out over the years. I mean, there's a sampling of some on your screen, but there's just so many that have come out over the years. And, you know, to say that, oh, I didn't see the video, you know, strains credulity.
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, I have a strange take on this insofar as I take Trump at his word on this, in that his -- you know, people, Trump defenders often get into this mode where they think explanations are excuses. Trump's explanation is entirely plausible to me. He was stupid, lazy and irresponsible and forwarded a video only after watching it for 10 seconds -- doesn't mean he wouldn't have still sent it if he watched the whole thing. But my point is, is that --
RAJU: Perhaps he should have reviewed it.
GOLDBERG: Perhaps. But my point is, he posts irresponsible stuff all the time. And that's the thing I thought was most interesting about the Karoline Leavitt response is, is she, when they were in full, you know, defensive mode. She said, why don't quit with the fake outrage? Why don't you guys report about something the American people care about?
And the problem is, is that Donald Trump is constantly screwing up their messaging by posting garbage like this, which is not what the American people care about. And then the media covers it. And the reason I think part of the reason you got blowback from a lot of Republicans is now we're in 2026, we are in full midterm mode, and anything that distracts from the messaging that they want, they are more inclined to criticize going into the midterms, including stuff like this.
RAJU: Before you speak of the midterms, before you jump in, I wanted to show how this is playing out on the campaign trail, which we saw just yesterday. This is Senator Jon Ossoff, who is the one Democrat running in a state that Donald Trump won last cycle. This came up. He brought this up in a campaign rally yesterday as he was making the broader case against Trump and the Republicans
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): Many of you are here. Because you just can't stand what's being done to our country. You're seeing what I'm seeing, right? The president posting about the Obamas like a Klansman at 1:00 a.m.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: It's pretty strong rhetoric.
MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. And leaning into it in a year when, these moves could really make a difference in a couple pivotal races that could decide control of the Senate. You know, I think President Trump's coalition in 2024 was possible because he ran on an economic message and on border security and because he pulled in a coalition of Latino voters and even some black male voters. And now you see him going to culture war with Bad Bunny, you know, a couple hours before the Super Bowl and, you know, promoting video like this, which in a best case scenario, he wasn't careful about. And in a worst case scenario, he didn't care about.
And when it came time to make a phone call to fix things, the phone call was with Tim Scott, Senator Tim Scott, who is African American, not with Barack and Michelle Obama. Not that anyone would expect it to be, but I guess my point his concern is not the message that it sends. His concern is the politics within his own party.
RAJU: Yeah, no question about it. And this what was revealing about this? He had to back, you know, even though he's not admitting his mistake, he had to delete the post. So, it shows you that they're recognizing that there's backlash, just like the way they recognize there's backlash over how they handled Minneapolis and about homeland security funding and about ICE, which brings us to the situation were in now, because Trump had to change course when it came to funding the federal government, when it came to the Homeland Security Department, because he got all this pushback from both sides, and he recognized they had to give in a little bit.
[08:10:09]
And now we have -- we're staring into a government shutdown deadline for the Homeland Security Department by the end of this week, as Democrats demanded changes on ICE. There are a bunch of federal agencies who would be impacted if the funding for DHS is not extended past Friday, just a handful of those on your screen.
And this fight is now about what -- how they will restrain ICE. Democrats have a whole slew of demands. And I just give you a taste of where things are right now, because two Republicans, a Republican senator and a Democratic senator here, making it clear how badly the two parties are divided as they stare into the shutdown deadline by weeks end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): What the Democrats want is they want to get rid of ICE. They can't do that because they don't have the votes for that. I am not going to help them do that.
SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ (D-HI): We're not asking for a bunch of progressive priorities. I think some people are living in a world that's 10 years ago where we're having an immigration debate. This is not an immigration debate. This is a debate about whether or not Americans have basic constitutional rights anymore.
RAJU: Do you think the CR is off the table for DHS?
SCHATZ: I don't think we're going to do a CR.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And that last comment is important because they're saying they're not going to extend funding at all. So, Democrats are saying they have all these demands that the Republicans must agree to at least some of these key ones, or we're facing a shutdown.
Zolan, how does the White House going to deal with this? How is Trump going to deal with this? Is he really willing to concede to some of these Democratic demands?
KANNO-YOUNGS: I mean, just based off of conversations that you've had with White House officials, there's the answer would be no. As of right now, the White House has come out and called some of these, described them sort of as wish list items, right?
What I think is interesting is actually, if you look at that list, Democrats seem to be walking a line here of not trying to make this a debate over, necessarily immigration policy, right, but trying to actually make it about use of force and enforcement, almost making it about federal law enforcement broadly. Like there you see targeted enforcement. You see efforts to have a strict use of force policy, you know, demasking as well.
You know, I still don't know if that will actually sway and get the support of folks in the White House who have spent the past year also criticizing the so-called sanctuary city policies. And obviously, you know, have both an actions on the Hill and in the White House made it a priority to support ice, too, right? So, we're at a gridlock here, right?
And the reality is, if it continues to be gridlock, I mean, ICE funding is good after the One Big, Beautiful Bill, they got so much money. But FEMA, you know, TSA as well. Those other agencies and DHS could be in trouble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And it would be a huge impact on the economy. And so many people who work for the federal government, for those agencies as well.
All right. We'll see what will happen there.
And coming up for us, the president calls a fellow Republican a moron at the National Prayer Breakfast. That Congressman Thomas Massie joins us to respond, and what he says about that and about the Epstein files. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:17:37]
RAJU: Republicans have just one vote to spare with their razor thin majority in the House. But one Republican has drawn more ire from President Trump than any other. This was Friday at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: No matter what we do, this moron, no matter what it is. We get 100 percent vote except for this guy named Thomas Massie. There's something wrong with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Thomas Massie, a libertarian minded conservative, has represented northern Kentucky since 2012, a perennial no vote on spending bills and now a leader in pushing for the full release of the Epstein files over the president's furious objections.
He joins me now live from his farm in Kentucky.
Congressman Massie, thank you so much for being here.
I do want to ask you about that comment from the president of the United States, insulting you like that at the National Prayer Breakfast. What's your response to him?
REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): Well, first of all, I'm glad to know I'm in the president's prayers. But second of all, you know, on the Internet, some people have suggested that MIT should take my degree away. And my response is, which one should they take away? I have two degrees from MIT, and I'm sorry you booked a moron today on your show.
RAJU: Well, fair enough. I do want to talk to you about your fight to release the Epstein files in a minute. But first, I want to get your reaction to the news about how the president had posted, then deleted this racist video depicting the Obama as apes.
He has refused to apologize. Do you think he should apologize to the Obamas?
MASSIE: He should absolutely apologize. He's gone too far. I mean, he's attacked my wife recently online, and I do think there are limits. If for a while it's kind of funny, but once you pass certain guardrails, like attacking a man's spouse or getting into racist tropes, I think it's somebody at the White House, maybe Susie Wiles needs to go to the president and just ask him for his phone, and maybe ask him just to show him the tweet before he sends it out.
RAJU: Yeah. Just to follow up on your wife because it is alarming. He's multiple times he has gone after her in social media posts. I mean, how angry does that make you?
MASSIE: It doesn't make me angry, but it's unfair to my spouse. I mean, look, Donald Trump was giving to Democrats when my wife was working for right to work and campaign for liberty and Rand Paul.
[08:20:08]
In fact, worked in Rand Paul's office over a decade ago, back when Donald Trump was still a Democrat. So, I think it's wrong. Fortunately, everything he says about her is untrue, but it's beyond the pale. And I -- and people recoil when he goes to those racist tropes or when he attacks spouses. It's just uncalled for.
RAJU: Okay, so let's talk about the Epstein files. Of course, it was your legislation that requires the Trump administration to have released all the Epstein files by last December. The Jstice Department now has released more than three million documents. And it says the Justice Department is saying that they have fully complied with the law.
Is the Trump administration complying with the law?
MASSIE: No. Well, they missed the deadline, but that's not the worst part. The two worst parts are they're releasing victim's information. I mean, just outright lists of victims. It's terrible.
And beyond that, they are withholding the perpetrators' names. There's still 302 files. Those are the forms that the FBI fills out after they interview witnesses and victims, and they're still withholding those, and they're over redacting the documents that have, you know, they relate to some really sketchy emails, but we can't see who the sender was. And so they really need to come off some more information.
Monday, Todd Blanche said that members of Congress can come and start viewing those redactions. Ro Khanna and I are very interested in going and reviewing some of those redactions, but there are also files that we need to see. And finally, Pam Bondi will be in front of my committee. I serve on the judiciary committee this coming week on Wednesday. And so I'll have some questions for her related to the Epstein files.
RAJU: What are you going to ask her?
MASSIE: Well, where are the rest of the documents? Why? Why did they release victims names? We -- they took extra time. They said to be safe. And, you know, what are these redactions?
Now, we may get to see those redactions. Hopefully, we can go to the DOJ before she shows up on Wednesday and see how responsive they are to us in person.
But, you know, she's really -- she's not. If you notice, they don't put her out in front anymore. They put Todd Blanche out in front because she's been all over the map. She has no credibility on this. She said there are a bunch, you know, there's a ton of files there on my desk. I'm going to release them. And then she said, there's nothing but, you know, child sexual abuse material, and nobody wants to see that. Then she said, oh, we found a whole bunch more, and they're going to be more investigations.
But what are those investigations, for instance? And so there's a whole host of questions for her. But I'm glad that she's coming to judiciary. She hasn't been there since she's been attorney general.
RAJU: Have you -- are you going to how are you going to respond if they don't fully comply with the law? You told me before that you may go to the floor and actually read the names of people on the alleged Epstein client list. Are you still planning to do that?
MASSIE: I'm ready to do that if the victims want me to. They believe that the best way to get justice is to force the DOJ to release these names.
I've already read one name in a committee with the FBI director there. That's Jes Staley. And again, he may or may not be guilty, but he's been accused by these victims. The lawyer tells me. And there are other names. I don't have them in my possession.
But if the victims want to give them to me, I've expressed that I'm willing to do that. But again, the best way is to force the DOJ to release those names on those 302 forms. RAJU: Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said that he and
his wife decided around 2005 to cut ties with Jeffrey Epstein. But the latest release shows that there was some correspondence after that, even after Epstein pleaded guilty to sex crimes in 2008. What questions do you have about Lutnick's ties to Epstein, and should he come before Congress and testify?
MASSIE: No, he should just resign. I mean, there are three people in Great Britain that have resigned in politics. The ambassador from Great Britain to the United States, the prince lost his title for less than what we've seen Howard Lutnick lie about.
Look, Howard Lutnick clearly went to the island if we believe what's in these files. He was in business with Jeffrey Epstein. And this was many years after Jeffrey Epstein was convicted. You know, lightly sentenced, but was convicted for sexual crimes.
So, he's got a lot to answer for. But really, he should make life easier on the president, frankly, and just resign. If this were Great Britain, he'd already be gone.
RAJU: And just for the record, the Commerce Department says that he had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein and the presence of his wife. He's never been accused of wrongdoing.
I do want to ask you about Trump, because his name has been mentioned more than 1,000 times in the Epstein files.
[08:25:02]
Do you think that he should answer questions to Congress to maybe even testify about what he knows?
MASSIE: You know, I wouldn't go there yet. I think that most of the men that are implicated in these files -- they're billionaires. They're friends of Trump. They're people who are in his social circles.
To get justice for the survivors, I want to see those men brought to justice. Ro Khanna and I have tried to keep this from being political in some respects. We've failed. You know, the Democrats want to make this about Trump, and the Republicans want to make it about the Clintons. I want to make it about the survivors and getting them justice and transparency.
RAJU: Mr. Massie, you are perhaps Trump's biggest target this primary season. He's tried to unite the party behind your opponent, Gallrein, and Congressman Andy Barr, a member of your delegation, has now endorsed your opponent.
Trump has knocked off incumbents in the past by endorsing their challengers. How hard is it going to be for you to overcome the president and his MAGA allies in your primary?
MASSIE: Well, look, I vote with the president 91 percent of the time. The 9 percent of the time, my party has taken up for pedophiles, bankrupting this country or starting another war. I don't vote with them and they want 100 percent compliance. That's why they're trying to take me out.
It's really about keeping my colleagues in line. They're under no illusion that I will snap back into line because they're spending millions of dollars against me. It's going to be tough, but I'm going to win.
I did notice that the at one of his statements, the president had been saying I was polling at 6 percent. Now he says I'm at 9 percent. So I'm glad to see I've gone up 3 percent in his polling. The thing is, he just pulls those poll numbers out of thin air.
And my polling shows that I'm winning in spite of millions of dollars being spent against me by the Epstein class. Miriam Adelson, John Paulson and Paul Singer who are showing up in these Epstein files, they're three billionaires from New York and West Palm Beach who are trying to fund this effort against me.
RAJU: All right. We'll have to leave it there.
Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, thank you so much for joining me. Really appreciate your time.
MASSIE: Thanks, Manu.
RAJU: Still ahead, my new reporting on the anxiety surging among Republicans as crucial primary battles turn nasty, with a Senate majority in the line. Why won't President Trump get off the sidelines?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:32:00]
MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: GOP leaders are sounding the alarm about their midterm map, worried that the worsening political environment and strategic blunders could cost them control of the Senate.
One big reason for the anxiety is President Trump's decision to sit out critical primaries and not get behind candidates favored by Senate GOP leaders.
That is per my new report with my colleague Sarah Ferris, out this morning.
My panel is back with me now.
Texas is their biggest concern right now. The Senate Republican Leader, John Thune, told me that if Trump does not get behind John Cornyn in Texas, that this is going to get, quote, "a lot more expensive" to hold on to the seat.
And this is the big reason why. If you look at the calendar here, the primary is in March 3rd. It's coming up. It's in just a few weeks.
And then -- but if they -- if the candidates don't win outright then it goes into a two-month runoff. And this is such an expensive state and they are worried they're just burning money to save John Cornyn, who's facing Ken Paxton and Wesley Hunt in this three-way primary right now.
And all that money could be spent in other states where they could hold on to the majority.
MARGARET TALEV, AXIOS SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR: 100 percent. But your headline premise of your story is two separate things. It's will Trump get off the sidelines and will Trump endorse the candidates who Republican leaders think have the best chance of winning in November?
What if he gets off the sidelines for the other guy?
RAJU: Yes.
TALEV: And so you know that Texas race, it -- look, Texas is a red state. Democrats have -- like the peanuts and the football -- like Democrats have been trying to pick off Texas in some capacity for a while. It may not work anyway.
But everyone thinks probably the best chance is if you have Paxton as the nominee.
So if what are the chances that Donald Trump comes off the sidelines, strongly embraces John Cornyn and really puts his heart into it? I don't know. I mean, I'll ask my colleagues.
RAJU: Because if this year that Ken Paxton -- he's got a lot of liabilities, got impeached.
TALEV: Ethics concerns.
RAJU: Exactly.
TALEV: Unpopular.
(CROSSTALKING)
RAJU: And all the like. But the MAGA base likes him and likes him a lot, which is the problem for Trump. He's kind of caught in this position.
And this is the amount of money that has been spent so far. And this is just a subset of the large amount of money. But for pro Cornyn ads, about $47 million has been spent so far and hardly any has been spent for his opponents. And they are just burning through money. And it's only February.
ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, "NEW YORK TIMES" WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And to your point, like that's money that could be spent elsewhere, as well as Democrats like try to walk this very narrow path here in these midterm elections.
I'm sure just speaking to White House officials, I mean, Ken Paxton also was aligned with president during the Biden years, right. And like, he remembers a lot of those legal challenges.
[08:34:44]
KANNO-YOUNGS: Or a couple days ago, you did see the president also sort of tease that he could be weighing in soon in making an endorsement, kind of dangling that prospect out there as well.
So that's something to watch.
RAJU: Yes.
KANNO-YOUNGS: And look, the state Senate race rattled, you know, some folks in the Republican Party and some allies of the president, too. And that's also increasing the sense of urgency to get him to weigh in here as well.
RAJU: Yes, but he has chosen to get involved when he wants to get involved. Now, he did endorse John Sununu in New Hampshire. That's even though the Sununus have had their own history with Trump. He got behind Sununu -- that's who the Republican leaders did want in that primary.
And then -- but there's also personal grudges that oftentimes drives Donald Trump -- breaking news that drives Donald Trump to make some decisions, as he did in Louisiana, going after Bill Cassidy, who's a veteran Republican incumbent.
He got Julia Letlow, a candidate to run in this race against Bill Cassidy. Why? Because Cassidy voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial. Even though Cassidy has done so many things since then to try to align himself with Trump, even voting to confirm RFK Jr., the decisive vote to do just that.
I asked Cassidy last week whether he regrets his vote to convict Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): I can go down the list of things that I've done for my state, and that's what people are going to vote on.
RAJU: So he's clearly upset at your vote to convict him.
CASSIDY: You're asking me the presidents motivations?
RAJU: Yes.
CASSIDY: I can't comment on that. And frankly, I don't think you can either.
RAJU: No, no. But your vote -- do you regret that vote to convict him?
CASSIDY: My point is, is that and you do a good job of this, ascribing to others their motivations. And I just -- I just don't think that's fair.
RAJU: No, I'm asking you your vote. Do you regret your vote to convict him?
CASSIDY: So I'm commonly asked by reporters, how do I feel and how do I regret? And all I can say, is, you live your life forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: You live your life forward.
TALEV: That was excellent, by the way. That was really good follow up. Yes.
RAJU: I tried.
JONAH GOLDBERG, THE DISPATCH CO-FOUNDER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: So look, I think people kind of overthink this stuff, right? Your basic assumption about Trump's motives is obviously the correct one. He holds grudges.
And the benefit of holding the grudge in this case is that it shows that it's weird. Like the pro Cassidy people, you know, and you can have some sympathy for Cassidy, who bent over backwards knowing that confirming RFK Jr. was a disaster for public health. And the guy's a doctor.
But it shows that you cannot get back on Trump's good -- should not risk getting on Trump's bad side because it once he dislikes you and is angry at you, it's almost impossible to get back.
And --
RAJU: Loyalty's a one-way street.
GOLDBERG: Right.
Remember after the 2018 landslide midterms, Trump's lesson from that, where the Democrats picked up 8,000 house seats or something, was the Republicans who lost it was because they didn't embrace me, right? Did not embrace.
And he reads through the list of losers saying, if they only embraced me in states where people were voting to send a message to Trump, it was all sort of egomaniacal nonsense.
On the Texas stuff, I just want to point out, like the Texas GOP -- Texas basically has two GOPs now.
The Paxton impeachment thing demonstrated that. There's a MAGA GOP there, and there's sort of the normie establishment GOP.
And I think that that the problems that the Trump administration is having and the GOP is having in Texas is prologue to the problems we're going to see in a post-Trump era.
Everyone wants to talk about how the MAGA coalition, the Trump coalition, will just simply be inherited by JD Vance or something like that. We're going to see massive splintering between these different factions of the GOP, and we're seeing it right now in Texas.
RAJU: Yes. No question about it. There's huge consequences determining -- the result of that fight will have huge consequences for the battle for the Senate. All right.
He's got the biggest stage in the world. So just how political will Bad Bunny get during his Super Bowl halftime performance tonight? That's next.
[08:38:54]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAD BUNNY, SUPER BOWL LX HALFTIME SHOW HEADLINER: I'm going to say ICE out. We're not savage. We're not animals. We're not aliens. We are humans. And we are Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Bad Bunny didn't shy away from politics during his acceptance speech at last week's Grammy Awards. And we'll find out in just a few hours if he plans to try to send a message to President Trump at tonight's Super Bowl halftime performance.
When the NFL announced the six-time Grammy award winner would be the halftime performer, MAGA revolted.
And now the conservative group Turning Point USA is having its own alternative halftime show featuring MAGA allies like Kid Rock.
My panel is back. I mean, look, this is -- the Super Bowl has not been immune from past performances that have injected -- leaned into politics. We've seen a whole wide range from Beyonce to Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, J Lo and the like.
The difference here is that Bad Bunny is a humongous -- I mean, he's got, you know, 107 billion lifetime Spotify streams.
I mean, and he's got a huge stage and he's made ICE and everything that's happening with immigration enforcement a big part of his thing that he talks about -- message on during these concerts.
GOLDBERG: Yes. I mean, rarely have I been so torn about an issue that matters so little.
[08:44:47]
GOLDBERG: I don't know much about Bad Bunny. I don't much care. I don't much care about Super Bowl halftime shows.
But that's just a corporate decision. If you're trying to make the NFL an international brand and an international enterprise, picking like the most popular international star, you can. Just makes a lot of sense, regardless of ethnicity or any of that other stuff. And I'm sorry, but like, you know, even Franklin Graham is talking
about how you should not watch Bad Bunny because of the lyrics and the crudity.
And it's like, first of all, Franklin Graham was not going to be able to understand Bad Bunny's lyrics. But to say you should watch Kid Rock, who's just, you know, first of all, aged out of the demo, let's just say.
And I mean, and is just as crude, if not much cruder than anything.
RAJU: And those are in English.
GOLDBERG: And they're in English. Yes. So it's all just so stupid. I mean, that's how I kind of come down on it.
RAJU: The partisan -- look, this is INSIDE POLITICS. So there are polls for it. And there's a poll on Bad Bunny by party affiliation about how U.S. approval of Bad Bunny and Democrats, almost three quarters of Democrats approve of Bad Bunny; and Independents, about half, just over half do; Republicans, 16 percent of Republicans. So it just shows you even Bad Bunny has a partisan divide.
TALEV: I mean, every everything has a partisan divide today. But look you've seen many a headline. In fact, I think CNN had one also that said the NFL needs Bad Bunny more than Bad Bunny needs the NFL.
We're talking about this in the context of President Trump. But President Trump is the only person who thinks that Bad Bunny was selected to troll President Trump.
This is about the future of the NFL and their audiences. And he's the most streamed artist in the world.
However, and I'll tell you, like when you look at quote-unquote, "the Hispanic vote", it's such a misnomer -- or the Latino vote.
There's so many different splits of people who would be described in a census of Hispanic. There are Puerto Ricans who are Americans because it's an American territory.
There are Mexican-Americans, there are Salvadoran-Americans, there are Cuban-Americans, and they all --
RAJU: Yes.
TALEV: -- represent different splits. But all Hispanic and most Hispanic and Latino-Americans feel a kindred spirit with Bad Bunny --
RAJU: Yes.
TALEV: -- whether or not they like his music --
RAJU: Yes.
TALEV: -- and whether or not they like his politics. RAJU: And Bad Bunny is not the only performer who's criticized Trump.
Tonight, were going to see Green Day, Brandi Carlile. Trump was asked about this a few weeks ago. He said, "I'm anti-them. I think it's a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred, terrible."
He's not going today to the Super Bowl, even though he's gone to all sorts of sporting events. He says it's too far, which is the reason why he's not going.
KANNO-YOUNGS: Right, right. And he also might be, you know, worried about facing that outward resistance too. And, you know, does the crowd boo, too, if he goes as well?
I mean, look, there's something interesting here. Like we're in a period of time where it's hard. You can't really go to any aspect of society or any aspect of culture without feeling politics right now, right.
And that's also due because we have a White House that is seeking to put a stamp on all aspects of culture and society -- think Kennedy Center -- think Trump's name on all these government buildings.
There's a long history of him, not just the device, not just showing him music, but also sports, too, right. And different leagues. And you're seeing that here.
But look, this isn't really a comparison between these two shows. You're talking about, like 89 million monthly listeners on Spotify to like 5 million.
RAJU: Yes. I think there's a big difference. A little bigger, yes. I think we can agree on that.
All right. Coming up, will Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski leave the lower 48 to seek her state's highest office? That's next.
[08:48:26]
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RAJU: In Alaska, where even the politics are a bit wild, one race for the last frontier is officially not getting more crowded. Lisa Murkowski, the longtime GOP senator and one of the most pivotal swing votes in the chamber, had been considering a run for governor this fall. But this past week, she made clear to me she has made her decision, and that is to stay in the Senate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): Yes, there is.
RAJU: There's a lot of speculation that you may run. Are you considering it?
MURKOWSKI: I have -- I have told Alaskans who have asked me if I would run. I said, would I not consider returning back to the state that I love and working on hard problems and challenges? Absolutely.
But I also feel that the role that I'm playing here in the United States Senate is a particularly important one for our state and for the country.
So hard decisions, but you've got to pick one. And I'm -- I am here and I'm going to continue to serve Alaskans here.
RAJU: So you're ruled it out running for governor.
MURKOWSKI: Yes, I guess.
RAJU: Yes.
MURKOWSKI: Not happily because, you know, the idea of being able to be home and shovel real snow instead of ice snow.
Big difference.
RAJU: Yes. Yes, indeed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Although the deadline to enter this race isn't until June, this is the first time Murkowski has publicly shut the door on a gubernatorial run, leaving behind an already jam-packed field of at least 16 candidates.
But here in Washington, Murkowski is known for being one of the most unpredictable GOP senators. From voting against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, breaking ranks with GOP leaders on key Supreme Court and cabinet nominations, and even voting to convict President Trump during his second impeachment trial.
[08:54:44]
RAJU: But she also can deliver for her party as she cast a decisive vote last year to pass Trump's one Big Beautiful Bill Act after winning carve outs for Alaska.
But Murkowski is not afraid to deliver a blunt message to the GOP, as she did last week, warning Republicans about November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MURKOWSKI: I think we need to listen. We need to watch. We need to -- we need to hear what the American people are saying with their words, their actions, and in their hearts.
RAJU: Do you think this could be a painful November for the GOP?
MURKOWSKI: It is still just early February, so there is a lot of time between now and November, and I think it could be painful if we're not paying attention to those -- to those signals.
(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: And that's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. You can follow me on X @mkraju. Follow the show @INSIDE POLITICS. You can also find me on TikTok and on Instagram.
And remember, in the United States, you can now stream INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY live or catch up later on the CNN app and visit CNN.com/watch for more.
Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Dana's guests include House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Maryland Governor Wes Moore and CMS administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.
[08:56:00]
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