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CNN Live Event/Special

Trump Team Discuss Meeting With Biden; Shattered Democrats Grapple With Harris's Loss; CNN Reports More Election Results; Trump Prepares For Second Term; World Reacts To Trump's Victory. Aired 11p- 12a ET

Aired November 06, 2024 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The heart of political power in the United States now preparing for the history- making, norm-breaking, disruptive comeback of one Donald John Trump. It is "Election Night in America Continued." I'm Jake Tapper.

There is no disputing the sweep of now President-elect Trump's White House victory. But there are many unanswered questions tonight about the road ahead and for Mr. Trump's opponents. Serious concerns about how he will lead the nation, his shakeup of the electoral map, his win of the popular vote for the first time, prompting Republicans to claim a mandate to carry out Mr. Trump's most aggressive items on his America First agenda.

There is one last hope for Democrats in this election as they wait to learn if they have successfully flipped that U.S. House of Representatives or -- or if Republicans will hold on to the control of the chamber. We could get new results on that at any moment. The party of Trump is already set to wield new power on Capitol Hill after winning back control of the U.S. Senate.

Let's go to Kaitlan Collins now. She's anchoring West Palm Beach, Florida. And Kaitlan, Mr. Trump will be back at the White House soon at President Biden's invitation.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, something Jake that we did not see four years ago when the roles were reversed, but we are expecting to see that now. CNN's Kristen Holmes is here with me in West Palm Beach. What are you hearing about when this meeting between Donald Trump and President Biden could take place?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so, Biden invited Donald Trump to come to Washington to talk about the transition. The Trump team quickly accepted. Again, as you said, not something that we saw four years ago. They had absolutely no meetings. And now, we are told that they want this to happen as early as possible.

So, Trump's team is having conversations about when exactly he's going to go to Washington. But I was told it could happen as early as next week. They are trying to get all of the wheels moving here. As we know, the transition is in motion, trying to fill administration slots. And now, he wants this meeting to happen and happen quickly. COLLINS: It was just so interesting today to see Harris's concession speech and just realize she was giving Trump something that he never gave to them, which was not only a concession speech, but also acknowledging a legitimate victory, as she did when she came out, and telling people it was going to be okay.

And two things stood out to me, that one, she's going to be the one certifying his win come January 6th as the vice president, which obviously we all remember how Trump tried to pressure Mike Pence into doing what he did not have the legal ability to do.

And two, just looking at this, yesterday throughout the day, as we were starting to cover Trump's party, he was posting about fraud in Philadelphia and Detroit and saying law enforcement was coming and there was cheating happening even though officials there said there was no evidence of any of that. As he started to do better in the polls though or in the results from the voting, all of that stopped, and he hasn't posted once on Truth Social today.

HOLMES: Well, that was exactly what we saw leading up to the election as well. It wasn't even just the post. It was the fact that during that rally in Pennsylvania, he started claiming for 20 minutes that the 2024 election was going to be rigged, something we coincidentally never heard again, especially as those numbers started coming in.

COLLINS: Yeah, not a single claim of fraud, Jake, since Donald Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 election.

TAPPER: Wow, that is quite a coincidence. Now, let's go to Abby Phillip, who has been covering the Harris campaign and is anchoring here in D.C. Abby, after this resounding defeat, where do Democratic leaders go from here?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Well, Jake, we've been talking a lot about the finger-pointing that's happening within the Democratic Party. And then, I think after that, one of the things that we're hearing is the question of who is going to be the leader of the Democratic Party. I'm here in Washington with Jeff Zeleny as well. Jeff, what are you hearing about this bench that actually has been around now for a while, was sort of put on ice while Joe Biden became the nominee? That conversation has restarted among Democrats.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It definitely has. As we see President Biden in the Rose Garden tomorrow, you know, a lot of Democrats in state capitals will be watching this. I mean, if you look at a lot of these battleground states today, a lot of them have Democratic governors. Josh Shapiro, of course, in Pennsylvania, Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, you know, a few ambitious senators as well. So, look, this is the point where Democrats are going to begin rebuilding their bench. Today was the day for Vice President Harris.

PHILLIP: Yeah. It was notably --

ZELENY: You and I were at Howard University.

PHILLIP: And it was notably quiet from some of these very people -- ZELENY: Right.

PHILLIP: -- who are actually very powerful surrogates for Vice President Harris. But I think there was a sense of let her have her moment. Also, let the campaign grieve. But it's only a matter of time before we start to see some of these people come out and take charge of what this sort of resistance, so to speak, of the Trump era is going to look like.

ZELENY: Without question, this is going to be a changing of the guard, a passing of the torch. We saw on the campaign trail in recent weeks, you saw it, I saw it, the Clintons, the Obamas. President Biden wasn't out there as much, but First Lady Jill Biden was. This is a new moment.

[23:05:00]

We, of course, have to add Vice President Harris's name in the list. She will have an organization. She is just, I'm told, going to begin deciding what type of apparatus she might set up if she -- when she leaves. So, all these things will come in time. But there is a big Democratic bench out there, and there's a range of ideologies and views. So that is what will be coming as the Trump transition sort of begins. This will be the beginning of the democratic rebuilding as well.

PHILLIP: Part of this is also some kind of rearview mirror looking at whether or not they should have had a party, what would have happened if Joe Biden had left the race even a month earlier than he did or perhaps a year earlier that he did. There were so many people that I talked to you in this summer who really did a primary, where you saw a lot of these people, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, Pete Buttigieg and others, actually going back and forth about who could be the strongest candidate.

ZELENY: Without a doubt. I mean, just think how different this would be, President Biden would be leaving office in a couple months in a stronger position in terms of his legacy, if he would have stepped aside on his own. That didn't happen. So now, we are going to see, you know, this. But it is interesting to see. There is a democratic bench out there and --

PHILLIP: Yeah.

ZELENY: -- this is one of the fascinating fallouts of any election or defeat. Many of them will arise to the fore.

PHILLIP: A democratic bench and also a republican bench. Many Democrats preparing for the next generation of MAGA, one of whom is going to be the vice president of the United States, J.D. Vance. Jake, back to you.

TAPPER: All right, Abby, thanks so much. Right now, we want to get an update on the ongoing fight for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Boris Sanchez is coming after us. Boris, where do things stand at this hour? BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake, the House of Representatives is still up for grabs, but things are trending in one specific direction. Let's take a look at the balance of power, the state of play for the chamber. A 191 seats held by Democrats with two pickups, 208 seats held by Republicans with six pickups. You'll notice Republicans only need 10 more seats to take control of the chamber. Currently, there are 36 that are still getting ironed out as we get more votes in.

So, what does this mean for the magic number that Democrats need to take control of the chamber from Republicans? Democrats have to pick up eight Republican seats. Currently, they lead in four races in Republican districts. But complicating matters, Republicans lead in two races where Democrats hold seats. If you do the math, that's a net gain of two seats, way fewer than the eight they would need to take control of the chamber. But not all the votes have been counted.

So, let's get you some key race alerts now as we're getting live results trickling, slowly trickling into CNN, beginning with House District 19 in New York. This is in upstate New York, the Binghamton and Ithaca area. There, Democratic Attorney Josh Riley currently with a 3,800 vote-lead ahead of incumbent Republican Congressman Marc Molinaro. He's a freshman. They both have sort of moderated stances throughout this race. But right now, Riley has an almost 4,000 vote- lead with 94% of the vote left there.

Meantime, zooming out to the West Coast, this is the 47th district in California. Scott Baugh, the Republican in this race, ahead of Dave Min by about a thousand votes. This is the district left with an open seat because Katie Porter decided to run for Senate. She, of course, lost to Adam Schiff in the primary, who wound up winning a Senate seat last night. Here, a district won by Joe Biden four years ago, ball with a 1,133 vote-lead, 69% of the vote in there. Again, these votes are slowly trickling in, Jake, but we're keeping track of them as they come in.

TAPPER: All right, Boris, thanks so much. Meanwhile, inside the Democratic Party, the blame game has already begun. Our chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, has more on that. Manu, it's all just getting started, the finger-pointing, the recriminations, trying to figure out why things went so terribly, terribly wrong for the Democratic Party.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, no question about it. In fact, the House Democratic leaders are convening a conference call tomorrow afternoon with the full House Democratic Caucus. This is the first time for the members to get on one call and talk about everything that went wrong in this election.

Expect a lot of air clearing, expect some finger-pointing. You've already heard some of this out in public. Some blaming Joe Biden for not getting out of the race early. Others blaming their message. Some blaming liberals for pushing their party's message too far to the left. Others saying that it did not cater to their base and went after moderates instead at the expense of their progressive base. And you're starting to see some of this play out in public as well. A couple examples of just that. Bernie Sanders, of course, the independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, put out a tweet earlier today saying that it should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party, which has working class people, would find that the working class has abandoned that. But then some folks who are not aligned with that wing of the party, the left wing of the party, have went after people like Bernie Sanders.

[23:09:55]

This is what Ritchie Torres said, who's a Democratic congressman from New York. He said, "Donald Trump has no greater friend than the far left, which has managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews from the Democratic Party." He went on to criticize the so-called defund the police movement among other issues as well.

This all comes as the Democrats in the Senate and the House are grappling, at least in the Senate, for certain about life in the minority, about how to position themselves with this new republican majority. Do they go toe-to-toe, back like a resistance, block the republican efforts at every turn? They try to cut deals with the new republican majority. It will be part of the debate going forward. We don't know if the House Democrats, Jake, will be the minority yet, but with things trending in that direction, that's going to be a big question for Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, as well.

TAPPER: All right, Manu, thanks so much. My panel is back with me. I just happened to be on my phone and on Twitter or X, and I saw a text or a post from Mike Casca, who used to be Bernie Sanders's press secretary and is now Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's, AOC's press secretary. He noted that she had an Instagram Live that was about to start. So, I clicked it, and I watched my very first AOC Instagram Live. Here's some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): When he says he's going to do something, believe him. Just -- I believe just today, his press secretary confirmed his commitment to mass deportations beginning, you know, the day or day after his presidency. Talking about RFK trying to remove fluoridated water. I'm not here to sugarcoat what we all are about to collectively experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I'm so very proud of myself.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Congratulations.

TAPPER: Thank you very much.

BASH: Our baby is growing up.

TAPPER: I'm 55 years old and I figured I'd have a click on an Instagram Live.

CHRIS WALLACE, BROADCAST JOURNALIST: Can you explain this to me after the show?

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: So, I'm not sure that I can. But she's not wrong. She believed him. He's got a bunch of things that he wants to do. He ran on them. I mean, you heard Rick Scott say -- I forgot if it was Rick Scott or Nancy Mace but one of them -- oh, it's Nancey Mace. I said, what about this mass deportation? She said, he -- basically, she said, I'm paraphrasing, he has a mandate to do it. He said he was going to do it, and people voted for it.

WALLACE: I absolutely agree with AOC on those. I mean, it may turn out not to be true but, you know, think of -- just three things come to mind. The mass deportation, using the military to put down domestic opposition, political opposition, not violent protests, pardoning the January 6th rioters. I don't know any reason why you wouldn't say at this point, I fully expect that to happen.

TAPPER: And how do Democrats deal with it? What do they do? Not that anybody knows necessarily.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN HOST AND CORRESPONDENT, PODCAST HOST: Yeah, I know. I know everyone kept talking about the autopsy. It'll probably be more like a vivisection over the next couple of days. They'll probably be in a defensive posture and start thinking about the midterm elections, which sounds crazy to say.

But it's much easier to be against something than it is to sit down and figure out what you're for and how to communicate that more effectively. And I think it'll be interesting to see who emerges from that bench. We heard Abby talking about in terms of like who is the Democrat who says what is the next step and what does it look like.

BASH: The thing is that this isn't just a problem that popped up in the 2024 election. This has been a slow burn and a move and a shift among the Democratic Party and who people in the electorate actually feel that they have a connection with.

And it started not, I would argue, necessarily with Donald Trump. I mean, you can even go back to the Tea Party where there were people out there who started -- or maybe traditionally democratic voters saying, this is not who I am, this is not what I stand for, and were maybe lured into the Republican Party by the Tea Party, and then, of course, the Trump era started, and he really connected with them.

So, this is a very deep-seated shift and, frankly, problem that the Democrats have that's going to take a lot longer than one cycle to face.

WALLACE: Some of these more extreme and the ones that we're talking about, mass deportation, we're not talking about the people that come over the border. No. We're talking about people that have lived in this country. And you said earlier, it could be 15, 20 million people that you're going to uproot and take out and they've been living for years in these communities.

I mean, if they were really talking about them, mass deportation camps, there'd be a firestorm in this country. A lot of people would support it. A lot of people would violently oppose it, if you saw using the military, the National Guard, to try to put down domestic political opposition. So, you know, I -- on the one hand, I believe it, but if he does follow through on it, it's going to break a lot of eggs.

TAPPER: So, also, there is what he's going to do when it comes to foreign policy. He's made that very clear as well.

[23:15:00]

Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That is a war that's dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president. If I win, when I'm president- elect, and what I'll do is I'll speak to one, I'll speak to the other, I'll get them together, that war would have never happened.

On day one of my new administration, I will seal the border, stop the invasion of people pouring through our border, and send Joe Biden's illegal aliens back home where they belong.

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX BUSINESS CHANNEL HOST: Now, "The Washington Post" is saying that you're talking about 60% tariffs on Chinese goods. Is that in the cards?

TRUMP: No. I would say maybe it's going to be more than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Audie, I mean, these are pretty strong, some might even say severe, radical moves. Ending the war in Ukraine. And there's only one way to end it, the way he talks about it, and that is for to force Ukraine to give up its own territory to Russia, the invading force.

BASH: Pull the funding.

TAPPER: Pull the funding, et cetera. And, of course, you know, 60%, more than 60% tariff on Chinese goods. These will have major league life and death impacts abroad and also financial impact here at home.

CORNISH: Yeah, I mean, the stakes are incredibly high. I would say on the tariffs, it'll be interesting to see how that actually clashes with the reality of who he puts in his cabinet, especially as he has leaned much closer to the business community and business relationships in terms of really following through.

On the issue of Ukraine, that is also a reflection of voters' will and of the Republican Party that has backed away greatly from interventionism. And I do think that also internationally, this is what he is known for. Bilateral kind of conversations. The whole -- everyone gathers around the table and figures it out. That's not what he does and his voters don't want it.

TAPPER: All right. Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Jake, thanks very much. Let us continue the conversation with the team here in New York south. I mean, do you expect mass deportations?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I expect some deportations. I don't know what the numeric threshold to make it mass but, yes, I expect Donald Trump to try to execute on what he said. We do have a huge illegal immigration problem in this country. We have some of them that have criminal records or who have committed violent offenses. So, yeah, I expect him to be stronger on the border and to execute on what he told the American people. And I don't think he should fear doing it. All the polling in this campaign show that a majority of American support, a majority of Hispanic-American support it as well. Something needs to be done. This is a top priority.

COOPER: Do you think -- go ahead.

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was going to say, I think everyone has said that if you do mass deportations, it will actually hurt our economy. But I want to just talk about the -- I understand the voters have spoken, and we will see what Donald Trump has done, but it's also about the fear that is waving through immigrant communities right now. I spoke to someone whose parents immigrated over 40 years ago. She's in her 40s today. Um, and she is what you would call -- quote, unquote -- "an anchor baby." And she texts me today. She was, like, I'm afraid I'm going to get deported. This is the only country I've known. Or DACA students, this is the only country they're known. And so today many people woke up afraid for the security of their future when this is the only country that they've known, and they have given so much to this country, and that is why so many on the left right now are one of the many reasons why we're distraught about the trampling.

COOPER: David, there were a lot of very conservative Republicans who negotiated this bipartisan deal. You know, 650 million more for border wall. There were going to have more judges. Obviously, the former president (INAUDIBLE) on that. Do you think a larger comprehensive border deal is possible?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This David or that David?

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: You.

URBAN: Shit, I was hoping it was for him.

(LAUGHTER)

URBAN: Listen, I don't know if a larger deal is possible because comprehensive immigration reform is incredibly difficult. I worked on comprehensive immigration reform in the Bush administration. We start really crunching numbers. Labor wants one thing, conservatives want one thing, SEIU wants something else. You know, it is -- it's great, nice big concept where you really get down to the brass tacks. It is very, very difficult to hone in on. I know they had a bill that everyone said they agreed on. It wasn't even close.

COOPER: David, I mean, the Obama administration actually did.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, in 2013, and it got a healthy, healthy majority, I think 67-68 votes in the United States Senate, and then the Republican speaker of the House wouldn't take the bill --

COOPER: The Obama administration did deportations early on.

AXELROD: Yeah, for sure. I mean, look -- and it was focused on people who have committed crimes, who had criminal records.

[23:19:48]

But, as Ashley points out, when you talk about the 10 million people who are here, many of them for many, many years, who are sort of pillars of their community, by the way, paying taxes and social security but not getting it or not being entitled to it, you know, the amount of disruption -- I don't know how you execute it, first of all. I mean, anything on that scale.

And I think, you know, we'll see whether he attempts it. If he attempts it, it will be incredibly disruptive. But it's something that sounds great at a campaign. You know, he wanted to really hit that bill hard. You know, now, reality is here, and we will see if he actually acts on it.

URBAN: Some of the other things are being discussed there. Tariffs. Tariffs are in place now. The Biden administration left the tariffs on China. So, you know, we are kind of boo-hoo in tariffs but they work. They're negotiating to Ukraine. We talked about this during the break. What does success look like in Ukraine? I don't know if President Zelenskyy can answer that.

But this president wants to be a good steward of our -- America's taxpayer dollars. And unless President Zelenskyy can define what it looks like, how we expect it to define what successful is like in Ukraine? And we continue to fund billions and billions of dollars, send it to Ukraine when they don't even know what it looks like.

AXELROD: First of all --

URBAN: What is the answer?

AXELROD: Here are a couple of things. Just on the tariffs. There is one thing -- targeted tariffs are one thing. Broad tariffs on everything that comes into the country, from every country in the world, is a completely different thing.

URBAN: I'm not sure what he's talking about.

AXELROD: No, that is what he's talking about. That's what he said.

ALLISON: Yeah.

AXELROD: Go back and listen to the video, and then on the issue of Ukraine. The question is, you know, what are the terms of the negotiations and are you going to force on Ukraine Vladimir Putin's terms? And if people are suspicious that that might happen, maybe it has to do with the fact that Trump seven times since he has left the presidency has been in touch with Putin and has been -- fundamentally, he called the invasion genius in the first place. So, if I were Ukraine, I'd be very nervous about that.

URBAN: So, what -- what's the basis of -- why do you think that President Trump would favor the Russians?

AXELROD: Why do I think that? Why would I think that he would favor the Russians? Did you see the story this morning in the Post? The Russians were celebrating his election.

URBAN: So, actually sounds like Bob Woodward here, saying like -- he talked -- I know that he has talked to him. There's a conspiracy. There is blackmail (ph).

AXELROD: I didn't say that. I said --

URBAN: So, why do you think, at the end of the day, that he's not going to say, I want to support a democracy in Europe. The Ukrainians, I'm going to take their stand. We're going to negotiate this out. I want to stop the bloodshed.

ALLISON: Well --

URBAN: I want to stop the billions of dollars going to --

ALLISON: He has been asked, and he hasn't answered who he wants to win the war. He also, you know --

URBAN: Define winning. That is what I'm asking. Define winning.

ALLISON: That Ukraine could stand and that Russia and Beijing would be backtracked and that they would get territory. Let me --

URBAN: But that is not going to happen, Ashley.

ALLISON: But also -- but to David's point, are you going to be negotiating on behalf of Vladimir Putin when you go to Ukraine? And you just said, how do you know there are some -- I mean, we just learned he sent COVID tests to him during the height of the pandemic. Like there is a relationship there. We should acknowledge it. And we can be skeptical of it.

COOPER: All right. So, Donald Trump's commanding victory sending shockwaves around the world. CNN's Fareed Zakaria weighs in on that next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: America's allies and enemies alike are reacting to Donald Trump's return to the world stage. The president-elect getting congratulatory calls from Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ukraine president, the Chinese president. Welcome back to "Election Night in America Continued."

I want to go to CNN's Fareed Zakaria to talk about the world reacting. Fareed, what has been standing out to you in terms of what we've seen over the last 24 hours?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: Well, what you could expect? Everyone is racing to congratulate Trump. But in general, when you look at the surround, I'd say Europe is depressed. The Gulf states, the rich Gulf states in the Middle East are elated. China is anxious. India is happy, pleased. And Russia is probably rejoicing. You know, it's a mixture of reactions because each one is trying to gauge what this means for them.

But the broader question, I think, everyone is asking themselves, is the United States in, you know, in this new dispensation, is the United States going to be out for just itself or does it -- does Trump see America as the leader of the free world? Does he see America as the force that helps create a certain kind of international order, not simply every nation narrowly pursuing its own interests, the dictators doing well when they can, other countries doing well when they can, but a world based on, you know, a certain degree of openness, freedom, liberty, rules? That has been America's historic role since 1945.

And what they're trying to get a sense of is, are we in a new era completely? You know, has the post-1945 American-led international system finally begun to see, you know, the twilight of its existence?

COOPER: Hmm. Trump suggested during the campaign to Arab and Muslim- American voters that he'd end Israel's war in Gaza. He has also said that Israel should, in his words, finish the job. He obviously has a closer relationship with Netanyahu than Joe Biden did or perhaps a friendlier relationship. Do you think Netanyahu gets a blank check from Trump?

ZAKARIA: I think Netanyahu gets a blank check from Trump on things like Gaza. I don't think Trump particularly cares about -- you know, he's not going to bring up the kinds of issues that Joe Biden was bringing up in terms of the level of damage in buildings and do you have to go after, you know, certain areas, are you providing enough humanitarian assistance.

[23:30:06]

That doesn't feel like Trump's style. In fact, he said several times that Israel just has to finish the job. It's worth pointing out that half of Israel disagrees with Trump on that issue. You know, there is a very clear -- perhaps 50% of Israel that wants a ceasefire is not happy with Netanyahu and his prosecution of the war.

But be that as it may, there's a broader issue, which is Israel's pursuit of the war in the north with Hezbollah and Iran. And I think there, the Trump administration will be supportive. And frankly, Israel has reestablished a kind of deterrence in the north there against Iran, against Hezbollah, and showed them to be much weaker than they are. So, I think that is an area where actually there might be continuity.

The Biden administration has been very comfortable with Iran taking the battle to -- sorry, with Israel taking the battle to Iran, taking the battle to Hezbollah, reestablishing deterrence. I think the Trump administration is likely to continue that.

COOPER: Trump has also said he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. You pair that with, you know, admiration for Vladimir Putin. He has expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin. What do you think that means for Ukraine?

ZAKARIA: Again, I think it gets back to the issue that we began the conversation with, yes, there's a possibility for a deal in Ukraine. There is -- there -- you know, the war cannot and should not go on forever.

But does Trump view this as being a kind of broker between two equal parties of equal value and he's just trying to cut a deal, you know, he's sorts of the real estate broker trying to make it happen, or does he see himself on the side of the free world, on the side of the rule- based international order, trying to make sure that Russia's complete and flagrant violation of those rules, its naked aggression, is not rewarded?

Now, that doesn't mean that Russia will not be able to hold on to some of the territory it has. There's a reality there that you can't get around. But perhaps it then means that you have to provide Ukraine with security guarantees like NATO membership. And maybe there's a deal to be had. If the Ukrainians can be convinced that they will be secure in the future from further Russian aggression, maybe they can accept that they've lost 18% of their territory to Russia.

But the core is that Trump has to see himself as part of an effort to stabilize, support, encourage, you know, the world's great liberal democracies, those countries anchored in the west, those countries that want freedom, and not simply see it as, you know, a deal between two equal parties, and he's just trying to be the broker who can -- who can boast at the end of it all that he got a deal, because, I think, as one of your earlier guests said, there's a deal to be had, which is you just accept the Russian terms, force the Ukrainians to surrender, which I doubt that they would do, but blackmail them into accepting those terms. That's not -- that's not peace, that's surrender.

COOPER: Fareed Zakaria, I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you so much. Coming next, we're going to dive deeper on some of those exit polls. There's still a lot to learn about exactly what happened over the last 48 hours, particularly among Latino men. We're looking at that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: And we're back in the CNN Election Center breaking down how Donald Trump pulled off his presidential victory and what he is going to do with his renewed power. Let's bring in CNN's David Chalian for another look at our exit polling. And David, you've been doing a deeper dive on the exit polls when it comes to Latino voters. Tell us what you found.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah, among the Latino voters, overall, in this election, Jake, they make up 12% of the electorate. And what you see here, Kamala Harris wins 52% of Latino voters to Donald Trump's 46%. A six-point margin of victory with that group of voters. Four years ago, Joe Biden won Latinos by 33 points. So, a 27- point swing in terms of the margin towards Trump.

Take a look among Latino men. Six percent of the electorate, a small slice, Donald Trump's number is at 55%. So, he wins Latino men. His number four years ago among Latino men, 36%. He increased his share by 19-percentage points among Latino men.

Latinas, female, 6% share. Harris wins them 60% to Trump's 38%. And when you look at Latino voters aged 18 to 29, young Latino voters, okay, very small slice, 3% of the electorate, Harris wins them barely, 49% to 47%, two points. Joe Biden won young Latinos four years ago by 41 points, Jake.

TAPPER: Fascinating stuff. So, joining -- thank you, David -- joining the conversation right now, Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida. Congressman, good to see you. Congratulations on your re- election campaign. Trump increased his margins --

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL): Thank you.

TAPPER: -- with Latino voters by double digits, beating even George W. Bush's 2004 margins. Why do you think that is? Do you think it was specifically the economic message?

GIMENEZ: I think a lot of it had to do with the same issues that affect all Americans. Look, in my district, Hillary Clinton won my district in '16 by 16 points. Joe Biden lost it by five. That means President Trump increased -- you know, shift that over 21 points. And then yesterday, I mean, he won it by 20 points.

And so, we've been seeing the shift to the right, especially here in Florida, of Hispanic voters because I believe that the Republican Party and the message of the Republican Party is more aligned with the values of Hispanic voters than the Democratic Party.

[23:40:06]

We have so many people here also that were fleeing dictatorships, socialism, et cetera. Myself -- I mean, I came from Cuba when I was six, fleeing communism, and you had a candidate that was to the left of Bernie Sanders, who was a self-proclaimed socialist.

And so, a lot of different factors, but a lot of them have to do, you know, the same factors, the economy, what's happening at the border, gas prices, our standing in the world, all of that. You know, Hispanic voters are going to be pretty much aligned with the rest of America.

BASH: Hey congressman, it's Dana Bash. Hope you're doing well. Congrats again. One of the things --

GIMENEZ: Thank you.

BASH: One of the things that Donald Trump has been talking about on the campaign trail is economic policy. And we've heard a lot about tariffs. But he has also talked about ending taxes on tips, ending taxes on overtime. At the end of his campaign, he talked about a tax credit for people who had to have child care or at least care for their parents. How realistic, do you think, getting these things through the Congress is going to be?

GIMENEZ: Well, I think that, you know, we're talking about revenue loss for the federal government. But we also need to talk about revenue increases. I know that he wants to tap into, you know, our natural resources, especially, you know, oil and gas, and make us not only energy independent but make us energy dominant around the world. I certainly think that that's, you know, a good way to start funding these losses of revenue. We can't continue to increase our deficit.

And so, I'm interested to see what the final plan is all about and how we're going to balance our budget in the long run because we're piling on way too much debt for our children and our grandchildren. And it's a matter of national security when our interest payments on that debt is now exceeding our Defense Department expenditures.

And so, again, I want to see what his plan is all about. But I know that he has plans to increase our revenue. And I think that's something we should be doing, too, looking more at how can we increase revenue.

Also, regulations. We've got way too much regulation. We need to start reducing the cost of regulation, which I think will then also incentivize the economy. And when you do that, you're going to get more revenue into the coffers and the ability to pay for some of these -- some of these programs that he wants to initiate.

WALLACE: Congressman, Chris Wallace here, the President, the president-elect, has pledged to launch the largest deportation in history. He has talked about deporting millions of people in this country illegally. First of all, do you support that? And if so, how would that be carried out without causing tremendous disruption in this country? GIMENEZ: Well, I think what you have to do is -- look, we've got over 10 million illegal immigrants that have been allowed into this country or are in this country in the last three or four years. I think that's very, very disruptive to our economy and to our country right now.

And so, look, we have to follow the law. Number one, they have to have their due process. We have to hire additional hearing judges to give those folks their due process rights. Those that have valid asylum claims will be able to stay in the country because that's what the law says, and those that don't are going to have to be deported back to their country of origin because that's what the law says. We need to follow the law.

And so, look, as an immigrant, I'm a -- you know I'm an immigrant myself, if you have a valid claim, you're able to stay. If you don't, you're going to have to be deported. We just have to follow the law. That's what we needed to do in the first place.

Joe Biden allowed parole on a mass scale and it should have never been allowed on a mass scale. It needs to be allowed on a case by case basis. In my estimation, you know, this Biden-Harris administration broke the law by allowing all these folks to come in on a mass parole basis, and that's what's causing the chaos inside our country.

CORNISH: Congressman, Audie Cornish here. I wanted to ask you about something pretty fundamental to the immigration conversation, which is that Donald Trump has talked about ending birthright citizenship in the future You talked about coming here as a toddler. I know I did. Do you think that's something he has a mandate to do now?

GIMENEZ: I think that question was already settled back, I believe, in 1898 or something like that, where there is birthright citizenship. And so, that's not something that I'm prepared to support. It has been part of the American way for over a century, and I don't think we need to, you know, to touch it at this point.

TAPPER: Congressman, Jake Tapper, thanks so much. Really appreciate it and congratulations again on that victory you eked out, barely winning with a 29 percentage-point gap between you and your Democratic opponent. Thanks so much.

Coming up next, the top --

GIMENEZ: Thank you. I was sweating it out.

[23:45:01]

TAPPER: Coming up next, the top takeaways on this monumental election and how the country moves forward in the coming weeks and the next four years. Stay with us.

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COOPER: Donald Trump's presidential victory is sealed. His second inauguration is now about two and a half months away. Back with the team. David Axelrod, I want to start with you. I mean, as somebody who was the chief strategist on two winning presidential campaigns for Barack Obama, what do you -- how do you see this? Where the Democratic Party is now?

AXELROD: Well, look, the Democratic Party can react in two ways. It can react with rage with what happened, and I think there will be some of that because of how provocative Trump has been and how destructive in some ways. But the real question is, why did the party fail to connect with so many and so many working-class voters, white, black, and Hispanic? And I think there needs to be a real discussion within the Democratic Party about the way forward, about what went wrong.

COOPER: Who has that discussion?

[23:50:00]

AXELROD: Well, I think you're going to see it. First of all, I think there was going to be a call among members of Congress in the next day. I think that's where it's going to begin. But I think you're going to see a lot of governors step up and start leading that discussion. Ultimately, it's a candidate for national office who helps define the party, and that comes through a primary process. Some of this may be a litigated threat. But there is no doubt about it. You can't be the party of working people if working people don't feel they're connected to you.

COOPER: What do you think, Ashley?

ALLISON: Yeah, I mean, I agree with it. We need to have a conversation within our party. I do want to give some respect to the folks who just worked their tail off, not just in 107 days, but they were working on the campaign for Biden. A lot of the staff transitioned over. And it's hard to lose, right? And so, have a little compassion for folks. We aren't going to have all the answers about what went wrong today. And I think it's important not to rush to conclusions, to talk to people and have conversations. But I also think, I agree the primary will help, but we cannot wait for a primary.

AXELROD: Right.

ALLISON: We have midterms coming up in two years. We need to be going into communities and battleground states where we're going to have contested Senate races, House races, and start having conversations in communities now and really building our state parties and community infrastructure so that we never find ourselves in this place again.

JENNINGS: I think the Democratic Party -- you're right, it is hard to lose it. Republicans went through this after 2012. And I think about the condition of the Democratic Party, it has been almost fully oriented around Trump for a decade. And look at Biden, I mean, his basic campaign promise initially was to rid the country of Trump and Trumpism. And as he leaves office, Trump, Trumpism and the MAGA movement is stronger than ever.

So not only are you just dealing with the wreckage of having lost an election, you're dealing with the total failure of the project of the current president as he set it out when he got elected in the first place. I think part of the answers that you all are seeking are more than just tactical.

ALLISON: I agree.

JENNINGS: Some of it is, what are we? Who are we?

ALLISON: What do we stand for?

JENNINGS: What do we stand for? And, you know, I think both parties go through this after these kinds of losses. But when you look at how Biden is leaving, the very thing he vowed to rid us of is now the ascendant political movement in this country. It's got to be a pretty demoralizing feeling.

COOPER: In a stronger position than ever before.

JENNINGS: He has never been stronger, he has never been more popular, and he has never been in a stronger political position to execute.

AXELROD: Can I just say one thing about that? One of the questions is, you know, he talked last night about the mandate that he has. What does he think that mandate means? What is he going to do with that mandate? Because if he thinks it's a mandate for him to punish his enemies and do some of the things that he talked about, that, I think, really weren't endorsed by voters. They endorsed him because they thought he might make our lives better. And if he focuses on that, he'll be successful. If he indulges his instinct to punish people and to divide people, I think it's going to go badly for him. I think the Democrats, it may temporarily solve their problem in 2026.

URBAN: The tough part is when you win, you got to deliver, right? So, prices have to come down, the wars have to end, immigration has to be fixed. There are big things that need to occur, and people want to see those occur quickly. It'll be interesting to see.

I was just asking this question: Who's going to emerge in the Democratic Party as the voice? Is it going to be someone conservative who kind of takes the Democratic Party to maybe center right, where a lot of these working-class folks are, or is it going to be someone center left where we kind of saw this last campaign?

AXELROD: Or maybe there's a completely different paradigm that's very focused on the lives of people and not on some of the kind of debates that we've had in the past. One good thing for your guy, though, now all guys, I guess, because he's going to be the president of the United States, for the second straight time, he's going to be inheriting an economy that actually is improving, and he'll be able to take credit for.

URBAN: Let's hope it keeps improving.

JENNINGS: That was a plug for your --

ALLISON: Our boss.

(LAUGHTER)

URBAN: Let's hope it keeps improving.

JENNINGS: Might be debatable. But on the -- you know, I agree with you. For Trump, it's delivering on the promises that people voted for. And for Democrats, I think they have to make decision about whether they are going to stand for things or whether they're just going to stand against Trump. I think the Harris strategy was just, we're not Trump. And if that continues to be the beating heart of the party, I think it's going to feel a little empty to people, like, what are you giving me other than you're not Trump? There's more to governing than not being Trump.

ALLISON: Yeah.

AXELROD: I don't think that, but I don't think that it was all -- that it was all we're not Trump. It was also, we've got to do things about the fundamental things that are ailing people in their lives.

[23:55:04]

So, the cost of things, the cost of healthcare for seniors, the cost of -- or the ability to get loans if you want to open up a small business. She had ideas that were very prescriptive. The problem is that there's 40 years of history in which people in these communities feel as if they've been --

ALLISON: Yes.

AXELROD: The field has been tilted against them. And you can't show up late and say --

ALLISON: Yeah, I agree.

AXELROD: -- this is --

ALLISON: I think the one thing I agree with, there is -- we have to build trust with people again, even people who supported Kamala Harris. A lot of times, Black voters feel like we show up for the Democratic Party and there isn't a lot that is delivered for our benefit. And I think writ large, the voting block that did not support Kamala Harris, she inherited that distrust. I'll just also say to David, I think he has to deliver, but I think the way he delivers also matters.

COOPER: All right, thanks, everybody. Stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the historic election results and all the day's news. We'll be right back.

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