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Table For Five

CNN Saturday Morning Table for Five. President Trump Criticized for Comment that He Doesn't Think about Americans' Financial Situation in Light of Ongoing Iran Conflict; Democratic Senator John Fetterman Garners Attention for His Criticism of Democratic Party as Anti- American; Some Calling on Black College Athletes to Boycott SEC as Punishment for Gerrymandering Efforts in Southern States; University of Michigan Study Shows 48 Percent of High School Seniors Have Had Alcoholic Drinks in Their Lifetimes, Down from 90 Percent in 1975. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired May 16, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:00:50]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Today, if nearly 80 percent of Americans are fed up with the economy and many blame Donald Trump, how will this play to the public?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody.

PHILLIP: Plus, the senator who's frustrating his own party delivers an explosive accusation against them.

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN, (D-PA): More increasingly anti-American for me.

PHILLIP: Also, should black athletes boycott gerrymandered red states? The new calls to fight fire with football.

And the first generation to grow up with smartphones is choosing to lose the booze.

Here in studio, Arthur Aidala, Cari Champion, Harry Enten, and Congressman Kevin Kiley.

It's the weekend. Join the conversation at a "TABLE FOR FIVE".

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Hi, everyone, I'm Abby Phillip.

When it comes to political gaffes, many of which have defined careers, we've heard about the Dean scream, "binders full of women", voting for and against it, and it's legal because the president does it. And then there is Donald Trump, because he floods the zones with daily and sometimes hourly blunders and moments, many Americans, particularly his own supporters, often give him a pass for it. But could this week's gaffe expose him on something that Americans are not willing to let slide?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you're negotiating with Iran, Mr. President, to what extent are Americans' financial situation motivating you to make a deal?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: That is quite a thing to say out loud, especially considering that 77 percent of Americans are ticked off about their financial situation. Many of them blame Trump and his policies. And boy, did Republicans that tie themselves in knots trying to defend what Trump said or claim that they didn't hear it at all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know that he said that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that was just a, sort of a throwaway line.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he say that? I don't have a comment about that, mostly because I think he actually does care.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have to find out the context of it. I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't take it out of context. The American people love him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's got to be out of context. I don't think there's anything he's more focused on.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON, (R-LA) HOUSE SPEAKER: I don't know the context in which he made that comment.

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT: I don't think the president said that. I think that's a misrepresentation of what the president said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Well, you heard it yourself. And it does seem like in this moment when gas prices are about $4.50 a gallon, it's a moment when, even before the gas prices were 450 a gallon, Americans were not happy with how he's handling the economy, it just seems, congressman, that this is just sort of going from bad to worse.

REP. KEVIN KILEY, (I-CA): Yes, clearly people are struggling. In my state of California, we have the highest cost of living in the country. Gas is well over $6 a gallon. And whatever the context, obviously affordability for Americans needs to be front and center on the minds of all policymakers.

So, you know, if I had to try to understand what he was saying, maybe he's trying to say that, look, we don't want the Iranians to think if they just inflict enough pain on Americans then we'll reward them by saying they can have a nuclear weapon. You know, they've tried to wreak enough havoc on the global economy as it is. We don't want to incentivize them to do that more. But at the end of the day, every decision that we make in every policy domain needs to be squarely focused on how is this going to impact affordability.

ARTHUR AIDALA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I totally agree with what you just said. If you're President Trump, are you supposed to say, and maybe we're giving him more credit than he deserves how premeditated this was. But are you supposed to say, of course I care about the finances, of course I care about the midterms, of course I care, because you're basically telling Iran, keep blocking the strait, screw up our economy as much as possible. That's the biggest, that's the biggest damage you can do to us. And I mean, you don't tell your adversary what your weakest point is.

[10:05:00]

PHILLIP: You can definitely say yes, of course I care about --

CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, you should say that.

PHILLIP: -- the pain that Americans are going through. I mean, it is totally possible to say Iran should not have a nuclear weapon and also, we see your pain. We understand that you're going through something.

CHAMPION: Here's the problem with that argument. First of all, you're trying to assume what he meant, and we don't know what he meant. You sound like the context of it all, and I don't want to hear that if I'm an American.

We have the latest polls, 24 percent of Americans, those are the only ones who actually think we should actually be at war. And this is not an issue. I'll tell you what I do know. He could have easily said, yes, I care. I really do care. But you know what? We got $1 billion literally -- I don't know how much -- I honestly don't know how much this ballroom is, but his priorities are not the American people. I'm going to tell you that we've got a ballroom that he cares about.

AIDALA: You seem like a ballroom person. You are a ballroom person.

CHAMPION: I don't care about ballroom. I don't care about a ballroom. He cares about a ballroom. He can tell you he cares about his ballroom, but he doesn't care about our finances.

AIDALA: OK, but would you agree that our safety is more important than our economy? In a general sense.

CHAMPION: Let me tell you, do you believe Americans think they're more safe because we're at war with Iran? Be honest.

AIDALA: I think --

CHAMPION: The majority of Americans do not. The latest poll has said that.

AIDALA: I think Iran is a very formidable enemy of the United States.

CHAMPION: Do you think most Americans feel more safe right now because we are at war?

AIDALA: You have the stats. If you have the stats, I'm not going to argue with you.

PHILLIP: Let's go to Harry.

(CROSS TALK)

PHILLIP: Let's go to Harry Enten on this one.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: The vast majority of Americans are against this war. And regardless of what exactly he did mean, just, just Democrat, the context matters. But also, here's what also matters. Democrats love that comment. They're going to cut it and put it in so many ads before the midterm elections. My goodness gracious, it's a dopey comment from that perspective.

And more than that, we're talking about 79 percent of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump on gas prices. That is the highest percentage that any president has had disapproving them on gas prices. And any question I could possibly find, we're talking about, when we're talking about inflation, right? We're talking about the worst polls ever for any president belong to Donald John Trump. That's worse, he's doing worse than Carter. He's doing worse than Joe Biden did in his last term. When you put it all together, you just go, man alive, man, what are you doing?

PHILLIP: Well, if it were the just that one thing, that would be enough. But here's Trump on Thursday, again, downplaying the state of the economy. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: You know, when they talk about high prices, I inherited the high prices. I'm getting them down. I've got them down incredibly.

People are finding other places to buy oil, like Texas. So I don't want to say we're making a fortune. You understand that? Because if I say that, they're going to say, oh, he forgets about the little man, you know, with the $4 gasoline.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: That's not what you told me, though.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIP: OK, it's not true, actually, that he inherited high prices, gas prices or otherwise. So, but Trump is living in this world in which he can still blame Biden for everything, and yet Americans are saying the clock is ticking on your term. You promised us you would do something about it.

KILEY: Yes. So given those expectations, I think the frustration is understandable. I mean, it is true that we had record inflation in many ways during the prior administration, too. It's also true that the state that I'm from, California, prices are way higher than in any other state in the country. We have among the highest grocery prices, highest housing costs, highest gas and electricity rates in the country. So there's plenty of blame to go around. I think that is the problem, though, with the way Washington functions right now, is that all of the energy is focused on, OK, who can we blame for the problem as opposed to trying to come together to actually solve the problem.

ENTEN: And he said he'd fix it. And the bottom line is --

CHAMPION: He has not.

ENTEN: He is not. The buck stops there. And, you know, you can look at the inflation charts, right? You could see it was going down, down. And then all of a sudden, it's come right back up, right. And a lot, a lot of that is obviously gas prices with the latest CPI report. And so you just look at all of the stats around the table, and Americans have turned against President Trump because he promised one thing, and then the reality they're living in is not matching their expectations.

CHAMPION: It feels really personal. It feels really personal to everyone, meaning like, I feel like I'm paying for this war when I go to fill up my gas tank. I don't drive, but I'm giving you the point of the matter. It feels really personal for people when they're going to the grocery market. Yes correct.

AIDALA: More ways than one.

CHAMPION: I take the subway and I walk because I can't afford it anymore.

(LAUGHTER)

CHAMPION: I can't even Uber anymore because it's too expensive.

AIDALA: What about what the congressman just said? He highlighted that California, which I think is a pretty Democratically run state, is the worst in the whole United States of America.

KILEY: We are paying more for gas before the conflict in Iran than the rest of the country is paying now two months into the --

PHILLIP: That's true, but it is also true that the increase relative to what it was before has actually been higher in some red states and purple states, like places like Michigan and elsewhere, for other reasons. So California has it's own problems, lots of them.

(LAUGHTER)

KILEY: We can all agree with that, yes.

PHILLIP: But don't be mistaken. Middle America is feeling this right now.

[10:10:02]

AIDALA: I absolutely agree.

PHILLIP: And President Trump ended the week on this very high stakes trip to China, where part of the goal, I think, was that maybe he might get China to help out with the Iran situation. But here is what he said as he ended this trip on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did President Xi make commitment to put pressure on the Iranians to reopen the Strait of Hormuz?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm not asking for any favors because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return. We don't need favors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: I think it's a fair point because, hey, nothing is free in this world. You ask China for something, they're going to want something back. But at the same time, if it is true that China is maybe not doing anything at all, then it seems like we really are in a stalemate on this Iran conflict, which means we could be looking at a Strait of Hormuz that's closed for months and months and months with no end. And the American people are going to be paying, literally paying the price for that.

AIDALA: Well, you know, I was critical of people who criticized Joe Biden about us leaving Afghanistan, because everybody wanted to do it, and no one had the guts to do it, including Donald Trump.

PHILLIP: But Trump was the one who set the date, actually.

AIDALA: Right. And so I said, including Donald Trump. So Biden did it. He ripped the band aid off, and it didn't go as well as it could have or should have. But he did it.

The thing with Iran, look, nobody knows the truth. We all hear things, but someone needed to put them in check. Someone needed to back them off. Now, if you want to say it was for Israel, if you want to say it's for America, if you want to say it's for Sicily, which is in their range of dropping a bomb, but he's doing what he believes is saving maybe the world. I mean, if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, we all know a nuclear weapon could wipe out the world. And he's doing it.

And it may be a -- it may be a gamble that he's absolutely going to lose, or it may be a gamble that he's absolutely going to win. And we're in the middle of it, and the people are suffering. I'm not denying that. I know how much it costs to fill up a car in Brooklyn, New York. But he's doing it, and we're in the middle of it. And I think he's doing the best he can.

Obviously, he shouldn't have said what he said, but I understand his point saying, yes, people are struggling financially. But I want to make sure people are still going to be people in 25 years when my grandchildren grow up and that Iran cannot blow up the world because they're that nuts.

PHILLIP: He does have to -- I mean, all of that is right only if he comes out the winner.

CHAMPION: It's a huge gamble. And that's what you're saying.

PHILLIP: Next for us, one of the Democratic Partys most infamous senator says that his party is becoming increasingly anti-American. We'll discuss.

Plus, some celebrities are calling on black athletes to boycott the SEC schools where Republican states are redrawing their maps.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:17:42]

PHILLIP: Welcome back. He's the senator who neither side of the aisle can understand. Democrats criticize John Fetterman for cozying up to MAGA and to Donald Trump, and Republicans are privately trying to get him to switch sides. But he is publicly refusing. But even if they can't recruit him, they are enjoying his many criticisms of his own party, including this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN, (D-PA): It's much more about the minimum wage and some other very basic kinds of things. And now that's just turned into much more standing with, like, Cuba, standing with Venezuela, standing with the Iranian regime and turn that into much more, becoming more increasingly anti-American for me. So my views really haven't changed that much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: All right, so, Congressman, I'm going to come to you on this one again, because you're sort of maybe in a similar boat, perhaps. But do you think that you see a sort of ideology, principles behind what Fetterman is doing, or is it contrarianism?

KILEY: I don't know if I'd say it's contrarianism. I mean, I think he's someone who speaks his mind and doesn't feel the need to adhere to some set of talking points or to some ideology or to, you know, whatever the party's position is. I think that that's refreshing. I might not agree with him on everything, but I think we actually need more people who are willing to exercise a degree of independence. I'm an independent in the House. Even if you're not formally an independent, I think we'd be better off as a country if you had people who were willing to, you know, kind of speak their mind regardless of what the party thinks.

AIDALA: Excellent, excellent.

PHILLIP: Well, you know, one of the criticisms, the reason I asked that is because --

AIDALA: Excellent. I mean, you know, I don't know how close you are with Tom Suozzi, but he's the congressman here. And he has the Common Sense Caucus, and he's a Democrat, but he's with Republicans. They I don't know how many that are in there, but he's trying to do what you're doing. He's like, lets speak with one voice as Americans, not as a right left, purple, green, you know, let's just --

CHAMPION: We can't speak with one voice. That's not that's not feasible in the world that we live in today.

AIDALA: But we're trying to. It's so partizan. It's so red and blue. It wasn't --

CHAMPION: What he said, it was anti-American.

[10:20:00]

And it's not always anti-American if you disagree with someone. And I think what he is actually doing is not listening to his constituents while he sits up here and says that it's anti-American because they don't agree with him.

KILEY: I agree with that.

CHAMPION: I know that like he's just not listening to his people.

AIDALA: I don't know.

CHAMPION: That's his own personal view. That's not what it should be. And I know that you love him already. You're, this man.

(LAUGHTER)

CHAMPION: You're like, oh, actually, come on. I love you.

(CROSS TALK)

AIDALA: He said something sweet. He has a nice dog.

PHILLIP: On the un-American part because, I mean, what Fetterman is partly talking about is this idea that if you criticize the war, if you criticize the president, it's its veering on un-American.

KILEY: Yes. I think we should be very reluctant to characterize anyone as anti-American. You can certainly criticize whether someone's actions are consistent with our country's principles. But I do disagree with the other comment that we don't have the capacity to come together as a country. I think that we've seen throughout history we do. CHAMPION: I think we do have the capacity, but we can't just say that we should speak with one voice. That's just too, that's unfair, because of our experience.

KILEY: That's fair. But I think that our disagreements --

CHAMPION: My experience is not your experience. So you can't speak for me. You can understand me and you can relate to me, but you -- there's no way that you --

KILEY: Yes, that's fair. I think that we want to have a foundation of common shared principles. And then that is the foundation upon which we hash out those differences.

ENTEN: I feel like, though, there's a difference between contrarianism and poking the bear, which often seems like what Senator Fetterman is doing. And look, he's been rewarded with one of the biggest shifts I've ever seen within his own party in terms of popularity ratings. His net popularity, his net approval rating has shifted like 100 points in the wrong direction among Democrats from where he was at the start of his term.

PHILLIP: It's pretty amazing.

ENTEN: He's now 40 points underwater with Democrats. He is in a positive net approval rating with Republicans, and that leaves him in the political wilderness whereby he is being cited, you know, oftentimes on FOX News, while Democrats are consistently distancing themselves from him. And I just have to wonder, what exactly is his political future?

PHILLIP: So just to that point, this clip of Fetterman on Bill Maher's show has been going around for the last few days, because I think to some Democrats or liberals, it seems to suggest exactly what Harry is saying, which is that he's, what he's really doing is poking the bear, not really advancing any sort of broader principles about what he believes is right for the country. Just listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: It's at the same time horrifying, and also, like, it's kind of like refreshing. It's shockingly, the honesty of someone who loves honesty and has made my career about it as much as I could, it is, it's there's some level of it where you tip your hat and you go, wow, total honesty. You, I think you're a horrible person, and I'm just going to say it.

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN, (D-PA): The ultimate, the "quiet, piggy."

MAHER: Right, yes.

FETTERMAN: That's the president of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So he's talking there about Trump saying to a female reporter, "quiet, piggy." And I mean, it's interesting because, I mean, Fetterman is the one who brings it up and is laughing about it. But again, this is why it goes for some liberals beyond, well, we disagree on policy issues. He's -- to them it's a character thing.

CHAMPION: Well, to your point, poking the bear. He's doing this, at least to me. I don't think that he's doing this because he wants to unify and have one voice and be a part of the Common Sense Caucus. There is something more there that is happening. And he tried to say, I think, I was reading an article and he said, you know, I do vote more Democratically. He was like, it's just these certain issues that I just don't agree.

I was having dinner with someone the other night, and they were dead set on why they liked Fetterman. They thought that he was a tough guy. He had his own opinion. He was doing what he wanted to do, and he was speaking from his heart. There is something about, and I cant, because I'm not a white man. I don't know if you don't know that.

(LAUGHTER)

CHAMPION: I can't relate to that -- but I can't relate to that tough guy, that machismo-ism that I'm feeling and hearing. And certain men really respond to that. And I think when you hear him say anti- American, I think he thinks what Trump is doing is tough and strong and leader. And those things he relates to, and people are giving him credit for being, or Bill Maher is saying, it's so refreshing to see how honest you are. And in my mind, I'm like, well, is he being honest or is he being a frat boy? Is he --

AIDALA: I think he's being honest. I think he's being both, by the way. I think he's being honest. But you're the president of the United States. You got, you can't talk like that. But, you know, I'm the oldest person at this table. You don't dress like that when you're a United States senator. I mean, you just don't.

PHILLIP: And that that's a losing battle.

CHAMPION: Yes, not, going to happen.

AIDALA: I know. Well., he did. He won the battle. Right. Initially there's a rule that you're not allowed on the floor without a coat and a jacket and a tie. But somehow or another, he's gotten around it.

But, you know, the flip side of the coin is he wants that Ronald Reagan perception of America.

CHAMPION: He who? He who?

AIDALA: Fetterman. He wants that rah-rah.

[10:25:00]

And I think that's the piece that Trump kind of does bring into the narrative. It's a 250-year anniversary, and I think people want to feel that patriotism.

KILEY: So -- go ahead.

PHILLIP: You can.

KILEY: I was just going to say, is the case really that Fetterman is that much of a contrarian or that much of a bear poker, or has the willingness to go against party orthodoxy, even on a single issue, just becomes so entrenched that when anyone does it, it seems like totally out of the --

AIDALA: Radical.

PHILLIP: It's sort of like we were discussing the Supreme Court. It's like most of the cases you don't even hear about because they're unanimous. But on the ones that matter, they're not. And I think that's what's happening with Fetterman.

AIDALA: Those unanimous ones matter. The Supreme Court --

PHILLIP: But I'm just saying, on the big hard issue, like the truly difficult issue.

AIDALA: OK.

PHILLIP: This is where Fetterman gets in trouble, is because on those issues, that's when he tends to break with his party, which is why we end up talking about it.

But next for us, the battle over redistricting now finding a new front, the sports world. Some Democrats are saying that black athletes should turn down SEC offerings to play at colleges where the voting lines are being redrawn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:33]

PHILLIP: Fight fire with fire, that is what many Democrats are being called to do in Americas redistricting wars. But now some are calling on black athletes to step up the fight. Actor Wendell Pierce says that they should boycott the SEC as punishment for gerrymandering efforts in southern states. He also says that the athletes are generating billions for these schools and should transfer or decommit.

Now, remember, Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee are all moving to eliminate black majority districts after the Supreme Court's green light. Cari, what do you think about this?

CHAMPION: I think that's a tough ask. I really do. I like the idea. This has been floated around before. This is not the first time we've heard this about making sure that black athletes who go to these schools, not necessarily just in the SEC back in the day, but just try to go to an HBCU.

However, the way in which it is set up, these athletes know that it's hard to ask an athlete who can change his life overnight to not go to a school that could help his family. It's the NIL money that they're getting that they will be promised. If you tell a kid I can give you upwards of $1 million, you know what? But pause, don't take that money. We want to stand for something, and we want you to go here, it's going to be really hard to get them to say that they don't want to do that.

AIDALA: Don't go to LSU.

PHILLIP: Yes, don't go to LSU, don't go to Georgia, don't go to Alabama.

But I love the idea of that because they do have so much power, and they do and they don't use it. They don't leverage the power that they have. And oftentimes, especially since NIL has been in place, oftentimes these kids have been used for so many different reasons. They were just -- they would make billions of dollars for these schools and just get a free education. And while that's great, I love a free education, their mothers couldn't pay their bills. They couldn't have lunch money. All these different simple issues. And so I'm stuck in some situations where I want to say yes, this would be great to do it, but I know it's a tough ask.

PHILLIP: Well, you know, it's also maybe even unfair to ask athletes that are at the very beginning of their careers, you know, like when the Alis of the world were pushing back on, you know, segregation and racism, these were people who were titans already in their athletic world. And it just feels like, I mean, I get I get the idea, but it's a hard ask for that reason.

CHAMPION: Well, I think, I think Ali, that's a great example. He actually did lose his career in the process because he knew what it would cost. But very few people are like that. They look at Colin Kaepernick, and that is a story to tell. That is a story of this is a cautionary tale. This is what happens if, in fact, you do try to take a stand. And I don't know if they have the fortitude to do that at such a young age.

ENTEN: You know, all I would say is you're asking a lot of 17 and 18 year old people. I mean, that's really -- and look, obviously 17 and 18 year old people have changed the world. But in some ways, you know, you're still just a kid when you're 17 or 18 years old. And to the point that everyone's been making, they have their entire careers out ahead of them. And you're asking a lot. Maybe they do want to make that sacrifice. But again, it's just asking so much of people who have everything out in front of them.

KILEY: I agree with that. And if someone chooses to do that, more power to them. But I think that a proposal like this, it sort of reflects the sense that ordinary citizens have kind of lost the feeling that they have a voice in our government. And this is especially true with this whole redistricting, gerrymandering war, where suddenly politicians are manipulating the map so that they get to choose their voters, rather than the voters choosing their politicians. So I absolutely encourage --

AIDALA: Congressman, you know that's been going on forever.

KILEY: Well, but the new mid-decade redistricting phenomenon is pretty new.

AIDALA: Yes.

KILEY: And this domino effect, this war, this mutually assured destruction, we now have like literally dozens of states that have redistricted or are going to, I think it represents everything that's wrong with politics right now. And it's going to weaken our democracy.

PHILLIP: And it's also, I mean, it's a zero sum -- it's becoming a zero sum game.

KILEY: Totally.

PHILLIP: I mean, I think it was bad before, but it's getting worse. The Democrats are not throwing in the towel, obviously. "Hakeem Jeffries and his allies, according to CNN, have designed plans over the next two years to push Democratic held states to set aside nonpartisan redistricting rules or gerrymander even more aggressively with an eye toward producing a dozen or more new Democratic held seats by November 2028. They're eyeing seats from Oregon to New York in an effort that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars." It is a situation where, yes, I mean, there are plenty of states where it's been lopsided, but now were going to zero.

CHAMPION: Yes.

PHILLIP: Right. Tennessee, it's nine-zero. Not nine-one like it was before, nine-zero.

[10:35:00]

AIDALA: Well, when I was in the Supreme Court when Justice Alito read his decision, and he talked about the state of Wyoming, which hasn't voted for a Democratic president in, I don't know, 100 years. I forget --

ENTEN: It was 64 I want to say.

AIDALA: He gave some he gave the year the last time that they voted for it. And he basically was like, so are we supposed to change the laws so that the people in Wyoming who want to vote for a Democratic president for the first time, or are we supposed to let the voters do what the voters want to do?

ENTEN: To me, what's frustrating from all these battles is if you put a redistricting measure on every state ballot, you would essentially find that the clear majority of people that we should have some form of nonpartisan redistricting, some sort of rules that we could all agree to. But we've entered sort of this death spiral, right, whereby one does it, therefore the other does it. I don't know where it's going to end exactly. Are we just going to have a bunch of slew across the boards of lopsided states and whereby, you know, it's nine-zero, eight-one, ten-two?

CHAMPION: But it feels like a very targeted effort, not even feels. It is a targeted effort to black voters to dilute the black vote. That's what we're not talking about. It sounds like, yes, you don't want this idea of redistricting, and it's awful. But it is an attack on black voters and black representation, and it feels really personal to me. And we can talk around it, and you can say it has been happening since the beginning of time, but it is an organized effort, and it is disgusting. And it needs to stop.

AIDALA: Listen, I'm not disagreeing with you about the SEC, that area of America. But in my congressional district in Brooklyn, when they redrew it, we have the only Republican in the whole city, Nicole Malliotakis, when they redrew it, that was ruled unconstitutional, they picked Staten Island, and then they jumped over to different sections of Brooklyn that have -- they're not contiguous in any way, shape, or form, and to the most liberal part, so that the liberal vote would outdo the Republican vote and maybe a Democrat could actually win. Now, it had nothing to do with race. It just had to do with turning over that seat.

The Supreme Court said, no, no, no, you can't have a congressional district that's from here and here and here and they're so far apart the congressperson can't even represent that district. So there are areas where you're 100 percent correct it may have to do with race.

CHAMPION: It does.

AIDALA: But I think a lot of it -- but I think a lot of it has to do with the partisanship. You heard what Hakeem Jeffries just said. He didn't say we're going to get more black districts. He said were going to get more Democratic districts so that they have the votes.

PHILLIP: That's because that's what the Supreme Court said he's allowed to do, and --

AIDALA: Because that's what the Constitution says he's allowed to do.

KILEY: The Supreme Court has said that. But Congress can change that. And Congress can say we don't have any more partizan gerrymandering. Congress can say that we have independent commissions in every state. And by the way, Congress can also say we don't do mid-decade redistricting. That's how we end this. I've actually introduced legislation to do just that. And even Hakeem Jeffries said that he would essentially stop this whole redistricting spree if we have a national --

PHILLIP: It has to be national. Otherwise, it's not -- it's not going to work anymore if Democrats just do it in and Republicans don't.

Next here for us, a new study shows that teens are drinking less, and that sounds like good news. But some see some trouble in the reasons why. We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:57]

PHILLIP: The relationship between teenagers and alcohol is on the rocks. According to a University of Michigan study, 48 percent of high school seniors have had a drink in their lifetimes. But that is a dramatic collapse from 90 percent in 1975. And while that sounds like a positive development, it's because of -- is it because of healthy habits or antisocial behavior? Well, after all, this is the first generation whose formative years have included these dreaded smartphones. Well, can I just say on a personal note?

ENTEN: Yes, please.

PHILLIP: Ninety percent of teens drinking is a shock to me. Did not realize that. I didn't drink in high school.

(CROSS TALK)

CHAMPION: You didn't Abby?

ENTEN: I know. I was, I was with you.

PHILLIP: I shouldn't ask Harry. Harrys the last person --

CHAMPION: I know.

ENTEN: I am the least cool person on the face of the planet. I spent Saturday nights at home with my parents on the couch watching episodes of "Blue Bloods." That was my life, right?

So when I hear all of these studies about how little sex teenagers are having, how little drinking they're having, I say, man alive, I came 20 years too early.

(LAUGHTER)

ENTEN: I would have been in such better shape.

KILEY: You were ahead of your time.

ENTEN: That's another way of saying it. I'm always ahead of the trends.

PHILLIP: You would have been great for this health maxing thing that's going on now.

AIDALA: Serious question. Is it because -- I don't know what it says because, because I bet you marijuana use is way up from that same --

PHILLIP: Probably.

AIDALA: -- especially with the gummies and the edibles and the vaping. I mean, it used to be you smoked out.

(LAUGHTER)

AIDALA: You go into these stores and --

CHAMPION: By the way, it's legal. It's legal.

PHILLIP: Derek Thompson from "The Atlantic", he had a bunch of suggestions. He says, "It's remarkable how many independent secular trends are anti-alcohol right now. Just off the top of my head, GLP- 1s," these are the weight loss drugs that some people say make you drink less," post-1970s rise of helicopter parenting, reaction to binge drinking in the late 20th century, phones killing teenage partying, a surge in adult fitness, dancing clubs are down, running clubs are up, and health maxing, especially among yuppies, MAHA" folks, but also boys.

[10:45:05]

I mean, what's it, looksmaxxing the guys are doing these days?

(CROSS TALK)

CHAMPION: Listen, the whole thing about drinking is rare, but in other -- this is interesting to me only because, and yes, it probably is about has to do with different habits and different technology that is available, and then the Gen Z, the glaze, the glare that they give you, they just stare at you when you ask for help and they just look at you.

But I've noticed when I used to work in tennis, I went to Europe. And what happens is, is that even at -- and this is at, I'm talking about an event. We're at the French Open, and they have these little wine bottles that are in the refrigerator. And if you're in this big cafeteria, a public cafeteria where everyone goes to eat when in between matches or just, you know, maybe taking a break from watching the tennis. I would see teenagers, and by teenagers, I mean 13, 14 years old, grabbing some wine, putting it right down, no big deal. And they'd be sitting with their parents drinking wine.

In other countries, Europe in particular, it's not a big deal. So that's -- so it's interesting to me now that we are actually taking that sensibility here, but it has everything to do with technology.

PHILLIP: People are people are not --

CHAMPION: I like to drink.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIP: OK, so the other trends, right, are more -- fewer and fewer people are spending time at social events now. And it seems particularly acute among young people, which is interesting. And much more time spent alone among 15 to 29 year olds. I mean, maybe the smartphone is behind that. Maybe it's because many of them are coming --

CHAMPION: Gaming.

PHILLIP: -- coming of age in COVID and they just couldn't, I don't know. What is it?

ENTEN: No, no, what I would, just once again, I was 20 years too early. But in another way, I would just say that in a lot of these issues, you know, whether it be, you know, drug use going down, smoking going down, drinking going down, social conservatism from 40 years ago has won on a lot of these issues. You know, we oftentimes talk about social liberalism, you know, gay marriage, for example, winning. You would never have thought of that in the mid-80s. But in many ways, social conservatism has won.

Now, obviously, there are some issues where it's perhaps not as healthy, right, the idea of not going out and hanging out with your friends. But in other ways, it's really just a flip on a dime in which, you know, I guess Nancy Reagan, at the end of the day, kind of won in some ways.

CHAMPION: Just say no to drugs.

KILEY: I think that it is unequivocally a good thing that high schoolers are consuming less alcohol. However, I will say it reminds me of, you know, some years ago, maybe 10 years ago, I started noticing that kids when they turn 16 just didn't care about getting their driver's license.

AIDALA: Yes, yes.

KILEY: Right. When I was -- I was counting the days. I couldn't wait.

AIDALA: I got caught stealing my father's car.

(CROSS TALK)

KILEY: I think the reason is that, you know, being able to physically go from place to place isn't as important when your phone is so central --

CHAMPION: I feel like were forgetting a couple of things, too. The pandemic, some of these kids were like, they were shut down for some time, and they got and they got used to that.

AIDALA: Which means you should be drinking more.

CHAMPION: No, well, or gaming. Gaming is on the rise.

PHILLIP: I have another theory that is more optimistic. I think maybe these kids realize that there's more to life than drinking and sort of getting --

CHAMPION: No. I'm kidding.

PHILLIP: And look, health, the health maxing is about living longer, better lives. And if they're realizing that at 18, great. More power.

KILEY: I think there's an element of that, sure.

PHILLIP: I think this is a great thing.

AIDALA: Have you been talking to my wife? Is that where she's getting, this is that where she's getting this narrative from, from you?

PHILLIP: Maybe, maybe.

AIDALA: All right.

PHILLIP: All right, next for us, the panel's unpopular opinions, what they're not afraid to say out loud.

But first, a quick programing note for you. This weekend, Kara Swisher meets an A.I. version of herself and asks, is immortality a fantasy or the key to life? Be sure to watch the back-to-back final episodes of "Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever" tonight at 9:00 p.m. on CNN, and the next day on the CNN app.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:53:31]

PHILLIP: We are back, and it's time for your unpopular opinions. Arthur, you're up?

AIDALA: Well, I am tired of being shamed if I sport anything white before Memorial Day or after Labor Day. There's plenty of light colored things. I have a white straw fedora. I like wearing white pants. But you know, my friend over here, she's like, Arthur. It's only April. Why are you wearing white?

CHAMPION: Excuse me, do not roll your neck like that.

(LAUGHTER)

CHAMPION: That's very inappropriate.

AIDALA: Well, you always are yelling. I want to be able to wear white in April.

PHILLIP: You know, I'm with you on that one.

AIDALA: Yes!

PHILLIP: Outdated, OK.

AIDALA: Thank you.

CHAMPION: She looks amazing.

PHILLIP: And before Memorial Day --

CHAMPION: Absolutely. It's almost like off white, though. But it looks great.

I want everyone to pay attention to their latest reality star. Whomever your latest reality star is that you love and care about, and they cross over into mainstream America, they might be your next president, your next mayor, your next whatever it may be. I am talking about from my home state of California, Spencer Pratt. I used to watch this kid on reality TV, and the fact of the matter -- he's a man now -- that he has a real shot at becoming the mayor of Los Angeles is scary as hell to me. But why would it not be the case? We have a history of producing actors, reality stars, et cetera, you name it, and they become politicians.

PHILLIP: Donald Trump.

CHAMPION: So there you go.

Absolutely All right.

ENTEN: I'm going to take this in a totally different direction. I think I actually may prefer the taste of sherbet to ice cream.

(LAUGHTER)

ENTEN: And the reason I say that is because I get the refreshing --

AIDALA: That's bold.

[10:55:02]

ENTEN: Yes. Thank you. I like making bold opinions.

AIDALA: That's bold. I'm with you.

ENTEN: Bold statements on CNN.

I like the refresh-ness, the refreshing-ness of the fruit flavor of sherbet, while also getting that creamy texture that you get in a sherbet. So it's right in between the sorbet and the ice cream. It's perfect for summertime. America, I know you're with me.

PHILLIP: Bad, that is a bad take. All right.

AIDALA: It's a great take.

KILEY: I'll look forward to seeing how that goes over in your next poll.

(LAUGHTER)

KILEY: So I'm an elected official who has repeatedly proposed getting rid of perks for elected officials, which has not been popular with a number of my colleagues. So, for example, I've said we shouldn't have a, you know, elected officials, members of Congress, skip TSA at airports. We shouldn't get salaries during government shutdowns, shouldn't be allowed to trade stocks. When I was in the California legislature, there was a secret DMV that only politicians got access to. I proposed shutting it down.

So not popular among my colleagues, but I think broadly popular with the American people.

(APPLAUSE)

PHILLIP: That was a widespread secret DMV would be deeply --

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIP: Everyone, thank you so much, and thank you for watching "TABLE FOR FIVE". You can catch me every weeknight at 10:00 p.m. eastern with our news night roundtable at any time on your favorite social media, X Instagram, and on TikTok. But in the meantime, CNNs coverage continues right now.

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