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What Do Americans Think of Elon Musk?; Philadelphia Celebrates Super Bowl Win; Was Indiana Teenager Planning School Shooting?. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 14, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:27]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: An Indiana teenager is in jail this morning after allegedly plotting a Valentine's Day school shooting.

Court records show 18-year-old Trinity Shockley was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, among other charges. Police say the suspect wanted to carry out an attack similar to the Parkland massacre in Florida, which happened seven years ago today.

CNN's Whitney Wild is following the story.

Whitney, how did police foil this alleged plot?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, it was a combination of people in the community acting quickly and police working, acting -- police working very quickly to try to stop this plan.

On February 11, the local police, Mooresville Police Department, learned from the FBI that there was a tip that had come through the FBI's Sandy Hook tip line. And this tipster, Pamela, told the FBI that Trinity Shockley, 18 years old, had access to an AR-15, had recently purchased a bulletproof vest, and had a plan to carry out this attack.

Further, Pamela, what is clear through the investigation was that, as police were learning more about what was going on, Trinity Shockley had displayed this real obsession with the shooter from the Parkland shooting who killed 17 people, wounded 17 others on Valentine's Day seven years ago.

So, police, knowing that date, acting very quickly to investigate her, to execute a search warrant at the home, Pamela, police say, again, that this was really the result of a tipster being aware and making sure that they were reaching out to police in time.

Here's more from the Mooresville police chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERRY BUCKNER, MOORESVILLE, INDIANA, POLICE CHIEF: Nothing ever happens in Mooresville. It's a small town. But to think that somebody was plotting to hurt a lot of individuals, kids, I mean, future leaders of this country or whoever, is pretty disturbing.

The pictures in her room were -- they looked like family photographs, like you would put of your kids. But they were all of people that had committed mass shootings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: Pamela, Trinity is in custody without bond. The big takeaway here is that see something, say something. Police will act quickly and a crisis was averted in this case, Pamela, a tragedy narrowly avoided -- back to you.

BROWN: Yes, I mean, because after every school shooting, we always learn members of the community knew about it and they didn't say anything. In this case, thank goodness someone did and now it appears this school shooting was stopped.

Whitney Wild, thank you so much.

Well, still ahead: What are Americans saying as President Trump and Elon Musk try to remake the government? That's a big question. What are people across the country saying about this? We're going to ask two radio hosts what listeners in their communities are telling them. It's part of our new series called "Your Voice."

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:37:36]

BROWN: Well, today, we are continuing our new series on the show called "Your Voice."

Every week, we will check in with talk radio hosts across the country to hear what Americans are thinking and saying about what's going on here in Washington, basically a way to kind of get out of your bubble.

Last week, I spoke with the progressive host in Portland, Oregon, and a center-right host in Des Moines, Iowa. Today, we have got Democratic political strategist and host Reecie Colbert. She hosts SiriusXM's "The Reecie Colbert Show" on Saturdays. And also with us, Columbia, South Carolina, talk radio veteran and conservative Keven Cohen. His local show is called "The Afternoon Drive with Kev."

All right, thank you both for coming on. Really excited about this conversation.

I want to go to you first, Keven. What are the biggest issues people are calling into your show about right now?

KEVEN COHEN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, thanks for having me.

DOGE is just remarkable right now, and on both sides of the aisle. We're a talk show at the point that doesn't take and use a call screener, and so we take the calls as they come in, from the left, from the right, anywhere in between. And what's amazing is just if you listen to both sides, the callers who are conservatives are going crazy. They're loving what's going on, absolutely loving it.

Callers on the left side, liberals, are mortified at what's going on. And I floated a theory about it, Pamela, that I thought was just incredible. And I think what it is, you have got a situation where -- I mean, I'm 56 years old.

I don't think we have ever seen anyone come in and try to do what they're trying to do. And even if you love it or you hate it, I think it's going to be a win for all Americans at the end. I just don't think all Americans realize it just because there's such a bias against Trump from the left that they're not going to even give him a chance to try and do it.

But the fact is, our callers on the right love it. Callers on the left don't. But they're going crazy about it.

BROWN: And do they bring up the fact -- callers on the right, you're saying they're loving it. Do they ever bring up that Musk is unelected or he's not really showing us exactly what he's doing? Do they even care? Are they just focused on outcomes?

COHEN: I think ultimately it's outcomes, Pamela, but I think certainly the process matters.

And I have taken the standpoint that look, nothing is off-limits. Everything, for example, that Elon Musk has his hands on, whether it's SpaceX or anything else, should be looked at also. I'm not one of those talk show hosts who's out there firing off conspiracy theories or saying that the government is totally corrupt or anything like that. That's just not what I'm trying to say.

[11:40:00]

All I'm trying to say is that we have to do better. In our lifetime -- as I said, I'm 56 years old -- I have never seen anyone try just to unmask what we're trying to unmask and just say we can do better. And that's what I think Elon Musk is trying to do. We can do a lot better.

And that's -- I don't think that's such a bad ambition.

BROWN: So, Reecie, what are you hearing from your callers about DOGE and as part of that more overall the people who are losing their jobs as a result of the work of DOGE?

REECIE COLBERT, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Yes, my callers are not feeling DOGE, Elon Musk or the Elon Muskettes, OK?

They see this as an existential threat to the existence of black citizenship in this country. The reality is that there isn't a trans -- there isn't transparency. We have a bunch of young guys going in there who have no respect for the humanity of black people or people who are not straight white men.

And that's something that is very concerning to my callers. They're not looking at this as transactional or haphazard cuts that are being made. They're looking at this as an assault on how black people in particular through federal government work force have been able to make progress in this country and how civil rights have been assaulted.

So this is not something that they're looking at with any kind of silver lining. And, as a matter of fact, a lot of people are having an, aha, I told you so moment at how disastrous they think that this stuff is going to end up being for everybody.

BROWN: So it sounds like you have heard some of that concern, Keven, because you said you all don't screen callers. You get people from all different political spectrums.

COHEN: Sure.

BROWN: I'm just curious, are your listeners who are really excited about what DOGE is doing, are they worried at all that these federal cuts to staff and programs could trickle down to them and impact their everyday life?

COHEN: I think if you look at it, Pamela and Reecie, what you have got is, you have got a lot happening, a lot being thrown against the wall very quickly.

And I'm even one as a conservative who will acknowledge we got to do this piece by piece, but it is a breakneck speed that's going on. I don't agree, Reecie, that it's fair that we're sitting here and immediately your first answer is to go to the race card and say it's an assault on black or on minority or on anything like that.

COLBERT: It's not a race card.

COHEN: Now, granted, who might have sit here and say that? I'm a 56- year-old fat white guy.

(LAUGHTER)

COHEN: But the fact of the matter is, I don't believe that there's any intent to hurt any one specific party or any specific one race or religion or anything like that.

It's just you have never seen this before. It's time for America to start saving America some money.

COLBERT: Well, that's why we need diversity, equity and inclusion, Keven, and not just older white gentleman deciding what perspectives have value and who can't recognize the experiences, because this is not...

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: I just want to make sure we're reflecting what the listeners and the callers are saying.

COLBERT: Right. BROWN: So I just want to make sure it's through that -- it's through that lens. Go ahead.

COLBERT: Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely.

My callers and -- I mean, my station is Urban View, so this is a black talk radio show. There's a diverse listenership, but there is also a keen awareness long before DOGE, long before Trump of what happens to black people in this community when certain people are in power, the black community when certain people are in power.

So, what my listeners are reflecting is a need to try to navigate through these waters. I have even had people call in and request that we do a show about survivalists, about what to do, what kind of documents they need to assemble, all kinds of things. So there is a lot of fear. There's also a lot of defiance.

So, Keven, there's no victim card here. There's no race card. There's just a recognition that we have an administration that is completely hostile to what they want to characterize as DEI, which my listeners know is code for black.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Go ahead, Keven.

COHEN: And, again, I understand where you're coming from.

And going from what my callers are saying, Reecie and Pamela, I would argue that immensely, because, again, DEI is what it is. Obviously, that's a big topic and a separate topic than DOGE necessarily, although you can bunch them together.

But the fact is, if you're looking at what our callers are saying in Columbia, South Carolina, it's enough is enough of picking people based on filling a quota, checking this box, checking that box. Just want the right people doing the right job based on merit.

And my callers are adamant about, why can't we try that? We haven't tried that in so long? And, again, back to the cutting of the dollars, there's -- every single program should be looked at. I'm a guy who's very strong on national defense. I'm a guy who's very strong on fiscal responsibility.

And so are our listeners. Nobody in America has seen in our lifetimes, any of our -- the three of us, our lifetimes, somebody try to actually say, why are we spending money here, why are we spending there? It just hasn't been done to this extent. And it's happening so much in the first three weeks of this administration that I think it's just there there's a bit of a whiplash effect.

BROWN: It's interesting just the different perspectives, right? And, again, that's why we wanted to do this conversation, is kind of get out of the bubbles we're all in and hear what different swathes of Americans are thinking.

[11:45:01]

We're talking a lot about cuts, but let's talk about prices at the grocery store and elsewhere, that President Trump ran on lowering the prices day one. That hasn't happened. January's inflation report came out this week, and it showed inflation at 3 percent in January, eggs up more than 15 percent from last month.

I will go to both of you on this, starting with you, Reecie. What are your callers saying about food prices going up?

COLBERT: Well, my callers did not expect food prices to go down under Donald Trump, because they understood his policies weren't about really lowering those prices.

So I think that they're trying to say -- my callers mostly have the attitude of, OK, what has he done to lower prices? He's done all these things on the cultural warfare side, but they want to know what's going to be the breaking point for those who support Trump.

And I do have some callers who do support Trump, and they seem to be completely dismissive of the fact that egg prices are not going down and grocery prices aren't going down. So I don't think it's as much of an animating issue for my callers as much as it is to say, you guys weren't really concerned about egg prices, were you?

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: Reecie, let's be realistic and let's be fair about something here, OK?

First of all, when you talk about the inflation report, you talk about January. President Trump was president for one-third of that month. Obviously, he took over on the 20th. He's been in office for all of three weeks.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: But do you callers see it as a Biden problem? I guess that's the question, then, for your callers.

COHEN: Well, it is a Biden problem.

BROWN: Do they see it as, oh, this isn't Trump, this is Biden?

COHEN: Of course they see it that way.

Sure, Pamela. I mean, they see it as a Biden problem, because this is something where you have got someone that was in office for four years, although he really wasn't president for most of those four years, because no one knows what -- who was running the country.

BROWN: He was president. But go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: Well, he was president. No, I'm not a denier of that. Don't -- I'm not going there.

BROWN: OK.

COHEN: I'm saying he was the president of the United States, but he wasn't cognitively there in the last couple of years, in my opinion.

(CROSSTALK)

COLBERT: Well, Trump said, on day one, he would lower egg prices. And my callers want to know.

COHEN: Yes.

COLBERT: That hasn't happened. We're on day almost 30, and we have still gotten..

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: That's great. But, Reecie, let's be fair, OK? Let's be realistic.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: But do your callers care, Keven? Do they care about the prices?

COHEN: Oh, sure, they care. I care.

BROWN: Are they bringing that up? What are they saying about it?

COHEN: I have two kids. Sure, we all care.

I mean, I want to see egg prices and everything come down. But I don't think Donald Trump, for as powerful as the president of the United States is, whether it's Donald Trump, Joe Biden or Barack Obama, I don't think that they can control bird flu. And I don't think they can control supply and demand to the extent that maybe they like to think they can.

So I think it's going to take some time before we see that. That's just something that I think the left has pounced on, because it's right there. And there's just -- you can't create more eggs. You can't create more demand or more supply for the demand right now.

I get it. People are frustrated. But let's not kid ourselves. It's been three weeks. You can't expect -- and, yes, you're fair. If you want to say, I will do this the very first day I get into office, you're right. Donald Trump is great when it comes to certain rhetoric.

I'm not -- I'm not carrying his water. I want to see the prices come down. And if he doesn't succeed in doing that, team, listen, I'm going to be the first one out there criticizing him.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: All right, Keven Cohen, Reecie Colbert, really interesting to hear those different perspectives. Thank you both so much.

We will be right back.

COLBERT: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

BROWN: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:53:13]

BROWN: Lots of celebrating Sunday after the Eagles' Super Bowl win. Today, the party keeps going with a victory parade through Philadelphia.

Fans have been lining the streets for hours to make sure they get the best spots for the best views.

CNN's Danny Freeman joins us now from the City of Brotherly Love.

Danny, how are the celebrations going?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Pamela, it's a party on the parkway out here.

They say it's always sunny in Philadelphia. It especially is today because we are Super Bowl champions, thousands of people out here celebrating. We have got a family right here.

How are you guys doing? Can I "Go, birds' here?

CROWD: Go, birds!

FREEMAN: Now, Jack, I understand today is your birthday, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.

FREEMAN: All right, what are you the most excited about seeing in the parade today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, probably seeing all the players talk and say, like, speeches and stuff. That's going to be really cool.

FREEMAN: And remind me your name again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ellie (ph).

FREEMAN: Ellie, who's your favorite player on the Eagles?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jalen Hurts.

FREEMAN: Jalen, the MVP? Are you excited to see him today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

FREEMAN: Fantastic. And you're mom here, is that right? How do you feel about bringing the

whole family out today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is such a cool core memory-making experience. I grew up in the city of Philadelphia. I grew up watching the birds my whole life.

And in 47 years, we have only seen it twice. It's so fun to be here with them and to share this with them.

FREEMAN: Well, they will never forget it either. That's the biggest thing.

How are you feeling today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, today is my birthday too.

FREEMAN: Happy birthday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we have got a Super Bowl parade in Philadelphia for my birthday. He was in kindergarten last time we won. He was a little too small for the parade, but we're excited to be here today.

FREEMAN: Yes, you will remember it now.

Fantastic. Go, birds. Congratulations to you. Thank you all for being a part of this.

This is Philadelphia today. We're at the base here of the art museum steps. And you can just tell the celebration is just everywhere. We have seen people throwing beers at other people to catch and drink them. We actually see a roasted pig that has a 15 carved into it for Patrick Mahomes, Patty the pig.

[11:55:07]

They have been playing the Super Bowl on the JumboTrons up here for everyone to watch. People have been gathered out here for hours just to get a glimpse of their heroes, the 2024 Eagles.

I will tell you, I am so lucky to be out here to celebrate along, because this is Philadelphia at its best, having a good time, being ridiculous, and having a party.

BROWN: Yes, you certainly got the fun...

FREEMAN: Pamela, that's what's happening here in the City of Brotherly Love on Valentine's Day.

BROWN: Yes, fun assignment for you, Danny Freeman. That's for sure.

About one million people expected there to cheer the Eagles win. Keep it going yourself, Danny. Thanks so much.

And thank you all for joining us. I'm Pamela Brown. You can follow me on Instagram, TikTok and X @PamelaBrownCNN.

Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" starts after a short break.