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Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) is Interviewed about the Democratic Party; Trump Taps Brendan Carr for FCC; Trump's Controversial Cabinet Picks; SNL Pokes Fun at Trump Picks; Mark McKinnon is Interviewed about Trump Picks. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 18, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:32:45]

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: But I've heard Democrats complaining that too often Democrats think that they can say, oh, don't worry about your pain, look at this chart.

RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ), SENATOR-ELECT: Yes, that's true.

TAPPER: And do you think that that was something that - that -

GALLEGO: Absolutely.

You can have all the graphs you want. If you open up your checking account and you see that you're making less and there's not enough coming in, it doesn't matter what the GDP growth is.

Just being able to recognize that, hey, this is a problem, and not just trying to gloss over it, I think was a big, big difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Democratic Senator-elect Ruben Gallego says connecting to the working class was key this election, helping him win his Arizona Senate seat, despite the fact that his state went red in the presidential race.

Our next guest also belongs to an increasingly small club of Democrats from a state where Trump won. In fact, he has outperformed other Democrats in his district for years. So, what's the secret? Perhaps it's because he's prioritized messaging like this since his first congressional campaign back in 2014.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BRENDAN BOYLE (D-PA): My dad's a janitor for Septa (Ph). My wife's a public school teacher. We're not millionaires like every one of my opponents. Right now half the Congress are millionaires, but they pay lower taxes than firefighters and teachers. I think their priorities are screwed up.

Congress refuses to raise the minimum wage, and then cuts programs for the middle class. Over 20 different labor unions endorsed me because defending working families is my priority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And joining us now is Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, also the ranking member on the House Budget Committee.

You've got a couple more years on you now, sir, than you did then, but enjoyed watching that - watching that ad.

This is something, though, that I - you know, I think is pretty critical in general in terms of our leaders here in Washington. And you made the point there that you come from a place where, let's be real, a lot of your fellow members come from much more privileged backgrounds. They have a lot more money. And perhaps they're - and I'm curious kind of your view, perhaps they're more distanced from a lot of the people that they want to represent.

How much of that do you think was on display in this latest election, and what should your party be doing about it?

REP. BRENDAN BOYLE (D-PA): Well, it's - it's nice to see you back when I had no gray hairs.

[06:35:03]

Thanks for having me on.

You know, I think you have to be true to who you are. I've never forgotten where I come from.

HUNT: Congressman, I'm going to push pause on you for just a second. Our tech team is going to try to figure out if they can work - work out your sound because I know that's probably not going to be something you all at home want to - want to listen to. So, we'll try to get the congressman back, but we'll talk about this in the meantime.

President-elect Donald Trump filling another key position for his second term in office. He has selected Brendan Carr to chair the Federal Communications Commission. Carr is currently the senior Republican on the FCC. Carr's top priority, going after big tech censorship and possibly punishing TV networks for what he calls political bias.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENDAN CARR, FCC COMMISSIONER: Americans have been living through an unprecedented surge in censorship. The administrative state in the government, the Biden administration, has been colluding to shut down free speech, open dialog, diversity of opinions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And it could mean a big payday for the world's richest man. In the past several years, Carr and Elon Musk have formed a chummy relationship with Carr as a big proponent for Musk's company, SpaceX. "Politico" reporting that, quote, "SpaceX, which runs Starlink, is in line to collect hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in federal subsidies if some key federal decisions go his way in the next administration."

Carr downplayed the idea he's showing any favoritism toward Musk when he was asked about it by "Politico."

Our panel is back here.

Alex, what's your sense of what this pick could mean kind of in the landscape here? This is, obviously, not someone who is a household name, right? Most people have probably not heard of Brendan Carr, but obviously they have in Trump world. And there's a reason for that.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I mean, he may not be a household name yet, but he might be. I mean it's not going to be the last time we hear about that "60 Minutes" interview just two months ago, which goes to his point about not just tech bias, but he's going to - he's - like Trump has made very clear - like he made very clear while he was running that he was going to review the licenses for CBS, NBC ABC, Fox, not cable stations, but some of those licenses. You are going to see some of the biggest - probably some of the biggest disruptions of what the FCC has done in decades.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: This is a person who - Donald Trump likes to put himself forward as someone who has no ties to anybody. But this is somebody who, obviously, has a lot of business interests that are enmeshed in other things that are going on with Elon Musk. You see, for Musk, that part of what was going on perhaps was deep commitment to the Trump ideology. But there's also a big business interest here for Elon Musk. And that seems to be paying off with this choice, right.

Twitter, X, whatever you want to call it is a losing money proposition. It's a loss leader essentially for Musk. What Starlink and SpaceX and what those contracts could be could make the couple million dollars that he spent on getting out the vote for Trump seem like the best investment that he could - that anybody has ever made.

HUNT: Pennies on the dollar, so to speak?

DOVERE: Yes.

HUNT: All right, I think Congressman Boyle is back with us. Hopefully with his sound fixed.

Congressman, it's good to see you.

You - I - for anyone who's just tuning in, we had been talking about your working class background. How that matters in terms of our politics and where we go from here. So, continue. What were you saying?

BOYLE: Yes, hopefully you can hear me OK.

And, you know, one of the things that's always helped me is I'm authentic to who I am. I haven't forgotten where I come from, in part because I still live here. I still live in northeast Philadelphia and represent where I was born and raised.

I think that more and more as Democrats we do have to double down on the fact that we have always been the party, ever since the time of Franklin Roosevelt, who represents ordinary working-class Americans. But too often we have been effectively caricatured as coastal elitists. That is a real problem. It started out really among white working-class voters departing us in big numbers. And now we've seen that among Latino, African American and Asian American working-class voters as well, in increasing numbers.

So, I think it is a real challenge as a party that we have to be serious about addressing, otherwise, and rather than getting into recriminations about 2024, I'm much more concerned about 2026 and 2028 and fixing this problem.

But the good news is, we do have many examples of successful Democrats who are able to win the votes of working-class Americans.

HUNT: Congressman, I want to ask you about the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who was quoted recently in "The New York Times" as saying that she wished that Joe Biden had dropped out of the race earlier to give Kamala Harris more of a runway. And that has prompted some, so far mostly anonymous, criticism in "Axios" specifically of the role that she is playing here.

[06:40:00]

I'm curious if you feel that the former House speaker is a productive voice at this point in helping Democrats figure out what to - where to go from here.

BOYLE: Well, she - Nancy Pelosi is a legendary speaker of the House, probably the greatest in American history, and continues to be an effective spokesperson for the people of her district in San Francisco.

I have to say, I find - you know, I said the same thing after 2016 when a lot of people wanted to debate the Hillary-Bernie primary and what could have been. I really had no time for it then. And I don't have time for any sort of would have, could have about 2024.

The reality is, it's over. It was a one-and-a-half-point race. We lost. We really have to learn the lessons of why we lost so that way we can come back and win in '26 and '28 and beyond.

HUNT: Sir, the other thing I'd like to ask you about as well is something that's going on in the Senate race, which there's, obviously, this ongoing recount between Bob Casey, the Democrat, Dave McCormick, the Republican. And there have been some officials in some of the major counties, elected Democratic officials in Philadelphia, Bucks, Centre and Montgomery Counties who voted this week to defy - and this is "The Washington Post" editorial board writing, court decisions at the request of lawyers for Democratic Senator Bob Casey, "these Democrats' decisions will almost certainly be overturned on appeal, but the mere attempt to defy judicial rulings is corrosive to democracy and invites similar behavior in future elections."

And again, this is a defiance of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that provisional ballots must be signed in two places and mail-in votes must be dated.

Do you think that what these Democratic officials are doing in these counties is the right thing to do?

BOYLE: Well, first, I mean, I can't say that I know exactly the specifics of what those boards did this past week.

On the issue of so-called naked ballots, I think it's unfortunate that those are being counted, or not counted in some areas, because it's quite obvious they were mailed in before Election Day.

Nonetheless, though, the ultimate authority here is going to be the state supreme court. I believe they are going to rule on this matter in the next week or two. And I am sure that all Democrats will abide by the law, whatever the state supreme court decides.

HUNT: All right, Congressman Brendan Boyle for us this morning.

Congressman, very grateful to have you. Hope you'll come back soon.

BOYLE: All right, thank you.

HUNT: All right, see you soon.

Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Donald Trump's mandate to govern, how far does it go? Mark McKinnon here with his thoughts.

Plus, he's back. Alec Baldwin returns to "SNL," but not as Donald Trump.

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ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": All right, I got to go. I got a dead dolphin in my car. I think I might saw it in half and dump it in Central Park.

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[06:47:06]

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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): What they've delivered with the mandate in this election is a demand that we shake up the status quo. REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): This is a mandate.

REP. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): We've got a mandate.

REP. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Carry out the mandate that's been delivered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The American people gave us that mandate.

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HUNT: The mandate. It has been Republican's favorite word, one of them, since Donald Trump's decisive win. Congressional Republicans view the upcoming Republican trifecta as a sign that Americans want them to enact Trump's agenda in its entirety, starting with the confirmation of all of his cabinet appointments, no matter how controversial.

CNN learning over the weekend Trump is, quote, "100 percent," end quote, determined to see his most contentious pick, now former Congressman Matt Gaetz, be confirmed as attorney general, despite an unreleased House Ethics report investigating claims of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use by Gaetz.

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REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): This is what we're focusing on. Matt Gaetz is, by any standard, completely unqualified to be the attorney general, and yet we're sort of focused on this, you know, cherry on the cupcake of the ethics report. You know, it sort of reminds me of Al Capone. In 1931 Al Capone is convicted of a couple of counts of tax evasion. Now, he was a killer and a rum runner and a mafioso and yet he was convicted of tax evasion. This is what the conversation we're having about Matt Gaetz.

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HUNT: All right, joining us now is Mark McKinnon, the former adviser to George W. Bush and John McCain, also creator of Paramount's "The Circus."

Mark, good morning. Always wonderful to see you.

So, I'm not sure we've talked -

MARK MCKINNON, CREATOR, "THE CIRCUS": I'm getting a bunch of crackling.

HUNT: Oh, it sounds like Mark can't hear us here either. We're just having all the tech - all the tech gremlins are just attacking us today. We're going to push pause on Mark for a second while we try to figure out how to do - troubleshoot that.

It is 48 minutes past the hour. We'll do your morning roundup.

In a little over an hour, the murder trial of Laken Riley's suspected killer resumes in Georgia. Jose Ibarra is accused of killing the 22- year-old nursing student in February. This morning, prosecutors are expected to provide new details showing why they believe the undocumented Venezuelan migrant is responsible. Last week prosecutors laid out Riley's final moments and how smartwatch data showed she fought for her life for about 20 minutes.

New this morning, Spirit Airlines files for bankruptcy. The budget airliner has struggled with mounting losses and increased competition. In recent years two deals fell through to sell Spirit to other airlines.

Former Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani is heading back to a new courtroom. He's seeking to have a lawsuit thrown out that claims he owes his criminal defense lawyers legal fees in connection with a federal investigation in the Southern District of New York. The former New York City mayor representing himself.

All right, let's turn now to this.

President Joe Biden was all smiles when he met President-elect Donald Trump at the White House last week. The meeting between the two rivals was, of course, plenty of fodder for "Saturday Night Live."

[06:50:06]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Instead of being rude and crazy, like usual, I'm doing quiet and serene, which in many ways is a lot scarier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I'm going to sit here and smile while ignoring the giant fire right behind me. Just like that meme. Can we put it up - up side-by-side? Hey, this is fine.

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HUNT: It didn't end there. A litany of controversial picks. "SNL" added cabinet cast members with one familiar face.

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ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Americans need someone to teach them how to be healthy, someone like me, a 70 year old man with movie star looks and a worm in his brain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bobby, I love you. I can't wait to see what you do with this country in terms of health and with regard to measles outbreak.

BALDWIN: I care deeply about a woman's right to choose, to choose to give her child polio.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: OK, our panel is back.

Doug Heye, we have not talked that much this morning about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Probably because, as you point out, Matt Gaetz has sort of trumped all the rest, no pun intended, in terms of controversy.

What is your sort of read on whether Kennedy can get confirmed?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: He can get confirmed, you know, because Republicans know they probably have one card that they can use to vote no and show some independence. That's if Matt Gaetz obviously comes up to a vote or anyone else. We've seen, you know, accusations of fitness or unfitness for other people. But Kennedy is core to the Trump identity.

And what we've seen with Republicans is, when they've spoken out against Donald Trump, it's been on very specific issues. None of those that go to the core identity of Donald Trump. RFK's there.

HUNT: You agree, Meghan?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: Yes, I don't think that he'll have trouble getting confirmed. I think that there are many other people who are more offensive. Again, Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, or some others that I think will be more - will be more problematic trying to get through their hearings.

HUNT: Caroline Kennedy apparently told reporters that, as an ambassador, she's not supposed to comment on politics. She was asked to comment on family. And she said, yes, I think Bobby Kennedy's views on vaccines are dangerous, but I don't think that most Americans share them, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

DOVERE: And the what happens when there is an outbreak of a disease or this - or when - when he comes up for a Senate vote? That's - the question here for a lot of these nominees is not what they're - whether they're going to get confirmed because most of them will. But what - what they will do in office once they get there and how people will react to it, whether they will be paying attention to it, whether they will approve of what's being done, or see it as part of Trump shaking up Washington, or see it as that's not what we voted for when we were thinking about Donald Trump or thinking about this election.

HUNT: One thing that, of course, came out over the weekend that certainly rippled through my social media feeds was the photo of RFK on the Trump plane doing something that he previously seemed to suggest he would never do, which was eating a Big Mac - or maybe that's a Big Mac. I don't know, it's a McDonalds burger. The look on his face, I mean, it's worth noting - let's play what RFK had previously had to say about the food that goes on to Donald Trump's plane.

Let's watch.

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ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. (I), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The stuff that he eats is - is really, like, bad. It's - it's not - campaign food is always bad. The food that goes onto that airplane is like just poison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I can confirm that campaign food is always bad. But let's like put that - put his face back up there, like with that - posing with that Big Mac, Alex Thompson, because this does not look like a man who's, like, thrilled to be there.

THOMPSON: It's a hostage video.

HUNT: Is that what this is?

THOMPSON: And, you know, I also think, you know, beyond it being hilarious, and just like the grimace on his face as he's being forced to eat poison to please Donald Trump. I also think it gets to what our conversation was before. You know, there are some things that he could do at HHS that actually have a little bit of bipartisanship - bipartisan support, you know, sort of shaking up pharma, shaking up the FDA, and like, what, you know, stuff we eat.

The thing that's going - but there is not a bipartisan consensus on his views on vaccines, on a lot of his more, like, you know, conspiratorial thoughts. And that's going to be, you know, the really interesting thing if he does get confirmed. As Isaac was saying, you know, what he actually does when he has this sort of power could have, like, profound consequences.

HUNT: Yes. No, I think it's a good point because there are some things that he's proposing. I mean fluoride in water, for example, is one of the conversations that's been had in western European countries, some of whom have removed it, right? And there is oftentimes, and we've talked about this on the show, a kind of health-related consensus where the right and the left come together, sometimes in conspiracy theory -

[06:55:00]

THOMPSON: Yes.

HUNT: But sometimes - sometimes not.

All right, I think Mark McKinnon is back with us now.

Mark, can you hear me now?

There he is.

MCKINNON: I got you. Good morning, Kasie.

HUNT: Good morning. It's wonderful to see you.

Do you want to start - do you want to start here? We've been talking about RFK, that sort of photo that he was - Alex Thompson just called it a hostage video, where he's eating this food on the plane with Donald Trump because, I mean, look, it does seem to say a lot about how Donald Trump operates in the world and what he demands of you when you're going to be one of his people. MCKINNON: Well, Kasie, let me go big picture on the appointments,

because that's sort of the discussion of the - of the hour and the day and the week.

You talk about Trumps mandate to govern. It's really a mandate for chaos and disruption. I'm struck by how different this feels than eight years ago.

I was at the - at the Hilton in New York election night, and I can tell you for sure that Donald Trump was the most surprised person in that room. He was sort of an accidental president in many ways and went into the administration that way.

This is different this time. And I'm really - and it's really interesting to me the extent to which in MAGA world the point is to blow things up, right? And so a lot of these appointments, the chaos is the point. And the more chaos there is, the more that Trump's going to double down on all of them.

And so, what he wants from these people is disruption. He wants chaos. He wants controversy. And so, that, to him, is fealty to him. And the more chaos the better. And it's just - it's going to be a very interesting time in government because in pure MAGA world the - and I spent a lot of time with Matt Gaetz, and I can tell you, when he went to Washington, he didn't go to the office, he didn't go to meetings, he just went on TV to blow things up. Ask Kevin McCarthy about that.

And so, in a lot - in most of these agencies, those people are going in, not to govern, but to really blow things up. And, for example, the Department of Education, to eliminate it entirely.

So, it's going to be interesting to see, once these people get in place, and most of them will, their mandate is to - is not to make things better, but to dismantle them. So, it'll be interesting when we - when and if - I hope to God we don't have another Covid crisis - people turn to government and say, oh, wait, government's supposed to do something and now it can't.

HUNT: Yes.

Wait, so, Mark, you say you spent a lot of time with Matt Gaetz. Can you illuminate - I mean share some more about that. What do you know about him that you think we should - we should know in this moment.

MCKINNON: Well, I had - we had him on our show, "The Circus," a bunch of times. And, you know, he - because he loved the camera. He loved being on TV. And I can just tell you that, you know, his - his whole - his whole DNA is - is to just blow things up. I mean he just wants to go in and create as much chaos as possible. And so, you know, that's one thing, as a congressman to do that and to not go to the meetings and not do what you're supposed to do and to blow up the leadership. That's a little different - that's a little different responsibility when you go to the Department of Justice.

But it's clear that what he thinks his mandate is going to be at Justice is to do Donald Trump's bidding, not to run the Department of Justice, but to go after Trump's enemies. And -- and clearly, you know, he feels like he's got some people who have gone after him as well.

So, you know, that's going to be his focus is going after what he thinks are enemies. And, you know, the enemies of the state are, you know, in this case, government itself.

HUNT: Mark, I mean, one of the big questions I have, you know having covered the entire first Trump administration from Capitol Hill and just watching how opposition to Trump would just collapse in the face of him going after, you know, senators or members of the House, et cetera. Like, people would start out maybe saying, oh, yes, we don't like this, and then inevitably they would fold.

The only thing that I've ever seen actually change that dynamic is when there is some personal thing behind the scenes with, you know, that is more important to that member because of its long-standing reality, as opposed to, you know, political pressure, ideology or any of these other things.

Do you think that in the case of Matt Gaetz the deep, sort of personal feelings that a lot of members on The Hill have are going to make his confirmation a different experience than some of the other picks that, while maybe outside the mainstream, don't necessarily come with the same level of personal animosity?

MCKINNON: Yes, I do. And I think that that's kind of the point with Trump. It's like to make the ultimate loyalty test and just to pick the guy that pisses them off more than anybody else, the person who has like the least character, the least qualifications to be an appointment, and to test these people.

But believe me, you know, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are about to get flame throwers at them. And we'll just see how strong they are to stand up against that when MAGA lights it up.

HUNT: Yes. And, of course, another interesting face to watch, we talked about it briefly, but Mitch McConnell no longer the majority leader. You know, I'd be surprised if he does any sort of blanket opposition. But Tulsi Gabbard might be a place to really watch what he does to see whether or not his national security convictions, right, stand up to that.

[07:00:09]

Mark McKinnon, thank you. Always appreciate it. So glad to see you.

Thanks to our panel for joining us as well. And thanks to all of you for being with us on this Monday. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.