Inside Politics With Manu Raju 8/9/26 — CNN Breaking News Today August 9, 2026

[0:02] Midwest mayhem. [0:04] It's pissing me off. [0:06] Democrats' path to power gets complicated. [0:09] In the words of Muhammad Ali, we shook up the world. [0:11] Can they figure it out as they start to turn to 2028? [0:16] It is good to be home in Michigan. [0:20] Plus, all over the map, President Trump scrambles his party's agenda. [0:25] They're not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans. [0:28] So why does a senator running GOP campaign operations feel optimistic? [0:33] My one-on-one with Tim Scott next. [0:37] I think we could have a 54-seat majority. [0:40] And way too early? [0:42] I think he's great, but we're way too early. [0:45] 2028 chatter centers on the vice president. [0:48] So why is he posting about burritos? [0:52] Inside Politics, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now. [0:56] Good morning, and welcome to Inside Politics Sunday. [1:04] I'm Manu Raju. [1:05] It's been less than a week after a bitter Democratic Senate primary battle in Michigan [1:10] that saw progressives squeak out a win over the party establishment [1:14] and gave Republicans new hope in an otherwise grim midterm environment. [1:19] And now Democrats get to relive that battle all over again this Tuesday, [1:23] this time in Wisconsin and Minnesota. [1:26] In battleground Wisconsin, one of the most closely divided states in the nation, [1:29] Democratic Socialist frontrunner Francesca Hong has stumbled in a race for governor [1:34] over resurfaced posts about Thanksgiving, abolishing the police, and more. [1:39] She and her leading Democratic opponent, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, [1:43] were on the campaign trail days ahead of Tuesday's gubernatorial primary. [1:48] And I think central Wisconsin especially, you all are in a very, very powerful position [1:55] to show the rest of the country that rural Wisconsin, [2:01] you're not going to be defined despite red or blue, left or right. [2:06] What I've learned is not to give up. [2:08] You know, continue to fight back and fight for the little folks on the ground, [2:12] especially our rural communities, especially those who feel like they haven't had a seat at the table. [2:17] And in South Carolina, the gloves are off as the late Senator Lindsey Graham's sister [2:23] runs to replace him. [2:25] So let's all break this down with my excellent group of political insiders, [2:29] Zolan Cano-Youngs from the New York Times, [2:31] Margaret Tala from Axios, and Burgess Everett from Semaphore. [2:35] Happy Sunday morning to you all. [2:37] Great to see you guys. [2:39] Margaret, on the Wisconsin race, the reason why this is so significant, [2:44] I mean, Wisconsin is the bellwether of bellwether, [2:47] pivotal swing state of pretty much all the ones that we talk about. [2:51] I mean, just look at the election margins from the past election cycles. [2:54] I mean, Trump squeaked one out in 2016. [2:57] He squeaked it out in 2024. [2:59] Biden did the same in 2020. [3:01] Tony Evers, the governor, has won very narrowly, repeatedly. [3:04] Tammy Baldwin won very narrowly last year, the Democratic senator. [3:08] And now we have this really fascinating primary playing out on the Democratic side. [3:13] And there's real fear among Democratic circles that this could cost them a critical governor's race. [3:19] Not just generalized fear from random people who aren't saying anything out loud, [3:23] but fear from the outgoing governor who's like, [3:26] hey, guys, I'm not sure that this candidate is going to work in a general election. [3:30] So it's part of this phenomenon that you're seeing right now within the Democratic Party, [3:35] where you have younger voters and progressive voters really energized around elevating candidates [3:41] who reflect some of these policies and principles and taking the stand and taking the fight. [3:48] And then you've got a state where the margins are really thin. [3:51] And there's a big question, Mark, about whether someone who is a super progressive candidate [3:56] with a nontraditional background and some controversial positions can prevail in November. [4:03] Yeah, and just to that point of what Tony Evers, the governor, said, [4:05] who is backing David Crowley, who is Francesca Hong's Democratic opponent. [4:10] He was on the trail in the last several days, [4:12] and he made it very clear about whether he thinks Hong could win if she's the nominee. [4:18] I think she's in a tough fight. [4:20] She has spent her entire campaign dealing with, not with the issues, but what's on the Twitter. [4:29] And speaking of Twitter, there were a lot of these tweets from the past that she has had to deal with [4:36] over the last several weeks, including, [4:40] I support defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police. [4:44] She, of course, the very infamous one now about canceling Thanksgiving, [4:49] she said they should have done in 1621. [4:51] She's been kind of been pressed about that repeatedly over the last several days and, [4:55] you know, said that she hates Thanksgiving. [4:58] Now she loves Thanksgiving. [4:59] But those are the kind of things that could stick among voters' minds right now. [5:03] A hundred percent. [5:04] And it represents something a bit broader of the Democratic Party really since, [5:08] I would say, like 2020, trying to navigate internally [5:12] just how far left they're going to go on certain issues. [5:15] Does that come away as not being in touch with voters more broadly? [5:19] And, you know, we've talked about this with numerous candidates where you see them sort of having to answer [5:25] for past social media posts on polarizing issues like divesting and defunding from the police [5:32] or something that's going to be more fodder for your political opponents, [5:36] like talking about the holiday Thanksgiving. [5:38] Yeah, right. [5:40] Both of those, I think, connect to that broader theme, though, [5:44] of trying to sort of navigate just how far to go as you have this progressive flank [5:48] that you were talking about, younger voters that you're trying to appease [5:50] and trying to build a broader coalition. [5:53] And she's been fighting back against the Democratic establishment, [5:56] Democratic consultant class, as she says, [5:58] because David Axelrod, our friend and colleague and fellow Cubs fan, of course, [6:02] was tweeted about calling her, you know, sort of a font of zany liberal faculty lounge exotica, [6:10] Axelrod tweeted. [6:12] And Francesca Hong responded, saying that this tweet is a perfect example [6:16] of why the consultant class keeps losing elections. [6:19] She called them totally clueless. [6:21] They're hell-bent on keeping working-class people out of politics. [6:24] But, Burgess, part of the issue, too, is just, like, how much this Democratic primary [6:28] has depleted things on their side. [6:31] Just look at this money that they have, that Hong and Crowley have, [6:35] compared to Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate and likely Republican nominee. [6:39] $6.6 million for Tiffany. [6:42] And they have a fraction, less than $100,000, that they have in their, [6:49] less than a million bucks, I should say, they have in their war chest right now. [6:52] Yeah, and she'll need the establishment if she wins the nomination [6:56] so that she can compete with that. [6:57] But I think what you're seeing is when you saw the Michigan primary [7:00] and you saw all these folks, these progressive, well-known progressives, [7:03] Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, coming into Michigan and campaigning [7:06] for Abdul El-Sayed, you're not seeing that for Francesca Hong. [7:09] And I'm also, you mentioned Tammy Baldwin. [7:11] You know a lot about Wisconsin politics. [7:13] She's a fairly progressive senator. [7:15] The way that she has won these elections is not by talking about Thanksgiving. [7:19] It's by being pretty pragmatic on these issues and keeping a low profile [7:23] on some of these political issues. [7:25] And so I think that that's the contrast. [7:27] That's the playbook to win in Wisconsin. [7:29] We've seen Mandela Barnes lose a Senate race for similar statements [7:32] like defunding the police and things like that. [7:34] But I want to ask you about the Michigan Senate primary as well, [7:38] because we're seeing Angie Craig and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan battle it out. [7:43] There's a real split on the Democratic side as well. [7:45] Really look at the endorsements among the Democrats. [7:49] And they're really, you're seeing the Bernie Sanders and the more progressive, [7:54] some of the more progressive members get behind Peggy Flanagan. [7:57] Some of the more establishment figures within the Democratic Party, [8:01] including Pelosi, getting behind Angie Craig. [8:05] Also, you know, she's a House member as well. [8:07] Sure. [8:07] How do you see that playing out? [8:10] And who's got the edge heading into Tuesday? [8:12] I mean, the polls seem pretty deadlocked. [8:14] I think the one thing that Democrats can tell themselves and feel better about this division [8:19] is that they are favored to win this race, no matter who is nominated for this position. [8:24] Angie Craig has been arguing that she's more electable than Peggy Flanagan. [8:28] And that's because Republicans, as we'll probably get to, like Tim Scott, [8:31] have been saying that they can compete in Minnesota. [8:33] I think there's some longer-term ramifications from this race. [8:36] What does it look like in six years? [8:37] Who can hold the seat easily for a long time? [8:40] And also, how are people going to vote in this leadership race? [8:42] Peggy Flanagan seems like she would vote against Chuck Schumer in the leadership race. [8:46] Angie Craig hasn't been as strident about that. [8:48] How do you see it? [8:49] Yeah, I actually think the consequences are more interesting looking forward past the election [8:55] for exactly those reasons. [8:57] I do think, like, if Democrats recapture the House, it is going to change, like, the definition [9:06] of how you triangulate inside the party, like how you reach consensus on issues. [9:11] Senate, it may be, like, sense a little bit different because Democrats, I think if Democrats [9:16] won the majority in the Senate, these sort of issues would have massive implications. [9:21] If Democrats remain in the minority, it's just going to remain a food fight. [9:25] Speaking of food fights, another one happening on Tuesday, the South Carolina Republican primary. [9:31] Of course, the late Senator Lindsey Graham died just a few weeks ago, and now there's [9:35] a race to replace him in the Republican side. [9:39] Senator, the appointed senator, his younger sister, Darlene Graham, among the five candidates [9:44] in this race. [9:45] Now, initially, there was not, you know, she was obviously going through, Darlene Graham was [9:50] a very difficult period, and a lot of the candidates, you know, they gave her some space. [9:54] Not me more. [9:55] This is getting pretty intense. [9:57] Just watch some of the attack ads. [10:00] You can't spell Darlene without D-E-I. [10:04] As a government bureaucrat, Darlene Graham ballooned the size of a state agency, doubled [10:10] its spending, and led a culture of diversity and inclusion. [10:14] Career politician Russell Frye, rejected by President Trump. [10:17] Frye selfishly put himself before President Trump in the MAGA movement. [10:21] His empty seat could hand AOC and the woke liberals in D.C. power. [10:24] That was a temporary period for niceties and sort of being cordial there. [10:30] Yeah. [10:30] I mean, it will be interesting to see. [10:32] Look, we saw President Trump go out and embrace Graham early. [10:36] Just how much he gets involved in this race moving forward, especially as she tries to [10:40] ingratiate himself more for calling for things like abolishing the filibuster, which we know [10:44] President Trump values. [10:45] Yeah. [10:46] No question. [10:46] And then this is a Tuesday primary. [10:48] If no candidate gets a majority of the vote, the runoff will be on August 25th. [10:52] So we'll get to replay this for another couple of weeks. [10:55] We'll see who gets, becomes a top two headed into what is very likely going to be a runoff. [11:00] All right. [11:00] Coming up next, I go one-on-one with Senator Tim Scott, who has said little publicly about [11:05] up until now about the midterm map. [11:07] He reveals his bullish projection and provides new details about the fight for the majority. [11:12] You need your pickup seats? [11:15] I think we could have a 54-seat majority. [11:17] Republican Senator Tim Scott has said little publicly about his difficult job. [11:25] He's in charge of the Republican effort to hang on to the narrow Senate majority. [11:28] The map favors the GOP since Democrats have to pick up a net of four seats to win back [11:34] power, meaning holding seats in battlegrounds Michigan and Georgia, and then winning in red [11:39] states. [11:40] With the environment souring for the GOP, many see Democrats with a path to pick up some [11:46] seats, if not flip the Senate altogether. [11:49] But not Scott, who now sees the map expanding and is eyeing GOP pickup opportunities that [11:55] few in Washington have their sights on. [12:00] Thanks for talking to me. [12:01] Yes, sir. [12:01] Of course. [12:02] So let's talk first of all about the overall map. [12:04] Yeah. [12:04] Because, you know, this is a, no doubt about it, the map is tough for Democrats. [12:07] Yes. [12:08] They have to win in some very deeply conservative states, states that Donald Trump carried by [12:13] double digits. [12:13] Those include, of course, Iowa, Ohio, Alaska, and Texas. [12:16] Trump carried those by double digits, but they aren't really in play this cycle. [12:21] What do you think explains why they're in play? [12:23] Well, I don't think they're in play, frankly. [12:24] You don't think they're in play? [12:25] Not really. [12:25] No. [12:25] Listen, Texas is going to be red to the roots. [12:29] There's no doubt that Paxton will be victorious, in my opinion. [12:33] All polls say the race is close. [12:35] I think the polls are fairly accurate. [12:37] But at the end of the day, the more you learn about Tallarico, the less you like them. [12:40] The truth is that here's a guy who's as close to a socialist as Texas has seen in my lifetime. [12:46] If you turn your attention to Ohio, Sherrod Brown has 100% name saturation, and they don't [12:52] like him. [12:52] He is stuck in the 40s with his ceiling. [12:56] And why is that the case? [12:57] Well, here's a guy who raised your taxes in Ohio by over $300 a month. [13:03] Someone who has suggested that the working families tax cut bill was a mistake, which [13:08] means that he is actually voting against, speaking poorly of, funding rural hospitals [13:14] at $50 billion. [13:15] He's against increasing the child tax credit. [13:18] That's just out of step with Ohio. [13:20] In Iowa, Ashley Henson has done such a good job doing what we call the full Grassley, which [13:27] is hitting 99 counties in a very short period of time. [13:31] She's running in a state where her name recognition, the way she's doing her job as a congresswoman, [13:36] it's fantastic. [13:37] And you don't think Alaska's in play? [13:39] I'll ask you, listen, if the real Dan Sullivan just stands up, you're too young to know what [13:43] that means, but there's an old show that was on TV. [13:47] Here's what we know without any question. [13:49] Dan Sullivan versus Dan Sullivan. [13:50] We now have the resources and the information to get our incumbent, Dan Sullivan, across the [13:58] finish line. [13:59] And Peltola, running close without any question. [14:02] Dan Sullivan, a Marine, served the state very long for a long time. [14:07] We feel he's in good position. [14:09] Peltola, very liberal, out of step with Alaska, good shape there. [14:14] Troy Jackson, socialist, who's mean to women, who has a very interesting and fascinating past, [14:21] but also as a legislator that ran the education system to a large part into the ground. [14:28] Susan Collins, strong, reliable, consistent. [14:32] You turn your attention to New Hampshire, where we have a shot at a pickup there. [14:36] John C. Nunez is doing really well. [14:39] He's down by about two right now in an environment that you've suggested does not get productive [14:45] for Republicans. [14:46] That will get better and better as we head into Labor Day. [14:49] Let's just drill down into Michigan. [14:50] Let's drill down. [14:51] This week. [14:52] Haley Stevens, if she had won the Democratic nomination, would this have made your race [14:56] harder? [14:57] Listen, I call, this is the truth of my name. [14:59] I called Mike Rogers on election night 24 and said, I'm hoping that you're going to run [15:06] again. [15:06] And he said, Tim, can I get a couple of days to think about it? [15:09] I'm like, absolutely not. [15:11] Let's do the Dave McCormick run two times in a row. [15:13] I thought then, November 2024, that Mike Rogers, with a clear Republican primary, would be the [15:20] next senator, the first Republican senator in 30 years out of Michigan. [15:25] Would Haley Stevens made that harder? [15:26] What we know for certain is that Abdul Saeed, El Saeed, is making it easier. [15:31] Why? [15:32] Because he is inconsistent with mission gandinders of either side of the aisle, by the way. [15:37] Someone who wants to defund police, defund ICE, who wants to abolish our concept of a border. [15:44] He's just wrong for Michigan. [15:45] And I saw your early attack ads against him. [15:48] You're using his full name in these attack ads, which has gotten some attention. [15:51] Abdul Rahman Mohammed El Saeed. [15:53] He goes by Abdul El Saeed. [15:55] Are you trying to say, hint, hint to voters, he's Muslim? [15:58] Not at all. [15:58] What we're saying to, what we're only saying to voters is a simple thing. [16:02] He says he's the most, he says he's the most dangerous candidate you can find. [16:08] He's right. [16:09] We should trust his words, not ours. [16:11] But why not just use his name, Abdul El Saeed, which he goes by? [16:14] Well, listen, I go by Timothy Jean. [16:16] And so, I get called that all the time. [16:19] Here's what I know for that question. [16:20] It's about what he stands for. [16:23] And we're going to focus and bring attention to the fact that not only is he sympathetic for Hamas, [16:28] not only does he run around with Hassan Pike or someone who said that Americans deserve 9-11, [16:33] he should be held account for exactly where he stands and what he's for. [16:38] So, you talked about Texas. [16:40] Yes. [16:40] A lot of the outside groups have not spent much in Texas. [16:43] Does the NRC plan to step in here and spend a lot of money in here? [16:46] Yeah, the strategy in Texas is strong. [16:49] It's going to be very well funded. [16:51] We have no actual reasons to be concerned about Texas. [16:54] Pakistan's working hard. [16:56] Should the Trump organization spend money there? [16:58] We anticipate that we had presentations just yesterday, as you probably know, [17:04] MAGA Inc. coming over and talking to the polling data. [17:07] We know that they're going to be fully engaged. [17:09] President Trump is all we're on the campaign trail talking about affordability, [17:12] which, in my opinion, is a breath of fresh air because the more he talks about [17:15] the exact issues of confronting the American people, [17:18] the easier it is for us to talk about the fact that every single Democrat in the Senate [17:22] voted to raise your taxes, voted to reduce the $50 billion funding for rural hospitals, [17:27] voted against the child tax credit, voted for open borders. [17:31] You know, you obviously supported Cornett, and you went after, the NRC went after Ken Paxton. [17:36] You were suggesting he was corrupt. [17:38] Did you guys regret those attacks against Paxton? [17:40] Listen, what I can tell you is that without question and with great clarity, [17:45] Texas will vote for Paxton, and we will continue to expose the insanity of Tallarico. [17:52] The contrast could not be more clear and more in our favor. [17:56] So the more resources that we spend, the better off Texas will be. [18:00] And as a result, America will be better off because the Senate will remain the firewall for the country. [18:05] North Carolina and Georgia. [18:07] Good news. [18:08] But are you concerned about the Republican candidates there? [18:10] The polls don't look great for that. [18:11] Oh, listen. [18:12] Would you consider diverting resources away from those states? [18:14] Of course not. [18:15] Listen, Michael Watley had a 15-point deficit. [18:19] He worked really hard. [18:20] He got it down to 10. [18:21] Now it's down to 4. [18:23] Roy Cooper has never had the kind of resources spent exposing his record. [18:27] What keeps you up at night? [18:28] When you look at these red states, particularly that, you know, you say they're not in play, [18:32] but they're all close. [18:33] Do any of them keep you up at night? [18:34] No, I tell you what, not much keeps me up at night, to be honest with you, Manu. [18:38] The one thing that gets me excited when I think about this election cycle on the map is Minnesota. [18:46] I think Minnesota, we have a real shot with Michelle Tafoya. [18:49] She has done a really good job on fundraising. [18:51] Will you spend money there? [18:52] We just did an event for her. [18:54] We've done two events for her recently, one in the state and one in National Call for the donors. [18:59] What we know without question is she is within a point of the lieutenant governor right now. [19:04] So if we can continue to let her show the contrast between the two candidates, [19:09] I think Michelle Tafoya is the kind of Republican that can win. [19:11] You think you'll pick up seats? [19:13] I think we could have a 54-seat majority, not 46, not 53. [19:17] My excellent panel is back. [19:20] 54 seats, Burgess. [19:22] He sees an expanding map. [19:24] And Schumer, you talked to Chuck Schumer, who also sees an expanding map, [19:29] much bigger than the narrow playing field that we often talk about in these handful of states. [19:34] Is that realistic? [19:35] I think some of these are reached states. [19:37] I think Minnesota is a reached state for Republicans. [19:40] You heard him right there, which I think is revealing, say that Michelle Tafoya is close to Peggy Flanagan. [19:45] So it's pretty clear Republicans would like Peggy Flanagan to win the nomination next week. [19:49] And yes, Chuck Schumer is talking about Democrats competing in Kansas for sure, [19:53] and maybe Mississippi because there are so many black voters there. [19:56] They think they might be able to get over the top with Scott Colum. [19:59] So I did the math. [20:01] We're at about 12 states. [20:02] If you listen to Tim Scott and you listen to Chuck Schumer, Montana is a little bit unsettled, [20:06] and we're not even talking about Nebraska yet. [20:08] So I definitely started off this cycle thinking the battleground would be pretty small, six-ish states. [20:13] It's almost double that right now. [20:14] We'll see if the parties actually spend money there because that's what tells you how confident they are. [20:20] Where do they put the money? [20:21] Because I had asked him, are you going to spend money in Minnesota? [20:23] He didn't exactly say. [20:24] And also Texas, too. [20:25] It's really unclear if they're going to spend money there and whether the Trump organization will come in in Texas. [20:31] And that's a big concern. [20:32] And, of course, can Paxson actually win in that state? [20:36] I do want to talk about this ad from the NRSC, which I asked Tim Scott about, about Michigan and about Abdul El-Sayed. [20:45] Abdul Rahman Mohammed El-Sayed, the most radical Senate candidate in America. [20:49] I agree that's dangerous. [20:51] So when I asked him about that, as you just heard, Tim Scott, you know, he sort of shrugged it off. [20:56] He said, you know, people call me by my full name, too. [20:58] Yeah. [20:59] What did he say people call him? [21:00] Senator Timothy. [21:02] That's news to me. [21:03] I've personally heard people say that. [21:04] What do you make of that strategy by using the name? [21:07] Well, I mean, we have seen Republicans continue to come out and use that full name. [21:11] And I think the context here is that we have seen in recent years that, frankly, Islamophobia is getting more normalized. [21:20] And, you know, yes, there are Republicans that are trying to portray candidates as being out of touch and even extremists. [21:26] But you also then have some members in the party. [21:28] And I'm not even saying this with Senator Scott and reflecting that interview. [21:31] But you do have some members of the Republican Party, particularly comments about Mamdani and El-Sayed, who have embraced Islamophobia as particularly. [21:40] I mean, so bad. [21:41] Let's be honest. [21:42] We have a president also at top down, right, who ran very much and, you know, launched his sort of political career on a Muslim ban and making sweeping comments about Muslims. [21:51] And his second term in office has been made, gone on these xenophobic rants about Somalis as well and Somali-American citizens, too. [21:59] So that context, I think, is surrounding some of the ads that you're seeing. [22:03] Very, very quickly, he also thinks that El-Sayed has made their job easier to pick up Michigan. [22:10] Well, the policy positions may have. [22:12] But when you see the great new video and the words like dangerous, what's happening on the other end is that El-Sayed setting aside policy issues, just as a candidate, has a ton of political charisma and is inspiring to young people. [22:24] So I think we don't really know what's going to happen, but Tim Scott certainly put his best foot forward in Texas. [22:30] Two or three polls actually show Tallarico had inside the margin of error. [22:34] You can't take any of that to the bank. [22:35] I think that Texas race might be a little closer than Senator Scott suggested. [22:40] Which is why they went after Paxton. [22:42] The NRC did because they were concerned about this exact situation and the attack. [22:46] They went after Paxton. [22:47] And I asked if he was good at those attacks. [22:49] He didn't quite say that. [22:50] All right. [22:51] Coming up. [22:51] How did a Trump-backed candidate lose to a guy who is not even running him anymore? [22:57] And just how bad are things between the president and the Hill GOP? [23:00] That's next. [23:01] Plus, politicians, they say the darndest things. [23:06] Leader Schumer. [23:06] Leader Schumer. [23:09] I didn't yell that loud. [23:10] You're out loud and you can yell it when you used to. [23:13] For the past decade, President Trump's grip on the GOP has seemed nearly absolute. [23:20] But in the past week, some stark reminders of the limits of his power in his own party. [23:25] His top legislative priority, the so-called Save America Act to propose new voting restrictions, [23:30] went nowhere in the Senate ahead of the summer recess. [23:33] Twice last week, voters rejected Trump's choice in GOP primaries. [23:38] In Ohio, Trump refused to use his bully pulpit to demand embattled Congressman Max Miller drop what many Republicans fear is a doomed re-election bid. [23:47] My political insiders are back. [23:49] So, Burgess, you must have been in the Capitol at 4 a.m. on Saturday morning. [23:53] No, you are not. [23:54] Okay. [23:55] This is where they got out of town without passing what Trump has been demanding, which is to Save America Act. [24:02] That is his top legislative priority, even though the economy is what the Republicans are begging for him to focus on. [24:08] Yeah, and I mean, I think that the timing of when that happened is intentional. [24:11] I think both parties were probably happy that not everyone was paying attention to what the Senate was doing when they got out of town. [24:17] I mean, they did fund the government. [24:18] But, yes, Save America Act is not going anywhere. [24:21] A vote on a voter ID bill from John Husted, a senator who was up in Ohio, bailed. [24:26] College sports bill kicked to September. [24:28] Clarity Act kicked to September. [24:29] So, it was not like a great moment for President Trump's priorities because Save, college sports, and Clarity are three things that we've been hearing him in the White House talking about for a long time. [24:39] And I don't necessarily think any of those things have great chances in September either. [24:43] But we'll see what happens. [24:44] I mean, Trump will be on the campaign trail in the days ahead. [24:47] But, you know, can he focus on what they want him to focus on? [24:50] You just look at some of the moves in this past week. [24:53] We talked about the voting restriction bill. [24:55] There's an anti-weaponization fund that created so much drama in the Capitol. [24:59] Ultimately, they had to kill it to get Todd Blanche confirmed as the next attorney general. [25:04] He made some comments to our friend Jake Sherman at Punchbowl News about data centers that perhaps didn't rub some members the wrong way. [25:11] And the reflecting pool and White House ballroom is his obsession. [25:15] Yeah. [25:16] So, the polling shows two things that are really important. [25:20] One is something like two-thirds of Americans think that President Trump is focused on the wrong stuff and not focused on the stuff that is of key importance to them. [25:29] And that his approval numbers that are around one in three now, really, really low. [25:34] But the reason they were there until four in the morning, right, wasn't just so they could not pass key things he wanted and then duck out, [25:42] but because they were confirming Todd Blanche as the next attorney general. [25:46] And so, you've got this situation where President Trump is dragging down Republicans' prospects nationally in November in some of these elections, [25:59] but he still has tremendous power over the base and tremendous power to destroy Republicans who get in his way inside these party battles. [26:07] And I think those are the two levers you see him exercising. [26:10] Yeah, and it's interesting. [26:11] What about the power with the base? [26:12] Yes, he does win most of his endorsement, endorse candidates. [26:15] They generally win. [26:16] But we saw this last week a couple more added to the list of people who lost, Trump endorsements who've lost. [26:22] We saw Randy Feenstra in Iowa. [26:24] He was a gubernatorial candidate earlier in this cycle. [26:26] He lost Burt Jones in Georgia running in that gubernatorial race and lost. [26:31] And then he had a split endorsement in South Carolina. [26:34] There's a little asterisk there, as you see. [26:36] He endorsed Pam and then endorsed both candidates in the runoff, and then I guess he didn't lose there. [26:42] But then this week, not only Andy Ogles, a conservative congressman from Tennessee, controversial member lost, [26:48] but then Amir Hassan, who was Trump, endorsed him. [26:50] And his opponent, Thomas Smith, dropped out because of that endorsement. [26:54] Smith's name was still on the ballot, and he won over Trump's backed candidates. [26:58] That was something. [26:58] That was something. [26:59] And you saw President Trump even last week in one of his public appearances talking about that candidate as well in Amir Hassan [27:06] and sort of throwing, sort of using the bully pulpit to boost him up. [27:11] And he still lost, even though this candidate previously had dropped out. [27:15] I mean, yeah, you are still seeing like a tight grip on the base. [27:18] I think for the most part, up until recently, we've seen him really win these primaries. [27:22] At the same time, there's a split screen here, right? [27:24] We've seen President Trump notch all these wins in primary season, but that anti-Trump sentiment, [27:30] the economic anxiety that we've seen, the break between how much he posts about the ballroom versus gas prices [27:37] and the policies that many Republicans want him to talk about to try to address the daily needs of voters, [27:44] like, that's going to matter in the general as we continue to move forward and get closer to November. [27:49] You know, there's going to be a big, there's another gubernatorial primary this Tuesday. [27:53] Mike Lindell, the MyPillow guy, who, of course, showed a lot of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. [28:00] He's backed by Trump and we'll see if he pulls that out and wins that primary. [28:04] And a lot of the members of the Minnesota GOP don't want Mike Lindell to win that race, a big test for Trump. [28:10] But then also the Max Miller situation. [28:13] Why is, Max Miller's going to be a candidate. [28:15] He's not dropped out. [28:16] You know, there was this August 10th deadline. [28:18] He had to really get out by yesterday if they wanted to replace him. [28:21] He's making it very clear he's running. [28:23] Why won't Trump just tell him to get out of the race? [28:27] He didn't. [28:27] And now he's in a situation where the Democrat who happens to be lined up against Miller actually, like, [28:33] has a lot of the hallmarks of somebody who actually could beat Miller in that district, [28:36] which isn't a runaway Republican district. [28:39] It went strong for Trump at a time when Trump was more popular. [28:42] But Miller versus Mr. Poindexter, like, it's a union guy. [28:47] He's got Sanders support. [28:48] Yeah. [28:49] But he's, like, a dude. [28:50] You know, like, I actually, like, I'm pretty surprised. [28:54] I think President Trump did, like, walk right up to the line. [28:58] Calls Miller, is telling him, like, this does not look good, son. [29:01] Yeah. [29:01] But Miller dug in and used the Trump playbook and said, if you could survive what you survived, I can survive this. [29:09] And because Trump won that district by 11 points in 2024. [29:12] But Miller wanted, he had 51% of the vote, but just 51% of the vote when he won re-election. [29:20] Yeah. [29:20] And there were two candidates, so he won comfortably, a Democrat and an Independent. [29:24] Right. [29:25] That was a head-to-head matchup. [29:26] You know, we heard Bernie Marino make so many, raise so many concerns. [29:31] Bernie Marino is close to Trump, too. [29:32] Why isn't Trump listening to Bernie Marino? [29:34] I think Trump likes Max Miller. [29:36] Max Miller worked in the White House. [29:38] I think he sees maybe something of himself in the way that Max Miller's fighting this. [29:42] I know he wants him to get out, but I think that there's a long-running connection that goes back further than that. [29:47] And I think you're hearing Bernie Marino, who's probably the next NRSC chairman, talking about this. [29:52] Because I think this could be a big problem for the governor's race for Republicans and for the Senate race and John Husted. [29:57] So Max Miller could drag down the whole ticket by staying in the race. [30:00] Yeah. [30:00] We'll see if that ultimately happens. [30:02] And he looks like he is staying in the race. [30:04] All right. [30:05] Just ahead, J.D. Vance's beef with burritos. [30:08] Why a fat joke has made online, he made online, has entered the 2028 conversation.