Tone-deaf Trump, a blue wave, WH shake-up & more — Erin Burnett OutFront this week

[0:00] Tone-deaf President Trump tonight, though. [0:02] The president making his final midterm pitch. [0:04] And it was a message which had nothing to do with Americans, Republicans, the economy. [0:08] None of that. Absolutely none. [0:13] Today, I'm thrilled to announce the official opening of the Lincoln Memorial Reflectine Pool. [0:21] That's actually the largest pool, the longest pool anywhere in the world by far. [0:24] And by the way, we resurfaced the granite. [0:27] This was sad because this was the grass and it was totally vandalized. [0:32] So that says 8647. You don't see it as clearly because we sprayed it. [0:37] I looked at it two days before and I said, what beautiful grass. [0:41] You can even see where the concrete, that's the rebar behind. [0:45] So this was just really worn out. [0:47] Tremendous algae problems. [0:49] And you have that picture with the algae? [0:51] Yeah, let me see that. [0:53] The green, that's not grass, that's algae that took over the entire pool. [0:57] The grass in front of the White House, if you take a look at the new helipad [1:00] and all of the grass and surroundings, that's brand new and it's beautiful. [1:06] We're much, even more proud of all the statues that we've done all over Washington. [1:10] We're going for a final approval of the Triumphal Ark military complex. [1:17] We're doing a renovation of the golf course, which is in a horrible condition, [1:22] very dangerous and horrible condition. [1:24] The walls are caving in. The whole thing is a mess. [1:27] So Trump spent about 25 minutes talking about what you just heard, [1:33] the reflecting pool, granite, rebar, grass, algae, the golf course. [1:38] He had props and he didn't actually wrap it up even at the end by mentioning the election, [1:43] urging people to vote, endorsing his candidates. [1:45] Instead, he did this. [1:51] So what we heard from Trump today was actually very consistent with CNN's latest poll, [2:10] in which 74 percent of voters said Trump does not have the right priorities. [2:14] And that, of course, has been dragging down his party. [2:18] Tonight, the final forecast from two of the nation's top election forecasters are out. [2:22] Larry Sabato moving five Senate races today in the Democratic direction. [2:25] Just one, Iowa going towards the Republicans. [2:28] And the Cook Political Report's final prediction moves that Michigan Senate race from toss-up to lean Dem. [2:34] Both Cook and Sabato forecast the House goes to the Dems easily. [2:36] They'll be here in just a moment. [2:37] But Election Day voters, right, they're going to start going to the polls in less than 10 hours. [2:43] But Election Day voters are following on the heels of 56 million Americans who have already voted. [2:50] 56 million Americans. [2:51] So we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, [2:54] but we can tell you some things about those early 56 million voters. [2:58] And so far, it boils down to this. [3:00] Overall, Democrats have a 13-point advantage in terms of voters' identification across 25 states, [3:07] which compares to a four-point advantage just two years ago. [3:12] Kristen Holmes begins our coverage tonight out front, outside the White House. [3:15] And Kristen, what are you hearing? [3:17] You know, we hear Trump publicly, okay? [3:19] Algae, golf courses, statues, the triumphal arc, all of that. [3:23] What's he saying privately behind closed doors about the election tomorrow? [3:28] Yeah, I mean, Aaron, he has seen all the same things that we at CNN have seen with reporters across the country. [3:34] He's seen the polling, which obviously does not look good for Republicans. [3:37] He's seen the field of candidates. [3:39] He's seen the landscape. [3:40] And privately, to some allies and advisors, he has predicted the worst-case scenario, [3:45] which is that Democrats win both chambers of Congress. [3:49] And in that, has talked about what exactly that would look like in terms of governing [3:54] or investigations or potential impeachment hearings. [3:58] The other part of this that was interesting is you almost heard Trump admitting that today [4:03] during that speech in front of the reflecting pool. [4:06] Yes, he spent most of the time talking about things that most Americans don't care about [4:10] and, frankly, will probably never see. [4:12] But he also did talk about the midterms only to stress that almost every cycle, [4:18] a president wins, and then the next cycle, the other party wins, [4:20] and then saying, we gave it our best shot, which sounds like almost a concession [4:26] before actually seeing the results. [4:29] Now, I will tell you, even though he has privately predicted this, [4:31] when I ask White House officials, how do you think he's going to react [4:34] if, in fact, Democrats do win both chambers of Congress, [4:39] they say it's anyone's guess. [4:41] It's going to be how Donald Trump feels in that moment, [4:45] even though he has been prepared, even though he has been predicting this. [4:47] Now, interestingly, the White House just added this viewing party, [4:51] closed press, tomorrow night, starting at 7 p.m. in the East Room. [4:56] We'll see if they end up opening to the press. [4:58] I think a lot of that's going to depend on how Republicans are actually doing. [5:02] I mean, today he goes out to this reflecting pool. [5:04] That would be a site that you'd go to if that was actually a successful project, [5:08] because then you could say, look at this beautiful reflecting pool behind us. [5:11] We created this, and we got rid of taxes on tips, [5:15] and we, you know, secured the border, [5:18] and we've increased the economy, if he actually had. [5:22] But instead, he goes and for 25 minutes talks about a debacle. [5:26] I have no idea what that was. [5:28] And he certainly has done nothing to try and help Republicans for the last two years. [5:34] I mean, Jonah, he said something else at the end of his speech. [5:36] I saved it for this. [5:37] I wanted you to hear it. [5:38] Because, okay, 25 minutes of what you heard, right? [5:41] Algae and arcs and, interesting, it's an arc, not an arch. [5:45] And the golf courses and everything. [5:47] And then he ends, towards the end, with this. [5:51] We have a lot of great things planned for Washington, [5:53] and I could get into the nation, but for that, you don't have enough time. [5:57] So 25 minutes of golf courses and the ilk, [6:01] but not enough time to mention anything about the country. [6:03] Yeah, I mean, like, you can imagine the political consultants inside the White House [6:11] white-knuckling it through this, you know, chain-smoking cigarettes [6:14] and shooting up black tar heroin, thinking, you know... [6:17] What's he going to say? What's he going to say? [6:19] You know, it's sort of like, you know, like, you expect them to do that thing from Jerry Maguire [6:23] where they just drop to their knees and say, [6:25] help me help you, right? [6:29] Because this, like, I take Richard's point about, you know, [6:33] if this had been successful and all that. [6:35] Let's just assume it was successful. [6:36] Like, he thinks, who's voting on the rehab of the Lincoln Memorial Pool? [6:42] I mean, like, I live in Washington, D.C. [6:43] I will actually make the case that there have been improvements [6:46] because of Trump's doing this stuff. [6:49] No one cares! [6:50] Like, where in America is someone voting on this? [6:53] How does this affect affordability or all the stuff Democrats want to talk about? [6:56] Like, he's talking about doing great stuff for the nation. [7:00] It's like his showman reveal, like, stay tuned because, you know, [7:05] same bat time, same bat channel, the second half is going to be awesome. [7:09] I just don't think it's working on anybody. [7:10] The grass looks really good, he says. [7:12] The grass looks good. [7:13] Listen, I've been around presidential politics for a long time. [7:15] I've been with winners. I've been with losers. [7:18] And I got to tell you, he's done the hardest thing there is to do in politics. [7:22] He did it twice. He won the White House. [7:23] So that means I have to assume there's something that's happening that's not just crazy. [7:27] So here's what I think is going on. He's just counter-programming the news. [7:31] As long as we're talking about whatever crazy thing Donald Trump is talking about, [7:35] then we're not talking about $4 gas, [7:37] and we're not talking about the fact that people can't go to the grocery store and buy food, [7:41] and we're not talking about the inflation rate or the mortgage rates that are going over 7%. [7:45] All those things are things that he doesn't want us talking about, [7:48] which creates space for candidates in the states to actually have time to maybe escape that narrative [7:54] for a little bit and try to run on something else, which is what culture play is about. [7:58] And it's about all of the touching, talking about men's backsides, all that. [8:03] And so get us to not talk about the economy. [8:04] Paul, Trump did talk today about the biggest drop in oil in history, which has not happened. [8:10] Just to be clear, right? [8:12] We have the most expensive election day gasoline on record tomorrow. [8:17] The most expensive. [8:18] So just that those are the realities. [8:20] But, you know, to Jamal's point, so he mentions a drop that didn't happen. [8:24] We've got the most expensive gas. [8:26] Americans know that, right? [8:27] People see that. [8:29] And instead of talking about gas prices, he talked about something else here. [8:35] We're doing a renovation of the golf course, which is in a horrible condition, [8:41] very dangerous and horrible condition. [8:43] And we're doing a renovation of the golf course, [8:45] and we're going to make it a world championship course. [8:48] It's going to be built to the highest standards of golf, a world-class golf course. [8:55] But even if that's to distract, people are seeing this, right? [9:02] And tone deaf maybe doesn't even capture it. [9:04] No, chaos is our new normal. [9:06] And it's been our normal with him through both administrations. [9:09] And I think he's reminding everybody why they don't like him. [9:13] Every time he's out there talking about things that are unfocused, [9:16] no working people care about his golf course or the reflecting pool, [9:18] except for maybe people who run pool companies, right? [9:20] But if you wanted to craft a message that would be explicitly ineffective with independence, [9:25] it would sound like that. [9:26] But I think this is also what we should brace for no matter what happens tomorrow, [9:29] because he is going to be all gas, no brakes, and maybe even more so. [9:34] I think he may be even accepting the loss. [9:36] And a cornered animal is a dangerous animal. [9:38] Simultaneously, he's talking about increasing attacks on Iran. [9:41] I think we have to prepare for the unexpected and don't have a failure of imagination, [9:44] because Trump never does. [9:46] I mean, the only thing he could do to be less popular is say he's hitting Cuba. [9:49] And he's talking about doing that, too. [9:50] I think we have to take a step back, too, and remember the world is watching. [9:53] And he looks deeply unserious and unfocused. [9:56] And we're laser-focused on our election, but the Chinese love this. [10:00] Putin loves this. [10:01] I mean, our enemies are celebrating his lack of focus and his lack of seriousness. [10:04] And I would just add that the chaos here, to me, [10:07] is because he doesn't have anybody surrounding him anymore in this second term [10:11] that is going to tell him the actual truth. [10:13] If you had some of those people in the first term, he got rid of most of them quickly. [10:17] But at least they had experience in knowing how to do this. [10:20] Now he has absolutely nobody. [10:22] Anybody who would look at that event today and say, [10:24] I planned that. [10:26] You know, I developed that. [10:27] I think that was a great display. [10:29] That is not happening anywhere, because he is just running the show. [10:34] There's nobody else there. [10:35] And that's where you get to the really dangerous point in time. [10:37] And you talk about being a cornered animal when someone gets in a corner. [10:40] We do have the breaking news, the tsunami getting even bigger. [10:43] More midterm results coming in tonight. [10:45] And Democrats have flipped eight more Republican seats just today. [10:49] And we've got more projections possibly coming in at any moment this hour [10:53] as we are watching that decision desk. [10:55] Eight additional seats that I mentioned now gives Democrats 253. [10:59] 253 and more to count. [11:01] Okay, that's a 97-seat majority compared to Republicans just at this moment. [11:06] And as I said, more races in play. [11:08] In fact, 27 races, still not yet called as of tonight. [11:14] And Democrats are leading in five of those districts that are currently held by Republicans. [11:19] And Republicans are no longer leading in any district currently held by Democrats. [11:23] So Democrats are now on track for what may be the biggest gains for the Democratic Party since 1974. [11:29] A party left for dead a couple years ago. [11:32] 1974, of course, was right after the Watergate scandal, which walked Washington. [11:35] After Richard Nixon was forced to resign in one of the darkest periods of America's history up until that time. [11:43] And Democrats, remarkably, are now on track to hit or even exceed. [11:47] Are you ready for this? [11:48] 260 seats in the House. [11:50] 260 is possible. [11:51] So now let's go to the Senate. [11:53] Also there, the tsunami. [11:54] Democrats now have already earned 54 seats. [11:57] Even three days ago, nobody thought we would be saying any such thing, right? [12:01] Every single possible map was to try to get to 51 or 52, 54 already. [12:05] Two seats up in the air. [12:07] It could go to 56. [12:08] We'll see how those go. [12:09] But those are Alaska and Mississippi. [12:11] And that brings me to where I began, which is Mississippi, where we just got more results. [12:15] Democrat Scott Colum leads the incumbent Republican, Cindy Hyde-Smith, right now by more than 1,800 votes. [12:21] That gap just getting a little bit bigger. [12:24] Still razor thin, but it's bigger, right? [12:25] 24 hours ago, we were in the low 40s. [12:29] So now let's go to Alaska. [12:30] Mary Peltola, the Democrat there, leading Dan S. Sullivan, the incumbent, by more than 600 votes. [12:36] Alaska still counting. [12:38] And that's what we continue to see. [12:39] 48 hours after the first polls closed in what turned out to be a monumental election. [12:45] And this election was a crushing rebuke of President Trump. [12:49] We've heard the word extinction from many Republicans talking about their own party. [12:52] And Democrats are picking up more and more seats. [12:56] Meantime, Republicans want heads to roll. [13:00] I'm a business guy. [13:02] And if in business, all of a sudden you lose that much of your work to your competitor, you're going to fire people. [13:10] In fact, I think there should be some heads rolling from the White House as well right now. [13:15] Heads rolling from the White House. [13:17] And one of the heads that more and more Republicans want to see roll is the Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, [13:22] or as he calls himself the Secretary of War. [13:24] Today, Hegseth responded to this, releasing a six-minute screed rant online. [13:32] He railed against diversity. [13:34] He touted what he says are his accomplishments. [13:36] And he gave a warning to his critics. [13:41] A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, [13:46] has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly. [13:51] Just like they tried against President Trump twice. [13:54] You see, their policies don't work, so their obsession with political theater disguised as power drives them to try to destroy their opponents. [14:04] It's all about the politics of personal destruction. [14:07] Didn't work against President Trump, and it won't work with me. [14:11] You can rest assured of that. [14:12] Much more on that to come, but I want to go over to the magic wall. [14:18] Harry Enten's out front with me there. [14:20] And Harry, obviously, we just played Hegseth there, but the count, the count that he is responding to, [14:26] a situation which he did not see coming. [14:28] I don't think many of us saw it to this scale. [14:30] To this scale, no. [14:31] And here we are. [14:33] So we're trending now to Watergate levels, possibly for Democrats. [14:36] I mean, a possibility of 260. [14:39] This is stunning. [14:41] So what are you seeing? [14:41] It is absolutely nutter butter. [14:44] Let's just start with what we've called so far, right? [14:47] 253 for the Democrats, only 156 for the Republicans. [14:51] Already a net gain pickup of 40 seats for the Democrats. [14:55] Now, you spoke about the fact that we called some races today. [14:58] Let's talk about those races that we called today. [15:00] And look at this. [15:01] Look at this. [15:01] You can come in on here and call races in North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, [15:06] Colorado, Arizona. [15:07] I want to go into North Carolina here for a split second because this was a state that [15:12] Republicans redistrict to pick up seats from the Democrats. [15:16] Uh-uh, uh-uh, did not work. [15:19] I mean, my goodness gracious, look at this. [15:21] Look at this. [15:21] I didn't even know who these Democrats were for my, for goodness sake. [15:25] Look at this. [15:25] Here's a district they redistricted. [15:27] The Democrat wins there. [15:28] Let's go here. [15:29] How about right down here? [15:30] Addison McDowell, an incumbent, loses in this district. [15:33] We can go here. [15:34] How about this one? [15:35] Tim Moore. [15:37] I, again, I never even heard of these Democrats before this election. [15:41] And before all of a sudden election night, we were looking at them. [15:44] Now, more than that, let's sort of zone out on the map here. [15:47] And let's just sort of get an understanding of what we are really dealing with in this election. [15:52] Okay? [15:52] So we're going to go in terms of the flip so far. [15:55] And this to me really just does tell the story. [15:57] There are a few Republican districts that flip. [15:59] But the Democratic districts that flip, just the geographic diversity of it. [16:03] We're talking from the Northeast, New York, Pennsylvania, down to the Southeast, right? [16:08] Virginia, North Carolina. [16:10] You go to the Midwest. [16:11] It's Michigan. [16:12] It's Iowa. [16:12] It's Texas. [16:13] It's Colorado. [16:14] It's Nevada. [16:15] It's California. [16:16] It's Montana, for goodness sake. [16:18] And you, of course, mentioned, Erin, that so far, obviously, we have only called 253 seats. [16:25] It can go even bigger than that. [16:26] It can go even bigger than that. [16:28] Because I want you to look at the ahead column here. [16:30] Look at this. [16:31] Democrats currently leading in 261 districts. [16:34] I think they're going to probably end up right around the 260 mark, which, of course, [16:38] would be a tremendous net gain well into the 40s at this point, which would mark the biggest [16:43] gain since Watergate, as you were pointing out. [16:45] And more than that, what I want to note is I'm going to bring out the pen here. [16:49] Right now, in the national popular vote for the U.S. House, Democrats lead by, get this, [16:54] 12 points. [16:56] 12 points at this point. [16:58] I think that number is going to go higher, probably closer to, let's say, 14 points. [17:03] And that would mark the biggest popular vote win for Democrats since the bicentennial 50 years [17:09] ago. [17:10] This is 1976. [17:11] 1976. [17:12] I mean, it is incredible because I'm just thinking back to the eve of the election when [17:16] the most optimistic forecasters were saying somewhere between 230 and 240, and if Democrats [17:23] get a miracle, 240. [17:25] Yeah. [17:25] And you're now saying that somewhere around 260 is within reach. [17:29] This is absolutely within reach. [17:31] This was a wave because it was wide across the map, and it was deep in terms of the trend [17:37] in which we see Republican people who voted for Republicans just two years ago flipping [17:41] across the map voting for Democrats. [17:43] Absolutely stunning. [17:44] And as you said, the count's still coming in. [17:45] So we're watching this because we do anticipate more numbers coming in through this hour. [17:49] So we'll see if any of these become firm calls in the next few moments. [17:53] Let's go to Kristen Holmes at the White House. [17:55] Kristen, if there was any talk that Trump might have had of saying, oh, well, it didn't go my [17:59] way here, so I'm going to say it was rigged or that. [18:02] I mean, it is the depth of this wave which made any such thing impossible. [18:07] What more are you learning about the White House thinking on this stunning and major loss? [18:13] Well, Erin, they're still coming up with their strategy to move forward. [18:15] You have to remember this. [18:16] There were a lot of different scenarios they planned for. [18:18] They planned for a scenario in which they lost the House and kept the Senate. [18:21] They even planned for a scenario in which they both lost the Senate and the House. [18:25] But what they didn't plan for was losing it by this much. [18:28] These are insane margins. [18:30] And so all of the things that they had been actually planning for, they need to be adjusted. [18:34] And I was told the day after the election, they had a senior staff meeting where they [18:38] talked about what the White House paths forward are. [18:41] They talked about executive orders, how to work with Democrats. [18:44] If Democrats do want to work with them, what would they actually believe that they could [18:48] compromise on? [18:49] What are things that they could present to Democrats? [18:51] And I also heard that there was talk about how they will react if Democrats come in and they [18:57] are planning immediate, expansive investigations. [19:00] And that's going to be a more aggressive approach, obviously, from this White House and one we've [19:05] seen before. [19:06] Now, in terms of how the White House is thinking about moving forward and looking back, I'm still [19:12] told that there is so much animosity behind the scenes, finger pointing a lot of it at Pete [19:18] Hegseth, at the Secretary of Defense. [19:20] And the big question is whether or not Trump ends up cutting him loose. [19:24] He has said publicly, repeatedly, that he is not going to fire him, that he thinks he's [19:28] doing a fantastic job. [19:29] But it hasn't stopped him from calling and talking to a number of people and saying, how [19:34] do you think he's doing? [19:35] And he has been fielding calls. [19:37] He said this earlier. [19:38] But a lot of Republicans who say they don't think that Hegseth should remain in the job. [19:43] Now, if, in fact, Republicans do vote in the House to impeach Hegseth next week, which is [19:49] what we're hearing could happen, then we're going to look at this again, because that could [19:54] be a chance that President Trump uses to cut him loose. [19:58] Yeah, yeah, absolutely. [19:59] And then when you talk about Hegseth, that's something, whatever the vote might be, that [20:02] has a lot of bipartisan support. [20:05] Kristen, thank you very much. [20:06] I appreciate you. [20:06] And everyone's here with me. [20:08] John, you know, just sitting, you know, sitting over there with Harry. [20:10] You know, thinking about on the eve, you know, the 235, 240 seat in the House forecast that [20:16] everybody said, oh, man, those people are crazy. [20:18] And now you're looking at 260, 261 is very conceivable. [20:22] Getting close to that is quite probable and likely. [20:26] I mean, this is really stunning. [20:29] It is a landslide. [20:32] It is a definitive rebuke of Donald Trump like we've never seen. [20:36] I mean, you've got to go back to Watergate, as we've seen. [20:38] But it's also, you know, a dozen state legislatures. [20:41] It's deep into the South and the Midwest. [20:44] And so the whole Republican coalition has been blown up because Trump pursued policies [20:48] that were not only made people's economic situation worse, but were intentionally unpopular. [20:55] He pursued an extremist agenda. [20:56] And so this is a populist blowback. [20:58] I mean, Ashlyn, also, you know, they didn't even I'm just thinking of the former speaker [21:02] of the Texas House Republican was with me. [21:04] He lives along the Louisiana border. [21:05] He's like, look at Louisiana. [21:06] Oh, I mean, I looked at Louisiana. [21:09] They only are winning by like a point ish. [21:11] Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida. [21:15] You look at South Carolina, even the governor's race in South Carolina, 90,000 votes. [21:20] It was the difference with minimal investment. [21:22] It could have been so much worse. [21:23] But here's what I'll say is I think this should not be surprising for two reasons. [21:29] One, Dems should not have lost in 2024, if I'm honest. [21:34] There was a miscalculation. [21:35] And we can go back and relitigate all of that. [21:37] But the reality that Donald Trump ever was elected should have never happened because of [21:42] how dissatisfied Americans were on the first term. [21:45] But all you had to do was open your ears and look through your eyes and just pay attention [21:52] to what people were saying. [21:54] They were pleading, pleading with this administration, screaming from the rooftops. [21:58] I'm unhappy. [21:59] I'm unhappy. [22:00] I don't want a war. [22:00] You broke all these promises. [22:03] This is what people get to do in two years. [22:05] They don't have to wait four years to get rid of Donald Trump. [22:06] They might feel overly loyal to him, but they do not to these people in the House and the Senate [22:11] and in governor's races and all of that. [22:13] And here we are. [22:14] Trump says tonight more firings could be coming as he's publicly spinning his party's massive defeat. [22:21] President Trump just speaking at the Kennedy Space Center, which is his first major speech [22:24] since the election. [22:26] But as you're about to hear, Trump is not taking the blame. [22:31] Despite the $3 trillion lost yesterday, you know, our country lost $3 trillion all because [22:38] of an election. [22:39] I wonder what that means. [22:41] If we would have gained $3 trillion, I probably would have been more unhappy. [22:45] But you know what that means? [22:46] That means that they thought somebody else did well in the election. [22:50] By the way, I was not on the ballot, just in case you had any question. [22:54] Because if we were on the ballot, we would have won. [22:57] But we weren't. [22:59] So he said, I wasn't on the ballot. [23:00] If we were on the ballot, referring to himself, that Republicans would have won. [23:06] But I just want to remind everybody, in the context of what he just said there, what he said days [23:11] before the election. [23:15] You have to do the one thing, pretend I'm on the ballot. [23:18] Pretend I'm on the ballot. [23:20] But in this election, I'm asking you to pretend I'm on the ballot just one more time. [23:25] So what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot. [23:31] Well, it, of course, seemed like the American public did that. [23:37] They did vote like he was on the ballot. [23:39] And we are just getting in more results from the historic midterms. [23:42] Democrat Nancy LaCour flipping the seat that was once held by Nancy Mace. [23:47] Obviously, so that's going R to D. [23:49] 99% of the vote now in. [23:50] And LaCour leads the Republican. [23:51] Jenny Costa Honeycutt by more than 3,000 votes. [23:54] Now, that gives Democrats 254 seats compared to 163 for Republicans and puts Democrats on [24:01] the path to their, excuse me, largest gains since Watergate. [24:05] And at this hour, Democrats are still leading in four districts currently being held by Republicans. [24:10] And today, with all of this fallout, a major shakeup at the White House after the GOP collapse. [24:16] Trump elevating his controversial top deputy Stephen Miller to become his new chief of staff. [24:20] And it takes place right away. [24:21] There's no two weeks notice. [24:23] This is Monday. [24:24] Stephen Miller is going to walk in and be the chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. [24:28] As of tonight, that's the highest ranking White House official to leave Trump's White House [24:32] in the wake of the colossal Republican collapse, a wipeout that sources tell CNN has left Trump [24:38] fuming, and maybe you could even see from that speech today, uncertain as to how to deal with it. [24:44] And despite saying he'd work with Democrats after those losses by promoting Miller, [24:48] Trump is sending, obviously, the complete opposite signal, calling Miller a great manager, [24:53] and also saying that he gets it politically. [24:56] But voters overwhelmingly from across the United States have rejected Trump's actions in office. [25:02] And with Miller in charge, right, it's continuity. [25:04] And it's continuity on some of the most controversial policies, showing that perhaps Trump is prepared [25:10] to veer even harder to the right. [25:12] Miller is the architect behind the aggressive ICE raids and mass deportations, after all. [25:15] To all ICE officers, you have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties. [25:22] And anybody who lays a hand on you or tries to stop you or tries to obstruct you is committing [25:28] a felony. [25:30] You have immunity to perform your duties. [25:32] Either we all side and get behind President Trump to remove these terrorists from our communities, [25:39] or we let a rogue, radical left judiciary shut down the machinery of our national security apparatus. [25:44] Of course, he's also one of Trump's biggest cheerleaders when it comes to the rest of his agenda. [25:49] Julia Bentonbrook begins our coverage out front live. [25:51] She's at the Kennedy Space Center. [25:52] That's where President Trump just spoke. [25:55] And, Julia, what else are you learning about this? [25:57] I mean, obviously, it gets announced on a Friday. [26:00] It takes place on a Monday, right? [26:01] This is abrupt, to say the very least. [26:03] What are you learning about why Susie Wiles is out and Stephen Miller is in as chief of staff? [26:10] It is going to happen quickly. [26:12] And the one thing that is clear is that Trump is frustrated, and he has been looking at strategy, [26:18] at things that went wrong. [26:19] And Susie Wiles, the current chief of staff, is taking at least part of the blame for that. [26:25] Now, I did want to note that here at this event, you know, in Florida, Republicans did come out on top [26:30] in those big races, Ashley Moody in the Senate, Byron Donald in the governor's race. [26:35] They were both here, but even they won by less significant margins than they had hoped. [26:40] So Republicans are really questioning all the things that took place here. [26:45] Susie Wiles will be replaced by deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. [26:49] And as you pointed out, he is one of the more polarizing figures in this administration. [26:54] He played a key role in orchestrating Trump's hardline immigration agenda. [27:00] According to a source familiar with the matter, Wiles turned in her resignation last night. [27:05] She will move to the political operation in Trump's world. [27:09] And that is all going to go into effect on Monday. [27:12] It seemed at first like Trump was somewhat unfazed by these sweeping losses. [27:17] He's just kept saying, you know, I wasn't on the ballot. [27:19] That's really what took place here. [27:21] But we are learning that he was frustrated even during that viewing party in the East Room. [27:26] And that frustration has only grown as he has continued to watch the negative media coverage. [27:32] And when he was on his way here today, he said that he thought that he just needed a change. [27:37] He praised Wiles, but he said he thought he just needed a change and that he believes Miller gets it. [27:42] He's circling the wagons. [27:44] He's shrinking the circle. [27:46] And he's getting ready for war. [27:47] I think any idea that he's going to moderate here is unrealistic. [27:52] You know, he's not going to compromise with the Democrats. [27:54] He's getting ready for a fight. [27:56] And he's putting Hegseth into that circle. [27:59] I think he's going to be more extreme. [28:01] He's going to be more radical. [28:02] He's going to be more unpredictable. [28:03] You know, it was a blue wave, but it was powered by independent water. [28:06] And that's really where he lost the country. [28:08] He lost independence almost two to one to the Democrats. [28:10] And they want to see moderation. [28:12] They want to see him in check. [28:13] But he's ready to go. [28:14] And I think it's really important to underscore that in the next two months, he might be at his most dangerous. [28:19] A cornered animal is a dangerous animal, especially when it comes to national security. [28:22] So there's no limit to what he could do with Iran, Cuba, here domestically. [28:26] And I think we're in for some very dangerous times after this honeymoon period the Democrats have had. [28:30] I mean, I mean, so let me just remind people of some of the things. [28:32] I mean, I talked about Stephen Miller as the architect of ICE, right? [28:35] But he also has gone along with Trump on all of some of the lowest common denominator, culture war comments that he's made. [28:44] Talking about Robert De Niro, he called him a sad, bitter, broken old man. [28:48] He talked about James Tallarico, who just won in Texas when he goes in for a blood test. [28:52] Blood doesn't come out. [28:53] They say milk comes out. [28:54] He's clearly transitioning to a female. [28:56] These are all things Stephen Miller said. [28:58] And I can go on and on. [29:00] But this is who is now the chief of staff. [29:02] Yeah, and I worked with Stephen Miller in the first Trump administration, and he is about as extreme as they get. [29:10] And one of the things that I think has stuck out most to me during Trump 2.0 is in the aftermath of our government murdering Alex Preddy in cold blood in the street. [29:21] What did Stephen Miller tweet out? [29:23] That he was a domestic terrorist. [29:25] And that is the person that Trump just appointed. [29:28] And I have to say that I think Stephen Miller is a horrible human being to just in general and a racist, a bigot. [29:34] I could keep going, but I won't waste our airtime with that. [29:37] But what I have to say, too, is that this is just poor political instincts on the president's part, because Stephen Miller is the chief person responsible for blowing up his coalition with Latino voters. [29:47] People who voted and sent him back into the White House in 2024, that is what Stephen Miller is responsible for, because he took one of the GOP's best issues, border and immigration, and made it one of the biggest liabilities with his cruel and inhumane mass deportations. [30:01] Yep. [30:02] So Trump just gave an interview after this to 60 Minutes, or he might have done it just before, but we just got the sound afterwards, where he says that more people are going to be fired from the administration. [30:13] Here's how he put it in a previous lifetime. You were rather famous for saying you're fired quite often after a big midterm defeat like this. [30:23] Do you expect to fire anyone from my team? [30:25] Yeah, you do a little bit, a little bit. [30:27] I love my cabinet. I think they're good, but I'll be doing maybe a few changes. [30:32] I don't want to mention who. [30:37] Well, as tough as it was for Susie Wiles to lose her job, she did better than Reince Priebus in 2017 when Donald Trump left him on the tarmac in Long Island after he was fired unceremoniously. [30:47] And so at least she didn't travel all the way to the trip today and then have to find our way home. [30:53] Listen, Donald Trump has given America the big middle finger. [30:56] What he's decided is, it doesn't matter what you said on Tuesday, it doesn't matter that you reject everything that we've done over the last 20, 22 months. [31:04] I'm still going to do whatever it is I want to do, and everybody's just going to have to take it. [31:09] And I think maybe it doesn't hurt him, but for every Republican who's thinking about running for president in 2028, they're going to have to live with the whole Donald Trump, because Donald Trump is digging for Republicans. [31:20] Paul started off by saying that Trump's ready for war with this and referring to war with Democrats. [31:25] His initial comment, Ryan, was he's going to work with them. [31:27] But then you have Robert Garcia, who's expected to be the House Oversight Chairman in a Democratic House, who said that Miller should, quote, unquote, lawyer up. [31:34] That was in all caps, and that was hours after the election. [31:37] I don't know if that's related to what happened here today, but Trump going ahead and choosing Stephen Miller as his chief of staff, you can see the front lines of this war right there. [31:49] Yeah, and it actually does change the equation for the Democrats going after Stephen Miller, trying to tell him to lawyer up. [31:54] In other words, that they're going to investigate him, because as chief of staff, he does come with potential legal protections that he otherwise wouldn't have. [32:01] And it's based on longstanding Justice Department theories that they say that there's absolute immunity. [32:07] The chief of staff is the president's alter ego, and as his alter ego, he does not have to appear before Congress. [32:13] He cannot be subpoenaed before Congress. [32:16] The Democrats can litigate that. [32:17] There's some good case law for that, but that's a clash in the courts. [32:20] Do they really want to do that? [32:21] Do they want to give this to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a maximalist view of presidential authority and could easily side with the White House? [32:27] So it does put in something else into the equation when they think about Stephen Miller, who would otherwise be a great witness for them.