Are GOP Candidates Ghosting Trump? 

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1:04Is ghosting the administration the new midterm move for vulnerable Republicans? I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines and inside politics.

1:21We are 46 days until the election and we are tracking the races, candidates and stories that could shift the balance of power in Washington and across the country. First up, Vice President J.D. Vance is on his way to Iowa. It is, or has been for 10 years, a red state, but it's looking a little bit too close for comfort for the Republicans. In fact, GOP Senate candidate Ashley Hinson is skipping the rally, citing, quote, previously scheduled events. We don't know what she's doing, but usually when the vice president comes to campaign in your state, you find room on the calendar. and Hinson's absence comes days after two other Iowa Republicans in tight House races broke with the Trump administration.

2:07Representatives Marionette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn flipped their previous votes on a measure to limit the president's ability to conduct the war in Iran without congressional approval. This time, they voted with the Democrats. No. And it is not just Iowa. We're seeing more Republican candidates choosing to keep the White House at a bit of an arm's length while the party devotes time and money to places that used to be reliably GOP turf. Just look at the VP's travel schedule this week. We mentioned he is in Iowa, also Kansas. Two states President Trump won by double digits in 2024, just two years ago.

2:49Republican Senator John Kennedy is also planning to stump in those red states. He summed up the situation pretty colorfully. This weekend, I'm going to Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa to help raise money and campaign for our very good candidates. If you told me six months ago I was going to be having to spend my time in those three states, I wouldn't have believed you. Those ought to be fat guy layups force. Now, we're going to win there, but the races are closed.

3:27I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters today. Jeremy Peters, so nice to see you. Nice to see all of you. We haven't been able to have Jeremy on in a while. I'm going to start with you. What's your take on the current state of the Republican Party, specifically the Republicans on the ballot. And as we end this week, what we saw vis-a-vis President Trump. This year is turning out to be one of those years that really could swamp a lot of strong Republican candidates who in other years would be pretty much shoo-ins. I mean, John Kennedy, his way with words, showing through once again, he's right.

4:09These races should be layups. But President Trump's low popularity and not just his low popularity, but his insistence on making himself the focal point, the center of attention in most of these races, really does put an albatross around the neck of a lot of these candidates. And I think if you, J.D. Vance is one thing, right? Ashley in Iowa can skip a rally with J.D. Vance and it won't be that big of a deal. Could she do the same with Trump if Trump were to come to Iowa? I don't think so. I don't know that he's going to go to Iowa to campaign. You know, sometimes he has a tendency of showing up in these places where he's not really welcome, but he's insisting on making these races all about him.

4:55And I know a lot of Republicans beyond John Kennedy are not too thrilled about that. Abby let's listen to a little bit of Ashley Hinson with regard to the president first on her election night for the primary when she won the primary and then more recently about in a political ad talking about why she wants people in Iowa to elect her obviously she needs that those voters beyond Republicans. Let's watch. Used to be that reaching across the aisle wasn't just okay, it was expected. Some people in Washington forgot that. I never have. I want to say thank you, President Donald J. Trump.

5:42Hear that, Mr. President? I was hearing pretty loud for you. And we know that no one has fought harder and persevered through more, sacrificed more just to do the right thing for our country than our president has. So, Abby, there's an ad. That was the first thing that you saw, which is where they're putting their money to say, look, I'm going to reach across the aisle. It is not unusual for a candidate in either party. It's what you do. You run to the right or the left, depending if you're a Republican or Democrat in the primary, and then you try to work your way towards the middle. That's kind of old school politics.

6:20We don't even see it as much as we used to. But in Iowa, in this situation, it does feel and ring a bit different. What do you think? Absolutely. And so what I find so fascinating about Congresswoman Henson is that she is one of the brightest talents in the Republican Party. And she is one of, I mean, this is where candidate quality matters and Iowa is clearly in unique circumstances for a litany of reasons, but rural America is reeling right now. And so if someone like her, number one, we're seeing her instincts of how she's tacking to the center. And that is probably the smart way to go if she's the one doing it.

7:03But also a wave, the definition of a wave is when candidate quality begins to matter, begins to not matter. Campaigns don't matter, that people start coming into Congress. candidates lose who shouldn't lose in any other cycle. And so that's why I think this Iowa Senate race is absolutely fascinating. Yeah, that is such a good point because there's not a Democrat or a Republican that any of us will talk to who will not say that Ashley Hinson is, as you said, one of the biggest stars and the best candidates on the Republican side. So that's an important point. What is working against her and other Republicans are just the numbers and the reality of how people feel, Gloria.

7:44This is a Fox News poll that came out this week. Which party would do a better job on series of issues from inflation and prices? Dems are up 15 percentage points. Data centers, 14 corruption. Democrats are up 11. Foreign policy. Democrats are up 10. It's just immigration. And Republicans are only up one on that issue. Gloria? Yeah, and I, that's right. And I think what's telling about this poll is that historically we see Republicans get more credit when it comes to the handling of the economy, right? But over and over in this poll and in so many other polls that we've seen in recent weeks, the economy continues to be the top concern for voters.

8:24And I think what we're seeing in Iowa in terms of the point that was just made about middle America and middle America reeling right now. We're seeing her really try and strike a balance and sort of distance herself from both Trump and J.D. Vance. Right. He's going to be in town. She's not going to be campaigning with him. The math is on her side when it comes to Iowa. Right. There are more registered Republicans, about 180 ,000 more registered Republicans in Iowa than there are Democrats. So the math is on her side. But I think if we look at what she is campaigning on, right, talking about bipartisanship, talking about economic issues, affordability, talking about issues that affect Iowans.

9:06I think we're trying to see her kind of make this race about her and make this race about Iowa. That's what she talks about in that ad, not making it about the Republican Party, not about Trump, not about Vance, but more about these kitchen table issues that these polls show over and over are actually what people are worried about. Yeah. And in Iowa, it is the Iran tariffs first for the president's policy and then the Iran war also, which the president engaged in that for for various reasons have really hit that state hard economically. All right, everybody stand by. Don't go anywhere. Coming up, a Republican congresswoman says President Trump's immigration crackdown has gone too far.

9:52Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen will be here after the break.

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11:03Welcome back. I want to get right to our next guest because there is a lot to talk about. Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen is here. Thank you so much for being here, Mr. Secretary. I want to start with Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, who launched a new ad yesterday criticizing the administration's deportation policies. Here's part of it. Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. In July, 50 percent of the 50 ,000 people that were detained had no criminal record. The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.

11:42She's a Republican representing a district that is majority Hispanic in Florida. Sounding the alarm about the policies of the department that you run, what's your response? Well, at DHS and ICE, every single day we enforce our nation's laws. That's it. We don't pick and choose which laws we enforce. We enforce the immigration policy that Congress passed and obligated Department of Homeland Security to enforce. This includes ICE. And so that's our job. A political campaign is a political campaign ad. I completely understand it. But that's not going to keep us and the men and women at Department of Homeland Security from doing our job.

12:21So what do you consider to be that job? Because the argument that she and other even Republicans now are making is the president promised to seal the border. Effectively done. Put that in the W column. The president says that he wants to get criminals who are in the United States illegally out. And then there's the question of people who are in the United States who are either seeking asylum or perhaps did break an immigration law, but have become upstanding members of American society. So do you, on those last two, where do you think the focus should be? Because what she is saying, and she's using numbers that come from your department, that the focus is way too much on non-criminals.

13:10Well, you've got to understand, what is our statute? Our statute for us is to enforce immigration policies. Every single person that chose to step over our northern or southern border and cut the line of our true immigration policy, they chose to break our nation's laws. regardless if it was 20 years ago, 30 years ago, or four years ago, you still chose to break the law. Now, when we go out and we serve an administrative warrant or judicial warrant, when we go out there and serve that warrant on the individual, that individual very seldom, in fact, ever is actually by themselves. You never see them living in a house by themselves.

13:44You never see them driving by themselves. And when we, because of the statute that Congress passed, when we make contact with an illegal, we are obligated not just simply to be able to just say, okay, you're legal, go on your way. Law enforcement, local law enforcement has that authority. Federal government, through ICE's authority, we have to detain that individual and process them in. They have to have a hearing or be paroled back in as we do it with a tracking device. So when we serve these warrants on individuals, administrative or judicial warrants, we have an average over three individuals that's usually in the house or in the vehicles with them.

14:18We detain those individuals at the same time because regardless, they still broke our nation's laws. Regardless, we are still enforcing our nation's laws. And I can't say this enough. We don't pick and choose at the Department of Homeland Security which laws we enforce. If Congress wants to change it, then Congress has the authority to change it. Mr. Secretary, are you aggressively going after even people in the United States without criminal records because you are trying to reach a quota that is being set, a daily quota that's being set by the White House? I have never talked to anybody at the White House about any quota.

14:58We do our job every single day. There's no quota. Never have had any conversation at all with anyone at the White House about any type of quota. We are out there. Our focus is to go after the worst of the worst, but when we make contact with an illegal, regardless of how many years you've been here, we are obligated by statute to, at that point, arrest you and to make sure we know who you are. Because if we want to have a safe and secure country, which is what the President of the United States ran on, which the American people voted overwhelmingly for him to do, then we have to know who's in this country.

15:31And so when we make contact with an illegal, regardless of how long they've been in the country, we're going to find out who you are. You'll be surprised at how often we run individuals that may not have a so-called criminal record, but they're wanted internationally because of what they ran from when they came to the United States to begin with. Well, they're still wanted criminals at that point. Well, you're so you said a couple of times when we we make contact with or we we come across a an undocumented immigrant, illegal immigrant. It's not as if you just kind of trip over them or bump into them.

16:07No, I said that we're going after them. No, no. I said a while ago when we pull over an individual, we're serving a warrant on administrative warrant or judicial warrant. Or we go to their house with a judicial warrant. When we show up, they're never by themselves. So when we go after one individual that we have a warrant because they have a criminal record, which is what's frustrating about this is most of the time we shouldn't even be having to pick them up because they got released out of a jail or out of prison from a sanctuary city or sanctuary state that released this criminal back on the streets and they would just honor their detainer.

16:36We wouldn't even be doing this. So this is a two-way street. these politicians that are from these blue states and these race states that are making these or these blue states in these in these sanctuary cities they're making these claims they could easily sent the person to us and honor our detainer when they get when they walk out of their prison but when we serve that warrant most the time they have someone else with them and on the average it's three people that they have with them that are also illegal okay so i just want to be clear, just going back to the crux of what Republican Congresswoman Salazar is saying.

17:11She is citing numbers that were FOIA'd. You all are not putting out numbers. They had to be FOIA'd to get from the Department of Homeland Security. And in July, 50 percent of the 50 ,000 people detained had no criminal record. You are totally comfortable with that. I'll say that's actually not true. Every one of them was criminals because they broke our nation's laws when they came across our borders illegally. Beyond that, beyond that. Well, so what level of criminal activity are you willing to accept? We are tasked with enforcing the nation's laws. I can't repeat this enough. I don't pick and choose our men and women that chose to serve this country and work for the Department of Homeland Security, which we have the greatest men and women working for us with their 80 ,000 strong law enforcement agencies.

17:58We don't pick and choose. The Congress is the one who set those laws. We are enforcing them. When you broke the law and you came in this country legally, you chose to become a criminal at that point, regardless if you consider a criminal being a pedophile or not. A criminal is a criminal. One other important group of people that your department is going after are people who are in the asylum process, that are doing what they are supposed to do correctly. And because you have all their information, you're going and getting them. And many times taking them. We have lots of reports of getting them without somebody who is actually that's not that's not accurate and taking them.

18:41So so let me tell you how this works is when they claim asylum, they get paroled into the country. When they get paroled, they give us an address. They give us a phone number where they're staying. And if they've got a job or where they have plan on working, they're supposed to update. when they don't update it's just like anybody that gets released from prison on parole they're supposed to stay in contact with their parole officer if their status changes or whatever their requirement is when they choose not to update their status then we do because now they have a parole violation and we go and find that individual they are no longer eligible for parole and their asylum case at that time is a lot of times bogus anyways because they came across the southern border underneath the Biden administration and said the magic words yeah but not not all you know that there are people who have come from from they still have an obligation the united states deems legitimate if we have an american citizen it's not always that case i i want to show you a video citizen that if you have an american citizen that is paroled by our by our their prison system either state or federal and they change their status in their address their phone number their job or something like that they are required to update it with their pro officer and an illegal immigrant is no different if you chose not to then you chose to break your violation.

19:53We'll still arrest you at that point. Yeah, absolutely. In the case of some of these people, they are following the rules and then they go and they say, hi, I'm here. And then they're taken and they're supported. That's absolutely not accurate. I want to show you a video. I want to show you a video, Mr. Secretary, of an ICE altercation. This happened on Friday in Alamo, Texas. There were two teenagers, both U.S. citizens. The driver is 17-year-old Luis Ochoa. And according to his own mother, he was on his way to enlist in the United States Marines. His attorney says they saw immigration officers detaining someone, and at least one of them got out of the car to film it.

20:34This is what happened.

20:59Is that acceptable, that use of force? I haven't seen what was happening on the ground. I haven't reviewed the film. That's the first time I've seen it. For me to sit back and say from a video that was filmed on a phone to say was acceptable and was not acceptable. I don't know what the resistance level was. Obviously, they were struggling with the individual. You can clearly see that. They were struggling with the individual. The person wasn't cooperating. Here's what we know when we entertain somebody in ICE is that it's usually a fight or flight every single time because they know they're going to jail and they know they're going to be deported.

21:28That's why so often you see individuals trying to get away. We are going to we're going to restrain them. And whatever that level is, we try not to escalate it, but we have to match whatever resistance they're having. So I don't know what was going on. I haven't seen the video, but you can obviously tell there's two individuals that are trying to arrest this person. You see videos all the time with one little person arresting some big guy because they're not resisting. They simply put their hands behind their back and they get walked to the car. You can clearly see that person was trying to get away.

22:03As I said, the man who was driving, the teenager who was driving, was going to sign up to serve the United States of America. He's a United States citizen. We wasn't arresting him. Do you think Americans now need to be carrying around proof of citizenship? And he was arrested. He was then later released, but he was arrested. Do Americans need to show proof of citizenship now? If you're an American citizen, you have no reason to fear. Just like if you're not breaking the law, you have no reason to fear law enforcement. We have law enforcement in every community around the country, in every county around the country, in every state around the country, and in our territories.

22:38and law abiding citizens don't have to fear law enforcement. It's those that have broke the law that should fear us. And we will find you. That's our job. We have been tasked with this. We're not going to back down. We're going to continue to enforce our laws. And we have the best men and women that work in the Department of Homeland Security that enforce our nation's laws every single day. We go after the worst of the worst. And then we also go after those that chose to break our nation's laws. That's what ICE is. ICE is the enforcement of our, you know, enforcement of our immigration policy.

23:10And we are tasked to do that, and Congress tasked us, and we will do it. And I don't even know why this is political. It's ridiculous that you sit here and think about it. You and I have spent the entire time talking about enforcing our nation's laws. Why is this even a political thing? Why shouldn't we all be okay with enforcing our nation's laws to understand everybody that's in this country, we should know who you are. if you entered this country as a guest or illegally. I'm going to quote your fellow Republican who is on the ballot, who is a congressperson who represents a huge, as I said, a majority Hispanic district in South Florida, one that President Trump did extremely well in.

23:52Be careful what your advisors are telling you about immigration policy. The same Hispanics who helped get you in the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today. That's her answer to your question about why this is even a topic of conversation. Well, those individuals that voted for the president did it the right way. They came into this country the right way. They became United States citizens, and that's why they're able to vote in the election. We're not coming after you. We're coming after those that chose not to do it the right way. They cut the line. They thought they know it best. They don't have to follow the laws of this country.

24:29Well, I'm sorry, you do have to follow the laws of this country. Can I just ask you, because, you know, up until a few months ago, you were a Republican in Congress. And the fact that Congresswoman Salazar, she's doing it publicly. She's trying to sound the alarm. But, you know, a lot of people are also saying this privately, that there are real political problems for this administration because of the way that you're doing interior law enforcement. And are you at all willing to engage in the notion that this could politically backfire against the president and your party when voters go to the polls in November?

25:17President Trump ran on restoring law and order into our streets, and he was elected overwhelmingly. And he's keeping that promise. Why is it controversial for us to enforce our nation's laws? I've said this multiple times. Politicians are the ones that are making this political. Enforcing our nation's laws should never be politicized. Why is it? It's because they want to make some divide in the country. So you don't think that people who are upset that they say this isn't what we necessarily voted for? They thought they were just going to get the worst of the worst? We do go after the worst of the worst every single day.

25:51They shouldn't be upset? We go after the worst every single day. But when we make contact with an illegal because you're hanging out with the worst of the worst, we're also arresting you. Because by statute, I'm required to because we got to know who that person is. We want to know why you're in this country and how you got in this country legally and where you came from to make sure you're not wanted in other countries or wanted in other states. It is our job. That's what we do. So the American people, remember, they got tired of the lawlessness that was taking place under the Biden administration.

26:20They were tired of our open borders because of the Biden administration. Keep in mind, we've arrested 2 ,150 terrorists that were led into this country underneath Biden, and we've arrested them underneath President Trump's leadership. Guess what? Every one of those terrorists gave a fake name. Yes, 2 ,150 terrorists. Not terrorist watch lists, terrorists. Every one of those that came in the country gave a fake name. So I got to make the assumption every time we arrest somebody that came in this country illegal, I've got to assume that I don't know everything about you and I'm not going to take your word for it I'm going to run you in to make sure that I know who you are and who you say you are I have one other topic that I want to get to but just before we button this up talk about taking your word for it part of the issue is that we're not seeing numbers from your department will you help to clear up what you're saying by releasing figures of your arrests regularly?

27:18Well, you know, we'll be as transparent as required to be by statute. But every time we try to do something and try to give numbers out like this, which this is a verified number, by the way, it's not the first time I gave this number out. But every time we give numbers out like this, you guys want to go in there and pick it apart, make it political when you should be saying, at least we're getting these criminals off our streets. So we'll do everything that is statutory required of Department of Homeland Security by Congress. We'll always do that. And just to reiterate, as you know, this is your former congressional colleague, a Republican running for reelection in a place that she and the president want very comfortably.

27:56She's sounding an alarm for a reason. This isn't just us. I will go back to this. We enforce our nation's laws. And I know she has been working very, very hard to change the immigration policy. There's a there's a rewrite has been changed really heavy since 1959 because it always gets weighed down in politics. But until they change it, I still enforce our nation's laws. You've been very generous with your time. I do want to get to one other topic, and that is election security. The midterms are 46 days away. Can you promise federal agents you oversee at DHS will not be summoned to polling places when there's no legitimate active?

28:36emergency. This is so ridiculous. I've been asked this question so many times. I'm actually disappointed that you even brought this up because I think you and I have even talked about this already. We're only going to be there if we're required because there's some type of threat. Now I want to keep, I want to keep, I'll throw some numbers that are new numbers that are just out, right? We have over 300 ,000 suspected individuals that voted, and it's climbing, that is suspected to vote in the previous election illegally. Right now we have 1 ,620 open cases going on. we've made over 151 arrests already that voted in that country illegally.

29:11We're going to enforce our nation's laws because every single individual that votes illegal in our elections cancel out the American citizens' votes that are doing it the right way. So we're going to continue to do that because DHS is tasked with that and we're not slowing down. The reason I asked you about that, and you have been asked a lot, including in your confirmation hearing, and you did say no, But I asked you because the FBI director was asked about it this week, about sending FBI agents. And he said that the priority rests with DHS. So he didn't rule it out. I gave you my answer at the hearing.

29:51I gave my answer here. I gave my answer on Jake Tapper. I gave my answer wherever I go and get asked the question. That hasn't changed. We won't be at the polling place unless there's a threat for us to be there. If there's a threat for us to be there, we will show up because we meet threats head on. Yeah. And just on the non-citizen voters, your own data, data that we have seen, does not back up the claim of widespread non-citizen voter fraud. I mean, just in Texas, DHS originally identified 2 ,724 possible non-citizen voters after running 18 million registrations in your database. Well, let's just look at what happened in New Jersey.

30:28How many did the governor of New Jersey say that they identified, voted in their elections illegally? Wasn't it over 30 ,000? and that number is going to grow. So that number right there will tell you what you have is wrong in front of you because that was just in New Jersey. I'm telling you right now. It's from your data. Well, I just, did you also see what the governor of New Jersey put out? Because I know you did because you guys ran it. I did. Yeah. So what was that number? No, I did. Yeah. That was over 30 ,000, right? That was just in New Jersey. And I think that number is low. So when you start talking about the other ones, I just told you we have over 300 ,000 we're looking into and that numbers growing.

31:00We have over 1 ,620 open cases and we made 151 arrests already. And because you brought this up, the DHS, a whistleblower came forward alleging from your department, alleging that DHS agents involved in the unlawful voter initiative, which I think is what we're talking about here, have been told to misrepresent themselves if needed to obtain sensitive voter records. Essentially to pretend they're a voter. The whistleblower I'd want to see the whistleblower's email or what she saw or he, whoever that is, that saw that. And I'm sure if the case goes forward, it'll be fine. But I haven't seen that.

31:38That's actually not the directive that we have put out there. And it's not even close to what we're doing. But people can go out for their own personal reasons. If this is true, we will fix the problem. We will solve the problem. I'm not playing politics on this thing. It is we're simply enforcing our nation's immigration policy and our voting policy and our nation's laws as a whole. I'm not going to deviate from it. I'm not going to be pulled in politics with it. We will do our job and we'll do it well because that's what the men and women at the Department of Homeland Security do. We are patriots and we're saving this country every single day because we're tasked with protecting the homeland.

32:08That means from the voter box to our immigration policy and in our streets inside our cities. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here. Last question is don't you miss the Senate? No, I don't. I love my job. I have been honored to protect the homeland. And I'm telling you, I work with 270 ,000 patriots every single day. We take protecting the homeland very, very, very serious. Keep in mind, we have cyber, we have sea, we have air and we have land. And we do it every single day and we do a good job at it. A big responsibility. Thank you for all of your time today. I really appreciate it. And our reporters will be back to talk about the politics of immigration after a break.

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34:00We just heard from the Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary, Mark Wayne Mullen. My panel is back and we're joined by CNN's immigration correspondent, Priscilla Alvarez. Priscilla. Well, Dana, what we heard there from the secretary is that he was defending the administration's position on immigration despite the concerns both public and private that are shared among some Republicans. And the line he kept coming back to is that he is enforcing the nation's immigration laws. But that's not necessarily the issue that we're hearing from Republicans and other sources. It's how they have chosen to do that.

34:32And that can really fall under two categories which is who they've decided to go after and also how they've done that so in the who they have cast a wider net of who is eligible to be arrested and potentially deported they at the beginning of the administration said it was only the worst of the worst those public safety and national security threats now it's them and then some and the and then some is where you hear the concerns because it is people that may already be in the immigration process who are suddenly being swept up in these arrests. And they are not always with the criminals, like he says.

35:08Those are people we consider collaterals. And that is a policy, by the way, that the Obama administration also took. But it is people at the airport who are boarding a flight, who are in the legal immigration process, who are suddenly arrested, as an example. The other part of this is the tactics. Dana, that, for example, is something that has made headlines multiple times. People have died. ICE agents have killed people. And that is another alarm bell that has gone off multiple times among Republicans, immigration hardliners, and the rest. So yes, the Department of Homeland Security is charged with enforcing the nation's laws.

35:42But every department and every administration is also charged with implementing policy on how exactly they're going to do that. And that is where the administration is losing some support among Republicans, because they have deviated from only the worst of the worst and also made it much more. And I'll tell you, Dana, that was always going to happen to some degree. If the president wants mass deportation, you don't just focus on the threats. You do widen the aperture. And that is where we are today. And I'll just throw a stat at you to show you where the administration has gotten. In August, they arrested, they being ICE, around 51 ,000 people.

36:17That's a new high under the second Trump administration. So we are seeing this pick up at the same time that we're hearing this criticism from some Republicans. Yeah. And Jeremy, just on the sort of Republican and the politics of this, the fact that the Republican Congresswoman said what she said, I kept coming back to that in my discussion with Secretary Mullen because that was she was she planted a flag. or maybe it was maybe she sounded the alarm. I don't even I don't maybe both. She was trying to get the attention of him and more importantly from of the president, that this is not what the people who voted for you, particularly the Hispanic voters who came out in droves, especially in her district in South Florida.

37:07This is not what they thought they were getting. And you're going to pay politically. Right. And it's another instance of Trump breaking his promises to the people who voted for him in 2024. I mean, this is an 80-20 issue. Like 80 % of people support deporting people with criminal records who are here illegally. But through an unforced error and a broken promise, what the administration has done is cast a really wide net and in the process sweep up a lot of people who either shouldn't have been arrested and were therefore released or who really didn't break any other law than being here illegally.

37:53And that's very disruptive in communities like Miami, Florida, all over Florida, Arizona, you know, the Southwest, the Hispanics who voted for Trump and, you know, made this almost split the Hispanic vote evenly 50-50 for the first time ever with a Republican nominee. And it seems like, I'm hearing a lot of Republicans anyway, to say how President Trump has just squandered that support. Gloria? Yeah, I mean, you talk about people who are being swept up, who haven't broken a law. We just saw a video of apparently someone who is not only an American citizen, but was allegedly trying to do something that we are seeing a lot of, right?

38:38Filming law enforcement action because of what these actions look like. And you asked him a question of like, you know, should people like that look like the person in that video, people who look like me, frankly, have to worry about carrying proof of citizenship because maybe you are going to get stopped or maybe you are with a person who is being targeted, right? Targeted for enforcement that day. And I think his answer was telling, right, that if I haven't broken a law or if you haven't broken a law, you should have nothing to fear. But that directly contradicts these sort of large nets that they're casting.

39:16And I think, you know, Priscilla made a great point. These are choices that they are making about how to implement these policies. We saw it under the Obama administration. Biden got rid of this sort of collateral idea, right, that they would just sweep everyone up no matter who they were targeting. But I agree that Republicans, not only in Florida, but in Texas and in other parts of the country, are seeing this and they're hearing from their constituents. They do not like it. This is not what they were expecting. And it's having effects, not just to them personally, but in industries and people who need these communities to work.

39:55Dana, can I just say, especially with South Florida, that it's not just people and their status as they were when the Trump administration came in. In places like South Florida, which I have visited and talked to people there, it is the de-legalization of people. So it is people who, the Venezuelan community in particular, for example, who were here on temporary protected status. They can't vote, but they were members of that community and of that economy. And when you pull away their work permit and their ability to be here, that's the type of thing that is felt very deeply in South Florida and that we're seeing consistently.

40:29Abby? Well, I just think what was fascinating was how many times he reiterated that they're just enforcing the laws on the books. And these races that are so critical, these House races, this could South Florida and South Texas could be costing Senate seats. And these folks running for these districts where voters are unhappy with the administration's policies are basically running to be legislators to rewrite the laws. And that could end up curbing the executive branch down the road. All right, everybody, stand by. Up next, Tallarico, James Tallarico, says he is treating Texas black voters like swing voters.

41:05Why is he saying that? And what would the endorsement he just got do? Will it help swing those voters in his direction? Stay with us.

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42:21A major boost for a Democrat in a key race who's faced headwinds with black voters. Today, the Congressional Black Caucus said that it is backing James Tellarico in the Texas Senate race after previously supporting his primary rival, Jasmine Crockett. Chairman Gregory Meeks said, quote, black Texans deserve a senator who will show up, listen and fight for their communities. And James Tallarico will be that. Tallarico added, quote, Texas has the largest black population of any state of the union. So it's time we elected statewide leaders committed to working for and investing in black communities that have been taken for granted.

43:01Our panel is back now. I want To start with Abby Livingston, our Texan here, can you literally take us behind the headlines and explain why that, which sounds like a run-of-the-mill rudimentary endorsement of a largely Democratic group endorsing a Democratic candidate, is much more than that? There are two very imperative reasons. One, it shows fence mending after the primary with Congresswoman Crockett, which everyone will recall got pretty rough. Number two, there are no more effective campaigners in the Democratic Party in down ballot races than CBC members. And they often fly in from other states and campaign at black churches, and they are extremely effective at getting the black vote out.

43:47And so that is absolutely critical for Calarico to have a successful campaign. And we'll see how much enthusiasm is behind that endorsement. Yeah, I mean, the enthusiasm is really key. kind of not said there, which we've reported a lot on, is that Jasmine Crockett has said she won't campaign with him. She'll campaign for down-ballot Democratic candidates. I do want to turn to a different race, and I'm going to go to you, Jeremy. And this is a race in Ohio, rather. We talked yesterday on the show, or maybe earlier this week, someday this week, on the show about Elon Musk starting to use his fortune to run ads in Texas and also Ohio on the trans issue, which, of course, played big and in many cases helped Republicans two years ago.

44:42Sherrod Brown in Ohio, who's running to get his seat back, said this in a new ad. Here they go again, those same attacks against Sherrod Brown. With everything going on, that's what they're talking about? In Ohio, it's against the law to perform transgender surgeries on kids. That's right. It's illegal. John Husted, why'd you vote to increase the cost of groceries? To do nothing about the cost of gas. To kick 490 ,000 Ohioans off their health care. Jeremy? The reason this issue of transgender medical care for kids was so effective in 2022, 2024, is because it made Democrats look like they weren't focused on pocketbook issues, the issues that matter to most voters.

45:26Well, that's exactly what Republicans risk doing this year if they make it a focal point of their races. And a lot of them have. And I think it's a question of whether or not there's a slice of voters who are obviously very animated by this and other issues that are important to conservative Christians, social conservatives. But the war, inflation, there's so many other things people have to be worried about. Now, Now, this is an example, I think, of fighting the last elections battle. Gloria? Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, we're seeing Brown, Chair Brown is calling, sort of making the point in his ad, like, really, is this what we're talking about when we have affordability, affordability, affordability?

46:10Gas prices, the cost of living, the cost of food. And, you know, we see this sort of attempt to focus on the culture wars by some on the right. But I think to the point that Jeremy just made, you know, we saw how much that hurt Democrats in the last cycle. And we are seeing with some other Democrats that we talked about in the show today that they're trying to bring the focus back to those issues. Right. Because they recognize now that that's what voters are worried about and they see the polling and they're trying to focus on that. So it's an effective sort of conversation and ad in terms of kind of flipping the conversation on that issue.

46:49Gloria, Abby, Jeremy, thank you so much for being here today. Really appreciate it. Happy Friday. Happy weekend. And now to new CNN reporting on a growing calculation among many Republican candidates. They're betting less President Trump could do more for their campaigns. Here's Jeff Seleney.

47:11President Trump is eager to be at the center of the midterm election fight. So I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. Yet one place he's not, at the center of Republican campaign ads. A new CNN analysis shows that Trump is a bit player, often seldom mentioned at all, in a deluge of GOP ads in some of the biggest races in the country. While the president asked Republicans to vow their loyalty to him. Please raise your right hand. I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States. Our analysis shows that Democrats are far more likely to invoke Trump's name in attack ads like this.

47:54Mike Rogers, all in on the war, all in on Trump. Susan Collins does what's best for Trump. So far this month, Republicans have aired just 12 ads that mention Trump. A CNN analysis of ad impact data found, to the tune of about$1 million. But that's only a fraction of more than 500 GOP ads produced during that period. Spending that adds up to more than$160 million. That means Republicans and their allies are devoting less than 1 % of their ad budgets on Trump-specific TV spots. Still, the president wants to make the midterm elections all about him. When I'm on the ticket, Republicans always do very well.

48:35But given his historically low approval ratings, Democrats do too. So far in September, Democratic candidates and groups have spent nearly$23 million on 95 TV spots that mention the president, making up about one-fifth of their ad budget. Fall out from the Iran war is a theme Democrats have seized on, Like in this ad attacking Republican Mike Rogers in his Michigan Senate race with Abdul El-Sayed. The endless war in Iran is costing us all. Billions for bombs, brutal at our gas pumps. And Mike Rogers, a cheerleader for Donald Trump's war. As some Republicans thread a delicate needle by showing their support and independence with Trump.

49:13This is not the first time I've disagreed with President Trump and it probably won't be the last. Outside GOP groups are firing back hard, erasing a Democratic spending advantage in nearly every top Senate race. Republican advisers say the party's best hopes of holding the Senate majority is not by touting Trump's agenda in TV ads, but by tearing into their Democratic rivals. There's something not right about Abdul El-Sayed. Sherrod Brown, bailouts for big banks, higher taxes for you. Roy Cooper, his record is worse than you remember. Trump repeatedly talks about the fate of all presidents and their parties in midterm elections.

49:52Even if he's really a good president or a great president, there aren't too many of them. They don't win the midterms, and nobody quite knows why. A lesson he well remembers from 2018, when Republicans lost control of the House during his first term. You know what happens if you don't vote. You go to hell. You know that. And, Dana, what's so interesting about all of this? These aren't just Republican candidates distancing themselves. These are Trump top allies. His political advisers choosing to not use him because, as one told me, the president is not the best messenger at this point. Such a great piece, Jeff.

50:30Thank you, as always. Thank you for watching Inside Politics today. Please join me on State of the Union this Sunday. Maryland Governor Wes Moore will be on the show. and also the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz. Be sure to tune in, 9 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. CNN News Central starts right now.

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