Countdown to Control: Battlegrounds, Challenges, and Campaigns

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1:07Closing time. With 16 days to go. I'm ready to go to work. I don't need to do this. Has time run out for the president and his party. Plus, no place like home. I don't think I've ever voted for a Democrat. I hit the trail in Kansas, where Democrats hope to break a 94-year streak. Should the president end the trade war with Canada? Should he end the trade war with Canada? But is the state's Senate seat really up for grabs? I'm a slightly left of center on some issues, slightly right of center on other issues. And out in front? We can certainly do better. Is the VP struggling to make the case now and for the future?

1:50Inside Politics, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power starts now.

1:59Good morning and welcome to Inside Politics Sunday. I'm Manu Raju. At the start of this election cycle, Democrats' chances of winning back the Senate looked incredibly dire at best. Now with just 16 days to go, Democrats have multiple paths back to power and Republicans openly acknowledged the Senate could slip away as Democrats ride a wave of energy fueled in no small part to backlash to President Trump. New campaign finance reports show Democratic candidates hauling in eye-popping sums in the last quarter. In one case, 11 times more than a GOP incumbent in a state Trump won by 16 points. Now this weekend, candidates have been crisscrossing their states, blitzing the airwaves, and delivering their closing arguments in a final frenzied push with control of the Congress on the line.

2:51James Tallarico is a Democratic Socialist, just like AOC, and just like the New York Mayor Mondani. People know that the harder they work, they just can't get ahead. They see corporations making more and more money. They're working harder. They can't get ahead. I truly believe that this is an opportunity for our best days to be ahead of us. And I'm ready to go to work. And Georgia in 17 days will rebuke the crook President Donald J. Trump with such clarity and power that no president will dare such abuses again for centuries. So will Democratic momentum actually turn into votes? Let's break this all down with our panel of road warriors.

3:36CNN's Jeff Zeleny, Leanne Caldwell from Puck News, and Zolincano Youngs with the New York Times. Good morning to you all. Good morning. Good to see you all here in Washington. I know we've all spent some time on the road the last several weeks, but 16 days left. And Trump has also been on the road, including last night in very red Kentucky. The Senate race there that's really not central to the battle for control of the Senate, but that's been the story of his campaign travel, oftentimes going to red states. And you can see on your map his upcoming travel this week. Really just two Senate battlegrounds he is going to be this week.

4:10Kansas, we're going to talk about in the next segment. Iowa, central to the Senate majority here. But also North South Carolina. I mean, this is a race that's gotten a little bit more complicated for Republicans. They're still having an advantage there. Jeff, 16 days out, handicap the Democrats' chances of winning. Look, it's a blessing and a curse for Democrats that the final chapter of this campaign is playing out in red states. on the plus side for Democrats. They are competitive in states, as you were talking about. You were in Kansas, obviously Iowa. The Great Plains really is at the center of the fight for control of the Senate.

4:45But just because Democrats are competitive in these red states does not mean they're going to win. So it's a blessing and a curse, I would say, that it's ending in these red states. And Democrats are within striking distance in every single one of these states. I was in Texas this week and running into so many Republicans. Some are supporting James Tallarico. Some are worried that he could win. And others believe that this is still going to come down to the final weeks of defining them. One sort of common theme of all of them, every single Democratic candidate is trying to outrun the Democratic brand.

5:19It is not good in these red states. They know that. So that is going to be the open question on election night. Isn't Adam Hamilton able to outrun the brand? Is it Josh Perk in Iowa able to differentiate himself enough? And James Tallarico last night, San Antonio, on stage with the Chicks, trying to make the case to a variety of different audiences that it is time for a change. But again, these red states mean that Republicans have some advantages there, too. That's why they're trying to, Republicans are trying to nationalize the race in state after state after state, saying it's all about Democratic control of the United States Senate, hoping Republican voters overlooked all their concerns about Trump, the economy, and the rest of it.

6:01They ultimately come home here. But the story about the fundraising tells what's happening in this campaign at this moment right now. Because the Democratic money, if you look at the map right here, the states you're seeing in yellow are what Cook Political Report considers toss-up races here. So you're seeing a lot of battlegrounds here. But then you look at the money, as I was just saying. Look at this here. because the Democratic fundraising in the last quarter has just been staggering. You talk about James Salarico, Jeff. Look at this,$60 million in one quarter compared to$10 million for Ken Paxton.

6:37And just down the line, I mean, just all the Democrats are out-raising significantly. That's a sizable amount. But, you know, the one thing that we also look at this moment, how much money is left in the bank account? That's what's, of course, known as cash on hand. You know, the Republicans in some of these states are doing a little bit better than the Democrats. Oops, get rid of that, get rid of that. Okay. I guess it's acting up. There we go. So the Democrats are doing a little bit better. Republicans are doing a little bit better than, say, Michigan being one of them, Alaska being another, Ohio.

7:11They've got a little bit more money in the bank account. So there's still some bright spots for Republicans when it comes to money, especially when it comes to the outside spending as well. But the fact that the Democrats are raising this much money shows that the base is juiced right now. Yeah, absolutely. The candidate money that they are raising, as you just mentioned, is part of the story. I mean, it is a sign of enthusiasm and motivation for Democrats and also candidate quality, that the base is really happy with the candidates that they have on the map here. But then when it comes to the outside spending, you have massive Republican outside spending from the likes of Elon Musk.

7:49There's some money from MAGA Inc. and Trump's affiliated super PACs. Although Elon Musk has since spent more than Donald Trump this cycle, which is very telling. As you continue here, look at the amount of money that Elon Musk has spent. $276 million. He's the biggest midterm donor in the history of this country. That's his own money and$158 million just going to try to get Ken Paxson over the finish line of Texas. Yeah, absolutely. And this is what Republicans are hoping will help these Republicans in the final stretch. They have been begging for this outside money and it has come in. Of course, there's all these dynamics where this outside money doesn't get the same ad rates as the candidate money, which gives Democrats another small advantage.

8:38But the money is a huge deal and this could very well be the most expensive midterm cycle yet. And just one last point to double down on what I just said is that for the last few weeks, that is the one thing that Republicans are pointing to as perhaps the thing that can help them because they know they have not a lot else to run on is that they're hoping that the money from these outside groups makes a big difference. And so yesterday in Michigan, there was a moment where Abdul El-Sayed was confronting a question about the Muslim Brotherhood. He was, of course, this issue about Israel and the way he has handled it has been central, but not just in the primary that ended in August, but also as he tries to court Jewish voters in the state.

9:20Very divisive issue. We saw what happened to Kamala Harris in 2024 on the issue of Gaza, how Trump ultimately capitalized on Biden's handling of it, winning Michigan. Abdul El-Sayed was asked about this. He would be, of course, the first Muslim senator if he were to win. And the Muslim Brotherhood. I want to listen to how he responded to this voter. Will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood? Sure. Yeah, absolutely. You're asking the question because implicitly you assume that I'll have dual loyalties, right? You assume that somehow I wouldn't disavow or that I'll have some higher order allegiance than the Constitution.

9:56For me, that Constitution is the guiding light. How do you think Zolan, he has handled these questions through the course of this campaign? Here he tried to go after this voter who was asking him the question, will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood? Yeah, yeah. Look, this is a tight race. And you noted this, that El-Sayed has the past comments that he's had. He is facing some challenges when it comes to concerns from more moderate voters. His campaigning with Hassan Piker. That's right. That's right. Concern from Jewish voters as well. Well, I think we can also state that and that there is concern there.

10:32And then also state that also there has been a lot of attacks as well from the Republican Party that has dipped into Islamophobia as well. You know, specifying his full name as well, trying to make these. Trump calling him Mohammed. Right, right. His name's Abdul. Right. Saying that Democrats are running jihadists across the country, President Trump said as well. Here you see him sort of leaning into this question from a voter, seemingly with an awareness of all of those other attacks and baggage that has come with this campaign. These attacks are not going to stop as well. This is the type of thing that's interesting to see at a town hall as well, where you see him leaning in and actually engaging with a voter on a question like this.

11:11And if you watch the whole clip, it's unclear if the voter had a genuine question about this or if he was trying to be provocative. The voter ran out right afterward. It was a not that it matters. I mean, it's interesting question, no doubt. But I think his his answer is something that he is trying to get over a hurdle of saying, look, he's an American. I mean, he is a Michigander. He supports the U.S. Constitution. But there are a lot of ugly questions out there that are being fomented by the other side and other questions in general just about El-Sayed. Yeah, I want to excuse another issue that happened in another race and also overnight on Friday night.

11:50The president putting out an executive order to essentially waive sanctions that would be placed on Russia that came as a result of painstaking bipartisan negotiations that led to the enactment of legislation that both sides were cheering just in the final weeks here. Democrats, a lot of them voted against it because they were concerned Trump would do what he just did on Friday, which was to waive sanctions against Russia because of, of course, the war in Ukraine. Trump doing this as a way to ease gasoline, diesel prices in particular, and getting some backlash from someone you probably would not expect here, Darlene Graham, who has aligned herself very much with President Trump throughout this because the reason why she is the Republican nominee is because of Donald Trump's support in that South Carolina race.

12:42She said, I would choose to keep the pressure on Russia to end the war and get the gas prices down because I don't trust Putin and I don't trust Russia. Of course, this is her brother's legislation, the late Lindsey Graham that he helped push across the finish line and Trump quietly trying to wave a magic wand and ease these sanctions on Russia. Yeah, it was the last conversation. The topic of the last conversation that Lindsey Graham had with Donald Trump right before he died was about this legislation. But it goes to show of how Donald Trump is in South Carolina. The fact that Darlene Graham felt the need to distance herself from the president in a state that she should win very easily gets to the larger political environment.

13:30The fact that South Carolina is competitive, the fact that Donald Trump is having to go down there to campaign against, you know, for Darlene Graham against, you know, an upstart candidate who, Democrat who has maybe a chance. Yeah, we'll see. And again, it gets back to that ultimate, that money discussion from before earlier. Democrats had money to spend. They would spend more in South Carolina right now. They don't. They're getting outspent by Republicans, by those outside groups. We'll see how that plays out. And coming up next, it was once as ruby red as Dorothy's slippers, but now Democrats are fighting with all their might to flip Kansas' Senate seat.

14:07I traveled across the state this week to see if they can pull it off. Next, what the candidates said and didn't say. Should the president end the trade war with Canada? Should he end the trade war with Canada? Do your thing, sir. Thank you. I appreciate it.

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15:09Adam Hamilton is not yet a household name, much beyond the state of Kansas. But he could be if he becomes the first Democrat in nearly a century to win a Senate seat in the conservative state. The pastor who co-founded the largest United Methodist Church in the country is giving the Republican incumbent, Roger Marshall, a run for his money in Kansas. And in the final days, both sides now view the race as a toss-up and central in the battle for the majority. But what actually is happening on the ground? I traveled across the state, talked to the candidates, and filed this report. Republicans are on a mission, in Kansas of all places, To rescue Senator Roger Marshall, it has been 94 years since a Democrat won a Senate seat in Kansas.

15:56The state has only had three Democratic senators in its history. But the pastor turned candidate, Adam Hamilton, is seeking to change them. I don't think I've ever voted for a Democrat senator. You haven't. This will be the first time. First time. A toxic brew is confronting Marshall here in Kansas. high gasoline prices, high diesel prices, the unpopularity of the Iran war, the unpopularity of the president's tariff policies, and the president himself seeing his own approval sliding. I watched in Washington, D.C. after the inauguration of our president, President Trump. I prayed for him. God, please give him wisdom.

16:31And I will tell you, just because you're a pastor does not mean your prayers are answered. Republicans are trying to nationalize this race, trying to make it all about democratic control of the United States Senate if Hamilton were to win. Who do you want running this country? Do you want Chuck Schumer, the AOC, big government Democrats running this country? To avoid an historic defeat, Republicans are now in an all-out effort to save Marshall, launching attacks like these. Adam Hamilton isn't a moderate. He's a two-faced extremist. I caught up with Marshall in central Kansas, a place that Donald Trump won overwhelmingly.

17:08And I asked him initially about the Iran war. Instead, he pivoted to another issue. Do you think that given the impact that it's having on fuel prices, that it's time for the president to end the war with Iran? You know, I think what you should be talking about is my opponent, that he's a child sex predator protector, that he's got to deny it. It absolutely happened. What about Iran? What about Iran? I'm asking about Iran. No, I think you guys need to talk about something that Kansans want to be talking about. You want to talk about the Iran war? I've given you my comments on Iran before. Look, I want this war to be over as quickly as possible.

17:43I don't want to lose any soldiers, any more soldiers like Eisenhower. I hate war. Sex abuse at a fall church camp. Marshall now running ads accusing Hamilton of covering up a child sex abuse sex scandal from two decades ago. And Trump piling on in a truth social post this past week. But Hamilton says the accusations are riddled with lies. This is the president of the United States who just said that. Yeah, the president's lying and he's twisting the truth around. And every organization that looked into these claims four months ago said the same thing. This is a misrepresentation of what happened.

18:20Would you have done anything differently? Absolutely. Like, we should have called the police immediately, but that was not our policies 21 years ago. This is desperate attempts to try to deflect from a horrible record Roger Marshall has. He sued more than 700 of his own patients for paying their medical bills late. But Marshall has faced a series of damaging stories, including billing practices associated with his medical practice. The New York Times reporting that he filed lawsuits against roughly 700 patients who had outstanding debt. 81 of those patients later were arrested for missing court dates.

18:52What about the billing practices, the New York Times billing practice, they reported about that. Looking at those people who had about$100 in outstanding debt, was it okay to go after them? So why do you continue to repeat this lie? That was in the story. Is that true? So why are we repeating the lie? You're repeating the lie. Did you guys do anything wrong? Did you guys do anything wrong? Of course we did not. The Kansas Bill of Rights clearly says you cannot imprison or even arrest somebody because of indebtedness. I would want no one to ever go to jail because of anything they owe me. There were people being bussed from other cities to us knowing that I would take care of them for free.

19:29And the Kansas City Star reported that Marshall's practice charged an unusually high 18 percent interest rate on unpaid medical bills. What about the 18 percent interest rate that's come out? Is that an appropriate interest rate to charge? Listen, I think what you're losing the real story here, right? So once this when and if this ever happened and we wrote off hundreds of people's bills every month, some of those people by law have to go to collections. Whatever interest rate they charge, I have no idea. This was the first lie of many from Adam Hamilton's campaign. Should the president end the trade war with Canada?

20:03Should he end the trade war with Canada? Marshall has shown little daylight with Trump, who won the state by double digits three times, and relying on surrogates like Vice President J.D. Vance, who recently attacked Hamilton's faith. Ladies and gentlemen, that is not Christianity. That is left-wing radicalism dressed in the skin suit of our religion. But when you look back at some of your past sermons, did you ever say things that were outside of the political mainstream that you could have said differently? I'm a slightly left of center on some issues, slightly right of center on other issues.

20:37If you want to take a line out of a sermon, I preach 1 ,500 different sermons. Take a line or two words out of one paragraph, two words out of another, and you make something up. That sounds that way. But if it gets sad and pathetic, then both the president and the vice president would attack somebody's faith. I guess I would ask the question, do the policies of Vice President Vance and Donald Trump, do they reflect the Jesus of the Gospels? And the answer is no. Democrats have demonstrated some success here in recent years, including Governor Laura Kelly's two wins and a ballot initiative reaffirming abortion rights in the state.

21:12And that makes Marshall Backers nervous. Are you worried that Hamilton could actually win this race? Oh, he could, because we have a bad reputation in this state of electing liberal governors and things. Adam Hamilton. But to win the race, Hamilton has to woo Kansas Republicans and convince them he's a different kind of Democrat. There are some voters who undoubtedly have concerns about the fact that if you were to win, the Democrats are likely going to be the Senate. Then Chuck Schumer is going to likely be the Democratic leader. What do you say to them? Well, I say to them, it's possible that that's going to happen no matter what.

21:46But here's the question I ask. Are you better off as Kansas if we have two Republican senators representing Kansas on the Republican side of the aisle? Or if we had Jerry Moran, who seems to be doing a pretty good job on the Republican side, and I'm working as a moderate Democrat on the Democratic side? I saw you had said that you had spoken to Chuck Schumer about how he's making this race harder for you. What do you mean by that? Is it just how toxic the Democratic brand here is in this state? Yeah, I think the Democratic brand is in trouble everywhere across the United States. and Chuck Schumer becomes the sort of archetype for that, whether it's deserved or not, that's how he's seen.

22:18So what I've said is I'm not going to vote for Chuck Schumer for the Senate majority leader or minority leader, whichever it is. No disrespect for him, but we need new and fresh leadership and the Democratic Party needs that desperately. They need new and fresh leadership, new ideas, and I think I'm a part of that. All right, my panel is back. Jeff Zeleny, who also has traveled across Kansas, talking to Adam Hamilton, covering this race as well. Jeff, can Adam Hamilton actually pull off what would be a remarkable upset? He can. I mean, even many Republicans there are so concerned about it. The president going to Wichita tomorrow.

22:53The president's own policies are hanging over Kansas in an extraordinary way here. That complicates this for Roger Marshall. Roger Marshall is the weakest Republican incumbent candidate across the board. Every Republican I talk to agrees. The question for Hamilton, you are zeroing in on it. Can he outrun the Democratic brand there? And if the Democratic majority wasn't at stake, would it be easier for him? That is one of the things that voters are weighing here. But yes, he can win. And the amount of money that's coming in on the Democratic side actually shows you, too, because the ad spending.

23:24Actually, Democrats are now outspending Republicans on TV, future ad reservations. They are, at the moment, outpacing them. And Adam Hamilton raised$9.9 million in the last quarter compared to$866 ,000 for Roger Marshall. So Roger Marshall's inability to fundraise is one of the things that Republicans months ago started to flag to me about how this could be a problem in a bad political environment. And it is absolutely coming true. National Republicans have spent, have sent about$14 million there trying to boost and save Roger Marshall. Democrats have responded. And Democrats, you know, the National Democrats, the fact that they're spending money there in such an expanded map.

24:10And very quickly, Zolan, you could see Roger Marshall struggling on the questions of the Iran war. On the Iran war. And you have headlines of suing patients that were trying to seek health care at a time where Trump's big, beautiful bill also made cuts to the social safety net. That's going to add to the frustration, the economic frustration you were pressing him on. No question about it. Such an interesting race. We'll see what happens. And up next.

24:39Please don't fall for emotional appeals. Oh, and this is my baby alpaca pasta. She hopes you'll vote for me. Is this the kind of ad that actually resonates this year? My brilliant panel will have their thoughts as we dive into the ad world. This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just$15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song, like all I want. Right. Okay, we can afford that. You know what, forget the music budget. We're gonna stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12 month plan required, $15 per month equivalent taxes and fees extra.

25:21New customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. More than$10 billion. That's how much has been spent on political advertising in this record-breaking midterm cycle. So how in the world are candidates actually breaking through all this clutter? Or are voters just tuning them out? Well, my colleague David Wright helped us analyze one theme emerging in Democrats' ads. Corruption. We know about swamps in South Carolina. But Trump was right. The biggest swamp is Washington, D.C. and Darlene Graham was hand-picked by it. They call Washington, D.C.

25:58a swamp. I like ours better. It's a lot cleaner than the mess in Washington. Desmond will get right into the sleazy corruption in Trump's D.C., looking out for himself while costs skyrocket for us. Swampy Derek Van Orden is too corrupt. All right, my battle is back. Zolan, are these, this is actually breaking through with voters? I think it is, right? I mean, because it also comes at a time of some unfavorable headlines for the White House that speak to misuse of funds and corruption. Right. Kimberly Goffoyle recently ousted as well. You know, the headlines around cryptocurrency regulation and the president and his family reaping profits as well.

26:42The softening of regulation. I mean, I saw a recent CBS poll as well that showed that corruption has risen to be a top issue for voters as well. All of this, you can tell, is on the mind for Republicans because look at the vice president's answer at the CBS town hall in Michigan as well, where he came out and said, I'm paraphrasing here, but that anyone who makes money off of the White House, that there should be some accountability for that too. Just the fact that he would have that response shows that this is on the minds of Republicans, that they know that corruption is on the minds of voters.

27:16Yeah, and then the fact that Kilboi was also fired. Yeah, well, we had known for a while that corruption was one of the top issues in the polls. It kept rising and rising. And then I talked to a Republican who's helping to elect House Republicans a couple weeks ago, and they said it's actually sometimes in some polls number one behind or in front of cost of living. And then Fox News came out with a poll last week, said exactly that. And I think that the two issues combined of, you know, the president's team enriching themselves, why I can't afford to fill up my gas tank is really matters. And these are the top themes that are emerging in these battleground races from this past month.

27:54Democrats, special interests are focused on health care, energy, Trump and taxations. Republicans, crime is a big focus of this. It has been an election cycle after election cycle. Of course, taxes is something we don't see as much Republicans talking about Trump as we see Democrats. But there was an interesting ad, Jeff Zeleny, in Mississippi. This is a reach state for Democrats. Scott Cologne running against the incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. This is Cologne's ad. The price of beef continuing to go up. You know, you have so many proteins to choose from. Pick another protein? Shit, I'd rather pick another senator instead.

28:34Pick another protein? She done lost her damn mind. I'd rather pick another senator. Pick another protein? What the? Pick another senator instead. I mean, it's in the running for my favorite out of the cycle. There's no doubt. And there's some on the Republican side also. But this is, it gets to the point of an incumbent Republican senator saying something offhand that is just so tone deaf at this moment in time. Mississippi is a reach. There's no doubt about it. However, it is one of those places a Republican incumbent anywhere are checking their numbers and concerned about this. South Dakota as well.

29:14Keep your eye on that. There are Republican incumbent senators who are so nervous. Your home state of Nebraska. No doubt about it. The vice president going back to Nebraska this week to try and shore up Pete Ricketts. So, look, I think that ad is effective because it's funny. And it also is like, you know, it's a change election. And those voters or actors in the ad kind of exemplified that. And there's also, this could be in the running for, you know, for maybe the cutest ad of the year, if you want to say. This is a Democratic state assembly member running for re-election in the state of Wisconsin, Steve Doyle.

29:54And bringing out the alpacas. in this ad. Hi, I'm Representative Steve Doyle. Have you noticed how politicians prey on emotion to influence voters? They'll show you pictures of cute babies or use scare tactics to get you outraged over something they just made up. Please don't fall for emotional appeals. Oh, and this is my baby alpaca pasta. She hopes you'll vote for me. It's almost like the evolution of that Warnock ad from a couple cycles ago where he has all the puppies, but this time you've upgraded. Did alpaca sell? It was cute. We'll see. Maybe some alpaca, you know, enthusiasts will vote for him.

30:34Yes, exactly. Maybe that one enthusiast will make the difference. We'll stick in your head. Yes, exactly. Talk about it later. All right. Okay. Coming up next for us, a former VP is about to kick off a major campaign swing. The current vice president faces a tough set of questions on Iran and the economy. So can either of them get voters to the polls as they look ahead to the next big race? Observe. The North American Dad. 50s. Great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, dang, that's a good offer.

31:14The highest form of approval. No haggling. No hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply. Twas many nights before Christmas, and one woman knew she needed a tree, so to Wayfair she flew. She found more decor and added to cart. Merry Christmas to all. Get your Wayfair head start. For holiday decor you can count on, Wayfair delivers.

31:44Vice President J.D. Vance is making himself a fixture on the campaign trail, spending his time in the critical battlegrounds while taking putt shots at Democrats. So what does this all mean for Vance ahead of a widely anticipated 2028 run, which will start to take shape soon after the midterms? Well, last night in a town hall aired on CBS, Vance was pressed on the Iran war and gas prices and was on the defensive. Now I see what Abdul El-Sayed says about the war in Iran. I see he criticizing decisions that the president has made, the military has made. I'd like to know, what is Abdul El-Sayed's solution for the problem that we have right now?

32:23It's easy to criticize something that happened seven months ago. The biggest reason why gas prices are so high is because when Joe Biden was president, we had about 20 percent of American refining capacity that went offline. We're slowly bringing that online, but it does take a little bit of time. It's almost been two years. At a certain point, it becomes your economy, not Joe Biden's economy. All right, my panel of political insiders is back. So while Trump, Vance has been doing all this, how do the American voters view him, according to a recent poll from the AP? 52 % have an unfavorable view of him, 32 % favorable.

32:57That is not good, Leanne, especially ahead of a 20-28 run. He seems to be doing himself no favors. And last night he was really out of the defensive as well, struggling on some of the key questions about Iran and gas prices. Yeah, the biggest challenge for Vance moving forward is his ties to Donald Trump. He is his vice president. He's going to be in a very difficult situation. Strong ties. Yeah, yeah. Trump does not like people who break with him. He's going to need the president's heart. And they put Vance in charge of dealing with Iran, and that doesn't... Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's going to have the shadow of Trump over him as he moves forward.

33:36And, you know, 18 months ago, that probably could have been good for Vance. Now, maybe not so much. Yeah, and there was this moment last night where J.D. Vance took a question from a man whose wife was an American who died in an Iranian airstrike in March. There's a failure in the leadership, and I want to know how this administration is going to start holding those leaders accountable for the actions and the deaths of the soldiers that we honor and that we love. We have changed a lot of our tactics to try to suppress that drone fire, to try to protect our troops, to make it so that more people don't have to pay the ultimate sacrifice.

34:17But I want to understand what we can do better and what those soldiers are seeing. Because part of the problem of this job, this job is an amazing honor, but you live in a bit of a bubble. And sometimes information doesn't filter up to me. What do you think of that moment, Zolan? Well, one, we talk about the ramifications of this war sometimes in economic measures, but it's also very personal, right? And the political leaders that are leading the way on these actions, they're going to have to face questions of that, of the losses that have also occurred during this war. And we have not heard that really happen before.

34:53That response also included J.D. Vance saying, I really haven't heard these reports of failures among the leadership. I don't know if that's going to cut it when it comes to the widow of somebody asking a question, saying, I want real clarity here of what the strategy is moving forward. It was an extraordinary moment. And if J.D. Vance runs for president, as we expect him to do, that will hang over him, that answer there. Yes, he expressed his concern and his sympathy. He did say, I want to talk offline. He did. He did. But to say this is the first time hearing of it, I mean, really? You're in charge of the Iran war.

35:28I mean, these things are coming up through you. I mean, it's clear that there was a failure there. But I think, to your point, we talk about diesel prices and gas prices. But there's a human cost of this war. So that question really shined a light on that. And it seemed to be one that the vice president didn't really have an answer for. Yeah, you'll have to answer a lot of those questions, you're right, if he decides to continue to run. So, meantime, while Trump is, while Vance has been campaigning across the country, We're going to see the former vice president campaigning across the country in the coming days ahead.

36:01Look at your screen. There are a number of places that she is planning to travel. Nevada, Mississippi, Georgia, Wisconsin, New Hampshire. Among those are the in-person visits. Leanne, is this good for Democrats? You know, I think that she is probably going to the places that the candidates there have welcomed her and said that please do come. I think it depends on state by state, whether it's good. We saw, you know, Mary Potola in Alaska reject the former vice president from coming. And so I think that the candidates are making their individual decisions on what she can do. What do you think, how likely is it that she runs in 2028?

36:42Well, I mean, often you hear these answers from candidates at this point where they're not going to give a clear answer on that. Also, one factor could be Newsom's response to Jake Tapper, where he said if Kamala Harris runs, I don't know if he's going to run, or he said he wouldn't as well. All those dynamics are going to be interesting. But, you know, we've been talking about this tension between the Democratic brand that these candidates are trying to distance themselves from. Well, Kamala Harris also represents that brand when you ran on the ticket in the last presidential cycle. So seeing her ramp up travel in these days leading up to the midterms, it will be interesting if that also prompts questions of these candidates and their attachment to the broader brand.

37:25So meantime, while J.D. Vance was campaigning for answering questions from voters, tough questions, and was on the defensive oftentimes, President Trump was on the campaign trail making some remarks about a body part from one of the key Republicans trying to hang on to his Senate seat. John Husted. No, I never did that with a man before. I examined his ass and then I looked at his shoulders, I looked at his feet, I looked at his hand, I looked at his jawline. Why is Donald Trump commenting on John Husted's derriere? I mean, look, he loves the... This is the second time he's done this in the last several days.

38:08He loves an athlete, he loves an actor, he likes the central casting mold. I mean, look at members of his cabinet. It's a very odd thing to say, but John Huston would probably have him talk about that or prefer him talk about that than talking about the Iran war. Or data centers, exactly. Just one of those, you know, truly vintage Trump weird things. We've heard him over the years talk about things, and I'm sure people were relieved he was not talking about a woman's body like that. Yeah, I mean, and he's been, but he does that oftentimes. He's been talking about jawlines of Ed Galrain, the Republican candidate in Kentucky.

38:45It's not a one-off. It's not a one-off. He's been doing this at rallies throughout. Sometimes it's not complimentary as well in the case of Ken Paxton, too, at one rally, too, where he's making jokes. Also, this connects sometimes to who he brings into the administration. He'll often ask folks who looks good on TV, who's central casting. It's the central theme of Trump. Yeah, it is. And it's a little bit awkward, to say the very, very least. All right, coming up next, a constitutional clash over golf? Yes, that's right. Why the Trump administration is in the rough with a furious federal judge who says her orders are being defied.

39:25Things are getting downright nasty in President Trump's drive to take over Washington, D.C.'s public golf courses. Yes, the president has envisioned turning in the low-cost public course at East Potomac Golf Links, making that a premier course to attract major professional championship tournaments. The cost of such a project? Unknown. In the meantime, Trump and his team were told in July by a federal judge to inform her court before sudden alterations were made to the course. But on the Friday evening of a holiday weekend just this past month, the Justice Department said it would remove 169 trees as part of its restoration efforts, with plans to remove 529 total.

40:07The next day, 400 were removed, according to the Washington Post. Then, in a tense four-hour hearing just last week, the judge, Anna Reyes, was absolutely furious and tore apart the administration for defying her orders and questioning whether it was linked directly to the White House, demanding to question the officials behind it. The judge saying, quote, What has happened has cost the government all of its credibility in this case? Now over the weekend, a new controversy. Trump's Justice Department wants the judge, who was a Biden appointee, off the case altogether, accusing Reyes of, quote, animus against the administration and writing in a filing that she had, quote, repeatedly belittled and shouted at a Justice Department lawyer in unorthodox and regrettable show of judicial impropriety.

40:59Any more demolition will have to wait until at least tomorrow, when two Trump officials have been ordered to testify at a hearing in this case. That's it for Inside Politics Sunday. Up next, here at the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Dan and guests include Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.

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