Trump Hits the Trail as GOP Midterm Nerves Grow

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1:20There are just 15 days until the election, and we're tracking the races, candidates, and stories that could shift the balance of power here in Washington and across the country. Here's what's on our midterm radar. First up, get out and vote. Early in-person voting starts today in eight more states, including three that could have a major impact on Senate control. We're talking about Alaska, South Carolina, and Texas. CNN's Ed LaMondera spoke to some voters at a polling station in McKinney, Texas this morning. I voted for Ken Paxton. I think he's done well with the AG's office. I think he did well in the legislature.

2:01I'm tired of the way that Texas has been handled by the people in charge, and I'm ready for a change. They join more than 9 million people who have already cast their ballots. Today, President Trump heads to Ruby Red, Kansas, kicking off a seven-day, seven-state campaign blitz. His itinerary really underscores Republicans' anxiety in the homestretch. He's visiting all states he won in 2024 and, in some places, by healthy double digits. And the president isn't just asking for votes. He's also offering some incentives after dangling that$5 ,000 check to every adult. He made this promise to Kentucky over the weekend.

2:45If the Republicans win the Department of War, we'll be investing$100 million in the pharmaceutical company Anthea to revitalize a gigantic drug manufacturing facility in Winchester, Kentucky. A new Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll shows Democrats maintaining an eight-point edge in the battle for Congress. 52 percent of likely voters choose the Democratic candidate and 44 percent pick the Republican. The poll also shows people trust Democrats more than Republicans to handle top issues like the economy, which is certainly a flip from a couple of years ago, immigration and education. the only issue where Republicans are ahead is crime.

3:36Now to the Texas Senate race where Democrat James Tallarico is taking a page from the Friday Night Lights playbook. He posted this video with cast members from the beloved show using language Texans know by heart. Texas. You know what time it is. We are in the fourth quarter. It's time to leave it all on the field. Remember, clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose. Texas is taking that famous motto on the road. Tallarico is rather calling his final campaign swing across Texas, the clear eyes, full hearts tour. I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here, including my old friend, Mark Preston.

4:25Mark, let's just take a look at this campaign schedule that the president has. Kansas today, North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa, Florida, Georgia, Michigan. Right. A lot of states that he shouldn't have to go to, certainly at this part of the campaign. These are states that in many ways are traditionally Republican. Not all of them, but of course Michigan isn't necessarily. But if you look at where he's going, Kansas, Iowa, another thing that ties them all together is that they're also agricultural states. If you look at Kansas, look at Iowa, even look at North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida has a lot of farms as well.

4:57These are all states right now that are hurting because of these high fuel prices that we're seeing caused, in part because of the Iran war. And we're also seeing Donald Trump take missteps as well, waiving Iran sanctions, excuse me, Russian sanctions with the idea of lowering fuel prices. But if you talk to folks who are in the industry, they'll tell you that that doesn't help. And I will tell you, taking these steps that he's taken is not helping him with Republicans and not helping with Republican candidates who have to oppose him when he's making these decisions. So Donald Trump trying to get out the MAGA base because those are voters that he needs and that his candidates need.

5:33But we don't know if it's enough. Yeah. And put a pin in that on what happened in Russia. I do want to go back to that first excellent point you made about the agricultural states. And this is a set of numbers that just blew me away. We're going to put it on the screen. If you go back to February, this is a poll on whether or not gas was affordable. 78 % said, yes, it is affordable. 21 % said, no, it is unaffordable. Now that is completely and exactly flipped. Just 21 % of people polled said it is affordable. 78 % say it is unaffordable. Again, this is February to now. When did the war start? Exactly.

6:15March. I mean, exactly. And this is fully on the president's shoulders. There's also on the president's shoulders when you look at where he's going to go in Michigan, the Canadian tariffs that is hurting Michigan, that even Mike Rogers, who had said, OK, this is a good thing or this is about fairness, is now saying, probably not the best thing. So truly, even when the president is going to these states, he's also reminding these voters, he's not going to say this, but who is at fault for a lot of these policies that are making their lives unaffordable? Shelby, you covered the White House. What are you hearing from Trump sources about the real deal of how they feel?

6:52I mean, we know the answer by watching the president's schedule, but what are you hearing? So a lot of the people that I've spoken to, both inside and close to the administration, sort of have acknowledged that the House is going to be extremely tough for Republicans. And they say that if Republicans can hold on to the Senate or do well in the Senate and in some of these governor races, they think that the president will be satisfied. That's sort of how he's viewing things at this point, which I think is how Republicans overall are viewing things. But as for things like the tariffs and things like the president's recent shifts on Russia, the president himself is 120 percent on board with these decisions.

7:31And you're seeing that because he's not making changes or in Russia's case, he is defending his decision to make these changes. But there are some inside the administration who are getting a little bit concerned and who I've heard express some sort of skepticism about the decision making that have been made. But at this point, I think everybody in the administration acknowledges that there's only a few weeks to go. They just kind of have to bulldoze their way through it. There's not much they can do to change things at this point. And you mentioned the president is 120 percent in. He put on True Social the following.

8:04This is about the fact that they put on pause the Lindsey Graham Russian sanctions that passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and he signed. I am in the process of negotiating peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine and don't want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table. He went on to say Zelensky doesn't care. And frankly, with all of the money Europe is giving him and that crooked Joe Biden gave him in the past, he doesn't want to end the war and probably never did. He could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now. So the two things going on at once here is the high price of gasoline and perhaps with the diesel deal that he made last week with Russia combined with what he's doing with these sanctions, he's hoping that at least there could be a trickle.

8:50We'll see if that's true. Then the other thing, I talked to the energy secretary on State of the Union yesterday, is he insists it's not just about that, but as Trump said, trying to find an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. This is a motivation for Russia to figure out how they can actually export some diesel. So what do you say to so many people, including many fellow Republicans, who say it's not a motivation, it's a capitulation? No, because they misunderstood this. People, energy is complicated, unfortunately. We are giving them a specific thing, diesel. What do you use diesel for? You make war with diesel.

9:29Your industry runs on diesel. I mentioned that the president's going to South Carolina, one of the places where he would never go if not for this environment. And, of course, if Lindsey Graham did not pass away and he wasn't on the ballot, Darlene Graham is on the ballot. Look at what even she said about his change on Russia. Look, the president and I share the same goal, which is to end the war, to get gas and diesel prices down. And the sanctions bill is one of the tools he can use to do that. Personally, 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.

10:16Most of America doesn't trust Russia and doesn't trust Putin. And, you know, going back to what the energy secretary said when he said, you know, energy is complicated, it's difficult. Well, guess what? Life is complicated and it's difficult. What you're seeing right now is the president is saying that he's going to bring the end to the war in Russia. He's going to bring the end to the war in Iran. We haven't seen an end to the war in either of them. We talk about these rising gas prices and say, wow, the truckers are really feeling it. The small businesses are feeling it. Well, guess what? So aren't we, because when you have rising fuel prices, you have the rising price of food.

10:47You know, that also collapses into the rising prices of health care. And it just goes across the board. So President Trump is saying everything that he wants people to believe him, but he hasn't been successful in actually executing on what his promises are. All right. Stand by. Up next, you're going to hear my interview with the candidate crucial to the Democrats' path to the Senate majority, plus artificial intelligence, very real campaign cash. We'll explain why AI has become a$140 million midterm issue.

11:32All the way. Stack more sales with the best converting checkout on the planet. Track your cha-chings from every channel right in one spot. And turn real-time reporting into big-time opportunities. Take your business to a whole new level. Switch to Shopify. Start your free trial today. 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. The highest form of approval. No haggling. No hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch.

12:19Astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply. Without flipping Maine, the Democrats' path to regaining control of the Senate gets really tricky. I traveled to Maine to sit down with the Democratic Senate candidate, Troy Jackson, for CNN's State of the Union. He's running to unseat five-term Republican Susan Collins. I asked Jackson about his plans to address health care's spiking costs. Health care, you were a really early supporter of Medicare for all. There are people who like their private insurance plans. would they be able to stay on those private plans under your?

13:00I think on elective surgeries and things like that, yes. But I mean, overall, basic health care, Medicare for all should have everyone covered in that. So it would be a public plan. For example, Bernie Sanders, who I know you campaigned with when he was running for president here, his plan would be to phase out the private plans over a four-year period. And then after that four year period, it would all be public health. Right. So, yeah, I mean, that's what we've seen here in Maine, too. Whenever we've tried to do this is like everyone has to get into the plan. I mean, I think the controversy over this is that the health care industry, big pharma has made people feel like they're not going to get as good a coverage.

13:46You'll be getting something less than. But I actually see a scenario where where this is going to be great coverage. You know, you'll have eye, ear, dental. You know, you won't have to pay the obscene co-pays and things like that. You have said that it could be paid for by money that currently funds ICE, America's wars abroad. If you kind of back of the envelope on those prices, it's about one hundred and twenty three billion dollars. In 2020, Senator Sanders' plan was estimated to cost between$30 to$40 trillion. So how would you make that up? How would you pay for this? Well, that's the overall health care.

14:29I mean, that's not just the added people that we'd be bringing in. And that's not the only things I said that, I mean, I think that we need to have a fair taxation system. I don't want billionaires getting tax cuts. I mean, I believe that we need to roll those back. I mean, we always have money to spend on aircraft carriers and things like that. But as soon as you wars in Iran, as soon as you start talking about health care, people start acting like there's no way to do this. I mean, every other country that I know that's industrial has been able to pay for health care. I'm pretty sure we can do it here.

15:03Have you looked at the math? You think that the cuts that you're proposing will. Well, what I've looked at is in states like Maine, whenever we've done studies on self-insured, and whenever we've done studies across the country, every time we've shown that we're already paying the cost of this, that this is already being paid. But unfortunately, it's going in executive pockets. Greed is running this health care system. And when we cut the administrative burden, the greed out of it, I'm sure that we can afford to pay for it. So as you heard, the candidate says that he wants to pay for his plan in part by raising taxes.

15:41He talks a lot about raising taxes on the wealthy. We talked more about the specifics there. Well, you mentioned taxing the wealthy. That's another question I was going to ask, because you say you're going to tax billionaires when I get to the U.S. Senate. Can you be specific? What kind of tax are you thinking about? Well, income tax. I mean, at what percentage? Well, I'm sure we'll figure out what that percentage is going to be when I get there. But but no more income tax cuts and rolling back the cuts that they've already got. But rolling back to what what point? Meaning like how much do you want to tax wealthy people?

16:20And what do you consider a wealthy person at what income bracket? You know, people that are making millions of dollars a year that are getting, you know, tax cuts, people that are not paying anything on their earnings, no taxes on that. I mean, there's all kinds of opportunities to make a fair taxation system. And I'm sure that we'll have to sit down and work with our colleagues, both on the Democratic and Republican side, to come up with exactly to what extent that's going to be. But there's lots of time to do that and come up with something that will pay for those things and make a fair tax system where middle class people don't pick up all the burden.

17:03We've asked Senator Susan Collins for an interview before the election. We hope she accepts soon. Up next, Vice President J.D. Vance is all over the campaign trail. In one event, he was challenged by a man whose wife was killed in the Iran war. It's a moment you're going to want to see for yourself. That's next.

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17:57Vice President J.D. Vance's campaign travels. Today, take him to North Carolina, then Ohio and Nebraska this week. Over the weekend at a CBS News town hall in Michigan, Vance faced a tough question on Iran from a voter who knows its costs personally. Listen to this exchange with a man whose wife was killed in the war. Though the Iranian drone was the weapon that killed my wife, there were a lot of mistakes and a lot of fundamental failures that led up to that. I believe CBS has reported on that. My wife has told me things before she passed. There are other soldiers that know things that are being quiet about certain aspects of this.

18:41There'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. So, Joey, first of all, look, I owe and the whole country owes your family a debt of gratitude that is quite literally impossible to repay. I won't pretend that anything that I say is going to make it better or easier. if there were failures. And I don't doubt there were. I just this literally the first time I've heard of this is this conversation. And I want to fix that stuff. I do not want this stuff to happen.

19:23I will say, Joey, we have tried to learn because warfare has changed. Drones are cheap. They're very deadly. They're easy to manufacture. And 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. But I want to understand what we can do better and what those soldiers are seeing. Jackie, that was quite a moment. It was quite a moment, particularly when you realize not just the human cause there, but when you know that this is not something, a worry that J.D. Vance was behind.

20:03And now he's being forced to defend it. And he was very delicate there, as he should have been. But you really wonder, once we do get past the midterms, how much is going to go on behind the scenes when it comes to the war and how much accountability there will be as Trump becomes a little bit more of a lame duck and some other people want to start filling those shoes. Yeah. And I also think just looking ahead to 2028, this is going to be sort of a key question that the vice president, should he run, is going to have to figure out how to answer. How can he sort of remain as the vice president and still back the Trump administration and what the president is doing, but also get across his own policy views, which I think particularly when it comes to foreign policy have differed from the president a little bit.

20:53And I think that's going to be a real, real challenge. And on that, our colleague, Donio Sullivan, obviously has spent a lot of time, including doing an hour special just last night on MAGA supporters. And he made a list of the five things he says he hears the most from MAGA supporters. Number one, many young conservatives feel betrayed by the Iran war. Number three, appears to be little enthusiasm for J.D. Vance. Those two things are kind of an interesting, I don't know if it's a clash, but an ironic statement, especially given the fact that J.D. Vance, we know from reporting from all of us, was where these young conservatives were who were mad about the Iran war?

21:34Well, the person who brought him to the show could also be the person who prevents him from staying in the show, right? You know, as Jackie and Shelby said, J.D. Vance is carrying the baggage of a president who's making really stupid decisions, right? He just is. I mean, these are decisions that aren't good politically. We know that the country is not behind them, you know, the Iran war, like perhaps even the Russia waiving the sanctions in Russia. Like the fact of the matter is J.D. Vance is there because of President Trump. He has to be loyal in order to get that MAGA base to stay behind him in order to win the Republican nomination.

22:08But at the same time, by doing so, does he alienate everybody else? And that's really the fine line that J.D. Vance is walking now. All right, everybody stand by. Up next, you're going to hear Michigan's Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers respond to President Trump's attacks on his opponent, Rogers' opponent, Abdul Al-Sayed. Stay with us.

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23:16Find furniture, hosting essentials, festive serve wear and more all in one place. So you can spend less time getting ready and more time enjoying the season with the people who make it special. Shop Wayfair.com today to make holiday magic at home. Wayfair, every style, every home. When President Trump heads to Michigan this week to campaign for Republicans up and down the ballot, he'll likely talk about Democratic Senate candidate Abdel Syed. He does it a lot, after all, even when he's not in Michigan. I spoke with Republican Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers yesterday on State of the Union, and he distanced himself from the president calling El-Sayed a jihadist.

23:59Listen, I've never called him to terrorists. I wore the uniform of the United States of America so people can pray any way they want. That is not the issue here. What has become the issue is his relationship and his family relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in five Muslim countries. You know, he wants to play the victim. This is not about that. This is about the way you think, not the way you pray. This is about your ideology and how dangerous it is. I mean, he has a long history of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which, by the way, diminishes women's role in society, just as they did when they took over in Egypt in 2012 and 2013.

24:38Now, El-Sayed was asked by a man named Tommy over the weekend in a clip that went viral if he condemns the Muslim Brotherhood. There was a long back-and-forth exchange, and during that, El-Sayed responded, sure, yeah, absolutely. Rogers said that that wasn't a total disavowal. El-Sayed was later asked about Rogers' comments. He said that you had lied about your connections to the Muslim Brotherhood and that you were refusing to condemn them. Obviously, that was a message from President Trump as well yesterday. Do you want to clarify at all? Well, I'm sure everybody has heard about Tommy at this point.

25:13You saw that clip? Yes. So clearly condemned. That's not a difficult thing to do. But I do want to talk about why they want to make this their closing argument, right? Because they want to speak to a certain implicit dual loyalty that they're trying to say. But this has a long history in our politics, that notion that people who might pray a little bit differently have a dual loyalty. It was the same thing that they did to JFK when he ran for president, right? The notion that because he was Catholic, that somehow he had dual loyalties. They did the same thing to President Obama simply because his father was of Muslim origin, even though President Obama is an avowed Christian.

25:44So this is nothing new. This is what they do when they have no actual message about the real issues in people's lives. Shelby? I mean, I think that this is a really interesting way to frame the last few weeks going into an election. And on one hand, I think it's successful for Republicans because you have this candidate who is now being forced to answer about the Muslim Brotherhood instead of talking about the cost of living or gas prices or what he's going to do to sort of bring down those kitchen table issues that voters are so concerned about. But this is really the core Republican argument as a whole when it comes to, I think, this election, not just in this state, which is to take some of these more progressive candidates and tell voters, no, they're too far to the left.

26:34And you're seeing that. I think this is a prime example of how that's trying to play out on the Republican side here. Yes, I think that's true. It is just an interesting tactic just by way of observing this, as we've seen for years different ways that candidates take on different attacks, that on this issue for El-Sayed, there are tweets that his half-sister has out there from back in 2012 saying how proud of her mother, their mother, she was, because she was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. And El-Sayed has said he didn't have a relationship with his mother and he didn't know anything about those tweets.

27:15But the fact that he decides to condemn the Muslim Brotherhood, but then not end it there and go back to, let's talk about the price of gas, and instead say, this is my JFK moment, is a fascinating tactic. And I'm just wondering if that is going to play with the people he wants it to play with. I think he had no choice but to do that. I mean, we've gotten to this point now in politics where we've institutionalized xenophobia and racism. We've pitted each other. We've allowed these influencers and politicians to pit the nation against each other. Jews versus Muslims. You know, Catholics, you know, white people versus brown people.

27:52And I think that al-Sayed is really trying to just address it head on. I don't know if he will be effective in doing so, but, like, you have to address it head on and to try to stop it. There are tensions. in lots of communities, real organic tensions, including in Michigan. There's a very big Muslim community, smaller Jewish community, but there's obviously a huge African-American community, which is a hugely powerful voting bloc for Democrats. Mike Rogers opened up an office in Detroit over the weekend. He is trying very hard to build what he calls a new coalition, including Black and Jewish voters.

28:28But on the Black voters, listen to what he said and El-Sayed's response. You can bring in Barack Obama. As they say, we still love him. They do love Obama. They're going to show up in droves. Doesn't mean they're going to vote for Abdul El-Sayed by our own conversations. I saw he opened a cute little office in Detroit where he brought all his friends from the suburbs to come clap him in. It was nice. Yeah. As much as he thinks he's making inroads, folks are smart. They understand exactly who Mike Rogers is. Let's just quickly look at some of the numbers that kind of tell you why the Rogers campaign thinks that they have the ability to make inroads.

29:01This is a question on a poll about among likely voters, who are they going to vote for? Abdul Syed gets 77 percent. It's big. Mike Rogers gets 22 percent. But if you look at the results just two years ago among black voters, Alyssa Slotkin got 85 percent. Mike Rogers got 12 percent. So there is a little bit of a gulf between, I mean, maybe enough if it's a tight race, between what Abdul al-Sayed is polling at and what Alyssa Slotkin got. And I think this is why the messaging down the pike really matters. And if, I mean, Democrats are talking about the economy for a reason, and the economy is, and the hardships of this economy are falling on voters of all stripes, but particularly black Americans.

29:52and particularly in Michigan. So if Mike Rogers is able to keep on trying to bring the conversation in places that are not the economy, that definitely benefits him. And then just the idea of Trump going there. I mean, he's going everywhere, but he is going to Michigan. And it's, again, that double-edged shored, getting out some of the Republicans who voted for Trump, who are maybe not so happy, the low-propensity voters, but then perhaps turning off these voters that Mike Rogers is trying to get. Yeah, it's a trade-off, and that's one that the White House has been willing to make because they believe that getting Trump out there will convince enough of that core voter base to go out and vote for somebody who is not Trump.

30:35But as we've seen with Mike Rogers in particular, he's sort of distanced himself a little bit from some of the Trump administration policies, so he's clearly eyeing that sort of push and pull, and I think it's going to come down to the wire. Yeah, it is not easy, that is for sure. You've more than likely seen them. AI ads, they are actually taking over the midterms, whether it is AI-generated John Ossoff getting his hair and makeup done, you're looking at that, that is not real. Or Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith running away from questions, also not real. Who is using them most? We're gonna have that answer and the dollars behind these when we come back.

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31:50If it feels to you like AI ads are exploding across the airwaves, you're not wrong. Only two years ago, just$50 ,000 was spent on ads using artificial intelligence. This cycle, that number is nearly$140 million. Wow, you can see it right there on the screen. It's not even close. The latest example is an ad from GOP candidate for Pennsylvania Governor Stacey Garrity. In the ad, an AI version of Josh Shapiro gives voice to headlines about a sexual harassment allegation against a former aide and Shapiro's past support for data centers. Now, I just want to be clear, what you are going to see is not Josh Shapiro.

32:27It's AI. I'm Josh Shapiro, and I've been very busy. It started with all those sexual harassment scandals, then deleting incriminating emails. All of my accusers intimidated. Hush money paid. This ad was created with AI thanks to big, beautiful data centers. Fact is, I was the one who fast-tracked data centers right here in PA right after they handed me$5 million in political contributions. Coincidence? I think it's pretty clear, but I'm going to say it again. That is not actually Josh Shapiro. It's an AI-generated version of him. And just to fact check, the allegations were not against Shapiro.

33:06They were against one of his aides. Shapiro says that immediately after the allegations were made against that aide, an independent investigation was launched. And after that investigation, the aide in question immediately resigned. Mark? Well, let me answer two ways. One, morally awful, okay, like we understand and we're entering this whole new age that we need to really understand and put the brakes on where we're going technologically. At the same time, incredibly creative, like incredibly creative. And given the time, attention span of voters nowadays, I'm sure that ad is going to get the attention of folks who've seen it.

33:41It's also like generational. I was looking at that and thinking, I can tell. My son could definitely tell. My parents who are probably watching it are going to get mad at me. I don't know that they could tell. I mean, once they get into the content, it's pretty obvious that it's not him. But at first blush, I'm not sure everybody would know who's not at least a little bit tech savvy. And it continues to feed this misinformation that voters are constantly, constantly having to contend with. And the other thing is, by the time a lawsuit is filed, this thing gets pulled down, the damage is kind of done.

34:15So you have to wonder at what point are there going to be rules about this sort of thing and how it's put out there. We're not there yet, but you would imagine that it's coming. There is such a disparity between how each party is spending money and using these AI ads. This is from the Wesleyan Media Project, AI ads by party. GOP sponsors, 81%. Democrats, 12%. I mean, that's really stunning. Another example of a Republican using it, part of that 81%. This is about the Democratic candidate for a Republican incumbent seat, Derek Van Orden. This is in Wisconsin. What you're going to see is an AI ad against her.

35:02And then after she said we want to cease and desist, he put another AI ad on air making fun of her. I am running for Congress to lower costs. Lower costs. I am also running to booster our framers and make sure we take advantage of as much corruption as possible and give every illegal alien free health care. Cease and desist. I mean, that again, I think it's one of those things where a lot of people probably know at this point that it's AI, maybe not older generations. But I think one of the big concerns here is also what happens in the next few years. Right. There's huge advancements in AI all of the time now.

35:46And so if you don't end up having sort of some sort of maybe federal legislation instead of a state by state case, what happens in two years when the presidential election rolls around and these AI videos become much more realistic? And I think that's the concern that a lot of people on both sides of the aisle have at the same time. Because there's no sort of big legislation, it's allowed right now. And so you're seeing Republicans take advantage of that fact. And it doesn't matter. I mean, the reality is people may know it's AI, but if that message sticks in their head, they hear the verbiage in their head, then it's effective.

36:19Coming from the person. Correct. Yep. Fun, fun, fun. Coming up, President Trump is inserting himself in Israeli politics just over a week before that country votes. Will it have an impact? We have a live report from Jerusalem next.

36:38Next. President Trump isn't limiting his political involvement to elections here at home. Just over a week before Israelis head to the polls, he's giving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, quote, complete and total endorsement. On Truth Social, the president wrote, in part, Netanyahu has been strong, brave and brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, this is the kind of partner that the United States is demanding of Israel, a country for which it has done so much. It's the kind of move that used to be unthinkable for an American president, not just in Israel, but any democracy around the world to get involved in internal political matters.

37:19But here we are. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem. What's the reaction in Israel to President Trump's endorsement and what he said in The Post? Well, for the Israeli prime minister, it certainly represented a shot in the arm for his campaign, one that he has seized upon, pointing to this as yet more evidence that he is the candidate best qualified to maintain a good relationship with the U.S. president, a critical relationship, of course, for any Israeli prime minister. But it has largely faded from the kind of public media sphere today in Israel after a weekend during which a prime minister, President Trump made this announcement.

37:58That may have to do with the fact that while this is the first time President Trump has officially endorsed in an Israeli election, back in 2019, before those elections, he gave Netanyahu perhaps an even bigger gift by recognizing Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights. And it's also worth noting that President Trump is a lot less popular in Israel than he was perhaps a year ago. Still largely popular by and large, but trust in the Israeli public, the Israeli public's trust in President Trump has dropped from some 34 % having a great deal of trust in him in March to just 10 percent in August, largely a result of some of the back and forth over the Iran war this past spring.

38:37And Jeremy, Israel, of course, has a parliamentary government, and that means that voters choose a party, not a prime minister. Can you explain how or whether Bibi Netanyahu can still find a path, even if his party doesn't come out on top. It is going to be a really, you know, one that we're going to have to hang on to for a few weeks probably after the elections before knowing who is going to be the next prime minister of Israel. And that's because right now the change bloc, the opposition candidates and the prime minister's governing coalition, they are basically pulling neck and neck. And both of them are falling short right now of the 61 votes necessary to have a majority in the parliament.

39:21And so what's going to happen is the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, is going to give a mandate to the leading candidate, either Prime Minister Netanyahu or most likely to Gadi Eisenkot, the leader of the kind of opposition change bloc right now. That's going to depend on a variety of factors. Who's the candidate most likely to be able to form the next government? And while Eisenkot has expressed some confidence that he could form a government, even a minority government, with the abstention of the Arab parties who likely would not be part of a governing coalition, that still is up in the air.

39:52The Israeli president has expressed some preference for a unity government of the kind of more centrist parties that could potentially bring together Prime Minister Netanyahu and Eisenkot, something that so far the opposition candidates are not signaling a willingness to engage in. But by and large, Dana, there are a lot of unknowns here. This is going to be a complex process. And it's one of the reasons why, while Prime Minister Netanyahu is polling well short of where he was before Israel's last elections, he still has a shot here, given the number of variables. Remember when you were covering U.S.

40:27politics and you thought that was maybe a tiny bit complicated? You're in it now, Jeremy. It is incredibly complicated what you just laid out. And I know there's so much more there there. And we're just going to be along the ride with you. I'll try and boil it down. No, no. I mean, you did. And I don't think I could have done that. That was impressive. We'll be on the ride with you as Israel actually does go to the polls next week. Thanks, Jeremy. And thanks for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts right now.

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