Trump Headlines Midterm Convention amid Record Low Approval

0:02Tonight, he's deeply unpopular. Ditto for his economy. So why is Donald Trump the centerpiece of the GOP's midterm pitch? I'm asking you to let us finish the job we began with the greatest two years in the history of the presidency. Plus, the Republicans attempt to define the Democrats. He believes God is non-binary. We know who God is. We're talking about Jesus. And Democrats hit back. I think the reason that politicians in that convention center across the street want to talk about six sexes is because they don't want to talk about six dollar diesel. Also, the war that's supposedly been won, which is apparently not a war, gets a new timeline, a very convenient one.

0:50I think the war is going to end immediately after the election. Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward. And another AI employee quits over safety concerns, warning it could kill us all within the decade. So what is DC doing about it? There are incredible amounts of danger coming here. Live at the table, Neera Tanden, Joe Borelli, Ture, Jason Rance, and Anna Navarro. Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here they do.

1:34Good evening. I'm Abby Phillip in New York. With less than eight weeks to go until the midterms, President Trump is more unpopular than ever. His approval rating is at a record low, and even some Republicans are starting to sour on his job performance. Now, despite that, Trump is throwing a two-day GOP midterm convention extravaganza. It kicked off tonight with Trump putting himself front and center. The president still delivering his keynote address right now, but he's sticking to the theme of the night, which is praising himself and painting the Democrats as the boogeyman. The choice in this election is very, very simple.

2:13Democrats are asking you to vote for their failed far left agendas never worked. that destroyed your finances and delivered you four years of disaster, bedlam and death under sleepy Joe Biden. And I'm asking you to let us finish the job we began. Pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. Just one more time. Because if we lose, you're going to lose your border. You're going to lose your tax cuts. You're going to lose your safety and security. You're going to lose your wealth. Our country is going through hell. You will be going through hell just like you did just two years ago.

3:01And before we open it up to the table here, we invite you at home to join the debate. Go to CNN.com slash Abby. Weigh in there. We'll get to some of your comments as we go throughout the show tonight. The president is doing some combination of a speech that's supposed to rally his base. demonize Democrats. Sounds a lot like a campaign speech at many points in it. But the question is, is pitching the golden age of America right now to Americans going to work? Well, first, I almost have to stifle laughter at him still calling Joe Biden sleepy Joe, when practically every day we see video of Donald Trump asleep somewhere in basketball games, at the Oval Office, anywhere he is, he's falling asleep and drooling.

3:49But okay, let's now get back to your question. Look, I think part of the problem that Trump is having is that he's just so, seems to be, one of his secret weapons before was that despite the fact that he was this New York billionaire living in a gilded apartment here, he had the pulse of the Republican base and the pulse of America. He could feel the anger of the frustrated Americans. He seems to have completely missed the boat. Americans are feeling malaise. Americans are feeling economic pain. And he keeps focusing on himself, his renovation, his vanity projects, his parades, his UFC fights, his statues, his gold gilding, while Americans have no access to health care, are paying through the nose at the pump, can't afford groceries.

4:41So yeah, it seems just completely like a dystopian society where he's living in a parallel universe, not in touch with the American people. Well, I mean, this idea that no one can afford health care is obviously hyperbole. There are issues that the president is dealing with and Republicans are going to have to deal with. The polling suggests that. But there's also a story to be told that he's trying to tell, and not just him, but the other speakers, specifically around the economy. We just had a monster job month that most people are not talking about because it's good for the president. We have record low prices on drugs because of this president.

5:16No one wants to talk about that because it actually helps the president. Don't shake your head on that one. Clearly, drug prices are going down. That's absolutely true. You also have the Trump accounts, which is a really good idea that is, in fact, popular and will help a lot of people. But again, doesn't get talked about that much because it helps Donald Trump. This idea that everything, is bad for Republicans is not true. And if it were true, we would see in the polling not just five-point lead amongst a generic Democrat. The numbers would be much higher. There's a reason why it's not. And some polls have eight points and 10 points and 11 points.

5:47And some polls have as large as it's ever been in 20 years. The generic polling on the Republican side versus the Democrats is at, like, I think, what is it, like five-point? Yes, it is. The generic polls for Democrats is like five points. I think fundamentally, what I feel is odd about this conversation is it actually reminds me of some deja vu. I remember being in the Biden administration trying to tell people things were good when they didn't feel it. And here you have the same you have the same problem. In fact, what's worse is people actually feel worse today. Polls today say people feel the economy is worse than they did under Joe Biden.

6:25And they actually think that it was better in the last year of the Biden economy than it is today. And you have the president of the United States saying constantly, don't actually trust how you feel. about higher gas prices I delivered through the Iran war or higher food prices I delivered through the tariffs. Feel how I am telling you to feel. And I think that is just a colossal mistake. And I feel, you know, I'm glad Republicans in swing districts have shown up for this. Obviously not a majority because many of them have kept their rationality, but some of them have showed up in this and I hope they're asked, do you think the president is right that this is a golden era for your swing district?

7:02And I hope the answer is yes, because the voters feel no. It's not just the Neros of the world who feel like things are not going well. What's interesting is that the polls suggest that even Republicans, Republicans and MAGA Republicans, are increasingly pessimistic. Republicans who say that they strongly approve of Trump's performance has gone from 52 percent earlier this year to 41 percent. Among MAGA Republicans, it's gone down from 71 percent to 62 percent. So you're seeing even Trump's base. They also don't necessarily believe that things are the trajectory is going in the right direction.

7:41Fewer of them are willing to say that Trump is doing a great job. And actually what Neera is saying about the last year of the Biden administration, right before Trump came into office versus where we are today, it is objectively true on many fronts, on job creation, on inflation, on GDP growth, that it actually was better in that last part of the Biden administration than it is now. Neera called it deja vu. The president went out and gave that speech earlier. We ran the clip. You heard him talking about how bad the Biden economy was. It's deja vu because the Democratic Party lost the last election because of their performance on the economy.

8:15You remember that. You were there. Yeah, I was there. But I wonder what one more thing Trump said, because you posted an NBC poll, and that's fine. A YouGov poll had the number amongst Republicans supporting Trump is much higher. And that plays into what he has been saying, and I think a lot of his critics will even admit, that he is a vote-getter for the Republican Party. There is a lot of cohesion around Donald Trump within his party and placing his name on the ballot in theory or in pretend is what's going to drive votes. And the last thing I'll say. Why are all these Republicans staying away?

8:43Let me say let me say. Well, let's get to that. Let's put up a split screen right now. You have Donald Trump. You have J.D. Vance. You have a dozen cabinet members all making speeches. Let's do a split screen with the Democratic Party. Who is even the national leader of the Democratic Party that if they wanted to have a midterm election tonight, who would be the headliner? I don't have an answer for that. Democrats don't have an answer for that. And more to that, what is the national unifying message of the Democratic Party? What are they speaking about? I can answer that. I would love to know if we're doing an RNC convention, what is the policy message of the Republican Party?

9:18This sort of convention thing should have a strategy. Here's the message. Here's the people we're putting forward. This is Trumpapalooza. This is Trumpfest out to just make him look good without an actual idea. You talk about the golden age. He's talking about post-World War II, where we felt good about ourselves because we had won a war and that created prosperity. Right now, we have a losing, needless war in the Middle East that is creating a lack of prosperity. So we are going exactly opposite of the MAGA world that he promised us. And, you know, when you say deja vu, what it reminds me of is actually the way the Biden administration treated the immigration crisis, where they kept denying that it was a crisis, trying to tell people that it wasn't a crisis, that they were working on it.

10:03And that's not how people felt. And so no matter how much they said it, that's not how people felt. and it showed in the polls, it showed in the election results. That's to me where the parallel is between where Trump and Republicans are trying to tell people what you're feeling is not what you're feeling. You've got it all wrong. It also is a lot of, in some ways, the greatest hits. Let me just play quickly. Scott Besson, he's the Treasury Secretary. Rarely do I see Treasury Secretaries doing things like this, but here's what he said on the stage today. In 15 short months, we've gone from auto-pin to overdrive.

10:46From a president who couldn't stay awake to a president who refuses to sleep. Under Joe Biden, Democrats brought this country to the brink of ruin. They opened our borders and shuttered our factories. They imposed one set of rules on American workers while allowing our competitors to play by another. What a difference a new president can make. So there's that. And, you know, we heard from the president a lot of the same things that our fact checker, Daniel Dale, has been busy all day fact checking. And this viewer says this viewer, Shaw, says anyone and I mean anyone who still buys Trump's greatest hits needs to be needs to reevaluate themselves.

11:37I think what the question that comes out of all of this is, is this the greatest hits and should there be some new material rather than going back to Biden, going back to all of the old stuff that doesn't seem to resonate? Well, there is. They were talking about the working family tax cuts, something like eight million Americans filed no tax on tips. 35 million Americans filed the no tax on overtime. 40-something million filed the enhanced senior tax credits. So there are a lot of things Republicans are talking about. They're talking about Trump Rx expanding. The first time in 60 years we've had a significant decrease in the price of prescription drugs.

12:11These are statistics that you can't argue with. And so it's not surprising people are trying to downplay them or ignore them. But to say that the Republican Party has no message is just inaccurate. I think if we, I would love for us, we should play the entire convention. Well, it's lower taxes, which they've accomplished this year. Which Democrats voted against. Secure the border because the immigration issue is still on the minds, and we still win in the polling on immigration. It's obviously not having a nuclear border. Republicans win on the border. He has lost tremendous support and is underwater on the immigration enforcement because Americans are seeing the cruelty that is happening in the streets of America.

12:50You would think, if they listened to you, that Republicans were significantly underwater on which party people prefer on the economy. It's actually pretty split. So it's not a doom and gloom. It's a big move towards Democrats, and in fact, for the first time ever against Trump. It's not a doom and gloom moment for Republicans. We have a lot of optimism going into the election. If you look at the Cook Report, there are a lot of safe Republican seats. That's funny. Yeah, absolutely there's optimism. Here's a big reason. No one would put a president with 35 % approval, right, lowest of his term, at the center of this launch into the midterm.

13:21Unless the opposition party is probably lower than that. I actually think, I mean, sure. And they are. They are. But Jason, Joe brought up just a minute ago that Democrats don't have a standard bearer. But we also have to look at who the standard bearer of the Republican Party is, to raise point, which is a president who is historically unpopular. So it's not, to your point, it's not a vacuum. It's not just, you know, it's Trump who is unpopular against a bunch of other candidates who are viewed very differently depending on where they're running in the country. Well, against a party that is equally unpopular, they're actually more unpopular than Donald Trump, which is why they're talking about the Democrats as a whole.

14:02Now, Kamala Harris is obviously someone who is... Well, you're talking about Democrats in Congress being unpopular. Yeah, the party. I mean, Congress is unpopular. Congress is unpopular. But what we have seen is... You can't just dismiss a poll that shows the Democrats are doing for it. Listen, Abby, the point you made... You made a very effective point. Trump versus Democrats. I'm asking, what are you talking about? You're talking about Democrats in Congress. Yeah, the party that is saying put us in power. There are a lot of measures of how voters feel about the two parties. And by some of those measures, including the generic ballot, when you ask questions like, who do you want to control Congress, Democrats have an edge over Republicans.

14:43And you can see that. The difference is when the argument coming from the Democrats is, put me in charge, I'm going to do a great job, and their numbers are lower than the person who's currently in power, that is at least a problem. There's candidates, right now, you have Senate candidates who are running ahead or even in places like Ohio, Iowa, Alaska, and Texas. North Carolina. Which just tells you how much the ground has shifted and that those candidates are running on how to lower costs and how to end the Iran war. and how to ensure that middle-class families are not facing these squeezings.

15:21And all of those states is going to be TVS with Trump saying, I'm on the ballot. There are two new CNN polls that show no clear leader in two key races in Michigan and in Maine. These are actually two of the places where there's been a little upheaval in some of these races. And yet and still, I know you're looking at those numbers. Don't pay too close attention to those numbers. It's within the margin of error. There is no clear leader in either of these two races, which means it's effectively a toss-up, which means that even when, you know, Republicans say Abdul El-Sayed is a flawed candidate, he is right now very much in the game in Michigan.

16:01Troy Jackson literally just got in the race in Maine. But you're defending a state where Democrats should be winning. That's the problem, right? This was supposed to be the year Democrats surged ahead. And now you have them defending in Michigan. But the point you made earlier was really important. Michigan is a battleground state. Don't you agree? You said that you couldn't identify who the standard bearer of the Democratic Party was. It's because the standard bearer of the Democratic Party is Donald Trump and running against him. That is all the Democrats had. That's why they opened the door for the far left to come in with socialism.

16:28The McDonald's of the world filled that void. And now you're at the national stage and all you have is we hate Trump and the far left socialism. The party that is outside of the White House never has one national standard bearer. The Republican Party did not have a national standard bearer. when Donald Trump was not in the White House. It was the same thing. No, it was still Donald Trump. That's why there's primaries. It was. That's why the Democrats... It was not Donald Trump in 2014. ...to talk about on this mid-year... There was no Republican stand-up in 2014. ...con fact down in Texas. Next for us, a surprise appearance in Texas by Democrat John Fetterman.

17:02Plus, how Democrats are responding to Republican attacks tonight. Also, Trump is changing the war timeline yet again, saying that the war is going to be longer and gas prices are going to be higher for longer. We'll discuss.

17:43and they wanted to approach it like a data scientist like you do, how would you suggest they start? Be patient. My peak weeks, I ran like 140, 150 miles per week or something. Wow. Either increase the distance or you should increase the intensity. You should never increase both at the same time. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now wherever you get your podcasts.

18:11At tonight's GOP midterm convention, speakers have sought to paint Democrats as, quote, radical, dangerous, and, quote, frankly weird. Taking on Texas Democratic Senate hopeful James Tallarico, Senator Tim Scott extended that critique, condemning Tallarico's past comments and leaning in to the culture wars. James Tallarico claims there are six genders. He believes God is non-binary. He thinks God needs special woke pronouns. But Texas, we know who God is. We're talking about Jesus. Earlier today, Tallarico walked back some of his previous comments at an event just miles away from the convention.

19:06In 2021, you said God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non-binary. Do you still stand by that? I was being provocative with that statement. I get that. What I was trying to say is that you can't use human categories to define God. And that's not controversial theologically. In fact, the late Charlie Kirk, the late Pope Benedict all said the same thing. And Tallarico had more to say about that statement and others. And walk back. Yeah, and walk back. But it is interesting. I mean, the walk back is important because this is a race that now Republicans are the ones saying they could lose.

19:50And he understands that. So he's not hesitating to walk them back. Well, why is he walking it back? Because that's his vulnerability. because he has held and still holds pretty extreme views that he's now pretending he doesn't hold. He can try to walk back that statement all he wants. But when it came to actually voting on two particular issues around trans medical care for children and trans athletes, he voted against where the vast majority of this country is. No, no, no. On the trans, he talked about this today. Yeah, he's walking some of that back. No, no, no, no. Even on the vote, the trans vote, just I want to be clear about what the fact is, the trans surgery vote, he was saying he was he actually did have an amendment that would have banned trans surgeries for minors.

20:35So just want to be clear. That was his record. You voted against people may not make it. He's now also saying no, no, he had an amendment on this. I just want to be clear with his policy. It's consistent with this position before he is walking back his statements. That's how we're framing this, because that's exactly what he's doing, because he's too extreme for Texas. And the second that the dollars start flowing and all they have to do is quote him, Play videos. That's bad. It may be too radical for Texas. We're really arguing about that God is one gender like a human being, that God has genitalized.

21:10Of course God, if God exists, is masculine and feminine at once and is beyond our ability to even understand who that being is. So obviously he is completely correct. We are completely bizarre saying, oh, my God. That's not true. We're only talking about this because a man who was elected to the Texas state legislature made this part of his platform and his comments while he was a member of... That's not why you're talking about it. You're talking about it because you want to attract trans people and you want to have a culture war. That's why you're talking about it? He was probably a darn good legislator from the People's Republic of Washington.

21:48He's right. You're wrong about why we're talking about this. The only reason we're talking about this is because Donald Trump inserted himself in the Republican primary in Texas and beat John Cornyn. If John Cornyn were the Republican candidate now, we wouldn't even be talking about Texas. And Republicans wouldn't be spending a dime in Texas because he would be beating Tallarico by 20 minutes. We wouldn't be talking about treatment surgery. No, you would be. You would be. But we were talking about this because the people of the Democratic Party of Texas elected a radical state legislator from Austin to run.

22:26Hold on a second. Now they're stuck with it. The president actually had something to say about this discussion that we're having today. And he seems to think that this is one of the most potent issues, if not the most potent issue, that they have going into this November. Listen. I'm petrified that they'll change. and they'll say, you know what? Men should not be playing in women's sport. And that will really hurt us. That's one of our great sound bites of all time. They say it's an 80-20 issue. I say it's a 99-1. And I have no idea who the one is. I have no idea. It's Tallarico. So what does happen...

23:06No, actually Tallarico did talk about this today. Today. Today. What does happen if it's no longer front and center for voters, which honestly, when you look at what voters say is important to them, it is nowhere near the top of their list in this election. Look, I think what is the best line of the day is honestly, people want to talk about six genders because they don't want to talk about$6 diesel gas. And that is fundamentally what all this is about. People are attacking Tallarico. They're attacking in other states against Democrats. It's not about Tallarico in particular. The trans attack, this is the third election we're going.

23:40Republicans are using the trans attack against Democrats. But the difference now is that Republicans themselves, groups of Republicans, are angry at how much the cost of living has risen. Why don't Democrats just say women belong in women's sports, men belong in men's sports? And by the way, that is what Tallarico said. And lots of Democrats have said it. Lots of organizations of our own have said it. The truth is because the sports issue is obviously a dodge to attack trans people. And you don't want to actually talk about they should be able to live. It is not. You don't care about women's sports at all.

24:20So please don't make it like that. Please don't even pretend it's about that. You don't want to have trans people to be a normalized part of the world. That is the core of the problem. So we're talking about this tiny issue that actually has nothing to do with trans people living in America. Hold on. The 80 % of people who are on this issue and are saying specifically this is about protecting women's sports, you're arguing that they're all bigots because they hold that much. There is no issue to protect women from. No, no, no. You just said that you hold one of these views that you're anti-train.

24:55There are almost no trans people in sports. You are taking a problem that does not exist. There are lots of Democrats who agree with James Tallarico. Are they bigots, too? I'm not saying they're bigots at all. They agree with James Tallarico. They agree with 80 percent of the country. There should be women in women's sports. We've got to go here. When we come back, we're going to talk about a Democrat showing up at this convention in an unconventional way. That's John Fetterman. We'll be right back.

25:31Dallas. Yes, I'm Senator John Fetterman, Pennsylvania. Yes, I'm a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because, well, I'm a common sense Democrat. I'm always going to stand with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes in socialism and that anti-American way of life. Right back over my shoulder, that's the iconic U.S. steel mill. And that's exactly the kind of thing that will work together and will work with President Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life right here in the Steel Valley. That John Fetterman, he sure knows how to get a rise out of his own party. That was at the convention tonight in Texas.

26:17He didn't physically go there, but this video introduced Senator John McCormick, his colleague. He did say in a statement, I'll just read the important part, I'm a lifelong Democrat who votes overwhelmingly with my party. And should the Senate flip in November, I will still be the 51st vote that I ran on. Do you believe it, Turei? No. I mean, no. He has been sort of a traitor to the Democratic Party for a very long time. So, I mean, like, this totally makes sense. I mean, I'm not even sure why does he not just become a Republican. I know. I can't know what you say because you just might get it.

26:53And if it's a 50-50 Senate, you don't want that. No, of course they don't want that. I mean, I feel like Democrats love to hate Fetterman, but you will want him. But wait. Of course you want that, but I just don't understand he has not really been part of the Democratic Party. He votes at the 80 % of the time. Yeah. I mean, I hear you. I hear your point, which is. I think, look, I think it is abhorrent that he is doing this thing at the RNC, that the senator who, you know, he made his name actually as a Democrat fighting against Trump's effort to overthrow the 2020 election by he was out there every day defending Pennsylvania voters when Trump was trying to, in 2020, say that he actually won Pennsylvania.

27:39So I think it is, you know, I find extremely problematic to go to a convention where Trump is lying once again about the 2020 election and talking about the same act. But I do appreciate that he voted with Democrats against the same act. Let's remember what Ronald Reagan used to say, which is Ronald Reagan used to say about Republican unity. My 80 percent friend is not my 100 percent enemy. And he used to say the 11th commandment is thou will not speak back of other Republicans. I find it strange that Tory used the word traitor of the Democratic Party. You have an element within the Democratic Party, the DSA, whose stated mission is to take over the party for their own devices, for their own empowerment, for their own far-left agenda.

28:24And the guy who's raising the flag over that and hitting the warning bell on that is not the traitor of the Democratic Party. He's, if anything, perhaps the guy who's going to save the Democratic Party and bring it back towards the middle. I, you know, I will take on DSA. I have taken on DSA. That is a different thing than saying that Fetterman, who today is basically kind of campaigning with Republicans at this time. I mean, it is weird to me that as Trump is incredibly unpopular, that he's decided to jump onto the Titanic instead of jump off of it. But I think a lot of Democrats have questions about that.

29:00Now, you're right. It's a big tent, right? So you can have disagreements. But it is totally okay for Democrats to criticize John Fetterman for betraying some of the principles that he's articulated himself in the past. I think it's a mistake if they go after him too hard. Because I do think this plays for the average person who's saying, look, we don't want the constant back and forth and nastiness. We do have some basic expectations that you're willing to work with someone on the other side when there's basic agreement. He wasn't coming out there and saying that Republicans go to Washington to do.

29:33Well, that's a Democrat. So that's a Democrat. And you're accusing him of being a traitor. You're saying voters like that. He's talking about McCormick. No, I'm talking about you. I'm actually talking about you. You say that that's what people like, right? And I agree with you. That's what people like. That's what people like. But that's not what Trump does or other Republicans do ever. You're not criticizing Trump. You're criticizing John Fetterman, and that's my point. I'm actually not criticizing. I'm criticizing particular activists. It's some epic trolley. You've got to get to that. It's epic trolley.

30:00The John Fetterman issue is largely driven, as he himself has explained, by the Israel issue. Right? He has taken... And socialism, but yeah. Well, socialism is a more recent addition to his pretext for his behavior. By the way, I feel as somebody who is repulsed by the deal that Donald Trump has made with the remnants of the Maduro regime, which are socialists that have oppressed the Venezuelan people, millions of them, tortured them, jailed them and killed them for over 25 years. I think that it is the height of hypocrisy for Donald Trump to stand up there talking about communists and socialists when he is in bed with Delcey Rodriguez, who is until January 3rd was the vice president of Maduro.

30:51And he's not even allowing the woman. The Democratic Party has DSA members who are winning elections using the term that they're a Democrat. They're using the infrastructure of the party. Let me just break in here in this conversation with a little bit of some of what Trump has been saying as we've been on the air. He just promised$5 ,000 to each adult if Republicans win this midterm election. He doesn't say how, obviously. There are 270 million Americans in these United States. I think this is like the Trump stakes. A million adults in the United States. This is like the Trump stakes. We're just offering people gifts at this point.

31:28Yeah, I mean, there is, and Trump has a long history of doing this type of thing. Oprah comes. Giving out checks, making sure his name is on them. He obviously feels like he's losing this election. The average tax. Why would you have to, why would you just throw this out two months before the election? He's been in power for a year and a half. He could have done this. He had Republican Congress. He could have done it. Obviously, he's losing. That's why he just wants to throw out these lies to people. The average tax cut for a family through the Working Family Tax Cut Act, which every single Democrat voted against, was about$3 ,500 per family.

31:58So, hey, we're already two-thirds of the way there. No, no. That's not what he's talking about. I would just love to, I would love to fact check this. Five grand in your pocket. $3 ,500 from this tax cut that was virtually erased by the tariffs and the Iran war that everyone is going to pay. Yeah, 20 % under Joe Biden. No, I'm sorry. It's these costs. The inflation under Joe Biden. No, basically, we've had Trump's policies, the tariffs and the Iran war, have erased all those gains. And the real problem for Republicans, why they don't actually talk about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and all these accomplishments, is because people never really felt it.

32:35Today, consumer confidence is the lowest it's been in 70 years. Lower than in the Biden administration, lower than the Great Recession, lower than stagflation in the 1970s. People are deeply angry about the economy. And that is really why I think the president is heading into these midterms saying whatever he can. Which bill under Joe Biden the Democrats passed that actually resulted in an affordability result for... The child tax credit? The child tax credit. The child tax credit that was extended in the Working Families Tax Act that Democrats voted against? The child tax credit was passed during the Biden administration.

33:11Every Republican voted against it. That's a perfect, you just asked a question, I just answered it. 40 million people filed for the extended child tax credit under this new law. And they're still angry. And every single Democrat voted against it. They obviously didn't feel it. Nobody cared. One of the interesting things, and I asked this question when the big, beautiful bill passed. do you get credit for basically saying to people, we're going to keep your life effectively the same? And I think politically speaking, the answer was always going to be no. The Republicans, I'm not saying it was a bad thing to do.

33:46It was probably the right thing to do, basically said to Americans, we're going to keep your life the same tax-wise. But you're not getting credit for it. And I think that is what Trump is facing. That's why he's trying to conjure up a promise of a check to Americans that he, frankly, cannot fulfill. We just hit$40 trillion in debt in the United States. So, no, he's not going to be able to do this. I don't know specifically. What is the idea? The idea initially was to take it from the money that we're bringing in from the tariffs. Oh, the money that he has to refund to Americans and to companies because they are illegal?

34:20Well, why is he giving it back to the companies if the companies pass the Democrats? Everything we are seeing is a rehash of the old playbook. You took from them illegally. Give it back to them. I remember in 2024 a lot of people saying that they were going to vote for Trump because they remember the Trump checks, right? And so he is going back to the well. He's going back and rehashing the same playbook of the culture wars, of promising checks. A lot of people, I remember the interviews on the men on the street and people saying the Trump checks, the checks that Trump sent us. Heard that. He's trying to.

34:55Heard that a lot from working class black people in particular. The Trump checks made a huge difference. He just asked about no tax on tips. No tax on tips. No tax on overtime. No tax on Social Security. These are all policies that have a lot of strings attached. They don't apply as widely as Trump makes them. 29 million Americans filed for no tax on overtime. Don't ask me if they're popular or not, because I'm also looking at the question of how do Americans feel about the economy? OK, you are arguing that all of these policies are enough to make people feel good about the economy. And every data point that we have says that that is not true.

35:34But you invented that argument. I didn't actually say that. And I would argue, again, when Trump touts these policies, he makes them sound as if they apply to everyone who works overtime. They apply to everyone who gets tips. They apply to everyone who gets Social Security. And it does not. And all of them have expiration dates. Everything has an expiration date. Wow. Is your argument that when Democrats are pushing that? I'm just saying. Why don't Democrats commit to passing an extension? I was going to say, all of that is all good and well, but what's the point? Has it changed the way people feel about the economy?

36:11I think people who are impacted by those particular policies did feel those particular policies. So then why isn't it showing up? And reminding people of that, I think it's a smart move. Why isn't it showing up in the numbers? Because there are larger issues at play. No one is arguing at this table that the economy, people are feeling. So then we're in total agreement. You are completely dismissing two policies that are popular. And it's not popular when the Democrats have to say, I voted against this. I think that you should take our agreement. for what it is. Did we just build the bridge? We actually agree that Americans may have benefited from those policies, but they have bigger fish to fry with Trump and the economy, and that's what's hurting Republicans.

36:48That's all. Yeah, but if the argument for Democrats were better, if the polling number for Democrats was better, I would completely agree with you. But I do think that there are some of the other issues that John Fetterman, I think, is pointing out that is dragging the Democratic Party down right now, which is why they're not up by a considerable number. Someone tell me what the Democratic plan is. Where is the Democratic midterm convention? I tell you, lower health care. Wait, Trump did that. No, no, no, no. The biggest reduction in prescription drug costs. Lower utility costs. The biggest reduction in cost.

37:16Lower health care costs. Lower food costs. A good example of what a lot of Democrats are campaigning. Grocery stores? No, no. Government grocery stores? No, no, no. Let me just finish. A simple thing a lot of Democrats are talking about on food is let's just eliminate all Trump's tariffs on food. That would make food cheaper. Are you against that? Should we do that? Can we do that? I hope we get better trade deals and don't have to have tariffs. I agree with that. I think that's called obfuscation to an answer. Yes or no? I'm going to take you to the government grocery store. I'm not for government groceries.

37:42I'm getting rid of hysterics. We used to have a free trade agreement, a North American free trade agreement. Next for us. We've got some breaking news on the Iran war. Trump's advisors are raising the prospect with the president that the Iran war will last for the remainder of his term. We'll discuss that news next.

38:08Breaking news tonight, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Donald Trump's advisors are warning him that the Iran war may last through the rest of his term, despite all the shifting timelines and the claims that he's made that it's already over. This is a reporting that basically says that the vice president, J.D. Vance, also Marco Rubio, have both warned him that they could be looking at January 2029 before Iran capitulates or anything close to it. Yeah, I mean, we have to, I don't know the details of this particular report or the advice that he's getting. I mean, is it possible that, yeah, we've been dealing with Iran for a very, very, very long time.

38:46It all predated Donald Trump. Now, is that ideal? Is that what the president wants? No, of course not. I also think they're probably also giving some advice that says it's actually going to come to an end soon, which doesn't get reported in the Wall Street Journal. The idea that there's a long timeline and also possibly a short one, yes, both are probably true. But I mean, both are true. I guess the reporting is that they're not giving him that advice, that they're warning him that it could be logic, right? Yeah, it could be, but it might not be. But if we're being real, there is no end to this.

39:13We will never reclaim control of the Strait of Hormuz. That will never go backwards. We will never again be able to negotiate with Iran, as we were doing right before we launched an illegal attack on them, an unnecessary attack on them. We were negotiating with them for them to end their nuclear program. We will never be able to do that again. We will never be able to have a diplomatic relationship with Iran. So I don't even know how. How does this come to an end? I mean, look, at some point, there will have to be some kind of diplomatic solution to this. Because we know, because we've now tried the military option and it has not worked, that that is not going to work.

39:49So the president, he has said that, let me just play what he said today about the cost of gas. You've been saying for weeks that oil and gas prices are going to come down. Oil is now back above$100 a barrel. How do you explain this to Americans who are wondering when prices are going to come down? Well, I think it's very easy to explain to America. All you have to do is say, will you let Iran have a nuclear weapon? And the answer is no. But right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward. They're going to be tumbling down, and we'll get them down. I think for gasoline, we'll get them below$2 a gallon.

40:26But not until after the midterm. I think it's going to take a little bit longer than the midterm. All right. So just to be clear, there's no real reason that he is saying that other than maybe he believes it. Fine. But the last month and a half, the U.S. military has expended so much energy getting oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz. They've done it, right? Gas is still 422. That is near highs for this war. I think we have to just correct the record on something that was said. But just today, the IAEA voted to send Iran to the U.N. Security Council for sanctions, additional sanctions, because the IAEA admitted that they have not been able to inspect Iran's nuclear program since June of 2025, you know, almost eight months before this happened.

41:12Now we've known that for a year. But today there was an action. Again, it's just reiterating the point of why we need to at least see this through to the end and not allow Iran to be a nuclear weapon. Not allowing Iran to be a nuclear weapon. Just as a reminder, there was a JCPOA before this. There was an agreement so that they were not, and IEA inspectors were actually there before. On guess, right now, Iran has a 23 million liter per day gap with how much fuel they consume versus how much fuel they get. They are on a much shorter rope than the U.S. Do I think that there's, and I said this to you a couple of weeks ago, there's always been this false idea where it had to be done by the midterms.

41:51I think that was one of President Trump's mistakes was framing it. The media framed it this way, too, that it was going to be done by the midterm. I think that was always a false premise. Well, he just repeated it today. And he was the person who put the timeline in place in the first place. Yeah, which was a couple of weeks, remember? Next for us, we're going to react to your feedback from CNN.com slash Abby.

42:17And now some viewer feedback from CNN.com slash Abby. The first one says$5 ,000 if they win, huh? I'm still waiting on Trump's$2 ,000 Doge check. Stop the gaslighting and lies, please. Where is that Doge check? Where's the tariff check? Democrats sued to stop it. Now they had to give it back to all the companies. Natalie Harp got a check. Democrats sued. Again, you can't take money from Americans, give it back to them, and expect them to pat you on the back. Yeah, exactly. What part of what I said wasn't true? Democratic attorneys general sued the Trump administration and forced them to give money back to corporations who didn't already absorb the cost.

42:54Were you happier that the money was going basically to foreigners or something? Let me just read this last one. I think he should promise every American and not only Harper. Trump has always thought money talks, which is why he's throwing out those numbers right before an election. All right, everyone. Thank you very much for watching Newsnight. Laura Coates Live starts right now. to have I got news for your ears the podcast I am your host Michael Ian Black we are talking about Jensen Huang's Nvidia spy scandal Trump goes on 60 minutes Stephen Miller is finally in charge and is this curtains for Pete Hegset have I got news for your ears check us out on Apple Amazon Music, wherever you get your podcasts.

43:40Even better, you can watch the podcast on Spotify.