Dems Eye Potential 260 Seat Majority

0:13Well, that blue tsunami is still rising two days after election night. And now the Republican blame game, well, that's just getting warmed up. Good evening. I'm Laura Coates. We've got a packed hour for you tonight. My panel is here to break down the GOP midterm fallout and what exactly it means for the country. I'll also speak with Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett about the big flips in Texas and her push down in Mississippi before everyone else. And we want you at home to be part of our coverage. So send me your questions and comments at CNN dot com slash engage politics. We're going to answer them live on air this hour.

0:47Now tonight, we're actually looking at what could be historic numbers for Democrats. They now have 253 seats in the House, 25. They're up in the air still. So when all is said and done, they could reach 260 or more. And that would be the biggest House gain for Democrats since the Watergate era, 1974. And over in the Senate, Democrats are hoping to pad their new majority. Mississippi and Alaska, yes, those states are now in the same sentence. They're also still too close to call. With Democrats Scott Colombe and Mary Peltola holding razor-thin leads as the vote count continues. Now, when the results are this lopsided, you can't expect the losing party to just sit back and lick their wounds, especially not with this administration, which is why we're hearing Republicans say things like this.

1:42You know, I'm a business guy. And if in business, all of a sudden you lose that much of your work to your competitor, you're going to fire people. In fact, I think there should be some heads rolling from the White House as well right now. All right. So which head is going to roll? Which will he take? Well, take a look at the headlines over the past 48 hours, because one name is getting a whole lot of attention. Pete Hexf, one of the administration's biggest cheerleaders for the war in Iran. A war even Vice President Vance is blaming for the Republican wipeout. And our CNN voter polls back that up.

2:19Seventy four percent of midterm voters say the war was a crucial or major factor in their vote. Now, Hegseth is already facing articles of impeachment from a fellow Republican. A vote could come as soon as next week. And right on cue, the defense secretary posted a nearly six minute video defiantly defending his record and going on offense. This is not about me. But of course, the other side, in case you've noticed, they're obsessed. A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly. Just like they tried against President Trump twice.

3:07But it's not about me. Now, if Hegseth is on the chopping block, the president isn't saying that. At least he's not saying it publicly because he told reporters today Pete Hegseth is doing, has done a fantastic job. Well, look, my all-star panel is with me tonight. Senior political commentator is from Michael Singleton. Former special assistant to President Joe Biden, Megan Hayes. senior politics reporter for Axios, Mark Cabuto, and senior advisor to the Texas Democratic Party, Kurt Bardella. Also, he's got a great podcast as well. I want to talk to you guys about this because, I mean, Democrats, they still don't know if they are done winning.

3:46We don't know all the results yet. I mean, has the extent of the wipeout dawned on the president yet? Oh, it has. He just doesn't accept that it's his fault. bottom line. Shocking. Yeah, I mean, there's the sort of stages of grief and there's the stages of denial of Trump. It's not happening. The polls are fake. It's the other candidates. And then it's my appointees or staff. So it sounds like he might be heading from the candidate to the staff or appointees section of the blame denialism. I am surprised that we haven't heard more from President Trump. And I think some people are wondering, is this the quiet before the storm?

4:19Is he going to all of a sudden go off of the deep end? Or are you guys buying that he may just accept the results and say, okay, let's work together? Note the sarcasm. I don't think that he's going to go quietly. I think we're going to figure out here real quickly where he's going to go once everything is settled. And we still have a few months before this Congress is going to take over. I think we're going to see what happens in this lame duck session. And then I think that some people in the cabinet will not be here next week. If we come next Friday onto your show, I would venture to guess we'll have one or two less cabinet members.

4:51Do you think so? I mean, he's playing with his tinker toys and his construction trucks and his ballrooms and his. Yeah, that was for sure. He's like, what was he doing? He was showing off his new ballroom. He just got shellacked, electorally waxed. What's he doing? He's signing little beams and steel. I mean, my God, this guy, we all know he ain't going quietly, folks. We all know there's going to be a backlash or what I would call a tantrum more likely. And it's not going to be ugly. It's not going to be pretty. It's going to be very ugly. It's going to be very divisive. And it's going to be really bad for the Republicans.

5:21What about Hexa? Do you think that he will be on the chopping block? It's going to be tough. And I think there are a lot of Republicans who are looking for someone to blame. Look, if I'm advising the president after what happened Tuesday night, Democrats now control every single battleground state in the country headed to 2028. They now control practically all of the states in the South for the most part to some extent, which was once upon a time before Tuesday night, a Republican stronghold. So I don't know how you look at that and then have to go through the embarrassment of a cabinet member that may be impeached.

5:52It's definitely going to pass the House, I'm almost certain. What happens in the Senate, we'll see if enough Republicans vote to convict. But I would tell the president, sir, this is a distraction. We have so many other things we have to deal with. You have a farm bill coming up. You have to pass a budget bill. I mean, there's a lot of very important things to keep the country running. We don't need the distraction. He needs to resign, and we've got to let him go. I'm surprised we're not seeing more actually about Stephen Miller being in a child. When you look at the massive backlash from the Latino vote particularly in response to the draconian immigration policies that came right out of Stephen Miller's brain, I think that played such a large role in what we saw go on electorally throughout this country.

6:29I just think you need to get rid of people that you're going to have to get people confirmed to replace them. And if you don't get rid of Hegseth and if Rubio doesn't resign by next week, you will not be able to replace them. and then you have actings that can only be there for 140 days. So you have to get rid of these people by next week. Stephen Miller can wait a few months. He's not Senate confirmed. So he has time to get rid of him. I don't know that he will get rid of him. He should, but here we all are. But I think that that's why these cabinet secretaries have to go by next week. Well, you know, Mark, I mean, the issue of immigration, I mean, the Wall Street Journal reports the president considered actually a bigger crackdown only to pivot after the first lady complained that people she knew were getting deported.

7:05The president then told aides Stephen Miller had gone too far. I mean, are you getting any indication the administration might shift immigration strategy? Well, immigration is still going to be an issue. And there are other things they want to do, I'm told. But the degree to which they can negotiate that with either Congress is just hard to grasp. The problem that the administration has as a whole is not only does it not have the votes in the future Congress, but even in this one, like, you know, in the House, the Republicans might not even return in some cases. Now, in the Senate, it's a little different, but I know you mentioned Rubio leaving.

7:42There were two reports today that just seemed to have been kind of, I don't know, sparked out of a crack pipe. I have absolutely no idea where people are getting this idea that Rubio is suddenly resigning. Now, maybe circumstances will prove me a liar, but I don't know where that's going. But if he wants to run for president, he has to be gone by next Friday because they need to be able to replace him. And the undersecretary isn't going to be capable of doing it. Sure. Last I checked, you can't be in a different country and running for president. Last I checked with Rubio, personally, he's not running for president.

8:10Well. Certainly against J.D. Vance. And J.D. Vance, especially after yesterday we saw, is definitely running for president. J.D. Vance should rethink that because he's going to take the blame for Trump in 28. Should he rethink it? I mean, it's hard to be untethered. We saw his post yesterday about the priorities of the nation. But the heir apparent synonymous with the vice president is not really a thing any longer. I just don't know how it's possible. I mean, he's in the president's shadows. goes, Democrats would have to screw up so badly next year. I mean, so, so badly for the country to say we're willing to elect J.D.

8:43Vance to be president of the United States. A lot of conservatives have stated this. I think many of them are correct. Newt Gingrich has also talked about this. There's just too much baggage with the vice president. I respect him, but associated with the president, I'm not certain that the country wants to go in that direction, including many Republicans. Is that Vance or Republicans more broadly? I think for J.D., the problem is this. if you stay loyal to President Trump, you are tethered to him, a historically unpopular president, has nowhere to go to the ground. But he doesn't have a choice, Kurt.

9:10He's the vice president. Or you break with him and you end up the way the last vice president ended up, Mike Pence, and that didn't look too good for him either. So he's between a rock and a rock. He should actually not run. He should just make that really clear up front right now. I'm not running for president. I'm not going to do that this time down and then let the chips fall where they will and give him some space and distance from Trump to come back maybe in 2032. Too skeptical, Mark. The hardest job in politics, perhaps across the globe, is getting elected United States president. The second hardest job is being nominated by a major party to be the presidential candidate.

9:42So Vance feels he's at least halfway there on the second part. That is really the first part, becoming the nominee. I just find it hard to see that he wouldn't go through with it. the play here is that Democrats would overplay their hand. I'm not saying that they will. We're Democrats. It's not unreasonable. Well, I mean, they've got such big margins in the House that it's going to be a little difficult to sort of have a more disciplined conference, right, a more disciplined caucus. So, you know, things look really sort of chaotic and terrible for the Republicans now. But I remember just a A year and a half ago, people were saying the same thing about the Democrats.

10:25Now it's on the other foot. We're prisoners of the moment. The width and breadth of this victory actually gives Democrats more cushion to not fall into that trap. Because if it was a narrow majority, you could get held hostage by one constitution, by the extreme socialists or the DSA or all that. But because they have such a massive majority in the House, no one entity can hijack the entire agenda, hijack the floor. I'm not going to vote for this unless you do A, B, and C, which is what we've seen Republicans have to navigate for years now, These narrow margins where the extremes hold Kevin McCarthy hostage or Mike Johnson hostage, that's not going to happen to Speaker Hakeem Jeffries.

10:58But I think the vice president is going to have a lot of challenges. I think there is maybe Ted Cruz or DeSantis may want to challenge him in terms of association with the president. You were part of every decision that was made. No foreign wars, you were there. Affordability crisis, you were there. Immigration, you didn't implement it as well as you could have, you were there. So why should the American people give you another opportunity when you are second in command? And I think Republican voters are going to be interested in hearing from other conservative voices with a track record of success like DeSantis.

11:30Ted Cruz has been around a long time. We don't know who else could throw their hats into the ring as well. Last Texas standing for Republicans, Ted Cruz. Who would have thought? Stand by, everyone, okay?

11:43DeSantis is hungry. Up next, Texas turned blue. How about Mississippi? Democrats got Cologne hanging on to his razor-thin lead in the Senate race there as the votes continue to be counted. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett campaigned for Cologne, and she's with me next on that, Texas, and a whole lot more.

12:09The GOP here in the state of Mississippi is trying to scare the citizens of the state of Mississippi to think that Cindy Hyde-Smith actually has the opportunity to win. She does not. Democrats feeling confident that they will pull off a seismic upset in Mississippi. Scott Colombe continues to maintain a very narrow 1 ,800-vote lead over Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, but tens of thousands of ballots remain uncounted, and many of those are absentee or provisional ballots, which tend to favor Democrats. Smith is vowing to, quote, fight like hell, and both parties are sending an army of lawyers down to Mississippi.

12:49This race captured national attention days before the election, but my next guest had her pulse on the trail and thought Mississippi was, quote, fertile ground for Democrats to flip. Outgoing Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett joins me now. First of all, you recognize that Mississippi was in play long before many people did. Why did you think so and that Cologne had a shot? There were a number of factors here. Number one, Benny Thompson, who I call Uncle Benny, is down there in Mississippi. He understands Mississippi. And he was the one that was talking to me about Scott way before anyone else was talking.

13:26I then had an opportunity to meet him myself, talk to him. Scott is someone that flipped a Republican seat to become the elected district attorney. So it showed me that he's able to kind of figure that out. And he held that seat. He didn't just flip it, but he held it. In addition to that, I just thought it was a unique story of somebody who really, really wanted it and was going to fight for it. Many may not know, but Cindy Hyde Smith blocked Cologne from being on the federal bench. She was able to use her power in the Senate, even though he was nominated and he was somebody that President Biden was trying to put on the bench.

14:00and now it became real personal for him because it was a senator that was not looking out for the best interests of the people, but instead was just playing partisan politics. And he worked really hard and had a young team. And so I was really excited not to mention the demographics of Mississippi. They technically favor a Democrat. Almost 40 percent of that state is African American. It was about whether or not we could pull them out. Why did the National Democrats, That's the financial machine not back sooner. I can't tell you, but I can tell you there were a lot of phone calls that were made.

14:33I will tell you that the first senator that was actually on the ground for Scott was Senator Alsa Brooks. Most people probably have not really paid a lot of attention to Senator Alsa Brooks, who is a freshman. But when I tell you that she has been out and on the trail and she has been helping some of the candidates that most people haven't paid attention to, there were a lot of us making phone calls like, hey, Scott's got a shot. He's got a shot. He's got a shot. It was a little bit more difficult, I think, for me because there was no early voting. So for them, they couldn't look at the trend lines very well because there was no early voting.

15:05The polling was kind of all over the place. But one of the things that I looked at was that in that primary, the Democrats were only about a little less than 8000 votes behind the Republicans. And that was with no national attention. In addition to that, three years ago, when they had a candidate that was running for governor, He only lost by three points and they somehow ran out of ballots in one of the largest black and Democratic counties. So I knew that Mississippi could do it because they almost did it three years ago. I want to talk about what happened in your home state of Texas. Yeah, because seismic doesn't seem to cap.

15:40First of all, what is your reaction? Knowing I mean, I got a woman governor. You've got a now Democratic senator. you got down the list by the way there were flip after flip after flip and i can keep going after flips yes what was your reaction yes i was so excited um for the longest i've been preaching that you know people keep saying we're red and i'm like we're not red and i think that people are used to hearing that from texas democrats and southern democrats in general but we don't get the love we don't get the attention we don't get the financial investment and in this particular scenario.

16:13It is like beyond anything that I could have imagined, but everything that I wanted, because when we look at Texas, it is bigger than just one race. You know, it was about, and I'm so ecstatic that Gina is going to be the governor, but I'm more ecstatic that she also has the house, right? Like, it's not that we just put her into a position. She's actually in a position where the House belongs to the Democrats, the governor's mansion belongs to the Democrats, and it's that Senate. I thought we were getting closer, but as the results have come out, unfortunately, they still look like are going to have 19 out of the 31 seats.

16:52But what do you attribute this shift to? What do you think is the, I mean, no, I don't believe in a single issue voter. I believe people do have a variety of things that they want and they're fighting for and no groups of monolith. What do you think was the driving factor here to change it in such a decisive way. Yeah, I think that what we saw across the country and not just Texas was the fact that everyone had been picked on, right? Normally, if you go after one group of people, then that group of people is kind of fighting and doing whatever they need to do. But our farmers and our ranchers are hurting specifically in Texas.

17:27Same thing in Florida. Farmers and ranchers are hurting and same thing in North Carolina, South Carolina. I mean, these are areas where we know that there are rural folk that are losing their farms. I mean, we have a historic number of bankruptcies that are coming in at the same time that we have these communities that are being terrorized as relates to ICE. So it's like, all right, you got everybody that's being terrorized by ICE. You got everybody who's, you know, in rural America dealing with the farmers and the ranchers in Texas. We also had to deal with this voucher scam that the governor recently pushed that was causing schools to shut down in rural Texas as well as urban Texas.

18:02That motivated Hinoasa? That absolutely did. But same thing with data centers. Data centers have been animating. We know in Virginia they are leading the country. We know Texas is right behind Virginia as it relates to data centers. And so that's been animating people across the board, right? They're going to their city councils. They're going to their county. They're going to every level of government. And so I think there was just something for everybody. You know, you don't get enough credit for being a really great strategist. I mean, I've heard you talk over the time that we've gotten to know each other for years now.

18:33about up and down ballot races and the importance of can you win with one without the other, the idea of that coalition, and also this idea that with low propensity voter categories, that there was going to be something that would drive them out. Talk to me about that and how that played in the races, not just in Texas, but all over the country, because one thing that Beto O 'Rourke had to say was that Tallarico, Hinoosa needed each other because they appealed to different demographics. Not one person can win Texas. It's got to be two. I've heard you talk about this as the idea of twin candidates, not necessarily, you know, identical, but those that would be able to pull another.

19:12Yeah, no, I mean, when we look at Joe Biden, Joe Biden had run for president three times. And ultimately, when he got the nomination, he chose Kamala Harris. I truly believe that that was one of the smartest things that Joe Biden could have ever done. I think that where he may have not been as supported, Kamala could bring along that support. And I think going forward, as we start to talk about 2028, it is going to be like, what do the pairings look like? How do we make sure that we can appeal to as large of a cross section of the party as possible? Because we know as people are talking about these different senators that are coming in and different House members that we are all over the place.

19:55But we need to appeal to more people instead of less. And when you look at the coalition that was built specifically in Texas, I kept telling people it's a majority minority state. I look at demographics. I look at who's voting, who's not voting. We know that this was really had a lot to do with number one people of color voting at historic levels and coming out. Because, again, when we look at the numbers as relates to the Anglos, Anglos were not they were not what pushed Hinojosa and Tallarico over. It was people of color voting very strongly for them. Talk to me about what the first six months ought to look like for Democrats who now have the House and the Senate and have to now make good on the promises that turn those voters out.

20:39I think what would be the problem? You were on the oversight committee. Tell me what is the priority, accountability or accounting? I think both. I think you've got to walk and chew gum because you had people that were absolutely so invested in making sure that this corruption is rooted out. That was one of the top polling issues, but also cost. So we've got to deal with tariffs. We've got to deal with the war and we have to deal with these investigations for everybody that's online saying that people need to get locked up. I'm not necessarily disagreeing, but, you know, like I know, who is it that does the locking up?

21:11It's not the House or the Senate. Right. But they are able to begin these investigations. And I do think that they need to do that. But I think that the American people need to understand your work is not done. It is just beginning. If you want to see some real accountability, it can't just be that they conduct the investigations. They will make it clear that this is problematic. But you've got to go out in 2028 and vote and make sure there's a Democratic admin so that the next attorney general of this country can take that information and can prosecute. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, thank you.

21:45Good to see you. Good to see you. Oh, some breaking news out of Washington, D.C. Trump just cleared a major hurdle towards getting his 250-foot arch. The National Planning Commission tonight gave the project final approval. Now, this technically clears the way for Trump to start construction immediately. However, there's already litigation underway opposing it, so it is possible it gets stalled in the courts. Up next, Republicans on the ropes, dazed, confused, and now facing a choice. What to do with the president who steered them to a wipeout? Plus, after years of hearing nonstop claim of voter fraud and denial of election results, did the blue waves just drown out one of Trump's favorite talking points?

22:43Well, the first Trump administration casualty after the midterm blowout came from a surprising source, Trump's own Department of Justice. The head of the Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dillon, resigned today. Now, she led efforts to obtain voter rolls before the midterms, but she was rebuffed in court 27 consecutive times. Dillon herself denied the results of the 2020 election. And last year, remember, she sued Fulton County, Georgia, for refusing to turn over their voting records from that election. But the case was ultimately dismissed. My panel is back with me now. I mean, is she out because she couldn't deliver what Trump repeatedly wanted or some other reason?

23:28I think she's probably trying to take exit stage left before the congressional oversight investigations and subpoenas start flying from Jamie Raskin and the House Judiciary Committee. There's also the reality of a lot of these accusations of voter fraud aren't true. And at a certain point, as an attorney, it probably gets annoying having to constantly search for something that's not there. Like, I can't remember what it said about going, you know, looking for a black hat at midnight and a dark cellar that's not there. Right. Like, that's essentially what they've wound up doing. I think you're right, Mark.

23:58I mean, like, I know her meet. She is a serious attorney. And I think at some point in time, as an attorney, Lori, you would appreciate this. You're working for someone in this and you got to go search. You got to go look here. And you're like, OK, I'm going. But there's nothing there. As a serious practitioner of the law, you're going to say, I don't want to do this anymore. And so I think she's going back to California. She'll go back to her practice and she'll she'll do well. I completely get it. There's not too many people who can keep going through this circle over and over and over again.

24:21I think you're going to see a lot of people leaving in the next couple of months. I wonder if you give too much grace. I mean, I'm an alum of the Civil Rights Division and the voting section. I can tell you about a lot of serious attorneys who watched it happen over and over. It didn't seem to be that it was always top down from out of the DOJ. And they've gutted so many people from the Department of Justice under the leadership of what we should be the crown jewel of the DOJ. Not my words, DOJ's words. I think that she's an unserious person. I think the DOJ has become an unserious organization.

24:49Which is shocking to hear. But I also think that they've become the president's personal lawyers rather than the Department of Justice for the American people. And I think that's the problem here. And I think her is 100 percent right that she is a little bit nervous about oversight. And I think she needs to salvage her reputation or whatever is left of it. But I think what these folks don't understand is you leaving is not going to absolve you from oversight hearings. Yeah, again, I don't think that's why she resigned. I think, again, to Mark's overall point, you accept the job, you want to adhere to what your boss wants, and at some point in time, you realize, like, I can't keep doing this.

25:26Like, you're asking me to search and hunt for things that are just not there. And so any person, I think, with any modicum of self-respect, would say, I got to get the hell out of here. This stuff isn't working. I'm embarrassing myself. I'm ruining my reputation. So I think she did the right thing to go back to her private practice. But again, she's a good person. She is a serious attorney. And I think she's doing what's in her best interest. Can I ask you a genuine, serious question here? Sure. Why, if she was a serious person, would she even accept this job knowing what Trump wanted from her?

25:51I just think that those two things don't square here. A lot of people, I worked for the president once. I mean, there are a lot of good people who would accept jobs from the president of the United States of America. But you didn't accept a job that you knew was going to be doing. I would have quit. I would have left, Meg. Way earlier than my point. But my point is, though, many people will accept jobs from the president of the United States. And I think many people with good intentions will try to adhere to what the POTUS wants. But again, at some point, you just say, I can't do this anymore.

26:14And I would rather people who are decent versus terrible people who really do believe in some of these crazy ideas to try to bring some of them to fruition and also meet the president's desires. She did agree to stay on a little longer. She did want to resign a little earlier, but agreed to stay on. And again, just to be clear, it's not to say that there's no voter fraud anywhere. It's just the types of voter fraud, the systemic voter fraud that actually changes election results. It's not there. It hasn't been found. And at a certain point, she realized that job's not for her. Does that mean politically that that sort of theme is gone as well?

26:50No, whenever there's a close election, you're always going to have accusations against. But you don't have it as as robust as it once was. I mean, you don't hear it right now. That was the criteria. Well, yeah, I mean, every election supervisor's prayer is, I don't care who wins, just make sure it's not a close election. Because when it's a close election, as someone who was in Florida in the 2000 presidential election, saw up close, like, how ugly that can be. Look at Alaska right now. Right, correct. And that is where you have a lot of problems. Now, it would be up to states and should be up to states to make sure they have clean voter rolls and sufficient and fair voter ID and the like, but not every state does that, so you're always going to have those questions, California especially.

27:29And the problem you're talking about, just the idea of it's the rank choice, number one, we don't know. And of course, the president is adamant about that being under the microscope. Yeah. I mean, again, I think having an election that's, you know, Democrats were saying amongst ourselves, too big to F with. Like that's too big to rig. Like that was the election result that we wanted. Had it been anything short of that, like the president, just like a week ago, they were talking about election may not be on the F and up. The results may be this. They were still parading around using some of that groundwork.

28:01They were ready to use that. And it was just it would just be so hilariously ridiculous that no one could deny these results. But even still, some Republicans have that reflex. Lauren Bobar right now, she's out there saying there might be voting irregularities. And that's why this race is so close. We need to investigate that. Like that reflex is still within the DNA of this version of the Republican Party that exists in Donald Trump's world. And my issue with Dylan here, it's like the prerequisite for this job was you had to believe in the big lie. That's my whole point. You're not a good person.

28:32I'm sorry. You're not a good person. I don't believe there's anything altruistic about you at all. You're not leaving because, oh, you've hit your tolerance of nonsense things. Believing in nonsense things was the prerequisite to get the job in the first place. You're not walking away because, oh, I couldn't find anything or because I don't want to do this anymore. You're walking away for another reason. And I think that reason is because judgment day is coming. How do you know that, Kurt? How do I know that? How do you know that? She took the job. The Justice Department. How do you know why she's leaving, though?

29:01Because if you're a good person, you don't perpetrate a lie about the state of our democracy. That's right. And continue to work with something that would erode a Justice Department. But how do you know why she's leaving? How do you know she's not a decent person? How do you know that? She's not a serious person. I think the issue is unresolved. Maybe she'll tell us exactly, or maybe an investigation will reveal. Who knows? Stand by, everyone. Still ahead, he once campaigned as MAGA Mo, a top ally of the president who then faced his political wrath. Tonight, he has a warning for his party. Former Republican Congressman Mo Brooks joins me next.

29:44So where does the Republican Party go next? Tonight, conservatives are scrambling to figure out where it all went so wrong. And how are they going to chart a path forward? While the American people were saying groceries is high, gas is high, health care is high, you're not listening. What you saw in D.C. was self-dealing and corruption and celebrating. The Iran war has dragged on too long. It should have been brief, decisive and over. It needs to end. That repudiation, of course, was a repudiation of Trump. And so we can say without hyperbole or gloating, this is the end of the Trump era. Last night, we're done.

30:27Joining me now, former Republican congressman from Alabama, Mo Brooks. He's a former Trump ally who had a falling out with the president after he pulled his endorsement. Congressman, welcome back. I mean, a lot of finger pointing happening right now among Republicans. What would you say was perhaps the biggest reason for this blowout? Well, the biggest reason is Donald Trump. He said he wanted this race to be about Donald Trump. It was about Donald Trump. And quite frankly, a majority of the voters of America made this determination about Donald Trump. He's a man of poor character, dishonest, you name it.

31:05He's a public policy incompetent, as evidenced by rising interest rates, less affordable housing, worsening unemployment, a$40 trillion debt, and the list goes on and on. And as Senator Ted Cruz pointed out with the war in Iran, it's not being prosecuted as it should, which means that a majority of voters determined that Donald Trump was an incompetent commander-in-chief. And when a majority of voters make those kind of determinations about the titular head of a political party, in this case, the Republican Party, things don't go well and you get the kind of results you got on Tuesday. I mean, you heard Tucker Carlson.

31:44He said this is the end of the Trump era. Mike Pence says voters have rejected the Republican Party's shift toward economic populism. Does the Republican Party need to move on from MAGA entirely or just from Donald Trump? Well, Donald Trump's version of MAGA, let's be clear. MAGA, Make America Great Again, was the campaign slogan and part of Ronald Reagan. And he was immensely popular. In 1984, he won re-election with 49 out of 50 states, something that's practically unheard of. So if you do it the way that Ronald Reagan did, with dignity, the kind that we should have in the White House and expect of our presidents, if you do it through persuasion, as Ronald Reagan did, and you try to get people who are opposed to you to change their minds because they agree that what you're doing is the right thing, then you could succeed.

32:39You never saw Ronald Reagan engaged by way of example in the kind of name-calling that emanates from the White House today, name-calling that really does no good and tends to be the argument of weak minds. So when we talk about the Make America Great Again group of people in America, I think that we're going to be successful again because what is Make America Great Again? It's looking at the foundational principles that have made America the greatest nation in world history now for 80 years. And if we protect and promote those foundational principles, then all of us will be better off for it. And I think we'll do well.

33:18It might not be in 2028, but certainly it ought to be by 2030. Well, let's talk about at least 2028, because before Tuesday, Vance, Rubio, those were two names seen as the most likely Trump successors. Do you think they represent the future of the party as you describe it? Well, the Republican Party needs to use its head and they need to think this through. In my judgment, we should not have as our nominee anyone who's from the White House under Trump. The cabinet under Trump is closely associated with Donald Trump because that will immediately raise the specter of losing all the voters that we lost on Tuesday.

33:59It will also raise the specter of suppressing the turnout of the voters we need to promote our foundational principles arguments that we stand on. So in that vein, Governor Ron DeSantis out of Florida would be excellent. Senator Ted Cruz out of Texas would be excellent. And there may be other candidates out there that would be excellent. But anyone who's a part of this White House, it needs to be a buyer beware situation, Republicans. If we nominate someone who's close to Donald Trump, the issue is once again Donald Trump. But isn't that Cruz, for example? And how are we going to get back all those voters?

34:32Cruz is associated with Trump as being a supporter of his. Is it somebody who is a complete dark horse, not at all related to Trump, or somebody who's expressed any support for him? I think there needs to be substantial separation. and Ted Cruz, since you bring him up, is a man that has proven time and again that he has principles that he believes in that guides him. He is not what I would call a Trumpster or a Trump acolyte who does whatever Donald Trump says, regardless of whether it's right or wrong. So I would say Ted Cruz has that separation, as does Governor DeSantis out of Florida. Former Congressman Mo Brooks.

35:12And there are probably many. Go ahead. Excuse me. Go ahead. I said there are probably many others who would rise to the surface, but you minimize the risk of alienating all these voters we saw on Tuesday who were so badly alienated to do what was done in the House and in the Senate and in many state elections. And the counting is still not yet done. Congressman Mo Brooks, thank you for joining. My pleasure. Up next, the panel's back to answer your questions. Send them on over at cnn.com slash engagepolitics.

35:54All right, it's that time of night where all of you are going to join the conversation with my panel. If you haven't yet, send us your questions, cnn.com slash engagepolitics. All right, here's one. Why can't the Dems do two things at once and govern, i.e. present legislation, as well as investigate the corruption. They can. They will. Because it's not one or the other. You have to do both. They're inexorably linked. And there's also this thing called the Oversight Committee, who has very little legislative jurisdiction. Their entire existence is to investigate. I would know I used to work there.

36:22Okay, well, how about this one? Could Democrats elect someone else to be their leader other than Jeffries and Schumer? Young people want to change. What do you think, Megan? I mean, they definitely could. I don't think that Jeffries or Schumer are going anywhere. Schumer, I think, has more of a problem and more of a hurdle, but I don't think Jeffries has a hurdle. All right. Why exactly is Rubio a top pick? That dude is literally a shadow of his former self and will get tied to this toxic administration. Mark, what do you think? Well, I don't think he's a top pick because I don't think he's going to do it.

36:48But yes, as was said by Mo Brooks there, if a Republican, if a member of this administration runs, it's a lot of baggage to carry on the plane. All right. How about, oh, I noticed that Shermichael seems a lot more comfortable being objective about Republicans since the loss. Why wasn't he more critical before? It's not about not being critical before. It's about accepting the results and the ruling from the American people. And they've stated, hey, you guys have gone in the wrong direction. You need to have some self-reflection, moderate a little bit, come back and show us that you've learned and make your competitive argument against the Democrats.

37:21And to not do that would be nonsensical to me. All right. Does Trump really care to replace cabinet secretaries if Democrats are in power? He seems to love the acting role. What do you think, Mark? I think it's yes and no. In some cases, he really doesn't care. With some entities and other ones, he does. It does seem like he's going to stick with Hegseth for now, though. I wonder, well, how long is for now? For now is for as long as he wants it. There you go. All right. If the narrative is that the war is why the Republicans lost, what is this administration going to do to show they heard the message if they don't fire Hegseth?

37:54I mean, look, I think as Kurt was saying, it takes two to tangle. So even if we try to resolve this, there's no guarantee that Tehran will want to resolve this. They may say we want to give Trump hell for the next two years going into the next administration, leaving that to Democrats, presumably, to resolve this in 2028 if we don't have a good candidate then. What do you think? Yeah, I mean, I think Donald Trump could change his mind at any point in time. He could start another war. He could start another trade war. He could do anything at any point in time. We've seen he's unpredictable. And I don't think he really cares what anybody thinks.

38:24All right. Well, how about this one for us with you? Will Republicans in Texas work with Governor-elect Gina Hinoosa? Well, the governor said she's willing to work with Republicans if they meet her halfway. But the good thing is we ran the table there. We were in every statewide office. We took the majority of the state legislators. So they're going to have to get in line and say it's a new day in Texas. What do you think? I agree with that. But I think Gina is willing to work with anyone. I think she wants to be a governor for the people of Texas. And half the state is probably Republican. And I think it would be smart for her to do so.

38:52Why are you smiling, Texas? I just want my state to go back red. I really do. Sorry, sir. I grew up in Texas. Look what happened, brother. It's a Republican state. It's, you know, we're gun-toting people, and I just want to go back in that direction. But it is what it is. I'm proud of Gina, though, because that's Sochi's sister. I met Gina. She's a wonderful person. She comes from an incredible family. So I actually do wish her well. But, man, Republicans, we've got to get together. Democrats aren't all against, are not necessarily against guns. I don't think they want gun reform here. Oh, Megan.

39:21Yeah, yeah. No reform. No reform. Gina has a big future in the Democratic Party. And I think to do that, she needs to work bipartisan. All right, we'll have this question. Can Democrats change immigration policy now after a big win in both Senate and House? I mean, they could, but this is an argument been going on for decades. And I think that this is something that needs to happen and will happen if there is a bipartisan group of people who want to do this. But this has been going on for decades. They're going to get some changes, I believe. They're going to be able to have the power of the purse to at least make sure that there aren't masked agents and that there's a little more.

39:54Sorry, I was thinking actual immigration reform, that we would have some sort of pathway to citizenship. Oh, no. I thought some real, actual, not just tactics on a road. I see a lot of that. Yeah, accountability is different than actual reform. There's going to be investigations into how ICE was deployed in some of these states. J.B. Pritchard was talking about this. Jamie Raskin was talking about this this morning. So there'll be more accountability in ICE. U.S. citizens were shot to death. You'll see some Republicans, I think, that will work with Democrats on some of the accountability efforts because we want to win that demographic back on into 2028 and 2032.

40:24to. All right. Thank you, everyone. Big picture, little picture. Thank you for the picture. And remember, you can stream my show live on the CNN app, scan the QR code on the bottom of your screen or go to CNN.com slash all access to learn more. The story is that Alex Michelson is next.

40:41Let's have I got news for your ears, the podcast. I am your host, Michael Ian Black. We are talking about the final polls going into the midterms, the hot races getting the most attention. Trump's final argument. Have I got news for your ears? Check us out on Apple, Amazon Music, wherever you get your podcasts. Even better, you can watch the podcast on Spotify.