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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Senate Votes to End Shutdown; Interview with Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA); At Least 10 Killed in Car Blast Near Delhi Metro Station; Senate Votes to End Shutdown, Sending Bill to House; Trump Floats Idea of $2K Tariff Rebates for Americans. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 11, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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COATES: -- than Pete Rose. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB COSTAS, EMMY AWARD-WINNING SPORTSCASTER: It can become bigger because it's everywhere. You can't avoid it. And the leagues are in league with gambling operations. It should be said that the rules remain the same. The rules in baseball that these guys violated were exactly the same as the rules that have been in place since the Black Sox scandal of 1919. The rules that got Pete Rose banned.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: It's a lot. You agree?
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, how can you ever disagree with Bob Costas on something on sports?
COATES: Good point.
MICHAELSON: I'm smart enough to say. He's always right.
COATES: Good point. And you know what's right? Your show right after this. It's going to be a good one, I hear. Have a good one.
MICHAELSON: Thanks, Laura.
"THE STORY IS" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: THE STORY IS Senate vote.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On this vote, the ayes are 60. The nays are 40.
MICHAELSON: Democrats in revolt after a few of their members side with Republicans to likely end the government shutdown. With us, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna is calling on Chuck Schumer to step aside as the party's leader.
THE STORY IS a car bomb in India kills at least 10 people. What we're just learning.
THE STORY IS free money for you?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to issue a dividend to our middle income people and lower income people. About $2,000.
MICHAELSON: Why President Trump's most popular idea in months may not be actually possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from Los Angeles, THE STORY IS with Elex Michaelson.
MICHAELSON: And welcome to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson.
We begin with breaking news from Washington. The longest government shutdown in U.S. history appears to be coming to an end.
A live picture from Washington right now. Senators giving final approval just hours ago to a deal that would fund the government. That deal coming a day after a group of Democrats agreed to a controversial compromise that does not include an extension of the health insurance subsidies that the party has been fighting so hard for, though senators did get a promise of a vote on those subsidies next month, but not any guarantee of a deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On this vote, the ayes are 60, the nays are 40. The bill, as amended, is passed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: The Senate measure will now go to the House, where a vote is expected on Wednesday. Many Senate Democrats say they're disappointed that their caucus caved to Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): Look, what just happened in the Senate chamber was an absolute disgrace. I just -- I can't stress it enough. Just, it was very profoundly disturbing to be there in that chamber where Senator McCain famously was able to stop the Republicans from gutting the Affordable Care Act. That's what got me to step up the run for Congress. Like, I literally ran for Congress in 2018 to protect our health care, to protect the Affordable Care Act. And I just -- I'm really gutted right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: This is a look at the eight senators who voted for this deal. Note that none of them are up for reelection next year.
CNN's Manu Raju spoke to many of them. He joins us now from Capitol Hill. Manu, thanks for being with us. Why did these senators say now is the
time?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they believe that there's really no other choice. I mean, look, they had battled to try to get the Republicans and Donald Trump to deal with the issue of health care spending in particular. They made that the chief focus of this fight and why they opposed a straight extension of government funding 14 times over the last 41 days.
But because Donald Trump and Republicans made very clear they were not going to agree to any extension of the expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which people, of course, use to pay for their health care premiums, they said that this is -- there's simply no way out. They could either keep hoping that Donald Trump will come to the table, while the consequences of this painful government shutdown continue to pile up.
This is what Senator Angus King said to me when I asked him about the belief among some Democrats that they capitulated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): I understand my colleagues wanted to make this stand and say, well, the Republicans are going to come to the table and negotiate. There was no indication that they were going to do that. If the strategy you're following isn't working and it's also hurting people in the process, it seems to me it's time to change the strategy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: So this was their time for leverage, and a lot of Democrats believe that was squandered after this 41-day fight that did not lead to the result, which was to try to get -- have something to do with health care, ultimately not included in this final package -- Elex.
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MICHAELSON: Yes. And part of that frustration is directed at the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, not only from his own party, but getting a shot also from Donald Trump, who was on Laura Ingraham's show on FOX News Channel. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I think he made a mistake in going too far. He --
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Going too far, how?
TRUMP: Well, he just went too far. He thought he could break the Republicans and the Republicans broke him.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: So what's the caucus saying about Chuck Schumer off camera, behind the scenes? And is it true that there are some members that are kind of glad that these eight people did this so that this shutdown is over?
RAJU: Yes, there's a lot of belief. It's, you know, vote no and hope yes. That is the -- what people say around here in the halls of the Capitol because that is -- a lot of the members did not want to take the brunt of the criticism for voting yes. And maybe Chuck Schumer is one of them.
Now, this has been such a fascinating thing to see how this has evolved over the last -- since March. Remember back at that point, that's when Chuck Schumer voted to keep the government open in that first funding deal, that extended government funding until the end of September. At that time, he indicated they were going to fight Donald Trump, use that same piece of leverage to try to extract some concessions.
He ultimately caved. He said that the government shutdown was not worth it. He voted with the Republicans and he endured months of backlash from the left flank, including from House Democrats like House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. This time, he said, we were not going to do that at all. He made very clear on the onset he was going to align himself with Jeffries and House Democrats and his base, he was going to fight this very, very hard.
And he was opposed. He opposed this deal, and he ultimately voted no on this bill. But Schumer is, as John Fetterman who was voted for this plan time and time again to open the government, has been opposed to his party's government shutdown strategy, told me, he said, look, you can't make nice with some of these people on the left flank of your party. Once you're not in their good graces, it's very hard to get back in their good graces. And he said, Chuck Schumer has essentially learned that lesson.
And let's see if he has because the question for him is going to be, not necessarily if he can remain as leader in the next Congress, that is not going to be decided until at the end of the next year's midterms but whether he can run for reelection again in his next election cycle come 2028. And that's going to be a challenge for him in his primary. But those are -- that's years away. Perhaps Schumer can repair the damage he's feeling from the left flank of his party. But at the moment, the criticism on the left is kind of unrelenting -- Elex.
MICHAELSON: And that left flank certainly seems right now to want Senator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat from New York, instead, and Senator Fetterman certainly knows what it's like to have the left flank not be in favor of him. He's learned that himself.
Manu Raju, thank you for your reporting. Thanks for staying up late with us. We appreciate it.
RAJU: Absolutely. Thank you, Elex. MICHAELSON: Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna from California posted on
X, quote, "Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced. You can't lead the fight to stop health care premiums from skyrocketing for Americans. What will you fight for?"
Congressman Khanna joins us right now.
Thank you so much for being with us. And welcome to THE STORY IS for the first time.
REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Thank you. Congrats on the show.
MICHAELSON: Thank you very much. So, Senator Schumer voted no. He wasn't even publicly in favor of all this. Why is this his fault?
KHANNA: Well, look, he orchestrated it. Here are a few of the facts. Senator Shaheen was on this morning saying every negotiation was run by him every day. His number two, Dick Durbin, voted for it. And then did you notice that all eight senators who voted for it were not up for reelection in 2026? That's not a coincidence. This was done with Senator Schumer's blessing. I think people are more upset that he doesn't just come out and say that.
And if you're not going to lead in stopping premium hikes on health care, in preserving the Affordable Care Act, then it's time for you to step aside.
MICHAELSON: Step aside from Congress altogether, as in, leave New York right now or just not run for reelection?
KHANNA: Just step aside as the minority leader. Obviously, he's been elected by the people of New York. And look, I respect a lot of his achievements. We worked together on the Chips Act. He was instrumental on that. He was instrumental in passing the Inflation Reduction Act. He was instrumental in passing the infrastructure bill. But the reality is he's not the right leader now. We need new young leaders who are going to be aggressive.
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MICHAELSON: As you mentioned, his number two, Dick Durbin, voted for this. Who do you think should be running the Democratic caucus?
KHANNA: Well, look, that's for the senators to decide. I think it's enough that a House member is called for the minority leader to step aside. But I'm just expressing the frustrations of a lot of Democrats who, after Tuesday night, wanted us to fight.
Look, there are good people. People like Chris Murphy, people like Chris Van Hollen, Elizabeth Warren. But I'll leave that decision for the Senate caucus.
MICHAELSON: There's also a lot of frustration, though, of regular Americans who don't really care that much about the shutdown, but are frustrated when they go to the airport and they're being delayed or they're facing cancellations. People that are federal workers that are not getting paid on time, all the rest of it.
What do you say to people who said there was -- there was no path forward on this and that we needed to come to a deal to just get this closed government back open again?
KHANNA: Well, first of all, I share their frustration. I was stuck at Fort Worth airport yesterday for six hours. I was flying into Raleigh- Durham and the planes kept getting delayed, I get it. But you know what happened while I was there? Someone ran up to me and they showed me their phone. They said their father is a taxi driver in Arizona, and their premium for their father who has cancer is going up from $44 a month to $2600 a month, going up in $600 deductible to $6,000 deductible.
That's what we were fighting for. We could have had a single issue vote on extending SNAP benefits, on paying our troops, and on paying federal workers. I always said I would support that. But we did not need to pass a budget on the backs of the 20 million Americans whose premiums are going to go up and who may lose health care.
MICHAELSON: Ro Khanna, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your views.
KHANNA: Thank you so much, Elex.
MICHAELSON: Although it appears that the shutdown will end soon, U.S. air travel will likely remain a mess until it does.
Here's a live look at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, busiest airport in the world. Just one of many airports across the U.S. experiencing either delays, cancellations, staffing shortages, or a mix of all three.
Massive delays were reported across the U.S. on Monday. Some of the highest were in Chicago, where arrivals delayed on average by five hours. And that's with just a 4 percent reduction in services. The FAA is now mandating that number goes up to 6 percent Tuesday. Even higher later on this week. That means all this is only going to get worse. More frustrating for travelers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Their text message says it's weather disturbance, and I'm like, that's crap because no flights are grounded. I'm exhausted, I am tired, I am mad, I had to call the customer service. They couldn't give me anything. Yes, I'm tired. I just want to sleep. It's been -- no, it's not OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: So that frustration and anxiety felt by many passengers prompting one pilot to make this heartfelt promise to those on his flight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know we probably have quite a few nervous fliers today. It is perfectly understandable. I want to emphasize this aircraft does not moved a single inch unless both my co-captain Michael and myself are absolutely certain it's safe to do so. Top that off, before I left the house on this trip, my little one has learned the word ice cream, and she made me make sure I promised her to get her ice cream when I get back home from the trip.
That being said, nothing and I mean absolutely nothing unsafe comes in between me, that little girl and her ice cream. I know you guys probably have some similar plans. Maybe not tonight, but probably tomorrow afternoon once we get you up to Raleigh. Please feel free to join our Wi-Fi and take care of picking out which place you guys are going to get ice cream, or shoot your friends and family a text about what you guys do on the flight.
It's going to be short. It should be a really nice day to go flying. We'll get you guys up there safely. Again, thank you so much for your help here in the boarding process. We'll get underway. Welcome aboard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Anybody else really in the mood for ice cream right now? That sounds good. A nice way to make everybody feel better.
Meanwhile, that Senate vote to end the government shutdown does not bring immediate relief for tens of millions of hungry Americans whose food stamps are cut off currently. On Monday, the Trump administration continued its fight to keep from paying those SNAP benefits during the shutdown, arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court that complying with last week's federal court order to fund the program would actually jeopardize shutdown negotiations.
Meanwhile, another federal judge lambasted the White House for sending what she called, quote, "threatening letters to states" which began processing SNAP benefits amid the chaos. Some Democratic governors said they will not let their constituents go hungry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. MAURA HEALEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: The president may have made a choice to starve Americans, but I'm not going to let that happen here in Massachusetts. It's pretty cruel in the first instance to deny funding to Americans. If Donald Trump is now going to go and take back funding from Americans, all of whom were poor enough to qualify for SNAP, I just find that unimaginable, even hard to believe for as callous as Donald Trump is.
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GOV. TONY EVERS (D), WISCONSIN: The people that are part of this program deserve 100 percent. We did it exactly like the judge said it was going to happen. They said -- the judge said to the president, hey, by the way, this is wrong. You're going to -- you pay for the whole thing like they always do. The card should be 100 percent. And that's what exactly what we did. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Now THE STORY IS the weather. A powerful arctic blast is slamming much of the U.S., bringing dangerous lake effect snow to the Great Lakes and record-breaking cold across the east. More than a foot of snow has buried parts of Michigan, Indiana, and the Chicago area, knocking out power and snarling traffic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In neighborhoods that wasn't plowed too well, but I saw the guys, they hit like six deep, eight deep. They're all going down the roads to try to get everything done. You know, doing the best they can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: That same polar air is pushing deep into the south, with freeze warnings stretching down to Florida and record lows expected Tuesday morning. Forecasters say the deep freeze will peak on Tuesday but will be short-lived, with temperatures due to rise by midweek. But at least one guy has been having some fun with the first snow of the year. You know what they say, if you've got it, flaunt it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Traditionally, I've done this since I was about 10 or 11 when my stepfather came into my life as a dairy made me do it. And I've been doing it ever since about 30. I'm 34 now so I've been doing it every first snowfall every year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Look at that guy go. Very nice.
The arctic blast made for a chilly Monday Night Football at Green Bays' Lambeau Field, where the Philadelphia Eagles edged the Packers 10 to 7 in freezing conditions. Both defenses held through three quarters. But look at that, quarterback Jalen Hurts hits up Devonta Smith for the game's only touchdown. What a catch by that guy who's on my fantasy team. Yes, some point for me.
Green Bay scored late but could not complete the comeback there. This is the second consecutive loss for the Packers. Philadelphia's win makes it three in a row for them. Keeping them on top of the NFC East.
Well, coming up, India is on high alert after a deadly car explosion near a popular landmark. And one doctor warns many victims who were badly injured may not recover. Plus, for the first time in history, the White House welcomes a president of Syria. Not everybody's happy about that.
THE STORY IS comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:22:12]
MICHAELSON: At least 10 people are dead and dozens more badly injured after a car explosion in Delhi, India. It happened Monday near a metro station at the historic Red Fort Monument.
CNN's Mike Valerio is following the latest. He's live for us in Beijing.
Mike, there's still no motive police are giving as to what or who is behind this, right?
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And we want to be incredibly careful with our reporting for that reason. A myriad other reasons, Elex. So police have not connected this horrifying explosion to any person as of yet. They have not connected it to any group as of yet. But notable within the past couple of hours as we took over the reporting and certainly helping our colleagues in India, we've been able to confirm that police are investigating this blast under one of India's anti-terrorism laws.
So that is important to keep in mind as we get more facts and information throughout the day. But, you know, Elex, I want to show some new video to our audience of just what this looks like. As you said in the intro, this is very close to the Red Fort in the, you know, in the consciousness of more than 1.4 billion citizens of India. This historic landmark in Delhi happening right in rush hour last evening.
Let's also play a soundbite. This has not been on TV yet. We haven't put this on any of our social platforms either. Just coming into us at CNN. This is an ambulance driver. Listen closely to what he and his friends saw when he showed up at the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When we reached the spot, we could find only bodies. We went there with about 10 ambulances and found about four to five bodies and brought them to the hospital. The bodies were in parts. We had to pick different parts and bring them back in the ambulances, and later brought them to the hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIO: Yes, I'm sorry we have to play that. But, you know, that's a sense of what Delhi is facing right now in the aftermath of that attack. So how it happened, as far as we understand, 6:42 p.m., about a quarter to 7:00, police describe a slow moving vehicle stopping near a red light. There's a big traffic jam. And then the explosion happens. Six vehicles also torched from the explosion, three auto rickshaws. And, you know, innocent people in those rickshaws as well, also set on fire, according to Delhi's deputy fire chief.
So I think it's important for people to realize that this is not just something that's impacted one city. This has spread. The ripple effects have spread throughout the country to more than a billion people. Again, airports, railway stations, government buildings, heritage sites, according to India's Central Industrial Security Force have all been put under a state of heightened alert. So in terms of where the story line is going, as we wrap up here, the question of who is responsible or why looms large.
[00:25:04]
And in the next hour we're expecting to hear India's Home minister, who's essentially the country's top security official, not so much hear from him, but he's going to be meeting with people who are investigating this incident. So we could expect an update from him in the hours to come, Elex.
MICHAELSON: Yes, those are a lot of questions that we still have. And that is scary to not have more information in terms of what or who or any of it.
VALERIO: Right.
MICHAELSON: So if you get more information, we will bring you back here on THE STORY IS.
Mike Valerio, live for us in Beijing. Thank you so much.
Meanwhile, in Washington, the president of Syria is now the country's first ever head of state to visit the White House. Monday's meeting with President Trump comes as Ahmed Al-Sharaa looks to reverse his country's isolation on the world stage. The U.S. says it will extend its pause on most sanctions against Syria for an additional 180 days. And Al-Sharaa is also urging the U.S. to ramp up pressure on Israel to halt military operations in southern Syria.
President Trump optimistic after the meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We want to see Syria become a country that's very successful, and I think this leader can do it. I really do. I think this leader can do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Over the weekend, Al-Sharaa was seen playing basketball with top U.S. military officials just days after the U.S. removed the former jihadist status as a specially designated global terrorist.
Syrian president's visit not sitting well with some members of the Republican Party. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has spoken out against the president often in recent days, posting a tweet with a wanted poster of Ahmed Al-Sharaa directly calling him a terrorist. She also called on President Trump to focus on domestic policy, not foreign policy.
When asked by CNN about Greene's criticism, President Trump suggested she had, quote, "lost her way."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I don't know what happened to Marjorie. She's a nice woman, but I don't know what happened. She's lost her way, I think. But when somebody like Marjorie goes over and starts making statements like that, it shows she doesn't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Greene later responded to the president's remarks, saying, quote, "I haven't lost my way. I'm 100 percent America first and only."
Meanwhile, President Trump has pardoned a long list of allies who either supported or had some kind of role in plans to overturn the 2020 election, which he continues to claim falsely was rigged against him. They include his former attorney general -- former attorneys, I should say, Rudy Giuliani, and Sidney Powell, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and dozens more. Those pardons, though, only apply to federal charges, not state charges, which may -- many on that list still face.
The White House says, quote, "These great Americans were persecuted and put through hell by the Biden administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy."
The U.S. Senate votes to end the government shutdown. So who are the winners and losers of all that? Our panel, Caroline Heldman and Roxanne Beckford Hoge, are here to discuss. They will join us to talk about that. Plus talk about January 6th and a whole lot more, maybe even talking about "Wicked."
You see them standing by live. We'll talk with them next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to "The Story Is." I'm Elex Michaelson. Let's take a look at our top stories.
[00:33:06]
The longest government shutdown in history is one step closer to ending. The Senate has approved a compromise bill supported by a handful of Democrats to fund the government. It now moves to the House, with a vote there expected as soon as Wednesday. President Trump says he supports the measure.
Families of nine Texas flooding victims are filing three separate lawsuits against Kerr County's Camp Mystic and its owners. They're accusing Camp Mystic of gross negligence after 25 campers, two counselors, and the camp director were all killed in the devastating flooding there in July.
Each lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in damages.
Tuesday is Veterans Day in the U.S., honoring those who have served in the armed forces. In the coming hours, President Trump will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The president's also due to speak at the event before returning to the White House.
Now, the latest on the shutdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): The long national nightmare is almost coming to an end now.
It really was a shutdown about nothing. I mean, what we're voting on is effectively exactly what we offered them several weeks back. We've added some appropriations bills now, which we're in favor of, because it's getting us back to the regular order. We'll take care of some other details.
But I don't think Chuck Schumer got anything out of this other than a political show. And sadly, I think that's what he was after the whole time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: That was Speaker Mike Johnson with Jake Tapper on CNN earlier. Our panel is here to discuss that and more.
Caroline Heldman is a Democratic strategist and a professor at Occidental College. She's written about a million books on the presidency. Roxanne Beckford Hoge is chair of the Los Angeles County Republican Party.
Ladies, welcome to "The Story Is" for the first time.
CAROLINE HELDMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yay! Good to see you, Elex.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
ROXANNE BECKFORD HOGE, CHAIR, LOS ANGELES COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: And thank you for having us at your --
MICHAELSON: Great to have you here. Let's start with you, Caroline. Democrats are all over the map in terms of what they think about the end of this shutdown. Where are you?
HELDMAN: Well, I think it was a good idea for the Democrats to call it closed now. And I think it was very clear that they were not going to get concessions from the president. His tolerance for the pain and suffering of Americans far exceeded their tolerance. And so, it's -- it was obviously the right choice.
And I'll go a step further to say the fact that they chose eight people who -- eight Democrats or people who caucus with the Democrats, who two are retiring and the rest are not up for reelection until 2028, 2030, tells you everything you need to know.
This was planned by the party. So, as much as they're going to feign outrage, they achieved their goal, which was to raise awareness of the fact that healthcare premiums are going to go up for over 20 million Americans, and that is on Trump's watch. And that is the Republicans' problem.
MICHAELSON: And at a time when the flight delays are getting worse, the SNAP benefit problems are getting worse. People really starting to feel the pain of this shutdown. Your thoughts?
HOGE: Well, that is the best "making lemonade out of lemons" I've ever heard. That was awesome.
The truth is that this was a performative shutdown. The Democrats made it very clear they wanted to cause pain in time for the elections, and they got what they wanted in the elections. They won in blue areas. Woo-hoo!
They didn't care about the pain and suffering of the American people. They certainly didn't care when it was our armed services leaders who were -- members who were not getting paid. But once those benefits for illegals kicked in, man, they were Johnny on the spot with that.
MICHAELSON: Caroline, your response?
HELDMAN: My response -- I mean, it's factually incorrect to say that the Affordable Care Act was going to be extended to people who don't have papers here. Can we just fact correct on that?
MICHAELSON: True.
HELDMAN: But also, no, they -- they -- also the Democrats are absolutely going to come ahead on this. We're already seeing it in polls.
So, Trump was averaging in the low 40s for polling. He's now in the high 30s. Two thirds of Americans think the country's headed in the wrong direction. Prices are going up for everything.
And when folks see their health care, some of them are going to have healthcare premiums that go up 200 percent. We're talking over 20 million Americans. This is something that the Republicans now absolutely own.
So, the polling tells us the country is going in the wrong direction, that Donald Trump has not focused enough on the economy. Prices are up for everything. And so, this really hammers it home.
This is the midterm elections. I don't know how the Republicans are going to get out of this.
MICHAELSON: I mean, isn't it objectively true what she's talking about?
HOGE: I wasn't -- I wasn't talking about the health care. It was -- this was over SNAP. SNAP. Like, they were -- they were -- the Democrats were working very hard to reward payments, in whatever way, to illegal aliens.
HELDMAN: It's for people who are hungry. SNAP benefits are poor. I was on SNAP benefits when I was a kid. MICHAELSON: Is it bad? I mean, is it bad to feed people that are
hungry?
HOGE: No, it's not, but it's very interesting that they didn't care about public safety. Not with -- not with the flights.
I landed in Burbank the first night of the shutdown where they said, well, we're being -- air traffic control is remote tonight.
They didn't give a rat's patootie about that, when it was public safety of rank-and-file Americans.
And the truth is that they're not ahead. I can tell you that, because we live in California, where 64 percent or more of people say that this state is on the wrong track. And yet, they turn around and hand Gavin Newsom whatever he wants, whenever he wants it.
So, it's debatable as to whether the president's personal approval rating means anything. And we'll see.
MICHAELSON: What do you make -- what do you make, Caroline, of the fact that so many people in the Democratic base are angry? They're saying not what you're saying. They're saying that Chuck Schumer is to blame, that the Democrats caved. And once again, the Democrats were weak.
HELDMAN: Well, I think they're maybe not looking at it long term. And I understand the outrage, because all three branches of government are tied up with Republicans. Democrats feel disempowered. They wanted Democrats to push back.
MICHAELSON: And this was the only leverage they had, was the filibuster in the Senate.
HELDMAN: That's right. But they didn't have any leverage. It was very clear once they got Donald Trump to the table, he was not going to negotiate.
And so, what we saw was that Democrats have a higher level of empathy, and their tolerance for the pain and suffering of everyday Americans was -- you know, Donald Trump and the Republican Party did not care. I mean, he was throwing this garish Gatsby party when SNAP benefits, when Food Stamps ran out. I couldn't imagine that visual really flying with any previous president.
So, it is very clear to me that they needed to get out of this. And they needed to get out of it before the polls turn, because the polls right now blame Republicans for the shutdown.
MICHAELSON: Yes. I see you making a face.
HOGE: I'm just wondering about where this high level of empathy was when Gavin Newsom and Democrats in blue areas, in particular, shut down schools for two years, which leads to generational destruction and trauma for an entire cohort of American young people, four of whom were living in my house. HELDMAN: There are no --
HOGE: There was no empathy.
HELDMAN: Many of them who are still -- who are still alive because of -- I'm sorry, but can we talk about --
HOGE: Some of them killed themselves because of what went on with the shutdowns.
HELDMAN: Can we talk --
HOGE: I will never forgive --
HELDMAN: I will embrace that complexity.
HOGE: -- the Democrats for what they did, knocking down livelihoods of people and families in COVID.
[00:40:05]
HELDMAN: Roxanne, it is a complicated issue, but the fact of the matter is that, if you lived in a district that went heavily for Donald Trump, you had a 2.5 times greater likelihood of dying from COVID than if you lived in a place that went strongly for Joe Biden.
HOGE: Correlation, not causation.
HELDMAN: You have to --
HOGE: It's a thing. It's a thing.
MICHAELSON: Well, you brought up Gavin Newsom. He just had a big win. Your party fought him here in California, lost big last week. He headed to Texas for a big campaign rally. Standing room only and --
HOGE: Big. Big. Small room.
MICHAELSON: And headed -- headed to -- to -- to Brazil, where he is now at the COP conference, meeting with world leaders. President Trump is not there. Governor Newsom is. Your thoughts on -- on Governor Newsom on the world stage?
HOGE: He's an amazing actor on the world stage, skating ever so close to the Logan Act, trying to make deals on his own and do things to subvert the fact that we actually have a chief executive.
And -- and I've seen people say, you know, Governor Newsom should be -- should be here helping to govern California. No, stay. Stay in Brazil. Go wherever you want to go. Have parties and standing room only stuff, because the things he has done here in California have not been good.
MICHAELSON: Your thoughts? I know you know Governor Newsom and his wife pretty well. Your thoughts on--
HELDMAN: I'm a little biased.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
HELDMAN: He's a smart guy. He's a policy wonk. He's out of central casting when it comes to what we think a presidency should look like. Unfortunately, doesn't leave a whole lot of space for women or people of color, by and large, in the political imaginary of the presidency.
But I will say he -- he is the Democrat who is taking the strongest stance.
So, it is not surprising to me, for example, he's coming out strong and saying we shouldn't have backed down. He -- you know, Prop 50, obviously, that was a huge victory for him.
And at the end of the day, if our commander in chief is not showing up to the COP30 and to other environmental summits, then yes, Gavin Newsom should step into that, because he is now on the national stage. He is very clearly running for president.
MICHAELSON: Who do you think is the strongest Democratic nominee?
HOGE: I know a lot of people will say Gavin, and I'm sure he's a lovely guy. And he certainly took care of his kids, who got to go to school in person in COVID. That was nice of him as a father.
But I think he's going to run head first into the wall that is progressive politics. The left does not like a straight white man to begin with, but they'll forgive that if you're progressive enough. And he's not progressive.
HELDMAN: My goodness, this is the man who -- who signed gay marriage into law. I mean, as --
HOGE: What have you done for me lately, is what the progressive caucus is going to say.
HELDMAN: We are the fourth largest economy in the world. He not only is advancing the tech sector and being friendly with them in a way that is promoting their business, he is also the only person who is addressing, on the global stage, the environmental crisis. So, I think you're underestimating the fact that he's a centrist.
HOGE: I agree he looks good now, but we have to remember that this is so far away.
MICHAELSON: We've got a long --
HOGE: Things can happen.
MICHAELSON: We've got a long -- we've got a long way.
HELDMAN: There's a lot of candidates.
MICHAELSON: We've got a long way to go. We don't even know who's going to get in the race yet. But we do like to end with something fun here on the show. So --
HOGE: This was fun.
HELDMAN: Yay.
MICHAELSON: This was fun. So, "Wicked" is back. And we just had the premiere tonight in London, where we get to see the cast coming back for this is the second act of the -- of the "Wicked" series. This is "For Good." We see Cynthia Erivo and -- and Ariana Grande back, holding hands.
What -- are we excited about this? Do we care? Are we --
HELDMAN: Shall we?
HOGE: Yes. Let's hold hands and do the same. The truth is that good art and entertainment should transcend politics. And I'm for this 100 percent.
HELDMAN: Amen.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
HELDMAN: And anything with great music and a great cast. You had me. I've been excited to see the second part.
MICHAELSON: So, which one is the good witch and which one is the bad?
HELDMAN: For sure, I'm the bad witch.
HOGE: I want to be bad witch. I want to be bad.
HELDMAN: Sorry.
HOGE: It's always the better part.
MICHAELSON: Yes, it's all in the eye of the beholder, as they say.
Caroline, Roxanne, great to see you both. Thanks so much for coming in. We'll be right back with more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:48:40]
MICHAELSON: President Trump now says he wants to send out $2,000 rebate checks, paid for by his tariffs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: One of the things we're going to do, we're going to issue a dividend to our middle-income people and lower- income people of about $2,000. And we're going to use the remaining tariffs to lower our debt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: He likely can't actually do that without congressional approval. And it's not clear that we've collected enough money to actually pay for that.
Yet, the concept of free money for everybody seems really popular.
CNN's Harry Enten is the data guy for the network. He joins me from New York.
Harry, welcome to "The Story Is" for the first time. Excited to talk to you for the first time.
HARRY ENTEN: My pleasure. Finally, I'm on in prime time on the West Coast. I've been looking forward to it.
MICHAELSON: Harry, people -- people like free money, apparently.
ENTEN: Who knew? Who knew? I mean, the bottom line is we all like money. You can see the size of my wallet right here, I love money.
But look, at the end of the day when we're looking at this issue, Elex, it is so clear that this has grabbed the attention of the American people.
What are we talking about here? Well, why don't we just look at Google searches for stimulus check? Look at this: up 3,000 percent versus Saturday. It is now the top topic associated with Donald Trump on Google.
[00:50:02]
After months of negative press coverage for Donald Trump, I think this is him trying to turn that press wheel around and move to a topic in which people are enthralled by it and seem to be very interested in.
MICHAELSON: Which is interesting, because the concept of tariffs themselves don't poll all that great.
ENTEN: No. In fact, I think this is what Donald Trump is doing politically, realizing that tariffs poll horribly and say, I want to turn that wheel upside-down.
What are we talking about here? Well, let's take a look at Trump's jobs on tariff. Approved: just 37 percent of Americans approve of the job that Donald Trump has done on tariffs. The lion's share, a supermajority, more than 3 in 5 disapprove, 61 percent.
I was going through the list of issues, Elex, and I will tell you that tariffs on the list of issues, in terms of how folks feel about Donald Trump's job performance, rates near the bottom. And it's something that has only become more unpopular during Trump's term.
That's, of course, why I think he wants to offer these checks. He wants to turn this 61 percent, move it from the disapprove to the approve. But of course, as you pointed out, there are a lot of potential
problems with actually offering him. He can't do it unilaterally, most likely.
MICHAELSON: And it's interesting, because when Donald Trump was president, he sent out stimulus checks that he signed. When Joe Biden was president, he sent out stimulus checks that he didn't sign. And Joe Biden has said that one of his only regrets as president was not signing those checks.
ENTEN: Yes. And there's a good reason why it's one of his regrets. It's because it turns out Donald Trump knew what he was doing by putting his name on those stimulus checks.
In fact, there was this great experiment that was run, and essentially, what it found was, if you got a stimulus check with Trump's name on it back in 2020, you were 20 percent plus more likely to vote for Donald Trump than those who, in fact, did not get those stimulus checks with Donald Trump's name on it.
So, I think Trump sees that example from the past, doesn't want the same regret that Joe Biden; has said, you know what? People don't like me on tariffs. But maybe if I send them a check with my name on it, maybe I could get double -- double the fun that I got back in 2020.
And basically say, you know what? Maybe folks will actually like me more and like me more specifically when it comes to tariffs.
Hey, it's worth a try, I think he thinks.
MICHAELSON: Doesn't this remind you a little bit of like student council, when people promise free ice cream? Like, people like it.
ENTEN: I remember, I promised that what we would have was more comfortable chairs. Because if you've ever been to a classroom, they all basically have the same chairs that try and give you, you know, very, you know, very good posture, but they feel really uncomfortable. So, my idea was, of course, offering more comfortable chairs.
Needless to say, once I was elected, I totally forgot about the idea. And those guys were a bunch of suckers for voting me in.
MICHAELSON: All right. Speaking of suckers, I hear you're a big fan of the Buffalo Bills. How about their performance this weekend?
ENTEN: I would say that their performance, as I wear my Bills hard hat here, was absolutely atrocious. Oh, my goodness gracious. Can we just beat a team that had, what, like two wins going into the game?
No, we're going to play down to their level; play absolutely horrible; ruin my Sunday. Already work hard enough during the week. You would hope that the Bills could perform on Sunday for the people of Western New York and their fans throughout the country.
But no, they have to make it more difficult. But you know what? There's no other place I'd rather be than right
here, right now, to quote Marv Levy, whether that's rooting for the Bills or being here with you, my first time on your program.
MICHAELSON: Well, you know, as a Los Angeles guy, there's plenty of room on the Rams bandwagon.
ENTEN: Oh, get that -- not -- not --
MICHAELSON: And we've got -- we've got the hot -- the hottest team in football right now. The hottest quarterback is 37 years old in Matthew Stafford. So, you're missing out. That's all I'm saying.
ENTEN: I would rather be on the frozen train heading into Buffalo, New York, than the hot train heading into L.A. any day of the week.
MICHAELSON: Enjoy the sunshine out here. All right, Harry, thank you so much.
ENTEN: I'll see you later, buddy.
MICHAELSON: Great to have you and hope to have you back soon.
ENTEN: Thank you. Sounds great.
MICHAELSON: Now, not such great news if you're a Giants fan these days. The Giants parted ways with their head coach, Brian Daboll.
His firing follows Sunday's 24-20 loss to the Chicago Bears. The defeat put New York at two wins, eight losses through its first ten games of the season.
The longtime NFL coach enjoyed a promising start with the Giants, being named NFL Coach of the Year back in 2022.
But in a statement, the team called the past few seasons, quote, "nothing short of disappointing." Daboll ends his time as head coach there with a 24 and one -- 20, 40 and one regular season record.
As we go to break, we take a live picture from St. Louis, Missouri, where they're part of that freeze that's going on. It's just 27 degrees right now at the Arch, which is a different picture than what you're seeing out West, the Sphere, where they're having fun with that "Wizard of Oz" show. Right now is 62 degrees. So, more than a 40- degree difference between these different parts of our country.
More -- there it is, "The Wizard of Oz," as we get ready for -- for the big opening of -- the -- the "Wizard of Oz" movie this weekend. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:59:52]
MICHAELSON: That is a look at what is called a rare volnado. It is spotted near Hawaii's Kilauea volcano there, caught on camera. Kilauea has been spewing lava from its summit crater about once a week
since late last year. An eruption on Sunday sent molten rock shooting over 1,000 feet into the air.
