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It is Friday, April 4th. Here's what's happening right now on CNN. I think it's a noble goal, but it feels like there's a lot of pain in between here and then. Are you feeling the pain? The markets sure are with their worst day since the pandemic. What futures look like just hours before the opening bell. Plus... When immigrant rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up like that!

A day of protests this weekend. People across the country preparing to take to the streets to speak out against the Trump administration. But what can protests actually accomplish this time around? Plus this. It was just devastating to come up and see what's going on here and that nothing's left. You're looking at trees ripped from the roots, cars flipped over, homes left in splinters. Now some of those same places are at risk for a once-in-a-lifetime flooding event. And...

The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. Could tariffs save TikTok? The deadline is tomorrow, but the president thinks his new levies on China may help in the deal-making process.

It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Good morning to Honolulu. It's just past midnight there. Happy Friday to you all. Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me. And let's start here. Have you checked your 401k? Don't. Because it was the worst day for the stock market since March of 2020. And now even more concern that President Trump's global trade war could trigger a recession.

We haven't seen anything, in my opinion, this disruptive as long as I've been in the business. We thought we better come now. Yeah. Well, we still can. And we still have our Social Security. Here's what we know. The Dow closed nearly 1,700 points down Thursday. The Nasdaq losing close to 6 percent. The S&P 500 nearly 5 percent. And here's a reaction from CNBC's money guru, Jim Cramer.

I went deep on the numbers today and the numbers did not make any sense. And I feel like a sucker tonight. This is what they came up with? Jeez, come on, have some gumption, have some math. The economic boom promised by the president isn't looking good right now. But here's what he has to say about it. I think it's going very well. It was an operation like when a patient gets operated on. The markets are going to boom. The stock is going to boom. The country is going to boom.

OK, bringing in the group chat, Washington bureau chief for the Boston Globe, Jackie Kucinich, former Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina, and president and executive director of The Daily Signal, Rob Bluey. Jackie, I want to start with you just helping us understand how the White House is talking about this. What's your team reporting? So when we went to the Hill yesterday, you did have a big push by the White House for

Republicans to stay in line on this and to not come out against the president. And you saw that for the most part on the Hill. You had Republicans saying that they were willing to give, most of them, to give the president time to allow this to work. But there was also a bit of a disconnect where the White House said, this is the final answer. This is not a negotiating tactic.

You had Republican senators on the Hill saying, you know, this is a starting point. So where that ends up, maybe somewhere in the middle, we'll have to see. Yeah, we know there were some cracks there with some Senate Republicans voting against in a vote against Harris. Here was J.D. Vance reacting to the market plunge yesterday.

We're feeling good. Look, I frankly thought in some ways it could be worse in the markets because this is a big transition. You saw the president said earlier today, it's like a patient who was very sick. We did the operation and now it's time to make the patient better. And that's exactly what we're doing. Yeah, look, one bad day in the stock market compared to what President Trump said earlier today. And I think he's right about this. We're going to have a booming stock market for a long time.

I love these analogies because our economy is the patient, but markets, they're the nerves. And when you touch them and there's pain, they are the first to let you know. So how long can they keep saying,

It's a bad day. It's not a big deal. - Yeah, it's one of those things, Audie, where I think Republicans will have some patience in the short term. They recognize that there will be some pain probably when it comes to the stock market. But if Trump is able to couple these tariffs with deregulation, which he was successful at doing in his first term, and tax cuts, which is currently up for debate on Capitol Hill with the budget reconciliation bill, the American people could see positive benefits from this in the end. But as we all know, tariffs are a tax.

And so you have to make sure that it's part of the full package. You can't just do it single-handedly. - Rob, you say we all know, we don't all know. What I hear a lot of times as a talking point is that they're not a tax, that they're gonna fix things, that they're this or that. For you and your team reporting,

you guys aren't pretending they're not taxes. Right. Well, I think we have to acknowledge that the American people will be paying higher prices on some goods. Now, whether or not Trump uses this as a negotiating tactic, as Jackie mentioned, could be another point. The tariffs haven't actually gone into effect yet. And so there could be countries that decide to lower their tariffs. And ultimately, I think what the president had promised was reciprocity. What we saw delivered on

Liberation Day was something slightly different. He was trying to correct the trade imbalance. Kramer pointing out the math wasn't math-in. There's a lot of questions about the math-in. And I think you could forgive Republicans, too, for thinking this might be a negotiating tactic because we've seen it in the past where Trump has said, we're doing this, and then has pulled back. Yeah. Look, I think Rob's onto something. There's a lot of questions about what's going to happen. Here's what I think is going to happen. I have over a dozen presidents and prime ministers around the world as my clients, and all of them have a decision to make this week.

Do you just be quiet? Do you reciprocate and put your own tariffs on? Do you get us into a trade war? What I do know is that people are going to start feeling this immediately. I was talking to the head of one very large American grocery store who said this weekend they will start having to raise prices as they bring in goods from Mexico on Saturday and Canada on Sunday. People are going to start feeling it. Do they have to raise prices? I mean, we always say they pass it on to the consumer. There's no law that says you have to pass.

It is a tax on the consumer. We know this. I went back and read Ronald Reagan's last speech as president in 1988 where he warned the country about tariffs. And he said, look, we've been through this in the 1930s. We know what this does. And what it does is kneecap the American economy. And that's what you're about to start to see. Well, one thing we're hearing, the Nonpartisan Tax Foundation saying that the average American household will pay $2,100 more per year for goods.

One of the things that I'm thinking about as we're looking ahead is at what point

do voters start to really speak out? And I'm referring to this because there is going to be this mass protest. Democrats are organizing it this weekend. But when what are you going to be listening for, Rob, in terms of actual voter pushback? Oh, sure. Well, I think you'll start to see it reflected in polling. I mean, one of the polling numbers that we saw during Biden's presidency, when the cost of living was a huge issue, was whether or not

people felt confident in their personal finances. And so I think that's an important metric to look at. But I think also these rallies that you're seeing on the streets, I mean, up until now, there have been a variety of different issues that I think have been animating Democrats probably. This could be one that takes center stage. - That you actually coalesce around. One thing I've noticed to your point, Jackie, is Republicans not, like a little bit of a queasy description about what they are seeing in this moment. Here's some voices.

Tariffs are a tax on consumers and I'm not a fan of jacking up taxes on American consumers. Sometimes in business you have to have short term pain to have long term gain. It's very damaging. Steel and aluminum is also a significant component of what we manufacture including ag equipment in Kansas and so

The prices go up. There's always short-term blowback, but we're looking at the long haul here. Anyone who says there may be a little bit of pain before we get things right need to talk about farmers who are one crop away from bankruptcy. They don't have time. Jackie, here's you nodding with that. Yeah, well, I mean, and you saw that with Chuck Grassley.

introducing a bill with Marie Quinton from Washington talking about trying to limit the power of presidents to implement tariffs down the line. Chuck Grassley, obviously, from Iowa. It would say that they would basically expire after 60 days if they were not approved by Congress. Is that the bill we're talking about? Yes, yes, exactly. And so it is manifesting itself, and particularly those Republicans from farm states, because they remember it.

in the first Trump administration. - Yeah, when farmers struggled. - When tariffs hurt farmers and made them struggle. - I want you guys to stay with us because we're gonna talk more about this and other things today. Coming up on CNN this morning, we're gonna talk about that famous catchphrase, "You're fired." Overnight, the director of the NSA was let go, the same day that multiple staffers on the National Security Council were dismissed. Plus, TikTok has just one day before it might be banned in the US. What could be the app's saving grace?

And this, dozens of tornadoes still moving through the South. We're going to talk about the damage left behind and what more could be on the way. The whole backside of the house is leaning. Like, it's the whole house. It's the whole house. I just bought this house two years ago. This podcast is supported by Sleep Number.

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If you're getting ready, it's 15 minutes past the hour. I want to give you your morning roundup, some of the stories you need to know to get the day started. Celebrations and protests in the streets of Seoul, South Korea, after the nation's highest court removed the president from office. He had declared martial law in December, which the head judge said was unconstitutional. He still faces criminal charges of leading an insurrection. The Pentagon's inspector general is going to investigate Pete Hegseth's use of the Signal app.

The defense secretary has defended the information that he shared in that chat where a journalist was added. The investigation will focus on regulations regarding classified information and record keeping. And also that line of dangerous tornadoes left seven people dead across three states. One man in Tennessee recounted the moment a tornado actually hit his house.

All the windows in the house shattered and had just enough time to run back in the house and grab the kids and just kind of throw them in a corner and bear hug them. There's actually a new risk heading for some of these areas today. This weekend, nearly nonstop rain expected in the Mississippi Valley. That could trigger once in a lifetime flooding.

And one more thing, the finals of the men's national invitation basketball tournament with barely any time left on the clock. UC Irvine has a chance to win it only to miss the wide open shot. Chattanooga comes from behind to win its first NIT title, 85 to 84. But you know what? Shout out to that young man because he did his best. Okay, keep your head up high. We're also going to be talking about politics today.

today, of course, and what's happening with democracy in the age of extremes. And also opening the vault, Bruce Springsteen is about to release more than 80 new songs all at once. "Good Morning Chicago," parts of Illinois, also facing a threat of severe weather.

All right, I want to go off script a bit because after this week's special election, I was thinking a lot about how many congressional districts, frankly, aren't competitive. So yeah, Democrats managed to close the gap. Instead of losing by 30 points, as they did in November, they cut the margins down to 14 points this time.

But basically, these were predictable victories for the GOP. And despite more of us identifying as and registering as independents, we're living in this deeply partisan age in districts where outcomes feel basically predetermined.

So Nick Troiano says party primaries are a big reason why. He's the executive director of Unite America. He's also the author of a new book, The Primary Solution, Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes. Nick, good morning. Welcome to CNN this morning.

- Great to be with you, Adi. - So in your book, you were saying that only 14% of Americans cast a meaningful vote to elect the entire US House of Representatives in 2024. So what do you mean by meaningful?

Well, you're exactly right with that introduction. You know, if I told you about a country where in nine out of every 10 elections, we know basically the outcome well in advance of a single vote being cast, you probably wouldn't think I was talking about a democracy, no less the United States of America.

But that is the case today because the vast majority of our elections are over before they even begin. And what I mean by that is they're not decided in November, they're decided in the dominant party's primary. And the problem is that very few voters cast ballots in those elections. In 16 states, 17 million independent voters are prohibited from voting in these taxpayer-funded elections. And when you add that all together,

only about 14 percent of eligible voters cast a meaningful vote which means a ballot that actually contributes to determining a competitive election and so when most americans say they feel unrepresented or unheard in our political system today they're right they're not

You talk about open primaries. You talk about ranked choice voting. I hear people talking about jungle primaries. But I also hear Republicans, and you even cite this yourself in the book, Senator Tom Cotton, dismissing ranked choice voting, for example, as a scam to rig elections. There have also been attacks.

attempts to reform primary systems and states, they have been rebuffed by voters. So what can you actually do to make this argument that would like convince people who think this is something, for instance, that just Democrats want?

Well, listen, party primaries are not written into the Constitution. Our founders feared parties to begin with. The system that we have today was invented a whole cloth about 100 years ago to solve a problem of smoke-filled rooms and party bosses handpicking candidates. And it worked well for about a century until this current system itself has become a problem today because of how few voters determine these elections.

And states red, blue and purple are moving in a direction of more open primaries. We saw that in Alaska in 2020 when voters replaced both party primaries with a single all candidate primary. Everyone has the freedom to vote for whomever they want.

And we just saw this a couple of weeks ago in New Mexico, where a bipartisan bill was passed that opened the party primaries to independent voters, which is going to enfranchise about a quarter of all New Mexico voters for the first time in the next election. This is a wildly popular issue among Democrats, Republicans and independents, even if both parties tend to reflexively oppose it. This isn't left or right. This is really about the people versus a political establishment that is no longer serving them.

We have a short time left, but I have to ask. We saw this week with the Wisconsin election, billionaires can pour money into elections. They may not always, their candidates may not always win. But between that spending, between super PACs, does it make any sense to even focus on party and party infrastructure anymore?

Well, listen, we know that the influence of money in politics is a problem, and that problem is much more significant when that money is spent in low turnout party primaries. And so when we open our elections for more voters and more participation and more competition, it dilutes the power of special interests and big donors. And that's why we're advocating for more open primaries in every state across the country.

All right, that's Nick Troiano. He's the author of The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes. Coming up on CNN this morning: A dispute over a timeshare lands a U.S. couple in a Mexican prison. How they got out. Plus, hundreds of thousands of people are signing up to protest the Trump administration this weekend. Will it make a difference?

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The new season of United States of Scandal has bribery, fraud, undercover agents, and politicians suffering from a moral virus. You know, the usual. United States of Scandal with Jake Tapper, Sunday at 9 on CNN. Today's smoldering economic crater incinerated everything from crude oil to big tech stocks. The only company doing well, the proud folks at downarrow.com.

Stocks did suffer their biggest one-day wipeout since 2020. Good morning, everybody. I'm Adi Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me here on CNN this morning. It is half past the hour if you are getting ready, and here is what's happening right now.

Just moments ago, China announced they are striking back against U.S. tariffs. China imposing 34% tariffs on all imports from the United States. That's going to start on April 10th. Right now, the U.S. is putting tariffs that total 54% on Chinese goods.

And how will markets react to the jobs report? That's coming out in just a few hours. Experts believe the March report on the labor market will show 135,000 jobs added and unemployment holding steady. And today there's actually a court hearing involving the Maryland father who was mistakenly deported, sent to a super prison in El Salvador. Officials said it was an administrative error.

You're looking at a photo of him from court documents and also inside the prison. The White House has claimed that he cannot be returned because he's now in El Salvador's custody. And nationwide, there are protests planned tomorrow against President Trump and Elon Musk. One of the groups organizing these mass demonstrations, they say that more than half a million people have signed up. They're actually calling it hands off with around 1200 events scheduled in all 50 states.

The protests are being fueled by anger over what organizers and allies are calling a hostile takeover of the government. - Public courage is the solution. Public courage. We can't wait for others to lead. What will make Congress stand up, what will make university presidents stand up, corporate CEOs and big law partners stand up, is when we show them that we together demand it. We have to show them our power.

Joining me now to talk about all this, Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of Indivisible, one of the groups behind these protests. Ezra, thanks for joining the show. Good morning. Hey, good morning, Adi. Can you talk about what you're hoping to accomplish? Because for many years, especially during the pandemic, we saw mass protests, right, over police reform, over racism, and even anti-lockdown protests. So what do you think the value is of what you're going to do on Saturday?

Yeah, it's a good question, Adi, because we don't want to just do something for the sake of doing something. We really all should be asking ourselves, how is this going to have impact? How is this going to change anything? And I think we've got to answer this on two levels when we're talking about what is the point of political protest. One, there's actually a fair amount of political science research that looks at the impact of mass protest in off years on the outcomes of midterm elections the following year. We saw this in 2008.

9 in 2010, the mass protest that led to a wipeout for Democrats in 2010.

we then saw this again in 2017 and 2018 that led to the biggest blue wave margins in the history of the republic with the democrats taking back the house under the the first trump administration but i mean when can i jump in here ezra i think one of the things i want to ask is did it also lead to the backlash that were political backlash that kind of propelled trump back in office

I don't think that the protests of 2017 against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act led to Donald Trump re-winning the election in 2024. I would point to a failure of Merrick Garland and others to hold Trump accountable for his attempt to overthrow American democracy that led to him ultimately being able to come back. I think if you look around our country's history and the world at creeping authoritarianism,

The only solution to pushing back against those authoritarians who are coming after our rights is mass, peaceful, public protest. And that's not me saying that. That's folks like Timothy Snyder, who's an expert on authoritarianism, or Heather Cox Richardson, a historian that's focused on this.

Also, we've seen this White House is willing to go after people who protest. You've also drawn the ire of the president and other Republicans. Elon Musk called the organization, quote, "criminals," claiming that you're supporting the vandalism of Tesla dealerships. How do you respond to this? What are your concerns about the administration's response?

Look, it's bogus. Obviously we've been organizing for the better part of a decade and non-violent protest has been a core foundational part of what we do. We show up at members of Congress' offices or at town halls to tell them to vote the right way. We tell them to start showing up for their constituents. This is American democracy. This is how it works. But it's no surprise that folks who are worried

about public backlash to a deeply unpopular agenda are threatening peaceful protest that doesn't come from a place of strength it comes from a place of weakness which is why I'm not for first and foremost thinking about the 2026 elections now I'm thinking about 2025 and how we can safeguard American democracy now and the answer to that is we have strength in numbers we all have to show up in this moment

One last thing. You've had some choice words for the Democratic Party saying that it's hard to build a unified opposition to Trump when your party is despised and led by the least popular political figure in the country, referring to Chuck Schumer. Is so much of this a response to a lack of leadership? Do you think it's about Schumer? Do you think it's about one person?

Great question. What you're getting at is who is the target of this protest? One is, yes, it's MAGA, it's Trump, it's Musk. We want to demonstrate to them that they don't have popular support. But another target are our leaders, people like Chuck Schumer who surrender to the Republicans in Congress.

aren't giving their constituents what they want. We saw Cory Booker stand up in the Senate and break the record for the longest filibuster ever given. Why did he do that? Why did he do that? He told us why. He told us why. He said that he heard from his own constituents that they want to see him fight back, and he got creative. He did it. We need more Cory Bookers and fewer Schumers, and if we want that, as

constituents, we got to show up and demand it. Indivisible, we're not an arm of the Democratic Party. My goal is not to help the Democratic Party. My goal is to build a unified opposition to an authoritarian takeover of our country.

Ezra Levin, co-executive director of Indivisible, thanks for being with us this morning. We want to talk about the news overnight, a major shakeup in the U.S. intelligence community. The Trump administration fired the director and deputy director of the National Security Agency, according to lawmakers on the intelligence committees and former officials. It's not clear why they were let go.

But it happened after a meeting with far-right activist Laura Loomer. The White House ended up firing at least three staffers on the National Security Council and other officials. A source tells CNN Loomer came to the White House on Wednesday with a list of about a dozen people she claimed weren't loyal to the president's agenda. Laura Loomer is a very

She is a very strong person. Did she have anything to do with the NSC aides who were ousted? No, no. We're going to let go of people. People that we don't like or people that we don't think can do the job or people that may have loyalties to somebody else.

President Trump denies that she had a part in the decision. Bringing back the group chat and Jim Messina, you were like excited about this during the break. You've got some concerns, what are they? - This really pisses me off. This is ridiculous. I've been in the White House Situation Room for these discussions. What you realize in that room is there are no good choices.

there are choices that get people killed. And what you want around you are the best career, foreign service, and national security people advising you on these decisions. And to say that these people were fired because they weren't loyal to the president, Adi, that's not their job. Their job is to be loyal to the United States of America and give their best

And letting Laura Loomer, someone who said that 9-11 was an inside job, letting her decide who those officials are is beyond terrible behavior. And it continues to go this overarching theme of the Trump administration that we're letting these right wing fringe people make decisions about our national security and they shouldn't be.

anywhere in those rooms. - Okay, so Jim, you said a couple things here I wanted to underscore. You've been in a situation room that you think career officials are actually who you want in that situation and that loyalty is not the ideal credential. - Correct. - Rob, I want to turn to you because

Whether or not we have the exact specifics here on her role, it's not denied her influence. So what's the point of your cabinet? What's the point of your National Security Council if, you know, kind of a random on the Internet can get a meeting and just tell you what they think?

Well, President Trump listens to a lot of different voices. Let's face it, people who are working for his administration and people who are on the outside. And I think that that's probably one of the benefits that allows him to keep in touch with the American people and what the pulse is, Adi. But does that mean he has confidence in the people he's working with? It sounds like not.

if he's still doing loyalty tests. One of the things that he learned from his first term, and I agree with Jim on this point, that you do want the best people in the room, but you also don't want people in the room who are actively working against what your agenda is and what you're trying to accomplish. And I think that that's what Sergio Gore and the Presidential Personnel Office is trying to do with the people they hire for this administration. They're on a record pace in terms of bringing in people to serve in this administration, which is a far change from what they did during that first term. And so, yes,

they're not always going to be in that box that president trump is going to to want and that's why i think he fired these individuals yeah when loomer was on the plane during the election everyone got all kind of fired up what is she doing there and said and there was a conversation about gatekeeping and the job of the chief of staff and and who has the president's ear um how are you seeing all this the way this chapter is unfolding so this chapter reminds me of chapters in

the first Trump administration where you had people getting access to the Oval Office that the more traditional professional staff was concerned about. And it was always, remember, we always used to talk about the adults in the room and the adults in the room would keep these people at bay or wouldn't allow them in. Well, that's not something that's, I mean, that is very Trump one. You're not hearing the open concern in the same way. Yes, you heard it on the campaign trail that senior staff

really trying to keep the kind of fringe figures away. But that doesn't seem to be the strategy.

this time and we're seeing the result. I like you saying strategy. Guys, stick around. We have more to discuss straight ahead on CNN this morning. We're going to talk about those deadly storms that have left behind a trail of destruction. And more severe weather is on the way. Plus, breaking news. Moments ago, China announced a major new tariff on U.S. goods. We're going to be live in Beijing with the latest. And, of course, more from the group chat after this.

Breaking news right now, China hits back with a 34% retaliatory tariff against the U.S. This is, of course, escalating this back and forth over trade between the world's two largest economies. Mark Stewart joins us live from Beijing with the latest. Mark, what are you learning about this?

Adi, this is significant. I'm going to put that in boldface type. This is a really big deal. These tariffs, these 34 percent tariffs on all American imports are the fight back that China said it would do if pressured by the United States.

These additional tariffs, because there are already tariffs of anywhere from 10 to 15 percent already in place, these tariffs will certainly hurt the American economy in the sense that they will really hurt the heartland of America, as in America's farmers. Right now, if we look at all of the products that China imports in from the United States,

Soybeans top the list. Soybeans are needed here in China because they are the ingredient that fuels the pork industry, which is one of the top commodities in this part of the world. So these additional tariffs are very strategic in the sense that they will hit farmers in the middle part of the United States. We're still waiting for the timing and the implementation of all of this, but this sends a very big statement.

Also important in all of this is the timing of all of this. This is a very sacred holiday weekend right now. This is a time where families take time to remember those who have passed away. For the government to do this late on a Friday afternoon, early Friday evening here in Beijing really talks about the weight of all of this.

As far as what is next, Beijing is giving us some lines here and there. We will keep track, Aude. But again, this is a very significant fight back from China. Right. Mark Stewart, thanks so much. Also, off this news, Dow futures are down, taking a notable dip into the red.

All right. I want to talk more about China because it's down to the wire around TikTok. The deadline is tomorrow for a ban that could go into effect if a buyer is not found. It's currently owned by ByteDance. That's a Chinese company. Last night, President Trump suggested that his new tariffs might be a way to get China to potentially sign off on a deal.

Joining me now to talk about this, CNN media analyst Sarah Fisher. Sarah, thanks for coming to CNN this morning. So I'll do two fast questions just that people want to know. Will TikTok go dark? I don't believe so. Is there a buyer? Are we any closer? Because I've got a bunch of names here. Amazon, Microsoft, Zoom, Silverlake. There's all kinds of people who have expressed interest. I'm sure there's a lot of people that want to buy TikTok.

China, especially given this tariffs news, does not seem poised to be anywhere closer to approving a deal. It doesn't matter how bad and how much money people are willing to pay for it here. If China is not willing to let ByteDance sell TikTok US, we have no deal. And by the way, we need to have a plan for a deal. This is why I think the app won't go dark.

In order for Donald Trump, right now there's an extension of a ban delay. In order for Donald Trump to potentially be able to extend it further or give assurances to app stores, cloud providers, that they're not gonna get punished for keeping it up, he basically needs to be able to at least say there's a plan. I believe that's probably what's gonna happen because getting a deal to close by tomorrow morning

Agreeing on a price? Deal terms? No way. In the meantime, we have the Dow dipping. We have China hitting back with tariffs. If tariffs are a negotiating tool, as the White House claims it is, how is that tool working out in this TikTok conversation, which the president says he wants to somehow get a U.S. investor for?

I don't think that the tariffs are going to be helpful at all in that conversation for a bunch of reasons. We're super heavily reliant on the tech sector, TikTok included, TikTok US, on the e-commerce sales of Chinese goods into the US. All the stuff we buy online. Shimo, TN, all that kind of stuff, yes. So I think that's going to have a very negative impact.

I also think with everything going on with the tariffs, China has leverage in some ways over this deal now that they didn't have as much before. In January, Audie, they were just starting, the CCP was just starting to change its tune, basically saying, look, maybe private companies can decide their fate. I think after this, they're going to have a lot tighter of a grip on ByteDance and allowing them to pursue a deal like this. Also, just to flag, when it comes to these deals, you just mentioned a bunch of buyers.

The folks I talk to, they're not talking to China and they're not talking to ByteDance. They're negotiating directly with the U.S. government, which leads me to believe it's all relying on the government to persuade the CCP, not private companies to let this deal go through. The government's the one that's kind of picking a trade war right now with China. Sarah, you packed a lot into that. That is very helpful. A lot of people use TikTok. Thanks so much for being here.

You know, we're going to talk next about the morning roundup, some of the stories that you need to know to get your day going here at 51 minutes past the hour. There's a federal judge deciding whether probable cause exists to hold Trump administration officials in contempt over the deportation flights that sent alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. Judge James Boasberg put the administration's

use of the Alien Enemies Act on hold. Another round of dangerous weather heading for parts of the South and Midwest that are already reeling from deadly storms earlier this week. Dozens of destructive tornadoes and storms killing at least seven people across three states. And forecasters warn there is an extremely high risk of catastrophic flooding now through the weekend in some of those same places.

and some good news for a michigan couple back home after spending a month in a mexican prison over a payment dispute with a timeshare company prosecutors say the charges against them were dismissed after they reached an agreement with the company good news the boss is back bruce springsteen is about to release seven lost albums with 80 never before heard songs here's a preview of one

All right, Rain in the Road. These are songs were written between 1983 and 2018. And he says he's opening the vault. I often read about myself in the 90s as having some lost period or something. Not really. Really, I was working the whole time. Track two, The Lost Albums, comes out on June 27th. Turning back now to politics and some of the frustration that we're seeing from voters.

I think that politicians that don't pay attention to what people are saying are going to find themselves out of work, which is as it should be. The people are going to rise up and they're going to tell the politicians, finally.

Okay, you might think that was from a recent town-haul or protest. Actually, that is a Tea Party protester from 2010. That movement, which was largely motivated by anger at what they saw as an overreaching federal government under the control of a single party. That might sound familiar. A new op-ed from pollster and friend of the show, Kristen Soltis Anderson, has this warning for her party. Republicans better watch out. And she cites her latest poll, which found the emotion Democrats are most feeling right now is fury.

We are not interested in hearing that you are in the minority. We know that. We want you to show some of the backbone and strategic brilliance that Mitch McConnell would have in the minority.

Group chat is back. Jackie, we've talked a lot about this analogy, Tea Party to now. Obviously, Democrats have talked about how much they believe is at stake, especially with the actions that the administration is taking around immigration. What are you going to be listening for in, A, these protests, B, how Democrats respond to them? You know, it...

I'm not listening to Democrats as much as I'm watching the voters that voted for Trump because of the economy. We talked to them all the time during the last election. Those who were saying, hey, it's not my favorite, but I'm voting for him because of inflation and because my grocery bill is too high. Yes, Democratic enthusiasm obviously

is a huge deal. We saw that in Wisconsin, but I think those voters who were on the margins are going to be the ones that really tip the scales as we go forward. I mean, it's a long time before. Yeah, but I guess the question is, can the scales be tipped if you're looking on the news that there's protests, if you're hearing your neighbor complain about it, Rob? Yeah, I mean, I remember that

that moment and I know Jim does as well in 2009 and 2010 when there was a lot of enthusiasm and anger on the right, particularly with the Tea Party protests. And so I think that it would be wise for Republicans to look at the election results not only in Wisconsin but those two races in Florida that you talked about earlier, Audie, because the margins were much smaller. I mean, 14 points is still a big margin. At the same time, I think it's important to look at those lessons

You have the Virginia gubernatorial election this year, which will be another bellwether. And then you have some other special elections in the House that are gonna come up as well. - Yeah, but people hit the streets when they don't feel heard in elections, right? I wanna play some sound from you in context of this conversation around the Democratic Party kind of searching for a leader. - Fear has a way of being contagious. - Yeah. - Great. - Okay. - When one person

has fear, it has a way of spreading to those around them and spreading. And we are witnessing that, no doubt. But I say this also, my dear friends, courage is also contagious.

Okay, Kamala Harris, we finally see her. And she is referring to something that is real, as I've reported on college campuses, for example, that people are afraid of sticking their neck out, going public because of the potential backlash to that activity. Jim, can you talk about this message in the context of, yeah, people speaking out?

- Well, it goes back to what you were just saying. I think you're exactly right about these swing voters. And swing voters don't wanna hear Democrats talk about anger and fear and all these things. They want us to have an economic message that makes their lives better. And Democrats have still yet to settle behind that.

Part of it's not having a leader, but part of it's like understanding the moment we're in. It's not just enough to win elections because people start hating Elon Musk and Donald Trump. You actually have to have a different vision. And I think that's the challenge Democrats have right now. And that's the work we have to do. And it's not just enough to talk about fear. Your old boss went a little further than this. He was speaking at Hamilton College. He had this to say about the moment that Democrats are in.

Ah, sorry, he was saying we're in one of those moments when, you know, it's not enough to say that you're for something. You may actually have to do something and possibly sacrifice a little bit. That's the part people don't remember when they talk about protests or where they refer to the 60s or referred to past time. People did sacrifice. That's right. People went to jail. People took very difficult things. And I think what he's talking about is these law firms who are just bowing to the president

that to Trump and not fighting back there's a price to be paid here and you had indivisible on earlier they're willing to pay that price to say this is the moment to have that fight I just think it's not just about anger though you've got to have a message how you're making the swing voters lives

better in the Wisconsin election nine counties that went for Donald Trump went for the Democrat in that election does so swing voters moving it's not just enthusiasm swing voters are beginning to panic about Donald Trump Rob last word to you yeah I think that uh it's it's it's wise again for Republicans to pay close attention to this Donald Trump did have a message that resonated in the 2024 election he was able to win over those people who may have voted for Joe Biden in the previous election and he also wrote anti

pandemic lockdown protest anger sure he did yeah so did glenn youngkin in virginia right so i mean that's that's again why i say look at what's going to happen in virginia as as the next bellwether just like mcdonald's victory uh in in the early days of barack obama's presidency i want to spend our last moment talking about what we're keeping an eye on jackie kucinich what are you watching for it

continuing to keep an eye on federal workers, particularly those of the IRS who are being reinstated as of April 14th. My colleague Julian Sera Peru has a great piece on that on bostonglobe.com this morning. Heard of it. Hometown paper. Thank you so much, Jackie. And Jim? Enthusiasm numbers. Insiders know that poll numbers aren't what's predictive. What's predictive is who's excited in these elections. And right now it is Democrats all over the country. Excited or

agitated. I think either one is helpful for political consultants. Rob, for you. Well, the Bluey kids are excited about a Minecraft movie, which opens today. We're joking. It's the rare film not in a culture war. So we're excited about that one. Yeah, give it time. I'm going to be looking for impact of these tariffs. We saw small business owners be the ones to speak out.

We've heard from farmers directly. Some of these people are starting to stick their neck out, even if they were Trump supporters, as you mentioned, to say, hi, it's me. I'm the one feeling it. So I'm going to be listening for those quotes this week. I want to thank the group chat for hooking me up. Appreciate it. Take a paper on your way out. I'm Adi Cornish and CNN News Central starts right now.

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This week on The Assignment with me, Adi Cornish. There are reports of at least a dozen students and faculty who have been detained by federal agents.

How does this happen? How can the government detain legal immigrants without charges? How is this affecting students and faculty at campuses around the country? And who is challenging the government over potential First Amendment violations for punishing people who say things that the administration labels a threat? Listen to The Assignment with me, Audie Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast app.