The 'Uncertainty' Economy
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It's Friday, March 7th. Here's what's happening right now on CNN This Morning. It feels like the economy is gagging on the uncertainty. We are about to get a brand new read on the U.S. economy. Who's hiring? Who's firing in the first full month of President Trump's second term? Plus this. Do you think they're going to come and protect us? They're supposed to. I'm not so sure.

President Trump cast doubt on the NATO alliance. Could the U.S. abandon some of its closest allies? Then this: Would you say no men and female sports? Well, I think it's an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. California's Democratic governor breaks with his party on transgender athletes. Is this a preview of the divisions ahead in 2028? And later: We've lost several engines and we've lost attitude control of the vehicle.

Fiery debris from a rocket raining from the night sky. What back-to-back mishaps mean for Elon Musk's SpaceX program.

It is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here is a live look at the Capitol just before sunrise. Good morning, everybody. I'm Adi Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me. Now, in just a couple of hours, the February jobs report is going to be released. And with it, our first look at the data behind President Trump's first full month in office. So here's what we're expecting. The unemployment rate to stay at 4 percent. That's almost a historic low.

The president's widespread firing of federal workers, it's not likely to show up in the report in a big way. That's because most of those layoffs occurred too late in the month, and workers who accepted the buyouts are still technically employed.

But already the economy overall is showing some signs of stress. Last month, U.S. employers announced more layoffs than any other February since 2009. And markets are on a roller coaster as the president flip-flops in his trade war. Yesterday's announcement that he would delay some of his tariffs on Mexico and Canada, doing little to end the uncertainty.

Some of these exemptions that have been announced and some of these temporary delays, have you been influencing those decisions because of the market reaction? Well, there are no delays at all. No, nothing to do with the market. I'm not even looking at the market. That uncertainty doesn't just impact Wall Street. It also makes business owners and shoppers nervous, basically leading them to stock up on some items or hold off on other purchases. Are you able to afford the price increase? No, not really.

haven't been able to afford much. That will cost more for our inputs but then we rely on the market in Mexico to get rid of some of our product so then on the sales side we're getting hit so we're getting hit on both ends. I hate to charge exorbitant prices because it's just it just hurts it just hurts. Absolutely it has to be passed on otherwise how can we even exist here?

We're going to discuss this with our group in the chat today. Tyler Pager, White House correspondent for The New York Times. He's also the co-author of an upcoming book, 2024, How Trump Retook the White House and Democrats Lost America. I'm also joined by Michael Warren, senior editor at The Dispatch and Jerusalem Demsas staff writer at The Atlantic. Tyler, I want to start with you. The president cares about business. The president cares about numbers.

Is this a picture of an economy that they can be proud of? Yeah, I think we'll see what the numbers say. Obviously, we've seen that Trump is very eager to tout economic growth. That was a key part of his economic message. And one of the things that if you recall, Democrats really struggled with in 2024 is this sort of Trump amnesia effect where people felt that the economy in particular was better under Trump.

as we see-- - And also explaining that they thought their economy was good. Like they would look to data, just like we're gonna announce today, and say things are good, and the public would be like, no, vibe session. - Exactly, so I think there's a difference between the numbers and the reality on the ground, but Trump is someone that's very numbers focused. We saw that in his joint address to Congress this week,

where he ticked off all the cuts that he says the Department of Government efficiency has made to contracts bragging about the big numbers that he says the millions and billions of dollars that have been cut. So it's sort of the first test. I don't want to overplay how much impact this will have, but it's clear that Trump cares a lot about the economy. Voters care a lot about the economy and it's sort of this first early indicator of where things are.

As you noted in the intro, a lot of the impacts and the turmoil we've seen happened at the end of the month. So it's unclear how complete of a picture this will be. Yeah, Michael Warren, I hear the president talk using the phrase disturbance. There might be a disturbance. I want to play for you a cut of a small business owner in Arizona, basically speaking before the tariff pause was announced. We're losing a lot of money. Like if I sell a door for $4,000, now it's worth $5,000.

And if I don't charge my clients $5,000, then I lose out $1,000. So we're talking about big money here. We'll survive, but I don't think it's fair that after 27 years, instead of me projecting myself to retire, I'm projecting myself to work three times more.

Trump administration has always talked about tariffs as a negotiating tool. And when you use it that way, that means maybe this, maybe that, maybe this, maybe that. What's the actual impact, though? It's uncertainty. I mean, you can hear that uncertainty and that frustration in her voice. The president said yesterday that, you know, maybe globalists were involved with sort of the market shifting one way or the other. Well, he was saying that globalists...

that corporations by definition, right, they have their hands in many pots around the world. And so that's why they're skittish. - Right, but she doesn't look like a globalist corporation to me. She looks like a small business owner who's skittish too. And that's, I think the big impact

of this back and forth of using tariffs as a negotiating tactic. I'm not so sure I even buy that Donald Trump views it that way. He always says tariffs are good. I like tariffs. And always has, even before he was in public office. Jerusalem, I see you nodding. Yeah, I mean, it's clear that there's, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty about Donald Trump's positions on a lot of policy issues, but on tariffs,

There's a lot of clarity. We know. He likes them. He thinks that they're good. And I think there's a very strange back and forth that's happening here where people will defend Trump's tariffs when they're on, and then when they're off or changing in some way, you get a, oh, see, he's a master negotiator. And so you have difficulty engaging with the administration on the merits of what the policies they're actually trying to implement are.

Jerusalem, I want to stay with you for a moment because you have a new article in The Atlantic where you talk about the Doge job cuts. We've been talking about it all week, just the sheer volume of numbers. And I get the sense you were trying to put a face to some of those numbers and use the term cruelty, right? The Trump administration and the Republican Party seem to have bought into the idea that Americans are craving cruelty.

And as a result, they're using their power to quote "own the libs," but they have miscalculated. A lot to unpack there.

Tell me about the miscalculation. What do you think you're seeing in your reporting? - Yeah, I mean, I think there's a sense in the Trump administration that part of why they won was to enact an agenda of responding on cultural issues. And that was a part of the election, but most voters voted to bring down prices. They were upset about the economy. They were upset about immigration. They weren't looking to spend a lot of time hearing about removing trans members from the military.

hearing about DEI. In my article I go over some key figures that show the American public is generally not opposed to DEI. They have, you know, mild opinions about it. Most demographics polled indicate that DEI either hasn't affected their life or it's improved it. And so when you see those numbers-- - But you talk about cruelty, this is a nod to something else way back in the Atlantic. Adam Seward saying the cruelty is the point. - Is the point, yes. - Which became sort of a mantra on the left.

Mike Warren, can you talk about the idea of talking about what they're doing with Doge, etc., as something that is mean in the way they're doing it? That's coming up from some lawmakers. Yeah, I've talked to some folks, activists and experts over the past few days who are very interested in what Donald Trump is doing to, or claiming to do, to shrink the size of government. And they look at the

approach of Elon Musk and Doge and think, well this is not very good politically for the political case for shrinking the size of government. When you do things in this way that appear cruel, that appear sort of callous, where there's no actual

sort of long-term, okay, here's the plan of how we're going to do this. We're gonna unravel this particular department or agency over a period of time. And I think that is a political risk for Donald Trump to do this, to really hurt the case that might be made to say, is the government doing this the most efficient way?

If the face of that becomes people who are veterans or people who are trying to do research on cancer, for instance, all of a sudden I was struck a few weeks ago. There was an announcement that an NIH grant was going to be rolled back.

on a Friday night. And by Saturday morning, Katie Britt, a senator from Alabama, a Republican senator very close to Donald Trump, was out there saying, we're making sure to restore this for the University of Alabama-Birmingham, University of Alabama-Huntsville. It was very much a realization. It's all fun and games still at your state.

Exactly. Built in your backyard. I also think, just to add on that, most people don't know how much government can impact their life on a regular basis. We've already started to see reports of people that get Social Security, you know, other government services that are crucial to their day-to-day existence being, you know, delayed or...

having trouble reaching an operator, as we've all struggled to reach a government employee. And so I think these cuts are still early, and the impacts remain to be seen in terms of how much it sort of trickles down to everyday Americans' lives. And I think some people will start to be surprised as things slow down or don't exist anymore. Yeah, they start to feel it. So as the impacts start to hit the people outside of Washington who are losing their jobs but are depending on these services or just—

Okay, hold on, Grouchat. Y'all are getting fired up about this now, so stay for the rest of the hour. I appreciate you. Coming up on CNN this morning, a new setback for SpaceX. Their latest Starship test flight ends in fire again. Plus, a former Olympian on the FBI's most wanted list, how the FBI says he went from shredding powder to distributing it.

And what impact will cutting 70,000 jobs at the VA have on veterans? I'll ask Republican Congressman and Green Beret Pat Harrigan. They've been sniping at the VA, cutting it bit by bit, and now it seems like they're trying to take a big chunk out of it.

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It is 15 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Some of the stories you need to get your day going. Another SpaceX Starship explodes during a test flight. No one on board, but it was less than 10 minutes after the launch. People from Florida to the Caribbean saw falling debris in the sky. The FAA even had to ground flights because of it. Now remember, another Starship exploded in January. That was during a test flight.

The Social Security Administration bans employees from looking at news websites on their work devices. Also, they can't access sports websites or shop online. In a memo, the agency claims this will help protect sensitive information. It already said it plans to cut 7,000 jobs. And a former Olympic snowboarder is a long way from the slopes. He's now on the FBI's most wanted list

for a different kind of powder. The FBI says Ryan Wedding is accused of running a deadly drug trafficking network that regularly shipped cocaine from Colombia to the US and Canada. He actually competed in the 2002 Olympics for Canada. And you gotta see this.

A Lakers fan now has an extra $100,000 after hitting a legendary half-court shot during last night's game. He then showed off his Kobe Bryant Black Mamba tattoo. Now, of course, there was also a game the Lakers won in overtime last night against the New York Knicks.

Still coming up after the break, a federal judge offering up a scathing ruling against President Trump. How is the administration juggling this tsunami of legal challenges against its policies? Plus, California's Governor Gavin Newsom breaking with Democrats on the issue of rights for transgender athletes. Could this be a preview of the 2028 Democratic primary?

and someone's waking up in Vegas. Actually, they probably don't remember they went to sleep, but good morning to you in Las Vegas. Stay with us.

A U.S. District Court judge has a message for the White House. An American president is not a king, not even an elected one. CNN's Caitlin Polantz enters the group chat with that and other legal drama this week. So, Caitlin, tell us a little bit about that quote. Like, where is this coming up? Because there are honestly so many cases. There are so many cases. Many of them are in the federal court in Washington, D.C. That quote is from a case in D.C.,

It's a case that was decided by a judge named Beryl Howell yesterday where she said a person who was on the National Labor Relations Board that was fired can stay in the job. There's been a series of cases like this. Where the executive branch is saying, look, all of these independent boards that are all over government, we should be able to fire people. Trump himself should be able to fire those people. It's a very, Trump wants to do this, and we think that he should be able to

But there is going to be a lot of legal tests around this. That sort of idea, the president is not a king, that's a refrain that this court has really grasped onto in the past several years. So it's not just some progressive talking point. The courts are starting to delineate and try and make this distinction. Right. And they've been trying to say this to Trump for years now. Specifically, presidents are not kings. Those are words written first by then-

Ketanji Brown Jackson, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on that same trial level court before she got to the Supreme Court wrote those words. And since then, in cases where it is about Donald Trump and the power he wants to bring to himself and the presidency, the judges in this court keep saying presidents are not kings. And so when you're looking at a judge saying that, it's about

One person who was fired and removed from this board is now being reinstated by this judge. But there are a lot of other judges who are trying to say,

We are seeing different ways that Trump is using power to try and, in their view, exceed what he should be doing as president. There's another court just two days ago that ruled that when the administration was shutting off funding to states, things like highway improvement, health care,

that Donald Trump and the executive branch was putting itself above Congress. So that's not about findings. That's about funding. We're going to talk about that more this hour because I think that's fascinating. I want to play a cut from Trump himself because he has spoken about being hindered by the courts. We're being hindered by courts where they file in certain courts where it's very hard to win and a judge will stop us and a judge will say that

It doesn't make any difference what you find. You just keep paying the money. That's a hell of a way to be. And I follow the courts. I have to follow the law. All it means is that we appeal. But that gives people time to cover their tracks. And that's what they do.

Okay, I want to ask about this because obviously Trump has talked a lot about lawfare and the idea that the courts are an impediment to what he wants to do or the idea that the justice system is biased against him. What do you hear in how he's talking there? I mean, look, precedents in...

last several decades have been frustrated with the idea that the courts can hinder their power. Executives are always trying to expand their power. The difference is that Donald Trump kind of says this stuff out loud in a way that a lot of past presidents

haven't. And he really pushes against the limits of that in kind of all of his actions. I mean, look, you've seen this, again, for presidents of both parties. They're always trying to sort of take supremacy away from the first branch. I remember Carter was a president like this, where he also felt like there should be, because he was fighting, obviously, kind of Republican congresses, and he felt like, I'm

I need more power here. I think though that it's important to say this because I similarly have noticed in previous administrations they're upset if someone will file a lawsuit against them in an unfriendly district. This happens every single administration. But what's different about saying it out loud is that the norms actually really do matter. If you don't believe that the federal government cares what a court says, that

That affects business decisions. I'm hearing from people in a variety of industries that are afraid to talk to the press publicly because they're worried about how that might be taken from a member of the administration. They're afraid about making comments about their own business.

outcomes they're pretending like things that they were already doing that when normal business moves are as a result of positive news by this administration in an attempt to curry favor and that sort of interaction between the private sector and the government is really concerning because it means there's not free enterprise is not free speech going on and it's a real chilling effect and I have one question for you also every time Trump speaks publicly that's entered into the public record so our lawyers

How closely are they paying attention and are the things he's saying starting to make their way into cases as arguments? - Oh, absolutely. Just after the address that he gave to Congress the other night, there were at least two cases I saw where lawyers said when they're fighting, these are cases where they're fighting

Elon Musk, his power, and Doge. In those cases, they filed supplemental authority to the court just to say the president just said Elon Musk is the head of Doge, which is going to be very pivotal. So the government may be going to court and arguing, no, no, no, Doge is run by this acting, blah, blah, blah. But they're getting to say, yo, he just said it. And we're going to enter that into the record. And there's also things like that clip that we were just watching about Trump saying,

basically just criticizing the fact that people are suing. There are steps the White House is taking to try and chill lawsuits like that. We saw last night a memo to agencies where they are going to invoke this rule that basically no one uses in federal court to ask judges. The Justice Department will be able to go and ask judges to require people who sue the administration for emergency relief to put up money.

And that, when I was calling people last night and said, "Is this role real? Can they do that?"

People, even liberal lawyers that I knew that were part of these cases started laughing like, wow, I can't believe someone found this rule. They can invoke it. No one ever does. But the Trump administration is going to try and show these cases. They have read the fine print, needless to say, for Trump too. CNN crime and justice correspondent Caitlin Polanski. Thank you so much for joining the group. The rest of you, I want you to stick around. It's still ahead on CNN This Morning. There's a big meeting today at the White House that's never happened before.

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With Trump's constant back and forth, Americans don't know if our economy is open or totally shut. It's like the whole country is a Toys "R" Us. You out of business? -No, we're back. We're number one? -Oh, we're out of business.

President Trump delays some of his tariffs on Mexico and Canada just two days after putting them in place. Good morning, everybody. It is 6.33 here on the East Coast. I'm Adi Cornish, and I want to thank you for joining me on CNN This Morning. Here's what's happening right now. Investors are anxiously waiting for this morning's critical February jobs report. It comes out in just two hours, and it could affect already rattled markets.

Keep in mind, the numbers out today are not expected to reflect all the job cuts to the federal government, in part because of basically the timing of everything.

Tonight, a South Carolina inmate scheduled to be the first person to be executed by a firing squad in the U.S. in 15 years. The Supreme Court for the state of South Carolina said that the governor could intervene, but this is the first in the state to choose the firing squad over lethal injection rather than the electric chair. Meanwhile, Idaho is looking to make a firing squad as well the state's primary method of execution.

President Trump is set to speak today at the first crypto summit at the White House. This comes one day after a signed executive order created a new strategic Bitcoin reserve. The government has an estimated $17 billion worth of Bitcoin.

Turning back now to the rising tensions between the U.S. and its European allies. This week, Western European leaders have scrambled to meet and come up with new plans to rearm the continent and defend Ukraine, potentially without the help of the U.S. Ukraine's ambassador to the U.K. also cast doubts about whether the U.S. will abide by NATO defense agreements.

Adding to those doubts, the words from President Trump himself, who's got a history of criticizing NATO alliance members for their defense spending, or frankly wondering if they would stand by their promises.

If the United States was in trouble and we called them, we said, "We got a problem, France. We got a problem." A couple of others I won't mention. Do you think they're going to come and protect us? They're supposed to. I'm not so sure.

It's worth noting that NATO's mutual defense clause actually has been invoked just one time in the alliance's 75-year history, and it was for the U.S. after the 9-11 attacks. Okay, I got the group chat back to talk about this week because you had French President Emmanuel Macron speaking very strongly about this, saying we can't really rely on our U.S. ally the way we used to. But I want to play one more clip before we start. Russian state TV says that Putin has found Trump's weakness.

Trump is like Superman. And our president, Putin, has found his weakness, he tells state TV. As soon as Trump hears the words rare earth metals, he's ready to accept any terms.

Look, I mean, everything we know about Donald Trump is that he views foreign policy as transactional, as entirely transactional. But that's been discussed as a strength, I think, by Republicans in some way, right? Right, but I think they view it as a strength. I think it is certainly upending a viewpoint. I mean, Dan Yuk from the public chamber of the Russian Federation seems to think of it as kryptonite.

yeah my colleague all the cousins on she wrote an article for the atlantic yesterday about how putin is loving this and she watched you know a ton of the russian state tv and you can just see that this sort of breakdown between united states and its allies over over what like with canada like what are we even arguing about its unclear to even members within this administration when they're trying to find the policy and that sort of

disarray is like very confusing. Okay, you get extra points for mentioning Canada because then I get to show this: Jack Daniels is down bad in the aftermath of these tariffs. Jack Daniels' parent company says Canada pulling booze off shelves is even worse than tariffs.

Yeah, I mean, I think the question here is just the uncertainty. And I think that pervades every issue. It's the economy that we've talked about with the tariffs. It's the, you know, relationships that the U.S. has abroad and its commitment to NATO. Trump's injecting that sense of,

Will they, won't they? Will we do it? Will we not do it? It's just unsettling to everyone. And I think that's part of the point, right? Trump wants to have leverage over these other countries. He talks about how he's a dealmaker, as you said. But the question is, to what end and what is the end result and what does the U.S. get out of it?

By the way, liquor sales go up during economic downturns. They do. This is a real problem for Canada if the economy gets worse. You see these small businesses in Canada pulling American-made products off the shelves. It's reignited a sense of Canadian patriotism that I think Trump was surprised by. I think he often expects people to just sort of fold and just acquiesce in order to get, you know, they're worried about losing the U.S. market. And they're not jumping at the 51st state suggestion. No, Governor Trudeau is not happy about that. Not so much.

All right, you guys stay with us. I want to talk about some domestic politics in a minute. We might be getting a preview of what 2028 may look like as Democrats search for a way back to power. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California, who could be a presidential contender, just broke with his party's stance on transgender athletes. He had conservative activist Charlie Kirk on his podcast when the topic came up.

Would you say no men and female sports? Well, I think it's an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. So I revere sports. And so the issue of fairness is completely legit. And I saw that the last couple of years. Boy, did I saw how you guys were able to weaponize that issue at another level.

Now, Governor Newsom faces criticism from the left for those comments. The head of the Human Rights Campaign said this, the path to 2028 is not paved with the betrayal of vulnerable communities.

Tyler Pager, Michael Warren, Jerusalem Dems, you're here with me to talk more about this. I am old enough to remember the ad that ran last year that said Kamala Harris is for they/them. And every pundit after for two months said that to me over and over again. And I was like, I got it. You think that was the issue. What do you see in this moment that Newsom is taking this step instead?

I have to say this. People aren't leaving California for Texas and for Florida because of woke policies, because of trans athletes in sports. They're leaving because the cost of housing is too high and they're going to places where the cost of living is actually palatable. And so to me,

Democratic governors coming up and like trying to like make news like Gavin Newsom for taking a different stance on these cultural issues are ignoring the actual important issues that their residents in their states face. But to challenge that this is an issue that people feel squeamish about. But it's easier for someone like Gavin Newsom to get on a podcast and say like he's flip-flopped on this issue after a month of consideration but it's harder for him to actually make

changes to lower the cost of housing in his own state. I disagree. I think this is, with all due respect to the human rights campaign, this is exactly what Gavin Newsom should want to do if he wants the 2028 nomination, is to have from the left criticism of him. Look, any time a candidate or potential nominee goes against their own party, goes against their own base, Donald Trump

knows something about that. That's actually good for them in the long term and in sort of a national political conversation. I think that's clearly what Newsom's trying to do. Whether people believe it, whether people believe this is somewhat of a political pandering to the center, that's another question. That's a question about Newsom's own skills as a political operator. But it's good. It's good politics. I was fascinated he was on a podcast, right? Like you already, you see... Well, this has been Gavin Newsom's thing for a little bit. He had the podcast...

with Marshawn Lynch. He is very much clearly trying to position himself in that cultural space. And I think that's what's more interesting here. One of the things that Trump did quite successfully during the 2024 campaign was really immerse himself in cultural venues that Democrats were shut out of.

There was a lot of consternation. Not shut out of, just haven't been in. Well, there's a lot of consternation among the Harris campaign about her inability to get on some of the politics-like podcasts or the sort of cultural podcasts that did not delve as deeply. But you have to engage, right? Like he was wearing no tie. Like that was a different look. Yeah, totally. And this is something that, you know, as we talked about in my book earlier, that we really get into about this sort of conundrum here about how Democrats felt. They just totally got out of it.

outplayed on that issue. And the other thing I think is really interesting is every four years when a party gets out of power, we sort of see this jockeying for what the party stands for, who's the leader, and all these people. Clearly, 2028 is going to be a wide open field for Democrats, and there's no clear leader. And so these sort of fights play out. And one of the things that if you talk to people that worked for Joe Biden in 2020 when he ran for that nomination, as you were saying, it's good to have some of that

criticism from the left. Joe Biden would argue, you know, the reason he won that primary was because he stayed true to his values. But even doing this segment, I'm like, I'm going to be doing this segment every two months for the next four years and I'm already tired. But I think I'll say this. There's a question about whether the voters are looking for cosmetic changes. Like, do they want your vibe to shift? They want you to say, like he said on the podcast. This week we were talking about Me Too.

And activists were talking about Andrew Cuomo coming back. Here you have moderate name recognition, also a little bit of baggage in the harassment department. And she was saying, why aren't they looking for more leaders? And I think there's a world of Democrats who will say, we can't listen to those activists. Their litmus tests are causing a problem.

But there's a difference between listening to activists and listening to voters. When you ask voters what your most important issue is, it doesn't even pop. Trans issues are not even close on Gallup's polling, on Pew's polling. It's just not a thing that pops for voters. This is the new, this is the new, I would like to have a beer with, you know, is this, is, I'm serious. You forgot about that. Do you believe him? Do you believe him?

I think it doesn't matter what I think. I think if voters think, oh, wait, he's talking about this stuff in the way that I feel about it. Which is why you keep hearing this talking point, common sense. Totally, absolutely. I would think, just to jump in here, one of the things about the sort of discussion around the trans issue is it's less about the issue itself than what it means more broadly. And I think one of the things in conversations I've had

with voters is regardless of their own view on the issue, they say, you know, why are people focused on this? There are other things that affect me, to Jerusalem's point, every day, the cost of housing, the economy, the cost of eggs. And so some of the, they feel the conversation around this issue is distracting from other things, whether or not they agree with the governor or whoever on the specific

issue. I think that's one of the things Democrats got in trouble with in 2024 and why that ad Trump ran about Kamala Harris was so devastating was because not exactly on the issue itself, but what it meant and what it was, what people were talking about instead of other issues. Okay. We're going to talk a little bit more about this. You guys stay with me straight ahead on CNN this morning. If you can't afford eggs, get a chicken. Comedian Roy Wood Jr. joins us to discuss that suggestion from the new agriculture secretary,

and more, plus the push to end daylight saving time. President Trump, not so sure he's on board. - Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control. - We decided to sell loose eggs, you know, like this package, $2.99 for these three eggs. - And people are sort of looking around thinking, wow, well maybe I could get a chicken in my backyard, and it's awesome. - What the happened to the eggs?

Okay, there are some stories that honestly I can't take on myself. Something's going on and I need a friend and I'm bringing on a friend, Roy Wood Jr., comedian and host of CNN's Have I Got News For You. Good morning. Good morning. I need your help. I see your face. Is it because of the egg loosies? Why are we selling eggs like cigarettes now? Yes. Good question.

But this administration is not going to address this anytime soon. Eggs are a midterm issue. That's just something we can blame on Joe Biden and the previous administration. I'm too busy cussing out Zelensky when he comes to my house. Are you going to get chickens? No, because then the price of chickens is going to go up. There's no solution. Because tariffs. They're stopping eggs.

Just stop. Okay, Roy, I'm going to ask you another question. Okay. This one is about Doge, Elon Musk. We've talked all week about the courts, about like the mass firings. But one of the sort of quirky, I'll say, aspects of this is political reporting that says,

Some of the people who are working for Doge are basically setting up like home spaces in government offices so that they can be there all day. Like and they're shopping at Ikea to do it. I mean, don't you kind of want employees that will burn themselves out so that they eventually quit and then stop doing their job and then Doge gets shut down? Everybody at Doge, let them work 60 hours. Put a mattress in the middle of the room.

What I love about Doge and everything that's happening now is all these companies that are starting to stand up to them and like offices are just like, no, you can't come in. And then Doge is like, well, if you don't let us in, we can't fire you. How are we going to fire you if you don't let us in? Exactly. You can't come in. Please come tomorrow. It's beautiful. Yeah, it's sort of, I feel like we're, it's at that point you're in a political cartoon.

Yeah, I think that everything that's going on with that office, it's going to be one big, you know, reflection in a couple of months. I mean, at this point, Doge, only people going to be left to fire is themselves. People are talking a lot about what Democrats should do, especially the Democratic Party. How should they sort of stand up to the administration? I need you to process this with me. Democrats doing the choose your fighter meme on TikTok.

You had a variety of lawmakers participate in this. I think we have a clip. Okay, I heard you sigh as we started to play the clip. Gamers know what this is about, but I think other people were a little bit like, why? What's your reaction?

I just thought it was late. I think that was the main thing on the Choose Your Fighter thing. I think October, when people were engaged and wanting to vote, might have been the move. I make no bones about it. You got half the Democrats making memes out in the hallway. You got the other half making signs and taking to the chambers. And you got the rest of them voting to censor the ones who were doing the aforementioned. I don't think that this is the most effective way to show people you're willing to fight. But...

It makes me appreciate the ones who made signs and turned their back and walked out the chamber and protest like that to me was much more reasonable protest behavior and government. I don't know. It's just every time I see a politician doing something that kids was doing four years ago, it just it always is awkward.

You know, have I got news for you? I feel like you make an effort to, you're always trying to find the humor in current events, right? You're trying to find those unserious moments. And I think you're very good at smuggling in the serious into that. But talk about like how it's hard actually to tap into the culture. And I was actually shocked to see, you know, some of the younger lawmakers do this where it felt like a tiny bit dated.

I think the issue is that politicians, I think, have to realize that you are kind of to a degree, you're always going to be on the outer fringes of the culture. So no matter how cool, hey, you got, you're always going to come across as the cool substitute teacher, no matter what. And we don't want you to be cool. We just want you to make a couple laws and stand up to the people that's doing stuff crazy. Like, that would be...

much more, that would be much more well-received. Like, if you look at last week when Jasmine Crockett was asked about Elon Musk and she told him to F off, like, to me, I'm like, oh, okay, I bet she walking around in that building telling people about they self. I don't mind that. But it just, like, how many people in this video do you think legitimately knew what they were doing?

versus somebody just saying, hey, do me a favor, just jump like you fell out the sky and then just start doing a move on a loop. So we think that you are a character in Mortal Kombat. We're choosing. Yeah. Yeah. Walking a line. It's tough. Roy Wood Jr. Thank you so much for chatting with me.

Yeah, indeed. Indeed. I'll see you Saturday night and I'll see you on Max the day after. Exactly. We want all of you to catch the new episode of Have I Got News For You. That's tomorrow night, 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

It's 55 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Some of the stories you need to get your day going. Walgreens going private in a deal that's vaulted, that's valued at more than $23 billion. This will end nearly 100 years as a publicly traded company. Walgreens has closed hundreds of stores, just like some of its rivals. And there may be a possible second measles death in the U.S. This one is in New Mexico.

Health officials say the unvaccinated person tested positive for measles, but doctors do not have an official cause of death yet. The first measles death was reported in West Texas. Now, also, if you are tired, just wait until Sunday when you lose an hour of sleep. This weekend, our clocks spring forward one hour. So should the U.S. get rid of daylight saving time? President Trump, not so sure. I assume people would like to have more light

later. But some people want to have more light earlier because they don't want to take their kids to school in the dark. In December, Trump said his party would, quote, use its best efforts to eliminate the time changes. And what kind of music does the king listen to? I guess it's Kylie Minogue. I can't get you out of my head for your love.

On Monday, DJ Charles, I mean King Charles, takes over Apple's airwaves with a broadcast and a new curated playlist, a mix of genres across decades including Kylie Minogue, Bob Marley and Ray. So this is what I particularly wanted to share with you. Songs which have brought me joy. The playlist drops Monday for Commonwealth Day.

Did you feel the bop? Did you feel the energy? He was giving DJ. Kylie Minogue is like perfect King Charles music. Yeah, that's true. That's classic UK music. Okay, I want to talk about what we're actually going to be keeping an eye on over the next couple of days, give people a sense of like, what's the thing we're watching. Tyler, can I start with you? Yeah, one of the things I'm watching is what happens with the Trump-Elon Musk relationship. Just the relationships.

Yeah, and sort of his role in the government. Yesterday we saw the president host a meeting with cabinet officials and Elon Musk saying, you know, you guys are in charge, not Elon Musk, and then put out a post on Truth Social saying that he wanted the, you know, the effort, the government firings to be done with a scalpel, not a hatchet. Some implicit sort of criticism there of how Musk has been going about

his work. There's been a lot of interest in how long this relationship between the president and the world's richest man will last. We see some early potential fissures, but these relationships change all the time. So we'll see what happens in the coming weeks. Yeah, I feel like your keeping eye on is also the same for many attorneys who are currently suing the administration. Mike Warren.

The markets, I want to see what they're doing. I know President Trump says he doesn't watch the markets. I don't really believe him. I think he is watching it. Well, you watch the markets, Michael. I'm watching it for him. He can call me if he wants to know what's happening. I want to see how they close today. Because, look, if the economy continues to go in the direction it's going, no reason to think it will or won't. That puts a real break on a lot of the things that Donald Trump has been doing. Plus, we've got the jobs report at 8.30 this morning. Okay, Jerusalem. Similarly, economic, I'm focused on what's going on with tariffs. Come on.

I mean, that's, I mean, yeah, I guess that's where it's at. That's where it's at. But the tariff news, it changes every hour. It's dramatic. You never know what's going to happen. And I think it's really important to keep an eye on these kind of day-to-day changes because if you're really in the know and plugged in like us, you're following this sort of thing. But that chaos is really, really difficult for, you know, smaller businesses to keep track of and how that's going to change their outlook.

Yeah, to your point, I'm going to be looking for reaction. Will we start to see more people speak out, whether they be small business owners, maybe they be lawmakers? I'm kind of curious where you start to see that appear. I want to thank you guys for waking up with me, having such a good time chatting. I'm Adi Cornish, and stay with us, because CNN News Central starts right now.