Trump-McConnell, Abortion Pill, Florida Flooding
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Voters 50 and over have the power to decide elections. So candidates who want to win need to talk about the issues they care about. Learn more from our latest polling in Pennsylvania at aarp.org slash PA polling. It is Friday, June 14th, right now on CNN This Morning. Nothing but love. Republicans rallying around their leader as Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell patch things up.

The Supreme Court allowing the abortion pill Mifepristone to stay on the market for now. Downpours and flooding leading to life-threatening conditions in South Florida and the rain still hasn't stopped. Plus, Donald Trump calling Milwaukee a horrible city as it prepares to host the Republican National Convention. All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington, a live look at Capitol Hill. The sun coming up here in Washington, D.C. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. Wonderful to have you with us on this Friday. We made it.

It is also today Donald Trump's 78th birthday. He's already received, though, the gift that he demanded, which has been complete capitulation from the Republican Party. Take a look. Here's the former president making his first appearance on Capitol Hill since January 6th, surrounded by fawning Republican supporters. There's great unity. This is an outstanding group of people. I'm with them 1,000%. There was me 1,000%. We agree just about on everything.

Everything, and if there isn't, we work it out. And I've had a really great relationship with just about everybody here. Perhaps, though, over the years, not with Mitch McConnell. But look at this. The two men hadn't spoken until the Capitol riot, but the Senate minority leader showed up. And there it is, that picture of Doug Mills, The New York Times.

I think we should probably clip and save this one, guys, because I think we're going to come back to it probably again and again. It says a lot. Watch this. Did you talk to him directly? Yeah, we shook hands a few times. He took questions from the audience, and it was a fairly positive session.

All right, our panelists here, former federal prosecutor Elliott Williams, Republican strategist Sarah Longwell, and former White House senior policy advisor Ashley Allison. Welcome to all of you. Clearly, this was designed to show that these guys are all on the same page, all together, that this is Trump's Republican party now. But Sarah Longwell, this was Liz Cheney, right? So

Liz Cheney, who spearheaded the January 6th committee, the investigation into what happened that day, who has been a crusader in the wake of that against Donald Trump getting back into the Oval Office, someone who...

found in Mitch McConnell something of an ally during this period. They were in many ways on the same page. McConnell, of course, not as vocal, but we know I reported at the time just how close McConnell came to doing something different in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump because of how much

he cared about this if you know how McConnell speaks about Donald Trump in private you know the level of disdain that he has for him and yet we saw what we saw yesterday this is what Cheney said yesterday Mitch McConnell knows Trump provoked the violent attack on our capital and then watched television happily as his mob brutally beat police officers and hunted the vice president he knows Trump refused for hours to tell his mob to leave

And even then, with police officers bleeding, he kept repeating his election lies and praising the criminals. He knows Trump committed a disgraceful dereliction of duty and is a danger to our republic. Trump and his collaborators will be defeated and history will remember the shame of people like Leader McConnell who enabled them. When you see this image of McConnell, let's keep that up there. What do you see? I see the ritual humiliation of Republicans who...

said during January 6th or right after January 6th in Mitch McConnell's case that Trump was morally responsible for the events of the day. He said there was no question. And what I see, too, in that humiliation is a ton of regret

for the decision he made not to impeach Donald Trump. Because if Mitch McConnell had made the decision right after January 6th to go ahead and rally Republican senators around impeachment, they could have gotten enough to ensure that this moment didn't come to pass. Mitch McConnell is more responsible than anybody else

because he was too cowardly to take on Trump after January 6th, despite knowing and saying clearly that Trump was the person who caused the insurrection. He didn't do anything about it. And now he finds him back here having to kiss the ring. And it's like a criminal returning to the scene of a crime and being celebrated by the people he did the crime against. Uh,

And watching Nancy Mace, I mean, there was a montage of all of these people and what they said after January 6th. They condemned Trump clearly at the time, and now they're there celebrating him, and it is deeply shameful and embarrassing for them. - It's fascinating watching this all play out because it makes me wonder what happened

happens after Donald Trump, right? He will not, whether he's elected president or whatever else, he will not have, he personally cannot have this hold on the party forever. And will someone else, anyone else engender that kind of like, I remember what the word you used at the beginning was, but sort of bending the knee to this individual that's often asking them to vote against their interests and take these positions on January 6th and so on.

And I don't know if it's him, if he taps into something, or if some other standard bearer could take over. But it's wild for all the reasons you've laid out, Sarah, that people are still continuing, Republicans, to line up behind him given all that happened on January 6th. So let's put up on the screen another picture. And this is part of why I've reacted. Yeah, there you go.

Right? So on the left, you have Doug Mills, New York Times photo yesterday, Mitch McConnell shaking hands with Donald Trump. This is the first time the two men have been in the same room spoken since January 6th. On the right, we don't have a date on that photo, but it is just weeks after January 6th, Kevin McCarthy goes down to Mar-a-Lago, meets with Donald Trump, just again, weeks after he had gone down to the floor of the House of Representatives and said that Trump

Donald Trump bore responsibility for what happened on January 6th. Now, that McCarthy photo, a lot of people credit with resuscitating Donald Trump at the time. McCarthy kind of trying to read the room. This is something that McCarthy really does in the course of his political career. He tries to sense where the winds were blowing, and he's

he decided that this is where he needed to be for his political career down there and it made a huge difference in terms of Donald Trump then becoming the Republican nominee of the party this time around. And then there you have McConnell on the left now today as we are heading in

to the November election. Ashley Allison, what do you see here big picture? And in terms of Trump's electoral prospects in 2024, I mean, that was kind of the big picture point of what happened yesterday was to try to show Republicans are united. It is definitely easier to win elections united than divided. Perhaps, yes, that's true. I think...

what's important and a reminder after yesterday's picture and continues to be a reminder when you think about, I know we'll probably talk later in the show, some of the not great things Trump said when he was in the meeting and at his press conference after about certain cities and people. But I want to step away and just say, like, I'm not going to be, I know that Joe Biden and Donald Trump are running against each other. And when you have opponents, you often compare them.

they're not in the same class. Donald Trump is an exception to all politicians. And Elliot, to your question,

What does it mean after Donald Trump? It means the people in this moment get to decide if they're going to follow in line and try and replicate. This is the moment to make a decision. And these folks are making their point. It's hard to swing back the pendulum after these moments when you fall at the you fall and kiss the ring. So I know people have take issue with Joe Biden. But I am stepping away from that picture in this moment from stopping to do this competitively.

of the two, I'm gonna start talking about them in very distinct ways because they are not the lesser, what is not the lesser of two evils? One is someone who forces people to lose their principles,

to not even have principles of their own, meaning Donald Trump. And another is, meaning Joe Biden in this instance, is someone who has a party that even in this moment, they have issues where they might not all agree with one another, but they allow for that to happen because that's what happens in democracy. And you can unite and bring people along with you even in moments of disagreement. But right now you don't have disagreement in the Republican Party. You have just people falling in line.

Sarah, this was Congresswoman Maria Salazar on Capitol Hill yesterday. I want to show this just because you can kind of see in the way she's animated kind of what this portends. Watch. He is the leader of the party and he happens to be the guy who was chosen by the overwhelming majority of Republicans to be the nominee. Who are we to say no? Just like the overwhelming majority of the Dems decided for Biden to be the nominee. That's a reality. Welcome to the United States.

Welcome to the United States. Well, she's not wrong about the fact that Republican voters picked Donald Trump. I mean, it is his party. The reason that you see everybody sort of falling all over him is that this is what Republican voters have chosen. I mean, I talk to Republican voters all the time in the focus groups, and there was...

and is and remains sort of a 30% group of people who really want to move on from Trump. But the other 60% are either hardcore Trumpers or like very fine with Trump. And I think that to Elliot's question about the future of the party and what it means, what's interesting is that when you develop this cult of personality and everybody kind of

abdicates the things that they believe in service to one person you don't have a political party right you just you have a cult of personality and that makes it very difficult when that person leaves to figure out who are we what do we stand for because I don't see a Republican Party that goes back to a place where they're really focused on limited government free markets and American leadership in the world it's not what the party is anymore that's not what the voters want

And so I think that Republicans right now, which you are watching in this moment, is them gambling away a future of being a viable, forward-looking political party and finding themselves sort of collapsed at the time of Donald Trump's ultimate departure, which I hope is in November.

And that's exactly why I asked the question to raise the point, because in for you, however long it is, whether it's J.D. Vance or Matt Gates or Tim Scott or anybody else does not have that individual will not, I think, have that kind of charismatic pull on the party. And thank goodness. Like watching watching them fall all over him is embarrassing for them. And, you know, I I hope that

I want the Republican Party to be relegated to a rump party because of sustained electoral defeats that is then incentivized to reform itself into something that is not this dangerous version of what we're seeing today. You know, it's interesting because a lot of times Democrats, we...

particularly progressive Democrats like myself, get accused of being derogatory or condescending or dismissive of people in the Republican Party now that are supporting Donald Trump. And the thing you just said is they don't want

the old form of the Republican Party. So what is it that they do want? And I think that's the important question that we have to continue to expose is that if they don't want, again, I didn't agree with the old version of the Republican Party either, but definitely in disagreement with this version. So the question is, what is it they want? And then what's the subtext underneath the thing they want? And that is

the conversation that we continue to have to have as Americans in order, I think, to move past this moment. And I just want to give a short answer to that, which is that Donald Trump and this version of the Republican Party does not like America. That's right. The old version of the Republican Party did like America. They thought America was great. They wanted to help other places in the world become functional democracies like America was. But Donald Trump doesn't like America. And these voters want to burn things down. And Trump is their chaos agent to do it.

Yeah, I'm flashing back to what the governor of Pennsylvania had to say to Donald Trump to say, stop S-talking America, right? So just as we go to break here this morning, let's put that Doug Mills picture back up as well, because this is what has been kind of driving our conversation. It's just a very kind of stark image here. There's this today on, what day is today? Friday, June 14th, 2024, Donald Trump's birthday. Looking at this this morning.

Just want to leave you with Mitch McConnell back around January and February of 2021 and what he had to say about that man he's shaking hands with. The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. What are some of the social service agencies that have supported you and your family growing up? That's Dr. Robert Waldinger. He's a psychiatrist, a professor, and a Zen master. What kind of relationships actually help us maintain happiness? And what should we do in those moments where we have setbacks and things that don't work out? Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

I am satisfied that I'm not going to do anything. I said I'd abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him. That's quite an image. President Biden telling reporters at the G7 that he will not intervene in his son Hunter's legal issues. The president previously said he wouldn't pardon Hunter. That was the first time he said that he wouldn't commute the sentence either.

And in a rare moment of compassion, Donald Trump expressed sympathy for the Bidens. I understand that whole subject. I understand it pretty well because I've had it with people have it in their family. It's a very tough thing. It's a very tough situation for a father. It's a very tough situation for a brother or sister.

And it goes on and it's not stopping, whether it's alcohol or drugs or whatever it may be. It's a tough thing. And so that's a tough, it's a tough moment for their family. - Elliot Williams, this is the first time Biden has said he won't commute the sentence. I'm interested in your reaction to that. But also, I mean, Donald Trump's demeanor there is kind of interesting. - It is. As we were talking about on the show yesterday,

President Biden had to say that because he'd left open the question of you know, and everyone was going to ask him repeatedly Are you going to commute the sentence or not? He had previously said I won't pardon He did not say anything about sentencing now to be clear. He

even if President Biden did not pardon his son and commuted the sentence, he would still have the felony weight hanging over him, probably couldn't vote, couldn't hold off or run for office, couldn't get an insurance license, whatever else. And so it's still a burden on somebody to be commuted but not pardoned.

he the president would have faced allegations that or concerns that he Had given favoritism to his son and so on so he sort of had to make that statement as hard as it is on Trump How could anyone say anything else? Other than this is a tragic situation for someone in their family and well, I mean Donald Trump has I know I do take your I think he was advised and

I don't know, but it's odd. No, it's jumping. I mean, I think it does speak to this is something that's become a lot of people have this in their families. All right. Coming up next here, three critical issues on the table as President Biden sits down with G7 leaders this hour. Plus, they're bracing for more rain in flooded out South Florida. We'll bring you that next.

All right, happening now, President Biden and global leaders meeting on the second day of the G7 summit. On the table today, immigration, climate change, and artificial intelligence.

Pope Francis just arrived in southern Italy. You can see him there. He is expected to push for stronger controls over AI in a speech that he'll give to the group after a deep fake photo of him in a white puffer jacket went viral last year. CNN's MJ Lee joins us now live from Bari, Italy. MJ, good morning to you. Wonderful to see you. Bring us up to speed. What have we seen from the summit so far and what do we expect today?

Yeah, Casey, I think we've all been thinking about that big puffer jacket that you just described. Yeah, if the big highlight yesterday was Ukraine and the G7 leaders rallying around President Zelensky of Ukraine, really the big highlight today is going to be the pope and his visit with the G7 leaders. He's making history by being the first pope to attend a G7 meeting.

summit. And you're right that AI is expected to be a big topic. This is something that he has spoken out about publicly. But there are also other really weighty issues that we expect the Pope to discuss with these world leaders, including the war in Ukraine. He has, of course, been pushing for a peace agreement.

The war in Israel and the situation in the Middle East is also expected to come up. He has been pushing, of course, for an immediate ceasefire. But as a senior official talking to reporters here this morning was making clear, it's also the pope. You know, he is free to discuss anything he would like with these leaders and vice versa. The leaders are certainly going to have a lot of things that they are eager to discuss with the pope as well.

And we can report that President Biden will have a separate private meeting with the Pope sometime today as well. We know that that is going to be a personally really meaningful sit down for the president. The two men did meet back in 2021 at the Vatican. They happen to be, of course, two of the most powerful and most well-known Catholic

men in the world. And there are going to be so many issues that President Biden is certainly going to be eager to discuss with the pope and just getting that time that is so rare with the pope. Of course, there have been a lot of questions throughout this week about meetings that the president is and isn't having. Why isn't he sitting down with this leader? Why isn't he attending this dinner or this meeting?

But you can imagine that this particular sit down and having that audience with the pope would have been a really big priority for President Biden. Indeed. All right. MJ Lee for us. MJ, thank you very much for that. Coming up next here, the Supreme Court ruling on the challenge to the abortion pill. Plus, Florida Republican Corey Mills is here. We're going to talk to him about Trump's meeting with Republican lawmakers after the break.

Trump's birthday should be fun. The last time people gathered to say, "Are you one? Are you two? Are you three?" They were counting guilty verdicts. Right? Right. Donald Trump was back on Capitol Hill yesterday for the first time since his conviction, and he met with Republican lawmakers to discuss his campaign priorities. Multiple GOP sources say Trump used his time to air some of his grievances. He had thoughts about Taylor Swift, Nancy Pelosi, and the city of Milwaukee.

Some lawmakers also telling CNN that during the meeting there weren't any members who voiced dissent with their party's presumptive Republican nominee. It was a pep rally environment for President Trump. I saw nothing but overwhelming support for President Trump. I didn't sense any dissension, but you know, I didn't catch everybody's response either. He is the leader of the party and he happens to be the guy who was chosen by the overwhelming majority of Republicans to be the nominee. Who are we to say no?

Joining me now to bring us inside the room is Republican Congressman from Florida, Corey Mills, who endorsed Trump during the presidential primary last year. Congressman, good morning. Good morning. So this seems to feel like it was a birthday party. Take us inside the room. What was it like? Well, it was more than a birthday party. It was actually a coalescing around our Republican nominee and

You know, we talked a lot about what the issues that we're facing. We talked about economics. We talked about, you know, the 41 percent who had voted in the Gallup poll regarding the fact that economics and inflation is what they're most concerned about. We talked about the border and key issues. But the thing that was really interesting is that he didn't talk just about his winning of the nomination or his winning of the White House. He talked about how does he help

the rest of the GOP to win their races and to maintain the majority. And so this was really about him actually offering to try and help and support. And he even talked about a lot of the races in the past that he's gone out and done teletown halls for, that he's gone out and actually done rallies for. And so this wasn't just about, you know, President Trump. This was about how do we actually strengthen the party and also strengthen the nation.

Did he say that the city of Milwaukee where the convention is going to be held is a horrible city? No, that is not at all what I've heard. No one else actually. He didn't say that? You didn't hear him say that? No, and actually Jake Sherman's report on this, if that was said, it must have been somewhere where me, Brian Mass, Byron Donalds, Jason Smith, like none of us heard that because we got asked it after the meeting and I was like...

I never heard this once, so I'm not understanding where this is even coming from. Well, CNN has confirmed that the word horrible was used, but I appreciate your kind of direct account. Well, I'm sure he was talking about either something of the country or something that's going on, because I think that we can all agree that it's pretty horrible what we're seeing on our borders. It's pretty horrible what we're seeing with regards to elimination of the middle class. And so I think that it could have been a reference to that. You have other uses for the word horrible. Absolutely. So, Congressman, we've been talking this morning about...

Mitch McConnell, who shook hands with the president after not speaking to him since the January 6th riot at the Capitol. And that image also recalls the one where Kevin McCarthy went down, and that was just a couple weeks after the January 6th insurrection, and stood next to Donald Trump. I just want to remind you and our viewers of what both McCarthy and McConnell had to say at that time. Let's watch. The mob was fed lies.

They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.

These facts require immediate action by President Trump. Accept his share of responsibility, quell the brewing unrest, and ensure President-elect Biden is able to successfully begin his term.

Congressman, how did we get from there to here? Well, I think that people are starting to realize the facts that came out. I mean, look, first off, I know you call it an insurrection. I still haven't had proof or any court that actually has deemed it as being such. But my whole thing is, is that I'm identifying this with one thing. When they tried to disrupt the results of the trial.

Well, let's go ahead and talk. And they were chanting, hang Mike Pence. Let's talk about the idea of disruption. How many people were actually also found to actually not be MAGA supporters or America First or even Trump supporters that were wearing false flags that were actually in there? I mean, you had a gentleman here, Sean. We don't have any evidence of that.

Actually, there is actually evidence multiple times. One of the biggest antagonists actually was a guy named Sean Packer Grali who actually was even indicted, but he was never actually gone before court. He was the same individual who was actually leading part of the Black Lives Matter and actually was an antagonist. We're going down to a place that I do not want to go. My whole point in this is just to explain

that I still do not see where we can talk about how peaceful protests can be deemed, when we talk about Minnesota, we talk about Minneapolis, we talk about all these other areas, those are mostly peaceful protests. And yet people coming together without weaponry, without any type of, you know, community violence. - There was blood smeared on the statues and several Capitol Police officers died in the wake of this. - There was things smeared on the Capitol. - And they were spraying bear spray at cops. Like, how is that okay?

Spraying bear spray at cops, there's no one ever violating or ever attacking law enforcement. I'll be the first to go ahead and say that. They were attacking law enforcement on January 6th. But I've also seen this in the BLM riots. I've also seen this in other areas. We can't sit here and say one was better than the other. But what I'll say is this. Sir, you are a member of the BLM.

I am not a fan of what is going on. I am asking you about the attack on the building in which you serve. I am not asking about it. I understand we could sit here and we could make equivalency all day. It was a dark day. I'll be the first to tell you, law and order is law and order. I don't care who you vote for, who you don't vote for. If you actually are abusing law enforcement, if you're actually committing an act of crime, you should be charged to the fullest extent. I'll be the first to go ahead and say it. But there was a lot of people who has been pulled into this who wasn't even actually in the Capitol itself.

So if we're talking about the J6 argument, I can actually argue where many people who are still detained don't even have charges that are being brought and levied against them. And we're seeing that in Pinellas County's courthouse. We're seeing that in other areas. We're even seeing where members of Congress can't even go and visit to find out what's actually occurring and what's happening.

uh... that's one thing in itself now as far as mccarthy mcconnell's comments i personally am not a big fan of the idea that they don't think that the car has been a great leaders i'm rick scott's actually trying to challenge him right now i don't think that a man who can somehow calls by down well any rightfully should i mean you're talking about a guy who somehow he's the only member that i've ever seen both in the senate and the house whose wife can get appointments

under both a Democrat and Republican president alike. So I'm not a big fan. President Trump has made it very clear that he did not look for violence in any way. If you read his tweets, if you read what he said, he said, go home peacefully. That's not a person who's inciting violence. Let's talk about how Pelosi and Maxine Waters and others said, well, what about Maxine Waters, who was like, get in the face of people.

Start making more noise. Let's get out on the streets. Now we're making equivalencies. I want to talk specifically about those events and what happened. And the reality on that day was the president did and said nothing for hours in that time as cops were being attacked. But no one, where did he say we should go storm the Capitol? Where did he say he didn't? That's the whole point. He urged his supporters at that speech that he gave to go to the Capitol. And then he told the Secret Service inside his garden,

guard that he wanted to go to the Capitol too. Actually, wasn't it Nancy Pelosi who just admitted that her daughter was actually filming, that she didn't have adequate security and that she should have done more and that the responsibility was on her for the protection of the Capitol? That actually Capitol Police had reduced their forces, that National Guard was recommended... So wait a second, now which is it? Does the Capitol need to be protected?

because there was danger on that day or was everything peaceful and fine? I think that if we looked at 2016, the city of D.C. was burning and we were worried about it then. Isn't that a prelude to what we've seen in coming elections? Aren't we seeing where this unprecedented thing is occurring where every president has to come under impeachment, everyone has to be under scrutiny of lawfare, every single transition of power has to be so

Look, this is partially on the fact that there's a divided government that is continuing to play partisan rhetoric that's dangerous. And it's on both sides. When we're sitting here pointing fingers nonstop, when we're divided as an actual Congress, we're also divided as a nation. And I think that that's where what we need to be seeing right now is some type of healing, some type of coming together, which I support. Do you think that the U.S. is still the greatest country in the world? Hands down. Because President Trump continually...

uh... says that the we are a nation decline in the governor of pennsylvania came out and said hey stop stop s talking this country well look we are nation decline many ways to think about thirty five point six trillion dollars in deficit and i would have been a really grim picture here this is the first time in american history that we're gonna pay more interest our national debt then we will in servicing our actual national defense not to mention only twenty eight nation empires in our world's history

has ever seen 130% of GDP. Only one survived this, which is Japan. So we are a nation in decline. If you look at our open borders, if you look at increased criminality, if you look at the divisions that we just discussed, I think that it's not something that we can argue to say we're better off now than we were four years ago. Well, four years ago, we were all in the midst of a pandemic. It's hard to feel better. Anyway, Congressman, I appreciate your time today. Thank you. And talk to you soon.

All right, democracy or a republic? A lot of Americans don't seem to care as long as Trump's in charge. We used to have freedom of speech and freedom of religion. We used to have that too. Now they're picking on the Christians and the Jewish people. I mean, how much more can we take?

All right, 46 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. A significant Supreme Court decision on the widely used abortion pill, Mifepristone. All nine justices yesterday unanimously rejected a lawsuit that challenged the FDA's regulation of the drug, finding that the doctors bringing the case lacked the right to sue in the first place. The decision does leave an opening for anti-abortion groups to continue to challenge the pill.

Tesla shareholders voting to re-approve a $48.3 billion with a B dollar pay package for CEO Elon Musk. It was previously struck down by a judge. More rain expected today in South Florida. It is the fifth day of storms that have led to dangerous flooding across the region, leaving roads impassable and homes flooded. Then this story. Have you seen his hands? They're like this. And you know what they say about men with small hands?

He said I had small hands. They're not small, are they? I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee it. Remember that proud moment in American politics? Well, the Supreme Court says that you can mock Trump's manhood all you want, but if you call him too small, you can't trademark it. The justice is ruling against a California man who wanted exclusive rights to the phrase "Trump too small" to print on hats and t-shirts.

- You know, isn't America an amazing place that a Senator can comment on the size of a president's hands in a zing on his manhood and a man can try to trademark it and lose in the Supreme Court. What a country. It's just sort of, how do you make this up? Nowhere else in the world. - What a country. Okay, President Biden has been making the case that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, but many of Trump's hardcore supporters, we heard from one of them this morning, disagree with that notion.

That democracy, well actually I should amend that, some of these people we're about to hear from, different from our previous guest, think that democracy may not exist. Watch. We are a republic. We are not a democracy. America is not a democracy as a republic. It's not a democracy.

Okay, democracy is actually not as good as you think it is. I don't see freedom in democracy. I see freedom in the republic. Are you concerned if Trump loses? Yeah. That there will be another January 6th? No, I think there will be a civil war. Okay, on that note, if it's Friday, it must be Smirconish. Michael Smirconish is here. Michael, wonderful to see you. I'm just going to... You saw that? What do you think?

I think we're more inclined to vote on the size of one's hands than we are the relative merit of democracy. And what a sad commentary that is in this election cycle. But we know because when President Biden has spoken of the events of January 6th and tried to use that as a campaign issue, it hasn't resonated. So I'm not surprised. As concerning as I find it, that people aren't troubled by the prospect of the loss of some of their Democratic candidates

principles and responsibilities and opportunities, it's not going to be a big issue in the election. Well, Michael, I mean, I have to push

have to push back a little bit on that just because, you know, I think we did see some evidence in the midterms in 2022 that democracy was an animating issue for some voters. And we do see it in the polling. They will say that they are concerned about it. And there were instances if you look down into some of these like secretary of state races in places like Nevada and Arizona and others that people did

seem concerned about those who were potentially messing around with the actual levers of democracy, the way that we count the votes. That said, you know, President Trump has, former President Trump has tried to kind of turn this on President Biden and say, well, it's actually President Biden who's not participating in democracy. I mean, is that what's kind of motivating this conversation? Yeah.

But Casey, we're having this conversation one day after the triumphant return. And that's really what it was among Republicans by Donald Trump to Capitol Hill, which was the scene of the crime scene.

I mean, there's Mitch McConnell with a handshake and a fist bump. Yeah, let's put that up. Notwithstanding what he said in the well of the Senate after the events of January 6th, you know, where you thought there'd be no rapprochement ever possible between the two. So that's my response. Maybe it resonates on one side of the aisle, but certainly not among Republicans.

Yeah, I mean, Michael, what did you make of this McConnell photo? I'm trying to put it up, but it's him and Donald Trump hand in hand. I think I was just a little bit, you know, this stopped me. This image stopped me.

Well, I think it's a recognition of the strength that Trump has, the command that Trump has over the Republican electorate. There's really no side. I guess Mitt Romney was on a plane, right? But there are very few exceptions to those who fell in line yesterday and made sure that they were there to show fealty toward the leader of the party. And, you know, he had opposition. He had a number of candidates. He, Trump, running against him, but he was the victor.

blew away everybody who was on that stage. So you have to kind of step back and take stock of the fact that in the end, the indictments, the conviction, the events of January 6th, none of it stood in his way in securing the nomination of his party.

Yeah. One of the other things they did at this event, Michael, was give him a birthday cake because today is Donald Trump's 78th birthday, I believe. And I think it is worth reminding that this is a rematch that everybody tells us, you know, Americans tell us in polling they don't want.

So at age 78, he would be the oldest ever at his swearing in. Joe Biden is 81. Three years now separate the two of them. Casey, I took note of the fact that there was not a 78 on that cake. Yeah.

Okay, there was a 45 on that cake, but nobody wanted to put 78 on that cake. And look, according to CBS and YouGov, data that came out earlier this week, a quarter round numbers of Americans don't think that either of them has the mental or cognitive health to be president. But the numbers for Biden, the concerns about Biden, you have to say this, far exceed those for Trump, 65%, including 29% of Democrats who have doubts about Biden's

cognitive ability. If Biden weren't the comparison, I think more voters would look at Donald Trump and they would say, my God, 78. I mean, that dwarfs Ronald Reagan at the time that he was running for reelection. But because you've got that never ending comparison, it's a big problem for the incumbent. And it's one of those problems that's not going away. It's not going to get better with time. It's going to get worse.

And depending on the outcome of the election, I mean, I think you're going to hear a lot. Casey, can I say one more thing? The debate, the debate, the debate, because it just puts all the attention, this age, acuity, call it what you want. We're less than two weeks away. Two weeks from today, I hope you and I will be having a conversation about what happened in last night's debate. And this is going to be the focus. Who looks like they are mentally fit and competent?

Yeah, that's right. That Friday, you and I, we have, it's a date, Michael Smirconish, the day after, the Friday after the debate. And yes, we've been having that box on the screen. It's going to be right here on CNN. Don't miss it. Michael Smirconish, always grateful to have you. And also do not miss CNN Smirconish. It's tomorrow at 9 a.m. Eastern. Thank you, sir.

all right let's turn now to this donald trump's comments about milwaukee being horrible just one month before the set uh the city hosts the republican national convention and uh sarah longwell these were comments that were made behind closed doors we've reported uh yesterday at this meeting where he said this is a horrible city

Here was, let's take a look at what the Milwaukee mayor had to say back to him on local news just yesterday. Watch. Donald Trump was talking about things that he thinks are horrible. All of us lived through his presidency. So right back at you, buddy. To insult the state that's hosting your convention, I think is kind of bizarre, actually. It's kind of unhinged in a way. Right back at you. Well, we heard your previous guest, the congressman, say that, of course, you know,

This wasn't this isn't true and we don't have it on tape so I don't know but it sounds like something Donald Trump would say I don't know I've heard him say a lot of these things in fact just going back to Mitch McConnell and the ritual humiliation he's suffering Donald Trump calls him an old crow regularly he's made racist smears against Mitch McConnell's wife and so I don't know doesn't sound off base for Donald Trump to insult the city probably with some racial

undertones going into the convention. - Yeah, that's the thing is like, it's so interesting the cities that he often targets. Milwaukee, Baltimore, countries that have people with higher melanin count in their skin, or cities as well that have black folks and brown folks. So, you know, I go back to the beginning over this hour when you said, Sarah Longwell, about like people don't like this country right now. And so I often say, what is the why?

let's hypothetically say donald trump did say that milwaukee was a horrible city i wonder why i wonder what what is that undertone also well you left out philly and dc his two favorite ones and uh again he really doesn't like it here he doesn't like it here there's a consistent threat here what's what's wrong he wants to move back i hear apparently so

I'd like him to not move back. I know, me too. But this whole, remember this all started with I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still get away with it. Now the question is, can you insult voters in one of the most critical swing states in 2024 and still get away with it? He needs some of the people in Milwaukee, even if many of them are Democrats, he still needs the votes there. And it's remarkable if this comment was made what it could mean for,

for this back to what we talked about the beginning, the hold this individual has on the party is really remarkable. Well, and I think it's also worth noting that they have focused a lot on black men, right? And if they're actually, I mean, Milwaukee is a city where they actually, that actually could make a difference if it's going to happen. And just, I do want to play a couple of, we've got a couple of House Republicans who came out after this meeting and were,

They were trying to explain and put context around the president's comments, but just to leave it in contrast with a previous guest who insisted that this didn't happen, that is not what these Republicans who were in the meeting had to say. Watch. He wasn't talking about the city. He was talking about specific issues in the city. What he was talking about was the elections in Milwaukee. They're concerned about them.

So what I also kind of love about this, Sarah, is that this has actually made the local news, right? And that the local folks are pushing back. Because that actually, I think, is kind of, if this is going to make a difference, right, that he says it, that's why. Yeah, look, I mean, Wisconsin's a really important state. And so there's a reason they're holding the convention in Milwaukee. It's because they want to win that state over. And so I think going into that state and insulting people is probably a bad call. Yeah.

All right. And with that, I will leave you with this. A salute to the GOAT, the greatest of all time. I am Tom Brady and I am a patriot. No, no, not him. This guy. Two, one, let's go! Who here loves this man?

We are talking about Joey Chestnut, the undisputed hot dog eating champion. Will Lech argues in an opinion piece for the Washington Post that Chestnut would never have reached GOAT status if it wasn't for another man, Japanese eating legend Kobayashi. The two used to battle it out on Coney Island every summer in the Nathan's famous 4th of July hot dog eating contest.

That was until Kobayashi, a six-time champ, was banned after a contract dispute in 2010. And he did not take it very well. This was CNN's coverage of that incident. Take a look at the pictures of what happened because right after the contest ended, I spoke with a spokesperson. And she said that what happened was that people were in the crowd chanting Kobayashi because they recognized him. He said he got caught up in the moment. He got excited. He rushed the stage.

Kobayashi was actually arrested. After that, he never competed in the contest again. Chestnut would go on to win 16 championship belts in Kobayashi's absence.

But Chestnut himself was just dealt a similar fate. He was booted from the contest this week after striking an endorsement deal with the plant-based Impossible Foods. Plant dogs. Now the two are coming together, though, for a heavyweight showdown. This is going to be a live Netflix special titled Chestnut vs. Kobayashi Unfinished Beef.

The beef is going to get served up on September 2nd. We are not joined currently by Matt Gorman, who is apparently like the eating champ expert of all experts. I don't know if any of you actually watch any of this. I do not. No, but don't tell me this country isn't great. That's amazing. Kobayashi weighs 128 pounds. I know. That dude is a beast. It's insane. It's insane. All right. Thanks very much to you guys. Happy Friday. Thanks to you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

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