[0:00]Let's bring in our panel now and joining us is Josh Hammer, senior editor at large at Newsweek and Alex Terrasio, signal principal and pollster. Thank you both so much for joining us. Let's start
[0:11]with I suppose the biggest story of the day, the Epstein scandal. The Democrats have released emails that alleged that Jeffrey Epstein mentioned Donald Trump multiple times in his email
[0:21]correspondence with Gain Maxwell and there are suggestions that Trump quote knew about the girls. Now, these documents do not suggest any wrongdoing on the part of the US president, and the
[0:33]president has blasted the Democrats on Truth Social. He wrote, "The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein hoax again because they'll do anything at all to deflect on how badly
[0:44]they've done on the shutdown and so many other subjects. Only a very bad or stupid Republican would fall into that trap." The Democrats cost our country $1.5 trillion with their recent antics
[0:55]of viciously closing our country. while at the same time putting many at risk and they should pay a fair price. There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else and any Republicans
[1:06]involved should be focused only on our on opening up our country and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats. Here is Caroline Le.
[1:16]>> These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong. And what President Trump has always said is that he was from Palm Beach and so was Jeffrey
[1:27]Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mara Lago until President Trump kicked him out because Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile and he was a creep. This is truly a manufactured hoax by the
[1:38]Democrat party. And it is not a coincidence that the Democrats leaked these emails to the fake news this morning ahead of Republicans reopening the government. This is another
[1:48]distraction campaign. Alex, let's start with you. What's your assessment of this development? How damaging would you say this is for the president?
[1:59]>> Well, I think that the Epstein story is really hard to ignore. It's this story that doesn't seem to go away. And so, the fact that it's come out now when it did makes some sense to me and I think
[2:10]the president's explanation of why this is out now, I basically accept. As far as what this means for him, what this means in public opinion, >> the president's real priority needs to
[2:20]be on the economy. I think that he knows that. I think that that's come after the election results last week. We've seen that in our own polling that's going to come out tomorrow. That voters have
[2:30]really soured on the direction of the country right now. For the first time, we see results of people saying that the America's best days are behind it. And that's really driven by pessimism in the
[2:40]economy. This is in the same poll where we see people giving Trump a lot of credit for what he's done with the border. Even Democrats, 70% of voters give him at least some credit for closing the border. It was a problem
[2:51]that people thought basically impossible to solve. And there's also been a lot of visibility on peace deals, but it's come at a time when the economy is getting worse, when costs are continuing to go up, and when people just have a little
[3:03]less money in their pockets. And so I think that's the focus. And whether Trump is focusing on other positive things like peace or other negative things like Epstein, I think anything that takes away his focus in the economy is going to hurt him.
[3:13]>> Josh, what's your assessment? I think that the Trump administration handled the release of the Epstein files terribly. Um, but at the same time, I mean, there's a lot of focus on the
[3:24]Democrats that they were pretty silent about the Epstein Files while Joe Biden was in in power. It's only now that Donald Trump is president that there's a big song and dance about it. What do you
[3:34]make of this development? >> Gabrielle, I think that everything Alex said is exactly right. I I would endorse essentially every word of what my co-panelist just said. Look, I was very critical of some of my fellow
[3:45]conservative talkers and commentators back in July. Many of them were were calling for Donald Trump's head over the way that the administration definitely did to an extent botch the roll out. I'm not going to pretend Gabriella to your
[3:57]point that that the attorney general Pam Bond being cash Patel there were a lot of legitimate questions to be asked there. But the point that I've been making all along back both back in July and now today now that this saga that
[4:08]will never go away apparently is back in the news. The very basic point I made is that the American people I genuinely don't think there are that many people that really go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning thinking a lot about this. It's probably ranked
[4:20]somewhere between the the 40th and 50th most important issue if that facing the American people. To Alex's point, there were just elections in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia last week. And based on every single exit poll, we we
[4:32]see there's a recent Harvard poll that just came out there on kind of accumulating the exit polls and we see that it's affordability, it's inflation, it's stagnant wages, it is still stubbornly high inflation. It is just
[4:42]the cost of living mini crisis in general. That is what people care about. And every day that the president is not fighting on that terrain, I think is at this point a day that that is wasted. And I don't think that he should fall
[4:52]into the trap. I think his true social post was correct to punch back at it. And if he can galvanize his allies both on Capitol Hill and in a in in the media class to really kind of push that point,
[5:03]then I think that that then puts Democrats in a very bad position of trying to focus on an issue that is of s of such obscure origins and is frankly just not of that much interest other than kind of the salacious New York Post
[5:15]page six readers to the American people. So if he can stick to the issues, I think he's in good shape here. >> Let's talk about the government shutdown that's finally coming to an end. And here's Anna Navaro on CNN making some
[5:26]pretty wild claims about the Democrats and then getting fact checked by Scott Jennings. Look at this. >> I know a lot of Republicans. I know a lot of Democrats. Dem they're cut from
[5:36]different cloths. Democrats simply don't have the coldheartedness necessary to see people suffering and just say let them eat cake. They are not
[5:48]the types that >> they voted repeatedly to do it. I mean, you just heard Democrats. >> And what was Donald Trump doing in the meantime? >> He doesn't know the legisle. No, he's the president of the United States. He's the most powerful president with
[5:59]Republicans in my lifetime. He never once even told them, "Come back to Washington." He just played out of out of uh out of Washington for a month and a half. Correct.
[6:09]>> A month and a half. Democrat after Democrat admit that the Democratic plan to prolong the shutdown was causing quote suffering. That was their words,
[6:18]not mine. Democrats themselves realized the tactic of suffering was no longer something they could personally stomach. That was their party, not Republicans. >> Alex, how damaging is this for the
[6:29]Democrats when they clearly prolonged the shutdown? I mean, they could have ended it weeks ago. >> I I would be so frustrated as a Democrat
[6:39]this week because they came off of an excellent week, maybe one of the best weeks for the Democratic party in in ages with the aftermath of the elections. They had the wind at their back and then the manner in which this
[6:50]shutdown ended just completely arrested it. And the past 36 hours has just been awful for Democrats. Uh I don't think to Anna Navar's point any American cares if Mike Johnson kept the House of Representatives out of session. That is
[7:02]inside baseball. Nobody cares outside of Washington DC. Nobody cares in Washington DC. But the shutdown did hurt both parties. And I think this is a rare
[7:12]news cycle this past maybe week and a half where nobody looked good. I don't think the Democratic party looks good having prolonged the shutdown. I don't think that the Republican party had a great week and a half either. And at
[7:23]this point, I think the bases of both parties are pretty upset, particularly the young people in each party that don't know what this was all for. >> Josh, what's your assessment of it all? >> Well, I think that Democrats
[7:35]unequivocally lost the shutdown. I'm not entirely sure that Republicans won. There's not not necessarily a tremendous conservative policy victory here. On the contrary, the fact that there are all these federal workers who Russ Vo, the
[7:46]director of the White House Office of Imagine Budget, he's been in charge of the triage operation trying to temporarily furlow or indeed outright fire federal workers. The fact that Republicans agreed to essentially hire all these fire workers back and give
[7:58]them back pay. Well, you know, as someone who thinks that there's probably one or one or two or three too many deep state bureaucrats in Washington, I would have liked to have seen a lot of these guys just go get a nice job in the private sector and not mooch off of the
[8:08]off the taxpayer. So, I'm not necessarily thrilled about that. But the Democrats unequivocally lost this. So Alex's point there, they shut down the federal government for the longest time
[8:18]in United States history. 43 days and and counting un unless it ends right now, which it looks like it probably is. But this was a long shutdown. And what did they gain? Like literally, what can
[8:30]they say about it? They can they can claim absolutely positively nothing. They allegedly ostensibly were fighting for these expiring Obamacare subsidies. By the way, they did a really lousy job of messaging that. I think most people
[8:41]were deeply confused as to why exactly the government was shut down. They didn't have a clear and compelling reason or rationale. It it was spiking healthc care subsidies in primarily blue state democratun states. So it was self-
[8:53]serving and cynical at that. Essentially Chuck Schumer my realness is that Chuck Schumer really shut down the government for 43 days in counting because he was trying to ward off an Alexandro Kaziocortez primary challenge in his
[9:05]upcoming US Senate re-election. The irony of ironies here is that he looks so stupid for caving without having gotten anything whatsoever is that if anything, he now probably looks worse in the very eyes of those New York State
[9:16]Senate primary voters than he did before all this. So, no one gained anything whatsoever. But hey, at least the flights will be back on time, God willing, before a Thanksgiving holiday here in just two weeks. >> Yeah, I completely agree with you. Look,
[9:27]it's been just over a year since Donald Trump won the election. And looking at what Donald Trump has been able to achieve in that incredibly short time since January 20, uh it's been phenomenal. I mean, it cannot be
[9:38]overstated how much he's been able to achieve around the world. Peace deal after peace deal. And he's done incredible job. But as you both kind of alluded to, it seems as though he may have dropped his focus when it comes to
[9:50]the economy because that is what Americans certainly care about. A poll last week found that 77% of Americans feel anxious about their financial situation. I mean, that is not a great
[9:59]statistic. So, that's according to this new mind over money survey by Capital One and the Decision Lab. Now, Trump was pressed on the economy during an interview with Fox News.
[10:10]>> And if you remember when I first came in, the first two days I had a news conference, eggs, they were hitting me with eggs. Eggs had quadrupled in price and they're screaming at me. I just got
[10:20]here. I didn't know about eggs. And Brooke Rollins, our agricultural commissioner, did a secretary did a great job. And now eggs are what they were. We got eggs down. We get it all
[10:32]down. But our prices is much are much lower. Their line is price is affordability. That's the new word, affordability. It's much less expensive under Trump. And you'll and I haven't
[10:42]been here long. Nine months is not a long time. But look at what I've done to energy. Look at the price of gasoline. Going from 450 to 250 or 270. It's going to be $2 gasoline. >> People want affordable.
[10:54]>> Well, the economy is my thing. And we have the greatest economy in history. >> Are Republicans not selling it enough for it? >> The Republicans don't talk about it. >> They So, they need to do a better job on Capitol Hill. >> The Democrats.
[11:06]>> Josh, I want to get your thoughts on this because we just saw Zaran Mandani become mayor in New York City running on a campaign promising to make life for more affordable. And now you've got Donald Trump being kind of grilled on
[11:18]the economy there in that interview. And I'm not sure he about his answer. If it's really convincing, if Americans are are really feeling the pinch, 77% of them say they're really worried about
[11:29]their financial situation. I think does Donald Trump need to do more work here? >> So, there are some kernels of truth definitely in what President Trump just said to to Laurian Gmer. For instance,
[11:40]energy prices definitely have gone down. And inflation overall right now, which is hovering around 3% at the moment, it's certainly in a better place than it was at for large swats of the Biden administration where it reached a high
[11:51]of 9.1% back in the summer of 2022 just over 3 years ago. So there there are definitely some curls of truth, but unfortunately in that answer, Gabrielle, if I'm being very candid here, and I say this as a conservative, as someone who was voted President Trump multiple
[12:03]times, >> he he's sounding a little bit like Joe Biden actually to be honest with you, where he's basically saying that my economy is great. the American people just don't see it. It's kind of this attitude that the American people aren't appreciating what we're doing there.
[12:14]That's that's not a good look for a politician in general when you start to say that the voters just don't appreciate necessarily what I'm doing. A a a better tactic, a more tried and a more triedand-true tactic is to actually
[12:26]listen to the American people and to try to meet them where they are. So that CNBC poll that you showed there, 77% feel some sort of financial anxiety. I saw a separate poll just a week or two
[12:36]ago that currently 67% give or take roughly twothirds of Americans currently live paycheck to paycheck. Something that the business class, the laptop class just frankly doesn't even think about there. The the these are real
[12:46]concerns and frankly, yeah, inflation is overall lower, but it's still 3%. That's still at least 1% higher than the Federal Reserve says it should be. And there's all sorts of data to indicate that younger millennials and Gen Z folks
[12:58]here in America in particular are achieving all these major lifestyership things like that. So they're big home
[13:09]ownership decisions. They're big all these economic decisions are all delayed, delayed, delayed. So there's real reason to be concerned. So overall, I do think that the president ignores that to his peril. >> Yeah. And that is so important for young people. you know, they want to be able
[13:21]to at least believe and have goals to to buy a home, to have a family. It's so important. And Alex, you know, so many people do vote with their wallets. Are you concerned looking at those polling
[13:31]numbers? >> Yeah, I am. And if I were in the White House, I'd be concerned as well. I I know that they are and that they are pivoting to this issue of affordability.
[13:41]And we we had a a poll result about are you going to spend more money or less in the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday? And the number of people said less is 30%,
[13:51]more was 23%. And to me, that's a pretty decent story of what the economy looks like right now. There's some people that are doing pretty well. It's a minority. It's not that many. Most people are
[14:01]doing a little bit worse or treading water and just fine. That's not a great place for the economy to be. It feels tepid to people. And so Trump does have good victories to point to in his
[14:12]administration. He's accomplished a lot. That is unequivocally true. >> Done that on the border. He's done that on peace deals. But you don't necessarily get a reward from the voters for the victories that you've achieved.
[14:22]You just get another assignment. And so the voters ultimately care more about how they're feeling in their pocketbook, in their bank account, than world peace, even though that is unequivocally important. That is objectively relevant.
[14:34]It matters. But does it matter to Americans? I don't think that people necessarily know that. >> Well, while uh we're speaking about the economy, plenty of people, you know, struggling at the moment. Jasmine
[14:45]Crockett, it's been revealed, has spent nearly $75,000 on luxury hotels, transportation, and security this year in cities across the United States. Documents show that her
[14:55]campaign spending totaled more than $25,000 since January on hotels and limousine services. And here she is complaining about the cost of security.
[15:04]I think that it's really a good question as to why a member of Congress na needs to pay for security out of money that
[15:14]they go and raise instead of focusing on making sure that they use that money to educate voters about why it is that their candidacy matters. I do think that
[15:23]it does people like me a disservice when you are so outspoken and then what happens is instead of you being able to put all your dollars into campaigning
[15:34]instead you've got to do things like pay for your security but I kind of value my life so it is what it is >> Josh I mean she's upset about spending money for security after repeatedly
[15:45]calling to defund the police certainly not the only one that has to pay for security either. Yeah, I mean the the hypocrisy is just utterly gling, is not? I mean I mean I mean here is a woman who has become a
[15:56]very high-profile member of the House Democratic Caucus. By the way, Gabrielle, I'm still waiting for Jasmine Crockett to try to kick out Ayanna Presley to be the Ringo star of the squad. I mean, you don't really hear a whole lot about Presley these days. You
[16:08]hear a lot about AOC and Omar Rashid T. I think that Jasmine Crockett is trying to make a play there to be the final member of of of the squad. She clearly has higher aspirations than her Kurland backbencher house perch. But I mean to
[16:18]talk to complain to caval about using your private money on your security. How about all of the Americans who can't afford that? I mean talking about what 99.999999%
[16:29]of Americans who can't afford private security. But oh by the way it's actually worse than that because as you said Jasmine Crockett wants to defund the police. The number one easiest most reliable way in American history of
[16:40]actually having security. Oh wait, you don't you don't want to have police? How about at least your right to actually protect your home? aka the Second Amendment. Oh, wait. She opposes that, too. So, she opposes the police. She
[16:52]opposes your ability to actually buy and lawfully secure and train with a firearm to defend your family, your home, and all that. But meanwhile, she has the hutzbah to say that her own private
[17:03]security detail has to come from her own campaign funds. I mean, the the gross entitlement and privilege, to use one of the American left's favorite buzzwords, is just utterly astonishing there. there. It's one of the many reasons why
[17:14]I think Jasmine Crockett, I cynically, as someone who wishes the Democratic party nothing but the worst, I kind of hope that they actually elevate her more and more because she's just so crazy and she says just the darnest things that will only redown against their interest in the mid to long term.
[17:25]>> Alex, as a polling guy, I I want your thoughts on what her kind of messaging would do for her and what would happen if she gets kind of promoted throughout the Democrat party.
[17:36]>> I totally agree with Josh. I hope very much that Jasmine Crockett goes onto the campaign trail, whether she runs for Senate in Texas or or just re-election in her own seat and she talks to Texas
[17:46]voters about the terribly unfair high cost of her security. I think that that will just get a lot of sympathy. I think that every family has their grocery bill, they have their diaper bill, and they have their security bill. And so,
[17:58]she should talk about that. I think the voters want to hear about that more than anything else. Mhm. Look, finally, let's just finish with what's happening in the UK because British Prime Minister K Star Dama has been forced to address reports
[18:08]that rivals within the Labour Party are conspiring to replace him as leader just two weeks before the government budget is announced, which of course could further worsen his already abysmal
[18:20]popularity. Now, several British media outlets have quoted Star's allies as saying uh his position could be in imminent danger. Alex, looking at the
[18:29]polls and looking at Kiama's popularity, it has absolutely plummeted in a really short period of time since July 2024. A Yuggov poll said that this month only
[18:41]17% of people in the UK actually approve of Star's performance, just 17% while 73% disapprove. Also, Nigel Farage's
[18:50]Reform UK party, it just keeps leading in the national polls. What do you make of the reports that Karma has now been forced to address those reports that uh
[19:01]you know there are others conspiring to replace him as leader? >> It's hard to think of a worse position that you could be in politically than Kier Starmer right now. And with one of
[19:11]the biggest majorities of any leader in the world, it's it's pretty incredible. And so I'm surprised that he's lasted this long. >> I think that there was no world in which he lasted until the next election. I think that was true many, many months
[19:23]ago, if not longer. Um, and if they're going to lose, and it looks very much like that will happen, the election's far away, they might as well do something with that majority between now
[19:33]and then. And so, if I were a labor member, then I would want to replace him and come in and at least accomplish something with that agenda. I don't know who's going to replace him, though. And I I I worry that the person will be
[19:45]quite a bit worse. Uh it's hard to imagine how it could be worse than Kier Starmer, but uh got some good ones in that Labor party. >> Josh, it's pretty amazing looking at what Donald Trump has been able to do in
[19:55]America compared to Karma. I mean, since Trump came in, he closed the border essentially and he's been deporting millions of illegals. And you look at what's happening in the UK and they're
[20:07]still in such a bad position with their immigration crisis. >> Uh the UK is a total disaster right now. It's an utter shambles. It brings me no pleasure to say that, Gabrielle. I'm
[20:17]something of an Angloile. I I I live briefly in the UK. I am a profound admirer of all that the of all that the English people have brought to the world when it comes to the common law, when it comes to separation of powers, when it
[20:29]when it comes to political liberty and justice more defined than a modern context. They've given especially the Anglohone world, they've given us all so much. So, it's just horrific to see the country in this shape. I I I have
[20:40]friends in London who I talk to. There's one friend of mine who I talk to on a fairly regular basis. he he is on the precipice of leaving because it has just gotten so utterly unbearable at at this time in London. The silver lining the silver lining Gabrielle as as you
[20:52]alluded to is that it looks like if an election were held tomorrow that Nigel Farage could actually become the next prime minister of the UK. I I had the pleasure of seeing Nigel speak in Washington just a couple of months ago.
[21:03]We you know we used to run Nigel Farage's op-eds regularly at Newsweek. I used to edit his op-eds. So I've been familiar with his work for many years now. In my opinion, he's one of the great unsung conservative heroes, not just in modern British history, but in
[21:14]all of modern European history. He was essentially the guy like the guy behind Brexit. What he was able to accomplish there is phenomenal. The fact that he is now having this comeback from his cable news broadcast days to be the the new
[21:26]face of the British Reich is an amazing amazing story. So, if this story has any happy ending whatsoever for the UK, and I really really hope it does, cuz again, I'm genuinely an angopile. >> It's not going to come via Kierstar.
[21:37]It's not going to come by the Labor Party. It's not going to come by the Tories either, by the way. They have a lot of their own pump as well. It's probably going to have to come from Nigel Fro. Let's see what happens. I'm certainly for it. >> Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. Josh Hammer, senior editor at large at
[21:49]Newsweek and Alex Terrasio, signal principal and pollster. Thank you both so much for joining us. >> Thank you.