Political Payback and Party Dynamics: Unpacking Trump's Influence
State of the Union
CNN
3.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 May 2026
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Settling a score. President Trump gets payback against a Republican who voted to impeach him. |
| 0:12.4 | Sometimes it doesn't turn out the way you want it to, but you don't pound, you don't whine, |
| 0:17.7 | you don't claim that election was stolen. But is Trump's grip on his base, blinding him to |
| 0:23.3 | the dangers his party faces this fall? Plus, blueprint. More than anything, Democrats say they want |
| 0:30.3 | a fighter. There is so much at stake. My ambition is to change this country. If something is broken, |
| 0:39.8 | we actually do what it takes to fix it. |
| 0:43.1 | Who can meet the moment now and in 2028? |
| 0:46.7 | Former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is next. |
| 0:51.8 | And out of this world, the Pentagon makes UFO files public. |
| 0:57.3 | But are we ready for first contact? Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson joins me on his new book coming up. |
| 1:05.8 | Hello, I'm Dan Abbas in Washington, where the state of our union is winging up to see |
| 1:10.7 | that revenge is a dish best served cold. |
| 1:14.5 | President Trump took down his fellow Republican Senator Bill Cassidy. Why? One reason. The Louisiana Republican voted in 2021 to convict Trump of impeachable offenses after the January 6th insurrection. |
| 1:30.1 | Cassidy did not even qualify for a GOP runoff in Louisiana's primary last night. Instead, House Republicans Julia Letlow and John |
| 1:36.3 | Fleming advanced to a runoff this summer. As for Democrats, they hope voters see this fall |
| 1:41.6 | much differently than Trump's loyal base. |
| 1:45.5 | Elsewhere, voters down south and people who are trying to appeal to voters, |
| 1:51.0 | Democratic leaders, were marching in defense of the Voting Rights Act. |
| 1:55.6 | This weekend, that happened, and party leaders are scrambling to try to counter aggressive moves by the president |
| 2:02.3 | and his party to secure a midterm advantage. Here with me now from the campaign trail is |
| 2:08.3 | former Democratic presidential candidate, former Transportation Secretary Buttigieg. Thank you so |
| 2:13.7 | much for being here, sir. I do want to start with Senator Cassidy's defeat in Louisiana |
... |
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