CNN State of the Union interview with Jake Tapper

To thank everybody for being part of this remarkable Tuesday that really galvanized and energized people, mobilized them all across the country, not just in relationship to Prop 50, which I was here to thank them for, but I think just the energy that the delegation from Texas brought to the Democratic Party, to democracy as a whole when they stood up and pushed back against Greg Abbott and Donald Trump's overreach.

And I really think, in many ways, that was the beginning of this comeback. This was the beginning of sort of a resurgence of energy. And you have seen it, the No Kings rally. You saw it obviously with the outcomes, not just in Virginia and New Jersey, but in Mississippi and Pennsylvania and Georgia and elsewhere.

And I wanted to make sure that they knew how important they were. TAPPER: So you're saying that the legislators, the state legislators,

leaving the state for two weeks, starting -- protesting, denying the legislature a quorum for this unusual mid-decade redistricting that President Trump wanted them to do, that was the impetus? That gave you the energy and the idea to do what you did in California?

Just go back in that moment. I mean, we were hand-wringing. You guys were coming out with a poll, on top of NBC polls, we had 27 percent. We had a high water mark of 33 percent approval, the Democratic Party.

It was primarily because Democrats were so upset about Democrats. It was a demoralizing time. And had they not asserted themselves, had they not shown up in California and in Illinois and other states, had they not called this out with a kind of clarity and conviction to really sort of underscore this moment, yes, I don't know that we'd be in the position we're in today.

And, certainly, Prop 50 would not have been inspired, because this -- again, what was happening here, the phone call that I got from Gene Wu is what launched this entire process.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes, that's right.

I mean, the first poll was 38 percent, just to underscore that, and, again, because I, like many, agree with you, support independent redistricting.

But you can't do it state by state with one hand tied behind your back. You can't unilaterally disarm as other people are not playing by the rules. Donald Trump and Republican governors across the country, governors not just in Texas, but you're seeing what happened in Missouri. You see what happened in North Carolina, obviously, what's going to happen in Indiana likely, and then Florida.

They're not screwing around. They're consolidating power. And we were sitting there. And I think Donald Trump did not expect what Californians did. He thought we would just -- we would try to win an argument by writing an op-ed, maybe express disdain and concern about the country.

I don't expect...

Yes, of old. And I think that's the bottom line. And I think this moment, what happened on Tuesday, represents a new moment, clarity, conviction, purpose, energy, on our toes, not on our heels, a resurgent Democratic Party.

And it's a party that understands what's at stake for our democracy as we go into the 250th anniversary of our founding fathers. And I think that kind of momentum and direction is, I think, really going to enliven people in the next year.

Well, I don't -- the bottom line is, the president of the United States canceled a meeting with the two leaders. Because of public pressure before the government shutdown, he decided to have that meeting.

He didn't invite you and others in, which, for Donald Trump, in and of itself, is remarkable. He just instead sent out a TRUTH Social with Trump 2028 hats. And then he went golfing that weekend before the shutdown, shortly thereafter. He had no interest or energy into avoiding this government shutdown.

He has no interest or energy to end it today. He's the president of the United States. As someone who's an executive, chief executive of a state larger than 21 state populations combined, the fourth large economy, you have a responsibility in that role to convene, to bring people together.

That's why there's a government shutdown, period, full stop. What the Democrats, though, have done -- and I give Jeffries and Schumer tremendous credit -- is, they have galvanized people of all political stripes, rural, urban, suburban, on the issue that defines so many problems in so many ways and so many days, and that's health care and the anxiety people are about to feel, with 100 to 388 percent in California, up to 388 percent increase in premiums and costs.

So I think they have been right. But Donald Trump needs to act like the president, not just be president. He needs to do the job.

Five-point-five. And the difference is, in California, they were fully restored in my state through November.

That said, they obviously have not been in the vast majority of states. But think about the state of mind of the vice president. How do they -- how do they honestly -- how do you square the circle when you go to a prayer breakfast? How do you square the circle, I mean, Old Testament, New Testament?

Well, what's the fundamental thing that connects every -- I mean, from John, to Matthew, to Proverbs? It's this notion of hunger, feeding the poor, the sick, the tired. It's not an option. It's central to advancing God's will.

I mean, the fundamental point that we'd be using -- because this is what it's about, and the federal government said it in the lawsuit, that they want to use it as a bargaining chip, a bargaining chip to end this shutdown. That's shameful. It's never happened in U.S. history.

And I appreciate the governors, the 23 A.G.s that stepped up and sued. And we have won those lawsuits. Now we need to win the heart and mind of the president of the United States, not just the vice president of the United States, to do the right damn thing. TAPPER: So, Prop 50, whether that was part of a longer-term campaign

for you, because, obviously, you're thinking -- you have acknowledged you're thinking about running for president possibly in 2028. You haven't made any decisions. You're focused on the midterms. I know everything you're about to say.

But whether or not the decision was influenced by that at all, what about the response to the decision? Has that changed your calculus at all?

Yes, very generous words.

Look, with humility, let me say two things. I disagree marginally with the premise of your question. This is the Election Rigging Response Act. This was not a fight we chose. This is a fight we felt was important to fight. Proposition 50 was never on the docket, was not part of the agenda.

For me, though, it goes back further, goes back to the federalization of the National Guard. Now, I want to remind folks it's not 200 or 300. In California, it was 4,000 National Guard were federalized; 700 active-duty Marines were not sent overseas. They were sent to the second largest city in the United States of America.

We kicked off the campaign, and Greg Bovino came out and Border Patrol and tactical units at the Democracy Center to quite literally intimidate people from walking in. The clarity, the understanding, the sort of fundamental, visceral understanding of this moment became crystal clear in June.

And so this is an extension of that. And I think more and more people are waking up to what's going on. And I said it up there. It's not about the rule of law anymore. It's the rule of Don. He's picking and choosing, deciding which court decisions he agrees with. He's quite literally running an extortion racket, and not just with universities like UCLA and others in California, but he's doing it with law firms.

He's doing media organizations. He's doing it with some of the most well-heeled and powerful corporate leaders. You're seeing state capitalism, not just crony capitalism. What is the one thing everything has in common? The tariffs. The tariffs for him are about leverage and about the game that he's advancing.

Ultimately, that inures to his personal advantage and his family's advantage as well. It's all happening in plain sight. And so, for me, I have more clarity as it relates to this moment. Prop 50 was part of that. The outcome was meaningful. The outcomes all across the country, I think, just give us more confidence as we move into the future.

Standing in for my kids and grandkids, for common sense, for our economic future. Climate risk is fundamentally financial risk. It's a cost of living issue.

Ask anyone in places like the coast of New Jersey or down in Florida. Ask folks in Louisiana or in my home state, California.

What -- get insurance. Your insurance has been dropped. The premiums are going through the roof. That's a housing crisis in the making. We need to talk about that issue more.

It's also about competitiveness. China is going to clean our clock. They're flooding the zone, dominating in the automobile industry across the zone, in Asia and European Union, number one exporter into Mexico. And we have got legacy companies that have doubled down.

GM, with all due respect, sold out to the Trump administration and literally is trying to recreate the past, as these guys are sprinting to the future. It's not just about electric vehicles. It's about the technology stack. They're dominating in batteries. They're dominating increasingly in softwares.

They're producing three times more automobiles than the United States of America, China. And they are dominating the supply chains and manufacturing. This is a real crisis in the making. It's not just about the hots getting hotter and the dries getting drier.

And so that's going to be my focus, financial risk, cost of living and competitiveness.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Well, let me back up.

I'm really proud of the work we're doing with Richard Reeves and others. Scott Galloway has been a rock star in this space. We have leaned in. California did an executive order. We've got a whole team working on the issue of the crisis of men and boys. The suicide rates, the dropout rates, the suspension rates are off the charts.

You're going to see graduation almost 2-1 women in four-year colleges in a few years. This is a crisis. A 30-year-old young male is doing worse than his parents did, first generation in history. And, obviously, college graduates now are having the worst employment opportunities in history.

So Trump has done nothing, to your question, literally nothing, for men and boys. And you're 100 percent right. It was multiethnic. It wasn't just white men. And you saw it in the manosphere. You saw it in podcasts.

You saw young folks that were -- they were attracted to this notion of strength. And he exuded that, strong and wrong versus weak and right.

Here, we are trying to win -- that's why Prop 50 was so important. That's why asserting ourselves, getting back on our toes. That's why -- be more clear in terms of communication, in narrative matter. But now they're completely disenfranchised.

And I say this as a Democrat. We need to own up to the fact that we ceded that ground. We walked away from this crisis of men and boys. Trump saw it from an electoral opportunity to exploit it. But he's done nothing to deliver in terms of results to address those anxieties, which are real.

And I say this, by the way, as a husband of a wife who did a documentary called "The Mask You Live In" about masculinity and expressed these concerns as trend lines 15 years ago. This is an issue our party needs to address. We can't afford from an electoral perspective to lose, but we -- these folks.

But we also can't on the basis of our values and what we claim to care about and represent. And I say that on behalf of women that need better men as well.

Yes.

Well, may have heard me on "Fortnite Friday" on the gaming platform, may has seen me down at TwitchCon in San Diego a few weeks ago. He may have listened to Charlie Kirk podcast that I did.

Why did I reach out to Charlie Kirk for my first podcast?

Because he was organizing these kids. He understood their grievance. Trump weaponized it. Charlie was organizing around it. People weren't aware of what Turning Point USA was.

I talked to so many Democrats that said, who's Charlie Kirk? I said, well, your son knows about him. You may even know this guy Peterson. He may even know who this guy Andrew Tate is. But I hate him. I said, I get it.

But these guys -- so something big was happening. And we were short -- we were slow to recognize it. And that's quite literally why I started to illuminate this and wake folks up, but also not just illuminate, to do something about it. It's a real issue. Democrats need to understand it, not as a zero sum issue, but an issue that defines not just our politics, but I think defines our families, our relationships, defines the culture in this moment.

I just need -- third time you have pushed me on this.

I'm impressed. I respect that. I actually respect it.

Of course.

But it's not -- it's not my -- it's, do you meet the moment? Do you have a big enough why? Do you have a what and a how, you actually can accomplish something?

That's -- you have to -- you have to find that. You have to meet that moment. But that's years, two years from now, years from now.

My gosh.

Well, I will tell you what, I mean, one thing I will say, has nothing to do with me, but I think it has everything to do with all of us is, we have got to deal with the issue of our time, that we have to democratize this economy if we're going to save democracy.

You just can't -- you can't have 10 percent of people owning two- thirds of the wealth in this country. You can't have that 30-year-old that's doing worse than his parents' generation for the first time in U.S. history. And so those are fundamental issues that were obviously present in this election on Tuesday.

And Donald Trump got it for a moment and now is defensively suggesting he's solved it. Ask the folks on Amazon paying 12 percent more. Ask the folks at Target paying 5.5 percent more or at Walmart 5.3 percent more. Ask you and me that went down and get coffee today, 18.9 percent more than a year ago.

Look at the cost of a pound of beef. Donald Trump said he would make us wealthier and healthier. We're poorer and sicker. And I don't want to see that sickness extend to ending our republic and our democracy as we know it, particularly in the 250th anniversary of our founding fathers.