the inaugural in-season tournament. this looks different from the other banners hanging in the rafters that will get future dates added to it should the team end up winning more of those cups. lakers have now lost three out of four since winning that mid season championship. but the real star of the show here was this adorable pup sitting court side, this is a service dog named brody, a big time star, spent time as a lap dog, dancing around. the crowd loving it. i'm curious what you being court side? >> i love it. i love it. >> okay, good. >> i don't know if my daughter would appreciate the dog more or the knicks win more. i think maybe the dog. >> yeah. you know, he has his own line of grooming products, social media star. why not get court side seats. i feel like it fits. >> thank you. be well. thank you for joining us. i'm john avlon.

"cnn this morning" starts right now. well, good morning, everyone, i'm poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. a lot to get to. specifically politics. pre-christmas campaign push lands in iowa today. donald trump, ron desantis and nikki haley all holding events there, sharpening their closing messages and attacks against one another this morning. a new signal the trump campaign is concerned about one candcand candidate's growing momentum. abbott signing a controversial bill making illegal immigration a state crime that will allow texas police to make mass arrests. the protests and threats of legal challenges already under way. and bursts of lava and smoke filling the sky in iceland today as a volcano dramatically erupted overnight after weeks of warnings. threatening a geothermal power

plant. "cnn this morning" starts right now. new this morning, it looks like donald trump may be feeling some pressure in new hampshire as nikki haley chipped away at what was a huge lead there. today, for the first time, trump's super pac is rolling out an attack ad against her. >> this is haley's response. donald trump denied our surge in new hampshire existed. now he's running a negative ad against me. someone is getting nervous. #bringit. this all comes after a new poll this week showed haley closing the gap to just 15 points in the state. a big focus today is in iowa where trump, haley and other top rivals like desantis are all campaigning in the state with less than four weeks left until the iowa caucuses. the very first contest in the battle to become the republican presidential nominee. let's begin with steve contorno who is tracking all of it for

us. good morning. haley, desantis have been busy holding campaign events in iowa. interestingly attacking one another, not just attacking the front-runner. >> reporter: that's right, poppy. desantis and haley have been in iowa since the weekend. they will be in iowa after trump holds his rally tonight. and though the former president may be leading in the hawkeye state, he is not necessarily the focus of his top two rivals. former president donald trump returning to iowa tonight with just weeks until the january 15th caucuses. >> hello, iowa. >> reporter: his rivals storming the state as well, trying to cut into trump's commanding lead there, but mostly attacking each other. >> so nikki, i think there's a real risk that she would send american troops to ukraine to fight. >> today he said that i want our troops to be in ukraine. i've never even said anything like that, nowhere near it. >> reporter: florida governor ron desantis the middle of a

six-day swing through iowa, fighting from behind as a cbs news poll shows him trailing by trump by 36 points in the hawkeye state. former south carolina governor and u.n. ambassador, nikki haley, is further behind desantis, though fairing much better in new hampshire. >> i've done well, over 120 something, 140 town halls. and i never talk about my opponents. but today i am. >> reporter: haley on monday taking on her top rival to challenge trump. >> if you punch me, i punch back. ron desantis has lied in every one of his commercials. >> reporter: super pacs supporting haley and desantis have spent millions on television ads trying to tear down the other and emerge as the leading trump alternative. >> don't believe a thing nikki haley says. >> what a phony, ron desantis. too lame to lead, too weak to win. >> you can't trust tricky nikki.

>> reporter: trump is receiving some criticism from one of his rivals over his anti-immigrant rhetoric this weekend. when he said immigrants are, quote, poisoning the blood of our country. desantis on monday not directly rebuking trump, telling iowans that his remark simply distracted from the problems at the u.s./mexico border. >> to give them an ability, the opposition an ability to try to make it about something else with some of those comments i think is a tactical mistake. >> reporter: while haley latched on to -- >> the part that bothers me is our national security is at risk. and what's he doing? he's praising dictators. >> here is a stat that will give you a sense of just how little desantis and haley are going after trump on the air ways. so far, former governor chris christie of new jersey has outspent nikki haley and ron

desantis in advertising, attacking trump. he is not necessarily the best-funded candidate. this was one of the concerns coming into this cycle of those who wanted to see the party move on from trump that his rivals would get caught up in this fight with each other and not be as focussed on taking down donald trump himself. now desantis and haley made strong claims to be that trump alternative, but poppy and phil, they are running out of time. >> yeah. how many days, mattingly? >> less than four weeks. >> usually he has the precise day for me. steve, thank you very much. >> it's close to christmas. it's a little slower this week. let's bring in three people who are not slow at all, john avlon, leah wright regor and errol louis. i'm interested on the decision by attack ron desantis. i take the idea of what trump's

team is doing is smart in trying to eliminate a threat before it has a chance to rise. doesn't mean they're scared. do you think they're scared? >> well, look, they ought to be scared if they're not. >> really? >> yeah. to see someone with the kind of momentum that she's showing, with the strength that she's showing in groups that this campaign needs to sort of do better with, meaning women, college educate and so forth and so on, you see something like the cbs poll that says that, you know, she's more likable than trump, that she's as prepared as trump, that you know, people -- these are new hampshire numbers, that people in these early states are really gravitating to her, you don't wait for the problem to emerge. you have to go after it. i think that's exactly what we're seeing. it's also kind of a message -- i read that as they don't think desantis is all that important. i mean, they ran millions of dollars worth of attack ads to try to deal with him. apparently it worked. at least to their satisfaction. so they're just kind of moving on to the next target.

>> one area where trump and nikki haley really are not on the same page is foreign policy, particularly about the two on going wars right now, israel and also more funding for ukraine. listen to what nikki haley said. this was interesting, going after trump specifically on foreign policy. here she was. >> the part that bothers me is our national security is at risk. and what's he doing? he's praising dictators. when israel fell to their knees what did he do? he talked about an old vendetta with netanyahu and praised hezbollah. >> to be specific what he said about hezbollah is, quote, they're vicious and they're smart. so is this a winning issue for her to try to take away trump supporters? or is that not their main focus or why they would go to her?

>> the thing is she has to do something. this is one of the areas where there are significant differences amongst the republican candidates and amongst the republican candidates and trump. so i think for somebody like nikki haley, particularly someone who served in trump's cabinet as u.n. ambassador, this is an opportunity for her to showcase her prowess around u.s. foreign policy to say this is what i do. this is what i'm skilled at doing. ibeen attacked on this multiple times but actually i have the chops to tease out these ideas. we do know that americans have rising fears about the threat to -- about global threats to democracy, about domestic threats to democracy. so this is one entry point for her to come in. the thing, however, i think that's important to recognize is that trump is tapping into something that american public has also expressed they really like, which is the idea of a strong man figure. and the idea that wars are costly and that americans shouldn't have to pay for wars anymore. so, again, important for us to

tease out the differences, especially for republican voters. but perhaps not the most winningest issue on the table right now. >> can i pull on that thread a little bit. i think it's important when you look at poll after poll, general election matchup between trump and biden, the strong man who has more strength, more power, trump always leads in those powers. it's hard to define and subjective. but this also extends to immigration right now. when you see less divergence inside the republican field about the issue of immigration, the biggest story in the country this week is what's happening in texas. greg abbott signing the law, allow state law firmt, local law enfor enforcement. >> that might be the point. >> look back to arizona in 2012. what do you take away how that will affect the politics in the months ahead. >> bill clinton said people will vote for strong and wrong every time. strength matters.

and that's something democrats i think don't adequately appreciate. now, on the issue of the border, clearly this is an issue that unites republicans. but frankly also has a lot of appeal among independent voters. and even some democrats. i think there's political upside for joe biden to cut a deal on border security. frankly i think some republicans are going to want to pump the brakes because he's afraid he and democrats might benefit if they deal with this issue. abbott, it's a big deal. it is setting up a fundamental conflicts that will go through the courts. it is something done by the federal government not the states. if the federal government is not doing its job on the border, someone else has to deal with it. this is a form of stunt politics. it's got some downstream effects that could be quite troubling. but it indicates how quickly this issue is moving in people's minds. >> you just said if the federal

government is failing essentially. >> uh-huh. >> that harkens back to scalia's dissent. we were talking about this this morning in the case phil brings up in the arizona case from 2012. here is what justice scalia wrote, not in the majority then is this majority now. must arizona's ability yield to the reality that congress has provided inaud kwaut funding for federal enforcement or even worse the executives unwise targeting of that funding. >> and the answer to that troubling question is yes, yes, you must yield. i would -- you mentioned the short term. let's talk about the medium to long term prop 187 back in california. this was in the 1990s. and it basically put an end to republican politics in that state. i mean, they tried to exclude all services, including schooling, from people who were undocumented. and the backlash -- you can feel to this day. you can't get to first base as a republican statewide in california anymore. they blew off all of their

latino voters. they cost the party the state and going forward they'll have a hard time getting a toe hold again. and i see texas going down that same road. i think there's -- it's going to blow up in their faces. as a practical matter, they may not win in the courts but certainly by galvanizing their base, it might help them in 2024. but 2025 and beyond, don't try and talk to anybody about immigration in that state. >> i appreciate pete wilson shout out. you're right. that did have dramatic impact. but we're in a different era. i will say, teixeira has a book about what's happened to democrats with the latino working class support moving towards republicans. and this issue u don't -- i think has become more complicated. you're right. the downstream effects will be difficult politically. but i think the idea that it will just necessarily alienate latino voters, particularly folks who live in laredo county and texas and the border communities i don't think can be

taken for granted anymore. >> look, if it was simply the policy, that would be one thing. >> yeah. >> but you start to listen to how the policy gets talked about and what gets said at the rallies and the slurs and the ugliness and the poisoning of the blood and what trump has to say about it. >> sure. >> and by the time it's all done, people will be very, very clear on what this policy is actually. >> we have a lot more to talk about this and are going to. we will hear from one of the congressmen from one of the former border. defense secretary lloyd austin pushing for a solution to the crisis the middle east. his new warning over the israel-hamas war and the attacks on those ships in the red sea. volcano erupts and shoots lava for miles in iceland. we have new video. it's wild to look at right now. concerns grow about toxic gas in the air. that's next.

defense secretary lloyd austin headed to qatar holding talks with israel's next phase in the war with ha has. hamas released a new video, did so on monday, of these three elderly, israeli male hostages. the idf says there are 120 people still believed to be held in captivity in gaza. >> earlier today, he warned to

stop the reckless attack in the gulf of aidan, calling them, quote, a serious international problem and this all comes after weeks of attacks from iran-backed rebels. let's go to will ripley live in tel aviv this morning. a really significant visit for lloyd austin, the second time he's come to israel since the terror attacks on it. what should we expect from his meetings in qatar today? >> reporter: well, certainly the goal in qatar is to continue this role that they've had in recent weeks and months, which is to somehow try to mediate a potential cease fire to facilitate the return of more israeli hostages. ever since the three men who were israeli but apparently unknown to the idf who shot and killed them even though they were waving a white cloth and written a sign with leftover food saying, help. we are hostages in hebrew, the idf killing them, really put a lot of focus on this rising, rapidly rising, civilian death toll in gaza, which is getting closer and closer to that

dreaded 20,000 mark. 20,000 people in gaza killed since october the 7th. less than three months. and so, the united states certainly behind closed doors, according to cnn sources, is pressuring israel to start to look at the next phase of this operation. getting rid of hamas leadership because the u.s. and israel still do very much agree that this all began because of the horrific attack on october 7th by hamas targeting unarmed israeli civilians, many at that music festival near gaza and other areas across israel, along with the kidnappings. so removing hamas and then looking into the future of gaza, palestinian-controlled but with a different leadership in place, that is the goal of the united states. israel has stated publicly that in principle they share that goal but obviously it's incredibly complicated, incredibly tricky when you're dealing with all these different regional actors. you have iran which is believed to be not only encouraging elements of hamas but hezbollah in lebanon. you have -- so you have tensions

rising because of that. you have the incidents on the red sea, cargo ships now being forced to reroute because of these attacks. and so it's a very volatile situation. and the u.s. is here to try to do their part to find some sort of peaceful resolution, although it doesn't seem to be any time soon, guys. >> will ripley for us live in tel aviv. will, thank you very much. phil? right now a volcano is erupting in iceland. look. these are live pictures behind me right here, shooting bubbling lava and multien rock high into the sky, flowing all around. these are some of the new pictures we're getting this morning which look like a river of fire. cnn's melissa bell is live in paris monitoring the conditions. melissa, weeks of warnings that this was possible, almost likely. now we're seeing it. what are the biggest concerns now that this has actually happened? >> reporter: well, the fear is to human life but of course to infrastructure and towns. that huge fish sure you can see part of when you look at those live pictures of that volcanic activity which has grown over the course of the night.

this began at 10:00 p.m. local last night. more than 12 hours ago. that is only three kilometers from town, a fishing town, now been evacuated, 4,000 people. the fears really had been for that town which has been seen people being evacuated at night for more than a month now. as you say, there's been thousands of earthquakes over the last month in that area. signaling that some sort of volcanic eruption was on the cards. this was the fourth in that area since 2021, but by far the largest. i think no one had expected it, phil, to be as big as it is. the pictures really very impressive. there is also near that small fishing village that i mentioned also a thermal power plant that powers and provides heat and hot water to some 30,000 people in the peninsula, there had been fears for that. so, what we're looking at are those lava flows to see which direction they take. what we have been hearing the very latest is that they appear

to be moving north and east and therefore not necessarily towards the town. still, authorities say it is the toxic fumes that are being released from the volcano that now pose the most serious threat, really urging residents not to try and get anywhere near that volcano as they might go and try to have a look or get closer to it to try to get pictures. it is still extremely dangerous and its lava flow is extremely unpredictable. we expect an update soon from authorities who have been meeting with civil defense forces to figure out how they can continue to protect both the town and the thermal power plant. good news for travelers, it doesn't appear for the time being, at least, phil, we'll see any repeat of what we saw in 2010 when we saw that huge icelandic volcano, causing some of the biggest travel disruptions since world war ii. for now, airplanes going in and out of reck vehicle, incredibly pictures out of iceland. >> incredible warnings but those pictures are stunning to look

at. melissa bell, please keep us posted. thank you. new insight this morning into the biden campaign's re-election strategy. their plans to make abortion rights a central issue in key battleground states. right now in china, the race to save survivors of a powerful earthquake. magnitude 5.9 quake killed at least 118 people. rescuers are working in sub zero temperatures to save anyone trapped in the rubble. the quake hit a remote region west of beijing. it is china's deadadliest quakan nenearly a dececade. we'l'll be rightht back. ♪♪

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♪ new this morning, the biden campaign says it will make abortion the, quote, center pillar of its re-election campaign. and vice president kamala harris will take center stage in that. launching what is called a reproduction freedoms tour. hosting events the campaign says will highlight the harm caused by state abortion bans. that's their argument. the first stop is wisconsin on the 51st anniversary of the roe versus wade decision which of course has now been overturned. >> wisconsin a pretty important state. the economy, however, remains one of the core, if not the core issue for voters. bank of america chief u.s. economist told his clients yesterday he believes jerome powell could stick the so-called

soft landing, slowing the economy without leading to mass layoffs and recession. certainly looks that way right now. our panel is back with us. john, i want to start with what the vice president is going to be doing. i actually think when you talk to people inside the white house, you feel like her team has stabilized. she found her lane to some degree. this is where she's most effective unequivocally on this issue in these types of tours. and this issue, is to the extent the biden campaign is maybe not zen or seng win, this is number one. >> recent politics post-dobbs decision bear that out. democrats have been outperforming in every election, special, you know, in the '23 elections in large part because of this issue. when restrictive amendments have been put forward, even in red states they lose. so the framing of this is a freedom issue seems to be working for democrats. and it is very much in sort of kamala harris' wheelhouse as vp. that said, i think there's a

danger of putting too much of an emphasis on this issue alone. it is a strong suit. no question. it is accounted for democrats outperforming significantly in the last 18 months, but i don't know that the election will come down solely to abortion. >> but don't you play, leah, your strongest winning card and isn't this what they've got right now? >> it's absolutely strongest card that they have. and they absolutely should play it. however, the real question of the 2024 election is going to be the economy. barring anything, you know, catastrophic like another pandemic or something like that. but, the problem is that the biden campaign really can't take credit for the economy right now. so, let me explain how that works. the economy, by all accounts, the markets is saying the economy is coming back, stronger, looking better than ever, but the reality is that the people are not making the connection between the market doing well and how they are experiencing the market in their day to day lives. so, inflation is still hitting

the audiences that biden really needs to come together, the coalitions that he needs to support him in order to win this race. battleground states, latinos, black voters, asian voters all report that they are deeply unhappy with the state of the economy. this despite what the actual numbers look like. part of what the biden campaign has to do is figure out how to, yes, run with the strongest thing that they have, but how do they begin to tell a story that says we are responsible for this economy but also you should be feeling something. these are the things that you should be feeling positively in your pockets. otherwise they're going to be dealing with really a defeated coalition and a coalition that is really still feeling the hurt of these kind of lingering questions of inequality and inflation and high rents. >> errol, can we dig more into that. you look at the top line numbers, leah's great point, unemployment rate 3.7% when the fed started raising rates, it

would have to go to 4, 5, something along those lines. the fed probably done hiking interest rates. talking about three cuts next year. financial markets at or near all-time highs. i'm old enough to remember when a recession was a certainty in 2023. and we have 11, 12 days left, don't think it will happen. and yet to leah's point what are they missing? what's not connecting right now. >> what's not connecting is people's perception, their everyday life. i mean, we talked about this a lot when it comes to inflation. yes, it's not getting higher, but the prices haven't come down per se. the rate comes down but the prices stay high. people are still sort of feeling that pinch. people still have a lot of questions as we're going through this enormous transition. look, the pandemic and the transformation of the economy to sort of work from home for a lot of different professions that went away and new ones that came online, the other big transition, of course, is we're trying to move toward renewables. a lot of new jobs there but a

lot of old jobs that went away. there's a lot of uncertainty, turmoil. that's what people are expressing when they're talking to the pollsters. the biden team, of course, has to try and take credit for what's good and also ask people to be patient with what's bad. and that's the part i think that they're missing. listen, we saw bill clinton do this. you know, he convinced people to give him a second term among other things by saying i will fight until the last dog dies. i'm on your side. we're going in the right direction. it's not fast enough, but stick with me. we're going to get there. i don't hear that messaging coming from this campaign. >> patience is never the strongest suit of the american voter. i do think if there are rate cuts and can start messaging more about middle class and things start coming online about infrastructure and the chips act, people can feel that might make a difference. but the other issue is democracy. this was the argument that biden made in the midterms in 2022. a lot of people dismissed it. said it was a red wave, it was a bad idea, it wasn't. campaigning against donald trump

that could have resonance as well. they have to get better about messaging and the reality of middle class folks and defending democracy at home and abroad. >> talking like you're awesome. everybody looks at trump, he was amazing on x, y and z. do you remember 2020? clinton lost new hampshire when he said last dog dies. just say you're awesome. it's all about vibes. thanks, guys, appreciate it. pope francis breaking with tradition allowing priests to bless same sex couples. this is a big deal. we'll talk about the progress. and the white house warning that u.s. funding for ukraine could run out by the end of this month. what this could mean on the battlefieleld against t russia. we'll haveve more nextxt.

♪ it's a seismic shift for the global lgbtq community. pope francis will allow roman catholic priests to bless same sex couples. >> a new document states these blessings can happen as long as they're not part of a regular church ritual at the same time or the same as a civil union. it caps a decade of the pope slowly shifting the church's stance on this. this is what he told a reporter in 2013 about gay clergy. >> translator: if a person is gay and accepts the lord and has goodwill, who am i to judge? >> we all remember him saying

who am i to judge? joining us now is katie mcgrady, she hosts a show on the catholic channel. thank you so much for being with us. i was really struck by the language of this declaration. let me read part of it for people. quote, the request for a blessing expresses and nurtures openness to the transcendents, mercy and closeness to god and thousand concrete circumstances of light, which is no small thing in the world in which we live. it is a seed of the holy spirit that must be nurtured not hindered. those words mean so much for so many people in this country. and around the world. >> yeah. yeah. i agree. good morning. i think what the holy father is doing and as he has done for the past ten years of his pontiff cat is remind us that the church is a home. and that we are invited to be in this home. and i think yesterday a lot of interpretation was done around, well, this is a massive shift. it's not a change.

it's an invitation to individuals to recognize the church wants to republican you to god's love and mercy. and the clarifications within the document should be read, should be looked at very closely. the reaffirmation of what the catholic church teaches about marriage is there. but this was also a reminder that, human dignity is important and the dignity of a person who seeks out god's mercy is not one we should ignore and a blessing is not an affirmation. a blessing is a supplecation. a supplecation for god's goodness. >> katie, you make a really critical point. when you looked at the reactions yesterday, it seemed like a lot of the most hyperbolic didn't actually read what was said here. and i think to some degree, and i don't always say this when it comes to what the pope is saying or what the pope wants, the best read on it came from the u.s. conference of bishops. >> yeah. >> which had a very specific -- did not push back and oftentimes they get into conflict with some degree with the pope. and i'm just intrigued why you think that is.

the immediate snap reaction to some degree was to make it much more than it was. >> i mean, welcome to the church in 2023. people will read what they want to read. and ignore what they want to ignore. and look through the lens of their pre-conceived notions. the holy father speaks in a very latin american way, which is not in the sometimes linear it's this or it's that that some people want. so if you're a fan of the holy father, then this said what you wanted it to say. if you are not, then it said what you wanted it to say on the other side. and i think the thing that i kept saying among my friends and i kept saying on my show was, are we being too kerfuffley here. looking at something and trying to turn it into a moment when instead this was an opportunity for us to remember, specially in the third week of advent, that we are called to show people the mercy of god. and we are called to invite people into an encounter with the lord. poppy, you started with that beautiful acknowledgment of,

okay, this is what a blessing is. people will seek out a priest for a blessing when they're traveling or when they're sick or when they want an object blessed. a blessing is not the church saying we approve. the church is saying this is an opportunity for us to encounter the lord. and for an lgbtq person to hear that yesterday, i hope that they saw that this was the church saying, you are loved. you are seen. everyone wants to know that their dignity is seen and acknowledged. for the person who looks at this and says, this was a change of doctrine, it wasn't. you have to go read the document very clearly to see that. >> i'm so glad you said the word. i kept thinking seen. this is about being seen for who they are. and there is no -- as it notes here, no la terj kal right that could be confused with the sackriment of marriage. that's a really important distinction to phil's point some people read past. this comes after late october when there was another document that made it clear that trans gender people can be baptized and serve as god parents.

my question is here the trend of what we're seeing. >> i think the trend is dignity. i think the trend is the church and the holy father reminding people that -- he said this at world youth day in the summer. all should come to holy mother church and recognize this as home. just last week a document was released that doesn't really make the news about single mothers receiving holy communion. i saw it because it's my job to see stuff like that. i was like, wait, that was a problem? people needed to be reminded that a single mother can go to communion? but in some places, yes, that needed to be reminded. so i think what the ddf, this is the document from the decastry that makes these declarations concerning our faith, wants to ensure that people remember. that's the progression here. people remember the church is not a place where only the holy and the prized can sit, but that it is a place where all are welcome to come and understand god's love for them. and i would challenge people to

go read that document, to go read what the ddf is saying to go to church this coming weekend and experience that for themselves. >> katie mcgrady, thank you very much for joining us and merry christmas. >> thank you, guys. merry christmas. thanks, guys. rudy giuliani is sued again over the 2020 election lies that two women say ruined their lives. why ruby freeman and shea momos are tataking new l legal actioi. that's's next.

time is running out for the white house and the senate to try to secure additional aid for ukraine this year. the white house warning that u.s. funding for the war-torn country is set to run out at the end of the month. some analysts have said that could have obvious global ramifications and shake the foundation of u.s. global leadership on this front. >> apec has stalled on capitol hill. it would have provided billions of dollars in additional funding to the country in its war effort, but republicans are demanding concessions on immigration policy and border security. next guest explores what's behind what's looking like the gop willingness to abandon ukraine in a new piece "the atlantic" they do it for trump.

it's a fascinating piece. let's start with, do you think the piece explains this, since we have you, this is entirely because of trump? you see the public opinion has started to shift on this. it's not just in some senate republicans or house republicans, do you think this is all tied to trump consolidating support for 2024? >> look, there are a handful of republicans in the house and maybe one or two in the senate who genuinely sympathize with the russian case against ukraine. most of them couldn't care less one way or another. they do it for trump. you see that with this argument that says, we can't help ukraine unless we get concessions on immigration. now, i don't think you ever heard a republican member of the houssay we can't have a tax cut unless we get concessions on immigration. we can't send out social checks unless we have a concession on immigration. when you trade, it's because there's something you don't want to do. and you give it up for something that you care about more. they don't want to help ukraine. why not?

because a year ago they all did. what has changed? and the explanations you get, as i go through in the article, make no sense. mike johnson, the current speaker of the house in -- last year said, i can't help ukraine unless the baby food crisis is solved. well, who remembers now the baby food crisis in it's long gone. i can't help ukraine because gas prices are so high. so they've come down by more than 50%. or about 50%. that excuse is gone. what this is about is they have intuited except for the handful who are genuinely anti-ukraine, they have intuited trump hates ukraine. you want to show you're loyal to trump, you also should hate ukraine. >> you bring back to the fore, a term you coined back in 2012, unde under-news. explain what it is to people and the through line here. >> well, if you watch a lot of fox news, you often don't understand what the hosts are talking about. i coined this term in 2012 where

they would make a lot of jokes on fox news about obama being gay for socialism. that joke was only funny if you also took part in all of the discussion groups off fox news where it was suggested that president obama was gay and that michelle obama, his beloved wife, was actually a man. and it was crazy, of course. but it was part of the context with which you enjoyed the program. now, if you watch fox news programming on ukraine today, again, a lot of it won't make sense unless you're taking part in the off air discussion groups where they're suggesting a vast conspiracy that originated in ukraine that was aimed at donald trump and that donald trump was heroically standing against. it's complex of news plus under-news, explains why republicans don't care about ukraine are suddenly with trump, for russia, against ukraine. >> is this just how foreign policy and the republican party is now? constantly a talk, will the pendulum swing back? still people like mitch mcconnell, the most forceful

defender of this funding. is this the center now for the republican party? >> well, look, i remain a registered republican. i worked in the george w. bush administration and wrote some speeches for him. my republican party is one that defends america's allies. and there are many republicans who feel the same way. but what i sadly notice in the senate is the republicans who feel patriotically about this issue are in their 70s and 80s and republicans who align with trump or worse are in their 40s and 50s or 30s in some cases. so, there is a generational transition where republicans who accepted and respected and upheld international obligations, they're going out. and republicans who don't, they're coming in. >> do you really think that we're not going to see ukraine funding? i'm not just talking about this year. i'm talking about in the next six months. >> look, there may be a rabbit pulled out of the hat. i haven't given up hope. it may even happen in the next few hours. that's not impossible as i say

in the article. but if this aid stops, you can't turn a war off and turn the war on again later. there's a pipeline here. and also, there are people who are fighting heroically for their homes against this horrific invader. how do they keep up their spirits if their most important supporter betrays them in order to placate this -- this politician who has a vendetta against ukraine and this strange sinister relationship with vladimir putin and that person with the strange sinister relationship to vladimir putin might be the next president of the united states. >> the piece "they do it for trump" behind the gop shifting excuses for abandoning ukraine. david frum, thank you. >> thank you. well, this morning crossing illegally into texas could land migrants in prison for up to 20 year. how the new law could shape the immigration debate and the possible legal challenges that lie ahead. and this morning, politicians, friends and family members will honor a trail blazer, supreme court justice sandra day o'coconnor.

cncnn will havave special l cov that b begins at 1 10:45 a.m. . eastern n time.

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♪ if you went to bed early, i feel like that's speaking to us, you missed a fantastic finish between the seahawks and the eagles on "monday night football." >> carolyn manno joins us with more about why jake tapper is depressed this morning. what happened? >> and elie honig and every other eagle's fan. it's been a crazy couple weeks for seattle's backup quarterback drew lock. he wasn't sure he was going to start the second consecutive game. the team started geno smith, activated shortly before game time. he missed last week. this is wild. it turns out that luck was so key for the seahawks last night, some late-game heroics for the

quarterback here, down by four with les than two minutes to play. he marched his team down field on 11 play, 92-yard drive. that gave seattle the first lead of this game. then the eagles got the ball back with 28 seconds left. but the seahawks defense coming up big. love making his second interception of the fourth quarter, somehow managing to keep both feet in bounds to steal this 20-17 win, keeping seattle's playoff hopes alive. lock reflected on a very special night. >> amazing won't do it justice. amazing doesn't do justice with the o-line, what the receivers did, what walker, zach did all game long, the tight ends, man. it takes a special group to rally around a guy that, you know, has come into his second game of the year, right? used to the same thing all year long, same cadence, same spin on the ball, everything. a team like that not just the offense, the defense to rally around me tonight, man, that was

amazing. >> you can hear the emotion there. it's nice to hear athlete bs vulnerable. backup quarterback is a good job to have normally. most people would take it. but when the pressure is on to perform, it's a lot of pressure. >> former first-round pick, was supposed to be a starter. second chance in his career. went to ohio state. >> okay, poppy. >> we were talking about it all morning long. >> which ohio? >> oh, come on. >> thank you so much. "cnn this morning" continues right now. ♪ in one month from now the first votes will be cast in the 2024 race to be president. >> i think there's a real risk that she would send american troops to ukraine to fight. >> he's going to lie about me. i'm going to tell the truth about him. a legal setback for mark meadows. >> this opinion is meticulous. it's airtight. you could almost just replace meadows for trump. >> rudy giuliani is getting sue again. >> ruby freeman and shaye moss want rud