That was his salute as he left the pentagon for the last time tonight. Thank you so much for joining us. Cnn primetime with abby philip starts right now. In just 48 hours the poisonous politics and School Yard Rhetoric will have real life consequences. The United States government will once again shut down. It comes on an extraordinary day when a president openly accused his predecessor of trying to kill the republic. In a hearing to impeach said president , it backfired on republicans. Good evening everyone. Im abby phillip. Under way right now on capitol hill the house is voting on a series of bills none of which are expected to actually avert a Government Shutdown. Remember those hard liners want drastic cuts to spending including to programs that affect schools. Lets go straight to capitol hill. Reporter hey, abby. Tonight these bills theyll vote on in the house are not expected to pass the senate but to be dead on arrival, but they may not even have the votes to pass among House Republicans. What is the plan Going Forward . Well, Kevin Mccarthy has a few options here. Tomorrow he can proceed with his initial plan, which is to try to vote on a stopgap Spending Bill, another Spending Bill they were hoping that hard Line Republicans would rally around tomorrow after they pass the bills tonight. It is not clear theyll have the votes for that either. If they cant pass these party line Spending Bill votes tonight i dont think theyll have the votes tomorrow. A number of hard line conservatives are really digging in with their opposition. Then there is another Option Mccarthy has. That is to work with democrats to cut a deal with democrats or the senate. The problem, abby, is that could force a vote to remove him as speaker. He is facing threats from hardliners including members like matt gaetz. He still does not want to go that route until he has exhausted all other options. Of course, the final potential path here is for Kevin Mccarthy to simply just do nothing. If the senate sends over a bill he could simply ignore it. That could cause a Government Shutdown. It seems that is the direction we are headed very much seems that is the case tonight. Thank you. Joining me now is republican congressman Dusty Johnson of south dakota. Thanks for being here on a busy night. You bet. Thanks for having me. We are about 48 hours now away from a Government Shutdown. The money is going to run out. Do you think tonights votes will get your republican conference any closer to avoiding a Government Shutdown . I do think these votes are an important part of the process. Government shutdowns are stupid, not the kind of thing we should do. Nobody wins in a Government Shutdown. It doesnt save any money. It costs a lot of money. We are in a position here where republicans are getting our act together. Well pass Appropriations Bills tonight that combined with what we already passed is 73 of the Discretionary Spending for our country. That is not a hundred percent but we are moving in the right direction as we get closer to the deadline. Speaker mccarthy said he has a backup plan, if a stopgap funding bill tomorrow fails. What is the plan . I am the author of a plan, the chairman of the republican main street caucus which are the pragmatic conservatives in the house. Three of us joined with the three leaders of the Freedom Caucus to put forth a plan. A stopgap Funding Measure 30 days but in return for that we secure the border. I think that is critically important whether on the right or the left. I think you acknowledge the border policies we are seeing at the southern border right now are not working. That is why democratic governors are you saying that is the direction Speaker Mccarthy would go next if his plan a fails . When ive talked to Speaker Mccarthy he said he likes our plan. He thinks it could perhaps be improved by adding a debt commission. I agree. When we are talking about Discretionary Spending we are dealing with a fraction of the budget. We really should also be looking at longer term Auto Pallet Programs and figuring out how responsible men and women do our job to make sure we get on the right fiscal path there as well. The speaker today refused to say whether he would try to cut a deal with democrats if all of this fails among republicans. Do you think he should reach across the aisle to avert a shutdown . We have the democrats in control of the senate. The republicans are in control of the house. That means literally there is no other way to Fund Government in the final analysis than a deal that gets votes from both sides. I dont have to like that but that is the cold, hard fact of the situation. I think the speaker is taking the right approach. Phase one is lets make sure we get the republicans on the right all on the same page. Lets make sure, frankly, we should pass my bill that cuts spending, keeps government open, and secures the border. Once we get republicans on the same page on that then we can figure out where the democrats are at. As you point out, any deal has to be bipartisan in order to pass the entire congress, democrat controlled senate. A lot of your colleagues on the far right want it all. They want all of their demands. So at the end of the day do you think if they dont get it all this will end with a motion to vacate, to kick Speaker Mccarthy out of his job, and that that is the end game for some of your colleagues well, i want it all as well. Ive been married 23 years to a delightful woman. I never get everything i want. Ive been on Nonprofit Boards and a Business Executive and i never in any deal got everything i want. I do think my republican colleagues almost without exception understand the final deal is going to look a little different than the republican deal. Some of them will be able to support that in the end analysis. Others wont. But i would tell you responsible members like me are going to be ecstatic to support any deal that cuts spending, keeps the government open, and secures the border. I think we are getting closer. In the meantime, okay. That is the end stage. In the meantime what is the point of all of this . Can you explain this to people who are at home trying to understand . What is the point of taking it to the brink of a Government Shutdown if at the end of the day everyone understands it is going to have to be a bipartisan bill where republicans dont get everything they want. You do need to have the process work. I admit the house and senate should have done their home work earlier but it is kind of the human conditions, human nature to wait until the last few days before the end of the College Semester to get that final report written. But this is congress. This is not college i get it. I will tell you the Appropriations Committee, the republicans Appropriations Committee finished their work on 10 of the 12 bills months ago. Admittedly weve had a hard time getting to 218 votes in the house. When we cut spending too much we gain a few votes on the right but we lose a few votes in the center. When we increase spending the reverse happens. It has been really hard to calibrate this package so it gets the votes needed for passage. Earlier today Congressman Gaetz and Speaker Mccarthy apparently got into a Testy Exchange in a closed door house meeting today. Can you tell us what happened there . I dont talk about what happens in the republican conference meetings. They are supposed to be off the record. I will tell you it got a little spicy. But i think that is okay. What weve heard in the reporting, back and forth about whether Speaker Mccarthy was responsible for people attacking matt gaetz on social media. We are talking about a Government Shutdown in 48 hours. Is that really what these meetings should spend time on . You are exactly right the meeting should not be focused on a Personality Dispute between matt gaetz and Speaker Mccarthy. But the meeting really wasnt. I was there for perhaps 50 minutes of the meeting and approximately 90 seconds was focused on the topic you described. I get it that is the spicy part and what grabs the headlines but the rest of the meeting was focused on the boring blocking and tackling meat and potatoes of government. It might not lead cable news but that is what we were talking about. You know what, congressman . Your calm optimism is maybe what we need tonight. Well see how your votes go today and tomorrow. We appreciate you joining us. If everyone would just listen to me things would go a lot faster around here. All right. Thanks, congressman. Thanks much for having me. Coming up next, in a major speech President Biden warns americas democracy is at risk and maga is to blame. Plus bidens challenger from the left cornell west will join me live. Why he is upset with his Picket Line Appearance this week. Plus the first Impeachment Hearing for republicans did not go exactly as they planned. They want to act like theyre blind. They dont know what this is. These are our national secrets. Think about this. In the last decade alone americans have seen two impeachments and they are flirting with a third. Theyve seen an insurrection at the steps of the United States capitol and four indictments of a former president. Theyve seen multiple Government Shutdowns. Now they are facing another. Now the very man who ran on restoring the soul of the republic is openly accusing his opponent of trying to kill it. America is facing the growing likelihood the next years election will feature a rematch between joe biden and donald trump. One thing that all sides seem to agree on is that for Different Reasons democracy is in trouble. Tonight the president of the United States is laying out his reasons why. There an Extremist Movement that does not share the basics of our democracy. The maga movement. There is no doubt Todays Republican Party is driven and intimidated by Maga Extremists. Trump said the constitution, quote, gives him the right to do whatever he wants as President End of quote. I never heard a President Say that in jest. The question is, which candidate will americans leave the sidelines for . And for what reasons . Will it be the 81yearold incumbent or the 77yearold defendant . Joining me now to discuss this is Amanda Carpenter the former Communications Director for senator ted cruz the writer and editor at Project Democracy A Nonprofit Dedicated To Fighting Authoritarianism and strengthening Democratic Institutions and also with us the former Senior Adviser to Hillary Clinton. Amanda, this is not the first time President Biden has said this and made this kind of statement about where our democracy is. But he is doing it right now at this particular moment. Is it a sign that he feels like this is heading in One Direction only with trump as the republican nominee . I think we should take note this isnt the first speech he has given on protecting democracy. It is one in a series. What i thought made this one especially important were the people and the place that surrounded it. I mean, he gave the speech not just to give it this abstract remarks about these ideals that we all share. He was giving a tribute to john mccain to establish a library in his honor. What was really special was cindy mccain spoke at the beginning talking about how thankful she was for his friendship and how she was happy to Work Together with President Biden to nurture the flame of democracy. That is what we need to see a lot more of especially in a place like arizona. That is not special just because of john mccain. It was a hot bed for Conspiracy Theories and dangerous actors in the aftermath of the 2020 election. There are a lot of republicans there that suffered the brunt of that. Local election workers that lived in fear. Arizona is still a hot bed. Yes. Of extremism in many ways. That is definitely not in the past at all even all these years later even after senator mccains passing. The president talked about the maga threat today. He is trying to make this distinction between republicans and what he calls maga republicans. The question always is does that distinction really exist in anyones minds but in the minds of the people crafting this message in the white house . That is a better question for amanda because amanda is a republican but not a maga republican. But from a messaging perspective. This isnt about messaging with him. This is about genuinely being scared. He has said today, he has said previously and hopefully will say it over and over again this is a central part of his presidency is to fight this back. Whether i use the term Maga Extremist i dont know but, yes. He wants to make the point that the bulk of the Republican Party you can disagree with but they are thoughtful. They are patriots. They are not out to undermine democracy for the sake of their god donald trump. And you have to be able to find a way to bifurcate that group from the people who are running up the steps of the capitol with, you know, sticks and breaking in and making havoc and the people who cheer them on and the people who think they were just tourists taking a nice little walk that day. I think this is a really interesting conversation because as a republican, worked for ted cruz and someone who opposed trump from a conservative viewpoint for the entire duration, i get a lot of blow back from other republicans saying, you know, how can you think about working with democrats on these issues . It is like, what i tell them is we have basic obligations as american citizens. Things to uphold democracy require things like three simple things political scientists will tell us. You accept election results. You disavow violence. When it comes to extremist actors in your own party you have to reject that. It is very important to police the dangerous wing of your party and say we dont stand for na. If people in both parties do those three things our democracy is much stronger. That doesnt require a lot. Right . I dont have to sacrifice what i feel about the size and scope of government to say you know what . I can do those three things. That is a basic benchmark for anyone in elected office. First of all, what you are saying makes total sense. But it is not happening, right . And, also, on top of that the partisan environment that we are in. This is what im trying to get at with this speech, listening to it. He goes after trump, which he has to do directly. In this partisan environment, it feels almost like people cant hear the message about democracy outside of a partisan lens which seems to undermine what biden is trying to do here which is to say this is bigger than me. I think we should give the American People more credit than we often do in the sense that donald trump lost in 2020 because of a lot of these shenanigans, a lot of just dismissing the norms and particularly making light of covid, mishandling covid. I think it is very possible that 2024 his court cases, his criminal activity and him being in front of a judge every week or so is going to be the equivalent of 2020 where people just dont want the noise. So the same way you are saying dont people tune it out, hard to break through people also dont want to hear about it every day from their president. They had to every day for four years hear this guy yelling in their ear. Whether you liked him or not it wore thin. I do think people are hearing it but also maybe not hearing it isnt the worst thing. That is why joe biden won. It was a return to somewhat normalcy. And a sane person who cared about america. I have a feeling the next couple months arent going to be as quiet. Things are about to pick up. Thank you all very much. Up next, President Biden. Youre probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. But what if we told you its possible that comcast Business Mobile can save you up to 75 a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carrie