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Transcript: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Sept. 13, 2026

2026-09-13T12:10:00-0400 / CBS News

Updated on: September 13, 2026 / 12:58 PM EDT / CBS News

The following is the transcript of the interview with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sept. 13, 2026.

WEIJIA JIANG: We turn now to Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox. His new book is titled “Off Ramp: How to be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt.” He joins us from Salt Lake City. Good morning, Governor Cox.

GOV. SPENCER COX: Good morning, Weijia. It’s great to be with you again.

WEIJIA JIANG: Thank you for being here. Let’s start with AI because just this morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson said we don’t need everyone to panic and Congress should resist jumping in and imposing some sort of moratorium. But I wonder what role does the federal government need to be playing right now?

GOV. COX: Well, a much bigger role than the role that they’re actually playing. I don’t think the speaker has to worry at all about Congress not acting. That’s kind of all they do. They’re- they’re very good at that, and I think this is- this is a very important moment for- for all of us. We’ve seen the reports. We know what’s possible. The Hugging Face incident that you’ve already talked about should be very concerning to- to everyone, and- and the people that know the most about this are- are the most concerned right now. And I think that- that means that Congress actually should get together and at least have a conversation. I’m- I’m embarrassed by the- the response from Congress to just about everything in our country right now.

WEIJIA JIANG: And have you spoken to any members, any Republicans, about this lack of urgency?

GOV. COX: Yeah, so in the past- just in the past 48 hours, members of my team have reached out to a couple members of our delegation who share our concerns. We’re- we’re looking at, of course, at what- what Dario and and- and Sam and Elon have- have all been saying now, just in the last 24 hours. I think our thinking on this is- is kind of moving for sure. But it’s very clear, and we’ve known this now for- for a little while that- that the possibility of an existential event happening is- is growing and growing much more rapidly than anyone projected, and it’s- it’s really important that- that the government gets involved. And we- we can do this in the right way. I’m not saying a moratorium. I’m not saying shutting things down. Government doesn’t get this right often either, but we should be at the table working together, and that’s what we’ve done in Utah. We have a pro-human AI approach. We actually have these companies at the table with government working together on making sure we protect the public.

WEIJIA JIANG: Governor, we have so much more to talk to you about, but we have to take a quick break. We will be right back on Face the Nation.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

WEIJIA JIANG: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return to our conversation with Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox. Governor, I want to turn to the midterm elections because we are still waiting for a final decision from the Supreme Court that could have a huge impact on mail-in ballots. In your state, 95% of voters used a mail-in ballot in the June primary elections, and I wonder- would the new postal service rules in the president’s executive order make it harder for people to vote?

GOV. COX: Well, it would certainly have an impact here in the state of Utah. Unlike many other states, we took about a decade to- to implement vote-by-mail. We have tremendous security measures in place, and we’re adding more all of the time. So, I understand some of the concerns that have been brought up, especially in other states. We do it very well here in the state of Utah, but we’ll- we’ll be prepared for- for whatever decision happens and make sure that- that we’re ready so that everyone gets to vote. Everyone who should be voting will be able to vote in Utah.

WEIJIA JIANG: Well, no matter how people vote, prices and inflation remains a essential issue for them. And we know that gas prices nationwide are still over $4 a gallon. Inflation is still at 3.4% and hourly wage averages drop slightly by 0.1%. Here is what President Trump had to say about affordability at the recent midterm convention.

[START SOUND ON TAPE]

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They used the word affordability, right? Fake. They are so fake because it was them that caused the affordability, to use their word, crisis, and I’m bringing the prices way down.

[END SOUND ON TAPE]

WEIJIA JIANG: The president’s message does not match what many Americans are feeling right now, and I wonder if this disconnect is going to hurt Republicans in November.

GOV. COX: Well, look, affordability has certainly been on the ballot now for- for several years. We- we understand that, and- and the- the conflict, the- the war that’s happening in Iran right now is, I mean, it’s no secret that that’s- that’s been really hard on gas prices. There are lots of other pieces of this that I think are important, and we appreciate the work that the administration has been doing to- to bring down housing prices. We have to build more. We really have to change the mentality. We need permitting reform. We’re getting a lot of that out of the administration, but again, we need Congress to act so that we can build the infrastructure that will help us bring down prices, especially around housing, which is still the- the- the- I think the worst part of the affordability crisis right now- is that we have an entire generation of young people that aren’t going to be able to afford a home, and you can’t start a family if you don’t have a home. There are just so many downstream effects on this. We- we have to be able to build again in this country. That’s happening now more than it has in the past, but Congress still has to get permitting reform done, and we’re very anxious and hopeful that Republicans and Democrats, by the way, who all agree on this. My Democratic colleagues, governors across the country, and in Congress believe in permitting reform for the first time in- in a generation at least. And so, we- we can get this done and- and show that America is back and that we can start building again.

WEIJIA JIANG: Well, one way President Trump wants to make ends meet a little bit easier is to give every American adult $5,000 if the Republicans win the midterms, and he says he doesn’t need Congress’s approval to do it as a fiscal conservative. What would you advise the president about this $1.2 trillion cost?

GOV. COX: Well, look, I think a lot of us are really worried. I know I have been for a long time about the- the national debt. We- we just passed the 40 trillion mark. It seems like that’s- that’s unsustainable. And we know we had an inflation crisis because of the, you know, the funds that were handed out during COVID, and that led to a significant spike in inflation that we’re still dealing with from the the past administration, from the Biden administration, where we saw inflation rates that we haven’t seen since I was five years old back in the, you know, the- the late 70s and the early 80s. So- so I’m- I’m very concerned about those inflationary pressures that- that we’re seeing. Again, I think there’s- there’s other things that we can do to help bring down prices. But- but I will also say, look, at- at a time when- I mean you’re going to talk about the polls later. The polls haven’t been great for Republicans heading into these midterms. Then- then the Democrats decide to go full socialist on us and- and- and really handed us Republicans a big win. And I think- I think that it’s going to be closer when it comes to the midterms. So I’m feeling much more bullish about- about our chances as we head into November.

WEIJIA JIANG: Governor, let’s talk about your new book about political polarization. You call for Americans to disagree better. You write about the hours after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and you urged Americans to find an off-ramp, or it’s going to get much, much worse, you warn. Here’s what the president and vice president said at the midterm convention this week.

[START SOUND ON TAPE]

DONALD TRUMP: They’re not socialists. They’re not democrats. They’re communists. We will reject these radical left lunatics. We will demolish the extremists, fanatics, lunatics, and criminals who want to destroy our country- they want to destroy the country.

VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: The Democrats are the party of hatred.

CROWD: Devil!

VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: They’re the party that despises America and the people who built it.

[END SOUND ON TAPE]

WEIJIA JIANG: Does this language help America find an off-ramp, Governor?

GOV. COX: Well, I- you know, I wish you had cherry picked some- also some clips from- from the left saying similar things about Republicans. This is the- this is the nature of the discourse right now in- in our country, and we just, you know, we just- we just commemorated sadly- it’s been a year since Charlie Kirk was assassinated right here in Utah, you were front and center for another attack against the- the president. You were on stage at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. I- you- you spoke very eloquently afterwards about what that- what that felt like. What I do is I talk about all the political violence that we’ve seen, the significant increase over the past 10 years, threats against member of- members of Congress has- has increased tenfold- have increased tenfold in the past 10 years. Not a 10% increase, a 10 times increase, and that’s what I’m- I’m so concerned about. We should be able to have policy differences. We should be trying to persuade- we should be very passionate about our beliefs and pointing out the things we disagree with in our opponents- that is fair game. It always has been. In fact, it’s critical to our country’s survival. But- but- but I’m not- I’m not a huge fan of- of name-calling and–

WEIJIA JIANG: Governor–

GOV. COX: –and just again, the- the attacks that we- we- we place on each other.

WEIJIA JIANG: Governor, I’m not a huge fan of cutting you off, but I’m sorry, we have to go, and I appreciate your time this morning. Thank you so much.

GOV. COX: Thanks, Weijia.