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Don't just sit around and complain. Do something. So let's get to work. Aren't you proud to be a Democrat?
We're not going back when we fight. With just 10 weeks until election Day, Democrats rally behind their new nominee in a show of party unity after President Biden's exit from the race. I promise to be a president for all Americans. Vice President Kamala Harris makes the second woman and first woman of color to top a major party presidential ticket.
Did Democrats do enough to win over voters who had soured on Biden? I'll speak with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Plus the GOP rebuttal. The federal government already focused on getting food prices down and housing prices down.
Issues, of course, where Kamala Harris has been a total disaster. My exclusive interview with Senator J.D. vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee. And exit stage right, Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. Suspends his campaign and endorses Donald Trump. What does his departure mean for the race? Joining me for insight and analysis are Amina Nawaz, co writer of PBS NewsHour, Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher, Amy Walter, editor in chief of the Cook Political Report, and Mark Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence.
Welcome to Sunday. It's Meet the Press from NBC in Washington, the longest running show in television history. This is Meet the PRESS with Kristen Walker. Good Sunday morning.
The 2024 campaign is now in its final sprint to Election day with just 72 days to go. And this week, Vice President Kamala Harris made history, becoming the first woman of color to accept a major party's presidential nomination on behalf of Americans. Like the people I grew up with, people who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another. On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on earth, I accept your nomination to be president.
On Wednesday, Harris will return to the campaign trail with new momentum, kicking off a battleground state bus tour with running 8 Tim Walls in Georgia. This is still an incredibly tight race, and Harris has the burden of being a sitting vice president who will be held responsible for the events happening on the administration's watch. In Chicago, top Democrats laid out the election's high stakes. The torch has been passed.
Now it is up to all of us to fight for the America we believe in. And make no mistake, it will be a fight. In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences.
But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious. I want to know who's going to tell him? Who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs? Democrats tried to reach out to Republicans and independents, bringing a number of them on stage.
I know there are people of various political views watching tonight, and I want you to know I promised to be a president for all Americans. And no matter who you are, Kamala Harris is going to stand up and fight for your freedom to live the life that you want to lead. How can a party claim to be patriotic if it idolizes the man who tried to overthrow a free and fair election? We're all Americans, and together, let's all choose Kamala Harris.
Harris and former President Trump are already preparing for their first face off in September. On Friday, former President Trump accepted the endorsement of independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Who suspended his campaign.
On Saturday, I sat down with Mr. Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. vance, in Cincinnati. Senator J.D.
vance, welcome back to Meet the Press. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you for having us here in Cincinnati.
Let's start off with Democratic National Convention. Some of what we heard this past week. Vice President Kamala Harris, in making her case, said that the tariff plans that Donald Trump is proposing will hurt the middle class. Here's what she said.
Specifically, he intends to enact what in effect is a national sales tax, call it a Trump tax that would raise prices on middle class families by almost $4,000 a year. Now, the estimates vary, but how do you respond to that charge that Trump's tariffs would hurt the middle class? Yes. If you sit back a little bit, Kristen, there's this whole thing that Kamala Harris did at the convention where she made a bunch of claims about what would happen and not enough, actually reflection on what already happened.
Right. Because Donald Trump was already president. He used Harris to bring manufacturing jobs back to our country. I think he'll do it again.
And he did it while keeping prices extremely low. Because if you go back to the Trump presidency, we had 12,000 factories that were built During Donald Trump's presidency, inflation never really ticked above 2%. His entire administration, in fact, was sort of around 1/2% most of the time he was president. So when Kamala Harris says if we do the thing that Trump already did, it's going to be way worse than it was last time, I just think that makes a lot of sense.
Well, let's talk about Trump's record during his first term. He didn't post rounds of tariffs and it cost Americans nearly $80 billion in new taxes. Do you acknowledge that imposing more tariffs will ultimately cost consumers? What it really does is it penalizes importers from bringing goods outside the country into the country.
I think that's just a necessary thing. We know that China and a number of other countries are using effectively slave labor to undercut the wages of American workers. Donald Trump thinks that has to stop. Again, what Kyle here is saying, Kristen, is if you do this, you're somehow going to cause skyrocketing inflation.
In reality, Donald Trump already did it. He brought a lot of jobs back. And it didn't cause inflation, but it caused consumers to pay more. They paid more in taxes, $80 billion worse.
Do you acknowledge that consumers ultimately will pay more if there are more terrorists? So economists acknowledge that? No, I don't, Kristen, because I think economists really disagree about the effects of tariffs because there can be a dynamic effect. Right.
So what some economists will say is what you just said, that it will actually raise cost for consumers. But what other people say, I think the record supports what this other view is that it causes this dynamic effect where more jobs come into the country. Anything that you lose on the tariff from the perspective of the consumer, you gain in higher wa. So you're ultimately much better off.
You have more take home pay, you have better jobs. And also we have more reliance because one of the things we learned during COVID I don't, by the way, blame Democrats before this. One of the things we learned during COVID Christine, is that if our supply chains are really brittle, if we depend on the Chinese to make too much more stuff, then prices can skyrocket at a time of crisis. The economists who say that tariffs are bad, they don't take that into account.
And we've all learned at the heart. And it is economists across the board, really. The Wall Street Journal says economic data show that Donald Trump's trade war China did not achieve its objectives of reversing the declines in US Manufacturing or reshoring factory jobs. I hear what you're saying.
It's a complicated picture, but Just on that bottom line point, you can't guarantee that Americans won't wind up paying more, can you? Well, I think what you can guarantee is that if you don't bring more manufacturing jobs back in this country, you don't make our supply chains more stable, you're going to cause higher prices over the long term. I think that's what is absolutely true. But you acknowledge they should wind up paying more.
What I acknowledge, Kristin, unless we bring more manufacturing jobs back to this country, we are going to end up paying more. Remember, the whole promise I get this was a bipartisan thing. My own party was as wrong about it as Democrats were. And Donald Trump was right about it.
What they said is that you shipped all of our manufacturing to East Asia into Mexico, Americans would pay lower prices. Well, here we are now and Americans are paying higher prices. And just one more thing on this because it's really important to go about what Kamala Harris actually said, her conviction speech. She says that she wants to stand up to China on behalf of American workers.
If you're not willing to impose tariffs on companies that are manufacturing in China, using slave labor in China, you're not standing up to the Chinese and Americans are willing to suffer. And on pricing and prices right now, inflation obviously at its lowest level since 2021. But let's move on. Robert F.
Kennedy, the big news yesterday, he suspended his campaign, announced he's endorsing Donald Trump. He is also known as someone who has blamed vaccines for autism, antidepressants for school shootings, and recently said, quote, he won't take sides on what happened on 9 11. Do you have any hesitation about accepting his endorsement? No, Chris, and I don't because we're in this realizations.
Right. There are things that Robert Kennedy said I disagree with. I'm sure there are things that he said or that I said. Excuse me if he's going to disagree with, but I think what his endorsement represents is that Donald J.
Trump's Republican Party is a big tent party. I was raised by two grandparents who are sort of classic Blue Dog Democrats. They believed in having a border. They believed that, you know, you shouldn't have censorship in the United States of America.
They believed in common sense economic policies. They may disagree with Alan Trump about tax policy, but they believed in some fundamental American values. I think what RFK's endorsement really shows is that the Kennedy Democrats are actually more at home in the Republican Party of Donald Trump. And unfortunately, Kamala Harris's party, higher prices, doing nothing to fight back against the Chinese to Say nothing of a wide open border.
That is not JFK's Democratic Democratic Party. It's not RFK's Democratic Party. We're thrilled to have the Kennedy Democrats where they want. Well, and some of the Kennedy family have stepped forward to say that they sharply disagree with this endorsement.
But let's just go back quickly. Says he isn't taking sides on 9 11. Do you agree with that statement? Of course I don't agree with that, Chris.
Now to be clear, I don't know what RK actually said there. Maybe there's additional context. Of course you have to see what people say before you agree to disagree with it. I certainly have taken sides and I love on the pro America side, I don't think we should have attacked and I certainly think hitting back against the terrorists was justified.
I don't know what RFK said there, but what I do know is RFK said a lot of very interesting and important things that the Democratic Party has become too pro censorship that the Democratic Party, especially in the wake of COVID became really anti freedom and anti child. And you have Democrats saying that we should be masking toddlers in their schools even though we knew it caused developmental disabilities. I agree with rk. That was crazy.
Well, to be fair, there was a lot of information that scientists were grappling with as it came in and mask were perceived to stop the smell of the disease. Move on. Totally fair. Yeah.
But the one thing before we move on I would say about that is there were important leaders. Donald Trump was among them. RFK was among them who were saying some of this stuff is crazy. And if we listen to them, I think our kids would have been much better off the wake of the pandemic and scientists that masks help to stop the spread of disease.
Let's talk about another big issue for toddlers. Right. We have to be able to balance this stuff. And I think the way the RFK struck that balance was much smarter, unfortunately than the way Colin Harris did.
Let's talk about another big issue. Let's talk about the Democratic National Convention. It's being talked about on the campaign trail, abortion. Democrats made the case this week and beyond this week that Donald Trump, if elected, will impose a federal ban on abortion if he wins.
Now Donald Trump says he won't. But can you commit, Senator, sitting right here with me today that if you and Donald Trump are elected that you will not impose a federal ban on abortion? I can absolutely commit that, Kristen. Donald Trump has been as clear about that as possible.
I think it's important to step back and say, what is Donald, Donald Trump actually said on the abortion question and how is it different from what Kamala Harris and Democrats have said? Donald Trump wants to end this culture war over this particular topic. Excuse me, California wants to have a different abortion policy from Ohio. Then Ohio has to respect California and California has to respect Ohio.
Donald Trump's view is that we want the individual states and their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities to make these decisions because we don't want to have a non stop federal conflict over this issue. The federal government already focused on getting food prices down, getting housing prices down, issues, of course, where Kamala Harris has been a total disaster. So I think Donald Trump is right. We want the federal government to focus on these big economic and immigration questions.
Let the states figure out their own abortion policy. Let me just follow up with you a little bit on that point because I've been talking to Republicans, including Senator Lindsey Graham just last week, who've made it very clear that if Donald Trump is elected, if you are elected, they will continue to press this point. Senator Graham said to me, I'm going to keep saying that there should be a federal ban. If such a piece of legislation landed on Donald Trump's desk, would he veto it?
I think it would be very clear if he would not support that. If you're not supporting as the President of the United States, he would veto a federal abortion ban. I think he said that explicitly that he would, and I think he's ever said explicitly he would. He said that to you, Lindsey Graham?
Kristen, I would be surprised. Again, I didn't see context on what Lindsey Graham said because Lindsey Graham himself has not advocated a federal abortion ban. Lindsey Graham has advocated a federal minimum standard. Now, to be clear, that is not Donald Trump's view.
Donald Trump disagreeable and he's ram on this. But no Republican, at least no Republican with any reasonable power, is saying that we should have a complete national abortion ban. I haven't heard that from any of my colleagues. And to be clear, Donald Trump, I think, takes his position and made it very explicit he wants this to be a state decision.
States are going to make this termination themselves. All right, let's talk about women voters more broadly. The Census Bureau estimates there are 22 million women between the ages of 20 and 40 who, for what reason, do not have children. What do you say to those women who hear some of your comments, including childless cat lady comments which you've been asked about, but who feel as though you won't represent them?
Well, I'd say, first of all, I will represent, I would be the vice president for the whole country. I represent everybody. And yes, I made a sarcastic comment years ago that I think that a lot of Democrats have willfully misinterpreted. But what I've simply said is that I think that it's really a profound change that's happened in our country.
We become anti family. And I would like to change that. And I think if you talk to young women, whether they have children or don't want to have children, what you consistently hear is a lot of young women feel like they don't have options. I saw this with my wife, who's a working mother, who's a very, very accomplished litigator.
She has three beautiful kids and always felt like she was having to balance being a good mom with being the kind of literature that she wanted to be. I just want women to have more choices. I've seen that very personally in my own family. And I think it's something that is broken about our country.
Let me zoom out a little bit. You're calling it a sarcastic comment and yet some women, and you got the feedback in real time, felt like it was a gut punch to them personally. Do you regret making that comment? Look, I regret certainly that a lot of people took it the wrong way, and I certainly regret the DNC and Kamala Harris lied about it.
Do you regret what you said, Senator? I'm going to say things from time to time that people disagree with. I'm a real person. I'm going to make jokes.
I'm going to say things sarcastically. And I think that what's important is that we focus on the policy. There are certainly going to be things I say if I'm elected vice president. People are going to say, well, I wish he'd said that differently.
I think it's most important to actually be the person I actually am and to say those sarcastic comments were made in the service of a real substantive point. This country has become too anti family. It's too expensive to afford a house. It's too expensive to afford groceries.
Donald Trump and I want to change that. And unless we get better leadership, we're not going to. But again, just very quickly, given that people have told you directly, have spoken out, have said that they were offended, they were hurt by those comments. You wish you never made those childless, happily comments.
I think that it's much more important for me to just be a normal human being who sometimes says things people disagree with. I have a lot of regrets person, but making a joke three years ago is not a top 10 list. All right. Another big topic in this racist immigration.
There has been a lot of discussion about Donald Trump's plans for mass deportation. According to one estimate, more than 11 million US citizens live in households with mixed immigration status, including more than 5 million children. If you and former President Trump were elected, would you separate families as a part of your mass deportation effort? We have to start with the financial issue here, which is we have 25 million in this country right now because Kamala Harris has refused to do it.
DHS says it's much lower. It's close to 8 million. Where do you get the 25 million of the people that should have been deported, that maybe weren't deported? Plus you had another 12 to 15 million have come in since Kamala Harris.
But I think the reason to think that DHS is underestimating whatever the real number is, it's way too high. Right. It's millions upon millions of legal immigrants that come in. Just since Kamala Harris became the borders are a few years ago, she was put in charge of the root causes of migration.
Well, the root causes of migration, I would say Christians, that Kamala Harris refuses to do a job as orders are. Let's just start. I'm answering your question. I think it's important to sort of sequence this the right way.
So if you want to get control of the illegal immigration problem, you have to stop the bleeding. You have to stop so many people from coming here illegally in the first place. And that means undoing everything that Kamala Harris did practically on day one of the administration. You have to reimpose deportations.
You have to stop catching police, stop creating asylum to every single person who comes in here and says that they need asylum, and stop branding mass parole. These policies are why we have the immigration crisis that we have. So I think focus on fixing the problem. Before we even fix the problem, we got to stop the problem.
And as you know, President Biden passed a series of executive actions, and legal border crossings are now their lowest levels in about five years. So much so that Greg Abbott is no longer busting other cities. Let me ask this fundamental question, fundamental question. Will families be separated under your mass deportation?
Because you made a point here. I do want to ask this question about families and about deportations, but you made this point that border crossings are lower. Border crossings at the southern border are lower because the Harris administration is sending more immigrants through the ports of entry. So instead of coming through the southern border, they're not being flown at Taxpayer expense to the ports of entry all over our country.
The number of illegal crossings. Chris, this is a really important point. They're not any lower. They're just shuffling how the people are coming into the country in the first place.
And this is very much more efficiently. But Greg's not fighting. I don't want a border czar who makes it more efficient for illegal immigrants to come to this country. That's why they have the problem that we have.
Senator, to this question, there's so many people want to know the answer to this. Will families be separated under your mass deportation policy? I think that families are currently being separated and you're certainly going to have to deport some people in this country. You start with the most violent criminals in our country.
Those people need to be deported. That's where you focus on resources. I think you force out a number of children who are currently living with drug cartel members, not actually their families. We need to, of course, find their families and get them back to their families.
But it's very interesting here because what Kamala Harris says is that Donald Trump wants to separate families. Kamala Harris's policies have led to thousands upon thousands of migrant children living with sex traffickers and drug cartels. That is the consequence of her policy. There's not a policy to separate families.
You know that your policies will lead to family separation. You don't get to click. Harris cannot claim that she doesn't know that her policies separation, they are and everybody knows it. And she has to take responsibility for that.
That's what really. There are some families who have been separated, as you say, some because their parents are criminals. But of course, under the Trump administration, there was a zero tolerance policy, which is national policy. Let's move on.
There was a zero. I'll give you more time. There was a zero tolerance policy during the Trump administration, and that led to less family separation than under Kamala Harris's border policies. That's what's so striking about this.
Actually enforcing our border is the most humane thing for children and certainly for American citizens. But I don't hear you dying that families will be separate. Let's move on to something that Donald Trump said in North Carolina. And yet again Friday night.
Our primary focus is not to get out the voters, to make sure they don't cheat, because we have all the votes you need. You can see it. Why is Donald Trump casting doubt on the election before it's even happened? I don't think that's what Donald Trump is saying.
That's what he says here to make sure they don't cheat. I think that what he's saying is that we want to pursue a set of policies in the Republican Party that make it easier for every legal ballot to be cast and counted, but make it harder for illegally cast ballots to be counted. Now, we can disagree about how many of those there are, whether there are a few hundred, a few thousand, maybe more. But just in the last week, okay, so just in the last week, once in Arizona and once in Pennsylvania, there were major court wins that make our ballot process more secure and more effective.
I think that's what Donald Trump is talking about, is we have to pursue, sometimes through litigation, sometimes through better policy at the state or national level, a set of rules that make sure every ballot is legally counted. Well, it's very different from your message, which is you said it on, quote, back to yourself. We have to work as hard as possible to persuade Americans to vote for us. Are you on the same page as Donald Trump?
Again, he seems to be casting doubt as a result of the election before it seemed to happen. Of course we're on the same page, Kristen. We talk all the time. I guarantee if you sat here and said, Mr.
President, Donald Trump, do you believe that we need to do that? Your campaign needs to persuade voters as much as possible. Of course he's going to say yes. That's not inconsistent with thinking that we need to pursue a set of approaches that make sure legal ballots get counted, illegal ballots don't get counted.
Do you have faith the 2024 election will be free and fair? I do, Kristen. I think it's going to be free and fair. We're going to do everything we can to make sure that happens.
We're going to pursue every pathway to make sure, again, legal ballots get counted. But I feel very good about where we are. I think we're going to win this race. I think we're going to win it very much.
All right. Senator J.D. vance, thank you so much for your time this afternoon. Really appreciate it.
Thank you. As a note on Senator Vance's claim about family separation, the numbers show the Trump administration separated more than 5,500 families, most of them under that zero tolerance policy. The Department of Homeland Security says currently up to a thousand children are separated from their families. The Trump administration had a policy to systematically separate families.
The Biden administration only does so under extraordinary circumstances, like if the parent has a criminal record. And we should also note that when Senator Vance talked about flying migrants into the U.S. he was referencing a policy that allows migrants from a select group of countries to fly into the US Legally only if they have a sponsor here in the United States. That program is currently on pause.
And coming up, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren joins me next. Drop off in a new Hyundai Launcher today with $0 down during the Hyundai Advantage sales event. Take advantage of the $1,000 spring drive bonus and lease the 2026 laundry section for just $73 weekly at 4.99% for 60 months. And you're covered by Elantra's Best in Class five year new car warranty.
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Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren was visibly emotional in Chicago on Thursday night, wiping away tears as she received a standing ovation before her speech endorsing Kamala Harris. And Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren joins me now. Senator Warren, welcome back to MEET THE press. Thank you.
Good to be with you. Well, it is great to have you on a big Sunday. I want to start off by getting your reaction to what you just heard from Senator J.D. vance.
He says that if legislation banning abortion at the federal level arrived on Donald Trump's desk, if he were to be elected, he believes he would veto it. What's your reaction to that, Senator? American women are not stupid and we are not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion for women all across this country. Look, right now where we are is if Donald Trump and J.D.
vance take the White House, they have current law, the Comstock act, which with the right person that they put into the Department of Justice and one of their extremist judges out in the world, they can actually ban all access to abortion all across this country. And understand, when I say ban access to abortion, I don't mean with oh, exceptions for rape or incest or a 16 week ban. I mean ban it for every woman, anytime she needs it. Because once they take the medications off the market, once they take the surgical instruments off the market, they're not there.
And so for anyone who's in the middle of a miscarriage, who goes into an emergency room and discovers there's no medication and no treatment for her because abortion has been banned nationwide, they can thank Donald Trump and J.D. vance. And just to follow up, Donald Trump, J.D. vans have been asked about the Comstock act as well, as you say, which could potentially ban the distribution of medication abortion.
Again, they both say we're not Going to use that to try to ban abortion. Sounds like you don't buy it. Don't buy it. Just read it.
JD Vance actually sent a letter last year to the Department of Justice saying, enforce the Comstock Act. And remember, he did that, and then Donald Trump picked him to be his vice president. Take a look at Project 2025. It lays out the roadmap for exactly how to do this.
And frankly, when you've got a pawn in the Department of Justice and pawns in the judiciary, it isn't even hard to accomplish here. I'm gonna go with vice presidential nominee Tim Walsh, who says you don't do a playbook unless you're planning to use it. There's already a plan in place. And, you know, understand this.
Today, 30% of all women live in states that effectively ban abortion. Donald Trump and J.D. vance in the White House, it will be 30%. It'll be 100%.
The only way that we're gonna protect access to abortion is to have a Democratic Congress send a bill to Kamala Harris. She will sign it into law, and then we will restore a right to half the population in this country. And no longer will a woman have to go into an emergency room and be told she's not near enough death to get the medical treatment that she needs. Senator, let me ask you about another part of my conversation with Senator Vance.
He defended Donald Trump's terrorist plan. President Biden actually kept most of the Trump tariffs in place. He even imposed some new ones. According to some estimates, that cost Americans more than $3 billion.
Do you think it was a mistake for President Biden not to roll back Donald Trump's tariffs? Well, I think of it this way. The difference between what Donald Trump did, which is throw tariffs out there as a matter of pique, and what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have done is they said sometimes we should be using tariffs. We should be using tariffs to protect domestic industries.
We should be using tariffs to level the playing field for labor so that we're not using overseas labor to undercut our domestic labor. But what Donald Trump is talking about, at least at his campaign rallies, is he's talking about doing wide bans. He's talking about doing tariff bans all across the economy. So you're saying some tariffs are okay?
Senators going to increase prices, you're saying some tabs are okay. It is a tool. Absolutely. It is a tool in the toolbox when it has specific causes in specific areas.
We need to protect our domestic manufacturing. We need to bring that back onshore and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have done that with the Chips and Science Act. So we're making real investments for the first time in America in onshoring, manufacturing. Tammy Baldwin's bill by America means that we are building up so that we are a nation once again that builds things here.
That's what we need to do. And tariffs are a part of how we get that industry up and going once again. That's what's gonna bring down prices ultimately for American families. Let me ask you about what happened overnight, Senator.
Israel launched what they're calling a preemptive strike in Lebanon after Hezbollah launched a large scale attack. You support a force conditioning military aid to Israel. What is your reaction to what happened overnight? Senator, I am deeply concerned about the violence and chaos spreading throughout the region.
This just underscores the emergency. We need to put an end to this war. We need to stop all the bombing, get the hostages back home, spend real resources on humanitarian relief in Gaza, and most of all, give a hard shove to both parties in order to keep them at the negotiating table. It's time for a two state solution where Palestinians have self determination, where the Israelis can be guaranteed security, and that we have a lasting peace going forward.
And Senator, very quickly, do you believe that Vice President Harris should be conditioning military aid to Israel? Will you counsel her to do that? Look, I, I want to be clear. American law already says that we give military aid only to those who are in compliance with international law.
What Benjamin Netanyahu has done in creating a humanitarian disaster in Gaza raises questions about compliance with international law. The United States needs to live its values every day. Senator Elizabeth Warren, I have more questions. We are unfortunately out of time, so please come back soon.
Thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. And when we come back, the 2024 campaign has been reset and both sides are still racing for an extremely close race. The panel's next.
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Visit NBC news.com for full offer terms and details. Welcome back. The panel is here. I'm the co anchor of PBS NewsHour, Amy Walter, editor and chief of the Cook Political Report, Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher and Mark Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence.
I'm gonna let me start with you. Key takeaways from what we just heard from Senator J.D. vance, notably, yet again, trying to make the case that if they are elected, they will not move to try to ban abortion nationally, which, as you heard, yeah, Elizabeth Warren's not buying yet. Well, I was so glad that you press him in the way that you did because I think this is still very much a question in a lot of voters minds, which is to say, if you look back at President Trump's record, even when he was running for president, he's really been on every single side of this issue.
And so it's not really clear what this ticket stands for and what the Republican Party stands for when it comes to this one issue that we know is going to be an enormous issue moving forward. It had a huge impact in the midterms as well. The other away from the interview was just how willing Senator Vance is to even dismiss his own party in the service, holding up Donald Trump to be able to say, you know, my party has got it wrong on issues like terrorists, but Donald Trump is the only one who's gotten it right. I think it's doubling down on this issue.
We've seen where this is clearly just the party of Trump. I mean, what's your take? I mean, we're looking at a gender gap that is growing by the day. It's clear Donald Trump knows this better than anyone because he talks to people about it.
The fact that he's worried about he's worried about this issue. Right. Well, there are two things I want to say if this election, if this is what we're talking about going into September, that is a really big problem for the Trump campaign. This is exactly the terrain, of course, that Democrats want to find out and they have been, if you look at the down ballot rates, let's look at where Senate candidates who are Democrats, what they are running on.
Thus far they've run about $13 million in advertising just on abortion, a lot of it hitting the Republican opponent. And we're seeing Republicans playing def in those states. So this is an issue where Democrats are certainly getting traction. Now.
The gender gap was. That's an excellent point. The decision by the Trump campaign to double and triple down on the sort of MAGA image going really with their base rather than trying to win over swing women voters was made by the decision to pick JD Vance, by the decision to really, you know, make. That was a choice that they made and that is a decision that they are going to have to continue to live with.
Cornell, what do you make of what we just heard from Senator Vance? And as Amy says, I mean these polls that we're tracking, they can't flip flop them. There's no way out of this. Right.
That was amazing to me the way they're trying to now flip flop and move away from this issue. That's hearing them. For how long did Donald Trump brag on national television interview after interview that taken responsibility and he chose the Supreme Court that finally overturned Roe v. Wade.
He took personal responsibility and owned it and now he's trying to move away from it. He cannot move away from, he cannot move away from this issue. Women all across this country understand where he is and I guarantee you we're going to spend millions of dollars reminding them of where he is on this issue. Mark, what's so interesting is that for some conservative Republicans, the reaction is the opposite, which is that you're betraying what they would like to see, which is a candidate at the top of the ticket who is fighting for a federal bail abortion.
Well, Kristen, look, I think that he had a good interview because ridiculous trauma at the border. But I think it's incredibly disappointing for pro life advocates to see that there's no real standard barrier for life position in either party anymore at the top of the ticket. I think that for conservatives and pro life advocates, you look at the pain capable bill and say the legislation that outlaws abortion after child can feel pain is actually supported by about 70% of the public. The legislation 15 weeks is actually more liberal than most of socialist Europe where the limitations 12 or 13 weeks we are on the defensive.
And as opposed to having a candidate actually advocating, say The Democrat position, support on demand through all nine months of pregnancy. That is the contrast is appealing for a lot of voters, but there is no standard bearer party who's actually making that case. And as well in the economic issues, Kristen, there's nobody making the case for free markets. You basically have common rolling out price controls and higher taxes and JDVs doubling down.
Why we should have the biggest tax increase of abortion. Hawley and just to be clear, I think Democrats would describe it as abortion. Part of the argument is through 24 weeks and of course if the life of the mother or if there is a medical emergency and that happens in very rare cases. Very quickly though, let's zoom out.
Let's talk about without the convention overall. Cornell, what were your do you think Kamala Harris did what she needed to do? She reintroduced herself. She came into this convention with a lot of momentum.
Do you think that she did what she needed to do to build on that? Will we see it in the polling? I think the contrast between the vision of Donald Trump and the vision of Harris couldn't be starker or clearer. I think we have as clear a contrast coming out of these conventions as we've had in our lifetime.
And I'm not even being partisan on this. If you listen to go back to to Ronald Reagan's convention speech where he talked about, you know, optimism and he talked about the exceptionalism of America, even though Bush or Bush said we got to seize this moment for the problems of American when you're Democrat or Republican, there is an optimism that American leaders lean into. Right. That hasn't imparts it at all.
Donald Trump talks about the darkness of America and division of America. He's really talked about Panama. So I think, I think she gave a very American optimistic view of this country and Donald Trump gave one is outside the continuum of leadership, both on the left and the right. Amy it was interesting to hear Vice President Harris so many of the other speakers really try to have a more positive vision.
Really stark difference from what we heard from President Biden who was warning consistently of the threat of Donald Trump. They're almost trying to minimize not his threat, but Donald Trump the man. Yeah. I think the most impressive thing about where Kamala Harris has been for this last month and it sort of culminated at the convention, is that she has taken the mantle now of the change candidate even though she is the incumbent party now.
Is that going to continue? This is the job of the campaign. We've got 70 plus more days. But that the Trump campaign has to be able to Try to undercut her ability to make herself change.
Mark, he's struggling Donald Trump to figure out exactly how to go after her to get on in too. But the more policy rules that actually provides a better contrast. Like this week again rolling out price controls from 1970s. And it makes me think that part of her job is borders are import.
The socialist communist South America tries to stop the flower border. It makes no sense. That provides a better contrast for Trump. This actually turns into a policy debate.
Alas, I don't think it will. Great point though. I mean, I think should she. Does she need to put more meat on the boat?
I will say the one thing that struck me in her acceptance speech was how much policy there was in there. Not details. But not details. But if you got questions about what Harris presidency looked like, you got some of those answers.
She walked the middle ground on issues here and abroad. Shocking about prioritizing middle class values. We know there are thorny issues that still remain. An economy and immigration among them, which why.
But the issues press by were so key because that's where Republicans have their strongest argument against this candidate and ticket. But right now those are the headwinds and there's still a lot of questions about how she would be president. All right, great conversation, guys. Stick around.
We have more. When we come back, A look at how Vice President Harris campaigned against Donald Trump the first time around. Argue the president is next. Vice President Harris will formally face off with former President Trump for the first time at a debate in September.
But she's been preparing for this moment for years. During her 2020 primary bid. Then Senator Harris talked about her approach to taking on Mr. Trump.
Here's the thing, There are people who voted for him for a variety of reasons. And a lot of it had to do with the promises he made, which he has not delivered on because they were false promises. And he betrayed a lot of people. He came in saying he was gonna help working families, everyone from farmers to auto workers.
We're here in Iowa. There are farmers, a lot of farmers who are looking at bankruptcy because of his so called trade policy. He betrayed people. And the American people are smart, smarter than to go for all of the flash that he tweets all the time.
And look at the fact that not only on trade policy, but this tax bill that benefits the top 1% of the biggest corporations of America, that this guy betrayed them. And I know that the American people are smarter than to go for the Okie doke. When we come back, RFK Jr suspends his campaign and Endorses Trump, will it have an impact on the race? The panel returns next.
Welcome back. The panel is still here. Mark, let me start with you on RFK junior Suspending his campaign, endorsing Donald Trump. You actually have a slightly different perspective than a lot of folks have.
Who does it help? Who does it hurt? Yeah, maybe a little counterintuitive. Look, if Kennedy's made decision to get out, then you want his endorsement, Kristen.
But the reality is that Trump has such a low ceiling that he needs to win a race in the mid-40s. And so you wanted to loop the anti Trump vote as much as possible with many candidates. People forget 2016 when he won Gary Johnson. Johnson got several points in most pivotal states.
He needed a third party candidate. And so you want the endorsement he's getting out. But it doesn't help Trump to have this binding race. And so I think that in the end this actually helps the Harris campaign more come November.
Amy, what do you think? Yeah, I mean it's a very good point. I mean we had our own polling in battleground states and if you reallocate those voters, it gives Trump just a very tiny margin of support. But we also know that margins, very tiny margins will determine these last two presidential elections.
I think you also have to be careful in pulling on this because it's such a narrow swath of the electorate that you gotta be careful. What is that 5% gonna go to? I agree with my completely on this is that she benefits from a two person race. I understand what happens in a multi candidate race because I saw it in 2016.
He wins by subtraction, not addition. I think a one on one race, most about real estate. I think it benefits Harris and I'm just zooming out. The next big data points of this election are going to be we're anticipating an interview with someone, hopefully this broadcast every journalist on earth has put their plug in.
But on an interview and then the debate is going to be huge. Well, no one needs reminding that debates have had the potential to dramatically change the course of the debate. And the Harris has proven herself to be a skillful debater in the past and the Democratic primary process. Remember she had that one line that ended up on T shirts and she's talking about busing to desegregate Biden's opposition to that.
She said I was that little girl. So she's been on that stage before the interviews for me and I am biased. But yes, candidates don't need us as journalists to get their message out. They don't anymore in this ecosystem.
But interviews are where candidates fades rigor and skepticism and questions about issues that they are not raising on the campaign trail and in monologues. It opens up to a conversation in a way that is good for voters and good for democracy. And I will say, having been with Vice President Harris in unscripted scenarios, there's policy commands there that can come out in these kinds of interviews. Can I say I love you and I love you, but as a campaign hat?
No. She should be talking to the voters in barnstorming the way they do. I love you all, but I don't want her talking to you all right now. She should be talking to replacement voters going across the country.
Well, there's risk in talking to us. There's no doubt about that, Amy. And yet, you know, she had this soaring speech at the Democratic National Convention. She did talk as an asset about policy, but again, there's still a lot of questions when it comes to will she continue to build on the Biden agenda.
Will she? I think that's exactly right. And look, there are still a lot of questions that voters have about her. And she came into this race even though she's vice president, as relatively unknown.
She's been able to fill in the gaps in the way she wanted to. The Trump campaign's trying to fill it in the way they want to right now. She's ahead of the game on that. But I think there are still voters that are skeptical because they want to hear it directly from her in response to questions.
The debate will be the place where you kind of. You can't avoid that. Yeah, she's going to Georgia this week. We know Trump is going to be hitting the battleground states as well.
Mark, Trump is not someone who traditionally prepares for a debate, but this is different. I mean, he seems to understand and talking to allies that this is a real race that he's, you know, in some states. Yeah, I think he is. I think the reality is that his performance can be overpowering sometimes, but he's probably not gonna study the policy as hard.
I don't know. That's what's been Kamala Harris's strength leader. I think she performed well in the Democrat primary debate. I'm not sure she did as well in the main debate against.
I think that she wasn't as well prepared. I think a lot of reporters. She was well prepared when she came in the vice presidency itself. But, you know, I think that.
I think that. Back to Yalls conversation. It's good for America for hear her put out more for policy views. I think it's bad for her campaign because again, what she did last week I think was really far left.
Elizabeth Warren policy. And I think that that if it becomes a policy debate that benefits trumpets on immigration in the economy. So. Martin Cornell agree.
It's a first. We are. I'm sorry. That is all for today.
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