Meet the Press NOW — October 30

If it's Wednesday, Vice President Harris and the White House try to contain the fallout after President Biden's gas appearing to call Trump supporters garbage as the Harris campaigns clean up threatens to overshadow its closing argument. With just six days to go. Plus, the former president soaks fears of voter fraud, baselessly accusing battleground Pennsylvania of, quote, large scale cheating while distorting the facts around a fraudulent batch of voter registrations. And a Trump primary rival turned ally Nikki Haley criticizes the Trump campaign for using crude and sexist language on the trail, warning it's not the way to win over women voters.

Welcome to the press. Now I'm Kristen. Welcome, Washington. With just six days to go until the election, the candidates are hitting multiple battlegrounds today with both former and Vice President Harris in North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Harris is also visiting Pennsylvania, which could be the most important state on election night. And right now, former President Trump appears to be intensifying his efforts to soak doubt about that state's results. And we will have more on that in just a moment. But we begin with the Harris campaign, which hoped to be riding high after a massive speech last night where she delivered her closing argument against former President Trump.

But instead, the campaign is dealing with a fallout from comments made by President Biden appearing to call Trump supporters garbage on a campaign call which has been seized on by the Trump campaign, despite the White House quickly trying to clarify exactly what he meant to say. Now Biden's remarks came Justice Harris was focused on appealing to voters across the aisle. I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make progress.

Unlike Donald Trump, I don't believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I'll give them a seat at the table. I pledge to be a president for all Americans and to always put country above party and self.

Now, President Biden's comments on the Trump campaign's focus on them could potentially undercut that message of unity. Here are the president's comments as he made them on the call with Latino voters last night. Donald Trump has no character. He doesn't give a damn about Latino community.

He's failed businessman. He only cares about the billionaire friends he has and accumulated wealth for those at the top. He says immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country. Give me a break.

He wants to do away with the birthright citizenship. Who the hell said that in the last hundred years? And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Well, let me tell you Something I don't, I don't know the Puerto Rican that I know or Puerto Rico, where I'm in my home state of Delaware.

They're good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization seems unconscionable and it's unamerican. It's totally contrary to everything we've done, everything we've been.

Now, the White House quickly went to damage control mode. The initial White House transcript as provided to NBC News suggests Mr. Biden was in fact talking broadly about Trump supporters. But then the White House updated the transcript after a conversation with the president, suggesting he was singling out one particular Trump supporter.

Then the president clarified on X that he was referring to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico by a singular Trump supporter. Press Secretary Jean Pierre telling reporters he was referring to the comedian who denigrated puerto Rico. At Mr. Trump's rally today, the vice president.

President firmly distancing herself from those comments while en route to North Carolina. First of all, you verify the comments, but let me be clear. I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for. You heard my speech last night and continuously throughout my career.

I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not. And as President of the United States, I will be a president for all Americans, whether you vote for me or not. Meanwhile, as we said, the Trump campaign wasting no time pouncing on Biden's remarks, the former president reacting in real time during a rally in Pennsylvania, comparing it to Hillary Clinton's infamous deplorables comment back in 2016 and today claiming it's what the president and vice president really think. Even as he said his supporters were, quote, higher quality than theirs.

Joe Biden finally said what he and Kamala really think of our supporters. He called them garbage and they mean it. Even though without question, my supporters are far higher quality than Crooked Joe or Lion Kamala. Joe Biden's comments were the direct result of Kamala's and Tim Wolfs.

You know, you know, that is his decision to portray everyone who isn't voting for them as evil or subhuman. And we know it's what they believe because look how they've treated you. They've treated you like garbage, frankly, they've treated you like garbage. Now, of course, both former President Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D.

vance, have made their own disparaging remarks about the Harris Walls ticket and its supporters. Take a look at. I decided to look up what is the exact phrase that I would use for a person who thinks those brave men were fighting for what Kamala Harris is fighting for today. If you think those brave men were fighting for open border and sex change surgeries for legal aliens, the proper term for you is, and I'll tell you what, any African American or Hispanic and you know how well I'm doing there, that votes for Kamala, you gotta have your head examined.

I say all the time that any Jewish person that votes for her, especially now, her or the Democrat Party, should have their head examined. NBC senior White House correspondent Kelly o' Donnell is in Harrisburg. Penny. Who are expecting Vice President Harris to speak in the next 30 minutes.

Kelly, always great to see you. Thank you for joining us. So I know you've been talking to your sources inside the Harris campaign. What are they telling you about this and the strategy to move on?

Well, they're trying to dispatch with this by having the vice president speak about it early and directly to reporters, not addressing it in rally situations like this. She did not do so earlier today in Raleigh, North Carolina. I expect she wouldn't hear as well. Part of what she is doing is this is sort of the closing argument battle round edition where she's talking about a number of the key points that she made last night.

And included in that is her push that she would be a president for all Americans. She is perhaps in a way we haven't seen at any time in this short, abbreviated campaign that she's distancing herself from President Biden's words, relying on the fact that he tried to clean it up with a social media post and through his spokespersons at the White House and go into the underlying issue that she says her argument and sort of the political record of President Biden is not one of going after American citizens being critical. Yes. Of Donald Trump and the rhetoric used and some of the supporters who appeared on stage at the Madison Terror Garden event, namely that comedian, as you explained.

And to say that the demonization that they engaged in against Puerto Ricans is what is garbage in the words of the president, not the individuals. Now, all of this means it's really up to the voters. What do they hear, how do they have an impact themselves? And is it something that matters to voters?

It's certainly a challenge for the campaign to have to deal with it at this late date. She's doing that in a couple of different ways. And ultimately we'll find out if it matters in terms of moving voters or turning off some voters, just as she is trying to do an outreach, certainly to not only those voters that have not been engaged, but certainly Republicans and independents and Haley voters, not the kind of people she wants to insult at this moment. And she is saying she embraces them, wanting to be supportive of all Americans.

So it's one of those mistakes on the campaign trail that depending on timing, depending on how voters hear it could play out in different ways. Kristen Kelly, you know, I think you hit the nail on the head. We just have to see how the voters receive this. This is such a close race.

Any change could have an impact. Trump is comparing the comments to the basket of deplorables comment from Hillary Clinton back in 2016. What are the similarities? What are the differences there?

Well, certainly this is a case where immediately President Biden is saying immediately, as in within a bit of time afterward, saying if there was a misimpression, he's clearing it up. Hillary Clinton did not quite do that with deplorables. And it was viewed as something also with more time that members of the voting supporting block for Donald Trump embraced that term and used it to define themselves, proudly wearing it as a badge of honor. Deplorables on T shirts and so forth.

This may play out differently. Differently in terms of, first of all, the word garbage is hard to sell in a positive way. And we're only six days out. And the real question is, does it ring true to voters?

Do they think that's really what Joe Biden thinks? Do they think that's really what Kamala Harris thinks? And only voters can tell us that. Certainly in 2016, it was a much different time.

We've now had many intervening years. And the Harris campaign would say, listen to what Donald Trump says. He calls his political adversaries the enemies within on a daily basis says the United States has been a dumping ground, a garbage can. So in a, in a time now where so much heated, ugly caustic rhetoric is at play, will it have the same effect that the basket of deplorables comment had?

What seems like a lifetime ago for you and me, but 2016, a different time with a through line that comes right to today. Kristen? Yeah, Kelly, you and I were both on the trail throughout the duration of that campaign. It does indeed seem like a lifetime ago.

Kelly o', Donnell, thank you for your eff fantastic perspective and your great reporting is always really appreciated. We want to turn now to the other major political development we mentioned at the top of the show, the former president stoking fears about election fraud in Pennsylvania. Mr. Trump posted on social media this morning without evidence that the battleground state is cheating at large scale levels barely seen before and calling on law enforcement to act.

The former president also made baseless claims while campaigning in Pennsylvania during a rally last night. Allentown. Look at this. We've set an all time record in the early voting, by the way.

So if you have a mail in ballot, get that damn ballot in, please, immediately. Because. Because they've already started cheating in Lancaster. They've cheated.

We caught it with 2,600 votes. Now we caught him cold. 2,600 votes. Think of this.

Think of this. And every vote was written by the same person. I wonder how that happened. It must be a coincidence.

Now, Donald Trump appears to be alluding to investigations into fraudulent registrations, not ballots in two pen counties, Lancaster and York. Jane Tim is a senior reporter for NBC News and covers elections, election policy and voting rights. She joins me now, also with me as NBC News correspondent Garrett Hake in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where Donald Trump will be campaigning a little bit later on this evening. Jane, let me start with you.

Help us sort through what's fact and fiction here. What are the specific allegations Trump is making about Lancaster and York counties and what's the reality about what's happening there? Yeah. So what happened in Lancaster County?

It's not the Trump campaign that caught anything. It's election officials doing routine processing of voter registration applications that found that these applications didn't pass the identity checks, were illegible or confusing or just looked a little bit suspicious. They reviewed those applications and realized that they were dealing with a lot of fraudulent applications. The applications are not valid and they're not going to become ballots because they were caught by the routine election processes that is sort of built into the system to catch this kind of thing.

This is a genuine issue that Trump is sort of conflating into something else. During the press conference where Lancaster announced this issue, they said two other counties had also seen large drop offs from a third party group, canvassers, paid canvassers. Who are the people who might be incentivized to do a fraudulent application. They're being paid by the application.

We don't know exactly who those counties are yet, but York county next door did give a statement that suggested they think they could have been affected that they were reviewing a large drop off of canvas applications and mail ballot applications as well. And they were looking into those, but we don't know for sure yet. All we know is that election officials caught a problem and stopped it from becoming an issue. Speaks to how secure the system actually is Jane, look, in Bucks county, we saw a deadline extended after the Trump campaign sued over apparently long lines and early cutoffs.

What can you tell us about the latest there? Yeah, so they're get to get people who want to go in person and request and fill out and return a mail ballot application, which is the only really early in person kind of voting you can do in Pennsylvania because they don't have early in person voting the way we think of in person early voting. Typically we'll be able to do that in Buck county through the end of business on November 1, giving them a few extra days for people who felt like they weren't able to do it for the county. They said that they were just closing county offices and scheduled to.

But voters are definitely getting an extra crack at the attempt to vote in person and get their ballots cast earlier. And just one final one, Jane, if I could. The Supreme Court weighed in today on Virginia's efforts to essentially purge voter rolls ahead of the election. Talk about what this case is about and the significance of that decision.

Yeah. So the Supreme Court basically said that Virginia could take 1600 people off their voter rolls who were perceived to be or potentially non citizens, typically someone who had not filled out their citizenship requirement on a form or someone who previously said that they were a non citizen. When you're talking about non citizen voting, let's just be clear, it really doesn't happen in any large numbers. Typically, people who get caught up in this kind of voter purge are newly naturalized citizens who previously honestly said I am not a citizen but have since become a citizen and registered to vote.

Occasionally, of course, there are non citizens who actually down on voter rolls and show up in these kind of purges and are adequately removed. I will say it's really important. Virginia has same day voter registration so if someone gets caught up in this, they can re reg to vote and they can still cast their ballot on election day in Virginia. All right, James, him a lot of great information just six days out from the election.

We will be talking to you a lot. So get some rest and don't go anywhere. Thank you for that reporting. Garrett, let me turn to you now out on the trail.

I know you are have been on the trail for the better part of this past year. What do we hear from Donald Trump today in North Carolina? Garrett? Well, Kristen, after going on the attack about the Biden gaffe about supporters versus supporters at the top of his remarks, what we saw in North Carolina was the same aggressive Trump we've been getting used to seeing as he's made a closing argument focused on the general idea that Kamala Harris has broken it, whatever the it might be in your mind and only Donald Trump can fix it.

That requires painting a pretty dark picture and how broken he thinks the country is. And today's North Carolina was no exception. Listen this well, we're running a campaign of solutions to save America, an America which they have virtually destroyed during their almost four year period of rule. Kamala Harris, a low IQ individual, is running a campaign of hate, anger and retribution.

See how very nice of them. They're not nicely trying to take whatever might be left of the Harris sort of joy focused campaign and turn it around and suggest that that's not what's actually happening and that she's running a campaign as dark as his has been these last few weeks. Well, we'll have to see how the voters take to all of this. And of course, the Trump campaign dealing with their own controversy, which is stepped on disclosing argument which were those racist comments by the comedian at Madison Square Garden who helped open up his event, basically calling Puerto Rico garbage.

How concerned is the Trump campaign that this could really hurt them with Puerto Rican, with Latino voters, with other voters. They keep quite scene to put this one behind them. They had three speakers at the rally last night in Allentown who introduced themselves as Puerto Rican, two of whom made part of their appeal in Spanish, who had Donald Trump on Fox News last night trying to create some distance with that comedian. But still the fallout continues.

Today, another major Puerto Rican musical artist named Nicky Jam, who had endorsed Donald Trump, posted on Instagram his 44 million followers. He was rescinding his endorsement despite thinking that Trump originally was better on the economy. So basically he didn't want to be associated with anyone who was associated with anyone who talked that way at Puerto Rico. The Trump campaign, though, because they're so used to this idea that I think there's an enormous scandal on Monday is often completely out of the headlines by Wednesday, Today's Wednesday.

This has lasted longer than most, but they seem reasonably confident that they can kind of continue to put their head to down and push through this and something else will soon replace it in headlines. And I think we're already starting to see that to a certain degree with the Biden story. Although again, this one does linger. And I will just add, you know, so often these Trump scandals, when you go and talk to voters about them, have not broken through.

We talk about them newsrooms, voters don't even know we're talking about everyone. I spoke to in Allentown yesterday was aware of this and had an opinion about it. Large lots of new population there. Very quickly, let's talk about the history of this with Kelly O'.

Donnell. Of course, you're familiar with 2016 as well. We all remember when then candidate Trump made a very big deal about the deplorables comment. Do you anticipate his campaign will continue to latch onto this comment which the president said, look, has been taken out of context, the garbage comment in this cycle?

Oh, absolutely, Chris. I don't think the Trump campaign is particularly interested in the context at all. They're interested in the soundbite and its ability to fire up their supporters. I think they're gonna use this and they already have in fundraising appeals and they're trying to use it to keep kind of folks like the people in line, their most dedicated supporters totally dial in.

Maybe you voted early, but maybe you can come out and be a volunteer. This is very different from the deplorables moment in 2016 in almost every meaningful way except the idea that it is another liberal elite in quotation marks telling Trump supporters they are unworthy. Donald Trump wants his supporters to hear that and to use it to go out and work to turn that victimization into motivation, as he so often does. Yeah.

And again, in a race this close, we'll have to see what resonates here. Hey, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Coming up, controversies, cleanups and final arguments.

We've got much more analysis of these final days on the trail next. Plus, NBC News catches up with an endangered Senate Democrat as Republicans look to flip Ohio and regain control of the Senate. The latest under fight for Senate control is ahead. You're watching MEET THE Press.

Now. These United States of America. We are not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators. Welcome back.

And that was more Vice President Kamala Harris's closing arguments speech last night at the Ellipse here in Washington, D.C. the Harris campaign was likely hoping for at least one full news cycle showcasing her address or for her rival's new and baseless claims of voter fraud to dominate the day. But with six days to go, at the very least, those stories have had to share the spotlight with President Biden's comments, which she has never taken out of context. Join me now and set is Meredith McGraw, National Political Correspondent for Politico, Cornell Belcher, Democratic pollster and NBC News political analyst.

And Stephen Hayes, editor and CEO of the Dispatch. She is also an NBC News political analyst. Thank you all for being here. Six days out, Meredith Talk about where we are.

Vice President Kamala Harris delivered this hugely significant address last night, arguably the most significant since she assumed her role at the top of the T. To what extent do you think President Biden's comments, which he's now walked back on Trump supporters, quote, unquote, garbage. He says the apostrophe was after the R. So he was referring to one supporter, the comedian who made the racist comment about Puerto Ricans.

But do you think this could be significant? Well, I think that the fact that we're talking about it right now means that it is. Last night, Harris gave this remarkable speech in front of the White House, 75,000 people, where she is laying out her closing argument for the campaign. And the next day, that's overshadowed by the sitting president making a gaffe on a call at the same time that, of course, Republicans picked up and is now being turned into fundraising.

Please. And ads by the Trump campaign. Right after Trump, his own campaign stepped in it and had a lot of inflammatory rhetoric at his big closing argument moment in New York City and Madison Square Garden. And, you know, in this final stretch, no campaign probably wants to be in cleanup duty with six days to go.

And yeah, here we are. Here we are here. Was what Governor Waltz has to say about this Corona vulture this morning. On the other side, let's be very clear, the vice president.

I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone as a part of this. Donald Trump's divisive rhetoric is what needs to end. He called this a garbage country and continues on from the enemy within. What you heard Vice President Harris saying, what I say is there's a place for all of us here.

And I think that's the one. She's running for president. She's making the message. And she delivered that speech on the ellipse that showed what we can be as a country.

Cornell, how are their cleanup efforts doing? Will it resonate well for me? Is it. Is it something that's gonna move the needle?

Right. Obviously, you don't wanna be next day having this conversation, having people sit around the table, have this conversation. But here we are. But for that one who's sitting out there undecided, I don't think this is gonna move them.

Now, will the Trump F rev up their base? Absolutely do. As a campaign, you jump on that and throw it into your base. But their base is already revved up.

But I don't think it moves and needed with those loaders who sitting on the fence who, by the way, know that Joe Biden's Actually a decent guy. You don't see it as the same thing as the deplorables. And you remember that moment where it really actually wound up overshadowing Hillary Clinton. It dominated, it dominated the message for a while.

That really hurt the campaign. I don't think this has the same sort of resonance. One, again, if you look at all the horrendous things that Donald Trump said about this country and measure it to this statement by Biden, it's that and close. But again, they're pushing out there.

We're sitting here talking about it. They're going to fundraise off it. So it's not helpful. Steven, what about that argument and the fact that and I've been talking to folks who say, look, the comedians comments calling Puerto Rico garbage really resonating has really touched a nerve in the entire Latino community, which actually could make a difference according to some of the folks I've been talking to in a swing state like Pennsylvania.

Well, sure, you have ads up about that. You have prominent influencers who you pointed out have flipped their endorsements about that. There's no question, I think that has potential to really matter. I guess I disagree with Cornell a bit because when you're looking at a race that is likely to have such tight margins, any little thing can matter.

And when you look at the way that the Harris campaign has in particular gone after these disaffected Republicans and the campaign message that the things that she said in her speech about being president for all Americans, if you are a disaffected Republican or a movement conservative, you're sitting in Wisconsin, you're looking for a reason. You don't want to be for him. You're looking for a reason to be for her. This is the kind of thing you say, you know what, I know they don't like me.

He said it again, just like Hillary. Well, and so to that point, her attempts to reach out to those voters. Exactly. Was on display last night.

Let's play a little bit more of her actual closing argument. Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That is who he is. But America, I am here tonight to say that is not who we are.

That is not who we are. Meredith, this was her strongest attempt yet to, yes, she closed on a message of democracy, but she also talked about a range of other issues from the economy to reproductive rights to reaching across the aisle and working in a bipartisan fashion to get things done. We're looking, by the way, as we have this conversation, at live picks of the vice president in Harrisburg. Meredith, what was your takeaway from last night?

Well, look, this is Harris's big closing argument and the symbolism there of her standing in front of the White House, standing in the same location where Donald Trump made his speech before the riots ensued on the Capitol. There was a lot of symbolism to it. And, you know, it was a lot of the vice president trying to reach across the aisle. And that's been a big theme for her in this closing stretch.

And there's reason for that. The Harris campaign has seen that some of their strongest messaging with undecided voters has been on the issues of democracy and Donald Trump's fitness for the office. And so hammering home those two messages in the home stretch, the Harris campaign seems to think that that's going to be the winning message for them. Do you think it will be Cornell?

I think when you sit in focus groups and voters say, I can't, I don't understand why they can't go wrong. Right. I get along with. You can't understand why they can't get along, have robust debate, but you get along with.

And they crave for it. And this idea that she can reach across the aisle and be bipartisan and bring in some Republicans, I think it's a strong message for those overseas. Stephen, part of the closing message we're hearing from Donald Trump, quite frankly, is he's already making these false allegations of fraud in Pennsylvania in the biggest swing state that is tied. It is all tied up.

How concerned does that make some of the moderate folks within the Republican Party who you're talking to? Makes them very concerned. Look, I think if you're a hardcore Trump voter, you knew this was coming. This is the argument he was going to make.

Right. Go back to 2020 and you look at he really sort of amped up, sort of raising the prospect of the stolen election argument in the summer, over the summer this year, this has been sort of the central theme of his campaign. If I lose, it's because they stole it. And that's his get out the vote operation is too big to rig him.

Everything is based on this idea that if he doesn't win, they will stole it from home. And that's, that's not the closest argument I would make if I arrive in the Trump campaign. But if you're trying to get out your base and you're as concerned or more concerned about what happens between November 5th and January 6th as you are the days before November 5th, maybe that's what they're doing. Cornell do you think Democrats are prepared for the onslaught of potential challenges that Trump seems to be on the groundwork for already?

I don't think Democrats are prepared. Things about America being prepared like you, I will double down on what he just said is he's talking about America in occupied country and talk about enemies of states. Don't call you press. Enemies of American people.

This is all boiling up to it was stolen and we saw what the reaction was last time. We're gonna see that again. We are. We absolutely are.

We gotta parasails. All right, guys, great conversation. Thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it.

Meredith, Cornell and Stephen, Coming up next, the final installment of our Desires focus group with a potentially critical slice of the electorate. We're talking about Nikki Haley supporters and why some of them say Vice President Harris hasn't done enough to win their vote. That's ahead. You're watching me the press now.

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Download the NBC News app now and subscribe for more. Welcome back. One time Trump rival Nikki Haley is weighing in on the language and rhetoric the Trump campaign is using. The final days of this race, including those racist and defensive remarks made about Puerto Rico and Latinos at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden.

They need to Go and tell Puerto Ricans how much, you know, they do value them. They need to tell Latinos that. But they also need to look at how they're talking about women. I mean, this bromance and this masculinity stuff, I mean, it borders on edgy to the point that it's going to make women uncomfortable.

Well, as we previewed yesterday in our final installment of our Deciphers focus group series, we went back to some of Haley's supporters to see where they stand. Now take a listen to some of that fascinating conversation. You vote for the Haley primer. So do you view Trump as being the same style of Republican as Haley?

No. Okay. I guess. So in your mind, closer to Haley than Harris's.

Is that how you look at it? Yeah, I think so. I really like the idea that Nikki Haley was a woman, and I thought she would have more closer values to mine. I would probably not vote versus but not vote for a Republican.

You know what I mean? I wouldn't switch my vote to the Democratic candidate. I would just not vote. When it comes to Kamala Harris, what are you most fearful of?

That she isn't strong enough, that she doesn't stand up like, you know, when she needs to. I'm afraid that Congress, they won't take her seriously. She would be the first woman president. But I'm just afraid that being that first, it's going to make it hard for her.

Chris. I'm fearful that she'll keep running things the same way that they've already been ran for the past four years. And then I'm also fearful of, like, foreign relations, that some of the dictators or people in power of other countries are not going to take her as seriously as everybody else, especially with the border and everything, how she handled it. She was in charge of it as a vp, so I'd worry that some of that stuff from her vice presidency and the Biden administration carry over to her presidency.

Joining me now is Margaret Tala, director of Syracuse University's Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship. Margaret, it is so great to see you. Thanks for being here. Thank you.

So what were your key takeaways? One of the things that just stands out to me here, you have two women saying things like, I'm concerned she's not strong enough. She won't be effective enough at working with Congress because she's the first woman president. Really fascinating.

Yeah. There's definitely some political and psychological projection going on here, and we actually have seen it in blocks of other types of voters. It tends to be women. And they tend to be either concerned that about her capability to do it or concerned about how other people will perceive her capability to do it.

But if you watch the segment, you might what you just showed, you might walk away thinking, wow, Nikki Haley voters don't like Harris. Actually, out of the panels that we talked to this week, about a third we're gonna vote for Harris. About a third, we're vote for former President Trump, or we're leaning that way any direction. And the remaining chunk were like, I don't know, third party wildcard, like, I don't know, Libertarian.

And so what we're really seeing here is that there are two camps of Nikki Haley voters. There is the camp that is so completely turned off by Trump and all either chaos or his comments, the January 6 stuff, or any of the many things they might pick that they're like, we're not voting for. Some are going to go for Harris. I'm trying to figure out, should they stay home, should they pick a fair party candidate?

And then there is a camp that is like one of the voters you heard from who's a Republican, and they identify with the party and they say, I'm going to vote for whoever the nominee is. I might not want to vote for Donald Trump, but that's who I'm going to vote for. So that's really the contest here and why this matters. It matters in some states more than others.

But if my memory serves, in Pennsylvania, something like 16% of the GOP electorate back in the primary, one in Nikki Haley. If that segment splits and it comes down to 1%, it really could matter. Well, you're right. And I've talked to sources on both sides of the aisle who said Nikki Haley's voters could actually determine who wins this race.

Let's talk a little bit about the rhetoric you referenced that they are listening. They're paying close attention. Did you get the sense that something like an event at Madison Square Garden resonated for these voters? It's really interesting that you asked that, because, of course, in that case, it wasn't Trump himself making the comments, but it was the people who were invited by the Trump campaign to be there on stage, were put out there, and it was a universal turn off to literally every panelist were varying degrees of disgusted or horrified or embarrassed by it.

But it affected different people's instincts about how to behave differently. Some people are like, I hate this, but I know, but I've never been over Kamala Harris. And others are like, I hate this. And this is why I can't vote for Donald Trump.

And there was even one or two, I'm trying to remember who were really on the fence and this was helping them make their decision away from Donald Trump. In fact, when you think about Harris's actual strategic efforts to bring Liz Cheney or Dick Cheney out there or all of the former Trump officials at Amplify John Kelly's comments, none of that seemed to be working at all with was the unforced error of the Trump campaign itself and of the comedian and of all it just, it was very triggering because even if that wasn't Trump himself, it just reminded them of all the stuff that gets collected around him. And it was that that they kept going back to. It's so fascinating.

Also takes me to my next question. How much do endorsements matter? Nikki Haley has endorsed Trump. She has not appeared with him on the campaign trial market.

At this point in time, it doesn't seem like their plans to do so. Now, of course, she could pop up with them on the campaign trouble, wait to see what happens in these next six days. Do you think a joint appearance like that would have an impact? It might for some of these voters because they are Nikki Haley voters.

It's like they weren't glitch shady voters. They weren't John Kelly voters. They were Nikki Haley voters. And so what we heard, actually what we heard a couple say is that her decision in the end to come back around and say she would not just support him, but endorse him, that that gave a couple of them either a permission structure or the validation they needed to stick.

But they do want to see her out there. And what they want to hear from Kamala Harris. Muslims do not want to vote for Kamala Harris. What they want to hear from her is that she will include Republicans in her Cabinet.

She will appoint Republicans to positions that she will not just say she wants to be president for everyone, but truly bring Republicans in the process, that is something that could make a difference to some of these votes. Certainly one part of her message last night when she was speaking at the Ellipse here. Margaret, these focus groups are always so fascinating. Thank you for your great reporting on it.

Really appreciate it. Great to see you coming back to the break. Democratic uphill battle to keep the Senate and the most competitive races to watch. An election night that could tip the balance of power in both chambers of Congress.

You're watching the Press now. Stay with us. Welcome back. We said before, we'll say it again.

When it comes to the fight for control of the Senate. Democrats are facing serious headwinds this election. Right now Democrats hold a 51 to 40 seat majority in the Senate when you include several independents who caucus with the Democrats. There are 34 Senate seats on the ballot this November and Democrats are defending 23 of them.

Our friends at the report have two Democratic seats looking likely to flip with the West Virginia seat held by the retiring Joe Manchin classified as a safe Republican seat and John Tester's Montana seat right now classified as lean Republican as he faces a challenge from Tim Sheehy who also has four additional Democratic help. Senate seats classified as toss ups. The races in the blue wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with Sherrod Brown seat in Ohio. NBC Sally Vitali is on the ground with a defiant shared Brown in Ohio who says he will hold on to his hotly contested seat.

Kristen, the big question that we came into Ohio with is is Sherrod Brown able to outperform Democrats in this otherwise pretty red state? We expected to go for Trump at the presidential level, but it's unclear whether or not there's gonna be enough of those so called tick to get Brown himself over the finish line as the next person down the ballot. Here's what he told me about his prospects with that group of essential voters. Could you meet Trump supporters today by no equal vote?

Yes, sure, sure. And how do they reconcile? I have been trying to find them. One of the people I spoke to today at the county boards together around been less numbers lately.

Enough because I say this and I'm not. It's not a cliche that people don't see politics. I don't see politics left or right. So you heard him there say not left or right.

He's trying to run non partisan and certainly pushing on his pro worker, pro union credentials, especially in areas Kristen, like the one that we were with him in last night, the Mahoning Valley, the place that was previously Democratic but Trump managed to really make into a Republican stronghold, much like he's been able to remake the state of Ohio from a swing state into a red state. But the other thing that I thought was just so striking is every question that I Senator, whether it was on tariffs or on democracy, small D democracy issues. Anytime I said the words Trump or Harris or Biden, he immediately shut down the question, basically telling me I don't pay attention to the presidential candidates. And another point telling me I don't stay up at night thinking about what Kamala Harris or Joe Biden is going to do in the state of Ohio, I just simply run my own race.

That is really the ethos here for Senator Sherrod Brown. And frankly after covering his 2018 reelection, that is how he has been able to outperform whoever has been at the top of his party's ticket. Because again you look at the breakdown in the state of Ohio in 2012 when Obama won here was by three points but Brown won his election by six. And then after 2016 when Hillary Clinton lost Ohio by eight, Senator Sherrod Brown still was able to come up in his re election battle with a win by six points.

That is something he hopes he can replicate here once again with Trump now at the top of the ticket and Brown on defense, not just for his own seat but for the fate of Senate control too. Person Al Vitale, thank you for that fantastic report and great interview with Senator Sheriff Brown. Join me now for a closer look at the Senate map is an expert, Jessica Taylor. She is the Senate and governor's editor at the Cook Political Report.

Jessica, it's always great to see you. Thanks for being here. So let's talk about just big picture. We said at the top Democrats are really facing some significant headwinds when it comes to holding on to the Senate.

We never like to predict exactly what's going to happen. But how big are these headwinds? I think it's just very difficult because I think the stats to remember is that in 2016 every single Senate race with the same way the presidential race did in 2020, only Susan Collins managed to win even as Biden carried her state. Now she outran Trump by seven points.

That's why I think, you know, if Cher Brown can sort of keep it in that margin, as Ali said, it's still within the realm of possibility. I still think it's difficult if Trump wins more than eight points if it's double digit territory. That's where it's hard. But that's why John Tester is just is facing such a difficult re election.

There is because that's a 16 point Trump state. But then these blue wall states, they've all very much tightened up. I think, I think there's some Democrats there like Alyssa Slaughton in Michigan can probably outrun Harris by a couple of points. But Casey in Penny Baldwin that race is very much tightened.

But you know, I think that's where we see that probably the way the presidential race goes is it's going to be very close in these Senate races as well. It has been just fascinating. Just talk about the extent to which these races that you just cited, the Tammy Baldwin race has really tightened. We've seen it.

I mean, a couple weeks ago, you would have looked at polls and thought, hey, she would win handily against Eric. I think Democrats always expected this to happen. I think the key was that these Republicans, they weren't as well known. They were underperforming Trump's numbers.

When you have, erica, he's put $20 million of his money in the race, that's more than 2012 and 2018 opponents spent combined. So the spending, I think, is tighten this up. But then you do have races where, where even the Democrats should be doing worse. In places like Arizona, where Carrie Lake there is, I think, just such a divisive candidate that there's a very good chance that even if Trump wins that state, Ruben Guide was going to win Nevada.

Getting tighter perhaps, as we look at some of the early vote numbers there. But Jackie Rosen, she's built enough of a lead where we still have her favorite in that lean Democrat column. But then we go to the races where if Democrats lose in Montana, losing Ohio, they need places to make up. The number one target there is Texas.

Let's talk about Texas. Texas is just a fascinating race. Senator Ted Cruz looking for reelection, obviously someone who is well known throughout the state. Do you think that his Democratic challenger, Colin Alred, he's been typing the clothes.

He's giving him a real race. And the Democrats are pouring a lot of money into that race. I think they have to just because of that math we talked about at the beginning. Listen, I think that already got within less than three.

Yeah. I think this is just tougher in a presidential year. But Democrats point out there's a lot of new voters that have registered. And there's two things that Ted Cruz didn't have to deal with in 2018 than he does now.

Abortion. Harris go there making this takes the very stringent abortion loss key. And then Cancun, when Cruz left the state and it's a 2021. I listened to a focus group a couple of weeks ago with Trump voters that were undecided in Senate race.

They all brought this up. So Cruz has baggage. But I still think an appreciation year is hard. It is part of what we're watching for and part of the big test, this cycle of ticket splitters to see if that's a thing of the past.

Right. I think that's where you see, all right, trying to sort of differentiate himself from the party on immigration and things. And then the same where I'm looking to see if there's enough tickets splitters in the way. Is this interesting race in Nebraska where Deb Fisher is really in a race with the independent Dan Osborne.

Now. He's sort of running on his blue collar background. He's making explicit appeal to Trump voters in his latest statue. Even Compari heard Hillary Clinton in one of these ads.

You haven't said which party you would caucus with. Republicans are having to pour money in this race late, just beating Osborne as a Democrat in cheap clothing. But as people point out though, if they lose this, even if he doesn't cause it's still one down, you know, so that could be interesting. But when I look at it, overall, Republicans are still favored.

All right. Jessica Taylor, thank you so much as always. It's always great to have your perspective. Silicon NBC News exclusive reporting on former President Trump's plan to implement his campaign's vow of mass deportations by using federal funds to put pressure on local police.

Will explain. You're watching me the press now. Welcome back. Donald Trump has promised the largest mass deportation of undocumented immigrants in US History if he is reelected.

But he has been less at forthcoming on how he'll carry out that plan. But NBC News has exclusively reported that Mr. Trump is considering halting federal grants to believe if they declined to participate in this plan. Sources closed the campaign saying the tactic would survive legal challenges while pressuring Democratic led states, counties and cities into participating in mass deportations.

The Trump campaign has not responded to our requests for comment. NBC News Coleman security correspondent Julia Ainsley helped break that story. She joins me now. Julia, great to see you.

Thanks for being here. Thanks, Kristen. So this story came a bit of a surprise to us because this is something that Trump tried in his first administration and it was met with legal challenges. Trump in the last administration and his first administration withheld These funds, about $250 million from any sanctuary cities to compel them to cooperate with ice.

Now they think this is their best tool to be able to get sanctuary cities not only to cooperate with ice, but to find undocumented immigrants in their communities, hand them over and be part of this mass deportation force. It would likely be met with big legal challenges. And the Trump seems actually fairly confident that they would overcome these legal challenges. What gives that confidence, Julia?

Well, they never got an official word from the Supreme Court. These states in the first Trump administration led by New York sued. It was put on hold and then they sided with the Trump administration. Then they appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court never got to rule on that because The Biden administration came in, they withdrew that appeal. So they weren't able to get through the last one because the Supreme Court did not actually weigh in. They think that it might be favorable, although I will say maybe they shouldn't be so optimistic, because even though the Supreme Court is very conservative, we've seen over and over again that they think that immigration should be left to the federal government. And so they may decide they're putting too much pressure on the states here.

And just really a big picture. Walk us through. How critical are local police departments to this overall idea of Trump's mass deportation? I mean, it's really hard to see how he would start deporting millions, as he said, if he doesn't have help of local police not only to identify migrants and to hand them over to ice, but if he wanted to only depend on ICE to go out and to arrest that many people, they would have to increase their annual budget by 10 times what it already is.

So manpower wise, it's almost impossible he would achieve this goal without the help of local law enforcement. We should say there are some shares who spoke to him across the country who are ready to jump in on this. They sign me up and they don't care what kind of cost it comes to to their department. It's a really fascinating report, Julia, just zooming out a little bit.

Is Trump's mass deportation plan something that's actually etched out in stone, or is it still very much something that's coming together? Because for all the reasons that you're talking about, sources have said to me there's a lot of it that seems unexplained and unrealistic, quite frankly. Absolutely. And I think that's why we have unnamed sources here in the story, people who are talking about what's under consideration.

But as you know, anyone who's coming out and saying right now what Trump will or will not do, like we saw with Project 2025, they're getting slapped on the wrist and they might not positions in a future Trump administration. So everyone's very clear to say this is under consideration. A lot of details still have to be worked out. How would you get, for example, countries like Venezuela and Cuba to take back migrants that they're not taking now?

I've heard they want to use things like tariffs and tough diplomacy, but really, logistically, they have a hard road to climb. All right, Julia Ainsley, great reporting. Really appreciate you joining us. Thank you.

We're back tomorrow with more MEET the PRESS now. And don't forget to tune in Tuesday to special Election Day coverage right here on NBC News. Now we'll have live updates all day. The lesser holiday pick up prime time coverage as the results start coming in.

That starts at 5pm Eastern. Don't miss it. The news continues with Hallie Jackson. Right now.

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