Meet the Press NOW — October 31

If it's Thursday, former President Trump ramps up the trash talk, having aboard a garbage truck highlighting President Biden's garbage comments, as he heads out West with just five days to go. Plus, Vice President Harris out West as well, hitting Nevada and Arizona, and blasting the former president on the issue of reproductive rights after he vowed to protect women, quote, whether the women like it or not. And could another battle be brewing over Obamacare? Both campaigns react to House Speaker Mike Johnson's recent comments on the trail about overhauling America's health care system if Trump wins the White House.

Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Ali Vitale in Washington with just five days until Election Day. Vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump are making their final Westward swings with multiple stops in two key battlegrounds. The Vice President hitting the ground in Phoenix, Reno, and Las Vegas before turning her attention to other key swings this weekend, with a final day of campaigning set for Monday in all-important Pennsylvania.

Mr. Trump, meanwhile, is curiously mixing in stops in non-biogram states in these final days, including New Mexico today and Virginia this weekend. It comes as the former president continues to seize on President Biden's recent gaff, appearing to call Trump supporters garbage. The president clarified his remarks and says they're being taken out of context.

Harris essentially disavowed them. Still, Donald Trump is going all in, complete with a joy ride in a garbage truck ahead of his Wisconsin rally last night. How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.

Kamala and Joe call all of us and them, even them, garbage. I call you the heart and soul of America when he called us all garbage. How stupid? What is stupid word?

That blows deplorable away, don't you think? The Harris campaign, meanwhile, largely ignoring those jobs. Instead, pouncing on these comments, Mr. Trump made up that same Green Bay rally, calling himself a protector of women.

I want to protect the women of our country. They said, sir, I just think it's inappropriate for you to say, paid these guys a lot of money, can you believe it? They said, well, I'm going to do it whether the women like it or not. I'm going to protect them.

I'm going to protect them from migrants coming in. I'm going to protect them from foreign countries that want to hit us with missiles and lots of other things. The vice president slamming those remarks today, tying them to one of her strongest issues, reproductive rights. It actually is, I think, very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives.

Including their own bodies. And this is just the latest on a series of reveals by the former president of how he thinks about women and their agency. He is not going to be fighting for women's reproductive rights. He does not prioritize the freedom of women and the intelligence of women to make decisions about their own lives and bodies.

The Trump campaign has largely focused on turning out men this November, where our latest NBC News poll shows he enjoys a 16-point advantage. The former president has also tried to downplay the political potency of the abortion issue, even going so far as to argue that women in his words will no longer be thinking about abortion if he wins. But that also comes as some in his own party warn that his rhetoric could backfire with certain women voters. 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.

Joining us now is our NBC News team, who are both in Phoenix, Arizona. Mike Memelius covering all things Harris campaign. And Von Hilliard has the view from Trump World. Mike and Von, I hope you guys can go out for a nice drink later tonight.

But first, Mike, to you, Harris held a gaggle with reporters to address those protector of women comments from the former president. And today is releasing a new ad on abortion. So how heavily can we expect a campaign to lean into this in the closing days? Well, of course, Ali, I wish you could join us for that drink.

But listen, it's amazing that we're already at the point so close to election day. We're talking about the final visits. These candidates are making two of these battleground states today. We're going to see the vice president here on stage within the next hour, her last event in Arizona.

And listen, you know this as well as anybody that Democrats have been counting on reproductive rights being a major motivating force for a powerful electorate, which is women voters. We saw the way a power Democrats do a surprising set of victories in the midterm elections in 2022. Harris campaign advisors have been pointing to 2022 as the more relevant comparison when trying to judge these early voting and turnout numbers in 2020 to indicate that. And as we've had a debate for much of this week about who's insulting what group of voters and whether they intended to or not, this is a moment that the Harris campaign is seizing on, not just because it really calcifies what they think has been a powerful issue for them.

But it has particular potency in several of these battleground states, Michigan, where we saw that so motivating in 2022, still look here to this day in 2024. But Arizona, where it is on the ballot, literally a constitutional referendum to enshrine abortion rights. And so we saw the vice president already addressed this before she flew to Arizona. Our colleague Amisha Allison door will be speaking with the vice president potentially in the next hour as well.

We'll bring you those remarks that interview when it happens live. And I have a feeling that that's going to be another part of her closing message, which we've been seeing on the trail all week. Yeah, you got to imagine Mike. And the thing I think about with Michigan and Arizona is, yes, the abortion piece that they were able to put in their state constitutions, but also the fact that both of those are states with proof positive of electing women in executive roles.

It makes me wonder how this focus on abortion dives with the vice president's broader closing message. Does the voters, does the message that voters are hearing depend on whether you're hearing from the candidate directly? Or perhaps the onslaught of ads that swing state voters are getting. God bless them.

Well, the musical performance is about to be here. I apologize that it's getting even louder behind me. But, you know, we have seen, as I've gotten state by state, the kinds of TV ads that are being aired in each individual market. And we tend to focus on the issue of the day nationally, but it is remarkable to see what is being tailored to with a particular electorate of each state.

But the overwhelming overarching theme for vice president Harris because he's closing days has been unity. And frankly, playing it too. What they think is also a powerful argument exhaustion with Donald Trump. Vice president Harris was just created on the tarmac a few moments ago by several of the Republicans who have endorsed her candidacy.

Former Republicans who should say, John Giles, a former mayor of Mason, Arizona, as well as Jeff Lake, the former US senator as well. So this all fits into the larger narrative. I think that she will, whether you agree with her or not, try to bring a bridge to across the aisle to bring this country together, where as Donald Trump is simply trying to divide and take you with the still conditions. Yeah, that's so central to the message you're Mike.

In the last few seconds I have with you, can you talk through the travel plans that she's going to be making and to stop she'll be making through Election Day? Specifically, I'm interested in Pennsylvania. Might there be a blank space for lack of a better word for one key campaigner that was a big endorsement, but we haven't seen on the campaign trail? I think I know what you're talking about.

But as we look at the vice president's schedule here in the closing days, it really does tell you about how they view their past victory. Here's the final trip out west today making all the multiple stops in Nevada. She's going to be back in Wisconsin, back in Michigan. Also that Sunbelt Strategy on display, as we see on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina.

We are all waiting to see if we see Taylor Swift be already had for a spring seat. We have no stakes in the North day behind me now. We ought not for the Sun, Maggie Rogers. There's no bigger star attraction, though.

That would really light a fire heading into Election Day in Taylor Swift. And I'm sorry to say I got nothing for you. And I wish I could tell you I also had some lyrics to play to drop on you as well, but you know, I'm going to be hounding you over text until we get an answer about this. Yvonne, I want to give it to you in Battleground, Arizona, as we wait for that interview that Mike helped to tease us on, which is Yamiche Alcindor, likely speaking with the vice president in the next few minutes.

We'll of course bring that to folks as soon as we see it happening. But, you're also in Battleground, Arizona. Trump's first event today, though, was in blue New Mexico and he'll campaign in more purple, Virginia this weekend. We've seen him, though, in both California and New York this month.

Is this confidence or is it something else? Explain the strategy. Right, and I may first rule fast, Ali. Taylor Swift started her eras tour right next door to where we are here.

And Donald Trump, we should note, is now ending his 2024 tour here in Arizona today. This is his last visit out west. He's going to be holding a rally in Nevada in the suburbs of Las Vegas, too. That's his last Nevada stop.

So this is the end of his Sun Belt Western campaign tour. But you noted that there is a third place he is stopping. And that's right now in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which we should know, Donald Trump lost by 11 percentage points in 2020. He is making the case that he is building such a big coalition this time around that he's going to be able to win states like Virginia and New Mexico.

And I think it's important to note, though, also, one of the first words out of his statement to this Albuquerque crowd here a few moments ago was that their elections are rigged and that he's going to win. We've already seen over the course of last days and weeks Donald Trump played the foundation. To claim if he loses on Tuesday night that the election was taken from him, of course, there's no evidence of fraud here at this time. I remember, too, in 2016, doing a stop in New Mexico, of course, seeing him stop in other blue states.

So he's obviously trying to push through that same path now. But the other thing, Vaughn, that we've heard him say variations of, is the protector of women comments. I mean, he's been saying some version of this, I cherish, or I'll protect women line for years, while also adding most recently, my advisers don't want me to say it. So does the campaign think that this is at all the right strategy?

Let's be very clear. For Donald Trump, he is trying to reach women voters to the extent that Donald Trump can. And through his own messaging, he has been vocal that he said that the reason why Republicans groove in a tutorial in Senate candidates last in 2022 midterms was because they struggled to message to women, particularly on reproductive rights. And that's where he said that it's incumbent upon Republicans running in 2024, including himself, to make clear to voters, women, voters, especially around the country, that they have a more moderate stance on abortion and that they do not want to have strict abortion measures around the country.

But for Donald Trump, the difficult reality is that, like here in Arizona, there is that referendum on the ballot that would codify abortion protection rights. But also it goes down to the Senate level, right? The Kerry Lake is the Senate candidate here, and in 2022, when she was running for governor, she said that she would defend what was called a territorial ban, which would even punish doctors who perform abortions. And so there is, for Donald Trump, he is running a Republican party that is frankly made sure through the overturning of Roe v.

Wade, that it is not viewed necessarily in a positive life by a great many women in the electorate around the country. And we're going to talk about the X factor that is abortion in just a few minutes. But the other thing I wanted to ask you, Von, is Trump clearly wants to make hay of Biden's garbage comment. But beyond firing up the base, is that actually something that's going to move voters at this point?

Or is the Trump campaign in the waning days just in full-on red meat mode? Right, it may not move your independent or the reticent conservatives in places like Maricopa County, but it is potentially going to galvanize that cadre of MAGA faithful support for Donald Trump so much of this is about turnout and ensuring that those people that consider themselves Donald Trump supporters in fact are Donald Trump voters by Tuesday, and particularly in the rural parts of the state, like here in Arizona, being able to juice that turnout, which they did in 2020. And they were almost able to make up deficits in the suburbs and places like Maricopa County. That is where some of that red meat, that is going to turn out.

And Donald Trump wants to have all of those Trump supporters hear the comments about garbage in order to make sure that they get out in another angry and vote here over the next five days. Von, my friend, thank you. Keep up the amazing work. Before that, my family, please bond.

Go buy them a margarita to say thank you. And joining me now with a look at how Election Day can play out is Chief Political Analyst Chuck Todd Chuck. If there's one thing we do know about this race is that it's going to be close, but one of the most likely scenarios for how this actually breaks down. Well, look, I want to also sort of do it the way I'm watching Election Night.

Look, here's our map for you so you can watch along with us here. And this is kind of fun. You can keep track. So here's your, the basic map is it set up with the seven battleground states on, you know, not given either round.

So basically, Harris is starting with the baseline of 226 Trump with 219. As you can see of these seven remaining states, Harris says, 20 paths to 270 Trump has 21 paths. And yes, there are three paths. I could get you to 269, 269.

But I start out looking at this as a two state race right now, Pennsylvania, North Carolina. And if the two of them split it, we're in for a long week, maybe one month. If one candidate wins both, I think suddenly we have a president elect by dinner time on Wednesday. So let me show you.

So let's do it this way. Let's assume Harris sweeps them both. Watch what happens. She just wins Pennsylvania, North Carolina.

She just needs nine more electoral votes. Well, the assumption is if you're in Pennsylvania, you're probably going to get Michigan in Wisconsin. But she only needs one of them. Right.

So if she somehow sweeps both Pennsylvania, North Carolina, something we will know by sunrise Wednesday morning, Ali, then it won't matter what happens at West, just Wisconsin would give her the 271 or a Michigan. Right. So you see how suddenly she puts that away. Now, let's do it in the reverse.

Let's have Trump win them both and see what happens here. It brings him to 254. Well, if they wins that, you got to assume he's going to get Georgia as well. And guess what?

It's over. Yeah, he can lose Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona. And he'd still be at 270 electoral votes. Point is that just to me shows you how important the two of them are together.

Now, let's assume it's a split decision. So in assume, and you see here, this is the Southern, the she do better. I believe if she is doing better with older white women because of the abortion issue, it should help her in Pennsylvania in Michigan and Wisconsin and she can get to 270 and lose the entire sun belt. And let's put it all in red here for it.

So you can see what this would do. And as you can see, it's astonishing. Really only one state in the South, would she carry? Yes, Virginia.

Some of us argue that it's already seceded from the Confederacy. But basically, she'd do this with just winning New Mexico. She wouldn't have to win anything in the Southeast. None of these Western states since she can get there.

Now, let's do it the other way because it's the other way, frankly, that I think creates the nightmare. So if they split it this way, as you can see, Harris is short. Let me get us back to a blank space here a minute. All right, so I can show you how I think this ends up becoming a nightmare scenario.

I still think Georgia ends up in Trump's column. But if they split it this way where she wins North Carolina and he wins Pennsylvania, let's go ahead and assume she does win Wisconsin there. And let's go ahead and assume she does win Michigan. She needs to find another state to do that.

Is it Nevada? Is it Arizona? It won't matter, but here's what I can promise you. If this is the scenario where he wins Pennsylvania, she wins North Carolina is able to hang on to the other two blue wall states, which polling has indicated she's slightly stronger in those two than she is in Pennsylvania.

All the lawyers, all of Washington, you, me, America, we're going to be either in Phoenix or Las Vegas arguing over every single ballot because the presidency is going to be on the line depending on the outcome of those states. So that's my, this is why at the end of the day, it all starts with what happens in Pennsylvania, North Carolina. We will know those first before we know everything else. And as you can say, it takes us on some interesting paths that could create not just a long night, not just a long week, but potentially a protracted legal fight all month, particularly if we're all just trying to figure out the ballots in Nevada.

My nightmare scenario is Las Vegas for the month of November. So we now know what keeps Chuck Todd up at night. I have to say my heart kind of dropped into my stomach at that point. When you're talking about how long this process could be, but we all are priming viewers, voters, everyone to know that it could be a lengthy process.

Chuck, the last thing I want to get you on a little bit of time left is you have in your latest column about abortion as the wild card presidential issue. You write in part that it's been fascinating to watch Trump over perform all of the Republican Senate candidates. And one explanation you offer is that he is performing better with abortion rights focused Republicans than any other Republican on the ballot. That almost seems surprising to me, given the ways that he's held a million positions on this issue.

I mean, what do you think is going to happen? Ali, you just said it. Given that he's held a million positions on this issue, you know who hasn't held a million position on this issue? David McCormick, you know who hasn't held a million positions?

Mike Rogers, you see where I'm going. It's the old videotape. This is what strategists on both sides have told me. There's the reason these Democratic Senate candidates have been just having more success.

They've been pounding the Republican opponents for things they said before Roe was overturned about Roe v. Wade that need to get rid of it or celebrating it. The old videotape of Donald Trump is what? Well, in some cases, he sounds like a pro-choice Democrat, right?

And he has gone out of his way to say he doesn't like the six-week bans. So his ability to muddy his message has been very helpful to him. But it leads you to the real possibility he could carry a lot of these states and not bring a single Senate candidate with him because of the abortion issue. There clearly is a handful of voters who are voting Trump and Democrat as a protection on the abortion issue, which I know maybe a lot of people didn't have in their bingo card, but when you start to think about the old video and all these candidates, I think voters do think Trump's not that serious versus the other Republicans running for congressional offices that they are more serious about abortion bans or limiting access.

After the fact that he put justices on the court that ultimately were the ones that overturned Roe v. Wade. You know, voters are voters, Alec, right? Yes, everybody consumes this information differently.

Absolutely, Chuck Todd, thank you, as always. And coming up, I'll talk to a top official with a Trump campaign about the former president's closing message with just five days to go. Class NBC News is on the ground in Milwaukee as Kendra Surs look to get out the vote in battleground Wisconsin's largest city. That's straight ahead.

You're watching me, the press now. Welcome back. Earlier this week, we brought you a member of the Harris campaign to talk about their take on the closing days of this campaign. Now, let's hear from someone on the Trump campaign.

Joining me now is Caroline Levish. She's the national press secretary for the Trump campaign. Caroline, I want to start with Mr. Trump's comment last night.

He spoke about it just a few minutes ago in our last segment, where he said he'd protect women, quote, whether the women like it or not, I'm going to protect them. Given the sexual misconduct allegations against him, the E.G. and Carol case, can you see how that might make some women uncomfortable saying he's going to do something, whether they like it or not? No, I can't, because if you look at the full context of President Trump's remarks, he brought this up in the context of illegal immigration and protecting women from the illegal immigrant criminals, which we know there are nearly 500,000 of them in this country right now, protecting them from rape, from robbery, from assault and from murder, which unfortunately, in Kamala Harris's America, we have lost far too many innocent women at the hands of the legal people who should have never been here in the first place.

So that was what President Trump was saying. As a woman myself, I'm not offended by those comments. In fact, I want a president who is going to protect me and my family, and I know so many other women feel the same. And that's why tens of millions of women across this country are going to be casting their ballots for President Trump.

I want to say on this topic of how the Trump campaign is messaging to women, because I'm going to play something that we heard this week from Trump's former primary rival, Nikki Haley, who I spent a bunch of time with on the road. Listen what she said. This is not a time for them to get overly masculine with this bromance thing that they've got going. 53% of the electorate are women.

Women will vote. How they're being talked to and they care about the issues. They need to remember that. This is a time of discipline and this is a time of addition.

Haley has made these kinds of cautionary comments about this before. What's your reaction now five days out from election day? Well, I would agree that we are staying disciplined and we are targeting and focusing on messaging to women every single day on the campaign trail. The top issues for women in this country right now are inflation, our economy, and immigration.

And those are the issues that President Trump is talking about every single day on the campaign trail. Women want more money in our pockets. We want to be able to provide for our family. We want our children to be able to afford the American dream.

That's what President Trump is promising. We don't want violent criminal marking in our neighborhoods. We want those illegal immigrant criminals deported from our country. That's what President Trump is promising as well.

We want a president who's going to stand with our local law enforcement in our communities, not to fund them like Kamala Harris. And I would just add, when it comes to targeting women and messaging to them, Kamala Harris' top surrogate, Mark Cuban, just this morning, said that President Trump does not surround himself with intelligent and strong women, essentially saying any woman, including myself, who surrounds himself by what President Trump is done in week. I think those comments are insulting and I think it's going to drive even more women to the polls for Donald Trump in the next five days. And of course, Caroline, you know this, but Mark Cuban isn't on the ticket.

What I was asking about in the past is the ways that Trump has talked about women and, of course, the way that Nikki Haley is saying now, that there just needs to be more discipline around this. I wonder if you guys think it wouldn't have been beneficial to be able to get her out on the campaign trail and where was the scheduling disconnect on that? Well, Nikki Haley has been campaigning for President Trump. She had a nine-time speaking slot.

She had a prime-time speaking slot at the RNC. She's been sending out fundraising emails and robocalls. And if you roll the tape of her comments in that interview earlier, she said why she, as a woman, is supporting President Trump. And it's because President Trump has solutions to the problems that women are facing in this country and Kamala Harris does not.

So, Nikki Haley has endorsed President Trump. That is what women across the country know. And we're very excited and proud to have that endorsement on this team. But would it be helpful to get her out on the campaign trail side by side with him show that unity from the primary and also maybe get a few skeptical Trump voters who were Haley voters back in the fold?

Well, we are having great people join President Trump on the campaign trail every single day, including everyday Americans and women who have lost their children at the hands of migrant criminals, everyday Americans, and women who are struggling to afford groceries and gas and want President Trump to make this country affordable again. Their testimony is just as powerful as any politicians, and we're proud to be joined by them on the campaign trail every day. I want to revisit the Madison Square Garden rally. Since then, musical artist Nikki Jam has withdrawn his endorsement of Donald Trump citing those comments from a comedian about Puerto Rico.

But the bulwark has reported that the comedian in question had his remarks in part vetted by the campaign because he was prepared to call Harris at one point an offensive slur, but that was spiked by the campaign. So were these remarks reviewed? The entirety of the remarks were not vetted by the campaign. The slur that we did absolutely condemn was a side conversation someone on the campaign had about those remarks.

President Trump has condemned them remarks our campaign immediately condemned the joke. And again, this was a joke that was made by a comedian. I wish the media would focus more on the truths that were shared by many of the phenomenal speakers we had at Madison Square Garden. The room was packed with 20,000 great Americans of all races and religions, ages, men, women who came to hear from the list of speakers that we had and were incredibly enthused with the program that was put together, and most importantly, were impressed by Mrs.

Trump's remarks that night, and also President Trump who was offering to restore the American dream and make America safe and strong. It might be again. Just button this up for us then. Did no one on the campaign read a prepared set of remarks that included that joke about Puerto Rico?

Just never seen by y'all. That's correct. OK, we heard that, of course, our own team was at a comedy show where we had heard that line sort of rehearsed from the comedian, but you guys weren't aware of that, you're saying. That's correct, yes.

Why not just apologize? The Archbishop of San Juan posted a letter basically saying that he wants the former president to say he's sorry. I know that it's a comedian who said it, but why not just have the former president come out and say, this isn't how I think, this isn't what I feel, I'm sorry. I've never really heard him say those words.

He has said that. He said he didn't know who this comedian was. He didn't like the joke at all. And he doesn't agree with it.

He's done a lot for Puerto Rico when he was president of the United States, and our campaign came out immediately and said that this joke, of course, does not reflect President Trump's views or the views of the campaign. Again, this was a joke that was made by a comedian. I would like to hear the media ask the same questions of Kamala Harris, his spokesperson. If she is going to come out in strongly condemned Joe Biden for calling more than half of the country garbage.

I know she went to a microphone yesterday. She went to a microphone yesterday in an attempt to do that. But it was very poor. It was very weak.

She essentially said, Joe Biden cleaned up the remarks. There's no cleaning it up. It's on video for the whole world to see. He labeled more than half of the country who support President Trump as garbage, as trash.

That's despicable rhetoric. And it's not the first time he had Hillary Clinton in 2016 calling Trump supporters a basket of deplorables. And even worse over the past eight years, the Democrats have likened President Trump to one of the worst mass murderers in the world. Hitler calling his supporters fascist and Nazis.

That's despicable rhetoric that has led to political violence in this country, including to heinous assassination attempts on President Trump's life. I guess the joy at the Kamala campaign headquarters is gone. But there's a lot of it here, I will tell you that. I just want to be clear.

Vice President Harris did say she disavowed those remarks. President Biden says he was taken out of context. But if we're talking about name-calling supporters, on the campaign trial Monday, JD Vance called Harris and her supporters a pejorative word. So do you condemn that name-calling as well?

I'm not sure which remark you are referring to. You called them dip-somethings. Well, what I will tell you is that President Trump has been slandered and lied about from the left- But his own right-hand me because actually on the ballot is saying this. More than any politician in American history, they have likened him to Hitler.

They have called him a ferret to democracy, which one of the attempted assassins on President Trump's life echoed that same exact rhetoric on his social media accounts. There is political violence coming from one side and it's coming from the left at Donald Trump in his supporters and it's despicable. And President Trump is out there on the campaign trial every single day talking about the issues that matter. We have a joyful campaign.

We have an optimistic vision for this country to make it great and affordable and wealthy and safe and strong again. And that's why President Trump today in 2024 is more popular than he's ever been since 2016, even despite these heinous and vitriolic rhetoric aimed at him for eight years now. I wanna ask you, Caroline, because Steve Bannon was released from prison this week. He said that he spoke with Trump after being released from jail.

He urged Trump to hold a press conference around 11 p.m. on election night. So is there a plan in place as you guys are looking at what election night might look like for Mr. Trump to speak early?

And is there a plan for him to declare victory regardless? I won't get ahead of our plans on election night right now. We're gonna watch the results come in. We look forward to a safe and secure election.

We're excited about the efforts that have been made on behalf of the RNC and the Trump campaign to secure the integrity of this election to ensure that every ballot is legally cast and legally counted and all the trends in the day are right now are pointing to a victory for President Trump on Tuesday night. We have him leading in every single battleground state. He's going on offense and historically blue states today. He's in New Mexico.

He'll be going to the Commonwealth of Virginia this weekend. And when we look at the trends in early voting, Republicans are leading in many of the battleground states as well. So we're cautiously optimistic for a big victory, but we're not taking one second for granted. We're gonna leave no stone unturned and reaching as many voters as possible between now and election day.

And of course, many of these polls are within the margin of error and it shows a razor thin race, Caroline Lovett. Thank you for your time. I'm sure we will talk again. And my NBC News colleague, Jimmy Shelton, door just spoke to Vice President Harris moments before her Phoenix campaign rally.

Here is that interview. Excuse me, again, thank you so much for speaking with me, Madam Vice President. What concern do you most when you think about how close this election is and these key swing states that you need to win? It is my responsibility to be everywhere I can to talk directly with voters and talk with them about the issues that are at stake in this election so that I can earn their vote.

And so that's why I'm here today in Arizona, why yesterday I was in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and I'm gonna be all over the country, pretty much, especially in the swing states, talking with folks about the issues that relate to them and the contrast between me and Donald Trump. Or firstly, Michelle Obama says she stays up at night wondering why this election is so close. Do you do that? What keeps you up at night?

What keeps me up at night are the challenges that face the American family and my role and responsibility and my to-do list to address those issues, whether it be on bringing down the cost of groceries, bringing down the cost of housing, what we need to do to make sure childcare is affordable for working families, what I will do to make sure that Medicare covers in home care for seniors. Those are the things that keep me up, which is doing the work that will directly impact the people of America. And this again is a big contrast between me and Donald Trump. He spends full time talking about himself, his personal grievances, his enemies list.

On day one, I will walk into the Oval Office with my to-do list, which is about helping the American people deal with their challenges and also tap into their ambitions and dreams. For our president, Donald Trump has said that he would be a protector of women, whether they like it or not. What do you make of that? And how does that contrast with your views on women and their rights and needs?

Well, I'll just speak on behalf of myself, but also the Americans that I speak with every day around our country regardless of their gender, which is the majority of Americans believe that women are intelligent enough and should have and be respected for their agency to make decisions for themselves about what is in their best interest and not have their government, and certainly not Donald Trump, telling them what to do. And his latest comment is just the most recent in a series of examples that we have seen from him in his words and deeds about how he devalues the ability of women to have the choice and the freedom to make decisions about their own body. Foreign President Trump also rolled around in a garbage truck to call attention to President Biden's comments about his supporters and their rhetoric. Are you concerned that President Biden's comments might undermine your own messaging that you want to be a president for all Americans?

Well, I've addressed how I feel about those comments, one that the President explained what he meant, but two, I do not believe, and I will speak for myself, that we should ever criticize people based on who they vote for. But let's understand again, where we are in this election. On the one hand, you have Donald Trump, who refers to people by the most demeaning words, who attempts to really take from them the dignity that they so rightly deserve. He is someone who talks full time about the enemy with him.

He speaks ill of America. He refers to us as a garbage can. And he does not understand that most people are exhausted with his rhetoric, exhausted with that approach, exhausted with an approach that Donald Trump has that's trying to divide our country and have America's point fingers at each other. They're done with it, and they're ready to turn the page and accept and receive a new generation of leadership, which I offer.

As he and his supporters grab on to that language though, from President Biden, you're not at all concerned that might undermine your messaging. I am very clear that in this election, what the American people want most is to know that I have a plan, that we have a plan to bring down the cost of living and invest in American families, invest in small businesses, invest in our economy. I am proud that I have the support of leading economists in our nation who recognize that I actually have a specific plan and that it will strengthen America's economy. He has very little of a plan besides giving tax breaks to the richest people, and his plan, whatever it may be, will actually weaken our economy.

I've talked to Americans from all across this country and all walks of life who are inspired by your story. What's your message to them as they are looking at your journey, especially the history that you are making and might make as the first black woman Indian woman to break down this glass ceiling? And even now, of course, making the history that you're making now. Well, you know, you've probably heard me say many times.

My mother said to me, maybe the first to do many things next year, not the last. And what I see in the people who are coming to rallies such as this are young men, young women, people of every age, every background, every race, who are excited about the possibility of a new generation of leadership, and excited about the fact that they have a choice, to have a president in the United States who actually sees them, gets them, and wants to do the hard work that is about improving their life. Hey, one, what's your first executive action? Well, my first priority, which will be probably the package of bills, is about bringing down the cost of living.

So it's about housing. It's about childcare. It's about what we need to do to deal with grocery prices. So it's not one, but it's a package that is with one singular purpose, bringing down the cost of living.

We have to go, but you talk about your mother, and what do you think your mother would be telling you these final days before a selection against Donald Trump? Just go beat him. That's probably what she said. Yeah, that's my mother.

Well, I know she gave you a lot of lessons, though. Thank you so much. Thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Good to talk to you. And joining me now from the White House is NBC's Monica Alba, Monica Gregat from our colleague Yomish Elsinder out on the campaign trail. We'll get a lot, I want to ask you the what stuck out to you from that interview. She was asked about everything from Trump's recent comments about protecting women, whether they want to be protected or not, all the way to maybe not so forcefully, disavowing the Biden garbage gas.

What was striking to you in that interview? Yeah, a couple of things there, Ali. I think it is notable that repeatedly when the vice president is asked what she would do on day one, what her first priority would do, her first executive action. As Yomish just posed to her there, she really likes to talk about a couple of things that she wants to do, or a package of bills, as she just said, that would lower costs for the American people.

That has been her priority, but that has meant that she is answering that question a little more generally, though she's been trying to talk about this idea that if Donald Trump were to be elected into office, that he would come to the Oval Office on day one with a quote enemies list, which is a line she repeated here, and that she is really trying to focus on this to-do list and trying to argue that she is focused on trying to make Americans' lives better. But when it comes to that question specifically about what Donald Trump said last night, about how he would quote protect women, whether women quote like it or not, that is definitely something that when it happened, that Harris campaign said, we are going to seize on this and amplify this as much as possible, and so the vice president there saying that, and being very specific to note that she believes it's not just Donald Trump's words, like the ones that he said last night, but deeds, that's what the vice president just said to Yamiche in terms of trying to broaden this and trying to make this closing argument in their view that this is not just about Donald Trump's rhetoric, but about what he could do if he is back in the White House and back in office when it comes to things like reproductive freedom, when it comes to things like healthcare, so they're trying to really make that argument today. And then overall, this is really a moment where the battleground states, the polls are in a dead heat, but the vice president says that it's not the polling that's keeping her up at night, she said to Yamiche, it's what Donald Trump could do, and the threat she argues that he poses, and that's how she frames some of that as well. Perhaps not surprisingly, I was struck by Yamiche asking about the glass ceiling breaking potential of the Harris ticket, and the way that Harris, as she has continuously since she became the nominee, really keeping that arm's length, and you covered Hillary Clinton, you watched the way that message ultimately fell flat, is that the thinking behind the Harris campaign on why they are continuing to sort of keep and push aside questions like this?

I agree, Allie, it's a fascinating topic to explore and one we should be talking about, even if Kamala Harris says she doesn't want to be the one to be talking about it all the time, basically. And she told our own Hallie Jackson in their interview recently that she didn't really want to say that there was sexism here at play and that she doesn't feel like she needs to talk about the fact that she is a woman and a woman of color, she says it's evident, people know it, and that she says that even if people decide they want to vote for me for that reason, that that's not why she's necessarily trying to appeal to them specifically just for that reason. So it is something that she hasn't been leaning in on as intensely as certainly others around her have been, but it was notable at the end there that she said that in terms of her mother and her inspiration and her roots, which is what she likes to talk about when she really talks about her identity, she said her mother's words to her if she were alive today would be, go beat him. Allie.

Monica, thank you for breaking that down with us. We'll get a live report on an effort to get out the vote in a city with historically low turnout in all important battleground Wisconsin. Don't go anywhere, you're watching The Press Now. Hey guys, Willie Geist here, reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit Down Podcast.

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It's not just trick-or-treaters knocking on doors today. In Battleground, Wisconsin, grassroots organizers are working to turn out the vote, especially in Milwaukee, where early voting numbers are lagging behind statewide turnout. In addition to canvassers making their pitch to voters to get to the polls, tomorrow, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be in Milwaukee, holding dueling rallies with Vice President Harris, announcing another star-studded lineup to include Robert Cardi B. Joining me now is Shaq Rooster, who spent the day with some of those doorknockers in Milwaukee.

My friend, who has been lagging there and the doorknockers that you've been canvassing with feel like they are successfully reversing this trend? They do, Ellie, and part of the reason why they feel that way, is because they've been doing this for some time. This group that I've been walking around with, they were started after what we saw in 2016, where in that election, here in Milwaukee, there was a drop-off of voters of about 21,000 people, and you know the margin in that election was about 23,000 voters. So they're trying to really engage with people, remind them when their polling location is and when the election is.

And I asked, what is that case that you're making for voters who say that they're not engaged or just don't really want to participate this time around? Listen to a little bit of that conversation. My message to them is, no matter if you feel like, however you feel, just get out and use your voice, because you're not voting and storing away your voice, and people need to hear you. So you have their right to go vote, so use it, and use it wisely.

Have you had conversations with people and convinced them to come out and vote? Yes, plenty of people in our team be sure in the office all the time how we flip somebody to go vote and get them to vote, even when they say they wasn't going to vote at first. And this is one of those problems that we saw and prove after the 2016 election. But if you look back at the midterms, and compare it to the 2018 midterms, you saw another drop-off of about 40,000 votes.

So it's a warning sign for Democrats in the Harris campaign as we head into this election, Ellie. Well, when you talk about Democrats in the Harris campaign, turnout in Milwaukee has been a big concern for them. What are you hearing from the campaign side, and are they worried about where the numbers are right now? Yeah, they acknowledge that this is an issue.

And you talked about how the turnout so far has been lagging in the rest of the state. I think we have a graphic to show you. It's about six percentage points of a difference right now. But that's why they're saying they're flooding the zone in these final days ahead of the election.

You mentioned Vice President Harris will be here tomorrow. She's going to have some big names celebrities with her former president Bill Clinton. It's here in Milwaukee today. In the ramp up to this election, you can expect to see more visits, more people, because they know it's about turnout in this Democratic stronghold.

This is the largest city in the state. If they get their numbers up, they believe that their margins will hold. They just need that raw vote to back up what they've been seeing. And so far they haven't, but there's a lot of time left, so more early voting and of course election day.

So they said they're not worried just yet, Allie. Shaq, Chris, they're pounding the pavement. I hope you can take advantage of it being Halloween and get yourself at least some kind of dessert. I know you're a bad guy.

I do some trick or treating. You got to, thank you my friend. I'll talk to you soon. And believe it or not, healthcare has been something of a sleeper issue in this campaign, lagging behind inflation, immigration, abortion, and fitness for office is a top issue, but not anymore.

An event for House candidate in Pennsylvania earlier this week, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson promised massive healthcare changes if Trump wins the election. Take a listen. We want to take a blow towards the regulatory state, okay? I mean, these agencies have weaponized against people.

It's crushing the market. It's like a boot on the neck of job creators and our viewers and risk-takers. And so healthcare is one of the sectors, but we need this across the board. And Trump's going to go big.

I mean, he's only have one more time, right? Can't have a re-election. And so he's going to be thinking about legacy, and we're going to have to fix things. No Obamacare.

No Obamacare. The ACA is so deeply ingrained. We need massive reform to make this work. And we got a lot of ideas on how to do that.

Despite pushback from the Trump campaign, claiming their candidate does not want to end the Affordable Care Act, Trump said this afternoon in New Mexico that replacing Obamacare would be great. She says I want to end Obamacare and take away your healthcare. That's a lie. That's a lie.

If we've come up with something better, that'll be great. And everybody wants that because Obamacare sort of sucks. Joining me now on set is Reese Gorman, politics reporter for Notus, Kimberly Atkins Store, senior opinion writer for the Boston Globe, and an NBC News contributor, and Republican strategist, Matt Gorman. We got two Gorman's at the table and two of us here, so we're ready to go.

But Reese, we'll start with those comments from the speaker. You talk with Republican leadership sources often. I mean, are they swaying that? Because that wasn't a public campaign event.

Our colleagues are like a poor repain that footage. It's definitely something that they're concerned about. I mean, Obamacare and repeal Obamacare. I mean, you saw what happened in 2018 when they tried to do that last time.

It's not something very popular, especially these kind of moderate swing district Republicans. That's not what they want to be defending, going into the election next Tuesday. And you've also got to seem like multiple ways. He started to walk it back where he was saying, oh, I was just saying that was ingrained in our society.

And it's kind of a great... Why is it sort of undercuts that point? Yeah, no, 100%. And you see like a lot of people, like I know JD Vance kind of, I think it was on Meet the Press, where he kind of tapped into the risk pools situation.

They might ask about it if you walk back to, no, we're going to protect. So it seems like a lot of people seem to be kind of towing in to kind of reform some Obamacare. Then when they're questioned back about it, they kind of pull back. No, we don't want to do that.

I mean, Matt, you've advised Republican candidates on this issue. This is probably not what they want to be talking about, or is there some upside to reviving this? The judge team has pushed back very vigorously on kind of a lot of this. And I think, you know, I've seen some clips online that only take that first part after the no Obamacare.

They've been very clear about the fact that they did say it was mass being ingrained. Because look, they see the risk here a little bit for some moderate members, and especially kind of going back to 2018, where it really was about health care. And I think the more we're talking about health care in this, it does play a little Democrat's hands. That's why they were so vociferous on the pushback of this and clarifying what he actually meant.

Which the clarification also might just be, they're upset that he said the quiet part out loud because of what Matt said. 2018, this was the salient issue. Do you think that 2024 could be the new 2018 on this? Well, I don't think it'll be on this because, listen, I'm concerned about our leader saying one thing privately to people, to donors, to their supporters behind closed doors and saying something very different publicly.

So I take the speaker at his word. When he does want to take a blow torch to the administrative state, that includes HHS, that administers Obamacare, that ensures that we do have coverage for pre-existing conditions and for preventative care that people need. But as the campaigns, people on the campaign trail are saying, people are concerned about costs. Health care is a massive cost.

It can bankrupt people. And Obamacare is, that's one reason why Obamacare is so popular. People don't want to have to choose between their food and their medication. And I think this is just a terrible issue.

But I take the speaker at his word that he does want to blow towards the administration. I actually do think, although healthcare, we don't typically assign to it a gender as an issue, but women are generally the people in a household that control the purse strings. And there has been criticism this week, Reese, again, from Nikki Haley about the way the Trump campaign is sort of growing it up in the way that they talk to voters. They do well with men.

But do you hear from Republicans who are concerned about the way that they're doing with women? I hear that they feel like the outreach to women is definitely lacking. There's definitely some lack. I mean, you saw a kind of Trump's comments today, but I think it was whether they liked it or not.

I'm in a, what was he saying? Save for cheap to protect women? Whether they liked it. I think it's like comments like that is kind of rub Republican in the wrong way sometimes.

It's like, oh, I don't know. Like, they also do all these podcasts. And they made a very clear point that they are really trying to reach out to young men. And women, I feel like, sometimes, it's definitely some of the ones I've talked to in Congress.

Like, well, they're not doing enough to kind of reach out to the suburban women for sure. And that's where I think when I was talking with Caroline Levitt earlier from the Trump campaign was asking her, wouldn't it be beneficial to get Nikki Haley out on the campaign trail? She makes the point they've got others. But I do think Haley cuts a specific profile.

Now, I want to talk to you about an old column that our friend Chuck Todd wrote where he says, it's obvious at this point that Trump will win men by close to double digits, did it with Harris among women. The question is how well each campaign does with its weaker gender. So do you see the Trump campaign making any tangible outreach to women? And does Nikki Haley kind of have a point?

The thing that will shut well down is the essence of this election really. Like, whatever side does better with their preferred gender, quote unquote. So to speak, well, cutting down the margins of the sides, go in this election. And I think that the Trump campaign made a very calculated choice, that it is easier, and with this limited time window and limited funds to try and extend our margins among men than try and claw back support among women.

And I think what you're seeing is the Harris campaign, if you're in galleons with, you know, some walls with shotguns and on Twitch, it's not the same thing on the women's side. So really what's going to come down to is if it's like the NBC News poll and fail two weeks ago, we're beating with a high percentage of men than we are losing women, it's ours. Other way than it's slightly common. I also think the interesting thing with the gender dynamic is it's not just monolithic.

I mean, among women, you have black women who are so loyal to the democratic base, then you have white women who actually typically trend conservative. But the other thing I'm fascinated by is the fact that when Biden was on the ballot, he was able to pull away men, specifically white men from the Trump campaign. It doesn't appear that Harris has the same appeal there. So what are you seeing and how this gender gap might play?

Yeah, you know, I think it's interesting this argument that Harris has not been speaking directly to men in her message. Reproductive justice, if you were born, that is an issue for you, right? If you want to protect women's fertility, protect their health, protect their lives so that they can't have families if they want, they're the ones who are giving birth to all of us. So that is an issue for everyone.

That's not a woman's issue. Guardian against bigotry and xenophobia is to be an issue for all of us, ensuring that the poor have access to health care and food and can get by and have housing should be an issue for all of us. So I think I would ask the men who were put off by a message that is not appealing directly to them in a Broadway way to think a little bit about what it means to be America and what does that say? And as we have this conversation, we're looking at live pictures of Vice President Kamala Harris in Phoenix.

But you were checking your head when she was talking about it. I think that's the issue, right? In due respect that Democrats do not have any message that appeals to men without being but women. And I think that is a challenge.

Look, we have plenty of messages on women as we've talked about before, but I think Democrats need a crystallizing, economic message, any cultural message to men that doesn't then immediately invoke women right afterwards. They need a specific message to men directly. I think the other piece of this that we're watching the closing days is the way that this Biden gaff or whether we're taking him out of context or whatever, the Trump campaign is running with it at this point. Does Harris need to do more to distance herself at this point?

I definitely need to be different sources that I've talked to you. Especially in Congress, I mean, that's the kind of way I spend the best word of my time. And so definitely, the rest of the sources I've talked to you are definitely, the terrorists have come out more immediately and stronger. I mean, Josh Shapiro almost immediately uncalled for it just kind of went out and did this almost immediately.

And they're like, why is our nominee not doing this? I mean, effectively, by what's calling, I mean, that was half America garbage. At the same time as I said to Caroline Luddit, J.D. Vance has said that anyone who supports Harris and Democratic policies are something colorful.

So yeah. So it goes both ways. But I think too, Democrats are definitely kind of like, this is just not something we need right now. We don't need it from someone that's not even running for office.

This is just the leader of the party currently because he's still the president and they're freaking out because this is just an unfortunate. That's the key question. I mean, does she need to do more? No.

Listen, listen. She's the vice president. She's been running a campaign that's been inclusive to everyone. Even though we didn't go for her, even though we don't agree with her on all things and moving everyone forward.

Like you said, you have other people who have already addressed this, including the president themselves. I find it interesting that she is being held accountable for something that someone else said while Donald Trump is able to skate on all the hateful things that he says on any given day. And so no, I don't think she's doing all the things. She's being a vice president.

She's being a campaign, running a campaign that just got ramped up. Kim, thank you so much. Gorman one, Gorman two, thank you. And we're back tomorrow with more Meet the Press now, but the news continues with Ali Jackson right now.

He was a young Marine. She didn't care about convention. They made a life together. Then one night, the Marine died.

And then the death investigation took a wild, unexpected, and utterly bizarre turn. I'm Josh Makowitz, and this is Trace of Suspicion, an only podcast from Dateline. Listen to all episodes of Trace of Suspicion now, wherever you get your podcasts.