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that's sunrisechallenge ca. This Sunday, heated debate. The American people are exhausted with the same old playbook. They've destroyed the fabric of our country.
Millions of people let in. In their first face off on the debate stage, Vice President Kamala Harris puts former President Donald Trump on the defensive. Donald Trump actually has no plan for you because he is more interested in defending himself than he is in looking out for you. She's gonna do all these wonderful things.
Why hasn't she done it? She's been there three and a half years. Will the debate change the minds of undecided voters? Steve Kornacki takes us inside the key battlegrounds.
Plus doubling down. The debate over immigration takes a disturbing turn over Donald Trump's unfounded claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are abusing animals. They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats. It's a right wing conspiracy theory.
And Swift voting. Please register to vote for something else. Taylor Swift uses her voice to back Kamala Harris in a surprise endorsement. How powerful is her seal of approval?
My guest this morning, Republican vice presidential nominee Jamie Vance and former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. Joining me for insight and analysis are NBC News senior Washington correspondent Ally Jackson, Jonathan Martin of Politico, Timone Sanders Townsend, former chief spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris, and Mark Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. Welcome to Sunday. It's Meet the Press.
From NBC News in Washington, the longest running show in television history. This is Meet the Press with Kristen Welken. Good Sunday morning. We are now just 51 days away from election day.
And after the first debate this past week, the race is still incredibly close. Former President Trump's allies want him to spend these critical final days talking about the issues on voters minds, the economy, health care, immigration, and focusing on the vice president's vulnerabilities. Instead, Mr. Trump spent most of the week falsely claiming that migrants are eating pets in a small town in Ohio and defending his association with a far right agitator who other Republicans have condemned.
On Tuesday night, former President Trump and Vice President Harris faced off for what may have been the most important 90 minutes of the campaign. Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. Clearly, he is having a very difficult time processing that. I've never seen a worse period of time.
People can't go out to buy cereal or bacon or eggs or anything else. During the course of his rallies, he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer. And I will tell you, the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you.
We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics. Now, former President Trump doubled down on baseless claims he made on the debate stage that members of the Haitian population in Springfield, Ohio, are abusing pets. City officials say there is just no evidence of that in Springfield. They're eating the dogs, the people that came in.
They're eating the cats. They're eating. They're eating the pets of the people that live there. They're taking the geese.
You know where the geese are, in the park, in the lake, and even walking off with their pets. My dog's been taken. This morning, Springfield is on edge after days of bomb threats that close public schools, government buildings and hospitals. Former President Trump also defended his association with far right activist Laura Loomer, who traveled with him as he made multiple stops on Wednesday to mark the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Just last year, Loomer posted a video on social media that called the 911 attacks an inside job. This week, she posted a racist tweet about Vice President Harris. Some Republicans are condemning her. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis writing, quote, laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans.
Trump allies tell NBC News that there are real concerns about Loomer and Trump's relationship and worry Loomer could cost him votes in keep outground states. During a news conference on Friday, Mr. Trump downplayed his connection to Loomer, but did not disavow her statements. What value do you feel that lore Loomer brings to you?
And has nobody told you about the conspiracy theories that she's promoted? No, I don't know that much about it. No, I don't. I know she's a big fan of the campaign, but I really don't know.
What does she bring to you? I would say that, well, she brings a spirit to us. A lot of people have. We have very spirited people.
Later, he posted on social media, Laura Loomer doesn't work for the campaign. She's a private citizen and longtime supporter. I disagree with the statement she made, but like the many millions of people who support me, she is tired of watching the radical left, Marxists and fascists violently attack and smear me. For more on where this race stands with just over seven weeks until election Day, I'm joined now by national political correspondent Steve Kornacki.
Steve, what does it look like post debate? Yeah, Kristen? Well, it looks a lot like it's in pre debate. But let's take you through what we're looking at here.
First of all, this is the national poll average here of Harris ahead by two points, the NBC News average of the major national polls over the last two weeks. That means just about half of the polls that are in this average have now been conducted after that debate. And you see Harris with a two point lead nationally. Of course, one of the things we talked about is in the last two elections, when Donald Trump ran 2016 and 2020, he was able to he lost to the popular vote in both of those elections, but almost won the electoral college in 2020 and did win the electoral college in 2016.
And here are the states we think will determine the Electoral College, the seven core battleground states. Again, the NBC News poll average here they are very, very close. You can see that Harris with slight advantages in some of these Trump in Georgia and Arizona, North Carolina tie were also flagged for you remember in 2016 and 2020, one of the stories of the election polls were off and they were off in specific places. Two of the states that missed the biggest in polling the last election were Michigan and Wisconsin.
And notice those are the states right now where Harris has her strongest advantages in the polling in 2020 and in 2016. In those states, Trump voters, blue collar Trump voters were underestimated in the polls. It's a question has that been fixed or is that something that might happen? Again, let's take a look though, at the road to 279.
Here's a big if. And I stress it's an if. But this is just to show you, if we took this, the states that are Harris blue right now on the average, the Trump Red, North Carolina tide. And we plugged it in to the 270 map.
You see that would have Harris at 276, Trump 246, 270 obviously needed to win, but again, extremely close there. And from Trump's standpoint, even looking at this, here's the path for him, it's the simplest path if he's going to win this presidential election right now, again with that small lead in the poll average in Georgia, North Carolina tied. And remember, Trump did carry North Carolina in 2016 and 2020. So let's say Trump were able.
This is just sake of a if year. But if Trump were to get North Carolina, then he would need one of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, three states he carried in 2016 that he lost to Joe Biden in 2020. But you'll see right here just with Georgia and Carolina, if he wins Pennsylvania, he's got what he needs. If he wins Michigan, he's got what he needs.
If he wins Wisconsin, he's got what he needs. So bottom line, the Trump path, pretty simple there, the Harris path, protect those three. We'll see what happens. Kristen, go for it.
A fight to the finish. Steve Kornacki, thank you so much. You got it. And joining me now is former President Trump's running mate, Republican Senator Jamie Vance of Ohio.
Senator Vance, welcome back to MEET THE press. Good morning, Kristen. Thanks for having me. Well, thanks so much for being here.
I want to start with the topic of abortion. The issue of a federal abortion ban came up in the debate this week, including the comments that you made here on this program last month. Take a look. If such a piece of legislation landed on Donald Trump's desk, would veto it.
Why would you be very clear he would not support that. If you're not supporting as the president of the United States, he fundamentally veto a federal abortion ban. I think he would. He said that explicitly.
He would. And then, Senator, here's what Donald Trump settled in the debate stage. Would you veto a national abortion ban if. Well, I would have to.
But if I could just get a yes or no because her running mate, J.D. vance, has said that you would veto it if it did come to your desk. Well, I didn't discuss it with J.D. in all fairness, J.D.
and I, I don't mind if he has a certain view, but I think you speak of me, but I really didn't. Senator Vance, just to clarify once and for all, if Donald Trump were to be elected, if a federal abortion ban were to land on his desk, would he veto it? Well, Chris, as you saw the president say, we hadn't discussed it. We still haven't discussed it, by the way, because it's not realistic, Chris.
And I think that's the point that he made during debate, is he's been incredibly clear that he doesn't support a national abortion ban. He wants abortion policy to be made by the states because he thinks, look, Alabama's gonna make a different decision for California, and that's okay. We're a big country. We can disagree.
The best way to actually facilitate us coming together despite that disagreement is by allowing each individual state to make their own abortion policy. I think President Trump has been clear a national abortion ban is not on the table. He wouldn't support it. He wouldn't.
He wouldn't sign it. And I think, frankly, Kristen, it's kind of a ridiculous hypothetical, because if a national abortion ban was brought before the United States Senate right now, it would get, at best, 10 senators out of one. I think we should talk about issues that actually might come before the president, like our approach to lowering energy prices, to lowering grocery prices, to making housing more affordable, which all have gone in the wrong direction under Kamala Harris policies. His point is that it was hypothetical and not hypothetical.
It has any chance of actually crossing his desk. I take your point, but just to put a fine point on this, you're saying he wouldn't support it, so would he veto it? Chris, I think that I've learned my lesson on speaking for the president before. He and I have actually talked about an issue.
What he has said at the debate, which is quite explicit, is he doesn't support a national ban. He thinks it's ridiculous to talk about vetoing a piece of legislation that isn't going to come before the president in the first place. All right, let's zoom out a little bit, Senator, and talk more broadly about the issue of health care. Former President Trump said on the debate stage he had, quote, concepts of a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.
Here is what he has said, though, in the past. Look, we're going to have a health care plan that's going to be second to none. We have two plans coming out. We already have the concept of the plan.
We'll be announcing that in about two months, maybe less. Senator, can you clarify what is Donald Trump's health care plan? Well, first of all, let's back up a little bit to 2017, 2018, when Obamacare was actually collapsing under the weight of the regulatory burdens and collapsing under the weight of lack of funding. And Donald Trump had two choices.
He could have destroyed the program, or he could actually build upon it and make it better so that Americans didn't lose a lot of health care. He chose to build upon a plan, even though it came from his Democratic predecessor. I think it illustrates Donald Trump's entire approach to governing, which is to fix problems, even if he may have disagree with the original legislation to fix the American people's problems, not just to blow things up because it happened to be implemented by your predecessor. And frankly, I wish Kamala Harris would take a similar approach on things like the Abraham, of course, which she has not built upon at all, despite the fact that it's built a lot of peace in the region and could build more.
But what President Trump's health care plan is, is actually quite straightforward, is you want to make sure the preexisting coverage conditions are covered. You want to make sure that people have access to the doctors that they need, and you also want to implement some deregulatory agendas so that people can choose a healthcare plan that fits them. Think about it. A young American doesn't have the same health care needs as a 65 year old American.
A 65 year old American in good health has much different health care needs than a 65 year old American with a chronic condition. We want to make sure everybody is covered, but the best way to do that is actually promote some more choice in our health care system and not have a one size fits all approach that puts a lot of people into the same insurance pools, into the same risk pools. That actually makes it harder for people to make the right choices for their families. Senator mentioned Obamacare.
20 million people are currently getting their health care through Obamacare. I guess the question is, and you're laying out some benchmarks here, why should voters believe that a plan is forthcoming when you've heard Donald Trump say so many times in the past that he's going to be putting forward a plan? Still hasn't happened yet. Well, because Donald Trump actually governed Christian for four years and he actually protected those 20 million Americans from losing their health coverage.
He actually protected a lot more additional Americans from losing their health coverage. And he actually ensured a lot of people were able to access coverage for the first time. Members of my own family, for example, got health care for the first time under Donald Trump's administration. So we actually have a real record to run on.
He, of course, does have a plan for how to fix American health care. But a lot of it goes down, Kristen, to deregulating the insurance market so that people can choose a plan that actually makes sense for them. On the one hand, fix the problems of Obamacare, while on the other hand, Kristen, making sure that people continue to have good choices. Okay, so what I hear you're saying is Obamacare stays in place.
Let me move to another topic. There was a lot of attention, as you know, this week on former President Trump's baseless claims about migrants in pets in Springfield, Ohio, claims you first shared online, Senator, earlier this week. Local authorities now say there have been no credible reports of migrants hurting pets or animals. And in fact, neo Nazis are now taking credit, frankly, for pushing these rumors mainstream.
Why are you continuing to double and triple down on these baseless claims? Well, two important points here, Christian. First of all, I have heard firsthand from multiple constituents, people who made 911 calls a month ago, a year ago, who were making these complaints. I trust my constituents more than I do the American media that has shown no interest in what's happened in Springfield until we started sharing cat memes on the Internet, which is disgraceful that the American media ignored this town.
And that's the most important part. Kamala Harris's open border Christian has led to skyrocketing housing costs in Springfield, rising rates of crime, rising rates of communicable diseases. They have dropped 20,000 immigrants into a town of 40,000, and it's caused a coast of social problems. And we should be talking about why Kamala Harris has done this to this small town and the media and the Democrats ignored it for an entire year.
Kristen, I was talking about this on the Senate Banking Committee months ago. Nobody would pay attention to it until we started sharing the 911 calls of people in Springfield saying the migrants are eating the geese. I think that's really, really shameful that no one cared about it or paid attention to it. And yet, Senator, officials, the mayor, other local officials have said there's just no evidence of what you're saying, that it's baseless, those claims.
Can't you just make your argument about immigration without making those claims? Senator, why not just make an argument about immigration? Why do you have to delve into repeating these baseless claims that again, Senator, have been repeated by neo Nazis? Kristen, I hear you saying that they're baseless, but I'm not repeating them because I invented them out of thin air.
I'm repeating them because my constituents are saying these things are happening. Yesterday, a video came out of a migrant 30 miles away eating a cat. Clearly, these rumors are out there because constituents are seeing it with their own eyes and some of them are talking about it. Now, look, we also have to talk about and should primarily talk about the effects that this has had on car insurance rates, on disease rates.
Those are the things I'm spending 95% of my time talking about, Kristen. But again, if the media didn't care about this story until we started sharing the 911 call about the geese. That's an indictment of the American media. But the real problem here, Kristen, I just finished this point, is Kamala Harris opened the border with no plan for how to assimilate 20,000 people.
It's made the community worse off. That's what we should be focused on. I have to say, though, that the mayor from Dayton in that video that you're talking about and police chief responded forcefully to that new video you just referenced. They say there's absolutely no evidence to even remotely suggest that immigrants are eating pets.
Let me just ask you, though. In October of 2016, you said this, quote, trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, etc. Because of this, I find him reprehensible.
God wants better of us. This week in Springfield, buildings were closed because of bomb threats. Haitian immigrants say they are afraid for their lives. Are you not doing the very thing you once called reprehensible, Senator?
Well, first of all, Kristen, we condemn all acts of violence and all threats of violence. But, Kristen, the reason that I changed my mind on Donald Trump is actually perfectly highlighted by what's going on in Springfield, because the media and the Kamala Harris campaign, they've been calling the residents of Springfield racist. They've been lying about them, but they've been saying that they make up these reports of migrants eating geese and they completely ignore the public health disaster that is unfolding in Springfield at this very minutes. Donald Trump believes.
Kristen. Donald. Let me finish this point, Kristen, and feel free to follow up. Donald Trump is the only person who brought Springfield to national attention, and he's the only president who's going to fight for the residents, not just their right to live safely in their communities, but for their right to complain about what's going on in their own community.
I think it's disgraceful that Kamala Harris has heard these complaints, has decided to call people racist instead of actually trying to make their lives better by undoing her open border. I know you had a question. Well, and Senator, again, because almost out of time, but Haitian immigrants are saying they're afraid for their lives. I want to shift to another topic.
I've been talking to allies of former President Trump who are frankly outraged. They're alarmed that Donald Trump has been traveling with Laura Loomer. She is someone who says she supports white nationalism. She spread conspiracy theories, including that the September 11 attacks are an inside job.
She recently said that Kamala Harris, whose mother was Indian, if she wins in November, quote, the White House will smell like curry. Senator, you are married to an Indian. American woman, what was your reaction to hearing those comments specifically? Well, Kristen, I want to go back to what you said about Haitian migrants to begin with because you didn't give me a chance to respond.
Look, we don't blame the Haitian migrants for coming to Springfield. We blame Kamala Harris for opening the American southern border and inviting 20,000 people to get dropped in a small Ohio town. Now, you asked about Laura Loomer. Look, Laura Loomer is not affiliated with the Trump campaign.
She said something about curry in the White House that I first read about this morning, actually, because I knew that you would ask me about it. Look, Kristen, I make a mean chicken curry. I don't think that it's insulting for anybody to talk about their dietary preferences or what they want to do in the White House. I think what Laura said about Kamala Harris is not what we should be focused on.
We should be focused on the policy and on the issues. And look, so, yeah. Do I agree with Laura Loomer said about Kamala Harris? No, I don't.
I also don't think that this is actually an issue of national import. Is Laura Loomer running for president? No. Kamala Harris is running for president.
And whether you're eating curry at your dinner table or fried chicken, things have gotten more expensive thanks to her policies. Let's talk about the person running for president of the United States, not a social media personality who supports Donald Trump. Senator, were you and your wife offended? And do you disavow those comments that even some Trump allies say are blatantly racist?
Kristen, I just told you I don't like those comments. And I think we ought to focus on Kamala Harris's policy failures. I also don't look at the Internet for every single thing to get offended by. I'm running for vice president because I think Kamala Harris has been a disaster and we have to undo her policies.
That's what we should be focused on. But by the way, when I say we, I mean the American media. Kamala Harris opened the border. She made food unaffordable.
We should be talking about her failure as an American leader, not a social. Social media personality who supports Donald Trump. All right, Senator J.D. vance, thank you so much for your time this morning.
Really appreciate it. Thanks for. See you. When we come back, former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg joins me next.
Welcome back. And join me now is from Democratic presidential candidate Buddhaj, Mr. Buddha Judge, welcome back to Meet the Press. Good morning.
Good day. Well, it is great to have you here. Let's Start where I left off in part with Senator Vance when we're talking about the situation in Springfield, Ohio. He has blamed the Biden Harris administration and its policies for the fact there has been an influx of Haitian migrants.
It's a result of a a policy called temporary protective status which allowed hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants who've been fleeing poverty and violence to potentially seek shelter here. The Springfield, Ohio mayor told me that immigrants have put a strain on resources. How do you respond to those officials in Springfield and other cities who are quite frankly concerned about a strain on resources? Yeah, a community like Springfield, Ohio is dealing with rapid economic growth and rapid population growth, some that connected to immigration.
And the mayor there, just as I was dealing with challenges when I was mayor in South Indiana, is focused on how to bring a community together, move it forward and help it grow. What is not going to help that mayor was not going to help that community is the kind of chaos inflicted on them by a national campaign deciding to make them a lightning rod over wild rumors and urban legends about people eating cats or dogs or geese or whatever it's going to be tomorrow. And let's be very clear, that community and the very real people who are dealing with some really ugly stuff right now, like the bomb threats are having that inflicted on them as part of the strategy for a campaign that wants to talk about anything but their actual record and their actual agenda. Donald Trump and J.D.
vance cannot afford for this campaign to be about things like how Donald Trump eliminated the right to choose and continues to leave the door open to signing a national abortion ban. They definitely don't want this campaign to be about things like how we had a manufacturing recession under Donald Trump and what we have to do to keep the manufacturing boom that is going on right now going. These are not things they want to be talking about. Obviously they won't be talking about the particulars of the Trump van's health care plan because they don't have one.
They have this so called concept of the plan that they keep saying is around the corner. He's been saying that, I think for nine years. So they need to get us talking about something else. The crazier the better.
And they go for something that is so outrageous that you actually can't ignore it. The media can't ignore what's going on because very real pain has been inflicted and fear, by the way, on people in this community and other communities around the country. Yet if we take the bait and are completely diverted by it, then we're not talking about what this campaign is supposed to be about which is the future of the American people. Let's talk about some of the policies President Biden did issue, some of the most restrictive executive actions on immigration of any Democrat, frankly, after legal border crossings reached historic levels.
That did anger some Democrats who said the asylum restrictions went too far. If Vice President Harris is elected, should she keep those executive actions in place? Well, I think her response is going to reflect the conditions in the reality, just as President Biden was forced to take steps that a response to the reality that we experienced with the post Covid migration surge, plus, of course, the failure of Congress to act. Let's remember, we wouldn't be here in this particular situation if Donald Trump hadn't intervened to sabotage a bipartisan deal that was worked out with Republicans and Democrats on what to do with the border.
By the way, that legislation and the executive action, it's true, is more conservative than what some in the Democratic Party would like to do. But again, we're not having a serious policy debate about immigration or any other issue. If you got J.D. vance on your program basically debating exactly how racist it is to talk about the things that Laura Loomers talked about, this is the kind of sideshow that they want to take the main stage so that they don't have to talk about anything serious.
And it's a reminder of just how exhausting it was to deal with all this the first time Donald Trump was president. America would be in for another four years of this exhausting chaos every time we check the news, if they come back into power. Let me zoom out and ask you, broadly speaking, obviously this is the topic of discussion by President Harris has shifted her position on several policy issues which first ran for president in 2019. She initially wanted to ban fracking, now she doesn't.
She initially wanted civil penalties instead of criminal for illegal border crossings, now she doesn't. She supported Medicare for all, now she doesn't. To those voters who have concerns about this, given her shifts in policy positions, if she's elected, why won't she change her mind again? Well, look, you develop your policies based on what you see happening in the world around you and what you're able to accomplish in Washington.
You take the example of immigration. We just talked through what's changed over the last five years. I would say the same thing on climate. Lots of ideas were being kicked around five years ago when there was basically zero climate policy during the Trump years.
Now we have a climate policy. It's called the Inflation Reduction Act. It does not include a ban on fracking because that's not the Biden Harris administration's policy. But what it has done is cause a lot of factories to be built right now in places like where I grew up and places like where J.D.
vance grew up, creating jobs in a new energy economy as well as a lot of old fashioned building trades and construction jobs that would be destroyed if Donald Trump follows through on his promise to get rid of the Inflation Reduction Act. So those are the actual policies we're actually working with. And every election is about the future and not the past. And that future looks very different depending on who's about to win.
But just to follow up, I think voters do have a lot of questions about the vice president's policies, how specifically she sees her administration. She sat down for her first solo interview on Friday. She was asked about how Harris administration would differ from a Biden administration. Here's what she had to say.
My approach is about new ideas, new policies that are directed at the current moment. And also, to be very honest with you, my focus is very much on what we need to do over the next 10, 20 years to catch up to the 21st century. Around again capacity, but also challenges. Does the vice president need to give more specifics to that answer, how a Harris administration would differ from a Biden administration if she wants to win this election?
Yeah. Look, you can go on her website. You can get specifics on everything from the exact percentage point that she thinks is appropriate for the capital gains tax to how she's going to make sure more housing is built in this country. And I'm sure over the coming days in the campaign, there will be more conversations that bring even more details to light.
She's also a pragmatic person who knows the that, you know, the reality of policy is that there's a give and take around your core values, principles and goals in order to get things done. And that's certainly been the experience of the last four years where, you know, the policy framework we've emerged with isn't something that's set in stone in the presidential campaign and then turned in every particular reality. But we are well set when it comes to policy. There are very clear and very specific differences.
Right. Donald Trump is for tax cuts for the rich and for tariffs that economists estimate will add about $4,000 a year to the cost for American families. She believes in making the wealthy pay their fair share. And she's put out the exact percentage point that she wants to bring that to so that they are paying their fair share.
Donald Trump eliminated the right to choose and will likely build on that. You can even get straight answer JJ Vance right now on whether he would veto a national abortion ban. You definitely didn't get a straight answer out of JD Vance right now on what his health care plan is going to be. So any conversation about policy, it's very clear what the differences are.
But we've got a lot of unanswered questions on the Trump side. The best way to answer those question is to look what promises he actually did worse for the rich and ending right. Worth noting that, of course, the Biden Harris administration left those Trump chairs in place just very quickly. About 10 seconds.
Mr. Buttigieg, as you know, Trump does better on the economy than Vice President Harris. Is she running out of time to make her case? Well, she's gonna keep making her case.
And I think the more Americans contemplate the difference between his economic vision of tax cuts for the rich and hers of standing with workers in the middle class, the more they're going to like our economic message and not their unpopular Project 2025 vision. All right, people, the judge, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it. When we come back after this week's debate, the fight for swing voters is now playing out in the battleground states.
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NBC News senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson, anchor of Sunday Nightly News Jonathan Martin, politics bureau chief and senior political correspondent for Politico Simone Sanders Townsend, former chief spokesperson to Vice President Harris and Mark Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. Thanks to all of you for being here. Hallie, I gotta take it off with you. You and I have been chewing over the scalar race all week long together.
We just got this new ABC News ipsys showing that basically nothing has changed post Deb Harris still has a very narrow lead within the margin of error. Polls show she also bigger majority of voters think she won the debate. But what's the impact? Where are we in this race?
Yeah, a hot scoop. It's still really close, right? It's still really competitive conversation. I'll tell you just this morning from a Biden campaign.
They say listen, this poll, we knew this race was going to be close. The vibes are good essentially. But we know there's a lot work to do around a guy that we got to do that prosecute the case. Right.
And when you look at this poll basically does show that, yeah, voters think that she won the debate, but it's not, it doesn't catalyze much movement on the ground, if you will. The Trump team is talking with their folks over the course of last 24 hours. They feel like she not effectively procure the difference as you just talk with people who judge about between what her administration would do versus the Biden administration has done. Nor do they think she made the case on the economy.
And that has been the state of their thinking strategically about this all along. But we know of course when it comes to former President Trump, you can have a strategy, people can build a strategy around him and ultimately for the candidate does and what we saw from him on c engage with him as we talk about consistently taking the bait that Kamala Harris lay out essentially. I mean he took every piece of bait that she's allowed. Jonathan, I know you've been talking to Republicans about this, the fallout from the debate and now conspiracy theory of a conspiracy theory traveling around the country with Laura Loomer.
Well, Trump's whole strategy has been to deepen his coalition rather than broaden it, right. In politics you have campaigns of mobilization and persuasion Most healing president do both. You mobilize your base, persuade on the sides. Trump is much more of a mobilizer.
Oh, he's not trying to persuade that voter in the political center. He's not trying to get the kind of George W. Bush or Marshall Republican if you will. He's trying.
He's trying to get more like minded people. Here's the real deal. After Labor Day, Trump rolls out Tulsi Garden, RFK junior Colin Harris rolls out Liz and Dick Shane. It tells you everything about the two campaigns that you gotta know and their tactics and their approaches.
Trump wants the diva. He wants to get somebody who either is not gonna vote at all or vote for him instead of trying. Real fast I saw the Kamala Harris has work to do to get the kind of voter that's never going to vote for Donald Trump, but that person's still not sure. Well, that's where the filling in the details comes in, which still has not happened yet.
Mark Short. I mean to that point is Trump strategy working? Here we are talking about these baseless claims in Springfield, Ohio instead of what his allies, his supporters want him to be talking about, which is his immigration policy and frankly the economy, his strongest suit. I think it's an enormously misopunty.
I think the reality is that the Halle's conversation, Trump's not going to bleed support. His support is locked in and so I don't think he lost a lot of that. It was a huge missed opportunity to prosecute the case against the Biden Harris administration on the border, on the economy, on her plan for trillions of dollars of new tax increases. But instead we're talking about how much you inherited your family wealth.
We're talking about Haitian migrants stealing dogs and cats or you know, the size of your rally crowds. And so I just think it was enormous missed opportunity to j mar. I do think that it would make sense if you're trying to deepen your support in a multi candidate field. But ironically, the Trump campaign actually helped make sure this is a binary choice to help people push out the race.
Simone, do you think that Harrison is doing enough to capitalize on this moment? Is she building on what seems to be some momentum coming up? I think so. That they've had an aggressive tour coming out of this debate in this whole week.
We've started to see more local television interviews. Frankly, I think that's something that they should have been doing for the entire time when I worked hard this week. They always talk to the local press because if people are not watching national news. You can be sure that they're turning on their five o', clock, seven o' clock news and seeing those clips and those sit downs make a difference.
I think that this strategy that the Trump campaign has employed, you can call it strategy, it's not a strong strategy. I think it is one that, yes, deepen support that he already has, but it will turn off people that to j one point, maybe they're not sure that they're going to put Kamal Harris and Tim Walls, but they're seeing what Donald Trump is doing. Okay, maybe I just need to get out and both just this is where I was like, Donald Trump, no. Are they going to vote for Kamala Harris?
Speaking of this is military going to the world, that kind of world thinking what's the other alternative Harris and do we love everything he does? No. Are we going to get behind him? And has that not been the story since 2015 inside the Republican Party?
I think you're seeing it cemented more now, especially as even top officials inside the Trump Organization will acknowledge it's a distraction. This is more than such. They don't want to see it. They don't like it.
But Kamala Harris has been running a campaign of reassurance, literally for six weeks now, trying to reassure voters in the political center, don't worry about 2019 stances. Here's my convention speech wrapped in red, white and blue. It's been, I think, a smart campaign. I still think she has to go one step further to really reel in more of those voters who again, they're skeptical about Trump to the point of.
But they're not totally sold on Harry. I think about that that's why she wanted that second point. There are all these new registered voters and I think that makes a difference. Like these polls are saying, will they likely voter in an election where there's record new registrants.
So I don't think we actually know what the electorate looks like. And there could be more Democratic base voters that previously were unengaged and now they're going to go to the vote. Mark J Mart mentioned the debate. Is there going to be a second debate?
What is it and should there be? I don't think any of us knows Osaka, you know what Donald Trump has said, but I think he's going to change his mind and I think it's wrong if they need to go the wrong way. And I can see a scenario there is, but I think it's probably less than 56. It was interesting to hear vice presidential nominee JD Van said he's learned his lesson.
He no longer speaks for Donald Trump on the issue of a national abortion ban. Now, he could have probably spoken to any former White House press secretary over the course of the last four years at Donald Trump's office when I left him, too. It's an issue because an erase with him weeks ago that continues to be making news. Yeah, well, J.D.
vance is happy to go out there and defend Trump at every turn. But I think there a lot of folks watching that interview on TV and wondering, is this really worth it for J.D. vance to do this for his political future? It's also concerning if it's one of the most important issues for Republican voters.
Haven't talked about it. All right. Well, much more to come, guys. Stick around.
When we come back. Well, Taylor Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris impact the election army. The president looks at the power of celebrity endorsements next. Welcome back.
This week, megastar Taylor Swift surprised even the Harris campaign by announcing her support for the vice president in an Instagram post to her more than 280 million followers after the debate writing, I'm voting for Kamala Harris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe you need a warrior to champion in them. Swift's post endorsing Harris drove nearly 406,000 visitors to Vote.gov a voting information website, over the 24 hours following her announcement. How much do celebrity endorsements matter in 2016 after George Clooney joined the press to talk about the influence that money, public figures can bring to the table? There is a difference between the Koch brothers and us.
You know, the difference is if I succeed, if we succeed in electing an entire Congress, which would be quite a success, but a Senate and a president, you know, the tax policies that they would enact would probably cost us a lot more money. Quite honestly. The Koch brothers would profit if they get their way. And that's what we have.
No, there's a profit for us in this understanding this Koch brothers have said they're going to spend $900 million not on the presidency, but on the downtick on the senators and the congressmen and the gubernatorial races and the local races. So our job is to try and counter that in some way. When we come back, we're expecting more political star power on the campaign trail. Will it help energize voters?
The panel returns next. Welcome back. The panel is still here. Mark Short, I've been talking to allies, former President Trump throughout the past several days.
They are really bothered by the fact that Laura Loomer this conspiracy theorist has been traveling with him on his plane to the 911 memorial, for example. Do you think his statement and what we heard today from Senator Davance will be enough to put that criticism to rest? Their concern, it will hurt him with voters in places like North Carolina and Georgia, which have a high proportion of populations of Indian American voters. Again, I feel like Trump supporters so locked in.
I'm not saying it hurts him. I think at the end of the day, having seen some of the videos, frankly, that the Biden Harris White House put out on social media, I'm not willing to see the ground that the Democratic Party is a party. Normal, normalcy. Having said that, this is unnecessary distraction.
It's like you should be prosecuted in the case on what their economic plan is, how they fail on board security. And if the media is talking about Laura Loomer every day, it's a missed opportunity to actually be on the office. I'm a little baby, but I am open to remember when a certain Democratic candidate was a pastor that people felt was problematic and some of the statements the pastor had made. Pastor Jeremiah.
And Obama distanced himself from his pastor. He has a whole speech about it. Laura Loomer is Jeremiah Lohr. Not in the same vein at all.
But to be very clear, what she is saying is problematic. And she is. The problem is she's on the plane with the former President of the United States of America, a potential next president. And what she is saying to him seems to be making its way at least onto the base eight and from six, seven million people.
Yeah. People in denial. His staffs embarrassed by it. Certainly the folks on Capitol Hill here are embarrassed by her.
You saw the comments from lawmakers. It's the candidate. He's not embarrassed by her. He wants her around.
He wants people like that around because they say nice things to him and frankly, he's sympathetic to her views. This is the bottom line challenge for the gop. This is your candidate. It's not the Loomer.
It's Donald J. Trump and his views and his impulses. Are you for that? Are you against that?
At the time of choosing for the Republican Party, the centerpiece of his campaign is down doubting immigrants. And so I think that's a real challenge for today's gop. Is that what you want your senator to do? Yeah.
And what so many people are saying because we are so close to election Day, there's not time for this type of distraction. Hallie. On the other side of things, the Harris campaign is celebrating after they got a Huge endorsement. In the minutes after the debate, Taylor Swift for hundreds of millions of followers.
She announced 208. Yes, yes, I know. You know how did it impact does this happen? Does it matter?
I'm not supposed to take. Right. But like let's talk about because she's a huge figure. I promise in pop culture.
Nothing to be embarrassed about. My w like I think the maybe would want a little bit of different timing. Right. Because she ended up having a good based on the polls they feel and voters feel like she ended up winning that debate.
That said the tailors of endorsement, let's be a little bit humble. You don't actually know what it's going to mean Election day. Right. We can look at various things.
We can look at the fact that she got 300, 400,000 people to get over to the royal registration site. Did they actually register? We don't know. We can look back at numbers.
After Oprah endorsed for President Barack Obama, a study years later show they died about a million people to turn out. Were they in those key battle round states? We don't know. The ABC News poll that just out There says about 6% of people, only 6% says that this endorsement makes them more likely to vote for Kamala Harris.
Is that going to be enough? We don't know. What we do know is that she's got a ton of star capital. She's got a big platform and she's using it for one of the candidates here.
There can be this celebrity driven campaign but like you know, they'll take it. Here's what to watch. The voter registration deadlines of key battleground stage. Keep an eye on those and if they do deploy Taylor Swift, I can guarantee you it's going to be right before those deadlines to get folks ready.
You can't go to the concert unless you show them her sort of vote. Yeah. Mark, what do you say that Republicans thinking right now? We should also note that the Obamas are going to be fundraising for the vice president obviously will be out campaigning with her as well as the Clintons.
So I mean look, I think the reality is that the Democrat party is certainly more reunited at this point and I think that's going to be, you know, challenging. Back to your previous conversation on Lord and Right. I think as well that Trump is always contrarian. So the more the press tells him he can't do it more, he will dig in and want to wrap himself around it.
Which again I don't think it's helpful to be trying to get to know next 50 days. Yeah. There's not a whole lot of time left, that's for sure. Literally, tomorrow in Pennsylvania, people start voting.
It is insane. By the end of this month, voters, we block the polls in Michigan, 40 days before luncheon day mission, the polls are open. So it is, I think, just critical, frankly, for both of the campaigns to really hunker down in a campaign. Y' all know every single day makes a difference.
What happens in a week in a campaign is for like three months sometimes when it comes to governing this strategy again, that each campaign is employing. Kylie Harris looks like she is playing to win Donald Trump. I. I don't know.
Well, you know, Jonathan, the next big event is the VP debate and it's stunning to think they could have the final word in this race if there is no second debate. Again, it's an if we watch and we wait to see. But how high are the stakes? Are people going to watch and could that change minds?
It could change the mind at the margins, I think. Not a ton, but certain. I think Tim Walls could reinforce a campaign of reassurance. I mentioned I'm going to go for Kamala Harris.
Ain't that that sort of goal? The road vote, it's never going for Trump isn't sure that they can get quite yet to Kamala Harris. I do think that she has to do a little bit more, especially on the immigration I mentioned. This is now this focal point for Donald Trump.
Going after immigrants always turn off a lot of Americans. She's got to find immigration to say, yes, we're a nation of immigrants, but also a nation of laws. And talking about the border and border security. How does she find that balance?
I think she can find that balance on that issue. I think it'll be crucial for success. Media landscape, which we all know about, there are not many opportunities to reach nearly 70 million Americans all at once in their right. And that's where debates, I think are useful to me.
Absolutely. Guys, thank you. Fantastic conversation. Really appreciate it.
That is all for today. Thank you so much for watching. We'll be back next week because if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press. I'm Craig Melt.
Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. I've always been a glass half full kind of guy and now I'm talking to people who look at the world that way, too.
It's really fascinating. Those who share their defining moments, their triumphs, challenges, their stories are fun and, like, candid. So I hope you'll join me each week. Who knows, you might just come away with your own glass half.
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