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The Lead with Jake Tapper
North Carolina Politicians Scramble After CNN Report; Harris New Campaign Ad Ties Robinson To Trump; Lebanon: 14 Killed, Dozens Injured In Israeli Strike on Beirut. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired September 20, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:02]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: In May, another zoo sparked outrage after visitors discovered that it painted dogs to resemble pandas. Following widespread criticism, the zoo cop to it.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: If you squint like real hard --
KEILAR: I totally agree with you.
SANCHEZ: -- they can kind of pass.
KEILAR: In fact, at first glance and I wasn't squinting. I was like, that looks like a panda.
SANCHEZ: That one right there. Yeah.
Whoever painted them, I got to say, did a pretty good job.
KEILAR: Yeah, nice --
SANCHEZ: It's a pretty accurate representation of a panda.
KEILAR: The eyes gave it away.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, and then not eating bamboo.
KEILAR: Yeah.
THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts now.
(MUSIC)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: President Trump will be in North Carolina tomorrow. But guess who probably, probably will not be with him.
THE LEAD starts right now, and I'll tell you.
The governor's race in North Carolina rocked by scandal involving GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson and his inflammatory comments on a porn site, a story broken here on THE LEAD yesterday by CNN's KFILE that is shaking up the race.
Why the Republican Party is now forced to keep him on the ballot as the Harris-Walz campaign spotlights the ties between Robinson and Donald Trump.
And changing the rules only 46 days out from the election. The new added hand count process that could drag out final results in one battleground state.
Plus, one-on-one here on THE LEAD. The legendary news anchor Connie Chung out with a revealing new memoir.
(MUSIC)
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
We start with explosive fallout from the CNN exclusive that KFILE first broke in our politics lead just yesterday, putting North Carolina GOP hopefuls on the back foot just 24 hours since we reported on the candidate for governor, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson's online posts in which he calls himself a black Nazi. He supports a return to slavery, says he wants to get a few slaves himself. He brags about spying on a woman's locker room during his teenage years. And that's just the stuff we can tell you on TV.
Some Republicans blaming the lieutenant governor for hindering the GOP's chances in elections across that battleground state. Now, down- ballot Democrats are pouncing on the chance to gain ground after the scandal broke, such as, for example, North Carolina Democratic Congressman Jeff Jackson, who is running for attorney general in North Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JEFF JACKSON (D-NC): Normally, someone running for governor, even if they turned out to underperform, wouldn't be someone who would impact the rest of the ticket, but this isn't normal. We're seeing an implosion by this candidate, the likes of which we've never seen in North Carolina, frankly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Well, I think we saw it when Cal Cunningham was running for office there, but I digress.
"The Raleigh News and Observer" editorial board calls for Robinson to drop out before North Carolina mails out ballots with his name on them to voters, that deadline passed however, as of 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning.
So North Carolinians, Tar Heels will see Robinson on the ballot in November. He's facing off against current North Carolina attorney general, Democrat Josh Stein, who was already leading in the polls before this explosion of cringe.
But how is Robinson weathering the storm?
CNN's Dianne Gallagher is down in the Tar Heel State with this new reporting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fallout from CNN's bombshell report about Mark Robinson spilling over into a second day.
LT. GOV. MARK ROBINSON (R), NORTH CAROLINA GOV. CANDIDATE: I'm running for governor.
GALLAGHER: The GOP nominee for North Carolina's governor moving forward with his campaign after the deadline passed for him to withdraw, as absentee ballots are sent out to voters Friday, the fresh swirl of controversy follows a KFILE investigation that found Robinson made a series of inflammatory comments on a pornographic websites message board, more than a decade ago, referring to himself as a Black Nazi, and expressing support for reinstating slavery, among other salacious, lewd and gratuitous statements.
ROBINSON: Thank you so much.
GALLAGHER: Robinson categorically denying the allegations.
ROBINSON: This is not us. These are not our words, and this is not anything that is characteristic of me.
GALLAGHER: The controversy extending beyond the Tar Heel State's race for governor, with Robinson having received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly praised the conservative firebrand.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is Martin Luther King on steroids, okay?
GALLAGHER: The campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris highlighting the ties between Trump and Robinson in a new ad Friday.
ROBINSON: We can pass bills saying, you can't have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason.
Abortion in this country is about killing a child because you weren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down.
TRUMP: I've been with him a lot. I've gotten to know him and he's outstanding.
GALLAGHER: The former president is set to hold a rally in the state on Saturday. Sources tell CNN that Robinson has not been invited to the event, despite being a regular presence at Trump's events in the state, including two last month.
[16:05:01]
Some Trump allies are dismissing the potential impact on the former president's campaign.
REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): We're going to be fine in North Carolina. This issue is going to come and go. GALLAGHER: But the reality of what's happened in our country remains
and that's why Donald Trump's going to win the state of North Carolina.
As Democrats in North Carolina seek to turn Robinson's controversy into a challenge for other Republicans.
GOV. ROY COOPER (D), NORTH CAROLINA: I think that when people go to the polls, they need to think about these candidates who had supported and encouraged somebody like Mark Robinson and continue to do so.
GALLAGHER: Even some Republicans acknowledging the fallout could affect others on the ballot in November.
REP. GREY MURPHY (R-NC): Well, I think any bad news of a particular candidate in a personal life can have a deleterious effect on other candidates.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GALLAGHER (on camera): And we are seeing Democrats take advantage of that today throughout North Carolina, Jake. Every single Democrat who is running for a statewide office has found a way to either post a picture or highlight and endorsement of Robinson by their Republican opponent. And they tell me we will continue seeing that the days ahead, likely through November.
TAPPER: All right. Diane Gallagher, who is in North Carolina for us, thank you so much.
CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten joins us.
Harry, I understand you have some interesting data for us since the scandal broke yesterday here on THE LEAD brought to us by our KFILE.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yeah, absolutely. Mr. Tapper, my goodness, gracious.
What a story and it turns out there were a lot of stories people talk about and, then they really fall flat. People aren't interested in him.
This is a story people are really interested in. Google searches for Mark Robinson since that KFILE story broke yesterday versus the prior 24 hours nationally searches for Mark Robinson up 8,540 percent. My goodness, gracious.
How about in the great state of North Carolina, up by more then 4,000 percent, despite the fact that they were googling him plenty before. The bottom line is a lot of interest in this story.
TAPPER: Break down the state of politics right now in the great state of North Carolina, how could this single scandal impact not just the gubernatorial race, but perhaps even the presidential race there.
ENTEN: Yeah, you know, if you look at where the polls were heading into this, right, in the presidential race, my goodness, gracious. How tight it was. It was tied. I think it was like 0.2 percentage points if you didn't round it.
But the bottom line is tied between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. And the governor's race, look, the Democrat Josh Stein was well ahead of Mark Robinson up by 10 points. I think he's going to be leading by even more for after this particular thing, its the real question of how much this may impact the presidential race.
And how important is the great state of North Carolina when it comes to the presidential race, look at this, the chance of winning the election if they win in North Carolina, it's very important. If Kamala Harris wins in North Carolina, look at that, her chance of winning up to 95 percent. Donald Trump, even if he wins there, it's just 76 percent.
But that actually says that this state is much more of a must win for Donald Trump than is for Kamala Harris, and that's why this scandal could be so devastating, which chances. And what is really a must-win state for.
TAPPER: So my mom is in North Carolina. I am steeped in North Carolina politics, and I have to say it has long been a very tricky state, very tough for Democrats on the presidential level. Only winning it once in 44 years, Barack Obama in 2008. And -- I mean, that election Obama, even won Indiana.
ENTEN: Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, it -- you know, you look at this. It's like Lucy with the football, right? You know, Charlie Brown, Lucy.
They come so close, Democrats. Obama won it by 0.3, Romney by two. Trump won last time around, Joe Biden came so close.
The gubernatorial races are a much different ball game because the bottom line is just two Republicans have won the state since 1980. You see a lot of blue on your screen, only Pat McCrory was able to win it back in 2012.
The bottom line is Roy Cooper by five. Roy Cooper by 0.2, Democrats are going to win. And Josh Stein is probably going to be one of those Democrats, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Harry Enten, thanks so much.
Trump was boosting Robinson in the primary against more mainstream Republican.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He's been an unbelievable lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson.
I think you're better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two.
(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: Now, Kamala Harris is capitalizing on that close relationship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I've been with him a lot. I've gotten to know him and he's outstanding.
AD ANNOUNCER: Donald Trump and Mark Robinson, they're both wrong for North Carolina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Let's bring in the panel.
Daniella, let me ask you, first of all, we should note, it's not as if before yesterday, Lieutenant Governor Robinson was uncontroversial. He was he was pretty controversial to begin with.
But do you think that this actually will have an effect on the presidential race in North Carolina?
DANIELLA GIBBS LEGER, EVP FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND STRATEGY, CAP ACTION FUND: Absolutely. I think it could. And that ad that the Harris people put out is spot on. Trump has been hugging Mark Robinson for weeks.
[16:10:02]
And he's been saying outlandish and crazy things for years. And, you know, as has been happening over the past couple of years, Trump has always pushing for the most extreme, the most MAGA, the most loyal person to be the Republican nominee.
And I do think there's a chance that mark Robinson that the top of that gubernatorial ticket will hurt Donald Trump.
TAPPER: I read an essay today, Mike, in -- it was in "Bulwark" about how ultimately, look, Republican voters in North Carolina picked up Mark Robinson over very conservative, more mainstream.
MIKE: More center of the road, extreme, yeah.
TAPPER: Yeah, Mark Walk -- Mark Walker, Congressman Mark Walker is a very conservative Republican.
MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Right.
TAPPER: But he's just not saying crazy -- he's not calling himself like Hitler for any number of reasons, I imagine.
DUBKE: And where he's saying, right.
TAPPER: Yeah, right, or posting it. Right, exactly.
Do you think that -- and the hope in this "Bulwark" essay was that maybe this will like shake people awake, like you have to stop going with the most extreme -- what do you think? DUBKE: I don't think that's going to happen.
TAPPER: Right.
DUBKE: And here's why I don't think that's going to happen. We have such a small number of individuals that participate in our partisan primaries now that there was -- there's a reason why he became the nominee and he had the support of Donald Trump during a period of time where Trump was lapping the field with there -- in his own primary. I think the bigger question here is whether or not it is going to affect -- I think you're right. I think it is going to affect.
I don't know that it's a game changer because North Carolina is the state that Democrat dollars go to die. Every year, the Democrats or every presidential year, especially, Democrats think that they can take North Carolina and it's happened what, once in the last 40, is that what the number was?
TAPPER: Forty-four, yep.
DUBKE: So, I don't know that it's going to be as crucial, but what I do know or I'm sorry, its going to open it up and the Democrats are definitely going to win it. But it is going to force now Republicans in the Trump campaign to pay more attention in North Carolina than they would have.
TAPPER: And so, we were told the Robinson is not going to be at Trump's event in North Carolina this weekend. Trump's campaign saying he was never invited in the first place, which doesn't make any sense to me. What's your take on how this affects the race?
BILL KRISTOL, DIRECTOR, DEFENDING DEMOCRACY TOGETHER: I mean, that's terrible that the Trump campaign is vowing to the woke mob. It's trying to -- trying to just black well, you know, Mark Robinson, I mean, the -- no, I think you can make it -- look, he's a creature of Trump.
I mean, he was -- he made some news in 2018 by, I don't know, losing his -- get a screaming get a school board meeting or something. I can't remember, and Trump helped recruitment to be lieutenant governor supported him in the primary. And that's why he became lieutenant governor, and then waited in 2023, '24, kind of -- and that's why he's the gubernatorial nominee.
So he's a little more closely identified with Trump than sort of just a random local politician who happen to win the nomination. And then that case, I think it wouldn't spill over much.
So I do think it hurt -- and I think that Democrats could do a pretty good job of he's a MAGA Republican. Trump's the head of the MAGA Republicans. You just can associate them.
Obviously, it's not going to move tons of voters I don't think. But 1 or 2 percent, I think it could. I mean, I think in Georgia, which is the place Democratic dollars went to die until they didn't in 2020, which is sort of could happen in North Carolina, in Georgia, I think Brian Kemp, who is a respectable mainstream Republican governor, who stopped Trump from stealing the state, hit the election in 2020, but he still supports Trump.
And I think if you're a moderate Republican, nervous about Trump, you're saying, well, look, Kemp's okay with him as president, it can't be that dangerous. I think it's the opposite in North Carolina. It's like jeez, this is the party Trump and Robinson. Maybe I'll stay home this time. So I think it could make a difference. In addition to running the ad that the Harris campaign is tying Trump to Robinson -- well, exploiting the ties that already exists, the ties are there.
What -- what would a Democrat do? I mean, is there a particular like when you try to depress turnout by just reminding Republicans of Mark Robinson and Trump? How do you -- how do you win?
LEGER: I mean, I think it's both. You have to remind Republicans that it doesn't have to be this way. You don't have to be governed by chaos and extremism all the time. And then you have to run up the margins where Democrats are strong and you have to go out. And so those rural areas that aren't just filled with light conservative voters, a lot of those rural voters or Black voters who just haven't been connected to the party in recent years.
And there's a great new leader of the state Democratic Party down there. And I think they're really putting in effort into expanding what the Democratic Party is in North Carolina.
TAPPER: All right. Everyone, stick around. We're going to have the panel back later in the show.
Vice President Kamala Harris just spoke in Atlanta. How is this scandal in North Carolina playing in battleground Georgia, if at all? Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will be here on THE LEAD.
Plus, the major news out of Israel today of the Israeli military saying it killed the top commander and operatives of the terrorist group Hezbollah. The impact that could have as strikes escalate in the region this week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do.
(APPLAUSE)
If she chooses, if she chooses, she will talk with her pastor, her priests, her rabbi, her imam, but it should not be the government or Donald Trump telling her what to do with her body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: As Vice President Kamala Harris moments ago rallying supporters in battleground Georgia, here with me now is Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta and now a senior adviser to the Harris-Walz campaign.
Thanks for joining us, Madam Mayor.
The Harris campaign released a new ad today, jumping on the report that broke here on the lead yesterday from CNN's KFILE about Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson in North Carolina.
I want to play part of the ad and get your response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And he's been an unbelievable lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson.
ROBINSON: For me, there's no compromise on abortion.
TRUMP: I think you're better than Martin Luther King.
ROBINSON: We can pass a bill so you can't have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So what is the goal of this ad campaign beyond reminding people of Robinson's position on abortion and Trump's ties to him?
[16:20:06]
Are you targeting people to vote for Harris-Walz or to discourage Republicans from voting?
KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, SENIOR ADVISER, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: Well, of course, we want people to vote for the Harris-Walz ticket and it's just a reminder of how hypocritical Donald Trump and now this guy who's a candidate for governor, had been on so many issues.
We don't know from one day to the next what Donald Trump's position will be. It seems to be whatever is convenient at the moment. And now seeing this breaking news with the candidate for governor, I mean, he's just a gift who keeps on giving, this guy, Lieutenant Governor Robinson, has just been a nightmare for North Carolina, and we know that North Carolina is a battleground state.
So, of course, the fact that Donald Trump has endorsed him, something that we want to remind the voters of in North Carolina, he's the type person that Donald Trump wants to leave North Carolina. And I don't think that's what North Carolinians want in the governor's office.
TAPPER: We saw Kamala Harris last night in a campaign event hosted by Oprah. And she said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: If somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot. Sorry. OPRAH WINFREY, TV HOST: Yes, yes. I hear that. I hear that.
HARRIS: Probably shouldn't have said. My staff will deal with that later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So, I believe Kamala Harris, I believe Vice President Harris had a firearm when she was district attorney in San Francisco. I believe that's right. And she's had it for personal safety at her home where it is locked up.
She said, perhaps, I shouldn't have said that. Should she not have said that do you think?
BOTTOMS: Well, she was joking and me and then obviously the vice president is given multiple interviews and she knows that every single thing that she says will be picked apart -- picked apart. So I mean, it was a joke and she knew that we would still be talking about it today, but, you know, I think it's important that people know that the vice president respects the right to bear arms that she supports a Second Amendment, but she wants responsible gun ownership and she wants our communities to be safe.
So, it was a joke that we're still talking about today. But again, I think it humanizes the vice president, and I think that's important as we enter -- as we are 46 days from the election.
TAPPER: We saw Vice President Harris at the rally today in Georgia. She's going to be in Wisconsin tonight. Yet she's not sitting down on for regular interviews, or fielding questions from the press, certainly not to the degree that her counterpart, Donald Trump is.
Why -- why is she not doing more interviews to talk about her policies and answer some of the questions that voters have about her policies and her change on her views and some of them?
BOTTOMS: Well, Jake, she's done interviews and I know that we would love or you would love to see her sit down every single day with CNN and do interviews, but it's that she's a very busy person. She's the vice president as well as the candidate, and we heard her today about her views on these policies.
It may not be in the format that the media would like. It may not be that she's sitting down doing a one-on-one interview but we heard her today in Georgia talk about her stance on reproductive freedom and how if she's elected as president of the United States, how she would use the power of the pen to make sure that these freedoms are protected.
And this is a really big conversation across the country. And especially here in Georgia, where we have this six-week abortion ban and we've seen two stories this week of women who died -- mothers who died because of this six-week abortion ban.
TAPPER: All right. Mayor, former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, thanks so much for your time today. Appreciate it. We're turning now to major developments in the Middle East next. What
CNN is learning about the strike by Israel's military that the IDF says took out at least 10 commanders from the terrorist group Hezbollah.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:28:11]
TAPPER: In our world lead, following a wave of attacks targeting members of Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, the Israeli military says it targeted and killed top military commanders of Hezbollah's elite Radwan force in a strike in southern Beirut. This is another significant escalation in this 11- month conflict in the Middle East, started when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, last year. And this targets not just enemies of Israel, but some enemies of the United States.
Here's CNN's Jeremy Diamond.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the third time this week, death and destruction on the streets of Beirut.
At least a dozen people killed and many more injured after Israel struck a multi-story residential building in the Lebanese capital. The Israeli military says it killed one of Hezbollah's most senior military commanders in the strike Ibrahim Aqil, the group's operations chief, alongside commanders from Hezbollah's elite Radwan force.
Aqil was also wanted by the United States, accused of involvement in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESMAN (through translator): There were about ten commanders who were killed and we're talking about the commanders who planned the shooting every day of missiles, rockets the operation into Israeli territory. I know that the residents of the north have been going through a very, very difficult reality in the last few months. We've been working since the 8th of October, and a very determined way to change this reality.
DIAMOND: The Israeli military says Aqil and the other commanders were meeting beneath this residential complex when Israeli jets struck. One building flattened in the strike, piles of concrete and mangled steel all that remain as residents and first responders rushed to find an evacuate the wounded.
[16:30:03]
The strike dealing a heavy blow to Hezbollah after four days of Israeli attacks that have shown Hezbollah to be vulnerable and exposed and how quickly Israel is willing to climb up the ladder of .s escalation. YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): I believe
that we are at the start of a new phase in the war. The center of gravity is moving north.
DIAMOND: On Tuesday, Israel detonated thousands of explosive laced pagers used by Hezbollah, killing dozens and wounding thousands of militants and civilians.
The next day, exploding walkie-talkies drove the death toll even higher.
And last night, Israel pummeled Hezbollah rocket positions in southern Lebanon, in one of the heaviest barrages this year, as Hezbollah fired at least 100 rockets into northern in Israel, it's clear Israel is ramping up the pace and intensity of its attacks in Lebanon as it looks to beat Hezbollah into submission, even if it means risking a devastating all out war.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DIAMOND (on camera): And, Jake, amid this intensified series of attacks, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we've just learned his holding a rare Friday evening phone consultations with security officials and several key ministers. This as the defense minister, Yoav Gallant vowed that this new, dare I say, riskier playbook that Israel is engaging in to try and restore security in northern Israel, vowing that this phase is going to continue until Israel achieves its aims -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, thank you so much.
Back here in the United States with just six or over, just over six weeks left in the 2024 hours, the man problem that the Harris campaign is facing.
Plus, legendary news anchor Connie Chung is here. Well talk to her about what her pioneering career did for so many journalists, including several here at CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:36:27]
TAPPER: And we're back with our 2024 lead. There are only 46 days until Election Day, and the Harris-Walz campaign is struggling to appeal to a group of voters that could determine the outcome of the election, and that is men.
That's not a group that seems to be a problem for former President Donald Trump. He plays golf with Bryson DeChambeau. He shows up on Theo Von's podcast. He meets up with boxer Jake Paul. If you don't know any of those people, talk to your 25-year-old gamer son, he knows them.
I want to bring in CNN's Audie Cornish, host of "The Assignment" podcast, and Peter Hamby, host of Snapchat's "Good Luck, America". And, Peter, you argue that Trump has more of an appeal among young
men, whereas the Democrats haven't had a cool guy candidate in a while, you say some of it's because of Trump's more macho brand, but other parts of it is because the economy?
PETER HAMBY, HOST, SNAPCHAT'S "GOOD LUCK AMERICA": I think so, Jake. Thanks for having me, by the way.
First of all, it's true in the polls and some of this has been noise over the -- over this last year and we haven't been able to really clarify whether it's happening. I think it's absolutely the case and probably unrecoverable for Democrats that men under 30 are drifting toward Donald Trump, an ABC/"Washington Post" poll from last weekend -- I'm sorry, just ABC. Forgive me Kamala Harris is winning young women by 38 points. She was only winning young men by three points. And that shows up in other polls.
If you go back to Biden 2020, Hillary Clinton, Obama's two elections, they were winning young men by 20 points, double digits. So that lead has gone away.
I do think there is a cultural appeal. It's -- it's pretty apparent if you talk to young man, white, Hispanic and black, that Trump just connects on some level, it could be changing notions of masculinity. It could be the fact that they're growing up in a media environment where they listen to Theo Von and Joe Rogan, and it's a nontraditional environment.
But the number one issue for men in any poll, like most people, is the economy. Kamala Harris's campaign is talking about the economy, yes. But a lot of it is geared toward abortion and abortion rights, which is the number one issue for young women.
And, look, the labor force is changing. It's more female, college campuses are changing. Male enrollment is falling, while female enrollment is going up. So, it's a mix of factors, but I absolutely, Jake, think that this spread could be crucial. Democrats need to win 60 percent of the youth vote to win the election.
TAPPER: Yeah.
HAMBY: That's what happened. Biden -- didn't happen with Hillary Clinton. She only hit like 58, 55, I think.
So right now, Kamala Harris, among voters under 30, she's polling around 55 percent. Maybe she can make up for it elsewhere, but it is a very interesting margin.
TAPPER: Yeah.
And, Audie, the Harris campaign strategy is to go after the gettable men those who aren't those who are persuadable.
Who are they?
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is that women over time or more likely to identify as liberal and the difference between them in men is that it's people with and without college degrees, whereas for men, that's not so much the case.
So I think that's why you see both campaigns specifically looking at men without college degrees. Just to underscore something that Peter just said, it's also about animating your base and who are the people who are actually going to leave their house and pull the lever for you. There is a world of young men who are more apathetic.
So, it's not necessarily that they are so in love with Trump. It's that they are disaffected and that's what makes them, quote/unquote, up for grabs, which is why you see these like very desperate things going on, we're visiting a bitcoin bar, we're going to be -- you know, Tim Walz, like doing a video while he's changing his car filter.
[16:40:03]
It's quite literal, but it's the idea that somehow you have to reach through these people's algorithms.
TAPPER: And, Peter, so how does the Harris campaign go after young male voters and not just white men, but Black and Latino men with whom Trump is making gains. We ran a little excerpt of a White Dudes for Harris digital ad the other day that I have to say I don't think that's going to be enough.
HAMBY: I agree with you on that, Jake. A great ad will show and not tell why you should vote for a candidate. That White Dudes for Harris ad, which viewers may or may not have seen, it just says that Harris and Walz are better than Trump for men. It doesn't tell you why. It doesn't show you images as to why.
Audie makes a great point. A lot of this is a branding problem. John Dellavolpe who runs the Harvard youth poll, I believe he's been on your show. We all know him like the gold standard of youth polling, he is found that among young man, among Gen Z men, their values around the role of government, around health care, around climate change are actually still more aligned with Democrats.
It's just a branding and messaging problem. So my question is, and I wrote this for "Puck" this week is who are the Democrats who can go into a Theo Von space, go on Joe Rogan. These are not Republicans. They might like Trump notionally, but just go in there and validate Kamala Harris's economic message, validate her in some ways, it used to be that Barack Obama could do that by going on SportsCenter.
The media environment is so fractured now that it's more difficult to reach those audiences. And then who does it? Maybe Tim Walz. He's obviously done the football coach shtick. But it's hard to think of someone other than Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama.
Just look, I don't want oversimplify just a dude type who can go talk to these other dudes.
TAPPER: Yeah. HAMBY: Another -- Kamala Harris though, Hispanic voters and Hispanic voters under 40, Jake, have really moved to her since the race. They're much swinger than white young men.
TAPPER: So, where is Coach Walz? You know, where was the idea of him going to a high school football game on Fridays and college on Saturdays, and NFL game on Sundays. He was supposed to be the guy that fishes and hunts.
CORNISH: Yeah.
TAPPER: He's AWOL as far as I can tell.
CORNISH: I don't think it's AWOL: I mean, I don't have these kinds of requirements of like men are from Mars, women are from Venus, where's your fishing pole? I think a lot of this is the economy. How are you going to talk about the economy?
Are you going to talk about it in a way that young men who feel like aspects of it or leaving them behind, feel like you're hearing them, and for young women, are you going to be able to talk still about the things that they feel are going to affect them in the economy? And hopefully, that's where the language to both these campaigns will go.
TAPPER: All right, Audie Cornish and Peter Hamby, two of my favorites, thanks to both of you.
Audie has, of course, a podcast. We call it "The Assignment with Audie Cornish". Download it anywhere you get your podcast.
And look, look for Peter stuff. It's great everywhere. Google it.
Coming up next, celebrated anchor Connie Chung. I'm going to ask her about a moment that she says almost incinerated her career. She's giving the backstory after so much criticism about the moment in her new memoir. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:47:03]
TAPPER: And we're back with a trailblazing journalist who has interviewed everyone from U.S. presidents, to world renowned athletes, even a real estate mogul who would later go on to become somebody you've definitely heard about.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CONNIE CHUNG, LEGENDARY JOURNALIST: I'll give you 30 seconds to make your pitch, right? Got a stopwatch. Ready? Go.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: NAFTA is important for this country because it means more markets.
CHUNG: Michael, you really do seem very normal, you know?
MICHAEL JORDAN, FORMER NBA PLAYER: Well, I try to be as normal as possible.
MAGIC JOHNSON, FORMER NBA PLAYER: Connie and I go way back to when she was with Channel 2 back in L.A. and I used to have a big crush on her.
CHUNG: Do you really feel like the philanthropic person?
TRUMP: I feel very philanthropic.
CHUNG: Do you?
TRUMP: I really do. And I'm a young guy --
CHUNG: You know people don't believe that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: She made history as the first Asian-American and second woman to ever anchor a major network evening news broadcast, earning three Emmys and a Peabody Award in the process. And now she's revealing all the highs and lows from her barrier breaking career in her new book, "Connie: A Memoir", legendary journalist Connie Chung, joins me now here at THE LEAD.
It's what an honor it is for me. I'm such a fan.
CHUNG: I'm sorry. I'm such a fan of yours.
TAPPER: You very serious.
CHUNG: No, I'm sorry, and I love it when you show your sense of humor. It's because you are very serious on the air when you're doing serious news I can -- so that's good.
TAPPER: Well, you're iconic, but I have to say as iconic as you are to me, I don't know that you understand what you mean to Asian-American journalists, like that we have here at CNN that some of our best journalists, Kyung Lah, and MJ Lee, and Amara Walker, and others. Because of you, they grew up knowing that they could do what they do and that you didn't have that growing up.
CHUNG: No. They were -- there were -- actually hardly any women. There weren't any skirts in the newsroom. There were just men. I mean, they were white men, not that there's anything wrong with being a white man.
TAPPER: Thank you. Appreciate it. So does your on your husband Maury, also, yes.
CHUNG: I'm married -- I'm married with one.
TAPPER: Very kind, very kind of you.
CHUNG: But I was among a so-called -- what I call a sea of men.
TAPPER: Yeah. In fact, you write, by the way, it was easy to imagine myself as just another white guy. This is when you were working and local news here in D.C. in 1969. The problem was men simply did not understand that I was one of them. They didn't see you as one of them.
CHUNG: Yes. I wanted to belong to the boys club and I don't know why they've looked at me and say, you're not a guy, but it's because I have this blossom look and they thought that I didn't wasn't made of the right stuff.
So I took on their persona. I was body, I was bold. I had confidence, I would walk into a room and demand respect just by virtue of the fact that I was another white guy.
TAPPER: Yeah, you would -- and you explained in the book that helps humor or you called it sass, helped you deal with the sexism and racism in some ways.
[16:50:08]
CHUNG: It was the only way I knew how to sort of combat it. So being one of the boys, I decided that I would be just as blunt and I would throw a sexist remark at them, or racist remarks at them before they threw one at me. And it was -- I don't know. You check back then. I didn't know any better. And I was young and I was quick.
Now I'm so freaking old. I'm not so quick.
TAPPER: You might feel it and you might be that the chronologically, but you do not look at I have to say.
CHUNG: Thank you. Thank you.
TAPPER: And we showed that we're showing these clips. Have you earlier in your career and it really does not look like that much of the aging process has actually happened. I want to ask about --
CHUNG: Oh, my God. No.
TAPPER: Well, that one.
CHUNG: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
TAPPER: Now, you're like 18 in that one.
CHUNG: Yeah.
TAPPER: In the book, you write about a moment that you say almost incinerated your career. It is you're interviewing the mom of the about to be speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.
CHUNG: Yes, ouch.
TAPPER: Well, that's -- I want to run the clip and then talk to you about it.
CHUNG: Okay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: Mrs. Gingrich, what is -- what has Newt told you about President Clinton?
KIT GINGRICH, MOM OF NEWT GINGRICH: Nothing. And I can tell you what he said about Hillary.
CHUNG: You can?
GINGRICH: I can.
CHUNG: Why don't you just whisper to me, just between you and me?
GINGRICH: She's a bitch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: She's an adult.
CHUNG: Yeah.
TAPPER: And obviously the cameras rolling and obviously she sat for an interview.
But you were -- you were really criticized for that as if when you said just between you and me, like as if that was meant to be taken literally. What -- tell us about that.
CHUNG: It was actually awful moment for me because, you know, she was playful.
TAPPER: Yeah.
CHUNG: Very playful.
TAPPER: You could tell that with the cigarette.
CHUNG: Yeah.
TAPPER: Smoking in the interview, yes.
CHUNG: She was a lot of fun. She had a lot of chutzpah herself. And I could tell where he got his chutzpah because she was -- she'd been around the block. You could tell that she knew what was going on and this was her moment in the sun.
So she was happy to just tell me any thing that came to her head, and I was asking her about Bill Clinton. Not Hillary.
TAPPER: She brought up Hillary.
CHUNG: She did.
TAPPER: She wanted to say -- this -- I remember watching this at the time and thinking why are people attacking Connie Chung for this? She obviously knew what she was doing. This again, this isn't a child. This is -- I think she was a 70-year-old woman, seems completely in control of her faculties and come ahead and complete idea of what was going on.
CHUNG: What -- and looking back at it, it was clearly what we call in covering politics, the art of the spin. Her son, who was brilliant --
TAPPER: Yeah.
CHUNG: Newt Gingrich was brilliant. He immediately saw that CBS put out just that little clip. You know, how politicians always -- it's out of context.
TAPPER: Right.
CHUNG: Well, I was sitting there going, that's how her context, because you couldn't see her playing with me. She was whispering, she was doing a whispering game.
You know how you have an aunt or somebody who can't say divorce or (INAUDIBLE).
TAPPER: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
CHUNG: And so, that was her game. And it was delightful.
TAPPER: But there was a firestorm of criticism against you.
CHUNG: Yeah.
TAPPER: I thought it was unfair at the time, but you say that that was one of the lowest moments of your career?
CHUNG: There were others.
TAPPER: Right. And they're in the book and the book is great.
One last question for you, which is, is it -- you have spent so much time in your career covering other people and not being part of the story, yes. Is it weird to rights a memoir in which you are the story?
CHUNG: Horrible. When I -- when I was writing it, you know, I submitted what is commonly called the S-H-I-T-T-Y first draft.
TAPPER: Yeah.
CHUNG: And it was very S-H-I-T-T-Y, and the editors said to me, you -- you're just telling me the facts.
And I said, well, that's what I do.
TAPPER: That's what you do. Exactly.
CHUNG: That's what I've done all my life and I got this great story about somebody that I went to high school with, and I went to interview. She said, that's not about you. I was -- I was so excited about this little story that I had
researched, you know? So he -- she says -- the editor says, you have to tell how you feel and -- what?
TAPPER: Well, the book is great.
[16:55:01]
And I'm so glad your editor pushed you, although I totally understand where you're coming from, I'd much rather talk about the stories I've done then the other people.
CHUNG: You -- you've written books.
TAPPER: Yeah, not about me though.
CHUNG: Yes. I can't wait for your --
TAPPER: For my memoir?
CHUNG: Will you really spill the beans?
TAPPER: You're going to be -- first of all, I don't have any -- I don't have any good beans. I really --
CHUNG: No?
TAPPER: All bad beans.
CHUNG: I'll bet you do. I'll bet -- I can find out what that is --
TAPPER: I bet you could, which is why I'm going to end the interview right now.
The book is called "Connie: A Memoir", Connie Chung, a real honor. Thank you so much.
CHUNG: Thank you.
TAPPER: Coming up, the new rule are coming just 46 days before the presidential election, one that could hold up getting the final results from one key battleground state.
Plus, the blowback today after Donald Trump said if he loses the election, it will be because of the Jews.
Stay with us.
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