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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Donald Trump Speaks at Annual Al Smith Dinner in New York City; Trump Attends Charity Event, Harris Stays on Campaign Trail; Trump Resurrects Racist Attacks on Kamala Harris. Fox News Anchor Bret Baier Acknowledges His Mistake; "Newsnight" Panelists Discuss Why Some Voters Still Prefer Trump Over Harris. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired October 17, 2024 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: -- incredible man, a man who was a tremendous politician.
[22:00:04]
And actually the fact that he was Catholic was -- it probably did him in, right? It probably -- nobody knows for sure, but he was a great guy, Al Smith, great guy. Everyone says it, happy warrior.
I've said before that -- I'll say it again, I'll say it again as many times as I have to directly to the mayor and the governor, if I have the honor to be elected next month, we're going to see what happens. It's happening so fast, but if I have the honor, I look forward to working together to make this city greater than ever before. We're going to do that. We're going to be focused on. I'll work with the governor. I'll work with the mayor, Democrats, I will work with them. I work with whoever I have to, and we will even work very hard to bring back the SALT tax deduction. We're going to bring it back. We're going to bring it back. We're going to get that thing going, Chuck, okay?
I actually thought about not doing jokes tonight. I was going to come out here and say, listen, our country is doing very badly. This is not about jokes. And then some person said, you have to do jokes. I said, I don't want to, there's nothing funny about what's happening to our country. And I actually meant that I was going to do that, but they convinced me to say some of the things I said tonight. I don't know if they were funny or not, but, hey, you think this is easy standing up here and doing this in front of half a room that hates my guts and the other half loves me. Half of us love me, but maybe it's I think 75 percent love me.
But I actually do. I did think about that. And our country is doing very badly with respect to its open borders and inflation crushing, things happening in the Middle East and Ukraine. It's so sad to see what's happening in Ukraine. Wow. I had a lot of people -- from very religious people come up to me tonight from Ukraine and they're asking me for help. So, sad to see so many people have been killed in Ukraine. And we're going to get it settled up if we win. As I'm president elect, I'm going to get that done. I'm going to do it before we ever get back. We have to get it stopped. Too much killing, it's killing, and all of those cities are coming crashing down, those beautiful golden domes are crashing down on their sides there. So sad to see, the whole thing is so sad.
So, we're going to be -- for all those people -- there's so many people came up to the dais and religious people from Ukraine. And I'm going to say, and I told them, don't worry, we're going to get it stopped. It's too bad it ever started. It should have never started. It wouldn't have started.
But we're going to have our country respected again. We're going to make sure that it's respected and we're going to go out and do very good things for ourselves as a country and for the world. These are challenging times for our beautiful USA, but I'm committed to working with every partner here in New York and all across the nation to build an America that once again is strong and safe and proud and prosperous and free.
I'm going to make sure together we can create a future defined by great ambitions and grand achievements that once again inspires the dreams of our children, brings back the American dream. You don't hear about the American dream anymore. We're going to make it possible for them to have the American dream.
This is a very religious evening to me. It really is. It represents so much. My sister was somebody that loved the church and gave to the church. A cardinal knew that. I had a certain priest that she thought was incredible, right, for a certain, very, very fine man that she thought was incredible.
Having recently myself survived two assassination attempts, I have a chart that went down to the right. Fortunately, I looked at my all time favorite piece of paper, but it went down and I looked to the right and I said, you know, was that luck? What was that luck? Or was that God that did that? And I think it was God that did that. I do. I do.
But I have a very fresh -- Cardinal, I have a very fresh appreciation for how blessed we are by God's providence and his divine mercy. I mean, that was something -- I was not supposed to be here tonight, that I can tell you. So, with God's help. I know there is nothing that cannot be achieved. We can achieve so much good with this country and get together and unify.
I want to thank the Al Smith Foundation for its noble work. And I want to express my tremendous gratitude to the Catholic community. It's a great community. It's a community I've gotten along with all my life. I'll tell you when I was president, I was in the Oval Office and I got a call from the Cardinal.
[22:05:02]
And he said, we need help. It was during the China virus. I want to be accurate when I describe it. And he said, we need help. Our schools are in devastating shape. They needed much more than a billion. I won't even tell you the number, but much more than a billion dollars. But I've known the community and I've known that the schools, I know so many people that were educated in the Catholic school system. And they are great and they just speak with it like with love, much more so than almost any system that I've seen. And he said, sir, we have a big problem. We need a number of billions of dollars or we're going to have to close down the New York school system, the whole system in New York. And I said, give me 15 minutes. I think I can find it. And we gave him billions of dollars.
And you know what? He stayed open and they thrived. And to this day, I hear you did just about the best job there is an education. So -- and that was always an honor. And every time he sees me, he says, thank you very much. I said, I know what you're talking about, but we worked together. We have a good partnership, right? We got that money in about 15 minutes, billions. And it was put to very good use.
But I just want to thank everybody. This is a special evening. It's a very serious evening. I think we have some serious problems in the world, but they're going to get solved and we're going to make America great again. And thank you very much. And God bless you all. Thank you. Thank you very much.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You've been watching the former president and Republican nominee, Donald Trump addressing the Al Smith Dinner. It's a charity event that gives the presidential candidates a chance to do some comedy in the middle of a heated and bitter political year. Donald Trump did get a lot of laughs, he also got some boos, and he used the stage to call Kamala Harris disrespectful for skipping the dinner. And then he cursed from the stage. He praised conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has endorsed him. He tried to flip the word weird against Democrats, and he made a transgender joke about Chuck Schumer, who was sitting right next to him. He joked about Doug Emhoff's infidelity in his first marriage. He winked at the assassination attempts against him and much, much more.
Good thing we've got our round table here to break it down. Brian Stelter, what did you make of this performance?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Oh no, don't ask me first. I thought he was funny. I thought he actually got a few great jokes in. I thought the best moment was we talked about the assassination attempts, and made light of what he's experienced, because I think he's experiencing real trauma, real PTSD, as a result of the shootings, but he's still able to have a light moment in this room, and he took advantage of the fact The Kamala Harris wasn't there, which is really the point is that he kept --
PHILLIP: But just really the subtext of this whole thing.
STELTER: exactly, that she --
PHILLIP: They're usually supposed to be in the same room.
STELTER: It is frustrating, though, that he will not pronounce her name correctly. It's not difficult. And he goes out of his way to insult her in a way that I think is racially tinged. PHILLIP: You know, the fact that she's not there, Bomani, smart move, not so smart move? I mean, she put out this video in it, and actually they brought in like a real comedian to do the bit with her. But she could have done exactly what Trump did and roast him from the stage.
BOMANI JONES, PODCAST HOST, THE RIGHT TIME WITH BOMANI JONES: Yes, but let us stop and imagine the moment where this dude makes jokes about your husband's infidelity with his first wife and you're just sitting there like, oh, man, that was hilarious. No.
PHILLIP: I have to say if you were watching, Jim Gaffigan, who was on right before Trump made a joke about, grabbed them by their you know what with Melania Trump sitting right there.
JONES: Yes.
PHILLIP: She was not amused.
JONES: Well, I mean, the audacity of Trump to decide, like you would think some game recognized game would come up at that point. You're like, no, I think we're going to leave that joke out of here. I don't feel like I'm the person who could tell this. But it is difficult for me to listen to him joke right now because nothing feels funny.
I could understand like if I would -- if I were Kamala Harris, the signal I would want to give is, no, I really don't feel like sitting around and joking with this dude right now because I don't think he presents a lot to joke about at this point.
LEIGH MCGOWAN, SOCIAL MEDIA HOST AND CONTENT CREATOR, POLITICSGIRL: I also think that that event, it used to be a good natured, humored way to kind of take some levity into the campaign season, but I don't think it's like that anymore. And that would really be from the 2016 event with Hillary Clinton where Donald Trump changed the whole tone of that event by attacking Hillary Clinton in that particular event. So, I feel like he's the one that kind of changed the tone of that to begin with.
And then it's a Catholic event where Kamala Harris is running very distinctly on returning the rights of Roe to people. And this is a group that really, really loves that those rights were taken for women in the country. So, it feels like, you know what, she only started her campaign in July. He's been running for president since he was inaugurated in 2017. So, he can take a break to make some jokes. She's working.
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, she probably didn't think it mattered.
[22:10:00]
I mean, most evangelicals, white Christian churchgoers, voted for Donald Trump 59 percent, Biden -- or 59 percent, Trump, Biden 40 percent in 2020. To your point, she's probably looking at this demographic and thinking based on my policy positions, they're likely not going to vote for me anyway. It's more expedient for me to be in Wisconsin, a state where she may or may not win.
For Trump, I think it's important because a larger percent of Catholics don't vote. They're infrequent voters. So, if he can turn out four or five percent of those voters in some of those swing states, that may make a difference for him in November.
RYAN GIRDUSKY, FOUNDER, 1776 PROJECT PAC: But, Shermichael, this was not an event for evangelical Christians. This was an event for Catholics. Biden won the Catholic vote in 2020, and Trump won the Catholic vote in 2016. So, it is an immensely important population, especially in states like Pennsylvania, huge Catholic population, huge ethnic Catholic population who respond to cultural Catholic things, like talking about Catholic schools. That is an enormous.
I am Catholic, it is a very, very deep part of our culture, is our Catholic schools, they're constantly under budgetary issues, and a lot are closing. This was a perfect time. She could have had a lot of smooth things. And no one would have noticed if she may have gone, but people noticed that she wasn't there.
STELTER: I'm an old fogey. I want these traditions to continue. I want our institutions to thrive. And yet I find myself agreeing that there's nothing funny right now. I mean, I thought he had some great one liners, the line about, you know, he was talking, you know -- now I'm going to forget them all, of course, on live T.V.
GIRDUSKY: The Eric Adams joke was very funny. Yes, that was good.
PHILLIP: There were a couple Eric Adams jokes.
GIRDUSKY: There were a couple of jokes that were really good.
STELTER: I want our politicians to roast each other. I want them to be able to be in the same room and find common ground.
PHILLIP: But I think to Leigh's point, it does kind of strike me that the Harris campaign is sort of tacitly saying, hey, this ain't normal. Trump is not normal and I'm not going to sit here and kiki (ph) with him.
JONES: The last thing I would want if I were Kamala Harris and Trump managed to win this election is that you got a bunch of video with me after the fact, kiki ended up with Donald Trump when we have no idea what this man is capable of if he winds up winning this again. Like I don't want to -- I would not want to be the person immortalized in that way. And the internet does not ever, ever forget.
MCGOWAN: I feel like we keep normalizing him, right? So, if you go to this event and you do this good nature back and forth thing, you're normalizing him as a candidate.
JONES: But I don't know how much of that is part of the calculation. We didn't realize how abnormal he was eight years ago.
GIRDUSKY: And you guys were saying he was so normal.
JONES: No, no, no, no, but we got a whole different track record now.
GIRDUSKY: Now, you're fact peddling now, but you're all calling him abnormal.
JONES: In 2016, I firmly believe myself, and I think a lot of other people, how bad could it really be? Eight years later, we don't say that.
STELTER: Well, you believed in guardrails back then. You believed the guardrails would hold.
Look, Trump was able to be self-aware tonight. He had self-deprecating jokes. He made a comment about, okay, time for me to make jokes about myself. Okay, I have nothing to say. That's an acknowledgment of how -- yes, you weren't impressed?
MCGOWAN: No, no. Was he self-aware or did he have one good writer that got a bunch of excellent jokes in there? Because the man is not -- there's one good writer. We were talking about that. There's one person that was joked. You went, that was a good joke. That was a good joke. Whoever wrote those jokes did a great job.
But is he self-aware? No. Did he make fun of himself? No. Did he have one good joke and he read it off the teleprompter?
SINGLETON: The fact of the matter is, again, if I'm advising the vice president, I'm looking at this moment, I don't know if I necessarily agree about the laughter factor of it, I'm looking at how close this race is. And as a strategist looking at the data, I'm thinking, Madam Vice President, it makes no sense for you to be in New York when you can be in front of an arena with thousands of voters trying to energize them and turn them out.
PHILLIP: How many events did you have to make today? You had like three events today.
SINGLETON: Absolutely, a ton of events today.
GIRDUSKY: Pennsylvania is very Catholic, tons of Catholics in Pennsylvania, and it is the largest swing state.
SINGLETON: I'm not negating that, Ryan.
GIRDUSKY: No, I know.
SINGLETON: I just said, if I'm advising the VICE PRESIDENT, I wouldn't be in New York.
GIRDUSKY: As a Catholic, this wasn't a big thing, but this was shared all over social media for Catholics. Gretchen Whitmer behaving like a Dorito as a Eucharist.
(CROSSTALKS)
GIRDUSKY: She was talking about the CHIPS Act.
PHILLIP: Okay, guys.
GIRDUSKY: She made it. I'm telling you what Catholics were sharing on social media. You could sit there and say it wasn't intended, that's what people took it as.
STELTER: I agree with you.
GIRDUSKY: So, then for that, from a few weeks ago to all of a sudden skipping the big Catholic event for politics, the biggest one, and a long history of Democrats continuing to slip at the Catholic vote, it is an incredibly --
SINGLETON: (INAUDIBLE) strategy. I think it was smart for Trump to be there, I absolutely agree. I think it was smart for her to be somewhere else just looking at the numbers.
PHILLIP: I wonder, I mean, the gettable Catholics for Kamala Harris, are they really looking at the Al Smith Dinner and saying, oh my God, she's not there, we're not --
GIRDUSKY: They're thinking, does she like people like me? That's a big question for Kamala. Does she actually like people like me? Considering -- like take a Pennsylvania voter who heard Obama say they cling to their guns in their Bibles, who had Hillary Clinton feel like they were very far away, and Joe Biden was counting (ph) on Pennsylvania.
PHILLIP: But do you think abortion is the pivot issue for those Catholics?
GIRDUSKY: No, it's not.
PHILLIP: Then what is it?
GIRDUSKY: It's the Catholic schools. It is being good on your economy. It is understanding family economics, stuff like that, and also being relatable to working class issues and not putting them down.
[22:15:04]
PHILLIP: So, it's basically the same issues that everybody --
(CROSSTALKS)
GIRDUSKY: The cultural part of it that is specifically Catholic.
STELTER: I've been in Pennsylvania all week, and when you look at the billboards, most of the Trump billboards are just saying Trump. The Harris billboards are about policy. She supports raising the minimum wage. She supports abortion rights. So, there's this argument going on in Pennsylvania, right, where policy versus just the cult of personality. And on policy, Harris has strong arguments to make.
PHILLIP: Okay, quick last word. SINGLETON: I'm just going to say, but have those policies really moved the needle, Brian? I'm not convinced that they have. Like there's a relatability issue there for some of those working class whites with the vice president and the former president.
PHILLIP: All right guys, hang on. Stand by. We've got much more ahead.
Breaking news tonight, new revelations about what Mitch McConnell will do for power. Hear what the Senate's most powerful Republican called Donald Trump behind closed doors.
Plus Fox News' Bret Baier admits that he made a mistake during the contentious Kamala Harris interview yesterday. We'll tell you what he said, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:20:00]
PHILLIP: Donald Trump calls how he talks the weave. You might call it throw insults against the wall and see what sticks. The GOP nominee gave a lengthy interview for the PBD podcast, and it was, well, something. And it included a Trump throwback, a race-baiting attack about Kamala Harris' racial identity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Black men really like me, and I think black women do too. But they have a woman who is black, although you would say she's Indian, but she is black, but she really -- a lot of people didn't know, which is true. But --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I learned about it just a couple months ago. I mean, you know, the fact --
TRUMP: That she's black or that she's Indian?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that she's black. I thought she was Indian until a couple months ago. Things change. I mean --
TRUMP: You know, a lot of people --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because cause if you follow baseball, Sammy Sosa, kind of -- you know, you, you sometimes have to respect people. They change, right? So, I thought maybe she was doing a Sammy Sosa the other way.
TRUMP: Yes. Sammy's changed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Bomani --
STELTER: Crack it up.
JONES: Now, that's funny.
PHILLIP: The Sammy Sosa of it all is wild, but, I mean, are we really doing this again?
JONES: I don't think he remembers what he already tried and got off of and then was like, oh, yes, we'll get back to this one. I mean, look, logically speaking, there's not many places where you become more popular by being black. Like the argument that she's not black almost feels like it's counterproductive to the aims of what it is that he's going for. But they've decided that this is the way they're going about this. Substantive issues are not going to get anywhere for them. They have figured this out. This is about vibes. They think this vibe works. I would think by now they had somebody tell him this one doesn't play because when they tried it early, that was the universal thing, it's like this one isn't playing. I just think he forgot.
PHILLIP: I think he doesn't care. I mean, it's like the Haitian immigrants, he just says it because that's what he wants to say. But Trump, again, we keep talking about this because he keeps bringing it up. He is struggling with the Kamala Harris of it all. He actually joked tonight at the Al Smith Dinner that now he likes Joe Biden. And he says that because, this is what he said on Truth Social, Kamala should be investigated and forced off the campaign and Joe Biden allowed to take back his rightful place. He got 14 million primary votes. She got none.
GIRDUSKY: That's funny.
SINGLETON: I mean, she --
GIRDUSKY: That's funny. That is funny. That's funny.
SINGLETON: I mean, look, when President Biden was in the race, I mean, I think everyone for the most part sort of believed that Trump was likely going to win. The reality is Kamala Harris is a formidable candidate. I mean, you have to bring your A game. She's younger, she's excited at the Democratic base, she's raised a lot of money. So I certainly get the frustration.
But, look, there's a host of issues where Donald Trump leads on, Abby. We've talked about it for months now. It's the economy and immigration. My advice to him would be to stick to those things if you want to maintain your lead going into November.
STELTER: But you know better. You know he's not going to. You know -- I don't know.
SINGLETON: You know who he is.
STELTER: You know what I think, guys? I think we laugh so we don't cry. And in that same post that you just quoted Abby, he also said CBS should be forced off the air. The license should be revoked. 60 Minutes should be kicked off the air, election interference. This is crazy stuff.
PHILLIP: Until it's not. I mean, that, what you're talking about, he could try to do. We know that he has a history of trying to punish media companies for doing journalism that he does not like.
STELTER: But we look at it and --
GIRDUSKY: But didn't Obama spy on a journalist?
STELTER: But, Ryan, it's in all caps and it seems funny, it seems wild, so people sometimes dismiss it, even though it's very serious.
GIRDUSKY: But, Brian, didn't Obama spy on a journalist?
STELTER: No administration is perfect.
GIRDUSKY: What? No, I don't think that, I do not believe that Donald Trump did what Barack Obama did.
STELTER: The Trump administration put Reality Winner behind bars for leaking the Interceptor. Every administration is guilty of some of this.
GIRDUSKY: Okay.
STELTER: But the Trump --
GIRDUSKY: That's not the same thing.
STELTER: Donald Trump has threatened every major media company in the United States, including Fox.
PHILLIP: Wait, but, Ryan, okay, all right, let's call it what, what you say, I think Brian's point is Trump is saying he wants to take an entire news organization off the air because he doesn't like an interview that they conducted.
STELTER: He doesn't like the editors.
PHILLIP: Can't you just like, in the real world, acknowledge that's bad?
GIRDUSKY: I would say that Donald Trump should get a diary instead of Truth Social. That's my opinion. That is -- sometimes you do need a diary.
PHILLIP: I just have to point out, you didn't answer my question.
GIRDUSKY: No, because I don't think it's a serious thing. It's what we talked about last time, literal versus figurative. I don't think anyone really thinks he's going to take CBS off the air.
SINGLETON: I mean, how?
[22:25:00]
STELTER: But what about the --
JONES: That doesn't mean he's not going to try.
GIRDUSKY: How is he going to try? How is he going to -- is he going to --
STELTER: Appointing an FCC chair who will do it. But what about the racism? What about the racism? What about the racism today about Springfield, Ohio, saying they're eating other unspecified animals?
GIRDUSKY: Is it racist that like Janet Jackson said she wasn't really black?
MCGOWAN: Yes, but don't flip --
GIRDUSKY: I just want to know, is it racist? She did say that.
MCGOWAN: Is Barack Obama -- is this with Janet Jackson? Like he's asking you a question.
GIRDUSKY: No, I'm asking a real question.
MCGOWAN: No, you're not. You're answering his question with a question. What he's saying is, is it not crazy that he can just say racist things, make up things about cats and dogs, say whatever he wants on the air and it doesn't matter, and you flip it around, what about Janet Jackson? Like what are you talking about, man?
GIRDUSKY: Is it racist that she asks the same question?
MCGOWAN: But that's not the question.
GIRDUSKY: Why is it not the question?
SINGLETON: So, to the point about --
MCGOWAN: Because Donald Trump is running for president, right? Janet Jackson's not running for president, all these other people you're mentioning. Donald Trump is the one running for president. And we need to take this man and the things he says seriously. And the things he's saying are, I'm going to take people off the air that I don't agree with. I'm going to go after my political enemies. I'm going to do these terrible things and we have to take these terrible things. You're doing it again. Don't do it again. Don't do it again.
GIRDUSKY: Did Hillary Clinton go to jail? Did Hillary Clinton go to jail? Because he promised he was going to send her to jail and then he never did.
(CROSSTALKS)
STELTER: This is what Trump does to all of us, though. This is what he's done to the country.
PHILLIP: I mean, if anything, this show is a little bit of a microcosm of the country, but I just have to say, Ryan, you know that there is a lot of reporting of Trump both attempting and succeeding to direct his government to go after his political enemies. You know that that is true, right?
GIRDUSKY: Which political enemies did he get arrested? PHILLIP: He tried -- he literally --
GIRDUSKY: Wait, which one? I don't know which one did he arrest.
MCGOWAN: He's talking about getting Adam Schiff arrested once he gets back into office.
PHILLIP: I'm not.
MCGOWAN: Schiff, he's going to get him arrested.
PHILLIP: But you also don't --
GIRDUSKY: I get that, but he said that Hillary Clinton would go to jail and she didn't. So --
PHILLIP: Ryan, don't put words in my mouth.
GIRDUSKY: I'm not.
PHILLIP: Don't say that he got her arrested.
GIRDUSKY: I asked a question.
PHILLIP: Obviously.
GIRDUSKY: Yes.
PHILLIP: I said that he attempted to use the government against his political enemies. That is true. And so the idea that he says things and then doesn't try to do them is not borne out by facts. He says things and then often tries to do them.
GIRDUSKY: Two things. One, the blovicating, I think, that people sit there and say, all right, normal people are like, I don't care. Trump's annoying, but I like his policies and that's fine. The second thing is that a lot of presidents went for their political enemies using the government. Trump did not get anyone -- I mean, that's the truth. Obama used the IRS against his political enemies, that did happen. But he did, that is -- yes he did.
PHILLIP: Okay.
JONES: I'm just trying to figure out why you're so comfortable in the guardrails around somebody that tried to overturn an election result? Like how do you feel so confident in what this man will not do?
GIRDUSKY: Because he was president already.
PHILLIP: Guys, I want to get some other things in, but, again, Ryan, please. Because Barack Obama was -- you have no evidence that Barack Obama directly asked the IRS to go after any political enemy.
GIRDUSKY: They just happened to. You have no evidence that Barack Obama was involved in that. You have to acknowledge that because you don't. GIRDUSKY: Okay, I don't. They did though.
PHILLIP: But you --
GIRDUSKY: I don't have evidence that they did.
PHILLIP: You said Barack Obama used the IRS to go after his political enemies. That is false.
GIRDUSKY: His administration did this to --
PHILLIP: That's false. But we're going to move on. We're going to move on because I want to play the other things that Donald Trump said and the other people that he went after. It was kind of --
STELTER: There was more?
PHILLIP: There was more. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think he's angry. He pretends not to be, but I think he's an angry guy. He's a nasty guy. He's got a little bit of an edge. And, you know, he's angry about a lot of things.
Van Jones, total sleazebag.
He thanked this one, this one, that one, that one. The only one he didn't thank was Donald Trump. I think Zelenskyy is one of the greatest salesmen I've ever seen. Every time he comes in, we give him a hundred billion dollars. Who else got that kind of money in history? There's never been. And that doesn't mean I don't want to help him because I feel very badly for those people. But he should never have let that war start. That war's a loser.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Talk about blaming the victim.
MCGOWAN: There's someone in that interview that's a loser and it's not Zelenskyy.
SINGLETON: I mean, look, a lot of people, whether you want to agree with it or not, and I have my differences with the former president on whether or not we should support Ukraine, but a lot of Americans look at how much money we've allocated to Ukraine, and a lot of people wonder why are we spending so much money on this conflict, when is it going to end --
PHILLIP: I get that, but you're skipping over the main part, which is that he said Zelenskyy should not have let the war start. Zelenskyy didn't start the war. Who started the war?
SINGLETON: I agree with that. Putin obviously started the war, I'm not negating that. My point is that a lot of people look at how much money we've spent on this conflict, and they're asking themselves, my roads are crumbling, my schools suck, we just had major disasters across the country, FEMA doesn't have enough money allocated.
STELTER: I don't live in that country, by the way. America's not that horrible.
SINGLETON: Brian, if you get out of New York and talk to --
[22:30:01]
STELTER: I don't live in New York. I live in a normal city, in a normal town. My roads are not -- I love New York, but my roads are not crumbling. My schools don't suck.
I just -- I just get tired of the anti-America --
SINGLETON: Well, maybe you're fortunate enough to put your kids in darn good schools, but there are a lot -- no, no, let me finish here.
(CROSSTALK)
STELTER: -- public schools in a small town (ph). I just think all the anti-America stuff is so tiring.
SINGLETON: There are a lot of people in this country who aren't wealthy, who don't live in great cities, who do have to send their kids to terrible schools. That is a fact because of their zip codes.
(CROSSTALK)
SINGLETON: And the singer arrogantly said, well, my kids go to great schools. I live in a great neighborhood. That's your experience. The roads are crumbling like we're --
LEIGH MCGOWAN, SOCIAL MEDIA HOST & CONTENT CREATOR, POLITICSGIRL: If I may --
PHILLIP: I mean, I just think what Shermichael is saying, I mean, that is -- the point that you're making, Trump has taken that mantle up, but it used to be, to be honest, the Democrats were the ones saying --
SINGLETON: They were.
PHILLIP: Let's get out of these wars. Let's get out of Vietnam. Let's get out of Afghanistan. Let's invest in America and inner cities. And Republicans would say, let's fund the Department of Defense. So, that's the flip that's happening.
MCGOWAN: But Democrats are investing in our country. They did pass the Infrastructure and Jobs Act. They did pass the CHIPS Act. They did bring manufacturing back to America. So, they are investing in America.
And if I may, your point is good. People are saying, why is our money going over to Ukraine? Why are we sending all this money to Ukraine? I think what most people don't understand is that a lot of the money that we're spending on Ukraine is actually being spent here in America.
We are sending old weapons over to Ukraine and then we are rebuilding new weapons here in America to update our military, to make new fresh weapons, to give Americans jobs to do things here. So, a lot of the money spent on Ukraine is actually spent right here. And we keep telling people it's going away, but it's actually been spent here.
PHILLIP: All right guys. I want to-- I want to, hey, I got to let that - I got to let that point sit. I do want to get one quick thing in. This is, last night, that interview on Fox News. Bret Baier made a mistake and he owned up to it today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I want to say that I did make a mistake. When I called for a sound bite, I was expecting a piece of "the enemy from within" from Maria Bartiromo's interview to be tied to the piece from your town hall, Harris, where you asked the former president about the "enemy from within". It just had the piece about the town hall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: And it was misleading because of that because it admitted the -- I mean, frankly, wild statements that Trump made and then doubled down on.
STELTER: A screw up on Fox's part but Harris was ready for it. She used it to her advantage and 24 hours later I spoke with Harris aides who feel very good about the interview. They believe that she scored point from that interview and they're promoting the Fox clips all over the web. So, ultimately this may be a positive for her.
MCGOWAN: Yes, it showed her in a good light, I think. It showed her that she could move on her feet.
BOMANI JONES, PODCAST HOST, "THE RIGHT TIME WITH BOMANI JONES": I want to see those emails at Fox and somebody was like buddy and apologize tomorrow.
PHILLIP: I know.
JONES: Somebody--"Esquire" was like, hey, man, we need to correct this.
PHILLIP: I mean, I'm not sure. I think there were probably a bunch of people who thought that was just fine. I think it is to Bret Baier's credit. He acknowledged it was a mistake. It shouldn't have -- it was seen as sanitizing Trump in a way.
UNKNOWN: Right.
PHILLIP: And I think he deserves credit for correcting that.
UNKNOWN: That's true.
PHILLIP: Brian, thank you very much for joining us.
STELTER: Good to see you all.
PHILLIP: As always, everyone else hang tight. Coming up next, Vice President Kamala Harris praising the death of Hamas' leader in a potential game changer in the war in Gaza. We've got another special guest who will join us in our fifth seat at this table. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIP: Tonight, Kamala Harris says the assassination of Hamas' leader gives Israel and Gaza a fresh chance to end this year-plus long war. Now, this is drone video of him alive just shortly before his death. But despite the major moment in the conflict, what Harris said today mirrors nearly exactly what she has been saying all along about Gaza. Just listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (D): Let's understand how we got here. On October 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization, slaughtered 1200 Israelis. Well, let's start with October 7 -- 1200 people were massacred. A terrorist attack that killed 1200 innocent people.
And so, absolutely, I said then, I say now, Israel has a right to defend itself. I maintain Israel has a right to defend itself. Israel has a right to defend itself because it is also true far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.
A war that has led to unconscionable suffering of many innocent Palestinians. What we know is that this war must end. This war has to end. This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: She would say and said this week, that is message discipline. But this for her is a very important political issue where there is a segment of their democratic coalition that wants to see actually a change in the rhetoric. They want to see her move in a particular direction. Has she done enough?
REENA NINAN, FOREIGN AFFAIRS ANALYST: I don't think so. And I've been talking to people in the business sector in the Arab American community and I was really surprised this week to get an earful to hear them say that they would much rather either vote a third party, not vote at all, or vote for Donald Trump.
And I'm telling you, it's not obviously a significant sample size, but I cannot find one Arab American within my social circle in business or personally who have said that they will vote for Kamala Harris.
[22:40:03] When you look at the polling, it seems sort of neck and neck. What they are saying, and this is not a Donald Trump campaign line, that Tiffany Trump's father-in-law, who's a Lebanese businessman, has been successful in kind of converting and talking to people to explain why Trump would be better.
Even with the Muslim ban, even with everything else that has happened, they feel they do not have any political clout. They don't have any political operation. The only political power they have is their vote, even if it means the rise of Donald Trump.
PHILLIP: That's extraordinary. That's extraordinary. I mean, and that part, I mean, we were hearing about the inroads that Tiffany Trump's husband was making in the spring when the uncommitted --the uncommitted, uninstructed movement in a couple of states in Wisconsin and Michigan was such a big deal.
I mean, 48,000 votes for uninstructed in Wisconsin. That's more than twice Joe Biden's margin in 2020. In Michigan, 101,000 uncommitted votes. That's just shy of what Joe Biden won that state by. I mean, this is important and it could be decisive.
RYAN GIRDUSKY, FOUNDER 1776 PROJECT PAC: And there's 200,000 Muslims in Georgia that no one talks about, too. And in the care poll which came out several months ago, Kamala Harris was in third place among Muslims and several other states behind both Donald Trump and Jill Stein so there is this position that she's in.
But she also said by the way in clips that they shouldn't go to Rafah and she said it did that she would put something on the table against Bibi Netanyahu's government if they did go into Rafah. And now, she's taking a big credit that they killed the terrorists in Rafah. It is a little bit of a flip-flop moment for her in a very fast time considering how frequently she flip-flops.
PHILLIP: And we were talking about also what Joe Biden's position was. He was the one who created that red line about Rafah, which Israel completely ignored. But one interesting thing, I mean, I noted Trump didn't address this today at all -- surprised.
SINGLETON: Yes, I don't think he needs to, honestly. I mean, I think --
PHILLIP: I mean, don't you think it's a huge -- I mean, this is a big moment.
SINGLETON: No, it is a big moment. But if I'm looking at it through the political lens, I'm listening to everything you just stated and if my daughter is sending her father-in-law out to these consequential places and they're talking to that particular community, I'm going to allow that to exist. I'm going to focus on other things.
I recognize the liabilities for the vice president. They're the same liabilities for Joe Biden. They may even be potentially worse for the vice president. Because I think the expectation was because she's younger and also of color, there would be some sort of shared understanding with the Arab American community and there isn't. So, that's a huge problem for her.
NINAN: And I think it's the forgotten that you talk about. This is a community that isn't often followed very closely. They've typically in the past two decades, voted Democratic. And to have these people say this, and keep in mind, when you look at this and people are viewing in the Arab world, 60 percent of the Arab world is under the age of 30.
They are coming of age with this war. It doesn't matter whether they're Lebanese or from Saudi Arabia or Jordan. They feel very strongly that this needs to end. And when you talk to them about what direction we should go in with the White House, they don't believe that Kamala Harris is offering a change.
JONES: And they also, like, there's a particular concentration in Michigan that affords its own power of swaying, not quite like Cubans in Florida, but that same point. And that's why it's been a little surprising to me that the Democrats have not approached this much differently, because if you want to try to win this without Michigan, go ahead and do it. I just would not make that my strategy. And it felt like they basically putted on them their policy.
PHILLIP: Well, it's a kind of, I mean, they're in a tough spot, because there is U.S. policy, which is staunchly behind Israel. There is also a pretty sizable contingent of Jewish Democrats, for whom this is also a huge issue. So, she's trying to be right there in the middle and. That's not what Arab American voters and Muslim voters want to hear. They don't want a down the middle response to this.
MCGOWAN: Yes, I think it's a tough position to be in because I think that she's the current V.P. of a president that has a policy that she needs to be respecting and behind. And she's a current candidate, which rarely happens the way we're doing it like this.
And so, what -- if I may ask you, what does the Arab community want to hear from her? They want to say she's going to do what that she could do without stepping on her boss' toes?
NINAN: I think it is the loss of life over and over again. The fact that this many people can die and nothing be done about it.
MCGOWAN: Right.
NINAN: And they feel that they don't have a voice and ability to advocate for what they believe should be an end to this and simply calling for an end is not enough for this community. So, they feel this is just a continuation and for there to be change, there has to be change in the White House.
PHILLIP: Can I just play real quick what Trump said about Netanyahu today?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (R): Biden wanted everything to just sort of ferment. They wouldn't listen to him.
PATRICK BET-DAVID, "PBD" PODCAST HOST: You think Bibi will listen to you?
TRUMP: Do I what?
BET-DAVID: Do you think Bibi will listen to you?
TRUMP: Yes. Oh, he'll listen to me 100 percent.
UNKNOWN: 100 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: That might be the case but I have a hard time seeing that as something that would be beneficial to the Palestinians.
[22:45:04]
GIRDUSKY: I think that right now, a lot of Muslim voters and a lot of Muslim political leaders are looking this in the long-term. Because of our immigration system, Muslims will outnumber Jews in this country in a very short period of time overall.
And if Kamala Harris loses, in a big part because the Muslims voted against her in Michigan, you will probably have a much different Democratic Party going into 2028 and forward on the issue of Israel. They will not be -- so try to be two-sided, I think, going and realizing how votes and demographics are changing elections.
NINAN: How is the Jewish community supposed to hear what you just said? Because that, if I was in the Jewish, I'm not in the Jewish community, but I'm wondering how are they supposed to hear what you're saying and not feel like someone needs to protect them?
GIRDUSKY: But that's the truth. I thought that's how, that's my opinion of how demographics are altering geopolitical politics in our country. It's a simple thing of numbers. When such large voting blocks live in certain areas, we just have different politics. Certainly, our politics in New York around Jewish voters is much different than like Texas. It doesn't always --
MCGOWAN: Sure.
GIRDUSKY: I mean, that's just the truth. We have an immigration system that brings in lots of Muslims, they increase their population every year. They will outsize the Jewish population in a very near time. They live in very important swing states. And eventually, the Democratic Party will sit there and make a choice. Do I sit there and vote with Jews or with Muslims? And it will just be a -- it will be a geopolitical and political period of show.
NINAN: And it's not just the Democrats. I think also, when you look across the Arab world, there's going to be a shifting of power amongst a younger generation who will also look at this in a similar lens. PHILLIP: All right, Reena Ninan, great to have you here. Thank you so
much for joining us. Everyone else, hold on. Coming up, if someone calls you despicable, stupid, a narcissist, can you count on their endorsement? Well, Senator Mitch McConnell is now defending these newly released comments about Donald Trump. We're going to discuss all that he said next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:51:10]
PHILLIP: Let me ask you something. Could you work with someone who called you these names --stupid, ill-tempered, despicable, a narcissist? Well, according to a new book, those are some of the not- so-nice things that Mitch McConnell had to say about Donald Trump. And he makes the case against Donald Trump in a way that I think Kamala Harris would be pleased about. She said -- privately, he said, "It's not just the Democrats who are counting the days until Trump left office and that Trump's behavior only underscores the good judgment. of the American people. They've just had enough of the misrepresentations, the outright lies, almost on a daily basis, and they fired him."
MCGOWAN: Yes, I mean, look, this is exhausting. I wish people wouldn't wait until books were written to say what they really feel. I wish they wouldn't wait.
PHILLIP: And to be clear, he does not say those things.
MCGOWAN: No, but it was reported that he said these things. But I think the thing is, is that I guess I kind of wonder, to the conservatives at the table, I guess I kind of wonder, like, we know so many of the conservatives feel this way secretly about Donald Trump. Why not just take the hit for four years, let him lose, and then get your party back? Why do we keep defending this person that everyone clearly doesn't respect?
GIRDUSKY: It's about -- it's about saving the country and most Republicans don't think they could survive four more years of Kamala Harris as a country.
MCGOWAN: In what way?
GIRDUSKY: Open borders, six million people coming across the border. We did have high inflation, horrible foreign policy, wars across the globe that didn't happen while Trump was president. There was the reshoring of manufacturing.
MCGOWAN: Okay, I'm not going to let you do this. She didn't. I mean, I could sit there and do the whole thing. I could do the whole thing too, but we're not going to do that.
PHILLIP: Is it that or is it just about raw political power? Because I mean, Mitch McConnell is basically saying this guy doesn't have the temperament, the judgment. He's not smart. But he's also saying, well, I guess we've got to win elections, so I'm going to endorse him. SINGLETON: What is electoral politics about if it's not about
winning?
PHILLIP: Well, there's also the country.
MCGOWAN: Yes.
SINGLETON: I understand that but in order to actualize policy, you have to have power. And Mitch McConnell, who I would argue is probably one of the greatest tacticians in the Senate, at least in the past 90 years, understands if conservatives, Republicans want to have a conservative Republican agenda, we need to keep the Senate.
We do in the White House and try to diminish whatever losses we may have on the House side. So, I think it's more about that than more about whatever his personal thoughts may be about Donald Trump's faults.
JONES: But one thing that is worth noting is that between state legislatures and the way the justice has been drawn within the House, the Republicans have absolutely dampened the negative effects of losing the White House. In fact, almost to the point where they're insulated from not having the White House.
PHILLIP: That's a very good point.
JONES: You know, and I would, and I would push back on the idea of the we can't stand another four years of Kamala Harris, or we're afraid. She started this campaign with "they not like us" to kind of be like, oh, you know, "we're all kind of like the same." I agree with a few of them. We're taking in - we're talking about --
GIRDUSKY: Which version of Kamala Harris? Because she has evolved so many times.
JONES: The one that's taking endorsements from Dick Cheney. I don't think you got that much to beat.
GIRDUSKY: That is not a good endorsement to have.
JONES: I agree, but that's--
GIRDUSKY: The guy who got Iraq and put you on. You guys agree. It's not the endorsement you want.
JONES: I agree that's not the endorsement she wants, but that's the endorsement she's gotten. I can't figure out why you all so scared.
GIRDUSKY: Because I don't want Dick Cheney in my party. Let alone have him -- no, but I was --
JONES: You've got the war party.
MCGOWAN: But it's not just Dick Cheney. It's Karl Rove. It's H.R. McMaster. It's General Mark Milley. It's anyone that we --
GIRDUSKY: Did you vote for George W. Bush? Did you vote for George W. Bush?
MCGOWAN: No, I was still Canadian then.
GIRDUSKY: Okay, well, would you have? Because if you could have, if you would have.
MCGOWAN: No, that's actually what made me become an American. Because I thought I cannot do one more election where I don't get a say in the presidential election.
GIRDUSKY: So, then why are you going to vote for somebody who has all the George W. Bush people clamoring to support her?
MCGOWAN: Because everyone that's clamoring to support her realizes that we are holding on to democracy with a giant umbrella. And then there is this man that the people who have worked with him and know him best, called a fascist who wants to round up political enemies and round up people in camps.
[22:55:02] And they say, we know we don't agree. And we know we go from Nina Turner all the way to Dick Cheney.
GIRDUSKY: They have been wrong about everything for 20 years.
MCGOWAN: Oh, they've been wrong about everything but you've been right about --
GIRDUSKY: "The Wall Street", I mean, these are people who continue with --
PHILLIP: Wait, wait, hang on. So, hang on, hang on, Ryan. So, wait.
GIRDUSKY: -- a 20 percent approval rating. That's who got the endorsement.
PHILLIP: So, were you a Democrat in the Bush years?
GIRDUSKY: No, I was always, oh, during the Bush years, yes, I supported John Kerry. But because I was anti-war.
PHILLIP: Oh, you just learned something new about him.
GIRDUSKY: But I've always been anti-war. I'm completely anti-war.
PHILLIP: That's interesting. All right. We got to go, guys. We really have to go now. Everyone, thank you so much for watching "New Night State of the Race". It was a great show. "Laura Cotes Live" starts right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
