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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip

Now, Harris And Trump Hold Competing Rallies In Wisconsin; Trump Defends, Amps Up Cheney Remarks, She Kills People; Trump's Fraud Lies Accelerate Just Days Before Election; "NewsNight" Tackles Presidential Election 2024. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired November 01, 2024 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[22:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST (voice over): Tonight, in the final days, MAGA's rhetoric from hateful --

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: Liz Cheney should have been taken out of the jungle and placed in the middle of a small town America. That's ridiculous.

PHILLIP: -- to the violent --

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: She's a radical war hawk.

PHILLIP: -- has Democrats believing words could tilt the election.

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: This must be disqualifying.

PHILLIP: Plus, win, lose, or draw, how Donald Trump is already laying the groundwork to cry and lie fraud.

And did Kamala Harris make a mistake by allowing her rival to become the first candidate to visit the nation's largest Arab American city?

Live at the table, Nayyera Haq, Shermichael Singleton, Ameshia Cross, Doug Heye and Carl Bernstein.

With four days to go, Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here, they do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIP (on camera): Good evening, I'm Abby Phillip in New York.

Let's get right to what America is talking about. How far is too far? Both candidates are in Wisconsin tonight, holding competing rallies just miles from each other. RFK Jr. is speaking right now, but it's Donald Trump who is now under investigation in Arizona over whether his comments about Liz Cheney constitute a death threat.

Here he is talking about the Republican turned Harris supporter. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let's see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face. You know, they're all war hawks when they're sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, oh, gee, well, let's send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Just a short time ago, attempting to clarify exactly what he was talking about and saying that it was about her foreign policy views, Trump actually amped up the rhetoric, baselessly saying Cheney, quote, kills people.

Now for her part, Cheney responded to this by saying, this is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. Vice President Kamala Harris also took it a step further, saying that this disqualifies Trump from the presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: He has increased his violent rhetoric, Donald Trump has, about political opponents and in great detail, in great detail, suggested rifles should be trained on former Representative Liz Cheney. This must be disqualifying. His rhetoric has grown more extreme and he is even less focused than before on the needs and the concerns and the challenges facing the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So, I just want to just give one caveat. Okay, he didn't say what some people are saying, firing squads. That was not what he said. But he literally said rifles being trained at Liz Cheney. So, let's look at the actual words and then let's add to that the history that Donald Trump has of a lot of different kinds of violent rhetoric.

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I'll start because it seems to me we're dealing here with more than rhetoric. We're dealing with imagery, very purposefully. And this is both the rhetoric and imagery of Stalin, of Putin, of fascism, and it's intended to be about death. And who has he chosen in this instance to give this death image of rifles trained on her face? Really, the person who he hates almost more than anyone in our politics today, and that's Liz Cheney, who stood at the top of the investigation into his behavior, conduct, his sedition, criminality of January 6th.

His hatred for her, like for the press is in a league by itself, that this is really who he's talking about when he talks about the enemy within. And his notion of the enemy within is that these are people who really do deserve to be dead. And the imagery is there with it has been, will continue to be, because this is essential to who Donald Trump is and why he is not fit for the presidency.

[22:05:04]

NAYYERA HAQ, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE SENIOR DIRECTOR: It's also why he's appealing to many people, and that that's part of the challenge we'll have to be dealing with even after the election results have been tabulated and someone's been sworn in, is that once incited, the racism, the violent language, the extremism that is very hard to put back and come up with some kind of civil discourse.

So far, what I've heard from Trump sympathizers is to not take this seriously. It's just a joke. And if you're upset about this type of rhetoric, you can't take a joke. And I think four days before election, we should take people for what they're saying in their final statements.

AMESHIA CROSS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Exactly when he showcased how abusive his rhetoric can be and what can come out of that rhetoric. I think that for Donald Trump. He's not using these words willy-nilly. He knows exactly what he's doing and he knows what it can lead to and he's seen it happen in the past. That's how we got to January 6th.

But I agree with what you said. At the end of the day, this is also someone who is laser focused on going after his enemies. So, when he has that imagery of shots to the face, regardless of how his MAGA supporters want to slice it, he used that very, very strategically in that moment.

And be mindful, Liz Cheney has had thousands of death threats since she sat on the January 6th committee. This is a woman who put it all on the line, her record, her seat, her family's legacy. Her father has also come out and endorsed Kamala Harris here. She's somebody who said that I'm going to uphold democracy no matter what. But for Donald Trump, because she's also the face of accountability for him, I think that he has a real serious long-term problem.

PHILLIP: I'm, also just kind of confused about the hyperventilating around this on the right that, I don't know, okay, I guess maybe he wasn't talking about firing squads, but does that make anything that he said there okay? I mean, it just -- I don't understand that outrage when his words on their very face are extremely violent.

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes. Look, I think it tells you that there's some nervousness there. And that the Republicans I've talked to on today or not in the campaign, they're certainly close to the campaign say, this gets to some dangerous places.

But I didn't agree with everything everyone has said and Donald Trump's candidacy from day one started with violence and ugly language, but I'd also inject some political realism here. You know, Kamala Harris said, this is disqualifying. The voters are going to decide that. And what we saw in previous elections is that they didn't disqualify him.

I was in North Carolina the day the Access Hollywood tape came out. And I said like everybody else, well, this race is over, this is disqualifying. The next morning, I was at a Republican political event in Raleigh, North Carolina, and I realized, oh, this race is not over. And we're not talking about a Donald Trump who's at 25 percent or 35 percent. This thing is neck-and-neck. And what should be disqualifying for his base is either something that's revving him up or they're willing to just, you know, fold into everything that's around Donald Trump and he can still win.

HAQ: So, he was fundamentally disqualified in the last presidential election, right? And that's his whole argument is that he says, you know, stop the steal, but he was not elected president last go around. That said, to your idea of the permission structure --

PHILLIP: We will continue this conversation in a moment, but I'm going to go now to that Kamala Harris rally. Cardi B, the rapper, is now on the stage.

CARDI B, GRAMMY-WINNING ARTIST: How are you guys doing?

I'm nervous. I'm excited.

What's up, you all?

One second, guys. One second.

Okay. So I don't take lightly the call. Sorry, guys. I'm a little nervous. I'm a little nervous, guys. I've been waiting for this moment my whole life, my whole life.

I need patience over here. Patience, where are you girl? I need patience over here.

Hold on, hold on, hold on. How are you guys doing tonight? How you guys doing tonight? Are we ready to make history? Are we ready to make history? Are we ready to change these four years? No. Are we ready to change the next eight years because we're going to make sure we have Kamala Harris in office for eight years?

[22:10:00]

Thank you, all right.

Vice President Kamala Harris, thank you for having me. I do not take lightly the call to show up, the call to speak up, the call to deliver a message that's been on my heart for a hot minute now.

Now, I took my time writing this speech so I'm going to make sure I deliver it right, because I've got something I've been wanting to say for a long time. I've been saying it on Twitter, on my Instagram, and I'm ready to tell it to you now. You all ready to listen?

All right, now, all right. Just like Kamala Harris, I too have been the underdog. I've been underestimated. My success belittled and discredited. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you all something. Women have to work ten times harder, perform ten times better, and still people question us, how we got to the top. They'd be like, how she got there?

Hold on. Let me get, let me warm up. Yes. Let me tell you something. I can't stand a bully. But just like Kamala, I always stand up to one. All the time, I'm ready for them. Yes. And I'm going to be real with you all. I wasn't going to vote this year. I wasn't. But Kamala Harris joining the race, she changed my mind completely.

I did not have faith on any candidates. And so she joined the race and said the things that I wanted to hear that I want to see next in this country, all right? I believe in every word that comes out of her mouth. She's passionate, she's compassionate, she shows empathy, and most of all, she is not delusional. Yes, yes.

Kamala recognized that this country is at risk, that the economy needs to get stronger, that the cost of food and the cost of living is too high. Damn, it's even high for me!

I believe her when she says, under her, buying eggs and milk won't break the bank, because she's going to pass a ban on price gouging on groceries. And she told me that in my face. So, she better not lie to me in my face. Yes.

I believe her when she says she will make housing more affordable by providing Americans with $25,000 in down payment assistance. Yes.

Hold on. I got more. Yes. Yes, she's promising a lot. And I believe her when she says she will provide a tax cut to 100 million middle class Americans. That's a lot of Americans. And that includes $6,000 for parents in the first year of child's life. You all remember when they used to do that? You all remember what country used to do that? Yes.

And speaking of healthcare, let's talk about it. Let's talk about healthcare. Did you hear what Donnie Trump said the other day? You all heard what he said? All right, I'm going to tell you right now. Let me get drink my water. Yes, stay hydrated. He said he's going to protect women whether they like it or not. He said he's going to protect women whether they like it or not. I'm repeating it. Donnie Dunk, please, protection for women, especially if we're talking about maternal and mental healthcare, telling them what to do with their bodies, it's supporting them and giving them the care they need for what they choose to do with their bodies. I don't play that.

People like Donald Trump don't believe women deserve rights. And when those rights are taken away, they are nowhere to be found. When a mother's going through postpartum, he's not there to hold her hand. When a child is in foster care or in a shelter because their mother is not mentally stable or financially stable to take care of them, they're not there. The people outside (INAUDIBLE), yes, yes, they're not there.

[22:15:00]

They're all gone. Those people outside Planned Parenthood, screaming at women's faces, they won't be there when women go through stuff. They don't.

And everything is possible. Shout out to the single moms out there, but it's hard. Trump says he's going to protect women whether they like it or not. Well, if his definition of protection is not the freedom of choice, if his definition of protection is making sure our daughters have fewer rights than our mothers, then I don't want it. I don't want it. I don't want it. I don't want it.

We all knew Trump was a hustler, but hustling women out of -- and I'm a hustler too, yes. But hustling women out of their rights to their body is nasty work. Hustling Americans out of their hard earned money by selling Trump watches, Trump sneakers, and Trump Bibles -- by the way, the watches is $100,000. Yes, yes, made in China, another country he discredited. It's nasty too.

Let me ask you all a question. Let me ask you -- wait, is Milwaukee in the building? Is Wisconsin? Yes!

Let me ask you this question. Do we really trust this man with our economy, our economy, a man who cares only about making himself rich and cutting taxes for his billionaire friends? I don't even get a tax cut!

So, that is your wallet? Tomorrow, he'll be conning you out of your healthcare rights. And that's a fact. I want you to hear that again. Today, he's hustling you with the, oh, buy my sneakers, tomorrow it's going to be your health care rights. He's going to take it away from you. He's going to snatch it.

Donald Trump talks about how he has a concept of a plan. But America, the only concept of a plan he has is a plan to hustle you. Yes.

PHILLIP: All right. You're listening to Cardi B, rapper, Grammy award- winning artist right there.

And we talked a lot at this table about the power of surrogates, celebrity endorsements. But I have to say, she is a very effective person. She's very authentic.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, she is, she's entertaining. She's very authentic. I like Cardi B. We were just talking when she was speaking about her oftentimes going on Instagram, going on, well, X, formerly Twitter, talking about economics, talking about taxes talking about issues from Bernie Sanders, working class issue.

Look, you know, I always have my skepticism about how influential these celebrity endorsements can be, because I oftentimes don't believe they're utilized in a proper way. But I like what she's saying. And I think her ability to perhaps connect with younger women, who may not always want to engage in the political process.

If you're a Democrat, you want someone like a Cardi B who can speak to those women where they are. So, I thought the message was pretty effective, politically speaking.

PHILLIP: One of the things that she had to say was, I wasn't going to vote this year at all, but Harris, Getting into the race, totally changed her mind. She's speaking for a lot of people who are probably in that same situation. They were looking at Joe Biden and Donald Trump and they were like, it's not for me.

CROSS: She's speaking for a lot of people and I think she's authentically speaking for herself. Because for anybody who's followed her on social media, she was very vocal about her opposition to Biden running again, she was also very vocal about her opposition to where she thought America was going. First off, with a higher cost of living, talking about people who can't afford rent, even some people in her own family, talking about the states where she saw abortion rights fall and what that meant for women before people were running ad campaigns nationally.

She has been very active when it comes to advocacy on those issues, in addition to, I think, speaking to the everyday Americans, because she's talking about her own family, she's talking about cousins, she's talking about people who she grew up with, she's talking about people who are still working those low wage jobs and are trying to make ends meet and saying, America has to have opportunity for them as well.

HEYE: That's all well and good. But in politics, we often use the phrase, the deliverable. What's the deliverable?

CROSS: Oh, enthusiasm.

HEYE: Okay. Enthusiasm is not a deliverable though. This is not Frank Sinatra getting the West Virginia primary for JFK back in 1960. And I'm reminded as I watched Cardi B --

PHILLIP: I don't know if anybody could do that anymore.

HEYE : Well, of course he was Frank. But I was reminded watching Cardi B of a name that we haven't heard in a long time politically, meaning, you know, a few months, Taylor Swift. Now, I know she's giving a concert right now in Indianapolis, but remember when Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris, this was the biggest, baddest, greatest thing that ever happened. What happened? Where's the deliverables from her?

HAQ: 400,000 people registered overnight.

[22:20:00]

HEYE: But are we seeing the text messages? Are we seeing the follow- ups? Are we seeing the deliverables that campaigns are trying to always get?

CROSS: They're still jumping on calls and donating and all those things, but I think that there's a huge difference between the advocacy of a Taylor Swift and one of a Cardi B, again, because Cardi is somebody who has this longstanding resonance when it comes to political issues. This is not her first foray.

HEYE: Sure.

CROSS: Taylor came out and she came out --

HEYE: She was a great Bernie bro, but there was no deliverable for Bernie. Bernie didn't get there.

PHILLIP: So, I mean, there is a tactical element to all of these rallies. I mean, not to diminish the sort of, kind of, the message and all of that stuff, they are doing a massive rally, massive, in Milwaukee. This is the get out the vote stage. Every single one of those people is a follow-up to make sure that they get out of that rally and they cast their ballot. They find out if they've already cast it.

I just think there's some practicality to having big names like a Cardi B bringing people to the room.

HAQ: This is why you hold them on campaigns for these last few days, right? The endorsements up on like up to a certain point, this is get out the vote. Being at a rally, being in community, being really excited about what you're hearing and connecting with it, yes, it gets people to go out and vote, if they haven't done that up.

PHILLIP: Those margins for the Democrats in these cities, like Milwaukee, is going to be extremely --

BERNSTEIN: Athletes too, same thing, that she's had athletes for Kamala this week. She had Magic Johnson and

PHILLIP: Dwayne Wade, LeBron. James.

(CROSSTALKS)

BERNSTEIN: But LeBron James is a big deal coming out today.

CROSS: She had Captain America.

HEYE: And, look, I haven't seen Bruce Springsteen twice in the past two months. I'm very enthusiastic about Bruce Springsteen. I don't overrate what his political impact is when he performs at a rally and --

HAQ: And the Democrats have done well with celebrities, right? In general, Democrats do well with celebrities.

BERNSTEIN: Part of it's getting the vote out. It's getting the vote out, getting these people out with the enthusiasm.

SINGLETON: I always beg the question about the resonance of the message and the speaker. And I think in this particular case, and we talked about this yesterday, again, I'm always skeptical about how these celebrities move forward with their endorsements. I think there is legitimacy for Cardi B in terms of talking to those working class issues.

Now, to your point, Doug, can those voters leave and say, I feel inspired and motivated to not only vote myself, but to bring someone with me because of the message I heard, I think there could potentially be some resonance there.

PHILLIP: I have to say that the -- HEYE: They need text messages from her then.

(CROSSTALKS)

PHILLIP: There was some clarity to what she was saying about the economy, about prices, about rent, that -- to me, that broke through in a way that, honestly maybe not even the candidate herself has been that effective.

SINGLETON: And that's the issue --

HEYE: We all agree on that.

SINGLETON: Cardi B isn't running for president. Kamala Harris is.

PHILLIP: She's not, Cardi, not yet.

HEYE: Not yet.

PHILLIP: Everyone stick around.

Coming up next, it's the sequel to the 2020 lies, only this time Trump is now peddling fraud conspiracies even before the election has even happened.

Plus, did Kamala Harris miss a big opportunity in a big swing state where Donald Trump made a surprise appearance today?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We got to win, first of all, but we are leading, just keep the cheating down, the only thing can stop us is the cheating. It's the only thing that can stop us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Donald Trump laying out the sequel to his 2020 election lies, increasingly accusing Democrats of election fraud, no surprises there. But it is not just Trump, his fervent followers and supporters are also getting in on the lie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM FITTON, HEAD OF JUDICIAL WATCH: They've structured the voting process in places like Arizona or up in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania to make it easier to steal the election, if need be. So, if you normalize the counting of ballots after Election Day, boy, that sure makes it easier for fraudsters to come in and manipulate the outcome.

DAN BONGINO, HOST, THE DAN BONGINO: They are preconditioning you to not ask any questions about the election. Do not fall for it.

Your concerns about them stealing an election are valid and that's why they want you to shut up about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: There is a difference between just normal things that happen that get investigated. Sometimes they're bad. Sometimes they're not. And what a lot of these people are doing, which is saying that there's widespread fraud everywhere, but especially if we lose.

SINGLETON: Look, I think if you look at Bucks County, the RNC filed a lawsuit there. The court sided with the RNC. You got to leave those open.

PHILLIP: That's totally different story.

SINGLETON: But I'm going to get to my point. In Virginia, Governor Youngkin was successful. The Supreme Court said, hey, the state can't remove individuals from the state your ballots or from the pool that we believe may be in the country illegally.

So, campaigns have apparatuses in place to challenge issues like this. You do have the process after the campaign is over to say, well, wait a minute, we want to recount of the votes. Those things are typical. That's not out of the norm.

My advice would be for Republicans, utilize what's legally within our capacity to challenge when necessary. So far, the challenges appear to be in Republicans' favor. I don't think the other rhetoric at this point in the game is necessary.

HAQ: So, legally doesn't necessarily always mean the best or morally right at this point. When you have a system that has been stacked in with Trump appointed judges in certain states where they have gone above and beyond what has been existing case law about voting rights and access to the ballot, there is cause for concern, especially when you combine that with this constant grievance message.

And this is what I mean by that. Trump plays on people's grievance, their grievance about broken systems, about them falling behind. And his answer is not black, brown, immigrant people, whatever. The second answer is, the system is broken. So, do not trust elections.

[22:30:01]

Do not trust anything around you. He has made it so whatever works for him politically, he has an audience mobilized and ready to go to question even the most mundane ongoing government system.

BERNSTEIN: But it's more than that. This is a blanket assertion that he has been making for months and months that this, the deck is already stacked, that this is a criminal process that is depriving you, my supporters, of winning this election, and we can't win this election because of this fraud that is being perpetrated on us.

CROSS: Which is the same thing that he said in 2020.

BERNSTEIN: Exactly. And it is a basic campaign strategy. And part of the strategy is to create this idea that he has tremendous momentum going into these final days of the campaign through what we might call fake polls.

CROSS: And I think the scary part --

BERNSTEIN: Which are Republican-sponsored polls by and large. There are about 35 of them have been done in the last few days that are weighted to show him with an advantage. And to create the impression of movement so that he can say, look, we were ahead in all of the polls. It also helps his turnout. And it is part of a basic strategy of grievance, being cheated, the same thing we saw that he used to try and stage a coup.

CROSS: And the Democrats are also getting a major assist from China. They're getting a major assist from Russia. They're getting them across social media, where we're seeing these images that are being perpetuated in battleground states specifically, where they're pointing to immigrants who aren't even, people who aren't even from those states. A lot of those are stockholders.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: There was a video of a Haitian --

BERNSTEIN: Haitian --exactly.

PHILLIP: -- fake video, just to be clear, of alleging that Haitian immigrants were voting multiple times. The video is completely fabricated.

UNKNOWN: Here's another --

BERNSTEIN: But that is a Russian creation. That was done by the Russians.

HEYE: And this is how it's going to play itself out on election day, separate from election night, right? We have driven people away from being normal poll workers. People every two years go to the same precinct and have done it for years, if not decades. So, we have new people in a lot of these places, new in counties and precincts.

PHILLIP: And in some cases, not to interrupt you, but in some cases, what concerns me about the trend is that there's this idea that only the hyper-partisan should be involved in the elections, which is not really the way things were prior.

HEYE: Most poll workers are not hyper-partisan at all. They're really doing this out of civic duty. They're at their neighborhood church or school or what have you. But now, there are new people in there who are also civically minded. They're going to make mistakes. Why are they going to make mistakes? Because it's the first time they've done this. You make mistakes the first time you do something.

But everybody now can show up with phones and say, this is fraud. That is fraud. You're stealing. You're stealing. As opposed to somebody who's just made a normal mistake because they haven't done it before. That's election day, much less election night.

CROSS: Trump and his campaign are also going out of their way to intimidate poll workers.

BERNSTEIN: I'm just going to say, this goes back to the Liz Cheney factor. He intends to intimidate people involved in the process. He intends for people like Liz Cheney, for the press, to be intimidated and frightened. And same for poll workers.

PHILLIP: All right, real quick.

SINGLETON: I just don't think intimidation is necessary. Again, the two examples that I've pointed out, I've worked on a lot of campaigns. You prepare for these types of things when you want to challenge. My advice would be to tell your voters, get out and vote, bring people with them to vote.

And if we suspect something, we're going to go through the legal process for proper challenges as we have seen. And if they're successful, great. If they're not successful, then that's okay, as well. Respect the process.

PHILLIP: Yes, and questions are not fraud. A legal process is not fraud. There's a process for these things and it doesn't mean that there's fraud.

HEYE: But supporters can deputize themselves and that's what's going to happen on election day.

PHILLIP: And that is what the main concern was.

BERNSTEIN: And what we saw the last time out was not what you're talking about, but rather bogus instances that were cited by the Trump campaign.

PHILLIP: All right, everyone, hang on. Coming up next, was it a mistake for the Harris campaign to allow Donald Trump to claim to be the first person in running in this race to visit Dearborn, Michigan? That's where the nation's largest Arab American population is. We're going to discuss it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:38:26]

PHILLIP: Live pictures here of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump just a couple miles apart tonight in the battleground state of Wisconsin. We are in the final stretch, the race for votes before November 5th. But the question tonight now is, did Kamala Harris miss a big opportunity in a different swing state? Trump today became the first candidate to visit Dearborn, Michigan. That's where the nation's largest Arab American population lives and where Harris has yet to campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (R): I know many people from Lebanon and we have to get this whole thing over with. We want to have peace. We want to have peace on earth. All over. All over. So, you're going to have peace in the U.S. right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Donald Trump's comments there are clearly a pitch to get Arab American voters. And I just want to read what the Democratic mayor of Dearborn said, blasting Democrats. He said, "Your unwillingness to stop funding and enabling genocide created the space for Trump to infiltrate our communities. Remember that." He says he's no fan of Trump. Trump will never be his president. But he's not happy about this.

HAQ: There are many people in the Arab American and Muslim community who want to feel seen and heard within the party that they feel like they have supported in the post 9-11 era. I think that's true of many different ethnic communities that they want their particular policy issue to be recognized and affirmed.

[22:40:03]

That said, Dearborn is not all of Arab American and Muslim community in the United States. Kamala Harris had Palestinian Americans and Arab Americans on stage with her in Michigan on October 4th, right? There were headlines about that.

So, this is also part of Trump flattening and playing up the narrative of how he is now suddenly the savior of a community that he initially came out in office saying that he was going to ban from entering the country.

Now, are there vulnerabilities in policy? Absolutely. But to suggest that one preacher who, like many preachers do, wants to take the stage and get a captive audience, just like Trump does, represents the dynamic within a much bigger community is disingenuous. But Trump will lean into that because this is what he does.

PHILLIP: There was some imagery to it that he was clearly going for.

HAQ: He knows what to do.

PHILLIP: And it was more than just, I think, about the Gaza situation. It's also just about Trump trying to paint himself as an anti-war candidate. It's pretty extraordinary. Let me just play what Peter Hamby over at Snapchat was talking to a lot of young voters about this pitch from Donald Trump. And here's the concern that they raised.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: I'm voting for Donald Trump. For me, it's really just the threat of rising global conflicts. And as someone who is, you know, a military age male, that thought is scary.

UNKNOWN: I'm voting for Donald Trump. I feel like our nation was a lot better under his presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIP: They're afraid of being sent off to war. And Trump is speaking to that directly and saying, if Kamala Harris is the president, your sons are going to get drafted.

HEYE: Yes, and Peter's done that at a lot of colleges where he's talked to this stuff. I've watched a lot of those videos on Snapchat, and I don't watch a lot of things on Snapchat. A little old for it otherwise.

PHILLIP: He-'s not a big Snapchat guy.

HEYE: No, I'm not saying -- but Trump is able here to put himself in sort of a triple threat position. That's -- that's very crafty by Trump. One, he's the peacemaker, right? Whether he is or he isn't, he's the peacemaker. Two, he can appeal to Jewish voters. Only I did what other presidents said they would do and didn't do.

I put the embassy in Jerusalem and Muslim voters, I'm with you all the way, too. Those three things shouldn't be able to co-exist peacefully all at the same time. But Trump is somehow able to do that. It is remarkably --

PHILLIP: One at a time. Go ahead.

BERNSTEIN: We also have Netanyahu as an ally. And Netanyahu -- we still got four days to see what Netanyahu might do to help Trump in yet another -- another way. Kamala Harris is between a rock and a hard place, especially in terms of real principles when it comes to speaking on this issue to Arab Americans. She tried at the convention to kind of do at the end of her presentation to say, look, I am with the legitimate, you know, situation and grievance of the Palestinian community.

CROSS: But the thing is, Trump does not have a plan. He's never had a plan. And at the end of the day, one of the things that he has done in addition to spreading Islamophobia every chance that he gets is that he has tapped into something when it comes to Americans, particularly younger Americans, who are extremely fatigued or fatigued by what they saw from the George W. Bush administration.

And the outputs of that, a 20 plus year war that it took us way too long to get out of, that we didn't necessarily have the best strategy of getting out of to begin with. And honestly, one that Donald Trump put in motion and then frustratingly watch go down, unfortunately, in the in the Biden administration. But I think that what he's tapped into is young people. And he says it's on the campaign show. He's been saying it since 2016. They're going to send your sons off to war.

This is a guy who draft dives, not one, not two, not three, not four, but five times. He's someone who is saying we do not want to see young people go off to war, but he wants regime change.

HAQ: And to bomb Iran. Like this is an active part of Donald Trump's national security policy is to take on Iran in the Middle East. That would be devastating.

PHILLIP: Hold on.

SINGLETON: But if the vice president's plans have resonance with the community, Arab American community in Michigan, why aren't they supporting her in droves the way that her campaign would like?

HAQ: I have the answer.

SINGLETON: Yes, wait a minute. I would also like to add that the former president's daughter is married to a Lebanese American. His father has spent a significant amount of time in Michigan. We're not really talking about this a lot.

There's a lot of local reporting in Michigan about this. And he's been making a very, very strong argument for the former president for why Lebanese and Arab Americans should consider Trump over Vice President Harris. I don't think we should tactically overlook that either.

HAQ: We're not overlooking that. And trust me in the community that I come from, people are deeply aware of these disconnects right now, but they are also aware that Kamala Harris is -- had a meeting with Netanyahu and then stood right next to him and called him out to his face, which had not been done up until then calling for two-state solution and a ceasefire.

[22:45:03]

They are also aware that Tim Walz and Harris team have been consistently engaging with the community. And last but not least, will not lie to their face about policies of what they will and will not do.

SINGLETON: So, then, why is she still behind with the community?

HAQ: Because she will not lie to people's faces saying.

SINGLETON: So, she's behind because she won't lie?

HAQ: She's not, she's not behind Trump with the community. I'm not sure what polling you're talking about. No, no. So, let's fact-check right there. She is not behind.

PHILLIP: So, the "A.P." polling I've seen from a little earlier -- because there's not a lot of great polling right now. But when Biden was in the race, Biden was at 64. Trump was at 35. So Harris is probably not doing worse than Biden, but it's not a situation. So, Harris is probably not doing worse than Biden but it's not a situation --

SINGLETON: Let's look at the, what, the 100 plus thousand people in the state who voted what, uncommitted.

HAQ: In a Democrat -- in a Democratic primaries, that is --

PHILLIP: They want to send a signal to this administration. HAQ: Yes, that is a sophisticated strategy of working within a party

structure to make sure your voice is heard, right? That is sophisticated. Getting dozens of local imams throughout Michigan to support you is sophisticated, authentic engagement and outreach.

Reaching out to one Lebanese imam in one community and putting them on stage with you and ignoring the fact that you promoted a Muslim ban and are all in favor of war in the Middle East when it comes to bombing Iran, that is a lie.

SINGLETON: So, when Democrats in the state of Michigan, and I can list them from Debbie Dingell to even the governor, are saying, well, you know what? The state is close and I'm not exactly sure if the vice president is going to win it out, right? Should we ignore that?

HAQ: No, we cannot. It is definitely cause but do not blame it --

SINGLETON: They represent the state. Clearly, those concerns exist for a reason.

HAQ: Do not blame it on only one --

PHILLIP: Let me ask you this though, just on the broader question of the anti-war message. What strikes me is that this is something, this is ground that Democrats seem to be ceding to Trump, whether he's telling the truth or not. I just want to play real quick -- Obama, he came on the scene and it was in large part because of this kind of messaging.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA (D) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Imagine for a moment what we could have done in those days and months and years after 9-11. We could have rebuilt our roads and bridges, laid down new rail and broadband systems and electricity grids and made college affordable for every American to strengthen our ability to compete.

I don't oppose war in all circumstances. And when I look out over this crowd today, I know there is no shortage of patriots or patriotism. What I do oppose is a dumb war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: You don't hear that much anymore for a lot of complicated reasons, but there are a lot of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters who, even putting aside Gaza, they want to hear more about peace. They want to hear less about war and more about peace. And that's what Trump's giving them for good or for bad.

CROSS: I think that's absolutely true. It's hard to carry that message when you're in the quagmire of what's happening in the Middle East right now. But I also feel like it puts the onus on America when -- this is Netanyahu's war. And at the end of the day, there are so many people who don't fundamentally understand how Israel got to the place that it is currently in or why Netanyahu is making the decisions that he is making. And I would argue that Biden got unfairly blamed for many of those, as

has Kamala Harris. But it's very hard to tell a population who is watching its people die daily, innocently, that you're doing enough or that enough is being done or that, you know, progress is being made. So, I think that it puts a very, very difficult spotlight on the Biden-Harris administration. And she's still a part of that administration.

BERNSTEIN: She needs the Jewish vote. And that's what this is about. And unfortunately, there is enough hypocrisy going on all around on this question because of what Israel's conducted, the way Israel has conducted this war. That is the underlying issue.

PHILLIP: Yes.

BERNSTEIN: And it is not to her advantage, no matter how she plays this.

PHILLIP: All right, everyone, thank you very much. Coming up next, what does Vice President Harris' campaign have to do with a Tyler Perry movie? Well, the comedians of "Have I Got News For You" are going to tell you what that's all about next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:53:48]

PHILLIP: The comedians on this week's all-new episode of "Have I Got News For You" have some thoughts on the last few days of this election. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY WOOD JR. "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" CO-HOST: Watch the clip and tell me what's the story.

MICHAEL IAN BLACK, "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" CO-HOST": All right. We have the Washington Monument and we have a prosecutor. And so, I'm guessing that this is involving our prosecutor in chief. We've got this jig voting with safety goggles on. We have a lamp that's broken and we have the White House. This is Kamala's final message to America as she gets ready to maybe win on Election Day.

SAM JAY, ACTRESS: Or Tyler Perry is about to drop a new movie about the White House.

WOOD JR.: Trust your teammate.

JAY: All right.

WOOD JR.: Do you think he'd cast Kamala or play Kamala himself?

JAY: No, he's going to cast a Kamala, someone to play Kamala. Like maybe like Robert Gibbons, but he's like Madea to Kamala. Like he's Madea and Kamala.

[22:55:00]

Like Kamala girl, you got to go do this. You better smack him and like shoot him in the White House.

AMBER RUFFIN, "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" CO-HOST": I'm watching it.

WOOD JR.: The story is Vice President Kamala - sorry about -- you ever watch the Tyler Perry movie? There's no wrong answer. It's not a trick question.

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: No, I've watched Tyler Perry.

JAY: Madea goes to jail.

SCARAMUCCI: Madea goes to jail. I got 10-year-old kids. I'm sure my eyes have glazed over. I've watched the Tyler Perry movie. I just don't know which one.

BLACK: Well, he asked me if I've ever seen a Tyler Perry --

WOOD JR.: I know you haven't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Be sure to tune in to a new episode of "Have I Got News For You". It airs tomorrow night at 9 P.M. Eastern right here on CNN.

And next, you just saw right there, Anthony Scaramucci in that clip, he faces off with Kevin O'Leary on Laura Coates' show. That's right after this.

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