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Fight for Auto Worker Votes; Mike Lyons is Interviewed about Israel; Allergy Season to Last Longer; Campaigns Use TikTok. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired October 22, 2024 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Of the electoral vote that we've ever seen.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Exactly right.
BERMAN: That's fascinating.
All right, how about in the key states?
ENTEN: Yes, how about in the key states. You know, it's not just when you tally up the electoral votes. Harris likely must carry three of these four states to win. And these are the states most likely to determine the Electoral College. Look at this, North Carolina, less than a point lead for Trump. Wisconsin, less than a point lead for Harris. Michigan, the exact same thing. Pennsylvania, the exact same thing. Basically, the four states that are most likely to determine this outcome are all within a point.
And when we span this out to the Electoral College, what do we get? We get exactly this, Harris with that 276 electoral votes because she carries these Great Lake battleground states, right? But let's just say we flip Pennsylvania in the polls don't match the result exactly right, what happens? We flip Pennsylvania to red and then we get Trump to 281 electoral votes, which is not really much of a long shot given that at this particular point the race in Pennsylvania is within a single going.
BERMAN: All right, you know, you just showed those four states all within one point. David Plouffe, who's working for the Harris campaign, says all seven swing states are within one point. Have we ever seen so many crucial states so close?
ENTEN: No. I went back, since 1972, of the final Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin polls ever been so tight? No. No, they have not. We have never had a year when any one of these states was within one point. And this year, John, all three of them are within one point. It's a historically close campaign. Whether you look at the national polls, or at the state polls, like we just did.
And I think we just got knighted.
So, you're saying it's close? ENTEN: I'm saying it is close.
BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you for that.
ENTEN: Thank you, John.
BERMAN: Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Early voting is already underway in the states and counties across the country. That includes Detroit, Michigan.
CNN's John King went there to hear from Michigan autoworkers, a closely watched group of voters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Signs of the season, Macomb County, Michigan. These suburbs just north of Detroit are a blue collar bellwether. Joseph Knowles about to send a message. About to defy his union leadership. About to vote Republican for president for the first time. About to vote for Donald Trump.
JOSPEH KNOWLES, MICHIGAN VOTER: At this point now, I'm desperate. So, I'm - I'm willing to try anything right now to make sure that I can fulfill my - my responsibility and to take care of my wife and kids. That's all I care about.
KING (voice over): Knowles is a union auto worker, one of 1,100 just laid off by Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler Jeep. He blames corporate greed the most, but doesn't stop there.
KNOWLES: The second blame, I will put it on Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. Why? Because of the EV mandates. I thought the Democratic Party was for the working class people, that average joe like me. That's what I thought.
KING (voice over): There are more American auto jobs now than at any point of the Trump presidency. But auto workers supporting Trump here echo his attacks on Biden's clean energy incentives and his claim illegal immigrants are to blame for lost jobs.
KNOWLES: But if you do it the wrong way, I think you should get rounded up and just thrown out. I have no problem with that because it jeopardizes my way of providing for my kids if they take jobs.
KING (voice over): Knowles waves off friends who call Trump racist. Says he doesn't believe Vice President Harris is up to the job. And he spars with family members who say he should stay a Democrat.
KNOWLES: Oh, man, I took it from my mom, from my auntie, my cousins, my sister. They came at me.
KING (voice over): Bill Govier (ph) is a 30 plus year union worker at Ford, and he has this side business cleaning car under bodies. When we first visited four months ago, he was a fan of Robert Kennedy Jr. Now, he will cast his third ballot for Trump.
BILL GOVIER, MICHIGAN VOTER: RFK joining Trump effectively, I couldn't script it any better the way I would like it to be. I love the idea of Donald Trump being the commander in chief. I love the idea of how Donald Trump handles the nefarious characters of the world.
KING (voice over): Govier believes more than half of UAW members at his Ford plant will vote Trump. He says Harris laughs too much and he can't take her seriously.
GOVIER: So, what is it, you're the incumbent who wouldn't do anything different? Or are you the underdog that wants change?
KING (voice over): And he says critics take Trump to literally.
GOVIER: You know, he does it for effect. I - I don't believe that Trump really believes someone's eating cats and dogs. I don't believe that he's going to call the National Guard out and, at gunpoint, round up every migrant and force them across the border. I don't believe that for a second.
KING (voice over): Count this early vote in Wayne County for Harris. And count Tonya Rincon as a Democrat who long ago lost patience with Ford co-workers who shrug off Trump attacks on immigrants, on judges, on vote counts, on critics.
TONYA RINCON, MICHIGAN VOTER: There's a lot of people that they just take the crazy with Trump as it's baked in the cake and we're just willing to ignore it. Whereas, if we heard that out of our loved ones, we'd be like, OK, grandpa, it's time to take your keys.
[08:35:00]
KING (voice over): Rincon just retired from the Wayne assembly plant and is helping the UAW register and turn out voters. She says her June bet, that her local would split 50-50 in a Trump-Biden race is still about right with Harris now atop the Democratic ticket.
RINCON: But there's a little bit more enthusiasm among some of my female coworkers. A couple of my male co-workers are - are pretty ambivalent about Harris. We may have lost a tiny margin of support because sexism is a real thing. You know, they're just like, you know, I'm not sure she can do it. I don't think the country's ready for a female president.
KING (voice over): Walter Robinson Junior says there's more energy since the switch to Harris, but also more offensive chatter on the assembly line.
WALTER ROBINSON JR., MICHIGAN VOTER: They have been saying some very disparaging things about the vice president. Things about how she rose up through the ranks and some of the things that she might have done. They only had to say that to me once before they understood they can't say - say that to me again, you know? So, they parrot what - what he - what he puts out there.
KING (voice over): Robinson has a side job as a DJ, and trusts he knows how to read the room.
ROBINSON: Before I told you it was about either. Right now I would probably say it's about 60-40. I believe that it is a very good chance that we, the Harris-Walz ticket, will come out on the winning end.
KING (voice over): Time to knock on doors and lobby co-workers is running short. Labor leaders are for Harris, but the rank and file are split. Michigan's blue collar battle, competitive to the end.
John King, CNN, Wayne, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the U.S. pushes to get ceasefire and hostage release talks back on track.
And this morning, Cuba remains paralyzed by an island-wide blackout and a deep economic crisis. How officials are responding to signs of unrest there.
Those stories and more, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:41:39]
BOLDUAN: This morning, Secretary of State Tony Blinken is back in the Middle East, his 11th trip to the region since the October 7th Hamas terror attacks. He's right now meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli officials just releasing this photo of the two at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem. The mission Blinken is hoping to find, a diplomatic breakthrough if possible - if it exists still amid the escalating conflicts in Gaza and in Lebanon.
In Beirut overnight, more Israeli strikes against Hezbollah near Lebanon's largest public hospital killed at least 13 people. Israel, at the same time we know, is continuing to plan its retaliation against Iran for its unprecedented missile attack on Israel earlier this month.
Joining us right now, retired U.S. Army Major Mike Lyons.
It's great to see you.
So, he's in Israel. And before he took off, the secretary of state sent out this tweet. Kind of maybe outlining the goal here and the mission. "On my way to Israel and other stops to the Middle East for intensive discussions about the importance of ending the war in Gaza, returning the hostages to their families, and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people."
That tells you what about the actual immediate mission that you think Tony - Tony Blinken is on right now?
MAJOR MIKE LYONS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): A lot of aspirational goals there. Look, Henry Kissinger like. Eleventh time now. A lot of shuttle diplomacy taking place. But he's probably recognizing a ceasefire is not in the offing. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. So, let's see what he can do on the side to get hostages back.
But Israel doesn't know who to negotiate with in Gaza and for Hamas right now, so that's a big unknown. There's likely being pressure put on the Netanyahu administration in order to probably scale back on things as clearly. I think Israel's looking at this as a generational opportunity to go against Iran when the time comes. They've got about two weeks now, obviously, two weeks before the election to do something. I think they're going to likely take advantage of it.
So, I think its maybe one last final warning from the - our administration, from President Biden to Benjamin Netanyahu with regard to what he'd like to see (INAUDIBLE) do.
BOLDUAN: And then also add into this conversation the equation of Hezbollah in the north, right? You've got - Hezbollah tried to - tried to launch a missile attack on a military base near Tel Aviv overnight, just today. And also today, Israel launched multiple strikes into southern Lebanon. That is that - that - the fighting there is not abating. That is not slowing down.
Just yesterday, the U.S. envoy, Amos Hochstein, was in Beirut, and - and he said this. While we spent 11 months containing the conflict, we were not able to
resolve it. The situation has escalated out of control as we feared that it could." He's talking about it in Lebanon, right? How dangerous is that situation becoming and kind of the greater context of what we're discussing right now?
LYONS: Just as dangerous as Israel's clear military objectives in that part of - of the battle to try to move their citizens back in there. They claim they've taken about 60 percent of their rocket capability out. They still have tremendous amount of ability to come - come across the border and attack into Israel.
But, you know, Israel says its fighting really a two front war. And that third front will be Iran when they decided to go and to retaliate for what happened on October 1st. There's much more capability in the north from Hezbollah. They do have it. And that's why the decapitation strategy there with the pagers, walkie-talkies is going to prove out to be a lot more resourceful, and a lot more effective because of their inability to really respond back.
BOLDUAN: Let me ask you something because there's new - there's - some of the new reporting is that U.S. official had previously hoped that the ceasefire in Gaza would lead to a separate ceasefire deal between Hezbollah and Israel.
[08:45:08]
But there's no indication, obviously, that the war in Gaza is slowing or will be ending anytime soon. The reporting now is that the Biden administration is instead arguing that the two conflicts be looked at and addressed separately. That means what in terms - in terms of Israel's approach and the United States' approach now?
LYONS: I'm not sure how you can compartmentalize these two.
BOLDUAN: Right.
LYONS: I mean Israel is fighting this like a superpower, with intelligence, airstrikes, decapitation strategies.
BOLDUAN: Right.
LYONS: They're going to continue to do this. And they're not going to stop. Again, I said before, generational opportunity to go after Iran now, now that Hamas is so weakened, as well as Hezbollah.
So, to try to compartmentalize it just doesn't make a lot of sense. Israel looks at this as one big thing, one big fight.
BOLDUAN: Yes. I mean, and - and Hezbollah's began -
LYONS: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Starting this round of attacks right after October 7th in - you know, in solidarity with Hamas we know.
The FBI - when you talk about this kind of generational opportunity to take on Iran, what do you think of this leak investigation that the United States is now leading? The FBI is leading the investigation. And our reporting seems to suggest, from our colleagues, is that they don't seem to think this is any kind of a hack, any - an Iranian targeted hack. Instead, a leak from the inside of highly classified documents that outline Israel's plans for a possible - potential plans for a potential strike on Iran.
LYONS: Yes.
BOLDUAN: How does something like this impact what Israel decides to do when it comes to Iran, do you think?
LYONS: Whatever Israel does, it will be very creative. Likely something maybe we haven't even thought of what they're going to do yet. But this leak is significant. It came from - that's at a very high level. Five eyes countrywide on it.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
LYONS: So, I think it's a little bit of a shot across the bow at Israel from a warning perspective. You know, one more shot before this election, before they do something. But - but the - but Israel likely is not documenting a lot of this anyway. So - so, a lot of this intelligence is all - a little bit maybe of a game that's still being played as, you know, Israel chooses to respond when they want to respond.
But again, I think it's more or less this administration trying to put this one final bit of pressure on Israel not to escalate. I just don't see it happen. BOLDUAN: Yes.
It's great to see you. Thanks for coming in.
LYONS: Thanks, Kate.
BOLDUAN: John.
BERMAN: All right, new this morning, an initial toxicology report is out for One Direction member Liam Payne. What it tells us about but his death.
And the quest to get younger voters to the polls, meet them where they are at. Is it really as easy as going on TikTok?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:52:00]
SIDNER: And if you're sneezing up a storm, and it seems like allergy season isn't ever going to end, well, you're kind of right. Not only is allergy season starting earlier, it's lasting longer.
So, what has changed?
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on call and here to explain why allergy season is far from over, even though it should be.
What is happening here? You know, the leaves are just changing.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
SIDNER: Not all of them have even fallen. And people are still sneezing.
GUPTA: Yes, it's - it's kind of remarkable. I mean the number of people I'm running into who are really suffering with fall allergies. I mean, fall allergies have always been a thing. Ragweed, the primary driver of this. But just as you said, I mean, as the weather changes, it gets warmer outside, that first frost is delayed. And that - that's probably the headline here, that first frost being delayed leads to this cascade of events. You have - the plants can grow longer. The allergy season starts earlier. And as you point out, it lasts longer.
Take - this map is fascinating. Take a look at this. So, this basically shows the change in basically the fall allergy season as a result of the things I just mentioned. Cities across America are going to have much longer allergy seasons. In Reno, for example, 99 days longer. In Atlanta, where I live, 33 days longer. Up in New York, 21 days longer. As that map starts to change over time, we're going to see places that basically are in allergy season all year long.
If you look by the end of the century, Sara, the prediction is that we'll have basically 200 percent higher pollen counts over the next 75 years or so. So, it's going to be more pollen out there, and it's going to last longer. One ragweed plant, incidentally, a little nugget for you, releases
about a billion grains of pollen. One plant does. So just imagine if those plants grow and they continue to spread, you know, for - for a much longer time.
SIDNER: I'm trying to wave goodbye to allergy season, but it's not working. So, some of us don't really - we can't really tell if - is this allergies or is this a cold? Sometimes your eyes are running. How do you tell?
GUPTA: Yes, it can be challenging. And there's a lot of overlapping symptoms here.
But let's put this up on the screen and I can just tell you quickly. When you're thinking about allergies, when you're thinking about viral infections, there are many things that are going to be the same. But the things on the right side of the screen, the fever and the full body aches and pains, you may get all the symptoms on the left side of the screen with the viral infection but the fever and the full body aches are going to be pretty much indicative of viral infection.
So, you know, take your temperature. See how you feel generally. If it's - if it's just the symptoms on the left side of the screen, those will probably clear up with - with allergy medications. But if it's - obviously it's a viral infection, that might be something you need to treat more aggressively.
SIDNER: Yes, if your temperature goes up, there is something more going on than allergies.
GUPTA: Take your temperature.
SIDNER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, it is such a pleasure, as always.
And, of course, you all can head to cnn.com to send us your questions on fall allergies. Dr. Gupta will be back later this week to answer your questions.
[08:55:01]
Kate.
BOLDUAN: So, we are learning new details about the death of singer Liam Payne. An initial toxicology report shows that the former One Direction star had cocaine in his system when he fell from the third- floor hotel balcony and Argentina. That's according to the "Associated Press." Police also discovered a blister pack of prescription anti- anxiety drug and other over-the-counter meds. The final toxicology report is not expected for some time. Authorities do expect, though, to release Payne's body next week so his father can hold a funeral back in England.
New and troubling video is just in to so the frantic moments after the ferry dock collapsed on Georgia's Sapelo Island.
Watch. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where's my aunt? Where's my aunt? Where's my aunt? Please, please, please God! Please (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: You can see here people calling for help. Many - so many of them in the water. Many still hanging onto the walkway after it had fallen into the - people dove in to help as other started throwing life preservers into the water. Seven senior citizens were killed in this tragedy, several others were critically injured.
We also have video in of a daring rescue in Minnesota. A man in crisis ending up at a terrifying spot, 250 feet in the air on a radio tower. And now new drone footage is offering perspective on just how scarily high that really was. It took a rescue team about 30 minutes to climb up that tower and then safely repel the man down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. ALEX ECKSTEIN, DAKOTA COUNTY SPECIAL OPERATIONS TEAM: I've never - never experienced anything this physical or mentally draining.
Unbelievable that that person was able to hold on that long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Unbelievable is right. After the rescue, the man was taken to the hospital for evaluation. No word on that.
The Cuban power grid is still not up and running. Despite efforts to restore electricity, it has now failed for a fourth time since Friday. The blackout made worse by Hurricane Oscar, has left millions struggling to keep - keep food fresh and keep access to water. Schools are now closed until Thursday, and non-essential workers have been told to stay home
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know them?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. But in Decler (ph), we all fam.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Decler (ph) we all fam.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: IN the club we are all family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So, new this morning, where the candidates are going in this final fortnight of the campaign, not just physically exactly, but as you saw there campaigning in the key swing state of mind, which is TikTok.
CNN business writer Clare Duffy is here.
So, look, TikTok isn't new exactly, but what's new about it in this election?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, I mean, beyond just the popularity of TikTok that has exploded, I think these campaigns and political advocacy groups have realized that it's not enough to just be on the platforms. They have to be creating content that feels native to TikTok, that speaks the language of its users, especially the young users that are really being targeted with this strategy. Young users are so used to being sold on social media. They know what that looks like. They're just going to swipe right by it. So, these groups need to create content that feels entertaining or funny or clever, gives them something a little extra in addition to that political information.
So, I think we actually have a good example of this that we can pull up for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Agent Smith, what have you got for me today, boys?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carlee Thurman, 25-years-old, turned away from hospital for an ectopic pregnancy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Center for Reproductive Rights filed two complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for violating (INAUDIBLE). These women deserve access to proper health care for their bodies.
I need two double shots of expresso and a vegan salad.
I mean how many more women have to die before we see a change?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUFFY: So, that creator's video was part of this campaign by the advocacy group Gen Z for Change to raise money for states where abortion rights are on the ballot. And we're seeing lots of videos like that where there's skits or there's story times, which is another popular format on the app. Even some dance videos where people will put things that the candidates have said to music and then dance to it as a way of raising awareness of those comments.
And I think it's going to be really interesting to see what young voter turnout is like in two weeks. I think we'll get a good sense of just how successful the strategy really was.
BERMAN: You know, it's not enough just to be there, as you say, you can't suck.
DUFFY: Yes. BERMAN: I mean you have to - you have to put good videos on it.
DUFFY: Yes, people's attention spans are so short, if they don't see something within the first really sort of three to five seconds that they find gauging, they're going to swipe right past.
And I will say, a lot of the success that the campaigns and advocacy groups have had comes because they have hired an empowered gen-z creators to do a lot of this work.
BERMAN: You know, I used to carry around a quote from Barry Manilow. This was years before TikTok. But he said, no one was more surprised than me to find out I wasn't hip. And I've tried to live by that. I mean, don't be surprised if you're square. You've got to figure out the - the sort of - the media here before you jump on.
Clare Duffy, thank you very much for that.
DUFFY: Thanks.
BERMAN: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.
[09:00:08]
SIDNER: Fourteen days and off
