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U.S. Economy Pulls Off Historic Soft Landing After Pandemic; U.S. Supreme Court Allows Virginia to Purge Its Voter Rolls; Pro-trump Media Paint a Picture of His Near-certain Victory; Dodgers Win World Series in Wild Game 5. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired October 31, 2024 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[02:00:29]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary church. Just ahead. With just five days to go until Election Day in America, the race for the White House is as close as it can get. As new polls show Vice President Kamala Harris with a narrow edge in two key swing states.
Israel carries out another deadly strike on Lebanon, even as it pursues a potential ceasefire deal with Hezbollah.
And Typhoon Kong-rey landfall in Taiwan, lashing the island with heavy rain and strong winds.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, with Election Day in the U.S. now, just five days away, the presidential nominees are campaigning hard in battleground states that will determine who wins the White House. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both spent part of their Wednesday in the Midwestern State of Wisconsin, one of three so-called blue wall states. It turned blue for President Joe Biden four years ago, but went to red for Trump in 2016.
Pennsylvania remains the grand prize with its 19 electors, the most of any swing state. And as you can see, CNN's poll of polls shows an even split among likely voters.
In Michigan, the third blue wall state, Harris has a slight edge over Trump. And farther south, in North Carolina, in the Sun Belt, the polar polls gives Trump a razor thin edge over Harris.
Well, Kamala Harris is trying to distance herself from a remark by the U.S. President that the Trump team is trying to capitalize on. During an event on Tuesday, it sounded like Joe Biden referred to Trump supporters as garbage. He and the White House have since tried to walk that back, saying President Biden was referring to the hateful rhetoric of a single Trump supporter as garbage, and not all Trump supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: First of all, he clarified his comments. But let me be clear, I strongly disagree with
any criticism of people based on who they vote for. I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Meanwhile, Donald Trump showed up for his latest campaign event wearing an orange safety vest, similar to those worn by garbage collectors, and he loudly mocked his Democratic rivals. CNN's Kristen Holmes attended the Green Bay rally and has this report.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump in Green Bay, Wisconsin, continuing to seize on President Joe Biden's remarks, calling his supporters "garbage." Donald Trump has tried to use this as an opportunity to change the media narrative earlier in the evening, even taking questions from sitting in front seat of a garbage truck. He also addressed those comments once again for the third time or more in day, while he was at this rally. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Crooked Joe Biden finally said what he and Kamala really think of our supporters. He called them garbage. No way. No way. My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple, you can't lead America if you don't love Americans, that's true. You can't be president if you hate the American people which I believe they do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: He also, as you can see there, did the entire rally in his vest that he had wore when he was sitting on the garbage truck. They are clearly sticking to this shtick. Now the important thing here is that this isn't just because Donald Trump wants to seize on this or change the narrative. It's also because they believe that this playbook has worked before. Remember, in 2016 after Hillary Clinton said that Trump supporters were a basket of deplorables, they tried to use same thing.
Then with supporters, they believe this kind of rhetoric could actually motivate people to go to the polls to back Donald Trump. Now, whether or not that's going to happen, it's just not something that we're going to know until Election Day, but it's certainly something they are doing to get to really ramp up that enthusiasm.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
CHURCH: Now, to the Harris rally in Madison, Wisconsin where the vice president lived briefly as a child. CNN's Jeff Zeleny was there. MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON:
[02:05:08]
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris taking her closing arguments on the road, visiting three battleground states on Wednesday. North Carolina, Pennsylvania and right here in Wisconsin. Along the way, she's making her case to supporters to cast their votes early. The deadline for early voting here in battleground Wisconsin is on Sunday.
She was imploring students to get out and vote. Some students we talked to said they waited in line 90 minutes or two hours to cast their ballot. But campaigning near a college campus also comes with some risks, and that became clear in the early part of her speech when one protestor shouted ceasefire now. This is how Harris responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Listen, we all want the war in Gaza to end and get the hostages out as soon as possible, and I will do everything in my power to make it heard and known. And everyone has a right to be heard, but right now, I am speaking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Her supporters roared with applause when she said that, and she went on to continue delivering her closing message. She is seeking to find common ground, she said, with Republicans and independents, even as she draws a sharp contrast with Donald Trump. Harris is heading west to campaign in Nevada and Arizona on Thursday before coming back to these critical blue wall states, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Jeff Zeleny CNN, Madison, Wisconsin.
CHURCH: Michael Genovese is president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University and the author of The Modern Presidency: Six Debates That Define the Institution. And he joins me now from Los Angeles. Good to talk with you.
MICHAEL GENOVESE, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, both presidential candidates held dueling campaign rallies Wednesday in the battleground state of Wisconsin. So, let's take a look at new CNN polling that shows Kamala Harris six points ahead of Donald Trump in Wisconsin and five points ahead of Trump in Michigan falling into the margin of error. And in the crucial must win-state of Pennsylvania, they are tied.
So, what is your reading of these and of course, other battleground state polls with just five days to go to Election Day?
GENOVESE: We know the two candidates are having a strategic, last- minute change. On the part of Harris, she started but she got the nomination to have a very hopeful message, turned a little darker, and tried to base their campaign on fear of Trump. That didn't work well. She shifted back to hope. And that works for her, whether it's too little too late we'll see. Trump, on the other hand has been consistent from day one.
It's all in on fear to try to present kind of very dark rhetoric, more and more ominous rhetoric. It's uglier and uglier and so that suggests the two campaigns have very different hopes for Election Day. The Trump people hope to rally their base by getting them all excited. The Harris people are trying to say, maybe I can win a couple of people who are undecided, or maybe some swing voters.
CHURCH: And meantime, because sitting in a garbage truck, Donald Trump seized on President Biden's remarks about Trump supporters, even though Biden clarified that he doesn't think they're garbage, he was instead referring to the comedian at Trump's Sunday rally in New York. Nevertheless, Trump jumped on the opportunity, despite having said lots of nasty things about Democrats and he has called the U.S. a garbage can. But could President Biden's words help Trump in the end?
GENOVESE: They could, because Trump team has already jumped on those words. They were probably not well spoken. Biden may have misspoken in the sense that he may have been trying to convey one thing, but said something that sounded otherwise. And you don't need that in the last week of the campaign. It's a distraction that draws Harris' team away from what she wants to talk about, but it's also a good attack point for Trump.
And that's what Trump wants. He just wants to go on the offensive. His view has always been the best defense is a good offense. And so, he wants to plummet every person that comes in his way and tries to sort of sweep the whole field. He's kind of a central Stalinist in the sense that he gets in the middle and wipes everybody out around him.
CHURCH: And by seizing on President Biden's comments about Trump supporters, Trump has of course, succeeded in stealing the spotlight away from what was considered to be Kamala Harris' most powerful address when she spoke Tuesday night in D.C. in front of a crowd of 75,000 people. What was your response to what Harris said Tuesday and how might it inspire her supporters and of course, independent undecided voters, which is the key here?
GENOVESE: Well, she found her voice and she found her message and delivered very skillfully.
[02:10:04]
A lot of people want a hopeful message. They want to believe that tomorrow will be better. They fear what will happen with Donald Trump. Even those who support him are saying, will there be violence? What happens if he loses? Will he concede? Will he cause disruption? And so, most voters, I think, want a hopeful message. They want to believe in a brighter future. Harris got away from that for a while. She's back on it, and that's what she's going to have to pound for the last week.
CHURCH: And we've all been talking about garbage, of course, because of Trump's rally in New York Sunday where that so-called comedian called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. What impact will that remark, and of course, the other racist and vulgar comments at that rally likely have on voters, particularly Latinos and women, as we approach the election?
GENOVESE: That will likely have two different impacts. On the one hand, it's red meat for his base. His base loves him for saying those kinds of things, and no matter what he says, his vote is so calcified that no matter what he says, they support him and they love him and he gets them around up. On the other hand, there are a couple of states, Pennsylvania being one of them, where there is a significant Puerto Rican contingency of voters and the leaders of the community are really getting them involved.
Bad Bunny of all people has gone very vocal about this and condemning Trump. And so, this could really backfire on Trump, because if it is as close as it looks, and it looks like in the key swing states, it's as close as two coat to paint. A small thing like that could help make all the difference, because it will be a turnout election and the turnout election means it's a grassroots election, which means whoever can get up the vote wins. That's going to help Harris in a couple of key states.
And Trump is ramping up election fraud allegations without any evidence to prove it. So, what's your reaction to that? And how careful should voters be between now and Tuesday when it comes to all the political noise out there?
GENOVESE: Well, Donald Trump from probably two years ago, was planning on accusing the election officials of corruption and cheating and stealing votes from him. We all knew that. He knew it. It's no surprise. I'm not sure it has much -- that has much of an impact on voters any longer, unless he loses, in which case, all of his many of his base, will say, oh my, he was right. He was stolen.
But that's Donald Trump. He has no positive message. He has no strategy for dealing with the problems. He always condemns America for suffering from. And he has no positive message. Looks -- the Republicans are talking openly now about ending Obamacare. That's a losing issue. So, Trump has no positive issues. He's got to go on the attack and go for the throat.
CHURCH: Michael Genovese, always appreciate your political analysis. Thanks for joining us.
GENOVESE: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Lebanon's health ministry says at least 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes near the city of Baalbek. The Israeli military says its forces were targeting command and control centers and terrorist infrastructure in its fight against Hezbollah, and took steps to mitigate civilian harm, including issuing evacuation orders. Residents of Baalbek went or could be seen fleeing after the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of the entire city which was listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. Hezbollah's newly appointed leader is speaking out amid the fighting,
saying in his inaugural speech as leader of the Iran-backed militant group that they are now involved in a "global war."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAIM QASSEM, HEZBOLLAH SECRETARY-GENERAL (through translator): Today in Gaza, Lebanon and the region, we are facing a major project. This is not an Israeli war on Lebanon and Gaza. This is an Israeli, American, European, global war. It has all the capabilities on a global level to eliminate the resistance and eliminate our peoples in the region.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Despite the ongoing fighting, Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister says he is optimistic a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel could be reached soon. That word as we learn, Israeli American and Lebanese officials are pursuing a short-term ceasefire deal that would stop the fighting for at least a month. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has details from Jerusalem.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Israeli American and Lebanese officials are now stepping up their discussions to try and reach a ceasefire agreement that would end the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Two top advisers to President Biden set to arrive in Israel on Thursday to meet with Israeli officials to discuss the state of those ceasefire negotiations.
And it comes as we're learning of one of the options on the table here, which would involve getting to a short-term ceasefire agreement, perhaps at least a month between these two sides in order to give more space for longer term negotiations to reach a permanent solution to this conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
[02:15:16]
As well as the enforcement of resolution 1701 which resolved the 2006 war between those two parties that would see Hezbollah withdraw its forces some 30 kilometers north of the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israeli officials believe that now is the right time to pursue this kind of a ceasefire agreement. They've achieved enormous gains in their fight against Hezbollah in recent months. That ground operation has now been going on for about a month as well. And there is now the option, they believe, of the military pressure and the internal Lebanese pressure bringing Hezbollah to the table in a way that the Israelis would see as favorable.
That being said, it is still early days in terms of these negotiations. And Israel is also making clear that, for the time being, at least, they are going to continue to negotiate under fire, as one Israeli official told me. And that is to say we've seen the Israeli military stepping up its strikes inside of Lebanon. On Wednesday, we saw the Baalbek, the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon was ordered to evacuate by the Israeli military. And hours later, we saw some very intense air strikes happening within that very city. Now, as we are seeing these ceasefire negotiations seemingly advancing or at least taking place, regarding the conflict in Lebanon, Iran is now separately vowing a new wave of retaliation against Israel for Israel's strikes -- retaliatory strikes in Iran last weekend. A high-level Iranian source now telling my colleague Fred Pleitgen that the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be, "definitive and painful."
That comes after Iranian officials had seemed to downplay that Israeli retaliation. So, some uncertainty still about the scale and the scope of Iran's retaliation and when it might come.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
CHURCH: Spain is observing three days of mourning after severe flash floods killed dozens of people and left a trail of destruction. We'll have that after the break.
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CHURCH: The biggest storm that hit Taiwan in nearly 30 years has made landfall on the island's southeastern coast. Heavy rain from Kong-rey is lashing the region with winds near 200 kilometers per hour, the equivalent of a category three Atlantic hurricane. The storm could impact almost the entire island. All cities and counties in Taiwan are shut down for the day. Financial markets are closed and flights have been canceled.
So, let's bring in. CNN Steven Jiang. He joins us live from Beijing. So, Stephen, what is the latest on this massive storm that's now hit Taiwan?
[02:20:10]
STEVEN JIANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, Rosemary. You mentioned the typhoon just made its landfall on Eastern Taiwan a short while ago. Now, even though it has lost some of its strength, as you mentioned, it remains very powerful, the equivalent of a category three hurricane. Now, the fortunate bit of this landfall news, of course, is -- it's on the eastern part of the island which is less popular the side of Taiwan.
But still, the risk -- the potential risk here lies with some of the more mountainous and more remote parts of this island, where people could face landslides and not to mention damage to infrastructure, including potential power outage. So, that's why the authorities are taking no chances in addition to the flight cancelations and market shutdown, a lot of offices and schools have been closed throughout the island.
Now, in addition to civilian first responders, the authorities have also placed more than 34,000 soldiers on standby to assist in any potential rescue operations. And our colleagues in our Taipei Bureau have been reporting very strong winds hitting the capital, which of course, is in the northern part of the island. Now this typhoon is now forecast to head towards the East China Sea before potentially hitting Japan over the weekend.
But already its outer bands were impacting mainland China. Shanghai, China's biggest city and its financial hub. The authorities there have issued a blue typhoon warning. That's the lowest level of China's four tier color coded warning system but still that means gusty winds and as well as a potential downpour hitting that city starting on Thursday evening and well into Friday daytime.
So, millions of residents in Shanghai already bracing for a not so pleasant commute in that city as well. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Steven Jiang bringing us the latest there from his vantage point in Beijing. Appreciate it.
Well, people in Spain are cleaning up after widespread destruction caused by severe flash floods. The Spanish government has decreed three days of official mourning for victims. Weather officials say it was the worst rainfall in 28 years, at least 95 people were killed after flood waters swamped the southern and eastern parts of the country on Tuesday and the death toll is expected to rise. Emergency services are working to find dozens of people who are still missing.
Atika Schubert joins us now live from the flooded region. Good to see you, Atika. So, what is the latest on the aftermath of these flash floods across Valencia?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the silver lining here is that the Rain seems to have passed for now. It's still raining in parts of the northern area of Valencia. But here in the city and further south, the rain has passed, fortunately. Unfortunately, it does mean the cleanup and the searching for bodies continues. And in fact, here at the city's courthouse has been turned into a makeshift morgue at the moment to try and identify those who have been found.
But the scenes that we've been seeing coming in from the suburbs and the countryside are just horrifying. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHUBERT (voice-over): Muddy waters gush through the streets of Spain, ripping through homes, leaving a trail of destruction behind. Rescue services are working tirelessly, trying to save residents from flash floods that have struck parts of southern and eastern Spain since Tuesday.
The severity of the weather has killed dozens of people, according to authorities, with torrential rain in many cities. And the death toll is only expected to rise.
SHUBERT (on camera): Now, this is the Turia river bed in Valencia. Normally it's a dry riverbed with hardly any water in it, but as of this morning, the water was nearly to the top, and that's because, according to meteorologists, a year's worth of rain, about 20 inches, or 500 millimeters was dropped here in an eight-hour period that ended on Tuesday. SHUBERT (voice-over): In Valencia, Spain's emergency military unit were deployed to help save locals wading through the destruction to reach them and bringing them to safety. One local resident witnessed the severity of the water destroying his neighborhood.
ANTONIO CARMONHA, RESIDENT (through translator): We saw everything going down. The floods took cars, took down half the house of one of our neighbors, and we had to come in. Look how we have our torn clothes because we were saving dogs.
SHUBERT (voice-over): In other areas of southern Spain, a different kind of catastrophe took place, with locals being hit by a severe hail storm.
Look at the size of this ball, this person says, it's completely round. Leaving drivers to battle through extreme weather. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the storms were the worst the country has experienced in the last century, and advised citizens to proceed with caution.
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PEDRO SANCHEZ, PRIME MINISER OF SPAIN (through translator): Our absolute priority is to help you. We're going to provide all the necessary means today and tomorrow and for as long as it takes so that we can recover from this tragedy. We are not going to leave you alone.
SHUBERT (voice-over): Scientists say a human caused climate crisis is making extreme weather more frequent and more severe. And as the world warms, more intense and more frequent, catastrophes are on the horizon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHUBERT: Now the government here has been overwhelmed, frankly, by this crisis. It's the worst that we've seen in Valencia in decades, and the death toll has just been staggeringly high, and that's why they've had to convert the courthouse here into a morgue, and they brought in at least nine forensics teams from across the country to help try and identify those who have been found, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Atika Shubert with a shocking report. Appreciate that. Well, pro-Trump media versus reality. Still to come, Trump friendly media personalities talk about his victory as a foregone conclusion, despite the polls showing otherwise, and they appear to do that for a reason.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. New evidence, the U.S. economy has pulled off an historic soft landing after the pandemic. According to data released Wednesday by the Commerce Department, U.S. gross domestic product, the measure of all the goods and services produced in the economy, expanded at an annualized rate of 2.8 percent in the third quarter. U.S. President Joe Biden said the report "Shows how far we've come since I took office, from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression to the strongest economy in the world." Catherine Rampell is CNN's Economics and Political commentator and a
columnist for the Washington Post. She joins me now from New York. Good to have you with us.
CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Great to be here.
CHURCH: So, just five days to go to the election, and of course, the economy has consistently been the top issue for voters. So, let's try to break through all that political noise to get a factual assessment of the state of the U.S. economy right now, given it just grew at an annual pace of 2.8 percent in the third quarter and inflation is cooling.
RAMPELL: The U.S. economy is the envy of the world right now. As you point out, GDP growth remains quite strong, in fact, above relatively long-term trends.
[02:30:04]
Inflation is cooling. Job growth has been very robust. We'll get enough their Jobs Report this Friday, so we'll see if that continues. But last month's Jobs Report in any event, blew all expectations out of the water and on lots of other metrics, things seem to be doing quite well. Consumer spending still strong, investment still strong. And this is despite the fact that as you point out, we have had relatively high interest rates which normally would be expected to cool down the economy.
CHURCH: So, U.S. economic numbers signaling this continued strength of the country's economy, including inflation down from 9% during the pandemic to below 3%. But many Americans still think it's bad. Why is that, and why hasn't Kamala Harris been able to hammer home the economic advances this country has made?
RAMPELL: I think there are a few ways to interpret what's going on. It is the case that if you look at how consumers feel about the economy and how the economy looks on paper by those traditional metrics, there is something of a gap. Part of the issue is that inflation was very painful in 2022, 2023, and we saw a lot of price growth during that time. Now since then, inflation has cooled, but that just means prices are growing more slowly.
It doesn't mean that they're falling and we actually don't want them to be falling, generally an economy with the overall price level that's declining -- deflation is the term for it -- is a sign of a very sick economy. We saw it during the Great Depression, for example. But that doesn't mean that that's an intuitive thing. And I think that there are a lot of consumers, voters out there who are wrongly, unfortunately, expecting for prices to go back to what they were a few years ago, which again, is not something that even the Fed is aiming for at this point.
So I think it's just going to take some time. And we have seen wages go up, wages are now outpacing inflation and have been for about a year now. And I think that will go a long way to help people feel a little bit better about the economy. But that time just needs to pass. People need to get more acclimated. And you're seeing some of that in the data that people are a little bit less pessimistic than they had been maybe a few months ago or a year ago. But, they are still more dour than the other indicators would suggest they would likely to be at this point.
CHURCH: Catherine Rampell, appreciate your analysis. Many thanks.
RAMPELL: Thank you.
CHURCH: The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority is allowing Virginia to continue its effort to remove suspected non-citizens from its voter registration rolls. No reasoning was given for the ruling, but voting rights groups say there's evidence that eligible voters have been caught up in the state's purge. Republicans have long argued that non-citizens are trying to vote in U.S. elections, but those cases are extremely rare.
The U.S. Justice Department and immigrant rights groups slammed the Supreme Court's ruling, which comes just days before the presidential election. Well, most polls show the upcoming U.S. presidential election is in a dead heat, but that's not the case in the media universe dominated by supporters of former President Donald Trump. According to them, the outcome is already set in stone and as Donie O'Sullivan reports, they appear to be laying the groundwork for Trump to potentially challenge the results.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. The reason you are here at my home at this godforsaken hour of the morning is because we are about to spend the day in the MAGA Media universe.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Every day, millions of Americans get their news and information not from newspapers or cable news.
DANIEL BONGINO, HOST OF "THE DAN BONGINO SHOW" ON RUMBLE: The momentum behind Donald Trump's campaign, ladies and gentlemen, it's almost tangible at this point.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): But from a new world of online MAGA Media outlets.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The secret ingredient to the COVID-19 injections has been found.
(LAUGH)
O'SULLIVAN: Today is going to be a long day.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): But you don't have to work too hard to get sucked into the MAGA Media universe.
O'SULLIVAN: I have a Samsung television. As long as it's -- you're connected to the internet, you got all these free channels. You have channels you'd recognize, but then you go down, "Real America's Voice." But "Real America's Voice" is anything but a normal news network.
STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: -- enemies, because we're going medieval on these people.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): It's the home of Steve Bannon's war room.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where do people like that go to share the big line, MAGA Media.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that guy.
DAVID BOSSIE, AMERICAN POLITICAL ACTIVIST: Good morning, Bossie. This is Dave Bossie, sitting in for Steve Bannon.
O'SULLIVAN: Big part of what's happening on MAGA Media is convincing their audience that there is absolutely no way that Trump can lose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a 99 percent chance we are facing total crazy town.
[02:35:00]
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): As the day went on --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If anyone believes that Kamala Harris is ahead in the polls, you need to have your brain checked.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): It became clear that MAGA Media is telling their audience to expect the election to be stolen.
MIKE LINDELL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MY PILLOW: Pennsylvania has done it three times in a row, three times in a row, three elections in a row. They had more votes than voters.
O'SULLIVAN: This is not true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just voted in the White Settlement election. I voted for one president, checked it on the video screen. When I got the paper ballot, it had the other candidate's name on it.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): This video was quickly going viral with some saying it was proof of election fraud.
O'SULLIVAN: This one has 7 million views. Voters in Tarrant County are reporting that the voting machines are flipping their votes from Trump to Harris.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Election officials had responded to the video.
O'SULLIVAN: Now, Tarrant County has put out a press release, 51 retweets compared to millions of views for the video. The original ballot was spoiled and the voter re-marked a new ballot with his preferred choice reflected. Essentially what they're saying is, this guy made a mistake and that's the whole point of having the paper receipt. You can make sure, and he was able to cast his vote correctly.
LINDELL: But I want to tell you guys about our file sheets that just came in.
SEAN SPICER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Before I do that, I want to tell you how I sleep every night.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): But MAGA Media isn't all doom and gloom. There's also a lot of stuff you can buy.
SPICER: But I've got my Beam Dream Powder. Now this --
O'SULLIVAN: It is kind of sad, you see Sean Spicer, once the White House Press Secretary --
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: My own brand of organic specialty coffee, Rudy Coffee.
O'SULLIVAN: Rudy Giuliani, once America's mayor, selling sleeping pills and coffee.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): The MAGA Media universe is surreal, but also scary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The country is probably going to be in a state of whipped-up chaos.
O'SULLIVAN: There are so many shows, so many influencers, so many people just posting all day long. Clearly, one thing that is being pushed really, really hard is that Trump is definitely going to win, and if he doesn't win, it is because of fraud. It is because the election was stolen.
Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, at my apartment in New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Next here on "CNN Newsroom," a comeback for the ages, the Dodgers are World Series Champions after beating New York in a thrilling Game 5. Back with that in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: The Los Angeles Dodgers are world champions after winning Game 5 of the World Series.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Dodgers players hoisting their trophy in their locker room, champagne was sprayed everywhere. In Game 5, the rival Yankees had jumped to an early 5-0 lead on two big home runs.
[02:40:00]
But then the roof caved in on the Bronx Bombers, a series of errors by New York and timely hits by L.A. turned it around for the West Coast team. It was a comeback for the ages for L.A., a seesaw game with the Dodgers winning 7-6, the biggest comeback to clinch a World Series in baseball history, and the eight world title for the team from the City of Angels.
And CNN's Omar Jimenez reports from inside the Dodgers locker room.
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OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The winning clubhouse looks exactly like what you think it would look like right now. Celebration, I can barely even see the camera right now. My goggles have gotten so soaked over the course of this, whether it's champagne, whether it's beer. If you question how the Dodgers were going to celebrate, I don't think you need to question much longer, as they brought home their eighth championship in this World Series win here in New York, deflating the crowd that at the beginning of this game felt like they probably were going to send this back to Los Angeles.
It's going back to Los Angeles, but in the form of a parade, not a continuation of this World Series. And as you see, the trophy up top there, this is a moment they have been working for this entire season. And really, if you go back to their last one in 2020, because of the pandemic, this will be their first chance to fully celebrate in the way that I believe they've wanted to for years now. And of course, another significant moment, this was the first year that Shohei Ohtani was on the Dodgers, brings home a World Series.
Freddie Freeman sets a record in this World Series for consecutive home runs in games, becomes World Series MVP. This is a team that came in setting a lot of records, had high expectations, and delivered. This is the manifestation of all that work. You get the celebration, you get the beer poured on it, and most importantly, you get the World Series trophy. Back to you.
CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.
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