Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Trump Refuses a Second Debate; Boeing Workers on Strike this morning; Trump Campaign Selling Swift Inspired T-Shirts; Super PAC Linked to Republicans Run Digital Ads on Doug Emhoff. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired September 13, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I am, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'm Hillary Clinton.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut up. Anyway. I want this bag of candy filled huge to the rim.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Halloween is just around the corner. We could see more kids dressed as their favorite presidential candidates this election year. There is one man here with us today who may have the best costume. The Former Hillary Clinton adviser, Philippe Reines. He helped prepare Kamala Harris for her presidential debate by standing in for Donald Trump.

And according to him, you can see here, the Trump costume may be more high maintenance than you think. And joining us now is Philippe Reines. Philippe, Good morning.

PHILIPPE REINES, PLAYED TRUMP IN HARRIS' DEBATE PREP AND FORMER HILARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Good morning.

HUNT: Welcome back to your actual self.

REINES: Thank you. Not yet, but getting close.

HUNT: Have you gotten all the bronzer off your face?

REINES: You know, someone was putting makeup on the other day and they said, oh, you already have some makeup on. And I was like, I just had a facial this morning. How come I still have makeup on? You guys have no idea what it's like to wear makeup and heels.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's so true.

REINES: You cannot understand.

BEDINGFIELD: Tell us more about this --

SARAH LONGWELL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND HOST, THE FOCUS GROUP PODCAST: Is it hard for you?

ELIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Tell us about being a woman, Philippe?

BEDINGFIELD: Tell us about that burden, Philippe.

HUNT: Yes, it's like my -- it's my every day right after the show. It's like which makeup removal will actually get it off?

REINES: It's easier just to leave it on.

HUNT: So, Philippe, we were talking in the break, as you're sitting down, you ended up playing Trump, but you actually -- I had asked, did you call -- did you get this call right after this switch was made to play Donald Trump? Because I know you also played Trump for Hillary Clinton back in 2016.

I think -- I mean, my biggest question for you is, what was the difference between prepping Kamala Harris for this debate compared to other debate preps you've done or like with Hillary Clinton, for example, how did you approach it?

REINES: Well, first off, I had never met the vice president. So, it turned out to be for the best because she had never met Donald Trump. With Hillary, I'd been with her for so long that my mere presence ticked her off. So, I didn't have to do much to simulate.

You know, there were only two people, and now three, who understand what it's like to be on that stage with, you know, a job interview. I mean, imagine if we were talking right now and Kate was standing here with a chainsaw. It'd be very hard to hear me --

BEDINGFIELD: Wait. I didn't know that was an option.

HUNT: That would be very distracting, Kate.

REINES: It would be very hard --

BEDINGFIELD: Don't come back next chainsaw.

REINES: It'd be very hard to hit me and to hear me. And that's the only way he can win, is to block out what someone is saying. And, you know, what you saw the other night was -- you know, I was watching the people that were quoted, and you made the point about people didn't know that he scuttled the immigration bill. And that is an important point.

And whatever was going on there, which looked like malfunctioning, is -- was important to give her the space to talk about what she wants to do and to remind people the guy had a record. You'd never know it listening to him that he served for four years. And this -- whatever you want to call it, this amnesia that people are somehow having pleasant memories of his term is odd. And it's important to really point that out.

WILLIAMS: A question for you, along those lines, how was prepping to be Donald Trump different in 2016 versus now? He's a different person today.

REINES: He is. And it's actually pretty serious. The first thing I noted, and I later compared notes with Bob Bauer, who played the same role for Vice President Biden, there is something going on with his language. He always digressed. He would be talking about China tariffs and then talk about the Chinese Bank being in Trump Tower.

Now, there's just this staccato stopping short, not using proper nouns as much. I think we're all used to it and there's a lot of laughing, but that he is -- he -- I could -- the way I think about it is we all have friends with a laptop that's a little old and they should be replacing it, it drains the battery a little fast and it's heavier than it should be, and he is a different person that is hard to tell because he looks generally the same and he's equally loud and somehow being louder and tanner has been equated to health, and it's just not. There is something. And we saw it the other day irrespective of what the vice president did.

[06:35:00]

What the former president did is very unnerving and that, OK, let's just say that she did get under his skin at minute 11 or minute 12. How does getting under his skin lead to these four-minute diatribes? And why is it happening an hour or 70 minutes in, that he can't pull it together? That's very unnerving.

HUNT: Yes, it's different. Philippe, what did you learn about the vice president in this process? I mean, what can you tell us about her as a person? How does she approach problems? How does she approach this prep? What kind of questions did she ask you as you were doing this?

REINES: Well, she's the real deal. I mean, I had a similar -- or I had an uninformed view of her beforehand, which is a problem that she has to fix with millions of voters, which she did with her convention speech and then did Tuesday night.

I -- you know, she put in the work. She never said, all right, I've had enough of this. I'm going home, which other people have done. It's funny because you know the person with you is imitating Trump. You really can't believe though, that the nonsense coming out of their mouth actually comes out of Donald Trump's mouth. So, you know, watching the debate, you're like, oh, my God, how did you know he was going to talk about German inflation? I'm like, because it's a broken record.

And, you know, the fact checking, ABC had an, a very easy job in the sense, because he repeats himself all day, he'd been talking about cats and dogs for two days. He was sending, you know, Truth Social, whatever they're called, notes about cats and dogs and pictures about cats with, you know, AR-15s. So, it gave them an opportunity to call him out on it.

And that's important because to what the vice president did that night, she did basically the job of four or five people. She did her job of speaking to the camera and saying, here's what I want to do. She did the job of calling him out. She did the job of saying, what are you talking about? And that's tough. That is tough. And it is not easy to do. We all do it watching the debate. And you're sitting there, it's like mystery science theater where you're, it's an ongoing commentary. Like, what are you talking about? Like what's wrong with him? But she's on stage and it's this far away. And you have milliseconds to respond.

HUNT: Yes. Well, and she did a lot of it with her face, which, you know, as someone who works on camera, I have some understanding of how you can do that, and it really made me wonder if that was something that was practiced. I mean, were you watching back tape in the split screen and like watching that and thinking about it?

REINES: It's not practice. I think it's the point of prep for anything, whether it's congressional testimony or media, is to eliminate the idea of total surprised. You just want people to kind of get used to things and they do most of that outside of the formal sessions. They might be in the shower or running where they're thinking, you know, if he says this, I want to say that. It's not an exercise in some kind of scandal or house of cards memorization. And --

HUNT: Right. But did she think about -- I mean, look at that, like the pose right there with her like hand underneath her chin, right? I mean, clearly, she must have known that this is how this would come across.

REINES: She -- I mean, she must have thought about it, but it doesn't mean there's someone sitting there saying, OK, let's practice the chin and let's practice the cross arms. Those are human reactions.

BEDINGFIELD: But it is so true, though, thinking about what you look like on television is such an important part. I mean, people understandably are so focused, you know, as they should be on the substance and how am I going to parry this and how am I going to -- but one of the things that can get lost in debate prep, in my experience, and so, kudos -- huge kudos to you guys.

REINES: Well, there's a team. I want to make sure people know it's Karen Dunn and (INAUDIBLE).

HUNT: Of course.

BEDINGFIELD: Absolutely. It matters what you look like on television. It matters what your face looks like. It matters whether you look comfortable, whether, as Philippe is saying, you don't look surprised, and whether it doesn't look contrived. It doesn't look like, you know, here's this set piece moment that we all cooked up because we're so smart and we're going to execute it this way. It has to feel, for the viewer, authentic. And I think one thing she did so, so well was she was dismissive of Trump in a way that made him look small and made her look big and strong. And I -- that's --

REINES: I mean, she put on a clinic, and, you know, I always think of that role that I play as the ball machine. If someone says, let's text her forehand, I'd shoot it there. And if someone backend there, then, on the ball machine that just keeps spewing the balls accidentally that's just going every which way because, again, I'm malfunctioning.

[06:40:00]

But, you know, we're sitting here right now, to Kate's point, and these guys know they're on TV. I mean, they're not sitting there making funny faces. I mean, it's a big part of it. You're in a debate and, you know, in rough terms for 45 minutes, you are being watched as a split screen the entire time. And people -- you know, she has a disadvantage that people need to get to know her, and people want to get to know her. And Tuesday was a step in that. And hopefully, you know, the people who -- the three people that we saw with their comments are 3 million people.

There's this slight, you know, short, narrow sliver of people that, for whatever reason, couldn't decide between Donald Trump and Joe Biden for reasons I can't understand. And now, it's Joe Biden -- now it's Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. And everything you do -- like I don't know any of those folks after watching the debate was like, I'm more inclined to vote for Donald Trump as opposed to what is wrong with that guy.

HUNT: Well, Sarah has talked --

REINES: I don't know how we lived through the first four years watching that.

LONGWELL: I'll tell you one of the pieces of good news is that for Kamala Harris is that the more people see of Donald Trump, the less they like him. And that has always been true. The more Donald Trump is front and center, the more his numbers go down.

What's interesting is that the more people see Kamala Harris right now, the more people like her. And so, I think the debate should be and will be the kickoff to being out there all the time.

REINES: And that's why he's ostensibly avoiding another one, although, I think that's just working the buffs.

HUNT: Well, nobody really loves losing, and it seems clear that Donald Trump --

REINES: What do you mean? That was the best debate, you know, crap of all time.

HUNT: Well, of course, he's never going to admit that in public. Briefly, Philippe, the handshake moment at the top, was that rehearsed? REINES: Well, what's funny about that is, like, that's human behavior. You know, if you -- if someone had said --

HUNT: Right, but you have to have thought about that, right?

REINES: Well, but -- I mean, that's just normal. You're like, I've never met you. I'm going to say hello. You would never would have said Mitt Romney and Obama, oh, my God, they shook hands. It's crazy that this was the seventh debate and no one has shaken his hands since Hillary --

HUNT: But did she think about it beforehand?

REINES: I'm sure. I mean, first time I met her, she shook my hand.

HUNT: Did you practice it?

REINES: It's not a practice thing. Again, these things are not --

HUNT: I just mean, like, when you took the podium in debate prep, did she come over at the beginning?

REINES: She came over when I met her. And I said, you know, Madam Vice President, it's nice to meet you, and in 20 minutes, you probably won't think that's true anymore. I mean, it's --

WILLIAMS: He's such a skilled debate prepper. If you notice that he gave you a very compelling answer to your question without asking the specific answer.

REINES: I don't know what you're saying.

HUNT: Philippe has spent a lot of time also dealing with people like me. It's very practiced. It never actually isn't telling us --

REINES: It is less of that than you would think. You know, I mean, Joe Biden didn't practice not shaking his hand.

HUNT: Correct.

REINES: You're just like, I'm not touching that guy. I don't know where that hand has been. But actually, we do know where that hand has been.

BEDINGFIELD: And he didn't -- to your point about authenticity, and it's not all rehearsed and practiced, he didn't because he didn't want to. And he was angry at him and didn't want to go shake his hand. And so, he didn't because the best debates are the ones that show who the person actually is and reflects an authentic dynamic So, no, we never rehearsed.

REINES: Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: You're going to -- I'm going to stand there and not approach Donald Trump. It was Joe Biden didn't want to.

REINES: And I -- you know, Hillary refused to after the Access Hollywood. She's like, I'm just not --

HUNT: Yes.

REINES: The fact that, you know, Nancy Pelosi had it right, like, no one should be on stage with him debating it. And she doesn't mean that in a second-guessing strategy kind of way, just, this is not right. It's one of the many things that are not right about these things. What was interesting is that if you watched all the way through, there was an overhead shot when it was over, and boy, did he scurry off that stage quickly.

LONGWELL: Yes. But that's a body language thing. Here's the thing about that handshake. It was an alpha move from the jump. He wanted to avoid shaking hands. She went right in and said, no, no, I'm in your space and I'm going to start this debate. And then, she never let up. She was the alpha the whole time.

HUNT: His reaction was as much --

REINES: Well, people don't realize how in often -- is that a word? He is -- see, I can't even get out of it. I'm mumbling. How in often he is in challenging situations. He goes to rallies. He talks whatever he thinks about. He goes on Fox, which is basically a broadcast rally, it goes to the National Association of Black Journalists, and he's immediately angry, and you see that in these various scenarios, and he comes out, he's like, I can't just talk about what I want to talk about?

I mean, he's -- I have to admit, these rallies can be quite bearable to watch. And you can see why if you don't think or you don't realize he's lying so often. If you believe what he's saying, I understand why people listening to him like him, because it's -- you know, it's strength and we're going to get back there. They don't realize he's lying to them. I mean, he's not lying to us. He's lying to them, the people that ostensibly are his biggest supporters. He's lying to their face.

HUNT: Well, Philippe Reines, thank you very much.

REINES: I'll see you in four years.

[06:45:00]

HUNT: You occupy a very interesting corner of our political universe.

REINES: This is my quadrennial 15 minutes.

HUNT: I appreciate it. Well, come back on the panel. We'll have you anytime.

REINES: Anytime.

HUNT: Like, we missed you for the time that you went dark to go do this.

REINES: Thank you very much. HUNT: So, come back soon, all right? Still ahead here on CNN This Morning, Boeing workers on strike. Why 33,000 employees at the aerospace company are joining the picket line. That's in our morning roundup.

And will there be another debate? Trump says no. We'll ask Michael Smerconish, who's here because it's Friday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right. 49 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our members rejected the contract by 94.6 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: More than 30,000 Boeing workers in Seattle and Portland are on strike this morning, shutting down production of the company's bestselling 737 MAX Jet. As they struggle with mounting debt and output delays, the workers are demanding a 40 percent pay hike.

[06:50:00]

Donald Trump's campaign now selling Taylor Swift inspired T-shirts. This comes just after Swift announced she was endorsing Kamala Harris for president. The Trump campaign writing on social media, calling all Swifties for Trump, get your Trump Era shirt today.

All right. Let's turn now to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH MEYERS, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": The debate did feel at times like an episode of "Seinfeld" where Kramer thinks the new fast food place across the street is kidnapping pets. Dogs, Jerry. They're eating the dogs. They're eating the dogs. They're eating the dogs, Jerry. I went on a date with Putty last night and had him eating out of my hand like a dog. Now, that's the tail wagging the dog.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Well, it seems like American voters will not get to watch their presidential candidates on a debate stage again before the November election. One ex-Trump administration official saying not so fast, Former Trump White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci predicting this about his old boss' decision not to debate Kamala Harris a second time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: It's 100 percent that he's going to debate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?

SCARAMUCCI: I make that prediction here. He's a wrestler. You know, he's like a UFC thing. He's going to say he's not going to debate. He knows he lost the debate, and he knows he's debating her again. But he has to have a build-up. He thinks it's a negotiating chip. He's trying to show his macho flex.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining me now is CNN Political Commentator Michael Smerconish, the host of CNN's Smerconish. Michael, wonderful to see you. It was great to be with you in person in Philadelphia on Tuesday as we watched this debate together with the great Wolf Blitzer. But I want to talk about what you think about what may happen next year because Trump has said he's not going to do it. Scaramucci there thinks he will.

Philippe Reines, who was just here as someone who tries to embody Donald Trump, walked -- he didn't say this on the air, but as he was leaving, he said he's convinced that Trump is going to debate again. What do you think?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST, SMERCONISH AND CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, I loved your last segment. I'm almost sorry that you're coming to me. I wish Philippe had more time because I loved hearing the backstory of what was going on.

My suspicion is that there will be another debate. I think that he's trying to work the setting. I think it's weakness though. If he's really doing this to set up a Fox debate, I think it's weakness. And if he does well, people will say, well, it was on Fox. Do you know what I think Donald Trump should do? I think Donald Trump should say, I'd like Rachel Maddow to host the debate, and I'm willing to go to MSNBC or let Joy Reid ask me questions, that would show strength in the aftermath of what was clearly a defeat.

I also think, in retrospect, having gone back and watched that debate a second time that there was so much more going on that was all cast in advance, all planned, all deliberate on Kamala Harris' part. Yes, the shaking of the hand like you talked about, but the reliance on, of all places, Wharton in terms of assailing his economic plan, the reference that she made to being a gun owner herself. And of course, talking about his rallies.

Honest to God, I think when it's all said and done, Kasie, there'll be a book written and we're going to find out that there was professional psychological help relied upon on how you push his buttons, and it worked.

HUNT: Well, we'll call Philippe back and see if he can shed any additional light on that. I mean, it is interesting in that one of -- I think one of the things you're putting your finger on here is that she hit on things that Donald Trump simply cannot resist, right? Like there is something about him where if you touch on these certain things, he cannot resist going after them, and I kind of wonder if that's how perhaps you're thinking about the possibility of another debate, that he simply cannot resist the opportunity to get back on stage with her.

SMERCONISH: I think that's true. I think that it plays on his psyche, but also, you know, I'm seeing headlines about the very initial polling, and I'm not yet confident that we know the impact of the debate. But let's also say this, he might need to debate her. Because if that margin truly is five points, which is what Ipsos is saying, again, unreliable, it's so soon thereafter. But you know the metric. The metric is that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by two and it wasn't enough. Joe Biden won the popular vote by four and it was a tell that therefore he was going to do well enough in the battleground states.

So, if she is where she is in the national poll, it doesn't bode well for Trump in the battleground states. He therefore will probably have to debate her.

HUNT: Yes, it's a really interesting way of looking at it. Briefly, Michael, there's some reporting this morning from Axios about the White House photographers, the still photographers, and what we refer to here in D.C. as the snap pack. They're only letting one of them fly on the plane. And they're not really answering questions about why that is. The photographers are angry. They usually get a lot more seats.

I find it confusing because every candidate I've ever covered absolutely loves the snap pack. They make them look really, really good. And they don't report things that they hear with their ears. So, when I was the AP writer, I was never allowed back there when our AP photographers got this great behind the scenes stuff. What does it say to you that this is an issue for Kamala Harris?

[06:55:00]

SMERCONISH: It says to me that she's got to do a coming out. I mean, I fully expect that she's now going to make herself available to local network affiliates, where frankly, I think they play more softball than they do on a national level, and especially in the world of the cable outlets, it has served her well thus far. But the next interesting media question for me is going to be, what kind of direct questioning will she face when she does sit down with a Philadelphia network anchor, or someone who's in Raleigh, or fill in the blank with whatever the affiliate might be in one of the seven battleground states?

HUNT: Yes. All right. It makes sense. I mean, and they say that they're going to do that next. It's definitely been a very strong part of many a campaign strategy in the past. I'm interested to see how much of it they're actually going to do here in the future. Michael Smerconish, love having you. Love our Smerconish Fridays.

SMERCONISH: Nice to be with you this week.

HUNT: Appreciate it.

SMERCONISH: Thank you.

HUNT: And of course, to all of our viewers, don't miss Smerconish tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

All right. I want to turn now to this, a Super PAC, one with connections to multiple Republicans, has been running what appear on the surface to be pro Harris digital ads in the key swing State in Michigan, and it's not just anywhere in Michigan, they are specifically targeting ZIP codes with heavy Arab American and Muslim American populations. These ads focus heavily on Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff's Jewish faith, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This November, let's make history. Together, we will put a real pro-Israel president in the White House. And joining Kamala will be her husband and top adviser, Doug Emhoff, who would be the first Jewish presidential spouse ever.

Only in America, Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff, making history, standing up for what's right, supporting Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, Sarah Longwell, how do you react to that kind of a move? Because, again, I think the context here is so important, what they're trying to do here with Arab American and Muslim American voters in Michigan specifically.

LONGWELL: Yes, they are trying to reinflame the debate that was doing real damage to Joe Biden in Michigan with that population. And actually, I remember doing a lot of focus groups in Michigan during this time. And it's not just the Arab American population, it was a lot of white voters who wanted to stand with the Arab American population in Michigan back when there was just a lot of the campus protests.

But yes, that is targeted at people where they are trying to drive up Kamala's negatives by --

HUNT: With anti-Semitism?

LONGWELL: With anti-Semitism, and it's pretty gross.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes. I mean, it's just disgusting. And it's not -- I mean, these are not ads criticizing her policy positions, this is an ad equating the fact that her husband is Jewish with the idea that she is somehow going to carry forward policy that is objectionable to people who don't like the way the Biden administration has handled Israel, Gaza.

It's gross. I don't think it's going to work. I think they're trying to be too cute by half. I actually think these ads are probably going to wind up helping her.

HUNT: Molly Ball.

MOLLY BALL, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I mean, they seem like positive ads to me. LONGWELL: It's gross when you know what they're doing, but like, on the -- you're also like, I don't know, that seems nice --

WILLIAMS: He seems like a nice guy.

BALL: -- seems like actually a nice ad. So, I do wonder if like, it's a little too subtle and the people that they're trying to target even might not get it.

BEDINGFIELD: I completely -- yes. I think it will -- I actually think they will wind up doing more good for her than damage, for that reason. They're not -- they feel positive. They're too subtle. Voters do not -- voters are not absorbing messages in this incredibly, like, nuanced and complicated way.

BALL: Yes, yes. You got to have to really have --

BEDINGFIELD: -- and say, OK.

BALL: You have to really feel strongly negative about Jews to react in that way to that ad. And they may be overestimating the degree -- I hope they're overestimating the degree.

HUNT: Well, also because Kamala Harris herself --

LONGWELL: There's a large population that feels that way. She's -- it's -- she has been very -- that works with somebody like Joe Biden, who's having a difficult time communicating his position on Israel and Gaza. She's not having a difficult time. She is able to say clearly, I am standing with Israel. I will support with support Israel. And also, I care about people in Gaza, and I think that we need to do -- you know, it's like she is clearly articulating her position. And anybody who deeply cares about that issue is able to see how she's clearly articulating that issue.

HUNT: A really interesting way to think about it. All right. I want to get you guys to weigh in on this, because I want to leave you with this, color me skeptical, but you might want to stay away from walking under ladders, avoiding any -- opening umbrellas indoors today because it is Friday the 13th.

The number 13 has long been associated with superstitions, but it might've been this film that made the date infamous in pop culture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Messenger of God, you're doomed if you stay here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That is, of course, from the 1980s slasher film "Friday the 13th." But 13 might not be all that unlucky. Pop icon Taylor Swift in recent years reclaimed the number 13, touting it as her favorite number, and she might be on to something.

[07:00:00]