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Polls Tighten As Trump's Rhetoric Grows Darker; U.S. To Deploy Ballistic Missile Defense System In Israel; Lions Dismantle Cowboys In Dallas, 47-9. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 14, 2024 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:30:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, 5:28 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at Savannah, Georgia on this Monday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

There are just 22 days until Election Day and the latest polling shows the race is as tight as ever. Both candidates, of course, are making closing pitches to votes.

CNN's most recent poll of polls has Kamala Harris with a 50 to 47 percent edge over Donald Trump among likely voters nationally. But, of course, that means there is no clear leader. New polls released narrowed Harris' margins over the weekend.

Both candidates headed to battleground states talking to voters about key issues -- immigration a big one. Kamala Harris vowing once again to pass a bipartisan border deal if she's elected and attacking Trump for his handling of the issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And when he tried to kill, and did, that border security deal. Because, you see, Donald Trump cares more about scaring people, creating fear, and running on a problem instead of what real leaders do, which is to participate in fixing problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: In the closing days of this race Trump's rhetoric on immigration is growing even darker it seems in rallies in Colorado and Arizona over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For four straight years she's imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons all over the world, and she's resettled them into your communities to prey upon innocent American people. If Kamala gets four more years, the entire country will be turned into a migrant camp. Kamala Harris' reign of terror ends the day I take the oath of office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now to talk about all of this, Kevin Frey, Washington correspondent for Spectrum News NY1. Kevin, good morning to you.

KEVIN FREY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SPECTRUM NEWS NY1: Good morning.

HUNT: If you can believe it, we are three weeks out from Election Day.

FREY: And a day -- three weeks and a day.

HUNT: Three weeks and a day. Fine -- yes, I'll give you your one day.

Look, one of the things I think that's -- that people are trying to wrap their heads around here is there's this incredible darkness to Trump's immigration rhetoric.

FREY: Yes.

HUNT: And yet, Latino voters are actually showing more interest in voting for Trump for a Republican this time around than they have in cycles past, and The New York Times polling that we saw over the weekend dug into this. Now, 56 percent of Hispanics they find support Kamala Harris; 37 support Donald Trump. Obviously, she has got the edge here.

FREY: Yeah.

HUNT: But this is smaller than it's been in years past.

And one of the things that they said -- they asked voters whether or not -- Hispanic voters -- whether or not when Trump is talking about these things that he is referring to me, right? Is he referring to those voters? Of Latinos who were born here in the U.S., 67 percent of them say Trump's not referring to me. A third say that he is. And among those who aren't born here, 51 percent say Trump is not referring to me, and that 43 percent say that he is.

Help us understand what's going on here.

FREY: I mean, look, we should also not look at this as just this particular election. This is a trend that's been happening over the last several cycles --

HUNT: Um-hum.

FREY: -- that the Latino vote has been not necessarily more inclined to vote Republican but they're --certainly some are moving in that direction. Look, this is a more typically religious, conservative group of votes to begin with. On top of that, there -- those statistics you've cited are quite extraordinary. That there is kind of this belief that if I came here legally and went through the process there is some resentment to those who have skipped the process and haven't actually gone through all of the barriers that they had to overcome to become legal citizens of the country.

HUNT: How much of this do -- I mean, one of the things -- one of the more fascinating conversations I've been having with strategists over the course of the last couple of elections -- particularly in states like Texas, for example -- is that oftentimes Latino voters don't like to be singled out as a bloc simply because they are Latino. They will often say well, we're voters.

FREY: Right.

HUNT: We care about the same things other voters --

FREY: The economy.

HUNT: -- talk to -- the economy. We want to be spoken to on a different level.

FREY: Yeah. And look, I think that's part of perhaps the great American experiment is that as these different groups become more in view into American society these other issues that have become dominant for the wealth of the population become topline for them as well, including economic issues, particularly for that population.

HUNT: So we're talking a little bit about Trump's dark rhetoric because there was a lot of it over the weekend --

FREY: Yeah.

HUNT: -- including in this interview that he did with Fox News -- Maria Bartiromo, Fox Business, I should say, on Sunday. And he talked about what he referred to as "the enemy within."

FREY: Yeah.

HUNT: I want to play that, and we'll talk about it -- watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within, not even the people that have come in and destroying our country. And by the way, totally destroying our country. The towns, the villages -- they're being inundated. But I don't think they're the problem in terms of Election Day.

I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people -- radical left lunatics. It should be very easily handled by -- if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary by the military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So I think it's just important to stop for a second --

FREY: Yeah. HUNT: -- and listen to what he is saying there, which is that radical left lunatics are the very bad people -- the enemy within. So that implies his political opponents, right?

FREY: Right.

HUNT: People who do not agree with him.

FREY: Yeah.

HUNT: And that could be handled by the National Guard or the military if he is elected.

What is he saying there, and what kind of attention should we be focusing on?

FREY: I mean, this seems to be just kind of a building on what he has been kind of saying over the past decade but now perhaps more blunt than ever before, suggesting that the military is now going to get involved. That the leftists -- that the people who essentially don't agree with him are going to be attacked by the military or should be handled by the military. That's arguably rather fascist, bordering on authoritarian language and rhetoric that's perhaps more extreme than we've ever seen.

[05:35:05]

That said, to put it in somewhat of a context though -- I mean, he has been going to these various blue states over the last couple of weeks. This is a chance for him to rail against Democratic control in these different spaces, which is kind of part of the rhetoric we've seen not just from Trump but from other Republicans as well that Democratic control is this terrible thing and it is detrimental to you, and I am the one that's going to step in and save you.

HUNT: Yeah. I mean, one of the things he said in Colorado -- and again, he went to Aurora, Colorado --

FREY: Right.

HUNT: -- which has been one of these places that has become part of the narrative around immigration that Republicans are --

FREY: All of this at Springfield.

HUNT: -- talking about.

He called the enemy within big -- a bigger enemy than China and Russia --

FREY: Right.

HUNT: -- which I think also kind of underscores -- I mean, we have seen Trump also cozy up to Putin like -- people like Vladimir Putin and President Xi of China. FREY: And that's been the warning from folks like Liz Cheney and others that he is more inclined to draw on those authoritarian tendencies and is more than willing to wrap his arms around them. Heck, he more or less embraced Putin's explanation for any Russian meddling in the 2016 election, for example.

This has -- this has been a trendline for Trump but perhaps it's more explicit now than it has ever been. One could argue, and part of the argument from Kamala Harris over the last weekend has been that because of the Supreme Court's ruling he's untethered, and if he gets into the White House no holds barred on him, and that's part of their warning.

HUNT: All right, Kevin Frey for us this morning. Kevin, very grateful to have you as always.

FREY: No problem.

HUNT: Thank you very much.

All right, let's turn now to this. The United States sending U.S. troops to Israel. A U.S. Defense official tells CNN that about 100 troops are deploying there to operate one of the United States' most advanced missile defense systems. The Pentagon's announcement comes as Israel faces unprecedented attacks from Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK HERTLING, RETIRED U.S. ARMY LIEUTENANT GENERAL: What we're seeing is a massive increase in the number of missiles and drones that Hezbollah is firing into Israel. The first 10 months of this war they were firing anywhere from 30 to 50 per day. Over the last three days they've fired somewhere around 300 per day.

This is the best system in the world and there's only six of them -- six batteries of these in the United States' inventory. So loaning (PH) one and deploying a group of soldiers to Israel is a pretty big deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Just yesterday a Hezbollah drone entering into Israel's airspace without triggering an alert killed four soldiers and injured more than 60 people. The attack was one of the bloodiest against Israel since the war began over a year ago.

Joining us now with more is CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier. Kim, good morning. Always grateful to have you.

So help us understand what this system adds to the defenses that the -- that the Israelis already have, and how concerned, potentially, Americans should be about U.S. troops deploying there.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It adds another layer of air defense in that what it does is it knocks ballistic missiles, mid- range and long-range, out of the sky. With Iran in its last volley of missiles fired at Israel, it switched up to mostly ballistic missiles. This will counteract that or help counteract that. So it's a look ahead to what might happen after Israel does some sort of retaliation against Iran's last volley of ballistic missiles.

But it does put roughly 95 to 100 troops on the ground in Israel, which the U.S. hasn't done before. And it's also a signal to people in the Middle East and really throughout the world that while Israel is stepping up its attacks in Lebanon, in Gaza, that the U.S. is making statements about that but then acting by sending this missile defense system. It's tacit approval of everything Israel is doing -- at least that's how it will be seen by many in the Arab world.

HUNT: So you see this as -- I mean, there is -- it does seem to be a distinction between -- this is something that is designed to defend Israel from attacks, right, as opposed to --

DOZIER: Um-hum.

HUNT: I mean, one of the major criticisms certainly the left has for politicians here is providing the bombs that are falling --

DOZIER: Yeah.

HUNT: -- on Gaza.

How does the Biden administration separate these two things, if at all?

DOZIER: Well, the important thing is that what it does is by protecting Israel the U.S. is hoping to keep Israel from stepping up to the next kind of response. By sending this now before Israel has responded to Iran's last volley of ballistic missiles it's saying we will be here to protect you. You don't have to do as big a strike as you may be planning on Iran on all of their ballistics sites because we are going to provide another way to protect your population from this.

[05:40:03]

HUNT: Really interesting.

All right, Kim Dozier for us this morning. Kim, thank you very much for being here. I really appreciate it.

DOZIER: Thanks.

HUNT: All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING was Donald Trump George Washington's worst nightmare? Our next guest thinks so. He's going to join the show to tell us why.

Plus, it's a tough day to be a Dallas Cowboys fan. Oh, cry me a river. The Bleacher Report is next.

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HUNT: All right, welcome back. [05:45:00]

With a little more than three weeks until Election Day, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both arguing this is the most consequential election of our lifetime.

Tom Nichols, writer and former professor at the U.S. Naval War College is the author of the new cover story on this month's Atlantic. It's called "The Moment of Truth." Nichols argues that a second Trump presidency would mark the end of George Washingtons' vision for both the presidency and for the United States of America.

Nichols writes this. "As we judge the candidates, we should give thought to Washington's example, and to three of Washington's most important qualities and the traditions they represent: his refusal to use great power for his own ends, his extraordinary self-command, and most of all, his understanding that national leaders in a democracy are only temporary stewards of a cause far greater than themselves."

And joining us now is Tom Nichols. Tom, welcome to the show. I'm so grateful to have you. It's so nice to see you again.

This is just a remarkable portrait. And in this piece, which I highly recommend to everyone, you write about how went back and revisited as a scholar the history of George Washington, trying to find the man himself.

Explain why you did this, what you found, and why it matters so much right now in this moment.

TOM NICHOLS, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC (via Skype): You know, when you go -- I think most Americans -- when you go back and you think about George Washington you kind of have this very stodgy sort of historical figure in mind. I always refer to him as the guy who is giving you the side eye from the dollar bill. The sort of kind of disapproving judgmental look.

But he was actually very human, racked by doubts and insecurities like the rest of us. And yet, he made these extraordinary choices. He made choices to constantly -- to turn back the offers of ultimate power. He refused to join -- for example, to join continental officers who wanted to overthrow the Congress shortly after the Revolution because they weren't getting paid and they thought that democracy -- you know, to use a term that we hear now, that democracy wasn't working.

He didn't want to be president for more than a term. He really didn't want to be president at all and was pulled back into politics because he cared so much about this country. He was personally incorruptible and worried very much about even the -- even small gifts appearing as bribes. I mean, he could not be more different that the man who is trying to get back into the Oval Office.

And I think Americans needs to remember this is our heritage. These are things we expected of presidents because Washington set the bar. And even the worst presidents who came after Washington tried in some way to measure up to that. And Trump just doesn't care. Trump couldn't care less about honor,

integrity, and patriotism -- and that's partly why I wrote the piece.

HUNT: Tom, we have been hearing particularly dark language from Donald Trump this campaign -- considerably darker than the ones he's run before. But even here in the final days he seems to be offering an increasingly stormy vision.

This was what he had to say in Aurora, Colorado over the weekend about America's enemies -- watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's the enemy from within. All the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country. That's a bigger enemy than China and Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: When you watch that and when you hear that there's a bigger enemy inside our political system here than our potential external enemies in China and Russia, how do you take that in? And how is it different from the way our founding fathers -- how George Washington thought about these things?

NICHOLS: George Washington thought that the greatest title anyone could hold would be citizen of the United States as well. He describes himself as George Washington: a citizen of the United States and lately, president of the same.

When I hear Trump talk this way two things occur to me. One is how deeply unstable and emotionally disordered a person he is. I mean, there's just something wrong with him.

But also how unpatriotic, un-American it is to talk about how the enemy within, which Trump always defines as anyone who doesn't like him. Anyone who opposes him and his plans to seize control of American institutions once he's elected to -- back to the Oval Office. That somehow those people are worse than two countries that are pointing nuclear weapons at the United States of America.

[05:50:00]

I mean, think about -- I hope people think about what it means to have a president who thinks that someone who didn't vote for him is a worse enemy than the communist Chinese regime or the hyper nationalist fascist Russian regime, both of which have hundreds and hundreds of nuclear weapons pointed at cities across the United States. It's the kind of comment that normally would end a career in politics, but Trump has had many of those.

I think Washington and the other founders would find it incomprehensible that we even allow this man into our public square.

HUNT: Tom, very briefly as we're running out of time here, but all those points taken, you could make an argument right now Trump is winning the election -- winning the race. Why?

NICHOLS: Well, I think in part because there are millions of Americans who just have not internalized the danger and frankly don't take this election seriously enough. I think that there are millions of Republicans who basically want to give Trump another four years of his reality TV show. And I think that there are millions of Democrats, unfortunately, who just don't feel energized enough by the remarkable danger that Trump presents to our constitution.

And I'm hoping that as the -- as these last few weeks go by that people focus and realize what's at stake here. But it's closer than it should be, and I find that -- I find that tragic.

HUNT: All right, Tom Nichols for us this morning. Tom, I really -- I actually learned a lot about Washington reading through this piece, so I really appreciate it. And I appreciate your time this morning as well. Thank you.

All right, time now for sports.

The Lions destroyed the Cowboys in Dallas -- how is that for a sentence -- yesterday, handing the boys one of the biggest losses in franchise history.

Coy Wire has this morning's Bleacher Report. Coy, I have to be an objective political reporter, but I am not a sports reporter. So you can be objective. I'm not. This is very fun.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: No -- no need to wipe that smile off your face. There's a lot of people that were happy about this 38-point beatdown. It's Dallas' worst home loss since Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989. Not the present he wanted, Kasie, on his 82nd birthday yesterday.

The Lions' offense just toying with the Cowboys rushing for nearly 200 yards, two touchdowns while Jared Goff threw for more than 300 yards and three scores. Look at this double reverse flea-flicker to his tight end Sam LaPorta who rumbles into the endzone.

Things got so out of hand Detroit let two offensive lineman run routes as receivers, then called a hook and ladder to 335-pound Penei Sewell. He's swift, like Taylor, diving towards the goal. And there was a flag on the play though.

But Detroit's defense -- they had Dak Prescott seeing ghosts, sacking him four times. Safety Brian Branch intercepted him twice. They did, however, lose their star Aidan Hutchinson in this one to a season- ending leg injury.

The Lions roll 47-9.

The Tampa Bay Bucs were playing with some extra motivation dominating their division rival Saints 51-27 -- the most points by any team this season. Baker Mayfield threw for four touchdowns.

And he dedicated the win to all the fans back home, especially those still struggling in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAKER MAYFIELD, QUARTERBACK, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: I think today was kind of a team embodying and embracing everything that everybody is going through. Ups and downs trying to handle it the best way you can and fight through it and find a way to make it work. That's life. Obviously, a natural disaster is not easy to deal with, but you find a way to make it work and you overcome -- and you come together.

TODD BOWLES, HEAD COACH, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: Our hearts pour out to the city. It's a tough city. It's a strong city. We don't know what we're going back to but in our small part and this time we wanted to win one for the city. And we're going to try and help any way we can when we get back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: And she's on fire. Game two of the WNBA Finals, Lynx and Liberty in the Big Apple. The Lynx took game one but this time, two- time league MVP Breanna Stewart was in her bag for New York. She dropped a game-high 21 points and set a new finals record for steals. She has seven of them.

The Liberty win 80-66, evening the series at one apiece as they now head to Minnesota for game three on Wednesday.

And the Dodgers dominating the Mets in game one of the NLCS in L.A. Shohei Ohtani going two for four scoring two runs and driving in another in the 9-0 shutout.

But this game and these playoffs have been all about pitching for the Dodgers. Thirty-three consecutive scoreless innings tying the all-time postseason mark set by the Orioles -- Kasie's Orioles -- back in 1966.

Game two is this afternoon. Then tonight on TBS and Max game one of the ALCS between the Guardians and Yankees in the Bronx -- Kasie.

HUNT: All right, Coy. Thanks for that.

WIRE: Yeah.

HUNT: I do -- I've got to love playoff season. I'm bummed about my O's, but what are you going to do?

Thank you.

WIRE: You got it.

HUNT: All right. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING reports of rising tensions between the Harris campaign and Joe Biden's team. What's come between the candidate and the president in the final weeks of the race.

[05:55:00]

Plus, razor-thin margins in must-win states. The Harris campaign using a former president to make a targeted push.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are seven swing states that are going to determine the outcome of this election. And it's disgusting and hard to understand but they're all tight as a tick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

HUNT: It's Monday, October 14.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING the final three weeks. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump locked in a dead heat and millions of votes already cast.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm aware of the gender gap. I see the polling that everybody else does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The gender divide. How both campaigns are looking to close the gap between men and women in the final stretch.

And then --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within. It should be very easily handled by -- if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary, by the military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The enemy from within. Donald Trump with some of his darkest language yet about his political foes.