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Twenty Days Until Election Day; Ralph Reed is Interviewed about Evangelicals; Harris and Trump Defend Their Styles. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 16, 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]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: "1961, the torch has been passed to a new generation. But it also evoked a less often cited part of Kennedy's formulation - his description of Americans as tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace."

And joining our panel now is the author of that story, CNN contributor and staff writer for "The New Yorker," Evan Osnos.

Evan, good morning. Thank you so much for being here.

EVAN OSNOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: My pleasure.

HUNT: This is, as we were discussing, a very long story about the, you know, hundred-ish days that Harris has had to run here. It's unlike anything any of us, that I've covered, in modern - in modern presidential political history.

Take us inside kind of what you have learned about the campaign as you're reporting this out. I mean, I think it's worth noting, you were Joe Biden's - are Joe Biden's biographer, and this was an incredibly remarkable moment for him. But it has moved on now.

OSNOS: Yes. Well, there was this extraordinary thing that happened in American political history, which was 100 days more or less before the election you had a complete change at the top of the ticket. And you remember, there was nothing preordained. There was nothing guaranteed that it was going to be Kamala Harris as the nominee. In fact, the day that that happened, there were a lot of stories at the time, people who would be generally friendly to Democrats who said, we're not sure this is a good idea.

There was this behind the scenes drama going on. And the way to understand it is that Kamala Harris basically said, if people want to have town halls, they want to have an open convention, sure I'll join that process, but I'm not waiting around for that to happen. In effect she said, good luck with your town halls.

And she was locking down these delegates, making phone calls. And the reason why that's important is that within 24 hours she had this nailed. And the thing that - what that reveals to us is, she is not a casual political player. You know, she has spent her whole life more or less rising rapidly through political offices. She lost the 2019 primary. It's the only time she's ever really lost a race. She then went on and became VP.

She is fairly, I would say, fairly fierce when it comes to making political progress, making political achievements, and she's done it for herself, but it's also at the core of her political mission, which is to say it's -

HUNT: It's ambition.

OSNOS: I would say it's an ambition to widen the perimeter of political power to people who are, at this point, outsiders who she thinks should be insiders. And she includes herself in that process. But that means a lot of people who are otherwise overlooked by politics, and those are the people who feel seen by her sudden assent to the top of American politics.

HUNT: How did she manage to pull off locking all of this down? Because she clearly was doing a lot of work behind the scenes that we didn't know about at the time, at a very sensitive moment where she was being - where she was Biden's number two. How did she go about doing that?

OSNOS: Yes, it's really an interesting story that is, at the center of it, is the Dobbs decision. A decision to overturn Roe. It sort of clarified her vice presidency. You know, going into that, up until the spring of 2022, it wasn't really clear to her what it is that she could be doing, should be doing. You know, what was her distinct value-add?

After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it was suddenly clear that she could do something Joe Biden could not. He was a conflicted Catholic president who couldn't talk about abortion in a way that would feel authentic to people. She went out on the road. She started convening people in all kinds of states. And not just abortion rights advocates, but people working on democracy issues in other ways, and saying to them the same thing over and over, you all should be coordinating and cooperating. And that became this substructure of support that on July 21st became the people who pushed her over the line.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, as somebody who was there in the White House at that time, I think that is exactly right. She sort of post Dobbs, excuse me, I think really did find her footing. And you could see, you know, even internally, as - as you're making decisions in a White House about, you know, where the president's going, where the vice president's going, who's speaking to what, she really was aggressive in kind of grabbing the ring and saying, you know, I'm going to - I want to help be the standard bearer on this argument - you know, on this argument about - about Roe.

So, it - it - absolutely I can say your - your reporting bears out what I certainly experienced. And I think it did kind of open up for her the idea of, you know, this is where she could really make a huge difference.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: The other thing that was going on is that she - coming off of the Dobbs decision, started to look at the 2028 primaries and thinking, that's where this is going to play out, and to elbow people out of the - challenging her in 2028. She did not expect to be running in 2024. And there was a lot that was going on as she built up these networks, talk - who would have reporters in - never me, I should say - for off the records. (INAUDIBLE) -

HUNT: She did that when she first came to Washington too.

DOVERE: Right.

HUNT: I did it with - with her when she was a senator, yes, or an incoming senator.

DOVERE: She had these sessions with black men. You know, the focus that she's gotten these last couple weeks is something that she was doing a year ago. Really, they had lists of people that would be potential delegates to a Democratic convention that she was flying on Air Force Two with her.

[06:35:06]

All of these things which was meant to do like three years from now what she did over the course of about 30 hours in July.

HUNT: So, Evan, one of the other things that you write here to, and this goes to, I mean, President Biden had been saying part of why he didn't drop out earlier was that he didn't think she could win, and then he started, turned and ask, well, can Kamala Harris win?

You write this about Democrats who are concerned about what's going to happen. Quote, "if Trump returns to the White House, and especially if he does so after losing the popular vote again, the voters who thrilled to Harris' sudden ascent will be profoundly demoralized. Already, according to the University of Chicago poll, 58 percent of young people say that American democracy isn't working. Ben Rhodes," former Obama aide, "told me, quote, I think the Democratic Party would have an internal reckoning of a kind that we haven't had in my memory."

The stakes, very high.

OSNOS: I mean, look, Democrats have won the popular vote in presidential elections seven out of the last eight times. And twice on those occasions, in 2000 and 2016, the presidency went to the other side. And I think there is a generation of young people who are looking at this moment and saying, hold on a second, we're doing what you asked of us. We're going to turn out to vote. And if, in fact, they managed to win the popular vote and they don't get the Electoral College, there's going to be a real crisis of legitimacy for American democracy that I think is something we have to prepare for.

MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENOR ADVISER TO TIM SCOTT'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: I think that Tim Walz's position will suddenly become mainstream in the Democratic Party about abolishing the Electoral College, number one. But I think one of the things that you talked about I think was very interesting how - when she was making the calls and Shapiro and Whitmer and Mark Kelly, it was immediate that they offered their support, or at least somewhat immediate. It seems to be calculation there where, here you go, Kamala, have your fun. This is your shot in '24. God bless you. You better win, otherwise we'll be there in '28. It seemed like they were willing to give her a shot this time.

OSNOS: I think there is a recognition this is a tough year, but her career has been about these accelerated timelines. You know, she got to Washington. She was elected in 2016, thinking she'd be serving with Hillary Clinton as president. Instead, all of a sudden she's instantly a contender for president in 2019. All of a sudden she had this accelerated timeline again this year. And what we saw this time was that she was a lot more prepared this time than she was last time.

HUNT: And it's really been a story of whether - I mean because you get to see this when she came to the Senate, learning the lay of the land. Sometimes making a couple mistakes, pulling back a little bit, figuring it out, and then going forward and taking the next step ahead.

Evan Osnos, love the piece. Highly recommend it. Thank you so much for coming in. I really appreciate it.

OSNOS: My pleasure.

HUNT: All right, still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump defending their disparate personal styles. Trump reframing his sometimes long and winding answers as the weave, while Harris pushes back against a radio host who called her answers scripted.

Plus, Donald Trump's base of support with evangelical Christians. I'm going to talk to Ralph Reed, the founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, and ask him about how Trump speaks to religious communities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not going to call this as a prediction, but, in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:30]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: November 5th is going to be called something else. You know what it's going to be called? Christian visibility day. When Christians turn out in numbers that nobody has ever seen before. Let's call it Christian visibility day.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: Donald Trump has long courted the votes of America's over 200 million Christians, despite the fact that only 14 percent of Americans adult - American adults say that the word "Christian" describes Trump either extremely or very well.

He has earned the support of one of the - of one influential evangelical organization that's worked particularly hard to buoy Trump's ground campaign this cycle. The Faith and Freedom Coalition has already knocked on 3 million doors in battleground states on Trump's behalf, and plans to spend more money than ever to mobilize religious voters.

Here was Trump speaking to that group in June.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Christians cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. If Joe Biden gets back in, Christianity will not be safe in a nation with no borders, no laws, no freedom, no future. They're not going to be safe. You're not going to be safe as a person and your religion certainly will be, I think, in tatters.

We answer to God in heaven. You're not even allowed to say that anymore. Today, if you say that, they want to arrest you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now exclusively is Ralph Reed, the founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

Sir, thank you so much for being on the program. I appreciate your being here.

RALPH REED, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, FAITH AND FREEDOM COALITION: Sure, Kasie. Good to be with you.

HUNT: So, I'd like to ask you, this time around, obviously, when Donald Trump ran - first ran for president in 2016, there was a lot of skepticism from evangelical voters, especially on where he would stand on the issue of abortion because he had said things in the past when he - he's, of course, a New Yorker. He had seemed to be pro-choice in some instances. He put out that list of people that he would appoint to the Supreme Court. It seems to mollify a lot of fears. He obviously put a number of those justice on the court, has since bragged about overturning Roe versus Wade.

This time around, though, there's been some back-and-forth because with the fall of Roe and the return of abortion to becoming a really central issue, especially for Democrats, there have been questions about where Trump stands, for example, would he veto a national abortion ban if he becomes president again. The answer to that seems to be that, yes, he would veto that.

Are you comfortable with where he is now and are evangelical voters still willing to trust him considering how this has - this - this specific issue has evolved in recent years?

[06:45:04]

REED: Well, I think it's a great question, Kasie, and - and I - for me personally, I know the president personally. I've talked about him -- talked with him about this issue for years, frankly. And I have no reservations at all. I know that he's pro-life personally. I know that he is the most pro-life president in American history. He defunded Planned Parenthood. He appointed not one, not two, but three Supreme Court justices that made it possible for Roe v. Wade to be overturned after over a half century of social struggle on behalf of the pro-life movement and many conservative Bible believing Evangelicals. So, I'm very comfortable with where he is.

And I would just add one other thing. He's running on a platform that asserts that the unborn child has a right to life that cannot be infringed without due process of law already under the U.S. Constitution, under the 14th Amendment's due process clause. So, he asserts, and the party asserts, that the unborn child is a person who has a right to life and liberty that can't be infringed without due process. That language, in one form or another, has been in the platform since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

And in terms of the national abortion law, it's - we certainly favor that, and we would wish that any president would sign it. But the reality is, you need 60 votes in the Senate, and that's not likely to happen in the short term. And behind door number two is Kamala Harris running on the most radical and extreme pro-abortion agenda of any candidate in history, pledging to pass a law that would codify into federal law, not Roe v. Wade, but what would go beyond Roe v. Wade, what would provide taxpayer funding of abortion, elective abortion, under Medicaid for the first time since the Hyde Amendment became law in 1978, and would allow abortion at any stage of pregnancy in all 50 states. It would immediately repeal many of the common sense restrictions on abortion that had been passed in recent decades by the states.

So, I think for these voters of faith, Kasie, the - the contrast could not be sharper, could not be more dramatic. And that's why I think they're coming and they're going to come in record numbers.

HUNT: What do you hear when former President Trump says when he talks about abortion, that Republicans have to win elections. What does that say to you?

REED: Look, I think what he's doing is recognizing the political reality. You know, and it - it reminds me of that very famous "Time" magazine cover I think from 1993, as I recall, which was then the anniversary of Roe, and they said feminist won an historic victory with Roe v. Wade. And the sub-headline was, they've been losing ever since. And my concern is that that not be said about our movement in 30 or 40 years. We won a huge victory with Dobbs, but that then lead to a counter reaction by the pro-choice and the pro-abortion forces. And we're in a real fight right now. And he's just simply making the point that, look, I gave it back to the states, the court gave it back to the states. That's where it had been throughout American history prior to Roe. That's where it belongs. Family law has historically always been the domain of the states. And, you know, let's not let them mischaracterize our views on this issue. And let's not let them tell lies about our stands.

And they're doing that right now in many of these states. It's really, Kasie, the only issue they've got. They can't run on the economy. They can't run on inflation. They can't run on crime. They can't run on immigration or the border. You know, they got one arrow in their quiver, and that's all they're firing. So, that's really all he's saying.

HUNT: Sir, we have a little bit of news from the president. We don't have the video of this quite yet. It was taped in a Fox News town hall yesterday. We're going to be able to see it on the air here in a couple hours or so.

Donald Trump called himself, quote, "the father of IVF." And he, of course, as he says - he goes on to say, "we are really the party for IVF. We want fertilization, and it's all the way, and the Democrats tried to attack us on it and we're out there on IVF, even more than them."

Are you comfortable with Donald Trump calling himself "the father of IVF"? And are you completed, morally comfortable with IVF?

REED: I personally am and our organization is. I mean, obviously, there are moral and ethical concerns when you're - when you're fertilizing embryos, when you're dealing with a fertility situation in terms of how many are fertilized and - and how they're dealt with.

[06:50:06]

Are they discarded? Is it done willy nilly? Is there no concern at all for moral, ethical, and religious concerns? I think we can work through those issues.

But, Kasie, we're pro-life. And this is about couples that are struggling to have a child, to bring a life into the world. I don't see how we could say we're pro-life and say that we don't want to help struggling couples have children. We want more people to bring lives in - unborn children to fruition and to life. And so, I don't have any she with it at all.

HUNT: All right, Ralph Reed for us this morning. Sir, grateful to have your perspective on the program. Thanks very much for coming by.

REED: You bet. Good to be with you.

HUNT: All right, still to come here on CNN THIS MORNING, just like the candidates themselves, how Donald Trump and Kamala Harris approaches to public appearances could not be more different.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Until someone has heard the same thing at least three times, it just doesn't stay with you. So, repetition is important.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can't go that quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've gone from the dollar to the macro (ph).

TRUMP: So, let me just tell you - so I said, no, I'm just telling you basic - it's called the weave. It's all these different things happening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:55:20]

HUNT: All right, let's turn now to this.

Two very different candidates, you may have noticed. Two very different personas.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Go and vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: Let me hear that music, please. Let me hear that music.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone, let's thank President Trump.

TRUMP: Loud. Nice and loud.

So, play YMCA. Go ahead. Let's go. Nice and loud.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we go, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That was Trump this week at an event in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. It started as a town hall. It turned into an impromptu 30-minute dance party. He is, of course, known for his unpredictability, off the cuff remarks.

An exchange between Trump and "Bloomberg News" yesterday maybe best describes how he seems to approach interviews.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great respect, you - I was asking you about tariffs. You've gone (INAUDIBLE). DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, what I'm saying is this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My - my - my question was about your allies, not about China.

My question is about Google.

TRUMP: You can't go that quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've gone from the dollar to macros (ph).

TRUMP: So, let me just tell you - so I said - no, I'm just telling you basic - it's called the weave. It's all these different things happening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All of these different things happening.

Kamala Harris, on the other hand, responded to criticism that she's to on message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one thing they've been saying, a lot of your (INAUDIBLE) get criticized, you know, folks say you come off as very scripted. They say you like to stick to your talking points. Some media says you have -

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That would be called discipline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, OK.

HARRIS: Uh-huh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But what do you say to people who say you - you stay on the talking points?

HARRIS: I would say, you're welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh-huh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I would say, you're welcome.

I mean, Kate, I will say -

BEDINGFIELD: Hey, as a communications staffer, yes. Yes, you're welcome - you're welcome indeed.

HUNT: It's a strategist's dream. GORMAN: (INAUDIBLE).

BEDINGFIELD: Yes, thank you. Thank you, Madam Vice President.

HUNT: But, I mean, there is this sort of change in our, you know, way of consuming all sorts of media. But the way we - I mean somebody shown up on your device, like right here, is a very personal way of being in someone's life. It's the way many young people are used to experiencing politicians. I think this is part of where the criticism of her is coming from, that she is scripted and on these talking points.

I will say, her strategy has been to put herself into new and different situations in the last week because they seem to recognize she potentially needs to do that. But what - what are voters demanding from their politicians in this regard right now?

BEDINGFIELD: Yes, I mean, look, authenticity is always the - the coin of the realm. I mean that's - for politicians, you want to feel authentic. You want people - you want people to feel like they're getting the real you. And there is sometimes a fine line you have to walk because you also have to hit a message repeatedly in order for people to hear it, especially in a fractured media environment where people are no longer, you know, tuning in just to broadcast news at the end of the day to see what happened and reading the paper in the morning.

So, there is - there's -

HUNT: We still read the papers in the morning here, I will tell you.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes, here we do. Here we do. Here we do.

GORMAN: Oh, yes, absolutely.

HUNT: But I take your point.

BEDINGFIELD: Absolutely. Absolutely.

So, there is - there is often a fine line. I think - you know, the problem for - for Trump, I mean, yes, there are elements of his sort of wackiness that people connect with. I would concede that. Absolutely.

But when somebody is - is weaving off message, it also matters what they're saying when they weave. And when he weaves and says things like, you know, that we're going to use the military to attack the enemy within, you know, that's - he's - he is showing you his authentic self. And that, I hope, is a problem for voters.

HUNT: Is - well, in some ways it's what's different between Trump now and Trump in 2016 when the weaving and all over the place, it looked more like the dance party. There were more funny moments. There was less of this sort of darkness

Sorry, go ahead. GORMAN: Yes, entertaining. Absolutely.

And Kate's right, authenticity entirely.

I think the - as a communicator, regardless of party, you don't really want either because - and - and the reason I say it is this. Let's say this. If you're - if you don't want to answer a question, you want to make it as seamless as possible that you're not actually answering the question. And you also want to make it the thing that you said ten times feel as if you're saying it for the first time.

So, if your criticism - if it's criticism of your candidate or you is that you're too scripted or that you weave all over the place, neither is good. If you want to make it effortlessly that you're avoiding the question, or effortlessly that you're staying on message. I think that's a fine line to hue.

DOVERE: I mean we can talk about the theatrical and optics or whatever of it. I do think those two interviews yesterday that Trump did in Chicago with the editor-in-chief of "Bloomberg News," and that Harris did with Charlemagne tha God, are actually - that they happen to be on the same day, three weeks out from the election, is convenient because they are both really good portraits of who these candidates are and what they're talking about. Both of them were meaty interviews.

HUNT: Yes.

[06:59:58]

DOVERE: They - the way that Trump and Harris each responded to ask - being asked to talk about specifics, what they said about some of the specifics, the way that both of them responded to being challenged, and how that - there was a combativeness from Trump and not - not in the same way from Harris, it - it - it really - for people who haven't watched or listened to either of them, I think it's a good idea to play them side-by-side.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes, and I think one of the best thing she did in that interview was, you know, she was really forceful about rejecting kind of the premise of his question.

HUNT: Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: I mean you heard in that exchange she said, you know, I call it discipline, and he said oh. And that, you know, showing that you are -

HUNT: Yes.

BEDINGFIELD: You're not cowed by the - by a potentially critical question.

HUNT: Really, really very interesting moment.

BEDINGFIELD: Important (ph).

HUNT: Thank you, guys. We're over 7:00. I really appreciate it.

Thanks to our panel. Thanks to you for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.