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CNN This Morning
Jocelyn Benson is Interviewed about Michigan Voting; Trump Mans Fry Station; Mark McKinnon is Interviewed about the Presidential Election; Johnson Defends Palmer Remarks. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired October 21, 2024 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:31:15]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Do you - do you trust early voting and mail voting?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly, I don't like to say I don't trust it. I'm sure there's - the, you know, there's voter fraud.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think if it's an affordable and equitable option for a lot of people and it gives access to voting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'm waiting till the polls. I'm waiting - I'm waiting till Election Day, November the 5th, so that way I know my vote be counted for him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Trump supporters in Detroit telling CNN's Alayna Treene what they think about mail-in voting in their home state of Michigan, where already 1 million pre-election ballots have been cast, and where Michigan officials have been combating concerns about voter fraud and ballot security since 2020.
Out of the seven states that Donald Trump targeted in 2020 for his fake elector scheme, Michigan's slate of electors for 2024 has by far the largest share of election deniers, with six of the 15 Republican electors currently facing charges for their involvement in the scheme.
Joining me now to discuss how the state is preparing this time around is Michigan's Democratic secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson.
Madam Secretary, thanks very much for being here.
JOCELYN BENSON (D), MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE: Thanks for having me.
HUNT: So, let's start with these fake electors, these election deniers. Michigan has this history. Is there any reason to be concerned about this in 2024? BENSON: Well, you know, we have seen an influx of misinformation, not
just from, you know, candidates in the United States, but from foreign bad actors and adversaries into our state through social media. And so that does generate the potential for threats and violence. And among all, as you're hearing from the clip you just showed, diminishes citizens since trust in a very secure election process. And so all of that has created challenges for us as election administrators, especially because we have in-person early voting, which is new this year, as the result of a citizen amendment passed in '22.
But at the same time, the fact that so many people are voting, over a million people have already cast their ballots, you know, two weeks out, more than two weeks out of Election Day, is a great sign that many voters are actually not just trusting the system but participating in it, including thousands of Detroiters, who showed up to vote early this weekend.
HUNT: Do you have concerns about some of the history and potentially culture around politics and threats of violence in the state of Michigan? I mean we saw what happened at the state capitol during Covid. Obviously, there was that terrible plot against Governor Gretchen Whitmer that was quite troubling.
Is your office preparing for anything based on some of these past incidents? How do you think about that?
BENSON: Yes, well, we always say we plan - we hope for the best, but we plan for every contingency. We've passed laws since 2020 to make it a crime to threaten an election official in their line of work. And we've built robust partnerships with law enforcement and first responders, holding scenario planning exercises with election officials, law enforcement and first responders all around our state to make sure we've planned through every possible iteration of how this - these threats could materialize on Election Day or beyond.
And so, we are planning for every contingency. And I've been very grateful for our law enforcement and election officials in the communities all across Michigan who have really stepped up and embraced this moment to be ready for anything.
But at the same time, we want to communicate to everyone that this is a moment to be happy, joyful. We get to choose the next president of the United States. Let's respect to the process, stay within the bound - the guardrails of the law and ensure, no matter who someone's voting for, that they can cast their ballot and be heard.
[06:35:04]
HUNT: When you say you've done scenario planning exercises, can you give us an example of what one of those might look like?
BENSON: Yes, we bring local election officials, law enforcement, sheriffs, sheriffs staff, first responders, fire firefighters, and EMT officials into a room, and we have an expert come in from SISA, the federal security agency, or other non-profit, non-partisan partners to kind of go through this - let's say this happens, someone calls in a bomb threat or something like that, or - or there's a disruption in a polling place. These are the steps each of us will take in order to mitigate the damage of that particular issue, and also ensure that there are consequences involved.
And then we also try to send the message to everyone, just, you know, turn the temperature down a little bit. This is a moment to respect a process and respect our election officials, not disrupt it. And we hope those mitigation factors, as well as our - our pleas to the public right now to respect each other come together and participate in our - in our well secure election process will rule the day. It has in the past, and I hope it will again. But if not, again, we'll be ready for everything.
HUNT: Do you have any concerns about the election certification process that actually will certify your results and get the electors to Washington, D.C.?
BENSON: Yes, we do. We saw in Wayne County, where Detroit sits, in 2020 what can happen if you have pressure on these four individuals whose job it - is a ministerial role to simply look at the math, confirm the numbers, and then certify the election so that we can move forward with any audits and recounts and the like.
So, we do have concerns and we have eyes on every location of a certification board in all of our 83 counties, as well as the state, will have law enforcement there protecting the process, but also people in the room to try to again de-escalate things if things - if things do escalate. And we hope, as we are entering this season, that again everyone will stay within the boundaries of the law, but we'll be there to make sure there are consequences if anything occurs.
HUNT: All right, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, thank you very much for your time today. I really appreciate it. Hope you'll come back.
BENSON: Of course. Thanks for having me, Kasie.
HUNT: All right, let's go now to this story. Let's turn back time a few decades before Donald Trump's presidency, before "The Apprentice," back to when the world knew Trump simply as a real estate mogul and a New York City tabloid fixture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A Big and Tasty for just $1? How do you do it? What's your secret?
Together, Grimace, we could own this town.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Now, Trump is stepping behind the counter at McDonald's, this time for a campaign stop in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm looking for a job and I've always wanted to work at McDonald's, but I never did. And I'm running against somebody that said she did, but it turned out to be a totally phony story. So, if you don't mind, I want to work the french fry counter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, Trump there, once again, claiming, without evidence, that Kamala Harris never worked at the McDonald's - at McDonald's in the 80s. That dispute inspiring this campaign stop over the weekend.
Trump, of course, no stranger to the golden arches. His love for fast food well-documented in 2019. Trump hosted Clemson's football team after they won the national championship and served up this spread of french fries and burgers at the White House.
And during his Sunday visit to McDonald's, Trump again put on the apron, he manned the fry station, he handed out food through the drive-through window to customers who, according to "The Washington Post," were pre-screened by the Secret Service. The restaurant was closed to the public for the event.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I love salt. Wait a minute, I spilled some. Just, I'm very superstitious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Our panel has returned.
So, I have to say, when I first saw that image of Trump kind of hanging out the drive-through window, a part of me thought, wow, is that real? I never thought he would do something like that. The - the Trump that we saw in 1999 in that old ad is the one that was much more familiar to me, like, look, we're going to run this town, right, like someone who owns the McDonald's, not someone who works in one. I mean, clearly, they have a strategy to try to appeal to working class voters, try to, you know, twist the knife on Harris.
But I still - I still found these images to be jarring.
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, part of what you've - what is so striking about them is that he's not trying to not be Donald Trump. Like, some politicians go and they try to dress up as somebody they're not. He's still got the red tie. He's still got - he's still so clearly himself. And I think this was an unbelievably smart move because one thing that has differentiated Donald Trump from other really wealthy politicians is that he has never been seen as the aloof, the billionaire who had never deigned to hang out with the commoners.
[06:40:02] Like, he has always sort of portrayed himself as, I'm the rich guy who doesn't really like the other rich guys. I'm one of you. And this is part of this. I think this was insanely smart.
ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, to that point, it is part of a larger effort on the Trump campaign to sort of soften Donald Trump's image. It's why you've seen his grandkids sort of being appearing at the rally and also spoke at the RNC. There's a larger effort going on by the Trump campaign to appeal to some of those suburban women that he is currently losing.
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: The most humanizing moment in that clip was when he threw the salt over his shoulder.
HUNT: Yes.
HAYS: It was like such a normal reaction to anyone. He's like, oh, like, we all do that when you're cooking or whatever, and so that was the most like normalizing and humanizing moment, I think, in this clip.
But to your point, he still has his shirt on, his tie on. Like, most politicians would have showed up in like a collared shirt or something that said McDonald's and tried to like more fit in. I did find it striking that the whole restaurant was shut down and it was just sort of like a staged event. But I do think it's definitely like poking at the vice president here.
ANDERSON: I will also say though, him showing up with Grimace in that old ad, I think that gets some more traction because Grimace is like a thing now with Gen Z.
HAYS: Yes.
HUNT: Is he?
ANDERSON: Yes.
HAYS: Yes.
ANDERSON: It's a thing.
THOMPSON: All the TikTokers, yes.
ANDERSON: It's a thing.
HUNT: Oh, see, you guys are cooler than me. I had absolutely no idea.
THOMPSON: I just learned about it. I'm going to be honest with you.
HUNT: All right, coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, the final 15 days of the race. Mark McKinnon joins us to talk about Trump, Harris and how they sound very different. Speaking of, hear Donald Trump say way too much about Arnold Palmer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Arnold Palmer was all man.
He took showers with the other pros. They came out of there and they said, oh, my God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[06:45:55]
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's make it into a music. Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?
Let me hear that music, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone, let's thank President Trump.
TRUMP: Let me hear that music. Loud. Nice and loud.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God bless you.
TRUMP: So, play "YMCA." Go ahead. Let's go. Nice and loud.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we go, everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Well, that was Donald Trump's 39-minute spontaneous dance party. The closest we are getting to an October surprise as both campaigns enter the homestretch. There will be no big final debate. Trump's made that clear. Both campaigns now, of course, just focusing on turnout in swing states that will decide the election.
When the Harris campaigns started off. That was just back in July, joy seemed to be the central theme. But with the poll showing a dead heat, Harris and her running mate now attacking their opponent in more direct and stark terms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, they pulled him out of interviews and his team admitted he's exhausted. Canceled another talk show this week. Look, give him a break, he's nearly 80- years-old and he's out there rambling, moving around. We'll give him a break. But look, he's not up to this anymore, folks. He's not up to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Our next guest writes this in his latest piece for "Vanity Fair." Quote, "Trump suddenly seems not just lazy, weak (by dodging another debate, for instance), and od, but also truly out of it. Some days he makes it seem like the 25 in project 2025 is a secret plan to execute the 25th Amendment if he actually gets elected, paving the way for, Lord help us, President J.D. Vance.
Joining us now is Mark McKinnon, the writer of that piece, former adviser to John McCain and George W. Bush.
Mark, always grateful to have you on the show. Thank you so much for being here.
I honestly -
MARK MCKINNON, CREATOR, "THE CIRCUS" AND FORMER ADVISER TO GEORGE W. BUSH AND JOHN MCCAIN: (INAUDIBLE).
HUNT: We've been sitting here in the break talking about what we saw from Trump at McDonald's and kind of what he accomplished by doing that. And he's clearly trying to troll Vice President Harris over what she has made kind of a central piece of the biography she's trying to sell to voters. But it's also a place that he, obviously, has, you know, loved in public for quite some time.
What is your assessment of this - this campaign move?
MCKINNON: A solid move for Trump. I thought it was - I thought it was really good.
I mean to - to your earlier guest's point, it makes him just seem down to earth. You know, he's still Trump, but he's, you know, he's hanging out with McDonald's with real people talking about stuff that real people like. That's definitely a good move.
But my point in the "Vanity Fair" piece is that this - this thing is baked. There's not really many undecided voters at all. This is going to be decided - I think there's - this is about the gaps and this is the reason why I think Kamala Harris is going to win.
When - when - when it's all about turnout, what's key is enthusiasm, right? You know, whose voters are more excited about going out to vote? And Harris has like a ten point advantage. So, that's one gap.
There's a gender gap. She also has about a ten-point advantage on women voters. And then I think there's an early voting gap, as we see from the data coming in, like you just showed in Michigan, there's huge numbers of early voters turning out.
Now, we'll wait to see until after the election what that really means. But generally what that means is the Democrats vote early, and so if those numbers are up, it's likely more Democrats.
So, I see a lot of signs that polling is not picking up that are advantages for Harris. And I think that she's going to win.
HUNT: So, Mark, I - just to - I absolutely take your point. And, obviously, I put a lot of stock in kind of how you think about these things. I - I guess I have two questions. You mentioned the gender gap. We're also seeing a historic - it's really a double gender gap, right?
MCKINNON: Yes.
HUNT: Men are really going for Trump in significant ways. And I'm - I'm interested to know how you think that interacts. But also this question of, you know, now when I talk to sort of my smartest Republican sources, historically, they would say, if you're getting a voter off the couch who basically never gets off the couch, that person is a Democrat, and that that is going to be different this time, that it's likely that that person is a Republican.
I'm curious what you think that means in terms of early voting and how that impacts things.
MCKINNON: Great - great question. Let me handle them both.
Number one, I'm - I'm in Georgia today and I'm going to Athens tomorrow for a Charlie Kirk Turning Point rally.
[06:50:06]
So, just sort of counter to my own narrative, there's a reality out there that there are huge numbers of young men turning out for Trump and these Charlie Kirk campus rallies, you see a sea of young men and a sea of red hats.
So, this conventional wisdom that on college campuses it's all women and they're all voting for Harris. Well, go to a Charlie Kirk rally. I'll be there tomorrow, and I can report next week about what I actually saw.
Low information voters is a good point too. But I just don't think that - I understand that everybody's going after those low information voters, but not a lot of them vote. I mean that's why they're low information voters. They don't normally turn out. And I just don't think, if they - if they're not excited about Donald Trump before, I don't know why they would be now.
So, you fish in the pond where the fish are. and I think that's where Harris is going. And again, I just see a lot of signs that when you net it all out, women, I think, are going to make the difference in this election. Women are, you know, you think about HRC PTSD, Hillary Clinton PTSD from 2016, and Roe. You add that up. I think that creates a real advantage among women and a bigger gender gap - yes, there's a gender gap with men with Trump, but it's a much larger gap for Harris. And I think they're the ones who are truly excited, Kasie.
HUNT: Mark, what do you make of - I, again, I take your point that you think Harris is on track to win here. And I'm not trying to take away from that at all.
What do you think is going on with Harris people who are saying behind the scenes in a way, and - and you can see it in the changes they've made in their strategy, right, putting her out in these interviews, making her more accessible, taking more risks, that's usually how people who are behind behave in a campaign, right? It's Trump that's pulling out of interviews, try to, you know, do more controlled settings to take fewer risks. What does that say to you about where they think they are?
MCKINNON: It says to me that it's a smart campaign. Kasie, there's only one way to run a campaign, you - I mean you can either run scared or unopposed. She's opposed, so you run scared. You always run like you're 20 points down.
The problem of 2016 is the Clinton campaign didn't do that. That's why I say there's HRC PTSD. People are not going to make that same mistake. They're going to run like they're behind. You got to run through the tape. And that's exactly what the Harris campaign is doing. And I think it's really smart.
HUNT: Yes, really interesting.
All right, Mark McKinnon, I'm anxious to hear what you see in Athens, Georgia. Come back next week. We'll talk soon.
MCKINNON: I'll do it. I'll report from the ground.
HUNT: All right, thank you. Sounds great.
OK, well, we have to talk about - I - look, I'm just - I'm never going to quite look at an ice tea with lemonade the same way ever again after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Very special hello to Latrobe. Oh, I love Latrobe. You know why. The home of Arnold Palmer. This is the home of my friend, Arnold Palmer.
I said, when I come here, I'm going to tell them the real story of Arnold. But Arnold Palmer was all man. And I say that in all due respect to women. And I love women. But this guy - this guy - this is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough. And I refused to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there and they said, oh my God, that's unbelievable. I had to say it. I had to say it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Did he, though? Did he really have to say that? I mean, Kristen.
ANDERSON: We were talking earlier about locker room talk. I mean this is literally - this is not - not just a figure of speech. It's the literal locker room talk.
THOMPSON: Well, and, listen, you can drive a straight line from 2016 too, when there was a lot of talk about size and size of his hands and Marco Rubio and the -
HUNT: Well, we don't even have to go back to 2016 for the size of his hands. ANDERSON: Obama made fun of hands at the DNC.
HUNT: Obama cracked that joke at the convention this year.
THOMPSON: Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Yes. Exactly.
HUNT: Continue.
Well, so, I mean, again - I mean this, I guess, just goes back to the exactly what we were just talking about, this double gender gap, how each are talking to the other. But it does seem to me, Meghan, you know, if Harris is in the suburbs of, you know, Philly trying to - hanging out with Liz Cheney, trying to convince women that they should not, you know - that they should bother to go and vote against Donald Trump as much as they are, you know, she's trying to convince them to vote for her, Trump is not exactly hurting that cause with this.
HAYS: No, it's so undignified and I think that it's - it's not even getting people to go out and vote for her. It's these people who are the low information voters who just stay home and don't vote for him either like kind of situation I think is also at play we talked about a lot of time. I just don't think any of this helps him. I think that it just reminds people that he's not a serious person, and not to be left with our nuclear codes, but, I mean, I guess we'll find out.
THOMPSON: Well, and I will say, one Republican, who was a man, texted me yesterday and just said like, he found it hilarious.
[06:55:04]
And so there are some people that actually just find it funny.
HAYS: Well, that's the thing, he's going to its base.
THOMPSON: Yes.
HAYS: He's going to men. And this is like for social media. Like, he is very good at playing to his base and playing to social media. But are those the people who are going to decide the election? I think that most people and most really smart and talented pollsters have decided that's not who's going to decide the election. So, I just don't know why he keeps doubling down.
HUNT: In some ways it's the difference between MAGA and the classic conservative Republican, who perhaps, you know, don't have a country club membership. There was quite the exchange between my colleague, Jake Tapper, and the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, on this over the weekend. Let's watch that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Why is he talking about Arnold Palmer's penis in front of Pennsylvania voters?
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Jake, you seem to like that line a lot.
Let me tell you that - that Donald Trump is doing rallies nonstop around the country -
TAPPER: I didn't - I didn't - please me (ph). Let me just say something. Let me just say something.
JOHNSON: OK.
TAPPER: I don't want to be talking about this.
JOHNSON: All right.
TAPPER: Donald Trump is out there saying it. It is -
JOHNSON: But you continue to. Let's talk about -
TAPPER: Because you won't - because you won't address it. You won't address it.
JOHNSON: Wait minute. Hold on.
TAPPER: he is out there talking to voters about -
JOHNSON: No, I - I'll address it. Let me - let me answer it.
TAPPER: OK, go ahead.
JOHNSON: OK, don't say it again. We don't have to say it. I get it. There's lines in a rally. When President Trump is at a rally, sometimes he'll speak for two straight hours. You're - you're questioning his stamina, his mental acuity. Joe Biden couldn't do that for five minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: We don't have to say it, he says, again. I mean it's like there's a reason why this kind of stuff is not usually in our politics. Like, can we let our kids watch these rallies?
HAYS: Well, two things here. Joe Biden's not running, so that's number one. So, I don't know why we're talking about Joe Biden's age again.
And number two here is, this entire show, and like over the weekend, we were not talking about the issues. We were not talking about how the candidates were talking to voters about the economy and immigration and abortion. And it's like, why -
HUNT: But we were with McDonald's, but we're not with this.
HAYS: But it's like the entire news cycle has been totally co-opted by his inappropriate comments.
ANDERSON: Yes, but Donald Trump's not forcing us to talk about this. This was a choice to talk about this. There's - there's other things we could be talking about.
HAYS: Right, but he knows that the - but he knows I -
ANDERSON: He knows that the bait will be taken.
HAYS: And I just - exactly. And I just think it's so - it's such a disservice to voters and it's so - but, again, he's playing to his base and playing to social media. And that's what his - what he's capitalizing on in the last couple of weeks.
HUNT: Do you think it's a net positive for him?
ANDERSON: Those particular comments?
HUNT: That kind of thing. Yes.
ANDERSON: No.
HUNT: OK.
ANDERSON: Do I think that they matter at all beyond making us all like lose our minds for 24 hours? No, I don't. I really don't.
HUNT: OK. Fair enough.
THOMPSON: One interesting thing about, you know, that Johnson was talking about is there's been - Democrats have been really trying to attack Donald Trump's stamina or his age lately. And, you know, that could have been a much better argument if they hadn't spent the last - Democrats hadn't spent the last two years at - basically defending Biden's stamina. And so - but it is this very late push to try to make Donald Trump's age and his lack of health transparency an issue in the campaign.
HUNT: Yes. Interesting.
All right, let's look at this. If you were up late this weekend, you might have seen Alec Baldwin return to "Saturday Night Live," but he was not impersonating Trump, as he did in 2016. I'm sure it was a remarkable portrayal. Instead, Baldwin, over the weekend, was Fox host Bret Baier, alongside Maya Rudolph's Kamala Harris and James Austin Johnson's Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYA RUDOLPH, COMEDIAN, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": May I please finish.
ALEC BALDWIN, COMEDIAN "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": I'm asking you to.
RUDOLPH: Well, then you have to listen.
BALDWIN: Well, I can't because I'm talking.
RUDOLPH: Well - well, when will you stop.
BALDWIN: Maybe when I go to bed.
Madam vice president, are you here to answer questions or just looking for a viral moment?
RUDOLPH: Oh, please, I am not looking for a viral moment. See how I don't let men interrupt my answers. Very demure. Very mindful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, Kamala Harris has called you unhinged and a danger. What do you say to that?
JAMES AUSTIN JOHNSON, COMEDIAN, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": You know, I heard about that. They said I was threatening. Not true. I would never threaten anything except perhaps violence. But they do phony investigations. OK, I've been investigated more than Alphonse Capone, who famously did nothing wrong. Scarface.
Kids are going back to school and they're coming back a different gender. You know, they're going to Zolkars (ph) and they're coming back big. It's really a shame. You know, they're switching bodies and doing "Freaky Friday's" and Hannah Montanas. You know, we're a failing country. America's a terrible place full of jerks and idiots, but we love it. It's really bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, so, who - who do we vote, Alec Baldwin or that performance there for Trump?
HAYS: I just thank goodness for "Saturday Night Live" during election season because it's very funny. Very entertaining.
HUNT: It - it clearly does mean that we are - we are entering -
HAYS: Yes.
HUNT: The final - the final weeks, especially with the TikTok, the turning to the camera. Very mindful. Very demure.
ANDERSON: I think that Trump impression was great.
HUNT: Yes.
ANDERSON: The oscillating between like America's terrible, American's greatly. Like, Trump really does do that and I think that he nailed that.
THOMPSON: He's captured the weave, right, the -- this sort of got (ph) - this jumble of things where it sort of makes sense. You sort of know where he's going. But it actually - if you were to read a transcript, it is complete undecipherable.
HUNT: Yes.
I will just say that, you know, this weekend, I think between what we saw on "SNL," where, you know, they did their version of capturing what was going on here, each candidate really fully themselves, in kind of all waves, giving us a very distilled version of what that - this campaign is going to be in the final two weeks.
[07:00:16]
Thanks to you guys for being here at this morning. Thanks to all of you for joining us as well. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.
