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Harris Campaigns with Liz Cheney in Appeal to Republicans; Trump Attacks Harris as 'Destructive to Religion'; Record Warmth Expected Across Eastern U.S. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired October 22, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Tuesday, October 22. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[05:59:34]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They spent their money on illegal migrants.
They didn't have any money left for North Carolina.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is an unserious man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Two weeks to go. Two very different closing arguments from Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZ CHENEY (R), FORMER WYOMING REPRESENTATIVE: It's not about party. It's about right and wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Unlikely allies. Kamala Harris taps Liz Cheney in her push to win over Republicans in Blue Wall states.
And then --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She's letting vicious gangs take over whole communities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Courting the Latino vote. We'll speak live with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. How is Donald Trump's messaging resonating there?
And in just moments, a high-stakes meeting in the Middle East. Hopes for peace hang in the balance after the death of a top Hamas leader.
All right, 6 a.m. on the East Coast. A live look at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, really the epicenter of this presidential race that has just two weeks to go.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
Two more Tuesdays, two weeks until election day. In 14 -- in 14 days, we could know who will be the next president of the United States. May take a couple more days than that.
At this point, early or mail-in voting is underway in most states, and over 14 million ballots have already been cast. The race now -- it's a cliche, but it's true -- all about driving up turnout in swing states, places like North Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You didn't get the proper support from this administration. They spent their money on illegal migrants. They spent their money. They didn't have any money left for North Carolina.
Every day, Kamala Harris is bringing in illegal aliens who are raping and murdering women and children. You see them all the time. You see them all the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The former president again repeating false claims about the federal government's response to Hurricane Helene, using those claims to attack Kamala Harris on his favorite issue, immigration.
Harris blitzing through Blue Wall states yesterday, the vice president joined there -- you see her -- by Republican Liz Cheney. What would have seemed a couple of years ago as a very unlikely duo, now, of course, not necessarily so unlikely.
They are explicitly reaching out to current and former members of the Republican Party who've had enough of Trump and his rhetoric, like accusing migrants of eating pets, or telling vulgar, shall we say, stories about golf club showers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: There are things that he says that will be the subject of skits and laughter and jokes. But words have meaning, coming from someone who aspires to stand behind the seal of the president of the United States.
CHENEY: That cruelty is the same cruelty that we see when he lies about the federal government's disaster response, when he puts people's lives at risk, because he won't tell the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: All right. Our panel's here: Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios; Jonah Goldberg, CNN political commentator, also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of "The Dispatch"; Kate Bedingfield, CNN political commentator, former Biden White House communications director; and Brad Todd, Republican strategist, and a partner at public strategy firm On Message. Welcome to all of you.
Two weeks out. Here we go. Brad Todd, I actually want to start with you, because you're doing so much work in Pennsylvania. It's still really the epicenter of the thing.
And the Harris team has decided -- and you see it in their strategy -- that these -- the people they want to talk to are women, perhaps, who voted for Nikki Haley in primary in the suburbs of these places that they can -- that they have a chance with them.
What did you make of -- of how Harris was executing this strategy on the trail in Pennsylvania and elsewhere yesterday? And do you think that they had it right?
Now, I realize you're the Republican, but when you've got to run against them, you've got to spend a lot of time thinking about it.
BRAD TODD, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I watched the whole town hall they did in Michigan. And, you know, I think there's a -- they're off-key.
Because if Kamala Harris wants to win over Republicans, the first obstacle, there's a surface tension, right? There's like -- it's like ice. The things she has -- the ice she has to break is that she was way too liberal for way too long. She didn't address that at all.
There was a Chaldean woman, Chaldean-American woman in Detroit who said, I'm a traditional Catholic. Tell me how I could be comfortable, someone conservative can be comfortable voting for you.
She started talking about home health care. I don't think Kamala Harris is yet brave enough to sort of walk back, boldly, sort of her California viewpoints. If she's going to win over Republicans, Nikki Haley voters, they're conservative. She's going to have to do that.
HUNT: Kate, what do you think?
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think this is where Liz Cheney helps. I mean, somebody who herself is very, very conservative on abortion, standing next to Kamala Harris and basically trying to give some of those Republicans the permission structure to vote for her. So, I do think that helps.
Also, I'm not sure I totally agree that voters have really absorbed her 2019 record. It's been a quick campaign. It's been less than 100 days.
You know, one of the problems I think Donald Trump has as a messenger is that, because he lies about every other thing that comes out of his mouth, I think sometimes attacks that might otherwise land effectively from another Republican messenger don't really land. Because people say, well, you know, I'm not sure he's really telling the truth.
So, I'm not sure I agree that the 2019 baggage, if you want to call it that, for Republican voters is going to prevent them from being there.
[06:05:05]
But I think, you know, what she was trying to do, obviously, in having Liz Cheney next to her is assuage some of those people. And I think Cheney's pretty effective at that.
TODD: Liz Cheney could have helped her more, though, if she'd have said, I disagree with you on this. Liz Cheney didn't provide near enough of a contrast to shut me -- Liz Cheney was saying Democratic talking points. I mean, she could have very easily been a Democrat member of Congress.
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I tend to agree with Brad. The -- when -- in part because -- and I think it's really stupid, but it's a reality of -- a political reality that we -- we've turned partisan affiliation and ideological positioning to be synonymous terms. To say someone's a Republican is to say they're a conservative and vice versa. But in reality, they're different things.
And so, if you want to get conservatives who don't like Trump to vote for Harris, you -- you're -- actually have to turn two keys, right? You have to get -- give people permission to betray their party and their ideological principles.
And I think -- look, the caveat: they must be seeing something in the data to be doing what they're doing. So, they may be right and smart. We'll find out in two weeks.
That said, for a lot of my friends, a lot of my circle who are very anti-Trump, but also very conservative, it would be more effective to hear Liz Cheney, who I respect enormously, say stuff like, look, I think on a bunch of issues, she's going to be really bad. You should still vote for her, because Trump is so unfit.
I think that gives people permission to say, I'm a conservative, but screw the Republican Party for putting me in this position. I'm voting anti-Trump, not pro-Harris. And that messaging is completely muddled.
ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: He's articulating what I've been hearing, which is two weeks out, Republicans are more confident. Democrats feel more anxiety.
Now that -- that could be hubris on the part of Republicans. It could just be normal sort of Democratic bedwetting is usually the term.
But the fact is that there is some -- Kamala Harris has been changing things up the last two or three weeks. She has changed up the message to go back to sort of what Joe Biden's message was, which is instead of sort of dismissing Trump as a joke, she's now talking to -- talking about him as a deep threat.
It's also changing the sort of events she's doing. The town hall was not a mistake. Right? I mean, she was usually just doing rallies. Now she's doing more intimate settings.
And I have to say, some Democrats are also worried about her schedule. She is not going to do any public events today.
She's doing two TV interviews in the afternoon, but she's not on the trail. And as of so far, she's not going to be on the trail tomorrow either, until a CNN town hall in Pennsylvania in primetime.
So, like, with two weeks left, I think there are some Democrats that are worried about that, too.
TODD: There's one more thing on Kamala yesterday that they mentioned at every stop. You don't have to tell anyone that you're going to vote for Harris.
So, they're counting on this shy Harris voter. Now, eight years ago there was talk about the shy Trump voter. If you're banking on asking people to do something that they're just going to be embarrassing, you're probably asking too much.
BEDINGFIELD: Jonah referenced data. I mean, I -- obviously, I'm not privy to the Harris campaign's current data, but I can certainly tell you from my time in the Biden White House, the election denialism piece is incredibly motivating with these independent voters.
I mean, its -- there's a lot of discussion, rightly so, about, you know, should she be more focused on the economy? Should she be talking about January 6? Does anybody really care anymore?
I will tell you from the data that we were working with when I was there, people do care. They do. And so, I think that, you know, in a moment in the kind of final push here where you're trying to, you know, really, like, put a board in the breach, that it does do that. There's evidence that does that.
And so, I imagine that that's part of what the Harris campaign is doing, is leaning into where they see sunlight, which is with really emphasizing that Donald Trump did refuse and presumably would refuse to say that he lost the election.
HUNT: Brad, is your sense still that the sort of indicators are moving in Trump's direction at this writing?
TODD: Well, let's talk about a few things on data. Yesterday, voter registration closed in Pennsylvania. Four years ago, that -- that gap between Democrats and Republicans was seven points. Now it's 3.5 points.
Yesterday in Nevada for the first time ever, Republicans took the lead on early and mail voting.
In North Carolina, Republicans normally ought to be down to 18 points on early and mail voting. They're down 2.
So, the early data of what's happening on -- in the actual ballot boxes right now Republicans find very encouraging. Two weeks to go. There's a long time out.
But I don't think -- I think the point -- we don't have to just rely on polls now. We can now start looking at actual numbers.
THOMPSON: That data, though, is so skewed because of 2020 and COVID, right? Democrats were much more often going to vote by mail and early than Republicans.
TODD: For sure, but registration data is real. Registration is actually real. And in North Carolina, for instance, Democrats had a six-point edge in registration. They now have a one-point edge in registration. That -- that's not a tactic differential. That's actual bodies moving.
HUNT: All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Donald Trump using religion to try to step up his attacks against Kamala Harris. What he's telling Christian voters about a potential Harris administration ahead of election day.
Plus, as we just discussed, Liz Cheney on the campaign trail with Harris. Is there a shy Republican group out there who could help the vice president beat Trump?
[06:10:05]
And both campaigns looking to Latino voters. We're going to talk to Miami's mayor about what messages are resonating with them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Kamala has imported an army of illegal alien gang members.
They make our criminals look like really nice people.
HARRIS: We've had a broken immigration system transcending, by the way, Donald Trump's administration, even before. Let's -- let's all be honest about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[06:15:05]
TRUMP: If you want to know what is at stake for Christians in this race, just listen to what Kamala Harris had to say last week.
At a campaign stop, she heard shouting from the background, "Jesus is Lord."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jesus is Lord!
TRUMP: "Jesus is Lord." And Kamala Harris ridiculed them, mocked them, and told them they were, quote, You're at the wrong rally. Get the -- She basically said get out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Donald Trump now claiming that Kamala Harris went after hecklers at her event last week because of their religion. Trump made those comments during a faith leaders gathering in North Carolina on Monday night.
Here's the moment from the Harris rally in Wisconsin, again, so you can listen for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Donald Trump hand selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade, and they did as he intended.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
HARRIS: Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally. No, I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Trump went on to paint a dark picture of a Harris administration to the evangelical Christian crowd at his event.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If Kamala Harris gets four more years, the radical left is not going to leave Christians alone. It's going to get worse and worse. You're going to suffer greatly. They will come after Christians all over the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Our panel's back.
Jonah Goldberg, the sort of appeal to religious voters. You know, clearly, Donald Trump has had evangelical voters basically locked down for a long time. But there is also discussion of Catholic voters, particularly in places like Pennsylvania.
How --- what do you make of kind of how -- what he's doing there, why he's doing it, and whether it's relevant at the moment?
GOLDBERG: Yes, so, first of all, there's -- there's a danger and ever trying to thank that what Trump is doing is the result of keen-eyed intelligence and sophisticated strategy, right?
HUNT: Well, his campaign team putting him in front of that audience at this time was a decision that was probably made with some strategy.
GOLDBERG: I also think we're -- we are at a point in the campaign now where we should stop looking at a lot of the things that either of them say about -- that are bombastic and all that kind of stuff about trying to move persuadable voters. And it's more about get out the vote.
And I think that this is the kind of thing that, for evangelical voters, who are already all-in on Trump, this is the kind of thing that gets -- gets their juices going.
On the merits, I think it's stupid. I also think, you know, Kamala Harris talking about Donald Trump's handpicked Supreme Court justices. He nominated Supreme Court justices. By that definition, every single president handpicks their Supreme Court justices.
I mean, it just -- it's one of those weird things that I can't stand.
TODD: Voters -- voters are sorting in this race this way. I wrote a piece for Real Clear Politics with Salena Zito back in the spring, and it's held up all year.
The one group, by religion, that Kamala Harris continues to lead with are people who have no religion or who are atheists or who are agnostic.
Donald Trump's going to win Catholics by 20-something points. He's going to win evangelicals by 30-something points. And he might break even with mainline Christians: Episcopals, Methodists, people who are pretty liberal, mostly assume.
So, there is a religious demarcation in our politics today. Donald Trump didn't cause that. Kamala Harris didn't cause that. But that is the way things are sorted.
GOLDBERG: Which way are Unitarians breaking?
THOMPSON: One religious --
TODD: Too small to measure, Jonah.
THOMPSON: One religious group that Kamala Harris has focused on, and that Donald Trump is probably going to lose, are certainly black churches. And she's -- began calling black pastors on day one when she got into this race.
Also, Donald Trump yesterday, one of the things that he mentioned that I thought was interesting, because I haven't heard him talk about it as much a trail, was the influence of Norman Vincent Peale on him. Norman Vincent Peale wrote "The Power of Positive Thinking." He also officiated Trump's first wedding.
And I think often, it has been this huge influence on his life, because when he is lying, often in his mind, he is like manifesting. That's what the whole thing of the power positive thinking is.
HUNT: This is -- this is fascinating, Alex.
THOMPSON: Sorry. Just to speculate.
HUNT: I have to say, I had not -- I have not focused on -- on that book, but it's a really interesting point. All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, we are officially two
weeks from election day. Liz Cheney looking to rally Republican voters for Harris. Ahead, how that unlikely duo is tapping that group, swing state by swing state.
Plus, another key demographic both candidates are looking at: Latino voters. We're going to speak to the mayor of Miami on why he's already made up his mind.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:24:10]
HUNT: All right. Welcome back. The Eastern United States heating up today, record warmth expected. A jump from last week's below average temperatures cross-region.
Let's get to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek van Dam. Derek, good morning.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Kasie. I think it was last week when we were trying to strategize when to carve pumpkins with our children.
This week --
HUNT: Yes, I screwed that up. I did it this past weekend, and now they're -- they're not going to last.
VAN DAM: I hate to break it to you. That thing is going to melt before Halloween night, OK?
These record high temperatures really going to get in the way of anyone who wants that autumn weather. We've got 93 percent of the lower 48 population -- that's 300 million people plus -- who are going to experience temperatures above 70 degrees. That's fairly significant.
And if you look towards, just climatologically, this is more like early September weather for New York and Philadelphia. So, the reason being high pressure over the Eastern U.S. So, that means clear skies, maximum sunshine, maximum warmth, as well.
[06:25:04]
In fact, we have the potential to break over 70 record high temperatures through the end of the week.
Look where it's focused in on. Much of the mid-Atlantic and the New England coastline. That's where the bulk of our record high temperatures will come.
D.C., you were flirting with a record high yesterday. Today, more of the same. Eighty in Atlanta; most locations above that 70-degree mark.
But there is some relief in sight. We just had to be patient across the South. It will move across the Midwest and into New England for the second half of the week. You can see the cooldown in Chicago, as well as New York City. The next seven days will drop below average, finally, as we edge closer to the weekend.
It's this front responsible for the cooler weather, but really all it's doing is replacing the record high temperatures with more of an average October-type weather pattern.
So, yes, I think maybe wait until the weekend to carve those pumpkins. You have -- you have multiple opportunities. Just buy another one.
HUNT: Yes. Well, I guess I do have two that we didn't carve.
VAN DAM: Perfect.
HUNT: So, maybe we'll go that route.
Derek van Dam, thank you. I really appreciate it.
VAN DAM: All right.
HUNT: All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel today to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, trying to revive a potential ceasefire deal.
Plus, Liz Cheney on the trail for Kamala Harris, trying to speak directly to Republican voters who might still be on the fence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY: You can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody. And there will be millions of Republicans who do that on November 5.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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