Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Harris Outlines Case Against Trump at CNN Town Hall; New Dem Ad Targets Third-Party Jill Stein; The Rise of Billion-Dollar Natural Disasters. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired October 24, 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 Thursday, October 24. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[05:59:25]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Yes, I do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Loud and clear. Kamala Harris denouncing Donald Trump in the final days of the 2024 race.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They were the joyful campaign, and my friends, the joy is gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The Trump ticket calling out Harris for going heavy in the last days of this high-stakes race.
Also --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What weaknesses do you bring to the table, and how do you plan to overcome them while you're in office?
HARRIS: That's a great question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A simple question, often a tough interview question at the CNN town hall. Harris's answer, not so much.
And our battleground beat. We look at two vital Blue Wall states with Michigan Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee and Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis.
All right, coming up 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at New York City on this Thursday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
With just 12 days left to win votes, Kamala Harris's closing strategy is coming into sharp focus: voters who might not be comfortable with her, she's arguing, should know that Donald Trump would be worse.
You could see it clearly all day yesterday. She was supposed to be largely off the trail, preparing for a CNN town hall, but instead, Harris abruptly called reporters to her Washington, D.C., residence yesterday afternoon to make this argument.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: -- Donald Trump was president. Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable. So, the bottom line is this. We know what Donald Trump wants. He wants unchecked power. The question in 13 days will be, what do the American people want?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And last night, during her town hall with Pennsylvania voters and our Anderson Cooper, she was much quicker than she has been in the past in saying this about her opponent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Thanks so much for being with us.
Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?
HARRIS: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And I -- and I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Over and over again last night, Harris made the argument that Trump is unfit to serve, pointing to reports that have come out in these final two weeks that Trump once said, quote, "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had."
Trump, of course, denies he said that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I believe that Donald Trump is dangerous. I believe that when you have a president of the United States who has said to his generals, who work for him because he is commander in chief. These conversations, I assume, many of them took place in the Oval Office.
And if the president of the United States, the commander in chief, is saying to his generals, in essence, Why can't you be more like Hitler's generals, Anderson, come on. This is a serious, serious issue. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: This was woven throughout her answers on a wide variety of topics.
For example, asked by a voter what specific actions she would take to bridge the political divide and create more unity, she said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I believe the American people deserve better, and they deserve a president who is focused on solutions, not sitting in the Oval Office, plotting their revenge and retribution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And this morning, we're learning that Harris plans to make a major speech, closing out her campaign next week at the Ellipse in front of the White House.
It's a symbolic location, as it's where Donald Trump spoke to his supporters on January 6, 2021.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And again, most people would stand there at 9 p.m. in the evening and say, I want to thank you very much, and they go off to some other life.
But I said something's wrong here. Something's really wrong. It can't have happened.
And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And fight they did. A reminder of what Donald Trump said there as we head into another season where someone will need to concede that they lost the presidential race.
All right. Joining us now to talk about all of this: Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst; Isaac Dovere, CNN senior reporter; Karen Finney, CNN political commentator, former Hillary Clinton campaign spokesperson; and Marc Lotter, former special assistant to President Trump.
Welcome to all of you. Thanks very much for being here.
Isaac, you cover the Harris campaign day in and day out. This is a clear shift in strategy from what we saw over the summer to these final closing -- closing days. Why do they think this is the message that they should close with? And is it working?
EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is what the last two weeks are going to be focused on a lot is a combination of saying we know that the country doesn't seem like it's going in the right direction. But Donald Trump would be worse and would make it worse.
And that to say she would do things to make it better, trying to get to those voters who are really concerned about where America is.
Of course, Joe Biden is the president. She has been vice president for the last three and a half years but making the case that there is a plan to get it to something different on the economy, on how immigration is working, on all these things.
And that, as she was trying to say there, that Donald Trump would just be focused on making -- seeking vengeance on his enemies.
[06:05:03]
And I think, importantly, a big piece of this is to say, Donald Trump's term in office that we had would not be like what would come again for Trump. Is how they're trying to say this.
HUNT: Karen Finney, there's a new poll out from "The Wall Street Journal" this morning. Obviously, national polling. So, we're focused on the battleground states. We're also getting early voting numbers.
However, this is what the numbers are now nationally: 45 for Harris, 47, if you look up in the top left corner, it says October.
We can pop up what this looked like in August. You'll see it was reversed in August: 47 for Harris, 45 for Trump.
I think possibly the more relevant number as we head into these final days is the favorability that Harris has, right? So, in August, her fave/unfave was 49/49. It was dead even.
That has moved against her to now 53 percent unfavorable to 45 percent favorable.
And of course, the campaign is not making decisions in a vacuum. They've changed this message as they have, honestly, picked up on some of these numbers before they -- you know, we've seen them in the public polling.
Do you think they're doing the right thing? Why do you think these numbers are sliding for her?
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, I'm very skeptical of all public polling, because Hillary would be in her second term right now if polls were true, and there would have been a red wave in 2022. So, I'm just going to pose --
HUNT: There's a reason I'm focused on the fave/unfave number.
FINNEY: I understand. But even -- but even that. So --
HUNT: And the way these polls are moving. That's the thing that I -- FINNEY: Yes, I'm still not sure what -- that they're picking up everything.
That being said, look, there is a point at which, in all campaigns, you make a decision that the candidate themselves has to be the one to deliver the negative message, knowing that that's going to make their negatives go up.
And you make a decision based on how far do -- are you willing to go before you want to pull that back?
I will say I was in Pennsylvania knocking on doors on Sunday, actually, and one of the thing -- a couple things came through loud and clear. You can tell what kind of money is being spent on what kind of messaging.
This -- a couple of people who -- this was a relatively conservative area and independent -- Republican-leaning and some Democratic voters. And the people who are undecided, who had voted for Trump previously, one woman literally said, My husband and I talked about how concerned we are that he's so angry, and he's so focused on revenge. And I'm worried he's not -- he doesn't care about us. I'm worried he doesn't care about me. He's going to be so focused on that.
HUNT: Well, they've gotten the Harris message, the message that they're trying to send.
FINNEY: Yes, but this was a woman -- but this woman, you know, she has cancer. She's -- her healthcare is a big deal, her Social Security. I mean, she had a whole list of concerns that she said I don't hear him talking about. And she actually -- so, yes. She was hearing both sides.
HUNT: Yes.
FINNEY: But it was interesting that that message is coming through.
And he's not been able, that Trump -- we talked about this -- to articulate his own message very effectively, because he goes off on tangents and talks about Arnold Palmer.
HUNT: Marc.
MARC LOTTER, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think it's clear where this -- we've got 12 days to go. Trump's closing message is going to be Kamala broke it. I will fix it again.
And Kamala's closing message is Trump. Hate Trump, hate Trump, hate Trump. I don't know if --
HUNT: She's not -- she's not saying, "hate Trump." She has -- she is pointing to --
LOTTER: Well, she's calling him a fascist. She's -- you know, they're obviously comparing him to Hitler. It just was -- you know.
FINNEY: She's in pretty good company. She's in pretty good company. He's the one who brought up Hitler.
LOTTER: He didn't bring up Hitler.
You got what -- you got one person out there, and I've got hundreds that are going to say that it didn't happen. I was in the White House. I never heard him say anything along those lines.
FINNEY: OK.
LOTTER: Neither did Mark Esper, who's no Trump fan.
So, I get it. This is their -- this is their closing message.
FINNEY: OK. You take that up with General Kelly. You vote -- you --
LOTTER: I take the 200 military retired generals and admirals who do support us, as opposed to the word of one.
FINNEY: OK.
HUNT: Well, I think it is worth noting that John Kelly, who has devoted his life to service of the country, he lost -- lost a child in service of the country. And he was in the room for a considerable amount of time in the -- in the Trump administration.
Elliot, I want to ask you, we did hear from a number of undecided people who were in this town hall audience. And some of the things that they said about what they heard were pretty interesting. Let's play, this is, I believe Taneisha Spall. She was in the audience. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TANEISHA SPALL, TOWN HALL AUDIENCE MEMBER: For a very long time, she didn't stoop to his level, and as of late, last couple of weeks, I've really started to see, like you said, this schoolyard bullying.
And I think that's beneath her. She doesn't need to do that. She can run on her policies. She can run on her position. You don't need to stoop to his level.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Some really interesting texture there.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, it's interesting, though. Picking up on the question that you asked both Isaac and Karen, I'm surprised that the campaign stayed on vibes and the hot brat summer and all of that, as long as they did, given how stark the contrast is between the two candidates.
And given that a thread running under what I think the Harris campaign's message was all along is that -- which is that you cannot allow Donald Trump to be elected again because of the danger he poses. They were clear about that. They felt that. They've said it all along. I'm not surprised that they've now sort of gone there and quote, unquote, "stooped to his level." It's -- you know, it's turning on its head this idea that came from Obama of "when they go low, we go high."
[06:10:10]
And I think it's when they go low, we're going to match their energy. And I -- you know. Maybe it doesn't land with every voter. It clearly didn't land with Ms. Taneisha there, but hard to say how it plays with everyone.
HUNT: Well, I mean, we've seen -- the 2016 Republican primary was an example where, when some of the candidates tried to do the things that Donald Trump was able to get away with, it just doesn't work for them.
But you know, obviously, we are seeing -- I think it's very clear that we are seeing a certain strategy for Harris, and now we're going to get a test as to whether or not it's going to work.
OK. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, battleground Michigan. The Wolverine State flipped red and blue over the past two elections. We're going to talk to Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee about where the race stands here in the final days.
Plus, after making joy a key part of the early days of her campaign, J.D. Vance, Republican vice-presidential nominee, questioning where Kamala Harris's joy has gone.
And third-party candidates could play spoiler in a race where the polling is so close.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What do you say to voters who are thinking about supporting a third-party candidate or staying on the couch, not voting at all because of this issue?
HARRIS: Listen, I am not going to deny the strong feelings that people have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:15:55]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep, like Jill Stein. Stein isn't sorry about swinging the 2016 election to Trump. And now she's being helped by MAGA allies and Trump's former lawyer.
Longtime Klan leader David Duke endorsed her. And like Trump, she's cozied up to Vladimir Putin.
Jill Stein. Look at her friends, because a vote for Stein is a vote for Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A new ad from Harris's campaign and the Democratic National Committee targeting third-party candidate Jill Stein. It is the second ad this month going after the Green Party candidate. They're both airing in three battleground states: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
The latest CNN polling averages show both Harris and Donald Trump are in a basically tied race in at least two of those states.
In Michigan, CNN's poll of polls shows no clear leader: Harris at 49 percent, Trump at 46. No clear leader in Wisconsin either. Harris, 49; Trump at 46.
With such narrow margins, every vote counts, obviously. These new Democratic ads suggest that they're concerned about Stein potentially becoming a spoiler.
Last night at CNN's town hall, Harris was asked about voters who are considering supporting a third-party candidate, specifically because of the U.S.'s role in supporting Israel in its ongoing war in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What do you say to voters who are thinking about supporting a third-party candidate or staying on the couch, not voting at all, because of this issue?
HARRIS: Listen, I am not going to deny the strong feelings that people have. I don't know that anyone who has seen the images who would not have strong feelings about what has happened.
They also care about our democracy and not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Karen Finney, there's a lot of scar tissue around third-party candidates --
FINNEY: Yes.
HUNT: -- in the Democratic Party. And because a lot of -- I know that you focused a lot on the role they played in Hillary Clinton losing the 2016 election.
FINNEY: Yes.
HUNT: What is the danger here from Jill Stein?
FINNEY: The danger is that, when we're in these elections where things are won on the margins, with 11,000 votes here, 15,000 votes there, it could matter. It really could make a difference. And particularly in a state like Michigan that is going to be very
tight, where you know, you have -- and people who say -- you know, some of the folks who voted for her, after the fact in 2016 said, Well, I wanted to send a message.
And you know, you start saying, OK, but what message do you think you really sent here? And then they were disappointed when they thought, when Trump won, because they thought they were sending a message, and Hillary was going to win anyway. That's not how it works.
HUNT: Well, that was part of the problem, that everybody thought Hillary was going to win.
WILLIAMS: Yes. To put a finer point on it, in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and Wisconsin in 2016, Jill Stein --
FINNEY: Yes.
WILLIAMS: -- earned one -- got more votes than Hillary Clinton's margin. You cannot say that a third-party candidate does not matter.
That's a choice for people to make.
FINNEY: Yes.
WILLIAMS: Sort of where they want their vote to -- what they want their vote to mean. But literally, count up the votes in those three states, which are all pivotal ones this year. That's where the election is.
HUNT: I mean, my big question is, will voters -- I think there was an effect in 2016, they felt, many of them who were on the left, felt, well, it doesn't matter. I don't need to vote for her. She's going to win.
I'm not sure that the feeling is the same this time.
WILLIAMS: But in -- but in Michigan, you have Gaza as an issue.
HUNT: That's true.
WILLIAMS: That you did not in 2016, where there's even more energy around all of that.
HUNT: Yes. All right, straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Democrats and Republicans pouring millions of dollars into battleground Pennsylvania. The state's lieutenant governor joins us live.
Plus, Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee is here to discuss how the Arab American vote could impact the outcome in his home state of Michigan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:24:01] HUNT: All right. Welcome back.
So, in this election season, we shouldn't forget the communities in the Southeast United States are still picking up the pieces after two hurricanes ravaged the region in just two weeks.
And as temperatures rise across the globe from climate change, the number of extreme natural disasters is also increasing. Our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek van Dam, is here.
Derek, good morning to you.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You said it perfectly there. So, what we used to consider extreme weather is now actually the new normal, and it's going to continue this way until we curb these heat- trapping greenhouse gases.
Now, in last night's town hall, there was this void on the topic of climate and the environment, but there was this one moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Finally on fracking, you said you're clear, you would not ban it as president?
HARRIS: No, I would not ban it as president.
COOPER: You -- you're clear on that. Do you think it is bad for the environment, though?
HARRIS: I think that we have proven that we can invest in a clean energy economy. We can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. We can work on sustaining what we need to do to protect this beautiful earth of ours and not ban fracking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAN DAM: Mitigating greenhouse gases. That is the key.
And I'm going to let you in on a little secret. If we don't, it is extremely expensive.
Take last year, for example. We had a record number of billion-dollar- plus disasters. And if we go towards this year, we're still rewriting the history books here. But we have this data that we've already accumulated over $50 billion from the disasters we've had. But this is only valid through August.
Remember, September and October? Yes, Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton. So, those numbers are going to drastically rise.
Look at the previous decades, as well: 2010 to 2019, nearly $1 trillion from these natural disasters. 2017 sticks out in my mind. I was in Houston for Hurricane Harvey. That was an incredible rain event that caused so much catastrophic flooding. And the reason is, is because of this heat that's baked into our
atmosphere. Remember: when we warm our planet, we also warm the oceans. And so, that allows for more water vapor in the atmosphere. And that allows for more frequent and more intense rainfall events like Harvey, just like Milton. Remember the flash flooding that happened.
And also with our warming oceans, we see this rapid intensification occurring more frequently as well. There's been an uptick just in the past decades of these hurricanes going from tropical storm to major Category 5, just like Milton did a couple of weeks ago.
And no state across the U.S., Kasie, is sheltered from these billion- dollar disasters. It happens everywhere. Climate change is happening now.
HUNT: Yes, another reminder, last night that the -- both the lack of discussion about this and also the way in which it's talked about shows you how the dynamics of our political system make it so ill- equipped to deal with this problem that you've just laid out.
VAN DAM: Absolutely.
HUNT: Derek van Dam for us this morning. Derek, so grateful to have you.
VAN DAM: All right.
HUNT: Thank you.
All right. Still coming up after the break, Donald Trump says he's worried about swing states cheating. A look at how he's sowing doubt ahead of the election in our battleground beat.
Plus, is the joy gone from Kamala Harris's campaign? How her messaging has evolved in the final weeks of the race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Let's get things done, and let's not be afraid of having a little joy.
VANCE: They were the joyful campaign. And -- and my friends, the joy has gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:30:00]
