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Erin Burnett Outfront
Harris Appears At Rally With Obama For First Time. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired October 24, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:34]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Kamala Harris and Barack Obama together tonight, the duo about to take the stage for their first rally together. We're going to bring that to you live.
Plus, Trump slammed Taylor Swift for endorsing Kamala Harris and warned Swift's popularity would take a hit. Is he right? Some staggering new numbers.
And inside one of the ugliest Senate races in America where a Democrat is hanging onto her seat by a thread or opponents ads against her targeting her for being gay.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, Kamala Harris and Barack Obama about to take the stage together for the first time this campaign. The vice president and the former president will be at a rally in Georgia. Crucial state where new polling today shows the race tied at 49 percent, already at that rally, Bruce Springsteen calling for glory days ahead, taking the stage moments ago.
Springsteen, not the only major musical star hitting the trail for Harris, although of course, moving for anyone to hear him play like that.
Earlier today, Harris said this about Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a choice of a Donald Trump who will sit in the Oval Office, stewing, plotting revenge, retribution, writing out his enemies list. Or what I will be doing, which is responding to folks like the folks last night with a to-do list, understanding the need to work on, lifting up the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The line that you use last night, right? Well, he has an enemies list of revenge, while she has to-do list. And as she mentioned, revenge and retribution, today, Trump had this to say about one of his top enemies, the government appointed special counsel, who, of course, has brought criminal charges against him in two federal cases.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
HUGH HEWITT, RADIO HOST: You're either going to have to pardon yourself, or you're going to have to fire Jack Smith. Which one will you do?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's so easy. I would fire him within two seconds.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: Just saying he's going to fire him instead of pardoning himself.
I mean, of course, who knows what he really meant, but that's the point he wanted to make. Still, Harris then went on to make specific accusations against Harris and Biden.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
TRUMP: These people are crude, rude, and vicious. And by the way, she's only a vessel, and so is Joe Biden. He's not the leader of the party, never was. He's a vessel and he was a perfect vessel because he would have done anything they told him to get out. And she's no different. She's a vessel.
I watched her last night. She's got no intelligence. She's got nothing. She's got nothing,
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: Last night, of course, he was referencing the town hall here in CNN, which was in fact the most watched town hall of this election for either side. That, of course, is something that Trump cares about, the ratings, right? If you measure things by ratings, well, it did better than any other town hall this cycle.
But his claim that others are crude, rude, and vicious, of course, is ironic. Take a look at what he has said just in recent days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you look at Kamala and you look at what she's done to every place she's touched has turned to shit.
We can't stand you. You're a shit vice president.
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. They said, oh, my god. That's unbelievable.
And the women are going to like Trump. I think they like me anyway, I think it's all bullshit, you know? They make it up.
When you don't use a certain little keywords like bullshit, there's -- there's not other word.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. Let's go to Clarkston, Georgia. That is where Bruce Springsteen is and, of course, Barack Obama and Kamala Harris will be appearing momentarily. That rally underway.
And Priscilla Alvarez is there.
I know, Priscilla, you've got some new reporting from the Harris campaign. What are you learning right now?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, as the campaign brings out its star power over the next several days, what I'm being told is that the vice president is also honing in on her own closing argument and we've already started to get a glimpse of it. Recall that during the CNN town hall yesterday, she said that former president Donald Trump had a, quote, enemies list, when she had a, quote, to-do list.
She repeated that today and I'm told by senior campaign official that that is going to feature prominently over the next several days as the vice president doubles down on drawing that stark contrast between her and the former president.
[19:05:05]
In addition to that, she will continue to amplify issues like reproductive freedom, which she has been a key voice on since the beginning of the year before she was even the top of the party's ticket.
But, of course, as you mentioned, the stars were here, are here in Georgia. Bruce Springsteen performing a little bit ago. Of course, he has been a frequent presence in the waning days of the election for Democratic candidates.
And soon, we're going to hear from former President Barack Obama, followed by the vice president. This will mark their first joint campaign appearance. He, of course, is already been deployed in a blitz of his own as he tries to mobilize voters.
And that is the key, Erin. Senior campaign officials are telling me the next several days are going to be focused on mobilization and capitalizing on early voting. That is where they think they can build the most momentum.
Here in DeKalb County, almost one third of active voters have already cast their ballots. So, that is the type of energy and enthusiasm that they are trying to gin up here in tonight in Georgia, a crucial battleground state, one that they want to put on the vice president's column and of course, the vice-president going to be continuing or beginning, I should say her closing argument tonight and moving forward -- Erin.
BURNETT: And, of course, Democratic star power out there, Senator Raphael Warnock walking out on stage right now. Everyone is here with me here as we get ready for this appearance.
And, Bakari, as Priscilla is just reporting, we are just minutes away from former President Obama taking the stage alongside Kamala Harris and you say that this moment, that they'll actually be together at the same time on the same stage is huge for the campaign.
How come?
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, the campaign and like many campaigns around this time has been in GOTV probably since the debate and so right -- what you're trying to do is make sure you get voters from the pews. You'll get voters from the beds, from the couches, from their workplace. You're trying to get them to the voting booth. And so when you have star power tonight on, you can't even asleep on Raphael Warnock, but Bruce Springsteen, when you have Barack Obama, when you have this litany of celebrities who are coming out urging you to go out to vote, that energy is palpable.
And we know, and we've seen it before that you can win Georgia, the person who's won Georgia in recent history the most has been somebody like Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff and even Joe Biden. And so this energy in this particular place, in Atlanta, in Clarkston, right outside of Atlanta is huge.
I mean, look, look at this. Let's juxtapose Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen, Raphael Warnock, and Kamala Harris next to the fact that over the past two decades, three decades, there has been no one who's run for president or vice president who has endorsed Donald Trump save for Sarah Palin. That is a stark contrast and that's why tonight's event is so important.
BURNETT: David?
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I think -- I think we've discussed this before on the night before the election in the city of Philadelphia, I was in the crowd watching the almost the same lineup, right? I saw Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Hillary and Bill Clinton --
BURNETT: Katy Perry, right.
URBAN: -- and a bigger crowd. Third, yet, no, no, she was not there. And about 30,000 people and the next day, guess what happened? We whooped Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania.
So, you know, it's a nice concert to attend. If I was there, I might go hear Bruce Springsteen, tonight, but I don't think it matters squat for November 5th.
So enjoy your concert, people. Have a nice time.
BURNETT: All right, Lulu, I think you might, you might express your thoughts slightly differently, but I do know you have some skepticism on the impact of an event like this, although, as I know, you've noted, Michelle Obama will be appearing with Kamala Harris on Saturday in Michigan.
And we're in the final days here. So does it make a difference?
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think and I have said that Michelle Obama actually, I think does bring some real star power she inspires and motivates specifically women and especially the women of color. They have a real affinity with her.
I mean, we did see, for example, Oprah Winfrey really move numbers when she endorsed Barack Obama back in the day. And I think she brings that kind of sort of emotional connection.
But this lineup, I actually do agree with David here. I think it's a lovely concert. I do think bringing energy and having these events is good. It focuses the media's attention.
I'm not sure it actually moves the vote.
BURNETT: Right. I guess that's the crucial question.
SELLERS: That's not the focus, though. I mean --
BURNETT: Okay. Go ahead, Bakari. Go ahead.
SELLERS: That's not -- that's not -- I'm sorry. That's not the purpose and I'm sad that people are missing it.
BURNETT: What is the purpose if not to get out the vote?
SELLERS: The purpose is to get -- the purpose -- it is to get the vote. It is not to move voters. It's not to persuade anybody.
This is purely get out the vote. This is purely GOTV. This isn't moving people from Republican or on the fence. These individuals who are in this crowd, these individuals who are in DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Clayco, all of these individuals, from Magic City to the pulpits in New Birth are going to go out and vote because they hear that voice, they hear that echo.
[19:10:03]
And what they will get from an event like tonight as a sense of urgency, which is far different than what everybody else is talking about.
URBAN: Yeah. I don't think hearing Bruce Springsteen's voice is going to make them go vote, Bakari, sorry.
BURNETT: Alright, well, let's just -- let's -- let's --
(CROSSTALK)
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Thank you, gentlemen. Erin asked me that question.
BURNETT: Harry, I got to get you in here, okay? So, let's put some numbers on this conversation. Let's get some numbers in there.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: The numbers at the crucial must-win swing state of Georgia, certainly must win for Trump. He was there yesterday. Harris tonight with Obama, as I said momentarily, well hear them speak, but the polls that we see in the state are constantly within the margin of error, neck and neck, but you see something very specific about Georgia.
ENTEN: Yeah. You know, look, I've been saying this entire campaign that I think the best track for Kamala Harris to get the 270 electoral votes runs through the Great Lakes. And when you look at the campaign visits that the both the Trump campaign and the -- and obviously the Harris campaign has been doing, where have they visited the least? They've actually visited Georgia the least out of any of the swing states, which to me lines up with what were seeing in the polling data, which is that Kamala Harris's best path to 270 electoral votes runs through the Great Lakes.
It does not in fact run through the Sun Belt. Yes, they're having that rally here at night, but it's actually a relatively rare rally compared to the other rallies that the Harris-Walz campaign have actually put forth.
BURNETT: OK. Bakari, let me ask you about another number that I have been thinking about for now, 24 hours, since this -- since I first saw "The Wall Street Journal" poll. There is a sub number in there unfavorability, OK? Fifty-three percent of registered voters in the United States in "The Wall Street Journal" poll, which is a gold standard poll have an unfavorable view of Harris, 53 percent.
That is up and it is in fact a higher unfavorable than Donald Trump's. Okay?
What's going on, Bakari? Do you just think that the polls are totally wrong? I mean, or what?
SELLERS: So, listen, I talked to people on the Kamala Harris campaign and one of the things that we've done is hopped off the pollercoaster a long time ago. We've kind of thrown these polls off the window -- out the window. What you see is people dumping polls in on different things. You have the jiffylubeinsights.com poll, probably some David's friends or something dumping polls out there. I know that another "Wall Street Journal" --
BURNETT: OK, but this is "The Wall Street Journal" poll.
URBAN: This is "The Wall Street Journal", Bakari.
SELLERS: What? But nobody is watching that because people started voting three weeks ago. I mean, that's why I this conversation is fascinating because you know what we are watching. We're watching early voting. We're watching trends around the country,
particularly in these seven states. We're watching these events and yes, she may have been to Georgia the least, but you know where she was last Saturday? In Georgia. Where is she today? In Georgia, they're doing activation events at Morehouse and Spelman this weekend for homecoming, where 30,000 people will be in.
So look, I get it. We've seen the Bloomberg poll where she's popped on the economy. We've seen "The Wall Street Journal" poll about favorability, this, that, or the third. That's not where the campaign is.
And I encourage people to hop off of that pollercoaster. I don't really have an answer to the question because what I am watching is the early vote in Pennsylvania.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: All right. So tell me what you're seeing then. Are you saying that that early voting is showing you that people are that don bravery rules are wrong, and that they are overwhelmingly going for Harris in a way that the GOP can't make up for? I mean, are you seeing something that clear?
SELLERS: Oh, I don't -- I don't know. I don't want to go as far as I say, they can't make it up, but I will tell you this, that every Democrat I know who has some sense of reading early voting, who doesn't necessarily compare the early voting of 2024, to that of 2020 because that's completely asinine, believes that we're doing extremely well.
I mean, you have -- you have banked 360,000 plus votes in David Urban's state, that's not including the independence, which we know are breaking for Kamala Harris. That's not including the 10 to 12 percent of Republicans she's probably going to win in that state.
And so, when you're banking those votes, you're actually talking about metrics that matter. Michigan, turnout, great, early voting. Wisconsin, same thing.
And so look, I -- we can talk about polls, but for me, votes count, votes matter.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Can I -- can I just jump in here a second?
BURNETT: Yeah, Lulu.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I think what's fascinating here is what you're seeing in the closing messages. What Donald Trump is keeps saying over and over again, is she's dumb. She's stupid. He's using those words deliberately because he wants the message to be that you cannot trust her and that is why you might be seeing those unfavorables popping. He likes to use these repetitive words. So, those words get into peoples psyche.
On the Harris side, you're seeing a different message, also negative. This man cannot be trusted. He is a -- he is a threat to democracy. He is fascist. He is dangerous.
So the closing messages from both campaigns are actually very similar. They are both very negative and they're both trying to persuade people to say, you cannot trust this person with this country.
BURNETT: All right.
URBAN: Erin, I think --
BURNETT: Go ahead, David.
URBAN: Oh, I'm sorry. I was going to say when you talk about that poll, the number that sticks out to me, is that right track, wrong track number, that the -- because that is important.
[19:15:07]
And that number is so significant. It is -- it is -- it is emblematic of the tide that the Harris campaign and its swimming against when 75 percent of Americans feel that country's going in the wrong direction. But maybe it's not 75 percent this poll, but it's in that range that is a change election. People do not want to keep going in the wrong track generally. And so I think that is the most significant.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's not based on reality though. It's not based on reality though. I mean, the IMF just came out and said -- no, but the IMF came out and said that the United States is now the number one economy. We are seeing gas prices come down.
I understand that this has been a difficult period --
URBAN: These are people's feeling, Lulu. These are people's feelings.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I understand, I'm just talking about facts, that's all.
URBAN: Okay. You -- I will tell the Uber driver that I was with yesterday that you don't -- you don't feel his pain because he can't fill his gas tank. He should go to the IMF report.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'm just talking about the numbers. I'm just simply talking about the numbers.
BURNETT: One more set of numbers.
URBAN: And I'm talking about real people.
BURNETT: OK. Harris and Obama are going to be on the stage in just a moment, but before they come out, Harry, I want to ask you one more thing about the numbers and that is Lulu and David were agreeing a moment ago on the importance of or lack thereof, of having sort of this star power entertainers on stage. Bruce Springsteen, Eminem was earlier this week, Beyonce tomorrow.
But, of course, Harris has most notably been endorsed by Taylor Swift. So you looked into what the impact of that has been and it actually appears there may have been some on Taylor Swift.
ENTEN: Yeah. I mean, Donald Trump said essentially that Taylor Swift is going to pay for her political activity. And if you look at Taylor Swift's net favorability rating, compare it now versus a year ago, look at that. It's dropped by 17 points Republicans have turned against her. Its not that she's necessarily convinced too many folks are registered to vote. She might have convinced a few, but what we've really seen in the numbers is that she's run into the Mac truck that is known as Donald Trump and the MAGA base. And it has caused her from being one of the most popular folks in this country to be considerably less popular.
SELLERS: That's absurd.
URBAN: Man, her favorabilities dropped almost as bad as Harris. Only heck.
BURNETT: All right. We will hit pause.
SELLERS: That's absurd.
BURNETT: OK, we will continue that part of the conversation after this, but we are this introduction, introduction to Barack Obama and Kamala Harris on stage. Now we're waiting for them to take the stage at any moment, this will be their first joint appearance of the campaign, and it will be here live.
Also in battleground Wisconsin, one of the most important Senate races in the country tonight, getting very personal and nasty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: Baldwin's in bed with Wall Street. While she sleeps in her girlfriend's million dollars condo in New York City, Wisconsin families are getting hammered.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Trump making a promise that is out of this world and far out, even for him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:22:36]
BURNETT: Breaking news, you're looking at live pictures out of Georgia. Vice President Harris and former Barack Obama will be speaking any moment now, their first rally together. Tyler Perry is introducing them, so they will be out in just a couple of moments. We're going to bring you those remarks as soon as they walk onto the stage.
It comes as Trump tonight is covering battleground states out west. So he's out in Arizona, must win for him where he hit Harris hard on the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Kamala's migrant invasion given to us through gross incompetence disqualifies her from even thinking about being president. We're dumping ground. We're like -- we're like a garbage can for the world. That's what's happened. That's what's happened to her. We're like a garbage can. You know, it's the first time I've ever said that every time I come up and talk about what they've done to a country, I get angrier and angrier.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT.
And, Kristen, now he's going to Nevada. So what are you expecting to hear from him tonight? Is it going to be more of that? And he's talking about the first time he's used words like that garbage can to describe the country.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, he uses variations of that for some time now, whether or not he's going to actually focus on what were expecting him to talk about, which is the economy they do believe that in Nevada, in particular, the economy is the number one issue. That is where they came up with this idea of no tax on tips obviously, that in that area with a lot of hospitality, a lot of entertainment is a huge policy and one that is widely supported.
But whether or not Donald Trump actually stays on message remains to be seen. What you're looking you got in these various events are very different from what we are seeing on the Harris side? No Bruce Springsteen, no Beyonce performing. Instead, it's a lot of airing of grievances.
I mean, we play the part of his messaging that he wants to get across about immigration. But a lot of it was also attacking John Kelly, who had recently said that he believes that he was a fascist attacking the system as a whole. He called Biden stupid in the last speech multiple times. This is Donald Trump completely unfiltered.
And I know that we've said he's unfiltered for quite some time, but he really has taken all the wheels off here and all the restrictions off. As you said, now he's referring to our country as a garbage can. He is airing out all of his grievances.
Earlier today, he said that he would fire Jack Smith, something that we have long reported that he was going to do, not fire him, but get rid of those cases that were being brought against him by the Department of Justice, if he won.
[19:25:04]
But now he's actually saying the quiet part out loud.
Now, Donald Trump believes that some of this rhetoric is what helped him win in 2016, particularly the dark rhetoric around immigration, and he believes it could help him win in 2024. And this overarching idea that Donald Trump is now more unhinged is that's not really exactly what you're seeing, what you're also seeing is Donald Trump being his truest version of himself, the kind of Donald Trump that we often hear about, or you often see behind closed doors, or you hear about from people behind closed doors, the cursing in public constantly, the denigrating remarks constantly.
That is how Donald Trump talks when he's not in front of the camera. Now he is brought that to the forefront.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Kristen, thank you very much.
And of course, he's on his way to Nevada and in just a moment here in Georgia, Kamala Harris and Barack Obama will be on that stage together.
And everyone's back with me on that.
So, Lulu, right, the context here, Kristen talking about it now, when Trump is on the stage talking about garbage can of the world when he's referencing the number of migrants who have come into the United States over the past years, do -- does rhetoric like that at this point? Does it motivate anybody? Does it -- I mean for or against? I mean, does it move the needle?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, I think Donald Trumps pitch is that this country is in a terrible state and, you know, the darker, the better because that benefits him.
But I mean, moving aside from just the rhetoric, what I'm interested in are the policies. I mean, there was a very important article today in "The New York Times", where they interviewed Stephen Miller. You might remember him from the first Trump administration, who was the architect of many of former President Trump's harshest immigration policies.
And he basically detailed what they're planning for a next Trump administration and some people have called this sort of a xenophobic fever dream. It is mass camps, huge which deportations of millions of people here illegally in this country who might have strong ties, who are not necessarily criminals, definitely deporting people like the Dreamers, DACA recipients who were brought into this country legally as children and have been vetted and have been given permission to stay and work. Some of them in the military.
I mean, these are very, very dramatic and draconian ideas about what is going to happen in a second, Trump administration. And I think those are the things that are you know, reporting and should be getting scrutiny because if Trump indeed becomes president again what we saw in the first Trump administration isn't necessarily what's going to happen the second Trump administration, they've had time to plan, they have real very strong ideas about what should happen next. And it is indeed a very, very draconian.
BURNETT: What do you say to that David, to those that list that Steve Miller gave? URBAN: Yeah, listen, well, I agree with Lulu that as a fever dream of people would like to accomplish. But let's be realistic what needs to be accomplished is that the federal government needs identify, locate, round up, and deport 300,000 plus illegal immigrant criminals first, that's the very first step.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: But Steve Miller was talking about millions, millions of people blue.
URBAN: Lulu, I understand. Will you let -- will you let me finish, Lulu?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Sure.
URBAN: Okay. So so if to undertake that alone would take four years. This is this isn't something that's easily done because it is happening but over a series of administrations in years, it could take a series of administrations to get it started and get this country turned around.
I say what Donald Trump's talking about, what Stephen Miller talking about, what Americans want to see, they want to see a secure border. They want to see legal immigration. They want to see people who break the law.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: But, David, I mean, Stephen Miller who is going to have a central role in this administration was talking very openly. In fact, I urge everyone to go read the article just about, you know, kind of redoing birthright citizenship. The idea that people could, because they-re born in this country, they have the right to be citizens bringing back the Muslim ban.
All these things that really are what were tried in the first administration. They were overturned by the courts, and now they've had years to think about how to do it properly and they're going to try it again. And so, you may like that and embrace it, but don't pretend that it's not going to happen.
Stephen Miller basically promised that it would -- that it was. I mean, you might think it's a good idea and there are many might embrace it, but understand that it is something that they are planning.
URBAN: It is something that Stephen Miller is planning, whether or not it if it becomes effective in an administration is not up to just Stephen Miller. There's a Congress that has to allocate funds. I mean, this isn't done by the wave of a magic wand, Lulu, you know that.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, no, I agree, I agree, but he was talking about appropriating funds from the military, using the U.S. military to deport some of these people, building huge camps on the U.S. border in -- on land and in Texas.
[19:30:10]
I mean, it was very detailed. I mean, I'm just -- I'm just repeating what he said. You're saying he -- it might not happen or it couldn't happen?
BURNETT: All right.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He's promising that it will.
BURNETT: I'm just going to hit pause here on this conversation. I hope everyone will read the article and think about it.
Here comes the former President Barack Obama. He is coming out of the stage and obviously in just a moment going to be joined by Vice President Kamala Harris in their first joint appearance together this entire campaign season. She will be appearing also with Michelle Obama this weekend here in these final days.
So, obviously, they're hoping that this is going to be as Bakari Sellers was just saying, really, a turnout event as opposed to eight persuading event, a turnout event.
Let's listen to the former president now here in Georgia.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Are you fired up? Are you ready to go?
It is good to be back in Georgia. Good to be back in Atlanta.
And this is quite a lineup you've had here. You got my buddy Bruce Springsteen. You got Tyler Perry. You got a couple of guys from those Capital One commercials. If that doesn't get you fired up to vote I don't know what will.
Now, you've heard this already I am going to repeat it. We are going to keep repeating it. Here in Georgia, early vote in has already started.
So if you have not already, go vote. Return your absentee ballot. If you're going to vote, remember to bring your photo ID. If you need to figure out where to go, go to iwillvote.com/GA, and then you get your friends and you get your family to make a plan to vote, because together we have a chance to choose a new generation of leadership in this country and start building a better and stronger and fairer and more hopeful America.
Now -- yeah, I love you too. Now, now, now, we know -- we know this election is going to be tight because a lot of Americans are still struggling. As a country we've been through a lot as a country we've been through a lot over the last few years.
We had a historic pandemic that wrecked havoc on communities and businesses, and then disruptions from the pandemic caused price hikes that put a strain on family budgets and people feel like no matter how hard they work, sometimes, it feels like they're just treading water. So I get why people are looking to shake things up.
What I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you, because there is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself. I have said it before, Donald Trump is a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down that golden escalator nine years ago.
And when he's not complaining, when he's not sending out crazy tweets, he trying to sell you stuff. Hey, he's trying to sell you gold sneakers, trying to sell you a $100,000 watch, trying to sell you a Trump bible, wants to sell you the word of God Donald Trump edition, got his name right there next to Matthew and Luke.
Now, you cannot make this stuff up. If this was on a "Saturday Night Live" skit, you'd say, well, no, that's crazy. But he's doing it because all he cares about is his ego, his money, his status, that's his mindset.
[19:35:00]
Those are his intentions. And then there's the question of his confidence. I mean, have you seen Donald Trump lately -- he out there given two hour speeches, just word salad, said the other day January 6th was a day of love he said that, like it was Woodstock or Coachella.
If your grandpa was acting like this, you'd call up your brother, call up your cousin and you say, hey, have you noticed grandpa. He's acting kind of funny right now. But here here's the interesting thing is he acts so crazy and it's become so common that people no longer take it seriously. I'm here to explain to you just because he acts goofy does not mean his presidency wouldn't be dangerous.
And you do not have to take my word for it. Lately, some of the people who know Donald Trump best have been saying in no uncertain terms that he should not be president again. The other day, General John Kelly, Donald Trump's former chief of staff, said that Trump told him he wanted his generals to be like Hitler's general. Now, don't boo -- vote.
Now I want to explain that in politics, a good rule of thumb is don't say you want to do anything like Hitler. You know, that's just good political advice. But it is useful because it gives us a window into how Donald Trump thinks and John Kelly isn't the only one saying this. Two of his defense secretaries, people who worked for him said the same thing.
His chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that is the top of the top brass in our military, said he is danger.
Now I happen to know John Kelly and Mike Milley. They served under me when I was commander-in-chief. These are serious people. These are de -- this is a decorated soldier and marine who served in battle.
They are not, quote/unquote, woke liberals. They are people who have never in the past even talked about politics because they believe that the military should be above politics.
But the reason they're speaking up is because they have seen that in Donald Trump's mind the military does not exist to serve the Constitution or the American people. He doesn't see being commander in chief as a solemn, sacred responsibility. Just like everything else, he thinks the military exist to do his bidding, to serve his interests.
He said if he's elected, he'll use that military to go after, quote, the enemy within, which he defines as anybody who criticizes him or refuses to bend the knee. He can't handle that and unlike last time, unlike the first time, he won't have people like John Kelly around to stop him. He'll be surrounded by people who are just as loony as he is, and who will let him do what he wants.
And so my question to you, Georgia, is how is any of that going to help you. We do not need four years of a wannabe king, a wannabe dictator running around trying to punish his enemies. That's not what you need in your life. America's ready to turn the page. We are ready for a better story. Georgia, we're ready for a President Kamala Harris.
And the good news is that Kamala Harris is ready for the job. This is a leader who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice, who need a champion. Kamala wasn't born into privilege. She was raised in a middle class family.
She worked at McDonald's when she was in college to pay her expenses. She didn't pretend to work at McDonald's when it was closed for a photo-op.
[19:40:04]
She actually cares what people are going through because she's seen it in her own family in her own life. As a prosecutor, Kamala stood up for children who'd been victims of sexual abuse, as attorney general of California fought the big -- fought the big banks and for-profit colleges secured billions of dollars for people after they' been scammed.
After the home mortgage crisis, Kamala pushed me and my administration hard to make sure homeowners got a fair settlement, it didn't matter that I was a Democrat, that she had knocked on doors for my campaign and I was -- she was not going to let anybody stop her from winning as much relief as possible for families who deserved it.
So, the point I'm making if you elect Kamala Harris she will not be focused on her problems, her ego, her money. She's going to be focused on you. She's going to be focused on you.
Kamala understands that too many folks here in Georgia and across the country are struggling to pay the bills. Now, I understand wages are steadily growing, unemployment is low, inflation is finally slowing, but we all know the price of everything from housing to health care to groceries is still too high, and it hurts. She understands that. The question is who's really going to do something about it.
So Donald Trump's plan is to give another massive tax cut to billionaires and big corporations because he was a reality star on "The Apprentice", there are some folks who think -- well, I don't know he's a business, he must know something about the economy. I've heard people say this, right, I'll talk to 'em. Why would you think about voting for this guy? Well, no, well, I remember the economy when he first came in, it was pretty good.
Yeah, yeah, it was good because it was my economy. I -- I had spent -- I had spent -- I had spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the Republicans had left me.
And then I handed over 75 straight months of job growth to Donald Trump and all he did was give tax guests to folks who didn't need it, drove up the deficit in the process and now he wants to do it again. You can't give him credit for that.
And then I hear -- the other thing I hear some folks will be like, well, Donald Trump sent me a check during the pandemic. No, no, no, y'all -- y'all know because I've heard this I know y'all -- some of you heard that.
Hey, let me -- let me -- let me make sure y'all understand this. Joe Biden sent you a check during the pandemic, just like I gave people relief during the great recession, the thing is we didn't put our name on it because it wasn't about feeding our egos, it wasn't about advancing our politics, it was about helping people. That's the difference. Don't be giving them credit for that.
Come on. He sent you a check. Do not fall for that okeydoke. Don't be bamboozled, don't get fooled and don't get fooled when he talks about health care either.
You ask -- you ask Donald Trump what he's going to do to make healthcare more affordable, his only answer is, end Obamacare, end the Affordable Care Act. He doesn't really know why he wants stand it except for the fact that I passed it.
The problem he's got now is that it's popular because 50 million people have gotten health care because of it. So, couple weeks ago you remember during the vice presidential debate, his running mate had the nerve, had, the chutzpah to say that Donald Trump, quote, salvaged the Affordable Care Act.
Donald Trump spent his entire presidency trying to tear that thing down, and he couldn't even do that right. And now, eight years after he was elected, when he was asked, well, what are you going to do, he says, well, I've got concepts of a plan for how he'd replace it.
[19:45:05]
Now, I want y'all to think about this for a second. Let's say your boss on the job gives you an assignment, says I need it by Friday. Friday rolls around, your boss says so did you finish that project I ask you to do? And you say, well, I haven't actually started but I -- I got a concept for a plan.
Or you could try this at home. Honey, did you throw out the trash? I have a concept of a plan to throw out the trash. How's that going to go over? On the couch, that's how it go over. If it wouldn't work for you, why
should it work for the next president of the United States?
The good news is that Kamala Harris doesn't have concepts of a plan. She got a plan to make your life better she's going to go after corporations that unfairly drag up prices. She's going to make it easier to build and buy a home. She's going to limit out of pocket health care costs. She's going to give a tax cut to 100 million middle class families and working Americans.
And if Congress passes a bill to restore the reproductive freedom that women had for nearly 50 years, the freedom that Donald Trump bragged about taking away, Kamala will sign it into law.
It's an example of how elections matter and I have to say I get why folks get frustrated with politics. I do too sometimes. I don't watch cable news because sometimes I get why people block it out, it just seems like everybody arguing and fussing and.
But I always tell people, look, politics it's not going to solve all your problems. No president is going to eliminate poverty in one term or eliminate racism because those problems are hard. It takes steps a little bit at a time, but your vote matters because that little bit of a time, that incremental improvement, that adds up and things can get a little better or they can get a little or a lot worse.
When I was president, we did not solve all problems with our health care system but 50 million people getting health insurance that didn't have it before, that made a difference, you know somebody who has health insurance because of it. And I'm going to give you another example.
When I was president, we put together an entire playbook for how to deal with a pandemic because we had dealt with Ebola. We had dealt with the H1N1 virus. We put together a plan and we practiced and we had all the agencies in terms of how you going to do with the schools, and how we going to do with the public health agencies and we put it all together and when Donald Trump came in, we gave him that playbook. And he I guess dropped it in the in the dust bin.
Three years later, a pandemic hit, and I want to be fair, listen to me now. No matter who was president, the pandemic was going to be a huge crisis. People were going to get sick, people were going to die. Business were going to closed there'd be travel restrictions. It was a once in a 100-year event. But if you look at a country like Canada, the per capita death rate during COVID was 60 percent lower than it was here in the United States.
So you do the math over a million people died during the pandemic here in the U.S., 60 percent of a over a million, that -- that's 600,000 people. That's grandparents, that's aunts, that's uncles, parents, co- workers, friends, everybody here was touched by it.
Some people might have been alive if we had had a competent administration who was paying attention and trying to do things better instead of talking about injecting bleach into your arm. Now, you remember that if somebody tells you it doesn't make a
difference. It will not make things perfect but it does make a difference to have somebody who is confident, somebody who sees you, somebody who respects you, somebody who cares about you, somebody who understands your dreams.
[19:50:09]
And you need to remind folks who were still on the sidelines that the election is about more than just policies, it's about values and it is about character. Some of you know when I was growing up, I didn't have a father in the house. But I did have people around me, stepfather, grandparents, teachers, coaches and most of all my mother, who tried to teach me the difference between right and wrong, who showed me what it meant to be honest and responsible to work hard, to treat other people the way.
I wanted to be treated and look -- look, I was a knucklehead sometimes when I was a kid, and I didn't always live up to those values, even as a young adult, but over time I internalized those values, and as an adult, I said -- this is what I need to stand on this is my foundation. And I suspect most of you grew up the same way.
And one of the most disturbing things about this election and about Trump's rise in politics is how we seem to have set the values we were taught aside, how we seem to disregard them, how we pretend they don't matter. When Donald Trump lies about -- about hurricane aid, you've got a hurricane in North Carolina. People desperate and he and his vice presidential candidate deliberately circulate rumors that that money is being given to illegal aliens -- illegal immigrants as opposed to people who are desperate.
When he -- when he cheats or shows utter disregard for our Constitution, when he calls service members who died in battle losers, or fellow citizens vermin, people make excuses for it. They act like it's okay as long as their side wins. And I've noticed this especially with some men who -- who seem to think Trump's behavior is a sign of strength, that macho, you know, I'm -- I'm going I'm going to own these folks, I'm -- I'm going to put them down.
Let me -- I am here to tell you, that is not what real strength is. It never has been. Real strength is about working hard and taking responsibility and telling the truth even when it's inconvenient. Real strength is about helping people who need it, and standing up for those who can't always stand up for themselves.
That's what we should want in our daughters, in our sons, and that's what I want to see in the president of the United States of America.
(CHEERING)
OBAMA: And the good news is, we've got a candidate to vote for in this election who demonstrates that kind of character, who knows what real strength looks like, who will set a good example and do the right thing and lead this country better than she found it, that is what this election is about. And that is why it is my honor to introduce, my friend, the next
president of the United States of America, Vice President Kamala Harris.
(CHEERING)
(CHANTING)
[19:55:05]
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good evening, Georgia. Good evening.
Can we please hear from my friend, our 44th president, Barack Obama?
Oh, it's good to be back in Atlanta.
All right. All right. So -- I love you, too. I love you, too.
So -- you all may know, it was over. It was 17 years ago. It was over 17 years ago, when I took a trip to Springfield, Illinois. It was a cold February day, and I went there to support this brilliant young senator who was running for president of the United States, and millions of Americans were energized and inspired, not only by Barack Obama's message, but by how he leads, seeking to unite rather than separate us.
And that is why in 2007, I went New Year's eve to Iowa, to knock on doors in the snow and all these years later, Barack Obama, I say to you, your friendship and your faith in me and in our campaign means the world. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President.
And we have some extraordinary leaders with us tonight. And I thank everybody who's here for taking time out of your busy lives to spend this evening together. I want to thank Georgia's congressional delegation all the local and community leaders who are here with us.
Let's please give it up for Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Tyler Perry, and the great American poet Bruce Springsteen.
So, Atlanta, before I was vice president of the United States, before I was a United States senator, and before that a two-term attorney general for the state of California and before that, a district attorney and a courtroom prosecutor and in those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds predators, fraudsters and repeat offenders. I took them on and I won.
Well, Georgia, in 12 days, it's Donald Trump's turn. It's his turn. Just 12 days left, in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and I don't need to tell you voting has already started, and everybody here knows it's going to be a tight race until the very end, so we have a lot of work ahead of us.
But we like hard work. Hard work is good work. Hard work is joyful work and make no mistake: we will win. We will win. We will win.
Or as a certain former president would say, yes, we can.
(CHANTING)
HARRIS: Yes, we will, and yes, we can.
And here's -- here's why we're going to win, we are going to win because we, together, are fighting for the future. We are fighting for the future. We here understand.
We have an opportunity before us to turn the page on the fear and divisiveness that have characterized our politics for a decade because of Donald Trump. We have the opportunity to turn the page and chart a new way and a joyful way forward. A way that taps into the ambitions, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people.
And I will tell you as I travel our country, there is an overwhelming call for a fresh start.
