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Inside Politics
Trump Campaign Looks to Expand Battleground Map; Trump Assassination Attempt May Transform 2024 Race; J.D. Vance Would Be First VP With Facial Hair Since 1933. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired July 17, 2024 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[12:32:48]
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR OF 'INSIDE POLITICS': Political parties always project confidence during conventions, but this time feels a bit different for Republicans.
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DAVID HANN, MINNESOTA REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIR: The battleground state of Minnesota, which will elect a Republican for president for the first time since 1972.
ANNE DELISLE, MICHIGAN DELEGATE: We are proud to be part of the so- called blue wall and we are going to tear down that wall.
(CROWD CHEERING)
REP. ELISE STEFANIK, (R-NY): We believe that President Donald J. Trump will be the first Republican in a generation who will win New York State.
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BASH: So, where is that confidence coming from? Is it talking points? Is it more? Is there data to back it up? Well, former President Donald Trump's pollster John McLaughlin is here with me to talk about it. Nice to see you in person.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, POLLSTER FOR DONALD TRUMP: Thank you for the opportunity.
BASH: I'm going to talk about the map but in a second, but I just want to start with where we are, particularly given the horrible, horrible events of Saturday. It was already a margin of error race. Before that, nationally, obviously, that is not how presidents are elected, but when it comes to the data that you are seeing, has anything changed dramatically since the weekend?
MCLAUGHLIN: Since the weekend, it is too early to tell. But with the convention, the convention is going very well. For me as a Republican and working for President Trump, it is a totally new territory because we are going into this election with like 111 days left and we are leading. We are leading in the battleground states; we are leading in national polls. We never saw that in 2016. It was always an electoral state win that we were playing for and we were going -- we were going to lose the national popular vote.
But we have been ahead in the national popular vote, going back to September 2021, when inflation kicked in and President Biden withdrew for -- or surrendered Afghanistan. That was --
BASH: Is there such a thing as speaking too early?
MCLAUGHLIN: No. And we always run -- in the Trump campaign, we have run like we are 10 points behind. So, we would try to work harder and we know that we have got a lot of work to do, particularly where we -- you have states that start voting in September. The states that -- a lot of states are voting in October. So, the whole Republican Party has basically change their outlook where we have to -- we have to get Trump voters this time instead of waiting for Election Day, the first day we have early voting, you got to get online.
[12:35:00]
BASH: And is he onboard with that?
MCLAUGHLIN: Absolutely.
BASH: Because he wasn't necessarily pro early voting, as you remember, in 2020. In fact, he was doing the opposite where a lot of Republicans were pulling their hair out.
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, I think a lot of it was the drop boxes and the mail- in, the absentees, but that has gone with COVID. So now, every state has their own rules, we are playing by the rules and we are trying to win every state as they come along.
BASH: OK. So, let's talk about the states and you just heard coming in, the people who were putting their votes into the roll call earlier this week here from states that are not on the core four battleground map -- Minnesota, Virginia, New Jersey, my home state.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes.
BASH: How real do you think that is?
MCLAUGHLIN: It is very real. I mean, the trump campaign --
BASH: And let me just say for our viewers who aren't intimately involved with the history of these states, Minnesota has been blue, but people like our Jeff Zeleny call it reddest blue state. Virginia was red, but it has been blue --
MCLAUGHLIN: Right.
BASH: -- the past few cycles. And New Jersey has been blue for a generation.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right. And when you look at those states -- Minnesota, the Trump campaign rarely releases our polls, but they released a poll we did in mid-June where we were up four points in Minnesota. That's with Kennedy in it. Now in New Jersey, you've seen polls that has been published, polls there were up a point, and you saw the turnout in Wildwood.
I mean, people who -- and then when you look at -- you look at Virginia and I've polled there over the years for Senator Allen and Governor Gilmore, et cetera, we are back to where we are getting like a fifth of the African-American vote. We are winning where the military is, in Norfolk, because they are tired of a weak America. So President Trump, there was a VCU Poll that came out, had us ahead in Virginia. So, and there is other states coming in place. So, the map is getting much larger.
BASH: Well, let me ask you just real quick and I do want to get to what we are going to see tonight with the president -- the former president's running mate, because you mentioned the African-American vote, Susie Wiles who is running the Trump campaign, told this to Tim Alberta. It was about black men. It is so targeted. We are not fighting for black people, she said; we are fighting for black men between 18 and 34. Now, let me just give our viewers another bit of context here. In 2020, Biden won black men by 60 points.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right.
BASH: And black voters overall, 18 to 29, by 79 points.
MCLAUGHLIN: Right.
BASH: Is that realistic?
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, like, we won -- and we are getting some black woman too. It is like there is -- we are equal opportunity. But we only got 8 percent in 2016; we got 12 percent in 2020. And now, you are seeing Joe Biden where 30 percent of the African-American voters disapprove of the job he is doing and in that, Donald Trump is drifting up where all of a sudden, you saw what happened when we went to the Bronx. You saw the outreach that we were having. The crowds we are getting in Georgia. He is going to Michigan again.
BASH: Yeah.
MCLAUGHLIN: You saw the reception he got in Michigan. We are getting a fifth of the black vote, our last national poll, we had 21 percent of African-American votes.
BASH: We are out of time, but you think Vance is actually a pick that is going to help them electorally?
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, it will help in the Rust Belt states, particularly when you are looking at Michigan and you are looking at in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, he is a veteran. He is young, he is a convert. He is working class too, he fits. It is definitely going to help. To me, it is like when Clinton picked Gore, it definitely reinforced the brand and it is definitely going to help us.
BASH: Thank you so much for coming in.
MCLAUGHLIN: Thanks for the opportunity.
BASH: Appreciate it. And up next, a Florida Congresswoman calls on Latino voters to help usher Donald Trump back into the White House for another term. Florida Representative Maria Elvira Salazar will be here, live next.
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[12:43:20]
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REP. MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, (R-FL): Where are the Venezuelans? Where are the Colombians, the Central Americans? Where are the Cubans? I would like to send a message to the Hispanic community across the country. You are welcomed in the Republican Party.
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We have -- we have the same beliefs. We have the same values.
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BASH: That was Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar at a Trump rally this month, encouraging undecided Latino voters to join the GOP. She is a daughter of Cuban exiles and says it is time for that key voting bloc to use its growing numbers to help Donald Trump win the White House. And she is here with me now. Thanks for being here. Appreciate it.
ELVIRA SALAZAR: My pleasure. Thank you very much for the opportunity.
BASH: I just want to show our viewers what happened in the last election with the Latino voting bloc. Joe Biden got 65 percent. Donald trump got 32 percent. What makes you think that it is going to be different this time around?
ELVIRA SALAZAR: The American dream -- the average Hispanic comes to this country because they want to live the American dream. Look on my parents. I am the American dream. I was born in Miami five months before -- after they came from escaping the Cuban revolution. I have become a United States Congresswoman in one generation. Look at me and look at my accent, because everything is possible in this country. So that is exactly what the Hispanics want.
They want to be able to buy house, low interest rates, be able to have affordable food, be able to have cheap gas and open their little cafeteria or a little florist shop, and live the American dream.
[12:45:00]
Right now, that is impossible for them to do.
BASH: You said that the assassination attempt of Donald Trump is going to help him in the Latino community. Can you explain that?
ELVIRA SALAZAR: Well, I'm not sure about the Latino community, it is going to help him all across America because after what happened to him, I have very good friends, close to the president, that they have assured me that he is a different man. And you would be a different person if you go through the experience he went through Saturday. He is more contemplative. I am not going to say spiritual or religious because we don't know that, but we do know that his character has changed internally and he -- God Almighty, have no doubt, has given him a second opportunity at life and at leadership, and he is going to use it for the benefit of the country.
BASH: And do you think that that's going to change -- genuinely change the way that he either behaves on social media or in public? Or more importantly, if he wins again, will it affect his policy?
ELVIRA SALAZAR: All of the above.
BASH: How so?
ELVIRA SALAZAR: All of the above.
BASH: You think he is going to change policy?
ELVIRA SALAZAR: Because when you are a different person, then you look at life in a different way.
BASH: How do you want him to change?
ELVIRA SALAZAR: Well, I just want him to be the president for all the Americans and right now, that is the case, because unfortunately, President Biden, because of his mental fragility, because of everything we are seeing after the debate, the average American is looking at a figure that should give them guidance. And right now, it is President Trump and the polls indicate it.
BASH: I am going to ask you about President Biden.
ELVIRA SALAZAR: Yeah.
BASH: And specifically on the issue of immigration and the executive order, one of the executive orders that he signed recently. And the one that I want to ask you about allowed some undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens to apply for lawful citizenship, permanent residency, I should say, not citizenship without leaving the country, which means protections for about 500,000 American families, roughly 50,000 non-citizen children of immigrants.
ELVIRA SALAZAR: Don't start me on immigration because you know that's my lane.
BASH: But what about --
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ELVIRA SALAZAR: I'll tell you. It is too little too late. I am going to explain to you why. The Democratic Party has had the biggest opportunity for the last 30 years to give some type of response to those people who have been here illegally. And you know, I wrote the Dignity Act, which is the only immigration reform law on the books right now in Congress, because I want to give dignity to those people who have been here for more than five years. The Dems had, during Obama and during Biden, the possibility to pass immigration reform law and give dignity to our people, and they didn't.
BASH: Well, I mean, I was there. I was in the hallways. This was blown up in large part because the Republican base didn't want it. They were so close so many times.
ELVIRA SALAZAR: During Obama, we were at this interview when he told us in 2008 that in the first 100 days of his presidency, he was going to sign an immigration reform law and he invested that political capital in Obamacare. That was a lie. Now, let's move forward to 2020, President Biden, he said I am going to give an immigration reform law to everyone who votes for me in our community within the first 100 days.
BASH: And it was blown up by Donald Trump, who told Republicans not to sign it.
ELVIRA SALAZAR: Not really because the Dems had under Nancy Pelosi -- the Dems had Congress and they had Senate, and they had -- and everything passed, BBB was considered, the Infrastructure, the $1.9 trillion -- immigration is -- unfortunately, immigration is not a top priority, even though they say it is.
BASH: It is also, I mean, it is impossible when it comes to these issues in Congress right now, which is why --
ELVIRA SALAZAR: But the Dems could have done it. They could have done it 30 years ago, 20 years ago, under Biden. And that's why I wrote the Dignity Law.
BASH: OK.
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BASH: Again, I was covering Congress then and they tried, and it fell apart for lots of reasons, primarily because Republicans --
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ELVIRA SALAZAR: Nancy never introduced an immigration reform law the first two years of Biden.
BASH: My last thing and I have to go to break.
ELVIRA SALAZAR: Yeah.
BASH: -- is specifically about this executive order. There are people for whom their lives changed overnight.
ELVIRA SALAZAR: And I agree with it, but I agree with that and I agree bringing out of the shadows all those millions of people who are helping the economy and don't have any papers -- the DACA, the dreamers, there is an array of people besides the (inaudible) spouses.
BASH: When you come back, we'll talk more about.
ELVIRA SALAZAR: Give me all -- I'm here -- delightfully. Give me half an hour and then we can have a great conversation.
BASH: OK. Nice to see you.
ELVIRA SALAZAR: Wonderful.
BASH: Thank you. And coming up, a hairy political issue, I am talking about J.D. Vance's beard, of course, how it could have made history and it could make history in the White House. We've got to have a little fun here.
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[12:54:27]
BASH: Tonight, J.D. Vance will introduce himself to the American people. We are told Donald Trump's VP pick will focus on his upbringing and hear at "Inside Politics," we have talked a lot about his policy positions. But now, I want to get to something really important, facial hair. If Trump wins in November, the Ohio Senator would become the first vice president in nearly a century to wear facial hair. The last was Charles Curtis, Herbert Hoover's vice president from 1929 to 1933 who, as you could see, had a nice-looking mustache.
[12:55:00]
Donald Trump is known to prefer a clean-shaven look. But when asked about the beard, J.D. Vance's beard last week, he said "He looks good. He looks like a young Abraham Lincoln." Now facial hair aside, we want to highlight something else on J.D. Vance's resume.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also with us, CNN Contributor J.D. Vance, author of " Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joining me now to talk more about this is CNN Contributor J.D. Vance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN Contributor J.D. Vance.
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BASH: That's right. J.D. Vance was a former -- or is a former CNN contributor? He is now on the presidential ticket. That is a first. He used a razor back then.
Thank you so much for joining "Inside Politics." "CNN News Central" starts after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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