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Inside Politics

Trump And Harris Both Promise To End Taxes On Tips; Moderate PA Voters Weigh Their Options With Vice President Harris At The Top of Dem Ticket; Comedian Goes Viral For Her Impression Of Kamala Harris. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 13, 2024 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:30:00]

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: All workers make tips right now, and many of them are in lower paid jobs, like hotel staffers and food delivery workers. So low that a lot of them pay very little or almost nothing in federal income taxes, so they wouldn't benefit at all from this policy. That's why some of the experts I'm talking to, they say that yes, this is good politics, but no, it's bad policy.

I talked to Steve Rosenthal at the -- he's a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. And he told me that we are, quote, "in silly season right now. And this competes for the worst idea of all time." Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: I'm not sure what he really thinks there. So you mentioned the politics. The -- it's not an accident that both of these candidates made these proposals in the state of Nevada an important swing state, which is very, very high on hospitality. That's where a lot of workers who they're targeting make their money.

But when it comes to safeguards, how can this so-called tax plan be taken advantage of by people who are not supposed to get a benefit from it if it actually becomes the law of the land?

EGAN: Yes, Dana, that's a major concern here because they'd be rewriting the tax code in a way that would essentially incentivize people to shift some of their ordinary income and make it tipped income. It's very easy to see how high earners could try to game the system.

That's why the Harris campaign says they would have two safeguards here. One, there would be an income limit as far as who this applies to. And two, they say they'd have requirements to prevent hedge fund managers and lawyers specifically from benefiting. Of course, implementing those safeguards would be tricky. The devil here would be in the details.

One last point here, Dana, is this would be expensive. There are estimates that this would cost tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars. By no means would this be a cheap campaign proposal or cheap campaign promise rather to keep.

BASH: OK, Matt, thank you so much for breaking that down for us. I want to bring back our excellent reporters here. Toluse, what do you make of this especially given the back to sort of the raw politics of this campaign season, the economy is number one.

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes, it's clearly about raw politics. It's not a coincidence that they both announced this when they were in Las Vegas. They are trying to win Nevada, those crucial six electoral votes that could swing the election.

And they are trying to talk about the economy in ways that will reach people who have been concerned about the economy, who have been saying that they don't like the amount of inflation, who have been saying that it's been a stretch just to make ends meet.

And so Kamala Harris has a very difficult task because she is the incumbent. She is the Vice President, but she's the part of the administration that is in charge while people are struggling. And so she needs to come up with new ideas, and she needs to compete with Donald Trump, who, so far, has been in a better position on the economy, and that's what she's trying to do.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: I mean, to steal one line from Matt, the goal here is simple. He said it's to increase take home pay for workers. No, it's not. It's to win votes in Clark County. Let's be candid about this. In the genesis of Trump coming to this, he actually told it at the convention where he was actually at a dinner in Las Vegas where he asked a waitress about this.

That's how the topic came up. At least that's his version of how he came up with the idea. And to his credit, it caught on and it became -- despite he has a campaign with actually a lot of pretty detailed policy ideas, or at least they had them on their website to the extent he talks about them, depends on the day.

But on this issue, he has talked about it constantly because he realized that it caught, and people paid attention to it, and it really kind of took off, and now you see the Democratic candidate feel like they need to co-opt it.

I think the reality, though, as Matt laid out so eloquently, is from a tax policy perspective, it's a really terrible policy idea when you talk to economists because not only is it really, really complex to actually put into place, it would probably wouldn't hit the kind of the people that you're trying to affect here, but also just tax behavior in general.

Every company is going to shift likely companies would actually end up doing better than workers. But it works on the trail and I'm thrilled and we're three former Bloomberg reporters here --

BASH: Yes.

MATTINGLY: -- to be talking about tax policy, like, let's do it. I'm here for it. BASH: And as I bring you in Heidi, Jared Bernstein, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers talked to the about the thing that we've been talking about for months and months and months, which is the numbers economically versus the feeling that people have, which matters most in a campaign.

"Vibes matter, and economists risk talking people -- talking past people if we fail to recognize that both inflation rates and price levels matter. We're acutely aware of this in the Biden-Harris administration."

HEIDI PRZYBYLA, NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: Yes. And right now, we're seeing a major shift in the polls towards Kamala Harris, and especially on the economy. We're seeing this in some key swing states, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin.

She has a really important moment here where she outlines her economic vision because right now she has this plausible deniability of being separate from Joe Biden and his policies, whether it's fair or not, that are anchored to those impressions about the economy.

[12:35:08]

When she comes out with her own plan, I think this is going to be fascinating to see whether she plays it safe and she continues to kind of talk about those middle class issues.

Like, you know, we went after pharmaceutical companies, the banks and their overdraft fees, or is she going to embrace some of the bigger, bolder proposals that progressives want her to embrace? Like going after some of these big companies --

BASH: Yes.

PRZYBYLA: -- that they view as being monopolistic.

BASH: That's right. That's right. I mean, it is going to be a really big speech that she gives on Friday.

Thanks, everybody. Appreciate it.

Up next, John King in the all-important Philadelphia suburbs to look at how voters are reacting to Vice President Harris's rise to the top of the ticket.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:19]

BASH: Arizonans will have a chance in November to vote directly on whether to expand abortion rights. The Arizona Secretary of State made that official yesterday. The referendum would make abortions legal up to 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy, versus the 15-week limit now in place in the state.

Democrats are hoping that'll help increase turnout in the state. That's critical not just to Kamala Harris, but to the party's chances of of holding on to the Senate majority here in Washington. Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego is in a close race there with Trump ally Kari Lake to fill an open seat.

Vice President Harris picked the must win state of Pennsylvania to announce her running mate last week. Our John King was there too, speaking with moderate Republican and former Republican voters in the Philadelphia suburbs about where they stand now that President Biden is off the ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bucks County, Pennsylvania, this covered bridge, a local treasure. Michael Pesce often stops along the trail here to fish and to think. Not a great time to be a Reagan Republican. Pesce supported Nikki Haley, but won't vote for Donald Trump ever. And he sees Kamala Harris as more liberal than he would like.

MICHAEL PESCE, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I have doubts about her. She's going to be tied to the Biden record regardless of what she says or what she does.

KING: Does it impact your calculation for what you do?

PESCE: No, doesn't change anything at all. I'm still not going to vote for Trump regardless. So, I'm not excited about voting for Kamala Harris, but it's better than the alternative.

KING (voice-over): Every vote counts, though, enthusiastic or not. Big margins in the suburbs that surround Philadelphia are critical for Democrats. Bucks is more blue collar, and of late, the most competitive of the collar counties.

KING: If I were here the day after the debate and I asked you, do you think Biden could win Pennsylvania? You would have said --

PESCE: No way. There would have been no way.

KING: Do you think Harris could win Pennsylvania?

PESCE: I think she can. I think she can. I think the energy she's brought to the campaign, the fact that she's a woman and women's rights are going to be a big deal here in Pennsylvania. And I think that's kind of where Pennsylvania will go.

KING (voice-over): Berks County is more rural and more Trumpy. Just outside the suburban collar, but margins matter everywhere in the battlegrounds. Joan London is an attorney for local governments.

JOAN LONDON, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Bloom Farm zoning permit status. We had a meeting this morning, a very productive meeting.

KING (voice-over): London cast a primary vote for Haley, then switched her registration to independent. She worries about Trump's coarse tone and what she sees as angry populism. A new worry since our last visit in May, Trump running mate, J.D. Vance.

No cats, but married and childless. Now, even more proud she left the GOP.

LONDON: I've led a very full life that way and to say I don't have a stake in the future of the country, I had some difficulty with that. And all I could think of Senator Vance, are you going to tell Ann Coulter or Condoleezza Rice or Elizabeth Dole that they're miserable cat ladies? I don't think so.

KING (voice-over): London plans to write in a conservative, but she leaves the Harris window open just a crack.

LONDON: If Donald Trump or J.D. Vance really says something so outrageously offensive, that could drive me to vote for Vice President Harris, but it's highly unlikely. She just doesn't -- she doesn't represent my values, my beliefs about policy.

KING (voice-over): Media is in Delaware County. Cynthia Sabatini knows a lot about the change here.

CYNTHIA SABATINI, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: My street was rock ribbed Republican. Now, you have to shake a stick to find a Republican.

KING (voice-over): Sabatini is also Never-Trump.

SABATINI: I watch his campaign rallies. It's all about him. It's not about the country.

KING (voice-over): This is now the third campaign in which these Never-Trump voters hold significant sway. In 2016, Sabatini wrote in a Republican senator, Trump narrowly won Pennsylvania. In 2020, she voted for Biden.

KING: Was that hard?

SABATINI: No, because I don't want to see Trump elected after the chaos of the prior four years.

KING (voice-over): Sabatini says she's read things that worry her about Harris, about immigration policy, and about being tough on her staff. Probably another write in this November. But the 2016 results? Still stings.

SABATINI: I'm trying to keep an open mind about Harris If the rap on her, as I read, is correct.

KING (voice-over): Bala Cynwyd is in Montgomery County.

CAROL CARTY, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: It was very Republican --

KING: And it's not anymore.

CARTY: -- when I was growing up and it's Democrat now.

KING (voice-over): Carol Carty is an attorney, a registered Republican. She's angry that Trump constantly attacks courts and judges and election results.

CARTY: I am now turning on 80s songs to go back to the 80s. In my lifetime, the Republican Party has changed with Donald Trump.

[12:45:04]

KING (voice-over): Clinton 2016, Biden 2020. A Never-Trumper, she thought. But inflation and immigration soured her on Biden. And then she watched the June debate.

CARTY: When Biden was on the ticket, I was going to vote for Trump. But now it's a harder call. Just because I am not a fan of Donald Trump.

KING (voice-over): Nor now of Senator Vance.

CARTY: I'm not a cat lady, I was a childless dog lady. Because I didn't meet the right person until I was over 40 years old. So I could very well be one of those childless women. And I found the comment insensitive and narrow minded.

KING (voice-over): This is near Carty's summer home on Maryland's eastern shore. She says the conversations back home among her Philly suburban mom friends are crystal clear.

CARTY: Definitely, I have more friends saying that they're leaning towards Harris.

KING (voice-over): But she still has reservations and hopes a Harris- Trump debate helps.

CARTY: Tell me what you did exactly at your last job. And what are your goals for this job, if you get the job. And that's what I want to hear from Kamala Harris.

KING (voice-over): Scoring the campaign just like a job interview, in the suburbs that usually decide who gets hired.

John King, CNN, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And coming up, it's a laugh that's getting a lot of attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, you may clap.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: My next guest nails it. Allison, take it away.

(LAUGHTER) BASH: There you go. That's the comedian and Kamala Harris impersonator, Allison Reese. She is here. You're going to want to see this. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:51:13]

ALLISON REESE, COMEDIAN/KAMALA HARRIS IMPERSONATOR: It's me, Kamala Nkay Harris. I just want to say thank you, Nkay, to the mayor of Mesa, Arizona, a town we all have heard of, for endorsing me, Nkay, even though they're a Republican. That takes guts Nkay. Especially right now when all the other Republicans are being weird.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: That was Allison Reese, a comedian who you can tell has mastered the Kamala Harris impersonation. I'm very excited to have Allison here as my guest today. Nice to see you Nkay, the laugh, you've got it all. What's the key -- that's your real laugh. What's the key to becoming Kamala Harris?

REESE: I think the key to becoming Kamala Harris through this impression is, I feel like embodying the joy. I like that, you know, she's just being herself and he laugh is part of that. Just not afraid to show who you are and the joy in that.

BASH: All right, let's have a little fun. Kamala Harris said this on the trail last week.

REESE: Oh yes.

BASH: Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that, otherwise I'm speaking.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: OK, Allison, your turn.

REESE: My turn? OK. Look, Donald Trump, I'm speaking and if you got something to say, say it to my face, OK? And you know what? I've always been told if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. So Donald, get over here and shut up.

BASH: When you're doing an impersonation like this, somebody who is running for the highest office in the land, it's obviously funny. You really nailed her.

REESE: Oh my god.

BASH: But do you think about kind of the politics that play into this? I mean I think about Tina Fey, that was a very big stage and I mean it really did have an impact on Sarah Palin.

REESE: Oh yes.

BASH: Do you think about that when you do your Kamala Harris impression?

REESE: All the time. I mean, satire when used correctly is a very powerful tool. I am, you know, alumni of the second city in Chicago and that was something that was always at the forefront. You know, you want to always be punching up. You want to be reflecting what the world sees in a humorous way.

And when you're doing that, you have to always be doing it accurately, too, right? So there's a lot to juggle with that and a lot of responsibility, which is kind of hilarious because I'm just like a clown. But there's all this responsibility side to it.

BASH: Yes. No, it's true. I want our viewers to watch your take on Kamala Harris's VP pick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: All right, Tim Walz.

(LAUGHTER)

To the window. To the Walz.

(LAUGHTER)

Keep my VP down the hall. Oh, the VP's crawl.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Who do you think would do the best Tim Walz impression?

REESE: Probably, Tim Walz. No, I would like to see Jim Gaffigan's impression of it. I feel like he would do a great job. I know the internet really wanted Steve Martin to do it.

BASH: I know.

REESE: And he said no thanks this time.

BASH: I know. Lorne Michaels call --

REESE: I feel like there's someone on Saturday Night Live -- yes. I feel like there's someone probably already in that cast who's got one ready to go.

BASH: OK. So speaking --

REESE: So I'm very interested to see.

BASH: Me too. OK, so speaking of the SNL cast, we know Maya Rudolph is going to come back and she's going to play Kamala Harris as she has done for years.

REESE: Yes.

[12:55:03]

BASH: If she, God forbid, is sick one Saturday night, I'm assuming you would like Lorne Michaels to give you a call?

REESE: Sure. I mean, I don't think they do understudies, but I'd be down.

BASH: You never know. You absolutely never know. You know, and --

REESE: You never know.

BASH: -- they tend to be aware of people who come on the show. So maybe if Lorne Michaels is listening, you want to give your one last impression?

No pressure here, Allison.

REESE: One last Kamala. OK. No, no pressure. I just want to talk about my favorite curse word. You know, it starts with M and ends in A, Madonna. Madonna is my favorite curse. And it's better the A-H is better than the E-R. Because like Madonna is like my friends. Madonner is me, you know?

BASH: Amazing. Allison, thank you so much for making us laugh. We all need it. Appreciate it.

REESE: Thank you.

BASH: And thank you for joining INSIDE POLITICS. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" stars after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)