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Inside Politics

New CNN Poll: Voters Trust Trump More Than Harris On Economy; Speaker Johnson Vows To Follow Certification Process With Key Caveat "If" Election Is Fair; Podcast Hosts Air Petty Grievances, Political Hot Takes. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 24, 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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[12:31:19]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Minutes from now, Donald Trump is set to take the stage in Savannah, Georgia, where if he sticks to script, he will promote his tax plan. The former president tested some new material in a roundtable with Pennsylvania farmers yesterday, saying, he would simply ignore Congress if lawmakers tried to block him from imposing new tariffs.

He later delivered this blistering message to John Deere, an American manufacturing company.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They've announced a few days ago that they're going to move a lot of their manufacturing business to Mexico. I'm just notifying John Deere right now. If you do that, we're putting a 200 percent tariff on everything that you want to sell into the United States.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: My panel is back. And let's -- before we discuss Trump and the economy, let's just bring back what our brand-new poll shows because it's so important to see the delta between the economy as the top issue and everything else underneath it. And, again, who do you trust more to handle the economy? Another delta. Kamala Harris has only 39 percent. Donald Trump, 50 percent. Josh?

JOSH DAWSEY, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS AND ENTERPRISE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, it's why Donald Trump's advisers are begging and pleading and conjoined with him to talk about the economy, right? They're giving him all sorts of props and messages and events to talk about the economy non-stop. They believe if the election is about the economy and immigration, but they are favored to win.

If it's about his personality about all sorts of other, you know, retributions and threats and all of the other sort of things that come along with Trump sometimes, it's a harder election for him to win. So if you look at his schedule every week, they're trying to give him an economic event somewhere to go every week. They want to talk about the economy every week.

They're sending out speech excerpts ahead the night before. Here's our economic plan. We want to talk about the economy nonstop. And Trump often will talk about the economy and then he will venture into many other things and sort of overshadow his message sometimes.

BASH: Yes.

DAWSEY: So, part of their goal in the next six weeks, if you talk to people close to him, part of their number one and number two goal is to keep him talking about the economy as much as they can.

BASH: And Eva, Kamala Harris is also trying to talk about the economy a lot. She's going to have a big speech rolling out more of her plan tomorrow, going to talk more broadly, and they say in a more fulsome way about her economic plans. I mean, the pressure is on, on this issue for her.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: It is, and she focuses on the cost of living, the opportunity economy. She's branded it. She plays up her own personal biography and talking about how she understands the struggle, I think, to some effect because in our poll, she's at 52 percent with ability to understand their problems.

So for all the criticism she gets for being sort of jargony when asked about the economy, some of that messaging is working. But I think that she is having issues really that predate her because there are a lot of democratic policies that are really popular, you know, increasing the federal minimum wage, the child tax credit, more money for affordable housing.

But yet and still, time and time again, not only Vice President Harris, but Democrats more broadly are not as trusted on this issue as Republicans. So I think she's getting the weight of that. A long distrust and the Democrats have to do a better job talking about their issue.

GRETCHEN CARLSON, JOURNALIST: But that's because we have high inflation --

BASH: Exactly.

CARLSON: -- and gas prices and grocery prices. And the poll that you showed, that is why Donald Trump is leading on the economy by such a wide margin. So as we've said over the last couple of weeks, she needs to push away from Biden's policies and make it clear that she has her own policies in a way to try and distance herself from the reality of inflation and grocery prices.

[12:35:02]

So I think that that she's going to have a tough road on that, although, one can argue that the Vice President doesn't set the policies when they are not the president of the United States. She needs to make that clear. Smart for Donald Trump to talk about the economy every day, every minute. BASH: We want to go to a clip from what Donald Trump did or where he went yesterday and what he did when he was there. It was an unannounced stop at a grocery store in Pennsylvania. And he was helping a woman checking out with her three kids pay for their groceries.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

TRUMP: It's going to go down a little bit. It just went down 100 bucks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much.

TRUMP: We'll do that fee for the White House.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: Kind of an Oprah move. You get 100 bucks, and you get 100 bucks. But when you look at the policies, that was obviously a, you know, a photo op. Gerard Baker in the Wall Street Journal has an op ed today, and he calls it, Trumponomics may be. Oprah more than Reagan. And he says, "His plan for an economy is to channel Ms. Winfrey and say to voters, 'And you get a tax cut. And you get a tax cut. And you get a tax deduction.'"

DAWSEY: Right, and he has done that, right? Repeatedly, he's told almost anyone who comes in front of him, we're going to lower your taxes, we're not going to have taxes on Social Security, we're not going to have taxes on tips, we're not going to have taxes on this, on that, the other.

It's curious how that will work economically, but Trump knows whoever his audience is. He tells them oftentimes what they want to hear, right? So we've reported a lot on when corporate donors come in. He's -- it's case to them. Here's why you should contribute to my campaign. Your taxes are going to go up significantly if Harris won or Biden before that.

The one thing I will say about that stop --

BASH: Yes.

DAWSEY: -- that's interesting to me, his team is also trying to get him to do those on every trip, trying to get him to do those off the record, sort of campaign stops where he goes in and interacts with people because it makes for good clips and headlines for him. And other that --

BASH: And we're not used to seeing him.

CARLSON: Right.

DAWSEY: And we're not used to seeing him. And part of it is they want to try and show him a softer side of him to women, to other voters who are skeptical of him, right? To see him doing something besides yelling and screaming on stage, to see him like actually interacting as a human, right?

BASH: Yes. Well, I don't know. Handing out $100 bills like --

DAWSEY: No -- sure but you know what I telling --

BASH: I know. I totally know what you're saying. Before we go, I do want to get some new information out and that is Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, was asked about whether or not he would certify the election. Listen to his answer.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Of course. If we have a free, fair and safe election, we're going to follow the Constitution. Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. Yes.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: Eva?

MCKEND: I mean, it's kind of disturbing that it even has to be asked, but that is the reality where we are living in right now when, you know, this country survived an insurrection and you have the former president still casting doubt on the efficacy of our elections, that you have to get that reassurance from the Speaker of the House.

CARLSON: And yet he said, if we have a fair and free election. So, in my mind, he was saying, let's wait and see. And so is that going to be the Republican line now from everyone? I wouldn't take that as something that I feel assured about.

BASH: Yes, that is the Republican line. You're exactly right.

Everybody, thank you so much.

CARLSON: Thank you.

BASH: But don't go anywhere at home because coming up, they have aired their petty grievances with some of the biggest names in politics. The hosts of the hit podcast, "I've Had It" bring their wit and humor and their insights right here, next.

Here's what you have to look forward to.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JENNIFER WELCH, CO-HOST, "I'VE HAD IT" PODCAST: You walk into a restaurant and they seat you guys -- and it's just the two of you, and they seat you all at a four top and it's a booth. Do you sit on the same side of the booth or do you sit across from each other?

KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We definitely do not side sit on the same side.

ANGIE "PUMPS" SULLIVAN, CO-HOST, "I'VE HAD IT" PODCAST: As we said we're happy. HARRIS: Definitely not.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

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[12:42:49]

BASH: If this political climate has you wanting to say, I've had it, this segment is for you. My guests have made a habit out of sitting down with political heavy hitters to air their petty grievances and strike the perfect balance as they discuss some of the most important issues facing our country with a heavy dose of humor.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

SULLIVAN: Did you feel an added responsibility of all of the issues that were facing you as a woman? Was that -- I mean, I would think that would have to weigh heavy.

HARRIS: I mean, it definitely does. I am very aware of the fact that I bring to this work a life experience that gives me a very good sense of a multitude of issues that would not have been the life experience of people who previously held this position. I am sure that I'm the first vice president to, in front of the press, use the word uterus.

And then I didn't stop there. I said the F word, fibroids.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: Joining me now from Oklahoma City, Jennifer Welch and Angie "Pumps" Sullivan, the hosts of "I've Had It" podcast. Thank you so much. I'm very excited for you to be here. I'm not going to ask you about fibroids, but if you feel the need to talk about it, please just, you know, jump in anytime.

I do want to start, though, with that moment that we just heard, that was, of course, with Vice President Harris. It was in the spring. It was before she became the Democratic nominee for president. It was a pretty rare insight into how she thinks about the historic nature of her position.

She's usually careful not to engage about that because she wants to be seen as a person who was running to be president, never mind her gender or her ethnicity. What did you make of her response?

[12:45:20]

WELCH: I thought it was a great question that Angie asked her because I think that when Roe was overturned, the entire segment of females in this country, there was just this panic, this feeling of panic and lack of rights, lack of control. And she kind of inhaled -- the Vice President didn't exhaled and you could see it was heavy on her that she felt it more because she was a woman.

And so, as a woman who lives in a red state with a total abortion ban, that provided comfort for me because I wanted to know that she was carrying the weight of that on her back because we don't have voices in our state that represent us.

BASH: Angie?

SULLIVAN: I think that what struck me most about Vice President Harris was how thoughtful she is and how carefully she picks her words and how impressive it is to see a politician stay on point and be equal to the task on policy and personally. So I was blown away by how impressive she is.

BASH: So you mentioned this, Jennifer, that you are in Oklahoma. It's about as red as you get when you look at the political map. You are political outliers. It was pretty clear from your first answer there. I -- my questions first are, why did you decide to delve into politics in this podcast? And what can we learn as people who are not in a red state, or, you know, those of us who lives on -- live on the coasts about the way that this election is perceived with six weeks out?

I'll let either of you take that.

WELCH: We decided -- both Angie and I are diehard political junkies. And so when we started the podcast, it was broader, more like, I've had it with gender reveal parties, et cetera. But live in a red state and you have a total abortion ban, you have an unhinged superintendent of school that is mandating that the Ten Commandments be put up in classrooms. You see Project 2025 already become unraveled and unleashed in these states with no guardrails and no protections.

So everybody said, don't talk about politics, Jennifer and Angie. And we thought, you know what? We're tired of everybody telling us, women, what we can and cannot talk about. We've had it with that. So we started talking about politics and we're both very expressive and very opinionated. And it seemed to get the attention of some pretty big names, Kamala Harris and former President Obama.

And we don't regret it for a second because there is a lot of suffering in our state, and you see it. We're ranked 49th in education, and nobody seems to want to do anything about it. All they want to do is just spread MAGA grandiosity in the state, and it doesn't behoove its citizens.

BASH: Is there a backlash that you guys are experiencing, given where you live and what you say?

SULLIVAN: Interestingly enough, we don't get called out on the street or by people. What we do find is people come up to us like at Starbucks or restaurants and they're like, oh my gosh, thank you for saying what you're saying. We believe what you believe, but we just can't say it in public. But it wouldn't surprise anybody to know that Oklahoma City and Tulsa are not one of our bigger cities for listenership.

BASH: All right, that does not surprise me. Don't go anywhere because coming up, had it or hit it, that is the whole ball game of your fantastic podcast. And we're going to play after a quick break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:53:17]

BASH: We are back with the host of the podcast, "I've Had It," Jennifer Welch and Angie Pumps Sullivan. And we're going to play a game of had it or hit it. And first, I'm going to toss it to you to quickly explain to our viewers who are not initiated what the game is.

WELCH: OK. So we'll bring up an idea like gender reveals and I'll say, had it or hit it gender reveals. And if you don't like it, you will say, had it. And if you like it, you'll hit it.

BASH: OK, so I'm going to actually take the reins here, if that's OK with you. And I'm going to start with news anchors using Taylor Swift lyrics in stories about her endorsement. And I'm not going to get even more specific to say news anchors who host a program on CNN between 12:00 and 1:00 Eastern called Inside Politics, for example.

WELCH: I'm hitting it.

BASH: Oh yes?

SULLIVAN: I totally hit it.

WELCH: I'm hitting it. Yes, I'm going to hit it. Yes.

BASH: All right.

WELCH: I like it. I like it.

BASH: The word weird.

WELCH: Hit it.

SULLIVAN: Hit the word weird, particularly because it's getting under so much of the Republican ticket skin. They just can't stand it.

WELCH: Particularly orange skin.

BASH: OK. Social media posts in all caps.

WELCH: Had --

SULLIVAN: Had it.

WELCH: -- it. Up to my eyeballs, had it.

BASH: How come?

WELCH: It's, first of all, if you look at the time stamp on them, they're at 2:00 a. m. and then it caps lock. And I just think this is the ramblings of a very unstable individual. If your child did this, if your parent did this, you would intervene and assist them. And so, it really is troubling these caps lock 2:00 a.m. tweets.

[12:55:03]

BASH: OK, your turn.

WELCH: OK. Dana, had it or hit it, breaking news.

BASH: Oh, totally hit it. There's nothing like the rush or breaking news. It's what we Doshi, right?

WELCH: OK.

BASH: OK.

WELCH: I have a nuance of that.

BASH: OK.

WELCH: Don't you think there's a little bit of breaking news abuse?

BASH: Maybe sometimes, but we're working on it.

SULLIVAN: What our issue is, we watch 24 hours news cycle --

BASH: Right.

SULLIVAN: -- and so it'll be breaking news, and then six hours later, it's still the same breaking news. And I understand we've seen it for six hours, and there are new people, but it's kind of like, this was breaking news hours and hours ago.

BASH: Well, it's not fully broken yet. It's still in the process of breaking.

WELCH: That's a slow break.

BASH: It's slow --

WELCH: I do like --

BASH: -- motion break.

WELCH: All right. Last one, Dana, had it or hit it, government shutdowns.

BASH: Oh, totally had it. I mean, I covered the Hill for two decades. Done, had it. They need to get their act together on Capitol Hill.

Thank you so much. We're out of time. Really appreciate you both coming on. It was a pleasure.

WELCH: Thank you.

SULLIVAN: Thanks for having us.

BASH: And thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN New Central starts after a quick break.

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