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Inside Politics

Trump & Harris Hone Final Pitches Over Packed Weekend; Elon Musk Stumps For Trump & Bankrolls Ground Operation. Trump Ramps Up Anti-Transgender Rhetoric in Final Stretch; High-Stakes Michigan Race May Determine Senate Control; Trump Speaks with Netanyahu Ahead of Expected Counterattack. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 20, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:22]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): Closing time.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't stand you or your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) vice president.

RAJU: While Harris holds her attacks.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's becoming increasingly unstable and unhinged.

RAJU: As big names hit the trail, hoping to drive voters in the polls.

And Elon Musk's million dollar promise.

Plus, culture wars. That GOP's big bet on anti-trans attacks.

TRUMP: We will keep men out of women's sports. Who wants sex change operations for illegal aliens?

HARRIS: I will follow the law and it's a law that Donald Trump actually followed.

RAJU: And great stakes.

FORMER REP. MIKE ROGERS (R-MI), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: You're in Michigan. That's what we do here.

RAJU: New reporting on whether the control of the Senate could come down to Michigan.

REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: It's always been a hotbed and it continues to be hotbed.

RAJU: INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (on camera): Good morning. Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.

Just 16 days to go, and Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and their surrogates have been barnstorming the key battlegrounds and delivering starkly different closing arguments. As Harris ramps up her attacks, Trump at a rally last night outside Pittsburgh veered into uncharted waters, spending the first 12 minutes and 23 seconds of a profanity laced speech talking not about politics, but the late golfing legend Arnold Palmer, who hailed from the area and then referred to his genitals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Arnold Palmer was all man and I say that it all due respect to women. And I love women. When he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there. They said, oh my god, that's unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And we have reporters this morning with both candidates at this critical moment.

Let's start with Danny Freeman with the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania.

So, Danny, Trump's campaign's rallies have gotten more vulgar and really more unwieldy as we're getting to the final days here, what are you hearing from the campaign?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Manu, and it really was quite the event yesterday, in particular in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. That's in the western part of the state. As you noted at times, that event was rambling. There was that long anecdote about Arnold Palmer, then at times it was vulgar, specifically when describing Vice President Harris's time in the Biden ministration ends, including a profane calling response of sorts with the crowd.

Now, the former president did talk about things like inflation, immigration, and bringing jobs back to America. But as you noted in this lead at Manu, the focus still was incredibly scattered and the challenge at the challenging part about that for the campaign is that a senior Trump adviser tells us that this Pennsylvania swing really is supposed to mark the beginning of closing arguments.

So we'll see if the former president can stay on topic, stay on some of the issues that his campaign wants to be talking about in these next coming days, certainly weeks before election day.

Now, what were expecting to see today, Manu is the foreign president, is going to, in his words, work the French fry, essentially work the fry or to McDonald's back here in the commonwealth. He's also expected to go to Philadelphia, hold a roundtable with black folks in Philadelphia at a barbershop and then have a rally here in Lancaster, Pennsylvania later this afternoon -- Manu.

RAJU: All right. We will see what happens later today. Danny Freeman, thank you.

And meanwhile, Kamala Harris, who turned 60 today, is spending the weekend in Michigan and Georgia.

Eva McKend is in Stone Crabs, Georgia. Eva, have we seen any shift in Harris's tone in the final days?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Manu, I can tell you that the vice president has been intentional in terms of characterizing the former president as unfit and unhinged and that, of course, is a very different argument than if you agree with her on every policy matter. So, clearly, they are trying to create an opening here for voters who may similarly agree with her that some of the behavior that the former president is exhibiting illustrates, in their view that he should not return to the White House.

But also key to the strategy here in Georgia is appealing to Black voters. That is why she is going to address new birth missionary Baptist church today. We're expecting an animated surface as Pastor Jamal Bryant is just that, then she heads over to Jonesborough where Stevie Wonder will be at a Souls to the Polls event.

But listen, this is not an entirely performative exercise for the vice president. She grew up in the Black faith tradition, and now, she is leaning on these communities to help her turn out the vote here.

[08:05:04]

Manu, in Georgia more than a million people have already voted early.

RAJU: All right. Eva McKend, thank you for that report.

And let's break this all down with my panel, including CNN's Alayna Treene, Hans Nichols from "Axios", Leigh Ann Caldwell from 'The Washington Post", and Astead Herndon from "The New York Times".

Good morning to you all.

All right. So, first, we need to discuss this happened yesterday. Okay. So, Donald Trump, this is supposed to be the big closing argument that put out extra excerpts from the campaign and then it goes off on this 12 minute-plus story about Arnold Palmer, he starts talking about his manhood and just a sense of just some of the concerns that are out there from some of the Trump allies.

This is what David Urban, who's a CNN contributor, wrote to Trump, also a Trump adviser, told Michael Bender of "The New York Times" is, I don't think anyone is really changing their mind at this point, but when he distracts from his biggest broadest message, it is counterproductive because the Harris campaign uses it to turn out there for voters.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Look, Donald Trump's rhetoric actually in the last couple of weeks, I think has been notably more all over the place. It's been darker. He's been leaning in more into painting that really dark picture of America. He's been using more profanity.

Clearly, that speech last night, that little anecdote about Arnold Palmer was a little all over the place. He paused and let the crowd scream a curse word back on him. I mean, it was a lot.

Clearly, his base loves this stuff when I'm at these rallies, they go wild for these types of stories. All of that, but when it comes to whether its helping him or not -- look, I mean, at this point in the race and this is what I hear from my conversations with Donald Trump's advisers. He's not changing, he's leaning in to this part of himself.

I don't think that they are really trying to put them in a box anymore. I mean, I think, and we've been talking about this for months now that they were trying to get him to talk more about the economy, to focus on the issues, to lean away from some of his, you know, more all over the place rhetoric when it comes -- I mean, I don't really know how, right. I think I'm dancing around it.

(CROSSTALK)

TREENE: I keep -- I keep talking around the Arnold Palmer story. Anyway, I'll just say though, I think at this point, they've kind of given into letting Donald Trump given to his sometimes worst impulses.

RAJU: Yeah. I mean, but the question is yes, maybe this is Trump. You can write it off, et cetera. But then maybe it raises questions about his age.

And right at a time when people are focusing very closely, especially the voters who are just tuning or maybe those small number of undecided voters are people can be persuaded are listening to this kind of discussion and maybe put off.

HANS NICHOLS, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Yeah, maybe, I don't think Trump cares, right? I mean, this is -- he just, he just made his decision. He's going to be himself and his advisers have stopped trying to constrain him. So that's where were at this final sprint of the campaign is going to be about -- it's going to be maybe tactics on how both sides can rally up their base.

The strategy is over. Now they're just executing their game plan and they're -- they've given the ball of Donald Trump and he's going to run with it and that's the plan. And that's also me my last football metaphor for this, for this entire show, maybe the whole season, but give me time.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

RAJU: And just on Harris, how she has responded to this. This is what she said in Atlanta about Trump's tendency to say the least, go off script.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: He tends to go off script and ramble. And generally for the life of him cannot finish a thought, and he has called it the weave. But I think we here will call it nonsense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: I mean, this all comes as Harris is starting to have been a bit of an uptick and her campaign attacks. Hans' story actually from earlier this week, Harris tweak strategy to call out Trump as a threat. That is the headline of their "Axios" report.

But just -- our colleague, David Wright here at CNN, pulled the numbers on the ad campaign. The ad strategy, the type of attacks that are coming from the Harris campaign towards Donald Trump. We've seen an uptick in attacks against Donald Trump's character across the airwaves, 28 percent are about its character. Those are the negative ads compared to the overall picture sure of funding, that is up from 11 percent back in August.

So, clearly, there - maybe not enough to some Democrats want, maybe they want 80 percent of character, but at least that is the change in the please final days here.

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, WASHINGTON POST EARLY BRIEF CO-AUTHOR: Yeah, absolutely. There's been an evolution of Kamala Harris's campaign in large part because first she had to introduce herself to voters. She had to try to get people to understand and know who she is and what her policies are. And now in the final stretch, Democrats were saying, look, she needs to attack Donald Trump really hard.

And so she has shifted that campaign to do so, and that's why you talk about -- are you see her talking about Trump's, which he calls instability or unhinged.

[08:10:03]

But I will say that there are -- Trump's behavior in the last couple of weeks is also making a lot of Republicans quite nervous. Republicans want him to stay on message or just stay off the trail for the most part and do as little as possible so that he does not turn off some of those undecided voters and continue to propel Kamala Harris's base.

RAJU: In meantime, I mean, just take a step back about where this race is, despite all of this -- Trump is -- in the Harris, poll after poll, it just completely deadlocked. I mean, CNN has average the polling from all the battleground state polls have come out in recent days, pretty much every single one of down the line. There's no clear leader. Yeah, one maybe it by one or two points, usually that's well within the margin of error.

So this can really go either way and just to look at a sense of where these campaigns have been spending their time since July 21st, just so many -- so much time in the battleground states, including 10 for Harris in Pennsylvania, 12 for Trump in Pennsylvania as well. But if you're -- if we get this question all the time and you probably do, I do.

Who's going to win this race? We have no idea who's going to win this race. Look at the polling right there, but which campaign would you rather be sitting in right now, 16 days out from election day?

ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that's -- let me think about -- I mean, let me go weave myself --

(CROSSTALK)

RAJU: It's a tough question.

(LAUGHTER)

HERNDON: But I would say, I mean, we've reached a point of Zen with the polling here. It's not even helpful past our knowledge to this point. I mean, we all have this margin of error race than we know. It's coming down to this certain set of battleground states. I think folks are emotionally prepared themselves for any outcome, whether it's a Harris or Trump blowout, the Harris-Trump close win.

That's how kind of thinly balance this all is. But, but the Harris campaign has, I think a slightly more expected or easier task on this and they know that the kind of anti-Trump coalition comes out. They've seen it happened in state elections. They've seen it happen in the midterms, the kind of core base of who their messages tailored to the anti-Trump coalition, the Democratic base, the independent who have maybe soured over him over the last couple of years.

They are betting that that type of person is in the habit of voting and elections. Donald Trump is trying to turn more of those marginal, low-propensity voters into voters. He's trying to bring out a group of people if we -- even if we think about younger men, folks who haven't always consistently participated. So the task ahead of him as a little more difficult and I think that is what relates to this kind of age stability question for me.

If this was the Donald Trump before eight years ago, I think we're talking about a candidate who could seize on the desire for change in the air a little better than we've seen this candidate able to do. His rallies are increasing only meandering, they're increasingly weird.

I mean, they're increasingly just not I think the level of consistency in terms of message that, not only is advisors want to -- and not only I think -- even his own advisers want to see, right? And so, I think that is what is causing kind of a meta slightly answer your question with Harris to be honest with you, because I think the task ahead of the Trump campaign is one that requires a kind of movement and a candidate that can seize on it. Trump hasn't always been that consistently.

What I would say though, is the desire for change in the electorate is such that people have been projecting that feeling onto Trump, even if he hasn't making that argument himself.

RAJU: Just to look at, are there people who can change their mine, who are those people? Just -- if you -- there's a question from a have FOX news poll, 21 percent of independents could change their vote still. So, they're potentially, some universe of voters.

NICHOLS: Look, I pretend to be open-minded about a lot of things.

(LAUGHTER)

NICHOLS: And quietly effective, right? I mean, they got 21 percent is actually fairly like it's --

RAJU: You're skeptical. Color you skeptical.

NICHOLS: Yeah, it's like one of your kids asked you, like, is there a chance we can do this and you say maybe but you know what the real answer is, right? And that, that to me is those 21 percent.

But again, and I like, you know, the amount of saturation out there on the airwaves it's just -- it's impossible for me to believe that there is still undecided voters in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It's just -- it's just hard for me to accept that, but I'll accept that -- I'll be opened the fact that I could be wrong.

I guess the question is getting obviously turnout will talk about a little about that more, but will those -- maybe they're not undecided, but they're undecided about actually showing up and voting.

TREENE: No, absolutely. I do actually -- I kind of disagree to be honest, because when I'm on the road, there's a lot of people I think and not to put -- well, when I'm talking to voters on the ground, I think there are a lot of people who are undecided, a lot of people are still very unsure of Harris. Granted, I mainly go to Trump rallies, but I think there's a lot of people who really don't like Trump the man. I actually hear this from Donald Trump's team all the time, particularly when were talking about women voters, suburban women in particular, obviously a demographic that they're trying to aggressively court right now in this final few weeks.

But they say they don't like Trump the man, but they do think that they'll end up coming out for him for his policies, and I do think when it comes to a lot of -- with Harris, I think a lot of people are still unsure about whether or not she represents that change, or if she is not the change because she's been in the White House for the past couple of years.

[08:15:08]

So I don't know. I guess we'll see about this.

RAJU: Yeah, we'll see.

NICHOLS: Let me just correct, Alayna's right, I'm wrong, because she's done real reporting --

TREENE: Stop it, stop.

RAJU: That's right, that's right. Alayna's right. Maybe we all can agree on that.

All right. Coming up, as he stumps for Trump, Elon Musk pledges of a million dollars a day to Pennsylvania voters. Would it help and is it legal? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: Donald Trump's campaign is getting by with a little help from his friends, with very, very deep pockets. Elon Musk, in particular, the world's richest person, suddenly a regular presence on the trail and holding two Pennsylvania rallies for Trump last night, making a new financial play to voters who sign his petition to, quote, support the First and Second Amendments.

[08:20:14]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, BILLIONAIRE TECH EXECUTIVE: We are going to be awarding $1 million to -- randomly, to people who have signed -- signed the petition every day from now until the election. Tonight's person is John Prayer.

So, by the way, John had no idea now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Musk's new super PAC, America PAC, is responsible for funding a hefty percentage of Trump's ground operation, recently spending more than $100 million on his behalf and get this, Musk's money, along with the cash from two other billionaires, Miriam Adelson and Richard Uihlein, total roughly $220 million so far.

My panel is back to discuss.

You've been covering ground game operations on the ground with some of the organizers here. What impact is the Elon Musk having at this stage of the campaign?

HERNDON: Well, it's hard to know other than the kind of attention seeking aspect. We know that Musk has sought to make himself a main character of this election in a lot of different stages. I think he's succeeding now, turning is kind of a consistent praise for Trump, and kind of pivoted and for Trump online or to a real life one now, with this -- this attempt.

And we know this American PAC, it's funding a portion of the ground operation there soon because conflicting reports about how successful that's been. But its not as if even the, quote/unquote, ground operation is really where Trump is making his, kind of, I think biggest pitch because there's so much money in the air because his name recognition is so high I don't think there's going to be won or lost on the doors.

Like did spend last weekend with kind of Trump campaign volunteers in Georgia and they were making a place specifically for those lower propensity voters. They were targeting folks who had not come out four years ago and they thought would be more open to Trump and its given them more confidence in states that I think have a big pocket of those folks and I will the question I was asking is, why is someone more likely to vote for him now than they were in 2020, and the part -- and it goes back to what Alayna was saying earlier. They can see the idea that folks don't like him as a person.

I think the realities of the Biden administration, particularly on inflation, crime, and immigration, have made those people more motivated. And I think that is the core of what this ground operation is based on. They concede, we don't like Donald Trump from the start.

RAJU: Yeah, and just on Musk's promise to urge people to vote, to give them a million dollar pledge if they sign this petition, some people don't think that's legal, including one legal expert, Rick Hasen, news studies election law, saying that this is illegal according to him.

And just what is Musk been saying on the campaign trail? Lets take a listen from what he's been talking about in Pennsylvania in the last couple of days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUSK: The Democratic Party will not put hardened criminals in prison. And so, they roam free and they prey upon you, and your kids, and your family and your friends. As always, this question of like say, the Dominion voting machines at it is weird that the -- I think they're used in Philadelphia and in Maricopa County, but not in a lot of other places. And that seemed like a heck of a coincidence.

If we have four more years of this, I mean, we're going to meet fully Mad Max, you know? It's -- it's like -- it's nice to watch a Mad Max movie. But we don't want to be in the Mad Max movie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Okay, so peddling those bogus questions about election fraud, this is what Dominion said in response to him, said it does not serve Philadelphia County. It says that voting systems of Dominion are already based on voter verified paper ballots, despite what Elon Musk there and said talks about hand-count in audits of such paper ballots and repeatedly proven the Dominion voting machines provide -- produce accurate results. That's a statement from Dominion.

CALDWELL: So what Elon Musk said at that rally is reminiscent of what Elon Musk says on his social media platform X, on a daily basis where all the algorithms and ensure that everyone who opens the website sees Elon Musk peddling conspiracy theories about a whole sorts of things, including this election.

And so, you know, Astead, you're absolutely right that Elon Musk has tried to make himself central into this campaign, in so many ways, starting with Ron DeSantis being instrumental during the first interview with Ron DeSantis, announced his running for the -- for the Republican primary. And Elon Musk, who knows what sort of commitments Donald Trump has

made to Elon Musk should Donald Trump win?

RAJU: That's my question. What's in it for Musk?

NICHOLS: I don't know, right? Fame? Like he gets -- he gets to -- I mean, like trying to figure out side deals. Let me just say, I don't think he wants to be ambassador to Paris, right? That's probably not the side deal he wants, but donors always --

RAJU: I don't know if he'll get confirm.

[08:25:01]

NICHOLS: Yeah. Donors always have asks, like, that's like part of -- it's part of the American political system that donors have asked, and we rarely find out what they are, but he clearly, as you said, wants to be, you know, front and center and he seems to be enjoying himself.

TREENE: Well, he did also. Donald Trump has already said, and he has agreed to run that government efficiency program that Donald Trump said he will put Musk in his cabinet, all these things.

A couple of things though about this relationship because I'm fascinated by Donald Trump's session with Elon Musk, which it is like he talks in private about Elon Musk all the time. And I can tell you that Donald Trump also thinks that having someone like Elon Musk, who started SpaceX, who now runs X, or formerly Twitter, has Tesla -- like he thinks that that is one of the biggest compliments.

He said -- he tries to say at rallies, I was at that rally in Butler when Donald Trump had put them out on the trail for the first time and Elon Musk came out and spoke that, look this billionaire, this man who is so smart, is voting for me. Obviously, all of you should be, too.

So, that's where a lot of this is coming from. But when I talked to Donald Trump's campaign, they argue that having Musk out there is actually helping with what you were saying, Astead, which is trying to turn out these low propensity voters, people who are apolitical, they can doing these podcasts, and lauded some young man in particular that obviously there critical segment in this voting, in the cycle will determine the election.

And this all comes as Trump, of course, is trying to show that he is the every man he's going to McDonalds later date. He said work, the French fries. That's in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. That's Trump's quote. He's going to go to McDonald's to, quote, work the French fries. We'll see how that turns out.

All right, next, why are Trump and his allies spending tens of millions on something most voters say is not a top priority?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Transgender operations all over the place, with men playing in women sports. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:02]

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: Donald Trump has never shied away from leaning into cultural wars, but he's bringing it to a new level in the final stretch of his campaign most notably by ratcheting up his anti- transgender rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Transgender (INAUDIBLE) we're going to keep it the hell out of our school. They want transgender operations, change a man into a woman, and in some cases, a boy into a woman without parental consent.

And we will keep men out of women's sports.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you stop it? Do you go to the sports league? Do you go to the Olympics --

(CROSSTALKING)

TRUMP: You just ban it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Hew didn't exactly explain how he would just ban it. But just to get a sense on why this is significant, is the money. There's so much money on this issue right now. It's about a third of the $22 million, right now being spent in the final weeks and just the last two weeks of the campaign on this issue, really.

The first two weeks of October on this issue; more than crime, more than inflation, more than immigration.

Why?

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, "WASHINGTON POST" EARLY BRIEF CO-AUTHOR: So the Trump campaign believes that this is an extremely effective message for it animates the base. It could persuade -- it's also a persuadable message to suburban women, black men and Hispanic men. They say that it is a cultural issue and it's also code for Kamala Harris being too radical, too liberal.

They say that if she -- they say that it's so effective because it uses Kamala's own -- Harris' own words explaining the policy that people are really uncomfortable with about spending taxpayer dollars on transgender health care for inmates.

And so they say that it is effective for the base. Its effective for persuadable voters and it's something -- it's part of their closing argument, absolutely. RAJU: Yes. But it's also not one of the most important issues

according to the polls, according to voters, what they're telling pollsters ranked number 22 when asked about quote, extremely important issues influencing a vote. That is according to a Gallup poll.

And the Harris campaigns of course, quick to point out A "New York Times" story about Trump under the, under Trump, U.S. president offered gender, affirming care as well.

But nevertheless, what do you make about it.

ASTEAD HERNDON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "NEW YORK TIMES": Well, I think there's clearly a mismatch here and I think it's based in the kind of own Republican belief that this does have more of an effectiveness than maybe some public polling suggests.

We should note that Republicans have tried this before. This was the closing argument in the 2022 midterms, and we didn't see it really rise to the level to create the type of coalitions they've been projecting.

But I do think it adds up to a larger argument that you do hear consistently from Republicans. That's a bow kind of a change of traditional roles in culture whether it relates back to the messages they have about masculinity and gender or sexuality, men and women sports.

I was at North Carolina Trump office yesterday in the western part of the state and just the long crime and immigration signs, they have keep men out of women's sports.

I mean, they have had this front and center because to the point they do think it cuts across a lot of different groups. I just would say I think that's probably where the public polling misses here. Because maybe it's not that people are motivated by this individually but I do think that there is a larger kind of question of where are these like larger societal issues added?

And that's something -- that's based in the kind of Trump nostalgia message. It's saying that a return back to a traditionalism is important on the gender and front sexuality and then achieves this downstream.

[08:34:46]

RAJU: And the question is how should Harris respond here? She really has not responded to this other than asking him a question at that Fox News interview last week.

But this is how one Democrat in a swing state. Sherrod Brown responded to similar attacks that he is facing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Biological men? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What if I told you all of this was a lie? A complete lie and Bernie Moreno noted the truth is in Ohio, this has already been banned.

Sherrod brown agrees with Governor DeWine these decisions should be made by local sports leagues not politicians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Should Harris be taking a similar stand?

HANS NICHOLS, AXIOS POLITICAL REPORTER: I don't -- I don't know. What you do see as you've seen it with Brown, you've seen with Colin Allred the Democratic candidate in Texas. You are seeing Democratic candidates affirmatively trying to go to the cameras or make the point that this -- charge against them is either unfair or not entirely accurate.

And I again, I think I said when I don't know whether or not it's going to be an effective campaign strategy. It wasn't terribly effective in 2022, in the past it hasn't.

What I do know is that every Republican strategist you talk to is convinced it's going to be an effective strategy. And you look at the ubiquity of these ads across all Senate races, and they think they have a winner here.

I don't know if they do, but they clearly think so.

RAJU: But Harris ignoring it. What kind of impact does Harris ignoring these attacks essentially -- what kind of impact will that have?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: It could -- I mean, I do think this is a huge -- I actually do think it's a huge issue. There's a reason Donald Trump it says it in every single rally. And I do think particularly when I talk to Trump's campaign about it, you're totally right, Leigh Ann, I hear the same things.

But especially about the children in schools. That's the thing that they are really seizing on that kids, mothers, obviously, I said before a very core demographic they're going after. They think that's very effective with them that people are actually going to be turned out by that issue because they're afraid about what's happening in schools with their children.

RAJU: All right. In 16 days, we'll see if they're right.

Coming up for us, a group linked to Elon Musk, now is trying to stoke the Democrat's Israel divide in Michigan. Of course, that's a state that could determine the White House, House and the Senate.

I hit the trail with the two candidates locked in a hugely consequential Senate.

[08:36:56]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: The suburbs of Detroit are getting a lot of attention. Not only could they decide the president, but also the House and the Senate.

So I visited the bellwether counties in Michigan this past week to dig into the bitter battle between Democrat Elissa Slotkin and Republican Mike Rogers for the state's open Senate seat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: It was less than four years ago when Republican Mike Rogers said this about Donald Trump.

MIKE ROGERS, FORMER REPRESENTATIVE (R-MI): I think yesterday broke the spell that so many people had about Donald Trump. Clearly, his actions led to that -- you know, what we've -- there's no great way to describe what happened yesterday -- sedition.

RAJU: That was right after the January 6 attack. Rogers said of the outgoing president --

ROGERS: Well, you're damn right, you had responsibility for this.

RAJU: But now the former congressman is in a battle against Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin for a prized Senate seat in Michigan that could determine control of the chamber.

ROGERS: How many are fired up for another four years of Donald Trump.

RAJU: And as Trump maintains his tight grip over the GOP the two have developed a deep alliance as Rogers' fate appears tied to the former president in one of the nation's most important battleground.

You is even said that he was clearly responsible for the acts of January 6 do you stand by any of those --

ROGERS: Well, I didn't say he was clearly responsible, but here's the thing.

RAJU: But do you stand by your criticism that you had after --

(CROSSTALKING)

ROGERS: Even Donald Trump said I was tough, but fair. I'll take that all day long.

All my criticism is out there and I'm not walking away from anything. What I am telling you is now we have choices.

RAJU: I guess the criticism you'd get is that you evolved on Trump for political expediency to align yourself because you need to win this state.

ROGERS: I think that's nonsense. Look at the issues. I wouldn't line up with Kamala Harris on anything.

RAJU: Rogers is now trying to tie Vice President Kamala Harris to Slotkin.

ROGERS: She voted 100 percent with the Biden-Harris agenda.

RAJU: Michigan is Ground Zero in the fight for control of the House and Senate as Slotkin and Rogers are in a dead heat.

And in McComb County, the birthplace of conservative Reagan Democrats, Slotkin is trying to make inroads.

REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Its always been a hotbed and it continues to be a hot bed.

RAJU: But has the message just been not connecting with those voters.

SLOTKIN: I think it's on us to reach out and to earn people's votes and I think, you know, Democrats passed a lot of really important legislation.

But we also got to get that message out. And we haven't always been great at that. That's on us.

RAJU: On the airwaves Slotkin attacking Rogers over abortion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm scared that mike rogers will continue to take away my rights.

RAJU: But it's Slotkin who has been on the defensive. An outside group linked to Mitch McConnell, dropping a staggering $27 million in the final six weeks alone with GOP groups spending $96 million on the airwaves outpacing Democrats $88 million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Slotkin voted to allow states to ban gasoline- powered vehicles that would crush Michigan's economy.

RAJU: As she fields (ph) relentless criticism for her vote to allow state limits on gas-powered vehicles, she's had to cut ads like this.

SLOTKIN: I live on a dirt road nowhere near a charging station. So I don't own an electric car.

[08:44:42]

RAJU: Another challenge, the war in Gaza that has frayed the Democratic coalition as an Arab-American groups now urging the states sizable Arab population to not support the GOP or Democratic candidates for president and Senate all over Israel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slotkin has a history where we're judging people by their history in here. And what am I going to take a chance by voting for someone, put him in office and then regretting later.

RAJU: And now a GOP group is seeking to dampen Democratic support by targeting Arab Americans with ads touting Harris' and Slotkin's support for Israel.

But even as Slotkin has backed the Biden-Harris agenda and campaigned with the VP --

SLOTKIN: When the vice president comes, you go --

RAJU: She has tried to show some separation.

Slotkin: Some of the proposals that are coming out, I want to look at them. I'm not immediately saying rah-rah, I'm on board. But the truth is, I can have those conversations with Kamala Harris when we disagree. Mike Rogers can't disagree with Donald Trump.

RAJU: As Trump was in Detroit earlier this month, he leveled this insult.

TRUMP: Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president.

RAJU: Were you ok with what he said?

ROGERS: You know what? This is just -- I spent a lot of time in Detroit and here's what the people of Detroit have been telling me.

I mean they are frustrated that they are not making improvements $38,000 in median wage in Detroit, $68,000 out state.

RAJU: He said that the rest of the country would look like Detroit.

ROGERS: NO, what he was talking about is there a schools that are failing and the Democrats every year keep saying, I'm going to help you. And their schools have deteriorated.

RAJU: Slotkin says, it's part of a pattern.

SLOTKIN: Everyone who used to be thoughtful and independent just either has to get with Trump and (INAUDIBLE) and do anything he says, or they can't be in politics. And it's sad to see. It's like watching the last buffalo die. It is sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: All right. My panel is back.

If you could just see the evolution of him deciding to tie himself to Donald Trump here, real full coattails strategy, you see that with Republican candidates across the country.

But Michigan is such a complicated state because Democrats have their own problems as well.

CALDWELL: Absolutely. And Elissa Slotkin and other Democrats have been sounding the alarm on the problems that Democrats have in Michigan for months.

Of course, this predates when Kamala Harris was the nominee, but they've had a lot of -- it's been difficult for them to make up where they were so low recently. And Elissa Slotkin in our interview with you essentially said that, saying we've sometimes not done a good job getting out that message. And so it's clear to me that those challenges still exist.

NICHOLS: The one person who is trying to create separation on the Senate side is Larry Hogan. So you have Larry Hogan and Maryland who is kind of clearly separating himself from Trump and you have Mike Rogers who doesn't want any daylight.

And we will know on November 6, which one is successful.

RAJU: Yes. It's the purple state strategy saying they're going to tie themselves to Trump and they may be successful, but maybe they both lose. Maybe they go both when they split ticket voting.

So much uncertainty. In 16 days, we shall know soon.

All right. Coming up, an Israeli counter attack on Iran, could very well happen before election day. Kaitlan Collins joins us next.

[08:47:52]

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RAJU: As the world braces for Israel to retaliate against Iran for its attack earlier this month, President Biden has urged restraint. (INAUDIBLE) went to the White House, called a direct call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week.

The former president Donald Trump meanwhile said at a rally yesterday that he had also spoken to Netanyahu who of course is also known by his nickname Bibi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Bibi, called me today and he said it's incredible what's happened. They said, it's pretty incredible. But he wouldn't listen to Biden because if he did, they wouldn't be in this position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: For more my colleague Kaitlan Collins joins me live from Tel Aviv. Kaitlan, what has the response been from the Israeli government to Trump's comments.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Manu obviously this was a notable comment from Donald Trump.

We know that he had been in contact with Netanyahu. He called him after the death of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. They had not connected. But clearly they have now spoken, given what Trump related at that rally last night.

And since Trump was saying that the United States president and the prime minister told me is not listening to the U.S. president. I asked Netanyahu's office for their version of this call. They didn't

dispute what Trumps said, but instead, in a statement an Israeli spokesperson said in his conversation with former U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated what he has also said publicly that Israel takes into account the issues the U.S. administration raises. But in the end will make its decisions based on its national interests.

It seems to essentially confirm what Donald Trump was saying at that rally last night that Bibi told him. But the reason that this is so notable here, Manu is because we are in the middle of waiting to see how Israel is going to respond to that attack by Iran on Israel from October 1st, something that could happen any day now

And we know that president Biden has urged Israel to act with restraint, not to go after Iran's nuclear facilities, not to hit its oil facilities for fear that that could escalate this situation, this war, even further than what will were already this thing, right now.

And so of course, seeing this response that we are waiting on from Israel, it's a big question of what they're taking into account from the U.S. there.

RAJU: And speaking of that plan for retaliation, Kaitlan, CNN has learned that the U.S. is investigating a leak of those highly classified U.S. intelligence about those plans.

What is the impact having -- the leak is having about Israel's plans to retaliate.

COLLINS: It remains to be seen if it changes or curtails what Israel plans to do here at all, Manu.

[08:54:49]

COLLINS: Obviously, U.S. officials were stunned when these documents that started showing up on a Telegram channel.

These are highly sensitive, highly classified documents, where essentially the U.S. is looking to see what Israel is preparing to do, how it's going to respond to that Iran attack.

They have a very high interest in what Israel is planning to do. But the fact that this information got out there while, you know, U.S. officials that we've spoken with have said they don't believe the extent of what was revealed, the information is all that damaging.

The fact that it got out there is damaging and they are worried about that if further information could get out there.

They'd clearly been keeping an eye on what Israel plans to do. I should note that Israeli officials I've spoken with in the hours since this came out, our border line between amused and irritated that this information is getting out there right now, it doesn't seem that it's going to alter their plans at all. But it remains to be seen what Israel is going to do here, Manu. RAJU: Yes. Stunning leak with uncertain implications. Kaitlan Collins, live from Tel Aviv. Thank you for that.

And that's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. Thanks for watching.

You can follow me on X @mkraju, follow the show at Inside Politics and if you ever miss an episode. Of course, catch-up wherever you get your podcast, just search for "INSIDE POLITICS":

Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Jake's guests include House Speaker Mike Johnson, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

And thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us, will see you next time.

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