Battleground Beat
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It's Thursday, October 24th, right now on CNN This Morning. Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist? Yes, I do. Loud and clear, Kamala Harris denouncing Donald Trump in the final days of the 2024 race. Plus... They were the joyful campaign. And my friends, the joy is gone. The Trump ticket calling out Harris for going heavy in the last days of this high-stakes race. Also...

What weaknesses do you bring to the table and how do you plan to overcome them while you're in office? That's a great question. A simple question, often a tough interview question at the CNN Town Hall. Harris' answer, not so much. And our battleground beat, we look at two vital blue wall states with Michigan Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee and Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis.

All right, coming up on 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, a live look at New York City on this Thursday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. With just 12 days left to win votes, Kamala Harris's closing strategy is coming into sharp focus. Voters who might not be comfortable with her, she's arguing, should know that Donald Trump would be worse.

You could see it clearly all day yesterday. She was supposed to be largely off the trail preparing for a CNN town hall. But instead, Harris abruptly called reporters to her Washington, D.C. residence yesterday afternoon to make this argument. Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable. So the bottom line is this. We know what Donald Trump wants. He wants unchecked power.

The question in 13 days will be what do the American people want? And last night during her town hall with Pennsylvania voters and our Anderson Cooper, she was much quicker than she has been in the past in saying this about her opponent. Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And I and I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted.

Over and over again last night, Harris made the argument that Trump is unfit to serve, pointing to reports that have come out in these final two weeks that Trump once said, quote, I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. Trump, of course, denies he said that. I believe that Donald Trump is dangerous. I believe that when you have a president of the United States who has said to his generals,

who work for him because he is commander in chief. These conversations, I assume many of them took place in the Oval Office. And if the president of the United States, the commander in chief, is saying to his generals, in essence, why can't you be more like Hitler's generals, Anderson? Come on. This is a serious, serious issue.

This was woven throughout her answers on a wide variety of topics. For example, asked by a voter what specific actions she would take to bridge the political divide and create more unity, she said this. I believe the American people deserve better, and they deserve a president who is focused on solutions, not sitting in the Oval Office plotting their revenge and retribution.

And this morning we're learning that Harris plans to make a major speech closing out her campaign next week at the Ellipse in front of the White House. It's a symbolic location as it's where Donald Trump spoke to his supporters on January 6th, 2021. And again, most people would stand there at nine o'clock in the evening and say, I want to thank you very much. And they go off to some other life. But I said, something's wrong here. Something's really wrong. Can't have happened. And we fight.

We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. And fight they did. A reminder of what Donald Trump said there as we head into another season where someone will need to concede that they lost.

the presidential race. All right, joining us now to talk about all this, Elliott Williams, CNN legal analyst, Isaac Dever, CNN senior reporter, Karen Finney, CNN political commentator, former Hillary Clinton campaign spokesperson, and Mark Lauder, former special assistant to President Trump. Welcome to all of you. Thanks very much for being here.

Isaac, you cover the Harris campaign day in and day out. This is a clear shift in strategy from what we saw over the summer to these final closing days. Why do they think this is the message that they should close with, and is it working? Well, Luke, this is what the last two weeks are going to be focused on a lot, is a combination of saying,

We know that the country doesn't seem like it's going in the right direction, but Donald Trump would be worse and would make it worse. And that to say she would do things to make it better, trying to get to those voters who are really concerned about where America is. Of course, Joe Biden is the president. She has been vice president for the last three and a half years. But making the case that there is a plan to get it to something different on the economy, on on

how immigration is working on all these things. And that as she was trying to say there, that Donald Trump would just be focused on seeking vengeance on his enemies. And I think importantly, a big piece of this is to say Donald Trump's term in office that we had would not be like what would come again for Trump is how they're trying to say this.

Yeah, Karen Finney, there's a new poll out from the Wall Street Journal this morning. Obviously, national polling, so we're focused on the battleground states. We're also getting early voting numbers. However, this is what the numbers are now nationally, 45 for Harris, 47. If you look up in the top left corner, it says October. If we can pop up what this looked like in August, you'll see it was reversed in August.

47 for Harris, 45 for Trump. I think possibly the more relevant number as we head into these final days is the favorability that Harris has, right? So in August, her fave on fave was 49-49. It was dead even. That has moved against her to now 53% unfavorable to 45% favorable. And of course, the campaign is not making decisions in advance.

They've changed this message as they have honestly picked up on some of these numbers before we've seen them in the public polling. Do you think they're doing the right thing? Why do you think these numbers are sliding for her? Well, first of all, very skeptical of all public polling because Hillary would be in her second term right now if polls were true. And there would have been a red wave in 2022. So I'm just going to process. There's a reason I'm focused on the fave number. I understand. But even...

But even that. And the way these polls are moving, that's the thing that I am most interested in. Yeah, I'm still not sure that they're picking up everything. That being said, look, there is a point at which in all campaigns you make a decision that the candidate themselves has to be the one to deliver the negative message, knowing that that's going to make their negatives go up. And you make a decision based on how far are you willing to go before you want to pull that back.

I will say I was in Pennsylvania knocking on doors on Sunday actually, and one of the thing, couple things came through loud and clear. You can tell what kind of money is being spent on what kind of messaging. This couple of people who, this was a relatively conservative area, independent Republican leaning and some Democratic voters,

And the people who were undecided, who had voted for Trump previously, one woman literally said, "My husband and I talked about how concerned we are that he's so angry and he's so focused on revenge, and I'm worried he doesn't care about us."

I'm worried he doesn't care about me. He's going to be so focused on that. Well, they've gotten the Harris message, right? I mean, that's the message they've been trying to send. But this woman, you know, she has cancer. Her health care is a big deal, her Social Security. I mean, she had a whole list of concerns that she said, I don't hear him talking about. And she actually, so yes, she was hearing both sides. But it was interesting that that message is

coming through and he's not been able, that Trump, we talk about this, to articulate his own message very effectively, 'cause he goes off on tangents and talks about Arnold Palmer. Mark. - Well, I think it's clear where we've got 12 days to go.

Trump's closing message is going to be Kamala broke it. I will fix it again. And Kamala's closing message is Trump. Hate Trump. Hate Trump. Hate Trump. I don't know. She's not saying hate Trump. She is pointing to reports that... She's calling to a fascist. They're obviously comparing him to Hitler. She's in pretty good company. She's in pretty good company.

He's the one who brought up Hitler. He didn't bring up Hitler. You've got one person out there, and I've got hundreds that are going to say that didn't happen. I was in the White House. I never heard him say anything along those lines. Neither did Mark Esper, who's no Trump fan. So I get it. This is their closing message. Okay, you take that over with General Kelly. I'll take the 200 military retired generals and admirals who do support us as opposed to the word of one. Okay.

I think it is worth noting that John Kelly, who has devoted his life to service to the country, he lost a child in service of the country, and he was in the room for a considerable amount of time in the Trump administration. Elliot, I want to ask you, we did hear from a number of undecided people who were in this town hall audience, and some of the things that they said about what they heard were pretty interesting. Let's play, this is, I believe, Tanisha Spell. She was in the audience. Let's watch.

For a very long time, she didn't stoop to his level. And as of late last couple of weeks, I've really started to see, like you said, this schoolyard bullying. And I think that's beneath her. She doesn't need to do that. She can run on her policy. She can run on her position. You don't need to stoop to his level. Some really interesting texture there. You know, it's interesting, though, in picking up on the question that you asked both Isaac and Karen, you

I'm surprised that the campaign stayed on vibes and hot brat summer and all of that as long as they did, given how stark the contrast is between the two candidates. And given that a thread running under what I think the Harris campaign's message was all along is that, which is that you cannot allow Donald Trump to be elected again because of the danger he poses. They were clear about that. They felt that and have said it all along.

I'm not surprised that they've now sort of gone there and quote unquote stooped to his level. It's, you know, it's turning on its head this idea that came from Obama of when they go low, we go high. And I think it's when they go low, we're going to match their energy. And I, you know, now maybe it doesn't land with every voter. It clearly didn't land with Ms. Tanisha there, but hard to say how it plays with everybody. Well, I mean, we've seen the 2016 Republican primary was an example where when some of the candidates tried to do the things that Donald Trump was able to get away with, it just doesn't

work for them. But obviously, we are seeing-- I think it's very clear that we are seeing a certain strategy from Harris. And now we're going to get a test.

as to whether or not it's going to work. Okay, still ahead here on CNN This Morning, Battleground, Michigan. The Wolverine state flipped red and blue over the past two elections. We're going to talk to Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee about where the race stands here in the final days. Plus, after making joy a key part of the early days of her campaign, J.D. Vance, Republican vice presidential nominee, questioning where Kamala Harris's joy has gone. And third-party candidates could play spoiler in a race where the polling is so close.

What do you say to voters who are thinking about supporting a third-party candidate or staying on the couch, not voting at all because of this issue? Listen, I am not going to deny the strong feelings that people have.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. It's October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer does not run in my family, and yet here I am with stage three breast cancer. That's anchor and senior national correspondent Sarah Seidner. She revealed her diagnosis on air to the world this past January. It is hard to say out loud. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep. Like Jill Stein. Stein isn't sorry about swinging the 2016 election to Trump. And now she's being helped by MAGA allies and Trump's former lawyer. Longtime Klan leader David Duke endorsed her. And like Trump, she's cozying up to Vladimir Putin. Jill Stein. Look at her friends. Because a vote for Stein is a vote for Trump.

A new ad from Harris' campaign in the Democratic National Committee targeting third-party candidate Jill Stein. It is the second ad this month going after the Green Party candidate. They're both airing in three battleground states, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The latest CNN polling averages show both Harris and Donald Trump are in a basically tied race in at least two of those states. In Michigan, CNN's poll of polls shows no clear leader, Harris, at 45%.

At 49, Trump at 46. No clear leader in Wisconsin either. Harris, 49, Trump at 46. With such narrow margins, every vote counts, obviously. These new Democratic ads suggest that they're concerned about Stein potentially becoming a spoiler. Last night at CNN's town hall, Harris was asked about voters who are considering supporting a third-party candidate, specifically because of the U.S.'s role in supporting Israel in its ongoing war in Gaza.

What do you say to voters who are thinking about supporting a third-party candidate or staying on the couch, not voting at all because of this issue? Listen, I am not going to deny the strong feelings that people have. I don't know that anyone who has seen the images

who would not have strong feelings about what has happened. They also care about our democracy and not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.

All right. Karen Finney, there's a lot of scar tissue around third party candidates in the Democratic Party. And because a lot of I know that you focus a lot on the role they played in Hillary Clinton losing the 2016 election. What is the danger here from Jill Stein?

The danger is that when we're in these elections where things are won on the margins, which are 11,000 votes here, 15,000 votes there, it could matter. It really could make a difference. And particularly in a state like Michigan, that is going to be very tight. And people who say, some of the folks who voted for after the fact in 2016 said, well, I wanted to send a message.

And you know, you sort of think, okay, but what message do you think you really sent here? And then they were disappointed when they thought, when Trump won, 'cause they thought they were sending a message and Hillary was gonna win anyway. That's not how it works. - Well, that was part of the problem that everybody thought Hillary was gonna win. - To put a finer point on it, in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin in 2016, Jill Stein,

earned one, got more votes than Hillary Clinton's margin. You cannot say that a third party candidate does not matter. That's a choice for people to make, sort of where they want their vote to, what they want their vote to mean, but literally count up the votes in those three states, which are all pivotal ones this year.

I mean, my big question is, will voters think there was an effect in 2016? They felt, many of them who were on the left felt, well, it doesn't matter. I don't need to vote for her. She's going to win. I'm not sure that the feeling is the same this time. But in Michigan, you have Gaza as an issue that you did not in 2016, where there's even more energy around all of that. Yeah. All right. Straight ahead here on CNN This Morning.

Democrats and Republicans pouring millions of dollars into battleground Pennsylvania. The state's lieutenant governor joins us live. Plus, Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee is here to discuss how the Arab-American vote could impact the outcome in his home state of Michigan. All right, welcome back. So in this election season, we shouldn't forget the communities in the southeast United States are still picking up the pieces after two hurricanes ravaged the region in just two weeks.

And as temperatures rise across the globe from climate change, the number of extreme natural disasters is also increasing. Our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek Van Dam, is here. Derek, good morning to you. Yeah, you said it perfectly there. So what we used to consider extreme weather is now actually the new normal, and it's going to continue this way until we create a new normal.

curb these heat trapping greenhouse gases. Now in last night's town hall, there was this void on the topic of climate and the environment, but there was this one moment.

Finally, on fracking, you said you're clear you would not ban it as president. No, I would not ban it as president. You're clear on that. Do you think it is bad for the environment, though? I think that we have proven that we can invest in a clean energy economy. We can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. We can work on sustaining what we need to do to protect this beautiful earth of ours and not ban fracking.

Mitigating greenhouse gases, that is the key. And I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. If we don't, it is extremely expensive. Take last year, for example, we had a record number of billion-dollar-plus disasters. And if we go towards this year, we're still rewriting the history books here, but we have this data that we've already accumulated over $15 billion from the disasters we've had. But this is only valid through August. Remember September and October?

Yeah, Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton. So those numbers are going to drastically rise. Look at the previous decades as well. 2010 to 2019, nearly a trillion dollars from these natural disasters. 2017 sticks out in my mind. I was in Houston for Hurricane Harvey. That was an incredible rain event that caused so much catastrophic flooding. And the reason is, is because of this heat that's baked into our atmosphere. Remember, when we warm our planet,

We also warm the oceans and so that allows for more water vapor in the atmosphere and that allows for more frequent and more intense rainfall events like Harvey, just like Milton, remember the flash flooding that happened? And also with our warming oceans, we see this rapid intensification occurring more frequently as well. There's been an uptick just in the past decades

of these hurricanes going from tropical storm to major category five, just like Milton did a couple of weeks ago. And no state across the US, Casey, is sheltered from these billion dollar disasters. It happens everywhere. Climate change is happening now.

Yeah, another reminder last night, both the lack of discussion about this and also the way in which it's talked about shows you how the dynamics of our political system make it so ill-equipped to deal with this problem that you've just laid out. Derek Van Dam for us this morning. Derek, so grateful to have you. Thank you.

All right, still coming up after the break, Donald Trump says he's worried about swing states cheating. A look at how he's sowing doubt ahead of the election in our Battleground Beat. Plus, is the joy gone from Kamala Harris's campaign? How her messaging has evolved in the final weeks of the race. Let's get things done. And let's not be afraid of having a little joy. They were the joyful campaign. And my friends, the joy is gone. USA! USA! USA!

That was Donald Trump this past weekend soaking up USA chants from that Pittsburgh Steelers crowd during his latest trip to the pivotal swing state of Pennsylvania, where GOP advertisers set to outspend Democrats in the last two weeks of the race. Pennsylvania also happens to be where Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020 by some 80,000 votes.

prompting his allies to challenge the results there. Even though the Supreme Court ultimately rejected those disputes, Trump is once again trying to sow doubt about the results in battleground states. Out of the seven battleground states, what worries you the most? Cheating. Which one, though? Which state? All of them. I mean, they cheat. All of them. All right, joining us now from Pittsburgh, the Democratic lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, Austin Davis. Lieutenant governor, thank you very much for being with us this morning.

Thanks for having me this morning, Casey. It's great to be with you. I'd like to start by talking about the systems in Pennsylvania. You obviously heard Donald Trump trying to sow some doubt there. And we also know that if this night

If election night unfolds the way polls suggest that it could, we're going to be looking to Pennsylvania to decide the electoral college overnight on Tuesday into Wednesday. Are you confident? And what have you done? What have you put in place to give confidence to Pennsylvania's voters that their votes are going to be counted fairly?

Yeah, I am confident that the election here in Pennsylvania will be free and fair as the election in 2020 was free and fair. The reality is Donald Trump is delusional and he's a loser, quite frankly, and he can't accept that fact. I'm confident that county boards of elections across Pennsylvania are going to follow the law, are going to make sure every eligible vote is counted, make sure everyone has access.

And so we know this is going to be a close election. We know that Republicans in Harrisburg have refused to update the election code to allow us to count mail-in ballots earlier. So it will take some time to get a final result. But I'm confident that the volunteers and the Board of Elections across Pennsylvania are going to do their jobs well. And Pennsylvania's voices will be heard in this election.

It's clear that something's moving in the electorate in Pennsylvania here in the final weeks. We've seen, in particular, the Senate race between Bob Casey and Dave McCormack tighten in a way that I think a lot of long time. I'm from the Philadelphia area originally, knowing what the Casey family's name has meant. In some ways, that's a red flag that might wave a little faster than a similar trend in another state. I'm curious what you're picking up on the ground here.

when you talk to your constituents about why this is happening and whether you think there is a way that this race might be breaking for Republicans here late in the game.

Yeah. You know, we have always said from the beginning that, uh, I knew that Pennsylvania was going to be close. Uh, that's exemplified by the fact that Joe Biden earlier in the show, you talked about one Pennsylvania by less than a half a percentage point, 80,000 votes in 2020. Uh, and we know this election is going to be equally as close. Uh,

we know that, uh, Americans are, are deeply divided, uh, between the two party system, but I'm confident in the ground game that Kamala Harris and Bob Casey have built here in Pennsylvania. Uh, they're competing in counties that Democrats haven't traditionally competed in and places like Lancaster and Cumberland County and Beaver County, uh, because they're running a 67 county strategy and not taking any vote for granted. So, uh,

as i believe this election will be closed uh it will come down to a few uh to a few uh thousand votes at the end of the day uh but i believe ultimately kamala harris and bob casey are going to be victorious here in pennsylvania because they have the ground game they have the vision to move america forward uh and republicans quite frankly haven't put forward a vision uh and they've

wanted to really roll back our basic fundamental rights and freedoms. And I think Pennsylvanians are going to stand up for real freedom on Election Day. All right. Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Davis. Sir, thanks very much for being here. I appreciate your time. Thanks for having me.

All right. With the election less than two weeks away, is the vice president's message of joy fading for voters? It was, of course, a huge part of introducing her running mate in Philadelphia back in August. And it's something she did touch on in last night's town hall. I believe the American people deserve a president who's saying, look, let's just be practical. Let's get things done. And let's not be afraid of having a little joy.

to the point of, you know, what gives you— what makes you feel good about your work. Let's do it in a way that is grounded in optimism. I think people are exhausted with the idea that we're just going to be divided and angry instead of working on the problems and working together. So one voter at last night's town hall disagrees with how the vice president has been running her campaign in the closing weeks. Watch.

For a very long time, she didn't stoop to his level. And as of late last couple of weeks, I've really started to see, like you said, this schoolyard bullying. And I think that's beneath her. She doesn't need to do that. She can run on her policies. She can run on her position. You don't need to stoop to his level. Now her opponents trying to reclaim joy on the campaign trail. The first month of their campaign was that they were the joyful campaign.

And my friends, the joy is gone. The joy is gone. She was kind of scolding people. She was scolding people for thinking that Donald Trump is funny. She really was. She was like, how can you dare have a sense of humor about American politics? It's one of the things I love about my running mate is he does have a sense of humor. You can fix the country, but have a good time.

All right, our panel is back. Look, Isaac, there's no question that, I don't know if I'd go so far to say the joy is gone, but it has been, it has evolved into a strategy that, you know, as we've outlined, is really focused on why Kamala Harris thinks that voters should be afraid of a Donald Trump second term.

But I am interested to know what you think about what J.D. Vance said there. And because, I mean, look, that is something there's there's a gender component to saying she's scolding people for sure. There is this question of a sense of humor and being able to laugh at things that has permeated a lot of the conversations the country's been having, especially people on the left who feel like Donald Trump is not a laughing matter and get upset when people laugh about him.

I was in Papillion, Nebraska on Saturday for a Tim Walz rally that felt pretty joyous, quite honestly. If you look at it, Harris is headed to Atlanta tonight. She'll appear with Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen. I don't think that's going to have a funereal effect.

I have to say, when Springsteen played for Hillary Clinton in 16, he played a ballad, and it was, in fact, the vibes were not so joyous. I was there, and I remember that quite well. I don't think that's what we're going to get tonight. And so, look, there are a lot of things going on at once in this campaign. Harris is trying to appeal to all sets of voters. It sort of depends on which sliver of what you're seeing you see. And so, yeah, she's making a pretty...

harsh argument against Trump and saying he's a fascist last night at the town hall. She's also talking about other things. So it's a lot happening. - It's also worth noting that when the Harris campaign was in joy summer, a lot of the criticism from the Trump campaign was that they were too giddy and too joyous. Jason Miller, maybe even on this program, an aide to the campaign, referred to Tim Walz as effeminate because he was dancing at a rally. So it's just, this is sort of politics.

they're always going to find a mission. I think that another thing going on here is we can focus on the Harris campaign. Last night, Tucker Carlson was at a rally with Donald Trump and he said his vision of the Trump presidency that he laid out was that the kids have been misbehaving and daddy's coming home and his words were, and he's pissed

and he is going to take a young girl and beat her and spank her. This is what he said and said that Trump, his vision that he laid out was that Trump is gonna say, "I'm not gonna lie to you. "This isn't gonna hurt me as much as it's gonna hurt you. "It's gonna hurt you a lot more." And then when Trump took the stage, the crowd was cheering "Dad's Home" or "Donald Daddy."

he's talking about the enemy within. I mean, I think it's a little bit hard for J.D. Vance to be saying that they're running anything other than a really hardline campaign talking about

hurting America and hurting Americans. Well, let's see if we can track down that soundbite and play it. And the other thing I also wanted to, we were talking earlier about part of why this has shifted in these final weeks is because we are, we have learned a little bit more about what Donald Trump said when he was president. And Mark, you brought up Mark Esper, who served briefly before he was fired by Donald Trump as the Secretary of Defense. He's now a CNN contributor. He was actually asked about it on our air. Let's watch what he said.

Chief of Staff Kelly also said that he believed that Donald Trump fell under the definition of a fascist. Do you also consider Donald Trump to be a fascist? You know, John Kelly did something, and he looked it up in a dictionary. And if you look it up, I think everybody should. Ask yourself, does he fall into those categories? And it's hard to say that he doesn't when you kind of look at those terms.

But, you know, he certainly has those inclinations, and I think it's something we should be wary about. So, to be clear, Mark, Esper does say that Donald Trump has fascist inclinations.

Are you confident of that? And Kamala is a socialist. I mean, this is what we do in politics. And, I mean, we've been calling the left socialists since the days of Reagan. There's a difference there, though, right? Because it's people who worked for Donald Trump saying that he's a fascist. And there is a litany. And I've got 200 retired military generals and admirals who support Donald Trump. But socialist is something that...

Trump and Republicans have called Kamala Harris. Nobody who has worked for Kamala Harris calls her socialist. People who were in Donald Trump's cabinet, in his Oval Office, say he is a fascist.

They say he, the Kelly thing, you wanna say he's lying? I think a lot of people feel like John Kelly is not a liar, said that Trump was saying he wishes he had generals who were more like Hitler's generals. This isn't just to wipe away. And I think that what, it's important-- - I get it, you want it to be something more because you have nothing more to run on. You have to run against Trump and it's not-- - I'm a reporter, I'm not running on anything. I do think though that what is happening here is there are a lot of reasons to vote for or against Donald Trump, for or against Kamala Harris.

But what is definitely true is that if you are saying you're voting for Donald Trump, you're saying, I've heard all those comments about him being a fascist from people who work for him, and I don't care about it enough to change my vote. Right?

Well, what I'm saying is that I was in the White House in 2017. I was on the campaign in 16. I was on the campaign in 20. I know of many people who were in the White House who don't say those things, who didn't hear them. But you weren't the White House chief of staff. We appreciate your perspective. I understand. John Kelly was the chief of staff, and he also has this incredibly distinguished record of service. And I'm not questioning General Kelly's career and his service to our country and his loss. Well, you're questioning his integrity.

You wait until two weeks before an election. This is now four and a half, five years since you were chief of staff. Because Donald Trump came out and said that the military possibly should be involved in dealing with American citizens on election day. I mean, that's why John Kelly came out now. And you've heard many people that have said that we know that we're talking about the National Guard. They are brought out to deal with unrest. It's been done for decades. There's nothing new for that. No, but that's not the only reference that he made to utilizing the military. There is a distinction between the National Guard and the United States military.

a very significant distinction. The legal, there is an

Yes. Obviously, people in our National Guard are service members. I am not taking away from their service. But the rules about whether or not they are allowed to operate on American soil are very different from the active duty United States military. Well, whether Nancy Pelosi is an enemy within, which is another thing that Donald Trump said, right? And that's a political opponent of his that he has now referred to as an enemy within. Adam Schiff, who I get, Donald Trump doesn't like. But an enemy within is a different thing. It's rich. I mean, it's just really...

It's hard to wrap your head around it when it's like so you think that you

that we are an enemy within, but then you spend years comparing them, calling the man Hitler, comparing him to Hitler, saying the evil MAGA Republicans, extreme MAGA Republicans. - I did not hear Kamala Harris calling Donald Trump Hitler. I have never heard her say that. - I'm quite frank. - I haven't heard any Democrat say that. - And I just think what I find perplexing about all this and the sort of the defenses, how much is too much when it comes to the comments? How many comments can one explain away? The dictator comment, which supporters

- On day one, dealing with the border. We know that, take it out of context. - I get it, they say it's a joke. They say it's a joke, but he still said it. - Even if it's a joke or even if it's limited to the border or whatever else, he used the word dictator in the United States to refer to himself and that is itself alarming. Now, how many of those are we willing to just sort of brush aside and say, well, there's another explanation for it. Now, whether you get to the point of calling somebody a fascist and, you know,

Esper's point was an interesting one. When you run down the definition of someone who, whether it's a centralized military or a national estate or whatever else, okay, he can use whatever terms he wants. But there's a long record of statements from the former president that ought to be quite concerning. One more thought and then we're going to break. Well, the New York Times had a piece that unfortunately we aren't talking about because there's so much other news this week. But they really went through the ways in which

Donald Trump wants to consolidate power. Because to me, when we're talking about fascism and we're talking about utilizing the military, part of what concerns me is about the way he views his leadership and the use and abuse of power to enact whatever he wants with no guardrails. And that, I think, is- But you literally had Kamala last night talking about packing the Supreme Court, ditching the filibuster, and they are the defenders of democracy. I mean, come on.

- She's going to get court reform, but-- - But just, again-- - If she's gonna do that, she's gonna need the government to support her. She's going to need elected officials to go along-- - Yeah, she's not talking about firing people who don't agree with her. - Filibuster is an internal rule of the Senate. We're not talking about, and I'm not here calling for filibuster reform or anything like that,

There's a big difference between the use of the term dictator and altering the rules that the Senate is free to pick on its own. It's its own internal- There is a big difference between process and the use of force. Yes. Okay? I'm just going to leave it there. Coming up here on CNN This Morning, Battleground Michigan in the spotlight. We're going to talk to Congressman Dan Kildee on the impact of Arab American voters in his state. Plus, sometimes the simplest questions are the hardest. Have you ever tried to answer this one in a job interview? Sure.

What weaknesses do you bring to the table and how do you plan to overcome them while you're in office? That's a great question, Joe. Well, I am certainly not perfect, so let's start there.

Just look where we're at right now and look where we were before the current administration took office. We definitely need a commander in chief to come in and stop the wars. I can tell you a lot of people are actually swaying to voting for Trump because they really don't like what's going on.

that was bill bousey the first arab american mayor of michigan's dearborn heights speaking on a trump campaign press call this week to express his support for the former president like many of his fellow arab americans in michigan the war in the middle east looms large over their decision at the ballot box with some appearing to view trump as the solution as polling continues to show a tight race in the key battleground state kamala harris's challenge

is to not only dissuade this crucial group of voters from supporting Trump, but also convincing them to get out to the polls on or before November 5th in the first place. How many are hesitant, having a hard time voting for Harris because of these policies? That's just about everybody. Interesting. Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee of Michigan. Congressman, wonderful to see you. Thanks so much for being back on the program. I'd like to start with your reaction to those voters and what they said to John King.

Well, I understand the position they hold. And in fact, my own personal position is probably more closely aligned with them on the policy than the current administration. I've shared that with President Biden. He's aware that I share some of the concerns. But here's the issue.

There's a big difference between where Donald Trump stands on these issues and where Kamala Harris would. And I understand that people may disagree with her, may disagree with the prosecution of this war. But Donald Trump, for goodness sake, is not the answer. Not the man who would double down on what Prime Minister Netanyahu was doing, would tell him to finish the job without regard to the consequence.

and the same president who at one point in time called for a ban on any Muslims coming into this country. So elections are a choice.

And the path before us, whether you are in agreement with this administration on the prosecution of the war in Gaza or not, the choice is one that is far more dire for peace-loving people in any part of the world, particularly the Middle East. The choice of Donald Trump is far more dire than the possibility of change that we see with Kamala Harris. And that's a tough message, but that's the reality.

Congressman, does Kamala Harris need to spend more time in Michigan in these last two weeks? Is she at risk of losing the state? Well, I think this is a toss-up state, and nobody can take it for granted. Certainly Kamala Harris hasn't been here regularly. We expect her back very soon. Of course, we invite her to be here any time, but it makes a difference to show up, and she has been doing that, and I think that will ultimately put us in a position to win this. But nobody should be...

should be comfortable that we have this thing under control. It's going to be a toss-up race in Michigan, and we could very well be the determining state. So, you know, anytime. We need Tim Walz, we need Kamala Harris, we've had Barack Obama, we've got Michelle Obama coming in, we've got a lot of folks that are making it clear that Michigan is a priority.

Congressman, in the final days of a campaign, you obviously hear sometimes the most pitched version of a candidate's closing argument, both from them and also from their surrogates. And there was a moment on the campaign trail yesterday where Tucker Carlson introduced former President Donald Trump. And he did it this way. I want to show it to you and then ask you about it on the other side.

There has to be a point at which dad comes home. Dad comes home and he's pissed. When dad gets home, you know what he says? You've been a bad girl. You've been a bad little girl and you're getting a vigorous spanking right now. When Donald Trump did take the stage, there were chants of daddy's home. Sir, your reaction to these comments?

This is the Republican Party of 2024. It's creepy. It's scary and people ought to pay attention to the things that they're saying in the imagery that they're projecting, whether it's that kind of scary and weird introduction that Tucker Carlson just did or the notion that people are eating cats and dogs in Ohio or Donald Trump's obsession with all things Arnold Palmer. This is a weird party.

They've gone off the rails and people better pay attention. Sir, if you do feel that way, why do you think the race is so close? Well, I think Donald Trump knows that in the short term, scaring people, frightening people, demonizing his opponents gets some people amped up. And he has this base of supporters that I will never be able to completely psychoanalyze.

who believe anything he says, even if it's absolutely ridiculous, even if it contradicts their interests. This is a cult. It's a scary one. And people who are thoughtful, who are somehow thinking that they want to pursue whatever policies they think Donald Trump will pursue, have to accept the fact that coming with that is a person who has fascist tendencies and who is just plain weird, strange, scary, all of the above.

All right. Congressman Dan Kildee, thanks very much for the time today. I really appreciate it. Keep us posted on your home state. All right. Thank you. You referenced this moment, so we played it there for Dan Kildee. Mark Glatter, are you comfortable with

that introduction? I didn't see the context of it, so I'm not sure what all, in the larger, what he was referring to. It's an interesting, it's probably not the intro I would have used, but...

I need to see context. What context would you need to see? Well, I mean, if I had to, and again, I did not see the whole thing. I just saw that clip. If he's talking about, which I know Tucker often talks about, reigning in the bureaucracy. No, that's not what he was talking about. I didn't see it. Okay, so what he was saying is that America is...

like a bunch of kids that have been misbehaving and that the mother couldn't get them under control. As he says there, daddy comes home and daddy's pissed. And that the mother says, go to your room and that the father comes up and then spanks the girl until it hurts her. Now I do think though, it's Tucker Carlson, whatever, okay, you want to say that.

It was ahead of Trump at a rally. Then Donald Trump came out, right? They were cheering what you said about that. And this is at a moment when we have all these people talking about how he likes to be an authoritarian, is maybe a fascist, is a fascist. And Donald Trump himself keeps talking about how much he admires Viktor Orban, who is an authoritarian. And by the way, he's also running against a woman. Yes, and can we also remember that

Several hundred women who have been victims of sexual assault did an ad in The New York Times this week to point out that someone who has been found criminally liable for the same should not be president. I mean, the dynamics here in terms of saying a woman and male and just even the gender dynamics we're talking about in this.

in this election, we gotta bring it back together. And just that kind of language is so disturbing. - To answer your question, Casey, the election is close because that still resonates with a lot of people, no matter how problematic some of the languages. We talked a lot on the program yesterday about how men are at issue, black men.

the manosphere, this kind of stuff. It's also close because people can't afford the groceries, gas, and the borders open. Not saying that that's not important, but the gender gap, I suppose, was on incredibly stark display with that Tucker Carlson moment. Thanks to all of you for being here today. Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

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