Israel's Attacks, Helen's Aftermath, VPs' Debate
49:10 Share

Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. And one thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home. Because with every fix, update, and renovation, it becomes a little more your own. So you need all your jobs done well. For nearly 30 years, Angie has helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. From

From plumbing to electrical, roof repair to deck upgrades. So leave it to the pros who will get your jobs done well. Hire high-quality certified pros at Angie.com. From all over the world, people turn to Cleveland Clinic for our expertise and our compassionate care. As leaders in heart, neurology, and cancer, the future of specialty care is happening right now at Cleveland Clinic.

For every life-saving treatment. For every next step. For every care in the world. Cleveland Clinic. It's Monday, September 30th, 2024, and right now on CNN This Morning. War in the Middle East. More airstrikes in Lebanon's capital city. Days after the assassination of Hezbollah's leader. Plus, Helene's destruction. Hundreds reported missing and millions without power as communities across six southeastern states are left devastated.

And I got to tell you, I can't wait to debate the guy. For 90 minutes, Governor Walz and I are going to debate the issues that matter to the American people. One day away, how Tim Walz and J.D. Vance are readying for tomorrow night's vice presidential debate. And... Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. Personal attacks. Donald Trump doubling down on insults, leaving some GOP allies urging him to stay on message.

6 a.m. here in Washington, and here's a live look at the Capitol. Good morning, everyone. I'm Manu Raju, in for Casey Hunt. It's so great to be with you. Now,

Now, just days after taking out the leader of Hezbollah, Israel strikes more targets in Lebanon. And earlier this morning, an airstrike hitting the center of Beirut for the first time in nearly a year. The Lebanese government blaming Israel. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment. Now, Hezbollah vowing to keep fighting, still firing missiles into northern Israel, where more than 60,000 residents have been forced to evacuate.

This morning, a Hezbollah official saying that the group will appoint a new leader as soon as possible. President Biden wary of a wider regional war breaking out, saying that this must be avoided at all costs. It has to be. We really have to avoid it. We've already taken precautions relative to our embassies and personnel who want to leave. But we're not there yet. But we're working like hell with the French and many others.

Now, with five weeks to go before the election, Israel's war with Hezbollah also becoming a focus of pointed debate in Washington, with some Republicans urging Israel to, quote, go for the kill. Now is not the time for a ceasefire or to de-escalate as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want. Hezbollah is on its knees. The United States should help Israel drive Hezbollah to the mat and choke it out and finish it off once and for all.

all right let's bring in david from staff writer with the atlantic cnn senior political analyst mark preston megan hayes former biden white house director of message planning and scott jennings former special assistant to george w bush thank you guys all for being here this early morning megan since you worked at the white house i'm going to start with you about how president biden navigates this moment he's calling for a ceasefire but he's not on the same page with nanyahu on this

How is he going to deal with this? I think that they're looking to deescalate through diplomatic channels, obviously. I think, you know, they are walking a fine line here. Also, the vice president has to walk a fine line here. She has to support the president while still running. So I think

They are going to continue their diplomatic efforts, but we're going to be having the same conversation in 20 years probably because there needs to be stability, but I just don't know that we're going to find it before the election. Yeah, I think we'll be having the same conversation if we try to stop Israel from finishing the job here. I totally agree with Tom Cotton. I mean, Netanyahu is doing something extraordinary. He's wiping out all the worst people in the world.

systematically they're taking it to these terrorists who have done terrible terrible things to Israel, Israelis and American citizens by the way for a very long period of time and I think the US government ought to rhetorically

be as supportive as we can possibly be and not try to slow walk this the way we did Ukraine in the beginning. We won't give them the long-term missiles they want now, too. It's like we're constantly pulling back on our allies who were trying to defeat the people who hate our way of life and hate Western civilization. I don't understand it. But what's the risk in the U.S. getting deeper involved in this conflict?

conflict? Well, I mean, obviously the risk is that we're going to see that war come over here to the streets of the United States. We're going to see Hezbollah trying to operate here in the U.S. Look, I agree with Scott that Israel has to do what it has to do to protect itself. But to not think that there's got to be some kind of two state solution at some point means that we're going to be fighting this forever. And I would say this. And honestly, I do agree with Scott on

A few things. But anyway. You're cooked now, Preston. Well, I would say this is kind of like reading Rainbow this morning. If you look around, everyone grabbed a newspaper, you know, except for me. No, but Scott, I would say this. You are wiping out people and you are killing their leadership. You can't wipe out an ideology, though. And I think that's where the U.S. and Israel has got to figure out how to walk that fine line. Overnight, Hamas confirmed that Israel killed the head of Hamas in Lebanon.

That man's day job was he was principal of a UN school and head of the UN teachers union. Now, in a very short time, to this point the UN had completely denied this man's involvement in Hamas, but Hamas itself confirmed it. In a very little while, American taxpayers are going to be asked to pay billions and billions of dollars to reconstruct Gaza. And that money is going to flow through the same UN that has been an employment agency for Hamas, a front group for Hamas,

And one of the questions as we look forward, one of the questions whoever is going to be the next president, is what guarantees are you going to give Americans when they are asked to rebuild Gaza from the war Hamas started, that you're not simply paying the UN to employ Hamas people in the future?

Speaking, because this is during, obviously, a consequential presidential campaign, which is, of course, five weeks away. What is Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza? Has he laid it out yet? Has he specified that? I don't know what his plan is to end the war there. My hope is that his plan is to do everything we can do to support Israel and what they're doing right now, wiping out systematically all these people who are committing terrorism, have committed terrorism against the United States.

and not constantly be pulling on our enemies, trying to pull them down. I just fundamentally... This two-state solution idea, I mean, it's what Biden says. How do you have two states when one of the states wants the other state to cease to exist, to wipe them off the map, to murder them? I don't understand how you have people living side by side in this sort of, you know, fantasy where one side lays down its ideology that the other side cannot exist. And so I just...

I think the plan ought to be let the Israelis do what they need to do to be secure. Let them kill the terrorists who, by the way, have done fundamentally terrible things to people in the United States and American citizens. And as he just said, fundamentally, uh,

kind of rigged the international system in their favor in a way that has allowed all kinds of money to flow to people who do very, very bad things. Does Harris need to speak out more? I mean, she didn't make a statement over the weekend over the killing of the Hezbollah leader, but does she need to do more to speak out, respond to some of these Republican comments about wiping away Hezbollah? I don't know what more she can respond, right? I don't know what we're not doing to be supportive of Israel. There is one, we held back a couple,

one shipment of munitions. So I'm not sure what you're saying that the U.S. isn't doing to be supportive. So I'm just, I'm not sure what more she can be saying. It's also, she's the vice president, so the president's making the decision. So I just,

I feel like she's in a little bit of a hard bind here, but I don't think her support of Israel has been unwavering. She has made that very clear. She continues to make that clear. So I'm not, what more are we looking for her to say here? All right, okay. We'll see if they decide to weigh in more as the campaign continues to unfold. And up ahead on CNN this morning, the latest on recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene in the wake of the storm's devastation and destruction across the Southeast.

Plus, GOP allies urging Donald Trump to stick to the issues. Heard of that before? After he repeats more personal insults aimed at the vice president. And ahead of tomorrow night's vice presidential debate, Kamala Harris is challenging her opponent to another debate of their own. Listen, also, their debate should not be the last word. I'm trying to debate Donald Trump again, and I think he should debate again.

From all over the world, people turn to Cleveland Clinic for our expertise and our compassionate care. As leaders in heart, neurology, and cancer, the future of specialty care is happening right now at Cleveland Clinic. For every life-saving treatment, for every next step, for every care in the world, Cleveland Clinic.

Grief isn't talked about much, but that's what my podcast is all about. I had the best possible version of a goodbye with my mother. This is All There Is, Season 3, with my guest, actor Andrew Garfield. In 2019, Andrew's mom, Lynn Garfield, died after a struggle with pancreatic cancer. Without the ending that I had, I'm not sure if I'd be able to eloquently talk about it, to be honest. Listen to All There Is with Anderson Cooper wherever you get your podcasts.

At least 95 people are dead following Hurricane Helene's deadly path through the southeast. Western North Carolina is dealing with catastrophic and historic damage, where at least 30 people were killed when record flooding overwhelmed areas in and around Asheville.

Now, officials say they also have reports of hundreds of people unaccounted for there, but they hope those numbers will go down as communications knocked out by the storm slowly get back online. Now, more than 200 people have been rescued from floodwaters across North Carolina, with teams from 19 states coming in to assist. But North Carolina is just beginning to tackle what will be a long road to recovery.

This is a devastating catastrophe of historic proportions. People that I talked to in Western North Carolina say they have never seen anything like this. This is just truly unprecedented in the devastation that we have seen here. The good thing is that we are prepared for disasters. We have 24 shelters that are up now providing assistance to people.

The biggest issue we're finding now is getting the food and the water to people because we're having to do so much of that by air. CNN's Maribel Gonzalez is in Asheville, North Carolina, the site of all that devastation. So Maribel, what are you seeing?

Good morning, Mano. That's exactly correct. This is a dire situation here in Asheville. It's eerily quiet except for the sound of those bulldozers working through the debris trying to clear out those streets. Now people here are thousands are without power but they're also without water, internet, electricity including right here where we're standing. Roads remain closed hundreds of them. This one right behind me as well

where we're standing just days ago was covered in water and you can see this by just looking down at the ground all of the debris was pushed over by the street onto the hill where we're now standing and of course this is yet to be over this is just starting as you mentioned this is now a also a public health emergency as we know people have been now for several days without uh water and that also means you know they cannot clean their their their areas

The trash is not being taken out. We know the food in their fridge is now beginning to rot. So people are in desperate need. We know that here also in Asheville, so many people evacuated their homes, three shelters open here in the area. One of which we're now learning this morning is completely full. So the need is definitely there. We know federal aid is coming in, but as we mentioned earlier, the biggest challenge is trying to access those homes.

You mentioned those power and those internet cell phone outages. Over the weekend, we know there were at least 600 reports and counting of people calling desperately trying to find their missing loved ones. But authorities are saying, please remain calm because when those internet

and cell phone services are restored. That's hopefully when you can begin to be in touch with your loved ones. We also know that across several states there's been millions of power outages. Here in North Carolina alone, 450,000 people remain without power. So the situation is a desperate one, but we can hear it in the very early morning hours

There are emergency crews out right now at this hour trying to get to those folks, trying to clear out those hundreds of road closures to hopefully not only get people out, but also get emergency supplies in. Yeah, as the governor said, a tragedy of historic proportions. Just unbelievable pictures that are on your screen. Maribel Gonzalez, thank you for that live report from on the ground in Asheville.

And coming up on CNN this morning, an airstrike in the heart of Beirut. When more than one million people in Lebanon now displaced following waves of Israeli airstrikes. Plus, the running mates are set to take the stage just one day away from the VP debate. We'll discuss how both camps are readying themselves for debate night. And I got to tell you, I can't wait to debate the guy.

That is if he's willing to get off the couch and show up. I'd love to have a second debate. We've actually offered Tim Walz a second debate, and they've totally rejected it. But look, I actually think that you should have to earn this job.

All right, expect some fireworks tomorrow night when VP candidates Tim Walz and J.D. Vance face off in their first and only debate just over a month before Election Day. And now with new polling showing a tightening race in the key battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin, both tickets are looking for any opportunity to edge ahead.

Wall is preparing with mock debate sessions with his team in northern Michigan in fighting off nerves. That's according to our reporting from our colleague CNN's Isaac Dover. Vance also engaging in intense prep sessions, but he downplayed them in recent rallies.

You get out there, you talk to people, you talk about the issues that matter. We don't need to prepare for a debate with Tim Walz. All right, my panel is back. So David, you write in The Atlantic, you say, the headline is, J.D. Vance's thin skin makes him vulnerable. Why?

Look, a presidential or vice presidential debate is not like a spelling bee. You're not asked to name all the 50 state capitals. What it is, it's a contest where each tries to reveal the inner character of the other. That's what Vice President Harris successfully did to Donald Trump. She put the mirror up to him and showed America what is inside this man, and it's horrible.

And so that is the tactic that each of them are going to try to do. And with Vance, you've got someone, I mean, I've known him for a long time, you've got someone who's very brittle, you've got someone whose public persona is a fake. That's the reason he keeps attacking Tim Walls as a phony. Tim Walls, whatever you think of Tim Walls, he is what he is. But Vance is a phony.

And that is the, I mean, he's someone who, when that is exposed, becomes very petulant, very peevish, very angry, and very controlling. And that's going to be the task at this debate is can Walt successfully hold the mirror up, keep it there, and let America see what his choice is. Will Vance take the bait the way Trump did? I think it'll be a much different kind of debate. And...

I agree with you about Walls actually. He is what he is and he is probably the person who is most in over their head in American politics right now. There's a reason they don't let him talk to the press. There's a reason he doesn't have any extended interactions where he's answering complicated questions like what he should face.

at this debate. And so I think there's a lot of pressure on him here, honestly, to prove that he is up to this. Now, being up to the job of vice president, it's a lower bar for most people who will be watching it. And I don't expect this to move numbers or, you know, to have a huge impact on the flow of the water in this race. But I think Vance is far more schooled at the issues at the core of this campaign than Walls is. And he has an opportunity to show that Walls was a fundamentally weak pick by Harris

And I think that would be his goal for Tuesday night. -Let's show viewers about what they have debated and what they look like in the past and their past debates. Walz and Vance. -I'm proud of Minnesota's response. I'm proud of Minnesota's first responders who were out there, from firefighters to police to the National Guard to citizens that were out there. -You heard it here. Governor Walz just told you, "I am proud of Minnesota's response," referring to the riots in May and June of 2020. -Wow.

In Youngstown, on the stage, Donald Trump said to J.D. Vance, all you do is kiss my ass to get my support. He said that. That's bad. I'm not going to take lectures on dignity and self-respect from a guy caught on video kissing up to Chuck Schumer and begging him for a promotion to his next job.

I mean, is it just setting low expectations when the walls, people close to walls are saying, well, he's not a good debater, he's nervous about it, or is there a concern that he's not a good debater? I mean, I think he's owned that he was not a good debater. But I also think that that's what we do, right? Everyone's setting the expectation low, this doesn't matter, it's not going to move the numbers, which is true. But a lot of this campaign cycle has been dictated by some comments that J.D. Vance has made in the past. And so I think, you know, this could drive a new cycle for a couple of years.

couple of days just like his childless cat lady comments and he keeps doubling down so they where I don't think it matters to move numbers I do think that they have the opportunity to drive from a new cycle and I with 35 or 37 days left I just I don't think that's a good place for them to be so I think if they can stick to the issues and we can move on I think that they will do no harm and do no harm is really the ultimate goal here it is the ultimate goal and look I do think Walls is probably nervous uh

I do think that J.D. Vance is not nervous and is pretty confident. Whether or not he does what David says he does or predicts what he does, we'll see what happens tomorrow night. But I do think that he is the most to lose. No, the rule is do harm and do it on the other guy. The clip that people need to see is the moment where it was in Detroit and the local Fox News affiliate gave J.D. Vance a total softball question.

What makes you smile? And as that reporter revealed, he was a friendly reporter. He was looking for a soft angle. And Vance suddenly turned angry, called the man names, and then emitted this kind of

self-congratulatory laugh afterwards. And you think, that is a troubled soul. And that's the thing what America has to see is the oldest president ever, the man who would be the oldest president ever, has a 40-year-old vice president, and there's something wrong with him. All right, we'll see how voters ultimately react. Do they agree with you or disagree with you? We shall see. All right, still to come on CNN This Morning, strikes in Lebanon overnight as tensions...

in the region reach a boiling point. CNN's Ben Wiedemann is live from Beirut. Plus, Donald Trump's latest attacks against Kamala Harris get personal again despite warnings from his political allies. This week on The Assignment with me, Adi Kornish.

We can make more housing. Like, it's not alchemy. Sonia Trouse and her organization, Yimby Law, sued a town in Ventura County in Southern California, not far from where we're sitting down for this interview. We don't have to just accept limits and fight with people. The language of that movement has spread to the presidential campaigns. Listen to The Assignment with me, Audie Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast app.

Earlier this morning, airstrikes hitting the Lebanese capital. It's the first time Beirut has been hit since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in the region nearly a year ago. Israel's military has not yet claimed responsibility, but CNN has reached out for comment.

This just the latest in a series of escalations in the region over the past several days. Over the weekend, Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. And this morning, a Hezbollah official vowed the group would choose a new leader as soon as possible. And overnight, the Israel military continued its airstrikes against Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon.

The command structure has been nearly decimated. Thousands of missiles and drones destroyed by Israel over the last few days. There's no question that the Hezbollah today is not the Hezbollah that it was even just a week ago. Now, a U.S. official tells CNN that the Biden administration suspects that Iran is preparing to retaliate as working with Israel on defenses. CNN's Ben Wiedemann is live on the scene of one of the morning strikes in Beirut. So, Ben, tell us what you're seeing on the ground.

We're in an area, Manu, that is not normally under the control of Hezbollah. But last night at 1 o'clock in the morning, I'll just step out of the way, there was a very targeted airstrike on that, the fifth floor of this building.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, four people were killed. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has said that three of their members were killed in that strike. Now, it's interesting that the PFLP has not been particularly active in recent years, and it appears that

perhaps Israel is simply slowly, slowly eliminating its enemies beyond Hezbollah, beyond those factions who've been firing into Israel. And in fact, this building behind me, it looks like it's structurally unstable. We see one of the columns sticking out. Now, in the meantime, at midday local time, just about an hour and a half ago, Naeem Qasim, who's one of the senior deputies of

Hassan Nasrallah came out and gave a recorded speech, we believe, just about 25 minutes long. He did say that regarding Hezbollah, we did not collapse. We are only, we're going on despite the pain and sacrifices. He said that Hezbollah will continue to confront Israel and support the Palestinians and Gaza and Israel.

Lebanese people. So the message seems to be from Hezbollah that despite these repeated body blows, the elimination of almost the entire military hierarchy, senior hierarchy within the organization, they are, at least they say they're going to continue. Now above me right now, we hear a

a very low-flying Israeli drone. This has become sort of the background sound to Beirut, particularly the southern suburbs where, of course, Hezbollah has a very strong presence. Meanwhile, we heard, Manu, from the Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati that they estimate now that there are one million people in Lebanon who have had

to flee their homes. That's just a little less than 20 percent of the entire population of this country. Ben Wiedemann on the ground in a dangerous moment in Beirut. Ben, stay safe. Thank you for bringing us that reporting.

And now to continue this conversation, I want to bring in former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, Joel Rubin. Joel, thank you so much for coming in this morning. Those are some incredible pictures that we just saw on the ground there. What is Israel's end goal here? As they try to, the U.S. is trying to push to ceasefire. You heard President Biden over the weekend. What is Israel trying to accomplish?

Yeah, look, this was without a doubt the most stunning Israeli military success since the Six-Day War. Quite frankly, it flipped the narrative in the Middle East. And what we've seen now is Israel on the offense. But there are a lot of lessons learned from the Six-Day War, one of which is that Israel did not secure diplomatic gains immediately after. And I think that's

What the big question is, is what is the diplomatic strategy to complement these military successes? How is Israel going to leverage this for stability in the north, an agreement potentially with the Lebanese government to provide that stability? What's it going to do to obtain a ceasefire in Gaza to get the hostages back? That's not clear. So right now what we're seeing is essentially a military first and only strategy. And that's the big yellow light right now. Strong military action?

Effective, good, but there needs to be a way to lock in those gains. Yeah, and there's obviously real concern about Iran and this retaliatory strike. What does that look like and what are the implications if that happens? Well, I think right now Iran's on its back heels. I think that there were many analysts for many years looking at this saying that could be the big one, Israel versus Iran, and that would blow up the region. And certainly that is a concern.

But Iran has to be taking stock right now of what the risks are to it if it were to engage militarily. Not only does it have an Israel which clearly sees freedom of action and has decimated the northern hedge that Iran placed in southern Lebanon,

But Iran also has to stare down the barrel of American military power in the seas, in the Persian Gulf and in the Mediterranean, saying, if you do attack Israel, we will respond on their behalf. And I think for Iran, they have to really recalibrate whether it's worth it. And just very quickly, is it possible, as some Republicans are calling for, to simply decimate, wipe out Hezbollah, don't stop till they're gone? Yeah.

Hezbollah has been entrenched for 40 years. There is a way to decimate its leadership capacity, as is being done right now, and to try to undermine its military network of rockets. But that is a hard, fanciful idea to measure and ensure that it does

does so without creating a devastating situation in Lebanon. And that would be destabilizing for the entire region. - Yeah, no question. So much to us here. Thank you so much, Joel, for coming in and bringing your expertise. We really appreciate it.

And straight ahead on CNN This Morning, we're just one day away from the one and only VP debate. J.D. Vance and Tim Walz meeting in New York tomorrow. I'll speak with a longtime political advisor, Mark McKinnon, about what they each need to accomplish. Plus, stay on message, what some GOP allies are urging the former president to do in light of his latest insults on Kamala Harris.

And here's what I would tell President Trump. When people look at the state of play, they trust you on the economy, the border, inflation and foreign policy by wide margins. Focus on those. Kamala is mentally impaired. Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. If you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country.

In a speech this weekend that was otherwise centered on immigration, Donald Trump veered off into personal attacks against his opponent, Kamala Harris. He first called her, quote, mentally impaired during an event in Wisconsin on Friday, and then repeated that attack in Pennsylvania yesterday. Joe Biden became mentally impaired, said. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. There's something wrong with Kamala Harris.

And I just don't know what it is, but there is definitely something missing. And you know what? Everybody knows it. All right, my panel is back. Scott Jennings, effective line of attack? Would you encourage the leader of your party to continue this route? Well, I would not use the term "mentally disabled." I think it's fine. I mean, people in politics call their opponents stupid all the time. "Oh, they're dumb. They made bad decisions." I mean, I was just doing a quick review of headlines in the last few weeks this morning.

Trump, blind being led by the stupid. Trump voters, they're stupid. Trump unveils idiotic new strategy to win over Harris supporters. Lazy, stupid, childish, why Donald Trump is losing. A simple example of the bigotry and terrible nature of Donald Trump's supporters. Harris herself, Donald Trump, unable to comprehend anything.

So it's not uncommon for people to call Donald Trump, his supporters and the people around him stupid or idiotic or whatever. So this kind of rhetoric is not uncommon. The term mentally disabled I would not use.

and I think they should not go down that road. But I just think, I just, I mean, everybody's up in arms about this when it's pretty common for people to do this to Trump and his people. Is it the same thing? No, I don't think it's the same thing as like reporters and us making these comments versus the two candidates doing that. I think it's disrespectful and I think you expect more from your leadership. I do agree with you on the mentally disabled. I think that's like

really inappropriate term to be using here, but I also understand that he's trying to make a contrast. I just think that there are other ways and better ways that he could show his leadership in making a different contrast and sticking to the issues like the economy. - What should he say? Should he say, look, I wanna talk about the issues. I wanna talk about my plan to allow health insurance companies to deny coverage again to people with preexisting conditions.

I want to talk about my plan to build a network of concentration camps to hold 10 million people and then dump them all in Mexico, wherever they came from before and without regard to what the Mexicans think. I have a plan to make Social Security's finances less stable. Because the issues are...

Not going to work for him. That's why the genius of Donald Trump was to understand, look, the Paul Ryan message doesn't sell. What does sell in America is racialized contempt. So that is what I'm going to offer. I mean, plus Paul Ryan, but racialized contempt. And that has always been the core of the message. That is the message.

So he's not off message. He's on it. And he's always understood television better than any of the other people in the Republican Party. So what does galvanize the people who support Trump, who rejected better, cleaner, more decent, more intelligent Republicans in the past, who rejected Mitt Romney, although Mitt Romney got more of the vote? What is Trump's special sauce? Racialized contempt. So of course he's going with that as his closing argument. What do you think?

I feel like I'm falling out of a coconut tree because the idea that I am outraged that he said this this weekend is absurd at this point because we're at a point in politics where unfortunately, yes, it is disrespectful.

And yes, it shouldn't be said. And yes, we should expect more from our leaders. But the reality is that's not what we're getting. So sometimes you have to play the field that you are given. But, you know, even though you say this is somewhat common in your view, people disagree or they say, you know, but...

The real risk is that this becomes a race about character, right? For Trump, instead of focusing on policy, do you want this race to be about Donald Trump's character versus Harris' character? Every presidential campaign is a race about character. And I disagree that it's... Because I also think it's a race about issues, and I disagree with you that the issues aren't working for Trump. And the fact is, in all the polling we've done, the Gallup poll, everything that's come out in the last few days, they trusted more on the economy, they trusted more on immigration, they trusted more on foreign policy.

So the issues actually are working for him. To what extent this is the correct vector right now when you have this issue set that is quite clearly working for you? I think that's a debating point for a campaign strategy, but I just disagree. I think the issues are setting up quite nicely for him.

I think they're working for his base, and I think these comments are working for his base. I'm just not so sure they're going to be working in the battleground states for the undecided voters. I think a lot of people tune this type of rhetoric out, and they're just like, I don't want to hear any more of this, and they'd rather hear about what he's doing on immigration, what he's doing on the economy. So where it does work for his base, I don't think it works for the independent voters. Donald Trump got 46.1% of the vote his first time out.

in 2016, he got 46 point something, a little bit more in 2020. There was not a day in his presidency when he had an approval rating at 50% in any reputable poll. He's always been a minority president and he understands that. And his challenge has always been, how do you activate

some of the angriest people in America, to enter politics, which they normally abstain from. And the message of contempt is what pulls them there, not the Paul Ryan agenda, which is not going to work. And that's what he's offering, but he's offering it plus the contempt, and that's what sells. But what is it today? You said he was a minority president. In our own poll last week, 51% of Americans said he had successful...

presidency. That was true in USA Today this summer. Only 37% say the same. So he actually has achieved the majority in retrospect. His strategy is to get to 47% and pray that the Electoral College works its magic for him. And that's always been a strategy, and that's the only strategy there could possibly be. Right. And will he continue to talk about that or talk about other things to veer off script as some could

Republicans are concerned about. All right, we're going to discuss a little bit more about that in a minute. But first, now communities across the southeast reeling from Hurricane Helene's aftermath. The powerful storm making landfall late last week. At least 95 people are dead across multiple states and hundreds more have been reported missing. 30 people are dead in just one North Carolina county. It was crazy. The water came all the way up to the top of our driveway and usually it's

You know, you might see a little bit of flooding down at the bottom of the street, but it came up, I mean, another 15 feet more than that. It was pretty, I mean, all those houses down there had water up to their kitchen cabinets. More than 2 million people in the southeast are still without power this morning. So let's go to meteorologist Elisa Rafa. Elisa, any relief in sight or there are more concerns along the way?

The rain is stopping, but rivers will still continue to be aggravated and rise in spots because this water has nowhere to go. That's how it destroyed so many roads that have just become impassable, cut off all of these landslides in the mountains there. This is what's left of Helene. You still have a couple of showers in northern Virginia up towards Washington, but you can see a lot of it is light. We are done with the heavy rain, but it was...

unprecedented for parts of North Carolina. I mean, here in the mountains from Asheville up towards Boone, you see this bright, bright purple. We're talking about rain totals that were well over a foot for all of these communities. 30 inches for one place in North Carolina. Mountain homes, 17 inches. Greenville, almost a foot of rain. So just incredible. The rivers, again, continuing to be at

moderate and major flood stage because the water has nowhere to go and it will continue to work its way down the watershed towards the coast. So not just the mountain problem, we'll continue to find that rain again trying to move east, the water in the rivers. We do have that slight risk for excessive rain for parts of Virginia today where another inch or two of rain is possible.

All right, Elisa Rafa, thank you for the latest from the Weather Center. And turning back now to the VP debate tomorrow night where Tim Walz and J.D. Vance, two Midwesterners on opposite ends of the political spectrum, will face off in their first VP debate. The two prospective VPs never before debating on a national stage. The last time each of them formally debated was when they were running for their current offices in 2022.

Scott was very clear in May. He mocked me and said, "No kidding, Sherlock. I'm running for governor to get things done. We're going to ban abortion. Not on our watch. I trust women. I trust them to make their own health care decisions." It's actually a pretty funny TV commercial, Tim, correct, to your team, where he says that he only agrees with his own wife 70% of the time, yet he votes and agrees with Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time. It must make things a little awkward in the Ryan household, I suppose.

All right. Joining me now is Mark McKinnon. He's a former advisor to George W. Bush and John McCain. He's also the creator of Paramount's The Circus. Mark, thank you for joining me this morning. These are two people who come from the Midwest. They have different backgrounds, different political stances. How do you see that playing into their narratives tomorrow? Good morning, Manu. Well, the primary mantra for a vice presidential pick is to do no harm.

And to date, the differences that J.D. Vance has done a lot of harm to the Republican ticket so far. And with his you know, it's all about cats, women who single women who own them and Haitian immigrants who he says eat them. Or then he says, no, we made that up to draw attention to it. But and so that's that's my my advice for Tim Walz is look out. This guy's loaded for bear because.

They're both trying to validate that they were the right pick. And Vance is the guy that's been under the gun. Everybody in the Republican Party knows that he's been a problem. He's created dissonance. He's done a lot of harm. So he's going in there to prove to Donald Trump and the Republican Party that he was the right pick. So, I mean, I think he's going to be loaded for bear. And that's my advice to Wallace is look out. This guy's coming in loaded and he's coming in strong.

So you write in your latest article for Variety, Vance to be fair, smart, just ask him. Yale educated, best-selling author, venture capitalist, and he's reportedly prepping hard. The goal for Walls should be do whatever he can to preserve and enhance his own stature is genuine. He's not going to outsmart Vance, and he should not try, but he can easily out-human Vance, the recipe for a successful night.

On Tuesday for Vance or Walls, it's simple. Do no harm, but Walls should be aware. He's facing a pit bull raring to come off the leash. That's essentially what you're suggesting right now here, Mark. I'm wondering, do you think that Vance, who's hurting or helping their ticket right now? Is Vance hurting or helping Trump? Is he making no difference in this race? And what about Walls?

Well, I think Waltz has exceeded expectations and Vance has not risen to expectations. As I said, I just--I think he has done harm. I think the whole cat lady thing--I mean, there's just--there was video surfacing every other day about--with Vance attacking women in some form or another, which has already been a problem for the Republican ticket. So, again, I think that this is going to be--I think he's really looking forward to this opportunity to validate that he was the right pick.

They're going after each other. I mean, Wallace's brand is authenticity. So that's what Vance is going to try and pick apart. And, of course, Wallace is going to do the same to Vance, to suggest that he's a phony, that he's simply ambitious, abandoned his principles. There's also audio that surfaced recently about just how much--.

that Vance thought Trump was a bad nominee for the party. So he's going to have to answer for that. At the end of the day, maybe it won't make that much difference for the outcome of the election, but it's going to make an outcome for the difference on just how people feel about whether or not this was the right pick for each candidate.

All right, Mark McKinnon, appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much for your insight and expertise. Really appreciate it. And continuing this conversation on the 2024 race in a show that has been influencing our national conversation around politics for half a century. Man, it's cool. I'm going to be president. That's wicked. Watch that language there, son. Hillary and I don't agree on everything. Anything.

Donald said he was going to be tough on Mexico, but when he met with the president, he choked. Wrong. Trademark. He's also said he's going to be tough on Russia, but he's basically Putin's puppet. Liar. Trademark. Saturday Night Live returning to the air this weekend for its milestone 50th season, just in time for the last leg of the presidential campaign. It's star-studded cold open, taking on impressions of every 2024 election season candidate and character.

My campaign is like the Sabrina Carpenter song, Espresso. The lyrics are vague, but the vibe slaps. Folks, I haven't been this excited since I got a 10% rebate on a leaf blower from Menards. I, for one, can't wait to decorate the White House for Christmas. The theme will be Hanukkah.

They say that me blaming the Democrats for inciting violence is the pot calling the kettle black. But frankly, I didn't know the kettle was black until very recently I thought the kettle was Indian. I'll tell you what I'm doing here, getting this crowd hyped!

All right, what do we think? This is, it was pretty funny. There were some good ones. Good stuff, Maya Rudolph. I gotta tell you, my wife is extremely happy that she is coming back. Jim Gaffigan is Tim Walls. He nailed it. Gaffigan nailed it on Walls. You didn't show it, but you know who else was brilliant this weekend? Dana Carvey coming back. He absolutely cooked. Pause right there. You say we don't have it. In fact, we do have it. We do have it. Roll the tape. By the way,

The fact of the matter is, the rich don't pay their fair share. They gotta pay their fair share. We gotta build back better. The build back the better, the better, the better, the better. Build back the better. Can't believe it's not butter. Thank you, Tobias. Thank you.

It'd be funny if it weren't tragically true. But Kandana, thank God for Dana Carvey. He's probably one of the top two or three of all time on this stuff. He really is. He's done George H.W. Bush so well, Joe Biden so well. But, you know, the interesting thing is, of course, this could always reinforce people's impressions. We laugh about it, but it could have some impact about how people actually view these candidates. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's

part of pop culture. It's like the Taylor Swift endorsement. It's just fun. And we have a couple more weeks of it. And it's entertaining. And it'll be fun to see how it plays out. What do people know about Sarah Palin? They know, I think they know more about the Tina Fey impression of, you know what I mean? It can set in, like the image of you, this can absolutely make a huge difference. So like on the Gaffigan thing, he nailed walls. I mean, the weird gesticulating and the hand, like he nailed it. But Gaffigan's from the Midwest too, though. Yeah, he got it. And he really, you know, he has it in his blood.

Unfortunately, the good Donald Trump impression would be actionable. So no one does that, because the idea that you play him as, like, Don Corleone, which is what he is, that is something you can't do on TV. Maybe it isn't even funny. Maybe it's just sad. I mean, you mentioned the Sarah Palin thing, and that was...

Back then, right, it was right. People who are tuning in to Saturday Night Live, yeah, there's people who are knee-deep in politics, who know everything that's going on, watching everything that's going on. But some people are just casual viewers, right? And they'll tune in, they'll see someone being ridiculed, and maybe they'll think, well, I don't like him or her that much. And they're also getting their clips on TikTok and Instagram and other platforms.

So it has a long, long legs here and that's people are gonna get their views there. - You know less about the VPs. So the impressions of the VPs can take hold because often the performers doing them are just better than the VPs themselves. I mean, the Harris impression, she was the VP. And so the Maya Rudolph impression of Harris is I think for a lot of people, a real,

a real burned-in image for them. - I think many more people are seeing on TikTok the remix of JD Vance saying, "I'm a never Trump guy," and people dancing to it. But TikTok is so powerful, and that, when you say, what is branding people, is the sight of hundreds and hundreds of women

dancing to J.D. Vance saying stuff. I'm a never-come-tum guy. I never liked him. I'm a never-come-tum guy. I never liked him. And I was going on TV and be a Trump guy and like him. I'm sure we'll see much more of this in the weeks to come. All right, thank you, panel, for joining me this morning. Thank you for joining us. I'm Manu Raju in for Casey Hunt. CNN News Central starts right now.

From all over the world, people turn to Cleveland Clinic for our expertise and our compassionate care. As leaders in heart, neurology, and cancer, the future of specialty care is happening right now at Cleveland Clinic. For every life-saving treatment, for every next step, for every care in the world, Cleveland Clinic.

Don't let CNN's John King have all the fun. Experience the CNN magic wall on your mobile device. Get live results, expert insights, and an immersive election experience. Find it at cnn.com slash magic wall or the CNN app today.