A Remarkable Two Days for Kamala Harris
49:38 Share

Voters 50 and over have the power to decide elections. So candidates who want to win need to talk about the issues they care about. Learn more from our latest polling in Pennsylvania at aarp.org slash PA polling. Overnight, Duncan's pumpkin spice coffee has sent folks into a cozy craze. I'm Lauren LaTulip reporting live from home in my hand-knit turtleneck that my Nana made me. Mmm, cinnamony. The home with Duncan is where you want to be.

It's Tuesday, July 23rd, right now on CNN This Morning. We have doors to knock on. We have people to talk to. We have phone calls to make. And we have an election to win. Vice President Kamala Harris says she's ready to put in the work. And after just two days, she's already the presumptive Democratic nominee. Plus this. But my friends, Kamala Harris is a million times worse.

Donald Trump's team already on the attack trying to gain the upper hand against Harris. And one by one, other Democratic hopefuls line up to pledge their support to Kamala Harris. Plus this. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? Trying to secure that all-important youth vote. How Harris' team is trying to reach out to Gen Z.

all right 6 a.m here in washington a live look at the white house it's what all the fuss is about good morning everyone i'm casey hunt it's wonderful to have you with us on this tuesday morning well that was fast kamala harris now her party's presumptive nominee after securing the backing of thousands of democratic delegates less than 48 hours after joe biden exited the race and endorsed his vice president

During her first visit to campaign headquarters atop the ticket, Harris walked out to the Beyonce song Freedom, a source telling CNN. Harris got permission from the superstars team to use that song on the trail. That music, the energy. Let's just say it was a striking difference from what we saw when Joe Biden visited his campaign headquarters.

headquarters back in February. It's a difference that really underscores the change that we have seen in this race in the last 48 hours. And the guy we're running against, he is, he's not for anything. He's against everything. Hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump's type. We cannot, we cannot, we cannot lose this campaign for the good of the country. We have doors to knock on.

We have people to talk to, we have phone calls to make, and we have an election to win. Donald Trump seems unhappy about the state of things. Overnight, he took to his Truth Social platform to post this, quote, the Democrats lied and misled the public about Crooked Joe Biden. They also misled the Republican Party, causing it to waste a great deal of time and money.

The Atlantic's Tim Alberta wrote this under the headline, this is exactly what the Trump team feared. Alberta says he asked the co-managers of Donald Trump's campaign what they feared most about President Biden, about this election. Now, this was back around Super Tuesday. Honestly, it's less him, Chris LaCivita told Alberta, and more institutional Democrats, Susie Wiles said. She jumped in and finished LaCivita's thought.

A Republican source familiar with the Trump campaign's posture told me that they've been polling Trump against Harris for weeks and acknowledged privately to me that this is a very different race now than it was with Biden, even if they are publicly insisting nothing has changed. My panel is here. Joining me now is Olan Kano-Youngs, White House correspondent for The New York Times; Elliott Williams, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Obama administration; Karen Finney, former spokesperson for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign;

and Mike Dubke, the former White House Communications Director for Donald Trump. Welcome to all of you. Karen Finney, let me start with you because you have really been at the center of so much of what we have seen unfold on this national stage in the course of the last

48 hours because look this this transition could have been really messy this was a massive risk to take right changing out the top of this ticket with just you know weeks to go until November however it's clear me all the headlines are look she's already she's gotten the delegates there's no real credible person stepping up to say that they want to challenge her for this nomination it seems to be moving forward obviously plenty bumps in the road to go

But take us behind the scenes in terms of how this was kind of pulled together, why it came together the way it did. We are still waiting for Hakeem Jeffries and Barack Obama. What are we going to see next on that front also? Well, also Schumer is going to, I believe, and Hakeem are going to come out probably today. And we saw last night a group of donors, sort of

women donors actually, which was great to see some of the big donors of the party come forward and make clear that they're going to lead the charge in terms of the big donors. And we're seeing small dollar donations. Look, I think a couple of things. Number one, very quietly, with all due respect to President Biden, obviously, there were folks behind the scenes sort of just thinking about how do we be prepared in case over the last several weeks.

with a thought that it would be important for support to come out fairly quickly, certainly from, as we saw, various organizations, from labor to reproductive rights groups to environmental justice groups. And so folks were sort of getting ready that,

if and when it should happen to be able to move fairly quickly and to recognizing that she would wanna get on the phone very quickly with delegates to trick 'cause it's all about the delegate count really at this point. And that's really what you've seen unfolding over the last, you know, like how many, I can't even count how many hours it's been, everything's happening so fast.

you know, to be able to both. But here's the other piece that we couldn't have planned for, I'll just say very briefly, just the level of energy and excitement. You and I were talking about this. I mean, there's a call that I'm on pretty much every Sunday. We started in 2020. It's black women, women with black women. Usually maybe a couple thousand people get on these calls every Sunday. We have 44,000 people on the call. We raised $1.5 million in small dollar donations in a couple of hours.

So that, and then last night there was a call with black men, 20,000 people. So just to see that kind of organic excitement, I think was something we couldn't have predicted. - And the interesting thing about that was all the talk

about how black people were what propped Joe Biden up. And it was a congressional black caucus that was the one bulwark that was never going to back down. And black people led to Joe Biden's win in South Carolina that propelled him to the presidency. But quickly, it just seemed that black people galvanized behind the vice president in a way that I don't know if anybody really anticipated. - And in my reporting, it's always come down to when it comes to black voters, especially those following the Democratic Party, it's come down to what is the practical option to beat Donald Trump?

They're very pragmatic. Very pragmatic, right. So when it came in the past couple weeks, when there were concerns that Joe Biden didn't have the ability to beat Donald Trump in November, it was very understandable, if you've been following this, that many black voters, that there would be that energy for a candidate that could come in with energy and have the ability, also based off of her record, looking at her prosecutorial record going up against Donald Trump.

I'm looking to see now though if this energy right now is for the moment, for sort of if people are gonna be enthusiastic when you have sort of a switch up on the ticket, or if that can last going all the way to November. - Yeah, well I'm certainly, there are, any, I mean look,

The idea that we can sit here and say that we know how this campaign is going to play out after the events of the last three weeks. You shouldn't believe us if you tried. Absolutely not. But Mike Dubke, I found Tim Alberta's piece very interesting because basically he's

the the top two folks at the Trump campaign Susie Wiles Chris la Civita they have been running a top-tier campaign by I mean when you compare to any campaign I've ever cut it is it they have been running a good campaign they acknowledge to Tim that their campaign was built to be Joe Biden

right right and what they were saying there is that well we're actually a little bit afraid of the institution that is the democratic party the machine running against that if they were to do something that would make it harder for them and alberta tweeted this yesterday most striking thing i heard from trump allies yesterday was the second guessing of jd vance a selection they acknowledged that was born of cockiness meant to run up margins with the base in a blowout

rather than persuade swing voters in a nail biter, it does seem like they are going to have a tougher road against Kamala Harris than they would have against Joe Biden. - Well, whether or not they have a tougher road, I mean, first of all, I'd like to say thank goodness that the Democrats are saving democracy by choosing a candidate in a backroom fashion. So first of all, I wanna say that. - Well, you certainly are giving us the talking points. - Secondly, secondly, well. - I've heard that before. - Yes.

Well, here's a new one for you. Secondly, I'm also thrilled to watch the sugar high that Democrats are on right now with the choice. Absolutely. I was speaking to some folks on Friday, and the Democratic Party was depressed. It's very different than today. But I will say this, to get back to your question. The campaign has really been running against

the vice president for a while now. They put out an ad about a month, month and a half ago that really targeted her. I thought there was a tongue in cheek tweet on Thursday saying that they're not going to schedule the JD Vance vice presidential

because they're waiting to see who Vice President Harris chooses as her vice president, presidential candidate. So I think they've been prepared for this. And I understand the anxiousness of changing some of your views

of your focus, but Biden-Harris is gonna become one word. And you're gonna hear that from the campaign over and over and over again. Biden-Harris, Biden-Harris, Biden-Harris. - Sure, I mean, look, I've-- - She's got a record to run on, and they're gonna attack it. - I mean, I've seen already the, I mean, the chyrons on Fox News still are Biden, Biden, Biden, right? But the reality is, I mean,

He's not at the top of the ticket anymore. I guess I'm skeptical that voters are not going to be able to separate. I think voters will be able to separate. One of the biggest knocks on Joe Biden from the Trump campaign was he's old, right? In addition to the record and typical partisan stuff, but his age was a significant factor that the Trump campaign was capitalizing on. It was like the factor. It was the factor, and it's now off the table.

Now, there's all kinds of ways to run against the vice president. I acknowledge that. But when you take that off, it's a very, very different race. I want to play something that J.D. Vance said yesterday. And that's because, you know, I think...

Right now, the Democrat, you are all on a high as Kamala Harris has embraced. This race is about to get really nasty, right? If we know anything about Donald Trump and the way he conducts campaigns, we saw him run against a woman. We know what that was like. She obviously is also a black woman. J.D. Vance said something yesterday that stuck out to me because it echoed something I feel like Michelle Obama said.

dealt with when she was the spouse of the candidate, the first black, eventual black president of the United States, Barack Obama. This was what JD Vance about Harris, saying that Harris should be grateful, more grateful for America than it seems like he thinks she has been. - If you wanna lead this country, you should feel grateful for it. You should feel a sense of gratitude. And I never hear that gratitude come through when I listen to Kamala Harris.

I think there's more there than just the words that he said. - A thousand percent, and the minute I heard it, I thought, oh, we're going back to go forward, okay. So, I mean, look, if you got nothing else, I guess you kind of try to retread and attack. - Play the hits, play the favorites. - Yeah, play the hits. But look, shame on him. I've heard Kamala Harris talk very glowingly and lovingly about the United States of America, particularly her parents have an immigrant story. But here's the thing.

Black Americans, I believe, are some of the most gracious, you know, we have some of the most gratitude and love of this country because, you know, particularly for someone like her who's been fighting in civil rights, we are trying to fight for this country to be its best self. And you only do that if you love your country. But if they want to have this fight on those grounds,

Let's go for it because it's I think it's gonna really turn off a lot of voters But I also think they're gonna try to bait us into making this about Quote-unquote culture wars, which I don't like calling them culture wars because they're just about who we are Instead of time at the economy instead of talking about, you know again I think she has a great record to run on Mike. What was your read on Vance there? You know, he's talking to a rally and part of

part of where you are you go to extremes in rallies we've seen that both with Republicans and Democrats so from that perspective I hate when we pull quotes from from rally speeches because they're there they're meant to their mentored a little bit I don't know that's fine so because it from speeches another and and other a positions I guess what I would say is that there is a

There is a real line in the sand where Republicans are talking about a level of patriotism. When Republicans are talking about

love of country, it is a little different. It's talking about our standing in the world, that America is a special place. And when you go to that position, you don't hear that a lot at Democratic rallies, that America is a special place. Your point, I think, is very well taken. But there are some

there are some word differences that Republicans and Democrats use. And I think you're seeing that and pointing that out. But Joe Biden consistently has been talking about America as a special place and noting that Donald Trump is the one who continuously is talking about America, sort of dumping on America. So I actually think that's reversed in some ways. I mean, I would just say that I think the difficulty you had and we invited you here. We're very grateful to have you. But like, it's a hard question to answer for a reason for you, right? I mean, it's like...

No, it's not a hard question. The setup for it is such that I'm trying to carefully choose my words sitting here at 6:13 in the morning. But I do think that there are different ways. We have two political parties and we have very divergent, I think both parties and the members of both parties love America. There are just different vocabularies that both parties use.

And in this sense, that I think when you talk about love of country, you talk about love of the flag, you talk about patriotism to a Republican audience, you do it differently than you talk to a Democratic audience. So the reason I was bringing up the rally point was that these are words that are used to get the crowd cheering. And the vocabulary is different from both.

So you brought me here as a communicator and I'm pointing that point out. Look, I appreciate it. I would just say that our words matter, you know, in whatever context. I think words do matter. And a campaign rally is a place where you are delivering to people who support you the message that you want them to hear. So I do think it is well more than fair game that we dissect anything that is said at such a rally. All right, let's move on here. Coming up on CNN this morning, the Veep Stakes in full swing. One possible contender already taking herself out of the running.

I am not leaving Michigan. I'm proud to be the governor of Michigan. Plus, fireworks spark a massive fire in California. And less than 48 hours into her campaign, Republicans already speaking like this about Kamala Harris. Are you suggesting she was a DEI hire? 100%. She was a DEI hire.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. What are some of the social service agencies that have supported you and your family growing up? That's Dr. Robert Waldinger. He's a psychiatrist, a professor, and a Zen master. What kind of relationships actually help us maintain happiness? And what should we do in those moments where we have setbacks and things that don't work out? Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

I think it's really important that we do keep the focus on her this week. The vice presidential conversation needs to occur later. The only way I would consider something other than this current job is if I believed I could further help my people and to help this country. If they do the polling and it turns out that they need a 49-year-old balding gay Jew from Boulder, Colorado, they got my number.

Jared Polo has a pretty good sense of humor there. Kamala Harris has just weeks to pick a running mate, and that's honestly a little bit generous. CNN's learned that former Attorney General Eric Holder is handling the vetting of potential running mates. So far, we know that it includes Arizona's Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro, North Carolina's Roy Cooper, and others. Kentucky's Andy Beshear, who you see there, did tell CNN last night he has not yet been asked to submit vetting materials.

One governor with presidential ambitions taking herself out of the running for this job. Are you prepared to take the vice presidency if it's offered, ma'am? No, I'm not planning to go anywhere. So if they offer it, you will not take it? I am not leaving Michigan. I'm proud to be the governor of Michigan. I have been consistent. I know everyone is always suspicious and asking this question over and over again. I know you're doing your job. I'm not going anywhere.

Now CNN is reporting that Harris has secured enough endorsements to win the Democratic nomination panel is back. So look, they only have until August 7th, we think, to do this, right? Because there's going to be this roll call vote. I mean, Zolan, what is your sense, latest reporting? I know you've covered Harris for a long time. And this is something, I mean, obviously there's going to be a focus on swing states, who could help where and what. But this is also, at the end of the day, a human relationship. And picking somebody that you trust is really important. Where do you think that piece of it lands?

No, that's absolutely right. For one, I think you're going to hear denials right up until it happens. So I wouldn't put too much weight on that. Those options that you listed, the vice president has had appearances with some of those people recently. I was at a rally with the vice president in North Carolina where she was with Governor Roy Cooper.

She's had a couple rallies there. I know Democrats for a while, although you talk to political experts who think this is far-fetched, thought that they had a chance in possibly at least galvanizing support and making Republicans spend money in North Carolina and having a contest there. We know that abortion resonates as well. To be clear, we don't know

at this point who she is going to pick. She could go and turn towards the Senate and look for somebody pragmatic at a border state like Senator Mark Kelly as well, who might be able to neutralize some of the attacks that would come over the border and migration. Maybe she goes for another younger governor like a Governor Josh Shapiro or Bashir.

All of these are names that Democrats have floated in the course of our reporting. But we do know that the vice president spending that time in the Senate does have a relationship there. But also as VP, she has held these events with each of the governors that you listed. Well, Elliot, it just seems like the bottom line is it's going to be a white dude. It's going to be a white dude. It's going to be a white dude.

It's going to be what you, and there's a few factors that are going to be considered here. Number one, like you said, the personal relationship, that gives Roy Cooper a bit of a leg up because they spent time as attorneys general together. But also, number one, does the public and will the public see this person is ready to step in as president if need

given all of the last several months. But number two, how does this person contrast to J.D. Vance in some way? Because you're gonna put them on a stage together. - But going back, Casey, to what you said, it is a human relationship and it's gotta be somebody that you can work with and somebody that you trust and who can be a governing partner. And I think she's gonna look for someone who will tell her the truth. Because ultimately, I think presidents recognize

that sometimes your VP is the only person who is empowered to do that. Maybe your spouse, your VP. So I suspect she'll be looking for that as well. - Well, and sometimes the VP doesn't end up working out that way, but it can be helpful when it does. - Yes. - All right, coming up next here, Donald Trump finally getting his golf challenge, not against Joe Biden though, okay? Plus, Vice President Harris walking onto the campaign trail in style with a little help from Beyonce.

All right, welcome back. A quick-moving fire in California burning over 500 acres and already causing $11 million in damage. The fire burning close to homes in Riverside, forcing thousands to evacuate. Investigators believe the fire sparked by fireworks. Hot and dry conditions have sparked nearly 70 wildfires out west. Let's get straight to our weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, good morning. Yeah, Casey, there's a reason why fireworks are banned in this part of the country, right? So this dry timber box conditions situation

Mix that in with a spark, and of course you've got the recipe for a disaster just like this. And you can see the firefighters working overtime to help contain this fire. There are now 66 active large wildfires over the western U.S., and you can see many of them across the state of Oregon and into California. Dry thunderstorms, that means thunderstorms that don't produce rainfall to the ground, but produce lightning and can spark fires quickly.

quite easily are possible today across portions of Montana and to Idaho and eastern sections of Oregon. Also with the wildfires burning, we have air quality concerns, air quality alerts in place for many states over the western U.S. Over the eastern parts of the country, this is where we're following flooding rainfall potential, at least for the next couple of days across southeast Texas. Look at Houston, another two to four inches of rain coming your way.

Casey? All right. Derek Van Dam for us this morning. Derek, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. All right. All right, coming up here, still ahead on CNN this morning. You're full of s*** today. You're just being completely dishonest. The director of the Secret Service getting grilled on Capitol Hill by lawmakers in both parties. Plus, we look back at the, well, so we say, dramatic consequences of the CNN debate less than one month ago.

Biden said, first off, he said he's going to hire a black female for vice president. And that not just skipped over. What about what about white females? What about any other group? It just when you go down that route, you you you take mediocrity. And that's what they have right now as a vice president. Are you suggesting she's she was a DEI hire? One hundred percent. She was a DEI hire.

- Okay, our panel is back. Elliot Williams. - Yeah, well, look, he's onto something. He's onto something insofar as it's really troubling that a candidate is led by someone who got into law school partly on the basis of gender and a number of characteristics about them

bumped their chance. Oh, wait, that's J.D. Vance. I'm sorry. J.D. Vance, by virtue of being from a diverse part of the country, first generation college student, and right now male, all would necessarily have helped his chances of getting in. That's diversity and DEI when you use the term, the consideration of people's backgrounds in their advancement. So this whole debate is sort of nonsense. It's a slur. It's a buzzword. He knew exactly what he was doing there.

Yeah, it's a bullhorn, I would say. Yeah, it's not a dog whistle, it's a bullhorn. It's a bullhorn. I mean, it's offensive. And again, I think what we're going to see is an effort on the part of the GOP to draw Democrats into this kind of argument and this sort of, you know, let's talk about culture wars and let's talk about racism instead of the issues. They would rather see us have

defending them and having a conversation about that than the issues. But it's also, let's be honest, what it is, it is othering. It is a way to undermine her credibility, her intelligence. I mean, we see this with women, candidates of color all the time.

So, and I don't think it's going away. I think Donald Trump is not going to be able to help him. Something that's mild. Based on where I think we'll be in a couple weeks. Well, to that point, let me see if I have it here. Our friends over at the New York Times write this. This is Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan. Mr. Trump, for his part, has been trying to soften some of his harshest rhetoric about seeking vengeance on his rivals ahead of the general election. But over many years...

He has turned off a sizable proportion of college-educated voters and suburban women with his rhetoric on gender and race. And the Harris candidacy introduces the risk of Mr. Trump lashing out at her and further alienating those voters. And I had one person who used to work for Trump who emailed me and said...

this is just gonna play right to the worst of his instincts. - So let me jump into this pool. There is a, first of all, I think when you see these twits, it's clickbait. Again, we talked about words matter and context matters and all of that. So I think for these members of Congress, they're saying these things

To a certain extent for clickbait more importantly though and this is a debate that's really happening in corporate America and other places in America where you're seeing ESG DEI this language these these acronyms kind of lose some of their luster because there's been a bit of an overreach in terms of where they affect everyday Americans In terms of the hiring process and other things so I think you're seeing a cultural backlash against this language and

And with that, I think the Republicans are trying to take advantage of, you know, companies are doing away with the term DEI. They're now talking diversity. They're doing away with the term ESG and they're talking about other parts of environmental concern. So, you know, again, language matters. Words matter. This is a bit of clickbait. Yeah. But there is an open debate in this country about whether or not. Let me.

We've gone too far to the other side. But I think it's chicken and egg because folks turned those acronyms into slurs and buzzwords. No one in America, I assure you, can tell you, many people cannot say what DEI stands for or what it represents in workplaces and business and so on. A lot of people probably couldn't tell you what CRT, critical race theory, stands for. But right away, opponents found a way to sort of turn this into a buzzword. Don't say gay bill on the left.

Let's call Ron DeSantis. Right. I mean, that is the focus of a lot of this. This is your role. It's communication strategy. Words matter. Acronyms matter. Acronyms can be turned into weapons in this case. But when I say chicken and egg, it's not necessarily always the left weaponizing it. I think the folks who were opponents were very, very successful at turning these things into problems. I mean, look, this is a debate discussion. Now we're going to be having basically everyone

Good morning. So welcome to it. See you tomorrow. Still ahead here on CNN This Morning. We're going to be joined live by Senator Chris Coons to discuss his party's whirlwind last 36 hours, plus Kamala Harris's presidential campaign, getting the Beyonce treatment. And I'm going to continue to move until we get the total ban on the total initiative relative to what we're going to do with more Border Patrol and more asylum officers.

-President Trump? -I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either. -Moments like that one on the CNN debate stage in Atlanta,

sent the Democratic Party into a tailspin nearly, but not yet, one month ago. The lead up to the debate was being billed as a make or break moment for Biden's struggling campaign. And of course, we now have the answer. It was break. Joining me now, Mark McKinnon, former advisor to George W. Bush and John McCain. Mark, always grateful to have you in no small part because before the debate, you wrote something right along these lines in Vanity Fair. You said this, quote, if Biden goes down in this first match,

Democratic bedwetting could become a fire hose. And I know it's not the strategy that Team Biden intends, but under this scenario, there really could be a mass cry among delegates and party mandarins for a plan B at

at the convention. Well, we have not even gotten to the convention and all of that which you wrote has come to pass. Honestly, I'd just like to hear kind of what you think about both what we saw from the president, but also kind of the way Harris has really stepped in so efficiently in the ensuing 48 hours.

It's really amazing, isn't it, Casey? I mean, the other thing I wrote is that it could be the most consequential debate in American history, and there's no question that it was. You know, the first campaign I ever did was with James Carville 40 years ago. And last fall, in the last episode of The Circus, I interviewed him, or we interviewed him, and he said,

that the era of strategic certainty is over. And he predicted, he said, the only thing I'll predict is a year from now, we'll look back and say, God damn, I didn't see that one coming. So here we are. And this is, it's a really exciting time for

the country and especially for Democrats, obviously, because now they're enthusiastic. And that was the big problem for Democrats, really. They had a 25-point enthusiasm gap. And for those of us who do campaigns, we know that's a really important metric. Your base, your supporters have to be excited about voting. And as much as people liked and respected Joe Biden, they weren't excited, and they're excited now.

Yeah, it's I mean, it's a great point. It's really fundamental. Mark, I mean, one of the things that we have been talking so much about, I mean, and it speaks to the excitement and why there's excitement in the Democratic base, but it also kind of previews the dark campaign to come. And that's race, which is already, you know, we just played comments from Congressman Tim Burchett, who called Vice President Harris a DEI hire. There was a moment at the J.D. Vance rally yesterday where he said that he doesn't feel that Kamala Harris is responsible

regularly expresses gratitude for America and the way she talks. And then there was this moment where he talked about Diet Mountain Dew and also racism. Just watch it. Democrats say that it is racist to believe, well, they say it's racist to do anything. I had a Diet Mountain Dew yesterday and one today. I'm sure they're gonna call that racist too, but it's good. I love you guys.

So there were some please clap vibes. I sort of hate to do this to you, but let's just recall what happened with Jeb back in the day. Watch this. Yeah, PTSD, Jeb. The next president needs to be a lot quieter, but send a signal that we're prepared to act in the national security interests of this country to get back in the business of creating a more peaceful world. Please clap.

Obviously, a funny moment there worth reliving just because. But I mean, look, tell me what you think about what Vance is doing. I mean, this is going to be Trump has been firmly on this terrain before. I think we have seen how he's handled it. I have talked to Republicans who are concerned about his inability to not go there. This is new territory for J.D. Vance, and he clearly is already struggling with it a little bit.

Yeah, really cringe, cringe moment there. And it testifies to what we're hearing more and more of, which is that Trump campaign is really having second thoughts about J.D. Vance. He was the guy that they picked when they they all assumed that Biden was going to be the nominee. And they thought that they were in a comfortable position. They could double down and pick a guy who would be very popular with the MAGA base. But he doesn't. There's no addition in the J.D. Vance equation. He doesn't add any voters. He doesn't expand the tent at all.

And in fact, he contracts the temp by doing the sort of comments like that about DEI with the race baiting on dog whistles. It's really problematic, I think, for the campaign. Listen, I think that despite the history, that Americans are more than prepared to not only vote for a black candidate, as they proved with Barack Obama, but for a woman. I think they're anxious to, and I think they're ready to. And so I think

I think it's a real mistake for the Trump campaign to go there. I think the place they ought to go is just to say it's Joe Biden times two, that Joe Biden was old and out of touch. Kamala Harris is just younger, but she's more out of touch. And I think keep it on the border issues, on policy issues like inflation, but to go to DEI and that territory, I think it's a huge mistake.

Mark, very briefly, I just want to ask you the question, since you've done this so much that members of my family are asking me, which is, do you think Kamala Harris can win this election? I do. Absolutely. I mean, I think, first of all, I'll say the obvious, which is she's got a much better shot than Joe Biden. And listen, you can just feel it in the last 24 hours. The one thing about Kamala Harris that I'll say is I think she is a way undervalued stock.

I think people kind of heard all this negative stuff about her. And you've seen her. And listen, she's a performer, man. You don't get to be the Attorney General of the United States and the Vice President of the United States by not having some really good chops. And she's just gotten better and better and better. And I just think that she's come out of the gate really fast, really hard. And you can really feel the excitement in the Democratic Party. So I think she's going to way exceed expectations. And I think she's absolutely got a shot.

All right, Mark McKinnon, always grateful to have you, sir. Thank you so much for your time. All right, 50 minutes past the hour. Here is your morning roundup. Donald Trump's lawyers trying to get his $454 million civil fraud penalty thrown out in an appeal filed this week. They argue the case should be thrown out because the allegations are too old. New York's Court of Appeals could take up the case as soon as September. And this.

This is going to be one of the greatest rounds of golf ever played. Donald Trump finally getting his golf tournament. Not going to be against Joe Biden, though. Today, Trump will challenge 2024 U.S. Open golf champion Bryson DeChambeau. The two men will try to score less than 50 from the shortest tee boxes over 18 holes. DeChambeau says he invited both Trump and Biden to play. Well,

Well, I guess this is another thing that underscores how the race on the 2024 campaign trail has changed. No more talk about handicaps. Anyway...

Vice President Kamala Harris made her first visit to campaign headquarters in Delaware since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee, and she offered the sharp contrast Democrats have been demanding between her and Donald Trump. Harris also received a phone call from Biden, who delivered this message directly to Harris and the staff that was working for him and now working for her.

I want to say to the team, embrace her. She's the best. I know yesterday's news was surprising and it's hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do. I'm watching you, kid. I'm watching you, kid. I love you. Okay, joining me now, Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware. Senator, always wonderful to see you. Thank you so much for being here.

Thanks, Casey. Great to be on with you. It was great to be in that room yesterday here in Wilmington, Delaware, where Vice President Harris and first, second gentleman Doug Amhoff came and fired up the crowd, got the campaign team here in Wilmington excited for the path ahead and where President Biden called in and spoke with everybody, engaged them, challenged them and got them excited about supporting our nominee, our most likely nominee for president, Kamala Harris.

So, Senator, you did, I will say, tell ABC News back right after the June presidential debate that you thought that President Biden was, quote, the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump, end quote. Would you like to revise and extend those remarks?

I would welcome a chance to revise and extend those remarks because underlying that was my confidence that the record that President Biden and Vice President Harris have built over the last three and a half years is the strongest legislative record of any first term presidency in my lifetime. And Kamala Harris was right beside Joe Biden every step of the way as they strengthened NATO, as they came up with creative and powerful combinations

of allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific. As they got to the president's desk, legislative accomplishments that reduced the price of prescription drugs, that invested in the fight against climate change, that made our community safer with strong gun safety legislation. I will say that on every one of those core points, Vice President Harris will continue, will get the job done, and Donald Trump, the former president, will roll it back.

Donald Trump and JD Vance don't think climate change is real, and they will reverse the progress we've made under Biden-Harris. They've made it clear that they will reverse the reduction in prescription drug prices and that they will reverse the investments that have been made in reducing student loan debt, in investing in our infrastructure and manufacturing, and in making us stronger on the world stage.

By choosing a vice presidential pick in J.D. Vance, who doesn't believe we should fight for Ukraine's freedom, Donald Trump's made it clear the direction he would take us on the world stage. By standing next to and working alongside Biden, Vice President Harris has made it clear she would continue his direction of making us stronger and safer around the world.

I appreciate your on-message delivery here, sir. I do want to ask you, though. Don't laugh.

You know I love having you on the show very much. But look, I want to ask you, we know that one of the principal lines of attacks, and I've talked to sources who say the polling shows this is a serious vulnerability, that Republicans are going to say that Kamala Harris knew that President Biden wasn't up to four more years. I mean, they would say that about you, I think, as well. And they're going to allege a cover up. They're going to say she knew she covered it up.

How do you answer that charge, considering what we have seen transpire over the last month?

First, I think it's BS. Second, I don't think it's particularly relevant because what the American people are going to be looking at in November is Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris. And that is a fundamentally different race going forward and a different electoral challenge and a different direction for the American people than we were looking at before. Vice President Harris is a generation younger than Donald Trump. She is younger by 20 years. She has energy, engagement, and enthusiasm.

She's got a record of accomplishment as an elected prosecutor, the attorney general of our largest state, as vice president alongside Joe Biden. And let's look at what's just happened.

Donald Trump had to go find a new vice presidential candidate in J.D. because his vice president from his first term and his chief of staff and his secretary of defense and his national security advisor from Trump's first term, all of nowhere near the White House. Running for and campaigning for his vice president.

I never saw any episode or incident with Joe Biden as we saw on that debate stage. I don't think that there is a huge cover-up underway here. And I frankly don't think that matters to the discussion and the debate going forward. Because as she said here on the stage in Wilmington, engaging with this excited and fired-up campaign team, this is going to be the prosecutor against the felon.

As the Attorney General of California, Kamala Harris had quite a strong record going after fraudsters, cheaters, and frankly, predators. And Donald Trump has been held liable in a court of law for commercial fraud,

for his Trump University, for his ways in which he defrauded loans and lenders, and for sexual assault. I think the contrast here going forward on who's truthful and who's a convict is going to be sharp. All right. Senator Chris Coons, I'm coming up against the top of the hour, but I'm very grateful to have you. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Casey. See you soon. All right.

So I want to turn to something now that I tend to love about both baseball and politics. What is your walk-up song? We learned Kamala Harris's yesterday. Here was her campaign anthem of choice.

Harris making her big entrance at Campaign HQ to Beyonce's Freedom. The pop star gave approval to Harris to use the song throughout her presidential campaign. The VPs walked out, coinciding with another pop culture phenomenon the Harris campaign is embracing, Charli XCX's Brat album. I'll be candid, I had to ask about this. After the singer posted that Kamala is a, quote, brat, TikTok has been swarmed with Kamala edits like this one. ♪ 360, when you're in the memory, do you know who you see? ♪

You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.

Okay, is there anyone on this set who is able to explain this to me? I will say this. I'm more Brat Pack than Brat Summer. But what it, I had to ask as well, what it strikes me is, as I understand what Brat Summer is, it's an excuse for making mistakes during your summer between school. So if that's what they want to push out there,

that's what they're pushing out there. - I'm unfortunately too lost to have a good response. - I thought it was just fun though to show that like, it's culture. Like this is, you know, culture has sort of said, we embrace her, let's have some fun with this. - I do think there's some here, some there there in terms of how she is in this space in a way that a lot of political,

candidates, politicians are just not. Absolutely. And sort of in a very online Gen X, and that's their appeal. Z, not X. As you can see, I am not cool at all. I'm Gen X. Me too. But look, I am not cool at all. I knew the brat thing because there's an Atlantic article on the rise of the brat starting with Sabrina Carpenter. It's not the brat, it's brat. It's just brat. It's brat. You know what I meant. You got to say it right.

- Hey, Ryan, if you're going-- - I'm being read. - Very smartly staying quiet. - Thank you guys very much. Thanks to you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt, don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

I'm Oprah Winfrey, and I am delighted to introduce you to my podcast, Super Soul Conversations. You can listen to some of the most universal, powerful life lessons. I hope these conversations will help illuminate your path to all that you've been meaning to be and all that you were meant to be.

You want to feel better about your life, where you're headed? Subscribe to my Super Soul Conversations on Apple Podcasts and begin the journey to your best self.