The Final Three Weeks
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It's Monday, October 14th. Right now on CNN This Morning, the final three weeks Kamala Harris, Donald Trump locked in a dead heat, millions of votes already cast. Plus...

I'm aware of the gender gap. I see the polling that everybody else does. The gender divide: how both campaigns are looking to close the gap between men and women in the final stretch. And then… I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within. It should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by national guard or, if really necessary, by the military.

the enemy from within Donald Trump with some of his darkest language yet about his political foes and stepping in the U.S. deploys advanced weapons and troops to help the threat that Israel faces from Iran. All right, 6 a.m. on the nose on the East Coast, a live look at New York City on this Monday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. We are now just 22 days and

Until Election Day, millions of early votes already have been cast in a race that new polling shows is getting tighter than ever. Over the weekend, the latest ABC News Ipsos poll has Kamala Harris with a slim 50 to 48 lead among likely voters nationally. No clear leader. Just last month, Harris had a five-point lead in this same poll. It's going to be a tight race until the very end. And we are running as the underdog.

So we have some hard work ahead of us, but we like our ways. We will win. But as those polls grow closer, Donald Trump's tone is getting darker on immigration, on his political opponents. Here was the former president in a series of campaign rallies and interviews just this weekend. Kamala has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the third world.

I'm hereby calling for the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or law enforcement officer. Death penalty. It's time. If Kamala gets four more years, the entire country will be turned into a migrant camp. I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered.

I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within, not even the people that have come in and destroying our country. By the way, totally destroying our country. It's the enemy from within all the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country. That's a bigger enemy than China and Russia.

All right. Joining us now to discuss Laura Barron-Lopez, CNN political analyst, White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour. Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios. Megan Hayes, former director of message planning in the Biden White House. And Matt Gorman, former senior advisor to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Welcome to all of you. So we got joy versus darkness, it seems. And darkness seems to be getting an edge. Yeah. Why? What's going on?

I mean, it's a divided country. It's a polarized country. The fact is that I think you ask anyone the Harris campaign in July and August, they would say they expected this race to come back, that there was a little bit of a sugar high. And the Trump campaign felt the same way, too. They felt that this was a 50-50 race in the very beginning. And really, it just comes. And that's actually why these last three weeks are so critical, because the fact is

that com airs only been on this national stage in this way as a nominee for ninety days how she performs this next 90 days most people have made up their minds about don't drop it's really about how she performs this next 22 days that could determine this race do you agree with that assessment Megan why is this race playing out the way it is yeah I do I think because

I agree with you. There was a sugar high, and now we're back to reality of where this was always going to be, whether it was President Biden or the Vice President. This was always going to be a really tight race. And I do think it matters how she performs the next 22 days. People don't know her. And so watching her leadership style, watching how she reacts to some of these attacks in the polls, I think shows what she's going to do as a president and how she's going to be a leader. And I think people who are undecided are watching her and making sure that she's up to the task.

Well, the series we've seen of polls over this weekend, both NBC and others, have belied, I think, the strategy tone we've seen over the last week or two of the Harris campaign. Far more anti-Trump messaging. The housing plan isn't really going anywhere now. And you also hear a little bit more about kind of a little bit more trolling now. I think they realize they're in a desperate spot, including the fact over the last week they've really made this –

really outsized push for male voters. They see the gender gap, and a lot has been talked about our gender gap. They have a gender gap, which according to the NBC News poll, was wider than ours. I was going to say, it's getting worse. It's getting worse. And, you know, they seem to, maybe they don't, but like the Northern Virginia male with the future is female shirt, they got them on lock.

Like they don't have the North Carolina ex-urban suburban dad or the outside Pennsylvania guy. And I think that is what they just don't understand. And a lot of their messaging around it, like Barack Obama talking about internalized misogyny, is not going to help the case. Laura, while the polls are tightening, I will say both Republicans and Democrats I talk to think things are moving in Trump's direction at the moment.

it is still a toss-up of course trump's rhetoric seems to be getting darker and more apocalyptic uh which you know might suggest if he were a different kind of candidate i suppose that it would that he feels like he is losing uh but obviously that trump has defied every norm and broken every rule in our politics why are we seeing this from him with 22 days to go

Well, this is what Donald Trump has run on since 2016. In 2016, he ran on, you know, migrant crime as well. In 2018, during those midterms, he said there was a migrant caravan coming to the border when there wasn't. And they lost the 2018 midterms.

in 2020 also ran on this kind of anti-immigrant rhetoric and he's doing it again on it is it has gotten worse the closer he gets to November and I think that you know he in his campaign are also part of it is strategy in trying to convince the American public in trying to convince

his base that eventually if he gets into office then they shouldn't be surprised by what he does he saying out loud that he wants to potentially use the National Guard that he wants to cut conduct mass deportations that he may very well even use the National Guard against American citizens so I the American public should be surprised if he and Stephen Miller into pursuing that on

The race being tight, it was always going to be tight. And yes, maybe right now it looks like it's leaning a little bit towards Trump. But there's some recent polling that I think is striking in terms of Harris is still ahead of Trump when it comes to when voters are asked, who do you think cares about you the most? They say her.

which I think is interesting. And also, I was just in Arizona and Nevada, and there are a number of Republican women that I spoke to, lifelong Republicans, who said they're not voting for Trump this time around. And a lot of that has to do with abortion. A lot of it has to do with his character. And so economy and immigration may rate high on, you know, when you're asking for head-to-head polls. But a lot of times when you talk to voters, they make their decision based on character.

Yeah, well, but I mean, this is what you're talking about, right, Matt? That the Democrats have women. I mean, look, it's going to come down to if Republicans win men by more than they lose women or the Democrats do the opposite. That's the ballgame. Like, that is the ballgame right now. And I think Democrats are waking up to the fact that they've had they have a serious problem with men. We look, Canada, we've known it for years, right? Like ever since Roe was overturned, we know and we've seen in 22 and on that we have work to do with women.

And now I think Democrats are waking up to the same. And it's been a cultural thing that's been in the works for a while now. Well, and Trump knows he has a problem, too, because he's going to do a town hall with Fox News with an all-female audience recently. You also just see the contortions in J.D. Vance's interview. You played a clip of it earlier of how he's trying to talk about abortion rights and try to sort of get out of the fact of their past positions and the fact that they appointed the judges that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Matt, do you think that the men, the situation with men, is it because Harris's team is doing a poor job? You gave some examples of how you think that they're not doing a good job of talking to men. Or is it because Trump has played into that more? I mean, they have clearly are running a strategy aimed at jacking this up. It's both. I mean, just just I think it's the opposite of with with Democrats, too. Like Democrats have played into it well with women. And we have had some hamheaded messages on.

I think the same thing has happened here. It's been a cultural thing that's happened over the course of years that they haven't seen for a while. And candidly, Trump has done a good job of doing things that are authentic to him but appeals to a male audience. The key is being authentic to yourself and not when doing it. - Yeah, interesting. All right, still ahead here on CNN this morning, the U.S. lending even more support to Israel after recent attacks from Hezbollah, this time not just weapons,

The U.S. personnel now headed to the Middle East will explain, plus tensions building why the Harris campaign isn't happy with some recent moves by President Biden and his staff. That's Alex Thompson reporting. We'll walk through it. And as we were just discussing, men versus women. We're going to dig further into the gender gap in this election, how each campaign trying to chip away at the other's advantage. I'm aware of the gender gap. I see the polling that everybody else does. I also think there's some evidence that we've made some progress in the last few weeks.

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.

do you want to reconsider dropping out of the race i'm back in president joe biden making a surprise visit to the white house briefing room earlier this month for the first time as commander-in-chief the impromptu press conference happening

Just as Kamala Harris was set to start a campaign event in Michigan, news networks opting to cover Biden, the sitting president, instead. Now, new Axios reporting the relationship between these two camps, Harris and Biden, has been a little bit tense recently. Friend of the show, Alex Thompson, in his latest piece found frustration from Harris's team. The top White House aides aren't coordinating Biden's messaging and schedule closely enough with what's best for the vice president's campaign.

Biden's team, Alex reports, wants Harris to win the election. That's good. But many senior Biden aides remain wounded by the president being pushed out of his reelection bid. A close Harris ally tells Axios the president's team is, quote,

too much in their feelings and quote panel is back Alex I'm special call Nancy Pelosi and ask her what she thinks about people in their feelings and winning elections and what goes in what order but that aside what more did you learn about how this is at manifesting itself because again this is one of those things

they should know that Harris is about to take the stage she's running for president instead they send the president out to the podium what else do you know the president is not used to being in a supporting role he's definitely not used to being a sporting role in election that he intended to be running in and that's what's really happening here there's not sort of a deliberate sabotage here and that's why they said they're in their feelings the fact is like Joe Biden is an emotional person and that really trickle trickles down to the staff to they are wounded they feel you in some ways betrayed by their close allies

And the fact is that the Harris team is sort of very gently tiptoeing around all of those feelings and also at the same time being like, come on, we got 22 days. The other example of that was right after Kamala Harris tried to do this whole thing of picking a fight with DeSantis about will you take my call, will you not take my call? The next day on camera, Joe Biden was like, DeSantis is doing a great job.

And you can almost see Harris herself tiptoeing around Biden's feelings, like the answer that she gave on the view that the Trump team seized on, where they're like, well, what would you do differently from Biden? And she's like, well,

comes to mind. Megan, take us inside. You were there. I think that some of the people have left, like Anita Dunn has left the White House and she was the main person around comms driving messaging and it would be more tracking some of that timing. I think, I don't think it's intentional. I do think they're a little bit oblivious sometimes to her being on stage somewhere or out. I agree with you. They're probably in their feelings more. This is coming to an end for a lot of their careers as well, not just the president. A lot of people are, you know, they're old and they've worked for five,

five times in the White House. This is probably the last time they're going to do that. But I don't think it's intentional. I don't think the president for sure wants the vice president to win. He has been extremely vocal about that privately and publicly. So I don't necessarily think it's him trickling down or sending a message to everyone. I think some of this is a little bit unintentional and not as strategic as we might think it looks from the outside. Well, it's always a mistake to forget that

people running these campaigns are human beings and that that matters a lot. And also that the tone is always set. I am continually struck by this. I think it's really true, especially on presidential campaigns. The White House as well, but it's set by the top, right? It is the person at the top manifested in a group of people below them. And of course, it's been a very difficult, you could see Biden kind of, I

back in like he really actually wants to be okay still ahead here on CNN this morning another first for Elon Musk and SpaceX we'll show you what a SpaceX rocket pulled off during a launch over the weekend one of five things you have to see this morning plus a cutting edge American missile defense system for Israel the U.S also deploying troops to operate it

All right, 20 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning. SpaceX's Starship rocket completing its fifth test flight in dramatic fashion this weekend. The rocket booster, along with the spacecraft, launched early Sunday from Boca Chica, Texas. And check this out. For the first time, SpaceX returned the booster back to the launch tower, catching it, look at this, out of the air with two giant mechanical arms that they call chopsticks. That's insane.

Alright, now this. A hot air balloon blamed for taking down a radio tower in New Mexico. Local fire officials say a hot air balloon seen here on nearby security camera footage flew into the tower and just kept on flying. Alright, thankfully no injuries were reported due to that collapse.

An inferno destroying a historic church in Chile. The San Francisco church was one of the oldest Catholic churches in the country until Friday's fire. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. The cause of the blaze now under investigation. Tampa police rescuing a man after his truck became trapped in floodwaters from Hurricane Milton. Officers were delivering food and water to residents in the area when they got the call for help. Fortunately, they were able to pull the man to safety. And then there's this.

Oh my God. Apparently humans, not the only ones needing rescue. People in Lithia, Florida, wrangling a pig that had escaped and was wandering near a gas station. As you can see, the pig had no interest in going. In the wake of Hurricane Milton, dozens of other animals have also been rescued from floodwaters.

Alright, time now for weather time to finally get out those jackets. Much cooler temperatures are on the way. Let's get through meteorologist weatherman Derek Van Dam Derek. Good morning. What should people be prepared for?

Well, okay, how about the first flakes of the season? This snowboarder is happy to see the snow finally showing up on radar. And you can see it, Mother Nature giving us this little hint, this tease that winter is coming, but we'll settle into fall first, right? But I just want to highlight this because the White Mountains into the Adirondacks of northern New York, well, yeah, you could get a coating of fresh snow, maybe a couple of inches above 1,000 feet.

That's what our computer models are telling us and that's what some of the observations on the ground. Most of this is rain at the lowest elevations, but a cold rain and speaking of cold, look just how much of a central portions of the country will be impacted by this cold snap that is on its way. It's all thanks to this cold front. It's going to dramatically drop our temperatures compared to what we experienced this weekend.

So the first parts of this work week are going to feel very different to what the weekend felt like here in Atlanta. This is a prime example. Yesterday it was 84. It'll be 70 degrees today. Significant drop in temperatures in places like Little Rock northward and DC where Casey's located. A step of cold weather for you as well. So it was 80 yesterday will drop 23 degrees for your high temperature tomorrow. That's when the real cool weather sets in upper 50s for your afternoon highs. And you know what Florida, the Sunshine State, they're not out of

This they're not protected from this should say the cool weather. You're actually going to see temperatures drop to around lower seventies for Orlando, for example. So cool weather dominating this forecast for the eastern half of the country. Casey, enjoy. All right. Thank you, Derek Van Dam Forest this morning. Derek, we'll see you tomorrow and still coming up here after the break. As Israel fights wars on multiple fronts, the United States set to deliver a new highly advanced missile defense system. It will also mean sending more American troops into the region. Plus.

Donald Trump on the trail using this unsettling term to describe fellow Americans. It's the enemy from within. All the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country. That's a bigger enemy than China and Russia. This week on The Assignment with me, Adi Cornish.

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.

Welcome back. The U.S. boosting weapons support for Israel following Iran's ballistic missile attacks against the country earlier this month. The Pentagon expected to send an advanced missile defense system to Israel, along with 100 U.S. troops to operate it. It's specifically designed to intercept long range ballistic missiles like the ones fired by Iran two weeks ago.

The announcement comes as Israel deals with fallout from a deadly Hezbollah drone attack that killed four IDF soldiers and injured 60 others at a base near the Lebanon-Israeli border. Israel now investigating how the drone made it deep into its airspace without being detected.

We will learn from and investigate the incident how a UAV entered without an alert at the base. The threat of UAVs is a threat we are dealing with since the beginning of the war. We need an improvement to our defense. Joining us now with more from Jerusalem is CNN international correspondent Jeremy Diamond. Jeremy, good morning to you. What is the latest on the deployment of this defense system?

Well, Casey, the U.S. is set to deploy this THAAD high, very sophisticated defense system to Israel with about 100 U.S. troops. The United States says that it is to supplement Israel's air defenses following Iran's ballistic missile attack against Israel. And, of course, it comes at a critical time, as the United States and Israel have been consulting closely over the potential

planning for Israel's retaliation against Iran, which we have been told is indeed going to come. It is merely a question of what the scope of that response actually is. Now, as all of this is happening, the United States, as it is sending the THAAD system, appears to have reached somewhat of an understanding with Israel concerning continued strikes against the Lebanese capital of Beirut. We haven't seen any Israeli strikes in Beirut

uh... since thursday when we saw that very deadly strike that killed at least twenty two people in the lebanese capital one source familiar with the matter telling us uh... that indeed the deployment of that system is part of this understanding that appears to

want to stop or at least limit Israeli strikes in the Lebanese capital. But something major did happen overnight that may change that calculus for the Israeli government, and that is one of the deadliest attacks on Israeli soil since the beginning of this war carried out by Hezbollah

using a drone that struck an Israeli military training base near the Israeli town of Binyaminya, some 40 miles away from the Lebanese border. Four Israeli soldiers were killed. At least 60 other soldiers were injured in this attack, including eight of them with serious injuries. The Israeli military says that it is investigating this incident because notably, while Israeli air defenses do tend to intercept rockets and drones, although drones less so perhaps than rockets,

In this case, there were not even any warning sirens for that drone that appears to have struck this training base. Hezbollah, for its part, said that it was able to evade Israeli air defenses by firing rockets at the same time as it fired several drones, at least one of which

struck this training base in Binyamin. We've seen a host of Israeli, top Israeli officials, including the chief of staff of the Israeli military visiting that training base today, a sign of just how significant this event is and one, of course, that could have repercussions for the Israeli campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Indeed. All right, Jeremy Diamond for us in Jerusalem. Jeremy, thank you very much for that report.

All right, we're going to turn back now to the 2024 campaign. Kamala Harris is warning voters about a new phrase Donald Trump has been using to describe some of his fellow Americans. It's the enemy from within. All the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country, that's a bigger enemy than China and Russia.

The enemy within. Trump used the phrase again in an interview with Fox News yesterday when he was asked whether he expects chaos on Election Day from outside agitators.

I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within, not even the people that have come in and destroying our country. By the way, totally destroying our country. The towns, the villages, they're being inundated. But I don't think they're the problem in terms of election day. I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. It should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by national guard or, if really necessary, by the military.

All right, our panel is back. Matt Gorman, he's saying that these people should be handled by the National Guard or the military. What? I mean, I think we've learned a lot about whether or not we should believe Trump when he says things, which is to say he is to be he is to be believed.

We're at the point where he's saying, I'm going to use the National Guard and the military to take my political enemies out of the country. I didn't take it like that because I watched a clip and they also referenced Biden's comments about Biden worrying about being a peaceful transfer of power. And earlier in the clip,

Trump referenced that too. The way I took it was that obviously, as we know, there are riots in the wake of 2020. There's also riots on Inauguration Day, much smaller scale in D.C. in 2017. I took it as National Guard and military putting those down and controlling those, which I'm totally fine with. I wish that would have been happening on January 6th. That's how I took it. The clip was a little broader in terms of post-election day and referencing Biden's comments on that.

Is that how you took it? No. And I think it's funny to watch the Trump star gets to twist themselves into pretzels. I'm not talking about you specifically, but we're going to watch them all twist themselves and say a version of what you're saying. I think people know what his character is and this is to be expected. I don't think he's saying anything that he doesn't believe to be true and that he wouldn't actually do if he could do it. I think...

Here, the facts are that Donald Trump and one of his closest advisors, Stephen Miller, have made clear over the course of months, if not this entire year, they have said that whenever Donald Trump sees fit, he will invoke the Insurrection Act and use National Guard and use military to go into American cities, not just to potentially round up migrants, but to crack down on American citizens. And there is no...

the insurrection acts i've talked to legal experts and military experts about this the president can use it at his own discretion his or her own discretion they can decide when a situation they think warrants it and so there's no real safeguard or accountability for the president to be able to use that power which is why there's a big concern i think when we also talk about what donald trump is saying in terms of how he would use this presidential power we should also think about what uh

Mark Milley recently was found to be saying in Bob Woodward's book, which is that he considers the former president a fascist who has authoritarian leanings, who is someone that will totally disregard the rule of law when it comes to using the military or the National Guard against American citizens or migrants. Well, I will say, Alex, when you look at what the Harris campaign is doing lately, if you watch

And again, it's always important to pay attention to what a campaign is actually spending money behind. They're doing negative ads on this.

Absolutely. And that's a big shift from what they were doing in August, which was really biographical pro-Kamala Harris ads. They are now actually back to where the Joe Biden campaign was back in June, which is very much focusing on Donald Trump's conduct, on just making this election a referendum on Trump. One extra thing I will add is I can tell you people on the Harris campaign inside the Biden White House do actually have legitimate private fears of a Trump Justice Department going after them.

If Trump were to win, there is a feeling that even if no charges come, that a lot of people are looking at their bank accounts being like, "Can I afford a big lawyer?"

There are some Republicans who also are afraid of that, by the way. Like Republicans who have now endorsed Harris, that are worried that if Trump were to win, he would potentially go after them. Yeah, J.D. Vance was out on the Sunday shows kind of trying to explain all of this. I mean, he has found himself in this position. But here's what he tried to say about whether or not Donald Trump would prosecute his political opponents if he's re-elected. Watch.

Would Donald Trump go after his political opponents? He suggested that in the past. Martha, he was president for four years and he didn't go after his political opponents. You know who did go after her political opponents? Kamala Harris, who has tried to arrest everything from pro-life activists to her political opponents. He said those people who cheated will be prosecuted. And used the Department of Justice as a weapon against people.

Well, he said that people who violated our election laws will be prosecuted. I think that's the administration of law. He didn't say people are going to go to jail because they disagree with me. That has, in fact, been the administration and the policy of Kamala Harris, Martha.

so of course he said there Alex that I Trump was president for four years he didn't go after his political opponents the reporting that we know now from these books is that well it wasn't for lack of trying it was because there are people in his government who said you can't do that that absolutely right and it's completely historical what he is saying there's been tremendous matter for not just in books New York Times at a piece also very recently that really went through although you can just look at his Twitter feed from back then when he was calling on Jeff Sessions to prosecute experts and why person

etc. So, you know, it just is not, I understand he's trying to do a political answer, but it's just not historically right.

Okay, there we have it. All right, when it comes to Harris and Donald Trump, it's men versus women in more ways than one. Up next, we're going to look at how this widening gender gap is going to impact the presidential race. Plus, the federal government forced to pause some of its storm recovery operations due to reports that an armed militia was threatening aid workers. We'll dig into the latest details on that when we return.

My campaign has raised a billion dollars. Oh my Lord. How are you not winning by a landslide? That's a question I scream into my pillow every morning.

Kamala Harris still hoping to shake things up in the waning weeks of this election. Her latest strategy is releasing details from her medical history in an attempt to bring renewed scrutiny to the health of her opponent. Harris's physician in a letter this weekend says Harris, who's 59 years old, is in, quote, excellent health, only suffering from mild seasonal allergies and slight nearsightedness. I mean, who among us?

Harris also levying an attack against Trump. Now the oldest presidential nominee in American history at 78 years old that just three months ago he himself may have used against Joe Biden. Only focused on himself and he's not. But here's the thing, North Carolina and he's not being transparent with the voters. He's not being transparent. So check this out. He refuses to release his medical records.

And joining us now, former advisor to George W. Bush and John McCain, Mark McKinnon. He is also the creator of Paramount's The Circus. Mark, if it's Monday, you're here with us. I'm so grateful to have you. Let's talk about this strategy from Harris to try to refocus on this. I mean, you've heard people like Chris Christie, for example, has been out there saying Donald Trump is not as strong of a candidate and as strong of a place now as he was in 2016. But will it work? Does it matter?

Well, good morning, Casey. Yeah, it does matter. I mean, that was Biden's problem, obviously. You can't be 66 in America and be a park ranger or a pilot, but you can run for president. And it's good for Harris to remind him that the health records is a good reminder that

that Donald Trump is basically the same age as Biden was, and people were really concerned about Biden. So they have reason to be concerned about Trump as well. So I think it's a good strategy. And by the way, I think that while panic may not be justified, panic's a good thing. I want my voters to be panicked in the last days of an election. I don't want them to be overconfident. You want them freaked out, and that's a good thing.

Speaking of panic among Democrats, I mean, the polling out over the weekend shows the race tightening, right? Both ABC and NBC showed movement from their September surveys that pulls these two closer together. I certainly am hearing from both Democrats and Republicans. People seem to think that Trump has the edge right now. I'm interested to know what you're hearing on that score and why you think the race is where it is right now.

Always thought it'd be tight, always thought it'd be close, and I'd still rather be her than him. Listen, Kamala Harris still has more upside. Trump has a ceiling. Even though he's bumping up against that ceiling, it's still a ceiling. She has more voters to get. And here's a number that I really focus on, Casey, and that is that when it was Trump v. Biden, Trump was winning new voters by plus 10%.

Harris is now winning new voters by plus 13. And I continue to say that this race is not so much about undecideds as it is about unregistered and new voters and getting her base out. And I just think at the end of the day that she's got more upside on new voters and she's got more upside on animated and enthusiastic Democratic voters. Yes, there's a gender gap, but who's going to be more excited? Women who feel a threat because of their reproductive rights?

or men because of Trump. And I always go back to George W. Bush. You know, this whole dystopic thing that you played off the top today is, I mean, that's dark, dark stuff, Casey. And, you know, Bush used to say, nobody's going to say things are going to hell, follow me. At the end, you've got to have a little bit of shining city on the hill in your message. Right. And clearly he is taking the darker turn. I mean, I guess,

My question just remains, I mean, why are people turning back toward him in this way at this point if all of what you say is true?

It's just a tightening of the base, I think, Casey. And I just, again, I always think it was going to be close. And he's just bumping up against the ceiling. And, you know, that base is a very dedicated base to Trump. So I think the base is just tightening and hardening and that's it. But I still think there's a ceiling and I still think there's more upside for Harris. So, again, I think that I don't think panic is justified, but it's a good thing to motivate your voters.

So speaking of motivating voters, Mark, The Times has this front page story today about the ground game in the final weeks and how Harris and Trump are using different strategies to get folks out. And they write this. Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump, staking their chances on two radically different theories of how to win. One tried and true, the other untested. Ms. Harris's team running an expansive version of the type of field organization that's dominated politics for decades to play.

deploying paid staff to organize and turn out every vote they can find. Mr. Trump's campaign is going after a smaller universe of less frequent voters while relying on well-funded but inexperienced outside groups to reach a broader swath of voters. I mean, one of the interesting things here to me, Mark, is that

Trump's team seems to think that people that have never voted before are going to go with him, right? And in past cycles, Democrats have always been able to bank on that. They've been able to bank on, well, we get more people out. Most of those people are going to go for us. How do you think that group is breaking this time? Well, I think that if they weren't already for Trump, that they're not likely to be

And listen, I think at the end of the day, in any enterprise, what would you rather have, paid workers or volunteers? Paid workers are always better. They're always more motivated. And they're always going to do harder work and better work. So I think the paid strategy works because it's worked before. And why not go with something that's worked? So using volunteers to go after boaters who've never boated before, I think it's just fishing in a very small pool where there aren't very many fish with fishing rods that don't have bait on it.

Mark, before I let you go, what are you looking at here in the final days that you think people aren't paying close enough attention to?

Well, I'll tell you the one thing that I think people are paying a lot of attention to that may not be a factor, which is just this, you know, the obsession with the October surprise. And I just think that this may be the election with the surprises. There's no surprise. It's interesting that there's, you know, usually there'd be one last big debate to kind of like, you know, focus people and push things over the edge one way or the other. Or, you know, an explosion in the Middle East, worse than it already is.

or another storm that's worse than the two we've already had. Those may not happen, and so it may just simply come down to the mechanics that you're talking about right now, like the voter turnout. It all comes down to turnout is the most cliched phrase ever in politics, but in this case, it's the election. It may be the one that's really true. I mean, is it possible, Mark, that we're just now incapable of being surprised anymore?

Well, that's true. Listen, after eight years of doing the circus every week, it's just like, oh, my God, I can't believe it. One more thing. They would have thrown us out of the room if we pitched that as fiction. So, yeah, you're right. I mean, we already got a new top of the ticket. That's kind of where I am. Mark McKinnon, always grateful to have you, sir. Thank you so much for being here.

Thanks, Lacey. Kick it. All right. 52 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Police in California arresting an armed man near a Trump rally. Authorities say the man allegedly had a shotgun, a handgun, a high-capacity magazine, and multiple passports with him in his car. Two federal officials tell CNN there's no evidence the man was attempting to assassinate the former president.

Michigan's Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer is apologizing for this now viral video. In it, Whitmer, wearing that Harris Walls camo hat, feeds a Dorito to a podcaster. This is a recreation of a TikTok trend. The governor said it was meant to promote the bipartisan CHIPS Act, which provides funding for microchip manufacturing in the U.S. But a group representing Catholic bishops claimed it mocked the sacrament of communion. In a statement, Whitmer said that was not her intention.

Let me just leave TikTok for the kids, y'all. All right, FEMA forced to pause its aid operations in some areas of North Carolina over the weekend due to reports of threats against its workers. The Washington Post reports that National Guard troops saw members of an armed militia threatening FEMA workers in North Carolina. It is not known yet whether the reported threats

were credible. We have been reporting this out here at CNN. Laura, I know you're planning a trip to North Carolina. This is an example of what happens when online conspiracy theories explode into the real world. We now have government workers trying to help Americans who can't do their jobs

because they have come under threat. Yeah, not just online conspiracy theories, but conspiracy theories promoted by the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, and other leading Republicans. I was just talking last night, texting some North Carolina sources on the ground, one who...

It's a resident who said that their FEMA inspection was canceled and they were told by FEMA that it was because of the fact that the FEMA inspectors had to go back to their hotel, had to retreat from the field because of these potential threats from militia. And then I was told by another source in a different county that they were hearing that militia was also in that county slightly confronting law enforcement.

there is this fear they're on the ground right now and it's also impeding the ability of these uh... impacted helene survivors to get any of the federal assistance mean the big news has been so much that the republican congressman from north carolina

Chuck Edwards, he had to put out a fact check. This is the first fact check he had to do. It says, Hurricane Helene was not geoengineered by the government to seize and access lithium deposits in Chimney Rock. That's the sort of rumors that they're having to confront right now.

right now yeah and that i mean that press releases just a remarkable modern document in that it kind of lays out point by point by point all of these things and there are many more many more than them and says look this is none of this is true uh... and now of course we're here alright let's turn now back to the campaign tonight vice presidential candidate tim walsh participating in a hunters and anglers for harris walsh organizing call it's the latest effort by the campaign to try to leverage walsh's

folksy football coach and hunter persona to appeal to male voters. This push is coming after poll after poll tells the same story. Women are backing Harris by a 14-point margin in this survey, men supporting Trump by 16 points. That divide, of course, part of the reason former President Obama gave this message to black male voters when he made his campaign trail debut last week. I'm speaking to men directly.

Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president. And you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that. These aren't ordinary times, and these are not ordinary elections. You're lucky Michelle's not here. The Trump ticket acknowledging the widening gender gap over the weekend, making this pitch to female voters.

I'm aware of the gender gap. I see the polling that everybody else does. I also think there's some evidence that we've made some progress in the last few weeks. I think two issues in particular where I just make my pitch directly to women voters, Shannon, is number one, on public safety. Don't we want our communities to not have these criminal gangs like we see in Aurora, Colorado, running rampage? The final point I'd make, Shannon, is that inflation often hits

young women and women harder than other groups. We know that women sometimes are the ones who see the effects of these higher rents, higher grocery prices, higher electric and utility bills because they're the ones who are often administering things. Our panel is back. Matt Gorman, we've been having a really interesting conversation about this honestly all morning. We started kind of the show on this. I want to play this Harris ad.

that is basically titled Man Enough. Let's watch it. We'll talk about it. I'm excited. I'm a man. I'm a man. I'm a man, man. And I'm man enough. I'm man enough to enjoy a barrel-proof bourbon. Meat. Man enough to cook my steak rare. I ain't afraid of bears. That's what bear hugs are for. I'll tell you another thing I sure as shit am not afraid of.

Women. I'm not afraid of women. I'm not afraid of women. They want to control their bodies? I say go for it. I'm sick of so-called men domineering, belittling, and controlling women just so they can feel more powerful. That's not how my mama raised me. I love women. I love women who support their families. Women who decide not to have families. Women who take charge. And I'm man enough to help them win.

I thought it was a fake until Jacob Breed, who did that ad, was interviewed on CNN. I'm like, "Oh wow, this guy's real." Because if you wanted to make an ad trolling, there's no better one than that. This is the problem. We've talked a lot about our issues with women as a party and struggles to win them over the last couple of years. Democrats have a serious problem with men. And if you notice, too,

when they're trying to appeal to men, they're doing it in the context of women. It's like, I'm not afraid of a woman. It's like that is not a message to men. And I think that is what they are struggling with. They just simply don't have a real message and no authenticity to which to do it. - If the message is condescending,

And I know it's my part. It just comes across as condescending. And kind of like that ad seemed like a joke to me as well. But it's not the way that you would, I mean, if a man talked to me like that, women would be up in arms. Guys sitting like this. Yeah, they would just be up in arms. The message is just so condescending. And I think that the authenticity point is a really good one. That if Democrats really want to go after men, they need to figure out a better way to talk to them. And they need to figure out a better way that's more genuine to who they are in

in their message. Yeah, it's really a Mars versus Venus sort of election. There we go. We nailed you. You heard it here first. Yeah, yeah. And the fact is that it already was that election even before you had Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket. Because to Matt's point, Democrats

were struggling with men. This gender gap existed well before you had Kamala Harris set this up together. Well, and the Republican National Convention, I mean, this was before Harris was at the top of the ticket, was a, you know, testosterone fist. Yeah. Right? Hulk Hogan tearing his shirt off. I mean, Tucker Carl. Like, every person that spoke right before Donald Trump was sort of a, you know, presented themselves, at least, as a hyper-masculine dude. Right. And, of course, when you... Yeah, well. All right.

Mars versus Venus election, I think. We summed it up right there. Thanks to our panel for being here. Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. 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.