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Harris Courts Black Male Voters With Media Appearances, Policy Proposals; 21 Days Until Election Day; Reuters: Harris In Talks With Joe Rogan's Podcast. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 15, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:51]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's be clear that your underlying premise is not an assumption that I'm supposed to have Black men in my back pocket in terms of their vote, and that I should be -- I should be taking that for granted because I don't. Black men are no different from anybody else. They expect that you have to earn their vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Kamala Harris making a number of appearances this week with popular black media personalities as she tries to rebuild the diverse Democratic coalition that helped elect Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Harris releasing yesterday what she called a, quote, opportunity agenda, including loans for Black entrepreneurs and investments in training and mentorship. The effort comes as polling indicates, an erosion of support among Black men that could be decisive, especially in states like Georgia, where early voting begins today, and where both Harris and Trump will make stops this week.

The frustration of Black men creating an opening for Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER: How many of you are voting for Donald Trump?

Raise your hands.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

How many of you are voting against Kamala Harris?

One, two, three, four, five.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't pay for things every single week. I run out of food during the week. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I feel as though the Democratic Party and most of the people who are -- who oppose him are trying to make a fool out of me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the last four years, we have seen over promising.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Joining us now is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter, LaTosha Brown.

LaTosha, thanks very much for being with us this morning. You heard there some young black men expressing frustration with the way that their lives are going right now and talking a little bit about the Democratic Party and why there may be a disconnect.

What did you make of what you heard there? And what does Kamala Harris need to do to win these people over?

LATOSHA BROWN, COFOUNDER, BLACK VOTERS MATTER: You know, it's interesting. This isn't something that we're just hearing. We've heard this for years. I've been doing organizing work from last 25 years.

There's absolutely a frustration in our community, Black men, Black women, alike, around making sure that they're getting the kind of economic opportunities as other communities that their issues are centered in the political parties.

I think what we're seeing is we're hearing -- I think there was a more attention by the media around to lift him and hear those voices, I think that what VP Harris did on yesterday, Madam Vice President Harris did on yesterday literally lifting up an agenda that says, I see you. There is something for you, and these was and I recognize that some of the front frustrations come from not just in terms of this last administration, but literally a long history of neglect. I'm not censoring the issues in the voices of Black men.

HUNT: Why do you think that some Black men are interested in voting for Donald Trump? What is it about Trump himself that appeals?

BROWN: You know, it's interesting as I think there's a difference between conversation around Trump and the commitment. We heard the same thing when -- in Georgia around Herschel Walker and Senator Warnock, that this was supposed to be a blowout, everyone, all these black man ever going to vote for Herschel Walker. And that simply did not happen.

I think what we're capturing is I do believe that there's an issue of frustration and their frustration, the frustration with one candidate does not necessarily mean there's going to be exodus to the other candidate.

But to the extent that I do think that there is some appeal around Donald Trump, I think part of it has been really around his rhetoric, his sexist rhetoric. I think some of it has really been around he's a -- he's a caricature. And so he's constantly in the media.

I think that a lot of that is I think they're responded to the personality of Trump but I think ultimately when it gets down to who's going to turn out to vote, I do not anticipate or see that this large group of Black men or Black anybody is going to vote for Donald Trump?

HUNT: Yeah. Fair enough, it's more than this question of, can Trump push that margin to a place where it does make a real, a real difference.

[16:35:03]

How do you think this plays specifically in Georgia where early voting starts today?

BROWN: You know, I think what that means is you've got to hit the ground running. I think that the Harris campaign, they've been to Georgia several times and I think she's coming again this week. I think that's going to be really important and key and critical.

HUNT: What I know is that some of the information we've been running into on the ground is misinformation and disinformation. There've been all kinds of means and social media posts that actually framed information about this campaign that's quite frankly wrong around both candidates.

And so part of I think what has to happen at this stage is, one, making sure that were getting the right information to people on the ground, connecting with them, and turning them out.

HUNT: All right. LaTosha Brown for us this morning, really appreciate your time today. Thanks so much for being on with us.

BROWN: Thank you for having me.

HUNT: All right. Let's turn now to this. The Kamala Harris campaign using Donald Trump's words against him after the former president suggested using the U.S. military to handle what he called the enemy from within and so-called radical left lunatics on Election Day. Both Harris and her running mate Tim Walz focusing in on those comments during rallies in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Monday, with the vice president playing video of Donald Trump's remarks for her crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: He tells us who he is. I will show you one example of Donald Trump's worldview and intentions. Please roll the clip.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The worst people or the enemy from within. The enemy from within.

HARRIS: He's talking about did he considers anyone who doesn't support him or who will not bend to his will an enemy of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance defending Trump's -- Trump's comments during a stop in Minnesota, calling the use of military force justifiable, should there be violence on election day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Is it that's why we use those assets if they're rioting and looting and burning cities down to the ground? Of course, it is. If that happens, if you have a major reaction to an election 2024, of course, you ought to commit law enforcement resources to bring order back to our cities.

REPORTER: What does Donald Trump mean by enemy within? How do you interpret?

VANCE: Well, I think one of the ways I interpreted is in the past 3- 1/2 years, Kamala Harris's open border has allowed at least hundreds and maybe thousands of people that we know are on the terrorism watch list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HNT: All right. Our panel is back.

Brad Todd, I think it's worth noting like there's a difference between using law enforcement to deal with riots and using the United States military to deal with riots. They're two very different things and they seem to be conflated there in that -- in that clip from Vance, but I'm interested to know what you think of the strategy Harris is using here, which does seem to be a different one, where instead of simply focusing on joy and kind of the way her campaign came out of the gate after the top of the ticket switched to one where they are actively trying to say and we talked about this a little bit at the beginning of the show, but they are trying to say, look, you should be worried about Donald Trump's next term.

Is it effective?

BRAD TODD, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think it's a trap for both of them.

I think it's a trap for Donald Trump to talk about the people who are against him and his instead of talking about the people he's fighting for. He's at his best when he's talking about the vote -- the working class voters that he's trying to stand up for. So I think to trap for him.

I think it's a trap for Harris because she already has people who are worried about that, about Donald Trump. She's got to worry about people who think the economy's bad, who think that we can have four more years of this administration. I think she needs to be litigating how she's going to do things differently from Joe Biden.

That's I think it's a trap to go backwards for both of them. KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But one of the things

you have to do in a campaign is move the conversation to the places where you're strong and it is true that she has disadvantaged on the economy, doesn't mean she shouldn't talk about the economy. I think she has steadily made progress if you look at the polling.

She's closing that gap on who you trust more on the economy. That's important. She has to do it.

HUNT: But she's also got to move the conversation back to a place where she's strong and by driving at these things that do make people uncomfortable, that maybe make a voter who would not otherwise feel motivated to come out and vote in this election, say I can't have Donald Trump be in the White House again.

That's one piece of what she's got to do in this final three weeks.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Brad, your point. I wonder, and this is putting it out there. I wonder if all the criticism that the about the Harris campaign depth are just playing it safe and not doing challenging media. And so on, has gotten in there heads to the point that now they're just going more on the offensive against the former president.

Now, whether that works and actually turns the voters off in the way that you're saying might actually get the case. And we'll -- we'll know in three weeks, but I am curious as to whether this sharper edge is perhaps in response to some of that.

HUNT: Well, we also have to talk today, Jonah, I'm going to talk a little bit later. She is going into potentially more difficult terrain with some of these interviews and the things that she's doing as well.

[06:40:01]

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. No, it will be very interesting to see the Bret Baier interview on Fox with Kamala Harris and maybe Joe Rogan. People are talking about that.

On those point though, like I think we in Washington pundit class, all that we focus enormous amount on undecided persuadable voter is these people in the middle, right? Swing districts, swing states, and all that kind of stuff, when there are actually millions and millions of people who say in 2020, largest turnout ever, 80 million people who are eligible to vote didn't vote. And that is a vast pool of people a lot of them are pro-Trump but the choices stay home or vote for Trump, but is not vote for Harris or they're not undecided, they're just trying to decide whether to bother voting.

I think that's also true on the Democratic side. And some of these arguments help motivate people who think the election doesn't matter to get off the couch I think it works both ways.

HUNT: All right. Very interesting.

Still head here on CNN THIS MORNING, men versus women, Mars and Venus at the ballot box, Donald Trump trying to reach women voters on Fox News, Kamala Harris could be a guest on a podcast that's really popular, especially with men.

Plus, Republican Congressman Byron Donalds joins us live as his state recovers from two hurricanes and readies for the upcoming election.

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[06:45:46]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL BIDEN, FIRST LADY: Joe will be a president for all Americans.

MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We need to decide right here and right now that Joe Biden will never be president.

HARRIS: He's not trying to divide the people. He's not trying to sow hate and division the way Donald Trump is.

TRUMP: We're doing very well. The polls are looking actually great. We're doing very well. We're going to have a big victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That's what the 2020 presidential race sounded like exactly four years ago today, when the nation was preparing for what would ultimately be relatively close election. But let's look back at the polling from October 15, 2020. It shows Joe Biden maintained significant ten point lead over Donald Trump at this stage in the race.

Today, though, Kamala Harris trails -- Trump trails Kamala Harris by just two points in the latest ABC/Ipsos poll. That is, of course, within the margin of error. Trump insists he's feeling confident about his place in the polls and his supporters' ability to push him over the finish line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are up in the polls fairly nicely, fairly nicely, but it's really important and we're going to turn this country around. It's the greatest movement in the history of our country, MAGA, Make America Great Again and when we are indeed going to make America great again.

America has never -- we're declining nation right now. We're a nation in decline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now to discuss Republican Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida.

Congressman, very grateful to have you on the show today. Thank you very much for being here. I actually want to start with the comments that Donald Trump made over

the weekend about using the National Guard at potentially the military, should there be chaos after Election Day. Let me play those comments and I'll ask you to respond. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left, lunatics. And I think they are -- it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary by the military because they can't let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Sir, do you think it would be appropriate to use the United States military to address any chaos after the election?

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): Well, it's good to be with you.

Obviously, we don't want to have the United States military. We're not going to have that be deployed in the United States. That's been long- standing law in our country since the founding of the republic. But I think it is important to note that if there is a time where you have to deploy the National like Donald Trump did want to do on January 4 of 2021 when he authorized 10,000 National Guard troops to be at the U.S. Capitol for January 6. That is something where it could be appropriate.

Look, at the end of the day, the biggest thing we want is a continued -- continued use and an application of a peaceful transition of power. And I think that's the thing that he's most concerned about. I think every American is concerned about that.

HUNT: Are you confident he's going to accept the results of the election if he doesn't win?

DONALDS: I think, obviously, he would accept those results as long as every state follows the procedures of -- that are passed by state legislatures. And I think that we need to understand very clearly that one of the main issues in the 2020 election is that you did have state governments are state jurisdictions that were not following state law all when it comes to the procedures of their elections. They were changing those procedures at the 11th hour using COVID-19 as an excuse my view has always been in many peoples view as always and that's simply unacceptable.

All Donald Trump has ever said is, look, follow the law that are on the books, follow the procedures are on the books. And as long as that occurs, everything will be fine.

HUNT: Sir, let me ask you also about the enemy within comments that Donald Trump made there. Who do you believe he's talking about when he says the enemy within?

DONALDS: Well, I think if you take a step back over the last really 10 years that Donald Trump has been at the forefront of American politics, let's look at what actually occurred. In 2015 and 2016, he had elements of our government spying on his campaign.

That is something that is completely American, doesn't really get reported on or talked about or really how disastrous that is for our country.

[06:50:05]

But that occurred. They spied on his campaign. You had elements of this current administration --

(CROSSTALK)

HUNT: Well, it was covered. What you're talking about I think was covered extensively at the time and it has to do with some of the national security laws that we have in place. And the way that you're short handing it, I do have significant to questions about that.

I mean, he has -- he seems to be suggesting that Adam Schiff is one of these people. Is that -- do you believe Adam Schiff is an enemy within our country.

DONALDS: We know - we -- in the House, we know that Adam Schiff was using his position is then Chairman of Intel to leak information into the press. We know that. That is wrong, but that's what Adam Schiff was doing.

We do know that you have elements of the Kamala Harris-Joe Biden administration that have used the Department of Justice to be weaponized against their chief political rival. That is wrong. And so we have to be honest with ourselves as Americans, that we do not want the institutions of our government being wielded against political rivals.

But let's not talk about Donald Trump. You have elements of this Department of Justice under Merrick Garland that has targeted parents who are just simply concerned about their child's education, calling them domestic terrorists. That did occur. You have elements of this White House that were spying on the American people, suppressing the free speech of the American people.

That is the enemy within. And so I think one of the reasons you have people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., like Tulsi Gabbard, who have switched from the Democratic side of the aisle to supporting Donald Trump and his campaign because they are also concerned about the, quote, unquote, enemy from within when you have a weaponized government against the American people.

(CROSSTALK)

HUNT: I mean, this Department of Justice has also -- there was a special counsel appointed who prosecuted Hunter Biden, the president's son. You've got the president of the United States, expressing, according to Bob Woodward, regret about appointing Merrick Garland because Merrick Garland is going after the president's son. So, I mean, there are examples where this Department of Justice is

going against the White House in a way that refutes the argument you're making.

DONALDS: Well, Kasie, I mean, we're 22 days to election, but let's talk about Hunter Biden. The only reason why the Department of Justice actually went after Hunter Biden the way they've done is because they were exposed for letting so many of Hunter's criminal charges lapse by statute of limitations because they were covering up for Hunter Biden and Joe Biden.

So, once that was -- once that was exposed by the oversight committee, which I sit on, then the Department of Justice had no choice but to reverse course. That's the actual facts.

HUNT: All right. Congressman, let's turn back to the election. Before I let you go, I want to ask you about Black men in particular.

DONALDS: Sure.

HUNT: President Obama was on the campaign trail at talking -- trying to talk to Black men. Now you've got Kamala Harris going out there sitting down with media outlets where she's clearly trying to reach Black men.

Do you think her efforts are going to make a difference?

DONALDS: No, I don't, and for a number of reasons. Number one, this is the same Kamala Harris where a few years ago, she's out there saying that audio clips are available, the video clips, where there was no agenda for Black people. She actually said that works for all Americans will also work for Black people. So -- but now she's going to reverse course because she's losing in this race and try to say she's going to do an agenda specifically for Black men. I just don't think it's going to work.

Number two, she's basically had 1,400 days to enact all these types of policies. And she's done nothing, actually not even spoke to any of these things. But now that we're 20 days until November 5th, now she wants to run out there with a specific agenda? Everybody knows it's phony and it's fake. It's pandering. It's just politics, and it's not real.

At the end of the day, what Black men are looking for, like all men in our country and all people, is an economic agenda that actually works so helping you grow your wages, have prices be stable, be able to build wealth and to pass something on to the next generation.

And it is crystal clear if you compare Kamala Harris' economic record to Donald Trump's economic record, that when Donald Trump was president, wages adjusted for inflation, where significantly higher, people were able to save more, people were able to buy a home, and people were able to start building wealth.

HUNT: All right.

DONALDS: The Kamala Harris economic agenda has not been good for any American, including Black men.

HUNT: All right. Congressman Byron Donalds, thank you very much for your time this morning. I appreciate you being on.

DONALDS: Thank you.

HUNT: All right. Let's turn into this, Vice President Harris doing something she hasn't done before. She's going to sit down for a Fox News interview. It's scheduled to happen tomorrow. The vice president has faced criticism for not doing enough interviews early on in her campaign.

Now, she's trying to call out Trump for dodging reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: This man won't even debate me in a second time. He won't even debate me a second time. He didn't do the "60 Minutes" interview, which I believe every presidential candidate for president United States has done.

And one has to ask, what is Donald Trump trying to hide? What is his staff and his team trying to keep from you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:55:03]

HUNT: Trump is also making an appearance on Fox News this week. He will take a town hall in Georgia later today with all women as he tries to chip away at Harris's advantage with female voters.

And then there's this, Harris might be appearing on one of the most downloaded podcast online. "Reuters" writes this, this morning, quote, Harris campaign officials met with Joe Rogan's podcast team this week, but an appearance has not been confirmed yet. That is according to two sources -- two of the sources with knowledge of the matter.

Is this a smart play potentially, Kate, or is sitting down with Joe Rogan just a dangerous game for her?

BEDINGFIELD: I am not a huge fan of the idea of her doing Joe Rogan. I just think it will be such an uphill battle. I understand the audience, I understand the importance.

You know, I understand in the media environment, he is somebody who has enormous influence. I'm not -- you know, I'm not denigrating the reach of Joe Rogan. It's significant.

I'm not sure that's the best use of her time in the last three weeks of this campaign when she's trying to reach these particularly these swing voters in the key states.

I do -- I do think the Bret Baier interview makes sense because if you look at the Republican -- Brad and I were actually talking about this in the break. If you look at the Republican primary, as much, as many as 20 -- 20 percent of Republican voters in the Republican primary process did not vote for Donald Trump.

And those people are largely Fox News -- that's the Fox News audience. A lot of people watch Fox News, some of those voters are people she needs. So that to me makes a lot of sense.

I will be honest. I don't know that doing Joe Rogan in the last three weeks of the campaign makes ton of sense for her.

TODD: This is realignment at work. You have a working class coalition that Republicans are assembling. Now, she's trying to make, keep that from coalescing behind Donald Trump. This is -- he's got a problem in the country clubs. She's got a problem in the labor union.

HUNT: Do you think it's smart for her to do Joe Rogan?

TODD: I think right now, she's -- she's in a desperate spot in this campaign. She's trying a lot of things that are risky.

HUNT: What do you think, Jonah?

GOLDBERG: I think if she gives a good interview, it's smart for her to do. If she gives a bad one, it's a disaster.

No, no, seriously.

HUNT: That is a copout answer.

GOLDBERG: No, but that's the problem. I mean, she's -- I mean, this is one of we have is that people's attitudes about Donald Trump are completely baked in, very hard for him to move the needle on anybody.

People are still getting to know her and she sometimes prepares really well and does well. And other times like when she was on "The View" that she didn't have an answer for what she would do differently than Joe Biden, it -- the flops -- what -- I mean, that was the signal to a lot of elite Democrats to begin the bedwetting now, and that's the thing is, I don't know which Kamala Harris goes on Joe Rogan, you know?

WILLIAMS: Yeah, yeah. The question is, is she -- is she -- does she win anybody over or keep anybody that she doesn't want to vote from coming out the polls, right? As either a galvanizing the folks that you want or scaring away the folks that you don't want?

I don't know if Joe Rogan is the place to do that. Now, to Kate's point, maybe Fox News is, but again, this could be the most magical moment in American political history, or it could be an unmitigated train wreck. And we just don't get it.

GOLDBERG: It's just a huge risk/reward if she does that.

BEDINGFIELD: Yeah.

TODD: If you can't survive an hour with Joe Rogan, though, you can't probably be president.

WILLIAMS: Oh, come one, that's nonsense.

BEDINGFIELD: Well, I don't know. I don't think that's true.

I mean, Joe Rogan has -- he has an agenda. He has a worldview. He will be guns blazing in that interview.

And, look, I do think you have to in the final push of a campaign, you got to make some risky decisions. I'm not -- you know, I don't think she should play it safe entirely. But you also -- you shouldn't be reckless to me. I just don't know that the risk reward calculation there makes a ton of sense.

WILLIAMS: Yeah, when you see her in a week with a headset sitting next to UFC commentating, I think then she's probably taking this a little bit farther and might not want.

HUNT: Kate, one of the things we have seen her to Jonah's point struggle with is answering questions about how she would be different from President Biden. And clearly, there seems to be some personal sensitivity there or something going on.

What should she be saying about that? Because she's got -- if she's going to go out there and do these interview --

BEDINGFIELD: Yeah.

HUNT: I mean, Bret Baier is going to press her about this.

BEDINGFIELD: Yeah, and she should have a sharper answer on that. And I understand, of course, from human perspective, they worked very closely together and I understand why she feels like she doesn't want to go out and trash him, and I would argue she shouldn't. And she doesn't have to.

But she does need a sharper answer about how her agenda differs, places where she will be more aggressive. I don't think that that's undermining the things that she and Joe Biden have accomplished in the White House. I think that's laying out for people, you know, here's -- here's my vision for how things are going to be different.

And yes, she absolutely needs she could talk about stronger preparations for the eventuality of the fall of Roe. She could talk about being tougher on companies who are price gouging. I mean, there are ways where she could say, here's what I might have done differently, but more importantly, here's what I will do differently in the future, and that's, I think, yes, she needs a sharper answer on that.

HUNT: All right. So, we're heading towards the top of the hour, but, Brad Todd, while I have you, and for our viewers who don't know, you do a ton of work in Pennsylvania, and it is really the key to the election.

So, right here, three weeks out, who is winning in Pennsylvania?

TODD: I think Donald Trump's going to win Pennsylvania and I think he may win it by more than a point. I could see him winning by two.

HUNT: Why is that right now?

TODD: She's uniquely unsuited to the state on a variety of matters. You know, it's a working-class state that's the coalition that you win with. Obama won with the working class coalition. She's not been able to put that back together.

HUNT: Yeah, all right, really interesting. If you come back next Tuesday, I'll ask you the same question.

TODD: You got.

HUNT: We have the same conversation again.

All right. Thank you, guys, very much for being here today.

Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt.

Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.