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The Chris Wallace Show

Republicans Criticize Military Record of Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Walz; Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Press Conference after Low Number of Recent Campaign Events; Some in Media Urge Democratic Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris to Hold More Press Events and Grant Interviews; U.K. Prime Minister Criticizes Elon Musk for X Post Connected to Anti- Immigrant Riots; Elon Musk to Interview Donald Trump on X; Social Media Trend Urges Young Boys to Buy Expensive Colognes; Paris Olympic Games Preparing for Closing Ceremonies; Venezuelan Leader Nicolas Maduro Accused of Stealing Recent Presidential Election; Ukrainian Forces Cross Border into Russian Territory. Aired 10-11a ET.

Aired August 10, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: -- Olympic podium with a medal, a Gold Medal.

EMMA HAYES, U.S. WOMEN'S SOCCER HEAD COACH: Yes, I mean, we can dream. Of course, we dream about those things. Of course, there's something to aspire to. And the fact that we're in the position we're in, we're guaranteed a medal, but of course we're going for gold.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

DAVIES (on camera): The teams are at the stadium. Kickoff an hour from now, so if you don't mind, I'm going to pop off and go and enjoy the action.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Go have some fun, because you haven't been having enough fun at all. Go.

Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I told you it was going to be special hour. "The Chris Wallace Show" starts right now.

KARA SWISHER, PODCAST HOST: Hello, and welcome. I'm Kara Swisher taking over Chris's chair this week while he's out. I've never used the teleprompter, so I'm going to Tim Walz this thing, wearing my badass shoes and my smart lady glasses. Now let's break down the biggest stories with the smartest people we know.

Today we're asking, as Kamala Harris and Tim Walz enjoy a campaign kickoff around the country, the new V.P. nominee is already getting criticized. So did she make the right choice?

Then the presser pivot -- Donald Trump faces reporters as he hones his attacks on Harris. But was it enough to regain momentum or was it meandering?

And the medal moments, the panel votes on the Gold Medal winning highlights from the Paris Olympics.

Everyone is here and ready to go. So sit back, relax, and let's talk about it.

Up first with the V.P. pick behind her, Vice President Kamala Harris is barnstorming the country with her newly minted partner as the Trump campaign lays on the attacks and questions swirl about what Harris needs to do next.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Welcome the next vice president of the United States.

SWISHER: Kamala Harris introducing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, and taking the new Democratic ticket on the trail, going on a battleground blitz to several swing states, even ripping a page from the Trump playbook, pulling up to her rally right from the plane.

GOV. TIM WALZ, (D) MINNESOTA: I couldn't be prouder to be on this ticket.

SWISHER: The selection of Walz, a former high school teacher and football coach, drew praise from Democrats.

GOV. JARED POLIS, (D) COLORADO: Practical problem solver, 24 years Army National Guard. I mean, just a heck of a guy.

SWISHER: But Republicans quickly seized on something Walz said.

WALZ: And we can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.

SWISHER: To say the retired National Guardsman lied about serving in combat.

SEN. J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? When was this -- what was this weapon that you carried into war?

SWISHER: While the Harris campaign wants to look to the future.

HARRIS: We're not going right now.

SWISHER: Right now, it's what Harris isn't doing that Trump is harping on.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's not doing any news conference. You know why she's not doing it? Because she can't do a news conference.

(END VIDEO TAPE) SWISHER: Here with me today, "New York Times" journalist and "The Interview" podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro, conservative pollster and opinion writer Kristen Soltis Anderson, in the chair I usually sit in, "New York Times" columnist Jamelle Bouie, and John McCormack, senior editor at "The Dispatch." Welcome, everybody.

So are you going to behave today?

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, "NEW YORK TIMES" JOURNALIST AND PODCAST HOST: Absolutely not.

(LAUGHTER)

SWISHER: Let's just assume we're not going to.

So Kristen, did Harris make the right choice with Walz? Nearly 90 percent of Democratic voters say they don't know anything about him, which is maybe a good thing. And Walz apparently did tell the Harris team about the military service. And so they were ready for the attacks. What are your thoughts?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, FOUNDING PARTNER, ECHELON INSIGHTS: Well, it's a choice that has made both Democrats and Republicans pretty happy. So it remains to be seen who is right about their assessment of the political impact that Walz will. And this is definitely a pick that seems to have unified Democrats. You are not really hearing any complaints from any faction of the Democratic Party about the selection, which may be a benefit to having chosen him over somebody like Shapiro, who I think Republicans genuinely were more concerned about. I don't think it's just bluster when you hear somebody like, say, Kellyanne Conway, tweeting, oh, she didn't pick Shapiro. I think that was legitimate. They were concerned about him, but only one of those sides will be right.

SWISHER: Which one do you think?

ANDERSON: I think ultimately vice presidents don't matter that much, so party unity probably in the short term was a smarter play. But he's very unknown, I guess as Shapiro would be. A lot of vetting that's going to happen in real-time in front of voters.

SWISHER: Lulu, what do you think of the controversies around him?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What I think is that he's a good pick. I think he has shown himself to be pretty deft in his messaging. I think that the term "controversies" isn't the right one. This is the usual attacks that happened. This is a man who served his country for 24 years in the military and then tried to serve his country in another way by going into office. And so I think these issues are very important to veterans. I don't know how important they will be to the general public.

[10:05:03]

SWISHER: What about this Swift Boating attempt, which happened to John Kerry. Most people think it's not going to work this time. JOHN MCCORMACK, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE DISPATCH": Yes, I don't think that it's really equivalent to exactly the swift boating attack. I thought the real issue there was Kerry's testimony that came back. I think it's wrong to question service in general. I do think that accuracy matters. I think that people, veterans who did serve in war when people say they served in war, they feel offended by that. So I do think it matters, and that he can be held accountable.

I don't think it's going to be a huge issue like it was in 2004 because, I mean, Kerry's Vietnam service was at the heart of his -- at the heart of his campaign, and war, the Iraq war was at the center of that campaign as well. So I think that it's a minor hit on him and a legitimate one.

SWISHER: But Jamelle, what do you think? Because it sometimes -- they had J.D. Vance doing it, who himself wasn't really in combat either. I mean, he did serve in Iraq. Talk a little bit about that, yes.

JAMELLE BOUIE, OPINION COLUMNIST, "NEW YORK TIMES": I'm not entirely sure that I find the hit all that impactful for the simple reason that the response which the Harris campaign has had is that, like, listen, this guy served in National Guard for 24 years. He served for years past when he could have retired. And his decision to serve that additional four years shows his commitment to serving his country. And so the notion that this is somehow stolen valor for doesn't really, I think, land, right? I grew up on a military basis. My parents served in the military. And when I think about whether my parents would feel offended by that particular language, I don't think they would. I don't think that's something that would get their hackles up.

SWISHER: Did you ask them?

BOUIE: I have not asked them.

SWISHER: Yes.

BOUIE: But I think their first response -- the first response to Walz would likely be like it's not just good that he served but that he enlisted as well.

SWISHER: Right.

BOUIE: He's not an officer. He didn't go --

SWISHER: Not fancy.

BOUIE: Right, not fancy. He served, he enlisted, and he worked his way up the ranks.

SWISHER: So let's talk about something that is getting a little bit more purchase, or at least among journalists and pundits, is does Harris do an interview or press conference, which Trump was, and Vance and GOP complained that she hadn't done a formal interview press conference. Others say she doesn't need to do it.

Lulu, you, of course, want an interview. So do I. GARCIA-NAVARRO: I want an interview, of course. So do you. But the

reason we want interviews, as members of the media, is not because were greedy. It's because we represent people. We are there to inform the public. And there are a lot of questions that actually she needs to answer.

If I'm a strategist, I would say no, of course not. She shouldn't be giving interviews, because at this point she has a lot of goodwill, and what's going to happen in any interview that she does, that's going to be clipped, it's going to be pushed up by the opposition, and right now, she's riding a wave. So if I was a strategist, I understand why they're not sort of running towards that.

But as a journalist, I mean, we don't know her positions on, I don't know, the Supreme Court. We don't know her positions are on statehood for D.C. I mean, just because I happen to live here, I'm curious. Loads of things that are really important for the general public to know, and so therefore, she does have to sit down, and we do really need to hear from her in that format.

SWISHER: Does that matter? Do you think it matters? I hate to turn in my journalist thing, but if I were her, I wouldn't do it until after the convention, at least.

MCCORMACK: I mean, it's been good politics for her. No one can deny she's had a good couple of weeks. But she did skip the traditional media vetting process that accompanies a primary campaign. I mean, so which of these positions that she took in 2020 that she no longer holds? She's been putting out statements through aides, background quotes to the press. But she needs to put this in her own words, tell us where she stands.

As Lulu said, I reached out to the campaign last week. She endorsed this idea of Supreme Court term limits. Now, that could be an idea that's a constitutional mammoth that would take three quarters of states and bipartisan buy-it. Or it could be, from my view, a fairly radical plan, effectively pack the Supreme Court and remove conservative justices. I think she needs to put that -- be clear on those things like that.

SWISHER: But does it matter with voters, Kristen?

ANDERSON: I think it will matter.

SWISHER: Eventually.

ANDERSON: I think eventually she's going to have to answer these questions. I don't know if it matters if she answers them this week or next week, or the week after, but at a certain point it does begin to seem like, wait a minute, what are they hiding?

And remember, for a lot of voters that didn't like Joe Biden and very much wanted him to step aside, the hit on him was, what is being hidden here from voters? And eventually it became clear, oh goodness, he is not in good shape, and hence he had to step aside.

SWISHER: Right.

ANDERSON: So if Harris is also sort of still kind of being concealed from the public in some way -- now, I don't know if your median voters is going to see it that way, because you see her alive.

SWISHER: She answers questions.

ANDERSON: And so I think -- but it will be a shame if we have to get all the way to the September 10th debate before she's actually asked, hey, you opposed fracking. Now you support it. When did you change your mind and why?

SWISHER: Right.

ANDERSON: Hey, you supported it, now you oppose it. When did you change your mind and why? It would be a shame if we have to wait all the way to --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I don't think it's a shame, though. I mean, I will say, just as a counterargument, we are about to have the Democratic Convention. That's going to be a big ad for Democrats, so that's in two weeks. That's momentum up to that. Then there's the hate -- the glow that comes out after that. We're already into September. Early voting starts in September in many states. And then we're just in the last push to the election.

[10:10:02]

So this actually short run has worked in her favor because it's all momentum.

SWISHER: Yes, yes, exactly.

So Jamelle, one of the things, the DNC, the convention is next week. Should the Dems pack it with celebrity? How should it go here? I mean, to me, they should be talking about policy, but should they pack it with celebrities? Some have speculated Taylor Swift or Beyonce or something like that. What do you think should happen?

BOUIE: I think it would be a mistake to pack it with celebrities. I think that when you look at what the message the ticket is clearly trying to push, and that's apparent with the choice of Walz, which is that this is a ticket of normalcy. These are normal people. Walz's attack on Republicans, that they're weird, that Trump and Vance are weird, I think you would want to emphasize that in the convention by focusing on normal people. I think one of the strengths of the Walz pick is that it sends this clear message that you can be a regular white guy.

ANDERSON: There's nothing abnormal about Taylor Swift. Go ahead, keep going.

BOUIE: You can be a regular, basic white guy and still be a loyal Democrat. You can still, you'll still have a part in this party, and not just a part, but you can be at the very top of the leadership. And sort of emphasizing that kind of message, I think, is what they should do with that convention.

SWISHER: Donald Trump spent an hour taking questions from reporters this week, but only holding one rally as he struggles to regain his post-convention momentum. What can he do to find the big Mo and get people looking at him again?

Then that's not true. Elon Musk's flurry of misinformation which some fear could impact the election.

And later, what's that smell? The trend among teenage boys that's costing moms like me a ton of money.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:16:26]

SWISHER: Donald Trump spent most of his week off the campaign trail, except for a rally Friday night in ruby red Montana, and the press conference that had a little bit of everything.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The most dangerous period of time I've ever seen for our country.

SWISHER: Dire warnings from Donald Trump to kick off an hour-long press conference that included attacks on Kamala Harris.

TRUMP: The least admired, least respected, and the worst vice president.

SWISHER: A focus on issues like the border crisis.

TRUMP: Millions of people coming in, and our country cannot sustain it.

SWISHER: And talk of crowd sizes, including comparing his January 6th rally to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

TRUMP: Same number of people. If not, we had more.

SWISHER: And although Trump claimed --

TRUMP: I'm leading by a lot.

SWISHER: The latest CNN bullet poll showed a statistically tied race with Harris, who Trump spent most of the week bashing on social media, including misspelling her name several times.

SEN. J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Obviously, he loves to give people nicknames. And I think that he's going to keep on doing that.

SWISHER: But that's not what some fellow Republicans want.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R-SC): I would encourage President Trump to prosecute that case against Kamala Harris's bad judgment.

SWISHER: A case he hopes to make on the debate stage after changing his mind and agreeing to three debates with the vice president.

TRUMP: But I look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SWISHER: So John, what can Trump do to regain the momentum?

MCCORMACK: I think the first thing he can do is stop digging. Last weekend he went to Georgia and decided to attack the very popular Governor Brian Kemp as a very disloyal guy, when Brian Kemp has been completely loyal except for on one issue, which was saying that the 2020 election wasn't stolen, or rather not trying to do anything to overturn that election.

The week before that, he questioned whether Kamala Harris had always identified as authentically African American, just very stupid --

SWISHER: Very quizzical look on your face.

MCCORMACK: Yes.

SWISHER: And he's doing this why?

MCCORMACK: He should not be doing that. So I say stop digging. I do think that the press conference, despite some of the, again, wacky things that happened in that, it did serve his purpose of at least getting everyone talking about why isn't Kamala Harris doing these press events.

SWISHER: Right, but Jamelle, do you think -- how do you get the momentum? Because a lot of it is the hand waving old hits he's trying over and over again.

BOUIE: The only way I think Trump could reestablish momentum is by establishing a real campaign face, like actually doing the kinds of things that did benefit him, especially in 2016 and 2020, you know, being an active campaigner. And I think what the press conference demonstrated is that he is much diminished from four years ago or even eight years ago, and in being much-diminished, I think it's just more difficult but for him to maintain that pace of campaigning.

SWISHER: Right, Kristen, he has no other public campaign events scheduled this week. That felt that press conference felt a little like one of those pandemic ones. It felt like, I was like, oh, that again.

ANDERSON: Normally, somebody who is running for president of the United States who spends a week with less than 100 days to Election Day just doing nothing in any of the battleground states, raising some money in Montana and that's it, you'd say that's political malpractice. What's going on? But let's consider the rest of the year Donald Trump has had. A

Republican primary that he largely sat out and went in his favor even though he really didn't participate in it. And then a presidential race against Joe Biden that he also barely participated in, and that worked out very well for him. I think right now what you are seeing is a campaign that's kind of flailing a little bit because the sit back and do nothing, let Donald Trump campaign from his basement effectively, strategy was very successful for him up until the moment that Kamala Harris became the Democrats' presumptive nominee.

[10:20:04]

SWISHER: So?

ANDERSON: And now he seems to not be able to retool that strategy --

SWISHER: Not wake up.

ANDERSON: -- to get back out there.

SWISHER: Right, but Lulu, let me give you an easy one. I mean, presidenting is hard, right, or becoming a presidential candidate is hard. What should he do?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'm not sure I'm going to give former President Trump any advice simply because --

SWISHER: But you must because you're wearing those fine shoes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'm sorry, I want to say, first of all, yes, I'm wearing sneakers in, your honor. But no, what I would say is this -- he is much-diminished. You cannot but look at this press conference and see that he cannot keep focus anymore. He cannot prosecute the case as has been the demand of Republicans. He made up an entire story about being on a helicopter that crashed and that there was some conversation. It's like fanfiction --

SWISHER: Almost crashed.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Almost crashed. It was like fanfiction. This, I think what we're seeing is fatigue. The more voters that I talked to, there is this sense that we've seen all this before, and there is a desire to turn the page. I mean, in my family, I have people who support Trump. My stepfather voted for Trump twice. He's going to vote for Kamala Harris this time. And so it is a small story, but it is something where you are starting to see people look at Donald Trump and wonder, is this man actually capable, in the same way that they were looking at Biden and wondering is this man really capable? They're looking at Trump --

SWISHER: But he's an excellent politician when he wants to be, right?

ANDERSON: He is when it's more fun, though. When he's like kind of freewheeling and it seems like he's into it and he's, quote-unquote, playing the hits, that's different than what I feel like we've seen this last week. He does not seem to be someone who is out there enjoying it, I think because he knows his lead has started to evaporate. I think he has much more fun when he's ahead than when he's behind, and that's showing.

BOUIE: And he's not disciplined and never has been. He's never been someone who can actually execute a plan. At the very most, at the very best he can sometimes lay low when he's ahead. When he's ahead he can kind of be like, OK, I'm going to win a back off. But this situation of being behind and needing to make up ground and do so in a disciplined and coordinated manner, that, by all indication, it's beyond his capacity.

SWISHER: So you're seeing the oldest hits. John, can he stick to policy issues? Do you do see him capable of it? There's lots of issues.

MCCORMACK: He's never been able to. I think it's really going to come down to how he can handle the debates. I think despite the, again, the crazy mix in with a policy arguments, his debate performances in 2020 and 2016 were wildly disparate. I think if he can put in solid debate performances, that could help him turn things around.

SWISHER: So what should he do? Go ahead, what should he do?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I have a prediction, though. I actually think that the next debate is going to be another one of these very defining debates. And I think he's going to lose, and I think he's going to lose badly, and I think simply because of the comparison.

SWISHER: All right, but to talk about the debates, Kristen, what do both of them need to do, and what do both of them me to avoid?

ANDERSON: Well, what Trump needs to do is stay on policy. Again, easier said than done.

SWISHER: The economy?

ANDERSON: Understanding that this is Donald Trump we're talking about. But the economy is still an issue where when you ask voters, which party do you trust more, they still say Republicans on the economy. They still say Republicans on issues like immigration. There are a lot of issues that Trump, if he can stay focused on them, he could put some points on the board, and especially if he presses Harris on, look, I've always been in the same place on immigration and you haven't, he could mix it up and score some points.

But that's a really big if.

SWISHER: What about her?

ANDERSON: This is going to be very --

SWISHER: What about Vice President Harris?

ANDERSON: So what I think she needs to do is not let Donald Trump rattle her. I think she needs to, for those voters who are saying, I've heard that you're very progressive. I've heard that you are way outside the mainstream. I've heard that you hold some views that seem like I just can't go there with you. I think she needs to speak to the those voters, because she's clearly -- she has locked up the Democratic base. She does not need to speak to progressives and rally them anymore. She's going to have to speak to that middle in the debate.

SWISHER: What about == what do you think she needs to do?

BOUIE: I think that's exactly right. I think that the debate is an opportunity for her, not introduce herself to national, really say this is who I am. Here's why you should not be afraid of me being president. I think it's an opportunity to lean into her background and persona as a prosecutor.

I would say on sort of a tactical level, don't get bogged down in whatever Trump is saying. I think Democrats habitually make this mistake in debates of trying to answer when the goal is to attack and present yourself.

SWISHER: And also, fun aunt is working for her, "funt". That was, of course, on "SNL". What do you she needs, very quickly?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes. I think she needs to really stay on message. I think she needs to try address exactly that, this sort of median voter. And I also think she does need to show some joy and some personality and to lean into her gender, because that's a place where Donald Trump is very weak.

[10:25:00]

SWISHER: All right, Trump is also cozying up to Elon Musk just as the X owner is in a war of words with one of America's top allies. We'll discuss.

Also ahead, golden moments, we'll pick our favorite Olympic highlights as the Paris Games prepare to come to an end, giant sigh.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:02]

SWISHER: From chief executive to agitator-in-chief. Elon Musk is facing increasing backlash over the use of his X platform to push his own political agenda. This week, Musk was accused of fueling massive anti-immigration riots engulfing towns and cities in the United Kingdom after he promoted anti-immigrant rhetoric and posted that, quote, "civil war" was inevitable there. The British prime minister responded with this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Let me also say to large social media companies, and those who run them, violent disorder, clearly whipped up online, that is also a crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SWISHER: Musk is also pushing his agenda here at home. He's posted a deepfake video of Kamala Harris in which she appears to call herself a deep state puppet. Oh, Elon. He's boosted unfounded conspiracies that Joe Biden's withdrawal from the race was a type of coup. And he's falsely suggested that the Secret Service may be behind Donald Trump's assassination attempt. Since his re-branding of Twitter into X, Musk has been giving a voice to right-wing conservatives and tearing down liberal media, much like Rupert Murdoch did with FOX News and his media empire decades ago.

Lulu, is Elon Musk the next Rupert Murdoch?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: No.

SWISHER: OK.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Because Elon Musk is someone who bought Twitter and has used it as his own personal megaphone. Rupert Murdoch is someone who built up an entire media empire from the ground up, and has many, many different interests, and I don't think is, you know -- I mean, whatever you think of Rupert Murdoch, he is a serious businessman and takes the values of his company seriously.

SWISHER: Media.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Because he has been successful in that. I mean, obviously in other things. But I mean, he's not Rupert Murdoch in the sense of like he's not a media mogul. And he wants to have his own personal brand on everything, but he's just using Twitter as his own sort of playpen for these very disturbing attitudes that he's adopted.

SWISHER: Kristen, what do you think? Do you think it's effective, or is he like that or is he trying to do that?

ANDERSON: Well, to me, it seems like for Rupert Murdoch, the goal is to make money, first and foremost, and viewed reaching a conservative audience as a way to do so. And there was this vacancy in the market for something that would speak to that more conservative voice.

I feel like with Elon Musk, it feels like he bought Twitter on a dare, and this is like a hobby, a pet thing for him that is not on the same tier as the other very successful things he does in terms of SpaceX or Tesla. So I just don't think of him as being the same as Rupert Murdoch, even though it is this identification, hey, conservatives want something different.

SWISHER: I would push back. It has impact. Grok, the A.I. search assistant on his platform, on the X platform, suggests that Kamala Harris had missed the ballot deadline in nine states. Five secretaries of states sent an open letter to Musk this week urging him to immediately implement changes to Grok. The Wall Street -- there's all kinds of things going on that he's doing, all kinds of things.

John, how do you look at this?

MCCORMACK: I just don't think that he, in terms of the Murdoch comparison, I don't see him as making stars. FOX News could build up political stars, it could build up media stars. And everything on the Internet is just much more organic. So I don't see him as having the same kind of star-making power --

ANDERSON: I totally disagree. After Elon Musk bought X suddenly the men's wear guy became super famous? So the algorithm can make stars.

SWISHER: Musk is a chaos agent.

BOUIE: Dieworkwear has been doing men's wear stuff for a very long time.

SWISHER: So he doesn't get the credit.

BOUIE: He doesn't get the credit.

SWISHER: But we just said he's a chaos agent?

BOUIE: So he bought Twitter to post. He likes to post. He's not very good at it. And he bought Twitter so that he could get his posts out there. And part of the thing but his business sense from it comes to social media is that Twitter, although it hasn't entered any kind of terminal decline, has declined significantly from where it was, right. If you were envisioning Musk is someone who wanted to use Twitter or X or whatever to really influence things, he wouldn't have made the kind of drastic changes at drove away so many people from the platform, created alternatives, some of which are quite viable, to the platform.

But as it stands, he's made it this rightwing echo chamber, and I suppose within be heavily online rightwing echo chamber, there is some influence. But to my mind, it's not, it's not all that much for the general public.

SWISHER: Really, because a lot of people feel, like look what's happened in Britain, though. How would you argue that, if it's not that big a deal, look what happened in Britain.

BOUIE: Yes, I mean, I think that there's -- I don't think that Elon Musk has done a perfect job of regulating contents on Twitter, but I also think that it can go way too far in the other direction of labeling things misinformation. We all remember back in 2020, Twitter basically shut down links in "The New York Post" story on Hunter Biden's laptop, much of which turned out to be true. That was a big mistake. So there's a balance there.

ANDERSON: There are other platforms that also I think have a lot, potentially more influence.

SWISHER: Such as.

ANDERSON: there's something like TikTok. I mean right now, if you look on TikTok, the vast majority of content that is about Vice President Harris winds up being pretty positive.

[10:35:03] The vast majority of content people are seeing about Donald Trump ends up being pretty negative. You can argue, is that the TikTok algorithm is bias, or is that just the people on TikTok, this type of stuff they're creating? I would just suggest that different platforms can have different --

SWISHER: There was in that -- before you start, "The Wall Street Journal" investigation, like 91 TikTok accounts to overseas networks were pushing blatant political lies to most Americans, especially about Trump.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So I absolutely think that all social media has been used for misinformation. I think the fundamental question about Elon Musk and X is, is Elon Musk actually the source of this disinformation, because he has this huge platform? He's using it as a megaphone. Whereas Twitter, X itself actually has been hosting a lot of -- and so what I'm saying is, what I would say is that Musk is incredibly influential because where he sits in the culture, he is incredibly wealthy, all of his other business interests, SpaceX, et cetera. And he has used that for his own benefit.

I think X itself has become less influential to Jamelle's point.

SWISHER: To him. So much Jamelle, he's interviewing Trump on Monday on the X platform. Let's hope it works. Remember what happened with Ron DeSantis.

(LAUGHTER)

SWISHER: What has to happen there? Is that important or is it just kind of a clown show?

BOUIE: That's -- my sense is that it's more likely to be a clown show than it is to be important, that it's going to be Musk being very deferential to Trump and Trump kind of doing his Trump thing. I'm not sure how much we can take away from that.

I want to say real quick and just the misinformation point, that's all bad, misinformation not good. But I sometimes think we get a little too caught up in the potential impact of it. There's never been a period in American political history where most Americans were like reliably well-informed about what's happening in the world.

SWISHER: Fair point.

BOUIE: It's not how American politics has ever operated. And so we should discourage misinformation --

SWISHER: Again, I'll push back. Seeing what's happened in a lot of places, you see the mob happening. And that's, I think, one of the issues.

Last question, John, do you -- what should he, is Elon good for Trump or bad?

MCCORMACK: In terms of this particular interview, I think it will probably be more likely than not bad. I mean, you just look back at the Ron DeSantis, there's a problem when people start talking about sort of esoteric issues that aren't really of interest to the general public. It didn't work out well for DeSantis. We'll see how it works out.

SWISHER: I'm going to go here. He's going to say something bad, and both of them will, and it will be disastrous, probably. That's my take.

Anyway, from Elon Musk to actual musk, the growing trend among teenage boys -- I know, I had to do it -- that's costing a lot of parents a lot of money.

Plus, big bucks at the box office with "Deadpool & Wolverine" success. Are movie theaters back in business again?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:25]

SWISHER: Once again, it's time to get our group's yea or nay on some big talkers. First, the Merc with a Mouth is leading a cinematic resurgence. "Deadpool & Wolverine" is expected to hit the billion- dollar mark this weekend in box office sales, making it the summer's biggest blockbuster. And the movie momentum is likely to continue when we hit the fall. Thats when "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" are scheduled to be released on the same day in November. And many fans, myself included, so please do not call me that day, can't wait to watch in theaters.

So Kristen, are you yea or nay on the movie comeback?

ANDERSON: I'm very yea on this. I think the theatrical experience matters. I think a world where everything is immediately dumped onto a streaming platform just is not nearly as fun. And I think the economics of it are also challenging too. If you're spending $100 million to make a movie and then you just dump it on a streaming platform, that can't last forever. So the theatrical experience thriving is necessary, I think, for us to continue to have great movies.

SWISHER: Would you agree? Because there's not many of these. I mean, "Barbie" -- "Barbenheimer" was last year's.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean absolutely Hollywood is struggling. The economics are really difficult.

SWISHER: Layoffs.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: A lot of layoffs. We're seeing things like Paramount being put on the block. I mean, there's a lot of trouble in Hollywood. And yet when the lights go down, and it's the flickering screen, I think there's nothing like it. I'm a huge movie buff. I go to the movies by myself in the middle of the day sometimes, don't tell my employer, and I love it.

SWISHER: You just told your employer.

(LAUGHTER)

SWISHER: Let's call -- next, let's call this Obsession for young men. We're talking about the growing trend that's all the rage on social media called "smellmaxxing," although my son tells me it's fragrance maxing, and it comes from looks maxing. I don't understand any of this, but it's when tween and teenage boys are urged to buy expensive designer fragrances costing hundreds of dollars by using their allowance, or getting their parents, like me, to pay for them. Here's an example of what we're seeing on TikTok.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love the --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SWISHER: The smelly trend is impacting sales with fragrance sales to teen boys jumping 26 percent in the last year. Thirteen percent was me.

John, as one of the two men on the panel, are you yea or nay on smell maxing?

MCCORMACK: Well, I'm a yea on personal hygiene, but I'm on strong, curmudgeonly, elder millennial nay on the idea that you have to come up with a new word, that Gen-Z has to come up with new word for every single thing in the universe. I will credit them for coming up with "cringe", and I do think they're going to look back and think that's smellmaxxing was kind of cringe.

SWISHER: OK. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. You're doing it. Jamelle?

BOUIE: I'm in similar place as John. Yea on personal hygiene, on wanting to smell nice.

[10:45:02]

Nay on the terminology, nay on just one watching those clips on how they're actually applying the fragrance.

SWISHER: Yes.

BOUIE: Like, doing all that, that doesn't really work. You want to get behind your ears, behind your neck, maybe right here, so you get like a nice throughout the day scent.

SWISHER: Did you never have a looks-max experience in your day when you were young'un?

BOUIE: Never, never looks-max for me. But I applaud young men for caring about how they smell.

SWISHER: All right, now, finally, the Paris Olympics is ending tomorrow with closing ceremonies. For many of us, it's been the feel- good event of the year, with huge wins for the U.S. in gymnastics, swimming, track and field, and so many other events. It's also been a huge win for NBC, which says its viewership is up 79 I'm percent from the Tokyo games. Maybe Snoop has something to do with that.

Kristen, let's start with you. What medal do you give the games, and what was your favorite moments, quick?

ANDERSON: Gold medal. I think the way that they've broadcast this, including the gold zone, is amazing. And I loved pommel horse guy, pommel horse guy.

SWISHER: All right, Lulu?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Gold medal also. My favorite moment was when Jordan Chiles and Simone Biles, of course, the gymnast, ended up bowing to Rebeca Andrade who won a gold for Brazil.

SWISHER: John?

MCCORMACK: Gold Medal. Favorite moment was Noah Lyles establishing that an American is the fastest man and the world again for the first time in two decades with his photo finish, winning by 5,000th of a second. I think you can watch that clip in slow motion on repeat many, many times. I've already done it myself, and I expect to this morning.

SWISHER: Jamelle?

BOUIE: Gold. And just Snoop and Martha Stewart like commenting on the games was utterly delightful.

SWISHER: And they have to come back.

BOUIE: They have to come back.

SWISHER: All right, the panel is back with their takes on hot stories, or look at what will be in the news before it's news. That's right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:36]

SWISHER: It's time for our panel's special takes on what's happening or predictions of what we should be looking out for. So Lulu, hit me with your best shot.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'm looking this week at Venezuela and what has happened there in the wake of the election. The leader there, Nicolas Maduro, essentially stole the election. That is the general consensus from most democratic countries. And what has happened is there have been hundreds of arrests. And the reason Americans should care about this, which I just do not see them really engaging in this in the way that they should, is that Venezuela has been over the past decade the largest push of migration in the region. Over 6 million people have fled that country. A huge portion of them have come to the United States. It is a regional crisis. It deserves a lot of attention. I'd like to hear all candidates for the presidency, including President Biden, talk about it more.

SWISHER: Great one. John, you're also focused on an important international story.

MCCORMACK: I'm keeping my eye on Ukraine and Russia. This week Ukrainian forces crossed the border into Russia. This obviously presents risks that Putin could escalate the situation. But it also could strengthen the Ukrainians' hands at the negotiating table. There's been this notion out there that they're going to have to cede all the occupied territory by Russia. But if Ukraine has at least occupied a slice of Russia, that's not going to be the case.

SWISHER: So is the incursion a good thing or a bad thing?

MCCORMACK: I think it's too soon to say.

SWISHER: Jamelle, what's your best shot?

BOUIE: The past three weeks have been like the longest ten years in American politics. And so I think we should expect next week to maybe provide a little bit more of that. And Trump's conversation with Elon, I think, may end up being the thing that jumps off the week with at least a big scandal for the Trump campaign.

SWISHER: So no October -- is it a September surprise? August surprise.

BOUIE: August surprise, it'll be a September surprise, October one. Lots of surprises this year.

SWISHER: What's with the surprises? It's all a surprise.

BOUIE: We angered some trickster god, and here we are.

SWISHER: Yes. So you think that it'll start early and continue?

BOUIE: Yes.

SWISHER: Because the news cycle is so short?

BOUIE: That's right.

SWISHER: Right, exactly.

All right, Kristen, bring us home. You're focused on something in your wheelhouse?

ANDERSON: Yes. I'm coming to you today with news from the polling world. So for the last year or so, as Donald Trump has been both in the lead in the Republican primary, and then once the general election began, we have not heard a lot of what I would call poll trutherism from Republicans, or poll un-skewing, the idea that, oh, the polls are all wrong. They're biased against us. They're not actually contacting our people. That has now begun. Now with a new batch of polls in the last week or so showing Vice President Harris either tied with or slightly ahead of Donald Trump in many of the battleground states, you've begun to see the Trump campaign put out memos trying to discredit individual polls that say, even things like alleging that the race is tied. And so now it's just fascinating to me to watch how the tables have turned. Those who said that the polls were all flawed, you can't believe them, now suddenly buy them, and Republicans are now the ones saying it's all broken.

SWISHER: Shocking hypocrisy. Politics.

ANDERSON: I would just say take all polls with a grain of salt.

SWISHER: Right, right. So whatever -- when it's in your favor, you're for it.

ANDERSON: Don't just change based on which -- is your side winning. Oh, now the poll is great. Oh, your side is losing. The poll is terrible. Try to be consistent.

SWISHER: Yes, good luck with that. Good luck.

(LAUGHTER)

SWISHER: Anyway, gang, thank you all for being here, and thank you for spending part of your day with us. Chris will be back with you right here next week, and I'll be right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:59:44]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SECURITY GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Hello, and welcome to "The Amanpour Hour." I'm Bianna Golodryga in for Christiane. Here's where were headed this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If he wasn't born in this country, he shouldn't be the president of the United States.

I don't know, is she Indian or is she black?

GOLODRYGA: From birtherism to questioning color, the racist attacks Donald Trump weaponizes to undermine his opponents. Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy on how race is shaping the election.

Also this hour --