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The Chris Wallace Show
Democratic and Republican Presidential Candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump Prepare for Upcoming Debate; Kamala Harris and Donald Trump Release Economic Policy Proposals; Kamala Harris Promises to Raise Capital Gains Taxes while Donald Trump Promises to Increase Tariffs; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Says Ceasefire Negotiations with Hamas Stalled over Israeli Occupation of Philadelphi Corridor; More Americans Dining in Restaurants Alone; Social Media Trend Involves Decorating Insides of Refrigerators; California Passes Law Recommending School districts Assess Mental Health Impact of Homework. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired September 07, 2024 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:00:45]
CHRIS WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, and welcome. It's time to break down the big stories with some smart people.
Today, the countdown to the showdown. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump face off Tuesday in their big debate. We're looking at every angle from what they need to do to win to changing the narrative. Can both candidates convince those still undecided voters they're not as extreme as their opponent says they are.
And later, pencils down. The centuries old tradition your kids may soon say is old school.
The panel is here and ready to go. So sit back, relax, and let's talk about it.
Up first, t-minus three days until Kamala Harris and Donald Trump meet for the first time and square off. Today, we're discussing their messages, the pitfalls they need to avoid, and the tactics they should use. And like any contest, the best indicator is looking at past performance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking. I'm speaking.
CHRIS WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Kamala Harris has long used her experience as a prosecutor to go on the attack.
HARRIS: Do you agree today that you were wrong to oppose bussing in America?
WALLACE: From cornering Joe Biden during a 2019 debate -- JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because your city
council made that that decision, it was a local decision.
HARRIS: So that's where the federal government must step in.
WALLACE: To grilling Trump nominees while in Congress.
HARRIS: Can you think of any law that gives the government the power to make decisions about the male body?
JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH, SUPREME COURT: I'm not thinking of any right now, Senator.
WALLACE: Now, she'll face a new opponent who is known for trading barbs.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I made a mistake using a private email.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's for sure.
WALLACE: But while Donald Trump likes to interrupt --
TRUMP: -- radical left --
BIDEN: Will you shut up, man?
TRUMP: It was his restraint during CNN's debate in June that allowed Joe Biden to ramble.
BIDEN: - dealing with everything we have to do with, ah, look --
WALLACE: Setting up Trump to counterpunch.
TRUMP: I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Here with me today, podcaster, journalist, and author Kara Swisher, Reihan Salam, president of the Manhattan Institute and "National Review" contributing editor, "New York Times" journalist and "The Interview" podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro, and conservative pollster and "New York Times" opinion writer Kristen Soltis Anderson. Welcome back everyone.
Kristen, let me start with you. What does Harris need to do to win?
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, FOUNDING PARTNER, ECHELON INSIGHTS: Harris needs to make sure that she does not let Donald Trump rattle her, that she continues to make him look small, and that she persuasively convinces those voters who are in the center who do not like Donald Trump but do not want to vote for somebody who is very progressive that her conversion to the center is legitimate. She needs to be credible that she has made this moderate pivot and she means for it to stick. WALLACE: Lulu, we're focusing right now on performance and tactics.
We'll get two issues in the next segment. In terms of what she needs to do to win the debate, is that the key, what Kristen said, don't let Trump rattle you?
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, "NEW YORK TIMES" JOURNALIST AND PODCAST HOST: No. She needs to show up. She looks --
WALLACE: What do you mean?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: She looks like the future. He looks like the past. He is an 80-year-old man. She is 20 years his junior. And so I think the visuals, this is a visual medium, are going to speak for themselves.
WALLACE: So just the two of them on the stage together at those two separate podiums?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, she can string a sentence together. He really struggles with that.
WALLACE: Well, sometimes she does too. But Kara, looking at performance, what does Trump need to do to win?
KARA SWISHER, PODCAST HOST, "PIVOT" AND "ON": I think he has to be able to string a sentence together. In the last week, he's had real trouble. The Economic Club appearance was bizarre, and he seemed addled during that. And I think so he has to be very clear, crisp, and he can't scare any more women. I think that's one of the things, in the way that she has to assure men that she is she is not -- there's someone she can vote for. So she's got to attract men and he has to stop repelling women.
WALLACE: I'm going to pick up on that with you, because some people are saying he's got to be careful how he treats a woman, and some people are saying that she as a woman has to be careful in the way he treats him. Do --
[10:05:03]
SWISHER: Not him in particular. I don't think -- if he says something offensive, I think she just cannot respond. She cannot -- she can't be self-righteous. Unfortunately, she can't be angry. She should be angry, but she can't be.
WALLACE: Why can't she?
SWISHER: Because women suffer when they look like they're angry.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Women get judged.
SWISHER: Women get judged very quickly.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: By their tone, by their demeanor, by their likability. I mean, Donald Trump can say any number of things that are completely out of whack, and he doesn't get judged by the same standard, nor do most men. We know that there is a way that women, especially female politicians, get judged. Hillary Clinton dealt with it. Kamala Harris is dealing with it.
WALLACE: Well, in terms of Trump, he has made it clear that he learned his lesson from his constant interruptions of Joe Biden back in 2020, and it paid off when he debated the president again just this June.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know when I had, Biden, you and I had the same discussion, and I let him talk. I'm going to let her talk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Reihan, what does Trump need to do against Harris?
REIHAN SALAM, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NATIONAL REVIEW": I think that's a big part of it. He has to make sure that he lets Harris speak. There is a universe of voters who believe that Trump has better positions, positions closer to their own on the economy, on inflation, on those big kitchen table issues. They don't necessarily love his personality. They don't necessarily think that he is someone that they want to be around, have a beer with, think that he's the most stable, great guy. But they do think that his track record was strong and solid.
He needs to foreground that, and he needs to foreground the record of the Biden-Harris administration.
WALLACE: Right, we're going to focus on issues in the next minute, but here we're talking more tactics and performance. Are Lulu and Kara right, he can say anything he wants? I mean, back in 2016, he talked about what a nasty woman Hillary Clinton was. Can he get away with that again?
SALAM: I think it would be a mistake because he needs to change the momentum of the race right now. And I think being disciplined and sticking to issues is going to be his best bet.
WALLACE: What do you think about that in terms of how he needs to treat her?
ANDERSON: I think eight years ago, he could get away with being abrasive to Hillary Clinton in a way that he won't be able to get away with this time, because frankly, eight years ago, Hillary Clinton as his opponent, she was not well liked either. For Harris, she's in this interesting moment where a lot of voters are still trying to make up their mind about her. So if he goes out and he's a bully and he's a jerk, I think it will play different now than it did eight years ago.
SWISHER: And if she's the joyful warrior that she's put out there, that idea where she seems palatable to, especially man, I hate to say it, but she's got seem palatable and strong at the same time. I think she has the advantage, and then he looks like an addled old man who has issues with racism and misogyny. And that's --
WALLACE: Let me just ask you one thing about that, Kara, because we played the clip in the piece which was one of the highlights of her debate with Pence in 2020 when she said, I'm talking, Mr. Vice President. Can she do that, or is she going to look --
SWISHER: No. No. And the thing is, interestingly, today, he did it again where he was talking about E. Jean Carroll, and he essentially said she's not the type of person I would sexually harass. He kind of had a weird comment. And so if he does those weird comments, she's just got to get out of his way and let them do them. And I think he can't help himself.
WALLACE: So you think, Lulu, for instance, in her interview with Dana Bash when she was asked about him questioning her race and gender that she that was the right thing to do, basically say it's the old tired playbook, next question, and not engaged at all?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I think she's he can't get dragged down into the mud with him, and I don't think that it's going to be very useful for her to go and do this back-and-forth about I am black, I am -- you don't want to give him the playing field and let him define her. But I do think what she does have to seem is on message. She -- this is a huge opportunity for her to speak to the American people, and if she can actually speak to the American people and make sure that she is the one defining what subjects are talked about, then I think she'll do very, very well. Do not let him be the one to drag her into these eddies and flows of the things that he likes to talk about, which are these incendiary topics.
WALLACE: All right, we, as they say, we're focusing here about tactics and performance, and that's not nothing. Debates will often remembered not for someone's best moment, but for their worst. And here are a couple of those.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERALD FORD, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union.
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I had a discussion with my daughter, Amy, the other day before I came here to ask her what the most important issue was. She said she thought nuclear weaponry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: I'm not sure that people who weren't around in 1980 realize how bad that was. Amy, I don't know if she was 10, 12 or whatever. And the idea that he was asking her and she said nuclear weaponry, Jimmy Carter, that was a big bad moment for him in that debate.
[10:10:02]
Kristen, who do you think is more likely to make a gaffe here?
ANDERSON: I think it's Harris, and that's not because I think Donald Trump is not likely to say something that's out there, but rather that Donald Trump saying something that's out there or odd is in some ways priced into how people feel about him, where because Harris is -- the way voters think about her is still a little bit more in flux, and because she really has not been in an unscripted format for more than 10, 15 minutes at a time, only once with Dana Bash, I just think there's a real -- there's more of a risk of her saying something that's going to make these voters who are making up their minds go, never mind. I don't think so.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I couldn't disagree with you more. I think it is priced in, you're right, that Donald Trump is going to say something crazy. But every time he says something crazy, there is going to be a lot of focus on him and on his messages. I mean, it is an empty shell. You saw his big economic address. There was no there there.
We have to get past this idea that Donald Trump is this magical being that whatever he does, whatever he says, it's going to be fine. I actually think that people are very keyed into this race. It is neck and neck. And there's going to be a lot of focus on what he says, and the fact that he just can't actually have a coherent idea.
WALLACE: From their tactics to their talking points, Donald Trump consistently mixes policy with rants about his past grievances. Can he stick to a message about the future?
Then caught in the middle. As Israel and Hamas blame each other for the continued fighting, can President Biden do anything to get a ceasefire deal?
And later, cool trend, the head-scratching fad that has people decorating a part of their home few will ever see.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:16:35]
WALLACE: We've discussed the tactical choices facing Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in Tuesday's debate, but what about their messages? Well, we got a preview this week about what issues they'll be pushing. Harris tried to get ahead of her perceived weakness on the economy, unveiling proposals to show how good she'll be for business.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will tax capital gains at a rate that rewards investment in America's innovators, founders, and small businesses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Meanwhile, Trump laid out his economic plans, talking about how tariffs will boost the economy, but also taking time Friday to attend court to appeal the verdict in the E. Jean Carroll case that found Trump sexually abused and defamed her. Then holding a news conference where he attacked several women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It couldn't have happened. It didn't happen. And she would not have been the chosen one. She would not have been the chosen one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: The chosen one for his sexual abuse.
Kara, can Trump focus on our future instead of his past, whether it's the stolen election in 2020 or the unfair prosecutors?
SWISHER: He couldn't do it this week in what was a layup. That economic speech should have been a layup and it certainly wasn't. That was bizarre. And so I don't think he can. I don't know what is happening with him. There's not nearly enough discussion about his cognitive abilities, because he seems to jump from thing to thing. But I don't think he can do that. She will be pushing the economy, including on tariffs. Just this week, Goldman Sachs backed her on this issue, which is that would be at a high cost to Americans to have to tariffs. And then Mark Cuban, a pretty prominent investor, was saying she's good for the economy. She's got a lot of people saying she wouldn't be.
So I think she should focus on that as well as the last thing, abortion and children's safety. This shooting in Georgia was disturbing, but the idea of keeping kids safe and having women have control of themselves I think are big issues.
WALLACE: Kristen, it is pretty remarkable that 60 days before the election on Friday, Trump held a 45 minute news conference to complain about the E. Jean Carroll case and then to call out not just her, but several women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. Can he for the 90 minutes of that debate stay away from that and focus on issues, not his past grievances?
ANDERSON: The only reason I think that it's even remotely possible is because of the relative restraint that he showed during his debate with Biden, where that was one where he could have unleashed himself in full and undercut his own message, but he didn't. He was able to hold it together for 90 minutes. So while, in general, the idea of Donald Trump and restraint going together does not seem like we should expect it, there's a chance he could hold it together. And it's essential that he does, because every time he reminded as the voters who think unfavorably about him why they think unfavorably about him, it makes it harder for him to get those voters to say, but you know what, I'll stomach and I'll vote for him because of policy.
WALLACE: Well, let's talk policy. Then there's Harris breaking with Biden, saying she wants to tax capital gains at a much lower rate than the president. But "The Wall Street Journal" points out, look at this chart, she would actually raise the tax rate from where it is, just not as much as Biden, she'd raise the capital gains tax rate by almost 40 percent.
[10:20:08]
Reihan, can Harris be convincing as a pro-business centrist?
SALAM: So to be clear here, she is moderating by saying she's going to raise the capital gains tax rate to where it was in 1978 when Jimmy Carter believed that the capital gains tax rate was too high. I think that, look, she has a very long track record of taking very firmly leftwing positions on economic policy issues. She is part of an administration that has moved economic policy in the U.S. quite firmly and decisively to the left. She can try to use vague terminology. She can use vibes and joy. But the fact of the matter is that when it comes to those core bread and butter issues, the Biden-Harris administration passed the American Relief Plan which sparked an historic wave of inflation. That's a very, very tough record for her to run away from. She can try, she can try to course correct. But even here you're seeing that she can only go so far, but she's hemmed in by a base that she's anxious about holding onto that wants her to move further left still.
WALLACE: But, and Kara kind of referred to this, 88 business leaders, including Mark Cuban and James Murdoch endorsed Harris Friday, saying that she would be much better for the economy.
Let me ask you, Lulu, can Harris convincingly sell herself to American voters in this debate as pro-business?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, I think so. To Reihan's point, the issue at hand here is that this is an incredibly unequal economy, and you have the haves, and you have a great deal of the have-nots. And how do you tackle that? And on the one hand, you have Donald Trump saying we're going to put in tariffs. Now, what tariffs are, are basically a tax on consumption. That raises prices for the people who consume and that hits hardest to the poorest members of our society. Wealthier people can afford to pay for it. Middle-class people and lower-income people can't. So his idea of just raising tariffs and raising tariffs, that's what his entire economic message was this past week, basically telling everyone he was going to raise tariffs, that's been roundly shown by most mainstream economists to be absolutely crazy. And so by talking about capital gains, what you're talking about is actually taxing businesses that have just made out like a bandit in the recent economy. So it's just a way --
WALLACE: That's not entirely true. I mean, I pay capital gain, any time you sell a stock, you have to pay --
SALAM: And also workers effectively pay it. If you're looking at the incidence of corporate taxes, it affects a wide range of folks, including the jobs that are not created otherwise.
But when we were talking about tariffs, here's the difficult thing. The Biden-Harris administration has sharply increased tariffs. They use this in part as a strategy to regain the blue wall. They have been very much a protectionist administration. So it's true that Trump is going pretty far on that front, but the Biden-Harris administration did as well.
SWISHER: Come on, he's gone so far in tariffs that he should stamp it on top of his head with a "T." SALAM: Absolutely.
SWISHER: He is going far too far, and every economist --
SALAM: The Biden administration has absolutely embraced buy American --
SWISHER: But it doesn't matter because he's now been worse.
SALAM: -- blatantly increased the costs of consumer goods.
SWISHER: It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, because he's saying it more, so he's owning it now.
SALAM: Maybe it doesn't matter to you, and I agree that it doesn't matter to much of the press corps --
SWISHER: It's not the press corps.
SALAM: But the fact of the matter is the Biden administration has sharply increased costs to consumers.
SWISHER: That may be, but Trump has decided to take it and run with it, and he's running very far in a direction --
SALAM: It's a little tough for her to make that case, however, having served in this administration.
SWISHER: She doesn't have to. He just owns it.
SALAM: All right, all right, enough of the debate about the debate.
No guts, no glory -- I'm going to go around, Kristen, starting with you. Who is going to win this debate?
ANDERSON: I think Harris is likely to win if only because I think the bar is very low, and I think a lot of people are rooting for her to win.
WALLACE: When you say people, voters, media?
ANDERSON: I think it's the media in some part. I think for some of those voters who are swing voters who really don't like but Donald Trump, they're looking for an excuse to not have to vote for him.
WALLACE: Kara?
SWISHER: Harris, I think, because I think Donald Trump can't help himself, and looking at her, he has all kinds of issues with her. He's not going to be able to help himself. It's a woman, a woman of color, a tough woman, a likable woman, a woman he finds attractive -- the whole thing is such a -- I can't use a curse, and I won't. It such -- it messes with his head --
WALLACE: It's triggering?
SWISHER: It's triggering to him, and so he will be triggered, because he can't help himself, as you've seen this week.
WALLACE: Reihan?
SALAM: I think it's going to be Trump only because Harris's team has done a very real disservice by not getting her out in front of serious, rigorous interviews more often, so she's going to be brittle. And this is going to be very high-stakes. They put her in way too difficult a situation.
WALLACE: Lulu?
SALAM: So if Trump isn't great, she'll win.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I think it will probably be a draw. Everyone will take from it what they -- what they want. It'll be a bit of a Rorschach test as everything has ended up being.
[10:25:3]
And so Harris will stumble in some cases, Trump will stumble in some cases. And I think people will take with that what they want.
WALLACE: And at the end of this huge event, we're all going to talk about the race will still be neck and neck.
(LAUGHTER)
SWISHER: Correct.
WALLACE: The war in Gaza will likely be a topic at the debate, but it's what's happened -- it's what happens there between now and Election Day that may decide who is the next president.
Also ahead, rising reservations, the singular change restaurants are seeing that may surprise you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:30:14]
WALLACE: What's the deal? For months U.S. officials promised Israel and Hamas were on the cusp of a ceasefire agreement to pause fighting and bring hostages home. But so far that hasn't happened. Now, after six hostages were found killed by Hamas a few days ago, the pressure to reach a deal as reaching a fever pitch both in Israel and the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW MILLER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We want to see a deal as soon as possible.
WALLACE: U.S. Officials say they're latest Gaza ceasefire proposal is merely ready.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: There's not a deal in the making, unfortunately. WALLACE: But Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu keeps talking about major obstacles to a deal, like pulling Israeli troops from Gaza's southern border.
NETANYAHU: We're not going to leave. Leaving Philadelphi does not advance the release of the hostages.
WALLACE: A red line that's led to mass protests in Israel and anger from the families of some of the 100 hostages still in Gaza.
RONEN NEUTRA, FATHER ISRAELI-AMERICAN HOSTAGE: Our feeling is that he has his own political future ahead of him rather than the safety of our son.
WALLACE: Inside the White House, some officials say the U.S. may pull out of the talks if both sides don't accept a final proposal soon. As President Biden makes his frustrations with Netanyahu clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think he's doing enough?
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No.
WALLACE: And the Israeli leader pushes back.
NETANYAHU: The real obstacle to making a deal is not Israel. And It's not me. It's Hamas.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WALLACE: Reihan, who is more to blame at this point for the fact that there still is no deal, Hamas or Netanyahu?
SALAM: There's absolutely no question that it is Hamas that is to blame. Israel has been reasonable, has been trying to reach some kind of reasonable settlement. But now Hamas is essentially saying hey we want control of the Philadelphi Corridor, where you have dozens of tunnels, some of which are the width of trucks. That was the chief way that Hamas was gaining access to weapons of mass destruction, weapons that brutalized civilians, including Gazans. This would be an absolute strategic disaster. It would be an entire waste of the incredible effort and sacrifice that Israel has been made -- has made in trying to secure that territory. So I think that it would be a serious, serious mistake.
They have again and again been entirely reasonable. They've agreed to massive prisoner swamps. This is very much Hamas --
WALLACE: Let me pick up on that. Hamas is demanding a complete withdrawal from Gaza, and announced, as with those six Israelis murdered last week, militants now have new instructions to kill hostages if Israeli troops close in. Lulu, who is more to blame for no deal? Is Reihan right, Hamas, or is it Netanyahu?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I really don't like the frame. I think it's an absolute tragedy what happened with these hostages last week. It is a horrific situation. And reporting has shown that the Netanyahu government has changed its position several times. They have tried to, at the last minute, change the parameters of the negotiations. You're seeing massive protests within Israel over this. Netanyahu knows that if elections were held today, he would be thrown out of office. If he has a ceasefire deal, his hard right, far right government would collapse. And so therefore, he has every incentive to keep this going for as long as possible.
Also, he is a close ally of the right in this country, and I think most people believe that he would like to see a Trump administration come into power. And so there is some speculation that he is really trying to delay this for as long as possible to see the outcome of the election.
WALLACE: All right, well, let's talk about this country and the impact here. The Biden administration has been driving diplomacy for months, and it says of its latest 18-paragraph proposal, all but four are finished and agreed to. Kara, should Biden, as has been suggested in the White House, make a take-it-or-leave-it proposal, and if both sides won't agree, just step out of it?
SWISHER: That's -- I think the U.S. has to be part of these negotiations. I don't know if we have the -- we can't afford to do that in this region, to just step out and just move out of it. I suppose it's a threat, but you can't have an idle threaten in a situation like this.
WALLACE: And why not? I mean, if in the end, you can't get the two sides to agree on anything.
SWISHER: Well, I do think Lulu is correct, that Netanyahu is trying to delay this until the election and seeing what happens. And then there's some opportunity for movement, whoever wins.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, he should listen to his own people.
SWISHER: Right.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Ultimately, ultimately, he should listen to his own people are on this issue. And I would also say just on --
[10:35:02]
WALLACE: He, Biden?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: No, no. I mean, Netanyahu should listen to his own people. They want to have a ceasefire. They want this to be a negotiation --
WALLACE: Not the rightwing that is the basis of his coalition.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Not the rightwing, but a majority of the country at this point has no faith in his government. And so what you see Biden trying to do here is to do what America's role traditionally has been, which is to try to bring two sides together. I agree with Kara, they have to keep at it. That's their role. ANDERSON: But there's an important factor here that we haven't mentioned, which is that one of the six people who was executed is an American. There are Americans being held hostage. I know that if I am abroad and a terrorist organization abducts me and threatens to execute me, I would like to think that my government is doing everything possible to get me out. So America can't just step up wave from this, because there are still Americans being held by these monsters.
WALLACE: So what do you make of the White House floating this idea of a final take-it-or-leave-it proposal, and then we drop out?
ANDERSON: I think that the United States cannot withdraw from this entire situation, but if they believe that Netanyahu is an impediment to getting Americans out, they need to do what they need to do to get Americans out. It is, it is mindboggling to me that we have Americans that are being held, have been held for almost a year, and are now being executed.
And it's feels like -- I don't feel as an American very confident that if I was one of those people that my government would be doing everything to get me out.
SALAM: The right slogan here is not bring them home. Is let them go. Hamas is literally saying there's open season on these hostages. We will kill them if there's a risk that Israel will rescue them. That is deeply, deeply perverse, poisonous, noxious.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: No one is debating that.
SALAM: there's this whole idea that Netanyahu is to blame. It's fascinating to me, because if you look, if there were another election tomorrow, you would have another government that would have a different composition, perhaps, but that would still want to secure the Israeli people, Israeli civilians in the south of Israel, in the north of Israel. If you look at the Israeli center left, they are firm on this position. This as an absolute myth and distraction that is coming from progressives in the U.S.
SWISHER: No, it's not. What?
WALLACE: The fact is that Netanyahu's own defense minister --
SWISHER: That's correct.
WALLACE: -- has said that he could make a deal and they could pull out and --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And Reihan, calm down. And Reihan, calm down, calm down, calm down. It's OK.
WALLACE: No, he's saying they can pull out.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The defense minister.
WALLACE: I'm sorry. Go ahead. GARCIA-NAVARRO: No, no, I'm just saying, yes. I'm echoing what you're saying. It's his own defense minister. There is a large opposition within Israel that wants to see this happen. The military themselves do not believe that Netanyahu has a plan for what happens after. There are any number of different things.
The problem here is that it has been put through the prism of the American system where the right here is trying to argue this point that the Israelis themselves don't subscribe to, which I find backing --
SALAM: You're saying that Israelis themselves as if there's no disagreement within the Israeli public.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: There is, but not --
SALAM: As though there aren't people who believe that it would be incredibly dangerous to cede this territory.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Do you think the majority of Israelis believe that Netanyahu, that the Netanyahu government is acting in the best interests of Israel right now?
SALAM: I'm afraid is what I was trying to say is that this is not about Netanyahu. This is about Israeli security. And if you look at Yoav Gallant, if you look at the Israeli center left --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He is the leader, he is the leader --
SALAM: -- the Biden administration that's seeking to get Netanyahu out of office, what they're telling the Biden administration back is that, guys, we will not survive politically if we do not secure Israeli security. So the idea that this is all Netanyahu is a myth.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What they're trying to say is if you can -- if there would be different people in power, you could perhaps make this a better and more expeditious solution where you could save the lives of the hostages, American and Israeli and others.
WALLACE: Well, now you can see why they're having such great difficulty making a deal.
Get ready, parents. Some school districts are considering a big change that will give kids a lot more free time.
Plus, fridge phenomenon -- why some folks are putting a framed picture of grandma right next to milk and eggs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:43:35]
WALLACE: Once again, it's time to get our groups yea or nay on some big talkers.
Up first, table for one, please. You hear that more often at restaurants as we see a rise in solo dining across the country. In fact, more than half of people surveyed by Open Table say they're planning to eat alone sometime this year. The reservation app has seen a 29 percent jump in parties of one in the last couple of years. And if you wonder why, there's no single factor. People say they want more me time, or they're on business travel. Kristen, are you yea or nay on solo dining?
ANDERSON: I am, yea. I had business travel this week. I sat at the bar at a restaurant in New York that I like a lot, had a lovely meal, and got back on my train. At no point did I feel odd about it. Granted, I think it's good for people to be around one another, to share, break read with other people. But sometimes you just want good food. You're not with other people. You're on the road. It's totally fine.
WALLACE: Lulu, you're on assignment. You're staying over. You're about to get on a train. You are hungry and want to have dinner. Do you go out and eat by yourself?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Absolutely. I do it all the time. It is a great thing to be able to do. Also, it's just nice to be able to have a nice meal and read a good book or listen to a podcast, or just people watch. I really enjoy the alone time, and I love being able to go to a nice restaurant and have someone take care of me.
[10:45:00]
WALLACE: In fact, you are both wrong. The correct answer is you order room service, call home while they're preparing it, watch a rerun of "The Big Bang Theory" while you eat dinner and put your tray out in the hall, a delightful evening.
(LAUGHTER)
WALLACE: Next, we go from eating food to decorating where you store your food. Thanks to a TikTok trend, people are actually decorating inside their refrigerators. It even has a name -- "fridgescaping", where people add items on the shelves of a space no one else may ever see, like picture frames and flowers right next to their milk and eggs. Kara, are you yea or nay on "fridgescaping", decorating your refrigerator like it's another room in your home?
SWISHER: I love it. All my refrigerator have glass on the front because I am such a neat person, and so my refrigerators already look spectacular. And I think jazzing them up sounds great to me. But I don't need to because they look so good.
(LAUGHTER)
WALLACE: If you do say so yourself.
SWISHER: I will say so myself. They do.
WALLACE: Kristen, some people apparently are decorating their refrigerators based on the theme of the show "Bridgerton", and they call their call it a "Fridgerton." So is this something -- (LAUGHTER)
ANDERSON: Is the person's named Kara Swisher?
(LAUGHTER)
WALLACE: No, I'm not going to let you attack her that way. So where are you on "fridgescaping"?
ANDERSON: I don't think she would think that's an attack. I think she'd think it's a great idea. You ask her next week, her fridge is going to be a Fridgerton. I am a nay on this because It's an appliance, not a shrine.
WALLACE: OK.
Finally, just in time for the new school year, a push to eliminate homework. California passed a law recently recommending school districts assess the mental health impact of homework, especially in a post-COVID world. Some experts say decreasing students at home workload helps increase their social and emotional health. Add to that the A.I. impact, artificial intelligence helping kids cheat. Thirty- nine percent of students say it's OK to use A.I. to solve math problems, and 20 percent admit that those A.I. to write their essays. Reihan, where are you on no homework?
SALAM: Well, I'm certainly skeptical about some centralized guidance on this. In the early grades, homework can be rough for really little kids. But I think later on it is an important way to instill some discipline, instill some routine. My general view is the flipped classroom approach can work pretty well. That is do problem sets in the classroom when you have teachers around to help you with them. But then expect some reading and learning, maybe it's listening to a lecture, something like that when you're at home. Don't let that be totally idle time. But then be more thoughtful about how you use the guidance of a teacher or other adults who are around who can help out.
WALLACE: Kara, where are you? You've got four kids. Where are you on no homework.
SWISHER: Homework is stupid, and I always tell my kids not to do it. I did it for years. I think it's a waste of time.
WALLACE: And what happens when they go back to --
SWISHER: They're doing great. They're doing great. I think at home, you should play, you should do other things. And I hate --
SALAM: Even for high schoolers?
SWISHER: I hate homework. I think it's a waste of time.
WALLACE: OK.
The panel is back with their takes on hot stories or what will be in the news before it's news. That's right after this break. Why weren't you my mother when I was doing hours of homework every
night, one hour per subject?
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:53:00]
WALLACE: It's time for our panel's special takes on what's happening or predictions of what we should be looking out for. Lulu, hit me with your best shot.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Tucker Carlson has been platforming a holocaust denier called Darryl Cooper, and that has really put the GOP in general in a very uncomfortable position. They've really tried -- they've been trying to make an appeal to Jewish constituents. And the very fact that Tucker Carlson, a star the right who is very close to Trump, close with Vance, et cetera, has been making these very inflammatory -- platforming this very inflammatory person who basically says that Nazi death camps were just places where there was an oversupply of POWs who to happened to end up dead, is deeply problematic. And I think it's going to be causing problems in the election.
WALLACE: But J.D. Vance is defending Carlson.
Kristen, for all the focus on the campaign, you are thinking about government.
ANDERSON: We started the show off talking about the countdown to the showdown, but I'm thinking about the countdown to the shutdown. September 30th, the government shuts down if Congress this does not get together and pass legislation that would fund the government. And Donald Trump came out this week saying that he hopes that Republicans stick to their guns. He's OK with the government shutting down. I don't know that I think that would be great for his prospects of getting back to the White House, but keep your eyes on that.
WALLACE: Kara, best shot?
SWISHER: It looks like Russian election interference is back, and of course it never went away. The Russians have been interfering for many years. And this time they're paying for rightwing podcasters, essentially, giving them enormous amounts of money. These podcasts should have known where this money was coming from. Acting like victims is ridiculous. The economics were crazy. They were getting paid enormous amounts of money for what they were doing, and it wasn't in line with economics. So they say they're victims. I think they're more like partners and collaborators.
WALLACE: Meanwhile, Putin said this week that he supports Harris and praised her laugh as infectious, perhaps a little gaslighting.
[10:55:00]
Reihan, bring us home.
SALAM: The National Football League season is going to start this weekend. And there are four teams in the NFL that have never made it to the Super Bowl, have never won a Super Bowl championship. One of them is the Detroit Lions. This, I believe, is going to be the season for long suffering Lions fans. So to all of you Michiganders out there, this is your moment.
WALLACE: I have to see, respectfully, your record on sports predictions is a tad spotty. Before the Olympics, you said Canada was a real threat to take the gold medal in the Men's basketball.
SALAM: You just wait, Chris. The Canadians are going to come on strong.
WALLACE: Yes. They lost the quarter finals to France, that famous basketball power.
SALAM: It's true. Look, it was -- the mojo was off.
WALLACE: I love the idea of Detroit at least getting to the Super Bowl.
SALAM: Funny coincidence that it's very close to Canada.
WALLACE: Gang, thank you all for being here, and thank you for spending part of your day with us. We'll see you right back here next week.
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