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One World with Zain Asher
Hezbollah Drone Attack Kills Four Soldiers In Israel; Lebanon: Israeli Strike Kills 19 In Christian-Majority Village; Massive Clean-Up Efforts Underway In Florida; Polls: Harris, Trump In Close race With 22 Days To Election; Black Voters In Milwaukee Expose Cracks In Harris Support; Parts Of Sahara Flooded After Rare Heavy Rain; CNN Takes Exclusive Look At Prep For Panda's Move; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired October 14, 2024 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:45]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST: American boots are on the ground. The first significant deployment of U.S. troops to Israel since the war began.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: ONE WORLD starts right now.
It is one of the most powerful defense systems in America's arsenal, and soon, it will make its way to Israel. What's a THAAD and why it could be a
game changer?
ASHER: Also ahead, 21 days and counting. What the polls are saying just weeks away from the U.S. election.
GOLODRYGA: And later, who doesn't love a bit of panda diplomacy? CNN's exclusive look at how these pandas are getting ready for a big move.
Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher. You are watching ONE WORLD.
All right. Israel keeps up its airstrikes on Gaza and Lebanon as a Hezbollah drone attack hits an army base deep inside Israel.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Begin with the escalating developments in the Middle East at this hour as the U.S. is stepping up its help for Israel ahead of an
expected retaliatory attack by Israel on Iran.
ASHER: Yes. Israel turned its fire on a mostly Christian village north of Beirut today. Lebanon's health ministry says at least 19 people were killed
in that airstrike.
GOLODRYGA: Across the border, a Hezbollah drone penetrated Israel's defenses to launch an attack on an Israeli army base Sunday, killing four
soldiers and wounding dozens.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the base and vowed to investigate how the drone got into Israeli airspace undetected.
ASHER: The U.S. is sending an advanced anti-missile system to Israel to bolster the country's defense against attacks, along with about 100 U.S.
troops to operate it. It's certainly a rare move for U.S. troops to be deployed inside Israel.
Meantime in Gaza, officials say four people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a hospital compound where displaced Palestinians
were sheltering.
GOLODRYGA: CNN reporters are covering this story from all angles. Ben Wedeman is in Beirut, Lebanon. Nic Robertson is in Jerusalem for us. And
our Oren Liebermann joins us from the Pentagon.
Let's begin with CNN's Nic Robertson. Big escalation over the weekend with that drone attack, as we just mentioned. And there were air raid warnings
ago, Nic, in Tel Aviv itself. The military saying that intercepted three launches from Lebanon. Tell us more about what we're hearing.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, that strike that hit an IDF base about 30 miles north of Tel Aviv, 40 miles south of the
border with Lebanon, is significant because it appears to be the first time that Hezbollah has been able to actually target and it certainly appears
and said it was targeting an IDF base and has said in recent days that that's what it was planning to do.
It's significant as well because it seems to be -- appears to be the bloodiest strike on troops here since October 7th, certainly away from the
combat lines and really exposes the difficulty, if you will, that the IDF faces maintaining a thorough ability to deter every missile and every drone
that comes from Hezbollah in the north.
They've managed to sort of whittle away and limit the missiles coming from Hamas in Gaza in the south.
But every day, there's an average of about 150 or so missiles and drones that come in from Lebanon. And what the IDF said was that they were
tracking drones coming in around about suppertime yesterday 7:00 P.M. They got one drone as it came over the border but they lost sight of another.
And I think, you know, there's a perhaps a significant comparison to be made here if I throw back to the British and their fight with the IRA,
Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, who tried to blow up the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the '80s, put a bomb in her hotel.
And their message to her afterwards was -- but she survived. Some of her -- some of her fellow colleagues didn't. Their message to her was, we only
have to be lucky once. You have to be lucky every time. And this really could be a case of that, that Hezbollah, they've been trying to do this for
a while. They got lucky. And that's the difficulty of a long war like this, that Israel has to not only be lucky, but continue its professional ability
to see every threat and stop it coming.
[12:05:06]
GOLODRYGA: Yes. That drone attack against the army base did not set off alarm signals in the country, and thus the troops were eating at the time
that it struck. We've covered drone warfare quite thoroughly as we've been covering the war in Ukraine, but now obviously this is a subject that we're
broaching as it relates to the Middle East as well.
Nic Robertson, thank you.
ASHER: And let's bring in Ben Wedeman who joins us live now from Beirut.
So, Ben, we're seeing a Christian town in the north being targeted, so clearly not just Hezbollah strongholds. Just walk us through what that says
about the expanding parameters of this war.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The target in this case, Zain, was a apartment building, a residential building in the
village of Aitou in the Zgharta Region, which is really the Christian heartland.
Now, we spoke to the mayor of that town, who told us that he lives about two, two and a half kilometers away, and he thought the blast happened
right next door. He said that this building was home to people who had been displaced from other parts of Lebanon families basically, including women
and children.
He said he had no knowledge of any fighters being in the building or any weapons being stored now.
Now, it's the Lebanese Red Cross Society that is saying that the death toll is at least 19, nine injured, but they continue to dig in the rubble
because it's believed there's still people alive, perhaps, underneath.
Now, it's significant because this is a village that's about 100 kilometers north of Beirut in an area that normally wouldn't be targeted by the
Israelis.
It's not clear at this point what the potential target was, but it certainly represents a change and it certainly underscores that Israel will
hit anywhere in the country.
They have hit further north in Lebanon, but a majority Christian area, this is absolutely the first time this has happened.
At the same time, the Israelis are issuing more evacuation orders this morning for more than 20 villages in the south.
And among the list of so-called villages is the city of Nabatieh, which has a population in normal times of more than 100,000.
At this point, about a quarter of Lebanon is under these Israeli evacuation orders, which come out new ones every single day. We're talking about, at
this point, well over 160 towns, villages and now cities that have received these evacuation orders. Zain?
ASHER: Yes. I mean, when you have that many evacuation orders covering so much of Lebanon, I mean, the big question is where do people go? Where is
actually safe right now?
Ben Wedeman, live for us there. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: Let's get right to the Pentagon and CNN's Oren Liebermann.
Oren, let's talk about this news about the U.S. sending a THAAD system to Israel as we are anticipating Israel's response to the -- an unprecedented,
nearly 200 ballistic missiles launched at its last two weeks ago by Iran. Now, we're expecting Israel to respond, and thus perhaps a retaliatory
response then from Iran.
Talk about the significance of this very powerful anti-missile system and the fact that it coming with it will be about 100 U.S. troops as well.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The THAAD system, which stands for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, is perhaps the most capable anti-
ballistic missile system the U.S. has, able to intercept short-range, medium-range and long-range ballistic missile during its final dive or
terminal phase towards its target.
It can intercept those missiles at a range of about 100 miles or more and can detect them much farther out than that.
On top of that, it's capable of working with and collaborating with, interfacing with, if you will, the Navy destroyers that are in the region
and Israeli missile defense systems as well.
So, adds quality and crucially quantity to Israel's layered aerial defense system. It's short-range Iron Dome, medium-range David's Sling, and then
the long-range Arrow system.
Crucially, the U.S. doesn't have that many THAAD systems. So, anytime one is moved or deployed, it is a significant statement first on the commitment
of U.S. forces, and there are about 100 troops that are required to operate the THAAD system, and then on where the U.S. sees its priority, because to
put a THAAD in one place means you don't have it somewhere else.
The THAAD was deployed to the Middle East after the October 7th terror attack. Now it's being moved specifically to Israel and you point out
exactly why it's there.
After the October 1st launch of some 180 plus Iranian ballistic missiles against Israel, Israel has very much vowed to respond. And in response to
that, Iran has promised its own retaliation. And if it's another large scale barrage as we've seen on October 1st and on April 13th, THAAD could
play a crucial role there. And that's very much why it's there.
[12:10:12]
Aside from the military aspect of it, there is also that message that the U.S. will absolutely stand by Israel's defense. So that, too, is a message
to Iran and the proxies in the region about where the U.S. sees its priority, and that is very much Israel's defenses. Zain --
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
LIEBERMANN: -- and Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: You mentioned the limited quantity of these battery systems. It's believe the U.S. has about seven of them. So sending one of seven to
Israel, at this point, is a significant development.
Oren Liebermann, thank you.
ASHER: All right. Let's bring in CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, joining us live now from Washington, D.C.
Cedric, I just want to start by talking about this Hezbollah drone attack that managed to get to an army base in Israel, killing a handful of
Israelis.
I mean, just the fact that it wasn't intercepted, it wasn't detected, it caught the Israel completely off guard. There were no air raid sirens that
went off. What did the Israelis learn from this?
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think they'll be learning several different things here. First of all, they're going to want
to know exactly how that drone penetrated those Israeli air defenses.
And one of the things that they will be looking at, I think is, what was the actual flight path of the drone? And one possibility is that that drone
actually was at a very low altitude. And because of being at a low altitude, it could conceivably evade radar detection.
That is one of the techniques that is used by fighter pilots when they get into an area that has a lot of air defenses that they need to attack. They
will go very low before they attack those air defenses and it could very well be a similar flight profile that Hezbollah used for this drone.
They'll also take a look at where it launched from. They'll take a look at exactly who was operating it, if they can find that out. And it's going to
be one of those areas, saying, where there are going to sometimes be more questions than there are answers, or the answers will get new questions.
So it's going to be, I think, a dynamic effort on the part of the Israelis to actually find out what happened here.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And the threat from drones is they're more nimble, they're cheaper to use. And so if this is the start of a new strategy by Hezbollah
or even Iran, this is something that Israel really has to concentrate on at this moment.
But we know, Cedric, that's not why the THAAD batteries are being sent over. The THAAD batteries are being sent over to intercept ballistic
missiles, larger-scale missiles.
I'm wondering your reaction to the news of these THAAD batteries being moved to Israel, obviously sending a deterrent message to Iran. But what
does that tell you, perhaps, about what Israel may do in its strike that we're expecting against Iran?
LEIGHTON: Yes, Bianna, that's a great question. I think one of the things that we can see is that, you know, as you mentioned, the deployment of the
THAAD is very much a signal of support for the U.S.
And what you can probably expect from this is, number one, that the Israelis will strike something in Iran. What that is will depend on, not
only what is operationally possible for the Israelis, but also what kind of a message they want to send and how far they want to get up that ladder of
escalation that we've talked about before.
If they want to send a message and then be done with it, that may result in one type of movement. If they do something else, that could result in a
much more expanded conflict in the Middle East.
And it's definitely in the U.S.'s interest not to expand the conflict. The Iranians, of course, are looking at this and they're saying, this may
potentially limit our ability respond to any Israeli attack, and they will then calibrate what they do based on the deployment of the THAAD and see
what missiles they can potentially lob against Israel that might get through those air defenses, but it's going to be far less likely for them
to do so, given the fact that the THAAD will soon be in Israel and be deployed there.
ASHER: Are you surprised at all that it's taken this long for Israel to retaliate? I mean, the attack by Iran happened about two weeks ago on
October 1st. It's now October 14th. I mean, obviously, there does have to be an element of surprise. That makes sense in any war. But are you
surprised that it's taken this long?
LEIGHTON: I am actually, Zain. I thought that, you know, given the October 1st attack, I thought that the Israelis would respond very quickly. What
this tells me though is that not only is Israel figuring out exactly what it wants to do, but it is basically get collecting data points both from
Iran as well, which is, of course, the topic area in this particular case, but also from the United States.
And the United States and other powers such as the European Union are looking at this, wanting to de-escalate everything that's there.
[12:15:04]
It appears, in spite of some of the reports that we've had to the contrary, that the Israelis may actually at least for now, be listening to what the
U.S. and the Europeans are saying to it.
And if that's the case, that could very well mean that there's going to be a much more calibrated response than what would have been expected
immediately in the wake of the October attacks.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. That leads to the question I was going to ask you about, just how coordinated the two sides are at this point in terms of what that
response would look like from Israel, given that the THAAD defense system has now been or is in the process of being deployed to Israel.
There had been some reporting that Israel was not communicating as openly with the White House as the U.S. administration had wanted. And there had
been a canceled visit at the last moment by the Defense Minister Gallant. It wasn't his decision. It was Prime Minister Netanyahu's. But the two have
since spoken.
I mean, are you now more open to the possibility that these two sides are on the same page, or the U.S. is more aware of what Israel may be planning
to do?
LEIGHTON: I think that's definitely a possibility. And, Bianna, we can't forget that General Kurilla, the commander of Central Command, U.S. Central
Command, was in Israel recently, obviously discussing what the possible Israeli response options might be.
And that then tells me that at least at the tactical and what we call the operational level, the two sides are definitely talking military to
military.
When it comes to the more strategic level, I think it's also become pretty clear that both sides see that there's a certain congruence of interests
between the United States and Israel, and that congruence of interests means that they are willing to work with each other in spite of political
differences or personality issues. And that very fact means that there is going to be some degree of coordination between the two nations.
And how that plays out, of course, remains to be seen. There's always a chance that the coordination may fall apart at the last second. But in this
particular case, they're at least working in, I would say, a synchronized fashion at this particular moment in time.
ASHER: I was speaking to our Ben Wedeman just a moment ago about the fact that Israel is now striking Christian villages in the north. I mean,
clearly, it's not just about Hezbollah strongholds in the suburbs of Beirut anymore.
We know the civilian toll in Lebanon is rising every single day. What sort of consideration is Israel giving right now to civilians as it carries out
some of these strikes?
LEIGHTON: Well, and that, I think, is another really good question, because widening the war, widening this conflict to include civilians in areas
where there is no presence of Hezbollah, at least no known presence of Hezbollah, that creates real problems for the Israelis, certainly on the PR
front as well as on the diplomatic front.
These kinds of attacks are not designed to win any friends outside of the Middle East for Israel. In fact, they do the exact opposite.
The other thing that, of course, this could do is this could implicate Israel in the political situation within Lebanon, which is an incredibly
complex situation, with or without Hezbollah. And it seems that whether or not this was deliberate, they're sending -- the Israelis are sending a
message to the Christian elements in the Lebanese population that they want things to be done in a certain way. What that way is, I'm not sure.
But the key thing here is that everyone in Lebanon seems to be at risk. And that, I think, is a very dangerous game for Israel to be playing right now,
because it would really be in their interest for them to, at the very least, keep the Lebanese population neutral in what's going on right now.
But that is something that I don't think they're interested in doing at this point.
ASHER: All right. CNN Military Analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
GOLODRYGA: Still to come for us, historic flooding, a fuel crisis, and more than 400,000 people still without power from Hurricane Milton. A look at
the latest hurricane recovery efforts in Florida just ahead.
ASHER: Plus, heavy rain has left one of the driest places on Earth underwater. How extreme weather is impacting the Sahara Desert? That
picture, gosh, that's coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:20:13]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft has just lifted off on a mission to study one of Jupiter's moons for the potential of life. The spacecraft
blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center aboard SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket.
GOLODRYGA: The Europa Clipper is carrying nine instruments and a gravity experiment to investigate the ice-covered ocean on the moon Europa. Liftoff
was scheduled for last week but delayed after Hurricane Milton hit Florida.
Meantime, Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in parts of North Carolina were temporarily paused over the weekend due to reports of threats to relief
workers. Unbelievable.
ASHER: Yes. FEMA has told CNN that the organization has made some quote operational adjustments because of the threats. "The Washington Post"
reports that FEMA workers say they had to stop working after National Guard troops or armed militia threatening their colleagues.
GOLODRYGA: Meantime, recovery efforts are slow in Florida after the state was pummeled by two major hurricanes in just two weeks' time. Rivers and
lakes in some areas are rising to historic levels and flooding neighborhoods.
ASHER: Yes. Officials there say the death toll from Hurricane Milton has now risen to at least 23 people. Gasoline is also hard to come by in the
hard-hit Tampa Bay area where more than 75 percent of gas stations are now out of fuel.
Our Isabel Rosales has more on what Florida is facing. She filed this report a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it is certainly a daunting task ahead for so many Floridians, dealing with roads that are blocked by
falling trees and flooding, also dealing with a lack of electricity and fuel.
Speaking of flooding, this is still an ongoing issue with many active flooding river warnings out in the Tampa Bay area. This includes the
Hillsborough River, it includes the Alafia River impacting Valrico and Lithia areas of Hillsborough County, an area that I was in where I saw so
many homes underwater, cars underwater.
The sheriff is saying that the waters are not receding as quickly as they would like to see, and this is slowing down recovery.
And then you have things like fuel, GasBuddy, the tracking website saying that hard-hit Tampa and St. Petersburg over in Pinellas County are
experiencing the largest outage, three-quarters of gas stations without any gas.
And we've seen the state giving so many resources to tackling this issue, including escorting gas tankers to the appropriate locations where they
need to go, which is great because we've certainly seen those lines wrapping along blocks, several blocks of people waiting for their chance to
get a bit of gas.
The state also opening public fueling sites, giving folks up to 10 gallons of fuel for free to help them again turn the next page and return to
something more normal seeming after this one-two punch of Helene and then Milton.
[12:25:03]
And then, of course, there's debris removal, something that Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has called a major priority. All of that debris from
even Helene that has been just all over neighborhoods and is a serious concern because these are flying projectiles and we are not out of
hurricane season yet. That debris removal process is happening 24 hours a day, seven days a week, says DeSantis.
And, of course, we did see President Biden touring the area, hard-hit Tampa Bay area, over the weekend, where he has approved a major disaster
declaration, opening up funding from FEMA so folks can get access to some money to help them with home repairs and temporary housing.
Here's what else the president said.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a whole-of-government effort, from state and local, to FEMA, to the U.S. Coast Guard, Army Corps
of Engineers, the Energy Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Defense, just to name a few.
FEMA has delivered 1.2 million meals, over 300,000 liters of water, two million gallons of fuel. And so far, we've installed 100 satellite
terminals to restore communications in impacted areas.
ROSALES: And another major priority to turning the page on Milton is, of course, restoring the power infrastructure.
We just checked and as of Monday morning on poweroutage.us, there's around 400,000 customers without electricity in the state of Florida.
And power companies, this is a bit of good news here, say that they expect to get most people back up and running by midweek.
Isabel Rosales, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Still to come here on CNN, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are locked in a dead heat with just 22 days to go until the U.S. election,
that's according to new polling. We're going to take a closer look at how both campaigns are responding.
GOLODRYGA: Plus, CNN heads to the critical swing state of Wisconsin to ask some black voters about their voting plans. Some of their responses might
surprise you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:30:20]
ASHER: Welcome back to ONE WORLD, I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.
With just 22 days to go until the U.S. presidential election, there is still no clear frontrunner between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
And CNN's latest poll of polls. The survey, which is the average of recent nationwide polls, shows Harris with 50 percent support among likely voters
and Trump at 47.
ASHER: The vice president lags behind President Joe Biden's numbers with critical, crucial black voters in 2020, especially male black voters.
In an interview, Harris attacked Trump's history of racial controversies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He is not looking out for folks when he is -- when he
was a landlord and would not rent to black families. Sued for it. When he took out a full page ad in "The New York Times" against those five
teenagers, black and Latino, who were innocent, saying they should be executed, the Central Park Five.
When you look at, he -- the first black president of the United States and he had birther lines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Kamala Harris today unveiled new proposals targeting the votes of black men as she seeks to strengthen her coalition ahead of Election
Day.
Part of the proposal includes providing forgivable business loans for black entrepreneurs.
ASHER: CNN returns to Milwaukee as part of our "All Over the Map" series. John King has been speaking with black voters about their support for Vice
President Kamala Harris in this election. I want to show you what he found.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Door-to-door north side Milwaukee. If Kamala Harris is to win Wisconsin, the path starts
right here.
DEVONTA JOHNSON, CANVASSER, BLACK LEADERS ORGANIZING FOR COMMUNITIES: How do you feel like Kamala Harris?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Kamala Harris, I think she's great.
JOHNSON: She's great?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-huh.
JOHNSON: How do you feel about Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not so great.
KING (voice-over): A phone number to keep in touch.
JOHNSON: Appreciate you, ma'am. Have a good day and blessed day.
KING (voice-over): To make sure support translates into voting.
JOHNSON: She was pretty excited about Kamala.
KING (voice-over): Devonta Johnson, now shares that excitement. When we met a year ago, he was its undecided between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
JOHNSON: At the time, I was like kind of iffy for like everybody else like undecided and not confused but it's like I don't know, for sure, I'm going
to vote for him. But now that Kamala got the ball and she rolling with it, I feel like, oh yes.
KING (voice-over): Johnson and his colleagues walk the streets year-round, building trust for right now.
The leaves are falling. Halloween is at hand. It's turnout time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to remind you that early voting starts on October 22nd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife and I, we already absentee ballot.
KING (voice-over): This look under the hood was positive.
JOHNSON: I just want you --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump is just trying to take it back today that we don't want to be in.
KING (voice-over): But there are cracks in the democratic foundation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know I don't know him, but then I feel like I question her a little bit too.
KING (voice-over): The canvassers share notes every workday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are people saying?
KING (voice-over): No question Harris is stronger in the Black neighborhoods now than Joe Biden was when we first visited a year ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a sense of hope in the air.
KING (voice-over): But there are warning signs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is people out here saying that they don't want to vote. They're still are saying that.
KING (voice-over): Often, the conversation that those doors turns to higher rents and food prices.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got to pick and choose between what we can and what we can't buy and ain't nobody talking about it, but you all just vote,
vote, vote, get out and vote. You all want us the vote.
KING (voice-over): Angela Lang is the boss here at Black Leaders Organizing for Communities. She knows the hard math of Hillary Clinton's narrow 2016
Wisconsin loss and what it took to deliver Joe Biden's narrow 2020 win. Cautiously optimistic now as she rally her team and runs the 2024
canvassing numbers.
ANGELA LANG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BLACK LEADERS ORGANIZING FOR COMMUNITIES: You can't win a statewide election here without going through the heart of
Milwaukee and in some cases that runs through this office and the work that our team does.
But also we're seeing folks in heavily red areas that are getting together with other women at coffee shops without their husbands knowing, for
example, and starting to have those conversations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got the most to lose right now --
KING (voice-over): Off the charts support among women is critical for Harris.
When these canvassers encounter a Trump supporter, it is almost always a black man.
LANG: One of the things that we've heard is people are like, well, I think I had more money in my pocket when Trump was in office because of the
stimulus checks during the pandemic.
BRIAN MCMUTUARY, WISCONSIN VOTER: It's kind of hard to choose when that's all you've got.
KING (voice-over): Brian McMutuary was a lifelong Democrat, but he voted for Trump in 2020. He's undecided, but leaning Trump this year.
MCMUTUARY: The cost of living, you know, gas, food prices, you know, rent is hard. You try to, you know, keep up and trying, you know, stay away from
credit cards.
So what did you do today?
KING (voice-over): McMutuary has two children, manages at McDonald's, disagrees with Trump on immigration and abortion, but likes his take on
cryptocurrency and remembers being better off when Trump was president.
[12:35:05]
MCMUTUARY: I would have to say that the biggest difference is I think having the experience.
KING (voice-over): Plus, he says he worries Russia's Putin and China's Xi, wouldn't see Harris as an equal.
MCMUTUARY: They look in a man has been, you know, a leader. So that's like, somewhat of a troubling issue.
KING: Do you have any problem with a woman president?
MCMUTUARY: Nope. Not at all. Like I said, it's about doing the right thing for the country.
ERIC JONES, WISCONSIN VOTER: How can you take bigotry over a job?
KING (voice-over): Eric Jones, hears it all when he stops for coffee, at the barbershop, and in his real estate business.
JONES: If I was a gambling man, I would probably put my money on Harris. Things are getting better, the numbers are better, the energy is different.
KING (voice-over): But an earlier job sometimes hurts the vice president.
JONES: It is the black man. Law enforcement has not been kind to black people historically. District attorneys have not been kind to black people
historically.
KING (voice-over): Plus, Jones says abortion and transgender rights sometimes come up in his barbershop debates.
JONES: The good old party feels that they have a monopoly over the Christian vote.
The Democratic Party feels they have monopoly over the black vote. The problem is there are a lot of blacks that are Christians and the black
churches are one of the strongest institutions in the community.
So, you have this tug-of-war in a city that I'm pretty sure the black vote will decide who wins that city and more likely the presidency.
KING (voice-over): Yes, turnout time in a community that matters big time.
John King CNN, Milwaukee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: Time now for The Exchange. Joining us is Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator and democratic strategist.
Maria, always good to see you. We spent quite a bit of time talking about concerns among the Harris campaign as to attracting more black voters.
Let's expand that and let's talk about Latino voters as well because this has also proven to be an area of concern.
A new "New York Times" poll over the weekend compared 2016 results where Latino voters supported at 68 percent to what the estimates are right now
in the most recent October poll, and that is 56 percent support among Latinos.
And one of the questions asked of voters this weekend is that the escalating attacks on immigrants has not driven away Latino voters from
Trump to Harris.
In fact, two-thirds of those surveyed said they believe Trump was not referring to people like them when he spoke of immigrants.
How is the Democratic Party and more specifically the Kamala Harris campaign addressing this issue?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm so glad we're talking about this, Bianna and Zain, because it's such an important issue.
And I will start by saying that Democrats should be worried because that's the only way that we're going to win, to make sure that we take nothing for
granted, to make sure that we leave nothing, no effort on the table. And that's exactly what's happening with the vice president's campaign right
now.
I do have to level set though, Bianna and Zain, with The New York Times/Siena poll numbers and take those as just one of many, many polls
that are coming out about Latino voters.
There was a CBS poll that came out that had a larger sample size that had Kamala Harris at 63 percent with Latino voters and had Donald Trump at 35
percent with Latino voters. That is exactly similar to, actually a little bit higher, than what Joe Biden had and won with in 2020, which are the
numbers that we need to really compare them to.
And more so, and I think more importantly, if you have sample sizes that are even larger, Voto Latino, Univision, the Hispanic Federation, several
other sets of polls that actually know how to poll the Latino community using bilingual pollsters with a much more robust sample size, show the
same thing that CBS poll had, which is that the vice president is in the low to mid-60s with Latino voters, which is what she needs to win. And
Donald Trump is at his ceiling, which is in the low to mid-30s.
That doesn't mean that we need to spike the football. There is obviously a lot of work to be done. The Latino vote, I have always said to my party,
should not be looked at as a base vote. They should be looked at as a swing vote.
We are not a monolith by any stretch of the imagination, but there's no question that the vast majority of them view the vice president as the
candidate who is in this race that will fight for them every single day, that will fight to expand the economic opportunity for working class and
middle class voters, and that will fight to honor the value and value a real common sense solution to the immigration problem, which means strong
border security, but it also means expanding legal pathways for the undocumented immigrants that have been here for years contributing to our
economy.
[12:40:14]
ASHER: Yes. But still, as you point out, it is important not to take this voting block for granted.
CARDONA: Absolutely.
ASHER: I do want to talk about Kamala Harris' interview on Wednesday with Fox News, right? Not exactly a friendly outlet for her.
And, you know, let's be honest about Kamala Harris in terms of her performance in interviews. I mean, I would say that she does fine, right?
CARDONA: Mm-hmm.
ASHER: It's a solid B, right? I would give her. What does she need to do differently? Because there's only a few -- there's three weeks until the
election. There's only going to be a few more opportunities, a handful of more opportunities in terms of being able to change things and change
people's minds.
What does she need to do on Wednesday do you think?
CARDONA: Well, I disagree with you a little bit, Zain, on that grade. I would give her an A, maybe. Maybe an A minus, because there's always room
for improvement, but I think she's doing really well.
I think she comes through as authentic. She comes through as somebody who is really thoughtful. She comes through as somebody who is frankly the
person who is there that is going to fight for most Americans every single day.
And in fact, you know, if you do want to look at the "New York Times" poll, there are some numbers there that are really good for the vice president,
because they indicate that she is now the candidate that is seen by the majority of voters as the candidate that represents change.
She is the candidate that is seen by the vast majority of voters as a candidate who is going to fight for people like me. She has also really
closed the gap and is almost even on issues like the economy and immigration.
So on every single platform, and I am so thrilled that she is doing everything now, it is, she's doing a media blitz, she's doing traditional
media, non-traditional media, friendly media, not so friendly media, podcasts, digital. She's doing everything, Zain. And I think that's exactly
what she needs to do because she's not taking anything for granted and she is fighting for every single vote in contrast with Donald Trump, who is
dark and more demented and more dysfunctional and talks about a dystopian, a broken country.
He talks down and insults Americans.
ASHER: Good alliteration there. I love your alliteration, right?
CARDONA: And so I don't think that that's what Americans are looking for. Americans are looking for somebody who see this country where our days, our
better days are before us and what are they going to do to fight for those communities and to make sure that everyone has a say and is going to take
part in those better days.
GOLODRYGA: So those dark, dystopian speeches, language that you just described the former president is using, sometimes just downright racist,
as some of this polling suggests among Latino voters, this isn't turning them off as much as one would expect.
If you add to that the limited time window now that the Harris campaign has to turn things around, I know you gave her an A, perhaps you were grading
on a curve, Maria, but we did see a shift over the weekend, where we saw a more forceful Kamala Harris come out and address Donald Trump's age, the
fact that he's not releasing his medical reports, that he will not have another debate, agree to another debate with her. She's calling him weak.
Do you think this is a more effective strategy, and should we be seeing more of this in the last weeks before the election?
CARDONA: I do think it's an effective strategy, Bianna, because in her fight for Latino voters and black voters, especially the men that we are
seeing, right? That's where a lot of these polls are saying she needs to shore up her support, they do perhaps see Donald Trump as somebody that has
a show of strength.
So the more that she comes out to underscore that actually his dystopian, dysfunctional dementia is a -- is proof of his weakness, that the fact that
he will not release his medical that he won't debate her, that he has said no to the "60 Minutes" interview, he said no to the CNN town hall. What is
he afraid of?
To me, he is afraid of her, because she represents something that has always been political kryptonite for Donald Trump, a strong woman, a woman
of color who is black and of Asian descent, a daughter of immigrants who can speak to the values we hold so dear in this country.
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
ASHER: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
CARDONA: And I think that's going to be a very valuable contrast that she needs to continue --
[12:45:00]
GOLODRYGA: Right.
CARDONA: -- to articulate from now until election day.
GOLODRYGA: Maria Cardona, we'll have to leave it there. Thanks for the time. We appreciate it.
CARDONA: Thank you so much to both of you.
GOLODRYGA: We appreciate it.
ASHER: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. It's one of the driest places on earth, but days of heavy rains have transformed parts of the Sahara, submerging tall trees and
leaving large blue lagoons.
GOLODRYGA: And CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam has more on this rare weather event.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Zain and Bianna, these are some striking photographs coming out of the normally arid and very dry Saharan
desert. This is near the border of Morocco and Algeria.
This area does receive a couple of inches of rain annually, but in a couple of days' time, during the month of September of this year actually received
about a year's worth of rain in that short period of time.
So much so that satellites high above us in space actually captured the lakes that formed as a result of this heavy rainfall.
So going back to August 14th of 2024, you can see no lake. Let's go forward by roughly a month, and after that rainy spell, and you can see this
turquoise coloring of blue, that's actually the lakes forming and ponding within the dry or typically and arid Saharan desert.
This, by the way, is the largest non-polar desert in the world. So it's amazing to see that contrast from the before and after satellite images.
Here's another aerial photograph of the water piling up within the valleys of the Saharan desert. This is again over southeastern Morocco.
And if we take a closer look at the rainfall totals here during the month of September, that shade of blue and the white gray there, that is actually
areas that received 100 to 200 millimeters of rain. Roughly in some locations, about a years' worth of train just in the short period of time.
And what made this particularly unique, is that it wasn't part of the seasonal shift known as the intertropical convergence zone. This was
actually formed because of an extra tropical cyclone. So it brought rainfall, an extreme amount of rainfall in terms of what they are used to,
to an area of northwestern Africa that doesn't normally experience these types of events.
One thing's for sure, going forward in time, there are some light showers in this forecast, but that's not an extratropical cyclone, that's just
precipitation moving from the Atlantic inland and that could impact some of those areas that saw the ponding within the dry desert regions of
southeastern Morocco, but this has just created some incredible photography coming out of the area.
Look at the reflections. You can see the sand dune here in the lake and there it is in real time above it.
Zain, Bianna, back to you.
ASHER: Certainly not something you see every day --
GOLODRYGA: Unbelievable.
ASHER: -- at all.
All right. Preparations underway for two giant pandas to move from southwestern China to Washington, D.C. A team from the Smithsonian National
Zoo is on the ground in Sichuan Province to help with the transition.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And CNN is the only U.S. media there. And our David Culver got an exclusive firsthand look at the bilateral effort to keep panda
diplomacy alive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[12:50:07]
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We've traveled here to Sichuan, China for a rare look at preparing these pandas for their very
long journey.
We're in and around the city of Chengdu. It's known for its spicy hot pot, its mountainous landscape, and giant pandas.
We're actually going to go meet now with some of the folks from the Smithsonian National Zoo from D.C. who have flown here and are part of the
transition team to bring Bao Li and Qing Bao back to the U.S.
We can't go back there, but that's where Bao Li and Qing Bao are. They're in quarantine. And those you saw there were the zookeepers from the
National Zoo as well as some caretakers from China.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So they both have pretty different personalities. Bao Li has a huge personality. So he's very vocal. He's very energetic. And
he's always kind of like up doing something.
Qing Bao is the polar opposite. She can be almost always found in a tree or sleeping on her climbing structure.
CULVER: The panda pair will fill a void at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
For the past 11 months, the panda exhibit has sat empty. Now, it's part of the terms of the Smithsonian's exchange program with China.
Late last year, the zoo's three pandas were sent back here to Chengdu.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think people realize how attached you get.
CULVER: When you're here, I mean in this setting, what has stood out to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here, the sheer number of pandas.
CULVER: It's crazy, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It's crazy.
CULVER: You turn here and you're like, oh, wait, you can go there, you can go there. Nowhere else do we have something like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nowhere else, and the scenery is obviously beautiful and the commitment.
CULVER: Pandas were on the brink of extinction, but in recent years, they've moved from endangered to vulnerable, but there's still more work to
go.
The Panda Exchange, also called Panda Diplomacy, dates back more than 50 years now, when China gifted two pandas to the U.S. following President
Nixon's historic visit.
Today, they're given on loan, and they are a strategic diplomatic tool, serving as ambassadors of hope and spreading global goodwill.
Somehow pandas were able to unite nations, something we could use about right now.
David Culver, CNN, Chengdu, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. Here in the U.S., you simply cannot get away from all talk about the election. It's obviously there's only three weeks to go
until the big day.
[12:55:05]
GOLODRYGA: Yes. When Saturday Night Live was off the air on hiatus, everyone's like, how are they going to handle this news? Well, they're
back. And over the weekend, they poked fun at both candidates over the weekend in a family feud skit. We want to leave you with some of our
favorite moments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENAN THOMPSON, AMERICAN ACTOR: Something that you keep in your glove compartment.
MAYA RUDOLPH, AMERICAN ACTRESS: Oh, a Glock, Steve. A big old Glock.
THOMPSON: Oh. OK. Let's go over to President Joe Biden. Something that you keep in your glove box.
DANA CARVEY, AMERICAN ACTOR: I like to buy a vowel.
THOMPSON: Well, that is -- that's the wrong game, player.
CARVEY: Come on, Conan. What are you doing? It's me. I'm still the president. I'm Joe. I may be older, but I'll beat the hell out of you. I'll
pop you. I'll give you an uncle's sandwich. I know how to do it. I can make sandwiches. And guess what? Here's the deal. I'm not the old one now. Trump
is.
MIKEY DAY, AMERICAN ACTOR: I say lots of different things, but it all comes together so beautifully. Like an episode of "Seinfeld." "Seinfeld," you
know, Jerry was always wearing mom jeans. He had bad jeans, just like the immigrants who are ruining this country. They're eating the pets. They're
eating (INAUDIBLE) . We are getting our asses kicked.
I mean, you look at Korea, you look at Japan, America's not even included. There's no room. So it's like a glove compartment, right? There's no room.
You see what I did there, Steve?
THOMPSON: Oh, yes. I know exactly what you did. Show me dementia. Oh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Oh, my gosh. Dana Carvey as Biden is hysterical.
ASHER: Maya Rudolph as well. We didn't see much of her there, but excellent.
GOLODRYGA: Well, that does it for this hour of ONE WORLD. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate you watching. "AMANPOUR" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
END
