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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Harris Arrives in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention; Interview with South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain, Georgia Democratic Party Chair, Representative Nikema Williams, Michigan Democratic Party Chair, Lavora Barnes, and Nevada Democrat Party Chair and Nevada Assembly Speaker Pro-Tempore Daniele Monroe-Moreno. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired August 18, 2024 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And this would not be (INAUDIBLE).
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: David?
DAVID POLYANSKY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I believe this is a Democrat convention so I've got to follow his lead.
COLLINS: I mean, as we've heard from an unnamed potential VP who was here earlier, he said he's so glad he didn't do that or he wouldn't have even been in the running.
VONES: Exactly.
COLLINS: That was on tape.
JONES: I agree. Wise man. Wise man.
COLLINS: What if several adults dance on camera?
JONES: Exactly. Exactly. Number one rule. And not on this camera for sure.
POLYANSKY: Yes. Absolute.
COLLINS: Van Jones, David Polyansky, great to have you both here. But neither of you did the Macarena required for being on this panel.
Thank you so much for all of you at home joining us live from the United Center. CNN's special coverage of this convention will continue. I'll be on the floor all week speaking to al the Democrats and the delegates as they are gathered here.
"NEWS NIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP" starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tonight, her convention. KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you know what
you stand for, you know what to fight for.
PHILLIP: Kicks off. After a page-turning month that changed history. Plus polls and problems. The numbers tilt toward Kamala Harris as J.D. Vance peddles lies.
SEN. JD VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The media uses fake polls to drive down Republican turnout.
PHILLIP: Also, the convention roster includes a never Trump Republican and the most popular figure in the Democratic Party.
And flip the script. A Trump ally stops being polite.
SEN. LINSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Donald Trump the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election.
PHILLIP: With Team Trump's lead going up in smoke, and tells Trump to drop the reality show schtick.
Live at the table, Bakari Sellers, Scott Jennings, Alencia Johnson, and Shermichael Singleton.
Welcome to special edition of NEWSNIGHT: STATE OF THE RACE.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP: Good evening, everyone. I'm Abby Philip live from Chicago inside of the Democratic National Convention.
Let's get right to what America is talking about. And that is the polls, all of them, what they show and what they absolutely are not. Just minutes ago, Kamala Harris, she arrived in Chicago for a coronation. So, does a new snapshot of the show, a clear Kamala Harris lead in these polls. Just look across these samples of the polling from ABC News, "Washington Post," they show a consistent finding. All adults, Harris is in the lead. Registered voters, Harris is in the lead. Likely voters, Harris is in the lead. And most importantly, that is not where this race was just about six weeks ago.
My panel is here in the arena with me.
Shermichael, this is more than just a sugar high it seems. Looking at this poll, the ABC News-"Washington Post" poll, on several metrics Harris has taken the lead but done so in a dramatic fashion. Physical health, 30 points up from Trump. Trump was leading that in July. Honesty, she's basically tied with where Biden was, up by 15. Mental sharpness, she leads by 10. Trump was leading that by 30 points. And now you can see why he's so nervous.
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, you know, and those are some interesting points, but on the issues that people are actually motivated to vote by, immigration, the economy, and maybe we'll throw in foreign policy to have a little fun here, the former president is still leads. Now granted, the vice president has increased her margins. I'll give her and my Democratic friends some credit there.
But when you're proposing economic policies that are going to cost the American people close to $2 trillion without explaining how in the heck we're going to pay for this stuff, I think reality is going to hit and for a whole host of people they're going to say, wait a minute here. This is great. I -- yes, maybe I trust her. Yes, she is younger. She looks great. She's vibrant, but I don't want my tax dollars going up through the roof and that's reality for a whole lot of people.
PHILLIP: Seems like an indictment on the Republicans that they have not been able to stop this for weeks stretch of momentum, five weeks stretch of momentum.
ALENCIA JOHNSON, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER, BIDEN 2020 CAMPAIGN: Yes, I mean, look, beyond just us having this young fresh energy, there have been so many issues that our party has been galvanized around abortion access, Project 2025. I mean, you all literally put out a playbook for us to galvanize our base around. But this other piece that you're talking about when it comes to the economy, I mean, she wrote her economic policy on Friday and she said it much like President Biden did when he was running that people making over -- under $400,000 are not going to have to pay more in taxes. She's going to make sure all of this is paid for by corporations and billionaires paying their fair share.
PHILLIP: Let me play, Alencia, what she said when she was asked about that. Just listen.
[22:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I think it's a mistake for any person who talks about public policy to not critically evaluate how you measure the return on investment. When you are strengthening neighborhoods, strengthening communities, and particularly the economy of those communities, and investing in a broad-based economy, everybody benefits and it pays for itself in that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It pays for itself. I mean, look, she rolled this thing out on Friday. Everybody knows it was a debt disaster. You can't find an economist who isn't like, yes, maybe we shouldn't turn ourselves into Venezuela. They're not going to have any more policies. Right now the reason she's going up in the polls is because she occupies the avatar of generic Democrat.
And this is the burden for Trump. He doesn't want to run against generic Democrat. He needs to run against radical Democrat or something worse than generic Democrat. They had beaten Biden down below that. And now they're going to have to do the same thing to her, but the burden is on him and his campaign to do it. The evidence exists to do it. She added to it on Friday with this insane economics package. But that's what Trump has got to do. This is not some --
PHILLIP: I presume what you're saying is that he has not done that.
JENNINGS: They've not done it yet, but there's still some campaign to go. I believe the September 10th debate is when he's going to have to show up and have his most focused 90 minutes. I mean, it's a real race.
PHILLIP: That's a long time for Trump to be focused.
JENNINGS: And obviously they're doing paid media and they're doing all this stuff they got to do now. But that debate he's got to show up and absolutely prosecute the case that this is not some garden variety generic Democrat who is just like, oh, what -- this is a radical progressive who will plunge this country's economics into darkness. That's what he has.
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I want to hear some more adjectives, bring it on. I love to see --
(LAUGHTER)
SELLERS: I'm just watching in awe the usage of adjectives and how flustered --
JENNINGS: I'll send you my rochet.
SELLERS: It's amazing watching this. Look, I mean, I think most people who look at this critically know, for example, we have a housing shortage in this country and people like Shermichael and Scott, what they want to do is talk about the $25,000 that first-time homebuyers will get for down payment assistance. But what they won't talk about is the fact that there's going to be a tax credit given to homebuilders. A traditionally conservative group of tradesmen and unions and workers in this country that she's reaching out to with olive branch saying we need you if we're actually going to build these three million homes.
I mean, that's actually sound economic policy. For anybody to sit up here and say, oh, my god, this is Venezuela, which by the way Donald Trump actually adores the dictator in Venezuela, that's neither here nor there. For anybody to say that, but then actually talk about a child tax credit, do you want to talk about a return on investment? Do we really want to go there and talk about economists? Because it's actually a really good idea. But this is --
SINGLETON: I mean, J.D. Vance also talked about a child tax credit, and now you guys are trying to borrow our policy.
SELLERS: No. You know what's crazy?
SINGLETON: Just like no taxes on tips.
SELLERS: Do you want to -- you want to talk -- OK.
SINGLETON: Yes, go ahead. Go ahead.
SELLERS: Some of the most amazing part about that, Shermichael, is that, yes, we actually had a Democratic senator who sponsored a child tax credit bill. You know who voted against it? 40 plus Republicans. You know who didn't -- one second. No, no, can I -- let me --
(CROSSTALK)
SINGLETON: All right, go ahead. Go ahead.
SELLERS: Do you know who did not show up to vote at all on that bill? What's his name? J.D. Vance. So before you tell me about a bill that J.D. Vance once sponsored actually make sure he was there to vote on it before we talk about it.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: I would also, Scott, like to hear Donald Trump say that he supports a $5,000 --
SELLERS: He doesn't.
JENNINGS: He does.
PHILLIP: The campaign --
SELLERS: He said he's not there yet.
JENNINGS: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
JOHNSON: But we don't even know Donald Trump's economic policy is.
JENNINGS: The 2017 tax bill had --
SELLERS: Tic-Tac.
JENNINGS: -- a child tax credit in it and guess who voted against it? Kamala Harris. And so --
SELLERS: But we had more than just that and that's the part -- because what we do know is that this is what we do know, and this is going to be the most amazing thing about this presidency. And this is why I enjoy it because I can actually give you guys real facts like this is going to be the first time in 60 years that a Democratic president actually handed off to another president of the United States an economy that was sound.
JOHNSON: That's working.
SELLERS: That's actually working.
JENNINGS: Working for who?
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: Can we go back --
SINGLETON: Oh, come on, come on, guys. JOHNSON: The question that I have, I just wonder where is Donald
Trump's economic policy, right? He talks about that he's so good for the economy. He comes out with a press conference with grocery store items and has no plan for the American people.
SINGLETON: Grocery items that are up like 20 percent.
SELLERS: What's the plan, though?
JOHNSON: But I said what is the plan?
SINGLETON: Vice President Harris even acknowledged.
JOHNSON: But what is the plan? You keep going back to Vice President Harris.
SELLERS: But the deficit went up under him.
JENNINGS: Stop engaging.
SELLERS: But the deficit went up under him.
JENNINGS: You may remember we had the pandemic, but I'll forgive you for lack of memories.
JOHNSON: But he (INAUDIBLE).
SELLERS: It was global.
JENNINGS: But yes, but we --
SELLERS: It was global.
JENNINGS: Did you not agree that we had to spend --
JOHNSON: And the stimulus was because of the Democrats.
JENNINGS: Here's the plan. Stop engaging in the inflationary policies of the last three and a half years. What's principally was showering the economy with $2 trillion in stimulus money that sky rocketed inflation.
SELLERS: So, Scott, let me ask you a question, are we on the way to a soft landing or no?
JENNINGS: I don't know. Does anybody out there feel soft right now? I don't think so.
SELLERS: No, no, no. It's literally a yes or no question. The answer is yes. They tell you, yes, the answer is yes.
JENNINGS: What you're dropping them from the moon and you're asking me if they land their rear-end on the earth, that's going to feel -- I don't think people feel soft right now.
SINGLETON: What's the soft landing for? The working class people across this country?
[22:10:01]
SELLERS: You know what, I'm glad you asked the question.
SINGLETON: The people who can't afford to get to work?
SELLERS: Because at the end of the day --
SINGLETON: People can't afford to put gas in their tank? Can't afford to put food on the table?
SELLERS: At the end of the day --
SINGLETON: Who's the soft landing for?
SELLERS: At the end of the day, you actually bring up a good point. And this is when I would tell you that Kamala Harris is at her best versus Donald Trump because she understands that, although the infrastructure bill, bipartisan by the way, was a success, although the Inflation Reduction Act, which was bipartisan, was a success, she will also tell you that yes, people are still feeling that pain right here in Chicago.
People will tell you that people are still feeling that pain. And what she's trying to do is put forth ideas that we can actually talk about and debate in the United States Senate, United States House. She put forth a policy proposal and all we're asking you, and while you attack Kamala Harris on these policy proposals, we would love to attack Donald Trump's policy proposals. You just can't give me one.
PHILLIP: Let me give you one more thing just on the tactics of this because there's more to talk about on what --
SELLERS: I need to be at a reception right now with all my friends.
PHILLIP: And instead we're here talking about economic policy.
SELLERS: They're giving away free liquor tonight.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: How could we -- how could we, Bakari? But the question is, does the Trump campaign understand what's going on right now? J.D. Vance just today was out on television basically saying what you're seeing in the polls, it's not real, it's fake. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: What you've seen in 2016 and 2020 is that the media uses fake polls to drive down Republican turnout and to create dissension and conflict with Republican voters. I'm telling you, every single person who's watching this, the Trump campaign is in a very, very good spot. We're going to win this race. We just have to run through the finish line.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: That does not seem very healthy. I mean, the same fake polls were showing Trump leading in this race six weeks ago.
JENNINGS: The polls are not fake, but what they have done in the past two presidential elections is drastically understate Donald Trump's vote share.
SELLERS: True. That's a fact.
JENNINGS: And if I were, if I were in the Democrat shoes, that's what would keep me up at night. Are we actually capturing some of the people who loved to show up and vote for Donald Trump because we didn't capture him in '16, we didn't capture him in '20. These leads, I mean, the polling is real, but the leads are small and they can be overcome by a very small polling.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: And when we talk about the polling, people need to understand a lot of these polls are really showing statistical tie. They're not really showing necessarily leads based on the margin.
SINGLETON: And if we are to look at 2016, to Scott's point, there was nine points the former president was underestimated. Five points in 2020. So if it is a statistical tie within the margins of error, is it not fair to say that potentially the former president has a point or two ahead of the vice president?
SELLERS: Yes. Yes.
SINGLETON: Absolutely.
SELLERS: Yes.
SINGLETON: So I think Democrats, while they're on this honeymoon session, they should be very careful.
(CROSSTALK)
SELLERS: Democrats are not -- and I'm sorry. I apologize. Democrats are not -- we're not just eating honey buns like -- they like, you know, in Morehouse that used to have the honeybuns with white icing on it.
SINGLETON: So good.
SELLERS: Yes, those were good. We're not on like a sugar high.
PHILLIP: Quite a few high school.
SELLERS: We're not on a 75 percent sugar high. What we are on, though, is like a redux from 2016. And if I were talking to Julie Rodriguez, like I had an opportunity to earlier tonight, or Jen O'Malley Dillon, or even the vice president of the United States, I would say, look, you got to keep running through the tape because at this event eight years ago, people were talking about what jobs they were going to take in the Hillary Clinton administration, what ambassadorships they were going to get, and we just actually lost all concept of reality.
And Scott, actually, this may be my first time in two or three months agreeing with him, made a legitimate point that the polls do not truly -- are not emblematic of Donald Trump's positioning, Not only do they underestimate the intensity of MAGA, because we know MAGA will come out rain, sleet, snow. He can shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and they still vote for him. But there are also a large number of people who were fundamentally embarrassed to admit to people they will vote for Donald Trump. And it doesn't capture that either.
PHILLIP: Quick last one.
JOHNSON: Well, I will say I think I'm glad you point out the difference between 2016 because what I've been hearing from my friends on the campaign, folks are running like we're 10 points behind, so we are not taking this for granted. And we know over several cycles, midterms, the last presidential election that these polls, especially at this point, aren't capturing the full picture. So we're not taking it for granted. We're kind of building off of that momentum.
PHILLIP: All right, everyone, stick around for us. Coming up next, we've got a lot more ahead. Hear what Donald Trump plans to do during this convention to try to steal the spotlight back as he gets new warnings from his allies that he is in serious jeopardy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: The showman may not win this election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:19:05]
PHILLIP: Donald Trump's strategy is very simple. The Republican nominee wants voters to play word association. He says Kamala Harris and he wants you at home to think communist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But here's the problem. The thing is that she said yesterday don't work. They have never worked. They've never been used many times before in many other countries. They've never worked. They've just never worked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: back here with everyone. The problem, we were kind of talking about this a little bit earlier, for Trump, this is the frustration you hear in his voice. I think they thought, talking to Trump officials at the RNC, actually, when you ask them, OK, if there's another nominee and it's not Joe Biden, the answer was, you just paint them with the same broad brush and it will all be OK. Well, the voters have said something different.
[22:20:00]
OK. Polling, when you ask them, should they --should Kamala Harris be associated with Biden on the economy, on immigration, a majority of voters say just some or very little. That's not the outcome that Republicans want, right?
JENNINGS: Well, they know very little about her. She has to be defined and she cannot -- you know, to win she can't be the liberal senator she was. She can't be the candidate she was in '20 and she certainly can't be associated with the results of her own votes working for Joe Biden in the White House, which drove up inflation and drove economic misery in the country. So they're going to have to try to define her as something else.
The challenge for Trump is to stop it and to make people associate her with the results -- the simple answer is this. If I were Donald Trump, I would just say, if you are not happy with what you got, maybe don't put the same people in charge again because that's what the Democrats are running. They're trying to disassociate, but they cannot be allowed to do it if the Republicans want to win.
SELLERS: I think that that may be true, that probably if I give you the benefit of the doubt, was true when you had Susie Wiles and Jason Miller and Chris LaCivita having control of an individual that was a shell of himself three, four, five, six weeks ago, the problem is that voters see Donald Trump for what he is. They see him for all the isms that people don't like to castigate upon other people. They see him for the chaos that was the four years that he was in office. They see him for being very little, and then to cap that off, they also see him for being very diminished because voters aren't blind and stupid.
The same spoon that you fed us out of for two, three, four, five months about Joe Biden is the same spoon I had to feed you out for Donald Trump. There's no Republican today that will tell you that Donald Trump is as quick, is as witty, is as focused, is as sharp as he was not only eight years ago, but even four years ago. You have a 78-year-old man who was just clearly diminished and voters see that.
JENNINGS: I don't need him to be. I just need them to be a better president who can fix the problems that were just caused. That's --
(CROSSTALK)
SELLERS: But my argument to you is I hear you, but you need him to be a better candidate. And what I'm saying to you is the lack of discipline that Donald Trump shows, I think you would agree, makes that very difficult.
PHILLIP: One of the other problems, though, Shermichael is Trump is going all the way to communist, which honestly seems like a little bit of a leap. And I think voters are kind of reflecting on that --
SINGLETON: And maybe socialist perhaps was a better description in terms of economic policies. PHILLIP: Maybe that's the point is when you're going to pick something
to label somebody with it should at the very least be believable and it's just not clear to me that voters believed this idea that Kamala Harris is a communist.
SINGLETON: I mean, but voters should believe the fact that it is not the role of the federal government to control the cost and price of goods and that is a position of the vice president. Voters should believe that it is also not the role of the federal government to dictate homeowners in their ability to lure or decrease rent for renters. We're only I think 5 percent of individuals or entities that own rental properties are corporations. The vast majority of everyday regular Americans.
It's not the role of the federal government. So I think there are some fundamental questions and this is nothing against the vice president as a person, but in terms of policies, there are some fundamental questions that should be asked, that conservatives should beg the question to the average American people, is this the role and the proper job of the federal government? I think most people would say absolutely not.
JOHNSON: But, Shermichael, it's interesting you say that's not the role of the federal government to control the cost of goods. But like the Republican argument is always the gas is too high, the grocery is too high. Right? You always go to that, equating what the economy is doing and how the economic policies are working. And so it's interesting that you don't want the government --
PHILLIP: I mean, I should also say to Alencia's point Donald Trump is also putting on the table 20 percent tariffs on everything. That is also, if you're looking at sound policies, something that is pretty clearly not.
SELLERS: But I think we're missing the point wholly, because if that's the argument Shermichael wants to make, and this is going to be a damn good week for Democrats, because if you want to make the argument that this is not the role for government to lower grocery prices or lower gas prices or lower milk prices, government should not be involved in that, then I would ask you, why should government be involved in what my wife does with her uterus, right?
So why is that a decision that government should make? Why should I trust that with Chuck Grassley or why should I trust that with Mike Johnson or Donald Trump or J.D. Vance? And so that argument falls flat when you're out here saying that government should have this role or government should have that role. But all of a sudden you can tell a woman what to do with her body? Government has that role?
And I think that when you see this week and when you see Kamala Harris go out there and articulate the fact that we should actually have freedom, or J.D. -- J.D., I got him calling J.D., where Tim Walz say mind your damn business. That's what they say in Minnesota. I think that voters respond to that. They don't respond to the hypocrisy of you can't lower my milk prices, but you can tell my wife what to do. SINGLETON: Bakari, I actually acknowledge that point. I acknowledge
that point and as a conservative, I'm certainly not of the mindset that the government through compulsory force should dictate what any damn body should do in their private lives.
[22:25:02]
I mean, I am a conservative through and through. I don't think that's the role of the government.
SELLERS: Not a libertarian almost. Not a libertarian.
SINGLETON: However, with that said, when you start messing around and screwing around with the economy and small businesses and the corporations where the margins are incredibly low for grocery store owners, you really do create a ripple effect that will negatively impact the average person and that is my point that I do not think Democrats or the vice president is hearing.
PHILLIP: I will give -- maybe Vice President Harris deserves credit for this. The conversation actually has turned to some degree of substance. There's a disagreement about policy, but it's on substance and one of the things Lindsey Graham, a Donald Trump supporter, an ally, notably was on the Sunday shows and he had a pretty pointed message. This was not an accident, folks. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: In the advice given column, here's what I would say. Donald Trump, President Trump can win this election. His policies are good for America and if you have a policy debate for president, he wins. Donald Trump, the provocateur or the showman may not win this election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: You know, Scott, look, and I'm being serious because I covered Trump, talked to him. I am not convinced that Donald Trump can really go toe-to-toe on policy, on a lot of this stuff. Are you convinced of that?
JENNINGS: Well, I think he can go toe-to-toe on results of what he did as president and what Biden and Harris have done for the last four years. If I were him and I mean, he's going to probably get to --
PHILLIP: So that's a no.
JENNINGS: Well, you're asking me, can he go toe-to-toe on policy.
PHILLIP: I mean, I'm asking --
JENNINGS: He's going to say --
PHILLIP: Can he do what Lindsey is asking him to do?
JENNINGS: He needs to and I think he should and I think he can at the debate. He has a four-year record as president that if you look inside the polls, people believe he did a far better job than Joe Biden did and Kamala Harris did on the economy. If he can stand up there and articulate how and why he did that in two debates, he's going to be just fine. But the burden is on him. Certainly no one else is --
JOHNSON: Do they believe that when it comes to COVID? Do they believe that when it comes to women's rights?
JENNINGS: Yes, they do. He has a higher approval rating than Joe Biden's, so definitely they do. Yes.
SELLERS: But also, I think, I mean, to give Scott a little bit of grace here.
PHILLIP: You're being very --
SINGLETON: A lot of grace today. I love it.
PHILLIP: It's quite a lot.
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: Act like people don't believe Trump did a better job than what's happening now, it is obvious in every poll they do believe him.
SELLERS: Well, I don't, I mean, if that was the case, he'd be leading to polls. But can I give you grace and you accept it?
JOHNSON: Or he would have won reelection.
SELLERS: Can you just slow down?
JENNINGS: No, but go on.
SELLERS: Thank you. I was like just accept it. So what I was going to say is that Kamala Harris has stuff to prove in the debate, too.
PHILLIP: Sure. Yes, absolutely.
SELLERS: I mean, I think that there is a --
PHILLIP: And before the debate, frankly. She has not --
SELLERS: Well, I mean, we're going to get --
PHILLIP: She has not engaged yet.
SELLERS: She has engaged.
PHILLP: No, she's not.
SINGLETON: Not to reporters.
PHILLIP: She has not had any --
(CROSSTALK) PHILLIP: She's not engaged --
JOHNSON: She just became our nominee.
JENNINGS: I mean, it's the longest --
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: No.
PHILLIP: Not engage in --
SINGLETON: A week before the election?
PHILLIP: In pressing interactions on anything really.
SELLERS: Well, no, that's not true. Actually, I mean, that's absolutely --
PHILLIPS: So that's going to be an issue.
SELLERS: That's -- first of all, that's not an issue. I believe that the fact that the mainstream media and many people in D.C. are consumed with the fact that she won't sit down with them or do media interviews has posed a problem for them because what we've seen poll after poll, individual after individual, voter after voter is that when she's out in Wisconsin, when she's out in Arizona, when she's out in Pennsylvania, and actually talking the voters that matters a lot more.
And I think that we're seeing the inherent value of that. But what I was attempting to say is that I was actually going to give Scott a little bit of grace. I'm coming back to that grace while I still have it in my heart. Mrs. Jakes is going to be very proud of me at this moment.
JENNINGS: Preach.
SELLERS: Thank you. Is that Kamala Harris actually has questions to answer as well. You know, she has to be able to answer why, you know, why was she, you know, with fracking or Medicare for all or health care, all of these things. That's why September 10th is so important to her as well.
JENNINGS: But why not sit down with a journalist?
SELLERS: But not only that, what I'm saying is that she has to answer a larger question, which is that people simply do not like Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. But they have a fundamental question for Kamala Harris, which is, can you lead the country? And I believe the answer to that is yes, because I know her really well. People around her feel that. She has to be able to articulate yes, I can lead the country and why to the American public.
SINGLETON: I mean, but, Bakari, why not sit down with a journalist to answer those tough questions? I mean, I think the vice president -- (CROSSTALK)
SINGLETON: Why not explain why she --
PHILLIP: This is the last thing. But the thing actually that I wonder is, why would you want the debate to be maybe the first time that she is in a confrontational interaction about her policy. I mean, that seems like a really high-stakes thing to set up.
JOHNSON: I hear that, but on the other hand, I go back to the image that a lot of people have o Vice President Harris is when she was a senator in Senate Judiciary hearings, able to go toe to toe with folks about policy that doesn't work for the American people. I believe that is going to be the time you hear her talking about the policy positions that she has. Yes, the economy, women's rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform. She'll probably even address fracking.
[22:30:02]
All of these questions she will start there. I think she's ready and I believe --
(CROSSTALK)
SELLERS: But why does she have to do it in three weeks like these kind of -- these kind of made up narratives of like, oh, my god. And at the end of the day, it's a contrast. And so --
JOHNSON: It's also an impossible --
(CROSSTALK)
SINGLETON: Bakari, I don't think the timing necessarily matters. I agree with you. I think the vice president is a good person. You and I have had a lot of private conversations about that. However, if it's my candidate and there are serious questions about why my candidate is moderating changing positions on the host of issues I'm going to --
SELLERS: Is your candidate --
SINGLETON: Wait, wait, wait. I'm going to say, sit down with a journalist to explain to the American people why you've changed your position. What you have seen that have led you to moderate over the past three and a half years. And this is just what I think.
JENNINGS: I think people are going to buy that.
PHILLIP: The last, last word, Scott.
JENNINGS: I think you're right, sort of, except if you were running her campaign, the goal of running campaigns is to minimize risk, maximize results, and right now, they are taking no risks and they are getting all kinds of results.
SINGLETON: Yes, that's true, Scott. PHILLIP: Scott Jennings --
JENNINGS: No one is holding her accountable.
PHILLIP: And Scott Jennings and Bakari Sellers, in a kumbaya moment. On that one, everyone, hang tight for us.
Coming up next --
SELLERS: A moment of grace.
PHILLIP: Surprising new additions to tonight's -- this week's convention roster, including a Republican and one of the most popular Democrats in the United States. Plus, will Beyonce or Taylor Swift show up as a special guest? We'll discuss that. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:35:51]
PHILLIP: The DNC is adding a few more big names to its all-star lineup for this week with former first lady Michelle Obama and former Illinois Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger now set to deliver speeches this week. And in a CNN exclusive, we are learning that the DNC will feature four celebrity hosts for each night of the convention. They include actors Kerry Washington and Mindy Kaling.
There's going to be a little bit of a "Scandal" reunion here at the DNC, which will make some people happy. But, you know, I think this is really all about kind of amping up the star power in a way that I don't necessarily know was the plan when Joe Biden was the nominee.
JOHNSON: I'll be honest. I've done a lot of work in the entertainment industry and folks were not as excited about Biden, but the immediate self-organizing around Vice President Harris is yes, we saw this in 2008 around Obama, but we also saw it I would say in the 2020 primary when folks were excited about this coalition that these diverse candidates can bring.
And so people are excited about not only her, but that she represents the next generation and brings this big coalition together. So you'll see even more.
PHILLIP: So Biden is speaking Monday night. Trump calls it Death Valley because --
JENNINGS: With Hillary.
PHILLIP: It was Death Valley because he put Tim Scott, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kristi Noem, Glenn Youngkin on Monday night. But it seems to me actually it might just be Democrats have a lot of people that they need to highlight and there are not enough days perhaps.
JENNINGS: They're keeping Joe Biden as far away from Kamala Harris as they possibly can. He'll come and go. He'll come and go on Monday and we'll never hear -- JOHNSON: They just had a rally together in Maryland.
JENNINGS: We'll never hear from him again after Monday. Look, she cannot run as his vice president. She cannot run on his record. She cannot run on his policies. If she does, the American people will say, oh, yes, I don't want to put the same people in charge that I'm so pissed at right now. I mean, they cannot do it. So they got to -- I mean, I hope somebody reminds them not to accept the nomination when he walks out there on Monday night, but they cannot have this guy on the campaign trail. They cannot.
SELLERS: I actually -- I mean, I disagree with Scott. Going back to take my grace back. I just think that this arena is going to go ham. That's a colloquialism for those who do not know which means it's going to go like belligerently eight.
JENNINGS: No one can afford ham here. What do you mean?
SELLERS: Oh, my god. Thank you, Scott. I just think that it's going to be like an amazing atmosphere in here when Joe, you're going to hear the thank you, Joes, you're going to see him get emotional. You're going to see -- because what most Americans like are people who dedicate themselves to serve even if you don't agree with them, even if you don't vote for him. People like to see those individuals who were selfless in their service, which is something Donald Trump can never claim to be. And so I think tomorrow night is going to be an amazing night for Joe Biden.
PHILLIP: Yes. But --
SINGLETON: And things can go -- get out of the way.
PHILLIP: OK. But, Shermichael, is Beyonce going to be here this week? I mean, you won't --
SINGLETON: You know, I mean, I would know, but I think --
PHILLIP: But if that were to happen --
JOHNSON: You might become a Democrat if she is.
SINGLETON: I mean, it would be huge. I mean, I think, you know, the BeyHive and the Swifties and all of those fans out there would love to see their two favorite entertainers out there. I mean, like I like Beyonce, I like her husband Jay-Z. They're a power couple in our community. They represent the culture. Why not?
SELLERS: You want a little Morgan Whelan?
SINGLETON: Why not? Why not? Why not? I'll give my Democrats, because you all know how to throw a party, Bakari. I'll give you all that.
SELLERS: I'm trying to get there.
PHILLIP: I know. JENNINGS: I don't know. Call me a stone-cold Steve Austin shows up.
SINGLETON: We're going to go, hell, yes, got to get what you want.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: We brought the country singers --
PHILLIP: We got to get Bakari to the party.
JOHNSON: We have people for everyone, guys.
SELLERS: Thank you. Thank you.
PHILLIP: All right. Everyone, stand by for us. We usually have a special guest to join our "Fifth Seat." But tonight, we have four special guests. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:43:58]
PHILLIP: And welcome back to Chicago. We've got new polling tonight that shows the 2024 race heating up in four key battleground states. Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada, and Georgia. Now two of those states, Georgia and Nevada, were among the first states where Democrats voted this year. And they, along with South Carolina and Michigan, now have black women at the head of their Democratic Parties.
Those women they join me now. South Carolina Democratic Party chair Christale Spain, Georgia Democratic Party chair, Congresswoman Nikema Williams, and Michigan Democratic Party chair, Lavora Barnes, and Nevada Democrat Party chair and Nevada assembly speaker pro-tempore Daniele Monroe-Moreno.
Thank you all very much for being here. It's a cool thing to have four black women in the roles that you're in. This happened before the Kamala Harris of it all.
But I do wonder, Congresswoman, what do you think is the significance in this moment of that?
REP. NIKEMA WILLIAMS (D-GA): I mean, leading state parties in this moment is no small feat.
[22:45:03]
But in my case, I'm the first black woman to ever chair the Democratic Party of Georgia. I was elected in 2019 so our historic elections in 2020 with not one but two U.S. senators, Abby, we sent to Washington to represent Democrats and flipped our state for the first time in 28 years. So now we get to replicate that and everybody who doubted us and counted us out, they're calling us battleground Georgia.
PHILLIP: So, OK, the "New York Times" poll has Georgia basically a statistical ties within the margin of error. But that's better than perhaps it was a few weeks ago. What does Vice President Harris need to do to actually win that state this time around?
WILLIAMS: So if you see the momentum that has happened in the, what, less than one month that she's been our nominee, she needs to continue that. Come back to battleground Georgia. She's been over 12 times since she's been vice president. She's been down to battleground Georgia on conversations like reproductive freedom, the freedom to vote. We are making sure that we take the message to Georgia voters. And those are the things that they care about, our freedoms, our freedom to vote, our freedom to thrive. And not just survive. We've got to get out of that survival mode.
She laid out her economic policies this week but we've got more work to do and that comes with conversations with the voters.
PHILLIP: Speaking of those economic policies, Chair Monroe Marino, in Nevada, that is an important state, critically important at this point, right?
DANIELE MONROE-MORENO, NEVADA ASSEMBLY SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE: It's extremely important. All roads back to the White House lead through Nevada.
WILLIAMS: The interesting thing that happened recently, Vice President Harris endorsed a Trump policy. No tax on tips. Some economists say, it doesn't make sense, that it costs too much money, that it only affects a very small amount of people. Do you see it a smart policy in your state?
MONROE-MORENO: You know, in Nevada we're a huge hospitality state, right. When you look at Las Vegas and you look on the Strip those are those workers that are working on the Strip, when they get their tips, they get their tips based on their service to their community, to their clients, right. And if Trump was really serious about that, the last time he was in the White House, he would have done something for those workers. He chose not to.
But the Democrats that have been leading in Nevada and our Democratic congressional delegation has always been behind our working families.
PHILLIP: So, I mean, but if Trump's -- if the policy was right, I mean, why didn't we hear more Democrats saying, hey, this is a good idea when Trump proposed it?
MONROE-MORENO: Oh, we have, but, you know, I don't have to speak to and neither do our elected officials have to speak to what Trump is saying. We're out there working for our workers every day in the state legislature and in our congressional leaders. Our policies when you look at the policies that have been put forward by the legislature in Nevada and our congressional delegation, it's policies that's helping the everyday man working families in Nevada.
PHILLIP: At some point does Vice President Harris need to, Chairwoman Spain, come out with clear details about how all of this will be paid for? I mean, I think some people who support -- I shouldn't say support her, but want her to succeed., let's put it that way, they think that that's an important contrast between what Trump is doing and what she can be putting on the table, which is -- which would be if she had a plan to pay for it, not gimmicks, but real policy?
CHRISTALE SPAIN, CHAIR, SOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: You know, I think that, like you said, it's a huge contrast between what she wants to do, a bigger contrast between what she wants to do economically than what Trump wants to do. And she wants to help the middle-class, like people are really tired of just trying to get by, and they trust Vice President Harris as President Harris to help us get ahead.
And she laid out her policy this week as the congresswoman said, that she wants to go after corporations for price gouging, that she wants to go after landlords for gouging rent and make it easier for, you know, the middle-class person, the everyday Americans to own a home. So I think that we trust her to get those things done.
PHILLIP: And the details of the paid-fors?
WILLIAMS: We'll help write in Congress.
PHILLIP: OK. But wait, what you're saying there --
WILLIAMS: That's the team effort, I'd say.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIP: Are you saying here that at some point in the future after she's elected, she'll explain how it's paid for?
WILLIAMS: No, what I'm saying is she's running the campaign right now and she is doing a tremendous job. And you have -- I've heard every show after show trying to find what she's doing wrong. So yes, the plans and the policies are coming. She's been in this race for less than a month now. It is the week of convention and we are here joyful, bringing our party together and we will go back on the campaign trail. She will sit down with the press, and give you all of the policies and plans you want.
PHILLIP: OK. I want -- I don't want to change the mood too much, but I have to say this.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIP: I want to play this bite from J.D. Vance. He was on TV. He had some comments to say about Vice President Harris and what, you know, her policies mean for the American economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: Giving Kamala Harris control over inflation policy, Shannon, it's like giving Jeffrey Epstein control over human trafficking policy. The American people are much smarter than that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Chairwoman Barnes, your reaction to that. LAVORA BARNES, CHAIR, MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY: I'm sorry. Anytime
J.D. Vance speaks, I have to (INAUDIBLE) because who is he and what has he done.
[22:50:05]
But I will say this, Vice President Harris, our vice presidential nominee-to-be Tim Walz, are going to clean up this team from the Republican side and their policies are strong and they're a strong ticket and they're smart and they're going to get this all right. This man, this man has issues all over the place and he needs to remember that as he's talking about what Vice President Harris has said and done, he needs to think about what he has said and done, what he said about women, what he said about people of color. He needs to be thinking about himself.
PHILLIP: A lot of the attacks from Vance and Trump have been really personal, and Trump said, I'm entitled to -- he literally said I'm entitled to personal attacks. One of those personal attacks was suggesting that Kamala Harris turned black at a particular point. How did you hear that? How do you think your constituents hear that?
MONROE-MORENO: How did I hear that? I'm a black woman in America whose children are biracial, you know. She can be proud of every aspect of who she is. The fact that he has no policies, that he can run on, is why he's attacking her on her race and other things. It's really sad that that's where we are in American politics.
WILLIAMS: And that he doesn't understand that you can be more than one thing at a time at a time.
MONROE-MORENO: At the same time. Yes.
PHILLIP: Can I ask you one quick thing, though, before we go here about black men? I mean, I'm sitting among a lot of black women. We know that black women play such a powerful role in the Democratic Party. And Vice President Harris does extremely well with them. But if there is a weak spot for Democrats, it is among black men. What needs to be done about that?
WILLIAMS: Continue to have the conversation. Abby, I'm married to a black man. I have -- I'm raising a little black boy who would be a black man, and I take him to the barbershop and I heard the conversations. Black man, they don't want anything much different than every other person wants. Raise their family, be safe in their communities, make a living that they can be proud of.
PHILLIP: But why do you think there has been this erosion to Trump from Democrats in the last several cycles among black men, specifically?
WILLIAMS: So, Abby, I live in Georgia and so I'm still looking for that erosion when it shows up in the vote. So some people will stay home, but I have not seen this big group of black men that are running to the Republicans. There's been a narrative that yes, has been talked about and shaped. But when you look at the votes, it just hasn't happened. We're going to continue to have those conversations, building multiracial coalitions.
We need black men, but we need white men. We need black women, white women, we need to come together and that's what our vice president is doing as our nominee. She's bringing this country together.
PHILLIP: Well, it's great to have all of you here on set with us in Chicago. Thank you very much. And thank you for joining us.
Coming up next, the panel will give us their night caps.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:57:25]
PHILLIP: And we are back and it's time for the news nightcap. You each have 30 seconds to say your piece.
Shermichael, you're up.
SINGLETON: I mean, look, the irony here we're in this bubble being Chicago where Democrats are talking about their lofty ideas and all their great plans to fix the economy, to improve crime, to provide jobs for hardworking people. And yet Chicago is a place where all of those things are nonexistent. So if America wants to look like Chicago, then vote for Democrats. If you want to look like some other city in America where things are better then you should vote for somebody else.
PHILLIP: Nonexistent, strong word. All right, Bakari.
SELLERS: I just want to respond to that but --
(LAUGHTER)
SELLERS: I was like, anyway, regardless, I do want to say that everybody in here, regardless of whether or not we're in the DNC bubble or what may have you. I want people to realize that Jill Stein is a real threat and we cannot -- don't laugh at that. It's a real thing. I want you to know that many people were up late at night. I actually have my daughter who is now a sophomore at Howard University, we were there, and I remember that Hillary Clinton called me the night before and asked me to join her at the Javits Center with the glass ceiling and I didn't do it because I was on CNN.
We were going to shatter the glass and all those things. But we did not know that we will lose by 100,000 votes and Jill Stein would have more votes than we lost for. I say all that to say, Democrats, this aint over yet. It's 70 plus days left. You got to run until the wheels fall off.
PHILLIP: All right. Alencia?
JOHNSON: Well, look, I think part of the reason that Donald Trump does not really care for Madam Vice President is because she, like Wendy Williams says, is an icon a legend, a moment so much so -- a movement, so much so that there are hundreds of seniors in Florida driving around in golf carts galvanizing around Vice President Harris, blasting Beyonce, and I am here for it. And the way that Trump is reacting is not very demure or mindful.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIP: OK. The first demure and mindful reference on the show. Scott, take it home.
JENNINGS: There is an icon and there is a legend here in the United Center, but it's not Kamala Harris. It is Michael Jordan and I've never gotten to broadcast from this building, but let me just say for everybody to hear, the greatest basketball player of all time, sorry, LeBron, Michael Jordan, if you haven't seen the statue in the United Center, so I'm saying it tonight. MJ, one, Kobe, two, LeBron, three, and the 1992 Dream Team would crush whatever we almost did in the Olympics this year. Sorry, Steph, I love you, but my God, come on.
Anyway, Michael Jordan, number one. LeBron, forget it. Forget it.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: All right, guys. We are not going to litigate all of that tonight.
Everyone, thank you very much. And thank you for watching NEWS NIGHT live from Chicago. "LAURA COATES LIVE" starts right now.
