Return to Transcripts main page
CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Soon, Harris and Trump Hold Final Rallies on Election Eve; First Election Day Polls Open in Just Two Hours; Harris and Trump Hold Nine Events on Election Eve With Focus on Pennsylvania. Election Deniers Could Be Ready To Fight Tomorrow And Beyond; "NewsNight" Panelists Discuss RFK Jr. Fluoride Comment. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired November 04, 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]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): This election eve, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris give their nightcaps. The Democrat tries to shake up the final day with a positive closing message.
KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: One day left, and we need to finish this strong and get this done.
PHILLIP: While the Republican --
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Vote for Kamala, you will have four more years of misery, failure, and disaster.
PHILLIP: -- mixes a familiar cocktail of anger and grievance.
Plus, bravely going where they've gone before, the candidates chart a course for neutral zone territory, as the Harris campaign calculates multiple ways to beam up 270 electoral votes.
And an Election Day warning, a report pulls back the curtain on far right plotting to create chaos and confusion as America goes to the ballot box.
Live at the table, Maria Cardona, Scott Jennings, Ashley Allison, Scott Taylor and Jonah Goldberg.
With just one day to go, Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here, they do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP (on camera): America, we almost made it. Good evening, I'm Abby Phillip in New York.
Let's get right to what America is talking about. One more day, one more night, another destiny. Tomorrow, the campaign will be worlds away because you will be casting ballots, making your choice. But tonight, the two candidates are on a collision course. And they're getting one last chance to convince you that they deserve your vote.
In just a couple of minutes, we're going to see Oprah, Lady Gaga, both teeing up Kamala Harris in Philadelphia. Also, Donald Trump is busy too. He's ignoring his advisers who have begged him to keep it short and on message because, well, he's not,
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You're going to say you've done a terrible job. You're grossly incompetent. We're not going to take it anymore. Kamala, you are fired. Get the hell out.
The day I take the oath of office, the migrant invasion ends and the restoration of our country begins.
I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered.
We can't let these animals come in for other countries. They come in and they take them out and then they're protected by the radical left.
With your vote in this election, you can show them once and for all that this nation does not belong to them. This nation belongs to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Harris again made the very clear choice to put Trump's name to the side and try to sell the country on a message of hope and change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Let's be intentional about building community, about building community, about building coalitions, about reminding people we all have so much more in common than what separates us.
And we have an opportunity in this election to finally turn the page on a decade of politics that have been driven by fear and division. We're done with that. We're done.
America is ready for a fresh start.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: So, here we are. We're almost there, people. You know, the -- I guess the critique of Harris is that she is so relentlessly on message. And it's perhaps no surprise that whatever they've decided is the final message is the final message. On Trump, though, the reporting tonight is that there is an effort right now to keep him in line. CNN's reporting is that one ally of Trump said, how hard is it to go up there and say, Kamala broke it and I'll fix it? Another part of the reporting says campaign staffers on the Harris team, by contrast, have been told just keep your head down and work. Trump's team is still working to keep him in line. I don't know if it's working.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I haven't seen what he said in Pittsburgh. I saw the excerpts of what they said. He was going to say, which is that we don't live this way anymore, that we can do better. And he's going to talk about inflation and immigration and world peace and ultimately restoring the American dream. That would be a good message to close on.
[22:05:00]
So, we'll have to see how his final two rallies go.
My critique of the of the Harris thing tonight is simply just mathematical. She keeps saying that we're turning the page on a decade. Well, 60 percent of the last decade, Democrats have been in the White House. So, I guess in some weird way, I agree we have to turn the page because six of the last ten years have had Democratic presidents in there, including the last four, and she's been part of it.
So, this whole turning the page, you said she's running on hope and change, I guess we're going to hope Democrats are going to hope for different results by leaving the same people in office. I'm not sure it's going to work.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, I'll explain to you what turning the page actually means, and she has been very clear about what that means from the very beginning of when she has started to talk about this. And what that means is that Donald Trump has been running for president for the last ten years,
JENNINGS: Who's been in office for six of the last --
CARDONA: Donald Trump has been a huge shadow amongst our politics. And his rhetoric and his demeanor has poisoned the well and it has focused negativity and has focused darkness, especially in these last couple of weeks.
And I'll tell you, you can actually tell a lot of from what the candidates are feeling and what their campaigns are feeling by their closing messages. We're all practitioners here. We know that when a candidate focuses on a positive message, they're kind of confident, cautiously optimistic, the way that her campaign is talking about, that they are in a good position to win. And it's when a campaign and a candidate have to go run negative, you know, scorched earth, because they're concerned that they are not having and making up the numbers that they need. And that's what you're seeing from the Trump campaign.
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm not a practitioner. I'm a journalist. I'm an opinion journalist. My only job is to tell the truth. And the truth, as I see it, is they're both pretty bad candidates. I think Trump is bad outside of normal parameters and she's bad within normal parameters. But I don't know why anyone cares about Trump being off-message at this point. Like we know who the guy is at this point.
And like it's a bad closing message. I'm sure the smart people, like Scott, would tell him, you know, hey, you got a good message on the economy, stick to that. The problem that the campaign has had for a very long time, it's sort of like, look, if you have a dog that knows how to play piano, you don't set up a lot of skits and you give it a guitar, right? Trump only knows how to do the negative stuff. He only knows how to go on the attack and do the polarizing stuff. And so they've created a strategy around him that leans into that.
I think it's a bad closing argument because the people who are attracted to that have probably either already voted or they've already decided whether they're going to vote for him or not. I think Harris' changing the tone makes more sense. But this is baked in the cake at this point.
PHILLIP: He could also just -- I mean, I think it could do him some good to just read a speech that they wrote for him. I mean, that's not asking too much. I actually thought in 2016, in the last couple of weeks of his campaign, that's basically what he did. They gave him speeches and he read it. And then they allowed the Comey and the Anthony Weiner of it all to carry the day. And Trump is not even doing that. He has to take the reins and he has to insert all of this other stuff.
FMR. REP. SCOTT TAYLOR (R-VA): I think Trump's being Trump. And, listen, I think it works for him. You mentioned that Harris is relentlessly on message. I actually disagree with that. Initially, in the first part of this campaign, when you did see her, it was all joy, is all vibes, right? And then that didn't work, of course. Then she was on the attack. She was relentlessly attacking Donald Trump. That didn't work. Now, they have Obama and other surrogates and Walz attacking him. And now she's trying at the very last minute, which I think it's too little too late to try to give some kind of optimistic speech, and she doesn't -- to me, she doesn't sound very optimistic. But I think she has floundered all the way through trying to find her message. I don't think she's been relentlessly on message.
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think she has taken -- I agree with your chapters in her messaging journey, but it feels like it happened so fast because it did happen so fast because her campaign was so fast. But that is normal in a campaign. You have like an overarching message was always like Trump is a threat to democracy. That is never not a part of her speeches, but then she was, you know, again, ride the vibes until they are no longer.
I think she's coming back to the vibes from bookends or vibes. But I think when she mentioned turning the page and, you know, we don't have to, to Scott's point, be like -- she's trying to tap into maybe some undecided voters that did something differently in 2022. There was a bunch of voters that most people, I like to say, I did not, but most people did not got wrong. And they were like the red wave is coming. And they said they did not like the direction the country was going. And everyone assumed that meant they did not like Joe Biden. And instead, that red wave never manifest.
And so in this closing moment, I think she's saying to them in code, I'm talking to you again. We can finish this out, we can turn the page, and we never have to worry about Donald Trump again. TAYLOR: One caveat, as a practitioner, the problem with that is Trump actually has been on message, on his message, the whole time, says the same thing over and over and over again.
[22:10:02]
When you're a practitioner, that's what you have to do.
PHILLIP: What would you say is the central Trump message?
TAYLOR: Let me finish my point real quick.
PHILLIP: I'm just wondering what you're talking about.
TAYLOR: Let me finish my point. With Harris, she has been all over the place. I can't tell you what her message actually is. And I think she's been very confusing to voters. And when -- if you're a practitioner, you want to hit home. His, it's obviously economy, it's strong borders. She's a disaster. She's broke it. He'll fix it. Yes. It hasn't been as articulate all as -- but it's in Trump's way. And that's what he does. And that's what works for him.
CARDONA: But here's I think is what the arc of what vice president Harris' message has been. She started out with her bio. Then she started talking about turning the page to remind people, people, a lot of voters have Trumpnesia, what it was like to wake up every day for four years when you had Donald Trump in the White House with, you know, your gut in knots, thinking, wondering if the republic was still standing. She is trying to remind voters and saying to them, we don't have to live that way.
The other, I think, message that is really critical, and I have heard this, I heard this today from people who are going door-to-door. They are talking to voters, they're talking to the voters that you are mentioning, Ashley, who were like not really sure, but then at the end of the day, it's become too much what Donald Trump is saying and doing. And I think he's become his own worst enemy in this and reminding people exactly what they don't want.
Because what they are saying, Abby, is, look, I cannot in good conscience vote for a bully. This man is a bully. How can I vote for somebody that I desperately try to teach my children not to be like? And I think that is a very compelling feeling and message that we are seeing across battleground states.
PHILLIP: So, just to, you know, circle back to the garbage narrative of last week, this -- it's not just Trump. I mean, J.d. Vance is now kind of channeling this even more aggressively than he was before. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The citizens of this country are not garbage for wanting to be able to afford groceries and a nice place to live. But in two days, we are going to take out the trash in Washington, D.C. And the trash's name is Kamala Harris.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: I mean, I guess it was taboo last week. It's not so much now. I mean --
TAYLOR: Well, after the president of the United States called half the country garbage, it's not taboo anymore, is it?
PHILLIP: I guess, I think that's the point I'm making is that --
TAYLOR: It's very obvious what his comments were. Everyone saw him do it.
PHILLIP: I think it would have been cleaner for them to Just leave the Biden thing where it was, rather than co-opting it and now calling Harris trash. So, I feel like you sort of just kind of undermine the argument by doing that.
ALLISON: I don't understand, like --
TAYLOR: Possibly.
ALLISON: Let's just stop calling names. Let's all be adults.
I'll give it to you. The president shouldn't have said somebody is garbage.
TAYLOR: That's much worse than a comedian saying it. Should the White House have changed the transcript?
CARDONA: But I don't know.
JENNINGS: They took pretty significant steps to cover it up.
ALLISON: Can we also say, J. D. Vance doesn't mean -- can we also just say, J. D. Vance shouldn't be calling the vice president garbage or trash? But the problem is, and this is why, to go back to her message, it's like, we won't do that, because that's where we are as a country. And the question is, are you sick of it?
TAYLOR: But she just did it last week.
JENNINGS: Can I respond to that?
(CROSSTALKS)
TAYLOR: Not garbage. Let's be clear, this week she's talking about turning the page and positive. A week or two ago, all she was doing was constantly attacking Donald Trump. That's what I'm saying.
CARDONA: What was she saying?
JENNINGS: It's a good question.
CARDONA: She wasn't calling him garbage. JENNINGS: And I'll tell you where Republicans get tripped up on. Because in 2020, Joe Biden told us the same thing, he's going to restore the soul of the nation, and we're more divided now than we have ever been. He told us he was going to be a moderate. He's been anything but and everybody in the Democratic Party told us he was in his right mind, and that turned out to be a lie, too.
So, you'll have to forgive Republicans for being a little skeptical of these ideas of unity, and we're all going to come together when that's what we were told four years ago, and we got none of it.
ALLISON: Well, it's hard to come together after January 6th, and people try to overthrow the government, and some people condemned it, but then quickly thereafter go to Mar-a-Lago and kiss the ring. It's hard when we cannot find the moral compass as adults. It is hard to bring a country back together.
GOLDBERG: Look, I just think, I think you're absolutely right. Trump is being Trump. And Trump can't change. You know, it's like Aesop's Fable with the scorpion. We knew who Trump was and he's priced in. And that's one of the reasons why he consistently has a ceiling of about 48 percent.
And so the people who really love Trump, they love this stuff. You know, they're holding up their lighters yelling Freebird, right? This is like greatest hit stuff for them. And the people who really hate Trump, they're even more triggered by it. All those people are priced in. The question is, in the last ten days, what is an argument that moves people who hadn't decided to vote, or hadn't decided who to vote for.
[22:15:04]
And it seems to me, as much as I agree with you, I don't like to talk about unity stuff. I think it's always been garbage. This country was not designed to be unified. The whole Constitution is about checks and balances, divided government. It's about factions. It's about -- democracy is about disagreement, not about agreement. And fake unity pisses off half the country, and it always has.
But my only point is, is that Harris' argument, just on the basis of the people who are sick of the drama, makes a lot more sense than Trump doing his greatest hits in the last week. The people who love that stuff, they're already voting for him.
PHILLIP: We got to leave it there.
TAYLOR: She probably should have done that for months, right?
PHILLIP: We got to leave it there with Jonah's nightcap early on in the show. To stick around.
Coming up next, what the candidates' final stops tell us about how the electoral map may shape up tomorrow.
Plus, states are stepping up their security as election deniers plot chaos after the election.
And we are also minutes away now from Oprah Winfrey and Lady Gaga taking the stage at Kamala Harris' final campaign rally.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:20:00]
PHILLIP: The long and winding road has led us here. We don't know what election night holds or if it will turn into election nights, plural. But we do know that the candidates spent their final day of the campaign doing this. Kamala Harris spent all of it in Pennsylvania, in Scranton, in Allentown, in Pittsburgh, and in Philadelphia. Donald Trump spent some of it in the commonwealth, in addition to North Carolina and Michigan.
Now, Pennsylvania is the big prize here. It is worth 19 Electoral College votes, the most of any of the battlegrounds. It's critical, absolutely critical to both candidates. But Harris' advisers are telling CNN that the Democrat now sees multiple paths to that number of 270 and even further than that. David Plouffe, just in the last hour, a couple of hours, telling Erin Burnett, he thinks there is a plausible path to all of the seven battlegrounds.
I mean, plausible is doing a lot of work there but, I mean, you can see it because when all of these races are within a point, anything is possible or plausible.
ALLISON: You know, it takes me back to when I was on the campaign in 2020 and we ran a full effort in North Carolina. We ran a full effort in Georgia and all the other now existing battleground states and we said the same thing and it was true. There are multiple ways to 270. And one of the reasons why campaigns do this is so that if a North Carolina gets called early for Trump not to cause pandemonium for voters, be patient, wait it out. It might take a couple more months.
It is better to have multiple paths than one. And if we remind ourselves several months ago, there was really one path before the ticket -- top of the ticket switch. So, now there are a couple options. There's some mixing and matching. You know, history tells us the blue wall usually moves together. But I just -- I really do think that this is the first presidential -- not that I think. I know this is the first presidential after a pandemic. There are so many things in voter behavior, voter migration that we just don't know that I think we can't take account of, which is why so many of us are not predicting the outcome.
PHILLIP: You know, it's so interesting, Scott Taylor. The Trump campaign, Trump and Vance have had 14 events in 14 days in North Carolina.
TAYLOR: Sure.
PHILLIP: North Carolina. He has to really -- if he wants to have the best shot at winning, he really needs to hold on to North Carolina. What does that tell you?
TAYLOR: I think he will. I mean, you know, you talked about voter migration, well, North Carolina's had a lot of that, right into the research triangle area and other parts of North Carolina. So, clearly, they saw something in some of the data that they need to make sure that they pay some attention to it. But I think that's fine.
You mentioned Pennsylvania when Harris has to win there. I think Michigan's actually a sleeper. I think there's a, Dr. Boulos is Tiffany Trump's father-in-law. And I think he's like -- he's not talked about a lot, but he's been in Michigan speaking to Arab communities, speaking on Arabic language T.V., television, speaking to Lebanese Christians and other groups and stuff. And, quite frankly, they've made a lot of inroads in those communities. And then obviously with Rashida Tlaib not endorsing Harris, and then you've had the Yemeni American mayor endorse Trump. I mean, Michigan to me is an outlier that, that might go in Trump's way.
CARDONA: I think one of the most surprising things that I saw from that interview with David Plouffe is that when they asked him, Erin asked him, do you think that she could win all of the battleground states? And he didn't hesitate. He said, yes. And I think part of the reason is not just the multiple pathways but they are seeing already in the data and the early vote data that it's looking really good for Democrats.
I know Republicans are also touting the early vote data. But if you really dive into it, Democrats are way overperforming where we were in 2020. They have, I think it's like a 400, 000 vote lead mostly everywhere.
TAYLOR: No, not in early voting.
CARDONA: Yes, in early voting. I just spoke to the people who are looking at and analyzing the data.
PHILLIP: Were you talking about across the country of 400, 000 --
CARDONA: The battleground states. It's like 350,000. I will show you.
JENNINGS: I mean, Democrats are down about 600,000 or 700,000 ballots just in Pennsylvania versus 2020. Now, I agree with what you said, which is it's hard to compare the data from 2020 to 2024 because of voter behavior, because of the pandemic. So, I have resisted sort of, just swallowing the party talking points on early voting because we just don't know how people are going to change their behaviors.
[22:25:00]
Look, to me, for Trump, it's always been a three-state campaign, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina. You win those three, you're going to be the president. And so it makes a lot of sense to me why they'd be in Pennsylvania, North Carolina. Georgia seems to -- we haven't been talking about it as much. But to me, if Trump wins them, he's in. And I think that's a -- it's a good -- PHILLIP: It's such a huge focus. I mean, obviously. But one of the things that's fascinating to me is the -- this weekend, the Harris campaign had a huge number of volunteers on the doors. And just in one day they said that they knocked on more than 800,000 doors. David Plouffe gave a stat at 2,000 doors a minute. That's a lot. And that comes not just from a campaign that has money and a campaign that has organization. It comes from just people wanting to give up their -- Pennsylvania, wanting to give up their Saturdays and their Sundays to do this the weekend before the election.
TAYLOR: I don't want to do my late, you know, my little -- my late thing, but there's a mayor in Redding, Pennsylvania, Puerto, from Puerto Rico, Moran, and he actually was interviewed and talked about their ground game now and then of course the comments from the comedian before. And in his mind, it's too little too late when he finished winning. He's a Democrat mayor. When he won his race last year, Trump 2024 took over his office space and were on the ground. And he said that he thinks that they've made so much inroads in the Latin community there that it's just too little, too late.
PHILLIP: I think that's going to be a fascinating story.
CARDONA: Let me share with you some data that I got from a poster who is part of the consortium that is doing the exit polls. He has been analyzing specifically the Latino vote in Pennsylvania. He measured from before the Madison Square Garden rally to after the Madison Square Garden rally, and there was a jump of ten points among Latinos, mostly Puerto Ricans, but the Latino community, in general, in Pennsylvania. He is seeing that everywhere.
This comment from Madison Square Garden from the comedian, but not just the comedian, the whole Madison Square Garden rally was a hate rally that attacked almost every single voting group.
TAYLOR: Even a Nazi rally. But it's important to say --
CARDONA: And so those movements we're seeing.
PHILLIP: I think the risk that she's talking about is, you know, there's some other numbers, I'm not going to cite them because we're not going to focus on polls right at this moment, that suggests that how it was viewed was as a statement of values of the Trump campaign, which is kind of a worst case scenario. It was from a comedian. But if the voter says, oh, well, they think that of us, that's a problem.
TAYLOR: So, two things on that. One, I understand, that's what the media said. That's what Democrats said for weeks. But the other thing is when you mentioned about Latino vote, it's important to say that Donald Trump doesn't need to win the Latino vote. He's just got a really --
CARDONA: That's right.
TAYLOR: And she's already underperforming Biden's.
CARDONA: She's not. I can show you the numbers. Scott, this is what Republicans are saying and thinking, but that's not the case.
ALLISON: But it's also about -- it's about how many of those voters were already going to vote. And they were traditional in-person day of voters. And so the question is, have they cannibalized therein day of election turnout so that it does the cushion that Democrats have, it will help Democrats in the long. So, it's not just looking at it in isolation.
I totally agree with you on the slivers, but I also think that's why the gender gap is so important. Because white women in 2016 were the headline that voted for -- did not vote for Hillary Clinton and voted for Donald Trump, and the trends are showing that those independent, even some Republican and Democratic white women, that gap between Harris and Trump is significant.
CARDONA: And that's what you're seeing in the early vote as well.
GOLDBERG: Yes, I think that the -- you know, two points. One, you know those game shows where you have to get like a whole bunch of stuff in a shopping cart for like under $300?
ALLISON: Supermarket sweepstakes.
GOLDBERG: right. So, like if you go $1 over, what put you over? Was it the can of beans? Was it the celery?
ALLISON: Always the peanut butter.
GOLDBERG: It could be the peanut butter, whatever it is. We can do that with all sorts of demographic slices, about how we get here. So, you can say it was one group or another group.
But, you know, white women are such a huge part of the electorate. And I think the Madison Square Garden rally, whatever it did or did not do to the Latino vote or Puerto Ricans and Allentown and all that kind of stuff, it gets back to this point I was making the beginning about Kamala Harris' closing argument about people who are sick of the drama.
And just the general tone and tenor of that coverage along with Donald Trump doing, you know, some weird things with the microphone and a dozen other things, it tips those people who are just like I don't want to have this in my headspace for the next four years. You move the white woman vote one tick, two ticks over. That's more important than Latinos in the --
PHILLIP: We do have to leave it there. I mean, here's the good news. People will be finished voting tomorrow, and we will know soon.
[22:30:00]
Everyone, hold on. Coming up next, the reporting that election deniers could be, quote, ready to fight tomorrow and beyond. We're going to discuss that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [22:34:34]
PHILLIP: Tonight, fears of violence in a dark sequel to January 6th on a nationwide scale. "The New York Times" is reporting that right- wing groups are flocking to Telegram to coordinate, or at least encourage, intimidation at polling places across the country. And in other cases, outright advocating for violence.
I have to say, Jonah, this is actually, I think, the thing that I am the most concerned about, is that there are people who might find that maybe not even polls on election days but in the days after as the votes are still being counted that intimidation is the strategy that they want to go with.
[22:35:10]
JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think there's no disputing that there are groups of scummy dudes, jabronis, weirdos who are going to try to exploit this for all their own purposes and -- and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that Donald Trump will not be incredibly helpful in his rhetoric and all that.
But it is important to take a step back and realize we almost literally cannot have a replay of January 6th. The law has been changed to make the legislative maneuver much, much more difficult. And Donald Trump is not the sitting President of the United States. So, he doesn't have the ability to influence events the way he did before.
Do I think if he loses, will he claim it was stolen? Absolutely. Will that be dangerous and, you know, contemptible? Absolutely. But it's a manageable problem, even though any violence is just outrageous. And there could be, on the other hand, there could be violence from the left if -- if Trump wins. I mean, who knows? And you should have zero tolerance for it regardless of the ideological values.
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I agree. I think the only exception I would say to what you just mentioned is that there is some concern that if Republicans keep the House and Mike Johnson oversees a certificate that it has been unclear. I mean, he has said I'll certify the election if the election is a free and fair and safe.
There's always been these like caveats and workarounds. And I think there has been some that if Trump does lose, what will he do if Republicans keep the House? But we don't need to be like this. Like, we are in a democracy. We don't have to be all sunshine and gummy bears, but we should be able to go to our ballots, cast our ballots.
The election workers should feel safe walking from their car to their office and back without security. We should let the votes be counted. And whatever the will of the people has spoken, whether it is what I want or not, that is democracy.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And I think it's important to note that people should feel safe going. This will be a fair and free election. People's voices will be heard. People's votes will be counted no matter how long it takes. And people need to go tomorrow. Everyone who has not voted yet will go tomorrow and everyone should go vote tomorrow and have your voice heard. That is your power and everyone should feel empowered to go into the ballot box and to have their voice heard.
This kind of news, Abby, about how right-wingers are out there and the election workers now have panic buttons, I mean, I think that's great, but I think it's a sad day where that actually is what we need. I think this is another proof point about what Americans feel like, they're sick and tired of this, you know, political division and the hatred and the violent rhetoric coming from the other side, which is why we want to turn the page.
PHILLIP: So, it may not be, to your point, Jonah, that Trump is directing all of it. But let me just read a little bit more from "The Times" reporting. In New Hampshire, one Telegram channel instructed people to question local officials in person about absentee ballot tallies.
In Georgia, followers of a local Telegram channel were urged to attend election board meetings to argue for limits to absentee voting. And in New Mexico, people were told to monitor voting stations with cameras, file police reports if necessary, and be ready to, "fight like hell".
CARDONA: Exactly.
PHILLIP: So, it's kind of diffused. It's all over the country and maybe these are all people just acting of their own accord. But they're doing that because Trump spent the last four years seeding the ground and honestly, he's been doing it even tonight.
SCOTT TAYLOR (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, VIRGINIA: Is that a question?
PHILLIP: I mean, I wonder why is Trump tonight even talking about stolen elections if this is water under the bridge?
TAYLOR: Listen, let me first say of course, no one wants violence. On the left, I remember when Trump got elected in 2016. I remember there was a little bit of rioting, not widespread, but there was insults and there was yelling and screaming, even at myself and my then- girlfriend.
But listen, no one wants violence. No one wants anyone intimidated. We want Americans to be able to go and exercise their constitutional right and select the next President of the United States and the direction of this country and indeed the world. That said, I know that you're mentioning the Telegram channels and I assume that law enforcement is monitoring them.
And I do want to say, because I think this is important because it kind of gets conflated a little bit, and you may not like Donald Trump's rhetoric or something like that, but legally and legal, he can contest, and so can anyone if they see something wrong, anywhere around the country. They can contest things that may be awry legally for the vote. But I want to foot stomp this again. Everyone should feel safe, they should be able to exercise their right to vote, of course. And then in the end, as you said, once all everything is counted and the winner is decided, then there should be a peaceful transfer of power, of course.
[22:40:01]
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I just think we should follow the laws, which means, and the laws and the process exist to protect every single person's franchise, and that means going to the polls and voting. It means during the counting process. It means during the certification process.
It means during the process by which the electors get transmitted to Congress, there is machinery that gets put in place here and it's a beautiful, magical thing, this interaction between our federal system and our state system and the diffused nature of our elections which fully depends on these volunteers and local municipal officials and county clerks and secretaries of state.
It is a beautiful thing because it does protect us from any central person being able to upend the whole thing. So, I'm with Jonah. I have zero tolerance for any kind of violence. I did see they were boarding up windows in Washington, D.C. today, which, you know, there's not too many Trump supporters down there.
But the bottom line is, this machinery was designed by really smart people and it has served us well for almost 250 years. And I think if everyone would respect the laws of the machinery, we'll be just fine.
PHILLIP: Yes, especially if that everyone is Donald Trump.
UNKNOWN: Yes, exactly.
PHILLIP: Everyone else, hang tight. Coming up next, RFK Jr. is doubling and tripling down on his anti-fluoride rhetoric. And it sounds very much like something we've heard inside a movie theater. We'll show you what that is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:45:43]
PHILLIP: Today, even more evidence that R.F.K. Jr. really meant what he said about stripping fluoride out of drinking water across the United States. CNN news source caught up with the man that Trump is seriously considering giving the keys to the nation's public health. And here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. (I), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & TRUMP SURROGATE: The toothpastes are now adequate and mouthwash is forgetting fluoride. You don't need it in public water supply. The existing research is very, very clear that it is imposing much worse causes than it's averting. (END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: I don't think any of that is true and we discussed it on the show last night. And if all of this sounds vaguely familiar, like it was maybe taken from somewhere, you might be right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: For anyone who didn't have the Turner Classic movies on replay, that is from Dr. Strangelove. And this is not 1964, people. We have decades and decades and decades of science behind this. But it is amazing. I cannot get over this. Trump is doubling and tripling and quadrupling down on R.F.K. Jr. in these last few days and weeks of this campaign. It's amazing.
GOLDBERG: I think it makes a little sense. And not the fluoride stuff.
UNKNOWN: No.
GOLDBERG: But insofar as the only real big movement Trump has seen in his poll numbers is when Kennedy dropped out and endorsed him. And I think at the same time, I think they're trying to get some of the Kennedy vote which matters when you're talking about these marginal differences.
But also I think Kennedy is just kind of screwing Trump because in private, Trump will say anything to any, oh we'll give you all of this stuff. And then Kennedy goes out on TV and says, yes, he's going to make me HHS Secretary if I want to be.
PHILLIP: I mean, but Trump also said that he was going to put R.F.K. Jr. in charge of women's health.
GOLDBERG: Yes, no, it's, look, I think this is the kind of thing that if it had happened a month and a half ago, the Harris campaign could really exploit, because he's not just anti-vax on the COVID-vax stuff. He is against vaccines, quad (ph) vaccines, right?
UNKNOWN: Yes.
GOLDBERG: And he peddles. Some of the stuff he's peddled has gotten kids killed. In, like, Samoa with the measles stuff. It is wildly irresponsible to let this guy anywhere near government.
PHILLIP: And I think to your point about, it could backfire. I mean, if you're a mom who knows to get your kid vaccinated before they go to school every fall, this is ridiculous and non-sense.
TAYLOR: And there's also, there's a little bit of the other side, as well, you know. And maybe not specifically the fluoride, right? And not specifically one -- one issue. But when you look at America, we're the fattest, the sickest, the most medicated we've been ever. And when you're a mom or you're a father like me and you're looking at that you like why is that -- why -- what is causing this when I'm well- traveled? I traveled Europe all the time and other places and you don't see that in other countries and some of the -- some of the same issues that we have here.
So, maybe not specific issues like fluoride or something like that, but some of the things that he is bringing up. And I think some of the appeal of R.F.K. Jr. from some folks around the country is that he's bringing up an issue that no one else is and it affects families every day.
PHILLIP: Yes, Van Jones was making that point last night and I think it's a valid one when you talk about health writ large. But he -- R.F.K. Jr. is the absolute last person --
CARDONA: Exactly.
ALLISON: I think -- I think --
PHILLIP: -- to talk about this stuff and running anything in the right.
ALLISON: I actually know why. I understand why Donald Trump is going towards RFK because there is like a broke community. He was pulling some support. So, there is a mathematical reason. I think the thing that is really troubling about RFK is yes, if your child brushes his teeth and uses mouthwash and floss every single day like I'm sure all of us did as children, then maybe the fluoride is enough.
But we know that that is not behavior. We also know that like sometimes, people don't have access to toothpaste and mouthwash as much as we like to. And so, dental hygiene is something that kids learn in school. But I do think to the health piece, the thing that is a little contradictory towards Donald Trump and RFK is that we know a lot of kids need school lunches. There's been a lot of push to like take processed food out of school lunches, fatty sodas or sugary sodas.
[22:50:01]
PHILLIP: Yes. Oh, by someone named Michelle Obama.
ALLISON: But that was a "Bridge Too Far."
CARDONA: That's right.
ALLISON: That was a "Bridge Too Far."
PHILLIP: All right, everyone, we got to go.
CARDONA: I mean, just RFK is not a health official. He's not a doctor. He doesn't -- he's not a specialist in those kinds of things. Y PHILLIP: Yes, that is exactly right, everyone. Stay with me. Coming up next, the panel will give us their nightcaps, including the potential death meal for polling, as we know it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:55:02]
PHILLIP: We're back and it's time for the "NewsNightcap". You each have 30 seconds to say your piece. Jonah, you're up.
GOLDBERG: Yes, I'm not saying this is necessarily likely, but if Pennsylvania is incredibly close, the group that could conceivably put Donald Trump over the top are the Amish. They're overwhelmingly Republican, and I think there's just something so fitting in this era of arguing about garbage that the demographic that could win it for Donald Trump is the one that doesn't have internet, doesn't have Twitter, doesn't watch TV, and is completely cut off from any reason not to vote for Donald Trump. So, we'll see what happens.
TAYLOR: Great food. Great food.
PHILLIP: Wait, what is the connection with garbage?
GOLDBERG: Well, because this is so metaphorically --
CARDONA: They don't see any of the garbage.
ALLISON: They don't see the garbage.
(CROSSTALK)
ALLISON: They don't see or hear it. Right. Right.
GOLDBERG: A garbage country. No, your supporters are garbage.
PHILLIP: This is like next level slicing and dicing of the answer.
UNKNOWN: That's right.
PHILLIP: Go ahead, Ashley.
ALLISON: Okay. In 2016 and 2020, and maybe 2024, no shade pollsters, but you all have been missing the mark. And I think that this may be, I am not a polling girl. I don't believe in it. I've never been polled in my life. I think this could literally be the last election where polling survives in the way that it has before.
Somebody needs to reinvent it, may need to figure out how to reach the real American electorate so we have a better sense. There's no reason we should all be like, I don't know.
CARDONA: Unless --
PHILLIP: Or maybe we just let go radical acceptance. Like, let go of the idea that we ought to know where this thing is going. CARDONA: Unless though -- unless Kamala Harris wins Iowa and --
ALLISON: Then she's the queen. Then she's the queen.
CARDONA: Right.
ALLISON: Then, yes.
PHILLIP: I mean --
ALLISON: But I think it might be done.
PHILLIP: I think we are too addicted to the idea that we can predict the --
CARDONA: Exactly. I agree.
ALLISON: Yes, but I think that's why but I think that's why it's probably --
TAYLOR: What would the media talk about like every night? No before.
PHILLIP: That's true.
TAYLOR: The polls.
PHILLIP: That is true.
TAYLOR: I was going to do something else but about an hour ago or so we just saw that Joe Rogan tweeted that he endorsed Donald Trump. So, that's my nightcap, is I think it's very significant and certainly placed to a demographic. But Trump needs to go to the polls tomorrow, and that one that Kamala Harris was soft on. And so, I think it's a significant thing for Trump at the last minute here.
PHILLIP: Yes, the eleventh power endorsement. I guess he was waiting to make -- maybe get that Kamala Harris interview that did not end up landing. I mean, do you think it'll matter?
JENNINGS: Oh, I mean, at this point in a race this close, doesn't everything matter? Everything either calls you to win or calls you to lose.
CARDONA: Or it doesn't. Yes.
PHILLIP: And the Amish.
CARDONA: Right.
PHILLIP: And Joe Rogan.
GOLDBERG: You can claim victory if you win.
CARDONA: Exactly.
GOLDBERG: But don't listen to Joe Rogan. PHILLIP: Definitely not.
CARDONA: So, we've heard a lot about Puerto Rico in the news and Puerto Ricanos in Pennsylvania and the island of trash and how that's moving voters towards Kamala Harris. But Puerto Rico is actually having a governor's race. And the election is tomorrow.
And what can be seismic and what is going to be huge news is that for the very first time on the island's history, the Independence Party candidate is second in terms of the polling. It normally has always been a two-party system, kind of like here. The third party has always been in single digits.
Today, this Independence Party candidate is second, and he is within striking distance of the leader.
PHILLIP: Wow.
CARDONA: And the reason for that is because Bad Bunny came out against him. Because Bad Bunny is one of these who anything having to do with Puerto Rico, we heard him talk about the island of trash comment, but he is sick of the corruption that's coming from both parties. Younger voters are listening to him and are coming out in droves. So, we'll see what happens tomorrow.
ALLISON: He came out for him.
CARDONA: Yes. No, came out -- younger voters are also coming out against all the corruption.
ALLISON: Yes.
CARDONA: They agree with Bad Bunny and they're listening to him in terms of he's trying to get them out to vote saying, you guys, we can change the direction of this, of our island.
PHILLIP: Do you think that -- do you think that they have a shot to win?
CARDONA: Probably not but because polling on the island is also not very good.
TAYLOR: Yes, it's probably, you know.
CARDONA: Exactly. There is a chance because if he gets all the young people out to vote and they're all supporting the Independence Party, it could be seismic and he could win.
TAYLOR: I will say that --
PHILLIP: You were just there.
TAYLOR: Yes, we have a place there, I just flew in. J-Go -- Jennifer Gonzalez is a good friend. I served with her in Congress. There was no one, no one in Washington D.C. who is fighting more for Puerto Ricans than Jennifer Gonzalez to get money after the hurricane and get help. So, I'm hoping she wins.
PHILLIP: That's an endorsement. All right, Scott, you're up.
JENNINGS: Well, as this election draws to a close, I wanted to say a couple of things. First to you, Abby, I think this table has been an amazing experiment and I just wanted to congratulate you on this show because although occasionally we've gotten outside the navigational beacons, most of the time we've gotten. We've had some really good conversations.
And second, I just also wanted to say something to my friend, Ashley. She's a Democrat. We don't agree on a lot of political issues, but my respect and admiration for Ashley has grown throughout the year, and I'm proud to call her my friend.
[23:00:00]
This community of CNN political contributors is like a family to me, and if I had any advice for people who watch this show, and before we learn who wins, it's -- cherish your family, cherish your friendships, and don't do or say anything stupid over an election this week that would put any of what really matters in jeopardy.
CARDONA: Cheers to that.
ALLISON: Cheers.
TAYLOR: Cheers.
PHILLIP: Yes, I think one of -- cheers to bipartisan friendships which really do exist, especially actually here on this show. Everyone, thank you very much. And thank you for watching "NewsNight State of the Race". "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
