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Frank Luntz is Interviewed about Officials Issuing Warnings; Mark McKinnon is Interviewed about the Presidential Campaign; Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) is Iterviewed about Trump Rally. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 28, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

DAVID FRUM, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": Desperate hope. And you're president of the United States. That person is your boss. But Donald Trump thinks that he is the ruler and these institutions answer to him and he should be allowed to, if he - he would like to be able to arrest, kill and - and expelled from the country anyone who criticizes him. And J.D. Vance's problem, when he has to deal with this is, Vance is - is an untruthful person. But he's an untruthful person who, unlike Donald Trump, is bounded by reality. He can't - you can't actually show him a clip and he can then say in a straight face, well, that clip didn't exist. The clip is there and he has to acknowledge it and deal with it in a way. So, he's trapped. Donald Trump would simply deny it. But dozens of people in his innermost circle have reported that he wants to kill his opponents and wants to use the military to do it. And the question will be, will the military obey?

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Matt, what do you think about this?

MATT GORMAN, FORMER TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: I think a couple things. I think the Trump campaign, up until this comment, had done a good job of kind of trying to starve the oxygen out of the Harris campaign, right? That's why they didn't do six months. They didn't want a comparison of Trump and Kamala, something that the Democrats could latch onto and use. That's why they let her have all the airtime.

This was one of the rare exceptions where they did give them grist. And I think the objective over the last, I would say, 40 days, and certainly over these last eight, is to try and not give them any more that can be used.

Now, I agree that, as I said before, the future (INAUDIBLE) he's been saying, this stuff doesn't work when it actually comes to moving voters. But when it comes to actually being the topic over the last week, they're trying hard to not give them grist to keep that coming.

HUNT: Yes. Well, I mean, it does seem clear that the - that - while I take your point about the Harris team thinking, hey, we got to focus on other things, clearly the Trump people also know that this is problematic. Like -

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: Yes.

GORMAN: Exactly. There's an opportunity cost here, right?

HUNT: Yes.

HAYS: Because this just goes to our whole point that we've been talking about for weeks, this is - are people going to stay home, or are they going to stay home - are they going to - and not vote or are they going to get out and vote? And I think that that's where we're at here, right? Like, are Republicans going to stay home rather than go vote for Donald Trump? And I think the morning you show these kinds of things, these conservative Republicans that have values are going to stay home. They just cannot see this being the future of our country. I mean this is horrible and despicable language.

HUNT: Yes.

FRUM: And Donald Trump is - the people who are sort of the more or less cogent Trump people say, this - this talk of using the military to execute our opponents is a distraction from our central message of building a vast national network of detention camps for the people we round up without due process and expelled from the country without trial.

So, you know, actually, there's a kind of convergence here, that the people who would build a vast national network of concentration camps probably also would try to use the military against their critics.

HUNT: All right, we've got to take a break here. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, after General John Kelly's comments, we're going to hear from a group of former national security officials about their views of the military and politics, which, as you can see, are quite sharp.

And closing the gender gap. We're going to talk about why that's a challenge for both candidates with friend of the show Mark McKinnon. He joins us because it's Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:31]

HUNT: All right, last week, John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, became the latest high profile former Trump official to publicly warn about the threat that he believes Donald Trump poses to the American Constitution. Our next guest, Frank Luntz, recently asked an esteemed group of former national security officials what they would say to the presidential candidates about the role that politics plays or doesn't play in the civilian military relationship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Choose the very best military leaders who will give you good advice as they are sent to you by the Department of Defense and don't choose them because of some something that might be viewed as political. Choose the very best ones because what they are is they're that

precious diamond and you want to preserve that diamond for the long term and for the good of America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would tell - tell whoever wins has got to go and reach out to the party that was defeated and try to re-establish the principle that politics stops at the water's edge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, joining us now, pollster and communications strategist Frank Luntz, who conducted that interview.

Frank, always wonderful to see you. Thanks for being here.

Quite a group that you assembled for this of really impressive people. And I have to say, as we've been, you know, covering this story, as I'm listening to them talk, we think about what Donald Trump has said about the enemy within using the military in the wake of the election. I'm remembering back to when we saw General Milley march across Lafayette Square, something that he has expressed regret about doing in the aftermath.

What did you learn from this group, and what should we be focused on here with eight days to go as, you know, all of this incredibly important context, you know, surrounds us?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST: There are some things that are more important than politics. There's some things more important than an election. Our Constitution matters. Our way of life matters. And these generals, admirals, assistant secretaries, they ran the Army, they ran the Navy, they ran intelligence for America. These are an incredibly decorated group of people who are communicating one key principle, keep partisan politics out of national security and out of foreign policy.

[06:40:10]

That there's some things where we have to do it together. And their concern about the politization of all aspects of life but, more than anything else, the civil service, the people who are supposed to be non-partisan, not bipartisan, but non-partisan, and whether that could, in some ways, creep into the military and creep into foreign policy. They're alarmed, and I'm alarmed when they are alarmed.

HUNT: Did they say that they were more alarmed about the prospect of Donald Trump getting elected and doing this, or Kamala Harris, or both?

LUNTZ: Both. Well, let me be clear, they would not even like this interview because trying to use politics or partisanship to beat on someone when you're discussing what should happen in Ukraine, what should happen in the Middle East, which should happen with China, we're going to disagree is their argument and we're going to have very sharp disagreements. But once decisions are made, we need to go forward together. And then we don't want people in these positions of authority in national security that prioritize partisan gain over what's good and great about America.

HUNT: Sure. I mean, absolutely fair enough.

Do they have any concerns about the way that it's been reported that, you know, Donald Trump talked about what the military should be for him as the president?

LUNTZ: Well, they have concerns if any politician tries to use the military for political gain. And I remind viewers something that I've learned over the last few years. The military is not there to defend just the country or a president. It's there for the Constitution. And that's who they swear an oath to. And the people watching this should - should sleep better at night knowing that the military understands this. And that is the hope of everyone that the politicians not only recognize it but respect it. In the end, it's the Constitution that matters most.

HUNT: Yes.

LUNTZ: And these seven experts, it was such a joy to moderate this focus group because these people prioritize the Constitution over everything else.

HUNT: Yes. And, of course, it was reported that one of the things that apparently Donald Trump was surprised by was that the generals did not, in fact, swear an oath to him or to the president, but to this piece of paper.

Frank Luntz, so grateful to have you. Thank you so much for being here. Come back soon.

LUNTZ: It's an honor. Thank you.

HUNT: All right, coming up next on CNN THIS MORNING, swift backlash for the Trump campaign after a rally speaker called Puerto Rico a, quote, "floating island of garbage," end quote. New York Congressman Dan Goldman weighs in on how that comment might impact Latino voters.

Plus, the final push to close the gender gap. Can Kamala Harris get more men on her side?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Her message is directly focused on the challenges that we face as black men and that our communities face and that America faces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:31]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Next Tuesday is Election Day. Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls, you'll stand there in the polling place and make a decision. I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: As the candidates make their closing arguments, Donald Trump echoing that famous sentiment from Ronald Reagan back in 1980.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'd like to begin by asking a very simple question, are you better off now than you were four years ago?

Our country will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than ever before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: But, of course, what's come to define this campaign are the respective gender gaps. Harris launching new ads over the weekend in battleground states targeting men in Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. A new poll by CBS News shows Trump is up by nearly ten points among male voters. That support on full display at a rally at the University of Georgia last week according to our next guest. Mark McKinnon writing for "Vanity Fair," quote, "if Donald Trump wins the presidency again, a big part of the coalition and the story will likely be the support he attracted or failed to attract among gen z voters, especially young men."

And Mark McKinnon joins us now.

Mark, thank you so much for being here. Always great to see you. I love spending Mondays talking to you about where things stand.

Last week, of course, you were writing that you thought - or you're telling us that you thought Harris was going to win. You, of course, were down in Georgia with some of these young men, with Charlie Kirk, who's become a figure for a lot of them. What did you learn and where is your thinking today?

MARK MCKINNON, FORMER ADVISER TO GEORGE W. BUSH AND JOHN MCCAIN AND CREATOR, "THE CIRCUS": Well, yes.

First of all, I'm - I'm bullish on Harris just because I think there is a huge gender gap. And when vote - when elections are this close, the key question is, whose voters are more enthusiastic? And this is the first post-Dobbs election. And women have Hillary Clinton PTSD from 2016. I think they're on fire. And I don't (ph) think polls are capturing that adequately because they model everything on what happened in 2020.

But I got really sobered up when I went to Athens, Georgia, because I think we - you know, we have a - a notion that campuses are hotbeds of liberals and there'd be these huge groups of people, you know, across the board voting for Harris. Well, I went to a Charlie Kirk rally. Charlie Kirk is the tip of the spear for conservative young voters for Trump. And it was an absolute see of young - mostly young men, but also young women, about 60-40.

[06:50:06]

And just packed in a plaza. I couldn't even move through it. Red hats on every one of them. And - and so there is something also going on with young men that is substantial.

And, Kasie, when you think about it, in 2020, one in ten voters was gen z. This election it will be one in six. Up to 40 million voters. So, if Donald Trump wins, I think he could turn right to Charlie Kirk and say, thank you very much, Charlie.

HUNT: Is all this what - what you think we saw on stage at The Garden last night?

MCKINNON: Yes, well, you know, I mean the thing that - first of all, you - you showed Donald Trump's clip. That's not what's getting a lot of the news. He's finally getting the right message and he's on message even if his surrogates aren't.

And the key question is, you know, how much - what showed up in, you know, actual daily newspapers and swing states. And I'm told that those Puerto Rican comments didn't really show up.

If Trump's message is breaking through, that's obviously the right message. And the good news is, Puerto Rico doesn't have any electoral votes.

HUNT: Puerto Rico does not, but there are a lot of Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania, in particular. And I will say, I think that the community takes quite a bit of pride in their heritage if you've - I'm sure, you know, when you - when you talk to Puerto Ricans, it comes through real fast.

So, I am interested to see if it - if it starts to kind of ripple through social media. But. Mark, can I just ask you, you mentioned that you think that there might be something that polls are not picking up here. And we are hearing from Democrats saying the same thing. We played Elissa Slotkin earlier on in the show, saying she thinks there is this kind of secret vote among women.

Do you - I mean can you say a little bit more about that? Do you buy that?

MCKINNON: Yes.

HUNT: Because I feel like there are some really smart people I - who believe it and others who say it's not the case.

MCKINNON: Well, I'm just a shallow media guy with an opinion, but I will say that, you know, 2016 there were -

HUNT: Oh, come on, don't sell yourself short. You've been running campaigns for years.

MCKINNON: Well, I have. And I've got a gut feeling for these things at the end of the day. And Meghan Kelly's show in 2016 at this exact point, I said I had a feeling that Trump had momentum. So, I don't know, it's just my Spidey sense for one thing.

But in 2016, we talked a lot about the shy Trump voters that were afraid to tell pollsters that they were for Trump. I think there's just the opposite now. I think particularly with Republican suburban women, just because of the community that surrounds them, they're afraid to say that they're not for Trump. And I think that - and this is the typically Nikki Haley voter, but I think there are just women across the board, but suburban Republican women that are quietly going to go vote for Harris. And I don't think that's being picked up in the polls. And I just think, at the end of this race, the big story of this election is if Harris wins - big if, obviously - but it would be because women crawled over broken glass to break the glass ceiling.

HUNT: For sure.

All right, Mark McKinnon for us this morning.

Mark, always grateful for you. Thank you so much.

MCKINNON: Thanks, Kasie. Kick it.

HUNT: All right, let's turn back now to Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden last night.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HINCHCLIFFE, COMEDIAN: There's a lot going on. Like, I don't know if you guys know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yes. I think it's called Puerto Rico.

OK. All right. OK. We're getting there.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Who is that jack wad? People in Puerto Rico are citizens. They pay taxes and they serve in the military at almost a higher rate than anybody else.

There are hundreds of thousands of Puerto Rican across in battleground states that need to send them a message on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Walz reacting live to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's opening speech at that Trump rally, which quickly drew bipartisan condemnation for calling Puerto Rico a, quote, "floating island of garbage," end quote. Florida's Republican senator, Rick Scott, wrote, quote, "this joke bombed for a reason. It's not funny and it's not true."

Hinchcliffe's remarks not the only speech that took a dark turn as several of Trump's allies attacked his opponent, Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: Kamala Harris, she's just - she got 85 million votes because she's just so impressive.

As the first Samoan, Malaysian, low IQ, former California prosecutor ever to be elected president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is the anti-Christ.

HULK HOGAN: When I hear Kamala speak, it sounds - yes, it sounds like a script from Hollywood with a really, really bad actress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now to talk more, New York Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman.

Dan - Congressman, good morning. Wonderful to have you on the show.

REP. DAN GOLDMAN (D-NY): Good morning.

HUNT: But let me just start with your reaction to what you saw last night.

GOLDMAN: You know, let's first make it very clear that this entire rally was Donald Trump's rally. Everything was vetted through Donald Trump and his campaign. All of these speeches were up on a teleprompter.

[06:55:00]

They had been edited. And so, what has come out of that rally is nothing that Donald Trump has to say other than repeating his threats to that Democrats or the enemy within our country. But his vigor - vitriol, vulgarity and racism. And I represent a huge Puerto Rican community here in New York City. And I expect and have heard from many who are horrified that this political rally would platforms such disgusting, disgusting racism and attacking Puerto Rico's - Puerto Ricans, attacking with it - both islamophobia and anti-Semitic jokes. Stephen Miller essentially quoting Adolf Hitler, saying that America is for Americans and Americans only.

This is who Donald Trump and the MAGA world is. No matter what lipstick on a pig Donald Trump tries to put on it in the last week, we saw yesterday at Madison Square Garden exactly who they are. And it was horrifying.

HUNT: Congressman, all that - all that said, and I certainly understand where you're - where you're coming from on this, if all that's the case, why are so many people saying that here in these final days that Donald Trump is potentially on track to win the election and certainly poll show about half the country supports him. What's going on? GOLDMAN: Well, look, people vote for many, many different reasons and that's what makes this country great. And I - and I think what we're seeing now in the last week is a very dark and foreboding view of the United States from Donald Trump. And a very positive view of America from Kamala Harris, who makes it very clear, in fact, almost at the same time that this rally was going on that she will be a president for all Americans, wealthy, poor, white, non-white, whoever it is, she is going to represent all Americans and try to lift up the lives of all Americans. And that is what her policies are about. That is what her approach is about. That is what her career has been about.

And Donald Trump and his MAGA world, including the New York Republicans, House Republicans, and that's a big part of the reason why he was here is they are wrapping themselves around this really - this fear, this division, this hate, insulting America, calling America a garbage can, saying that Puerto Rico is a garbage can. It's really - it's - it's almost juvenile. It's beyond juvenile. And it's not the vision that Kamala Harris has. And I think that in this last week people are going to be focused on, what is the next four years going to be like. And Kamala Harris is going to bring positivity, opportunity to the American people.

HUNT: Congressman, do you think what was said on stage about Puerto Rico is going to make a difference in the election, the presidential, but also some of those House races that you mentioned in New York?

GOLDMAN: I think absolutely it's going to make a difference. You know, Donald Trump hinted yesterday in his speech that he has some secret with Speaker Mike Johnson. Now, you wonder, why did Donald Trump come to New York nine days before the election? This is going - this state is going to go to Kamala Harris. And the answer is that the House really runs through New York. There are seven races that could go either way in the House. And that will likely determine the majority.

And make no mistake, the House, we get sworn in on January 3rd. On January 6th, the certification of the Electoral College will happen again. And we - as we know from 2021, whoever is in control of the House, of Congress, will be able to have a lot of say on what happens on January 6th. And I suspect, we don't know, but I suspect Donald Trump's little secret plan with Mike Johnson is a backup plan for when he loses and he tries to go to the House of Representatives to throw out the Electoral College, the certification from the states, and have the House of Representatives under the leadership and the control and the gavel for Mike Johnson and try to overturn this election.

It was the exact reverse on January 6, 2021. You had Mike Pence, the vice president, who was presiding over the joint session, but you had Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, who were presiding over Congress. If it's the reverse, the Republicans have a lot more opportunity and a lot more possibilities for overturning this election.

[07:00:00]

And that's what this was about yesterday. That, I believe, is what Donald Trump's secret with Mike Johnson was. And that's why he's here, is because the House majority runs through New York. HUNT: All right.

Congressman, we're up against 7:00. So, just a yes or no answer. You're saying you believe that Donald Trump has a plan with Mike Johnson already to try to overturn the presidential election?

GOLDMAN: I - I - I think the secret yesterday -

HUNT: Yes or no.

GOLDMAN: That he referenced very likely may relate to his compact with Mike Johnson to - as a backup plan for when he loses to overturn this election on January 6th.

HUNT: All right, Congressman Dan Goldman, very grateful for your time this morning. Thanks very much, sir.

Thanks to our panel and thanks to all of you for being with us as well. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.