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Inside Politics

Now: Trump In Florida Attacking Harris On Economy, Border; New CNN Polls: Race Virtually Tied In Arizona, Nevada; Pennsylvania Voter: "Boricuas, They're Mad And Disappointed"; Trump Calls NYC Rally "Absolute Love Fest"; Harris' Closing Pitch: Trump's "Enemies List" vs. "My To-Do List"; Harris To Make Case Against Trump At This Jan. 6 Rally Site. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired October 29, 2024 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, one week to go. As the clock ticks down to election day, we have brand new CNN polls from two pivotal battle ground states, which only affirm that this race could not be closer.

Plus, Kamala Harris takes her closing argument to the same spot Donald Trump told supporters to fight like hell minutes before the January 6 insurrection. I'll speak with Stephanie Cutter, Senior Adviser to the Harris, Walz's campaign, this hour.

And one of Trump's loudest and most controversial messengers is released from federal prison. We have new reporting on how Steve Bannon plans to use his MAGA megaphone in the final hours of this race.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We're looking at live pictures of former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago with seven days until the election. He is attacking Kamala Harris over issues like the economy and immigration and foreign policy. And he is also spewing lies, lies that Daniel Dale fact checked in the last hour.

Now, so far, he has not said anything about Sunday night's rally at Madison Square Garden. We are going to keep monitoring those comments and take you back to Florida if he takes reporters' questions. Both Trump and Harris are making a major push today for that very small group of undecided or persuadable voters in a handful of states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voiceover): We are a week out and I am just -- I'm in the zone, right? We got to cover a lot of ground. There's still a lot of people to talk with, and so I am traveling all over the country, in particular the swing states to talk with folks and organize them and remind folks of the power of their vote. DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to save America. We have no choice. It's the greatest there is, we love it, and we're going to save it. We have no choice. And it's going to be saving it from the incredible destruction that's been caused by crooked Joe Biden and Kamala.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: We have some breaking news now that both campaigns are likely eager to see new CNN polls from two pivotal western states, Nevada and Arizona. David Chalian is here with me at the Magic Wall with some numbers. David?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah. It just doesn't get closer. And we've been talking about this. But look at our new numbers out of Arizona and Nevada. In Arizona, among likely voters. We have Kamala Harris at 48 percent, Donald Trump at 47 percent, Harris plus one. In Nevada, the complete reversal. Donald Trump at 48 percent, Kamala Harris at 47 percent, Trump plus one.

Note, a margin of error in these polls, 4.6 percent. This is well within the margin of error. Do not think plus one, plus one is a different result.

BASH: No clear leader.

CHALIAN: Exactly. This is a very close contest. What's behind some of this? Let's look at Latino voters. These are the two battleground states with the greatest concentration of Latino voters. In Arizona, you see that Kamala Harris is winning in our poll Latino voters by 18 percentage points, 56 percent to 38 percent.

But look at Nevada. Totally different story of Latino voters in the silver state. They're basically tied, 48, 47 among Latino voters. And I want to just compare. Now, listen, I'm always a little dubious of this. We're talking about a poll here, and we're talking about actual exit polls here. These are two different things, but --

BASH: This is the sample of people who say they're going to vote, that is people who actually voted correct.

CHALIAN: Correct. And so, Harris, as I said, had an 18-point advantage with Latinos. Biden in the 2020 exit polls, he had a 24-point advantage over Trump four years ago among Latinos in Arizona. Harris has plus one with Latinos in Nevada in our poll. But according to the 2020 exit polls, Biden won them by 26 percentage points. That -- if that actually is what emerges on election day, that's a big warning sign in Nevada for the Harris campaign.

And I will just note here, we are seeing the gender gap again. It's more extreme to both ends. In Arizona, Harris winning women by 16 points. Trump men by 14 points. In Arizona, women are going for Harris by five points. In Nevada, Trump getting men by seven points. You see a sort of equal distance from the middle, but much greater on both ends in Arizona. BASH: One of the things that you are -- one of the many things that you are so good at explaining to us and to our viewers, is what's behind some of these top line numbers.

CHALIAN: Yeah. So, I'm looking at a few things. There are other things on the ballot. So, in Arizona, you know, there's an abortion referendum. And we took a look at that. And I was looking here to see so among likely voters overall, 60 percent say they support the referendum of abortion in Arizona, 93 percent of Democrats do so, 58 percent of independents. 30 percent of Republicans in Arizona are supporting an abortion rights amendment. And that's a potential pool and pot of voters for Kamala Harris to be talking to.

[12:05:00]

But Dana, what jumped out to me about why these states are tied were the characteristics that we asked about of these candidates. Take a look here, honest and trustworthy witness. You see, Harris has a lead on that category, an upper single digit lead. Putting country ahead of self. That's the exact argument she says she will do, and that Trump does not. She's winning those, but not overwhelmingly. By five points in Arizona, by two points, she wins that category in Nevada.

Cares about people like you, a really important metric to look at. Again, mid-single digit leads. These are not blow outs of these characteristics, and the same for his strengths. Shares your vision for the U.S. Trump has a five-point advantage in Arizona. They're tied in Nevada. Bring Change the country needs. Trump has a single digit lead in both those categories in both states.

And then we ask folks, did you already vote? Because a lot of people have. I mean, we're talking more than a majority in Arizona in our poll say they already voted and getting close to 50 percent in Nevada. So, this is now just looking at those that say they've already voted.

In Arizona, those that have already voted, 53 percent for Harris, 44 percent for Trump. In Nevada, Donald Trump is winning the early vote right now. Those that tell us they voted 52 percent to 46.

BASH: Which is a new phenomenon for Republicans, who tend to culturally like to vote on election day.

CHALIAN: Yeah.

BASH: Wow. There's a lot of information in here that really is telling. Thanks, David.

CHALIAN: Sure.

BASH: Now, let's go out to one of these states, Las Vegas, in particular, in Nevada, that's where CNN's John King is on the ground, talking to crucial voters. John, what are you learning?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, the voters think the race is as tight as the polls say it is. I just want to show you. I have my friend with me, (inaudible) have all the fun with the Magic Wall. We are in Nevada right now. And you see how close it was in 2020. Our polls suggest, we're going there again.

Clark County, where I am in Las Vegas. That's almost three quarters of the state population, three quarters of the vote will come right from here in the Vegas and the suburbs around it, incredibly fast growing.

Yesterday we were in Arizona. Joe Biden won that state by 10,000 votes. A lot of Republicans there are still surprised. Joe Biden won that state. And there you were just talking to David about the polling. We talked to a couple of Latino voters.

One is Tamara Varga. She's a lifelong Republican. She's voting for Donald Trump. She thinks he will win this time because of inflation and because of the immigration issue. We also talked to Claudia Rodriguez. And listen, he thinks Kamala Harris is a smarter candidate, a more empathetic candidate, and he thinks she will leak it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAMARA VARGA, ARIZONA VOTER: I just see that more people are willing to talk about Trump. They're not closet Trump supporters anymore, and it's not taboo to be a Trump supporter. We really have more people that are coming out and supporting him, making it easier on us.

CLAUDIO RODRIGUEZ, ARIZONA VOTER: Kamala has it. She has it. She's honest. She's not a felon, you know, once again. So, I think it's one of the things that folks really look at, especially amongst our older Latinos. So, I don't think -- I don't think it's something that we're too, too worried about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And Dana, I just want to show you something. I'll bring up the Magic Wall again. I want to show you this shading. It's not red and blue like you usually see on election day. You're looking at county by county across the United States.

Now, the darker the county, the higher the toll of the cost of living in the past several years. The darker the county means that the cost of living, your energy prices, your housing prices, your grocery prices, have outpaced the increase in your wages.

And so, let's look at where we are right now. Look at how dark it is here in battle ground Nevada, right? This is the headwind the vice president is facing. Joe Biden is president, but she is he's vice president. See how dark these areas are. That means the cost of living has outpaced your wages.

And again, in Arizona, where we were yesterday. Look at Maricopa County. It's the worst of the counties there. So that's the headwind for the vice president. That no matter what she says, she's trying to say her plans would help with this. But when you travel in both of these states, and remember, in Nevada, the unemployment rate during COVID was twice the national average, right?

The jobs are back. Things are better, but people still feel the body bruise. So, she's trying to campaign as a candidate of change. Guess what? In these states, given the last few years, people want change.

BASH: And before I let you go, John. One of the things that was the most striking to me in this new poll that we just revealed this hour is about Latino voters in the state where you are in Nevada. That right now, Harris is only up one, and in 2020 Joe Biden won those voters by 26. Wow.

KING: Yeah. Wow is right. This is our third visit out here in the last year. And we spent a lot of time on that very question. We're about to go interview some people who are plugged into the Latino community here, including a Spanish language radio station right here, one of the owners and administrators of that station.

What they tell us, and they told us on the past trips, is that that is largely economics. That people just feel bruised. People have nostalgic memories of the pre COVID Trump economy. Interest rates were lower. There were more jobs, grocery prices were lower. And again, that's that hedge I was showing you on the map. That's what -- it would have been President Biden.

[12:10:00]

Now it's Vice President Harris, trying to fight through people here. They remember how hard COVID hit them, and they remember before that, when Trump was president, things here were booming. And some of them want to go back, and they think that's the way to do it, even though -- even though they are repulsed by Trump's toxic comments about immigrants and about Latinos. They're talking -- they're voting their pocketbooks, not their hearts even.

BASH: All right. Thank you so much for that. Appreciate it. I am surrounded by an incredibly talented group of reporters today, The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey and Leigh Ann Caldwell, NPR's Ayesha Rascoe. Thank you so much for being here.

You are a Nevada native, so I'll start with you. What's your takeaway from what you're seeing in these two very important states?

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CO-AUTHOR, THE WASHINGTON POST "EARLY BRIEF": It's really fascinating that your -- you guys is polling shows that Trump ahead one point in Nevada -- of course within the margin of error. But the reason it's interesting is because Nevada was a race that they thought a couple weeks ago that Harris was actually doing much better.

But I was told by sources last week that the internal polls were tightening in the state of Nevada. I was there a couple weeks ago, mostly covering the Senate race, but there is a significant amount of support and energy for Donald Trump that I wasn't necessarily expecting.

But I will say that housing is continuing to be a major issue in the state of Nevada. It is something that I think really impacts the economic discussion there. But Democrats, not only at the national level, but also Nevada Democrats are confident, because they say that their ground game is superb there, and they think that it will be able to eat Harris a win. But we're going to have to see some of these early vote numbers are also quite good for Republicans.

AYESHA RASCOE, NPR HOST, "WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY" AND "UP FIRST": Well, and that's the thing. I mean, that ground game in Nevada, the Harry Reid machine from back in the day --

BASH: Well, that's one question I have -- sorry to interrupt, but like is the -- I know, maybe, hopefully, we're not dating ourselves, but Harry Reid, the late -- great Harry Reid certainly had a machine.

RASCOE: She had a machine. And they've pulled it out in the past. Now I don't know that that will happen this time. We do know that it is extremely close. And so, when you look at the Madison Square Garden, kind of debacle where you had, you know, the calling of Puerto Rico, you know, like a trash dump or whatever. I think that in a very close race, if that turns off a few thousand, that could make a difference, and that's the issue for the Trump campaign right now.

BASH: I want to turn to that issue and talk to you about some of your reporting from the Trump campaign. And as we do, I want you all to listen to some of the voters that Danny Freeman, our colleague, talked to in Pennsylvania in the Philly area, who are of Puerto Rican descent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIAN HERNANDEZ, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: A lot of Boricuas, they're mad and disappointed. I feel disrespected because he doesn't know what we go through. No, we've been through a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's my stuff, because that's my island, you know. I don't want to -- I don't want any people talking like that, you know, this is not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH DAWSEY, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, you remember during the presidency when former President Trump questioned the death toll in Puerto Rico and even got rebuked by some of Florida's Republican politicians, and sort of the famous image of him tossing the paper towels.

And, you know, there were lots of times. There were Puerto Ricans, I think, were angered by things in his presidency. To be fair to him, though, on Sunday, it was another speaker who said this, right? I mean, most of the --

BASH: But he hasn't announced it.

DAWSEY: He's not announced some of --

BASH: Well, I apologize.

DAWSEY: But most of the controversial remarks actually at this rally, and the invective were from people who were not Donald Trump. I mean, his campaign had 30 speakers come out and speak for hours and had no control over what these people would say, sort of in the final speech. And I think what overshadowed his remarks here, Trump has always wanted to do Madison Square Garden. He's been obsessed with years with booking Madison Square Garden as a venue. Had a huge crowd at Madison Square Garden. I mean this fairly so.

But what is overshadowed? All these comments from the U.S. comedians and people that basically no one has ever heard of. So, you kind of question, why were 30 people given entre on his final big, big, sort of closing speech of the year?

BASH: Sorry, forgive me for the delay. I'm just being told that the former president is actually talking about it. We're going to take a quick break and get it to you on the other side.

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[12:15:00]

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BASH: We did just hear from Donald Trump about that incredibly controversial rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Coalition, nobody has ever seen anything like. I don't think anybody has ever seen anything like what happened the other night at Madison Square Garden, the love, the love, the love in that room. It was breathtaking, and you could have filled it many, many times with the people that were unable to get in.

[12:20:00]

But politicians that have been doing this for a long time, 30 and 40 years, said there's never been an event so beautiful. Was like a love fest, an absolute love fest, and it was my honor to be involved. And hopefully, you know, they started to say, well, in 1939 the Nazis used Madison Square Garden well. And you know what, every no.

But can you imagine, 1939 the Nazis, but how terrible to say, right? Because, you know, they've used Madison Square Garden many times. Many people have used it, but nobody has ever had a crowd like that. And I tell you what, right now, nobody has ever had love like that. That was love in the room, and it was love for our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Seven days out, when you're effectively saying, I am not a Nazi. It's not exactly the place where your campaign wants to be. And I just want to really fact check here. Just like he did about January six, he is trying to rewrite and tell us what we saw with our own eyes. Did not happen. It was not full of love, except for him. There was a lot of love for Donald Trump there.

But if you are Kamala Harris, effectively called a prostitute, no. If you are somebody who is African American and somebody made a watermelon joke, not funny, no, no love for you. If you are a Latino, particularly somebody who is ma, certainly no love for you. Jews, no love for you. And I could go on and on and on from multiple speakers at that very big rally.

My panel is back now. I interrupted you before, Josh, you've been doing reporting from inside the Trump campaign about what they really think, not what he is saying publicly.

DAWSEY: I don't think his most seasoned advisers thought that the pre- programming test speech was particularly helpful on Sunday. I mean, any time like you said, you're a week and a half out, and you are spending entire 24 hours, you know, denouncing, defending, Trump stumbling down on, you know what happened? I mean, it's not good.

I mean, look, Kamala Harris's campaign. And you see what they're doing tonight with their rally on the ellipse, right? Where they're talking about, you know, democracy and Jan six are trying to convince Republicans and independents, maybe right leaning independents, but Republicans.

You just don't have to vote for Donald Trump. You don't want that back in your lives. You might have like your economy better. You might have liked things better, but their argument is, you do not want him back in your lives. You're exhausted by him.

And a lot of what Trump has said, you know, on the economy and immigration, others, his team thinks it's helpful. But when you have events like that on Sunday, when you have some of his more incendiary comments that play into the Kamala Harris argument down the stretch, there's a reason you voted him out in 2020 and that you don't want him back on your lives. That is the argument and things like that, I think, give him ammunition for that.

BASH: We did not hear -- we heard him say what he said, which is just makes no sense. He didn't take questions from reporters, and he did not apologize to any of the groups, particularly just the most politically important group to him, which are Puerto Ricans living in Pennsylvania and in other swing states, particularly Pennsylvania, where he's going later today. And that is the apology, is what some groups and even some fellow Republicans are asking him to give. He's not an apologize, or he never has been.

RASCOE: It's not -- it's not what he likes to do. And this was his big moment, like, that's why he's saying, it was so full of love. He was in Madison Square Garden. This is his -- what he feels like it's his pre victory lap. So, he doesn't want to sully that by, you know, talking about giving an apology, that's not Trump. He's going to say, it's a room full of love.

I will say that the thing about Trump, you know, often he'll talk about Harris. And he'll say, oh, she's kind of, you know, she's a light weight, or this and that. But it's really Trump who often is treated with these kind of kid gloves. Where it's like, oh, his people don't do -- they don't do him favors. Oh, he doesn't know, you know, or, oh, they don't give him good information. You're trying to be the leader of this country. You don't know what's going on at your rally. You can't get good people around you. Why? You know, it's like, at what point are you responsible?

BASH: And I just want to -- let me just echo and just underscore what you're seeing at the bottom of the screen. Just please note the quotations, absolute love fest. And listen to what we're saying it was and watch it yourself. It was not a love fest.

I want to look ahead to what Kamala Harris is doing tonight. You mentioned it. We're going to talk about it more a little bit later in the show. Listen to what she said previewing the speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS (voiceover): And I would ask people to imagine the Oval Office. And people have seen it on TV, you know what it looks like? It's either going to be Donald Trump sitting behind that desk, writing out his enemies list of who he's going to seek revenge and retribution on, or it's going to be me working on behalf of the American people as I always have done, working on my to-do list, to see through these policies that are about home ownership, lifting up our small businesses, lifting up families with children and lifting up the discourse in a way that it is not about trashing people all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:25:00]

CALDWELL: So, there is the visual that is important tonight for Kamala Harris and her team. It is at the ellipse, which is off the national mall with the White House in the background. It's also the same place where Donald Trump spoke to January 6 people before they marched to the Capitol and attacked the Capitol. And so that is a contrast that Kamala Harris is trying to portray.

Another thing that her team says that she's going to do, of course, she's going to focus on her character. They are hoping that her care -- talking about his character is really effective, especially with suburban with women voters who don't want the image that Kamala Harris just laid out.

There is going to be elements of abortion in her speech too, but all of it is trying to frame a difference between who Kamala Harris is and who Donald Trump is. And potentially, we can see tonight her responding to the Puerto Rican remarks at Madison Square Garden, because responding to Trump is also an element in these closing days.

DAWSEY: Yeah, I think that's right. I think what's interesting to me is that the Trump folks think, and I don't know their argument here could be wrong, the calculation could be wrong, but these character attacks on him are not going to work, right? Bur John Kelly coming out as former chief of staff that give me too a definition of a fascist.

The various folks who've come out and spoken out against him, who worked for him as vice president, not -- you know, supporting him this time. Although, the J6 accusations and documents that we've seen come on recently, they think all of that baked into the cake, right?

Kamala Harris says people clearly don't think, let's make them to the cake. They think people are still swayed by that. So, one of the most interesting sort of bets down this final stretch of the election is whether these character attacks against Donald Trump will work or not, right?

His people think, Trump has basically 100 percent name ID. You know who he is. You know whether you like him or not. Regurgitating all of this in their mind. They don't think works. Kamala Harris's people have a vastly different calculation, and I guess we'll see what happens.

BASH: Quick, final thought.

RASCOE: I mean, I think that's the whole issue. She's been making these attacks on character, but the race is still very much tied, and so it's not clear that it's working the way they think it is, and that she really has to make the case for herself and who she is.

BASH: All right, everybody. Thank you so much for rolling with it. Coming up, Steve Bannon is trading a prison uniform for his MAGA megaphone one week before election day. We have new reporting on his plans after a quick break.

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