Trump Pushes Back Against 'Nazi' Comparisons
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It's Tuesday, October 29th, right now on CNN This Morning. I'm not a Nazi. I'm the opposite of a Nazi. Quite a declaration. Donald Trump on defense as Democrats compare his Madison Square Garden rally to a 1939 pro-Nazi gathering. Plus this. If he were elected on day one, he's going to be sitting in the Oval Office working on his enemies list.

A symbolic speech, Kamala Harris speaks in the same spot where Donald Trump urged his supporters to fight on January 6th. And this: I think a lot of Puerto Ricans, they're disappointed. Major fallout: the Trump campaign facing backlash after an offensive joke about Puerto Ricans. Could it give Harris the opening she needs with Latino voters? And later: I want every voter to be able to vote and to do that safely.

Ballot boxes set on fire. The arson investigation now underway and how officials are trying to make sure that every vote is counted. All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Later today, former President Trump heads to the crucial Commonwealth.

with Election Day just one week from today. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kacey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. One week, one week from Election Day. In just hours, Kamala Harris will make her closing argument to voters in an address on the Ellipse here in Washington. -There is a huge contrast in this election, and I'd ask us to just imagine the Oval Office in three months, okay? So just picture it in your head. So either it's Donald Trump sitting in there

stewing, stewing over his enemies list, or me, with your help, working for you, checking off my to-do list. But the location that Harris has chosen is not an accident. The Ellipse is where Donald Trump spoke on January 6th before a crowd of his supporters violently assaulted the Capitol and attempted to prevent the certification of his defeat.

We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved. All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify, and we become president, and you are the happiest people. You'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.

Harris' advisers telling CNN that the vice president plans to try to strike a hopeful and optimistic tone to try to contrast both with Trump's words at the Ellipse three years ago and with his rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. She is the devil, whoever screamed that out. She is the antichrist. She's a pretender. Her and her pimp handlers will destroy our country. 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. 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. Yeah, I think it's called Puerto Rico.

We are learning this morning there could have been more. CNN reporting that Trump campaign aides did review at least some of the jokes that the comedian there planned to tell and that they did flag one that called Vice President Kamala Harris the C-word. They said it was, quote, in poor taste and they nixed it from the set.

All this comes as the New York Times writes overnight that Harris campaign aides are growing more bullish on her chances of winning the election, writing this, quote, Ms. Harris's aides believe the argument tying Mr. Trump to fascism is helping her sway moderate Republicans, even though the leading super PAC supporting her bid has raised worries that it's not the Democrats' most effective message.

So perhaps that's why, just one week out from Election Day and with polls continuing to show a deadlocked race, the former president felt the need to say this. They use that word freely, both words. They use it, he's Hitler. And then they say, he's a Nazi. I'm not a Nazi. I'm the opposite of a Nazi. I don't know. I don't know.

Joining us now to discuss Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios, Philippe Reines, former advisor to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, and Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications advisor. Welcome to all of you. One week to Election Day. Who would like to take the Nazi issue?

Should I do it after two? Is that a trick question? I don't know what the opposite of a Nazi is. But, you know, look, Mike and I have planned this kind of event. You guys have covered this kind of events. You are asking for it. If you put it someplace in a venue like that, it is not like they suddenly stumble into ancient burial ground.

You pick the venue knowing the history. You pick the people who were speaking knowing what they have said in their history. You've given them the open mic and then you say, oh my gosh, I can't believe they said it. I don't agree with that joke. Whether it's a joke or not, whether it was in the teleprompter or not really isn't the point. If you have an open mic and you invite Eddie Murphy and it's suddenly profanity-laced, you can't say, oh my God, I mean, how did that happen?

And what is the point of it? What is the point of it? That is not what they need being discussed. And it's not just on, you know, what they will call the liberal media. This is what's being discussed on Fox and on the right. This is where the weak left, thank God it's only a weak left. You don't want that. That is not a closing argument. He can say whatever he wanted later on. It doesn't matter. It wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth the risk.

Go ahead. I was going to say, there's a question of whether or not this is intentional to your point to try to rally the uglier parts of the base, or this is just sloppiness and a consequence of arrogance on behalf of the Trump campaign. There's no other way to rally that part of the base? Well, so, you mentioned what the discussions on more right-wing outlets. Even Megyn Kelly, of course, formerly of Fox News, had this to say about the Madison Square Garden rally yesterday.

earlier this week. Watch. It was too bro-tastic. Okay? It was. You're trying to win an election in which you're hemorrhaging female voters.

Maybe when you present in front of hundreds, thousands at least at Madison Square Garden, you clean up the bro talk just a little so you don't alienate women in the middle of America who are already on the fence about Republicans. We're trying to get him elected. We don't need to rally the base or guys anymore.

Mike, is she right? - She's right. Look, the last 10 days of an election, last week of an election, it's do no harm. That's generally what you're trying to do. And I think to your point. So I understand why they did Madison Square Garden. I think it had more to do with the president, with President Trump's desire to be at Madison Square Garden than anything else. - Is that what it was about?

with Trump? It is to a certain extent, but this is also where the campaign should step in and say, okay, we're going to control this environment because you don't have 10 days out, nine days out. You don't have the ability to right the ship after that. Now,

I don't think that this is fatal, but I think Megyn Kelly is absolutely correct. Let's be smart in the last 10 days. That's what I heard her say. So speaking of bros, Alex, Joe Rogan is actually apparently the person who recommended to the campaign back in August that they use this comedian. Watch this from this from August.

It would behoove him to hire a few great comics to just tour with them and just write one-liners about all these different f***ing people. I mean... If he could remember them, I mean, I know he likes to go off his own head, but if he could remember a few Hinchcliffe bangers, if he hires Hinchcliffe to take him on the road, do you know how f***ing insane that would be? Yeah, totally.

Well, you know what? It turned out to be pretty insane. Joe Rogan and that comedian are actually fairly close, and he promotes him often. And so there is this feeling that it was a little bit of a quid pro quo with Joe Rogan finally had Trump on his podcast, then they included this comedian. This is something that's going around in the Trump circles about how this happened. That being said, I was talking to- You mean they're not taking responsibility for being their own choice? I know it's shocking that someone on a campaign would not

take responsibility for a bad choice. He just wandered out on stage. There was no, no one knew who he was. I was talking to somebody who's involved in the campaign. This is basically what they said about it is that the Trump campaign is both confident and arrogant. And that, you know, the main pollster, Tony Fabrizio, basically has Trump's numbers ahead in all seven swing states, but within the margin of error.

And as a result, they are basically feeling arrogant to the point of hubris. And that's how you get mistakes where all the headlines are about this comedian who is literally the first speaker of the entire eight hours I spend in Madison Square Garden on Sunday. But now we're all talking about this speaker because of his crude and racist jokes. And again, I mean, there are Knicks games and Rangers there and, you know, the circus is there. It doesn't inherently make the circus funny.

you know, a Nazi gathering of elephants. It's how you put it together. And they, you know, they put it together this way. And that's the thing. I mean, there are times I say something that I offend someone. And yes, sometimes I think, okay, we're living in a world where- I've known you long enough to confirm. There are a lot of emails out there on the internet. And sometimes I think, okay, we're living in a woke society, but I'll go along with it. Sometimes I honestly, you know, realize I shouldn't say it. And then I don't.

And this was a slow moving, it's almost the opposite. It's like, oh, MSM, you know, Masco Garden triggers them, all the better.

But if they really think that this is great, I'll chip in on renting the venue every night for the next seven days. At the end of the day, the Trump campaign is focused on turning out the base and finding voters that don't normally vote to come out, especially in these seven states. That's their goal. So I understand where they were coming from by doing a, as it was put, a bro-tastic campaign.

rally, but it was too far. And again, this is one of those things, the hubris, that's what you've got to run scared at this point.

Alex, the Times story has generated a lot of discussion among my sources because there seems to be a little bit of a divide on where things stand in the Harris camp. I'm just curious where your reporting lines up in terms of them coming out and saying, you know, the Times reporting that people inside the Harris camp are more bullish than they were. Yeah, there is this sort of subtle cold war between the super PAC, which is spent for which is paid for most of the ads.

Future Forward and the actual Harris campaign over the final message, which is also not an ideal way to go into the final 10 days with them basically planting subtle stories about what you should be focusing on. If you look at the ads, Future Forward is much more focused on an economic populist message, framing Trump as a billionaire who's going to give tax cuts to other billionaires. If you look at the Harris- He's out for himself, he's not out for you.

Yes, exactly. If you look at the Harris campaign, both paid advertising and earned media is much more focused on Trump being a bad person, being a potential fascist, going to take control. And so there is a real divergence in terms of Democratic strategy going to the final stretch.

All right. Coming up here on CNN this morning, disdain behind closed doors and a reluctant endorsement. Michael Tackett, the writer of the book The Price of Power, joins for his first CNN interview about his new reporting on the strained relationship between Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell. Plus, ballots burned. The arson investigation after a second ballot box was set on fire and President Biden cast his vote. One just a few months ago, he thought he would be casting for himself. This is just sweet.

I think we will.

I'm CNN's John King. Join me for the podcast All Over the Map, where I'm traveling across the country to find out what American voters think. The energy is different. It's a lot different from when we were here last time. Eric Jones is an entrepreneur in Milwaukee. We're in the final days here now. It's a cliche, but every vote does count, especially in the battleground states. And the math is really complicated, the most complicated in the 10 times I've covered presidential elections. Listen to All Over the Map wherever you get your podcasts.

There's been a lot of speculation. What's Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? What's he going to do? Well, here's my answer. I am running and going to win again. Not so much. Three months ago, President Biden had every reason to believe he would see his own name at the top of the ballot when he cast his vote. But of course, it didn't work out that way.

Joseph Biden now voting. Take a moment to put that away. The president voted early in Delaware on Monday, presumably for Kamala Harris. He was asked by reporters to describe the moment. This is just sweet. I think we will.

And new reporting this morning from friend of the show, panelist Alex Thompson, suggesting the president would like to be campaigning for Harris in the final days of the race. But the Harris campaign is not exactly embracing the offer. Thompson writes this for Axios, quote, Harris's team believes Biden is a political liability at a crucial time in the campaign, but is reluctant to directly say they don't want him to campaign for her. Alex, I mean, look.

if they did want him to campaign for her, he would be campaigning for her. Yes. And even when he campaigned in Pittsburgh on Saturday, the campaign sends out a daily email of all the surrogates includes actors and actresses and, you know, members of the cabinet, uh,

They did not mention that Joe Biden was going to be in Pittsburgh on Saturday, even in that email. So they just left the president of the United States off the list. They did. And they could claim oversight. But the fact of the matter is, like, they don't believe that the president is helpful in this final stretch. Now, Joe Biden and even some of the people on the Kamala Harris campaign, formerly of the Joe Biden campaign, believe that actually the Kamala Harris campaign is underestimating his appeal in some of these smaller communities. They understand he's unpopular.

But they still feel that he has appeal with some of these, you know, especially older voters, older white voters. Older white voters, yes. Yes, in Pennsylvania. And they think they're making a mistake. And that's why you sort of see this, like, you know, he may say it was not bittersweet, but there's definitely people around him that find it more bitter than sweet. I mean, look, I give him that, right? I mean, of course it's a little bit bittersweet for him.

He's being gracious by not saying it out loud. But Philippe, what do you think is going on here? Well, I think Joe Biden, more than anything, does not want Donald Trump back in the Oval Office. That is why he stepped aside.

And if whatever he's doing now or not doing now helps that, I think he's going to get the last laugh. And I think he's OK with it, whether or not. Should the Harris campaign be using him more? Look, I trust the Harris campaign, the people there, whether it's Jenna Mallee Dillon or Stephanie Cutter, Brian Fallon or David Plouffe. They know what works and what doesn't. I don't. Also, he has been out there and he has been out there with her.

Just once. I believe he's done, you know, we haven't had the situation in 24 years where you have that question of a VP using their boss. And it was a little complicated with... But also to some extent you want to be your own person. I don't know that there is often as much thought about it, but bottom line, Joe Biden has done more to help Kamala Harris's chances than anybody else.

- I guarantee you the Harris campaign thinks about this every day, about what Biden's gonna say, should we use him, should we not? I mean, he is a, look, I can't look at the guy now and not think Dana Carvey. When you had that quote up there, I was like, I was picturing Dana Carvey. - That's a compliment. - That is a compliment. And they probably wish Dana Carvey would go out as Biden and campaign for Vice President Harris. But he is a gaffe machine at this point. Every time he has been out there, he's only been out there once for,

With her. He's been out there multiple times. He had to lock him up. There's other things that he has done. He has gone to the White House briefing room once and it stepped all over her event that day. So I can totally see the tension here, but- He's not on the ballot. He's not on the ballot. I'm sure he wrote himself in in Delaware when he voted, but-

He's not on the ballot. All right, we got to take a quick break here. Still ahead on CNN This Morning, the Trump campaign does damage control following his Madison Square Garden rally. You know what I do when I think a joke is dumb or not funny? I don't laugh.

J.D. Vance downplaying a rally joke about Puerto Rico, but do voters in a key battleground state feel the same way? Plus, Trump allies Steve Bannon just released from prison seven days before the election. He is apparently wasting no time getting involved. All right, welcome back. Some cities could see the warmest Halloween in decades. Record heat expected to stretch from the southern plains to the Great Lakes this week. Let's get to our meteorologist, the weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, good morning. What should all those families expect?

Say it ain't so. Another warm Halloween in the books. It's coming. We need to prepare for it over the eastern half of the country. That's where the bulk of the warmth is located. Lots of red and orange on this map. You can see 135 individual locations. We plotted them out here. Could see record highs all the way through Thursday. Of course, Thursday being the big day. Highs in the

Halloween day for parents with kids. This is a big deal. Of course, you don't want to be sweating in your Halloween costumes, but it looks like it might be the case in Atlanta, D. C. To New York today's temperatures, though you can see from the sixties and lower seventies and then the gradual warming trend as the change in the weather patterns approach from the west. You'll notice that it doesn't quite reach the East Coast by Thursday evening Halloween day, so we'll continue with the warmth for many of the major East Coast cities.

from the mid Atlantic right through New England and stretching towards the southeast as well. What else is happening this week? Well, early voting and we put together this graphic to show you just kind of a run through for the day today. If you're heading out to the polls, New York, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, really no precipitation expected in this weather forecast.

More of the same though for the Midwest, but I want to show you out West what's happening here, Casey. Significantly cooler day anticipated across places like Seattle and Portland. So grab that coat heading out the door this morning to the polls. Does seem like a great day to cast a vote though, Derek. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right, straight ahead here on CNN this morning. Hundreds of ballots destroyed. Federal investigators now searching for who set fire to two ballot boxes in the Pacific Northwest. Plus...

how a Trump rally in New York could impact thousands of Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania. To be honest, I feel disrespected because he doesn't know what we go through. You know, we've been through a lot.

This week on The Assignment with me, Adi Cornish. This is a 24-7 effort. Bill Gates, and not that Bill Gates, but Bill Gates of Arizona, he represents District 3 on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. The refusal to respect the peaceful transfer of power is a major difference from what those of us were doing back in the 2000s. We spoke with him at the county's voter tabulation center in downtown Phoenix.

Listen to The Assignment with me, Audie Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast app. So no campaign wants to be on the defense cleaning up missteps with seven days to go before an election. But that does seem to be where Team Trump finds themselves this morning, two days after this unfortunate and ugly moment during the former president's rally at Madison Square Garden Sunday night.

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. Yeah, I think it's called Puerto Rico. The blowback was swift and severe. We're gonna get more now from CNN's Danny Freeman, who was out talking to voters. Vice President Harris's campaign wasted little time Monday morning. They did us a favor.

They woke up. They woke up. They woke us up. They woke us up. Assembling a host of Puerto Rican surrogates in Philadelphia. I hope that people are as angry and they turn that anger into vote.

Pennsylvania has more than 480,000 residents of Puerto Rican descent, according to 2022 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That's the most out of any of the battleground states. And the Philadelphia metro area is among the top regions with Puerto Ricans outside of New York and Florida. Philadelphia City Council member and Harris supporter Katsi Lozada knew she had to speak up. I think that what folks don't realize is that when Puerto Ricans get angry,

return into action mode very quickly. Around Philly's largely Puerto Rican Fairhill neighborhood, voters we spoke with had heard the comments. Puerto Rico is a beautiful island. Puerto Rico is...

He doesn't know what he's talking about. Puerto Rico is a beautiful island. 32-year-old Christian Hernandez is voting for the first time this year for Vice President Harris. The Trump rally remarks only solidified his vote. You think Puerto Ricans heard those words from last night? Yeah, for sure. A lot of Puerto Ricans, they're mad and disappointed. Marcos Pagan didn't like the comments at all. When you hear stuff like Puerto Rico is a floating island of garbage, what goes through your mind?

But Marcos still is not sure who he's voting for. When you hear comments like that, does that change your perspective about who you might vote for? No.

That's not enough. I'd rather see it than believe it, you know? Everybody gets extra-final words. Fernando Santiago already cast his vote for former President Donald Trump. But now he and his whole family are mad. What did you think about him calling Puerto Rico a floating island of trash? That's my stop because that's my island, you know? I don't want people talking like that, you know? This is not right. With the lack of respect, with...

I think he's not going to go far because of this lack of respect towards Puerto Ricans. Really interesting. The Harris campaign now trying to tie that island of garbage remark again, which was made by that comedian, to Trump himself. One guy called Puerto Rico, quote, an island of garbage. Now, these are fellow citizens he's talking about.

Here in Philadelphia, they are your neighbors. They are your friends. They are your co-workers. Their kids go to school with your kids. These are Americans. Donald Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, had this take on the so-called joke.

Again, I haven't seen the joke. Maybe it's a stupid racist joke, as you said. Maybe it's not. I haven't seen it. I'm not going to comment on the specifics of the joke. But I think that we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing in the United States of America. I'm just, I'm so over it.

All right, our panel is back. Mike Dubke, I haven't seen the joke. I mean, I'm flashing back to all of the senators who never saw the tweets, but this is, of course, his running mate. But look, I'm most fascinated by what we heard from those voters that Danny Freeman talked to in the Philadelphia area about whether this is going to matter ultimately. It seems like it has

the possibility to. It does. And again, we talked about this earlier in the hour, you know, do no harm at this point in the election. But what I was interested in listening to those voters and the folks that were interviewed, were they Harris voters to begin with? And are they going to stay to be Harris voters? I keep feeling this election comes down to being a vibe election or an issue election.

If it's a vibe election, I think Harris has a really good shot because that's what her campaign is about, creating this vibe of Donald Trump is too dangerous for democracy, too dangerous for America. If it's an issue election- Well, I mean, is it a vibe or are they pointing out what happened on January 6th? If it's an issue election, if it's an issue election, then you go into that ballot box thinking about your economy. Can I afford my groceries? Can I afford my rent? You think about inflation. You think about other issues. So-

I'm not sure if this is going to be more of a blip from a Monday, Tuesday, or if this is going to run throughout. But I guarantee you the Harris campaign is going to be talking about this for the next seven days. That reminds me of that old Kellyanne Conway line of, does it offend you or does it affect you?

Right. And what do voters care more about? That being said, to your point, do no harm. There is no reason when there are many Puerto Ricans in very key swing states nine days before the election to hire a roast comedian who most recently did the Tom Brady roast and insulted every single person on stage and often like using their race or their religion to insult them to then have them as the first speaker after the Star Spangled Banner there. And also I can say as someone that was in the room, you know,

Those jokes did not play in the room, but it doesn't matter because those clips are going viral to every single Puerto Rican in Pennsylvania right now. And it's not just Puerto Ricans, I imagine, because look, there are people who say nothing matters at this point or there are people like me and probably all of us say everything matters. So in that situation, don't give the other side anything. And both camps need some people from the others or just this undecided jump ball folks.

And there are a lot of people who have had reservations about Trump, whether his age, whether it's January 6th. It's a small subset of voters in the Republican Party. But people have conveniently forgotten about the noise he creates every

And this is not helpful. And it's not just Puerto Ricans. It could be anyone of any descent who's like, I just don't want this guy for another four years. That's the guy that I didn't like. That's not, look, I thought it was interesting. I went back and I read the transcript of the debate and

And there's one word he never uses, and it's future. And I think it really encapsulates the fact that he's only looking to rewrite his own past. He's not looking forward. And if you watch the vice president's clip, she is talking about the future. And at the end of the day, Donald Trump talks a lot about the enemy within himself.

It's within his own head. I mean, he's the one that is doing himself the most harm. And again, I'm all for it. Let him do it every day. But making this kind of mistake with seven days left is very different than doing it with 30 days or six days or 90 days where he can benefit from the typical dynamic of

Mike's alluding to of it's just another thing that people forget. This is it. Someone is getting up today and voting in Wisconsin. Someone is getting up today and voting in Pennsylvania. And they're not doing it. And they're not saying, I was on the fence. But you know what? I'm going to vote for Trump now because that was a really funny joke that that guy told. And it is a garbage island. And if you're an undecided voter, you're not voting early.

You are waiting to the last second to try to gather as much information as you can. That's why these last days matter so much. I think what we're all saying is that it was a bad idea. Rare agreement all around. All right, still coming up after the break. Jeff Bezos defending his decision that plunged the Washington Post into controversy just a week ahead of the election. Plus, Mitch McConnell and his strained relationship with Donald Trump, the subject of a new book. The author joins us live next.

The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president. We do have to do something about Mitch McConnell. He's a disaster. One senator stepped forward and got results. He wouldn't take no for an answer. Mitch McConnell pushed the bureaucrats in Washington to change their unfair rules. Show horse families from Kentucky and across the nation paid tribute to Mitch McConnell. A special thank you for a special man.

Senator Mitch McConnell, on the job for Kentucky's future. Wow, that is a throwback for much of his, as you can see, lengthy career. Kentucky's longest serving senator, Mitch McConnell, has wielded perhaps unmatched control in the Senate and the GOP until he was elected.

Until 2016, that is, when Donald Trump took the reins of the Republican Party and transformed it into something that McConnell now admits is almost unrecognizable. Throughout the Trump presidency, McConnell swallowed much of his disdain for the man he would later call a narcissist and a sleazeball until he reached his limit on January 6th, 2021. We are trying to hold you back. We are trying to hold you back now.

when he held Trump personally responsible for the deadly attack on the Capitol, but stopped short of convicting him in his impeachment trial. There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation.

And former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one. McConnell's contempt for Trump was mutual, and Trump's attacks got increasingly personal. We do have to do something about Mitch McConnell. He's a disaster. These Washington Republicans like Mitch McConnell, who's the absolute worst. I had to fight Mitch McConnell, another beauty. Mitch McConnell and his wife, Coco Chow. Coco.

We got to get the McConnells of the world to do their job. Mitch McConnell is a loser. As Trump continued to win Republican presidential primaries, though, throughout 2023, McConnell got behind him. I said three years ago, right after the Capitol was attacked, that I would support it.

our nominee, regardless of who it was, including him. I support him. He's been earned the nomination by the voters all across the country. As our next guest puts it, McConnell, quote, tried to stop the GOP from heeding the darkest impulses of Trump. But it must be noted that he never put himself or his job in jeopardy to do so.

And joining us now is Michael Tackett, Deputy Washington Bureau Chief for the Associated Press and the author of the new book, "The Price of Power: How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America, and Lost His Party." Michael, I'm so grateful to have you on the show. - Thank you. - Congratulations on the book. - Thank you. - Obviously, I spent years covering Mitch McConnell, and he is really one of the most enigmatic figures and has been one of the most powerful and has had just this fascinating arc. And you report out in this book

many of the things that he said in private about Donald Trump that when you stood in front of him at a podium and you asked him about it, you knew he was probably thinking, but he would never actually say,

Tell us more about what you learned about this man and why, and you call it the price of power. Why did he make this decision to sacrifice so many of the things that he clearly seems to hold dear at the feet of Donald Trump? So my point going into the book was not to deify him or crucify him. It was to try to understand McConnell, try to explain him.

How did he acquire power? How did he accumulate power? And then how did he wield it? And what was the consequence for the country? And he found that the consequence for him was a loss of power, really, in the rise of Donald Trump. - So, Michael, what of all of this, I mean,

When we heard there the insults that Donald Trump leveled at his wife, calling her Coco Chow and this kind of racist attack, you write that, you know, because she obviously was part of the Trump administration before she resigned in the wake of January 6th.

And you have this kind of anecdote that that Chow, quote, had asked her husband for some tips about talking to Trump before her interview for the Transportation Post. This is before she becomes transportation secretary. In an oral history, McConnell said that he told her, quote, Honey, just get your hair done up and your makeup and everything will be fine. He said Trump called him while she was in his office and said, wow, she's really good looking. So he clearly I mean, this seems to demonstrate that

McConnell has a rather sharp understanding of Donald Trump. He knew exactly who he was dealing with and he worked as well as he could while he could.

But as he found out, like so many Republicans who tried to work with Trump, it was difficult. And it was difficult because at some point, you butt up against the Trump ceiling, and you can no longer work with him. -Yeah. -I want to go to the January 6th impeachment trial afterward and his decision not to vote for impeachment. Now, he obviously used the legal argument of you can't impeach someone after they're out of office.

Do you think that that was, that he really believed that legal argument, or was it a legal argument that served his political argument? - It's probably more the latter, but it is also true that nobody has ever been impeached after they've left office. So he had to deal with that. He was also thinking, as a lot of people were, he was going to fade from the scene. So he didn't want to lose the energy of the Trump base for the midterm elections by going after Trump in a conviction vote. - Do you think he regrets that decision?

It's unclear whether or not he regrets it. I mean, he's a rational actor. Like, he does a cost-benefit analysis, and he decides, you know, is the benefit worth the cost? And in this particular case, he thought it was not. And he also thought, remember, he had to get 67 votes to convict.

And I think, you know, you could see the numbers getting to 63, 64, getting to 67, different question. Michael, in that moment, he talked about in a speech that

the U.S. still has a criminal justice system that could hold Donald Trump accountable. How does he view what's played out or not in terms of that system holding him accountable for what happened that day, Trump accountable? - Well, clearly, Trump knows how to run out the clock, and he's done that throughout his career. He knows how to make something go away or at least delay it. So I think it's been frustrating for him and probably for a lot of Republicans who, you know, behind the scenes,

You know, if you took a secret ballot and asked them about Donald Trump, you'd come out with one set of numbers. And if you take a public ballot, you'd come up with another set of numbers. Do you think he wants to see Trump convicted? I don't really know that. I mean, I think he felt like the criminal justice system should hold him to account. All right, Mike. Go ahead. No, I was going to say one last thing. You know, he and Joe Biden served together for decades in the Senate. And he writes in his memoir that he loved Joe Biden, loved talking to him. How does he view Joe Biden's presidency?

I think that they got along where they could get along. Ukraine aid is probably the primary example of that, but also the infrastructure bill, the CHIPS Act, the gun safety bill. All of those were moments where the personal relationship between the two led to a deal.

Old school. Old school indeed in a new school world or something like that. Or a non-educational world. Michael Tackett, congratulations again. Thank you. The book is fascinating. I'm not finished with it yet, but trust me, it's actually very hard to put down. The book is The Price of Power, How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America, and Lost His Party.

All right, 53 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. New this morning: Steve Bannon is a free man. The former Trump advisor finished his four-month stint in prison just a few hours ago, telling the New York Times as he left, quote, "I'm not broken. I'm empowered." Bannon was sentenced for contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with subpoenas in the January 6th investigation.

Some relief for travelers ahead of the busy holiday season. Airlines in the U.S. are now required to give you a cash refund for flights that are canceled or significantly delayed. They must give you your money back, even if you don't ask for it. This is one of the things that drives me the craziest about canceling a flight. They say it's refundable and then they say, "But you've got to fill out this form to get your refund." No longer.

All right, police now investigating fires set at several ballot box locations in Oregon and Washington, which destroyed hundreds of mail-in ballots. A car seen in these photos was spotted at both boxes before the fires broke out. Investigators believe the fires in Portland and Vancouver, Washington are related. We're concerned about that intentional act trying to affect the election process. We're dedicated to stopping that kind of behavior.

Very concerning. All right, let's turn out of this. No endorsement. The Washington Post breaking with its modern tradition, deciding not to endorse a presidential candidate this election cycle.

And now, the paper's owner, Jeff Bezos, is explaining his decision, arguing in a rare opinion piece that not endorsing is a step toward restoring public confidence in the media. Here's what Bezos writes, quote, "We must be accurate and we must be believed to be accurate. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but we are failing on the second requirement. Most people believe that the media is biased. Anyone who doesn't see this is paying scant attention to reality.

And those who fight reality lose. Reality is an undefeated champion. Many people are turning to off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts, and other unverified news sources, which can quickly spread misinformation and deepen divisions. The Washington Post and the New York Times win prizes, but increasingly we talk only to a certain elite. More and more, we talk to ourselves.

Bezos references a recent Gallup poll that found, quote, the news media is the least trusted group among 10 U.S. civic and political institutions involved in the democratic process. The legislative branch of the federal government consisting of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives is rated about as poorly as the media, with 34 percent trusting it. Of course, this is all comes as Donald Trump has repeatedly called the press fake news and the enemy of the people.

It's only bad because of the fake news, because the news is really fake. That's the one we really have to straighten out. We have to straighten out our press because we have a corrupt press. It's election interference fraud. And 60 Minutes should be taken off the air. They should. And CBS should lose its license. They're so nasty. They're so evil. They are actually the enemy of the people. They really are.

So, Alex Thompson, Bezos put out this op-ed. He also defended himself. He said that there was no connection between a business meeting that the head of his Blue Origin space company had with Donald Trump in connection to this decision not to endorse. He also did seem to express that perhaps the timing was poor.

of this decision for the Post to not endorse, that an endorsement for Harris had already been written. We're, of course, now seven days out from an election.

What sticks out to you about this? There's a lot of truth to what Jeff Bezos put in that op-ed. But as you noted, doing this 11 days before the election when the op-ed had already been drafted versus doing it six months ago, I think it's a completely defensible position to have a newspaper not endorse presidential candidate because a lot of readers in these days don't differentiate between the editorial board and the news side. And I think Washington Post endorsed Kamala, all the news side is biased.

But again, they could have done that six months ago. And beyond just Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin, he has a ton of government contracts within his various businesses. And it raises a lot of questions.

Well, look, I mean, I think even if 51% of that op-ed was truthful, there's 49% that is really an extension of what he said, which is that you can't fight reality. And his reality is that Trump is going to pick up where he left off. And it wasn't just the $10 billion contract dispute with the federal government. If you remember, Trump...

tried to get the Postmaster General, if I'm getting this right, to go after Amazon in terms of its abuse of the mail system. And what's scary about this is that Jeff Bezos at times has been the richest man in the world. If that person can't get the courage together to stand up,

then that is very, very unnerving. I hope there's no one from Amazon watching because I have two packages coming today. But it's the point about timing, and not just the timing, is that they went ahead and they endorsed a Senate candidate. So we could have been here a month from now having a conversation about papers, should they endorse? And I'd be the first to say,

They probably shouldn't. Just give us the news. But the reality that he likes pointing to is that it's a week away. It was 10 days away. Yeah, Bezos isn't wrong here. And absolutely, the timing of it is terrible. He should have done it a month ago. I don't think he needed six months ago. But there are many newspapers across the United States have decided not to endorse. I mean, this is a common refrain you're hearing. We heard the LA Times, but smaller newspapers doing the same thing. This is also very different than the Teamsters deciding not to endorse.

They decided not to endorse because they had a problem with their members supporting probably a candidate other than who the leadership wanted to support. At the end of the day, do you trust the news media? And I think to Bezos's point here is if our editorial looks so slanted to the left that people will now question the non-editorial portions of the newspaper. And

And he's making a point. His timing is just awful. That ship has sailed. No one's waking up today thinking, oh, the Washington Post is less, you know, less inclined towards liberals and Democrats. The only thing that's happened is that fewer people are reading his paper. Democracy dies in a one-party state. And that's what you've got at the Washington Post. So...

Okay, well, I would like to keep... I wish I had time to say more about that. Oh, I was looking at the clock. But unfortunately, it is after seven. Talk about running out the clock. My fellow anchors will be upset with me if I don't throw to the next show. Thanks to you guys for being here. Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Casey Hutt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

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