Shownotes Transcript
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for every life-saving treatment, for every next step, for every care in the world. Cleveland Clinic. It's Friday, September 13th, right now on CNN This Morning. There will be no third debate. Have another debate. Refusing a rematch, Donald Trump says he won't debate Kamala Harris again, but will he change his mind? Plus this. The debate didn't really make that much of an impact for me. I'm not sure about others.
A tight race. New polling shows the debate didn't do much for either candidate, so what can they do to move the needle? And this: We will not allow this department to be used as a political weapon. A rare rebuke. The attorney general slamming efforts to turn the Justice Department into a political weapon. And later, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist invited by Donald Trump to 9/11 memorial services. Now, concern growing about how much sway she has over the former president.
All right, 6 a.m. on the East Coast, a live look at a beautiful sunrise in New York City on this Friday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. We made it to Friday. Will we survive Friday the 13th? We will have to see. There are just 53 days until November 5th, Election Day. But make no mistake, Americans are already voting. Voters are voting.
This week, Alabama became the first state to send out absentee ballots. And next week, Pennsylvania, which is of course viewed as the top prize by both campaigns, will begin in-person early voting. That timeline, part of why Donald Trump now says he will not participate in a second debate against Kamala Harris.
When a prize fighter loses a fight, you've seen a lot of fights, right? The first words out of that fighter's mouth is, I want to rematch. I want to rematch. And that's what she said. I want to rematch. So because we've done two debates and because they were successful, there will be no third debate. It's too late anyway. The voting's already begun. You got to go out and vote. We got to vote.
Trump there telling a crowd in Arizona that Harris lost their debate on Tuesday. But that new Reuters Ipsos poll finds Americans largely disagree. About half of registered voters who heard about the debate say that Harris won the night.
just about a quarter say that Trump did. And of course, numbers like that are part of why the Harris campaign feeling they're still riding high. But advisors also urging caution. One Harris campaign aide tells CNN, quote, there's a quiet confidence and security in what we're doing and the mission, but no one thinks we have this in the bag. It's gonna be a grind until election day and after. Harris herself sharing a similar message yesterday with supporters at a rally in North Carolina.
We are the underdog. Let's be clear about that. We are the underdog. And so we have hard work, but we like hard work. And with your help, we'll win.
All right. Our panel's here. Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor. Molly Ball, senior political correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Kate Bedingfield, CNN political commentator, former Biden White House communications director. And Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, executive director of the Republican Accountability Project. Welcome to all of you. Thank you guys so much for being here. You know, Sarah, I actually want to start with you because you've been talking to voters about the impact the debate had. And I'm really interested in kind of your view of what's
what happened and also what she needs to do next. But let's listen to some of the voters that you talked to first. And then I'm gonna let you explain exactly who they are. These are flippers as you call them, right? People who may be willing to go either both ways. Let's listen to them and then we'll hear from Sarah about what else we've heard. A lot of the things that Trump was
criticizing and exploiting Joe Biden for now he's the old man that can't keep up. She was more presidential. He did a poor job of taking her bait and allowing himself to get upset and caught up in different issues that we didn't need to spend a lot of time on. She addressed most of the issues pretty well.
pretty well. And she gave Donald Trump like what maybe other candidates couldn't, you know, she was a little bit sarcastic or talking back with him, which I appreciated.
Sarah, really interesting, especially that last one there who likes kind of Harris's style. What is your view of how this all has played out? Yeah, we've done a couple groups since the debate. And these voters are people who voted for Trump in 16, Biden in 20. But a lot of groups in that category, we'd seen a lot of backsliding when Biden was the nominee. People were saying they were either leaning RFK or they were going to leave it blank. And what Kamala Harris has done is just
put that coalition back together. This focus group was a clean sweep for Harris, both in terms of her winning the debate and in terms of vote choice. They were all gonna vote for her. She had kind of gotten them over the hump. And the number one word that came up that really struck me was,
several people organically referred to her performance as presidential right and this is the hump she's trying to get over do people see her as presidential somebody ready for the big chair and for these voters she got them there with this performance but i will say one of the things about this group is
They all watch the debate. And as we know, lots of Americans don't always watch these debates. So the question is, is can she ride this into a much more high-level narrative about how dominating she can be that sort of filters out to voters who are paying less attention? Yeah. I mean, Kate, how much do you think it matters?
I do think it matters. I think one of the things she did, which I think Sarah's groups kind of reaffirmed this, is your voters were saying that she was presidential. I think she was strong. She seemed strong. And that was one of the things that she needed to do going into this debate. She needed to show...
that she could essentially kind of take the foundation out from under Trump. And that helped sort of reinforce for people the idea that she's capable of being president, that she's strong. And she did that. So I do think it mattered. I think in a time, in a race where
We're on this really condensed timeline. Having this really high profile moment where she went out and kind of nailed the key things that she needed to do. Yes, I absolutely think that's important. And I also think she neutralized what should have been Donald Trump's two biggest strengths, one, immigration and two, the economy. Now, the criticism has come her, well, she didn't talk about her plans enough. And others can quibble about that. But
when asked questions directly about the economy and about immigration, she managed to get him talking about crowd size and people, Haitians eating dogs and all kinds of other nonsense. When had he, those are actually vulnerabilities for Kamala Harris. Just look at the
polling, yet somehow if you were a voter who was not familiar with who these two people were and where this race stood, you would come away thinking, wait a second, she's far more serious on these two really profound issues that are important to me as a voter.
Yeah, the sense that I've gotten is that that's exactly right, but there still may be more for her to do to close the deal. Right? That for a lot of voters, and we talked to several swing voters as well, who said, yes, she did a better job than him. Yes, she won the debate as a matter of sort of performance. And yes, I didn't like how he came across.
they may still not be convinced that they're ready to support her. A lot of them saying, "I still need to know more about who she is. I still need to know more about what she's going to do for me." So she may still have some of those blanks to fill in, but
But I think the good thing for her is that door is open. - And to clarify, I didn't mean neutralized it as an issue through November 5th. I just mean walking out of that room that night, I think she came off looking better. But no, there is a huge way she has to go on these. - Yeah, but to your point,
the things I heard in the group was somebody talking about how the fact that Donald Trump had scuttled the immigration deal was new information to him. I mean this is one of the things that debates really do is people tune in who are just really starting to get a feel for the race and you have an opportunity to tell them things that they don't know yet that's not filtering down and so there was a guy in the group he was the most skeptical of Kamala Harris but he was saying I didn't know Trump did that I don't like that and so I think that that is a way in which and look
I do think there's always, there's something about American voters. They want to be courted, right? They want to be told, especially these sort of late breaking undecided ones. But what you see is when she turns in a performance like this, at the end of every election, there's a break in independent voters. They break one way or the other.
And I think what she's doing is chipping away to the point where when it comes time to break, they've seen enough. It also gave the Harris campaign a lot of fodder to continue to educate voters, right? Like she had these great moments, which now the campaign is turning into clips they're using in ads. I mean, there was the incredible impact of, you know, the enormous number of viewers who were watching the night of the debate. But
you know, now she has a lot of this material that she can keep working with over the next five weeks as we move toward the election. I think that's right, that it's incremental. Yeah, it's bit by bit and you chip away. And also, if you didn't watch the debate, probably the one thing you heard or saw on TikTok is eating cats and dogs. Yeah, that too, that too.
Okay, that's where we are. Coming up here on CNN this morning, he took on the role of Donald Trump for Kamala Harris' debate prep. Philippe Reines joins us live to discuss how each candidate did on the debate stage. Plus this. Is everybody out? The police officer hailed as a hero as he saves two kids trapped in a burning building, one of five things you have to see this morning. And a strong warning from the attorney general about the threat of turning the DOJ into a, quote, political weapon.
There is not one rule for friends and another for foes. One rule for the powerful and another for the powerless.
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They weaponized the Justice Department. Every one of those cases was involved with the DOJ, from Atlanta and Fawny Willis to the Attorney General of New York and the DA in New York. Every one of those cases. And then they say, oh, he's a criminal. They're the ones that made them go after me.
Donald Trump once again claiming without evidence the criminal cases against him in Georgia and New York were initiated by the federal Justice Department. Now the Attorney General pushing back in a rare and forceful public statement, Merrick Garland defended the Justice Department from attacks its work has politically motivated. Garland didn't mention Trump by name. He did denounce the spread of conspiracy theories and asserted the department's independence and impartiality.
There is not one rule for friends and another for foes, one rule for the powerful and another for the powerless, one rule for the rich and another for the poor, one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans. Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this department to be used as a political weapon.
All right, Elliott Williams, what did you hear from Garland there? Why did he do this now? Yeah. Just help us understand kind of the context, because he's a pretty mild-mannered guy. He is, and the now is an important question. Once a year, the attorney general has all the U.S. attorneys from around the country in Washington and gives a speech to them in some ways. Now, this one was a little bit different because they invited the whole Justice Department personnel to tune in, and it was partly on account of the attacks against the Justice Department
that have really been chum in the water in the United States for the last five, six, seven years, however much. What was interesting about that clip from the debate, which sort of also turbocharged some of this, is that even though fact checking in debates is sort of a controversial issue, he was allowed to go on making claims about the Justice Department having its ends in these state and local cases that is simply not true.
And I think the Attorney General felt some need to weigh in here because of the fact that the Justice Department is getting lumped into cases that they truly have nothing to do with. Like this whole idea of state attorneys general and local prosecutors and being
puppets of the Attorney General is just not how the Justice Department works. And he felt the need, I think, to reassure the many Republicans who work at the Justice Department, but people of all parties, that their work is protected, is important, and is sort of separate from politics. And again, for someone who, I mean, many Democrats are very critical of
how Merrick Garland didn't step into some of these Trump things for him to kind of step out in this way. I think noteworthy for that reason. All right, coming up here after the break, Kamala Harris making the argument for another debate while Donald Trump now says no way. Plus, the Miami Dolphins quarterback forced to exit last night's game early after he took a brutal hit. That's one of the five things you have to see this morning. All right, 22 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning. Watch. Is everybody out? No, they're
Two children rescued from their burning home just in time. Two Texas police officers are now being called heroes as their body cam footage shows them running toward the flames and getting the kids out. Look at that.
A bear going for a stroll on a crowded beach causing quite a stir on Lake Tahoe. The bear seemed completely unbothered by the weekend lake crowd. People gave him, smartly, plenty of space to explore. He hopped in the water, took a swim, you know, as you do. And this. Oh, s***. I love you, Tahoe.
Wow, in South Carolina, a train smashing into a tractor trailer, hauling a tank. Witnesses say the truck got stuck on the railroad tracks and was unable to move out of the way of the train. Thankfully, we can say nobody was hurt. That is crazy.
All right, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovaiola, sorry, forced to leave last night's game against the Buffalo Bills with a concussion. He suffered it late in the third quarter on a hit by Bills safety DeMar Hamlin. We hope that he is okay. And one of California's largest wildfires igniting a mountaintop in Orange County. This fire burning more than 21,000 acres so far and is only 5% contained.
All right, time now for weather. Francine, no longer a hurricane, but there's still plenty of rain across the southeast with flood alerts impacting just over 7 million people. Let's get to our meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, who is sartorially celebrating National Cloud Appreciation Day, we learned, in the 5 o'clock hour. Allison, good morning. What do you got?
Yes, good morning and happy Cloud Appreciation Day to you too. Yes, we take a look. You can see how much the heavy rain impacted these areas the last few days. This video from New Orleans, you can see a good Samaritan there rescuing a man whose vehicle got trapped in the floodwaters. But the key thing to remember is that the heavy rain
to notice the system while it is well inland it has significantly slowed down forward speed only three miles per hour to put that in perspective that's about how fast an average human walks so we could walk faster than this system is moving and what that means is it's got a lot of time to dump a tremendous amount of rain over some of these areas in the southeast already several places in louisiana and even mississippi picking up eight to even nine inches of rain more is still yet to
come because this system, while gradually starting to make its way towards the east, it's going to take time. We really don't even see it spread into, say, Atlanta and much of Georgia until Saturday and then into the Carolinas by the time we get into Sunday. Now, a lot of these areas are dealing with drought conditions. They need the rain. The problem is you don't want too much rain in a short period of time. And this swath right here where you see the yellows, oranges and reds, a lot of these areas are expected to see widespread two to four inches
and some of them could end up picking up six, seven, even as much as eight inches of rain before this system finally moves out, which is why you end up having the risk for flooding. All right, Allison Chinchar for us this morning. Allison, thank you very much. Have a good weekend.
Coming up next here on CNN This Morning, he played a critical role in Kamala Harris's debate prep, pretending to be Donald Trump. Philippe Reines is standing by with the inside story. Plus, the Trump campaign trying to get some help from Taylor Swift by imitating her best-selling merch. We will explain what that's all about in our morning roundup. I promise that you'll never find another like me.
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Custom window coverings in the world. Blinds.com is the GOAT. Shop Blinds.com right now and get up to 45% off select styles. Rules and restrictions may apply. This week on The Assignment with me, Adi Cornish.
We can make more housing. Like, it's not alchemy. Sonia Trouse and her organization, Yimby Law, sued a town in Ventura County in Southern California, not far from where we're sitting down for this interview. We don't have to just accept limits and fight with people. The language of that movement has spread to the presidential campaigns. Listen to The Assignment with me, Audie Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast app.
Are you Donald Trump? Yes, I am. And I'm Hillary Clinton. Shut up. Anyway, we want this bag of candy so huge to the rest of us.
Halloween is just around the corner. We could see more kids dressed as their favorite presidential candidates this election year. There is one man here with us today who may have the best costume. The former Hillary Clinton advisor, Philippe Reines, helped prepare Kamala Harris for her presidential debate by standing in for Donald Trump. And according to him, you can see here, the Trump costume may be more high maintenance than you think. And joining us now is Philippe Reines. Philippe.
Good morning. Welcome back to your actual self. Thank you. Not yet, but getting close. Have you gotten all the bronzer off your face? You know, someone was putting makeup on the other day and they said, oh, you already have some makeup on. And I was like, I just had a facial this morning. Like, what do you mean I still have makeup on? You guys have no idea what it's like to wear makeup and heels. You cannot understand. Tell us more about that burden. Is it dark for you? Tell us about being a woman, Philippe. Tell us about that burden, Philippe.
Yeah, it's like my everyday right after the show. It's like, which makeup remover will actually get it on? It's easier just to leave it on. So, Philippe,
were we're talking in the break as you're sitting down on you ended up playing Trump but you actually I had asked did you call did you get this call right after this which was made to play Donald Trump is a new also play Trump for Hillary Clinton yes back in 2016 I I think money my biggest question for you is was a difference between I prepping Kamala Harris for this debate compared to other debate perhaps you've done or like with her Clinton for example how did you approach it
Well, first off, I had never met the vice president. So it turned out to be for the best because she had never met Donald Trump. With Hillary, I'd been with her for so long that my mere presence ticked her off, so I didn't have to do much to simulate.
You know, there are only two people and now three who understand what it's like to be on that stage with, you know, a job interview. I mean, imagine if we were talking right now and Kate was standing here with a chainsaw. It'd be very hard to hear me. Wait, I didn't know that was an option. That would be very distracting, Kate. It would be very hard. Next time. It'd be very hard to hit me and to hear me. And that's the only way he can win is to block out what someone is saying. Right.
And, you know, what you saw the other night was, you know, I was watching the people that were quoted and you made the point about people didn't know that he scuttled the immigration bill. And that is an important point. And whatever was going on there, which looked like malfunctioning, is was important to give her the space to talk.
to talk about what she wants to do and to remind people the guy had a record. You'd never know it listening to him that he served for four years. And this, whatever you want to call it, this amnesia that people are somehow having pleasant memories of his term
is odd, and it's important to really point that out. - Question for you, along those lines, how was prepping to be Donald Trump different in 2016 versus now? He's a different person today. - He is, and it's actually pretty serious. The first thing I noted, and I later compared notes with Bob Bauer, who played the same role for Vice President Biden, there is something going on with his language. He always digressed. He would be talking about
China tariffs and then talk about the Chinese bank being in Trump Tower. Now there's just this staccato, stopping short, not using proper nouns as much. I think we're all used to it and there's a lot of laughing, but that he is, he, I could, the way I think about it is we all have friends with a laptop.
that's a little old and they should be replacing it. It drains the battery a little fast and it's heavier than it should be. And he is a different person that is hard to tell because he looks generally the same and he's equally loud. And somehow being louder and tanner has been equated to health. And it's just not. There is something, and we saw it the other day, irrespective of what the vice president did,
What the former president did is very unnerving in that, okay, let's just say that she did get under his skin at minute 11 or minute 12. How does getting under his skin lead to these four-minute diatribes? And why is it happening an hour or 70 minutes in that he can't pull it together? That's very unnerving. Yeah, it's different.
Philippe, what did you learn about the vice president in this process? I mean, what can you tell us about her as a person? How does she approach problems? How did she approach this prep? What kind of questions did she ask you as you were doing this? Well, she's the real deal. I mean, I had a similar or I had an uninformed view of her beforehand, which is a problem that she has to fix with millions of voters, which she did with her convention speech and then did Tuesday night.
I, you know, she put in the work. She never said, all right, I've had enough of this. I'm going home, which other people have done. It's funny because you know the person with you is imitating Trump. You really can't believe, though, that the nonsense coming out of their mouth actually comes out of Donald Trump's mouth. So, you know, watching the debate, you're like, oh, my God.
how do you know he was going to talk about German inflation? I'm like, because he's a broken record. And the fact checking, ABC had a very easy job in the sense, because he repeats himself all day, he'd been talking about cats and dogs.
for two days. He was sending, you know, true social, whatever they're called, notes about cats and dogs and pictures about cats with, you know, AR-15s. So it gave them an opportunity to call him out on it. And that's important because to what the vice president did that night, she did basically the job of four or five people.
She did her job of speaking to the camera and saying, "Here's what I want to do." She did the job of calling him out. She did the job of saying, "What are you talking about?" And that's tough. That is tough and it is not easy to do. We all do it watching the debate. And you're sitting there, it's like Mystery Science Theater, where it's an ongoing commentary, like, "What are you talking about? What's wrong with him?"
She's on stage and it's this far away and you have milliseconds to respond. Yeah, well, and she did a lot of it with her face, which, you know, as someone who works on camera, I have some understanding of how you can do that. And it really made me wonder if that was something that was practiced. I mean, were you watching back tape in the split screen and like watching that and thinking about it? It's not practice. I think it's the point of prep for anything, whether it's congressional testimony or media.
is to eliminate the idea of total surprise. You just want people to kind of get used to things and they do most of that outside of the formal sessions. They might be in the shower or running where they're thinking, you know,
If he says this, I want to say that. It's not an exercise in some kind of scandal or house of cards memorization. But did she think about, I mean, look at that, the pose right there with her hand underneath her chin, right? I mean, clearly she must have known that this was how this would come across. I mean, she must have thought about it, but it doesn't mean there's someone sitting there saying, okay, let's practice the chin.
And let's practice the cross arms. Those are human reactions. It is so true, though. Thinking about what you look like on television is such an important part. I mean, people understandably are so focused, you know, as they should be on the substance and how am I going to parry this and how am I going to...
But one of the things that can get lost in debate prep, in my experience, and so kudos, huge kudos to you guys. Well, there's a team. I want to make sure people know it's Karen Dunn and Lopini Kisolu. Absolutely. It matters what you look like on television. It matters what your face looks like. It matters whether you look comfortable, whether, as Philippe's saying, you don't look surprised.
prize and whether it doesn't look contrived it doesn't look like you know here's the set piece moment that we all cooked up because we're so smart we're gonna execute it this way it has to feel for the viewer authentic and and I think one thing she did so so well was she was dismissive of Trump in a way that made him look small
and made her look big and strong. And that's-- - I mean, she put on a clinic and I always think of that role that I play as the ball machine. If someone says, "Let's text her forehand," I'd shoot it there. And if someone back in there, then on the ball machine that just keeps spewing the balls accidentally, that's just going every which way because again, I'm malfunctioning. But you know, we're sitting here right now at Kate's Point and these guys know they're on TV. I mean, they're not sitting there making funny faces.
I mean, it's a big part of it. You're in a debate and, you know, in rough terms for 45 minutes, you are being watched as a split screen the entire time. And people, you know, she has a disadvantage that people need to get to know her and people want to get to know her.
And Tuesday was a step in that. And hopefully, you know, the people who the three people that we saw with their comments are three million people. There's this slight, you know, short, narrow sliver of people that for whatever reason couldn't decide between Donald Trump and Joe Biden for reasons I can't understand. And now it's Joe Biden. It's now Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. And everything you do, I don't know any of those people.
those folks after watching the debate was like, I'm more inclined to vote for Donald Trump as opposed to what is wrong with that guy? Well, Sarah has talked to a lot of these people. I don't know how we lived through the first four years watching that. I'll tell you one of the pieces of good news is that
for Kamala Harris is that the more people see of Donald Trump, the less they like him. And that has always been true. The more Donald Trump is front and center, the more his numbers go down. What's interesting is that the more people see Kamala Harris right now, the more people like her. And so I think the debate...
should be and will be the kickoff to being out there all the time. And that's why he's ostensibly avoiding another one, although I think that that's just working the refs. Well, nobody really loves losing, and it seems clear that Donald Trump... What do you mean? That was the best debate, you know, crap of all time. Well, of course, he's never going to admit that in public. Briefly, Philippe, the handshake moment at the top, was that rehearsed?
Well, what's funny about that is like that's human behavior. You know, if you if someone had said, right, but you have to. Well, but I mean, that's just normal. You're like, I've never met you. I'm going to say hello. You would never would have said Mitt Romney and Obama. Oh, my God, they shook hands.
It's crazy that this was the seventh debate and no one has shaken his hand since Hillary. Did she think about it beforehand? I'm sure. I mean, first time I met her, she shook my hand. Did you practice it? It's not a practicing. Again, these things are not. I just mean like when you took the podium in debate prep, did she come over at the beginning? She came over when I met her and I said, you know, Madam Vice President, it's nice to meet you. And in 20 minutes, you probably won't think that that's true anymore. I mean, it's. He's such a skilled debate prepper.
if you notice, that he gave you a very compelling answer to your question without asking the specific, answering the specific question. I don't know what you're saying. Philippe has spent a lot of time also dealing with people like me. It's very practiced that never actually is that telling us It is less of that than you would think.
You know, I mean, Joe Biden didn't practice not shaking his hand. Correct. You're just like, I'm not touching that guy. I don't know where that hand's been. But actually, we do know where that hand's been. And he didn't, to your point about authenticity and it's not all rehearsed and practiced, he didn't because...
He didn't want to. And he was angry at him and didn't want to go shake his hand. And so he didn't because the best debates are the ones that show who the person actually is and reflects an authentic dynamic. So, no, we never rehearsed. I'm going to stand there and not approach Donald Trump. It was Joe Biden didn't want to.
And you know, Hila refused to after the Access Hollywood. She's like, I'm just not-- the fact that Nancy Pelosi had it right. No one should be on stage with him debating him. And she doesn't mean that in a second guessing strategy kind of way. This is not right. It's one of the many things that are not right about these things. What was interesting is that if you watched all the way through, there was an overhead shot when it was over. And boy, did he scurry off that stage quickly.
Yeah, but that's a body language thing. Here's the thing about that handshake. It was an alpha move from the jump. He wanted to avoid shaking hands. She went right in and said, no, no, I'm in your space and I'm going to start this debate. And then she never let up. She was the alpha the whole time. His reaction was... People don't realize how...
how in often, is that a word? He is, see I can't even get out, I'm mumbling. How in often he is in challenging situations. He goes to rallies, he talks whatever he thinks about, he goes on Fox, which is basically a broadcast rally. He goes to National Association of Black Journalists and he's immediately angry.
And you see that in these various scenarios. And he comes out. He's like, I can't just talk about what I want to talk about? I mean, I have to admit, his rallies can be quite bearable to watch. And you can see why if you don't think or you don't realize he's lying so often. If you believe what he's saying, I understand why people listening to him like him.
because it's strength and we're going to get back there. They don't realize he's lying to them. I mean, he's not lying to us. He's lying to them, the people that ostensibly are his biggest supporters. He's lying to their face. Well, Philippe Reines, thank you very much. I'll see you in four years. You occupy a very interesting corner of our political universe. This is my quadrennial 15 minutes. I appreciate it. Well, come back. Be on the
Anytime. Anytime. Like, we missed you for the time that you went dark to go do this. Thank you very much. So come back soon, all right? Still ahead here on CNN this morning, Boeing workers on strike. Why 33,000 employees at the aerospace company are joining the picket line. That's in our morning roundup. And will there be another debate? Trump says no. We'll ask Michael Smirconish, who's here, because it's Friday. All right, 49 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Our members rejected the contract by 94.6%. Woo-hoo!
More than 30,000 Boeing workers in Seattle and Portland are on strike this morning, shutting down production of the company's best-selling 737 MAX jet as they struggle with mounting debt and output delays. The workers are demanding a 40% pay hike.
Donald Trump's campaign now selling Taylor Swift-inspired t-shirts. This comes just after Swift announced she was endorsing Kamala Harris for president. The Trump campaign writing on social media, calling all Swifties for Trump. Get your Trump-era shirt today. All right, let's turn out of this.
The debate did feel at times like an episode of "Seinfeld" where Kramer thinks the new fast food place across the street is kidnapping pets. Dogs, Jerry! They're eating the dogs! They're eating the dogs! They're eating the dogs, Jerry! I went on a date with Putty last night and had him eating out of my hand like a dog. Now that's the tail wagging the dog!
While it seems like American voters will not get to watch their presidential candidates on a debate stage again before the November election, one ex-Trump administration official is saying not so fast. Former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci predicting this about his old boss's decision not to debate Kamala Harris a second time.
It's 100% that he's going to debate. Really? I'll make that prediction here. He's a wrestler. You know, it's like a UFC thing. He's going to say he's not going to debate. He knows he lost the debate, and he knows he's debating her again. But he has to have a buildup. He thinks there's a negotiating chip. He's trying to show his macho flex.
Joining me now is CNN political commentator Michael Smirconish, the host of CNN's Smirconish. Michael, wonderful to see you. It was great to be with you in person in Philadelphia on Tuesday as we watched this debate together with the great Wolf Blitzer. But I want to talk about
what you think about what may happen next year because Trump has said he's not going to do it. Scaramucci there thinks he will. Philippe Reines, who was just here as someone who tries to embody Donald Trump, walked out. He didn't say this on the air, but as he was leaving, he said he's convinced that Trump is going to debate again. What do you think?
First of all, I loved your last segment. I'm almost sorry that you're coming to me. I wish Philippe had had more time because I loved hearing the backstory of what was going on. My suspicion is that there will be another debate. I think that he's trying to work the setting. I think it's weakness, though. If he's really doing this to set up a Fox debate, I think it's weakness. And if he does well, people will say, well, it was on Fox. Do you know what I think Donald Trump should do? I think Donald Trump should say, I'd like Rachel Maddow.
to host the debate and I'm willing to go to MSNBC or let Joy Reid ask me questions that would show strength in the aftermath of what was clearly a defeat I also think in retrospect having gone back and watch that debate a second time that there was so much more going on that was
all cast in advance, all planned, all deliberate on Kamala Harris's part. Yes, the shaking of the hand like you talked about, but the reliance on, of all places, Wharton in terms of assailing his economic plan, the reference that she made to being a gun owner herself, and of course, talking about his rallies. Honest to God, I think when it's all said and done, Casey, there'll be a book written and we're going to find out that there was
professional psychological help relied upon on how you push his buttons and it worked. Well, we'll call Philippe back and see if he can shed any additional light on that. I mean, it is interesting in that, I think one of the things you're putting your finger on here is that she hit on things that Donald Trump simply cannot resist.
Right. Like there is something about him where if you touch on these certain things, he cannot resist going after them. And I kind of wonder if that's how perhaps you're thinking about the possibility of another debate that he simply cannot resist the opportunity to get back on stage with her.
I think that's true. I think that it plays on his psyche. But also, you know, I'm seeing headlines about the very initial polling, and I'm not yet confident that we know the impact of the debate. But let's also say this. He might need to debate her, because if that margin truly is five points, which is what Ipsos is saying, again, unreliable, it's so soon thereafter. But you
know the metric the metric is that that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by two and it wasn't enough Joe Biden won the popular vote by four and it was a tell that therefore he was going to do well enough in the battleground states so if she is where she is in the national poll it doesn't bode well for Trump in the battleground states he therefore will probably have to debate her
Yeah, it's a really interesting way of looking at it. Briefly, Michael, there's some reporting this morning from Axios about the White House photographers, the still photographers, and what we refer to here in D.C. as the snap pack. They're only letting one of them fly on the plane, and they're not really answering questions about why that is. The photographers are angry. They usually get a lot more seats.
I find it confusing because every candidate I've ever covered absolutely loves the snap pack. They make them look really, really good, and they don't report things that they hear with their ears. So when I was the AP writer, I was never allowed back there when our AP photographers got this great behind-the-scenes stuff. What does it say to you that this is an issue for Kamala Harris?
It says to me that she's got to do a coming out. I mean, I fully expect that she's now going to make herself available to local network affiliates where, frankly, I think they play more softball than they do on a national level, and especially in the world of the cable outlets. It has served her well thus far, but
The next interesting media question for me is going to be, what kind of direct questioning will she face when she does sit down with a Philadelphia network anchor or someone who's in Raleigh or fill in the blank with whatever the affiliate might be in one of the seven battleground states?
Yeah, all right. It makes sense. I mean, and they say that they're going to do that next. It's definitely been a very strong part of many a campaign strategy in the past. I'm interested to see how much of it they're actually going to do here in the future. Michael Smirconish, love having you. Love our Smirconish Fridays. Appreciate it. And of course, to all of our viewers, don't miss Smirconish tomorrow morning, 9 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
All right, I want to turn now to this. A super PAC, one with connections to multiple Republicans, has been running what appear on the surface to be pro-Harris digital ads in the key swing state in Michigan. And it's not just anywhere in Michigan. They are specifically targeting zip codes with heavy Arab American and Muslim American populations. These ads focus heavily on second gentleman Doug Emhoff's Jewish faith. Watch.
This November, let's make history. Together, we will put a real pro-Israel president in the White House. And joining Kamala will be her husband and top advisor, Doug Emhoff, who would be the first Jewish presidential spouse ever, only in America. Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff, making history, standing up for what's right, supporting Israel.
So, Sarah Longwell, how do you react to that kind of a move? Because again, I think the context here is so important, what they're trying to do here with Arab American, Muslim American voters in Michigan specifically.
Yeah, they are trying to re-inflame the debate that was doing real damage to Joe Biden in Michigan with that population. And actually, I remember doing a lot of focus groups in Michigan during this time. And it's not just the Arab American population. It was a lot of white voters who wanted to stand with the Arab American population in Michigan back when there was just a lot of the campus protests. But yeah, that is targeted at people where they are trying to drive up Kamala's negatives by
with anti-semitism and uh it's pretty gross yeah i mean it's just disgusting and it's not i mean these are not ads criticizing her policy positions this is an ad equating the fact that her husband is jewish with the idea that she is somehow going to carry forward policy that is uh
to people who don't like the way the Biden administration has handled Israel-Gaza. It's gross. I don't think it's going to work. I think they're trying to be too cute by half. I actually think these ads are probably going to wind up helping her. Molly Ball. Yeah, I mean, they seem like positive ads to me. It's gross when you know what they're doing, but you're also like, I don't know.
seems like actually a nice ad so i do wonder if like it's a little too subtle uh yes and the the people that they're trying to target even might not get it completely yes i think it will i actually think they will wind up doing more good for her than than damage yeah they're not they feel
they feel positive there to settle voters do not voters are not absorbing messages in this incredibly like nuanced and complicated way yeah you got to have the items I really have great how you you have to really feel strongly negative about Jews to react right way to that ad and I may be overestimating the degree to I hope they're overestimating the degree also because Kamala Harris herself is a large population that feels that way she's it's she has been
That works with somebody like Joe Biden, who's having a difficult time communicating his position on Israel and Gaza. She's not having a difficult time. She is able to say clearly, I am standing with Israel. I will support Israel. And also, I care about people in Gaza. And I think that we need to do something. She is clearly articulating her position. And anybody who deeply cares about that issue is able to see how she's clearly articulating that issue. Really interesting way to think about it.
All right, I want to get you guys to weigh in on this because I want to leave you with this. Color me skeptical, but you might want to stay away from walking under ladders, avoiding any opening umbrellas indoors today because it is Friday the 13th. The number 13 has long been associated with superstitions, but it might have been this film that made the date infamous in pop culture. Messenger of God, you're doomed if you stay here.
That is, of course, from the 1980s slasher film Friday the 13th. But 13 might not be all that unlucky. Pop icon Taylor Swift in recent years reclaimed the number 13, touting it as her favorite number, and she might be on to something. I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. Also, thanks. My first song that ever went number one, it had a 13-second intro.
Superstitious about Friday the 13th? Yes, no? No. Quick? No? No. No. But that was my first thought. That was my thought too. That's what I said. They were like, should we talk about Superstitious? Should we talk about Taylor Swift? As a permanent storm cloud is always over my head, I don't need Friday the 13th for bad luck. It is nine seconds after 7 a.m. So we have to thank our panel. Thanks to you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.
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