Trump Supporter: Puerto Rico is a 'Floating Island of Garbage'
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For every life-saving treatment. For every next step. For every care in the world. Cleveland Clinic. It's Monday, October 28th, right now on CNN This Morning. The day I take the oath of office, the migrant invasion of our country ends. Full House MAGA packs Madison Square Garden for a rally that was full of racist and vulgar remarks. Plus this.

There's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yeah, I think it's called Puerto Rico. Swift backlash. A Trump rally speaker risks alienating a key group of voters and this. We are here because we are fighting for a democracy. Eight days to go. Voters are weighing in now about what they think will happen after all the votes are counted and later.

Did he say that he wants to use the military against those people? On defense, J.D. Vance trying to clarify his running mate's comments about the enemy within. All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, a live look at New York City. That's where Donald Trump had a homecoming of sorts during a six-hour-long rally last night at Madison Square Garden, apparently fulfilling a lifelong dream for him. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

It is the last full week of campaigning before Election Day. And the choice that America's facing could have hardly been on sharper display than it was last night at Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden. The New York Times called it, quote, a release of rage, a vivid and at times racist display of the dark energy animating the MAGA movement. She is the devil, whoever screamed that out.

She is the antichrist. The whole party, a bunch of degenerates, low lives, Jew haters and low lives. Every one of them. She's a pretender. Her and her pimp handlers will destroy our country. Yes, that was billionaire Elon Musk screaming. We didn't even show you Tucker Carlson calling Kamala Harris low IQ, among other insults.

But out of all that, it was this joke, joke, that really stood out. 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.

A floating island of garbage. There's about 3.2 million people that he's talking about there who live in Puerto Rico. There are over a million Puerto Ricans who live in New York where this rally was held. And perhaps most relevant to this presidential campaign, there are about half a million Puerto Ricans who live in Pennsylvania. They are American citizens. They vote.

Perhaps that's why the Trump campaign did something that they almost never do. They quickly disavowed a statement that was widely perceived as offensive. Quote, this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign, end quote. A spokeswoman told CNN. The Florida Senator Rick Scott, a Republican running for reelection, wrote this on X, quote, this joke bombed for a reason. It's not funny and not true. Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans.

There are about 1.1 million of them in Florida who could vote for or against Scott. Famous Puerto Ricans, Bad Bunny, J-Lo, Ricky Martin, millions of social media followers, among them quickly posted pro-Harris videos as Harris herself had campaigned at a Puerto Rican restaurant earlier in the day. And here was her running mate, Tim Walls, with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

I mean, it's like super upsetting. Obviously, it's super upsetting to me. My family is from Puerto Rico. I'm Puerto Rican. I need people to understand that when you have some a-hole calling Puerto Rico floating garbage, know that that's what they think about you. There are hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans across in battleground states that need to send them a message on this. I want them to like...

It's worth noting that while we showed you that joke about the pile of garbage that that comedian made, he also said something else about Latino voters that I can't play because I know a lot of you are probably at the breakfast table with your little kids. And if we played it, you'd have to shut us off because it was so incredibly crude.

That we're just, it's a family program and we're just not going to do it. Joining us now to talk about all of this, David Frum, staff writer at The Atlantic, Megan Hayes, former director of message planning at the Biden White House, and Matt Gorman, former senior advisor to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Welcome to all of you. Thank you for being here. So obviously the comment that this comedian made about Puerto Rico is something that, Matt, we don't see the Trump campaign back that

backpedal very often. No. But they are backpedaling from this. I took note of that, absolutely. And I think, I'm glad they did, and you saw a lot of Republicans too, even Nick Esposito, who's a congressman from around that area, right outside, I believe, Long Island or Westchester, do the same sort of thing, who's Puerto Rican too. And I think broadly, this is why comedians and politics do not mix. It's not the same incentive structure.

I've seen this so many times over the years and this is why you have to be so careful with this sort of thing.

Comedians want laughs. Politicians want votes. It's not usually in alignment in a lot of respects. And you saw why in this sort of thing. And if you're Trump's campaign, it unfortunately overshadowed a lot of this for them as they go into this last week. Yeah, no, it's a problem for the campaign because this joke of rage, contempt, and hate terribly distracted from the campaign's message of rage, contempt, and hate. No, this is ridiculous. This is the message. This has always been the message. Rage, contempt, and hate.

Hey, police women, expel people who are different from you, be angry at the world, denounce criminals from the mouth of a convicted criminal himself. That's the message. There's not some other Trump campaign that is about accelerating depreciation rates or about accelerating economic growth.

on their economic ideas are moronic and anti-social on their immigration message is completely trips over its own feet this is what they are and so I think this this rally was a true public service show America what is the choice that's it what you saw there was not a distraction it was the truth I mean I will say when I watched when I watched that the pieces in this rally at last night and and again coming in this morning I mean

There's a reason I wrote at the top that this choice could not be more stark, honestly. I mean, and you could see it. And David is correct that this is what, I mean, the Trump team is not distancing itself from all the other things that were said at the rally because they believe it.

But also, it's working, right? Like 47, 48 percent of the people are voting for Donald Trump. They are neck and neck in the polls. So clearly their message is working. I'm hopeful that comments like this about Puerto Rico will change people's minds that are Puerto Rican in some of these battleground states. They'll start to realize maybe this isn't who they want to vote for if that's where they were going to go or will get people to stay home. But clearly there is a message that is working and resonating. And he has capitalized on that, which is really, really important.

uncomfortable and I think disconcerting for most Americans. Megan, can I ask you one thing that has been standing out to me about Barack Obama, former President Obama, has been out on the campaign trail, and we highlighted this on the show on Friday. He keeps saying, I don't understand how people could think that people want change. I don't understand how they could think that Donald Trump could be the change that could help them. That sort of hit my ears like,

We've had a lot of years of this, and you're right. There are a lot of people to whom that this appeals. I mean, what is it that Democrats are not understanding? We are living in two different realities here, and I think that people are getting their news from certain sources, and they live in that reality, and then other people live in a different reality. And I think that, I mean, there was a quote in the New York Times where someone was saying, we can't even help people in our own country. Why would we help immigrants? And it's like, Donald Trump's not going to help those people either. So, like, what are you, what is the disconnect here? And I mean, I don't understand what people's...

like discontent with the the profit I I I saw very simply online late last night it was it was a video and I tell you she put I think a lot of democrats wrongly assume that Trump voters are like Trump in attitude and that sort of thing that's not the case

And so I think that is where they kind of get a little bit, kind of twisted a little bit. David, is it true that if Republicans had nominated someone other than Donald Trump, they would just be running away with this election? Donald Trump

in his two outings, he's risen twice, got less of the vote than Al Gore, less of the vote than John Kerry, less of the vote than Mitt Romney, less of the vote than Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump is the biggest consistent loser of presidential politics in the 21st century. So yeah, Americans reject this.

And I think you're absolutely right about Trump voters. There was a story that went around last week about Donald Trump lending his plane to fly Nelson Mandela to the United States. The story is completely fictitious. In fact, Trump's air, he owned an airplane company at the time. It was on the verge of bankruptcy. They needed money from anyone they can get. And they chartered flights inside the United States to Nelson Mandela's group at the market rate. They did no good deed.

So why did that story circulate? Because I think it's upsetting to a lot of Trump voters to face who this guy, that he has never done a good deed in his life. He's never done a charitable act in his life. He's a monster in every way. People are uncomfortable doing that. Now, there's some who like it. There's some who enjoy the cruelty and the brutality. Well, that was what was on display at the Garden, but I think you're absolutely right. That doesn't represent every Trump voter. Most just deceive themselves or are willing to be deceived and believe completely.

you know, patent untruths like he gave a flame for Frida Nelson Mandela, which he did not do. Because otherwise, if he's really what he is and you vote for him, then who are you? But there's...

But there's also people who are voting for him or voting Republican because they believe in conservative Republican ideas. And they are holding on to hopes that their taxes will be lower and it's better for them financially. And I think that's where a Liz Cheney is helping people kind of make the crossover to vote for Democrats. And not everyone has hateful speech like this. I definitely agree with you. But there are people who are voting for him that disassociate with Donald Trump but agree with Republican values. And that's why they're voting for him.

except he's rejected all of them that look I've been involved in Republican politics since the 1980 campaign what what did we believe in impartial free markets free trade standing up for allies defying dictators point on every point Donald Trump has reversed

but forty years of republican but i think this is for donald trump to ronald reagan is is is the same distance in time forty years as a distance from the segregationist democratic party the nineteen twenties to the civil rights party the nineteen sixties and this is as big a reversal everything you believe in if you came into republican politics the nineteen eighties has been thrown out the window you owe this party not a lot of its reaction to the bush years i says the bush fan right i think what you saw is

Folks like J.D. Banthas' spouse is this too, is the fact that they didn't view free trade as helping them. The fact that you had the Iraq War. A lot of this is a reaction to those years. It's not some sort of like Tory...

total 180. It is a total reaction to those years. And they also believe more in Republican economic values because they think that the Democrats have gone too far to the left. So that is why we are here, because you have this group of people who are hateful and all the things that

identify with Trump and then you just have conservative Republicans and again that is why it is so important for the Democrats to continue to have Liz Cheney and other Republicans out there who will give them a permission structure to say we know you don't agree but we know you don't agree with this and you want the rule of law. And that's why future Ford is screaming from the top of their lungs that Kamala Harris is super taxing. Stop talking about this fashion stuff. Contrast in the economic plane because the fashion stuff is not working and that's why you see a lot of this. Like it is, they couldn't be more clear.

All right. Almost. We've got one more Monday before Election Day, and this is where our conversation is. We've got a big choice ahead of us. Coming up on CNN this morning, what happens after the election? Voters weigh in about how they think things will pan out depending on who wins. Plus, Trump claims to have a secret to winning the White House.

What might that be? We'll talk about it with Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman. And what former national security leaders think the next president needs to do to bring back the military's tradition of political neutrality? I would tell whoever wins has got to go then reach out to the party that was defeated

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Will you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transfer of power after the election? Well, we're going to have to see what happens. We all saw what happened after that.

The transition of power in 2021 was anything but peaceful. And if Donald Trump loses the election next week, many Americans say they fear history could repeat itself. Here's this new poll out this morning, CNN poll of registered voters. Nearly seven in 10 believe that Donald Trump will not accept the election results if he's defeated again. 73% say Vice President Kamala Harris will accept a loss.

The former president has been sowing doubt about the upcoming election for months now, including these comments just last week in an interview with Fox News Radio. Out of the seven battleground states, what worries you the most? Cheating. Which one, though? Which state? All of them. I mean, they cheat. All of them.

All of them. David, look, I will say, if my sources are to be believed, and this is, again, this is the challenge that I have, because in 2016, all my sources thought the same thing. And in the last midterm election, most of my sources were on the same page, and everyone was wrong all at the same time. So I will just say that all of these people right now are saying that Trump may be on track to win this, and perhaps this question will...

be moot, but it is moot because people do think if that's the case, Kamala Harris will accept the results of the election. But it's, I mean, I think it's worth stopping to note that we are at a point where we need to ask people this question. Well, all these newspapers that did their endorsements, everyone understands that if Kamala Harris wins, she will not retaliate against media that endorsed Donald Trump. And if Donald Trump is elected, he will retaliate. Everyone understands that. Everyone understands if there is a transition away from

Biden and Harris, it will be peaceful. And when there was a transition away from Trump, it was violent. But there's one more thing that needs really to be stressed. You know, I used to do, I don't do it anymore, TV on inauguration mornings. And there's three hours of TV to fill and there's nothing to say. And it's often blink and cold. So what you go on and on and on and on and on about is America's ancient tradition of the peaceful transition of power. So that tradition of peaceful transition is now zero years old.

In 2019, Moldova and the Democratic Republic of the Congo had peaceful transitions of power. Their traditions, the Moldovan tradition of peaceful transfer of power is longer than the American tradition. The Democratic Republic of the Congo's tradition of the peaceful transition, because that clock was set to zero because of Donald Trump and his violent transition of power in 2021. I mean, Matt, do you have any thought that if Trump's

if the if the numbers the votes are counted and it says that harris one that donald trump will concede i certainly hope so i i i i don't know i certainly hope so i i i think that is what's going to be interesting to see and i i i i am so curious to see over the course of not just

where we are an election night the election week records it was a calling on the Saturday after right what those days are like because as we saw we saw the first inklings a bill except for that merely after election around midnight one o'clock election night and what that looks like and also how it's handled right now was it was very new back then but again is all theory we will see what happens no we what we know don't come told us is and you're going to a segment on this to Donald Trump at that rally made reference to I've got a secret weapon in Congress so we hoping to do it

in 2024, as he hoped to do in 2020, is to disrupt the election enough that he can throw the election to the House of Representatives, where he's hoping that Republicans will, over the will of the American people, deliver a vote to him the way it was done in the 18th century. That's his backup plan, and he's hinting at it. And the question is, will Republicans in the House go along with this scheme to overturn an election in the House of Representatives?

may well I have also filed the hundreds of lawsuits like there's already things being done to in preparation for that and it like we're still waiting for him to concede for the 20 election right he was walking around anyone now like since I'm not supposed to lose the popular vote for the third consecutive time I don't know about that now and nobody knows but not plotting well say he's his plot

his plot is to use fair means and foul litigation and potentially violence and potential the scheme in the House of Representatives to defeat the vote of the American people. You look at Harry, Harry Anton says this and NBC News says he is in a better place right now to win the popular vote than he has ever been. And so I would not go that far yet. Right. And again, this is you are saying I am hearing from all sides of the aisle that Donald Trump is in this better position that he's been. We'll see. Is everyone wrong?

- I will say, it doesn't-- - But that's what I'm saying right now. - 'Cause we have nothing else to talk about for 10 days. Like we were talking about this before, like no, we don't, like it's-- - There's nothing new. - There's nothing new, so you're just trying, you're trying to discern the best of you. - Yeah, all right. Well straight ahead here on CNN This Morning, politics and pigskin, why you're seeing more Kamala Harris and Donald Trump this week, if you are an Eagles or a Steelers fan. Plus, vice presidential hopeful J.D. Vance is trying to clarify Trump's enemy within remarks.

Donald Trump never said Americans writ large. You keep on putting words in his mouth and my mouth. Are they or are they not Americans? Far left people who commit acts of violence, who riot. Now you're doing a very narrow definition of what he said, which is not what he said. It's the comment that convinced former Trump chief of staff John Kelly to publicly call Donald Trump a fascist and warn against reelecting him. The former president vowing to use the U.S. military and National Guard on, quote, the enemy within.

I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they're the—and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by national guard or, if really necessary, by the military, because they can't let that happen. Trump has referred to Democratic members of Congress Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff as the enemy within. Our Jake Tapper asked Trump's running mate J.D. Vance about those comments.

We're talking about Donald Trump and what he says. Yes. Donald Trump says. And you'd much rather talk about what Donald Trump allegedly said than what Donald Trump did in office. I'm talking about what he said publicly. What he said in office, Jake, is 1.5% inflation. What he said publicly, he wants to use the military to go after the enemy within, which is the American people. He did not say that, Jake. The enemy within? He said that he was going to send the military after the American people. Show me the quote where he said that. He said the enemy within. He said far less.

left lunatics. He's talking about people rioting. He's talking about people rioting after the election. Okay, so just to underscore what Jake was doing there, let's just watch again. Again, the comment that we played earlier in the script. Take a look.

I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they're the big and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by national guard or if really necessary, by the military, because they can't let that happen.

On a social media platform, Donald Trump has called for military tribunals and execution of former Congresswoman Liz Cheney and former General Mark Milley. You don't have to pull out one proof quote. There are hundreds. And there are background quotes where he would routinely talk to his Attorney General Bill Barr about arresting and executing critics. So it's not, you know, that's one example. There's so many. That's Donald Trump's fantasy of what he would like to do with the presidency.

Now there are many institutional constraints on the president actually sending out the military to round up and kill people who criticize him. And probably the military would regard it as an illegal order and probably not do it. But it's interesting directionally. How does Donald Trump's mind work? What does he think the president is?

Here's the thing that I don't know. If you go to the poorest town in the United States and go to the meanest street and find the most desperate hobo and you're president of the United States, that person is your boss. But Donald Trump thinks that he is the ruler and these institutions answer to him and he should be allowed to, if he would like to be able to arrest, kill and expel from the country anyone who criticizes him. And J.D. Vance's problem when he has to deal with this

is Vance is an untruthful person. But he's an untruthful person who, unlike Donald Trump, is bounded by reality. You can't actually show him a clip and he can then say in a straight face, well, that clip didn't exist. The clip is there and he has to acknowledge it and deal with it in a way. So he's trapped. Donald Trump would simply deny it. But dozens of people in his innermost circle have reported that he wants to kill his opponents and wants to use the military to do it. And the question will be, will the military obey?

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

This is one of the rare exceptions where they did give them grist. I think the objective over the last, I would say, 40 days and certainly over these last eight is to try and not give them any more that can be used. Now, I agree that, as I said before, the future for has been saying, look, this stuff doesn't work when it actually comes to moving voters. But when it comes to actually being the topic over the last week, they're trying hard to not give them grist to keep that going. Yeah, well, I mean, it does seem clear that the

that why take your point about the Harris

team thinking, hey, we got to focus on other things. Clearly, the Trump people also know that this is problematic. Exactly. There's an opportunity cost here, right? Yeah. Because this just goes to our whole point that we've been talking about for weeks. This is, are people going to stay home or are they going to stay home? Are they going to not vote? Are they going to get out and vote? And I think that that's where we're at here, right? Like, are Republicans going to stay home rather than go vote for Donald Trump? And I think the more you show these kinds of things, these conservative Republicans that have values are going to stay home. They just cannot see this being the future of our country. I mean, this is

horrible and despicable language. The people who are sort of the more or less cogent Trump people say this talk of using the military to execute our opponents is a distraction from our central message of building a vast national network of detention camps for the people we round up without due process and expel from the country without trial. So you know actually there's a kind of convergence here that the people who would build a vast national network of concentration camps probably also would try to use the military against their critics.

All right, we're going to take a break here. Coming up on CNN this morning, after General John Kelly's comments, we're going to hear from a group of former national security officials about their views of the military and politics, which, as you can see, are quite sharp. And closing the gender gap, we're going to talk about why that's a challenge for both candidates with friend of the show, Mark McKinnon. He joins us because it's Monday.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast.

Laura Schmidt is a leading expert in the field of sugar studies. And what she's going to teach us is that the truth about how much sugar we should eat and when we should eat it is far more complicated than you might think. If you're already struggling with craving and addiction, turning it into a big boogeyman probably isn't the greatest idea. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

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

military leaders who will give you good advice as they are sent to you by the Department of Defense and don't choose them because of something that might be viewed as political. Choose the very best ones because what they are is that precious diamond and you want to preserve that diamond for the long term and for the good of America. I would say

Tell whoever wins has got to go and reach out to the party that was defeated and try to reestablish the principle that politics stops at the water's edge.

All right, joining us now, pollster and communications strategist Frank Luntz, who conducted that interview. Frank, always wonderful to see you. Thanks for being here. Quite a group that you assembled for this of really impressive people. And I have to say, as we've been covering the story, as I'm listening to them talk,

We think about what Donald Trump has said about the enemy within using the military in the wake of the election. I'm remembering back to when we saw General Milley march across Lafayette Square, something that he has expressed regret about doing in the aftermath. What did you learn from this group? And what should we be focused on here with eight days to go as, you know, all of this incredibly important context, you know, surrounds us?

There are some things that are more important than politics. There's some things more important than an election. Our Constitution matters. Our way of life matters. And these generals, admirals, assistant secretaries, they ran the army, they ran the Navy, they ran intelligence for America. These are an incredibly decorated group of people who are communicating one key principle.

keep partisan politics out of national security and out of foreign policy. That there's some things where we have to do it together.

And they're concerned about the politicization of all aspects of life. But more than anything else, the civil service, the people who are supposed to be nonpartisan, not bipartisan, but nonpartisan, and whether that could in some ways creep into the military and creep into foreign policy, they're alarmed. And I'm alarmed when they are alarmed.

Did they say that they were more alarmed about the prospect of Donald Trump getting elected and doing this or Kamala Harris or both? Well, let me be clear. They would not even like this interview because trying to use

politics or partisanship to beat on someone when you're discussing what should happen in Ukraine, what should happen in the Middle East, what should happen with China. We're going to disagree is their argument and we're going to have very sharp disagreements. But once decisions are made, we need to go forward together and that we don't want people in these positions of authority in national security

that prioritize partisan gain over what's good and great about America. - Sure, I mean, absolutely fair enough. Do they have any concerns about the way that it's been reported that Donald Trump talked about what the military should be for him as the president?

Well, they have concerns if any politician tries to use the military for political gain. I remind viewers something that I've learned over the last few years. The military is not there to defend just the country or a president. It's there for the Constitution. And that's who they swear an oath to.

And the people watching this should sleep better at night knowing that the military understands this. And that is the hope of everyone that the politicians not only recognize it, but respect it. In the end, it's the Constitution that matters most. And these seven experts, it was such a joy to moderate this focus group because these people prioritize the Constitution over everything else.

Yeah. And of course, it was reported that one of the things that apparently Donald Trump was surprised by was that the generals did not, in fact, swear an oath to him or to the president, but to this piece of paper. Frank Luntz, so grateful to have you. Thank you so much for being here. Come back soon.

All right. Coming up next on CNN this morning, swift backlash for the Trump campaign after a rally speaker called Puerto Rico a, quote, floating island of garbage, end quote. New York Congressman Dan Goldman weighs in on how that comment might impact Latino voters. Plus, the final push to close the gender gap. Can Kamala Harris get more men on her side? Her message is directly focused on the challenges that women

we face as black men and that our communities face and that America faces. Next Tuesday is election day. Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls. You'll stand there in the polling place and make a decision. I think when you make that decision it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago? As candidates make their closing arguments, Donald Trump echoing that famous sentiment from Ronald Reagan back in 1980.

I'd like to begin by asking a very simple question. Are you better off now than you were four years ago? Our country will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than ever before.

But of course, what's come to define this campaign are the respective gender gaps. Harris launching new ads over the weekend in battleground states targeting men in Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. A new poll by CBS News shows Trump is up by nearly 10 points among male voters.

That support on full display at a rally at the University of Georgia last week, according to our next guest. Mark McKinnon writing for Vanity Fair, quote,

especially young men and Mark McKinnon joins us now. Mark, thank you so much for being here. Always great to see you. I love spending Mondays talking to you about where things stand. Last week, of course, you were writing that you thought or you're telling us that you thought Harris was going to win. You, of course, were down in Georgia with some of these young men, with Charlie Kirk, who's become a figure for a lot of them. What did you learn and where is your thinking today?

Well, yes. First of all, I'm bullish on Harris just because I think there is a huge gender gap. And when elections are this close, the key question is whose voters are more enthusiastic? And this is the first post-Dobbs election, and women have Hillary Clinton PTSD from 2016. I think they're on fire, and I think polls are capturing that adequately because they model everything on what happened in 2020.

I got really sobered up when I went to Athens, Georgia, because I think we have a notion that campuses are hotbeds of liberals and there'd be these huge groups of people across the board voting for Harris. Well, I went to a Charlie Kirk rally. Charlie Kirk is the tip of the spear for conservative young voters for Trump. And it was an absolute sea of mostly young men, but also young women, about 60, 40, and just packed in a plaza. I couldn't even move through it.

red hats on every one of them. And so there is something also going on with young men that is substantial. And Casey, when you think about it, in 2020, one in 10 voters was Gen Z. This election, it'll be one in six, up to 40 million voters. So if Donald Trump wins, I think he could turn right to Charlie Kirk and say, thank you very much, Charlie. Is all this what you think we saw on stage at the Garden last night?

Yeah, well, you know, I mean, the thing that happened at the Garden, first of all, you showed Donald Trump's clip. That's not what's getting a lot of the news. He's finally getting the right message, and he's on message even if his surrogates aren't. And the key question is, you know, how much, what showed up in, you know, actual daily newspapers and swing states? And I'm told that those Puerto Rican comments didn't really show up. If Trump's message is breaking through, that's obviously the right message. And the good news is that Puerto Rico doesn't have any electoral votes.

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

I am interested to see if it starts to kind of ripple through social media. But, Mark, can I just ask you, you mentioned that you think that there might be something that polls are not picking up here. And we are hearing from Democrats saying the same thing. We played Alyssa Slotkin earlier on in the show saying she thinks there is this kind of secret vote among women. Do you, I mean, can you say a little bit more about that? Do you buy that? Because I feel like there are some really smart people who believe it and others who say it's not the case.

well i'm just a shallow media guy with an opinion but i will say that come on don't sell yourself campaigns for years well i have and i get a gut feeling for these things at the end of the thing and megan kelly's uh show in 2016 at this exact point i said i had a feeling that

Trump had momentum. So I don't know. It's just my spidey sense for one thing. But in 2016, we talked a lot about the shy Trump voters that were afraid to tell pollsters that they were for Trump. I think there's just the opposite now. I think particularly with Republican suburban women, just because of the community that surrounds them, they're afraid to say that they're not for Trump. And I think that and this is the typically

Nikki Haley voter, but I think there are just women across the board, but suburban Republican women that are quietly going to go vote for Harris. And I don't think that's being picked up in the polls. And I just think at the end of this race, the big story of this election is if Harris wins, big if, obviously, but it'd be because women crawled over broken glass to break the glass ceiling. For sure. All right. Mark McKinnon for us this morning. Mark, always grateful for you. Thank you so much. Thanks, Casey. Kick it.

All right, let's turn back now to Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden last night. Watch. There's a lot going on. Like, I don't know if you guys know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yeah, I think it's called Puerto Rico. OK, all right. OK, we're getting there.

Who is that, Jack Wadd? People in Puerto Rico are citizens. They pay taxes and they serve in the military at almost a higher rate than anybody else. There are hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans across in battleground states that need to send them a message on this.

All right, Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz reacting live to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's opening speech at that Trump rally, which quickly drew bipartisan condemnation for calling Puerto Rico a, quote, floating island of garbage, end quote. Florida's Republican Senator Rick Scott wrote, quote, this joke bombed for a reason. It's not funny and it's not true. Hinchcliffe's remarks, not the only speech that took a dark turn as several of Trump's allies attacked his opponent, Kamala Harris.

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, she is the antichrist. When I hear Kamala speak, it sounds, yeah, it sounds like a script from Hollywood with a really, really bad actress.

Join us now to talk more. New York Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman. Congressman, good morning. Wonderful to have you on the show. Let me just start with your reaction to what you saw last night.

You know, let's first make it very clear that this entire rally was Donald Trump's rally. Everything was vetted through Donald Trump and his campaign. All of these speeches were up on a teleprompter. They had been edited. And so what has come out of that rally is nothing that Donald Trump has to say other than repeating his threats to the Democrats or the enemy within our country.

But it's vitriol, vulgarity and racism. And I represent a huge Puerto Rican community here in New York City. And I expect and I've heard from many who are horrified that this political rally would platform such disgusting, disgusting racism and attacking Puerto Ricans, attacking with violence,

Both Islamophobic and anti-Semitic jokes. Stephen Miller essentially quoting Adolf Hitler, saying that America is for Americans and Americans only. This is who Donald Trump and the MAGA world is. No matter what lipstick on a pig Donald Trump tries to put on it in the last week, we saw yesterday at Madison Square Garden exactly who they are. And it was horrifying.

Congressman, all that said, and I certainly understand where you're coming from on this, if all that's the case, why are so many people saying that here in these final days that Donald Trump is potentially on track to win the election? And certainly polls show about half the country supports him. What's going on?

- Well, look, people vote for many, many different reasons and that's what makes this country great. And I think what we're seeing now in the last week

is a very dark and foreboding view of the United States from Donald Trump, and a very positive view of America from Kamala Harris, who makes it very clear, in fact, almost at the same time that this rally was going on, that she will be a president for all Americans, wealthy, poor, white, non-white, whoever it is, she is going to represent all Americans and try to lift up the lives of all Americans.

And that is what her policies are about. That is what her approach is about. That is what her career has been about. And Donald Trump and his MAGA world, including New York Republicans, House Republicans, and that's a big part of the reason why he was here, is they are wrapping themselves around this really this fear, this division, this hate that

insulting America, calling America a garbage can, saying that Puerto Rico is a garbage can. It's really it's it's almost juvenile. It's beyond juvenile. And it's not the vision that Kamala Harris has. And I think that in this last week, people are going to be focused on what is the next four years going to be like?

And Kamala Harris is going to bring positivity, opportunity to the American people. Congressman, do you think what was said on stage about Puerto Rico is going to make a difference in the election, the presidential, but also some of those House races that you mentioned in New York?

I think absolutely it's going to make a difference. You know, Donald Trump hinted yesterday in his speech that he has some secret with Speaker Mike Johnson.

Now, you wonder why did Donald Trump come to New York nine days before the election? This state is going to go to Kamala Harris. And the answer is that the House really runs through New York. There are seven races that could go either way in the House, and that will likely determine the majority. And make no mistake, the House, we get sworn in on January 3rd.

On January 6th, the certification of the Electoral College will happen again. And we as we know from 2021, whoever is in control of the House of Congress will be able to to have a lot of say on what happens on January 6th.

And I suspect, we don't know, but I suspect Donald Trump's little secret plan with Mike Johnson is a backup plan for when he loses and he tries to go to the House of Representatives to throw out the Electoral College, the certification from the states,

and have the House of Representatives under the leadership and the control and the gavel for Mike Johnson and try to overturn this election. It was the exact reverse in January 6, 2021. You had Mike Pence, the vice president, who was presiding over the joint session, but you had Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer who were presiding over Congress.

If it's the reverse, the Republicans have a lot more opportunity and a lot more possibilities for overturning this election. And that's what this was about yesterday. That, I believe, is what Donald Trump's secret with Mike Johnson was. And that's why he's here, is because the House majority runs through New York.

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

I think the secret yesterday that he referenced very likely may relate to his compact with Mike Johnson as a backup plan for when he loses to overturn this election on January 6th. All right. Congressman Dan Goldman, very grateful for your time this morning. Thanks very much, sir. Thanks to our panel and thanks to all of you for being with us as well. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

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