Pod Save America - Trump's Bizarre Town Hall DJ Set

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

Donald Trump spends 40 minutes at a Pennsylvania Q&A queueing up his favorite tunes, baffling the crowd (and everyone else). Tommy and Democratic strategist Rebecca Katz talk through whether Trump is, in fact, losing it, the key moments from his Fox News town hall on women's issues, and Kamala Harris's sit-down with Charlamagne Tha God. Then, Rebecca walks Tommy through the situation on the ground in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and some under-the-radar House races.

Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Tommy Vitor. And I'm Rebecca Katz. Rebecca, it's great to see you. My old friend and the brilliant Democratic strategist behind many huge Democratic wins over the last few years. It's great to see you. Great to be here. So for the listeners, Rebecca and I go way back. We worked together on John Edwards for president 2004. The good campaign, right?

That's how I got it. We were very How about that? The good campaign, right? That's how I go. We were very hopeful. It was the good campaign. We were very hopeful. It was a fun time. Really was. It was a very fun time.

It was a great team. We were like the little engine that could campaign that took this totally unknown and arguably unqualified Senator from Senator to the VP nominee. And I don't know the Two Americas message from that campaign. People should be studying and stealing that

because it was very good. You even saw John Edwards at the DNC, right? Yes, John Edwards was at the DNC. You know, they invite all the former nominees and he had been a VP nominee in 2004. So he came back as a guest and he just had a happy hour for former staffers, just to say hi.

That's very nice. I like that. Look, obviously the history is complicated, and we don't need to re-litigate it here. It is just interesting in political life who is given sort of absolution for mistakes and failings and who isn't, and I'm surprised he's sort of still on the isn't list.

Yeah, I think he's due for a rehabilitation tour. I mean, he did, he's a flawed man, but I think he was vilified and kind of served his time in public opinion there. Yeah, he definitely was widely criticized. But thank you for doing the show, Rebecca. We have a lot to talk about today. I just wanna do, let's do a little vibe check.

How are you feeling? It's a couple of weeks out. I'm getting a million texts from people telling me how nervous they are. How are you? I am cautiously optimistic. I will say October always feels terrible for Democrats. And we just have to remember that, right?

August, we feel great. We feel like we're gonna win everything. It's gonna be amazing. And then October hits and like, we all just kind of feel nauseous and this like, heavy weight we're carrying the everything, it's gonna be amazing. And then October hits and like, we all just kind of feel nauseous and this like heavy weight we're carrying the whole month of just this dread. And I will say just like, you know,

obviously we have every reason to be worried, but we shouldn't let it be paralyzing fear. That's right. Yeah, the stakes couldn't be higher. Let's just be honest about that. It's super close. I know some people kind of in the political world that are looking at polling that are increasingly nervous. You're hearing people talk about concern that Trump is outspending Kamala Harris in some TV markets. She was slightly out of the news, I think, for a couple weeks because

of the hurricanes and obviously like the messaging and response about FEMA is gonna come from the White House. But I think like since then she's been hitting the gas. She's doing all these interviews and town halls and events that we'll talk about, but it's tied and it will be tied until election day. And I just think for all the nervous texters, just remember you have agency.

You know, it's October 16th if you wanna donate, if you wanna knock doors, I just think for all the nervous techsters, just remember, you have agency. You know, it's October 16th, if you wanna donate, if you wanna knock doors, if you wanna go to votesafeamerica.com to find opportunities, you have time. But like, do not refresh the 538 polling average every day from now until election day. That's no good for any of it.

And there's a burden here. For the third time in the last eight years, this is the most important election of our lifetime, right? That is exhausting. Like we have real fatigue, it's tiring, but there's still a lot we can do and we shouldn't feel like we're just sitting there just biting our fingernails.

Like go do something. Yeah, go do something. Do not tweet that you think she's gonna lose. You can quote tweet yourself in November, because if you do that, I will hate you forever. Okay, on today's show, we have Kamala Harris trying to reach black voters in a tough town hall style interview

with Charlamagne the God in Detroit. Donald Trump goes after women voters in a Fox News town hall with this all female audience. This was not a tough interview. This was a bunch of softballs. I suspect he'd get harder questions from his family and own staff. We'll also talk about the state of the race in key states like Pennsylvania and Arizona. We'll talk about how some things are going in these like red and purple housed races

and why they are defying the trend lines that we're seeing nationally. But first, and Rebecca, this is not breaking news, but we on the show have not yet had the chance to talk about Trump's bizarre Monday night event in Oaks, Pennsylvania, this Philly suburb, where we were treated to, I don't know, maybe the most bizarre Trump event of an already weird cycle.

It was intended to be- And think about that bar for a second. Yeah, that bar is here. How do we get here? That bar's over our head. Yeah, it's like, so I think it was supposed to just be a town hall, Q&A format, taking questions to the audience,

but then someone in the crowd needed medical attention. The crowd starts chanting or singing, God bless America, and Trump basically called in his DJ to play Ave Maria, then someone else needed medical attention, things took a turn, here's a clip. Let's not do any more questions, let's just listen to music, let's make it into a music. Who the hell wants to hear questions?

I want this to be a really important evening, and those two people that went down are Patriots and we love them and because of them we ended up with some good music right right so play YMCA go ahead let's go nice and loud here we go everybody nobody's leaving what's going on there's nobody leaving keep going keep going should we keep going Keep going, keep going. Should we keep going? All right, turn that music up. Turn it up.

So this goes on for like 40 minutes, literally. 40 minutes is a long time. It's a very long time to be standing. It's so long. Yes. Standing there, doing nothing, swaying on the stage awkwardly. Let me read you the set list real quick. Ave Maria, time to say goodbye. it's a man's man's world.

YMCA, hallelujah, nothing compares to you. An American trilogy, Richmond, North of Richmond, November rain, and memory from cats. People started walking out, South Dakota governor and puppy killer, Kristi Noem, kind of didn't seem to know what to do. I don't know, Rebecca, what track got you going? What got you going?

What I will just say is like Aver Maria to YMCA, like that's kind of the wild swings that are going on in his brain right now. Like what kind of psychopath has this set list? It doesn't even make sense. And I just, I don't know, I felt like it was, for reporters to comment that a Trump rally is strange, you have to take it so far, right?

And for him to, you know, a town hall, when you do a town hall event, you wanna take questions like, what are people thinking? You know, here he is in suburban Philadelphia, the most, probably the most important media market he can be in all of the swing states. And he is losing his mind a little bit, right? And he is smiling and he doesn't usually smile.

So like that, that caused me some, like is what, what is his new like regimen? Like I'll have what he's having, you know what I mean? Because he was just like happy and then he was doing his like little dance and there's Christine. Oh, I'm just kind of standing there Not really knowing what to do and she has to be the same person Yeah, it was kind of wild

Yeah, I mean you and I have been staffers for a long time We've both been at events where you are kind of like on your phone half paying attention Then you hear your boss give a bad answer and you're like, oh God, oh God, what are we gonna do? Or like something kind of goes south in an event, someone protests, something bad happens. Imagine being the staffer in the back and it's like minute 23 and you're like,

how do we get the boss to stop DJing this event? Well, I heard that they were like trying to tell him on the teleprompter, like you can now answer questions. And he just wasn't taking those cues. He was just like wanting to dance and there's nobody who can save him when he's going out that far. And you know, we say a lot that Trump doesn't get real scrutiny. Like he says crazy stuff and he doesn't do it.

This was the first time that I think reporters really took the beat to say like something seems wrong. And I just, I'm just gonna say it, you know, when you get old, you get old fast. And I do think he is much worse in this month of October than he was even a few months ago. And we've seen this, you know, like I remember we we all saw the State of the Union with Biden in January, we're like, we're gonna be great.

And then the debate happened and we're like, okay, maybe we're not so great. Like there is something that is going on with Trump that seems pretty bad. Yeah, let's dig in on this a bit because even before the musical interlude, Trump did some Q&A and even those were weird. So Philip Bump at the Washington Post

printed in full one of Trump's answers to a very straightforward audience question about bringing down grocery prices. I'm gonna read the beginning of it. So you know, it's such a great question in the sense that people don't think of grocery. You know, it sounds like not much an important word when you talk about homes and everything else, right?

But more people tell me about grocery bills where the price of bacon, the price of lettuce, the price of tomatoes, the price of lettuce, the price of tomatoes, they tell me. And we're going to do with a lot of things. You know, our farmers aren't being treated properly and we had a deal with China and it was a great deal. I never mentioned it because once COVID came,

I said that was a bridge too far because I had a great relationship with President Xi. And here's a fierce man and he's a man that likes China and I understand that, but we had a deal and he was perfect on that deal. 50 billion he was gonna buy. We were doing numbers like you wouldn't believe for the farmer.

That goes on for another 800 words, Rebecca. They mentioned the border control. Okay, grandpa. Yeah, it's like. Right. It's like the meme. This reminds me of when I was. Sure, grandpa.

Reminds me of when I was a kid, when one of my grandparents would tell me to go to the bar to get him another drink and my dad would intercept me on the way back and fill it up with water. That's what that reminds me of. Something is very wrong there. There's not one fully cognizant answer. Like, he doesn't, he is not speaking

in regular English anymore. It is just like, it is a whirlwind of like what's going on in his head. This man should not be in charge of anything. Yeah. And the clearly this is why Kamala Harris is telling voters to watch Trump's rallies. I think she sincerely means it. It's not just a line. It's also why Kamala Harris is playing videos of Trump at her rallies. Now I think they played a clip of some of his recent answers to Maria.

Brarderomo. In Erie. Yeah. I think like the challenge is, you know, Democrats will watch this and be like, this guy's losing his mind. Republicans will just see it through a partisan lens and decide that it's funny or charming. I guess the question is whether undecideds will ever see this.

It's hard to sum it up in like a concise way. Like how do you make a, we struggled to make a super cut of a 38 minute event. But I mean, Rebecca, do you think this is a message that the Harris folks can or should try to introduce? Kind of in these closing weeks is part of a closing argument. I Mean I do like at the end of the day

people need to know that the person in charge of this country is like fighting for them and has their best interests and like at the very least like understands what is going on in the world and He he seems very far away from reality at the moment. And I think it's important for them to remind people that she has a plan, she can articulate the plan, she understands the plan, she's knowledgeable. Like he can't articulate an answer to anything. When's the last time he just had like a regular answer

to a question? Yeah, and he's actually branded his incoherence to the weave and he thinks it's an asset. He's like, oh, I say all. Yeah, and he's like, he's actually branded his incoherence to the weave and he thinks it's an asset. He's like, oh, I say all this random shit and I string it together at the end. It's like, no, you don't pal. That's called rambling.

He also did a Q and A on Tuesday though at the economic club of Chicago where he got, you know an hour's worth of economic questions. Here was one about Google and antitrust. Here's the answer. Should Google be breaking up? one about Google and antitrust. Here's the answer. Should Google be broken up? I just haven't gotten over something the Justice Department did yesterday, where Virginia cleaned

up its voter rolls and got rid of thousands and thousands of bad votes, and the Justice Department sued them that they should be allowed to put those bad votes and illegal votes back in and let the people vote so I haven't I haven't gotten I haven't gotten over that a lot of people have seen that they can't even believe it the question is about Google president Trump yeah I mean he can't he can't answer a question to the extent that you're wondering, is he processing what is being asked of him? Is his brain processing it?

Or does he not know what Google is? Which one is it? You know, I have no idea. He knows what Twitter is. Yeah, he loves Twitter, he loves Elon. The other piece of evidence here, Rebecca, is Trump had an interview scheduled, I guess, on CNBC with this guy, Joe Kernan,

who might as well be a Trump surrogate or family member. He's like that kind of in the tank and insufferable. And that was a weird flag, but then I watched this whole event and it was with this guy, John McAuliffe White, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg, who was formerly the editor of The Economist. And it was a tough, contentious interview.

And I actually thought that format kind of served Trump well, because that answer we just heard was incoherent, but they had stacked the audience with supporters and Mikkel Thwait kind of interrupted enough to prevent the weave from happening and preventing him from getting too incoherent. And also, look, if we're being honest,

John Mikkel Thwait was kind of the perfect foil for Trump because I bet a lot of the clips that Trump people will put out are of him berating this kind of pompous seeming British guy about why he was wrong about tariffs. And boy, I bet that plays well in like Pittsburgh. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I just think he's picking a lot of fights.

His reliance on the word tariffs in that interview Yeah, I mean, I just think he's picking a lot of fights. His reliance on the word tariffs in that interview seemed a little bit troubling as well. He just didn't, it's like he just learned the word or something. It was just a weird way that he was talking. I think he likes to fight with everyone who's interviewing him now. I think he likes to have the crowd cheering him on. It's like wherever he goes, he just has a crowd that is cheering for him, because that is what he likes.

Yeah, he loves it. I don't know. I mean, I think it's interesting that he's not doing more interviews. Like, he doesn't seem to be talking beyond just a very specific base. Yeah, it's a Fox News safe space. That said, I do think the headline that came out

of the Economic Club interview was him once again ducking questions about the peaceful transition of power, which ain't good. Andy refused to comment on whether he talked to Putin since he left office, so I don't think that's helpful either. That said, this morning Trump just taped a Fox News town hall, I think actually they taped it yesterday, but it aired this morning, on women's issues moderated by Harris Faulkner, a Fox anchor. Let's play a couple clips. The first is Trump and Harris Faulkner talking about a Georgia woman named Amber Thurman. Amber Thurman's family have come out on a press call,

and they're doing what's called a prebuttal to our town hall right now. Oh, that's nice. Yeah? And I want to get— You'll get better ratings, I promise. So just some context for the listeners here. Amber Thorman is a Georgia woman who died after being denied an emergency abortion for 20 hours. Some members of her family did a call

with the Harris campaign to talk about her story and the stakes for women in terms of abortion access in this election. Rebecca, that answer we heard is them laughing. I mean, it's so callous. I mean, this is a woman who died, who literally like bled out and they're laughing about it and talking about ratings.

Like he, first of all, let me just take a step back. He said he's had this women's forum, right? He spent, how long was it? 50 minutes of the 60 to get to the question of abortion, right? Like that is not a woman's forum. This is, he was, had women in the audience and he was talking to the same people

he always talks to on Fox News. Let's just get that out of the way. But the way that he sees everything is about ratings and laughing about women dying. Like this is why he's losing women voters at such record numbers. And like another this is why he's losing women voters at such record numbers. And like another thing like he's for him to say he's going to do this women's forum. It's like he would do anything rather than debate Kamala Harris, right? Like he is so afraid of her about

the way that she like destroyed him at the last debate that he is avoiding that he's trying to show that he's talking to all these people. But he's talking to the same people. You go to Trump rallies, they look very similar from state to state. You go to a Harris rally, like whether she's in Bucks County, Pennsylvania or Erie, Pennsylvania, very different, like audiences, you know, and she's in Georgia, everywhere she goes,

her audience is different. Trump is speaking to a lot of the same people and he has not expanded his base. Yeah, this is just kind of like branding that it was a women's rally. Didn't seem like it actually focused on the issues as you noted. They just had women there.

Yeah, who just sort of, that asked very friendly questions. One of the more bizarre claims of this event was about IVF. Let's listen to that. Let's get this question because I believe that's what this is about. Oh, I wanna talk about IVF, let's listen to that. Let's get this question, because I believe that's what this is about. Oh, I wanna talk about IVF.

I'm the father of IVF, so I wanna hear this question. Again, for context, IVF became available in 1978. It's been widely available for decades. The biggest impediment to getting IVF has been the cost of IVF. It's very expensive. But the next biggest threat to IVF has been the overturning of Roe vs. Wade by Trump judges. It was highlighted when Alabama moved to ban IVF, Republicans freaked out in that moment. They've tried to cover their political flank on this issue.

Trump has proposed giving out free IVF treatments to everybody in America. But when Democrats try to pass bills guaranteeing access to IVF nationwide, Republicans block it over and over and over again in Congress. Rebecca, the Democrats were very focused on IVF for a while. That focus seems to have faded a bit. How much do you think that should be a part of the abortion messaging in this closing stretch? Okay, let me just take a step back. How much do you think that should be a part of the abortion messaging in this closing stretch?

Okay, let me just take a step back. I am not convinced that Trump knows what IVF is. I just wanna be really clear. You listen to him talk about IVF and I do not think he knows what it is. Okay, so there's that. Wouldn't surprise me. In Arizona, we had Kerry Lake,

who spent a good part of the debate talking about UVF. So it's very hard to say what Republicans are understanding with Republican political leaders and IVF. I will say that Democrats, they have talked about it and they will fight for it and they will protect women's ability to have families or anybody to have families. You know what I mean? It's just, it is so strange to me that the Trump Supreme Court, like where he, one third of that court is,

those are his judges, that they are going farther and farther, and he's trying to distance himself from the same judges he put on there. Right. You know, whether it's talking about abortion, going to the states, we don't want abortion to go to the states.

We wanted Roe. His judges overturned it, right? And that's something like the intensity of women voters right now, I think it's because they understand what's at stake. Yeah, and to your point, I think in that interview, he says he basically learned about IVF or the crisis in IVF because he got a call from Katie Britt,

Senator in Alabama who gave that bizarre State of the Union response. So we all remember got a call from Katie Britt, Senator in Alabama who gave that bizarre State of the Union response. So we all remember in his comments about Katie Britt, I think he called her attractive. It was like very, the whole thing was just very weird and gross and very Trump. It's like he knew the initials, but he didn't actually know what happened.

Right, right. And he knows he's mad about it. And he knows he's losing voters on that issue. Yeah, so like, oh, it's free for everybody now. Okay. Of course though, you know, no women. You get IVF and you get IVF. Yeah, it's like Oprah in the car.

All right, we're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we are gonna talk about how things are shaping up in some of the key states that Rebecca knows incredibly well. But a couple of things before we do that. First, Crooked's Friends of the Pod subscription is offering a massive 25% off all new annual subscriptions through election day.

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and want something fun to read, there's always a moment to grab democracy or else, how to save America, 10 easy steps by me, John Lovett, John Favreau. If you wanna get a copy, go to crooket.com slash books and pick one up now. All proceeds go to vote, save America in 2024 campaigns and you can finish it basically in a day.

So no time wasted and you'll instantly feel maybe a little better, hopefully. There's a lot of jokes, there's some funny jokes. Learn more and get your copy now at krikko.com slash books. No Women's Town Hall will be complete with a little, a little light fascism. Here is Trump once again again talking about his enemies. President, Kamala Harris has said you sounded unhinged and unchecked power is in our future.

What do you say about that? I thought it was a nice presentation. I wasn't unhinged. You know what they are? They're a party of sound, but they're... Somebody asked me, can they be brought together? You know, it's very...I never thought really I wasn't thinking like they could, because they are...they're very different and it is the enemy from within and they're very dangerous. They're Marxists

and Communists and Fascists and they're sick. I use a guy like Adam Schiff because they made up the Russia Russia Russia hoax. It took two years to solve the problem Absolutely. Nothing was done wrong. Etc. Etc. They're dangerous for our country So Rebecca we talked about Trump's kind of heightened Accelerationist rhetoric on the show on Tuesday. I do think it's worth being even more clear today that Talking about the enemy within is textbook clear today that talking about the enemy within is textbook fascist rhetoric. This is stuff you heard from Hitler talking about Jews

and communists, et cetera. Heard it from Mussolini, heard it from Franco. But the question I always have is when you make that point or tell that to people, does it sound so extreme that people think you're hyperbolic and tune you out? Like what do you think you do with a clip like that? I mean, obviously it's chilling to hear him talk like that. But I do think that the messaging

argument against him on this has been challenging, right? People think he's a clown. They think he's funny. They don't see how scary he is. And the more that other people start saying, know your history, like learn these dog whistles, it's not resonating. It's like we're all talking to ourselves and a whole other segment of the population just does not believe it, even if it's right there and true.

And it's sad, but I don't think it's registering with a lot of folks. Yeah, I really, I don't either. And it's not, but I don't think it's registering with a lot of folks. Yeah, I really, I don't either. And it's not just this clip, it's not just this commentary about the enemy within, it's not just the obvious rage at the various court cases against him

or his suggestions that Democrats were behind the assassination attempts. Like if you watch his Truth Social feed, I mean, the other day he posted something in the middle of the night where he said that Kamala Harris's medical report about seasonal allergies were a dangerous situation. He's talking about revoking CBS's broadcast rights

because he's mad at 60 Minutes for editing a clip. And his supporters are now, like this is, the other thing that happens in October is it's the nastiest part of every campaign. I mean, there's a nonprofit now called Building America's Future funded in part by Elon Musk that is funding a bunch of super PACs doing dirty shit. One of them is sending mailers highlighting

Kamala Harris' marriage to Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, his work combating anti-Semitism, his support for Israel, and they're sending that to Muslim and Arab American voters, trying to drive them away from her. The same super back, I believe, is sending pro-Israel and Jewish voters, mailers, saying she's too pro-Palestinian. So this is just like the most cynical, dishonest, and nasty part of the whole thing.

They're trying to win by making everyone hate each other. That is their recipe, right? Like Harris is out there talking about what brings us together and bringing back hope and joy. And there is no hope and joy on the Trump campaign. Like they want you to hate everyone. They want you to be so pissed off at the whole world and they want you to hate everyone

who doesn't look like you. Yeah, and it's all being funded by some of the richest people in the world. I think Politico had some data from the most recent FEC filings that I just thought was worth noting in terms of like the biggest donors out there. So you got Elon Musk giving 75 million to a pro-Trump super PAC. Miriam Adelson, Sheldon Adelson's widow, gave 95 million to another super PAC. Dick Uline, another billionaire you've probably never heard of, gave 49 million.

Ken Griffin, Paul Singer, doing eight figures. Timothy Mellon gave $165 million to various GOP align groups earlier in the cycle. And so what you're seeing now is the fruits of like this billionaire courtship, them dumping money into super PACs and doing Trump's dirty work for him across the country? And trying to tell regular people that they get their problems. Right.

Like that's, you understand you. I mean, it's a really messed up system. Like post Citizens United, all of this is a disaster. Yeah, it's completely roving. This should not be allowed to be happening. No, thank you, Supreme Court. Finally, on this Trump rally, I mean, there was a lot of talk about immigration.

I would say it was the primary thing discussed. Here's one example. We are going to end all sanctuary cities immediately. We're gonna end them. Because they're really... Is that an executive order you do that with? They're really, I can do it with an executive order. I have to do it with an executive order you do that with? Really, I can do it with an executive order. I have to do it with an executive order.

You can do it with the Aliens Act of 1798. We can do things in terms of moving people out. We can move them out of the sanctuary cities. So again, just to explain what he's talking about there, because it's never clear. Trump is saying he can use a law passed in the 1700s when John Adams was president, a law that was later used to authorize Japanese internment

to authorize sending US troops into cities that he doesn't think are sufficiently cooperating with ICE or other federal immigration authorities. So I guess like to paint a picture of what that looks like, I guess we're sending troops into San Francisco or New York and Chicago to like ferret out people he thinks are undocumented? I mean, like, again, this is like crazy fascist behavior, but helping people understand what that really looks like

in practice seems very difficult. Yeah, I mean, it's like when they tell you who they are, believe them. And he's been telling voters who he is for a very long time and it's pretty fucking scary. Yeah. So Rebecca, like you're a political professional, and he's been telling voters who he is for a very long time and it's pretty fucking scary. Yeah. So Rebecca, you're a political professional,

you're always trying to figure out how we reach these voters. How do you think this Fox event compares to the Caller Daddy interview or other more niche opportunities we've seen the Harris campaign take? So I think that Harris campaign has done a lot of, I would say, high risk interviews. And I think, for the most part, they've gone extremely well. And they've they've right now that the election is so tight, you have to go find more voters,

right? Like, where can we reach more voters? So they're going out to all these different outlets, and they're, you know, trying to figure out like, find voters where they are. I found the call her daddy interview to be one of the better conversations I've ever heard from any public official, especially the part where they are talking about what it means when you say life of the mother. Like, and Harris going into detail about like, you have to bleed out this much and be near dead for anyone to help you. That is called

life of the mother. And I just found that so different from any other, like the way you hear politicians speak. And I think to the young women who were listening, I think it resonated. I think, and then she goes on Howard Stern and she talks about, you know, formula one race. Like she's let her do these longer form interviews where she's letting her personality come out.

She's authentic. She's smart. She can like Apparently she's gonna do a Fox News interview and she's gonna be a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a

a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a

a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a a little bit more of a Wine, cocktail person. A little glass of wine, I don't know. We'll find out, we'll find out. So yeah, let's talk about the Kamala Harris media tour. She's in these swing states. Apparently she's gonna do a Fox News interview with Brett Baer that's gonna air after this pod comes out.

On Tuesday, she sat for an audio town hall meeting moderated by Charlamagne the God. It was anything but a softball interview. Let's listen. Doesn't the Biden administration have to take some blame for the border though, a lot of the blame, because I mean the first three years y'all did get a lot of things wrong with the border.

Charlemagne, within hours of being inaugurated, first thing we dropped was a bill to fix the broken immigration system, which by the way, Trump did not fix when he was president. Why are we sending money to other countries when we desperately need it in our own country for homeless housing, resources, or whatever? That is my determining factor if I vote for Kamala or not. We can do it all and we do.

Black Americans are heavily asked to vote Democrat in every election for over half a century with very little in return. What are your plans to address these very important issues and change that narrative? Thank you, Zeke. I appreciate that. Thank you and thank you for your work. So, Rebecca, I know you listened. I mean, what did you, how do you think she did? I thought she did really well. I thought there were some hard questions, like this was not a softball interview. And she answered each question with thoughtful answers. Sometimes it helps actually to get tough questions sometimes.

Cause I think it kind of jolts politicians out of complacency. Like the first question is, why are you always on your talkie points? And her response was kind of like, I don't know, I'm disciplined. I just kind of like thought it was disarmingly honest and, and, and. And it's true. I mean, she said you have to say a message at least three times for people to like, for

it to resonate. Like that is true. Being on message is a good thing. Trump is like all over the place. You know, Harris like goes to every audience and she tells them what she wants to do as president. That's what you're supposed to do when you're running for office.

Do you think she's getting better at these or are we just hearing more of them and making less of kind of like individual slip ups in one or the other? I mean, I think it is, I think a lot of these interviews are hard. I feel like, I feel for the staffers, you know, in prep, think you're trying to figure out any possible question that could get asked and talking about it. It's a lot. I do think she's like, I found her to be generally pretty warm in

a lot of these interviews. And I think, I think that resonates with people. She sounded, she was talking about stories of her life. She was, she was giving examples. She was talking about stories of her life. She was giving examples. She was talking about her career. I think it's good to do that. I wouldn't mind her separating herself a little bit more from Joe Biden, but other than that, I think she's been handling herself pretty well. Yeah, I think that was the one kind of error

we've heard recently was not the best answer on how are you different than Joe Biden. And I understand the sensitivity there. It's not easy. I mean, if I got the question, I would, I think I would say something like, obviously me and Joe, there are things we would do different

with the benefit of hindsight, but you don't have that as president. I'm not gonna, you know, Monday morning quarterback, my running mate, but here are the things I believe, blah, blah, blah. Like make it perspective. I mean, I, right. I would say some of us would like her to separate even more, but she's the things I believe, blah, blah, blah, like make it perspective. I mean, I would say some of us would like her to separate even more, but she's also,

she is trying to be respectful too of him and he appointed her vice president. And it's like, you don't talk out loud about your friends. Like I think she probably knows a lot of things that he could have done better. And she just did not go into that too much. Yeah, it's a complicated dance, that's for sure. Yes, exactly.

But the other thing about the Charlemagne interview, they did it in Detroit, which led them to get a bunch of additional local pickup, which was smart. The Detroit Free Press headline was, Harris, a kindred spirit with Detroit, she says after interview with Charlemagne the God, I think she did like another event with.

Free and Matt, beautiful. Yeah, I know, seriously, like that's gold, right? In politics, like who cares what the New York Times says, you want the Detroit free press. I think she did some more local stops afterwards. She met with black entrepreneurs. So it was just smart, it was all around smart. It was smart to do Charlemagne,

it was smart to do it in a swing state. It was smart to do Charlemagne. It was smart to do it in a swing state. It was smart to bring in a bunch of questioners who asked Michigan specific questions that sort of made it feel even more authentic to the state. What do you think though about Fox News? I have to say like when I heard that she was doing Bret Baer, I guess I get the meta messaging

which is Trump's in his safe space. I'll go anywhere, talk to anyone, I'm fearless. But I also think when you, you might as well do an interview with Jason Miller or someone from the RNC, right? When the chips are down, Fox News, we can all pretend Brett Baier is the reasonable one, he takes orders, right? And Fox News wants Trump to win.

I would say it's high risk, high reward, right? I don't know if I would have picked that one, but she's, I'm sure that she will be working for that, like thinking about it. And she's taken hard questions from lots of people. I think she can take some hard questions. And I think she's proven that she can do that. And once you go on there

and you answer some of those questions, I think that matters to some of those viewers. She shows up. I don't think all of Fox viewers are that excited about Trump. A lot of them are, obviously. But there are some reasonable voters out there, and I think she's gonna go after them.

Good for her. Yeah, and there's some research that shows that when you're, you know, showing ads to voters, if you're just showing kind of like a clip from a network, if it's on a conservative network that they trust, maybe you get even more benefit from it, right? Like if it's like a Wall Street Journal article, maybe conservatives are more likely to think it's credible

than something in the New York Times. So maybe they're thinking about what things they can lift from the Bret Baier interview if it goes well for ads Yeah I I just think like the whole team is probably looking at the numbers looking at how close every single state is and and thinking What can we do to shake this up? Yeah, and then the downside risk of a bad interview is like whatever if you're doing enough of them You'll be okay. Hopefully hopefully that's Hopefully yeah, we've all been there. Yeah, it's fingers, yeah, yeah. It goes real bad.

The last one that keeps getting reported on is Joe Rogan. There was a report, I think it was Reuters, that was like Kamala Harris considering doing Joe Rogan's. Like what kind of news report is that? How do you have a headline considering? It was like a weird float, like they floated that out there. I don't know where it exactly came from. It could be interesting.

I mean, I think they both said they might do it. So I don't know, let's give it a listen. I'm fully on board for doing Rogan. I mean, I don't know if this translates to his audience, but he has 14.5 million followers on Spotify, which would make him like the biggest podcasts out there by far and much bigger than most network or cable shows. I don't think he's like super partisan Republican. I think he's more of an RFK guy.

He has lots of weird hobby horses like he's obsessed with. But we need those voters. I mean, she has to get some of those too. So I think it could be smart. And I think there's a lot of caricatures out there of her, but when you see her talking, she sounds pretty normal. Yeah. You know what I mean? So I think there's a lot of caricatures out there of her, but when you see her talking, she sounds pretty normal. Yeah. You know what I mean?

So I think that's good. Why isn't she on Hot Ones? That's my question. How come she hasn't gone on Hot Ones yet? I think they would if they could. I'm not sure if Hot Ones wants them. I think they're in their own. I know.

She would be so good. She would be so good. I would love to see that too. Should be so good. I would love to see that too. ["The Daily Show Theme"] ["The Daily Show Theme"] All right, we talked a lot about the national stuff. I do wanna take your pulse on some of these

state-level races, because you have a ton of experiences, especially in Pennsylvania and Arizona. So Politico had a story out this morning about alleged disarray in the democratic effort in Pennsylvania. It read to me as like both kind of typical finger pointing you see when Democrats are nervous, stuff that gets over torqued by reporters.

There was a similar story the other day about super PAC spending and people sort of carping about the main Democratic super PAC and where they're spending their money. But also, it was worrisome, and it kind of dovetailed with some things I have heard about the organization in Pennsylvania from people in the political world.

So I don't know, what did you make of that and what do you think's happening in PA? Okay, so this is, so I'm from Philadelphia, right? And I will say that there's a long history of hackery in Philadelphia politics where a lot of people want like a lot of attention, right? Do I think that there's like some challenges to some of the campaign?

Like, yes, I do, you know, we all worry about Pennsylvania because Pennsylvania is kind of ball game, right? But I do think there's a lot of finger pointing that just happened so that people can say like, if the worst happened they they've already like blamed somebody else. When really this is this is about all of us trying to come together and win this race. And I think there's a lot of really good people on the ground in Pennsylvania. One of the people who mentioned the article, Brendan McPhillips, he has run plenty of Pennsylvania

statewide and he knows how to win. And he's a senior advisor to the campaign. There's good people working. I just think, I think they haven't been holding hands with as many politicians and spreading the money around to as many politicos as who wants it. And I think that's part of the problem. Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be, it's just a tough state too,

because there's massive spending on the presidential, but you also have this hotly contested Senate race, where- And house races. And house races. But like Bob Casey is running against McCormick, who has not only the money he's raised personally, but he has two of his hedge fund billionaire buddies who dumped money into their own super PACs.

So the spending in the state is just out of control. So part of you is like- Dave McCormick of Connecticut residency fame. Connecticut hedge fund leader, Dave McCormick. But with that much money being spent on ads, it's like, I don't know what's actually breaking through. I mean, it's really hard because you have a bunch of very competitive house seats in Pennsylvania.

You have the Senate race. You have like, you can't go anywhere in Pennsylvania without being communicated to. Like one of the things, one of my friends who, when the Phillies lost, he said the best things, the only good thing about the Phillies losing was that they don't have to watch political ads every five minutes anymore because they won't be

in the Phillies gates. You know, it's pretty intense. Yeah. The one thing I did hear, when we were there a couple of weeks ago, a very well-connected person said to me, I'm worried about Harris in the Phillies suburbs. Have you heard anything about that?

I don't buy that. I mean, maybe they're more connected than I am, but I think Harris is gonna really turn out in the suburbs. I think her voters are really gonna come out for her. Do you see that Trump's gonna go to a McDonald's on Sunday to work the fry cooker? I hope he's wearing a full suit and tie. Is this an actual thing that's happening in Pennsylvania? I did not hear that. That's terrible.

Or I guess regular. I mean, he has to do these things to show that he's a regular guy, because there's nothing about him that is regular. Yeah, nothing's a regular guy, like full suit and tie, pretending to work the fry cooker before you like slip somebody a hundred and leave the Mickey D's.

Last thing, you mentioned something about an ice cream truck for ballots, giving you some hope from PA. Yes, okay, so let's have some good news. We never, you know, like, so there is a Montgomery County commissioner, his name is Neil McKeesha, and Montgomery County is one of the few counties,

like one of the best turnout counties in Pennsylvania. It's the suburb of Philadelphia. And when your ballot isn't quite right, like if you mail in your ballot and there's an error, they throw it out, right? But what he's doing is when they come in with ballots that are, that there's problems, they go in like an old like ice cream truck and go find voters and help them make their ballots correct. So their vote counts. So here are all, yeah. So here are all these people out there who are trying to make their, like trying to say

like there's conspiracies or they don't want your vote to count like, and here's a good story in Pennsylvania if someone trying to get every vote in so that every voice counts. I love that. We need more people like that. See, if you're anxious and texting your friends about Doomer shit, go do that.

The other state that we talk about a lot is Arizona. We were there a couple months ago. It was 110 degrees. I couldn't believe it. People were canvassing. The polling has been noisy. The Journal had Harris up two on Sunday. The Times-Sienna poll had Trump up five on Saturday.

The average, the Times average has Harris up two, the 538 average has trump up 1.5. God only knows what's right, right? It's all in the margins. This is why you should stop paying attention to polls. Like it's only gonna make you crazy. Make you crazy. I can't even follow them, let alone make,

keep track of them. So you're working on Ruben Gallego's Senate race there, which means I'm not gonna ask you for any, you know, privilege information unless you wanna cough them up, but. I do not. Okay. Democrats generally seem to be optimistic about Gallego,

less optimistic about Harris. What do you think about that? So what I would say is Arizona is still Arizona. Like there's still more Republicans in independence than there are Democrats. Like we should be concerned with Arizona. And that means, it's not like it's gonna be Republicans and independents than there are Democrats. We should be concerned with Arizona. And it's not like it's gonna be a walk

for Ruben Gallego either. We should all be taking this very seriously on all levels. I do think that Harris is out there really trying to spread her message to voters. She's talking a lot to the Republican, reasonable Republicans in Arizona. And I think at the end of the day, I think she's gonna bring a lot of them over to her.

I really do. Carrie Lake, it's so wild to watch her go from being the craziest person in all of politics to try to just sand off the edges and go like full Gauzy lens, Barbara Walters, like this new person out there on the campaign trail. Is it, is that people buying that? No, no, I don't think people are buying that.

I mean, I think she is, she is someone who is really out for herself and at the end of the day, everything comes back to what she wants and she is not someone who is fully truthful. I do think voters see through her, but I also think like she's not really trying to convince anyone. She told McCain Republicans to get the hell out of the party. You know, Rubin has spent two years going to every community

in Arizona, across the whole state, and meeting voters where they are and talking to them. And he understands that. He's a working class kid. He's a veteran. And he has really connected with a lot of people. And they're like, you know, I'm a veteran. And he has really connected with a lot of people. And they're like, you know, I'm a Republican,

but I'm voting for Ruben. We did a live show in Arizona back in September and Ruben Gallego is our guest. I feel like he had been marching in a parade at like 7 a.m. that morning someplace, five hours away, and then drove to the show. Sounds right. And I was like, all right, this guy's grinding.

So you're working on this race. I mean, what is it telling you, what you're seeing in the numbers in Arizona about Latino support for Democrats generally? Because that's a huge concern. So a lot of Latinos in Arizona are independents, right? And I think that Democrats traditionally have used them as a turnout audience and not as a persuasion audience, which means that

it's been about turning out the vote, not actually communicating with Latino voters. And I think what Rubin has been doing over the last two years is actually communicating to voters about what he wants to do as a senator. And I think Democrats need to talk to voters more about their plans and not just say like, you're with us, let's turn out the vote. And I think we're doing that, but it took a minute. Like we've been a little slow, like Democrats in general with voters of color

of understanding like you should actually persuade them to vote for you and you don't just have a, you can't take any votes for granted. Yeah. I would have liked that to happen a little quicker. Yeah, a couple of years ago. Finally, so let's talk about a couple of critical house races.

We have not, we've barely talked about you know, the house on this show. Nobody talks about the house. Nobody gives the house any love. I know. I've made this pitch before, I'm gonna say it again. If you are sitting at home and you are terrified that Trump is gonna win, the best thing you can do

beyond helping Harris is like making sure Trump would have a check on his power. And that is delivering a democratic house. The house is very winnable, right? There are races all across the country, probably near a lot of your listeners, there's races in California, in New York, and then all in the purple and red states that Democrats can win. We saw in Northern New Jersey, Sue Altman is now like neck and neck with Tom Keene.

That's a good Democrat to give to. Janelle Steltson out in Pennsylvania, York, Pennsylvania. It's like traditionally Trump Republican area, but Scott Perry's like a little too, went a little too far, little too MAa for that district and I think she has a great chance. There's Jonathan Nez, the former Navajo Nation president who's running against Eli Crane in Arizona. I mean we have so many good candidates and I just, I think like number one the Democrats are doing the work, they're raising, they're

out raising all of these Republicans, they're trying to communicate their message and they are normal people and that we should try and be behind them and elect them. So is there like a dynamic you're seeing broadly? Are these House races, are the Democrats running ahead of Kamala Harris? Are there candidate quality issues? I know there's so many races it's hard to draw with a broad brush or anything we should learn from it.

I think a lot of these Republicans are running as MAGA candidates in districts where people don't want that. And I think Democrats are doing a good job of raising money from small donors to just communicate their message and talk about what we stand for. I think Democrats have been more inviting to people

who disagree than MAGA Republicans are at this moment. Yeah, that's 100% true. I mean, as you mentioned earlier, Carrie Lake told them to get out of the party if you're not a Trump fan. Well, that is good advice. And also another thing you can do if you're anxious, I know we're gonna all knock on doors here

in some of these California races. Because California and New York, man, I mean, that could be, that could tip this whole thing. Yeah. I mean, can you imagine, like, I would say the New York is where we lost the house last time and it could be where we win the house this time. Right?

Battleground, New York, Battleground, California, go check out those websites because they can, you can go out right now and help them out. Have you guys got your shit together? Is everyone just still getting arrested? What's happening in New York? New York's a disaster. Not gonna lie.

How's the state party? I'm not defending New York. I mean, let me just vent about the state party for just one second. Please. The New York Democratic Party was not built to win general elections. It is a disaster because they never thought they had to. They are a mess.

They've been a mess for years. They care more about beating progressives than they care about beating Republicans. It is, I think it needs some cleaning out. A little refresh. Well, it's so frustrating because like you see these states where there is a really smart, well-functioning state Democratic party like Wisconsin, right?

Where they've had people in place doing the work for years and years and years, and you can see the impact on the ground. You see how professional they are. You see them doing events and off years and winning state Supreme Court races and knocking on doors 18 months before an election and doing deep canvassing and persuasion

and not just GOTV events and dumb ads at the end. And you're like, yeah, I will give all the money I have to Wisconsin Democrats, the Wisconsin Democratic Party, because they are so competent. But it's like, how do we take Ben Wickler, the chair there, and clone him and send him to 50 states? I mean, I think the problem is that there's a lot of red pockets in blue states,

and the people in charge have no idea how to deal with it, right? Whereas the folks who have been in the purple states have been working on it for some time. And some of the reddest parts of this country are in the bluest states. And you gotta worry about, I talked to you about all the challengers that might win,

but there's also people like Johanna Hayes in Northwest Connecticut, who's now got a very tough race. That's another Democrat we need to go support. So it's a weird moment for sure. But we gotta get our parties, they gotta get their shit together. Gotta get our shit together, get our state parties shit together.

Well, listen, again, so listeners know, Rebecca has been my friend for a long time. She's someone I text about my anxiety, usually before like 6 a.m., so it's good to actually just do this on the podcast. It's a lot more constructive. But that's our show for today. Thank you so much for being here. Dan and John will be back with a new episode on Friday.

It won't be as good as this, but you should still listen to it anyway. Thank you, Rebecca. Thanks, Tommy. Bye. our Friends of the Pod subscription community at crooked.com slash friends. And if you're already doom scrolling, don't forget to follow us at Pod Save America on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube for access to full episodes, bonus content, and more. Plus, if you're as opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a review to help boost this episode or spice up the group chat by sharing it with friends,

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