Trump Reverses Himself After Canceling Rallies in Key States

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0:49Side effects include increased privacy and better sleep. Talk to your partner today and see if Blinds.com is right for you. Shop Black Friday all month long at Blinds.com. Don't miss huge deals dropping every week. Tonight, are Republicans panicking? The president changes his mind on trail stops, while the governor of Florida issues a warning. I don't think the turnout has been as strong as we would like to see. Plus, the man spending nearly half a billion dollars on the midterms delivers a laundry list of fears if Democrats win. Also, the Democrats may not win back power until next week, but the fight over Israel starts now.

1:31It's more than concerning. It's wrong. It's wrong. And... How does the right and yourself expect us to start families young? I've only been asked one question about John Huston's ass. How a viral moment illustrates MAGA's biggest problem. Live at the table, Caroline Sunshine, Mike Nellis, Lauren A. Wright, Yemisei Egbowale, and Karine Hajar. Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here they do.

2:17Good evening. I'm Lulu Garcia Navarro in New York for Abby. Tonight, a presidential about face. Just one day after the White House said President Trump's appearance at campaign events in Kansas and Iowa were scrapped, they're back on. Trump says officials in both states begged him to reconsider. But a Republican official told CNN before the cancellation, thank God he hasn't moved the needle anywhere. Ouch. Some officials offered a different reason, saying the schedule had been rearranged to allow for more virtual events. But multiple people tell CNN that Trump was irked by media coverage of the cancellation.

2:56That frustration appeared to boil over today. He said, what's the reason after doing what, 28? He says, what's the reason for this, sir, that you're not going to Kansas? You know what the reason is? I don't feel I have to go to Kansas. I'm going to Florida tomorrow and I'll do if something else comes up. But he said, you're not going to Kansas, sir. Are you feeling well? You've been following me for two weeks. I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape. You look like hell. Trump was indeed in Florida tonight for another rally. Some Republicans have touted the early voting numbers in the state as a good sign for Republicans.

3:39but Governor Ron DeSantis says not so fast. For Republicans, I don't necessarily want to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think the turnout has been as strong as we would like to see. For Republicans, I think you've seen, I don't want to say lethargic, but I think it's, you know, in 22, when I was running four years ago, I mean, like, you know, you could put hot coals on the ground in front of the polling place and our people were going to walk over those barefoot. They wanted to vote, right? It was just a different time. There's just things that change in the atmosphere. I definitely think Republicans have some work to do.

4:20Before we open it up to the table here, we invite you at home to join the debate. Head to CNN.com slash Abby and weigh in. We'll get to some of your comments throughout the show. Welcome, everyone. Quite an evening. heading just to the final stretch before these midterms. You know, I was watching President Trump's rally in Florida. I should say I'm a Florida girl. Oh, very good. So I'm particularly interested in this race. And, you know, he's closing with his best hits, right? And among his best hits was, again, this promise to give$5 ,000 to every American if they vote Republican, but only if Republicans win these midterms.

5:02I'm not going to debate that because we've talked a lot about this. But I really do want to understand, Lauren, what you think the president's power is here. I mean, is he actually. Very little. Yeah. Is he actually able to deliver an empowering message to really move the needle? We heard Governor Ron DeSantis there saying, you know, Republicans just aren't showing up like they used to. Yeah. Well, I think that's smart on Ron DeSantis' part because you want to under-promise, over-deliver rather than vice versa. I see a lot of Republicans all over the country saying we're going to win everything.

5:34And that is just not the structural environment right now. I also know as a political scientist, whether it's Biden, Trump, whoever's in the White House, the president speaking does not have a persuasive effect in the way a lot of analysts imagine it does. It does bring attention. You want that. Maybe bring some dollars. Yeah, but you have to consider the alternative with Trump. It's either him at a rally with a semi-scripted speech or truthing or tweeting or whatever it's called behind closed doors, and that message could be even harder to control. So I don't think it's going to make the big splash Republicans or Democrats think.

6:08Well, to that point, I would like to just talk a little bit about what 15 GOP lawmakers said to Politico about the president's power. And I'm just going to quote one quote here, which is, it's not like his persuasion is growing, said a Republican senator, of course, anonymously. Political capital is earned and lost the same way. Caroline, I mean, is he a poison pill for Republicans in this election or is he powerful? I think if Republicans win, it will be because President Trump carried them over the line. Frankly, he has worked harder this election than I've seen most of them work the last two years and including this cycle.

6:52and as is par for the course for the Republican Party. You have to remember, before Donald Trump came on the scene in 2016, the Republican Party was all but dead. And frankly, the cast of characters that were on that stage back in the primary, a lot of them have remained in Republican politics, and none of them can turn out a crowd or drive a message like he can. With that being said, I think Republicans will lose on Tuesday. And I think come Wednesday morning, the president has to decide, Am I going to go back to being that anti-establishment populist force of nature that turned American politics on its head?

7:28Or am I going to be OK with being George Bush 2.0? I'm actually what I'm hearing you say is that the president has lost his way and that he has become an establishment figure, which he is. No, I actually think politics for quite. I think the president's instincts are correct. I think he's surrounded by too many establishment advisers. What I mean by that is you saw the president say that on the campaign trail. On the campaign trail just last week, he said, you know, all my advisors are telling me not to talk about immigration. I hear a lot of Republicans always want to attack the president and always want to.

8:02Can we talk about policy, though? Because if you zoom out and let's look at the states we're talking about tonight, we're talking about Iowa. We're talking about Kansas. We're talking about Florida. And a lot of these places you have Republicans effectively running against the White House's policies. They're having to thread the needle. I was recently in Iowa. Farmers are worried about tariffs, for example, and the instability that comes and goes with a different sort of trade war regime that you see under the Trump administration. And so Republicans are really struggling now. I mean, the president coming out, I don't want to downplay the power he might have turning out the base.

8:33But persuading is going to be very difficult because Republicans are facing an uphill battle when most of the fight here is just trying to get yourself into arguing against the president's own policies. I agree with a good deal of that. And I want to come back to what Carolyn just said, because I have a lot of respect for Carolyn. I think you're a great communicator. And I think you can add that to your audition tape to be the next press secretary for the White House. Not needed. I mean, listen, I think they need you, OK, because that was better than anything I've heard from the White House in quite a while.

8:57But look, the president has an incredible amount of power right now. And everywhere he goes, he's turning off independent voters. He's firing up Democrats and Republicans aren't showing up. And Ron DeSantis is being very smart and savvy there. He's saying, I'm scared about the election. Florida may or may not be played. I want to root for Angie Nixon. I want to root for David Jolly. I'm skeptical. But every time the president opens his mouth, people are moving far away from him because he goes out there and he lies about the state of the economy, lies about the war, and he lies about the corruption in Washington.

9:22That's what people care about right now. Your life is materially worse than it was two years ago. Everything's more expensive. People are angry. There's no solution on the policy from the Republicans right now. That's why they were so excited when he got off the campaign trail. He was going to do all these tele-rallies, which nobody was going to attend. Nobody was going to care about. Now he's back on the trail. we basically bullied the guy to go back out on the campaign trail and like, thank God, I'm glad to have him. Wait, you think Angie Nixon's a good candidate? Sure. I think you're very smart.

9:47I think Angie Nixon is better than any Republican on the ballot right now. The DSA candidate running with all the DSA positions. Can I actually say something as the Floridian at the table? Sure. Which is to say whether you approve of her or don't approve of her, what she has done is campaigned an enormous amount in that state, has really rallied a lot of black voters. Yes. And they have come out in droves. The numbers are way high up. So if David Jolly does well, Angie Nixon will actually have to take some of the infrastructure to Angie Nixon got Democrats to care about Florida. Because let's be honest, there are states that we pay attention to, Republicans and Democrats.

10:27And we put certain states in our bucket and then certain states we go, this could go either way. Let's pour a ton of money into it. And then we have a group of states where we go, you know, if the other side gets it, that just makes sense. Florida is that for Democrats. And now people are looking at it and wondering, can David Jolly beat Byron Donalds? And DeSantis is not helping. And it almost feels like on purpose because it is not helpful to Byron to talk about how great it was when you ran and turnout was like there's an understated feeling here as well. And DeSantis saying, I the environment was tricky.

11:00DeSantis knows that Trump is wildly unpopular. He's OK with that. He also knows that it's a harder uphill climb for Byron. He's okay with that, too. And I'm sure as a Floridian, you know the interpersonal relationships there. There's a lot happening on Florida. Shirley would not have advised the answer. She said, how can I want to abolish the police? I want to jail my political opponent. Yeah, I don't. First of all, that was about abolishing prisons. She said she wanted to abolish private prisons. But I want to make the following. Is that a decision you would endorse? No, I have profound disagreements with Angie Nixon.

11:29Every Democrat on the ballot in this election is better than any Republican because all the Republicans are going to do is double down on Donald Trump's failed agenda. So I will accept a Democrat that I have disagreements with, whether it's Nancy Nixon, Abdul El-Sayed, anybody else, because Democrats right now are better than every Republican. So Graham Plattner should still be around with his Nazi. No, I was one of the first Democrats to call for Graham Plattner to drop out. Let me ask you a question. I still like you. Because this is great. I still like you, too. A comedy at the table. We like it.

11:55We like it. That's well, yeah. We'll give you ABC credit for being number one. All right. We might have been on the same panel that night. Actually, what is the power of Donald Trump? And is it waning? And, you know, come if your prediction is correct, you know, the Republicans get wiped out. Who are Republicans going to blame? And to this point, I want to play something that was on Sean Hannity's show where they had callers not known for its, you know, Democratic callers. And their complaints about what they felt the issues were and how they felt they were getting responded to. And I think the problem with why you have people that are hesitant to vote is because we were convinced by Donald Trump that he was different.

12:42The only thing I would go back to is filling up, you know, my pickup truck at$6.49 a gallon. I'm going to say I've been voting for Trump ever since he started this thing. But I'm kind of on the edge now with him because it's just this childish act of his that he continues to do. And, you know, both Democrats and Republicans alike, they can't get their act together. So, I mean, our country is in sad shape right now. And we're seeing this in poll after poll, right? Just generally, Republicans, Democrats, independents for sure. everyone's pretty sour on Trump, everyone's sour on Trump's policies.

13:27Well, it's tough because, I mean, whether you agree with the way he's conducted the White House or not, the fact of the matter is he campaigned on a consistent set of policies, and the way that he has governed has contradicted a lot of those policies. When you talk about foreign entanglements, when you talk, I mean, gas prices going down was one of the early victories of the administration, and now obviously we have gas prices up. And so I think a lot of voters feel, especially his own supporters, might feel frustrated and even fooled that, you know, the platform he ran on is not coming to fruition.

13:57Well, and I would add to that, too. I just I want to give a warning to Democrats because what I'm scared about is like we're very likely to take back the House on Tuesday. I think we're somewhat likely to take back the Senate, maybe a little bit better than 50-50. We're not back. OK, like you hear those people who are just on Shine Handy show. Like, I feel for them because I'm not entirely sure we have economic solutions to their problems either. And we can't assume that just because the pendulum swings back in a very bad economy that we're suddenly the popular party again. We got to buckle down and fix our problems, too.

14:22Yeah, there are serious fault lines, too. I mean, you have centrist, you have sort of establishment dents, and then you have straight-up socialists who are running in this election, and they don't have solutions. They're running on just free stuff is going to fix everything. I think that's a little bit true. And abolishing the Constitution and the Senate and the Supreme Court. We're talking about, like, two people on the ballot who support that. Like, come on. Yeah, but we're also talking about the Democratic leadership. Would you like to talk about some of the crazy things that Republicans...

14:45Like, again, this isn't about solutions. It's just about you're demagoguing every Democrat based on what you don't have to defend every Democrat. I'm not defending every Democrat. But in this election, every Democrat is better than every Republican. So you don't believe in indefensible positions. Yes. I don't. Do you think Donald Trump doesn't have indefensible positions? No. And I am very critical. And I'm critical of the DSA when I need to be. OK, so I actually want to just take a little poll here. So you think Democrats are going to take both the House and the Senate? I think the House is more likely than the Senate, but maybe the Senate.

15:14And you were also maybe on the fence on the Senate. Yeah, yeah. I actually think there's a chance Republicans keep the Senate because of some of these unforced errors of Democrats statewide. I think Republicans keep the Senate and Democrats take the House. OK. I think more likely Democrats take the House than the Senate. Well, we have consensus at the table. However, I just want to say unofficial, unofficial, unofficial poll, unofficial. Next, Elon Musk has given nearly half a billion dollars to Republicans in these midterms. Now he's warning about the end of democracy if Democrats win. Plus, breaking news, Abdul El-Sayed's campaign has announced his former opponent, Haley Stevens, to stay away from his events.

15:58This after she issued an ultimatum to appear with him. Stay with us.

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17:15Tonight, breaking news. Abdul El-Sayed's campaign has asked his former Democratic opponent to stay away from his events as the two sides are at odds over campaigning together. The Senate candidate and Haley Stevens were set to appear at a campaign event together Sunday to help El Saeed with a voting bloc that largely backed Stevens during the primary, Jewish and, of course, also black Democrats. But after an outside group aired an ad tying high grocery prices to aid to Israel, Stevens released this statement saying that although El Saeed wasn't behind the ad, she expected him to apologize for making similar arguments.

17:54In response, El-Sayed mentioned that in his narrow primary victory, he'd overcome$70 million in AIPAC spending aimed at boosting Stevens. And then said Stevens, quote, seems intent on relitigating a primary. Let's all focus on the task at hand. That's beating Mike Rogers, holding Trump accountable and getting money out of politics, putting money in pockets and passing Medicare for all. Well, I think this is going to you. Great. Yes. Fantastic. This is a strange closing message for one of the most important races for Democrats. Yeah. Let's all sit around and, you know, fire at each other. What is going on in your view?

18:39I think it's sour grapes for Haley Stevens. She's mad that she lost the primary and that Abdul was on his way to victory based on the polls. And I think it's ridiculous. Abdul had nothing to do with the ad that she's upset about. Abdul has condemned the ad. His campaign has condemned the ad. This is absolutely ridiculous. And I agree with what Mallory McMorrow said earlier today on this program. She has no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing or thinking. This is disloyalty inside the Democratic Party. It's not based on principle at all. And you want to see what actual loyalty looks like.

19:06Mallory McMorrow got screwed in the primary in a thousand different ways. She has every right to be angry right now, particularly what happened with the right wood polling situation, the fake polls that were put out. And what did she do? Day one, endorsed Abdul, got behind the Democratic ticket. That's what you do. You can have disagreements with one another inside the party. All right. And I don't think that Abdul thinking that AIPAC shouldn't have the ability to drop$70 million into our politics the way that they do is anti-Semitic. I don't think opposing the war in Iran is anti-Semitic. This is ridiculous, and it's just sour grapes.

19:33I'm sick of it. I think it's the opposite. I mean, he's invited this on himself. Democrats have invited this on themselves. He didn't have anything to do with this ad that she's mad about. Yeah, but Haley Stevens— He didn't condemn it, by the way, personally. Haley Stevens only lost by one point in the primary. Democrat. I mean, Abdul El-Sayed has invited a lot of the scrutiny he's facing right now by making, you know, animus for Israel a central part of his campaign. And I have a policy position. Explain it to me. He's he said that Israel doesn't can't exist as a Jewish state. That's not what he said.

20:04That's not what he said. He questions to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. He acknowledges the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. That's not true, guys. But he's, you know what, I'm going to say exactly what he said. Abdullah Saleh has repeatedly declined to explicitly affirm Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. However, he has said Jewish Israelis and Palestinians both have a right to self-determination and that he would either support a one state or two state solution if both peoples agreed to it. Which is what most people are. I just want to, I just want to be clear.

20:33Yeah, thank you for the clarification. But he has made Israel a central part of this campaign. There's no denying that. And I think Haley Stevens basically, it's not that she's not backing the party. I happen to believe that asking for accountability and better conduct from your fellow Democrats doesn't have to be mutually exclusive from also supporting your party. That's toxic for the country when you're in a place where people in your own party can't criticize other people in their own party. Yeah, I'm all for criticism inside the party. We call that primaries. Haley Stevens lost hers. And here's the thing.

21:01Barely, though. Abdul is not the one who made Israel a central focus of this election. No, it's not. That's his foreign policy agenda. It was APEC's decision to drop tens of millions of dollars. So Bill Gates can give Kamala Harris$50 million? You know what? I think it's wrong when Bill Gates spends all that money, too. I think it's wrong when Reid Hoffman spends all that money, too. Well, you guys have the majority of billionaire donors, by the way. Listen, the billionaire who spends the most amount of money is Elon Musk. Hold on. Hold on. I never see any of you Republicans speak out about Elon Musk.

21:23In the last two years, Elon Musk has spent more money buying off Republican politicians than George Soros has spent in his entire political life. Democrats and Republicans both donate to political campaigns. And I think AIPAC, just because they're AIPAC, should not be disallowed. But AIPAC is the biggest spender in these primaries. By the way, they're also the reason that Thomas Massimus lost his primary, too. What's different about AIPAC? I call out AI, the PACs, I call out crypto, I call out all of them. Let me jump in here because, you know, there's two things going on. First of all, there is money in our politics, which is about AI, right?

21:53And that is something that he has discussed. But it is true, Mike, that he has discussed Israel and its policies. And in fact, I'm going to play one of his conversations with NPR where he is talking about how he feels Israel fits into some of the policy positions that he might take in the Senate. Do you think that Israel continues to be a defining issue in this race going forward? You know, it's not about Israel. It's about the opportunity cost of our tax dollars that get sent over there. I mean, if you think about it, we send, what,$3.3 billion at baseline,$22 billion over the last several years to a country that has done a genocide and apartheid.

22:33And instead of that, I think it's probably better to use our money to provide good schools and health care for kids here. So regardless of what you think about there, I think our people have a right to our tax dollars. And we ought to spend that money here to invest here. Well, I mean, that does echo some of the implications in that ad, which is to say that it's either or, that the money that is getting sent to Israel could be, you know, spent in schools and other things. Well, right now, we're not spending that money here in the United States. I think that's a reasonable conversation to have.

23:09We spend an incredible amount of money and send it overseas. We do it for other governments, too, and I think we should be fair about that as well. I was about to say Egypt being another one. Oh, for sure. And I have a ton of criticism for the Trump administration and all the deals they're making with foreign governments in the Middle East and stuff like that. I've talked about that on this show. But that is a legitimate policy critique. It's not anti-Semitic to say that you disagree with it. And my problem is anti-Semitism is real in America today. So is Islamophobia. Abdul El-Sayed has faced an incredible amount of Islamophobia that a lot of Democrats don't want to talk about because they're too scared.

23:35But hiding behind every criticism of Israel and saying, oh, it's anti-Semitic when it's not. The ad, I don't like the ad. I think the ad is gross. Abdul El-Sayed's campaign also said the ad was gross and they had nothing to do with it. Carolyn, I want to bring you into this because it is true what Mike is saying, that you cannot condemn what you might perceive as anti-Semitism if you do not also condemn Islamophobia. What we have heard from Republicans about Abdul El Saeed, I mean, over and over and over again, that he's a jihadist, that he has somehow connected to 9-11, et cetera, and on and on and on.

24:10It's been very ugly and very targeted at his religion and his ethnicity. I think in politics, if you're explaining, you're losing. And if you're also asking or demanding somebody to condemn something or apologize something, you're also losing, which is the misstep that Stevens made. And she proved why she got beat in a primary. The place to hit El-Sayed is with black voters in Michigan. And that is a mistake tactically that both Republicans and Democrats are making with him. President Trump won Michigan in 2024, partially by winning Arab American Muslim voters who were Democrats and flipped for him.

24:46This is going to be a problem in Michigan if those voters either decide to stay home or worse, they flip back for El-Sayed. The issue he's having is with black voters. You want to know why? I was talking to a voter in Michigan, a black voter in Michigan who said, we don't like El-Sayed because the amount of Muslim refugees who have come to Michigan take our jobs and then they close ranks and they only hire from within their own communities. There are historic tensions between the black community and the Arab American community. And nobody's tapping into that. And that's going to be the deciding factor between who wins and who loses.

25:21Because he's also gone to the barbershops and the salons and he's talked with people. And they have said, look, I don't care what you believe. Just make it easier for me to operate my small business. I think the best thing for Abdul and Haley Stevens at this point, because I cannot believe it has gotten to this point, mere four days before Election Day, is to go to the church with Congressman Jim Clyburn that we have parachuted over to Michigan, to your point, to energize black voters specifically. We have set up this whole campaign event in a church, and all they have to do is be united for one moment.

25:55I agree with that. And then they can go their separate ways. Well, and I think the other thing I just want to make sure is like, especially on the Islamophobia, like Republicans have been desperate to talk about in this race and all the other races, anything except the economy, the war or the corruption in Washington right now. We're playing into that right now. And I think Haley Stevens creating this whole mess just lets Mike Rogers get off the hook again for being a rubber stamp for Donald Trump. If you're in Michigan right now, you have disagreements with Abdul Saeed. I get it. But at the end of the day, he's going to be better than Mike Rogers just four more years.

26:20I'm glad you get it because reporters are asking him very reasonable questions about his own writing and his own comments and his own policies vis-a-vis Israel and the Jewish people. And those are totally fair questions to ask. How he supported the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in 2012 and wrote a letter saying they should expel the police. We're going to leave it here, but I just want to do a clarification. The policy of the United States government back then was to engage with the Muslim Brotherhood. this was not a letter endorsing the Muslim Brotherhood. And by the way, Mike Rogers worked with the Muslim Brotherhood.

26:55Implications are not questions. Next, Elon Musk says the midterms could have grave consequences. He claims if the Democrats win, American democracy will be at risk. We will debate.

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27:52The man spending nearly half a billion dollars supporting Republicans' cycle is asking voters to make good on his investment, and he's warning of grave consequences if things don't go his way. Elon Musk is concerned that if Democrats take a clean sweep of the House, Senate, and ultimately the presidency in 2028, it would be game over, that's a quote for American democracy. Among his concerns that Democrats would make D.C. and Puerto Rico states to tighten their grip on the Senate, that they'd legalize illegal immigration, and finally that they'd pack the Supreme Court. So a few of those things are true, probably, and we'll talk about them.

28:36But Karine, I want to start with you. And I want to first start about Elon Musk himself. Before we talk about the substance of what he is discussing, is it right that the richest man in the world, not even in America, but in the world, should have such an outsized influence on our elections? Look, I think the truth is that there are a lot of wealthy people with huge influence in our elections. I can tell you a little bit about what I hear from voters, and there is sort of awareness on both sides. This doesn't just apply to Republicans. It also applies to Democrats. just about wealth involved in politics generally.

29:15People feel a greater disconnect from the wealthy people in this country. And that's something that you're seeing both parties trying to communicate to. But I don't really appreciate the brinksmanship in his message today. I think we've seen that it's not just from Republicans, but Democrats have also run on threats to democracy. And this seems to sort of, there is whiplash from election to election. And that robs voters of, again, voters who are frustrated about, you know, their state of living, affordability, all these things. that robs them of the policy discussions that they deserve. I mean, I get you.

29:45But let's be real here. There are many wealthy people who give money, and this is the state of politics in this country. And that is, in fact, one of the things that is being litigated in this election. But there is something specific about Elon Musk, who not only owns a very important, prominent media company in X, but also has many contracts with the United States government, but also was part of the Trump administration, actually using his megaphone and his money to really try and sway the vote. And I just wonder if at this point, Elon Musk himself does more damage than he does good, again, for the Republican cause.

30:31I don't see a problem with it at all. Democrats control Hollywood culture, the media. Take your pick. There's a million ways you can influence an election. Democrats have pretty much owned culture for a very long time. I don't see a problem with it at all. I think the real reason Elon is doing it is because he's afraid of the investigations that will come into his companies if Democrats win. But I don't think he's wrong in repeating everything that Democrats have said they will do if they win. El Syed and Angie Nixon and Talarika have all said that they are completely for and open to packing the Supreme Court.

31:01We know that the DNC just this past August adopted a measure saying that they're good with abolishing ICE. We watched the previous administration import 10 million illegal immigrants to our country. They would have loved more. So he's not saying anything that Democrats aren't running on themselves. A few things. First of all, they didn't import them. What did they? In terms of immigration. What word would you use? But to your point. In an illegal crossing? What term would you use? I'm just curious. What term? I wouldn't use import. What word would you use for crossing the border illegally? Yes, but import implies that you actually did something and tried to lure them here specifically.

31:37So what word would you use for crossing the border illegally? Again, I wouldn't use the word import. What other word would you use? I would say that they chose to come in here. Illegally? And I wouldn't say the Democrats were the ones necessarily. Can you say that they crossed the border illegally? Carolyn is trying to express a conspiracy theory that she believes that we brought 10 million people here to change the demographics. Now, this is why I think Republicans might win is because you guys can't deny reality. Nobody wants to say the truth. Nobody wants to say the truth that somebody can cross a border illegally.

32:07Of course someone can cross a border illegally. And that's why you guys lose people. That's why you lose middle America. Of course people can cross illegally. The question is, were they incited to cross? No, I asked you, what word would you use to describe crossing a border illegally? Crossing a border illegally. Okay, so you agree. Can I bring this combo back to Elon Musk for a second? because Carolyn just said that she has no problem with the world's richest person buying off an entire political party. The entire federal government works for Elon Musk. He is single-handedly backing Ken Paxton and paying for his entire campaign right now in Texas.

32:40If it were not for him because Paxton is the worst candidate that anybody is running and lazy can't raise any money, Paxton would already be dead in the water. And you're okay with that, right? Okay, now do George Soros. Now do George Soros. I will do George Soros. Thank you for that. No, I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to do this. In the last two years, Elon Musk has spent more money than George Soros has in his entire life on politics. Money isn't the only thing that can influence politics. Money is the most important thing that matters to the Republican Party, certainly for Republicans.

33:02Sadly, you know, just look at Kamala Harris. She spent a billion dollars to lose just because you spend an enormous amount of money. My point is that money in politics isn't the only thing that makes you win or lose. He can spend all the money he wants, but the fact is if the base isn't energized, they're not going to turn out. There's no amount of money or tricks to do that. But I actually want to take on now the substance of what he was saying. Me too. Right? Because, indeed, Kamala Harris herself called for packing the Supreme Court. Let's listen. I believe that we need to expand the Supreme Court.

33:34We need more justices on the Supreme Court so that we can have a court that actually reinforces the spirit and principles behind the Constitution of the United States. I believe that we should be pushing for what is possible around changing the Electoral College. Right? Because what's going on? Well, it's about, you know, the popular vote has to matter. Right? And we do know that Democrats would love to, if not Puerto Rico, certainly D.C. and statehood. So is this a real concern? It's very concerning. Unchecked illegal immigration, packing the Supreme Court, and the statehood. I think the majority of Americans would think those are very, very controversial planks.

34:19What is statehood controversial? As a D.C. resident, I want to know. Why does the MSC deserve the right to vote? Have you ever heard of the Constitution, Article 1, Section 8? Have you ever heard that Puerto Ricans have their own culture and their own rules? Iowans have their own culture, too. What does that matter? Georgians do from Florida. Right. What does that matter? I would like to ask Puerto Rico whether they would like to be a state. Puerto Ricans have voted before. I believe they said they do. Okay. Well, anyway, it's a highly popular one. Let's be real. This is not about statehood. This is about partisan politics.

34:49If it was a red territory, Democrats would be up in arms. They have a Republican governor. If Republicans wanted to add a red territory to the United States. The reason that Carolyn opposes it is she doesn't want to have more Democratic senators. Oh, I'm so sorry. I apologize for that. Are you? Yeah, of course. But anyway, don't charm me. They have a Republican governor, and Hispanics tend to, honestly, lead more conservative anyways. You're right. But here's the other thing about the Supreme Court. Let's put this into context. The Republicans have stolen two Supreme Court seats from the Democrats.

35:15So they are now mad that we're going to reset that after what they did to Merrick Garland. You guys like to use stolen way too loosely. A second ago, you were saying the Democrats imported 10 million people like they ordered them on Amazon. I'm glad that we finally were able to agree on that. The Supreme Court has opposed the president on some key policies. Let's not forget tariffs. Let's not forget birthright citizens. Everything. They have hardly been a rubber stamp. They have been an absolute rubber stand for everything that Donald Trump wants to do, including giving him immunity for all of his crimes, basically.

35:43We're going to leave it there. Next, a J.D. Vance answer to a question on affordability becomes, what else, a mean. We'll discuss.

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37:08With just four days to go until the midterms, the Trump administration is still having some trouble answering one of the most urgent questions it's facing from voters. What are you doing to make life more affordable in this country? So tonight, J.D. Vance is going viral for another puzzling response in a long list of unforced errors from the White House when it comes to the affordability crisis. Listen. How does the right and yourself expect us to start families young when, you know, the average price of a home in America now costs more than$415 ,000, which just feels out of reach for us? Sure, sure.

37:47Well, first of all, again, thank you for the question and thanks for the support. I want to point out that I think that I've been asked four or maybe five questions by my count. I've only been asked one question about John Huston's ass, and it was by Jesse Water. I think the premise of your question is Republicans, I would say everybody, but certainly my side included, that we don't pay enough attention to the affordability problems that are affecting young people. And I would say you're absolutely right. Most Republicans don't. I think that I'm an exception, but I think that our entire party, our entire movement, and certainly I think the president of the United States is very focused.

38:24I'm an exception. Vance went on to blame the Biden administration and Wall Street for rising housing costs in the U.S. He says that closing the border and Trump's executive order banning institutional investors from buying single family homes will help. We've been talking this hour about the closing arguments of the Democrats and the Republicans and how some of that messaging has gotten a little muddled. And I think this is another example, perhaps, of that. Karina, I'm going to start with you. You had a young woman there earnestly talking about an issue that really affected her. This was an opportunity to not dismiss it, not take it as a joke.

39:03And that's not what J.D. Vance did. Yeah, he's really tripping over himself. He's trying this calm strategy where it's sort of, I'm going to put my arm around the voter and try to be like them. Try to be relatable. Make a joke. He also did this when he was talking about Middle Eastern countries, I believe, earlier this week and basically quipping that, you know, he couldn't pronounce half of them anyways. When I was covering the RNC, something that voters were excited about about J.D. Vance was sort of his American success story, being somebody who came from a hard upbringing and became educated, became an impressive senator and now the vice president of the United States.

39:39What voters liked about him wasn't that he was sort of trying to be a different version of Donald Trump. That's what he's trying to do. And I think, for lack of a better word, it's incredibly cringe. Yeah. It was really disappointing to see because in all these scenarios when people go up to the mic, especially young people, I think it's oftentimes combative. And this was specifically an environment where it was people who voted for, not only voted for, but on their campuses, like outside. Their roles are in young politics. She talked about how she was in a position of leadership with Turning Point USA.

40:10say. So I think when you even have somebody like that, a young woman like that, who's like, I'm on your team here. I'm just asking you because at Turning Point, you say, get married, build families, have babies. And I'm sitting over here on my calculator doing the math. And I just want to know how can I do exactly what's been asked of me that that actually is a part of my core value. That was a really disappointing. It was a gimme. It was some answers. Like he has some policy knowledge. He's one of the major proponents of the child tax credit, for instance, but he just totally dismissed it with it.

40:39It was like locker room. Yeah, like him and Jesse were like locker room. That young woman, she reminded me of one of my students. It's not easy to ask the vice president a question, and it was such a shame. Yeah, such a lost opportunity. And this just points to what polling is saying. You know, CNN's most recent poll, the most important issue in choice for Congress, economy, cost of living, 43%. This is an issue that is absolutely front and center for every single American. And then if you look at which party would do a better job of dealing with cost of living, it's Democrats plus 12. So you have an opportunity for J.D.

41:16Vance to make the case, and he didn't. He doesn't have a case. If they had a case, they would do it right now. They promised to make everything less expensive on day one. I feel really bad for this young woman. I'm sure we have profound policy disagreements, but she was earnestly asking, the potential next leader of her party for some clarity on how to build her life. And young people in this country, young men, young women, everybody in between, they're looking. How do I build a life? How do I find a mate? How do I buy a house? How do I take care of my kids? How do I retire with dignity? Well, he did mention the housing, to be fair.

41:44That was a Republican executive order and a congressional initiative. He mentioned the housing. They've done nothing on housing that's actually making a difference. In fact, I would argue their tariffs have made building new housing. They banned Wall Street from buying up houses. They have not actually banned Wall Street, please. They have not banned Wall Street for buying up houses. It's an executive order and a congressional initiative. It's an executive order that doesn't do anything. You can go look it up. I'll also say the housing bill, you know, Trump famously did not want to sign it. Yes.

42:07Right. This was a different one. Yes. No, I understand. The executive order doesn't actually do that. It doesn't stand up. It's not stopping Wall Street from doing anything. There's congressional legislation that passed. And has it been signed? Yeah. But we're going to end, I think, with some consensus, which is J.D. Vance perhaps did not answer the question in the way that he should have. And next, we'll react to your feedback from CNN.com.

42:42Now, viewer feedback from CNN.com. Y 'all were spicy tonight. All right. All right. It is not packing the Supreme Court. It is reforming it. What Mitch McConnell did was packing the Supreme Court. Agreed. Oh, my gosh. 100%. Wait, so we're just going to expand it when one side gets power and the other side gets power? I agree. I agree. Why don't you have two Republican... Let's have 61 justices. Give us our two seats back. We won't expand it. You stole it. You don't like it. No. Win an election, which you might. Yeah, well, let's talk on one side. Not on that. All right. About Haley Stevens. As a woman, I know how petty we can be when we are bitter.

43:23Oh. Whoa. Emily Stevens is. We don't care about this childish thing. We are about our cost of living. Is she bitter? I'm going to let you all take that. Some of the most petty people I've ever met in my life are men. Okay, so let's not start this sentence like that. I don't think she is bitter. She endorsed immediately after losing. I do think let's rein in the fiancé a bit. How about that? She only lost her primary by one point. So her supporters are a significant part of this election. That's absolutely right. And I think it would be a miscalculation for El-Saya to alienate them. She's not petty.

44:00She's just not ready for primetime. She's also, oh, I think, sincerely concerned about Democrats alienating Jewish voters. Yes, it's sour-grace, guys. They absolutely are. That's the only reason you do this four days out. I mean, just to that point, and I don't doubt her sincerity on the cause and the issue. Okay. You know. Yeah. I mean, why should I? We agree, yeah, yeah. But is this really the moment? Yes, I think so. It shouldn't be mutually exclusive to call out members of your party. It should be the moment when it's least politically convenient to stand up for the things that you believe in.

44:33And I'll say something. These are the last four days that anyone's going to care what Haley Stevens has to say. So she's getting the most out of it. Oh. Oh. Okay, that's a little harsher than even these comments. A few more. Watching Newsnight these last two years has helped keep me sane and informed. Thanks for the lifeline. And Abby, wherever you are, this is obviously for you, so we will pass it on to all the guests, obviously, that have been here for the past two years. And now I am going to read a couple about my glasses. I'm sorry, but not a good choice in glasses, says one viewer. And another says, love her, but the glasses aren't working for me.

45:12All right, friends. No, put it back on. No, no. We love the glasses. The glasses are staying. The glasses are staying because guess what? I get to read. And just this last one, last one. I mean, get rid of the dude. He's not as smart as the rest of them. Plus, they are hot. And on that note, on that note. That's so mean. My politics are hotter. I agree. Get rid of me. Mike is both smart and hot, as are the rest of us. Even with my glasses. Everyone, thanks for being here. Tomorrow, the comedians of Have I Got News For You are joined by David Alan Greer and Sam Jay. here is a sneak peek of what they have in store.

45:51At a rally last week, Barack Obama said that Donald Trump was making the White House look like, quote, Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory. Now, it's all comics up here. Was that a good joke? Let's just start right there off the top. Yeah. It was decent. I like it. A little elitist. On what grounds? Because he's talking down on cheesecake? Cheesecake factory is a fine restaurant. He wasn't talking about the food. He was talking about the way them shits look like the eye of someone. I was going to say the decor. Just the decor. It's still a little elitist. I don't think it's elitist, because look, the Cheesecake Factory is supposed to look fun and a little silly.

46:29It's perfect. Oh, wow, that's how I know you and the leaders, because the Cheesecake Factory is supposed to look serious and, like, it's for fine diamonds. That's how I know you and the leaders. But the White House... This is why Republicans win, because all these people and they, Brian, they're like, I think we fucked up. She's getting married at a cheesecake factory. That's what they're for. She loves cheesecake factory. Don't nobody love it like I love it, but when I go to the White House and it has stuff in common with the cheesecake factory, that is funny. That is American.

47:09You can catch the all-new episode tomorrow at 9 p.m. on CNN and on the CNN app. A quick programming note before we go. The countdown until tomorrow continues. Tomorrow, catch more Roundtable at 10 a.m. Eastern with Table for Five. And don't miss a special election edition of Newsnight Saturday at 10 p.m. Eastern. And thank you for watching Newsnight. Laura Coates Live starts right now. The real cost of a break-in isn't your valuables. It's the feeling that your home stopped being safe. SimpliSafe keeps danger away from your family with three layers of protection. One, smart AI cameras and live U.S.-based agents help stop intruders before they break in.

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