Trump Ally Amid Internal WH Jockeying: “You Can’t Trust Anybody Here”

0:00This holiday all plans even unlimited are just$15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song, like All I Want. Right. Okay, we can afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for a 12-month plan required,$15 per month equivalent, taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. at farmers we go out of our way to keep you in the know like by singing everything for emphasis that and by providing you with coverage on a page an easy to understand language so you know what's covered and what's not no confusing legalese that no one gets in full transparency we do have to put a disclaimer at the end of this ad though just being honest that's what you get when you have farmers learn more at farmers.com underwritten by farmers truck or fire insurance exchanges or affiliate.

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1:07Special edition of Outfront Tonight, countdown to election night. President Trump in North Carolina right now trying to save his handpicked candidate who's struggling in the polls at this moment. And Trump offering up more money to Americans as it's countdown to election day. Also breaking more House and Senate races moving in the Democratic direction, including the Senate race in Mississippi. And The Wall Street Journal tonight reporting it was Elon Musk who ordered the slowdown of Starlink that has hurt Ukraine so much in recent days amid a deepening rift between the U.S. and Ukraine. And Trump, of course, let's go out front.

1:43And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett and welcome to this special edition of Outfront Countdown to Election Day, which is now less than two weeks away because, you know, we're on Tuesday night, so we'll be almost done voting in two weeks. And in these final days, the president is tonight in North Carolina trying to keep the state's current Republican Senate seat from turning Carolina blue. Trump has his work cut out for him, though, because a new poll from North Carolina shows Trump's candidate, Michael Watley, trailing the state's former governor, Democrat Roy Cooper, by double digits. I mean, that is a massive, a massive differential.

2:14That's not a neck and neck poll. And it doesn't stop there. One of the nation's top election forecasters tonight, Larry Sabato, moving 28 House races towards Democrats, and that is across 20 states, not a single one moving in the Republican direction. The Cook political report tonight is moving two Senate races in the deep south to the left, those states, Mississippi and South Carolina. Now, it is no wonder, given all of that, that Republicans are now keeping their distance from Trump. In fact, John Sununu really takes the cake on this. Let's just show you this new ad from the New Hampshire Republican Senate candidate, and that is, of course, John Sununu.

2:50The way Chris Pappas tells it, I'm President Trump's long lost son. I've never even met the man. I mean, here's the thing. It's not like it was an interview where it just came out. I mean, he recorded an ad. They checked it. He probably did like 20 takes. It wasn't a slip of the tongue. Never met the man. It's a whole new level of napalm from a man that Republicans used to follow all over themselves to get close to and say that they knew. And Sununu is not alone. He's joining a long list of Republicans now running from Trump. Byron Donald is even on the list. He goes in 33 days. He is running for governor in Florida.

3:26Donald's all about a race Trump from his campaign website. It was literally a day where, you know, it was Trump all over it, and then the next day he was gone. And Fox News tonight shifted that race in the direction of the Democratic nominee David Jolly. So there are warning signs, obviously, and that seemed to tee Trump up to offer, once again, money to people. This time, if they report cases of corruption or fraud. If you turn somebody in and you, let's say, report and you find a billion dollars, we are giving a commission to that person of one percent. Now, when it comes to putting billions on things, if we're going to look at people who are involved in billion dollar gains on corruption, well, that just is going to raise a whole lot of questions, isn't it?

4:14It comes less than 24 hours after Trump promised American farmers more money as well. I'm also pleased to announce that the Department of Agriculture will be launching a new harvest fuel relief program providing our farmers with$8 billion in support. And, of course, there's the$5 ,000 checks. Remember that Trump said that Americans would get all Americans if Republicans kept control of Congress. One thing is for sure when it comes down to actually what Americans think about all this, they're already voting. So far, more than 11 million votes have been cast in 41 states as well as the District of Columbia.

4:53And more and more in Americans are turning out. You're seeing numbers that are back up or topping even presidential years in some states. But Trump's issue message on issue number one for voters, at least, remains the same. We have more growth than this country has ever had. And we have more growth than any country in the world is having. right now. We have the single greatest moment in the history of our country in terms of the economy. Now, America does not have more growth than it's ever had. That's just fact. It's very easy to see. But in fact, if you look at the most recent quarterly growth, it was half the rate as it was in the same quarter of 2023, just as one example.

5:35So Trump lied there and Americans know it, which is why he is spending his final weeks on the road traveling to the reddest of red states that should not be issues for Republicans, but now are major question marks. North Carolina's special place. Hello to Oklahoma. We love Alabama. I love Nebraska. Hello to the great state of Texas. Very special. Hello to Tennessee. I like Ohio. Hello, Montana. Say a very special hello to Arizona. Thank you, Alaska. Hello, Georgia. A very special hello to Kentucky. Thank you very much, Kansas. I love you, Kansas. Kristen Holmes is out front in Greenville, North Carolina.

6:21That's where Trump is tonight. And Kristen, you've got some new reporting, I know. What are you learning? Well, Erin, even though those midterms are two weeks away, inside the White House, the knives are out. There is fear of a rampage by President Trump if they do lose those midterms, particularly both the Senate and the House. and it's led to some brutal internal jockeying. One, we have seen knives out for Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. There was some perception among some of the administration that because she was not there when Katie Zachariah had been hired, that that meant that President Trump was looking for replacements.

6:55We've seen multiple reports on that. We've seen the attacks and the reports on James Blair, as well as Chris LaCivita. We know that in addition to those different allies, There are administration officials across the board who are looking for potential openings. There have been conversations, speculation that some cabinet officials might want to get out before Democrats take over. Fear of those Democratic investigations. One of the people that there's been much speculation about is Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who is expected to be a very vain focus for those Democrats right out of the gate.

7:32Another speculation has been around Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, that he's going to try and leave and go into some kind of lucrative private energy industry. Just right now, the real focus, Erin, is that the knives are out and you're seeing that leaking and that infighting that this administration this time around had been very good at controlling. Yeah, yeah. And now it's just the fact that you're already seeing that, as you said, two weeks away. And before we get to everyone here at the table, I want to just encourage everyone watching, since we are, well, as I said, less than two weeks away from the elections, please join in the conversation.

8:08We want you tonight, if you can, submit questions that you might have about the midterms, CNN.com slash Engage Politics. And our panel is going to go through them and answer some of them coming up this hour because they're going to be here throughout the whole hour. So, OK, now everyone's here. So, Essie, Trump is standing next to Michael Watley tonight. Wattley, yeah. Wattley, okay, in North Carolina. But John Sununu. This is my favorite story of the day. So I don't know if we have it, I can play it again. Play it again. It is. They'll let me know if they can pull it down. I'll play it again in a second.

8:40But I mean, it's really incredible. It's incredible. His thinking is so clear and he wants everyone to know it. There are ways to distance yourself from the president. We've seen Susan Collins in Maine say, well, I didn't accept all of Trump's tariffs. We've seen Mike Rogers in Michigan say, I wasn't totally with him on the war. People scrubbed from the website. To come out in an ad and say to the camera, I've never even met the guy, is remarkable, especially for someone with the last name Sununu, which is just synonymous with Republican politics in New Hampshire. It's amazing. It is so blatant.

9:17I've never even met him. Couldn't pick him out of a lineup. Who is that guy? All right, we got it. Let's play it. Let's play it. The way Chris Pappas tells it, I'm President Trump's long-lost son. I've never even met the man. Never even met him. Don't know him. I don't know who that guy is. Sorry. I mean, he had to practice that expression. I mean, that expression of like, who's Donald Trump? I mean, it probably, I mean, you know, as soon as a talented guy at the cameras, but that was most certainly not his first take on it. Really lucky that Donald Trump will see this ad and call him a loser and he'll get an extra boost.

9:55Right, exactly right. I mean, does it work? Does it work? For Sununu in New Hampshire, I don't know how it could possibly work. I mean, he's not John Donovan. I mean, that name is, as he says, completely synonymous with Republicanism in that state. And we're less than two weeks away. I mean, he's doing it to do no harm. I mean, at the end of the day, you know, that is a state in which he is competitive. Republicans are very bullish on that state and on him winning. So what he's trying to do there, I mean, laughter aside, is obviously separate himself from the president to not upset maybe Democrats who might vote for him and independents who might vote for him.

10:36But he didn't have to say anything, which is amazing. He didn't really have to do that. No, he didn't have to do any of this. What others have done, which is just scrub Trump off their websites but don't talk about it or out of the ads. To me, the biggest problem is, is we're talking about a state that Donald Trump has never won, right? We're not talking about Texas. We're not talking about Georgia. We're not talking about North Carolina. We're not talking about Kansas. We're talking about a state that Donald Trump has lost three times in a general election. And Republicans may be bullish on it, but I'll tell you this much.

11:03If I look up on election night and John Sununu has won in New Hampshire, I know exactly how that night's going to go. And that is Republicans are not only going to hold the Senate, they're going to hold it with ease. This is a state where there was one poll that came out, I think, a few months ago that had the race. It's Johnson, who I think actually up by two points, but well within the margin of error. But every single other poll since then has had Chris Pappas, the Democratic nominee, ahead, if anything, that lead whining. I don't think that ad helps. But you know what? When you're behind, throw stuff against the wall.

11:30Maybe it will stick. So we talk about the top concern. Obviously, for many voters, it was the economy. And then there was that recent Fox poll, I see, that showed it was corruption, right? The corruption was the top thing. So Trump saw that because it's on Fox. And so now he's going to pay people if they expose corruption. I'll play again the claim here of the money you could get. The kind of money that's been stolen is trillions from this country by crooked politicians that made things and set things up. Crooked attorney generals like we have in New York, like we have in Minnesota, like we have.

12:08I can name all of them. I don't know if, you know, how much money they're getting, but he's saying, you know, it's a percent. So if it's a billion, it's a lot. Now, I mean, just according to Forbes, Trump is an estimated$2.7 billion richer now than he was when he came into office. So, you know, what's the corruption that voters are most worried about? Well, just before air, the White House official X account posted this, right? If you've seen fraud, if you notice fraud, they're all in it here. And it was a long list of people pointing to Trump and then listing all of the people he is pardoned for fraud.

12:47Right. So, I mean, this really just probably unintentionally draws attention, draws the eye to Trump's own corruption and this problem of corruption. So does Eric Dieters, who exposed Kimberly Gwilfoyle and says there's more to come, does he get paid a finder's fee percent of the Amex bill? There really is something of O.J. looking for the real killer. Yeah, if I did it. If I did it. And, you know, I mean, it really goes on and on. We talk about the hard. It's like 15 minutes before we went on air, the New York Times came up with us, came out with an exclusive story about another group, bunch of people being hired who are friendly with Trump, a former lawyer, two former lawyers for a billionaire to get a pardon.

13:29And it just never stops. And that's what people associate when they're thinking corruption. When those polls that Harry is going to cite talk about corruption, they're thinking of this administration. They're not thinking of Tish James. And that is what the polling shows. The polls show that Democrats have a double-digit advantage on which party is more trusted on corruption. We're a long way away from 2016 in which corruption was an issue that Donald Trump hammered Hillary Clinton over and over and over again. Trump's net approval rating on corruption is minus 20, minus 30 points. perhaps even worse depending on which poll you look at.

14:02The name of the game has stayed the same, but the game is fought over a very different ground from what it once was. All right, so Lulu, Trump has a new talking point, and that is if you do not elect Republicans, this is a new one in just recent days, right? Because of all the images we saw, Lumoges' town hall in France burning over the weekend. If you don't elect Republicans, you're going to get France. Here he is. If you want to see what is at stake in this election, just look at what's happening in France, a once great nation that is being conquered, looted and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists and communists who hate Christianity.

14:43Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon. And that wasn't the deal. These are people that hate France, but they've been let in. They hate France, but they've been let in. And you have to get them out. Jihadists and communists is an unholy alliance, as he's saying there. I mean, but does that capture people at this point with, what, 13 days to go? It's what he's got, and this is what he's been doing since he went down the golden escalator and started calling Mexicans rapists. I mean, that is, his message has always been, everyone else is scary. I will save you from all those scary people, whether they be Muslims, whether they be brown people from different countries, whether they be African migrants.

15:27And so it's almost, in his view, a gift that this is happening there because he can say, look, you know, the madness that will engulf your cities when the left is in power, because these are, you know, these problems in France are sponsored by the left, you know, the protests, et cetera. So, you know, this is very typical for him. But I don't think at this point it's going to have the same impact. It just isn't because people are worried about real things, which are the price at the pump, which is how much it's going to cost me for my groceries, how much my electricity is costing me, and if I can get health care.

16:03But it's the next best thing to a caravan. There it is. Yeah. It's not quite a caravan because it's not as close. It's not on our border. Are you saying French? It's the next. Caravan. Caravan. But it's the next best thing. And I think Lulu's right that most voters are really laser focused on the economy. But there's a lot of voters for whom this is a turnout driver, for whom the fear of the crazy socialists and the crazy muslims are the worst game. Because the caravan comes to the border. To the border. And this is happening in France. And people don't fully understand what is happening there, why it's happening.

16:38And so I don't think it's quite the gift. I said it's the next best thing. It's the next best thing. There's not quite as good. Ocean away. There's another someone is lying that I'm curious, George, what you think about. And that is the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of Starlink, the military grade level Starlink that was helping Ukraine fight the Russians. And Zelensky's talked about how in recent days, how that has rendered them in many cases powerless when it comes to civilian strikes. And, you know, there had been denial from Musk's camp about that, denial that Trump and Musk never talked about it.

17:06The Wall Street Journal is saying Elon Musk ordered it. And according to the journal, a person familiar with the situation said Musk talked to Trump about it beforehand. Okay. So Trump, by the way, said he knew nothing about it. Yeah. I mean, how could the president of the United States not know it? And Musk was pointing out earlier correctly that this is, you know, Starlink-based, but it is a U.S. government asset. It's a U.S. government operation that runs this. And so how could the president not have known it? And Musk saying that he talked about it with Trump means that Trump knew. Well, that's Musk essentially saying that's what he wanted me to do.

17:42Right. Yeah. It's like they kind of pointed each other, but they end up making each other culpable. Does this, Lulu, add up to anything, though, I mean, for Trump at this moment? This incredible because you see it in certain circles, just that incredul, incredul, incredulation, whatever the word I'm not making a word here. But Tom Tillis was talking about it, you know, about Trump and Putin at this moment and the closeness there. I mean, it's not just the closeness. This is actually leading to people dying, children dying in a country that was attacked and taken over by Russia. This isn't some sort of hypothetical thing.

18:15This is actually something that is having enormous repercussions for Ukraine. And beyond that, we have a president of the United States who is calling for having a meeting and a summit with Putin and Xi Jinping in China to have to sort of carve up the world. I mean, it is unimaginable that this is American foreign policy at the moment. He is desperate to get a win. He thinks by backing Putin and going against Ukraine that this will wrap up the war. But, you know, quite frankly, I don't think the Europeans are going to have it because they see the wolf on their door and they rightly know that it's Russia.

18:53But it is just cataclysmic for Ukraine and Ukrainians. It is a picture of that baby yesterday. Thank you all very much. But of course, everyone staying with me. And please, as I said, send send in your comments and questions because we're here to discuss that with you coming up as well as the breaking news. Next, the Cook Political Report moving to crucial Senate races in the Democrats direction. These are races in Republican strongholds and Republicans closing message with candidates in tight races going all in on. No, not France. Transgender issues. So is that really what voters want? and these final hours.

19:28And a political ad shaking up the tight race for governor in Ohio. Republicans and Democrats both slamming it. It features the estranged mother of Vivek Ramaswamy's Democratic opponent.

19:44This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just$15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song, like all I want. Right. Okay, we can't afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for a 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. When it comes to my policy, Farmers gives it to me straight, so there's no surprises.

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20:48Breaking news. Two Senate races in the Deep South, Mississippi and South Carolina, just shifting towards the Democrats, one of America's top elections forecasters, making this major projection tonight. The bright spot for Republicans, though, the only one in this forecast is Minnesota. The Cook Report is moving that Senate race toward the GOP. Out front now is Dave Wasserman, senior editor and elections analyst at the Cook Political Report. So, Dave, let's just start with Mississippi. Big jaw-dropper tonight. Democrat Scott Colum coming out of nowhere trying to upset the Republican incumbent, Cindy Hydesmith.

21:19Now, again, we're talking about Mississippi, so it really wasn't a conversation. But now you're moving it. The race moving from solid Republican to likely Republican. So how is this happening? Well, Erin, it all comes down to candidate quality. That's the common thread. And Cindy Hyde-Smith is not Republican's strongest incumbent. Now, Donald Trump carried Mississippi by 23 points last time. But Hyde-Smith has been a chronic underperformer in her elections. And she committed an unforced error in this previously sleepy race when she said in an interview she appeared to downplay the increase in the price of beef, saying that consumers have many proteins to choose from.

22:01And Scott Collum, who's been a crafty Democratic opponent, a county prosecutor, he created an ad leveraging that, saying that it's time for voters to pick another senator. This is still a very Republican and racially polarized state, and it's a very long shot for Democrats. But we don't think that Hyde-Smith's going to win the type of margin that Republicans typically do. All right. So another shift towards Dems that was surprising from your team is in South Carolina. Republican Darlene Graham, who obviously was appointed to the Senate at Trump's behest after her brother Lindsey Graham passed away, she's facing Democrat Annie Andrews.

22:38And Graham's fundraising numbers are anemic, right? She's reeling from gaffes she made early when she said national security is not my thing, as the major example. That race shifting from likely to lean Republican. And I guess this brings me to the question I have here, Dave, on this, which is that if these races still all end up GOP, right, they go from safe and, you know, 25 points to lean and nine points, right, the GOP still wins them in those scenarios. What does the shift, though, from a double-digit win to a single-digit win in states like these mean big picture? It means that even in reliably Republican places, we're seeing problems pop up where national Republicans have to start spending money.

23:20And what happened in this race is Annie Andrews, who's a pediatrician, she's tough to attack because she doesn't have a voting record to defend. She outraised Darlene Graham massively, 9.4 million to 1.5 million in the last quarter. And as my colleague Jessica Taylor noted in her analysis, Andrews had the airwaves to herself for a long time for a few weeks. And that forced Republican Super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, to go in with$5 million to bail Graham out. We still think she'll win maybe by high single digits, but in polls, this is a close race. And so we've talked about a lot moving to the left.

23:56As I said, there was one race moving the other direction, just one. So I want to highlight it so you can explain what's going on there. And that is Minnesota going from likely to lean Democrat. This is an open race. There's not an incumbent on the ballot, but you've got the lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan as the Democrat facing Michelle Tafoya, a well-known longtime sports broadcaster on the Republican side. And, you know, you've had Trump and Vance talking a lot about Minnesota. Trump brought it up today, right, in his saying, I'll give you a cut of any corruption you turn in. He brought in the Minnesota Attorney General into that, talking about corruption.

24:28Is that message what's working there? Well, again, candidate quality. Democrats, they nominated Tim Walz's Lieutenant Governor, Peggy Flanagan, who harnessed the energy on the left following Operation Metro Surge, if Democrats had nominated a more centrist candidate or someone who was more removed from the Walls administration and the welfare fraud scandal, Angie Craig, they wouldn't be in this position. But Flanagan is slightly underwater in terms of her personal image. And Republicans have a former NFL sport, a sideline reporter, Michelle Tafoya, who's reminding voters that she's a pro-choice Republican trying to create some separation from Donald Trump.

25:10We still think that Flanagan is going to win by several points, but this is now one of the closer races that Democrats have to defend out of their own seats. All right. Thank you very much, Dave Wasserman, as always. And next, Trump reviving a baseless conspiracy theory in the final days of the election. We have five states where your child goes off to school as Tim and comes back as Tammy. Three or four days, that's true. So is that resonating with people now? Plus, we want you to join the conversation. As I said, head to CNN.com slash Engage Politics. We'll be answering your questions coming up.

25:52Lulu and Harry are already in the chat. You can see them busily typing away because they're in there. It's Harry looking at Lulu's notes. Check it out. We'll be right back.

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26:44Tonight, a new Republican focus. Well, not new, but a resurgent Republican focus on transgender issues. Republican Senate candidate Darlene Graham out with a new ad. It features Senator Tim Scott. South Carolina, I know we're tired of the ads, but Democrat Annie Andrews, she's just too dangerous, radical and weird. Andrews wants men to play girls in sports. Well, Andrews has released her own ad saying she wants no such thing and she doesn't support biological men playing in women's sports. But it comes as Trump is on the campaign trail and he is reigniting a false conspiracy theory that he first raised in 2024.

27:21And that theory is that some schools are secretly sending kids to hospitals for gender surgeries without the knowledge of their parents. We have five states where your child goes off to school as Tim and comes back as Tammy. Three or four days, that's true. And teachers make, somebody makes a decision. Can you imagine? Goodbye, Timmy. I love you so much. I'll see you later. and you say, where's my son? My son is in the hospital. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? They don't even need approval. It's sick. It would be sick. It's just not true. I don't know where it gets to five states. I mean, there is no state in America in which a school can send a child to a hospital for elective surgery without parental approval.

28:12Not one. And the White House itself cannot provide one example to prove Trump's claim. Out front now, Mark Sanford, the former Republican governor of South Carolina, He ran in the primary to fill Lindsey Graham's seat. And Anderson Clayton, the chair of North Carolina's Democratic primary. Both of your states, of course, where the president is tonight and going tomorrow. So, Governor Sanford, when you endorsed Ralph Norman over Darlene Graham in the runoff, you said, and I quote you, the stakes are simply too high as our nation really is at a financial tipping point. But here we are with 13 days left.

28:44And Graham's new ad tonight is not about the economy. It's about transgender athletes. Is that going to help at this point with South Carolina voters? I don't think so. I mean, I suspect what they've done is they pulled it and that's the most lethal weapon that they have. But I think it's off topic because the preponderance of folks that I talk to in and around South Carolina are worried about the economy. They're worried about affordability. They're worried about inflation. I mean, and so I guess it's a way of changing the subject of what's going on in working for you. Let's change the subject.

29:21But I don't see this as the issue that's going to move swing voters. But time will tell. Anderson is also coming up in your Senate race in North Carolina, where Roy Cooper is leading the Republican challenger, Michael Watley, by massive double digits in the latest poll tonight. But Watley is with Trump right now. And just a few moments ago, he said this. he is going to fight for a radical agenda that puts boys and girls sports and allows transgender mutilation surgeries i'll note that cooper as governor did veto house bills in 2023 that banned gender-affirming health care for transgender minors and another banning transgender girls and women from playing on teams that align with their gender identity say that 10 times fast I'm curious, though, Anderson, as to whether you think them bringing this up in North Carolina and trying to bring all, you know, put this back on the front burner again is going to hurt.

30:17You think they're pulling it as well? Look, Governor Cooper's had a legacy and a record in North Carolina as one of the top law enforcement officers in the state when he was both attorney general and governor. And we fully expect North Carolinians to see him as the public servant that we need in Congress right now to focus on lowering costs for everyday North Carolinians. Because as we've seen from this administration, they do not care about the price that you're paying at the pump or what it's costing in a grocery store line right now for folks across this state. And especially across both Carolinas in that aspect.

30:49The South right now has seen record breaking economic turmoil from tariffs alone, from farmers across our states. North Carolina has the second highest rural population than any other state in the country other than Texas. And it means to say that agriculture right now is suffering across our state, which is the number one economic driver that we have in North Carolina. So early voting data, Anderson, when we look at it in your state shows a major boost in early voting compared to the 2022 midterms. And obviously, you know, we've still got quite a ways to go, but it's up 38 percent. So if you look at the composition of that, Democrats make up about 45 percent of the turnout so far.

31:27So they're doing very well. I'm just curious, though, as to whether you read anything into that, because clearly Republicans could come up later. Things could happen on Election Day. Right. I mean, but what do you read into it as someone who knows these numbers and knows the detailed history better than anyone? I mean, polls just closed in North Carolina and we just had another record breaking early vote turnout for Democrats in the state. And we're expected to keep up that momentum. But as you said, it's less than a week out for how many days that we've had from early voting starting. And we just want to make sure that we keep our foot to the gas pedal in every way, shape and form, because North Carolina is not just trying to get folks to turn out for a U.S.

32:09Senate race. But we're also looking down ballot and state legislative races in North Carolina, like Claire Kempner out there in Greenville. North Carolina, where Donald Trump is today, because her state legislative district is in play this year, thanks to Republicans in both Raleigh and in Congress and the bad policies that they've created coming out of both of those two areas. So, Governor, what do you think of the early voting numbers that you're seeing? I mean, not just in South Carolina, but everywhere, because there are a lot of them now coming out. And, you know, you compare them to 2024, you compare them to 2020, and all those comparisons are out there.

32:40But what do you read into it? there's nothing to read into it i mean i think it's fairly obvious which is you have an energized democratic base and you have a lot of republicans that are sort of sitting on the fence i was in texas this weekend for a wedding and it was amazing to me the number of folks out there saying i i just can't vote for paxton i just can't do it and there'd be arguments at the dinner table people to know you have to here's why whatnot but the fact that that conversation is taking place in Texas. The fact that Trump, I mean, the sort of most basic rule of politics is you need to be extending the lines, not sort of playing defense.

33:20But the fact that Trump is going to spend the last week in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which ought to be just, I mean, gangbuster states for him, says everything. Right now, Republicans are playing defense, and deservedly so, given what's happened in terms of disappointing a lot of folks on the Bayside with war, with inflation, with tariffs and go down the list. All right. Well, that's an interesting anecdote you had, too, about the wedding in Texas. We'll see where those conversations end, right? Whether people actually get up and go do that vote for Paxson or stay home, I guess, or maybe some of them vote for James Tallarico.

33:57We'll see. Thank you both very much. I appreciate it. And breaking news, Vivek Ramaswamy heckled at his own town hall after a viral video featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, urges people not to vote for her own daughter.

34:20Did this backfire? And Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed calling in former President Obama to keep a once reliable coalition intact. But what is happening to black voters supporting El Syed in the state. And this group, they're all here to answer your questions. They've been online and your questions are next.

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35:51Breaking news. Republican Ohio Governor Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy heckled at his own town hall tonight. A packed house here. Look at this tonight. We're ready to do this. Sir, sir, excuse me. Excuse me. You're going to leave this room. You're going to be. How do you rape her as a child? Sir, sir, if you want to be patient and you want to ask a question at the end, you'll be free to do that. Thank you for making your contribution today. The heckler is, seems to be referring to a controversial new ad featuring the estranged mother of Ramoswani's Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, that's being slammed from both the left and the right.

36:32For context, Acton has been open, but she has not seen her mother since she was 12 years old. When she said her stepfather abused her, he faced criminal charges. Grand jury said charges were merited. Her stepfather and her mother fled the state. Custody was taken away from her mother. This is part of the ad, which was posted online by a blogger. I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, It's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. Don't vote for people who lie. Don't let her become your governor. It honestly gives you chills. It's terribly sad.

37:16Acton herself wasted a little time calling out the ad. It's awful to see her this way. And it's even more incredible to see that my opponent has taken advantage of someone who is who's clearly not well. Masami's campaign did not confirm or deny being behind the ad. Everyone's here with me. I see. I will say that there were some who jumped immediately to retweet it, to say, oh, look, your own mother and then took it back and said, I'm ashamed that that that is disgusting. And that ad is horrid. It is. It's indefensible. And just on the politics of it, it's also really, really dumb. And any good political operative would have looked at that and said, this is going to backfire spectacularly on you for two reasons.

38:08One, it makes her a sympathetic person, like deeply sympathetic. But two, it goes right to the heart of the idea that people already had about Vivek Ramaswamy, which is that he's slimy and creepy and craven. And this goes right at that. And finally, it just puts Republicans in a position to have to defend a pedophile two weeks before an election when the Epstein files are still out in the ether. I mean, it just makes no sense. And now, I think this ad is going to jeopardize races even maybe outside of Ohio for Republicans. I mean, it really is a horrific thing. It's a horrific thing. It's a low in our political discourse, and that is saying something considering where we've been.

38:59I mean, the story that she has lived, she talks about how she lived in tents where she was begging for food at times and then being abused by her, and not just abused but actually raped by her stepfather. and then being taken and given stability by her actual father. And so instead of that story being celebrated, regardless of your political lens, what is happening is they're trying to undermine that using her own mother who... Who fled the state. Who fled the state. Who fled the state. And so this is just, in every single way, political malpractice, but also morally repugnant. I think that's what it is.

39:48It just makes you feel sick. George, we asked viewers earlier to submit comments and questions, and we've got a whole lot. I want to read one because I know you were all in the chat. I'll pose one to you. One of our viewers asked, quote, if the blue wave comes, should Dems spend time prosecuting corruption or rebuilding the lives of constituents? That's actually a really crucial question. Do you get the power and then go do what was done to you, even if it's justified because there was corruption? Or do you say, I'm going to fix the potholes? I think you have to do both. I think you have to figure out a way to do both.

40:19I mean, I think the theme of this election for the Democrats has to be kind of like the theme that won in Hungary, which is that the corruption and the well-being of the people are closely related. And I think that one of the things about going after the corruption and revealing the corruption is important because we need to create a record so that this never happens again. And I don't think it's, you know, I know that some people make these arguments about, well, you're just having this, you know, this continual revenge from one administration to another. But there's a big difference here. There's real corruption here.

41:00I mean, this is, you know, this is there. There are things to investigate each and every day. And we see it. And that's why the polls are showing that people are really sensitized to the corruption. The two are tied. The two are tied. A lot of people think that the system is rigged in some sort of way, right? And that's why they think that the politicians can't solve what they think is a deepening economic crisis. And so to me, I think George is exactly right. You have to go after both because they're literally one in two when they're listed in the different polls. And the Democrats have big advantages on both for a reason.

41:30It's because they want them to come in and actually do something about it. Essie, here's one for you. A viewer wants to know, quote, How fast do you think Republicans who are in the new Congress will turn on Trump? Oh, I mean, you're already I think you're already starting to see signs of that. And that's why I think these elections are so important because of the political consequences. If if Trump and Republicans are trounced, I think that gives permission structure for lots of lawmakers to start planning their exits and distancing themselves. It gives permission structure for Republican and MAGA influencers to start saying, we should be looking past Trumpism now.

42:09I think it would be sort of a domino effect of backing away from this president and this administration. Which is incredible because we have not yet once in 10 years seen it. No. So that would be, that would be. And I will note the time that we came closest to seeing Republicans back away from Donald Trump was after the. January 6th. Well, I was going to say January 6th, but also after the 2022 midterms, when there was an idea that he lost. Losing gives these Republican lawmakers the permission structure to actually go against Donald Trump. All right. Thank you all. And next is Abdul El-Sayed having trouble with black voters in Michigan.

42:51Tonight, Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed campaigning with Senator Raphael Warnock, hoping to fire up a coalition Democrats cannot afford to lose black voters. El-Sayed also hitting the trail with former President Barack Obama later this week, as some black leaders tell our own Jeff Zeleny that the Senate race against Republican Mike Rogers is far closer than it should be. Friends, my name is Abdul El-Sayed. I hope I can earn your support. Let's go fight and win. In the homestretch of the Michigan Senate race, Abdul El-Sayed talks about building a new coalition. The question is whether he can keep the old Democratic coalition intact, starting with black voters, a pivotal group his Republican rival Mike Rogers has spent months working to win over.

43:34Detroit is more conservative than folks would think. Charity Dean leads the Michigan Black Business Alliance and is supporting El Syed, but keeping a wary eye on Rogers. How important are black voters to a winning coalition here? Black voters are underestimated, but super critical. Mike Rogers is clearly trying to make some inroads. He is. Do you think his outreach to black voters is serious? I mean, should it be taken seriously by El-Sahed supporters? Everything should be taken seriously. This is not a campaign. This is not a year where we need to take anything for granted. He seriously tried to campaign.

44:15He seriously wants to win their vote. He seriously doesn't want to make life better for black people. That's not how Nora Evans sees it. Do you think the Democrats have taken the black vote for granted over the years? Absolutely. Yes. Evans, a teacher and mother of two, is supporting Rogers and appears in this TV ad. I voted for Barack Obama, but this year I'm voting for Mike Rogers. When we caught up with her, she said she's gradually become more conservative and is drawn to Rogers' message to improve literacy in schools and safety overall. The outcome of the election will send a loud message that the black vote is just not up for grabs, like you have to earn it.

44:54We are no longer just voting according to parties, but we are voting according to policy and plans. Last weekend, Rogers opened a storefront campaign office in Detroit. Our votes are not guaranteed. That's right. This is the chance to say we're going to do something new to try to revitalize our community, and we're going to do it together. Amen. When we stopped by two days later, Democrats for Rogers signs were on display, but it was otherwise empty. El-Sayed was dismissive when we asked about it as he ended a bus tour in Flint. I saw he opened a cute little office in Detroit where he brought all his friends from the suburbs to come clap him in.

45:30It was nice, yeah. As fall settles in and the campaign's end draws near, more than$280 million has been spent on the Michigan Senate race this year. It's critical to the balance of power in Washington, but Reverend Charles Williams II wonders if the enthusiasm matches the moment. It only takes this much of Detroit to defect. It only takes this much of Flint to defect. It only takes this much of Saginaw or Inkster to defect. And that could be enough to put us under. Williams, who leads the historic King Solomon Baptist Church, is supporting El-Sayed, but taking seriously Roger's outreach. Not only is he making these inroads, but there are people in these communities that are actually welcoming him in those communities.

46:17As we near the end of the campaign, is it closer than you would like to see it? It's too close. It's too close. And former President Barack Obama will be coming here to Detroit this weekend to try and shore up some of that support and also raise enthusiasm for this Senate race. Now, Aaron, no one is predicting that Mike Rogers is going to win a majority of the black vote, but it's that sliver of votes that the pastor, Pastor Williams, talked about that is so concerning to so many Democrats here. Now, President Trump, he's also coming to Michigan on Sunday, and Democrats would like to sort of take him at his word and say that he is on the ballot.

46:58They think he drives support and enthusiasm for them as well. Aaron? All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much. In Detroit tonight, and thanks so much to all of you for being with us. AC 360 starts now. This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just$15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song, like All I Want. Right. Okay, we can't afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for a 12-month plan required.

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