Trump Rallies in Kansas as GOP Fears Losing Senate Seat

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1:17They are scared. They are terrified. We're about to win this election. Republicans are coming together, realizing what is at stake. I think Faxon's gonna win the race. We've given a lot to Ukraine. They've given nothing to us. Putin is playing President Trump like a fiddle. When it comes time in November, what are we going to say to those radicals? Hell no.

1:54Good evening, everyone, and welcome to another special midterms edition of Laura Coates Live. Just about two weeks left until Election Day, and the pressure is on for President Trump to try to fend off a potential Democrat wave. They think they're doing well, but they have no idea of the giant they have awoken and unleashed. It's this giant right here all over the country. And they'll find out the hard way on Election Day, November 3rd. I think Republicans, all you have to do is turn out. If you turn out, we win. I want to consider for a moment where exactly President Trump said that. That was Trump tonight in Kansas.

2:35Now, that's a state that hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since, what, 1932? So why is the top Republican there? Well, because polls suggest the Senate race is actually a toss-up. You've got Democrat Adam Hamilton appearing to have a chance to unseat Senator Roger Marshall. And by the way, even Trump admits it's tight. It's a close race. It shouldn't be. And as you know, I won by a tremendous amount, like 25, 30 points. I won by a lot, Kansas, and they should be winning by a lot. By the way, that's not just Kansas. Look at this map. Trump is holding a rally every single day this week. He's got stops in red states like Iowa, like South Carolina, and tomorrow it's North Carolina.

3:20Now to hear the president tell it, he's working magic. Went to Alaska, and Dan Sullivan is up. I went to Ohio. John Usted is up. I went to Texas and Ken Paxton is up. Now, I have actually no clue what he's looking at to back that up, because we've certainly not seen anything to suggest that that's all true. And neither has the president's favorite network. The president has been out campaigning vigorously, but I'm not sure it's making any difference in what difference it's making. I'm not sure it's helping. You look at that situation, for example, in Texas. You know, he's calling James Tallarico, Talafrico.

4:02Now, look, it's true that James Tallarico has endorsed some pretty exotic positions. However, what he does not seem to be is a freak. You see him, he seems mild-mannered. I mean, this cuddling up to Vladimir Putin at this moment and his turning his back seemingly once again on Volodymyr Zelensky, I don't think that plays well. Then you had this fiasco last week where they appointed this press secretary who might, with some time, have turned out to be a competent press secretary. And they sent the poor person out there with no time to prepare, really, only a matter of a day or two. And it didn't go well.

4:40Well, of course it didn't. It was crazy to send her out like that. So I don't see this White House and this camp, this campaigning by the president as having made much headway so far of the kind that, you know, you can sort of see just watching the campaigning. Let's talk about this. My panel for the hour, former specialist into President Biden, Michael LaRosa, CNN political commentators for Michael Singleton, former chief of staff to the Biden White House press office, Yemesia Agbawale, executive editor of The Washington Examiner magazine, Jim Antle. And hey, we want you at home to be a part of our coverage.

5:14So send us your questions and comments at CNN dot com backslash engage politics. And the panel will answer them here live on air this very hour. And I did see you, Yemesia, on that very program. I'm going to ask you about that in a moment. I saw the little thing. Welcome to here. I'm glad you're here with us. But, Shermike, let me ask you this, because it's not just the president's favorite network, as we call it, who is saying this. You've got Roger Marshall's opponent, somebody I've interviewed, Reverend Adam Hamilton, who's taking the president's visit to Kansas as a sign of panic. Listen. Well, I took it as a big compliment.

5:47I took it as a statement that the Republican Party felt they needed to send the most powerful man in the country to try to save Roger Marshall. And I think it's only going to hurt him. All right. Well, he takes it as a compliment. Obviously, Trump is there because he knows, he says, it's much closer than it ought to be. So how do you see it? Is it a sign of panic? Is it a sign of? It's not a sign of panic. It's a sign that the Republican Party is being strategic about engaging and motivating low propensity voters who are indeed a sizable percent of the president's coalition. These are voters that are not tracked in most of the traditional polling or survey methodology.

6:25You have to acknowledge that. And when you factor those numbers into these close races within the margin of error, you do see Republicans having a one or two percentage increase, meaning it's going to be close. But most of these Senate seats, I absolutely feel confident we will win and maintain. And so you have got to get the president out there turning out that base. I would rather have him out there than to not have him at all. Really? Do you agree with that? Well, it's interesting. It's such a jarring difference from four years ago when President Biden was in the White House during our midterm.

6:55And you saw all those places Trump was going to. Biden wasn't allowed anywhere. Biden didn't go to one. I don't think he went to one state. You can correct me if I'm wrong. But the First Lady did. She had a little bit more popularity. But he didn't go to one single state. Not one Democrat wanted to be seen with him. And it's kind of interesting that they want to close in the closing weeks in these states that are margin of error races with him. And so they clearly think that their best bet here is to bring out the voters who are part of their base. That if you motivate them with President Trump, they might come out and stick with Robert Marshall.

7:39Yes, but yet, yes, Roger Marshall. Roger Marshall. Reverend Adam Hamilton wants you to forget that name. He does. As you did, but it's Roger Marshall. There you go. But, I mean, thinking about this, is it a factor of low propensity voters? Or is this a factor of, look, they haven't had a Democrat since the 30s. And all of a sudden, even in spite of all you've just said, the president of the United States is going there in a place that's normally been very red. Well, we got to talk about Adam Hamilton if we're going to talk about the candidate. I mean, as the daughter of a reverend myself, I have to say those are the kinds of quality candidates.

8:11And I have to give to minority leader Chuck Schumer that found him. Those are the kind of quality candidates that you need in red states. Roger Marshall won by 53 percent six years ago. It was not a tight race whatsoever. It was not the focus of Democrats or Republicans. And now it is. Republicans have spent their estimated ad spending is up to nine hundred and thirty six million dollars. They've only spent around$314, I believe, on House races. So the Senate really is, for Democrats and Republicans, the goal here. Who is going to win it? And I just think with candidates like Adam Hamilton, that gives Democrats a bigger edge than they would have before.

8:49Look, I see Sir Michael's face. We have long-shot states we know. Look, this ain't Georgia. This isn't John Ossoff and Mike Collins. I understand that. However, Trump went down to see Mike Collins and he went to Dalton, Georgia, an area that's already very red that he won by 40 plus points. He should have gone to Metro Atlanta where I'm from, Cobb County, Cherokee County, Gwinnett, areas where you need to compete with John Ossoff for those suburban voters. So even when Trump is going to those states, is he going to the right areas that lift up the voters out of where he needs? And it's he's saying what needs to be said all along on the campaign trail, not just the last 15 days, because, Jim, the president has spent the past few days, he's been demanding that New Mexico is renamed New America.

9:33He is attacking a federal judge for pushing back on his plan to revamp a D.C. golf course. He's hosting a four-hour dinner with Bill Maher, Stephen A. Smith, and Kid Rock. We interviewed Stephen A. on this very point. You should check it out. And is this the split screen that Republicans want voters when you're talking about either low-propensity voters or those who feel like there are some faulty campaign promises? Well, it's interesting because President Trump sort of made his bones as a TV guy. He's always been this big TV star, but as a politician, he sometimes forgets that his real audience is the people on TV, not the people who are at the rally.

10:09And a lot of times he tailors his remarks very much for that crowd and he feeds off of the energy of that crowd. But I do think the White House's theory of the case here is that especially in these red estates, these are base elections and they just need to turn out Republican voters because there are so much more Republican voters and Democrat voters in these states. And as a corollary of that, unlike in the swing states, Trump won't be able to turn out as many Democratic voters because he's good at turning them out, too, inadvertently. But in places like Kansas, there just aren't as many of them.

10:43Now, it may be the case you have enough rural voters who are angry or farm state people who don't like the tariffs, and maybe they vote differently than they normally will. Clearly, it's a bad sign that these races are this close. But these are the states where Trump probably has the best chance of doing some good for Republicans. But you have this corruption issue, and I don't use that phrase lightly. It has become, even on a new Fox News poll just last week, the biggest concern for voters. I mean, it's above the economy. And I don't think, by the way, these are mutually exclusive. I think people can think about corruption and have it tied to their personal views of accountability, of the economy, of their own accounting.

11:23But, Michael, a new Washington Post poll shows about one-third of Republicans believe the president is using the presidency to enrich himself. That's up, by the way, 12 points from just a year ago. The vice president, though, he says this. I've never seen any evidence that anybody's selling access to the president or certainly selling access to me. But like if there's a credible accusation there, I guarantee you the president United States is going to be the first person in line to say that's ridiculous and despicable. And I am too. So I do think that what happens sometimes with this stuff, Mark, is that people convolute and conflate two separate things.

12:01I just it's laughable to me, The idea that Donald Trump has somehow been enriched by political office. He nearly had his life destroyed. It's laughable. I mean, I can do the math. I think the word billion is part of it. Is it for me? I think about it through this vein. Is it a mitigating factor to determine whether or not these voters will vote or not? The Republicans that you just cited. I don't think it is. And I think there is enough evidence in some focus group data that I've recently seen that suggests, despite some of the concerns that Republicans may have, there are Republicans who aren't happy about the conflict in the Middle East.

12:36There are Republicans, a cohort of our base that's not happy about the increased support and continued support of Israel. There are Republicans that aren't happy about the price of gas, food, etc. So you don't see corruption as being a motivating factor? Well, I'm listing a multitude of things that even Republican voters are not happy about. Despite all of those things, they still feel motivated to vote against the Democrat running against a Republican. And I think we're betting that that is enough to help many of these senators get across the finish line. And I think it's going to pan out to be true.

13:04But I do think what's been interesting when you look at some of these Democratic candidates, take Adam Hamilton, for example, former Republican, David Jolly in Florida, former Republican, Rob Sand in Iowa, doesn't even want to be tied to the Democratic Party. He calls himself an independent. He doesn't really embrace the label at all. I could go on about some other candidates, too. And so So I think it's a great, when you pull back the curtain, when you pull back the layers, look at the Democrats that are running in these states. The Democrats we're talking about that are going to flip states from red to blue are not DSA candidates.

13:42They're not from the left. They're capitalists. They're moderates. And they're mainstream Democrats. But Jolly's not going to win in Florida. Let's just be honest about that. But he's going to make you spend your money. We have the money to spend, unlike Democrats who don't have the money to spend. So, sure, I will see the point that Democrats are running far more competitively than we would prefer. But Tallarico is raising a lot of money. But being competitive and winning are two separate arguments. Wait, I want to hear your point. Okay. The Democratic apparatus, right. Okay. Senate Leadership Fund, John Thune has done a great job, prolific fundraiser.

14:12You might have more money to spend. But when people like James Tallarico send out a text message and ask for money, Democratic donors give. And also, Trump is going to areas that I just don't think are worth the money. We're talking about Greenville. We're talking about areas in Florida, even where he's going in Iowa. Those are all districts that he won. Those aren't competitive or swing districts. We're talking a lot about the Senate, but have you given up the hope on the House? But why is the president going to places that he won? Because he wants to hear people cheer his name. No, that's not only why.

14:45It's for the reason that I laid out an issue. Not only why. The only way. Well, hold on. I want to keep it there. because I want to get back to the second reason about this. And by the way, for those out there, Republicans are outspending Democrats by$15 million in Ohio and also nearly four to one in Texas. What will that mean? We'll ask everyone to stand by. And remember to send those questions into CNN.com backslash Engaged Politics. My next guest spent 16 years as a top Republican judge in Texas. This year, he's putting his support behind Democrat James Tallarico. We'll ask him why and give him the answer and just how many there might be like him.

15:18And later, Trump trashes Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky as he suggests he's open to meeting with Putin and Xi in what critics fear may be a summit to sell out Ukraine. Russians are lying. Putin is lying. Putin is playing President Trump like a fiddle.

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16:41It's time to leave it all on the field. Remember, clear eyes, full hearts, and blues. Early voting did start today in Texas, and James Tallarico hopes that football classic Friday Night Lights are going to help him deliver an upset for the ages. Tallarico is crisscrossing the state as part of his clear eyes, full hearts bus tour for Senate. Not to be outdone, though, Republican Ken Paxton is on his own bus tour. Come and take it. Ending at the Alamo in San Antonio. But not every Republican is on board with Paxton's tour. In fact, one retired conservative judge is jumping on the Tallarico van wagon, or shall I say bus, and he has some harsh words for his fellow Republican.

17:27Ken Paxton has spent years embarrassing Texas. He's known for scandal, indictment, infidelity, and putting his own interests ahead of Texans. That's exactly why I cannot support Ken Paxton. Now, the voice behind that ad joins me now. Glenn Whitley is a former Republican judge in Tarrant County, and he has endorsed Tallarico for Senate. Judge, thank you for joining. I am interested as to what impressed you about Tallarico that made you comfortable not only supporting him, but publicly doing so. Well, first of all, let me thank you for having me on this evening. You know, I guess where I began was there was no way I could support Ken Paxton.

18:06And once I made that decision and started talking with James, what I realized is that he was a very solid candidate. He had integrity. He had character. He wanted to get things done and not just keep kicking things down the road. And so as a result, I felt I feel very good about supporting James as our next U.S. senator from Texas. Obviously, Paxton was the attorney general down there, well known in the legal community and across the state and frankly, the country. Trump has given him a lot of credit for influencing a lot of matters that are of national importance. Why couldn't you support Paxton?

18:46Well, first, he works for him. He works only for himself, in my opinion. He was indicted on securities violations. His top staff at the AG's office turned him into the FBI for bribery and abuse of office. A Texas Republican controlled house by a vote of over 80 percent voted to impeaching. His wife filed for divorce on biblical grounds. just one thing after another. This, you know, it's recently come out that he was in Dubai with one of his mistresses. They were partnering and with two people who had been indicted for fraud, healthcare fraud, one had contributed over 190 ,000 to his campaign. So it clearly showed me that he was not in this for the people that he was supposed to be serving, but more for what he could get for himself.

19:42his income, his net worth has gone up over 7 ,000 % in the time that he's been AG. That's very telling based on what you're saying. And yet the response and the campaigning that Paxson has done has obviously not been featuring and televising those perceived shortcomings, right? It's been about culture war issues. He's been calling Tallarico nicknames like Tallafrico, Low T, Low Testosterone. He's also been bringing up another T word, transgender. Listen. James Tallarico is a hypocrite when it comes to fighting for families. Tallarico wants to teach trans ideology in schools and let boys compete in girls sports.

20:25So these are the issues that he wants to put front and center against Tallarico. And I'm curious, from your perspective, in Texas, are these attacks resonating with other Republicans like you or you talk to? I think once you get past the fact that you're not going to vote for Paxton, that was one of the first hurdles that I sat down and talked with James about. And what I found out in that discussion with him is, one, he has never supported and never will support a gender-changing surgery for a minor. He feels like that's something that nobody should be able to make that decision until they're an adult.

21:04He is not for boys playing in girls' sports or boys going into girls' bathrooms. Those are all just, again, fabricated lies that are coming up from the Paxton campaign. So that was the first hurdle that I had to get past before I started talking to him about issues like immigration, Social Security, affordability, public education, the deficit. Those are all things that were important and I think are the priorities that everybody is really wanting our Congress, our Senate to address. And I think James will do that. Never has and never will support a minor being able to get a gender changing surgery.

21:50Well, Judge Trump is is already pointing the finger and blaming Senator Cornyn and Karl Rove for being weak and ineffective political hacks if Paxton loses. And of course, these are obviously separate points than what you have articulated as you're supporting his opponent. Do they deserve any blame for not getting behind Paxson? None whatsoever. As I said earlier, I think Paxson is the most corrupt politician Texas has ever seen. Trump has nobody to blame for that other than himself. Cornyn has, I've supported Cornyn from the first time I supported him when he was running for AG. He is a great man, he's a great character.

22:33The more that, you know, once I knew that I couldn't vote for him and started looking at Tallarico, what I realized is that that James has the same integrity, the same character, the same service for his citizens that John Cornyn has had and has demonstrated all these years. So it's not we wouldn't even be having this discussion if John Cornyn was the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. Meaning you would not be supporting looking at a Democrat. It would have been Cornyn all the way. it would have been cornered all the way. And I think that would be the same all over this state. It's just one of those things.

23:11I think a lot of people are going to possibly just not vote in that particular race. I've had a lot of Republicans come up to me and say, look, we appreciate and we want to thank you for having the courage to get out in front and to endorse, openly endorse James Calarico. they've said we can't we don't feel like we can do that but we certainly are going to vote for james when it comes election day fascinating judge glenn whitley not much time left so we'll see what they actually make good on that statement to you thank you so much for joining and still ahead for us the chaos in paris suddenly starting to become a key part of republicans closing message here in the united states plus the president's pivot to putin now and how he's turning his back on Ukraine, all while giving Russia a pass.

24:05Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much.

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24:47Putin is lying. Putin is playing President Trump like a fiddle. And history is not going to look good on an America that failed to rise up and defend the Western world if Putin actually gets his way. Republicans tonight are slamming President Trump for actions they say undermine Ukraine and eliminate the pressure on Russia. And Trump's latest move, the Washington Post is reporting his administration is holding up the transfer of Patriot interceptor missiles Ukraine needs to defend against Russian drone attacks. It comes shortly after the president told reporters he's been open to a meeting with Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping just without Ukraine.

25:29I would do it. Not so much for Ukraine. Because Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much. And the same thing with China. We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons. Zelensky says you're on the wrong side of history on this one. Zelensky said it? Zelensky doesn't know what he's talking about. Zelensky is a man that should have had this war settled a long time ago. I think it's time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine. We've given a lot to Ukraine. You know what? We've given a lot to Ukraine. They've given nothing to us. My panel is back with me, along with Josh Rogan, lead global security analyst for Washington Post Intelligence and also a father of a new baby boy as well.

26:14Congratulations. I'm glad that you're with us because I need your mind here. Is there any truth to President Trump's criticism of Zelensky in this war? No. I mean, I think President Trump is sincere when he says he wants the war to end soon. That's what makes it so tragic that the policy that he's pursuing is actually going to extend the war. It's pretty clear that if you pressure Zelensky and release pressure on Putin, that we'll remove the incentive for Putin to deal. And the Ukrainians are not going to fold. They're not going to surrender. You can cut off their patriots. You can cut off their intelligence.

26:50People don't like to live on their knees. Ukrainians are not going to give up their territory because doing so would condemn all the people in that territory to torture, rape and murder. So it's not going to happen. So what President Trump has actually done is he's undermined his own objective to get to a quick resolution of the war, which I think he really wants, by pursuing a strategy, which is to lower pressure on Putin and to raise pressure on Ukraine, which is achieve the opposite result. So he's really done the opposite of what he thinks is pursuing the strategy that he thinks is right. And haven't we been here before, a kind of deja vu where he's having talks with people who does not include Ukraine, and now it's Russia and China.

27:32I mean, that would possibly fatally undermine the idea of Russia being, I mean, Ukraine having a say in its own destiny. Yes. So it's not going to work because you can't choose a country's fate without including that country and its people. 44 million people who have a right to dignity and sovereignty and a say over how they live. And none of those people want to live under the cruel rule of Vladimir Putin, no matter what President Trump thinks about it. And then you add the fact that Trump is actively aiding Putin by promoting a narrative of the war that is, A, false, B, exactly matches Russian propaganda, and C, places Zelensky in a terrible position where he's got to either decide to live in Trump's reality, which is a bunch of lies about how the war started and how it's going, or to defend his people and do his job as the president of the country.

28:24You add all those things together, it's a perfect storm of toxicity whereby the president is putting America on the side of the aggressor and the war criminals and against the side of the victims of this conflict. And it's bizarre. And there's no way to look at that and to say that that's anything that America has ever stood for in the past. Yet here we are. And again, the result is very predictable and predicted. He's going to get a lot of Ukrainians killed without actually solving the problem. And that's a tragedy. So, Jim, I may have one way on this, but what is the benefit that the administration might be seeing in terms of even among Republicans, among American voters?

29:08This seems so obvious what Josh is saying. So what are people missing? Well, one, I don't think President Trump has ever wanted to be involved in this war. And the United States has remained more involved in it under his second administration. than he would have preferred. Secondly, he has very bad relations with Zelensky. Now, that is not necessarily how you want all of these decisions to be made, but it is certainly how Trump makes a lot of decisions. And we've seen over time where Trump has gotten more irritated with Putin and over time where he's gotten more irritated with Zelensky. And clearly, they're at some kind of a breaking point here.

29:46I'm not sure that there is a political calculation here other than that Trump sees a lot of his voters as not really being that interested in things that are going on overseas, not wanting to spend their money on things that are happening overseas. And he's already somewhat alienated a number of those people by doing the war in Iran, which cuts against his message and has also raised gas prices, raised diesel prices, cut against the whole affordability theme that this entire election is likely to be waged on. And also, I mean, the president tonight saying the riots in France are a taste of what's to come if the United States, if Democrats win the midterm.

30:26So he does want some focus externally. Listen. 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, and they hate, frankly, the Western civilization itself. This is what's happening to France. They want to happen to our country. It's never happening here. It's not just Trump who's running. I mean, by the way, Vice President J.D. Vance replied to a video of a burning video, a burning building in France and saying, this is the future congressional Democrats seek for your country.

31:10That was what he actually said. I mean, obviously you can't have it both ways. You can't on the one hand say you are America focused singularly, and then say you shouldn't be focused on other countries and other war efforts, and then also point to other nations who are having what's happening there and say, this Americans, you must pay attention to. Yeah, this is a reminder to his voters about immigration under the Biden-Harris administration. And what Trump is essentially saying is that Democrats will have a loose immigration policy, whereas Republicans will have a strict immigration policy in terms of who enters the country.

31:45Do you see that analogy as being accurate that the president is using? Oh, absolutely. It was a number one, number two issue for why he won the presidency. My question is about France. It has nothing to do with France. I mean France. Go ahead. That's not what is happening in France. It's not an immigration issue. Yeah, but that's the point. That's the connection that the president's making, though. You may disagree with it, but it's the point. No, the president of France disagrees with it. Yeah, but that has nothing to do with Trump's voters and why Trump is making this campaign message to his voters.

32:14But the issue in France is not an issue about immigration. I mean, these are like radical leftists, but it's not an immigration issue. I get what they're trying to do. Trust me, in the summer of 2020, the Biden campaign, we tried to take advantage of unrest that was going on in the country and blaming the government for not doing enough, whether it was COVID or whether it was riots around the country. The public doesn't like unrest. The public doesn't like chaos. And I get that they're trying to say, you know, they're trying to attach what's happening with radical leftists over in France that President Macron has called them to like unrest and chaos.

32:49And they're trying to say that the Democrats will just bring you chaos. But it doesn't have anything to do with immigration. I don't understand why the president and vice president are drawing the immigration analogy. You really don't? I do, but... Well, they do love a scare tactic a bit. And going back to your point, do voters, especially midterm voters, do things that happen overseas actually affect how they vote in the ballot box? I don't think so. I think their main concern is domestic issues. But a lot of the messaging, I believe, from national Republicans has been we run on fear. We're not producing solutions.

33:29But we tell voters what will happen if Democrats come into power, not what we will actually do. But who is the president talking to, though? The French have been rioting since the 18th century. And I know that President Trump knows that because he went to see Les Mis at the Kennedy Center before it got shut down. Maybe he wasn't paying attention to the play. But if he had, he would have understood that this is not an immigration issue in France. And the bottom line is that Trump and J.D. Vance have been aligning themselves with the far right in France ahead of the next French presidential elections.

34:03And the rub there is that the far right in France doesn't want to be associated with J.D. Vance or President Trump because they're toxic in Europe. But I think similar things about the French riots. They are, but the problem is that the more that J.D. Vance and President Trump align themselves with the far right in France, the worse it is for the far right in France. So I say send J.D. Vance to Paris to help Marie Le Pen because it can only do her harm. And the bottom line is that the French, this idea that Western liberal immigration policies are causing these problems is just not true in France and it's just not true in America.

34:41But Laura, I would say quickly, this isn't a message for all voters. This is a message explicitly to the president's base. This may not motivate independent-leaning Republican voters or mainstream Republican voters. And I'm arguing here, that's not the point. No, it's a sop to the back of right, white nationalist. To the base. The point is misinformation? Well, that's not what I'm saying. But that's what I'm saying. The correlation that I'm drawing here is what motivates, what themes motivate the president's base. And this happens to be part of those things. Yeah, well, I understand. It happens to be racist.

35:15I understand thematics. But if it's inaccurate, isn't that speaking volumes about what he feels is the intellect and the interest level? Yeah, immigration is fair game. Immigration and our immigration policy, absolutely, it was all fair game to use, to run against. But that's just not, that's not what is happening in France. It's about something completely different. We're debating two separate things here. That's not the point that I'm making. care if it's true. It's about what's going to motivate this. You can put lips on it. We're all cheating that it's all not true. We can all agree. Let's all agree the kids are so back to school.

35:54Let's all agree that I think sometimes the point of politics is to, by any means necessary, and I wonder if that satisfies you voters out there. You know what you can do? You can tell me. You can text us. You can be a part of the conversation. go to cnn.com slash engagedpolitics. I want to hear from you. We'll bring their answers to you in just a few moments.

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37:21All right, my favorite part, you get to ask your questions. I want to get them answered with my all-star panel. And remember, you can send yours at CNN.com backslash engage politics. So here's the first question. What are the actual policy positions Republicans are currently running on? All I hear from them is how scared people should be of Democrat policies. Sir Michael? That's not true. I mean, if you look at Susan Collins in Maine, Mike Rogers in Michigan, Michelle Tafoya, who's also running, making that race far more competitive. These are Republicans who actually are talking about the cost of living.

37:54You've heard Susan Collins and Mike Rogers actually talk about the tariffs between the United States and Canada. They've actually tried to draw some separation from themselves and the president. So it depends on where the candidate is and the race that they're running in. All right. Well, next question. The Obamas have been popular and speak well about the issues when they are out. Why haven't we seen them on the campaign trails? Michael? Well, I believe President Obama has cut ads for a lot of candidates, a lot of statewide candidates. And he is going to Michigan this weekend to campaign with El Saad.

38:27You know, I interviewed him yesterday. Check out my Instagram for the full interview, by the way, on that. Next question. Do you think it will be a record turnout of voters on both sides and independents? I think it will be a record turnout for Democrats. I don't think that Republicans are going to break records, especially in the key states that they need to. Why? Well, I don't think that a lot of voters are inspired by some of their choices on the Republican side. And I think that they might just stay home. that is to say, I don't think that they'll be entranced by the Democratic candidate. I just think they'll stay out of it.

39:00All right. We got another one. Why can't Trump admit he was wrong? Said he would end the war in Ukraine on day one. It's been almost two years. He was wrong and making it worse by aiding Russia. Josh, why don't you take that one? I mean, the short answer is that he's a narcissist. The longer, the slightly longer answer is that he still thinks he's right. He still thinks that helping Putin and hurting Ukraine will end the war. He's wrong about that, but he won't admit that he's wrong because he doesn't realize that he's wrong. But you just mentioned that he wants to get out of that war. So how does that impact it?

39:29He wants to help Ukraine and Russia end the war. Yes, he's just doing everything the best, backwards way. And so he's actually extending the war by reducing the pressure on Russia and lessening the incentive for Putin to make a deal. So, again, in his mind, he's right. In the real world, he's wrong. So he can't admit that he's wrong because he doesn't believe it. And that's the psychosis that we're all forced to deal with as people in the world where Donald Trump is president. It's an unsolvable problem that we have to live in our reality and his reality at the same time. And they're not the same thing.

40:06All right. Why are we discussing the religion of candidates instead of the main issue, the economy? Why don't you take that one? I'm happy to. Go ahead. Oh, unless Jim wants it. Well, I mean, I think that's in some pretty specific races that we're doing that. Michigan Senate race, I'm assuming, is what is being referred to. But I think there's a lot of talk about people's policy stances, including El-Sayed tying him to DSA, tying him to more socialist views. And those Democratic candidates are underperforming despite being in relatively better states, you know, Michigan, Maine, Minnesota. relative to these Democrats we have running in really red places like Kansas, you know, Nebraska, a semi-Democrat.

40:53We're seeing those candidates sort of underperform. So in that case, it's really specific to El-Sayed, but there's a broader anti-socialist message that's being run, keeping Republicans competitive in states where in an election cycle like this, they really have no business being competitive. And by the way, it has nothing to do with El-Sayed's religion. I could care less what religion he practices or what he prays to. I'm the least religious Democrat, probably. Well, not Democrat, but I'm hardly religious. What's concerning about L.C. and the reason why I think this comes up is because he seems to have a really difficult time standing up to extremism.

41:31And it really bothers people. It's radicalism more than religion. It bothers Democrats. It bothers members of the Jewish community. It bothers members of the black community in Michigan who are really turned off by him right now. And he's going to cost the Democratic Party in the long term, I think, because he can't seem to stand up to radicals on our own side. All questions I asked him in our interview. But you know who else did? Ashley Allison for The Root had a sit down with Abdul El-Sayed. You should check that out as well. A really fascinating interview that she did with him as well. I just don't understand how Republicans still blame Biden this entire time you've been in control of the House and Senate.

42:12I'm going to take that. Go ahead. Let us see. Let us see. Excuse me. I called you the wrong. Let us see. It's a good it's a good fallback. I think that they've gotten very lazy and used Biden. And now when you actually have to take account for the way that you've run the economy, they don't know how to. The wheels are a bit rusty. They can't turn them as much to Michael. I'm not worried about Biden. We have two years to go. We have an economy that's in shambles. You have a growing China that's showcasing extreme aggression in the South Chinese Sea. You have a Vladimir Putin who not only disregards the free society, that being Ukraine, but according to the NATO Secretary General, has plans to test the NATO alliance.

42:51And so the question for me and many of our allies is, where will the United States be on a number of these fronts? And it's unclear to me. And I'm not very comfortable with that at all. maybe I'm more of an old school conservative, but I think the president needs to get answers to these issues. Or answer them. Thank you so much, everyone. Remember, you can stream my show live or watch on demand anytime with an all-access subscription. Scan the QR code on your screen or go to CNN.com slash watch to learn more. And thanks for watching. The Story is with Alex Michelson is next.

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