Trump Fixates on Reflecting Pool Renovation in Final Pitch

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1:03President Trump makes his closing pitch ahead of the 2026 midterms, but instead of reflecting what's on voters mind, he spent more time focused on the reflecting pool. I'm Caitlin Collins, live from Capitol Hill, and this is a special edition of The Source.

1:33And it is 9 p.m. here in Washington, which means we're just about eight hours away from the first polling places opening on Election Day. Vermont, I hope you have your coffee ready for tomorrow. Secretary Pete Buttigieg is going to join me live in just a moment, as will former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Also this hour, I'll be joined by Maggie Haberman of the New York Times after President Trump today here in Washington delivered his closing pitch to voters while standing in front of the newly renovated, yes, again, Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Now, this was billed as his final message to Americans and his last chance to draw a contrast with Democrats, but instead it focused for about 10 minutes on the midterms while spending closer to 24 minutes on rusty pipes, algae, and granite.

2:27I'm thrilled to announce the official opening of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Now we're giving serious thought to changing the name to the Trump Reflecting Pool. We'll announce that sometime tomorrow I'm sure that Secretary Doug Burgum will have a lot of fun in announcing that now. I'm only kidding. It was our goal to open it temporarily for the July 4th weekend. That was the big weekend where we had so many incredible things take place. The UFC fight and so many other things. Does somebody have those pictures for me? The pictures? Yeah. Do you want to stand up here, Greg? These are the pipes.

3:14So this is a... It's painted blue for purposes of it was all rusted. And by the way, we resurfaced the granite. We tried not to replace because you can really never match stone, but some places we had to. The algae is brutal. It forms easily. And we haven't... I don't think you'll see too much. We have... They took out the water. so all you saw was dirt and filth and paper and everything else for years. It literally has thousands of years of life, which is the only stone that does. It creates the bubbles and creates what's necessary that the algae doesn't form because from the beginning, algae formed.

3:58I mean, they've had years here where you couldn't see any water. It was just algae. And it had a bad aroma, to put it mildly. But we're replacing all of the grass on all of the parks, because like the human being, grass has a life also. The Triumphal Arc military complex is going to have tremendous drone capability. I would say sniper or shooter capability. Its height, its platforms, its storage capacity is incredible. It's right smack in the middle of everything. So very important for our military. So we have a lot of great things planned for Washington and I could get into the nation, but for that you don't have enough time.

4:44My colleague Kevin Liptak was there and mused to this tonight, saying, quote, if the pool was finally operating as the administration always hoped it would, it's not clear the president was. That's because sources say that several of the president's advisers have urged him not to focus so much on his makeover projects, but instead to talk about what matters most to voters, the economy. This might be why. When voters go to the polls tomorrow, those who are voting in person, they're going to do so while paying the highest Election Day gas prices on record. Instead, the president today was focusing a lot on the reflecting pool, of course, and as he was talking about this and somewhere that was the site of a lengthy and at times embarrassing series of events over the last six months, which includes that botched installation of the bright blue liner, which the president sought to blame on vandals as the dark algae quickly returned.

5:39That was something that was highlighted today for several minutes during the president's speech. In the meantime, the vice president, J.D. Vance, was instead had chosen a more traditional venue and message to close out the campaign. I want to remind you that we are on the eve of one of the most important, I would actually say the most important midterm election of my lifetime. And I'm closing out this midterm campaign right where it all started for me, the great state of Ohio, because I know you're going to choose right tomorrow. By CNN's latest count, upwards of 57 million people have already chosen because they've already voted.

6:26And the last time the president was facing a midterm election, of course, when he was in office, was 2018. On the Monday before the midterms that year, look at this. The president had held three rallies in three states. And on that final Monday before the 2018 midterms, the president focused on a red meat message that was designed to motivate his MAGA base. Democrats are inviting caravan after caravan, isn't that nice, of illegal aliens to flood into our country and overwhelm your communities. If you want strong borders and safe communities, no drugs, no caravans, vote Republican. Democrats are openly encouraging millions of illegal aliens to break our laws and violate our borders.

7:16That was 2018. This is 2026. And this is what the president has been saying in the final days of this election cycle. One that, of course, will set the course for the final chapter of his presidency. I'm closing the sucker down. I'm getting out of here. I got to get a little sleep. I've been doing a little too many of these. How many times do I have to do this? For some reason, the sitting president doesn't win the midterms, but we gave this a very strong shot. Now, my election eve source tonight was the Secretary of Transportation under President Biden. Pete Buttigieg is here. And thank you, sir, for joining us.

8:00If you're a politician, what did you make of the president's closing message to voters today? He sounded a little defeated in that bit about taking a shot. But I think the most worrisome thing about this is Americans are hurting right now. Americans are facing the economic pain of being unable to afford health care, unable to afford groceries. They're wondering if the people in charge of the government are focused on the issues. And the obvious answer from the president is no. He's focused on the reflecting pool. And I think that is why you are going to see so many Democrats across the country winning elections tomorrow.

8:37You know, the candidates that I have been engaging with today, we've been crossing the state of Wisconsin. Yesterday we were in Minnesota, are squarely focused on bringing relief to Americans who are hurting economically, because that's what voters are asking for. That is a winning message, not whatever the Trump, whatever the president was talking about. How are you feeling about what the polls have been showing for tomorrow? I mean, we've been looking at the final numbers and several key races that probably, you know, six months ago, Democrats wouldn't have thought were even going to be contested.

9:11There are ties or Democrats are leading right now. Do you have faith in what the polls are showing you right now? Look, it's encouraging, but you do not want to go off of polls. You want to go off your own hard work and focus on a message that reaches people where they are. You know, in some ways, I actually think Speaker Johnson may have said it best today. He said this election is common sense versus crazy. I think that's true. For most Americans, for most voters, common sense is that Republicans should not have cut Medicaid. Common sense is Republicans should not have cut taxes for the wealthiest people in the country.

9:47Common sense is we should not be at war with Iran right now. and Republican congressional members should not have allowed the president to do that. Crazy is having the leader of the free world and the head of the Republican Party on the eve of consequential midterm elections, standing around in front of the reflecting pool and going around at rallies talking about senators' bodies. It is very clear who is dialed in, locked in, focused on the issues that Americans care about, and that is the candidates that we've seen. So polls are polls. as has famously been said. The only one that counts is the one that is taken at the ballot box, and that's happening right now.

10:25It's been happening with early vote, and of course, that wraps up tomorrow evening. I mentioned the vice president also being out today campaigning. He was in Ohio. This is a little bit more of what he had to say to voters. Now, I saw a story just in the last couple of days that there are illegal communities of illegal immigrant Somalis who are coordinating to flood the polls and drown out your vote. Well, I happen to believe that we want American elections to belong to American citizens. What did you make of that comment? Well, the vice president is embarrassing himself yet again. Look, some of that That scaremongering might have worked in the past, but we all understand that only eligible voters can and do vote in elections.

11:20You can see, though, how desperate he is not to talk about results. You would think if the Trump-Vance administration had done anything good, he would be focused on that. But, of course, they can't. They promised to cut the cost of living, and the cost of living is up. They promised to keep us out of wars, especially J.D. Vance. And we were at war with Iran. Everybody's paying for that. The highest gas prices I think we've ever been paying on Election Day. So you see, he cannot talk about what they've actually been doing. Instead, he has to talk about something that's not happening. It's embarrassing, but it really reflects just how tough a situation they're in because Americans are so fed up with their policies and with the results.

11:58I've asked the vice president before about what inflation looks like now, what promises they had made to voters when they were running two years ago in 2024. And they've said that they inherited a mess from your administration that you were a part of. President Biden's administration. When you were in that administration in 2022, this is what you said to voters about the economy. The president's made clear that inflation is his top economic priority, and he's laid out a very clear strategy for doing that. You know, that kind of comment is a lot of what we hear from the administration right now, that the president has a plan for dealing with this, that the numbers are still too high, that they will get it under control.

12:39How do you view that? Well, what I know is that when Donald Trump took over from Joe Biden, inflation was at 3.0 percent. And today it's higher than that. So their number one promise was to take inflation and move it lower. And instead, it's higher. And let's remember why we're here, right? This inflation right now, this isn't happening because of COVID, what happened four years ago. The gas prices aren't happening because Putin started a war like what happened four years ago. Gas prices are happening because Donald Trump started a war. Mortgage rates are over 7 % because the Trump-Vance administration decided to give away a trillion dollars in tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest people in the country blew up the deficit while doing so.

13:21You know, the war alone is estimated to be costing Americans about$2 ,000 per household. That's when you add up what it did to interest rates, gas prices, and the direct cost in terms of our taxes. Trump's tariffs are costing a typical family over$1 ,000. So it's not even that they have failed, tried and failed to lower costs. It's that their choices have actively, directly increased costs. And as you can tell from the president's performance today, they don't care. Also, I mean, speaking of Democratic politics and what's been playing out, obviously you've seen this. But as a Michigan voter, do you think what Haley Stevens did by endorsing the Republican in that Senate race, Mike Rogers, What impact do you think that's going to have on Abdul El-Sayed tomorrow?

14:09I doubt it's going to have much of an impact. Look, my neighbors in Michigan, my relatives in Michigan, are very focused on what this election is going to mean for their lives. There are people I know, again, including people I'm related to, whose lives depend on the Affordable Care Act. Abdul El-Sayed has been clear that he is for reversing the Medicaid cuts, making sure more people get health care, I make sure everyone gets health care is his message. Mike Rogers literally voted to destroy the Affordable Care Act. The choice is abundantly clear on that or on Mike Rogers enthusiasm for the Iran war, which, of course, Michiganders are fed up with, not least because it's why we're paying so much for gas and diesel.

14:47These are the kinds of things that I'm hearing people talking about. What does this election mean for me, for the prices I'm paying at the store, for the prices I'm paying at the pump, for my chance of having a better life and being able to access health care? What I'm not hearing a ton of from neighbors and relatives in Michigan is a list of which member of Congress endorsed who. Well, there's consideration among Democrats of ousting her from the House Democratic Caucus. Would you support that? I don't care. Right now, we need to make sure that we win. And we need to focus not on one member of Congress making an endorsement, but on making sure that we get out every single vote.

15:25Look, folks watching at home, especially if you already cast your vote or made a plan to vote, if you care as much as your neighbors and fellow Americans do, there's still work to be done. There are still people who have not made a plan to vote. You can go to IWillVote.com to get more information. Encourage others to do that. We need to make sure that we turn out every vote, both in the races that look like they're good for Democrats, but you can't be sure until the bell rings, and races where we never thought we would be competitive, but where we're actually likely or at least have a good shot of winning right now.

15:54I've been amazed at races from the Mississippi U.S. Senate race, where I was campaigning with Scott Colombe a few days ago, to a district in Wisconsin once held by Paul Ryan, where Mitchell Berman may well win. But that depends on everybody being locked in and completely focused for the next 24 hours and change on getting out that vote. If Democrats have a good night tomorrow night, do you think that's a reflection of their policies or a referendum on President Trump and his policies? Well, it's both. You know, Democratic policies of expanding Medicaid are more popular than Trump's policies of cutting Medicaid.

16:31Democratic policies around making sure that the wealthy pay their fair share are more popular than congressional Republicans' decision to increase the deficit by handing out tax breaks to the wealthy. But, you know, it is true that just because Americans are rejecting Republicans, which appears to be happening right now, doesn't mean they're automatically fully embracing or trusting Democrats. What they are doing, if all goes well tomorrow, is giving Democrats a chance. And look, it's going to be a challenge. Obviously, Donald Trump will still be president of the United States tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.

17:03But there is a chance for Democrats to put these issues back at the center of the agenda, because it will be a lot harder for the president to have us all talking about the reflecting pool or the cheesecake factory or whatever he wants to make the issue the day when you have a congressional Democratic majority and I hope a congressional Democratic Senate majority making sure that issues like health care, affordability, bringing an end to this Iran, having a fairer tax code and reforming our broken political system, making sure those issues are front and center. Secretary Pete Buttigieg, thank you for joining us on this election.

17:36We appreciate your time tonight. Same here. Appreciate you. Up next, what is on the mind of the president in these final few hours before election day. Maggie Haberman is the best source White House reporter. She'll join us right after this. Also later tonight, former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene will join me to talk about her expectations for tomorrow.

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19:11With only a few hours to go before Election Day, President Trump is already contemplating what life could be like If things don't go his party's way tomorrow night and Democrats retake control of Congress. I guess I'll become Mr. Vito. I'm not going to let him run. And then at some point we'll probably make deals. That's what's happened. I mean, this is this wouldn't be the first time you'll have a president and he won't have the House or the Senate. They'll be sending stuff up. You veto it. And eventually after a month or two of getting all vetoed, you know, it's wasted. They just wasted. They come over and you make a deal.

19:48My next source is Maggie Haberman, who is the White House correspondent for The New York Times and also the co-author of Regime Change Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump. And Maggie, it's great to have you here tonight. Do you think the president is really that chill about the prospect of Democrats potentially retaking control of Congress tomorrow? Yes and no. Caitlin, I know that sounds like a bit of a cop out. The reality is there are moments where in private conversations with people, he is anxious about what this could mean. He is anxious about what the next two years could look like, but not really for the reasons people think.

20:21He is not particularly personally worried for himself. You know, particularly, he's not worried at all. He does know that this could end up grinding down anything that he wants to see happen. This has not been an administration, though, that has dealt with Congress very aggressively, as you know. I mean, it's been governance by executive order repeatedly over and over again. The one big, beautiful bill was the main exception to that. And so it's not like this would be a big difference. He was pretty indifferent in 2018 to the idea that Democrats could take over the House. And he did see what it looked like.

20:56It didn't look like the way he was just describing it with easy deals being made. It wouldn't look like that now either. But he'll also become, as he said in that same interview with The New York Post, Mr. Pardon. And I think that we will see a lot of that, too. I mean, when it comes to what the staff around him, the team at the White House is thinking of how this could look like, What is what's your reporting on that? Yes. So that also depends on who you talk to and their level of experience with what it looks like in Washington under a normal congressional switchover during a midterms, particularly a lame duck term.

21:31When you think back, as you and I both covered to not just 2018, but look at 2020, when the Republicans were, you know, they had lost the general election. when the president was ostensibly on his way out of the White House, and he fought against that with everything that he could to try to keep Joe Biden's victory from being certified. And so many people there got subpoenaed. Now, you know, we don't know what it looks like when an entire administration does not comply with subpoenas. But what is going to happen is it is going to be very, very intense for everybody who is in there in terms of investigations.

22:09There are very few people who lived through that last time. Dan Scavino would be one. Stephen Miller would be another. Most of them, I think, based on my conversations, are not quite prepared for what's coming. Yeah. And, you know, several of them have gotten attorneys in anticipation of that. Just in terms of the politics of this, the president's speech today. I mean, I was getting messages from a lot of Republicans and people who are fans of the president and allies of his who at this point were just kind of, of throwing up their hands, that that was the closing message from the president. I wonder if it surprised you, though, given in 2018 he went to three states the day before.

22:52He certainly traveled a bunch now, but just the day, the eve of the election looks a lot different now than it did in 2018. It does. Look, Caitlin, he did a number of rallies, as you and I both know, in the last few weeks. They came very late in the game. It was actually not that dissimilar to what happened in 2024 when he traveled pretty late too. In 2020, he traveled much more. In 2018, he traveled much more, even in the middle of COVID in 2020. He heard his voice give out. I was with him in Mississippi at that rally, not with him, but I was covering that rally in Mississippi. And his voice was clearly very affected.

23:25He basically said he wasn't enjoying this over the weekend. He canceled two rallies before saying they would be back on. So it's a surprise in the sense that I don't think that most of the 2026 electorate is focused on the state of the reflecting pool as their primary concern and what's driving them to the polls. But given what we know of President Trump this term, it's not really much of a surprise at all. Yeah. He mentioned today the work that he had been putting in and what that had looked like just in terms of, you know, the court cases, the battles that we've seen playing out today. The Supreme Court rejected their attempt to try to sideline potentially a lot of ballots in California when it comes to what the Dutch Department was saying they were cast potentially by non-citizens.

24:11The court didn't really explain its reasoning, but said there were no dissents. We've also seen what's happening with the Alaska lawsuit that they were trying to pursue. Legally, what do you think this could look like with the midterms from this administration? It was really notable that the Supreme Court issued that decision so fast, Caitlin, with not trying to solicit responses from either party in this suit. It came within hours of this suit, of this case reaching them. They clearly wanted to get this done with before tomorrow, so it was not hanging over the election. And I think you'll see something of a mixed bag, but I do think you are seeing the Supreme Court try to lay down something of a line here.

24:50As you know well, the president has continued, less so in the last couple of months, but he has frequently railed against the justices who he appointed, suggesting that he believed they should owe him some kind of personal loyalty. They obviously don't view their jobs that way. This came up, you know, in 2021. It has come up since. I think they want to try to stem this off or head this off as quickly as possible. I think it will be a mixed bag. I guess what I, the way I would answer this question is in terms of the courts, they have given, the Supreme Court has given him some favorable rulings, a number of them.

25:27They have also declined a bunch of them. When people say to me, you know, they think this is going to be a historic repudiation of this president in terms of the voting results tomorrow, and it really may be, Caitlin. We don't know, obviously, yet, but it's not looking great. My basic question back is, and then what? Because I don't think this is going to look like a typical midterms, and he is still going to retain an enormous amount of power over his own party. Yeah, and of course then the talk of 2028 and what that looks like. Correct. We do know he'll be watching from the East Room tomorrow night.

26:00It's not clear who's going to be invited to that, but we'll be watching it closely, as I know you will as well. Maggie Haberman, as always, thank you for the great reporting. Of course, her book, Regime Change, is out now. Up next year for us, we've seen Republicans racing to short votes in places that are usually reliably red. We'd never have John King looking at them at the magic wall, but tomorrow night he will be. And coming up next, former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to join me what she's hearing and seeing on the ground.

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27:11It's the final evening before election night. And right now, the latest numbers that are coming out of the New York Times Siena polls show that Democrats have expanded the map in ways that few politicos probably could have predicted at the beginning of 2026. Currently, the Democrats are holding leads in key Senate races in Michigan, Texas, Maine, Ohio, and Kansas. And which party controls this building behind me, as we just noted with Maggie Haberman, is going to define the final two years of Trump's presidency? Now, the top election forecaster, that is Cook Political Report, right now is projecting that Democrats could end up with a 240-seat majority in the House, which, if that pans out, would make it their biggest majority since 2009.

27:58My source tonight on this is the former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. And thank you so much for being here. I mean, given what's at stake for Republicans, for the president, for control of Washington, what was your thought on the president's final pitch today from the reflecting pool? I was very disappointed, you know, with Americans struggling with the continued rise of inflation that's been going on since COVID. High prices with gas and diesel and constant complaining about the cost of health insurance and health care with no one listening to them. Standing in front of the reflecting pool that most Americans, I would say 99.999 % of Americans don't ever think about on a daily basis.

28:43was absolutely the wrong message to send to Americans asking them to go vote for Republicans tomorrow. Why do you think he did that? I have no idea. Look, I've been in the construction industry all my life, and I can really appreciate someone talking about repairs and renovations. But the real things that Republicans should have focused on, the mandate that we were all given in 2024, was to help America. That was to make life easier for Americans, lower the cost of living, lower the price of gas and diesel, end the foreign wars, and work on the issues affecting Americans, especially the younger generations.

29:25And that was what the 24 campaign was all about. However, the past two years haven't been about that at all, Caitlin. The White House has been a revolving door nonstop for foreign leaders. And all we ever hear about is pay to play schemes and, you know, the ballroom and the reflecting pool. But yet Americans are continuing to struggle every single day. And people it's honestly, to be to be really clear, it's not that Democrats did a great job for four years and they're not earning this power back possibly tomorrow by coming up with a great plan that's going to fix everything. They're probably going to win big tomorrow because Trump and Republicans have failed so dramatically from the campaign promises of 24.

30:13I mean, you've been talking to voters. Do you think Democrats are going to end up winning big tomorrow? I'm, you know, I don't talk to all voters, but that's what I'm seeing. And it's not that you're going to have the two sides turn out. It's like team sports, right? You've got Democrat voters that will turn out on their side, Republican voters that will turn out on their side, just like they're fighting it out over a Saturday football game. But you have the big, important contingency that was part of MAGA that has completely broken apart. And that's where a lot of those voters are talking about staying home tomorrow.

30:52They just refused to support Republicans after such failure and betrayal of campaign promises. Yeah, and I guess if the polls do bear out, and we don't know, we'll see what happens tomorrow. But when you're looking at that, if Republicans do lose, do you think that's a reflection of these Republican candidates? Or do you think it's the president's policies? How do you see it? I think it's a complete referendum on Donald Trump, his betrayal, where he promised no more foreign wars than to bring world peace, not releasing the Epstein files, defending pedophiles and rapists instead of helping women that were raped as 14 and 16 year old girls.

31:35and also not listening to everyday Americans who are saying we cannot afford the cost of living, we cannot afford health insurance, we cannot afford these high prices of gas and diesel, while he is constantly bragging about a ballroom and his big donors and having these big fancy dinners as if he can't even relate to the American people. It'll also be a referendum on Mike Johnson and Republicans in who Congress, who never, ever stood up to Donald Trump and pushed their own agenda in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. They just stood behind him applauding everything he said, every lie he told, and never fought back for the American people who gave them the majority.

32:23Well, I mean, on that, you said something earlier that really stood out to me about Republicans. You said they are all irrationally afraid of a truth social post and scared to upset the cult leader, yet they are going to lose because of the cult leader. Do you think how Republicans treat the president will be different after tomorrow night, potentially? I certainly hope so. I think we'll definitely see major changes quickly with some elected Republicans, but many of them that got elected simply because he endorsed them, not because they fought through a primary and really, really earned their vote, they got there because they were so supported by Trump and so supported by his campaign team, I think a lot of them will still continue to stay silent.

33:10But that's going to be the major mistake. And, you know, these, all of these people, especially in the House, they need to remember that their job title is representative. And that means they're supposed to represent the people that vote for them to get there, not for the big lobbying groups that write max donor checks, not for big corporate CEOs that might make them feel special or any type of fancy party they can go to in Washington, D.C. It's the everyday people back home that they are supposed to represent. So this is a lesson. If Republicans lose big tomorrow, it's a lesson I think is rightly deserved.

33:48And Democrats, They'll have their opportunity to show America if they've come up with a plan that will truly help the American people. And that's yet to be seen. Well, I mean, in your home state, there's a really big Senate race. And I don't think you've endorsed Congressman Mike Collins, who is running against John Ossoff yet. Tell me if I'm wrong. But if not, why not? That's a Senate race that was over before it started, Caitlin. And all polling and projections was always that John Ossoff is going to win. So that's not a race that I chose to get involved in. But, you know, we've got a big governor's race going on.

34:28So that'll be a big one and an important one for the state of Georgia. Do you think Mike Collins has run a good campaign in Georgia? To be honest with you, I haven't been engaged and involved. So I really couldn't tell you. You know, one thing, one big question has been whether or not the president is going to restart the war with Iran to the same level of constant bombings and whatnot that we saw at the beginning of this after the midterms are over. Today, he was asked about that and he seemed to say no to reporters as he was leaving the reflecting pool. But what are your expectations for what's going to happen with the war after tomorrow night?

35:09Yeah, thank you for asking that. Yes, he was asked today by a reporter if he was going to start bombing Iran again. He said no. And then just a few hours later, it was being reported all over social media. And The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that the U.S. has indeed bombed Iran again today, literally the day before the midterm elections. And, you know, I've been shocked. I don't know what your algorithm is on social media, but mine has been filled with people, Americans that are terrified. if they need to put together a 90-day supply to protect themselves and feed their families and be able to survive in case the grid were to go down or something terrible would happen.

35:50And that's because the Pentagon said they're going to prepare all the U.S. military bases for a 90-day complete survival plan if disconnected from the outside entirely. But yet we didn't hear anyone from the Trump administration come out and and like ensure the American people that their security and their safety and their prosperity would be protected. And so people are freaking out. And you can't even imagine going into an important midterm election like this, that people are actually terrified not only of another war starting up and getting worse in the Middle East, but potentially involving nuclear weapons and getting to the point where they're going to have to survive for 90 days.

36:35So that one has baffled me and shocked me that no one even had a clue or even a thought or a consideration. Maybe that the president should have come out today while he's detailing all the work that they did on the reflecting pool and maybe say to the American people that, look, I will always protect you and make sure your family is safe. and that everyone in my administration will ensure your ability to make a living in economic success and safety and security. But he didn't do that today. Instead, he bragged about draining and water pipes and getting rid of rust and nonsense, really. You used to talk to the president quite often.

37:19You were obviously very close with him. If you could say something to him tonight, the night before the midterm elections, with the way that they're looking right now and what you heard today, what would it be? I haven't spoken to the president since he told me I deserved it if my son were assassinated from the threats, the death threats that we were receiving on my son when the president called me a traitor for standing up for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and President Trump's friends and inner circle. So I really don't have anything nice to say to the president because he wishes death on my son and tells me that I deserve it.

38:01And he's never apologized for that. And so did you ever see yourself repairing your relationship that we have? He'd have to come out in public, publicly apologize that he texted me that. But it's easy. I've got those text messages and he has not apologized. and I don't think he's sorry. So I don't see a way to repair a relationship when someone is not willing to say they're sorry for such a horrific thing. I mean, imagine saying you deserve it for your kid to be killed. And I can't even imagine that. I would never say that about his children or grandchildren. Yeah. Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, thank you for your time tonight.

38:47Thank you, Caitlin. Up next year for us on The Source. A year ago, losing control of the Senate seemed unlikely for the Republicans. Now the party is bracing for the worst, even if it is the worst case of scenarios. My White House insiders will join me right after this.

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40:09Tonight with just hours to go before Election Day. Yes, that's right. There are more new polls that are coming out. And right now they show Democrats in striking distance of a Senate takeover. That's a prospect that largely seemed out of reach earlier this year, even for Democrats. Now, for Republicans who are trying to make sense of what's going on, some of course, Shelby Talcott reports that they only need to look back to the summer of 2024. That's when President Trump chose then-Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, and then would go on to make several key decisions that actually reshaped the Senate battleground.

40:42Quote, Trump's decision to pick Vance opened up a special election in Ohio that will end, that will by the end of this week cost the GOP hundreds of millions of dollars and potentially a Senate seat. Trump's party boss mentality in North Carolina, Texas and South Carolina has further contributed to the yawning battleground. Republicans could hold the chamber or lose as many as half a dozen seats on Tuesday. My White House insiders tonight are Jeff Mason, who's the White House correspondent from Bloomberg, and Shelby Talcott, the aforementioned White House correspondent for 74. And Shelby, it's a great point because, you know, a lot of this is Trump's fingerprints are all over what this map and what these races are looking like.

41:22Yeah, and you can argue that he has had some people that he has picked for these races that have done well, and that's accurate. And he has certainly contributed to spending over the past few weeks. But at the same time, you think back to Texas, where he backed Ken Paxton, despite a number of lawmakers urging him not to do so because it was going to be a more difficult race. You think just a few months ago when he backed Darlene Graham, that caused some consternation among lawmakers. He's made these decisions at times that have really roiled the Republican Party and frustrated insiders because there were better options, is the argument that we're hearing just, you know, a day out from the election.

42:02Yeah, I mean, the president does have a lot on the line tomorrow night in terms of that. And if those candidates are successful, he's going to say, I told you I was right, Jeff. But I mean, it could go the other way, potentially. It could go the other way, and it probably also could have cost a lot less money and time, honestly, for the president in terms of the races that he had to invest in in terms of his schedule and in terms of his travel, including the two that Shelby just mentioned. I mean, in 18 years of being a political reporter in this country, I can't think of a time when a Republican candidate has had to go to Texas as often as President Trump has in the last month and ditto some of these other states, Alaska, South Carolina.

42:45It's been remarkable. And it may all turn out to be an investment that was worth it, but it's close and certainly closer than I think his fellow party members would like to see. Given how close it is, what did you make of the president's closing remarks today? What are you hearing from sources about why he was at the reflecting pool, which just to note from our count, about 10 minutes on the midterms, about 24 to 25 minutes on renovations, the reflecting pool and what he's done around Washington? I mean, ahead of time, the speech was sort of billed as, yes, he's going to talk about the reflecting pool, but it's going to be an overarching theme about the midterms that certainly didn't didn't pan out that way.

43:24And what I heard from Republicans was frustration and a little bit of confusion. But at the same time, you know, we've been reporting for months that the president's, one of his big focuses in this second term has been these Washington, D.C. renovations. He loves it. He's very proud of it. He's sort of obsessed with it. And so I think the answer is as simple as he really likes these renovations. He wanted to tout the reflecting pool. And that's what he ended up doing today. The question is, why today? I was there for that. What was it like in person, Jeff? It was really unusual. We got there a couple hours early, the press did.

43:59It was a very small group. It was a bunch of reporters and then a couple rows for people from the National Park Service and some other staff. And that was it. Nothing like the big rallies that he's been holding for the last several weeks. And as you were just saying, he spent a good chunk of time holding up charts and talking about this reflecting pool that really has nothing to do with what's happening tomorrow. So it was not on topic, but as Shelby rightly said, it is certainly on brand. Yeah, it's not surprising given it's one of his favorite things. It would be shocking politically because in 2018, and yes, he had those two rallies yesterday and he's been traveling a bunch, But he was right up until the deadline on Monday in 2018.

44:45He held three rallies in a single day compared to obviously spending his time at the reflecting pool today. I also think, though, you have to look at his comments. And he's been saying this a lot, actually, if you look back over the past months. He's sort of at times been saying essentially, well, we always lose in the midterms. Whoever's in office loses, right? And he said that again today. And so I think that that's part of his mentality this time around. Which is true, even if they have a better approval rating than currently this administration does. Jeff Mason, Shelby Talcott, great to have both your reporting and insights here.

45:16Up next, it is time for Source Code, and tonight's Source Code is 1.6 billion. I'll be right back with the story.

45:37Tonight's source code is$1.6 billion. That's because that's how much midterm advertisers have spent on ads about President Trump since the start of 2025. That's according to new data from Ad Impact. And of that massive figure spent on more than 3 ,600 ads talking about the president, Democrats nearly doubled Republicans since the start of 2025. But maybe even more telling is the spending gap just this fall alone. Ad Impact notes that after Labor Day in September, Democrats spent 15 times more than Republicans did on Trump-related ads in the last two months alone. So as President Trump is urging voters to act like he's on the ballot tomorrow, it seems the Democrats are spending big to also drive that message home.

46:25I'll be alongside our excellent CNN team as we are watching, analyzing and reacting as the votes are counted tomorrow night. Our special election coverage, Night in America, starts tomorrow at 5 p.m. Eastern on CNN. If you don't have CNN on your cable, you can stream it live. All you have to do is get an all-access subscription. Thank you so much for joining us live from the Hill tonight. CNN Newsnight, Countdown to Election Night starts right now.

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