Transcripts For MSNBC The 11th Hour With Stephanie Ruhle 20240925

Troll Donald Trump over a second debate. With the Bombshell Reporting about Mark Robinson means for North Carolina in republicans in the national ticket. Israel expands strikes in lebanon as fears of a wider War Grow. The 11th hour gets underway on this monday night. Good evening once again. I am symone sanders townsend. We are 43 days away from we Election Day, but plenty of people are already casting their votes. Early inperson voting is underway in minnesota, south dakota, and virginia and several other states are sending out mail in ballots. A new Nbc News Poll shows Vice President Kamala Harris with a big Popularity Boost and a five Point Lead on Donald Trump which is within the margin of error. Here is Nbc News senior Correspondent Garrett Haake with a closer look. With six weeks until Election Day, former President Trump in critical pennsylvania is showing new signs of strengthened three other crucial battlegrounds. Bulls tonight revealing gntrump leads Vice President Kamala Harris in North Carolina, georgia, and arizona, all within the margin of error. Nationally, terrace with the edge according to our Nbc News Poll. The fivePoint Lead within the margin of error powered by huge jump in her favorability, Up 16i Points from july. The biggest boost in Nbc News Polling since george w. Bushs surge after 9 11. Trump beats harris by eight points, inflation and rising cost. If you cast your vote for Kamala Harris, your vote for four more years of brutal job losses, higher taxes, surging prices. Reporter trump visited a Grocery Store in pennsylvania. When you talk to the people here paying 30, 40, 50 more for groceries, which i think i can say is right . Its a disgrace. Reporter inflation dropped to 2. 5 . Prices have risen nearly 20 since president biden and harris took office. Here is claiming a speech later this week. I believe in what we will create in terms of opportunity for the american people. Opportunity economy. Vp harris accepted an invitation to debate with Donald Trump next Month But Trump said that would be very bad since voting has started. Keep in mind, folks, trump took part in October Debates in 2016 and 2020. Starting tonight, democrats are trying to pressure trump into another debate by calling him a chicken. The dnc is putting billboards outside trump really saying theres no debate, Donald Trump is a chicken. The billboards were set to greet him and his event didnt pennsylvania. He trashed Jimmy Kimmel and talks how much he loves Elon Musk a will close the department of education. Something you could find in project 2025 actually. We will see j. D. Vance take the Debate Stage and he will face off with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. He has been preparing for weeks with this team. His Wife And Trump advisers. Minnesota governor congressman, tom emmer, will play walz in his final rehearsals. With that, lets bring in the leadoff panel. Susan glasser, Staff Writer for the New Yorker. Gabriel, national correspondent for New York magazine. And white House Correspondent for bloomberg. Thank you all for being here. Susan, i will start with you. This is very much so a margin of error race. I think its going to stay that way until Ride On down to Election Day. Do you think so . Are we beyond the days of having a Landslide Election in this country . You know, after all is said and done and by any account, incredible news few months with the debates and Biden Dropping Out and two Assassination Attempts on the former president , if you look at the national Polling Averages right now, essentially, you can go back to the Spring Or Summer of 2023, and it looked almost exactly the same. Donald trump in particular, has had an in movable core of support. Somewhere in the 46 or so in these Polling Averages. Most people after nine years of trump have made up their minds about him. It is very hard to get it to move even one point. You have seen the movement this year is among democrats, many of whom were not sold on the idea of another term for Joe Biden. They have come home with a real considerable amount of Concerns Thatmo Enthusiasm for Kamala Harris, but its hard to see theres more percentage there. At this point, she might leg a little bit behind where biden was aware Hillary Clinton was at this point. In their respective elections, but theres not more movement. Its a Safe Bet to suggest we are just not going to know in a clear way the outcome of this election until the Election Night or even afterwards. Lets knock on Wood And Hope that set the case. It could be another election week, as i think we remember from 2020. Gabriel, this particular new Nbc News Poll, and i want to caution people, polls in general, i think they are indicative and not predictive, but this Poll Shows a very big spike in popularity for Vice President Kamala Harris. I am wondering if we can say the excitement around her is not just some honeymoon phase. It seems very rural, palpable, and lasting. Its definitely real. Theres still not much to be compared this moment to because of this unprecedented compressed nature the Harris Campaign. She is still relatively new to this version of the national stage, and a lot of voters say they are learning a lot about her or still want to learn more about her. When you look at this new poll is what it tells us is theres interest and she is benefiting from this new focus on her. Thats why you see her talking about wanting another debate, because of first one went so well. She was able to introduce herself to a bigger slice of the american electorate. Even when you look at these polls that seem to show a slightly growing margin for her on the national scale, still a very divided country. More to the point, she can win the national vote by as much as she wants, but what matters is the Electoral College and thats why you see her focusing on a smaller and smaller slice of states like pennsylvania which many think will be the h tipping point. Others like North Carolina and georgia t. Which look like a tougher ride for her but when he she needs to be competitive in. I think the campaign announced they are launching the Vice President herself is going to be visiting a number these midwest Battleground States and more sunbelt states. To me, it says the race is close. We have talked about, they want another debate. Donald trump very clearly seems he wants nothing to do with another debate. That gives democrats the final six weeks of this campaign to call him out for not wanting to debateti. What do you think abo the calculation here . Do you think this changes depending on how the Vice President ial debate goes . I have to imagine Trump Wouldnt want j. D. Vance to have the last word . This Vice President ial debate is the last thing on the calendar until november and it will have the Media Attention that debate straw. Harrises on the trail and going to rallies, but shes only talking to a small portion of the electric. We saw from the pole, she has had a boost from the debate. A lot of people got to know her more. People had favorable perceptions but the Race Hasnt had a big shakeups i think another debate could be the thing that could move some points in some of the crucial states. Get voters to know her better. People say they want to learn more about her character, policies, and another debate would give her the opportunity. We will see if trump changes his mind. Susan, you point out on social media, more voters say that harris is tough more tough than trump. Now we see Democrats Pushing Trump to debate by calling him a chicken, if you will. Did that last debate show the code has been cracked maybe on how to get under trumps skin . This is an unprecedented moment. The polls have nothing to compare this to. Lets stipulate the Chicken Suit has been around a long time. Thats a golden oldie when it at comes to candidates refusing to debate. I remember that from many years ago. I think there is something Donald Trump, the collective psychoanalysis that we have all been engaged in these last nine years, trying to figure out the unusual character of the former president is something that i have been fascinated to watch harris who clearly has a different theory of the case it seems to me then Joe Biden when it comes to the former president. To great effect in the debate where she was very aggressively needling trump, not just in the efforts to get him to take the bait which he seemed to do every single time. Using some of his own buzzwords, his own trigger words, if you will. Donald trump loves to talk about himself as strong and tough. He loves to demean his opponents as weak or sick like a dog. What is it with him and dogs . Lets talk about that. I think its very interesting this issue of how she is seeking to undercut his very palpable kind of sexism when it comes to now the second woman is run against. There was this interview the other day, i dont know if you notice this clip, he said she is a woman. She is doing better. The tone of incredulity in his voice. I can imagine when he saw a survey like that recent Ap Poll that showed her more voters rethinking that she was tough enough to be president than trump. It was close but it ghdid have her narrowly ahead, that that would be a big trigger for Donald Trump to see a result like that given how he prides himself on being seen as this image of a tough guy. It has struck me how in this election, its been Donald Trump that has wanted to weigh into what we refer to as the cultural wars. He wants to talk about the w effects of Race And Gender in ct the election than maybe some people are surprised that democrats are not doing that. The Harris Campaign and the Vice President herself is very much talking about why she would like to, why she thinks shes the best choice based on a host of other factors and not that she that voters will make history by electing her. I see the endorsement she is getting. The most recently there are hundreds of National Security, military officials, i am talking former chairs of the main republican party for example who have endorsed this harris walz ticket. Do you think the strategy that the Harris Walz Campaign is employing and especially with these endorsements and how the Vice President is taking on the issues in the race, will it make a difference with independent and rightleaning voters . Folks are undecided lake maybe they need to see more . I dont want to speak about brett specifically, but when you talk about marginal voters, thats what this game is about and i think the Harris Campaign is been smart to telegraph, we dont need to worry about the democratic core voters. We arent going to convince republican core voters. This will be down to a few thousand voters in a few states. When you talk Saabout Trump taking the lead on a lot of d these cultural issues, this is, what youre seeing is democrats learning from previous Election Cycles when people have not always respond well to democrats trying to bait him into that. Voters have not responded well at all to a trump weighs in on these cultural war issues. You see his positions and what democrats talk about is extremism which is reflected in polling. People find trumps views extreme. This has not worked for him in election after election. Its when people find him to bee the least effective as a communicator. He swings at leevery pitch. Democrats know he wants to make news constantly and talk about whatever seems to be inflaming the right wing specifically. When you see here is talking y about the economy, thats responding to polls because voters say, especially undecided, they want to hear more from more on that. They want to be reassured about the economy which is the number 1 issue with. When you see him rolling out endorsements from republicans, democrats have been doing that since Hillary Clinton ran against trump. The reason they are doing that is they are aiming at suburban, moderate voters who say they would be open to harris but they are not sure these are people who vote for republicans in the past, and people for whom a validator like a local Wh State Party Chair for someone likecheney, wouldnt necessarily be someone they would follow wholeheartedly. It gives them a permission structure. That is the theory. Will it work out . We will have to see. Its worked in the past but only in the margins. This is going to be a campaign and erase. We talk about it will be close. These independent voters, moderate republican voters will matter for Donald Trump and Vice President enKamala Harris. Base voters for each. Lets not forget, Nikki Haley made a good run in the republican primary, and then you have the space democratic voters that democrats want to turn out. What are the operations of Moea Campaign when it comes to it Infrastructure And Money . The Harris Campaign is proud of their Ground Game. They feel they have more offices in Swing States and offices in nebraska where theres one Electoral College vote. Florida for example. They are proud of their infrastructure, and they are out raising trump by a lot. Harris outraised him last month 3 to 1 but fundraising is not the endall, beall. Clinton out raised Donald Trump so they have to get their message out and knock on doors and connect with people because money is not going to be ne enough, offices are not enough, if theyre not getting the message deployed. Susan, folks are talking about trump saying if he loses he will run again in four years . Id like to refresh someones memory. 2016 and 2020 he said if he lost we wouldnt see him again a here we are. Is there anything significant about at this time . He also says he would only accept any results of the Selection that involves him winning. I think thats the more proximate concern for those who care about american democracy, and im not anxious, and im sure most arent, to have a repeat of 2020, but Donald Trump is already singing when it comes to refusing in advance to accept the results of the election if he loses. Thats enough of a five Alarm Fire for me. 2028, talk to me later. Truly. Susan, gabriel, kayla, i appreciate your time. When we come back, Mark Robinson, he is not dropping out of the race for North Carolina governor. He is losing a bunch of top staff. What does it mean for the president ial race in a crucial Swing State . Important news out of nebraska about a proposed change the good Help Trump in the Electoral College. The 11th hour is just getting underway. Getting underway. Y start at ag. Hpv vaccination a type of Cancer Prevention against certain hpvrelated cancers, can start then too. For most, hpv clears on its own. But for others, it can cause certain cancers later in life. Youre welcome now, as the dad cab, its my cue to help protect them. Embrace this phase. Help protect them in the next. Ask their Doctor Today about hpv vaccination. Whenever heartburn strikes, get fast relief with tums. Its time to love food back. Also try new tums gummy bites. San franciscos been through tough times. 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The hits just keep coming for Mark Robinson and his campaign for governor in North Carolina. He is facing calls to drop out of the race following a report by cnn alleging he referred to himself as a black nazi on a Pornography Site years ago. Now the republican Governor Association appears to be pulling the plug. The red by expires tomorrow. They have not made another one. Over the weekend, four, four, four is a lot, of his campaign managers, four resigned from his campaign. Robinson insists he is staying in the race. We have full confidence we can go on. We are getting resumes from all over. People jumping in to help us. We have made a ton of friends. Lot a lot of talented people reaching out to us. With us for more smart mechanic, former adviser to both george w. Bush and john mccain. Maria urbana, for nerve Senior Adviser to Harry Reid and the national political director the indivisible project. Mark, i guess im going to start here with the fact that the Trump Campaign is not pulling their endorsement of robinson. How could they, given Donald Trump is at the top of this ticket . Given the majority, the range of things that trump has said and done over the years in his career, doesnt seem as though he would pull an endorsement. The interesting thing is neither Donald Trump nor vance appeared with the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson, since the comment service. Trump was in North Carolina couple days ago. Is is going to be enough to avoid being dragged down by robinson in this state . No. All the way does look like a Choir Boy next to Donald Trump, its a problem. Its a real problem. Statewide efforts based on the strength of the overall ticket. The person at governors at the statewide ticket and it creates fieldwork and incentives and creates up and down the ballot effect. The most important thing is for people to be excited about the races in the states. I think very strongly now that North Carolina could be the route that hears goes to win the election. I think it is possible she win pennsylvania but she could lose it, but if she loses pennsylvania, its very likely that she will win North Carolina, and then i think she is a good possibility of picking up either georgia and or arizona. I think North Carolina is shifting politically, and i think the Mark Robinson effect is a big problem. Maria, the Mark Robinson effect is a thing as marquez noted. Trump appears to have a slight Polling Edge in some key sunbelt battlegrounds like North Carolina. These are all within the margin of error. Postal vote, people do. What is your take on the polling the New York Times Siena Polling that notes this edge and the state of the race on the ground in North Carolina, specifically. Democrats have been spending more money the last couple of cycles and spending more time, and it looks like it has panned off. Let me start i sing in the words of the grant on the potomac housewives, this effect is messy, mildew week, and moldy. This is trumps doing. This is trumps party. When you look at his Track Record on Candidate Quality Weather North Carolina, ohio with he is surprised that Women Care about their rights . Particular women over the age of 50. Ask Mitch Mcconnell of what he thinks of trumps Track Record of picking candidates. It is messy and chaos of his own doing. In terms of the state of play. I am like, okay, 10 points is a big jump for one month. Lets look at indicators by voters and their actions. 61,000 voters, women voters, have newly registered in North Carolina. Thats meaningful because when you track that back to when roe fell ahead of the midterms, women were registering at much higher levels. Back then, people swatted it away is, this cant be about abortion. It cant be about women being responsive but it was. Trump is losing women. You dont want to be on the path. Maria makes a good point. The Vice President s campaign is targeting suburban women in North Carolina. This is an important point to note. The suburbs have become more diverse. Whereas previously when people said suburban women, they might be exclusively talking about white women voters. Suburban women are white women, latina women, and black womens, api. Summer millennials because they are turning 43. This surge of women registering to vote that maria spoke to, this could be a good strategy for the Harris Campaign, correct . Absolutely right. Maria nailed it. The story will not be undecided voters but previously unregistered voters who are voting for the first time in the Selection. 61,000 is a huge number and i think its a tip of the iceberg. Anecdotally, i am hearing all kinds of feedback about Registration Numbers i have not heard from ever. The problem with polling is it uses a mirror instead of a periscope. Looking back at models from 2020, and people were not excited in that election. Theres a lot of excitement in the Selection and a lot of new voters. Its difficult to look at the polling in North Carolina, arizona, and georgia because its a picking up newly registered voters and i think thats a big story of the Selection. You look at all the polling and i always think to myself, particularly the last three weeks, what a likely registered voter in an Election Cycle like this one where there are so many new registrants . Is it even possible to adequately predict with the electric could potentially be on Election Day . You cant adequately predict because you dont know what it be because you dont know how many newly registered voters are. They are basing it on 2020. The numbers of 2020 and basing those likely Voter Models and saying it will probably be something like 2020. I dont think it will be like 2020 at all. It will be bigger than that. The polling might be really missing this one. Maria, one of Vice President Kamala Harris largest Applause Lines at her North Carolina rally was on reproductive rights. You talked about the issue of abortion rights. North carolina is a Battleground State but its not a state in the Selection, there are 10 states where there are abortion or reproductive freedom on the ballot in North Carolina is not one of those states. Given the Abortion Ban thats in place in the state of North Carolina are neartotal Abortion Ban, the Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, republican candidate, his stance on abortion and the comments he has said, how important is abortion specifically to this state when it comes to the voters and turning them out . When you look at North Carolina, its not surprising youre seeing this. Its not surprising shes getting the applause line. The republican majority there has a democrat to turn her back and her constituents and vote with their majority . They could push through and Abortion Ban and that creates a salience around the Issue And Contrast around the issue. As we said before, clear receipts that american voters are not forgetting about what republicans have done to create worse Health Conditions and Abortion Bans. Its not surprising its a huge applause line. In North Carolina, they may not have a way to directly express their discontent vis vis a ballot measure, but they will be able to express discontent against republican majorities taking away their rights and health care. Mark, Donald Trump he has had real losses with women voters, and he seems to be going after young man to make up for those losses. Do you think thats going to be enough in what is shaking it to be a tight race . What do you think about the outreach . It seems, his outreach to latino men and black men, it seems very inauthentic to say the least. I will say a couple things. From everything i am hearing and reporting that the Ground Game efforts are really well coordinated on the democratic side. Most of the side in the republican side is volunteer. I will throw one note of caution to those who think conventionally the because theres a lot of new voters being registered that there primarily democrats are voting for harris. I have seen some videos from Charlie Kirk on College Campuses that blow your mind. He has a sea of young men in College Campuses, and there are a lot of them. Dont discount the number of men that may be registering because there seems to be a lot going on there as well. This is going to be a close election. Look at the data and nudges a polling although the Nbc News Poll is good. Maria, thank you. Big news out of nebraska a very proposed move that could help Donald Trump with Electoral Votes. That is when The 11th Hour continues. Hour. man this whale is unaware its being exploited for financial advertising. Look at this silly little sailboat. These men of means with their silver spoons, eating up the financial favors of the 1 . What would become of them when they discover robinhood gold allows others to earn their very liberal rates on idle cash and unlimited deposit bonuses. They would descend into chaos. Merciless chaos. We are following major news out of nebraska. A key republican lawmaker has officially blocked an effort by Donald Trump and his allies to switch nebraska to a winner take all state. The Cornhusker State currently awards Electoral Votes by Congressional District and Kamala Harris is in the running to win one of them. In a letter obtained by Nbc News, State Senator Mike Mcdonnell writes that after deep consideration, its clear to me the 43 days from Election Day is not the moment to make this change. Lets welcome jane, the chair the nebraska democratic party. For people who dont know, i am a native, hawn, go big red. Can you break down for folks, what your reaction to this and nebraska is one of only two states that spit the Electoral College votes. Maine is the other. Nebraska is the only state in the country with the unicameral. Everyone is a senator in this State Body is possibly the last bastion of true bipartisanship across the country at the state level. The republicans they didnt have the votes before. They tried to do this for a while and now we see this today. Your reaction and where do things go from here . We are grateful and i want to say i brought you some Nebraska Swag that ill have to get to you. For some reason i thought we would be in studio together. We are grateful because, it was not only Mike Mcdonnell who withstood a tremendous amount of pressure from trump and his cronies, but 15 democrats and one independent. A True Cross Partisan Coalition who said no. We are not going to change this late in the game and they have tried this literally every year since we won the Electoral Vote for barack obama, and they tried it again after Joe Biden won in 2020 and now theyre doing it again this late in the hour. Nebraskans have stood up. Mike Mcdonnell Student stash stood up. You see blue signs and Kamala Harris signs. They are terrified so they tried this at the end. We have seen this before in terms of folks trying, republicans attempted to get nebraska to change the rules. It felt like more of a push. Before we got this news today, Lindsey Graham explained that Meet The Press On Sunday why he traveled to nebraska to make his pitch in this push. Watch this. Nebraska has been talking about this for years. Its a very close election. The entire federal delegation of nebraska, House Members and two senators, one this change. To my friends in the press the, that one Electoral Vote could be the difference between harris being president and shes a disaster for nebraska and the world. Jane, a forceful push. 43 days a from the election and republicans its too late to have another debate but not too late to change the Electoral College votes are distributed in the Electoral College 43 days out from the election. Does this make sense to you . No. Here is a shocking concept since trump likes concepts of a plan, how about campaign for votes . We have offices and volunteers knocking doors. We have staff on the ground and we are running a real campaign because we want to earn the votes in the second Congressional District as well as statewide. Trump has one Staff Member on the ground. No operations. No offices open. What we say to trump and his folks is, if you want to win, then knock doors, talk to voters and campaign rather than whining on tv or sending Lindsey Graham are sending out truth social pose which trump did today hitting senator Mike Mcdonnell. We are confident we will fight straight through the Finish Line because we are taking nothing for granted. I believe we have the truth social post that trump attacked this nebraska State Senator early today. He called him a grandstand or. Is this grandstanding . It seems like Senator Mcdonnell is saying its too close to the election to change the rules like this. Its a consequential change and im not comfortable with doing that. Senator is a firefighter not a grandstand or. He has been clear that he didnt want to change the Electoral College folk. They kept on pressuring. What i think really happened is republicans, including Charlie Kirk, and the rest, they had to do this political theater for trump to make sure they were still ins good graces. They never had the votes and Mike Mcdonnell withstood a ton of pressure, but i will say nebraskans were speaking very loud and clear. We want a fair election. I think mcdonnell and the democrats and independents have stood with him will be rewarded with votes in whatever office they choose to run for. We talk about the Blue Dot in nebraska, omaha and extends out but District 2 essentially. And democrats have been aggressively organizing in District 2 where the Electoral College is up for grabs but also a House Seat is on the line. I believe currently Don Bacon holds the sea, a republican. Tony vargas, State Senator campaigning is the democratic nominee, and a good win the race. The race seems to be close. The Harris Campaign is organizing. They have 20 staffers on the ground in the district. Trump only has one staffer. What have you heard from the voters about this dynamic about what they are seeing in terms of organizing in the district . We are hearing from voters that they feel neglected by the republicans and the Trump Campaign. The republicans in our state are in a little chaos. That had maga take over the State Party and they dont have any money. Theres lots of internal fighting while we have state narrow focused and talking to voters and winning elections. We have gone from five home 500 democrats to now 900 across the state. I know people are like, you havent won a federal race. We are going to do with this year. Tony vargas and Don Bacon, its a razor thin race and we know because of the work we are doing. Voter guides, block captains, volunteers, yard signs. We are doing everything. Voter registration. To make sure we get that Electoral Votes for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz but we bring vargas in the legislative races over the Finish Line. The world will be watching nebraska too. Thank you for your time. When we come back, israel issues a rare warning to civilians in lebanon as fears of a wider War Grow in the region. We will have the latest reporting from Richard Engel when The 11th Hour continues. It has been a day of dramatic developments as israel expands its assault on hezbollah inside lebanon. According to lebanese officials, nearly 500 are dead and nearly 1500 injured. Richard engel has more from inside israel. Reporter israel is expanding its war in lebanon and the target is hezbollah. The iranian backed militia has been carrying out attacks against Northern Israel in solidarity with hamas after october 7. Hezbollah has Tens Of Thousands of rockets, drones, and missiles and israel has begun to take them out in the hundreds. Israel saying many weapons are stored inside homes. Warning civilians to evacuate. I have a message for the people of lebanon. Israels war is not with you. It is with hezbollah. To defend our people against hezbollah strikes we must take out those weapons. Reporter the Lebanon Health Ministry said around 500 people were killed by israeli Strikes Today including children. Nbcs Matt Bradley is there. Reporter this hospital is taking in injuries and waiting for it for the better part of a year and now they are expecting trauma cases from all over the country. Reporter israel is far better prepared. Today, the director of israels biggest hospital showed me how every patient is being moved to a fortified hospital underground. You are using it for real. It is unfortunate. This is not a Healing Environment but it allows us to give medical care. Reporter hezbollah suffered a major blow last week when thousands of its members, pagers and walkietalkies exploded. Israel hinted at it but not claimed responsibility. Nonetheless, the group is still able to fire. Hezbollah rocket hit these homes causing extensive damage, now israel is bracing for an escalation ordering all schools across Northern Israel closed and declaring this entire area a nofly zone. A new front has opened tonight between israel and hezbollah. It may be very difficult to close. Richard engel, Nbc News, haifa. Joining me now is hagar, National Security and Public Affairs expert. What are your thoughts on what has happened over the past week . Maybe bring us inside the conversations i could be happening amongst leaders at the u. N. General assembly happening this week in New York. What is happening in israel, Gaza And Lebanon will take over whats happening at the u. N. General assembly. In terms of whats going on over the last week, this is something that israel has been warning about all summer. Thats that they have been saying over and again that they believed military action was the only way to confront hezbollah and make them stop Lobbying Missiles at north of israel which they been doing every day since october 8. Theres an estimate of 8000 rockets and drones loved by hezbollah at Northern Israel and you have 60, 70, 90,000, i hear different numbers, number of israeli civilians who have been displaced from the north. And israel is concerned about the integrity of their territory in the north and the are for the hezbollah compromise the border and try to push into israel since that area is empty. What we have seen is an escalation. Exploding pagers and Walkie Talkies and followed up with strikes against weapons, and military commanders of hezbollah in the south of lebanon. The pentagon says theyre spending a small number of reinforcements to the region. They are saying out of an abundance of caution. What do you make of this . Its a common move by the u. S. Government. I was director for Syria And Lebanon and the national Security Council during wartime as well between lebanon and israel. Its a common move for the u. S. To send carriers, Military Prisons when they are trying to convey to adversaries in the region that the United States is going to help if needed. Its not necessarily to automatically enter the war but they are reminding Hezbollah And Iran and the houthis, anybody there that they are standing on the side ready to intercept missiles or defend israel, if needed. I am sure folks are listening to this conversation and thinking how close are we to allout war spreading in the region . Here is the angle i want to explain. On one hand, allout war is the risk, further heightened after what you are seeing now. Its clear as well that neither Hezbollah Nor Israel actually want an allout war. If they did, we wouldve seen it by now. Hezbollah has been lobbing these missiles for 11 months and israel has been responding. I dont want to sound offensive here, but there is also an element of restraint and the reason is because there is a desire not to let it escalate to allout war. The desires to have hezbollah stop lobbying those missions and using lebanon, they used lebanon for decades, taking the country hostage, kidnapped the country and its people essentially, and invited violence into the Country And Israel says its enough. Stop. That escalation, what you are seeing, it heightens the respect given both sides dont want to enter it, it is not inevitable this becomes an all out regional war. Thank you very much. When we come back, we will bring is taste of Stephanies Appearance with Bill Marr from friday night. You do not want to miss it. Iss man these men of means with their silver spoons. What will become of them when they discover robinhood gold allows others to earn their very liberal rates on idle cash. They would descend into chaos. The last thing before we go, Real Time. Someone you may recognize appeared on hbos Real Time with Bill Marr friday night. Here is a clip. Have of trumps corporate contributions come from the biggest people in the crypto space, and they realize hes a transactional guy. They said great. He cant spell crypto. And he doesnt know what it is. He thinks it is a commemorative coin. We should have it in america. They dont want Regulation And Trump said will get rid of the sec chair. They say great. He doesnt know. We will buy can make it work regulation we want which is non. This idea that trump is great for the economy because it will cut taxes and we will have no regulation. Its not no regulation, we want smart regulation. If you want no regulation, drink the water in flint, michigan. Thats what no regulation looks like. You tell them, stephanie. She was out there working. We will see you back here on The 11th Hour tomorrow night. On sunday, please join me and our colleague Melissa Murray for an nbc special black women in america, the road to 2024. We will feature conversations with actress kerry washington, political strategist, and others. We will explore help black women are thinking about the election and what the candidates can do to earn their votes in november. You will be surprised by some of what you hear. You can watch black women in America Sunday at 9 00 p. M. Eastern right here on Msnbc And Streaming on peacock the next day. I wish you a very good night. From all of our colleagues across the networks of Nbc News, thank you for staying up late. We will see you again tomorrow. Okay. Theres a lot going on but i want to start with a dumpster fire