Transcripts For CNN The Source With Kaitlan Collins 20240920

Presidential endorsement that both candidates have been angling to lock down for weeks now. And it turns out neither one of them is getting it. An an election that is marked by an allout fight for Blue Collar voters. The teamsters silence rings louder than really any endorsement could tonight. The leadership declared during that theyre not backing Vice President harris or former president Donald Trump. The republican Nominee Tonight tried to claim otherwise earlier today, i was honored to receive The Endorsement of the Rankandfile Membership of the teamsters. I love that endorsement comes from the leadership of the teamsters, but well talk more about that in a moment. But just to give you a sense of how much trump was trying to woo the Teamsters President Sean Obrien, he gave him a Prime Time Speaking Slot at the republican national convention. Any reaction with the Teamsters Decision not to endorse know they are. I particularly daughter is there not going to endorse the democrats its a big thing and this is the first time that i guess 50, 60 years, and thats happened. Democrats automatically have the teamsters. They took a vote and i guess i was at 60 center more and thats a great honor i should note, thats not exactly right. That democrats automatically get the vote. Teamsters did endorse both Reagan And George hw bush. But the importance of the Teamsters Decision is evident and just how badly both sides wanted it i remember Vice President harris just met with a Unions Leadership on monday, but she walked away with that endorsement. Still dangling in the air. And the Team Teamster stand out. I should note from what so far has been a clean sweep of major Labor Endorsements for Harriswalz Ticket but their focus may be more on whats happening inside the nearly 95,000 Rank And File teamsters who were in the state of pennsylvania. The problem for the democratic ticket, the teamsters own fingers according to them showed that a majority of their members prefer trump. By lead source. Tonight is the head of an influential labor group, one that has endorsed the Harriswalz Ticket. I should note, united auto Workers President shawn fain, and its great to have you here, shan, because when you look at this this is the first time the teamsters have not endorsed a president ial candidate since 1996 do you see this as a blow to Vice President harris not really. Look its not a Trump Endorsement and you know, look, weve done polling in Working Class People Union or not, and especially in our union. And i know the other unions mirror the same numbers but going back to 2008 and forward, i mean, its literally been an average of 65 vote democrat, 32, 32 vote republic, and thats pretty consistent all across the board and even though im not going to get into their leadership and their decision making, but i mean it was pretty apparent today when the michigan teamsters joint counsel 43 245,000, retired an active members endorsed Kamala Harris the joint council 42 that includes nevada 300,000 members endorsed Kamala Harris and walz and local to 37 in New York, which is their biggest local, also endorsed harriswalz teams. So i dont read into that too much. I mean, i believe their Union Dislike Argument and most other units i know of in his country are going to vote heavily for Kamala Harris and tim walz. Yeah, weve heard from the Pennsylvania Faction of it, although and of course, you know, overall, if youre sitting at home wondering about this teamsters, they got 1. 3 million members. A lot of them are in michigan, wisconsin, and pennsylvania, and they do a lot of credibility with truck drivers, freight haulers. So those rail workers, i mean, you know that better than anyone. So youre right that its not an endorsement of Donald Trump, but without the amount theyre knocking on doors, that kind of Muscle Power that they have. Do you think it could hurt her race . I dont think so because i mean, i believe locals that have endorsed him are going to theyre going to do the work theyre going to be boots on the ground and thats where thats thats thats thats thats where the troops are you know, i look at the same with us like we had a weekend of action last weekend all over the Country And Uaw locals and our regions. So we plan on doing that throughout the entire every weekend and throughout the weeks, throughout this entire election process. So i believe the boots will be on the ground regardless because its a clearcut choice. So who stands with Working Class people . And who doesnt i mean, Donald Trump wants to fire Striking Workers and Kamala Harris stands stands out there with Striking Workers on a picket line. Its its a really clear choice whos with us and whos against us well, its interesting to hear you say that because Sean Obrien, whos the head of the teamsters, remember after trump was kind of laughing in seeming to agree with Elon Musk talking about firing Striking Workers Sean Obrien called it economic terrorism from the trump campaign. He was defending his decision that his Leadership Team made today. Listen to what he had to say about this call the democrats have always taken for granted that theyre going to get our vote no matter what the republicans a fancy themselves as the working parties. Working Peoples Party i think right now, both sides have to take a step back and really reevaluate what their commitment is to working people. And thats what we did this process what do you say to that . That idea that democrats are taking Laborers Vote for granted well, i mean, as i said, when i took over as president , that our endorsements are going to be earned, are not going to be freely given i dont disagree with that. I do believe you know. After you know, after eight years of reagan and four years of bush won, i believe that the Democrat Party slid toward the middle and not on that. All of them, but some and the Trade Deals and after past democrat, you know, some democrats supported all republicans did and it left working workingclass people scratching their heads. That are back and i think its important that we make him earn our endorsements. But you know, you look at Donald Trump, we have a Track Record with him when he was president , he left workers behind. He didnt do a damn thing when plants, he he claims that he cares about autoworkers. And its insulting that man showed up in flint, michigan of all Places Yesterday a city has been devastated by the corporate class taking those jobs out, driving a race to the bottom over the decades they have and doubly sickening is the fact that the Republican Party in michigan poison the people, the citizens of flint so thats a party that left Working Class people behind long ago. And the one thing about the harriswalz team, Harris And Biden team after they swift it, sorted out the pandemic they went to work with the american rescue plan. They saved pensions they went to work with the ira to create and the chips act over 30 factories or ive been built are planned to be built in, are being built in the united states right now. Thats an investment in industry. Donald trump didnt bring a damn thing here when he was president. He had the chance, he didnt produce. Can i ask you what you make of him saying just before we came on the air tonight, the he got the Dog Horseman of the Rank And File of the teamsters what sure dont look that way when all those joint councils, i just repeated in michigan and nevada, and New York, all endorsed Kamala Harris and tim walz. So thats over half million members right there. So i id say hes hes a little off on his assessment, but but like everything he says, hes a little bit off so shawn fain, thank you for your time tonight thank you. Great to bigger. Great to have you. And i want to talk about the political impact of all of this. So we have to political sources here on set with us the democratic strategist, i usha mills and the republican strategy strategist, Shermichael Singleton what to both you think of what this means because it is well beyond what he said about trump there. Shawn fain, obviously not the Donald Trumps biggest fan, i think to put it generously. But, but what impact does this have for democrats . Well, i just want to reiterate what was just said because while the national may not have endorsed at The End ended the day, teamsters 245,000 of them in michigan, as well as in wisconsin as well as in parts of pennsylvania and philadelphia. Also in western pennsylvania and representing northern west virginia. All of those teamsters have come out and support of Kamala Harris. So when you think about the fact that these Battleground States really matter all politics is local and its about organizing boots on the ground to get the word out, to get people to vote. Those critical states that were talking about, the teamsters are going for Kamala Harris. I think that this conversation about the national narrative is absolutely true. In fact, that the nationals decided to sit this one out, but where she actually needs its the people who are going Door To door and getting their members out in those critical Battleground States. Kamala harris has what and you Cant Look at that without looking at the numbers that were also seeing today about those, those three states, the Quinnipiac Poll that, that came out today, harris is up in pennsylvania, 51 to 45 michigan, 50 . Donald trump has 45 wisconsin, no clear leader there. I mean, you are just seeing so much of this within the margin of error. You see it there. 3. 3 points when youre looking at these numbers and assessing how they get those three important states. And we look, its within the margin of error. Im not surprised at the races. A lot tighter and closer than it is because of the enthusiasm for the Vice President. I get it. But you also have to factor in when considering the math that Donald Trump is typically underestimated in his overall performance. And thats also with considering the three 3. 23 0. 3 typical margin of error. So if im looking at a state like pennsylvania, where i think our recent Cnn Poll a week ago suggests at 16 of the voters. There are still undecided. Im trying to figure out where are they are there in bucks . Are they going to Erie Lizard and other parts of the state . And what is necessary for the former president to penetrate those 60 of those voters who are on the fence, who are not yet behind the Vice President , i think theres still an opportunity to do that. And on top of all of this, trump is here in New York today, and he was asked earlier when he was at this Bar Talking about crypto, about what the fed did today, making that huge Rate Cut a more aggressive than some experts, even expected. He did not seem exactly thrilled this is what he had to say yes, it shows you economy to kind of buy that much assuming theyre not just playing Politics Economy would be very bad, or theyre playing politics, you want to the other, but there was a big gut what did you make of that . I mean, look, the fed said that we have not necessarily defeated inflation yet. He also mentioned Housing Costs is still a persistent issue in this country. I dont necessarily think the foreign president phrases properly, but this is clearly still a real issue for a whole host of americans. And i think its still the reason why, though the Vice President has improved her margins on this issue compared to president biden. He is still leading on it. He needs to talk more about it and explain to the american people, get going back to that 60 of pencil the venue what hes going to do if given another four years. And one of his advisers is clearly wanted it to be maybe a 25 cut now in 25 points in after the election, that was Steve Moore who said that to a reporter. I mean, this is good news for people who are trying to buy a home or refinance or credit card debt. But it also does Kholod Id with the politics of the moment, right . And lets take the politics Out Of It for a moment. I want to quote you guys a couple of things here. Are pretty much all economists agree that Donald Trump would be horrible for the economy and that literally if he were to win again within months of him taking office, we would see inflation go up. So according to a moody study, trump, he would cause a recession by Mid2025 Goldman if youre looking at jpmorgan asset management, theyre saying at this Tariff Plan that he talks about that Kamala Harris is essentially calling a tax on the american people. Thats actually going to lead to more inflation. If you look at goldman Sachs Group economists, there are gaming seeing this out and theyre saying, well, the u. S. Gdp faces a hit in the case of a win for Donald Trump. Every trusted economist is saying that this guy is bad for the economy but i think one of the senior is x at goldman sachs actually pushed back a little bit on that i watched an interview a week ago on cnbc pertaining to that, he said this isnt exactly from musk. These are some guys working with an outside group and this is their analysis with that said, the biden administration. The Biden Ministration. Did the Biden Ministration did keep in place some of trumps tariffs now do i necessarily agree with the approach of the former president as it pertains to china . Not necessarily. And i do think he should probably rework this a bit more and i think some republicans would probably agree with that in terms of having a fair balance, in Terms Of Trade overall. But im not convinced necessarily that the three that you mentioned have given the former President And Opportunity to really elucidate, i suppose what his exact plans would be because hes going to get in because he has concepts doesnt have any plans. He has concepts of a boy i want to get both deals take on something thats happening while both of these candidates are ferociously out on all of these states that were talking about, trump was doing a Town Hall with Governor Sarah Huckabee sanders Last Night of arkansas, where she talked about how her kids humble her all the time every day. And she said she made this dig if Vice President harris saying that she she did he doesnt have anyone to humble her. Was the quote, doug emhoff, the second gentleman is responding to that tonight. I just want everyone to listen to what he had to say about it. So my kids keep me humble unfortunately, Kamala Harris does