Transcripts For MSNBC The Weekend 20240915 : comparemela.com

New swing states horse. She sat down for an interview with a local News Station to make her pitch to undecided voters. The vast majority of us as americans have so much more in common than what separates us. And i also believe that i am accurate in knowing that most americans want a leader who brings us together as americans. Who is trying to have us Pointing Fingers at each other. With 52 days until election day, the pressure is on for the Vice President to both reintroduce herself to persuadable voters and draw a sharp contrast between her Agenda And Donald trump dark vision for america. Joining us now, the publisher of the bulwark and podcasts and serves as Executive Director of republican voters against trump and Tim Miller, msnbc political Analyst And Writer at large at the bulwarks. Welcome to the table, bulwarks. What do you think of the term undecided voter . Especially in this moment . Look, i know a lot of people think undecided voters are real but there are a couple types of undecided voters. I talked to them a lot. They are the ones who are just kind of starting to tune in to politics but i think it is hard for political observers, political obsessives, People Like Us honestly to understand who are these people who are not paying attention to this . But some of the people are called low information voters. I like to call them people who are living their lives and i think thats okay. So, those people are showing up and saying, all right. What do we have here . Then there are other people who genuinely, you know, are not partisan and are rightleaning independents, soft gop voters who do not like trump. They know they will not vote for trump but are trying to figure out if they can get there on harris. I talked to a lot of those voters. This last group, i want people to think about undecided about is this way. People who are undecided about whether they will show up, you know, that is important. You motivate people to get off the couch and go vote because there is a lot of people who are like, this is a matter, and youve got to make them decide to go out there. So, that is who they are that Turn Election that you have to turn out people to the polls. I want to play some sound from your Focus Group wednesday after the debate and these are three voters from the longwell Focus Group. A lot of the things that trump was , you know, criticizing and exploiting Joe Biden four, now hes The Old Man that cant keep up. I think she was the clear winner. She was more president ial. He did a poor job of taking her baIt Allowing himself to get upset. She addressed most of the issues pretty well and she gave Donald Trump like what may be other candidates couldnt. You know, she was a little bit sarcastic and talking back with him. The voters have thoughts. I mean, The Sound was from three Swing Voters from a Focus Group you did after the debate. Youve featured these voices on the podcast this upcoming week. I mean, there are people you still jacked up this is why we had Chairman Harrison here. And some of these other voters because you cannot expect people to show up to the pulpit this was a group, we call them flippers. But if people who voted for trump and then Joe Biden in 2020. That is a group that was eroded when Joe Biden was a candidate and they had been an interesting group to watch after the switch. To see whether or not these voters, these tend to be center right, can they get there on harris . This group in particular, there were a number of interesting things for bottom line, they all thought Vice President Kamala Harris swept the floor with Donald Trump but that wasnt as interesting as the way they described her performance which was the number one word that these voters use about her performance. She seemed president ial. I think for a lot of these voters, getting them over that of saying, no, she looks like somebody who could be president and sounds like she can be present. I think that is a think she differ herself during the debate. What do you make of all of this independent undecided Voter Space that is out there particularly in the face of what the New York Times reported on thursday, quote, although it was billed as an Event Focus on housing and the economy, he dumped he spent much of the meandering speech on thursday in tucson, arizona, venting His Grievances over his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris. You have one president ial candidate trying to level up policy which you and i can debate just how good or bad that is, but another one who is talking about Crowd Size and the fact that he got bested by his opponent in the debate. How are people still undecided in your view . Yeah, thats a good question. Can i say, you all look so good this morning. I thought it was a Saturday Morning kind of casual buy. I know. Look, i think some people for the undecided thing, i get it. This is i get my people are doing it. How can you be undecided . To put a finer point on it, as soon as you think when you hear undecided that their decidedly treating trump and harris, i just cant pick. Chicken or fish . What do i want for dinner . That is not really the person. It is a person who has disqualified one of the candidates and is trying to decide if they can get there on the other candidate. I think if you think about it in the frame it makes more sense. Its like, i young voter trying to decide if they can both harris and they had concerns about basel or whatever it is these folks we talk a lot about at the bulwark. Theyve been republican all their life and voted for trump once and now are trying to decide what to do. I think that makes more sense. Its not a close call for us. When you think of it in that frame and understand what the Harris Campaign needs to do to reach out to these voters for the good news is shes trying. If you listen to her Debate Performance and on the stump Last Night, her message is squarely aimed at motivating these core democratic voters and reaching out to traditional centerright voters that dont like Donald Trump. Thats in her messaging. But trump , on thursdays rally, his rally Last Night was even crazier. Back the snake and is reading the snake poem. The dude is unhinged and he doesnt seem to be focused at all to reach out to these core groups. You wonder what is going on stage is It A i want you to take a listen to something that Vice President Kamala Harris sat on the trail about concepts of a plan. This was yesterday in pennsylvania. Remember when he was president . He tried 60 times to end the affordable Care Act and he said in the debate just this week, he has no plan to replace it. He said he has, quote, concepts of a plan. Concepts of a plan. No actual plan. So, lets just think about this for a moment hes threatened Health Insurance for the 45 Million people who rely on it based on a concept. How do you balance rhetorically, sarah longwell, the fact that he is vague on some Policy Details at the same time he has project 2025 ready and raring to go. Alongside him. Let me say, that isnt the only Focus Group that we did. We also did twotime trump voters who were kind of feeling down on trump. One of the things that was interesting, its always interesting when you listen voters on what breakthrough and what they notice. This idea of concepts of a plan was something a lot of those voters were repeating back to the moderator said, what is he talking about . I think that is for people who are frustrated with trump, he did nothing in that debate to bring them back. He also has been sort of have voters who have been with him before but are not moving away from him and i think it is interesting to pick Healthcare And Fighting just as a forget any debate about the policy of it, as a sheer Public Opinion play. Like they lost this fight. People do care a great deal about what candidates plan for healthcare is and want to know how they are going to get better care and more affordable care, but Donald Trump having nothing to say about that is the kind of thing that voters notice. Theres only a full of policies that voters can really animated about another and healthcare is one of them. Sarah, kim, you are both sticking with us for more republicans are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. That is next on The Weekend. Because when you trust us to pack It And ship it, we guarantee, so itll get into the hands of your customers safely. Which is why were the Stand By Work Guaranteed store. Come into the ups store today. And be unstoppable. Pete g. Writes, my tween wants a new phone. Come into the ups store today. How do i not break the bank . We gotcha, pete. Xfinity mobile was designed to save you money and gives you access to wifi speeds up to a gig. So you get high speeds for low prices. Better than getting low speeds for high prices. Right, bruce . Jealous . Yeah, look at that. Honestly. Someone get a helmet on this guy. Xfinity internet customers, ask how to get a free 5g Phone and a second unlimited line free for a year. Switch Today Harris Walz campaign and another announces support for harris in an oped writing, power is intoxicating and based on trumps rhetoric and conduct It Appears unlikely that he would respect the power of the presidency in all instances and rather abusive for personal and political gain and not on behalf of of the american people. Sarah longwell and Tim Miller are back with us. Tim, first of all, i would like wow. Everyone is like, not everybody because people keep saying where is former president bush. I dont know if we will see anything from him but it seems like a lot of republicans who had previously not publicly said that they will vote against Donald Trump for Kamala Harris and will go on the record written down in spaces and places where people can see it because they think it is important. Yeah. I understand a lot of democrats like you will be disoriented by The Bush character. Were bringing them all back and everybody will be good for,. I think the reality is it is important for the reason we talked about in the first segment. Think about the type of voters who are persuadable. If the one group is warmer republicans who dont like Donald Trump but werent sure about the Vice President , it is helpful to have prominent former republicans or current republican saying, no, its good enough. She passes the presence of bark and he doesnt. Its time to move on. We are not going back. Its unexpected people like that and the cheney. I think it is good in that sense and i think its a sign of her debate victory. There was this period in june that sarah was working on and recruiting these types of people to come forward and its tough. When trump was winning by three points, four points in the polls, some of these people were cowards. People score it was hard to get a former republican office i like but i think that Debate Performance is making that easier. Tim, you walked me right where i wanted to go in terms of how the numbers are shaping up and what that may say and for more republicans to come out. A number of us still inside the party have been trying to create that Permission Structure. This national polling and this is important, focus, because you know how we feel about national polling at the table. These are likely voters, not registered voters. I have a high propensity to vote in elections. Kamala harris is at 50 , trump is a 45. This was completed the day after the debate. The Trend Lines are there. It doesnt, you know, take away from the work. We were talking about that Dnc Chairman and for that Permission Structure, with you and others, talk about it of rightofway thing, hey, folks, you need to take a fresh look because of what is so bad on the other side. Maybe this will help. How do numbers like this and having the Attorney General Gonzales and Dick Cheney and others helped fuel the kind of energy . People like to be on the side of a winner. I know you wish all of this was about the principle and it is for some of us. But for some people this is practical. Some of the people on the sidelines, its less about Policy And Principle as it is about hassle. If i, if i come out for harris, i know i will get negative feedback and i spoke to one of the 200 republicans on that letter that the Vice President mentioned at the debate and she said she got a Phone Call from a Cabinet Official in The Bush white house to is unhappy that she put her name on the list for there are still some of these folks still in Maga World who have friends in their life and its a hassle to do it. If she is winning and performing well on the Debate Stage and there is momentum, that hassle seems worth it. Right . To come out and say i want to do the right thing and put My Name on a piece of paper. I think it matters in that sense if we dont always trust them. Sir, i am curious, when you are sitting in these Focus Groups, do you get the sense that these Endorsements Matter to these folks . Yeah, i do. Although, first of all, in the Focus Groups in particular, they talked about Kamala Harris mentioning she had the endorsements 200 republicans. That is something they have their heirs up for. They like the idea of republicans endorsing Kamala Harris and it makes them feel better about it. I also agree with tim. For a lot of these, these healthy but low information voters, something like, im sorry, Dick Cheney has endorsed Kamala Harris . That make them say, what is wrong with Donald Trump that all these republicans want endorsing . I will say, first of all, we still have far too few of these republicans who have come out considering what they know and what they seen especially the Cabinet Officials who surrounded trump. I would like to see, you know, General Kelly who was his Chief Of Staff and speaks on and especially up the record, i would like to see more of them come out that i want to add one thing to this Polling Question and why it is so important. Donald trump makes it clear that he is going to seek retribution on his enemies and when you speak out, people in republican circles no more than anybody else there is often a price to pay for a social price, a potentially price in terms of your profession and how much you can operate in republican world going forward. But also, it invites a sort of scary Element And Trump intimidates people with this for that is why you dont want there to be a collective Action Problem every time a new republican comes out, it creates a Permission Structure not just for voters for another big Name Republican to say something. Theyve got to do that because it is the right thing to do and be in totality. It may not be there single voice but an aggregate those v