Which way will it go . I have a great panel to talk about it. Also, brazil just elected a man who some have compared to donald trump. Angela merkel announced she will step aside in germany as rightwing populism has gained ground there. Well take a look at the state of democracy around the world. But first, heres my take. It is commonplace to hear and read about President Trumps takeover of the Republican Party. And suddenly, theres lots of evidence that the gop is animated these days by an unquestioning devotion to trump and whatever his ideas may be at any moment, but the problem for republicans is theyre now becoming the party not of donald trump but of joseph mccarthy. Consider the most recent example. Trump has scared much of the country about a small group of Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence who are hoping to come to the u. S. Border and apliel for asylum. Its reasonable to oppose letting them in, but republicans have not been content to oppose granting asylum. They have invented conspiracies about who is behind this group of impoverished migrants. Two weeks ago, one of the most prominent members of fox news which is now the Republican Party, suggested that more than 100 isis fighters have been caught trying to use this caravan. Trump, a devoted viewer of fox, pounced on the claim, declaring unknown middle easterners have joined the caravan. Matt gaetz asked whether george soros was funding this movement. None of these claims has an iota of truth to it, but theyre repeated and reenforced across the country. The notion that soros is the dark mastermind behind all these movements is now deeply lodged in the Republican Party. So much so that Senior Party Leaders like californias representative Kevin Mccarthy and iowa senator Charles Grassley repeat it almost reflexively. Representative steve king of iowa has accused soros of backing a grand scheme to systematically introduce foreigners in order to replace americans by which he means whites, with somebody elses babies. The slurs against soros are revealing. Lets remember, george soros is one of the most successful capitalists in history, whose foundation has spent over 14 billion to date, much of it to support anticommunist and human Rights Groups first in Eastern Europe and then around the world. Hes funded various liberal ideas as well, for sure, from Prison Reform to the legalization of marijuana. Many of which are actually now in the mainstream. So why the focus on him . Hes not the only big funder of liberal causes and candidates. Soros is the perfect bogeyman for conspiracy theorists. Hes rich, powerful, grew up abroad, and has a foreign accent. Plus, he is jewish. Many republicans now speak openly and often of the dangers of globalists, but for some reason, these globalists all tend to be jewish financiers. Lloyd blankfein, janet yellen, george sorosoros, gary cohn. One can only conclude elements of the Republican Party are either clueless about antisemitism or actively encouraging it. America has a history of paranoid politics infused with the belief there is some hidden conspiracy to betray the public, but these used to be peripheral, voiced by marginal figures. When they seem to be growing, as with the John Birch Society in the 1960s, william f. Buckley publicly denounced them. Today, Senior Republicans emulate them. President trump has given a ringing endorsement to alex jones, the countrys most influential and extreme conspiracy theorist. Trump said in a 2015 interview with jones, your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down. The Republican Party has many good people and good ideas. But none of them matter while it houses and feeds fantasies, conspiracies, and paranoia tinged with racism, bigotry, and antisemitism. Republicans are now squarely the party of joe mccarthy, and until that cancer is excised, it should not be entrusted with power. For more, go to cnn. Com fareed and read my Washington Post column this week. Lets get started. Lets go to todays political panel. Katrina vanden heuvel is the editor and publisher of the nation. Anthony scaramucci was briefly the Communications Director at the trump white house. Hes the author of a new book trump, the blue collar president. And James Fallows is a National Correspondent for the atlantic. He and his wife debra are the coauthors of a terrific book, our towns 100,000 mile journey into the heart of america. Jim, let me start with you. If you were to look at the state of america, the statistics, economy is doing very, very well. Consumer confidence is very high. Unemployment is down. Things like crime are down. Illegal immigration is way down. And yet donald trump is running not on a morning in America Campaign but an evening in America Campaign. Some might say midnight in America Campaign. Why do you think that is . Its a fundamental question, and of course, were all operating behind a veil of ignorance. Three days from now, well say oh, this was a huge mistake, like pete wilson in california and running his antiimmigrant campaign or else another strategic insight that trump had that nobody else saw coming but i think there are two things we can say now. Number one, emphasize how different this is from the way any past president has behaved that usually they have taken any opportunity to use positive Economic News as the thing to bring everybody together. People who didnt support him. You can think of Ronald Reagan running for reelection. People who didnt support him the first time could be with him. Bill clinton often chafed in 2000 that al gore didnt run on the peace and prosperity message. He thought he would have been elected then. First, this is really unusual. Second, its out of sync with what we saw in most of the country where people basically feel better about the direction of their lives than this dark tone suggests. Its interesting that the places where you have the strongest antiimmigrant fear are places without immigrants. Where the refugees arent, places like steve kings district. Anthony, trump has approached a baseonly strategy from the start, and one of the things people try to understand about this is where does this come from . Why does he he plays on peoples fears more than their hopes. It seemed to work very well for him in the primaries. I think he alone figured out on that whole republican ticket that, you know, the people didnt want to hear a version of the reagan formula. They wanted to hear about mexicans, about chinese people, about muslims. Has it become instinct for him now . Well, i would frame it a little differently. What the president was basically saying about the illegal immigration is by stopping illegal immigration, you take the slack out of the labor market, and that effectively happened in both the africanamerican and hispanic American Labor statistics. Theyre the lowest in recorded history. And its a base strategy, fareed, because hes trying to get the participation up. He recognizes, as most president s do, hes the leader now. And the opposition is going to be way more angry, and theyre going to come out and vote more aggressively. So a lot of other president s took more of a rose garden strategy as it related to going out on the campaign. But hes decided not to do that. Hes barnstorming the nation, and hes making the bet, and its a lowrisk bet for him, fareed, because if he makes the bet and he wins. People will say hes a genius three days from now. If he doesnt win, hell just say, you know what. President obama got, using his own words, shellacked in 2010, lost 63 seats. Im going to likely lose 35. Hell call it a win and reframe it. So in his mind, dont think he has any risk in the strategy. So who is going to turn out more . We see these early turnout numbers and turnout is up. Do you think its the democrats or the trump republicans . As we were talking about, in texas and georgia, youre seeing a 500 increase in young voters which suggests an enthusiasm for democratic candidates. People who are studying the mobilization and the activism on the ground at the grassroots say they havent seen anything like this since 2012. Its all about turnout. So i think thats very important. I take hope thinking of what james said, from a resurgence of Progressive Energy and candidates across this country, from omaha to detroit, from brooklyn to amish county in pennsylvania. In that, you see a new generation seeking change and not just resistance but wanting to shape the future. You see women mobilized as never before. They came out of the womens march the largest political protest in u. S. History not just to march but to run for something. But let me ask you, the Washington Post has a new poll out that says the generic ballot has been cut almost from 15 points to 11 or even i think 8. Almost in half. And they attribute it to the fact that trump has been able to nationalize the election about immigration, an issue that doesnt play well for democrats. Are democrats taking the bait and letting the election be defined by immigration . No, look at the closing arguments. I mean, trump is closing with fear, loathing, and bigotry. Democrats are closing with Affordable Health care and preexisting conditions. And pointing to governors and to congresspeople who voted 20 times to repeal the aca. So i think what youre seeing is democrats need an aspirational message moving forward. About how you invest in the working people of this country for economic growth. And how you show that government is on the side, on the side of people. But im excited that i think were witnessing a sea change. Im cautious about tuesday because we need to be cautious. But i think the house goes back. But more important in some ways, as important, look at the state houses. Look at the governorships, and let us hope that the barriers to democratic participation, the ferociously well funded suppression of the vote, doesnt demean our country. It is not a right left issue. James, give me 30 or 40 seconds. So first, i agree with katrina. The way this is being waged district by district is largely on health care, economic issues, and to recognizing the immigration fury, but theyre not taking the bait in that way. The other turnout point, i agree also, its crucial that not even how many people go to the polls on tuesday but how many people have entered the process. Especially young people, veterans, women, people of different races, and so i think we have seen that before. In 1974, with the watergate boom, 1994 with newt gingrich. In 2010 with the tea party. This could be another such wave and that turnout. I know we have to get to anthony and we will right after this. Im going to ask how trump would react if there was a Democratic House of representatives. Introducing the new Capital One Savor card. Earn 4 cash back on dining and 4 on entertainment. Now when you go out, you cash in. Whats in your wallet . My love has come along, applebees new neighborhood pastas. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. We really pride ourselves ton making it easyautoglass, applebees new neighborhood pastas. To get your windshield fixed. Teacher lets turn in your science papers. Tech vo this teacher always puts her students first. Student i did mine on volcanoes. Teacher you did . oh, i cant wait to read it. Tech vo so when she had auto glass damage. She chose safelite. With safelite, she could see exactly when wed be there. Teacher you must be pascal. Tech yes maam. Tech vo saving her time. [honk, honk] kids bye tech vo . So she can save the science project. Kids whoa kids vo safelite repair, safelite replace whats Critical Thinking like . A basketball costs 14. Whats team spirit worth . cheers whats it worth to talk to your mom . Whats the value of a walk in the woods . The value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. Morgan stanley of course, daniel. Fridge, weather. Clear skies and 75. Trash can, turn on the tv. My pleasure. Ice dispenser, find me a dog sitter. Okay. And make ice. Pizza delivered. Whats happened to my son . I think thats just what people are like now. I mean, with progressive, you can quote your insurance on just about any device. Even on social media. Hell be fine. [ laughs ] will he . I dont know. We are back with katrina vanden heuvel, Anthony Scaramucci and James Fallows. Anthony, lets pause for a minute. Conventional wisdom is right, the democrats take the house, they dont take the senate. How does trump react in a situation like this . The strategy you describe, the baseonly strategy, might work well. It might even bring turnout up, but for governing, its a harder strategy. A harder strategy, so hell take two choices. Hell either build a bridge to the democrats, try to cut something on immigration and infrastructure. Or build a wedge with the democrats and get leaned in there, will it be more political disfunction going into the 2020 reelection campaign. I think his instincts would be to build a bridge to them. Because at the end of the day, the president s always said this on the campaign trail and in private. That there are deals to get done. If he could cut a deal on immigration hes going to finish the trade deal with china. I predict that happens by the end of january. Hell have a trade deal done with canada and mexico. Hell work on something with europe. If he can cut an immigration deal going into the 2020 reelection campaign, that will be fabulous for him. He wont say he lost because hell look at the historical context. He never says he lost. Let me ask you this. You watched him and you have known him for a long time. People dont realize that. Do you think he operates from instinct or analysis . When he does this thing of im going to go for the cultural issues, not the economic issues. Is it the feel or the analysis . Arguably the best instincts i have seen politically, but hes also analyzing things. People do not give him enough credit for his analytical capability because they want to twodimensionalize him, but hes also looking at the data, and thats why hes saying i need to get Voter Participation up. So im going to go after my base and tell them this is an election about me personally and im going to barnstorm the nation. He is like what the nfl calls a Game Changing player. Okay, the other president said you know what. Rose garden strategy, a couple campaigns. Hes acting like its the 2016 election. Whether you like that about him or not, i give hem credit for that level of energy and the robust style. What are you seeing on the democratic side . Let me say on trump, its not just about trump. Its about trumpism and the forces of trumpism, as you spoke in your powerful opening introduction. We have seen this before. There are enablers in the Republican Party. The Republican Party has been hijacked. Its now the party of trump. Trump has not reached out his hand to the democrats. I think they need to take back the house and show that theyre on the side of people. Not vindictive hearings but hearings to lay out affirmative aspirational ideas that they can act on when they fully take back power. Dont go after trump too hard . Accountability is key, exposing corruption that hurts you, not just corruption for the sake of going after trump. It will be interesting because the congressional caucus will have about 90 members. 13 committee chairs, 37 subcommittee chairs. They can do a lot to lay out an agenda that is forward looking. Should they start an impeachment process . Where i sit at the nation, there are different views. We have different views, as do many on the progressive left. The surest way to drive up his support. I believe in accountability, but i think you have to build out impeachment. Im for laying down markers to show the democrats, progressives stand with people in the country, and trump never drained the swamp, and the swamp is now filled with even more alligators. So theres a lot of work to be done. I would say to young people who have entered this as jim said, so eloquently, have been mobilized for the first time, youre not going to win everything, but you have to stay in. Its going to be a long struggle. Persevere. Persistence. The millennial stuff is really fascinating. If you look at people 40 to 60, roughly 65, theyre about 50 50 democrat republican. 19 to 40, theyre 58 34 democrat to republican. Why do we have Voter Suppression . Product of the educational system. I dont know, brainwashing didnt work. They tried it in the soviet union. Whatever you may think about american campuses people react against i think they see let me ask jim to talk about a previous wave election because you had a very interesting point about what you notice about previous midterm waves. So there have been big midterm waves. 1974, the democrats won huge gains. Gary hart came in then after watergate. Democrats again won big gains in 2006, when nancy pelosi became speaker. Republicans big waves were in 94 against bill clinton and 2010 against barack obama. The interesting thing is the democratic waves were after some scandal or disaster. After watergate, after the iraq war. The republican waves were after a democratic president accomplished something. After bill clinton got his budget deal through and failed with his health care plan, and after obama got through obamacare. Those were sort of the motivating things. This just is a lot about the two parties and on form, that would suggest the democrats are more motivated this time. Well see. We have to leave it there. Thank you. Terrific panel, and very civ civilized airing of disagreements. I want to close out the panel by saying one word to my american viewers. Vote. Whi