This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, so Lifelock wants to remind you to update your passwords. Using the same password across multiple accounts makes you vulnerable to cyber criminals. For comprehensive identity theft protection, let Lifelock alert you to anything suspicious and fix any issues. They're protecting your identity today with a 30-day free trial at lifelock.com/podcast. Hello, everyone, welcome to the Don Lemon Show. How are you feeling today? Post debate day. By the way, I'm not in the studio. I'm not at home as you can probably see. I am in a hotel room because I'm on my book tour, Washington, D.C. tomorrow night, but I'm doing a breakfast, the CBC, Congressional Black Caucus, and hosting a breakfast tomorrow morning. How does my hotel room set up? Looks great to me. I'm doing okay. I shaved just before this. Thank you for joining us. If you want to quote NPR here, if this June, this is what NPR said, if the June presidential debate was a Democratic five-along fire that eventually forced Biden out of the race, after last night's debate between Trump and Kamala Harris Republicans, should start searching for smoke in their own house. Basically what they're saying is Kamala Harris nailed it that she dominated. She was clearly to choose one of her phrases, unburdened by what has been the same cannot be said for the former president who was unhinged for what has never been because he made up so many things and he was lying. So we have to break it all down. I'm grateful to be joined by a number of guests. Monique Presley is here first. Monique is a legal analyst, a political commentator, and the host of The Make It Makes Sense show with Monique Presley, The Make It Makes Sense with Monique Presley Show. So Monique, thank you for joining us. Michael Blake is going to join us a little bit later. He's the CEO and founder of Atlas Strategy Group, also the former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. And then a little bit later on, Dylan Byers is a founding partner and senior correspondent at Fuck. He spoke to his colleague. I just spoke to his colleague, I should say Peter Hamby, just last week. And he this morning did a podcast, I mean it was last night, with John Heilman and Peter and Dylan. And I'm going to discuss all of that. It was the podcast. It's called The Powers at Bee. So thank you for joining us. We'll get to the other two as they join. But Monique, how are you feeling about last night? About last night. About last night, what proud is probably the first thing that I would have to say proud and vindicated because I had been responding to some of what I was seeing from the pundits leading up to the debate and I always watched on how the bar is constantly and consistently raised, especially for women. You can never ignore the patriarchy, the masochism, the sexism, all the stuff. But Kamala Harris' bar as the vice president coming into this debate is like up through the roof and Donald Trump's bar is way in the gutter and people kept saying she needs to do this. She needs to do this. And it was just all working my reserve nerve. So I posted a little bit of commentary about that basically saying, look, I know this woman. She's heard, you just, you don't get this far up the food chain on oops and uh oh. She is as prepared a person for what she's about to walk into as anybody can be. And besides that, she's more prepared than all the rest of us. And so I was glad to see that that was 100% true, that she came authentically as herself and she did all of the things that she needed to get done and my God, did she get under that man's skin. I mean, there are just like those tire marks just across his back where she completely just ran him over and left him for dead right there on the debate stage. Well, I think the thing that really got under his skin was the crowd sizes. I'm not sure if we have the crowd sizes sound bite, but that's what really got under his skin when she talked about his crowd sizes and that people were bored and they were walking out and she and he was like, oh wait, he couldn't even answer the question that the debate, debate moderator had asked him because he was so infuriated. It was just like the former president when he said President Barack Obama that he's so obsessed with sizes and what is going on here. Well, the beauty of that because, you know, Donna, I kind of had it as somebody who's been debating for 40 years and at every level, like from elementary high school, college, law school and then trial practice and she served that up. She knew her opponent and she just handed him like a baby bottle because when she mentioned it wasn't a part of her question either and every time, you know, there was all of that imagery and all of it was on purpose using words like weak and disgrace and confused and yes, the crowd size. All of those things were intentional and he could not resist. I mean, she really, she turned the way you would with a bully in on the playground. Is it nobody likes you? No, not even the people who worked for you. Right, not even and he and went down the laundry list of people. Sorry to move my chair a little bit. Okay, so this is what I want to say. I was one of those people, right? He was saying she had to do this. She had to do that. But that wasn't like I wasn't like criticizing her gun. I meant like she needs to punch a bully in the nose, right? People were asking me. So if you ask me, I'm going to tell you. And she did it. Yes, because that's what she does. I think that's the part that people miss about her. That's that's that's that's her. That's her. That's been her black job since she started having black jobs. I mean, punching bullies in the nose is her gig. Like that's her life's work. But I got to tell you, Monique, I've been on the stage with her a couple of times. I did town halls with her. And you know, she's friendly and she smiles and whatever. But if there's something that she doesn't agree with you on, she wants to be so I was like, whoa, okay, I see you see it. I'm like, you know, this woman's a prosecutor. She's also, you know, she's a bonus mom. She has bonus kids, right? And so she's got that sort of motherly kind of, you know, nice and how are you and that. But when she needs to make a point or make a statement or if you misconstrued something, she says she's going to give it as good as you gave it or even better. Yes, she'll meet you where you are and she'll give you what you're looking for. When necessary. And I think that that is the thing we've talked a couple of few times on your show, Don, about this country needing to be redeemed for its inability or refusal to put a woman in charge at the very top and head of our country and falling behind pretty much every other civilized nation and that we have not gotten that done. And one of the things in prior years polling and one of the things that you'll hear that kitchen table conversations about whether a woman can be in charge, they always want to accuse the woman of being too emotional. They always want to say that we can't handle the multiple jobs that women be worrying about having their children and worried about pleasing their husbands. And all of this stuff that is so antiquated and ridiculous, I think the thing that people are learning and got to see on display last night with the vice president is, oh, yes, walking and chewing gum, smiling and being stern when necessary, laughing when something is funny, punching you in the face when something isn't. She does all of those things and does them very well. And so it's just freeing yourself up as we've also talked about on the show, freeing yourself up to be all of who you are. And that's kind of the way that she lives. So she, the person who you would see in the Senate hearings, that is part of her. But even if you saw last night, I don't know if you saw, she stopped by one of the, um, one of the watch parties, one of the debate watch parties afterward. And she was just laughing like you saw the person that you didn't see, but she only, she cracked one laugh and it was, and it was just because something was so preposterous last night. But then she went right back to Joyfield VP Kamala when she was greeting our folks. So yes, we can, we can have nice things, America. We can have it. Look who's joining the conversation. Mr. Michael Blake, the CEO and founder of Atlas Strategy Group, also the former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. We had him on during the convention. And guess who, the first person, well, the second person I saw on the train today on Amtrak coming here was Michael Blake. The other, the other person was Michael Eric Dyson. Michael Eric Dyson. Two Michaels on the Amtrak coming to Washington. So thank you for joining us. I appreciate it. Can we, Monique and I were just talking about the moment that triggered the former president. And I want to, this is what I believe it was. I want to play that moment for you and then get you to respond. Here it is. President Trump, on that point, I want to get your response. Well, I would like to respond. Let me just ask though, why did you try to kill that bill and successfully? So that would have put thousands of additional agents and officers on the border. President, let me respond to this to the rallies. She said, people start leaving. People don't go to her rallies. There's no reason to go. And the people that do go, she's busing them in and paying them to be there. And then showing them in a different light. So she can't talk about that. People don't leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics. That's because people want to take their country back. Our country is being lost. We're a failing nation. And it happened three and a half years ago. And what's going on here, you're going to end up in World War 3. Just to go into another subject. What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country and look at what's happening to the towns all over the United States. A lot of towns don't want to talk. It's not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don't want to talk about it because they're so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country. And it's a shame. As far as rallies are concerned, as far as the reason they go is they like what I say. They want to bring our country back. They want to make America great against. Very simple phrase. Make America great again. She's destroying this country. And if she becomes president, this country doesn't have a chance. All she had to do was say your crowd size is people aren't showing up to your rallies. And when they do, they're leaving halfway through because they're bored, because you're saying the same old thing. Now, the question was about immigration. And he went on. And then not only in that, he went on to talk about this ridiculous thing that has been debunked. By the police department in the town, the town manager, and so on. And she, Michael, she's looking at him, knowing, oh, you fell for this shit. You just fell for the bait. Thank you, Big Mount Bass. Yeah, when you are an insecure child, as he is, he can't handle anyone ever calling out the foolishness of what he has done his entire career, which is one piece of it. But I also think we got to take it to the next level, Don. He couldn't handle that a smart competent black woman was doing that to him. And the race element is the piece of this. His life has been fundamentally rooted in success by attacking and disrespecting black folk. Literally, you look at his old career. So for him, for the vice president to come and be like, yo, you know what? This guy is ridiculous. He's a clown. Your size is all this. Oh, no, no, no. He can't handle that. Which again, now that's some deeper conversations that him and Milani need to have. That's a whole other conversation. We ain't going to do that right here. This is a friendly, friendly audience right now, right? Why he gets so caught up on that conversation right there. But I'm just saying like, look, he's not ready. And it is obvious to me, his team probably tried to prepare him. But he is so quickly triggered. He can't help himself. She baited him and it worked out perfectly. And I say this a lot throughout the day to day. Is that someone you want to have around a nuclear weapon? Is that someone that you want to be decided about your livelihood? If he gets triggered about crowd sizes, there is no way in hell you should trust Mona anything else. Hmm. Yeah. I want to add, do you think Monaik, um, do you think when she went over, it was surprising, she crossed over into his zone right at the beginning and said, hi, Kamala Harris, have a good debate or something or let's have a good time or whatever it is. I think that threw him off because he wasn't expecting it. And then she completely, yeah, completely. She, um, her opening salvo, her, her opening punch, whatever you want to call it, was establishing home court. And she did it by walking in, owning the place. She walked toward the halfway mark to see if he was going to make any move toward coming. And she immediately just kept on going, introduced herself. And the reason why that was so important is because people have been reporting over and over again that these two people had never met. So she did what you do when you've never met somebody. And she said her name, Kamala Harris. Let's have a good debate. And, uh, and she meant that. And the, the look that she gave went with the handshake is priceless. But of course there were undertones even there because the reason they've never met is because he took his deny and he lost the election self off and didn't attend the inauguration. Like they, the, the, the first time in the history of our country that we have a former president who, who could not, um, bear the thought of standing as a loser of an election that people voted against him. And so no, they never met. But the other reason they've never met, which people are not talking about as much. But of course, because I'm a little, I'm a little shady and a little petty, um, when she was senator and, and he was president, she wouldn't run into the White House trying to curry favor. And well, he's not that he's not, he's not interested in working with Democrats at all because he's said as much. And he would not, you know, comply or see to the, the peaceful transfer of power. So they never met, um, the Obamas, and I've mentioned this before on this show, the Obamas as tough as that election was, uh, they invited the trumps to come over, you know, so that they could go to the inauguration together, a peaceful transfer or transition of power. And that's, hey, listen, you're supposed to, when you, you're opponent, when you're supposed to thank your opponent and say, thank you, that was very good. And I'm happy for you, uh, or congratulations or what help do you need and so on. That did not happen. Now, I'm wondering if this was, um, if this moment was also triggering for him as well, because he is prone to calling these people heroes, right, um, and patriots. And I'm talking about the people who broke into the Capitol on January 6th. Watch this. Mr. President, on January 6th, you told your supporters to march to the Capitol. You said you would be right there with them. The country in the world saw what played out of the Capitol that day, the officers coming under attack. AIDS in the West Wing say you watched it unfold on television off the Oval Office. You did send out tweets, but it was more than two hours before you sent out that video message, telling your supporters to go home. Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day? You just said a thing that is uncovered peacefully and patriotically. I said during my speech, not later on, peacefully and patriotically. And nobody on the other side was killed. Ashley Babbitt was shot by an out of control police officer that should have never, ever shot her. It's a disgrace. But we didn't do this group of people that have been treated so badly. I asked what about all the people that are pouring into our country and killing people that she allowed to port in. She was the boarders are. Remember that she was the boarders are. She doesn't want to be called the boarders are because she's embarrassed by the board. In fact, she said at the beginning, well, I'm surprised you're not talking about the board yet. That's because she knows what a bad job they've done. What about those people? What are they going to be prosecuted? One of these people from countries all over the world, not just South America. They're coming in from all over the world, David. All over the world. And crime rates are down all over the world because of it. But let me just ask David, one of those people going to be prosecuted. One of the people that burned down Minneapolis going to be prosecuted or in Seattle. They went into Seattle. They took over a big percentage of the city of Seattle. One of those people going to be prosecuted. Yeah, okay. So here's the thing. I would encourage everyone. It is a fantastic piece that it took me almost my entire train ride to read. And it is the fact check from the Washington Post. Did you guys happen to see that? The fact check from the Washington Post talks about all of those things. Those dubious statements that that he makes about very fine people on both sides, right? About who was prosecuted, who was not as it relates to the protests for George Floyd and Black Lives Matter. There were people who are arrested for those incidents who are receiving more jail time and harsher punishment than the people who broke into the Capitol on January 6th. So pretty much everything he said during the debate was bullshit. But his MAGA crowd will eat it up, Michael Blake, and they will believe it when it is not, the truth does not matter to him or his supporters. Thousand percent. I always drive home this one stat. There were 206 counties that voted for Barack Obama twice that they went for Donald Trump. So just to internalize on how close this all is to that point. Trump understands he is not worried about making any of us who are saying people who are trying to pay attention to policy comfortable. He is saying things so that his base shows up. Fundamental. And they think at the end of the day, if I keep going back to immigration, and I keep talking about that you were a disaster and because of all that, it doesn't really matter what question you asked me. One of my boys said years ago, whatever you asked me, doesn't matter, my answer is going to be jobs. That's pretty much what they decided. And I think sometimes we ignore the absurdity of him as a man. He's actually crazy. We all understand that. With strategy. They fundamentally believe this is a winning strategy. As amazing as this last six, seven weeks have been, the vice president is pretty much at best been up three to four points in some of these places. Right, they think my folks don't show up. I'm not convinced yours do. No matter what happens. I'm also laying the groundwork to say y'all stole this thing from us. And so as wild as it is, like this is their approach. Because the core question is an easy question. Do you have regrets on January 6th? That could have been knocked out literally in 10 to 15 seconds. And then he could say whatever you wanted. He's not going to do that one because he's not capable of actual true regret. But on top of that, it hurts a strategy by them. They can't acknowledge something was wrong with January 6th to their base. Because for their base, there wasn't anything wrong. We believe in you. We don't get down with this. So they're going to keep letting this nonsense continue. Another another lie that he. I saw. I've cut off money. I'm sorry. I'm not looking at money. Money is going to get in. I wanted to respond to this. But another lie that he said in the States, he talked about crime being up. And actually, crime is down. Crime is lower and it's been falling drastically since he left office. Here's that moment. You all let you respond by his President Harry. Well, I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted. For national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference has been found liable for sexual assault. And his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing. And let's be clear where each person stands on the issue of what is important about respect for the rule of law and respect for law enforcement. The former vice president called for defunding federal law enforcement 45,000 agents get this on the day after he was arraigned on 34 felony counts. So let's talk about what is important in this race. It is important that we move forward, that we turn the page on this same old tired rhetoric and address the needs of the American people. Address what we need to do about the housing shortage, which I have a plan for. Address what we must do to support our small businesses. Address bringing down the price of groceries. But frankly, the American people are exhausted with this same old tired playbook. Vice President Harris, thank you. So he was talking about, you know, how bad crime was under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and how he had the lowest crime. And she said, that is man, that's rich coming from a criminal, Monique. Absolutely, absolutely. My one thought regarding my most prior comments is I think sometimes we have to be careful to not give him this whole evil genius credit. Because this man is, he's not tethered to reality. And he is, even when he is being coached like last night by people who did not want him to say half of the things that came out of his mouth, he still does it. Like there's no way they wanted him talking about pets getting eaten. They, I'm sure that they had practiced something better for the words he actually did say about losing the election by a hero, whatever it was. And I do think that that threw him off. But as his first reaction was, did I say that? And I'm like, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo. You don't remember he said that. And it's important to recognize like psychopathy when we are facing it. There are things that he absolutely believed to be true and will not be disabused of those notions. And that's different than it being a winning strategy. That is him having his own version of events that does not coincide at all with reality. I loved when the vice president said that he's having trouble processing the law. That 81 million people decided that he should not be president. And it seems he's confused. I mean, she said it more bluntly than that. She said 82 or is it 84 million people you were fired by that? He's your fired guy. She said they fired you because they didn't want you. Yes. And he doesn't want to, he refuses to accept it and acknowledge it even though there's reporting that he knew he lost at the time that he was losing and then turned around and did it differently. And the reason why I make this distinction is because I know there were people who are strategists, who are sane, who are trying to at least had better hopes is what I should say for last night's performance than the molly whopping that he got at the hands of the vice president. I have so many sound bites that I want to get to and talk about all that. And some of the post debates that he's, you know, him trying to him going into the spin room. And the perfect person to talk about that is Dylan Byers because Dylan Byers covers the media. Dylan, how are you? Good to see you. Thank you for joining us. I'm great, Don. Thank you for having me. Thank you. The founding partner is senior correspondent at PUC. And as I had been mentioning that you spoke to your, I spoke to your colleague, Peter Handy, about the election last week. And we talked about what the vice president needed to do in order to come out the victor in last night's debate. And she did a pretty good job at it. Let me, before you, before I get you to respond, I just want to play something. This is Trump after the debate in the spin room, Dylan, and I want you to comment on it. Here it is. Let's play it. A second debate. What's your answer? She lost. She wants it because she lost. Do you have an answer? Well, I don't know. I have to think about it. But if you won the debate, I sort of think maybe I shouldn't do it. Why should I do it on the debate? She immediately said, we want to know the, that's, you know what happens when you're a price fighter and you lose, you immediately want a new fight. You want to rematch the guy that won, is sort of happy and thinking about it. Would you be inclined to say yes? Or maybe if it was on a fair network, I would do that. But I think let Hannity demoderate it. Yeah, no, I think I did Newsom and Rondo's happens. You would be fair, actually. You want to know the truth. Okay, that's crazy talk. But Dylan, let me just relate a story because I'm in Washington, D.C., and I told you that it's going to be in Washington, D.C., in a hotel room because I'm on a book tour. I got into a taxi in New York City to go to Amtrak today. And I got into a taxi with this conservative older guy. He said he was 78 years old, I believe, or 73. He's driving a taxi. And he said, I'm, he goes, oh, I recognize you. You're on the TV. I said, yes. He said, I didn't watch the debate. I went to bed at 901. He said, but what I'd been listening to conservative radio all day, and it seems that Donald Trump had a bad night. And Kamala Harris is asking for another debate. Is she out of her mind because he's not going to lose again? And he said, she's out of her mind if she wants another debate, and he's out of her mind if, out of his mind, if he does another debate. I'm not sure I understand the logic in all of that. But how can he or anyone, meaning the president, think that he had a good debate? Well, look, he obviously didn't have a good debate. And I think the clearest sign of that is the attempt to work the refs immediately after in the spin room, right? Even suggesting that ABC wasn't fair, suggesting that they do it on Hannity, which would be anything but fair. But the whole, if you look across the spin room, across all of the surrogates, this line is, oh, it was three against one. ABC was totally biased and put their hands on the scales. If you are making the argument that the reason that Donald Trump lost this debate was because David Muir was willing to point out that it is illegal to kill babies, or that there are actually not Haitian migrants eating dogs and cats and pets in Springfield, Ohio, that is a losing argument. And I think the reason that your driver probably understood that Trump had lost the debate despite listening to conservative media was because even conservative media understood that Trump lost this debate. And you see it. It's not just a Brit Hume who goes on there and says, look, this was a bad night for Trump. It is a Hannity or anyone else who immediately starts blaming the refs. That is a clear sign of a loss. It was an obvious loss. It was not because of the refs. But there's no way to polish that. And so, I think everyone is accepting that. Now, should Kamala be going out there and saying, I'm ready to do another debate? Yes, it's a projection of power. She'd projected power from the moment she got on the stage and crossed over center stage to shake Trump's hand, even though he wasn't going to shake her hand and she projected power throughout those 90 minutes. Should he do another debate? Not with a performance like that. But if he's not, it's obviously a bad look for him. Well, the taxi driver said, his kids should get together and tell him that he shouldn't do it because there's no winning. But also, she's crazy to ask for it because if he has to do it, then he's not going to lose. And I said, I don't understand your logic. But here's what I think happened. I think she got on the stage with him, whatever nerve she had in the beginning, because she did have nerves in the beginning. I thought it was a slow start. But I think she was lucky in that I believe it was a second question was about abortion. But you mentioned blaming the refs, right? Here's Sean Hannity talking exactly about what Dylan says. Here it is. The fact that we don't know if she still supports free housing, health care, education, and sex change operations for illegal immigrants is unfathomable to me after an hour and a half debate. Does she still support defundous mental no bail laws? Do we have an answer on no fracking and no drilling? She didn't say that in 2000, even CNN fact checked her after her 16 minute and 29 second debate. We don't have answers on the economy by economics being a great success. President Trump, I thought was effective on the issue of, okay, three and a half years you've been vice president, why haven't you gotten these things done? And in many, many ways, that past that she's gotten has been the greatest of service. I think tonight to the American people, that's on ABC Disney. That really shouldn't be the other candidate's job to be to be challenging them, especially when you have muted microphones. We don't know anything about Kamala Harris. And that's frustrating. I didn't hear you what? No, that's it. Michael, when you had that's not the exact message that you expected to hear from Fox News immediately following the debate. Yeah, because it's the easiest way for them to say that you took it out, right? Like it was a disastrous night and they didn't know how to articulate it at all. And look, at the end of the day, we've all done campaigns and media, so let's just make it real simple. I have never seen a candidate who thought they won, walk into a spinner. Never. I don't recall that ever happening. Well, why on earth, but I go and sit down to talk about how I think I won 90 to 10. It was absolute foolishness itself, right? But to a deeper degree, yeah. This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, so Lifelock wants to remind you to update your passwords. Using the same password across multiple accounts makes you vulnerable to cyber criminals. For comprehensive identity theft protection, let Lifelock alert you to anything suspicious and fix any issues. Start protecting your identity today with a 30 day free trial at lifelock.com/podcast. Terms apply. It took her time to get rolling, but it's also does not clear. I just on the substance of it, the notion that we don't know what she has been doing and her positions, etc. Yeah, it's kind of just silly, right? You can dive deeper and ask more questions of whatever it may be, but they should be more worried that they had a disastrous two plus hours, because it's not just around the debate, right? It was coming into the debate. The fact that we were talking about Haitians, supposedly e-and-dogs, which we don't live a lot, it was a disaster going in. It's been a disaster coming out. They don't have anything else to say. I also think, though, something that we glossed over, which was pretty wild, was not only did he not answer the question twice around, "Would you veto when it came to an abortion ban?" But they asked them, "Well, have you talked to your VP pick about this? No, I haven't talked about this." What are we talking about? Your argument on the Fox side was we don't know your policy positions, but you have admitted to the nation, "Yeah, man, it's JD, dude. I'm really talking to him about any of this. Come on, man. What are we talking about right now?" It was, to me, substantively worse than anything we've ever seen, because they have nothing else to go from them. I get to respond to the... I want to get you to respond specifically to the abortion part of the debate, if you will. I think men should generally take a seat when it comes to this, but also be allies. This is a moment that I believe when she found her footing, Monique, and then there was no going back after this when she spoke about abortion. Here it is. I don't want to get your response to President Trump. Well, as I said, you're going to hear a bunch of lies, and that's not actually a surprising fact. Let's understand how we got here. Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade, and they did exactly as he intended. And now in over 20 states, there are Trump abortion bans, which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care in one state. It provides prison for life. Trump abortion bans that make no exception even for rape and incest, which understand what that means. A survivor of a crime of violation to their body does not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next. That is immoral. And one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree. The government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body. I have talked with women around our country. You want to talk about this is what people wanted. Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail, and she's bleeding out in a car in the parking lot. She didn't want that. Her husband didn't want that. A 12 or 13-year-old survivor of incest, being forced to carry a pregnancy to term, they don't want that. And I pledge to you, when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law. But understand, if Donald Trump were to be reelected, he will sign a national abortion ban. Understand, in his project 2025, there would be a national abortion, a monitor that would be monitoring your pregnancies, your miscarriages. I think the American people believe that certain freedoms, in particular the freedom to make decisions about one's own body, should not be made by the government. Thank you. Monique, how did that go over? Well, I mean, I'm the base, right? I think as a supporter, the people who support her and that being one of the reasons were glad to hear it again, but for whom that is their single issue, or for those for whom they maybe didn't have enough of an understanding of the issue, I think that the examples that she used were particularly important. The fact that she would not let him wiggle out of ownership of these things that are happening to women, to couples, to families in this country, she called it at least twice the Trump abortion ban. When he tried to say that people wanted it in our country, which of course is not factual, she corrected the record on that. And she gave the visual for the consequences of his leadership decisions and nominating those Supreme Court justices. Like I said, Don, her first answer of the night to me was one of the most important and the crowd of people that I was with when I was watching, some of whom were members of the Congressional Black Caucus, they were excited about the fact that she started with the middle class and explaining her policies for the middle class because if the people who were watching were going to drop by the wayside later on, they got information that was important to them. So I don't think she had to find her footing. I think she was in her shoes. I've got to have to disagree with you. I think that every media Dylan, you can wait on this. I think that she was nervous on her first answer and I think she needed to find her footing. I spoke to Michael Eric Dyson, the same thing. And I think that on the abortion issue, she was comfortable talking about it. She knows about this. So I have to agree with you. I think that the first and when she started out, I was like, Oh, I didn't feel at all. But maybe I wasn't nervous about her. I know she knows what she's doing. I will say Don, I was nervous too when I heard her first answer. And the reason is, is because there was a question, there was a very direct question. Forgive me, I don't remember exactly what it was. There was a direct question asked to her and she didn't answer that question. But what became clear that she was doing, which is age old political tactic, I'm going to do it right now. I'm just going to answer the question I want to answer. And I'm going to put forward the thing that I want to say. And believe me, if anyone has a problem with Harris doing that, he sure as hell knows that Trump does that all the time. And so she turned every question into an opportunity for her to advance her message, whether she was prosecuting the case on abortion, whether she was taking Trump to task, whether she was reminding us of all of January six, there are all the things that his people in his cabinet had said about him. And that was incredibly effective. And I just want to go back for a moment to the Hannity clip you played as well. There is something, look, Hannity in a way is right. There were certain things that we didn't hear from Harris on policy changes or things like that. But there is a deep intellectual inconsistency. If you come out of the first CNN debate and you are celebrating the fact that the moderators didn't play any role and that it was on Trump to push Harris and Harris to push Trump because they are the two people running for president. And then all of a sudden, your guy loses the debate and you come out of the debate and suggest it was the moderator's responsibility rather than Trump who because she was so far in his head completely failed to try and hold her to account for any of the issues that Hannity is now upset she wasn't being able to account for. So that onus is not on ABC. That onus is on Trump. And he failed to do that until I think the 86th minute of a 90 minute debate. Well, but you know when you're a kid and you lose something or you get mad you go, you cheated, right? Yes. But that is exactly what Donald Trump is saying. And he said it last night he accuses Harris of cheating and having the questions. Listen. Rig Joe with somebody that maybe even had the answers. I mean, I'll be honest, I watched her talk and I said, you know, she seems awfully familiar with the questions and you get pretty good at that stuff after a while. Maybe she just knows what she's talking about Michael. I mean, what is he talking? Preparation. Yeah, I just, I mean, look, he's a clown, right? We just got to be honest about that. I mean, just just full stop. I would use the healthcare question as a perfect indication of that. This is someone who was running for president for a third time. He shouldn't be confused about the topics, right? And to Dylan's point earlier, he actually had more time to speak than the vice president did. So like the notion of like, oh my gosh, she was so prepared. Well, then maybe you should get off your golf course and actually do some work and show people why you think you should be president. But to that point, let him keep talking because when he kept talking, he just said, watch it over and over. Concepts of a plan, let's just make sure we internalize this. This man at a national debate, when we think about the dynamic of it, he follows after President Obama, whose signature policy was healthcare. And he actually says out loud last night, I have concepts of a plan on what to do with healthcare, right? So the notion of him talking about anything else, they're all distractions. But I would say this, and I received Monique's point earlier, specifically on immigration, and then separately when he's going into these Fox audiences, as wild as he is, they believe everything he's saying. So like, again, I just think it's important that he kept going back to immigration, which regards how we feel on it. It is an area that is a problem spot for us as Dems to talk through and talk about. We're seeing in cities all over it is literally the attack that's happening on a bunch of mayors. But then when he goes into a Fox audience and he says that he's just saying whatever he needs to say to keep his folks engaged and baited and hyped, but he's a clown. And I just think we just have to stay focused on that. This is not a serious man. This is not a man who thought he was going to be president. This is a man who is trying to win right now to stay out of jail. He is not doing this because he's actually trying to implement policies. He is trying to protect himself and his brand. There is nothing more than that at all. Today, as a perfect indication, when president Biden showed class and tried to then put on a cap that was a Trump cap when they were in Pennsylvania for 9/11 in the ceremonies, the Trump team is out here talking about, say, look at him, praising MAGA. They can't even focus on 9/11 and do this right. And so at the end of the day, this is who they are. I'm not confused by that. And we got to be very clear that her prep is what allowed us to be here. We should celebrate that she was prepared because she had to crush it last night and she did. Monique, Michael said that he is a clown. She called him a disgrace last night. And just to just to pick up, you know, on the abortion issue or on any of those, she was prepared obviously for all of it. But my initial question to you was, did she win over, do you believe any women who women are going to make the difference, especially white women, right? And maybe even conservative, or I should say, Republican women, who may feel one way about women's reproductive rights, they may say one thing publicly, but then they get into the voting booth and they may do something else because they realize that women's reproductive rights is more than just unwanted pregnancies. Do you understand my question? Well, I can tell you this one white woman, childless cat lady that she won over. Taylor Swift. Yeah. Absolutely. Oh, absolutely. Because her, the Swifties were mobilizing without her and her actually taking the time to spell out her reasons and that she took the time to figure out the way these candidates are going to address things on policy. And then in her message saying, here's how you register. And by the way, I find it helps to do it early. Absolutely. All of that matters. And we can say what we want one way or the other about celebrities and their endorsements and their involvement in politics, but people who have influence have influence. And if they are willing to put their own branding on the line in order to support something that is important, I surely believe it makes a difference. Wow. I mentioned it as breaking news on my post debate show last night and you could just see the people clicking in to see what happened with Taylor Swift. I want to play this because I usually wouldn't do this because I think this is exactly what this person wants. You know, wants attention is thirsty and their sort of brand has become calling out people and saying outrageous things. But it's just an example of how right-wing media lost its mind after Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris last night. She's not the only one who's who's losing her mind, but watch this. You'll see it's Megan Kelly. So this woman is fine with his plan to take custody of the children from parents who don't want them to chop off their body parts and put them in Minnesota courts custody. So the body parts can be chopped off and they can be sterilized outside the custody of their parents. That's what led Taylor Swift to endorse him. Can I tell you something? I criticized her about six months ago when she came out strongly in favor of she went to or she went to a fundraiser to raise money for Hamas, supposedly Palestinians, but the group that was doing the fundraising was known to funnel the money to Hamas. And I said, people should boycott her. It was an off-handed comment. People went nuts. Some lunatic dropped a note in my personal mailbox outside my house begging me not to boycott Taylor Swift as though I have that power. I'm allowed to criticize Taylor Swift. And I don't give a who gets upset. This is disgusting. She wants to vote Harris Wall. She can do it all she wants. But to say the reason she's doing it is because of Tim Walz's stance on LGBTQ Taylor Swift and F all of the people who want to see these children have body parts chopped off and watch them sterilized under the age of consent. And then we'll write off to their multi gazillion dollar mansions never to think of them again. Emily, this is unbelievable. The left is losing its mind. She signed it. Taylor Swift childless Cassidy. Okay, Dylan, I want you to respond to that other than the fact that it's just embarrassing. I used to think Megan Kelly was a smart woman. And now she's just to become a troll. But she is sort of indicative of what's happening with right wing media. This is the first time I've ever played Megan Kelly soundbite on the show and probably my son going. Yeah, it's a difficult through line to follow, right? I mean, it's a difficult logic on her part. I think what I would say is and yes, Megan Kelly has sort of become a troll and someone who covers the media industry. It's been a pretty remarkable fall from grace, or at least from the cover of Vanity Fair. But I think what you see here is how do you take again, it's this sort of intellectual inconsistency that I talk about. The same thing with Hannity and how you treat the first of eight in the second debate. Your feelings about Taylor Swift on the conservative side would have been a lot different if that hoax suggesting that Taylor Swift had actually endorsed Donald Trump was real. But you want to turn this into an issue and you want to hate on Taylor Swift, that's going to be a really big uphill battle because yes, you can question celebrity endorsements. Taylor Swift has a massive following and she has a massive following of voters who might not be registered or might not feeling like they want to turn out and that turnout is going to be crucial. And I'm not saying that's going to be the differentiator here, but it is really significant. And I think that you see in the Megan Kelly response, what you also see in the Trump campaign going after the rest, it is this reactive reflexive defensive posture that is loud on whining and shouting. And in that case, F bombs, but it is short on any sort of message that is actually going to help, is going to help their effort over the course of the next 56 days. One of the moments that I thought was the most crass and, you know, just outrageous besides the crazy cat eating or whatever was the moment where David Muir asked him, asked Donald Trump about why he's questioning Kamala Harris' race, whether she's black or not, watch this. I want to move on now to race and politics in this country. Mr. President, you recently said a Vice President Harris quote, "I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black, and now she wants to be known as black." I want to ask a bigger picture question here tonight. Why do you believe it's appropriate to weigh in on the racial identity of your opponent? I don't. And I don't care. I don't care what she is. I don't care. You make a big deal out of something. I couldn't care less. Whatever she wants to be is okay with me. But those were your words. So I don't know. I don't know. I mean, all I can say is I read where she was not black that she put out. And I'll say that. And then I read that she was black and that's okay. Either one was okay with me. That's up to her. That's up to her money. Did you catch what does he mean by she put out? What does that what does that mean? I don't I I thought he meant like a statement that she put out saying that she was one thing or another. That's how the ladies I had on last night thought. They thought he was trying to say something about, you know, her personally. And maybe and maybe I misconstrued her. We did as well. But that was the sentiment around that. Yeah. No. And I thought that the way that she handled that was exactly what it needed to be. There are there are people who wanted her to dig more into the issue. But instead saying it's shameful that we have to have this conversation was important. And then saying and for us to have it at the hands of a racist is even more shameful. I thought that that was two birds with one stone. I also thought on immigration, I liked that one. She said, we're going to hear him talk about it a lot tonight, even when it's not what you're asking him. And I liked to that she pointed out the facts on policy and legislation that he's the one who killed the deal and or there would be good law on immigration right now that would be being affected because he cared more about running on the issue than doing something about it. Clearly, that was a lie. Who was it? Was that Michael or Dylan? Oh, that was me. I was just, yeah, that was me. I was just going to I was just going to tag on really quickly one quick thing. You know, one way she responded to that question about the racism, is she tied it into a broader, a broader history of Trump's racism going back to, you know, not not letting blacks get housing in New York, the central part five, the birth, the rhythm, all of these things that we're all very familiar with, but that younger voters are more disengaged voters might have forgotten about when it comes to Trump. She had the same thing with January 6 tying it to Charlottesville and the Proud Boys. There was a very, there was a very commendable strategic effort to take these specific things and to tie them into this broader narrative about who Trump is and put that front and center. And I thought she was very effective in the way that she did that. Michael, what do you think? That was a complete lie. I don't care. I don't care. He would if he, if he didn't care, he wouldn't have brought it up. He's the one who who approached the subject initially. Of course. And I think he can't double down on a directly blatant racist attack towards her at that moment. So I'm just going to act like I don't care, right? But throughout the entire debate and what his entire campaign has been racist, right? He talked about, well, he tried to do African American jobs last night, right? Before it was black jobs. So he's trying to make progress on his racism in the rhetoric that's there itself. But look, you let him keep talking, he will talk himself into destruction, right? You know, the notion of going after sorority. And she was at a sorority party thinking that, you know, it'll be dismissive. Then what happened today? Zaydith Barbeta put out a statement of like, essentially, do not disrespect us, right? We're not going to tolerate this here. Not understanding the ramifications. I think Dante, to your point earlier, you know, the white vote typically does go to Republicans. I'm not missing on that. However, I don't think he has any understanding of how he is mobilizing black folk and young folk in ways that we have not seen to the previous point about Taylor Swift. There were 338,000 people that went to vote.org to register since the endorsement. Like it's staggering what is happening right now. And they don't understand that magnitude. But again, I'm going to keep saying, they don't have a strategy otherwise. Like he's not going to get other votes. So they have to just triple down on this nonsense. Because what is he going to say? He's going to say that a black woman who is in a black sorority is not black. I mean, it's just stupid. There's no coherence around that. But I'll do that in other settings when you're not paying attention to me saying it directly. Like I'll send out a truth post. I'll say it on. I'll say it on the places. But when you're asking me right here, and I can't engage in that regard, because it'll be too much for me to say it right here. Yeah. Before I let everyone go, I want to get everyone's response to this moment today. This was at the 9/11 memorial. So there you speak. Chuck Schumer, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg, Donald Trump, and J.D. Vance. I'm also Senator Kristen Gillibrand, all there. So I'm wondering, it looks like Mike Bloomberg facilitated that moment. But they're all together. Anybody want to see how they feel about that? Do you think that was awkward for anyone? Well, I'll jump in. I've actually been to that ceremony several times when I was in the assembly. They all should be there. And it's not awkward for me, because quite frankly, Mike Bloomberg is still writing very large texts to Democratic policies to make sure that we get a trifecta. So if he's facilitating a play nice, and just do this here, go on. Go do that for 9/11. Do it, do it right. As long as we all keep winning, it'll be fine here. And I also think, he's probably also trying to tell him, like, yo, my man, don't say anything else, right? You got your handshake, right? Relax. Everybody be cool. And then lastly, down to the clip. And I watched it earlier, but even watching it right now, there's almost a look of disdain and jealousy on JD Vance's face. Like, that's what hit me the most. Like, he had that, like, I'm this young little punk that's here that no one's talking to. And no one ever wants to really talk to me. I'm just having to be here because I have to be here, right? That's what I saw watching that. He looks uncomfortable. Monique, what did you think of that moment? I thought that it was appropriate. One of the things that the vice president talked about a few times last night is what Americans deserve and the seriousness of having that position of leadership as president of our country. And on a day like today, we should see a former president, never mind the fact that he's running, but the immediate past president, there are Americans who's lost family members on 9/11, who support him. And he should, at some point, pay the respect that is due for those who have paid ultimate sacrifices for our country. I also thought it was funny to me what occurred to me as she was shaking his hand. He loves anybody to give him any little bit of shine. He looks so happy. He's one of those who, his friend, he would, just like me, just like me. Well, you know that. He pretends that he wants to be with the MAGA supporters and whatever, but we know he likes being a celebrity. He would like nothing more than going to a celebrity event and dressing up and shaking hands with famous and rich people. But as I said, JD Vance, I do believe that he did look uncomfortable. Dylan, as a media expert, how did that moment play? And do you think it does anything to sort of, I don't know, for the moment, cool, the rhetoric and the craziness around the election to see both of those people there, or all of those people there standing next to each other, all Americans? No, I don't. I think I'm too familiar now with how erratic Trump is to believe that any of that has been to change. But one thing Don that did stand out to me from that is I was getting on an elevator when that moment happened. And I know it because I got a push notification from the New York Times and the headline was Kamala Harris and Donald Trump shake hands at the 9/11 memorial. And it occurred to me and this is rather obvious point. But if you were to go back in time and you were to show that push notification to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, Barack Obama and John McCain to Bush Gore, to Kerry, like the notion that it would be a headline that the candidates for the President of the United States shook hands would be unthinkable. And it is yet another sign as if anywhere needed over the course of the last decade of how just uncivil our politics have become in the Trump era. And that in and of itself was dispiriting. This is a great show. I'm so happy that all of you were here. Michael, I love running into you on the train. I'll be at hosting an event, the CBC Breakfast tomorrow. I'm doing a roundtable discussion. So I hope you're going to be there. And now you're here for the CBC, correct? Totally, congratulations. I hope I see your Monique. I hope I see you around and met this breakfast in the morning. So come and watch my talk. And then tomorrow night, I'll be well, is it politics and pros for my book? That's what I'll be doing here in Washington, DC. Dylan, thank you. As you know, I always read your column. Dylan is a former colleague of mine at CNN. He's a good guy until he writes something bad about me. And then I have to let you know. I'll let you know when it's your turn next. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. I really appreciate it. And I'll see you all next time. And I hope you all come back on. I'm going to just talk to my subscribers for a little bit so you guys can click off. So thanks, everyone. Thank you so much. All right. See you all. Good evening. Have a good evening. So subscribers, thank you so much for joining us today. You were with us late last night. And I'm so happy that you stayed with us. We had a great, great engagement last night. Over 100,000 people were watching us. And for a little startup like us, that's quite a big deal. So thank you. I want to thank you all for that. As you know, the book came out yesterday. It's over here. Yes. The book came out yesterday. That's why one of the reasons I'm here in Washington, D.C. is because I'm on a book tour. And I'm also here doing something for the Congressional Black Caucus. But we're doing well with sales. And we could always do better, obviously. So make sure you pick up the book. It's available at your local book store or you can order it online. I was speaking this morning to someone and I was telling them that they should get the audio version because I talk about being in church. And I try to describe my experience being in church as a child and the piano and the organ and the preacher, you know, doing his thing. Yeah, praise the Lord. That sort of thing. And so I was listening to it myself. And I said, man, I went off on that. There were no more books at Barnes and Nobles today. You know, it's so interesting, Pamela Williams. I had a friend who said he went to the Barnes and Nobles on 83rd Street or something on the Upper West Side. And they had run out of books. I'm just, I'm just going to knock wood because you never know. Anyway, thank you all. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Kathy Maguire. Thank you so much. And for all the people who are supporting independent media, I want to thank Happy. Happy, you're always supporting. So thank you for your generous donation. There was someone else earlier who did like, you know, went into their wallet and did like a book donation. I can't, I don't remember who it was and I'm sorry I cannot get back to it. But I really do appreciate it. So thank you so much. You know, as I don't solicit for donations, but if you want to support independent media, you know, that's how we stay on the air because we don't have a big corporation behind us, which is the whole point. It's not to have, it's not to be part of corporate media. So Dan Savo, I don't, you know, I don't, I want to jinx things, but thank you so much, Dan, for that. And by the way, there was someone, what was her name? I just signed the book yesterday. I think it was Kuana, a Tuana. Tuana, will you let me know? You sent me a very nice note and you told me about the years that you and your mom have been watching and that you had recently been unemployed and you wanted to read the book and you couldn't afford it. And so it is in check your FedEx because I sent it to you. Let me know if you got it. I don't have your address or whatever. I just, I just remember you, you DM me and I don't know if I can find it because so many people DM me and you sent me your address. So I hope that you get it. Okay. And then there was a young man who helped me with my bags to my car today and he said he wanted to read the book and he was just out of college. And so I was like, I had one and two books and I gave him one of them. So, you know, I like to bless people with things, right? Because if you have a generous spirit and a generous heart, people will be generous with you. And so, and I have people have been generous with me all my life. So I really appreciate all of your support. Once this whole debate thing and it cools down a little bit, we'll start reading some of the passages from the book and maybe we'll start a book club. Who knows? Okay. So enjoying the audio book, Cecile Domingo Thomas, let me know if you got to the part what's in the beginning where I talk about or I describe my church experience. Lynn's maniac. Lynn's maniac. Lynn's maniac. Felbin says, except CNN, meaning generous. I've worked for CNN for a long time. They were very generous. Do I like my exit? No. Do I feel like it was fair? No. And I talk about that as well in the book. So thank you. I appreciate it. Please on a book club says Renee Namaste. Okay. Okay. Thank you guys. I love you. I love that you're a part of the elimination. I love that you're all lemon heads and we're going to get some merch coming soon as well. Can't wait to start the audio book. Just got it says Carly B. Thank you guys. Have a fantastic evening. I shall see you tomorrow. Make sure you hit the thumbs up. Bye bye. [BLANK_AUDIO]
