Hey there Lemon Heads! Join Don for all the Hot Topics of the day!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Don Lemon Show
Hot Topics with Don Lemon | DEBATE PREGAME - September 9th, 2024
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. Start protecting your identity today with a 30-day free trial at lifelock.com/podcast. Terms apply. Good morning everyone. Welcome to the Downloadment Show, our hot topic show where we catch you up on what happened since our last broadcast and what's happening this morning, which you're going to be talking about throughout the day. Just a couple of things. I want to give you just sort of an overview of what we're going to talk about. Tyree Kill, who's a wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, was arrested yesterday before the game. A number of the fans saw it, they were rolled by in their car and there's Tyree Kill on the ground and handcuffs. We're going to talk about that. Taylor Swift, remember we said that, you know, Brittany Mahomes and Taylor Swift, maybe they were on the outs because they showed up at the Chiefs game last weekend or last week separately in separate suites. Well, I happened to see them yesterday for myself at the same place at the finals for the U.S. Open. I'm going to explain to you what's going on. Were they together? What exactly happened? Also debate prep on right now and there is really some very interesting information about what is happening, what the Republicans are saying, what they're saying about Vice President Kamala Harris and there's sort of a debate about is she practicing too much? What is she going to say? What about her policies? And also, why isn't Donald Trump talking about the issues rather than attacking Kamala Harris personally? We'll talk about that. Interesting as well is, remember Dickey Haley? Dickey Haley did an interview and was asked specifically about something that I mentioned and why isn't he talking about the issues and all that press conference last week. Remember, on Friday, talking about all the women who had accused him of sexual assault, one of which he was found guilty of assaulting EJ and Carol. And she was asked directly by Margaret Brennan on CBS about her thoughts on this press conference and what he's saying, you'll be way too you hear what she has to say. Donald Trump getting a big endorsement from the National Fraternal Order of Police, and then we'll talk about black people voting for Trump. You want us to hang around for all of this? So first, our first hot topic this morning. Let's get to the Tyree Kill story because there were multiple dolphins players, not just Tyree Kill, who were detained by the Miami-Dade Police Department officers yesterday on Sunday. Now, again, fans were on their way to the game, he was on his way to the game, and this is what happened. This is how they saw him before he got into uniform, watch this. - No way. - Chill out! - Dylan, that's tight. - Get him video. - I did. Dylan. - What the fuck? - Tyree Kill. - Do I know? I'm trying to get on video. - Hey, put him in handcuffs. - Oh, fuck. - So, that was yesterday. Now, listen, I don't know exactly what happened. You're going to hear from him in a minute after the game, he spoke after the game, but was all that necessary, okay? And what exactly happened in this whole era of police reform and police brutality and overreacting to situations and de-escalation? I want to know exactly what happened, and I think the world wants to know, and I think not only the fans, but Americans need to know exactly what happened, even if he was speeding, why is he being placed on the ground and put in handcuffs, okay? Now, he said he was pulled over for allegedly speeding while driving to the Hard Rock Stadium. Roughly, it was three hours before the game kicked off. He was ultimately placed in handcuffs after this verbal altercation occurred, and he was cited for reckless driving. Apparently, there was another player, I'm not sure if he was in the car with Tyree Kill, but somewhere trying to talk to police, and that player was detained as well. They both were released several minutes later, but the incident was filmed, as you saw, by nearby fans who were making their way to the stadium as the situation escalated. It's interesting because Tyree had a good game yesterday. I'm sure it was fueled in part by this anger of what happened, and this is him scoring an 80-yard touchdown, but it's interesting to see what he does when, actually, when he scored one of those touchdowns, but this is him. Let's see him playing yesterday, right after this happened. 80-yard touchdown. Now, they stopped that video just short of what I want to show you, you have to watch him, he's sort of in the background, but right there where he was after you did the touchdown and they went to the full screen of his picture, he put his hands behind his back, apparently reenacting his arrest or him being detained yesterday. Watch. There he is right there. So, in the beginning of that video, apparently, he put his hands behind his back, apparently reenacting what happened yesterday, but during the live broadcast of the game, they missed it. I don't know what happened, and Tyree Kill says he doesn't know what happened, him after the game watch. It's crazy. I want to be a cop one day. I got a state troop pad all that, so I got a lot of respect for cops, man, but obviously, everybody has bad apples in every situation. So, I want to be able to use this platform to figure out a way to flip this and make it a positive on both hands. On my end, it also might be they, so that way we can team together and do some positive. That's what it's all about. You guys are here to protect us as individuals. I have a platform, and I want to be able to team up with you guys. So, that's all I gotta say. Now, here's what he said also. He said that everyone has bad apples. He said it's hard. I don't want to bring race into it, but sometimes it gets kind of iffy when you do. What if I wasn't Tyree Kill? Lord knows what those guys would have done. I just wanted to make sure that I was doing what my uncle always told me to do whenever you're in a situation like that. Put your hands on the steering wheel and just listen. So, he isn't saying it directly, but he's insinuating that he believes that it was a racial incident. If it was someone who wasn't of means that they would have had a harder time, perhaps it would not have been released. I'm not sure if the police officers knew who he was, but if someone is speeding, does it really take all of that to put someone on the pavement in Miami? I'm sure it's hot as hell there. And even with, now he's saying he feels he was mistreated, but he's saying also I want to make this good for Miami and the community. So, I want to know, and I'm sure you want to know, the fans want to know, and Americans deserve to know, was this an overreaction by the police department? Do they need to do all of that? What could he have done? What could he have said? Obviously, he wasn't running away from them. We'll figure it out. So, let's talk about another football player, actually two football players. Kelsey in the homes, Patrick in the homes in Travis Kelsey, but really we want to talk about Taylor Swift and Brittany in the homes, right? Because the question is, this sisterhood of the Kansas City Chiefs, right? Everyone was wondering whether it was unraveling, meaning the ladies here between Taylor Swift and Brittany in the homes. Apparently, listen, I'm just going to say this, Taylor Swift has not endorsed or said anything about this election and who she's supporting, but she is making a statement, whether she realizes it or not. She's making a statement by clinging and hanging on to Brittany in the homes. There's a picture, let's show this photograph of her, hugged up with Brittany in the homes. This was at Arthur Ash Stadium yesterday. I saw them for myself. I did glance over. They were sitting a little bit higher than me in a sweet, but there she is. Brittany in the homes, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey, and Patrick in the homes, all together. Big hugs, big smile. I think there's another picture of them just sort of frolicking around, but there's them a close up in the crowd and it doesn't really matter. I think she's making a statement. Maybe she doesn't care too much about democracy. Maybe she doesn't care too much about the rule of law, maybe at all. Maybe she doesn't care too much about women's reproductive rights. Maybe that doesn't matter to her because she hasn't said anything. And I think she is making a statement by this. And see, you know, it doesn't matter. Let's show some video. There's some video of them all together. So I will say this. You know, the thing is, is that she does not have to do anything that she doesn't want to do, right? She doesn't have to endorse anyone. She doesn't really have to say anything. It doesn't really matter. I mean, it does matter. It's her prerogative. But I think by this, she may not realize that she's making a statement, but she is now people are wondering, well, hey, are her politics aligned with Brittany in the homes? And I'm not saying that people who are on, you know, maybe feel differently about politics, that they cannot be friends. But in this day and time, when we are at such a crossroads and in this country and where everything is so divided, everyone has to be really careful about what they do, what they say, and how they're perceived, especially someone like Taylor Swift. And so it feels to me that she is co-signing Brittany Mahomes support of Donald Trump and thus the former president's support for Brittany Mahomes. And I don't think it's a good look for her. So if she's not going to support anybody or endorse anybody, then she, I think that she needs to treat Brittany Mahomes as my mom would say with a long handle spoon in this particular situation. Because now it makes it seem that she is supporting MAGA, that she is supporting an insurrectionist, that she is supporting someone who wants to take reproductive and abortion rights away from women, that she is supporting someone who inspired an insurrection, tried to overturn an election, and also had police officers beat up and injured on January 6. Okay? Swift and Kelsey arrived hand in hand yesterday, and then Brittany Mahomes obviously arrived with her husband as well and they were all hugged up and there you go. They were all smiles as they were photographed greeting each other with a hug and then contradicting the speculation about this brewing feud that kickstarted the reports that they were on the outs. So apparently they are on the ends and we'll see what happens. The Chiefs beat Baltimore, by the way, 27 to 20 at that game, the Ravens where they were seen not together. Okay, so let's talk about another thing that I want to talk about some debate review. Okay? Well, actually I want to talk about what Donald Trump is doing ahead of the debate that has everybody scratching their heads about what to, why is he talking about certain things? Why is he discussing certain issues? Why is he having this press conference last week for these women who accused him of sexual assault, one of which was he was found guilty of assaulting? Why is it he talking about what prices, possible inflation, living wages? Why is he taking out, talking about all of these personal things? Okay, so this is what I want to play. I want to play Morning Joe speaking about this press conference that Donald Trump held last week on Friday regarding the women who accused him of sexual assault and then I want to, I'm going to play something after that that may surprise you here. Watch this. So think of the impracticality of this. I'm famous. I'm in a plane. People are coming into the plane. And I'm looking at a woman and I grab her and I start kissing her and making out with her. What are the chances of that happening? You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful. I just don't listen to them. It's like a magnet. It just, I don't need to wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. I can do anything. Yeah, on Friday, Donald, Trump suggested no one could believe he would just start kissing a woman back in 2005. He admitted to doing exactly that while not knowing that his mic was on speaking seriously to somebody. I'm glad Nikki Haley spoke out. We're about to play her comments about Trump and women. So hopefully, yeah, hopefully she'll step up for women and say the right thing. Hmm. Okay. You heard Mika Brzezinski and I think Mika obviously was being there was a little bit of sarcasm, maybe a lot of sarcasm from both of them because Nikki Haley was asked over the weekend about the former Republican presidential about the former Republican president and her thoughts on him and this press conference. And this is what she said. Oh, Donald Trump just finished a press conference three quarters of which was about grievances related to that past conviction related to alleged sexual assault. I know when you were campaigning, you said you had no reason really to question the findings of the jury related to the defamation case brought by Eugene Carroll. I'm not asking about the specifics of the case, but if that's the focus of a press conference for presidential candidate A is at the best use of his time. And what is the message to female voters to be going through this again? Well, I think the focus for me is on policy. You know, I think I've always the candidate. No, and I've always said, look, if I thought Biden or Trump were great candidates, I wouldn't have run for president. I ran because I thought I could do a better job. You don't think he's a good candidate? I think he is the Republican nominee. And I think put him against Kamala Harris, who's a Democrat nominee. For me, it's not a question. Now, do I agree with his style? Do I agree with his approach? Do I agree with his communications? No. When I look at the policies and how they affect my family and how I think they're going to affect the country, that's where I go back and I look at the differences. I mean, this is these are the candidates we have been given. You know, you look at Kamala Harris and it's quite remarkable. She never had a debate. She never had a primary. She never had anyone vote for her and they basically took her and in 48 hours, they put her back out there and she was this whole new candidate. But the reality is she has a record. The administration has a record. Trump has a record. And so neither are perfect. Neither are ideal. So, Okay, Trump has a record. Trump has a long record. As a matter of fact, Trump is what? A convicted felon, right? Why is Nikki Haley so desperate to be in a political movement that openly despises her? She was supposed to be the candidate that women said, you know what? I can vote for her because she's not as she's going to look out for me. She's going to possibly help protect women's reproductive rights, possibly even though her record doesn't show that, that she wasn't as extreme as Donald Trump, that she was a candidate for women. Did she say anything in there that shows that she cares about women and reproductive rights and women and sexual assault or misogyny or sexism? She she endorsed the man who was found guilty of sexually assaulting each and Carol. The judge said, the judge's words, that it was rape. And she is deflecting on a question about Donald Trump. It's like the male she's a male version of Ted female version of Ted Cruz. Remember what Donald Trump said about Ted Cruz's wife and then all of a sudden down Ted Cruz is in a phone bank booth calling people to support Donald Trump. Nikki Haley is now saying in that same interview that she is on standby and that her campaign and that he, not only her campaign, she reached out to him and said, whatever you need, if you need me, and she can't answer a question straight about what he's saying about women. Why is she working so hard to like be around people that she's never going to win over? That calls her a rhino. I don't know. Zero future in the GOP, I believe even if he loses because the party is gone so radical. She could have been a respected leader as a never-trumper of the anti-maga movement. And then now that's what she's doing. So it appears to let even the people in the party who are supposed to be sensible, who are supposed to be moderate, they can't stand up on their own to denounce anything, not even respond to a question and say, I think it is awful. He should not be saying that about women. She could have been stronger. The men are stronger. I'm stronger on that than she is. Okay. So let's talk about the debate, which happens, wow, in tomorrow night, I was going to say just over 24 hours from now. Are you ready for the debate? I think this is going to be the most watched debate in history. That's what I'm thinking. It's going to be the most watched debate in history. Vice President Harris is going to face off, of course, against Donald Trump, Tuesday night, first time since becoming the Democratic nominee, the first time the pair that they're going to meet at all. You know why? Because Donald Trump refused the peaceful transition of power and refused to even be at the White House to show up for a peaceful transition of power when Joe Biden won and took over. You remember on in 2017 at the inauguration, the trumps went to the White House and they met the Obamas, gave them a gift. They all walked down to the inauguration to the Capitol or went to the Capitol and came in together. Donald Trump wouldn't do that. So he never met Vice President Harris and never invited her to the White House or never, just never met her even in the time of the White House. So the event is going to be at 9 o'clock, it's going to be 90 minutes, it's going to be at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia, it's going to be David Muir and Lindsey Davis, they're slated to moderate the debate. No microphones are going to be cut when the person not speaking and then there's not going to be an audience. But there are people who are saying some very odd things about the Vice President and what she's going to do, what her performance is going to be like and what this all means for the country. Remember they said that Joe Biden was hopped up on drugs or Adderall or some sort of medication to get him to perform at the State of the Union, etc. And then they said the same thing was going to happen at his debate. Well now they're saying the same thing about the Vice President and we should not be surprised. One of them is a conspiracy theorist, a known conspiracy theorist, someone who was found guilty of spreading lies on the internet and also sentenced really to pay millions upon millions of dollars to the victims of Sandy Hook of Newtown. And that's Alex Jones. Now listen to this bizarre, his bizarre rant about Kamala Harris and what he thinks she's going to do and what kind of medication she believes, he believes she's going to be on watch. She's going to fall flat on her face without a teleprompter. Remember her on CNN a week and a half ago, Joe's like squatting down on the people like way above her. She's like hiding. Don't let Tim answer that question. I can't really talk. And it's because she's got serious performance anxiety. You can see that. So she's going to be on drugs. She's going to be bombed out of her gourd. Last question, she kind of all hopped out on some weird ecstasy or she might be on the head of ecstasy. I've seen her on TV. She looked like that at the DNC. Big old pupils. Ah, feeling good. Yeah, they're going to give her a molly. I'm dead serious. That's what they came up with. It's with the psychologist back in the eighties. They invented it before that in the fifties. So hallucinogen mixed with the amphetamines. And it's for couples that have problems or people would have shy just going to be insane. She's going to come out. She was obviously drunk and on Xanax at the CNN deal. She's either get drunk and on Xanax. Her face all along and the eyes all blown out. Slurring the words. But I don't think you can do that every day. That's for normal go to. They admit that. So yeah, you're going to get a hit of ecstasy or some other designer thing. I got a bunch of variants of that. You're going to get it. She'll be on molly. Now, that is just ridiculous. And again, how is Alex Jones still a thing? Why is he still on the air? Who is allowing him a platform? There are people who have been canceled for far less for far less egregious statements and opinions and thoughts than Alex Jones. But for some reason, he keeps getting funding. People keep allowing him to be on platforms. I know this country is about free speech. But these private companies or distribution centers have a say in who can be on their platforms. They have a say in their terms of services, right? Just like Twitter, just like YouTube, just like Facebook. There are terms of services, things that you can do and say and things that you can do and cannot do and cannot say. But yet he's being allowed to do it. Now, speaking of this misinformation, remember we discussed all of these YouTubers and influencers and right-wing pundits and media figures who were duped, they claimed by the Russians and paid hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars to spread disinformation. That is why it's so important for content moderation. That is why it's so important for if you want to put something out that it should be factual and if it's not factual and if it's so hate and the possibility of violence that it should be taken down or folks should not be allowed to do it. Now, I want you to watch this clip because if you watch it you're going to think, "Oh my gosh, well this guy has a point." What Kamala Harris is doing or did here, it should not happen. That she is touting, she's wanting censorship and she doesn't believe in the First Amendment. Now, I'm going to play it, I'm going to let you listen to it and then I'm going to explain to you the real context of what happened. Here it is. Well, this deserves a tailgate talk so pop the tailgate down, I'll hop up on here and we'll start with this clip of Kamala talking about Elon Musk and X. He has lost his privileges and it should be taken down and they are directly speaking to millions and millions of people without any level of oversight or regulation and that has to stop. Now, if that clip doesn't scare the Wranglers right off your booty, I don't know what will. Let's start with this part. He has lost his privileges and it should be taken down. Now, listen to me carefully. When someone in the government starts to talk to you about your privileges, that's a red flag. And you all are all excited right now about the Reagan movie so let's go back and see what Reagan had to say in his farewell address. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our constitution is a document in which we the people tell the government what it is allowed to do. See how that works? You don't tell me what my privileges are. I tell you what power you have. And what do you mean by day in this clip? They are directly speaking to millions and millions of people without any level of oversight or regulation. So who is they? Is they Facebook and X? No. They is you. They is me. They are the people who post on social media platforms and use their voice. So what you're saying, Kamala, is that you want to regulate the speech of the people. Big red flag. Can you imagine if the government had come out and said, man, this Martin Luther King, Jr. guy, he's reaching millions of people, we better put some government oversight and regulation down in his speech so that, so that what? So that he only says things that you want him to say. I'll end with this clip also from Reagan's farewell address that I think sums most of this up pretty well. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise and freedom is special and rare. It's fragile. It needs production. So we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion, but what's important. If you want freedom, you'll vote for this man. Trump 2024. Okay, let me just tell you. Maybe that guy is not this smart. I think he's not. Let me just say he's dumb. It all sounded good, right? But it's all a lie. This is the problem with the being able to spread misinformation. Yes, everyone believes in freedom of speech, but people have the wrong definition or idea of what what freedom of speech is. Freedom of speech is about the government making no law, right? That's supposed to infringe on someone's freedom of speech. It has nothing to do with privately owned institutions or companies. You have to conduct yourself in certain ways when you go into your office, when you go into a business where if you go into a place that is not that doesn't belong to you. You have to conduct yourself accordingly. And that's what you have to do. You're supposed to do when you're on these sites, these platforms, these distribution centers. You're supposed to conduct yourself accordingly. That is what the terms of services are about. That is what content moderation is about. It is not censorship. Let me just tell you, what he said was all a lie, had nothing to do with what Kamala Harris was saying. Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022. He bought Twitter in 2022. Now this Joker is saying it's time for some tailgate talk, what she's saying about censorship and Elon Musk and X. It wasn't X then when she made those comments. Those comments were made on 2019 on CNN. Kamala Harris was responding to Donald Trump's intimidation of witnesses on social media. And she said he has lost his privileges because he has gone against the terms. He was violating the terms of services, the rules that he's supposed to follow when he's on social media. It was Twitter then. And so he lost his right to be able to post there because he was in violation of those rules and those terms. In 2019, before Elon Musk bought Twitter, he is lying and/or misinformed and dumb. That's why you've got to, I hate this, do your own research, but you've got to read, you've got to read. You can't just buy this bullshit. And should someone be able to spread information like that if it is false? Can they put it up? And then you say, okay, you know what, this is false. And then tell them you are violating the terms of service services for this platform because you are deliberately misleading people. That's not censorship. That's responsibility. That's being responsible. The same thing with these, all of these influencers and all these media figures who were spreading misinformation about Russia and getting paid to sow discord among the American public. Hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars, getting paid to do it. That's a big problem. You may not think it's a big problem, or maybe you do. 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. Start protecting your identity today with a 30 day free trial at lifelock.com/podcast in terms apply, but that's the issue. Okay. Now, there is one network that does a very similar thing. I don't know if it goes against their terms of services because they lie a lot all the time. They mislead people all the time and they are openly biased. I guess maybe that's a good thing about it. At least they tell you that they're conservative leaning network and they tell you that what they put on the air is not necessarily true. That said that in court papers. This is Fox News, Jesse Waters spreading misinformation about Kamala Harris and also downplaying her rise as the political figure of the moment right now. Watch this. She raises. She's not about his convention, but I don't care how much money she raises. The goalposts could not be moved any further. I understand this is something that aggravates the media because all we want to do is to have people accessible to us so we can constantly talk about them and scrutinize every single thing that they said. But this will carry a lot more weight if she hadn't just sat down with Dana Bass. She is doing debate prep. If you want to mock her for trying to be prepared for what could be the biggest night of her life, that's going to fall on bad taste the false ears. I don't know what the right saying is for it. Kamala Harris is running a campaign that is resonating with the American public. That's just a fact about it. She has moved so far ahead of where Joe Biden was, you know, up seven, eight points in some of these states. She just pulled in $361 million in fundraising in August. That's triple what Trump brought in. And the most exciting part of that is that 1.3 million of those donors are new donors who haven't given in this cycle at all. And the stories that people are trying to pin on her, like the Washington Post did this deep dive into the turnover within her office. Also setting the fact, by the way, that Mike Pence had 83% turnover in his office if you're using the same standards. But these quotes are ludicrous. Like someone who worked for her said, it's stressful to brief her because she read all the materials and annotated it and prepared to talk through it. Come forbid the woman actually read the briefing book and this all flies in the face of what people had said about her that she was unprepared, that she was pissed at people for not prepping her. It was all about how she took this so seriously that she took it like a prosecutor would and was like, I'm not just going to do this because you told me to, I'm going to ask you why. And I have not met yet a real live Democrat who says, you know what I'm really mad about? But I don't see Kamala Harris all the time in big interviews. They're watching her at rallies. They're listening to what she had to say. They're high off the DNC 100% and they're giving their money. Jessie, they're watching her at rallies. She doesn't even believe that. The Kamala whole, it's fading. She's fading. Her numbers are fading. She peaked in August. Everybody knows it. But yet she's outraged. Donald Trump. I'm just saying, look, at least they are openly, they tell you that they're biased. They're not trying to pretend, right? You have to give them that. But it is, Jessica Tarlock, by the way, who is the sort of liberal commentator there who was making sense and explaining exactly why Kamala Harris is reaching so many people right now, right? And the debate prep. She is reaching a lot of people, whether she's peaked or not, Jessie Waters doesn't really know that. He's not a pollster. He's actually not even a political expert, right? He's just like a guy who, what's his name, Bill O'Reilly hired to go out and do a man on the street interviews and then, you know, came up through Fox or whatever, but he's not a political expert. He doesn't know. Again, you have to be careful about where you get information and what it is. And I do think we have a video. I just want to show you people. The difference between Kamala Harris and the difference between Donald Trump. Donald Trump is out spreading negativity, spreading lies, talking bad about women, saying that she would not, they would not have been the chosen one because of their looks that he, you know, just lies and he's just doing crazy things. And Kamala Harris is out meeting people who are so excited to see her that they actually break out in tears. I'm not, I'm not exaggerating. Here it is. Okay, so you can see there. You see the difference between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Donald Trump is out there mad at all these women, they did this or whatever and spreading lies and it's just, I don't understand why it's so close, but it is. Now, all of this doesn't mean that Kamala Harris is going to win, right? It's going to be very close. It doesn't mean that those people who are crying are so excited to see her if they're going to outnumber the people who are really following and have been co-opted by Donald Trump and JD Vance. And, you know, Robert Kennedy Jr., you have to say that because Robert Kennedy is the de facto vice presidential nominee, by the way, right? I believe it was a way for him to get someone in who was more vice presidential and who people liked more than JD Vance and without kicking JD Vance out. So he just got another wingman. But you see the difference of the reaction to people, to all of four of those candidates. That's how you speak to voters. That's how you handle constituents. That's how you do it. Donald Trump got a huge, huge endorsement over the weekend. The fraternal order of police, which is the nation's largest police union. They endorsed a convicted felon who released from prison a cop killer subsequently convicted of a strangulation attack on his wife, who salutes and praises and has promised to pardon domestic terrorists convicted of assaulting police officers at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The largest police union has endorsed Donald Trump. The person who is supposed to be for police officers, supposed to back the blue, who incited an insurrection where police officers got hurt and injured. One of them died later of a stroke that his family believes was brought on by the insurrection. This is who they're supporting. Watch. Take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. 50s does look like we're going to have an ad hoc march stepping off here. There's a crowd surge ending east. Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you. I will tell you right now. Effectively, a riot. 39 hours of clearing it a riot. I'm just good to be advised trying to reach and get to the Capitol. We know what happened on January 6. The fraternal order of police hosted a coup attempting former president at its board meeting on Friday, North Carolina. Now, the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is a former prosecutor and a state attorney general in California, not invited to the gathering. People call her a cop. She was actually on the side of the police. But they are supporting a convicted felon. Someone with a criminal background. They're endorsing. They invited while saying Kamala sucks. This is, we've gone through the looking glass. Make it make sense. 34 felonies. All these police officers were attacked and injured, heart attacks, concussions. One of them died from a stroke. A day or so later. I don't understand it. Make it make sense to me. Now, there is a supporters, some supporters of the fraternal order of police are really pissed. And these are folks who have given donations and money to support police. One of them spoke out. Fraternal order of police, I have donated to that organization a number of times over the years. You know, you get the envelope or they call you for donations and stuff. And I've given to the fraternal order of police many times, but no more. I will never give another dollar to the fraternal order of police. What you guys did was a smack in the face to everyone who cares about law and order. You are the fraternal order of police. And you just endorsed a felon. Yeah. And I won't even go into his other, you know, transgressions. We all know what they are. I'm not going to go through them. But you chose that, a felon, over someone that works on your side, a prosecutor. Yeah, Kamala Harris, as you know, was a prosecutor working side by side with police officers. And you guys decide to choose a felon over someone that worked side by side with you for years. Yeah, that's what I call betrayal at its finest. I mean, that is the definition of betrayal. And I just want you to know, I think your behavior is gross. And you will never get a dollar from me. And I'm sure from many millions of others, because you have completely dropped the ball and your behavior in this matter, gross. Hm. Where's the lie with all of that? He's absolutely right. What is going on? It's a cult. It is a cult. Logically, it does not make sense. But it's not logical. And why do you think that is? So we're starting with this incident with police with Tyree Kill. Again, we don't know what happened 100%. But it was seeing that one wonders if they needed to use that amount of force. And you heard Tyree Kill afterwards, he's saying, "I don't look. I want to make this better for everyone, the community, the police, the team, everyone." Now, that doesn't sound like someone who was belligerent. It doesn't sound like a belligerent person. And then this last story, with police officers supporting someone who incited an insurrection and a crowd who actually beat up police officers, did not support them. They did not comply. You hear that all the time? Well, maybe he should have complied. He wouldn't have gotten shot. He wouldn't have gotten killed or whatever. Maybe January 6th, they didn't comply. They did not comply. So I don't understand what is going on. And there's only one thing that explains it, that the cops want to be able to have, they want to be immune to everything. They want to be able to be racist. They want to be able to continue to be power hungry. Now listen, policing, it's a hard job. Don't get me wrong. And I support police officers. But I don't support people who use excessive force. I don't support people who don't follow the rule of law as police officers. I don't support that. Police are supposed to de-escalate situations, not escalate them. And certainly not support people, or themselves, some of them, who break into the Capitol. That's not what policing in America should be about. So there should be police reform. Now, this last story that I'm going to give you is something I found interesting, because as I've been going around the country talking to people, I've been getting a lot of feedback. I was at the US Open yesterday like, "Oh my gosh, you showed a lot of people done. You were showing all of these black people and these women who said that they are supporting Donald Trump. It is shocking to me. It is eye opening." And I said, "Okay, yeah, well, that's what they said." But there are not all black people feel that way, obviously. Obviously Kamala Harris is going to win the black vote. She may not win it. She may not get as much as previous candidates there. Donald Trump, I believe, will get more, especially from black men. But I just want to leave you with this. Of these black people who are being asked, what would it take for you to vote for Donald Trump? Their reactions are priceless. For you to vote for Trump. Oh, that is just the most adorable question. And you looked me in my eye and everything. Wow! What would it take for you to vote for Trump? [laughing] A lobotomy? Complete lobotomy. What would it take for me to vote for Trump? [laughing] It's not even funny. Is that a legit question? I have to be like a white man in America to vote for Donald Trump and probably then I still wouldn't. Yeah, no. Hail to the no. Is it like a life or death situation? Like, I mean, I'm not even trying to be funny, but it's just like... No! What could I ever... That's not even... What? [laughing] He ain't that bright. I mean, it's vocabulary for him to say. When he speaks, I feel like it's a fifth grader who hasn't been coached on how to publicly speak. No, that's rude. Fifth graders are way more intelligent than that. Wow! What would it take? What would it take? You got to use your imagination. I really got to use my imagination. There is no one. There is no circumstance. Like, you would have to be a completely different person. How about that? Immortal pedophile. Sexist. A-hole. Cheeto man. What would it take for you to vote for Trump? I don't see myself voting for Trump. I hold my values way too deep. That's... no. Can you think of any scenario? I cannot think of any policy's procedures that he could do that would... that I could trust. Y'all don't have to steal my vote. Donald Trump is the epitome of whiteness. He is the promise of whiteness. If you are male, if you are wealthy, if your skin is very, very light, you can have whatever you want. I'm completely opposed to that. You know, that's one situation that hypotheticals just really can't come into the picture. It would have to be a life for death, or if somebody is in danger. I'm nothing. Trump is just not... he's just not... he's not happy, y'all. I'm sorry. It's... Are we talking about reality or magical thinking? You mean magical thinking? Magical thinking. Magical thinking. He's a whole completely different person, with a different background and everything. No. Yeah. Reality, no. There is nothing he can do. How can anyone, and I mean anyone, even understand anything that's coming out of his mouth. I feel like he made a bet with his friends. Like, "Oh, watch. I could run for president." And then he actually won, and he was like, "Oh, shit, it worked." And here we are. We get it. I don't think that's possible. We get it. We get it. We get it. We get it. Now, that's all the black people I know in my life. That's how they feel. Like, wait, what? Is that even a question to them? But it's not, look, I talk to a lot of black people when I go out on the streets, and a lot of them say that they're going to vote for Donald Trump. But the ones I know, they have that same reaction. So we put up a poll just so you know, before we get out of here, we talked about where we asked you about Brittany Mahomes and Taylor Swift. How do you feel about Taylor Swift embracing a vocal Trump supporter? "I am disgusted and done with her," says 21%. "It bothers me, but I'm not outraged," says 32%. "No big deal," says 39%. "I'm glad she has conservative pals," 8%. So 39% say, "Hey, look, it's no big deal." I don't think it is a huge deal, but I do think that she is making a statement without trying to make a statement, or maybe she is. Maybe her politics aligns with Brittany Mahomes, maybe they're just friends, and they're like, "Hey, look, we're going to agree to disagree." But again, as I said, in this environment, especially when people are looking to her, and it's been said that she's going to support someone in what she did in 2020 as it relates to Joe Biden and what's going on with women's issues that her non-statement makes a statement. Okay, so everyone, guess what? My book drops tomorrow. I think it's at midnight tonight. So it's not only a big debate tomorrow, it's not only a big day for Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump, it's a big day for me as well. So the book drops tomorrow. Tonight, I am in conversation at Temple Emanuel at the Stryker Center on the Upper East Side of Manhattan tonight at 6.30. So if you can watch it online or you can come by, and we're going to talk about the book, we're going to talk about my life, we're going to talk about CNN, we're going to talk about cable news, we're going to talk about what I'm doing now. All of it, we're just going to put it out there. So if you want to learn and you want to know and you want to support what I do here, what I do on social media and me in general and for elimination and the lemonheads, make sure you go and preorder the book and read. You're going to learn a lot, not only about me, but about America, about yourself and about the election. So the book is called, I once was lost, my search for God in America, the reason that it was called, I once was lost is because amazing grace, how sweet the sound, the savor, like me, I once was lost, but now I'm found, and that was lost and now I'm free. So it was blind, but now I see, I should say. So listen, that came about because that was one of my grandmother's favorite hymns, and I start off by talking about, I take you through the night where I sort of found Jesus, my first experience with the Holy Ghost, I'm sitting on my grandmother's lap, she gets the spirit in church, they're singing amazing grace, she starts going yes, and then she drops me, I'm on her lap and I hit the floor. And then all of these women like just circle around me and embrace me, including my sisters, and all these black women in the community. And that's how I start the book. So that's why it's called, I once was lost, my search for God in America. And so the book came about, and I'll talk a little bit more about it tomorrow, or either Wednesday, tomorrow is going to be very debate heavy. I'll talk about why I did it, I started this book in 2022, this was before I left CNN, long had no idea, and then I put it down in the summer of 23 because I got fired from CNN, and I had to sort of reassess. And so I put it down for months, and then in the fall I went back to it with my collaborator, and we finished the book, and it was supposed to come out after the election when the publishers read it, they said you know what, this book should be read by everyone before the election. There's a piece in the New York Times, if you go look it up, there's a piece in the New York Times about the book and about me, and I think you'll find it enjoyable, so you should go read it. So, again I talk about everything I talk about, Nikki Haley, Vivek Wama-Swami, all of those, my confrontation with him, the words that I said, what I said about Nikki Haley, all of it is in the book, and I hope you go and read it, you pre-order it, and that's it. So I'll be back here at five o'clock today for live at five, you'll see me, I'll probably be from my home since you guys, we did a poll and you'd rather me at home in a more comfortable environment rather than our studio, so I'll probably do it from home this evening, and then I'm going to head off to do the book event with Jeff Zucker at Temple of Manual, the Stryker Center tonight, Monday night, the ninth of September on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. So thank you guys for watching, make sure you hit the thumbs up, you like and subscribe, hit the notification button as well so that you get notified of our content, and I really appreciate you joining, and I will see you at five o'clock. You're caught up now. [ Silence ]