A break down of the Harris - Trump presidential debate!

[00:00:12] Welcome to The Breakdown with Brodkorb and Becky, a weekly podcast that breaks down politics, policy, and current affairs. I'm Becky Scherr.

[00:00:21] We are back with a live episode to break down all things surrounding last night's presidential debate between former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

[00:00:29] Ten episodes ago was a recap of the first presidential debate, then between Trump and President Joe Biden and while have things changed in a short period of time.

[00:00:38] We are joined by two of our regulars, Priya Samsonar and Will Davis to dive deep into last night's debate and there certainly is a lot to discuss.

[00:00:46] As a reminder, Will is a political consultant with arch initiatives and previously served as research director for the Minnesota DFL.

[00:00:52] Priya has worked for the MNGOP, the RNC and various campaigns of all levels. We will kick things off by discussing how each of us believe the candidates performed overall.

[00:01:02] We will hit on the format of the debate, the moderators performance, and time spent on the attack and on the issues.

[00:01:07] We will break down some standout moments and missed opportunities and some key policy stances that were articulated.

[00:01:13] And then we will get into what we have seen since the debate and what we can anticipate moving forward. Thanks for joining us and enjoy the show.

[00:01:21] I want to start by thanking our two guests for joining us once again. We are looking forward to reliably debate about the debate, and I know you will not disappoint.

[00:01:29] But before we get into it, Michael and I wanted to make sure we were taking a moment to acknowledge that today is September 11.

[00:01:35] 23 years ago our nation faced a devastating terror attack.

[00:01:38] Thousands of innocent Americans lost their lives. Our brave and heroic first responders rushed into danger, sacrificing everything to save others.

[00:01:47] Today in every day we will must remember and never forget.

[00:01:53] Now, it's always, go ahead, Michael.

[00:01:55] I'll go ahead, great job.

[00:01:57] It's always odd to transition into a fiery conversation after a summer moment, but I appreciate you guys taking time to be with us and acknowledge that of course it's really important today.

[00:02:08] And we are going to do our best to make the transition as smooth as possible here.

[00:02:14] So I was planning on recording this episode with my Darth Vader Man to honor the passing of James Earl Jones, but I didn't want to do it on September 11.

[00:02:23] And I also want to get the audio to work.

[00:02:27] It would have been an interesting sight to see.

[00:02:29] Maybe you keep working on it and we'll see if we can work in another day.

[00:02:32] Oh, I'll be working on it, just me.

[00:02:35] We are certainly going to get into some specifics about the candidates' answers and their policy positions.

[00:02:41] But I want to start by simply going around the horn here and getting everyone's takeaway on how each of the candidates performed individually.

[00:02:48] So let's start with Vice President Kamala Harris performance.

[00:02:50] Before we get to the fan club Priya, I'd like to start with you and just get a little takeaway of how you thought the Vice President performed last night.

[00:03:00] Honestly, I don't.

[00:03:05] Honestly, it's one of those things where you just sit back and look at it holistically.

[00:03:09] I think right at the very beginning, you could tell she was very nervous. Her voice was shaky. She wasn't really in her comfort zone.

[00:03:15] Folks, I'd like to talk about how Kamala is very much a proper. She didn't seem confident in her opening and closing that was very evident like right off the bat.

[00:03:25] You could tell she was most comfortable in areas where Democrats do well abortion more of these social issues that they tend to be bigger champions on those were the areas that she did well.

[00:03:35] But I think expectations were set very high last night for Kamala Harris.

[00:03:41] She's been in this race now for I think 50 days is what has been since Joe Biden stepped out, stepped out of the presidential contest and she's done one interview.

[00:03:53] And so I think a lot of people were expecting a lot last night in terms of what they would hear how she would perform and I don't think that she delivered.

[00:04:00] I think that she was able to stay on message that she was able to get her talking points across.

[00:04:11] But I think when it came down to substance, when it came down to actual issues, she did it hit the mark that she needed to.

[00:04:20] In a lot of ways, this is the first time that many of these voters would see Kamala Harris for who she really is to Donald Trump's point last night in a point that many Republicans have made in the last 50 days.

[00:04:31] Kamala Harris was not elected by Democrat voters to be the presidential candidate.

[00:04:37] What we have witnessed in the last two months is historic.

[00:04:40] And so the fact that she did become an nominee without going through the process of Iowa, the Hampshire South Carolina so on and so forth to get these delegates.

[00:04:51] It's not the same thing as what Joe Biden did to get to where he was.

[00:04:56] Whether you thought he was mentally capable or not.

[00:04:59] And so I think that she really missed the mark on that.

[00:05:02] She spent more time trying to bait Donald Trump than she did talking about her own issues and I think it creates an opportunity.

[00:05:10] Still for the Trump campaign to define her since she did not define herself last night.

[00:05:15] So I'll give her props for baiting Donald Trump. She did what she was supposed to do.

[00:05:19] She managed to get retacking points across, but I think overall she did not come across as confident as she should be where she needed to.

[00:05:26] And at a point where this was really her opening cell, though, to the American people to talk about the issues and talk about why they should trust her to be their candidate.

[00:05:35] One, they didn't have the opportunity to vote for her or go through the process that we do with every single presidential candidate before this moment she failed.

[00:05:46] Will you have done your hair as well as hat there very appropriately.

[00:05:49] You probably are amongst 60 per three percent of debate watchers who, according to the CNN flash poll said Harris had a better performance talk talk to us about your takeaways there.

[00:06:00] Yeah, you don't go into a debate, prepped with a bunch of technocratic numbers right you don't go in I'm ready to debate policy with Donald Trump.

[00:06:08] You go in ready to move it personal you go in ready to with the max that he's going to level on you whether it be your appearance or your socialaceans or your fathers.

[00:06:22] And then you know, you know, you know, I think that's what I'm saying, it's like job or whatever it is or what people are eating on a regular basis.

[00:06:27] It's those kind of things it's so I think some came out of it looking very into to my opinion I mean, she was empowered.

[00:06:34] I think it was standing up, especially a great posture. She was all hung filver and gauly and scowling the whole time and I thought she handled all of it really means I agree.

[00:06:44] You know, when she came out, she was a little shaking at the very beginning she was obviously nervous.

[00:06:48] I get nervous my first to bat at a barely softball league though you know what I like it's a lot of pressure of being higher world was watching last night.

[00:06:55] It's hard or no, I think she can be forgiven for being a little nervous about that and I thought she did great after that she was delivering her lines and we have baked Donald Trump.

[00:07:03] The guys are really a hall like why wouldn't you do that? That's what I have been doing to and that's what I had what I've coached her to do.

[00:07:11] I thought she and you know, the policy stuff is going to come. I didn't expect the whole lot of policy on this. I didn't expect the whole lot of policy in this entire election at the point right.

[00:07:22] I mean you have a general idea of where people stand and she did lay out some of that but I think in a race against Donald Trump, you do not go in with a nice fight.

[00:07:32] You don't go to a gun fight with a knife right you go and loaded to bear and know you're going to have a vicious fight on your hands.

[00:07:39] Michael, you've been around to bait prep candidate coaching a lot over the last kind of a couple decades here what was your takeaway from how vice president Harris performed.

[00:07:49] First of all, I want to say the content is a lot of people know why I'm sure listeners who have endorsed Harrison walls.

[00:07:54] As a Republican someone said that the answer, I thought she hated out of the bar. I thought it was a strong performance.

[00:08:00] Let's just said the table on a couple things this was the first time meeting Donald Trump and this was her first general election debate as the candidate Donald Trump has debated seven other times he is debated.

[00:08:14] Prodiscated in more presidential debates than any other presidential candidate in terms of the substance and so he has done this seven more times I think she has as well in prayer both noted I think she started a little soft.

[00:08:29] But boy, she got into a groove and I think she just absolutely had another part of what it was that master class in in just poking stepping back allowing some back and forth defining your opponent getting them off message and delivering on her message.

[00:08:44] I have literally with say to you that aside from the first kind of a few minutes where she was just getting stable and getting out there and just getting at her bearings.

[00:08:54] I thought she did an absolutely great job just one little side note and I could talk about later more about later but I was with a group of less than then Republicans last in part of the night and some people that identified as potentially voting and becoming more of our Republican peers all of them were converted last night.

[00:09:13] Based on her performance and what we saw with Donald Trump. I think my analysis and I just closed my by this weekend but it was also some other people that were with last night and overall I thought she just hit it out of the park.

[00:09:27] For my take I am one of the some more between 10 and 20% of undecided voters here that still is yet to figure out what I'm going to do and how I'm going to cast my ballot.

[00:09:38] I have a lot of troubles with the policy stances of the Harris walls campaign but we did hear a little bit more from her and we'll get into that a little bit more later on.

[00:09:48] So starting out agreeing with everybody she was certainly nervous and like you said understandably first of all.

[00:09:55] It's bonkers to me that this is their first time meeting in general and so that like you're meeting not only a former president you're meeting Donald Trump that on top of this debate being a pivotal moment in our country and in your campaign is I just don't even know how people deal with that.

[00:10:14] I absolutely can't bat them. I didn't love her facial reactions at first there was a lot of head shaking and some little smirk that I didn't think we're shooting her well I think she told those down a little bit later I think they worked a little bit better later the front end bothered me a little bit and I do think her first answer was I would say probably in her worst two answers I think she didn't answer it and it really made me a little nervous for how her performance was going to go.

[00:10:44] One thing that I thought was striking was her eye contact both directing at Donald Trump when she was speaking about some very pivotal moments again we'll get into some more of that later but she also spoke directly to the camera and to the voters which I think is something that worked really well for her and showed.

[00:11:01] That she was trying to connect and relate to voters whereas Donald Trump I think spoke a little bit more directly to the moderators with that I want to hear out however but he thought Donald Trump did and again.

[00:11:14] Let's say I know that we've got some Trump fans I'm not in Trump fans, but just general overview of how you thought the former president or form last night and maybe even how it relates to some of his previous campaign or debate performances as we've seen will I'll start with you on this one.

[00:11:30] I think I think I'm just more swaster than I've ever seen him.

[00:11:34] I think starting with walking out on stage walking right up to him and she was at that ever happened to Trump during the years of the bids I don't think so.

[00:11:44] I have a strong memory of him kind of talking Hillary Clinton around the stage a little bit and remember thinking you know she was taking high road I think was the idea to look as an initial next to this.

[00:11:59] I think he did not have a lot of his opponents have largely ignored his presence but he's worth acknowledging when he's out there and she walked right up to him looked him in the eye and I think.

[00:12:13] Almost felt like it's picked him up a little bit and you can get off to the find start he always does but I think he was a little too kind of back by her just not being afraid of him not being afraid of his little barbs and jabs and.

[00:12:25] Then I'm probably that I should see you know he haven't got about sidelines that he was delivering over and over again no matter what the question was millions and millions.

[00:12:35] I'm just hoping that you know that kind of that one he just said we've tried to stick that in everywhere the abortion question I know we're going to talk individually but he was so out of his element that was just worth part of the entire debate.

[00:12:46] I think that can't be denied he did not how he didn't know how to answer that question is the only.

[00:12:52] I think you know I know it's been a come up later but he obviously was not telling the experience for a lot of it and when I think the difference is 2000 publics in a.

[00:13:03] Brand fashion just like everything he does he says lies and he says a very largely and noticeable and.

[00:13:11] And not help me you know like wow that was just a certain statement there's no nuance there and that's just how it doesn't everything he do he says is.

[00:13:20] The biggest it's the smallest it's the strongest it's the weakest it's the worst it's the best and it's an all shit and I think I think it just didn't hit last night because I think she was.

[00:13:32] Half and ready to go told the to listen to my own all of it.

[00:13:36] Great you've been up close in personal with a lot of these debates and with Trump and other candidates how did you think that the former president purt form last name.

[00:13:46] So first off I mean I started off by saying and I know we will get into this discussion later but.

[00:13:52] If we're going to acknowledge Trump's lies like we better acknowledge Kamala's lies and mysteries and side steps and everything else and it also didn't help the fact that there was only one.

[00:14:02] Donald Trump was going against three moderators not just one on one of Kamala Harris and again we can discuss that later.

[00:14:08] I think ABC to themselves a huge disservice but despite the fact I will admit this was not his strongest debate when you look at to everything he knew really excuse me from 2016 on this was not his strongest debate and whether you want to blame it on Kamala Harris I don't really think that was it I frankly think that he'll recall it was a much more.

[00:14:29] For a middleball opponent it when it comes to debates then Kamala Harris what do you want to blame it on that whether you want to blame on the fact that he had more room or sitting on a plane with him hour before he actually jumped on the debate stage.

[00:14:41] Feeling his head with God knows what whatever you want to blame it on it was not his strong suit we've talked about.

[00:14:49] Donald Trump not being able to stand message we've seen it throughout his rallies right again back you noted it I worked to get the man reelected in 2020 of staffed.

[00:15:00] I think that's the reason why he's not going to be a part of the world.

[00:15:00] He's never a dozen of his rallies I know what these these look like he has a telepompter he has a speech all right now and he goes off the cut you'll see this telepompter it's stagnant for five 10 15 20 minutes because he'll go off on a tangent we know this about him.

[00:15:16] That people are about him because he seems authentic you seem real he seems relatable because he talks and goes off on handers like normal regular people would expect he's not super polished like a traditional.

[00:15:30] politician that we're used to seeing but it also works to his detriment as well and last night it was not a helpful.

[00:15:39] I think when you look at this debate frankly I think both of them did terribly I think the losers in the last night's debate were the American people I don't think anybody won but I think when you look at.

[00:15:55] what this debate was really about it was not about substance or even though I think a lot of folks would have like to see that and frankly I would have liked to see a little bit more of that from common last night.

[00:16:06] it's not about as much of that reality in that substance that we're looking for it's about the perception of what people feel.

[00:16:13] It's about the perception of how people feel at home how they feel.

[00:16:19] When they're going about their everyday life it's about that perception of how folks feel at home.

[00:16:26] You heard of these debate moderators trying to say while it comes going down or back checking top on a various number of issues and that's great right like we see the numbers from an economic standpoint that the economy is shifting back to normal right.

[00:16:39] But the reality is the perception does not match those numbers there are Americans right now who do not feel like the economy is getting better they do not feel like crime is getting better in their communities are safer they do not feel like the border crisis has been handled they feel.

[00:16:55] like all of these things are getting worse and whether or not you agree with Donald Trump on those facts facts or not whether you agree with common hair or not the fact is that there is a perception of how these things are being viewed I think.

[00:17:10] Regardless of how Trump delivered.

[00:17:14] His message last night and it was very scattered is all over the place and to Becky's point he wasn't talking to the American people he was having a fight with the moderators again whole another topic we can discuss later.

[00:17:27] He was still touching on those touch points that are infuriating Americans and our causes for concern for voters right now that common continues to ignore and continues to sidestep.

[00:17:42] And so I think on that piece of it on touching on the perception side of things Trump did well, but on the overall debate and presentation of it all it was not a good night.

[00:17:55] Michael, not a fan of Donald Trump over the years. How do you think he did last name?

[00:18:00] I've we've done a lot of episodes talking about debates debate prep and other types think I think it's I think this was Donald Trump's worst performance we debate and I was surprised because my expectation coming in was he's done this seven times he's very tough to.

[00:18:15] It's talked to moderating and control Trump in a debate even though he agrees to abide by rules and other issues and so I think he was.

[00:18:25] Completely off his game and I think a couple of reasons I think and and Becky we've talked about this before.

[00:18:31] I think that he the fact he's running against the vice president Kamala Harris frustrates him and anger him.

[00:18:38] I think there is an issue that he has with her being black woman is challenging to him and I think the way that she came out on stage shook his hand.

[00:18:48] I think that he's been controlled the environment even with her slow start Trump did not dominate I think at any point and I think let me just say a couple things this is the challenge with Trump.

[00:19:00] He has an inability to stay on message which we've talked about before at like that some of the members of this current panel that we have right now.

[00:19:08] If you were a part of Donald Trump's debate prep for last night you did a bad job and I and if it's the debate crap the physical debate prep meaning the in the rooms going back and forward the questions.

[00:19:21] I have to say to you having Laura Lumer on the plane is not a way in which to walk into a debate because we're getting to some of those subjects later there was some real craziness that came out of the former president small for right now last night.

[00:19:35] And I don't think if you're doing an analysis of the debate prep anyone's going to say that Laura Lumer was helpful to it Lindsey Graham you know it's he said it from South Carolina called the day performance a disaster and so I think universally Donald Trump is there's not many people aside from.

[00:19:54] Some online polls that his supporters have been up are in the minds of Donald Trump and he thinks he did a good job how bad of a job he did is that he went to the spin room.

[00:20:03] And that's how bad of a job he did that he felt the need to go from the debate stage to the spin room to do cleanup on the mistakes that he made in the eye.

[00:20:12] Because there was a lot of mess that he needed to clean up and it's pretty unusual to see candidates going to the spin room when they just come in at the stage for over 90 minutes and headed correct channel to the audience.

[00:20:23] The cameras so the fact that he felt the need to go there and do cleanup is validation I think.

[00:20:30] To something he would never met but that he had a terrible performance and I think the polls last night if you look at what expectations were people coming in and what their reaction was the numbers are universal.

[00:20:41] And in incredible polls done by reputable organizations that the vice president won the debate and I think the only question I think that remains is will there be a second one because I think performance was so strong.

[00:20:55] Here's was so a bit small that's a discussion again further but overall I think it was just a disastrous performance.

[00:21:02] I don't have a ton to add here. I tend to agree. I think the the first 30 minutes or so he has a pure and set least he looked a little bit more reserved he had his.

[00:21:12] Grumpy face that he always has but he was a little more stoic after that he was definitely taking the bait that she was sling it out there he was smirking he was shaking his head he was making that kind of WTF face that he makes and he was getting more and more fired up in his responses he definitely.

[00:21:30] It's something we haven't seen with something we've expected and wondered about over the last couple of debates we certainly talked about it ahead of the last bite and debate that he was going to call him a loser and all of these different things that we were anticipating that Biden was going to use against Trump to get under his skin that was not successful last time.

[00:21:49] I'm a comment on Harris not only put that put those put that bait out there but he took it every time and it just got worse and worse as he went at one point Harris said said the line he's more interested in defending himself and looking out for you.

[00:22:04] And I think his response.

[00:22:06] His performance last night proved that because so many times he took his opportunity to answer a significant policy question and some of them that he should have hit out of the park immigration will chat about more when we get to issues here.

[00:22:20] And he couldn't help himself but defend his rally size or people leaving early and it was really to his detriment that he was not able to maintain his composure and something that we've.

[00:22:31] I think always known was there and always anticipated but he's been able to keep us cool relatively in these debates in last night that certainly wasn't the case.

[00:22:40] And a couple of you have mentioned this but I think I was struck by that handshake at the front end I think it was a power move by Kamala Harris she went set 60 70% across the stage.

[00:22:52] She went over introduced herself said I'm Kamala Harris nice to meet you let's have a good debate was in from my perspective power move and that was planned and I think it really caught him a little off guard right off the bat.

[00:23:05] So when we get to this I want to get into a little bit we've chat a little bit about some concerns and criticisms about the moderators I want to chat about that a little bit but before we get into that.

[00:23:14] I do want to hit on I always love to look at the New York Times time break up breakdown of the debates this debate Harris spoke for 37 minutes and 41 seconds Trump spoke for about six minutes longer for about 43 minutes.

[00:23:28] But what I thought was most interesting of the 37 minutes Harris spoke 17 of those were spent attacking so 40 almost just under 50% 46% of her time was spent attacking Donald Trump Donald Trump for of his 43 minutes just 12 just about 13 minutes were spent attacking so.

[00:23:44] His was just under 30%. This is vastly different than other debates in particular his recent debate against Joe Biden and again I think goes to so much of his time was spent trying to defend on the attacks that he was getting.

[00:23:58] Rather than the potential attacks or points that he possibly had prepared in advance I thought that was really interesting that Harris is a tax for almost 50% and Trump's were just about 30 of the issues economy was the one that was talked about the most just shy of 10 minutes abortion was about eight minutes.

[00:24:16] And then the Russia Ukraine war democracy immigration and foreign policy I'll got about six minutes of peace. I think this is to be expected what we chatted in our preview of what we anticipated those issues to be.

[00:24:28] Of importance, but I want to chat about the moderators a little bit because I do know that my personal perspective of it is I do believe there is a place for life back checking in and having some comments in response to what the candidates are saying.

[00:24:42] That's not something we saw in the first debate and I think that this is something that we saw and I was interested in when I first said, I do believe it was one more one sided though some numbers that I had seen Trump was fact check four times.

[00:24:56] Kamala was not checked at all Trump was pushed for follow up six times and Harris was not most notably to me. He was pushed on the abortion ban in multiple follow ups and she was not at all pushed in a follow up on asking of if we were better off so.

[00:25:11] I want to get your insight and you had some frustrations at the moderators you mentioned that it was three against one tack to me a little bit about it.

[00:25:19] Cheerpoint there is a time for fact checking and they're in the time for allowing candidates to either.

[00:25:26] Run with their speeches, their positions, however you whatever you want to call it right allowing them to run and either.

[00:25:34] Run wild and free it and do a great job or to hang themselves but it's not the moderators job to sit there and pick winners and losers.

[00:25:42] And I think that's exactly what happened last night to your point they fact check Donald Trump multiple times they did not do that with Kamala Harris despite the fact that she.

[00:25:54] Why on that debate stage you wide about Charlotte's bill she lied about fracking she lied about like she lied about minutes minutes out of freedom fund she's lied about many of those things were Donald Trump didn't answer questions the moderators specifically went out of their way to follow up with him to ask for followups and demand answers from him they did not do that with Kamala Harris when she.

[00:26:21] Why about fracking and they asked her about it when they asked her about her flip flops on various issues when they asked her about the economy and she completely dodged it when they asked her about immigration and she did nothing to talk about how she was the borders are and did not own it she did not talk about those things.

[00:26:37] They did nothing to talk about to push back on her what to ever mean while they found every opportunity to fact check or push push there you know whatever facts on Donald Trump they made sure to follow up on them even though like when you look at.

[00:26:51] How the questions were asked they asked Donald Trump about multiple issues that concern him and his candidacy like January 6 lawsuits and everything else and I'm not saying that those questions are not warranted absolutely not that's not what I'm saying at all.

[00:27:08] But there was not the same level of like personal.

[00:27:13] In terms of the questions on Kamala side she had the one question about you know the flip flops back in forth but that was it and they allowed her to like brush that off completely and I think again this is about perception like we can talk about reality all we want all day long.

[00:27:30] But the facts are simple like voters care about perception the folks were watching this debate want to know that their perceptions are being heard and address and last night what they saw.

[00:27:43] a moderator is whether they were trying to be biased or not. I'm not in their like shoes.

[00:27:48] I am not going to sit there and say, okay, they have an agenda one way or another. But the

[00:27:53] perception is that they had unfairly targeted Donald Trump for fact checks and everything else

[00:28:00] because they deemed that he is going to lie. They allowed Kamala Harris to go Scott for

[00:28:07] and in some ways they gave Donald Trump an out because he could say, you know what? This debate

[00:28:12] was not fair. It was three against one. I'm having to compete with two moderators and Kamala Harris.

[00:28:18] Like I'm having to defend myself as I'm being ganged up on. It's an out if he doesn't want to do a

[00:28:23] second debate. It's an out if he never wants to do a debate with ABC again. It's an out if you want to say

[00:28:28] I would have won except I'm having to compete against three people instead of one. I think ABC just did a very

[00:28:34] hard job of moderating and handling that debate. We talked about this right before we went live.

[00:28:40] You know, that debate was close to end at 930 last night's central time. It did not. Like it got to

[00:28:44] a point where I'm texting with friends and being like, wasn't this supposed to be over already?

[00:28:47] I even tweeted about is this not supposed to be over already? I think they were supposed to go to

[00:28:51] two commercial breaks. They only went to one. I believe. Like it just they did not have a handle on

[00:28:56] the situation. It didn't seem like the mice. They said that the mics were muted and I understand there's

[00:29:01] a big speed of part. You're in a small space. Mike, do pick up reverb acoustics all that stuff. So it's

[00:29:08] easy to pick up sound from other people nearby. But it didn't seem like the mics were muted either because

[00:29:13] you could hear them like budding in and out. I just I think ABC lost control very early on. The moderators

[00:29:20] didn't nothing to endure themselves to the audience or the candidates. They gave Donald Trump

[00:29:24] out at the end of the night and they really did moderate this in a way that kind of makes Donald

[00:29:31] Trump look like a victim at the end of the day because they did not handle things in a professional

[00:29:36] fashion. I think CNN did a much better job of handling the first debate. I highly encourage those

[00:29:43] of you who are only listening to this on audio to come back and watch it on the livestream as well

[00:29:49] because facial reactions during some of these responses all across the board. But on are we just

[00:29:54] being wine? Yes. Hi, baby. Reply cans over here. Yeah. Yeah. I'll talk to you about what it is.

[00:30:01] I just want to say this is the equivalent of the New York Giants complaining about a holding

[00:30:08] call, meaning the reason that they got their butts picked by the Vikings last week. Yes,

[00:30:13] maybe a hold happened here or there. But that is not the problem. The problem is your team states

[00:30:18] that everyone involved in your team and roster building stinks and you played a terrible game.

[00:30:24] A couple holding penalties here and there did not pause your entire franchise to be awful.

[00:30:30] It's the same with Donald Trump. You got to act check a couple times. It's a lot easier to

[00:30:34] fact check a formal president than it is someone who has not been the leader of the three world, right?

[00:30:39] She's the vice president of the United States. Are you kidding me? She literally has a hand in this

[00:30:43] administration and the last four years of disaster that we have seen under this administration. She

[00:30:48] said that she was a senator. You know, United States Senate for how many years? For over a decade.

[00:30:55] Do you not tell me? She doesn't have a record that is absolutely false. She ran for president

[00:30:59] in 2020 to not have a state state before. She's been minor. Act like 40. You cannot tell me

[00:31:06] that she has not been challenged before. The fact of the matter is that last night there was

[00:31:10] only one candidate on that that debate stage that was fact checked. It was Donald Trump. I am

[00:31:14] not saying that he didn't do a terrible job. I'm already on the record saying it was bad. But

[00:31:18] state here and tell me that she does not have a record. Therefore, she cannot be fact checker

[00:31:23] challenge is absolutely ridiculous. I am so she doesn't have a record in campus. I check

[00:31:27] a sense a lot easier to do when you have a guy. You look like like anywhere. It's not up.

[00:31:32] It's just a year or six. She's been an office longer than he has. She's funny about

[00:31:39] me. She has a lot of students who are in the classroom. They're asking him about

[00:31:43] easy and you're interested in somebody who has a very sexual appearance. A lot easier actually.

[00:31:49] We're talking about people rushing the Capitol and trying to kill people. That is a much

[00:31:53] easier thing to track check than it is minor policy difference or something. I'm sorry. There's

[00:31:58] a little tragedy over the 20 years. There is literally video all over the place of cursing in 2020

[00:32:05] that she would absolutely ban fact ban fracking. If you're going to fact check something

[00:32:10] in the classroom. Here's a thing. If you are a news organization, you are a national news

[00:32:18] organization and you were going to sit there in hosted a date with two presidential candidates,

[00:32:23] two people who want to be the next leader of the free world, then you better have your ducks

[00:32:28] in a row. I am sorry. If you're going to sit here and fact check a lot, better have the fact

[00:32:32] for every single answer and every single question that you were about to ask. That is just plain

[00:32:37] due diligence. The fact that they didn't do that is just straight up sloppy and ADC should be

[00:32:42] a shame that I mentioned this last night that nothing tells us how that debate went more

[00:32:50] than the entire Republican party griping about how the referees were falling again. Ultimately,

[00:32:56] it's going to be your fall back position. You can hear your butt. That's what happens.

[00:33:00] And we will say to the staff, we moderate all the time because they are actually a single thing

[00:33:06] and we can say this is a life. It's a live. It's a live. It's a live. It's a live. It's a live.

[00:33:11] We talk with people at the same time and every single response he has ever given. The guy just doesn't

[00:33:17] tell the truth. It's literally how to build his career. You know what I mean? Now this is slow in the last

[00:33:21] time we did this podcast is that at the end of the day, reporters do are more favorable to

[00:33:28] Democrats than they are Republicans. It is the easiest job in the world to be a coms director

[00:33:33] in the Democrat party because he literally just have to pick up the phone and say, hey,

[00:33:37] I have a story and they're like, tell me everything about it. I'll start writing it now.

[00:33:41] It will be up in two hours. Whereas a Republican, you can have a legitimate story and it is like

[00:33:46] trying to pull teeth just to get someone to even pick up a phone. Like that's just the reality of

[00:33:52] as a damn research guy. I agree with you on the comm side of things. They take all of our good

[00:33:57] work and get credit for it. So that's what that's a whole another discussion. Donald Trump is

[00:34:02] the most fat checkable human because they're walking back to the target. That is using how

[00:34:08] you're thinking. So yeah, maybe things should have like fact checker on a couple little things. But

[00:34:12] again, that is not what changes debate. He thinks he has terrible ideas and he lives about everything.

[00:34:18] He makes stuff up also. People are eating their neighbors dogs. People are, you know,

[00:34:25] you can go on and on with some of the BS. I mean, there is a story out of camping from a woman's

[00:34:29] sitting in her couch. I'm just good. You're going to defend that one for you. That's welcome. Welcome back.

[00:34:34] I'm not going to put it. I'm not going to come back to that. I mean, I just don't know. Yeah,

[00:34:40] yeah, maybe it wasn't little tilt in towards her, I guess. But, compared, she's still dominated

[00:34:44] and admitted to every facet of that debate. He was awful. And he made stuff up. He's been changing

[00:34:49] with the question in terms of one response that he had written down. And he was angry. He was

[00:34:56] galling, he was super galling, he was hunched over and he was pissed off. And it's because he would not

[00:35:01] have a good response to her. And yes, of course, people are always going to find a reason to

[00:35:08] excuse their candidates terrible performance. And in this case, I've grew through that

[00:35:12] moderator's, maybe they should have been a couple more calls on the other side. But it did not

[00:35:17] change anything. Ultimately, that's loser talk of my opinion. That's like a giant fan. Yeah.

[00:35:23] And I'm not saying, oh, sorry. Go ahead. I was just going to say this is Michael and I spoke

[00:35:28] a little bit last week. I was expressing my frustrations of no inner user press conferences of

[00:35:33] Kamala Harris over the last 47 days. And we talked a little bit about this of you, you have one

[00:35:39] Kamala doing this. And then you have the other side of Donald Trump giving you so much that he

[00:35:44] does give you so much and says so much that he has so much on the record. So two wheels point,

[00:35:48] there is so much to be able to fact check and less from Harris on that. And I think you can

[00:35:55] weigh that of pros and cons for each of them. I think we can all agree that there were more times

[00:36:01] that Trump was maybe pushed on this than Harris was. I also agree that I don't think it

[00:36:07] changed the overall outcome of the debate here. And we'll get into some of those different

[00:36:12] facts here, but Michael, I want to hear from you on this. One work with Paul. Sorry. We need a moderator

[00:36:17] here. No, no, I'm looking off what I would say is I wanted to give you one to credit actually

[00:36:21] back in here because last time we were on, you talked about the mute button situation and my

[00:36:27] perspective is going to be a good thing for Donald Trump. You know, right, it definitely helped

[00:36:31] trauma a little more because you know, she was able to say stuff and it while picked it up,

[00:36:35] you don't know what she was saying, but it obviously threw him off. And I don't know if you remember

[00:36:39] it's a few times she stopped and he looked at her and he told her, I won't be quiet or something.

[00:36:43] I can't remember the exact time. I'm talking now how you've heard that before. Yeah, yeah, exactly

[00:36:48] which came off. It's like pretty much the audience of this. And so I'll give you to credit about that.

[00:36:52] I think you were actually right that that helped her fight a bit. The having that mute button.

[00:36:57] Anyway, sorry Michael, we're going. No, what I would is that the role of moderators is to moderate

[00:37:02] and Donald Trump and Donald Trump's campaign signed up for rules. And then I doesn't bind them

[00:37:09] to the truth, but this wasn't an ambush interview. This wasn't Mike Wallace standing on side

[00:37:13] where he suddenly has to answer questions. Trump can't be in signed up for these rules. The

[00:37:19] moderators were going to have a role. And I just have to say to you, I think that the statements

[00:37:24] that came out of Donald Trump's mouth were worthy of being fact checked. We're absolutely worthy

[00:37:30] of being fact checked. And they weren't in being fact checked. We're talking about someone who has a

[00:37:35] very serious problem with the truth and with reality. This is someone who in the last week or so

[00:37:41] has taken a slip flap, slip flap on abortion in a variety of ways. So this is it's reasonable

[00:37:48] for there to be factors in particular when there's only going to be one debate.

[00:37:54] There is a possibility that this may be the only debate that occurs. And so I understand that

[00:37:59] for Republicans to watch their presidential candidate, not stay on messaging hit fact checked.

[00:38:05] But the problem is that Donald Trump has a problem with the truth and he has a problem staying

[00:38:10] on message. And I think the debate moderators, the bottom line is did Kamala Harris, did the

[00:38:17] vice president miss speak to the same level as Donald Trump did during the debate? I would say absolutely

[00:38:23] not. And so for if the job of the moderators is to fact check and give the correct information

[00:38:30] to the American people as they're watching this, I can't think of a worse position for the

[00:38:35] moderators to be in. And here's why I'll say that you want to know why I don't subscribe this

[00:38:40] to anyone on this podcast or any of you guess, but a lot of mega people have a real problem

[00:38:45] with the truth. And so when anyone from the reporter confronts them on their perspective and

[00:38:52] a different reality such as having a discussion on the 2020 election and Donald Trump recoils

[00:38:59] the way that he does. And it's tough to nail down. That's the challenge. I can understand the

[00:39:04] frustration, but I view as fairly as I can be, because I'm trying to be is to say that the times

[00:39:12] that Donald Trump was fact check. I thought they were reasonable fact checks that needed to be addressed.

[00:39:18] And I think because I do think it's important in elections, particularly when there's this may

[00:39:23] be the only debate that voters get the same information. I guess I would ask back, I guess I would

[00:39:29] ask back to Fran and I guess I'd ask back to this group. What should be done when there is a

[00:39:35] candidate on stage, whether it's a Democrat or it's a Republican, who's a pre-do a debate

[00:39:41] with moderators, and they're consistently saying misinformation. Because I'll tell you as some of

[00:39:47] any journalists, done work as a journalist is not my job to just be a photographer for what a

[00:39:54] candidate says. You do have a responsibility to push back. So I guess the question answered in

[00:39:59] the flip side is, what should be the role for moderators when there's a candidate who's lying

[00:40:04] who's lying to the level which they did, they sometimes do not specific to Trump?

[00:40:10] I will say this, like I think CNN handled it while because they decided, you know what, we're just

[00:40:16] gonna let people speak and want people make a choice. I think that was a good decision, they

[00:40:22] came off as fair. They handled their questions, they did a good job on that, right? I'm not saying

[00:40:28] that the fact checks I wanted. I'm not saying that the debate would have changed any differently

[00:40:34] whatsoever if they hadn't fact checked Donald Trump as much as they did. What I'm seeing is that

[00:40:40] you as a national news organization, a global news organization, because he agreed to do a moderated

[00:40:46] debate between two people who are vying to be the next president of the United States.

[00:40:51] And you are only fact checking one, you are only you are for a majority of part when it comes

[00:40:56] to personal questions. You have more of those guided personal questions to one side versus another.

[00:41:04] There is a view of perception that changes drastically and it feeds into a narrative that

[00:41:10] media is not there and it is bias. And if you are going to have a live fact check in the middle

[00:41:16] of the debate where you are going interrupt the candidate and tell them that they are false,

[00:41:21] you better have fact checks for both sides and it's not hard and it all lives on social media now.

[00:41:30] You should have fact checks for both sides and you better be prepared to push back on both

[00:41:35] candidates equally. Yeah, they can number of issues where Kamala Harris either didn't answer

[00:41:42] the question she sidesteped or why don't lie to about it and she went unchecked. Yes,

[00:41:48] and I'm not kidding. There are a couple of counts. Yes, and I would say that there is not anyone

[00:41:53] who's waking up today and is looking at last night's debate and saying that Donald Trump didn't

[00:42:00] lie or that Donald Trump's lies shouldn't have been fact check. What I think it people are saying

[00:42:07] and attempting to say is that the vice president did have been fact check-in on and I would argue

[00:42:13] to you okay, but that does mean that there's a need that we have to make up lies because

[00:42:20] I mean we have to come up with ridiculous things. There isn't a quota system at the beginning

[00:42:24] of the debate that says, okay, I'm in a fact check this candidate ten times and this candidate

[00:42:29] has to be fact check that. I would say to you, I understand the frustration. I think the frustration

[00:42:35] that has been voiced online has been one tenth as thoughtful as this discussion and as one

[00:42:43] tenth is as substantive as what I'm hearing on this but ultimately I do think some of that

[00:42:48] response to the ability lies with Donald Trump. I do think that I honestly do but I think as someone

[00:42:54] and pray I will say to everyone on this. I know to all of us have been involved in debate

[00:43:00] prep in some way and so when you guys raise, when this group raises a criticism on a debate format

[00:43:05] I'm feeling going to take it to hard and listen to it because I think there's there is some

[00:43:09] criticism to it. I do want to take this and move us into chatting about some of these issues and

[00:43:15] key moments, some of the moments that the key, sure, go for it. That was my impersonation of

[00:43:24] overturning Rovi Wade or January 6 and you don't give a legit answer that everybody on the planet

[00:43:33] knows the answer to and you are flat out denying it or lying about it. That is not on the moderators

[00:43:39] for fact checking it. That is just a simple, easy thing to do. They do not be blamed for that. Those

[00:43:45] are layoffs that he can not do because he could not tell the truth. Again, the question asked by

[00:43:52] Becky, isn't about whether the fact checks were fair? It's about how the moderators handled

[00:43:57] themselves and what the perception is coming out of it. The reality is that the moderators were

[00:44:04] one sided in the way that they handled Donald Trump. If you want to avoid this going forward and look

[00:44:09] I tell you that somebody who has been in the communications world for a decade which

[00:44:14] flows my mind to this day that I've been doing this for 10 years and I haven't left streaming

[00:44:18] but as somebody who's been doing this for 10 years who has been building relationships with

[00:44:22] reporters here in Minnesota across the country nationally. I want to help reporters get the

[00:44:29] story that they're looking for. I want to make Republican voices more welcoming to them. I want

[00:44:34] to get rid of this fake news like thing. I'm not like a normal comms director. I like reporters and

[00:44:40] I like working with them and I like helping them access the truth on our side as well so the

[00:44:46] story can be balanced and told us both story. But at the same time when you have examples like last

[00:44:51] night it makes my job that much harder. It makes my job as a communications person as a

[00:44:57] strategist to tell my clients that they should trust me when I say trust the media because

[00:45:02] don't go back to this point in time and they'll say hey look what they did to Donald Trump last

[00:45:07] night. They might not agree with them. They might not say that the fact checks are bokehs or

[00:45:11] fair. They might not say that it's not warranted but they might just say hey they weren't fair to

[00:45:17] Donald Trump compared to how they treated some of the things that Kamala Harris said and that

[00:45:22] makes the job that much harder. It makes our ability to do our job from a Republican standpoint

[00:45:27] that much more difficult. They did themselves a disservice. They did the entire industry a

[00:45:33] disservice last night from a political perspective and they made the job of comms directors who

[00:45:39] and people who actually want to help the media and try to bring some balance back to coverage.

[00:45:46] They did a disservice to that. I want to keep us on track here. I think we can agree to disagree

[00:45:52] on how we feel about the moderators last night but one thing I think that we can certainly

[00:45:56] look at and pre-eye think one thing you and I probably can agree on with our work with Republicans

[00:46:02] and especially both tangently or for supporting the Trump campaign in some capacity is

[00:46:08] the issues that there is with Donald Trump staying on message. We know that there are not a really

[00:46:14] good policy stance that Republicans can and should stand on right now and we didn't see a lot of

[00:46:19] that from Donald Trump last night. We see a lot of the distractions. With Kamala Harris, a lot of the

[00:46:25] criticism about her has been that we don't know a lot of her policy stance is because she has

[00:46:30] either flip flops, she's changed her stance but not her values. However you want to look at it,

[00:46:35] we are just 56 days out from the election right now in recent and New York Times, Santa

[00:46:41] Paul 28 percent of voters prior to the debate said that they needed to learn more about Harris

[00:46:46] and only 9 percent said that about Trump. I do think that following the debate, that number

[00:46:50] has shrunk for Harris. I do believe that we did hear a little bit more from Harris for some

[00:46:54] voters to feel that they know a little bit more where she stands. Unfortunately, I think from

[00:46:59] Donald Trump, we did see him take that bait and go into those tangents and go into the

[00:47:04] distractions that take us off from the economy, from the prices and that we're not better off

[00:47:11] from the crime, from the immigration who stands is we saw time and time again. So I want to get

[00:47:16] into some of these key moments, some of the seized opportunities or misdopper to news that the

[00:47:20] candidates took and I want to start with this because I just I feel like we need to take we don't

[00:47:26] want to spend a lot of time on it but we got to spend some time on it. Let's just start with

[00:47:30] you can find anything on the internet. You can find wild and crazy stories on the internet on every

[00:47:35] topic, every issue covering anything that whether it follows or goes against your policy

[00:47:41] stances or that of your opponent. It is up to candidates, a weather they give some time and space

[00:47:48] to that. I work for candidates who have certainly heard one story and want to run with that and

[00:47:53] have had many times, minutes hours, begging them to not say that on the campaign trail. Sometimes

[00:47:59] successfully sometimes not successfully. We saw this with Scott Jensen in the litter boxes, we have

[00:48:05] tampon Tim but last night it was eating cats and dogs. It was migrants in Ohio. There was one

[00:48:11] story where one guy said that they lost a catarrogant, it was eaten by migrants. Priya you

[00:48:17] led into this a little bit. Do you think this is something that was worthy of any aotev time

[00:48:24] from Donald Trump from the sage last night and that he took it when there are so many

[00:48:29] better things to hit Kamala Harris on when it comes to immigration?

[00:48:35] I think it's laughable. To how far the heck are we? I don't think

[00:48:41] I don't think that migrants are eating cats or dogs. At least somebody correct me if I'm

[00:48:46] wrong and I've seen something else. I know there is a story out of Ohio right now that a woman

[00:48:51] in Canton did in fact eat a cat. That was a video that was a video that folks were showing. She

[00:48:57] was not Haitian. We're going to dispel that right away. Nobody as of yet has talked about

[00:49:03] migrants eating cats or dogs. Do I believe the geese and duck story? Absolutely. And why do I do

[00:49:09] that? Why do I believe that? Because I'm the daughter of immigrants for goodness sake. We've all

[00:49:14] joked about that before in my family during holidays. So what somebody very new to the country may

[00:49:19] do that? I would say that like I would believe it, but that's just from my own personal experience.

[00:49:27] I'm not saying that it actually is happening. I think it's a funny anecdote if you want to make a

[00:49:32] larger, like, larger case towards going on. I think there was something much closer to home

[00:49:38] that Donald Trump couldn't hit when he talking about the immigration, the immigration problem

[00:49:43] that we're facing right now. You can talk about the Chinese and to all that's coming into

[00:49:47] our country from across the border. You can talk about the fact that just last week in a legal

[00:49:52] immigrant who was arrested multiple times here in Minneapolis, across the border into Wisconsin,

[00:49:57] much of Prairie, Dushin and raped a mother and daughter and assaulted them. And is a Ben

[00:50:02] as well in transnational gang member? And they got through the border. These are stories that you

[00:50:08] could talk about in blame, common hairs and Tim walls for, frankly. And they chose not to do that.

[00:50:14] They chose not to talk about the issues in when it comes to immigration. What is a very good

[00:50:21] issue for Donald Trump? He did not hit out of the park the way that he needed to.

[00:50:28] Well, I want to ask you, what do you think was maybe a misdoperability of Kamala Harris?

[00:50:33] Any anything that stands out where she didn't answer to something that you were sitting back that

[00:50:38] was an knockout of the park or on the contracts? Anything that you really thought,

[00:50:43] she crushed it. We're sitting there applauding and you're living here.

[00:50:47] First of all, I would say who amongst us have wanted to take and live a lot of our neighbors

[00:50:52] happy for you, right? We've all been there once or twice. But no, I thought she did. I

[00:50:58] maybe have stood forward with stuff that I had expected her to cover. I would have liked to see more

[00:51:04] maybe some of the economic stuff slashed out a little bit. I'm not surprised that it wasn't

[00:51:09] quite frankly. I think talking a little bit more about issues that are, frankly, I thought

[00:51:16] talked a little bit too much about how much she will tracking now. Like, I don't want to hear

[00:51:22] that stuff. That's not winning me over by. And so, then you're really important. Sure. Yeah,

[00:51:27] I mean, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I have a lot to say about that. That was something that I didn't

[00:51:33] really feel to me that much. Never a couple of pieces like that. But I think we got what I exactly

[00:51:39] would expect to listen. Michael, any standout moments for you? I think there was a lack of

[00:51:46] message discipline by Trump that was, it was magnificent in how out of line it was this founding.

[00:51:54] There was some pretty significant pushback by a number of conservative commentators on

[00:52:00] this performance lesson. Let me say this, Republicans have a problem with this. It's not Trump

[00:52:05] isn't the first one. We've seen examples of it in Minnesota where we have candidates that are

[00:52:09] they're seeing things online. They don't have the proper staff around them and it's ending

[00:52:16] up coming out of their mouth at events, local events or on stage. And Donald Trump said things

[00:52:23] last night that have no basis in reality and frustrated a number of conservatives that are supporting

[00:52:31] the online. Eric Erickson tweeted this week, he said, this last week and now this debate

[00:52:37] has ratified in my mind that the Republican Party has become more interested in winning the Twitter

[00:52:43] war than the election. They've confused what happens here for the real world just as Democrats

[00:52:50] once did. He also then railed against the online people who filled Twitter with these ridiculous

[00:52:58] racist memes about this catch-stop that's been going on and he was also in the JDVance

[00:53:05] for what he did on this. And so I understand the frustration, but where this comes from is

[00:53:12] whether it's at the local level, with candidates, whether it's at the state level or whether

[00:53:16] it's clearly now with presidential candidates, there has to be message discipline and Republican

[00:53:22] candidates have to stop reading crap that's online and then just learning it out on the debate stage

[00:53:29] because as Eric Erickson was out there screaming, Trump just changed the narrative of what this

[00:53:36] debate could be because of his sloppy, undistciplined messaging. And again, I don't know who's

[00:53:42] I know who was counting the fact they were helping with the debate, but I don't want to

[00:53:47] tag anyone directly but when your vice presidential candidate's pushing it and Laura Lumer's on the

[00:53:52] plane, you're not working with a real good base of reality that needs to happen. And so I

[00:53:59] understand the frustration, but once Trump's gone from the stage, independent of what happens

[00:54:05] as elections cycle, Republicans have to start taking the fact of Eric, Massachusetts, very seriously,

[00:54:11] which is let's live in the real world and Twitter isn't real world sometimes.

[00:54:15] But then it's owning the lives ideology is honestly, it's funny to think that's a but it's

[00:54:21] also through those like the main four of what the Republican Party stands for these days is owning

[00:54:27] the lives and getting a one over on Twitter with your with the base that just retreats you all the

[00:54:31] time with we know a couple of people who look at that are part of that truth, but that is the

[00:54:37] same thing to do and that is not going to win elections, that's the very short-sighted and

[00:54:43] we're on-line thing that both people don't care about. I want to say you know,

[00:54:49] to Michael's point like I do know some of the people that do communications around Donald Trump,

[00:54:55] they are very smart and I know they definitely would not have fed into the stuff that's coming

[00:55:00] out of Ohio right now. They would have much rather pushed onto like the stuff that's going on

[00:55:05] Wisconsin that I just mentioned. But I think the problem, you know, to your point is that

[00:55:10] we have conservatives that have stopped listening to folks like Eric Erickson and they're now

[00:55:15] beating off of folks like, like talking about the moral weavers of the world or Alex Jones or even

[00:55:23] worse white right? I'm just going to call it out for what it is, right? Is these are the people

[00:55:27] that were listening to and we're not trusting and verifying like Ronald Reagan told us to be right?

[00:55:33] Like are just looking at what's on line and we're taking random weird accounts and treating them as

[00:55:41] gospel and we need to get back to the principle of what our messages because you are absolutely right.

[00:55:46] We are in a, we have lost the messaging more here and if we do not fix it and fix it quite,

[00:55:51] we will be in a big, we will have a big problem for decades to come but I will also just say

[00:55:55] in a world's point, we can talk about owning the lids like all you want but if we're not going

[00:56:00] to say that the Republicans are weird thing doesn't match the same energy, we shouldn't be like

[00:56:04] throwing stones at glass houses. A Twitter account, a guy named CatTurde is an intellectual

[00:56:10] thought leader on the Republican party at its point. I think I guess if you're a search.

[00:56:16] All I will say is I will just make a plea if there are any candidates or future candidates

[00:56:20] listen to things can be true at the same time that doesn't mean that both of them should

[00:56:25] set out loud. And I think we need to focus on the things that move the needle, the things that impact

[00:56:31] voters and families and business owners and that's my biggest frustration here with Donald Trump

[00:56:37] is that we don't get that while we all on this call I think know that there are substantial

[00:56:42] things that any Republican running for president right now could stand on, could hit,

[00:56:47] Kamala Harris on and could hit Democrats in general on and it was missed. Two things that I want to

[00:56:53] on here before we move on is first out I think Kamala Harris knocked it out of the park when

[00:56:59] it came to abortion. I thought she did a really good job. Obviously we don't need to get into

[00:57:04] the Donald Trump and his West Virginian mix up about Governor Northam and all of that kind of thing

[00:57:10] that's a story for another day but I do want to say again this goes to what Michael and I were

[00:57:15] chatting about last week where I think Democrats are really moving the needle on this is the stories

[00:57:20] that they are telling and she talked about the woman who is miscarrying and the night being

[00:57:24] denied care. She talked about the insist survivor that is being denied care and these are the

[00:57:29] stories that I think are impactful and I think it hits home and she looked at Donald Trump when

[00:57:34] she was saying all of them I thought it was a really compelling situation and I thought Trump

[00:57:39] just obviously botched his response and then the other one that I was really frustrated about

[00:57:44] I thought that one of the most practice for her situations that Donald Trump could go into this debate

[00:57:50] being ready for is trying to calm and dispel the thought that he is a threat to democracy.

[00:57:59] He was asked about January 6 and he bungled it so bad he pivoted to criminals crossing the border

[00:58:06] comparing it to criminals crossing the border and they are the ones that should be prosecuted

[00:58:10] blame Nancy Pelosi and Mayor Bowser. This split screen on this again it was the compelling moment

[00:58:16] Harris and her visuals on this she then took the opportunity to say something to the effect

[00:58:23] I'm paraphrasing but if January 6 was a bridge too far for you we welcome you Republicans on our side

[00:58:30] I thought it was an opportunity that Donald Trump could go in and say listen they are saying

[00:58:34] I'm a threat to democracy this happened we're moving on I'm going to make sure he could have

[00:58:41] come in with the most rehearsed way of saying I am not a threat to democracy I'm going to be

[00:58:47] X Y and Z we are the party of the constitution I thought that was something he should have

[00:58:52] and could have done and did not and I was really disappointed by his response on that will you're

[00:58:58] not in a long year. We're 100% right and this is one of the big things I want to talk about

[00:59:02] you're 100% right about everything he said I want to add that instead of reassuring the American

[00:59:09] people that he is not a soxin democracy what he did instead with flow to him promote a guy

[00:59:14] named Victor Orban who's the leader in the hungry now you look at Victor Orban what he has done

[00:59:20] in Hungary since the 90s he has been living in embodiment of what stairs people about project

[00:59:26] 2025 he has built me in higher government and how it functions around him and his friends

[00:59:32] and his personality he has completely gutted the judiciary it's not independent anymore

[00:59:38] the press has no freedoms whatsoever it laws are built around his personal wants and needs all

[00:59:45] of them it's a klepocracy all the money is coming into him and he decides where it goes out

[00:59:49] and it's always his friends and his pins and houses and all those stuff this is enough that

[00:59:54] here's people the most and why project 2025 is become such an issue but all of that of

[01:00:00] form is what's helping for how great a guy who's done in his country is and what a great job

[01:00:06] correct I will also say as someone who was one of the reasons I was boarding here

[01:00:11] some walls is because of Trump on that exact issue Republicans I spoke with last night who

[01:00:16] I would our classmate and decided they were very concerned about Trump's answer on that because

[01:00:21] he is continuing to inject misinformation into not only this upcoming election cycle

[01:00:27] but it's what he's done in the past it's a problem it's an ongoing cancer for this

[01:00:33] part for Republicans and it's got to be resolved because my concern is what's going to happen

[01:00:40] in a few weeks when balling starts when voting starts we are facing some serious issues because

[01:00:47] Donald Trump is doing nothing whatsoever to calm the fears of people about voting

[01:00:53] and we have United States and it's like twice going out there and banging the flames and

[01:00:58] demanding that they should get to guard ballots at other times this is a powder keg ready to go

[01:01:04] and Donald Trump could have done a lot of things to show that he's embraced reality

[01:01:09] and he didn't do a last night he gasped it once again

[01:01:12] well I'll just say this is I think at the end of the day anyone who came away from that debate

[01:01:17] thinking Kamala was genuine in anything whether it's welcoming Republicans onto the side or not

[01:01:24] like I just I don't buy it at the end of the day I think that she is the most liberal

[01:01:29] like senator and I know the media tried to do some cleanup for her once she became like the

[01:01:34] candidate but she is one of the most liberal candidate senators to ever to sit in the United States

[01:01:39] and it she have once some of the most extreme policies for this to the left when she ran

[01:01:45] through 2020 and we have to take her word for it then not what it is right now I will say

[01:01:50] and I've said this before when it comes to the race white situation right and because this is

[01:01:55] a top down issue at the end of the day Republicans have a problem with messaging we are so focused

[01:02:00] on the past and this is specifically to Donald Trump he's so focused on defending himself to make

[01:02:06] his image look good to talk to put himself in the best light that we are losing the messaging

[01:02:12] one when it comes to the actual issues where Republicans win by 510 15 points handedly because

[01:02:19] we were too busy talking about the past we're too busy talking about the conspiracies and we

[01:02:24] were too busy talking about things that have nothing to do with why voters are going to

[01:02:28] the ballot box at the end of the day and that is the ultimate problem and I will say as someone who has

[01:02:34] been meeting with Republicans in this day and talking with others a Republicans who feel isolated

[01:02:40] from the party who feel politically homeless Kamala Harris landed the plane last night she is not

[01:02:46] authentic on the issues and they believe her they believe her that she's going to she's going

[01:02:51] to defend the constitution she's going to defend the rule of law and she's going to be an advocate

[01:02:55] for democracy when loser draw and that's something that Republican sent him to have right yeah

[01:03:02] I do want to say obviously the flash polls do reflect that as well that last night there is a lot

[01:03:07] of thought in that now I again consider myself undecided in the middle I did think her statement

[01:03:14] there was authentic I'm not ready to come over to that side yet but I did think it was a great line

[01:03:20] of welcoming folks over and I do think that is a bridge that isn't issue for a lot of people

[01:03:25] myself included obviously Michael as well real quick I want to give some numbers from that CNN

[01:03:31] debate watchers gave Trump a 23 point advantage when it comes to immigration a six point

[01:03:36] advantage when it comes to handling the role of commander and chief which was a little surprising to me

[01:03:40] they did give Harris a nine point advantage when it comes to protecting democracy and a 21 point

[01:03:46] advantage on whom they trusted to handle the issue of abortion again we're going to be coming back

[01:03:51] to that abortion topic quite a bit because it is I think a really big decision point for a lot of

[01:04:00] into some end post debate things debate finish governor walls was on a live interview with

[01:04:08] Rachel Mata when the news broke that the one and only Taylor Swift endorsed Harris walls I

[01:04:15] think this is something we speculated would come we talked about it during the convention I got to

[01:04:21] give her some credit she signed her endorsement with love and hope Taylor Swift childless cat lady

[01:04:26] will Michael nice job that's on getting T Swift on your side I thought she was supposed to do it

[01:04:33] with Travis Kelsey the half time super bowl last cycle remember that I've all conspiracy

[01:04:38] yeah good I'm I like to re-siting for at the AI saying I had heard endorsement Trump and we

[01:04:43] should concern about that so get it out of the way awesome I think it's great I don't really have

[01:04:47] much more thoughts on it than that I like I think it certainly helps like the Harris wall stick

[01:04:52] is extremely popular with young people right now and I don't think this hurts that

[01:04:57] I think it is going help you I thought it was fantastic it's as well as said it

[01:05:05] this is a ticket that is is really connecting with younger voters and this is a I think it

[01:05:11] for potentially the best to not the best ambassador which do that I just want to point out to you

[01:05:17] that right now Michael brought for Dick Cheney Taylor Swift and Connell Harris are all in the same

[01:05:26] side that's pretty that's a pretty big universe that's I'm Luke Skywalker and Luke Skywalker

[01:05:34] and Tim Lals it's just astounding and ladies cheney former congresswoman and so that's a legitimate

[01:05:40] coalition and that's what's needed to win and boy oh boy it was great great to see and I'm just

[01:05:48] going to say this to you I think he's I think the former president is making in this day give you

[01:05:52] picks up what's with you but we'll see Michael you have a question Minnesota thank you

[01:05:58] we have seen the Harris camp have already pitched a second debate they obviously love how they

[01:06:03] am done Trump hasn't quite responded pre-o what's your take do you think we're going to get a

[01:06:07] second debate I think Trump will I think Trump's advisors will probably say no to a second

[01:06:16] debate I think Trump will build compelled to do a second debate to write the proverbial shit

[01:06:23] of perception that he did not do well I think that's probably how that's playing out right now

[01:06:30] not already divided down junior right I think it'll probably end up going back to CNN or Fox News

[01:06:37] because I think com will will want to debate him again and it goes calls I think if Trump is like

[01:06:45] hey let's do Fox News and she says now then the whole point of let's do a second debate

[01:06:50] seems pointless if she's really as fearless as Michael it and well thing she is so I have no problem

[01:06:55] showing up on a Fox News debate stage but going back to the Taylor Swift thing for just a quick

[01:07:01] I just I think it's laughable that like folks are so surprised that Taylor Swift chose comal Harris

[01:07:08] the women's literally made an entire career off of singing about what bad partners she chooses

[01:07:14] in life you and there I say that as a Taylor Swift fan I say that as a Taylor Swift fan I could bug him

[01:07:29] I'm afraid absolutely your best work in my god I am so concerned about your safety right now

[01:07:34] because the Swift is going to come for you and hold the buckets the air just left through I am so proud of you

[01:07:41] you're an illustration and Becky we got that live on video it was good there's the reason she gets paid

[01:07:49] a big bucks like I'm gonna lick in my own is the rest of the bag here let's not let's get it

[01:07:57] before we close I just want to see if there's any last response here any last thoughts obviously

[01:08:02] we've been talking a lot about the Harris walls momentum post-bite and dropping out post convention

[01:08:08] now post debate what can we expect are we going to get a sit down from comal Harris what

[01:08:14] what's next and and what do you guys expect to see in the coming days or weeks Michael let's

[01:08:19] I think I would expect the Harris walls campaign and does a state of course I think maybe some

[01:08:25] are up or maybe some more broader discussions on some policy items more campaign events more

[01:08:30] type of rallies and stuff I would hope that there's a second debate I don't know I absolutely believe

[01:08:37] that the Harris campaign went out and asked for a second debate I think today have to feel very

[01:08:42] confident with how the vice president can perform and so I think the onus is going to be

[01:08:48] on Trump but I think steady as she does the campaign can continue to move forward and I think

[01:08:55] I think they're in a good spot I think they're acting like there are three points down there should be

[01:08:59] if history is a good indicator there should be a good bump of a couple points which is

[01:09:05] significance in the it's significant in this race what I am telling people every person that

[01:09:09] asked me for this race everyone gets to say a answer it's a level of a coin and it's going to be

[01:09:14] a little bit of a quiet election day. – Final thoughts? – Yeah totally agree I agree with Michael

[01:09:21] on more campaign events more or those things but I am more focused on what didn't you not

[01:09:28] in bolts of their campaigns are viewing and I think it's undeniable as you this is a look

[01:09:33] here Minnesota for example and across the country I think we're all hearing some of the same

[01:09:37] stuff the Trump's ground game is virtually non-existent they are giving out like rats

[01:09:43] one ride, like moving out like you built like Disney World,

[01:09:47] you go to the front of the line for a ride for a Trump rally in the future.

[01:09:50] That's kind of stuff they're doing. They're basically trying to

[01:09:53] bribe people to go out and knock doors because they do not have

[01:09:56] one sort of a operation running anywhere, even they have some field office in,

[01:10:01] but they there were Minnesota GOP field offices anyway or run by the local

[01:10:04] BPO. It's virtually non-existent right now and I

[01:10:08] to me that is the bigger story that I'm probably having a sit down

[01:10:12] or like what's going on at the top of the ticket,

[01:10:14] what's happening in these states and I think Paris walls are

[01:10:18] absolutely mopping the floor with them there.

[01:10:21] Yeah, final thoughts before we wrap.

[01:10:24] I do to it will point, I do think that the map has changed for the Trump campaign

[01:10:28] since Kamala became the candidate. I do think that their focus

[01:10:32] has, I know that they like to say at the fake news, but the Axios report I think is

[01:10:37] on, they are refocusing on how they look at Virginia and Minnesota

[01:10:42] and New Hampshire. I think that they are having to focus in spend more time in

[01:10:47] Wisconsin. They've been pretty much there ever single week since Kamala

[01:10:51] became the candidate whether it's J.D. or Donald Trump.

[01:10:54] They're going to these states more often. I do think that

[01:10:57] I do think that this is going to end up being a blip on the radar.

[01:11:02] I just depending on how many people actually watch the debate last night

[01:11:06] as we all know two months in a political campaign is a very

[01:11:09] long time. And things can happen very quickly and things can change

[01:11:15] in a flash. I do think that if Kamala doesn't begin sitting down,

[01:11:18] work reporters, and they're not starting to talk about the issues,

[01:11:21] it will create a bigger window and a bigger opportunity for the Trump

[01:11:25] campaign to define them before they define themselves.

[01:11:29] And that could ultimately be the catalyst on how those swing voters do

[01:11:35] making a decision on how they vote.

[01:11:39] It also depends the Trump campaign a lot of opportunities to find themselves

[01:11:43] on missing cats and dogs that are going to learn now.

[01:11:47] I did want to just hit on that. I just pulled it up as you were talking

[01:11:51] pre-eye. They showed just about a shy of 58 million viewers last night,

[01:11:54] which is 6.5 million more that watch the June 27th one debate between Trump and Biden.

[01:12:01] So it is significant. I don't know that necessarily

[01:12:05] translates into actual moves on the scale. I'm sure that we'll see

[01:12:09] polls come out real soon. You're shaking your head. You disagree. You think this is

[01:12:13] going to be a good button? You could see that. Yes.

[01:12:16] Yeah. I don't know you held your

[01:12:18] mistake or my statement. So well, time will tell. Let's chat next week when

[01:12:23] you get a new poll that's coming out because I'm sure they're in the field today.

[01:12:26] We will chat more about that soon. But before we wrap, we have a couple of

[01:12:29] debate topics I want to get to you. We have one we had the first week of football.

[01:12:35] It was a really great week. I have to applaud my earpett myself on the back because I

[01:12:39] am currently tied for first and beating Michael Broad Corp in our Pickham's League.

[01:12:43] I have to pat myself on the back because let's be real who knows how long that's going

[01:12:47] to last but for this week. And at this point in time, I'm winning. So thank you. I appreciate that.

[01:12:55] And then the last thing I want to say is just to remind her, the Minpo's Festival is on September

[01:12:59] Saturday, September 28th. The breakdown of Brad Corp and Becky will be doing a live in

[01:13:03] person podcast with former Senator Michelle Benson and John Rulo from the Minnesota Jobs

[01:13:09] Coalition. We have a great promo code if you go to Minpo's Festival, Minpo's dot com slash

[01:13:14] festival and use the code Breakdown one word that you can get passes for the day for $30. It's

[01:13:20] a 40% discount. Again, this is access for the full day. There are those great slate of speakers.

[01:13:24] Obviously, we would like you to come see us. Our show is going to be a title turning the

[01:13:29] tide of re-abiving the Republican vision in Minnesota. So come check it out. Great day. We hope

[01:13:35] to see you there. Again, it's Minpo's dot com slash festival promo code Breakdown.

[01:13:40] I guess tree and eyes interview our invitation to last in the mail to that. I will want to talk

[01:13:46] about having a topic of re-abiving the Republican vision in Minnesota. You were top of our list.

[01:13:51] You had just fell down a little bit. It would be good at that. I know a lot about that.

[01:13:58] Yeah, I'm not here. I'm a Republican for Harris fall to some just looking at the name sake.

[01:14:02] I'm not going to go. I'm a name sake with Becky or I would gotten dumped too.

[01:14:07] Guys, I want to just say before we close here, just before I end in the show here, you guys were

[01:14:12] fantastic today. You guys through the heat. We had more viewers today than ever before and you guys

[01:14:18] just ease it your game. And I got to say, you guys really brought it today. And so I'll

[01:14:24] tip to the cap to you guys for just doing a fantastic job and smile and while doing it. This

[01:14:28] needs to happen more and you guys are all of you guys are pros but praying. You guys really through it

[01:14:33] and we'll talk about it in. Bye. We'll talk about it. You guys just did a fantastic job. So thank

[01:14:39] you for being such a sports. And we hope you come back.

[01:14:43] A cork. We just tell us one round three is that's great. Exactly. Now we want to thank you all

[01:14:49] for listening to the breakdown with Drought from Rebeccay before we go show some love for your

[01:14:52] favorite podcast by leaving us a room and Apple podcast or the platform where you listen,

[01:14:57] you can also leave us a review or check us out on all social media platforms at dvd.brake.

[01:15:03] The breakdown with Drought from Rebeccay will return next week. Thank you so much. Bye.