she got an education, worked her way to the ranks, tim walz the same thing. he is a schoolteacher. they understand what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck, to struggle, to scrape by. that's who we need representing us. >> tim walz, a union member himself. shawn fain of the uaw, thanks so much. that is all in on this tuesday night. good evening, alex. >> joe biden was still the democratic nominee the last time we had a handoff. >> i was just about to say-- it's been a minute. >> has it been a long time? it's maybe a short time, too. it's good to see you, my friend. one day we will be in the same studio. have a good tuesday night.

had a hand-off joe biden was still the democratic nominee that's not a lot that's actually how long it' >> has it been a long time, though? it's actually a short time, too. timet is really an elastic rubr band. it's good to see you, my friend. one day we will be reunited in the same studio. >> soon. >> have a good tuesday night. okay. it was just a little over a year ago when donald trump got his first big challenger in this whole election. florida governor ron desantis decided he would enter the republican primary, and he was going to challenge donald trump for the nomination. and right out of the gate immediately things did not go well for the governor who decided he was going to launch his campaign in a live interview on elon musk's social media platform, which back then was stillba called twitter.

>> now it's quiet. >> all right. good afternoon. good evening. >> i think we're back online here. >> great. well it's certainly an incredible honor to have governor desantis make this historicke announcement -- >> it went on like that for 25 minutes. there were glitches and technical difficulties, and it was just are colossal embarrassment for everyone involved. in the wake of that train wreck, donald trump posted on his social media site, wow, the desantis twitter launch is a disaster. his whole campaign will be a disaster. watch. and that sort of set the tone for the rest of desantis' flop

of a presidential campaign. more thande a year later donald trump is the republican nominee, and r by all accounts it is he panicking over his campaign and the surging momentum of his new rivals, kamala harris, and governor tims, walz. so in a questionable attempt to win back the news cycle trump decided to take a page out of the desantis play book, which is never a good idea, and sit down for an interview on elon musk's social media platform, which is now no longer known as twitter. andr the whole thing went exacy as well as it did the first time. from the beginningdi the intervw was plagued by technical al difficulties, which delayed the start by nearly 40 minutes. and the rest of the interview was not much better. in a rambling conversation, trump made several bizarre claims. b he told musk he was, of course, the ceo of a electric car company that climate change is good because it will result in more ocean front property.

he bragged about wanting to shutdown the department of education. that's notep a thing in mainstrm politics, but it is in trump land. and he who's been charged felony crimes for trying to overturn an election accused vice president harris of orchestrating a coup against president biden without irony. >> and say what you want, this was the coup. this was a coup of a president of the united states. to leave, and they said we can do it the nice way or we can do it the hard way. >> as ever, donald trump's attack herena is pure projectio. and wee got even more of that when trump made this very strange claim about a supposed conversation he had with russian president putin about putin's desireou to invade ukraine. >> again, i said to vladimir id putin, don't do it. you do it, it's going to be a bad day. you cannot do it. and i told him things that what

i do, and he said no way, and i said way. >> he said no way, and then i said way. and then i said party on, vlad, and he said party on don. because this was actually an episode of wayne's world and not something that happened in reality. did notd happen. literally everything we know about trump's relationship with dictators is he he curries favor with them and that he regularly refuses to challenge them over atrocities. and even now inov the last weeke are still getting new examples of trump's refusile to stand up tota authoritarians. in her new book house speaker nancy pelosi recalls previouslyp unreported conversations she had with trump before and after he met with president xi jinping of china. the speaker emerita writes i asked theem president to tell x inen the house and senate democrats and republicans were united in their concern about

theco uyghur minority in north west china. about 1 million uyghurs had been rounded up and detained in camps to be ethnically cleansed by the chinese government. after the meeting president trump reported back to me that when he asked president xi about the uyghurs, xi had responded those people like being in these camps. to which i replied, that's what authoritarians always say. that is certainly more plausible than the whole wayne's world schtick with vladimir putin. it's fitting because a good portion of this book seems to be about how underestimates and seems to undermine strong women. ason pelosi writes elsewhere in the book, i've had a lot of conversations with this man and at thesa end of nearly all of tm i think either you are a stupidr youei think that the rest of us

are. it is also fitting that pelosi is telling her story now because in many ways nancy pelosi is a huge part of the reason donald trump is struggling against vice president harris. according to multiple reports speaker emerita pelosi played an instrumental role in convincing heral party to make the difficu decision to replace president biden at the top of the democratic ticket. pelosi alone had the clout and the respect and the organizing skills necessaryd to make that change happen because that's what she's been doing her entire career. from organizing democrats to take a difficult vote to save the economy inat 2008 to conventioning her party to finish theg job and certify biden's election on january 6th, pelosi has always been the party who helps her party make the tough but necessary choices, and all of that is detailed in her new book "the art of power, my story as america's first woman speaker of the house."

earlier tonight i spoke with the former speaker about the new book. joining me now is speaker emerita nancy pelosi. thank you for being here tonight, madam speaker emerita. it's a real pleasure to have you on the program, and congratulations on the book. i wonder -- you know i was struck by theu accounts in the book, thee number of times youn meetings with former president trump offered w him the straigh unvarnished truth on everything from impeachment proceedings to the fact that he lost the popular vote inos 2016. and i wonder, you know, as you think about the fact that he's a candidate again, could you share withld the american public whatt was like to brush back a former president and specifically this president, donald trump? >> the first time a few days after his inauguration, it has always been an historic event. i've been there a couple of times for barack obama. i've been there for george bush,

and now we were going to be there with this new president, wishing him well even though we hadve preferred that hillary clinton had won. but he's the president now. and so when we're waiting for him to make his presentation at this historic meeting, i was thinking how will he begin? will he talk about america and moments in our history that meant something to him? will he quote the bible, perhaps a poetic reference that captures his sentiments on the depth of this occasion. instead he leaned forward with his arms onto the table and said, you know, i won the popular vote. having been in this meeting many more times with colleagues who were there i know the protocol. they didn't, so i decided to break in and say, that isn't true, mr. president.

that isn't true. you did not win the popular vote. now, this is the first sentence that he says and he's president of the united states, the first branch of government. because there were legals and lineus and all that kind of stuff -- well, it's in the book. but i said, look, i just say this because if we're going to work together we have to stipulate to t fact. and if we're going to work on infrastructure, which i believe is one of your priorities, we have to agree on what the ground rules and theit ground numbers are. oh, oh, he says, infrastructure, yeah, i have it right here. he waves something like a hanky or l a tissue or napkin or something and say here i have it right here, a trillion dollars we can pass it right away. right, mitch? and mitch says not unless it's paid for, mr. president. that was the end of that. we didn't get the infrastructure

until joe biden and the bipartisan infrastructure bill in this term in office. but the obsession with saying that he won the popular vote, which he did not, size of crowd. this is so irrelevant and unimportant. what we want to do is for the people work together to meet their kitchen table needs, not his fantasies as he leans on the table in the white house. >> it's an amazing anecdote and i think it's not surprising to people trump has a sort of willful denial of reality. there's also a more sinister aspect to that saying over and over again i won the popular vote in 2016 or i won the election in 2020 has serious repercussions. the idea that democrats stole the election from donald trump came to your doorstep. your husband, paul pelosi, was

attacked as a result of political violence, someone who was looking for you. i mean there were dangerous aspects to trump denying reality, and i wonder if you think his grasp on reality is even as tight as it was in 2016, and whether you yourself are not -- i mean what is your concern about your own safety and that of your husband, who we send our best wishes to in his recovery? >> thank you so much, alex, for that, and i will convey that to him, the respect he has for you and your family, it will mean a lot to him that you said that. here's the thing what the president -- it's a missed opportunity is my point. here he is assuming this mantle, george washington, thomas jefferson, john f. kennedy. big heroes in our country served in this office. you would think he would say something about america or his

spirituality, if there is any, his values, his vision. instead, he resorted to that. so it's the trivalizing of the office that he holds. and again, t the fantasy that h livessy in that he has bigger crowds, bigger votes, and all the rest of that. but the danger that he causes with that because he's the president, and really well-intentioned people trust a president when he speaks. but that president did not understand that a president's words weigh a ton. they weigh a ton. and when they land, they have an impact. and he has a responsibility to do something better instead of making -- if you bet up the reporters he says at a rally, don't worry i will pay your legal fees. and then you mention my husbandn

after that terrible assault on my husband, which of course imagine what it feels like when the attacker was coming for me and my husband paid the physical place, we all paid a dramatic price especially when he and his family and the governor and this and that and the republicans made a joke of it. it wasn't funny. in some ways they are a joke because they are not in reality. but that ain't funny either. so, again, we have to win this election. >> now, a few days ago the former speaker talked with "the new yorker"'s david remnick about the relationship with president biden following his exit from the presidential race, something she reportedly played a significantpo role in. >> you think you'll have -- your relationship will be there? >> i hope so, i pray so, i cry so. i lose sleep about it. >> do you think he's angry at

you? >> i don't know. i haven't had a conversation. >> here is what shed told me about her relationship with president biden as it currently stands. >> have you called the president? >> well, i'm no longer the speaker of the house or the democratic leader of the house, so my communication with thehe president is not what it had been before as when he was president or vice president of the united states. i think his legacy is so consequential for america. in two years when we have the majority is he obviously still is but was president then, we passed legislation that addressed the kitchen table needs of the american people in a very substantial way. >> i also asked her about the controversy surrounding donald trump's running mate, j.d. vance. there's been a lot of talk especially on the right,

especially from the president's running mate, j.d. vance who said a lot about children, those with children and those without children. and throughout thed book you tk very personally you're in a career of public service for the children. and children obviously animate a huge part of o your life. you have five of them. i'm a mom myself. they occupy the most real estate in our hearts and ourmo heads. but irt wonder what you make of j.d. vance's suggestion that people with children should have more power in our democracy than thosen without. what's your reaction to that? >> frankly, it's dumbfounding to have somebody say such a something. what's even more dumbfounding his wife said he wasn't really criticizing people who didn't have children, who couldn't have children. he was criticizing people for not trying to have children.

what? what is he talking about here? and that people with children should have more rights? what are we talking about here? we're talking about the united states of america. we're talking about one person, one vote. and i kind of resent him talking about the democratic leadership's beenat all about childless women with cats. i have five children in six years and seven days, so i don't even know what he's talking about, and i was the top democratic woman. now that's going to change. we're going to have kamala harris, and it's going to be a wonderful thing. >> my thanks and best wishes for brisk book sales to speaker emerita naeps, the author of "the art of power my story as the first woman speaker of the house." we have a lot more ahead this hour. roger stone -- you remember that name -- he's back in the

headlines for b another hacking scandal. ben rhodes joins me to discuss that development. but first 84 days until election day, and donald trump still does not know how to run against vice president harris. we're going to talk about what is going wrong on the trump campaign. stay with us. is going wrong on the trump campaign stay with us

it has been a remarkable three weeks for kamala harris, and it is not over. nbc news reports today that the

harris campaign is transforming its massive rally crowds into thousands of ground volunteers in key swing states, but it has also been a remarkable three weeks for trump just not in a good way. according to recent reporting in "the new york times," trump has been in a foul mood and complaining incessantly about having to start the race over again. the people around mr. trump, "the times" reports see a candidate knocked off his bearings. knocked off his bearings. now, i feel like the beginning of this spiral probably started at the national association of black journalist conference nabj, where you were one of the interviewers who questioned former president trump, and he gave his incoherent answer about kamala harris' racial identity. what was it like to begin to see

him knocked off his bearings? and what do you make of the weeks that have ensued? >> you know, it was very surprising because i just didn't expect that. you have to realize i just interviewed donald trump in june, so a few weeks before that interview. so to hear him, you know, with this new attack line about kamala harris' race and her not identifying as a black person or a black woman and now she's indian, it was very surprising. but also all of the other rhetoric around, you know, the sound and everything else and calling -- attacking, essentially, the interviewers, it wasn't -- it was -- it was surprising because i didn't -- i feel like i haven't seen that since 2016 on the campaign anyway. and, you know, it was -- it was just -- it hasn't -- it hasn't tapered off, as you just mentioned.

there are reports where he's been frustrated privately. >> yeah, i mean, it hasn't tapered off. and claire, you know, by some accounts trump is even angrier than he was prior to the tragic assassination attempt. and yet the reports from inside trump land according to nbc news are when we're effectively able to put biden's record on harris, the polling's going to go back to what it was before. that's according to an outside advisor talking to the trump campaign. my question is what do you make of the spiraling that's happening right now in trump land, and going back to what it was before, do you think that can actually happen? >> well, i think you have to remember what donald trump is. he's a marketer, and he has succeeded in american politics by building what he sees as a brand, marketing himself as somehow on the side of your grievance, and getting attention -- saying things that

normal candidates wouldn't say, doing things that normal candidates wouldn't do. and when he did that, he got so much attention, so much earned media because everyone was astounded that he would say and do the things he was doing. now all of a sudden he has shrunk. he is no longer the bmoc. he is no longer the guy that everyone is talking about on tv. we're talking about him now, but really if you look at the coverage over the last three weeks it's been all kamala harris and tim walz. it's their crowds, not his crowds. it's their polling, not his polling. and what he does when he gets in that position, he gets angry, and he gets even more crazy. he says even more crazy things like him and vladimir putin saying way, no way. i mean it's just -- or that our crowds are a.i. generated. so i don't think it's going to get better.

i think it's going to get worse. and i don't see any event that's going to change the trajectory of this because you can't change donald trump. >> i'm also surprised -- not surprised actually, he's been able to find his line of attack for harris. and i think some of that is owed to the fact his two previous candidates are known entities in politics. and with kamala harris he's dealing with someone that's not a cipher but does not have decades of elected service on the national level, and he's not been able to land a punch at all. it really undermines the myth of him being some genius marketer that can sort of pin the tail on any politician that dares run against him. >> he doesn't know how to run for anything, alex. he's never had policies -- he runs against everything. america sucks, china sucks, immigrants suck. everybody -- calling people

names. he is a negative guy. he knows negative works if you run-down your opponent, if you run down the other guy's brand, your brand emerges. and it's not working because people are looking at kamala harris. they're seeing someone who is smiling and happy and aspirational and hopeful, and they go, you know what, i kind of like that better than all the darkness, gloom and doom that donald trump specializes in. i think he's got a real problem, and he's still so mad he's not running against joe biden. he can't get over it. >> it feels like there was a lot of reporting when we were talking a lot about communities of color and young voters, which were a problem for the biden campaign. though the biden campaign would deny it, the polling shows there was a real loss of support there, which it seems like from the numbers we have now kamala harris is making up

dramatically. the three battleground states shows among black voters harris is getting 81% of the vote, trump is getting 13%. among young voters biden is getting i believe 56% -- or harris is getting 56%. trump is getting 41%. can you talk to me a little bit about i mean the degree to which, "a," this is surprising to you from your reporting? and "b," to which you think this is fungible, whether this is support that comes and goes or whether you think this truly represents a turning of the tide. >> well, i think what you definitely see is a reenergized democratic party, right? we see some of the base coming back home. some of them weren't, you know, happy with the former -- the former candidate, joe biden. so i think you see some of that. that's where those numbers creep up and try -- and kind of tie with donald trump. but i will say that republicans will float between 11 and 14% on

a presidential election, and it's not surprising that trump is at 13% right now. i think the race going forward will be chipping away at some of those black votes. i talked to people in the inner cities in new york and cities who have been impacted by the migrant crisis. they're still a little on the fence about whether or not kamala harris has the -- you know, will have a policy that's different from joe biden. so while she is gaining momentum, i still think there's work to do because republicans see an opportunity especially among black men. >> can we talk a little bit about her strategy going forward, claire? because i think there's some vague debate about the specificity about which she should campaign over the coming months, i should say 84 days. do you have an opinion on that, whether there should be more policy or whether riding the vibe momentum, the extraordinary

outpouring of grassroots enthusiasm is enough to get to election day? >> well, no one should confuse the enthusiasm for kamala harris for a lack of substance. she knows her stuff. she knows where this country needs to go, and i'm sure they will lay out these policy positions, and they will be available for people to look at on websites and think about and research, but she needs to be careful because democrats sometimes fall in the trap of thinking, well, if i can just give one more detail about how we're going to convert green energy into jobs. if i can give them one more in the weeds factoid, that will do it. keep in mind, alex, the people who are going to decide this election are not high information voters. many of them don't pay attention until the last 60 days of the campaign. so, yes, she has to have that substance ready to go and she's

got to answer questions about that substance, but she needs to keep her campaign where it is now in term of, hey, we're not going back, we're going forward. and this is about you, and it's not about him. those are the things that will convince those low information voters that, frankly, decide many, many close presidential elections. >> such a good point. also, donald trump is leading a republican party with no decipherable platform whatsoever other than tax cuts for millionaires. >> thank you both for being here. really appreciate your time. coming up tonight donald trump's wild conversation with elon musk last night leads to a complaint with the national labor relations board. more on that coming up. but first, new allegations of foreign interference in the presidential election targeting both the republican and democratic campaigns. that is raising disturbing questions about both november and also roger stone. we're going to get expert help discussing all that from ben rhodes coming up next. g up next.

your gut is like a garden growing both good bacteria and bad. that balance is key to a healthy gut environment. benefiber's plant-based prebiotic fiber gently nourishes the good bacteria, working with your body to help your gut, and you, flourish. effortlessly. every day. grow what feels good. with benefiber.

russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. i think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. >> nearly three years after trump made that statement, the muller investigation concluded

that russia, in fact, did interfere in the 2016 presidential election to help donald trump including by hacking and releasing internal e-mails and documents that were stolen from democrats. but after being informed last week that trump's own presidential campaign had been hacked by iran, his campaign's spokesperson declared that any media or news outlet reprecipitating documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of america's enemies and doing exactly what they want. for the record the fbi is also investigating suspected hacking attempts by iran against the biden-harris campaign, attempts that were made before president biden dropped out of the race. according to jake braun, the former white house acting deputy principle cyber director unfortunately this isn't normal. it's just normal.

ben, it's great to see you. thank you for being here. so the russians are hacking, the chinese are hack. should we assume all foreign governments are somehow involved in our election systems in some way or another at this point? >> those are the three big ones, alex. and 2016 kind of broke a seal on this where you see repeated efforts to hack information, to hack and release information, to engage ipsocial media campaigns to benefit one candidate or the other or just to sow chaos. in 2008 we got hacked by the chinese. this is a new normal and what we're seeing here. how do you play defense against it, how do campaigns make sure they don't click on the wrong link or open the wrong attachment. that's kind of the world we're living in. >> it's being reported roger

stone, the trump confidant, was used as kind of a stooge, if you you will, and his e-mail was hacked to get into the trump campaign files. can you talk about what roger stone is involved in another foreign hacking scandal? >> somewhere around zero, alex. this is both one of the most odious people in recent american political history but also not the guy i would expect to be engaged in good cyber hygiene. this is what an adversary does. and thinks, okay, who's probably going to be pretty sloppy with his e-mail, other phone and have information we want. they clearly found an easy mark in roger stone to try to access documents they wanted from the trump orbit. that appears to be what happened here. we don't necessarily know the motivation. a government like iran may want to demonstrate it can penetrate the defenses of presidential campaigns. it may want to sow chaos within

the political system. it may want to benefit one candidate or another. what is not a hard assessment is that roger stone appears to have been an easy mark here. >> thank you for putting the words roger stone and hygiene in the same sentence, ben. we can't unsee that visual. when you talk about iran's sort of motivation here, i want to kind of go sort of like telescope 30,000 feet out, which is the whole conflict in the middle east. right, we talk about it shaping voter attitudes towards a democratic or republican candidate, but i wonder how you think, for example, actors in that conflict including iran and israel may be motivated by that contact -- sorry, that conflict to engage in nefarious ways in the american election because both of them have really vested interests in the outcome in november. >> you know, that's exactly right. i mean, look, russia is an easy one. they're in an existential war with ukraine. they know they'll get better terms with the united states and

probably less or any arms flown to ukrainians if donald trump wins. with iran what you have to consider here is that they believe they're essentially in a conflict with israel and the united states. they believe that this is kind of an ongoing low boil war. and so feeling besieged they're looking at any way they can to lash back out. cyber is one domain in which they're doing that. they see us putting sanctions on them. they've seen alleged u.s. cyber activities against them in the past. this is what they see as a broader conflict that's playing out in the middle east. if they can penetrate either the biden-harris campaign or trump campaign, they want to send a message to the united states you're not beyond our reap. seen them hack into u.s. businesses. we've seen them just try to demonstrate that they have some leverage on us. whether they have a candidates preference, whether they can do things that impact the election, they don't have the kind of

capabilities, the scale of capabilities that russia has, but they do have capabilities, and so it's something we'll have to watch and play defense on just like we're going to have to do against other adversaries. >> are worry if they can find a way to suggest the 2020 election was stolen by italian satellites and nest thermostats, the actual factual involvement of a country like iran in the election, is going to give them all the fuel they need for conspiracies come november. and with that, ben erhodes, thank you for making the time, my friend, and explaining this complicated situation. >> thanks, alex. still to come this evening donald trump faces the wrath of organized labor after praising elon musk for a union busting while democratic vice presidential hopeful tim walz courts member of one of the biggest public sector unions. that is next. sector unions that is next

(man) mm, hey, honey. looks like my to-do list grew. "paint the bathroom, give baxter a bath, get life insurance," hm. i have a few minutes. i can do that now. oh, that fast? remember that colonial penn ad? i called and i got information.

they sent the simple form i need to apply. all i do is fill it out and send it back. well, that sounds too easy! (man) give a little information, check a few boxes, sign my name, done. they don't ask about your health? (man) no health questions. -physical exam? -don't need one. it's colonial penn guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance. if you're between the ages of 50 and 85, your acceptance is guaranteed in most states, even if you're not in the best health. options start at $9.95 a month, 35 cents a day. once insured, your rate will never increase. a lifetime rate lock guarantees it. keep in mind, this is lifetime protection. as long as you pay your premiums, it's yours to keep. call for more information and the simple form you need to apply today. there's no obligation, and you'll receive a free beneficiary planner just for calling.

only purple's gel flex grid passes the raw egg test. no other mattress cradles your body and simultaneously supports your spine. memory foam doesn't come close. get your best sleep guaranteed. save up to $1,000 during our labor day sale. visit purple.com or a store near you.

just about to be clear the vice president and i, we know exactly who built this country. it was nurses. it was teachers, and it was state and local government employees that built this nation. people in this room built the middle class. that's not just a saying, it's a fact. when unions are strong, america's strong.

>> that was vice president kamala harris' running mate, minnesota governor tim walz in his first solo campaign event since joining the ticket, addressing one of the country's largest public sector unions today. for years now unions have been big fans of governor walz. he banned noncompete agreements. he guaranteed paid sick days for minnesota's workers. he made it so that companies can't force workers to attend meetings where they argue against unionizing. the guy even joins picket lines. and walz himself is the first union member on a presidential ticket in decades. now, the reason i bring all of that up is because it all stands in sharp contrast to how the other side of this race thinks about labor. last night donald trump sat for a live streamed interview with the billionaire owner of tesla on the social media site formerly known as twitter and the guy named elon musk. in the past five years agone musk has fired nearly 80% of

twitter's work force and found liable in court for illegally firing a tesla worker who was trying to form a union. here was trump's take on those cuts last night. >> you're the greatest cutter. i mean i look at what you do. i won't mention the name of the company but they go on strike and you say, that's okay you're all gone. >> they go on strike and you say that's okay, you're all gone. today the united workers auto union filed federal labor charges against trump and musk for that statement. the president of the united auto workers, shawn fain put out a statement that said bluntly this is what we mean. those backings in specific could help the harris-walz campaign buttress the so-called blue

walled states they must win in november. coming up i'm going to talk to the head of the democratic party in one of those states, the great state of wisconsin, about how that race is going. that's next. wisconsin, about how that race is going that's next.

z's baking the house special. arisa's styling a new look. and steve's filling his biggest order ever. with the first ever comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee, these business owners get five years of value on gig speed internet and advanced security, all from the company with 99.9% network reliability. so now they can focus on doing what they do best for the next five years. that's a lot of bread. you got this. the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. switch today for a limited tim.

tonight, the senate matchup in the battleground state of wisconsin is set. trump backed businessman eric hov-divee has won the state's republican primary, and he will face two term incumbent democratic senator tammy baldwin in november in a race that is crucial for democrats if they want to keep control of the senate. it is also crucial for democrats who want to keep control of the white house. new polling in wisconsin shows kamala harris leading donald trump by 50-46%, a 4-point spread that is within the margin of error. joining me now is ben wickler, chair of the democratic party of wisconsin. ben, it's great to see you. i'm eager to hear what you think of this latest polling, what you attribute it to, and how optimistic you are. so let's first start with what's going on in the state of wisconsin that explains the

swing. >> look, it's great to be with you, alex, and everyone tonight. this is election day. so across the state people have been voting against a gop power grab with constitutional amendments. they've been voting in primaries in fair maps for our state legislature. we have a chance to flip the state assembly this november and break the republican super majority in our state senate, congressional primaries, and the senate race where we now have eric hovde who's a flaming disaster, we'll talk about him in a minute. but the backdrop of all this is surging enthusiasm. democrats feel they have a chance to fundamentally vote for their freedoms but an opportunity for everyone to get ahead and vote against maga and the curse of attacks on abortion bans afflicted our state ever since trump won here in 2016 by 0.7%. young people getting reengaged in politic, people signing to

knock on doors and knocked on tens of thousands of doers over the weekend. that surge of energy, our job as democrats is to keep it going all the way for the next 83 days until polls on november 5th. >> do you think tonight would have been any different if it was still president biden on the top of the ticket? it sounds like you're to seeing for lack of a better term trickle down effects, halo effects, shall we say, from the choice of harris to be the democratic nominee here. >> wisconsinites saw the impact of president biden's policy. they could see the bridges being built. they could see the microsoft a.i. data center being built in racine county. they've seen crime rates come down after they shot up while trump was president. so we had a path to victory, and it was likely to be very, very close under president biden. the difference now is i think there's really a clear sense

this is a choice between the future and the past. and wisconsin's state motto is the word forward. it's a one-word motto and embodies the progressive spirit of a state that created workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, earth day. this is a state that believes in moving forward to a future that works for everyone, and i think that's the kind of energy that you feel coursing through the states, from the state legislative races all the way to the presidential race. >> when you talk about the working class right before this segment we played the sound of former president trump congratulating elon musk on his ability to shred workers jobs at the tesla -- at twitter and fire illegally or criminally libelee workers at tesla. that has resulted in a lawsuit by the uaw. is that something that wisconsinites are going to hear about and vote on? is that the kind of stuff that resonates with the very voters trump needs to win over?

>> you know, wisconsin -- there's a saying that was heard all around the capital, and former governor scott walker attacked unions. and that phrase union busting is disgusting. it's not something that wisconsinites agree with, and this was a state where union density is finally rising after years of falling. and everyone knows unions built the middle class and republicans try to smash them because they want to rip up the economy and give the pieces to billionaires. when trump talks about firing all the workers striking for better wages and working conditions, they see their family members losing their job. and it's something i think will motivate voters to ensure we elect a pro-act administration, which is the harris-walz administration. and that will become law and end wisconsin's right to work policies a relic from the scott walker era if we win the house, the senate with tammy baldwin and they pass that bill. >> why is eric hovde a flaming

disaster in your words, ben? >> will rogers the famous comedian and songwriter had this phrase, i never met a man i didn't like. eric hovde never met a wisconsinite he did like. he said women pay too much attention to what's happening in hollywood. he said farmers are not attractive and don't work hard anymore. single mothers lack morals and ethics. young people don't have the work ethic they once did. he said people struggling with their weight need to face consequences and wanted to add extra charges for health insurance. this is not something wisconsinites want and doesn't seem like he really wants them either. >> ben wickler, it's great to see you. thanks for joining me tonight. >> thanks so much, alex. >> that is our show for this evening. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next. donald trump and j.d. vance, they see the world very differently than