years old. her dad was driving. that unspeakable loss changed molly forever. we speak about the loss we feel today. i hope it speaks to your grief. the news continues. i want to hand it over to casey hunt. >> surprise, it's october. in politics, we're about to find out it's a notorious october surprise matters on ether political side. for herschel walker it's not just "the daily beast" reporting. they reported he paid for his then-girlfriend's abortion back in 2005, a report unverified by cnn. but also the words of his son, calling out his father, asking republicans straight up, do you care about family values. and on top of that, christian tweeted two days ago that he and

his mother had to move six times in six months to get away from walker's violence. walker responded to this quickly. he denied the abortion claims instantly vehemently, and in a fox news interview today, walker denied knowing who his accuser is. despite this get well card that allegedly shows his signature and an alleged image of a personal check that was signed by walker. >> have you figured out who it is? >> not at all, and that's what i hope everyone can see. it's sort of like everyone is anonymous, everyone is leaking, and they want you to confess to something you have no clue about. but it just shows how desperate they are right now. >> so, what may surprise you as much as the claim is the reaction among some prominent conservative antiabortion voices. >> how many times have i said four very important words?

these four words, winning is a virtue? so, i don't care if herschel walker paid to abort, endanger baby eagles. i want control of the senate. >> endanger baby eagles. okay. it's not just a lone radio host, though. former president trump, senator rick scott, and other republicans are sticking with walker. they're doing the same electoral math, putting the team jersey above one name on the back, in a state that is critical to the republican hopes of retaking the majority in the senate. they're not the only ones, republicans, facing an october surprise. democrats are also grappling with news today just when it seems that the gas price roller coaster had come to a stop, opec+ today announced it will slash oil production by 2 million barrels a day, which is the biggest cut in production since the beginning of the pandemic. and that could mean higher gas

prices before election day, fuelling republicans' hopes of taking back congress on a message of rescuing a troubled economy that they say that democrats can't fix. rising oil prices wouldn't just impact gas prices. it could also mean that inflation generally stays high for longer, which could put pressure on the fed to raise interest rates even more aggressively. that was the surprise for everyone. so, let's get the statistics that matter or at least can help us explain these surprises and whether they're going to matter, our senior data editor, harry enten, joins us now. thanks so much for being with us tonight. can we talk about rising gas prices here, the potential here. we are about five weeks out from the midterm elections here, so there's a little bit of time. how closely does this track, and how worried should democrats be? >> i would be worried, casey. if you look back when we had the

highest gas prices back on june 14th, the gop held a three-point lead on the ballot. a lot of things have happened over the last few months, but one of the things that have happened is gas prices have fell to the lowest level on september 20th. what we saw is the trend lines. democrats had a one-point lead on the generic congressional ballot. you look at the current situation, gas prices have risen a little bit. and as gas prices have risen, republicans are doing better. it seems there should be a correlation between higher gas prices and republicans doing better. >> really interesting. the approval rating, too, is really remarkable. let's talk about the walker/warnock race specifically. where does that stand, and how do you see this controversy moving these numbers if at all? >> look, i don't know necessarily where things are going to go. but i will tell you right now we have a tight race in georgia. raphael warnock, the incumbent, 48%, herschel walker, 44%. you go, why the heck would have

a libertarian at just 4%. >> one off. >> exactly. there will be a one off on december 6th. i can imagine no more interesting thing for a political junkie such as myself if control of the united states senate relies on a runoff in december. >> yeah. i mean, look, we faced something pretty similar when we had those two races for georgia senate seats the democrats managed to carry back in 2020. of course mitch mcconnell blames donald trump for that. and i have a feeling that there's going to be plenty of blame to go around if it happens again. let's talk about precedent for october surprises here. in past elections, what stands out to you, and what does that tell you about whether they still have a big impact? >> let's go through a little bit of history, right? this one is sort of an october surprise. i'm going to count it. that was the impact of the mark foley pay scandal back in 2006. the forecast for pre-scandal for republican house seats was 217. then you jump to the forecast on

election eve, 204. actual republican house seats won, 202. so, this, to me, was a scandal, an october surprise, even though it happened in the end of september, that did seem to have an impact. but let's look at an october surprise that really didn't, right? go back to the last midterm election. remember trump was tweeting all about the caravan, right, coming from central america, the migrant caravan. look at the forecast for the house before the first trump tweet on the caravan. it was 235 for democrats. what was the actual result? 235. the senate, 52. and then you see in fact this is republicans -- this should actually be 47. but the point is that in fact there wasn't much of a change, at least in that one. now, let's take a look at 2016, the presidential popular vote. remember there were a ton of scandals right here. pre"access hollywood" tape, precomey letter on anthony weiner, still clinton plus 6.

actual election result, clinton plus 2 results. seemed the comey, the email, the scandal, the letter on weiner, did in fact move things. and remember trump won the electoral college and won the presidency. sometimes it doesn't. sometimes it doesn't. we'll see what happens this year. >> very interesting, harry. and certainly the clinton campaign would be happy to levy a lot of blame for how those final weeks played out. harry, thank you so much for being with us. really all appreciate your insights. joining us now to talk about this cnn political commentator, maria cardona, margaret tal lob, and doug heye. so, a lot to chew on there with what harry was offering. let me start with you, maria, because quite frankly i think the opec gas prices news is probably the most significant midterm election news we've had in kbquite a while. what's your take? >> it's certainly not welcome news. i will say we don't know yet how it's going to affect actual gas

prices? is it going to be an impact impact? is it going to be an immediate rise in gas prices? or is it going to be slow? we know the administration is laserly focused on this. they're thinking of doing some r release of the strategic petroleum reserves to mitigate that. hopefully that will work. they're continuing to do everything they can also for the oil companies to keep down the margin of money they want to make, right? and i think that the american electorate understands where this is coming from. will it help mitigate blame? you know, who knows? again, this is not something that democrats want right now. but at the same time, they are faux focused on the kras between the parties. biden is not actually on the ballot. it's democrats -- you know, each candidate in each district in each senate race. >> sure. >> and they are focused on the keen contrast between the parties. and i think there's a lot there for democrats to be feeling good

about. >> axios has a tracker with google trends for the midterms. you can go online, check what district you live in and all that -- >> very good shameless plug. >> but one thing i'll tell you, over the course of the past month, what we have seen is even before today's news, as gas prices have begun ticking a little bit back up, the amount of searches around the phrase "gas prices" has begun ticking back up. back in june when it was a crisis for biden, it was the number three search. guess what it is before today's announcement as of last week? back up to number 12. it seems like on the one hand, you want to think it depends how much they go up by for how big a crisis this is. but on the other hand when all of your costs are exacerbated by inflation, everything costs more. the interest rates cost more, food costs more. when everything costs more, gas prices is a constant reminder of it. every time you go to the pump, every time you fill up the tank,

every time you commute. so, it is a problem. we don't know how big a problem. the bigger problem for democrats is that it takes attention away from abortion. all democrats want to talk about is abortion and republicans are looking for anything else, now gas prices, throw it on the pile with immigration. throw it on the pile with crime. >> they won't keep democrats from talking about abortion though. >> speaking of abortion, i want to turn back to the georgia controversy. i want to show everyone there's an ad out tonight from herschel walker's campaign, where he addresses these allegations. >> nasty, dishonest campaign. as everyone knows, i had a real battle with mental health. warnock is a preacher that doesn't tell the truth. he doesn't even believe in redemption. >> what do you make of that? >> it doesn't specifically address the concern. they were rocket fast in how they addressed this or this was already in the can because they were concerned this r something else would come up like this. to what harry talked about

earlier, we're all going to try and figure out what the political impacts are going to be. i take you back to that saturday in october when i was in chapel hill going to a football game and i got a phone call from a reporter named margaret tal i. i said probably the same thing maria said, it's over. it's over for donald trump. >> we all thought that. >> saying get out to donald trump. >> so was paul ryan on the phone with house republicans telling them, you don't have to back this guy up. >> you know who was wrong? i was wrong. maria was wrong. paul ryan was wrong. >> donald trump was the only one who wasn't wrong. >> this is a lot of news. let's wait and see data and see how long that data holds true. because if we're talking about this in six weeks, that's one thing. if it's only a two- or three-week story, it's not that big of a deal politically for herschel walker. >> mrg rhett, they're basically running the trumpian playbook on this. if you look at donald trump's statement, he's like herschel came out there denying it, which is the right thing to do, and we should believe him.

you listen to what trump says behind the scenes, it's always deny, deny, deny. >> and say your opponent is the bad guy. i've seen the grace ad. i don't know how you connect warnock to having done the wrong thing because he preemptively won't redeem you for the thing you have done. >> warnock hasn't attacked walker at all. they've been really careful about it. >> they don't need to. >> he said yesterday, he hasn't done it. zbll correct. i think it's herschel walker saying, i'm not the problem. my opponent is the problem. his designs are weird because if you just knew that none of it had any bearing on reality, like -- it's not the way people talk. i don't sign my name h. it's a very curious story. it's a complicated story. the question is not is the republican establishment going to pull up stakes. it is are voters go to take all of their cues from that republican establishment?

will the susan b. anthony list and mitch mcconnell leadership pack and rick scott's leadership money s that how republican voters and centrist voters when they go to the poll -- there were already sign of split ticket in georgia. there are already signs that governor kemp is doing much better than herschel walker. inside the voting booth, what are voters going to do? i have no idea, but that's the question. >> especially white women, college educated voters that we're looking at for more than abortion. stick around. we've got a lot more coming up tonight. ron desantis and president biden put aside differences to face hurricane ian. when "cnn tonight" returns. a cold is not just a cold. cocoricidin is the #1 doctor recommended cold and flu b brand. specially designeded for peope with high blood pressure. be there for life's best momenents. trust coricidin.

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hurricane ian. the two men notably put their political rivalry aside and projected unity on one thing, florida's recovery. >> i think one of the things that you're seeing in this response, we are cutting through the bureaucracy. we are cutting through the red tape. and that's from local government, state government, all the way up to the president. >> we've seen extraordinary cooperation at every level, as the governor has said. and the cooperation began before the storm hit. >> so, today was the second time this week that biden played the role of consoler in chief, much like the sentiment that he expressed in puerto rico on monday. today he issued this vow. >> i want the people of florida to know, you have my commitment and america's commitment that we're not going to leave. later, after the television cameras have moved on, we're still going to be here with you.

we're still going to be moving. we're still going to be doing everything we can to try to put your lives back together again. >> our panel is back with us to discuss. margaret, what do you make of this? we did not see the hug that, for example, we saw between chris christie and barack obama in 2012. we saw a handshake. but they both seemed to be, i think, focused on what, quite frankly, even if you look at it from a political perspective, all voters want is confidence and cooperation from their leader at a time like this. >> i'm not surprised at all this is the way they played it. it would have been political malpractice to do it any other way. and they both have a vested interest in projecting competency. it's a disaster of epic proportions that involved death and that involves months of people losing their homes, being homeless, unable to get insurance. it's a multilevel crisis. but desantis has a more

immediate goal, which is re-election in november. biden is trying to minimize losses, but he has a longer term goal, which is re-election in 2024. he's going to want to contrast donald trump throwing rolls of paper towels against himself saying we have only one objective. just before we began the show, he tweeted, the same frame of them standing together and said to the people of florida, we have just one job. i think this is both of them playing both the short-term game and a long game. >> you used the term "consoler in chief" with biden. we know joe biden plays that well very well. he's one of the most efrp thet ec presidents we've ever had, if not of all time. ron desantis is a cultural warrior. we haven't seen him in a moment like this. he did which was expected, but it's notable, given how we've seen him in other roles, that he's stepped up and done so well.

this is the opportunity to do that. >> it was -- there have been some moments throughout the last few days where he's kind of taken shots at the media in kind of the way that it's been covered. but aside from that, you know, maria, i think it's actually -- he has really so far passed the initial test in terms of -- and chances are vote rs are likely to regard him for that in november. >> yeah, i actually think this has more of a 2024 lens for both of them than i think going into the midterms because for joe biden, he is not just demonstrating that he continues to be the consoler in chief. he understands what people go through during these m types of tragedy, the empathy. but he's also showing that government can be a force for good. and that is a huge contrast with what republicans have certainly tried to communicate about government. and you saw it -- even desantis said it there -- cut through the bureaucracy at the local, state, and federal level. that's fine, but i think for

2024 that is going to continue to be a big message. i wonder if even though there was not a hug, there was a handshake, there was at some point joe biden tapped sandesan on the arm and they smiled. i think if donald trump is running, he's going to use those against desantis. that is going to be something -- 2024 is going to be brutal, if not anything else. and i think that this is going to be essentially a big image that we're going to see then if joe biden is running, if donald trump is running, if desantis is running. >> i think we can show you the president actually had some very kind words for the florida governor. watch. >> i think you've done a good job. i think you called me. we've worked hand in glove.

we've been in lock step. >> you have it. maybe to that point, it gets used against desantis later. at the same time, it's sort of hard to -- it's a pretty easy for desantis. i was doing what i had to do. we needed money from the federal government to help us. >> yeah. he's -- as we've all discussed -- embracing federal funds at this time. to doug's point, this does play to joe biden's strengths, being that consoler, competency in a time of crisis. that's a core part of his brand. he's not as good at messaging against whatever, against anyone. that's not really what he does. >> those are the political things ron desantis has done, the immigrants to martha's vineyard, et cetera, have put democrats back on their heels. >> and there will be time to revisit that. >> i think it could help joe biden in this whole empathetic realm when desantis and at some point we know he will, will go back to the culture wars. and the culture wars, he can be

absolutely portrayed as somebody who is cruel, who is intent on causing harm on certain communities in the country. and then you have that big contrast with joe biden, and i think that hurts him and helps joe biden and the democrats. >> we could potentially have four republicans from florida running for president. trump, desantis, rubio, and scott. >> that's a really interesting way to look at it. we're going to talk again later on this hour. coming up next, alex jones just ran away from a fight. why the conspiracy theorist is suddenly going silent as the jury gets ready to decide how much his sandy hook lies should cost him. we have a former "info wars" insider here tonight. what fuels the machine of misinformation? that's next.

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a decade of lies, threats,

and fear. parents whose children were murdered at sandy hook elementary sat in the connecticut courtroom today. the person who refused to show his face was alex jones. he chose to leave the state rather than confront the families he called liars. his lawyers didn't bother to present any evidence in his defense. but the prosecution let jones' own radio show talk for him. >> i'm just going to be honest -- i mean, i've reached that point where i'm just at peace with this. i enjoy it now. >> i enjoy it now. a texas jury already determined jones should have to pay almost $50 million. the connecticut jury is expected to hear closing arguments tomorrow. but none of that is stopping jones' devoted listeners from tuning in to hear his conspiracy theories. josh jones spent four years working with alex jones at info

wars. josh, thank you so much for being with us tonight. i'm glad you're here to try and help us understand what is in this man's head. in your estimation, where is the line between what jones actually believes and what he thinks works for his brand, his sales pitch? because, i mean, he's been using these trials basically as content. >> well, thank you for having me. i'm not going to sit here and claim to know what's in the man's head because that would be a futile attempt. but where is the line? i don't think there is a line. jones has been doing this for decades. he is on the show -- on the air six days a week and has been for a long time. i think if you asked him that question, he wouldn't be able to answer where that line is. and ultimately i don't know if it matters because what does it matter if jones believes what he says because he has a giant audience that believes what he says. and they're willing to do, it

seems, horrific things based on what he says. >> it's really stunning. his show was kicked off almost all of the major internet platforms and social media basically four years ago or so. and we know though from his trial in texas that info wars is now making more money than it was four years ago. how is that possible? how does he maintain the hold on this audience? >> well, like i said, he's been doing this for decades. so, he may have been removed from social media. it might be a little bit more difficult for him to get new listeners. but he has a devoted following. so, i think people found false comfort in the fact that jones was removed from social media. they kind of wiped their hands of it. they said, he's gone, so it's over. and i think we've seen in this trial and we've seen, you know, if anyone is paying attention to him has seen that he isn't going away. >> so, what are the chances that he's actually going to have to -- i mean, he is going to have to pay money after this trial. is it going to actually change

any of his behavior? >> well, i don't know. i mean, he says, you know he's going to appeal everything and he claims, you know, he laughs on the show and says he doesn't have money. so, this is all pointless. you know, i don't know what the repercussions are of this. i think the value in this trial is for the families. i think that is what the discussion should be because that's the most important thing going on here. i feel like people need to be using the name alex jones much less and they need to be talking about scarlet you lis or robbie and alissa parker or francine wheeler because those are the people i believe deserve the platform right now. >> it's actually a really, really good point. i covered the week of sandy hook on capitol hill, and those families were advocating for changes to our nation's gun laws. and, you know, i've never seen people in more pain than the faces of those parents as they went from office to office. so, i mean, thank you for that

reminder. and let's also talk, though, i mean, alex jones' impact is bigger than just this. obviously this is this emotional and horrible situation. but there was also the pizzagate conspiracy theory. and then there's january 6th. i mean, in the case of pizzagate, i mean, i -- my family regularly eats at that small pizza joint that was threatened. it's in suburban washington, d.c. violence followed his rhetoric there. january 6th, you see the same thing. what's the next threat? >> i am scared to guess what the next threat is. but jones -- look, here's an example. so, i don't imagine that the cnn audience watches alex jones on a daily basis or maybe ever. a lot of people's introduction to jones is through -- i don't know. some people think he's a comedian. some people think that what he talks about is funny. you have people talking about, just for example, chemicals turning to -- people laugh at

that and say that's this crazy guy. jones is openly anti-trans. jones is openly anti-gay. jones says lgbtp. that p stands for pedophile. you see what that rhetoric has led to in pizzagate and january 6th. there is real ramifications to what jones talks about. regardless of how you think of him, it's important to pay attention to him. i just think it's less important to allow him to control the narrative. >> so, you know, you obviously -- you were inside this room, but you actually decided that this narrative -- you pulled yourself out of the narrative. you disavowed him. i mean, how did that happen for you, and how do you do that for other people? >> oh, it's such an important question. and i don't know if i have the answer for everyone. but i know that i was lucky enough to be with my partner. her name is lace y.

and i was lucky enough to be with someone who was willing to push me and stick by me and force me to question things and force me to continue to look at my actions while in that place. so, i think that might be the most important thing is for families and loved ones to have conversations with people. because unfortunately it seems like most people know someone who's kind of fallen down that rabbit hole and they believe some pretty horrific, absurd things. i don't know if there's a silver bullet, but i have to believe that having conversations and being compassionate, and leading with love is the most valuable thing you can do. i'm not saying that that's going to fix everything. but i think it's going to take resistance. and i think we have to have some hope in that. otherwise, what else do we have? >> really remarkable statement from you just there, josh. really appreciate it. and remarkable that your partner, lacy, was able to do that for you as well. thank you so much for your time tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> coming up next here, new missile launches from north

korea reported in the past few hours, as the u.s. accuses russia and china of enabling that testing. we're going to get a threat assessment from a retired u.s. general just days after japan warned its people to take cover. that's next.

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new tonight, north korea has launched two more short-range ballistic missiles. after test firing a missile over japan on tuesday. the u.s. and its allies responding earlier this week with their own show of force by launching fighter jets for joint aerial exercises with japan and by firing long-range rockets by south korea. >> we've made it clear to kim jong-un we're willing to sit down with no preconditions. >> retired general spider marks joins me now. thanks for spending time with us tonight. >> you bet. >> what do you think this latest missile launch means? >> north korea wants to remind everybody that they're still there. the world has been focused on ukraine. the world has been focused on xi

jinping. clearly kim jong-un's benefactor in what russia is achieving in ukraine and how they're acting. the rule of autocrats has a broad canvas on which to play. and this is clearly what's happening. also what we're seeing is north korea is not giving up its desire to marry up its missile technology with its burgeoning technology. that's the big concern. you look at these missile tests. you say, okay, i got it. the one we saw on tuesday is the first one in five years that's flown over japan. that's frightening only because we don't know what the technology is in japan. and then in response to the deployment to ronald reagan -- the routine exercises that south korea and the united states conduct, this reaction by kim jong-un and his actions are not surprising. >> so, what is the message that the u.s. is trying to send?

we just showed pictures of those exercises they're doing with the japanese and the south koreans. >> north korea needs to pay attention. united states and south korea have this incredibly vibrant alliance. our relationship with japan is increasingly strong. the militaries in both south korea and japan are modernized and are top notch capabilities. the united states is a very -- has been forever a presence in that part of the world. and north korea has continued through its activities to kind of try to ignore all that. and they want to make sure that they're recognized and that they're noticed. clearly we have not forgotten about north korea. this demonstrates that we won't forget about north korea. >> no, clearly not. here's actually what john kirby with the national security cou council had to say about the exercise. this is not the first time we've done this in response to

provocation by the north to demonstrate our capabilities. >> so, if this is the action we take in response but we've still seen 23 tests conducted this year, that missile over japan that you pointed out, why has it not stopped them? why is there no deterrence effect it seems? >> that's the key question. what john kirby indicated is not just a response by the united states and its allies. these are routine activities that take place as a matter of exercise and readiness deployments. this is what the united states and our allies do so very, very well. it happens to be the day after this test on tuesday. so, this is routine activity. but north korea -- i think the key issue is the united states and our allies need to re-examine what the overall desired end state is in terms of

our relationship with the north. we are going to maintain a large presence. we have indicated -- previous administrations have indicated -- that we are prepared to have open discussions without conditions going forward. and we need to continue to do that. the north has demonstrated it's not going to implode. it's been like this for over 70 years. that's the biggest concern, everything collapses and you have 25 million north koreans heading to the south. i guarantee they're not going to head toward china. so, it's a fundamental rewriting of what the relationship will look like. there might be aid involved in that. there might be opening the doors that might have to take place. >> so, quickly, sir, the u.s. today called for an emergency meeting of the security council, the u.n. security council. what are the chances that china or russia agree to anything along those lines? >> zero. not going to happen. look, the world's a great place. the world is a better place with the u.n. than without the u.n. i'm just not saying anything is

going to come out of that. we've gone down this path before. >> we need to go continue to go down this path. we need to continue to talk and try to open the doors with north korea. >> all right. general spider marks, thanks for your insight tonight. we really appreciate your time. >> you bet. thank you. coming up next, elon musk suddenly ready to deal again. buying twitter maybe at the old price. is he serious this time? what would that mean for the possible return o of @realdonaldtrump? ththat's next. it's simple. anything else i can help you withth? like what? visionworks. see the difference. ♪ choosing miracle-ear was a great decision. like when i decided to host family movie nights. miracle-ear made it easy. t and a certified hearing care professional evaluat my hearing ls and helped me find the right device calibrated to my unique hearing needs. now i enjoy every moment.

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there we go like a glove, girl (phone chimes) safe driving and drivewise can save you 40% with allstate click or call for a quote today musk now says he wants to buy twitter at full price after all. according to a securities filing tuesday, musk told twitter he is willing to buy at $54.20 per share. "the new york times" is reporting tonight that before telling twitter his bid was back on the table, musk tried to negotiate a discount of as much as 30%. this comes of course -- don't we all want that? i go to the department store, i would like 30% off. after he waged a months-long battle to get out of the $44 billion acquisition deal, which twitter sued him to

complete that, lawsuit was set to go to trial in two weeks and would have forced the world's richest man to sit down for a deposition this week. the potential deal is raising questions about changes that musk with could bring, including how misinformation is moderated. musk has said he would do away with permanent account bans, which means donald trump could be returning to the platform. margaret, let me start with you here. we know he is pretty mercurial about this. he seems to be trying to do everything he can to get out of it and there doesn't seem to be a way out. is that's what's going on here? >> far be it for me to guess. i think the fact that there has been so much focus on keep the lawsuit going until he closes the deal tells you nobody really knows what to trust or what to believe. let's say that this happens for the sake of the panel conversation. obviously, for most americans why does it matter?

it could have profound implications for the future of the first amendment, the future of free speech, the future of political disinformation, the future of donald trump, but the future of future politicians who we don't know yet, who we haven't imagined yet. social media has such a powerful ability to reach and even though it is a fraction of the american reader ship in the american public, most people don't engage on twitter, the people who do can inject into the bloodstream of american culture, fundraising, voting, donations, behavior, voting, elections, the conversation, it has a profound influence even though it only represents a slice of the population. and when you look at the fact that spacex just launched a rocket with a russian cosmonaut into space and this nonsense is going on about does he mean it, is he going to close the deal or not, you realize how incredibly

rich and powerful elon musk is. everything that we see him do in the present, in the future. that's why this is so important. >> is that why he is often prepared to a bond villain on the 60th anniversary of james bond? >> there is a lot there. we can show you guys there is this text message that gets it. this came out because of the lawsuit. part whatever i'm interested to know is did some of this information that poured out, is that part of the reason elon musk wants this to stop. this text with joe rogan april 4th. he says, rogan, are you going to liberate twitter from the censorship mob? musk says i will provided a vice which they may or may not choose to follow. doug, what do you take from that? there are a lot of republicans, establishment republicans frustrated with how some of the social media platforms handled questions around speech, you

know, beyond donald trump. is there anything to this? what would this look like? >> that is a answer that is a nonanimal that could be a total answer -- >> what do you feel? >> says nothing and everything potentially. for lrepublicans battling tech companies has been a shift from ten to 15 years ago. i remember kevin mccarthy was a big proponent of google and wearing the google glasss and things like that. this speaks to the base. one of the things that i think a lot of people don't understand about washington sometimes is that solving the problem isn't necessarily what you want to do. you poont to continue to show you are trying to solve the problem because you raise money from that, demonstrate that you are fighting even though you haven't solved the problem. >> that's absolutely right. >> it's potentially terrifying if what he says he is going to do is what he is going to do. he is going to do away with permanent bans, which to me says

that he is not really going to take seriously people who go on there and perpetuate misinformation and disinformation and we know just how hurtful that has been not just to politics, but to american society, to civil society, to civility itself. as an american i shutter at the fact that donald trump might be back on twitter because then, like you said, it's not the real world, about you it drives so much of what the real world headlines are. it certainly drives political discourse. are we going to continue to wake up if donald trump is on twitter wondering what kind of crazy stuff he has tweeted that day. >> here is one thing i just will say. i mean, he is so still a huge part of the national conversation regardless. >> elon musk or donald trump? >> donald trump. let's stick with donald trump. he is continually coming up throughout the midterm skm.

what in your view is the impact of not having him on twitter? how much has that hurt his ability to shape the narrative and the things we are talking about? >> we are talking about him right now. so, right? as long as he continues to be a central topic of conversation in the media and as long as through his fundraising or the candidates he promotes he is able to be winning for the republican party, he will maintain a very prominent role. the midterms are a test of that. his continuing fundraising prowess is a test of that. w whether he gets back on twitter or not could be meaningful, but it's not like everyone stop talking about donald trump. ity that in terms of american democracy, what happens in social media -- look, free speech and the health of american democracy are inextricably tied together and we don't know what the impact of musk could be but it will have

implications for democracy. >> all right. thank you all for being with us tonight. appreciate it. we will be right back. ow much i paid, it followed me everywhere. so i consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. get a persrsonal loan with no fees, low fixed rates, and borrow up to $100k. sofi. get your money right.

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thank you so much for joining us tonight. don't go anywhere because don lemon tonight starts right now. >> don't go anywhere. well shls except for kasie hunt. >> i have to say good night. i will have you on. >> see you soon. thank you so much. this is "don lemon tonight." there is news brewing that we are going to try to get to this hour. you'll find out what it is. it involves a herschel walker thing. but we are checking on that to make sure everything is okay with the reporting. we are learning that more and more about those boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes of material, what was in them, including classified documents the former president took to