i try to watch every morning even at this odd hour. host: thanks for being up early. time for one more phone call. indianapolis, indiana. caller: good morning. i have done and will do so hopefully this year again the early voting counting in marion county in indianapolis. are you there? host: yes, ma'am. caller: good. i turned off the tv. it's exciting. you are with the person of each party. so, i feel very confident. i've done it before and it was exciting. it was being part of the system. being part of the democracy that we have in this country that so many other countries don't have. to meet somebody from the opposite party was great.

we were civil to one another. we worked for hours. i think we left close to midnight the last time that i did that. so, it is seeing the process of actually count the early ballots are counted. if there is any question, there are people there. there are lawyers and judges i guess who look into it. it is smooth. you have the proof, you have the actual ballots. so i feel very confident, and i hope people do so. and i especially hope that a lot of people vote. i don't know in indiana what's going on, but i imagine in other cities and other states with early counting there are a lot more than anticipated. i anticipate we are going to be busy. host: thanks so much. thanks to all the folks who

called in to talk about their experiences working up polls over the years. that will do it for this first segment of the washington journal, but plenty more to talk about. up next, a friday political roundtable. we will be joined by vivian salama from the washington journal and sophia cai of axios. later the newsmax eo christopher ruddy will talk about his role in the media ecosystem. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> do you solemnly swear that in the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god?

>> the conclof our encore presentation of congress investigates, exploring major investigations by the u.s. house and senate in our country's history. authors and historians will tell the stories. we will see historic footage and examine the impact of key congressional hearings. in 1994, the top tobacco industry ceos testified before the house that they didn't believe that nicotine was addictive. two years later they found themselves under federal investigation for potentially lying under oath. watch congress investigates at 10:00 eastern on c-span 2. ♪ >> american history tv, saturdays on c-span2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 2:00 p.m. eastern, the 20th annual discussion on the american revolution. highlights include the canadian

regiment, a historian on the saratoga campaign of 1777, and a historian on why general horatio gates went from a servant of the crown to the american revolution. then historical presidential elections. what made these elections historic. the issues of different eras and their lasting impact on the nation. this week, the election of 1960. the democratic massachusetts senator john kennedy narrowly defeated the incumbent vice president richard nixon in the first election in which all 50 states participated. and, at 8:00 p.m. eastern on lectures in history, boston college communications professor on how baseball connects americans to their past and culture. exploring the american story. watch american history tv on saturday on c-span2, and find a full schedule on your program guide, or watch online anytime pan.org/history.

>> book tv, every sunday on c-span2, features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction book. at 6:30 p.m. eastern, dr. marty mcgarry on what happens when medical institutions make mistakes on public health recommendations with his book. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, a pulitzer prize-winning author and journalist sharing his book, war, where he talks about wars in the middle east and ukraine and the 2024 presidential election. at 10:00 p.m. eastern on afterwords, stephanie baker looking at the global impact of u.s.-led economic sanctions against russia following vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine in her book. she is interviewed by angela stent.

watch book tv every sunday on c-span2, and find a full schedule on your program guide, or watch online anytime at booktv.org. >> washington journal continues. host: political roundtable now. two national political reporters. sophia cai of axios and vivian salama of wall street journal. a campaign stop in the bronx yesterday and at madison square garden next week. kamala harris is going on fox news. this doesn't seem like the campaign stops of trying to turn out the respective bases in 18 days before the election. what is the strategy? guest: trump has been playing to the home team in the final stretch. he has gone for a lot of friendlier interviews. he definitely has newscasts,

alternative media, that will for the most part be generous in terms of the questions and give him the space to do his thing. the one exception was an interview with bloomberg, which was an event that was hosted by bloomberg earlier this week at the chicago economic forum. that was very contentious. we can talk more about that, obviously, but otherwise he is doing his thing. he is into splash your events -- splashier events. at the end of the day donald trump is a showman. he has been doing a lot of stops in the bronx, believe it or not. he even jokes sometimes, i think he is joking, that he will win new york, which is a very long shot. he has a lot of stops in new york, particularly the bronx and other burros highlighting his anti-crime agenda.

so, there are campaign messages that are embedded in some of the stops, but at the end of the day a lot of it is really just to showcase his celebrity. host: sophia cai, your take on the media strategy? guest: i think part of it is we are in a social media era, where you are not necessarily needing to go to your neighborhood or swing state stops to see the clips of what donald trump or kamala harris have been saying in other perhaps splashier stops. why was donald trump in aurora, colorado? he wanted another backdrop to talk about immigration. that is the issue that has become his closing argument in the last month of the election. he is very focused on that. with kamala harris, if you look at the picture of what types of media she is doing, going on fox, wanting to reach conservative voters, she is

doing call her daddy, a podcast popular with young women. she did charlamagne tha god, a show popular with black viewers. those are the pockets of voters that she is trying to reach. host: the kamala harris fox news interview, eugene's opinion, should send flowers after that interview. the washington times is quoting donald trump, showing that he said kamala harris show that she was incompetent in that interview. what was your read on the take away of the interview? guest: he did come out her with several tough questions. he led with emigration. he interrupted her a number of times. but she seems more prepared for that interview than she has been for previous interviews. she came prepared with an answer about how she would be different than joe biden. she essentially said that i will

be having my own administration. i will be different. she came prepared with answers about immigration, although she pivoted a lot to talking about donald trump. brett did challenge her in many ways. she did go into the lions den. host: what is the al smith dinner? guest: the al smith dinner is a traditional -- well, it is catholic-run dinner that has been happening for several decades. the big lure is presidential candidates typically roast speak. it has been a tradition for a long time. i can even remember the number of years. host: i think it goes back to the 1960's. guest: i think you are right. several decades. presidential candidates essentially go out there paying homage to the catholic community, but more broadly an effort to showcase a black-tie

event, an roast of an event. the speeches dig into various politicians and then the terry's. presidential candidates go out and show their best -- and dignitaries. presidential candidates go out and showcase their best jokes. not going is very unusual. kamala harris presented a video that was aired last night that was frankly a little forgettable. it was a very brief message thanking folks. she had a past member from snl do a little skit with her. it was short and sweet. then donald trump took the stage. host: let me show viewers about 30 seconds starting with donald trump and then kamala harris last night at the al smith dinner. [video clip] fmr. pres. trump: the traditional role is i am

supposed to tell a few self-deprecating votes this -- jokes this evening. so, here it goes. nope, i've got nothing. i've got nothing. there's nothing to say. [laughter] i guess i just don't see the point of taking shots at myself when other people have been shooting at me for hell of a long time this year. v.p. harris: is there anything you think i shouldn't bring up tonight? >> don't lie. thou shalt not bear false witness to thy neighbor. v.p. harris: especially election results. >> just know that there will be a fact checker, jesus. don't say anything negative about catholics. v.p. harris: that would be like criticizing detroit in detroit. host: sophia cai, on those appearances last night.

seconds of humor 18 days from what has otherwise been a very contentious and not a lot of humor election? guest: i think that kamala harris is a fairly serious person. i think her public image is one that she is a serious vice president. that is the image that she continued to hold. with trump, i think he is willing to engage. i just about every rally -- i have been watching him for several years -- he likes to dip into humor. it is a place that he feels comfortable. you heard him make a reference to the shooting saying, why do i have to take shots at myself with people are taking shots at me? i was in butler where trump was shot a couple months ago. when he returned, he joked for weeks that he would say, when i returned to butler i will say, as i was saying.

that is indeed how he started his rally. his return to butler rally. he got on and said, "as i was saying" and he got a lot of last from the audience who were surely very nervous to be back there. guest: he definitely spun it in his favor. he used the advantage that harris was not there, but his jokes were not exactly jokes. he had a couple of zingers. the new york mayor has just been indicted, so he took shots at him, but he also defended him because he criticized the administration about immigration and other things. i understand where you are, because they came after me, too. he really went after the former mayor joe de blasio in a pretty mean-spirited way saying that he was the worst mayor that new york ever had and really attacked him at that point. he really hammered his political

message in a very not-funny way. he was very serious about it and also pretty low-key. a little tired, possibly. he has been hustling on the campaign trail quite a bit. it was an interesting night for sure and one that donald trump was definitely using as part of his campaign shtick. host: for viewers who missed it, they can watch it at c-span.org. we aired it before this program. you can go on our website. this morning on the washington journal and this hour of friday political roundtable with vivian salama of the washington journal and cynthia kai of axios. phone numbers, (202) 748-8001 for republicans. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. as folks are calling in, vivian salama did a story about kamala harris fighting to counter donald trump's appeal with black

men. how did she do on that front? guest: it is a work in progress. i don't know if you would agree. this is something that harris campaign has struggled with when you compare with how she is doing today with how joe biden was doing in 2020. the appeal that they were hoping for when she entered the race hasn't really manifested itself. in july, just before joe biden stepped out of the race, the trump campaign lawyer tell us that they felt they were in a great position, better than they had been in the previous two cycles, with black men. some black women, but not so much. hispanic men as well. it was driven by the economy. they felt the economic conditions in the country today, particularly inflation and high housing prices, etc., was something that the black and hispanic community really felt that they needed a change and were disappointed with how democrats had done on that. when harris entered the race,

they conceded that a lot of black women especially, women in general, but black women specifically peeled off and went to harris. they didn't see that flow with black men as much. again, it was because of the economy. they see her as an extension of joe biden's administration and not as a change. she really went out of her way this week to try to court those voters. tell them, i hear you, i understand your struggle. i am from your community. i am part of this community. i understand it better than my opponent. we will see if it resonates, but now the numbers don't seem to be budging as much as the democrats would like. host: agree? guest: i do agree with vivian. i think black men are already the voting bloc most likely to stay home. they are the demographic to court. donald trump from the beginning of the cycle has been very focused with this demographic, as well as latino men.

he has been hitting philly, detroit, milwaukee. his campaign is counting on making gains in the margins, a couple of percentage points here and there, to make up for some of their losses in the suburbs. that is a very intentional strategy. host: two national political reporters with us. more of your stories. brenda is up first in indiana, pennsylvania on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: it has been over six weeks since i saw the interview with donald trump somberly admitting that he lost the election. i saw the interview and it was a somber admission. i would be willing to bet that the vast majority of americans did not even know this interview took place until the presidential debate when david me or brought it up -- david

muir brought it up and donald trump dismissed it as being sarcastic. since it had such a detrimental effect on our democracy leading up to january 6, why hasn't there been more national reporting on the submission? there has been such a detrimental impact to our country. i would like c-span to play that part of the interview and let the american people decide if it was a somber admission or if he was being sarcastic. question, why hasn't there been more attention paid to this admission? host: a focus 18 days from the 2020 four election on the results of the 2020 election. guest: we will continue to litigate the 2020 election for years to come. actually talking about just this week when jd vance, donald trump's running mate, was asked

about this very thing. he was asked at a rally. i don't know if the viewer would know, but jd vance takes questions at his rally and it is quite the show. he takes questions from journalists. one asked if he believed that donald trump lost the election. for the first time -- he had been dodging the question saying we are looking towards the future and don't want to focus on the past. his debate even against tim walz. he finally came out this week and said, no, not in the words that i would use he did not lose it. saying that he blamed technology companies for essentially an appeal eating -- essentially manipulating the metadata in a way that skewed the election. republicans continue to push back. donald trump himself had not quite come out -- i'm not sure

which interview you are referring to. he has not really come out boldly to deny, to concede to the election, but he has said that we were short by a few votes. he then adds context to saying he believes that those votes were stolen and things like that. i wouldn't say it is so much an admission of losing as much as saying that it is an acknowledgment or elaboration that the system, in his mind, is rigged. host: the vance direct quote from that appearance, on the election of 2020i've answered this question directly a million times. no, i think there are serious problems in 2020. did donald trump lose the election? not by the words i would use. guest: that is somebody who really feels that he cannot stray from the top of the ticket when it comes to this issue. jd vance is a smart guy. he even said in the vp debate,

look, if governor walz becomes vice president he will have my blessings, my best wishes, and my advice whenever he likes. i think that is as close as you will get to donald trump or jd vance saying that they will accept the results of the 2024 election. jd vance feels like he cannot say that outright. host: we will go to amy in leesburg, florida. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say that i don't know how anybody, anybody, can say that the 2020 election was free and fair. mark zuckerberg even came out and said that the fbi approached him and asked him not to put anything up about the hunter biden laptop. the fbi had already proved that that was true. then biden himself had 51 people

sign a letter that if you look at it it was worded very carefully. instead of outright saying that it is a lie, they said it had all of the earmarks of being russian disinformation. 51 people involved with the cia signing the letter they know is a lie. and you have the fbi asking mark zuckerberg not to put stuff up. he won't even come out for the democrats this year because he knows he was wrong. host: amy in leesburg, virginia. here we are 18 days away still focused on 2020. guest: i was in arizona a few days ago with donald trump. obviously, the 2020 election loomed heavily in that state. i would remind the caller that in arizona where the election was contested, maricopa county conducted a republican-led audit of the election to review the results.

the republican-led audit showed joe biden got even more votes than were tallied on the election day. the courts have also litigated the matter in the area's states. -- in various states. what you are saying echoes what donald trump and his allies are saying. they are concerned that election interference could happen this time away. -- this time around. there is a lot to really address this issue. so that people have more confidence in the election system. i think that is what this boils down to. even if a lot of those concerns were debunked, people should have confidence in the election system. i think what 2020 taught us broadly is that we need systems in place so that when the election results come out, especially when they are close elections like this year and 2020, people have confidence in the numbers that come out and feel good about the government coming into power. host: we talked about your

experience in arizona. sophia cai, donald trump campaigning in colorado. what is going on in the centennial state. guest: colorado is a deep blue state. why is donald trump going to colorado a month before the election? he wants to go into a town -- there has been a video of latino men with guns in an apartment building and that caught his attention. he has been using that to make false claims that a venezuelan gang has taken over the town of aurora. that is not true and has been debunked by republican local officials. yet, donald trump wants to use aurora, colorado as a backdrop to talk about illegal immigration. to talk about resources. it is true, in towns like aurora and towns like springfield,

there have been more immigrants who have come into smaller towns in the u.s., but donald trump is using that to fear mongering and -- to fear monger and create division between u.s. -born americans and even haitian-americans. that has been a big issue. host: let me play one of donald trump's closing ads in the final 20 days of the election. the title of the ad is global chaos. [video clip] >> skyrocketing prices, global chaos, and kamala wouldn't change a thing. >> when you have done something different than president biden in the last four years? v.p. harris: there is not a thing that comes to mind. >> more weakness, more war, more welfare for illegals, and more taxes. only president trump cut

middle-class taxes and only president troubled do it again. fmr. pres. trump: i'm donald j. trump and i approve this message. host: let me give one of the closing ads from the kamala harris campaign. this is 30 seconds or the title of this one is enemies from within. [video clip] >> donald trump, more dangerous and erratic than ever before. >> the worst people are the enemies from within. the enemy from within our more dangerous than russia. we have very bad people. it should be very easily handled by the military. >> i remember the day that he suggested we shoot people on the streets. >> a second term will be worse. there will be no one to stop him. unchecked power, no guard rails. we elect, again, we are in terrible danger. host: that ad from the harris campaign. the two messages that the campaigns are going for in the final days. guest: certainly, the trump campaign is hammering immigration, the migrant crisis more broadly. it links harris to that crisis.

donald trump calls her the border czar, famously. the reason that he calls her that is president biden early in the administration had asked harris to take the lead on spearheading the root causes of the migration crisis, which is really trying to find why people leave their countries in the first place. it is not really linked to the border directly. of course, the trunk campaign has blurred the lines and called her the border czar. they want to link her to that. they have taken the narrative and spun it into a law and order narrative. that the migrant crisis has unleashed a wave of crime into this country that is uncontrollable and only donald trump can address it. that is his message. of course, the reverse for harris. she is trying to paint the picture of a democracy that is threatened by donald trump's

presidency and taking former trump officials to hammer that message that people who have seen him in action believe that he is unfit because he could manipulate that power. host: joe in lynchburg, independent. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to commend both of the ladies on being practical and pragmatic, the sophia strong a negative -- spun a narrative that i don't agree with. i wonder why she uses the term migrants to describe what happened in aurora, colorado. that was not debunked and i would love to see her source that claims that it was debunked. we are talking about people who come here illegally not relocate temporarily. why did she use the term migrant when we are not talking about people who migrate but people who come in illegally? as a black man, one of the things that i really wish people would stop doing is having

conversations that don't include us in it. i hear a lot of people saying black men need to be the deciding vote. black men are not going to be the reason kamala harris does not win the election. we only make up 7% of the population. i think it is a reflection of the frustration and that we should be more respected by all of the political aspects. that is the reason why i am not voting for her. i never host: just before you go, on monday we did an entire hour with black men only calling in and getting thoughts about the harris' campaign focused on black men. caller: i commend you on doing that and thank you. i will check that out. host: