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: anything you wanted to

add? guest: i am happy to talk more about that. the reason i presented the case is if you listen to the republican mayor of aurora, a republican who is in charge of the town, he has said that there have been some issues with gang activity and the local police department has announced that there are gangs in aurora that have been arrested for illegal activity on a number of charges. that being said, members of that gang have not taken over apartment buildings and have not taken over the entire city of aurora and that is the claim donald trump has been making. that is a claim that we have been talking about. host: it is halfway to

allentown. shawna, a democrat there. sean, a democrat there. caller: so some stats and solutions to the issues. 40 million americans with student loans. cancellation costs nothing despite the misinformation out there. most of the money is projected profits for the federal government from the student loan payments. it does not benefit the wealthy and most borrowers have paid off original balances. the payments exist due to exorbitant fees and compounding interest. it begs the question, should the government be profiting off of student loans? and we need to return protections to all loans. the federal government and primitive education should be significantly reduced in their power.

host: finish your comment. caller: we need to let on reliable college turning of these useful -- useless degrees. host: more stats on student loans and biden administration action. this from the washington times, the biden administration announced four point $5 billion of student debt cancellation for more than 60,000 public employees. it brings the amount of student debt canceled at $175 billion for nearly 5 million people. role of the student loan debt this election cycle. guest: this is something definitely to watch. since the pandemic, and i am one of them between the canceled interest on student loans and other things, it was very helpful for me to pay off some

debts during the years of the pandemic. it is an important issue but this is something that resonates with younger voters especially struggling to pay off student debt and especially with the cost of living climbing by the day with inflation. it is a very pertinent issue and something that has not gotten enough discussion on the campaign trail but both candidates have laid out views on this. we will see what happens. host: have the young voters gotten enough talk on the campaign trail? guest: they have been reached in different ways. vice president harris and president biden and donald trump all have weighed in and donald trump has also done a 180 in

terms of his position on tiktok. he was the original creator of the tiktok ban in was one of the first to come out and say the platform should not be banned. just look at their positions on tiktok to see how much a voters matter. host: elon musk and x and his support for the social media. what does that mean? guest: that remains to be seen. trump has gotten back in and then sort of went off to create his own social media site and is now back in. elon musk is now endorsing trump since he was shot in pennsylvania. at the most recent butler,

pennsylvania rally he spoke and told people to vote and he has been on the campaign trail advocating for trump in pennsylvania trying to get people up to the polls. it is looking ahead. he wants elon musk to place a different role in his administration in the future. he has talked about electric vehicles and how he has eased off of mandates because elon has endorsed him and has to be nice about electric vehicles so you do see a shift in the policies. as far as x goes, elon musk has had his position and it has been controversial. the company was sort of gutted after he took over and he has used it as a means where he says for free speech but it has been contested at times. we will see what happens.

host: two thirds of the way through a political discussion. we are taking your phone calls. this is barbie, nashville, tennessee, independent. caller: good morning. i want a cease-fire in gaza because i don't want indeed -- any dead but netanyahu doesn't want a cease-fire because it would hurt trump's chances for winning the election. what do you think? host: that is barbie in nashville, tennessee. let me play it benjamin netanyahu after the death of the hamas leader. stopping short of declaring victory but this is what he had to say through an interpreter. [video clip] >> i would like to support their

salute them for their valor. we have shown again how the good can prevail over the people that the war has not ended and it is hard war and we are paying heavy prices. i would like to express my condolences to the families who have lost their dearly beloved members of their families. and their sacrifices have brought us closer to the victory and in the words of david, the king, we will continue chasing our enemy until we have eliminated them all. host: the was netanyahu yesterday through an interpreter. guest: they see the death of the hamas leader as perhaps one step closer to a cease-fire because some u.s. officials have

described the hamas leader as someone who didn't seem like he wanted a cease-fire and they see that as a positive step. guest: and netanyahu was being a stickler saying that he was not going to rest or pull back on the war until the later it was targeted and killed. he has achieved that goal. but he says there is still an effort to eradicate hamas and the concern is that this would prolong the war even more than we have already seen. he does suggest it is the beginning of the end and u.s. officials are hoping for that. the caller suggested that there was a political motive for the u.s. election involved. obviously i cannot read his mind.

but this is obviously a contentious issue. netanyahu has had he ought -- has had a hot and cold relationship with trump. it will be interesting to see if they inherit this. hundreds of thousands of people injured and the gaza strip destroyed. the u.s. will have to step in and do something to help reconstruction and help gaza get back on its feet and to provide -- prevent extremism from growing again. just because the leader is gone doesn't mean it is dead. host: this is deborah, good morning. caller: good morning.

vivian, i haven't seen you in a long time. it is good to see you. however, the other lady i didn't understand at the beginning of the conversation talking about vice president harris, you seemed very negative towards her. there's nothing pleasant or un-lifting about -- uplifting about what you were saying about the vice president just wondered why. host: is it your job to be be positive or negative? guest: it is not my job. i think she is the sitting vice president and there are a lot of things, she has had 100 days to introduce herself to the american people and has done that very well. she has been able in a very practical way to lay out what kind of leader she will be for the country and i think as any

american you have to commend her for that. as a journalist i have to take a very realistic and sometimes critical look at how she is campaigning and how she may or may not be being transparent about where she is on the issues and i don't think it is my job to be cheerleading one candidate or another. host: about the media environment right now, the focus on so much focus and criticism certainly on the candidates but also equally on how news organizations cover the candidates. how do you as national political reporters navigate that? do you think is more the cycle than in previous cycles? guest: you may remember that

before i went to cover the trump white house i was the bureau chief in my last job and moved here to cover the white house. i would joke that sometimes covering the white house is just as hostile environment in war zones with different dangers obviously. the contentious atmosphere in just the loathing and distrust for the media that i return to, especially because former president trump tends to amplify those accusations more than a lot of others. it makes for sometimes very uncomfortable situations where he would attack us at the rallies. at one rally, people were throwing things at us. just talking about the job we have to do being not to be

against a candidate or for a candidate. that is not our job. but unfortunately have been dubbed the enemy of the people and we work very hard every day to earn the trust of the people who read us and watch us on television. it is a really hard to get to do especially when you have elected officials saying the opposite about us. we have to go out every day and do what we do and we pray that there are no dangers. host: with a newer organization, is there any difference in how people treat the media? guest: i think as axios has grown, sometimes we are increasingly lumped into the

mainstream media and so attacks against mainstream media also apply to us. i used to work at bloomberg and that is where i first covered trump. now i am at axios and when you are at a rally and trump calls us the fake news, the vitriol you receive is the same. if you write a contentious article about one candidate or the other, i like to joke that if i am getting heat from both sides, i must have done something right. but how the criticism lands, we have tried to ignore it but sometimes you can't help but see or read and email or see a post that does cause you to pause. but it is something for the most part that you try to keep the noise out and focus on what the story is. host: robert is waiting in palm harbor, florida, independent. caller: i am calling in

reference to the election taking place in florida and it looks like the governor it might be involved in the same things that were involved in georgia. trump moved here from new york and is a resident. he is certainly the corrupter in chief and is capable of doing anything you could think of and the media should try to keep a close watch on the guy because first of all he is a convicted felon. host: are you saying you don't have trust in the elections? are you planning to vote in 18 days? caller: i am saying it is a tough situation. what i might suggest is god, please best -- bless america because we will need it. host: did you listen to the first hour of the program today? caller: unfortunately, no.

host: the first part of the discussion we only asked to talk to poll workers to talk about the elections and there were 18 calls and all of them were talking about how working at the polls made them trust the election process more. have you ever considered volunteering to work at the polls? caller: no, my health is dragging me down. i am 85 and have to be careful. host: thank you for the call. you can watch that on the website. the coverage of polling sites this year of poll workers and their safety will be coming up this election cycle. guest: this has been a concern all along. it is something they are taking seriously. they are trying to bolster confidence in the election process but also trying to keep

the poll workers safe. it is a real concern given what we have seen. we were in the middle of a pandemic then and in a way it was muted. the fear is now that everyone is out and about, emotions are highly charged. but that could really affect the poll workers. host: talking to jim in winter park, florida. caller: somebody talked about biden writing of more student loans. i graduated in the 70's and paid off my loans. my wife paid off her student loans. we are in our 70's now. what are the people getting the free loans paid off going to do

for the country? what is the process where some of its $50,000 or $100,000 written off by the federal government? are they going to do something for this country that makes up for the money they got wiped out on student debts? my other opinion is, if you are going to wipe out student debts, why don't you wipe out credit card debt and some of the people who have have paid into the accounts that you are writing off that you are going to make us pay for. i don't believe for a minute that it is anything the government needs payback. we are in debt and giving people money who signed a contract. host: your reaction? guest: it is a worthy argument and one that has some value because in many cases you see

the same argument about immigration, people who have come in and waited for ears to receive a green card and permanent residency and citizenship. and they are asking why people can skip the line and receive the services. it is a legitimate complaint and to the question of what have these people done for our country, there are certain programs that the biden administration have insisted on paying off and one is civil servants. if you have worked in the civil service for a number of years, and most of these are working people paying into their taxes. but i hear what you are saying. host: from previous calls, aaron is a younger viewer, democrat. caller: that is true.

i really like the guests on today. i heard them talk about the overall presentation of donald trump and also the representation of the black men. i like kamala harris more than i dislike donald trump but he never really represented me or my friends and colleagues who are black men so i have never been asked about my opinion on a local -- whole - poll. there was a thing with donald trump about him being a white nationalism and flip-flopped on tiktok and on electric vehicles

and it seems like he will do anything he can to win. with that, i just want to say that with the social media arise, he has been given a platform in which to spew untruths and we look at the fema response he has had or he is actually preventing them from doing their jobs. my question to you is or to the panelists, do they believe that donald trump should be allowed such a wide berth on social media platforms. and just one other note for the caller who said he paid off his student loans in the 1970's. fort student loans being wiped out, it allows people to purchase homes will turn now in the $200,000 and $300,000 range that they were in the 1970's and allows them to participate in the economy. that is what wiping out student loans does. guest: two really quick vote

about black voters because you raised it and an earlier caller. without a doubt, harris is still pulling better with black men. donald trump, what we are talking about as he has made significant gains compared to the previous cycles. host: and i can give the numbers. donald trump with black men, 20%. at 70% going for harris but compared to the biden numbers from 2020, that is about 5% better for donald trump in that category. guest: and the second point is that black men and women are notoriously under polled. this is something that the polling companies are trying to address but are notoriously not pull as much as other voters. so there tends to be underrepresentation in pulling

with regard to black men and women. so you have to take that into consideration as well. as far as the other question, i don't know if you want to jump into his question about donald trump being amplified on social media. guest: i think it is more on x, the opposite has happened where republicans have come back to x, trump is back on instagram, where he post short videos. i should say that his own personal postings comes mostly on tooth social so i don't know if you can say he is contained to tooth social but his own personal words and thoughts and feelings still come onto the social. and the reality is, wherever he posts his views and comments get picked up. and we cover them.

so i think unless, and whenever he joins an interview or town hall it is another platform but at the end of the day he is a major party candidate. host: trump supports underrepresented in polls and do you think it will be underrepresented today? is it overrepresented in the polls that you see? what is your expectation of how posters have tried to understand donald trump? guest: i think, i should just say that if you are the trump campaign, you are looking at the polls now to say that trump is doing better in the polls at this point that he was in 2016

in 2020. the trump campaign at least still believes trump voters are being under polled. guest: the issue is that we are within the margin of error for the entire race and what makes it so tricky to understand where we are going to come out after november 5. the polls -- my understanding and i am not the expert, is that democrats typically need to have more of an advantage in national polls to pull off a victory. but because of the fact that we are completely within the margin of error, it is anyone's race at this point. host: this is bill, albany, new york. caller: i would like to know from your guests if they have done any stories for their

newspapers regarding -- it is not really fraud, but in 2020 in the key states, the election laws were changed but they were not changed constitutionally by the state's legislatures. i have never seen this brought out that much the way it should be. in other words, there were governors or attorneys general and people who just change the laws of how to vote and whether you vote early or late, it was not constitutionally done by the state legislatures. you hardly ever see any stories on this. host: have you seen stories about changing laws in georgia and a judge in georgia stopping that from happening, what did

you think of that? caller: it may be happening now, but you've never heard about it. all you heard was about voter fraud. even the republicans could have said we are not talking about fraud. regardless of how it turned out the law was not changed constitutionally. host: i wanted to get one of your responses to that. guest: you echo the concerns of a lot of people. if you don't think we are looking into it, i assure you we definitely are. a lot of this is litigated in courts around the country, particularly in the states where the concerns have been raised. we cover it to the lens of the legal system which the courts have determined that the

election was secure. it is very hard for us as journalists to make that assessment. host: let me get a reaction to this story. this is the cbs report, they deny former president's delay of the unveiling of court records and the interference case and said the court would release on friday a five page order that came out. what are we expecting from that? what more could we learn from that? guest: i think the unveiling will give the harris campaign more material to make the argument that trump is a threat to democracy and that is an argument the trump campaign despise that.

at the same time, harris is the sitting vice president so we haven't seen her come out and weigh in on some of these court cases. but giving -- given it is breaking news it is possible to play out. guest: it has been trying to make the case that trump in his personal capacity as a candidate going into the 2020 election took actions that essentially led to interference in the elections and then also instigated the january 6 uprising. i will say we will find out more details about how they described him as doing so in his personal capacity and whether or not have enough evidence to back that up and reminded viewers that these cases had to be changed due to the immunity ruling that came out in the summer where it said that the