tv Hardball With Chris Matthews MSNBC November 1, 2018 4:00pm-5:00pm PDT
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joseph fleurival says, i'm guessing it should be the track on until november. thank you, joseph, for sending that in. you can find us on facebook, twitter, and instagram and you can always give us your fallback nominations there. "hardball with chris matthews" is up next. so how do you say "willie horton" in spanish? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. stoking fear, anger, and anxiety, president trump is going to new extremes to rile up white voters in red state, america. with just five days until the midterm elections, he's dead set on ending this campaign dirty. in a stark move to exploit fear, president trump yesterday tweeted an online ad, appealing
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to the worst distinct instinct supporters saying, "it is outrageous what the democrats are doing to our country." the incendiary video stirs fears about the migrants traveling to the united states from central america. however, that convicted murderer featured in that ad came to america under the bush administration. the video is a re-make, of course, of the notorious 1988 willie horton ad, which stoked racial fears to drive white voters away from the democratic nominee at that point, michael dukakis. but trump's appeal to voter anxiety is also consistent with the way he's used the presidency itself. as a campaign weapon of the republican party. as "the washington post" reports, trump has transformed parts of the federal bureaucracy into a factory of threats, directives and actions. he's deployed 5,000 troops to
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the southwest border. and the largest such operation since the mexican revolution. and he's now saying troop levels could increase to 15,000. well, trump repeatedly calls the situation at the border a national emergency, although he's made no such declaration under the law. and some he's threatened the use of executive powder in a trumped up bid to turn out his base next tuesday. here's how he defended himself to abc snnews in an interview tt aired just this morning. >> okay, you're talking about 10,000, maybe 15,000 active duty u.s. military to the border. more than we have fighting the taliban in afghanistan, more than we have fighting isis in syria. you're really going to do that? >> it's very important. we have to have a wall of people, very highly trained people, terrific, dedicated patriots. that's what they are. you have caravans coming up that look a lot larger than it's reported, actually. i mean, i'm pretty good at estimating crowd size, and they look a lot bigger than people
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think. >> they're 900 miles away. the active duty military, you know the law, i mean, you're the president. >> yep. >> they can't arrest people crossing the border -- >> well, it can depends. >> but they're not allowed to -- >> national emergency covers a lot of territory. they can't invade our country. you look at that, they really look like an invasion. >> you think the caravans are an invasion? >> i think so. >> this is like the old colbert report with somebody being very serious with somebody not at all. the president finished up his fierce, stirring campaign with a speech today at the white house accusing many of those seeking asylum in our country of doing so fraudulently. i'm joined by shaun petty pooefpooef peeves, and eric garcetti is the mayor of los angeles. i'll start with shannon. this whole thing, seems to be an election gig. >> it's -- >> just for the election. >> right. it's just out of trump's playbook, 101. and it has been the trump strategy for months now. to play up immigration in the
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final weeks of the election. that is the number one issue that motivates his base of supporters. playing on their fears of physical safety from immigration. it's one of their number one issues. so they are ratcheting up the volume. and they have to turn up the volume to like a level 12 at this point, to get over the noise of the pittsburgh, i shouldn't call it noise, but the news around pittsburgh, the mail bombings. it distracted from their message. and now he has to escalate it to a higher level, to try and get some attention and get everybody back on messages of immigration, which is what he wants them talking about in these final days. >> anyway, reacting to the video that the president posted to the top of his twitter feed today. republican senator jeff flake of arizona said this is a sickening ad. republicans everywhere should denounce it. however, few other republicans have even spoke out against it. congressman, let me ask you about this thing. it seems to me that he's not really aiming himself around voters in the suburbs or anywhere in pennsylvania. what he's trying to do is go after the close elections in nevada, florida, montana, let's see, missouri, and indiana, the
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ones i've found that are very within a couple of points, thinking that a couple of points could be pushed over to his side, to his candidates and save -- in fact, build him a large majority in the senate. this is all campaign talk. it's all about -- it's not about border or anything else. it's about this election. and winning where he wants to win. >> i agree that there's a political -- >> is that right? >> well, i agree. >> what's the policy calculus to this? >> well, the political calculus to this, if there even is one, is to twist those senate democrat red state candidates. for me, if i'm running in the suburbs, i would rather be talking about the highest wage growth in over a decade, the lowest employment in 49 years, more funding for nih, more funding for vets' health care, more funding for any number of things. so this is not helpful for suburban republicans. i can tell you that. >> do you think he's trading the house to win the senate? for the red states? because that's where the action is, where he's going. >> i don't know -- i don't --
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it's hard for me to tell if he really -- if there's a political calculus to -- if he gets that nuanced. i'm not sure that he does. sometimes -- look, i think that he said he knows how to count big crowd sizes, i think some of this stuff is just to trigger the libs. some of what he does is just to get into democrats' heads and then they overplay their hands at times. >> let me go to the mayor on this. mayor garcetti, thank you for coming on. i've been around, you've been around, we know what willie horton ads are. the shroud of an african-american guy, a rapist, and saying, he's the democratic party. he's the poster. i know this game. your thoughts. >> well, clearly the president's having trouble governing, effectively. at a time he should be running on his record, he's running from it. if the middle class felt that this tax break was so great for them, he would have been talking about it. if he felt that the national deficit or the trade deficit was getting better, he would be talking about it. if health care had improved, as he promised, he would be talking about it. but he's failed. he just doesn't know how to
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govern effectively. so, of course, he's going back to a different playbook of distracting us. he's politicizing our military, he's attacking our free press. he's trying to run roughshod over the constitution. and americans are better than that. and they want leaders who are listening to their concerns. 80% of americans right now in a poll from yesterday are concerned about violence. but not strinviolence from a ca, not violence from north korea, not violence from any enemy of the state, but from our own political leaders that has resulted in the sort of tragedies that we just saw this last weekend. a synagogue, in a grocery store, and throughout our mail system. these things have to stop. don't get distracted is my message to democrats. keep talking about what americans care about. be listeners and they will see through who this guy is. >> well, trump today denied he was politicizing the column of refugees coming from central america, but in doing so, he made a blatant appeal to women voters. here he goes. watch him with his scare tactics. >> what do you say to the critics who think this is a political thing for the
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midterms? >> there's nothing political about a caravan of thousands of people, and now others forming, pouring up into our country. we have no idea who they are. all we know is they're pretty tough people, when they can blast through the mexican military and mexican police. they're pretty tough people. i don't want 'em in our country. and women don't want them in our country. women want security. men don't want them in our country, but the women do not want them. women want security. >> what do you make of that, shannon, his address to the gender? >> well, he has been told by his advisers the that one of the big issues driving his core supporter of women voters is there's concern about physical safety and there are concerns about economic security. so he is deliberately going after this base, playing up this threat about this, sort of exaggerating the threat of this caravan. >> the honduran male. >> right -- >> serious, that's what he -- he's pretty carnal. what is he up to here? >> he went on to portray this
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caravan, which is mostly women and children. again, if you want to talk about issues that play well with women, it would be sympathy for women and children fleeing a terrible economic situation. he also -- but he's trying to portray this caravan as violent. he talked about them throwing rocks and how the military could open fire on him, if they do that. you know, he's trying to turn this into this angry mob. which, of course, it's that angry mob mentality, is the type of thing that stokes these fears and the willie horton-style ad, where there were these images of a mob of people tearing the down a fence. that is the image he wants to portray of this caravan. >> and congressman ryan, it seems to me that no matter how high the wall, no matter how many soldiers are there, if you're in trouble, if you're looking for a job and you hear an illegal guy -- somebody comes into the country without documentation can get a job somewhere, you're going to make it here. it seems to me that the republican party -- not that either party have been fabulous on immigration policy, but i never talk about republicans really talk about illegal hiring, and that is the lore. you've got a cousin in chicago, he says, i've got a job for you
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in this restaurant, if you can get up here in two weeks, you're going to get there, no matter how big the army or how high the wall. so republicans don't really like talking about exploitation of cheap illegal labor, they just don't. why not? >> actually, actually, you see in most republican immigration proposals a need to e-verify and that's actually where some republicans get labor support -- >> how come they don't vote in the boehner or the ryan house? it never came to a vote. the 2013 comprehensive bill had that e-verify in it, and it never got to a vote, because your leadership refused to bring it to a vote. that's a fact. >> okay, the -- okay -- not disagreeing. >> okay. >> e-verify was in the compromise bill that i supported and that many of us tried to get tonight floor. let me add to the immigration -- >> republican leadership would not put it on the floor. that's why it didn't get tonight floor. >> here's another piece to that. i -- you're correct. here's another piece to this. you have in the suburbs, form formerly agricultural
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communities that have been developed but still existing agriculture where you have migrant workers worki inin inin farms. you have the high-tech corridor outside of major cities where you have high-tech visas there. the immigration issue is much more sophisticated and nuanced and using the blunt instrument of a caravan to suggest that i'm going to be right on immigration is not going to play well, because in the suburbs people see the immigration issue on mr., many different layers. and there are a lot of very good folks that volunteer at organizations, social service organizations with, that help migrant children, making sure they have health care. there's a lot more to this. and i think that both parties need to realize that there is a compromise that can be had, that includes e-verify and some other -- there's some other layers to this and we're missing the boat entirely. >> i'm with you, congressman. i wish you would stick around and get a compromise, because trump doesn't seem to want one. anyway, trump is stoking tensions about these migrants, less than a week after a wave of crimes and domestic terror here in the country showed the ugly end result of hate in this
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country. we all saw it in those last three events. of course, now, a new poll by npr, pbs, and marist found more than 82% of this country of likely voters say they're concerned that the lack of civility in washington, d.c. will lead to more violence. mayor garcetti, that question, the american people are so in tune with this, they know that the rhetoric does lead to hate and hate leads to violence. not with everybody, but enough to kill people. >> that's exactly right. and as much as i'm working hard for and hoping for a blue wave, i want a civil wave to come over this country again. i want leaders in our white house and our congress to bring people together, to do things like we're doing, like going to synagogues. i'll be in synagogue this friday, as a jew, and as an american, with my christian and muslim brothers and sisters, as we've done when they've been attacked. i'll be heading out to do things like campaign for candidates, who have been attacked because of their religious or ethnic
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background backgrounds. it is time for us -- republicans -- he's only three points out in the latest poll. but if you look at that poll, republicans, half of them, by the way, blame the media for the violence against the media. it's mind-boggling, so you have a president who has stoked these fears of saying the enemy of the people is a free press and when asked in that poll specifically, where these pipe bombs and the coverage of these pipe bombs, were they the result of media coverage? the media was attacked according to half of republicans who said that because of themselves. that's how crazy things have gotten. so it is time for civility. and by the way, it's time to get things done in washington. enough of the distraction, enough of the promises. i'm a mayor. i want an infrastructure bill. and this president promised me won. i still don't have one. he promised better health care. i don't have it. he promised a lesser deficit. it's bigger under him with china. our national deficit -- our debt is almost going to be the size of our gdp. let's get back to work, stop yelling, stop distracting with, and get things done.
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>> well, along those lines, mayor, skpempband everyone elses panel, history shows that the demagogues have to get hotter and hotter and their rhetoric to keep their current level of popularity. you have to keep raising the heat. trump has to be more heated, more scary, more frightening, every month he's in, especially to get re-elected and get his congress elere-elected. so if he continues on this course for the next two years, more four years, more six years, by the time it's 2024, imagine what he's going to sound like. that is a concern i have. i hope somebody like you, mr. garcetti, tries to change that course of history. thank you all for joining us tonight. >> thank you, chris. >> thank you, shannon. thank you, good luck, sir, in your next career. mayor eric garcetti, i hope your next career is running for president. coming up, oprah winfrey stumped today for stacy abrams, the democratic candidate. and she's got a real good chance of being the first african-american woman elected to governor down there in georgia. meanwhile, her republican
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opponent backed out of their debate, their final debate in order to campaign with mr. trump. prefers the company of mr. trump to a debate. plus, trump continues on the campaign trail with his divisive rhetoric, in spite of the violent tragedies of the last week. and how's the trump show playing to voters? well, the president has made the midterms all about him. to "the new york times," his message of nationalism is turning off some key voting blocs. finally, we finish tonight with trump watch. this is "hardball," where the action is. (burke) that's what we call a huge drag. seriously, that's what we call it. officially. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪
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if you don't like their answer, i am a techie dad.n. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. welcome back to "hardball." with less than a week now, in fact, just five days now, both candidates in their close gubernatorial race down in georgia called up their heavy hitters to help make their closing arguments today. oprah winfrey lent her star power to democrat stacy abrams, with a passionate appeal to just get out and vote. let's watch. >> i'm here today because of
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stacey abrams! [ cheers and applause ] and i'm here today -- and i'm here today because of the men and because of the women who were lynched, who were humiliated, who were discriminated against, who were suppressed, who were repressed, and oppressed for the right, for the equality at the polls and i want you to know that their blood has seeped into my dna and i refuse to let their sacrifices be in vain. >> well, she also helped get out the vote, going door to door, which must have been pretty impressive to people. let's watch oprah winfrey knocking on doors. >> hope she's home.
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>> oh! >> oh, my god! >> hi, denise. >> hi, oprah! >> how are you? >> i'm wonderful, how are you. >> surprise, surprise. >> surprise. >> i am shocked. >> surprise. so, i'm canvassing for stacy abrams. yes, yes. are you voting for her? >> i absolutely am. >> it's like ed mcmahon coming around with million-dollar checks. republican brian kemp, he's the alternative, welcomed vice president mike pence ahead of a sunday night rally with the president. here's an alternative view. >> i heard oprah's in town today. and i heard will farrell was going door-to-door the other day. well, i would like to remind stacey and oprah and will farrell, i'm kind of a big deal, too. i got a message for all of
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stacey abrams' liberal hollywood friends, this ain't hollywood. this is georgia! >> well, the race has a real clear politics polling average now of kemp ahead by just a point, really close. if neither abrams or kemp, who also has a libertarian challenge out there, get over 50% this tuesday, the race heads to a runoff come december. we'll see who shows up for that when it comes. abrams in an attempt to expand her reach, has visited all 159 counties in georgia. her pitch, jobs, public transportation, infrastructure, and better access to rural health care. brian kemp offers himself as a trumpian candidate, proud to be politically incorrect. as secretary of state, kemp is tasked with ensuring that the election is fair. he's also the referee in this race, but the process has been plagued by accusations of voter suppression. for the latest, i'm joined by george f. will, "washington post" collums, and jamal simmons, democratic strategist and host of hill tv. george, you've been covering
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this pretty well. first african-american woman with a real shot. >> a number of undecided voters in georgia is probably equal to or slightly smaller than the number of people at this table right now. everyone knows what they think. stacey abrams' problem is she, like a lot of democrats, depends on low-propensity voters, so they have to get them excited. do celebrities do this? i don't know. if celebrities are that powerful, republicans who have no celebrities would never win on election day. >> well, they did have martha ray, the last time i looked. >> wow, you guys are going back. >> i know i'm going back. >> for a while with a hug. jamal, everybody's got their heart around this race. everybody around here, all of my producers, have got their heart around this race. they feel, more than even the andrew gillum race down in florida. they have real hopes about an african-american woman finally grabbing the big executive job. governor. >> yeah, it's a big deal. i was down there a couple of
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weeks ago, i worked in georgia in 2002. i was the communications director when the republicans took that state over. and i got to tell you, when i was down there a couple of weeks ago, i talked to jason carter who was the nominee the last time. >> jimmy carter's grandson. >> and jason told me he lost by 200,000 votes in that election. so stacey's got to find 200,000 votes. here's a good number. in the primary, jason carter only got 300,000 votes in the primary. the two democratic candidates this year, got 500,000. so they already have raised a number of votes who have turned out. they've got to keep that momentum up and get them to turn up. as george says, they've got to convince people to go out and vote and -- >> what are people doing when they don't vote? i know this sounds terrible, because some people have two jobs and some people have day care challenges and some people have to get to work at 7:00 in the morning and there's no time before, they come home and they're exhausted. but i wonder if you just went to all the starbucks lines and say, what are you in line for? a coffee. how about getting in line to vote? anyway, to that point, while
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making her pitch to abrams, oprah winfrey had a message to all women. let's watch. >> we as women, people, need to stand uniteded a eand vote our values. vote your values. vote your conscience. all of this noise, all the noise, you just can't get away from it. you turn on the tv, on the -- it's so much noise and crazy talk. all of the vitriol and the ads. you know what? they are designed to confuse and confound you with fear. >> george, governor, like mayor, is an executive job. and it doesn't have much to do with ideology. in laguardia of new york city, there's no republican way to collect garbage. she seems to have executive ability, the democratic candidate. >> and she has a particular plan that was going to require the georgia legislature to do it for her, which has been reluctant. and that is expand medicaid. she says it's costing them $8 million a day, not to expand medicaid. and it's the reason why eight
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rural hospitals have closed, 21 are in perilous condition. and there are people out there, this is why she goes on christian radio stations, serving basically white audiences, and campaign saying, your rural hospitals are at stake in this election. >> because people that make more than the poverty level by a bit, but barely get by and can't afford to get regular medical care need to get it. it's really about people who show up for work in the morning, expanding medicare. it's not about bums or loafers. it's about people that go to work, but need to get medical care. i would think that would appeal across the board. >> it does appeal across the board. just remember this, oprah winfrey was down there campaigning. oprah winfrey is not just a billionaire because black people like her. oprah winfrey made a lot of money because she's got appeal across the board. she appeals to everybody. and hillary clinton in some counties, gwinnett is one, hillary clinton did better than donald trump in gwinnett county. stacey abrams has got to go out and find those democrats that voted in 2016 and get them to
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vote in 2018. >> georgia has the smallest proportion of whites in its population, the second smallest of any state east of the mississippi, second only to maryland. so demographically, it's ripe. >> anyway, abrams' camp and the dependent candidate were sent to have their final debate this coming sunday. however, the debate that was scheduled six weeks ago is because kemp, the republican candidate, is attending a rally with president trump in macon, georgia, 100 miles south of the debate site. the kemp campaign blamed abrams for the cancellation, because she couldn't commit to a new date and time after they had agreed on this time for sunday. her campaign manager issued a lengthy response, quote, unfortunately, despite his own advice about the importance of honoring promises, mr. kemp has decided he will not be participating in the long-scheduled debate at the agreed upon time. just because brian kemp breaks his promises doesn't mean anyone else should. on oprah, when i -- what i always thought was oprah's appeal, there's something genuine there. people watched her, george, for a long time. they knew who she is. she honestly seems to have
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empathy that crosses over gender, over ethnicity, she seems to care. i watched her so many times, i believe her. and i think people believe her. that's her strength. >> and she's -- as you say, she's a very talented businessperson. she actually made her money. >> that's such a georgism. i think you'd fall for some sentiment, but you've held back. thank you, george -- >> let's not give up onnet onnettenicionnette tenn -- on ethnicity. a lot of black voters feel like that the kemp voter suppression stuff is real and they are turning out in a major way. i get text messages from friends saying, you should see -- >> you know why i say ethnicity and not race? >> why? >> because we are the same race. and sing ethnicity is a nicer way of saying it and i've always thought that. thank you. up next, captain mark kelly joins us to talk about the impact of recent gun violence in the midterms.
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about tresiba®. we need to realize that the rhetoric and firing people up and, you know, even things, for example, we're on sarah palin's targeted list, but the thing is that the way she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. when people do that, they've got to realize there are consequences to that action.
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>> welcome back to "hardball." that was then congresswoman gabby giffords back in 2010, calling for more civility after there was a rise of heated rhetoric following the passage of the affordable care act. well, giffords was shot the following year campaigning in her home district. as we discussed, a new poll by npr, pbs, and marist found that more than 82%, more than four in five of us, of likely voters say they're concerned a about the lack of civility they're seeing in washington and how it's going to lead to violence. this comes on the heels of numerous high-profile domestic attacks in just the past weeks, including a politically charged campaign of mail bombs, the murder of two african-americans by a white man in kentucky, and the murder of 11 people at a synagogue in pittsburgh last weekend. for more, i'm joined by captain mark kelly, gabby giffords' husband, and co-founder of the advocacy group, giffords' courage to fight gun violence. thank you so much, mr. kelly. give us a sense of in your head, what you've experienced, your family's loss, in terms of the
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gunfire on your wife and all of that, the recuperation and all of that, and what -- how do you see talk in shooting, as connected? >> well, you know, gabby's -- you know, her being shot and six of her constituents being murdered and 12 other people being injured in 15 seconds, you know, it's a complicated number of reasons why this happens. but when she was injured back in 2011, it was also a time, it was around, just after the passing, a year after the passing of the affordable care act, and there was a lot of heated rhetoric politically about this. and she certainly, you know, she was targeted because she was a member of congress, that's clear. and the words and the language we used do matter. unfortunately, there are a lot of people at some pretty high levels that don't seem to -- they don't seem to realize that. but it certainly does have an
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impact. >> you and i have lived through it. i've lived through maybe more history. and i remember during the november period of 1963, and all of those weeks that we were hearing about the violent attitudes down in dallas, texas, and how people were out to get kennedy, there were ads in the paper, horrible stuff, calling him a traitor. adelaide stevens, the ambassador to the u.n. was spat upon. there was all of that atmospherics. and then, a guy on the hard left, a communist sympathizer, lee harvey oswald comes and shoots kennedy. somehow, there seems to be a kind of electrical atmospherics that sort of creates something that may not be related -- the same thing happened in the spring of '16, dr. king is shot and bobby is shot. it does seem to be atmospheric. your thoughts about that? it gets into our systems and people who are a little nutty to begin with or a little far out politically think, oh, here's my permission slip to shoot somebody. >> well, so 1963 was a year before i was born, so i wasn't really paying attention then, certainly. and, you know, but we -- we see
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this over and over again. and it seems to go in cycles. and our partisanship is somewhat, you know, sicyclic. i think we're at a pretty bad time right now. probably the worse that i've seen since i've been paying attention, you know, perhaps even the worse since the early 1960s. and i think -- i think people that we elect need to realize that their words do matter. and if they say certain things, they are giving certain individuals who, you know, probably have some possibly mental health issues or somewhat unstable, but it's not good for us as, you know, people who are in leadership positions to try to give these -- or to give these people some form of political cover. >> let's talk about gun control, gun i notice the nra isn't spending much money this cycle. is that why -- is that because they don't have much to fight or there isn't much noise out there or concern publicly by
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candidates about gun safety? >> yeah, they've had some issues, you know, in new york city, they had a lawsuit. they claim that that affected their bottom line. they've got some financial issues right now. but they also have millions of members that they just raised the membership fee. i don't think it's really a financial thing with them. despite some of the things they've said. i think really what it comes down to is, they are starting to realize that their side of this issue doesn't play very well in an election. even in a midterm election. i mean, we have, we have a lot of democrats and even some republicans that are running on the side of, hey, we need stronger gun laws. we need gun safety. we've got veterans running across the country on this issue. there was an nbc/"wall street journal" poll that just came out and it put gun safety, i think at right after health care and the economy as an issue that people really care about. >> yeah. >> the national rifle association, they're even hiding the letter grades that they traditionally give members of congress and people in state
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governments. so, they're currently under water, they've got a negative approval rating, their favorables/unfavorables is at minus 17%. it's certainly the lowest since we've been paying attention. and it's because the american people are starting to realize that, uh, our laws do matter, and there are organizations the out there, like the nra, that are advocating for weaker gun laws. and that's not making us more safe. >> well, maybe you, captain kelly, and maybe those young kids from parkland and around the country will get the voters out on this issue of gun safety this time around. it's an honor to have you on, sir. thank you so much. >> thank you for having me on, chris. up next, with five days left until the midterms, tomorrow it will be four, it's all trump, all the time, all about him. that's the way he likes it. will his message of fear and division, however, help turn out republican voters in those close races and energize the anti-trump, or will it actually go the other way and energize the people that don't like what trump is doing? you're watching "hardball." everybody wants a new,
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our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition... for strength and energy! whoo-hoo! great-tasting ensure. with nine grams of protein and twenty-six vitamins and minerals. ensure. now up to 30 grams of protein for strength and energy! welcome back to "hardball." it's five days now before the midterms this coming tuesday, and president trump is making the election all about his base, stoking fear and division over the media, the so-called caravan, he calls it, and birthright citizenship he talks about now. let's watch. >> the far left media, once again, used tragedy to sew anger and division. >> a vote for democrats is a
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vote to liquidate america's borders. we will end, finally, birthright citizenship. it's costing us so many billions of dollars. people didn't want to bring it up. i said, we have to bring it up. >> well, "the new york times" reports that in republican-leaning districts that include diverse populations or about cities that abutt them, the party is in danger of losing its house majority next week because mr. trump's racially tinged nationalism that has alienated these voters who once made up a dependable constituency. let's bring in tonight's "hardball" roundtable. adrian elrod, former director of strategic communications for hillary for america, dan davids, a republican candidate for pennsylvania's fourth congressional district, which is in montgomery county near philly, and eugene scott is a political reporter for "the washington post." i did that stentorialy for you. is this working? it seems to me, there's two americas. big development there. you've got the red states where everybody is going to double down on trump. but in those suburban areas
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where people may have hesitated because of hillary are more moderate politically and aren't going to like this guff from trump. >> you just hit the nail on the head, chris. in a sick and twisted way, it is helping to generate some excitement around his very hard-core base. but at the same time, he's alienating independents who may still be undecided. he's alienates moderate republicans who are trending towards democrats. and he's in particular alienating that very core group of white suburban college-educated women, who are now supporting democrats by up to 25 points. >> is he right to warn women about the men coming here the from honduras, dan? >> no. >> is that -- is that a reasonable fear that hondurans are going to threaten our women? >> i -- i think a reasonable fear is that congress will continue, not to do its job and pass immigration reform. i don't think it's a reasonable fear that -- >> but it wasn't a republican speaker who refused to bring it up in '13 when you had a republican -- >> this is a pox on both houses. it has been for a long time.
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>> absolutely. i want a bill. >> we need to do our job. i'm running for congress. >> did you vote for him? >> i did. >> well, then you're a trump guy. >> well, it was a binary decision. >> right? you're a trump guy. i'm just teasing. i understand. >> i'm fine with that. >> you're telling me you don't really like the guy much -- >> i'm not telling you that at all. that's not what i said at all. >> what are you telling me about trump? you're running on the republican ticket this time. are you for trump or not? >> what do you mean, am i for trump or not? >> i'm asking! >> that's not the job i'm applying for. i'm applying for the people. >> okay, i got it. >> i think what's really interesting is that midterms are historically used to win people to your side who weren't on your side during the presidential election. and what we see trump doing is alienating people who weren't already supportive of him in the first place. will it bring out his base? will it bring out the people who are already on the trump train? sure. but the electorate is bigger than the trump train. and in fact, more people are not on the trump train than people
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who are. >> i think the country's divided. i think the 'burbs are going to go big for the dems, i'm sorry, dan, and i think out west, especially in states like north dakota, it's going to be very hard for a democrat to win. anyway, in an interview with axios and hbo, president trump talked about why he calls the media the enemy of the people. let's hear his explanation. >> what scares the crap out of me, when you're saying, enemy of the people, enemy of the people -- >> fight back -- >> but one second. god forbid somebody -- you've got fervent supporters, they love you. enemy of the people, enemy of the people. >> they like me more because of that. >> but you're the most powerful man in the world, and if you say that word, enemy, enemy, tens of thousands of people go in a stadium to listen to you and then go on social media and get themselveses so jazzed up. >> it's my only form of fighting back. i couldn't be here if i didn't -- >> you won! you have the presidency. >> no, no, no, but i did this before i won. >> okay, adrian, explain that logic. he says, i call you people -- to
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the face of a journalist -- i call you people the enemy of the people, because it works for me politic politically. >> well, look, there's a lot of people in america, especially a lot of trump voters who think that the media is this elite entity that has not been on their side. you've got the new york and washington, d.c. elite media, so they like this. but it's -- again, it's disgusting and it puts journalists in danger. you know, it's a rallying cry for him toward his supporters. but it's very dangerous. >> dan? you think it's okay for him to trash us? >> i'm a freedom of speech activist. that's my job. that's my history. so i'm always going to be for the first amendment and for the freedom of speech. is the media biased? the media has been biased since the first cave man started talking about the cave man next to him. it's been going on forever. you have to get through it and past it. but freedom of speech is what separates us from china, what separates us from communist countries who oppress people. and i will never be against freedom of speech. >> i used to serve the newspaper, the philadelphia
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bolton in the afternoon. i was a paper boy. i used to take that around and that was filled with opinion, you're right. all the columns in the afternoon paper. >> always. >> my dad was a paper boy for "the washington post" and i'm a reporter for "the washington post." and i care deeply about the free press. however, i think journalists need to be careful about centering so much of this conversation on ourselves. many voters do not like how trump is responding to the media. but the amount of attention we're putting on our fight with trump, i think is distracting to a lot of voters. >> except the big lie works. >> in another interview, president trump said that he always wants to tell the truth. he wants to. he's trying, he says. here he goes. >> can you tell me now, honestly, have you kept to that promise at all times? have you always -- >> well, i try. i mean, i do try. i think you try, too. you say things about me that are not necessarily correct. i do try. and i always want to tell the truth, when i can, i tell the truth. sometimes it turns out to be where something happens that's different or there's a change. but i always like to be
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truthful. >> it's somebody talking about their diet, you know. i know i'm not supposed to eat cake, i'm not supposed to eat ice cream, but you know, i just try and i can't -- it's an amazing admission, i thought. >> yeah, almost doesn't count. the reality is that people look for their president to be truthful. and i think we're going to see in the midterms, people are going to be really upset with his 50% effort. if that's how much he's -- >> dan, think about what he's saying there. i go out in front of the people, i've got 5,000 people in the room, and i really try to tell the truth. i just can't do it. >> okay, that's an unfortunate comment. i tell the truth. that's my job. and you think you can catch anybody in an infortunate moment trying to say something like that. it doesn't come off well. and for me, i can only speak for myself. what i do, what i report, what i is a i is the truth, objectively. i've done 16 hours of town halls, with independents, democrats, and republicans. >> good for you. >> you can all look at, right now -- >> that's a great way to campaign. >> well, look, it's policy for 16 hours that my opponent hasn't
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done, no other -- >> i'm with you, by the way. i can't stand self-funders to go into a race and just buy the tv time and they just own it, whereas people like you go out -- >> i got zero money from washington, d.c. zero. or the state. so i go out there, to the people, and tell the truth. and let me tell you something, it's been great. >> okay, let's talk about the president. i want to step back to the president, adrian. this president makes no attempt to deal with objective truth. >> correct. >> he says, i'm nope for picking -- for knowing crowd sizes. everybody knows that's a joke. >> right. >> he just says it, he brings it up again. it's like to him, it's all vaudeville. it's like a stage show. it's not about truth. >> and didn't he say he got more delegates than any other republican presidential nominee? he constantly lies, but here's the thing. he knows -- he may not -- he admits that he's not a big policy wonk, right? although he may go out there and misspeak on policy, but he constantly lies about -- >> he does everything you tell your kids not to do. he calls people by their names,
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he lies. the roundtable is sticking with us. the next thing we'll hear from these people some things i don't know. you're watching "hardball." a little bit of water, it really- it rocked our world. i had no idea the amount of damage that water could do. we called usaa. and they greeted me as they always do. sergeant baker, how are you? they were on it. it was unbelievable. having insurance is something everyone needs, but having usaa- now that's a privilege. we're the baker's and we're usaa members for life. usaa. get your insurance quote today.
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back with the hardball round table, adrian. vote latino, focuses on voter registration, exceeded their goal of registering 200,000 new voters this year, two weeks before the midterm elections. get out there and vote. >> well, i tell you what, i think you take out the republican and the democrat and we're all more alike than not alike, and that people out there i'm speaking to want a vision, a vision for our country for the next five years, ten years, not the next five minutes. >> thank you. >> that's something congress can do. >> i agree, thank you. voters in 17 states have participated in early voting and absentee voting at such record breaking numbers it's suspected
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at least half of them will even double the number of people voting early compared to 2014. >> have you guys all voted? >> yes. >> yes. >> we're not allowed to early vote. >> i've got to tell you, it was crowded as held at montgomery county. a lot of people waiting in line. wait as a group, wait for another group. thank you, adrian, dan, eugene scott. when we return, i'll finish with trump watch. you're watching hardball. sh of . (acapella) ahhhhhhhhhhh! (vo) new dayquil severe with vicks vapocool. the daytime coughing, stuffy head, vaporize your cold, medicine. (host) here...at snowfest... (vo) for your worst sore throat pain try new vicks vapocool drops. it's not candy, it's powerful relief. (acapella) ahhhhhh! (vo) vaporize sore throat pain with new vicks vapocool drops. you're in the business of helping people. we're in the business of helping you. business loans for eligible card members
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trump watch, thursday, november 1st, 2018. there was a time where it seems to have been when the american people knew how to solve problems. they debated an issue, passed a law and enforced that law. why can't immigration be dealt with this way? debated, pass a law, enforce that law. president trump sees an opportunity here for an alternative set of actions, of course, warn of trouble, talk of a wall that has no chance politically of being built, complain when the situation remains, then exploit the issue in the next election. trump speaks of desperate migrants as rapists and cop
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killers. he gives cover to people concerned with cultural and ethnic change by saying it's about crime and terrorists from the mideast, hiding amidst the latin american poor. he says the issue is safety when we all know that's not it. i lay some of the blame on the democrats and the republicans like lindsey graham who know better. they know that the chief allure for illegal immigration is the hiring of people in this country who arrive here or stay here legally. they know the hypocrisy of politicians and voters who oppose illegal immigration, but benefit from it personally and financially. five years ago the senate passed an immigration bill, a comprehensive bill with bipartisan support, but the house refused to even take it up. why can't this president close the deal now? i suspect it's because he prefers the issue itself, and the scare to the reasonable solution, perhaps after the election someone from some political party will have the guts to stand forth and
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challenge both parties to do the right thing. and that's hardball for now. thanks for being with us, all in with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> you can vote and you can vote. >> five days out. >> everybody gets a vote. >> oprah winfrey's message to voters in georgia and beyond. >> when we all unite, i know for sure a change is going to come. >> plus, andrew gillum on his photo finish in florida. then -- >> this is over if he keeps talking. >> the iowa voter who challenged steve king on white nationalism joins me live. >> sir -- >> stop it. >> plus, the first evidence of a link between the trump campaign and e-mails stolen by the russians. and trymaine lee reports -- >> what is happening here. >> on the explosion of black women running for office in 2018. >> in shelby
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