treasury secretary janet yellen gave an urgent warning today at the council on foreign relations in new york city. she said sweeping untargeted tariffs are deeply misguided and would raise prices. former president trump has floated imposing blanket tariffs if he's reelected. earlier today our own stephanie ruhle sat down with secretary yellen to talk about the economy and the current administration's policies. >> madame secretary, thank you so much for your time. by most major measures, the economy is doing very well. yet most people in america, many people in america still don't feel good about their personal finances. what do we do about that? how do we solve for it? >> well, i think the cost of living is very high. this has really been true for a long time, but the inflation that we saw after the pandemic

really exacerbated it for so many people. but it's been building for a long time, the high cost of housing, of child care, of healthcare. many middle class families are just making it, finding it very hard to make ends meet. and so it really is the top priority of the biden/harris administration to find ways to bring down costs. >> tariff seems to be the hottest word right now. both parties use tariffs in different ways. former president trump has an idea for sort of these sweeping tariffs across the board. and many people, including you, have said how damaging that would be to our economy. but this idea of isolationism is sort of gaining momentum in this country, not just america first but america could go at it alone. what would it do to our economy and our economic growth if isolationism became more

widely accepted? >> so i think the idea of isolationism as an approach to our relations with the world is highly misguided and would be very dangerous and would be very harmful to americans the proposals that we've heard from broad based tariffs a group of economists recently weighed in that they overwhelmingly thought that this would harm economic growth and it would raise inflation, face consumers with higher prices for a broad range of goods that we buy on -- we don't even make in america toys and other manufactured goods of that sort. and it would raise the cost for all of the producers that are reliant on input from abroad that would be subject to tariffs. >> and why do you think so many people are sort of into this idea?

like yeah, tariff, let's go with this. i mean, what you just laid out is exactly how tariffs work. i'm not saying it's econ 101, but it's broadly understood. given that, this idea of more tariff, why do people like it? >> you know, we've seen over decades a loss of good manufacturing jobs in the united states. the real incomes of individuals who don't have a high school education as a consequence of globalization, particularly china's admission to the world trade organization around in the early 2000s and technical change that helped skilled workers and harmed less skilled workers have really resulted in job losses that are serious and wage stagnation for lots of people in america who don't have a college

education. and this is something that's critical to address. president biden has addressed it. it's central to his thinking about what to do over the median term -- the chips and science act, semiconductors act, are really designed to support strategic areas that will create good jobs all over the country, especially for people who don't have a college education and are strategic and important for our future. but this is not at the expense of trade. this is not close off america, make everything at home. trade also brings tremendous benefits. millions and millions of jobs are dependent on our exports to the rest of the world.

foreign direct investment in the united states supports millions of jobs. trade is important, and we can't be totally self-reliant. >> you've also been to china many times. >> yes. >> and there's tons of questions and skepticism and criticism of china's trade policies and practices that make it unfair for u.s. businesses. is this anything we should start doing now so we can become more economically competitive with china? >> well, the pieces of legislation i referred to are the critical things that we need to become more competitive. we have -- we are investing heavily in semiconductor manufacturing, in clean energy, in electric vehicles, and of course, we're restoring our infrastructure. and these are critical things to be more competitive. but we're very concerned about

china's unfair trade practices in some of these sectors where we want to have a presence in the united states. i'm not saying that we want to be the only producer of these goods in the global economy, but we want resilient supply chains, and we want some domestic presence. and in addition to creating tax incentives that are having a dramatic effect in boosting private investment in all of these sectors. we've seen hundreds of billions of dollars of investment in these sectors, but for a time we need to protect these industries from china's unfair trade practices. >> one thing we have in this country in huge supply or huge numbers, we have massive deficits in this country. and it doesn't matter who the next president is going to be, when you look at both of their proposals, the debt is only

going to grow. have we stopped caring about debt and deficits in this country? because it doesn't seem like we're doing anything to address it. >> well, the biden administration has not stopped caring about it, and we are trying to do things about it. we signed a deal. it was passed through congress when we raised the debt ceiling that reduces ten-year deficits by just over a trillion dollars. and president biden proposed a budget that contains an additional $3 trillion of deficit reduction over the next decade. and the way in which that's accomplished is partly by boosting revenues which have fallen below historically normal levels. and what we're asking in the tax proposals in that budget are for

wealthy individuals and corporations to pay their fair share. and -- >> so what do you think should happen next year when the trump tax cuts expire? >> president biden has proposed continuing the tax cuts for individuals making under $400,000 and expanding the child tax credit. and he would propose paying for those, funding additional tax increases or spending cuts or savings above and beyond what the $3 trillion that we proposed to pay for that. what we would oppose are simply extending all of the tax cuts that mainly benefit wealthy individuals and corporations and not paying for it. the cbo has said that would raise deficits by $5 trillion

over ten years. >> is there a number you have in your mind when you think about getting companies, getting corporations to pay the right amount of taxes, right, it's a fine line because you want them to pay more but not so much more that they're going to leave the us. is there a number in your mind? >> we proposed a 28% tax, corporate tax rate, and other kinds of loophole closers, including raising the tax rates on the income of u.s. multinationals that are earning income abroad which we should do as part of a 137-country tax agreement that we negotiated. other countries are now raising their minimum taxes on their multinationals to 15%, and we think that we should do that as well. >> i know i'm out of time, but i just want to ask you personally,

because i've had the privilege of interviewing you now four times. and we're here in new york city, we are not far from where you grew up. when you were a girl in bay ridge, brooklyn -- . >> that's true. >> -- did you think this would be your life today? you embody the american dream. >> thank you. i feel immensely privileged to have had the opportunities that i've had. >> when you were a high school girl, what did you see your life would look like? >> i went to a high school named ford hamilton. it was named after alexander hamilton. but i never anticipated they would hold the same job that he held all these years later. but i feel i got a very good education in public schools in new york and i feel immensely privileged to have had these opportunities to serve. >> well, sit a privilege to have this time with you. thank you so much.

>> thank you so much, stephanie. my pleasure. >> thank you. >> and it was a privilege to listen to that interview and witness this conversation. thank you, secretary yellen. thank you, stephanie for that interview. when we come back, right wing activists are recruiting some of their own poll workers in key swing states. how that could impact trust in our election system when "the 11th hour" continues. ection sysh 11th hour" continues system helps you sell at every stage of your business. with fast and secure payment. card readers you can rely on. and one place to manage it all. whatever the stage, businesses that grow grow with shopify.

some of the same right wing activists who pushed false claims of election fraud in 00, well, they are now recruiting poll workers in swing states in 2024. that's according to new reporting from propublica and wisconsin watch. experts say those poll workers could both inject more distrust into the public and help boost, bolster court cases that challenge election results. with me tonight to discuss more is juanita tolliver, msnbc political analyst and author, and msnbc senior political analyst matthew dowd. matt, this is very important as juanita and i were discussing as she came on set, the fake electors plot, it started in the states the last time. it got out of the states and made its way all the way up to the united states congress, but

what does this particular plot now, this plan that we see, what does this mean for election day and also the days after? >> well, think you're right to say in 2020 it was more happenstance and it sort of emerged a bit organically at times and didn't get organized until the very end. the difference this time is it's more funded and it's better organized and there's more people leading it in a state by state basis to do this, which is scary on one hand. so on one hand we have a more better funded, better organized nefarious actors in the course of this. the good news is, which we have to obviously protect dock and i people's right to vote, making sure their vote skounts and all of that, is we have a more robust system in place where laws have been passed, where secretaries of state and governors have put ? place, you know, things to hold this in place, and we have better people running the system this is time than we did last time. we have better varies of state in many of these states doing it

in a better way. and so, yes, it's more organized, yes, it's better funded, but i think we have more robust systems in place this time than in 2020. >> it is, juanita, it's one of the functions, frankly that came out of the revelations of these fake elector plots and attempted disruptions, if you will, in the states. legislation was passed, now people are paying attention. right now poll workers all over the country, including in glean bay, wisconsin, they are preparing for really all kinds of situations they could face. they are game dating some different scenarios. do you think that most americans really understand how much preparation, effort is now going into this process? and to be clear, the majority of these people are volunteers. >> right. i want to emphasize that, because what i think about in this scenario is, yes, you have election officials at the state and local levels who have been

doing this for years. i'm talking elections upon elections. so they know what they're doing, even when republicans will be deploying their kind of far right volunteers in this effort. but who i think about is those evolunteers. i think about shea moss and ruby freeman. imagine them being harassed in the moment they're counting votes, not just online, not after the election, but in that moment. that's what i'm concerned about. i'm concerned about what protections there are going to be for these election workers when a false claim or a frivolous claim is made by one of these right wing activists. the other piece is, we know they're planted there to find evidence for the court cases that trump didn't have evidence for in 2020. all of those claims were dismissed in courts across the country, because they were frivolous and baseless. now what these individual who is can say they saw anything, they can just find evidence here to support whatever claims will come dependent upon the election outcome. and this should raise red flags for every person watching.

>> red flags, i think it's really important to note to folks that there are, to matt's point, systems in place right now that will protect the folks that volunteer their time at the polls these election days. so i encourage everyone to go out there and volunteer to be a poll worker, okay? sit your service to the country. i think we can all agree on that. matt, let's switch gears, because there's a new book out, and according to it mitch mcconnell privately referred to donald trump as quote,unquote stupid and a despicable human being after the 2020 election. i don't think that those sxhents shock anyone knowing what happened. obviously we're talking about between the 2020 election and january 6th. how mitch mcconnell, even kevin mccarthy, lots of republicans had schois words for trump then but now are supporting him how much do these two men dislike each other and does it matter he said this then? he gave his tapes over to the

president who wrote this book, and now mitch mcconnell's still like, yes, but i'm voting for donald trump. >> well, i think like each of you, i tend to judge people by what they do, not what they say. and i think mitch mcconnell, like many republicans, who says all these negative things, he said that donald trump was unfit for office but simultaneously while mitch mcconnell was majority leader helped facilitate donald trump in all his power moves and everything he did, including mitch mcconnell stood up and would not impeach donald trump. i don't know how you don't impeach somebody you think is unfit for office in the course of this. they have hated each other, mitch mcconnell and donald trump, they don't like each other, but in the end, i actually in many ways am more disturbed by people like mitch mcconnell and others like him than donald trump. donald trump is who he is. he doesn't make any real bones about who he is, and this is how he acts. these people like to act by leaking this stuff and saying i don't care for donald trump.

when the time comes to take a stand and do something about it, they refuse to do it. >> watch people's actions, they matter. juanita, let's switch gears, new topic. "the washington post" is reporting that democrats have seized control of the fundraising race in very key house and senate races. house and senate, i think there are a lot of democrats that are very optimistic about the house, some folks who are not as bullish about the senate. but senator gary peters might like to have a word on that. how can this make a difference? >> these races were always going to be an uphill battle, but i'm glad they are getting this attention and energy, because without control of congress, a potential harris administration wouldn't be very effective in getting a lot done. and so i'm glad that this injection of cash is happening, because it shows momentum. it shows energy. it shows ability and resources to invest in closing messaging and get out the vote campaigns as part of the coordinated

efforts in these states and these localities. of course, it doesn't guarantee a win, but it shows democrats have an advantage they can leverage here. my two follow-up questions to this leverage is how much came from within the district and the state that can be translated into more volunteer shifts turning out voters. and the other part is how much are republicans hampered by the fact that the rnc is helping trump out with his legal bills. this is showing the resource suck that donald trump is for that party. >> donald trump has not transferred key cash or done key fundraisers for some of these down ballot races. it could make a difference. we'll be watching, people are voting, literally. election day is the end, as i like to say, of voting, not the -- coming up, snoop dogg, he does it all. the new skill he's adding to his resume. you can't wait to see this. that's when "the 11th hour" continues. e this that's when "the 11th hour continues. defining mousse.

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the last thing before we go tonight. cloudy with a chance of snoop dogg. the olympics tomorrow this kitchen, we've seen snoop dogg do it all and now he's revealed another talent. weatherman. >> let me get this weather together. >> we prepared a special map. touch the map and you will see some special snoop cities. for example, -- >> it's 57 degrees and mary jane falls, nevada?

then i heard it would be 57 in colorado. it's when it's nice and hot and misty outside, 84 in blunt, south dakota. sliding down to this area, above-average eyes. 70 degrees in missouri. over here, we stay lucky in kentucky. 60 as we blaze and blaze, kentucky. over here, we have pottsville, pennsylvania where it will be 60 degrees. download on the go at high point, get that? high point, north carolina, 61. >> that's the best one we've ever had. that's what's going on around the country. actually, snoop 's country. >> okay. watch out. snoop could be coming for