president harris. i'll take a look at part of their conversation. >> a little over two weeks until the election. i have to ask you about your opponent. he used a very ugly term about you last night, using the s word as vice president. and how do you react to this kind of street talk from someone who wants to be president again, that was president? i have known you a long time, and i know you have thick skin, i am not asking you as a person, because i know you are used to that. but what does it do, in your opinion, for the standards we are setting for our young people all over the country, when we are using this kind of locker room street talk about an opponent for president of the united states? >> so, the american people deserve so much better. that's how i come at it. and to your point, the

president of the united states must set a standard. not only for our nation, but understanding the standard that we as a nation must set for the world. you know, we -- representing the united states of america, walk into rooms around the world with the earned and self- appointed authority to talk about the importance of democracy, rule of law. and have been thought of as a role model, and perfect though we may be, and a role model of what it means to be committed to certain standards, including international rules and norms, but also standards of decorum. and what you see in my opponent, a former president of the united states, really is -- it demeans the office. and i have said, and i am very clear about this, donald trump should never again stand behind the

seal of a president of the united states. he has not earned the right. he has not earned the right. and that is why he is going to lose. >> you can all watch much more of the exclusive interview with vice president harris on politics nation today at 5:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. a day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters. welcome everyone to while alex witt reports. we begin with decision 2024, the race to the white house. according to the polls, it's a fight to the finish, now 16 days away. a new poll shows more than half of voters are less likely to vote for a candidate who says trump won the 2020 election. new today, virginia becomes the 17th state where early voters can now cast a ballot in person.

the nbc news tracker showing more than 13 1/2 million votes have been cast already, and today, vice president kamala harris is courting churchgoers and pole events in georgia where the congregation celebrated today her 60th birthday day. and the harris campaign is energized after a week of celebrity appearances. among them, mark cuban and usher at a get out the vote event in georgia yesterday. that's when vp harris warned voters about donald trump's plans for healthcare. >> the man is going to threaten the health insurance of 45 million americans based on a concept and take us back to when insurance companies had the power to deny people with pre-existing conditions. you remember what that was? well -- we are not going back.

and you fall out today from trump's bizarre remarks during his rally in pennsylvania. he discussed the anatomy of the late golfer arnold palmer and launched profanity laced attacks on harris. >> this man was strong and tough, and i refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there and they said, oh, my god. that is unbelievable. tell comp kamala harris that you've had enough. but you just can't take it anymore. we can't stand you. you were a -- vice president. >> here's how surrogates for both campaigns reacted on the talk shows. >> don't say it again. we don't have to say it. i get it. when president trump is at a rally, sometimes he will speak for 2 straight hours. you are questioning his stamina, his mental acuity. joe biden couldn't do that for

5 minutes. he has fun at the rallies. he says things off-the-cuff. i've been in those events and i've been in those arenas, and people have a great time at those arenas. you can cherry pick a few words or lines out of eight two hour event -- >> whether you are conservative, or moderate, saying really -- we have major issues facing this country. is this the kind of human being that we want as president of the united states? >> it's another hectic campaign day on both sides, so here's a look at the crowds that are lining the route to his next event in lancaster, pennsylvania. trump and harris are both going to be in pennsylvania today with trump attending the steelers jets game later on. senator jd vance is in wisconsin today well tim walz will end his day in michigan. and here is part of a report on the race in michigan from nbc's steve kornacki. >> look at that. michigan, the average there. harris by 1/10 of one point.

it really doesn't get closer than that. let's dive into michigan and what we are going to be looking at in the home stretch and in michigan game night. go back to the last election year. you just heard from barack obama there. barack obama and the democrats won michigan handily. trump, of course, flipped it barely in 2016, and then it moved a little bit back to the democrats in 2020. the key is, between 2012 and 2020, the trump era, the state as a whole got a lot less democratic. >> we got reporters and analysts in place covering these developments for us. we begin in georgia where harris has been encouraging black congregants to get out the vote. allie rafer is monitoring that from atlanta. what is kamala harris doing to try to shore up support among white voters today? >> yeah, alex. the harris campaign's efforts are specifically targeting

black men, and that is because we know even though harris does enjoy the support from the majority of black male voters, when you compare her popularity among this group to that of president biden when he was the democratic nominee, you do see a slip in support. we are seeing more and more black men say that they are open to voting for former president trump. we are expressing a desire to just sit out this election in general. and so because the harris campaign knows how incredibly close this election is expected to be, they are trying to level out the playing field here and try to erode some of that support by black men for former president trump. knowing that even the slightest bit of a difference could make a difference on election day. so you are seeing this massive effort from the harris campaign court those voters. and i can tell you, having spoken with several black men since i've been on the ground here in atlanta, the reviews and the outcome that we are getting is really mixed. i spoke with some who are supporting harris, saying that they believe that misinformation plays a role in

why some black men could be supporting former president trump, and some of them say they don't believe the poll numbers are right about this. listen to their comments here. >> i really believe it is misinformation. they are just not aware. and truly, honestly, i remember in the first election, with donald trump, he was saying he's a great businessman. and it felt like he has great business acumen. and so a lot of people gravitated to him because of that. >> i think a lot of them don't watch a lot of politics, so they are just going off of their checkbook. and by that, i mean he gave them money. since he gave the money, that's why they think that he is good. >> harris has been in atlanta today, as you mentioned at the top there, courting the faithful here, going to these

church services this morning. at one of them, we did see george's senator raphael warnock who really didn't mince words about this specific issue. he told a congregation, quote, this talk about black men voting for the other, he said i don't believe it. he said the real threat is not trump, but not showing up. he had the men in the congregation there stand up and chant, quote, real men vote. >> thank you so much from atlanta. that's where nbc embed julie frankel is joining us ahead of a trump town hall later today. let's talk about donald trump's visit to a mcdonald's there. how did it go? >> yeah, alex. the former president wrapping up a visit to the a mcdonald's here in battleground pennsylvania. this is something that he has been talking about on the campaign trail for weeks now. not only teasing this visit, but accusing vice president kamala harris without evidence of never having worked at a mcdonald's years ago. as she said she did. is now also claiming that with this visit, he is now worked at

a mcdonald's for 15 more minutes than harris ever did. i want you to hear what else he said after that stop. take a listen. >> i love mcdonald's, i love jobs. i like to see good jobs, and i think it's inappropriate when someone puts down all over the place that she worked at mcdonald's. it was a big part of her resume that she worked at mcdonald's. she specifically worked at the french fry, making the french fries. >> and as you mentioned, alex, of next for the former president, is going to participate in a town hall here in lancaster, pennsylvania. you can see the crowd already filing it behind me, followed by a steelers jets game in pittsburgh. tomorrow, he's hitting another battleground state for multiple stops across the state there as he courts these critical swing state voters in the last 16 days until november 5th. >> thank you for the very latest from lancaster.

joining me now, we have molly john fast, special correspondent for vanity fair. we all have a lot to lose if trump wins. we also have melanie's and nona, corresponded for punch bowl news. good to see you both. so molly first. the last 24 hours have been, to use a technical term, nuts. what is your assessment of how vp harris is handling trump's profanity and increasingly vulgar insults? >> she is been good. it's an impossible situation. the stuff he said on the stump is -- the stuff about arnold palmer was so sort of beyond the pale that i think a lot of mainstream journalists even had trouble figuring out how to cover it. i had to listen to it multiple times to make sure it was right. it was so meandering and strange. and look, he has gotten increasingly strange, and she

just is staying the course. it's like he is sort of doing for her in this last stretch. we will see what happens, but i do think as a democrat, you could not ask for him to be doing weirder stuff. >> really, you look at the reaction from the crowd behind him as he's doing that, as i'm trying to say, did he just say that? they're cracking up and thinking it is so funny and entertaining. it is extraordinary, melanie. it is kind of like the sacred and the profane. yesterday, we saw vp harris courting black churchgoers in north carolina. a few days ago, trump went to the al smith dinner for catholic charities, but then he proceeded to drop profanity. then we heard similar remarks yesterday. our folks on capitol hill reacting to these very different approaches in the closing weeks? >> yeah, it's a tale of two candidacies. the speaker mike johnson this morning, who was on air, and he was very defensive about these comments and said, he is cherry picking.

a couple of different things, and trump speaks for two hours. look, that is true. this is gold for the, harris campaign. in her closing stretch year, she's been trying to make the argument that trump is unfit. he is unhinged. i think she is really leaning into that message in the final weeks. she has even said, listen to what he says. is a lot of people have amnesia about what the trump presidency was like. and i think these types of vulgar comments, they might juice up the base. i know the base loves that stuff. you saw the crowd reacting, but it really turns off a lot of middle-of-the-road voters, suburban moms, the exact type of voter might be on the fence or an anti-trump republican. so trump is really doing nothing to try to appeal to those voters. he appears to be trying to double down on his maga base, where you seem kamala harris making a concerted effort to try to reach those persuadable voters. she is doing the poll events,

and the campaign trail has two very different candidacies here in the final stretch. >> let me take this a step further. how might women voters reacted trump's language to describe vp harris? does this kind of talk pose a risk for trump with his own female supporters? >> i think the best example of people freaking out about this was that trump was on fox and friends last week, and the fox and friends anchors were like, don't you want to appeal to women? don't you think you should take nikki haley with you? on the campaign? and he couldn't even say something nice about nikki haley. so yes, clearly he should reach out to women, but you know, trump has just sort of given up on that and is almost completely about doubling down on the base, trying to get those low propensity ones and twos out there, and not really caring about the middle of the road, the voters who might hold their noses and vote for him anyway. >> let me ask you then, melanie, a question that is going to try to get to the why. could it be a deliberate

strategy to connect with, say, blue-collar voters? or is it a sign of exhaustion from the campaign grind, or possibly waning mental acuity for donald trump? >> alex, it's hard to imagine that talking about a golfers is a concerted political strategy. what i will say, though, is there is a slice of the male population who looks up to donald trump because he just says whatever he wants. he presents as the sort of macho man. he has a beautiful wife, a wealthy, successful man. so i do think it not sense, he leans into that, he recognizes that resonates with some of the local voters and him of the base. but i will tell you behind the scenes, speaking to his advisers, they have just been begging him for month to try to stick to the script, to talk to the issues, because they think even though there are women and

independents were turned off by his behavior, at the end of the day, they want to support his policies and are skeptical about a kamala harris residency. it seems like the last few weeks, they have just given up on that. they have given the ball to trump and he is just running with it. >> yeah, okay. molly and melanie, stick around. there's a lot to talk about still, including what a new nbc poll says how voters feel about abortion rights. we are back in a quick 90 seconds. seconds. easy to apply for the whole family. vicks vapostick. and try new vaposhower max for steamy vicks vapors. with bugs, the struggle—is—real. that's why you need zevo traps. zevo attracts and traps bugs 24/7 using a blue and uv light with no odor and no mess for effortless protection.

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voters are far less likely to back candidate who is a former president trump won the 2020 election, or candidates who support the overturning of roe v wade. it also shows 52% more likely to vote for a candidate who backs a federal right to abortion. and voters pretty much evenly split on leaving abortion laws up to each state. here's what elizabeth warren said about this today. >> i think we need to talk about what donald trump has done to half the population on abortion. what it is that donald trump -- he is falling apart in front of our eyes. we see this man who is becoming increasingly unhinged. this is not what all of america wants. i get it. there are people who go to trump rallies, and there are people who eat that with a spoon. but that is not all of america. >> molly and melanie are back with me now. is this the critical point as we close in on these last two

weeks of this race that trump's vision and marketing does not represent all of america? does it feel so tight right now. well, is it half? >> right. that's the anxiety, but i do think it is worth when we talk about abortion for a minute, you know, every -- and again, we don't know what's going to happen in 2024. but every election since the overturning of roe, abortion has ended up being a humongous issue. and i think it gets less attention because it is a, quote unquote, women's issue. we are seeing more and more the effects of overturning roe. we are seeing pregnant women unable to get first trimester medical care in red states because of the overturning of roe, and i think we are going to see that this is a much bigger issue than even -- you know, than it has gotten the kind of attention probably deserves. >> melanie, let's listen to what former president obama told voters yesterday in las vegas. here is that.

>> i get why people are looking to shift things up. it's understandable. i understand it. what i cannot understand -- is why anybody would think that donald trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you. because there is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself. he wants to sell you -- word of god, donald trump edition. he's got his name right there next to matthew and luke. and by the way, i'll give you one guess where those bibles are made. in china. this is mr. tough guy on china. except when he can make a few bucks. >> michelle obama will also be on the campaign trail next

weekend. is there any indication that the obama's are helping harris pick up new voters, or perhaps unmotivated democrats? >> that is certainly the hope, right? you see why he is such a good or a tour on the trail, getting the crowd fired up, sticking to the key talking points that kamala harris wants him to be talking about. and they are also going to be deploying michelle obama in the final stretch. i think she could be a real closer for them. as we are seeing that key parts of the democratic coalition has softened, or there are signs that some black men are starting -- and hispanic men are thinking about voting for donald trump, if you like barack obama can be a really strong messenger for that community. is a powerful, important voice. one thing i would say is i think there is this narrative out there that black men can be wrist constable for giving trump the presidency. but overwhelmingly, lack men are overwhelmingly going to vote for kamala harris and democratic. it is a small size of the population, but in a race that

is so razor thin and so tight, every vote matters. that's what you are seeing, harris put such an emphasis on this in the closing stretch. >> molly, let's go back to abortion because it is the number one motivating issue for voters in the latest poll. trump is obviously seeing similar numbers, hence his big pivot on abortion. is there any indication that voters believe him on his changing position? you think it's going to win him any new voters? >> so this is a big question with donald trump getting away with this sort of suspension of disbelief or he will say stuff and people will say, he's not really going to do that. or he really is pro-choice, despite the fact that he appointed the supreme court justices who did overturn roe. and the answer is, i think abortion is a loser for him, and i think he knows it. that's why he keeps trying to

weave -- really weave on abortion and say it's up to the states, and say people were happy with the decision. i think he knows. he has seen the internal polling on this, and i think, you know, he has a very large part of the base that is really only with him because of his antichoice stance. so this is not an easy situation for him. he has really painted himself into a corner. >> harris has been hammering her abortion and economy messages while trump has more or less meandered. here's how she put it. listen to this. >> when he does answer a question or speak at a rally, have you noticed he tends to go off script and ramble? and generally for the life of him cannot finish a thought. and he has called it the weave. but we here call it nonsense. >> and yet, they are still neck

and neck. so is her message resonating? >> yeah. i mean, she has only in recent weeks really started to talk about donald trump's character. i think because she has such a truncated campaign in the first few weeks, few months, she was really focused on introducing herself to voters, rolling out what she would do in terms of policy proposals, how she would handle a trump white house, and now she's finally talking about what a trump white house would look like, and she is trying to frame it in terms of democracy being on the line, that he is unfit. it is such a close race, though. we will have to see whether that messaging is working, but it is really fascinating, especially when you look at the advertising dollars being spent here in the final weeks, that they are increasingly talking about donald trump and what is at stake. i think you will see more of that in the weeks ahead. >> melanie and molly, i will expect to see you again. we are 16 more days, so maybe a couple three more appearances. coming up next, we talk about a terrible and to a historic

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>> right now in georgia, investigators are trying to figure out what caused a gangway to collapse, killing seven people when they plunged into the water. and it happened that what was supposed to be an historic celebration. jesse kirsch is in darien, georgia for us. what a tragedy. what is the latest there?

what if you uncovered about how this happened? >> right, the investigation still appears to be very much in the early days, but officials are referring to this as something that appears to have been a catastrophic failure of this aluminum gangway. we were able to survey the site of this horrific scene earlier today. and what i can describe for you is we saw a floating dock, and then a bunch of open water, and then the dock leading onto the mainland. are supposed to be a gangway connecting the two, and that is what collapsed into the water. we can still see a portion of it were most of it appears to be submerged in the depths. the water is not clear, so you can imagine how that might have complicated rescue operations. officials tell us seven people have died. there were at one point roughly 20 people, that's the estimate, in the water. we spoke with a woman of short time ago who said she was one of the people fell in the water, was on the gangway, heard buckling, felon, cannot swim, was able to get herself flipped over onto heba