inability to respect and follow the constitution. this star-studded rally will opportunity as we told you, we'll hear from former president obama and kamala harris. it comes at a time when the cambane is balancing these stark warnings about donald trump's references to hitler and his dictatorial qualities while also doinger gotv, and news breaking that beyonce will make her first in-person campaign rally appearance for kamala harris tomorrow in her native houston. you go from eminem in detroit with obama to tonight what you just saw, springsteen, obama, and harris. to houston tomorrow. a big campaign week. thanks for spending time with us. "the reidout" with joy reid starts now. we begin "the reidout" tonight in the election's closing stretch. which is why a star-studded rally near atlanta is happening

right now in must-win georgia that includes the boss himself, bruce springsteen who is on your screen now, and spike lee headlining a kamala harris rally with barack obama. this will be the first time vp harris and the former president campaign together for her presidential bid. but it is certainly not the first time they stumped together. back in 2008, when harris was serving as district attorney of san francisco, the rising political star campaigned for obama, speaking at the california democratic primary -- democratic party state convention. and just a few years later, as california attorney general, where she, too, not just obama, was getting called the future of the democratic party, harris made multiple appearances at the democratic national convention, where obama was nominated for a second term. there is a long-standing political alliance between these two, and today, barack obama is returning the favor. he is only one of the many

a-listers making the case for harris. let's not forget the former president also rapped for her alongside eminem. and after months of speculation over beyonce making an appearance in this campaign, she, too, will appear tomorrow at a houston rally for kamala harris, with her mom, tina knowles, and country music icon willie nelson. it should not surprise us all. it definitely doesn't surprise me that the biggest names in music and pop culture are joining forces like this. given what's at stake. earlier today, in philadelphia, the vice president reminded america of what this crucial vote will determine. >> we have the choice of a donald trump who will sit in the oval office stewing, plotting revenge, retribution, writing out his enemies list or what i will be doing, which is responding to folks like the folks last night with a to-do list, understanding the need to work on, lifting up the american

people. >> and yet, and here's my cold water, the mainstream media has once again lost the plot with headlines screeching about kamala harris calling trump a fascist, while completely diminishing or even ignoring the fact that the fascism charge came directly from his own people. this is not a kamala harris story, people. stop trying to make deplorables happen again. this is about former members of trump's own administration, john kelly, trump's longest serving white house chief of staff, a retired marine general and someone who is sane telling "the new york times" that trump met the definition of a fascist and would govern like a dictator if given the chance. retired u.s. army general mark milley, trump's joint chiefs of staff chair, also said trump is a fascist to the core. but you wouldn't know it from the news though. instead, these pearl clutching headlines are what made this about harris somehow, harris drops the f-bomb on cnn's town hall, screams "the new york

times," which didn't bother to lead with their own kelly bombshell yesterday. why harris moved from joy to calling trump a fascist. is kamala harris right to call donald trump a fascist, muses the economist? i don't know, according to two generals who know him, the answer is yes, hell yes. meanwhile, on earth two, a collective shrug from republicans about the news that their candidate praised hitler. y'all, this should be one of the biggest and most impactful and shocking stories of this election if not of every news cycle we have ever experienced. this is the aublth surprise, but again, it's getting tossed aside like yesterday's news. joining me is pete buttigieg, who is with us tonight in his personal capacity as a surrogate for the harris campaign. pete buttigieg, thank you for being here. i want to ask you as a military veteran to just give me your take on the muted response to not one but two generals saying that the president they worked for, the former president, is indeed a fascist.

and a hitler fan. >> well, it's an -- yeah. it's an extraordinarily big deal. first of all, it's a big deal for somebody with that kind of military background to weigh in on politics at all. that's not something that someone like general kelly or general milley would do lightly. but the other thing that's amazing is these aren't just faceless people from the national security establishment. john kelly was also a political appointee of donald trump. the top political appointee of donald trump. the leader of his white house, his chief of staff. and i can't think of another time in history when an american president had his own chief of staff turn around and say this person is dangerous and has no business near the oval office. just as i can't think of another time when this many republicans have said, you have to vote democrat this time, even though i disagree. i think a lot of republicans have found for them, this is not a policy election. they might agree with us and

with -- or they might disagree with the vice president and with us on any number of social or economic issues. but they believe that something even more important is at stake, and that's what they're saying. the challenge, of course, for the campaign will be to remind everybody about how profoundly important that is, without getting sucked away from the other important issues here, the fact that it is kamala harris and only kamala harris who has a plan to make sure that prices are more affordable in this country, that more housing is built in this country, that the right to choose can be restored in this country, that the child tax credit is expanded in this country, and all of the things that affect people's everyday lives here in michigan, where i'm in detroit as we speak, and around the country as they're deciding both how to vote and for some, deciding whether to vote. >> i'm going to let everyone know you're seeing on the other side of the screen, i believe that's senator raphael warnock who stepped up to the podium outside of atlanta. we're waiting to see barack obama himself who will walk out

onto that stage and take the stage eventually. we have seen bruce springsteen, spike lee. but i want to come back to you, pete, boss you were a mayor in the great state of indiana. not exactly a liberal state. but a state that barack obama managed to carry in 2008 against all odds. you have been a mayor which is as close to the people as you can get in politics. and you spend a fair amount of time on fox news. so you go into earth two and talk to them, so you're very good at that communication. what does the case look like made to let's say somebody from south bend, indiana, as to why they as a core republican, somebody who doesn't particularly like democrats, should reject donald trump? >> well, i think there's -- >> or vote for harris affirmatively? >> yeah. i think really there's three sets of folks overlapping sets of folks we're talking to. first, the american majority who do agree with us on policy, who

are against tax cuts for the rich and upset donald trump took away the right to choose, the national right to choose that every american woman had before he became president and that is now gone. so that's democrats, but that's not only democrats. that's independents and some republicans who will be with us on the policy. that's part one. part two is those who don't agree on policy, but the message is, look, this is about so much more than policy, and that's why you have a coalition that has everybody from aoc to dick cheney in it. that's why you have donald trump's own chief of staff, again, not just some random appointee, but his own chief of staff, by the way, also his own vice president, his own secretary of defense, you go down the list, not supporting him this time around. and then there's a third set of folks, and again, these sets overlap, but i think this is a group we need to speak to as well, who don't like getting up in the morning and thinking about politics all the time. they might care about policies and care about issues but the biggest thing they want is just not to have politics punching them in the face every time they look at the news.

and i think the appeal there is, hey, you have a chance as a lot of people i know in south bend like this and in michigan and my neighbors now who are like, look, i don't want to have to worry about politics every day. can we have less of the drama, less of the chaos, less of the craziness? that's an important appeal to make, especially to people who don't always vote but are deciding to vote. it's a vote to have politics in your face a little less. >> that's an excellent point. an exhaustion election is what i felt 2020 was, which is why i felt it was clear president biden would beat donald trump, but in the interim, what you have had is amnesia about the trump era and people remembering it as the greatest economic era of their lives even though that was obama's economy. when they watch fox, for instance, other than seeing you tell the truth on fox, trump is heavily edited on fox. they don't see his feeble mind at work, they don't see him

slurring and not knowing where he is physically in the world and what state or city he's in. and they also might not really think about fascism. or the concept of democracy. these are things that are not kitchen table issues. do those issues resonate, and can those issues be made to resonate with your average, like you said, exhausted voter who doesn't care about politics but if you explain fascism to them, might care? >> i think the important thing is that all of those arguments point in the same direction. whether you're concerned about the trajectory of u.s. democracy and these questions of democracy versus authoritarianism, obviously, that points you toward voting for kamala harris who is why even many conservative republicans are saying you have to be for harris. also, i think those kitchen table issues travel in the same direction. there are a lot of people at home who if they're in a certain information environment might not be hearing about some really important basic results that are important to them on economics

or public safety. a lot of people haven't heard about the way murders went up under donald trump and the way violent crime has gone down after he got beat and left office. i recently saw a statistic that said that something like half of americans believe that unemployment is at a 50-year high, when of course, the truth is it's near a 50-year low. and rather than judge those folks, i think the most important thing is to recognize that if i got my information from the sources and only the sources that they get their information from, then how would i know any different? that's why we have to cut across those information bubbles. one way to do it is to go on fox, but really it's neighbor to neighbor conversations. i was with a group from the afl-cio going out to talk to fellow union members, talking to family members, which can be uncomfortable. it's one of the hardest things in politics, talk to someone you already know about why it matters so much, but it will cut across and make a difference. >> spoken by somebody who knows how to do it.

pete buttigieg, thank you very much. and now let's bring in my panel, msnbc political analyst and former senator claire mccaskill. myles taylor, former chief of staff, currently an adviser to represent us, a nonpartisan organization fighting against political corruption, and alencia johnson, political strategist and senior adviser to the harris campaign. i'm going to come to you first, alencia. what i was talking to pete about is the reality that it is a very edited version of donald trump that exists in the world that a lot of people's information bubble, people who are in that right-wing information bubble. i want to give an example. donald trump did this barbershop interview, the black guy from the comfy couch in the morning is doing these barbershop conversations. here's how cnn reported on it. trump has been complaining about 60 minutes editing kamala harris, but they edited trump's rambling answers and his false claims. one of the most telling parts of the dialogue began when an

audience member asked trump about finding a way to eliminate federal taxes in the future. on fox, trump was shown immediately answering, but the response came more than seven minutes later, after trump and mr. jones brought up other topics including inhairitant, the keystone pipeline, transgender sports players. here's what people saw on fox if they watched the town hall. take a listen. >> my question is, with all this extra revenue we're going to be bringing into the country, do you believe at some point in time we could find a way once the country is back on its feet and getting enough revenue and paid off our debt, do you think it's possible to eliminate federal taxes. >> there is a way. there is a way. >> okay, now here's -- i'm not going to play all seven minutes of it, but here's about a minute of the actual answer. >> part of the question is federal taxes. what are you -- >> oh, we're cutting taxes.

we're cutting taxes. she's raising taxes. >> mr. president, will there be a seniority tax? >> they want to end that. >> an additional tax cut? >> we're cutting them further. because we're using what's underground. we're using the wealth, again, energy is so big. >> i'm sorry, i'm assuming my initial question i asked, i think i have a quick second to do so. when it comes to federal taxes, i know we're -- i'm sure you're going to start back up the pipeline, the keystone pipeline which is going to generate an abundance of revenue. also, with the tariffs that you have spoken that in itself is going to bring a lot of money to the country. >> don't listen to the fake news. wall street jerks. because they don't get it. >> if your grandpa talked like that, you would start looking for a good convalescent home.

>> absolutely. you would force him to retire, quite frankly. it's actually disgusting that this is what fox news wants to do, but it's not surprising because they did it actually in the middle of vice president harris' interview where she had to correct them on what donald trump has actually said. fox news is going to go down in history as the news outlet that normalized this extremely dangerous, not only rhetoric but behavior from donald trump. it is disgusting to see that they continue to try to make sure they want to make sure he wins, but actually, if we remember in 2020, they were sued for going along with his plot. so it's interesting to figure out what is their motive here and watering down what he's saying and trying to normalize his quite frankly his rambling and word salads that we can't even make sense of. we can't even report on his potential policy because he doesn't talk about policy and then they edit it this way.

thank goodness for msnbc for doing real journalism. we have to decipher through the truth because the tapes they're showing are not the truth. >> the atlanta black barbershop owner said he has lost business since that interview. this is tyler perry who just stepped up. in some ways the king of atlanta. let me get claire, because of his huge movie studio down there. let me go to you real quick, claire. because the task that kamala harris has to accomplish is that she is taking, you know, i rarely quote van jones, i'm going to quote him now, she's taking a different exam than donald trump. she has to be super specific and perform perfectly, whereas donald trump gets graded on a hell of a curve. she's now trying to make her closing argument. what does she need to accomplish? >> i think she needs to keep emphasizing that she's looking at you and he's looking in a mirror. she cares about you, he cares

about himself. that's a contrast that resonates, i think, with a majority of americans. and here's the thing, you know what's really weird about this election? i have given this a lot of thought, because i don't know about you, but everywhere i go, people go how it can be this close? one-third of the people who are voting for donald trump don't believe a word he says. and they're voting for him because they don't believe him. they don't believe he's going to be a dictator on day one, they don't believe he's going to use the military to go after his political enemies. they don't believe he's going to put a 20% tariff across the board. they believe he's going to cut their taxes and cut government regulation and that's what they care about. they don't believe any of the rust of the stuff he says. shame on them. two-thirds of the people voting for donald trump think everything he says is the gospel, that somehow keystone pipeline is going to generate revenue for america, that somehow the tariffs which are just going to increase their prices on everyday goods when it's across the board and not

surgical and strategic, that somehow that is going to make their lives better and somehow bring in so much money, they don't have to pay federal taxes. i mean, it's ludicrous, and the one-third that believe he's lying about everything know how ludicrous it is. they are in on the joke, and they're going, go ahead, trump, con those people. be a carnival barker. make them believe that you can remove the taxes on social security and everything else you're saying and maybe never have federal taxes. go for it, guy, because you're going to cut our taxes and make sure we stay billionaires. and meanwhile, elon musk is handing out million dollar checks to prove to everybody that you can buy an election if you're the richest man in the world. >> yeah. i mean, and myles, that is really what republican politics has come down to. an endless grift. it is conning ordinary people who are just concerned about the price of eggs and milk and saying no, no, no, if you just send a deposit to this bank

account, we'll write you back a check for $5,000. like an old phone scam that donald trump is constantly running on people, and they're buying it. donald trump, one of his latest emissions from his truth social, 60 minutes should be immediately taken off the air, election interference. they should lose their license, the biggest scandal in broadcast history. why? because they edited the kamala harris interview. but they edited a coherent interview to make it shorter, to fit into an hour. fox is editing donald trump to make him sound like he doesn't have dementia. and yet people are buying this scam because to claire's point, he's selling them this dream that they can never pay taxes again and it will be paid by some magical tariff. why is this so effective? >> well, joy, i think we have had a couple guests that have hinted that tonight. secretary buttigieg and senator mccaskill talking about how

extraordinary this is that it is a coin flip election. given everything that we have witnessed, really, over the past eight years, every we know about the former president, how are we in a 50/50 situation? and certainly you can talk about the former president, you can talk about republican politics, but there's even something deeper and more fundamental that i think even if donald trump loses this election, i'm not sure that we have reckoned with yet. and that gives me a lot of pause, and for folks who want the former president to lose, there is still on the back end of that an enormous amount of anger from his supporters that's engrained in the echo chamber that they're in that i worry about from a national security and public safety standpoint being unleashed. we can't soon forget this is an election cycle that has seen multiple assassination attempts. by the way, not just against the former president. there was an fbi disrupted plot

this year against president biden in utah, to assassinate him. we are in uncharted territory, and secretary buttigieg said that earlier. this is -- we always say every election cycle that it's a historic election. i was at an event tonight with senator mark warner and he made the joke we say that every single cycle, this is the most important election to vote. this is that most historic election, but the reasons are really fundamentally as a people, it's not that the election is a coin flip, it's that we as a country are divided 50/50 in the firmest way we have been. >> indeed. let me note that a suspect in a shooting at a harris campaign office in tempe, arizona, was apparently preparing for a mass casualty act, according to prosecutors. that is the situation we're in. people who don't believe elections are real are shooting up campaign offices. we're going to take a quick break. president obama's speech starts any moment. we're going to sneak in a commercial break and we'll come back with president obama. ama.

my panel is back with me, former senator claire mccaskill, myles taylor, and alencia johnson. we just talked about the suspect in tempe, arizona, who was planning mass casualty event because he's an election denier. 60-year-old man, jeffrey michael kelly. do you believe that donald trump is an influence over potential real violence in this election and how concerned are you about donald trump's mental stability? >> joy, i hadn't seen that news before you referenced it, and just before the break, and we were talking about the potential for political violence, and you bring up that story. look, i think that obviously, in the last eight years, the political rhetoric has gotten

turned up dramatically, including and especially by the former president. now, a lot of folks will say, well, words are just words. you can't tie that to violence. the concern that i have is we are seeing a very tight correlation between the increase in charged political rhetoric and acts of violence. and acts of violence that in some cases have ended up actually fatally. we have seen that in think about the shooting at the grocery store in buffalo that targeted black americans and individuals cited a warped political ideology. we saw this in texas at the shooting in the walmart where dozens of people were killed, dozens more wounded, and a sharp political ideology used as justification. this is not coming out of nowhere, and the one that you and i have talked about before that i really see all the time is with public servants who are scared for their lives to be in office. we have seen a ten-fold increase in death threats to members of congress, people who have been on this program who are members of congress who looked out their windows at night and seen men

with guns coming to their houses to threaten them just because they wanted to serve their country in elected office. that's the environment we're in. the rhetoric has jumped the tracks to violence. it's a very serious national security concern in this country. >> claire, yet where are your former colleagues on the other side of the aisle? republicans are either silent or making excuses for the violence that they themselves face if they run crossways of donald trump. why are republicans so silent? is it all cowardice? is liz cheney the only republican with cahones. she seems to be tougher than every single republican man in washington, including mitch mcconnell. >> first, i think we ought to acknowledge we have more republicans and certainly more former members of a president's staff and cabinet refusing to support him than ever in history, and we have bunch of

republicans out there, we had the republican mayor in wisconsin today, a republican county, a republican mayor come out and say he cannot vote for donald trump. he voted for biden four years ago but he wouldn't say it out loud, but he said it out lout today. and that's happening all over the country, so first, there's more than just liz cheney. it's really becoming something that's obvious to people. but the reason my republican colleagues in the senate are doing this is because one very simple thing. mitch mcconnell wants power. he wants his party to have power. and they think they can manage trump. they don't think he's that smart. they think they can work around him. they think they can coddle him and flatter him kind of like the dictators think. and that he will go along with what they want. they are part of that one-third i talked about. they don't really believe that he is going to do or that he will be capable of doing all the things he is saying. so it's like, oh, he's just doing that because that's how he

wins. and if he wins, we win because we have more power. it is cynical. it is ugly. and i agree with liz cheney. some day, the history books will show them the shame they deserve for not standing up to somebody who is violating all the ideals that we hold dear in america. >> i would add the governor of georgia to that list, brian kemp, who stood up to trump and yet is supporting him in this election, but his former lieutenant governor, geoff duncan, is on the list of the brave and the courageous who are standing and taking country before party. so we'll give geoff duncan since we're looking at georgia now, you saw tyler perry, before we get to president obama. you know the former president. you worked for the obama campaign. talk about this alliance, the super friends coming together. >> this is like the avengers that we wanted to come and save us. i think coming from this conversation of the political violence can the darkness, this is the light we need to root out the darkness, and it also makes

me think this conversation, thinking about obama, i never thought i would say this, i miss running against john mccain or mitt romney. remember that video that goes viral all the time of mccain checking that woman who was saying all of that crazy rhetoric around president obama, calming down the political violence. we can have differences. we fight those at the ballot box and then get to business. >> he checked his own vice presidential running mate. >> and we didn't see political violence after that. i miss that era of politics, but this alliance that we are seeing, this energy, i tell people all the time, i haven't actually felt this since 2008. with the friends who don't really get involved in politics besides voting, calling and saying they're about to do phone banking, they have first-time voters in their families. i have seen even on social media, this woman said her 13-year-old signed up for the rally because they were so excited. that coalition gives me hope

that election day will go the way in which the majority of the country actually wants it to go. >> you're seeing tyler perry here. this kind of cultural stuff, there's an argument whether it matters. i would think people who watch tyler perry movies, they may be super political, some of them. a lot of them are church ladies. >> that's my mama. >> right, so the question is, how relevant, how important is it to have a spike lee, a tyler perry, a bruce springsteen, and it was important to obama. >> it's extremely important because culture is how we humanize our experiences. i talk about this in my class at georgetown where i'm a fellow and how culture actually precedes sometimes our politics. i know president obama is coming so i will be quiet. >> a tv guest who knows she was going to be brutally cut off because he here he comes, the first black president of the united states, barack hussein obama greeting tyler berry. let's listen in to the action in georgia.

♪♪ >> hello, georgia. are you fired up? are you ready to go? it is good to be back in georgia. good to be back in atlanta. and this is quite a lineup you have had here. you got my buddy, bruce springsteen. you got tyler perry. you got a couple of guys from those capital one commercials. if that doesn't get you fired up to vote, i don't know what will. now, you've heard this already, i am going to repeat it.

we are going to keep repeating it. here in georgia, early voting has already started. so if you have not already, go vote. return your absentee ballot. if you're going to vote, remember to bring your photo id. if you need to figure out where to go, go to iwillvote.com/ga. and then you get your friends and you get your family to make a plan to vote. because together, we have a chance to choose a new generation of leadership in this country. and start building a better and stronger and fairer and more hopeful america. now, i love you too.

now, we know -- we know this election is going to be tight. because a lot of americans are still struggling. as a country, we have been through a lot. as a country, we have been through a lot over the last few years. we had a historic pandemic that wreaked havoc on communities and businesses. and then disruptions from the pandemic caused price hikes that put a strain on family budgets. and people feel like no matter how hard they work, sometimes it feels like they're just treading water. so i get why people are looking to shake things up. 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. i have said it before. donald trump is a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down that golden escalator nine years ago. and when he's not complaining, when he's not sending out crazy tweets, he's trying to sell you stuff. he's trying to sell you gold sneakers. trying to sell you a $100,000 watch. trying to sell you a trump bible. wants to sell you the word of god, donald trump edition. got his name right there next to matthew and luke.

now, you cannot make this stuff up. if this was on a saturday night live skit, you would say, well, no, that's crazy. but he's doing it. because all he cares about is his ego. his money, his status. that's his mindset. those are his intensions. and then there's the question of his competence. i mean, have you seen donald trump lately? he out there giving two-hour speeches just word salad. said the other day, january 6th was a day of love, he said that. like it was woodstock or coachella. if your grandpa was acting like this, you'd call up your brother, call up your cousin, say, hey, have you noticed grandpa? he's acting kind of funny right now. but here's the interesting thing. he acts so crazy, and it's

become so common that people no longer take it seriously. i'm here to explain to you just because he acts goofy does not mean his presidency wouldn't be dangerous. and you do not have to take my word for it. lately, some of the people who know donald trump best have been saying in no uncertain terms that he should not be president again. the other day, general john kelly, donald trump's former chief of staff, said that trump told him he wanted his generals to be like hitler's generals. now, don't boo. vote. now, i want to explain that in politics a good rule of thumb is don't say you want to do anything like hitler.

that's just good political advice. but it is useful because it gives us a window into how donald trump thinks. and john kelly isn't the only one saying this. two of his defense secretaries, people who worked for him, said the same thing. his chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, that is the top of the top brass in our military, said he is dangerous. now, i happen to know john kelly and mark milley. they served under me when i was commander in chief. these are serious people. these are -- this is a decorated soldier and marine who served in battle. they are not quote/unquote woke

liberals. they are people who have never in the past even talked about politics because they believe that the military should be above politics. but the reason they're speaking up is because they have seen that in donald trump's mind, the military does not exist to serve the constitution or the american people. he interests.

he said if he's elected he'll use that military to go after, quote, the enemy within. which he defines as anybody who criticizes him. or refuses to bend the knee. he can't handle that. and unlike last time, unlike the first time, he won't have people like john kelly around to stop

him. he'll be surrounded by people who are just as loony as he is. and who will let him do what he wants. and so my question to you, georgia, is how is any of that going to help you? we do not need four years of a wanna be king, a wanna be dictator running around trying to punish his enemies. that's not what you need in your life. america is ready to turn the page. we're ready for a better story. georgia, we're ready for a president kamala harris. and the good news is that kamala harris is ready for the job. this is a leader who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice. who need a champion.

kamala wasn't born into privilege. she was raised in a middle class family. she worked at mcdonald's when she was in college to pay her expenses. she didn't pretend to work at mcdonald's when it was closed. for a photo op. she actually cares what people are going through because she's seen it in her own family, in her own life. as a prosecutor, kamala stood up for children who had been victims of sexual abuse, as attorney general of california, fought the big banks and for-profit colleges. secured billions of dollars for people after they had been scammed. after the home mortgage crisis, kamala pushed me and my administration hard to make sure homeowners got a fair settlement. didn't matter that i was a democrat, that she had knocked on doors for my campaign. she was not going to let anybody stop her from winning as much relief as possible for families

who deserved it. so the point i'm making, if you elect kamala harris, she will not be focused on her problems. her ego, her money. she's going to be focused on you. she's going to be focused on you. kamala understands that too many folks here in georgia and across the country are struggling to pay the bills. now, i understand wages are steadily growing, unemployment is low, inflation is finally slowing. but we all know the price of everything from housing to health care to groceries is still too high, and it hurts. she understands that. the question is, who is really going to do something about it? so donald trump's plan is to give another massive tax cut to billionaires and big corporations. because he was a reality star on "the apprentice," there are some folks who think, well, i don't

know, he's a businessman. he must know something about the economy. i have heard people say this, i talk to them. why would you think about voting for this guy? well, i remember the economy when he first came in, it was pretty good. yeah. yeah, it was good because it was my economy. i had spent -- i had spent -- i had spent eight years cleaning up the mess that the republicans had left me. and then i handed over 75 straight months of job growth to donald trump. and all he did was give tax cuts to folks who didn't need it, drove up the deficit in the process, and now he wants to do it again. you can't give him credit for that.

and then i hear, the other thing i hear, some folks will be like, well, donald trump sent me a check. during the pandemic. no, no, no. y'all know, because i have heard this. i know some of you heard that. hey, let me make sure y'all understand this. joe biden sent you a check during the pandemic. just like i gave people relief during the great recession. the thing is, we didn't put our name on it. because it wasn't about feeding our egos. it wasn't about advancing our politics. it was about helping people. that's the difference. don't be giving him credit for that. come on. he sent you a check. do not fall for that okey-doke.

don't be bamboozled. don't get fooled. and don't get fooled when he talks about health care, either. you ask donald trump what he's going to do to make health care more affordable, his only answer is end obamacare. end the affordable care act. he doesn't really know why he wants to end it except for the fact that i passed it. the problem he's got now is that it's popular. because 50 million people have gotten health care because of it. so, a couple weeks ago, you remember during the vice presidential debate, his running mate had the nerve, had the chutzpah to say that donald trump, quote, salvaged the affordable care act.

donald trump spent his entire presidency trying to tear that thing down. and he couldn't even do that right. and now, eight years after he was elected, when he was asked what are you going to do? he says, well, i have concepts of a plan. for how he would replace it. now, i want you all to think about this for a second. let's say your boss on the job gives you anassignment. says i need it by friday. friday rolls around. your boss says, so did you finish the project i asked you to do? you say, well, i haven't actually started but i have -- i got a concept for a plan. or you can try this at home. honey, did you throw out the trash? i have a concept of a plan to throw out the trash.

how is that going to go over? on the couch, that's how it will go over. if it wouldn't work for you, why should it work for the next president of the united states? the good news is that kamala harris doesn't have concepts of a plan, she got a plan to make your life better. she's going to go after corporations that unfairly jack up prices. she's going to make it easier to build and buy a home. she's going to limit out of pocket health care costs. she's going to give a tax cut to 100 million middle class families and working americans. and if congress passes a bill to restore the reproductive freedom that women had for nearly 50 years, the freedom that donald trump bragged about taking away, kamala will sign it into law.

it's an example of how elections matter. and i have to say, i get why folks get frustrated with politics. i do too sometimes. i don't watch cable news. because sometimes i get why people block it out. it just seems like everybody arguing and fussing. but i always tell people, look, politics. it's not going to solve all your problems. no president is going to eliminate poverty in one term or eliminate racism. because those problems are hard. it takes steps, a little bit at a time, but your vote matters because that little bit of a time, that incremental improvement, that adds up.

and things can get a little better or they can get a little or a lot worse. when i was president, we did not solve all problems with our health care system. but 50 million people getting health insurance that didn't have it before, that made a difference. you know somebody who has health insurance because of it. and i'm going to give you another example. when i was president, we put together an entire playbook for how to deal with a pandemic, because we had dealt with ebola, we dealt with the h1n1 virus. we put together a plan and practiced and had all the agencies, how are we going to deal with schools, the public health ageagencies. and when donald trump came in, we gave him the playbook, and he i guess dropped it in the dust bin. three years later, a pandemic hit. and i want to be fair. listen to me now. no matter who was president, the

pandemic was going to be a huge crisis. people were going to get sick, people were going to die. businesses were going to close. there would be travel restrictions. it was a once in a 100-year event. but if you look at a country like canada, the per capita death rate during covid was 60% lower than it was here in the united states. so you do the math. over a million people died during the pandemic here in the u.s. 60% of over a million, that's 600,000 people. that's grandparents. that's aunts. that's uncles, parents, coworkers, friends. everybody here was touched by it. some people might have been alive if we had a competent administration who was paying attention and trying to do things better instead of talking about injecting bleach into your

arm. now, you remember that if somebody tells you it doesn't make a deference. it will not make things perfect, but it does make a difference. to have somebody who is competent, somebody who sees you, somebody who respects you, somebody who cares about you, somebody who understands your dreams. and you need to remind folks who are still on the sidelines that the election is about more than just policies. it's about values and it is about character. . >> the election is more about policy, it is about character. some of you know when i was growing up i didn't have a father in the house but i had people around me, step-father, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and most of all my mother who tried to teach me the difference between right and wrong. who showed me what it meant to be honest and responsible, to work hard, to treat other people

the way i wanted to be treated. and, look, i was a knucklehead sometimes when i was a kid and i didn't always live up to those values even as a young adult, but over time i internalized those values, and as an adult i said this is what i need to stand on, this is my foundation. i suspect most of you grew up the same way. one of the most disturbing things about this election and about trump's rise in politics is how we seem to have set the values we were taught aside. how we seem to disregard them, how we pretend they don't matter. when donald trump lies about -- about hurricane aid, you've got a hurricane in north carolina, people desperate and he and his

vice presidential candidate deliberately circulate rumors that that money is being given to illegal aliens, illegal immigrants as opposed to people who are desperate, when he cheats or shows utter disregard for our constitution, when he calls service members who died in battle losers or fellow citizens vermin, people make excuses for him. they act like it is okay as long as their side wins, and i have noticed this especially with some men who seem to think trump's behavior is a sign of strength. that macho, you know, i'm going to own these folks, i'm going to put them down. let me -- i am here to tell you, that is not what real strength is. it never has been. real strength is about working hard and taking responsibility and telling the truth even when it is inconvenient.

real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can't always stand up for themselves. that's what we should want in our daughters and our sons, and that's what i want to see in the president of the united states of america. and the good news is, we've got a candidate to vote for in this election who demonstrates that kind of character, who knows what real strength looks like, who will set a good example and do the right thing and leave this country better than she found it. that is what this election is about, and that is why it is my honor to introduce my friend, the next president of the united states of america, vice president kamala harris!

[ chanting: kamala! kamala! ]

[ cheering ] >> good evening, georgia! good evening. can we please hear from my friend, our 44th president, barack obama! oh, it is good to be back in atlanta. all right. all right. so i love you too. i love you too. so you all may know, it was over -- it was 17 years ago, it was over 17 years ago when i took a trip to springfield, illinois.

it was a cold february day, and i went there to support this brilliant young senator who was running for president of the united states. and millions of americans were energized and inspired, not only by barack obama's message but by how he leads, seeking to unite rather than separate us. that is why in 2007, 2007 i went new year's eve to iowa to knock on doors in the snow, and all of these years later barack obama, i say to you, your friendship and your faith in me and in our campaign means the world. thank you, mr. president. thank you, mr. president. and we have some extraordinary leaders with us tonight, and i

thank everybody who is here for taking time out of your busy lives to spend this evening together. i want to thank georgia's congressional delegation. all of the local and community leaders who are here with us. let's please give it up for samuel l. jackson. spike lee. tyler perry. and the great american poet, bruce springsteen. so, atlanta, before i was vice president of the united states, before i was a united states senator and before that a two-term attorney general for the state of california, and before that a district attorney and a courtroom prosecutor, and in those roles i took on perpetrators of all kinds,

predators, fraudsters, and repeat offenders. i took them on and i won. well, georgia, in 12 days it is donald trump's turn. it is his turn. just 12 days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and i don't need to tell you voting has already started and everybody here knows it is going to be a tight race until the very end. so we have a lot of work ahead of us, but we like hard work. hard work is good work. hard work is joyful work. and make no mistake, we will win. we will win. we will win.

or as a certain former president would say, yes, we can. [ chanting: yes, we can ] yes, we will and, yes, we can. here is why we're going to win. we are going to win because we together are fighting for the future. we are fighting for the future. we here understand, we have an opportunity before us to turn the page on the fear and divisiveness that have characterized our politics for a decade because of donald trump. we have the opportunity to turn the page and chart a new way and a joyful way forward.

a way that taps into the ambitions, the aspirations, the dreams of the american people, and i will tell you as i travel our country there is an overwhelming call for a fresh start, for a new generation of leadership that is optimistic and excited about what we can do together. there is a yearning for a president of the united states who will see you, who gets you, and who will fight for you. in my whole career i have put the people