right now on "ana cabrera reports," eight days to go and new backlash to donald trump's rally at madison square garden. the controversy following crude and racist remarks by trump allies. plus, battleground blitz. vice president harris hits michigan as she prepares to make her big closing speech tomorrow. also ahead, michelle obama hits the trail. the former first lady's impassioned speech to male voters about women's health care. and later, a deep dive, deep into the heart of texas. new polling showing that senate showdown within the margin of error. democratic contender collin allred will join us on his bid to defy political gravity in the lone star state. ♪♪ good monday morning. 10:00 eastern/7:00 a.m. pacific.

i'm ana cabrera from new york. eight days left, voters are seeing an increasingly stark contrast in tone between vice president harris and donald trump. swing state voters, in particular, will have plenty of chances to hear those messages in person. today, vp harris holds events across michigan, culminating in a joint rally with her running mate, tim walz, alongside singer maggie rogers. that'll be in ann arbor. trump is focusing on the maga rally in deep blue new york city from last night. the former president laid out his grievances at madison square garden with inflammatory rhetoric that's an essential part of his closing pitch. but it was this racist joke by an opening comedian that overshadowed trump and sparked immediate backlash outside the arena. >> i don't know if you know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right

now. yeah, i think it's called puerto rico. >> nbc's garrett haake is in atlanta covering the trump campaign. our aaron gilchrist is in michigan following the harris campaign. also with us, a trio of msnbc political analysts. latino found ingfounding'spresi. we have rallies in the state of georgia today. will trump address this controversy? how is the campaign handling the fallout? >> reporter: might depend on how frustrated he gets on the news coverage of an event he hoped to be the crown jewel of his campaign, the rally at msg, something trump wanted to do for three presidential election cycles now, only completed last night. for most of the coverage nationwide, the focus has been on the comedian's opening act, and what was, frankly, a dark and divisive pre-program, even before donald trump took the stage himself. the campaign tried to create the tiniest bit of distance from

this debacle of the comedian with the statement they put out a short time afterwards when we asked about the opening set. a spokesperson for the campaign said only mixed jokes does not reflect the views of president trump or his campaign. ana, it was much more than one single joke that overshadowed the former president's rally here. if he decides that's the thing he needs to address, we could hear it at one of these two events today. some of his allies, like senator rick scott of florida, peter navarro, former cabinet official, tried to create more distance from the event. for trump, the way they handle these things is to lean in and say, look, it was a huge audience. maybe trump is rude or brash or the people he surrounds himself with are, but they'll get stuff done. that has been their approach to controversies like this in the past. with eight days to go, the stakes only get higher as the time grows shorter. we'll see in a few, short hours how fulsomely trump wants to

address what we saw happen last night at msg. >> aaron, these offensive remarks about puerto rico happened on the same day vice president harris laid out her policy plan for puerto rico. how is her campaign dealing with this ugly rhetoric coming from the other side? >> reporter: the harris campaign really has created this side by side imagery, literally. they've taken to their social media platforms and presented what we saw at the trump rally yesterday with what we saw with vice president harris in pennsylvania, in philadelphia, in particular. she visited a puerto rican restaurant and at virtually the same time, we saw reports of these comments out of new york city. the vice president was there to unveil this new plan that she has for puerto rico, where she will create a task force to address some of the concerns that people on the island have. in her presentation, she also said her plan includes an effort to build the economy in puerto rico, to try to fortify the energy grid there and modernize it and to bring down costs for puerto rican families, as well, and to create other ways to

support puerto rican families. the campaign also highlighted the fact that you have these mega celebrities in bad bunny and jennifer lopez and ricky martin who are closely tied to puerto rican communities around the country and to the island of puerto rico, elevate her messaging around the plans she has for the puerto rican people. so the campaign, the harris campaign has said, you know, look at what we're trying to do. look at the people who support what we're trying to do. put that beside what we have heard from those who support donald trump. they think that just putting those two things side by side at this point is some real food for thought for the puerto rican community. in particular, in pennsylvania, a population of a million plus, large majority being with puerto rican background. >> j.lo, ricky martin, bad bunny, they have tens of millions of followers, so their voices getting a lot more attention at this stage of the

race. thank you, garrett haake and aaron gilchrist, bringing us the latest from the campaigns. maria, a trump camp statement, of course, distanced itself from the racist joke, but this was hours after the joke. only after the scale of the backlash was apparent. trump could have condemned the joke when he took the stage. he didn't. neither did any of the other speakers that followed that comedian. what does all that tell you? >> well, ana, i think for your audience to understand, everything is incredibly orchestrated at these rallies. this is put in a teleprompter. these speeches are vetted. it's not off the cuff. the only person who speaks off the cuff in the rallies is literally trump. everybody knew going in what this comedian was going to say. look at his social media posts. he goes after asians, after women, basically anybody who is not white. this was not a surprise. i think what surprised them was latinas, we speak english and spanish. we are paying attention. there is a backlash. i have to say, the fact that

trump then came on stage and starts speaking specifically about the enemy from within, he increasingly uses this language when he wants to talk about latinas, framing us as undocumented. here, whether or not we can vote because we may be undocumented. this is an orchestrated plan to try to stack the election in his favor through his base and through the media, by creating a question of whether or not the folks that are voting between now and elections actually are eligible. that is part of it. because he wants to create some sort of friction. we have to be very clear, there is no fraud at the polls. if anything, we want to make sure that every single american has access to it. and the fact that not more republicans have come out to denounce this, that is concerning to me. i do have to be very clear, what the comedian said last night was orchestrated. it wasn't an oops on his part. trump coming up really reemphasized it. i think the fact that she is now getting endorsements from bad

bunny, from j.lo, and ricky martin, it's less about them. it's more who follows them. these are low propensity information voters, disproportionately young voters. folks who, in the last couple weeks, showed they were a little soft about turning out. the fact that they are amplifying these messages within these groups, that has to be -- that can't be taken for granted. not only is there a puerto rican base in pennsylvania, there is a huge puerto rican base in texas, in ohio, in places that people don't recognize, that will help flip this election if the word gets out. >> not to mention, those last couple places you mentioned have important senate races, as well. this same comedian not only made the comments about puerto rico but made a racist watermelon remark about a black person who was at the rally. you had another speaker talk about vp harris', quote, pimp handlers. trump highlighted immigration, and the crowd started to chant,

"send them back." it's not just that these moments happened on stage, but there was clearly an audience for it. >> i agree with everything maria said. this is all orchestrated. this is not something that is just off the cuff. it's one of the most vulgar displays that i've seen in my adult life. it's not just because donald trump says what he says. it's because there are so many people on stage that echoed the same comment. so many people in the audience that clapped along. let me say this, because it has to be said. look, dr. phil gets up there and talks about dei. he doesn't have his platform without oprah winfrey. the fact that, you know, they're making these comments and using this language is meant to dehumanize people. they're doing that so that you could see them without empathy. why is that important? that's what colonizers and imperialists do. by the time they come back with targeted policies for these

people, you don't feel for them. that loss of empathy that they're trying to instill in voters should be assailed by every republican in this country. the fact that they've been so silent, for the most part, on what he's said tells you a lot about, not just where the party is, but where this country is. so if you come back and say to me, well, we need to vote for kamala harris so the country doesn't go down this path, we are already down this path. this was done at madison square garden. there are black and brown people that play sports in that building and engage in activities in that building every day, and we're here talking about this man on this platform making the most vulgar comments i've ever heard. at a political person, as an adult? i mean, we're long past the moment where we have to make the decision just to get rid of him. it is embedded into who we are today. >> when you talk about the

otherization, i can't help but think about the consequences we've already seen during the trump administration. what happened in el paso and the mass shooting at the walmart. let me just ask you, susan, because we have heard from some republicans like senator rick scott, who is up for re-election in florida, come out and denounce these. why politically go there at this late stage of the race, to have this be a big focus of this rally at madison square garden? all this racism. >> that is who trump is trying to appeal to, his core base voters and maybe low propensity voters who are racists and may only show up pause they've heard these remarks and say, i'll go there. i'll give a silver lining because i like to do that before election day. groups like maria theresa's and the democrats and the harris team, they are able to take this to voters. i think it will be -- it'll have

a reverse effect in turnout, which is now the game. eight days out. it's about getting the voters to the polls. i think we're going to see this have a really negative effect, potentially, on donald trump, because the democrats will use it as a way of getting voter turnout. again, when we're talking about everything coming down to the margins, 10,000 votes in this state or 20,000 in that state, it can make a difference. >> maria teresa, congresswoman ocasio-cortez weighed in this morning on msnbc. i want to play some of her response. >> this was a hate rally. right now, the campaign is scrambling, and they're trying to blame this rhetoric on a so-called comedian. the only backtracking they're doing right now is just because tens of thousands of puerto ricans happen to live in philadelphia, florida, michigan, wisconsin, and also, the several swing states in the house of representatives that run through the state of new york. they're just realizing they

might have made a big error by saying out loud what they're thinking. >> this morning, you called trump's platform one of, quote, xenophobia and hatred for latino families. yet, trump has made inroads with latino voters. how do you square it? >> it's interesting. when we talk to folks in key battleground states, kamala harris is winning almost 30% of the vote. she's back at 68%, closer to what we saw during obama. when we talk to latino voters in california where they don't remember what it felt like to live under some of the paper laws, you know, that is the softening of it. that's the thing. early voting, we're actually seeing early voting. abc did a poll that tracks the way we're reading the tea leaves, where they're showing that latinos are very much squarely in the kamala harris camp. even non-college educated latinos are at 59%, voting for kamala harris at this point in

time. you know, this is a turnout game. this is making sure that everybody is amplified and recognizes that what is on the ballot now is not just our individual freedoms. it's not just the economy. it's really what is the direction of this country? we are a cultural -- we are a multicultural democracy. the way that we were able to come together in 2018 and 2020 and 2022 to defeat fascism on the ballot was because we came together and were very clear on the assignment. that assignment right now is democracy. the fact that, right now, kamala harris in her tent, she could hold dick cheney and aoc speaks to the moment we are in our history. it is a moment for us to stand up, put our differences aside, and really put country over party. because what we see under donald trump is not only divisiveness. it's not just rhetoric. it is reminder that when he is at the helm of our leadership, not only is he encouraging people to go after people that are not white, that are women,

but he is also signaling to world leaders that it is okay to bend the rules. it is okay to go after marginalized communities from within. this is not a short order for the american people. we are lucky that we have the ability to freely go and vote and cast a ballot without fear of violence, without the fear of retribution. right now, what we should be doing is getting our inspiration from the ukrainians who are fighting tooth and nail against an opposition force that is very aligned with donald trump. and so if we can get our marching orders and remind ourselves that so many people have died to get access to the voting booth here in our country, we have to thank the african american community for their sacrifices to make sure we all have equal access to the ballot. we need to make sure we come in together, once again, as a multicultural america, and recognize that we have to put our party differences aside to ensure that we don't have donald trump and that we have a chance to continue a thriving, multicultural democracy under

kamala harris. >> as we head now to about a week before election day, just a week plus one day, here's what we're now hearing from vice president harris, who consistently has been framing herself as the underdog in this race. but here she was yesterday. >> we have a lot of work ahead of us. but we like hard work. [ applause ] hard work is good work. hard work is joyful work. and make no mistake, we will win. we will win. >> she sounds confident. we will win. basil, it's her closing message. what do you make of the shift from we're the underdog to confidently stating, we will win? >> that's what's needed on the ground. this is all about strength. this is all about a show of force. to maria's point, to susan's point, it's about inclusively, bringing joy back in the campaign. that's what she talked about. that's what she's done. the momentum shift since june, the last four months, she's done

more in four months than candidates do in 14 months. the people on the ground have been deputized at each and every rally to go out and promote the talking points. black voters are moving to her. black men, in particular, that everybody talked about, they are for her. this is the result of her hard work. the reward is to have the kind of america that she's talking about. i'll say this quickly, what michelle obama did also in that rally recently is say to black men, in particular, protect the women in your life. that was a very empowering message because it gives people the tools to move forward in their lives. that's what her -- that's what the harris campaign has done. it's different from what's happening on the other side. >> so different. the contrast is really stark. by the way, we will play some of that michelle obama speech you referenced in a bit. i want to get your take on the closing message we're hearing from kamala harris. is that a winning message? >> absolutely. first and foremost, i'm so happy she's finally saying, we are

going to win. because people want to be with a winner. frankly, the narrative in the media has been so down on her. it's good that she's now changing it. the other thing is, her closing argument starting tomorrow night at the ellipse is so significant. to me, it represents this is what happened, and we are going to put this behind us. she can say, this is what we should be. this is what we can do. i think she's going to make a closing argument tomorrow night that will really be a stunner for the country. >> great conversation. really powerful. thank you all so much. maria, susan, and basil, thank you appreciate you very much. breaking news now. with a little over a week before election day, emergency election lawsuits are already headed to the supreme court. the latest addition to the court's docket is a battle over the voter rolls in virginia. republican state officials are bringing this case after a federal judge blocked virginia

from purging alleged non-citizens from the voter rolls this close to the election. and ordered the 1,600 voters be reinstated. opponents say the policy curtails the rights of eligible voters who got caught up in the removal policy. republicans, including donald trump and governor glenn youngkin, are arguing the ruling will allow non-citizens to vote in the presidential election. they've asked the supreme court to rule on their request by tomorrow. keep you posted. more from the campaign trail. including a new warning from u.s. intelligence agencies about threats of violence in the upcoming election. plus, texas blues. will democrats finally flip a lone star senate seat? i'll talk to democratic candidate collin allred about his close race against incumbent ted cruz. plus, the most scrutinized people in america, undecided voters. have they made up their mind with just eight days to go? we're back in 90 seconds.

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violate federal election law. philadelphia district attorney says they filed the suit to block the lottery because his office is charged with, quote, protecting the public from public nuisances and unfair trade practices, including illegal lottery. even more breaking news. u.s. intelligence agencies are warning of threats of violence in the upcoming election. in a joint intelligence bulletin, agents from the fbi and department of homeland security are warning law enforcement agencies that domestic violent extremists are seeking to terrorize and disrupt the vote. let's get more from ken dilanian. what more can you tell us about the warning, ken? >> good morning, ana. the fbi and department of homeland security are warning in the intelligence bulletin of the heightened risk of lone wolf attacks by domestic extremists motivated by election-related conspiracy theories, including beliefs in widespread voter fraud and the hatred of political opponent. this will surprise no one paying attention, but it's significant the agencies are putting this

out to local law enforcement a week before the election. the new, unclassified bulletin says the goal of these attacks would be to terrorize and disrupt the vote. to be clear, this document does not describe intelligence about a specific threat. it talks about a general atmosphere of anger and misinformation that could prompt unstable people to engage in threats or violence. we've already seen arrests. a man in philadelphia threatened to skin election workers alive. last week, police in phoenix arrested a mailbox buyer who damaged 20 ballots. the report identified potential targets of violence, including candidates, elected officials, election workers, members of the media, and judges involved in election cases. the potential threats include physical attacks and violence at polling places, ballot drop-boxes, voter registration locations, and rallies and campaign events. the report doesn't say this, but it is obvious a lot of these extremists are driven by years of lies about the election, 2020 election by donald trump and his

allies. >> very, very important warning. ken dilanian, thank you for bringing us that. still ahead, after a debate, town halls, interviews, ads, can vassing, conversations with friends and family, for still undecided voters eight days out from the election. what they say they order to make a choice. but, number 46 casting a ballot for who he wants to succeed him as number 47. with fasenra, an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems or other eosinophilic conditions. allergic reactions may occur. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. step back out there with fasenra. ask your doctor if it's right for you. what the biggest companies deliver

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welcome back. next hour, president biden is set to cast his ballot. the president is taking part in early voting in his home state of delaware. for his own vp, kamala harris. this comes as the harris campaign dispatches a series of famous faces to make her case in the campaign's final stretch. with her current boss notably missing from the lineup. senior white house correspondent gabe gutierrez is joining us. what can we expect to see when

the president votes today and in this final stretch? >> reporter: good morning, ana. yes, president biden, he voted early, back in 2020 after voting on election day during previous election cycles. but he has several personal connections to this election, even though he's not on the ballot this time. now, this morning, he is traveling with lisa blunt rochester, who he's endorsed for the open u.s. senate seat. she's a long-time friend of the bidens and one-time co-chair of his campaign. he's having breakfast with her, and then he is expected to head to the polling place. now, he also -- sarah mcbride is favored to win delaware's only congressional seat. she formerly worked as a staffer for the late beau biden. if elected, she'd be the first transgender person elected to congress. certainly a lot of personal connections here for president biden as he prepares to vote early. this also comes, ana, as he is taking a more low profile

campaign role this time around after dropping out of the race, of course. the question will be, you know, how will this play out over the next coming days? right now, there are no public campaign events on his schedule for the next week, although he does have several official events, including tomorrow. he's set to travel to baltimore for remarks on talking about rebuilding infrastructure. also, he is set to head later this week to other events. one on friday in philadelphia. an official event where he is set to talk about his administration's support for unions. ana, this comes as vice president harris tries to walk the fine line. on the one hand, taking credit for the biden-harris' administration successes in various things, but also trying to distance herself in others, ana. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you for the reporting. meanwhile, michelle obama hit the trail for the campaign

of harris over the weekend. the former first lady delivered an impassioned plea in front of a packed house in kalamazoo, michigan. she spoke about the gender gap to the race for the white house and delivered a forceful message about women's health care to male voters. take a listen. >> i'm a little frustrated that some of us are choosing to ignore donald trump's gross incompetence while asking kamala to dazzle us at every turn. let me warn you, your rage does not exist in a vacuum. if we don't get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage. your wife or mother could be the ones at higher risk of dying from undiagnosed cervical cancer because they have no access to regular care. there is the tragic but very real possibility that, in the

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welcome back. all this week, we'll take you on a journey through key battleground states where some critical and contentious senate

races will determine the balance of power in that chamber. we'll be visiting each of these battleground it with reporters who cover these races as closely as you can get, right at the state and the local level. our first senate deep dive is going to take us deep into the heart of texas, where democrat collin allred hopes to oust republican incumbent ted cruz and turn that seat blue. there is new polling this morning from "the new york times" and siena college giving cruz a four-point lead, within the margin of error. joining us now, the anchor of "lone star politics." reporter for dallas-ft. worth. so glad you're able to join us this morning. we have polls showing the race close right now, within the margin of error. democrats have been saying for years, texas is about to turn blue. it hasn't. where do things stand? >> well, great to be with you this morning. this is a competitive race. it has been a competitive race for a little bit now. both candidates have a path to

victory. senator cruz has a bigger and a better path, but congressman allred has a plan and seems to be working the plan. that plan really comes down to republican voters who may be turned off, away from ted cruz. if he can get those voters, he has a better chance of winning. believe it or not, there are trump/allred voters. i personally talked to some of them. also, senator cruz consistently underperforms former president trump in most of the public polling we've seen. that is a factor. then what is really interesting for us here in texas, all right, six years ago, senator cruz won by roughly 215,000 votes. since then, in the last six years, we have now more than 2 1/2 million new registered voters. who are these people? we have a general idea of who they are. some are republican political refugees from new york, california, those states.

some are young, diverse voters. some are new naturalized citizens who have just registered to vote. in north texas alone in the last year, about 60,000 people have become citizens through the naturalization process. it is going to be really interesting to watch. >> i'm curious to hear what issues might be motivating texans in the race which may favor one candidate or the other, right? >> well, you have the big ones, right? you have immigration, border security. you have the economy. you have abortion or reproductive rights. but when we're talking about those swing moderate republican voters in the middle, a lot of them live in the suburbs. collin allred needs these people to cross over. that's why you see him talking about abortion and reproductive freedom. that's why you see him highlighting the now infamous trip that ted cruz took to cancun. he believes those are issues that can move voters his way. if you're senator cruz, you want to keep those traditionally republican voters voting

republican down ballot. that's why he's talking about immigration and border security consistently. that is the number one issue of texas republicans year after year after year. then also, the transgender issue. congressman collin allred has taken some votes on that issue that might have played better in his dallas district. it is a tougher sell when it comes to selling that statewide. that's why you see some pretty dramatic ads from senator cruz. also, collin allred responding with his own ads on the issue. >> phil, we don't think of texas as a presidential swing state. but we did see vice president harris and trump there on friday. how unusual is that so close to election day, and could those visits move the needle at all here in, like, a senate race? >> so it's a symptom of our nationalization of politics, but there are two impacts. one is locally, like you said. if vice president harris can get

texas in the low single digits, that is when somebody like collin allred could sneak across the finish line with those republican swing voters. she had her event in houston, which is harris county, and that is the democratic powerhouse county in the state of texas. they really juiced the turnout there. the state will become more competitive. also, i think part of it was she wanted to redirect the conversation to abortion and reproductive rights here in texas. we are at the kind of ground zero for that with our strict anti-abortion laws. that only had the narrow medical exemption. it doesn't have an exemption for rape or incest. you know, there was a lot of attention about what the former president has said. i think she wants to redirect the conversation to what she wants to talk about, which is reproductive freedom. and then, yeah, we had former president donald trump in austin on friday, too. he was talking to the podcaster,

joe rogan. very popular podcast, "the joe rogan experience." the thing to watch, former president trump needs to expand the electorate, right? he needs to find people who have not voted before and turn them out to vote. he thinks he can do that by activating young men who listen to joe rogan and also theo bond, logan paul, some of the other mano-sphere podcasts. he thinks he can activate them and turn them out to vote. if he does this, his path is better election day. >> enlightening conversation. thanks for giving us the insights there in texas. phil, great to have you here. now joining us, democratic senate candidate from the state of texas, congressman collin allred. congressman, thanks for making time for us. it is the homestretch, just eight days to go. the polls show essentially a toss-up race. but cruz also faced quite a close race, as you'll remember, against beto o'rourke in 2018. he went on to win. why do you think the outcome of your race will be different this

time? >> well, in the not about our past. it's about our future. this is a different election, a different time. to be quite honest, senator cruz has continued to show how he should not be placed in a position of authority for six more years. going to cancun when we needed him most, that's happened since the last election. trying to overturn the last presidential election. being uniquely responsible for the abortion ban we have here in texas. for taking down a bipartisan border bill that no state would have benefitted more from than texas. i'm also a different opponent. i'm the most bipartisan texan in congress. i have a record of winning in tough races. we'll beat ted cruz october 5th. >> i understand your internal polling shows the race is essentially tied, tighter than "the new york times," within the margin of error we just gave. what is your team seeing that other pollsters are missing? >> honestly, i'll leave that to my team. to me, we're pay past polling. we've had hundreds of thousands of votes already banked. this is time where texans are

voting right now. what texans need to know, what folks in washington need to know, go to collin allred.com. knock on doors. contribute to the campaign. this is how we win in the final stretch. we have built a machine we can now turn out this vote, but it takes all of us, every single person getting involved. for anyone watching this who understands how important this race is, i hope you'll do that. >> donald trump has a 50% favorability rating there in texas. cruz appeared with trump when he was there on friday. to those who think the trump factor will get cruz over that finish line, what's your message? >> i think texans see this as two very different decisions. number one, we've been dealing with ted cruz 12 years here. we've seen exactly how ineffective he has been. we're picking someone who is going to serve us longer than the term of the next president. i think texans just know we can't count on ted cruz in a crisis. that's how you go to cancun when folks need you most.

as i said earlier, you know, he is running against me. he is running in a race where i have made sure that texans know my story, that i'm a fourth generation texan raised by a single mother. baylor, nfl, serving congress. did the exact opposite of ted cruz. that's what texans will turn the page on november 5th. new leadership. >> texas is a border state, and border security and immigration, big issues there. your opponent says you have flip-flopped on this, pointing to your past remarks, calling the border wall racist, for example. now you're supporting a border bill that is funding, in part, for a border wall. what do you say to the folks, to the voters in texas who don't really know where you stand, who might think you've changed your stance on immigration for political republicans? >> listen, my family is from brownsville, texas. my grandfather was an officer there. i spent a lot of my childhood in

our border communities. this is personal for me, and i'm not putting up with nonsense from ted cruz on this. this guy had 12 years to try to do something about the southern border. he's not only done anything, he's prevented us from doing anything. earlier this year, he said, we don't need a border bill. what was in that? $20 billion for border security. 1500 new border patrol agents. where would they have been in texas. more immigration judges. where would they have been, helping to deal with the backlog. technology to stop fentanyl. it would have helped texas. in 2013, he took down a bipartisan effort that president obama and the senators were working on to reform our legal immigration system. he's done this his entire career. he'll never get the job done. texans are understanding that. if we continue to do the same thing and expect a different result, that's the definition of insanity. >> congressman, i want to get your reaction real quickly on the topic we spent a lot of time speaking about at the top of the show, the remarks we heard yesterday at madison square garden from trump allies.

trump and others, could be considered divisive at least, but racist and beyond. what's your reaction? there is a huge latino population in texas who may have strong feelings about what they heard. >> yeah. texas is incredibly diverse. we are diverse in every sense. we have folks from all over the world who made their home in texas. my entire life, i've grown up in a state knowing that we have been a border state and are a state that embrace our diversity. we have our own version in ted cruz of somebody who has spent his entire time in the senate pitting texans against each other. trying to take the seams of our society and widening them. telling folks that the issue is the person who is next door to you or down the street from you, down the block from you. it's not who we are as texans or americans. we have to make sure that we drive this nonsense out of our politics. the way we do that is at the ballot box.

that is how we get folks to understand that this is not only bad in terms of the wrong thing to do and wrong for our country, that it is bad politics. you'll lose elections when you talk like this. when you spend 12 years, add ted cruz did, behaving this way. we'll see a better politics and public discussions end up in a healthier place. >> collin allred running for senate in texas, thank you very much for joining us. >> thanks, ana. next on "ana cabrera reports," eight days until the election. the gop ticket's closing message has become centered around the enemy from within. >> when i say the enemy from within, the other side goes crazy. >> do you believe that people like adam schiff and nancy pelosi are more dangerous than russia and china? >> what he said, and i do agree with this, what he said is that the biggest threat we have in our country, it's not a foreign adversary. showing up. being there.

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we're running against something far bigger than joe or kamala, which is a massive, vicious, crooked, radical left machine that runs today's democratic party. when i say, the enemy from within, the other side goes crazy. how can he say -- they've done very bad things to this country. they are indeed the enemy from within. >> that was donald trump who has sprinted past doubling down and is making the enemy from within comments a routine part of his stump speech. it's not severely clear who who thinks is included in that list, but he's said it includes radical democrats and has called the press the enemy of the people. let's talk about all this with eugene daniels and olivia troye, former national security official in the trump white house who has endorsed harris

and has campaigned for her. thank you guys for joining us. eugene, is trump hinging his closing argument on this very point about the enemy within. >> the campaign knew it was going to be the biggest audience they've had in a while and probably for a long time. that's why you do something in a blue state when you're a republican. you know everyone is going to be paying a lot of attention. it does tell you this is part of if not the closing message, a big part of the closing message, right? you heard about puerto ricans from some people who were surrogates on stage. the trump campaign said that doesn't represent them. you know, one of the things that happens -- olivia, you'll know this as well -- is that the speeches of surrogates are looked at by somebody, right, when you have them before they go on stage. one, you want to make sure you're on message. you want to make sure they have the right information. so, this went under the radar. it tell us that is part of the closing message. and what donald trump is saying

about the enemy within, even as his -- some of his aides told him about the blowback, as you said, he likes to not just double but triple, quadruple and ten times on a lot of these things and not back away. that's a huge part of who he is. and i think that people should just believe him when he says these things, right? he is someone who, for years, has been very clear about who he is. and there's all this talk about whether to take him seriously or literally. even the people around him say he's angrier than he ever has been. he thinks more darkly about the country than he ever has before. >> olivia, trump is leaning into it. and it's not just trump amplifying this rhetoric. i want to play some sound from senator vance over the weekend. watch. >> when i look at the biggest threats to america, i think of the fact that people can't afford groceries, the fact we can't meet our recruitment goals in the military, the fact americans have a wide open

southern border. that's a way bigger threat than a foreign threat, and yes, it's caused by broken leadership. >> that was vance defending the enemy within comments. he also defended trump from comments made by trump's former white house chief of staff and former military general who said trump fit the description of a fascist. >> he's a guy with an ax to grind because donald trump fired him and disagreed with him on policy. >> that's really your argument? >> absolutely. absolutely that's my argument. >> these aren't republicans concerned about donald trump? >> all of these people, jake, they came into office thinking that they could control donald trump, that when he said he wanted peace in the world -- >> that's not even -- >> yes, he did. >> really? >> olivia, what do you make of vance's spin on all of this? >> it was apropos to bring up mike pence because i was like, look at mike pence's life every

single day. now you have to sit here and figure out how to make excuses for a reckless individual that you have signed up to support. and i'll say this. the mess saj obviously is the enemy from within. and as eugene said, the angrier trump gets, the darker and more dangerous he's going to become. so, they have decided they're going to continue to divide our country. they're going to sow the seeds here. and this is part of their messaging, in case they lose, which they likely will -- we hope, for those of us who want to protect and believe in our democracy. and i believe they're doing this because they want to create that persona in people's minds and they want to drive violence and incite it. so, this is what they do. it's the same playbook that they did in 2020. i would just say that this is completely unhinged and more dangerous than what we've seen before. and that rally last night was so vile and deplorable that every person who cares about what is happening in our country

domestically should be reputing this and they should be calling them out. >> and trump's comments go beyond just animosity toward democrats. he called the press the enemy of the people. i want to highlight new "washington post" reporting that i know, eugene, you mentioned in playbook this morning as well. the headline, some billionaires, ceos, hedge bets as trump vows retribution to trump campaign advisers who are also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said numerous executives have been trying to reach out to the former president's team late in the race. i've told ceos to engage as fast as possible because the clock is ticking. if you are somebody who has endorsed harris and we've never heard from you at any point until after the election, you've got an uphill battle, the trump adviser said. talk to us about the type of environment trump's comments and attitude is creating. >> you know, that's what people call a chilling effect, right? the people don't know how this election is going to turn out. even some of the ceos and hedge funders who are calling may want

and think that harris is going to win. but the fact that they're going out of their way to find out -- cool the jets, have the conversations, it tells you how scared they are about the retribution. donald trump said he's going to go after his enemies, his perceived enemies, whoever that may be. allies say, that's just bluster. he's just talking. but at the same time, we don't have -- we have to take him at his word, right? at some point you have to take politicians at their word, especially when it's something they come back to over and over and over again. and when pressed about it don't change their mind. so, it tells you that these millionaires and billionaires and even some of these folks who just work at these institutions -- you think about "the washington post" and what they're dealing with, they're worried about what can happen. journalists are worried about what can happen. he said he is going to go after the folks. you think about the tv networks that he said he's going to want

to go after after their licenses and things like that. it's not clear that anything would actually happen. but it does change calculations for people running those organizations sometimes. >> and olivia, we'll see how the voters feel about this tone and this closing message when they go to the polls. i want you to hear from someone who voted for trump in both 2016 and 2020 and intends to vote for him again this time around. listen. >> do you think donald trump is a bully? >> there's a fine line between a bully -- no, i don't think he's a bully. i think he should have a little more -- he has a position of power, so he should be more reluctant on some of the things he says, the way he chooses to say them. no, i just think he has a backbone. i don't think he's a bully. >> he has a backbone. he's not a bully. olivia, what's your reaction to that? >> i think that is what some of the voters see in donald trump.

they see this gravitas of someone who is a picture of strength. but i would say this. that strength is completely reckless. and i think when it comes to donald trump, when he talks about the enemy from within -- and you just talked about how it is also people in the media. ceos are getting scared. this is classic authoritarianism and fascism. and anyone could be on that enemy's list at whatever point when donald trump decides you're not standing with him or you're standing in his way. i think this is quite frankly a serious moment for our country on what it is we want for our future. do we want this kind of leader back in the oval office? we've seen consequences before. when he starts using the military against people, when he starts shutting down the media. we need to think about these consequences. for that voter, i would say you are going to be very upset in the future when you're watching what's happening in your community and you're going to wonder how we got here. >> eugene, we only have about 30

seconds. but i'm curious, is anything else standing out to you that you're hearing from voters related to this kind of messaging? >> it depends on who you're talking to, right? for those independents and voters in the middle, this kind of stuff does bother them. most importantly women. white women especially in 2020 and 2016 voted for trump. after roe v. wade, their calculations have changed. and this language does not excite them. it does not pull them back over to his side. i think we're watching this gender divide is huge, and women who are turned off by a lot of the language that donald trump is using. and his team has said some of this language and stuff is about those young men they're trying to get at. >> thank you eugene and olivia troye. really appreciate you both here. it's going to be an interesting last stretch here. just eight days away. that's going to do it for us. i'll see you back here tomorrow. same time, same place. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new