tv Jose Diaz- Balart Reports MSNBC October 28, 2024 8:00am-9:00am PDT
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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
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new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we are just eight days from election day. and as we enter the final full week of campaigns, both candidates are heading to battleground states to deliver their closing messages. today vice president harris is making stops in michigan. former president trump heads to georgia. it comes after a trump rally yesterday in new york city's madison square garden. the former president's message overshadowed by racist remarks made by a comedian, including this about puerto rico. >> i don't know if you guys know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the motion right now. yeah. i think it's called puerto rico. >> in a statement, the trump campaign said, quote, this joke does not reflect the views of president trump or the campaign.
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joining us now, nbc white house ceant aaron gilchrist in michigan and garrett haake in georgia for us. garrett, first, how is the trump campaign handling this latest controversy? >> jose so far they're mostly not handling at all. the trump campaign has been boasting about the size of the rally last night, sharing clips of the event from other speakers, and from news coverage that talks mainly about the rally's size and the suggestion that it's proof of donald trump's movement. to the degree that i've seen response from the campaign or senior campaign officials to those comments, it's mostly been trying to create a backlash to the criticism by which i mean when people have described them as racist or comparing them to negative historical precedence of other rallies at msg, i've seen figures from the trump world lashing out, suggesting these comparisons are unfair and somehow democrats are losing their mind about a comedian. i'm not sure that's a winning
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message, as we turn to the final week of this campaign, jose. but as we've so often seen with donald trump, one controversy can very quickly replace another. i'm in atlanta, where trump is expected to travel later today. he's got a faith-focused event in the afternoon and a rally on the campus of georgia tech today. a number of students are remote, not participating in classes today in person while we wait to see what happens. we could just as easily have this get pushed down out of the headlines, as we've seen from so many other recent trump controversies. >> the vice president actually happened to release her policy plan for puerto rico yesterday. how is the harris campaign responding to all of this today? >> we'll see the vice president here in michigan a little later on today. just yesterday, as you noted, she was in philadelphia, visiting -- she was at a puerto rican restaurant visiting with members of the puerto rican community yesterday when the
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news about the comments at the trump rally came out. during her time at that restaurant, the vice president's team did release her plan for puerto rico, a plan that included creating a task force to address the major issues people on the island are dealing with. her plan also included details for managing and improving the energy grid in puerto rico, which we know has been rife with problems for years now. she talked about building the economy for the island as well and about bringing down housing costs, trying to support families in puerto rico. what we saw from the campaign during the day, during the night and this morning, was the side by side, the split-screen showing the comments made at the trump rally beside vice president harris appearing at this restaurant and offering this plan for people who live in puerto rico. so, the campaign, while it hasn't directly reacted to the comments that were made yesterday, it said, take a look at what we're dealing with now. this is the plan for helping people in puerto rico. these are some of the comments we're seeing on the other side. and the vice president's team
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also offered that people like bad bunny and jennifer lopez and ricky martin have also elevated her plan for puerto rico. they have massive social media followings individually. so, together just an incredible number of people see their post and the harris-walz campaign have reposted what the vice president had to say yesterday. >> aaron, the vice president is also heading back to michigan today after campaigning alongside former first lady michelle obama over the weekend. what's the message with the former first lady? >> let's talk about that first. they were in kalamazoo together on saturday night for what they billed as a get out the vote rally, an opportunity for these two women to appear together for the first time during this campaign cycle and talk about making sure people get out and cast votes. but also there was a major focus on reproductive health, reproductive freedom, during the event there in kalamazoo. i want you to hear some of what the former first lady had to say
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on stage in her 40-minute speech that people were intently paying attention to. >> to the men who love us, let me just try to paint a picture of what it will feel like if america, the wealthiest nation on earth, keeps revoking basic care from its women. your daughter could be the one too terrified to call the doctor if she's bleeding during an unexpected pregnancy. your niece could be the one miscarrying in her bathtub after the hospital turned her away. and this will not just affect women. it will affect you and your sons. >> vice president harris will be back here in michigan. she'll start in saginaw today visiting a semiconductor facility in that area, where she is expected to talk about creating more manufacturing jobs, creating opportunities for people who work in that industry.
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she'll come here to warren, michigan, a little bit later in the day, where she'll visit a training academy in this area that helps folks who are looking for these sorts of manufacturing jobs as well before she moves on to ann arbor. michigan is one where 1.7 million people have cast ballots in early voting started state-wide on saturday. the vice president is spending as much time as possible talking about the work she's done to create jobs in this area, talking about, for example, that investment from the biden/harris administration that was announced just last week, $325 million to help with manufacturing growth and development in michigan as well. so, this is something that the vice president we expect to focus on in her remarks later this evening when she holds this big rally with her running mates in ann arbor. >> thank you so very much. for more on this and to continue our conversation, joining us now
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is julio rodriguez -- founder of the -- someone i very much respect. julio, i've got to tell you, the beginning of our conversation, i just feel sick to hear someone, anyone, anywhere, talk about puerto rico like what he did, that comedian. and i was -- i was struck by your comments last night. you posted on social media, quote, i am tired, so tired of a continued american tradition of using comedy to insult puerto ricans from "west side toir" to "seinfeld" to "work it" to the trump comedian today. it's raw and insulting. julio, how do you express what
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it is that we're all feeling? >> you know, jose, it's just -- that felt exhausting because it doesn't surprise me. and i'm really glad you shared the tweet because, you know, i've been a puerto rican for more than 50 years, and i do think there is an american tradition of just assuming that we're just second class, we're garbage. garbage, jose. and the fact that even in this political campaign people laugh it off. and what i'm really, really disappointed about fellow americans is that they lack the understanding of who we really are as a people. so, we've become this trope, this stereotype, this joke that it's just become part of the american culture and anyone can get away with it. i'll be honest with you, jose, that's the reason why i use that example. this isn't a right and left issue anymore. and i know there's a lot of talk about, like, this is going to
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win puerto ricans for harris in pennsylvania and florida. let's put the politics aside for a second. this is about respecting people. this is about respecting a people that have been part of the united states since it was invaded in 1898. this is about colonialism, right? and we don't talk about this as americans. and we don't talk about the fact that political parties have been perpetual supporters of a colonial system that, to be honest with you, has done very little to improve puerto rico. ever since hurricane maria in 2017, you've seen a change on the island. and people are starting to understand that, yes, we are part of the american political system, but we demand respect and we demand being paid attention to. and, yes, the timing of this politically is going to benefit the harris campaign. but at the same time, we've been here before with the trump campaign, jose. in 2015. everyone was, like, well, he's
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attacking latinos. and he won. so, i think we have to split the political from the humanity aspect of it. and i wanted to use that tweet to elevate who we are. >> yeah. you know, to think that even in 1998, the treaty of paris -- 1898 -- >> 1898, yeah. >> -- where no one but the powers were included, not even as observers. and i'm talking about puerto rico and i'm talking about cuba. and let's talk about the philippines and let's talk about what that has meant, the repercussions of that until today. but, julio, and to think how the people of puerto rico have put their quota of blood fighting for the united states of america in every single conflict, the biggest quota of blood has been by, among others, puerto ricans. and it's just, like, infuriating
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to see that this can be included in a discussion about politics. and it -- it also is more than just puerto rico and puerto ricans. here's, for example, part of what former president trump said about his opponent and about migrants. take a listen to this. >> she has violated her oath, eradicated our sovereign border, and unleashed an army of migrant gangs who are waging a campaign of violence and terror against our citizens. they're coming from all over the world. over the last month, 181 countries violated our laws. and she has resettled them into your communities to prey upon innocent american citizens.
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>> you know, you were just talking about this. this is nothing new. go back to 2015. go back to -- >> it's not. >> go ahead. >> this is a part that really infuriates me about this, jose. you know the people that are living here. you know, this whole notion of migrant gangs and venezuelans. how many venezuelans do you know who believe in the american dream right now? i know them personally, right? and they're the ones that are saying, that's not who we are, right? so, the thing is -- this is a clear, clear moment in american history. and you know, american history has always been like this, right? we always have to blame the other. and here we go again. this is a defining electoral moment for this country, where it gets to this very simple, simple conclusion. are we afraid of change, right? or are we understanding that the best that america can offer is that we continue to move with the change, right?
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and so i understand, you know, we can get into immigration, enforcement policy, bipartisan issue for the last 30 years. look it up. there's plenty of words that came out of president -- democratic presidents in the '90s that are coming out of trump's mouth. and i'm not trying to equate this. but at the same time, we need to be honest with ourselves as american society that we're either going to say that the american dream is the greatest marketing message in the world, and that's what's attracting people to here and that's what makes america amazing, are our immigrant and migrant communities. or are we going to say we're going to close up shop and we're not going to let anyone else in? and i don't think that's what america is. and i still believe in the messiness of american democracy. as a puerto rican, i still believe that puerto rico has a future in the context of america. but you've got to -- but the thing is, this is -- history will prove that there's
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[ speaking in a global language ] little steps to what we believe is american democracy. we're used to the trump message. latinos are tired of trump's message. we know he's extreme. we know he's going to get 35%. it's the other 65% that are done with this. >> i always very much appreciate you, on this day maybe more than you will know. julio, thank you. >> gracias. >> appreciate it. still ahead. deadly violence at a bus stop in israel, as the world awaits iran's response to israel's retaliatory air strikes over the weekend. we're live with the very latest. back at home, new reporting on how vice president harris is going after donald trump using his own playbook. and in battleground michigan, today's the day cities across the state begin counting absentee ballots for the first time. but first, what some arizona voters are telling us about the
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racist remarks about puerto rico at trump's rally yesterday. >> i think it's disgusting. >> it doesn't surprise me. what surprises me is the amount of people that are still voting for him. >> i think you can say it jokingly or whatnot, but there's a time and a place for everything. you know, i don't think that's a good thing to say on national television. television wrinkle repair. it has derm-proven retinol... ...expertly formulated... ...to target skin cell turnover... ...and fights not one—but 5 signs of aging. with visible results... ...in just one week. neutrogena ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life
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when he does answer a question or speak at a rally, have you noticed he tends to go off script and ramble? and generally for the life of him cannot finish a thought. and he has called it the weaves. but i think we here will call it nonsense. >> 17 past the hour. throughout her candidacy, vice president harris has been targeting donald trump's age and competence. as "the washington post" reports, the 60-year-old harris has flipped the script on her 78-year-old opponent since becoming the democratic nominee when it comes to questions of aging and acuity, employing the same playbook trump used against joe biden. with us now, ashley parker, "washington post" national correspondent, victoria -- dean
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of university of arkansas. ashley, you're one of the people who wrote that article we just mentioned. how has the vice president flipped the script? >> so, the harris team's argument is that trump, sort of, created the playing field of this election, making it a referendum on age and fitness for the job, which worked in his favor when joe biden was the nominee. but now that it's vice president harris, she's, sort of, taking some of the very same arguments that trump used against biden and putting them back on him. she's doing it in those clips you played the in a lightly mocking way but noting, look, he's not the same donald trump now that you saw in 2016, which is what a lot of republicans said about joe biden. he's not the same joe biden you saw in 2020. i'm not quite sure he's fit for the job. he seems a little unstable. he's rambling. i will say the harris team is a
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little defensive of this idea and they, sort of, say it's a false equivalency. their argument is that what the trump campaign did was they lied about biden's fitness for the job. they made up medical diagnosis they were no way qualified to make, and they alleged with no evidence a massive cover-up in the administration about biden's health and fitness. and everybody said he might not have been fit to campaign, but he was certainly fit to serve as president. and what harris is doing is simply pointing out that donald trump seems, as her running mate would say, weird, and hoping that's something voters take into account when they head to the polls next tuesday. >> what do you make of this strategy? >> i think you're seeing in the ipsos poll that came out over the weekend that on personal characteristics, the vice president is really double digits ahead of donald trump on, you know, he supports people
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like you, values, much more fit, much more healthy, really is -- you're just a better person, better character. and then also on the issue sets, she's really closed the gap. obviously on things like health care, on women's issues, she's far and ahead. and even she's closed the gap on things like the economy, even though trump's a little ahead, she's closed that gap. she has strong issues like the child tax credit and home health care for those of us in the sandwich generation. and i think when you have an event like last night, listen, the floating island of garbage is trump and the trump campaign. sexism, racism, and filth and permission structure that he has created. and this weekend, you had michelle obama really address that. and this permission structure that he has created over the last decade, women and men and families are sick of it.
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and they love this coalition that she has brought together from liz cheney and dick cheney all the way over to, you know, the far left. but it's people who are sick of the kind of garbage that you saw last night. and that garbage is trump. forget it being a comedian. it is trump himself. they vetted all those people last night. it is him. you can't blame it on anybody but him. he does those things every single day, calls women stupid, makes racist remarks, makes those attacks on racial minorities every single day. don't let him blame some stupid comedian. he's the one who does it. >> yeah, i mean, victoria, going back to that racist comment by that comedian about puerto rico yesterday, the trump campaign's response was, quote, this joke does not reflect the views of president trump or the campaign.
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speaking with julio a little while ago about, you know, the bigger reactions to what was said. but there is also the political aspect of it. what impact, victoria, do you think politically this is going to have. >> well, i think it's going to have a minor political impact because if we take a step back, the context of this very hurtful, negative rhetoric has been set for years now. so, when i heard those comments, first it felt like a gut punch. it was painful. but i can't say that i was surprised. if you think about the 2016 election and the launch of the 2016 trump presidential campaign, he started talking about immigrants as criminals. and this is something that is
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not new for better or worse for the trump campaign. if we go back in our history 200 years, we see episodes of folks criminalizing, dehumanizing immigrants. so, this is a campaign where there is the baseline of immigrants being dehumanized, of latinos, of passing these very negative stereotypes. i think folks who at this point have decided to turn away from that rhetoric, turned away -- and others who have decided to either disassociate or double down. but i think in this last bit of the race, i don't think it's going to move the needle one way or the other. >> yeah. i mean, ashley, barbara was saying that he was vetted, this comedian. but if he was vetted, it says one thing. if he wasn't vetted, it says something entirely different but similar in some ways. the comments he said about puerto rico were just part of his speech.
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he also went after blacks and latinos more widely. it wasn't trump speaking, but it was a trump event. is there an impact going forward on this? >> well, again, this is just indicative of the sorts of people donald trump surrounds himself with going back to 2015. so, you know, every now and then, something truly atrocious happens, where the the trump campaign, instead of doubling down and accusing their opponent of what they're guilty of, feels the need to double down. if it's retweeting a white supremacist or neo-nazi meme, it's that donald trump didn't understand it or didn't see it. the question is for all of these things, why are these memes or messages in his feed? why are they getting put in front of him to retweet them? why was this quote, unquote comedian at his event period,
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regardless if they didn't know the exact words this person was going to say. people do what they think the boss encourages and will like. and if someone makes clear that a certain type of language or a certain way of speaking about people in groups is not acceptable, then no one in their orbit does that. but that is not the tone that donald trump has set from nearly the first day he came onto the political scene. >> and, you know, what one person finds funny. >> this comes on every week at his rallies. this goes on all the time. everybody at his rallies, his speakers. tucker carlson made racist horrible remarks last night, as did dozens of speakers there. this is par for the course because it comes straight from trump. racist, sexist. trump is maga. >> barbara comstock as well as vick tore defrancesco, thank you
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for being with us. up next, we're going to go to israel for details on a new proposal for a ceasefire and hostage exchange with hamas. back at home, we'll talk to the mayor of a majority latino city in pennsylvania about his constituents and how they could very well be the deciding factor who wins that battleground state. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. . ...the worst call in the history of this sport. he should never be allowed to ref... (♪♪) ♪ i tell ya... ♪ (♪♪) ♪ how much i love you, love you, love you ♪ (♪♪) ♪ i believe. ♪ (♪♪) ♪ i believe. ♪ ♪ i believe in you. ♪ right now across the u.s., people are trying to ban books
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live puck pictures where the vice president is speaking. >> it's not in any way something that will strike them, the american family, the american worker. it is nothing about what he is saying that is actually going to support the aspirations, the dreams, and the ambitions of the american people. it is absolutely that is intended to and is fanning the fuel of trying to divide our country. and as i said many times, i'll say tomorrow night in my speech, there's a big difference between he and i. if he were elected on day one he's going to be sitting in the oval office working on his enemy's list. on day one, if i'm elected president of the united states, which i intend to be, i will be working on behalf of the american people on my to do
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list. i'll take any questions. >> -- said you face a double standard in this campaign. do you feel you have to climb a higher bar. >> my role and responsibility is to make my case to the american people and to earn their support. that is why i'm spending time traveling the country to listen to folks and to talk with them about my plans, my plans for strengthening small businesses, my plans for helping people with homeownership, my plans to help young families with children. that's the work i'm going to continue to do and not taking anyone for granted but knowing that i have to earn their support. and my plans and policies, including economists who have reviewed them point to one fact, which is that my approach has strengthened america in many ways, including our economy. donald trump will weaken america and our economy. >> madam vice president, you're making several stops in michigan today. can you talk about your final pitch to michigan voters today?
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>> so, i'll be -- i'm heading back to michigan to talk with working people, with families, with young people about the issues that they care most about. they want to make sure that we're going to lower prices. they know the price of groceries, for example, is too high. i know it too. i have a plan to deal with that in terms of a number of things including dealing with price gouging. they want to know they have an opportunity to live the american dream around homeownership. that's why my plan about giving people a $25,000 down payment assistance if they're a first time home buyer matters to the people of michigan. they care about american manufacturing. i'm going to be talking about that again. my plan includes what we will do to continue to invest in american-based industries, american manufacturing, and american workers. that is how we are going to remain strong and globally competitive and win the competition for the 21st century with china and anybody else. >> one follow-up to your remarks about president trump's rally last night. some people who watched that
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made comparisons between a rally that happened at madison square garden in 1939 with neo-nazis or nazis back then. do you see those comparisons? and can you expand on what he said and what you said said about puerto rico. >> donald trump -- this is not new about him, by the way. what he did last night is not a discovery. it is more of the same and maybe more vivid than usual. donald trump spends full time trying to have americans point the finger at each other, fans the fuel of hate and division. and that's why people are exhausted with them. that's why people who formerly have supported donald trump, voted for him, are supporting me, voting for me. people are literally ready to turn the page. they're tired of it. in terms of puerto rico, even when i was in united states senate, knowing that puerto rico does not have a united states senator, i was intentional about
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doing what i could as a united states senator to make sure that, among my priorities, it included paying attention to the needs of the people on that island, including the aftermath of hurricane maria. i have announced also my plan, my opportunity economy writ large. but it's a specific target that will include a task force that focuses on the needs of the people of puerto rico, understanding it has specific needs in terms of upgrades and what it needs in investments in public and private partnership. i'm glad to have support like jennifer lopez and others who were supporting me before that nonsense last night at madison square garden and are supporting me because they understand that they want a president of the united states who's about uplifting the people and not berating, not calling america a garbage can, which is what donald trump -- those are the words he has used. so, there you go.
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i'll see you later. >> what about chips? >> the vice president, as she heads on to a campaign stop in michigan. joining us now is white house correspondent monica alba. monica, an opportunity for the president to answer questions by the media, and she was very, very well focused on what happened in that rally in new york city and some of the despicable things that that comedian was throwing. >> exactly, jose. this is something that the harris campaign has been amplifying and focusing on since that took place last night, really zeroing in on those deeply offensive comments to puerto ricans and to latinos in general that were really said throughout those remarks. and they're highlighting those. and you just saw the vice president lean in to this idea
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that she says, and she argues, are only meant to fan the fuel of divisiveness in this country. and the vice president was asked there specifically to weigh in on those comments. and she pointed out that it was just ironic and happened to be yesterday that she had rolled out her own opportunity economy proposals for the puerto rican community while she was visiting a couple of restaurants and other locales in pennsylvania that have a really rich and heavy puerto rican population. and she was doing that just hours before this happened. and then afterwards, you saw the cascade effect of puerto rico and superstars like bad bunny, jennifer lopez, posting on their accounts, who have millions and millions of followers, the harris campaign points out, about her proposals and what she would do for the puerto rican community. this is something the harris campaign plans to lean into it seems all day. and she's now headed off to michigan, which she also mentioned where she's going to
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be focusing specifically on manufacturing. jose? >> monica alba, thank you very much. right now the middle east is on edge, as officials in iran weigh how they will respond to israel's air strikes. three waves of attacks across iran, according to iran state run media. the latest round strikes were response to october 1st ballistic missile attack on israel. over the weekend bill burns was in qatar working on a new ceasefire proposal in egypt that would call for a two-day cease of fighting. in tel aviv, a truck rammed into a bus stop, killing one person and injuring dozens more. with us msnbc military analyst, barry mccaffrey. raphe, let me start with you. what's the latest on the israeli
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strikes on iran and the expected reaction to them? >> well, jose, the iranian regime initially appeared to be down playing these strikes, saying their air defenses largely thwarted the israeli attack. as the smoke has cleared, if you will, it became clear at least four iranian soldiers were killed. a number of military bases were struck. we are seeing hardening rhetoric coming from iran. their foreign ministry today saying they will use all available tools to respond to this israeli attack. the iranian supreme leader met yesterday with the families of those four soldiers, and he left the door open to retaliation. now, jose that is not what the white house wants to see. president biden speaking to reporters over the weekend said neither side should escalate further. he said that he hopes this was the end. but what is very clear, jose, is we are in a new era now. we used to talk about the conflict between iran and israel
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as being a shadow war, iranian proxies attacking israel, israel launching covert operations. this is very much a conflict that is now playing out in the open. as you mentioned, iran has now carried out two overt ballistic missile strikes on israel, one in april and the other on the first of this month. and now for the very first time, we have seen israeli war planes openly striking inside of iran. jose? >> raf sanchez in tel aviv, thank you very much. so, general, how do you see things right now? you know, iran was threatening israel, don't retaliate, israel. how do you see things as of today? >> well, raphe gave a very accurate assessment, i think, of the situation. look, the israelis are fighting a four-front war for their survival. they've achieved temporarily strategic dominance in that battle. they've shattered the chain of command of hamas and hezbollah.
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they have probably re-established deterrence with iran. they conducted strikes on 20-some-odd targets, primarily, jose to reduce the iran's ability to defend their own airspace. the s-300 aircraft batteries that the russians supplied them with. meanwhile, it's a tragedy for everybody involved. gaza is largely destroyed. southern lebanon has turned into a war zone. tens of thousands of israelis are -- have been driven out of their home, folks in the north and along the gaza frontier, with no end of the war in sight. it may well be a strategic inflection point leading to a ceasefire. i think probably a likely outcome, iran hopefully will not continue the escalation and will
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back off and perhaps we'll see saudi arabia, jordan, qatar, egypt, and other powers intervene to try and create a window for peace. >> general barry mccaffrey, always a pleasure. i thank you very much. appreciate it. up next in battleground michigan today, votes are being counted before election day for the very first time. the impact of this new voting process. plus more than 43 million people across the country have already voted. we'll talk to a head of a group that helps protect your right to vote about what people need to know before heading to the polls. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. why use 10 buckets of water when you can use 1 fire extinguisher. and to fight heartburn, why take 10 antacids throughout the day when you can take 1 prilosec.
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ballots. but results still can't be reported until the polls close on the 5th of november. joining us now, shaq brewster. how is this going to be working, and how will it impact the votes that are going to be coming in on the 5th of november? >> jose, election officials are saying those results will be reported more quickly because of the work that you're seeing take place here. let me show you around a little bit because we're in this massive convention center here in detroit, where members of the media, not election officials. so, we have to stay a little bit away. so, i'll just show you what's happening at these tables where we know more than 1.5 million ballots have been returned by mail here in detroit. and when you look at what's happening at these individual tables, those ballots that have been verified are now being open. the envelopes are being open. the envelope number is being compared with the ballot number and making sure that they can then go into the individual tabulators. the impact is that officials are hoping it will build trust for the results that we ultimately
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see on election night. listen to what we heard from the clerk here. >> you know, detroit is the largest municipality in the state, right? and as such, we should be able to present our reports earlier. we should be more efficient. and i think it lends more trust to our voters. i think they believe in the process more, right, if we're able to show that we can get through our work and present it efficiently. >> reporter: now, this preprocessing tally is not happening in all parts of the state. there are some jurisdictions that are deciding to do this on election day instead. but, again, here in detroit they're doing what they can to take advantage of michigan's new election law. >> so, shaq, the fact that you're being kept at a distance makes sense. but right there where they are opening them and counting, are there watchers from both
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political parties there all the time? >> reporter: that is exactly the case. we know that there are observers, there are challengers that are looking over what's taking place. it's kind of far back, but you'll actually see at each table -- there's dozens of tables in this center -- you have those observers watching through. and if they want to raise a challenge, they can do that. you can have sections here where members of the public are able to go through. there's security. you have to go through the metal detectors. the detroit clerk is trying to open up the process to as many people as possible to build that trust. >> shaquille brewster, thank you very much. appreciate it. joining us now is andrea hailee, ceo of vote.org, known for large scale voter registration programs. andrea, thank you so much for being with us. vote.org has registered close to 2 million voters this cycle? who are these voters? >> this year we're registering so many 18 year olds.
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it's really exciting. we're seeing the highest number of 18 year olds register. we registered about 400,000 new voter who 18 this year. so, i would say that a good number of the people are younger. and of course we're seeing a lot more women show up and register this year as well. >> any idea as to how many of those plan to actually vote? >> at vote.org, we have an 81% conversion rate from registration to the ballot box. part of that is because we spend a lot of time sending election reminders to people telling them everything they need to vote, everything from what i.d. they need to bring with, to where their polling locations are. we send texts and emails to people all the way up through election day. the big thing from getting people from registration to the ballot box is maintaining that constant communication so they have all the information they need. >> how much time is left for those who still want to register and haven't registered? >> it really depends on what state you're in.
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about half of the states in the washington, d.c. have in-person registration all the way up until election day. so, you need to just go to vote.org and check for your state when your registration dates and deadlines are. if you're running late, make sure if you live in a state that has in-person registration, then you can go ahead even on election day and register to vote. it becomes really important that you use the resources that are available at vote.org. >> i mean, you know, it's important to say it has never been more important to participate in the american democratic process. and it's important to say that vote.org doesn't tell you how -- who to vote for but rather explains to you how you can vote. >> that's right. we vote. >> that's right. >> we have tools at vote.org from registration to finding your polling location to looking up what's on your ballot. all of our resources are nonpartisan.
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the idea is everyone who comes to our platform has in their hand to make it to the ballot box on election day. we have early vote day coming up soon, and of course we know election day is really the last day to vote in many states. it's not the first. we have 43 million people throughout this nation who have should be up to vote for early voting, and i would encourage everyone out there to go ahead, make their plan to vote and get three friends to make their plans to vote. all together, that's how we preserve american democracy. >> we have seen reports that police are investigating a fire at a ballot box. when something like this happens, what happens to people's votes, how can voters make sure their vote going to be counted? >> what happened in portland is deeply disturbing, and it's important to remember that it's a distraction as well. the majority of americans won't face anything like that. for the people in portland who cast their ballots after 8:00 a.m., they should contact their local
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county elections office and i encourage those in the elections office proactively reach out to voters and let them know if they were affected. if something happens with your ballot or you show up on election day, and you're told you're not able to vote, you can cast a provisional ballot. it's important to go ahead and make sure that you know your rights and know that you can request a provisional ballot, if you incur any problems leading up to the election. >> andrea haley, thank you very much for being with us this morning. appreciate it. make sure you head over to nbcnews.com/planyourvote for everything you need to know about the election or scan the qr code on your screen. it will show you the rules, deadlines, early voting, all kinds of information right there. go to plan your vote.com. up next, the number of eligible latino voters has more
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than doubled in the last decade. we'll talk to the mayor of allentown about what both campaigns need to do to get those crucial voters to the polls. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. m. believe it or not baby... you could earn your... master's... for under 11 thousand! master's degree for under 11k in less than a year. earn your competency - based master's at university of phoenix.
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tell your doctor if you have a history of infections or symptoms of an infection. talk to your neurologist about vyvgart hytrulo for gmg and picture your life in motion. these are live pictures that you're seeing right now. president biden is in the process of taking advantage of early vote in wilmington, delaware, right there. you see the president speaking to someone. the president, once again, and i don't know if he's already gone in to early vote or he's just coming out so apparently this is his entrance, his way into participate in the democratic process taking advantage of early voting in wilmington,
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delaware. in this election latino voters are going to be crucial. former president obama will join bruce springsteen for a rally in philadelphia, the vice president spent the day there yesterday, getting out the vote, including making a stop. a crucial city, allentown, where more than half of the people are latino, a majority puerto rican. the first latino mayor of allentown, matt turk. what are the stop concerns you're hearing from your constituents heading into this election? >> buenos dias. allentown is a -- people want to make sure they have cress to affordable housing. they want to make sure they have economic opportunity and their
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health care is secure, and educational opportunities for their children. we're pretty basic in those regards, but allentown voters, whether they're latino or not, we have the same basic kitchen table priorities. >> and how are those obstacles reflected in your town? you know, let's talk about affordable housing, for example. >> allentown has been a place that has grown over 20 years because of the affordability of living here. we have seen people come from places like dominican republic, puerto rico, queens, bronx, you're able to afford the dream because of the affordability of living here. that's changed recently. we across the country need to build more, and that's true here in allentown as well. it's become less affordable, and i think that's very much on people's minds. i think that's why people were so responsive to vice president
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harris's plan to build 3 million housing units across the country. great down payment options to get people in their homes, and on the other side of affordability is having access to a good job, being able to start a business. those are the primary concerns for our residents, and that's the primary concern that i have as mayor is making sure that our residents cannot just get by but get ahead. >> how have both campaigns been focused on allentown, and what is it that you would like to hear from both campaigns? >> i can tell you that the harris campaign has been here on the ground, pretty much since day one of the campaign. there's offices in allentown and in our neighboring cities. we have volunteers, thousands of volunteers here every weekend, knocking on doors. they're up on billboards, having communication, and surrogates are visiting.
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we had javie, we had tim walz here on friday. the harris campaign is actively engaged in the city of allentown, meeting with residents and business owners. the trump campaign has been pretty johnny come lately. i'm standing at the corner of 7th and hamilton right now, which is about a block away from our county election office. i've got a trump -- i think they're actually illegally blocking the sidewalk, a trump tent right behind me working on getting people to the polls. former president trump has a rally here in allentown tomorrow that we're kind of preparing for as well. trump has been very late to the game. haven't seen anybody here until this week. harris campaign has been here since day one. >> i know, mayor, you're a democrat, but do you think that in allentown at least the democratic party has what it takes to take the vice president
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past the finish line? >> i'm certainly that allentown will deliver for vice president harris. i'm certain that pennsylvania will deliver for vice president harris. allentown is the center of the world right now. it's certainly the center of latino pennsylvania right now. every voter that i'm talking to, democrats, independents and republicans feel like they need to vote for hope and vote for the future, and i'm hearing a lot of enthusiasm for vice president harris, and i think we're going to deliver for her. >> mayor, thank you very much for being with us. very much appreciate your time. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on social media can the jdbalart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks things up right now. and right now
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