john nichols, i want to talk a little bit more about michigan and the rust belt states. what's happening. we have been talking about it nonstop now since the republican national convention at least. have you seen any changes, any indicators for you? >> there's a lot of indicators. what we've seen is that the harris campaign has really begun to get much more focused in on the reality of these states. remember, certainly the harris campaign picked up from the biden campaign. it still had to get its groove, get its focus, and what i have noticed, in fact, it fits into the last two days here, kamala harris yesterday did three stops in wisconsin. today, three stops, i think it's three stops in michigan. and her message is becoming much more focused and the focus is on these labor issues, these trade issues. she should have been talking about them two weeks ago. there is simply no question of that. and i think what you've seen in all of these states is a narrowing, a closing of the gap. right after the convention, harris took off, opened up some margins. there was a lot of hap

joining us now national affairs correspondent for the nation john nichols.ds labor unions, the labor vote, that labor leadership is not always in line with leader membership. a lot like donald trump, even though the leader generally endorses the democrat. what is his message to kamala harris to try and drag those union members who might like donald trump over to her side? >> a lot of messages and one of the things he understands is you speak to different workers in different regions of the country in different ways. at the heart of this, are there issues that might be able to move something. he talked about something that's almost lost to media coverage, and that is that when donald trump was elected in 2016, the issue that drove it, one of the big issues, was trade. >> nafta. >> nafta. and china free trade as well. these things really drove it. and then he went in and reworked nafta. what shawn fain says, the rework was a disaster. >> u.s. mca. >> says it was a disaster for workers and there's the data. now this is something for a lot of folks just looking

this is john nichols with a nation. thank you. so much for joining us and you are a wisconsin election expert. what did these numbers mean to you? means were heavy. a typical wisconsin the election of the last 6 presidential races . 4 of them in have been decided in wisconsin by under 25000 votes. so this is just about an evenly divided state, but harris was pulling a little bit above this earlier. so should, should these numbers be worrying her campaign? i don't think so. i think that here's right after she came in for joe biden in august, really shot up for numbers. got very, very good. and she opened up the lead. but i think her campaign is always known that they were gonna have to fight hard for wisconsin. that were standing downtown madison talking about the 4 blocks from here on wednesday night. she'll have a rally with 15 or 20000 people. and so she has come here again and again and again, so strong. so the fact is i, i think here is people kind of know what they're dealing with. and i also remind you one little twist i com

officers were found guilty of witness tampering following the fatal beating of tyre nichols, after a january 2023 traffic stop. johnohn: those three officers, tadarrius bean, demetrius haley, and justin smith, all convicted of trying to cover up their actions. haley was also convicted of violating nichols' civil rights by caung bodily injury, and bean and smith were acquitted of civil rights charges. they were among the five former officers who fatally punched, kicked, and hit nichols in 2023 after he ran from a traffic stop. police body-cam and surveillance video of the fatal encounter was shown almost every day of the three-week trial. after the verdict was read, tyre nichols's father said the family was elated. he said this was justice and a long time coming. the three also face state murder charges. thaddeus johnson teaches criminal justice and criminology at georgia state university, and is a former ranking memphis police officer. what do you make of this verdict, this split decision? thaddeus: it makes sense. this is actually what we want in our current system, to cater the punishments or the charges for the

still, nichols argues that one ray of hope is that revelations from people like john kelly do seem to matter. nbc news white house correspondent, aaron gilchrist is in clarkson, georgia. ron hilliard. and aaron haynes who will be in atlanta. and senior reporter, greg bluestein. aaron gilchrist, i'm going to start with you. tell me more of what you expect to see from harris tonight. and about this -- i don't want to say a change in messaging, but a renewed push of donald trump, the threat to democracy, donald trump, the fascist. >> reporter: yeah. i think you're hearing a more forceful message from the vice president, along those lines how she views former president trump, how she sees him as a danger to democracy. and her using that as part of a message why he should not be re-elected and why he should not be in the oval office. tonight, we can expect to hear the vice president talk a lot about the need for people to actually get out and vote. we know she has a star-studded lineup with her here in atlanta or outside atlanta, on the edge of the city here. she is going to appear with fo