Transcription
You, I mean you, absolutely can. You can take 2019 and apply it here. I mean, did she run an incredible race? If, if 2019, if she were running the race she ran in 2019, we would not be having this conversation right now. We should turn to Laura. I haven't watched this; that's priceless. Talk about misinformation.
[Music]
Hello, budget, and welcome to PBS News special live coverage of the 2024 election. I'm Omna Nas, and I'm Jeff Bennett, and I'm Clinton Jaws. Guys, this happy New Year. This is the last of the election meltdowns, unless this one does really good, then I'm going to post another one at 1 or 2 o'clock today. The only way to make this video successful is if you watch it. You have to watch it, like, subscribe. Shout out to YouTube channel Based Life Guru, who did a lot of this work. I'll put a link in the description. It is important to say we may not know the final result of the presidential election tonight. There's always the potential for challenges to the voting off the, but before uh, they've been sharing some of the statistics that they think shows that Harris could very well be on the pathway to 270. Specifically, they said that uh, there is high poror can turnout Philadelphia. That's because of the fact that Donald Trump ended the last few weeks with that racist and sexist Madison Square Garden, where the comedian made the racist joke about Puerto Ricans. So they believe that high turnout amongst Puerto Ricans could very well help Paris in a city like, after the Puerto Rican island of garbage, whatever joke at the Madison Square Garden that we heard it, it mobilized and, and from what we're hearing initially, I think we'll find that all-town reading, which significant Puerto Rican populations found that there was, well, at least your mom thinks pretty—I know I used it before—higher turnout than expected among those populations.
And to the, to the, the atmosphere of violence, we need to recognize that this atmosphere of violence that we are contending with, yes, is because one of the two candidates for president throughout his entire campaign has invoked violent rhetoric right up until the last couple of days. And so we are here because a person who used to be president of the United States and should know, know better and should be about bringing us together has decided not to do that aggressively. Let's sh counted, but the in the order that they're counted, it could make any kind of premature declarations. Yes, I think Republicans uh, were burned uh, felt burned—some of them—I love a woman with thin glasses that matches the neck—by more than burned by what happened um, in 2020, and we know there's been a huge division in the Republican party, but I don't think that means that they are comfortable with uh, certainly with what happened on January the 6th, right? But you know, there are some interesting counties here, and we are getting some results in 76% actually of the expected vote in, actually, she—I get it—she's adorable, love the pants—now from Florida, and one place I want to look is Oola County. This is one of three majority Hispanic counties in the State of Florida. Well, they were also afraid about the threats to democracy, and we cannot discount the role that is playing in the people's thinking and also reproductive freedom. And so you put those two together, and I'll be interested to see if those two issues—that's what I would run on—swamp the, the sort of dpep dyspepsia in the, in, in the country about we're on the wrong track. And maybe people think we're on the wrong track because reproductive freedom is U um, is in jeopardy and the threats democ—give me some abortion—yeah, think about how Trump closed this, cuz it was awful. I mean, those last 10 days, not only that Madison Square Garden event, which got its own, but then the Enemy Within, women, you know, whether they like it or not uh, votes are rigged uh, you had all kinds of nonsense of antics around Arnold Palmer and microphones and all kinds of stuff that was such—it affirmed for a lot of people this is not what we want in office, and I think it was just an awful close for him, and he could do none of that, and he had lack of discipline, and I do think it hurt him in a big way.
Yeah, I'm, I'm really interested in this, in this question about how much voters are affected by the kind of language that he uses and these, and these late in the campaign and even earlier in the campaign, frankly um, uh, harsh rhetoric, ugly, ugly language. That Madison Square Garden rally, though, to use your phrase, really did get liberals mad, and it's interesting because we're living in this universe where the competition for attention is so fierce, but what that insult comic said about Puerto Rico really broke through, through Jonathan, and and we'll see if, if with the, the degree of the blowback tonight. Why do you think that resonated? Look, that Madison Square Garden rally was just a, a hate fest from beginning to end, and the fact that you had this comic there um, to say these jokes that were racist, xenophobic, um, sexist, and that's the beginning of the night, and for that to be part of the closing message, and I'm with, I'm with Judy, I would like to know how much this language impacts the way people are going, going into the voting booth and impacts the way they're thinking about who they want to lead them. I mean, I think that's also why this election is such a stark contrast: do you want someone who is saying, I'm here for everybody, I want us to work together, or someone who says there are all these problems and everything's going to hell, and it's that person's fault, that person's fault, that person's fault, and I'm the one who's going to fix it, and none of your proposals um, no, don't speak to Unity, do not speak to bringing us together. And so, you know, I think may we don't want to be together. Liberals getting mad, you know, is one thing, but I also think that that Madison Square Garden concerned Americans, and let's not put the labels on it, but I do think a lot of Americans looked at that and thought, what the entire hell is happening? If they hadn't been paying attention up until that, we see.
Yeah, I have been out at the polls a lot today. Uh, one of the things that you hear over and over again is abortion. I heard that from men, I heard that from women. I've been pretty much exclusively in Philadelphia um, but it's really top of mind here. The other thing I've heard, and I was in, you know, sort of Republican areas of the city as well as Democratic areas, the economy was the big one. Those were the two issues that I kept hearing over and over again. I know that you and the Vice President are close. Have you side gig as a clown? She's a performer. She changed the entire dynamic of politics in this country. What kind of country do we want to live in, Jeff? A Harris country? What after that? We also clarify and the fact that despite the things that Donald Trump said uh, on the campaign trail, the things that he's promised on the campaign trail, a lot of things that are concerning to millions of people, and he's still getting more votes than he did the last go around. That to me is um, more concerning. What I'm looking at and what I'm most concerned about, about what I'm about to learn about the American people through this election—not going to like it—a lot of questions about what's going on and what's going to happen. I have to underperformed by a lot, even Hillary Clinton in Michigan again, still many more votes to come in. How many times can we say abortion in 10 seconds? Have different ballot measures related to abortion rights tonight, on the right to abortion, there abortion rates. It was not that long ago we were talking about who was going to win Florida, how dramatically it has shifted in such a short period of time. Donald Trump has won the state of Texas with its 40—what they are breaking—well, you know this about me, I'm interested in class campaigns—actually, what they are breaking—well, you know this about me, I'm be interested that Harris is currently overperforming Biden's 2020 margin in those Suburban counties, they're—how would you describe the mood in the room? What are you hearing from campaign officials? Uh, the mood here is very, very positive. I mean, I haven't been able to pull—the news keeps getting better and better—this key State, 55% of the vote, Trump is up 51 to 48, but we do have some big counties to come in still, and so, you know, I think he won Texas by more than, certainly more than I expected um, so you have to say that his strength is, is bigger than I thought it was. His strength among—I, we expected him to gain among Hispanics—some of places like Michigan, his gains among Hispanics are kind of eye-popping if the exit polls are to be believed. So I'd have to say this is such a shock, we—it's a, but it would not be a majority that is like huge, it would get like maybe an eight seat or instead of what they have a four seat or a nine seat instead of a four seat, right? So I feel fine about Michigan, Wisconsin, so Pennsylvania, we'll see, see how it goes at the end here.
That's right, Chef General mie Dylan sent a memo, excuse me, as votes trickle in in the Sun Belt, early vote expectations in Bucks County—together, get it together—and just to pull back the curtain a little bit, Laura, a lot of times when campaigns send those memos to staff that are also shared um, how much of that message based on your reporting and your sourcing and how much of that is—are you okay? No, keep on asking her question. Yeah, sorry, I think I need to get a little—that's okay—drink of water. But, but how much of that, if you—okay, so I'll go to hard to figure that one out. When you get a message like that uh, you know, in terms of spin, Jeff, look, the campaign has gotten a little bit more quiet lately than they were earlier in the night. That's—they were all along saying that things were going to be narrow, that the margins were going to be tight. I was texting with congresswoman Debbie Dingle just a moment ago, a congresswoman from Michigan who in 2016 had warned about Michigan and Hillary Clinton's chances there. Debbie Dingle said that she was nauseously optimistic still and that it was going to be tight, but she wasn't worried just yet, and that's kind of the sense that I'm getting from a number of Democrats, those here, those elsewhere. He'll say something uh, stupid. I mean, you know, one of the Kamala Harris hit him at the end for fascism: only idiots vote for uh, and I thought that was not the right way to go at him because to me the problem with Donald Trump is not too much order but too much chaos. Chaos in the United States is a truly terrible thing uh, and so I thought they should have hit him—he's just out of control chaos. You want chaos on your life every day? You want chaos around the world? Cuz in my view, the American electorate tends to vote for the candidate they associate with order. Well, that's, but no, we just want war, that's what we want. But also, but also the Vice President said, you know, he's unhinged, he's erratic because we trust her mind. Why is his strength so durable, and why would the Democrats, with all the strength they have, why have they been unable to really deliver a blow? Oprah Winfrey, who the hell is that? Beyond strength, reproduction rights, gooey abortions, we're on the brink of WW3, can you not figure it out, idiot? Stick with you. Donald Trump has won the state of North Carolina with its six, 16 electoral—that's why you went there four times—and to me, I am uh, I'm mystified in some ways uh, simply because we're talking about a twice impeached, four times indicted, icted on 34 felony counts, former president. Someone that's one bucket, then in another bucket you have all of the things he's been saying on the campaign trail that gets to the decency that the woman was talking about in that last report and how she wanted to vote for Vice President Harris because she didn't like that Madison Square Garden rally um, I don't get it. I am just, I am mystified that despite all of that he's gaining support compared to 2020. We're done with you. And it gets back to something I said uh, earlier at some point, one of the hours ago, that who are we as a country? Fighters, not weak, awake—that's who we are right now. I'm not sure I'm, I like it.
Well, Judy, this is a minuscule portion of the population, and I think this gets to my, my bigger issue that hammering away at, at transgender people, promising a mass deportation plan without talking about how are you going to distinguish between who's here legally and who's here illegally, the disruption that um, he is promising for the country um, is—it's called getting police, idiot, stultifying, and that's, that's why run their names, you dummy. I, I am mystified by why, why we are here, not saying that anything has happened and that has been called, or anything again. We're about to find out about half the country was down with this way more, and Democrats have put forward the, the, and the people Democrats have chosen to put those arguments forward haven't made the sale uh, yet, yet we don't know what's going to happen tonight. Fast forward to the current moment, you cannot draw a through line to, to, to the message that he is trying to convey to the American people. It was objectively dark and undisciplined, that cuz I think this conversation seems to be drifting into—she lost, and let's diagnose to an autopsy on—we are nowhere near that right now. Exactly, we are no, correct, we are nowhere near that. And so I think the Vice President has run a fantastic campaign, given that it was just—it's just been 107 days, and what she's been able, what she's been able to do in that time, so much. I find it interesting that the, the YouTube world is dominated by conservative voices, Trump voices, which gets to a point I want to—you're on YouTube—make, which is in terms of people getting their news, that there's a whole right-wing echo chamber that um, amplifies all of the, the misinformation and disinformation that's going out there to the American people and news, the cable channel AB, the number one cable channel in the country by multiples. When I look at my, look at my ratings uh, for my show on, Ms Show on MSNBC, I don't even bother to see if I beat Fox, I look to see if I beat CNN because Fox is way out ahead. That's where a lot, where people are getting their news, and I also think that we—I wondered if, you know, people would be unwilling to tell pollsters that they didn't want to vote for a woman and didn't want to vote for a black woman. South as—oh, here we go—and so this, because we can't just say that oh, her economic message wasn't right, or oh, she didn't speak to this particular constituency about fill-in-the-blank issue, she didn't even go on Joe Rogan, she just talked about abortions. Could it be that the country still has an issue with a woman in the, the top job in the nation, if not the world? Oh, he's—know our, our allies and and a lot of our peers have had women leaders. Judy Tulsi G would have won. K. Harris had been chosen, would she have run a different campaign? She ran to the—that's not ran, run—this election is not over. She has run a campaign to the middle. She has not emphasized her gender, her race. She has in fact just kind of jumps over those questions when they've come up. She's had a test case for the Harris campaign, and it was 2019 was 2019, and there's not very much there that made us think this would be a tremendous National candidate who would be able to, you know, even win a Democratic primary if Joe B, if Joe Biden had dropped out earlier. And now I think what we've seen with some of the numbers here tonight and some of the underperformance, yeah, is just how real that test case applied at a national scale in a general. I don't think, think that's, that's, that's not apples and apples. I mean, also because remember in 2020, but primaries make you stronger, and she didn't go through primary—stop it. Well, fine, but again, she got out of, she got out of the race because anyone paying attention to that race, as long as Joe Biden was, was in the race, he was going to take the base of the party, and that's African-American voters. And so um, she looked at the handwriting on the wall and got out, but you can't use 2019, you cannot use her failed run in 2019 and hold her against—after watching this incredible campaign she's run now, if she was such a disaster, Kevin, she was such a—if she was such a disaster—is it incredible, but Kevin, if she was such a dis—and can, and can you not take it? You, I mean you absolutely can. You can take 2019 and apply it here. I mean, did she run an incredible race? If, if 2019, if she were running the race she ran in 2019, we would not be having this conversation right now. We should turn to LBR. I haven't watch this; that's priceless. Talk about misinformation. This might be the reason people watch YouTube. If she were running the race she ran in 2019, we would not be having this conversation right now. We should turn to Laura Baron Lopez. She is actually with the har—we're here at Howard University—and the has quieted a little bit as the night has gone on, but every time they see a state called for Harris, they roar back to life um, at one point they did uh, call for the DJ to start playing rather than listening to some of the results come in, but the crowd is still going here as they, as they hold out hope that Harris can succeed by winning the blue wall States as well as Nevada uh, right now I was texting with a Democratic House member in Nevada who is extremely confident that Harris will win Nevada. She's got Nevada. They're really looking to that Western State to the Latinos in, are than the Latinos on the easn in the eastern states. And again, actually, this is said Richmond, a former senior advis—tonight we're going to count all—good evening Howard—hello Howard—so you won't hear from the Vice President tonight—so you won't hear from the Vice President tonight—damn—uh, people started to stream out—have some more water—oh, good Lord—we're going to give you—let us know if you need to step away for a drink of water again—clthes—uh, in the meantime, what else can you share with us about—as you mentioned some of the crowd thinning out over the last hour or so—has there been a shift from what you can tell among supporters there? What does that mean? Yeah, I mean, the moodna is one that is very anxious and nervous. They're leaving, supporters are still holding out hope that the blue wall is going to come through for Harris, Nevada will come through for Harris, but again, they are really upset that it's coming down to this narrow pathway. They get over it for the Vice President, the past in studio to the Past—hold on, let me get the right button um—well um, we'll see how the outcomes of this go uh, you know, I look to the house and the Senate um, trend lines are, are not great right now for Democrats, but hopefully, you know, things could turn—the pen is four—wrestling with the Trump president presidency with a house and the Senate, which is one possible, one possibility to be clear, there could be a number of other possibilities, but want be here, you—the amount of disruption that is on, on we on the cusp of is not imagined at that point um, you if you got that much power and that authori—well, she sort of got to run the table uh, and she's behind in all the states right now, so she'd have to catch up and go ahead in all those States uh, you know, so I, I, I went to the New York Times map, and they've got this neat little feature that shows um, shift from 2020, and I wish I could show it to, to the audience, but the, the red that is on this map is what's sobering, yeah, given everything I've said over the last, over the last five hours—have a drink—I do think that this, that this race is always going to be close, that the Vice President's path, even though they were hoping maybe North Carolina, maybe Georgia, that it was always going to be through the.
Blue wall state, so I knew it was a fact that we don't have those results. And um, she's told folks to go home. It's not surprising to me, but um, assumptions are being challenged in this election. And this map here says to me that no matter what happens uh in this election, no matter who wins, we as a nation have to have a conversation about why this map looks the way it is. And I hear all the things about economics and populism and things like that, but we also have to—fact—we also have to factor in some social issues that could also be at play, why they voted the way they voted. And I'm not—I'm not sure people are willing to be as honest as I would like them to be, to talk about why this—why this shift is happening. Because we're weak, Brad. We need to be strong, and we want to get rid of the war. I'm seeing it over Jonathan's shoulder; it's very red. How could they be so confused? We don't know the result yet; we're still waiting for these states to come in.
I'm already thinking about your neck—unifying the country to what extent? And—and we—people asked in the exit polls, who do you think will do a better job of bringing us together? I know that's been asked by pollsters uh for the last few years—not abortion—um, and in most cases, uh the Democrat would win that by some margin. But how—I mean, half of the country, or almost half the country—more than—is going to be unhappy with this result. What does that look like? What—what it—what's—what is the leader of Tears—whoever it is, whether it's Donald Trump or Kamala Harris—what are they going to say to the American people about that? Are they even going to? So I'm already thinking, what happens to the country? What happens to people who uh didn't vote for the winner? Where do we go from here? Um, and Harris is up by two points. How does that come? It's an election, people. Okay, it's just an election. Settle down. Compare historically. You take it back in another—another four years.
Fox has called Pennsylvania for Donald Trump. The Associated Press, however, says that several hundred ballots are left to be counted, and a flip is still possible. Uh, give us a sense of—of what's happening in the room and bring us up to speed on your reporting. Uh, if you had uh gone to me 45 seconds ago when Fox News made that call, I wouldn't have been able to hear a single word you said, no kidding, because this room erupted with as loud of a cheer—a ruckus—maybe I'll find that for you. We are now projecting that Donald J. Trump will win the state of Pennsylvania—former President Donald Trump. The Fox News Decision Desk can now officially project that Donald Trump will become the 47th President of the United States. To say that we know definitely what the outcome will be, but had hoped that it'd be a little bit cleaner at this point about the house—is a—you know, if you were playing that game that everyone always likes to talk about, of would you rather be us or them, you know, right now, obviously you'd ra—you'd rather be Trump. We should reiterate here that only Fox has called Pennsylvania for former President—Associated have not—no other network has. But when you look at—at the blue—maybe that answers your question there, little daddy. Maybe that's why people watch Fox, because they get it right. Prevailing wind, which I hope shifts. I mean, she has—she has to win the blue wall, and it is my fervent hope that that Fox—that call by the other network—um—um—what? It's 1:30 in the morning; I can't even think anymore—but is my hope that the AP—that the—that the AP will flip that—Fox was premature—that Fox was premature and she hangs on. And what—that Democrats are up one—and uh—overall, but they're probably gonna lose one—at least one Michigan—um, if not two, and so that we'll even back out.
If your team lost, your instinct is to start blaming the voters, MH, and it—it's always useful to—in my view—the voters are not always wise, but they're usually sensible. They know their own lives, Harris. They make sensible calls. So as you can see behind me, Jeff, the yard—which is where the election night event for Harris had been set up—has entirely cleared out because after—man—said that the Vice President was going to be speaking tonight. The Harris campaign certainly believes that they have maybe the most infinitesimal chance, but a chance still that they could eke out some final—well, I expected Trump to declare victory uh tonight, no matter what—um, yeah, at 10:30, but I didn't expect that there—he'd have some cause to do so, uh, and so—but we're in a—we're in the normal Trump World where, you know, I—I think a normal candidate would wait for—for all the networks to endorse, and he—but he doesn't—doesn't play by those kind of rules. So go eat a dick. It's welcome to the Future, Jonathan.
Well, um, you know, I come to elections with a sense of humility simply because, you know, polls don't vote—people vote. And so in elections we finally get to hear what the American people have to say. And I've come to this election with an open mind, and I want to know what the American people have to say. What was it—6 hours ago I was mystified by what was—what was going on. Two hours ago, and now I can't help but think that if this election seems to be—if it proves out that the millions of people who are watching Fox News—if that ends up being—being the case—then change your think—um—I can't help but wonder if the American people have given up on democracy. Oh, go eat a big dick. Simply because I'm looking over your shoulder, you know, right now Donald Trump has 51.2% of total votes—51.2, Judy—which is better than he had on the previous two—was it 48%? Is that right? Last time—Republican—got just a couple things: Number one, this is not where we thought we would be. We all—I think many of us—oh, that's another good thumbnail right there—many of us thought this election could go on for a day or two or three—longer—months. Is David—Amy Walter—is there any place where Kamala Harris is overperforming Joe Biden in 2020? I was just trying to look at that uh when I look at—and again I'm not going into this county level data—just looking at every one of the states. And as—as you're looking, I should say we have the—the live shot up of the—of the podium there. Expect Donald Trump to come out and address his supporters literally any minute now. Um, just to see that, you know, this—this looks a lot more like what we saw in 2016 than what we saw in 2020 in terms of states that we consider pretty blue: New Hampshire, Minnesota, uh, you know, Virginia—places that uh Biden won by really big numbers that you kind of assumed would follow suit if—if—if at the very beginning of this conversation when uh David was talking about Blues getting Bluer and reds getting redder, but in this case uh there wasn't enough of the blue getting Bluer even in blue states. But uh—oh, here we go. Donald J. Trump—First Lady Melania Trump—as Donald Trump takes the stage there, we can now report that the AP has called the state of Pennsylvania for former President Donald Trump. He’s taken the stage there with his wife—with his son Barron. The Associated Press has called Pennsylvania, which now brings Mr—his first term—he implemented and oversaw what has to be one of the darkest chapters in modern American history, and that was separating children from their parents forcibly for the purpose of separation as a deterrence. So I'm not, Jonathan—I'm not as—as uh optimistic about these natural limits that—that David's talking about. Um, to William's point, you know, I'm part of the other half of the country who's shocked um, given all of the things that—that Kevin said. But to be honest, there's also a part of me that's not shocked. I mean, for a lot of people, this will be 2016 all over again. For me, it's not because, you know, I lived through the—the first—the—the four years of Trump's Administration. How’d you do it? Um, I know—I remember what that was like. What—what was it like? And to say that this is a—this is a sobering moment for me as an African American—because—um—this is a sobering moment for me as an African American because um, things that he said on the campaign trail about giving power to police to do all sorts of things that would—me—in potentially uh to being um—have an encounter with the police that I didn't ask for. As a gay American, I'm concerned because that super—I didn't know was gay—as a gay American, I'm concerned because that super—the conservative super majority on the court, particularly Justice Thomas in—in his concurrence with the Dobbs decision said, you know what, we should go after Obergefell—so my—which legalized same-sex marriage—so my marriage is on the line. You’re married. As a journalist, I'm concerned because just two days ago he talked about how—got this piece of glass in front of me, and so someone wants to shoot me, they have to shoot through the press, and you know that might not be so bad. As an American, I'm concerned because of—take my marriage away—what we've done to help the people of Ukraine—um—what President Biden has tried to do uh in bringing a resolution to the Israel-Hamas War—America's standing in the world—our role in—in NATO—in—in the Western Alliance—being the—being the bulwark of—well, the bulwark of democracy. Oh, you're killing me here. All of those things uh are now on the line if indeed he um is—full of it—the next President of the United States. Judy, we heard William of course reminding us about the many things we've heard from former President Trump over the years—this idea that he's emulated or showed admiration for dictators—has hinted that he'd like to emulate them as well—as former Chief of Staff—hold him a fascist. We talk about democracy and what it took to uphold democracy and January 6th and the days after. And how are you looking at this question right now in terms of what a second Trump presidency would mean? I think with eyes wide open. I'm listening to what each one of you is saying tonight. I do want to understand better what the voters were saying. I mean, to David's point, uh, I—I really want to dig in and understand and—and not just by reading and looking at the exit polls, but I—you don't know what—we're continue to go around the country—understand from people—what—talk to five—you trying to say with this vote? What are—what are your expectations of him? Talk to the other side. He's made some enormous promises. He—he's going to make—guys, that's it. No more. Thanks for watching, man. Let's kick butt this year. Let's hope for a great year. I wasn't a fan of 2024, but I'm looking forward to 2025. Bye-bye. What's that?