Morning Joe - Morning Joe 8/29/24

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

Harris, Trump essentially tied in the sun belt swing states

A shot of the U.S. Capitol. And just hours from now, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, will hold a rally in Savannah, Georgia, in hopes of making inroads with voters in Republican strongholds. We'll break down the campaign strategy and if it's enough to beat Donald Trump in that battleground state. Plus, we're going to speak to Aaron Haynes, editor at large, the 19th, who writes that President Biden's decision to drop out of the race created a singular moment in American politics. And she'll explain how it could give Harris a chance at history.

And also ahead, a nasty new attack by Republican running mate J.D. Vance. We'll show you what the Ohio senator is saying now as the controversy over Donald Trump's visit to Arlington National Cemetery heats up. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Thursday, August 29th. Thank you for being here. I'm Jonathan Lemire, and I'm in this morning for Joe Mika and Willie. I'm happy to say, though, I've got some help. And with us, we have MSNBC political analyst Elise Jordan. She is a former aide to the George W. Bush White House and State Department managing editor at the board. Sam Stein got through security. He's here. And NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitale, who you just saw on way too early. Thanks, everyone, for being here.

Let's get a lot to get to. Let's just dive right in. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are essentially tied in every Sun Belt swing state. That's according to brand new Fox News polling. And it shows that Harris leads Trump by one point among registered voters in Arizona and by two points in both Georgia and Nevada. Trump, meanwhile, leads by a single point in North Carolina. Now, all of those results are within the margin of error, but the trend lines favor Harris. In previous Fox polls conducted before President Joe Biden exited the 2024 race about six weeks ago, Trump led by five points in Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina and by six points in Georgia. And at least just we can hold up the graphic there on screen there

for a moment more. You can see the trend here. And yes, the race is close. But when President Biden dropped out, it reshaped the race. Not only does Harris have momentum, but suddenly her paths to 270 electoral college votes have really opened up. Well, and then you also look at the impact on the down ballot races. And I was just frankly shocked by the Arizona Senate poll within this poll and how Ruben Gallego is just running away beyond the margin of error with the Arizona Senate race. And yes, it's Carrie Lakey's up again. She's a drag on the ticket in Arizona for sure. But it's like 15 points. It's a big lead in a place where it wasn't supposed to be that huge. So she definitely has momentum. Is she

going to be able to maintain the enthusiasm, the excitement going into September post-debate? That's what remains to be seen, how the next two months are going to play out and whether this is a honeymoon or it's for real. And Harris Walls will have their first sit-down interview later tonight. Sam Stein, let's get you in on these polls here. I mean, it's significant. You know, polls are a snapshot. We know that. But this shows where this race is at this moment.

And the wind is at Harris' back. What do you think about the state of play in those Sunbelt states? States that just a few weeks ago, Donald Trump had thought he had put away. Remember, at the sidelines of the Republican National Convention, I know you were there in Milwaukee. Trump aides telling reporters, we don't even have to advertise or campaign in North Carolina. That state is in the bag. Now, his lead is one point. Well, I'll never get over that dig you made about me getting through security. That was

for my entire life, frankly. Pass it on to your kids. They'll remember it, too. They're watching, I'm sure. I think to your point, look, we all know that the race has been reset. But the way in which it's reset, I think, matters here. And by that, I mean, when you have three states that are critical to the election, it narrows the field for Trump. It allows him to just focus on those battleground states in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. When you have seven states now in contention, it becomes a resource battle, much more so. And in this case, it's not just that Harris has the momentum, it's that she's raising tons of more money.

When you're raising half a billion dollars in a month, right, you can then afford to do ad blitzes and fund on-the-ground operations in more of these states. You can do turnout and persuasion in more of these states. And now you're stretching Trump's resources even further. And so, yes, there's more maps. But in addition to, I'm sorry, more pathway to 270. But in addition to the pathways to 270, you also benefit from the fact that you have a lot more money

and can afford to play in all those states. And Trump now has to be on the defensive. I mean, not only do they not want to spend in Arizona, they don't want to spend in North Carolina. And they're going to have to do that now. It doesn't mean Harris is going to win those states, but it does make it more likely for her to pick off enough states to get to 270 now. Yeah. And Harris, of course, spending time in Georgia on a bus tour and then a rally right now. So here's how Fox News chief political anchor Brett Baier reacted to his own network's polling yesterday with a close eye, indeed, on one of those key swing states. Georgia,

Georgia remains. It was the closest contest in 2020 decided by less than a quarter of a percentage point in favor of President Biden. Our recent polling showed the widest gap, six points for former President Trump over President Biden. But now that has closed. Harris has a two-point lead in our latest poll. It's expected to be a close race. That's obviously within the margin of error. But both candidates are spending a lot of time in Georgia.

And if that lead holds, she wins Georgia, she wins the presidency of the United States. The importance of Georgia on display right now. The Trump-Vance campaign, as you might imagine, quickly issued a memo calling the polling atrocious, saying, we report, you decide. Fox's polling has an awful track record. And speaking of Georgia, Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz

are on a campaign bus tour of southern, typically redder counties in that state. The Democratic ticket was greeted yesterday on an airport tarmac by students from Savannah State University, Georgia's oldest HBCU. The tour then kicked off with a series of stops focused on education. Harrison Walls then traveled south through Hinesville, Georgia, where they visited a local high school and spoke to members of the faculty and the student marching band. You kind of embody this idea, and the vice president talks a lot about it. Each of our individual talents, what we can contribute, but something bigger than ourselves when you get together. Your single instrument alone is an amazing thing, but as part of this band, it becomes really amazing.

I'm just grateful that you'd have us here. I'm grateful to be part of a team with a really great head coach here and your next president of the United States, Kamala Harris. Sometimes you hit the note, sometimes you don't, right? But all that practice makes for beautiful music. And that is a metaphor, that is symbolic for everything that you all do in your lives. Which is you're going to show what a winning team looks like. You're going to show what it means to put yourself out on the field, to put yourself in front of people.

To have the confidence to do it. Sometimes you're going to hit the step right. Sometimes you're not. Sometimes you're going to win the game. Sometimes you may not. But, you know, you never let any circumstance knock you down or slow you down. You just keep going at it. Harris' aides have long said she loves a bus tour. The vice president will continue her tour of Georgia today, while Wallace will head on to campaign events in North Carolina. Harris will end the tour with a rally in Savannah later on today. And the importance of Georgia also on display by Donald Trump's efforts to patch things up with Republican Governor Brian Kemp,

popular governor with whom Trump has been feuding for years. Joining us now, editor-at-lar large at the 19th, Erin Haines. She's also an MSNBC political contributor and an expert on all things Georgia. So, Erin, tell us about the state of play there and what we're seeing from this push by Harris and her running mate to move into sort of these redder counties. And it's not about winning those counties, right? It's about closing the margin of defeat, but closing the gap. So therefore you can win it in Atlanta, in the suburbs of Atlanta.

And she's speaking to voters, white and black, who don't always think about voting for Democrats. Right, and who also don't always get to see a Democrat, especially in that part of the state. Listen, there are 159 counties in Georgia and Atlanta is only in one of them. Typically, Democrats do tend to focus in and around Atlanta and those surrounding counties. And Republicans are the ones that tend to go to the rest of the state. Republicans avoid Atlanta. Democrats kind of

avoid the rest of the state. But Harris is showing that she is willing to work for those votes, like you said, not necessarily to win those red counties, but certainly to kind of eat away at the margins. Remember, that's the kind of map that Stacey Abrams and other grassroots groups like Black Voters Matter and others really, you know, worked to build the coalition that elected Senator Raphael Warnock and Senator John Ossoff in 2020, and obviously President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris turning Georgia blue in that year, something that Vice President Harris is obviously hoping to repeat. Listen, I mean, you have people in that part of the state that are concerned about affordability, about opportunity. And so to hear, you know, Coach Wals and Vice President Harris really down there

trying to rally them, bringing some of that joy also in the form of encouragement to an area that they know, you know, a lot of people are still struggling, kind of trying to strike that balance, I think, was something really important in a part of the country that shows kind of where they are coming out of this convention focused on the middle class and focused on opportunity for folks like the people in the Savannah area these two days. Erin, it's Ali Vitale. I'm glad that you're with us because we started our 5 a.m.

hour with our friend and a colleague of yours, Jen Gerson, talking about the messaging around freedom to try to appeal to some moderate white women that might not typically vote Democrat. Can you talk about the impact of that kind of a message around freedom, around protecting democracy, around reproductive health care that could transcend racial lines among women voters who are going to be so crucial in this election, not just in Georgia, but in battleground states across the country. Such a great point. And thank you so much for highlighting Jen's story, because white women are the largest voting bloc in the country. I think a lot of people don't necessarily realize that. And so a message that appeals to them, particularly in a year where we already knew at the 19th that abortion was going to be on the ballot. Harris has been the Democrat's strongest surrogate on the issue of abortion, tying it to freedom and rights and really just this question of what makes a healthy democracy. That's something that could resonate with a lot of these conservative suburban white women who live in counties that are outside of Atlanta.

And so that could be part of the winning formula that puts Georgia in play. Another thing that I would also note, Republican Governor Brian Kemp is somebody who is very popular with conservative, suburban white women. And so I think that that probably also has a lot to do with why former President Trump decided that he wanted to make up with Governor Kemp at this time, because the way that he's been speaking about Governor Kemp is something that definitely rubbed a lot of those conservative Georgia women the wrong way. Kemp and his wife, even. And we'll see if Trump can maintain. That's right. That's right. And we'll see if Trump can maintain this facade of a truce there with the governor with whom he has been so angry for so long. And we want to get to your your most recent piece in the 19th. It has this title,

Nothing About This Year Is Normal. It Could Give Harris a Chance at History. And you write in part this, in many ways, the story of Harris's unlikely journey is one not just of 107 days, but of the last four years and about how far the candidate and the country have come. Much of that evolution happened behind the scenes when the media paid less attention to a role that has been traditionally unimportant. But with a new opportunity to introduce herself after a national reckoning on race, with women continuing to break barriers across society, could voters choose Harris to break what Clinton calls the highest, hardest glass ceiling? Harris is making the case for why she is ready to be president. Soon the country will decide

whether they believe she is ready. So, Erin, tell us a little bit more about this, because it has been so striking that at least to this point in the campaign, Harris and her team are not dwelling on the potential history that could be made here. They're not spending a lot of time on her race or gender. Of course, it's there. It's obvious, but it's not at the forefront of the messaging like it was in 2016 for Hillary Clinton. But the opportunity is there all the same. Talk to us about how you see it resonating. Yeah, I mean, I think you're making a very good point, Jonathan. I was in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention last week, and I think that we did see that her potential to make history is not something that was really

explicit. It was really kind of more implicit, something that the vice president herself is not really pointing out or highlighting. Specifically specifically some of her surrogates and others who spoke at the convention certainly kind of did that for her. But yes, I mean, the reality is that we are in a very different place than we were just over a month ago in this presidential race. And we could be in a very different place as a nation than we've been in more than 230 years. And as I said in my column, you know, just even the way that this came together, we're really looking at a moment that kind of had to happen this way. You know, it was Shirley Chisholm who ran for president, first woman to run for president in 1972, who predicted that the

path to the presidency for a woman could be through the vice presidency. And so Harris has been the understudy in this role for nearly four years. That's one of the factors that contributed to this. The way that President Biden kind of exited the race and endorsed her really kind of set her up to shore up these delegates and really quickly clear the field. So if she doesn't have this kind of traditional primary process that produces a nominee over 18 months, look, we have a political climate that's very different. And then there's like this accelerated calendar that kind of gives you this immediate sense of urgency and sense of drama. Weeks ahead of schedule, you've got voters that are really interested and excited about this race, curious about Harris, curious about her candidacy, which is one of the reasons why this interview could be

impactful. Tonight, people wanting to know more about her and people who may be excited about voting for her who were not excited about either of their choices for president just a few weeks ago. So, you know, there are advantages and disadvantages to that timeline. But, you know, including Hillary Clinton, some of the folks that I talked to really said that this could be what makes a difference in November and how Harris could really be the woman that makes history. Yeah, there's a growing belief that the accelerated timetable is to Harris's benefit. And we should note early voting begins in a few states in just a couple of weeks. Ballots are going to be cast before we know it. Editor-at-large at the 19th and MSNBC political contributor Aaron Haynes. Aaron, thank you for joining us. It's an important piece. People should

check it out. Meanwhile, we're learning new details this morning about the alleged altercation at Arlington National Cemetery this week that involved Donald Trump's campaign. At first, Trump's team disputed aspects of initial reporting by NPR. They broke the story. But Arlington National Cemetery later put out a statement confirming that there had been an incident and that a report was filed with military police. The former president had been invited to the cemetery by the family of a Marine killed three years ago during the bombing at Abbey Gate outside Kabul Airport in Afghanistan. That family granted Trump's team permission to film and take

photographs at the Marine's gravesite. Three U.S. military officials tell the New York Times that some members of the Trump campaign confronted and eventually pushed past a cemetery official when she tried to stop them from taking photos in Section 60, where campaign photography is strictly prohibited. The military officials told The Times the cemetery worker feared that pursuing the matter with authorities could subject her to retaliation from Trump supporters. So at least Donald Trump was invited to go to the cemetery. But there's a difference there between a family's wishes and then using that for campaign propaganda. We've

seen the video. They put it out on TikTok. They put it on social media. Trump there at the grave site. We've seen pictures of him right here giving thumbs up. And this is something that has sparked a lot of anger from military families, from veterans groups, from Gold Star families who say that our international cemetery, arguably the most sacred place in our nation, was used as a campaign prop. And they're saying that because they were there. They were certainly during a campaign. What was a sacred moment, it was the anniversary of a horrific attack that took 13 members of the U.S. military, mostly Marines. And so, yes, some of those families had wanted them to come, but it matters in how it is actually presented and what the end

result is. And it can't look like a campaign event. And the optics ended up being something that his base could seize onto as saying Donald Trump was standing with the fallen and the other side could say, look at the crassness, look at what happened here. You know, what really is the story? I still want to hear more about the fallout as to what actually happened, because there are just so many disputing disputed accounts over what was the incident at hand. And the Trump team is trying to highlight that explosion in Afghanistan, saying it's a real a real failure of the Biden administration. But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact. Let's think about how Donald Trump talks about veterans, military officers, calling them suckers and losers, you know, belittling their service, according to his own chief of staff. And even just recently downplaying the Medal of Honor, suggesting that, well, maybe you don't. I'm paraphrasing. You don't want to win that one because you could end up

injured or dead. Well, and also this was his Afghanistan policy. He set the groundwork for the drawdown and the withdrawal, and maybe he would have handled it differently. Who knows? But he set this in order. The wheels were turning. His team was negotiating the terms. And so Donald Trump does own this Afghanistan policy, too, although Biden was at the time the one the figurehead of the incompetence at the moment and the horror of that scene at Kabul Airport. Yeah, Biden certainly wanted the Afghanistan withdrawal. But you're right. It was Trump who started the process in motion. Meanwhile, Republican vice presidential nominee J.D.

Vance escalated his attacks against Vice President Harris yesterday to a new level, blasting the Democratic presidential nominee over that U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago. To have those 13 Americans lose their lives and not fire a single person is disgraceful. Kamala Harris is disgraceful. We're going to talk about a story out of those 13 brave, innocent Americans who lost their lives. It's that Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won't even do an investigation into what happened. And she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up. She can she can go to hell. Vance made those remarks during a campaign stop in Erie,

Pennsylvania, while defending his team from accusations of improper behavior at Arlington National Cemetery. Later, Vance spoke to reporters during a stop in Wisconsin and doubled down on his initial comments. Look, sometimes I get frustrated and sometimes I get pissed off. And I think Kamala Harris' failure of leadership at Abbey Gate is something to get frustrated and angry about. So, Sam, that's J.D. Vance seemingly trying to explain or sort of soften his remarks. Because we're at a moment now where he just called them. He just told the vice president of the United States to go to hell. Like that is that is the rhetoric that the Republican ticket is now engaging in. Yeah. And I think, look, there's legitimate

criticisms to make about how the Afghanistan withdrawal was handled. Obviously, it was a low point for the Biden-Harris administration. I think it facilitated the polling drop from which Biden himself never recovered, which goes to show you how the public felt about the whole matter. So, yeah, it's fair criticism. But this type of criticism in the politicization of the Arlington National Cemetery really does kind of trip up the Trump campaign operation for making that criticism. It's not so much, I mean, of course, it is the idea that you would kind of try to politically profit off of this moment by bringing a camera crew and filming in the sacred ground. But I

think there's a larger context here, too, which is that there should be or should feel like there are places that are immune or exempt from politics, right? But politics has seeped into every facet of our life, churches, schools, everything. And now when you see the Arlington National Cemetery in Section 60 become a staging ground for partisan bickering because of Donald Trump, not because of anyone else, it goes to the larger piece that I think Harris is getting at, which is that we just want to move on from this. We don't want to spend time wondering whether it's correct protocol to bring cameras for political profiteering into Arlington National Cemetery. We don't want to think about whether those gravestones are used as props in political campaigns. But they have done this. And then, of course, in true Trumpian fashion, when confronted with it, they not only say Kamala Harris can go to hell,

but you see the Trump campaign spokespeople saying that this person who was working at the cemetery was, quote unquote, suffering from mental issues. Why? What is the point of doing that? It just seems kind of a grotesque rejoinder to this whole thing when you could just say, look, maybe it was a misunderstanding, which is what normal people would say. So I think the larger story here matters as much as the specifics of what Vance is saying and what happened at Arlington. Yeah, Ali, Sam makes a good point. First of all, Arlington National Cemetery is arguably the most sacred place in the nation. I try to go at least once a year and just walk through it. And to have a quote, normal campaign, a campaign of years past, if there had been an altercation between a staffer, a campaign staffer and someone who works at the cemetery, it would be the campaign staffer sort of immediately fired or at least suspended.

Instead, we have the Trump team doubling and tripling down and defending that staffer and attacking the person at the cemetery. And it does it does reiterate, as Sam said, what the Harris team is saying. And others in the political world are saying the nation is just exhausted by Donald Trump and these hijacks. Because you're right. In any kind of normal campaign, they were invited. That is their right to accept that invitation and to go there. That all makes sense. But when you're arguing with the staff at Arlington National Cemetery, I think you've really lost the plot there. I will say there's a report. There is a tangible report that was filed. That is something that members of Congress, I believe, have asked for. Certainly, I am inclined and interested to see it. That's something that I think could shed

continued light on this situation. But if you're arguing with the staff at one of America's most sacred sites, I think you've clearly lost the message. The other piece of this, too, though, as I listen to J.D. Vance there, he's the person who rightly after the attempted assassination of his running mate said that everyone needs to take the rhetoric down. And he blamed Democrats for ratcheting up across the board, largely in part because of former President Trump himself and the way that he attacks and goes at his enemies or political enemies as he perceives them. But that comment from Vance basically telling, as Sam said, the vice president of the United States to go to hell, that is completely anathema to what he said. And yet another moment where we are in a place of having gone through a period of

saying, well, the Trump campaign is going to take the rhetoric down. This is a more sober minded moment in the aftermath of an assassination attempt. We are mere weeks out from that. And here we are again. Yeah. No one should ever think that the rhetoric will be turned down. We've been around long enough to know that, right? And his and his side. But yeah, you make a good point. This only just heightens the tensions and heightens the anger surrounding our nation's politics right now. Two plus months to Election Day. NBC's Ali Vitale. Thank you so much for joining us this morning and still ahead here on Morning Joe.

We'll be joined by the mayor of Savannah, Georgia, ahead of Vice President Harris's campaign stop in that city today. Plus, the U.S. Surgeon General has issued a new public health advisory about the mental health and well-being of parents. Dr. Vivek Murthy will be our guest. You're watching Morning Joe. We're back in just 90 seconds. Live shot from the top of our building, top of 30 Rock. It's 627 a.m. here in New York City. Mercifully, a cooler day ahead today.

Yesterday, punishing. Time now for a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. Nebraska's Supreme Court will decide if those with felony convictions can vote in November. In April, that state's legislature passed a bill restoring voting rights to felons after they completed their prison sentences. That expanded a law that gave voting rights to felons two years after their sentences had ended. But last month, the state's Republican attorney general said both laws were unconstitutional, arguing that the board of pardons and not the legislature should make that determination. Meanwhile, talks are underway for a deal that could value the company OpenAI at $100 billion or more.

OpenAI launched this artificial intelligence boom back in 2022 with the release of ChatGPT. It has since rolled out other powerful technologies, including programs that can generate images and human-like speech. Overseas now, Russia has banned nearly 100 American citizens, including several journalists, from entering that country. The list includes members of the U.S. government, pro-democracy activists and defense contractors who've been supplying weapons to Ukraine. Those banned by Moscow include current or former employees at The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. And speaking of the journal, the paper's editorial board has a new piece on the vice president's planned interview today with CNN's Dana Bash.

It's titled Harris Gets an Interview Crutch, and it reads in part this way. Don't think Kamala Harris's handlers are shielding her from tough questions. Consider that in her first sit-down interview with the press this week, she's bringing along a crutch, running mate Tim Walz. This is a deliberate attempt to limit the potential exposure risks for the vice president. The one-on-two format will limit Ms. Harris's time in answering questions. Mr. Walz will be there with a parachute to rescue the presidential candidate if she has a rough go or struggles to answer something. The Dana Bash interview is an attempt to rebut the criticism that she hasn't done any interviews as a candidate, but that isn't nearly enough, especially with Mr. Walls along as a chaperone.

That's from the Wall Street Journal editorial board. So, Sam, a couple things here. First of all, it is very traditional for the nominee of a party to do a sit-down interview with his or her running mate soon after that running mate is added to the ticket. That happens every cycle. What is different here is because of the accelerated timetable, and Harris has only been at the top of the ticket for a few weeks, that she hasn't done any other sit-down interviews. So that's why this is different, and that's why there's a lot of attention called to this one. Some political strategists have argued

to me that Harris should do a bunch of interviews, schedule a bunch this week, next week, the week after, so therefore there's not too much pressure on on anyone and any mistakes wouldn't be magnified. What is your take on this whole to do about this interview? Does this matter or not? Well, I'm with you. I think she should schedule a bunch. Well, I guess I'm with the people who we've talked to that she should schedule a bunch. I think she should come on way too early and make that her first one, obviously, but only but only with me as the guest host. No, and I think she should come on way too early and make that her first one, obviously, but only with me as the guest host. No, and I think she should.

But I think, look, there's two things to consider. Well, three things. One is the compressed time frame has messed with this, right? It's not just that she's had to pull a campaign together in a matter of weeks. You do have to do convention prep. She spent a lot of days offline to actually practice and rehearse her speech. And then coming up very quickly is debate, right? And you do have to go offline and do debate prep.

It's not an excuse for saying she shouldn't do interviews. It's just pointing out that you also have to do interview prep. And so all these things get kind of crunched together. Secondarily is that they internally, the Harris campaign, have calculated that the downsides of not doing these interviews, which is basically anger among members of the press and some distrust among some people in the public who are really attuned to this political stuff, will be completely outweighed by the benefits of being on message and doing the other stuff that she spends her times with at rallies and speeches, bus tours and things like that. They say, well,

she does a little small talk here and there, so that is some interaction, but that does not substitute for an actual sit-down interview. I think third, which is kind of underappreciated, is that there are other mechanisms that they've decided are more important to communicating with the public that don't involve sitting down with a journalist at MSNBC or CNN or New York Times or Washington Post and things like that. I happen to disagree with that. I think there's some real benefits to sitting with the press.

I think there's some real requirements to if you want to seek higher office, you should sit with the press. There's an obligation to, you know, subject yourself to that type of inquiry and questioning. It's fundamental for the job. It also, frankly, would prepare her better for the debate. I think one of the things that you want to have going into the debate is some experience with adversarial questioning. I'm not saying that this is why Joe Biden stumbled during his debate, but it is notable that Joe Biden did very few interviews with the press corps and, you know, really suffered in that debate. And I think he would have benefited from a little bit more of that process. And I

think the vice president would as well. Yeah. And at least any candidate for higher office, particularly president, should submit to tough, persistent questioning. That's good for a democracy. That's good for transparency. That helps inform the voters make a decision. I agree with Sam, though, that it's unclear just how much political impact this will actually have. Well, and the political operative in me would say, I get it. As long as she can get away with it, why do it? Be everything to everyone. Continue down that path. On the other hand, as a citizen, as someone who loves journalism and believes in transparency, it really is not the best look that she hasn't done any interviews. And now that she's going on the road, why not have her do interviews with local journalists in Georgia?

Why not have her sit down with journalists there? She doesn't have to, I'm not saying necessarily sit down and do a primetime interview with a huge anchor, but do local, show in those places that you are willing and accessible and you can talk and think on your feet. And I think it's just an unforced error. And it makes her look like she is being too protected and is being too hesitant when certainly she can give an interview. She's the vice president of the United States. Yeah, she does occasionally take questions from reporters outside Air Force Two, but tonight will be her first sit down interview. We will see if others are added to the schedule in the days and weeks ahead. Coming up here on Morning Joe, a conversation about the concept

of American exceptionalism and why our next guest says that Kamala Harris is redefining the idea for a new generation of voters. Morning Joe, we'll be right back with that. It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism and faith to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish, and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on earth, the privilege and pride of being an American. That was Vice President Kamala Harris speaking last week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Our next guest describes her message as the most full-throated and sincere expression of American exceptionalism since the presidency of George H.W. Bush, and the most direct and unambiguous expression of that idea by a Democratic presidential candidate since John F. Kennedy. Joining us now, former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Rick Stengel. His latest piece, For Time, bears the title, Kamala Harris Redefines American Exceptionalism for a New Generation of Voters.

Rick, great to see you this morning. Great to see you guys. So that moment there, I know, really stood out to you. Did you go into this convention speech, did you go into this Harris candidacy thinking that she would be the messenger for American exceptionalism? I didn't, John. I mean, I thought it was a really terrific thing that she did do. And she kind of reinvigorated this notion for Democrats. I mean, the sad truth is that Democrats for a long time have been sort of circumspect about the symbols of American patriotism, the flag. American exceptionalism became a kind of a debased term. As I mentioned

in the piece, you know, Obama got sort of saddled with it when he said, you know, when he was asked if he was an American exceptionalist, he said, well, I am an American exceptionalist, but sort of the way British people are British exceptionalists and Greek people are Greek exceptionalists. People went, oh, my God, he's not an American exceptionalist. So the term had been not used by Democrats for a while. And then she reinvigorated it in a way that I thought was powerful. And then she also kind of reinvented it through the prism of her experience and the immigrant experience. Yeah, it was so striking. Last week in Chicago I was there just the flag was everywhere. The red, white and blue is where the chance of USA were everywhere. It did really feel like Democrats who, to your point, who for so long had sort of avoided that, not just not just re-embracing it, but trying to take it back

from Republicans. Yes, I think it never should have been taken away. But I mean, I'm old enough to remember when, you know, Democrats didn't fly the flag, didn't put it up, didn't chant USA. And I think it's great that there's a younger generation of Democrats who are re-embracing that. Yeah. And there was at least there was a video of the Trump campaign put out maybe a month or so back where they had one of their staffers walking around even saying like, well, if you see an American flag, you know who that person is voting for, suggesting it was Donald Trump. And that is just simply not the case. Well, the DNC, I think, showcased just how Democrats have started to claw back that territory. And just in terms of they can have a robust

national security platform, they can be patriotic. I did find something, one of your statements to be pretty interesting. I wanted you to expand on that a little bit more. You write that it was the most robust statement in support of American exceptionalism since George H.W. Bush. And I work for President George Bush and certainly Freedom Agenda. There were plenty of lofty declarations of our support for American exceptionalism. You work for President Obama as the undersecretary of public diplomacy. Why? Why do you say that since George H.W. Bush? I actually meant George Bush, who you worked for. And good, good, because I do think part of the sort of blemished record of American exceptionalism was the invasion of Iraq that was justified using these kind of grand terms, providential terms.

And I think that's one reason that went into hibernation among Democrats. I mean, you know, Obama ran opposed to the invasion of Iraq. But I just want to pick up on what you guys were saying. I mean, the other thing, the flip side, the fact that that Republicans are embracing American exceptionalism when their own candidate has basically derogated the term when he said the American dream is dead and has run as a declinist, as political scientists call him, someone who who thinks America is in decline. I mean, there's never been a president before who was elected, you know, who was saying that. And I think people are beginning to realize, well, really, he's not USA, USA. He actually says that we're a country that is a failed state. I mean, that's just not very inspiring to voters. Richard, it's Sam here. I want to push back gently here on the premise, but also to raise a question about why we

interpreted, because I interpreted the speech the same way, why we interpreted it as such a speech imbued with American exceptionalism. Joe Biden, I just want to talk about Biden for a second, routinely talks about America as an exceptional state, routinely says, you know, God bless our troops, God bless the United States at the end of every speech. It's a routine of his. Talks about his upbringing in Scranton as sort of a unique American story that could only happen in this country. You know, he's given speeches defending democracy and, of course, pursued policies to advance American interests globally as a unique

leader internationally. My question for you is, are we viewing the Harris speech through a context of expectations around her candidacy? And by that, I mean, she came up in 2019, 2020 in the primary, a much more liberal plank. She's lesser known than Biden was. She just hasn't been on the scene for as many years. But also the context of the convention in which there was a lot of expectations that a pro-Palestinian, sort of anti-American foreign policy with respect to the Middle East protest movement was going to take place in Chicago. And frankly, the convention organizers in Harrisburg South made a very strategic case of creating some serious distance with that plank. Is that how we're viewing this speech and why you and I had the same interpretation?

No, Sam, I think that's a fair criticism. And I think, you know, I left out that guy, Joe Biden. Joe Biden has always been an American exceptionalist. And I think the difference in a way is that it's a generational difference. I mean, you know, Biden is a is a is that, you know, post-war person who was looking at what America achieved in World War II. That's what he grew up with. He's a true American exceptionalist. You know, Kamala Harris is a younger generation who, post-Vietnam, post-Iraq, was diffident about that. And so I think it was a little bit unexpected and I think it was very welcome. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, you know, not give credit to George Bush.

I wasn't trying to defend you about it. I was just trying to point out that. And I do agree, it's the generational thing, right? It's like she came up from a different time period where it wasn't as clear that this is what you believe in. Exactly. Yeah. And certainly to your to your point in the post-Iraq war, the prism changed. And right now, we also have a Republican candidate who has, as you noted, takes every opportunity to say America is in decline, that other countries are laughing at us.

And instead, we had Vice President Harris last week take the exact opposite approach. The new piece online now for time. Rick Stengel, thank you. Come back soon. Great to see you guys. Coming up here on Morning Joe, Missouri State Representative and Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Crystal Quaid will join us to talk about her state's strict abortion ban

and its potential impact on November's elections. Morning Joe, we'll be right back. A ball, two strikes. That's one of the best catches you'll ever see, particularly in the ninth inning. Clinging to a one-run lead in the bottom ninth, Texas Rangers outfielder Travis Jankowski, look how far over the fence he is. He robbed a would-be walk-off home run from the woeful Chicago White Sox. Jankowski reaching way over the wall and left to make the leaping grab and save the game. Spectacular. Rangers beat the White Sox 4-3. To Los Angeles now, and look at this.

The huge turnout for Shohei Otani bobblehead night there at Dodger Stadium. Fans lined up outside the ballpark as early as 9 a.m. yesterday, a full 10 hours before the first pitch, hoping to be among the first 40,000 who would receive a bobblehead of Otani holding his now famous dog, Decoy. About 2,000 of those bobbleheads would be gold, boosting the demand and the value. By the afternoon, the line to get in had become so long. Look at that, Dodger Stadium parking lot full of people. The parking gates were open two hours early and tens of thousands of fans waiting outside the stadium entrance were allowed in 40 minutes earlier than usual. Otani and the pup were also featured for the game's ceremonial first

pitch. The star player said he spent three weeks training decoy to wait on the pitcher's mound until he squatted behind a plate, then pick up the baseball and deliver it to him on command. Did it perfectly. As for the game, Otani led off the bottom of the first with his 42nd home run of the season. He has a sense of the moment. Just amazing. He also added his 41st and 42nd stolen bases of the year, putting himself back on pace to become the first 50-50 player in baseball history. The Dodgers beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-4, and Sam Stein, I can't tell what's more impressive. What Otani is doing at the plate or the way he trained Decoy to perfectly deliver the ceremonial first pitch. Definitely the training of the dog.

As a dog owner myself, that just doesn't happen, at least under my tutelage. Oh, yeah. Look, John, I'm really glad the Red Sox didn't get Shohei Otani. It would have been too much for such a talent. It would have been too hard to enjoy baseball this much. I'm really happy about that. Also, let's just take a moment and it's two videos ago, but

were there maybe like 13 fans that the White Sox came to witness that catch? I know. 12? Good God. I know they're bad, but like Wow. Well, they're not just bad. They're like historically bad. And you're right. Fans have just completely given up. Who's seats available?

There was no one there. That's unbelievable. Who's seats available at U.S. Cellular Field? And you mentioned the Red Sox, who have had a woeful stretch here. Only won last night. They've won two in a row and suddenly still only three games out of the wild card. So despite their best efforts. I don't want to do this.

I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. You don't want to do it. Fine. I don't want to do it. We won't do it. Go back to training your dog. All right. Let's take a look at some of the more. Oh, there are the standings. They did it anyway. Look, we're well out of well out of first in the AL East, but only three back in the wild card. Keep hope alive. All right. Time now for a look at some of the morning papers from across the country. Let's go to Texas, where the Austin American-Statesman reports that the

Texas-based cybersecurity company CrowdStrike is facing a barrage of lawsuits nearly six weeks after pushing out a bugged software update that caused major tech outages around the globe. The latest suit claims CrowdStrike failed to adequately test the update before its launch and that those affected should be compensated. The Arizona Republic, meanwhile, leads with the growing number of patients in the state being treated for contact burns. Doctors say these burns often occur from patients falling onto hot asphalt, which can reach about 160 degrees in places like Phoenix. 160, that's almost unfathomable.

To Pennsylvania now, and the Philadelphia Inquirer is highlighting the start of the 2024 Paralympic Games today in Paris. More than 4,000 athletes with physical, visual, and intellectual impairments from over 150 countries will compete in 22 sports through September 8th. The Paralympic Games can be streamed on Peacock. Always wonderful to see. And before we go to break, we want to mention that we had Claire McCaskill booked for the show yesterday. But she informed us she couldn't make it.

Why? Well, that's because she was busy welcoming her 16th grandchild to the world, a beautiful baby girl. Congratulations to Claire and the entire family. That's a good excuse to missing the show. Mike Barnicle, however, no sign of him. Didn't even bother to call in. That Mike Barnicle. I know.

He has a lot of cute grandbabies. He does. He has a bunch. He has a bunch himself. But congrats again to Claire and her family.