GOP panic hits ‘dumpster fire’ levels: MAGA goes code red in ‘red states’

[0:00] Begin with a special beat montage we've been doing new each night as we look at the sprint [0:05] into the weekend and the campaigns brawling. We have already shattered every turnout record [0:13] for young voters in a midterm election in Georgia's history. You can never go anywhere [0:20] on Spelman College without hearing someone say, did you vote? Make sure to vote. Do me a favor, [0:25] please don't leave. I don't want the media to turn it in saying that people don't like Ken [0:30] Paxton. Ken Paxton is cancelling rallies because no one's showing up. A sneer campaign. Paid for [0:35] by Farmacello, Mike Rogers, D.C. Buddies. There's a lot at stake in this election, Georgia. Make [0:44] your voice heard and vote for Keisha Lance Bottoms for governor. So you not going to Kansas has nothing [0:50] to do with you being sick of traveling? Oh, you're sick, you're sick. You are sick. Natalie, baby's [0:56] cranky again. We need a diaper change on runway two. What can President Trump do for you in the [1:04] last two days before the election coming back to Iowa? Elevates how important this seat is. The [1:08] president keeps saying that John Houston has a great ass. What's going on with that? Well, [1:16] first of all, I'm jealous. What's his name? JV Dance. JV's got zero charisma. They taught him [1:25] that at Ohio State. These tofu eating charlatans. Describe the economy right now in one word. [1:35] Unlittable. Perplexed. It's a disaster. That's what we're hearing. And by the way, [1:43] those last quotes from one of our colleagues interviews with just real voters in a state [1:48] that has tended to go Republican in the past, those are words that could apply to the economy [1:53] or to Trump's closing message and how Republicans are doing in many of those once-read states. [2:00] We're going to be tracking the numbers through the show tonight. We have a lot of new ones, [2:03] including some really interesting seismic polling. But let's start with the vote count. [2:08] We are not an election day anymore in this country, much to perhaps the president's chagrin. He has [2:13] attacked the right of Americans to follow state laws and vote early or vote absentee. [2:18] And I can tell you as of tonight in high participation signs, now 48 million people [2:24] have already voted. Democrats feeling good about that, Republicans are not. Politico, [2:29] a nonpartisan D.C. outlet, has a devastating report here about Republicans admitting that [2:34] this could be brutal on Tuesday evening, that House Republicans are now privately discussing, [2:39] quote, not just if they'll lose their majority, but by how many seats in peril GOP incumbents [2:44] in one safe districts have been, quote, begging party leaders for more money in the final few [2:51] days to stem the bleeding. And remember what we've reported, many of these Republican races already [2:56] had a money advantage, but they're bleeding and they would need more panic money. Also new reporting [3:02] tonight, quote, some Republican incumbents made an eyebrow raising emergency decision. They stopped doing [3:08] their own polling weeks ago as they tried to save every dollar for swaying voters as they begged for [3:14] the GOP cavalry to arrive from Trump's political operation. Another Republican strategist responding [3:21] to a political question about the environment with an actual video of a dumpster on fire being swept [3:29] away by floodwaters. Now on the beat, we've been unable to confirm the exact video that might have been [3:35] passed to that reporter's question, but we can report that the most widely shared and widely recognized [3:42] floating dumpster fire image or gift is this one you see here. So we, as a matter of both logic and [3:49] circumstantial reporting, have reason to believe that this or an image somewhat similar to it is how this [3:56] Republican described in private what they're bracing for Tuesday night. With that in mind, I want to get [4:02] right to our political midterm panel, Che Comanduri, Obama campaign veteran, Juanita Tolliver, [4:07] host of the archival podcast, award-winning author, MSNOW analyst. Che, we can probably run that back. [4:13] We may bring the dumpster fire image back because it is from a Republican operative, according to [4:18] Politico. I have donned my best patriotic tie inspired by John Flannery. It's not maybe my most [4:25] fashionable tie. I just want to admit that up front. Thank you, Juanita. But it goes to something [4:31] that Che, we're seeing, which is there's still something great in America. I know people are [4:37] suffering in the economy and I know there's been a lot of political turmoil and I know this president [4:41] has sown a lot of division and hate. There's our dumpster fire. But the red, white and blue that I'm [4:47] wearing, the 48 million plus people who've now turned out, the participation that people still have a [4:52] say, not in spite of, Che, but especially when they think the government has failed them, [4:59] Trump starting this war without public input or congressional approval, the billions in oil [5:04] profits, which Trump rags about, but has put a cost over a thousand dollars on every household. [5:09] We have numbers on that we're going to get into later tonight, Che. And people are turning out. I [5:13] wonder what you think of that as we start tonight. Yeah, I think that the civic engagement that we are [5:20] seeing has just been so like, you know, heartening. It's given me hope. It's given me optimism. [5:26] And it's really the beginning of something that we started seeing in Minnesota at the beginning of [5:32] the year when we saw people take to the streets in the freezing cold after ICE had committed those [5:38] terrible murders of, you know, of those two protesters. The result of that was that it showed civic [5:47] action, civic engagement, turning out to vote. These things really matter. They still matter. [5:54] They're really the only tool, the only weapon we have against people who have authoritarian designs. [6:01] We saw that in Brazil. We partially saw that in Israel. We see that in Israel. We saw that in Serbia. [6:08] We've seen it around the world where people have increasingly come out, taken the taken [6:15] democracy in their own hands and made the government that they want to see elected. [6:22] Juanita, I want to play Ted Cruz, who the closer you get to election day, the more you get a mix of [6:29] truth, panic and maybe just sort of motivating spiraling. We mentioned the dumpster fire, but [6:36] there could be political reasons why Republicans want to really make sure that their voters understand [6:41] in Texas they could lose. So that could be part turnout message. Che and I have covered those kind [6:46] of things. On the other hand, most years, you don't have to talk like this at all because it ain't [6:50] close in Texas. Here's Cruz. Texas is excruciatingly close. Understand we could lose Texas. Let me repeat [6:59] that. We could lose Texas. And by the way, not just the Senate race. We could lose every single statewide [7:05] race in Texas. That's how close these numbers are. I took a look at the Texas early voting data [7:15] earlier today. And on today, they crossed 6.5 million early votes in this election. For context, [7:24] on October 30th, 2022, it was 2.9 million votes cast. That just shows you how engaged this electorate is [7:34] at a critical moment when they have competitive races up and down the ballot. So Ted Cruz is right [7:39] to be scared. Be very afraid. I think that, yeah, you're right. He's probably saying that. And that's [7:43] going to inspire some Republicans to maybe turn out who are otherwise considering staying at home. [7:48] But I also think it's important to understand that while we don't know how these voters are voting just [7:55] yet, we do know that they're voting in an environment where Elon Musk has dumped in [8:00] $500 million in a turnout effort, where we know that Ken Paxton can't keep people in a room to wait [8:07] for him to show up on his campaign bus, where we know Ted Cruz was booed at college game day earlier [8:15] this year, right? It just highlights the level of engagement and enthusiasm that Che was referring to [8:22] earlier. I also think that it highlights just how bad things are for voters, how dire their situations [8:29] are that they're turning out at this level and how concerned they might be that their ballots would [8:34] be cast considering the message coming from the Trump White House around claims and trying to [8:40] interfere in elections and collect voter information and compile a national voter registry. All of that [8:47] information and threats against early voting or vote by mail is motivating people to turn out, [8:53] to make sure their ballots are cast. And I'm curious to see how much this tracks with some of those [8:59] voter enthusiasm gaps that we've been hearing about since this summer, where Democratic voters and [9:04] independent voters are highly motivated to turn out, whereas Republicans are not motivated. Some [9:10] are threatening to stay home. Some are not even tapped in to this election cycle. And so I'm curious to [9:15] see how that all shakes out when we start getting those reports on a county basis across demographics on [9:21] election day. Yeah. And and Che, you've been around so many campaigns. You don't pick the closing [9:28] arguments all the time. John Kerry had to contend with a Bin Laden video, which reminds you what a [9:35] different era it was in the final week. We had a little bit of the cheesecake earlier this week, [9:41] and people can debate who they got the better of that argument. Last night, Che, I was able to, [9:46] of course, quote Drake's Child's Play, Child's Play song where he talks about not wanting to argue [9:51] in front of the families of the Cheesecake Factory, the families that drive Camry's that go to Disney. [9:57] We don't want them to know all of our business. And that's sort of not what we knew we'd be talking [10:02] about a month ago. Right. But I jest about the cheesecake. But I am serious about the economy, [10:10] this costly war. And late today, a sell off, at least in the tech stocks that had the Nasdaq slumping, [10:16] which speaks to, again, Trump is on the side of these tech guys and the oil guys. And I say guys, [10:22] because that's how he acts about it, and against the rest of the country that is not profiting off [10:30] much of this tech boom or gyration or the gas. I want to put up this headline for you, Che, [10:35] that I mentioned. We're going into the midterm homestretch weekend. It's almost unfathomable. [10:40] These are new numbers from The New York Times. As of this week, so current, Americans have now spent an [10:46] extra 147 billion. I want to repeat that again. And for people watching who are angry. Yes, [10:54] you're not imagining it. You have a right to be angry. They started this war and collectively spending [11:00] 147 billion more on gas since the February strikes. That amounts to, Che, over a thousand dollars per [11:10] household. Sir? Yeah. And one thing I saw Trump doing was actually bragging about this. I saw him [11:19] at a rally saying how we're making millions and billions of dollars. Our country's never made so [11:26] much money. And he talked openly about all the money that is flowing into the coffers of oil companies. [11:33] And it shows you just how out of touch Donald Trump is. You know, there are certain things that [11:38] the politicians will say at fundraisers to their rich donors. And there's other things a politician [11:46] might say to rallies of middle-class, working-class Americans. Donald Trump doesn't care about this [11:55] distinction anymore. Hey, it's Rachel. I am so glad to see you at the end of that clip, because this is [12:00] where I get to tell you about a new way to watch all our clips and all of our shows and everything on [12:06] MSNOW on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. 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