'Meandering...at times NONSENSICAL': Nicolle roasts Trump's poorly attended last midterms event FLOP

[0:00] Hi there, everyone. It's all happening. It's four o'clock in New York. Now, this is not something we [0:04] say very often on this program, but this afternoon you've really got to hand it to Donald Trump [0:10] for just how easy he seems to be trying to make it on the voters the day before Election Day in [0:15] America to remember why they're heading to the polls in the first place, to remember why their [0:20] votes matter. Because a short time ago, Donald Trump delivered his final message to the nation, [0:25] his final in-person speech at the campaign season, in what can really only be described as some [0:32] attempt at performance art. That's how perfectly descriptive it was of this American moment. [0:39] It was a meandering, lengthy, at times nonsensical event before a throng of about 50 people. Trump [0:47] used an entire Kinko's worth of poster board as visual aids. He droned on about algae and pipes [0:54] and the Potomac River instead of addressing the effects of a war he promised he wouldn't start [1:00] or an economy he promised he would fix. What is more, he delivered those remarks not in the [1:06] heart of a heated battleground state, but in Washington, D.C., at the site of a landmark he [1:12] so disastrously renovated at more than 10 times the advertised cost as part of a no-big contract [1:18] awarded to a company connected to one of Donald Trump's political donors. Again, unwitting though [1:25] it may be, Trump today provided the American people with a pitch-perfect meditation on the [1:31] first half of his second term as president. And not even the fake vandals he created to explain away [1:37] the damage done to the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool could save him mere hours before Election Day [1:44] itself begins in earnest. By the way, while we're on the topic, next hour, Davy Hearn will join us. [1:50] He's the Olympian unjustly targeted and wrongly accused of vandalizing said memorial at the hands [1:57] of Donald Trump's weaponized Justice Department. But first, today's developments are enough to make [2:02] a person wonder, if Democrats were in charge of Trump's schedule today, would they make any material [2:08] changes whatsoever? Because for their part, Democrats were fanned out across the country in battleground [2:15] districts and states, spending their final hours perhaps more wisely. Georgia Senator John Ossoff [2:22] canvassing around his state, Abdul El-Sayed holding rallies in Michigan, James Tallarico, who is seeking [2:28] to become the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas since 1988, is out talking to voters [2:35] there. In fact, almost 8 million Texans have already voted. And that is on top of what the New York Times [2:41] is calling, quote, a promising sign for Democrats. 50 million votes across the country already cast [2:48] in a surge that's outpacing the last midterm cycle in every major Senate battleground. Donald Trump has [2:57] repeatedly insisted voters should pretend he is on the ballot. Unfortunately for him, it appears the [3:02] American people are doing that. That is where we begin today with some of our favorite reporters [3:07] and friends. New York Times Chief White House Correspondent, MS Now contributor Peter Baker is [3:12] here. Also joining us, my colleague, co-host of the weeknight, Simone Sanders Townsend is here. [3:17] With me for the hour, political analyst, former Senator Claire McCaskill is here. Claire, [3:23] what are you feeling? You know, I think all of us, if we're honest, feel optimistic, [3:31] but a little sick. I feel a little sick to my stomach. Is that the PTSD as you've seen in 24? [3:37] Or is that something in the data? Because, you know, in 2024, I probably sat at a table like this [3:42] at about this time and said, I feel great because we just didn't think our country would go there and [3:49] our country went there. And so I and that we know the polling is difficult now. It's a different era of [3:56] polling than it was when I first began running statewide back in 1998. So it is is not as reliable [4:05] and it's very hard to model it correctly. So but I've talked to people all day that are in the inside [4:12] of these campaigns and they're feeling pretty good. Yeah. And they are seeing a lot of internal stuff [4:18] they're seeing. And what you see when you're in a campaign is you see you actually feel the [4:23] enthusiasm. When I think they said that Paxton had 150 people at his closing rally. Well, guess what? [4:32] That is a really bad sign. Yes. It's a little itty bitty bitty bitty rally. I don't even think we call [4:38] those rallies. It's really about people showing their excitement. And if you're in it, you feel it. [4:44] And when I've talked to the campaigns today, they are all feeling pretty good. They feel that excitement [4:48] on the ground. Well, I was just looking because I was just texting with folks earlier today and [4:54] someone steam coming out of your devices. You always got so much. I'm just trying to be like [4:59] over here, getting the tea. And someone texted me earlier today. I'm like, OK, how are you guys [5:04] feeling? And they work on one of the the battleground house races that could potentially flip. And one of [5:10] the senior advisors said, I feel like I want to throw up every hour, but we're doing well. Right. [5:14] There are all of the campaigns right now. Some of them, obviously, the candidates are out there [5:19] doing the closing arguments, not the president, but their staffs are really setting up their [5:23] boiler rooms and getting ready. They're counting the numbers. People are encouraged by the early [5:27] vote. Again, you don't know who exactly is voting in the early vote, but all the folks that I've talked [5:32] to are encouraged by the turnout and they're trying to run through the tape. Tomorrow, there are still a [5:37] lot of people that are going to go to the polls in America. That matters. Getting their plans [5:42] together about people staying in line. I mean, just over the weekend in Hines County [5:47] in Mississippi, the polls were closed, but people were in line. And there was a whole, [5:55] if you will, a whole PR campaign, if you will, and organizers on the ground were scrambling to [6:00] ensure that people knew that they could still cast their ballots. They're not used to those kind of [6:04] lines in Mississippi. I think we're going to see things like that all over the country tomorrow. [6:07] Peter Baker, you wrote the most stunning piece of the election cycle, and you probably didn't even mean [6:12] to. But you wrote a story, and you guys really, at the bottom of the story is perhaps the most [6:18] interesting. You show your work of how you analyze Donald Trump's closing message. And the New York [6:23] Times has storified something that I think people that watch Trump have been amazed by. But you first [6:31] did it about 10 days ago on a piece about five instances where Trump spoke at length about men's [6:39] bodies. I think that was the word, or maybe their butts. I don't know. He went on and on about John [6:44] Houston's rear end. He called it his, quote, ass. And it wasn't the first time. The Times wrote a story [6:49] about 10 days ago about how that was a feature, increasingly, not a bug, not a quirk. And then you [6:57] did this big takeout piece. And the analysis included the grade level at which he speaks, [7:04] the crassness, and the inhibition with which he speaks. And for all the heat that the Times has [7:10] taken over the last 10 years about coverage of Joe Biden's age, it was, to me, an important piece [7:16] of reporting about Donald Trump's diminishing communication. Take me through why you wrote it [7:22] and what you found. [7:24] Yeah, I think we wrote it in part because we have seen this fall the president of the United States [7:29] go out there on a campaign trail and say so many things that have been head-scratching, [7:33] so many things that got people all worked up and say, did he really say that? Is that really [7:36] what's going on here? And look, he's done that for 11 years, right? This is a trick. [7:41] It's a challenge for journalists, I think, to try to evaluate, is there a change here? He's [7:47] always been erratic. He's always been angry at times in his rhetoric and meandering, the weave, [7:52] he likes to call it. So is there a difference now that he's 80 years old? He's the oldest president [7:57] ever to be inaugurated. And it's our job to pay attention to that, just like we did with Joe [8:02] Biden. I think they manifest their age in different ways. It's not a direct comparison. [8:07] With Trump, we wanted to find a way to look at it that gave readers something more than just our [8:12] observations, although I think our observations are important. And so my colleague, Dylan Friedman, [8:17] who, thank goodness, is young and smart and understands AI, helped us put together a study [8:23] of his speeches over the last 11 years, basically, going back to 2015. We did the same thing two years [8:28] ago as well. And we found, I think, some pretty striking changes over that last decade. He's more [8:34] profane, more willing to use swear words. He is more rambling. His speeches go on about twice as long [8:40] as they did a decade ago. He's more long-winded. He's more absolutist. He uses language like what we [8:46] call all or nothing language, like black and white, yes or no, absolutely never. These are words that [8:52] doctors and experts tell us are a sign at times of aging, because you're more likely to lapse into [8:58] that kind of black and white thinking. You're more likely to lapse into something we call [9:02] disinhibition, which means that you're saying things that otherwise you normally would not have [9:06] said, right? We all have an uncle or a parent who at the Thanksgiving table may say things that we think [9:11] that's not really appropriate. Well, maybe all that discussion of men's posteriors fits into that [9:16] category. So we try to give some numbers to help back that up. [9:19] I guess the difference is most of our uncles don't have their fingers on the nuclear codes. [9:25] The story has this example that I want to read. Quote, Trump declared that an unfenced construction [9:33] site, quote, only a Hispanic could survive that fall. He wants to ban immigrants from Norway, [9:39] quote, because I didn't get the Nobel Prize. He says, quote, I don't give a damn if he is seen as [9:44] caring more about oil company profits than struggling workers. He mispronounces the Strait [9:50] of Hormuz as the hormone straight. And he has told supporters to, quote, cheat like hell in the [9:56] November 3rd elections. He says military leakers, quote, should be shot. And then there is his baffling [10:02] fixation with admiring men's posteriors. Any one of them would be a scandal for anyone else, not just in [10:10] politics, but in civic life. But let me let me ask you to expand on two. He says, I don't give a damn [10:18] if he cares more about oil company profits and struggling workers. This is something he said over [10:23] and over again, starting with describing affordability as a, quote, Democratic hoax, then going on to say [10:29] that everyone at his club is so rich and really wrapping himself in all the opulence of his life and [10:36] the life of his rich cabinet members. Does he feel any responsibility to helping any Republican win [10:42] anything tomorrow? Well, you might wonder, right, if you're a Republican, and I've heard Republicans [10:47] ask this question privately, not on the record always, whether he really wants them to win. [10:52] Because if you wanted Republicans to win, a lot of these are not things you would say. You wouldn't [10:56] say out loud, I'm, you know, I'm really excited about oil company profits, even though you have to [11:02] pay more at the pump. That's not something a normal politician would say who wanted to win an election, [11:07] right? And you wouldn't go out there and tell people to cheat like hell. And you wouldn't say [11:11] a lot of these things. But he does. And he not only does them, he seems to even kind of relish [11:16] the nature of what he's saying. It's outrageous. And he enjoys the outrage. So you have Republicans [11:23] all over the hill, scratching their heads and increasingly angry, actually, at the president, [11:27] because it looks like he's torching them. What's he doing today at the reflecting pool, [11:31] focusing attention on his, you know, obsession with these architectural projects and the ballroom [11:37] and all these other things that matter to him, but not to everyday Americans who are thinking about, [11:41] you know, the issues that are driving them to the pool. And you hear Republicans just tearing [11:46] their hair out. What on earth is he doing? Is that a function of age? Is that a function of lack of [11:51] care? Is that a strategy that we don't quite understand? You know, I'll leave it to others to judge, [11:56] but it's not normal. Hey, it's Rachel. I am so glad to see you at the end of that clip, [12:01] because this is where I get to tell you about a new way to watch all our clips and all of our shows [12:07] and everything on MSNOW on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. You can watch things live [12:13] or recorded. Plus, you can ask me and all the other hosts and reporters questions in our weekly [12:18] live chats. You can go to MSNOW membership or just click below. Thanks.