Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / 'Red Wall' crisis has 47 defending ex-Red States as POLLS CRATER on 'corruption'

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'Red Wall' crisis has 47 defending ex-Red States as POLLS CRATER on 'corruption' · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And we're all counting down together. We're going to do
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: this together as a country. We are now three weeks
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: out from this big midterm election day. We will also
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: track what happens as we get there, because while we
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: all talk about an election day and that's when most
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: people vote, we have many methods to vote earlier than
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: that these days, even if the government at times has
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: tried to interfere. But that's going on a pace regardless
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: of what Donald Trump wanted. And I can tell you
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: tonight about three million Americans have already cast their vote early.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: President Trump has spent the time that he has left
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: trying to reverse what it looks like, a pretty overwhelming
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: revulsion against his agenda. And that has him basically campaigning
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: in what they used to call red or safe areas
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: that may not be safe or red for the Republican Party. Ohio, Alaska, Iowa,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: which Trump officials view as one of the last bricks
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: in their supposed red wall for the Senate campaign.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: They may indeed.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Hold the Senate because unlike the House, it's not a
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: national election, but they are nervous. They are playing defense
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: by one simple measure that you don't have to be
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: a super political nerd to follow. The last time we
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: had a federal election, which was, of course, just over
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: two years ago, right? November 2024. Every state I just
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: mentioned where Trump is campaigning, he didn't just win. He
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: won decisively by double digits. Now they're worried about losing
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: those states.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Trump.
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  Speaker 1: Is taking a long flight, however comfortable it may be
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: on government aircraft.
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  Speaker 2: It's still over.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: 3,000 miles to get to Alaska, a very Republican, very
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  Speaker 1: red place, where he is campaigning on defense because voters
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  Speaker 1: there who habitually vote Republican, no matter what's going on
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: in politics or the economy, some are considering rejecting that
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: norm as they face what is clearly a Trump slump.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: 40% of households there cannot make ends meet, according to
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: one accounting. Gas prices are about five bucks a gallon.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: That's above the national average. Alaska, as we all kind
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: of know, whether you've thought about it much, is a
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  Speaker 1: pretty broad, big state.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: So people drive around more.
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  Speaker 1: This is not some, you know, city where everyone's camped
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  Speaker 1: out or catching an occasional Uber. So the gas prices
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: are hurting. People know it's from the war that Trump started.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: And his second term low has crashed dramatically. to 30%.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: So if you are polling at 30, there is a
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: question about whether showing up even helps at all. But
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: this is a president who has not exactly coordinated with
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: great humility when it comes to what might be best
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  Speaker 1: for Republicans who are trying to save their seats because
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: in part of him, and of course themselves, since they
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: have been a blank check for everything, including the war.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: And over in high stakes races like Georgia and Minnesota,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: we've had debates about Vice President and Speaker Mike Johnson,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: discussing what everyone already knows, which is that the Republican
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Party is in trouble. Acknowledging those doubts may sound more
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: rational than pretending they don't exist. We know that we're
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: swimming against some serious historical trends here.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Everybody's frustrated about fuel prices, obviously, but that's not related
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: to policies.
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  Speaker 2: It's not related to the Republicans in office.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to make that case, though, to a voter
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  Speaker 1: who knows Republicans are running the House and the Senate
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  Speaker 1: and the White House.
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  Speaker 2: We know that we're swimming upstream.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: They know they're going upstream and they have reached the
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: point of desperation where acknowledging bad reality might help more
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: than angering people, including people in these red states, by
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: lying about reality. And this is a president who has
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: been caught lying in public more than any other official,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: living or dead, by all accounts. The Washington Post has
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: led that process with accounting of all of Trump's lies.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: So, yes, it may be a low bar, but it reminds.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: You that even against that backdrop, Vance, the Speaker, and
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: others are saying, let's not lie about it anymore. Let's
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: acknowledge how bad the economy is. Then part two, you
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: heard the Speaker claim that it has nothing to do
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: with policy.
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  Speaker 2: Well, fact check, false.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: The tariffs and the war very directly made the economy
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  Speaker 1: and prices worse.
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  Speaker 2: And most people know that.
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  Speaker 1: Whether or not everyone agrees on that is how politics works,
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  Speaker 1: because there will be a debate in the coming weeks
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  Speaker 1: about how much that's the Republicans' fault, whether they can
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  Speaker 1: scare people about the alternatives. There may be Republican voters,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: for example, who say they do think the war made
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: it worse, but they don't vote Democrat. But either way,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: we are looking at the sort of reality coping phase
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: of an uphill battle for Republicans on defense in red states. Now,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: while Trump tries to deal with all that, he has
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: the other wider scandals at home, including his rampant corruption
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: that has emanated from him and his family out to
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  Speaker 1: other officials. And tonight I want to report on a
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  Speaker 1: story that shows you facts and reporting still matter, although
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: it depends how high you go up the chain. Because
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Kimberly Guilfoyle, you may have heard of, a one-time Democratic
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: figure who then became a Fox figure and a MAGA
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: insider and was serving in this administration as a very
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  Speaker 1: Trumpy person, is out today. Under pressure and under corruption allegations,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: she resigned from her post as U.S.
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  Speaker 2: Ambassador to Greece.
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  Speaker 1: And this is because of evidence and facts reported by,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: of all places, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal about
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: receipts and evidence that suggested she might have been misusing
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: her position and even potentially supplying evidence of a crime
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: if the current DOJ were to investigate it, or maybe
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: a later one. If you've been busy and haven't followed,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: the revelations came out last week, first from the journal,
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  Speaker 1: that she was pressuring a MAGA donor to wire her $ 100, 000,
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  Speaker 1: that she was doing this secretly, furtively. We should note
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: that she denies any wrongdoing. The journal reported, though, that
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: she was also boasting of her apparent grifts because she's
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: a government employee, your tax dollars paying her salary.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Ambassadors have a wide range.
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  Speaker 1: Circle of support, a retinue of aides, also paid by
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: your tax dollars from the U.S. State Department, and yet
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: she still was getting, she boasted, free luxury trips, private
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: jet flights from Greek tycoons, the type of people who
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: are affiliated with, again, the country she's supposed to be
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  Speaker 1: doing U.S.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Ambassadorship towards, not being on the take from them.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: The State Department asserts that that's unsubstantiated, and they claim
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: she followed ethics guidelines. But the journal's reporting, including the
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: her own communications suggest otherwise. Now, Guilfoyle is out, and
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: those are serious allegations of misconduct backed by evidence.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: And yet that's part one.
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  Speaker 1: Part two is that this is, in terms of scale
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and seniority, one of the more minor pieces of evidence
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: of corruption in Donald Trump's administration and a Republican party
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: that backs him basically all the time. Because we've seen
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: alleged corruption by the president and his family, self-dealing, profiteering, crypto,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: a giant double standard. The headlines have been really dominant
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: the whole two years of this administration. And it's that
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: double standard that we turn to with our guest, Howard Dean, who,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: of course, was a Vermont governor, doctor, ran for president
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: and chaired the DNC.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Welcome back, Governor. Thanks for having me.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: We were talking about this with our colleagues and journalists
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: on this program today, and I kind of want to
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: take that off-air conversation and bring it to you on air,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: because it seems like a story where both things are true.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: The evidence and reporting matters. Trump, Guilfoyle, others claim it doesn't.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: They kind of want to lie or gaslight to the country,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: and yet it did matter today, and we could discuss
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: the political reasons that may be. And yet at the
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: same time, the president and his family stands accused of
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: greater conflicts greater self-enrichment, and it would be up to
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: probably the voters to say whether that matters. How do
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: you feel about sort of that two-sided story tonight?
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  Speaker 2: It's been interesting.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: I once saw a cartoon with a picture of Nixon
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  Speaker 3: with his five o'clock shadow saying, I am not a crook.
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  Speaker 3: And then the next panel over was Trump saying, I'm
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: a crook, so what? So things have changed a little
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: since Dick Nixon resigned from office. I think that people
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: do believe that Trump is corrupt and they gave him
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: a pass on that for quite a while. But now
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: his activities and his family's activities, not to mention the
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: other things like the war, have really caused pain for
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: American consumers. And I think that's that's really gotten their attention.
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  Speaker 3: Ordinary Americans, unfortunately, will tolerate a lot in government malfeasance.
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  Speaker 3: But if it affects their own pocketbooks and their kids' opportunities,
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  Speaker 3: that's the end of that tolerance. And I think we've
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: gotten to that point in this country. His numbers are
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: just incredible. And corruption is actually rising as an area
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: of concern about Trump's and his family's behavior.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I wonder about that because it really cuts
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  Speaker 1: deeper to what Americans think of what we used to
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  Speaker 1: call the system.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Howard, I.
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  Speaker 1: Don't know if you're old enough to remember, but that's
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: what they used to call it, the system, man. And
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: that's sort of the political capitalist whole, the whole way
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  Speaker 1: it works.
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  Speaker 2: And whether it's on the level of fair.
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  Speaker 1: And I don't think liberals or Democrats have a monopoly
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  Speaker 1: on this, but I do think in the recent era,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: if we look at it fairly... It has been liberal
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: voices on the Democratic Party and to the left of
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: the party saying this now for years. And it seems
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: that they've found support, as you mentioned, in a tough
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: climate from the center, from part of the right, from
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: people who in at least one side of the last
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: three elections voted for Trump. And now we're saying, hey,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: if this thing is this rigged and these guys are
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: this greedy and they want to slam a data center
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  Speaker 1: in my backyard and they want to take my job.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: this actually is the number one issue for a lot
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: of people.
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  Speaker 2: Your view of that possible shift?
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  Speaker 3: I think that's true, but I also think there's a
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: lot more to it. I was reading a whole lot
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: of stuff today about the Latino vote, and Latinos in
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: Texas are really upset. I mean, I think there's a
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: pretty good chance that Abbott loses and that Tallarico is
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: the next senator, and the Democrats have run good campaigns,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: but the real reason is Latinos suddenly discovered that they
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: didn't like their fellow Latinos beaten up and escorted and
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: starved and, you know, in these centers that they get
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: stuck in or their children.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: It's just it's just plus.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: Now they've gotten the attention because they have high gas
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: prices and they can't find decent jobs and data centers
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: are going in the backyard.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: It's just it's just it's a mess.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: And it's become obvious to the American people that it's
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: a mess and it's not going to get better. And
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: the Republicans, the interesting thing about this is the Republicans don't.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: Started too late. The ones that do have some backbone
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: and they're one or two that have a few vertebrae anyway,
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: it's too late. And so they're going to get washed
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  Speaker 3: out along with the people who've always done everything Trump
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  Speaker 3: asked for.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Hey, it's Rachel.
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: I am so glad to see you at the end
• 11:20
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• 11:21
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• 11:24
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• 11:27
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• 11:30
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• 11:33
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• 11:36
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• 11:40
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• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Thanks.