Ali Velshi MSNBC Saturday 8 10 2024 Segment w/ Guest Thom Hartmann & Moly Jong Fast- Harris Campaign

joining me now are Molly Jong fast special correspondent for Vanity Fair host of The Fast politics podcast and an MSNBC political analyst and Tom Hartman host of the syndicated radio show the Tom Hartman program he's the bestselling author of many books including the crash of 2016 the plot to destroy America and what we can do to stop it good morning and welcome to both of you thank you for being with me this morning Molly let's start with you some of Trump's allies are trying to spin Harris's rise as a result of Biden's sinking numbers from earlier this summer they argue had nowhere to go but up there's something else going on here you've seen those Zoom meetings you've seen the volunteer numbers you've seen the donor numbers there's something organic uh that is happening around the Biden the Harris walls campaign around the Harris campaign and then with the addition of of Tim Walls yeah I think it's a really good campaign and people really like her she's gotten to be really gifted Obama level orator and you know she was very underestimated by the mainstream media and and quite frankly she has you know she has command you hear her up there and she is confident she is calm and she is commanding and and for whatever reason America is ready for her which is very exciting I would also say Trump world has been Trump has been using these same attacks for against three different presidential candidates you know against ter against haris against Biden and against Hillary and they just don't necessar you can do it once or twice but the third time it really feels recycled Tom it seems like we've got at least one debate uh to uh look forward to uh but let's talk about some of the issues that Donald Trump and and JD Vans are leveling against uh against Harrison walls they're calling them liberals they're calling them radicals they're calling them socialists or sometimes calling them Communists for putting forward some of the policies that we've seen the Biden Harris team do as an Administration and Tim Walls do as governor things that are wildly popular in America and I know you're a student of international politics Tom that are widely popular around the developed world including in countries that are not run by liberals things like healthare things like Child Care things like maternal uh uh maternal care things like uh maternity and paternity leave things like school lunches these are things that around the world they think of as normal and and Donald Trump is trying to call radical yeah this this is they are very much our normal and this this recycled I mean this goes back to Reagan you know the the Republicans have been calling just these normal things like you know free college or or you know a good National Health Care system like every other developed country in the world has has socialism and communism I just don't think it's working anymore I think Americans have figured this out I also think that there's you know there there's there's principally two ways that you motivate people you either move them away from pain you know it's like touching a hot stove that's the fastest way you get an instant response it's like lightning you know like a force of nature or you move toward pleasure which is the slower system it's sort of like gravity it's it lasts much longer but it doesn't have the immediate impact well Republicans have been using or particularly Trump have been using that moving away from Pain strategy that that be afraid be afraid be afraid for years now and people are exhausted by it that's the problem with using a moving away from Pain motivation strategy is it is it eventually exhaust people and now and and that's why I think it's so brilliant that Harris and walls have moved um you know away from a totally legitimate argument that Joe Biden was making he's a threat to democracy that's still out there but that's a moving away from Pain strategy they've they've shifted to a moving toward pleasure strategy which has much more power over a much longer term as that moving away from Pain strategy has exhausted in fact one of the examples that I was reading about was Ruth Ben Gad pointing out Molly that that this what they used against pinet in 1980 P was terrible I mean he really did terrible terrible things but they they hope was the was the the theme of The Campaign to get people to vote to replace it Ruth van points out that it's actually a really good antidote uh toward people who are authoritarians or have authoritarian Tendencies I wouldn't have thought so because I like Joe Biden have leaned into if you make the wrong decision on November 5th you could be uh seeing the end of democracy but K Harris's campaign is smarter than me they're they're doing something that does seem to be working well I would say that two things can be true we can hold two thoughts in our head one project 2025 is really the Trump agenda and we've seen that because his name is mentioned 300 times in the document more than 300 times and also that Harris Wall's ticket is is actually offering something right not just avoid authoritarianism but also right you can free breakfast for kids the these are wildly popular things and again one of the problems Republicans have had is that their policy is just not very popular right I mean what we've seen since the repe since the fall of row is that it's not popular to have Republican politicians in with women's doctors right that's not how anyone wants to live and I think that the these are just not popular things Republicans are not running on popular policies and and Democrats luckily for them Stakes of this election are so high are Tom earlier this week uh con Harris who by the way has staked out a substantially more empathetic uh view about the Israeli Israel Gaza War than than Joe Biden has um received some criticism for how she handled protesters who interrupted her rally she took a very different approach when similar protesters disrupted her rally in Arizona last night uh calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East listen to what she did last night to fight for our democracy which includes respecting the voices that I think that we are hearing from and let me just say this on topic of what I think I'm hearing over there let me just speak to that for a moment and then I'm going to get back to the business in hand [Music] so let me say I have been clear now is the time to get a ceasefire deal and get the [Applause] deal this is a tricky one for her because she's part of an Administration that people who are protesting are criticizing she's not in in a position at the moment to change Biden Harris Administration policy but I thought the way she handled that um showed that she was listening to some of that criticism this week I agree and and there's you know I mean it's a nuanced argument on one level um on the other you know particularly young people across America watching what's going on well actually I think most Americans watch what's going on in Gaza right now I mean literally you have starvation in some places and they're just horrified by it and it's fairly clear that you know Netanyahu is very committed to getting his friend Donald Trump reelected and and to staying out of prison so uh I I think K haris shifting closer to this position of we're going to do everything we can to stop this the destruction and death in Gaza and bring about you know some sort of a two-state solution some sort of reconciliation and get the hostages back is a powerful message thank you to both of you it's great to see you Molly Molly John fast special correspondent with vanity far and an MSNBC political analyst and Tom Hartman it's great to have you on the show host of the very important Tom Hartman program uh radio talk show all right still To Come Donald Trump is pushing get another