cheing our discussion now Simon Rosenberg a democratic strategist and author of hopium Chronicles on substack also with steuart Stevens a veteran of five Republican Presidential campaigns he managed the last sane Republican presidential campaign in 2012 he's a senior adviser of the Lincoln project and he's the author of the new book The Conspiracy to end America five ways my old party is driving our democracy to autocracy uh Simon Rosenberg the what we just saw Tim Walls do uh taking taking what Donald Trump has very defensively been saying about weird and just really turning it right back on them is is first of all Tim wall started this and he is playing this it seems very well with them yeah look the the Harris walls campaign is having a lot of fun right now I mean they're on offense they feel like they are Trump I think is is weak and struggling and stumbling and their campaign has really lost its bearing and they know it and they have to keep Prosecuting this Advantage it's really critical that when you're ahead and I think they are and we can debate that but they have they're on the front foot and I think it is it's great to see Democrats acting this way we're strong we're powerful we're unified we're taking it to them and there it's far more effective in in candidacy to be operating from this place of joy and confidence than from a place of fear and worry and I think it's a little bit of a new thing for us as Democrats but it's far better than where we we were a few months ago and I really applaud this campaign it's been well-run and they're kicking ass steuart I was thinking of you today when I was watching that speech uh at the economic Club of New York with all those rich people mostly Republican uh in in that audience uh because because of what you've written about your party you know including your former party including in your latest book about how the Republican party is as you put it in your title driving our democracy to autocracy those people in that room clap for him today I believe are part of what you argue is driving us toward autocracy yeah it's completely unamerican in any sort of American tradition and when you think about it Lawrence these are the heirs to the greatest Generation that the people who sacrifice to defend democracy what do these people have to do they just have to support someone who believes in the Constitution who supports rule of law you know there's not one corporate board that they're involved in who would allow them to hire Donald Trump he's unemployable and so they look at that and they go okay great let's make him president there's not a school system in America that would be allowed to hire Donald Trump to teach or to be a principal or a coach it is a complete uh just abdication of what it means to be an American citizen you can't put the country first enough I mean you've made fortunes here under this you know this great leftwing uh regime where the stock markets at record highs it's incredibly disappointing I want to listen to a 31 second ad that the uh Harris campaign has put out today because I think some of the lines in here we might be hearing at the debate let's listen to this Trump's project 2025 agenda will give him unchecked political power with no guard rails and it would take Black America backwards project 2025 would strip away our voting rights protections and it eliminates the Department of Education it would also require states to monitor women's pregnancies it bans abortion and would rip away health coverage for Millions KLA Harris will stand up to Trump and his Maga loyalist dangerous plans to control Our Lives because Trump is out for himself while kamla Harris is for the people I'm kamla Harris and I approve this message Simon I I suspect we're going to hear about uh from KL Harris about government monitoring women's pregnancies uh in that debate listen we saw at the convention that she not scared of talking to the American people about what a danger he is and the threat that they represent I mean she she's come off as joyful and telling her story but also her indictment of him throughout her entire candidacy has been the most powerful indictment I think of any major politician in the country over the last nine years and and some of this comes from her being a prosecutor and knowing how to stare down the criminals in the courtroom but I'm really looking forward to this debate I think this is going to be a good moment in the campaign she's got a story that she needs to tell to the American people but she also has a story about him that she needs to tell and as you said Lawrence I just want to say one quick thing about your segment before we came on here because I agree with everything you said and I think that what was incredible today is that what Donald Trump was really saying to those folks right is that he wants to end the global economic system that's made us all prosperous he wants to end the Western Alliance that's kept us safe he wants to end our democracy that's kept us free and they all applauded cuz he was off the rails today this was one of the craziest speeches that he had ever G given and he sounded far more menacing and delusional and dangerous than I think I've heard him in a long time and that's why you were you were right to bring up the fact that the Applause that he received was deeply disturbing uh steuart uh the Liz trating endorsement I think I I I always thought if it was going to come it was going to come after Labor Day uh when I was began thinking about it it was going to be an endorsement of Joe Biden uh but the endorsement of kamla Harris after Labor Day seems like something that some undecided Republican voters could hear yeah look I think Liz Cheney has become an American um heroine um she is a deeply conservative uh person who uh understands that what what is it stake here it goes beyond any sort of policy differences that we might have um she's a Cheney for crying out loud and there's no longer a place for a Cheney in the Republican party and you know I think that she goes out there and she does this I think she resonates with a lot of Voters um particularly I suspect a lot of women that like the fact that she stood up in that committee um and it's it's a very uh powerful moment I think if you have said what a lot of Republicans have said like myself Nanny Trump World that Trump is a danger you have to endorse Harris you have to because one of these two people's going to be president St Stevens Simon Rosenberg thank you both for joining our discussion tonight thanks Lawrence today president