Journalist: If Trump Does These Two Things 'He Still Wins The Race'

5 months ago

Keli Goff, a Daily Beast columnist and Emmy-nominated producer of the documentary "Reversing Roe," spoke with ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath about Vice President Kamala Harris vs. former President Donald Trump.

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Transcript

00:00Interesting. Now, of course, in the first 24 hours after President Biden's announcement that he is dropping out of the race,

00:09Vice President Harris's new campaign has raised millions and millions of dollars.

00:15I think the final tally was somewhere just over 80 million dollars from grassroots donors in 24 hours.

00:22Does that number signal to you that maybe her likability is evolving and her electability is better?

00:30I mean, I know you published this piece yesterday, so you saw these numbers.

00:33So I imagine I had friends who were on the call. I had friends who were on the call.

00:37And the call you referenced, I just want to be very clear.

00:40Was that the Zoom call with forty four thousand other black women that's made headlines around the world?

00:46So there is excitement. I guess my question to you is, is there enough excitement?

00:52We'll find out in November. I mean, you know, I say in this piece, Maggie, I'm not a Trump fan.

00:56I'm very clear about that. So I make it clear in the piece that my hope is that in November, late November,

01:02all my friends who who don't like this piece and didn't agree with it are able to tease me about how wrong I was.

01:08But, you know, guess what? A few years ago, they weren't teasing me because I was wrong about the possibility of Donald Trump winning the first time.

01:16So that's why I think this time people really need to take a step back and have some of the tough conversations that were not had before,

01:23because people were so swept up in the emotion of making history with the first female president.

01:28Remember, those magazine covers had been printed celebrating Hillary Clinton as the first female president.

01:33And I now look back and think that if some tougher questions had been asked, not just about likability,

01:39but actually the numbers of what the data was telling us of what people thought and why,

01:43I think there'd be less PTSD, as you point out.

01:46And that's what I'm concerned about this time, is that those numbers are great.

01:50The call is great. The fundraising is great.

01:52Guess what? She was one of the best fundraisers out of the gate when she ran for president last time and everyone saw how that turned out.

01:58So I think that's my concern is my question is, that's great.

02:02If the same people who were supporting her before and enthusiastic before are equally enthusiastic this time.

02:09My question is about the people who she has not reached yet, because here's my theory.

02:13I actually think people are looking at not looking at the big picture of the data.

02:18I think they're so focused on the voters that Trump can't win without remembering.

02:25He actually doesn't have to win a lot more voters. All he has to do is suppress turnout and enthusiasm for her.

02:30And if he can find a way to pick off some of those people who don't like her for whatever reason and convinces them either to stay home or to vote for Bobby Kennedy,

02:41which is some of the stuff I've heard, then he still wins the race.

02:44I think that's what people are forgetting, is that, well, which black women are going to go and vote for Trump?

02:49That doesn't actually have to happen if they're just not enthusiastic.

02:52And he suppresses turnout even just a little bit, as we've seen from the last couple elections, that can make a difference.

Journalist: If Trump Does These Two Things 'He Still Wins The Race'

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