"He's a Joke": Chris Matthews Urges Kamala Harris to Stay on the Offensive Against Trump
"He's a Joke": Chris Matthews Urges Kamala Harris to Stay on the Offensive Against Trump
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00:00An intriguing new report from Axios this morning notes this.
00:04The campaign is citing a financial pay-for-play rule that bars contributions to tickets featuring
00:10a sitting governor.
00:12That's according to several people familiar with the matter.
00:15The report further states that some within the financial industry think they have until
00:20Sunday to donate.
00:22Should that be the case, it would indicate that two on the reported running mate short
00:27list, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, would be out of
00:33the running because this applies to sitting governors, and there are several, who she
00:38is considering.
00:39The Reverend Al Sharpton is still with us for this hour, we're happy to say, and also
00:43joining the discussion is former MSNBC host and contributor to Washington Monthly, Chris
00:49Matthews.
00:50Chris, we will start with you.
00:51With this VP speculation, this report from Axios that suggests that she could be eyeing
00:57governors, that could include Governor Wallace of Minnesota, Governor Shapiro of a state
01:00you know well, Pennsylvania, among others, Governor Pritzker of Illinois, Governor Beshear
01:06of Kentucky.
01:07What's your read of the landscape right now?
01:10Well, this morning I was very impressed by Mark Kelly, and that's a good name in Philadelphia,
01:14not just because of Grace Kelly, but the whole family.
01:17It's a good name.
01:19Harris Kelly's a good ticket.
01:21He's strong, he can talk.
01:23Biden got too old to talk.
01:25He wasn't very effective on the stage, on the debate stage.
01:28This guy can talk.
01:29He can tell it from his manner.
01:31He's got a military background, he's a regular guy.
01:33I think he's really the one to do it.
01:35The important thing is, he goes on the offense.
01:38He was very good this morning on Good Morning Joe, really good.
01:43And I think the fact that he can talk, and he will take this fight.
01:47The governors are used to being bipartisan, they don't know how to really sell it in a
01:50partisan way.
01:52This campaign has to be on the offense.
01:54If the Democrats go to defense, they're going to lose.
01:57I don't know if they're going to lose, but I'll tell you, they've got to stay on offense.
02:00They've got 100 days to go, almost 100 days.
02:02The first 50 days should be entirely attack, attack, attack.
02:06And they're going after Trump at his record.
02:08And by the way, I always wondered how Hillary, and I could never figure this out.
02:13When she was debating Trump, and that guy got behind her, like this big bully in the
02:18schoolyard, stood behind her.
02:20What could she do?
02:21And I've never been able to figure out what she could do.
02:23But here's what she could do, you know, what Vice President Harris could do.
02:28She says, tell it to my face, tell it to my face, turn around on the guy and say, tell
02:34that thing to my face.
02:36Because that kind of street level, talk to people the way you would with a bully in a
02:39schoolyard is key to dealing with Trump.
02:42Talk to him like he is a bully.
02:45That's how you do it.
02:46You're Goliath, he's a Goliath, you're David, play David.
02:49You're not a woman of color.
02:52The underdog historically, let's face it, certainly historically as a woman, and a woman
02:57of color, besides, make Trump be the big gorilla.
03:01Let him be the bad guy, the Goliath in this race.
03:04I think it's really important to keep this going.
03:06Don't turn to defense, fracking, right move, immigration, she's getting in the right direction.
03:12I would take that Lankford proposal, Senator Lankford's proposal with Mark Kelly and say,
03:17look, I'll take it.
03:19I'll be a Democrat.
03:20I'll take it.
03:21It's mostly a Republican bill, but I'm going to show some action on the border.
03:24I'm going to do it even if Trump is still standing in the way and then force him to
03:28do it again.
03:29Stick it to him on his criminal record, on his abuse of women.
03:32The whole story, Access Hollywood never stopped because now Democrats are taking the fight
03:37into the arena.
03:38They're not using the courts, not some liberal court in New York with Alvin Bragg.
03:43They're talking about in the in the fight itself.
03:45If she goes out there and fights as as David against Goliath, she'll win.
03:50So Chris, let's have a follow up with a geography question, if you will.
03:54So much talk is about how a running mate should should try to balance a ticket, but also try
03:59to expand the map, particularly in a battleground state.
04:01But if you look through recent presidential history, Senator McCaskill, I were talking
04:04about this earlier.
04:05It's actually pretty few and far between where picks a running mate is selected because that
04:09person could put a state in play.
04:11Famously, LBJ helped John F. Kennedy win Texas.
04:14But usually these running mates come from pretty safely Republican or Democratic states.
04:20But this time around, there are two Kelly, who we interviewed earlier today on Morning
04:24Joe, Arizona, and then particularly Shapiro in Pennsylvania.
04:27Those are big time battleground states, Pennsylvania, arguably the biggest of all.
04:31Do you think that should factor in to what the vice president's decision?
04:34Well, let's talk Pennsylvania.
04:36And you got Kennecke.
04:37Kennecke knows this stuff, too.
04:39You got 67 counties in Pennsylvania for a Democrat to win.
04:42You can win 14 counties.
04:44That's Pittsburgh and big all the area around Philadelphia.
04:46You got to win in the Lehigh Valley.
04:48That's the key place.
04:49You got to win.
04:50Well, it's free.
04:51You got to win the Erie.
04:52There's a lot of interesting places you have to win.
04:53But I think Kelly can sell because he's a fighter and a talker.
04:56I think he or Shapiro would be great.
04:58But the fact is, they've got to take this again back to Trump, make it about Trump and
05:03J.D. Vance.
05:04If you talk about her switching on fracking, what about what about J.D. Vance?
05:08He switched on Trump.
05:10He went from the biggest knocker of Trump in the Appalachian vote and all that sociology
05:14stuff to being his biggest lover.
05:17He's a joke.
05:18He's a joke.
05:19He's a joke.
05:20And not everybody knows that.
05:21I think the two Trump kids who picked him apparently must be embarrassed that they told
05:25their dad to pick this guy.
05:27They should have picked Burgum, who would have been a good, solid business guy from
05:31from the Dakotas.
05:32And they would have made Trump more the business guy, more the energy guy.
05:35It would have made sense.
05:36Are you listening, Donald Trump?
05:37You made a mistake by listening to your kids.
05:40Pennsylvania is going to be drawn on fracking and she's got to deal with the border issue
05:45effectively and not just using language.
05:48Oh, Donald Trump screwed this thing up.
05:50No, she's going to say I'm for it.
05:51I will be for the bipartisan bill.
05:54I dare Trump to do it now.
05:56Keep saying you're not going to do anything because you're not doing anything.
05:59Chris, I agree with you that she must take him on in a David versus Goliath way.
06:05And I think a fighter.
06:06And as we look at this list, I, too, was impressed with Kelly.
06:11But I also think Tim Walz in Minnesota is in line with some of what the vice president
06:17did as a senator.
06:19She never heard of him.
06:20The reverend.
06:21How come I've never heard of that?
06:22Let me make a big talker.
06:24We have never heard a word from this guy.
06:26Well, but I think that when you look at his record with George Floyd and other things,
06:31he could be added.
06:32I think that Shapiro could be added.
06:35I think that any of the list has his assets.
06:39But I agree with you that I was impressed with Mark Kelly.
06:42How much of it do you think, though, going to your point, is about having a vice presidential
06:49candidate that can bring in certain regions or having one that can help with turnout?
06:55Because historically, people vote for the president, not the vice president.
06:59Yeah, I am.
07:01I've wrote all my life and I've got to tell you, ever since I could vote and I had been
07:06affected by running mates, I remember voting for Humphrey and Nixon was promising to end
07:11the war.
07:12And everybody said, well, Nixon's going to end the war because he doesn't care about
07:14this war in Vietnam.
07:16But Humphrey had the civil rights record going back to 48.
07:19And I said, that's really strong for me.
07:21And secondly, Ed Muskie, a good running mate.
07:23I think that running mate has to be tough and they have to be outspoken.
07:27He can't just let the candidate for president for her to do all the talking.
07:32He has to be as least he has to land the punch in boxing.
07:35You know, boxing, you got to land the punch.
07:37So it shows for a couple of days.
07:39It can't just be a shot.
07:41It's got to be a punch and it's got to hit for a while.
07:43And people got to say, wait a minute.
07:45Talk to my face.
07:46Tell that to my face.
07:48That's something those African-American women in that picture we just saw this morning.
07:52We're all loving it because they know what that meant.
07:55You got to take the bad guy on whoever it is.
07:57And I think I think he knows how to land a punch.
07:59So I'm looking at guys who can punch and leave a mark on the face.
08:03I mean, basically make the guy like remember Tricky Dick, you know, once that woman in
08:07California called Nixon Ticky Dick, he could never get over it ever.
08:11And I think she's got to he's got to be as tough as the vice president.
08:16By the way, the vice president is so improved as a candidate.
08:19I I have never seen it.
08:21Maybe it's just the fact that she's taken over.
08:25Just two weeks ago, people on the right would say, oh, I can't you think Biden's bad?
08:30You should see her.
08:31She's terrible.
08:32Well, I don't think they're saying that anymore.
08:33I think they're saying, my God, what are we up against?
08:36I think it's and by the way, it's a British caddy.
08:38It's a British style election.
08:40It's less than 100 days.
08:41This is classic.
08:43There are things you can do now really quick.
08:45And if you go to focus on Trump, not on her, on Trump, make Trump play defense all the
08:51way, all his crimes and awful statements.
08:54And it's all on record.
08:55It's all on tape.
08:56Like I want there be some form of punishment for women who have abortions.
09:00And by the way, if you don't have kids, I want I want them to be punished, too, by the
09:04way. I mean, all this stuff's on tape.
09:07It's just if I were her and going into debate, I'd say every shot I take in Trump, I'm
09:11going to make sure there's videotape to back it up and dare the networks not to show the
09:15videotape, including Fox.
09:17Just show the tape.
09:19Let's go to the tape and show what he said himself.
09:22If he wasn't convicted of a crime, he admitted it himself.
09:25I think you've got to be very aggressive.
09:27I mean, this is what I grew up in in politics.
09:29I love it. I think she can win with it.
09:31And if she goes on defense, she's making a big mistake.
09:33Big mistake. A British style election, except, of course, for the money.
09:38There have already been multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple millions raised on
09:43that side. So who can throw a lot of dollars, who can throw and take punches?
09:50And we mean, of course, politically speaking, not physically speaking.
09:53We will know next Tuesday.
09:54Chris Matthews, thank you very much.
09:57Let's change directions now.
09:59Look at a story.