Summary
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace discusses his efforts to get out the vote. The presidential candidates barnstorm battleground states ahead of Election Day. Michael Moore discusses the presidential race.
Transcript
NICOLLE WALLACE, MSNBC HOST: THE BEAT WITH ARI MELBER starts right now.
Hi, Ari.
ARI MELBER, MSNBC HOST: Hi, Nicolle. I know you're going to sleep a lot this weekend, because you could be up all-night Tuesday.
N. WALLACE: I think we start Sunday, right?
I mean, I don't -- I think I have got one day off, and then we're locking in.
MELBER: We do have a Sunday night. But that's -- that's just an on-air -- what do you call that, an on-air rehearsal, not a rehearsal?
(LAUGHTER)
N. WALLACE: Is that what they're calling it? I didn't get the memo.
(LAUGHTER)
MELBER: I didn't get the memo.
N. WALLACE: We will be there.
MELBER: But I will see you there. This was an organic tease. Everyone can catch Nicolle and Rachel on everyone Sunday night and Tuesday night and Monday.
So, until then, I will see you soon, Nicolle.
N. WALLACE: Have a great weekend.
MELBER: You too.
I want to welcome everyone to THE BEAT. I'm Ari Melber.
We are four days out, all eyes on the Midwestern states that narrowly pushed Donald Trump over the top last time, as Joe Biden says this time is different.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, Michigan. How are you doing, Michigan?
Four days from now, we are going to win this state, and we are going on to win four more great years in the White House.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hello, Iowa! Hello, Polk County! Hello, Des Moines. Back at the state fair.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: God love you all. Thank you for being out here today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Democrats see the early vote fortifying a potential blue wall in the Midwest. They also argue they have far more paths to winning to 270 than Donald Trump does.
As we head into the final weekend before Election Day, we have new hard numbers that show just how huge turnout is right now in this race. Current early turnout is now topping the entire number of votes cast in 2016 in two different states, Hawaii and Texas, the latter being, of course, a giant state. Nine million people have now voted.
That is, as I said, more than in all of 2016, which is wild. It means, by the time Tuesday's over, Texas will have completely smashed records. And Democrats see that shifting electric moving potentially in their favor.
They have Kamala Harris on offense in Texas, a state that hasn't backed a Democrat for president since 1976, in the backlash to Republican Watergate.
But it's Republicans, you should note, take a look right here, who are currently up in Texas' early votes. And the Trump White House on defense over the pandemic spiking back to its worst peaks yet in the United States, topping 90,000 daily cases -- wow -- which, of course, means you have over nine million total, 230,000 deaths.
It is pretty hard to even get your mind around all of that. We cover these things day in and day out. And I sometimes have trouble conceiving of this much death in our nation.
"USA Today" has a new way to put it. An American dies of COVID every 107 seconds. Now, it's an iron law of politics that presidents run on their records. But the failures you saw there show why President Trump has been running away from his management of COVID. And all signs are, he will continue that tack through Tuesday.
Let's get right to it.
We have our friend Michael Steele, former RNC chairman and currently a Biden supporter with The Lincoln Project, and Katty Kay, Washington anchor for BBC News.
And we have a lot of other special stuff tonight, including a data expert coming up.
But I wanted to go right to each of you.
Michael, Midwest, blue wall, what do you see?
MICHAEL STEELE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Oh, I'm loving this, Ari, right now, because the one thing that guys like me who are looking at the numbers on the ground from 2016 realized very quickly was, what Donald Trump did was take three bricks out of that wall, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
The challenge for any Democrat, no matter who that nominee was, was to get those three bricks back. What you have seen the Biden campaign effectively do is not only take those three bricks, but now moved into a space where Trump has to defend in places he otherwise would never be thinking about defending, Texas, Georgia, places like that.
So, the Midwest has set up an amazing opportunity for not only the Biden campaign to play straight up into Donald Trump's strength, at least as it was coming out of 2016, but now to pivot out of the Midwest into other parts of the country, using that momentum to set up a ground game in places like Texas.
I'm still not there saying that Texas would fall for the Democrats in 2020. I have always projected that to be 2024. But what Biden has been able to do, narratively, has certainly put it in play in a way that I don't think anyone, if they're honest, thought would be possible.
MELBER: Katty?
KATTY KAY, BBC NEWS: Yes.
I mean, look, I Have spent the last few days talking to a lot of Democratic and Republican strategists. And a couple of stories are emerging for me and things that I'm watching, particularly in relation to those Midwestern states.
One is that there -- I'm hearing that there is a lot more kind of Hunter Biden stuff out there on Facebook and QAnon than we might not be aware of. I don't -- I don't spend a lot of time on Facebook. So I don't know, and that that is a little bit of a warning flag that people are concerned about it from the Democratic side.
And the other issue is that some of the things that have been happening in Philadelphia over the last few days, and particularly things like the looting of a Walmart, may actually be having a -- if it really does come down to Pennsylvania, one of those Midwestern states, that actually could have an impact with some of the late-deciding voters against Biden.
So it's so interesting talking to both camps, because everybody's looking at the same numbers, and everybody's saying, yes, sure, it looks like Biden still, although both Democrats and Republicans are seeing the race tightening a little bit in some of those states.
And yet people are kind of -- I don't know if people are looking for reasons to disbelieve the data, but they are looking for reasons to check their certainty, as you know, scarred still by 2016.
But those were two things that were specifically pointed out to me over the last couple of days that I thought were interesting as being raised of what's happening kind of on the ground in some of those Midwestern states.
MELBER: Yes, great points. And people get their information all over the place.
KAY: Yes.
MELBER: As we have pointed out in our broadcast, nine out of the top 10 most shared items on Facebook in the past week were right-leaning, Dan Bongino and FOX News.
The Hunter Biden story, which we haven't covered as much for journalistic reasons because of the lack of verification -- we cover other stuff. Viewers here know we had Rick Gates and Trump people on, but we don't put unverified disinformation.
But, as a political matter, the Hunter Biden story rated through the roof when Tucker Carlson did it with an interview. It's all over social media. And it may be in some of those Midwestern states.
KAY: Yes.
MELBER: It may be something that helps some Republicans close. Trump had a higher gap in sort of the top 15 percent of people who identified as Republican but were no longer with Trump.
If they all were to come home at once, that would be helpful to him in some of these states.
I want to keep both our panelists here, as we turn to these new numbers and a new guest, as promised.
Democrats seeing their leads slip in the record-breaking early vote, 41 million votes cast in battleground states, but you can see how tight it's getting. We're also seeing who's turning out. Over 11 million people who did not vote in 2016 are casting ballots. They are going Democrat by about 400,000 votes. Pretty interesting. It suggests that sporadic voters are energized to oust Trump after skipping last cycle.
We're also seeing new patterns in certain key states. Michael was just talking about the surge in Texas. Well, it's partly powered by Latino voters who are backing Biden, you see here, by an overwhelming 4-1 margin.
Joining our panel now is Tom Bonier, CEO of TargetSmart, a political data company that's partnered with NBC to bring all of those numbers that we just showed you.
We have relied on you and your data.
Walk us through what you see as most important here and what is provable and relevant to the total electorate we will ultimately see.
TOM BONIER, CEO, TARGETSMART: Ari, thanks for having me on.
I think the most fascinating thing that we're seeing in this data from the numbers you just shared is the number of people who have voted already who didn't vote in the 2016 general election. These are new voters. They are the people who are going to change the nature of this electorate that selected Donald Trump.
In those battleground states, there are already 11 million of those voters. Nationally, there are over 20 million of them. In the battleground states, 27 percent of the people that voted didn't vote in 2016. So we're taking a closer look at who those people are.
They're more likely to be African-American voters, Latino voters. The biggest surge as a percent in turnout nationally has been Asian voters, a group that traditionally turns out very low race, but we're seeing just huge turnout surges there from these voters as well.
None of this at this point, in terms of these turnout surges, look very good for the president's reelection chance.
MELBER: The battleground states are what matter. Your data focuses on that.
The numbers you're giving, about a roughly a quarter of these being these sporadic non-'16 voters, where are they most concentrated? Is it also bad news for Trump if they're voting in important places?
BONIER: They are.
The biggest surges that we have seen are coming in -- when you talk about these emerging battleground states and the states that he simply can't afford to lose, we look at Georgia, Arizona, Texas. Over a third of the voters who have voted in Arizona already didn't vote in 2016.
You mentioned Texas, the fact that more people have voted in Texas than have ever voted in Texas.
MELBER: Right.
BONIER: And they still had early voting today, and those numbers still to come in, and then Election Day. So that number is going to sail right past.
And, again, as you showed those numbers, especially with key constituencies, Latino voters in Texas, Arizona, Nevada, African-American and Asian voters, and Latino voters, also important voting bloc in Georgia, they're making up this voting bloc.
The other important thing I'd add here, we think about this group, and we think, well, this must be people who weren't eligible to vote, it's all younger voters. And to be clear, youth vote is surging, but only about 30 percent of these new voters are under the age of 30. There's actually two million voters over the age of 65 in battleground states who didn't vote in 2016 and have already voted.
And what we do know about them is, they're more likely to be Democratic than the rest of the electorate. That's remarkable.
MELBER: And, Katty, to mix Tom's eagle-eyed numbers with my own relatively worthless anecdotal observations -- so he brings more to the table -- I will say, Katty, anecdotally, there are some older Democratic-leaning voters who thought Trump was going to lose, who said everyone they knew and relied on thought Trump was going to lose, politicos, those of us in the media, et cetera.
And so they partly were gone in '16, some of them, anecdotally, they said, because, well, I didn't know it mattered.
KAY: Yes, I don't think that's happening on either side, right?
So all of the numbers -- and some of these numbers are confusing, because we just had the numbers there up on the screen showing that, actually, as many Republicans are voting as -- early voting as Democrats. And yet we're also hearing that some minority groups are voting in big numbers early too.
So it's hard for people to make sense, I think, of all of the numbers, because some of them seem to be almost conflicting with each other.
But there is one number that is not conflicting. And that is the enormous amount of interest in this election on both sides, potentially. I mean, there is no doubt. And I don't think anyone on the Democratic side, just to get a little bit back to those Midwestern states, is taking anything for granted.
There may be some quarterbacking of the Democratic campaign strategy of mostly online, very few in person rallies, very little door-knocking over the course of the summer, if Joe Biden doesn't win, but no one can doubt the enthusiasm and the determination on the Democratic side. And the Biden campaign isn't taking anything for granted, in the way that perhaps the Clinton campaign did, either in terms in terms of states individually or voting groups in particular.
MELBER: Yes, and we see that in the map, where they're in Michigan and Minnesota and those places, in a way that the Clinton campaign wasn't.
KAY: Yes.
MELBER: The other thing that's happening, Michael, is, the way we voted shifting. So there are some states, like Washington, where it's all mail-in vote, and they have been doing this.
But we're seeing this adaptation to the pandemic voting. And it's the way we live now. And everyone's been Zooming and spending time online, as people physically distance.
There was a comedian who put together her take on why mail voting is easy, and better, in her view, than in person voting. So we wanted to show that as a thing that's both true and fun. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Time to vote by mail because there's a global pandemic in our country. Democracy is at stake. I'm sure it'll be just like voting in person.
Hey, how's it going? Do you need to see my I.D.? No? Well, that's good. I look really bad in the photo.
So, I filled it out. I bet you want to know who I voted for. But that's private.
Biden. I voted for Biden, Joseph Biden.
So, without further ado, just -- all right, I'm going to need my ballot back, because, unfortunately, no one saw me vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
MELBER: Michael, it can be faster than voting in person.
STEELE: It can be faster than voting in person. It really can.
And with all the crazy lies and distortions about vote by mail put out by the president and some and some in my party, unfortunately, I'm glad to see the American people didn't listen to that craziness, and have taken to heart their civic duty and responsibility to go vote.
And the other thing is, at this stage, clearly, you don't want to put it in the mailbox today.
MELBER: This late, yes.
STEELE: So you're going to be standing in line, for sure, on Tuesday, and that's OK. That's OK. Just pack a lunch. It's OK.
But I think -- I think that video and this conversation and what we're seeing in the early voting for me, at least, Ari, can be summed up, if I could paraphrase Prince, dearly beloved, we're gathered here today to get through this thing called Trump.
And that's exactly what this election is all about.
MELBER: Michael Steele with the Prince classic. If you have to wait even in the purple rain, so be it.
STEELE: So be it.
(LAUGHTER)
MELBER: So be it.
Tom, do you have any Prince?
BONIER: I don't have a quote at the moment, no.
(LAUGHTER)
MELBER: You see that? He only brought excellent TargetSmart data, but he did not bring any -- talk about a swing state of Minnesota. He did not bring any Prince.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
MELBER: We have fun.
Tom, thanks for putting up with us. Michael, always good to see you. Katty, great to see you.
Michael will be back later in the program for something special.
We now turn to our shortest break, just 30 seconds.
But we have coming up a new twist in how votes are counted that could shape what we learn first on election night.
We also have a very special Bernie Sanders backer who's making the case for Joe Biden, Michael Moore -- when we're back in 30.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I'm the guy that ran against socialists, OK? I'm the guy that is the moderate. Remember, you guys were all talking.
You would interview me and say, well, you're a moderate. How can you win the nomination?
It's who I am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Joe Biden stressing he won the Democratic socialism debate within the party, so he will call the shots if he's elected, and he says he's a moderate.
Biden's also been benefiting from a highly unified party, drawing the support of liberals and conservatives alike.
And now we turn to a special panel with two people who did not agree on their presidential choices in '04 or '08 or 2012, but they're both backing Biden now.
These two Michaels are both friends of THE BEAT, but have never actually joined us together, Michael Moore, an Oscar-winning filmmaker, activist and host of the "Rumble with Michael Moore" podcast. He previously and prominently backed Bernie Sanders, campaigning for him there in those primaries. Michael Steele, of course, ran the RNC in the Obama era. He's a lifelong Republican who just formally endorsed Biden for president, shown right here in this ad.
Good to see you both.
I will start with Michael Steele.
(CROSSTALK)
MELBER: Is it OK to change your mind and hang out with Michael Moore?
STEELE: Oh, my goodness, yes, absolutely.
No, no, Mike -- actually, Michael, and I think we did a panel a few years ago with one of the other hosts. So, we have been in the room together. And Michael and I will probably, after Joe Biden wins, go toe to toe on this show and others over some big policy issues.
And you know what? That's OK, because I'd rather have a tango with Michael over policy than over being an American. And so I think that this is the important part of this election for me. This is about our citizenship. It's about who we are.
And a Michael Moore and Michael Steele can actually come together around the principal idea of electing an American president.
MELBER: Strongly put.
Michael Moore, I want to turn to you. And this is something you have spoken about in '16, when people didn't want to hear it. You spoke about it in the primaries. And now, of course, you're out backing Biden.
And that is the way that Donald Trump, however much people don't like it has, at times appealed or lied his way into appealing to certain folks who might be populists or progressive or on the left. We do our job listening here.
I want to play briefly for you -- we talked just last night to some people who supported Sanders in the '16 primary, then went to Trump, and now are turning back to Biden. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His original idea of improving the economy just backfired. I mean, and he really hasn't done anything to improve it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He turned out to be a salesman, instead of business leader. He kind of reminded me of my first husband. He doesn't listen, doesn't stop to ask for directions, and doesn't compromise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie is a little too socialist for me. But I'm definitely not interested in fascism, communism or dictatorship.
MELBER: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Michael Moore, two of those voters, Sarah (ph) and Kathleen (ph), went from Sanders to Trump back to Biden.
What do you see as important in the closing arguments on all of this now?
MICHAEL MOORE, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: Well, first of all, it would have been so funny, Ari, had the teleprompter person mixed up the introductions here, introduced me as the former chair of the Republican Party.
(LAUGHTER)
MOORE: But -- and I would have gone with it. I would have had your back. And nobody would have thought a mistake had been made.
STEELE: I appreciate that.
(LAUGHTER)
MOORE: But, no, and Michael Steele too, he thinks we're going to go toe to toe. But let's just be really honest about people like Michael Steele, Nicolle Wallace.
You go down a list of wonderful people. They're not -- whatever the Republican Party was, that party's dead. And how much Trump has killed it, we will see. But there's a very good chance they're the new Whigs.
People like Michael and Nicolle and others, though -- I mean, Michael is here. I could just ask him right now.
Do you think that women should be paid the same as men? Do you...
STEELE: Yes.
MOORE: Do you -- yes.
Do you believe that climate change is real?
STEELE: Yes.
MOORE: Do you believe that minimum wage should be $7.25 cents an hour?
STEELE: Look, let's put that in perspective. When I was -- when I was a county chairman, I was calling for a $15 minimum wage.
That was 1996.
MELBER: All right, now, I'm not here to pour cold water on it.
(CROSSTALK)
MOORE: My point is, is that...
MELBER: Wait. Michael, I'm going to jump in. And then -- although I love it when you ask questions. And then I'm going to let you finish.
MOORE: Well, I went from being the chair of the Republican Party to now the new host of the show, or I should say co-host.
(LAUGHTER)
MELBER: Co-host is fine. You stay with us.
But because this is not just a lovefest, and people know I do personally love Michael Steele, but, as a journalist, I'm going to show the old days of Michael Steele, which include drill, baby, drill, among other things...
STEELE: Yes.
MOORE: Uh-oh.
MELBER: ... for context. Let's take a look.
MOORE: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEELE: Thank you.
Government should be limited, so that it never becomes powerful enough to infringe on the rights of individuals. Taxes should be kept low. Promote oil and gas production at home. Drill, baby, drill, and drill now.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK)
STEELE: I look good.
(CROSSTALK)
MOORE: I don't know how to explain that, other than, is marijuana now legal in Maryland?
(LAUGHTER)
MOORE: That's the old Michael Steele.
The new one is -- he's really -- Michael Steele is really the majority of the country, because the majority of the country -- forget about Democrat, Republican -- the majority of the country does believe climate change is real, does believe women should be paid the same as men, we need a living wage.
Go down the whole list, the majority of Americans support what is essentially now the Democratic Party platform, because we know now -- well, there is no platform for the Republican Party. Literally, no platform was passed.
So, the good news is that the country has now coalesced around a very liberal progressive agenda. They -- Michael Steele may not want to call it that, but the positions -- I was going to go down that list, and where he was answering, he was taking the Democratic Party or the liberal left position.
So, that's where we're at.
MELBER: Let me bring in...
MOORE: We live in a liberal, left country now. And we're about to find that out, I think, hopefully, in a very big way.
MELBER: Steele?
STEELE: Well, I think that we tend to kind of try to put these things in particular boxes.
Like I said, with respect to the minimum wage, I have always been in that space, because I was raised by -- in a minimum wage household. And I knew the impact it had on my family's budget. I also know, as a businessman, that this fearmongering around raising the minimum wage is a fallacy, because most businesses bake that in.
They're not -- they're not afraid of raising the minimum wage, and they're not -- they don't have to fire people to do so. So, just bringing that honesty is not taking a liberal position. It is taking a business, a smart business position...
MOORE: Yes.
STEELE: ... that says business owners know that -- where their work forces, and they know what they have to do to keep their work force in place.
The environment, for me, look, we have a long history as Republicans before this crazy of being a stalking horse in this. In fact, the EPA came out of Republican policies. Environmental protection came out of Republican policies going back to Theodore Roosevelt.
So, the fact that folks in my party have forgotten where we have stood on these issues, that's why guys and gals like myself and Nicolle and others are here today to remind us of where we want stood and to move us back into that space, because that's where the country is.
(CROSSTALK)
MELBER: Well, that goes to what Biden is pitching.
MOORE: Michael, how about not moving back to that space, though?
Why not create a new space? Why not create something new? Because I think that young people...
STEELE: Oh, yes, I'm up for that.
MOORE: Young people -- look, since President Obama was elected in '08, I believe the number is at somewhere around 40, 45 million young people became 18, became voters.
Just since Trump was elected, he -- there have been now -- there have been almost 15 million young people that have turned 18 and become voters. So, they're never going to vote for a Republican again. You have lost young people. You have lost women.
(CROSSTALK)
MELBER: So, let me -- I'm going to jump in, Michael.
MOORE: Yes.
MELBER: And, again, thank you for having me on your program.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
MOORE: And, Ari, let me just say too that your last guest didn't understand that today's secret catchphrase from Prince is, nothing compares to you.
And I mean you, Ari.
STEELE: There you go.
MOORE: So, thank you for letting me be your co-host.
(LAUGHTER)
STEELE: Good recovery, Michael. Very good.
MELBER: Great. Thanks. That's very sweet.
And I love -- the number of lyrics coming in, I love it.
But I am curious then about the Biden project, because we live in a fractious, polarized country. We know that. And yet this panel and the spirit you're both speaking, and what Biden's been doing in his close, and what The Lincoln Project is doing, and what we're seeing here is a lot of a unity closing message.
So, I am curious, to Michael Moore, can you win a presidential campaign right now closing with unity?
MOORE: Well, yes.
I mean, we're -- but we are already winning it with a liberal left, Democratic, independent voters. We have -- listen, how about this, Ari? For the last seven presidential elections, the majority of the country, the popular vote has been won by the Democratic Party.
Now, I'm -- go back 32 years to the election in '88 of George H.W. Bush. Since then, the Republicans have won the popular vote only once in 32 years.
MELBER: Yes.
MOORE: If you're watching this right now and you're 30...
MELBER: Yes, one out of seven. Yes.
MOORE: ... you're 30 years old, the Republicans have won only once. And that was in '04. And that was one state, Ohio. And that was 100,000 votes.
The majority of Americans since -- after '88, have said, clearly, they want Democrats, liberals, in charge, that we are the ones who brought you the eight-hour day. We're the ones who brought stop using children in factories. Go way back as far as you want. These ideas are Democratic ideas.
And that's why the majority of the country is with us.
MELBER: Right.
MOORE: That's why the majority of the House is -- that's the people's House -- is with us.
MELBER: Well, part of what you're talking about -- and your films explore this as well, I think, to great effect -- is that the structural inequities in the system can obscure what you're calling that center left, or just what Michael called that American tradition of where the actual consensus is.
MOORE: Yes.
MELBER: I'm supposed to fit in a break.
I did want to mention, since Michael was bringing in lyrics -- well, both Michaels, really -- that D.J. Khaled and Drake, they say no new friends, the idea that, once they achieve a level of success, they can't trust new people around them. That's in that business.
But, in politics and America, it's the opposite. We need to keep growing. So I'm really glad, if we have some new friends here, I'm happy for it, Michael Moore.
MOORE: I'm just saying, knowing that song as well as I do, that they were actually, I think, being self-critical when they're saying, no new friends.
But they were bemoaning the fact that, as they got more famous and more popular and older, they were not making new friends. And that really is never a good thing.
But, yes, let's come back...
(CROSSTALK)
MELBER: Michael Steele, do you have the same interpretation of that song?
STEELE: I do.
And, to Michael's point, I think, just to keep it in my period, Michael Jackson said it best. We are the world.
MELBER: Well, and Michael Moore may get the last word on this, because...
MOORE: Or...
MELBER: Go ahead.
MOORE: ... stop. The love you take may be your own.
MELBER: You're going back to that?
(CROSSTALK)
MOORE: I'm just saying...
MELBER: All right, I'm going to give one more to Michael Steele. I'm going to give one more, just because we're -- this is the last time we will see you guys maybe before the election.
Michael Steele?
STEELE: Hey, look, for me, this whole conversation can be summed up by James Brown. Get it on the good foot. Good God.
MOORE: Right.
MELBER: There it is. Can't top that.
MOORE: And the exit song for Donald Trump -- the exit song from Donald Trump will be "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da." Right?
STEELE: Ob-La-Da.
MOORE: Life goes on, bra.
MELBER: Life goes on, bro.
MOORE: And so long, Donald Trump.
MELBER: We will see. We will see what the numbers say.
MOORE: We will see.
MELBER: Michael Moore, Michael Steele together again.
(CROSSTALK)
MELBER: Coming up THE BEAT, we have a lot more.
We have a special report on election traditions crumbling and others enduring.
But, first, there's breaking news. Alleged voter suppression efforts by Trump allies in key states, news out PA. I have got the legal breakdown after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MELBER: Turning to news out of the key battleground in Pennsylvania tonight, where Biden is leading.
Now, typically, states try to begin counting all the ballots on election night for as long as it takes. But now officials in seven PA county say, on election night, they just won't count mail ballots, which they believe lean Democratic, and they will then count those later.
Now, that could slow factual information about roughly 150,000 ballots. It's not the whole state. It might not matter, or it could upend the whole race if it's as close as 2016, when the margin was far less than that. It was just 44,000 votes.
And here's the wider context. You can guess what this is all about. The Trump campaign thanks, if there's high turnout, and all the votes are counted in Pennsylvania, they think they lose. A "New York Times" headline keeps it pretty simple, noting that, "Facing a gap in Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign tries to make voting harder," with efforts to limit mail counting and intimidate Pennsylvanians trying to vote early.
The Trump campaign also filing lawsuits in Iowa and Nevada, trying to invalidate certain ballots, while Trump is also striking some sore loser notes by complaining about a loss at the Supreme Court which simply upheld state decisions to count all votes mailed on time.
Now, as for these latest plays in Pennsylvania, which is late-breaking news today, the very top elections officials there is now pressing those seven local officials I mentioned tonight, to get back on board and plan to count on time.
We turn now to "New York Times" columnist Michelle Goldberg, who has been writing about many of these issues.
Good to have you back.
MICHELLE GOLDBERG, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Hey. Thanks for having me.
MELBER: As you and I have discussed, there's a balance of scrutiny on these issues, without overreacting or alarm. And there are a lot of legal ways that the votes will be counted over time.
And even if somebody is screaming in all caps on the Internet or on a television channel or wherever else, we do have state rules backed by a constitution to count the votes.
So, I want to hit this at the right altitude, but ask you what you make of what looks like an effort in Pennsylvania to try to create perhaps a red mirage early in the night.
GOLDBERG: Well, I think it's alarming from a couple of different directions, right, because you have the Trump administration attacking voting from a couple of different directions.
You already have a slowdown in mail delivery to swing states. And so you're going to have a slowdown in mail delivery probably to some of these places where they're going to first count -- they will first count electoral day votes, which I think everybody thinks are likely to be more friendly to Trump than mail-in votes.
You also -- I wouldn't necessarily say that the recent Supreme Court ruling on Pennsylvania is a victory, right? They have said that they have to sequester these votes that are -- that come in three days after Election Day.
But I think they have made it seem pretty likely that they might throw those out if there are challenges after Election Day, which there are likely to be. I mean, if I was in Pennsylvania, I don't think anyone in Pennsylvania should be putting their ballots in the mail at this point, expecting that it will be OK if they get there three days after Election Day.
If you have an absentee ballot, you have to go take it to a drop box or deliver it in person.
The other thing here is that Donald Trump is trying to create a sense in the country that ballots -- that if the result changes from election night on November 3, as the count comes in, in the ensuing days, as it often does -- that's exaggerated this year because of the pandemic and the greater use of mail-in voting, but it's often the case that it takes days after Election Day to fully count the vote.
Donald Trump is trying to create the impression that, if that happens, it's illegitimate, that, if that happens, it's a result of the vote being stolen from him. And I think what's really frightening is that you have seen some indication that certain justices on the Supreme Court are going to be friendly to arguments to throw out certain batches of votes that people are counting after Election Day.
MELBER: Do you think the Biden campaign has the right approach to this right now?
GOLDBERG: I mean, the Biden campaign obviously has a ton of lawyers. The Biden campaign is kind of -- there's very little that the Biden campaign can do about a hostile Supreme Court, a sabotaged Postal Service, and a demagogic president.
I think that you need a ton of voter outreach to tell people that you have to bring in your mail-in ballot. It's too late to mail your mail-in ballot. And if you have requested a mail-in ballot, you haven't gotten it in a lot of states, you can go and vote in person.
MELBER: Right, which is key information for everyone to know, especially people watching in states where this is relevant.
Michelle Goldberg, as always, thank you very much.
GOLDBERG: Thank you.
MELBER: We're going to find a break, but when we come back -- thank you -- I want to share something with you we haven't reported yet.
It is a major rebuke to Donald Trump from an icon. And we're going to break down why it matters going into, of course, this final weekend.
And, later, we're going to show some of the extraordinary early voting records with a very special guest making a push -- when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MELBER: This election is different than most, but some traditions continue.
You might think everyone's made up their mind, but we just heard from several voters who backed Trump in '16 and are switching to Biden, because minds do change.
Traditional newspaper endorsements also still play a role, most going to Biden now, including some papers endorsing a Democrat for president for the first time in decades.
Another tradition is, of course, touting support from the other side, The Lincoln Project trying to recruit just a couple more conservatives for Biden, and they're showcasing his support on the right side of the spectrum.
But what about the other corner of the spectrum? Liberals, progressives and radicals who may see Joe Biden as a bridge more to pass centrism than future reform?
Well, I want to tell you, it's actually worth noting that unlike, say, Ralph Nader in 2000 or Jill Stein in '16, this year, many vocal liberals have been loudly urging their supporters to back Biden and deal with any intramural debates later.
We heard from Congresswoman Omar last night, who's far to Biden's left. We heard it from the most prominent Democratic socialists in America, Sanders and AOC. We're also even hearing it in closing arguments from radicals who are no fans of the Democratic Party, like Noam Chomsky, the iconic social critic, new left leader, and liberal intellectual who wrote over 100 books, who famously wound up on Nixon's enemies list for his activism.
Well, Chomsky is out now with a blistering take on the stakes for why he says everyone should do everything to stop Donald Trump. And he's out with it, of course, going into Tuesday's election, arguing Donald Trump is -- quote -- "the worst criminal in human history" and emphasizing that Trump's antics can distract from his core project, "enriching the ultra-rich and the corporate sector."
Chomsky notes that Trump's only real "legislative achievement is the tax scam, a giveaway to the very rich, harming the working class and the poor and everyone else," noting, "that's extreme," and adding, "Trump's a very loyal servant of private power, private wealth and the corporate sector, which is why they let him get away with the kind of antics you see."
Chomsky telling "The New Yorker" magazine he's backing Joe Biden, and he's also concerned about whether American democracy itself will prevail.
Now, Chomsky has never been one to just go along with any trend or mob mentality or political expediency. It's worth keeping his informed and blunt and concerned warnings in mind as this election looms.
We wanted to give you that update.
Now, when we come back, early voting records smashed with help from some pretty big stars. And one of them joins us for the first time next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MELBER: This election smashing records, 85 million votes cast, a voting push that's fueled in many ways, but including all kinds of leaders, including professional athletes.
Here's a new video out of New York, actor Paul Rudd handing out cookies to voters in the purple rain. LeBron James launched his voting rights organization, More Than a Vote, and just spoke with President Obama himself about voting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: My mom sent me a video today of her voting. I believe it's her first-time voting.
And she was so proud of herself, yes.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You tell her Barack and Michelle give her much love and respect for that.
JAMES: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Or there's Taylor Swift, who lent out her hit song "Only the Young" to an ad that backs Biden.
We just spoke with Jack Black about his "Rocky the Vote" video urging people to make their voices heard with a lot of fun.
Now NASCAR star Bubba Wallace, who once feuded with Donald Trump over issues with the Confederate Flag, is encouraging all fans to get out and vote. This weekend, he's driving this car with Dash to the Polls on it.
And joining us now, making his BEAT debut, is none other than Bubba Wallace.
Thanks for being here.
BUBBA WALLACE, NASCAR DRIVER: Yes, thank you. How's it going?
MELBER: Going great.
What did you want to achieve by getting involved and telling your folks your -- all your fans around the country to get involved?
B. WALLACE: Yes, I think this is -- obviously, everything that's going on in the nation right now, this is a crucial moment. And I registered to vote for the first time. And I actually went and voted yesterday, didn't really know the process. But I figured I was going to be in line for a couple hours, whatever it may be.
And I walked right in, 15 minutes in and out, and I voted. So, I told my girlfriend, I was like, this sounds kind of nerve-racking. I didn't know what to expect.
But I think, right now, you look at everything that's going on. And it's controlling your own destiny. That's the main thing. And I didn't really take time to understand that in the previous elections and -- or really care to want to understand.
Just now, being kind of thrown into the fire and going through all that stuff, and learning more about the human being side of things and how we can, people, we, as people, can make this a much better place if we take time to listen and understand. And I, again, go back to controlling your own destiny.
So, I encourage, no matter what party it is, get out and vote and do your part. So, it's fun to be partnered with DoorDash. And they're doing their partnership with When We All Vote. So, Dash to the Polls is very important. So be sure to do it.
MELBER: Yes.
And so you're striking that message. Everyone should vote, civic, nonpartisan.
But, unlike most people who are going to go vote, you have had some beef with the current president. Let's play a little bit from this new ad. Take a look.
What are we...
(CROSSTALK)
B. WALLACE: It's pretty powerful.
MELBER: Go ahead.
B. WALLACE: Yes.
No, that was a powerful video that we were able to put together. Hats off to everybody at Root Insurance there for pulling that off and portraying a message, portraying that progress owes no apology, and being -- you could call it a beef, you call it a feud with the president.
I didn't really go back at him. I just simply stood behind my messaging of love wins. And did I have an urge to swoop down to his level? Yes. But there's not many chances in life where people can say they took the higher road than the highest seat in office.
So, I will gladly accept that and move on and not look back at it, look at something that was a small piece in this chapter of my story.
(CROSSTALK)
MELBER: You didn't just take the high road. You took the high road really fast, you know, because you're fast on the road.
(LAUGHTER)
B. WALLACE: Yes. Yes. Good one.
(LAUGHTER)
MELBER: You don't have tell me it was good, when it was bad.
But I glad appreciate you coming on THE BEAT, Bubba Wallace. And I think a lot of people appreciate your emphasis on, really, how do you conduct yourself, even in the face of some of this stuff?
So, thank you.
B. WALLACE: Yes.
MELBER: And everyone can check out your effort.
We're going to fit in a break.
When we come back: 2020 has been confusing at times, but, as Robert Hunter put it, maybe you will find direction around some corner where it's been waiting to meet you.
Big Grateful Dead announcement -- when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MELBER: One more announcement before we go.
As so many head to the polls, you may think this isn't no time to hate, barely time to wait. And as the last few undecided voters make up their mind, it's worth recalling you can get shone the light in the strangest of places, if you look at it right.
And this year, you may feel set up like a bowling pin, knocked down gets to wearing thin. What a long, strange trip it's been, a motto for 2020, if there ever were one, which just shows how much wisdom from the beloved Grateful Dead applies right now.
So, we are absolutely thrilled to announce that Bob Weir makes his BEAT debut Monday, a founding member of the greatest jam band in the world, past, present and future. And yes, Phishheads, I know you can hear me.
The great Bob Weir will be here to talk music, culture and his voter mobilization project HeadCount, which has already helped register over one million new voters. In fact, even before Bob gets here, we want to plug HeadCount.org, where you can go learn more and participate.
And you know what they say. Some folks look for answers. Others look for fights, but we're all just playing in the band.
We're also going to post some of that interview online tonight. You can go to our Twitter page, THEBEATWITHARI, to find out about it. It'll be up in about two hours, or just tune in Monday.
That does it for us.
I want to tell you, we always appreciate you spending time with us. And, in addition to THEBEATWITHARI Twitter account, I will mention we're on Facebook and Instagram, where you can find me @AriMelber.
And the reason I mention that is not just to plug social, but to tell you we do a lot of extra stuff there. So, when we have a longer interview, like Bob Weir, we will put up the whole thing, even if we only play a little part here.
So, again, I want to thank everyone for spending time with us.
Nicolle Wallace always says we will get through this. We will. Indeed, by Tuesday, Tuesday night, or the days after, we may have an answer about where this election goes.
Also, you can always DVR THE BEAT. You press on your remote Melber. Go to the home page there. Press for DVR the show, and you won't miss any of our episodes.
I will be back with you Sunday night if you tune into that rehearsal I mentioned, or Monday 6:00 p.m. Eastern.
And keep it locked right here for "THE REIDOUT WITH JOY REID."
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.END
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