Good lines. Punches that didnt landa. Thats is true. And five things to get to september 28th, thursday. Chaotic to the debate. Appears to have left little change in the republican primary. The candidates sharpening attacks against each other and the frontrunner, donald trump, who, again, wasnt there. And taking an former President Trump today, President Biden calling him a threat to democracy. And the first public hearing in the Impeachment Hearing of President Biden. The Clock Ticking down to a government shutdown. Now just two days away. Also breaking this morning, the american soldier who crossed into north korea on purpose is now back on u. S. Soil landing near san antonio. An important fyi for starts, dress code officially business casual. The rule after John Fettermans became a bit of a flashpoint in the upper chamber. Cnn this morning starts right now. We will get to the debate in a moment. What is Business Attire these days . I havent seen my husband wear a suit to the office in many years now. Quite literally outlined in the legislation. Outlined, passed unanimously. I dont want to misquote it. Senator manchin would be very upset. A tie, jacket and slacks. No one uses the word slacks anymore. The explicit ask. Except you, mattingly. Talk more about that later. And Donald Trumps opponents battling for a chaotic debate on the stage. Watch. And if i may and its not your turn. And cant be a champion on both sides. I believe in. Theyre good people. These are good people on the stage. Im going sir, we will have to cut your mic and i dont want to do that. I dont. Yet again the republican frontrunner, a noshow. Rowdy with the candidates repeatedly talking over one another, interrupting each other. Vivek ramaswamy and Governor Ron Desantis ended up having the most speaker time. And Border Security and Government Spending the top topics. Overall they didnt spend much time talking about it. And joining auto workers picket line. Trump joked his primary opponents dont stand a chance. Theyre all job candidates. They want to be in the, they want to not do anything. Secretary of something. Even say vp. I dont know. Has anybody seen any vp in the group . I dont think so. And live for us at the Ronald Reagan president ial library after last nights debate. After a late night. These candidates are still fighting to close a huge gap with trump but seemed more like they were Fighting One Another last night. Yeah. You know, phil, does seem they didnt quite accomplish that goal of chipping away at Donald Trumps lead. It was messy and loud, you just heard and at times you couldnt understand what anyone was saying on that stage. The answer . Reporter Achaotic Second Gop president ial debate. And things we want to get reporter with seven candidates all vying for second place behind donald trump, criticizing the frontrunner for not showing up. Youre not here tonight, because you are afraid of being on this stage and defending your record. Youre ducking these things and let me tell you whats going to happen. You keep doing that, no one up heres going to call you donald trump anymore. Were going to call you continue to duck. Reporter invoking his name more this time around zeroing in on the government economy. Reckless behavior, borrowed, printed, spent and now youre paying more for everything. They are the reason for that. And wheres joe biden . Hes completely missing in action from leadership. You know who else is missing in action . Donald trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you [ applause ] to defend his record. Reporter pence took direct Aim Thepresident S Bidenomics he belongs ton the r reporter auto workers they want more benefits working fewer hours. That is simply not going to stand. The reason why people are striking in detroit is because joe bidens interference with Capital Markets and with free markets. Reporter the debate hit on many red meat issues for the Republican Party including immigration and Border Security. Our laws are broken every day at the southern border. Every day. And joe biden and his crew is doing nothing about enforcing that law. Defund sanctuary cities. You see whats happening in philadelphia right now. Its got to stop. We need to make sure we put 25,000 more Border Patrol and i. C. E. Agents on the job and let them do their job. Doesnt enjoy citizenship neither does the kid of an illegal migrant too broke the law to come here. Reporter Vivek Ramaswamy faced direct attacks forced to defend his Business Record in china and his use of tiktok. I have a radical idea for the Republican Party. We need to win elections. And part of how we win elections is reaching The Next Generation of Young Americans where they are. This is infuriating because tiktok is one of the most dangerous social media accidents we could and have what youve got, honestly, every time i hear you i feel a little dumber for what you say. Reporter the two candidates from South Carolina sparred over gas taxes in their home state and curtains. Nikki offered a 10 Tax Gas Increase in South Carolina. As the u. N. Ambassador, you literally bring it. 50,000 on curtains at as 15 million subsidized location. You got bad information. First of all, i fought the gas tax in South Carolina maultiple times. Do your homework, obama bought the curtains. Its in the its the state department. Did you send them back . Did you . You work in congress. You hung them, theyre your curtains. They were there before i ever showed up at the residence. You are scrapping. Reporter so after all that yelling at the debate what you did not hear, though, is anyone saying that they were going to take the foot off the gas. Didnt hear anyone say they were stepping off the campaign trail. Many Heading South where im standing to Orange County. Ramaswamy, scott, and desantis all going to show up in Orange County for the california Republican Party convention. The biggest name that will show up for that event, phil and poppy donald trump. Hmm. Thank you for the reporting. Quite a night. Quite a night. So many thoughts. Lets bring in writer of a very serious newsletter and host of very serious podcast, cnn politico. You laughed. Set this up intentionally always say josh is serious. And Margaret Hoover and senior political analyst with us also. Appreciate you joining us after a late night. A lot of things to get to including nikki haleys reference to a Billy Madison quote, which i loved. Down by 30 or 40 in the polls need to chip away at it. Heard some of it. Take a listen. You know who else is missing in action . Donald trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight. My former rahningmate donald trump actually has plan to start to consolidate more power in washington, d. C. Consolidate more power in the executive branch. This is where President Trump went wrong. Focus on trade with china pt not the fact he was buying up our farmland, killing americans. Youre ducking these things. Let me tell you whats going to happen. Keep doing that, no one up heres going to call you donald trump anymore. Were going to call you donald duck. Roasted. I think the thing, we polled that, a little more a Frontal Assault to some degree but still not, margaret, a significant one people came out of the debate saying we actually launched at donald trump. I dont think fundamental dynamics changed at all after last night. All candidates came 10 , to 20 , more amped up. Elbows punching in either direction. Fundamentals are basically the same. Donald trump leading. Pretending like none exist. Nipping at his heels on ankles. The rest of them, honestly, if they were smart would do more of what that maontage just showed. There is somebody who is wanting to return to power and as mike pence said, consolidate power and continue to disrespect the constitution, and there are the rest of them. This is the 10 more critical of donald trump differentiation strategy, which aint going to cut it. Great to call out policy differences. Fine to say should be on the debate stage. Should be. Rnc should step up and put teeth into that enforcement. Ultimately unfit for office because he tried to overthrow our democracy, Den Grade The Constitution and indicted 91 times. Thats the argument to make and all pulled punches for fear of offending a part of his base. Thats not the clarity people expect from leadership. Until thats done theyre not getting traction. Does it get done . Didnt do it last night, why not do it in the future . I see it differently. I dont think a republican jumping up and down about the indictment will help you at all. Theyre in mirror world and in that world, kind of like with o. J. Simpson. You know, The Black Community knew he was not the best person in the world but hated the lapd worse. Thats kind of how, its sort of its that. Like you have these republican voters. They know trump is a scoundrel but think the establishment and deep throat is worse. For me what i saw was, these debates are not just about who gets to be the nominee. Its about the country. Its about what happens to the party along the way. They were mainstreaming, attacking, babies of immigrants saying you dont belong here. Shouldnt be a citizen here. Thats terrible. They were mainstreams denying transgender folks, mainstreaming abandoning ukraine. In addition to not saying more mean things about donald trump, which i would love but i dont think will move the needle. Theres something happens to that party and to the country that i thought was very disturbing. Pushing to repeal the new green deal, amazing because it hasnt been passed yet. So congrats to joe biden for the legislative victory we didnt know about. Interesting point. Watch the debates. Particularly no ones making a move at the frontrunner. What they were saying and to vans point. What has become kind of the base line, key points for the party, do you think vans right . This is it now . You can listen to the romneys and the mcconnells and other people who come from the old guard of republicanism, but this is it. The main way the candidates are trying to get way from donald trump, getting to his right on entitlements on abortion. Vans right. The argument john made is a General Election argument and perfectly good argument help democrats, but wont help new a republican primary where people, where the typical voter thinks everything donald trump did through that process at the 2020 election was fine and justified. There is a subtler argument you could make. Even if okay with all the stuff donald trump did, why this is bad for the Republican Party and conservatives. He cant run a second term. That hes going to be spending all of his time and money during the General Election defending himself in these legal matters he has, regardless of merits, rather than trying to win elections for republicans. You saw ron desantis get at that a little bit. Talking we need a president who can serve two terms. The problem is, i dont think that that many voters think about this in those terms. You know, like they dont think about it like if they were a Party Operative implementing the party agenda. Thats so difficult for these candidates in this race. You have to attack donald trump to be relevant. But attack him from the left, effectively what youre doing. So terrible he tried to steal the election, thats not getting you into the primary. Useful, then Chris Christie would be leading the primary. The problem, overturning the Election Appeals to the left. Electability matters why Political Parties exist. A cult of personality going on but what deflates that confrconfront ing facts with strength. Strength matters, trying to be a leader. Tiptoeing around doesnt cut it. Republicans like to think of themselves as a party of law and order, Dwrefends The Constituti and democracy. Take that to the woodshed you can carve out your or niche. Chris christie is rising. This is not a national primary. 25 relevant primaries but not weighted evenly. Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, nevada, and its, makeup of electorate is different in each, too. In fact, independents are voting in New Hampshire. Dynamics are totally different and Chris Christie is beating desantis now in New Hampshire at least according to many polls. So its a different makeup. The composition of the base is different in New Hampshire. And youre deal is not the National Polls are one thing, but where it matters, New Hampshire, its working . Chris christies strategy is working right now in New Hampshire, because you can see climbing in polls and Beat Desantis in some cases. All still lagging to donald trump. All coming back. A teaser. Talking to Chris Christie in the 8 00 a. M. Hour. Stay tuned for that. Stick around. A lot more to talk to. Whos the appetizer . Cant wait for the main course. This overnight, suspect in the murder of a baltimore tech ceo arrested. Well tell you those details. The american who ran into north korea is back on u. S. Soil. What negotiations that brought him home. Stay with us. He voted for the spending. You asked for a Gas Tax Increase in South Carolina 12 years. Where have you been, tim . Where have you been. Ten cents on the gallon in South Carolina as the u. N. Ambassador, you literally bring it. 50,000 on curtains in a 15 million subsidized location. We all know curtains . Do your homework, tim because obama bought those curtains. Did you send them back . All right. Our team is back. An appetizer, couldnt wait for the main coarse. Here he are. Talk about it. The back and forth between tim scott and nikki haley. Theyre friends what do you mean . Was that useful . Headlines of, used the word swagger. She can pivot. Adept as handling attacks and going on the attack but didnt ask for that. As soon as she saw he was going there, she was ready. Bring it, tim. What nikki haley did, though. Be clear. That story was silly. A story printed by the New York Times when it first came out. New york times issued a correction. Curtains. The curtains story. Silly and below the belt. Why was he doing that . Trying to distinguish himself from her and from the crowd. They all should be distinguishing themselves from donald trump. I thought it didnt play well with republican voters, at least the ones in the room. Obscure, too. And youre frustrated. Thats not what happened . What do you mean . Thats not whooat happened . They tried to pit them against each other, the moderators and tim scott turned to her, didnt attack her. Actually made substantive points. The curtains . No, no. The second question. Going somewhere. He didnt attack her. That was the most important moment of the debate. Tim scott was asked to attack her and didnt do it. And then he did . Then when she had the opportunity to talk, she attacked him. Then he tried to then came with the silly nonsense. Not being tim scott. Tim scotts not an attacker. Thats right. Thats right. Tim scott tried to show character. Tried to show class. Tried to show integrity. Didnt fall for it and nikki haley attacked him anyway and benefitting from it. Of course looks like a full attack. What they went out to do. Things happening on the stage that are very disturbing, i was so proud that tim scott didnt attack her, given the opportunity, and sad they chose to attack him. Now talking about the same thing happened. The main point missed. Shows how irrelevant this debate was. Correct. I mean, the Curtain Thing is silly, even the rest of that exchange, about, you know, you tried to raise the gasoline tax. No. Trying to do a deal with the income tax, gasoline tax in South Carolina. Small issues between two candidates not going to come close to receiving this nomination. That doesnt tell us much about the future of this country. I mean, when you put seven candidates on the stage who are not going to be the republican nominee for president and argue for each other like theyre pretending the question is among these people . Is tim scott or nikki haley going to be the republican nominee, the exercise is pointless. Hold on. Phil, i dont know surgeroga argument. Whether the election is over ng. I heard the winner is a steak dinner. Winner, winner, steak dinner. Ice cream. I thought. Figure that out later, i think. Ohio thing, i think. When the f