Right. The economy does do better under democrats. And as vice president kamala harris announces a major plan to boost small businesses, economists are saying that trump's proposals, like for instance, tariffs, would actually hurt americans. Also tonight, we are just days into the new school year for many students, but we've already had our first school shooting, leaving four dead and several injured at a high school in georgia. Plus, breaking late today, republican liz cheney, who once said that donald trump is unfit for any office, announced that she will be voting for vice president kamala harris. But we begin tonight with it's the economy stupid. James carville's famoused a moe in addition from the 1992 election that remains true today. Polls show the economy continues to be the top issue for many voters, including inflation and affordability. And yet there is only one candidate who is proposing policies that would actually help americans. Vice president kamala harris. Here she is today in new hampshire. My vision of an opportunity economy is one where everyone can compete and have a real chance to succeed. Where everyone, regardless of who they are, where they start, can build wealth, including intergenerational wealth, where workers are treated with dignity and everyone has the freedom to join a union, if they choose. Where we remove barriers to opportunity, so anyone who wants to start a business, can have access to the tools and the resources they need to do that. The vp was there to unveil a big tax break proposal for small businesses. $50,000 to be exact for startup businesses, which would be a huge boost from the existing $5,000 tax break. And counter to the online trolls and far right commentators claiming she doesn't have any policies, this is just one of many that harris has begun to roll out regarding the economy. There's the plan to provide $25,000 in down payment assistance to firsttime home buyers. The plan to restore the expanded child tax credit. And at a $6,000 tax credit for parents of newborns. On healthcare she wants to expand the current $35,000 monthly cap on out of pocket cost for insulin. And expand the upcoming $2,000 annual limit on out of pocket costs for prescription drugs for medicare enrollees to all americans. She's also calling for a federal ban to end price gouging. Now let's compare that to donald trump's plans. In addition to extending and increasing his 2017 massive tax cut for the super rich and big businesses, he has proposed deporting roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants, which would cause huge problems for the agriculture and construction sectors, resulting in higher food and housing costs for americans. Also proposed imposing 10% tariff on all products imported to the u. S. And 60% on all chinese goods which essentially a tax on every single one of those goods. Meaning higher costs for american families. And his goto line for how he will somehow pull a rabbit out of the hat is drill baby drill. Ie by bringing energy costs down, all costs will come down. Okay, the problem with that plan is under the biden/harris administration, the united states is already producing more oil, not only than any other time in u. S. History, no, but more than any other country on the planet ever has ever. You don't need to take it from me, y'all. Moody's analytics found that harris' plans would cut the deficit by nearly $3 trillion, while trump's plans would add more than $2 trillion over the next ten years. And according to goldman sachs, the u. S. Economy growth would see a boost with a harris win. And would fall if trump returned to office. Yet when you ask your average voter who they trust more on the economy, they somehow often say trump and they often say well it's because he's a businessman. Okay. Well look at his current businesses. In addition to his six previous bankruptcies, six, his latest business endeavor, trump media, the social media company behind truth social, is headed in the direction of becoming unlucky number seven because over the past six months the stock price has dropped a whooping 70% and it is continuing to drop. Now, just think what it would be like if trump was again in control of the entire nation's economy. Joining me now robert ruysch, secretary of labor in the clinton administration, currently professor of public policy at uc berkeley. And alensia johnson. The author of the upcoming book flip the tables. I like that title. I will start with you. I want to talk about vice president harris first before we get to the trump of it all. These proposals that she's putting on the table, they are obviously aimed right at the middle class and working class and people who want to start businesses. Talk about the timing of that and the efficacy. Listen, i think it was perfect timing of her to make this announcement today. I was listening to a speech and she said for firsttime startup business owners they were going to have a $50,000 tax credit. Who wouldn't want to start a business under a harris administration? and this is coming off of the heels of the convention and the labor day and right before the debate. So the campaign and vice president harris are putting out tea leaves of her policy, actually some substantial pieces of her policy, but giving us tea leaves what she'll talk about the debate. We talked about the expanded child tax credit and the campaign is also making couching abortion and immigration so many other issues within the economy. This is a lot for voters to think about as they're going into the next 62 days towards election day as well as the critical debate on tuesday. And robert, you know, what happens with a democrat versus a republican is when trump says i'm going to magically make the economy better, the media goes, okay. That sounds good. A democrat says i'll do a $3,500 tax credit for newborns, they go, how are you going to pay for that? right? you on your social media say there's an obvious answer how it's paid for, but let's indulge our friends in my wonderful profession and ask, how would those ideas be funded? well, we don't know. The interesting thing about donald trump's economics, trump nomics there is no there there. There's nothing there. Every time you try to reach it, and try to understand what he's talking about, there's absolutely no content. He says that he wants to raise tariffs. He says that's going to be good for the economy. But, in fact, we all know a tariff is a tax on whatever is imported. We pay more because of a tariff. Donald trump's only other policy is to reduce taxes on mostly the wealthy and big corporations. As he did before. He promised, you remember, that that would improve everybody's bottom line by $4,000. Well, did it yours? did it mine? i can tell you i don't know anybody who got $4,000 wealthier because of the trump tax cut. And finally, joy, all of his notions about well, he's a successful businessman. I mean, the only success he's had is not as a businessman, but really as a con man. He's a successful con man. But if you had taken all of the money he got from his father and put it into an index fund, just a stock index fund, closed the door, never looked at it again, it would do better than he now has done. It would be actually he would be wealthier than he is today. Yeah. He lost money. He would be a billionaire. He would be an actual billionaire. He inherited $317 million from his father. And promptly lost $900 million in the business that one of the easiest businesses because he lost money on casinos in atlantic city. Supposed to be a builder. He lost money on that. He went deep in the hole, still got loans. Came back and now he's running this social media company that's actually failing. But i have to just go back to you just for a second, robert, because there is an answer. We know that a lot of what this election is about is about that gargantuan 2017 tax cut that is going to expire at the end of next december. They know a tariff is a tax. They're not stupid. They understand he's going to make everything more expensive. But they want that tax cut real bad. If you were to roll back that tax cut, just end it so that the super rich billionaires no longer had that, wouldn't that provide enough money to be able to do the things that vice president harris is looking to do? it would provide almost enough. You probably would also have to roll back the george w. Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to bring the deficit down and do everything that vice president harris wants to do. Thank you for doing that. Very important to get the real economist information here. Alencia, back to you. I know it must drive democrats crazy when people say they think they want a republican because they think that they'll do better economically. Because it's or that they had more money under trump. Because that is just impossible because the economy cratered under trump because of covid. Is that a messaging problem for the democrats? and by the way, that gap has closed. Kamala harris has closed that gap with donald trump considerably. He's still leading on the question of who would they trust more on the economy. It must drive democrats nuts. Yeah. Look, this is a messaging thing that isn't new in this cycle and something that republicans for some reason tend to go up by the billionaires that benefit from their tax credits and their policies are the ones that can fund the ads. That can get the messaging out there, right? but the numbers show us that the economy actually does weather better under democrats, not just president biden but obama, clinton and so on and so forth. And so, i do think there has been a shifting tide in the conversation about the middle class and low income folks and why they are feeling the pain when it comes to their finances. I mean, the 2020 cycle, you know, in the primary, i worked for senator elizabeth warren and her presidential campaign. And she, along with others, including then senator harris were all talking about what we can accomplish if we make these millionaires and corporations and billionaires pay their fair share. That's all we're asking is for them to pay their fair share and then the economy can work for the majority of us. I love there's so many articles out there now showing reports from economists saying, hey, even under democrats the economy does better. There will be more jobs. I think i read somewhere today that under a president harris there will be 10,000 more jobs a month in the economy. So, there's so much to so much here for democrats to communicate. I think we've got to really hone in on this messaging. But the reality is this making the billionaires and corporations pay their fair share, that is actually pushing through and folks are understanding that and showing that they're starting to trust democrats more with the economy. Yeah. Democrats are the cleanup man and cleanup in their case she doesn't have to because it's been biden. They're the cleanup person and come up and clean up a crappy economy they get from every republican. Robert, last to you. Kroger admitted, we were making the prices artificially high on your groceries. Sorry. But they're doing it. A lot of the price gouging, joy, comes from the fact that there's not enough competition. These big corporations are now bigger and more concentrated and have less competition than they have had any time in the last 50 years. And as a result, they can keep prices high. Now, what the biden administration has done, and i'm very, very thankful for it, has been more aggressive with anti trust, antimonopoly law than any administration, any democratic administration in the last 75 years. But there's much, much more to do. Thank you both. We always appreciate a little truthiness when it comes to the economy. Thank you both. Coming up, a dramatic move from republican liz cheney, who just endorsed democrat kamala harris. More on that development. And trump's struggling, struggling campaign next. Where'? i really tried sleeping with it, everybody. Now i sleep with inspire. Inspire? no mask? no hose? just sleep. Learn more, and view important safety information at inspiresleep. 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Switch today! do you ever look at the rambling, incoherent nonsense that comes out of donald trump's presidential campaign and think to yourself, do republicans actually want to win this election? well, it turns out some of them don't. Politico was reporting today that some republicans are secretly rooting for trump to lose, including some longstanding republican figures throughout the nation who bleed red and wouldn't dare to say this publicly, but who are more than ready to move on from the trump era. Which is nothing new. Many republicans have been privately wishing trump would just go away since he came down that escalator in 2015. But weirdly none of them have the guts to say it outloud. Instead, they stood by him, through everything, through his vulgarity and sexual abuse of e. Jean carroll. And when he tried to overturn an election using a violent coup. They didn't have the courage to impeach him then and they certainly don't have the courage to stand up to him now. Even as he's turning arlington national cemetery as a campaign prop and flirting with becoming a dictator. They are operating in a fantasy land, one where trump loses and just poof, magically goes away on his own accord. They're quietly hoping that democratic voters will do for them what they are too cowardly to do themselves. There are a few exceptions, of course, however. Including former republican congresswoman liz cheney who just in the last hour said this at duke university. As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the constitution, i have thought deeply about this and because of the danger that donald trump poses, not only am i not voting for donald trump but i will be voting for kamala harris. Joining me now is matthew dowd, former republican strategist and msnbc senior political analyst. A