Its been erased like a blackboard, erased and built again. But baseball will mark the time. This field, this game, its a part of our past, ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Oh, people will come, ray. People will most definitely come. Oh, my goodness. One of the many iconic moments from james Earl Jones died yes age of legacy. Right now, around this set and around homes across america, men are weeping and women next to them are going, i dont get it. Guys walking out of cornfields . Ill tell you, willie geist, long after we are all gone, they will, people will be looking at that scene, and as long as baseball is played, the same reaction, the same reaction. What an incredible actor. What an incredible moment. What an incredible life. Yeah, i watched that monologue again actually early this morning, just from start to finish, the tension in that scene when costner is told he needs to spell The Farm, and james Earl Jones stands up, with the way hes always commanded a screen, a stage, wherever hes been, with his Face Or Voice even, and says, no, ray, they will come. Convinces him to Hang On, and the dream continues there. My gosh, well get into it a little deeper. Darth vader, of course. He wasamerica, he was so great. Come on. Simba. There was a theater named after james Earl Jones. He had an incredible stage career. Won three tonys, i think, going back to the 1950s, groundbreaking actor. He did the flashy stuff we know about, like darth vader, but also just one of the most highly respected actors on the stage, on the screen, who has ever lived. Incredible. You brought up the Lion King. Simba, you are more than you have become. It loops in my mind every day. Come on, joe, be better. [ laughter ] anyway, mika, in case you didnt understand the scene from Lion King, it makes sense when a young ballplayer walks off the field, turns into Burt Lancaster, and saves a little girls life. Okay, thank you. Well watch it again. Meanwhile, its a really big day politically with the first and possibly only debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and donald Trump Tonight in philadelphia. Were going to preview that showdown and go through the latest polling from states which could decide novembers election. Also ahead, were going to explain the false claims about migrants and pets that are being amplified by the trump wait, wait, hold on. The Trump Family is amplifying this . Yeah. I mean, this is i mean, i dont even know where to begin. You know, it used to be, i think in 2018, 2020, the lie about immigrants and illegal immigrants, katty, was they were bringing leprosy to america, which, of course, they were not. Now, it is that they are eating your dogs. Cats. They are coming to america and eating your cats. Yeah, dont live in ohio with a cat because it might get eaten, obviously. Little mittens is going to be dinner. Sweeping the country. Its a terrible, terrible thing. This is absolutely ridiculous and scraping the bottom of the barrel. Jd vance has been, you know, amplifying this. Apparently, this has gone crazy on the rightwing Social Media sites. Yeah. The allegation this comes with a public health warning. Immigrants are not eating your cats. Yes. Come on. The story is haitian immigrants are eating cats. This is how things have changed, sam. Yeah. Theres always been crazy this is Social Media. The craziness of the internet. Also, you have people on the president ial ticket actually spreading these lies. Right. Now you have Jd Vance running around going, they are eating your cats. Yeah. I mean what is this Guys Obsession about cats . First he hates them, then he likes them, then hes trying to save them. I dont get it. I think inflation maybe too many women like cats rather than Jd Vance. Cat women. Now were you have the cats. Now he is the great protector of cats. Makes sense if you think about it that way. To your point, yeah, they all have microphones. They all have huge platforms of their own, right . Used to be theyd have to call a Press Conference or do sitdown interviews to spread lies. Now, in succession, theres ten official accounts or unofficial accounts associated with the Trump Campaign that amplifies this completely manufactured complete lie. Yeah. Also another complete lie, jonathan lemire, that the season is over for the Boston Red sox. Oh, my gosh. We continue to fail up. We continue to lose. We continue to gain on the minnesota twins. The only team in baseball worse than the red sox right now. Yeah, the red sox have done their best to fall out of this playoff race. Were trying we are really giving it our all. The twins, and to a lesser degree, the World Wont let us. Three games back. Were three games back, tied with the tigers. Its a Threeway Tie. Tigers. Its a Threeway Tie. Twins and royals. You know, we did the yankees, sadly, willie, a favor, beating the orioles, allowing them to extend the lead atop the a. L. East. Somehow, the Dream Wont die at fenway. Yankees have been middling over the last month or so, but they got a little help from the red sox. Youre welcome. Yankees up a game and a half now. The red sox, three games out. Every time you say theyre dead, they watch Morning Joe, they put up on the Bulletin Board in the clubhouse. Motivation. And they win again. Yes. Also with us, we have the president of the national Action Network and host of msnbcs nation, Reverend Al sharpton. Ahead of Tonights Debate, a slew of polls finds a tight race for the across a number of Battleground States. According to the latest Morning Consult survey, Donald Trump is up two points in both arizona and florida. The former president and Kamala Harris are tied in georgia, while the Vice President is up three points in michigan. The pair are tied in both nevada and North Carolina, while harris is up three points in both pennsylvania and wisconsin. All of these polls fall within the margin of error. Of course, polls are polls, joe. Theyre kind of a snapshot, but wow, quite a tight race. A snapshot. Again, we think the New York times Siena Poll provide democrats with the monthly freak out. Psychiatrists up and down Fifth Avenue had to double down on medicine these last couple days. Theyre going to be having an act of business. They thank them for that. Here, we have polls that now, i mean, katty, you look at these polls, and none is good news for Donald Trump. Okay, hes up two in arizona, a state they thought theyd put away. Only down two in florida. Listen, this could be an outlier. Yeah. It could be an outlier, except for the fact we keep seeing polls that show harris only down four points. Ive seen three points, four points, now two points in florida. Florida is a competitive race. You know, democrats got a false positive a couple years ago when the democratic party just did not compete in the Governors Race against desantis. Well see. Biden only lost it by 3 1 2 points. This is a little bit closer. You know, you look tight in georgia. Thats a race that trump people said they put away months ago. You know, mika, i can hear you whispering when im talking at the table. Okay, sweetie . I was just whispering sweet nothings into your ear. Well, they are nothings because its distracting me. Im sorry. I want to know what really happened in the baseball movie. I still dont get it. Okay. Here we go. Ill try this again, katty. Florida, only about trump is only up two. He is tied in georgia. Hes tied in North Carolina. States that they thought were put away. And then you go up to the Industrial Midwest states. Again, all ties within the margin of error, but the ties certainly tilting toward harris, who is up, what, three in the three big states . The up in pennsylvania is interesting for harris because she hasnt been up in many of the polls. Thats the one worth watching, to see whether that is how much that reflects what is happening in pennsylvania. But the pattern from this, florida, i dont know. We have heard Donald Trump is spending money in the West Palm Beach area. I thought that was perhaps because he wanted to see the ads from maralago, wanted his friends to see the ads. Actuallywell, we do actually need to spend money in florida . All of this points to the fact that, yes, its tight, and the Trump Campaign now has to spend in some of those states that it has, thought they put it away. Kamala harris at the moment has the benefit of resources and can spend in the states, is doing so, and has expanded the Ground Game shes inherited from Joe Biden. The money helps her there. Trump is going to have to spread his resources a little thinner. Reverend al, hell have to spread them across seven states. In effect, these seven states are tied. If Kamala Harris is competitive in Nevada And Arizona, in florida, in georgia, in North Carolina, that is money thats going to be spread out across four, five, six states, and money thats not going into michigan, wisconsin, and pennsylvania, the three states that really, at the end of the day, make the biggest difference. And those states are the states that he probably needed more than any other time to spend money on. Now, he has to spread that money around. And his biggest problem is he has no real infrastructure in the space. Where a lot of people are not looking at, Kamala Harris and the dnc see the infrastructure in all those states which you need to get out early voting, which you need to get out voting. Donald trump is all about Donald Trump. Its driven by the Candidate Kind of race in terms of their strategy. No real Infrastructure And Organization on the ground, particularly in areas that theyre not already strong. So not having the money to build and fund an infrastructure in those states is also going to come back to haunt him, i believe, on election day. Willie, the i almost said the Biden Team the Harris Team as well as the Trump Team have basically admitted, tie goes to harris. If these states are truly tide going into the Donald Trump does not have the Ground Game. He just doesnt. He is actually, he subbed it out to third parties in many cases. Harris has been spending the hundreds of millions of dollars. It was on the biden race before it. Build the Ground Game to shape close races. The Biden Campaign already built the infrastructure with jen omalley dillon. The Harris Campaign plugged into that all while raising half A Billion Dollars on top of it. Youre right, they have the infrastructure. Yes, these are all within the margin of error, but where this race was before Kamala Harris came on board, and we talk to the same people in the campaign who privately conceded that North Carolina, probably nevada, arizona, and maybe even georgia, they were going to let those go effectively. They were fighting, but they just had to win the three Blue Wall states. Now, those are in play. We should also joint out, john, a place like North Carolina, theres the residue of trump in someone like Kari Lake, not doing well. Helping the democrat in the race. In North Carolina what is the polite way to say it . Controversial. I was going to go a step further but well go with those. Weird. Okay. That could help Kamala Harris, as well, in North Carolina. No question. Also, in a few of these states, Abortion Rights on the ballot, which has been a winner for democrats since the Dobbs Decision of two years ago. And, you know, theres some variance in the polls. One earlier today, you know, harris is up a couple in georgia but down a couple in North Carolina, vice vera. Doesnt matter. The particulars are not important. What matters is these races are close. Momentum and Trend Lines largely favoring harris. And she does have a significant advantage in Ground Game. Talking to republicans in the last 24 hours or so, a growing narrative of concern about how, as Joe Said, the Trump Campaign has farmed out a lot of the blocking and tackling here. Theyve farmed out the Ground Game turnout operation. Instead, theyve used the money, first of all, for trump legal bills for a while, and, secondly, efforts to combat Voter Fraud, nonexistent Voter Fraud for the most part, including claims that noncitizens were voting. We know thats not the case. Theres never been data to support that. That just adds to thedemocrats. Harris has more money and can spend less time fundraising and more time in the Battleground States. Gallego, the democrat, up eight points over Kari Lake. With that as a backdrop, were hours away from Tonights Debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The showdown begins at 9 00 p. M. Eastern at philadelphia at the national constitution center. This will be the first time the two have faced off on a Debate Stage against Each Other. It is also actually the first time theyve ever met in person. There will, again, be no audience in the room. Both sides agreed to the rules ahead of time. Those include microphones only being on for the candidate whose turn it is to speak, and muted when the time belongs to the other candidate. Only the moderators will be allowed to ask questions. Trump won the Coin Loss and will give the final closing statement. Closing statements will be two minutes per candidate. There will be no opening statement. Theyll Dive Right in for a 90minute debate. Each candidate will be given two minutes to answer each question with a twominute rebuttal. Additional minute for Followup Clarification or response. Candidates will stand behind podiums for the duration of the debate. No props or prewritten notes allowed on stage. Each will be given a pen, pad of paper, and bottle of water. Staff cannot interact with candidates during commercial breaks. Ahead of the faceoff, Vice President harris gave a Radio Interview Yesterday saying she expects trump is going to lie tonight. He plays from this really old and tired playbook, right . Theres no floor for him in terms of how low he will go. And we should be prepared for that. We should be prepared for the fact that he is not burdened by telling The Truth, and we should be prepared for the fact that he is probably going to speak a lot of untruth. He has a playbook that he has used in the past, be it, you know, his attacks on president obama or Hillary Clinton, so we should expect that some of that might come out. Thats kind of obvious. I wonder, looking at these rules that you put out there, willie, how far apart the candidates will be. Because one of the issues is if you put the mic, but if the candidates can still hear Each Other, that can be incredibly distracting. I think trump often uses that to his benefit. He can just bellow at the candidate and distract them. These were the rules originally set, and the Harris Campaign wanted it to be changed, turn the mics on. If they can hear Each Other, it doesnt really i dont know the strategy. Its distracting. I can tell you, im 1,000 Miles Away from mika right now, and shes whispering. Shes distracting me, so it can be distracting. I hope theres a long enough funny. Distance between the two. It is funny. Yeah. It is funny, sweetie. So many things i could say. Theres so many. Go ahead. No, you go ahead. No. All right. Katty, well keep it in washington so mika can whisker she can whisper about the Lion King. Red october. One of the best movies ever, and his role in that. Sorry. Well be doing this all day. Come on. Amazing. Anyway, for harris tonight, the first Thing Id do is, donald, thank you so much for your political contribution to me in 2014. I greatly appreciate it. I wouldnt be here without it. Also, we know what Donald Trump is going to say. People inside the campaign have already said, have told others, that campaign prep, his Goto Line is going to be, you and Joe Biden wrecked the border, and you wrecked the economy. You wrecked the border and wrecked the economy. No matter what she talks about, Hell Pivot back to those two things. Whats the Harris Strategy . What theyd like to do is get him to behave like he did in that Dumpster Fire of a debate in 2020. He went off the rails with Joe Biden. The Roids Debate. Precovid. He had covid. Yeah. Couldnt stop himself. He interrupted. It was a worse trumpian version of himself. Thats where they want to get to. Donald trump can be disciplined for 90 minutes if he needs to be, so theyll have to try to break that down. The word old, i wouldnt be surprised if that comes up a lot. Old story, old ideas, small ideas, small person, that could come up quite a lot im hearing. Little words that might trigger him. Direct attacks on him to try and get under his skin. They have to get him to be trump. I mean, thats because if it ends up being a debate purely on him being able to say, you wrecked the economy, and you wreaked the border, thats not a win for her. It has to be about him behaving badly, as much as it is about her. Of course, shes going to be president ial. I agree with the old versus new thing, which theyve been going for. If youve noticed, a lot of the messaging theyre putting out there, the Harris Campaign, its about you care for yourself. You want youre selfish. All you care about is yourself. You want to cut a Tax Cut for rich people like yourself. We need to go forward with a middleclass agenda. I think, actually, in this case, the campaign will try to keep it substantive and position her as the Populist Tier and take away some of what he tries to present to the public. That could rattle him, i suppose. Thats what they want to go at, the contrast of looking forward. We realize costs need to get under control. Our plan will do it. Your plan will not. Your plan is to reward corporate interests and wealthy donors and make that the main dynamic. Its become harder for them to be able to rely on