Less than six weeks to go until Election Day. Vice president Kamala Harris iS Preparing to visit the u. S. Southern border for the first time in more than three years. We do have a broken Immigration System and it needs to be fixed. Ukraines President Zelenskyy made the trip to Trump Tower this morning. I have a very good relationship with President Putin and if we win i think we are going to get itself very quickly. Zelenskyy knows that if trump is elected the chances of american support go down dramatically. Ive been proud to stand with ukraine. I will continue to stand with ukraine and i will work to ensure ukraine prevails. We sat down for 25 minutes and talked about one single topic, the economy. Donald trump has a history of taking care of very rich people and then not really paying much attention to middle class families. Kamala harris is a onewoman economic wrecking ball. Is just not very serious about how he thinks about some of these issues. Something really special, youre going to love it, my new trump watches. Its getting very expensive to be a supporter of Donald Trump. Good evening. Once again i am stephanie Ruhle And Welcome to the nightcap. We are now just 39 days away from the election of the democratic nominee is leading into the issue of immigration. Vice president Kamala Harris stopped at the Southern Border during a trip to battle ground arizona. She called for more investment in securing the border and reminded voters that it was her opponent who killed the bipartisan bill that wouldve done just that. Meanwhile, former President Trump was focusing on ukraine, of all things, and is now promising to work out a deal to win the war. He met with President Zelenskyy at Trump Tower even as questions are growing about his support for the country. Earlier this week we heard both candidates weigh in with their plans and how theyre going to boost the economy. Keep in mind while all of that is happening, mail in voting is already underway in 26 states. Lets bring in our nightcap. Msnbcs Alex Witt is here. She is the host of Alex Wood reports every weekend. Tom rogers joins us, msnbc and cnbc founder. Christina greer is here, associate political Science Professor and [ inaudible ] noco hast of the podcast with Joanna And Samantha v. Ladies, im not going to go with latest first because tom, youre the only boy here. Yes, very intimidating. In your mind, where do you think this race stands . Well, i think it is close as could be but i think kamala has the momentum. I think the polls directionally are moving in the right direction both nationally and Swing States, but it is all within the margin of error so im not sure how much the polls mean. I think she had a great week. I think that the release of the economic report, the speech on the economy, your interview. I think all gave her some greater gravitas on the economic front, which i think was an area she was suffering from. I think a big win that did not get that much attention, nebraska got resolved. She could have won the blue wall if she had ended up not being able to win nebraskas second district. It couldve been all over if that was her path to victory through pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. She still has to win the second district in nebraska. I hope people are not taking that for granted because without that she could still end up in an electoral College Tie and the Inflation Numbers that came in today, the last three months annual wise came in at 1. 7 below in terms of the fedS Primary metric pce at under 2 , and that is a big deal and so tame the inflation without the labor market crashing. The economy seems to be cruising into Election Day in a way that could be helpful. With the fed cutting rates its going to get cheaper to borrow. What do you think is the biggest issue . I think the biggest issue is Donald Trump selling his new watches. Im very excited to get one. For 100,000. Thats the gold one. I had breakfast this morning who with someone who spent time with Donald Trump at Trump Tower yesterday and he said he is very confident he is winning in the friend who met him and talk to him so they went through the polls. The polls are pretty much split, and Donald Trump feels very confident that he is actually going to pull through on this and i think, you know, hes looking at his watch and thinking it is time trump was back in the white house. Even if he was not confident, his whole brand is to project confidence, isnt it . Of course, and it has turned out to be very successful. I think we still completely underestimate the fact that he played Abbas On Television and of course in real life we had trump steaks, trump water, trump champaign, trump university. None of those work, but on television in a way that pharmaceutical ads are full of people in a white coat to say im not a doctor but i play one on television and people strangely find it authoritative. I go through this day in and day out, especially when you think about trumps base voters, his core voters, originally bluecollar workers who trump connected with on an emotional level but in terms of policy, it was the biden administration who delivered yet trump has hung on to those voters and others and he continues to pull better than harris does on issues related to the economy. You just said we are rolling into a strong economy. Yet Donald Trump, bankrupt six times. His Boss Persona and i agree, it is a character on tv, plays for him. Right but he is a charismatic character. He is very charming even if you dont like what he says. To paraphrase lbj if you can convince the poorest white man that he is better than the negro, you can pick hiS Pockets all day long. Trump taps into this thing that people need to feel that they are better than others so that his work for him. Im cautiously optimistic about this race in the sense that democrats won the popular vote. We have seen it time and time again. It is just will they win the electoral College Vote . We are one of the last few democracies that has not had a woman in power. We know many people would never prefer a woman of color. We know that white women do not work for the democratic party candidate. If only done so since we started collecting data, they have only done so twice, lbj and second Term Bill clinton, so we Cant Bank on this white female vote. They did not come out for Barack Obama and they did not come out for Hillary Clinton so hopefully something with this amazing rollout we seen since january 20th, Tim Walz has been a fantastic addition trying to tap into this Joy Sentiment and reverse the Cesspool Trump has excavated the past few years, it works in the popular vote. Im hopeful that in wisconsin, in michigan, in pennsylvania, north carolina, virginia, arizona, nebraska even in florida, you name it, im hoping they will turn that tide. Doesnt Tim Walz also cool this idea that is not rooted in truth, that, is just so well that democrats are so progressive when she is flanked by coach walls, its hard to make that argument. Let me also say something i am encouraged by. Im sure you are familiar with the study that came out that suggested every time since 1984 that the S P 500 starts one way on August 1 and then at The End of october, it is ahead. The incumbent party has won. Im encouraged because i was looking up the numbers. You probably know this by heart, but August 1st the S P 500 was at 5446. Today it closed at 5738. That is a huge swing. If it keeps going that way, you know, polls aside when you talk about the economy, that has been the most accurate predictor. Very interesting article in Politico Today about pennsylvania where biden pulled very strongly and obviously performed very strongly. Catholic, complicated in terms of abortion were obviously Kamala Harris does appear, to your point, much more west coast. It is much more you know, they have much more problems. Of course. But actually in some of the more rural areas, abortion is still very much a sticking point. In pennsylvania, republicans have registered a lot more people this cycle than democrats have, and there is an old State And Kamala is not doing well among older voters, particularly, old white men. Hopefully walls can help with that but going to the issue of trump, the one thing we know is hes got a ceiling. Even in the Swing States at the ceiling. A 47, something 48 ceiling so the only way he wins is if there is somebody on the ballot who takes his opponent down below 50 , and while we may have the first Woman President in the united states, we may also have the same Woman Spoiler who killed it for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and that is Jill Stein is on the ballot in all the Swing States, and when you look at what an independent Thirdparty Candidate takes, it is always one to 2 of the vote. You have Cornel West on wisconsin and north carolina. You cant dismiss, and Swing States where the margin could only be one or 2 , that these candidates could drain one or 2 . Thats going to come right out of kamala and i am extremely concerned that there is just not enough focus on if you vote for a Third Party you are voting for Donald Trump. Theyve got to get on that with a digital, targeted campaign right away. We know its not going to be Rfk Junior because shes too busy taking selfies and sending them to journalists. I think we need to remember though, everyone goes to the polls for economic issues. Latinos dont go for immigration. Black people dont go for social race and social justice. It is economic issues and what we have seen this one abortion is on the ballot democrats win because that is an economic issue, so hopefully democrats can start to chip away at not just women but also helping men understand this is an economic issue, as well. Back to joe on his Boss Persona point. In the last couple of days i have said she needs to get out there and talk more about the economy and just this morning Joe Scarborough said this isnt about policy, its about how people feel but its not about the 85 page policy. It is about her getting out there as a boss, and having people see that because in the last two weeks i keep meeting with different Wall Street guys who said that what does she run . And i said what has he not run into the ground . Its also about celebrity and Donald Trump has extraordinary celebrity. I think you are completely right when you said that he has charisma. I think he has less charisma than he did. I think he has impacted and he has lost his sense of humor. He used to be very funny. You said charming, and that is gone. He was much wittier. [ inaudible ] he brought character to politics in a way that we just havent seen before because he understands celebrity culture. I definitely think the thing we have all underplayed is the fact that he has literally been the victim of two attempted assassinations. Im sure that has had an impact. First of all, im sure 90 of people who have been shot at get posttraumatic stress disorder. Usually in the two months after it happens. You get through the initial shock of it then you begin to start feeling. But not so traumatized that he could not watch a Crypto Exchange and start selling silver coins. We dont know whether or not actually he is at home his sort of rocking back and forth wondering if he wants to do this. The fact that he announced this week he wasnt going to be Playing Golf on his Golf Courses was also interesting. As Andrew Sullivan has said, this choice iS Pretty easy this year. We have a mentally ill candidate and those things may have added to his mental condition but we do have a mentally ill candidate versus the same candidate in versus out to make that choice accordingly and there are a lot of issues on policy. There are a lot of things we can talk about in terms of the difference between the biden administration and the trump administration, but his attitude, Outlook And Conduct do not suggest somebody who is healthy in a mental state. Can we go back to this other point to anna just made, the Celebrity Factor . We all watch the debate. You and i both covered the debate. She has it. The one thing i took away from the debate, she beat him. It was the first time i saw another politician beat him in the business of television. She performed and captivated All Of Us flawlessly. She had herself out there more not just at rallies and events, but, and im not saying sitting down interviews to get grilled, but let people see her swagger because shes got it. Absolutely has it and i think that is one of her major strings. We talk about her candidates in terms of Trump Lack of character. She exudes character, as well. I love the fact that she was about as attorney general. The district attorney. She haS Prosecuted one of my favorite when she came out with at the beginning was i know who Donald Trump is, and shes got to show more of that and not be so consumed with the sit down interviews. Theyre very popular. Yours was great. We did need to get her on the economy and you did a great job of doing that but i think getting her personality out there, showing that she is a boss, that she can handle anything. This is what all the international leaders are saying right now about what theyve seen from her. We have heard it all echoed from the United Nations that she is somebody who can handle pretty much anything. Shes going to think it through carefully, you know, intelligently, and shes going to come up with some sort of an answer or say lets work together on this. She is so impressive that way. What you think are going to the border now leaning into immigration because Donald Trump occupies the whole Immigration Line and talks about a day in and day out in much of what he says is not true. Four of his five children are children of immigrants but he never mentions that. He doesnt mean those kind of immigrants. Of course, right. His idea of americannest is whiteness. Its difficult for Kamala Harris to come out with these taccone and we need to close the border. That is not what needs to happen. We know we are a nation of immigrants and we have always had difficulties incorporating immigrants in overtime. No immigrant has come here and been welcomed with open arms. It has never been the case. This is an issue i think is a moderate issue where there is a lot of different colors of blue and the democratic party so people like the idea, many people like it in theory but in practice like school or my neighborhood, what do jobs look like and obviously with Donald Trump trying to create a Wedge Issue between africanamericans and immigrants that is an old trope. Heres the thing. All politics are local so you have to be sure, manhattan conversation may not look like a long Island Conversation and this is what i think democrats slowly but surely are getting better surrogates to help articulate, what does i dont like the phrase migrant crisis. It is not a crisis. We have people who are coming. We need to ask ourselves what foreign policies we are doing there causing some of the people who need to, to the united states. I think Tim Walz is a great articulator. He is getting this dad, uncle, Grandpa Vibe to help us detangler some of these complicated issues, especially for white americans were like im not racist but i do have some questions and concerns. We had a very good piece in the beast of this week by Adrian Wenner about what he called the shy trump Voters Syndrome which is to your point about the poles being so close. People just dont want to admit it. They know hes a bad guy. They know they should vote for something that is about a more Coherent Society but actually when it comes to it, they feel that on the economy and on immigration, he is their guy. They just dont want to admit it. So they are shy Trump Voters and i think they dont show up in the polls. There was a survey that came out this week that said that 65 of people now dont feel safe talking about politics at work. Its the 21st century bradley effect. As he always said, i am the Silent Majority and so we are seeing a 2. 0 version of that. You cant forget the cut peoples taxes. He cut individuals taxes and that expired next year and there are scores of people going ahead politics. I dont know what any of this is but i got my taxes cut. That is what they are deciding on. I dont think undecided voters in the Swing States are the ones who are going to decide on immigration. If you are voting on immigration, youve already decided youre voting for Donald Trump. I dont really think that issue is up for grabs. I think it iS Pocketbook and personality. TaxeS Play into that. Inflation plays into that, the state of the economy as relates to whether it is improving, Mortgage Rates going down. Everything, is saying about economic policy in terms of starting small businesses, housing opportunities. I think those are the issues at The End of the day with undecided voters, that it comes down to. Do you believe there are undecided voters or is it really about voted voter turnout. I think there are a few undecided voters but there are so few it is about turnout. I want to add on to what you were saying. Dont you think the issue of abortion, and i hate even phrasing it that way, the issue of a woman being able to choose what she does with her body, i think that is something that is going to generate a lot of women to get out to the polls and i think sometimes democratS Pointed the wrong way because they will say somethin