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. President zelenskyy made the trip to Trump Tower this morning. We have a very good relationship and i also have a good relationship with President Putin and i think we can get it resolved 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 Work to ensure ukraine prevails. We sat down for 25 minutes and we talked about one single topic, the economy. Donald trump has a history of taking care of very rich people and not really paying much attention to middleclass families. Kamala harris is a onewoman economic wrecking ball. Hes just not very serious about how he thinks about some of these issues. Something very special, youre going to love it. My new trump watches. Is 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 does away from the election and the democratic nominee is leaning into the issue of immigration. Vice president Kamala Harris stopped at the Southern Border during the 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 Border Bill that wouldve done just that. Meanwhile, former President Trump was focusing on ukraine and is now promising to work out a deal to end 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 on how they are going to boost the economy. While all that is happening, Mailin Voting is underway in 26 states. Lets bring in our nightcap. Msnbcs Alex Witt is hit here. Tom rogers joins us. He is now editor at large for this week. Christina greer is here, associate political Science Professor at Fordham University and joanna coles the daily Beast Chief Content officer. Im not going to go to the ladies first because tom, youre the only boy here. Very intimidating. It should be. In your mind, where do you think this race stands . I think it is close as could be but i think, 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 ill give her 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 couldve 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 and up in Electoral College tie, and Inflation Numbers that came in today, the last three months came in at 1. 7 below in terms of the fedS Primary metric, under 2 and thats a big deal so taming inflation without the Labor Market cracking, no signs of it. The economy seems to be cruising into an Election Day in a way that could be helpful. With the Fed Cutting rates is 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. Well, that is the most expensive one, the gold one. I had breakfast this morning was someone who spent a couple of hours with trumpet Trump Tower yesterday and said he is very confident that he is winning, the friend that met him and talk to him at some length said that they went through the polls. The polls are pretty much split, and Donald Trump feels very confident that hes going to pull through on this and i think he is looking at his watch and thinking trumpets time trump is back in the white house. His whole brand is to project confidence, isnt it . Of course, and it has turned out to be very successful. I think we still underestimate the fact that he played Abbas On Television and in real life we have trump stakes, trump water, trump champaign, trump university, none of those works. But in a way, 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 think this is the most extraordinary point because i go through this day in and day out especially when you think about trumps base voters. His core voters are 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 Kamala Harris does on issues related to the economy. 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. He is a charismatic character. Hes very charming even if you dont like what he says. To paraphrase lbj if you can convince the porous white man hes better than the , you can pick hiS Pockets all day long so for a certain segment of the Population Trump taps into this racist, xenophobic, anti semitic all the thingS People need to feel that they are better than others so that his work for him. He wants it to work again. Im cautiously optimistic about this race in the sense that democrats won the popular vote. Weve seen it time and time again. It is just, will they won the Electoral College vote. Some people can never pull a lever for a woman. We are one of the last few democracies that have not had a woman in power. There are many people who could not pull a lever for a woman of color. We know white women do not vote for the democratic candidate. Theyve only done so in 1964, lbj in 1996, second Term Bill clinton so we cant just bank on the female vote. They did not come out for obama they did not come out for Hillary Clinton. So hopefully something with this amazing rollout that weve seen, Tim Walz has been a fantastic Addition Tapping into some of this joy sentiment trying to reverse some of this Vitriolic Cesspool Donald Trump has excavated these past few years but it works in the popular vote. Im hopeful that in wisconsin, and michigan, in pennsylvania, north carolina, virginia, arizona, nebraska even in florida, you name it, im hoping it will turn that tide. Doesnt Tim Walz also cool this idea that is not rooted in truth there, is just so woke 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, the Forbes Study that came out the has 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 at the numbers. August 1st. The S P 500 was at 5446. Today, it closed at 5738. Thats a huge swing. If it keeps going that way, you know, all the polls aside when you talk about the economy, that has been the most accurate predictor. Very interesting article in Politico Today about pennsylvania, a key state where biden pulled strongly and obviously performed very strongly, catholic, complicated in terms of abortion for Kamala Harris does appear, to your point, much more west coast. It is a much more you know, they have much more problems. Actually in some of the more rural areas, abortion is still very much a sticking point. Unfortunately in pennsylvania, republicans have registered a lot more people this cycle then democrats have, and there is an old state and, 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, hes got 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 of 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 in Swing States with a margin could only be one or 2 , that these candidates could drain one or 2 . Thats going to come right out of, was hide and i am extremely concerned that there is just not enough focus on if you vote for thirdparty 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 hes 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. But people dont go for social rights and social justice. It is economic issues and what we have seen is that when abortion is on the ballot democrats win because that is an economic issue so hopefully the democrats can start to chip away at not just women but also helping men understand that this is an economic issue. Back to joannes Boss Persona point, i interviewed Kamala Harris about the economy and in the last couple of days i said she needs to get out there and talk more about it and just this morning Joe Scarborough said its not 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 people who dont know in the last two weeks, i keep meeting with different Wall Street guys. They say but what has she run and i say what has not run into the ground. Exactly right but its also about celebrity and Donald Trump has extraordinary celebrity. I think you are right when you said that he has charisma. I think he has less charisma than he did. I think he is much more impacted and he has lost his sense of humor. He used to be very funny, you said charming, and thats gone. He was much wittier. Four years ago, his nicknames now he brought character to politics in a way that we just have not seen before because [ inaudible ] i do 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 a month to two months after it happens. You get to the initial shock of it. Is not so traumatized that he can launch a Crypto Exchange and start selling coins and watches. We dont know that actually when he is at home if he is rocking back and forth wondering if he actually wants to do this. The fact that he announced this week he was not going to be playing golf on this of course is 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. We do have a mentally ill candidate versus the same candidate and voters ought 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 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 Point joanna just made, the Celebrity Factor . You and i both covered the debate. She has it. The one thing i take away at the debate is it is the first time i saw another politician beat him in the business of television. She performed and captivated All Of Us flawlessly. Should she have herself out there more not just at rallies and events, but, and im not saying sitting down to interviews to get grilled but let people see her swagger because she has got it. She absolutely has it and i think that is one of her major strengths and we talk about our candidates in terms of Trump Lack of character. She exudes character, as well. I love the fact that she was a badass Attorney General. One of my favorite lines is i know who Donald Trump is. Shes got to do more of that. We did need to get her on the economy and you did a great job of doing that but i think just 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 they have seen from her. We have heard it all echoed through United Nations that she is somebody who can handle pretty much anything. Shes going to think it through carefully, intelligently, and shes going to come up with some sort of an answer or, say lets work together on this. What do you think about her going to the border now leaning into immigration because Donald Trump occupies the whole Immigration Lane and talks about it day in and day out in much of what he says is not true. Four of his children are children of immigrants but he never mentions that. He doesnt mean those kind of immigrants. Right. His idea of american this is whiteness. We need to close the border. Thats not what needs to happen. We know we are a nation of immigrants. We know weve always had difficulties incorporating immigrants in overtime. No immigrant has come here and been welcomed with over open arms. Its never been the case. This is an issue i think is a moderate issue for there are 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, when its at school or in 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. People are struggling with it in their town or the city, it does not mean they are xenophobic or racist and democrats can start talking and to those communities and saying i get it. Heres the thing. All politics is local so you have to make sure that in, lets just say, a Manhattan Conversation may not even look like a Long Island conversation. This is why i think the democrats slowly but surely are getting better surrogates to help articulate what does i dont like the phrase migrant crisis. Its not a crisis. We have people who are coming. We need to ask ourselves what foreign policies are we doing that are causing so many people that need to come to the united states. Thats a separate conversation but i do think Tim Walz is a great articulator. He is giving this data, uncle, Grandpa Vibe to help us to tangle some of these complicated issues especially for White Americans who are like, im not racist but i do have some questions and concerns. We had a very good piece in the beast this week by Adria Wenner about what he called the shy trump voter concern. People just dont want to admit it. They know hes a bad guy. They know that 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 65 of people now dont feel safe talking about politics at work and i think this all plays in. The 21st century Bradley Effect where as he always said, im the Silent Majority so we are seeing a 2. 0 version of that. You cant forget he cut peoples taxes. That expires next year and there are scores of people that are going ahead politics, i dont know what any of this is but i got my taxes cut. I think immigration is over as an issue because i dont think undecided voters in the Swing States are the ones who are going to decide immigration. If you are voting on immigration, youre 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, Mortgage Rates going down, everything, is saying about economic policy in terms of starting Small Businesses, housing opportunities i think those are the issues in The End of the day with undecided voters that it comes down to. Alex, do you believe there undecided voters or is it really about Voter Turnout . I think there are a few undecided voters and to say that youre going after the undecided voters, i mean, there are so few but its about turnout. I want to add on to what you are 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 Put the wrong way because they will say something about a womans right to have an abortion and i might just say a womans right to decide what she does with her body. It is also an economic issue, though. Youre adding someone else to your family. I must be able to make this choice economically whether or not i can do this. I mean, the women who have to leave state after state. She did do great this week on abortion that really showed how serious she was because there is no way you can restore roe v. Wade legislatively unless you are willing to get rid of the Filibuster Rule in the senate and she