Last word to president carter. The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle starts right now. Tonight, devastation in the Storm Zone as hurricane Helenes Toll continues to rise. The White House surges help why a former president spreads lies about the federal response. The Strike Threat looming over the election and the economy. Will the President Step in to stop it. As the 11th Hour gets underway this monday night. Good evening, once again, i am Stephanie Ruhle. With 36 days until the election day, the president ial campaigns are shifting their focus to the aftermath of hurricane helene. At least 125 people are dead acrostic states, and the search is on for hundreds who remained missing. The highest Death Toll is in the state of North Carolina where entire communities are still underwater. Fema is on the ground in North Carolina along with 10 federal Search And Rescue teams and 200 federal ambulances. Around 1. 6 million people down there are still without power. But the number is steadily coming down. Today Vice President harris cancel campaign stops in Las Vegas to fly back to d. C. For a Fema Briefing and the White House has announced President Biden will visit North Carolina wednesday. Today, Donald Trump was in parts of georgia that were hit by the storm and while he was there, he got in front of crowds and spread lies about how the federal government is responding. He falsely claims that Governor Kemp had not been able to get a hold of President Biden for help, even though Governor Kemp told reporters last night that he had in fact spoken to the president. My Colleague Garrett Hake has a closer look on how the campaigns are responding to this disaster. Tonight former President Trump using the Storm Zone in valdosta, georgia, coming with Franklin Grams a group we are standing in complete solidarity with the people of georgia. And hammering Vice President harris for not being there himself. Shes out Someplace Campaigning looking for money. The quality of the federal storm spots could have a major political impact on the Vice President whos hoping to repeat bidens narrow 2020 georgia win. Harris was briefed aboard Air Force two, cutting campaigning short in Las Vegas to return to washington, meeting with fema official tonight. We will do everything in our power to help communities respond and recover. I plan to be on the ground as soon as possible but as soon as possible without disrupting any Emergency Response operations. Trump accused the White House and democratic governor in hardhit North Carolina, going out of their way not to help people in republican areas. Without providing evidence. What was that in reference to. Just take a look. This afternoon, President Biden responded to trumps lie about his contact with Governor Kemp. Let me get this straight. He is lying, and the government the governor told him he was lying. Ice i spoke with the governor and he told me he was lying. The reason i get so angry, i dont care what he says about me, i care what he communicates to the people that are in need. With that, lets get smarter with the help of our leadoff paneled night. Susan, this is something weve seen before, campaigns responding to a natural disaster during an election. What is different about how this one is playing out this time . Well, theres nothing that Donald Trump cant politicize. It is one of the main chapters in his playbook. Of course he is going to go in that direction especially because both georgia and North Carolina are such a hotly competitive states this year. They are crucial in fact for Donald Trump, for his electoral college map, the road to reelection for him definitely runs through georgia and North Carolina. And you know, he is looking to divide, i mean one thing that was consistent in Trumps Presidency that we are seeing in his response right now is truly a view that there is Blue America and Red America and he conceived himself to be a president for Red America and now he is a candidate for Red America and i thought it was revealing that his accusation of the North Carolina governor would be well youre only serving your own areas because i think that is how he categorizes the world, and i thought it was very revealing that he is seeking to plant this doubt, you know i just think of Donald Trump, disaster released relief president. Rico, throwing the paper towels. Its not exactly his strong suit, organizing a government response. These seeds that he is planting are lies and my question is, will they take root and grow. Todays Split Screen showed Vp Harris Meeting with fema, helping to courtney a federal response and on the other screen, youve got Donald Trump, In Georgia, which was devastated by the storm and hes lying to people about the response. We think everybody is going to see the Split Screen and see what a liar he is and its terrible for his campaign but is it, sam, those people In Georgia that he is speaking to, do they know where Kamala Harris was or what she is doing today or will he be successful in saying im here, im here, look what im doing when all of it is a lie, to the people he is telling the lie to In Georgia, do they even know it . I dont know, its impossible to say, i do think, you know, to susans point, he is quick to politicize it, he knows Theres History here that President Cant get blamed for a national this answer, he was blamed for what happened in Puerto Rico and he is trying to turn the page with that but at the same time, this may be a hunch, but these obvious lies, the ability to just so quickly point out how grotesque they are, really defeats the purpose of what hes trying to do. If he gets up there and says that Brian Kemp has trouble reaching the president and into seconds you can locate video of him saying i got a hold of the president yesterday, the story doesnt become you know, wow, bidens doing a poor job its why is trump making up stories in the midst of a natural national tragedy and why is he paying attention away from the people who are legitimately suffering. There may be some gain in the short term. North carolina is a crucial swing state. Officials are already saying that the storm could affect voting, and think about the mail disruptions, destroyed Polling Places and people who have lost their belongings, no ids, voting might be the last thing on their mind. How big of a problem could this be in North Carolina . I think we are just now beginning to learn what a big problem this could be but it absolutely is a problem and you are right to mention that, i mean, we are just a few weeks now away from the election. Its just the beginning of october, the election is November 5th and the disaster, the tragedy, that these people in the states have faced, and the infrastructure loss, it means that not only are they dealing with returning and repairing their lives but basic things like going to the Voting Booth and or receiving ballots in the mail and putting them in the mail, thats up for grabs, so that is absolutely something that is on the radar now. And could end up really having an impact in the election. I would just add as well to some of the clips that you are playing earlier, i was in the Pool Today at the White House, i was in the Oval Office when President Biden was asked about former President Trumps comments, and the anger that he displayed is pretty real, i think it is frustrating to him, to have to at the same time that hes trying to navigate this major disaster for the states, also having to deal with these misstatements from trump, his former opponent and his predecessor. Of course what with the federal response be if Donald Trump got his which wish when he wanted the federal government to shut down. Imagine if our government were shut down in a disaster like this. New topic, i want to talk not about trump In Georgia, about Donald Trump over the weekend. Some of his comments at a rally. Heres a look, starting with what he had to say about shoplifters and how he thinks they can be stopped. You know, these are smart, smart people, they are not so stupid. But they have to be taught. If you had one really violent day like a guy like mike kelly, put him in charge, congressman kelly, put him in charge, for one day, mike, would you say, you are right here, hes a great congressman, would you say, mike that if you were in charge, you would say oh please, dont touch them, let them rob your store, all the stores go out of business, right, they dont pay rent, its a chain of events, its so bad, one rough hour and i mean real rough, the world will get out and it will end immediately. Itll end immediately. You know. Itll end immediately. Kamala is mentally impaired. Joe biden became mentally impaired, kamala was born that way. She was born that way. I could have been sunbathing on the beach, youve never seen anybody so beautiful, much better than sleepy joe. Thats the republican nominee for president , after talking about his beautiful body, thats his choice. He called the Vice President mentally impaired. Why doesnt she get up on stage and say if i mentally impaired, debate me, big boy, lets do that. Should that be her response . Well its not an original observation for me to say that if she is mentally impaired then it doesnt really make Donald Trump look so good that he lost to her, according to many republican commentators as well as independent observers of that debate in september. You know, i will be interested to see whether trump can resist demanding another shot at the Debate Stage, you know, his ego would seem to demand it. You know, he has really operated under the principle in politics that if theres a spotlight, you should run to it. Not just in politics, but his entire life, Tomorrow Night will be the debate between Vice President aspirants tim Walz And Jd vance. I dont know that trump is capable of staying out of the spotlight of one that is offered like that. We will see his rhetoric, as you pointed out, it is really escalatory. I think the next 36 days, its going to go up and up and up and up. If the palpable threat of violence that trump tends to wield, the closer to the election. I mean, that is the through line for me, is the idea that violence will cleanse our society. When Donald Trump himself is calling his remarks dark, you know that we are in a pretty scary place. All right lets stay dark because trump and his fellow republicans have these new talking points. 13,000 migrant murderers, who they say are currently at large, who are let into the country by the biden harris administration. For fax sake, lets Tell The Truth. The people on this list are not at large, they are just not in ice custody. Many are in federal or state prisons and most of them did not enter the country during the biden administration, they entered the country in the past 40, not four, 40 years, including the trump administration. So immigration is a problem. It is a vulnerability for democrats. Many americans on both sides of the aisle are unhappy. So why doesnt Donald Trump just Tell The Truth and make a good case . Well i dont think he can really help himself, honestly. Im with susan on this one. I think he ties the idea of violence towards electoral benefit. I mean its kind of shocking, honestly, to step back and he went on stage and literally called for a national day of violence. I mean thats what he did. He called for a national day of violence and that was the tip of the iceberg. The stuff about the immigration was to borrow a word far darker, he talked about migrants coming into your kitchen and slitting your throat. I mean the imagery is just Beyond The Pale and i was thinking back to his runs for 2016 and 2020. Nativism, antiimmigration rhetoric has been the through line throughout his rush of politics but i would have to say that this run is the most scenic phobic, run for the presidency in modern american history. And i think journalistic way, we owe it to the public to call it out for what it is, and precisely that, this historically the phobic campaign and i dont think he has the ability to temper it. He thinks this is a winning issue. I cant believe im saying this but even if you wanted to put Xenophobia Or Humanity aside, and i realize that is absurd. Jeff, immigration doesnt have to be a weak point for democrats. Our economy grows through legal immigration and Donald Trumps solve is to build a Wall And Mass deportation. What we need, the answer we need is inefficient processing system, why dont democrats just lead with that . Well, youre asking in a broader sense, why dont people just vote on policies and in this case, why doesnt the democratic party come up with a different policy. I cant answer the latter question, the first question is a longer answer, too, policy has played a role in this Campaign But Policy issue of immigration has been a vulnerability for democrats, for Vice President harris, for President Biden when he was the candidate. She tried to address that a little bit by visiting the border this week, by suggesting a stronger border policy, they are certainly benefiting from the Executive Order that President Biden put out, which is impacting a number of people coming across the border. But back to your initial question, do voters look at these policies and do they judge the candidates based on their policies or do they remember insults and mistruths and i think the broad answer to that question is, its a little bit of all of the above and i think thats one reason why the former president uses the tactics that he does because they do help him. And its one reason that Vice President harris is using a different kind of tactic or strategy, and it is to come out with some of these policies and to talk about them and see if they resonate but at The End of the day, they have to resonate with somebody as they go to the ballot box, and whether or not people do that, that is the question. Donald trump accurately identifies vulnerabilities or issues that the american people care about but he has yet to offer a coherent policy that solves any of these things. We did get a new policy alert, i guess you could say, today in a new interview, Vp Harris said she supports legalizing weed, it is the first time we have heard her say this, as the democratic president ial nominee, and i think its the first time any major president ial candidate has said this. Susan, what did you think about this . I think we are in the phase of the election that its so close that both candidates are handing out essentially you know, dazzling little trinkets for subgroups of voters whether its marijuana or Donald Trump with the no taxes on tips, its easy to make promises like this and then you might go back and say well, you know, i would lik