Welcome to Alex Witt reports, im ali vitali. We begin with decision 2024, 31 days until Election Day. Both candidates making public appearances with voting already underway in some states. Vice president Kamala Harris will be in North Carolina this afternoon, Donald Trump will be in pennsylvania returning to the site of an attempted assassination against him. Governor Tim Walz is set to speak in Ohio And Senator did events will be in massachusetts and then pennsylvania himself. Vp harris spoke in flint, Michigan Friday appearing with Basketball Legend Magic johnson and focusing her message on jobs. America lost nearly 200,000 Manufacturing Jobs when he was president. Including Tens Of Thousands of jobs in michigan making Donald Trump one of the biggest losers of Manufacturing Jobs and american history. Former President Trump spoke in North Carolina, one of several states where Absentee Voting is already underway. Its one of the states recovering from Hurricane Helene. The storm struck in georgia and North Carolina leaving election officials scrambling to come up with alternative plans for voter registration, Absentee Balance and voting in those areas while trump continues to criticize the federal governments response. They are doing the worst job on a hurricane that any administration has ever done. These people dont want to talk about it. They dont want to talk about it. North Carolina Attorney general pushing back on disinformation about the overall response including Femas Response to this disaster. My buddy said these rumors about fema are growing like wildfire and thats incredibly devastating. Psychologically to those people because they now believe, some of them, that fema is going to be contrary to their interest rather than trying to help them get back on their feet and get their lives put together again. We have correspondence and analysts and place covering these developing Story Lines on a busy saturday. Lets begin with Antonia Hilton in asheville, North Carolina. What is the situation like on the ground and whats on the Vice President at jenna when she comes today . Hey, we are at the Food Bank operation. For days now the volunteers, the team have been providing everything from Food And Cutlery and supplies. All kinds of Cleaning Supplies for people as well. Hot meals in many cases. Its a perfect example of neighbors helping neighbors here. Its also a reflection of some confusion at times for residents who live here of where they can go and who they can depend on as they search for these kinds of items. You mentioned some criticism there. The concern for people has been had we found out about the government and their options when we can get online, cant get radio, cant play our tvs because we are still in many parts waiting for power and waiting for those resources . Take a listen to a conversation i had with one woman here at the Food Bank today. My Cell Service has been very poor. I think they need more people out to announce there will be people at this place for people to come talk to. Our communications are down. I still dont have any internet. I have heard some is coming back. I dont have any. Reporter we expect Vice President harris to take off from d. C. Around 2 10 p. M. And make her way to charlotte which is the closest major city, but its still a bit a ways away from asheville. She is going to meet with people who survived the storm, Shell Talk to federal and local partners all about the relief effort. Before she returns later this evening people here are eager to hear her speak about this because of the level of desperation and some parts of the community. Eight days into this people are grateful for all kinds of supplies you see here, but they know theres a long road ahead. They are being told in some Cases Itll be weeks before they have something like water turned back on. You can understand the Pressure And Desire to hear that all of that aid, new troops and National Guard are going to be here to provide that support to people. Such essential. Stay with us, ill come back after we go to dosha burns covering the former president in butler, pennsylvania. You were actually there on July 13th when gunfire rang out. What is different today . Reporter ill tell you everything feels so different Here Today especially in terms of the security. There are Security Personnel everywhere. There are drones in the sky, we are told by u. S. Secret service they ramped up personnel, technology, countersurveillance and they are working closely as emphasis with local officials both local police, Pennsylvania State police. Heres the perspective from Butler County Commissioner on this. I will expect probably something along the line of a fortress. There were many more Secret Service agents at the meeting. It sounds as though there are going to be a lot of large Equipment Kind of barricading the property. I believe our Emergency Management has been asked to coordinate communication. We have the benefit of hindsight, the benefit of that after Action Report and trust me in saying our management did a lot of reviews. Reporter ive got to tell you, it is surreal being back here. I keep running into folks in the crowd who were there that day on July 13th who made it a point to come back. They felt it was important for their healing process, important to support former President Trump as he makes his Return Trip back. Theres almost an energy of defiance from some folks of saying we are not going to let people scare us away from making our voices heard. You are talking about how the voters youre seeing in attendance are reacting. My question is more focused on the Trump Campaign Mindset of why they felt it was important to go back. In terms of what the former president might say i think we are foolish to think theres a Tone Change coming but what do you think you might Here Today as he marks this occasion . Reporter its the biggest question i came with Here Today. I asked an official what we might expect and the word of the day seems to be honor. The campaign says they want to honor the life of who was killed here that day, honor those who were injured, honor those who are Here Today and those across the country who were witness to this. Youll remember after the Assassination Attempt we had the Rnc Right after. There was a question about how this might change former President Trump and those first couple days when he was sitting in the audience we saw a more somber, reflective expression on his face, the way he was watching those events transpire. By thursday, the day he was giving his speech we heard the same tone we here at these rallies. Thats what im looking for. Are we going to hear a typical Campaign Rally or might today be a little different given the context of where we are . I want to bring Peter Baker into this. Coauthor of the divider, trump and the White House 2017 to 2021. You have these two events, another split screen. Leaving the Campaign Trail to visit North Carolina, trump going back to butler. How important are these stops 31 days from an election . They are sending signals. Trump obviously has courage. Harris has compassion. These are some of their strengths. In both cases thats a public impression voters have of them and they are reinforcing those images, those impressions. We are 31 days out from an election but we have seen consistently the indicate of a tied race. Nationally and at the Battleground States like michigan and North Carolina. Either candidate could inch ahead and will into had by it looks like very small numbers. The more they go, the more often they show their face, connect with voters in these places the more important it is. Its possible we wont see dramatic changes in the next 31 days and itll come to the wire. We will be where we are today. A nailbiter. When you talk about this its a game of inches, just pulling tiny swabs of voters that cantered this entire thing. As much as that is domestic what is international because now we heard from former President Trump who is slamming President Biden for saying israel should not target iranian nuclear sites as we see that region began to escalate even further. Take a listen. I think hes got that one wrong. Isnt that what youre supposed to hit . Its the biggest risk we have, nuclear weapons. The answer should have been hit the nuclear first and worry about the rest later. From a political and diplomatic perspective how much does the biden White House not appreciate the suggestion . Joe Biden Isnt taking Donald Trumps advice on national security, thats clear. Theres a lot of Policy Reasons why hitting those facilities is not a good idea. Its not guaranteed, they are very deep underground, its not clear is really or americans have the capacity to take them here to try to do an operation like that. Secondly it would be very escalate tori. Its one thing to go against Military Targets and intelligence targets, its come as a writ to what the iranians tried to do against israel but were defeated. To go after the nuclear program would say we want to have a wider war and that is something hes spent the year trying to avoid. Thats one thing to say on the Campaign Trail but he is in office actually. He sent mixed signals. He ordered the Drone Strike that killed the senior iranian general. On the other hand he ordered a strike to retaliate taking down an american aircraft drone and called it off 10 minutes before the strike because he thought it was not a wise thing to do. He sent mixed signals himself of when he is willing to use military force. When we veer into conversations on the foreign Policy Front when trump uses Campaign Trail time to talk about them do you hear that resonating with voters . Reporter its a mix. The way its on their minds for the most part is that they feel the former president is more likely to bring these sources back to the united states. Not necessarily be Funding Wars elsewhere, not necessarily funding ukraine. Most are not in favor of that here. The one place where that differs is israel. A lot are in support of israel here and want to see the u. S. Government take a strong stand with the israeli government. Thats where people are interested but for the most part the thing that got folks incited about trump to begin with is the idea of America First and that is still the case. The Unpredictability Peter was talking about from when he was in office is Something Trump tried to use as a selling point. On the other side of the aisle democrats are expressing concerns harris might be playing it too safe with 31 days left until Election Day. Why are they taking issue with this and has the Harris Campaign responded to this critique . Reporter i think theyre having flashbacks and fears about 2016. There is that pressure for her and for Governor Walz to just be out there constantly. I know here democrats in North Carolina will be watching her visit closely today and i know voters are as well. Often when you talk to people in North Carolina they are looking to her to see what is the message, what is the tone of the response . They understand shes coming in the capacity as Vice President and its not a campaign stop happening in North Carolina. Voters dont necessarily pay attention to those distinctions. She is at the forefront at this moment. They will be listening to her words very closely today. This is a Battleground State now. Voters have very deep concerns, some even worried about what voting in these conditions could look like if recovery is challenging as we get to early november. That is something people will keep an eye on and we know democrats across the country will be looking to her to make these final arguments to reassure these voters in communities like North Carolina and all the other battlegrounds. Getting voting back up there is going to be a top concern. We have seen the gears turning into motion. Peter, ill come back to you. The former First Lady defended Abortion Rights in her upcoming memoir. You are familiar with trump world. What did you see this as . An attempt to help her husband went over female voters . Its funny because historically every First Lady since Roe V wade supported Abortion Rights in some fashion including republicans and democrats. Most republicans who married residents that were for Abortion Restriction didnt reveal that until after their husband left office because they were not trying to make trouble politically for their husbands which they believed they couldve. This coming a month before the election has to be seen in the context of this campaign. Donald trump has struggled to have a position on abortion he feels is politically tenable. He put the justices on Supreme Court who made the difference in overturning Roe V. Wade. He has bragged about overturning Roe V. Wade. He senses the political risk involved and is trying to distance himself from a national ban. The fact she came out with this book and a Video Tape clearly a campaign message. You dont Tape Video unless youre trying to send a campaign message. Especially when shes been so absent from the Campaign Trail. I did think this was surprising both in message and in the format with which we got it. Thank you all for joining us. Coming up, who israel is targeting with new airstrikes today. Irans leader makes a rare speech. I speak with former israeli Prime Minister when we come back in 90 seconds. Heres to getting better with age. Heres to beating these two every thursday. Help Fuel Today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need, and the flavor you love. So, heres to now. Now available Boost Max Dad and i finally had that talk. No, not that talk. About what the future looks like. For me. I may have trouble getting around, but i want to live in my home where im comfortable and my friends are nearby. I can do it with the help of a barber, personal Shopper And Exercise buddy. Someone who can help me live right at home. Lifes good. When you have a plan. Out of The Middle East where israel is expanding its attacks on hezbollah targets in lebanon. Israel issued Evacuation Warnings in a suburb of favorite believed to be a hezbollah strongh