During a special aired Sunday night on MSNBC marking the final 100 days leading up to the 2020 presidential election, anchor Chuck Todd revealed the DNC-TV idea of balance as Barack Obama’s former campaign manager David Plouffe and Never-Trump Lincoln Project grifter Stuart Stevens teamed up to trash President Trump while boosting Joe Biden.
In the middle of his hour-long Decision 2020: 100 Days to Go program, Todd gushed: “As the campaign end game begins to play out over the next 100 days, we will see all-out political war unfold between the Trump and Biden camps, and their surrogates. So who better to turn to than a couple of veterans of such wars to give us an idea of what to expect.”
With that kind of intro, one might expect surrogates for both the Biden and Trump campaigns would join the show to debate political strategy. Any viewer thinking that would at least have been half right. NBC’s White House correspondent Kristen Welker introduced the guests:
Well, we have a great conversation coming up, Chuck. I want to introduce two very experienced old hands when it comes to American politics. We have Democratic strategist David Plouffe who’s, of course, the campaign manager to Barack Obama, then senior adviser to President Obama, so he’s no stranger to all of this. And senior strategist to Mitt Romney’s campaign, Stuart Stevens, now, of course, a member of the Republican anti-Trump Lincoln Project and author of It Was All A Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump. Out next week, so you don’t want to miss that. Thank you both so much for being here for a really important conversation.
So the Biden campaign got free air time for two of its surrogates while the Trump campaign had zero representation. That’s not just unfair or bad journalism, though it certainly is both of those, it’s a blatant attempt to manipulate voters into supporting the Democratic candidate.
Welker first teed up Plouffe to offer campaign tips to Biden: “So we’ve seen Joe Biden holding virtual town halls....How do you assess his strategy so far? He’s obviously leading in the polls and Democrats want to ask the question, how does he keep it going?” In part, Plouffe argued that the presumptive Democratic nominee wouldn’t have to do much: “I think that more than enough people to defeat Donald Trump, in my view, have decided they don’t want to rehire him. So Biden’s job now is to make sure you keep some pressure there, but I think events largely will do that...”
Turning to Stevens, who’s part an organization that spends nearly all of its money lining the pockets of its employees, Welker invited him to slam the Trump campaign: “We also see him again stoking the cultural wars like he did in 2016, is that playbook going to work, given the amount of time he has left?” Predictably, Stevens saw only doom for the president that he’s trying to get out of office:
My bet is not. The question is, what is this election about? And Donald Trump had planned two elections. One to run on the economy and one to run against socialism. So the economy is the worst that it’s been since the Depression. So that doesn’t look great. Joe Biden and socialism doesn’t really go together....And meanwhile, you have the Biden campaign, in a very methodical way, laying out policy that actually affects people’s lives.
So what’s the difference between Plouffe and Stevens? Answer: There is none.
Minutes later, Stevens resorted to hurling insults, claiming Trump’s popularity was like that of the Soviet Union and comparing him to racist Democratic Alabama Governor George Wallace:
So, listen, I saw this poll where – the Monmouth poll – where Donald Trump had a “very unfavorable” 48%. I’ve never seen anything like that. That’s sort of like Eastern Bloc countries....They’re gonna run, and I think are running, a racially-tinged campaign, unlike anything we’ve seen in modern politics by a president, or a nominee of a party. It’s very reminiscent of George Wallace.
Asked about the role the economy would play in the election, Plouffe assured: “So again, this comes down to, when people are casting their vote at the end of September and early October, those that wait til November, how are they feeling? Do they have confidence that Donald Trump is going to set the conditions so that their life can get better? I don’t think he can.”
Todd couldn’t have been more happy with how the Trump-bashing segment turned out, declaring: “You guys were as good as I thought you’d be.”
The entire hour was just an in-kind campaign donation to the Biden campaign. The only reason this kind of pointless drivel makes it on the air is because the Democratic Party is calling the shots in alleged “newsrooms” across the country.
This pure propaganda was sponsored by Discover and ADT Security Services. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a full transcript of the July 26 segment:
10:19 PM ET
CHUCK TODD: As the campaign end game begins to play out over the next 100 days, we will see all-out political war unfold between the Trump and Biden camps, and their surrogates. So who better to turn to than a couple of veterans of such wars to give us an idea of what to expect. For this I turn it over to my pal, Kristen Welker. So Kristen, who you got for us?
KRISTEN WELKER: Well, we have a great conversation coming up, Chuck. I want to introduce two very experienced old hands when it comes to American politics. We have Democratic strategist David Plouffe who’s, of course, the campaign manager to Barack Obama, then senior adviser to President Obama, so he’s no stranger to all of this. And senior strategist to Mitt Romney’s campaign, Stuart Stevens, now, of course, a member of the Republican anti-Trump Lincoln Project and author of It Was All A Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump. Out next week, so you don’t want to miss that. Thank you both so much for being here for a really important conversation.
David, I want to start with you. Obviously both men have had to get really creative when it comes to trying to reach out to voters against the backdrop of this pandemic. So we’ve seen Joe Biden holding virtual town halls. He just did this joint conversation with former President Barack Obama. How do you assess his strategy so far? He’s obviously leading in the polls and Democrats want to ask the question, how does he keep it going? Does he need to have more visibility or should he stay the course?
DAVID PLOUFFE: Well, Kristen, I think that he’s starting to more aggressively fill in the blanks for what he would do as president. I think that more than enough people to defeat Donald Trump, in my view, have decided they don’t want to rehire him. So Biden’s job now is to make sure you keep some pressure there, but I think events largely will do that, that he’s got, you know, good plans that will make a difference in our lives. So, you know, you posted a info-graphic earlier that showed, yes, the election is 100 days out from today. But voting starts in 45 days. In key battleground states, in about 65 to 70 days. A lot of people are going to be voting. So you’re running out of time.
So Joe Biden has to continue on the economy, on health care, on the pandemic. I think a big question for voters will be, when we do have a vaccine, who can you trust to make sure it’s distributed and executed effectively? And then you’ve got to worry, and this is more about the campaign, probably, than Joe Biden, the complication of voting. You’ve got a lot of people we still have to register in the Democratic Party, you’ve got a lot of people vote by mail for the first time. We saw in June, in some primaries, 7% to 8% of votes did not count because people didn’t fill them in properly. So there’s just basic education that has to happen.
So, I think, yes, for swing voters, Joe Biden’s doing right now about as well as he can do, I mean he’s now leading with seniors, he’s winning in the suburbs, all places the Democrats historically have struggled in recent presidential elections, particularly with seniors. So hold on to as much of that as you can. But then, the execution of the actual voting that needs to take place is a huge degree of difficulty.
WELKER: Yeah, and Stuart Stevens, let me bring you in on that point. Look, we’ve seen President Trump this past week really shift his strategy, an acknowledgment of the fact that it is getting late early, as we’ve been talking about, right, that he really needs to change it up here and get out front, as his aides are saying. So he’s doing that, essentially using the White House as a political rally, if you will, although trying to stay on message. Do you think that that’s going to be effective? We also see him again stoking the cultural wars like he did in 2016, is that playbook going to work, given the amount of time he has left?
STUART STEVENS: My bet is not. The question is, what is this election about? And Donald Trump had planned two elections. One to run on the economy and one to run against socialism. So the economy is the worst that it’s been since the Depression. So that doesn’t look great. Joe Biden and socialism doesn’t really go together.
I mean, the whole idea that Trump’s famous for nicknames, “Sleepy Joe Biden”? I mean sleepy’s not exactly a nickname that scares women and children. So they’re confused about this, they don’t know what to do. And you know, most markedly, there’s no policy in this campaign. I mean, normally in a presidential campaign, you would be rolling out what you’re going to do if you’re re-elected. I don’t think anybody can tell you what Donald Trump would do if he was re-elected as president. And meanwhile, you have the Biden campaign, in a very methodical way, laying out policy that actually affects people’s lives. If you listen to the speech that Vice President Biden gave on home care, helping those who need child care, home attendants, I mean, those are real problems people are struggling with. And, meanwhile, you have Donald Trump up there who’s like running for the landmark commission, trying to protect monuments, including Confederate monuments. And I just don’t think that it has the immediacy of how this is going to make my life better?
WELKER: Yeah, I think you raise an important point. Biden also rolling out his plan to bring back manufacturing jobs, which even some Trump aides have said, hey, that’s something that could win over Trump voters. On the point of “Sleepy Joe Biden,” one aide said to me, “Sleepy sounds pretty good when you’ve had four years of exhaustion.” That was from a Trump official. So to your point, his punches so far don’t seem to be landing.
Chuck, with that, let me send it back to you. Because I know you’ve got some questions as well.
TODD: Well, I was just going to say, I’m going to stay on that same topic. And Stewart, I know you were a little more involved in politics in the ’80s than either David or I, apologies for aging you a little bit. But explain to our viewers this, why did George H.W. Bush and Roger Ailes and Lee Atwater – they’re basically – they ran this sort of non-issue campaign against Dukakis, made up a 17-point deficit, and able to pull it off. Why do you think that won’t work against Joe Biden the way it worked against Michael Dukakis?
STEVENS: Well, you know, basically the question in the ’88 race was, would you like a third term of Ronald Reagan? And the answer was more people would like that than not. The problem, essentially, that Trump has is that incumbents – races tend to be about them. So all this stuff – you know, Donald Trump is great at promising and terrible at delivering. It’s been true all his life. So now they’re confused about this. You hear it. I mean, they’re running pictures of Donald Trump, America, and saying, “This is what it will be like if Joe Biden is president and what it is like when Donald Trump is president.”
So, listen, I saw this poll where – the Monmouth poll – where Donald Trump had a “very unfavorable” 48%. I’ve never seen anything like that. That’s sort of like Eastern Bloc countries. So the hardest thing politics is to take somebody’s “very unfavorable” and move them to vote for you. His margin of error here is just going to be very, very small. They’re going to try to basically get every white vote that they can. They’re gonna run, and I think are running, a racially-tinged campaign, unlike anything we’ve seen in modern politics by a president, or a nominee of a party. It’s very reminiscent of George Wallace.
I think just think he’s missing the mark. I don't think he’s speaking to where America is now. I mean, the same weekend that my home state of Mississippi finally voted to take down the Mississippi flag, which was basically a Confederate battle flag, you have Donald Trump who argues for the flag, saying that he should have the right to do it. So whenever a Republican is sort of on the wrong side of NASCAR and Walmart? Which Donald Trump is? That’s a really bad sign if you’re planning to wage a culture war.
TODD: I’ve always said, culturally, Donald Trump hasn’t moved since about 1974. He’s culturally sort of thinks America is in the same place as it was in New York City in 1974. Kayla, jump in here a minute.
KAYLA TAUSCHE [CNBC]: I want to ask a question to David about how history can be a guide here. Because, you know, we have now questioned the reliability of polls as a leading indicator, but the economy has always been pretty good at telling us what could happen. The Biden campaign has seized on this, noting that no party has retained the presidency with unemployment above 8% or with net jobs lost. I actually put this question to the Treasury Secretary in recent days, asking him how they can turn this around. And I’d like to get your response on the other side of this comment from the Treasury Secretary.
STEVE MNUCHIN: Well, there’s never been a point in history of time that we’ve closed down the U.S. economy. So I don’t think those traditional numbers are important. What I do think is we are rebuilding the economy. The blue chip indicators for the third quarter is expecting 17% GDP. We’re recreating jobs. We’re providing a lot of liquidity to American business and American workers. So the President’s economic plans are really working, and we still have more work to do.
TAUSCHE: David, if there is no precedent for this time, how do we figure out what the economy’s going to do to the outcome of the election?
PLOUFFE: Well, listen, we have faced off against Stuart and the Romney team in 2012 with unemployment very high. And so there were some lessons from that, which is the stock market had rebounded during President Obama’s first term. But that was not a reason to vote for the president, okay? So small business owners, workers, experience the economy much differently. And I think, Kayla, what’s really going to happen here is voters, small business owners, workers are going to make a decision that the economy, generally and for them personally, will never recover until we escape the clutches of this virus. And who can you trust to finally put the numbers to rest, to get a vaccine distributed, and to prepare for the next one? And to make the smart governmental policy decisions along the way? I think the jury’s out on that. I think people do not think Donald Trump’s capable of that. He did lead on the question of who do you trust more to lead the economy? That lead’s evaporated. I think Joe Biden has an opportunity, not to lead him by 10 or 15 on that measure, but maybe build a small lead.
So again, this comes down to, when people are casting their vote at the end of September and early October, those that wait til November, how are they feeling? Do they have confidence that Donald Trump is going to set the conditions so that their life can get better? I don’t think he can.
The other thing is, Donald Trump kind of won the debate in 2016 with Hillary Clinton over who was going to fight for working people? Who could you trust? He became the change agent. I think Joe Biden, his biography, the political figure he is, the language he uses, his policies, Stuart mentioned home health care, I think he’s got an opportunity on that issue and many others to speak directly to what people care about.
And Trump, what is interesting, the election is about the economy. Donald Trump’s messaging on the economy is about one thing, the stock market. It’s so puzzling to me, it’s almost political malpractice. And so the thing that people care most about, and the virus is attached to that obviously, he’s really missing the mark on. And I know in 2012, when we won a very tough and close race, each and every day we just had to hammer that economic message. And we also developed a contrast with Mitt Romney. So Donald Trump, we are 45 days away from people voting. He has not laid out a core argument about why he should be re-elected or why Joe Biden shouldn’t be, other than “Sleepy Joe,” which I agree with Stuart, is not going to scare anybody.
TODD: I tell you, I have about six more questions for the both of you, but instead I’ll text them to you and we’ll do those down the road. You guys were as good as I thought you’d be. Stuart Stevens, check out his new book. And if you’ve never read any Stuart Stevens book, both David Plouffe and I have authored books, Stuart Stevens is a writer. You’re a beautiful writer, Stuart. So even if you don’t agree with what he’s writing, you will enjoy reading his book. Gentlemen, thank you both. And I’m sure you’ll both enjoy watching sort of from where you are this time, than being in the middle of this. Thank you both.
