IS TRUMP CHICKENING OUT OF DEBATE?! - August 26th, 2024
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How did the Democratic National Convention shape the episode's opening analysis?
the convention welcome to the Don Lemon show welcome to live at five everyone wow what a week it was what a week it was I was on the road for a lot of it and at the convention for a lot of it and so uh and you got to see it and you guys all weighed in so thank you so much for following us along our journey and thank you for tuning in to our coverage of the Democratic National Convention there were so many moments so many big stars so many big names you think about it um Obviously, the Obama's best speech, though, I think was Michelle Obama, even better than the former president. Oprah Winfrey, Raphael Warnock, just on and on and on. Just really great speeches and speeches from Republicans who were telling voters that it is patriotic.
not to vote for Donald Trump, to cast a vote, their votes for Kamala Harris. So with all of that said, now we are back. Now we're hearing that possibly the former president, Donald Trump, is trying to back out of the debates. I don't know what's going on with that, but let's talk about it. Flirting with the idea of dropping out of the September 10th presidential debate that Is he running scared? It sounds like it. A lot to break down. I'm joined now by a great friend of the show, someone who knows a lot about politics. He's a novelist, he's a screenwriter, political strategist, and the former informal advisor to Dean Phillips, who I spoke to at the convention as well, his presidential campaign. He also worked on strategic messaging for the Democratic Party in 2018 to help flip the House.
As a bulwark to President Trump, he and his team worked with 30 House candidates from deep red to purple districts about how to frame their messaging strategy. and help flip 21 of those 30 seats. Greg Hurwitz. Greg, thank you so much for joining us. How are you doing? I'm doing well. It's good to see you. Good to see you as well. Your initial reflections on the convention?
I was surprised in a number of really good ways. I thought Vice President Harris and the planners of the convention did a really, really fine job differentiating her positions. I think she came out strong. And I think also that her full-throated embrace of patriotism and certainly the military, And the necessity for us to have a powerful and lethal military was amazing. And I think in the reaction from the crowds and the initial bump that we're seeing in polling, people are dying to feel patriotic again, to feel a sense of optimism and to move away from grievance, which has defined a lot of the political discussion on both sides of the aisle, towards a sense of optimism through kind of grit and earned strength.
Yeah.
I was surprised because I got a note from you. Remember, you were a little bit skeptical as we all, I shouldn't say skeptical, but you were cautious, right? And then I got a note from you. You said, I'm all in.
I'm definitely in terms of seeing her as the first person. One of the things I've been observing and a lot of the work that I do is around polarization. This is the first movement in this convention that I've seen away from sort of tit for tat escalation of polarization and an actual movement back towards the center. and towards the 80% of Democrats whose policies she generally agrees with. She's speaking to that. 80% of Americans also tend to agree with all this. And most of what I've seen from President Trump is double downing and moving further towards the right. And in that way, I'm incredibly hopeful. I think that if she continues to move in earnest to flesh out her policies, and to kind of put meat on the bones of where she's headed, I think this is the winning message.
I think this is a message of unity. And it's the first break that I've seen in this sort of endless escalation of everybody pointing back to what the other side's done wrong.
What does that mean? I've always had, I've had an issue, especially in the last couple of years with someone saying moving towards the center. Do we really know exactly what the center is? What does that mean?
The center for me, we've done a lot of polling on this, Don, and 80 percent of Americans agree on almost everything.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
How did the Democratic National Convention shape the episode's opening analysis?
0:13–9:53
2
What immediate reactions did Gregg Hurwitz share about Kamala Harris's convention speech?
9:53–18:56
3
How does Gregg define the 'center' and why does he say 80% of Americans agree on key issues?
18:56–36:49
4
What examples from history and civil rights does the conversation use to explain protest and civil disobedience?
36:49–55:10
5
How did the DNC showcase a new Democratic bench and appeal to swing and faith voters?
55:10–56:55
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from The Don Lemon Show
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