319. TRIP US: The Only State Trump Needs to Win

*To hear the full episode, search The Rest is Politics US wherever you get your podcasts.* How far do voters trust Donald Trump? Should the US have mass deportations? Are Republicans really better for the economy? Join Katty Kay and Anthony Scaramucci as they answer all these questions and more on The Rest Is Politics US. Become a Founding Member Support the podcast, enjoy ad-free listening, gain early access to our mini series, and get a bonus members-only Q&A episode every week, starting in October! Just head to therestispoliticsus.com to sign up today. Instagram: @RestPoliticsUS Twitter: @RestPoliticsUS Email: [email protected] Video Editor: Jake Liascos Social Producer: Jess Kidson Assistant Producer: India Dunkley Producer: Fiona Douglas Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Head of Content: Tom Whiter Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:04Rory Stewart?

  This episode is brought to you by NordVPN.

• 0:06Alastair Campbell?

  And I must thank NordVPN because on my Grand European Tour with Fiona, I was away from the Hawthorns for West Bromwich against Burnley, but I managed to watch it. There you go.

• 0:19Rory Stewart?

  I actually had a NordVPN thank you. I was in the new Starbucks here in Creef. And of course, the thing flashed up, saying this is an unsecured public network. And I was able to go to my VPN. It was a little reminder of something we often forget when we're in all those cafes and things, which is actually genuinely, people can do all kinds of weird cyber attacks and spying if you don't have a virtual private network when you're sitting in that Starbucks.

• 0:42Alastair Campbell?

  Well, I think, are you not really sort of proud of me that I managed to do this? Or should I say Fiona managed to do this?

• 0:49Rory Stewart?

  I'm incredibly proud of you. That's a tech transformation. So to get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com/restorspolitics. That's nordvpn.com/restorspolitics. And the link is in the episode description.

• 1:06Speaker 02

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• 1:34Speaker 03

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• 2:07Katty Kay?

  Hello and welcome to The Rest Is Politics US. If you're looking for today's episode, we are now on our own, separate, grown-up feed. We'd like to thank Rory and Alastair again for hosting us every Friday for the last few months. To hear today's episode, just search The Rest Is Politics US wherever you get your podcasts, and you'll find us there. And today, we are discussing the fallout of Trump's claims about immigrants eating cats and dogs. Yes, seriously, I did just say that. The lack of trust in elections, and we'll be taking a deep dive into the state that will decide the next president. Here's a clip.

• 2:49Katty Kay?

  If Kamala Harris can't carry Pennsylvania, if you look at that amazing Electoral College map of getting to 270 Electoral College votes, her only hope of winning the White House is what's known as the Southern Strategy. She would have to win either Georgia or North Carolina. And Pennsylvania, there is a New York Times/Siena Poll out this week, which puts her, I think, four points ahead. It's the only one, it's the best poll she's had in Pennsylvania, it's still within the margin of error. And basically, Pennsylvania's on a knife-edge. But it is a completely critical state. It's a state that James Carville, the great strategist who worked in the Clinton administration, famously described as "the city of Pittsburgh in the West," one of my favorite cities in

• 3:30Katty Kay?

  the United States, and "Philadelphia in the east of the state," and "Alabama squished in the middle." And it's kind of ripe. I mean, it's an area that has, you know, sort of suburban areas, city areas, and an awful lot of rural areas that tend to be more Trumpy. And I think it's a state that's going to have millions of dollars spent on political ads in it, and that you, Antony, might be going to visit.

• 3:55Anthony Scaramucci?

  Yeah, so I expected I'd been added to the surrogate list. Again, full disclosure, obviously, I worked... With the team on debate prep and I went down to the spin room and I've now been asked to go to some of the swing states and I'll just point out, I think I may have told this to you, my dad, who is now unfortunately deceased, he died last year at the age of 88, thank God, but he is from the state of Pennsylvania. My dad grew up in the Wokesbury-Scranton area, went to a place called Plains High School. It's the northeastern part of the state, Catty. It's a poor industrial coal mining part of the state. As my dad pointed out to me, he was raised, he was born and raised about 15 miles from where Joe Biden

• 4:40Anthony Scaramucci?

  was born and raised. It's blighted, Catty. I hate to say this to you, like my dad's home on Zillow, where he lived, if you looked it up today, was maybe 35,000 US dollars, which gives you a sense where it's not an expensive place, a very, very poor area. My dad left that area to come out to Long Island. I tell you this story because I know the state very, very well. And what Carville said, we used to say it was Pennsyl-tucky, Pennsyl-tucky, which was like a hybrid of Kentucky and Pennsylvania. But if you take a look at the map, it's a very interesting map. It's a rectangular state. The left side of the state is really the Midwest, is closer to Ohio. There are three rivers.

• 5:22Anthony Scaramucci?

  You love Pittsburgh because it's a beautiful city, but there are three rivers that connect into Pittsburgh. And of course, Andrew Carnegie made that the home of steel manufacturing because those rivers could get you out to the Mississippi and other places and you were able to move large barges of industrial steel from that area back in the day. You go to the right side of the state, sort of the east coast, that's that Amtrak corridor, okay? And so those are lawyers, professionals, people that work in Washington. Philadelphia is sometimes called the sixth borough of New York. It's almost like a suburb of New York. Lots of Philadelphians, excuse me, not pronouncing it right, work in New York. Why am I bringing all this up? It's a very eclectic mix of people and it's a political

• 6:07Anthony Scaramucci?

  puzzle that has to be solved if you want to win the presidency. And Donald Trump solved it with volume in 2016. Joe Biden solved it with being a native in 2020.

• 6:25Anthony Scaramucci?

  Okay, so if you want to hear the rest of the show, go and search The Rest Is Politics US, wherever you get your podcasts, and make sure you hit follow, so you don't miss an episode.

• 6:52Speaker 06

  The Great Game: Strategic Struggle Between Britain and Russia.

• 7:00Speaker 07

  We assess, Prime Minister,

• 7:03Speaker 07

  with high confidence it was Russian.

• 7:06Speaker 08

  Holding the Russians accountable is World War III.

• 7:08Speaker 09

  They took down a British passenger jet containing 350 people.

• 7:11Speaker 06

  Man in the Kremlin is playing, Alex. Got to ask yourself, do you want to play? Or not? You're the Prime Minister. You've done... Nothing!

• 7:24Speaker 10

  We would need to understand the policy context.

• 7:26Speaker 06

  All the relevant context will be structured as a framework today, and disseminated into an operation order, or FRAGO.

• 7:35Alastair Campbell?

  A FRAGO that says to kill the President of Russia?

• 7:40Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 7:42Speaker 08

  New from Goalhanger. Who is going to be able to pull this off?

• 7:46Speaker 11

  You're my soldier, are you? Sergeant Tom MacDuff, Duffy!

• 7:50Speaker 08

  An audio drama journey like no other.

• 7:52Speaker 11

  Men like Duffy, they are our most valuable weapons.

• 7:56Speaker 08

  Devized as a technically rigorous geopolitical action thriller. We have two tight, friendly KIA. Where Britain plays its strongest hand He's the best. Against its strongest foe. Don't do it, Duffy! Bear Hunt. Available now, wherever you get your podcasts.