New Harris ad seeks to tie Trump to Project 2025

Brand new. This morning, just moments ago, the Harris campaign released a new ad arguing that project 2025 is the blueprint for a second Trump presidency. It's called project 2025, a 922 page blueprint to make Donald Trump the most powerful president ever. Now, the Trump campaign consistently denies that this is their policy, but there are ties with the folks who wrote it. It comes as Vice President Harris and Governor Wall sit down for their first ever interview of the campaign right here on CNN with Dana Bash, and they also embark on a bus tour through southern Georgia. Now, Georgia is a state that Joe Biden won, but won by less than 12,000 votes. The margins are very close. CNN's even more akin joins us now. Let's start with this new ad released just moments ago. What's the messaging? You know, John, this has perhaps to be one of the most effective lines of attack, because even as the former president tries to distance himself from project 2025, when I'm out on the campaign trail, I hear from Democratic voters unprompted. So without me even mentioning it time and time again, how afraid they are of the implications of this. So it makes total political sense for them to hit this hard. In this ad, they warn that a Trump White House that would overhaul the Department of Justice. They say that he would have unchecked power to seek vengeance and even eliminate the Department of Education. Let's listen to this argument. Donald Trump may try to deny it, but those are Donald Trump's plans. Well, revenge does take time. I will say that. And sometimes revenge can be justified. He'll take control. We'll pay the price. So you hear in the messaging there, John, that they're leaning into this notion that he is hellbent on revenge. Which bolsters this contrast that they're trying to portray between a candidate principally concerned with the past versus one who they argue is looking towards the future. Now, what are you learning about this trip to Georgia? Because the part of Georgia they're going to tells a story here. It does. They think that they can appeal to rural voters. They don't have to win some of these rural counties outright, but playing in them could make a difference. They've got 24 field offices across Georgia, seven of which are in the southern part of the state. They're really looking at these outer metro Atlanta counties, and then they're going to end the bus tour in Savannah. And I've spoken to Democratic strategists and organizers in the state, and they say that often outside of Atlanta, voters really lament that campaigns don't go there, don't campaign there. And so this strategy to them makes sense. on project 2025, we did just play some of that ad that was just released, a few minutes ago. And I know is airing in Georgia and other key battleground states. why is project 2025 so important in terms of the Harris campaign's messaging? When Donald Trump and his campaign work so hard to disavow their connections with it? Yeah, maybe Donald Trump can try to disavow his connections to it. I think the problem for Donald Trump, is that it's written by his people, by his former staffers for him, you don't have a blueprint unless you're going to build a house. You don't have a playbook unless you intend to run the play. And they've made it very clear, that that's exactly what they intend to do, whether it is banning abortion nationwide with or without Congress as of late, is laid out in the plan, whether it's monitoring women's pregnancies, whether it is, again, the tax cuts for the rich, in the corporate giveaways, whether it's the gutting of checks and balances, the consolidation of power inside the Oval Office of the Donald Trump, can go after his political opponents. the threat the project 2025, poses to the American people is abundantly clear. we're going to make sure that as the vice president and the governor are out on the stump communicating their positive vision, to the American people, between now, in the debate on September 10th and through Election Day, we are simultaneously going to make sure that the threat that Donald Trump's Project 2025 agenda, poses to the American people is also front and center. All right, Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler, great to see you. Thanks, Michael. with us now, Democratic strategist Matt Bennett and former public policy director for Mitt Romney, Lonnie Chen. Lenny, let me start with you. This is a big interview, first of all, because Dan is doing and it will be great. But second of all, because we have not heard really from Vice President Harris in this forum. What are you looking for? Like? Well, I think there's a number of things we're looking for. Obviously, on the policy front, there'll be a lot of questions. There'll be questions about her changes in positions on key issues like fracking. they'll be questions about the policy she has rolled out, for example, her plan on housing and how much of that she actually thinks is feasible. And then we're going to want to know about areas where we have not heard as much substance or detail, areas of policy that I think could be determinative in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin and other places where this race is very tight. So I think for all those reasons, this is going to be an incredibly important interview. And just her demeanor, how is she going to react to being pressed by Dana on these issues? I think these are all things that we should be looking for. Matt, how much will these answers matter? Well, obviously, if she makes a big mistake, it will matter a lot, I think if she answers it well, and, and put some of these questions to rest, I think it won't have a huge impact on the campaign. But, these moments, you know, can pop up. And so far, one of the most remarkable things about the Harris campaign since it became a Harris campaign just over a month ago is that she hasn't really made a mistake. She has performed brilliantly in basically every forum that she's been in. Her campaign is hitting on all cylinders, and so there is risk here and everybody understands that. But it's also part of the process, and you have to do it. And I think they were smart diplomacy and CNN and do a hard news interview with both candidates. And Matt, what about the debate? And I'm not focus so much on the the gamesmanship muted microphone or not muted microphone because that will get settled one way or the other. But when they take the debate stage together, what are the stakes there. Again, for the most part, people don't remember that much about debates when they go to vote unless there's a huge mistake or a huge blow landed. I mean, people can remember the big lines from past debates from decades ago. And if you remember how Nixon would, you know, 60 years ago. So there is some risk and there is some possibility of reward in the debate. But I think what you're going to see here is that this is Harris's strong suit. She is a prosecutor. She stands up in court and, you know, prosecutes the case against bad guys, and she's up against a felon. I think this is going to play to her strength. Lonnie, I show you shaking your head on debates, remembering probably how in 2012, it was widely considered that Mitt Romney did beat Barack Obama. in that first debate. Ultimately did not go on to win the election. There's a train of journalism right there right now, an analysis which suggests that Kamala Harris and Democrats now not two months ago when Biden was running, have somehow figured out how to beat Donald Trump, talk about him as being laughable. The meme campaign that's going on out there, Lonnie, how much validity do you see in that? Well, I think the direct contrasts that the Harris campaign is willing to draw, you know, it strikes me that they have been much more willing to confront the Trump campaign on all sorts of different issues. I do think that their reaction time has gotten better. I think there's a number of ways in which the campaign is being run with a little bit more pep in its step, and I think that matters. But certainly the direct contrast of seeing those two candidates, Harris and Trump, on stage together, talking about hopefully, issues. We'll see. I think that will be really impactful for voters just in terms of creating an image. I agree that the specifics of the debate probably get lost with time, but it really is about the imagery, the contrast, the degree to which they're able to confront one another, how they react when they're confronted. these are the sorts of things that I think do stick and they do matter. And that's why I think this debate is going to be very widely watched. You know, it's interesting now that I have both of you here, you know, a Romney Republican and a Democrat who's worked for years to to pull the party a little bit more toward the middle. Lonnie Harrison Walls are taking a bus tour through Red counties in Georgia today. A lot of the rhetoric from the convention, there was plenty of, of red meat for the progressives there, but a lot of outreach to the middle, a lot of talk about tone and neighborliness. So, Lonnie, how much of an impact does that have with with maybe some more moderate Republicans that you talked to? Well, I think we'll have to see. I mean, I think obviously the the rhetoric and the themes are the right ones talking about, for example, freedom, the kind of optimism and hope we saw that that mirrors what we've seen from past Republican nominees Ronald Reagan, George W Bush. I think there's a there's a similar tone that's being struck. I do think where the rubber will hit the road on this, John, is, you know, do Republicans do moderates, do they actually believe Kamala Harris is conversion on key issues? Do they actually believe that she is going to be moderate on issues of energy exploration? Do they actually believe she's going to cut taxes for the middle class? That's really where I think voters are going to have to make a decision. The outreach makes sense. There's no question from a demographic perspective it makes sense. But the substance, we'll see. And that's why these interviews and debates become so important, to see how legitimate and how real her conversion on these issues really is. Matt. You know, I've pretty much agree with that. And, look, I think it's important to emphasize that she has spent three and a half years as vice president traveling the country, traveling the world, talking to Americans and learning a lot about what works and doesn't work legislatively. So I think that her kind of, evolution in policy wise makes perfect sense. You know, she hasn't changed her principles at all. If you look at J.D. Vance, he's changed a whole bunch of his principles. What she has changed instead is the kinds of policies she wants to pursue to reach the ends. And I think that will make sense to voters. And I also think, to your point, reaching out to voters in these red counties makes enormous sets. You may not win them, but if she loses them by a lot less, she has a real chance of winning the state as Joe Biden. All right. Matt Bennett, Lonnie Chen, great to see both of you. Thanks so much for coming on