Haberman on why Cheney’s endorsement of Harris may get under Trump’s skin

There is breaking news tonight from the presidential campaign in the widely anticipated. It still packs a punch. Former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney, a staunch conservative and daughter of two staunch conservatives from a deep red state, is voting Democratic for president. This is how she explained her decision during remarks today at Duke University in Battleground North Carolina. As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution. I have thought deeply about this. And because of the danger that the Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris. You know, just three years ago, she was the number three Republican in the House. She now joins Adam Kinzinger, her former fellow Republican, in the House January 6th committee in backing the vice president, as she put it today, quote, I don't believe we have the luxury of writing in candidates names, particularly in swing states. Perspective now from New York Times senior political correspondent Maggie Haberman. Also, Ashley Eaton, who served as vice president. Harris is communications director and Republican strategist Erin Perrine. Maggie, I want to start with you, Donald Trump. Not a fan of Liz Cheney. I think it's safe to say at this point. But how much do you think this public endorsement will get under his skin? I mean, given the fact that he comments that almost everything under the sun on Truth Social, I think there is a real possibility that he will talk about this in negative terms. You know, she bothers him a great deal. The January 6th committee's work bothered him a great deal. I think what's interesting about it is the signal that it sends to Republicans who did not support Donald Trump, who may have supported, say, Nikki Haley or no one at all, that they can feel comfortable. I mean, that is what she is signaling to them. They can feel comfortable, back in Kamala Harris. but I also think that Donald Trump is very preoccupied with a number of things right now. And so we will see if this gets to him or if it becomes a bigger sound further down the road. We'll talk about the preoccupation in just a minute. But I want to pick up on another point you made with Aaron. Aaron, what about Maggie's point there? So we're a permission structure structure for Haley Republicans. How much of that is at play here? That certainly could be at play here. And I think that Maggie was right, that having a Republican with a prominent name, stepping forward is an opportunity for people to say it is a permission slip for people to leave the traditional Republican Party as it sits right now and vote otherwise, if that is somebody they want to ride in, or if they do want to vote for Kamala Harris, you saw a little bit of this play out during the primary with the Republicans. There were attempts to try and say, you could have a permission slip to vote outside of Trump. This is something the Republican Party has been tussling with. But those Nikki voters, if you go back to the primary, there were plenty of those that were independent voters and not traditional Republicans. So this for them, while it won't move them as a Republican, could be part of that independent voting block that Kamala Harris is going to need to move to be able to win in November. So actually, if you're part of the Harris campaign, how do you capitalize on this? You mean she has said she would appoint a Republican to serve in her cabinet? Do you hint that maybe Liz Cheney could be a possibility there? I mean, there's always a possibility that Liz Cheney could be, appointed to a cabinet position. You know, I mean, kudos to her. She's demonstrated a level of courage that we're not really seeing much in the Republican Party. She was first to call Donald Trump out. She said that we're sleepwalking as a nation to a dictatorship. Before he said he would be a dictator on day one. So she actually is intimately aware of the very threat that Donald Trump poses to this nation. And so, again, I mean, she deserves a lot of credit. And if that yields in a in an appointment in the cabinet, I mean, I would welcome that. Maggie, Donald Trump gave an interview in Good Morning, New Hampshire, which is a radio show in New Hampshire. It turns out, and he was talking about Vice President Harris, who was also there today. And he said that Democrats coalesced around her to be politically correct. Listen to what he said. They didn't want her, but they were politically correct. They wanted to be politically correct, as so many people do nowadays. She can't do an interview. She's either not smart enough, and I think that's actually the case. But she's either not smart enough to do him. Something's wrong. There's something wrong. So how does this align with the stick to the issues policy that the campaign has telegraphed they want to be on? Not so much. I mean, look, the campaign wants to tie the vice president to President Biden, and make them a unit over the last four years, three and a half years. and Donald Trump wants to insult the vice president, in very personal terms. And you get to see that there. I mean, the party coalesced around her. There were other people who who thought they made themselves have been better candidates. there was never going to be an opportunity where there was going to be that kind of a process. Donald Trump is the glue that binds both of these parties right now, and defeating him has been key for Democrats in 2020, and now it is again in 2024. And that is why Democrats order. Now. You said he's preoccupied with things. I'm sure the debate is one of them. But what else is on his mind right now? There's a lot of different legal tangles swirling around him right now. You know, his legal troubles have not really been center stage for a while now since his criminal conviction in Manhattan, which he is appealing. He is supposed to be sentenced in that case on September 18th. There's a big question about whether the judge will move it. So that's looming. Number one, there's an appeals, hearing in the Eugene Carroll case on Friday that he may or may not go to as of last night, that was still up in the air despite a report that he was going to attend. There's nothing for him to see there. He's just going to listen to lawyers arguing. And then there is going to be a hearing related to the federal January 6th case tomorrow. And so those cases tend to actually engage him as much as anything. so with everything, as well as preparing for the debate in whatever way he prepares for the debate, I think those things are on his mind as much as anything. It is interesting, Aaron, those personal attacks that you hear right there, you know, how concerned are you in most Republicans that I talk to? You do want him to stick to the issues in the debate. How concerned are you about what message those attacks send to battleground voters and how he may behave in the coming days? It depends on the attack and what state we're talking about, but it's much better for Donald Trump to stick to the issues, to talk about getting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris more closely tied together in the mind of voters at this point. What we've seen in Kamala is polling is not only a coalescing of the Democratic base, but you've seen where other voters have said that they are interested in what appears to be a change candidate. If Donald Trump sticks to the message that Kamala is in change, she's more of Joe Biden and she's more than Joe Biden. She's more of the radical left that would take away private health insurance that would open the southern border. If he talks more about those policies and how closely she is tied to Joe Biden, that would help him win the election in November. You know, actually, on that subject, Vice President Harris actually put forward a changed economic plan from President Biden. Kind of broke with him on capital gains taxes. How much distance do you think she needs to put between herself and President Biden? Well, she's in this unprecedented position where she's both an incumbent and a challenger, so she can take parts of the of of their record that people like and want more of and adopt that and own that and then create some distance to your point on issues where, she has a different vision for the nation, where we need to be more aggressive and lean in. And she's she's done that not just today in terms of rolling out, the capital gains, but also she did that with the opportunity economy when she leaned into, you know, greater tax cuts for families and housing and those other things. But can I just go back and quickly to, to to, Liz Cheney, I think the other thing that we, I wouldn't want us to overlook is not only does she create a permission structure for those disaffected Republicans to come on board with hers and independents, but also she's creating a permission structure for other Republicans, you know, Republican leaders to really lean in and say that they're, you know, going to support the Harris ticket. So there's a lot of value in to your question, leveraging, Liz Cheney, if there are any other Republicans of that stature still out there, that Mitt Romney and others who we'll see who come along would not hold your breath on that one. But I get your point.