'How far does it go?': Dana Bash cautions debate fact checking ahead of Trump-Harris debate

>>> GETTING THEM OUT WILL BE A BLOODY STORY. SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN ALLOWED TO COME INTO OUR COUNTRY. IF YOU COME BACK, YOU WILL BE EXECUTED, YOU WILL BE KILLED IMMEDIATELY. NOT GOING TO BE EASY BUT WE'LL DO IT. >> THAT WAS DONALD TRUMP OVER THE WEEKEND TELLING SUPPORTERS HIS MASS DEPORTATION POLICY WILL BE BLOODY IF HE WINS IN NOVEMBER. AND OBVIOUSLY IT'S FAR FROM THE FIRST TIME HE'S SLIPPED SHADES OF VIOLENT RHETORIC INTO HIS SPEECHES BUT JUST 57 DAYS TO GO INTO THE ELECTION AND WITH ONE OF THE TWO CANDIDATES CONTINUING TO SAY THINGS LIKE THAT, I FOUND A NEW BOOK FROM CNN TIMELY, HISTORY REPEATS. CANDIDATES COMPLAINED OF CORRUPTION, VIOLENCE BROKE OUT AND DEMOCRACY WAS PUSHED TO ITS BREAKING POINT. SOUNDS KIND OF FAMILIAR. BUT NO IT'S NOT ABOUT 2020, OR 2024, IT'S ABOUT 1872. JOINING ME NOW IS DANA BASH AND THE COAUTHOR OF THE NEW BOOK AMERICA'S DEADLIEST ELECTION. THE CAUTIONARY TALE OF THE MOST VIOLENT ELECTION IN AMERICAN HISTORY. FIRST OF ALL CONGRATULATIONS. I HAVE NO EARTHLY CLUE HOW YOU HAD TIME TO WRITE A BOOK. >> MY COAUTHOR DAVID FISHER IS HOW. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING ME. >> IT'S GREAT TO SEE YOU. I MEAN, THIS IS SUCH, AN INTERESTING COMPARISON. MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE 1872. DID YOU. >> THERE'S A LOT OF PARALLELS. VIOLENT RHETORIC, THERE WAS VIOLENCE, IT WAS QUITE, THE COUNTRY WAS BITTERLY DIVIDED. OFFICIALS WERE NOT GIVING OUT THE OUTCOME, THEY WEREN'T OBSERVING THE OUTCOME. I WONDER AS YOU HEAR LANGUAGE LIKE THIS WEEKEND OR THE VIOLENT RHETORIC YOU HEAR FROM HIM. MORE OFTEN THAN INFREQUENTLY. DOES IT REMIND YOU OF 1872? >> OH YEAH. >> HOW DO YOU COMPARE IT? >> THE PARALLELS ARE UNCANNY IN SO MANY WAYS. ONE OF THE WAYS, JEN, IS WITH JUST THE SORT OF MAIN CHARACTER IF YOU WILL WHO WAS THE GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA. HENRY WARMATH. WHO WAS SOMEBODY WHO HAD CHARACTER TRAITS WHO ARE SO FAMILIAR. AND I AM JUST GOING TO READ YOU A COUPLE OF EXAMPLES. PEOPLE KNEW WARMATH WAS A CROOK BUT REMAINED LOYAL TO HIM. IT WAS CLEAR THEY WERE WILLING TO KILL FOR HIM, WHO KNOWS WHY. HE WAS FIGHTING FOR THEM. FOR THE WAY OF LIFE THEY HAD ONCE LIVED. NOW BACK THEN, THAT WAY OF LIFE WAS THIS WAS DURING RECONSTRUCTION. IT WAS PRERECONSTRUCTION, PRECIVIL WAR WHEN OBVIOUSLY SLAVERY WAS VERY MUCH IN PLACE. AND SO, NOW WHAT HE WAS HELPING THEM FIGHT FOR AT THAT POINT WAS SLAVERY WASN'T GOING TO COME BACK BUT THEY WANTED TO MAKE SURE BLACKS DIDN'T GET POWER AND CHANGE THEIR WAY OF LIFE. BACK THEN IT WAS DEMOCRATS WHO WERE THE SEGREGATIONISTS AND FLAT OUT RACISTS. SO, THEY WERE TRYING TO DO WHATEVER THEY COULD TO SUPPRESS THE VOTE. THE NEW BLACK VOTE. AND IN LOUISIANA AND OTHER STATES, BUT THIS PARTICULAR STORY IS HOW THEY WERE SUCCESSFUL IN DOING SO. THEY REALIZED THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP SOCIETY FROM CHANGING SO DRASTICALLY WAS TO MAKE SURE THAT BLACKS DIDN'T VOTE. AND THEY WERE INTIMIDATED. THEY WERE THREATENED, THEY WERE DISENFRANCHISED AND THEY WERE MURDERED IN SOME CASES A MASSACRE. >> THERE WERE SO MANY RACIST COMPARISONS TO PRESENT DAY TODAY AS WELL. WHERE WE SEE WITH VOTER SUPPRESSION AROUND THE COUNTRY. YOU ANSWERED A BIT THERE BUT HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THOSE COMPARISONS IN TERMS OF HOW RHETORIC IS USED TO KIND OF SUPPRESS THE VOTE, TO INTIMIDATE PEOPLE. TO MAKE IMMIGRANTS SOUND LIKE THEY ARE BRINGING VIOLENCE TO OUR COUNTRY. LOW DO YOU COMPARE THIS TIME TO THAT TIME? >> AGAIN VERY SIMILAR. VERY SIMILAR. THERE WERE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT RANTS, ABOUT PEOPLE COMING FROM THE SOUTHERN BORDER BACK THEN JUST AS THEY ARE NOW. IT STARTED IN 1872 AND WENT UP TO 1986 WHICH PEOPLE MIGHT BE A LITTLE BIT MORE FAMILIAR WITH BECAUSE OF THE, PARALLELS THERE BETWEEN WHAT HAPPENED THEN AND 2021. WHEN THINGS WERE SO BAD IN LOUISIANA AND THREE OTHER STATES THAT THEY SENT TWO SLATES OF ELECTORS TO WASHINGTON. AND THERE WAS A DEBATE ABOUT WHAT THE VICE PRESIDENT'S ROLE WAS. WAS IT SOMETHING THAT IS MORE CEREMONIAL OR COULD THE VICE PRESIDENT CHOOSE THE ELECTORAL SLATE. AND THEY DECIDED THEN IT WAS CEREMONIAL. ANOTHER FAMILIAR THING THAT HAPPENED BACK THEN, THEY'RE ONE OF THE RIOTS IN THE STREETS OF NEW ORLEANS ERUPTED IN CHANTS, HANG HIM, HANG HIM. THEY WERE STAGING A CUE AGAINST. >> VERY EERIE. YOU DID THE ONE INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. YOU KNOW A LOT ABOUT THESE FOLKS. WHY CAN'T THE MODERATORS DO MORE TO FACT CHECK. TRUMP IS A DIFFERENT CHARACTER BUT YOU MODERATED THE LAST DEBATE. WHY CAN'T THEY? SHOULD THINGS CHANGE WITH TRUMP? >> I THINK NEIL IS BRILLIANT AND I HAVE SO MUCH RESPECT FOR HIM. BUT THE STATEMENT HE MADE TO YOU, I DISAGREE. WHAT HE SAID WAS IT IS THE MODERATORS JOB TO BE A PARTICIPANT BASICALLY IN THE DEBATE. AND I TOTALLY AGREE WHEN I'M DOING AN INTERVIEW, I COMPLETELY AGREE WHEN I AM MAYBE MODERATING A TOWN HALL. WHEN THE PERSON WHO IS TRYING TO BE AN ELECTED OFFICIAL DOESN'T HAVE THEIR COMPETITOR THERE. BUT IF A MODERATOR GETS THAT INVOLVED IN A DEBATE, THEY ARE A PARTICIPANT IN THE DEBATE. AND LOOK, ALL OF THIS IS A JUDGMENT CALL. IT'S NOT EASY. >> I BET NOT. >> IT IS A JUDGMENT CALL. AND WHAT WE DECIDED TO DO WAS FOLLOW IT WILL MODEL THAT HAD BEEN IN PLACE SINCE KENNEDY- NIXON REALLY. THE MODERATORS FACILITATE AND YOU ALLOW THE CANDIDATES TO DEBATE ONE ANOTHER AND IN THAT CASE, FACT CHECK ONE ANOTHER. YOU KNOW I WAS JUST TALKING TO KEVIN MADDEN WHO WORKED FOR MITT ROMNEY ABOUT THIS AFTERWARD HE SAID IT'S A SLIPPERY SLOPE. SOME PEOPLE ARE VERY MUCH AGAINST IT. SOME PEOPLE ARE VERY MUCH FOR IT. BUT I JUST, I TRY TO PUT MYSELF IN THE POSITION OF, OKAY, LET'S SAY WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DO FACT CHECK THEN WHERE DOES IT END. HOW FAR DOES IT GO. AGAIN THERE ARE JUDGMENT CALLS I'M NOT SAYING THAT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE, BUT, IT'S, IT'S DIFFICULT AND YOU CAN BE SURE THAT THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SAYING FACT CHECK NOW, ARE GOING TO SAY, MAYBE THE OTHER SAID WILL SAY, THE MODERATOR HAD THEIR THUMB ON THE SCALE. WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENS ON A TRUMP DEBATE. I'M NOT SAYING IT'S GOING TO BE EQUITABLE BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE IT EASY. >> VERY FEW PEOPLE HAVE SAT ON THAT SEAT TO KNOW WHICH IS THE OTHER THING TO REMEMBER. YOU ALSO SAID WE SHOULD EXPECT ANYTHING OR EVERYTHING TOMORROW NIGHT. AND I