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jon: former president trump will soon address what his campaign calls a mega-crowd of thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of supporters at a beachfront rally in wildwood, new jersey. good evening, i'm jon scott, and this is a special 2-hour edition of "the fox report." ♪ jon: we have fox team coverage evening. charlie hurt standing by with reaction to the latest developments from trump's legal and political fronts, but first, bryan llenas is live in wildwood with more on that upcoming rally. bryan. >> reporter: jon, good evening. well, at some point this hour we expect former president trump to address this crowd, and what a crowd it is. we've covered a lot of these rallies, and this is among the largest political rallies i've ever seen for the former president. take a look behind me, you can see the folks here, take a look

behind us way and you can see the thousands if not tens of thousands of people who are here to see the former president. none of these folks have a television, by the way, but they have been out here waiting hours, sometimes even days. we spoke to some folks who were here wednesday, thursday afternoon to the secure a spot on the beach. new jersey is not a battleground state by any means, it's a deep blue state. trump lost it by 15 points in 2020, but it's very close to pennsylvania. a lot of these folks are from that key battleground state, and they are anxious to hear what the former president has to say. now, this is his third campaign rally since his trial in new york city started in the last month, and the first two he had was on the same day, on a wednesday, on may 1stst as we get to show you more behind me. and those were in michigan and wisconsin. this is in new jersey, and at those rallies he talked about the economy, he talked about immigration and israel and, yes, he talked about his court cases which he said were, quote, b.s.

and fake. the big question tonight is how will he react to testimony from porn star storm themy daniels this week,ing salacious, indeed, and also how would he react to the fact that michael cohen, his former personal attorney, is set to take the stand on monday. will he attack him? specifically, how close will he get to potentially violating that gag order? remember, he has already spoken over the last few days about the fact that he believes that those witnesses, particularly daniels and cohen, need to be gagged, and he thinks it's unfair that they have been able to go on the internet and taunt the former president and attack him. so we'll see if, the what extent he'll be enthused by the size of this crowd and to go that way. so we'll keep you updated as we get a sense of when the former president will take the stage behind me and address this incredibly enthusiastic crowd, jon. jon: bryan, i a heard you say the crowd got a glimpse of the former president if although

from, what, about 5-10,000 feet in the air. >> yeah, shrill. you know, we've seen this -- absolutely. we've seen this before, i believe we have the video. trump force one flew right over, purposefully over the beach here on widewood, and the crowd -- wildwood, and the crowd went absolutely wild. we expect him after his plane lands to come over here, obviously. we're only a 150 miles south of new york city where the trial has been and, obvious, where he has been staying throughout the duration of his trial. but he obviously decided to take trump force one to fly in, and he made quite the entrance here. we'll see, it'll be really fascinating, jon, to see how he's going to react to this kind of -- type of crowd. often time it's he feeds off that energy. and given what's happened this last week with his trial, it'll be a fascinating watch for us all. jon: if only that 757 could tow a banner along the beach, one could only imagine what it would say. bryan llenas -- [laughter]

at the trump rally in wildwood, new jersey, thank you. for more on the rally tonight and the trump presidential campaign, let's bring in charlie hurt, fox news contributor and opinion editor for the washington times. fascinating, that he can pack that beach there in wildwood, new jersey, with that many people. as bryan pointed out, maybes this is the not about new jersey, charlie, this is about pennsylvania? >> yeah, i think it is for them but, of course, for a lot of the people or that are there,s this is very much about new jersey or wherever, you know, that level of enthusiasm, you know, you can find that level of enthusiasm even in the darkest blue states there are. and gives you a real good idea, i think, of why it is that democrats are so fearful of donald trump, why it is they're so concerned about him. you look across the spectrum in both parties right now, you cannot find a single politician alive today who can draw this kind of crowd on a consistent

basis the way donald trump does. the last person who could do this on occasion was barack obama back in 2008. but even those crowds, i think, were not nearly as large as these are and as consistently large as these are. finish and that's why i think you're seeing all of these extraordinary measures being taken by the democrats to try to sideline him, to try to bankrupt him, to do whatever they can to keep donald trump the off the campaign trail because they're terrified of him k and they don't the want to face him in a fair election. jon: you mentioned there is no other politician today who could bring in this kind of crowd, it perhaps is because he's not really a politician. >> exactly. jon: he was elected to office once. >> yeah. new york exactly. and, you know, to step back and look at the broader history of where we are right now, you know, never in our lifetimes have, has there been less faith in public institutions.

jon: true. >> government institutions. and what we've seen -- than what we've seen today. when that happens, people look around for authenticity and what it is that they do have faith in, and donald trump is somebody who's come -- as you point out, not out of politics, out of real estate and reality tv. but he presents to them as somebody who tells the truth. and they love it, and they love the fact that he's not, you know, he gets into fights with republicanses almost as much as he gets into fights with democrats. they love the fact that he is such an existential threat to washington and the political establishment. and, quite frankly, they love the fact that that a billionaire and they feel like he doesn't have to do what joe biden has done, which is to spend 50 years in politics in order to become a millionaire. this is a guy who doesn't need to bribe people, the use his

political career to make money. he's already there. and it's interesting, when you talk to people, even democrats who don't, didn't vote for trump and don't maybe particularly like trump, they admire that about him. and they love that about him. and it's a really fascinating moment. this is an amazing time. if you like politics if if you like e! news, this is the an amazing -- like news, this is an amazing time to watch this unfold. jon: one of the things we've been watching is the first ever former president to sit down for a criminal trial. >> yeah. jon: give us your assessment of how that's going for the former president. >> well, and i think that goes to the point earlier about how much democrats fear donald trump and how much, you know, what they're willing to do in order to stop him, to the to humiliate him, to try to bankrupt him, to do whatever they can to keep him off the campaign trail including trying to put him in jail. and, man, over the last two

weeks, jon, watching these cases collapse one by one, if you reversed to a year ago when we were looking at all of those cases, all of those charges, nobody would have predicted that we would be standing here today, and he would be looking at basically facing the charges facing, you know, punishment in just one of these cases. and it is perhaps the most ridiculous case there is, and that's this stormy daniels non-case that has been completely fabricated. and even if you assume that the fabricated charges which are completely unconstitutional and make no sense whatsoever, even if you're going to assume that those are real charges, even then the case doesn't make sense. the prosecution is still losing the case. it's such a flimsy case can. and so, man, he that has really run the inside straight the here on these case, and i think ultimately what's happened is all of this has wound up helping him tremendously.

and even, again, even people who don't like donald trump necessarily, they think he's a loud mouth and they think he's a jerk and he says stuff, he shouldn't be tweeting or, all this kind of -- people who don't generally like him, they side with him against people who would use our court system in order to jail a political enemy or to stop a political enemy. and i think they could wind up regretting having him stuck in new york city, because if you see what he does around here whether to the bodega or a construction site and talks to people, authentic, organic enthusiasm for him is palpable. joe biden could not get that kind of palpable, organic enthusiasm anywhere. jon: yeah. >> let alone in, you know, sort of on kind of a last minute stop at a bodega in a deep red political country. jon: it would be interesting to see if president biden held a rally in wildwood, new jersey, say next saturday how many people would show up. >> trust me, they're not going to try that.

[laughter] jon: okay. you talked about, you know, the popularity that seems to be accruing for the former president. maybe it's that, maybe it's the economy, maybe it's israel if hamas. but look at these numbers. here is the situation according to the emerson college poll. in pennsylvania, one of the critical swing states in this election, if the election were held today, 47% say they would vote for donald trump, 45 say they would vote for the sitting president. and we can go on down the list. arizona, georgia, michigan, nevada, north carolina and even wisconsin, trump is ahead, charlie, in all of those states. >> but also ahead by a small margin when you consider the delta in enthusiasm between the with two to. you would think that trump was winning by 800- 80-20 points when you consider the amount of enthusiasm he has versus the lack of enthusiasm that joe biden suffers. it's remarkably close.

but obviously -- and i'm always skeptical about any of these horse race polls especially this early. but when you look at the polling that shows who voters trust on the issues that matter most and that's the economy, that's inflation, that's gas with -- energies prices, gas prices, all of those things, the economy and security such as the border, when you look at the -- you know, those are 10, 20, 30-point swings that trump holds over biden on those issues. even foreign policy which is supposed to be joe biden's area of expertise, which it's not. but that's what he claims, and he's been in washington for 50 years claiming that. it's kind of amazing that it's, you know, that the national poll only has trump the up by 2 points. but i think when it comes to election day and once -- especially if there are the debates as a, lord, i pray that

there will be -- can i think it's going to be, those numbers are going to look very, very different. jon: going to be fascinating, like you say. interesting time to be in the news business. charlie hurt, thanks. >> great to see you. jon: you too. stay tuned for "the big weekend show" tonight, 7. p.m. eastern time, a little over -- a little less, i should say, than two hours. catch charlie hurt again with the very latest news on trump's beachfront rally and the 2024 campaign. the former president is coming off a very busy week of legal developments in his historic new york city if criminal trial. meantime, his separate document and election interference if cases are delayed. let's bring in jay -- managing director at mad if global strategies and adviser the republican ohio senator j.d. vance. we usually like to try to look ahead a little bit, but just give us your sense of how this last week went for the former president. did he pick up the advantage or

is it advantage prosecution if in this new york case? >> sure. sure. so here's the thing, when you look at the rally and you look at what's going on in the courtroom, remember when john edwards used to say there's two americas? i really think a that's more evident now than it has been before. in the courtroom and if you listen to the mainstream press, boy, donald trump had a rough week. but when the american people are viewing this, they're looking at this as a sham election, a very political prosecution on alvin bragg's part and the judge who maybe should have recused himself as well too. so while there are murky facts going on in the courtroom, the fact of the matter is that there's a lot of people that are viewing this thing as completely a pretty -- political sham. and that's playing in donald trump's favor. so i think that's where the advantage goes to him. those pictures in wildwood, new jersey, they're unbelievable. i mean, i watch them and i'm amazedded that many people are out there supporting president trump this early in the campaign. it's an amazing thing.

jon: yeah. you have to be committed to something to want to go line up dayses in advance and, you know, sit in the rain and sit in the sun just to hear somebody speak. >> well, and, look, here's the thing too. you're right, this is a play for pennsylvania, but it's also a play for the entire country. it's a visual that you juxtapose if against the courtroom scenes or the drawings that you see from the if courtroom, but you're seeing this and the nation is seeing this, right? whether you're watching america snbc, cnn, fox news, whatever it is, you're seeing pictures like this, and it's a stark visual contrast to what's going on in the courtroom, and it all plays very well for the president who is, you're right, jon, he's not a politician. he's a showman. he comes in on his big plane flying over. who does that? that's an incredible thing to see. jon: yeah, as a piecialghts i would i love to be able to fly that close to the beach -- >> agreed. jon: in my 757. all right. so, but this could be a bad week in court coming up. i mean, michael cohen is

supposed to testify. he was, you know, some people called him trump's consigliere. what do you think he has to say? if will it hurt the former? >> i don't know what michael cohen's going to say, but with i don't know that he is the most credible person. remember back in 2016 when he was on tv, he was kind of a laughingstock. he feels like he's more of a stooge stooge than anything else. look, the more pert innocenter thing -- pertinent thing, yes, you're right, there could be some bad fact, but it looks like donald trump's going to be able to kick the can on this one, and because of everything else going with on in the country, the election is really playing in his favor. you know, when charlie was on last, he was talking about this being a 22-point race, but think about this -- 2-point, this could be closer the a donald trump landslide than a joe biden victory. look, there are going to be a lot of close races, but when i do campaigns on the ground here, i'm just seeing the enthusiasm for trump, and it's pretty

remarkable right now. jon: the fani willis case in atlanta, you know, she brought charges against the former president, election interference then, of course, it turned out that a guy she hired to manage the case, well, the two of them were a little too close personally and maybe professionally. >> right. jon: that's going to be delayed because of her conduct. a higher court is going to review her conduct. that certainly is a feather or in the former president's cap or maybe an arrow in his quiver, i guess. >> well, i think it's another misstep by the democrats who were so partisan in trying to take him down. look, here's my view on this. i think whatever happens in these cases for the election, it's kind of baked into the electorate. i think the american people pretty much agree he's not a perfect person. he probably had some dalliance with the law, but at the end of the day, they want to see him on the ballot, and they remember

what it was like four years ago versus what it is like today. look at prices. we talk about inflation, and we use words like inflation or costs so egregious, but that doesn't really get to what it means to the average person. most folks, you know, most of the political pundits they live in d.c., and they don't actually come out here to the heartland and see what people are going through. boy, prices are unbelievable for people. things like deodorant, dog food, they are skyrocketing from where they were four years ago. and if maybe deodorant, that's why it's behind lock and key -- jon: i had to renew my if p.o. box this morning, and i was shocked for the price for a rental has just about a doubled. and i said -- >> it's everything. jon: i said something to the clerk about, wow, they've gotten really expensive. he said everything is more expensive. >> i actually happened to talk to a multimillion mare a few weeks ago, and he said, you know, i never really hit me until i bought some tictacs the

other day. think about what the average person's going through. jon: yeah. very quickly, you mentioned john edwards, the former democrat presidential candidate, earlier in this discussion. his name comes up often in the situation that donald trump is facing because the two cases were handled very different. >> well, they were. look, john edwards had a whole host of issues too. but this one here with donald trump, it's like every single state with democratic prosecutors, democratic judges are trying to bring something. most of them are going to be found frivolous. there may be a few legitimate issues here and there, but the way the american people view it is, come on, now. you can't keep doing this over and over again. this sounds like your making hia political opponent, and that's the way they're viewing it. he is going to be running against joe biden, and my sense is he's probably going to be the next president of the united states. jon: a lot of people in new york city would like to see alvin

bragg spend that money on prosecuting murders and rapists, not so much -- >> sure. that's a lot of taxpayer dollars. you look at all the crime issues in new york city, you look at the immigrant problem, there's a lot of things that could be better use of that money in new york city than this prosecution. jon: jai, good to talk to you with, thank you. >> thanks, jon. jon: house republicans are threatening impeachment after president biden said he would deny weapons to israel if it should invade rafah. prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying israel has to stand alone or will if it has to. a live report from the white house next. ♪ if to save with a quick commercial auto quote online. so you can get back to your monster to-do list. -really? -get a quote at progresivecommercial.com. with the freestyle libre 3 system know your glucose levels. no fingersticks needed. all with the world's smallest and thinnest sensor.

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jon: take a look at at this on the beach in wildwood, new jersey. this is not a nascar race, it's

not a football game, it's a political rally. the former president, former president trump, is holding one of his rallies set to begin any minute now really. he has already overflown in his airplane, what he calls trump force one, and the crowd went a little nuts. thousands and thousands of people there. this is one of his first major campaign events sense the start of his criminal trial in new york. it come comes days before his former lawyer and fixer michael cohen is set to take the stand in that case. we're going to bring you the former president's remarks as soon as he steps up to the microphone to address this huge crowd. could be tens of thousands of people there. we'll stay on it. meantime, house republicans are threatening impeachment after president biden said he will deny weapons to israel if it should the invade rafah. the last stronghold of hamas. those republican say it's an

abuse of power. lucas tomlinson is live at the white house with more on that. lucas. >> reporter: well, jon, let's remind viewers first about what president biden said about withholding those weapons to israel. he spoke to cnn earlier this week. >> if they go into rafah, i'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem. we're going to continue to make sure israel is secure in terms of iron dome and their ability to respond to attacks. >> reporter: but yesterday white house spokesman john kirby said something very different. he said israeli forces can go into rafah. >> we have never, ever, ever told them that they can't try to finish off the hamas battalions that are in rafah. we've never told them they can't operate in rafah. what we've told them is that the way they do it matters.

if. >> reporter: after president donald trump was impeached for withwith holding weapons to ukraine, house republicans are now returning the favor. congressman cory mills from florida has a drafted an ill e peach. resolution accusing president biden of withholding the weapons to israel despite 1200 people slaughtered on october 7th and 133 hostages including americans as a political maneuver to win votes in november. >> it's the really no different if you go back to what president biden had tweeted out previously, he said that withholding congressionally-appropriated aid for a return of a political gain is in some way a quid pro quo. he wants to win michigan, he wants to bander to the radical left. >> reporter: and while speaking at a fundraiser on the west coast, president biden said another gaffe. here's the official white house transcript which remains uncommitted. biden said, quote, we'll never

forget his love letters for the south korean president, kim jong un. of course, kim jong un is the dictator of north korea. president biden is currently flying back from the west coast to his beach house in delaware. jon? jon: i wonder if there's been any response from the south korean department of state on that little slip of the tongue. lucas tom lip soften at the white house, thanks. foreign policy could become a larger issue for president biden in the upcoming election, but polls show the top issues for voters remain the economy and immigration. for more on what's ahead, let's bring in lauren wright, she's an associate research scholar and lecturer in politics and public affairs at princeton university. i have to just get your reaction to the crowd that's awaiting the former president right now in wildwood, new jersey. what does that say to you as a political scientist?

>> and a new jersey resident, jon. we have 1.a 5 million republicans here in new jersey. that's a lot of republicans. of course, there's 2.5 million democrats, so he's got a lot of work to do. but it's not, you know, it's not as if republicans should not have campaign in blue states. i think what a horrible message to send, that certain candidates aren't allowed to appeal to certain groups. and so i think as a charlie said earlier, it sends kind of an interesting warning shot to democrats to say look at the crowds i can pull here. of course, i don't think trump has any if chance of winning new jersey, but we had a gubernatorial election in 2021 where jack chit rely got 48% of the vote is. he was the republican nominee. so i would never say to the candidate don't come here, and trump has roots in new jersey. he has a home here and property here. and so is in addition to to just the ease of it, of course it's a good message to send. he should try to win as a many

votes as possible. jon: let's take a look at some of the results of national polling which are interesting. the economy is almost always the number one issue in the any pressure presidential election, and and right now when asked which candidate will do the right thing to help the economy, 46 say trump, only 38% say biden. that's a pretty big gap for the former president to try to overcome between now and november. i'm sorry, i'm sorry, the sitting -- i said former president. i get a little confused sometimes. i meant the sitting president the try to overcome. >> i got it, i got it. but it's a great point of analysis because, as you said earlier, jon, on the issues voters care most about, biden is underwater. trump is doing very well. and so if that's not just a huge warning sign to democrats, i'm not sure what is. in addition to that, biden's messaging on the economy has been really confuse being, and

each democratic operatives -- confusing, and even democratic operatives have said it's not a clinton-style message of i know some things need improvement and i know people are suffering and here's what we're going to do to help. it's this continuous sort of shoving down the throats of the voters the message of things are actually better than you think they are. and every time we ask voters, they don't feel good about their prospect, they don't feel good about their ability to afford basic things, and they do look at the most germane comparison which is how much better off was i four years ago. can and on gas prices, on rent, on groceries, all of that is at least 20% more expensive, some of it's 50% pup more expensive. jon: and gas prices are spike again. >> right. jon: when asked which candidate you trust to handle inflation, 44% say donald trump would do a better job, 30 say joe biden. and that, perhaps, goes to the

issue you were talking about, president biden telling people that the economy is great, but they don't seem to believe him. and then this poll is interesting. what do you think is the most important issue facing the nation right now? 27% say it's immigration. 18% government, 17% say the economy and 13% inflation. but, you know, you want to talk about immigration, that's kind of trump's signature issue. we have about 10 seconds left. >> well, it is trump's signature issue. he's not remembered in the best ways for the child separation policy, but immigration, illegal immigration has absolutely surged, no question about it. and part of that was because of biden's pull factors. he welcomed illegal immigration with open arms, promised a more humane approach, and a lot of people we've interviewed have said as much. jon: lauren wright, princeton university, tanks. >> thank you. jon: we will have the very

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it's good to be moving on. watch me. move, look, and feel better. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. ♪ jon: former president trump set to speak at that beachfront rally along the jersey shore any minute now. we just got the word that the presidential -- or the former presidential motorcade is rolling in. these folks probably don't know that yet. they don't have a view of that from their position, but they are awaiting the former president to make some remarks, and when he steps up to the microphone, we will certainly take you there life. bryan llenas is live there in wildwood, new jersey, with the latest for us. bryan. >> reporter: jon, you mentioned the view of the majority of the folks here that a arrived probably tens of thousands of people here at this event can't even see the stage, yet they have been here for hours waiting for the former president. the doors opened here at noon.

the plane, trump force one, former president flew over his rally about an hour ago. it e sent this crowd into a frenzy. like i said, we've spoken the people who have been here wednesday, thursday afternoon waiting for a spot on the beach just to be here today. wildwood is in south jersey, it's pretty much a suburb of pennsylvania which is a battleground state. let's give you a sense here of that this crowd looks like. my photographer, nathan, is going to show you. this is what a typical trump rally, i would say, would look like. full, you've got a ton of people that have been here, like i said, for hours, but if we walk behind and take you through where the press is, this is the astounding part here. this is one of the largest trump callys i've ever been to in the -- rallies i've been to in the last five years or so. you can see just thousands of people in the back here, and most of those people can't see. there are no televisions set up for a lot of those folks in the middle, yet they are here joust hear the former president speak.

as to what he's going to say tonight, he went outh social earlier today, and he said, well, he said he wasn't going to pick nikki haley, his former u.n. ambassador, as vice president. he said that was, that she was not under consideration. that was after an axios with report came out and said that the trump campaign was with actively considering her. but then the next thing is really how much juice is the former president going to feel from this crowd, and is he going to be -- is he going to feed into that by talking about the trial in new york city. is he going do to talk about stormy daniels, is he going to talk about michael cohen who is set to testify on monday? particularly we do know he'll probably, most definitely, hit on the gag order: he has talked about that over and over again. the fact that he feels it's unfair that he's unable to attack cohen and daniels specifically, and they are allowed to go on social media and do the same. he mentioned this actually yesterday after court. take a listen.

>> what the judge did was amazing, actually. it was amazing. everybody can say whatever they want. they can say whatever they want, but i'm not allowed to say anything about anybody. it's a disgrace. >> reporter: the other thing we could potentially hear about today, obviously, the economy and immigration. but also a debate. we expect him to, again, call for a one-on-one debate with president biden anytime, anywhere, anyplace, as he has been saying now for the last month if or so. jon? jon: you've got to say hi to nate for me. he and i have done a lot of work together, and it's a good thing he's about a 6-6, because he can get that camera up there -- [laughter] >> reporter: yeah. he's got a ledge on op of that, and i'm not very tall. hey, nate. [laughter] jon: all right. surprising, you said some of those people have been waiting since wednesday for this event?

>> reporter: yeah. i spoke to a guy from south dakota who said he came out here wednesday, put a hair in the sand, and and he -- a chair in the sand, and he wanted to kind of mark his spot. he'd go sleep in his car, come back out again and was doing that to get a space. i spoke to another group of people who got here thursday night, and they slept on the beach. i mean, you know, we see this at rallies a lot. it's another level of enthusiasm and commitment to the former president. it's unlike anything you see at rallies. but i think this is obviously -- the reason why we're making this such a big deal and as you've noted the entire show, jon, this is his third campaign rally since this trial started, and there's more people here than ever before. so if that speaks to how people are reacting to his criminal trial, perhaps, you know, i think, you know, the images speak for themselves perhaps here, jon. jon: yeah. all right. bryan llenas at the trump rally in wildwood, new jersey. bryan, thank you.

>> thank you. jon: for more on the beachfront rally, let's bring back the managing director at mad global strategyst, also an adviser to -- strategies, also an advisor to senator j.d. vance. it occurs to me that the deep blue state of new jersey should be giving a thank you to the trump campaign for all of the economic activity that's being general rated there in wildwood by -- generated there in wildwood by this huge rally, jay with. >> people from montana, all over the country are coming there. you know, what strikes me most about this is this intensity. when you do political campaigns, one of the things you look at is who's got the most intense base. i don't know that there's any doubt that it's going to be the trump candidacy for this election, and perhaps that's a signal to the why joe biden seems to be allying himself with the far left of his party at every turn whether it's hamas if trying to criticize israel, whether it's siding with a gender studies major when he forgives student loans rather

than the pipe fitters and the laborers of this country. he continues to side with the left, and maybe it's because he's got an intensity problem on his side, and that's why he needs to bring that back up. jon: yeah, it does seem that whichever way the political winds are blowing, that seems to be the direction that the sitting president wants to turn. >> well, the political winds, but only the political winds as far as it's the far left is what i'm sensing. i don't know that that he really understands with that mainstream americans are going through, what they actually care about right now, and this is what -- when you're looking at the screen right here, that's what main if stream americans care about. these folks have been here since noon, some focus for day, they're having a great time. i don't know if i'd be with having a great time if i'd just been standing there. that really speaks to the intensity the former president has. jon jon we had quite a bit of rain the last couple of days in

the new york/new jersey area, so these folks have definitely gotten, you know, seen a few downpours. but the enthusiasm doesn't seem to be dampened at all. >> no. not at all. jon, you know, now, the former president is under a gag order regarding his new york case. can he dance around that? do you expect him to violate that gag order? what's he going to say? >> i think he'll come right up to the line and be as strong as he can on these types of issues as he always is. he'll probably use some clever names or some other things like that that he used to do, but i don't think he'll cross the line, is my sense. but i think he will go after joe biden quite a bit. i think these folks here are waiting for a lot of punchline ares. he's an entertainer. he's a person who likes to keep people on their toes. and what i think he really excels at is making sure that the mainstream pundits always clutch their pearls after this, because they do not understand what his appeal is. they can't understand who he

speaks to, and that's what he's going to do many times in the speech, is my prediction. jon: at the microphone now is doug burgum, the north dakota governor who campaigned against trump in the primaries and obviously now is a supporter. another supporter is a guy named j.d. vance who you know pretty well and has been -- well, both of these gentlemen, actually, have been tossed around as potential vice presidential nominees. what do you know about that? >> well, look, i think this is a process -- i've actually been through this a few times with other candidates, and this is a more informal process with donald trump as many things are than most other ones. i think there are several good candidates out there and, look, from senator vance's standpoint, if the president asks him, he'll be glad to serve. i think that would be an honor for anybody. but he hasn't had direction conversations with the president about this. this is a lot of media parlor games at the moment. donald trump's going to pick the

person who he thinks is going to blend the best with all these sham trials and also going to be able to prosecute the case for the trump presidency for the november election. whoever does that the best, in my opinion, is going to get the nod, and there's a bunch of good candidates for that. jon: let's check in -- jai, thanks. stick with us. we're expecting that former president trump is going to be taking to the microphone any minute if now as we watch doug doug burgum there at the microphone. lauren wright is still with us, lecturer in old politics and public affairs at princeton university. i imagine if, you know, that that there are politicians all over the country who are watching this rally, watching donald trump and trying to figure out what is the special sauce that makes him so exciting to these folks. >> well, i wrote a book about it called star power, and really when trump got into politics, he had nearly 100% name recognition. and that gives you a head and

shoulders advantage among all these other politicians who spend a ton of time and resources just trying to get people to recognize their name. on top of that, he really understands that politics in the is much more like show business than it is like anything else sometimes. and campaigning is exactly like that, it's entertainment. and so it really isn't a surprise with his background that he can i draw this kind of crowd. a lot of people just come to see what sort of outrageous thing he might say that day. jon: well, and his touch with ordinary americans is, i would say, reminiscent of bill clinton. i mean, bill clinton had a way of just appealing to, you know, blue collar folks and being a regular guy. donald trump, billionaire that he is, seems to be able to do that as well with the construction workers expect taxi drivers and anybody else, working class in new york city. >> that's certainly true. he's not polished, he's not

filtered. he speaks plainly. he speaks extemporaneously. his staff members often wish he would not do any of those things, but he does. he sort of whistles the his own tune. and i think one of the points you made e, jon, was really important just about all these split screens with trump and the trial in new york. one of the biggest advantages he has is that i don't think people actually care all that much about his legal troubles. in fact, in surveys it's among the lowest ranked priorities of voters. the split screen is crime that's rampant in new york and a top concern of voters and also all of these college protests which doug burgum, i think very poignantly so, brought up how strongly he supports israel and drew a contrast between trump and biden that way. jon: you mentioned doug burgum. does the north dakota governor's appearance here, does that

suggest he is leaping ahead in the vice presidential sweepstakeses? >> i mean, anyone's guess is as good as mine on the veep stakeses. but i think it is meaningful in a couple of ways. one, burgum is ideologically a little to the left of trump, so anyone more moderate than trump would be a great choice, and i don't think it's an accident that he's here in new jersey which is a very i blue state. jon, you know, but there are others as welsh senator tim scott -- >> yes. jon: -- also campaigned for the nomination and has become a big trump surrogate and supports -- supporter. >> yes. and so this question of how supportive are you of trump's position and, you know, continued lie about the 2020 election is a big deal for people running alongside him. tim scott stood by his senate vote on that day. however, he hasn't said anything since, and so that might be one of the questions where trump wants someone that's going to support every single thing he

says, and those positions are really alienating to a lot of voters even though a lot of people love him and will vote for him no matter what. jon: when you, you talk about the energy and the enthusiasm and you said in the segment a little while ago that, you know, president biden seems to be looking at the economy through rose-colored glasseses, you know, telling everybody that, hey, everything's, everything's great. bidenomics is working. although he doesn't like the call it bidenomics anymore. for a while he seemed to embrace that term. what's, what's he accomplishing with that tack? >> it is one of the most confusing aspects of the biden white house, to me, frankly, because trillions and trillions of dollars -- actually the about 8 times the size of the new deal, if you can believe that, and inflation-adjusted dollars is what biden was part of pushing through when he came into office.

and steve at ratner, obama's economic adviser said don't do it, it'll cause inflation. harry summers said don't do it -- larry summers said don't do it. every economic adviser of every political stripe said this will cause short-term inflation, and of course, it did. and so what's confusing about biden is he has the inflation reduction act, says i shouldn't have called it that because it really wasn't for that, it was uncapped energy credits and health care subsidies, and so he's doing things that are policy wise really impacting the economy, but he's casting aside blame for something he says he's responsible for at the same time he's claiming credit for spinnings -- things that are sometimes seen out of presidents' reach. so if anyone can make heads or tails of this economic message, let me know, because i don't see how it's working. jon: the the astute political observers were saying at the time the so-called inflation

reduction act was up for a vote, they were saying it is nothing of the kind. it's really -- >> exactly. jon: -- a pork barrel kind of a project. and i guess those chickens have come home to roost now. >> that's right. it's really unavoidable. and what's a little bit strange about it is biden came in with all of these priorities. one of them was we are going to push through environmental legislation to matter what. we don't care what people think, this is important to us. you know? we're going to set aside the traditional oil and gas, and we're going to pursue this even though americans, frankly, in most survey es say they don't want as many electric vehicles. they're really concerned about the green economy, as biden calls it, taking their jobs. and now he's saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know, i'm not responsible for think of that -- any of that when it's one of the most central planks of his policy agenda.

again, the setting aside of blame is a little bit strange to watch, and i've seen presidents of both parties do a lot of credit-claiming and blaming. this is an awful hot even for me as someone who looks at these things very closely. swrp jon yeah. want to go back to jai. jai, you know, most of us remember that on day one of the biden presidency one of the key things he did is, you know, take out his pen and sign a big stack of documents undoing much of what then-president trump had done regarding the border. well, now when you look at the polls, the border and the immigration situation is one of the fop concerns among the facts that, you know, there are tens of thousands of chinese men of military age who have just kind of walked across the border into this country, and that is starting to catch people's attention. >> 100. this is a huge issue around the

country and, yes, undoing that is directly on the biden administration. they've got blood on their hands, quite frankly. look, i'm doing a race right now i in west virginia, and the fentanyl problem that has invaded west virginia has been tremendous. i mean, it has literally killed people, and has a lot of chinese fentanyl coming through the border. it also peek intos to an -- speaks to an issue about a safety. when you talk about suburban women in some of these polls, that's a place where republicans have to do better, and they've lost some ground with suburban women. the issue of safety, the everybody slue of the border -- issue of the border still rings high with those folks too. and it's something that even state that are not on the border, they are affected by it. they feel it, they see it, they understand it's fundamentally unfair, and this is one of those big issues that's going to kick against the biden administration and probably result in trump's presidency. jon: do you think that these prosecutors who have brought these many, many cases against the former president are

starting to wish that they had just left them alone are, left him alone? >> well, here's the thing about the prosecutors, are prosecutors are mostly political animals, so anytime they get their name in light or name in print, they probably are very happy about it. but you know who i think is probably wishing they wouldn't have done it in democratic party officials who are a starting to see the backlash in some of these swing states, the pennsylvanias, the nevadas, the arizonas, the michigans. we talked about it at the top of the show, how people have lost faith in these big institutions. no more so than the legal system, and that is an issue that regular americans all across america and especially in these purple states are starting to see. so while the prosecutors, it's no skin off their back, they get to be farther left and get campaign donations from act a blue. the problem's going to be for these electoral college states that are really important for the biden white house, and i think it's going to work against them. scwp, you know, yeah. alvin bragg, the district

attorney in manhattan who seems to be, well, pro-cashless bail and a lot of people say criminal-friendly, he was happy to let a bunch of illegal immigrants who beat up new york city cops, he was happy to let them walk out of jail without posting bail, but he does want to prosecute if a former president. >> well, look, and when with you go to new york city, and i know you're in new york city and it's, you know, something very near and tear to your heart. but when i visit new york city, it's not the same place when i was there before, and that is directly a result of the democratic politics. there's no ifs, ands or buts about it. we've seen this in democratic cities across the country. and, look, sometimes crime rates are going if the right -- in the right direction right now, but that always changes in the summer months. the jury's till out -- jon: all right. jai, thank you. still awaiting former president trump. we'll be back in a moment. ♪

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