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Running until the final election results come in for the battle between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the Deadline ElectionLine podcast spotlights the 2024 campaign and the blurred lines between politics and entertainment in modern America. Hosted by Deadline political editor Ted Johnson and executive editor Dominic Patten, the podcast features commentary and interviews with top lawmakers and entertainment figures from the White House to Sunset Blvd, and all points in-between.
“The moderators are not the story, it is about the candidates,” says CNN’s Dana Bash of her guiding principle when it comes to debates, presidential and otherwise. “What they say, what they believe, how they interact, how they present themselves to the voter.”
Just days away from Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s contentious first debate and first ever meeting on September 10 on ABC, Inside Politics host and America’s Deadliest Election co-author Bash tells the Deadline ElectionLine podcast that when it comes to such match-ups “the best we can do is to facilitate that and stay out of the way.” – take a listen above.
In a topsy turvy election where democracy itself is on the ballot in the eyes of many, the co-moderator of that seismic July 27 debate between Trump and Joe Biden speaks from experience. In addition to the CNN hosted debate, which resulted in Biden stepping aside a month later, Bash last week snagged this campaign’s first interview with Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
“She’s been vice president for almost four years, but she’s been the understudy,” Bash states of Harris, who rocketed to nail down the Democrats’ nomination unopposed in a matter of hours after Biden dropped out on July 21 and quickly endorsed her. “So, I just wanted to get like basics, Bash asserts of her goal for the quicky arranged August 29 interview. “I looked at it as foundational. What do you support? How do you view the way that you are going to lead vis a vis how you’re doing it now, with Joe Biden and you have made some changes on some pretty big issues that are really determinative in places like Pennsylvania, which she and her campaign believe she must win.”
Jumping from 2024 to the post-Civil War era, Bash and David Fisher’s newly released America’s Deadliest Election takes readers back to the blood-soaked Louisiana gubernatorial election of 1872 and its crushing effect on Reconstruction and civil rights for Black Americans for almost 100 years. “The whites who lost the Civil War and were still reeling from losing their quote, unquote, ‘unique way of life’ …figured a way around it,” Bash notes of Reconstruction and greater equality in America. “And the big way around it was intimidation, disenfranchisement, violence and downright murder,” she adds.
Seasoned journalist Bash also talks with us about where she thinks America is right now in one of the most consequential elections in modern America history, and where we could be in the next few weeks.
Where the country ends up could have a lot to do with the Harris and Trump debate in Philadelphia.
As first and perhaps only presidential debate between Harris and Trump approaches, the former president has accelerated his attacks on host network ABC, as well as a top Disney executive and some of its news personalities.
Trump’s griping is not necessarily a sign that he is ready to back out of the event. Rather, it is long tested part of his playbook, “working the refs” to claim bias should things not go well for him. Certainly, unlike the late June debate on CNN with a meandering and soon-to-exit Biden, Trump is the older candidate this time round, with Harris casting her campaign as one of the future vs. the past.
There’s also the unknown factor of Disney-owned channels like ABC going dark on DirecTV on September 1, with no serious talks on the horizon. Even though the primetime Linsey Davis and David Muir hosted debate between Harris and Trump will be simulcast on NBC, CBS and others, it may will be the host ABC who may lose out on a chunk of the viewership.
Remember, you can keep up on all political news here on Deadline and our ElectionLine hub. In fact, we’ve even put together a schedule of major events, like the September 10 debate, in the final stretch to November 5 and beyond – check it out here.
Stick with ElectionLine all the way through the Harris vs. Trump debate, potential October surprises and then Election Day. Subscribe to the Deadline ElectionLine podcast on Spotify, Apple Music, iHeart and all podcast platforms.
