Brooks and Atkins Stohr on if there's a double standard for what Trump and Harris say

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Boston Globe columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr join Geoff Bennett to discuss the week in politics, including Donald Trump getting a political reprieve after the judge overseeing his New York criminal case delays his sentencing, if there’s a double standard for what Trump and Harris say and former Vice President Dick Cheney announces he’s voting for Harris.

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Geoff Bennett: Donald Trump is granted a political reprieve after the judge overseeing his New York criminal case delays his sentencing, as Kamala Harris picks up some new Republican support.

On that and more, we turn tonight to the analysis of Brooks and Atkins Stohr. That’s New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Boston Globe columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Jonathan Capehart is away this evening.

Great to see you both.

Kimberly Atkins Stohr, The Boston Globe: Good to see you.

David Brooks: Good to see you.

Geoff Bennett: So, as I just said, former President Donald Trump will not be sentenced in his New York criminal case until after Election Day. The judge in that case, Juan Merchan, explained that his decision to delay the sentencing was in part to avoid any appearance of affecting the outcome of the presidential race.

Kimberly, I will come to you on this one first, because, in addition to being a political analyst and an opinion writer, you’re also a former trial attorney. Did Judge Merchan get this right?

Kimberly Atkins Stohr: I think that he did.

Look, he could have gone either way. I think there are arguments in either direction, just to keep the sentencing where it was or to push it off. But one thing a judge wants to do is to make sure the rulings that he makes stick. And I think the fewer — the less obfuscation or appeals or kerfuffle that can happen before the election, the better.

It doesn’t really do that much difference to put it off after the election. Remember, we’re not talking about a likely prison sentence here. We are talking about something that’s going to be below that, maybe at best probation, some fines.

So I think it was the right decision just to keep it out of the political sphere entirely.

Geoff Bennett: David, you could argue, though, that this does affect the election in the sense that Donald Trump’s criminal convictions likely won’t be at the forefront of the campaign in the final weeks to Election Day.

And delay has been a feature of each of his criminal cases.

David Brooks: Yes, I’d have to believe it will affect the election if I had any evidence that any of these trials has affected the polling. And I just haven’t seen that during the indictment phase, even during the investigation phase, when the FBI went to Mar-a-Lago in that case, and then when the conviction in New York, potentially with a sentencing.

Just haven’t seen that much movement. People have their views of Donald Trump’s morality pretty much locked down. And the people who are going to decide the election are not high-engagement voters. And sometimes for those of us in this business, it’s worth reminding ourselves that sometimes it could be misleading to follow the campaign day to day, because we think, oh, things are happening.

But for most voters, nothing’s happening. They’re not paying attention to any of it. They’re looking at the fundamentals. Who’s going to be better on the economy? Who’s better on foreign policy? Who’s better for me? And so a lot of these events, they just come and go.

Geoff Bennett: Yes.

Well, Donald Trump is drawing attention for the way that he answered a question about his childcare plan yesterday. He was asked at the Economic Club of New York how he would handle childcare legislation if elected president. Here is part of his nearly-two-minute long answer.

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: I think, when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that — because childcare is childcare.

It couldn’t — there’s something — you have to have it. In this country, you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to, but they will get used to it very quickly.

And it’s not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they will have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we’re talking about, including childcare, that it’s going to take care of it.

Geoff Bennett: Kimberly, your reaction to what you heard there?

Kimberly Atkins Stohr: To paraphrase the former president from his debate, I don’t know what he said and I don’t think he understands what he said either.

Listen, childcare is a gimme question on the campaign trail for a presidential candidate. It’s something that everyone cares about. Access to affordable childcare is one of the key points to our economy. And the fact that he starts wandering off in thoughts about tariffs and China that have absolutely nothing to do with it shows he either has no plan or he hasn’t given this any thought, or both.

I also think, if the Democratic Party had a family talk about the cognitive abilities of Joe Biden, then it’s a long past time that the Republican Party confront the same thing about Donald Trump, because something’s going on there.

Geoff Bennett: And, David, there’s the way that he said what he said, but there’s also the substance of what he was saying, this notion that tariffs will take care of childcare costs, to use his phrasing.

So we should say Donald Trump is floating a 10 percent across-the-board tariff on everything that’s imported into the U.S. And economists across the political spectrum have basically said that is a tax on consumers that will raise costs across the board.

But what’s your take on what he said and how he said it?

David Brooks: Yes, I mean, this is — we can’t blame this on cognitive decline, because he’s been not understanding tariffs for about 10 years now.

And so he thinks somehow you put a tariff on, we’re — the Chinese are going to pay for it. But, as you just said, the American consumer is going to pay. And Kamala Harris has said this will raise American costs $3,600 a year for each family.

And so he just doesn’t understand what a tariff is, because — and he doesn’t understand his basic fundamental policy. There have been a lot of bad policy ideas thrown around, as there always are in a general election campaign. I’m not a fan of some of the way Kamala Harris wants to realize — wants to tax unrealized capital gains, which strikes me as economic mystery.

But the single worst policy idea on the table before us is the Trump tariffs. That will definitely raise costs, raise inflation, really be a tremendous setback to the economy.

And he just says it because it sounds good because he’s being tough on China. So a lot of policies that are floating out there, they’re not about the policy. They’re about sending some sort of emotional image. And that’s what Donald Trump manipulates.

Geoff Bennett: And, Kimberly, back to your point about the asymmetry in this race, the double standard, where President Biden can mistakenly refer to the president of Egypt as he meant to say the president of Mexico, and that adds to this narrative that ultimately drove him from the race.

Donald Trump can rant at a rally or ramble through a statement like that, and it’s largely ignored. What do you see as the practical effect of that?

Kimberly Atkins Stohr: Well, I think if — as people see it more and more, especially juxtapose Kamala Harris, which, whether you like her policies or not, she is laying out policies. She is speaking in complete sentences and paragraphs about her vision for the American future.

And you see Donald Trump asked a question, again, about childcare, something that impacts all of us, and he cannot seem to stay on track about that, thinking about leading a nation at a time, at this current time when we do want to keep the economy on track, when there are threats, both domestically and foreign

I think seeing this again — people sort of forgot about Trump for a while. I think seeing this again is a stark reminder that there is a clear, clear division, a clear difference in this area.

Geoff Bennett: Well, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney this week said that she’s voting for Kamala Harris, that, in her words, there’s never been an individual in our country who is as grave a threat to our democracy as Donald Trump is.

And then, today, speaking at the Texas Tribune Festival, she said that her father, the former Vice President Dick Cheney, is voting for Kamala Harris too. Take a listen.

Question: Dick Cheney, your father, a beloved figure among Democrats for many, many years…

(Laughter)

Question: … do you, if you know who he will be supporting or who he will be voting for, do you care to share with us who he might be voting for?

Fmr. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY): Dick Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris.

(Cheering)

(Applause)

Geoff Bennett: So, Dick Cheney, stalwart conservative, no one can accuse him of being a RINO Republican in name only. He served, I think, four Republican presidents, if memory serves me correctly.

What do you see as the significance of their dual support for Kamala Harris?

David Brooks: Who knows. Maybe he’s swinging left. He’s going to move to Park Slope. He’s going to come in hippie.

(Laughter)

David Brooks: No.

Geoff Bennett: That, I’d like to see.

(Laughter)

David Brooks: For a lot of Republicans, character comes before policy.

And I think the Cheneys are among those Republicans and there were a lot of Bush Republicans for whom that was just an article of faith. The other interesting thing is about how interesting a decade the 2010s was, when the Republicans had a total hostile takeover from outsiders, Trump and MAGA.

And so it left all the Bush people I know, like, we can’t support this, not all, but 80 percent of the Bush people. And President Bush and Dick Cheney are among them. The Democrats had an attempted hostile takeover from Bernie Sanders, but it didn’t take. And so they’re a party that’s still unified, and the MAGA is a party that’s left behind a lot of people like Dick Cheney, and a lot — not only Dick Cheneys, but suburban Republicans who voted for Bush and Cheney.

Geoff Bennett: Do you think an endorsement — or maybe it’s not officially an endorsement.

Kimberly Atkins Stohr: Right.

Geoff Bennett: Do you think the show of support will make a difference?

Kimberly Atkins Stohr: I think that it can, as David said, in a certain segment. Zillennials probably don’t even know who Dick Cheney is.

But if you’re talking to people, disaffected Republicans who might — are considering either holding their nose and voting for Trump or maybe staying home, it’s showing them that there is another way. If they don’t like what Trump stands for and what he wants, there’s a way in this election to do something different and try to eliminate him from the political arena entirely.

Geoff Bennett: Does the support from the Cheneys make it harder for a George W. Bush to stay on the sidelines, or does it make it harder for a Chris Christie, a Chris Sununu, or a Bill Barr, for that matter, to say that Kamala Harris is worse?

David Brooks: No. Bush doesn’t — he loves it on the sidelines. Bush seems to be the happiest guy on Earth on the sidelines.

I think I’d just emphasize something Kimberly said, which is a lot of people are like, I can’t vote for these people. I can’t vote for either of these people. Cheney gives a little permission structure to people, OK, I’m not just going to sit it out. I’m going to vote for Kamala Harris. I need to step up and save our republic from this.

And so I think it will help with a certain segment on that point.

Geoff Bennett: We have got about a minute left.

Just quickly, what are you watching for in the debates next Tuesday?

Kimberly Atkins Stohr: I really hope that they talk about the Supreme Court. I was disappointed that we did not see that last time.

But I think, overall, so long as Kamala Harris keeps her prosecutor stance and — that she will be able to handle Donald Trump.

David Brooks: I think so, but I’m not sure. She hasn’t done it, so you don’t know.

For Donald Trump, everything’s an alpha male dominance contest. And so he’s going to try to do body language, screaming. He’s going to try to do everything just to look bigger. He is physically a lot bigger than she is. And he’s going to use that.

Whether it comes across as obnoxious or aggressive and manly, well, I probably already have my opinion on that one.

Geoff Bennett: All right, we will have special coverage on Tuesday night.

David Brooks and Kimberly Atkins Stohr, thanks so much. Have a great weekend.

Kimberly Atkins Stohr: You too.

David Brooks: Thank you.