This is Brian Laird's Daily Politics Podcast from WNYC Studios.

It's Wednesday, October 30th.

I'm Tiffany Hanson.

Filling in for Brian today, Brian will be here, however, tonight for a two-hour special on the election and the

media, starting at 8 o'clock. That is America. Are we ready? Brian joined by Brooke Gladstone and

Michael Lowinger from On the Media. That conversation happening at 8 o'clock tonight. We're obviously

less than a week away from the presidential

election. I doubt that has failed to cross your radar. Candidates making their closing arguments

to voters, polls show a deeply divided electorate. There is much being said on all sides about

what will happen if the other candidate wins. Plus, believe it

or not, some voters are now, just now, tuning in to the political conversation in an effort to make

an informed decision on election day. So with us to talk about the state of the race. Now six days out

from election is Philip Bump, a national columnist for the Washington Post,

and the author of The Aftermath, The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America.

That book came out last year.

Hi, Philip.

Welcome back.

Happy to be here.

Philip, let's just start with that rally this past weekend on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

Did it really signal a final phase for the Trump campaign that we could take note of?

Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure if there was sort of a dividing line before and after the rally beyond the comments that you just made, which I assume we're going to get into more.

But, yeah, I mean, I think it was sort of a distillation of the way in which the campaign has run.

...