that is who i am supporting. >> if you want a friend, go to washington, get a dog. the rest of the summer and the fall. >> i'm sure you're getting flooded with all the messages. talking all over the country and as people had back in on sunday evening. that does it for us. a lot ahead with brett there and martha continuing our coverage now. >> joe biden is out of the race.

the president making that announcement just a few hours ago. the first president since 1968 to not seek reelection. good evening. >> good evening, everybody. i am martha maccallum joining you. this decision comes literally after dozens of democrats pressured the current president to step aside. it really all started the ball rolling on june 27 with the first debate against former president trump >> a lot of people called that a disastrous debate for president joe biden. here is a statement released just before 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. it has been the greatest honor my life to serve as your president and while it has been my intention to seek reelection i believe he is in the best interest with the party and country to stand down and focus solely down on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.

>> two separate statements. a statement that came moments after that, president biden endorse kamala harris to become the party's nominee. how the top of the democratic ticket will end up is not settled. we'll gather here this afternoon others including former president obama are silent on this issue. instead, leaving it in an open question and pointing to " unchartered waters" for the party in the days ahead. >> getting into the weeds of all that and out the process goes forward, let's bring in peter ducey live on the north lawn. peter, there been many days of news in recent weeks. this is another massive newsday. >> it is huge and it is a surprise because it is so different from what president biden himself was saying as recently as friday.

he will be out on the campaign trail this week. we just did not know he must be out camping for his vice president. vice president does have a statement, kamala harris says with this selfless and patriotic act president biden is doing what is done throughout his life in service. putting the american people in our country above everything else. as recently as last night, president biden digging in according to a report that outlined his frustration with speaker pelosi and barack obama for not doing more to stop the democratic party mutiny against him. president biden fighting staying in the race just last week saying he did initially wanted to be a bridge to another generation of democrats. he did not think it was a good time to hang things off while the country is so polarized. the pressure on president biden really started building after

that shaky debate which happened way earlier than normal because his campaign thought that it was going to help them. we now see that it did not. the president is that his beach house. the vice president spoke multiple times in private before the president dropped out. we learnt he told senior staffers who were working as recently as this morning to reelect president biden at the top of the ticket about 1:45 p.m. just a few minutes before the dropout announcement came. >> you know, peter, it will be a logistics challenge to figure out if they will have this race. you know, obviously, with the vice president getting the president's endorsement, she said in her statement the intention is to earn and when this culmination. to get the majority of the delegates in these delegates, democrat delegates, now as he steps aside, no delegates are pledged to him. they are kind of open. have to get a majority of the pledged delegates in roll call

vote. we just saw that at the rnc on monday. is there thinking that there will be this race that other people will throw their hat in the ring or will they try to coalesce democrats quickly over the next day or two? >> it seems there is a coalescing happening. president biden is doing something for kamala harris that barack obama did not do for him. barack obama did not endorse his vice president joe biden when he ran for president in 2020. he was endorsing more of an open process and at the time biden claimed he did not want obama's endorsement. on friday, the dnc had this virtual meeting and somebody asked the rules committee of the dnc and the convention, is it possible for somebody to challenge president biden ahead of the convention? the answer was that somebody can

put their name forward as a challenger as long as they have the verified support of hundreds of delegates. they just said they needed hundreds of delegates. it is possible that somebody comes forward and challenges harris and that it is not like a coronation, but we do not know who that is. right now, kamala harris has the benefit of having the entire political operation helping her. there is nobody else out there right now out there whipping support for themselves as a challenger. that could change because this is so new, but there is not another player right now with the political operation, at least not publicly who is out there saying, okay, we will have this virtual nomination. you have to do it by august 7, that is me on the first ballot and we will go from there.

>> signatures from at least 300 delegates to become a candidate. throwing their hat in the ring. we will see. we will see if that happens in coming days. peter ducey on the north lawn, thank you. martha: peter, quick question for you. i am curious about the communication between president biden and his vice president kamala harris. his staff taken by surprise about this decision as early as midday today, do we have any information on when he called the vice president, if you told her in that call that he would be endorsing her. >> we know that the two of them talked a few times privately today before this public announcement went out. we don't know exactly how it shook out, but it does seemed like they had some sort of a heads up that this was going to happen. >> do you think she knew on friday when she was ice cream shopping in that video that we

saw? >> it would seem that she did not know on friday. friday is when they put the campaign manager on msnbc for 20 minutes to explain it's been a tough couple of weeks, but they do not see biden motors moving over to trump so they did not think that it was that bad. >> peter, thank you, very much. >> let's bring in fox news chief political analyst. coanchor of america's newsroom in the five. i heard you earlier. just put it in perspective here. what we are witnessing. just three weeks ago that debate and since then the cataclysmic events and politics that have happened including the assassination attempt on former president and now the president dropping out of this nomination. >> i am old now, brett. only working part-time. i would not want to miss this.

i have never seen such a firehose of news in such a short period of time as i have here. a precedent for a resident getting shot at. i was a young man when that happened with lyndon johnson in 1968 so it's been a long time. this is all really quite remarkable. >> it has been remarkable. it is hard to believe, great to be together when we were out in milwaukee. we all wonder when this moment was going to happen. yes, it came today around 1:45 p.m. eastern time here on the east coast. we are gathered to cover it. an astonishing secret of events. it was last saturday that butler pennsylvania happens. convention in between them biden is out. this is such a fast-moving story , dana. i have been watching your coverages afternoon.

tell me what your thoughts are as you look at this obviously torturous decision for the president, for president biden that he made this afternoon. >> i've been thinking a lot about self-inflicted wounds. i believe that joe biden and his family and his senior team and the vice president and the former speaker nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, they were all basically trying to sell america what i called the lemon law campaign. they knew he was not capable of being able to do this. i don't know if they thought he could get through the election and they would somehow turn it over or they were delusional enough that they believed he could do it. he was the one that said i will do the debate and i will go after trump. that was just the beginning of the very quick and. i think we knew that week of july 2 it would end at some point. and then when president trump was nearly killed last saturday but hops back up, fist in the

air saying fight, fight, fight, usa and then basically produces the most amazing republican convention that we have had in memory, bringing a new tenant together, the republicans have the wind at their back, they are united, they are moving forward. that all accelerated this decline. i think there was one pole today in michigan. michigan was the state biden steam he had to wait in order to get to 270 electoral votes. i think trump was up seven today in michigan. i think the democrats were like, it is not, it does not seem logical to pull off the 27 of june after that debate. as the flames got hotter and hotter, doing something to save yourself seem to make a lot more sense. at this point, if the new team wins he can be looked at as somebody who is a hero. if the new team loses, he can always tell himself and his

family try to say he would've done that better. >> trying to digest this decision. clearly forced in this moment by not only the 37 plus democrats on capitol hill, but the money was drying up. the donors were revolting in this decision happen. now there seems to be this wish to coalesce around vice president harris geared the cleanest way to move forward. however, there is potentially a process here. you have a senator endorsing vice president harris, mark kelly from arizona fairly moderate in the democrat party. jeff congressman jim kleinberg who was first to suggest a mini primary and not just anointing vice president harris. now he says he and -- is endorsing vice president harris. >> first off, thank you for having me. this is the day that many of us probably should not be surprised by this decision.

it had to be hard. obviously it was courageous. i think a lot of democrats are viewing president biden for making the decision, arriving at it. the fact that he was able to arrive better. now, we have to be honest about where we are. politics was a big part why president biden decided not to accept the nomination of his party which he won. we have to think about democrats we have to think about the politics of film the next person should be. i know vice president harris is certainly worthy. i think a process is one that should take place. those delegates have an opportunity. at some point i heard we would all get a prize and learn about the nomenclature of delegates and so forth. 4000 or so delegates that will have the first decision.

i like how vice president harris has handled it so far. she says she wants to make her case to the country. on the other side of heard a lot of talk about what president trump and senator vance are thinking. this is a different race for them today. most of the country does not know kamala harris. they are not as invested in it as many of us are the vice president harris has a very short period of time to introduce and reintroduce herself to the country because she will be looked at by more eyeballs and looked at more serious scrutiny than she ever has. her first public statement, her first public outing will be the most important public outing in her lifetime. she will have an opportunity to dispel people and perhaps reverse some of the things that have been said about her and some of the things she has been portrayed as in the press. i would've thought she would've been out in the public somewhere around people somewhere.

hopefully that comes in the near term. this is a very different race. president trump and senator vance, vice president harris extension to the top are now being considered the top of the ticket. it is a different race for the country now. it will be a wonderful next few weeks as democrats have an opportunity to go through this process. >> thank you. panel, standby, if you would. >> joining us now is it debbie dingell. good to have you with us this afternoon. we are all watching history unfold here. president joe biden has just told the country that he will not stand for reelection. a number of huge events in terms of who this ticket will be. who was behind it? >> you know, i suspect it has not been one factor. i think we have seen three weeks that have been some of the most historical and longest that i've seen.

some of those are what is making me very angry as democrats have had their circling firing squad. i want to thank president biden for his service as president. we have been up close for many years. i think private discussion should be private discussions. i think that it was probably many factors into this decision today. i respect him. he has announced his endorsement of vice president harris. i therefore have come out and endorsed her this afternoon. i was just listening.

harold is right. we have delegates that would make the selection. she's got to go out and people have to support her. people will be for her. i think that she is capable. we have to listen to the millions of people that voted for biden harris ticket. for us today supporting her. people need to feel that there is a transparent process. martha: congresswoman, thank you for being on. a number of factors that went into this decision including polls in your home state of michigan which seem to have shifted in recent days. it is a breakneck change into one day, two days ago from

officials that should've known what was happening. take a listen. >> i support joe biden. he is still in this race. he will be the nominee if he stays in the race. i think all of us need to look for ways to coalesce around that candidacy. >> the biden harris team ticket can be donald trump in america needs them to be donald trump. >> people are not moving from joe biden to donald trump. what they are doing is they are saying to us is can you do it and the president is saying yes, i can. >> local people out there saying you had to get out of the race. donors out left and said i'm not giving you money. the push now comes from if he is dropping out of the race, why should he not leave the white house for five months as commander-in-chief. we are in a very dangerous place around the world. that is what many republicans are saying tonight.

>> i will answer that question very directly and then i want you to go back to the poll question. i was with them for more than an hour one on one last week. he was focused and as capable as i have ever known him to be. a variety of political circumstances. causing him to come to this point. i have seen absolutely nothing that implicates you cannot serve out the remainder of his presidential term, to which he was elected for. a lot of republicans are being very political today. they managed help create a lot of chaos and that is what we have to remind them. chaos or actually getting a job done. i know he is capable of being president and should remain president. i also want to say i am the one that said donald trump will win

michigan and everybody thought i was crazy because the polls showed exactly something other than that. holes are snapshots of time. holes don't bow. i gave up on polls years ago. michigan is competitive. we will have to roll up our sleeves. those polls mean nothing. >> at a town hall with hilary clinton and bernie sanders. you said this is going bernie sanders way and this is going donald trump's way. you sent up that red flag within your party. you think it is still that way today? >> i think that this is a brand-new race. i think we should be giving him his due. there we need to go from here. i think she will run a strong race and all of us will be very strong in making what the contrast is betweep is trying -i

think we will hear a lot about it between now and then. >> congresswoman. >> yes, go ahead. >> my question is about the chaos you are speaking about. did democrats in many ways create this chaos as well? president biden creating it as well. they have had an incredible division here. in terms of, those sticking by him. the signals he has been sending. now you are part of the party saying theodore's kamala harris. president obama will not articulate support for kamala harris in this race. it seems that there is a lot of chaos coming from the democrat side of it in this case. >> again, the president had a bad debate night and a lot of questions came up. thoughts have been expressed

privately. beginning to really concern me. i'm calling for an open nominator as people need to know kamala before they are asked to vote for her. i do. the man that i trust that he was supporting her and i felt for my personal reasons that i was going to say that is why we support. they have, he is a first person to say that she is in. everybody there knows there needs to be a process. they are not in any way -- i endorsed joe biden early when he was a candidate it we have to go convince all of the delegates.

>> biden for president campaign officially filing paperwork this afternoon to rename themselves harris for president. it seems like there is this coalescing. you're not ready to fully endorse vice president harris right now. >> i put out a statement this afternoon that i endorsed her for president. my endorsement is not shoving it down people's throats. i endorsed candidates when i think that they are the right candidates. i endorsed her because president biden who was nominated by millions of people asked us to. she was already on that ticket. millions of people voted for her as part of that ticket. >> congresswoman, you call that democrats putting dives into joe biden's back. would you like to elaborate on that? >> i just think that i am

someone that just believes that loyalty matters. i just think that there were some things that did not need to be said publicly. i just think that it began to pile on. >> was out because he was digging in and he would not leave? is that what it took? you start to hear from nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. i'm sure they would've loved to keep it all behind closed doors. >> a lot of people are reading into what was there and what was not there. i do know that we've got to be unified if we will win in november. i think you will see democrats unify because there will be a very thin contrast in the two candidates. bret: okay. last thing. do you think anyone will run against her? i understand you've endorsed her , others are endorsing her, you think anybody else will throw their hat in the ring

before chicago? >> people have that right. we have a democratic process and anyone that wants to run should be able to say they are running and go out and work as hard. >> 's or somebody that you think will? >> i do not know of anybody right now but there are couple names i still here. let's see. >> congresswoman debbie dingell, we'll really appreciate you coming on. >> thank you. bret: robert kennedy junior speaking just hours after president biden dropped out of the race. let's listen in. >> fran's rights and et cetera. the big existential issues that are actually facing our country. the biggest of these perhaps is the national debt. now $34 trillion. the service on that debt alone is now greater than our military budget. within five years $0.50 on every

dollar that we collect will go to servicing that debt. within 10 years, 100%. this is not sustainable. president biden on his webpage has no policy issues addressing this or any other policy. he has a picture of himself saying we will finish the job. he does not tell what job he will finish. the job of running up the deficit until it's completely on a sustainable insulting the american people should know about, president biden cannot talk about it in president trump cannot talk about it because they are the ones responsible. trump came to office saying he would run the presidency as a business. he was going to balance the federal budget. instead he ran up in a trillion dollar debt. more than all the presidents

combined. >> robert f kennedy junior t the issues there about warmer president trump. started by talking about president biden dropping out of this race. he is still very much in this race. some of the swing states that about 10%. martha: alexis mcadams is live in grand rapids michigan where former president trump and jd vance held their first rally last night together. >> an insane new cycle. we were here covering that rally we took a short break and saw that on xp at president biden saying he will no longer be in the running for president 2024. this all now breaking. people in the battleground states think they were not surprised about this news. just wondering exactly when biden would drop out. it is a waiting game for people here in this swing state.

just a short while ago, hours ago, former president trump sat down with our jesse waters for an exclusive interview that will air later tonight saying it does not matter who the democrats pick him to run against the will win anyway. >> they will cook up something at the convention. they may throw gretchen whitmore at you. they may throw gavin with -- avenue samet you. they may throw michelle obama at you. >> they have an open border policy. they have a bad military policy. their world is going woke. spending all our money on things that do not work. the whole thing is a mess. if we don't win this election we may never have another election. this may be our last election. >> the former president stayed focus on that message of unity here in the battle ground state of michigan as he looked forward to his path back to the white

house. april trump super pack is out slamming kamala harris in a new ad saying she was in on this whole thing a new president joe biden was unfit to run for president anyway. >> kamala was in on a. she covered up joe's obvious mental decline. >> our president is in good shape and good health. >> i have no doubt about the strength of the work that we have done. >> just moments ago trump's vice presidential pick jd vance saying biden is not fit to serve the rest of his term. posting this on xp had joe biden has been the worst president in my lifetime. kamala harris has been right there with them every step of the way. over the last four years she cosigned biden's open border scam policies that drove up the cost of housing and groceries. she owns all of these failures into light for nearly four years about biden's mental capacity saddling the nation with the president that cannot do the job president trump and i are ready

to save america. whoever is at the top of that democratic ticket, bring it on. i can tell you jd vance going back to his home state of ohio. he will be there tomorrow for rallies and also in virginia. trying to turn that blue state is bright red is a can. trump will be in charlotte we are told by both campaigns this will not change. their plans will continue. we will keep you posted. >> state to state. thank you. good to see you. bret: let's bring back our powell -- let's bring back our panel. katie, your thoughts on this day monumental. >> i just keep thinking about the convention we will be covering here in a couple of weeks. the idea that they are still not unified after the republicans came to the rnc convention ready to go. i cannot help thinking back to the previous election where kamala harris was a primary candidate. then became the vp nominee.

now she is in this position with the president of the united states is stepping aside and saying she should be the one to take over the campaign had i think that that is pretty amazing. look at the way the trump campaign is reacting, there are dozens of tweets already up on the internet of clips from that election cycle and also highlighting again her record as a senator. plenty of material for them to go through. especially highlighting that they'll fund that let violent criminals out of prison. highlighting her situation on the border where she says the borders are has not solved our problem. they are digging in and you will see a lot more of that in the future the next coming weeks and also against other coming candidates as they throw their hat in the ring. >> a few days ago we were saying it will be a jd vance kamala harris debate. won't that be interesting.

now we are at a point where we do not know who president trump will be debating or who jd vance will be debating. this is really incomplete of people in real chaos today. >> last tuesday when we were in milwaukee, we were on the five and i said, wait, if i were vance, i would not commit to a debate with kamala harris because she may not end up being the vice presidential nominee. we just knew something was going to happen. something was in the water. it is interesting how in disarray the democrats were. just this morning you at the democratic state party chairs of these states, pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, north carolina, nevada and michigan all issue a joint letter saying biden should stay in the race. even while biden is huddled with his top campaign of white house officials, those state party chairs were asked to put their

neck out again to do the lemon law election. biden also did not say why he has withdrawn. i am also curious about this. this is such a big announcement at a big moment and if he is recovering from covid in a way that makes them so frail or so week that he cannot address the nation right now, i think we should know that. >> that is a good point. why do you think you are leaving the race? was it the polling, was it the frailty, was it the fact your own party was walking away? we deserve to know that. very interesting to hear from congresswoman dingle. we heard a statement from cortez last hour. she is not getting behind kamala harris right now. it makes me wonder why. what are the issues? biden had to make a deal with bernie sanders in 2020 in order

to get everything in motion for him to become the nominee. i just wonder if the progressive caucus has some sort of, something they are cooking up. they don't want a babe filled room to decide if this nominee will be. let's just give it to kamala, that makes the most sense. i don't think the progressives will sit back and let that happen. >> i quoted you with the babe filled room. let's take a step back in a moment to say how we got here. take a listen. >> dealing with everything we have to do with, look, we finally beat medicare. ♪ >> if you can be convinced that you cannot beat donald trump,

will you stand down? >> at the lord almighty can do that i might do that. >> a secretary of defense. because of the people that i've named. >> you look back and now we see this statement today by former president obama. navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead. i have confidence that the leader of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges. president obama did not endorse his vice president to run. it is not seeming that he is endorsing vice president harris. that is pretty stunning. >> it is. in order for there to be a process, there has to be a contest. it has to be more than one candidate. you really have to ask yourself the question that you asked debbie dingle which is who. who is now in the face of the

situation that now exists going to step up and say i oppose kamala harris. this minority woman that is already vice president, heartbeat away from the presidency, endorsed by the sitting president, who will come up and say i want to run against her. i oppose her. the democratic party is now in a bad way in terms of the way the issue now stands. it badly needs to unite. it is not united, has not been united because of this fight over joe biden's frailty. and now as an opportunity to do that. it looks like they are trying to get them to do that. it could be quite a convention with the question of who the nominee is wide open. i wonder who it will be. it does feel a bit tonight that things are coming together for the vice president. remember, in the end, the decision on who the nominee is up to the delegates if it gets

to the convention. as i suspect it will have to maintain any semblance of a democratic process. these are all delegates at a pledge to joe biden. they are his delegates. will they book his choice? it is possible, but i wonder. i think that it's something we need to keep an eye on. let's wait and see if anyone emerges to challenge her. >> a great question for harold ford. who do you think emerges? who do you think former president obama would like to see on this ticket. clearly, this shakeup, i think dana's question is an excellent one. why did you drop out. a couple of different things being thrown at you right here. i would love for you to weigh in on that as well. why did the president exit the race today? >> because he cannot win in november. i think we all have to accept a couple of things here. president biden will not be the nominee of the democratic party.

we will have a process here over the next few weeks to nominate a new person. the people that matter the most here are the delegates. they are democrats. they are committed and probably activists at our party at some level. donors and/or people that knock on doors and people that may have been elected office at some point before. to your first question, martha, will there be someone else to get to this race? i saw congresswoman dingle and she said she had endorse kamala harris. as the polling takes place over the next few days or the next week or so, and we pull gretchen witmer, i'm curious if she may even have responded about governor whitmire, congresswoman dingle, but we pull josh schapiro, mark kelly, westmore. i think if one of those

candidates, whichever one of those candidates bears best against president trump, i think that that is where democrats are likely to end up. as we sit here this evening, vice president harris enters this race or this mini process or this process as perhaps a front runner. i am not prepared to say that she will be the one until we get some numbers. it became clear that they were in a super top race. that cannot be the reason the process has happened the primary happened. president biden was nominated. you are telling me that the reason he is exiting is because he cannot win. why have we not seen that happen with candidates in the past. >> we will give an opportunity. that is my theory of the case. i have been wrong before and i may be wrong on this one.

the one thing that i do know is he will not be our nominee. that question is one that i think may be some people wanted answered. i think a lot of democrats are focused on what happens going forward which is who will the nominee be in puma that nominee choose as his or her running mate. >> this is the root of the question here. it is not just the polling. it is about his diminished capacity. what we've seen from that debate on june 27 on. you have house speaker johnson out with the statement today. if joe biden is not fit to run for president, he is not to fit to serve as president he must resign from the office immediately. that raises a question about the world. and how the world looks at this moment and whether we are projecting weakness and whether the president is up to it. you heard congresswoman dingle say she met with them and she thinks she is vigorous but we heard that from a lot of

defenders who fell by the wayside since june 27 and everything happened after that. >> you heard it from white house spokespeople on the record on camera saying that joe biden was running circles around them at the white house behind the scenes. somehow, joe biden was never able to actually show that on-screen. i say that not with this respect , but with facts. you do not have a president today addressing the nation saying i am withdrawing from this race and endorsing my candidate. it does leave a lot to the imagination. unfortunately americans like to see full transparency and proof. the interviews that he has done since the debate have all gone terribly. he could not even explain the other day what he meant by saying he does not plan -- i said what is he saying. in this time of we are in policy crises going on everywhere, our

adversaries in our enemies and our allies need to hear us very clearly. periods of transition from one person empowered to the next or when a country is the most vulnerable. i understand that joe biden i guess is saying i want to focus all of my attention on doing the commander-in-chief duties. maybe that is good enough. however, it is not anybody else's suppers on white house who says he is only engaged between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. let me ask you, what time did israel hit last night? i do think that on the merits the republicans are saying, wait a minute, if you will not explain why you are withdrawing, we are left to assume that it is because you cannot do the job now let alone for the next four months or four years. >> if it is not something that is that clear, and it raises those questions and those questions will be raised by republicans on capitol hill in

terms of needing the whole scope of this. as a white house doctor been telling us the truth? this is a national security issue. that is why we need to answer this question. not out of disrespect or anything along those lines. this is the job of the president let's bring in ardent. we are hearing that president biden pulled out because he cannot win. because the polls are leaning against him. that is not something we have ever seen happen before. >> i think it is more than just the polls. donor sort of left the community and all of the reports from the state suggests he was in a very weak position. and that, basically, the leadership of the democratic party bowls you better pull out and if you don't we could change the rules if we need to or whatever. he was essentially forced out

off the ticket. then left in the position we are all in now. in terms of the implications for this, you know, i think it is a question of will the democrats behave as democrats or as republicans? will they be very disorganized, or will they sort of basically sealed the deal and something they will call an open and transparent process to make kamala harris the nominee. i think that something you will see play out in the next few days. i think the question earlier is exactly the right one. is someone out there ready to stand up and try to wrest the nomination from kamala harris right now. i don't see any of the big names popping in, but we will find out . i have a feeling that democrats will want to at least have someone enter the race. maybe what they will do, you

know, one of the things about the delegates, the delegates of this convention are the biden democrats. these are biden delegates. these are regular democrats. they are not a bunch of people who are ready to sort of throw a lot of darts at the process and challenge the process. i think that that is, i guess, good news for kamala harris. the question is, how unified will they be. can they carry some sort of unified message reintroducing kamala harris to the american people are presenting her as a realistic alternative to trump dance. >> that is already happening on other channels in other places there is this resurrection of the vice president and how crucial she was to big things. obviously, the criticism is the borders are and other elements that she was given to handle. i spoke with a number of pollsters who said the former president has a high floor and a low ceiling when it comes to

polls. do you think that since the assassination attempt, pretty unified and slick convention, that there will be something that adjusts that low ceiling? even as democrats start to get their head around the more vigorous younger perhaps new ticket? >> you have hit the nail on the head in terms of how to analyze the polls that we will be seeing with the evidence we have seen up until now. one of the things i think the republicans were disappointed by , at least i was a bit surprised by, after trumper after biden's horrible performance in that debate, if you look at the pool, all the media talk about the fact that trump's lead is growing. if you look at the numbers, trumps number did not grow. a lot of people voting for biden said, i am not so sure and they went to be undecided. that, to be was evidence that trumps ceiling remains.

he was not able to expand that. what happens now given the assassination attempt and given the fact that the republican convention was extremely well received. the number i will be looking at is not, you know, hypothetical where it says between trump and harris and trump and witmer or trump and whoever, but rather, trump. just tell me what trumps number is against all three of them. any of those candidates. that will tell you something. if trumps number growth, that is a really good sign for the republicans. if it stays the same the braces competitive if they can nominate someone that can sort of coalesce there undecided vote. if trumps number goes down, i would say that would be distressing for the trump campaign. >> all the numbers that we have seen, trump versus biden. when that dynamic changes and

you have an alternative, you will see some of those folders who were in the middle deciding that, you know, maybe they can go back to the democrat side. i think that it shakes up even though you hear the former president saying it does not matter, it does not matter who we run against. all of this is by democrat design to come up with a ticket that can win. that gives them a shot at winning. >> absolutely. without question. the upside, if you will, for the democrats of not having a bunch of bernie brothers, a bunch of basically political professionals that are the delegates. for whom the game is about winning. the game is not about let's get a platform, the game is about what can i do to win the presidential election or what can i do to help my friends that are running congressional races and help them. you have basically, one of

advisors saying it will be a tofu smoke room rather than a smoke filled room. i think that that is right. you will have sort of nominees pick the way nominees used to be picked. that will be interesting to see who they pick and how they balance this need to sort of have a dynamic with the need to satisfy all the different constituencies within the democratic party. >> thank you very much. bret: polls and what we are seeing. how do you see this race? remember that kamala harris had lower approval ratings and joe biden for a long, long time. it started to equal when he looked like he was going to get out of the race or at least reporting that he was considering it. she is progressive and there are a number of progressives that are just adding their names to

the list to endorse her. it is a different top of the ticket if it is her. >> well, it takes the age issue off the table. it is a plus for the democratic side. her reputation as a lightweight is still intact, i think. there are more formable candidates than i can think of. probably you and everyone on our group today can think of. on the other hand, she has assets. she is useful, she is energetic at least. remember this. the key to this race is really, as we were just hearing, trump. trump has not broken above 50% and an approval rating no matter what happens. the games that have been made by his side have been all biden and his ticket sliding down. he has not been able to build on that yet. he had an opportunity to do that

at the convention and maybe he did. we will see what the polling says over the next several weeks he may have had a missed opportunity last night at the convention with the speech which reminded people a lot about his old self. remember, he is beatable. biden beat him, for god sake. the premise of biden's campaign was that he could beat him again until joe biden became obviously incapacitated, he may have done so. let's wait and see. even kamala harris showing in the primaries in 2020 which still have a chance against a candidate that cannot crack 50%. >> i would like to bring harold back in. let's talk about what a winning ticket may talk like -- look like from a democratic perspective. if it is kamala, i believe you are in favor of an open process, right? >> i am.

so, i would say just a couple of things. i did not quite understand the polling, i think people get into politics because they have ideas and they have an agenda and they have a vision for the country they like to implement. in order to do it, you have to win the race. in the next few weeks, we will certainly see it included in our own polling, candidates against president trump. i don't disagree with analysis. maybe he has reached something and cannot get ahead of a certain number but someone pulling ahead of kamala harris, against president trump and senator vance, that person will certainly get some attention from democrats. democrats are intent and intentional and serious about trying to win this election. your question, martha, some of the names that i've mentioned.

some of the names i've already put up on the screen, governors that had stories to tell about their success in balancing budgets, their success in creating jobs, their success in educating kids and getting people off drugs. those have been traditional stories that governors that up gone out to run for president what they shared with the country. a texas governor named george w. bush to shared a story. i worked for one named bill clinton who told his story when he ran for president. i think democrats over the next few weeks and vice president harris has certainly said she will be better as a candidate, i actually think that she is right if she does when this convention and she does when the process it will help strengthen her. even having the country get a glimpse of democrats like a kentucky governor like andy bashir who may share his views on things that many in the country do not think democrats in the country who are. i don't think the process has a chance to play out. i will be fine. i think president obama is right

i think he used the word outstanding nominee to emerge. again, i do not understand what our polls, the news desk is saying about pulling. at his been an integral part of politics as long as i can remember. you want the strongest candidate to go up against the other side. if there is a stronger candidate , democrats will not be ignorant to the fact that someone may be pulling stronger against president trump, former president trump. >> get all of that. i think it is cleaner right away there is a coalescing of vice president harris. dan, i want to bring you in. the former president has been active on true social throughout he has been posting. just the past few minutes posting my debate with crooked joe biden the worst president in the history of the united states fake news abc. now that joe has not surprisingly quit the race, i

think the debate with whomever the radical left democrats choose should be held on fox news rather than the very bias abc. i read that as we have offered obviously a debate. we have offered a vice presidential debate. it is all in flux right now. dana, one of the things that the democrats may do is shifted who was the oldest candidate now. >> immediately they did. my mind is so baffled by the democrats communication strategies over the last four years. here comes another one. they have this little secret that signal that goes out. here is our new message. immediately upon joe biden saying he will withdraw, you had this memo go out basically, it is a fake memo. donald trump is the oldest nominee for president in american history. but, wait, when republicans were just saying that two weeks ago, they were told to shut up they

do not have a good strong message to go against president trump coming out of the republican convention and now they have this mess on their hands. i think they should figure out a way to get their own house in order. i do remember this, though. early on, nikki haley said the first party to retired their 80 -year-old nominee will win the election. now, trump goes on to win the nomination, he has a lot of enthusiasm behind them. bruce mellon had a chart today, it showed the enthusiasm gap between republicans who want to vote for trump and the minuscule number of democrats i wanted to vote for biden. to britt's point, this is a good opportunity i guess for the democrats to say, okay, we have a chance to unfreeze the donations that have stopped coming in. we had a chance to get our younger people excited. we have a real fight on our hands. i guess they would say this

action today by biden gives them a fighting chance. in the debate front, why did biden ask for a debate. because he was failing. he was losing. he says i need to debate because i need to figure out a way to stop the bleeding and show that i can actually do this. he does the debate in weeks later he has done. why would trump be anxious to go into a debate right now? let the democrats just flail. by hand them a row. let them figure it out themselves. trump has shown he is a pretty good debater and is ready for all of these issues. he does not know who he will debate. >> let's bring in doug shown. good to have you with us. the clinton team. the obama team says let there be a process. let the strongest person when. your reaction to this and where

to support your party this afternoon on this sunday. >> it puts my partyware frequently is. by joe biden. kamala harris poll numbers are not strong. she is about where joe biden is and has been in the polling. we uphold since the thursday night speech. the numbers are about plus five or six for trump. trump is up a little. he is not breaking 50. he is about 48, 49. he is theoretically beatable. there is no data that i see that kamala at this point will be any stronger candidate and joe biden should she emerge as the nominee >> doug, as you see it, can there be this fast coalescing behind vice president harris what do you think someone will throw their hat in the ring and who may that be? >> my bet is there will be fast

coalescing around kamala harris. somebody like harold ford who supports an open process unless someone emerges and it is very hard with three or four weeks before the convention for someone to emerge and indeed the possibility of a roll call before then. i think that the party will ultimately coalesce behind her. i think she will not be a strong candidate. i think she needs somebody like josh schapiro or mark kelly on the ticket with her. it will be an uphill battle. the point that were being made about my party are true. they don't have the message and at this point they do not have a messenger that is a coherent plan to win the election. >> doug, you know, how do you see this shaking out? let's assume for a moment for argument sake that she gets his coalition behind her. will she then choose a vice presidential candidate that she

will run with her does not become part of the nominating process. does she walk in their lesson four weeks from now with the ticket in place? or do they decide that at the convention. >> as a practical matter she will have to pick, she will say, you know, if she beat the nominee i am the nominee. the nominee traditionally picks vice president and i pick whoever she picks. i think that at this point to have a boat at the convention on vice president would be a needless distraction, especially given the events of the last three or four weeks culminating in the decision by the incumbent president to stand down. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. it will be a fascinating we are starting a brand-ne