campaign. after president biden withdraws from the race, donald trump

faces a new opponent in vice president kamala harris upending the campaign dynamics with just two and a half months until election day. >> i think i'm entitled to personal attacks. i don't have a lot of respect for her. >> if you want to know who someone cares about look who they fight for. >> will the renewed enthusiasm help democrats? my guests this morning democratic governor gretchen whitmer of michigan and lindsay graham of south carolina. plus her story. kamala harris prepares to make the biggest speech of her political career at the democratic convention in chicago. >> now is the time to chart a new way forward. >> what is harris' vision for the country and how will it differ from president biden's? joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. nbc 5 chicago political reporter

mary ann ahern. simone townsend former spokesperson for kamala harris and republican strategist matt gorman. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with kristen welker. good sunday morning. as we come on the air after a brief pause for the olympics, the race for the white house has dramatically shifted with vice president harris now at the top of the ticket. she has reset the race and the electoral map and tomorrow night all eyes will be on chicago as the democratic national convention gets under way. >> we are running a campaign on behalf of all americans and when elected we will govern on behalf of all americans. [ cheering ] >> a month ago president biden trailed former president donald trump nationally and in key

battleground states, but now harris has narrowed the gap with mr. trump nationally and is leading or tied with him in six out of seven ballot ground states and that's according to the cooke political report within the margin of error. the sienna poll confirms the highly competitive race in georgia, nevada, and north carolina. just a month ago just a third of democrats were satisfied with biden tlaz nominee. now in a poll 87% say they feel that way about harris. the volatility in the election has benefited harris and now the race is on to define her. how much will her presidency be a continuation of biden's policy and where will she break from him? you may get more answers on thursday night. for his part, mr. trump has struggled to adjust to the change in the race, he was once winning, allies undering him to stay focused on policy differences and instead, he's often veered into personal attacks. >> the most unpopular vice president in the history of our

country and then they decided to get politically correct. we have to put her in. she's not smart. she's not intelligent and we've gone through enough of that with this guy crooked joe. this woman is nuts. look, people say be nice, have you heard her laugh? that is the laugh of a crazy person. that is the laugh of a crazy -- that's the laugh of a lunatic. >> some republicans including former rival nikki haley are warning mr. trump to stay on message. >> the campaign is not going to win talking about crowd sizes. it's not going to win talking about what race kamala harris is. it's not going to win talking about whether she's dumb. you can't win on those things. the american people are smart. treat them like they're smart. >> stop questioning the size of her crowds and start questioning her position when it comes to what did she do as attorney general on crime. question what did she do when she was supposed to take care of

the border as a czar. >> it's fewer insults, more insights and that policy contrast. >> in a press conference on thursday, mr. trump fired back. >> i think i'm entitled to personal attacks. i don't have a lot of respect for her. i don't have a lot of respect for her intelligence, and i think she'll be a terrible president, and i think it's very important that we win and whether the personal attacks are good, bad, she certainly attacks me personally. she actually called me weird. some people say why don't you be nice, but they're not nice to me. they want to put me in prison. >> michigan governor gretchen whitmer, a co-chair of harris' campaign is expected to speak this week in chicago. whitmer is out with a new memoir, "true grech" what i learned as a leader. >> welcome back to "meet the press." glad to be with you, kristen. >> it's great to have you on a

big sunday as i just laid out, vice president harris has momentum right now. the question is can she keep it given that president biden had historically low approval ratings and given that he was running behind mr. trump in a number of different issue, almost every issue, in fact, do you believe that vice president harris should be doing more to distance herself from president biden? >> i think president biden is going to go down as one of the greatest presidents we've had in a long time in this country and kamala harris has been a big part of this administration. they've been partners and delivered for the american people. so we've got to tell that story. i also am excited about this new chapter in american politics. kamala harris and tim walz are a compliment to each other and they know what people are going through and they know how to

address the problems whether it's affordable housing or bringing down the cost of groceries or helping you if you're raising kids in your household or simply fighting for fundamental rights. so there's a lot of energy and it's exciting and i'm from michigan, and i can tell you this will be a close race all of the way through. >> let's delve into the policies the vice president laid out, some of her economic policies this week, among other things, she's proposing a ban on price gouging. here is what obama administration economist jason farman had to say. this is not a sensible policy. there's no upside here and there is some down side. he warned effectively that price controls could ultimately stifle economic growth. so do you think that's the best way to bring down prices in michigan? >> well, i think people are reading too much into what has been put out there. we know that kamala harris will be focused on building up more

affordable housing. we know that kamala harris hassal read ed delivered on making sure that health care is more accessible and affordable for americans and will protect obama care. that's a million people who have healthcare in michigan right now that donald trump's been trying to rip away. that only adds costs on to people's backs and so that's why i think this opportunity economy that vice president harris is talking about and laying the broad strokes for, i think it shows we really do, she sees every american and understands what people are struggling with and wants to help you keep more money in your pocket. they go toward housing, healthcare and the fundamentals and she has more plans on those fronts to have americans pave a path to prosperity. >> i hear you say folks are reading too much into it and yet it is what the vice president is proposing. you have former president trump calling the policies communist. the washington post editorial

board called it a gimmick. is this price gouging more than a gimmick, governor? >> i think it speaks to kamala harris' values that she wants consumers to keep more money in their pockets and she wants americans to get ahead. she wants to make sure there is corporate responsibility. we know we have to have business growth in this country, small business growth and big business growth for good paying jobs and we also know that you can't gouge and hurt the american consumer just to pad your bottom line, and i think there's a balance there, and i think that's what this is all about. >> so you think it's smart policy, governor? >> you know what? i think that any effort we make to keep more money in americans' pockets is worth walking the path and having the kfrgds and figuring out how to make this economy work for everybody. >> let's talk big picture. the campaign is only a-month-old.

everything she's said in the past is starting to come into focus. when she ran in 2020 she called for banning fracing, supporting single-payer health care and eliminating private health insurance. the campaign says she no longer supports those positions. the trump campaign is calling here a chameleon. do you think vice president has to explain more on why she has shifted on those positions? >> any insult from the trump campaign is laughable when you think about his years in office and who he fought for. he fought for himself. he's laid out nothing in terms of a vision for america. he's feeding into people's anxieties and anger. that's what he's always done. in fact, his time in office we have record job loss. we saw so many deaths from covid because it was -- he put out misinformation, denied that it was even a problem. i mean, this is a guy who he calls other people name, but

offers nothing of value to the american people when it comes to a vision or a plan to make people's lives better, and that contrast is stark. what you will see this week in chicago is a bunch of happy warriors who understand the middle class, understand how we pull more people into the middle class and make sure every one of us can have the path of prosperity and live the american dream and take care of our families. >> let me ask you about her running mate tim walz and particularly on the issue of immigration and obviously, some of his policies in his state have come into focus. he signed into law initiatives allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for driver's licenses and quality for free tuition in public universities and enroll in the state's free health care program for low-income residents. would you like to see the harris administration adopt those same policies, governor? >> well, i can tell you tim walz is a pragmatic guy.

he's a midwesterner just like me, and some of the wonderful things he's done in minnesota resonate with americans in all states. we know that when you give -- when you provide free breakfast and lunch for all of the school kids in your state you are saving parents $850 per student just on the grocery bill. i think what you see in tim walz is a pragmatist who wants to make sure that we are a beacon that people come to. you need to come legally and we need to secure our borders, but we also know that the great history of this country is that we were the place that people came to for an opportunity, and that's got to be the great future of it, too. >> would you support the harris administration if she were to be elected adopting those proposals i just laid out for you, for example, driver's licenses for those who are undocumented? >> i think what we need to do is have a system, an immigration system that work, number one. we need to secure the border.

we need to make sure that when people are in this country that they have access to have some form of i.d., that's really important, and i think to the spirit of those things should be a part of any vision for the country and our security and how we bring great people into this country legally. >> all right. let's talk about the convention coming up this week. organizers are bracing for tens of thousand of pro-palestinian protesters to converge in chicago. i want you to take a look at how vice president harris responded to protesters at a rally in detroit just last week. take a look. >> i'm here because we believe in democracy, everyone's voice matters, but i am speaking now. you know what? if you want donald trump to win then say that otherwise i'm speaking. >> governor, do you think she handled that moment well? >> you know, i'm not going to go

and second guess. it was kind of in the moment. i can tell you this. kamala harris cares about every person. she cares about arab-american voters and muslim voters and palestinian voters. she cares about jewish voters and jewish americans, as well. you can both want peace in the region and a cessation of violence and the return of hostages. we are a country that continually falls into these false choices. you can do both, and i think that's why we need a leader like her. she's been meeting with people in the communities, all of these communities. her campaign cares about everyone, and i think that's evident in her policies and the seat at the table she's making for every person, and i know tim walz feels the same. there's work to do because there's a lot of pain, and i am hopeful that the biden administration will have something that can be announced soon. what netanyahu's comments and

what we're seeing from hamas looks like they're making some progress, and i know they're hard at work with it and i'm hopeful about that. >> a lot of people watching those talks quite closely, that's for sure. let me ask you about your book, "true gretch" you write when you were out campaigning for governor in 2018 and when a voter asked you if you would run, quote, as a woman and you wrote that you did run as a woman, but not just as a woman and that was just two years after hillary clinton's historic presidential campaign. she made a point of reminding voters that she was trying to break the glass ceiling. do you think that vice president kamala harris should be leaning in more to the historic nature of her campaign? >> well, you know what? it is historic, and i think so many of us see it. we're excited about it. i remember going to philadelphia in 2016 with my daughters in the car with me and thinking my

girls grew up -- had grown up with eight years of an african-american president and we were on the cusp of perhaps having a female president and those were things i never ever could have conceived growing up in this country when i did, and so i do think that it is historic, and women in leadership, i think, you see the results. i have seven colleagues who are female democratic governors doing great work in all of our states and kamala harris will make a seat at the table for everyone and that's leadership. i'm excited. that is one part of what we're going to be talking about this week, the historic nature of it, but also she's a pragmatist, she's a great leader and just wants to get stuff done, and i think that's the most important thing. >> governor, i have to ask you about another part of your book, one of the more powerful parts when you talk about the 2020 kidnapping assassination plot

against you. you write that the experience changed youd. you said, quote, it's not that i live in fear, but there is a heightened awareness now that i didn't have before. not just as a governor, but as a person, as a mom and as a wife. here we are in this heated election campaign cycle and of course, was there just an assassination attempt against former president trump. do you fear for your own safety right now, governor? >> i don't, but i do fear for everyone around me. i've got the michigan state police and they worked closely with the fbi when that plot was being -- when they were executing all of the different steps that they were going to do in preparation for the kidnapping and you know, killing of me. i never felt personally unsafe, but i do worry about the people around me, and i think that's a very real thing that i will always take, and i write about that, but i also write some of the lesson in the book which is,

you know, you can't take all these things personally, and that might surprise people that i might want to sit down and understand what drove these men to do this because i do think listening is a super power whether you're in the private sector or public sector, politics or anything else, understanding and seeing the humanity in someone and learning, i think, is really important and listening. so the book, i talk about ten things i've learned in my life that have helped me navigate the last few years and maybe you get a laugh at my expense is to put lightness, too. >> last week president biden said he hefs not confident there would be a peaceful transfer of power in 2025 if former president trump were to win re-election, are you confident

there will be if he were to lose reelection? would you be confident that there would be a peaceful transfer of power? >> i think he's already trying to stoke the, you know, suspicions of people and i think that's an effort directly to play into his ability to discount the outcome of this upcoming election if he doesn't like the outcome. that's not how democracy works, and i think it's important that we're all vigilant. i know in michigan we've strengthened our election laws and protecting election workers, et cetera, but i still anticipate that they will use similar tactics to what they used four years ago, and i think that we should all be very concerned about that and what that could mean for safety, for integrity of our democratic institutions and the future of this country. >> all right. governor gretchen whitmer, thank you very much for your time this morning. we appreciate it, and we will see you at the national democratic convention next week. chuck schumer had planned to

join us this morning, he, unfortunately, is not feeling well. we look forward to him joining us in the near future. when we come back, can former president trump pivot his campaign to face his new opponent. republican senator lindsay graham joins me next. one thing we know is true: no matter race, gender, ethnicity... the need to screen when due... for colon cancer's a priority. indeed! everyone 45+ at average risk should screen for colon cancer. these folks are getting it done at home with me, cologuard. cologuard is a one-of-a-kind way to screen for colon cancer that's effective and non-invasive. it's for people 45+ at average risk, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider for cologuard. i did it my way.

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(woman) oh! (man) oh no. (woman) dang it! (vo) you break it. we take it. trade in any phone, in any condition. guaranteed at verizon. and get $800 off the new galaxy z fold6. (man) oh yeah. (vo) only on verizon. welcome back. while democrats hold their convention in chicago, former president trump and his running mate senator j.d. vance planning a series of counter programming events beginning tomorrow with the trump speech on the economy in york, pennsylvania, while vance campaigns in philadelphia. joining me now is trump ally republican senator lindsay graham of south carolina. senator graham, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you. thank you. >> well, thank you for being here. let's start with some of the concerns that former president trump's allies have had about

him not staying on message in the way that he is talking about his new rival vice president kamala harris. here's what nikki haley had to say about that. take a look. >> the campaign is not going to win talking about crowd sizes. it's not going to win talking about what race kamala harris is. it's not going to win talking about whether she's dumb. it's not -- you can't win on those things. i think the campaign needs to focus. that's the main thing. look, this is a winnable election, but you need to focus. >> senator, do you agree with nikki haley's assessment? >> yeah. i don't think -- i don't look at vice president harris as a lunatic, i look at her as -- in the united states. she's going to the soviet union playbook to lower prices called price control. she wants to eliminate healthcare and she's for

fracking and the green new deal. a nightmare for harris is to defend her policy choices. every day we're not talking about her policy choices as vice president and what she would do as president is a good day for her and a bad day for us. >> of course, her campaign says she's not opposed to fracing, but the broader question here on. >> right. how can you be for the green new deal. wait a minute. how can you be for the green new deal and not be opposed to fracing. that's b.s. go ahead. i'm sorry. >> big picture, bottom line here. do you think former president trump should stop talking about vice president harris' race and intelligence? >> yeah. i think in my view is that me and nikki need to go to georgia. we're giving advice on tv to president trump. he's got a lot of critics. she's got a lot of advisers, but to nikki haley and desantis and

all these great people we have, let's get together and actually campaign for the guy rather than just give advice, but in the advice-giving column. here's what i would say. donald trump, president trump can win this election. his policies are good for america and if you have a policy debate for president he wins. donald trump, the private, the showman, may not win this election. so i'm looking for president trump to show up in the last 80 days to define what he will do for our country to fix broken border, to lower inflation and the numbers that americans are living with under harris-biden are terrible. 50% increase in gas prices, mortgage rates going through the roof, grocery costs are really high. that's what i would focus on. policy. policy is the key to the white house. >> let's talk policy, of course, we did get new inflation numbers this week. the lowest levels since 2021, but i do want to talk to you

about policies and former president trump talking about tariffs when he was in a rally in pennsylvania yesterday. >> yeah. >> of course, his proposal to impose tariffs on all goods coming into the united states. take a look at what he had to say. >> a tariff is a tax on a foreign country. that's the way it is whether you like it or not. a lot of people like to say it's a tax on us. no, no, no. it's a tax on a foreign country. >> senator, do you acknowledge what almost every economist agrees to is that ultimately consumers bear the burden of tariffs? >> in theory, yes, but how do you get people to change their behavior when they're cheating you? you put a tariff on their products. i want to put a tariff on every country who buys oil from iran to stop them from buying oil from a terrorist country. so if you're russia and you're china and you're buying oil from the ayatollah going around

sanctions, i'd like on put a tariff on products coming into america so you would stop helping a trr terrorist. here's trump's approximately see on tariffs that i approve without hesitation. whatever you do tois we'll do for you. if you put a tariff on our products we'll put one on yours and let's try to eliminate tariffs to the extent we can. that makes a lot of common sense to me. trump was strong against china. he put tariffs on china's cheating practices and then changed their behavior. he threatened to put tariffs on mexico unless they helped us with immigration which they did. >> the non-partisan tax foundation said that those tariffs imposed $80 million on consumers. just to be clear, you would support his plan to impose tariffs on all goods coming into the u.s.?

>> just to be clear, i support his idea that whatever a country does to us on tariffs we're going to do to you. so if you make a car in europe and we put a 10% tariff on it, and we make a car in america and sell it to europe and you put a 30% tariff, to those that are watching what trump may do in the second term, i think he will use tariffs to change behavior, and i think he will try to impose tariffs on people that impose tariffs on our products and let's go to zero if we can. >> we are all about watching the democratic national convention and i want to talk about what happened at the republican national convention. the republicans rolled out their platform and on the issue of abortion, it did not call for a national abortion ban for the first time in 40 years, senator. you, of course, have supported a 15-week national ban on

abortion. here's what you said about the platform right before it was rolled out. >> if we change our platform and we buy into the narrative being pro-life is bad politics, being strong for the second amendment is bad politics we'll be net losers because the people who believe like we do are going to abandon us because we've abandoned what makes us different. >> right. >> senator, do you still think the party's new position is a mistake? >> no, i think what they were able to do is thread a needle here. they talked about, you know, the unborn child has a constitutional right to life. president trump is a states' life guy with the exception of rape, incest and life of the month. i believe the state wants those exceptions. they're opposing any law that makes a woman carry the rape of

a child. the platform i'm okay with, and we'll continue to have this discussion, but we're not going to win or lose based on abortion. we're going to win or lose based on can we change the policy trajectory of this country. can we lower gas prices. can we control the border and can we lower the food prices and the good news is we can because we did. we're not going to the soviet union playbook to fix the problems of america. we're going to capitalism and entrepreneurship and common sense to lower prices for america. >> senator, would you advise mr. trump if he were to be elected to support a federal ban? >> i am going to keep being me. i think most americans are --? is that a yes? >> well, i'm going to keep saying that there should be at some point the baby feels pain. you know, our policy -- in

france, they limit abortion at 14 weeks. a 15-week ban doesn't ban abortion. it protects unborn children from an excruciating death. this is a debate that is worth a great country to have, but this election will not be about abortion. it's going to be about the economy and a world on fire. a nightmare for kamala harris is to have to defend her policy choices and explain to the american people why the world is not on fire. governor whitmer said biden has been a great president and he's been a disaster and the disaster will continue with harris. >> so let's talk about the rest of the world since you bring it up. >> yes. >> and i want to start by talking about mr. trump's running mate. you have expressed criticism of senator vance in the past particularly on the issue of the war in ukraine. you've called his arguments against military support garbage. you are just back from a trip from ukraine and we'll get to it in just a minute, but first on this question, do you think that

senator vance has enough foreign policy and national security experience to step in the role of president on day one if that were to be necessary? >> yeah. i completely support him. i think he'd be a much better choice than walz that j.d. can go into office and pursue an america first agenda. his concern is we're stretched too thin. we're giving them weapons we may need to fight china and here's my response to what he says. the best way to prevent fighting china is to be strong on ukraine. if china sees putin winning by force of arps and taking territory of ukraine and getting away with it, they're going to take taiwan. this disaster of an invasion by putin is really biting him. nato is stronger. he's an indicted war criminal. he's lost the entire european continent for gas trimmers because of his invasion and i want to deter china, and the best way to deter china is to get ukraine right. i just got back from ukraine.

i met all of these people. we were told kyiv would fall in two days. two and a half years they've taken russian territory and we need to pour it on and help these people when it comes to dealing with this russian invasion to reset the world. >> all right. well, since you told us about your trip to ukraine, let me ask you about the middle east very quickly. president biden has said on ceasefire talks in gaza, quote, that they are in the endgame. do you think that is accurate? do you think they're close to getting a deal to release the hostages? >> i hope and pray, but right back to ukraine, the number one request of president zelenskyy of me was to go to president biden and ask him to lift the restrictions on how they can use weapons. canada did this. we need to go all in allowing them to use these to get putin

to the table. we've got to get putin to the table and he will come to the table when the pain gets too great. lift the restrictions that have been late to get to ukraine. as to the ceasefire. i'm hoping and praying the hostages come back, and i will say this until i can't say it anymore. what is the day after like? if we get a ceasefire and we don't have the arabs come in and take over the palestinian file, we will be right back at it again. so normalization between saudi arabia and israel is the key to a permanent peace in the mideast and i've been working with president biden to achieve that goal, and i still think we can. >> you take me to my final question. you've been working with president biden for quite some time including in the senate. do you think your former colleague in the senate made the right decision by deciding not to run again, senator graham? >> yeah. i think he did. i think he did it for the country and for his party. i've always enjoyed my

relationship with him. we have deep and wide policy differences, but president biden, give ukraine the ability to fight back on favorable terms. i will help you land the big of the deal in decades in the mideast. i will help you find a way to have saudi arabia and israel normalize and to get mbs to take over palestine and reform the west bank. i wish you well. let's end on a high note here. >> all right. >> senator lindsay graham, thank you so much. when we come back, vice president harris is about to face the biggest test of her political career at the convention in ccago. convention in ccago. hi knock, knock. #1 broker here for the #1 hit maker. thanks for swingin' by, carl. no problem. so, what are all of those for? ah, this one lets me adjust the bass. add more guitar. maybe some drums. wow, so many choices. yeah. like schwab. i can get full-service wealth management, advice,

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welcome back. the panel is here. nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. mary ann ahern, political reporter from our nbc station in the convention city of chicago. symone sandzers-townsend, former spokesperson to vice president kamala harris and host of "the weekend" and matt gorman, former

communications adviser for tim scott for america. >> kelly, kick it off for us because boy, this is going to be a different convention with president biden at the top of the ticket and now you have vice president harris and her running mate, tim walz. set the stakes. >> there are usually years of planning and it's all condensed into a re-worked, remade process, and what you will see is sort of a love letter and a thank you note to joe biden, and that will be a way to honor his service and talk about his accomplishments and words of joe biden that will decorate the scene and part of that will make the transformation. it will be his decision to step aside and that this will be a chance to honor him and it is different than other conventions because normally from the get go it's all about the nominee. not in this case. they want to give him a moment and then show that he is, in fact, the one responsible for choosing kamala harris as his

rining mate and endorsing this to make it possible and it will be very emotional starting monday. >> and the optics are as you say, kelly, going to be so powerful. marianne, i hope you're prepared to host. we will descend on your city. what are you going to be watching for? set the scene and the mood in chicago right now. >> i do think politically we'll be checking to see how unified is the party. we saw in the republican convention there was a lot of unity and we see it outwardly at these rallies, but inside the convention hall will it be quite that unified? perhaps it will. in chicago, of course, everyone is concerned operationally. how is this convention going to go off? there is almost the sense of -- we spoke to hurricane who said it feels like pre-hurricane mode. there have been some businesses that have boarded up, just concerned about the protests along the route. there are, of course, businesses that have told people stay home,

don't come to work and don't come downtown. the city says it's ready and the governor and the police say they're ready and when you hear the federal uj jes they've wrapped a fence around the federal courthouse and the federal judges will stay home and work from home as well as doctor's offices saying your routine appointment, perhaps you might not want to come next week. so there's politics and the operation and i think after next thursday night chicago will go, thank you so much, but that was great. >> the operation, i cannot imagine how complicated it is. everyone is ready as mary ann says, simone. is vice president harris ready? the biggest test of her entire political career. it's fascinating because she's been the sitting vice president. she's tried to cast herself as this shiny new object to re-introduce herself and that's going to be her goal on thursday. >> look, i think the vice president does represent change for so many people because of the historic nature of her candidacy. she was the first, obviously woman, first woman of color to

serve as vice president so for that it feels different for people and she's not necessarily saddled with what an incumbent vice president would be usually saddled with in a race like this. it's been a while since a sitting vice president ran for president in an active administration. so this is something that the electorate has not experienced in a number of cycles, and she's benefitting from that. so i think this upcoming week you're going to see on eye think it is the flowers if you will, for joe biden, but also how the vice president's campaign and her eventual presidency if she's elected will build on what joe biden has done while also distinctly carving out a space for herself. it is a tight line to walk, but something i think the vice president is very familiar with. >> meanwhile, matt, allies of former president trump as i was discussing with lindsay graham say he's struggling to figure out how to approach this new competitor that he has. he's been going after her personally, last night saying

i'm much better looking than her. i'm a better looking person than kamala. what are people saying inside trump world? how much concern is there? >> this dates back to 2016 when carly fiorina had a moment that had trouble calibrating against that. running a playbook against joe biden is very different than running against a black woman. the best attack against kamala harris. it's not policy. she doesn't have politically core principles. she doesn't have a -- they call her a chameleon. what gave evidence to that and the republicans are encouraged by the last 72 hours and she's taken great pains to walk back a lot of her positions from 2020, but then the first thing she puts her name to has gotten criticism with jason farman from "the washington post," et cetera. >> republicans as you saw lindsay graham have been seizing on those positions from 2012. you look at the polls and boy,

nationally in the battleground states it's competitive again. it's competitive and no one should think it is not going to be a tight race because it will be and it is still the core group of six, seven, eight, states that are critical. the movement is there. you're seeing a bump for kamala harris right now. the trump side still believes this is vukt rally favorable to president trump and they believe they can do that. at the same time, democrats are very energized and they see new momentum and the harris campaign is looking at the persuadable voter who is typically not involved and typically doesn't think their vote makes a difference and they're advertising on fox news during the daytime when they think nikki haley voters and more moderate republicans, they might be able to appeal to some of those voters. >> speaking about outreach, there is a lot of pressure kamala harris to do more interviews. she hasn't done interviews yet. do you think she'll shift the strategy and she said she will do one after the convention.

>> i think the context here matters and a month ago joe biden was the nominee. so when the vice president does sit down to do an interview she is going have to answer questions specifically as to what matt said. what has changed and what is the difference here? talk in depth about the policy proposals and that is not something that frankly, one can get ready in a week and i would be concerned if there was a chateau situation going on because that runs counter to what i know that the vice president believes about support and loyalty to the president. so i think we'll see an interview soon right after the convention and that makes sense to me. >> matt, quickly and then we'll get to mary ann. >> what happens is with tim walz you allow story lines whether it's the military service and the trump lines continue to fester and j.d. learned that and he's doing more interviews and kamala has. >> she's speaking in plain sight. >> she has been talking on the plane. >> chicago, the location,

significance. >> chicago has political conventions. this is our 28th convention to host pt 1968 was not only outside, and you saw the chaos and also inside and fighting where delegates were going to sit and who was going to speak and there might be some of that as we know there are 30 uncommitted delegates. it doesn't sound like a lot and that represents 700,000 who represent palestinian human rights. they want to know if they'll be able to speak. >> everyone, stek stick around. a look back 20 years ago to a convention speech that captured the attention of the (husband) we just want to have enough money for retirement. (wife) and travel to visit our grandchildren. (fisher investments) i understand. that's why at fisher investments we start by getting to know each other. so i can learn about your family, lifestyle, goals and needs, allowing us to tailor your portfolio. (wife) what about commission-based products? (fisher investments) we don't sell those. we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in your best interest.

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welcome back. former president barack obama will address democrats in chicago on tuesday night. 20 years after he delivered the keynote speech in boston calling for an end to divisions between red states and blue states. then a state senator from illinois and a rising star in his party, mr. obama joined "meet the press" from the

convention hall ahead of his historic address. >> traditionally the key. ♪er is a governor, senator, congressman and you're the first legislator in the history of the party. "the new york times" today already seen as a rising star within the party mr. obama could win wide acclaim or dim his fortunes. are you nervous? >> you know, i used to play basketball and if you weren't a little nervous before the game you probably wouldn't play a good game. i think the adrenaline will be pumping, but we'll be well prepared and i'm very happy with the speech, and what i'll try to do is tell the stories that i'm hearing on the campaign trail about workers that are being laid off and looking for jobs so they can support their families and about young women and men that want to go to college and have the will, the drive and don't have the money. if i'm as eloquent as they are when they tell me what their hopes and dreams are, then i

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welcome back. the panel is still here. in addition to vice president harris, former president trump all eyes are on their running mates, kelly o'donnell, tim walz

has his biggest night coming up this week. >> he certainly did. they're building the plane flying it at the same time. i've learned a couple of things about how they're going to roll him out. expect coach, teacher, veteran storylines where people from those chapter of his life will appear in person and on video and one of the changes that we'll have the first lady of minnesota gwen walz will not speak in person, but will narrate a video about him and that's a change up and in part in order to make way for these other individuals who can talk about coach walz. expect a lot of that. de-emphasizing to a degree some of the questions about being a veteran. also, one of the things i was really struck by is advisers say that he is particularly comfortable playing second to a woman candidate. he is a governor. he is the executive of his state and yet they're already finding in chemistry and body language they think that he is comfortable there and that is something that harris needs. >> that's fascinating because one of the big storylines

obviously, matt, that we are watching right now is what is a growing gender gap right now. kamala harris has a significant lead among women and there is some concern that these past statements may be hurting donald trump when it comes to women. >> we talk about rollout, formally they find themselves and take a breath. you didn't have the luxury because you had the post-biden debate fallout. they didn't want to step on that and they have the convention and we're rolling. biden drops out later that week. coming out of convention you talk about vance, they're hurting a little bit and they're doing more media and their images improve and expect for them to do more. >> to borrow a line from my former mentor, tim russert and it was about florida, florida, florida in 2000 and it is about women, women, women for sure. think about in 2016, 63% of

white women did not vote for hillary clinton. it's not just about race and also about age. what about older voters? they're more reliable voters and those soccer moms. the soccer moms are saying it's gas, grocery, day care. so where do they line up for both of them? >> the policies speak to that. you talk about 2016, and during that election there were younger women who said they thought they would have another opportunity to elect a woman president and they decidedly did not cast ballots for secretary clinton, and that got donald trump, so here we are. are they feeling differently about this election and i talked to young women voters and millennial black women voters from north carolina recently, melissa murry and i did, and they keep referring to it as the switch from biden to vice president harris and they said they think they're excited and they want to know more and they're not sure yet if they'll

cast the ballot. >> this is the issue of abortion that's become so challenging for republicans. have republicans found their foots on how to talk about that? >> it reminds me of what republicans did in '04 putting up referendums in swing states. absolutely, there is a set of voters that will go to the polls solely on abortion does immigration, with the right pushing immigration who wins the side of that coin will tell us about who we are in november. >> one of the things that tim walz has learn side you can have your record tested when running for congress and it's a whole new level in the national spotlight and it's not just setting the record straight and it's that those are enduring attacks. >> a native nebraska ann, i am confident in his nimbleness. >> fantastic conversation. >> come on, come to chicago with me. >> before we go, a programming note, watch live convention

coverage from chicago all this week beginning at 4:00 p.m. eastern with meet the press now, and at 5:00 p.m. on nbc news and tune into next sunday's broadcast you don't want to miss it, and my exclusive sitdown interview with vice press teshl nominee senator j.d. vance. that is all for today. thank you so much for watching. we'll be back next week because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

the stage is set for vice president kamala harris' biggest moment o