thank you for watching, and make sure to mark your calendars for saturday, september 7th. you can join me at msnbc live democracy 2024, not just me, but all my colleagues here at the network. it is a special event in brooklyn. we will be talking about the most pressing issues of our time. you can scan the qr code on your screen for tickets right now. now let's take a deep breath, because we have a lot of news to get through. on that note, i wish you a very good night. from all of our colleagues across the networks and nbc news, thanks for staying up late. i will see you at the end of tomorrow.

good evening, and welcome to our special coverage of night two of the republican national convention in beautiful downtown milwaukee, wisconsin. super glad to have you here with us tonight, i have rachel maddow here with my beloved, indefatigable, cheerful, well hydrated colleagues, joy reed, jen socket, lawrence o'donnell, we have nicolle wallace stuffed in a cubby nearby were we talking with her shortly. i promise you we will be here any minute now we are expecting the republican party's residential nominee, donald trump, to be entering the hall at the rnc in milwaukee. so if i look shifty and like i am not making eye contact with you, it is because i'm trying to keep an eye on the monitors to know when that happens. i will let you know when it does. both the secret service and local law enforcement today face some increasingly tough questions about saturday's assassination attempt against trump at a rally in pennsylvania this past weekend. cnn was first report today.

nbc news has now confirmed that the secret service had actually ramped up security around trump in recent weeks after they received intelligence about a plot by iran to attack trump. iran has singled out a number of different american officials in recent years for potential attempts on their lives. nbc news reporting that three different trump administration officials, national security adviser john fulton, former secretary of state mike pompeo, all were provided u.s. funded security teams because of threats from iran, with congress approving the funding for this added layers of protection in the case of each of those guys. trump, as the republican nominee, is just the latest u.s. official, former official to reportedly be threatened by iran. now, what is interesting here in terms of sort of the news of the day, and pressing concerns about what happened this past

weekend, is that there is not known to be any connection at all between that reported iran plot and the actual shooting that happened on saturday. what this reporting does mean, somewhat worryingly, is that when that shooting happened on saturday it happened despite the fact that trump's secret service protection had already been recently boosted to account for new perceived threats. it is worrying that the secret service believed it had boosted security enough around trump to account for a potential state-sponsored terrorist threat from iran, but it was still somehow lacks enough to not account for a random 20-year-old registered republican with an ar 15. the secret service says it was local law enforcement that had responsibility for the building for which the shooter took those shots on saturday that killed one rally go or and wounded two more, and hit trump in the air. the secret service says in fact, local law enforcement officers were inside that building at the same time that

the shooter is on the roof. as we are keeping an eye here on the live shot from milwaukee, here is trump still with the bandage on that right here, the bandage looks, what we think, about the same as it did yesterday. we saw trump's newly announced running mate, jd vance, walk into the hall moments ago. now trump himself joining in a bright blue, extra long tie, and his white shirt. we expect that trump, that bandage looks about the same as it did yesterday. we expect that trump will be sitting with his family and with his running mate, who is not expected to speak. we are expecting vance to give his vice presidential nomination acceptance speech tomorrow, wednesday night. we are expecting trump to give his presidential nomination acceptance speech late at night on thursday. so, this is sort of what we get from the nominee and his vice presidential running mate.

last night and tonight we get to see them clapping and enjoying the proceedings, and sitting near one another. live images right now for milwaukee. jd vance, senator from ohio, dirty nine years old. exactly half the age of his running mate, 78-year-old donald trump. sarah huckabee sanders, former white house aide, now the governor of arkansas. his son, eric, the blonde one. there is jd vance. immediately behind republican nominee mr. trump is a florida congressman, who, today on cnn, suggested that shadowy forces have intentionally allowed the assassination attempt against trump to go forward.

those sort of remarks are not enough to keep them out of the box, sitting right behind the nominee he is running with. i kind of want to know if they cleared the music. we have ymca, one of their signature songs that donald trump loves to play. i know they have had some issues on the republican side with some of these acts saying they really prefer that they not, but ymca has managed to stick it out, despite the village people may be objecting. >> i don't know if they have objected. >> have they objected? >> i don't know, i've never heard that they have. a lot of what we have been hearing has been cover bands, too. a slightly different thing then actually just paying the rights. there you have it. in terms of the other news that is going on around this convention, that is sort of casting a shadow over these events, it would be a remarkable thing at any circumstance, but a particularly remarkable thing that in new jersey today the state senior senator, robert menendez, is now facing, i

mean, calls for resignation, certainly. calls for his expulsion from the senate. in federal court, new jersey senator robert menendez was convicted of 16 felonies, with which he was charged. all 16 charges against him, guilty on all charges including bribery, extortion, acting as a foreign agent. this is the case in which menendez was charged with accepting cash and gold bars in exchange for acting to the benefit of the governments of egypt and qatar. now that menendez has not just been indicted on those charges, but convicted, it is basically inconceivable that the democratic party will allow robert menendez to stay in the senate. senate majority leader chuck schumer today insisted that menendez must resign, as did menendez's fellow new jersey

senator, cory booker. will be speaking live with senator booker later on this hour. new jersey's democratic governor, phil murphy, also demanding that senator menendez resigned because he is been criminally convicted. governor murphy even going further, saying that if senator menendez does not resign, he is requesting that the united states senate vote to expel him, force him out if he will not leave on his own terms. this is awkward, right? for what's going on here in milwaukee? to be clear, it is the democratic senate leader, the democratic governor of his home state demanding this, democratic senator must resign or be forced out because of his criminal conviction. and the democrats surely are not happy that a senator from their party has turned out to be a felon 16 times over. but, at least the democratic party knows what to do when something like that happens. right? if you are convicted of felonies in the democratic party, you are expected to leave office, and indeed, your party will demand that you must leave of your own accord. and if you don't leave of your own accord, they will remove you otherwise.

that's how it works in democratic party politics. had robert menendez been a republican, i'm sorry, jd vance, bob menendez would probably be the vice presidential nominee of the republican party by now. all the both sides mirror image analysis we get of how there are things wrong with both parties and there is corruption, the handling of robert menendez and the handling of donald trump, both of whom were convicted on multiple felony counts, tells you what you need to know in terms of the way these two parties feel about law and order issues. today senator vance spoke by phone with vice president kamala harris. harris, we are told, had tried to reach vance yesterday after his nomination was announced. she reportedly left a voicemail in which she asked him to debate her. harris has already agreed to a debate in the coming weeks on cbs news. she and vance reportedly discussed a potential debate today when they spoke by phone, but there is no word on whether or not mr. vance, the republican nominee, has actually agreed to that debate.

for his part, president biden was back on the campaign trail today in swing state of nevada. he addressed the annual convention of the naacp in las vegas. tomorrow he will speak to latino civil rights and advocacy group. and the dnc appears to be moving now with its plan for a virtual rollcall for its convention, starting as early as next week. the democratic convention is not until august, but they are planning on moving the rollcall up. some congressional democrats today circulated a letter calling on the dnc to not do that, to cancel any plans for an accelerated virtual rollcall, and for the refrain from any extraordinary procedures that could be perceived as curtailing legitimate debate or attempting to force an early resolution of the party nomination. california congressman and senate candidate adam schiff today became the latest prominently elected democrat to be quoted saying the democrats are in trouble if they do not make a change on the presidential ticket. the new york times reporting on

remarks at a democratic fundraiser, quoting him as saying, quote, i think if he is our nominee i think we lose, and we may very well lose the senate and lose our chance to take back the house. in his own senate race in california, adam schiff is, frankly, dozens of points ahead of his somewhat hapless republican opponent. so, adam schiff does not have much to worry about himself. but, tonight at the republican convention, the republicans rolled out basically a parade of republican senate candidates from various states, including swing states, all of whom are hoping to flip democratic held seats. this hour, two of donald trump's biggest primary opponents from the republican presidential primary will take the stage to say how much they love donald trump now, and you should forget all the stuff they ever said about him before. first up will be nikki haley, as the governor of south

carolina, haley was critical of trump during the 2016 campaign. but then she took all that back and agreed to be trump's u.n. ambassador after she left the trumpet ministration. she was again critical of trump after january 6th. she decided to run against trump in this year's republican primary. during the primary she called trump unhinged and chaotic. she said he was too old, confused, and diminished to be president again. she said nominating donald trump for president again would be, quote, suicide for our country. she said, quote, i know the american people are not going to vote for a convicted criminal. trump, in turn, mocked nikki haley's birth name. she is the daughter of immigrants from india. he called her birdbrain. at one point, trump attacked nikki haley for not having her husband out supporting her on the campaign trail. nikki haley's husband is an officer in the national guard who, at the time, was deployed overseas with the u.s. military and that is why he cannot join her on the campaign trail. nikki haley responded to that by saying trump was not

qualified to be president of the united states, because it was his repeated and palpable disrespect for the u.s. military. across one dozen primaries and caucuses, nikki haley only won vermont and d.c., but she did regularly take upwards of 20% of the republican vote from trump. even after she ended her candidacy. she did drop out in march. she did not endorse trump right away, but then, true to form, a couple months later she said she would be voting for him. a week ago she released her 97 pledge convention delegates, and told them that they ought to vote for trump. as recently as last week, nikki haley said she had not been invited to the rnc, and she said she was just fine with that. but then, this weekend she was added to the lineup, so tonight, there she will be. nikki haley's highlight reel is about to get a big new batch of trump complements to put alongside her long record of dire warnings about trump being a serious, fundamental threat to the united states.

we are keeping an eye on the proceedings live at the fiserv convention center in milwaukee. we are expecting nikki haley to take the stage in just a few moments. watching this, the contrast, obviously, with the last real convention, the nonvirtual convention in 2016, includes the fact that in 2016 there was a floor fight. there was ted cruz's speech in which he did not endorse donald trump, and he and his family had to be escorted out of the hall for their own safety. there was an effort to try to change the rules, to try to shift delegates away from trump to try to get the nomination off of him. with this one, not a peep of dissent, even from the republican voices that were most and most recently vociferously opposed to him. >> obviously, rachel, they have changed the programming, changed in the sense of i don't think donald trump would have been walking into the hall

silently last night and tonight, and i would anticipate tomorrow night, again, if that had not happened. that never would've been received, of course, in that way. of course the saturday events have a huge impact on that, but, as you mentioned, there was a floor fight. there was division, there was opposition. you are not certain what people might say. now we are all sort of anticipating how nikki haley is going to, who, as you just outline, has personally criticized by him, personally attacked her family, her husband, in sexist ways. she was critical of him. >> attacked her husband's military service. >> and her husband's absence. it got incredibly gross, his attacks. now we are waiting to see, as they are previewed, how she is going to appeal to the people who have questions about trump on that debate stage. i will also note, she is in national security, that's her thing, national security. donald trump just to name somebody as his running mate yesterday who does not really care about the future of ukraine.

donald trump has said recently that he is going to take the other side if he wins. that should be an affront to her core national security values, and she is going to stand up there tonight and we will see what she says. >> i keep thinking about trump at the end of the republican primary contest, saying, not only birdbrain and attacking the husband's military service and all that stuff, attacking her on the basis of her birth name and all this other stuff, but saying that he didn't want nikki haley voters. that anyone who voted for nikki haley, he didn't want to vote, didn't need their vote, did not want their vote, and they should not vote for him. now trump has apparently changed his schedule so that he can be there in person while she gives this speech tonight. and she has got to suck it up and give this speech, and say despite all those things that he insulted about her personally and about people who support her, that she should be responsible not only for her own endorsement, but forgetting the people who supported her on board for him.

>> yeah, and then sort of the coup de grace was the jd vance pig. which is about as far as you can go to tell nikki haley voters to go to hell as it gets. because jd vance is almost to the right of donald trump when it comes to ukraine amma when it comes to telling ukraine that he would love for them to lose this war. it is going to be interesting, but, as we know and as we discussed yesterday, the ritual humiliation of former trump opponents is part of the way it works. to be part of maga, you must accept your ritual humiliation. that is part of the price . and nikki haley is going to pay that price tonight. i find it very interesting that, you know, nikki haley's demographics are identical to the wife of jd vance. and we are already seeing just really vicious, ugly attacks on jd vance's wife, who, like nikki haley, her parents were born in india. >> you mean racist attacks? >> deeply racist attacks against

jd vance and's wife. but they are all going to pretend that isn't happening, in the world in which they live. and they are going to take the knee. and, to use the game of thrones reference, they all must take the knee. we saw yesterday tim scott to do it in most humiliating fashion. we saw him doing today, despite prominent republicans telling him they would not vote for him because he is anti-american and they don't is qualified based on that. i just think it's the price that she is willing to pay, and i don't get says a lot about her character, but it says a lot about the republican party. >> i think nikki haley's function tonight, and it works this way for trump voters and for everyone in the hall, to prove that the people who attacked donald trump do not mean it. it isn't true. and nikki haley is going to come up tonight and show you none of what i said about donald trump, which sounds a lot like what joe biden says

about donald trump, none of that is true. jd vance has the same verbal record, and so, the trump voters have these people as the proof that this can't be true. and then there is that thing of the king demonstrating to them his power. the king it can make them all the end, no matter what they've said in the past. >> and what do they get for it? >> they get a future. that is what they think they get. they get a future in that party. >> but that says something about them. nikki haley, who called him, to lawrence's point, unfit and arrange another thing that that the biden team used in ads, because it was so effective. they were like you know what? what she said. >> by the way, can i add one thing you did not add? nikki haley said about donald trump, and this is important. we cannot have as republican, him as the nominee. he cannot win a general election. that is the problem. we have to go and have someone who can actually win. nikki haley did not even believe the donald trump was electable.

this was not 100 years ago. the other thing is, i would note the absence, other than nikki haley, of any other member of donald trump of's cabinet when he was president of the united states. his vice president is not there because they had to replace him because he tried to get the first one killed. so he won't be there. >> that thing going around today, always ask why the job is vacant. why is the former running mate the second time around running mate? >> and this is the thing about donald trump. we are always told politics is addition. and for most politicians it is addition. and donald trump has said, himself, he feels lucky. other people have observed he has a kind of political luck. but there is very little addition here. you just reported that nikki haley wasn't, and until, of course, the horrific events this weekend, necessarily even going to speak.

we saw mike pence's treatment for being loyal up and through the loss, and just punishment for not wanting to join an illegal coup. and these other individuals face that same situation. so i do think it is something fascinating, nikki haley's speech probably matters more than any other non-nominee, because she could give it in a way that might appeal or she could do the bare minimum. we should remember, as well, donald trump has never gotten more votes in election when he was on the ballot. he did not do that in 16, he lost in 20, midterms have been breezing for him. he does look luckier right now. but, again, he does not do a lot of addition. if nikki haley, i will be watching to see if she puts in a more phoned in, mellow, or like checklist speech, because there are people that he would still need to join the coalition that she had, and we have to see how she sounds. >> to that very point, the biden campaign is sending vice president kamala harris to sit with republican women. and remember, nikki haley, to your point, she had 16-20% in each

of these primaries. there are some of those people who have said it's a camera that if they cannot vote for donald trump, they are available if the biden team wants to try to recruit them. and the biden team is very actively trying to recruit them, and is sitting down, particularly with republican women. because the issue of abortion have crossed party lines like nothing in our recent memory. so you have women in states like ohio, red states like kansas, red states that are saying, and there are ballot measures in states like florida. so, it's an issue. >> to the point about adding voters, apparently, based on the ratings from last night, they are not going to add them through this convention. they got 19 million people to watch over all of the networks that are covering it, 6 million on fox, so that is 6 million ardent trump supporters, the most they could get. that is less than 10% of ardent

trump voters actually deciding i am going to watch this thing last night. >> that is not that much of a bone for fox. >> no, i have written episodes of a drama series that have gotten a bigger rating than the entire -- >> i would rather watch the west wing. >> we used to get 20 million people routinely on wednesday nights at 9:00 p.m. this is a very low rated convention for donald trump, and i begets one of the reasons why he went there. i think even if he had not been attacked, there was a possibility he would've gone, to try to pump up his writings. he did everything he could to pump up monday nights ratings. they are lower than the monday night ratings of the 2016 convention. >> we are going to take a quick break right now because we want to come back on the other side of the break and see what nikki haley has to say. that is all coming up right after this break. stay with us. h us. it's a bold initiative to try and bump cure rates all around the world, but we should. it is our commitment. we need to do this. i'll be honest.

by the end of the day, my floors...yeesh. but who has the time to clean? that's why i love my swiffer wetjet. it's a quick and easy way to get my floors clean. wetjet absorbs and locks grime deep inside. look at that! swiffer wetjet. the moment i met him i knew he was my soulmate. l"soulmates." soulmate! [giggles] why do you need me? [laughs sarcastically] but then we switched to t-mobile 5g home internet. and now his attention is spent elsewhere. but i'm thinking of her the whole time. that's so much worse. why is that thing in bed with you? this is where it gets the best signal from the cell tower!

i've tried everywhere else in the house! there's always a new excuse. well if we got xfinity you wouldn't have to mess around with the connection. therapy's tough, huh? -mmm. it's like a lot about me. [laughs] a home router should never be a home wrecker. oo this is a good book title. welcome back to our special coverage of what is now night two of the republican national convention in milwaukee, wisconsin. our friend, nicolle wallace, is standing by. nicole, we are waiting for the start of the speech from nikki haley, sort of more interesting than your typical also-ran primary contender convention speech. but, given the journey that nikki haley has been on, with insults that have flown between them, the type of very serious

criticism she has levied against trump, not only in general, but specifically in the idea from running right now, in 2024. what are you watching for, what are you thinking about this nikki haley events tonight? >> you know, i think they are theatrics and they are optics, and they will be forgotten by tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. but i think there are fundamental, structural thing that make it hard to believe for me to that she is there. she seems to believe in the righteousness of ukraine's war against russia, against our enemy, and gets ukraine's enemy. then she is going to take the stage after donald trump picks someone who is an enemy of that ally, who is coddled, at least rhetorically, the aggressor in that conflict. it's something worse than just going back on her primary campaign rhetoric. we will see if she deals with that tonight. >> also hearing the reception here for nikki haley in the room. a mix of boos and cheers, applause and cheering.

>> my fellow republicans. president trump asked me to speak to this convention in the name of unity. it was a gracious invitation, and i was happy to accept. i will start by making one thing perfectly clear. donald trump has my strong endorsement. period.

our country is at a critical moment. we have a choice to make. for more than a year i said a vote for joe biden is a vote for president kamala harris. after seeing the debate, everyone knows it is true. if we have four more years of biden, or a single day of harris , our country will be badly worse off. for the sake of our nation, we have to go with donald trump.

but there is more to it than that. we should acknowledge that there are some americans who don't agree with donald trump 100% of the time. i happen to know some of them. and i want to speak to them tonight. my message to them is simple. you don't have to agree with trump 100% of the time to vote for him. take it from me. i have not always agreed with president trump. but, we agree more often than we disagree.

we agree on keeping america strong. we agree on keeping america safe. and we agreed that democrats have moved so far to the left that they are putting our freedoms in danger. i am here tonight because we have a country to save. and a unified republican party is essential for saving her.

>> for those who have some doubts about president trump, i want to tell you a few things about the commander in chief i know and work with. as ambassador to the united nations, i had a front row seat to his national security policies. we sure could use those again. >> some news made, for the first time, really, at this republican national convention. at least it is made from the first time for the stage, with former u.n. ambassador and republican presidential primary 2024 contender nikki haley, who had previously said she would not back any 2024 bid by donald trump for president. nikki haley changing her mind yet again, and saying that she strongly endorses donald trump. she had said that in an unequivocal way, and is now laying out her case for white everyone should doubt -- support donald trump. joining us now is tim alberta,

who has chronicled the fortunes of many republican hopefuls in their campaigns, including ambassador nikki haley, who had quite the wild ride in her now very much over fight with trump this year. it tim, great to have you with this. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me, rachel. >> so, nikki haley and her relationship with trump, it is like watching one of those paddle games where the ball is attached by an elastic string, and it keeps coming back. was there any doubt that she would be giving this speech if she were asked sue, that she would be giving a full and unequivocal endorsement at the end of her journey with trump, including the way she ran against him this year? >> no, not in my mind. and i will tell you why. because one of the just vivid memories of the last few years, for me, was sitting with nikki haley in her country club in south carolina, in the days

after january 6th. i had spent a lot of time with her over the previous couple of months, for a profile that i was writing in politico magazine. and the profile was just about over, then january 6 happen. so, she invited me back down for another conversation. in that conversation, rachel, nikki haley said to me listen, donald trump let us down. we should not have listened to him. we should not of followed him down this path, and we can never follow him again. that's what she said to me. and what was so striking in that moment was, of course, there were republicans and democrats in the house and in the senate at that point, considering whether to impeach trump, maybe even whether to invoke the 25th amendment against trump. and i asked her, if you were in congress would you be on board with that? would you be trying to oust trump at this point? and she told me oh, that doesn't matter. because he is already dead,

politically. he cannot come back from this. he is something too far, the damages done. so there is no need to do any of that, because his career, as we have noted, is over. and here we are today. nikki haley's art vis-@-vis donald trump has been more dramatic than most, but i think, in many ways, she is probably the best, the most accurate representative of how so many people who know better and who publicly came out against trump and said that he was effectively unfit to be commander-in-chief, how they somehow, someway always end up coming back and accommodating themselves to him in the end. >> is that because there is something for her in it? i mean, i don't think that she has got a place in a second trump administration. i could be wrong. having gone much further than just criticizing him in normal terms, even with giving a speech, she has to expect that she is not going to win any obvious or immediate prize here.

the calculation here, the way nikki haley thinks about politics, that someday in a post trump future, she will be remembered as a good enough soldier to win voters trust again. i mean, where does she see this is going? >> you know, what's interesting, as i have spent the last couple of days here on the convention floor, talking with delegates, it really is remarkable how short of a memory many of these people have. it doesn't matter that jd vance called donald trump americas hitler. it does not matter. if you look at the prime time speaking lineup, i would venture to say that it is maybe one out of every three republicans being featured this week speaking at a convention have, in the past, offered some blistering, really, really harsh criticisms of donald trump. not even on a political level, but at a personal level. calling him unethical, immoral, unfit for office, what have you.

and yet, as long as they come back around and they kiss the ring, and they apologize and swear that they did not mean it, then they wind up being embraced by the party faithful. so, i think if you are nikki haley, you understand that even though you were critical of trump back in 2016, saying that he behaved like a kindergartner and that he was an embarrassment, or even if you were critical of him in 2020, saying that he had fallen so far and that we should never follow him again, you recognize that in politics, especially in trump era republican politics, people have a really short memory and are ultimately willing to forgive and forget, and move on, as long as you sort of debase yourself and ultimately bend the knee to him when it really counts most. >> and, tim, when you do these sort of longitudinal profiles, when you spend time with a person like nikki haley for the type of journalism that you have been doing for politico magazine and elsewhere, do you feel like you are seeing the cost of that basement? it is a regular feature, not an accidental or coincidental or incidental thing that happens with trump, that he regularly

demands the basement. he regularly demands not just that mexico is going to get a wall on its border, but that they will pay for it. there is the sort of insult, this groveling that he demands and that he regularly gets from everybody else in republican politics, who has sort of fallen behind as he has taken over that party in its entirety. do you see what that costs them, as people, as human beings? >> rachel, one of my favorite verses in scripture is mark 8:36. which is what should it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? and, to the question you are asking, what we have seen in so many cases, nikki haley among others, is truly nothing short of a forfeiting of one soul in order to gain this temporary affection of donald trump, of his inner circle, of the party base, what have you. but, yes, there is a real, profound, and cascading damage that is done to these people.

nikki haley as an example, i can tell you that in reporting my profile of her, i spoke with dozens and dozens of people who had been friends, confidants, allies of hers over the years. and most of this people are no longer even in contact with nikki haley. they feel entirely estranged from her, in part because they feel as though she lied to them, and that she effectively conned them into believing that she had a set of principles that were ironclad, that came from me deep place of conviction , and she jettisoned them at the first opportunity to gain some sort of entrie into the world of donald trump. and that is the story of so many republicans in the trump era. frankly, it is a bit heartbreaking at a certain level. because when you talk with some of these people on the other side, when you talk to people who have sort of sustained this damage to their family relationships, to their professional careers, to their reputation, to their integrity, when you talk to them on the

other side of it, what they will tell you time and time again is it was not worth it. and i think that obviously that realization hits some people sooner than others. >> tim alberta, atlantic staff writer. thank you so much for joining us tonight. your thoughtful journalism on this and aggressive journalism on this has really helped our own understanding of it. it has been really invaluable to have you here tonight thank you so much. >> you're welcome, thank you. >> you saw nikki haley leaving the state a moment ago to a rousing ovation, a sort of straight up ovation met in contrast to the mix of billing and sharing that greeted her arrival on stage. that is her signal that she did what she was there to do, which is make a totally unequivocal endorsement of donald trump. i thought that was actually very poignant, what tim alberta was saying there, tim alberta, who has done incredible journalism about nikki haley and spend a lot of time with her, talking about the reaction

of those in her own life and in her own political circles, in which she is essentially alone now. people feel betrayed by her after her run against donald trump. people feeling that she had conned them into thinking that she had some sort of real principled stand against a figure like trump. it is also interesting, you see ron desantis on the stage right now, ron desantis and nikki haley, essentially equivalent figures in republican politics right now despite the very different approaches each of them took towards running against trump in 2024. haley did go right at trump. ron desantis never did. but, it doesn't matter. they are both destroyed by trump in the primary, undermined, not only their supporters, but their donors attacked by trump and are now both reduced to a sort of twin speaking role engagement that does not reflect anything, any credit at all for the flak that ron desantis cut donald trump for some of the primary that nikki haley did not. they all end up at the same bottom of the same barrel. nicolle wallace have been

watching along with this. nicole, obviously that is some news from the dais tonight, from the stage. saying that she is a strong endorsement tonight to offer to donald trump, and spent the rest of her speech trying to talk people who did not support donald trump initially into why they should change it like she has. what you make of it? >> well, i am still so, i mean, tim alberta speaks in poetry of his own, he is so unique and he is so distinct. and i think he distilled the conversation we were all having at the top of the hour, the why . and it is the abandoning of all their souls, that is still, in year nine of covering the trump story, disorienting. we watched chris christie do it, we watched marco rubio do it, we watched ted cruz do it. one was called fat, one's wife was called ugly, and the other, the implication was that small hands meant small something else. and they all rolled over.

and to see that that phenomenon is ongoing on year nine of the trump story is remarkable. trump does not care about any of them. he was, today, engage in a twitter war because of what president joe biden is considering doing with the supreme court rattle them. he got on social media and he sent out a post trash talking that idea. he does not really have his mind or his gut with anyone in the room. his mind is on winning. and tim alberta's extraordinary piece of journalism before his reporting this week was about the sort of, i don't even want to call them brain trusts, but the strategic nerve centers of the trump campaign. and these smears against joe biden, and the brutally personal attacks against him. that was their plan all along. so, to watch both pieces come together and sort of collide, you really have to reduce it all to politics, because that

is all it is to donald trump. >> yeah, politics and power, to put it more bluntly. nicole, thank you very much. we will be back with you. we are going to sneak in a quick break right here, because on the other side of the break we have senator cory booker, who is always one of our favorite people to talk to. new jersey democratic senator cory booker. today in a very unusual position as the senior senator from his state. senator bob menendez has been convicted on multiple felony counts. senator booker joining his democratic colleagues in insisting that robert menendez must resign. senator cory booker, also a strong voice in the senate in support of ukraine and its war against russia, with the republican ticket now including jd vance, the senate's strongest critic of ukraine. and, in some cases, by default, the senate's strongest proponent of the russian side in that war. we are going to get senator booker's take on both of those stories and on tonight's

proceedings on day two of the rnc in milwaukee, wisconsin. we will be right back. back. with our highest concentration of pro-vitamins yet, infused with ingredients like biotin & collagen. strengthens hair bonds and repairs as well as the leading luxury brand without the $60 price tag. ♪♪ for stronger, healthier hair. ♪♪ if you know, you know it's pantene. ♪♪ ed gutters. you know it's pantene. call leaffilter today. and never clean out clogged gutters again. leaffilter's technology keeps debris out of your gutters for good. guaranteed. call 833.leaf.filter today, or visit leaffilter.com.

sleep more deeply and wake up rejuvenated. purple mattresses exclusive gel flex grid draws away heat, relieves pressure and instantly adapts. sleep better. live purple. visit purple.com or a store near you today

missing out on the things you love because of asthma?

get back to better breathing with fasenra, an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems or other eosinophilic conditions. allergic reactions may occur. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. step back out there with fasenra. ask your doctor if it's right for you. (♪♪)

looking at live images of the republican national convention in milwaukee, wisconsin. tonight is night two. after jd vance was announced as trump's running mate on night one, this was the follow-up headline at politico.com.

trump and's vp pick spells disaster for europe and ukraine. the u.s. for the moment standing is the most important ally in the world for a country that is fighting for its very existence, after having been invaded by russia. it trump is already effectively pledged that the u.s. will switch sides in this war if he is elected. he has gone so far as to say that he will tell russia that they can do, quote, whatever they want to any of our nato allies once he is president. but, even so, of all the choices that trump could have made for his running mate, senator jd vance is the single most radical choice he could've made on this issue. senator vance has said bluntly that he is opposed to virtually any proposal for the u.s. to continue funding this war. advanced said even more bluntly, quote, i don't really care what happens to ukraine one way or the other. which, understandably, has ukraine and the rest of europe and everyone who cares about the biggest european war since the world war ii has everyone a

little freaked out about the prospect of a vice president jd vance. i mean, moscow is delighted. the rest of the world, not so much. on the issue of abortion, a key, if not the key electoral issue motivating voters this fall, jd vance opposes abortion in any instance. even in cases where a woman is only pregnant because she was rape or she was the victim of incest. jd vance says even those women and every instance should be forced by the government to stay pregnant for the full term and should be forced by the government to give birth against their will. he supports what he calls a quote minimum national standard to restrict abortion everywhere , and all 50 states, meaning, effectively, a national abortion ban. there is another part of the vance's record on abortion that is starting to get some attention, given his promotion

to vice presidential running mate. let's say you're an american woman who lives in mississippi, and you get an abortion. in mississippi says she believes mississippi law enforcement has the power to effectively follow you out of the state if you find yourself in this circumstance. she believes mississippi law enforcement has the power to get your medical records from any state in the country to see if you got an abortion somewhere else. mississippi law enforcement wants to get your medical records from any state in the ny country so they can use those records in bringing criminal prosecutions for abortion. and it is not just mississippi. republican attorneys general in 19 different states all signed onto a letter to the biden administration last year saying

they would like the right to go after private medical records from anywhere in the country including any state where abortion is legal. they want the right to follow women from their states all oaf the country to see if they might be getting an abortion somewhere or might be getting any kind of reproductive care they want to bring criminal charges about. so they can use those records for prosecutions. turns out senator jd vance has endorsed that as well. in addition to the 19 republican attorneys general, jd vance pressured the biden administration last year that they should withdraw the rule that protects women in this instance. they should withdraw the biden administration rule that prevents law enforcement from tracking down and prosecuting women who have crossed state lines to have an abortion.

here is jd vance's signature on a letter to the white house. if donald trump and jd vance are elected in november, they will have the power to withdraw the biden administration's privacy rule on this issue. they'll have the power without congress doing anything to make it legal for prosecutors to access the private medical records of women who have left their over state to obtain abortion care so they can use your medical records to track you down and bring charges. joining us now is senator cory booker. democrat of new jersey. thank you for joining us in what is an incredibly busy and sort of fraught news cycle. it's a pleasure to have you here. >> thanks, always good to be with you rachel. >> i want to talk to you about the choice of your senate colleague jd vance to be donald trump's running mate. your nearest senate colleague, robert menendez, your fellow new jersey senator today was found guilty on 16 federal charges of corruption including

bribery. today, you again called for him to resign. i just want to get your reaction to that verdict and i would like to hear what you expect to happen next in the case of the senator. >> reporter: remember, bob is a figure that most people in new jersey know. he has been in the state working in public life for decades. and so for new jersey, this is a painful day of real heartbreak and frankly, just deep disappointment. a jury that was sworn to objectivity. found by the highest criminal standard beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty on saul 16 charges. and so yes. he must stand up now and leave the senate. he must do that. if he refuses to do that, many of us, but i will lead that effort to make sure he is removed kefrom the senate. >> meaning that you would lead and effort to expel him from the senate if he refuse to

resign? >> absolutely. that's the right thing to do. that's the just thing to do. >> let me ask you about broadening the lens on this same issue. it has been long expected that if a member of congress or a member of the united states senate is convicted, it has been argued that an indictment triggered this as well. that member of congress or that senator should resign or expect to be removed. we are seeing that play out right now with your fellow new jersey senator. with not only you, but chuck schumer. i cannot help but remark on the timing here that this is happening. this is happening on a day when the republicans are in the middle of their nominating convention for somebody who has just been convicted on 34

felony counts. and they are not only not asking him to leave the ticket. they have promoted him to be the nominee of their party for the presidency for the third time running and are projecting what appears to be 100% unanimity in that party behind him. even his vanquished primary rivals who were harsh critics of his, particularly nikki haley. saying they are all in for him with no mention of these felony charges at all. that contrast strikes me. even for this pain. moment for new orjersey. i imagine it strikes you as well. >> it strikes me even more deeply than that. donald trump, too, with a jury that was sworn to objectivity, that convicted him beyond a reasonable doubt on 34 charges, that should alone be enough for anyone to be disqualified from the highest office in the land. there are a lot of honorable republicans who have shown

careers and patriotism from the military from serving the senators and governors. to have a man who not only has 34 felony convictions and pending criminal charges against him. his business practices. he has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines for corrupted business practices. his charity was disbanded for di corrupt practices and forced to pay millions of dollars in restitution. and the civil docrimes are just adding up. including one for sexual assault. we are a nation that should do better than this. this belies not just common sense, but the moral leadership we need. and about his, the folks i'm watching tonight from nikki haley to desantis, there are so many people that were on that stage tonight that he has not

only been in deep disagreement with on policy issues, he has sought to humiliate them. to degrade and demean them on the most personal ways. it wasn't about policy differences when he viciously went after people in the most outrageous ways. now they are running to that stage to endorse him. this is not what we need in america. we don't need someone that deals in demeaning and degrading, people within their own party and we definitely don't need a felon who has been convicted in federal court and someone who has paid out millions and millions of dollars in civil crimes, has shown in every area of his life from his business life to his charitable efforts, to even the criminal counts now against him that he is somebody that is thoroughly corrupt in a way gh that has been proven in court after court after court. >> senator booker, one of your colleagues in the u.s. senate has been chosen to be donald trump's running mate. mr. vance has not been in the

senate very long. he was only sworn in for the first time last year, been there about a year-and-a-half. only 39 years old. i wanted to ask your reaction to his selection. what could be construed. also, a hard line no exceptions pro national abortion ban i feel like has a different cast as the first election. first national election that we'll be facing since the dobbs decision since the right to have an abortion was taken away. what is your reaction to his selection as trump's running mate? >> rachel, you are jumping over

the biggest most obvious thing people should be asking. where is donald trump's vice president? where is mike pence? mike pence is not there. and neither is his former chief of staff or secretary of defense. i can go through so many people who were part of the folks who worked closely with him who are not only at that convention, but do not think he should be president. have said so publicly. but the thing that most frightens me and should a lot of americans is that pence is not there because he saved our democracy. because he said i'm going to move forward and certify the election that even donald trump's highest election officer said was a fair as election. and so, we now have a vacancy for donald trump to fill and his first criteria is to make sure he picks somebody that should we be in that position again, a lawful election in the united states of america was proven by court challenge after

court challenge. that nobody republican state actors have to fight against the president's unjust efforts. he picked somebody who has said publicly if i was in the same space as pence, i would not do the right thing. i would not do the honorable thing. i would subvert our democratic elections. and so look, he is my colleague. i have sat with him, met with him. i know how difficult it is to put yourself on the national stage. i wish him and his family the best. i know and worry about the outcome of the election. he and others have said they will not honor the election or outcome unless donald trump wins. in many ways i'm grateful after the extreme views because this s is an election which is a clear choice about abortion and access to abortion care. it is a clear choice about

social security with his voice. this is an extreme candidate. >> the u.s. attorney said that this finally puts an end to what he called the years of corruption by senator menendez and in the sweep of that statement, it certainly sounded like he was referring to and including the first federal criminal prosecution of senator menendez which ended in a hung jury. do you regret immediately championing bob menendez upon getting that hung jury eight, seven years ago? >> it was a hung jury. one juror would not render a not verdict. lawrence, this is reprehensiblee behavior he has been convicted

of. these 16 counts involve not only honest theft of services but doing things for foreign governments that should chill a lot of folks for what he has been convicted of. this is enough. he should step down. he needs to step downright now. and there are so many new jerseyans who believed in him. that this is a dark and painful day. he was convicted by this jury. that's what i think is hurting a lot of us right now. and s the charges are extraordinarily painful. >> as you know, the senate ethics committee did find in that first criminal case against him after they read the full court transcript and examined all the exhibits, the committee found that senator menendez seven years ago rs violated senate rules and related statutes which means the committee found that he broke laws. wasn't that the time to expel senator menendez? >> the senate ethics committee

does not recommend expulsion. they wrote probably the most severe rebuke that i know of. to me that was a time that all of us should have thought e twice. senator menendez was duly reelected by the people who had all of these facts. what's happened now is the time we should all be unified. republicans and democrats. simply saying enough is enough. he needs to step down. >> senator corey booker, thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. we know this is a news day of another magnitude than typical day. we really appreciate you being here. >> thank you. >> talk about a day in the middle of what's going on there. but it is this contrast with it the pay the republican party and the democratic party are dealing with a criminal conviction here is, it feels

quite pregnant. >> to me it is deeper than reaction to convictions. it speaks to some of the worst case scenarios to game out of a second trump term. this department of justice is functioning at arms length with the white house which has been the norm established in statute and practice since watergate. there is no universe in anwhich joe biden will call up merrick garland and be like what the hell are you doing? you're indicting a democratic senator? >> i have a one seat margin in the senate! >> that phone call is the kind of phone call richard nixon ri would have been tempted to make or make. it is the type of phone call i don't think has quite happened in the modern era though some stuff happened with george w. bush that was fairly shady but it is something donald trump has explicitly tried to do via tweet and believes it should be his ability and it is also the

controlling opinion of the supreme court in the 6-3 trump decision by john roberts who explicitly went out of his way in the decision to basically say that phone call i just conjured is fine. >> under the supreme court ruling, had joe biden yesterday called up the u.s. justice department and said drop that case, he is a democrat and you are not prosecuting a democrat when i'm running for reelection, the justice department would not have been within its rights to blow the whistle on it. they would have had to have done it. >> that section of the ruling, it is not a different reaction. the stench of someone being convicted of something that is bad to do. it speaks to what the rule of law is, what it will be and in

whose hands it will reside. that the biden administration so accused of weaponnizing the department of justice which is now very craftily managed to convict the president's son and a democratic senator. >> i was told the justice department was going easy on democrats and only prosecuting republicans. >> to make it worse, according to john roberts, if then joe biden had then taken a bribe from senator menendez for en getting him out of trouble. >> a gold bar? >> taken a gold bar from him. the phone call that you just described could not be used as evidence because it was an official act. so the phone call to the attorney general couldn't be used as evidence in a bribery case against joe biden. >> it will matter a lot. there is a universe in which you can imagine a person saying

after the trump v u.s. decision, oh wait, i can do this now? >> roberts, call your lawyers. can i just call? can we drop this menendez thing? there is a world in which the character of the person in that office, the character of the people in the department of justice all those different people, the supreme court just found this is constitutional. >> why not use this power? >> or use it to save your son? >> yeah. >> the character of the people in the white house, around the white house, it is such that is never crossed any of their minds for a second. i guarantee you. that is the thing keeping us ep still in earth one. the character of the people in the office. >> the character of the professional norms. all the institutional holdings.

>> they are not protecting us. that's a frightening thought in that the institutions have shown not that they can't protect us but that they won't. and so we are literally the only reason that we didn't have a successful insurrection was the individual character of republican officials around this country. >> including the guy that just got replaced. >> includeing the guy who would have been hung. the hang mike pence. the guy who is absent because his former boss tried to get him hung or allowed him to be killed. but for the character of individual conservative republicans who testified to a man and woman that they wanted donald trump to be reelected but despite that, did not break the law on his behalf so we are living in a world in which everyone says the institutions will protect us, you can't believe that anymore. >> absolutely. >> i haven't heard that said in years now. >> all the time. >> i hear from business guys

all the time. a bank ceo said to me, the institutions, no. that's what they ride on. >> the other part of that is important. jd vance's abortion politics. american politics, it is hard to get legislation passed. they were not very successful the first time around. the whole purpose for project 2025, the whole purpose for someone like jd vance or someone like the sort of vision of the executive they have is there's lots of stuff they can do on day one they don't have to pass legislation for. so things like whether hhs protects the privacy records ofa women who are pregnant seeking abortions is something on day s one. whether the department of hi justice is enforcing the victorian era comstock act. they can actually start

happening immediately and it is important to understand their focus on that because they understand how the government can be. for voters to understand it is not some remote we are going to do this thing and let's see if we can get the votes. >> voters this time around know who exactly donald trump is. in 2016, you saw a number of big business people in new york. warn the american people this is what donald trump can do. this time around, we know exactly what he is going to do and it is stunning that so many republicans are down with it. >> i think what you are seeing is the thing they understand is that the things they want, the vast majority of people don't. and there's a deep frustration that you see in that room. you look in that hall and you see people. they started out booing nikki haley but cheered thher when sh took the knee. they understand that they are a minority. they understand iditarod logically, they are a minority. it is hard for them to win the

popular vote in presidential elections. they almost never can. and their deep frustration with not being able. >> not since 1988. it is worth noting. >> so their anger and rage at ei not being able to move the culture toward national abortion bans and making contraception illegal. toward the awful things they want to do in terms of legalizing what we won't even go into. all of their extremes but they understand these are minority positions so they don't care anymore. we would rather have a dictator to get it in. >> that explain it is hostility against elections. >> one of the things we are seeing now around the whole idea of certifying the elections which is something that happens. that's what mike pence was trying to go ahead with on january fth. but all the levels of government that have to do certifications. with what is happening now.

if you look at washoe county in nevada. all those places where this is starting to happen. republicans are saying now election officials at the lowest level. just at regular counties in any state in the country, conditions already exist. that will allow you and justify as a pretext. so you are already seeing republican officials realizing that to certify an election, even when it is a not controversial election. even when republicans win big and they themselves are the official who won. they are not certifying. it suggests any election is legitimate. they are not wants to contest an election. but that elections are how we decide things in america. >> which you need to do if your policy positions are unpopular. >> and they don't want to pass their ideas through elections.

they just want their ideas. and i will tell you something relate today some of the other news we are talking about. the rules committee of the democratic party sent out this note to its membership talking about why they are doing this virtual vote. it is not a scheme to rig the primary for the guy who already won the primary. they lay out the fact that they are concerned that republican election officials in states like ohio that change their rules to allow the later certifications to say you can be on the ballot even if you passed our original deadline in june. ohio did that. but their concern is they signed that law but that there are still threats out there from republican officials who were saying yeah but we still may not allow joe biden on the ballot. so to avoid litigation, that is part of the reason they want to do it virtually because they

don't trust at this point republican officials in states where they have control over to ian do the basic thing of putting joe biden's name on the ballot. so that's the level of distrust you are seeing. is >> when it was coined everyday american. but it seems to have taken off. everyday american, the title for the individual speaking right now has seemed to work. i didn't think that had legs but it has. the second thing is that you said this thing that struck me. where there is always in these moments this tension between the abnormal and the normal. so it is a debate. it is like one of these guys tried to end the whole american experiment last time.

the worst transfer of power since lincoln. it is the same thing with this convection. if you are talking hito someone visiting from another country and knew nothing about american politics, well, who are these guys? he was the president before and tried a violent coup. >> oh, so he is running again. >> they said he didn't have to do anything about it. so now. you would. if you were coming into this from another country, you wouldt think this seems like a bad kind of setup. so he tried that. didn't work. now he is back. he is running this time. and that, again, that is where we are. the supreme court issued its amendment on the 14th amendment and official act immunity. this is anthe field upon which the democratic contest is

engaged but it is still bizarre. >> one of the reasons so many groups are okay with this is because they are special interest groups and they are going to get limited access to abortion or the business community that hears donald trump float ideas like that corporate tax rate. i'm not just going to extend it, it will get it down to 15 which no ceo has even dared to ask. so it is why they are willing to say oh, democracy will hold. oh, the institutions are a-ok. because a 15% tax rate is a super win for them. >> so what do you make of the headlines we saw in the wake of vance being chosen? that he is e somehow some sort concern to the business community that he is actually a real poulist. you can tell from the way i'm presenting this to you that the

headlines were hilarious. >> jd vance likes lena khan. and when you talk to lots of people in the fortune 500 universe, they do not like her. they view her as completely anti-mergers. jd vance likes her. he worked we elizabeth warren on legislation to have claw backs of bank executives. you would think wow. but let's be honest. you have elon musk backing him. one thing donald trump loves is when the richard engel business community says you are my boy. so this notion that maybe he will be a little bit different. he absolutely will. he loves to walk into mar-a- lago and say i could cut your taxes. joe biden broke a record today.

>> reminds me when people were saying donald trump is going to be great on gay rights. remember that? it is still ringing in my ears. still ahead, the extraordinary takeover of the republican party by donald trump and his family on full and pointed display tonight with the apex speech we are expecting in milwaukee. we have that and our coverage continuing right after this quick break. stay with us. this quick break. stay with us. >> i know a lot of you want to meet my little buddy. so if baby doll come out here, how could the message be any simpler than just that? r than my recommendation is simple: every home should have salonpas. powerful yet non-addictive. targeted and long-lasting. i recommend salonpas. it's good medicine. ♪ hisamitsu ♪

dangerous ladders. gutter muck. yuck. no wonder you hate cleaning your gutters. good thing there's leaffilter. our patented filter technology keeps leaves and debris out of your gutters forever. guaranteed. call 833- leaffilter to get started. and get the permanent gutter solution that ends clogs for good. they took the time to answer all of our questions. they really put us at ease. end clogged gutters for good. call 833.leaf.filter, or visit leaffilter.com today. the virus that causes shingles is sleeping... in 99% of people over 50. it's lying dormant, waiting... and could reactivate. shingles strikes as a painful, blistering rash that can last for weeks. and it could wake at any time. think you're not at risk for shingles? it's time to wake up. because shingles could wake up in you. if you're over 50, talk to your doctor or pharmacist

about shingles prevention. your gut is like a garden growing both good bacteria and bad. that balance is key to a healthy gut environment. benefiber's plant-based prebiotic fiber gently nourishes the good bacteria, working with your body to help your gut, and you, flourish. effortlessly. every day. grow what feels good. with benefiber.

after careful review of medical guidance and research on pain relief, my recommendation is simple: every home should have salonpas. powerful yet non-addictive. targeted and long-lasting. i recommend salonpas. it's good medicine. ♪ hisamitsu ♪ [ put a little love in your heart itby david ruffine. begins to play ] my bad, my bad. good race. - you too. you were tough out there. thank you. i'm getting you next time though. oh i got you, i got you. down goes jewett. jewett and amos are down. what a lovely sign of sportsmanship. you okay? yeah. ♪ ♪

dealdash.com, online auctions since 2009. this playstation 5 sold for only 50 cents. this ipad pro sold for less than $34. and this nintendo switch, sold for less than $20. go to dealdash.com and see how much you can save. sleepy? headaches? dry skin? you're probably dehydrated. try liquid labs rapid hydration. it's packed with all five essential electrolytes. taste amazing and way less sugar than sports drinks? rehydrate and feel better with liquid labs. grab liquid labs in the walmart vitamin aisle today. welcome back to our special coverage of night two of the republican national convention

in milwaukee wisconsin where we have had a whole bunch of republicans senate candidates speak. we have had a speech from nikki haley making news with her unequivocal endorsement of donald trump despite her earlier portrayals of him as a threat to the republic. we heard from ron desantis. about 3,000 people gathered in a park near milwaukee's arena yesterday. that's a collection of more than 100 different activist groups protesting the republicans and their policy agenda. today, another large group. several thousand people marched through downtown milwaukee. protesting the rnc. while the biden campaign itself pressed pause on their campaign ads following the trump shooting, the party, they have never the less been papering

the city of milwaukee with billboards. 16 different billboards like these ones. highlighting some of the most unpopular policies of the trump vance ticket. another eight cheekier ones highlighting president biden's policies and accomplishments. social security cuts, try me! milwaukee might be home to trump's nominating convention this year. but remember, that joe biden won milwaukee county last time around in 2020 by 40 points. milwaukee is a blue, blue, blue city in a purple state. in wisconsin, democrats and republicans have been fighting as hard as you can possibly imagine for more than the past decade. some of the most well joined well fought highest stakes political partisan combat in the nation has been the state

of wisconsin. in the trump era and beyond. and the man at the head of it is mr. wickler, chair of the democratic party. great to have you. >> great to be here. a wild moment in the history of our democracy and certainly in the state of wisconsin. >> absolutely. things are always a little wild in politics in wisconsin. at least they have been when we knew each other in the george w. bush era. wisconsin has been ground zero for the harshest combat in the country. given what you and the wisconsin democrats are joined in now. what does it mean to you? that the republicans are having their conviction in milwaukee? >> reporter: donald trump who calls milwaukee a horrible city behind closed doors. there is one reason for it.

trump said when he was in wisconsin, we win wisconsin, we win this whole thing. this is the state that tips presidential elections one way or the other. the land of the nail biter for the last six presidential elections here have come down to less than one percentage point margins. two or three votes per ward across the state. that means everything can tip the entire state which then tips the entire country. they are here to try to bamboozle wisconsin and democrats across our state are mobilized knocking on doors organizing to make sure the truth gets out about the project 2025 agenda and what it is that trump and vance want to do to wisconsinites and the freedoms they want to rip away if they get back into the oval office. >> how would you characterize the state of the fight in wisconsin? how are democrats doing? how have you been doing in recent elections? how are things looking for you in terms of things like organizing and voter

registration. how do the polls look? >> wisconsin true to form is almost perfectly evenly split. there are outlier polls that go in either direction. if you look at the agregatoers, it is by a couple of points. while the republican national convention is here, and trump has been visiting our state, the republicans have not built a serious grass roots organizing infrastructure. they have been engaged in a long time civil war within their party to dismantle democracy as their core strategy. there is a recall effort against robert voss because he has called to impeach the non- partisan elections administrator. a grass roots up riding pushed back so hard that republicans realized it was a electoral disaster.

no one can get in the state of wisconsin without 451 days after the dobbs decision. it is organized, mobilizing over the state and you see republican party trying to suppress the vote, dismantle democracy and take away freedoms. and that at every level of the ballot where we have maps now after our supreme court, all the way to the presidential means that this race is a tossup. and democrats have to really work to find the votes in every corner of the state. if they do that, i think we can win. >> then it is alex wagner. thanks for joining us tonight. what do you make of the choice of jd vance as trump's running mate? a lot of observers say that is the trump campaign doubling down on white working class voters. do you think it moves voters in your state? >> it is doubling down on people willing to sacrifice any

principle to gain power. other than for whatever their reason, desire to rip away repredictive freedom. it is a way to appeal to tech billionaires but not voters. jd vance did terribly relative to other republicans when he was up for reelection in the state of ohio. and wisconsin voters look at this guy trump wants to put a heartbeat away from the presidency, they see someone who wants a 100% abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest. he said he would not have certified the election if he had been vice president instead of mike pence. that is what trump is promising. it is an act of wild overconfidence for trump to let his darkest impulses run wild. i think it reinforces the fact that trump is a threat to the very idea of democracy and freedom in america. >> yeah. a lot of people are calling this the mega maga ticket which i think is fair enough. there was a moment in the 1950s when people on the very, very

far maga style part of the republican party wanted a wisconsin senator on the ticket. they wanted joe mccarthy and also general mcarthur and it was going to be the mac and mac ticket. the mega maga ticket of its day. they never got that dream. but trump and vance, they had to wait 70 years for it to get here. ben, chairman of the wisconsin democratic party. thank you so much for being here. always interesting and good to talk to you. >> thanks for having me on. let's go to the floor of the republican national convention where nbc news correspondent jacob as always is making friends. and winning people over to his winning charms. >> reporter: we just heard from sarah huckabee-sanders. i want to go back to nikki haley. nikki haley certainly after

being quite vocal and opposed and specifically against former donald trump. i think she called him unhinged for him at one point. she showed up for him tonight. the south carolina delegation has showed up for donald trump. i heard you guys talking about it. there was some booing originally when nikki haley came out onto the stage. there was not booing. you were saying there was no booing when nikki haley came on the stage. >> absolutely no booing. 100%. we were yelling nikki and applauding. >> so they were very happy. so if they were happy to see nikki haley, if nikki haley was happy to see president trump, one thing i do want to point out is i don't know if it was returned back the other direction. if you look at where you were saying the seats are not great here right? >> well, i would like to be a little bit closer. it would be nice to be a little bit closerment. >> check this out. rachel, south carolina delegation. we are in the last row as far away as you could possibly be from the stage.

come with me, i want to take you for a little walk. >> behind alaska! >> utah, no fans of donald trump back in the day. here is maryland. the northern mariana islands. thank you very much for accommodating us. you can't even see former president trump from the south carolina section. if you take a look from here, you had to come out to the northern mariana islands to get a look at former president trump. there he is sitting next to presidential nominee jd vance and it was strange to watch him when nikki haley came out. you guys probably had a closer long lens look at him than i did. but if there was excitement, you couldn't quite see it from up there in the box. it was contentious i'm sure. he is happy to have her endorsement but there's a lot of strange bedfellows in this room tonight and you can feel it in this corner of the arena. >> and corner is the operative

word. that is beyond bad seats. >> i'm okay. >> great. >> thanks very much. >> i love that guy. >> i'm great. >> these two seem like terrible seats. thank you for sorting that out for us. i also want you to have better seats from where you are meaning you have to leave south carolina and go to the northern marianas islands. >> i'm on my way to guam. see you later. >> jacob joining us. that is kind of amazing. >> reporter: trump won the south carolina primary! >> but they really stuffed them back there in the supply closet, maybe it is just coincidence. but i will say i didn't want to ask him this. i didn't want him to answer this in front of all those people he has to spend all evening with. but it does look like the whole place is kind of empty. >> yeah. >> maybe tonight's the night. >> tuesday night. i feel like they really do fill

up over the course of the week. the other weird thing, the way it worked was you don't see the bride before the wedding. the nominee doesn't come until the last night. trump wants to be there all the time because he wants the center of attention on him. but one of the things about being the nominee is you don't have to sit through a bunch of speeches. it's funny to cut to him. he has given himself the job of just sitting there and listening. >> he looked like he fell asleep the other day. >> that was praying i think. that was misinformation. not disinformation. he did look sleepy because of the way he was slumped over but it was the moment prayer was happening. in the moment i noted it. i'm telling you i saw it. yes. >> i do believe he relishes nikki haley. it is more like an indian

wedding. where the bride and groom are out for several days. rather than just at the end. >> i wanted to ask you about what you were saying earlier. the top of the night. top of our coverage about what happened. you had suggested maybe trump is there a lot more than you would expect to see the nominee. because he is trying to goose the ratings a little bit? >> whether he would have gone without the assassination attempt, i don't know. but i'm sure when he decided to go, one of the things was this will certainly help monday's ratings. that's actually bad news if it did. because it means if he didn't show up, they would have gotten less than 19 million people. so these ratings are pretty low for a first night of a convention. we have last night's ratings. and this is the forum where you are supposed to try to reach out to voters you don't already

have. people watching it here are people who are very interested in this. they don't all intend to vote for donald trump. maybe none of them intend to vote for donald trump. so remember in the 19 million, there's a solid 5 million watching who are hoping this ticket fails. minimum of 5 million. so there is no more than 13 million people or so cheering for this ticket and watching this thing tonight. so this is in terms of compared to past televised conventions, the 1960s and 70s , this is a very, very small event. >> it is a small event. it is in a swing state. it is in a swing state very interesting news, observation tonight from ben speaking within the democratic party chairman in wisconsin. that even though we think of wisconsin as such a partisan

battleground he says what he is observing what he is observing is that the republicans haven't put together a ground operation for this republican ticket. maybe they have from other republican priorities. in terms of wisconsin trying to get it together on the republican side to cast votes for trump and now vance, he says it's not there. >> i have been talking to ben fairly regularly on our program. and one of the reasons possibly for that is that it is kind of, they are kind of bad at the organizational end of it if you are changing heads of the party. the way they do. and the way they recklessly do. but remember. so much of the trump money was going to legal fees where the democratic campaign money was going to building infrastructure in wisconsin so ben has had a big head start in wisconsin.

>> they are a talented well led party. >> he is just the best. as we await the headliner speech by donald trump's daughter-in-law, because she now is running the rnc. this is crazy. another past republican chief will give us his view of the new trump family visit. michael will join us coming up. stay with us. coming up. stay with us. my mental health was better. but uncontrollable movements called td, tardive dyskinesia, started disrupting my day. td felt embarrassing. i felt like disconnecting. i asked my doctor about treating my td, and learned about ingrezza. ♪ ingrezza ♪ ingrezza is clinically proven for reducing td. most people saw results in just two weeks. people taking ingrezza can stay on most mental health meds. only number-one prescribed ingrezza has simple dosing for td: always one pill, once daily. ingrezza can cause depression, suicidal thoughts, or actions in patients with huntington's disease. pay close attention to and call your doctor if you become depressed, have sudden changes in mood,

behaviors, feelings, or have thoughts of suicide. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including angioedema, potential heart rhythm problems, and abnormal movements. report fevers, stiff muscles, or problems thinking as these may be life threatening. sleepiness is the most common side effect. take control by asking your doctor about ingrezza. ♪ ingrezza ♪ missing out on the things you love because of asthma? get back to better breathing with fasenra,

an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems or other eosinophilic conditions. allergic reactions may occur. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. step back out there with fasenra. ask your doctor if it's right for you. (♪♪) we've always loved taking care of our home. but last year, grandpa here broke his arm. we realized some home maintenance jobs

aren't worth the risk. that's when we called leaffilter to protect our gutters. leaffilter's patented filter technology keeps debris out of your gutters for good. they gave us a free inspection and we had the system installed that week. my only regret is not calling them sooner. now we can focus on what we really enjoy. join millions of satisfied homeowners. call 833 leaffilter today or visit leaffilter.com at the ups store, we offer a lot. because running a small business takes a lot. that's why we're the "think outside the box" store. the "help protect your privacy" store. and the "give your business a real street address" store. so while you're juggling everything else like the boss you are, we're the "extra pair of hands" store. you can count on us as the "shredding and mailboxing, anything and everything to keep you going" store. come into the ups store today. and be unstoppable. when we're young, we're told anything is possible... come into the ups store today. ...but only a few of us go out and prove it.

witness the greatness of anna hall on a connection worthy of gold: xfinity mobile. only xfinity gives you the most powerful mobile wifi network, with speeds up to a gig in millions of locations. and right now, get up to $800 off the new galaxy z flip6 and z fold6 when you trade in your current phone. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. with absorbine pro, pain won't hold you back from your passions. it's the only solution with two max-strength anesthetics to deliver the strongest numbing pain relief available. so, do your thing like a pro, pain-free. absorbine pro.

besides the balloons and the pageantry and the stage craft and the weird cover bands, political conventions really are meant to be a display, a televised perfect display of unity. not only of the party coming together. they are an opportunity for political parties to pitch the whole nation about how their party, their candidate, their platform is the best suited to unite the whole country in the years ahead. it is a showcase of unity. at least that is what they are supposed to be. >> welcome everybody who is watching at home and welcome everybody in this great arena tonight. we love you all. actually, wait a minute. i don't mean that. i don't welcome everybody in this meeting. in this room, the guys up in

the fake news, frankly. all right. frankly, you guys up there in the fake news have worn out your welcome. >> madame chairman. madame chairman, the commonwealth of kentucky proudly casts 46 votes for the next president donald j. trump. >> are you speaking tonight? if you took that stage, you would get booed off the stage. >> that was florida congressman matt gaetz at the end there sort of frothing at the proverbial mouth a little bit yelling at former republican speaker of the house kevin

mccarthy. so unity, smiles everyone. smiles. one guy did get into the spirit of sol dirty. did you guys see this today? >> oh my gosh. >> i thought this was a prank but apparently this is just a thing. honestly, i can't believe there is only one so far. joining us now is our beloved colleague, michael steel. now hosts one of the hosts of msnbc's the weekend. mr. steel, thank you so much for being here. >> good to be with you rachel. and the crew, how's it going? >> you know. we are nuts at this point. we are so punchy. we no have idea what we might say. we're a mess. >> the last person you need on with you right now is me. i'm not going to help your cause, baby girl. >> all right. all right. so, michael, i wanted to talk to you right now.

because we are awaiting a speech. not from the chair of the republican party, this year, it is the number two official in the republican party. who has been given the honor of the big culminating prime time speech. why is that? because her name is laura trump and she is married to donald trump's son, the blond one? to eric? >> she is married to eric trump. is this weird that the candidate has put his family in charge of the republican party and that they are putting the second official on tv for the big deal speech? >> it is. it is very, very weird, number one, that this is now become a family enterprise for the republican national committee. number two, that you would have the cochair taking a prime time

slot. typically party officials will speak in the beginning of the day. in the 5:00 hour. long before prime time. their roles are generally administrative. they don't have a call they are going to send out to the gathered because they are organizing this. this is they are managing this. they are not there to give speeches as the chair and cochair in that regard. this the different because it is the daughter-in-law of the former president who is there for one purpose only. to make sure that trump enterprises is fully operationallized inside the rnc which is no longer the rnc. it is either the maga party or the trump republican party but it is not the republican party of lincoln, reagan, and

eisenhower. so this means a lot for the direction the party is going to go, structurally and organizationally. >> michael, in terms of the way the republican national committee is supposed to run, obviously, when ever you have got a president, the president is the de facto head of the party and the president gets his or her own person in at the national committee and there's a lot of power that comes directly from the presidency down into the party. we have a somewhat unusual situation. we have a former incumbent. we have an ex-president running to try to become president again. so you would deaf fitly expect for him to be exerting power in the party. by making it his family and so much a part of as you say trump enterprises. is it run to trump's benefit in a way that may hurt the other goals of the party? in senate seats and

governorships. state legislatures. >> you put your finger on the heart and soul of what a party is there to do. my job was twofold. i had two responsibilities. raise money, win elections. that's it. with the money you built the infrastructure to win the elections. with the money you create the messaging. with the money, you are able to level up your candidates particularly in some battleground areas. and in some weaker districts battleground areas. and in some weaker districts battleground areas or weaker districts where you can cobble together resources to move the needle that would help not just further downward ballot candidates but, this is something a little understood in politics, everything is top- down. a candidates running for congress or the state

legislature helps a statewide candidate even a presidential statewide candidate for drawing up more voters who otherwise would not be excited so the infrastructure is very important. when the rnc was taken over and i would largely say condemned to its fate by the takeover by the trump organization, they fired 60 people that already built the infrastructure. you cannot just replace those people that have the title plan to run the operations on the ground and you certainly cannot do it when you either disrupt those operations or the e operations are incomplete because you then do not know how they were going to be filled out or laid out to their completion so the reality becomes, you set yourself behind and you do not do it six months before a general election in a hotly contested

presidential election. so that infrastructure your prior dust from wisconsin was talking about, i guess it was the democratic chairman, the party in wisconsin has not been able to crystallize, they will pay a price for that downstream. you just do not stand that up in 30 days. that is a network built out over a year plus time. the fact that they cut that cord six months before the election by firing people tells you where the emphasis is, it is top line, presidential. the thinking is everything else falls in place and that is not how the election will play out. >> you combine that with the chaos we have seen in state parties. physical fighting that happens at state party levels, fighting over the extreme mag a figures.

i think it is a black box figure. >> just real quick, you guys have a little bit of fun with our friend in the balcony talking to the states in the outlying sections of the arena. typically what happens with that, states who wind up so far removed from the floor, a lot of times that is based on how the presidential candidate were nominated in those states so mi beyond the host state and for the president and vice president, you then have a degree of support. so you get to places like maryland were trump lost the state by 35 points, yes they will be sitting in the balcony. >> it is not even nosebleeds, you are in the planes. you are way in the back and still on the ground. >> tucked behind some

tumbleweeds. >> i am behind the kepillar, obstructed view. as always it is great to see you. we are waiting for a primetime speech from the daughter-in-law of the nominee, which is how the republican party runs now. she is not the chairman of the republican party but close enough. close enough. it's time we listen to science. one a day is formulated with key nutrients to support whole body health. one a day. science that matters.

i'm adding downy unstopables to my wash. now i'll be smelling fresh all day long. [sniff] still fresh. still fresh! ♪♪ with downy unstopables, you just toss, wash, wow. for all-day freshness. okay everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. yay - woo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, nutrients for immune health. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. (♪♪) which looks better — this? or this? seems clear to me. if you love to save, check out the wise buys sales event going on right now at america's best — get two pairs of progressives for just $129.95. offer includes a comprehensive eye exam.

book an exam online today. the virus that causes shingles is sleeping... in 99% of people over 50. it's lying dormant, waiting... and could reactivate. shingles strikes as a painful, blistering rash that can last for weeks. and it could wake at any time. think you're not at risk for shingles? it's time to wake up. because shingles could wake up in you. if you're over 50, talk to your doctor or pharmacist about shingles prevention. when did i call leaffilter? when i saw my gutters overflowing onto my porch. leaffilter is a permanent gutter solution, so, you never have to worry about costly damage from clogged gutters again. it's the easiest call you can make. call 833.leaf.filter today, or visit leaffilter.com.

after careful review of medical guidance and research on pain relief, my recommendation is simple: every home should have salonpas. powerful yet non-addictive. targeted and long-lasting. i recommend salonpas. it's good medicine. ♪ hisamitsu ♪ it's time to get away and cash in at cache creek casino resort. it's good medicine. to rock and to roll. to go all out or go all in with four stars and rising stars. northern california's premier casino resort is the perfect place to do as much... or as little as you want. make your getaway now and cache in at cache creek casino resort.

welcome back to our special coverage of night two of the republican national convention in the fantastic great city on a great lake. downtown milwaukee is where the arena is. has it begun? we are looking for the keynote speech from laura trump, she is not the chair but she is the air of trump's wife, let's begin. >> let me tell you about it, some of you have been.

regardless of how the media has painted these rallies you would be hard-pressed to find and join a happier group of people coming together over there love for the greatest country on earth, the u.s.. i dare anyone trying to leave a trump rally without leaving with some new friends. you always make friends at a trump rally, veterans, teachers, blue-collar and white-collar workers, police officers, firefighters, small business owners, latino supporters, black supporters, white supporters, agent supporters, supporters, republicans, independence and yes even democrats.

at a trump rally you are not viewed as your profession, religion or the color of your skin. you are viewed is one thing. a american. last saturday was a jarring reminder of that we as americans must always remember, there is more that unites us than divides us. >> laura trump is the daughter- in-law of donald trump, she is number two in charge at the republican national convention, our coverage continues on the 11th hour. >> all donald trump wants to do and has ever wanted to do -- --