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eastern for special primetime coverage in and out, at ari, joy and jen join us. don't go anywhere. ♪♪ good evening. ear special coverage of this national republican convention continues. i'm ari melber with you for the next two hours, along with joy reid and jen psaki. we'll bring you their analysis and interviews on this third night of the convention. we know, this will be one of the most pivotal night of the new member of the kick, jd vance. the delegates will fill up the halts again as the proceeding are slated to return and start up during this hour. trump did a walk-through of the

stage, that most speakers do. you can see him, of course, there. he closes the convention with that big speech tomorrow night. he was accompanied by his security detail. security is on everyone's mind. one of the most unusual speeches will come up, former trump white house aide peter navarro. we can tell you he literally left prison today. he will take the stage today, having just finished this four-month prison sentence. the timing is a coincidence, but he woke up from the prison this morning to milwaukee in time tonight. across the two hours, we will probably hear some of them. the night will end with the running mate, who has so much in common from so many politicians.

he rose to prominence by saying, his words, that he was a never trumper for vance, within a few years, it was not. he joins these republicans who are, quote, bending their knees, offering tribute who once insulted them and then defeated them as "new york times" covers it in their coverage. you might have seen or heard some of that last night, and trump and vance were watching that, taking it in. it's an evolution that, quite frankly, many informed americans have all watched and experienced in real time. >> he is unhinged. he is more diminished than he was. >> i feel no need to kiss the ring. i have no fear of retribution. >> donald trump has my strong endorsement, period. [ cheers and applause ] >> this man is a pathological

liar. >> we can fix it. when donald trump is president, we will fix it! [ cheers and applause ] >> donald trump is a con artist. [ cheers and applause ] >> make donald j. trump our president again. >> he was going to drain the swamp, he did not deliver it. send donald trump back to the white house. >> i never liked him. >> we have got to reelect president donnell j. trump to the white house, right? >> jd vance told the nation he was a never trump guy, but as the long goes, never is a long time. he went from never trump to always trump, now to this week joining trump's ticket. it's he a shift as republicans rally their side. donald trump is, of course, in charge and at the helm. he has an interesting loyalty to most types of poverty details.

that opens a wider shift that could be easy to miss, because there's so much other things going on. there's busy times and there's been a lot of pant -- pageantry. not a big maga critical outlet. they say that this convention this week has demonstrated a new kind of party, isolationism abroad, even more extreme stances on abortion and now hostile to certainly businesses. it's also a party discarding claims about law and order and welcome what we just mentioned, their choice, not ours, welcoming a convict fresh from jail tonight. as long as those people have the right position on the nominee, anything else is -- let's go exactly out to the r.j. where vaughn hillyard continuing his recording. vaughn, what are you seeing tonight?

>> tonight, peter navarro, just a little over an hour from now. i think it's notable he's taking the stage. why? for the last two nights, let's be clear here, this has been a maga convention on policy, from the maga agenda on crime, on non-immigration. what we have not heard, multiple sources tell me and our colleagues, that there's been direct editing by the trump team for some of the speakers who have already spoken at the convention so far. what you have not heard from the stage is talk of stolen elections, of conspiracy theories, january 6th, instead it's focused on contrasting the biden administration with the potential trump administration. that's where peter navarro, straight out of prison, come up here, and the question is, what is his message after serving three months of prison? there's a base of support that's

palpable, but a large part of the country will get introduce the here. frankly, this is the thinks thinks first time a lot of people will be hearing from him. like matt gaetz, like ronnie jackson, all of those folks will be speaking here tonight. >> we have breaking news right now. it's been announced that president biden has tested positive for covid. that is according to white house officials. we have mike memoli. mike? >> reporter: hey there, ari. i'm in las vegas, president biden was scheduled to speak on the stage behind me here at the conference. the speech was scheduled for 90 minutes ago, the absence, the delay was becoming quite conspicuous, and they announced

to the crowd just moments ago, she received a call directly from president biden to inform her, he had tested positive for covid. out of an abundance of caution, he, of course was cancelling his remaining schedule for the afternoon. we had seen him already today. he visited a local restaurant here in the las vegas area. he was mingling with some patrons there. he was also scheduled to, and we believe he went ahead and recorded an interview with the radio. it's unclear at this very early stage what, if at all, the symptoms he might have been feeling when he was tested for covid, when this positive result came forward. the headline is that, in the middle of this incredible swirl of news around him, calls for him to step aside, the president now dealing with a positive diagnosis for covid-19. the president, we should know did test positive once during his administration so far, had a bounce-back case as well that

quickly followed. but at this moment, this is the first time he's tested positive for covid in at least several years. a significant develop here, ari. >> mike, you're working your sources, talked to all the officials around joe biden. this is a confirmation of brand-new breaking news, so we may not have a ton to work with, but i want to ask you how it was transmitted. you mentioned we have reporting that basically what they related out is that president biden called as to say why he couldn't make it. tell us about that and any other hints or clueing about where we go from here. >> yeah. this is a significant series of events that the president was holding in las vegas. he addressed the naacp convention just yesterday. unidos was expected to be a bracket of what we're seeing in milwaukee. last night so many were talking about the issue of immigration

blaming president biden for, as they put it, an open border. and, so, as the program was being slow walked, they were rearranging almost of the program, and then the ceo, the president of the organization hosting this convention, that the president had called her directly to inform her that he regretted he could not come and speak to the audience, but obviously he had to put his health first. >> mike, stay with me. jen psaki and joy reid are covering here, but we do the breaking news. david plouffe knows the obama-biden ticket well. david, your reaction to this first, just like anything else

of what we've been covering. of course, we wish the president well, as we wish the former president well, it seems that health is on everyone's mind, so i welcome you to discuss the news, but this is the rnc, this is the biden campaign, sure politically covid is not what you want to put at everyone's mind, but here we are. year reaction to all of the above, and then jen psaki will join us. >> as you said, ari, hopefully he's asymptomatic or minor symptoms and recovers quickly from a health and personal standpoint. he's facing great questions about his candidacy, and the clock is ticking on both that question and the general election where the democrats are trailing now, and that has to be turned around. losing any time is certainly not something you wish on him. nothing you can do about that.

he will be responsible, unlike his opponent, about how he states behind closed doors until he can mix and mingle. you have aid dam schiff come out today, and democrats are trying to contain the fallout from the debate and some of these polls, and the sense of some democrats that he can't win this election, which is which could cause potential a republican trifecta. so obviously inopportune time. they can do interviews, can be talk to get members of congress, i'm sure they'll dial all of that up, but super unfortunate. >> we have that moment that

canceled, of course, the event. here is that moment. >> regrettably, i was just on the phone with president biden, and he shared his deep disappointment at not being able to join us this afternoon. the president has been at many events, as we all know, and he just tested positive for covid. >> joining us now is dr. vin gupta, our medical contributor. thank you so much for joining us. i think one of the things that everybody is watching and wondering, how long will he need to be off the campaign trail. does it depend on his symptoms? what could people expect here? >> jen, it's been a while since we've been talking about this, thankfully, for the country.

first of all, best wishes for the president. we don't know what his symptoms or if he's experiencing any symptoms. that will factor in. if he's asymptomatic, otherwise well, let's get him to a negative test as quickly as possible. likely the doctor will evaluate him for paxlovid, still very effective for these new forms of covid, as it's continued to change. given his risk profile, his age, his underlying medical history, he's somebody that will qualify for a course of paxlovid, but that path to getting him to a negative test is him staying off the campaign trail and then getting back on it. >> we haven't talked about this in a while, to your point. we used to talk about it all the time, so i guess that's a good

thing. what are the effects of paxlovid, and what decisions are the doctors making? >> well, his doctors have been very thoughtful. they put owl multiple statements. he had a physical exam, a summary that went in detail, jen, through thinks underlying medical conditions. he's on an anticoagulant. he has stiffness in his back, and he's being very vigilant. part and parcel for this, he's 81. based on age alone, he's somebody with underlying medical conditions that would qualify for a five-day course. side effects are generally gastrointestinal. people don't like how it tastes and can cause gi upset, but largely well tolerated. you have to look for other drug enter actions.

previously he's been on medications that interact with this therapeutics, so those are the consideration, very standard, checklist-based approach, and they're excellent. the question is, is he symptomatic? a lot of people are testing positive for covid, we don't talk about it, because hospitals are not getting swamped the way they used to, but there's a lot of covid going around. >> dr. gupta, it's joy. i feel like we've been here before, my friend. we used to do this on a almost nightly basis, and you were our go-to guy, so thank you for being here. there's a lot of covid going around, as you just said. there's a lot of cases that we're hearing about in the world. is this strain we're seeing a milder one? while, you know, lots of people have gotten it very recently, you're not hearing about people getting as sick. is it fair to say that the strain that's kind of running

around and rampant in the world is a less, i guess, is -- obviously it's contagious, but less severe strain? >> you know, joy, i think that's the essential question. is it milder? i don't know if we have evidence for that. what i do know is to your latter point, it's more contagious. that's what we have seen. as it's morphed, more contagious, that's important to keep in mind. it's not necessarily less severe. >> thank you, doctor. back to you, ari. doctor gupta, stay with us. mike memoli is getting information from the white house. we prefer to keep our doctors in the convo. mike, what are you hearing? >> reporter: we just got a statement first from the white house press secretary revealing that the president is indeed

going to travel back to delaware to self-isolate. of course, the president here in nevada the last 48 hours. the question would be, would he rye main here? no, he will travel to delaware, self-isolate and carry out his duties fully during that time. a statement from dr. kevin o'connor, said this afternoon, he had upper respiratory symptoms, a runny nose, an unproductive cough and general malaise. point of care testing was conducted, and he will be self-isolated for symptomatic individuals. s on the statement goes on to say his heart rate is normal, temperature is normal, pulse

oximetry, and he's first his first dose of paxlovid. of course, he had the cold we all remember being told he had a cold during the first debate with president trump, so these were new symptoms, according to the statement from the white house doctor, and now the president will be returning to delaware where headic scheduled to travel after this las vegas swing. this is the second time the president has tested positive for covid-19. first time was in april of 2022. he did have a rebound case that followed shortly after his initial negative test that followed that positive test, so the president obviously is kept with the best care, but he's been around quite a lot of people in the last 48 hours, during this las vegas swing, so we're looking back at the schedule, including up many of the hands at a retail stop at a mexican restaurant in the area.

>> doctor, please give us your understanding that the tail end of that statement from the doctor, breaking news here within the last 15 minutes or so that president biden has tested positive. he says the pcr confirmation test is pending, the president's doctor says the symptoms are mild, the temperature normal at 97.8. pulse normal, and the president has received his first dose of paxlovid. your response to that? >> it's like you and i are on medical rounds. it all tracks. the mild upper respiratory symptoms, they tested him, he's

already started treatment, so it all tracks. i suspect, if past is prologue, this would be self-limited. he won't have progression of symptoms. all good signs, and hopefully in five days, he'll test negative. i have no reason not to think that's where things are headed. hopefully within less than ha week, he'll be back a his feet. we're looking at live pictures here at president biden of the las vegas airport. he's surrounded by security detail, but he's headed to self-isolated. go ahead? i couldn't hear that. so we're watching president biden go up the steps here.

he's just tested positive for covid. he's canceled the event, and boarding air force one. doctor, the information from the president's doctor, what you were just responding to, at this very early stage, is that about the course of information you would want, or anything else you would want to know? >> ari, at this point, he's traveling, getting evaluated, presumably with minute pal resources. they're doing a full physical exam and full set of vitals. so, i think this is an initial set of data point. no need for advanced diagnostic, like a chest x-ray, because he's am plating, walking up a set of stairs, doing okay, not having trouble breathing.

if there's no signs or of symptoms suggesting he's having difficulty breathing. i don't think there's a need for advanced diagnosticics to say, gosh, does he have pneumonia? he has self-limited upper respiratory symptoms. i do hope the president, is wearing a mask, doing everything he can to protect himself and others but again, it's self-limited, and the fact he's up-to-date on his vaccines, that will help to mitigate any severity. >> please stay with us. if we have more questions, we would love to have you here. i want to go back to david plouffe. obviously the president has needed to be on the road.

he's obviously doing the right thing. and there's a very big difference. he will go and isolate, do what doctors are telling him. we have more information. with more detailed information about president biden's condition that we have gotten so far about the attempted assassination of donald trump, which we've gotten almost zero medical information. talk about the contrasts and where you think we go from here. >> well, joe biden is someone who believes in transparency

donald trump made a statement about what happened on saturday night. we obviously are all grateful that he survived the attack. it would be standard course for doctors to talk about what happened, and what will be the treatment going forward, and the severity of the injure,. so, i think there will be more questions asked about that. obviously, joy you have to maximize every hour of every day, so my guess is the staff will be, an jen can add great color, what else can we do? interviews by phone? perhaps some interview with his some distance with twist reporters, and influencers? you can do a lot of satellite interviews, so i think they have

to continue to pit hum oil, assuming his health allows it, to make the case he's trying to fight, despite what he says, that the conversation are -- he has to continue to show people that he has what it takes to dig out of this hole. given trump's deep unfavorables, unpopularity of his agenda, you know, he's not going to run away with this thing. right now he has to lead. we live in a world where, joy, anybody who wants to find a poll to support what they they can find them. the averages what we see, and then, of course, there's the approval raiding. now, of course you've got to

answer that now, because if joe biden -- if his approval rating were to tick up into the low 40s, ideally the mid 40s, and people begin to this i that he's more up to this job -- you know, i thought he did a good job in the press conference. some interviewing have been more mixed. what you can't do is have five days down. the staff has to be creative about the things they can do to stay visible. >> stay right there with us, david. i think about in my minor role -- >> it was not minor at all. >> i think immediately, right, my sort of campaign brain goes to what donald trump did when he got covid, which was to rip off his mask in front of a whole

squad full of people and his secret service, give multiple agents covid and endanger them at a time when nobody knew what he was being treated with. >> crist christie. >> and i assume he's going to get a mask on when he gets inside air force one, but also to remind people of what hell we went through because of donald trump. here's a great messaging opportunity to bring out the tape and remind people how many people died. a million people died. grandmas were dying alone with their ipad. a great messaging opportunity should the white house choose to take it. >> i think that's true. people have a superman thing on under his shirt. >> i think as david was outlining there, a different unique challenge. if you're on the biden campaign,

you're probably banging your head against the wall, your head in your hands and thinking, of course, you want him to be okay. he has action to the best doctors but also they're trying to quaint strength and inevitability. the clock is ticking down. yes, they can do a lot, and they have to plan, as david said, what that looks like, whether it's interviews. but they need to show him strong and powerful. they have a more immediate challenge right now, which is projecting to the democratic party he's inevitable and up to the job. >> these two men are both elderly. donald trump is an elderly man for whatever reason was given nine seconds to take a photo op

during an active shooter situation. we'll figure that out one day, but his survive, bouncing right back and going to the convention is conveyed as a sign of strength. this current president, is -- 81 years old, if he's fine in a few days, doesn't that convey the same thing? if he does fine, and able to do rallies, isn't that exact the same? it's an elderly man coming out of an illness. it should, be he did a great speech yesterday, but isolating is a challenge.

also at the same time, with strong supporters of the president, they're thinking, we're getting close to the convention, he had a great speech, did a good interview, et cetera, and now this just halts things. if you're not a fan of the president being the nom, then this delays everything. he can't have meetings in person there could be private meetings with leaders. let's go back to mike memoli. the rare with a crowd gathered, and now he's return to get delaware, what else do we know at this hour? >> reporter: this room has emptied out quite quickly. we're learning more details about the president's schedule. he was scheduled to fly to dover

air force base in delaware, and the public schedule for the rest of the week indicated they would be adding information as the week went on. clearly he will remain in rehoboth. i'm told the first lady is already there, probably self-isolating from her husband. this stop here at the unidos conference was one of multi-tal stops. the governor siselak was also tellinged audience there of the prognosis. of course, there's been questions about what this will mean for the president in temperatures of her campaign schedule going forward. it's also worth looking back to, as someone who covered the entire 2020 campaign, including

after the campaign was essentially shut down in march of 2020, just how the biden campaign had to adapt to that new sort of situation, the biden campaign is indicating nothing at this point about what this means going forward buzz so much has already changed. he's already received the first dose of paxlovid. you may have heard me on the mic why the president was not wearing a mask, that may change by the time he lands, but one colleague did shout to the president to ask how he felt, he said he felt good. so all indications are that the president is getting the best care he can possibly get. we're a long distance from how this would have rocked the campaign, and thee they'll

quickly figure out how to move forward. i should also stalk about where the president had been prior to this. he was at the white house on monday, doing the interview with lester holt before he traveled out here to las vegas. he traveled with a significant delegation of members of congress, had time with them. i'm told some members of congress already left, with their own schedules, jim clyburn among them. so i'm sure they'll all be waiting getting tested themselves in accordance with the beguidance. >> the white house woke up today to adam schiff, very close to former speaker pelosi, discussing again the idea maybe there should be a different nominee, which is a conversation

that jen psaki and david plouffe referred to, that they have tried to quiet. our sister network was part of a calculated blitz to draw out appearances to quiet the doubters. do you have a barometer of where today felt like before this news broke, because they had a lot of tough days, first several days after the debate. they argued it was getting better, it was quieting. what was the zero to ten on that? >> well, the biden campaign was brushing off that statement from adam schiff about the need for the president to step aside. they were pointing back to the

letter the president had written to the entire delegation, and the fact he thought the future of the ticket was only distracting the primary goal, which is defeating donald trump. that's a goal, an imperative even more squarely in focus at this point, with reps very much showing signs of unity in milwaukee at their conference. as you mentioned some of the key details, somebody close to nancy pelosi, somebody who was a -- perhaps it's an indication on the part of schiff, he's speaking for a group that does not feel like they can speak. he has his own campaign, but remind two weeks ago to what

adam schiff who about on "meet the press," as he put it then, when we hear the biden campaign saying polls show a margin of error race. that that's one of their justifications for the president moving ahead, full speed ahead. schiff's point two weeks ago on "meet the press" is that it shouldn't be this close. you're running against a convicted felon and somebody who is deeply unpopular, that was his warning two weeks ago. it's clear that he didn't think the biden team got the warning sufficiently and there's a need for more public, outspoken criticism. you add that to what we saw today, ari, the democratic national committee delaying the plan to begin the process to

virtually make biden officially the nominee. it's a bureaucratic process, a party-driven bureaucracy that requires several hoops to be jumped through, but that process itself delayed at the behest not of the president, not of the campaign, but because of leader schumer and leader jeffries in the congress. >> mike memoli, thank you very much. we always appreciate your expertise. thank you. david, let's talk about this aspect. jared huffman, adam schiff, a california -- a candidate for the united states senate in california, a lot of the vibe here feels like pelosi world is kind of, you know, maybe ganging up a bit on president biden.

what do you make of that. it feels like a strong california connection down to george clooney. >> well, i give nancy pelosi credit for a lot of things, but i'm not sure this is all what she's leading. the concern will continue. it's not just the polls. i think what democrats want to see is, can joe biden campaign so effectively and powerfully that he can close the gap? not just the polls gap, but make fewer americans concerned about his fitness. joe biden right now clearly has the majority of the delegates, has a majority of the congress, and ultimately has all the voting shares in this decision. i think the great likelihood is that until he has a change of heart, he will be a nominee.

what i think has to happen -- it all can't be about, i have one more debate. it may not happen. if it does, there's no guarantee it will be a dominating performance, but it's every day. i think there were good moments in the press conference last week, but some of the interviews this week, i don't think that the driving of the message is is where a lot of democrats would like it. we have a assassination attempt saturday, and last night, you would not have thought that would have happened. but candidate donald trump with great i think moral weaknesses, great deal policy weaknesses, he doesn't want to engage in a peaceful transfer of power, all these things remain -- abortion, health care, so many places, where you can drive a contrast. listen, this isn't just joe biden's challenge. every incumbent around the world

these case cannot win a referendum. it's super hard. you have to drive that cheese. that's what democrats want to see. that's where we'll see in the knox three to five days, he's got to be out there aggressively doing interviews, driving that. this is what the election is about. it's got to be less about his record. elections are always about the future. you have to paint the picture. what does the next four years look like? i think you'll see more concern there. again, if donald trump is the existential threat that i think he is, that joe biden says he is, than him winning, we may not recover from, but him winning with a republican house and senate, and a supreme court that says he can do whatever he wants? this could be the end of the

experiment. that's why the anxiety is there. unlike the republican party that is a cult, donald trump can do no wrong, i think it's healthy to have this debate. we don't like the stories, but we're having the conversations where we are. it will eventually be settled. if it's joe biden, i think democrats will get behind him, and if it's not, same thing. this is still a winnable race, but people make no mistake, we are not in a good position, but every day we don't start correcting it is a missed opportunity. >> let me ask you this question. i'm talked to a lot of african american members, congress, voters turnout folks, people actually on the ground whose job it will be to sell this ticket at the doors, and the civil rights folks, you name it, and at the kind of universal reaction that i'm getting is a

kind of anger at the democratic party, of essentially going to war against a president instead of against that threat you just talked about, against the former president who wants to be president again. the self-declared dictator on day one, and the sense among a lot of folks, and a lot of african americans members this public fight is actually undermining the core mission of going after donald trump. but, also, it's a mission that as a secondary goal, which is also is to sideline vice president harris, and the talk of an cope convention is being perceived as a message, a signal that the same people who would like joe biden to step aside, would also like to bypass vice president harris. what do you think of that? that's creating a divide that's unsustainable if it's a divide

that starts to fall along racial lines. >> joe joy, this is a tricky situation. we should be careful about how we talk about it. >> absolutely. >> on your second question first, it's just a parlor game and it's likely not going to happen, but in a scenario when joe biden decides not to run, my guess is what kamala harris would say, welcome all comers. in almost any scenario, she's going to be the democratic nominee. maybe it's not open, mace it's a batten -- baton, but she's in the driver's seat. many of candidates that might be strong candidates, even though i think they would not be as strong as her as it relates to the delegate, would say i'm not going to run. we are already in a chaotic

question, to your first question, i understand that. trump is vulnerable, leading, he's a threat, so we want to focus all of the attention there. i think democrats raising questions are not doing it because it's enjoyable, because we can't say everything is okay, let's not have a debate, and we don't have a principal to defeat donald trump, even even though we did it once before. joe biden understands working people, he has a great record, but you have to prosecutor a case against donald trump and what the future is about. i think it's great that he's starting to talk about the second term, but at the end of the day this will be settled, and i think everyone will be focused on preventing donald trump to take the oath of office.

david plouffe, you as a former campaign manager talking about these fresh questions, speaking i think to the wider both political and news reaction, whiches we wish him well, as we do the former president. our thanks to david plouffe. we are turning back to the rnc where the speech list is something. peter navarro, we're following his movements, as he went from prison this morning to the rnc stage tonight. we also have jd vance tonight. . ah, these bills are crazy. she

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the moment i met him i knew he was my soulmate. "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 coverage of the republican national convention. you are looking at 5:50 local time in milwaukee, wisconsin. we told you delegates would be gathering and assembling on the floor. and you can see that's happening. they're preparing for a round of speeches tonight. the big one, the new running mate, j.d. vance. the unusual one, peter navarro who woke up in prison today. i am joined by joy reid and jen psaki as part of our special coverage. we have rachel leading the whole team in the evening prime-time coverage. we did want to share something with you. we have not shown you this yet.

it is one of those contrasts that i'm very eager to talk to joy and jen about. what you're about to see are the bookend of two conventions. ted cruz at that first 2016 convention, when there was still open questions about whether donald trump should have been the nominee that week. he was fighting off criticism all the way up to the delegates voting. and whether he had any chance of winning the election. he did win the electoral college in 2016. we're going to show you that dramatic moment, where cruz was basically leaving the door open to opposing then nominee trump, talking about voting your conscience, and the more recent history. let's take a look. >> vote your conscience. vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the constitution.

[ crowd chanting ] >> it was an unusual moment for what is supposed to be a unity event. since then, as i mentioned, ted cruz, along with j.d. vance, and a lot of other folks have said, never mind what you saw the last convention. never mind what i did with my prime-time speech. never mind vote your conscience. he said, joy, vote your conscience because -- and i'm only quoting ted cruz, not adding anything above and beyond what he said -- was that his conscience and the proper conservative conscience then meant not just going along with the party and voting for donald trump. that's what he said then. you know where we've come now. what do you think is the challenge for j.d. vance tonight, where this all becomes news again? does he acknowledge, spin, update all of that? or as we've sometimes seen, does he just steam roll past it as if it never happened? >> i mean, he will steam roll past it. that's the price. you must pay in your dignity.

i'm glad you played that moment because i think people have forgot than at the time, ted cruz was the self-declared representative for constitutional conservatives in the party. he is a traditional conservative in the way that we understood it in this, sort of, reaganite sense. and he was the guardian of that and was determined to be the guardian of that even on the convention floor. he was taking that fight for the core of the party, to save it from becoming what it is now. i made a list of who now controls the party. the constitutional conservatives are gone. i will note that george w. bush, the former president of the united states is very much alive. mitt romney, a constitutional conservative, who was their presidential standard bearer in 2012, not there. mitch mcconnell is there, got booed, lustily booed in kentucky. kevin mccarthy confronted by

matt gaetz on the floor, embarrassed with television cameras rolling. it is now a party that is no longer the ted cruz party. it's a party that would have been what the john burch society would have looked like had it taken over the party back when ronald reagan and others shooed them away. it's conspiracy theories, nationalists, and oligarchs. it's their party now completely. it's a complete and total takeover. so, in that sense, somebody like j.d. vance, who you probably would have described as a ted cruz conservative back in the day -- >> he would have. >> and he would have, and said he's a never trumper, literally said he's a never trumper. literally -- we're quoting him now when we say when we compare donald trump to hitler. we can now quote his vice presidential running mate because he's the one who said, he might be america's hitler. but the price of joining all that's needed right now at that convention is an iron throne for donald trump to sit on, such that every single person who

once opposed him can physically take the knee. because in a "game of thrones" since, they've all taken the knee. they've laid the sword of dignity down at the feet of donald trump, and they must do it. they must take the humiliation. whatever tape we have, it doesn't matter anymore. he will say, i was wrong, i've learned, i know better, i'm sorry, i'm now forgiven because i've taken the knee. >> and history doesn't exist and dragons are real. >> indeed. >> they may be. >> when we come back next hour, you're still here, so i want to get your thoughts on this as well. we are ramping up to j.d. vance. we'll have time to get into it, as well as peter navarro. he has made it from prison to milwaukee, literally. this is a real embrace for someone who woke up in prison this morning. and j.d. vance, a deep dive, joy reid, jen psaki, next.

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♪♪ welcome back to our special coverage of the republican national convention. i'm joy reid along with my dear colleagues, ari melber and jen psaki. this is night three, but news is breaking outside the convention. president joe biden has tested positive for covid-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms. according to the white house, he's departed las vegas and is enroute to his home in rohoboth beach, delaware, where he plans to isolate. and we'll update you as more develops. we're expecting a lot of speakers tonight. in the next hour, they will include some of the most divisive members of congress, like congressman matt gaetz of florida and congressman ronny jackson of texas. the former white house physician for presidents obama and trump,

a scary thought in itself, who's now, obviously a republican congressman, having parlayed that into a job in congress. under na bandage that trump has been wearing at the convention. he says he replaced the dressing on trump's ear on sunday during the flight to milwaukee, telling "the new york times," quote, the bullet took off a little bit of the top of his ear in an area that, just by nature, bleeds like crazy. the dressing is bulked up a bit because you need absorbent. you don't want to be walking around with bloody gauze on his ears. that's all we know about trump's injury, which is weird, right? because an attempted assassination of a president or a presidential candidate is very big. it's a big, historical deal in a country where these kinds of incidents have taken place too many times. some in the media as a game changer for the race. but who knows. it is odd that we have gotten no

medical reports or details about what's happened. why is ronny jackson the only doctor reporting what's behind that bandage? we'll be sure to let you know if he mentions it again tonight in his speech. but the big speech tonight will be the one by vice presidential candidate j.d. vance, one of the most radical people ever, ever to join a ticket, who made his first campaign appearance today. >> i was just so afraid for him and afraid for our country. and of course he stands up a minute later, after they shot him -- they literally shot him. >> who is "they" exactly? vance is known for his best selling memoir "hillbilly elegy" in appalachia and the american rust belt. in fact, i myself interviewed him about the book back in 2016, back when he was warning america about trump. take a listen. you will see how much of a 180

he's done since then. >> because of the way that black americans have been discriminated against legally, i think black america is intended to focus on the politics of race and which party is going to provide the most racial uplift or tear down the most legal barriers. whereas white americans vote with their pocketbooks. the white working class has gone from this constant economic optimism. the past 20 or 30 years they've seen a prospect fall off. that pessimism creates a certain detachment from their country, a lack of faith in the future, and donald trump has exploited that lack of faith. >> they don't call him the shape shifter for nothing. by 2020, the book was made into a movie starring amy adams and glenn close, directed by ron howard. it was the fiction he sold america in order to bernish his national celebrity, one that would get him invited on television to say things like this. >> i cannot stand trump because

i think he's a fraud. well, i think he's a total fraud that is exploiting these people. >> i do too. like i said, i agree with you on trump because i don't think he's the person -- i don't think he actually cares about folks. >> at the heart of trump's immigration message is that if we had less immigration, we would have much better jobs. i think it's a lot more complicated than that. my own sense is that trump definitely simplifies these problems. >> it's pretty clear that that version of vance was just a means to an end. like every other politician before him, he needed celebrity to become notorious. it was probably easier to sell the hillbilly story of his life than the story of a yale law grad turned tech pro who locked arms with peter teal, from frankfurt germany with deeply disturbing libertarian process, with zero concern -- while at yale law school, vance got to

meet teal, who took a liking to him and helped him get a job in california. like any good opportunist, vance seized the moment and tapped into america's oligarchy, the silicon valley tech bros. he spent six years working as a venture capitalist, but found common cause with people like teal, elon musk, and sax, who wrote a book with teal. championed his rise. these billionaires want their companies to pay less taxes than you do. they hate dei. they don't like regulations on anything from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency, and they definitely don't like unions protecting workers, which, sort of, helps you understand why senator vance quickly shed the shtick and went with the radicalized vengeance filled christian nationalism -- civil service, forced births with no exceptions, and a complete assault on democratic

institutions. >> should a woman be forced to carry a child to term after she has been the victim of incest or rape? >> we want women and young boys in the womb to have the right to life. i think two wrongs don't make a right. >> if we're unwilling to make companies that are taking the side of the left in the culture wars feel real economic pain, then we're not serious about winning the culture war. that is challenge number one. i tend to think that we should seize the institutions of the left and turn them against the left, right? we need a debathification program. we should just seize the administrative state for our own purposes. we should fire all of the people. >> that's quite a beard on that guy who's interviewing him. let's bring in dr from "the atlantic." mckay, a lot has changed beyond just adding the facial hair on j.d. vance. he's made quite a trajectory. i know you're pro-beard here with the facial hair thing. i mean, talk about it for a

second. he really has become this white christian nationalist that he wasn't when he wrote "hillbilly elegy." >> yeah, i mean, the problem with people like this who very suddenly and cynically transform themselves when they enter politics is that you always have to try to figure out which version of them was authentic, right? was the version of j.d. vance where he was making pretty clear eyed and inciteful points about the kind of fraudulent appeals that donald trump was making to the white working class, was that the real vance, or is this version, who is now helping trump make those fraudulent appeals? i don't know. ultimately what, you know, is that he can't really be trusted to stay consistent. he's an opportunityist. east a careerist. when i was writing by book about mitt romney, i would ask him about rising star republicans. and when j.d. vance came up, i

had rarely seen mitt romney get more animated in talking about what kind of a sell out and a fraud he was. he said, it would be hard for me to disrespect somebody more than j.d. vance. and i think that gives you a sense of what a lot of old guard republicans, who have interacted with him, and especially who got to know him in the hillbilly elegy days think of -- that book was not favorable. go on, please. >> that's the thing that i wanted to talk about because i do feel lake so much of the

conversation about him in recent days n recent weeks really, has been about his flip flopping on trump. i get why. it's obviously indicative of a certain kind of political opportunism. the more interesting transformation is the way he talks about the working white poor, that community he came from. "hillbilly elegy" was a withering critique, in some ways, of the culture of the community that he came from. and he had, kind of, a traditionally conservative attitude toward those communities. he said, you know, these people need to take responsibility for their lives. they need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. and part of his critique of trump and trumpism was that trump was exploiting these people by fanning the flames of white grievance, right? that was the point that he continually made on his book tour, that trump is, as you put it in a piece that he wrote for "the atlantic," an opioid for the masses. that's how he saw donald trump

in those days. now, you know, he has fully bought in to trump's appeals to those people and has completely left them off the hook for all the things that he blamed them for in his book. and i think that ideological transformation is a lot more interesting than he used to say mean things about trump and now he says nice things about him. >> you had a really thoughtful piece today in "the atlantic," which made the point, when everybody says -- which is a good place -- this is not a good place for political violence, politics is not a time for violence, that it's not necessarily true f. we look at trends for not just the last few years but even decades. you used former senator jeff flake, which is interesting. he's a former republican senator, ambassador. tell us a little bit about what you think people don't understand about this moment and really where political violence is in terms of the rise of it in this country and even in our political systems.

>> yeah. i mean, i think there's been a lot of conversation since the shooting in pennsylvania about this alarming pattern of violence targeting government officials, right, from nancy pelosi to mike pence to brett kavanaugh to, you know, the congressional baseball shooting that jeff flake was there for. what i wanted to do with that piece was actually kind of look at it a little bit from the point of view of sitting political leaders. something that has come up again and again in my interviews with public servants, right, whether they're elected officials at the national level, federal level, or local level, is that they are aware of these patterns. they are aware of this phenomenon of political violence, this normalization of political violence. and they're living with that anxiety and fear in ways that are just deeply unhealthy for our political culture. i'll give you one example. mitt romney once told me that in

the months after january 6th, as that second impeachment trial was taking place, he talked to a number of republicans in congress who told him that they wanted to vote for trump's conviction but that they were afraid of violence being targeted at them or their families. so, they didn't vote for his impeachment or conviction. and that is, kind of, a staggering reality that we're living in. like, our -- this experiment in american democracy does not work if our political leaders have to make their calculations, their governing decisions, based on a fear of violence from their own constituents. and i think it's easy to not be sympathetic for politicians, obviously, especially if they belong to parties that we disagree with or we think are harming the country. but i think all of us need to realize that it is profoundly against the interest of american democracy if our political leaders have in the back of their minds this fear

ever-lingering that somebody is going to try to kill them. that is just a symptom of a really broken political culture. >> a real stark reality. and people are wondering, where are a lot of these leaders? some of them, to your point, are fearful for their lives. some people are still brave, regardless. but it's such a good piece and interesting point. thank you as always for joining us. we have to take another quick break. but coming up next, silicon valley thinks they've landed a tech bro on the ticket. they may have. we'll dig into how they funded j.d. vance's sudden rise and what that all means. stay with us. coughed, laughed or exercised. i couldn't even enjoy playing with my kids. i leaked too. i just assumed it was normal. then we learned about bulkamid. an fda approved non-drug solution for our condition. it really works, and it lasts for years. it's been the best thing we've done for our families. call 800-983-0000 to arrange an appointment

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♪♪ we have learned a lot about j.d. vance in the last 48 hours, since he was named as donald trump's vice presidential running mate. and just in case you need to know more, i'm going to tell you it. in just a matter of years, j.d. vance went from author to senator and now of course to the republican ticket. that rapid ascension may have started with a best-selling book, that we've also been talking about, and the cult-like following it garnered because it captured in the moment, america's white working class, a group of people that a lot of people in the coast and others didn't really understand. but his rise was also given a major assist by a surprising source, a number of tech bro billionaires like longtime republican donor peter teal.

and their relationship goes back a while, it turns out. according to "the new york times," one of vance's major influences was a 2011 talk by teal who spoke about, quote, elite professionals trapped in hypercompetitive but unrewarding jobs. after that, vance sought him out and he went on to work for teal, and that relationship helped catapult his political career. it was teal who brokered talks between trump and vance at mar-a-lago in 2021. he also donated a whopping $15 million to vance's 2022 senate campaign and even lobbied trump to choose vance as his running mate. joining me now is stephanie ruhle, who knows a lot about the tech bros and a lot about business and the a lot of other things, host of "the 11th hour" right here on msnbc. i know you just got to the convention today, and i know you want to talk about that too. but i want to start with this relationship between j.d. vance and the tech bros, especially peter teal.

what should people know and understand about the importance of that relationship? >> it's really, really important, jen, and have you for having me from milwaukee, wisconsin, where the convention is happening right behind me. they met in 2013, when j.d. vance was a law student at yale law. and it's such a funny juxtaposition because j.d. vance's whole brand is about populism, right? he was involved in this massive tour with steve case around the country, this idea of rise of the rest to help smaller cities or rural america rise up. but here he is backed by tech superbillionaire peter teal. we know elon musk is now on board and a lot of other guys from silicon valley that normally have this small government libertarian approach. so, you've got to wonder why is a guy like peter teal, elon musk, and others so behind j.d. vance and now donald trump? there's a few reasons, and the most important one that we should think about is deregulation. these guys want -- they have

absolute money. think of how wealthy people in the tech industry have gotten in the last five or ten years. this move is about absolute power. a.i. we are going to see the most significant artificial intelligence regulation in the next administration whether it's donald trump or joe biden as our president, and a.i. is going to change the way we live. so, when guys like peter teal and elon musk, who already have unlimited wealth, now have access to potential unlimited power, that is an enormous win for them. so, while j.d. vance's brand is all about populism and rural america and while he talks a big game of being anti-big business, the biggest of the big, most sophisticated guys are behind him in the shadows. and they could end up pulling some serious strings. people should know that. >> that's such an important piece people should understand who think, why does this matter, the tech bros supporting j.d. vance and their old relationship. elon musk just announced a huge

amount of money he's going to give to the trump campaign. peter teal said he would vote for trump with a gun to his head but wouldn't give money to the super pac. do you think that changed given his relationship with j.d. vance. >> who knows. peter teal was a big backer in the pass. you never know in a universe of dark money where their dollars are going. you also have to think about elon musk and the influence he has being the ceo of twitter, now x. if you think about how the algorithm works and what pops up in our feed, there are still scores of people that get their news from the likes of twitter. and now when you've got a guy like elon musk out there aggressively supporting donald trump, that has an impact. >> so connected with the business community, members of the republican party, the old school republican party in some ways. j.d. vance -- i mean, he said things like lena khan is his favorite person, not someone who

is beloved in the business community. do people care about that? is that a concern? are you hearing from sources about that, or is he just an addition to the ticket? >> people don't know him yet. the majority of people out there, he's only been in government the last couple of years, right? he's a junior senator from ohio. he's barely been involved in any legislation being passed. so, whether you're talking about big names in the business community or people here at the convention, most people have never even heard him speak. but to your point, you know, a lot of people, even since the last debate, have been pushing the idea maybe donald trump will focus on his legacy. maybe he's going to shift to middle. they keep saying things like that. shift to the middle? j.d. vance is not your nikki haley vp candidate. he's as far right super-maga as it gets. so, when you talk about people in the business community, they're usually looking for someone who's more centrist. they want regularity. that's not who j.d. vance has

been in the past. however, he finds himself a 39-year-old guy with no name and no face recognition in this country now is potentially going to be our vp. so, we could see a chameleon right before us, and he could change his tune and fall in line with whatever donald trump wants. we'll find out. >> he has some shape shifting experience, i'm sure. stephanie ruhle, we'll talk to you later this evening. we're going to take a break, but on the other side we'll have more on the prison to convention pipeline, with peter navarro, an architect of project 2025, making an appearance just hours, literally hours, after being released from jail. if you have chronic kidney disease you can reduce the risk of kidney failure with farxiga. because there are places you'd like to be. farxiga can cause serious side effects, including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, urinary tract, or genital yeast infections,

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♪♪ our convention coverage continues. you're looking there at former speaker gingrich. and tonight's rnc will feature one of the most unusual arrivals of a convention speaker in american history. trump white house aide peter navarro left federal prison today and went straight to milwaukee to take the stage tonight, moments away at tonight's rnc. he's on the schedule for the next few moments. we're going to see him probably within ten minutes. navarro may be familiar for several reasons. back before there were as many criminal probes into the plots

to overthrow trump's 2020 loss when it was unclear how much liability there might be, he appeared on msnbc and i asked him about his work inside the white house to overturn trump's loss. navarro did answer those questions, which led the january 6th committee to subpoena him. but navarro then defied that committee, breaking what most trump aides, lawyers, and family members who didn't cooperate. congress held him in contempt, where he was convicted, and sentenced to four months in prison, which he completed today. the rnc embracing mr. navarro is a major statement. most republicans do not get prime-time -- top primary candidates. so, this is not any kind of automatic thing. it's a big statement. in another embrace, donald trump jr. spoke with navarro fresh out of prison in a public interview today. >> if it can happen to me, it happened to bannon, they're

trying to make it happen to your father, it can happen to them. if we don't control our government, our government will call us. judgment day is coming, brother, and that's called election day. >> that is mr. navarro. we checked the archives. this is not peter navarro's first convention speech. he did one back in 1996, but it was at the democrats' convention when he was running for office as a democrat. and he told the dnc about the importance of campaigning on what he called the high road, a lesson he said he learned. >> there are big differences between we democrats and our opponents. and as we debate them, we owe it to the voters to keep our campaigns on the high road. i have, in the past, participated in negative campaigning, and i regret it deeply. >> that was then. tonight's speech, which is moments away, is expected to certainly be different in some

ways. and the wider republican effort to embrace navarro, despite this blatant law breaking and this conviction, is broader than any individual person. as navarro mentioned in his new interview, donald trump's 2016 campaign chief, steve bannon, is in prison right now for the same conviction of defying congress as navarro was. he has very directly vowed revenge if trump is re-elected and he's in power, if bannon joined a second term white house. over 900 january 6th individuals have been convicted and sentenced for their crimes, which can range from trespassing to sedition. trump has said as a candidate right now that he is seriously considering how to free and pardon some or even all of them, potentially on his first day in office. i want to bring in our panel here. >> that's a lot to digest. >> my mind is blown. i mean, i -- i was around in 1996. i don't remember peter navarro from that time.

great find by team melber. >> yeah. it shows you this history, and it also speaks to the limits of rhetoric. if we talk about law and order or blue lives matter, it didn't matter to the people urged on by donald trump who attacked police savagely. >> i believe in 1996, donald trump was also a democrat. >> roughly. he certainly sounded different. >> it is interesting because yesterday we heard donald trump's -- no, it wasn't. it was the speaker of the house. it was mike johnson who made this whole point about law and order. there we go. >> we're seeing peter navarro, who woke up in a federal prison today, finish his four-month sentence, and has just taken the stage. let's listen in. [ cheers and applause ]

[ cheers and applause ] [ cheers and applause ] >> this is a beautiful thing. i think you just -- i think you folks just want to know if you can see my maga tattoo i got there. yes, indeed, this morning, i did walk out of a federal prison in

miami. joe biden and his department of injustice put me there. tonight, i'm here with you in this beautiful city of milwaukee. i've got a very simple message for you. if they can come for me, if they can come for donald trump, be careful. they will come for you. if we don't control our government, their government will control us. if we don't control all three branches of our government, legislative, executive, and judicial, their government will put some of us, like me and steve bannon in prison and control the rest of us. here's how it went. here's how i got in prison. the legislative branch came for

me first. your favorite democrat, nancy pelosi, created your favorite committee, the sham january 6th committee, which demanded that i violate executive privilege. what did i do? i refused. the j6 demanded that i betray donald john trump to save my own skin. i refused. here's the thing about the constitution. they demanded that i break the law because they have no respect for it. i refused. and a democrat majority in the house then voted to hold me in

contempt. all right. what happened next? the next -- to drop was the executive branch. another one of your favorite democrats, democrat attorney general merrick garland -- there's a winner. him and jack smith indicted and prosecuted me for criminal contempt of congress. here's what's weird about it. it's something that democrat prosecutors refuse to do against one of their own, including two guys with blood on their hands, eric holder and alejandro mayorkas, the great border czar, right? they've actually gotten people killed. for decades -- for decades -- the department of injustice right now -- the department of justice policy stated -- hear me

out on this. if congress slaps a subpoena on a senior white house adviser like me, the adviser's duty is to politely tell them to go pound sand. that's exactly what i did. so, so far we've got two branches, legislative and executive. the judicial branch delivered the final blow. just as -- here's another favorite of yours. just as democrat judge juan merchan -- you know this guy -- did to donald john trump in his manhattan kangaroo court, another democrat judge, a guy named amit mehta -- obama appointee -- they stripped me of every possible defense. and then what? just like in manhattan with donald trump, they threw me to the wolves of an anti-trump jury

in where? the d.c. swamp where they convicted me. they jailed me. guess what. they did not break me. [ cheers and applause ] and they will never break donald trump. they will never break donald trump. all right. now, here's the most important thing i'm going to tell you. you may be thinking this couldn't happen to you. hmm-mm. make no mistake, they're already coming for you. joe and kamala, they threw out the woke blue carpet across the rio grande, opened our borders to what? murders and rapists.

when donald trump said it -- thank you for saying that. when donald trump said, murderers and rapists in 2016, they go, racist, whatever. we read the papers. it's murderers and rapists. murderers and rapists. drug cartels, human traffickers, terrorists, chinese spies, and a whole army of illiterate illegal aliens stealing the jobs of black, brown, and blue collar americans. they put them right on your front doorstep. now, here's another thing -- >> we've been listening to former trump white house aide and convict peter navarro, who spoke rather dramatically, a relatively unusual address. he is slated for about five minutes, so he's near the end of his speech speaking about immigration, allegations about crime in america, as a recently incarcerated individual, it speaks to the tension of the rnc that he is giving an address that's veering into his view on

crime. the other fact check joy and jen is, this was a dramatic speech. he said the republicans need to control all three branches of government and if they do, quote, they will come for you, they will come for us. he said, they jailed me. they did not break me. we mentioned this in advance of this speech, it's unusual to have someone come right out of prison and take the stage. he was convicted by a jury of his peers. most importantly for people looking at this -- and there are people who might wonder about the back story and say, gosh, was he politically targeted? how did this come about? the president's daughter testified to the jan 6th community. the president's attorney, rudy giuliani, who is not known for being overly cooperative, engaged with the committee. there are many off-ramps that mr. navarro and mr. bannon did, which is to make a point of not responding, of not invoking privileges.

mr. navarro mentioned executive privilege. what they did was completely defiant. i can't say what was in their mind, but they certainly took actions that any lawyer would say, you have an off-ramp, you don't need to go to prison or risk going to prison. so, that's a context. but, joy, your thoughts on this contrast. a person put on the main stage discussing law and order and crime who was convicted of a crime. >> it is stunning. i am not a lawyer. i just sit near one on tv. he could have pleaded the fifth, right? >> yes, he could have. >> he could have gone in and answered no questions. there were people who went in repeatedly pleaded the fifth. he did not have to go to prison. he made the decision to do that. number two, he just made -- he told a lie saying that president biden and he invoked president harris opened the blue red carpet, rolled out the blue red carpet. and he said that when donald trump claimed that they're sending murderers and rapists

that he was correct, that the people coming across the border are murderers and rapists. the person who is going to formally accept the nomination for the republican -- to be the republican party's standard bearer for president was adjudicated and said by the judge to have raped e. jean carroll. so, the person that he is up there defending is somebody about whom a judge said he raped her. but he was found guilty of sexually abusing e. jean carroll and then defaming her. he said that the people coming across the border are, quote, stealing the jobs of black and brown americans. so, upping the black jobs lie that donald trump has told. the people who are undocumented in this country, some 12 million odd people represent -- i think about a third of those who do construction work. they represent a little bit more of that, of people who do agricultural work. but agricultural work someone of the big name sakes.

he's saying that that is something that black americans should be doing instead. what jobs are they stealing? people who are daca, some of the largest number of entrepreneurs in the country. people who are daca are very, very high levels of employment. it's north of 90%. so, the ideas that he is putting out are factually incorrect. they're deeply offensive. and they're an attempt to pit black folks against brown folks and brown and black folks against white americans who are in the working class. it's ugly. and i thought this whole campaign, now this whole event that we're watching here, this republican convention, was going to be about bringing the country together. >> jen, i'll go to you. i just want to tell viewers as we're watching this, he brought out his fiance on stage. you can see them embracing. he certainly went above the allotted five minutes. while some speakers do that when you get later into the evening, that's a very organized thing

because they're working on the prime-time addresses. here we see mr. navarro, a twirl, and they're walking off the stage. jen, i want to go to you on the actual political level of this. there are many members of the republican senate. there are committee chairs in the house who aren't getting the evening stage spotlight that mr. navarro just got. >> correct. >> what does that tell you, as a experienced political professional? >> well, i mean, sometimes it's the obvious things. so, let's state the obvious thing. this is, like, t law and order party has long been for many decades. they just had a guy speak in the second most important night of the republican national convention, almost during prime time -- almost during prime time. during a prime-time address. you would technically consider it that. who started his speech by saying, i woke up in a federal prison and was in jail -- as you started off this conversation -- because he declined to speak to

a committee about an attack on our nation's capitol. that's the republican party of 2024, everyone. peter navarro defines it. i also think, you know, as recently as this morning, there were reports that members of the trump team were offering edits and editing speeches that were going to be in prime time. did they edit that speech to -- to make it more unifying. did they attempt to edit that speech? was it all ignored? does it meet the unity bar? there's lots of questions. politically, ari, that's a speech to the red meat base, which is a clear decision that that's where a large portion of this convention is geared toward. >> when they say we want to have unity and speakers talk about tax policy or education policy, that can be arguably consistent. >> policy disagreement is fine. >> this is a special and difficult moment for the nation, but we're discussing our

differences at the ballot box. but when you claim to have unity and then celebrate someone convicted for hiding -- for hiding evidence of the investigation into the attack on the capitol, which was violent, which is the ultimate disunity, then there's more than a contradiction there. >> can we just note that the person they're nominating is the person behind the coup attempt, who also is a 34-count convicted felon. so, it's felons supporting felons. so, you know, when speaker mike johnson yesterday mentioned that they are the party of law and order, tried to reiterate that, in what way are they the party of law and order? they've got felons boosting other felons. and i'm not sure in what way they are now the law and order party. >> i understand that people tire of those of us in reporting, in journalism, doing this and saying this. but this is unusual. this is not normal.

this is not very often a precedent. we couldn't find one when we checked, someone going right from prison to the main stage. we did want to cover that and give you the facts and the legal background on that. when we get back, we are joined on the rnc floor by our fellow nbc reporter jacob soho. oho. an alternative to pills, voltaren is a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement.

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let me bring an nbc news political correspondent jacob soboroff live on the convention floor. take it away. >> reporter: i will get to the speaker on the stage in a moment but i was listening to your conversation a few minutes ago about peter navarro speech and whether or not it was edited. i cannot tell you the answer, but we have a good look at the teleprompter inside the arena as the speakers are giving their speeches and not only did peter navarro deliver a speech that i would not call a unifying one, but he went beyond what was in the teleprompter in his speech. steve bannon who he referenced was not in the teleprompter. other administration officials having blood on their hands was not in the teleprompter. i have to say the audience responded very forcefully to what peter navarro was saying. in a way it was more rapturous than almost any speaker i've heard so far since being on the convention floor. now tom holman, who was the

acting i.c.e. director under president trump is speaking. look at the signs they are showing. mass deportation now. he was one of the founding fathers of the family separation policy and you can see people were excited about the speech. thank you very much, i really appreciate it. >> released joseph biggs. >> reporter: thank you very much. he wants to do what no other president has ever done, the largest deportation effort in american history and if you thought that was a below the surface message, it is front and center tonight and the idea of unity with topics that could be unifying, it certainly is not the feeling tonight. >> real quick we don't have a ton of time, but you are saying the speech that got the most response from where you are standing is the navarro speech? >> reporter: so far i think of

my three nights here, this is the third night on the floor. the response to peter navarro being here, basically everyone was standing on their feet the entire time. maybe other than president trump after having survived the assassination attempt. it was quite loud in here and something we have not seen before. >> jacob soboroff, appreciate it. that does it for us, but do not go anywhere. our special coverage continues next with chris hayes and alex wagner. stay right there. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles.

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