you're looking at live images from the republican national convention in milwaukee, wisconsin this evening. of course, the big speech we are going to be hearing from trump's vice presidential running mate, jd vance. the nomination of jd vance marks the first time since john mccain ran against barack obama in 2008 that we've had a u.s. military veteran of the top of the ticket either as the presidential or vice presidential nominee. jd vance is a retired marine. he spent six months in iraq as a combat correspondent as part of a marine corps public affairs unit. at the same time he was in iraq, literally at the exact same time, another rising star in american politics, another increasingly recognizable face of american politics, maryland governor westmore was also deployed with the military. he was a captain in the u.s. army leading combat troops as a paratrooper in afghanistan. in current -- incredibly, both

of these men came back after their service and wrote highly praised, award-winning memoirs. "the other westmore" is a look at how two men grew up under similar circumstances and one on to of drastically different lives. the westmore we know went on to be a rhodes scholar, white house fellow and captain in the army. the other never escaped poverty and ended up in prison after being convicted of serious crimes. jd vance chicks memoirs about growing up in rural ohio in a family struggling with poverty and addiction. both of these memoirs by both of these young men are

beautifully written and important books in their own way. was more of course is not the serving democratic governor of maryland. jd vance was just named as the vice presidential nominee of the republican ticket after serving about a year and a half in the united states senate. we are about to speak with governor westmore. i'm going to say this before he gets it because he's not going to want to talk about this but i will tell you behind his back knowing that he can hear me that as democrats have been having a very emotional all in the family kitchen table tears in their eyes discussion about whether the beloved figure at the top of their party joe biden should remain at the top of the presidential ticket this year, westmore is one of the rising stars in the democratic party who is now being poll tested as a potential candidate

himself. democrats and democratic polling outfits are starting to test his progress. he is now spoken, from supporter of president biden. he joins us now. governor moore, it is a pleasure to see you. >> great seeing you. i was not listening, rachel, but it's good to see you. >> let me start by asking you about jd vance. jd vance, the vice presidential nominee from your generation, his background overlaps with yours and some interesting ways. i wanted to ask, you know, given some of the similarities you obviously have arrived at radically different views of the country and how it should be governed. what you make of his selection as presidential running mate? >> i've known jd vance for a long time and that is one of

the reasons i can never support him as being the vice president of this country because at the same time that jd vance is introducing himself to many people in this country, for those who knew him before, he is reintroducing himself to us in the something incredibly dangerous and problematic about that where i have to ask the question, is the ambition worth it, that we watch the shape shifting of jd vance. that is incredibly troubling and we're not talking about someone who is saying that he is fully for a nationwide abortion ban. we're talking about someone who is said that he has rallied against the affordable care act and rallied against social security. this is the person who believes in extremist views when it comes to american isolationism. his values do not match the values of america and do not match the values and vision that for so many of us, for so many patriots, people who love

this country you think about the actual direction this country should be going in and so i think it is disheartening where i know i said during the start of my campaign i have no problem spending every day introducing myself to people who don't meet -- know me but i refuse to spend a second reintroducing myself to people who do know me. >> chris hayes here. i wanted to ask you about a race happening in your home state that i think shed some light on the politics of jd vance and trumpet the top of the senate.

essentially he is attempting to walk away from the republican party's position on abortion and try to get maryland voters who are pro-choice to come along. you think you can pull that off, and what lessons are there to be learned from that for national politics where i think we seen some signs republican party wants to try to do the same thing and entirely contested races? >> i don't think field governor is moonwalking. i think is about facing. it's interesting hearing him say he's a pro-choice and independent banker when he had power he needed -- vetoed legislation that enhance privacy and protection for patients and providers.

it is not lost on anyone in our state that he was hand-picked by mitch mcconnell to run for the seat. mitch mcconnell called us -- this the greatest get of the year, getting him to run but i think larry hogan is going to have a difficult time being an independent but at the same time knowing you were recruited by mitch mcconnell, already said you're going to caucus with republicans and vote with republicans and non-issues we care deeply about immune abortion rights is going to be on the ballot in the state of maryland to make it part of our constitution. i think larry hogan has showed he's not where the people of maryland are. >> governor, last time i talked to you, you're talking about the black male vote we had some polling to suggest the term campaign was making inroads with voters of color, specifically black men. the trump campaign launched

awkward efforts to reach the black community. i wonder though, now that the choice of prince presidential running mate has been named, does that seem like a pig that's designed to appeal to a broad cross-section of the american public and what you think is election place with men of color given his focus on white working-class grievance? >> i think donald trump has made it very clear who he is going to double down on and what he sees as the vision for the country and it is true. we know that in order to get the support of african-american men you have to go early because there is a natural cynicism and natural skepticism that is long-standing and frankly, it honors and acknowledges the history of this country. the history of this country has been remarkably uneven to african-american men and so to

get there but you have to go on it so when you're looking at the history of the biden-harris administration can actually talk about how they've been able to reduce unemployment rate to historic lows. they can talk about the fact that we are watching the fastest starting businesses led by african-american men and over 30 years. the biden-harris administration can talk about the fact that we are watching a 60% jump in black wealth since the start of pandemic and the biden-harris administration. is a track record and receipts they can stand on and not only is another track record with the trump administration, there's not a vision for where we are going. hope and vision will win elections and i think the biden- harris administration is the only campaign in this race right now adding hope and vision for where we see african-

american men as part of this panoply and i say that is the only african-american voter in this country, i know what kind of partner i have in the results resting in the state of maryland and i know what i want to see for the next four years is the kind of partnership i have with the biden-harris administration. >> there has been a lot of football spiking i think on the republican side, a lot of confidence that they are going to win even a state like maryland kind of dismissing the idea that angela can be larry hogan. what do you think that's based on? what is the mood inside of the state of maryland when it comes to the presidential race as you ran it. my second part of that question is what do you think is the state of outreach to younger voters because that is one of the stated weaknesses of the current democratic ticket, that younger voters are not motivated

, are issues like abortion project 2025, do you think those are motivated enough to put maryland out of reach for republicans? >> yes. one thing i will say, quality does matter and the great thing when you look at the senate race in the state of maryland, angela also bricks is a remarkable candidate. she someone i probably endorsed early. she is someone i will be proud to have as my partner when she heads to the senate, and she's going to not just outwork field governor, but she is someone who has a vision that matches where the stages in your point about young voters is right. i think about in our case young voters are our fuel. they are our foundation. i think the thing we are continuing to see is that you have to be able to show not just a track record but also

the fact that you are bringing them on board so when we look at our state we've had the most precipitants drop of homicide and violent crimes, the last time the homicide rate was this low in baltimore i wasn't born yet and we've been able to do that work because we've been engaging with young people. we were able to have a few weeks ago the largest mass pardon for cannabis convictions in the history of this country for i pardoned over 175,000 cannabis convictions because i don't understand how people can be punished for something that's no longer illegal. we worked with young people to make that happen so young people have to understand they're not just the subject of the conversation. they must be part of the conversation. it is something we have been doing in the state of maryland and the reason why young people will make sure we get the election results in november that those who came before us hope for. >> westmore has been the

subject of conversation of the democratic party's future since well before he became governor and you can see why. you see the way that he is articulating his vision here and what the cases for the president of what the cases for democrats in maryland and then you look at the social media presence and it is like him working out with the cadets at the naval academy and shotgunning beers as tailgaters, it's like he really has a level of charisma and communication skills that do not come along even once in a generation. >> we have the same book editor and publisher in his book is a lot better than mine and so i will leave that right there. he is a voice, once in a

generation tone on many levels. >> one of the things that is been striking, i've been going back to some of the transcripts and i don't think this is controversial thesis. i think the presence of donald trump in public life has kind of generally dragged it down the level of public communication and politics. i came across an action speech -- nixon's speech the other day. it's incredibly complex. he really walks you through it and talks about it and i'm so struck by the speeches we have heard. the only difference is marco rubio did try to make an argument last night but the median level of public communication and politics right now this moment is really not particularly high, and when you hear someone like westmore who is incredibly gifted you think that seems more like the

level we should be operating on with public discourse and it really is striking to me. >> part of what the tv party movement and tim scott came out of it, marco rubio claimed to be part of it. it was this idea that joe the butcher is going to replace

-- joe the plumber actually right? that is sort of a reaction. i think this comes up a server byproducts vanishing radio and republican politics, to speak the language of connected, talk radio is where the kinetic energy was on the right. the politicians grafted onto that. i see people who don't follow trump stating we are not to be divided. 70% of americans think roe v wade should of stayed there. 80% of americans want to consider legislation. we don't have these massive policy defined. we have a massive, ugly, driven

by social media culture war going on. if you talk to conservatives who listen to talk radio, they say things about other human beings i can't imagine they would ever say to someone spaced about transgender athletes, about lgbtq issues. it is this dehumanization that has overtaken the republicans and overtaken the language and has been accelerated by being anonymous on social media. >> donald trump jr. is speaking right now. he just did an endorsement for a that is called "on humans." he has endorsed it and he is the former president's son. >> what you are saying is so true and we have a world in which that has turned off the majority of people. at least a good plurality. 40% of people don't vote in presidential elections. we have a low turnout

generally, even in presidential years. doing great when we get 60% of people to participate. like you said, the broad agreement in society is not reflected in our politics. it is the most active artisans that participate in our politics and they are more polarized than the electorate, i think, or the people generally. >> also, speaking in complicated poetry, or even prose, has become a hallmark of being a liberal elite. the bastions of higher education. even if you are j.d. vance, who went to yale law school, worked for a hedge fund, and lived in san francisco, we will speak in simple language because that is what our base needs to hear as a hallmark of our bona fides. >> can i say one thing about this whole discussion which is i used to think of this as the emojification of political america, we've lost the ability to use words because we don't need them anymore. looking at the history, one of the things that , one element

of scholarship about authoritarianism versus democracy is that the more authoritarian the society is, the more noun based and direct the public communication is around politics. it is mounted. there is no punctuation, short, direct sentences. that is a hallmark of communication in societies in which authoritarianism is on the rise. >> turning against education, collegiate education and all of that. >> what concerned me about donald trump and the trump era, and i imagine true about the speakers, including now, donald trump, he has certain rhetorical gifts, doesn't make argument. he simply does not construct arguments. he does a lot of things. he states things, hammers things, does salesmanship, stand up, he does patter, he doesn't make a command. necrotic politics is about making arguments to persuade people. it is the case that that is not

where the political discourse is. >> that is an astute and important point. it is not about persuading people, it is about stating what is "true," and lining up behind it. we have much more of our coverage of the republican national convention to stay. stay with us, we are happy to have you here. ve you here. my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis held me back... now with skyrizi, i'm all in with clearer skin. ♪ things are getting clearer ♪ (♪♪) ♪ i feel free ♪ (♪♪) ♪ to bare my skin, yeah that's all me. ♪ ♪ nothing is everything ♪ (♪♪) with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. and most people were clearer even at 5 years. skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. (♪♪) ♪ nothing and me go hand-in-hand, ♪

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back to our special coverage of the republican

national convention, live in milwaukee, wisconsin. something called seasteading . they should live in floating cargo containers at sea so they can get away from dastardly government. mr. peter teal has said things have only gone downhill since women got the right to vote. he has written that "democracy and freedom are incompatible things." the implication being democracy has to go. that is why it was a surprising enforcement. a lot of people found it unnerving to see a person with those kinds of views take the stage at a major political party convention. after that 2016 rnc appearance, apparently he decided, i don't know, maybe the republican party decided maybe he's not the best face for politics. maybe he should be more of a behind the scenes guy. after that, peter thiel instead became a prolific funder of candidates but not necessarily a public facing guy.

in 2022, peter thiel was the very, very, very generous backer of two republican u.s. senate candidate, played masters in arizona. he lost. he was perhaps best known in that space for expressing that he thought the most underrated thinker in america was the you know bomber. that didn't work out great for blake masters in arizona. at the same time, peter thiel financially backed j.d. vance, a protigi of his that he had given a number of jobs to in california. he then pumped $15 million into a j.d. vance for senate race in ohio that j.d. vance otherwise had absolutely no shot at. it was the largest amount ever given to boost a single senate candidate ever. and, it worked. peter thiel created a senate candidate out of whole cloth. especially once peter thiel personally introduced j.d. vance to donald trump, walked j.d. vance and donald trump's office and helped convince trump to

endorse j.d. vance, despite the fact that he just a few years earlier had called trump "reprehensible," and called him "immoral and absurd," had wondered if trump was, "americans hitler." holding peter thiel's hand was enough to get j.d. vance the endorsement from trump. now, peter thiel has got his guy, j.d. vance, onto trump's ticket as his running mate. whatever you think about j.d. vance, the working-class champion who is a venture capitalist a millionaire, his patron in politics, the reason he at age 39 has risen from a guy who was only famous for writing an autobiography to know being the republican nominee for vice president of the united states, it is because of peter thiel, because of a handful of really radical tech billionaires, most explicitly peter thiel but also

some of the gutters. j.d. vance own worldview of the senate for makes that background pretty clear. he told a podcast recently that in a second term, if he's reelected to the white house, donald trump should defy supreme court rulings. he said trump must seize power because the entire american system is collapsing. he said, "we are in a late republican time." he doesn't mean late republican party, he means late republican. as in this is a republic but we won't be in one much longer. "if we are going to push back against it, we will have to get pretty wild and pretty far out there and in directions a lot of conservatives right now are uncomfortable with." last year, j.d. vance spoke on a panel with a philosopher who has called on conservatives to carry out regime change in the united states, not just to topple the democratic president, replace them with a republican

president, but rather to replace liberal democracy with a "post-liberal order." at that event, j.d. vance identified himself as a member of the post-liberal right. not about being against liberals, it is about being against liberal democracy. he said he views his role in congress as "explicitly anti- regime." raging here being the american system of government. j.d. vance is a yale law school graduate who has called american colleges and universities, "the enemy." a couple months ago, he was asked about the seizure of state universities in hungary by autocrat viktor orban. j.d. vance said that viktor orban "made smart decisions there we could model in the united states." americans have a lot to learn about j.d. vance. joining us from milwaukee is our own stephanie ruhle, who is there along with reporter alex eisenstadt, who has done fascinating reporting on the rights of j.d. vance in republican politics. thank you so much for being with us.

stephanie ruhle, i will let you take away. >> alex, rachel has laid out the story of j.d. vance. for most people in america, even people in this arena, they know nothing about him. what do you think the most important thing we need to know about this guy, who is essentially crafted from peter thiel from 2013 until today? >> he's had this fascinating, mercurial rise we haven't seen in american politics since barack obama, just two years ago he was running in a sense race. he wasn't even in the senate yet. this is a remarkably fast rise. as mentioned, he transitioned very quickly from being someone who was virulently anti-trump to someone who is extremely pro- trump. it has been a remarkable transformation. he is now sort of very much associated with themovement. that is why donald trump picked him to be vice president. he's comfortable with him, he trusts him, he has the support of donald trump's family, and namely donald trump jr.

>> who is the voting bloc that j.d. vance could bring in for donald trump? if he squarely is a hard-core far right maga guy, those voters are already back in trump. who does he bring to the table? >> you can bet j.d. vance , he is someone who wrote "hillbilly elegy," a book focused on blue-collar voters. they will park them in rust belt states. those states, michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin, those are important states on the map that trump needs to win or wants to win in this election. you can bet that j.d. vance will spend a lot of time there talking about his blue- collar roots, which i'm sure he has been talking about tonight. >> his rust belt brand is very, very different from yale law school. very different from moving to silicon valley, working in d.c., not just being backed by peter thiel but now elon musk and a cadre of other super successful technology billionaires. what do we need to know about why they are backing him?

just one example is cryptocurrency, which we haven't heard so much about from the biden administration or donald trump. if j.d. vance is aligned with these guys, who are so deep into crypto and received the way the sec is put together, regulations put together, that could make these guys exponentially more wealthy and having their control of j.d. vance would give them everything they want. how concerned should people be that we've got elon musk or peter thiel behind the scenes? >> there is no question that if donald trump returns to office, we will see the rise of the silicon valley elite, whether it is someone like peter thiel, elon musk. there will be a tremendous amount of influence that silicon valley will have, potentially, in the trump white house. in a lot of ways, we have silicon valley, which is donors, which are replacing old mainstream republican party donors who were with george w. bush, who were with mitt romney.

there is this wholesale shift happening with the republican party. you can bet j.d. vance, now that j.d. vance is on the ticket, you will see a lot of money coming from someone like elon musk, who asked that he will give $40 million a month to the trump campaign. >> isn't that a transactional shift? not ideology. this group of business people have traditionally been libertarians, who are all about small government, yes, low regulation but that is not what donald trump represent. >> well, look, it is one of those things that trump has taken the republican party away from what it used to be to have something very different. he's meeting with cryptocurrency people, having people like j.d. vance on his campaign. donald trump has shifted the republican party away from the pro-business mindset to something very different. >> he's very transactional. what should we know about j.d. vance and ukraine? if this were a traditional rnc, which clearly it is not a foreign policy would be a top priority. things like supporting ukraine would be a top priority.

it is certainly not for j.d. vance. >> it is certainly not. he is a noneinterventionist. you talk about the break you are seeing with donald trump and the republican party. the bush republican party was all about overseas intervention. that is not this ticket is about. you can bet there is some tension behind the scenes with the older republican party and the noninterventionist like j.d. vance that are rising in the trump led pretty. >> maybe it won't be a conflict behind the scenes. maybe those traditional republicans will be out of the scenes. >> it is possible. it will be interesting to see how trump, if he wins, how he will build his white house. with he bring interventionist in, will he bring in someone like mike pompeo, and how will they react to j.d. vance? that will be an interesting dynamic to what in the trump white house. >> they have turned it up to 11 behind alex and i. we are going to send it back to you. >> we will be sending you whatever vitamins are supposed

to restore your hearing after it is damaged from this kind of trauma. alex eisenstadt, stephanie ruhle, thank you very much. some really good reporting from alex eisenstadt on j.d. vance being created in a lab i billionaires with creepy politics. just some writing from memory. let's bring in respondent . jacob, you have a better vantage point from where we left you with the poor south carolina delicates last night. what are you seeing tonight, who have you been talking to? >> reporter: crystal, the story of this convention so far can be told in some measure through the signs that have been handed out. the campaign and sometimes every night and the messaging has changed somewhat. when we came in in the wake of the assassination attempt on former president trump, i'm

going to go through them with you. make america strong again. one of the first ones to come out. american oil from american soil, a theme of a previous evening and tonight. trump vance when they announced to the vice president will pick. tenant, the idea of issues that will unify the country went out the window. mass deportation now. i have, i have shared this sign with some of our colleagues. i was going to give it back because there is a woman who said she wants to bring this home with her. i want to make sure i give it to her. excuse me for one second. man, here is your sign, i promised i was going to give it back to you. thank you. in all seriousness, rachel, it is part of the policy platform of this convention to create the largest deportation effort in american history. that is verbatim. i know you as a student of history, forgive me to our viewers might have heard me talk about this earlier in the evening, for those tuning in at this late hour, i just want to say, in 1954 where many mexican guestworkers were brought into

this country, the eisenhower administration deported during operation with a name that is so offensive and racist, not comfortable saying it on television, deported around 1 million mexicans, including some mexican-americans. the program being proposed by the trump administration would be far bigger than that, bigger than anything we've seen and bigger than anything in the first trump term. these are the issues coming up here. we heard from peter navarro tonight, who had a rapturous, rousing ovation than anybody i've heard and said things like there's blood on the hands of alejandro mayorkas. i heard stephanie talking about it from the floor earlier. i want to throw my hat in the ring to say the tone has changed considerably tonight. and, other than former president trump, we are hearing coming in after the assassination attempts, i am hearing the weakest ovation for the tone and tenor of the program tonight as we watched former president trump up there right now with greg abbott, the texas governor, there is devin nunes, running trump's social, doug berg, and speaker of the

house micah johnson. it feels different in here tonight. actually, right on cue, here goes the border wall, a man dressed as the border wall. rachel. >> jacob soboroff, do you think the border wall guy was seeking you out or was that a lucky coincidence because you did something in a past life that got you really lucky? >> reporter: the latter. >> i think so too. thank the ancestors. jacob soboroff on the floor of the rnc in the walkie. we are expecting, in just a couple of minutes, an introduction to the main speech of the evening. the main speech of the evening, of course, republican vice presidential nominee, j.d. vance. we expect he will be introduced by his wife, usha vance . the wife of donald trump's vice presidential pick will begin her remarks and the rnc moment to really. this week, many people, including many republicans, learned that usha vance is indian-american. she is a practicing hindu, the daughter of immigrants . she and senator vance have three kids. usha vance is a very

successful lawyer, she clerked for supreme court justice john roberts as well as justice brett kavanaugh. she has clerked for two of the most conservative justices ever to sit on the united states supreme court. she has clerked with justice brett kavanaugh when he served on the appeals court in washington. usha vance became a trial lawyer for a firm, an excellent firm in san francisco that has been described as "radically progressive," the way it is run. she left that well-regarded firm after her husband was named as trump's running mate this week. usha vance was a registered democrat until 2014 but has since voted in the 2022 republican primary, which, her husband ran in. when she was asked about the prospect of becoming the second lady last june, usha vance replied "i'm not raring to change anything about our lives right now but i really believe in jd and i really love him. we will just see what happens

with our lives." we have eyes on the convention stage right now. usha vance is expected to begin her speech shortly. we do expect, i believe, that her husband, j.d. vance, will be speaking right after her. we will keep an eye on when she actually starts her remarks. i think, i mean, one of the things that about being a very young person at this sort of position is you and i've been a person whose family gets introduced to the country in a way that is the candidate, you have to feel very protective of. they have three very young kids and they are about to be very, very, very famous. it is one thing to have been a senator for 18 months. it is another thing to be the vice presidential running mate. this is a big step onto a big stage for a young family. let's watch. >> good evening. good evening. when i was asked to introduce my husband, j.d. vance, to all of you, i was at a loss. what could i say that hasn't

already been said before? after all, the man was already the subject of a ron howard movie. jd has shared much of his life through his own eloquent words. in his book, "hillbilly elegy," during his senate campaign, and now as a sitting united states senator. it occurred to me that there was only one thing to do, to explain, from the heart, why i love and admire jd and stand here beside him today and why he will make a great vice president of the united states. i met jd in law school when he was fresh out of ohio state, which he attended with the support of the g.i. bill. we were friends first, because, who wouldn't want to be friends

with jd? he was then, as now, the most interesting person i knew. a working class time who had overcome childhood traumas i could barely fathom to end up at yale law school. a tough marine who had served in iraq but whose idea of a good time was playing with puppies and watching the movie "babe." the most determined person i knew, with one overriding ambition to become a husband and a father and to build the kind of tight knit family that he had longed for as a child. my background is very different from jd. i grew up in san diego in a middle-class immunity. with two loving parents, both immigrants from india, and a

wonderful sister. that jd and i quit meat at all, let alone fall in love and get married, is a testament to this great country. it is also a testament to jd and it tells you something about who he is. when jd met me, he approached our differences with curiosity and enthusiasm. he wanted to know everything about me and where i came from, what my life had been like. although he is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet, and learned to cook food for my mother, indian food. before i knew it, he had become an integral part of my family, a person i could not imagine living without. the jd i knew then is the same jd you see today, except for

that.. and his goals in this new role are the same he has pursued for our family, to keep people safe, to create opportunities, to build a better life, and to solve problems with an open mind. it is safe to say that neither jd nor i expected to find ourselves in this position. but, it is hard to imagine a more powerful example of the american dream, a boy from middletown, ohio. raised by his grandmother through tough times, chosen to help lead our country through some of its greatest challenges. i am grateful to all of you for

the trust you have placed in him and in our family. and, with that, it is my great privilege to introduce my husband and the next vice president of the united states, j.d. vance. >> thank you.

thank you, thank you please. wow. wow. first of all, isn't she lovely? isn't she amazing?

greetings milwaukee, my fellow americans, and my fellow republicans. my name is a j.d. vance from the great state of ohio. tonight -- you guys, we have to, we have to chill with the ohio love. we have to win michigan two. my friends, tonight is a night of hope. a celebration of what america once was, and with god's grace, what it will soon be again. and, it is a reminder of the sacred duty we have to preserve

the american experiment, to choose a new path for our children and grandchildren. ild could have been so much different. instead of a day of celebrationf this could have been a day of heartache and mourning. for the last eight years president trump has given everything he has to fight for the people of our country. he did not need politics, but the country needed him. prior to running for president he was one of the most successful businessman in the world. he had everything anyone could want in life, and instead of choosing the easy path he chose to endure abuse, slander, and

persecution, and he did it, because he loves this country. i want all americans to go and watch the video of a would-be assassin coming a quarter of an inch from taking his life. consider the lies they told you about donald trump and then look at that photo of him defiant, fist in the air, when donald trump rose to his feet and that pennsylvania field all of america stood with him. >> [ crowd chanting ] >> and what did he call us to

do for our country? to fight. to fight for america even in his most perilous moment we were on his mind, his instinct was for us for our country to call us to something higher, to something greater, to once again be citizens, to ask what is needed of us. they said he was a tyrant. they said he must be stopped at all costs, but how did he respond? he called for national unity, for national calm literally right after an assassin almost took his life. he remembered the victims of the victims, especially the brave

cory compertore. god bless him. then president trump flew to milwaukee and got back to work. now that's the man i have gotten to know personally over the last few years. he is tough, and he is, but he cares about people. he can stand defiant against an assassin one moment and call for healing the next. he is a grandfather and once in a generation business leader. he is a man who is feared by america's adversaries, but two nights ago said good night to two boys, told them he loved them and made sure to give you each of them a kiss on the cheek. and i know don and eric squirmed like my 4-year-old

when he tried to give them that kiss on the cheek. sorry, guys. donald trump will once again be our president of the united states of america. now, i want to respond to his call for unity, myself. we have a big tent in this party come on everything from national security, to economic policy. but, my message to you, my fellow republicans is, we love this country, and we are united to win. now, i think our disagreements actually make us stronger. that's what i've learned in my time in the united states senate, where sometimes i

persuade my colleagues, and sometimes they persuade me. and, my message to my fellow americans, those watching from across the country is, shouldn't we be governed by a party that is unafraid to debate ideas and come to the best solution? solution? that's the republican party of the next four years, united in our love for this country and committed to free speech and the open exchange of ideas. and so, tonight, mr. chairman, i stand here humbled, and i'm overwhelmed with gratitude to say, i officially accept your nomination to be vice president of the united states of america.

now, never in my wildest imagination could i have believed that i would be standing here tonight. i grew up in middletown, ohio. a small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands, and loved their god, family, community, and country, with their whole hearts. but, it was a place that had been cast aside and forgotten by america's ruling class, in washington. when i was in the fourth grade a career politician by the name of joe biden supported nafta, a bad trade deal that sent countless good jobs to mexico.

when i was a sophomore in high school that same career politician named joe biden gave china a sweetheart trade deal that destroyed even more good, american middle-class manufacturing jobs. when i was a senior in high school, that same joe biden supported the disastrous invasion of iraq, and at each step of the way, in small towns like mine in ohio, for next door, states all across our country, jobs were sent overseas, and our children were sent to war-- >> [ crowd chanting ] joe must go!

>> i agree. and, somehow, a real estate developer from new york city by the name of donald j. trump was right on all these issues, while biden was wrong. president trump knew even then that we needed leaders, who would put america first. now, thanks to these policies that biden and other out of touch politicians in washington gave us an hour country was flooded with cheap chinese goods, with cheap foreign labor, and in decades to come, deadly chinese fentanyl. joe biden screwed up, and my community paid the price. i was lucky. this type factories in my town

in my life i had a guardian angel by my side. she was an old woman who could barely walk, but she was tough as nails. i called her mamaw, the hillbilly name for grandmother. she was a woman of the lord, ladies and gentlemen, she had a very deep christian faith. but, she also loved the f-word. i am not kidding. she could make a sailor blush. now, she once told me when she found out i was spending too much time with the local kid who was known for dealing drugs, if i ever hung out with

that kid again that she would run him over with her car. it's true. and, she said jd, no one will ever find out about it . >> [ crowd chanting ] mamaw! >> it worked out for me. after 9/11, i did what many did in soaring patriotism and love of country, i signed up for the marines. my fellow marines. i love the marines come after four years i went to the ohio state university.

i am sorry, michigan, i had to get that in there. >> [ crowd chanting ] come on, come on, we've had enough political violence, let's-- after ohio state, i went to gail law school where i met my beautiful wife at yale. there is so much grit and talent in the american heartland, but for these places to thrive, we need a leader who fights for the people who built this country. we need a leader who is not in

the pocket of big business but answers to the working man, union and nonunion alike. a leader who won't sell out to multinational corporations but will stand up for american companies and american industry. a leader who rejects joe biden and kamala harris' green scam and bring back american energy, we need donald trump. some people tell me i have lived the american dream come and they are so right, and i am grateful for it, but the american dream that counted most was not starting a business or becoming a senator

or being here with you fine people, though, it is pretty awesome. my most important american dream was becoming a good husband, and a good dad, of being able to give-- i wanted to give my kids the things i didn't have when i was growing up, and that is the accomplishment that i am proudest of. that tonight i am joined by my full wife, usha, an incredible lawyer, and a better mom. and my three kids. they are at the hotel watching, and if you are watching, kids, ewan, vivek, and mirabel, get back in bed. i will get asked, do you know so and so?

i will hear that they died of an overdose. america's ruling class wrote the checks, communities like mine paid the price. for decades that divide between the few with their power and comfort in washington and the rest of us only widens, from iraq to afghanistan, from the financial crisis to the great recession, from open borders to stagnating wages to people who govern this country have failed and failed again. that is of course until a guy named donald j. trump came along. president trump represents america's last best hope to restore what, if lost, may never be found again, a country where a working-class boy born fall from the halls of power can stand on this stage as the

next president of the united states of america. >> [ crowd chanting ] j.d.! j.d.! >> but, my fellow americans, here in this stage, watching at home, this moment is not about me, it's about all of us, it's about who we are fighting for, it is the autoworker in michigan wondering why out of touch politicians are destroying their jobs. it's about the factory worker in wisconsin, who makes rings with their hands and is proud of american craftsmanship. it's about the energy worker in pennsylvania and ohio who does

not understand why joe building biden is willing to buy energy from across the world when he could buy from his own citizens right here in our country. >> [ crowd chanting ] >> you guys are a great crowd. wow! and-- >> [ crowd chanting ] yes we are! yes we are! >> [ laughter ]

>> [ crowd chanting ] yes we are! yes we are! >> [ laughter ] and it's about our movement is about single moms like mine who struggled with money and addiction but never gave up. i am proud to say tonight my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober. i love you, mom.

>> [ crowd chanting ] j.d. 's mom! j.d.'s mom! >> and, you know, mom? i was thinking-- it will be 10 years officially in january, 2025, if president trump is okay with that, let's have the celebration in the white house.

and our movement, ladies and gentlemen, it's about grandparents all across this country, who are living on social security and raising grandchildren they didn't expect to raise. and while we are on the topic of grandparents, that me tell you another mamaw story. she died shortly before i went to iraq. we found in her storage 19 loaded handguns---- now, the thing is they were stashed all over her house, under her bed, in her closet, in the silverware drawer. and we wondered what was going on, and it occurred to us toward the end of her life mamaw could not get around so well, so this frail old woman made sure that she was always

within arms reach of something that could protect her family. that's what we fight for, the american spirit. >> [ crowd chanting ] usa! usa! >> joe biden has been a politician washington for longer than i have been alive, 39 years old., harris is not much for the behind. for half a century he has been the champion of every major policy initiative to make america a weaker and poorer. donald trump reversed decades of trails inflicted by joe biden

and the rest of the corrupt washington insiders. he created the greatest economy in history for workers. it really was amazing. there is this chart that shows worker wages, and they stagnated for pretty much my entire life, until president donald j. trump came along, then worker wages went through the roof. and just imagine what he's going to do when we give him four more years. >> [ crowd chanting ] four more years! >> months ago i heard some

young family member observe that their parent's generation, the baby boomers, could afford to buy a home when they entered the workforce. i don't know this person observed if i'll ever be able to afford a home. the absurd cost of housing is the result of so many failures, and reveals so much about what is broken in washington. i can tell you exactly how it happened. wall street ahrens crashed the economy and american builders went out of business. as tradesmen scrambled for jobs houses stopped being built, the lack of good jobs of course led to stagnant wages, than the democrats flooded this country with millions of illegal aliens. so citizens had to compete with people who shouldn't even be here for precious housing. joe biden's inflation crisis is

really an affordability crisis, and many people i grew up with can't afford to pay more for groceries, or gas, more for rent, and that's exactly what joe biden's economy has given them. >> [ crowd chanting ] >> so, prices soared, dreams were shattered, and china and the cartels sent fentanyl across the border adding addiction to the heart ache. but, ladies and gentlemen, that is not the end of our story. we have heard about villains and their victims, i've talked a lot about that, but let the tell you about the future. president trump's vision is so simple, and yet so powerful.

we are done, ladies and gentlemen, catering to wall street, we will commit to the working men. we are done importing foreign labor, we will fight for american citizens and their good jobs, and their good wages. we are done buying energy from countries that hate us, we are going to get it right here from american workers in pennsylvania, in ohio, and across the country. we are done sacrificing supply chains to unlimited global trade, and we are going to stamp more and more products with that beautiful label, made in the usa. >> [ crowd chanting ] usa!

>> we are going to build factories again, put people to work, making real products for american families, made with the hands of american workers. together-- we will protect the wages of american workers and stop the chinese communist party from building their middle class on the backs of american citizens. together we will make sure our allies share in the burden of securing world peace. no more free rides for nations that betray the generosity of the american taxpayer.

together, we will send our kids to war only when we must fit with the elimination of isis and so much more, when we punch, we are going to punch hard. ch hard. together we will put the citizens of america first, whatever the color of their skin we will, in short, make america great again. one of the things that you hear people say sometimes is that america is an idea. and to be clear america was

indeed founded on brilliant ideas like the rule of law and religious liberty, things written into the fabric of our constitution, but america is not just an idea. it is a group of people with a shared history, and a common future. it is in short, a nation. as part of that tradition of course that we welcome newcomers, but when we allow newcomers into our american family we allow them on our terms. that's why the way we preserved the continuity to hopefully 250 years into the future. and let me illustrate this with the story. i am married to the

daughter of south asian immigrants to this country, incredible people, who have genuinely enriched this country in so many ways, and i'm biased, because i love my wife and her family, but it's true. when i proposed to my wife we were in law school, i said, honey, i come with $120,000 worth of law school debt and a cemetery plot on a mountainside in eastern kentucky. and standing here tonight, it's just gotten weirder and weirder, honey, but that's what she was getting. that cemetery plot in eastern kentucky is near my family's ancestral home, and like many, we came from the mountains of appalachia into the factories of ohio, pennsylvania, she can, and wisconsin.

now that is kentucky coal country, 1 of the 10-- now, it's one of the 10 most poor counties in the entire united states. there are very hard-working people, and they are very good people, the kind of people's would give you the shirt off their back even if they can't afford enough to eat, and our media calls them privileged and looks down on them, but they love this country, not only because it's a good idea, but because in their bones they know that this is their home, and it will be their children's home, and they would die fighting to protect it. otect i

that is the source of america's greatness. as the united states senator i get to represent many in the great state of ohio with similar stories, and it is the great honor of my life. in that cemetery there are people who work born around the time of the civil war. and if as i hope my wife and i are eventually laid to rest there, and our kids follow us they will be seven generations just in that small mountain cemetery plot in eastern kentucky, seven generations of people who fought for this country, who built this country, who made things in this country, and would fight and die to protect this country if they were asked to. now, now that's not just an idea, my friends, that's not just a set of principles even though the ideas and principles are great, that is our homeland.

people will not fight for abstractions, but they will fight for their home. and if this movement of ours is going to succeed, and if this country is going to thrive, our leaders have to remember america is a nation, and its citizens deserve leaders who put its interests first. now we won't agree on every issue of course, not even in this room. we may disagree from time to time about how best to reinvigorate american industry, it's more than fine, it's good, but never forget that the reason why disunited republican party exists, why we do this, why we care about those great ideas and that great history is that we want this nation to thrive for centuries to come.

now eventually in that mountain cemetery, my children will lay me to rest, and when they do i would like them to know that thanks to the work of this republican party, the united states of america is strong, proud, great as ever. that is who we serve, my friends. that is who we fight for, and the only thing that we need to do right now, the most important thing that we can do for those people, for that american nation that we all love is to reelect donald j. trump president of the united states.

mr. president, i will never take for granted the trust you have put in me, and what an honor it is to help achieve the extraordinary vision that you have for this country. i pledge to every american no matter your party, i will give you everything i have to serve you, and to make this country a place, where every dream you have for yourself, your family, and your country will be possible once again. and i promise you one more thing. to the people of middletown, ohio, and all the forgotten communities, in michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, and ohio, and every corner of our nation, i promise i will be a vice president who never

forgets where he came from. >> [ crowd chanting ] usa! every single day for the next four years when i walk into that white house to help president trump i will be doing it for you, for your family, for your future, and for this great country, thank you, god bless all of you, and god bless our great country. >> ♪

♪ ♪ >> jd vance being greeted by his family on-stage after giving his speech except ding the vice presidential nomination. interesting music choice, this is the signature clinton

campaign song from the '90s? interesting choice, perhaps a coincidence. his wife, usha, gave a very charming set of remarks, introducing her husband, a low- key very charming, very human introduction of him, and he gave his speech. j.d. vance, again, not a well-known public figure, he's well known in conservative circles in part for his rise, essentially protege of a tech billionaire, peter thiel, who personally introduced him to trump. now here he is, the running mate for donald trump. i will say the speech was a very straight up republican speech, not a particularly j.d. vance speech, except for a few charming anecdotes about his family, particularly his grandmother . if it was going to be important for this

campaign, for donald trump office running mate to be an electrifying orator, he was not, he is not, maybe he is another-- circumstances, his acceptance speech was not electrifying. he looks like jerry falwell junior you might remember from liberty university, the invalid shall eval and evangelist this is more of a more jerry falwell junior vibe than someone who had oratorical chops. but those are style points, not the most important thing in the world. chris hayes, i know you're watching this with the fact checking eye. >> do no harm approach. this man said the country was ruled by angry, jealous cat ladies, who want to make everyone is miserable as they are, that his rhetorical mode is incredibly aggressive. >> he said what portion of the

u.s. publishing has donald trump sexually assaulted, that is the kind of-- that what his natural tone is. >> i think it was a deft choice, , it was probably smart rhetorically. he did this bit about joe biden's political career in which he did point out a few things that were true. he said trump opposed the iraq war, which is not sure, i think we had to litigate over and over in 2016, he also seemed to make that the iraq war was a democratic war, it was not, it was run by george w. bush. supported by many in that hall with him. i was there for that convention that year. the last thing i will say, not really important, the story

he's telling about the neoliberal gutting of the american industrial base, what it did to manufacturing towns in america and how it trade the american working man, and that joe biden was a symbol of that. and what he left out of that is the biden economic policy, which has created thousands of jobs and the most remarkable manufacturing resourcing investment we have seen in generations is precisely aimed at and has been wildly successful at restoring the american industrial base, focusing on union jobs in places that are far from the enclaves of liberal metropolitan areas-- >> and jobs for which you don't specifically need a college degree. >> yes, that story has some truth to it as a matter, which has been in some ways pretty vance-ish approach.

i'm going to beat this drum but america is producing more oil now than any nation in the history of oil has produced ever, so everyone has their talking points from 2008, they go on stage and see drill, baby, drill, and the spigots are as open as they get. we are pumping oil out of the ground like no one's ever seen. these are the facts, and it just drives me insane. you could say that's better good, it just is the case that we are right now the global force, the global hegemon in energy we probably have not been in my life. >> imagine if the republicans had that to brag about you would never hear the end of it. with joe biden having that to brag about that, republicans are not only pretending it hasn't happened, but attacking them as if they will somehow embody his record instead of him. lawrence? >> the previous three republican presidents would not recognize this as a republican speech. to the anti-nafta matter, bill

clinton picked up what had been left and got it passed fairly quickly. mostly with republican votes, more republican votes than democratic votes, that's the history of it. what donald trump did with nafta is what you do with trade agreements like that, which is, they just updated it. it is still nafta. it's still there. everything, the whole basis of it was still in place, so no one has done anything to significantly change nafta . if you could quote only two lines and this goes to george w. bush . the disastrous invasion of iraq. that is what he just called it, the disastrous invasion of iraq.

there was a 2004 convention celebrating that invasion, that convention was held in new york city, and this pretending it didn't happen, that it was not us, and applying it to joe biden, joe biden supported the disastrous invasion of iraq. he voted for it as did most democratic senators. and the line, we will cater to wall street we'll commit to the working man. that is in a republican vice president's accepting the nomination speech. and as i sat here, in terms of a convention speaker i had to think back. i was trying to remember, what was cheney 's speech like? i think it was a little more exciting. and i know dan quell's was

better. you have to find something like richard nixon to get something as flat. so, the lines were written for the surge from the crowd, and he didn't get it. i was wondering two things about that read one of these lines was, you know, okay, so the invasion of iraq line was written for a search that he didn't get. there was no response to it at all. there was no response to these lines. i wondered is at the crowd? are those not winning lines with this crowded more? are they exhausted? or is it his fault as he speaker? i expect it was his fault in his rhythms. mike pence did that preacher's thing, he did that christian preacher thing which that audience knows how to respond to the rhythms of it. we will see. >> there was a rhythmic outbreak at one point when the crowds on teeniest lee said,

joe must go, joe must go, and j.d. looked pleased and allowed that to happen. when it died down, he said, i agree. like wait a second. >> and that is what these speeches can do, it can take them where they are and lift them. >> i will note peter navarro on jacob soboroff, he lifted the crowd, but when he threw them red-hot meats. seemed to do the opposite, that he didn't have more charisma than the nominee, that it seems like he is the nice grandson who didn't really do any harm. he did not convey the radicalism you so brilliantly laid out in the open. instead he sort of gave us normal, something similar to what donald trump ran on in 2016, which was the man of steel speech. the heart and soul of america

is going to be renewed by donald trump. a couple things. i thought this was well- written, america was ruling class, my community wrote the checks. wall street and the hedge funds he comes from, this is someone who is the creature of trent 16. he wrote hillbilly elegy, but other than that, what has he done, impacting the working class in a positive way? america's aging infrastructure is getting an upgrade. the i-95 bridge connecting tennessee and arkansas across the mississippi river is going to be upgraded, this funding was provided by big infrastructure, president

biden's infrastructure bill. if you drive anywhere in this country right now you see this infrastructure spending happening everywhere. you see it more if you are in a red state. i saw it more when i was down south, i thought it more even in louisiana, someplace biden will not win, but you could physically see it, and you see these workers with jobs provided by joe biden. this is a speech that actually could have been written for joe biden, because jive because working-class person. beneficial not just to the working class, but to the working class in red states. and these republicans are running around taking credit for it, but they are at the joe biden programs climbing it. >> i know there, the red meat blood and soil nationalisms you might hear, but i think they

were easter eggs of white nationalism in this speech. one of the things that stuck out to me was when he talked about what america is, he said it's not just an idea, it is a group of people with a shared history and a common future. the thing about america is that it is not a group of people with a shared history. in fact a lot of people would argue it's quite the opposite, different peoples-- >> his in-laws don't show the history. >> he goes on a paragraph at least about this plot in eastern kentucky where his six generations of his family are buried, and that he hopes his wife and family are buried there with him, and i share in that idea of sharing the burial plot, but it reveals someone who thinks the history the family should inherit and the history that should be determinative in the story of the vance family, the kentucky

vances. but, in america it does not always have to be the white male lineage, that that supersedes all else. and i think the construction of this notion reveals someone who believes in supremacy of whiteness and masculinity. it's really revealing about what he thinks matters, and who america is, and that america is a place for people with a shared western background, and that is the idea of america, that is the nation that he wants to resurrect. >> i want to interject since we have been talking since mr. vance was speaking cnn has just posted a new report and this adds to what at the top of our

coverage reporting from abc, then washington post, and be seen as confirming some, not all, cnn is now citing four sources. saying former house speaker nancy pelosi has privately told president joe biden in a recent conversation that polling shows that president biden cannot defeat donald trump, and that biden could destroy democrats' chances of winning the house in november, if he continues seeking a second term. again, this is according to cnn, this is not confirmed by nbc, but they are citing four sources, which is why i'm bringing this to you. the reporting was that the top two elected democrats in congress, the democratic leader in the senate, took sooner, and the leader in the house, hakeem jeffries, have both reportedly spoken directly with president biden, telling him he cannot win, and at the top of the ticket, that democrats are staring down the barrel of losing the house and the

senate, and that he should effectively pass the torch, that he should leave the top of the ticket, allowing presumably his vice president to take over the ticket. not only for the prospect of beating donald trump, so democrats also have a chance at the house and the senate. again, this is now-- chuck schumer, hakeem jeffrey, hakeem jeffries, and nancy pelosi, in terms of their influence, this is much more than others we have been reporting on for these last couple weeks since the debate. i put that to you as i go back to the floor in milwaukee, as i would like to bring in jacob soboroff, nbc news correspondent, who is with someone ill someone in milwaukee, governor mike dewine. >> reporter: governor, i wanted

your reaction to the senator from your estate. your immediate reaction? >> what people heard tonight is what we've known in ohio for some time. it's just an amazing person, an amazing life story. i think he will relate well with people, and they will relate well to him. this is his introduction for the national stage, but as the campaign goes on what you see is what this guy is. he's real. >> reporter: practically speaking on the issues, before we came on the air we were talking about main themes the speech j.d. vance has a compelling personal story about family members, who have been involved with and known people who have died from opioid addiction, the biggest drug crisis, your state. i've reported from montgomery county, ohio, which over the last couple of years has been sort of the center of it. practically, do you really think, and we heard rhetoric about sort of changing the

trajectory of the crisis. can j.d. vance and president trump actually change what's happening here with the drug crisis? >> i think they can help the situation. look, we have to focus on the fentanyl. 80% of the deaths are still coming from fentanyl that's coming into the united states, in china through mexico through the border, so there is a direct relationship with this is real, and it's real people, and it's affecting people, every family has got someone they know who has been hit by this fentanyl. >> my colleagues have been talking about both chuck schumer and nancy pelosi reportedly spoken with president biden and essentially told him they have concerns about whether or not he can win this race. your reaction to hearing that news tonight? >> that is certainly big news. we will have to watch. i'm not in the business of telling democrats what to do, but look. this is, yeah, that's serious when those two visuals, if that's what they told him, yes,

certainly very serious. i would think that's a game changer. i would think so. >> tell me why. >> well, you know, these are two well respected people, and you know, the president is a product of the u.s. senate. he is a product of congress, and i would think that you know , him telling that would have impact. >> governor mike dewine , pleasure talking with you on this momentous night. back to you. expect jacob, thank you for asking about the breaking news. i appreciate governor dewine being willing to engage on that even as he's just learning. i will just say that was very interesting . we will take a break in a second. but republicans, one of the important ambient stories about what's going on in democratic politics is the way republicans have held their tongue about

it, and you saw that in governor mike dewine, who was a relatively reserved speaker in tone and tenor i think as a long time republican politician, and as ohio's governor. but for him to say i'm not in the business of telling democrats what to do, republicans-- restraint, i guess you would call, strategy, in not piling on and attacking joe biden, not saying anything, they are desperately hoping that the democrats work this out in a way that is more advantageous to republicans, and it means they are biting their tongues. >> there remains some confusion as to whether that law take effects in september, and if it only takes effect in september, does that mean a nomination done on august 20th won't fit this law that changed the date?

if we could have gotten that question to him, governor, could you guarantee the nominee at the democratic convention in the wake of august 20th, can you guarantee that nominee will be on your ballot? that would have been an interesting answer. >> d&c are not confident in it at all. there is a letter circulating among them saying they believe not only do they believe they will not adhere to that law, that there is a 90-day waiting period they feel is a gray area, they feel there might be lawsuits as to whether or not the democratic party can put a name on that ballot, they are not confident there won't be shenanigans. that's one of the reasons they were trying to move this virtual vote. >> i think what they want is for this excruciating liminal status to extend as long as

possible. >> yes. >> i bet if you sat at the hotel bar tonight with a bunch of them they would tell you what they think, this way or that. my general sense is that, here's what i will say at the 30,000-foot view click clear from what they are saying, they are measuring the drapes. like they think this is done. marjorie taylor greene is sitting behind donald trump like the one who went to you know, the weird like alt right holocaust denial-- >> out loud actually praising hitler conference. expect she's sitting behind him, they named j.d. vance on his abortion record, that i don't think he mentioned- - probably smart. they are acting with the kind of swagger and confidence that like we have this in the bag. >> nothing changed, because we are going to win 40 states. nothing changed.

that's how they are acting. >> i don't know if they are right. it reminds me a little bit of like democrats after access hollywood. whereas like what are we talking about here? how long will this last? >> i can't lose to this guy. there was supreme confidence into that election. >> i recall also, mike dewine was a senator. i suspect there may have been personal commentary there. a lot of these politicians from the old days, they know joe biden, and i think probably there's been a respect for him, maybe that's part of life he was so circumvent trade >> in milwaukee at the now rapidly emptying convention hall , you are never alone with

michael steele. the room is full even if it's michael steele, because he's michael steele. expect the best man, and while michael and i listened to that speech i have been frantically taking notes. and i know you were just evaluating the style and performance of j.d. vance's remarks, but i want to fact check it for a moment. that's my big frustration here tonight. j.d. vance has all sorts of views and policies he could have talked about that perhaps this audience supports. he supports a national abortion ban, he believes social security and medicare are the roadblocks to any sort of fiscal sanity. that's who this person, he didn't talk about any of that and how much he supports project 2025. those are his actual views, and we did not hear that. and this goes to what joy and chris said, there are all sorts of things that have no connection to his policies.

he talked about how wages were stagnant his whole life until they skyrocketed under donald trump. he talked about joe biden buying energy from dictators around the world. we all no no that got me is when he was talking about the housing crisis, the 2000 eight crisis when people from all over this country especially states like his people lost their homes, and he said is because wall street robber barons sure get it short- circuited the market. and that happened, but let's talk about who supports trump and who his policies support. i flew out with john paulson, a hedge man hedge fund, called paulson and company, he became a billionaire, because he massively shorted subprime, so the truth is a guy like john paulson is here sitting in the

box with donald trump, and he was able to raise $45 million for this campaign for donald trump, because they are boys, yet j.d. vance gets up here on stage and talk to these people like, we are going to create an america, and we are going to create policies that will help you, and that to me is the most puzzling. we will take on china and bring manufacturing back. if you want to bring manufacturing back talk to joe biden. the chips act is bringing back jobs. we have an immigration problem and need comprehensive immigration reform, but give me a break, to say immigrants are stealing jobs from americans, i don't know why we are misrepresenting things to this audience who already loves people. >> right out the gate you nailed the essentials that are incongruent with the reality of where we know j.d.

stands. this was to give it a softer patina. word without after saturday we don't want to deliver the harder message-- >> why not make it soft but true? >> the truth is in the eye of the beholder, right? for some it is a different truth. i think the interesting dynamic going forward with j.d. is the working man narrative, because he is saddled with a billionaire who likes golden toilets. he is being right now supported by a lot of wall street people, who are expecting him to deliver them more gold, right? what is the worker going to get out of that deal? when you lined this up at the end of the day, you told the story 1000 times and it's true the tax cut didn't benefit the workers in appalachia. it didn't benefit workers in

mississippi, it didn't benefit the workers on the eastern shore of maryland where i live. so how are they going to make that work with this new, updated hillbilly elegy that is not necessarily there for hillbillies. >> because in the age of misinformation they will never know the truth. joy mentioned it early. think of republicans who voted against the american rescue plan who show up to cut ribbons and say we are making everything great. inc. of republicans who didn't support the infrastructure act that will stand there and say you like the new bridge? we live in a world of misinformation and news deserts . and while they talk about lying committee other people in the audience will never hear the truth. >> and this narrative is further handicapped by the fact that right now as rachel mentioned just a moment ago, the democrats are recapping themselves over joe biden, so

there is no counter narrative. the democratic narrative tonight, nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, and hakeem jeffries want him to go. and so, look. you can run this race 1001 ways, but there is one way to run it and win it and democrats are in our giving every advantage to this house that's about to leave here after donald trump is done tomorrow with a clear-- >> they think. >> they think, but the reality of it is parked on the side of the road and put out counter narrative to what we heard tonight and will certainly here tomorrow, here we go. >> rachel? >> michael steele, stephanie, thank you. be sure to turn out the lights on your way.

jen psaki, i wanted to ask you about a sour note in the speech, where he is talking about ohio state university, and there was a michigan ohio state-- then he said as an ad lib., we have enough political violence, [ laughter ] and i'm not-- i don't think of myself, it strikes me as quite tall so soon, and maybe too soon ever to make that kind of a crack at this week when he is sitting with a bandage on his ear after the assassination attempt, that seemed like a sour ad lib. moment. >> i had the same reaction, i was sitting upstairs, not with many people, and i kind of gasped in the moment. and you are wondering what went through his head. not that i'm

excusing him, but that's my bed. i read the speed before i watched the speech and reading the speech i thought, this is an i don't agree with things in here, but it is a well constructed speech when you read it. he did not deliver it well, and that was clear from within the first minute or two. i think the purpose of this speech which i know we have been talking about and the fact checking, which is so true and interesting, there are joe biden policies in here. the purpose of the speech i think was mimaw, to introduce himself to the republican electorate. >> and the stories were great. >> i would also say that this is one of the things that happens when you pick your running mate two days in advance. vice president harris is pretty meticulous with prep, but she will probably be practicing on the teleprompters soon. i don't know if he wrote the speech, i think he may have

written monday, but it was clear he has not packed listed much, and that was also clear to me. one thing, this is a very messy situation for the democratic party. this is the best time for this to be happening. you won't really breakthrough in the other party's convention. >> for convention crisis conversations it's good now? >> yeah, they've got to resolve it soon, but they are going to be overshadowed in this moment anyway, so i'm not trying to kind of shine this tall so much, but i'm saying i won't say i'm necessarily agreeing. >> as we are coming up to the top of the hour here, new york times had some detailed interesting the reporting about the shooting on saturday including some striking details about the shooter. some of it is worrying. local officers spotted the young man who eventually was the shooter quite a long time

before the shooting happened, 20 minutes before the violence erupted. snipers spotted him, they took his picture, passed it around, then lost sight of him and didn't know where he was. that was disturbing. when they got to his phone not only did he search for images of mr. trump he searched for images of biotin, merrick garland, fbi director christopher wray. he typed in major depressive disorder, and major appearances for trump and biden. new york times reporting this this evening. we have much more when our rnc special coverage continues in just a moment. just a moment. 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 ♪

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images from the republican national convention in milwaukee, wisconsin. this evening, of course, the big speech is that we are going to be hearing from trump possible vice residential running mate, jd vance, when he addresses the rnc. the nomination of jd vance marks the first time since john mccain, ran against barack obama in 2008 that we have had a u.s. military veteran at the top of the ticket, either as the presidential or vice presidential nominee. jd vance is a retired marine, he spent six months in iraq as a combat correspondent. as part of a public affairs unit . at the same time, he was in iraq, literally at the exact same time another rising star in american politics, another increasingly recognized face in american politics, wes moore, was also deployed with the u.s. military, he was a captain of the u.s. army, leading comeback troops as a paratrooper with the 82nd airborne in afghanistan. sort of incredibly, both of

these men came back after their military service and wrote widely praised, highly accomplished award-winning memoirs. wes moore is called the other wes moore, one man, two fates. look at how two men from baltimore with the exact same name grew up under similar circumstances, similar hardships, could go on to live very drastically different lives. the wes moore that we know went on to be a rhodes scholar and a white house fellow and a captain in the army. the other wes moore never escaped poverty and he ended up in prison after being convicted of a serious crime. jd vance's memoir is about growing up in rural ohio and a family struggling with poverty and addiction, it is an examination of the struggles faced by white working-class americans. both of these memoirs, both of these young men widely praised both, actually beautifully written important books in their own

way. wallowing military service and writing the celebrated autobiographies, both of these men have ascended to top positions within their own political parties. wes moore, of course, without the serving democratic governor of maryland. jd vance was just named as the vice presidential nominee of the republican ticket after serving about a year and a half in the united states senate. now, we are about to speak with governor wes moore, i will say this before he gets here because he is not going to want to talk about this but i will tell you behind his back, knowing fully that he can hear me that as democrats have been having a very emotional all in the family kitchen table tears in their eyes discussion about whether the beloved figure at the top of their party, joe biden should remain at the top of the presidential ticket this year, wes moore is one of the rising stars in the democratic party who is now getting poll tested as a potential candidate himself. he is not doing that himself. other democrats and democratic

polling outfits are starting to test his prospects. again, he will not want to talk about that. he has not expressed any interest in being on the ticket. he is, in fact, an outspoken firm supporter of president biden and indeed, a surrogate for the campaign. and he joins us now. wes moore, the governor of maryland. it is a real pleasure to see you, i hope you weren't listening. >> i was not listening, rachel. but it is good to see her. >> it is nice to see you, too. let me start by asking you about jd vance, which i'm sure you are relieved to hear that i'm going with this. jd vance, the vice presidential nominee is obviously from your generation, your only a few years apart from one another. his background overlaps with yours and some interesting ways. i wanted to ask, you know, given some of the similarities you obviously have arrived at radically different views on the country and how it ought to be governed. what do you make of his election as president trump's running mate? >> i have known jd vance for a long time and that is one of the reasons i can never support

him. as being the vice president of this country because at the same time that jd vance is introducing himself to many people in this country, for those who have known him before, he is reintroducing himself to us. and there is something incredibly dangerous and problematic about that, where i have to ask, and i really hope he is doing some soul-searching to ask the question, is the ambition worth it, that we have watched this shape assisting of jd fans. we are talking about someone who is saying that he is fully for a nationwide abortion ban. we are talking about someone who has said that he has rallied against the affordable care act and rallied against social security. this is a person who believes in extremist views when it comes to american isolationism. his values do not match the values of america. and do not match the values and the vision that, for so many of us, for so

many patriots, people who love this country, who think about the actual direction that this country should be going in and so it's a bit disheartening, frankly, where i know i said during the start of my campaign, i have no problem bending everyday introducing myself to people who don't know me. but i refuse to spend a second reintroducing myself to people who do know me and i think that is exactly what jd vance is doing right now. >> governor wes moore, chris hayes here. i wanted to ask you about a race happening in your home state that i think shed some interesting light on the national race. of abortion politics of jd vance and former governor of state running for senate, running in a state that is quite democratic and quite supportive of abortion rights. essentially tempting to kind of come attempting to kind of moonwalk his way away from the republican party's position on abortion and try to get maryland voters who are

adamantly pro-choice to come along. do you think he can pull that off and what lessons are there to be learned from that for national politics where i think we have seen some signs of republican party wants to try to do the same thing in an entirely contested race. >> and i actually don't think that the governor is moonwalking. i think he is a bout facing. we are now talking about, it is amazing now hearing him sing that he is pro-choice and an independent thinker when the truth is when he actually had power he vetoed legislation that enhanced privacy. he vetoed legislation that enhanced protection for both patients and providers. on my first day of office, i released three and half million dollars of previously unreleased funds that went towards training providers because the old governor, who is now running for senate, refused to release them for political reasons. am so it's not lost on anyone

in our state that he was hand- picked by mitch mcconnell to run for the seat, mitch mcconnell called it the greatest gift of the year, getting larry hogan to run. but i think larry hogan is going to have a very difficult time trying to show the people of our state that you can be an independent while at the same time, knowing by mitch mcconnell come you already said you were going to caucus the republicans and you would vote with the republicans, giving the 51st senate seat. and on issues that we care deeply about. abortion rights is going to be on the ballot in the state of maryland to make it a part of our constitution. larry hogan has showed that he is not with the people of maryland. he is not pro-choice and i think people will make sure that we remember that in november. >> governor, it is your friend, alex wagner. last time i talk to you, we were talking about the black male vote and you know, we had some polling to suggest that the trump campaign was making inroads with voters of color, specifically black men. the trump campaign launched some sort of awkward ham-handed efforts to outreach to the black community.

i do wonder though, now that the choice of vice presidential running mate has been named, jd vance, does not seem like a pick that is designed to appeal to a broad cross-section of the american public and i wonder how you think his election place with, among communities of color and with blackman in particular given his focus almost exclusively on white working-class grievance? >> yeah, i think donald trump is, has made it very clear. who he is going to double down on. and what he sees as the vision for the country. and it is true, we know that in order to get the support of african-american men, we do have to go earning because there is a natural cynicism and a natural skepticism that is long-standing and, frankly, it honors and it acknowledges the history of this country. the history of this country has been remarkably uneven to african-americans, and particularly african-american men so in order to earn the vote, you have got to go internet and i think the thing

is, when you're looking at the history of the biden-harris administration, there's actually a track record that they can talk about and a vision for the future that they can talk about. the biden-harris administration can actually talk about how they have been able to reduce the african-american unemployment rate to historical lows. the biden-harris administration station can actually talk about the fact that we are watching the fastest start in businesses led by african-american men in over 30 years. the biden harris administration can actually talk about the fact that we are watching the greatest, watching a 60% jump in black with since the start of the pandemic under the biden harris administration. there's a track record and there is receipts that they can stand on. and frankly, not only is there not a track record that we are seeing with the trump administration, there's not a vision for where we are going, either. hope and vision will win elections and i think the biden harris administration is the only campaign that is not in this race that now that is actually adding a measurement of hope in vision for where we see african-american men in this larger canopy.

i see that is the only african- american governor in this country. i know what kind of partner that i have in the kind of results that we are seeing in the state of maryland. i know what i want to see for the next four years is the kind of partnership that i have in the biden harris administration. >> governor moore, it is joy, how are you? let me ask you this question. hi, there has been a lot of football spiking, i think, on the republican side. a lot of confidence that they are going to win even a state like maryland, kind of dismissing the idea that also bricks can beat larry hogan and really confident that they are going to get that seat. one is that based on. what is the mood inside of the state of maryland when it comes to the presidential race, as you have read it? and my second part of that question is, what do you think is the state of the outreach to younger voters? because that is one of the stated weaknesses of the current democratic ticket and that younger voters are just not motivated, are issues like abortion and project 2025, do

you think those are motivating enough to put maryland out of reach for republicans? >> yes, and one thing i will say, candidate quality does matter. the great thing, when you look at the cities race, angela alsobrooks is a remarkable candidate. she is someone who i proudly endorsed early. earlier this evening, and she is someone who i will be proud to have as my partner when she heads to the senate. and she is going to not just outwork the old governor, but she is someone who is a vision that actually matches where the state is. and your point about young voters is absolutely right. i think about in our case, young voters was our fuel. they are our foundation, they're the ones who paid attention to our campaign when we were polling at 1% and when i am not voting was polling higher than wes moore. and i think the thing that we are continuing to see is you have got to be able to show not just a track record but also the fact that you are bringing them on board so when we look at

our state, where we now had the most precipitous drop in homicides and violent crime of any state in this country. the last time the homicide rate was this low in baltimore city i wasn't born yet. and we have been able to do that work because we have been engaging with young people. when we were able to have just a few weeks ago have a largest mass party for cannabis convictions in the history of this country, where i personally pardoned over 175,000 cannabis convictions because i don't understand how people should be punished for something that is no longer illegal in our state. we worked with young people to make that happen. so young people have to understand that they are not just a subject of the conversation, they must be part of the conversation. it is something that i believe in people, in our leadership. is something that we have been doing in the state of maryland and it is the reason why i know young people will make sure that we get the election results in november that those

who came before us hoped for and those who come after us, that they deserve. >> maryland governor, wes moore point such a pleasure to have you with us tonight, sir. thank you for making the time. thank you. you know, the democratic party, wes moore has been the subject of conversation in the democratic party's future since well before he became governor. but you can see why. and if you, again, we are talking about, you see the way that he is articulating his vision here. and what the president, the case for the president and what the case is for democrats in maryland and democrats and you look at the social media presence and it is like, him working out with the cadets at the naval academy and shotgunning beers with tailgaters at tailgate. he really, he hits a level of both charisma and communication skills that do not come on even once in a generation. >> very true. >> i will say, the book editor and publisher and his book is a lot better than mine. [ laughter ] and so i will just leave that right there. he is a once in a generation talent on many levels.

>> literary agent is on the phone. >> i have to say, just to hear him speak, one of the things that has been striking, i was actually going back to some of the transcripts, the rnc transcripts. i don't think this is a controversial thesis. i think the presence of donald trump public life has kind of generally dragged down the level of public communication of politics. >> for sure. >> i came across a nixon speech the other day, it was the checkers speech where he is is splitting the accusations and impropriety. it is incredibly complex. he really walks you through and talks about it. and i so struck by just the speeches we've heard. the only difference is marco rubio who actually did try to make an argument last night, try to engage in persuasive communication. at the median level of public communication in politics right now at this moment is really not particularly high and when you hear someone like wes moore who is incredibly gifted in that, i think right, that seems more like the level that we should be operating on at the public discourse and it really

is striking to me. i think it is -- >> i don't know that is trump i would take that back further to the tea party movement. part of what the tea party movement was, scott came out of, marco rubio claimed to be part of it but he actually predated it and kind of joined it belatedly. was this idea that joe the butcher is going to replace the national that didn't know how to stand up for the real working class and the working man and so i think you have the sort of replacement phenomena, the great replacement really won. [ laughter ] really intelligent politicians were mostly lawyers and really great speechmakers and it was in part reaction to obama. president obama represented a sort of intellectual elite that made them angry just by his presence. >> there is, in his sentences. >> i think that vance is interesting because i'm very curious to see what he does in this one. jd vance is very capable of effective public medication. he is very capable of's speaking . he can do it. but what choice he makes

politically tonight, >> curbs from the speech, complex is not. >> i was in banking on it. >> i think joe the plumber actually, right? >> joe the plumber. >> that is sort of a reaction. >>'s name wasn't joe and he wasn't a plumber. [ laughter ] >> i think this comes up as sort of a byproduct, it is sort of the vanishing lines between talk radio and republican elected officials. so to speak the language of the very popular, very connected. so talk radio is like we are on the kinetic energy on the right. the politicians grafted onto that and i think we are, you know, i said you know, we are not divided. 76% of americans think that row should have stayed there. 85% of americans want gun safety legislation. we don't have these massive policy divides. we have a massive, ugly, vicious, driven by social media

culture war going on. and if you talk to conservatives and listen to talk radio. they say things about other human beings, i can't imagine they would ever say to someone's face about trans athletes, about lgbtq issues. but it is this dehumanization that has sort of overtaken the republicans and overtook the language and it has just been accelerated by being anonymous and being on social media. >> i would like to say don jr., donald trump jr. speaking right now. don jr. just did an endorsement for a book that is called unhuman. >> i rest my case. >> what the left is and why we can't think of them as human and why we need to treat them -- >> and he has endorsed it and he is the former president's son. >> i think what you are saying is so true and we also have the world in which that has turned off the majority, at least a good plurality. 40% of people don't even vote in presidential elections and i think we have a very low turnout, generally, even in

presidential years. we had 60% of people to participate. that is why i think he said the broad agreement in society is really not reflected in our politics. it is the most active partisans that participate in our politics, right? and they are more polarized than the electorate, or the people generally. >> also, speaking and complicated poetry, or even prose, it has become a hallmark of being the liberal elite now and the bastions of higher education, even if you are jd vance who went to layout law school and lived in san francisco, we are going to speak in simple language because that is what our base needs to hear as a hallmark of our bohne fetus >> can i say one very heady thing? which is i used to think of this as the emoji vacation of america that we have lost the ability to use words because we don't much need them anymore. smiley face and stuff. look at this in history, one of the things that, one element of scholarship about democracy is

that the more authoritarianism's society is, the more noun based and direct the public communication is around politics, that it is nouns, there is no short direct sentences, that is the hallmark of communication and societies, which authoritarianism is to present .2 turning against collegiate education. >> this sort of donald trump and the trump era, i imagine true of many of the speakers including now, donald trump, whatever you say about them, has certain rhetorical gifts, doesn't make arguments. he simply does not construct arguments. he does a lot of things, he states things, he sort of hammers things, he does a salesman stick. he doesn't make arguments. in democratic politics is fundamentally about making arguments to persuade people and it is really the case that is not where the political discourse is. >> that is a very astute and really important point. it is not about persuading

people. it is now stating what is true and lying up behind it. we have much more of your special coverage of the republican national convention to come here tonight. stay with us. happy to have you. looks like my to-do list grew. "paint the bathroom, give baxter a bath, get life insurance," hm. i have a few minutes. i can do that now. oh, that fast? remember that colonial penn ad? i called and i got information. they sent the simple form i need to apply. all i do is fill it out and send it back. well, that sounds too easy! (man) give a little information, check a few boxes, sign my name, done. they don't ask about your health? (man) no health questions. -physical exam? -don't need one. it's colonial penn guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance. if you're between the ages of 50 and 85, your acceptance is guaranteed in most states,

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back to our special coverage of the republican national convention, live in milwaukee, wisconsin. as you can see here, we also

want to show you president biden. this is air force one arriving in delaware. this is the air force base in delaware, as we reported earlier this evening, the white house has confirmed that president biden has tested positive for covid. and so his schedule has been cleared and he is on air force one because he is heading home to recuperate. the white house has described him as being violently symptomatic but he has had covid before. he described as having upper respiratory symptoms, including runny nose and generally feeling cruddy and general. but this is the president arriving at dover air force base. some people, we don't know who they are, just kind of walking around in the front. that is some perspective of the shot. eight years ago at the 2016 republican national convention, donald trump received a drivetime endorsement from silicon valley from the tech a billionaire named peter teal. among other things, mr. teal has been a proponent of something called c stettin,

were people who are sick of living in civilization should ditch it, and instead govern themselves in floating cargo containers at sea so they can get away from dastardly government. mr. steele has also said that things have only gone down hill since women got the right to vote. he written that democracy and freedom, democracy and freedom are incompatible things with the implication being that democracy has to go. that is why it was a surprising endorsement. i think a lot of people found it unnerving to see a person with those kinds of views take the stage at a major party, major political party convention. after that 2016 rnc appearance, apparently he decided i don't know, maybe the republican party decided maybe he is not the best face for politics. maybe his move should be more of a behind-the-scenes guy. after that, peter teal, instead, became a prolific funder of candidates but not necessarily a public facing guy. in 2022 thiel was a very, very

very generous main backer of two republic u.s. senate candidate, blake masters in arizona, he lost, he was perhaps best known in that race for expressing that he thought the most underrated thinker in america was the unabomber, so that didn't work out for blake masters in arizona. at the same time peter thiel also backed jd vance, sort of a protigi of his that he had given a number of jobs to in california he then pumped $15 million into a jd vance for senate race in ohio that mr. vance otherwise had absolutely no shot at it was the largest amount ever given to boost a single senate candidate ever. and it worked. peter thiel created a senate candidate out of fluff. especially once thiel personally introduced vance, personally introduced vance to donald trump. literally walked jd vance into donald trump's office and

helped convince trump to endorse vance. by the fact that vance, just a few years earlier, had called trump reprehensible and called him immoral and absurd. have wondered if trump was america's hitler. nevertheless, holding peter thiel's hand was enough to get jd vance donald trump's endorsement. and now, just 18 months after peter thiel put them in the senate, peter teal has now got his guy, jd vance onto trump's ticket as his running mate. whatever you think about mr. vance, the working-class champion who is also a venture capitalist millionaire, his patron in politics, the reason he, at age 39, has risen from a guy who was only famous for writing an autobiography to now being the republican nominee for vice president of the united states, it is because of peter thiel, gives him a handful really really radical tech billionaires, most explicitly mr. thiel but also some of the others. vance's own world view off the senate floor makes that background pretty clear. he

told a podcaster recently that in a second term, if he is re- elected to the white house, donald trump should defy supreme court rulings. said that trump must seize power because the entire american system is collapsing. he said, quote, we are in a late republican period, and he doesn't me late republican party period. he means late republican period as in this is a republic but we are not going to be one much longer. quote, if we are going to push back against it, we are going have to get pretty wild and pretty far out there in going directions that a lot of conservatives right now are uncomfortable with. last year, jd vance spoke on a panel with a philosopher who has called on conservatives to carry out regime change in the united states, not just to topple the democratic president, replace him with a republican president but rather to replace the abrell democracy with a, quote, post liberal order. that event, vance identified himself as a member of the post liberal right. again, not about being against

liberals, it is not being against liberal democracy. he said he views his role in congress as, quote, explicitly anti-regime the regime here being the american system of government. jd vance is a hjelle law school graduate, he has gone to american colleges and universities the enemy. a couple months ago he was asked about viktor orban seizure of state universities in hungary. vance said that orban, quote, made some smart decisions there that we can learn from in the united states. jd vance, within minutes, was about to make his debut on the national stage. americans have a lot to learn about him. joining us now from milwaukee is our own stephanie ruhle who was there along with political reporter, alex eisenstadt who has done some fascinating reporting on jd vance's arise in republican politics. mr. eisenstadt and stuff, thank you so much for being with us. i will let you take over. >> alice, rachel has just sort

of brilliantly laid out the tale of jd vance, because for most people in america, even people in this arena, they know nothing about him. what is the most important thing we need to know about this guy, who is essentially crafted from peter thiel, from 2013 until today. >> fascinating rise that we haven't really seen in american politics since barack obama just less than two years ago he was running in a senate race. a remarkably fast rise as mentioned, transitioned quickly from being someone who is fairly anti-trump, extremely pro-trump. and so it has been a remarkable transformation. he is now sort of very much associated with the maga movement and that is a big part of the reason why donald trump picked him to be vice president, he is comfortable with him, he trust him and yes the support of donald trump's family, he and his son donald trump jr. who is speaking behind us right now.

>> who is the voting block that jd vance could bring in for donald trump? he squarely is a hard-core far right maga guy, those voters are already backing trump, who is this guy bringing to the table? >> right. so jd vance needs someone, hillbilly elegy, which is a book that is focused on blue- collar voters, they are going to argue rust belt states. those two states, michigan, hopefully and wisconsin. those are really important states on the map trump wants to win or wants to win in this election. so you can bet that jd vance is going to spend a lot of time there talking about his blue- collar roots which i am sure he is going to be talking about tonight. >> his rust belt brand is very very different from hjelle law school. very different from silicon valley, working in d.c. and not just being backed by peter thiel but now elon musk and super successful tech billionaires. what do we need to know about why they are backing him? just one example is cryptocurrency, which we have heard so much from the biden

administration or donald trump, but it jd vance is aligned with these guys who are so deeply in crypto, could suddenly see the way the s.e.c. is put together, the way that crypto regulations are put together, that could make these guys exponentially wealthier in having their control of jd vance do everything they want. how concerned should people be that you have got elon musk or peter thiel behind the scenes? >> there is no question that if donald trump returns we are going to see the lies of silicon valley, so peter thiel komo weather to someone like, there's going to be a tremendous amount of influence that silicon valley is going to have potentially in the trump white house in a lot of ways, and silicon valley, directly replacing the mainstream republican party voters with george w. bush, mitt romney, this wholesale shift happening with the republican party. you can bet that jd vance, now that jd vance has a lot of money coming in from someone

like elon musk who said he will get potentially $40 million to the trump campaign. >> is not a transactional shift? not ideology? this group of businesspeople have traditionally been libertarians who are all about small government, yes, low regulation but that is what donald trump writes. >> well, look. you know, it is one of those things that trump has shifted the republican party away. used to have something very different. crypto people, now having all his campaign. in a lot of ways, donald trump has shifted the republican party. that pro-business mind-set to something very different. >> it is very transactional. what should we know about jd vance and ukraine? because this were a traditional rnc, which clearly it is not, foreign policy would be a top priority. things like supporting ukraine would be a top priority. certainly not for this. >> it's not, and he is some one

who is a noninterventionist. we talked about the break that we were seeing with donald trump and the republican party, the republican party was all about -- that is not what this is ticket is all about. tension behind the scenes. the republican party like jd vance, really rising up the party and the convention. >> conflict behind the scenes. maybe those traditional republicans will be out of the scene. >> it is possible. it will be interesting to see how the white house, is he going to bring someone like mike pompeo? on foreign-policy, how they interact with jd vance? watch if trump wins. >> rachel, this is his spinal tap, they definitely turned it up to 11 behind alex and i so we are going to send it back to you. >> we will be sending you whatever vitamins are supposed to restore your hearing. very damaged from this kind of

drama. alex eisenstadt, stephanie ruhle, thank you very very much. a reporter for politico, really good per reporting on vance being sort of created in a lab by tech billionaires with creaky politics. just summarizing from memory. let's bring in nbc news correspondent, jacob soboroff who is covering the rnc for us and this evening, jacob, you have got better seats, you have got a better vantage point from the left, with those poor south carolina delegates last night, what are you saying tonight? who have you been talking to? >> rachel, i think the story of this convention so far could actually be told in some measure under the signs that have been handed out, like campaign against outside every night. and the messaging has changed somewhat. i think when we came in and the week of the assassination attempt on former president trump, i was going to go through them with you. i will hold them up so make

america strong again. one of the first ones to come out. american oil from american soil. a theme of a previous evening, and a little bit tonight. trump vance when they announced the vice presidential pick but tonight the idea of issues that are going to unify the country, sort of went out the window. mass deportation now. and i have shared this site with some of our colleagues and actually give them back because there is a woman, i'm not even joking says she wants to bring this home with her. i want to make sure i give it to her. for one second. excuse me for one second. ma'am, here's your sign, i promised i was going to get it back to you. thank you. in all seriousness. >> [ laughter ] >> it is part of the policy platform of this convention to create the largest deportation effort in american history point that is verbatim and i know you, as a student of history, are viewers who might have heard me talk about this earlier in the evening, but for those who are tuning in at this late hour i just want to say, 1954, after the program were many mexican guests were brought into this country, the eisenhower administration deported under an operation

with the name that is so offensive and racist i am not comfortable saying it on television, deported around 1 million mexicans including some mexican-americans. the program that is being proposed by the trump administration would be good bigger than anything we have seen in the first trump term and now these are the issues that are coming up here. from peter navarro tonight, rapturous rousing ovation that anybody else i heard, say there's blood on the hands of al hunter mallorca. i heard stephanie talking about it earlier, i just want to come you know, sort of threw my hat in the me and say the tone has changed considerably tonight. and other than former president trump, we're hearing, coming in after the assassination attempt, i'm hearing sort of the biggest ovation for the tone and tenor of the program tonight as we watched former president trump up there right now with greg abbott, the texas governor. there is devin nunes who is running truth social. doug burgum and the speaker of the house mike johnson took it feels different in here tonight. and actually, right on cue, here goes the border wall.

a man dressed as the border wall. rachel? >> jacob, getting the border wall guy was seeking you out or do think that was just a lucky coincidence because you did something in a past life that got you really lucky? >> the letter. >> okay. i think so, too. thank the ancestors. jacob soboroff for us on the floor of the rnc in milwaukee. we are expecting in just a couple of minutes, and introduction to the main speech of the evening, main speech of the evening, of course, republican vice presidential nominee, jd vance. he is expected to going to be introduced by his wife, lucia vance. the wife, remarks at the rnc, momentarily. this week, many people, including many republicans learned that lucia vance is indian american, practicing hindu, the daughter of immigrants, she have three kids , also a very successful lawyer, she clerked for a supreme court justice of john roberts as well as justice

brett kavanaugh. that is right, she has worked for two of the most conservative justices ever of the united states. she has clerked with justice kavanaugh when he was judge cavanaugh, who served on the appeals court in washington. misses vance then became a trial lawyer for a firm, an excellent firm in san francisco that has been described as radically progressive in the way that it is run. she left that very well- regarded firm after her husband was named after trumps running mate just this week. lucia vance was also a registered democrat until 2014 but hasn't voted in the 2022 public and primerica much of course, her husband ran in, she was asked about the prospect of becoming the second lady last june. miss vance replied, quote, i am not raring to change anything about our lives right now but i really do believe in jd and i really do love him. so we will to see what happens with our lives. so we've got eyes on the convention state right now. expected to begin her speech shortly.

we do expect that her husband, jd vance, will be speaking right after her. so we will keep an eye for when she actually starts her remarks. i think, one of the things that about being a very young person at this sort of position is that you end up being a person whose family is introduced to the country in a way that, as a candidate, you have to be very protective of. the vance's have three very young kids and they are about to be very, very famous. that is one thing to have been a senator for 18 months. it is another thing to be the vice presidential running mate and this is a big step onto the big stage for a young family. let's watch. >> good evening. good evening. when i was asked to introduce my husband, jd vance, to all of you, i was at a loss. what could i say that hasn't already been said before?

after all, the man was already a subject for a ron howard movie. jd has shared much of his life through his own eloquent words. in his book, hillbilly elegy, during his senate campaign, and now as a sitting united states senator. it occurred to me that there was only one thing to do. to explain, from the heart, why i love and admire jd and stand here beside him today. and why he will make a great vice president of the united states. i met jd in law school when he was fresh out of ohio state, which he attended with the support of the g.i. bill. we were friends first because i

mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with jd? he was then, as now, the most interesting person i knew. a working-class guy who had overcome childhood traumas that i could barely fathom to end up at yale law school. a tough marine who had served in iraq, but whose idea of a good time was playing with puppies and watching the movie, babe. the most determined person i knew with one overriding ambition, to become a husband and a father and to build the kind of tightknit family that he had longed for as a child. my background is very different from jd's. i grew up in san diego in a middle-class community. [ applause ] with two loving, both immigrants from india and a wonderful sister. that jd and i could meet at all , let alone fall in love and

marry is a testament to this great country. [ applause ] it is also a testament to jd, and it tells you something about who he is. when jd met me, he approached our differences with curiosity and enthusiasm. he wanted to know everything about me, where i came from, what my life had been like. although he is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food for my mother, indian food. before i knew it he had become an integral part of my family, a person i could not not imagine living without. the jd i knew then is the same jd you see today, except for that beard. and his goals in this new role

are the same that he has pursued for our family, to keep people safe, to create opportunities, to build a better life. and to solve problems with an open mind. it's safe to say that neither jd nor i expected to find ourselves in this position. but it is hard to imagine a more powerful example of the american dream, a boy from middletown, ohio. [ applause ] >> jd! jd! jd! >> raised by his grandmother, through tough times, chosen to help lead our country through some of its greatest challenges. i am grateful for all of you

for the trust you have placed in him, and in our family. and with that, it is my great privilege to introduce my husband, and the next vice president of the united states, jd vance! [ applause ] is ♪ ♪♪ >> thank you.

♪ thank you, thank you, please. wow. wow. [ applause ] [ crowd chanting ] jd! jd! jd! >> first of all, isn't she lovely? amazing. [ applause ] greetings , milwaukee. my fellow

americans, and my fellow republicans, my name is jd vance , from the great state of ohio. [ applause ] tonight -- ohio, ohio! you guys, we are going to chill with the ohio love, we got to love michigan, too, here. [ applause ] my friends, tonight is the night of hope. a celebration of what america once was and with god's grace, what it will soon be again. [ applause ] and it is a reminder of the sacred duty we have two preserve the american

experiment, to choose a new path for our children and grandchildren. but as we meet tonight, we cannot forget that this evening could have been so much different. instead of a day of celebration, this could have been a day of heartache and morning. for the last eight years, president trump has given everything he has to fight for the people of our country. [ applause ] he didn't need politics, but the country needed him. now prior to running for president he was one of the most successful businessmen in the world, he had everything anyone could ever want in a life, and yet, instead of choosing the easy path, he chose to endure abuse, slander, and persecution, and he did it

because he loves this country. [ applause ] i want all americans to go and watch the video of a would-be assassin coming a quarter of an inch from taking his life. consider the lies they told you about donald trump and then look at that photo of him defiant, fist in the air, when donald trump rose to his feet in that pennsylvania field, all of america stood with him. [ applause ] [ crowd chanting ] >> and what did he call to do for our country? to fight to fight for america.

even in his most perilous moment, we were on his mind. his instinct was for us, for our country to call us to something higher, to something greater. so once again, be citizens who ask what our country needs of us. now, consider what they said, they said he was a tyrant. they said he must be stopped at all costs. but how did he respond? he called for national unity, for national calm, literally right after an assassin nearly took his life. [ applause ] he remembered the victims of the terrible attack, especially the brave corey comperatore, who gave his life to protect his family. [ applause ] god bless him. and then president trump flew to

milwaukee and got back to work! [ applause ] now, that's the man i have gotten to know personally over the last few years. he is tough, and he is, but he cares about people. he can stand defiant against an assassin one moment and call for national healing the next. he is a beloved father and grandfather and, of course, a once in a generation business leader. he is the man who is feared by america's adversaries but two nights ago, in a moment, said good night to his two boys, told him he loved him, and made sure to give each of them a kiss on the cheek. i will say, don and eric squirmed the same way my 4-year- old does when his daddy tries to give him a kiss on the cheek. sorry, guys. he is all those things, but tonight, we celebrate, he is

our once and future president of the united states of america! [ applause ] >> no i want to respond to his call for unity myself. we have a big tent in this party, and every thing from national security to economic policy. but my message to you, my fellow republicans is we love this country and we are united to win. [ applause ] now i think our disagreement actually make a stronger. that is what i've learned in my time in the united states senate. for sometimes, i persuade my collies and sometimes they persuade me.

and my message to my fellow americans, those watching from across the country is, shouldn't we be governed by a party that is unafraid to debate ideas and come to the best solution? [ applause ] that the republican party of the next four years. united in our love for this country and committed to free speech and the open exchange of ideas. [ applause ] and so tonight, mr. chairman, i stand here humbled and i overwhelmed with gratitude to say i officially accept your nomination to be vice president of the united states of america. [ applause ]

now, never in my wildest imagination could i have believed that i would be standing here tonight. i grew up in middletown, ohio. [ applause ] a small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands, and loved their god, their family, their community, and their country with their whole hearts. it was also a place that had been cast aside and forgotten by america's ruling class in washington. when i was in the fourth grade, a career politician by the name of joe biden supported nafta, a bad trade deal that sent countless good jobs to mexico.

when i was a sophomore in high school, that same career politician named joe biden gave china a sweetheart trade deal that destroyed even more good american middle-class manufacturing jobs. when i was a senior in high school, that same joe biden supported the disastrous invasion of iraq, and in each step of the way, in small towns like mine in ohio, or next door in pennsylvania or michigan, in states all across our country, jobs were sent overseas and our children were sent to war. [ crowd chanting ] joe must go! joe must go! joe must go! >> i agree.

and somehow, a real estate developer from new york city, by the name of donald j trump was right on all of these issues, while biden was wrong. [ applause ] president trump new even then that we needed leaders who would put america first. now, thanks to these policies that biden and other out of touch politicians in washington gave us, our country was flooded with cheap chinese goods, with cheap foreign labor , and in the decades to come, deadly chinese fentanyl. joe biden screwed up and my community paid the price. now, i was lucky. despite the closing factories and the growing addiction in towns like mine, in my life, i had a guardian angel by my side. she

was an old woman who could barely walk and she was tough as nails. i called her mamma, the name we hillbillies gave to our grandmothers. mamma raced me as her own, excuse me, mamma raced me as my mother struggled with addiction. mamma was in so many ways a woman of contradiction. she loved the lord, ladies and gentlemen. she was a woman of very deep christian faith. [ applause ] but she also loved the f word. i am not getting. she could make a sailor blush. as she once told me, when she found out that i was spending too much time with a local kid who was known for dealing drugs, that if i ever hung out with that kid again, she would run him over with her car.

that's true. she said, jd, no one will ever find out about it. [ laughter ] [ crowd chanting ] mamma! mamma! mamma! >> thanks to mamma, things worked out for me. after 9/11 i did with thousands of other young men my age did at that time, with soaring patriotism and love of country, i am listed in the united states marines. [ applause ] semper fi to my fellow marines. i left the marines up for four years and went to the ohio state university.