they suspended wall construction. we have policy, remain in mexico. you think that was easy to get from the mexican government? i said you must give it to was and if you don't there will be repercussions and they gave them to us. canceled our agreements. demolished title 42. implemented nationwide catch and release. catch and release where we catch them and release them into our country. we catch them and release them into mexico. and took 93, this is the previous administration, 93 executive actions to throw open our border to the world. the entire world is pouring into our country because of this very foolish administration. the greatest innovation and histories take a place right here in our country. they are coming in from every corner of the earth, not just south america but africa, asia, the middle east. they are coming from everywhere.

they are coming at levels we have never seen before. it is an invasion, indeed, that this administration does absolutely nothing to stop them. they are coming from prisons. they are coming from jails. they are coming from mental institutions and insane asylum's. you know the press is on me because i say this. has anyone seen silence of the lambs? the late great hannibal lector. he'd love to have you for dinner. that is the insane asylum's. there emptying their insane asylum's and terrorists are coming in at numbers we've never seen before. bad things are going to happen. meanwhile, our crime rate is going up while crime statistics all over the world are going down because they are taking the criminals and they are putting them into our country. a certain country and i happen

to like the president of their country very much but he's been getting great publicity because he's a wonderful shepherd of the country. he says how well the country is doing because there crime rate is down and he said he's training these rough people, rough, rough. he's training them. i've been reading about this for two weird years. i say that's wonderful. then i realized he's not he training them ascending all his criminals, his drug dealers, as people in jails and sending them to the united states. he is different and he doesn't say that. he is trying to convince everybody what a wonderful job he does. he doesn't do a wonderful job. if i ran one of the countries, many countries, many many countries from all over, i would be worse than any of them. i would've at the place emptied out already. [ laughter ] we become a dumping ground for the rest of the world which is laughing at

us. they think we're stupid. they can't believe they are getting away with what they are getting away with, but they're not going to be getting away with the for long. that's what i can tell you. in venezuela, caracas, high crime. high crime. caracas, venezuela. really a dangerous place but not anymore because in venezuela crime is down 72%. in fact, if they would wins this election, he does say that, we will have our next republican convention in venezuela because it will be safe. our cities will be so unsafe we won't be able to have it there in el salvador. murders are down by 70%. why are they down? he would have you convinced that because he is trained

murderers to be wonderful people. they are down because they are sending their murderers to the united states of america. this is going to be very bad. bad things are going to happen and you were seeing it happen all the time. that's what to keep family safe the republican platform promises to launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country. even larger than that, president eisenhower for many years ago, he was a moderate, but he believes strongly in borders. he had the largest deportation operation we've ever had. recently spoke to the grieving mother of of a wonderful woman. a precious 12-year-old girl from houston who last month was tied up, assaulted and strangled to death after walking to the waconvenience ste

a block away from her house. her body was dumb near the side of the road in a shallow creek, found by onlookers who couldn't believe what they had witnessed. charged with her heinous murder . two illegal aliens from venezuela who came across a border. were in custody and released into the country by this horrible administration that we have right now. i also met recently with a heartbroken mother and sister rachel. rachel was a 37-year-old mom of five, beautiful children, who was brutally raped and murdered. the monster responsible killed another woman in el salvador before he was let into america by this white house. this white house let them in. he attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother in home invasion

in los angeles before murdering rachel and travel throughout the country doing tremendous damage. rachel's mother will never be the same. i spent time with her. she will never be the same. i have met with a wonderful family of laken riley, the brilliant 22-year-old nursing student. she was so proud of being first in her class. who was out for a jog on the campus of the university of georgia when she was assaulted, beaten, and terrifically killed. another american life was stolen by a criminal alien set free by this administration. these were incredible people we're talking about. incredible people who died. tonight, america, this is my vow. i will not let these killers and criminals into our country. i will keep our sons and

daughters safe as we bring security to our streets, we will help bring stability to the world i was the first resident in modern times to start no new wars. we were the toughest. we were the most respected you saw those hungary, strong country run by a tough guy. president doesn't like him because he's tough. he came out recently, they were asking him in an interview, the whole world is -- what's happening? viktor orban, prime minister of hungary, very tough man. he said i don't want people coming into my country and blowing up our shopping centers and killing people. they said to him, tell us what's going on? what's happening? what is it? he said there's only way you

can solve it. bring president trump-backed to the united states because he kept everybody at bay. he used a word i wouldn't use because i can't use that word, it was break it osha's. the press would say was a braggart? i'm not a braggart but viktor orban set up. he said russia was afraid of him. china was afraid of him. everybody was afraid of him. not being was going to happen the whole world was at peace p and now the world is blowing up around us. all these things you read about were not going to happen. under president bush, russia invaded georgia. under president obama, russian took crimea. under the current administration, russia is after all of ukraine. under president trump, russia

took nothing. we defeated 100% of isis and syria and iraq. something that was said to take five years, it will take five years, sir. we did it in a matter of months. we have a great military. our military -- some of the full as on top are woke. i got along very well, north korea, kim jong un. the press said i hated that parish it's nice to get along with somebody who has a lot of nuclear weapons or otherwise, isn't it? the old days you'd say that's a

wonderful thing and now they say how could you possibly -- i got along with him and we stopped the missile launches from north korea. now north korea is acting up now. when we get back, i get along with them. he would like to see me back too. i think he misses me if you want to know the truth. our opponents inherited a world of peace and turned it into a planet to war. we are a planet of a war. look at that attack on israel. look what's happening with ukraine. the cities are bombed out. how can people live like that with massive buildings are falling to the ground. it began to unravel with the disaster withdrawal from afghanistan. the worst humiliation in the history of our country. we've never had a humiliation like that. 13 heroic u.s. service members were tragically and needlessly killed and 45 others were horrifically one to.

nobody ever talks about that. no arms or legs. face explosions. horrifically, horrifically wounded. by the way, we have a man in this room who is running for the u.s. senate from a great state, nevada named sam brown. who paid the ultimate price thank you, sam. thank you, sam. thank you. he paid the biggest price, probably ever paid by anybody that is running for office, and i think he's going to do great. he's running against a person that is not good, not respected, total lightweight but sam i think paid -- we were talking about it with some of the senators that are working so hard for sam, but he paid

the biggest price of any senator ever to run for the senate. i don't nathink anybody, what h did, he was a real hero. a really great person and he's running and i hope everybody gets out and votes for sam brown. we also left behind $85 million worth of military equipment along with many american citizens were left behind. many, many american citizens emboldened by that disaster. russia invaded ukraine and they saw this group of people incompetent. we took the soldiers of first. we take the soldiers a second. they would've follow my plan, we had a great plan, but the plan only kicked in if they did everything perfectly, and they were doing everything perfectly. we said it doesn't kick in ski. 18 months in afghanistan, we didn't have -- were killing them left and right.

snipers. i spoke to the head of the taliban, you've heard the story, he is still there. the press got on me, why would you speak to him? es because that's where the killing is. i don't have to speak to somebody who has nothing to do with the. i told them, don't ever do that. don't ever do that again. don't ever ever do that again. during the obama administration, many great people and soldiers, a lot of soldiers were being killed from long distance. i said if you keep doing that, you will be hit harder than everybody has ever been hit by a country before. he said, i understand, your excellency. he called me your excellency. i wonder because the other guy your excellency. i doubt it. the other guy gave him everything.

what kind of a deal was that? he gave him everything. you know, right now afghanistan is one of the largest sellers of weapons in the world? they are selling the brand-new beautiful weapons that we gave them. but think of it, he actually said to me, but why, why do you show me a picture of my home and i said you will have to ask your people or one of your wives. but he could figure it out. for ou18 months, we had not one attack on an american soldier by the taliban. 18. and we had that horrible day were soldiers were killed. i was there because of a ridiculous selection. we had that horrible attack, and they also gave up one of the biggest bases anywhere in the world.

air bases in the world. longest run was, most powerful, hard and thickened runways. gave it up and died like did not because of afghanistan, liked it because of china. it's one hour away from where china makes her nuclear weapons. you know who has it now? china has it now. we were keeping that. and now china is likewise circling taiwan l and russia warships an nuclear submarines are operating 60 miles of the coast in cuba. do you know that? the press refuses -- if that were me running this country and we had nucleus of grains in cuba, i will tell you the headlines every day would be what's wrong with our president? you don't even hear this. you're not hearing about this. russia has nuclear submarines and warships 60 miles away, calm -- mr. congressman, from miami. correct? in cuba. that would not be

stored for if it were somebody else. they don't want to mention it but now maybe they will. the entire world, i tell you this, we went our hostages back, and they better be back before i assume office or you will be paying a very big price. >> with our victory in november, the years of war, weakness, and chaos will be over. i don't have wars. i had no wars other than isis that i defeated. we had no wars. i could stop them with a telephone call. i could stop wars with just a telephone call. properly stated it would never

start. built and iron dome, missile defense system to ensure no enemy can strike our homeland. this great iron dome will be built entirely in the usa. we will build to and wisconsin, wisconsin, just like i gave you that massive ship contract, and you're doing a very nice job, governor, right? thank you, governor. they're doing a great job. in fact, had a design change. what we used to call destroyers. these are now the most beautiful -- they look like yachts and i said we have to take the bow and make it a little nicer and point at the top instead of a flat nose. the people at the shipyard said this guy knows what he's doing. the most beautiful ships, right governor? it was a big contract that

everybody wanted and i gave it to wisconsin but we will have a lot of that built right here in the state of wisconsin and all other states, israel has and iron dome. they have a missile defense system. 342 missiles were shot into israel until no one got through, a little bit, it fell to the ground. most of them -- ronald reagan one of this but we didn't have the technology many years ago. remember they called it starship, spaceship, anything to mock him. he was a very good president. very very good. but now, we have unbelievable technology and why should other countries have this and we don't? no no, we will build and iron dome of the country and we will be sure nothing can come and harm our people. again, from an economic development standpoint, we will make it all right here.

no sending it out other countries to help. it's america first. we will unleash the power of american innovation, and as we do, we will soon be on the verge of finding the cures to cancer. alzheimer's disease and many other diseases. we are going to get to the bottom of it. remember this gentlemen that i don't want to mention other than one time i had to because when you say the 10 worst, had to do it, didn't want anybody to be confused but this man said, we are going to find a cure to cancer. nothing happened. we will get to the cure for cancer and alzheimer's and so many other things, so close to doing something great. we need a leader that will let it be done. we will not have men playing and women sports. that will end immediately.

we will restore and renovate our nation's once great cities, making them safe, clean, and beautiful again. and that includes our nation's capitol which is a horrible killing field. so many things. daily from wisconsin and go to the washington monument and they end up getting shot. we will be very soon, proud of our capitol again, washington, d.c. america is on the cusp of a new golden age, but we will have the courage to seize it. we will take it and make it a current -- we will bring this into a golden age like never seen before. remember this, china wants to do, japan wants to do it, these countries want to do. we have to produce massive amounts of energy if we are going to produce the new -- if you look at some of the things

that have been done and some of the things we're going to do, but, a.i. needs tremendous, literally twice the electricity that's available now in our country, can you imagine? instead, we're spending places with a recharge electric cars, they built eight chargers at a certain location for the midwest. eight charges for $9 billion. think of them as a tank for filling up your gas. think of it. they spent $9 billion and eight chargers, three of which did not work. if you are going to do this all over our country, this crazy electric mandy, you do this -- all, i'm all for electric. if somebody wants to buy a gas powered car, gasoline powered car or a hybrid, they are going

to be able to do it and we will make that change on day one. to conclude, just a few short days ago, my journey with you nearly ended. we know that. and yet, here we are tonight all gathered together, talking about the future promise and a total renewal of a thing we love very much, it's called america. we live in a world of miracles. none of us knows god's plan for our life said venture will take us. i want to thank franklin for being here tonight. an outstanding man. he wrote me a note recently. i have a lot of respect for him. sir, i love your storytelling.

i think is great in front of these big rallies, but sir, do me one favor. it won't make a difference. please, don't use foul language. i said, i was embarrassed. he said, it won't make any difference and i said the stories not quite as good but i've been very good. the stories not quite as good to be honest. i'm going to have a little talk with frank, but he was great. is a great gentlemen and his father was so incredible, billy graham. my father used to love taking me to see billy graham. my father would take me to see really graham at yankee stadium. he had the biggest rallies you've ever seen. he was a good rally guy too. he would get up and he was fantastic. my father looked billy graham. but i love franklin graham. i think he has been fantastic, and am working so hard to adhere to his note to me. i'm working hard on it, franklin. if the events of last saturday

make anything clear, it's that every single moment we have on earth is a gift from god. we have to make the most of every day for the people and for the country that we love. the attacker in pennsylvania wanted to stop our movement, but the truth is, the movement has never been about me. it's always been about you. it's a biggest movement in the history of our country by far. it can't be stopped. it has always been about the hard-working patriotic citizens of america. for too long our nation has settled for too little. we settled for too little. we've given everything to other nations, to other people. you been told to lower your expectations and to accept less for your families. i am here tonight with the opposite message.

your expectations are not big enough. not big enough. it is time to start expecting and demanding the best leadership in the world. leadership that is bold, dynamic, relentless and fearless. we can do that. we are americans, ambition is our heritage. greatness is our birthright, but as long as our energies are spent fighting each other, our destiny will remain out of reach and that's not acceptable. we must instead take that energy and use it to realize our country's true potential and write our own thrilling chapter of the american story. we can do it together. we will unite. we are going to come together and success will bring us together. it is a story of love, sacrifice , and so many other things.

remember the word, devotion. it is unmatched devotion. our american ancestors crossed the delaware, survived the ac winter at valley forge, defeated a mighty empire to establish our cherished republic . they fought so hard, they lost so many, they pushed thousands and thousands of miles across a dangerous frontier, taming the wilderness to build a life and magnificent home for their family. they packed their families into covered wagons, tracked across hazardous trails. scaled towering mountains and brief rivers and rapids to stake their claim on the wide open, new and beautiful frontier. when our way of life was threatened, american patriots arched onto the battlefield, enemy stronghold and stared down death and stared down

those enemies to keep alive the flame of freedom. yorktown, gettysburg, and midway, they joined the roll call of immortal heroes, so many hold, so many euros. so many great people and we have to cherish those people. we can forget those people. we have to cherish those people. and building monuments to those great people is a good thing, not a bad thing. they saved our country. no challenge was too much. no hardship was too great. no nme was too fierce. together these patriots soldiered on and endured. they prevailed because they had faith in each other, faith in their country, and above all, they had faith in their god. just like our ancestors, we

must now come together, rise above past differences. any disagreements have to be put aside and go forward, united as one people, one nation, pledging allegiance to one great beautiful, i think it's a beautiful, american flag. tonight i ask for your partnership, for your support, anti-them humbly asking for your vote. it will make our country great again. every day i will strive to honor the trust you have placed in me, and i will never ever let you down. i promise that. i will never let you down. to all of the forgotten men and women have been neglected, abandoned, and left behind, you will be forgotten no longer. we will press forward in together we will win, win, win.

win. win. win. nothing will sway us. nothing will slow us. and no one will ever stop us. no matter what dangers come our way. no matter what obstacles lie in our path, we will keep striving toward our shared and glorious destiny, and we will not fail. we will not fail. together, we will save this country. we will restore the republic, and we will usher in the rich

and wonderful tomorrow's that our people so truly deserve, american's future will be bigger, better, bolder, happier, stronger, freer, greater, and more united than ever before. quite simply put, we will very quickly make america great again. thank you very much. thank you very much. wisconsin, god bless you. god bless you, wisconsin, and god bless the united states of america. our great country. thank you very much, everybody.

>> ♪

the balloon drop has commenced. donald trump, his acceptance speech accepting for the third time the presidential nomination of the republican party chimed on stage by his wife, melania, who does not ever appear with him anymore. it's the first time she has been seen by his side. i don't know how long but in a long time , having an awkward greeting

with her on the stage which was a little performative. he seemed to be feigning surprise to see her, the rest of the family and his running mate j.d. vance and his wife joining them on stage. this is not just the longest convention speech in the modern era. it's the longest convention speech in the modern era by a very long way. the previous record holder was donald trump in 2016 when he gave almost on the longest convention speech that had ever been given in the modern era. this past that bike, thing, 20 minutes. we knew this was going to be a long speech when we got first the exurbs and then the full text of it, scripted probably about an hour. this came in over an hour and a

half long. it was a fidel castro kind of experience. the former president did get to most of the words on the teleprompter but added a whole lot more. >> there was a lot of extra cereal in the box, if you will. >> nicolle wallace, what did you think? >> interestingly, it was pointed out that fox news had stopped carrying his speeches about a month ago. i thought that was curious, and that's when there was a lot in them about electrocution and sharks. i think when you watch what is arguably his biggest opportunity to speak before the most americans, you see a little bit of where some of the thinking might be. this was extemporaneous. i think half-and-half, half of it was the scripted speech and 50% extra added. in the room, it was messianic. people were crying and they definitely loved it.

>> at the beginning they loved it and were crying. the "new york times" reported, we're trying to chase it down, but by the end, people were emptying. >> the times had a great bottom line on this. in the beginning he said he would change by the end it was clear he had not. or hadn't very much. if you are wondering what impact this has on a viewing audience, you have to wonder how much the viewing audience state through. it was longer the modern baseball games with the new pitching. it was very lengthy and meandering. i hope that the bigger message, anyone in the pro-democracy side got tonight is that the pro-democracy candidate, the democratic person can beat him and by a lot and decisively rendering the story. the other thing is if you are looking for kernels of substance describing what happened on

saturday night, saying it's a one and only time he will do that, we will see. it seemed a story once he got into it, he enjoyed connecting over and sharing. >> slow down for just a second to make sure people understand. in case you didn't watch the whole speech, at the beginning of his speech, trump came out and was soft-spoken, doing -- >> reenactment. >> singsong but tightly scripted reading the teleprompter, recreation, description moment by moment of the shooting at his rally as saturday. people in the crowd were weeping anti-dramatically said you will hear this from me once and never again because it's too painful to speak about. it was a strange opening. it was moving to the people in the room. >> we will see if that's the only time he ever tells the story. political history we all witness, i guess, together. there is a lot of audacity. a few tells.

use of the impact of the immunity decision. bragging about, calling people who come to the country illegally invasion so he could use the military was a line in the speech. i thought he showed his hand on how he would identify enemies saying they say i'm a threat to democracy. i am protecting democracy, so i saw a few flashing yellow lights in this. i think the larger political theme for everyone to understand is this is not a focus candidate. it's not a disciplined candidate. it's not a candidate with a simple message of what he wants to do. when he stands alone, he appears to be someone who should easily be contrasted to -- >> i was struck by the fact it was a 78-year-old man who had just gone through a profoundly

traumatic experience. forced to reckon with his mortality and how scary that was to him. and he is an old man in the latter stages of his life, most likely. he is 78 years old and time comes for all of us. that part of it was a part of trump you do see because i don't think he enjoys thinking about that at all. i also felt like the biggest take away after what has been three of the most painful weeks i have ever seen in democratic politics , this is not a colossus. this is not the big bad wolf. this is not a vigorous and incredibly daft political communicator. this is an old man in decline doing the same shtick for a good long time, and it's really wearing pretty thin. he is a beatable candidate.

democrats have been feeling panic and fear and anxiety and understandably so. i don't think anyone who watched that speech and thought, wow, that's an -- that will be hard to top. how are we going to message against this guy? that is what he does at every rally. that was just a trump rally but with a speech woven through. i just think you've got to look at that and think, it's really important if you're on the pro- democracy part of the country to stop him from getting back in office, but that should be a doable thing. >> the concept of conventions in the television age has been prime time. there are three hours of prime time in television. 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 and the job

of the final night of the convention is make sure the presidential nominee was on between 10:00 and 11:00. the final hour of prime time because that reaches across the country more strongly than any of the other hours of prime time. he went on at 10:30 which means 30 minutes of his speech was in prime time, and then he went on for another hour after that. that's a complete failure of convention scheduling that people have been working with since the 1960s that you were supposed to observe. and, donald trump watching that guy, the adjective donald trump as for guys like that is low- energy. he is the one who invented that, to describe jeb bush. that was a low-energy donald trump. you have to be a donald trump worshiper to hang in ski for the whole 90 minutes and listened all of it. this is a speech in which are trying to get people you don't

already have. i don't think of that speech could've done it. >> to paraphrase eric kill mocker, maga, is this your king? if joe biden had given a rambling, shambling, all over the place speech like that, elected democrats would be demanding that the 25th amendment be invoked immediately . they would scramble even worse than they are now to jettison him as the candidate for president. we would be questioning his mental acuity. donald trump went off that script for more than half of a. we had the text in front of us. he clearly was bored by the text. and then, he became an old vaudevillian who much preferred

his old shtick, and was, therefore, reciting it. that was proof that there is not just one old man in the race. donald trump is an old man, clearly in decline. we must start talking about him the same way that we are questioning joe biden. because, donald trump cannot stay on message for even five to 10 minutes even telling a story but the most dramatic moments of his life. he still, eventually, got two sharks. he got to hannibal lector. he can't stop doing it because, i say this is somebody who adores senior citizens, they are my favorite people. one of the things that happens when they begin to decline as they go to safe places in their minds, stories there comforted

by and remember and can we say. they do it over and over again. donald trump is not a candidate the democrats should be terrified of. there terror is embarrassing tonight. maga, is this your king? >> i want to go to jacob whose in the room. we saw him being assaulted by a gold balloon. i'm glad to see you won the fight. >> not quite. you can see former president trump, j.d. vance, right here. i have to tell you, rachel, it's an almost unspeakable feeling to be in a room of such a celebratory nature, and hear the man behind the talk about reporting more people than president eisenhower in 1954 in operation with a name so racists it's not appropriate to say on television. he's talking about removing more

than 10 million people from the country who have been here, many since they were little children, contributed to the society and economy and live in all our neighborhoods and communities. now we are throwing balloons around as if this is a party. he talked about the democrats again cheating, cheat, and the last election after saying he was here to unify the nation. it's a bizarre feeling that i'm not sure i'm able to fully articulate right now. they are painting it as a party, but it's a deeply divisive message anyway you want to look at it, you can put the unity bumper sticker all over it, but we heard tonight is not a message of bringing people together. it was a message of literally kicking millions of people out of the country. >> he literally talked about how he would empty out the whole country. he talked, fantasized a pinhead of other countries and how he

would empty them out. thank you. i am not going to make it back and forth with me because you are in a loud spot. thank you for that from right next to the stage. alex, but to get your reaction to what you heard in the speech? are you okay? >> i can't believe we are here, we are all still here. political strategist, twitter had choice phrases including crushingly stupid and incoherent lunacy, but i preferred aging autocrat. you pointed out this was fidel castro in blank. michael beschloss pointed out that khrushchev and castro tended to give long stem winders, incoherent ones as they were aging. it's symptomatic of a party that indulges in a cult of personality. that has put all its chips on the persona of one individual and their frailties and strengths.

in this case there were more frailties than there were strengths. i don't think it was coincidence that, in addition to ad-libbing joe biden's name into the speech and crazy nancy pelosi, he brought victor orban and kim jong un into the speech. >> for unreserved praise. >> for unreserved praise. he's retreating to the parts of is my giving comfort. the people that hold a special place in his mental tunnels. it is very revealing. the fact that he is allowed to indulge himself like this is a damning indictment of the republican party. i agree with everything that you guys have said. he is a weak candidate. you know, we should redirect our focus to his weaknesses, his indulges nice.

the call that surrounds them, the autocratic tendencies. this is the republican party. this is their celebration. those balloons are for donald trump. >> that's a really good point to talk how a speech like that is indulging them and giving it. when you have been told that every word that pops into your head is worth saving and everybody wants to hear it, you put that many words are. jen psaki? >> undoubtedly. i will echo what lauren said earlier and i'm thinking from being part of many convention speeches past, and this was not a traditional one. the first 35, 40 minutes were about himself. about donald trump. as you said earlier, rachel, he did stick to the teleprompter for a page and a half. he also, for a man who is not a person of faith that has struck a chord with the faith community in the country, referred to him and that saline is stuck out to me. i stand before you only by the grace of almighty god.

many people say was a providential moment. he said he wasn't going to talk about this again. he was surrounded of his own bloody face. that was projected in the arena. that was a very traumatic moment for him, the country. but, he also spoke about this as if it was sort of a calling from god. a moment where he was positioning himself in that way. which struck me for obvious reasons. we will see how he speaks, if he speaks about this, moving forward. i was thinking to your point and the weakness of him, if you tuning in and not paying attention and undecided, i don't know who these people are, but you may tune in and think maybe the other guy -- >> that was one thing because it was meandering. it was strange and hard to follow. hannibal lector was included. that's what i wonder.

>> you can see why fox doesn't show his rallies anymore. i think for most americans, they don't experience the rallies. there is a roving group of people who go to the rallies. tim alberto tweeted i am standing 10 feet from the stage in a sea of diehards and some are getting restless, checking phones, stealing glances at the teleprompter. whispering about when it will be over. i googled because we plenty of time to google the longest video castro speech betty didn't get there, four hours in 19 -- and seven hours 10 minutes at the communist party conference in 1986. >> let's go to stephanie ruhle in milwaukee and was able to see it at the arena. what if you got? what did you think? >> this was sort of extraordinary.

we can go line by line, fact- checking donald trump, all that he said about the economy. i would say the were all sorts of gross exaggerations with regard to immigrants are stealing our jobs and he had the greatest economy ever. none of those things are true. what's interesting is it was a long rambling speech. much to criticize. i heard joy talk about tim alberta talking people were checking their phones and seeing where we are on the teleprompter. people began to get bored. it will be curious to see when and if we hear any republicans be critical of the speech and the way democrats were obviously after the debate. something that had me scratching my head an hour and a half ago was the dana white from the hulk hogan effect. the republican national convention, normally on the stage is when you see the gop all-stars on stage. members of past administrations up there. we only have the trump family. j.d. vance and his wife.

for the most part, members of trump's original cabinet and even supporting him.'s former vice president is a here because he's not endorsing donald trump. the dana white, hulk hogan thing is really about donald trump and projecting this macho man. the average person who doesn't follow politics will not see this rambling speech. what they are going to get tomorrow, possibly on the wwe youtube channel which is one of the most popular with 103 million subscribers, you will have the hope other talking about his relationship with donald trump and he's the toughest guy ever. dana white saying the same. i will be curious to see if that will have an impact. anyone as of this entire speech was thinking, that made no sense. he went on and on and it was low winterly. it was meandering and he said nothing new or insightful. let's see when tomorrow, when things get clipped and pumped out, were some of the voters who don't pay attention, what they actually see.

>> it will be interesting. that's a good point about how much of this unfiltered will have been watched again. it's not been a particularly high rated, well watched convention. when you go on for more than an hour and a half and at this time of night, how many are watching, the fewer people watching probably the better for the trump campaign. i want to bring in michael beschloss. by the rules of this broadcast, once you've been invoked, we have to find you. we have invoked your name in terms of talking about. one very simple metric about this speeches it is by far, by a mile, the longest convention speech ever given in the modern era. you suggested that might itself tell a little something about the function donald trump's candidacy. >> it sure does. the records for second-longest

and longest work donald trump in 2016 and 2020. this one really beat all. to get away from the jokes which are obvious with a speech like that which mention everything and went on too long. the reason white castro and khrushchev spoke for four or five hours at a time, and they really did, and they mention everything that came in their brain. that's what it sounded like tonight. is because they were dictators and the people who work with them were terrified to tell them they should make a shorter speech. that is what happens when you got a cold. may i suggest what's the most important thing tonight, rachel? this historical moment is the one thing he did not mention. he said on day one, he is going to start drilling for oil. he is going to close the borders. that is not what he has been promising for the last number of months.

he has been promising on day one to be dictator for a day. all i am saying this historically, the most important thing about tonight, a subject either intentionally or otherwise avoided is how will he change this country? is he going to use a complicit supreme court with this new immunity ruling to become the most powerful president we have ever had making arbitrary decisions, some of them perhaps unlawful as long as they're called official acts, and make radical changes like pull america out of nato conceivably until russia in his own words under certain circumstances, do whatever the hell you want. it's a most decisive moment in american history have ever seen in a presidential election and we cannot be dissuaded, 15 weeks from now, we will know if this night led to renewed democracy, rebirth of freedom

as lincoln wanted us to have, or whether it led to dictatorship and the strongest president in history to all things we can't imagine. >> presidential historian michael beschloss letting up cap on it tonight. thank you. absolutely priceless. in a rambling, meandering, sweating, obviously, like easily distracted digression filled singsong soft-spoken, awkward speech, donald trump became the new world record holder for longest convention speech in american politics in modern history. also, the three-time nominee of the republican party for president. thank you for being with us this night and every night in the republican national convention. republican national convention. stay with us.

the moment i met him i knew he was my soulmate.

"soulmates." soulmate! [giggles] why do you need me? [laughs sarcastically] but then we switched to t-mobile 5g home internet. and now his attention is spent elsewhere. but i'm thinking of her the whole time. that's so much worse. why is that thing in bed with you? this is where it gets the best signal from the cell tower! i've tried everywhere else in the house! there's always a new excuse. well if we got xfinity you wouldn't have to mess around with the connection. therapy's tough, huh? -mmm. it's like a lot about me. [laughs] a home router should never be a home wrecker. oo this is a good book title. good morning or evening depending on where you're joining us from. welcome to msnbc's special coverage of the final night of the republican national convention. i'm elycia menendez alongicide

simone sanders townsend and michael steele. the president read verbatim off his teleprompter and we made statements we know he doesn't believe like when he said we should criminalize political disagreement despite his frequent promises to jail his opponents. the other tone was one we all know well, the tone that immediately came back when trump went off script, like when he told the audience he was trying to buy their votes and when referencing his 2020 election loss he warned, quote, we're never going to let that happen again. we don't have the ability to play sound from the audience. >> i stand before you this evening with a message of confidence of hope. >> was there confidence, was there hope? >> and was there strength? >> none of that was here tonight. look, this is -- so you know the

memo went out after last saturday's horrific event in butler to rewrite the whole thing, and we're going to play into our softer side of ourselves, and this is what this looks like for trump. none of it is believable because you could see him staying in that lane, slowing himself down to the point whereas reported a little moment ago it was a bit boring and people were losing interest in the hall. i just hope america watching this tonight understands exactly what this melodrama was about. this was about lulling you into thinking somehow this man has changed. he has not. he still wants to be a dictator on day one as he then would go

onto recite through his opening narrative, the blow-by-blow play by play of what happened in the shooting, which of course in many instances didn't necessarily line up with what we actually saw live, but okay. all of that was part of this ongoing narrative now to make people believe that i'm a sympathetic figure, that i've been humbled by this experience. narcissists aren't humbled by anything except themselves. so i'll leave the substance of it to you. >> there was a lot of what we hear from him at his rallies, right? they cheated with covid. >> i would argue it was one-fourth new tone, and by new tone i just mean monotone and not as angry. and again, he spent half the time like that one fourth telling the story of the assassination attempt, which, of course, is going to be more

muted. and then it went right to trump rally. when he started shouting out the people who were on the stage and the people he know he had seen in the rally that evening, that to me that was like, okay, this is a trump rally. because that's what he does at trump rallies, we listen to the trump rallies. and then he started going off on tangents about the oil and started we're going to do separation. he told the people as he said he's trying to buy the votes in wisconsin. he was like i'm just going to say it, i'm trying to buy your votes. he -- it was crazy. and also i do just want to note i was sickened by the prop that was mr. compatory. i was sick of him using him as a prop his fireman's jacket and they spelled his name wrong.

these are local dang gone dollars. this is not chicago fire. then they put the name on and spelled it wrong. i was like if we're going to do props let's at least get it right. >> i'm trying to organize that chaos in my mind, and i think the closest i can come through substantively one was that foe populist message he keeps coming back to where he doesn't understands the basics of inflation but did understand that would be popular with the general electorate. there was a lot in there about immigration. there were i think what was alarming if you were paying attention to it there were shades of the manifesto from the el paso massacre, a lot of that language being repurposed about an invasion. there were more than 20 people who who died that day because of that rhetoric, and then there was all this talk about america on the world stage. when donald trump embarrassed america on the world stage, when

you have his own vice president, when you have two secretaries of defense, when you have multiple national security advisers of his saying this man is not fit to be president of the united states, having the audacity to stand up there and talk about how america has been perceived in the last four years, i mean it is not tethered to reality. >> that said, he used dictators as an example. orban. >> and the hall applauded orban. >> yes, they did. >> in another low moment for the once proud republican party, you know, that gave us a ronald reagan who made it very clear and defined for the world where the enemy was, to see that embrace of the enemy by that hall was very, very disappointing. but trump -- >> but trump. how about those folks talk about mr. trump's new tone, honey. i want to know if they want to

walk back their words and their tweets. someone who was not talking about a new tone trump was going to have was democratic surrogate robert garcia. we pointed out what stood out to us in these remarks. i'd also like to put the classified case on the docket there. what stood out to you? >> first, the whole thing was just bizarre and rambling and incoherent in many parts. but also separate of that, there were also moments he was very clear about all the craziness he wants to see. and i want to point out one thing you guys have mentioned. this was one of his most anti-immigrant speeches that donald trump has actually made. he -- besides insulting the community, besides talking about immigrants doing and having an invasion. he talked about his mass deportation camps. he actually made a slur against latino people, and i think

people ought to take those parts of the speech very seriously. as crazy and rambling and maybe dull as that speech was, he was also very clear about empowering those parts of his project to25 that are the most dangerous to immigrants, most dangerous to working people. this is a person that is dangerous. but one thing is crystal clear and should be crystal clear to all democrats and voters of good conscience tonight is that we can and we will defeat donald trump. he is absolutely beatable this november, and we're going to win. >> congressman, there seems to be a little bit of hiding the ball here, and i actually thought that former president donald trump said. i have it right here. to your point when he talked about quote-unquote the invasion on the southern border he talked a lot less about, quote,

carrying out the largest deportation in history. let's talk about some of the other bullets in here. cutting federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, keeping men out of women sports. i mean he wants you to believe he's singularly focused on the economy, when read it in their own words they have a series of policy so out of touch with the priorities of the american people, it is unbelievable to me that they put them down on paper. >> and besides his complete lies uplifting all of those points that he obviously is committed to, i mean he talked about one of the architects tonight of project 2025. he actually uplifted them in a speech tonight but yet in another breath will say we don't know what project 2025 is. he's a complete con man and he's

conning the american people. he actually took credit for doing some type of good job during the pandemic. he talked like he somehow had some sort of role in doing and leading this country in a positive way. that man cost american lives. he was a disaster during the pandemic. he told people to inject bleach into their skin. he told people to not get vaccinated. he has made this country and turned it upside down. just on the pandemic alone should disqualify that man from being anything in this country let alone the president of the united states. so this speech besides being bizarre and rambling, he also let the american people know exactly who he is, which is a con man, a criminal, and someone that should be nowhere near the presidency. >> congressman, with everything you said and what he did tonight who do democrats act like they can't beat him in september? why do we have that narrative

coming out of the democratic party that we can't win with the ticket we have? if what you're saying is true and what people saw tonight, which was in many respects an amazing display of incomprehensible, you know, sort of rambling thoughts of one thing to the next interspersed with facts that are easily refutable and defeatable at the ballot box, help me understand that. >> yeah, i would say this. we have at the top of our ticket a man who has served his country honorably with strength, with courage, and he's the only person to have ever defeated that man on that stage tonight. he stepped up because he saw his country was in great need of patriotism and somebody who would look out for people in this country that need our help and support, those that really are suffering. that is who joe biden is.

joe biden is the nominee of our party. he is the president of the united states. and him with vice president kamala harris are going to defeat donald trump. but as a party and as democrats, we have to at this part unify. and not just unify but be confident that we can beat donald trump. but i am hopeful that tonight not just america but our party, our leadership, our volunteers on the ground can realize that, yes, we can defeat donald trump. and one last thing, i'm also hopeful that and not all of you but other folks, other colleagues in the media need to cover the danger of donald trump, need to cover what he's actually saying, need to talk about project 2025. we need to ensure that people know what donald trump actually stands for, and it's important that democrats are out every single day campaigning and talking and working like hell to ensure we can keep our

democracy. >> thank you for joining us. back home in a little bit george conway joins us. conway joins us.

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we must not criminalize dissent or demonize political disagreement, which is what's bip happening in our country lately at a level that no one has ever seen before. in that spirit the democratic party should immediately stop weaponizing the justice system and labeling their political opponent as an enemy of

democracy especially since that is not true. in fact, i am the one saving democracy for the people of our country. >> truly one of the best last lines of the night, but there's certainly no surprise to hear the republican presidential nominee railing against the justice system in his speech tonight. with us now conservative lawyer george conway. he's also a contributing writer at "the atlantic." george, welcome and thanks for hanging out with us at this wonderful hour of the morning. >> yeah, wonderful. >> george. >> we stayed up so late. >> you'll notice she's got three glasses in front of her. >> i don't know what's coming. >> the unity peace, your thoughts on that. your thoughts on using him as a

prop given his sacrifice for his family. the off script, taking us to the trump rally. george. >> i've got to say i feel vindicated now because the last couple weeks have been rough watching the debate about biden, first the debate with biden and the debate about biden. here my theory about this election always was, like, 2016 became about hillary. she lost. 2020 became about trump, he lost. 2024 was ultimately going to have be about trump for him to lose, and my theory always was he would always make it about himself because he's such a narcissist, and that's what we saw tonight. he couldn't keep it under control for -- all he had to do is -- it's like sometimes i once argued a case in the supreme court, and what you do is if

you're ahead, you sit down, okay? he did the bit overdone kind of, but the guy did -- he did -- live rounds did whiz by his head. >> he's okay. >> absolutely. he had some talk about that, and yeah, i feel bad for the guy for that. the thing with the man who passed away was overdone, i thought. but he could have just, if he had stuck to whatever was on that prompter, it probably would have been okay, and he can't do that. he can't. it's like what someone said the last hour about -- that's why castro went on so long because no one told them -- >> speaking of he had things to

say about the recent developments with aileen cannon. let's listen and talk about it on the other side. >> on monday a major ruling was handed down from a highly respected federal judge in florida, aileen cannon, finding that prosecutor and the fake documents case against me were totally unconstitutional. >> interesting that his speech did not get rousing applause in general from the audience. that actually animated them. >> right, and it was also just a series of lies. one was that shez well respected, she is not. secondly, the case is totally unconstitutional, it was not. that it was a fake document, no, those documents were real. that's why he's facing multiple counts on the espionage act, and i mean, you know, that's the whole thing. he got to play the victim tonight, and he overdoes it. he can't help himself because

he's just -- he's just an unhinged narcissist. there are comedy writers in this building i gather, and i feel bad for them because -- >> because their paried ruth over? >> i don't think you can parody this. hannibal lector showed upch the sharks showed up. i must have stepped out when he was talking about sharks. >> how do the american people process what they saw tonight? what is -- what is the take away you think we should begin to contextualize the rest of this race -- >> they're trying to make it make sense. he's trying to elevate the conversation and donald trump is dragging it to the floor.

because he's there thing, i asked congressman garcia that you can't beat this with the guy you've got right now? what we just saw tonight, you can't beat this? seriously you cannot take an 81-year-old man and beat him? so help me understand or help us understand how we need to contextualize what we saw because clearly some democrats have seen something different than the rest of us are seeing when they look at that. >> i want to take a step back. trump has had an enormous advantage. ever since january 6th he's been off of everybody's radar screens in a lot of ways. banned from twitter, he's not on facebook or instagram or whatever he was on before. he's not on national television

all the time. even fox doesn't carry his stuff. and then the trial downtown actually kind of helped him because just when the campaign should have been getting ramped up and we would see more of donald trump, we didn't get to see that. we only got to see little clips of him pretending he's persecuted in the hallway, and he didn't do any of the debates, which was a really smart move, any of the primary debates. they kept him under wraps. they understood the way the trump white house understood in 2020 when they pulled the coronavirus briefings because he started talking about clorox or whatever, and they became a big disaster because the more you see this guy the more you wonder what's his problem, what's going on with him? and so he managed -- nobody had seen him and he gets into that debate and biden was -- i guess he had a cold or just wasn't ready for the onslaught of

aggression and the lies. the problem is when you're listening to donald trump like that and a pathological narcissist, a sociopath just spouting out lies, if you start thinking oh, which of the 16 lies he came out of his mouth i have to respond to, you're going to get stuck. your brain gets fried, and that's kind of what happened to biden that night. and the thing about it is, though, with trump the more you see of him, the more you start scratching your head, and now we finally got to see donald trump. >> that we did. an hour and a half of donald trump. >> an hour and a half of donald trump. so what's your super pac going to do about this? >> i launched this morning it turned out given what we saw tonight was the perfect day to launch it. it's called the anti-psychopath political action committee. and one of the things that struck me over the last few

weeks is just this absolute double standard that's applied. you got two old guys they're 77, 80. they can ramble on a bit. they can both screw up names. trump he called his vice president mandel. they got the right state. we all mess things up when we try to talk about things. but, you know, they're getting older. so they both have that issue in different ways, but the problem was what's the baseline? and the problem is trump has never been right in the head. if you look at his personality, his personality disorders, he's a pathological narcissist. he checks the boxes for basically every characteristic of someone who would be diagnosed under the diagnostic

and statistical volume of mental disorders, the fifth version of that. and he checks every boxing and sociopathy he checks all the character strks, and these are characteristics like pathological liar, inability to follow rules, lack of remorse, shows aggression to people. okay, yeah, check, check, check. pathological lying about january 6th. >> so the pac is resigned to call this -- >> and when you look at, you know, we talk about the worst people in history, cult leaders, the dictators, they're all narcissistic sociopaths. they're malignant narcissists

and they don't have any remorse, they don't care about consciousness, they don't care about the truth. that's not someone you want in any position of power. you don't have to engage in the diagnosis, you just have to be able to read the list of characteristics and say, yeah, he's got all of these. and then you ask are these the characteristics in somebody who wants to have the second largest arsenal of nuclear weapons at his command and control the united states government and execute -- execute faithfully the laws, he can't do that because he can only think about himself. >> i'm going to need something else in my cup. george conway, thank you. thank you. i'll be watching. now i want to see the commercials for the pac. appreciate your time, george.

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next stage when you switch to shopify. welcome back to msnbc's special coverage of the final night of the republican national convention. tonight, folks, we heard a long, rambling, and low energy acceptance speech from the former president of the united states. did i mention it was long? take a listen. >> i proudly accept your nomination for president of the united states. thank you. let me begin this evening by expressing my gratitude to the american people for your outpouring of love and support following the assassination attempt. i raised my right arm, looked at the thousands and thousands of people that were breathlessly

waiting and started shouting, fight, fight, fight. we have to work on making america great again, not on beating people. we won them we beat them all, we beat them on the impeachments, beat them on indictments. we beat them -- we are indeed a nation in decline. there's been an invasion like this anywhere. has anyone seen silence of the lambs? i got along very well, north korea, kim jong-un, i got along very well with him. russia has nuclear submarines and warships 60 miles away. we will press forward, and together we will win, win, win. quite simply put we will very quickly make america great again. thank you very much! >> we want to bring in former republican congressman david jolly of florida and the long-term advisor to former secretary of state to hillary

clinton. >> okay, so who first? go for it. alicia, you first. >> to be clear it wasn't funny, it was sad. it was sad long. >> it was a long, rambling speech. what happened tonight the republican party rallied around a criminal nominee. donald trump is an adjudicated criminal still facing charges of defrauding people in the last election and that is their guy. the speech was rambling and incoherent and donald trump is of diminished capacity and we should be talking about that and focusing on that. he also is a liar. he presented a case about the state of america is that incorrect. i pitched the three of you specifically on "it's morning in america again." despite what trump said more americans will go to work than ever before. the stock is breaking records. access to health care and access

to education is as strong as it's ever been, homeownership at an all-time high, crime is coming down. he's a criminal, he's a liar, he's incoherent and his capacity is diminished. and it's important that democrats, my friends, prosecute that case as strongly as prosecuting the case against their own nominee. >> i have to say that i agree that it is important for the united democratic party to prosecute that case against donald trump. i mean the way i looked at the last few days, this was a show. and to me i actually think they did a pretty good visual job in the way that they projected energy and strength and unity. i thought the backdrop of the north portico whether it's intentional or unintentional, these are all moments that stay

in peoples minds. i thought the bio of his life, reminding people of the trump he wants people -- we have to pay attention to the effect that has on people, what stays in the hearts and mind. as those of you will remember in 2016 he was able to convince people he was a successful businessman as much as he was revealed as unsuccessful. you could not tell people that somebody who had a building with his name -- buildings with his name on it and a plane with his name on it was not unsuccessful. how do we push back in some ways the subliminal messages because you're right. he had a speech on the teleprompter and a speech he gave both. i think at the end of the day it says something he can be up there and stood up there, and i think we have to call those things out and intentionally remind people. >> that's the part where you make it stick, right, where you

call those things out and you remind people of exactly, okay, this is what you're actually looking at. to that point, david, there was a point in the speech there were so many ironic moments i would go, well, that's not right. that's a little weird. when he says, quote, we must not criminalize dissent or demonize political disagreement. in that spirit, the democrat party should immediately start weaponizing the justice system and labeling their political opponent as an enemy of democracy especially since that is not true. in fact, i am the one saving democracy. so that last part was a little -- threw up in the mouth okay, because he's not the one saving democracy. the projection and the other part of this where he talks about labeling their political opponents as enemies of democracy, which is exactly what he wants to do. all of this, david, made me

think maybe it's true. he did not read project 2025 because that's exactly what project -- >> or remember his own words. he will be your retribution. he has said the press should get thrown in jail. his entire ethos is one of criminalizing political dissent. listen, as someone who's a critic of donald trump i breathed a sigh of relief when i read that sentence and he's a liar, an absolute liar. we do know everything is projection he likes, and he's still good at flipping the script on democrats when people come at him. donald trump incited violence to stop democracy, that's the guy we saw tonight. and his message on unity is to let all those people free. his message on unity to not hold them accountable. we cannot have healing in this country without accountability. he thinks healing is the world rallying behind him. national unity occurs around a

cause, not a candidate. and donald trump's vision of unity, it means everybody rallies to him. that's not unity. unity is a cause of democracy, of law and order, of accountability, of protecting fundamental rights. that's a cause that the nation can rally around. that's not what donald trump is presenting. >> it's not what he was presenting but also not was on display entire convention. he didn't do it in a speech and didn't do it the entire convention. this is why conventions still matter. there were lots of debates about should conventions rally? they're there to rally the base there and good fund raising opportunities, and the people of that convention they were very fired about what donald trump was saying and the other people on the stage were fired up and kari lake out there came out against the media with her

words. they were very fired up when senator ron johnson on the first night went out and had a very just negative tone speech he said was incorrectly loaded into the tell prompters, he told pbs news. they were very fired up with the mass deportations now signs. vice president harris was in fayetteville, north carolina, i think today. and part of the remarks she gave i caught them on c-span, and she said watch what they do, not just what they say. and if you look at what they are doing, it is still -- it is still very much so in the vein of it's us versus them. many people on that stage got up throughout the weekend and said they tried to assassinate donald trump. who is they? >> well, the they is the very convenient boogeyman. so when you don't know who the they is, it's enough for you to be scared. i agree about the enthusiasm. i also thought that j.d. vance,

i had predicted for months just talking to friends, they're going to need somebody who's not a traditional politician, and i know j.d. vance is an elected member of congress. but at the same time he's also known as an author and "the new york times" best selling author. he has a great story. i don't know people have taken issue with some of the things he says in his story, but it's a story. and at the end of the day what are we telling through these campaigns and through these conventions? and we want to tell a good story, and he does have a good story with his vice presidential pick, and frankly his wife. the they is the rest of us, the people not in that room, not jumping up and down, and not attending these rallies. >> j.d. vance also has an affinity it seems for project 2025. they're going to stay because we have more to discuss. just as i i just mentioned when we talk about the biden-harris

campaign and how the vice president is prosecuting the against against project 2025, that is when our special coverage continues. cial coverage continues

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so it seems the gop knows project 2025 doesn't sit well with voters. yeah, for a lot of reasons. because almost no one in in the tire convention mentioned the conservative plan for a second trump term, not one. didn't bring it up, didn't talk about it. but biden/harris campaign is talking about project 2025 all the time. here is vice president harris campaigning earlier in north carolina. >> some of you may have heard donald trump's running mate deliver remarks at the republican national convention. he did not talk about project 2025. their 900-page blueprint for a second trump term, he did not talk about it because their

plans are extreme and they are divisive. pull up the split screen whereas the last administration gave tax cuts to billionaires, we gave tax cuts to families through the child tax credit, which cut child poverty in america by half. and, please, do note their project 2025 agenda would even end headstart, to take away preschool from hundreds of thousands of our children. >> david jolly and aberdeen are still with us. >> this is what they did. he talked about populism all night and notably did not talk about abortion, notably did not

talk about how he's going to wipeout the federal workforce, didn't talk much about how he wants to deport people in the interior of the country, only talked about it as a border issue. because here's the thing, they know those policies alieniate general election voters. you see conventions through the eyes of staffers. will he stay on prompter or won't he stay on prompter? will he stick to this message of the policies that are popular, or is he going to go off script on all this project 2025 stuff? and i think that remains a core part of the contention of this race. >> i think the vice president needs to mention project 2025 whenever she gives a speech anywhere just as any democratic elected official, anybody out there representing or even speaking on behalf of democrats because it's scary what's in there. and, you know, i was talking to a friend yesterday who was out campaigning and met a veteran who told her that he voted, he's

a republican and voted for trump in 2016 and 2020. and now that he understands what project 2025 will mean for him in terms of veterans benefits, he can't vote for him again. and so it's about informing people over and over again and shoving it down their throat that this is going to be vash wrer very bad for you. and everybody at this table knows. we know reproductive rights is a win for us on election day, and so we can't say it enough. >> i was going to say one of the most important things that i've learned in the few years that i've done politics is story telling. and tonight regardless of what we may think about what we saw and heard, for a lot of folks who buy into the maga narrative, that storytelling especially at the beginning where donald trump is reeling out the details, the bullet whizzing by my hair and all of that, right, they get sucked into that.

and very much to your point now and before about how voters are perceiving and hearing stuff, david, what is the story -- the story? not the policy, the story democrats should be telling against the story that donald trump intends to tell? >> i mean their story is what i said early. it's morning in america again and keep it to some very simple metrics. and joe biden presuming he's innominee does have a responsibility to continue to remind the american people that donald trump is a criminal convict. i mean that is an existential question. that a pivotal moment in american history. does that move people, not as much as reproductive freedom, and my only concern with the project 2025 brand is you've got to do some second degree impact analysis and people understand that brand, and i think you're seeing democrats do it right now because within it are three or

four core provisions that people do understand. and we have all seen it and know we can finish each other's sentences. it moves white evangelical women who would never think of themselves as pro-choice. after dobbs they realize the roe framework was actually the healthy framework for the country. those voters don't poll, but they show up. and so project 2025 is an important brand, and it does scare people. is it more powerful than the 30 second ad or 60 second ad we saw yesterday from the biden-harris camp about the child rape survivor who had to make a decision about aborting the child and she's fearful that other girls in her stead may not have a choice today? that one hits home to every parent. >> it cuts through, and something that they, again, i agree with you those folks are not showing up at the polling but they've shown up in the

polls. 1,400 black women came out today with a letter saying the suggestion of the primary candidate who won should step aside disrespectful to the voters unjust and undemocratic the women wrote. secretary clinton are out here on the phones allegedly saying you need to support joe biden. >> did you get a phone call? >> something you want to share? >> i -- fortunately or unfortunately have been in the unique position of understanding what it is to support a candidate who is surrounded by people, press, donors, telling her she should drop out of the race, living in a time in 2008 when we believe we supported the candidate who was most qualified and in the end obviously stepped aside, and we had an

extraordinary presidency under president barack obama. again, i get the pressure, i get the need to be responsive and the need to try and do the right thing. we are in a place where we have a nominee who is our current president, who by all accounts we all agree is a good man and a good public servant and has been an excellent president. anytime we have anything done publicly, it's what i was saying before we got on, everyone should be collecting everyone's phones and putting them in a skiff somewhere. because either we totally focused on our mission, and our mission is to defeat donald trump and figure out how we're going to win, and if there's any other change that should be done by a decision made by the president of the united states and his advisers, but until then anything else that's done is just a distraction. every time what drives me crazy is people picking up the phone, calling the white house and they've said i've called and this is "x," "y" or "z."

right now we don't have a decision. >> all right, david jolly, huma aberdeen, thank you both for staying up late with us. folks, that does it for us this early morning. don't forget you can see all of us every morning on 8:00 a.m. saturday eastern on msnbc. and ifed you like to take us on the go you can listen to every episode of "the weekend" as a podcast. we're going to put a qr code on your screen. or we actually don't have one for your screen, but you can type it, whatever app you like type in "the weekend" and you'll be able to find us this weekend. thank you for watching msnbc's special coverage of the republican national convention. we will see you this evening. have a good night, everyone. a .

good morning, and welcome to "way too early" on this friday, july 19th. i'm jonathan le