continue to serve as well. wel. now it-it-now that he is willing to pass the torch speaks volumes about his priorities and how deeply he cares about this country and, frankly, the real danger that donald trump poses to our nation. so, now what happens? um, i think it is important that joe biden chose kamala harris to be there in case he couldn't. when their ticket was voted for by 14 million people in the primary, it was the assumption it was joe biden and that joe biden was not going to be there and it would be kamala harris. and so i am not dramatically opposed to an open process but kamala harris is smart and strong and capable.

she is more than qualified for the job. i think she will frankly surprised people in terms of her ability to connect with americans in this moment. i think she will choose an amazing vice presidential candidate to bring the ticket together in a way that will send a unified message we all so desperately want right now. so i am kind of with tim. i think if we do open it up, i have to believe that kamala harris is by far the front runner. i think she is the one, under the circumstances, that makes the most sense to nominate for president for all the reasons i stated and many more that we will be talking about for days to come. >> i just want to echo claire.

i think we have seen her be a remarkably powerful campaigner and such an effective prosecutor in the case against donald trump. abortion-rights, which is on the minds of millions of americans. i think there are so many interesting questions here that will be discussed in the days ahead, we will all be discussing, including approaching ballot deadlines to get on the ballot, those are in the early days of the democratic convention. this notion there could be an on the floor fight just doesn't bear out in the realities of deadlines right now. the vice president could also take on all the money and campaign operations, which is ai huge organizational advantage. i think there is also an interesting point raised by some, it should not look like a coronation. if it is her, she should look strong but these are all questions i know democrats and others have been contingency planning on but they will all play out very quickly in the days ahead. >> yeah, it will. they will. there will be a lot of input. i think, as we both know, a lot

of this work has been going on behind-the-scenes over the last few weeks. i don't mean that anybody knew that president biden was going to do this today, i mean that when you are this close to an election, a lot of people work with what-ifs. those what-ifs have been tackled in the past few weeks. i think there are a lot of people out there working on that. >> unquestionably. unquestionably. claire, let me ask you, you know president biden well. we are going to spend some time, as i think we ought, as i think everybody should over the next couple months talking about his legacy. what do you think people should remember about him and his time as president? >> you know, i think it is really important. we are so polarized in this country right now. i think it is really important to remember how effective he was at marshaling a team, first of all.

he doesn't have anybody in his cabinet that wasn't endorsing him, he doesn't have a vice president that isn't going to be at his convention. he doesn't have, you know, loads of people saying, i wish it were someone else behind-the- scenes, you know, it really is that he said he was going to bring people together and that he was going to restore dignity and normalcy to the oval office. he was going to work in a bipartisan way. if you look at the legislation, whether it is the first gun safety legislation passed in decades, whether it is the first infrastructure bill passed in decades, whether it is actually competing with the t world in ship manufacturing or chip manufacturing, what he has done finally to score some victories in the pharmaceutical industries with bringing down the price of essential drugs, like insulin, to millions of americans, especially seniors. he really got a load done and

he did it with republican votes, too. that is remarkable in this day and age. i hope that is what he is remembered for. i know that is what he is most proud of. >> we had some significant news, obviously, that just came out, the president has announced he is no longer going to seek the nomination. the party, the democratic party was set to formally renominate e the president at their convention. he has made this announcement he is going to drop out from the race. the news, of course, comes just week before the democratic party was said to formally renominate him. we are going to end our coverage now and pass the reins over to katie turk. >> thank you very much. i am katie turk. we have major breaking news right now. president biden has decided to step out of the race for the white house. i will redo the statement he released in full. my fellow americans, over the past three and half years, we have made great process is my

progress as a nation. today america has the strongest economy in the world, we made historic investments rebuilding our nation in lowering prescription drug costs for seizing -- seniors and expanding affordable healthcare for record number of americans. we provided critically needed care to veterans exposed to toxic substances, past the first gun safety law in 30 years, pointed the first african-american woman to the supreme court and passed the most significant climate legislation in the history of the world. america has never been better positioned to lead them we are today. i know none of this could have been done without you, the american people. together, we overcame the ones h in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the great depression. we protected and preserved our democracy and we have revitalized and strengthened our alliances around the world. it has been the greatest honor of my life to serve you as your

president. while it has been my intention to seek reelection, i believe it is the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down. and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term. i will speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision. for now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me reelected. i want to thank vice president kamala harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the american people for the faith and trust you have placed in me. i believe today what i always have, that there is nothing america can't do when we do it together. we just have to remember we are the united states of america. that is the president of the

united states, joe biden, saying he is withdrawing from ng the 2024 presidential race. joining me now, nbc news senior politics reporter jonathan allen. jonathan, i will get to you, we have so much pressure, cornell belcher is also with us, msnbc political analysts. jonathan, let's go behind-the- scenes at the white house. there has been so much pressure building. why now? >> i spoke to ron kling, the former chief of staff at the white house just last week. he said that biden was feeling the pressure. i think, he also wanted biden to stay in. i think the reason for why now, it is essentially a couple of things. obviously, one thing absent from that note from president biden is his rationale for saying he should get out of the race but remain as president. we will wait to hear him talk a little bit more white personally he made that decision but i do think from the perspective of the democratic party, we are coming to a place where, you know, for

almost a month now, you have basically had chaos on the side of the party who had its main argument against the other side, the main argument against donald trump is that he is chaotic and unstable. we are seeing on the democratic side exactly that. oc i think that underlies it was a deadline in terms of time. ne they wanted to have a nomination process that doesn't end with joe biden and they needed to start moving forward with. notably, he mentioned kamala harris in his letter, also notably, he did not endorse her. i don't know if anybody should expect that. democrats, dozens and dozens of democrats, this process will end or is very likely to end with vice president kamala harris ase

the democratic nominee. the only question is, how long will it take them to get there and how long will it be before they get there? >> the question is, how is it can happen. for while there, john, at first when the conversation got going, it was all about an open convention and letting the field come out and be the best person for the job win. the feelings of the american public, convincing million florists they are right for ant nomination and then the conversation turned to kamala harris, she was the easiest one to hand the nomination to come she was a vice president, she was a prosecutor, perfect to goc against donald trump, who is a convicted felon. then, now, it seems like, you are talking about kamala harrisa but there is also a lot of talk about opening the field to get it. nancy pelosi is said to have spoken in private on how kamala harris needs to prove herself is before expecting the nomination. if it's going to end up with kamala harris, does that mean that the president is going to eventually endorse her? he is set to talk later this

week. will it be a process by which she has to go out there and have town halls and potentially debate gavin newsom or gretchen whitmer or andy bashir? >> it would be the irony of both dramatic and situational levels if joe biden did not endorse his vice president. remember how maddie was at barack obama and how disappointed he was that he decided to go with hillary clinton in 2016. twice he has said kamala harris is the next best person to be president of the united states and now to turn around and say i didn't really mean that? maybe he won't endorse him but tremendous irony, that is the do case. i also think there are, you know, there are number of considerations, not just making it easier for it to be taken over by kamala harris, you have to remember how many candidates, people who are thinking about running in 2028, gavin newsom, gretchen whitmer, we are looking at a four month window to try to run for president and take that right

now as opposed to may be waiting for 2028. i think a lot has to be determined over the course of the next few days but it is just very difficult to see this process ending with anyone else other than kamala harris. >> let's talk about the four month window, cornell, before november, when i talk to democrats who were not in favor but the rationale is that the attention on this race at that point would be enthusiasm maker, by necessity. people would be paying attention. if you are a wgretchen whitmer or josh shapiro or roy cooper or andy bashir or wes moore, gavin newsom, are you looking at this and saying, i want to wait until 2028, as john was saying or are you saying to yourself, this is an extraordinary opportunity to walk into a void in the middle of a media firestorm?

>> well, first, let me say this, i think there is actually going to be a democratic primary next time around. we don't have time for 't democratic primary right now. to get the idea of what you all are putting four, all these pu other candidates go out there and hit the road and campaign for the job. ig that is not how any of this works, right? there is no more voting. e the convention is a couple weeks away. you know, the campaign, we have the campaign to get the ca delegates in the idea we will take this nomination away from joe biden and give it to someone that the voters in the primary never voted for is, i think, a recipe for absolute disaster.

particularly if they step over the vice president here. it becomes, i will be really straightforward. the democrats want to give the white house back to donald trump, let them go into a nomination process, open nomination process and disrespect and step over the first black woman vice president in this country. they will be committing absolute suicide. absolute suicide. that is the surefire way for donald trump to become president again. with that said, i think, i think you are right, i think joe biden is most likely, today should be about joe biden, but i think eventually he does put his weight behind the vice president. the question is, who else in the democratic top circles wille put their weight behind the vice president. she has the clearest path and the uplift. let's go to the campaign, i am a campaign guy. let's go do campaign 101. we have a great bunch of

democratic governors and senators out there, a fantastics bunch of them. other than the vp harris, you know, most of americans don't know very much about them. v the campaign of raising the name identification and defining them and making americans comfortable with them in contrast over what really is not a four month process, three- month process, i am urnot sayin it is impossible but it is really, really difficult. with a ton of money, it is a difficult thing to do. >> let's bring in jen psaki, who was just on a moment ago . former biden white house press secretary. jen, i want to get your thoughts on this moment and gh your insight into what the process might look like in the k days that follow. president biden releases a statement and catches everybody offguard, even though there was building anticipation and pressure. there is the note that says kamala harris is an extraordinary partner and has been. he did not endorse her.

what is white house now doing, what is the campaign now doing in the days that come? how does this play out? >> well, i think the first thing, katy i was just anchoring until about 15 minutes and something i have s been think about, i had keisha lance bottoms, senior advisor to the biden campaign at the top of the hour, just over an hour ago. i asked her, do you have any indication that president biden has any plans to step down. she said no. i share that because she is somebody well-liked and well- respected by the team. clearly, she did not know. what is interesting about that, i think the circle was likely tiny, tiny, tiny about this decision and it being may, which means right now, to go

back to your question, a lot of people on the campaign are adjusting to this. >> i will interrupt you. just like that, president bidenl has now, i am told, endorsed kamala harris via a post on social media. this is reportable from our nbc news team. president biden will endorse vice president harris, that is according to sources of familiar with the plans. that was posted on social media. here is the social media post that just came out immediately j following our reporting. he says, my fellow democrats, i have decided not to accept the nomination and focus on my ti energies on my duties as president for the remainder of my term. de my first decision as the party nominee of 2020 was to pick kamala harris as my vice president. it has been my best decision i have made. today i want to offer my full support and endorsement for kamala harris to be the nominee of our party this year. democrats, it is time to come together and beat trump.

let's do this. it feels like, reading this, jen, the conversation has been so distracting and this is the president's effort to say no more distractions, let us get this done and come together right now. >> well, i think first, just to give some credit to the vice president here, i think first, it is saying the president is saying he is confident she can win and be the present.

there have been questions abouta that, not from him directly but all the speculation and discussion. it is significant, i think. i wasn't sure reading the statement earlier if he would wait until he gave remarks later this week, which seems like it would've been a lengthy' and painful for everybody involved. it is much more clarifying for a everybody in the campaign and the white house for him to have done that. there are questions here, katy. there are nearly 4000 delegates at the dnc. they were not even, even if president biden had stayed in, they were not legally bound. that is not how the democratic nomination works. it is a conscious clause that has not been tested many times but they are all decided. they are biden delegate so many of them may not have done this. they could have voted for somebody else, somebody else would need 300 delegates to be viable in delegation. what does the process look like? the dnc and others, because you do contingency planning in government and campaigns, no matter what the outcome, you have to key. they have been discussing what h this looks like. just because the president endorses, it does not mean all 4000 come her way. there has been a lot of work behind-the-scenes. i am also interested, katy, in a what president obama and president clinton, what do theyd do, not that every former president says you should endorse her means everybody will, but it does make it feel more fait accompli and more unifying. do they come out and that is

sort of a question i have now. the last piece i would add, it is important for people to understand is that, there are rs deadlines for state ballots, including virginia, washington state that are at the very front end of the democratic convention. even if others wanted to throw themselves in the ring, this would be happening, in all likelihood, remotely. there will not be a battle on the floor like a west wing episode. it may be everybody comes m behind harris and that is what that is. others, if they decide, this rs will all be done remotely because that is how the system is set up. democrats are not to want to miss those state ballots, those ones like virginia and washington state. >> i want to bring in joe scarborough, morning host of morning joe. joe, good to have you. g you are on the phone for us. tell us what you think. >> well, you know, it was first reported on friday, there were t reports this was going to happen on sunday but through en the weekend, there were an awful lot of questions going lo back and forth from people in the tightest circle. one of the questions that kept being asked was, whether joe as biden was going to endorsed kamala harris or not. the question didn't revolve

around whether she wanted it or not but whether people in her camp thought it would be better for her to fight for it or not be seen as someone who was tapped by president biden. so in her own way have a fresh start for the campaign. that was a lot of back and forth yesterday about that. so when i was listening and heard the breaking news that actually he did come out and endorsed kamala harris, i thinkd a lot of democrats that were going back and forth this weekend on this issue felt an awful lot of relief. joe biden, democrats obviously believe he did a great job. he has a great record, along with kamala harris. as he said, it is absolutely necessary for the democratic party, if they want to defeat donald trump, to unite as one. that seemed to hit all the right notes and it comes at a

good time. as this day went on, the initial reports on friday that he was going to be getting out today, seemed to be moving and we started hearing he would stick around, people on the inside said he may want to do a couple campaign events. he wants to see benjamin netanyahu before he makes any statement. there was a fear this could drag on another week or two. in that case, you would have massive democratic defections. the timing seems to be about as good as it could have been. it has just been one of the craziest two or three weeks in american politics in quite some time. >> it has felt inlike a year in politics. [ laughter ] >> you know, right after the debate, i was watching you the morning after the debate and you came out pretty quickly and said it was a bad debate. the democrats needed to think

about plan b. it was so shocking to see what happened on that stage. it has obviously taken a littles while to get to this point. the democrats were arguing a de lot among themselves, you know, not wanting to turn the ship around and others saying, no, we have to key, we have no choice. do you believe the party can now come together? joe biden says it has to be kamala harris. can they come together and unite behind kamala harris? >> definitely. i will say a it is interesting. you are right, the morning after the debate, i got on and said the president needed to ask if he was capable of doing this and take a little bit of time to figure it out. i think he took a little more time than i was expecting but after saying that, i heard from people that were extraordinarily close to him, people who work for him

actually calling me up and ly saying, president biden needs space. if democrats and people in the media say the sorts of things you said today, and he has not been given that space, he will be far more likely to get into a corner and stay in the race. i think so much of what biden's inner circle did over the past couple weeks was to provide him that space. it is what nancy pelosi was trying to do. that is why you haven't seen massive factions of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 people a day, even e though it was starting to get bad, i think the whole idea was to give him the space to make this decision. he made the decision. again, the endorsement of kamala harris that was still up in the air. even this weekend. the fact he came out and endorsed her, i am sure she and her people are fine with that, as well, it means democrats can move forward together. i will say, the most telling thing about how positive this may be for the democratic

party, it's the republican response. earlier this morning, inewt gingrich was going on twitter, talking about how this was a violation of democracy and shocking and stunning and they are delegitimizing the votes of 14,005,000 >> 14,500,000 democrats. you have mike johnson going around saying he will do s everything he can to nullify this, despite the fact democrats haven't even had their convention. he is standing on the ground at all. there is a good bit of reporting deep inside the trump camp that this is the one thing that he feared. donald trump is always considering himself to be the ultimate disruptor. for the first time, not just in his political life, but the s first time in his media life and in his professional life, d

the disruption is on the other side. donald trump is not disrupting. people are not having to a respond to the shocking turn of events from him for once. now, trump and his campaign team are going to have to respond to this shocking turn on of events. they are not happy about it at all. i think that is why you are seeing a lot of trump's acolytes in politics and the media coming out and bitterly complaining about this. >> i was rlgoing to liken it to what happened with kobe, disrupting his presidency. he was still in control of the message then. he was still at the podium and still at the white house. at this moment, he is not in control of the media moment.

he will not be at the top of the headlines any longer. now it is all for the democrats for the foreseeable future. i want to ask you a couple questions. you pick which one you want to do first. what will the debate be like between donald trump and kamala harris? does she lean into being a prosecutor, something she was not able to do in 2020 because of the moment we were living in among the democratic party. number two, shoe -- who should her vice president be? >> i think politically speaking, politically leading the stick leaning in as a prosecutor will work very effectively. there are times she has not ti been great publicly but other times she is an absolute master. at controlling events, you look at some of the supreme court hearings she was in complete control and controlled the back and forth and the narrative of those interviews. i think that is a good approach for her to take and, again, something that would, you know,n be like donald trump having to again deal with and handle a

disruption. it is very simple. when you look at the states that democrats need to win, it is wisconsin, it is michigan and it is pennsylvania. a lot of people are talking about josh shapiro, a lot of people are talking about gretchen whitmer. andy beshear in kentucky, i am not sure what he brings. su governor cooper in north carolina might also be somebody she looks at, only because north carolina is now in play because of just how extreme the republican candidates there are. it will be a wild, wild ride. >> yeah. >> we got a lot to look for to. hopefully things come down a little bit so we can catch our breath. >> i hope so. maybe get a vacation in, if we

are lucky. joe, i.e. know, i am not holding my breath for that. joe, i want to ask cornell about all those options in a second but first, i am curious, when you think about a full female ticket, harris-witmer ticket, just go big on the democratic side and pushback, specifically at all that machismo energy we got out of the rnc, hulk hogan on the stage, donald trump yelling fight, fight, fight, it is a very masculine ticket over them. what about going with two women? >> it is a great possibility. i am telling you one of those women will when you michigan. automatically. i mean, you look at what gretchen whitmer does, she doesn it exceptionally well. i think they have to look at everything. again, i think the key is here the democrats can disrupt to be different and to break the rules. and break the traditional rules and that would be one great way to do it. anyway, thank you so much for

having me. i am about, i think i have to run. >> you will excuse yourself. joe scarborough, i appreciate it so much. re we look forward to hearing you and the whole team bright and early tomorrow morning. joe, thank you so much. t as we have been talking, we have gotten a lot of news from the democratic political sphere and from democratic lawmakers and governors. joining me now , we have gotten a statement from the majority leader in the senate, schumer saying joe biden has not only been a great president and a great legislative leader, but he is truly an amazing human being. his decision, of course, was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party and our future first. joe, today shows you are good great patriot and a great american from majority leader chuck schumer. i know there has been pride on capitol hill because lawmakers are in their home districts so

it has not been quiet in conversations among lawmakers who are normally on capitol hill. what can you tell us about the moments leading up to this decision and what you have learned so far. >> deftly not, katy. because lawmakers were not here, they were not able to get organized or have as much conversations together is a normally would to make sure they are on the same page. we saw that play out of the last couple of weeks with democrats going rogue. we saw 37 and 38, joe manchin is an independent i should say, and, of course, dean phillips, who challenged biden unsuccessfully earlier this year calling on him to pass the torch. other than that, we talk about the leadership statements coming in now, that statement from schumer is so notable because behind-the-scenes, it was schumer, speaker pelosi, hakeem jeffries, the democratic leader of the house, james

clyburn, cochair of the biden ur campaign effort who has been talking to him behind-the- scenes at least the first three i mentioned, privately, according to sources, urging him to rethink his decision, one he has made and said time and time again he is staying in the race. obviously, today we saw that change but these are individuals trying to prevent this public escalation of this democratic party infighting we saw him full display, especially at the end of last week at the end of the rnc convention. so i think what is important here is that biden's timing is notable. tomorrow and tuesday the e. senators and house members are to be back on capitol hill. we have heard according to our sources, myself, my colleagues and other members of our team that democrats here were

privately urging the president and his team to make this decision, to bow out of the race before they were forced to essentially call on him to exit publicly when they were in the halls and we were chasing them after they spent so much time at home talking to constituents, talking to voters, who many of them already said they changed their mind and urged them to call on the president to step aside. this is a really major moment. i want to talk about something joe referenced, in terms of republicans. what we are seeing in inthe minutes after biden put out te this statement from the house campaign arm , for example, saying perhaps this will be challenged in certain states, the house speaker saying that, as well, just a monumental w moment we are facing here, nt obviously, we will stay on top of it, katy, as we get more. let's bring in nbc's might numbly. let's read from a call that was had with former president donald trump. he told garrett, joe biden is the worst president in the wo united states, by far. there has never been a president that has done such id damage to our country, leading in millions and millions of eagle -- illegal immigrants.

this is donald trump speaking. i when garrett asked him if he was surprised by the announcement joe biden would be stepping aside from the campaign, he said, he should never have been there in the first place. he should have stayed in his basement. this comes on top of the reporting, you heard joe scarborough a moment ago talking about the fear that trump might have a disruptive ticket but that the trump campaign had one opponent in mind and strategized against one opponent and had one op campaign against one opponent. that opponent was joe biden and they were not prepared for anyone else and now they've got someone else. tell me about what happened at the white house today, any conversations between the president and the vice president? >> reporter: i am told by a source familiar with the matter that the president did speak with vice president harris ahead of his decision to step aside and no longer seek a

second term as president of the united states. this came within moments of what we saw obviously unfolding, the president making that decision public and second, a tweet announcing he was indeed supporting the vice president for this seat now. en this is really a remarkable development at a time that president biden's every impulse over the last 3+ weeks since that debate in atlanta has been to fight. he had stride for the office of the presidency most of his adult life, he entered the senate in 1973, more than 50 years ago. this was something he sought multiple times, 1988, 2008. he thought of running in 2016

but ran successful in 2020. is one long-term advisor put it to me during the course of our conversations over the past few years, once you are in this office, you don't just walk away. the president, as he may clear over the last few weeks, he said he felt he wanted to finish the job, he felt so proud of his record of accomplishments over the course of this 3 1/2 years and he felt he was still capable of continuing to do that job. katy, as he made this decision now, what he told the nation after he announced in 2015 he would not seek the presidency in 2016, he said no man or woman should seek the office of president of the united states unless you are able to commit 100% of yourself to that effort. the president, since that debate, has certainly been fighting his way to make the case to democrats he could still win the election, you l

could still do the job, but that the task of fighting he against his own party, against the will of the voters who so many polls show have questions about his ability to serve and ultimately, the question on whether donald trump will replace them, if he stayed in this race, proved to be too much for this president to take on. now we are seeing a very dramatic shift in the conversation that democrats have and having of the past few weeks, especially in the last week. it has become very personal, very bitter, in some ways, between president biden and those democratic leaders he has some of the strongest relationships with, such as former president barack obama, which he served for eight years with. there are those trying to push him aside and what they were really meaning, i think it was the last throes of his decision that he knew was potentially coming that he might have to make the fighting to the end here. i have been saying for the last three weeks, katy, he is 100% in until he is 100% out. we are told this was a very close held decision. i have been in rehobeth beach the last 48 hours. his closest advisors have been here having conversations with him during the day yesterday, i saw some of them around, this was a very small piece of real estate here in rehobeth but we stayed in contact with the most of the day yesterday. that was speaking to the fact ak this was close to the finish line. even members of his own campaign

team, even along the ranks of the senior leadership, we are learning about the tweet, just as so many of us were. >> it is an excruciating decision for president biden. he worked his whole life to get to where he is today and to feel like it is being taken from you is a really hard thing to confront, especially when you have polling showing that you are not in a win, which i am sure is what pushed him over. >> michael, jon meacham, sorry, i have the wrong lead-in. thank you very much for joining us. you are on the phone for us. when did you last speak with president biden? >> i don't want to talk about conversations with the president. i would like to point out this is a singular moment in the history of the american presidency and a singular moment for a man who, as mike was just saying, has given the lions share of his life to the service of the republic, it is

almost without president, the american experiment, for a president to make a decision like this. i think it tells us an enormous amount about the character of the incumbent. it tells us a lot about what he truly values. president biden decided that his campaign is not about him, but about us. it is not about personal ambition. it is about the durability and viability of the constitutional order that so many of us believe could be in danger, as events unfold. i think, before we race ahead as we will do in about five seconds because that is what we do in america, i think the a, country should take a moment and realize the magnitude of the decision that president biden made for the good of his country. certainly, it was the expected

reality here. he is a great respecter of faked. history and fate brought him to the pinnacle of power at a late part of his life. he is my friend. i help him when i can. take this for what it is worth. i am not a democrat. i tried to call things as i see them. i think he stood in the breach for us in a moment of creeping autocracy that the creeping might threaten to become galloping. he brought that set of skills from that sensibility to the american arena at a critical moment in the life of the

nation and he put the life of the nation over his own na political and individual ambition. i think that is a remarkable thing we should acknowledge and honor. >> absolutely. this is the first time in 56 years, since 1968, that a major party will nominate a candidate that did not enter any primaries. most of us, i certainly have not been through a situation like this. i am 40 years old, i missed it by 16 years. it is going to be one of those moments that entire chapters, entire books, if you are studying american history, will be written about. l how will joe biden be seen 56 years from now? what will have been written about him and what he did in this moment? >> president biden has, remember how trump started. we were a nation in the grips of a global pandemic. we were a nation where trust and faith in institutions was at precipitous decline. we were coming through an era

where so many people believed that the american experiment, the american consensus, which is not always commiserate to our problems but the consensus that really shaped us from president roosevelt through president reagan through president obama, the way in id which we all saw politics as a means of resolving problems as opposed to going to total cultural war every single day. l that consensus was facing an existential crisis. president biden, who beginning in his 20s, isentered the publ arena. a border state politician, a small state but complicated, a roman catholic part of the 20th century world, he learned the ways and means of the senate.

he learned the ways and means of america. and he learned the world as a foreign-policy guy. then, history and fate brought him to the vice presidency for one of the most historically interesting figures in american history, president obama and then it brings him to a point where he thought his political story was over. it was not. rather like cincinnatus, the ancient figure call to service, he ran in 2020. in many ways, let's also remember the personal side of this. i don't want to say this not carefully. whatever happens to president biden politically will never beu

the worst day of his life. he has had two. he lost a wife and a child in a car accident. he almost lost his two sons in the same accident and then he en lost his son to cancer when he was vice president. he is a respecter of fate. he thought, in many ways, he had passed the torch already to his son beau's generation. they passed it back. he took the torch and he stood against a big lie. t he stood against an insurrection. he tostood against the liberali and he gave the constitution another chance. that is what history will say. >> he also stood against the global pandemic that was ravaging not only this country, but the world. ry and helped deploy the vaccine

and get it under control. um, i will steal this quote from nick kristof, who mentioned it in one of his recent pieces, it is attributed to lenin but there are arguments about that. there are decades where nothing happens and weeks where decades happened. it has been one hell of a week. >> it has. look, this is what history is. this is what it looks like and this is what life throws at us. you know what it reminds me of? i think it is appropriate for us on the summer sunday to take a moment or two, i think we should remember that a democracy is the most human of enterprises, right? this is in some rhetorical thing. it is not a monarchy that goes

by tradition, native, it is not a birthright thing. it is a complicated country that has chosen to try to n recognize that each of us is created equal in the eyes of god and should be treated an equally throughout our lives. we are sacred and sacrament cr people. it is really, really hard to , run a democracy because it is about us, it is about those sacred individuals, it is about our habits, hearts and minds. it is how i see you and how you see me. that gets down to the question of character. democracies don't work if we don't give as well as take. that is a counterintuitive human thing because most people, including me, would much rather take then give.

that has been true since the third chapter of genesis, right? so we have this, we set the hardest possible task in front of us. president biden knows this in his bones. he understands the complexities of politics. that is why he made the decision he did today. he can read up hole. he can read a room. c he can read a nation. what he saw was that the wisest course forward was to let these values, let this vision of what the country should be be carried on by those who share his vision in this hour. if we don't, if we don't see each other as fellow citizens and folks as opposed to rivals and enemies to vanquish by

tweet, headline and attack every hour of every day then democracies don't work. if every day is total war, if i have to win with my identity, entirely determined about whether i win a particular he political moment, there is no way to recognize that the otherg person might be right. i think what president biden has done here, i really do, he gave the best position to the country and i can't say enough about what i think was a brave decision. >> jon, if you are crafting an exit speech for a president and that president wanted to hand off the reins to his vice president, how might you write a pitch to the american public for that vice president? >> i am sure this is very hypothetical. [ laughter ] >> i think speaking

rhetorically, i think you say, i believe in an america where all people are created equal. i believe that prosperity and security and dignity and decency are vital american values but they are not guaranteed and therefore, it is essential for americans to understand the person we give ultimate power because ultimate power can be used for good or for ill. that is the story of our history. look as deeply as you can, my fellow americans, at the values, the character, the vision of the person to whom you want to trust that power. if you want that person ultimately to have the fate of

your family in their hands, that is a person you should vote for. character matters enormously here. we have seen this again and again and again because, as you said a moment ago, about history happening so quickly, you just don't know what is going to hit that desk in the oval office. you had better be very, very sure that trust, the judgment and the basic decency of the person that we send to that task . >> hypothetically, of course, is what that speech would sell my. jon meacham, thank you very much for calling in.

we appreciate it. president biden told his senior team he had changed his mind about staying in the race g at 1:45 p.m. today. that is according to a source with direct knowledge who is d speaking to nbc news. the message last night had been full speed ahead, which we got the announcement at about 1:55, i believe. 10 minutes before president biden told his senior team those closest to him in the white house that he would no longer be runny. joining me now on the phone as well, this nbc correspondent, everybody is calling in on a li sunday. gary, thank you for joining us. you spoke to former president donald trump, what did he have

to say? >> that's right, katy. i reached the former president to continue our timeline, believe about 20 minutes after the announcement became public. he did not sound the least bit surprised and was ready to do really what jon meacham was just saying, trying to shape s the historical narrative around joe biden but do it in a completely different direction. he described president biden as the worst president in the e history of the united states. he said there had never been a president that had done such damage to our country. t he said a lot of damage have been done, most notably on illegal immigration and that he would fix what was done. d i have to say i was surprised about that, whether he saw this coming or if there was anything during the debate that he would expect this was coming and his answer to that was pretty er short. he said, he should have never been there in the first place and he should have stayed in his basement. to me, this d is sort of continuing the campaign rhetoric against the campaign candidate he is no longer running against. this also shows what donald trump sees the way this race was until about an hour ago, which is, there is none of the

grudging respect you would expect for a candidate that you just already faced off against four years ago. donald trump doesn't believe het lost that election. you heard his answer to the last question, joe biden shouldq have never, in his mind, been there. he sees joe biden as an accidental president, someone who stole the presidency from st him. notwithstanding all the evidence to the contrary. i think he is quite bitterly pleased with the results of this today. i did not get a chance to ask him about who he might face next or what direction his campaign my tape. he is very pleased with the wayd things went with his convention last week, the rally saturday, last night in michigan, his vice presidential nominee will be on the road tomorrow and they are putting the pedal to the metal to really kind of run up the score between now and whenever the dust settles on the democratic side and they

know for certain who thereupon it will be. >> we talked so much about donald trump potentially changing after the en assassination attempt, after that brush with death he had. anything in your conversations today suggest there has been a r fundamental change in who he is? >> no. i don't think iwe should t consider that possibility with much seriousness going forward, either. look, i don't mean sthis in a pejorative way, donald trump is a 78-year-old man and has been in the public life for decades. he is who he is. there has been a lot of talk and fixation about the possibility that the brush with death in that experience over a week ago now, might change him in some substantial way. i don't think there has been much evidence of that, frankly, there has not been much evidence in the 46, 36 hours after that and his posts on truth social and the tone he has taken through the speech that we saw thursday night in milwaukee, which started to retell the events of saturday night and then pivoted to the traditional rally remarks and attacks on democratic politicians on personal terms.

degrading achievements in the white house, no, i don't think he will change then and i don't think he will change now. what we will see is what will exist here is a pivot to who is at the center of his focus r going for it, being kamala harris or the next man or woman on the democratics -- democratic side. >> we heard more on kamala harris in the past week or so as this conversation about president biden was really starting to take off. donald trump junior just a moment ago on x said kamala harris owns the entire left- wing policy record of joe biden. the only difference is she is fe even less competent than joe, which is really saying something. she was put in charge of the border and we saw the worst invasion of illegals in our

history. that is how the campaign will start going after kamala harris. joining me now is rachel maddow, host of the rachel maddow show on msnbc. it is really good to have you. tell me your thoughts right now. >> i was going to say, i apologize for looking like a og bull tam. i just came in from running. nowhere near civilization. it was nice of you to put me on. i mean, this is just, this is history at large, you know? we all will remember where we were and what we were doing at this moment. what a man, what a patriot. um, what is selfless devotion to your country. he has been a phenomenal president. he brought us back from covid. he gave us the best recovery from covid of any major nation on earth at a time when the world had economically been struggling in the wake of covid, the biden economy is

literally the envy of the world. he ended the presidency of donald trump at one disastrous term. um, he did it while being decent and civil and honorable and normal and occasionally boring at a time when boring was absolutely what we needed and i just, you know, his career of decades in public o service as a senator and a very successful vice president and a phenomenally successful president, there is no d single thing that he has done in that entire career that is a greater or more consequential act of service and sacrifice for this country than what he has done before. knowing him a little bit, knowing his personality, how i have spoken to him a number of times in my life, in official

and unofficial capacities, i cannot see anywhere in his personality with this decision today was possible. this is the opposite of i something that is natural or easy for him. he is just not quick to do something like this. his superpower is being underestimated. that is why he has been so resolute in resisting all these calls for him to drop out. him making this decision today is to give the country a chance, a reasonable chance, at not putting donald trump back in the white house am i not putting a president back in the white house who refused to leave the last time and summoned an angry mob to overthrow the capitol and government rather than go. this is joe biden saying apparently it is not me that gives us the best chance to do that, that's got to be somebody also i will step aside. i'm just blown away by the

sacrifice and patriotism this moment provides. >> you are talking about him being underestimated. ever since he first started running for federal office, at first he was too young to run, he had just turned 30 after he was elected. he was seen as the young guy, not ready for this. now, the opposite of that t spectrum calls for him to drop out because he had gotten, voters thought, too old. that was the 2020 race. i covered in in iowa and i was that his campaign events and he was underestimated them. he did not look like ego win the nomination for the democratic party, let alone win the election. again, this was right before covid and certainly before south carolina and congressman clyburn when he was able to do with getting him over the hill in south carolina. underestimated is how he is always fell. remember, president obama did not choose him to be his successor, he passed over him for hillary clinton rachel, you are talking to democrats who

are right now really nervous, really scared about what happens next and whether the democratic party can come together. what would you say to them? >> i think that the democratic party was in really bad shape with the concerns about the enfeebled public appearance of the president in that debate. it shook people, not only because it was one bad us performance but because it underscored and validated some concerns people had about the president's age and his health and his capacity. it absolutely split the democratic party into 1 million different pieces. different pieces. i don't think there's going to be one whisper of a fight in the democratic party about getting behind her. i think the democratic party will now unify like nothing you've seen from this party