sign off. remember, you can listen to every episode of the 11th hour as a podcast for absolutely free or just grab your phone and scan the qr code that is right up there on your screen. and for now, i'm going to say good night and wish you a good and safe night. from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news, thanks for staying up late with the spirit we will see you at the end of tomorrow. hello, and welcome to msnbc headquarters for special coverage on this very big night. we are super to have are having with use i am rachel maddow along with my colleagues, lawrence o'donnell, stephanie ruhle and alex wagner and jen psaki. thousands, everybody who you don't see here now is going to be here in a second along with us. we have got nicolle wallace, we got joy read. we have got everyone, the whole

team is here, the whole clown car has been unloaded. do you care about politics? do you have any feelings about who you would prefer to win the next election? who would be a better choice or a worse choice as the next president of the united dates? if you do have those feelings what were you planning on doing about it this year? because there are about 105 days left until the presidential election so if you are going to do nothing about those feelings you may have about politics, you know, check talk, time is short. were you planning on doing something or just watching? yesterday something happened that suddenly made a lot of people here that tick tock sound a lot louder than before. because before yesterday, the biden-harris re-election campaign was apparently getting nationwide each day maybe a couple of hundred calls a day people say they wanted to

volunteer for the campaign. a couple, 300 people. they were signing up each day to volunteer for the campaign.- ish. yesterday the campaign says they signed up 28,000 people to volunteer. 28,000 people signed up to volunteer for the campaign in one day. more than 100 times there previous pace. in the 24 hours since joe biden announced that he would pass the torch to his vice president for her to lead the democratic ticket this november, look at what has happened to the fundraising. one of the big democratic super pacs is called future forward. i say they are a big one. they are very big for yesterday they had about $122 million cash on hand. which is big. at that was before yesterday. on top of the $122 million they had cash on hand yesterday and one day they say they received $150 million in brand-new pledge donations.

at act blue, which raises money online for democrats up and down the ticket, including the presidential race, they took a $93 million in one day, almost entirely from small donations. the harris campaign says that in one day, there was $81 million specifically just to the campaign. $81 million in just one day. a clear majority of that were from people who are getting money for the first time in this election. more than 40,000 people who gave yesterday for the first time signed up to make their donations recurring for the duration of the campaign. the new york times described this tonight as, quote, a record-breaking showing as democrats welcomed her candidacy with one of the greatest gushers of cash of all time. indeed, it is believed to be the single largest single day of fundraising by any candidate for any office in american history.

incredibly, the republican party's nearest boast to that is that they had a great day of fundraising. they had a really great day, their best day of fundraising on the day there candidate was convicted on 34 felony criminal charges and they did have their best day that day, trump raised about $53 million that they be? i kamala harris all in will roughly double that. she didn't have to commit any felonies at all to do it. in the real world of real politics there is no question now that kamala harris will be the democratic nominee for president up against donald trump in november. kamala harris spoke today at campaign headquarters in delaware pick she didn't what had been the biden-harris re- election campaign staff which is now the harris for president campaign staff. she announced that she has asked president biden's re- election campaign manager to stay on and run the harris campaign, as well. she said ms. o'malley dillon agreed. and that tells you that there

will be some continuity from the previous campaign to this new one. but then immediately thereafter she showed both in word and in deed that there will also be differences. >> you know, as many of you know, before i was elected as vice president, before i was elected as united states senator i was elected attorney general of california before the courtroom prosecutor. in those roles i took on perpetrators of all kinds. >> [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> editors who abused women. fraudsters who ripped off consumers. cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. so hear me when i say i know donald trump's type. [ applause

] >> president joe biden has covid, he is still isolating at home. he phoned into that event today at campaign headquarters. they put him on speakerphone over the p.a. system. it was a little bit like the opening bit on charlie's angels where the disembodied voice of charlie comes over the speakerphone and the angels get ready for their assignment. there are lots of different ways to do these counts but tonight the associated press is reporting that kamala harris has already pledges from well over 1000 of the roughly 2000 delegates she will need support from in order to formally lock up the nomination. the law firm where former attorney general eric holder as partner has taken on the task a vetting possible running mate options. they are vetting the possible vp running mates for harris.

harris's campaign has been rolling out endorsements for major democrats all day, including from house, former house speaker nancy pelosi, the immensely influential speaker emeritus, they call her. they also rolled out today major endorsements from important labor union including the afl-cio and many more. will be speaking in just a few minutes here tonight with the firebrand leader of united auto workers, shawn fain. our eyes also tonight on the other side of the aisle, where republicans appear to be very deeply unhappy with this change on the ticket, on the democratic side. >> current house speaker, mike johnson was threatening to bring a lawsuit for some reason. >> is going to try to sue the democrats into not making this change. group behind project 2025, the heritage foundation saying they want to bring lawsuits to stop vice president harris from becoming the nominee somehow. we will be speaking militarily tonight with tim alberta who

was reporting on other things today that there is a somewhat panicking rising wave of regret on the republican side. regret within the trump campaign that not only did they not plan for a change of the campaign like this but specifically, there is some the buyers remorse that they picked the unknown, hard right weird tech broke, jd vance. the most extreme candidate of everyone they vetted to be trump's running mate. one of the best things about jd vance in terms of electability was the money he brought with him. while kamala harris as the democratic opponent of this ticket just brought in more money in one day than any candidate for any office has ever raised in the history of the united states. so if that was the one straight ahead benefit of jd vance, today feels like a different day for that population. tim alberta today reporting that trump campaign officials are now acknowledging that the selection of jd vance was,

quote, something of a luxury. meaning vance is someone they knew would not persuade a single swing voter who was already planning to vote for trump. but before yesterday they didn't think they would need to persuade. it is a whole new day today. >> will be joined here exclusively and just a moment by u.s. transportation secretary, buttigieg. but first let's start here. lawrence, you got off, came back to land when you weren't supposed to be here. still in the boat shoes, really? >> don't let that camera sneak around. yes, racing to this coverage. so, you know, kamala harris has had the single best first day of any presidential candidate in the history. and that was yesterday. she also just had the best second day in the history of any presidential candidate. and has very very quickly snuffed out the stream that was being thrown around by the

people who were very eager to get joe biden off the ticket. this is a dream that has been thrown around for over a year. that we could have what they would call an exciting convention where this could be a contested nomination. there are times urging joe biden to drop out of the race, using the word exciting. every time i saw that word i was reading more chaos as the upper alternative. and, indeed, the new york times yesterday afternoon used the word chaos to describe right away in the headline the condition that they so eagerly awaited to get to hear. >> can i interject for just a moment, just underscore what you are saying. i love the new york times with the heat of 1000 suns but their editorial page on this issue was a megaphone on repeat for not just weeks but months, biden must get out, biden must

get out and then as soon as biden gets out, chaos, biden has gotten out! so terrible. i don't know what is going on at the new york times but their editorial position is so chin out, so confident. while simultaneously being so internally contradictory and ridiculous. i mean i have so much respect for the new york times but they are on planet somewhere else. >> i always say this whenever i criticize the times, which is not very often. best newspaper that is available to us. remains that even on its bad days. but one of the things that the times did not know until i had to reveal it on television, because it didn't exist as a fact in political media in america until february, after urging biden to step aside and so many others. none of them knew that the money could only go to kamala harris. so they were throwing out this idea with the biggest

understanding of something that everyone knows is one of the most important, if not the most important element in political campaigns, money none of them knew anything about that when they were throwing this around. and so they have learned to gradually. and i wasn't countering their arguments when i would discuss this. just putting out the things they did know. including the massive structural event that kamala harris would have and the extreme reluctance of anyone to what to run against her. you know, they were throwing out these names of people, including gretchen whitmer after she said she wouldn't do it. they couldn't believe that everyone wouldn't eagerly want to get this nomination, which would be, if it were anyone other than kamala harris, the single worst way of running for president you get a 100 day campaign and you start with zero, good luck. >> seriously. i was thinking of you and we were looking at those fundraising numbers today.

not only because you are my adviser on these things but also because i do feel like there has been so much attention to the sort of eccentric right wing billionaire class consolidating around trump. this just flips the script entirely. >> not just with big-money donors, right? we already heard from reid hoffman who will be getting more to this campaign than he did biden's, which is 10 million. but look at act blue yesterday. $50 million and that is not from three people, for people, it is from the scores of americans. >> hundreds of thousands. >> every vote counts, that is hugely important but i want to make a point about chaos. chaos is going to ensue. i am looking for the chaos because there are two points in democratic history you could look at. joe biden was running last time, right? we had all these primary candidates bobbling their heads around, clover term is up, pete buttigieg was up and suddenly over the course of one week and joe biden became the candidate.

right? we spent the last three weeks with democrats panicking and republicans antagonizing and then yes, it took some time, it was painful, suddenly yesterday one swift move, joe biden makes the announcement, look at the money that came in and look at the endorsements that have come in over the last 24 hours. the new york times can take their chaos, i am looking for it. >> the consolidation of the democratic party around this, the opposite of chaos. because it is not just that it is consolidation that there weren't other candidates out that that they were trying to get their hand in aside from bloomberg or whatever that was. joe manchin, right, okay. but be a democrat if you want to say a thing about democratic politicians. it not only is there nobody else jumping in but to have the consolidation of endorsements and the clarity that it is going to be harris. but then just have this huge surge of energy optimism and, frankly, organizing.

>> that is big and all the animals just got under it. >> exactly. >> the smartest thing that she has done in the last 36 hours, in my view, is go to the headquarters in delaware for a couple of reasons. i have talked to a lot of the staff there. i've worked with a number of them. it is really hard. they love joe biden, they love her, too. but they are reeling from the last 36 hours. she went there and said to them i love you guys, i love joe biden and we are going to win this thing but that is incredibly powerful and she gave them some direction, going to run this campaign. she also did a stump speech, we have seen versions of her stump speech. most of the american public has not seen the stump speech, right? you played a clip of it there that i think a lot of people who were watching were like yes! i have been waiting for that here she has done versions of that. people haven't seen it. and it would have been very understandable. i spent a lot of time on presidential campaigns for her to say, you know what?

i got to pick my vice president, i got to write my convention speech, i will see you guys in a few weeks and she did not do that and i think that is one of the smartest things she has done in the last 36 hours. >> i feel like one of the things, one of the data points that was apparently being shown to joe biden as he was deliberating whether to stay in the race or not was the dragon that he posed down ballot and i think what you are seeing and the act blue numbers really stand out to me because that is not just about kamala harris, it is not just about the presidential race. this is democrats up and down. look, i think it is amazing to see the democratic party move so swiftly. this is not 1968 by a long stretch. i think this will also be really tough. this is going to get nasty and brutal and so fuel the coffers because we got 105, 106 days to go but the fact of the matter is i think it is undeniable that this move is reinvigorating the party. it has brought into sharp focus, it declared to the nation the democratic party sees trump as an x essential threat, they are not thing around and that will serve the party up and down the balance and the presidency is

extraordinary important but so is the house and so is the senate and -- >> you are already seeing at campaign events the democratic senate candidate, for example, sprinting toward harris. not just endorsing but planning ahead, right? tammy baldwin could get within 200 miles of joe biden. joe biden, that is not going to happen with kamala harris. >> they want to talk about it, people see them on our networks with great regularity because this is a good moment for them and that should be, like a, heartwarming. >> the only campaign event that this compares to his 1972 when georgia governor as a nominee had to drop his vice presidential nominee after the convention and find a new one. and it is not as if they found a great one, they found someone who never held a local office before but at least he was related to kennedy's. it was a desperate, chaotic situation. and it felt desperate and chaotic and hopeless. and the whole sensation of that was a sinking feeling. this starting 20 minutes after

joe biden made his announcement yesterday has been a surging feeling. and all that credit for these first two days and the way this seamless transition in a campaign, a transition that has never occurred before, has happened. is entirely thanks to joe biden. entirely thanks to the way he managed yesterday. makes the gigantic earth shattering announcement that goes around the world. that gives it 20 minutes then tells you this is what we should do, kamala harris should be our candidate, full endorsement, and you just watch all these, all that endorsement energy pouring towards her from other people, they don't want to be the last one on. the ones who still have a political future want to get on soon and you watch the money surge. young david hawkes told me by the end of the day, he personally just had raised $250,000 for contributors all under 30. just an incredible surge of

energy because of the way joe biden orchestrated yesterday. >> 28,000 volunteers put themselves forward in one day. it was like a big pitch. okay, everybody. 28,000 people stood up and volunteered themselves. nicolle wallace, you have been talking about this and covering it. what did you make of the first, not even 24 hours plus of kamala harris at the top of the ticket? >> joint knows this, i am often on the air when vice president harris has a live event and we have been taking them almost every time there is one. >> have taken it live. she is, she has been electric on the campaign trail. she has always been a superb candidate. she has, over the last 3 1/2 weeks, i think there was a feeling that she was also carrying the emotional weight. and all that burst into public view today. i was on the air with the president called in and she

came out and acknowledged him after he addressed the campaign and she said we love biden, he chimed in and said i am watching you, kid, i love you. contrast that, the readers and jd vance is on the ticket is because donald trump's vice president, not only did he not love him, he called him the p word and left him to be hung by his own supporters. campaigns are always, you can always make the argument that you have to craft through an ad agency or an exquisite speech. that is why there are so many famous clinical ad makers and speechwriters but the best way to communicate is by showing people your story. and the story that joe biden and vice president harris and whomever she picks as her running mate will be able to tell, will be one that they can show. and this chemistry is, it is electric. it is genuine. it is real. and it is rooted in something positive and forward-looking. i think you have to go back and watch thursday night's speech,

which i think we all may be lost a year of our lives sitting through those 11 hours. that was only two. go back and watch that speech and then watch the staff speech that vice president harris gave today. and i agree with alex that it will be ugly because the core of the republican party is fear- based. but i think it will feel, it will feel like a righteous campaign. we will be on this side of the entire pro-democracy coalition, which now owes joe biden and kamala harris all of their effort. all of their work. in a sacrifice that rivals the one that joe biden made yesterday at 1:46 p.m. >> joy reed, my friend, you have also been invoked, so you get double brought into the conversation right now. joy, i know you just had your show, you have been covering this over the course of your day. what is your reaction to what nicole just said? >> we did a fun handover, it was amazing. listen, what i will say, i will

amplify everything that you all have that which is also smart. what you see in vice president harris and president biden is a genuine partnership. they genuine affection for one another. their families are genuinely friends and they are a real partnership and the handover from president biden to vice president harris, it calmed the chaos in the party. that is a president's job, to take the chaos around him and to calm it and to organizing it into something productive. president biden showed why he picked her. why it was smart to pick her, and and blessing her he not only calmed the chaos, he created an electrifying result. i was on that 44,000 person black women's call, win with black women last night. was on 21:15 in the morning. they raised $1.5 million in an hour and a half. these are people who gave $13. there is power in that. i have not personally seen anything like that kind of

energy since 2008. and i will contrast that with donald trump who picked his running mate because his son, don jr., at tucker carlson liked him and he made the biggest mistake in modern political history. they are going to send women running to the party of the future. >> i have heard that is about the fifth time today i have heard that analogy, to the energy from 2008. you are not sort of hearing it. i think of anybody who is picking any particular metric, talking about the feeling are talking about the energy on the democratic side. >> enthusiasm and the sort of, let's go feeling. the democratic ticket. thanks to both of you. >> will be back with you for joining us now, especially here tonight is our nation's transportation secretary, pete the judge. we should note that he is appearing tonight in his personal capacity, not in his official one as a member of the biden administration. mr. secretary, thank you so much for being here. we are really happy to have the chance to talk with you. >> thanks, thanks a lot for

having me on and for tonight purposes, i am on in a private capacity. please just call me pete. >> i will find that uncomfortable to do so, so i will try to awkwardly avoid calling you anything. [ laughter ] let me ask you about, personally, what these last few days have been like for you. obviously you ran for president yourself in 2020, a member of the president's cabinet, you have endorsed vice president harris since the president has said he endorses her, as well. what is your few days been like and how are you feeling tonight? >> it has been an extraordinary few days. i was actually on a plane may be fittingly enough, chest and and i were making our way back home to michigan after appearing with the vice president harris on saturday for a fundraiser to support the biden-harris ticket and massachusetts and like everybody got stunned by the news and really moved to see the

president to what he has done time and time again which is to put our country first. i think it is really important to note just how world historically rare it is for the most powerful person in the world to set aside that power. that has only happened a handful of times. especially doing it in the interest of the country and in the interest of the party. at the same time, making clear that he is going to keep doing his job as president, leading what has already been established as one of the most productive and the most beneficial presidencies in american history. and was then moved even more to see him support vice president harris. i reached out to her yesterday afternoon and wanted to let her know right away that i was going to do the same and we had a great conversation. you know, i have campaigned alongside her. i have traveled with her. i have served with her, and she is going to be an extraordinary

leader for the ticket for the party and for the country as president. >> having that kind of relationship with vice president harris, as a member of the cabinet yourself, somebody who has come up in somewhat parallel fashion with her in the last few years with the democratic party, both very well-regarded in 2020 and your nomination that was also won by president biden went on to win in the general, do you have anything to sort of explain to the country, explained to our viewers about what to expect that will be different from a campaign led by vice president harris as opposed to the campaign that we are seeing from president biden? obviously they are good partners to one another and very unified in their expressions, sort of mutual appreciation, mutual love today. putting that in very emotional terms. how should we expect this campaign to be different with her at the helm? >> i think we are certainly going to see consistency in terms of the values and for direction. obviously she has been a part

of this historically effective administration. you're going to continues to see a focus on making sure that government is working and taking the side of my neighbors in michigan, people try to get through their lives, she had a strong and this is on the middle class and her comments in wilmington today. coupled with a continued focus on making sure that we don't allow somebody like donald trump, who has always acted to favor wealthy people like him to say nothing of the threat to democracy. making sure that that case is made. what is different, i think, is, of course, different a messenger pick a different leader. one who has worked closely with president biden. who has a lot of consistency with president biden. she represents a different generation pick she represent a different style. >> heard her talk about how in her background as a prosecutor, part of what she did was defend the public from people who ran scans and for-profit universities people who were

responsible for sexual assault. in other words, people like donald trump. at the same time, we this positive vision is this really energizing vision. you can see it, we happen to have the tv on in our kitchen as she addressed the campaign staff in wilmington, just as we were putting the & cheese out for our son and daughter. and it was amazing when my daughter was about to be three, pointed to the tv and said what's that? i just felt goosebumps as i heard myself saying, that is kamala harris and she is going to be the next president. >> when you endorsed vice president harris, you said you do all you can to help her win. would you serve as her vice president if she asked you to? >> she is going to make that decision. she is going to do based on what is best for the country, best for the party and best for the ticket. i will do everything in my power to make sure that she is the next president because it

is so important and it is really , most of all, important in terms of how everyday life is going to change. i think another really important thing that will come of the president's extraordinary decision and sacrifice that he made is an opportunity to really refocus this campaign on what it means for people around america. of course we will talk about kamala harris and her extraordinary leadership. >> will talk about donald trump and his unfitness for office and jd vance and his inability to show any evidence that he believes in anything. but honestly, most of this campaign will not be about them. it will be about the american people. and this is a chance to really bring that home. i am excited to be out there on the trail whenever there is an opportunity to remind people that they already agree with kamala harris and democrats and disagree with donald trump and republicans on issue after issue after issue from taxes to gun safety to a woman's right to choose.

>> i don't mean to be weird, this started off weird with you asking me to call you pete. again, that is weird itself. but if she asked, are you saying you wouldn't say no? >> sure. we are just not in that mode right now, you know. >> her on that second day since the president made his decision and i trust her. oddly, few people in the country know more about the vice presidency and about the weight of that decision than she does. i very much trust her to make a choice that makes sense to her that is right for the party and is right for the country. >> pete buttigieg, really appreciate you being here tonight, sir. was a pleasure to have you with us and i really appreciate you taking the time. >> thank you, thanks for having me on. >> all right. was that weird? >> no. >> life mike >> just listen for the word no and i don't think you're going to hear the word no from any

pick >> from anyone. >> gretchen whitmer said no. she said she will not. she would not serve as vice president. she is the only person that said no. >> no, not at all. >> [ laughter ] >> which i think anyone who has asked the question feels. of course they want, i will say, though. of course he should be considered and be on the list. and there is a huge list of people who will be considered and should be. the most important thing, it is very fun to do the battleship game of this. i'm not going to lie, as a lover of politics. the most important question is not actually, in my view, what state they bring. because who knows? what electoral vote. it is who is the person a president harris, sitting behind the wrestling desk or whatever the desk is wants to call and say, this is a hard decision, what do you think? any other piece, even before then, is there is 100 and 50 106 days between now and the election. it is very short. you can't have somebody who has no profile and no charisma. you need somebody who can go out there and raise money on

their own, do big events on their own, so to me, those are the big things. >> but she is looking potentially at an all-star list of people. >> is a huge bench. it is an amazing bench and that is what we didn't see happened last week with donald trump. you can love or hate jd vance but jd vance is not going to bring one single voter to donald trump that donald trump didn't already have in his pocket. it is maga, maga squared. and from the lineup, honestly nobody has been confirmed that we are hearing that has been reported who kamala harris is potentially considering, those are people who bring voters from different states, who bring different, graphics and that matters. >> when we come back we could have new jersey senator, cory booker with us. a close friend of vice president harris. we've got a lot to get to tonight, stay with us. thanks for being here. >> over the next 106 days we are going to take our case to the american people and we are going to win. [ applause ]

in the next 106 days we have work to do. we have doors to knock on, we have people to talk to. we have phone calls to make and we have an election to win. [ applause ] so are you ready to get to work? [ applause ] we believe in freedom! do we believe an opportunity? do we believe in the promise of

america? and are we willing to fight for it? and when we fight? we win! god bless you all, and god bless the united states of america. >> vice president kamala harris is if you hours ago at wilmington, delaware campaign headquarters someone else who is fired up about this moment is new jersey democratic senator, cory booker. he wrote online today, quote, for the last decade i have had the privilege of calling kamala harris a friend, a senate colleague, my vice president, my sister. i cannot wait to do everything i can to help her make history and call her madam president jen psaki come over to you. >> joining us now, that is a perfect queue up the person in that photo, democratic senator cory booker of new jersey. how are you?

>> i am doing great, how are you doing? >> ray, so as rachel just noted, and i know, you are not just former colonies, you are very good friends with the vice resident so i will start by asking you if you had a chance to speak with her since the news broke. it has been kind of a wild 30 hours over the last three hours. >> so you are going to embarrass me but we missed each other last night, i kept getting text messages from her staff. i'm not talked to her yet. >> that is not embarrassing. you played phone tag. >> yeah, well my mom said you should make sure you are available with the vice president calls you pick >> that is good advice from your mom. mom's gave good advice but let me ask you. there is so much in your history but you did, you sat right next to then senator harris on the judiciary committee which means you have a front row seat, more front- row than almost anyone else of her incredibly effective questioning of people like bill barr pick so i want to ask you, there hasn't been the debate, donald trump has been backing off the debate here, i think there should be a debate, she

should debate. talk to us a little bit about that skill set and how it would translate to the debate stage. >> look, i got a chance to sit next to her, doing some of the most important hearings in american history. donald trump's, many of his cabinet secretaries supreme court justices and more. and i will tell you, she does and asked ordinary job. knowing her material backwards and forwards and has a weight of getting to the heart of the matter. i will never forget her questioning of sue to be attorney general bill barr and talking to him about, you know, his enforcement of reproductive rights. or brett kavanaugh about reproductive rights. she had a way of exposing the absurdity of the administration that was determined to do what they could to undermine women's reproductive rights. she is effective and i think america is going to get a masters class coming up in the selection about how someone deals with donald trump who has been, in many ways, able to get

away with, in debates and more, with behavior and lies and really, nobody pressing him hard on his own record and his failures and, frankly, criminal activity. >> we saw when we saw that, and when she gave the speech today at the campaign headquarters. part of her stump speech, a lot of people haven't seen it before, saw how she is going to prosecute the case against trump so you, as i understand it, you played a role in actually encouraging her to run for senate which means you must have seen something in her that many years ago when she was still the attorney general of california. the country is getting to know her. you know her well. what are you hoping the american people see about her? personally or otherwise over the next 105 days? >> yeah, look, she is a vice president, dutifully supporting joe biden. in no uncertain terms i believe is the best president we had in my lifetime in terms of delivery things. she was his partner in doing that. but at the same time, she

wasn't really someone that the american public not to know at the level they get to know their president. so i am just exciting for america to discover her truth. her heart, her character. she is someone that really passionately cares about people, especially people that are often overlooked or looked down upon. she is a moral compass that is unwavering. these are things that we need in a president or she is strong, she is tough. she has some of joe biden superpower of empathy and compassion and grace. so this is going to be a wonderful 106 days where i think america, everyday, is going to discover more things about her and what i have seen in the last 24 hours is historic. she now has set a record for both parties as being the presidential candidate who has raised the most money in a 24 hour period ever and this shows the volcanic eruption there has been, in many ways, i think, a

hunger for this kind of next generation kind of campaign. someone who represents the future. represents our hopes and aspirations. someone who has the kind of policy chops and leadership ability to deliver on that. i think america now wants to turn the page and start moving towards a new generation of possibility and hope and i think that is going to be exciting for a lot of people. in fact, 60% of her daughters had not even been involved contributing to this 2024 cycle. so it is exciting on a high, how many people she will get off the sidelines and onto the field. >> no question. the last 30 hours have been historic and every democrat i talked to is incredibly energized. my colleague, alex wagner standing next to me did note earlier, which is important, this is going to be a tough election. very topic i want to ask you just about all of the inevitable sexist and racist attacks. we have already seen them coming from maga world and donald trump. his allies over the years. it is going to pick up.

heart of the goal of those is to cut her down but also to feed into this idea that the country isn't ready to elect an african-american woman. so how should the campaign? and people out there who are worried about those attacks, how should they be responding to these attacks as they inevitably come? >> i think, first of all, you call them as they are. this election is about the american people. it is about who is going to best deliver for kitchen table economics. the biden/harris team has already done. lowering the cost of healthcare . it is not who is going to help for a better future for our young people and help with college affordability and job training. it is going to be, frankly, about women's reproductive rights and the rights and freedoms that seem to be rolling back by the supreme court. and so i think keeping the focus not on whatever kind of slurs and hate and misogyny we are going to experience. it is not about what they say about us. it is about how much

we show up every day, mostly and tell our truth and we as a party are bigger than a party. i've always said the democratic party, at its best, is the party of we and not the party of me. inclusion and not the party of exclusion. it is a party of historic diversity. women's rights and lgbtq+ rights and civil rights is also the party of labor and unions. these are the kinds of things that i think america really wants and you have seen trump and his vice presidential nominee trying to determine, in many ways, distorting the truth of their project 2025 and really, with a union leader speaking, trying to pretend that there is something they are not, the american people want to be united around the administration that really is focused on american excellence and making sure that every american is being seen and valued. i'm telling you, that is something that kamala harris will do as president of the united states. >> always an uplifting message.

i always love that about talking to you. thank you so much for joining us tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> what he said there about that vice president harris has some of the same superpower that joe biden has, i am cognizant of the fact that we have described two different things as joe biden super power. number one that he is often underestimated. the other being his empathy. that his means of connecting with people, both through the television screen, through other mediating forces that the president has available to him, but also one-on-one is that empathy. i think for senator booker to identify that and vice president harris is right. i think that is true about her. but i think that is also maybe a big heart of why joe biden picked her in the first place. because that was the important value and the one characteristic that they shared and that lots of good politicians have other things with they don't necessarily have that. >> and i also say, i am sad

cory booker didn't mention that kamala harris taught him how to cut an onion. when he says my sister, i have interviewed both of them. they are really close. like she got on her face time like corey, this is how you do it. she is a legit cook and if you get her started on food she will talk to you about it. when you talk about empathy, i am not to waxing overly poetic but cooking is a form of love and it is a form of generosity and i am sure we will hear about it at some point. as do i pick >> leave your notes in the comments. all right, next here tonight, new reporting about how the trump campaign appears to be having a little bit of buyer's remorse over their choice to add jd vance to the ticket. they have locked that, and then joe biden changed everything. oops. the reporter who broke that very interesting and still developing story is going to join us here next when our special coverage continues, stick with us. >> it is so good to hear our president's voice. joe, i know you are still on

the call and we have been talking every day. you probably, we love joe and jill. >> really do pick they truly are like family to us [ applause ] >> it's mutual. >> [ laughter ] i knew you were still there. you're not going anywhere, joe. >> i'm watching you, kid. i love you. >> i love you, joe. [ applause ]

it is the weirdest thing to me, democrats say that it is racist to believe -- they say it is racist to do anything. i had a diet mountain dew yesterday, and i am sure they're going to call that raises, too. it's good. [ laughter ] i love you guys. >> [ laughter ] okay. if you are wondering how the trump, how the trump campaign is handling the development of the last 36 hours or so you could just listen to jd vance absolutely rocking the house on the stump today, his first full day of campaigning. or you could consider these couple of headlines less than two weeks apart. both from the deeply source reporter, tim alberta at the atlantic magazine just a couple of weeks ago, or earlier this month, tim offered to publish this important piece, the

result of months of reporting from inside the trump campaign. trump is planning for a landslide win. note the subhead here. quote, this campaign is all but praying that joe biden doesn't drop out. that was a couple of weeks ago. today is tim alberta's latest piece from the atlantic after joe biden did drop out and endorsed his vice president, kamala harris. quote, this is exactly what the trump team feared. a campaign that had been optimized to beat joe biden it must now be reinvented. in the new political world but has cracked open in the last day and a half, there is a specific regret bubbling and trump world that may be a far right freshman senator nobody has really heard of has created in a lab by eccentric tech billionaires who are literally on the record as being opposed to both democracy and to women having the right to vote, maybe that guy wasn't the ideal choice to be donald trump's

vice presidential pick, now that it looks much less like the republicans have this thing in the back tim alberta writing today, quote, the most striking thing i have heard from trump allies was the second-guessing of jd vance. a selection they acknowledged that was born of cockiness and to run a margins with the base in a blowout rather than persuade swing voters in a nailbiter. alex wagner, over to you. >> thank you, rachel. i, too was struck by that particular line today. joining us now is the man himself, staff writer at the olympic, the great tim alberta. tim, i would love it if you could please elaborate on the buyers remorse in the trump campaign around jd vance that you are hearing. but also, you know, seeing as you have a magic eight ball, what kind of vice presidential pick do you sense that team trump is most concerned about as , presumably, nominee harris is

making her deliberations? >> hey, good evening. that is a really good question. let me take the first part about the buyers remorse. i think that is -- i don't see anyone having sort of a meltdown inside trump hq at this point. but i think certainly what i detected in conversations here over the last 24 hours is it is a little bit of a second guessing and a little bit of a counterfactual that everybody is inking about here because if you really place the selection of jd vance in the context of the last couple of months, donald trump was already's operating on sort of parallel tracks in thinking about his running mate. on the one track he was thinking about kind of a vanilla noncontroversial caretaker type. someone who, like mike pence did in 2016, could sort of provide reassurance to voters who were on the fence about him and that is where people like doug burgum, for example,

really appealing. on the other track it was the thought of picking someone who was kind of bold, someone who is more ideological pick someone who has more of an edge and who could, frankly, be kind of an heir apparent to the maga empire. that is obviously where donald trump became sort of enamored at the idea of taking jd vance. what i was told, you guys, is that for much of the campaign, trump was really leaning in that first direction towards a doug burgum like candidate to nominate as the vp. but i think it is not coincidental that as a campaign more recently, like over the last six weeks or so, as the campaign really felt like it was pulling away and getting into a position not just to defeat joe biden but to potentially blow biden out and then to have a house, have the senate could be in a position to really pass dramatic governing agenda, populist agenda that they have never been able to accomplish in the first term, that is not coincidentally i think when

trump really began to convince himself and people around him that, hey, we could go with someone like vance and so now, with biden getting out and with the race really resetting in this way, i think there certainly now some second- guessing because if, in fact, kamala harris is able to piece together a much more viable, competent campaign and really take this down to the wire against trump, then they are going to think to themselves, well, those jd vance really help us with a lot of the suburban swing voters who are on the fence in the way that someone else could have? now to that same point, this is where kamala harris, if, in fact, she is the nominee, her selection of a running mate is going to be hugely significant and i can tell you that the trump folks are especially worried about two people. mark kelly, the senator from arizona and josh sapir. the governor of pennsylvania. of those gentlemen are able, potentially, to put into play a battleground state that the trump folks were confident had

already been taken off the map. so jd vance doubled down on some core strengths of trump ohio is already in the back and yes, he has got some pole perhaps in pennsylvania, wisconsin, those rust belt states but frankly, the trump people 48 hours ago, they were talking about expanding the map, about playing in virginia, new hampshire, trying to run up the electoral court in 320s, 330s. at this point, now they recognize that if kamala harris really gets her act together, she really unifies the democratic party. is a democrats that are firing on all cylinders and if she adds someone like kelly or schapiro to the ticket, suddenly that map is quickly contracting back down and potentially trump is playing defense in some of these states that he thought were already put away. >> wow, a lot of, i think there's going to be a lot more reporting that needs to be done

and i will look to you to do it in terms of what is happening inside a campaign that was, as you report, optimized around joe biden. alberta staff writer with the atlantic, think so much for your reporting and thought, 10. >> we are very lucky that tim alberta was embedded in that campaign to develop those relationships before all this happened so that we can see through him the way they have reacted to it. it is fascinating. >> on the record, deep inside the campaign with susie wiles, the two sort of spend always of the trump operation. >> if you're just joining us, just coming up on 9:00 p.m. eastern time. we thank you for being with us for our special coverage in this incredible moment in american politics. we are speaking earlier about vice president harris having made two public appearances today for the first time since president biden left his re- election bid to her, effectively, stepping down from his effort to achieve a second term and instead endorsing her in that time we have seen this remarkable consolidation of support from her in the democratic party. and also an incredible wave of energy. and honestly, honey,

fundraising from donors large and small trying to build her campaign into what looks like is going to be a juggernaut effort against donald trump and jd vance. her first public appearance today was at an event at the white house with ncaa athletes. her second appearance was in delaware at campaign headquarters. it was an interesting dynamic there because she gave a little bit of a stump speech, a pep talk to the gathered staff. but so did president biden. president biden, not there in person. he is still isolating at home in delaware with covid. but he appeared at that event sort of virtually or audibly and said this. surprising and it's hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do. i know it's hard because you o. poured your heart and soul into me to help us win this thing, he

help me get this nomination. the name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn't changed at all. so i'm hoping you'll give every bit of your heart and soul that you gave to me, to kamala.r >> president joe biden appearing effectively on speakerphone at his campaign headquarters today, still isolating with covid.gn though we have learned since we've been on the air tonight that president biden is due to leave delaware and return to the white house for the first time since his covid diagnosis as of tomorrow afternoon. we don't know what that means in terms of expected remarks from the president. we do expect that he will make some sort of speech after having made the announcement that he was abandoning his reelection effort via a paper statement that he posted online. ast well don't know when that speech will be. but again, president joe biden will be back at the white house we're told tomorrow afternoon. when he thanked his campaign staff today for pouring their heart and soul into helping him win, he asked them to now ke transfer that to give the same

to kamala harris. that transfer does appear to be happening basically at ever level of democratic politics, from the state parties which are one by one now pledging all of their delegates to vice president harris, all the way to congress where we are seeing just a flood of endorsements for her and only her, among the many endorsements for harris thus far is one that has just come from the congressional progressive caucus pac.ss the congressional progressive caucus pac saying, quote, kamala harris will defeat donald trump, not only because she offers a stronger economic vision, but because she will defend the fundamental rights and freedoms that maga republicans are attacking across the nation.re congresswoman pramila jayapal. >> welcome, congresswoman pramila jayapal is the cochair of the progressive caucus pac. >> i do want to jump right in on that exact point.

progressive democrats, the og progressive caucus really i think surprised a lot of peoplei by standing so firmly with president biden as so many other groups were pushing him to exit the race. the progressives stuck with him. so tell me the level of excitement about this shift and his handover to vice president harris. >> well, joy, it's great to see you, as always. look, i think that the progress i caucus has been president biden's largest bloc of votes through his whole build back better agenda, that whole first two years, and everything we got done, we saw president biden law out something that was really g remarkable, a progressive economic vision that lifts up working people, that taxes the wealthiest, that makes sure that no matter who you are, no matter what your income is, no matter what your race, no matter where you are in the country, you have opportunity. and i think that was really a huge effort for all of us to come together and to help get those things done.

and so, yes, there is a lot of loyalty to president biden. i also think there were concerns. it wasn't like everybody was completely on the same page. but you can't just look at who the nominee needs to be in isolation. you need to look at all of the past. so i never believed that we should be having that conversation in public. i thought we should be having it in private, but what happened, happened. now i think what you have seen is a remarkable coming together now that president biden has made that decision to step away to endorse kamala harris. there was just an incredible level of excitement and supportt for her because she is the candidate that was actually voted for, just like president biden was, by millions of people across the country. delegates voted for the biden-harris ticket. and so they know her, and they know that she is a part of president biden's agenda as well as the past agenda as well as the 100-day agenda that he's laid forward that he spoke about

in detroit. she is obviously going to put her stamp on that. but i think we all feel very comfortable that she is going to be able to build that same fragile coalition that we had in 2020 with progressives, with swing voters, with women, black, brown, young people.n, there is really that energy now. so i'm just really proud to be all in for her. as i said when she called me yesterday, right after the president made his announcement, i'm one thousand percent in. we've got to win, this and she o is the one that is uniquely capable of prosecuting in every sense of the word, donald trump on our rights, on our freedoms, and presenting that working class agenda, that agenda for poor people that is really going to mobilize people to know how h their life will change when iz w kamala harris is president of the united states. >> so congresswoman, i wanted ta pick a couple of those issues. we know there was obviously a lot of hard work that the progressive caucus did with theo president. one of the issues that there was a divide on was obviously i

israel-gaza. the gaza conflict has been a source of consternation for many younger voters, and it kind of started to peel them away from him. kamala harris got a much better reception on college campuses around that issue. her presentation seemed to be less divisive. we've now seen that she will not be in -- sitting in the well of the house when prime minister benjamin netanyahu gives his address.et she will not be there. she will be in indianapolis presenting to the zeta phi beta sorority incorporated. she'll be there, but she's not going to meet with prime minister netanyahu, as will the president, but she is not going to be there. that is a big kind of deal.g i've heard from a lot of palestinian americans, and somef who are in an activist role who

say they feel relieved that shee will be the head of the ticket because it actually reopens thea door for some of those voters who were turned away on that e issue. what do you make of that? >> i think that's absolutely rite. i had an opportunity to speak with the vice president when she was in seattle a couple of weeks ago about israel-gaza. we spent about 45 minutes talking about it. and i do think she has a deep empathy for the situation of palestinian americans that's more natural to her. i also think she is hearing frok a lot of black clergy. as you know, joy, this is one of the big issues in the black su community is this war.is and i think there is some real resonance with the palestinian people a very different way. obviously she doesn't have joe biden's long history with netanyahu. she was not on the senate foreign relations committee for all those decades, things that shaped him on that issue.

and i think that she shown time and time again that she is able to call for a ceasefire, for example, to talk about the plight of women, palestinians, e women who are being killed, the fact that 85% of children in gaza have not had food for over a day in many cases. so i think these are things that she feels very comfortable talking about, and i think there is a new opportunity to appeal to, and i'm not saying it will be easy. but i do think there is a new opportunity to appeal to muslim voters, to young voters, to arab-american voters, to black voters, to labor voters. l these are all folks who care about this issue and think that benjamin netanyahu has basically done everything to stop any kind of a ceasefire or peace fi agreement. and so i think that's a huge opportunity. t and i think she is going to be able to really shift the calculus on this. >> congresswoman pramila jayapal, i'm going have to have you come back. i want to talk to you about thea aapi community's reaction to her, because all of my friends u who are indian american are losing their minds because she

is also part of the community. >> so excited. i'm telling people how to ci pronounce her name.he it's kamala. and it means lotus. >> i'm telling you, all the aunties in the aapi community are going wild. pramila jayapal, congresswoman, thank you very much. back to you, rachel. >> that was excellent. the first time i mispronounced then senator harris -- no, i think she was then attorney general harris' name, i got like 17 calls from friends, 15 of ro whom were indian american just think kama, kama. your mnemonic is kama. never forget it again. it is burned into me. over these last few weeks of ed sturm und drang in the democratic party other what was going to happen with the democratic ticket, one of the ap sharp issues of this president is that president biden keeps the circle around him tight. joe biden has been in politics a very, very long time. he has held on to key advisers

for a long time, held on to key staff for a long time. over long portions of that long record, he's had the same people very near to him, and that creates an intense circle of trust around him that is nevertheless small. one of the biden lifers who has been a key man, particularly in this phase of his career, in this administration is ron klain, long-time adviser and former chief of staff to president biden. and ron joins us now live. mr. klain, it's really nice of you to be here with us tonight. thank you so much. >> thanks for having me, rachel. >> first, let me ask you about e the president's health. i know you've been in touch with him. he is -- he has covid. we've heard from the president'r physician that he has finished h his course of paxlovid and he is doing better. can you tell us anything about how he is doing? >> well, i'm not a doctor, but i

talked to him today.hi he sounded better, and very excited about the vice ou president's campaign and excited about calling into that event in wilmington. and coming back to washington and when the time is right, b getting out on the campaign trail on her behalf. he is very fired up about her race. >> his voice sounded strong, i have to say, phoning into that event. which i was happy to hear. and then when we got the news that he is going to be back at the white house tomorrow, that seems additionally like further good news.on all that said, and i hear the sort of confidence and sort of optimism in your voice, this has to have been a searing few days, particularly sunday, particularly yesterday for the president. how -- what can you tell us about how difficult this was for him personally and the level of confidence he had in the decision once he decided he wash going to do it? >> well, look, the president is a fighter. he wanted to fight to win this

election. and he was -- had been out on - the trail since the debate i thought very effectively in north carolina and michigan, doing a press conference after the nato summit and wanted to fight and win this campaign. but i think he came to the conclusion it wasn't possible. i he has a tremendous degree of confidence in vice president harris. he obviously endorsed her in the statement he withdrew from the ration and has gone all in on h her behalf, as all of us have., i think the american people saw today she is going to be a grea person.is the person who was her next-door neighbor in the west wing for the last two years, she will be a great president.es she is ready to do this job. she'll do great on the campaign trail. she'll do great in the oval office next year. >> ron, how much effort, planning, forethought sort of gaming things out was done about trying to make this a smooth s transition, trying to make this what my colleague lawrence o'donnell earlier described as a effectively seamless transition? the statement that came out from

president biden yesterday at 1:46 p.m. eastern initially didi not include the endorsement. less than a half hour later, he then sent out a second state unequivocally and clearly endorsing vice president harris that set off a remarkable ce consolidation and wave of energo in the democratic party that has very clearly established that ly she will be the nominee. and nobody is obviously come out and said that they should be the nominee instead. how much of that was natural and organic. how much that of was orchestrated, was planned, was gamed out in advance? >> i think it was almost all natural organic. today loves the vice president. his first decision was to pick her to be his running mate. that means he believes she was the right person to take over ih he couldn't.t he worked with her for the past three years saw her in action, saw the advice sle gave, the work on capitol hill to help

pass this agenda that you and congresswoman jayapal were talking about. joy reid and congresswoman jayapal were talking about before.re she has been a partner in getting all this done.l his support for her is natural. and look, the reality is she is the only person other than joe biden to get 80 million votes in this country. this is not some kind of coordination. she is the product of a popular process that put her in the vict presidency, and she is the choice of i think the democratic voters and we'll see that as this process unfolds, and peopls saw her campaign today. she is a great campaigner. and i think it's absolutely natural that people rally behind her.at >> ron, today the dnc chairman jaime harrison announced that da the party will deliver a wi presidential nominee by august 7th, which means there is not going to be any choosing a nominee at the convention. this is not going to be 1968. in establishing the plans, setting out the rules memo about how this is going the happen, it seems pretty clearly that this is going to be not only chaotic, but an orderly fashion that's within the rules as everybody

understands them. as far as the dnc is handling this, the plan to do a virtual nomination, a virtual roll call ahead of the convention itself, does that all seem right to you? obviously there are different ways they could have approached this. is this the right approach from the party? >> it is the right approach, rachel. first of all, it is essentially the same as doing it at the convention. they'll vote early. why vote early? so we can make sure that vice president harris' name is on the ballot in all 50 states. our convention is unusually late this year because of the timingi of the republican convention, the timing telephone olympics, it's unusually late. as a result, to make sure she is on the ballot in all 50 states,e we need to confirm the party's nominee before the early august deadlines in a handful of states, particularly in ohio where there has been all kinds t of chicanery in the state of ohio. being careful about it, it doesn't change the outcome.l the delegates still vote.an they're going to vote by using a

different mechanism than they te would in chicago.er same people, same votes, same delegates, same way of choosing, a nominee, just a couple of days early to make sure our candidatk is on the ballot in all 50 states. ba >> one last question for you, ron, what should we expect from president biden in campaigning with his vice president? this is an unusual circumstanceu where you have effectively a ha reelection campaign with the c incumbent president in what will be a supporting role on the campaign.rt what will that look like?th what should we expect from the two of them in terms of joining forces in terms of trying to wie in november? >> look, i think this is her campaign. people are going to want to see her out there bringing the ger message like she did today in wilmington. i think the president will join her when that's helpful and effective and whenever she asks. he has a job to do. he'll do that first and t foremost. he'll be out there just like president obama campaigned in the closing days of the 2020 election for president biden, just like there was some or appearances by president clinton on behalf of vice president gore in 2000.

so i think it will be the same kind of thing we've seen in the past that when it's the time and the place and it's effective and helps rally voters, she'll ask n him to come out on the campaign and he'll do it. he can make a very strong case for her. he has worked with her every day these four years. he has seen how effective she, and feels very strongly about her election. so he'll be out there with full voice and full throat, telling voters what he knows, that this is a person who is a great ha candidate for president and will be a great president next year. >> president biden's former white house chief of staff ron klain. ron, thank you so much for youru time tonight. i'm sure you haven't slept in a few weeks.ou i really appreciate you being pp here with us tonight. thank you. >> thanks for having me, rachel. >> all right. since last night, kamala harris has been piling up endorsements from the major labor unions in n the country. incredibly important tr i constituency in this country in democratic politics, one where the republican party is trying to make a play with the notable exception of the united a autoworkers union, a lot of labor unions have already come out and endorsed kamala harris.s now uaw previously endorsed joeo biden. we're going to speak with the president of the uaw about thatf

next. we've also got minnesota senator amy klobuchar who is going to bg joining us here on set. we have so much to get to. stay with us. m thanks for being here with us for this special coverage. we'll be right back. s

we are fighting to protect the sacred right to organize. we are protecting the sacred right to organize because we know when unions are strong,

america is strong. >> that was vice president kamala harris two months ago addressing the seiu, the service employees international union, one of the biggest unions in the country. after president biden announced he would no longer seek reelection and endorsed vice president harris, seiu was one of the first big unions to announce their endorsement for kamala harris as well. since then there has been a wave of support for harris, with endorsements from big labor unions and labor groups including the american federation of teachers, the international brotherhood of electrical worker, the united farm workers, the amalgamated transunion, the united food and commercial workers international union, communication workers of america, federation of state, county and municipal employees, america's largest federation of unions, the afl-cio, they have all come out explicitly in the last 30 hours and endorsed

kamala harris for president of the united states. now one big important influential high profile union that has not explicitly endorsed kamala harris yet is the united autoworkers, the uaw. earlier this year, the uaw endorsed president biden after he became the first sitting president ever to walk a picket line with striking autoworkers. ever since the uaw's endorsement of joe biden, republican donald trump has been lashing out at the union and specifically at uaw president shawn fain. donald trump even made a weird non sequitur ad lib in his discursive unending convention speech that shawn fain should be fired, and all the rnc delegates are we clapping for that? what is this? in a statement after joe biden's announcement that he would no longer stand for reelection, the uaw made a point of saying this, quote, vice president kamala harris walked the picket line

with us in 2019, and along with president biden has brought work and jobs back to communities like lordstown, ohio and belvedere, illinois. quote, the past forward is clear. we will defeat donald trump and his billionaire agenda and elect a champion for the working class to the highest office in this country. and that statement from uaw. jen psaki, over to you. >> all right. thank you so much, rachel. joining us now is united autoworkers president shawn fain. thank you so much for joining us this evening. so rachel just gave a very long list of all of the unions that have endorsed kamala harris, the vice president who is now going to be likely the nominee. the united auto workers is not on that list? are you ready to join that list and make an announcement tonight? >> so thank you for having us. and look, we have a process we follow. let's be real. this last couple of weeks has been a very -- just a very emotional few weeks, and

especially this last few days. you know, seeing president biden make a sacrifice for this nation. look, i got to tell you, it's a bittersweet moment. i love president biden. greatest president in my lifetime, the most pro labor president in my lifetime. and obviously he did the honorable thing. and think about that. i mean, can you ever imagine donald trump putting his ego aside and doing what's right for the country? it would never happen. with vice president harris, we have a process we follow. the membership put the international executive board in charge of this. and we're going to be discussing things over the next few days, and then we'll choose that path forward and we'll make announcements as we deem fit. you know, one thing i do know, president biden, first president in history to join striking workers on a picket line. kamala harris was right there with us in 2019 when donald

trump was president. you know where donald trump wasn't in 2019? he sure as hell wasn't on a picket line. >> no, no question about that. i traveled with president biden to visit union workers, and i know that the support and the response is really incredible. tell us a little bit. you said it's a couple of days maybe for this process. there a deadline or timeline we should anticipate? and what exactly is your executive committee looking for as they're considering this? because vice president harris was of course, it's the biden-harris agenda and everything they fought for are the things i assume they supported when they endorsed joe biden. >> so we're looking at a lot of things right now. we have our team looking at other people. not as -- i don't believe as presidential candidate, but other possible vice president candidates and things like that. look, we feel like we have an obligation to represent working class interests. when we meet and we have those discussions with vice president harris' team, we want to have

input and talk about what we're seeing and what we're hearing from our members and from our board. and so we're not going to rush in and just throw it out there. we want to have fruitful discussions when we meet. and i think it's important we do that. we owe that to them. >> absolutely. and let me ask you, i know there has ban lot of calls that have been happening. president biden, vice president harris, have you had a chance to speak with either of them over the last day and a half? >> unfortunately, i believe vice president harris tried to call me yesterday, and i was in the unfortunate situation with the airlines. a couple of flights were canceled. and when she did try to call i was in the air and could not take a call. we have reached out and expressed any time she is ready to talk, glad to talk with her and look forward to it. >> well, thank you so much, president of the united auto worker, shawn fain. we'll all be waiting to hear what happens with your endorsement process. really appreciate you joining us tonight. back to you, rachel. >> thank you. >> you know, shawn fain, every time i've hosted shawn fain on my show before and i've talked a lot about united autoworkers and

that remarkable strike effort that they had this year. i -- he agitates people in power so much in such exactly the way he wants to agitate them. i get -- the way he talks about economic issues, the way he talks about class, the way he talks about billionaires, the way he talks about the improper influence of money in politics so gets under the skin of people who feel entitled to say that they want to pick a bone, have a bone to pick. >> he doesn't it in a class warfare sort of way. he does it in a completely practical way, and you just can't wiggle out of it. >> he is a very, very, very effective union leader and a very influential figure in democratic politics. handy drives donald trump absolutely crazy. the fact that he mentioned him by name specifically, and it wasn't in trump's prepared remarks, he ad-libbed an attack on shawn fain in his convention speech. >> yes, under his skin. and a very strange 90-minute speech that we all watched that included hannibal lector as well.

he went after shawn fain. and what shawn fain did in response was issue a direct lengthy statement. he went after him on lordstown, ohio and not failing to deliver on his promise there. he went after him over and over and over again in his statement. that's the right way to take on a bully. that's the other thing for people to know. >> today donald trump went on to talk about who he was going to deliver for elon musk. donald trump in last three days said elon musk has given me $45 million a month. we got to make that guy happy. you know what elon musk doesn't like? auto unions. absolutely not. that's what tesla is known for. and it's why it was almost puzzling last week when you saw the head of the teamsters up there on the stage of the rnc. the audience was sort of yay, we want your vote, but we're anti-union. >> and the vice presidential candidate saying we're for the working class, not for wall street. the cognitive dissonance from the top of the ticket to the second spot on the ticket is astounding. >> the real estate developer and the venture capital guy are

obviously for the working man. >> that's why this campaign needs to educate the american voter, because in this age of misinformation, j.d. vance's spiel and donald trump saying i'm coming to your town and i'm working for you, kamala harris and her campaign need to show people what they are doing and what donald trump will not be doing. >> that's exactly right. still ahead tonight, we will speak with democratic senator amy klobuchar. she is going to be live here on set. we've got more ahead as our special coverage continues. stay with us. >> i am firsthand witness that every day our president, joe biden, fights for the american people. and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation. [ applause ]

tomorrow, vice president kamala harris will hit the road for her first campaign event since president biden has endorsed her to replace him at the top of the democratic ticket. we have just learned since we have been on the air tonight that the harris campaign will put vice president harris tomorrow afternoon in milwaukee, wisconsin. notably, the city that just last week hosted the republican national convention, where they clearly thought they had this thing in the bag. surprise! this will be kamala harris' fifth campaign stop in wisconsin this year. this time it is likely to land a little bit different. joining us now here on set is our friend senator amy klobuchar. nice to see you.

>> good see you, rachel. >> the last time we were here in person i had a coughing fit and you had to take over my show. >> you were on the floor and i kept talking. >> you kept talking so they could keep the camera on you while i fell on the floor coughing. >> i had layer about health care that no one knew existed. i just kept going. wow, rachel must really, to let you talk that long. in such detail. >> so what is your reaction to president biden's decision, both his decision to remove himself from consideration for reelection, but also his endorsement of vice president harris? >> well, first of all, he took the honorable path, and he did it with grace. and you think about his incredible career. and to me, it's not just the legacy, which jen knows so well, the infrastructure of the bringing nato, making it

stronger. most important to me, bringing back the rule of law, putting ketanji brown jackson on the supreme court, but it's also about moving forward. and for him, moving forward these next six months, but it's also passing the torch on to the next generation of leaders. i've had my own experience with him. i gave one of my first speeches on the senate floor. and it was about domestic violence. and the only time slot i could get, there was no one there, except maybe the pages. so i give this speech, and i get off the floor, and the phone rings. and i think oh, maybe it's my mom. no, my mom didn't even stay up to watch this. it was joe biden. >> wow. >> he was a senator, and he called and said hey, kid, really good job. and i noticed today when the vice president and who i believe will be the future president

addressed the campaign crowd, he said good job, kid. and it just reminded me of that role that he is playing and has played, and that's what you're going to see in these next few months of this campaign. and so many people he has fostered in their careers and their lives. i'm just really excited about this. and of course having run with both of them, i think you'd moderated one of the debates. >> indeed. >> the very cold debate. >> you were under event. it wasn't fair. you were colder than everybody else and it was moving your hair in a weird way. i'm sorry. >> and i was standing next to kamala in that debate. i think she is going to do a great job as a candidate and as a president. she is going to bring receipts to this. she has been on the world stage. she has made incredibly important decisions with the president that has gotten our

country through this pandemic in a much stronger economic position. and i'm just looking forward to seeing her on the world stage. >> there are a lot of debates i think we're all looking forward to. you serve in the senate with j.d. vance as well. and we know that from reporting in the atlantic from tim alberta that there might be a little bit of concern about j.d. vance maybe being too much of a own the libs choice to appeal to a broader section of the electorate, and especially now that the ticket has changed. what do you think the harris team should be looking for in a vice presidential nominee, especially when you think about it in the context of j.d. vance? >> well, i think it's going to be -- first of all, we got to get through our own process, big tent. i don't see many people emerging to run. but we're going to have to get through that. and at the same time, kamala harris is going to be picking a running mate.

and i think it should be someone she trusts. should it be someone who augments her own skills, and someone who could step in and govern. and there is just incredible choices out there. so i think she'll pick someone good, and i think it will continue this theme of generational change. what i saw at their convention was kind of a doubling down on their support, sort of the hulk hogan situation. and so i think -- >> literally. >> literally the hulk hogan situation. >> it actually happened. and so that's kind of what i see happening here. it's just going to be able to reach out to a lot of people in this country. >> our colleague joy reid is in washington and wants to ask you a question. >> hey, joy. >> hi, senator. good to talk to you. so i have just been sort of in a wormhole of the 2016 versus 2020 demographics of the election. i think a lot of women in this country have their pant suits from the hillary clinton campaign sort of embalmed in their closets, and they probably weep over them every so often. it was the closest we previously came to electing a woman president. and while hillary clinton won by three million votes, her narrow margin of defeat in these three key swing states, you know, was because she had a huge deficit with particularly men versus what happened when joe biden won.

and joe biden overindexed on a few demographics. men, he won them. there was an 11 point gap, right? joe biden did -- he shrunk that gap. he did much better among white men in particular. he ate into that. and while hillary clinton barely lost white women, she lost them 49-47% to donald trump, despite all his issues. joe biden did better with white women as well. for what white woman cohort, it's a small gap that kamala harris would have to make up. is roe enough to make up that gap so that white women will come home to the democratic party, which is not a normal thing. it's normally a mostly republican vote. how does kamala harris close that gap? and can she close the gap with men? >> i think she can close many gaps. difference, we know a lot more about donald trump than we did at that moment. we saw what he was like as president. we saw the divisiveness, and we saw what happened. the issue of abortion, you can see it from the prairies of kansas to the supreme court race in wisconsin. you could see it in what we saw in the virginia legislative races to what happened in the governor's race in kentucky. it made a difference all over

the country in all these races. and kamala harris, who i watch cross-examine these very supreme court justices who made this decision is going to be on the same debate stage i hope with donald trump, who shoots a video this year in which he said he proudly was the one who overturned roe v. wade. i don't know how much of a stark difference you can have than that. we know that chaos it has unleashed. we know the women bleeding out in parking lots waiting to get their health care. the problems where even ivf and mifepristone and all contraception are at risk that is going to be a major issue, and there is no better person to prosecute that case than kamala harris. you're also going to have the fact that she was prosecutor, and that is a guy with over 100 felony indictments and a number of convictions. so you're going see major differences on that. >> senator amy klobuchar, are you busy? >> just a little bit busy.

>> a lot going on. returning to washington, to the senate tomorrow. >> okay. are you too business to stay for one more segment with us? >> i would love to be on a segment. >> okay. we have to talk about this coconut tree thing, and i want you here for it. we'll be back with senator klobuchar and the coconut tree thing there is a lot to get to. i'll explain in just a minute. yes, minnesota, it's an obvious choice. we'll be right back. we'll be right back.

i'm going to try to get through this without sounding like an old person. i'm going to tell you right now i'm going the fail.

let's do this failure together. by now you have probably seen this. >> you think you just fell out of a coconut tree? you exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you. >> that was vice president kamala harris giving a speech more than a year ago at the white house at an event about how to create more opportunities for hispanic americans. she is trying to make a point there, kind of an elegant point about how in order to make progress, you also have to know where you came from. you didn't just fall out of a coconut tree, right? but out of context, it does sound, well, i don't know. i don't know. how does it sound to you? it turns out it was almost designed in a lab to become a meme.

so in the last week or so, with the fervor building in the democratic party about harris potentially becoming the democratic presidential nominee, this moment has started bouncing around the internet again. this person has added sparkles, as you see. this is why the governor of colorado included a coconut and tree emoji when he endorsed her yesterday. this is why hawaii senator brian schatz posted a photo of himself scaling an actual coconut tree when he posted his congratulation and endorsement. and at some point in the night last might, the memification of kamala harris took on a life of its own. a lot of it is just kamala harris being kamala harris with her distinctive belly laugh, her big signature laugh that a lot of people like. so someone made a 2:30 minute montage of just her cracking up and laughing. this is a video of kamala harris talking about how much she loves ven diagrams. >> that's it. that's all it is. it's all over the internet today. here is a widely shared video of kamala harris just dancing with

kids. you can set this to anything. and then there is brat. charli xcx is a pop artist. she has a wildly popular album out this summer that's called "brat." this is the cover. black low-fi text over a green background. last night charli xcx tweeted this "kamala is brat." to be totally honest with you, where i'm not sure what that means. but apparently the internet knows. kamala harris overlayed in green to the song off of the record brat. me just call it a record there i go. this is a mash-up of the coconut thing put to a song off the album. >> you exist in the context all in which you live and where you came from. >> the newly minted harris campaign is fully leaning into their candidate being memed. they changed their campaign twitter background to look like the brat album cover. they tweeted out a fresh new ven diagram which we know is vice president harris's favorite means of visualization.

what do they have in common overlapping? holding trump accountable. aren't you glad i made you stay for that? >> some of this started with the republicans trying to go after kamala, right? they go after her laugh. they go after the kamala -- the coconut tree line and the like. and what i love about this, as a woman candidate and as we saw during the presidential, women candidates are held to these standards that are nearly impossible to make. and i love that they're just owning it and making fun of it, and kind of becoming an icon because of it. and i think you've got to -- we've learned this over time, as we've learned what happened to other women candidates, including secretary clinton when they ran, that you kind of got to own some of this. and while this is a lot of fun and cool, and i think you're going to see the difference between maybe a biden candidacy

and a kamala harris candidacy, there is going to be some differences, this is one of them, it also just shows that they're going to have to run a different way to take this on, because this started -- some of this started, not the brat part, but the coconut tree and the laugh, it started with them trying to attack her. >> yeah. >> so they're just like okay, go for it. >> i feel like it's kind of a campaign -- it's a good campaign instinct. if somebody is taking you on for something that's not actually bad, i don't like your voice, i don't like your smile, i don't like your laugh, you're too old, you're too young, whatever it is, if they're doing it in a way that isn't actually substantively something you're worried about, the right thing to do is to boomerang it and turn it around and oh, yes, i'm going campaign on my laugh. i'm going campaign on these things that you're trying to turn into a negative that i know shouldn't be seen that way. it isn't always easy to execute, but they're doing it. >> no question. we've been talking a little bit tonight about what's coming our way which is sexism, misogyny, racism, a lot of this. and making fun of her laugh, i hope she never changes her laugh by the way.

i think it's an authentic part of who she was. i saw you almost getting emotional when you were talking about joe biden, which is by the way a lot of people i have spoken to who love him when we spoke. moving forward, how is she going to take on these attacks on her that are so gross and so misogynistic and so sexist, and how do you think the campaign is going to do that? >> well, she is going to do that with her head held high. she has an incredible posture, let's start with that i think that's how she's got to go. a lot of it as we tell women candidates, i do all the time when they're getting started, just let it go. and then a lot of it they're going to have to take them on, take them on. you got to always draw that line when you're going to call them out for it and when you're going to make fun of it. when you're going to own it, and again, just make fun of it. some of it is going to have to not be taking everything seriously, because donald trump says crazy stuff all the time, as we saw in the hour and a half speech which i listened to every word. and i think that's what they're going to have to decide. but i think her general demeanor

and the way she handles things is she is not going to let it get to her because she knows she's got a much bigger job, and that's to get things done for the people of this country. >> senator amy klobuchar of minnesota, it's really good to have you here. you should come by more often. >> okay, i will. >> we'll be right back. stay with us. stay with us hi, i'm gina. i've tried so many things to lose weight. none of it worked. i would quit after a few days or a week at the most. golo is not like any of those. with golo and release i not only met my goal i've surpassed it. and i'm keeping it off.

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to paraphrase president joe biden, the election of 2024 was always going to be a big freakin' deal. but now with biden stepping

aside, harris jumping in, the excitement, the energy, the jitters, it is all a whole lot all at once. if you would like to spend a day with other folks who are as riveted by this as we all are, may i recommend an upcoming event. msnbc live democracy 2024 is on the books. it's happening saturday, september 7th. it's in brooklyn, new york. a bunch of us hosts are going to be there. and the reason i'm telling you this now is because we just released a new batch of tickets today for the evening session, including some great seats. so again, new tickets, newly available. it's saturday, september 7th in brooklyn. the website, if you want to find out more, including how to get tickets, it's msnbc.com/democracy2024. again, msnbc.com/democracy2024. we are all here because we love our country, right? and we believe in our foundational principles. weel