and it starts with a passion for our food and a simple belief. the simpler the better. ♪ breaking tonight, roughly 13 wild months after donald j. trump declared his run for the white house, and there is now less than an hour before the republican nominee for president formally accepts the nomination walks onto the stage behind me and shares with america his most critical speech to date. welcome to "the kelly file," everyone. i'm megyn kelly. live in cleveland at the republican national convention. as mr. trump might say himself, it has been a yuge week here full of drama and intrigue about the future of the party and the nation. the never trumpers have ultimately failed to stop the businessman's campaign. the trump loyalists have made their outrage over the intraparty fighting known. and then there's that thing with

ted cruz. more on that in a moment. but first to the big questions tonight. how will mr. trump try to win over america, and will ivanka trump prove to be donald trump's secret weapon? we have new video coming in just minutes ago of trump family members arriving at the arena here in cleveland, ready to listen and support their father. and earlier our cameras spotted mr. trump and ivanka conducting a walk-through and a sound check earlier today. by the looks of it they were all business. we have a jam-packed show lined up for you tonight, but we begin the evening with our chief political correspondent campaign carl cameron live near the convention stage. carl. >> reporter: we're here on what's called the podium site for reporters, just a few feet from where donald trump will be stepping out in about an hour to make that speech. today was a bit of an embarrassment when the embargoed version of the speech was leaked by someone in the media, and it ended up in the hands of democrats who immediately sent

it out on e-mail and online to essentially attack it and suck that was another example of some sort of dysfunction here at the convention. donald trump, when he did his first few rehearsals without applause and went through about 40 minutes, they estimate with crowd applause it could be as much as 55 minutes or longer. this is a speech that he's been working on for quite some time. it is very clear he's going to cast himself as the populist saying he is your voice, telling the delegates in this hall and americans across the country that he'll be fighting for them. and he knows this is a huge audience megyn. he's really looking forward to talking to the whole world. >> we're looking forward to hearing from him. but first our rnc chairman reince priebus. >> and to my wife sally and my son jack and daughter grace, i love you. thank you for everything you do for me. i stand before this convention tonight as the chairman of a

party that is carrying the torch of liberty. we are the party of the open door. to some people and some presidents america is just another country. to republicans, america is the greatest nation on earth. we don't apologize for america. we celebrate america at every level. republicans stand for aspiration and achievement. we stand for peace and prosperity. we stand for freedom and fairness. these values have inspired people the world over ever since we won our freedom two centuries ago. these values fueled the sacrifices for freedom at gettiberggettys gettysburg and normandy and fallujah. it is clear the republican party

is the only party willing to fight for these values and lead america to greatness in the 21st century. [ cheers and applause ] you see, the dirty little secret democrats don't want you to know is that they're the same party doing the same old thing. next week, they're going to trot out the same old democrats with the same old message, running the same old candidate. we are the party of new ideas in a changing and faster world than ever before. democrats depend on super delegates and bureaucrats to sneak their agenda through the back door. we are the party of the grassroots. we honor what the voters say. democrats want to put labor union boszsses in charge of our schools, limit our choices, and feed our kids a steady delight

of the left-wing propaganda. [ booing ] we know every child matters, and the classroom is not an assembly line. it's time to give power back to parents, embrace school choice equip our children with the skills they need for college, career and life. democrats want health care choices in the hands of politicians. we want health care choices in the hands of patients. democrats want washington to impose a one size fits all policy on everybody. we say an independent people deserves individual solutions. what separates republicans from democrats is our belief in better. we believe in better schools, a better health care system a

better economy which rewards hard work no matter where or when you punch the clock. and most of all, we believe in a better chance at the american dream for everyone. the republican party will not stop until that becomes a reality. and that's why we need to stop hillary clinton. a clinton presidency only means more debt more obamacare, and more hard-working families never seeing a raise. if hillary clinton is given the chance she'll stack the deck with the supreme court, with activists left-wing judges who will treat the constitution like a door mat. you can kiss your gun rights good-bye if she ever finds her

way into the white house. in foreign policy a clinton presidency means forgetting our friends and enabling our enemies. just look. just look at her disastrous iran nuclear deal which lined the pockets of the world's number-one state sponsor of terrorism with your money while abandoning our greatest ally in the middle east the nation of israel. it was on her watch isis began to spread its wings of evil over the middle east, and she has spent the last 16 months looking in the eyes of the american people and lying about how recklessly she jeopardized the american people our national security with her secret e-mail server. she lied. and she lied over and over and

over and over. she lied. [ chanting ] she lied. perhaps, perhaps perhaps worst of all -- perhaps worst of all, hillary clinton has perfected the art of politics for personal gain. she reads ethics rules as carefully as americans read their junk mail. just look at her track record. she used her post as secretary of state to grease the wheels for democrat lobbyists, special interests, and political insiders connected to the corrupt clinton machine. her family foundation took millions of dollars in donations

from countries notorious for human rights abuses and funneling money to radical islamic terrorists. [ booing ] for hillary clinton, the oval office is just another cash cow. well i have one word for all of this hypocrisy and corruption. enough. americans have had enough of a government that plays favorites to the well-connected. they've had enough of the clintons' excuses, cronyism and cover-ups. they've had enough of the corrupt deals. americans have had enough! this election this election is our chance to stop it and donald trump is the right man to lead that charge.

[ cheers and applause ] you all know he's brought millions of new voters in our party because he's listening to americans who are anxious about a country which has lost its way. donald trump wants to bring jobs back from overseas and hold companies who want to send them abroad accountable. he's finally going to stop illegal immigration and make sure our government puts american citizens first. working families working families are the life blood of our country, and we can't thrive as a nation unless they are thriving. a lot of them haven't seen a bigger paycheck in a very long time. donald trump wants to make sure you can pay the mortgage put gas in the car, and buy new clothes for the first day of

school. donald trump is committed to hitting terrorists hard and making the safety of every man, woman, and child in america his number-one priority. no more negotiating with terrorists. if they want to take us down we're going to take them down. [ cheers and applause ] and he will protect the second amendment and every other right guaranteed in the constitution by approving and appointing conservative justices to the supreme court. and importantly, he's going to protect the lives of the unborn. so i have a message to america. hold on. help is coming.

with donald trump and mike pence, america is ready for a comeback after almost a decade of clinton/obama failures. i want to close by telling you a little-known story of american greatness. william knudson was a danish immigrant who started out working in a shipyard and living in a boarding house. he knew america promised limitless opportunities and was determined to make the most of it. he developed his talents for industrial engineering and worked his way up at general motors. by 1937, he'd become the president of the company. in 1940, the government asked him to get america's factories on a war-time footing. instead of cars and trucks america's great manufacturers were now proudly making tanks and planes. for this enormous responsibility knudson was paid $1 per year.

he didn't do it for the money. he was motivated by a duty to keep america free from tyranny. he set aside the job of leading one of the largest companies in america so he could help save the world. at the end of the war, a war department official told him, you have never done anything for yourself only for your country. you have never spared yourself. like william knudson, we cannot spare ourselves you're. economic freedom, belief in the american dream, a strong defense, putting country first, those values are under assault from hillary clinton and the rest of the democrat party. life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is not just a tag line for a bumper sticker. it is our american legacy and it is our responsibility to save it and strengthen it for our children and grandchildren. listen god didn't put us

here -- he didn't put us here by accident. this is our moment to set a new course for an america as strong and confident as we've ever been. let's stand united as republicans. let's stop hillary clinton. let's get to work expand our republican majority and let's elect donald trump president. thank you and god bless you. thank you! thank you. >> rnc chairman reince priebus, who has had a heck of a year in a bruising republican primary in which nobody believed that donald trump would emerge as the victor. under enormous pressure at times to try to stop that and reince priebus tonight coming out with a full-throated endorsement of and support for his party's nominee. i want to bring in our panel now, charles krauthammer, brit hume and katie pavlich.

great to see you all. what a night for reince priebus and the amount of pressure that he has withstood from the republican party this year to try to stop this. instead tonight coming out endorsing and supporting donald trump. charles, your thoughts on it. >> i think the way he handled, which was essentially to bow in the end to the will of the people isas expressed overwhelmingly in the primary, i think was the only afternoon he had. [ inaudible ] but there was no way you could deny him the nomination. he strongly opposed these efforts for a third party or for some kind of coup at this convention which i think was the right course. he's

trump is going to have to show starting tonight that he can win the country the way he won the republicans. >> brit, what do you expect tonight? what are the stakes? >> trump has got to begin the task of building out from the coalition that nominated him, which is nowhere near large enough to elect him. so the first step tonight is to present himself and his message in such a way that people who may have had some antipathy toward him or not been anywhere near ready to support him or maybe are disinterested to begin to think, you know this guy could be president. he could be my president. you know i just might vote for this guy. so that's task number one. and he also needs to do it in such a way that people's image of him will survive what is coming next week which is a a four-day ordeal for him of democrats trying to rip his skin

off and portray him as utterly unsuited and unfit to be president. so it's not an easy task he faces tonight, but based on what we've seen so far this year it might not be a good idea to bet against him. >> in the meantime katie, ted cruz is still sending reverberations through this are arena. he came out today combative, exchange with his texas delegation defending his remarks. let's take a quick listen to that sound bieltte and get katie's reaction. >> i am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father. if you go and slander and attack heidi, that i'm going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog and say, thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father. >> what do you make of it? >> look i think that ted cruz has a point, and donald trump walked back essentially his comments about john mccain and it ended up being in his favor. he did that last week with the 60 minutes interview with mike

pence in order to move forward and unite the party. donald trump needs ted cruz and his supporters a lot more than he needs john mccain, and i would just hope that he would say something like look i didn't mean to say what i i was let's try and move forward. i'm not sure ted cruz did himself any favors by putting in the line vote your conshecious. >> as we can see the trump family arriving, donald trump, melania trump, their son barron behind them. we'll see the rest of the family shortly as ivanka gets ready to take the stage before her father said to be the quote princess of the family. the brothers say that. i don't know if that's got her endorsement, but obviously a well spoken spokesperson for the family and there's a reason donald trump waited to put her on until last. we're going to take a quick break. we're going to be right back in moments. "the kelly file" is live from the convention floor tonight. when we come back i'll look forward to peter thooel ivanka trump, and the biggest moment of

the entire convention donald trump's acceptance speech for the republican nomination for president. stay tuned. ♪ ♪ ♪ [announcer] is it a force of nature? or a sales event? the summer of audi sales event is here. get up to a $5,000 bonus on select audi models.

welcome back everybody. speaking right now, billionaire tech investor and entrepreneur

peter thiel. mr. teal ishiel is an early investor in facebook. he also is openly gay, and he will be the first person to publicly acknowledge that he is gay at a republican convention. many wondering just how far he'll go with his remarks about gay rights. and different people hoping for different things. let's take a listen and hear what he has to say as what the trump campaign calls a bold choice speech for the rnc and the republicans here. >> opportunity was everywhere. my dad studied engineering at case western reserve university just down the road from where we are now. because in 1968, the world's high-tech capital wasn't just one city. all of america was high-tech. it's hard to remember this, but our government was once high-tech too.

when i moved to cleveland, defense research was laying the foundations for the internet. the apollo program was just about to put a man on the moon. and it was neil armstrong from right here in ohio. the future felt limitless. but today our government is broken. our nuclear bases still use floppy disks. our newest fighter jets can't even fly in the rain. and it would be kind to say the government's software works poorly because much of the time it doesn't even work at all. that is a staggering decline for the country that completed the manhattan project. we don't accept such incompetence in silicon valley and we must not accept it from our government. [ cheers and applause ]

instead of going to mars we have invaded the middle east. we don't need to see hillary clinton's deleted e-mails. her incompetence is in plain sight. she pushed -- she pushed for a war in libya, and today it's a training ground for isis. on this most important issue, donald trump is right. it's time -- it's time to end the era of stupid wars and rebuild our country. when i was a kid, the great debate was about how to defeat the soviet union, and we won. now we are told -- now we are told that the great debate is about who gets to use which bathroom. this is a distraction from our

real problems. who cares? [ cheers and applause ] of course every american has a unique identity. i am proud to be gay. i am proud to be a republican. but most of all, i am proud to be an american! [ cheers and applause ] >> usa! usa! >> i don't pretend to agree with every plank in our party's platform. but fake culture wars only distract us from our economic decline, and nobody in this race is being honest about it except

donald trump. while it is fitting to talk about who we are, today it's even more important to remember where we came from. for me that is cleveland and the bright future it promised. when donald trump asked us to make america great again, he's not suggesting a return to the past. he's running to lead us back to that bright future. tonight i urge all of my fellow americans to stand up and vote for donald trump. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. >> one billionaire to another. peter thiel supporting donald trump in remarks that really are important. joining me now to discuss it former democratic national

committee spokesperson and guy benson. great to see you both. so guy, you are an openly gay republican. >> that's a thing. >> it's a thing. and so is he. discuss the significance of what just happened here. >> look i'm proud of what he just did on a personal level, and i have to tip my cap to the trump campaign for welcoming that message here at the convention. >> it should be said you are not a trump fan. >> i'm not, but this was important for the party. and what we just saw was peter thiel say, i am proud to be gay. the applause began. i am proud to be a republican. the applause built. but most importantly, i'm proud to be a american. a crescendo, a standing ovation. that is from the rostrum of the republican national committee i think a big moment. but i think also what's important to note peter thiel was not invited to speak here because he's gay. peter thiel is an extraordinary person an innovator. he's brilliant. that's why he's here. he happens to be gay, and the

warm welcome that he got was exciting and, you know what i think it was appropriate that he also went out of his way briefly to distance himself from certain elements of the recently adopted platform that in my view range from disappointing to disgraceful. he made that point. >> what specifically? >> well i don't want to necessarily get into all the specifics of it but i think some of the party platform should not be addressing conversion therapy, for example. that's ludicrous. and i think that there are plenty of gay conservatives who recognize there are lots of people in america and in the republican party and in the conservative movement who have different views on for example, marriage equality. a lot of people are for traditional marriage. they are not by definition bigots or mean spirited and we should welcome debates within the party because the country is changing. this was a small step but an important one in the right direction to improving our conversation about these issues as a conservative movement. >> how about this mo because typically we've seen in the past the democrats really use the issue of gay rights against republicans.

donald trump has not -- has not been somebody who comes out against gay rights or bashes the gay community. you saw all of his family on their feet cheering him when he said i'm gay, and i'm republican and i'm american. has trump disarmed the democrats on this issue? >> well i don't think entirely. i think, you know to guy's point, what was in the platform of the republican party, of trump's republican party, is still the official position of the republican party. it is what most republican candidates are advocating and so i think democrats are going to continue to make the contrast. what i think was remarkable and i agree with you 100% that what peter did up there was remarkable for a republican convention and was a good sign in a week that has not had a lot of good signs. it was one of the very few moments where a speaker tried to reach out beyond the republican base in a week where there was very few speakers trying to reach out beyond the republican base. >> tonight is all about that though. if you look at the preview we've

gotten of his speech, of ivanka's speech it is all about reaching beyond the republican base. >> i think what we just saw here when i saw the advance script of what peter thiel was going to say, i said all right let's see how this building 1307bd responds. we've seen boos and cat calls in various contexts. this was an embrace of peter thiel, which was pretty cool to see. and donald trump, with whom i have nume ruszrous disagreements, he is going to go out of the way talking about the lgbt was targeted and he's going to say that in his acceptance speech and that's an important thing as well. >> quickly, mo i want to ask you before you go, how do you grade the convention so far? >> i think this convention has been an unmitigated disaster for the republican party. i really do. i think this has been a party that has been full of division intraparty squabbling of candidates who have -- speakers

who have sought to divide more than unite. >> you think next week is going to be all about uniting and no division? >> here's going to be the big difference. i think that next week the signal coming out of the dnc is that a lot of candidates are going to try to make a forceful case for hillary clinton. there have not been a lot of speakers here other than his children other than the people who share his last name or share the ballot with him -- his running mate did it. you don't hear a lot of people making a forceful stage for donald trump from the stage. >> thank you both for being here. so excitement is building for the biggest moment of the night, the convention and the 2016 campaign to date. donald trump has some remarkable comments tonight, and he is set to formally accept his party's nomination to be president in moments. history will be made here this evening. that's straight ahead.

breaking tonight, excitement is building on the convention floor as the crowd awaits donald trump's speech to delegates in the arena and voters across this nation. america's newsroom anchor bill hemmer is live by the california delegation as he waits for the republican nominee to take the main stage. bill? >> megyn, good evening to you. there's a lot of excitement down here. the arena is more packed than it has been throughout the last three nights and with great expectations for the man who used to host the apprentice who will now be on the biggest stage of his life. i can tell you that texas

delegation has been torn asunder by the ted cruz news of the last 24 hours. the overwhelming majority of the delegates from texas, they wanted ted cruz to endorse donald trump last night. that did not happen. one delegate told me we're going to win now because ted cruz just brought our party together. but a 70-year-old high school teacher, makes $21,000 a year he donated $500 to ted cruz's campaign. he believed he should now for the sake of the party. yet one delegate from texas said cruz should not say anything until trump apologizes to him. so far, that's not going to happen. i talked to scott walker the republican governor from wisconsin a moment ago. he said within the hour megyn, the ted cruz matter will be behind this party because donald trump will be on that main stage behind us. >> bill great to see you. trump's big speech is not the only reason he's making headlines today. in some remarks he made to "the new york times" last night are now causing commotion across the

globe. trump was asked if as president, he would defend nato allies in the event that they're attacked by russia. his answer quote, if they fulfill their obligations to us the answer is yes. david woel is an attorney and trump supporter. mark thiessen is a former speechwriter. mark just define for the viewers why this is potentially a problem in the eyes of many. >> it's potentially a problem because the alliance which has existed since 1947, has been the bulwark of european security is based on something called article 5 of the nato charter which means an attack on one is an attack on all. there's no deliberation. if one of the member nations is attacked, it's an attack on all and we will respond. this is the reagan legacy, and donald trump has essentially thrown away the reagan legacy. that's really bad foreign policy but it's even worse politics because even if you don't care about all of that you know outside the quicken loans arena here there's a freedom plaza, and one of the

stands there has polish-style pirro gis with kielbasa on them. it's cleveland style pirro guys. >> because they're delicious. >> number two, because there are lots of eastern european americans here in the state of ohio. there is over 1.2 million people who are polish heritage slovak heritage lithuanian. donald trump needs those voters. when they hear that he's going to break the 47-year reagan legacy when it comes to nato -- and it's not just them. in florida, 1.3 million voters, you've got wisconsin, indiana, north carolina virginia all have hundreds of thousands of eastern european citizens. he needs those voters if he's going to win the election. >> i don't think -- i think it's wonderful incentive for the rest of the nato nations, 27, to pay their fair share. right now we've put 75% of the total expenditures of nato. the other 27 nations foot 25%. it's out of control.

donald trump wants to make sure that u.s. taxpayers aren't getting screwed, are going to pay their fair share, and the other nations will as well. we're not talking about third-world nations. we're talking about the uk germany, france big powerful nations that are wealthy nations, and we've been basically saying you know we've been politically correct about it since 1947 and we'll go ahead and pay all the money. we'll go ahead and foot the expenditures to keep this afloat. he's basically saying, you know what, you guys if you don't pay your fair share -- >> he's basically saying we're chumps. >> number one, i'm a polish american and i care and i know a lot who care. they spent their whole lives in the warsaw pact waiting to join the western world. second of all, what david describes is actually not how it works. we're not paying 75% of the cost of nato. what every country does is they pay -- they're supposed to pay 2% of their gdp.

ironically the countries that are doing that are estonia, all the baltic states that he just said he's going to throw under the bus. these are the countries that sent troops to iraq and afghanistan and are helping us fight the war on terror. and if he wants to have a fight with trans, finefrance fine. >> everyone needs to pay their big share. the big countries are paying 1% of the gdp, and the amount we're paying $800 billion, something completely out of control, is outrageous. listen trump is anti-globalist. he's anti-interventionist and this is part of that larger platform. he does not want to tell the rest of the world we're going to take care of your problems for you. >> america first is what he -- >> america first. >> but that's not what the cost is. we're spending that much on our defense budget. those costs are not costs we're spending on nato. it's a question of the amount of gdp -- >> we have to end because my head is starting to hurt.

so we expect some wild excitement from the new york delegation when both ivanka and donald trump take the stage very shortly. and we sent shannon bream to join the new york delegation live on the floor of the cleveland convention center. shannon? >> hey, megyn. we've got sue with us. we met her earlier this week. she is full of enthusiasm and she's wearing a button say she's been with trump since day one. why did you join from the beginning and did you really believe you were going to get do this day, when you're about to watch him officially accept this nomination. >> i can't believe i am here and to think i'm here when 2014 when mr. trump was thinking of running for governor of new york. we all met with him. i'm a chairman in fulton county and when he was thinking of run, we all met with him. so from that possibly running for governor to today, i never saw that. this is just fantastic. i am in awe. >> so you're going to get to hear from ivanka and from donald tonight. what are you hoping to hear in their speeches and do you think it will unify what has been a

little bit of a divided body here at the gop convention? >> i've already seen some of the unity and i believe it's going to continue through the trump family hearing ivanka. when we were already talking with some of the people this pin that i'm wearing right here a woman from texas came up to me and said i want to give you this because i want you to know s for trump. and texas is behind new york. so we're already getting together. >> now, you believed early onbut there were a lot of skeptics who believed this was a showbiz move. why did you actually believe he would be running for president? >> what i liked when we did talk with him was i asked him hardball question. we're from new york. we throw hardballs. he answered it respectfully, looked me in the eyes. he didn't interrupt me looked me in the eyes. there was no fluff, no flowery answer. it was bulleted bottom line and when i had a question after our meetings we had a couple of meetings. when i had a question he called me back. then he had a question and he called me. so i had a lot of respect

because of the way i felt with the way he answered me looking me in the eyes and not fluffing any answer and bottom lining it for me he won my respect. >> sue, you're minutes away from seeing two trumps take the stage. thanks for sharing with us. megyn, we'll send it back up to you. >> all right, shannon. thank you. any moment from now, melania trump will take her place inside the v.i.p. box here in cleveland has an excited crowd waits to hear from her husband, and her stepdaughter ivanka trump. we go to james rosen. >> megyn, good evening. yes, members of donald trump's family are arrayed in the v.i.p. box. we can see eric, his son, tiffany, his daughter and others. the v.i.p. box is being emptied and being refilled with some regularity. just before we had some members of the congressional delegations like chris col ngzlins of new york, and we expect the arrival of

melania trump any moment now as we await ivanka trump to introduce her father for this climactic moment. we did hear a bit of booing from the north carolina delegation and elsewhere on the floor when peter thiel, the openly gay businessman who was speaking from the podium expressed his support for transgender individuals being allowed to use whatever bathroom they wish. but otherwise i would say discord is at a minimum. this is looking more and more like a yeun fined party. they want donald trump as their nominee. they want to get it on with hillary clinton and bring this to the final climactic showdown of the election. i think ted cruz probably did himself a lot of damage even including with ted cruz supporters with his refusal to endorse trump. i just spoke to security. they're not hearing anything about planned walkouts. they're not hearing any kind of disruption whatsoever. this is a happy crowd, and more seats are filled tonight than at any point in the past few days even way up into the rafters. that's a sign that the big star is about to speak and formally

accept his nomination. megyn. >> some say yes on ted cruz. some are applauding him for standing by his principles and not doubling back on his earlier comments. but i want to ask you, on monday night trump came out with sort of the wwe smoke and mirrors. do we know anything about how he's going to enter tonight? will there be some drama? >> if that question was for me i think i heard most of it and about divisions here in the party. >> no. drama, drama on the trump entry. is there going to be any drama? >> well i think the drama is in trump and his speech to come. we all know he's going to be using a teleprompter and most people who have been subjected to donald trump's use of a tlel teleprompter on the occasions when he's used one, have come away i think feeling a little short changed, like they didn't get the full monty of donald trump ripping and spaebeaking in that unique style of his. i think one of the big questions tonight is whether in using the teleprompter he can stir the

passions of this hall the way he did throughout the primary season in securing those 14 million votes. >> good point. james, great to see you. back with us now, charles krauthammer, brit hume and chris stirewalt, our fox news digital politics editor. great to see you all. what do you make of it? how does trump pop the entrance he did on monday night and set the stakes for him his evening. >> i think parasaling or a zipline. the stakes tonight, ted cruz royaled the roiled the pot here. but it is reflective of a division. trump's job tonight is to unify the party, bring republicans together, and then in the next breath turn and pivot to the general election and say to anxious independents and some democrats, i am a leader who can provide a steady hand and has a vision for the future that is inclusive of everybody, not just my fired up supporters.

>> the advance copies of trump's remarks, brit seem to suggest he will rile up the base of the party. he's not going to abandon his core principles but there is some outreach to bernie supporters to the lgbt group and others. >> people are not going to confuse the man we've seen tonight with someone else. everyone knows that this is donald trump. on the other hand he does need as we've talked about earlier, to expand his base of support, and i think he'll try to do that. and he with also seek to do something that is kind of remarkable that he's been able to do as well as he has so far, which is to identify himself with working people with people of the middle class, the working class, blue collar voters and their families. and to the extent that this man who lives in the lap of luxury like few of us ever dream of could be able to pull that off, has been quite an achievement, and he's done it pretty well so far. >> charles, speak to the importance of ivanka's remarks because we're told he's meant to

soften his image with women. how far can she go with that? how much help can she be? >> the whole family is basically -- they don't just humanize him. it kind of reflects on him, [ inaudible ] -- on his bringing them up and and on the -- as a father. ivanka i think, can make the case that this is a man who can be both admired and loved and respected. i don't know that it carries as much weight as perhaps the more normal kind of introductions the candidates get from colleagues high officials, military heroes or whatever. but it's in keeping with the spirit of the four days when the family was so highly featured. i think it's worked for them up to now. i don't think it will be in any way decisive. it's all going to depend on -- i

think a lot on his delivery. he has to show warmth. he will of course intersperse interinjections. it was a challenge for him. he does well with riffing, and this is not a place you want to riff. >> the trump campaign is coming under a little fire tonight because paul manafort trump's campaign manager, was on another network, and the question was, hey, a lot of women hear a man criticizing a woman when trump criticizes hillary. how are you going to avoid that? and manafort's answer was well it depends on which woman you're talking about. there are many women in this country who feel they cannot afford their lives, that their husbands cannot afford to be paying for the family bills. and a lot of women -- some of us pay our bills too. >> talk about the importance of his daughter. this is a person who vouches for

donald trump. she's i know they're old school. i know that they talk like that. but i'm a young woman. i'm an empowered woman. i'm a mom with a career and a whole full spectrum human being, and i can tell you my dad is cool. he's okay. he gets it. so that's why she is such an important endorser for him because he is so whopper jawed with female voters. >> and with millennials, which she is. >> she is the vouch safe. she says i know my dad. he may not talk like you, and he may say things that sometimes you don't like. but when it comes down to action he does the right thing. >> in practice, he's been a supporter of women. >> i was just in washington seeing on the stage there when they carried away the lectern that everybody else had been using. and the floor opened up and a new one arose out of the floormentfloor. i is that rightstarted thinking could it be he will arrive by some technical gadget we haven't seen?

i don't think they will lower him, but maybe they will raise him from that trapdoor in the floor. wouldn't that be cool? >> never estimate what stirewalt calls the trump. let me ask you, brit. how do you think this republican party is doing by night four of this convention? >> well there's been a lot of coverage about the difficulties that conventions tend to have. i was on the floor of the democratic convention in 1980, jimmy carter's second convention and it was a mess. i mean almost from beginning to end, there was all this tension about whether ted kennedy would, you know lock arms with jimmy carter at the end and in the end he didn't although he ultimately did endorse him. and the balloon drop didn't even work at that convention. >> he of course went on to lose. >> yes, he did. this has gone much better than that. this has gone much better than that. some of the speeches have been pretty boffo, and the problems have been you know relatively speaking minor. ted cruz you know upstaged everybody for a while last night

and stepped on the speech that mike pence made and that eric trump made to some extent. but, you know i think that actually heightens interest for tonight because, you know people are kind of thinking there's something going on here. >> charles, speak to what happens with the convention bounds because of course trump may get one, but then we're all off to philly and the democrats have the advantage of going second since they're the party in power. >> look, tomorrow hillary will likely announce her vice presidential choice which will step on whatever story is coming out of tonight. i do think the cruz event is symbolic of something a little bit deeper. i think he committed political suicide in doing it but i think what he did do is he undid one of the major objectives of conventions. no longer they choose candidates. there's four days of propaganda for the party. but they are also [ inaudible ]

on the eve of the final campaign. and that i think was punctured not so much by cruz's speech but by what he represents. and in a minor way, what paul ryan and mitch mcconnell did in their speeches which were very tepid regarding trump himself, spoke of the party, the agenda, and the princeipleprinciples. so i think you've got this undercurrent where the unity think thing has not been achieved in a way they would have hoped. and that diminishes somewhat the bounce they might get. >> which is why trump has to finish the task of getting the republican party fully behind him, which he has yet to do and some of these events here illustrated that fact. >> there's a lot of red meat in his speech. he speaks to illegal immigration and the people who have been killed by illegal immigrants in the country. you can see melania trump and barron trump enter the arena.

trump has said publicly he never sees barron anymore because he's been out on the campaign trail so much. and melania trump is managing to raise their son. she's a full-time mom, and she's also a business woman, and she's been a very busy woman. she's two people have spent a lot of time together over the past year because donald trump has been on the road a lot. can you pick up on the vice presidential news we expect tomorrow stirewalt? >> it depends on how it goes tonight. if donald trump has a great night, if he kills it if everybody says my god, what a magnificent speech hillary clinton will announce her vice presidential pick tomorrow and she'll try to make as much news with it as she can so that she can put the ca bosch on trump. if trump has a bad speech she'll probably let that hang over for a day or so and let that run its course. >> it's worth keeping in mind it will be difficult for anybody else to step on anybody's bounce the way john mccain did on

barack obama's bounce. remember that elaborate event in denver with the greek columns and all of rest of it but he made such an unexpected announcement of such an interesting new face sarah palin at the time that it really did step all over. >> i'm going to stand you by brit so we can look at this video about donald trump. >> when he gets selected he will make our country great again. the story begins in new york in the early '70s. the city was on the verge of bankruptcy but donald looked across the river and saw not a troubled city but a city that symbolized america's greatness. and he was committed to making it great again. donald was born in queens to fred and maryanne trump, his fatherer was a builder and was the greatest influence in donald's life. he learned about leadership early at the new york military academy. he became captain of the baseball team and captain of the

acadets. he learns the business at his father's side while working at the wharton school of finance. after college, donald faced a decision. join his father in queens or dream big and make it in the greatest city in the world. the decision was easy. donald's first notable project was less about renovating a building than helping the city rediscover its soul. the once great commodore hotel languished in a run down neighborhood next to grant central station. the hotel was sold to the one developer who showed that he had the kind of drive, backing, and imagination that would be necessary. they chose donald trump. donald trump convinced the banks that they had a moral obligation to invest in new york and negotiated a tax abatement with the city jump-starting the project and creating new construction and hotel jobs. donald's striking new building revitalized the neighborhood.

>> he single handedly changed the grand central and midtown area by himself, by doing that project. >> before long more trump buildings helped change the skyline of new york. building in new york was not easy, but donald was never more frustrated than watching the city waste six years and $13 million trying to rebuild central park's wallman ice rink. donald was astounded. it took him only two years to build trump tower. so he stepped in and took over the project. he finished in three months and under budget. he took over another city project tied up in red tape since 1978. donald transformed a landfill into a championship public golf course and saved the city millions. donald will tell you his secret for success is a strong team. >> he just has that knack of finding the right person the qualified person who will really

excel in that position. >> like his father before him, he taught his children the business and now they're important members of the trump team. >> mr. trump and his children they love what they do and they are incredibly good at it. and i think that breeds the same type of passion for all those that work for him and are around him. >> from day one, my father trained us really well, whether it was in a boardroom, whether it was on a job site. we spent time learning the business, and he made sure we understood the value of a dollar. >> he'd send me renderings when i was a little girl with handwritten notes on them of buildings that were under construction or in the planning stage and say, i can't wait for you to grow up and help me build these. now it's fun to stand shoulder to shoulder with my father. >> over the years, donald has created tens of thousands of new jobs many of them for women. >> when i was building my building on park avenue and he was building the trump tower, he

had the first female construction superintendent on the job. >> when he made me general manager nine years ago, there were only three female general managers of five-star hotels in the whole of north america. >> after a long career accomplishing much of what others said couldn't be done donald trump has set his sights on a new rebuilding project. >> i am officially running for president of the united states and we are going to make our country great again. >> donald has said he admires people who put themselves directly on the line. today he's not only putting himself on the line but under fire. donald could have continued his successful career and spent more time with his family. but instead, he chose to run for president. >> he doesn't need to do this. it's what's been happening over the last eight years has been so tragic for the course of our

nation he simply had to do this. >> for my father to step away from a company that he's deeply committed to in favor of running for elected office was a real sacrifice for him. >> it's donald's nature to help others. >> a lot of times he comes across a story or meets a person that touches him, and he'll make sure that that person is taken care of privately for the rest of their lives. >> donald trump has a very big heart. when police officers or firefighters or even sanitation workers, correction officers i can remember a teacher got injured or died he would step forward, and he would make an anonymous contribution. >> for donald it all begins with our young people. >> donald trump believes that higher education and more job opportunities will enhance the quality of american living. >> donald is committed to protecting our families and keeping our cities safe. >> what i see out of donald

trump, it starts with a message. it starts with a positive message of respect for the american law enforcement officer. that's what we're not getting at right now. >> he is the one candidate, the non-politician who can fix our broken economy and get america working again. trump >> trump is a guy, brand-new, comes in shakes up washington changes policies on taxes and regulations and helps businesses and middle-income wage earners will get a raise for the first time in 15 years. >> donald will stand up for america. >> now trump understands negotiation. there's just no doubt about it. it's one of his great strengths, and we have been taken to the cleaners in world trade. we are losing jobs every year every day as a result of bad trade policies and bad trade agreements. >> while some politicians say our best days our past donald believes our best days are yet to come. >> ronald reagan was a