♪ tonight, it's lift off for the republican national convention. president truch firing up had his supporters, and excepting the nomination for the oval office. >> four more years. >> if you want to drive them crazy, you say 12 more years. >> the friends and family go on the offensive. and the unrest brewing off stage. how the president's handling of the covid-19 crisis in america may impact his chances for four more years. this is special edition of "nightline," your voice, your vote. starts right now. good evening, thank you for joining us, tonight, the republican be national convention commencing with the surprise appearance from president trump. accepting a second nomination for president. republican heavy weights and

family taking turns to make their case for the latest we go to abc's rachel scott, reporting from charlotte, north carolina, rachel? >> reporter: this was an unprecedented start to an unconventional convention. no long lines of republicans waiting to enter the convention center. no big crowds packing in to an arena, inside, 393 delegates, all met with temperature checks. they had to receive a negative covid-19 test before arriving. the excitement, met with a wave of disappointment t gop chair woman kicking off the roll call saying she wishes they could have had the large scale convention as planned. the president still trying to bring an element of surprise, making an appearance, on day one, and though he promised that this week would be full of optimism, he aired his grievances and painting a dark picture of what america would look like under abide

enadministration. >> and under way as the pandemic is going on, the country face as reckoning. >> reporter: president trump is crashing his own party. the president not content to wait. making appearances in north carolina. >> this has been a real love fest between north carolina and trump. right? >> reporter: and washington, on day one of the republican national convention. >> we have six incredible people who were held hostage by various countries. >> reporter: like the democrats last week, most of the presentation was scaled back, thanks to covid-19. monday night's theme, land of promise. >> from a global pandemic to the deaths of george floyd and breonna taylor, 2020 has tested our nation in ways we have not seen for decades. >> in much of the democratic party, it's fashionable to say that america is racist. that is a lie. america is not a racist country. >> reporter: the speaker lineup

including close trump associates and family. >> joe biden is the monster of the swamp, for the past half century he has been lurking around in there. if you are looking for hope, look to the man that none of them could do, and built the greatest country that we have seen, and president trump will do it again. >> reporter: a big difference from the scene in 2016, and a far cry from the raucous crowds that the president seems to love. earlier in the day, the president spoke to a crowd of support ers at a north carolina airport, packed shoulder to shoulder, largely without masks. >> i felt really an obligation to come here today to say hello to the people of north carolina. >> reporter: one of the first orders of convention business, delegates voted to formerly renominate the president and vice president pence. >> we are excited to nominate.

>> donald j trump. >> and vice president mike pence. >> for four more years. >> thank you for all you have done to make america great again. >> trump 2020! >> thank you very much. >> four more years, four more years! >> now, if you want to really drive them crazy, you say 12 more years. [ cheers and applause ] >> tonight opens as the administration is dealing with twin weather emergencies. massive wild fires in the west, and potentially devastating storms along the gulf coast. marco making land fall in louisiana tonight. and tropical storm laura expecting to slam in the same state in just two days. the president is also dealing with a major shake-up in his inner circle, his adviser is leaving the administration to spend more time with her family. >> this convention will come order! >> as a convention gets under way, the party taking on criticism of the president's handling of the covid-19 pandemic. so far, more than 177,000

americans have died from the virus. ♪ >> reporter: this week republicans are turning to every day americans to refocus the conversation. >> our business was on the brink. threatened to be shut down from losses that were not our fault. >> reporter: like tonya who said the federal money from the paycheck protection program saved her montana coffee shop. >> not only were we able to keep our employees, we were hiring ever since. >> reporter: the president is fighting a up hill battle. recent polls believe the pandemic response would be better under biden. >> what they are doing is using covid to steal an election. they are using covid to defraud the american people, all of our people of a fair and free election. >> here, here. >> we cannot do that. >> reporter: and abc's exclusive interview with kamala heirs aar and joe biden, said that the

president's leadership of was lacking. >> do you blame him for lives lost? >> i don't blame him for the crisis. i blame him for walking away without solutions. the idea of saying it's going to go away, or a miracle is going to happen, there's all talk about crazy things about bleach and using -- i mean, it's just, he has not listened to the scientists. >> are we going to have a president in place who is paying attention to the health and needs of the american people? or is he going to be manipulating the american people for his personal and political gain. >> reporter: the trump administration has taken heat for the handling of the ongoing racial issues. it sparked protests coast-to-coast after the death of george floyd and breonna taylor. and more protests in battleground state wisconsin, where this weekend, police shot an unarmed black man, jacob

blake, leaving him in serious condition. the rnc choosing to reframe the discussion around law and order. featuring mark and patricia mcclosky, the white st. louis capitol that brandished guns in a black lives matter march. >> you saw us on your screens and twitter feeds, we are not the type to back down, and thankfully neither is donald trump. >> reporter: the pair now facing felony weapons charges that the president has called a disgrace. >> no matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical democrats america. >> reporter: the rnc tapping florida father andrew pollock, whoses daughter was killed in the parkland school massacre. >> i believe the safety of our kids depends on whether this man is re-elected. i hope you join me in helping to make that happen. >> reporter: abc spent months with pollock for our film after

parkland. >> my daughter is on my shoulder all day long, telling me never to quit. we are going to fix it. we are going to fix it for these people. i focus all my energy on what i can do to prevent things like this from happening again. >> okay, everybody, girls look at me. big smiles. that's less painful when i do things like that than thinking about my daughter all the time and who could have been. >> reporter: the president is hoping voters will focus on his successes. >> trump's america is a land of opportunity. a place of promise. >> reporter: this type, without much of a party platform, the rnc marking a crucial moment for the president and the country. >> we live in a world had that only wants you to believe in the bad news. racially, economically and culturally polarizing news. the truth is, our nation our nan bends back toward fairness.

we are not fully where we want to be, but i thank god almighty, we are not where we used to be. >> reporter: for nightline -- our thanks, coming up, how did the first day of the rnc go? we break it down with the powerhouse political team. this selenite grey is so pretty isn't it? wow. jim could you pop the hood for us? there she is. -turbocharged, right? yes it is. jim, could you uh kick the tires? oh yes. can you change the color inside the car? oh sure. how about blue? that's more cyan but. jump in the back seat, jim. act like my kids. how much longer? -exactly how they sound. it's got massaging seats too, right? oh yeahhhhh. -oh yeahhhhh. visit the mercedes-benz summer event or shop online at participating dealers. get 0% apr financing up to 36 months on select new and certified pre-owned models. laso you can enjoy it even ifst you're sensitive. se. yet some say it isn't real milk. i guess those cows must actually be big dogs.

sit! i said sit! gillette proglide and proglide gel. five blades and a pivoting flexball designed to get virtually every hair on the first stroke, while washing away dirt and oil. so you're ready for the day with a clean shave and a clean face. (door bell rings) it's ohey. this is amazing. with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, are you okay? even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira can help get, and keep uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough. and it helps people achieve control that lasts. so you can experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure.

before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, control is possible. (cat(cat 2) frisklook!orld! (cat 1) they're ramping it up with real meat and fish! (cat 2) now, sauce it! (cat 1) friskies stuf'd & sauc'd! (cat 2) flavor filled! (cat 1) flavor grilled! (cat 2) it's mealtime magic! (vo) feed their fantasy. ♪ friskies ♪ (cat 1) look! friskies lil' soups and lil' grillers- tasty! try new nature's bounty stress comfort. three unique gummies for your unique needs. find peace. boost mood. sleep well. stress comfort comes naturally, only from nature's bounty

comes naturally, where you can find games, news and highlights. all in one place, right on your tv. the xfinity sports zone. use your voice to search every stat, standing and score. follow the teams you love. and, even get notifications with breaking news alerts and more. so you'll never miss an update. with the xfinity sports zone everybody wins.

now that's simple, easy, awesome. click, call or visit a store for details.

♪ nightline, your voice, your vote. now, lindsay davis. with our powerhouse political roundtable. good evening everybody, we are joined now by chris christie, the former governor of new jersey, rahm emanuel and republican strategist, sarah fagan, we have the st. louis capitol that pointed guns outside of their home at black lives matterer prote eer that donald trump is the defender of western civilization, there was a lot of playing to the base.

do you think this was an effective strategy for opening night, governor? >> no, i think the most effective speech of the night by far was tim scott. and i think it was effective not only because the content that tim spoke about was reaching out to people beyond just the base of our party. but it remained consistent with the principals that the party has stood for, for a long time. but most importantly it was authentic. tim scott came across as just who he is. which is a person who got raised in a family that cared about certain values, said he didn't, was not always on a straight line up. talked about failing out of school. focusing on the wrong things. but that he came back and built himself up to be a united states senator from south carolina. that's the kind of hopeful thing you want to hear in this campaign along with those principals that he talked about that he thinks president trump will stand for and joe biden

won't. so, i think he was by far. it was a great way to end the night. you want to end strong and ended strong with tim scott. some of the earlier stuff, i could have done without. >> rahm, this is a moment that you agree with the governor? >> do we have to do it on tv? >> yes! yes! >> tim scott stood out because everyone else was carnage and rant and rage, and it was all base talk and that's all it did. tim scott tried to make the party go beyond the base to a more expansive note. and it stood out and it was a great speech, but everything else proceeding it was so narrow cast what i find interesting about the thing, is everything that they are talking about is happening right now under donald trump. crime in the streets, donald trump is the president of the united states. rage and violence is happening. donald trump, loss of jobs, donald trump. it not like a future they are painting, it's this reality right now, it's why his re-election is in trouble.

>> tim scott criticized biden for his policies, you did not hear much about racial justice but you heard a lot about law and r. ho thead i democrats? >> by not addressing it at all. tim scott did not talk about why so many black people don't support the person he supports. because he doesn't want to acknowledge the amount of hate and racist division that trump has engendered, the things that he has said out of his mouth and the things around him that are being said. he is not talking about the death of black men at the hand of police officers. i would love to live in tim scott's world where you can go from cotton to congress. bought there's black people being shot in the streets that do not have that perspective. if it was the president's objective to get more black people in the tent, i don't think he did that. >> how do you think the president effectively pivots ask the incumbant? >> he needs to layout an agenda

for the next four years. we will hear it thursday night. and i hope for the sake of his election and the party, that he does. that but here's the thing that i think is often under reported about trump. we get very focused on the persona of trump. he has at times said divisive things and gets on twitter and vents his emotion. there's a flip side to that personality which is he is also a bull dozer, when he wants to get something done, he gets it done. maybe sometime s people don't like what he says because he is blunt and district. but he has a way of getting what he wants done and he should talk more about the things he is successful at. >> it can be difficult to oust the incumbent, the last to do it was bill clinton. rahm, if you were talking to biden, what would you tell him how to exploit the coronavirus,

the president's weakness? >> you focus on the lack of administration and the consequence of to your life, job, health care in in -- in the middle of the public health care crisis, he is trying to take the health care away. at the end of the day, when a president is running for re-election, everything else aside, do you want to stay this course, or do you want to get off this road on another road. at the end of the day, it's either stay, or change. and right now, whether it's a covid, the economy, or the things going on in society, nothing calls for four more years of the same. had they are trying to get people to look through the rear view mirror as if it's a projection forward. look what we did before covid came here. i don't think a retrospective election is going to work. and i came up under bill clinton, who's motto was don't stop thinking about tomorrow. america is about the future. >> one of the other good moments of the evening, besides tim scott's speech was early on, there was a video on about all

the americans coming together to produce ppe, you saw shots and images of ge workers building vept la ventilators, it was all about trump talking about america and the americans that came together to help their fellow citizens to help the fighting of the disease. we need to see more of that. >> retrospective discussion is only important in that it validates his future promises. so when he says, i will build the economy back again, people are more likely to believe that because they saw what he did in the first part of his term precovid. and when we talked about racial justice tonight, this was the president that got criminal justice reform and a big step towards criminal justice reform done. and that is going to disproportionately impact folks who have been in prison and are going to get it of prison

earlier now or avoid prison all together because of the reforms. so, the retrospective nature of this is important when he makes future promises on thursday night. >> right now, the retrospect is being done, give him credit, not for the credit for the perspective of the future. there's no the next sentence. >> that's what i'm saying, this retrospective portion of it is only valuable to him -- >> i cannot agree. >> -- it's only valuable to him on thursday night if he does what sarah talked about and i talked about before, which is layout the vision for the next four years. >> if you were to send president trump another memo, we will see if he uses it or not. what would be your advice as far as how he reached beyond the base? >> you have to talk about bigger things for the country that you want to help make happen over the next four years, that's the way to do it, lindsay. elections are always about tomorrow. rahm is right, they are always about the future, they are not about the past. >> that is all the time that we

have. thank you so much to our political team. we will send it back to you, byron. >> thank you, lindsay. we will be right back with the final note. i had this hundred thousand dollar student debt. two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in debt. ah, sofi literally changed my life. it was the easiest application process. sofi made it so there's no tradeoff between my dreams and paying student loans. student loans don't have to take over for the rest of your life. thank you for allowing me to get my money right. ♪ cancer won't wait. it won't wait for appointments to open up or test results to come back. that's why at cancer treatment centers of america, our world-class experts give you the care you need, when you need it. with appointments in as little as 24 hours and rapid test results to get you a personalized treatment plan.

because cancer isn't just what we do, it's all we do. call today. appointments available now. so we collaborate ♪ ocean spray works with nature every day to farm in a sustainable way ocean spray works with nature every day start your day with secret. secret stops sweat 3x more than ordinary antiperspirants. with secret, you're unstoppable. no sweat! try it and love it or get your money back.

it's more than just fast. it keeps all your devices running smoothly. with built-in security that protects your kids... ...no matter what they're up to. it protects your info... ...and gives you 24/7 peace of mind... ...that if it's connected, it's protected. even that that pet-camera thingy. [ whines ] can your internet do that? xfinity xfi can because it's... ...simple, easy, awesome. [ barking ]

♪ i got it all from you ♪ i'm always pushing through ♪ i know we'll make it to the finish line ♪ ♪ i know you're waiting on the other side ♪ ♪ i'm like you on-demand glucose monitoring. because they're always on. another life-changing technology from abbott. so you don't wait for life. you live it.

♪

the first night of the rnc complete and taking the stage tomorrow, first lady milania trump, senator rand paul and two more of the president's children. that is "nightline" for this evening, catch the full episodes on hulu, catch you back here same time tomorrow. thank you for the company, america, goodnight. ♪ from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live," with guest host, david spade. tonight, dan levy and music from elle king and now, here's david spade. hey, hey, it's spade, man, welcome to "jimmy kimmel live',

i'm your guest host, david spade. or as people on the street call me from behind, edie falco. sometimes from the front too. i'm filling in for jimmy, who is taking the summer off to talk to a customer service representative at comcast. this guy's been on hold since march. two for two. by the way, before we go any further, just so you know, matt damon is not waiting around to be on jimmy's show every night, and he never was. he's not getting bumped because they ran out of time. he and jimmy are good friends, and there's no feud whatsoever. it's all completely made up. great. what else can i burn to the ground? guillermo's not even mexican, he's polish. real name is igor kowalski. it's a web of lies, guillermo! how are you doing man? >> guillermo: pretty good. >> david: how do i even know if that's true? anyway, we will come back to you, maybe after the show is over. at the start of the pandemic, i was hosting my own show on cody