never thought i would say in my life. nightline is next. goodnight. tonight, the president making his case for reelection, the never-before political stage on the south lawn, mincing no words. going after his democratic rival, joe biden. >> joe biden may claim he is an ally of the light, but when it comes to his agenda, biden wants to keep us completely in the dark. >> and presenting his vision for a country facing unprecedented crisis. a pandemic, a recession. and a racial divide. this special edition of "nightline," your voice, your vote, starts right now. good evening, everyone, thanks so much for joining us. tonight, the grand finale for the gop convention. the president making his prime time pitch for a second term. did his message stick the landing? for the latest we go to abc's terry moran.

>> linsey, what a night. i think the most important thing i take away from it was the backdrop, the use of the white house as a political prop in a way no president could have imagined. donald trump doing it boldly and defiantly and it looked great. the speech itself he gave went on a long time, and he is an excellent communicator, extemporaneously when he's riffing and kind of lacerating his opponents, reading the crowd, throwing out the red meat, reading a 75 minute kind of meandering speech off a teleprompter is not his strong suit, but his image reminded me of other countries at the presidential palace, not the white house, but walking down the balcony to receive the plaudits of his people. that's one of the things we haven't done before. it was new. and i think the white house was the fault line tonight in the country. there on the south lawn, president trump and his

supporters and outside, the north lawn, on pennsylvania avenue and beyond, protesters, stirred by the demands for racial justice and other issues in this country. this is an extensional election for both sides, and you could see it there at the white house. >> now for the highlight the s e night we go to janai norman. >> i profoundly accept this nomination for president of the united states. >> reporter: on the final night of his party's convention, the president made his case directly to the american people. >> in a new term as president, we will again build the greatest economy in history. we will defend america against all threats and protect america against all dangers. >> reporter: introduced by his daughter and adviser, ivanka. >> donald trump came to washington for one reason and one reason alone, to make

america great again. >> reporter: trump went live from the south lawn of the white house, in front of nearly 1900 people, no social distancing and minimal masks, insisting he's made america great again. from the economy. >> within three short years, we built the strongest economy in the history of the world. >> reporter: to immigration. >> today america's borders are more secure than ever before. >> reporter: trump pulling no punches. >> this election will decide whether we save the american dream or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny. >> reporter: especially against his democratic opponent joe biden. >> joe biden is not a savior of america's soul. he is the destroyer of america's jobs and, if given the chance, he will be the destroyer of american greatness. >> reporter: the speech capping

off a week of warnings about what would happen to the country if joe biden wins. >> it's almost like this election is shaping up to be church, work and school. versus rioting, looting and vandalism. >> human sex drug traffickers should not be allowed to cross our border. >> biden has changed his principles so often he no longer has any principles. >> reporter: all week, the tone of the republican convention emphasized law and order as a paramount issue. >> we will have law and order on the streets for every american of every race and creed and color. the hard truth is you won't be safe in joe biden's america. >> reporter: biden, who had been laying low during the convention emerged on cable tv to hit back. >> the problem we have right now is we're in donald trump's america. and what's he doing? he's pouring gasoline on the fire. this happens to be donald trump's america, donald trump's america.

>> reporter: as unrest washed over the streets of kenosha, wisconsin after the police shooting of jacob blake, shot seven times in the back by an officer. blake told authorities he had a knife which was found on the floor of his car. blake is now reported to be paralyzed. the president never mentioning blake's name or the fight for racial justice. instead, calling out the recent unrest in cities. >> in the strongest possible terms, the republican party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in democratic-run cities all, like kenosha, minneapolis, portland and new york. >> reporter: the latest shooting of a black man by police officers further rattling the country during a summer marked by unrest. the nba staging an unprecedented walkout during the playoffs, led by the milwaukee bucks.

the season initially appeared to be in jeopardy as star lebron james initially demanded to cancel all remaining games. he says this fight is personal. >> having two boys of my own, and me being african-american in america and to see what continues to happen with the police brutality toward my kind. it's very troubling. >> reporter: the players did agree to continue playing as other sports leagues joined in their protest. the convention coming amidst a slew of crises. even as the coronavirus has killed more than 180,000 people, the president and his supporters, attempting to paint the response as a success. >> we are delivering life-saving therapies and will produce a vaccine before the end of the year, or maybe even sooner. [cheers and applause] we will defeat the virus, end the pandemic and emerge stronger

than ever before. [ applause ] >> reporter: trump touting his pre-pandemic economic record. >> we enacted the largest package of financial relief in american history, thanks to our paycheck protection program, we have saved or supported more than 50 million american jobs. that's one of the reasons that we're advancing so rapidly with our economy. >> reporter: yet 16 million people are now unemployed. small businesses are shuttering, and millions of families are facing economic uncertainty. still, the president's laser-focussed message, america can only be great if he remains president. >> and on november 3rd, we will make america safer. we will make america stronger. we will make america prouder.

and we will make america greater than ever before. [ applause ] >> reporter: now with the conventions wrapped up, biden and trump have 67 days to make their case to voters. the candidates will face off in the first presidential debate in just four weeks. for "nightline," i'm janai norman. >> our thanks to janai. and coming up, breaking down the night with our 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.

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we're joined now by chris christie, rahm emmanuel, yvette simpson and sarah fagen. just a little while ago, president trump gave his acceptance speech for the nomination. governor christie, you said what he had to do was deliver on who do in the second term, did he do

it? >> he did it pretty well. he went through a laundry list of things he wanted to get done in the next four years. the thing he did best in the speech was the contrast of what he says is his vision for america and joe biden's vision for america. that's what he's got to get it down to. he's got to get it down to a binary choice between those two visions. if it's a referendum on the incumbent president he will lose. if it's a binary choice we have a ball game. >> rahm, what's your reaction to the president's speech? >> first of all, i think he ran out of time, ran out of ideas, ran out of gas, and i don't think it actually accomplished the goal. it's not going to be a morning in america like ronald reagan and bill clinton. building a bridge to the 21st century, the other model is the bush 43 and barack obama model, which is make this a choice. i think the choice that he talked about, the problem with the argument is everything he's talking about joe biden is

happening on his watch, that's where it falls apart. i still think also his major challenge is that covid is such a dominant factor in people's life. he's trying to push it aside and it's not going to work. i will say this. sarah and i were talking on one side note. a bit of therapy. we both worked at the white house. this was, you knew when you drove through the gates, there was a chill. >> hmm. >> when you worked there, this was something special. it was. and this was a debasing of the white house. that south lawn is where yasser arafat and yitzhak rabin signed a peace agreement. the south lawn is a cherished area. the grounds are cherished, and i don't think this, this could have been done at an air hangar on a stop in the last week of the campaign, and to take the south lawn, the white house as a fixture and say this is the people's house and i'm here and you're not, tells you something about a values system that i think is wrong and i hope we

return to something, even while we were partisans, we knew we were for america, and this is not that. i feel better, thank you for that. >> thank you for sharing with us, rahm. the president and the speakers this week have said this week the only way the economy can get back to where we were pre-covid, he says is to reelect him. do you think he made a convincing case? >> i think he made a very convincing case on his success as a leader in a strong economy. he went back to that and talked about goals in a second term, creating 10 million jobs, putting more women back in the workforce. putting a woman on the moon for the first time. he had some big ambitions. you know, in terms of what i loved about the speech i thought he made the case against joe biden. what i didn't like about the speech is i think he spent too much time making the case against joe biden. he had a whole litany of speakers before him who did that. i could have used more on the next agenda.

>> now trump doubled down on his law and order messaging tonight, talking about the ongoing racial unrest in american cities, placing most of the blame on democratic leaders. governor christie, do you think this line of attack is fair? >> listen, i think what he's looking at, and i would say this back in minnesota. i think the inaction by the governor of minnesota, the fact that he was awol after the george floyd murder set a chain of events into motion that could have been contained then and was not. and i believe the same thing about portland. now, you know, i've seen very effective democratic mayors in major cities on issues of crime. and there are, i've seen republican mayors who've been infective. i don't think it's a matter of partisanship but effectiveness. i think the governor of minnesota failed the state and the country. and i said so at the time.

i think the leadership in portland, both the mayor and governor of oregon failed their state and country as well. i think it's an issue of effectiveness. whether they are ineffective leaders. that's the difference. >> there was a lot of will he or won't he say the name of jacob blake. what does that say? >> he has not recognized the fact that covid has hit black americans more than any other demographic. say that. he also cannot recognize that this man was shot in the back seven times by an officer. in front of his children. and he says he cares about people. he cannot say the word black lives matter. we don't believe him. i think the big thing i want to highlight, linsey. we see the same thing from donald trump. lies, blame, he fuels division and speaks with hyperbole.

and we got a lot of that tonight. he is the most lying president ever. over 20,000 documented misleading claims since he's been president. thousands of them in the midst of the covid crisis. i also want to call out the disrespect of having an event like that in the midst of covid, no social distancing, no masks, saying to the rest of the world, guess what, you got to live your life this way, this isn't real to me. >> joe biden said today this is all happening in donald trump's america. do you think that line of attack is going to work, governor? >> i think, you know, that's what joe biden, if i were him, that's what i would do, i mean, when you're the incumbent, the good things that happen on your watch, you get credit for and the bad things that happen you get blamed for. that's why i think again that trump's task is to say, what are you going to do the next four years?

and i do think the use of the agreement he signed with senator sanders and all that goes with it will be a really deep-well of places for president trump to be able to draw that contrast. if i were in joe biden's position i would do it myself. whether it's effective or not, what will it be? if joe biden's successful it's a referendum on the president and his first four years and that means joe biden will win. if it's a binary choice, then donald trump has a very good chance. >> one of the things i was really struck by during the entire speech was the backdrop of sirens. now i don't know what the sirens were for, if it was for the protests, blockades around the white house, but you could hear them. they were subtle. and it really stuck with me. i'm thinking, on one hand, the president's defending law enforcement. and i liked a lot of what he said. and i think most americans agree with what he said. he did call for law enforcement

that abuses their power to be prosecuted. i thought that was an important point and something he should have said. he did not talk about the racial unrest. people who work for donald trump who heard that speech and picked up that subtlety were thinking something very different. we have two sides in america, and they heard something very different in the backdrop of this speech. >> last word to you, rahm. you can respond to that, but i also want to pivot also to what joe biden needs to do now. >> continue to make the case that this is, if you're happy with the way things are going, you're going to vote with stay the course. there is nothing on either the economy, race relations, covid public health that says we're what we're doing today is working. this is a referendum on the president and his four years. i don't think he's defended those four years. i would take the case to the american people that this guy needs to be fired, because he has failed on the number one goal of keeping you safe, on your health or your security. >> and that will be the last word from our political round

table. thank you so much for staying late with us for the last two weeks. we're going to miss you. we appreciate the wit and wisdom. we'll be back with a final note. wit and wisdom. we'll be back with a final note.

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with the republican and democratic national conventions now over, the political stage is set for the next big showdown to the presidential and vice presidential debates. that is "nightline" for tonight. thanks so much for watching, i'll see you on abc news live. i'm linsey davis, goodnight. live. i'm linsey davis, goodnight. >> dicky: from hollywood, it's jimmy kimmel live, with guest host, lil rel. tonight, yvonne orji and music from riley. and now, here's lil rel. >> what's going on, i'm your guest, lil rel, i am hostin' a talk show. this is on my bucket list of things i wanted to do in my

career. this is amazing. one of my other bucket list things was going to the oscars. but let me tell you something. i'm going to tell you, at first i wasn't invited. jimmy made sure i got there. you got me to the oscars, and you got me a hosting job. but this is really dope, we got this airbnb, this is where we at. this is not the studio, i thought that's what it would be, a live studio audience and talking to people, but nah, i'm in this random airbnb in west hollywood. and, with a family still here, because you know, we all quarantined. people are still renting out airbnbs in quarantine, but they still there, too. it's just a whole weird situation. but that's not the weirdest thing going on, to be honest with you, the republican national convention is going on, and that is a very weird