♪ >> democrats unite and sound a warning. a virtual convention concludes with urgency. >> all elections are important. .e know in our bones this one is more consequenti senator harris: donald trump's failure of leadership has cost lives and livelihoods. president obama: good evening, everybody. >> and a plea from a former president. president: oban't let them take away our democracy. senator sanders: nero fiddled while rome burns. trump golfs. president trump: the only way they are going to win is by a rigged election. >> next. gtannouncer: this is "wash

week." corporatfunding is provided by -- ♪ >> when the world gets complicad, a lot gs through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor ovice and recommendations your life. that's fidelity wealth management. ♪ announcer: additional funding is provided by -- the estate of arnold adams and koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities,r the coion for public, broadcasti and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ce a♪gain, from washingto moderator robert costa. robert: good evening, d welcome. convention revealed a partyonal united against president trump, the bitterrimary fights from months ago seem like ancient

history, andt is easy to see why. amid a pandemic and awi showdown the postal service, democrats view this president as acr threat to american dey itself, and at this crossroads, they just want their new presidential nominee, joe biden, and his running mate, senator kamala harris, to win. for biden, it was a chance for him to reintroduce him to americans and to set the stakes. let's take a listen. vice president biden: the rrent president has cloaked america in darkness for much too long. here right now, i give you my word. if you entrust me with the presidency, i will draw on the best of us, n the worst. i will be an ally of the light, prosecutor, spoke about herorr history and a reckoning. senator harris: let's be clear.a

there is nine for racism. we have got to do the work. for george floyd, for bree anna taylor -- brioni taylor, for the lives of too many others to name. we have got to do the work to lfill that promise of eq justice under law. robert: beyond those speeches, former president barack obama the former leader of the free world warned that american democracy is at risk. esident trump: they are counting on your cynicism. n- president obama: they are counting your cynicism. they are hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote and to convince you that your vote does not matter. that is how they win. thats how a democracy withers, until it is no democracy at all. robert: a lot there, so let's gerightjo to it. ing me are four terrific

reporters. yamiche alcindor, white houseen correspofor the pbs newshour , allly ball, national polit correspondent, for time magazine ks, hallie j, chief white house correspondent and anchor for msnbc live with hallie jackson , and philip rucker, white housf bureau chi the washington post. molly, you wrote a big story for "time" about biden. did he meet this moment after dedes in politics? molly: you know, it almost seems like the moment metri himt? his strengths as a politician have always beenmp abouthy, storytelling, poetry, comforting pe ithnat timesf might not have right vibe, say, four years ago, but i think it was very fitting, and his speech was clear. it was powerful. it w empathetic, and heasrew

that convery effectively. robert: and, molly, a quick follow-up. you have written thisat g biography about speaker pelosi. when you speak to sources in her world and other veteran ddemocrats this speech help carry it across the line this fall? molly: yes. i think the feeling among democrats, broadly, including on ntpitol hill, is that this was an effective conn. i think there was a collective sigh of relief,wh frankly this was over, because it was such a daunting task. nobody knewow it was going to go. nobody knew if this virtual convention thing would work or if the speeches would hit the notes, and there was a feeling that it was very well choreographed, and it held people's attention probably in a s.y that live conventions have not in recent ye robert: so, philip rucker, what such a dramatic session?this in

philip: we have seen a lot of speees that obama has given. i covered the obama white house for a while and have never seen him address one lik in his voic. he was delivering an urgent warning to all americans basically saying this is not a normal election. this is not a choice between two ideological visions ialn about whose care plan ietter or who will do what do your taxes. out whether you want the americabans i demitocracy to c, whether you wan ts country to remain the country it has been for so many yrs, and effectively saying four more years of donald trump would seriously jeopardize all of that. ro yamiche, years ago, we ht senator bernie sande and his supporters cause a ruckus, frustrated with the dnc and hillary clinton's campaign. this time around, a sensey. of un why was that? same reasons that phil just laid

out. democrats feel a real sense of emergencyhapresident trump is dangerous to america and that the future of america -- president trump isomeone that democrats see as people in some ways. they do not use that word, but when you listened to what they were saying, the eye via osu lightness v darkness, goodness versusenad, d versus not, joe biden being a good man, they were essentially making the case that job and also doesn't have the decency to really work with america in this moment, in this pandemic. i think i was most strucky the fact that michelle obama was talking about this idea that yod shtill be going high, but when you saw democrats and saw what they were talking about, especially her famous line "when they go low, we g high," she was also saying at the se time he cannot grow into the job, is somewhat not fit for the

office, and we have to get rid of him. making this kind of argument from the republican side, saying that joe biden is someone who would turn america into venezuela, kind of talking the same dire consequences and the same dire rhetoric that democrats were doing. robe: hallie, welcome back, not only to "washington week" but also now back at the white house. when you a talking at the white househow do they see this convention, and how does the shape how they prepare for their own convention next week? hallie: yes. great question, bob. great to be back. thank you for having me. i tnk it caed be su up, the attitude among the aides and advisers and sources close to the president that i have been talking to, dooand gloom or dower and sour, ase heard from kelly and conway. people close to the president

are trying to paint the democratic convention as one that, in theiriew, was negative for the most part, not entirely, but fairly negative as it portrayed the vision for america for the future because therean were so attacks on the president and on his character and on his judgment and the policies and whatras happened ohe past four years. they are trying to say thet next week,resident is going to be more heful and uplifting. that said, this is still the american carnage president. focusing othgshe s lteike of speakers intended to kind of fan the flames of the culture wars we have seenround the country. i think there is an acknowledgment around the president that joe biden did what he needed to do insp his ch, but at this point, they are tryin dg raw mentioned, yame ticket if theyinould be socialism, right, and to highlight that and bring that

home next week, expect beakers who are from some of those places, venezuela, cuba, talking about the dangers and perils socialism to really make that message. robert: still, what about senator harris? about her being vp? house they say she will be helpful to them in michin, pennsylvania, wisconsin, in terms of getting the democratic coalition engized, and she is ready to take on vp pence in that debe. philip: when senator hris except the vice presidential nomination, the first asian american, bck women to be on that ticket, so she can make a difference in those three states, u mentioned, because the large number of black voters in detroit, the biggest city in michigan, and in

philadelphia, pennsylvania, and in milwaukee, wis she can just make a difference there and turn out the vote in greater numbers than hillary clinton did in 2016, tse three stat could be off the board for donald trump, very much hope to buy a biden/harris win e is also a formidable baiter and formidable prosetor. that is her training as a lawyer, and tre is a lot anticipation on the democratic side for the debate she is going to have with pence, and i know pence and his team at the various trump advisers are goie to preparing for whatever is going to come the vice president's way from senator harris when they are on the stage together. robert: you have covered hderis and when they make their case, will it be on policy, asell, or is this mostly about character and conduct? >> well, if it is continuity with t convention, it wl mostly be about character. on they agenda over thephasis

course of this convention, in part because democrats are trying to send the message that this is a really big tent, write, attend who were brought together by trump, but nothing else is going to bring together hn kasich and a bernie sanders, for example, so that is kind of it,rying to convince people that they are sort of broadly palatable. it does have echoes of that 2016, "stronger together," which got criticism for being vague and inspirational and not communicating to people a policy agenda, particularly an economic the biden campaign seems to have made is that you can still seles thatge with a different messenger and with trump now in the white house with three years ving elapsed with americans feeling so pessimistic about the direction of t country because of the pandemic and because of so they are going to go out there and sell that aspirational, thatra cer,

message, i think, muchore than they are going to talk about specific policie robert: hallie, when this convention wrapped, in battle postmaster general lewis to joy was --louis dejoy was testifyi. >> you would give us your word under oath that you will not do anything for politic reason or at the suggestion of any administration officials. mr.ejoy: the leadershipco is itted to having a successful election, and the insinuation eois, quite frankly, outr. robert: the democratic-controlled house will return to look at providing billions i funding to the ency. hallie, what is the whi house view of what the postmaster did, and what does it mean for this election? hallie: yes, it is something

that a lot of people are watching, bob, and yes, this happened on the senate side, and on monday, the house its chance to talk with the postmaster general. one of thengost interes things about this was when they were watching the conversations that louis dejoy said he did or did not have with people like trump and like tasury secretary steven mnuchin. dejoy said he spoke with trump in a solely can graduation all -- a solely congratulation numer -- way. they want to know if the president directed dejoy to take some of these steps to that -- that created problems. the whole thing, remember, is people like the post office.e people like getting their mail and their paychecksirnd t prescriptions and everything else that comes in the mail, which is why it isrical not just from the election standpoint ahe balloting

standpoint but people's lives and livelihoods, as way, committing to eediting election ballots, similar to what happened in 2018. % will be processed between one to five days, a commitment that he made. robert: hallie -- you made a great point, yamiche, about expediting the ballots, but he said under intense pressure from democrats, dejoy refused to unwind various steps like the mailboxes and sorting machines, so still a lot of unanswered questions. yamiche: well, one of the biggest questists after post general dejoy announced he would be postponing more changes until after the election was what damage has already been done. if you speak to some postal service worhers, are some good stories in the "los angeles times" thiseek, talking about that there are those who set the mail sorting machines were critical in terms of having the mail processed in a timely way,

and now there are some in chaos, you are seeing flowers and baby chickseie in th mail and all sorts of things, chaos, workers who are overworked but not getting paid for overtime. there is all of these kinds of images that are out there, and the postmaster general was saying tod that, no, nothing that i did has hurt the post office, but ts syste has been struggling for a long time, but he is saying, look, i am not going to putho mailboxes back. i am not puttinghose sorting machines back. atd this is we saw today, a group of at least six attorneys general filing a lawsuit, saying that what dejoy is doing is against federal law, and what he is doing is particularly trying to slow down the mail. when he was testifying in the senate today, hth said tha was outrageous and that that is not what he was doing, not acting politically, t you can

see the states are gearing up fo:a fight. robe phil, provides more of a bigger picture. you have written a long story for "the washington post" about how the presidents battles with the post office go back to early 2017. philip: that is right. pretty soon after the prison came into law office --nto office come he told his friends that part of the reason he lost the popular vote was becau of widespread fraud with mail in balloting. that, of course, is not true. there is no evidence to support that. e reason he lost the popular vote is that 3 million more americans voted for hillary clinton then donald trump. nonetheless, it has stuck with the president, and he has been reeling about the p service to his advisors for the last 3.5 years, getau loser b of its chronic financial problems. also seizing on it, by the way, as a way of retaliating against jeffezos, the billionaire founder of amazon who, also,

full disclosure, owns "the washington post," who has become somewhat of a foe because of the president's displeasure with the "post" calling the amazon arrangement with the postal scaice to ship packages a even though white house officials have tried to explain to the president there is no such scam and that the postal service completes for an -- mpetes for an wants amazon business. he wants to politicize his personal power over these last 3.5 years. robert: that word "scam, and what we hear it a lot from president trump. reaven says. we wonder about president trump accepting the nomination from the white liuse. let'en to what he said in that key battleground state, my home state o pennsylvania, a preview of what is to come. president trump: if you want a vision of your life under a biden presidency, think of the

smoldering ruminants -- ruins in bloodstained sidewalks of chicago, and imagine the mayhem coming to your town and every single town in america. robert: hallie, i asked you about the convention on theop site earlier in our convention, but as you look ahead and talk to your sources, to phil's po int, will it be a litany of points and fights? hallie: you have advisors saying it is going to be an uplifting look, and optimistic look of what the presidents vision is for the next four years, but people involved in theiy, convention, people who are at the center of some of the most controversial moments over the last years, including the couple in st. louis who went viral in that moment who, as you remember, pulled a weapon on a group of black lives protesters

ha st. louis, it is that kind of themewe are going to see several nights of the next week. at the same time, you have the president who is extremely focused on the optics of this, so it is as much about what he says as how he says it, and you know as well as yone else that he is focused on the lighting and the angles and the tv production ement of it yet he is a reality tv presis nts, and thiske on the -- unlike cany othervention because this is virtual. nce toesident's reluc rap that in person convention, he has waited until the last minute to do that. the rnc hasad less time to plan for these virtual elements than the dnc, b. this is partly why you will see more live speeches. that is because the president also wants to have the element of surprise and once to be captivating, keep the audience engaged, and lrps of ses along the way, as well. robert: molly, what do they say

to you? are they embracing this approach? molly: well, they do not really have a choice, right? it is donald trump's party, and the democrats have had this elaborately orchestrated,im ccably choreographed, planned for months to be virtual from the very start, and once event started getting canceled around the country, whereas the republican party, their plan from day one has been that we are going to do what the president would like, and that has changed, not only to the president sms -- the president's whims but the needs about covid, because as hallie time they have had les plan. and republins have been feeling more fatalistic about their chances in this election, at least the ones who live in the reality-based community, and they are prensy appe

about this convention, as well, because you never know exactly what trump is going to say, and because he has never been comfortable inr that regis of optimism. he has always been more fosed on fear and on this theme of anarchists andioters inhe streets and convincing people that a vote for his opponent would be unsafe. so i think lot of my yepublican friends at least are not exacooking forward to what is going to come in the week ahead. robert: yamiche, what is in your notebook? yamiche: i am watching for exactly what hallie said, this idea that if you talk to advisors for the president, they will tell you t gt he isng to look hopeful and talk about the economy and talk about turning the corner from the umpandemic, but president as hallie said, he lives inhis ecosystem where he likes to talk about fear and cultural it is where he thrives and where

he has kept his cultural bays close to him. i was struck with his event in pennsylvania, saying, "they will cancel your way of life. family."sh you and your he wants to make pple afraid, that every place in america is going to turn into the oodstained streets of chicago, hoping that people will beed sco mail in their votes or show up in person for him, so to turn that corner and have a little bit of hope and optimism, but i should say that docts, whil sounding may be more hopeful, they did say this was a life or death election,hat this was not something we have seen in our lifetime. robert: so what is the strategy inside the white house and inside t trump campaign? trump, bob, is if the election were held today, he almost to the data that we have all been consuming, so one convenext week is his best

opportunity right now to try to reframe thisac to try to remind voters about why they might be incned to support him for a second time, talking to republican strategists today who say the best thing the president can do is focus ono the ec record before the pandemic and try to make the case to voters that he is better equipped than biden to rebuild the economy, to keep regulations loose, to help job groh, and to lo for ways to add to his coalitionnstead of focusing on grievances, instead of riling up his base, look for ways to bring people back into the full. we saw that strategy play out on the democratic side, where there was a real effort this week to expand the ten so to speak, and we will see if trump tries to do that next week. robert: hallie, we have about 20 secos. tolear out the reporting, is president -- is mr. penn safe on the ticket? hallie: yes.

he is the guy giving the remarks wednesday evening. robert: i just wanted to check with one of the top reporters from the country, because id he he. but we will take hallie jackson 's iord f we will leave it there. what a week,onvention week. really appreciate everyone. yamiche alcindor, hallie jackson , molly ball, and philip rucker, and you, thank for stopping by. check us out online and als on social media. we will talk more about the convention and the prisons plans for next week. lots to discuss. -- and the president's plans for next week. lots to discuss. i'm robert costa. good night, from washington. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org

♪ unannouncer: corporate fng for "washington week" is ovided by -- ♪ >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes thugh your mind. with fidelity wealthnt managea dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. ♪ that's fidelity wealth management. ♪ ddannouncer:ional funding is proesded by -- thte of arnold adams, newko -- and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in o communities, the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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