♪ >> democrats unite and sound a warning. a virtual convention concludes with urgency. >> all elections are important. we know in our bones this one is more consequential. senator harris: donald trump's failure of leadership has cost enpresidt obama: good evening, everybody. >> and a plea from a former president. ent obama: don'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. announcer: this is "washington week." corporatfunding is provided

by -- ♪ complicated, a lot gs through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to l yoe. that's fidety wealth management. ♪ announcer: additional funding is provideby -- the estate of arnold adams and koo and patricia yuen through the yuenda foon, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ once again, from washington, moderator robert cos bert: good evening, d welcome. this week'sc democrational convention revealed a party united against president trump, the bitter primary fights from months ago seem like ancient

ndhistory, it is easy to see why. amid a pandemic an a showdown with the postal service, democrats view this president as a threat to american democracy itself, and at this crossroads, they just want their new presidential nominee, joe biden, and his running mate, senator kamala t harriwin. for biden, it was chance for him to reintroduce him to let's take a lto set the stakes. vice president biden: the current president has cloaked america in darkness for muchoo long. here right now, i give you my word. ifou entrust me with the presidency, i will draw on the best of us, not the worst. i will be an ally of the light, not the darkness. robert: senator harris, a former prosecutor, spoke about hre history and oning. senator harris: l's be clear. there is no vaccine for racism.

wewo have got to do th. for george floyd, for bree anna taylor -- brioni taylor, for the lives of too many others t name. we have got to do the work to fulfill that promise of equa justice under law. robert: beyond those speeches, former president barack obama made history. the formereader of the free world warned that american democracy is at risk. president trump: they are counting on your cynicism. -- president obama:hey are counting on your cynicism. they are hoping to make it as hard as possible for you t vote and to convince you that your vote does not matter. that is how ty win. that is how a democracy withers, until it is ndemocracy at all. robert: a lot there, so let's get right to it. joining me are four terrific

reporters. yamiche alcindor, whe house correspondent for the pbs newshour , molly ball, national political correspondent, for time magazine , hallie jackson, chief white house correspondent and anchor for msnbc live with hallie jackson , and philip rucker, white house bureau chief for the washington post. mollybi, you wrote story for "time" about biden did he meet this moment after dedes in politics? moy: you know, it almost seems liket the moment him, right? his strengths as a politician have always been about empathy, storytelling, poetry, comforting people in times of need, and that might not have been the right vibe, say, foears ago, but i think it was very fitting, and hislepeech was. it was powerful. it w empattic, ande drew that contrast very effectively.

robert: and, molly, a quick follow-up. you have written this great biography about speakerelosi. when you speak to sources in her world and otr veteran democrats, does this speech help carry it across the line this fall? molly: yes. i think the feeling among democrats, broadly, including on capitol hill, is that this was an effective convention. i think there was a collective sigh of relief, frankly, when this w over, because it was such a daunting task. nobody knew how it was going t go. nobody knew if this virtual convention thing would work or peif thehes would hit the notes, and there was a feeling that i was very well choreographed, and it held people's attention probably in a waynthat live conns have not in recent years. robert: so, philip rucker, what about the way he framed this in such an? dramatic sess philip: we have seen a lot of

speeches that obama has given. i covered the obama white house for a whe and have never seen him address one like that one. f there wasr in his voice. 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 in the country, not a choice about whose health care plan is better or who will do what do your taxes. it is about whether youanthe whether you want this country to remain the country it has been for so many years, and effectively saying four more years of donald trump would seriously jeopardize all of that. robert: yamiche, years ago, we sought senator bernie sanders and his supporters cause a ruckus, frustrated with the dnc and hillary clinton's campaign. this timeen around, a of unity. why was that? yamiche: i think was for the same reasons that phil just laid

out. democrs feel real sense of emergency that president trump is dangerouso america and that the future of america -- presidentrump is someone that democrats see as people in some ways. they do notse that word, but when you listened to what they were saying, the e via of lightness versus darkness, goodness versus bad, decent versus not, joe biden being a good man, they were essentially making the case that donald trump is not fit for the job and also doesn't have the decencyo really work with america in this moment, in this pandemic. i think i was most struck by the fact that michelle obama was talking about this idea thatou should still be going high, but when you saw democrats and saw what they were talking about, especially her famous line "when lthey go, we go high," she was also saying at the se time, he cannot grow into the sjob, somewhat not fit for the office, and we have to get rid

of him. wthat underlying it. making this kind of argument from the republicaatside, saying oe biden is someone who would turn i americao 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 are talking at the white househow do they see this convention, and how does n e shape how they prepare for their own conventxt week? hallie: yes. great question, bob. great to be back. thank you for having me. i think it can be summed up, the attitude among the aides and advisers and sources close to the president that igave been talk to, dooand gloom or wer and sour, as we heard from kelly and conway. people close to the president are trying to paint the

democratic convention as one that, in their view, was negative for the most part, not entirely, but fairly negative as it portrayed the vision for america for the future because there were so many attackstn the presidnd on his character and on his judgment and the policies a what has happened over the past four years. they are tryingo say that next week, the president is going to that said, this is still theg. american carnage president. i am told his speech will be focusing on things like safety and security, the slate of speakers intended to kind of fan the flames of the culture wars we have seen around the country. ki th there is an acknowledgment around the what he needed too in hisdid speech, but at this point, they are trying to draw tt contrast. you mentioned, yache, the ticket if they win would 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 peril of socialism to really make that message. robert: still, what about senator harris? what does the white house see they say she will be helpful to them in michin, pennsylvania, wisconsin, in terms of getting the democratic coalition energized, and she is ready to take on vp pence in that debate. philip: when senator harris except the vice presidentl nomination, the first asian american, black women to be on that ticket, so she can make a states, you mentioned, because the large number of black voters in detroit, the biggest philadelphia, pennsylvania, and

in milwaukee, wisconsin, and if she can just make a difference there and turn out the vote in greater numbers than hillary clinton did in 2016, tse three states could be off the board for donald trump, very much hope to buy a bidenarrisin she is also a formidable baiter and formidabl prosecutor. that is her training as a lawyer, and there is a lot of 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 going to be preparing for whatever is going to come the vice president's way from senator thharris when they are o stage together. robert: you have covered harris and biden. when they make their case, will it be ony, pol as well, or is this mostly about character and conduct? >> well, if it is continuity wi t convention, it will mostly be about character. there was not a lotf emphasis on the policy agenda over the

course of this convention, in part because democrats are trying ttho send the messag this is a really big tent, write, attend who werer brought togey trump, but nothing else is going to bring together a john kasich and a bernie sanders, for example, so that is kind of it, trying to convince people that they are sort of broadly palatable. it does have echoes of that hillary clinton slogan from 2016, "stronger together," which got criticism for being vague and inspirational and not mmunicating to people a policy agenda, particularly an economic agenda, but the decision that the biden campaign seems to have made is that you can still sell that message with a different messenger and with trump now in the whites house with three ye having elapsed with americans feeling so pessimistic about the direction of the countryecause of the pandemic and because of so many other things. so they are going to go out there and sell thaton aspira, that character, message, i think, muchore than

they are going toecalk about ic policies. robert: hallieen this convention wrapped, in battle postmaster general lo joy was --louis dejoy was testifyi. >> yr would give us yrd under oath that you will not do anything for politic rean or at the suggestion of any mr. dejoy:heeadership is. committed to having a successful election, and the insinuation is, quite frankly, outrageous. robert: the democratic-controlled house will return to look at providing billions in funding to the agency. hallie, what is the white house view ofr what the postmas did, and what does it mean for this election? hallie: yes, it is something

that a lot of people are watching, b and yes, this happened on the senate side, and on monday, theouse will get its chance to talk with the postmaster general. e of the most interesting 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 mnu dejoy said he spoke with trump 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 -- c thatated problems. the whole thing, remember, is politically critical, because people like the post office. people like getting theirhe mail and paychecks and their prescriptions and everything else that comes in the mail, whh is why it is critical not justrom the election standpoint and the ballotingnt standput people's lives

and livelihoods, as way, election ballots,ar tong what happened in 2018. 95% will be processed between one to five days, a commitment that he made. robert: hallie -- you made a great point, yamiche, about expediting the, ballo but he said under intense pressure from democrats, dejoy refused to unwind vario steps like the mailboxes and sorting machiots, so still af unanswered questions. yamiche: well, onebif the est questions after postmaster 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 rvice workers, there are some good stories in the "los angeles times" this week, talking about that there are those who set the mail sorting machines were critical in terms ofma having te processed in a timely way,

and now there are some processing facilities thaare in chaos, you are seeing flowers and baby chicks die in the 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 this system has been struggling f a long time, but he is saying, look, i am not going to put those mailboxes back. i am not puttinghose sorting machines bac and this is what we saw today, a group of at least six attorneys general filing a lawsuit, saying thathat dejoy is doing is against federal law, and what he iss doingrticularly trying to slow down the mail. when he was testifying in the sena today, he said that this was outrageous and that that is not what he s doing, not acting politically, but you can see the states are gearing u

for a fight. robert: phil, provide us more of a bigger picture. you have written a longry s 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- into office come he told his friends that part of the reason he lvot the popula was because of widespread fraud with mail in ballotin at, of course, is not true. there is no evidence to support that. the reason he lost theopular 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 postal service to his advisors for the las3.5 years, g a loser because of its chronic financial problems. also seizing on it, by the way, as a way of retaliating against jeff bezos, the billionaire founder of amazon who, also,

full disclosure, ownswa "the ington post," who has become somewhat of a foe becau ofhe president's displeasure with the "post" calling the amazon arrangement with the postal service to ship packages a scam, 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 "sc what weear it a lot from president trump. reaven says. we wonder about president trump accepting the nomination from the white house. let's listen to what he said in that key battleground state, my home state of pennsylvania, a preview what is to come. president trump: if you want a vision of your le under a biden presidency, think of the smoldering ruminan -- ruins in

minnealis, portland, the 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 the gop site earlier in o convention, but as you look ahead and talk to your sources, to phil'so int, will it be a litany of points and fights? hallie: you have advisors saying it is going ttibe an upl look, and optimistic look of what the presidents vision is for the next four years, but frankly, bob, and candiy, people involved in the convention, people who are at nte center of some of the most controversial mo over the last years, including the couple in st. louis who went viral in that moment who, as you amember, pulled a weapon on group of black lives protesters

in st. louis, it is that kind of theme that we are going to see several nights of the next t we. at same time, you have the president who is extremely focused on the optics of this, so it is much about what he says as how he says it, and you s well as anyone else that he is focused on the lighting and the angles and the tv oduction element of it yet he is a realityv t presidents, and any other convention because this is virtual. the president's reluctance to scraat in person convention, he has waited until the last minute to do that. e rncas had less time to plan for these virtual elements thanhe dnc, bob. this is partly why you will see more live speecs. that isecause the president also wants to have the element of surprise and once to be engaged, lots of surprisesence along the way, as well. robert: molly, what do they say

to you? are they embracing this approa? molly: well, they do not really have a choice, right? e democrats have had thisy, and elaborately orchestrated, impeccably choreographed, planned for months to be virtual from the very start, and once event started getting canceled around the country, whereas the icrepu party, their plan from day one has been that we are going to do what the presidentould like, and that has changed, not only to the presidentwi -- the president's whi but the needs about covi becauses hallie said, they have had less time to plan. and republica 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 pretty apphensive about this convention, as well,

because you never know exact what tru is going to say, and because he has never been comfortable that register of optimism. he has always been more focused on fear and on this theme of anarchists and riotershe in streets and convincing people that a vote for his opponent would be unsafe. so i think a lot of my republican friends at are not exactly looking 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 that he is going to look hopeful and talk about the economy and talk about turning the corner t from pandemic, but president trump, as hallie said, he lives in this ecosystem where he likes to talk about fear a cultural division. it is where he thrives and where he has kept h cultural bays

close to him. i was struck with hisvent in pennsylvania, saying, "they will they want to punish you and your family." he wants to make people afraid, that every place in america is going toourn i the bloodstained streets of chicago, hoping that people will be scared to mail in their votes o show up in person for him, so to turn that corner and have att bit of hope and optimism, but should say that democts, while sounding may be more fuhopel, they did say this was a life or death election, that this was not something we have seen in our lifetime. robert: so what is the strategy inside the trump campaign? philip: well, the strategy for trump, bob, is if the election were held today, he almost certainly would lose, according to the data that we have all been consuming, so the convention next week is his best opportunity right now to try to

reframe this race, to try to remind voters about why they might be inclined to support him for a second time, t talki republican strategists today who say the best thing the president can do is focus on the economic 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 growth, and to look for ways to add to his coalition instead of focusing on grievances, instead of riling upis base, look for ways to bring people back into the full. we saw that strategy play out on the democretic side, where was a real effort this week to expand the tent, so to speak, and we will see if trump tries to do that next wee h seconds.e, we have about 20 to clear out the reporting, is president -- is mr. penn safe on the ticket? he is the guy giving the remarks

wednesday evening. robert: just wanted to check with one of the top reporters from thee country, beca i have heard it. but we will take hallie jackson 's word for it. we will leave it there. what a week, convention week. really appreciate everyone. yamiche alcindor, hallie jackson ll, molly , and philip rucker, and you, thank for stopping by. check us out onlnd also on social media. we will talk more about the lanvention and the prisons for next week. lots to discuss. -- and the president's plans for next week. lots to discuss. i'rt costa. good night, from washington. ♪ d [captioning perfor the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

♪ announcer: corporate funding for "washington week provided by -- ♪ ts>> when the world ge complicated, a lot goes thugh your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your li. ♪ that's fidelity wealth management. ♪ announcer: additional funding is provided by -- the estate of arno adams, new -- and koo and patria yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, the corporation for publicas broang, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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