you know, people last night were talking, why roy cooper as the last speaker before kamala harris? why him? i have two words for them. north carolina. they are planning on putting that state in play. the polling there is very favorable right now to kamala harris. they've got a gubernatorial candidate on the republican side that makes donald trump almost look normal. that's a really high bar, so i think that him being in that slot tells everybody that they're expanding the map. >> yeah, there was real -- a square focus on the battleground states a number of times. the vice president herself said she was speaking to americans out there who hadn't decided. >> exactly. >> msnbc political analyst, former u.s. senator claire mccaskill, thank you for joining us. we'll talk in a minute on "morning joe." thanks for getting up "way too early" on this friday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. as a prosecutor, when i had a case, i charged it not in the

name of the victim but in the name of the people. for a simple reason. in our system of justice, a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us. [ applause ] and i would often explain this to console survivors of crime, to remind them, no one should be made to fight alone. we are all in this together. and every day in the courtroom, i stood proudly before a judge and i said five words, "kamala harris for the people." [ applause ]

and to be clear, and to be clear, my entire career, i've only had one client, the people. and so on behalf of the people, on behalf of every american, regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks, on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey, on behalf of americans like the people i grew up with, people who work hard, chase their dreams, and look out for one another, on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest

nation on earth, i accept your nomination to be president of the united states of america. [ applause ] >> vice president kamala harris accepting her party's nomination for president last night at the democratic national convention. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is friday, august 23rd. along with willie in chicago at the dnc and joe and me, we have the host of "way too early," white house bureau chief at "politico," jonathan lemire. msnbc political analyst, former u.s. senator, claire mccaskill. president of the national action network and host of "politics nation," reverend al sharpton. >> what a speech. >> he spoke last night. we'll get to that. >> what a speech. >> professor at princeton university, eddie glaude jr. and the american presidency at

vanderbilt university, historian jon meacham. so we begin. your thoughts? >> let's begin. i thought that she did exactly what she had to do. i thought the convention went better than i've seen it go. willie, i must say, again, even in that line, that punch line right before you accept your party's nomination, she talked about the greatness of america. she talked about the very things that republicans used to talk about, until they started running down america, saying what a horrible country it was. donald trump saying what a failed country it was, what a nation in decline it was. she went there, and i thought, willie, most importantly, the democratic national convention went there all week with chants of "usa," with flags waving, with one speaker after another

going on and on about how great america was and how this could only happen in the united states of america. >> yeah. in what vice president kamala harris called in her speech the greatest country on earth. you're right, joe, being in this arena last night, the flags got bigger as the night went along. everyone had a small flag in their hand to wave for the speech, and then they brought out the big flags for kamala harris' speech. chants of "usa," patriotism fully reclaimed. a focus on the military, on veterans, also, last night. her speech was -- this building has seen a lot, joe and mika. michael jordan won three championships in here. they've had some electric nights. but i would hazard to guess this was right on par with some of those nights in terms of energy in the building, john lemire. you and i were watching. we got the full scope from section 315 up there, looking down at this tableau of a party

that is truly energized. in some ways over the last month or so, transformed from its dread and despair that joe biden was too old and they were going to lose to donald trump, and how are we going to deal with this guy for another four years, to a party now, the end of this week, that truly feels, not in an overconfident way, truly feels it now has the upper hand. >> we were in the cheap seats, but it gave us a great view of the diversity of the crowd, the energy of the crowd and, yes, the patriotism of the crowd. it was on full display. the red, white, and blue flags. later, the red, white, and blue balloons. it was an extraordinarily important moment for vice president harris. it was only a month ago that she was not going to be here. joe biden was the top of the ticket. the way she's transformed this party, energized the parparty. >> amazing images. >> she introduced herself to the american people. she started with her biography, spoke movingly about her mother, her community who raised her.

there was a focus on national security last night, you know, shoring up that part of her resume. moving toward the middle, reassuring those voters. she flat out said she wanted to speak to some of the americans who hadn't decided yet, who are not necessarily in her corner just yet. we heard from former republicans last night, again denouning donald trump. harris, the former prosecutor, deemed him an un-serious man. offered a preview of the scathing attack she'll deliver at the debate in a few weeks' time. i found so striking that there was not a word of the historic nature of her candidacy. not a word about her gender or her race. it was simply, this is about the country. this is about the people in this country. >> claire, you've been saying for a long time, through the hand wringing about should joe biden stay or should he step aside, and part of the concern we heard from democrats, and you heard it, too, what comes next? can kamala harris do the job? is donald trump going to wipe the floor with kamala harris? you've been saying from the beginning, guys, i know her. i've worked with her.

i've seen her. she can do it, and she will. >> yeah, i think she showed last night that she's ready to be president of the united states. that was really the goal. the goal was to show the country that she's tough, that she's strong, that she's ready, that she's capable, that she has the experience and the qualifications. should i confess now that the thing i enjoyed the most about this convention, that it was so good at all the stuff that bug donald trump. the production values were off the charts. everything looked great. the timing was seamless. there was no big drama anywhere. there were no tensions. we had more stars than he had. we had better ratings than he had. all the stuff that he thinks are important, they did really well this week. i confess that kind of gives me a grin. >> well, after vice president harris' speech, was desperately calling into tv networks. sometimes appeared to be sitting on the keys of his phone while he spoke. called fox news.

they kind of cut him off. called into newsmax. rev, a point of personal privilege, lemire and i were watching upstairs. there is no cheering in the press box. when you came on, we had to. we had to cheer for rev. truly a stirring speech. when you invoke psalms at the end, talked about the joy, the joy, the joy that cometh in the morning, this place was filled with joy last night. >> i think the whole theme of the campaign at the democratic party's convention was that we wanted to get out of the darkness and into the joy. i wanted to have a biblical reference to it. and i think, as claire said, that is the spirit you felt this week. all of the -- i remember as a kid, i might have been 13 or 14, the '68 riots in chicago. the contrast, you had protests here, but they were peaceful. there were some arrests but no real violence. people were, every day, saying there was going to be disturbance. there was joy here of all races, from all regions, and i think

that's what kamala harris has come to represent, which i think is a huge threat to donald trump. because if you can choose between joy and disaster, you'll choose joy every time. >> joy and patriotism were combined in a way -- i heard bill bradley say yesterday, joy and patriotism combined in a way that he has not seen since ronald reagan in 1984. he took 49 states. i will say run correction, and really quickly here, we have the front of "the new york times." also the front of the "wall street journal," "harris makes her case to the nation." one correction to the psalm or maybe a caveat to the psalm the rev said so powerfully yesterday. joy cometh in the morning, unless you are a "way too early"

host that has to wake up on central time zone after staying up all night. >> terrible. >> yeah. >> watching. joy cometh a little later in the day. >> when the nap comes, that's when my joy comes. >> poor guy, yeah. the vice president delivered a 40-minute speech to an energetic crowd. she spent the beginning of her remarks laying out her family's story and the early steps in her career. she then moved on to her own agenda and the threats posed by a second term for donald trump. >> in many ways, donald trump is an un-serious man. but the consequences, the consequences of putting donald trump back in the white house are extremely serious. consider what he intends to do if we give him power again.

consider his explicit intent to set free violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the capitol. his explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponent, and anyone he sees as the enemy. his explicit intent to deploy our active duty military against our own citizens. consider, consider the power he will have, especially after the united states supreme court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution. just imagine donald trump with no guardrails.

and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the united states, not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had, himself. friends, i believe america cannot truly be prosperous unless americans are fully able to make their own decisions about their own lives, especially on matters of heart and home. in america, too many women are not able to make those

decisions, and let's be clear about how we got here. donald trump hand-picked members of the united states supreme court to take away reproductive freedom. and now, he brags about it. in his words, quote, i did it, and i'm proud to have done it. over the past two years, i've traveled across our country, and women have told me their stories. husbands and fathers have shared theirs. stories of women miscarrying in a parking lot, dropping sepsis, losing the ability to ever again have children, all because doctors are afraid they may go to jail for caring for their patients. couples just trying to grow their family cut off in the middle of ivf treatments. children who have survived

sexual assault potentially being forced to carry a pregnancy to term. this is what's happening in our country because of donald trump. and understand, he is not done. as a part of his agenda, he and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban with or without congress. and get this, get this, he plans to create a national antiabortion coordinator and force states to report on women's miscarriages and abortions. simply put, they are out of their minds. [ applause ]

and one must ask, one must ask, why exactly is it that they don't trust women? well, we trust women. we trust women. and let me be clear, after decades in law enforcement, i know the importance of safety and security, especially at our border. last year, joe and i brought together democrats and conservative republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. the border patrol endorsed it. but donald trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign, so he ordered his allies in congress to kill the deal. well, i refuse to play politics with our security, and here is my pledge to you.

as president, i will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and i will sign it into law. i know, i know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. we can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border. in america, we must also be steadfast in advancing our security and values abroad. as vice president, i have confronted threats to our security, negotiated with foreign leaders, strengthened our alliances, and engaged with our brave troops overseas.

as commander in chief, i will ensure america always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. and i will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families, and i will always honor and never disparage their service and their sacrifice. [ applause ] >> eddie, "the wall street journal" says harris makes her case to america. how did she do? >> she did really well. i mean, she proved very clearly that she's not the radical, san francisco liberal, communist, socialist they're trying to paint her as. i thought she did an extraordinary job introducing her biography. she did an extraordinary job of kind of giving an account of the forces that have shaped her. i think she did an extraordinary job of assuring the middle of the country that she's not some

strange person who will threaten their values. in so many ways, joe, we talked about the patriotism that was kind of illustrated or demonstrated over the course of the convention. i would want to say, it's a patriotism that is infused with the power of american diversity. it's almost as if she was lifting up ellis island. give me your tired, your poor, your hung masses yearning to be free. her story, her mother's immigration to the united states becomes the american story. >> right. >> in that sense, it was really powerful. in other senses, i've had some issues. all in all, they achieved what they wanted to achieve last night. >> you're looking at some headlines. "the chicago sun times," "a new way forward." there you see "the philadelphia enquirer," "the pittsburgh gazette," talking about a new way forward. i will say, even on issues like immigration, she said last night

what democrats may not have said four or eight years ago, which is, we can actually embrace the promise of ellis island, and we can keep our borders secure. that's something democrats did not use to be comfortable saying. talking about tough border security. that's certainly something they're willing to say now because they came up with a deal that donald trump killed, and donald trump is going to be hearing about that throughout the campaign. i'm wondering, jon meacham, it's been -- to say it's been an historic month is a bit of an understatement. >> yeah. >> a dizzying, historic month. she didn't really make reference last night to just how historic the month and her nomination was this week, but i'm curious what your thought has been about the month, about the week in chicago, and about the speech last night.

>> yeah, i thought the vice president did it very el eloquently, saying it was an unexpected journey, and she's not unaccustomed to those. if you were to list off really significant conventions, which is not a huge category, actually. >> right. >> 1940 when the republicans were repudiated isolationism. '52, eisenhower defeats another neo isolationism. then you really run to '68, which the reverend mentioned a moment ago. then when you think about it, in the more modern era, 1980 matters enormously on the republican side because it sort of set the stage for the next 16 years of republican politics. when george bush goes on the ticket. 1988, when george bush comes into the convention way down to

michael dukakis and gives a remarkable speech that, in many ways, elevates him. 1992, when bill clinton and al gore were third in the race going into madison square garden. and this one. i think it will be seen as a genuine turning point. not least, because, as you say, 35 days ago, we didn't think we'd be here. one of the things i thought about watching her last night was, in many ways, this -- and let's all be honest here, i won't ask for a show of hands -- but how many conversations, joe, did we have with people, peter millar, republicans, "wall street journal" editorial page people, who two months ago, were saying, if only biden could get her off the ticket? >> right. >> i mean, how many times, again and again and again?

well, that's why. what you saw last night was why. >> yeah. >> you know, let's be careful, right? because as mark twain said, there was an evangelist who came to town, who was so good, even huck finn was saved until tuesday. you know, let's be careful about keeping the enthusiasm, but you saw a first rate political performance last night. i'd argue you saw a statesmanlike performance last night. >> mm-hmm. >> the choice is before us. do you want the rule or law, or do you want illiberal authoritarianism? i think this convention stands a good chance to be on that very small list of significant moments in modern american history. >> i completely agree. it was executed perfectly, beginning to end. you know, i was talking yesterday about how some of the speeches went late, and people at the dnc were like, well, late, yes, maybe for you, but

not for voters in nevada, voters in arizona, voters in wisconsin. they said, look at the ratings. ratings have just been extraordinary. they've been very pleased from beginning to end. what is so important about this week is it's gotten a lot of the fog out of the way. a lot of the excuses out of the way for voting for a person who is now going to be holding benefits for people who beat the hell out of cops on january 6th. >> yeah. >> who continues to embrace january 6th and the riots, who promises to be a dictaor on day one. there is a clear choice, and people can take that clear choice without saying, well, the other guy is too old or not up to the job. i'm curious what you thought about the speech last night and the convention overall. >> yeah. especially given the question

jon meacham posed to all of us, echoing that question, i'll tell you, the concerns were erased immediately, not by others but by kamala harris herself. knowing her and covering her for years now, i thought her speech last night and her other apeerps appearances at the convention were eloquent, dignified, on point. they balanced a lot of issues, a lot of issues that are facing this election perfectly. if the goal was to show the contrast between these two candidates, she nailed it completely, and without over, you know, overshooting the runway in any way. it was really a tough thing to do, and i have to say, having watched that speech last night, but also watching her manage the explosion, the cultural explosion that is this campaign, so far, it's pitch perfect. and she, i think, of all others,

and she has even shared, that it's going to be tough. that doesn't mean it's smooth sailing all the way to election day. i love that realism that she and her husband both have, and they hold it right here every day. this is going to be a tough slog, but, wow, what an incredible start. >> yup. ahead on "morning joe," much more from the final night of the dnc, including some of the more emotional moments. the exonerated members of who were once known as the central park five appeared alongside reverend al. what they had to say about former president trump. you're watching "morning joe." we're back in 90 seconds.

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hello, everybody. i'm amara. >> my name is leila, her little sister. >> and what are you here to do? >> to teach you how to say our auntie's name.

>> okay. so how do you pronounce it? >> first, you say comma, like a comma in a sentence. >> then you say la, like la, la, la, la, la. >> put it together, and it's one, two, three, kamala. all right. let's practice. >> everybody, everybody over here, say comma. >> comma. >> everybody over here, say la. >> la. >> together! >> kamala. >> kamala. >> kamala. >> comma. >> la. >> comma. >> la. >> for president! >> see, guys, it's just not that hard. it is kamala. vice president harris' grand nieces were the lesson on how to correctly pronounce their aunt's first name. led there, of course, by kerry washington. as mentioned earlier, reverend app delivered a

powerful speech, revisiting the controversial comments donald trump has made over the years about race, contrasting them with kamala harris' record. >> i stand before you as the president of national action network. we do not endorse candidates, but we report where candidates stand on criminal justice, economic empowerment, health equity, and other issues. on one side of this race, there's donald trump, a felon new yorker i've known for 40 years. only once, once in that time did he take a position on racial issues. he spent a small fortune on full-page ads, calling for the execution of five innocent young teenagers. on the other side is a woman that i've walked with in selma, alabama, to commemorate the

fifth and ninth anniversaries of bloody sunday. kamala harris spoke to me that day about unity and passing bills. all i ever heard from donald trump was about how he could get an advantage. i see one candidate who wants to protect the right to vote, while the other has tried to cook up 11,000 votes in georgia. i've worked with kamala harris in every job she's had. she has consistently committed to making government work for those of us who have been disadvantaged. all donald trump has been consistent about is making himself richer and sowing division to get that done. this man sat right here in chicago a few weeks ago refusing to apologize for claims that

migrants were taking black jobs. well, in november, we going to show him when blacks do they job! and we are going to join with whites and browns and asians, and we are going to do a job on those that have done a job on us! tonight, we are going to real ize a dream. 52 years ago, i was a director in a campaign for president. 52 years after she was told to sit down, i know she's watching us tonight as a black woman stands up to accept the nomination for president of the united states. this november, we will go

forward to fulfill the promise of a just and fair nation. let me say, as we transition, i'm a preacher. in psalms, it says we may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. we've endured january 6th. we've endured conspiracy theories. we've endured lies and areas of darkness. but if we stay together, black, white, latino, asian, indian american, if we stay together, joy, joy, joy, joy coming in the morning! >> rev took them to church last night. i mean, that was, obviously kamala harris got the biggest ovation, but the swelling, i'm sure you felt it up there at the podium, was something special. what was it like to give that address last night, and what did you want to drill home to this crowd? >> i really wanted to drill home

the fact that we are in a very serious point in american history. and we should not take lightly that we're dealing with, not just an election, but a selection. are we going to save democracy and the principles of that and have someone that exemplifies that in kamala harris, a prosecutor, worked away, a single mother, everything america celebrates? or someone who is a convicted felon, who wants to tear the country apart, pitting people against each other? i wanted to bring that clear choice and say there is a joyous outcome to this if we come together and stay together. but we need to understand the price that you have to pay for that. i felt the spirit of that, and i really, as it was swelling in the audience, i went over time, but i felt that it was necessary to put the right perspective on it. the only thing i didn't do is

talk about how much midnight oil joe scarborough spent writing my speech. >> that was it. the chief speechwriter, joe scarborough. as we brought up earlier, the comments about a group of black and latino men wrongfully convicted infamously of raping a female jogger in new york city in '89. donald trump paid for this full-page ad to run in major newspapers, pushing for the death penalty for those men. they are now free and are called the exonerated five. they shared their story with rev last night. >> i'm korey wise. 34 years ago, my friends and i were in prison for a crime we did not commit. i will use what's stolen from us every day as we walk into courtrooms, people screaming at us, threatening us because of

donald trump. he spent $85,000 on a full-page ad in "the new york times," calling for our execution. >> as my friend, korey wise just said, 45unalive. he wanted us dead. today, we are exonerated because the actual perpetrator confessed and dna proved it. that guy says he still stands by the original guilty verdict. [ crowd booing ] he dismisses the scientific evidence rather than admit he was wrong. he has never changed, and he never will. when they see us, america will

finally say good-bye to that hateful man. we will say what i have said after seven long years of wrongful incarceration. free at last. free at last, free at last, thank god almighty, we are free at last! >> you know, eddie, it was so moving. >> yeah. >> and so moving that, again, these men who were jailed, wrongfully jailed, wrongfully incarcerated and had donald trump calling for their execution, even after the dna evidence came back to prove they were not guilty, even after there was a confession that proved they were not guilty, donald trump kept calling for their execution.

and, yet, remarkable that talking about patriotism, even as they got up wearing their usa hats. >> yeah. >> and even as we heard the incredible story of one of the speakers, going from incarceration, being incarcerated wrongfully, to being a city councilman. you heard chant of "usa, usa," erupt throughout the arena. saying, only in america, only in america, joy does come in the morning. justice does come if it is fought for, if it is pursued. >> joe, america is more than an idea. the secretary of the smithsonian told me once, america is an argument. it's a battle over our better angels and our worst angels. which example, i was listening to korey wise, and my heart went out because he was 16 years old.

he was the oldest of the five young men, of the five kids, babies, really. >> innocent. >> he ended up being sent to an adult prison. so the wounds, the scars that they carry with them. but to see that moment last night was a really, really powerful moment of what we can be, of what we could be, of what we are in certain pockets. >> if they can see it. >> exactly. >> if they can see the possibility. >> even after everything they've been through. >> right. >> jon meacham, there was that phrase, better angels. and that's what this is going to be a better for over the next several months now. we move past the conventions. we go toward the debate, and we move toward voting, when it begins. it is the clearest decision that we have had as voters in my

lifetime. you know, yesterday, i must admit, i think i'd be cynical enough by now, but when i see an article yesterday saying that donald trump -- and i hope it's a fraud. i hope it's not true -- but when i see an article that donald trump is going to be holding an award ceremony for january 6th rioters. >> a fundraiser or something. >> and a fundraiser, openly embracing that, just as he compared it to martin luther king's march on washington a few weeks ago. you have a guy who has said he is going to jail journalists. he is going to jail political opponent. he had his lawyers argue that he could even get s.e.a.l. team six to assassinate his political opponents, and he would still be immune from prosecution unless he was impeached.

you hear this, and it just keeps coming faster and faster. donald trump keeps behaving more and more erratically, and, yet, this race is still tied. this race is still tied. >> yup. >> it is unbelievable. it is unbelievable, and forgive me for going on here, but it is unbelievable for the people that you and i both know, who hear donald trump doing these things and still, still desperately seek to justify voting for a man who started riots, embraced those riots, now are comparing those riots to the march on washington, and is even throwing an award ceremony for rioters who helped lead to the death of four police officers. >> yeah. i was fascinated by the recurring theme. would love to know whose idea it

was and the intellectual roots to it. of the week from the podium, which is, we must listen. we must meet people where they are. absolutely true. if we don't see each other as neighbors opposed to rivals, democracy doesn't work. that said, you can listen to people and still believe that they are wrong. and i think you're exactly right. i would argue it's the most important election since, not just 1860 and 1864 but 1868. mika, get ready. this is going to be fun. >> mm-hmm. >> i know, it'll be exciting. but i was thinking, because this is what i do, because i lead an exciting life, i was thinking the other day, what was an election where it was probably 70/30 in american history, right? outside of the george washington stuff. i started poking around. i was thinking, 1868, right? andrew johnson impeached.

the black folks are largely enfranchised in the south. former confederates from my part of the world are still not allowed to vote. surely, when grant, the champion of union, was called the most famous american in the world, surely when he ran for president, that was a huge landslide. because he ran against a white supremacist governor, former governor of new york, named her heracio see seymore. it was the champion of the union running against someone who wanted to take us back, eradicate the sacrifice of 750,000 casualties. america is always a close one thing. it was a four-point race. because it is a human enterprise. our appetites, ambitions, and frailties tend to win out.

the remarkable thing is that, occasional occasionally, the better angels win. the impulse to generosity wins. and the acceptance of the argument made in very compelling terms, i believe, by this convention, that, in fact, it is not necessary for someone else to fail for you to succeed. when people say, oh, we talk about democracy, it's too abstract, the hell it is. that's what this is, a chance for all of us to rise as far as we can. i think it's vital. i think the stakes have not changed. in many ways, the former president is going to get worse, in the event he ever gets better. >> presidential historian jon meacham, thank you for coming on the show this morning. we appreciate it. and coming up, a conversation on the intersection of sports and politics. a video message from nba

superstar steph curry was played at the dnc last night, days after his coach gave an impassioned speech there. we'll discuss that and much more with pablo torre, next on "morning joe." ♪ limu emu... ♪ and doug. (bell ringing) limu, someone needs to customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. let's fly! (inaudible sounds) chief! doug. (inaudible sounds)

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a mother of five in maryland. a nursing student in georgia. all savagely murdered by those biden and harris let into our country unlawfully. harris: we have a secure border. announcer: kamala harris was and is a complete failure at her job. now she's asking us for a promotion. who in their right mind would give it to her? restoration pac is responsible for the content of this advertising. (♪♪) (♪♪) (♪♪) start your day with nature made. and try new zero sugar gummies.

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time for a look at the other stories making headlines this morning. parts of texas are feeling the most intense heat ever recorded there. abilene hit an all-time high of 113 degrees on wednesday. the soaring temperatures are expected again today. so far, the power grid has kept up with the record demand. >> you know, this keeps happening in texas. it keeps happening across the country. it keeps happening across america, the world. i'm just wondering, at what point do the climate change deniers actually look at the fact that over the last 20 years -- >> it's killing people. >> -- this planet has heated up. it's killing people. it is destroying homes. it is destroying communities. when are they going to admit what we all know? >> we'll follow what's happening in texas. the food and drug administration signed off on two new covid vaccines, giving moderna and pfizer the green light to roll out the shots.

both are designed to target an offshoot of the omicron variant. doctors say everyone who is eligible should get the boost, particularly older people who skipped other recent vaccine updates. okay. and there was a big discovery in botswana. the second largest diamond ever found, wow. >> come on. >> it's nearly 2,500 carats, worth tens of millions of dollars. it was unearthed using x-ray technology. scientists say most diamonds are at least a billion years old. that's a big one. >> i wonder if that's from rattner's diamond mine. >> get that one for me. it might be nice to carry around. >> just carry it around. put it on your back. >> i'll wear it on a backpack. turning back to this week's

convention in chicago, members of the high school football team tim walz helped coach to a state title appeared on stage. they broke a rule. >> how cute. >> they are the exception to a longstanding rule that pablo and i both know. >> that's right. >> what? >> if you're not playing on a football team, do not wear football jerseys. >> yeah. >> do not. >> rare exception there. >> here -- >> i like all their bellies. kind of not fitting the jerseys. >> let me say it again. >> look how cute. >> you know it's real, though. it is actually their jerseys from 40 years ago. >> exactly. pablo, are you with me? if you don't play on a football tame, don't wear a football jersey. >> wear a baseball glove at a game. are you okay with somebody wearing that? how much uniform are your rules and procedures here? >> it is different with baseball jerseys, button down the front, baggier. don't wear the football jerseys. but those guys can. >> they can.

>> they are the exception to the football rule. >> would have been fun. wednesday night, the minnesota governor invoked the gridiron in explaining the road ahead. >> let me finish with this, team. >> coach, coach, coach! >> it's the fourth quarter. we're down a field goal, but we're on offense. we've got the ball. we're driving down the field. and, boy, do we have the right team. kamala harris is tough. kamala harris is experienced, and kamala harris is ready. our job, our job, our job for everyone watching is to get in the trenches and do the blocking and tackling. >> there ya go. >> all right. >> coach. >> i'll tell ya what, as a high school football player and former coach, this guy speaking my language.

even the line that some people flinched at, football players know, you can sleep when you're dead! >> when you're dead. >> oh, yeah. >> let's go run another couple of, you know, series. but i'll tell ya what, the democratic party, really the sports analogies and everything else really came tumbling out. they seem to be the party of the nfl now. >> it's the party of football. >> yeah. >> joe. >> what? >> i don't know if people appreciate it. >> wait, what? >> mika, i didn't think it was possible. >> i didn't think it was possible. >> i come from the world of sports. >> you do. >> in my lifetime, i have not ever considered that the democratic party would be the party that has the most plausible claim to the largest organism in a culture war. >> right. >> which is football. again, for people who aren't familiar, professor, 2023, of the 100 most watched television shows, 93 of them were nfl games. >> right. >> three more on that list,

college football games. another one was the show that comes after the super bowl. when it comes to what they're abdicating, the republican party, they're abdicating the biggest vector for what actual, normal americans like to engage in. >> yes. >> what's so interesting is, i talked about being away for the first couple days of the olympics. we were traveling. i kind of re-plug into pop culture, and i find out that republicans hate the olympics. i was like, oh, okay, wait, wait, wait. you have some weird french dudes doing weird french stuff, and they're not even doing the weird french stuff you think they could be doing. >> could be a lot weirder. >> yeah, weirder than that. and you're going to hate on the olympics for that? took me back to 2020 when they were hating on the nfl. they were actually using the nfl as a culture war device to get people to vote for republicans.

come on. this is like standing in front of one of patten's tank divisions. you don't do it. >> no, they tried to campaign against the nfl under the premise it was getting too woke, and it turned out, as per the statistic i gave you, nobody stopped watching. in fact, the opposite happened. people watched more than ever. >> by the way, people kept saying, oh, the nfl ratings are down. i'd go, are they down? >> go woke, go broke. then you realize, wait a minute, they're setting records in a deeply fragmented era of hman history for people gathering. >> right. >> joe, you're an alabama guy, right? there's something real that i think is deeper than just saying coach walz over and over again at a convention. >> right. >> it's the actual reality that you go to the stadium and what happens? you enter a big tent where, right next to you, is somebody who does not share any of the political opinions that you have. >> right. >> may not like the same music, may not do any of the same thing otherwise, but you're in that building and you actually share a genuine cultural rooting.

>> and it doesn't matter what they believe, what, you know, like you said, what music they listen to, you go, roll tide. nay look back at you, roll tide. >> connection. >> you're connected. >> i'm a new yorker. first generation filipino american. parents immigrated here in the early '80s. sports has been my passport to every part of america. i know this personally. i can make conversation with anybody in this country because i know about football, specifically, and sports generally. >> yeah. >> the idea that donald trump is on truth social last night saying, i believe -- i think it is the most embarrassing thing, among many embarrassing thins i've heard him say, he said, walz is an assistant coach, not a coach. it reveals that donald trump doesn't know ball. >> at all. >> donald trump does not know football. it's embarrassing. >> it actually is embarrassing. claire, it is embarrassing for so many reasons, but i will say, also, being an assistant coach is not a step down from being a coach.

being an assistant coach -- >> defensive coordinator. >> you go back and look, and, often, you're far closer to your assistant coach, to your defensive coordinator, to your d-backs coach, to your line coach. it's like, man, those linemen on my high school team, they were thick as thieves with the line coaches. they were their own sort of subset there. again, yeah, donald trump doesn't understand football. i think he is a fan, but as far as the coaching and everything else, it's -- and, again, just for republicans attacking the olympics, we must make the olympics a cultural war. like a couple years ago, we must make the nfl a cultural war, it's just exhausting to most americans. >> yeah. first of all, just the math shows how stupid trump is. there are a lot more assistant coaches than there are head coaches. i mean, by exponential numbers. and, you know, clear-eyes, full hearts, can't lose, right?

this is great. we have taken back from the republicans the three big fs, the flag, freedom, and, my favorite, football. and i think it is great that we are celebrating a game that does bring america together, whether it is in an nfl stadium on sunday or watching your big screen tv on saturday afternoon or going to a high school football game on friday night. i think you're going to see coach walz use football as a metaphor for a whole lot of things that matter to americans. i think it is terrific. i couldn't be happier. by the way, the last preseason game was last night, and the chiefs led the chicago bears to a win, just as an homage to chicago. >> very generous. in support of the assistant coaches, as someone who played high school football, that's your guy, the guy you're doing the drills with. head coach is running the program. position coach, that is your

guy. that aside, let's talk about the '99 season and the 4-4-3 defense. it is a run stuffing approach. run play action, bring the safeies up, you can go over the top. >> 4-4-3, you couldn't do it in the nfl. high school, minnesota, games are won on the ground. cold, windy, going for every yard. this defensive 4- 4-3 designed to stop the run. your safeties may be cheating down. you're right, maybe you're vulnerable to somebody over the head. this assistant coach is also now coach walz, and the vice president, i've been told, that's one of her favorite things about this. she loves calling him coach walz. they know this resonates with people. they know this is effective argument. i'm told, claire, to your point about the power of football, what is coach walz going to be doing this fall? what are some states that like football, willie? pennsylvania, wisconsin,

michigan. expect him to be going to some of the games, high school games, college games, talking to voters. they like football in arizona and nevada, north carolina, too. particularly the midwestern states, expect him to spend a lot of time there talking to the audiences, trying to win voters who maybe haven't voted for a democrat in a long time. >> pablo, the 4-4-3 defense, they struggled early in the '99 season, start 2-4. went on to win the championship. >> for a literal old school coach, the guy taught social stuies as well as coordinated the defense of a state chmpion. in a lab, you couldn't grow a man who meets these demographic checkpoints. joe, you can educate me about this. it wasn't so long ago, you were hearing about ronald reagan winning one for the giver, right? >> right. >> this was -- to mix metaphors, this used to be a layup for the republican party. >> right. >> now, what i'm realizing is that their interests are far

more in silicon valley. look at jd vance. can't make small talk at a donut shop. instead of main street where actual americans are hanging out watching the game. >> it's really strange. they've taken so many things, and we've talked about the nfl, the olympics, and turned them into culture wars. they've taken america, and they've turned that into a battle. if their guy's not in the white house, then america is a, quote, stupid nation. if their guy is not in the white house, then america is a, quote, failing nation. a, quote, declining nation. they take patriotism away. they hand it to the democrats who are shouting, "usa, usa!" you can go down the list. man, it's just crazy. all the symbols, all the things that used to unite them, again, pushed aside. we grew up in a southern, deep

south, republican family, and you are right, the nfl was a very conservative, very tough, very, you know, i mean, meat and potatoes game for republicans. no more. >> yeah. donald trump, you mentioned, we see him at sporting events. but i've been at sporting events where donald trump is there. the guy isn't paying attention to the game. he is a fan of the way in which the game can benefit him. he is interested in sports as a mechanism to win a culture war. he can't do what we just heard john and willie do, which is chat about anything vaguely resembling what football is. >> coach walz can do that. >> he lived it. >> kamala has the representation of america and walz has the

fabric of america. >> all while running a 4-4-3 defense. >> whatever that is. pablo torre, thank you. >> always, guys. >> good to have you. >> see you soon. just past the top of the hour. we kick things off with a look at the competing messages from the two candidates for president of the united states. >> i see an america where we hold fast to the fearless belief that built our nation. >> we are indeed a nation in decline. >> it is now our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism. >> it's a massive invasion at our southern border that has spread misery, crime, poverty, disease, and destruction. >> i will be a president who unites us. >> crazy nancy pelosi. >> who is realistic. >> the biggest rallies you've ever seen.

>> practical. >> build an iron dome over our country. >> has common sense. >> the late, great, hannibal lecter, he'd love to have you for dinner. >> i'll fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families. >> head of the taliban. call me your excellency. i wonder if he calls the other guy your excellency. i doubt it. >> i will always honor and never disparage their service. >> our military is not woke. it's just some of the fools on top that are work. >> i will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like kim jong-un. >> north korea, kim jong-un, i got along well with him. >> donald trump was found guilty of fraud by a jury of everyday americans. >> we will return law and order to our streets. >> separately found liable for committing sexual abuse. >> we will launch a new era of safety. >> you can always trust me to

hold sacred america's fundamental principles from the rule of law to free and fair elections, to the peaceful transfer of power. >> we had that horrible, horrible result that we'll never let happen again, the election result. we're never going to let that happen again. they used covid to cheat. never going to let it happen again. >> jonathan lemire, that is quite a contrast. claire mccaskill. eddie glaude jr. still with us. joining the conversation, we have nbc news national affairs analyst and partner and chief political columnist at "puck," john heilemann. author and nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. and associate professor of political science at fordham university, christina greer. good to have you all with us this hour. >> willie, the contrast is so great. it is so extreme.

it is optimism versus pessimism. it is joy versus resentment. it is looking toward the future versus looking for retribution. it is a striking, striking choice. i will say, it seems like no choice to me. it seems very simple. you don't vote for the guy that actually started a riot and is still praising those rioters and now going to be holding fundraisers to benefit those rioters. but this is a close race. democrats should listen to michelle obama and understand, this is a close race. they're going to have to fight until the last second. >> yeah. >> without question. and we did, to the credit of some of the speakers last night, we heard that theme last night, which is the magic that we're all feeling in this room last night, talking about the democrats who were here. it's great for this week.

now, we have to capture it, bottle it, and push forward. get out on the road tomorrow, volunteer. get out the vote. do all the things that have to be done. it's not about a convention, one of them said. this isn't the end of something. this is the beginning. i think part of what the party had to accomplish this week was to assure democrats, we've got this. we understand things have felt a little shaky since the debate a couple of months ago. you weren't sure if the president was going to stay in the race. you weren't sure if he got out, who would come next, if that person could do the job. the democratic party saying, we've got this. john heilemann, the speech last night from vice president harris went a long way in terms of assuring voters across the country. she made that contrast that joe just referenced, which is, laying out her bio, talking about her career as a prosecutor. she said, i was always for the people. i was here to represent the people. she threaded that into all the work she's done since then. then came around and laid out

donald trump's life and his political career, and said he has always been for himself. there's the contrast. >> back when joe biden went to the debate in atlanta, jen o'malley dillon came onon my podcast. the campaign was saying, we have the frame. he's all about himself. we're all about you. one of the things that became evident was joe biden wasn't able to make that case as forcefully as necessary. last night, kamala harris made that case in seven different ways, and she made it directly, the prosecutorial way, doing the riff, consider donald trump. consider, consider. she sounded like the lawyer she is. but the contrast of we're about you. he's about himself. it was made implicitly and explicitly. directly and indirectly. it was woven throughout. to go to one of the most striking contrasts, i think, for

the thing i kept hearing from people who were non-political friends of mine last night, people going, i didn't know how hawkish she was on foreign policy, people were saying. the language, the use of words like lethal, security, that were just woven throughout her speech, the invocations of, you know, in a very forceful way, embracing the flag, the embracing of normalcy, of patriotism, in an unabashed way that, again, we saw for four straight days here. but her speech last night was a kind of, we'll call it a work of art, but it was a very -- people will go back and take the speech apart in a variety of ways and look at the different movements in it that allowed her to keep making those very consistent, narrative, and contrast points that were throughout these four days. she made them in all kinds of ways really, really effectively.

>> threading the needle on the question of gaza, which has hovered over this. quote, to be clear, i will always stand up for israel's right to defend itself. making it clear we defend israel, stand shoulder to shoulder, but we have to stop the suffering in gaza, saying she'll work toward a cease-fire deal. claire, one of the themes we've heard all week, and vice president harris drilled in last night, we're not going backward. that gets to a sentiment that almost everybody in this country feels. we're exhausted by this. we don't want to wake up every morning and see what the president said or did or tweeted or who he insulted or how he embarrassed us. she's saying effectively, we've got to go that way. we can't go back there. >> you know, this is what really trump is struggling with. because overnight, kamala harris became the candidate of change. if you look historically at presidential elections, people who make up their mind at the end have a tendency to go towards the candidate they think is most likely to change things.

she is now the candidate of change. you know how happy the campaign was this morning when headlines across the country were, "a new way forward"? she is no longer somebody who is the vice president. she is a presidential candidate. you know, the contrast that you referred to, john, one of the most effective ways she did it, when she said, the only client i've ever had is the people. which is unusual for a lawyer. but she can say that with complete accuracy. then she turned and said, the only client he's ever had is himself. so i, you know, i think they've pulled off something that, for a sitting vice president who you think will be cloaked in incumbency, she's now the new kid in town. >> yeah, she is positioning herself as the challenger. she's separated herself from president biden's record when she needs to, embracing it other times. donald trump, of course, was president. he's been in our lives for so long, americans sort of view him in some ways as an incumbent

like figure. it was really striking. you know, as much as there was joy in the room, her intended audience, of course, was those watching on television. well out of the room. she reassured the democratic party this week was about reassuring democrats, but yesterday, her speech in particular, was about trying to grow her voter race, her coalition. she said she was speaking to americans who hadn't decided yet who they were going to vote for, and in some ways, tried to reassure them. she placed her biography in the framework of the american story, about immigrants, about community, about how the evolving nature and concept of family that we have right now. joe and mika, she also, of course, in many ways, was, to heilemann's point, more of a hawk, moved more toward the middle, a more centrist appeal, moving beyond the borders of the united center and trying to talk to the sliver of voters who are going to decide this election. >> this actually was the convention start to finish. that was aimed at those voters in wisconsin, michigan, and

pennsylvania, that they have to pull their direction. she's seeing people of color move more back toward the democratic party than they had during biden. younger voters moving the same way. this convention had a very clear focus on shoring up other support, too. christine, we're talking about contrast between donald trump and kamala harris. she did a wonderful job contrasting that. i think our own reverend al sharpton, with the exonerated five, once called the central park five, and talking about the difference between kamala harris fighting for young men like that versus donald trump, calling for their execution and still -- >> to this day. >> still to this day, after the dna evidence proves they were innocent and exonerated, after the confession proves they were

innocent and exonerated, he still won't back down. >> well, we know donald trump doubles down on whatever lie that he's told himself, right? he's been writing fan fiction about joe biden storming the dnc, taking back his rightful place as the nominee. whatever is in his mind, he'll say enough times, believers will follow it. this time, it's not working. we're seeing donald trump really off kilter, really off kilter for the last month. because we have to be honest, this rollout of kamala harris and tim walz has been borderline perfect. it has been pitch perfect. as you said, we're moving back to the center. we all know, presidents are elected -- think about a distribution curve. the bulk of americans are in the middle. >> right. >> kamala harris' gender and skin color may be radical to some, but policies are like the vast majority of every other president, they're in the center. whether, you know, far, far leftist and far, far right-wing votes like that or not. she's talking to the vast majority of americans to say, to reintroduce herself to many, to, as willie just said, you know,

link herself to the successes of joe biden but also forge a path forward. put a path forward. donald trump is the -- he is yesterday. the more he speaks, the more he's just doubling down on the fact that he wants to go back to the hulk hogan days, the '80s. he was on the "lifestyles of the rich and famous." that's where his mind is stuff. the walz/harris campaign is saying look at the blended family. our family looks more like your family. our story is more like your story. jfk wrote "the nation of immigrants." it is a complicated narrative. we've never been too kind from immigrants, whether from europe, the south, or the caribbean. it's an intense process. weaving in that complicated history and the reality of america in a 21st century conversation is what kamala harris has been doing. she just keeps getting better at it. every accusation is a confession on trump's part. >> yeah. maga republicans are having, i

think, a very hard time figuring out how to confront this challenger. i hate to even give this energy or put it out there, but even the reaction to tim walz's son loving his father and tears of joy was mocked by these right-wingers who claim to be political analysts. i mean, that is, to me, like, that was the biggest miss i've ever seen in terms of trying to counter what's happening at a convention from the other side. it was gross. it was ugly. >> cruel. >> it was cruel. it was disgusting. it was vulgar. it was everything you don't want to be in a human being. >> but they keep missing. >> they keep missing. >> here's another clip from last night. >> you know, our opponents in this race are out there every day denigrating america, talking about how terrible everything

is. well, my mother had another lesson she used to teach. never let anyone tell you who you are. you show them who you are! america, let us show each other and the world who we are. and what we stand for. freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness, and endless possibilities. [ applause ] we are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world.

and on behalf of our children and our grandchildren and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment. it is now our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism and faith, to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish, and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on earth. the privilege and pride of being an american! >> wow. >> you know, michael beschloss,

you're laughing because people my age remember after the turbulence of the 1960s, after vietnam, after watergate, it took democrats a while. >> it did. >> to feel comfortable saying what kamala harris just said. republicans went to town on them throughout the 1980s and part of the 1990s because of it. and i had been joking through the week that if chant of "usa, usa" had come up in a rally in the '80s or '90s, people would have looked around quickly, and it would have stopped. it is stunning to me as a former republican watching the republican party actually denigrating america constantly, tearing it down. their nominee saying it is a failed country. it is a, quote, stupid country. it is a, quote, country in decline, when it is anything but that. kamala harris is out there embracing the promise of america and saying what we all have been saying for some time.

that, yes, this is a great country, but we're forever pushing towards being that more perfect union. not there yet. not even close. but, boy, we've got a better shot than any other country on the face of the earth, and we should be proud of it. that embrace, i'm telling you, i just know, all of that sent chills up and down the spines of republicans who understand they are on the wrong side of this argument and they are on the wrong side of history. >> right. you know, as bob dylan said, we're always a country busy being bored, and it was true in 2024 and 1776. where did we hear this blaming of america being cited by someone, all the way back to 1984? republican convention. there was a speech by gene kirkpatrick, the outgoing ambassador to the united nations. said the democrats are the party

of blame america first. also, 1984 was the summer of the olympics in los angeles. we first really heard on a convention floor chants of "usa, usa." those were on the floor of the republican convention. the democrats have now flipped that. they're the party who is defending the greatness and the promise of america. you know, mika and joe, when i was watching last night, we were all looking at a president. it was almost as if kamala harris was giving a state of the union. she didn't look like an aspirant, like a vice president. she looked like a president. that's the biggest audience she's probably going to have this whole campaign, except for perhaps whatever debate or debates there are. what happened? it was a great performance, but she has now been liberated. it's the yolk of the vice presidency. when someone is vice president, they have to subordinate themselves to the president. they have to sort of stand in the background. you know, i go along with what

the president does. it's the reason why so few vice presidents are elected president immediately after serving as vice president. it's what george h.w. bush called the martin van buren problem. you had to go back to van buren to find a president who had done it. this is a woman of enormous experience. tough elections in california. of county, state, federal. four years in the senate. four years as vice president. in the judicial, executive, and legislative branches. oddly enough, people never thought of her that way, but this is one of the most experienced party nominees for president we have ever had, and she demonstrated that from beginning to end last night. >> mike, i think that's really important. you mentioned that this was a woman of extraordinary experience and the like. one of the things that was really -- that really struck me last night is she did not make mention of the historic fact

that she is a woman of color. >> right. >> running for the presidency of the united states. talk a little bit about the historical significance of that fact. even though she didn't mention it, in my own mind, i'm thinking back to 1881 and the atlanta women labor strike. i'm thinking about the fact that women didn't get to vote until 1920. i'm thinking about 1965 and the voting rights act. i'm thinking about 1972, chisholm. when they could get a loan without a male co-signer. talk about the significance of this nominee in this moment against the backdrop of history. >> well, as you know well, eddie, in 1920, at the time of the amendment that gave americans the -- american women the guaranteed right to vote, the idea was that you would pretty quickly have so many women in public office, that

probably you'd have a president of the united states. that has not happened yet, as late as 2024. same thing with the voting rights act of 1965, as you also well know. the idea was that black people for the first time in american history would be able to get the right to vote without limitations, and that, as a result, there would naturally be black leaders in the congress, as governors. you know, there still hasn't been a woman black governor yet in the united states, in all of american history. but as far as why she didn't cite the fact she is a woman and she's a black woman, you know, she didn't need to say it. take a look. you know, the whole idea of america is, you know, when we begin to consider people on the basis of the content of their character and not always notice what their race or gender is. >> mika, i've always said of margaret thatcher, she did not need to go around telling people, i am a woman. >> right.

>> because they were so stuck on what a tough leader she was. >> right. >> usually trying to, like, push back. i think kamala harris, in a sense, over this past month, has done such an extraordinary job with this rollout. people, i just know there are going to be issues out there with certain people, but it's just something that didn't need to be said last night. she's a strong, powerful leader who has done something over the past month that nobody in american history has done. >> well, and what i've loved watching is that there were many strong, powerful women on stage. it was very unspecial. it was just incredibly great in terms of from a know your value perspective. i was happy to see so many accomplished women playing a role in here, and it wasn't kind of like something you'd put quotes around, christina. it was sort of, we have arrived, to an extent. >> right.

well, we've come a long way. we still have a long way to go. >> hell, yeah. >> as michael mentioned, you have yet to have a female black governor. >> we need our freedoms back, thank you. that'd be important. >> that, too. kamala harris was only the second black elected u.s. senator in the history of our nation. the first was 1992, year of the woman. we still have a long way to go when it comes to descriptive representation. what i thought was powerful about her speech last night, which definitely, you know, i was texting friends last night and early this morning saying, it really did give state of the union vibes. >> mm-hmm. >> but when you have electeds of color, there is the descriptive representation and the substantive representation. joe, as you just said, kamala harris is like, you can see this. i'm the child of two immigrants. i'm a woman. i don't need to beat you over the head with that. what i want to talk about is the substantive representation. when i become president, here are the issues that are of concern to me. one is a woman's right to choose and autonomy over her body. the other is an economy. a woman's right to choose is an

economic issue, point-blank. let's talk about housing. let's talk about international affairs. yes, female leaders tend to be hawkish. think of the rhetoric of hillary clinton. they can't be seen as weak or demure or too scared of the international stage. we're going to hear language that some people might clutch their little pearls and say, oh, my goodness, a woman is saying, oh, my. >> wow. >> did she say that? >> we're talking about fighter jets. yes, we are. as commander in chief. >> eddie, are you going to make it? >> you know, she did say commander in chief in her speech, to sort of help people understand. i'm not just going to be the president of the united states. i'll be the commander in chief of the army, of the military, of the forces that go internationally and abroad, to represent the united states of america. so a lot of democrats do bristle at that type of language. it is something we're used to hearing from men and, quite honestly, more from republicans. but this is, as we keep saying,

a conversation we have to have with the vast majority of americans. only 60% of the voting eligible population bothers to turn out. >> you know, you did a sort of curve with -- >> distribution curve. >> earlier, you talked about ideology. i would make another argument that i think kamala harris has going for her, that barack obama had going for her, nothing to do with, like, the color of their skin, their background, their parents. it's a curve of normalcy. right? and they're here. like, kamala harris is here. i had a reporter who has been reporting for 40, 50 years, really cynical guy, and he said, you know, the thing i never saw until this week when i saw her up close, go walking through, dealing with people, how normal she was. said, i just didn't realize. she's relaxed with who she is.

she is solidly middle class, right? so you've got that curve. you've got middle class, then you have weird. >> weirder. >> insurrectionist freaks. this is getting weirder. i remind people when they start talking about, oh, barack obama got elected and people freaked out because this is a racist country. i said, do you realize barack obama, a black man, is the only democrat since fdr to get a majority of the vote in america? he did that over 50%. he did that by going to counties in iowa, in ohio, across the upper midwest, that were predominantly white. why? because i remember when i saw barack obama, and older guys crying. i'd be like, i went to law school with that guy. this is like -- what are you freaking out about? he is an american, right?

i think we're there with kamala. she's in the normalcy range. it's the white guy she's running against having to defend off the weird labels. >> we have to remember, one, barack obama used jesse jackson's 50 state strategy in those coucounties. we have to give a nod no jesse jackson, not just his race in '84 but the very successful race in '88. two, you mentioned it earlier, joe, people are exhausted. >> yes. >> the donald trump show is exhausting. waking up every morning, checking your phone to see what madness this man has possibly gotten us into, that's another piece. lastly, kamala harris is saying, if we are a party, if we are a country of moving forward, here are the policy proposals, but the vast majority of americans, you know, i tell my students, you have to do two things. work on a campaign of some sort and drive cross country. driving cross country helps you understand how one person is supposed to unify all of us. and you see the similarities. >> so many.

>> this is the tim walz story when he is talking about the plastic on the couch. everyone's grandparents had plastic on the couch. this is kamala harris saying these things that a lot of immigrant parents told their children. parents of color told their children. working class parents have told their children about. you have to work twice as hard to get half as much. how you have to make sure you show people who you are. don't be defined by other people's expectations of you. these are narratives that have been happening in houses across the country for generations. >> right. >> she's actually unveiling a lot. obama did sort of the first wave. >> he did. >> this is now a second wave of serious conversations that people have been having in their homes for generations. >> by the way. >> she's opening it up. >> two requirements are brilliant. i tell everybody. you should get involved in a campaign, run. also, drive across america. i did it a lot when i was in college, when i was young. probably drove across america, five, six, seven, eight times. mika and i have been across the country giving speeches for years. and i always tell people, the

most shocking thing is not how people in alabama are so different from people on the upper west side. it's how they want the same things. >> exactly. >> they want the same things for their children. they want the same things for their communities. they -- so you are so right. willie, one other thing, too, on contrast, following what christina said about exhaustion. sometimes we make campaigns too complicated. man, if i were running this campaign, i would strip it down. it is joy versus exhaustion. it is that simple. i will tell you, people that supported donald trump -- >> joy versus hate. >> -- going back, you know, years, still were going, oh, i'm voting for him. he exhausts me. i don't like him. joy versus exhaustion. that is a powerful contrast. >> and that's what they've been talking about in this arena for a week behind me. even last night, as vice president harris was giving her

address, donald trump was live truth socialing with comments. his rejoinder to her comments were, all caps, where's hunter? >> oh, my gosh. >> is that all you've got? is that all you've got? come on now. you have to do a little better than that. he's playing the hits. >> he's trying. >> yeah, he's not even trying anymore. just playing the old classics in his mind. john, part of the message last night, too, was this has been an extraordinary week. >> i mean, where is hunter? that's like elvis, like, wearing fringe in 1967 in the summer of love. i mean, come on! where's hunter? god, i'm sorry. willie? >> i love, "is she talking about me?" talk about projection and confession. my god. >> desperately calling around to different news networks to make his case somehow. in one case, being cut off by the hosts on fox news, saying, we really got to go, man.

enough with this. then he called another one. but the message here has been, this has been an incredible week. we've got the candidate you can support. we know you were shaky on all that's been going on for a couple months, but here we are. now the question is, what do we do with this energy in this room, beginning today? what are the next 73 days looking like in your eyes? >> well, i think the next 73 days look -- i mean, they look intense to start. of all the things that changed when joe biden stepped aside and we've seen the things that happened over the course of the last now almost five weeks, one of them that people who are focused on what's going to happen in the 73 days have noticed is, the insane explosion of volunteers across the country. you had just these very, very few into june of this year, and now tens, in some cases hundreds of thousands of people who are wanting to work on this campaign. in a world where the map was

shrinking to the point where there was only this one, narrow path for joe biden, now the paths have opened up. there is lots after different -- and the combination of the volunteers and all that money, what you see in the next 73 days is spreading the field. and making donald trump go and spend the money he has, which is not as much as she has, to go and defend in places he thought he'd never have to go defend. places like north carolina. places like arizona. places where he had opened up -- close to being outside the margin of error leader. now, harris is ahead, still within the margin of error, or is competitive. there's reasons to think north carolina may be a more competitive state than georgia. a state that donald trump's people thought were in their pocket. he's been back there a lot the last couple weeks. i think that's what that look like. i think very quickly, one other thing. i do think -- claire said this thing i was thinking about as we

were sitting here, the notion of her as the candidate of change. she will say, whether she's one point ahead, four points or seven points ahead on the day of the election, which is where she's going to need to be with what we've seen with donald trump in the past and how the electoral college tilts against democrats, she needs not to be tied. open up the lead. a week from election day, it tightens up at the end. she'll say she is the underdog. people in campaign world rightly will say, that's the attitude you want. if you're ahead, campaign like you're behind. claire raised this thing, being the underdog makes you implicitly the challenger. being the challenger makes you the candidate of change. in this world, right now, the america we live in, being the candidate of change is key. being the underdog is the easiest path toward that. she'll wear the underdog mantle until november 5th. >> we heard that, claire, from governor walz. he said it is the fourth quarter, down a few points, but we have the ball.

we're on offense, playing the underdog. as you said, extraordinary for a sitting vice president to be able to frame herself as the challenger here. >> yeah. frankly, the campaign is going to have a challenge with all the volunteers, deploying them effectively. but i had a chance to talk to some of the people running the ground game. both the ones doing independent and the ones for the campaign. the campaign has already committed double the amount of money for a field operation than biden spent in the entire election in 2020. they're ready to go. by the way, watching him shrink, she knows how to get under his skin. i'm going to end this the way i began it this morning. it is so much fun to watch her get to him. he was losing it last night. you can tell by the way he acted. you can tell by what he tweeted. you know, i'm here with my popcorn and diet coke to watch that. >> claire knows, though,

figuring out constructive ways to use volunteers in battleground states, there are no two human beings on planet earth who will be like, i have no problem figuring that out, more than jen o'malley dillon. it's what they're best at. they'll have no problem finding a constructive use. >> it has been a solid month. we saw again last night, donald trump has not had a clue how yet to touch vice president harris. they haven't landed on a single attack line. democrats have taken the immigration issue. they're going on the offense with it. we have seen republicans flailing. to john's point a minute ago, they weren't in north carolina a month back. now, they're spending money there. they have to try to hold the territory. to coach walz's point, the idea of the underdog, driving down the field, you need the last three points. how do they get the ball back? 4-4-3 defense. >> turnover. >> force the turnover. they've got to -- >> it's a swarming defense. first guy gets the contact. second guy, get the ball out. >> punch it out. >> leads to points. >> that's right. >> we've been talking about this

all week, can you tell? guys, great to have you all with us this morning. john heilemann, christina greer, michael beschloss, and the great claire mccaskill, thanks, guys. ahead on "morning joe," democratic senator elizabeth warren joins the conversation on the heels of her dnc speech last night. first, governor kathy hochul spoke this week, as well. standing by, she joins us when "morning joe" comes right back from the democratic national convention in chicago.

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you are from new york, the great state of new york. this is chicago style pizza. >> yeah. >> would you like to give it a try? >> it's kind of funny looking. i mean, i'm not sure what to make of this. >> okay. >> why is it so high? i don't get it. i know it takes an hour to make. like, we get hungry. we're not waiting an hour. we want our pizza done in a new york minute. i may pass on this. >> you'll pass? >> i'll wait until i get home for some good, old, new york, made in a minute pizza. >> i can't convince you to try a bite? >> no, i'm not sure i'm going to do that. >> governor, i appreciate it. >> i have high standards. i spent five years making pizza in high school. i'm a pizza connoisseur.

that's the size of three pizzas i would have made. i'm just saying, you want to know about pizza, talk to me. >> good for you. new york governor kathy hochul staying true to her roots, standing her ground when it comes to pizza. governor hochul joins us now. we love chicago. i respect the deep dish. we're from new york. it's a casserole or something. >> i still don't understand the concept. what did you do to the original pizza? what happened? >> it's too much, right? >> take four of them? they all got smooshed in a box, and someone declared it a new style? i love this city. jb pritzker, i thanked him. i left my hotel, and a police officer said, have a safe trip home. i said, my gosh, this is the friendliest place. they did a great job. but we don't have to embrace everything. i'm true to my roots. i know how to make a pizza, and i love it. >> we have the best pizza. new jersey is good pizza, too. let's talk about what happened this week. you gave a strong address here a couple nights ago.

i'm curious what you thought as the week went along, ending, of course, with vice president kamala harris accepting the nomination, about just what a change for this party over the last month, given all the doubts about joe biden, especially after the debate. feels like that has been swept to the side. >> i will say this, and i love the fact there was so much praise for joe biden at this convention. we deserved it. every time you turn around, somebody was erupting saying, thank you, joe. it felt special. this week has been exhilarating. the greatest high for someone like myself who was here in chicago in '96 as a young staffer, helping someone who wanted to be in congress get elected. i was here helping write the speech. i helped him prepare for this. for me to be able to be on the same stage all these years later was a personal experience for me that was phenomenal. i treasured the opportunity to really take a little shot at donald trump, but also to culminate in that beautiful, beautiful, powerful, joyful

message from kamala harris. people finally had a chance to see who she is. i know a little bit about being number two. you finally get to come out from behind the shadows, and that's who she is. america loves it. they're just embracing her. it is amazing. >> you mentioned donald trump in your speech. he took particular notice of all the speeches this week, of yours. he called you, quote, the nastiest speaker. how do you take that criticism? >> as a badge of honor. i mean, i really do think that women get to him in a particular way. you know, when you're a bully -- i was raised with brothers. i'm tough. i'm from buffalo. you punch back and punch back hard. i was not going to let the narrative of what he did to new york while he was a new yorker -- we had 78 years of this guy. i said, trust me, america, you think you're tired of donald trump. talk to a new yorker. we put up with the sham university, the fake charities, the fraud, you know, abusing women, then taking away their rights. it's like, you can't make this

stuff up. there is a narrative of when he was president, but don't forget the 78 years we had to deal with him as a new yorker. we're glad he is not one anymore. >> now a florida resident. governor, this week, former speaker nancy pelosi was here and was asked about the 2022 elections. new york state, of course, lost some seats, went from democrats to republican. she said she believed, quoting her here, that it was related to the gubernatorial race, meaning your election. what is your response to that, and how do you feel about this fall? >> oh, i don't agree with that. that's fine. but i'll tell you this, no governor in the history of the state of new york has worked harder to elect members of congress than i have. i started last year raising money for the state party, giving money to the local counties. i have 35 offices that i've opened, working with hakeem jeffries and kirsten gillibrand in a coordinated way, hiring hundreds of staffers. we are going to win this on the ground because i know how to do

in. i now have the chance to focus on this. i'm not a candidate myself this year, so i can focus on hudson valley, syracuse, central new york, to the tip of long island. we're going to win these races and win strong. >> governor, part of the criticism that donald trump levied against kamala harris, and when he talks broadly about the country, is that, effectively, forgive the term, we're a crime-ridden hell hole, a third-world country. last night, he was tweeting out erroneous stats about where violent crime is nationally. can you speak to where numbers are in new york, the state? new york city, in particular, and how they've come down recently. >> in many categories of crime, we're down to 1960s, 1950s level. i mean, the shooting the shooting and murder rates in the state of new york, even in new york city has plummeted. subway crimes are down. so it takes a little while for public perception to catch up with statistics. that's fine. people need to feel secure, and if they're still feeling anxious, that's a challenge for

us, but you can't argue with the facts. you just can't argue with the fact that statistically our country is safer. our state is safer. our cities are safer, and i have invested an enormous amount of money in subway safety. put the national guard. the numbers have plummeted since that time. that's something democrats are wrapping our arms around public safety. we're in charge of our stay and city, and we'll do something about that. he's wrong on that. he's absolutely wrong. >> he's trying to ride that and immigration where all the number haves changed against him to fly in the face of his argument. >> i'll tell you this convention, you had to walk out of there so proud of being an american, and the republicans thought they were able to hijack that issue. patriotism, love of country, fighting for america, putting on a uniform and fighting for america, we took on that narrative and it must be driving them nut. >> and chicago has the best

pizza. >> yes. >> thank you for your time. great to see you. >> great to see you again. thank you. coming up, democratic senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts had an emotional moment when she took the stage at the dnc last night. she joins us next on "morning joe." t night. she joins us next on "morning joe. my mental health was better. but uncontrollable movements called td, tardive dyskinesia, started disrupting my day. td felt embarrassing. i felt like disconnecting. i asked my doctor about treating my td, and learned about ingrezza. ♪ ingrezza ♪ ingrezza is clinically proven for reducing td. most people saw results in just two weeks. people taking ingrezza can stay on most mental health meds. number-one prescribed ingrezza has simple dosing for td: always one pill, once daily. ingrezza can cause depression, suicidal thoughts, or actions in patients with huntington's disease. pay close attention to and call your doctor if you become depressed, have a sudden changes in mood, behaviors, feelings or have thoughts of suicide. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including angioedema,

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[ cheers and applause ]

[ cheers and applause ] [ cheers and applause ] that was senator elizabeth warren last night at the dnc receiving a sustained standing ovation that lasted well over a

minute. in her speech, she then laid out the stark character and policy contrasts between kamala harris and donald trump, and the democratic senator of massachusetts joins us now. i have to tell you that was so moving. crying right now watching it, but it's been such a long runway to this moment. >> anyway, eddie was crying too. >> he was definitely crying. >> so much for the centrism. this is why i came. >> as i was saying, it's really a long runway to this moment paved, in part, by you. >> well, it has been a long runway. i stood there, and all i could see was this huge room full of volunteers, of people who had taken their vacation time, spent their own money to come to chicago because they got in a fight because they don't want to see young people crushed by

student loan debt, because they want gun safety, because they want us to deal with prescription drugs and make them affordable for people. i thought of this as a moment in democracy. i never thought i was going to run for public office, but i got into it because there are things i care about, and in a democracy, you'll have a chance to just raise your hand and say, i will get in this fight. come on with me, and that's what -- that's what people have done, and it just -- that was the moment last night that there were so many people who said, we are in this fight together. we are in this fight to make change, and we are going to win and make those changes. >> you know, i think we all probably took something a little different out of that sustained applause that you got. i felt it was, like, this pentup -- i won't say

frustration because that's too negative of a word, but pentup energy for progressives. >> yes. >> for the progressive cause, and it once again is underlined in this convention as kamala harris is firmly holding a place in the center of american politics. to me, progressives have done exactly what the base in trump's republican party have not done. progressives have been patient. they have been practical. that have been pragmatic, and they actually -- forgive me for using ronald reagan's name here, for -- and speaking of progressives, but reagan's attitude was, if i get 70% -- if i get 75% of what i need, i don't consider that a loss, and i have been blown away

throughout biden's administration and even this convention that progressives have said, we're in it to win it, and i felt last night was that -- that eruption was for you and for progressives across america that say, we're here. >> yeah, because we are in it to make the changes that america wants us to make. you know, it's so easy for people to kind of get into this whole centrism and progressive -- the reality is the things that we are fighting for are the things that are popular in america. we talk about things like gun safety. golly. 90% of americans want to see us make change, and it's not just democrats. it's democrats, independents, republicans. we want to see child care. 2 out of every 3 americans say, yeah. this is crazy that we are a nation that doesn't make it possible for parents to be able to go to work and know that their kids have safe, affordable

child care, and if you just do this issue through issue, and the issues we're still fighting for, we have got to make major investments in housing in this country. we need housing for everyone. we need to make change as a nation, and we are ready to do it. we're not going to stand on the sidelines and say, oh. should have done it this way. could have done it that way. we're going to say, we're willing to get it in the fight. we're willing to take how hard it is, and the bumps and the bruises and just keep pushing forward, and make the changes that this nation needs. that's what're going to do. >> and eddie, how right the senator is that often what's branded as far-left and progressive is right in the middle of where so many americans are, like, for instance, tim walz is being attacked as a communist, as a socialist. why? because he wanted hungry kids in minnesota to have breakfast and

lunch at school. kamala harris being called a communist, a socialist, a communist because she wants to make it easier for younger americans to get that first house, which they cannot get now. they are shut out of the american dream that we grew up with, and so kamala harris is saying, let's see what we can all do together so younger americans can get that first home. that ain't socialism. that is pragmatic politics that a lot of americans support. >> you know, joe, you're absolutely right. sometimes these labels get in the way of underlying values that we all share. that we all share. sometimes we find ourselves, you know, defending ideology as if it's just pure -- when we're all complicated, one minute i may sound like i'm on the far-left. one minute i may sound like t.s. elliott depending on what we're talking about, right? it's an indication of how complex everyday ordinary people are. >> right. >> and how these labels try to

box us in. senator warren, i was so delighted to see you last night. i was smiling from ear to ear like a chess cat as we would say in mississippi. what we need -- joe is absolutely right. we're in it to win it given who we know is on the other side. what do we need to do to ensure we implement the agenda if we win it? so talk a little bit about those down ballot races, senator warren. >> so thank you, thank you, thank you, for raising that. we focus on the top. that's the most important thing. we've got to get kamala harris and tim walz elected, but next she's got to have a senate, and that means a majority in the senate. we've got to get our democrats across the line. defend every seat. i hope you saw colin allred last night. he's looking good down there in texas. we need a democratic senate just towards the supreme court. we need a democratic senate so

we can start to pass some of these laws. same things on the house side, but also it's down ballot races everywhere. you know, one of the things about this convention is how many people i talk to who got into politics over a single issue, that got into it because something had happened to them, someone they loved, and they were determined that they wouldn't be denied an opportunity to get their prescription drugs, so that we would have better gun safety laws, but now that they're in it, they've run for school board. they've run for city council. they've run for mayor. they've run for state assemblies. we need to vote up and down the ballot, and there's some data to suggest republicans do vote up and down the ballot. that is, they took and they see the r designation and say they're in. democrats say, you know, i'm not sure i know that person on down the line. let me tell you what you know. you know that they're a democrat, and you know they're fighting for your family, and

that's good enough for us to pull together and to vote in our democrats at the top and all the way up and down our ballot. that's how we make real change. we make it at the federal level. we make it at the state level. we make it at your city level. we make it down at the precinct level. that's what we're fighting for. >> i want to ask you about the explosion that is kamala harris' candidacy. you ran a campaign and you've seen it in action different angles as well. did you see this coming? >> you know, it's a hard question in this sense. i mean it in this sense. who could have predicted anything about what's happened in the last month? >> i'm with you. >> and yet i have known kamala for nearly 14 years, and i have known that kamala is extraordinary. remember. when i first got to know kamala was during the housing crisis --

when i used to come talk to you all during the housing crash, and what had happened was these banks had broken the law, cheated people, were stealing their homes. kamala was attorney general. i was setting up the cfpd, and i remember the very first phone call we ever had was about a deal that was on the table, and kamala said, not good enough. these guys broke the law, and we need to hold them accountable, and i thought, at that moment, this woman is special. we're going to have some fun together, and for 14 years now i have just seen that reinforced again and again and again. she is an extraordinary person, and she meets this moment for america. we are so lucky to have her. >> massachusetts senator, elizabeth warren, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. we'll see you soon. take care. >> see you soon.

>> thank you. our third hour starts right now with this moment from kamala harris' acceptance speech last night. >> as a prosecutor, when i had a case, i charged it not in the name of the victim, but in the name of the people for a simple reason. in our system of justice, a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us. [ cheers and applause ] and i would often explain this to console survivors of crime to remind them no one should be made to fight alone. we are all in this together. and every day in the courtroom, i stood proudly before a judge,

and i said five words. kamala harris for the people. [ cheers and applause ] and to be clear -- and to be clear, my entire career, i've only had one client, the people. [ cheers and applause ] and so on behalf of the people, on behalf of every american regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks, on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey, on behalf of americans like the people i grew up with, people who work hard,

chase their dreams, and look out for one another, on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on earth, i accept your nomination to be president of the united states of america. [ cheers and applause ] >> vice president kamala harris accepting her party's nomination for president last night at the democratic national convention. good morning, and welcome to "morning joe." it is friday, august 23rd. along with willie in chicago at the dnc and joe and me, we have the host of "way too early," jonathan lemire, nbc news and msnbc political analyst, former u.s. senator, claire mccaskill, president of the national action network and host of msnbc's "politics nation," reverend al sharpton. >> what a speech.

>> who spoke last night. it was incredible. we'll get to that. also with us, professor at princeton university, eddie glaude jr., and historian jon meacham. so we begin. your thoughts? >> let's begin. i thought that she did exactly what she had to do. i thought the convention went better than i've seen it go, and willie, i must say that again, even in that line, that punch line right before you accept your party's nomination, she talked about the greatness of america. she talked about the very things that republicans used to talk about until they started running down america saying what a horrible country it was. donald trump saying what a failed country it was, what a nation in decline it was, and

she went there, and i thought, willie, most importantly, the democratic national convention went there all week with chants of usa, with flags waving, with one speaker after another going on and on about how great america was, and how this could only happen in the united states of america. >> yeah. in what kamala harris called the greatest country on earth. the flags got bigger as the night went along. everyone had a small flag in their hand to wave the speech, and then they brought out the big flags for kamala harris' speech, chants of usa, patriotism, fully reclaimed. a focus on the military, on veterans also last night, and her speech was -- this building has seen a lot, joe and mika. michael jordan won three championships in here. they have had some electric nights, but i would hazard to guess that this was right on par with some of those nights in

terms of energy in the building, john lemire, and you and i were watching. we got sort of the full scope from section 315 up there, looking down at this tableau of a party that has truly been energized and in some ways over the past month or so, transformed from the dread and despair that joe biden was too old and they were going to lose to donald trump, and how were we going to deal with this guy for another four years? to a party now at the end of this week that truly feels not in an overconfident way -- truly feels, it now has the upper hand. >> we were up in the chief seats, but it gave us a great view of the diversity of the crowd, the energy of the crowd, and yes, the patriotism of the crowd. it was on full display. the red, white, and blue flags later, the red, white and blue balloons. this was an extraordinarily important moment for vice president harris. it was only a month ago that she was not here. joe biden was at the top of the ticket, and the way she has transformed this party, energized this party, and last

night she set out to introduce herself in a real way to the american people and she did so. she started out in an autobiography, and spoke about her family, her mother, her community who raised her. there was a focus on national security last night, you know, shoring up that part of her resume. sort of in some ways moving towards the middle, you know, reassuring those voters. she said she wanted to speak to some of the americans who hadn't decided yet and weren't in her corner just yet. we heard from republicans denouncing donald trump. harris, the former prosecutor, deemed him an unserious man, offered a preview of the scathing attack she'll deliver at the debate in three weeks' time, and i found so striking there was not a word of the historic nature of her candidacy. not a word about her gender or her race. it was simply, this is about the country. this is about the people in this country. >> claire, you have been saying for a long time through all the hand-wringing about, should joe biden stay or should he step

side, and part of the concern we all heard from democrats and know you heard it too, was what comes next? can kamala harris really do the job? is donald trump going to wipe the floor with kamala harris? you have been saying from the beginning, guys, i know her. i've worked with her. i've seen her. she can do it and she will. >> yeah. i think they showed last night that she's ready to be president of the united states, and that was really the goal. the goal was to show the country that she's tough, that she's strong, that she's ready, that she's capable, that she has the experience and the qualifications. should i confess now that the thing i enjoyed the most about this convention? that it was so good and all the stuff that bugged donald trump. the production values were off the charts. everything looked great. the timing was seamless. there was no big drama anywhere. there were no tensions. we had more stars than he had. we have better ratings than he had. all the stuff that he thinks are important, they did really well this week, and i confess that

kind of gives me a grin. >> he desperately after vice president harris' speech was desperately calling into tv networks. sometimes it appeared to be sitting on some of the keys. fox news, they kind of called him off and he called into newsmax. rev, a point of personal privilege here. lemire and i were watching upstairs and there's no cheering in the press box, but when you came on, we had to. we had to cheer for the rev. truly a stirring speech, and when you invoked psalms at the end and talked about the joy, and the joy, the joy that cometh in the morning, this place was filled with joy last night. >> well, i think the whole theme of the campaign, and the democratic party's convention was that we want to get out of the darkness into the joy. so i wanted to have a biblical reference to it, and as class said, that is the spirit you felt this week. i remember as a kid, i might have been 13 or 14, the '68

riots in chicago. the contrast. you had protests here, but they were peaceful. they were -- there were some arrests, but no real violence, and people every day said it was going to be a disturbance. there was joy here from all races and all regions and i think that's what kamala harris has come here to represent, which i think is a huge threat to donald trump because if you can choose between joy and disaster, you'll choose joy every time. >> and joy and patriotism were combined in a way. i heard bill bradley say yesterday, joy and patriotism combined in a way he has not seen since ronald reagan in 1984 when he took 49 states. i will say one correction, and really quickly here -- here we have the front of the "new york times," and also the front of the "wall street journal." "harris makes her case to the nation." i will say, one quick correction

to the psalm that -- or maybe a caveat to the psalm that the rev said so powerfully yesterday. joy cometh in the morning unless you are a "way too early" host that has to wake up in central time zone. in central time zone after staying up all night watching. then joy come a little later in the day. >> when the nap comes. that's when my joy comes. >> poor guy. yeah. all right. the vice president delivered a nearly 40-minute speech to an energetic crowd. she spent the beginning of her remarks laying out her family's story in the early steps of her career. she then moved on to her own agenda and the threats posed by a second term for donald trump. >> in many ways, donald trump is an unserious man. [ laughter ] but the consequences -- but the

consequences of putting donald trump back in the white house are extremely serious. consider what he intends to do if we give him power again. consider his explicit intent to set free violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the capitol. his explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponents, and anyone he sees as the enemy. his explicit intent to deploy our active duty military against our own citizens. consider -- consider the power he will have, especially after the united states supreme court just ruled that he would be

immune from criminal prosecution. [ boos ] just imagine donald trump with no guardrails. and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of united states. not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had, himself. [ applause ] friends, i believe america cannot truly be prosperous unless americans are fully able to make their own decisions about their own lives, especially on matters of heart and home.

[ applause ] but tonight in america, too many women are not able to make those decisions, and let's be clear about how we got here. donald trump hand-picked members of the united states supreme court to take away reproductive freedom, and now he brags about it. in his words, quote, i did it, and i'm proud to have done it. over the past two years, i've traveled across our country, and women have told me their stories. husbands and fathers have shared theirs. stories of women miscarrying in a parking lot, developing sepsis, losing the ability to ever again have children, all because doctors are afraid they may go to jail for caring for their patients.

couples just trying to grow their family cut off in the middle of ivf treatments, children who have survived sexual assault potentially being forced to carry a pregnancy to term. this is what's happening in our country because of donald trump, and understand he has not done as a part of his agenda, he and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban with or without congress, and get this. [ boos ] get this. he plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator. and force states to report on women's miscarriages and

abortions. simply put, they are out of their minds. [ applause ] and one must ask -- one must ask, why exactly is it that they don't trust women? well, we trust women. [ cheers and applause ] we trust women. and let me be clear. after decades in law enforcement, i know the importance of safety and security, especially at our border. last year, joe and i brought together the democrats and conservative republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. the border patrol endorsed it, but donald trump believes a border deal would hurt his

campaign. so he ordered his allies in congress to kill the deal. well, i refuse to play politics with our security, and here is my pledge to you. as president, i will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and i will sign it into law. i know -- i know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. we can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border. and america, we must also be steadfast in advancing our security and values abroad. as vice president, i have

confronted threats to our security, negotiated with foreign leaders, strengthened our alliances, and engaged with our brave troops overseas. as commander in chief, i will ensure america always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world, and i will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families, and i will always honor and never disparage their service and their sacrifice. >> eddie, "the wall street journal" says harris makes her case to america. how did she do? >> she did really well. i mean, she proved very clearly that she's not the radical san francisco liberal communist socialist that they're trying to paint her as. >> right. >> i thought she did an extraordinary job introducing

her biography. she did an extraordinary job of kind of giving an account of the forces that have shaped her, and i think she did an extraordinary job of assuring the middle of the country that she's not some strange person who will threaten their values, and in so many ways, joe, we talked about the patriotism that was kind of illustrated or demonstrated over the course of the convention. i would want to say it's a patriotism that was infused with the power of american diversity. it's almost as if she was lifting up ellis island, you know, give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free. >> right. >> such that her store story and her mother's story is so powerful. i think all in all they achieved what they wanted to achieve last night. still ahead on "morning joe," much more from the final night of the dnc including the

emotional moments of the exonerated members of who was once known as the central park five appearing alongside reverend al. what they had to say about former president trump. you're watching "morning joe." we're back in 90 seconds. watch" we're back in 90 seconds

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pronounce the vice president's name. that adorably constructive moment is next on "morning joe." e moment is next on "morning joe " she grew up in a middle class home. she was the daughter of a working mom. and she worked at mcdonald's while she got her degree. kamala harris knows what it's like to be middle class. it's why she's determined to lower health care costs and make housing more affordable. donald trump has no plan to help the middle class, just more tax cuts for billionaires. being president is about who you fight for. and she's fighting for people like you. i'm kamala harris and i approve this message. shopify's point of sale system helps you sell at every stage of your business. need a fast and secure way to take payments? we've got you

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hello, everybody. my name's amara. >> and my name is leela, her little sister. >> what are you here to do? >> to teach you how to say our auntie's name. >> how do you pronounce it? >> first you say calm like comma in a sentence. >> then you say la la la la la. >> put it together. kamala. let's practice. >> everybody on the -- everybody over here say comma. >> all: comma. >> over here say la. >> all: la. >> together. >> all: kamala.

kamala. kamala. >> for president! [ cheers and applause ] >> see, guys, it's just not that hard. it's kamala. vice president harris' grandnieces were the lesson on how to correctly pronounce their aunt's first name. led there of course, by kerri washington. reverend al delivered a very powerful speech in this building last night. he revisited come of the controversial comments donald trump has made over the years about race contrasting them with kamala harris' record. >> i stand before you as the president of national action network. we do not endorse candidates, but we report where candidates stand on criminal justice, economic empowerment, health equity, and other issues. on one side of this race there's donald trump, a fellow new yorker i've known for 40 years.

only once -- once in that time did he take a position on racial issues. he spent a small fortune on full-page ads calling for the execution of five innocent young teenagers. on the other side is a woman that i've walked with in selma, alabama to commemorate the 59th anniversary of bloody sunday. [ applause ] kamala harris spoke to me that day about unity and passing bills. all i ever heard from donald trump was how he can get an advantage. i see one candidate who wants to protect the right to vote while the other has tried to cook up 11,000 votes in georgia. i work with kamala harris. in every job she has had, she

has consistently committed to making government work for those of us who have been disadvantaged. all donald trump has been consistent about is making himself richer and sowing division to get that done. this man sat right here in chicago a few weeks ago refusing to apologize for claims that migrants were taking black jobs. well, in november, we're going to show him when blacks do their job, and we are going to join with whites and browns and asians, and we're going to do a job on those that have done a job on us. tonight we are going to realize shirley chisholm's dream. [ cheers and applause ]

52 years ago, i was one of the youth directors in her campaign for president, and 52 years after she was told to sit down, i know she's watching us tonight as a black woman stands up to accept the nomination for president of the united states. this november, we will go forward to fulfill the promise of a just and fair nation, and let me say as we transition, i'm a preacher and in psalms, it says, weep and endure the night, but joy comes in the morning. we've endured conspiracy theories. we've endured lies and eras of darkness, but if we stay together, black, white, latino, asian, indian, american, if we stay together, joy, joy, joy,

joy coming in the morning. >> rev took them to church last night. i mean, that was obviously kamala harris got the biggest ovation, but that was -- the swelling, i'm sure you felt it up there at the podium. it was something special. what was it like to give that address last night, and what did you really want to drill home to this crowd? >> i really wanted to drill home the fact that we are in a very serious point in american history, and that we should not take lightly that we're dealing with not just an election, but a selection. are we going to save democracy and the principles of that and have someone that exemplifies that in kamala harris, a prosecutor who worked her way, and did everything that america celebrates, or someone that is now a convicted felon who wants to tear people apart, and playing people against each other, and i wanted to bring

that clear choice and say there is a joyous outcome to this if we all come together and stay together, but we need to understand the price that you have to pay for that, and i felt the spirit of that, and i really -- as it was swelling in the audience, i went over time, but i felt it was necessary to put the right perspective on it. coming up, one of our next guests is a pulitzer prize-winning photographer who captured a key moment. david hume kennerly joins us with one of his favorite shots when "morning joe" comes right back. s favorite shots when "morning joe" comes right back at the alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's, this is why we walk. ♪ they're why we walk. ♪ we walk in the alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's because we're getting closer to

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brought up trump's comments about a group of black and latino men who were wrongfully convicted infamously of raping and beat a white female jogger in new york city. that was bag in 1989, at which point donald trump paid for this full-page ad to run in several major newspapers pushing for the death penalty for those men. they are now free and are now called the exonerated five, and they shared their story with rev last night. >> my name is corey wise. 35 years ago, my friends and i were imprisoned for a crime we did not commit. our youth was stolen from us. every day as we walked into courtrooms, people screamed at us, threatened us because of donald trump. he spent $85,000 on a full-page ad in the "new york times," calling for our execution.

>> as my friend korey wise just said, 45 wanted us unalived. he wanted us dead. today we are exonerated because the actual perpetrator confessed and dna proved it. that guy says he still stands by the original guilty verdict. he dismisses the scientific evidence rather than admit he was wrong. he has never changed and he never will. when they see us, america will finally say good-bye to that hateful man. [ cheers and applause ]

we will say what i have said after seven long years of wrongful incarceration. free at last. free at last. free at last. thank god almighty, we are free at last. [ cheers and applause ] >> you know, eddie, it was so moving. >> yeah. >> and so moving that again, these men who were jailed, wrongfully jailed, wrongfully incarcerated and had donald trump calling for their execution, even after the dna evidence came back to prove they were not guilty, even after there was a confession that proved they were not guilty. donald trump kept calling for their execution, and yet remarkable that talking about patriotism, even as they got up wearing their usa hats. >> yeah. >> and even as we heard the

incredible story of one of the speakers going from -- going from incarceration, being incarcerated wrongfully to being a city councilman. you heard chants of usa, usa, erupt throughout the arena saying, only in america. only in america, and joy does come in the morning. justice does come if it is fought for, if it is pursued. >> joe, america is more than an idea. the director of the smithsonian told me once, it's an argument. it's a battle over our best angels and worst angels. i was listening to korey wise, and my heart went out. he was 16 years old. he was the oldest of the five young men, the five kids, babies really. >> innocent. >> he ended up being sent to an

adult prison. so the wounds, the scars they carry with them, and to see that moment was a really, really powerful moment of what we can be, of what we could be, of what we are in certain pockets. >> if they can see it -- >> exactly. >> if they can see the possibility -- >> exactly. >> even after everything they have been through. >> right. >> and jon meacham, there was that phrase, better angels, and that's what this is going to be a battle for, over the next several months now. we moved past the conventions. we go toward the debate, and we move towards voting when it begins, and it is the clearest decision that we have had as voters in my lifetime, you know, yesterday it -- i must admit. i think i would be cynical enough by now, but when i see an article yesterday saying that

donald trump -- and i hope -- i hope it's a fraud. i hope it's not true, but when they see an article that donald trump is going to be holding an award ceremony for january 6th rioters -- >> a fund-raiser or something. >> and a fund-raiser, and openly embracing that just as he compared it to martin luther king's march on washington a few weeks ago. you have a guy who has said he's going to tell journalists -- he's going to jail political opponents. he had his lawyers argue that he could even get s.e.a.l. team six to assassinate his political opponents and he would still be immune from prosecution unless he was impeached. you -- you hear this and it just keeps coming faster and faster. he -- donald trump keeps

behaving more and more irratically, and yet this race is still time. this race is still tied. it is unbelievable, and forgive me for going on here. it is unbelievable for the people that you and i both know who hear donald trump doing these things and still -- still desperately seek to justify voting for a man who started riots, embraced those riots, now comparing those riots to the march on washington and is even throwing an awards ceremony for rioters who helped lead to the death of four police officers. >> yeah. i was fascinated by the recurring theme. i would love to know whose idea it was, and the intellectual roots to it of the week from the podium which is we must listen. we must meet people where they are. absolutely true. if we don't see each other as

neighbors, as opposed to rivals, democracy doesn't work. that said, you can listen to people and till believe that they are wrong, and i think you're exactly right. i would argue it's the most important election since not just 1860 and 1864, but 1868. so here, mika, get ready. this is going to be fun. >> oh. >> yeah, no. it's going to be exciting, but i was thinking because this is what i do, because i lead an exciting life. i was thinking the other day, you know, what was an election where it was probably 70/30 in american history, right? outside of the george washington stuff, and so i started poking around and i was thinking, 1868, right? andrew johnson's been impeached. black folks are largely disenfranchised in the south. confederates from my part of the world are not allowed to vote.

when u.s. grant the champion of union, the most famous -- it was called the most famous american in the world. surely when he ran for president, that was a huge landslide because he ran against a white supremacist governor -- former governor of new york named horatio seymore. you did not have that on your list. i was thinking, that has to be 70/30. it was a four-point race. right? >> yeah. >> where you had the champion of union running against somebody who wanted to take us back, eradicate the sacrifice of 750,000 casualties. america is always a close-run thing because sit a human enterprise and our appetites and our ambitions and our ambitions frailties tend to win out. the remarkable thing is that occasionally the better angels win, the impulse to generosity wins. and the acceptance of the

argument made in very compelling terms, i believe, by this convention that, in fact, it is not necessary for someone else to fail for you to succeed. that's what -- people say, oh, you talk about democracy, it's too abstract. the hell it is. that's what this is. it's a chance for all of us to rise as far as we can. i think it's vital. i think the stakes have not changed. and i think that in many ways the former president is going to get worse and in the event he ever gets better. coming up, what kamala harris was really saying in her convention speech. "politico's" jeff greene field joins the conversation straight ahead on "morning joe." straigh ahead on "morning joe.

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took the stage last night at the dnc, congressman joe neguse joins the conversation straight ahead on "morning joe." >> my fellow americans, let me say this clearly. don't let anyone, don't let anyone tell you that the american dream is dead. it is alive and well, and it will grow even stronger with kamala harris as the next president of the united states. ♪♪ at the alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's, this is why we walk. ♪ they're why we walk. ♪ we walk in the alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's because we're getting closer to

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we know what a second trump term would look like. it's all laid out in project 2025, written by his closest advisors. and its sum total is to pull our country back to the past. but, america, we are not going back. we are not going back.

we are not going back. we are not going back. to when donald trump tried to cut social security and medicare. we are not going back to when he tried to get rid of the affordable care act, when insurance companies could deny people with preexisting conditions. we are not going to let him eliminate the department of education that funds our public schools! we are not going to let him end programs like head start that provide preschool and child care for our children. america, we are not going back! >> usa. usa. >> at the united center in chicago was at full capacity

last night as vice president kamala harris delivered a powerful acceptance speech for her party's nomination for president. ahead of her remarks, president biden posted a photo of himself and the first lady on the phone with vice president harris, writing in part, "kamala and tim will inspire a generation and lead us into the future." what an incredible night. welcome to the fourth hour of "morning joe." it's 6:00 a.m. on the west coast, 9:00 a.m. in the east. jonathan lemire and eddie guad jr. are with us. we have the cohost of msnbc's "the weekend" symone sanders townsend, crist matthews and veteran political analyst jeff greenfield joins us at the table in new york. >> great to have everybody here. willie, you obviously in chicago, describe the scene, if you will.

it's awfully hard -- you know, debates, i've heard one journalist after another say never how to judge how a debate turned out, presidential debate, when you're in the room. it's quite the opposite at a convention. you can walk into a convention. you can be watching it. you had the bob ueker seats, the best seats to stand in, take it all in and say, okay, what is the state of this party? what's your answer to that. >> you're right. john and i sat up in section 315 yesterday eating those blackhawks and bulls nachos, pretzels with no salt. we really had the full experience up there. yeah, that's where we were sitting, right up there. you could drink it in and watch this entire scene play out. we've all been to political events where the enthusiasm feels a little manufactured, where people have to be told

when to cheer and what to do. this was not that. it might have been if joe biden stepped out of the race. there's a lot of talk about the parallel universe if joe biden stayed in and what this would have looked like. joy was the word we heard all week. it was there, as reverend al sharpton made clear in his speech, shouting about joy. you can't mistake again last night and i would say any night the level of patriotism in the room, which is, you look down from where we're sitting and just a sea of american flags being waved, chants about usa, members of the united states military, members of congress who have served in the military all coming out on stage, and a unifying message by vice president harris last night, which was not a base play, but a play to the groups she knows she needs to win this election, swing states, and frankly, even to republicans, she's saying the door is open. if you're disillusioned by

donald trump and the last ten years -- and we pull covid into that as well -- if you're tired of the past, come with us, because we are not going back, as she put it. >> speaker after speaker all week long focused on those seven battleground states. it was a roll call, arizona, north carolina, pennsylvania and the like. i think the vice president last night checked every box her team wanted her to do, first, with the biography, really leaning into not just explaining who she is to america, which really doesn't know her all that well yet, but linking her story, her family story, the community of people who raised her to that experience of family and that love, as she put it. she did indeed move to the middle on certain things, played up on national security. she came up as almost hawkish. she had to thread the needle

between israel and gaza, certainly a challenge for this administration. we should note, the major story line coming into this convention was whether the protests were going to overwhelm them, whether this was going to be chicago 1968 again. it very much was not. there were protests, there were, especially that first night, but they were not necessarily as large as they were anticipated to be, and they certainly didn't get as chaotic and violent. last night we had the vice president with the momentum of a strong convention behind her hit the ball out of the park yesterday, and now heads into the next big centerpiece of this campaign, the debates. >> as we talk about this idea of patriotism and the greatness of america, i was struck, as i'm sure you were, last night at the democratic national convention how many times the name ronald reagan was invoked, talking about the shining city on the hill, all these themes we've been accustomed to seeing at republican national conventions were here at a democratic

national convention in 2024. >> it is a stark change from what republicans always attacked as san francisco democrats in 1984. it's a complete reversal. you have -- actually, walter mondale never said -- he loved america. he never said the things about america in '84 that drip is saying now. it's actually far worse, where the republicans have taken their party, saying we're a nation of losers, we're a stupid nation, we're a nation in decline. i could go on and on. but the chants of "usa" throughout the week, i'm telling you that sends chills up and down the spines of republicans. they know the shoe is on the other foot now, the symbol of the flag taken from them. you look last night at all the flag waving throughout the entire evening, it's pretty

incredible, again, because you have republicans that are constantly trashing this country. and most americans love their country, even if they know we're always striving to be a more perfect union. chris matthews, why does this matter? i remember you saying something a long time ago. i hope you remember saying it. maybe you only said it one time, but it stuck with me as i was driving through working neighborhoods. you know, you grew up in a working class neighborhood in philly. and you said, you know -- you know, you know what the working guy has, you know what the little guy has? he's got the flag. that's what he's got. and he puts it out in front of his house, because that's what he's got. it represents the country he loves, and it represents everything that he's striving to be. as i saw those flags last night,

i was thinking, yeah, that is such a powerful message to people who used to think they automatically had to vote republican. >> yeah. well, you're right, i did say that. it was a guy that told me that, it's all we've got, it's all i've got, is the flag. it's my country. i served in the military. this last week has been unbelievable for the democrats. you kept hearing that anthem of "i love this country." everything, speech writers -- i'm telling you, people don't talk about the speech writers. they put those speeches together. michelle's speech was unbelievable too. it was unbelievable. it wasn't just the drama of the way she presented it. it was the words she used about the language about being a black job that trump's going for, that's what he's running for against an american women of

color, he's running against her for a black job. it was a roi riot that she couly that so well. i've been at democratic national conventions back to '72. i'm telling you, the balloons that came down in that cascade, it wasn't just a few balloons, it was a cascade. it was amazingly produced, well produced, especially tuesday night and last night. the speech writers got together with the candidates and politicians and worked it so it was truly their speeches. >> authentic. >> grandpa finnegan, bring it home to people. when you say grandpa finnegan, how many times did biden talk about his grandpa finnegan, this

home-grown feeling. kamala talked about her indian mother and talked about all these basic bromides. i thought it was great about her. i hope the democrats -- i'll say one thing i believe, and i may not agree with the left on this, the hard left. if they do get into the white house -- and it looks like they can do it, they can do it -- be like this when you're in office. don't switch back to the old hard vote, even if it's tougher to get some republican votes. be like this. last night, it wasn't just trump's carnage speech debasing medal of honor winners and all that horrible stuff, it was the look of the audience last night. it was more diverse than a church you'll go to or a synagogue, i'm telling you. there was black music, all kinds

of stuff, all kinds of culture in the air. so they were saluting that too, the people. they weren't just saying america in theory. they loved the room they were in last night. that's so powerful. they've got to bring that room the next couple of months. generic democrats, she's seen as a general run-of-the-mill democrat. not prosecuting a bad guy, but a regular democrat. that's a good feeling. regular democrats are not feared. it's the hard left they fear. we've got to beat history on this one. >> data point on that, before joe biden dropped out of the race, there was a poll that was joe biden against generic republican and generic republican won by like six points. then it was donald trump versus generic democrat. the democrat won by seven

points. and that's -- again, that's -- she's doing a lot to, again, try to stay more in the middle, like you're saying, chris, which, actually, ironically, that's, if you look at her career, that's where she is. like, 2020 was a stretch when the democratic party in the primary had gone far left and she was trying to fit into that box and people say, why did she look so awkward at times then, but not now? it's because she was trying to follow where the party was. this actually is a more comfortable fit. you know, symone, we talked to elizabeth warren earlier, talking about how progressive throughout the biden administration, they've been patient, they've been pragmatic. they haven't done what right wingers in trump's party have done, which is to make americans go, what, what's wrong with those people? it reminds me of the logan roy

sign in "succession," which was the line of the season, probably the best television line of the year. "you're not serious people." and when you look at the republicans and what they're doing, you sit there, you go -- look at donald trump's tweets -- you're not serious people. you look at those democrats last night, a ton of progressives in that hall, a ton of progressives saying, we're in it to win it. that's a serious party. >> yeah. >> that's a party that has their eyes on the prize. and they're not going to let ideology get in the way. >> vice president accepting the nomination and the people -- i think everybody in that building and definitely every on the

dais, on the stage know the assignment. on september 6th, people start voting in pennsylvania, as we have talked about. september 6, people start voting. >> wow. >> this is going to be a close election. i'm one of the people that believe the election wasn't just close between biden and trump when he was at the top of the ticket because people didn't like joe biden. i think the election was close because people wanted -- there are people that want what donald trump and jd vance is selling. i think vice president harris understood that. moments this week really felt like a huge celebration. the vice president did not go out there last night and take a victory lap. she went out there, she told people who she was, what she believed, what kind of president she would be, where she stood on key policy issues. she prosecuted the case. she laid out the argument. she essentially said, i am a patriot, he's not, i will defend this country, he will not. then told people they're going

to have to fight, she said you're going to have to vote, all of those pieces -- she looks like she was going to work. she looked like she could step off that stage and go into the situation room. it is going to be a fight. i'm talking to people like, oh, i feel like it will be a landslide. it won't be. >> no, no, no, no, no. we are a 47-47 nation. i remember back when joe biden was having some challenges, and republicans were saying it's over. i said it's a 47-47 nation. democrats are excited now. it's a 47-47 nation. this is blocking and tackling now. who does that best, blocking and tackling, coach walz? that's the team that wins. >> we have kamala talking about her mother. >> and we have jeff greenfield, who's been to every convention since 1980. >> okay.

fine. >> i want to get your insight. >> do that. >> and i hear we have kamala talking about her mother. >> that's the point i wanted to note. first, a footnote. this is the first presidential acceptance speech in which the term half-assed has been used. roosevelt never said it. >> that's coming from your mother? exactly. the more serious point is what she did in the speech was to do exactly -- even though she's a very unconventional candidate and different, she did exactly what past nominees have done when the feeling has been you're not one of us. george h.w. bush, bill clinton, oxford, yale law school, no, no, my grandmother taught me more at that candy store than all those

fancy people. and barack obama, his grandmother. the whole point of her speech and indictment of trump is to say, i may be different looking, i may have a different name, but i am squarely in the life patterns and life decisions of ordinary, regular people. i think she pulled that off. >> yeah. >> that is the hardest thing as a one-time speech writer to do, is to find the language that connects you with people who are not that interested in politics, may regard politicians as distant creatures. i think she bridged that gap quite effectively. >> mm-hm. all right. here now is vice president kamala harris talking about her mom. >> they instilled in us the values they personified, community, faith and the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated, with kindness, respect and

compassion. my mother was a brilliant, 5'0" tall brown woman with an accent. and as the eldest child, as the eldest child, i saw how the world would sometimes treat her, but my mother never lost her cool. she was tough, courageous, a trail blazer in the fight for women's health, and she taught maya and me a lesson that michelle mentioned the other night. she taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it. do something about it. that was my mother. and she taught us, and she always -- she also taught us, she also taught us, never do anything half-assed, and that is

a direct quote. [ laughter ] >> oh yeah. >> let me just say i can relate to that from my mom, and you probably can relate to that from your mom. >> yeah. usually the tone suggested that you needed to perk up. >> right. >> it was a corrective. look, i think this was an extraordinary moment, because it was also an extension of michelle obama's invocation of her mother. so you have these mothers invoked in this moment when women were so front stage across the convention the entire week. that was wonderful. i think it's really important for us to understand that the family that she was lifting up is this notion of the ellis island america. the flag they're celebrating isn't a flag, a symbol of exclusion, but a symbol of broad-based inclusion.

by narrating her story the way she did gives a different type of america evoked. >> she said i grew up middle class, i worked at mcdonald's, i'm like you. and how funny that you actually have kamala harris with a message that makes donald trump look like the other. >> the chauffeur. >> the other. like he's one of them, he's the other. i'm middle class, just like you. >> jonathan lemire, another thing she made very clear was the fight ahead and how tough it would be to the bitter end. what are you hearing in terms of the state of the race? >> yeah. it's -- that's a message we heard from a number of speakers this week, including the obamas and certainly from the vice president last night. some democratic pollsters are saying something similar. as a matter of fact, the top

super pac associated with the harris campaign has let it be known to some supporters that their internal polling is a little less rosy than some of the public polling. some other democratic polling firms i've talked to in the last couple of days say the same. they say the battleground states have virtually tied. we're seeing harris up a few points, also within the margin of error. they're suggesting it's a little closer than that. as we all know, polling has been off the last couple of cycles and in favor on election day of the republicans. joe biden was up by several points in the polls hen ended up winning four years ago. democrats coming out of chicago, they feel really good. the vice president is going to be on the road some next week, also beginning the debate prep. they feel like they have the wind at their back, but there's a lot of work ahead, because this race is going to be decided most likely by a razor-thin margin, despite how flailing

trump seems to be at the moment. >> it's going to be close. chris matthews, i remember the real clear politics average in 2020 in michigan going into election day was biden plus nine. there were polls that showed biden winning wisconsin by double digits. of course, everybody thought that hillary clinton was going to win. i talked to her pollsters after the exit polls at 6:30, 6:45. the question is whether we win six or seven swing states, everything is looking great for us tonight. so, yeah, democrats have a reason to play scared, to play, as they've all said like we're three points behind, a field goal behind in the fourth quarter. we've got to drive down the field and win it. >> yeah. you've got to look at states like north carolina and arizona and, of course, georgia. now, you may get a break with

minority voting down in georgia, but you could also come up short in pennsylvania and not quite win in north carolina. this could squeak. this could be the toughest election, because if pennsylvania doesn't go the democratic way and north carolina doesn't go that way, it's tough, it's really tough. it's very important for -- i'm not her advisor, but i think it was very important for her to come out to langford's proposal on the border. i'm going to sign that bill if we get the majority. that's really important for her to fix this border thing in a dramatic way, and she's doing it right now. i was so proud of her decision to have the guts to say, i'm going to sign a bipartisan bill, which obviously has some give on the democratic side. i'm going to sign it as it is. that's really powerful for her. she's got to avoid the left-wing

corner. they cannot put her in that left wing, because a woman of color who's also on the hard left is not going to sell. she's got to be a regular democrat, a woman of color. she chose to go to howard university. she should point that out a lot. i went to howard university because i wanted to be there, i wanted to be seen that way. but she also has to play politically centrist. it's not that tricky. she did it last night. >> people were saying barack obama was the second or third most liberal senator in the senate. when barack obama went out there, yeah, i know that guy, i can relate to that. again, he made the republicans the radicals, he made the republicans the others. jeff, the first time we met, you may not remember this, it was the 30th anniversary of rfk's passing. >> i do. >> we talked. rfk, long a hero of mine even though i'm a conservative.

i loved that he was willing to take chances, he was willing to drive into indianapolis the night that martin luther king got assassinated. he was willing to do things other politicians would never do. i loved everything about him. i loved his legacy. i loved his speeches. when i brought up -- when i brought up the speech in indianapolis the night mar thin luther king died and you said, "the son of a [ bleep ], that was the one speech we didn't write for him, and it was the best." he was quoting -- >> i don't remember the epithet, but -- [ laughter ] >> you started by saying he was such a gifted, extraordinary man. and there he was in indianapolis quoting a greek philosopher, a greek poet. >> yeah. >> it's just beautiful. i must say i've known his son

bobby junior for a long time, and i like bobby junior very much, but like members of the family, i do not recognize this man. >> well -- >> this iteration of this man. >> i've said bluntly when people ask me about this, you know, sometimes the apple falls very, very far from the tree. but the more serious points, after this convention that everyone is saying was spectacular, i believe as early as today, rfk junior may be endorsing donald trump. we've all heard people talk about how close this election is. if that brings two points to donald trump, look what happened in 2020. that's three or four states. so i'm very glad that people are recognizing that the euphoria that this convention produced can't overlook the fact that this is not a done deal. i also think, frankly, that kamala harris has had a pretty free ride from the press in terms of tough questions.

i know there are arguments about this, but i think that's true, and i think that's not going to happen in the days and weeks ahead. she is going to be facing some grilling. in a race that close, even a figure like rfk junior, when we look at past elections, al gore, the white house, there were others. today can be an event that balances out a lot of the good stuff that happened to democrats. and anyone who thinks they'll glide into the white house on this wave of optimism, 2016, that's right, just remember that. >> let me just say sort of the counter factual to that -- and i completely agree this could be a problem. i will say, though, it's pretty extraordinary, when you think about it symone, ralph nader and

jill stein in 2016, no republican would have ever been elected from 1992 forward. of course, bush won a majority in '04, but he was an incumbent because of ralph nader. >> and the supreme court. >> and the supreme court. but here's the thing about donald trump. his ceiling is 47%. and i understand people being concerned, but when you take those third choices away, donald trump's still going to be sitting at 47%. for donald trump to win, he needs somebody else to pull two, three, four points from his opponent. i just don't think -- i don't think he's going to be able to do that. >> yeah. i mean, why -- >> if democrats work hard. >> i have a personal relationship with dr. cornell west. i love him very much, okay? but he is being bolstered in some states, in some places by republican operatives to get him

on the ballot for this very reason, because republicans in some of these key states like arizona believe that having dr. west on the ballot would pull from a vice president harris and eventually help donald trump be successful. look, i just think at the end of the day it's a turnout election. it's a turnout election. that means enthusiasm -- crowds don't vote. i worked for bernie sanders. huge crowds, crowds do not translate into ballots at the ballot box. i have lived this viscerally. so you have to have the infrastructure to translate the enthusiasm. what the harris campaign has that i have not seen from the trump campaign is a robust infrastructure in key states that is turning people out, getting people ready, making phone calls. and that enthusiasm that we saw this week can translate into that. again, september 6th in pennsylvania, what does the early vote turnout apparatus look like in all of these places? are people going to the polls

early? that is going to be the secret sauce for democrats. >> it is a great point. jeff greenfield and chris matthews, thank you guys. >> thank you. >> so much. willie, i do really quickly also want to point out crowds do not vote. i remember republicans calling me in 2012 at the end when romney was pulling huge crowds in pennsylvania, and they said, we've got it, we've got it in the bag, we're going to beat him. they didn't beat him. crowds don't vote. and joe biden, he's going to have a great legacy. one of those legacies is going to be building a ground game with jen o'malley dillon and the entire biden team that they were building for the past year and a half. and trump doesn't have a ground game. it may add up. >> yeah. i think the good news for democrats is that they know exactly what you just said, which is, they're going to harness the energy of what

happened, these huge crowds in this building over the last four nights, but they know the real work starts today, which is a theme we heard from several speakers last night, that this is the end of something and the beginning of something new on the roll into election day. our next guest here in chicago spoke at the dnc last night. democratic congressman joe neguse of colorado shared his personal story as the son of immigrants who became the first black member of congress in the state of colorado. congressman neguse joins us now. good to see you. thanks for being here. >> good to see you. >> as we sit here on friday morning, this convention is in the books. a lot of democrats we talked to said this exceeded even their lofty expectations or at least accomplished the goal of establishing kamala harris as the no-doubt candidate who they believe can beat donald trump. what are your impressions of the week? >> that's certainly the case. i couldn't agree me. i think michelle obama said it best on tuesday night. hope is making a comeback across our country.

that was best evidenced throughout all of the speeches this week, but culminating in a speech i thought was incredibly compelling by vice president harris last night. the enthusiasm is high, and we're ready to get the job done. >> what have you heard about colorado voters and where they are right now and what might influence their decision if they were thinking joe biden was too old. have they been given an alternative? >> i think vice president harris' message is resonating with a wide spectrum. i represent an area that's pretty large, larger than nine states. i hear from voters about their concerns with respect to everyday costs of living, the

desire to have safer communities, all of which vice president harris is talking about. she's rising in the polls. >> congressman, going into this week, there are a lot of democrats nervous about a few issues, some vulnerabilities. the vice president really tried to turn that. we heard a lot this week about the idea of the middle class is where her vision lies. tell me how you think that is going to resonate. >> i think the vice president articulated this so well last night when she used the phrase "an opportunity agenda." i talked about that as well. you heard a lot of speakers over the last few days talk about that, consistent with the vice president's work she's done throughout her career as a senator, as vice president. and, of course, it's reflective of her own american dream story. that opportunity agenda is ultimately underpinned by specific policies to lower costs for working families, lowering

housing costs, combatting inflation, growing the middle class, protecting social security and medicare. she's offered a very salient plan, i think, for the country, and we're going to make sure we win a majority in congress so we can make hakeem jeffreys the speaker of the house. >> joe biden said himself one of the reasons he stepped aside was the concern that he wouldn't get the house and might lose the senate, and then donald trump could control washington for the next four years. we know what kamala harris means at the top of the ticket. what does she mean downballot for races in the house and senate? >> that answer to that question is best reflected by the individuals you heard from last night and, of course, during this week, senate candidates in michigan.

it is having an effect up and down the ballot. i think the energy and enthusiasm is real and visceral. ultimately i think we're -- again, i'm optimistic about the future and our ability to regain the house, to win a democratic majority, to keep the majority in the senate and by electing vice president harris and coach walz president and vice president. >> joe neguse of colorado, thanks for stopping through. good to see you. coming up, we heard from a number of republicans last week at the dnc. last night another delivered a blistering assessment of donald trump while endorsing kamala harris. we'll play for you the address from former republican congressman adam kinzinger. as we go to break, we want to show you a photo from the dnc that's now gone viral. there you see vice president kamala harris on stage delivering her speech last night as her niece's daughter looks on. that image was captured by todd

hice ler of the "new york times." hillary clinton tweeted that photo saying "the future is here, we just have to unlock it." "morning joe" will be right back. ♪ god bless the usa ♪ ♪ from the lakes of minnesota, through the hills of tennessee ♪ ♪ across the plains of texas from sea to shining sea ♪ ea to ♪ many people were in remission at 12 weeks, 1 year, and even at 2 years. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. liver problems may occur in crohn's disease. ask your gastroenterologist about skyrizi. ♪ control is everything to me ♪ abbvie could help you save.

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former republican congressman adam kinzinger spoke at the dnc last night, a vocal critic of former president trump during his time in congress, kinzinger served on the house january 6th committee. take a listen to some of his remarks last night. >> donald trump is a weak man pretending to be strong. he is a small man pretending to

be big. he's a faithless man pretending to be righteous. he's a perpetrator who can't stop playing the victim. he puts on -- he puts on quite a show, but there is no real strength there. as a conservative and a veteran, i believe true strength lies in defending the vulnerable. it's in protecting your families. it's in standing up for our constitution and our democracy. that, that is the soul of being a conservative. it used to be the soul of being a republican. but donald trump has suffocated the soul of the republican party. >> all right. still ahead on "morning joe," pulitzer prize winning photographer david hooum kennelly joins us next with a

look at some of his photos from the dnc. "morning joe" will be right back. ♪♪ "morning joe" will be right back ♪ you'll find them in cities, towns and suburbs all across america. millions of americans who have medicare and medicaid but may be missing benefits they could really use. extra benefits they may be eligible to receive at no extra cost. and if you have medicare and medicaid, you may be able to get extra benefits, too, through a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. call now to see if there's a plan in your area and to see if you qualify. all of these plans include doctor, hospital and prescription drug coverage. plus, something really special, the humana healthy options

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our next guest was here in chicago all week capturing images from the convention hall behind us. pulitzer prize winner and chief white house photographer for gerald ford david hume kennerly joins us now. he covered the convention for "politico," his 16th. his first, remember, kansas city, 1976. >> no, i don't remember. it's the only election ronald reagan ever lost. >> that's right. that's a good bit of trivia. let's start at the end with some of your shots in an extraordinary speech, an extraordinary moment for the democratic party. kamala harris at the podium delivering her speech. what did you capture here?

>> well, that was a really good speech. most photographers have heard so many speeches firsthand, they don't really like any of them. she really knocked it out of the park. you can see it in the photographs. that's the beauty of still photographer. you show it live. we show it for the rest of history 100 years from now. the impression i got is conveyed through my photos, that she really did a good job. >> and the moment afterward where the second gentleman came out on stage, doug emhoff, captured that moment as well. what do we see here? got it, guys? well, there's something else, but we'll talk about that too. >> this is the second gentleman on the left. this is your typical, this is your basic political postcard. everybody shoots it. i always like getting off to the side a little bit. this was the one where they all got together.

there was never a good two shot of walz and the vp. i kind of lamented that. >> you know, one of the extraordinary -- >> this is the moment where she came out and greeted her husband. hopefully you've got the next frame, which is kind of a classic of them hugging. >> yeah. he pulls her in a little closer. i'm not sure if we have that. >> there it is. >> there it is. it reminded me -- i don't know if you have that picture. i send it over. but when george w. bush was hugged by michelle obama at the opening of the national african-american museum -- there you go. >> yeah. >> it was really wild. [ laughter ] >> i'm pretty sure the second gentleman and the vice president are a lot closer than those two. >> nestling in there. let's talk about some of the others from the week. night three belonged to governor

walz. you captured a photograph of him at the end as he finished his speech becoming the vice presidential nominee. >> right. >> show that now. >> he's a very gregarious chap. there you go. you got the coach sign behind him. this was -- my wire service training is always there, looking for more than what's in the foreground. i think that's him. you know, i don't know. we'll know more later, but he really is, to me, a really interesting guy. >> a big prayer hands guy, hand over the heart guy. >> and emotion moment with his family just

a shot of hillary clinton from earlier in the week was striking, i think because you have covered and photographed her for so long, what a moment this was for her perhaps bittersweet in some ways, handing the mantle to kamala harris. >> you could feel the love in the room there for her, and i was there with her at the 2016 campaign where she becomes the first woman to have a major payday -- party dominate her. i love this picture, it's genuine, i mean really, i could feel it. i look at the picture and i feel her motion and this is why i love what i do. i'm able to provide a really good scrapbook for all of these people. >> chose got one for you, david. >> david, i love what you said, we are vapor, we run the video, it disappears the second we are off the air. you get that moment.

you get that instant that stays forever. and there's one moment you got that i think is just beautiful, and it shows kamala backstage as joe biden is talking and her weeping. obviously very moving to her, as it was for joe biden, if we could get the next picture of joe biden, when he was talking as well, but you get some great moments here. >> thanks, joe, that's what i live to do. and she really did react when biden was standing at the podium and just a standing, long , rolling applause. i think some of it was in relief that they have a candidate who's going to become president of the united states

but that photograph of joe biden was a pensive moment, and it has to be incredibly overcoming for him, and i didn't think he would go out but he did, and he's a great person. >> it's an amazing shot, david, let me ask you, we are book ending two conventions, probably the two most unique conventions of a lifetime. or of your professional lifetime, 1976, i still remember it. reagan and ford, but the last convention that really mattered, you didn't know, for sure that ford was going to nail that down until he did and of course, this convention, in 2024, all these years later, a convention unlike any other. compare the two, just talk about, talk about your memories over all these years of covering conventions?

>> well, 1976, you had a couple of white guys there, which was pretty normal for the american president system. i was backstage with him, and he picked bob dole at that convention. i mean, it was really dramatic. but i think what happened here, this is way more of a tv show on one hand, but i really felt the good vibe here. i think kamala harris has become the story, sorry for donald trump because he's not going to be the person that people care about anymore, other than to probably see him go, but this was probably the best convention i've covered. and i think on every level, it was fantastic, not just the staging of it, but the feeling of it. and i think i caught that in

the photographs. >> david, these photos are extraordinary, instant classics. >> thank you so much for documenting history, former chief white house photographer, david hume kennerly. >> this kid is pretty good at what he does. i predict he has a future with the camera . >> andrea mitchell, who i talked to yesterday, said can you believe we are still doing this? i don't know what else i would do. >> joe and i say it to each other every day like what are we doing here. we will be right back. thank you, david. much more morning joe. morning j. node-positive early breast cancer with a high chance of returning, as determined by your doctor when added to hormone therapy. verzenio reduces the risk of recurrence versus hormone therapy alone. diarrhea is common, may be severe, or cause dehydration or infection. at the first sign, call your doctor, start an antidiarrheal, and drink fluids. before taking verzenio,

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what do you have planned for sunday today? >> my guest on sunday is somebody who was here all we, the emmy-winning actress, sheryl lee ralph, the star of

abbott elementary, one of the most popular shows on television. a woman who's had a long career on stage and screen and movies, just now having her moment as she says i'm an overnight sensation who's been at this for 40 years, so the great sheryl lee ralph is coming up this weekend on the show. >> i was excited about last night and i'm worried about michigan. i'm worried about the fact that we didn't have the voice of what was going on from the palestinian point of view but organizing, blocking, attacking. >> that's what the coach said. >> i'm excited about sheryl lee ralph. as someone who -- her husband is a state senator and she's been out there on the campaign trail for vice president harris, and i think the energy is there, democrats still have to stay focused. a debate is coming up and i don't know how donald trump is going to ask. >> jonathan, history was made this week, the boston red sox

beat verlander and they beat the houston astros, they won the series. >> thank you for that. >> the diamondbacks are coming up this weekend. >> one of the hottest teams in baseball, nice two out of three, the game is back and speaking of baseball, willie and i snuck away for a couple of hours during the afternoon, wrigley field, they beat the tigers. >> perfect, two hours and 15 minutes, at wrigley field on a beautiful day, the cubs raised the w flag. it turns out you and i were doing a buddy cop movie, wrigley, not chosen the rafters. kind of a boring version of the blues brothers. >> it's sort of like you know, the new buddy movie, which one of you is groden -- >> midnight run. >> scenario? >> i'll be groden.

>> this campaigns joy versus exhaustion, what are you talking about tomorrow? >> tomorrow we are doing a wrap up of this convention, we have some of the stars on the stage, malcolm kenyatta, the bench is deep and we will have a lot of folks on. >> is michael steele still behaving? >> i think he took these cues from you, he likes to get up in the middle of the break and take his jacket off. >> that's it for us, we will see you monday morning. right now on are special coverage, kamala harris makes history. >> i accept your nomination for president of the