claire mccaskill is a former senator from missouri. is the cohost of the weekend here on msnbc. you will never guess when it is on. they join us now. >> can i say, claire and i were sitting here listening to you run through the things and when it comes to the obama piece, i have talked to people very close to president obama and i do think the characterization that he is part of the push joe biden out coalition is not true. i would bet my bottom dollar on that and my last $20 on that. >> as i was saying earlier in the show, if you look at the wording around the stuff it is all intricately hedged. he is considering the viability. here is a person who i think is working behind the scenes. nancy pelosi. we did, when she gave that interview on morning joe, we did a monologue where i was talking about democrats in genuine disarray and she was just like no, this is how it is going to work. she almost single-handedly along with president obama carry that thing through and i get the sense from talking to people that she is at work quite a bit

claire mccaskill, thank you so e much. what a major day, just about 1:55 this afternoon, president joe biden released a statement posting on social demedia, hitting all the right boxes, saying he has decided to step aside. he will not be running for the white house in 2024 any longer. he endorsed his vice president, kamala harris. that is the first time anything like this has happened in 56 years. not since the 1968 convention. that will do it for me this past three hours. s thank you so much for joining us. i will hand off r special coverage to my colleague, chrise jansing, after very quick break. quick break. ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. (♪♪) when life spells heartburn... how do you spell relief? r-o-l-a-i-d-s rolaids' dual-active formula begins to neutralize acid on contact. r-o-l-a-i-d-s spells relief. [introspective music] recipes. recipes written by hand and lost to time. are now being analyzed and restored using the power of dell ai. ♪ hi, i'm david, and i lost 92 pounds on golo. my life

claire mccaskill, it's so great to talk to you.rachel, back to you. >>> a little more news has broken while we've been talking. it appears that we've got now yet another state where the delegates have been pledged to kamala harris. that is true in tennessee, in north carolina, in south carolina, new hampshire, and now louisiana. in louisiana the delegates will be pledged to vice president harris for her presidential run. this is turning out to be a -- toning out to be a predictable cadence of events at this point. joining us now is nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. michael, i appreciate you joining us tonight. we talk about a lot of things small "h" historic. this is capital "h" historic. where were you when this happened? >> i was working on my book and one of my kids told me they couldn't believe this happened. i was smiling. people around joe biden thought people might convince him to hang on. that was the wrong feeling. can i mention three big moments in history culminating in to tonight? >> please, absolutely.

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. >> the co-host of a podcast, former secretary claire mccaskill and jennifer palmieri.of the people i've talked to in the green room and texted about everything happening in the past week. wayn't to start with this shift in messaging. i think it's very good, but i want to know what you think. jen palmieri, let me start with you. what do you make of this new it's weird, it's strange language we're seeing from a lot of democrats out there? >> i think -- you know, i think we need to credit governor walz with it. he's such a straightforward midwestern guy and he's working, right? it's to say that -- you know, not get too wrapped around the axle hoff you describe what's happening but how you feel, which is just sort of odd. and then the other -- the other -- you talked about organic stuff breaking through, i think the other organic thing is we're not going to go back, right? that was the message from vice president harris, but the crowd picked up on it. the winning campaigns are the ones where things start to break through organically. you have weird on the defensive side. o

claire mccaskill and tim miller, thank you very much.e are not leaving. >> we are not going anywhere. >> we pick up our coverage of the republican national convention with speeches from ron desantis, marco rubio, former presidential candidate nikki haley, all of that coming up with rachel maddow on msnbc. don't go anywhere. >>> good evening and welcome to our special coverage of night two of the republican national convention in beautiful, downtown milwaukee, wisconsin. super glad to have you with us tonight. i am rachel maddow with my beloved, cheerful, well hydrated colleagues joy reid, jen psaki, ari melber, lawrence o'donnell. we got nicolle wallace. we will be talking shortly, i promise you. any minute now we are expecting the republican party presidential nominee, donald trump, to be entering the hall at the rnc in milwaukee. if i look shifty like i'm not making eye contact, it is because i am trying to keep an eye on the monitors to know when that happens. both secret service and local

david plouffe, claire mccaskill, thank you both so much. i appreciate you taking the time this evening. >>> coming up the massive energy around kamala harris and how the vice president is meeting the moment. one of her longtime friends and colleagues in congress, barbara lee, joins me on that next. your best defense against erosion and cavities is strong enamel. nothing beats it. i recommend pronamel active shield because it actively shields the enamel to defend against erosion and cavities. i think that this product is a game changer for my patients. it really works. some days, you can feel like a spectator in your own life with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more. botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they start. and treatment is 4 times a year. in a survey, 91% of users wish they'd started sooner. so why wait? talk to your doctor. effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing

with claire, i think we are getting claire mccaskill on the phone.are digesting this, too. your thoughts on what this means and of course anything you want to reflect on. president biden will continue to be president through january. there are questions about what he will do, whether he will endorse vice president harris, give us your thoughts and immediate reaction. >> i am still looking at today with a heavy heart. i think people have been so caught up in the drama of this situation. i think the human side of this has gotten lost, sometimes in the shuffle and i first and foremost want to say that i know how painful this is been for the president in 70 different ways, and his family, and his staff. and i am proud of who he is and how he has served. i think our country should be proud of who he is and how he has served. and i know that he will continue to serve as well. wel. now it-it-now that he is willing to pass the torch speaks volumes about his priorities and how deeply he cares about this country and, frankly, the real danger that donald trump

we will talk about all of that with claire mccaskill and michelle goldberg, if i can just get their namess it's the smell of mildew when water has seeped into the interior walls. or maybe they've spotted mold in the attic. but most often it's the more obvious signs of damage like rotten soffit, fascia, or water pooling near their foundation. you can get ahead of costly damage by protecting your home's gutters today. we're in your neighborhood and ready to help. schedule your free gutter inspection today, call 833 leaffilter, or visit leaffilter.com a test or approve a medication. we didn't have to worry about any of those things thanks to the donations. and our family is forever grateful because it's completely changed our lives. >>> welcome back. just before we went on here tonight around 8:00 eastern we got a recording from abc news the senate majority chuck schumer and house minority leader i came jeffrey both told the president he should bow out of the presidential race is a democratic nominee. the washington post has a similar report that jeffries and schumer, of course, the minority

yesterday, high profilbottom oe democrats from senator claire mccaskill to the dnc chair pounced on briankilmeade because they claim they mism th heard him say the word college claiming he said a racial slur. watch. she will not show up for the prime minister's joint session of congress today. she rather address in the showi summer a sororitngy, a college sorority like she can't get out of that. >> the cesspool that is the internet spread that clip faster than bacon grease on joya hearts pillow they're claiming a he said colored not collegre cle and kill me to dress it this morning people i had amorning. disparaging racial word and says sayine thoughg college sorority so this ends up being this big thing and it turns out the person who did ite is head the washington correspondents associatio pern. washin they walked it back,gtpo they corrected it, but it didn'tndentsy stop for four or 5 hours. people like jamie harrison, head of the dn stor fourc, callt a clown. they looking to label anyone anhe y a racist, sexist, misogynist. i'm not going back off, they say. now, if anyone gets to call,

claire mccaskill, ian bassin, ruth ben ghiat, maya wiley. wow.h us on this historic day. when we come back, confronting what is very clearly an existential threat to the rule of law. former federal judge, conservative icon michael luttig with his reaction to the supreme court ruling granting presidents immunity for official acts. after a very short break. don't go anywhere. don't go anyw. (roommate) i told him... at verizon, everyone can get the best deals, like that iphone 15 on them. (man) switching all the time... it wasn't easy. (lady) 35. (store customer) you're gonna be here forever. (man) i know. (employee) here is your wireless contract. (man) do i need a lawyer for this? those were hard days. representative. switch! now that i got a huge storage and battery upgrade... i'm officially done switching. (vo) new and existing customers get iphone 15 on us when they trade in any iphone, any condition. guaranteed. (man) i really wished you told me sooner. (roommate) i did. my name is brayden. i was five years old when i came to st. jude. i'll tr

. >> we have claire mccaskill coming up, more jen and more joy. the president of the united states, joe biden, and how he's responding to pressure as well as donald trump making his return to public life. his first speech since the assassination attempt. that's coming up tonight. upset stomach iberogast indigestion iberogast bloating iberogast thanks to a unique combination of herbs, iberogast helps relieve six digestive symptoms to help you feel better. six digestive symptoms. the power of nature. iberogast. - so this is pickleball? - pickle! ah, these guys are intense. with e*trade from morgan stanley, we're ready for whatever gets served up. dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. i'd rather work on saving for retirement. or college, since you like to get schooled. that's a pretty good burn, right? if you spit blood when you brush, it could be the start of a domino effect. new parodontax active gum repair breath freshener. clinically proven to help reverse the four signs of early gum disease. a new toothpaste from parodontax, the gum experts.

and claire mccaskill did as well. jacob soboroff, i come to you first.olle, i'm probably 10, 15, 20 yards at moment from j.d. vance right now who's over in the ohio delegation getting ready to accept the nomination as former president trump's vice presidential running mate. we last heard from him quite outspoken speaking out against the biden administration in the wake of the assassination attempt on former president trump's life. people here are excited. i'd be remiss if i didn't say that. he's a young man, 39 years old. he's a millennial from a generation born in the 1980s at the oldest. he and vice president kamala harris represent a new generation of american politics. but i think that's about where the similarities end. he's of course if anybody's read "hillbilly elegy" from a family that has suffered from so many across the country from overdose and addiction within his family. that nomination is happening right now. but if you listen to him talk closely, his solutions for these problems are related to immigration. they're not related to the substa

. >> let me bring in claire mccaskill , claire, as you listen to the conversation, do you think there is a feeling among democrats that this race is turning around, and how important is it, whoever is the nominee, and certainly there does seem to be a coalescing behind kamala harris, who she or anybody it is, chooses as their vice presidential nominee? >> the last few weeks have been very difficult for democrats. regardless of whether you believed joe biden should have stayed in the race or if you believed it was important for him to pass the torch, it was painful and hard, so there is a palpable sense of relief that a decision has been made one way or another and now everyone knows, you have to unite behind the democratic nominee and frankly, i would be shocked if there is a significant movement to support anybody other than kamala harris. so, i'm trying to contain my excitement about kamala harris because i want to be respectful of joe biden and what joe biden has done and today is a day and i think we will have many moments like this, especially at the convention, where our party r

senator host of msnbc how to win 2024 podcast claire mccaskill is back. also joining us is columnist charlie sykes is here. and political analyst and senior opinion writer and columnist for "the boston globe" kim ekenstore is back. she has grabbed these two pillars in terms of branding these early days of her candidacy. they are freedom and future. she is, i think the most disciplined candidate i have ever watched. she's got her crowds chanting spontaneously the "we won't go back." this is a stellar start. >> yes, to say she was ready is an understatement. i think people for way too long, and we have talked about this before, for way too long undermined kamala harris in ways i never really quite understood. as somebody who knows her well and worked alongside of her in the united states senate, frankly, one of the things i find most fun about this is the struggle the republicans are having. the things they are pointing out as negatives. the online community is taking and turning into a positive. like laughter. i think our country is ready for joy instead o

claire mccaskill has insight to share about why schumer and pelosi and obama have not yet explicitly endorsements and, after we take a break, we will be speaking with jasmine crockett. she is particularly great tonight because she just spoke with vice president harris. we will get a report from her after this. after this. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. >>> welcome back to our coverage that joe biden will no longer stand for his reelection and he is endorsing kamala harris. there has been a steady flow of news as the democratic party coalesces around the candidacy of vice president harris. to more governors, phil murphy and jay inslee have added their names to the list of democratic electives that have thrown support to vice president harris. raphael were not, the senator from georgia, now lending his endorsement. >> governor westmore of maryland has an eminent endorsement coming as well. he is doing that as a

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former democratic senator claire mccaskill is a great person to ask about that next. she's going to join us after the break. stay with us. eak. stay with us hi, i'm sally. i'm from phoenix, arizona. i'm a flight nurse on a helicopter that specializes in trauma. i've been doing flight nursing for 24 years. i had a fear that i wouldn't be able to keep up. i wanted all the boost i could get! i heard about prevagen from a friend. i read the clinical study on it and it had good reviews. i've been taking prevagen now for five years and it's really helped me stay sharp and present. it's really worked for me. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. dad i got a huge barbeque wing stain. this bottle says i need to pretreat. that stuff has way more water. a little bit of tide goes a long way, so you can save your shirt and maybe even a little money. moat the... library.s right... for a better clean with less... it's got to be tide. if you spit blood when you brush, it could be the start of a domino effect. new parodontax active gum repair breath freshener. clinica

>> greg: chael, what is really weird about this is one of the people that went after him is claire mccaskillwitter and sits there and it is so obviously wrong. it is like they did not care. >> what is the point of having a friend if they are not going to be there when you need them? that defence was beautiful and that made me look at you differently and respect you. if you have a friend he will defend them. she was friends with... did i say it wrong? >> you say the preferred... >> not to mention kilmeade did not say the word it. but cannot tell you guys when i look at biden i think of him as weak. but he is not pardoning his own sun. i do not understand that. you were not going to help your own son? a father in politics they are away from the family and chasing their own careers it is like they are bettering something else when it is really for yourself. you do not pardon the kid when he needs it? that is not how you look out for a friend or a sun. >> greg: i like how you pulled that in there. jay me this was a deliberate misreading they know what they heard it. >> that is the real issue wit

executive director of fix the court gabe roth, and former senator of how to win 2024 podcast claire mccaskilld with me here at this table, political scholar and professor at princeton university eddie glaude. claire, would you like to start with you. you've seen as everyone else, i was just talking about the evolution that has gone in terms of how the country thinks about the court and today at least how president biden thinks about the court. tell me from a 30,000 foot level of someone who once served in the upper chamber, what do you think the consequences of this will be mostly political rather than substantive. but what did it mean the party and the president moved this way. >> well, i think it is really important that the president put this marker down. yes, you're right, the chances of this becoming enshrined in our constitution any time soon are not great. but, it is the right thing to do. and there is no question that the court is in a crisis that people do not trust them, the ethical lapses have been huge, and notable and most americans realize it is not right that these guys could t

and i have to point out, when former senator claire mccaskill asks how to get here, there's no plan b of not our fault, and you haven't been listening to the americans that have been clambering this entire time that that person is not worthy or not fit to continue in this capacity as commander in chief. anyone with a loved one in service right now could tell you that four years ago. i will close with the question. i wonder what it feels like for kamala harris, the acting vice president, to see up on scs nine other individuals that are like, "maybe one of these will work!" it is so telling that the vice president isn't the natural understudy. she somehow has been eclipsed by everyone else. he won andy, i couldn't agree with you more that my concerns about mental acuity are not poll ones, they are national security ones. do you think there's been any discussion of a 25th amendment? has to be his cabinet, that the only people who can intervene. >> andy: and it would have to be kamala harris. she has to trigger it. you can't have a president who is mentally impaired. and i'm not making a

david bluff, claire mccaskill, thank you both so much. i really appreciate you taking the time this evening. >>> coming up, the massive energy around the kamala harris candidacy. how the vice president is meeting the moment. one of her longtime friends and former colleagues in congress, barbara lee, joins me on that, next. will why do couples choose a sleep number smart bed? can it keep me warm when i'm cold? wait, no, i'm always hot. sleep number does that. and now, save 40% on the sleep number limited edition smart bed. plus special financing. shop now at sleepnumber.com with absorbine pro, pain won't hold you back from your passions. it's the only solution with two max-strength anesthetics to deliver the strongest numbing pain relief available. so, do your thing like a pro, pain-free. absorbine pro. will >>> in this moment when we are all getting to know vice president kamala harris better, there is nothing more important than during directly from her pixel i have played a bunch of clips in the first block, want to play the clip for he

clara miscast -- claire mccaskill and others. >> what also they going to do, they have to defend joenk for women watching across the country, they had to remember that jd vance was raised by a strong female president -- presence, his grandmother. he endured what he saw was domestic abuse and drug abuse from that part of his mother. poverty. then a work ethic, personal responsibility, putting his way through gail law school. top of his class and going to be a senator. if that is a story you want to take on with the same old washington talking points i guess they can try. i don't dig its going to be as successful as they might have hoped because his personal story i think and his intellect is going to transcend a lot of the old talking points. i understand the abortion issue is divisive in the country. i believe his point with the president we'll be its a state issue and the states will deal with this and it's complicated but the states are dealing with it. some states like kansas are actually coming out on another side than people thought. more on the pro-choice side. i think in the e

. >> with that, let's bring in former senator claire mccaskill. new york times chief white house correspondent peter baker, and former rnc chairman and host of msnbc's the weekend , michael steele. peter, you have been covering this closely, and i know that some folks have been watching tv all day, some are just tuning it now. oh, looks like maybe i don't have peter, so i'm going to start with michael. what is your reaction to this? >> well, you know, it is a mix of thoughts at one time. you know, i was not very happy with the way the process played itself out, i think i made that very clear over the last few weeks. but in the end, joe biden did the statesman thing, and he recognized whether it was looking at the data or just feeling the emotion of the country right now, the desire to actually avoid a catastrophe in the fall, and he stood up for the country. and i think he is rightly being applauded for that. and so now, we have it, and it was important, it was very important for joe biden to lead the country in that pivot by endorsing kamala harr

. >> claire mccaskill, you are a mother, you are grandmother, i wanted your thoughts on this but we areeak. but i am thinking of james carville two weeks ago who said, this most sadistic, dangerous force out there is a seventh grade girl. he might be right. >>> when we come back, everybody is sharing their mvps of the week when "the 11th hour" and the nightcap continues. tcap continues. i recommend prevagen. number one, because it's effective. does not require a prescription. and i've been taking it quite a while myself and i know it works. and i love it when the customers come back in and tell me, "david, that really works so good for me." makes my day. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. hi! need new glasses? makes my day. buy one pair, get one free at visionworks! how can you see me squinting? i can't! i'm just telling everyone!...hey! buy one pair, get one free for back to school. visionworks. see the difference. >>> all right, you know what time it is, it is time for the mvps of the week. claire, hayes, jemele, and joyce are still with us. joyce, give us yours, f

. >> claire mccaskill, thank you so much.iate your time this afternoon. >> coming up, california senator butler knows kamala harris better than the most anyone in washington. senator butler is standing by, and she joins me next. next. to leave every room smelling fresh and clean. with that done, it's time to get to work. ♪ la la la la la here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. what will you do when the power goes out? power outages can be unpredictable and inconvenient, but with a generac home standby generator, your life goes on uninterrupted. because when your generac detects a power outage, it automatically powers up, giving your family the security and peace of mind they deserve. we don't have to worry about whether we lose power or not. if the utility company does not come through, our generac does. after the hurricane happened, we just want to be prepare

just listen to how former democratic senator claire mccaskill put it on msnbc shortly after. >> joe biden had one thing he had to do tonight, and he didn't do it. he had one thing he had to accomplish, and that was reassure america that he was up to the job at his age, and he failed at that tonight. >> jonathan: a chorus of biden allies outside of the party leadership, liberal commentators, party strategists, and former elected officials, are now publicly urging him to step aside and allow the party to choose a different nominee at the democratic convention in august. privately, some elected democratic officials are saying essentially the same thing. is it too late to go in another direction? technically no. democrats haven't normally nominated anybody yet, but as a practical matter, the only way for the convention to choose a different candidate would be for biden to declare he has decided not to run and to release his delegates to vote for someone else. will that happen? well, there is absolutely no indication that biden is even considering dropping out or that anybody in his inner circ

senator claire mccaskill.ssociate editor for "the washington post," here we go, david ignatius joins us. yes, we'll talk, david. distinguished senior fellow for the center for american progress -- former u.s. senator from alabama doug jones. and nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli. good to have you on board. mike memoli, let's start with the reporting you have. >> i spoke with a prominent democrat who spent time with the president and his senior advisors this weekend. in their words, the tenor and tone around biden and his team is that they're powering through in this moment. we've seen the show of force that the campaign has put out, especially on the sunday shows, of democrats saying that they stand behind president biden and his continued candidacy. we have also seen the ways in which the campaign privately is working to reassure donors, really to quell some of the fires that have been burning since thursday. we're reporting this morning that julie chavez rodriguez, the campaign manager, spoke wi

joining us is former senator claire mccaskill, democrat of missouri. it's great to see you. what do you make of the choice of j.d. vance? >> it does not signal that he -- trump is trying to soften the edges. the only person more excited than j.d. vance this afternoon was vladimir putin. they dropped balloons from the sky. where putin was hanging out this afternoon because j.d. vance has even said he doesn't care what happens to ukraine. think about that for a minute. the republican party that i knew which was all about making sure that we were a beacon to democracies around the world, and we would not ever stand by and do nothing while they dog would roll into another country and try to change its borders by force. you know, j.d. vance said he really didn't care about ukraine. all the things you just listed, i would say this to the biden campaign, think it's time to start campaigning again, like tomorrow. if you listen to ron johnson's speech tonight at the convention, if he saw some of the things trump said today, it's time. listen, we all are shocked and horrified by what

senator claire mccaskill. re, your thoughts this morning as the president works to recover from covid and the rnc is confidently under way? >> yeah. this is a tough, tough time for the democratic party. for a lot of reasons. but if you look at the narrative of what's happened, i think -- and i look at this, folks, from a perspective of somebody who might be running for senate in a tough state. because that's what chuck schumer is focused on. hakeem jeffries is focused on congressional candidates running in swing districts. that's what delivers majorities for the policies we care about, for the values we all share. they watched the debate, realized that the age issue has now become -- had now become something that was very, very big. immediately afterwards, those candidates and those elected leaders of our party thought, well, let's give joe biden space and grace. because, you know, this was a horrible night for him, and everyone felt for him personally, about how difficult that night had to have been for him an

claire mccaskill is a shining example of women being able to get elected to higher office, so we've gottory, we just have to point to each other, and engage and organize together. that is the strongest defense. >> can you also turn it around? i would say, i don't think the country is ready to elect its first convicted felon. >> i hope not. i think you can turn it around, but i also think if you're going to turn it around, just be sharp -- just be sharp and pointed. i don't think we have time. i don't think democrats have time to not talk just about democracy, although that's important. you have to go right at donald trump. you have to go right at jd vance. this is not a time for the gloves to be on. they have to be off. you have to hit them hard and directly. we just don't have the time to be explaining. when you're explaining, you're losing. 108, 109 days left. this is a time for a hard, hard hitting campaign. as was said before, donald trump was not ready for this. so if he's knocked on his heels, just continue to knock him down. >> i love this conversation. no one goes anywhere. up n

with us, we have claire mccaskill, and also with us, managing editor, sam stein, and editor at large,en and love our children and wouldn't do anything in our lives, but to suggest those childless americans don't have quality lives, too, and not only inaccurate but deeply insensitive to people, and it's a news cycle that is relentless and we seem to move on to the next story in a few hours at times, and this is really staying, and particularly for somebody like j.d. vance trying to introduce himself nationally, this is not a good first impression. >> yeah, people with kids don't like it. people, of course, without kids don't have it. and there's a proposal that people with kids should get more votes, and i think i was the last person that should have had extra votes when my kids were tiny, and the democrats are making hay out of it. meanwhile, looks like vice president harris has closed the lead or taken over the lead. competitive races are shown in all seven battleground states among registered voters. in arizona, harris leads by two points after trump led by three points. in georgia

. >> john, claire mccaskill here.omer generation in terms of technology and strides in gender equality, all of those kinds of things, but yet it feels like this election is a giant pothole that all of a sudden we are presenting the country with a choice that our country does not like. and, are you going into that in the podcast, do you have a simple explanation of how the boomers who have done so much, are now faced with this kind of calamity? >> to me, that is almost the most fascinating question in american politics right now. i know there are lots of more immediate ones, will joe biden step down, what will happen in november, but just as a sort of how strange american politics is at the moment, the disconnect between what you hear on the floor. i was on the floor for the j.d. vance speech, and what is going on in the country. there has, as you say, been the most extra ordinary amount of progress in america over the past few decades. racial progress, economic progress. one statistic i like is that black white implem

with me at the table, co-host of msnbc's podcast, our friend claire mccaskill is here. joining us, nbc news correspondent yamiche alcindor at the convention in chicago watching trump's appearance as it took place. she is also our correspondent on the harris campaign. yamiche, i'll start with you. just go through -- i don't know how you rank the offenses, not just to the people in the room, but to everybody. but take a stab at it for us. >> well, i think that's what's really a remarkable moment in what has been a remarkable campaign season. to see former president trump in front of a group of black journalists who invited him to answer questions about policy, about his views on the campaign trail, about his views about america and his vision for the future, and to have him go after vice president harris in this way that is really, really questioning her identity, questioning her authenticity, was really, really something to behold. and i think it is someone who is covering the harris campaign and covered the vice president, but when she was a senator way back more than a

former senator and co-host of msnbc's "how to win 2024" podcast claire mccaskill.s reporting. if the tragic events of saturday evening hadn't occurred, your story is what was flying around numerous. and i think it would have driven a week of coverage, it's wednesday, took us a call days to get to it. just take me through -- nick, you've been reporting on the voter suppression laws, predicated on the lie. jim, you and nick together put together the two pieces of it, and what's terrifying is how they halt certification. so jim, you take me through that part of the plan. >> and it basically does -- i like that you refer to nick's previous reporting because it's -- there's been a lot of legal work going into this, into voting for the past couple of years. but what's been happening that's sort of a new twist since 2020 and some of it started in 2020 is looking at the certification process, the pageantry of affirming our votes, of making it clear who the winner is. there are a lot of steps along the way. they start at very local election boards. and an increasing number

claire mccaskill will tell you to the very end there with him. the huge pressure is coming without regard to the vice president. and that there is this what they perceive as a push for an open convention and that people are taking the risk of playing 2028 games with a 2024 crisis. and that the gamesmanship in trying to maneuver people who may want to run in 2028 and maneuver them in now is seen as undercutting the whole project when the project is beating trump. when a lot of folks are telling me is that they see gamesmanship to try to set aside the person who would be next in line in 2028 meaning the vice president. and that they will and i would just say my last thing is that what i will tell you is based on the many dozens of conversations i feel like i have been not been off the phone and i'm exhausted by it. >> i was literally on the phone until the second we turned it on. >> i thought you had a landline. oh my god. we brought in a landline. >> i literally where the phone around my neck because i always lose my phone. >> i thought you were o

let's bring claire mccaskill and jonathan mart. start with you, claire, it's not usual for vanquished candidates to rally around the nominee, but how critical. nikki haley was saying he's diminished. he's like joe biden, he shouldn't be there because he's a diminished guy. mike and i were discussing his closing argument in new hampshire, look at the polls i beat joe biden. donald trump can't beat joe biden. don't come crying to me if you nominate donald trump and yet here we are. >> what makes this so different is feels more humiliating for the people doing this, whether it's desantis or haley. just because you know the depth of their dislike for donald trump. by the way, why are they calling it the republican party? it is not the republican party anymore. they just nominated a guy for vice president who says he doesn't care what happens to ukraine. how does that sit with nikki haley? le she gets that part of it, she gets 9 foreign policy rupture that's occurs that is occurring in what used to be the republican party. it's the trum

senator claire mccaskill. manager and white house senior adviser david plouffe. author and nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. author and columnist, political analyst. what will it take to get this side of the race focused, and can kamala harris prosecute the case against donald trump? >> i think so, mika. it'll be a challenge operationally and organizationally. kamala harris has to introduce herself to the nation. she is the sitting vice president, but she's got to start from the basics of her biography, her time as a prosecutor, things she accomplished in the senate. the things she believes in and what she fights for. then, obviously, stand up the compelling contrast that needs to be in place to defeat donald trump. obviously, having the energized party behind you helps a great deal. financially, of course. in terms of turnout and the volunteers to produce the turnout. what we've seen throughout the last month or so is a huge delta between democratic senate candidates and the presidential camp