Morning Joe - Morning Joe 8/22/24

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Takeaways from the third night of the Democratic National Convention

So let me finish with this team. It's the fourth quarter. We're down a field goal, but we're on offense and we've got the ball. We're driving down the field. And boy, do we have the right team. Kamala Harris is top. Kamala Harris is experienced and Kamala Harris is ready. Our job, our job, our job, our job for everyone watching is to get in the trenches and do the blocking and tackling. One inch at a time. One yard at a time. One phone call at a time. One door knock at a time. One five-dollar donation at a time. Look, we got 76 days. That's nothing.

There'll be time to sleep when you're dead. We're going to leave it on the field. That is, in fact, a high school coach right there. It is a coach. That is a high school coach. He had a speech last night during the Democratic National Convention where he formally accepted his party's nomination for vice president. You were a coach, so you saw that in him. Yeah, I mean, he also had all those, yeah, yard at a time. Yeah.

So it was night three of the DNC. It was packed with more star power, including former President Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey. Parts of the night were sectioned into themes like immigration, with remarks by a Texas border county sheriff who has criticized Donald Trump on the issue. The January 6th Capitol attack was also a focal point, with a series of speeches by some of the people most affected on that day. And tonight, Vice President Kamala Harris will close out the convention. We'll have a preview of her speech.

Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Thursday, August 22nd. Willie is in Chicago this morning, along with the host of way too early White House bureau chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire. We also have with us U.S. special correspondent for BBC News, Katty Kay, and co-host of MSNBC's The Weekend, former senior advisor and chief spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris, Simone Sanders Townsend, also with us, the host of the podcast On Brand

with Donny Deutsch, Donny Deutsch, and contributor to the conservative website, The Bulwark, Tim Miller, he previously served as a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. And NBC News National Affairs Analyst and a partner and chief political columnist at Puck, John Heilman. That's all the time we have for this morning. Monica Brera.

There goes our four hours. Max, let's first go to the two guys who did not sleep last night. Willie Geist and Jonathan Lombardier. Willie two guys who did not sleep last night. Willie guys. Yeah, Willie, are you awake? Willie, take us through the night last night. By the way, speaking of high school football, I think we have enough people on to put up a full defensive unit right now. Do we have 11?

I think we can do it. Stuff the run. You're vulnerable deep, but you stuff the run. Yeah, you said it, Joe. You and I both played high school football. That was a high school football coach giving a locker room speech to a party in a country last night. Incredible amount of bio given about Governor Walz last night, who he is, really introducing him to the country. I feel like a lot of us have gotten to know him a lot better in the last couple of weeks.

But the nation, let's be honest, doesn't really know much about the guy. So they got to get a look at him, a look at his family, the emotion on his son, Gus, last night, as he said, that's my dad up there. It was a beautiful moment. And honestly, we've said this, I feel like every night, John, but just the enthusiasm in this building that cannot be manufactured, the star power in this building. I'm not just talking about Oprah, who gave a rousing speech that was something of a surprise until yesterday, but just the lineup of Democrats, the young Democrats, the youthful energy that's projected, whether it's Governor Westmore, Governor Josh Shapiro, Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, up and down, and then a nod to the past with Bill Clinton as well.

Yeah, and Bill Clinton still got it. he spoke last night. He rewrote his speech on Monday. They said he had been moved by this sort of joy emanating from this room, felt like he needed to have a different approach. Look, he talks quieter than he used to. He talks slower than he used to by his own admission. But he captivated the room. They were spellbound by his remarks. And in classic Bill Clinton style, he went way over his allotted time. But he laid out a forceful argument for Kamala Harris and, again, sort of belittled Donald Trump and talked about how Trump only, in a way that eloquently said, Donald Trump only focuses on himself. It's about the I.

Don't talk about the, you know, listen to how he speaks about himself. Everything is about himself when Trump gives his remarks. And, you know, we had House Speaker Nancy, former Speaker Pelosi spoke, you know, as we were discussing at the end of the last hour. You know, she was the face of the move to push past President Biden. But it seems like those those rifts have largely healed here. And this is a party that is now unified, focused around the vice president and now Governor Walz, who, of course, was the capstone last night. And I, like you, was struck. I mean, every time I see the clip of his son tearing up and saying,

that's my dad, it gets me. There was real emotion there. They leaned in heavily into the Coach Walls motif. They even brought some of his former players up to salute the defensive coordinator, the former defensive coordinator of a state championship team, I'll note. And the banners, the signs you can see in the crowd also say Coach Walls. There they are. Mankato West, 1999 state champs, Joe.

Formidable group. Formidable group. There you go. Fantastic. Big, needy line. Yeah, they weighed 127 when they were playing there. I'm going to go behind them. Joe, I'll also say it was interesting to watch how this party,

especially last night, is leaning into issues that maybe were perceived as vulnerabilities. I'm talking last night about immigration. You had Senator Chris Murphy, who was one of the co-authors of that legislation that Donald Trump killed, along with James Lankford of Oklahoma, the Republican there. He came out and said, we worked hard for months and months and months. We got the deal Republicans said they wanted. We presented it to them. And Donald Trump came in and killed the bill. Kamala Harris says, I will sign that bill when I become president.

Going hard. Very interesting. This is an issue that Donald Trump thinks he has on Democrats. And the Democrats last night say, no, actually, you killed that bill. We are going to be on the offensive on immigration. Yeah, I mean, it's a new Democratic Party. There's a different type of Democratic Party than the type that I ran against. I mean, you know, they were always very easy to go after and that, like, you know,

sort of run around in circles. And they were for the war before they were against the war. They were this. They were that. You take an issue that they were nervous about and they'd run away from it. And you just it would be just easy, easy to run against them. Now they're doing exactly what you're supposed to do. Take the issue that's your weakness, make it your strength and go straight at them with it. And it's hard to beat that. I will say also, Tim, we you know,

we used to run against Democratic parties. It was like the old Simpsons cartoon where they had Republican conventions and they held up banners that said, we don't care about people. Then they go to the Democratic convention. They held up banners that said, we don't care about people. Then they go to the Democratic convention. They held up banners that said, we can't run things. We can't run things. And this is a Democratic party. I mean, just ruthlessly efficient. I have not seen a convention night after night after night that sets it up this well. This is not the Democratic party that you and I are used to seeing. No, the way that they co-opted all these traditional Republican themes, now they aren't Republican values, really, but Republican themes last night was, you know, there's been a lot of talk about the freedom, the way they've co-opted that word. The last side of it is much

more than that. The patriotism, there's the USA placards, the more USA chants at the Democratic Convention than the Republican Convention. I think that there was more mention of god and the bible saw that in a lot of speeches like king jeffries oprah tim walsh uh that you saw last night football obviously patriotism talking about the olympic team the republicans are complaining there were drag queens in the opening ceremonies of the olympics know, last night, they're like, we love our Olympic heroes, yay! And it was like a very American, heartland America thematically. And that was, you know, obviously very savvy,

and it's something that sometimes Democrats in the past were uncomfortable with or ran away from. Right. Not last night. They always were uncomfortable about it. If somebody started a USA chat in a Democratic crowd, everybody would turn around and look at him. What are you doing? What are you doing? What? What? Who let the Republican in? But now you're exactly right. But there's a reason, too. This

is not sort of just faux patriotism. This is I mean, it's because Donald Trump has opened the door when Donald Trump brags about saying America sucks, when he brags about saying America sucks when he brags about saying America is on decline, when he brags about saying that America is a stupid place. Well, we have a lot to be proud of as Americans. I've always believed that doesn't matter what party I'm in. I love this country. I'm proud of this country. And most Americans feel the way I do about America.

So when you have one party that's actually attacking America all the time, then, yeah, I'm going to hold the USA placard up and I'm going to go USA, USA, USA. And it works. It's the same thing with immigration. They killed the toughest immigration bill in history that James Langford wrote. And so this this it's working because it's true. Yeah. And the Democrats are showing bravery and they are lenient issues. They brought in last night and it was one of the most emotional moments. The the parents of her Skolberg are hostages talking about basically and in the most empathetic way, saying that there is agony on both sides and we need to bring them home and talking about this is not a political issue. It's a humanitarian issue. And you contrast that with Donald Trump

trying to pit Jews against each other. And it was, as you said, they're leaning into the issues that are even challenging for them and an entire night of freedom and joy and joy and freedom. And boy, I wouldn't want to be running against those Democrats right now. Not at all. And Willie, we're going to have the they're going to be here later this morning. Yeah, that to me, I think Donnie's absolutely right. That was the most emotionally striking moment of the night, particularly when Mrs. Goldberg called out to Hirsch at the end in an unscripted moment, leaned into the mic and said, if you can hear us be strong, survive. They will be our guests a little bit later this morning, as you said. Katty, your impressions from last night as a part of this week and leading up to the moment of the

week, which will be the acceptance speech tonight by Vice President Kamala Harris. Again, just stopping and noting what an extraordinary moment in history it is, not just because of who she is, but because of how she got here, where a month ago things were very much up in the air in the Democratic Party. And look how united and excited the Democratic Party is. And we went through all of those weeks before Joe Biden stepped down with people second guessing Kamala Harris and saying, actually, you know what, maybe he shouldn't step down because she would be the next choice. There are so many concerns about whether she's going to be a good candidate. And we've seen over the course of the last four months what an exceptional candidate she has been and how she's rallied the Democratic Party behind her.

I thought one of the striking things last night was Tim Walz's speech. It was about 16, 17 minutes by my judgment. Joe Biden spoke for an hour on Monday night. It shows what you can do in a political speech when you don't need it to go very, very long. He did it. He told the stories. I think he had just by virtue of the fact of who he is and playing up this coach theme, it does do something to reach out to rural, white, perhaps non-college educated voters who might be leaning for Donald Trump. I mean, he looks like the kind of guy they could be comfortable with. I don't know if any of those voters are going to switch sides because of Tim Walz, but he, of all of the speakers we've had here during the course

of this week, he has done the most to get there. He's running a very Friday night lights campaign right now. There's something about a field goal and we're in the end. And anyway, we've got to keep going. Very good. Field goal. Nice reference. We'll get you there. Let's listen to a little bit of Governor Walz's speech last night. Now, I grew up in Butte, Nebraska, a town of 400 people. I had 24 kids in my high school class and none of them went to Yale. But I'll tell you what, growing up in a small town like that you'll learn how to take care of each other that that family down the road they may not think like you do they may not pray like you do they may not love like you do but they're your neighbors and you look out for them and

they look out for you. So while other states were banning books from their schools, we were ban neighbors and the personal choices they make. And even if we wouldn't make those same choices for ourselves, we've got a golden rule. Mind your own damn business. That includes IVF and fertility treatments. And this is personal for Gwen and I. If you've never experienced the hell that is infertility, I guarantee you, you know somebody who has. And I can remember praying each night for a phone call. The pit in your stomach when the phone had rang and the absolute agony when we heard the treatments hadn't worked. It took Gwen and I years, but we had access to fertility treatments. And when our When our daughter was born, we named her Hope.

Hope, Gus, and Gwen, you are my entire world, and I love you. John Heilman, brevity is the soul of wit, they say. That never really absorbed into my being. But at a convention, 17 minutes, you define that as brief. And it looks like the governor did that. Did he deliver? I think so. I mean, look, I agree with you, Joey. We're used we're used to these these long convention speeches. You know, Bill Clinton's a great example where, you know, he ends up going over time and then everybody says, wow, it was just so brilliant that we're fine with that.

And it's almost surprising, you know, when someone gets up and comes in well under what everyone expects to be the time. I will say one of the things about this convention is that they have been running late every night. And, you know, we thought that we remember back when Joe Biden started as late as he did on Monday night, there was all this discussion about, you know, how unfortunate it was that he started out of primetime. Everybody has been going out of primetime every single night, including, I believe, Tim Walz started roughly around the same time that Joe Biden did on Monday night. And for that purpose, if nothing else, coming in at 15 or 16, 17 minutes is good news for him. There wasn't a word wasted in that speech. And I continue to be stunned by a guy who has never performed on the national stage before.

Every time you put him in front of a big crowd, whether it was that first introductory speech or this one, he's, you know, knocking it out of the park. Yeah. You know, Tim, that's, that's the surprise. You know, we sit around this table. I sit around this table. We talk about, oh yeah, you know, when, when the quarterback was rolling to his left and he threw the 70 yard pass, he should have passed it like five more yards to the right like why didn't he lead the receiver better yeah it you know this very well because you've been close to it when you get under those bright lights you don't know who's going to hit their mark and who's not and 99 of the people don't hit their mark i I wonder if you're as surprised as I am that not just Tim Walz, but also Kamala Harris, somebody that people did not think was up to the job

a month and a half ago, that she couldn't step into that spotlight, that they've both the stage and they're hitting their marks like they've been doing it their whole lives. Yeah. And I've worked for some pretty good politicians that didn't step up when the spotlight got bright. And they're still great and talented individuals. You just don't know. And I think that the vice president, maybe even her team would admit that at the beginning of the vice presidency, she was a little uncertain, right? It's tough being the second person speaking for. And so how are you going to do when the spotlight is there? And she really has stepped up. I think that both her and Wall's, to the brevity of the soul, is the soul of wit point, have been

keeping it tight, though. They have a clear message. They know what their message is. It's a little different from what Biden's message was. And they're not getting off it. By the way, that first night, Tim, and again, I know this sounds like a small thing she came out first night she waved she spoke for four minutes she walked off the stage and mika and i looked at each other and said brilliant yep everybody else would have overstayed their welcome like you're right they they're hitting it and night two night two when they are in milwaukee where trump had his convention packed five serve forum and they they cut to her from the convention and all and she's just waving you see the huge freedom in red white and blue up there i know it looks it was hitting

the marks on advance and on her performance by the way can we talk about that as well we're talking about how they're taking Republican themes, Republican symbols and making them their own. Again, freedom's a great example because of abortion rights, because of reproductive rights. But also think about that. She decided freedom worked better than democracy. Yeah. And she's so right. It was definitely right. You know, and I look, I, this is why I'm a never Trumper. I care. It's to me. Right. Right. Play into the morning, Joe Green room. Right. But you got to get beyond that. You got to speak to other folks as well. And I think that she really has

landed there on freedom and on patriotism. One other person I should just shout out as the never Trumper last night, Jeff Duncan, lieutenant governor of Georgia. Yeah. Very conservative, much more conservative than me, like a far rightTemper last night, Jeff Duncan, Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, very conservative, much more conservative than me, like a far-right social conservative, spoke last night, said, clearly, I disagree with her on policy, but if you vote for Kamala Harris, it doesn't mean you're a Democrat. It means you're a patriot. Great line. And again, it's like that freedom and patriotism. We're trying to speak to the types of people that might not traditionally be Democrats, but are like, we're sick of this. We're not going back. We want to trust that these that these folks share our values. And they've been focused on that. So former President Bill Clinton delivered his 12th consecutive DNC speech last night.

The former president first spoke at the 1980 convention when he was just three, three years old. It was a long one. Take a look at his remarks. Two days ago, I turned 78, the oldest man in my family of four generations. And the only personal vanity I want to assert is I'm still younger than Donald Trump. Remember, we've got a guy that's pretty good at what he does. Donald Trump has been a paragon

of consistency. He's still dividing. He's still blaming. He's still belittling other people. He creates chaos, and then he sort of curates it as if it were precious art. So in 2024, we got a pretty clear choice, it seems to me. Kamala Harris for the people. And the other guy who's proved even more than the first go-around that he's about me, myself, and I. I know which one I like better for our country. I mean, look, what does our opponent do with his voice? He mostly talks about himself, right?

So the next time you hear him, don't count the lies. Count the eyes. I, too, want an America that's more joyful, more inclusive, more future-focused. Just think what a burden it's been on us to get up day after day after day after day buried in meaningless hot rhetoric when there's so many opportunities out there, so many problems that need to be solved? I want that. And that's the America Kamala Harris we need.

Take it! From a man who once had the honor to be called in this convention, the man from hope. We need we need Kamala Harris, the president of joy to lead. Simone, you had President Clinton last night hitting on a lot of themes talking about Donald Trump's age. He knows which buttons to push. Also getting at that theme that Donald Trump's just weird. He kind of threw out as an ad lib. What's this thing about the late, great Hannibal Lecter? Why does he keep talking about Hannibal Lecter? So Clinton doing his job in that in that lineup last night.

You worked for Vice President Harris for some time. I'm curious what you think tonight will look like in this room behind us in the context of these three nights that, by all accounts within the party, have gone have exceeded their expectations. Truly amazing. Can I say a word about Bill Clinton? He was one truly one of the greatest orators of our time. Bill Clinton had notes. He had a prompter and then he had what he wanted to say. It was just amazing. And he what he did last night, he did captivate the room and people were completely, completely captivated. They were you could almost hear a pin drop as he was speaking. And I just really think President Clinton captured the room as someone who when he was president, the economy was what President Clinton did in terms of the economy is something that I believe

that this potential Harris administration would love to be able to replicate. Look, I think tonight you're going to hear from the vice president. This is someone who has not worked her entire career to become president, but has worked her entire career breaking barriers and just doing the work. And tonight, you know, she's ran for president before, obviously. OK, you don't run for president, not ever wanting to sit in the seat. Right. She's ran for president before, did not have a successful first presidential campaign, joined the Biden-Harris ticket and has served as vice president for the last three, almost four years. And in that time has literally been doing the work. Border crossings are down because Mexico is enforcing their border. Do you know how Mexico enforces their border? Diplomacy. Do you know who was in charge of the root causes of migration and working

on that diplomatic effort? The woman who will be standing on this stage tonight. There is just, you don't get to this moment without the first three years of this administration and the vice president doing that work. And so I think she's going to talk about herself and her values. We're going to hear about her mother who instilled everything that we have seen in her and her sister. I think we're going to hear from her sister, Maya Harris, tonight. And she is going to make a forceful case about why she can lead this country, not just lead Democrats. And I think that's going to be very, very important. There are people out there that are still skeptical. I've been talking to voters who say, I don't know if, you know,

they're very blunt. They're saying, I don't know if people in rural America are going to vote for a black woman as president. And Kamala Harris is going to stand on that stage tonight. I think and make the case that you're I'm a patriot just like you. I'm an American just like you. My story is not that different than yours, which is why I'll be a good person to represent you. Very good. And still ahead on Morning Joe, Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy will both join the conversation after speaking at the DNC last night. Also ahead, former President Trump made a campaign stop in North Carolina yesterday and responded to Barack and Michelle Obama's DNC remarks. We'll show you some of what he had to say. You're watching be America's next vice president sends a message.

And the message is that they are doubling down on negativity and grievance. Committing to a concept of campaigning best summed up in one word, darkness. Darkness is what they are selling. The thing is, I just don't believe that America today is in the market for darkness. That is Joe Biden's secretary of transportation, and I think it's a good message. Yeah, absolutely. He's been great also going on Fox News and trying to take on the opposition and some of the disinformation out there. A very effective campaigner and speaker. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro also took the stage for a speech focused on protecting freedom. Shapiro, who was a finalist to be Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate, partly used his time last night to rail against

former President Donald Trump, who he said is trying to strip Americans of their rights. Take a look. Kamala Harris, well, she has spent her entire career making progress. Donald Trump, a man with no guardrails, wants to take away our rights and our freedoms. And listen, while he cloaks himself in the blanket of freedom, what he's offering isn't freedom at all. Because hear me on this, it's not freedom to tell our children what books they're allowed to read. No, it's not.

And it's not freedom to tell you can go vote, but he gets to pick the winner. That's not freedom. Kamala and Tim's names may be on the ballot, but it's your rights. It's our rights. It's our future and freedoms that are on the line. And you have the power to shape the future of this country. Just like our ancestors, our ancestors who fought for freedom on the battlefield and sat in at lunch counters so our kids could stand up. Now, now it's on us. It's on us, my friends,

to organize in our communities and on our For You pages around three basic American principles. Can I do one edit? Tim, is it okay Can I do one edit? Tim, is it okay if I do one edit as a former Republican? Because, you know, they're trying to speak to conservatives. Josh Shapiro is great. I want him to be vice president. I made that very clear. I just want to do one edit that every time I hear it,

as a former Republican, it kind of, I was like no no no when he says it's not freedom to tell children what books they can read it should be it's not freedom to tell parents what books their children can read that's a good there's a big difference it's a good edit it's a good because some of these books that are like out there are books that we would not want our children to read. Yeah. But it should be the parents decision and not the governor's decision. Yeah. Right. Good at it. Yeah. I think that's a fair edit. I'll send it through to go. OK. If you could send it through. Hours and hours of programming, you've come up with an edit. It's just one, just one. But, Donnie, you know, we were both of us.

You and I were both in the Shapiro cheering section. Wonderful. And wanted him to be the vice presidential pick. But, man, I've been surprised by how good Tim Walz has been. His time. Just really shocked, actually. What about you? People don't realize that Joe fields a lot of hysterical calls from a lot of people,

including me. And when they didn't pick Shapiro, I was like, he made a mistake. They didn't make a mistake. Walz has been amazing. Shapiro's amazing, but Walz has been the right pick. And, you know, he talked about being a neighbor. And there's a great slogan, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Like a good neighbor, Tim Walz is there.

Yeah. He is that guy. The whole plaid shirt. I'll tell you also the other emotional moment for me when his son was standing crying and pointing and going, that's my dad up there. That's why I like you just, if you're a son, if you're a father, if you're anybody, you could not not react to that. But Tim Walz has been a revelation. He is a rock star. I am just blown away by him. Yeah, he really is. Following that speech, Trump attacked Shapiro on social media, referring to him as, quote, the highly overrated Jewish governor of Pennsylvania. He went on to add, quote, I have done more for Israel than any person. And it's not even close. Shapiro has done nothing for Israel and

never will. And Willie Geist, it's always helpful to your campaign when you attack the governor of a state you desperately need. By the way, and identify him as the highly overrated Jewish governor. Yeah. Yeah. This is one of these moments we talk about, guys, where people go, oh, there he goes again. No, no, no. Let's stop for a minute. The man who wants to be president again is calling Josh Shapiro a Jewish governor, sending up smoke signals to some of his supporters. And I mean, he just he's lost his ability, if he ever had it, to use innuendo. And now he's just coming out and saying these things absolutely out loud about Josh Shapiro. He's Jewish, so take what he says with a grain of salt. It's staggering.

There's been quite a lot of focus on Tim Walz and did he actually go to war? And he said he carried a weapon in war and he didn't actually go to war. And it's probably right that the man who is going to be the vice president of the United States has some scrutiny on him. But every time we go to scrutiny like that, you have to remind yourself of some of

the things that Donald Trump will say and make no bones about it. And he will identify Josh Shapiro, not as the governor, not as the great governor, not as the effective governor, but as the Jewish governor and making him then another part of another group. And it's the it's not even a dog whistle at this point. It's a bullhorn. It's out there and it's blunt. I mean, by the way, he has a habit of attacking governors of states that he needs to win. So Pennsylvania, Georgia.

I mean, is he going to start ticking off the list? I'm not quite sure what he's going to start saying about the governors of Nevada and Arizona soon, but they should start watching their backs. I'm so glad you said that. Donald Trump's talking about Governor Brian Kemp, the extraordinarily popular governor in the state of Georgia. And attacking his wife as well, apparently, which that's really not going on in Georgia. And Governor Kemp's sin is saying, no, the count was right in 2020 in our state.

We supported Donald Trump. I voted for him. But we got the vote right. And that's his sin. Donald Trump continues to flail. We see it right there. The anti-Semitism in that post. Also yesterday at his rally, just again, meandering, making up a story about Kamala Harris meeting with Vladimir Putin three days before Putin decided to go into Ukraine.

That meeting never took place. He's just making stuff up again. Now, in the days before the invasion, Vice President Harris met with President Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference as part of delivering messages like, look, this invasion is about to come, showing the important role she did play in President Biden's foreign policy. The Trump thing, yesterday he had this rally in North Carolina, as you said. At one point, he even polled the crowd and said, well, you know, my advisors want me to stick to policy. You know, the Obamas, they got personal. Should I do the same? And he asked the crowd what they think. And they, of course, all cheered to say, yes, you should go on personal attacks. And then hours later, he does this, this inflammatory post on Truth Social. And it's a reminder, actually, Simone, there is a current here about Trump. And I thought one of the more powerful moments last night, it was searing to see is the January 6th footage. And Congressman Ben Thompson introduced it. It was really sort of difficult to watch. And we've all lived with this, and we talk about January 6th nearly every day. This is the first election post-January 6th,

the first presidential election post-January 6th. And that matters. And I think the Democrats were smart, even if they're moving away from the, hey, Trump's a threat to democracy line a little bit. But they're smart to remind people just how dangerous he was and how he's laying the groundwork to potentially do it again. The footage is very important, I think, to play because a lot of folks, if you just think about it, there are a lot of people that maybe have tuned out, maybe have forgotten, given all the misinformation and disinformation from Republicans specifically on

Capitol Hill. And so seeing the footage matters because it was terrible. No one and reminding people that this is this is what it was the last January 6th when Donald Trump sent his supporters, sent his supporters out and told them to march on the Capitol. And so I do think it's very important. Look, I know that there's much all this harping on. Democrats aren't leaning into the threat to democracy anymore. But I think that talking about the stakes of this election gets that done in a way that everyone can still understand, because democracy, to be honest, people feel differently about it. You know, for some folks, democracy has never fully worked for them in this country. So they don't feel as though that message of democracy speaks to them.

But the stakes, everybody understands that. Yeah. Congressman Benny Thompson, who chaired the January 6th commission in the United States Congress, he spoke last night and they shared part of this video that we'll show you right now as a reminder of what happened on that day. We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved.

And after this, we're going to walk down and I'll be there with you. We're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you. We're going to walk down to the Capitol. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. It does look like we're going to have an ad hoc march stepping off here. There's a crowd surging east.

Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you're not, I'm going to get riot warning. We're going to get riot warning. We're going to try to get compliance, but this is now effectively a riot. 39 hours declaring it a riot. 5 to 50 B-5 is trying to bridge and get to the Capitol. Hold water! Hold water! Hold water! trying to bridge and get to the Capitol. Go, Lawrence! Go, Lawrence! Go, Lawrence! Go, Lawrence!

Go, Lawrence! Go, Lawrence! Go, Lawrence! Go, Lawrence! We have a breach of the Capitol! Breach of the Capitol to the upper level! My kids didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution. Bring out Pence! Bring out Pence!

Bring out Pence! Bring out Pence! We can't hold this. We're going to get too many people. Look at this vantage point, man. We're f***ed. We're trying to help you out from the back. We're trying to help you out from the back now.

We need an area for the council members. They're all walking over now to the tunnel. We need to move down. Copy. If we lose, we may lose the ability to leave. So if we want to leave, we need to do it now. We lost the line. We lost the line.

All of you need to come back. All of you need to come back. We have to get a catch up. H208 with four members. The doors barricaded. There's people plundered the hallways outside. We have no way out. Officer is still remaining on the house floor.

So we can secure the members on the other side. Copy. Get him up. He loves you. Get him up. And if I win, I will be looking very, very strongly at that part. And I mean full pardons with an apology just to many. An apology. They were peaceful people.

These were great people. The crowd was unbelievable. And I mentioned the word love. The love in the air. I've never seen anything like it. So, Joe and Mika, that was the video played inside this hall last night. It wasn't broadcast on some of the networks, but it is striking to see it all again. We witnessed it live. We watched the hearings. We know the facts. We've seen the videos.

But it's worth a reminder because that day has been so whitewashed and attempted to be whitewashed by Donald Trump. He's talking about the people you saw in those videos who have been convicted by juries as hostages that he will pardon and set free because they are the real victims. Just two weeks ago, a man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for beating up police officers, according to the court, viciously with American flags, pieces of furniture, anything he could get his hands on. Donald Trump thinks that man and others are hostages. We know what happened that day. America got to see it again last night. The people who supported what happened that day are hypocrites, the most horrible hypocrites, people who have been whining about the American flag for years,

cheering, whining that the American flag is being misused on T-shirts or what NFL players did with the American flag. They're now cheering people who take American flags and beat the ever living hell out of police officers, beat the ever living hell out of cops. And they have done it for three years now on other cable news networks, trying to say this was much ado about nothing. And Donald Trump calls these thugs, these rioters, these people calling for the hanging of Mike Pence, these people beating the hell out of police officers within inches of their lives. They call these people, Donald Trump calls these people patriots and now hostages. John Heilman, thank God there was a reminder last night at the Democratic National Convention that this is the first election since Donald Trump led a riot against the United States

Capitol and American democracy. Thank God for that, Joe. And it's one of those things that I think you can't have enough reminders of. And I mean, truly, it continues to be one of the most shocking things in our politics. Watching Donald Trump, as he has routinely done throughout this campaign lead to do the Pledge of Allegiance with the with the J6 choir, have the J6 choir sing the national anthem and talking over and over again about his intention to give out full pardons to many or most of the convicts in that case. And I find it staggering and stunning every time we see it. I think you need to be reminded of it over and over again. I will say it's of all the things that have happened in the last month with Trump where we have seen him in a state of strategic flailing. And I have said, you know, I keep saying it over and over again. It's just evident that his mental

acuity and his cognitive state is, in addition to his psychic state, but his cognitive state is really becoming much more starkly evident how far he's failing and falling. The only thing that he has really managed to do that his campaign would be happy about is that he has not been talking about this in the last month. And I think that means that we're probably due pretty soon for him to uncork another a pian to the greatness of these people and how they're all martyrs and heroes. But a very powerful part of the very powerful part of the program last night, for sure. Well, and necessary. Yeah, necessary. And Tim, these images remain shocking all these years later. But even more shocking are the number of Republicans, the number of Trump Republicans

who dismiss it as much as they do about nothing. And they do. Yeah, all of them. Yeah. And where is anybody? I guess you gave a note, one note last night to the Democrats. And my one note, I guess, is Sergeant Ganell spoke last night very powerfully. He was one of the Capitol Police. We mentioned Jeff Duncan. I think Adam Kinzinger speaking tonight. Where is everybody else? Where are they? You know, like I would like to see more Mark Esper. Like the people that were there, too. You know, the secretary of defense was there. Who's spoken out? Mark Esper. But in the campaign setting, John Kelly, you know, background quotes aren't really doing it. I don't think at this moment, like the people that can speak to Donald Trump's abdication

of duty there, I think we could really use. Obviously, I have no expectation for any of the Republican senators are in the House, but it is insane. When you watch a video like that, there's Sergeant Ganell. Watch the video of these cops getting beaten up with the flags. There's not even any Republicans out there who are speaking out about it at all. They dismiss it. They minimize it. They mock you for doing it.

And when he's interviewed on his favorite networks, he's never asked about it. Well, no, the only time he's been asked about it recently, and this stands out, at the National Association of Black Journalists journalists everybody obviously was focused on him saying calvin harris isn't black but the one answer that really stood out to me was he was asked specifically when you're talking about the pardons are you talking about the violent rioters or just the ones that weren't violent and he wouldn't he wouldn't answer that he would say yeah i'm pardoning everybody and in that, he actually implied the dictator role that he would play. He said, you know, a group of people would decide who has been treated badly.

I would decide a group of people would decide I would decide. And I thought that was actually one of the more telling answers. You know, it's amazing that interview people when when when I talk about, you know, a democracy is really, really in trouble and be vulnerable with Trump. And they go, well, our democracy held the last time. Did you see the footage of January 6th? Did you listen to the recording of Brad Raffensperger when Trump was trying to get 12,000 votes? I mean, there was an attempted overthrow of the government. So he desperately tried to kill his vice president.

He desperately tried. So all those out there that go, well, we didn't lose democracy last time. Come on. Do we need John Heilman? Thank you very much for coming on this morning. We appreciate it. And coming up, we're going to bring you more highlights from the Democratic National Convention, including Oprah Winfrey's surprise appearance. We'll play for you some of her remarks. Morning Joe will be right back. 52 past the hour. Maybe time to get another cup of coffee. Yeah. And ease into the second hour of Morning Joe in a few minutes. Time now for a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. Ukrainian forces are reportedly moving to encircle an estimated 3,000 Russian troops hemmed in against a river in the Kursk province, the site of Ukraine's

surprise incursion. Ukraine is striking Russian supply routes as Moscow ramps up counterattacks using massive glide bombs and reinforcements. We'll follow that. Canada's two largest freight railroads are at a standstill this morning because of a contract dispute with their workers. It comes after the companies and union leaders failed to reach a deal by a midnight deadline. The work stoppage could have a huge impact on U.S. businesses, threatening deliveries of cars, timber, petroleum products and other crucial supplies. And longtime Congressman Bill Pascrell of New Jersey has died after fighting a respiratory illness earlier this summer. Known for his sharp critique of Donald Trump, the Democrat led the charge for access

to the ex-president's personal tax returns. Bill Pascrell was 87 years old.