The Megyn Kelly Show - J.D. Vance Takes Centerstage, and "Ear Truthers" in Trump-Hating Media, with Donald Trump, Jr., Rep. Byron Donalds, and Matt Taibbi | Ep. 841

Episode Date: July 18, 2024

Megyn Kelly is joined by Donald Trump Jr, host of the "Triggered" podcast, to discuss J.D. Vance’s acceptance speech at the RNC, his remarkable life story, the sweet moment with his mother, the evolution of Vance's feelings about Donald Trump, the left-wing media questioning whether Trump was actually shot, Joy Reid’s ridiculous coverage on MSNBC, how the Trump family has rallied around the former president in the wake of the assassination attempt, and more. Then Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida joins to discuss the Secret Service’s need to be held accountable for the failures that led to the assassination attempt, new details about when law enforcement identified the shooter as a person of interest, the growing list of Democrats calling for Joe Biden to step aside, how top Dems' attitude toward Biden has changed over the past few weeks, and more.  Then Matt Taibbi, editor of "Racket News," joins to discuss the evolution of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski's narrative surrounding Joe Biden’s health and ability to serve in the wake of the CNN debate, how ridiculous it makes them look, what top Dems are saying now about Biden's political future, the media’s ridiculous coverage and skepticism of Donald Trump’s ear, using the term “photoganda” to discredit the iconic photos of Trump after the shooting, why the left doesn't like that Trump is getting positive attention for his bravery and courage, and more.  Trump Jr- https://rumble.com/c/DonaldJTrumpJrDonalds- https://x.com/byrondonaldsTaibbi- https://www.racket.news/Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow 

Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at noon east. Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, coming to you live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the final day of the Republican National Convention, which has been a banner week for the GOP and President Donald Trump so far. The grand finale is just hours away, and former President Trump will take to the stage to formally accept the Republican presidential nomination tonight. This comes, of course, just days after he survived an assassination attempt, which we all witnessed in front of our very eyes, and yet we're getting left-wing loons who are suggesting it didn't happen, it was set up by Trump. We'll get into some of it.

It's exactly three weeks to the day right now since that debacle of a CNN presidential debate. And it changed everything about this race to this day. It is truly remarkable to think about all that's happened since then, just three weeks ago. Last night, however, belonged to Mr. Trump's vice presidential running mate, J.D. Vance. As we've discussed on this program all week, Mr. Vance's personal story is positively remarkable, uplifting and a true example of the American dream. So it made it all the more poignant to watch what happened on Wednesday night when he paid tribute to his mom, Beverly. We talked to you about Beverly earlier in the week when we went back over my long-form interview with him and talked about Hillbilly Elegy. It was not an easy pass between these two. Beverly, her husband abandoned J.D. when he was just a baby. She had no money. She had a lifelong drug problem.

She brought man after man into J.D.'s home and some abused her in front of J.D. There were just a lot of troubles. And that's not unique to J.D. Vance. There are a lot of Americans who have childhoods just like that. And a lot of them don't make it out of places like Appalachia. But J.D. ultimately was raised more by his grandparents. His mother was loving and stayed involved, but his grandparents took the lead. And last night, his mom, Beverly, with whom he's managed to continue having a relationship despite her addiction, but she's 10 years clean now, was there. She was there

as her son delivered his first primetime speech as former President Donald Trump's running mate. What a moment. Take a look. Our movement is about single moms like mine who struggled with money and addiction but never gave up. I'm proud to say that tonight my mom is here. Ten years clean and sober. I love you, Mom. Thank you. Shady's mom. Shady's mom.

Shady's mom. Shady's mom. And you know, mom, I was thinking it'll be 10 years officially in January of 2025. And if President Trump's OK with it, let's have the celebration in the White House. I don't know. If you've ever had anybody in your family who's an addict, you look at J.D.'s mom and you know what he's going through. She's had a rough life. Can you imagine what it was like for her to stand there and see her boy up there as the potential next vice president

of the United States? You could see her. She could see her. You could see her saying, that's my boy. That's my boy. And good for him for elevating her in this way, despite the difficult past. Over on the Democratic side, it looks like this could be it. We could be nearing the end of President Biden's reelection campaign. I mean, it could come at any hour, despite his assurances that he's in it for the duration.

That's not true. The dam breaking over the past 24 hours and how, as we learned Democrat after Democrat now encouraging him, you got to drop out. And shortly before we came to air a report from Axios said that top Democrats are privately telling Mr. Biden that the rising pressure, quote, will persuade Mr. Biden, selling Axios, will persuade President Biden to decide to drop out of the presidential race as soon as this weekend, reporting that it's not a question anymore of if, but when. One Texan doctor with zero big pharma ties is sharing a breakthrough medical discovery, and it's about taking charge of your health. No flashy big promises. He's focused on results. He says a unique protein can strengthen your bones, ease joint comfort and discomfort, minimize wrinkles, and improve

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Trump campaign better than almost anyone. He too delivered a remarkable speech last night. Donald Trump Jr., the former president's son and host of the Triggered podcast. Great to have you back, Don. Great to see you. Good to be here, Megan. How's it going? What a moment last night. It was great. It was the whole thing. This whole week has been spectacular after a, let's call it a rather rough weekend. Yeah. That was pretty brutal. The warmth, the love, it just, it's coalescing here and you just feel it.

It's palpable. What a difference between 16 when the party was more divided. Republicans were like, we're not sure about this guy. We know we wanted somebody who was more mainstream establishment. And now eight years later, they've fallen in love with your dad. It's a hundred percent reversal. I mean, there was still a room. There's gonna be like a basically a proxy fight on the floor. I literally in 16 in Cleveland, I literally almost got in a fist fight with Mike Lee, Senator Mike Lee of Utah on the floor, because he was doing

the Cruz thing and they were trying to sort of get the ballot. This is now someone I text with probably daily. He's become a good friend. But we were literally almost in a fist fight. Now I see that these people, they get it. People, J.D. was similar, right? Loved the idea of Trump, didn't believe that he was going to do the things he had,

sort of bought into the media narrative. And then when he started seeing the action, he goes, I was wrong. Right? Not just, okay, fine, I'll accept them reluctantly. It was, no, I was wrong. This is great. This is what we need to be doing. That's what I understand.

People are like, it's fake. He just said all of that so that he could get nominated as VP. I look at it, I say, I wasn't a huge fan of Donald Trump back in 16. My own evolution on him is authentic as they come. Why can't we believe that it might be? And I have nothing to gain from that. Correct. Nothing at all.

I'm not going to be vice president. I mean, why can't people believe that he actually saw him govern? He saw him bring a different set of policies and said, you know what? I'm persuaded he has the better argument. A hundred percent. I mean, it was funny because I read Hillbilly Elegy when it came out. That was J.D.'s story, the book. If you haven't read it, you have to because the story is, you know, much more than you

could see in a half an hour speech last night. It's absolutely incredible. And I was like, that's a guy we need to run for office, right? You know, it's not the sort of the typical checkbox thing. Like, yeah, he went to Yale Law, but he went to the Marine Corps out of high school. Yeah, it wasn't like some of the people we see. Well, I serve because, you know, I went to Yale Law and then I did my obligatory service so that I can run and become a politician and say that I'm a veteran. And, you know, that's fine, too. But to me, it's different. And to most of the veterans that I speak to, it's different just enlisting and doing it that way. So it was such an amazing story. So when he was like negative on Trump, I was like, it was like, oh, no, this is a guy that

should be with. And then started coming around and come around. It sort of met a while ago now towards, I guess, the end of my father's term, talking a lot, hanging out, became like really good friends with him. I was like, we got to we got to figure out how to do this. And when he decided to run for the United States Senate, I sort of went all in for that for him in Ohio. And then, you know, in this sort of VP race, it was really interesting

because you have all these sort of powerful forces that are not necessarily well-intentioned, right? It's like, you know, the warmongers. It's like, we must have someone who can balance Trump because we have to keep the forever wars going. I'm like, I don't know. Well, I saw my best clue that it might be, that it was going to be J.D.

was you on your show saying, oh, sure, you know, we'll pick somebody who's like a neocon. And that'll be the best insurance that my dad gets impeached within two minutes. Yeah, I said, you know, some of these guys, I was like, you know, not not even the final three, but I'm looking at some of the list of the people that were they were pushing, you know, when the establishment is pushing him as the hope was like, you know, my father's hand would come off the Bible and impeachment. The hand has not quite left the Bible and the swearing in ceremony on January 20th, and the articles of impeachment would be filed. But now it's not going to be, I mean, now this is a legacy choice.

This is, and for me, it was also an important component to have, you know, James 39 have someone young, but that can carry sort of that America first mantle. So we don't just revert back to the failed policies of sort of establishment neocon warmongers, you know, to keep that going. It's not about my father. It's not about me. It's about a movement for America, putting us first. And you heard a lot of that, obviously, in the speech last night.

I thought J.D. did an incredible job, but that's so critical for me. Like, you know, I'm not a politician't i don't do this for a living it's not i just care about our country uh you know my father does that's sort of why he got into that and i guess in 16 oh it's about trump you can see it's really not at this point i mean it's about all of those people it's the people who've been left behind across our country it's the people who you know have been shamed because as we were sort of discussing before the show, don't believe that, you know, trans women are also women. And by the way, may not even care,

but just don't want to hear about it endlessly. And don't want to have to bend the knee to every... And don't want them taking over our girls' locker rooms. Yeah, and don't have to bend the knee to, like, ever-changing pronouns and don't want them competing against their daughters for scholarships, you know, in sports. Common sense.

Yeah. It's about common sense. So this, as you referenced, has been quite a week for your family. It's amazing. It hasn't even been a week since the assassination. It feels like a long time. Can we talk about the lunatics who are saying it didn't happen? It was staged. he has no wound on

his ear he shouldn't be wearing that bandage they all of which i've heard on msnbc these are real like these are they're not just lunatics on like you know daily coast yeah some twitter handle you know lunatic one two three four five underscore hashtag michael steel joy reed many people on cnn as well. Oh, we have Joy Reid. Let me play it and then I'll let you react. We still don't know for sure whether Donald Trump was hit by a bullet, whether he was hit by glass fragments, whether he was hit by shrapnel.

We don't have those details. We actually have no details from his physician. We knew almost nothing. Why? We know that three people were shot. One person, unfortunately, was killed at the rally. We don't know where they were sitting or standing relative to him. We don't know why, for nine full seconds,

Donald Trump was allowed to stand back up and pose for a photo. What is the actual injury to Donald Trump's ear that's under that bandage? Shouldn't we know that by now? It's weird. And there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of curiosity about it. Why isn't the New York Times aggressively pursuing his medical records? It's just weird. This is a sick person.

Truly. I'm a little upset that she got rid of the Trump wig that she's been wearing for the last couple of months. I always felt like he's really in your head. You even adapted his hairstyle. These people are morons, but they're also just sick. I saw a couple of these takes. Well, he wasn't shot enough. I'm like, wait, how much more do you want

him to get shot in the face, other than seems pretty obvious, a lot more. Yeah. They want him shot a lot more. And so, you know, and I have heard from people who have seen it. It was pretty messed up. And by the way... We all saw it. I saw it. You see the picture, there's blood all over his face.

And there's a close-up on his ear. Yeah. I mean, he was hit. So the bullet intended for him, even if it did hit Glass, and the glass shatter didn't hit him in the face. That doesn't count. It was a bullet intended for him. It doesn't count.

You still get a purple heart if you get hit with shrapnel, right? But the New York Times has pictures of the teleprompters. They're 100% intact. Yeah, they're fine. It wasn't. I mean, I don't know what it was. It looked to me like it was a bullet. What it was is divine intervention.

Yes. When I see that. And, you know, for me, watching that and watching the takes. And, I mean, the dumbest take I've seen in the last, just this morning sort of scrolling was, if Joe Biden recovers from COVID, that's the same. That's her too. That's the same as, you know, Trump getting up and recovering from a, I want to drop the F-bomb. Yes, you can.

An F in gunshot. It's not the same. Can I show you? I'm going to show the show. That's that Joy Reid moron again doing this, but with Jen Psaki. Watch. Here's the question that I have on that. These two men are both elderly. Donald Trump is an elderly man who, for whatever

reason, was given nine seconds to take a iconic photo op during an active shooter situation. There she goes again. Weird situation. We'll figure that out one day. But his survival of that and bouncing right back and going right to his convention is being conveyed in the media world as a sign of strength. This current president of the United States is 81 years old and has COVID. Should he be fine in a couple of days? Doesn't that convey exactly the same thing? That he's strong enough, older than Trump, to have gotten something that used to really be fatal to people his age.

So if he does fine out of it and comes back and is able to do rallies, isn't that exactly the same? It should. I mean, it's not exactly the same. It's not the same incident, but it's an elderly man coming through out of an illness. It should. It should. The desperation, you know, the false equivalence that they're trying to do.

I mean, it's literally, I don't know what else to say. It's like, I feel like she's wishing Joe Biden got shot and then had your dad's moment. But like, you know, talk about them. Just how about Trump can walk? Trump is capable of going up

a flight of stairs, completing a sentence. It's not the same, but the desperation is amazing. It's just sad that this is happening. I mean, I dealt with this on the floor on Monday. My brother and I, Florida delegates, I think Laura was as well, and we got to cast the vote, the deciding vote, the 125 delegates of Florida.

We got to cast those votes to throw my father over the threshold to make him officially the Republican nominee. And so we're about to do this sort of big deal thing for a family, for just history and legacy, political tradition, whatever it is. And like 30 seconds before we're doing this, I'm getting assaulted by this MSNBC reporter that is like, so is Trump going to bring back the hate and the vitriol? I go, well, guys, that was you. Like, you said Trump created chaos, but Russia, Russia, Russia was a concoction of the Hillary campaign, and you guys ran with it.

We have it. You still run with it. You guys lied about these things. You lied about Russia. You vilified Americans. You called everyone a Nazi for the years. Like, you know, Trump has to respond. You can't just back into a corner and give up.

I know you'd like him to do that. And I was just like, and then he goes, well, you put kids in cages. And I was like, you mean the Obama cages? And he lost his mind. It's either he was too stupid to know that that was actually factually correct, that this was an Obama program. And by the way, I guarantee you it's 100 times worse now under Joe Biden, given the border crisis.

Or he was just incapable of intellectual honesty, and his job as a regime propagandist wouldn't allow that. It's probably both. I mean, this guy was clearly a moron. I was like, you're a clown. When I was at NBC, he came on my show during the Kavanaugh hearings and actually said, that man's been credibly accused by at least four or five women of sexual assault. And I said, that's absolutely untrue.

And we got into Avenatti and his lunatic clients and the gang rape absurd. How'd that work out? Yeah, exactly. I was no longer there. But that's who he is. I mean, this left, you handled that. It was like an example in how to handle leftist media. You put him right in his place and it was, you know, everybody was standing up and cheering you because we're sick of the media doing this. I think it was the most viral clip actually of the day. Someone told me it hit like 70 million views. Let's just show it because now the audience wants to see it.

Let's watch it. What is that change going to look like, Don? Practically, your father as president, I think you would even say, was a divisive figure. What's it going to look like in the second term? I don't think he was a divisive figure at all. I think the media created divisiveness around him. They lied about Russia, Russia collusion. They said he was a traitor. They went after him in every

which way is possible. If the media actually starts being an honest broker, talking about the things that he did, the prosperity he brought, the peace deals that he signed around the world, rather than the disaster that we're living right now, I think you'd do everyone in the country a big favor. I know immigration is important to him. I covered the family separation crisis closely. Will we continue to see policies like separating 5,000 children deliberately from their parents? You mean the Obama administration? You know they didn't do that, sir. Sure.

Will there be a second family separation policy? It's MSDNC, so I expect nothing less from you clowns. Even today, even 48 hours later, you couldn't wait. You couldn't wait with your lies and with your nonsense. So just get out of here. That was so well done. He's not an honest broker. Not even a little bit.

You know, again, the 48-hour comment, that was Monday, right? So my father had been shot in the face 48 hours before. Thanks for the well wishes. That was the most restraint I'd ever shown. Another guy in another situation sort of talks to me like that in that kind of situation. You know, he's a divisive figure. Yeah. And he's trying to be. But that's the point.

Like, they couldn't even wait to try to change the narrative. You know, they'll pretend this week that they hadn't been calling everyone in that convention center a Nazi for the last eight years. Did you see the Lincoln Project? After the assassination attempt has a new ad calling him Hitler. Of course, but it's all they have. They have to create that hate and vitriol, and it's the end of democracy. Remember, the people who are talking

about the end of democracy, the people who've called us fascists, they're trying to jail their political opponents. They're now trying to kill him. They've tried impeaching him. They've tried bankrupting him. They've tried taking away his businesses They've changed statute of limitations

In laws to be able to go after Things that were nonsense They're the ones that are actually Being fascist Not even acting like it How's he doing? Honestly he's doing great Saturday obviously was a rough and sort of somber day

For me My daughter, the girl who spoke last night, because I have five kids, so it's a lot of them. So many. She was, uncharacteristically on Saturday, she did the teenage thing of, that doesn't happen often as you're starting to probably figure out. It's like, hey, Dad, can we go out, like, go fishing or do something that I do? And I was like, yeah, sure, 100%.

So I took her and a couple of her friends out on the boat. I get a call, your dad's been shot. And I was like, yeah, sure, 100%. So I took her and a couple of her friends out on the boat. I get a call. Your dad's been shot. And I was like, and? But we don't know anything. I'm like, that's like, it took 90 minutes for me to figure out that he was even alive. I didn't know. And obviously rushed back home.

We got all my kids together trying to explain to, you know, I have younger kids too. Because, you know, 10 to 17, but I have five. So, you know, explaining to a 10-year-old that their grandpa got shot in the face. And then you start seeing the videos and it's like, well, is he okay? Is he not? And finally got through after an hour and a half. And, you know, but by then I'd seen the video of him getting up and standing defiant. I just said, you know what?

You are the biggest badass I know. How did you feel when you saw that tape for the first time? Honestly, I was so proud. Because these days, everyone's a tough guy on the internet. Everyone behind a keyboard from miles away, they'll talk smack to everybody. Until you've actually sort of been tested, I spoke about it a little bit, I guess, in my speech last time.

Until you've actually been tested, everyone thinks they're going to come out that way, but 99% of them don't. Every man, I said this again my speech list. And until you've actually been tested, everyone thinks they're going to come out that way, but 99% of them don't. Every man, I said this, every man pictures himself having a moment like that and doing what your dad did. Every man thinks they're Trump in that situation, but 99 out of 100 probably aren't.

Right, because they're normal humans. Yeah, because it's a natural defense mechanism. It was interesting. I was walking the floor on Monday, and two people came up to me. They were not there together, but they were both at the Butler rally, and they just happened to kind of run into it. I was at Butler, and the other guy was like, oh, I was at Butler too. And the one guy said, you know, your father saved a lot of lives that night.

I go, what are you talking about? He saved a lot of lives. He goes, when he got back up, because it was like 15, 20 seconds, he goes, all hell was breaking. There was almost pandemonium. People were going to fall off the bleachers. They were pandemonium.

And one guy was like, yeah, I was on the press riser. And the other guy was on one of the refters. He goes, it was about to be like a stampede and people were going to get hurt. When he stood back up and put his fist in the air and started saying, fight, fight, fight, everyone stopped. They took in the moment, and it was like, calm.

I have to tell you. It was incredible. I would have never even thought about that, but the guy literally came up to me and was like, it wasn't just cool because it was defiant and badass. It actually served a purpose in that moment for the people there that didn't get trampled. For me, it was so illuminating

because I think so much of what your dad has done over the years falls into that same fight mentality. And it reframes it all. You know, like the guy who will pick a fight or send a tweet, whatever the people might like, that's part of the package. He's a fighter. He's not a flighter. the people might like. That's part of the package. He's a fighter. He's not a flighter.

Yeah, exactly. And that's just who he is. And it was like right there. For me, it was like, oh, I get it all in a way I never, and I was getting to get it, but that just brought it home. That's the nature of who he is. It was a superhero moment for him. Yeah, so that was a test, but you could,

I think other people recognized that they felt it even throughout his presence. There's a reason our enemies didn't invade our neighbors because like, I don't know, that guy's built different.

You know, how's he going to respond? Not going to end well for us. That's a guy he's not to be trifled with. You know, so I think he's always sort of probably exuded that,

but again, you never know until you're actually put into that situation. He may have surprised him himself. Yeah. You know, I was like, just, I thought the mugshot was an iconic photo. Yes, and then? The mugshot is now the equivalent of, like, my daughter drawing a picture of her grandpa in crayon.

You know what I mean? Like, it went from being an iconic photo. But did you ask him, like, was he worried? Because when I was watching, I was like, there could be a second shooter. You know, like, he wasn't thinking about that. It's just not his nature, right? So he just, he reengaged as quickly as he could. And that's what he did.

And like I said, my first comment sort of, that was just badass. I could not have been more proud, you know, as an American, as a son, you know, in that moment. But it was so heavy. It was just 90 minutes of waiting. I'm there with my kids and my ex-wife and Kim and my brother was on speaker. So we're going and it's just so...

Then I was like, so how's the hair? Untouched. I just needed a break. I was just like, okay. That's about good when you've got to put your arms around him. Don, the hair is fine. There's blood in it, but it's fine. It'll be okay. So, so it was like, okay, things are back to normal. So speaking of what's going on on the other side, cause the juxtaposition of course, of your dad's behavior this week versus what we've seen from president Biden over the past three is stark. Um, you heard

the intro, the reports and axios. It's not a question of if anymore, but when do you believe that? And what do you make of it? Listen, the Democrats just aren't, they're not going to give up. I mean, the fact that they lied to the American people that, you know, this guy was competent for four years is sort of hard to believe. Story. I think there needs to be accountability. I mean, I wrote a book in 2020 because, you know, we were locked down in COVID.

I had nothing to do. I literally wrote a book called Liberal Privilege. My second chapter was unfit to serve. I had interviewed Ronnie Jackson, who was the White House doctor, a bunch of other doctors, you know, about the two brain aneurysms. Like there's like a zero statistical percent probability that that doesn't affect you a lot, especially as you get older. And I was like, I'm looking at the guy, I'm like, there's no way. And then you see the rapid decline and everyone's been telling us he's fine. Kamala Harris, No, he's the great Joe Scarborough. Brilliant. Joe Scarborough. This is the finest, finest, the smartest, sharpest Joe Biden we've ever seen. That was three weeks ago. Like, yes, these people are all in on it.

It's it's it's the great I said in my speech. I mean, literally, it's the greatest bait and switch ever pulled on the American people. And, you know, honestly, as a party, I think the Democrats need to pay some consequences for lying that badly. I think the media, who have been their lapdogs and their lackeys for so long, you know, I don't think you can get away with that for that long. Do you, I mean, most Republicans think it's better for Trump to face Biden because he's so weakened, but doesn't look like that's going to remain the case. Do you feel differently about Harris versus Gretchen Whitmer versus Gavin Newsom? Listen, I think, you know, the party of identity politics, I think they have a hard time passing over the first African-American checkbox, checkbox, you know, all the accolades that they give her that don't actually mean anything. But they're going to bypass her for an old white guy? I don't know. I think they have a hard time doing it.

I think they'd like to do that because I think, you know, the Kamala Harris word salads, you get her going, and it's like she makes Hillary Clinton seem likable at times. You know, there's some making a big pitch for Hillary. How would you like it? Oh, she may have given Joe COVID because she's trying to get him out of the way to get herself back in it. So, yeah, it wouldn't surprise me.

But that's the other point, that they're just going to choose someone else. Bypass the Democratic. Again, it's a soundbite for them. It doesn't actually mean anything, right? They have a democratic process and they don't give anyone any options. They throw RFK off the ticket. So you like his chances against all these people. But what about, are you worried that the Republican Party might be getting overconfident?

Oh, I say nothing has changed since Saturday. We don't, people are like, oh, it's over now. I go, nothing is over. There's no length they won't go to, to win, to steal. Just assume nothing has changed. Pedal to the metal. When you have that trillion-dollar mainstream media complex that's functioning as their marketing department,

when you have big tech doing the exact same thing, those are huge. The fact that elections are even close is almost remarkable when you think about what we are actually up against. And so I say nothing has changed. I'm not even remotely overconfident. is almost remarkable when you think about what we are actually up against. And so I say nothing has changed. I'm not even remotely overconfident. I'm saying it's 50-50 at best no matter what,

and we have to stay engaged and fully focused. I want to tell you this just in. We talked at the top about Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi all going to Joe Biden to tell him it's not going to happen. You're going to lose. This just in. Former President Barack Obama told his allies in recent days he believes President Biden needs to reconsider his candidacy per The Washington Post, citing multiple people briefed on his thinking.

He reportedly has only spoken with Biden once since his debate performance, but has expressed serious concern to his allies about the viability of Biden's candidacy. It's done. Don't you think it's done? I think it probably has to be. It's been done for a while. But it's like the real thing we're running to be. It's been done for a while. But it's like, the real thing we're running against is not even Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. It's the failed Democrat policies. The border's closed, sure, but it's not. The murders, the fentanyl. And we've been hearing that to this week. The fentanyl crisis. I mean, think about it. Fentanyl, 100,000 deaths a year.

Megan, that's two Vietnams a year, right? If you take the last decade, it's over half a million people. It's lunacy that we can't shut down our border. And they say, oh, it's secure, great. Venezuela crime stats are almost to zero because they're like, hey. They're here. They're just sending them over. What could go wrong? I know you've got to go, and I want to be respectful of your time,

but I have to ask you about the Secret Service situation. The director, Kim Cheadle, was here last night getting chased down by some senators wanting answers. I know you've been very vocal on your show on Rumble, which is great, talking about what you believe. So what do you believe? There are a lot of Republicans who are now starting to wonder whether there was—Secret Service was up to no good. Because of who I am, I can't be the guy to sort of lead off with a conspiracy, but it's sort of like Wuhan lab leak theory. Like, what else is there? Like, I've had a Secret Service detail.

Gross incompetence? Well, no, because I know a lot of the guys involved. Maybe not there, but I've shot with the counter-snipers. I came from a long-range competitive shooting background. Like, I know what these guys do. I shot with them. I've had guys that were part of those teams that literally have stayed at my house on the weekends on their

free time because I've got a really good long-range setup and everything like that to train. So a guy doesn't get on a roof for minutes with a rifle inside 150 yards. For those who don't know, shooting, like, a 150-yard shot is like, let's call it like a six-inch putt. Like, you don't miss that. It doesn't happen. So, actually, I got sort of due. I was about to go live on my show, and then I did because Marsha Blackburn was walking by. She's like, oh, my God, Don, I just got off this call with the senator.

We're questioning. It was 5.51 on Saturday night. 5.51, they got news that there's a guy with a range finder and a suspicious bag and, I guess, a ladder. You know, kind of stands out in a crowd. Yeah. 5.51. At 5.53, they saw that person of stands out in a crowd. Yeah. 551. At 553, they saw that person on the roof

with a rifle. They let my father get on the stage at 6pm. So they knew for nine minutes, they knew that he was on a rooftop for seven minutes, and they let him get on the stage. I thought, like, okay, he was in the middle of the speech, the guy snuck up during the speech,

maybe people were paying attention to what he was saying, and that's how you had a lapse. Shouldn't be. But, no, no, no. They knew before, and they let him get on anyway. Has this been explained to you as a family member of the victim? One of them? I mean, I just heard it last night on Marsha. I was like, can we talk about this on the show?

Because there's great videos of— Not to the Secret Service. Nobody said to you as the son, the family. No, and again, listen, Sean Curran, who's like my father's detail leader, the guy with the sunglasses, that guy's a badass. That guy's a patriot. I've never questioned his, you know. But that could happen.

Again, I've had a Secret Service detail, and I've been exposed to my father's. Ex-presidents, they all have that same detail. No way that happens there. But he's also been the presumptive nominee since, like, what, January? That's a whole new level up. That cannot happen. It just doesn't. I know how thorough

they are. I know what they did with me, which is a much smaller detail. That does not happen. A guy can be on the roof. People are saying, no, but he's right there. Look, there's a guy with a rifle on a roof for 20 minutes. Who needs to investigate it?

Who would you be satisfied with? Some sort of independent body. They were like, well, the FBI. Oh, you mean the FBI that calls concerned mothers at PTA meetings domestic terrorists and investigates you if you have a Bible? Tried to undermine your dad's presidency? Yeah, I'm sure they're going to do a great job investigating. It's like OJ looking for the criminal, working around in a circle.

Give me a break. That doesn't work. And that's the problem. If they gave me the right answer, I'd still be suspicious. If they told me the sky was blue here, I'd be like, I don't know. And that's the problem. I think I'm not the only American that has lost faith in all of these institutions. No, especially when we're getting slow especially when we don't deserve my trust.

They deserve my skepticism because they've done nothing to earn my trust. They haven't been honest brokers in anything. You know, I always sort of do the me versus Hunter Biden comparisons. And like, you know, I understand the media thinks I'm the worst human being in the world. It's like, I don't know. Number one, I'm probably not quite. I understand I'm not the upstanding citizen that he is. But like, you know, I don't know uh number one you know i'm probably not quite you know i understand i'm not the upstanding citizen that he is but like you know i don't know you tried me for

treason you wanted me a crime punishable by death because of russia like that was all a lie but the guy that's actually taking money from china taking money from ukraine taking money from russia the laptop you know no that was my laptop 51 intelligence officers are not coming on board to sign off on it even if they you know even if, even if it was real, it's probably real. All of this is to point out the fallacy of these institutions being bored and trustworthy. I want to let you go because I know you've got a hard eye. But listen, it's great to see you. God bless your family.

I really appreciate it. Really happy your dad's OK. Thank you. Yeah. Wow. Donald Trump Jr. Thanks to him for being here. Don't go away.

We've got Byron Donalds up next. Do you think America's heading in the right direction? Unfortunately, the next generation does not understand the values that have made America the greatest nation on earth. But PragerU, love PragerU, is helping to counter that. PragerU is a conservative nonprofit that promotes American values through educational videos that are highly entertaining that reach millions of young people every single day. Right now, PragerU has an amazing opportunity. If you donate any amount, even just $1, they will send you PragerU American flag socks made in the USA as a thank you gift. Make sure to go to PragerU.com

slash socks to make your donation. That's fun. And while you're there, nose around in some videos and see why I love it so much. You can support a great organization and express your love of American values and style while doing it. Your donation will help PragerU reach more people with their videos, which is needed now more than ever. Make a 100% tax deductible donation. If you want to make it more than a dollar, I'm sure they'd love it at PragerU.com slash socks and get your socks today. Joining me now, Byron Donalds, a Republican congressman from the great state of Florida and an early Trump endorser and fan. Congressman, welcome back to the show. It's good to be with you live. Yeah, so fun to see you in to the show. It's good to be with you live.

Yeah, so fun to see you in person. Yeah, it's good to be with you. What a week. This has been insane, insanely amazing. I mean, not to say insane. The energy in that arena from opening night on Monday was fantastic. Monday was so great. We were just like, how does this get better?

And it has every single night. And I think the best thing overall is our party's unified. I think like I've never seen, quite frankly, a lot of Republicans really haven't seen. I think I'm comparing our level of unity to post 9-11. Yeah. That's kind of where it is. That's how it feels. Yeah. I want to get into some of what we've seen at the convention, especially those Gold Star families last night. But before we go there, let me pick it up with you where I left off with Don Jr. and the investigation into what happened on Saturday at this rally with President Trump.

There was a briefing on Capitol Hill and the reveals from the Secret Service who sat with senators and others were as follows. OK, this is for Fox and NBC and New York Times altogether. That Secret Service was aware of a threat 10 minutes before Trump walked on the stage. That's what Don Jr. said as well. 10 minutes before he walked on the stage. Insane that they let him walk on the stage. That's just, right? I mean, I'm not a security expert, but even I as a layperson can see.

You keep him in the armored vehicle. U.S. Secret Service spotted the shooter before Trump took the stage. 20 minutes elapsed between the time he was first spotted and when he first fired. The FBI has interviewed 200 people. They found his cell phone. They unlocked the cell phone. They reviewed over 14,000 images. FBI Director Wray says no known foreign nexus, but no established motive as of now.

The shooter used encrypted comms and had little to no social media presence, which is weird for a 20-year-old, but we'll see. And then New York Times as well saying he was seen acting strangely by cops, by a police sniper 20 to 25 minutes before the shooting. You tell me how it is that they did not get Trump off of that stage and did not take him out sooner than they did. This is all very concerning. It's the initial revelations of this. The call yesterday in D.C. when we get these briefings from the administration,

typically they give us nothing in these briefings. A lot of the stuff they would say is even classified as something that's already moving around the internet and moving around media. The initial briefing just is not good enough. There's many more details that we need. In my view, you got to have a person by person accountability list of who, what person on the ground notified their superior, what was that response? If they moved it up the chain of command, what was that response? What was the decision-making process or, quite frankly, the lack of decision-making process that put Donald Trump or made it clear for him to be on the rally stage and for this shooter to just roam free or roam loose on the grounds. There is a chain of command here.

We need to get to the bottom of that. And look, it's a devastating thing. And it's about Donald Trump, but it's not. Barack Obama is a former president. Bill Clinton, former president. George W. Bush, former president. They are still around. They are living.

They've served this country. We may agree or disagree with their decisions when they were president, but we all want them to be protected. And so this is a major debacle in the hands of the Secret Service. We need to get answers immediately. I have to say, if I were Don Jr., if I were Kai Trump, his daughter who spoke last night, I just the level of anxiety would be up. Right. Like we can't have random shooters targeting politicians, their families. It's just a new world if that's where we're going. You know, I've heard a lot of people who were around back in 1968 say

that it was a very dark time. Of course, we had RFK, we had JFK, we had MLK murdered within the span of a few years. Nobody wants to see a return to that. But without accountability and, like, true sunlight being the disinfectant, people are going to worry. Kim Cheadle was here at the RNC last night, director of the Secret Service. An extraordinary moment. You had a bunch of U.S. Senators. Don Jr.

mentioned interviewing Marsha Blackburn. John Barrasso of Wyoming as well. Chasing her down. Demanding more answers. They were only allowed to ask four questions of her yesterday. We've got a little bit of the table. We'll watch it, and then I'd love to know what your thoughts are on her. John and I will start answering our questions right now about the bloodbath of President Trump and allowing him to go on stage.

Allowing him to go on stage. Can you give us an explanation? Why would anyone allow the president to go on stage when you know you've got a potential threat and you've got snipers that are trying to stop him? I don't think that they've got the right to do that. Yes, they will. No, we will. All right, you try to get him. Thank you very much.

No, no, no, we're going with you. Stonewall. You are a nation attempt. You owe the, no, we're going with you. Stonewall! You owe the people answers. They're following her. You owe President Trump answers. He's running, but you cannot fight. Picking up the pace. The president should have just been a detection, a friend of his.

And then the Secret Service ferrets her away like she's the president so that these U.S. senators cannot question her. So let me let me expound on a larger level than we're going to get back to Kim Cheeto. We have a real issue in the agencies of our government. You have the men and women that do the work every single day in the Secret Service. You have President Trump's core detail. I've been with him for years. Those guys, they love him. They literally will throw their bodies

into harm's way to protect him. And throughout our government, a lot of our agencies, you have good, decent people who want to do the right thing. They want to do the job that they were hired to do and serve the people of this country.

And then you see footage like that where you have the political brass of these agencies who are more concerned with covering up. They're more concerned with protecting themselves. And they do not want to be forthcoming with the critical information necessary in such a monumental situation like what happened Saturday in Pennsylvania. In my view, the response from Secret Service from the political brass should have been immediate details to members of Congress with the appropriate security clearances, legislative leadership in both chambers, and of course, members of the Intelligence Committee to go through the timeline of chain of command decision making from the day that rally started up until the time of the shooting on that stage. Then that's where you can have true accountability.

How are they getting away with not doing that? Because the Joe Biden administration, this is how they handle every crisis situation. They ignore Congress. They slow walk. There is no accountability. Donald Trump said it in the debate back in Atlanta. How come nobody's been fired? You've had debacle after debacle after debacle, but everybody keeps their job? You know that is not the truth.

And that's not accurate. It is wrong because what they're doing is covering up for their own incompetence as opposed to being truly held accountable. She's lying. The thing about the sloped roof, does anybody believe we didn't put Secret Service on the roof where the shooter wound up because it has a slope? Many of my colleagues who have served downrange, they've been in the battlefield. They've all said very quietly, Corey Mills out of Florida has been very open about this.

Anybody trying to secure a location, rooftops are some of the primary things you want to make sure you have control of. I'm not a military man. I've not done security work. But like you said earlier, this is common sense stuff. The sharpshooters who were there were on roofs that were more sloped than that one. Exactly. So it just doesn't, I mean, that's. It doesn't add up.

It doesn't make sense. There is a failure here. And instead of running. Listen, Marsha Blackburn, God bless her. She is tough. She's one tough customer. But Marsha's all a five foot two. What are you doing running from her? You can't stand there and have a conversation with a United States senator who has serious concerns about the security apparatus around President Donald Trump, that's obscene to me. And look, I don't know what's going on with Joe Biden, and we'll probably get to that, but it's incumbent upon the White House to make sure that they take control of this investigation and not just slink into the background like they want to do too often, because these are serious answers that are not political. This is about the very fabric of our republic moving forward. Because presidents have to be protected.

Their families have to be protected. And if they're not, it's not just, with all due respect, not just about their lives. It's about our country. That's exactly right. We'd be in a totally different place right now if President Trump's life had been taken on national television. Yes. So it's been totally dissatisfactory. And every day we learned that they had this guy in their sights for far longer than we knew without adequate answers. And Kim Cheadle literally now on the run, treating herself like she's a president behind the protection of Secret Service to get away from U.S. senators who represent us.

You know, you guys all represent us. That's right. That's who's trying to get answers. It's very frustrating. Let's talk about President Biden, because the news today is he's gone. I mean, the Axios reporting, according to citing top Dems, it's no longer a question of if, but when. Pelosi, Schumer, Jeffries and the news just breaking that even Obama is signaling now he's got to go. Do you think he will? Yes, I do. And I was one of the last holdouts on the Joe Biden's not going to be on the ticket.

And it's not about the fact that his job was terrible. It's about the fact that he let the cat out of the bag, that he mentally is not capable of four more years, let alone four more months. That's just the fact of the matter. And because his his lack of capabilities was exposed on the world stage. Now the Democrats are running for cover. They knew this was going on. But because Joe Biden was a vessel for their agenda, it was okay. As long as you didn't have too much access to Joe Biden, everything is okay.

He's the leader. He's in charge. Joe knows the right thing. We've all heard the talking points. Jill Biden, and oh, good gosh, Jill Biden is looks detestable in this entire situation. Joe, you did great. You answered all the questions. But this is not a spelling bee. This is not a school play. You're talking about the presidency. He is supposed to be in charge of the agencies like we just talked about with one of them in charge of directing our military and operations around the globe. And this man can't go toe-to-toe

with his opponent. They are embarrassed not for Joe Biden. They're embarrassed for themselves. And this is why they're getting rid of him so fast. Adam Schiff, very prominent congressman running for Senate out in California, very close with Nancy Pelosi, one of the first to come out on the record and say he needs to go in this. You know he was not going to do that without Nancy's blessing. So this is what I'm going to say. It was literally, what, two months ago? He was shaming Robert Herr, the special counsel who looked into Joe Biden and classified documents and had one line in his report saying, we can't really bring a case because he's a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.

Cross-examined. It was Adam Schiff. Cross-examined. It was Adam Schiff. Cross-examined Robert Herr. Like he had done something absolutely disgusting and unnecessary, including that line. Now he's out with his own opinion piece. He's got to go. He's not firm. He can't do the job.

He can't win. The hypocrisy. As if, I guess, everything was revealed to him in that debate. Well, listen. Adam Schiff, he has a doctorate in hypocrisy. The man will shift his statements anytime in order to protect himself and to protect the political agenda. And it's important for the American people to understand. I want to restate this case.

It's about their agenda. Joe Biden was just the vessel for it. He got, according to them, a lot of things done. They've been detrimental to the country. If Joe Biden can stand on a debate stage for 90 minutes, if he could do a press conference for one hour without a note card of who to call on and just take questions in round robin, they will be saying he's the best thing since sliced bread. He's the best progressive president we've ever had, better than FDR, better than LBJ. Run, Joe, run. Go, Joe, go. But because he can't do the actual front-facing job that a president has to do, he's got to go. And the

reason why they're moving him out so fast is because now he's damaging Senate races, and he's damaging House races, and it's now every man for themselves over there. But this is why you should have had a primary process. They had an opportunity. Dean Phillips ran. RFKJ tried to run. They got him out of there. It's a real debacle, not just for their brass, but also for their voters, because their voters are the ones who are not getting their votes. So listen to this absurdity. There's actually a threat now. He's not going to get a presidential library if he doesn't get out. He doesn't deserve one. Here's the quote in Axios from some top Democrat unnamed. His choice is to be one of history's heroes or to be sure of the fact that there will never be a Biden presidential library.

I pray he does the right thing. He's headed that way. And then they go on to the not if anymore, but when. But this is really the threat that we're going to take away your library and all your friends or we'll make you a hero. So, you know what? What that op-ed demonstrates is these are the, I don't want to say the threats, but these are the carrots for him to get out. Joe, just leave and we'll make sure you have a great library. Joe, just leave and we'll make sure you're canonized as a great American president. Legacy. Your legacy will be intact. I'm not going to speak for them. We'll take care of Hunter. library. Joe, just leave and we'll make sure you're canonized as a great American president.

Your legacy will be intact. I'm not going to speak for them. We'll take care of Hunter. Don't worry about it. But if you stay, we're taking it all away. And it's indicative of what's happened in politics in our country for far too long. Joe Biden is a creature of the old way of politics. Somebody who came along, stood behind the party no matter what, shifted his opinions. Don't forget what Kamala Harris said about him back when they were debating in the primary back in 2019, 2020, how she talked about how he was as a United States senator, things he supported when he came into the United States Senate. He has shifted his opinions over 50 years for political power. And so he could always have a seat at the table. So he would have an opportunity to at some point be president. And now they're going to take the legacy pieces away from him if he stays.

Can I pick up on what you said about Adam Schiff being very close to Nancy Pelosi? So you believe he would not have written that piece without her blessing? I don't think anybody at the top of the food chain over there in the California delegation moves a muscle without Nancy Pelosi. I came in her last term as Speaker of the House. From what I've seen from the Republican side of the aisle, Nancy ran that place with an iron fist. Nobody moves a muscle unless Nancy Pelosi okayed it. She seems to be the number one most powerful Democrat in the country right now, and I include Joe Biden in that, given his current state. It's her and it's Barack Obama.

And he's not saying anything. But behind the scenes, according to this reporting from The Washington Post, is starting to push. So I think they're right. We're just now on like the tick tock watch. All right. Byron Donalds stays with us. And there's a lot more to get to. If you didn't see what happened with the Gold Star families last night, you must.

We've got it for you and we'll show you. Don't go anywhere. Some Americans enjoy using their credit cards because it can be a hassle-free and secure way to pay. But our sponsor, the American Payments Coalition, says that some D.C. politicians want to change that with the Durbin Marshall credit card bill. They say the bill lets corporate megastores pick how your credit card is processed, allowing them to use untested payment networks that jeopardize your data security and rewards. They say corporate megastores will make more money and you will end up paying the price. Find out more info at guardyourcard.com and consider telling Congress to guard your card while you're there as well. A bullet couldn't stop Trump. A virus

just stopped Biden. You've got the nominees of this party getting their butts kissed. Biden's getting his butt kicked by his own party. The Democrats are coming apart. The Republicans are coming together. That's Van Jones. Welcome back to The Megyn Kelly Show. My guest is Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida, and that was the truth. Couldn't say it any better myself. That's exactly what's happening. The real reason that, of course, they want Joe Biden gone is, as you said, self-preservation. And the polls and the hits of the polls just keep on coming.

Today, there's just an average of polls. Hold on a second. This is just Virginia. Real clear politics average of polls in Virginia. Virginia, which is blue now. Used to be red, then it turned purple. Now it's blue. Trump is up 43.8%, 43.4.

I haven't seen that since I, like before I became a reporter. Right. And then there's a new Emerson poll out. Hold on a second. My team is going to send it to me because I have a morass of polls that we've been sending each other. But it's a bloodbath. And that's what's really behind the scenes here. So you tell me whether switching out Biden actually helps them down ballot in these critical swing states. I think they think so.

The question is, they know Joe Biden, there's no shot. Maybe Kamala Harris gives them a 10% shot. Some shot. So you got to look at it that way. Here it is. Hold on. Let me read it. Arizona, Trump is up seven. This is the Emerson poll that just hit. Georgia, Trump's up six. Michigan, part of the blue wall. Trump up three. This is over Biden. Nevada, Trump up five. I still can't get over Nevada. That is not a red

state anymore. That too. North Carolina, Trump up seven. That's still considered a swing state. He's up seven. Pennsylvania up five. Five. That's big. Wisconsin up five. That's huge. Five. Those are like the blue wall is what? Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

And Trump is up three to five in all of them. Not to mention North Carolina. They're talking about New Hampshire. Virginia trumps up in the real clear politics of all average of all polls. So this is spelling bloodbath. I think New Hampshire is in play. I really do. But I think take a look back, take a step back. All those polls. He's winning. Yes. And it's a couple of things. The Democrat agenda has been a disaster. So before you even get to who your messenger is, you still don't have a message. The agenda has been a disaster.

Then the lawfare backfired because it had people who are independently minded look at Trump and say, well, now, wait a minute. I don't like the tweets. I don't like this. I don't like that. But you're not a criminal. Why? Why are they doing this? That just doesn't seem right. And the American people, if they're if anything, they have an innate ability to realize when something is fair and when something is right or when something is wrong and something is just disgusting and unpalatable. And they watch that with the lawfare as it continued to bubble up. Then you have Joe Biden's lack of capability. And that's how you get polling numbers like that. Do you think this is from the debate? This is pre post debate, I think, pre the assassination attempt that was what you have there is the debate and then the avalanche of the media now having to

reverse course completely and talk about Joe Biden's capability because they made the decision. I'm quite sure in Atlanta, that decision was made very quickly. He's got to go. What's the game? The key is what's the game plan to get them out? This is what life could be like if the media would just report the news truthfully. His mental competence issues are on the nose and have been for some time. If they'd been doing their job and reporting about it, they even they could have seen these numbers months ago, had a real primary, chosen a real candidate. I think President Trump would have said, fine, give me whoever you want. Like, I'll run against any of these people. But the news media tried to cover up his problems. And now that

they're doing their jobs. Yes, the debate we all saw, but then the coverage post debate, as you just point out, the numbers are falling precipitously. Yeah. And they have to do it now because now they're trying to preserve their own credibility. So you have Democrat members in the House and in the Senate trying to preserve themselves. And now the media is trying to preserve whatever element of credibility they have left. And I think the one thing that's been really cool, especially I would say in the maturity of the social media environment, I think like back in 2008, 2012, this was the infancy of social media.

The Democrats talked so much about how the Obama team used that and fueled that to push his campaign. We went through this period in early adolescence where social media, we didn't really know how to deal with it. You had massive amounts of suppression of information, so on and so forth. And now we're moving into this third wave of 24-hour media, social media, where now there are developed sources that are alternative or adjacent to the New York Times, CBS, NBC, etc. You have your show, obviously, Ruthless, Ben Shapiro,

The Daily Wire guys. I don't want to plug everybody else on your show. I love them all. I love all those guys. But now you have avenues for people to get other information or compare information. Do it in real time. Do it when you're waking up, scrolling through your phone,

because everybody in America does that now. You scroll through your phone for about 10, 15 minutes. Thank God for X, because you can scroll and get real info. What Elon did buying X is also a part of what you're seeing in those polls. Because now you have people who knew they didn't believe what they saw. Seeing information over here demonstrating that.

You had the main media still pushing their propaganda and their narratives, and now they're having to do a complete retraction of that. They don't control things anymore. They don't control it. They're starting to realize it. That's right. I want to talk about this news just coming in,

that Trump was reportedly briefed privately by Secret Service on what went wrong that day. That makes sense to me. I was asking Don Jr., you as a family member, you haven't been told, you would think they'd say to the family, here's what happened. But it appears that insofar as it's the man himself, he did receive a briefing.

And I have to say, the Trump family has been very gracious toward the Secret Service. And that's kind and respectful and very classy. But the rest of us are entitled to answers because they're not our full-time body duty, and we need to know whether he's safe. Let's move on to what happened last night because it was an extraordinary night at the convention. I thought J.D. Vance did a great job. I'm going to be honest.

I thought it was long. I thought that's just tight, right tight. And my husband had a great observation, which is, you know what? Speeches in general are better if they're not on prompter. They are. You know, Sarah Palin, when she came in as John McCain's nominee, I was there in St. Paul, Minnesota. And she came out. She electrified the room.

Electrified it. Her prompter had broken. She did it all extemporaneously. And she was actually very good at that. Prompt, long, like before we had prompters, 100 years ago. she did it all extemporaneously and she was actually very good at that eh prompt long like before we had prompters

a hundred years ago they went on forever but like people would just speak off the cuff and it was more compelling anyway I love JD

but I'm against the prompter do you want me to tell you a quick story about that yeah so I was getting into the hotel I think it was Monday afternoon

before I spoke on Monday and Tucker was in the lobby and by the way I'm Tucker's member of Congress so I represent on Monday. And Tucker was in the lobby. And by the way, I'm Tucker's member of Congress. So I represent Tucker. Does he call you all the time? Absolutely. Like nonstop.

Why are you voting on this? What are you doing? He does it all the time. Why is my garbage still full? No, no. That's the county commission. I don't touch that stuff. That's why I will never run for local government.

God bless the people that do. But that ain't me. I'm not going to do it. But we were talking about the prompter. And I said, yeah, I'm speaking tonight. I just got finished going through a session. I don't like the prompter. He goes, oh, I'm not using it. I'm like, what do you mean? Everybody's got to use it. He's like, I'm not using it. I'm not surprised. We talked about how he's like, I just don't like it. He was like, I am an orator. I don't like these things called written words. I don't want to deal

with that. It was a funny moment. Well, it's funny, too, because Tucker's a great writer, so he easily could write himself a great speech. But it does come across less authentic, and you just feel a little less connected as the listener. But anyway, I loved the World War II vet. Right? That guy was amazing. He was so sweet. Yeah.

Who got up there and said, if Donald Trump... Oh, we have it. Okay, good. Let's watch it. I got to hear it again. You know, when I was fighting in Europe, and I came back home, I kissed the ground.

Thank God that I'm back home in my country. And President Trump, back in commander-in-chief, I would go back to re-enlist today. Ah, God bless, right? That's amazing. That was a Wisconsin hometown guy, 98 years old. And it's, you know, we were there. My son was with us and he's only 10.

And I was so glad he got to hear him. In the not-too-distant future, there will be no more World War II veterans alive and available to tell their stories. It's an honor. And credit to the Trump campaign for highlighting him. They've created an incredible atmosphere at this convention. I'm glad that a bunch of us electeds don't have 15-minute speeches and 20-minute speeches. Because first of all, if you can't make your point in five minutes, you don't have a point. J.D. gets his time because he's the vice presidential nominee,

and he deserves that time. And it's his opportunity to obviously introduce himself to the nation and to the world. And that's very, very important. But to hear the stories from Americans who live in every city of this country have dealt with, obviously, tragedy and crisis because of policies from the Biden-Harris administration. To hear directly from them as opposed to hearing about their stories through us is so powerful, so impactful. I've run into a couple of the speakers out here in the convention area, and they go, oh my gosh, can I take a picture? And I'm like, no, can I take a picture?

Because it was so moving, so awesome to see it. Those speeches are going to be the ones, I believe, and I'm not going to talk for the Trump campaign, but I believe those are the stories. Those are the speeches that you're going to see nonstop through this campaign in social media time and time again because they're compelling and it's real. They're real. And that's what's going to help move voters, I think, in politics today. Real authenticity, not slick haircuts and great lines at a podium. The Gold Star families last night were such a moment. They got up there, the surviving parents of those who were lost in Afghanistan

in our disastrous withdrawal at Abbey Gate, who spoke of how President Biden forgot their children's sacrifice when he said at that debate that he'd ever lost a soldier on his watch in his time as president and more. Take a listen. Donald Trump spent six hours in Bedminster with us. And for the first time since Nicole's death, I felt I wasn't alone in my grief. Thank you. Joe Biden said the withdrawal from Afghanistan was an extraordinary success.

An extraordinary success. Look at our faces. Look at our pain. And our heartbreak. And look at our faces. Look at our pain and our heartbreak. And look at our rage. That was not an extraordinary success. Joe Biden may have forgotten that our children died, but we have not forgotten. They have not been transparent about their failures and their so-called leaders work to protect themselves

rather than our sons and daughters who took the oath to defend our country. When Hunter and the other service members' bodies were returned to the U.S. in Dover, Delaware, Joe Biden met the plane. But he made the occasion more about his son's loss to cancer than our sons and daughters, lost on his watch. Worse than that, he has never said their names out loud. And during last month's debate, he claimed no service members have died during his administration. None.

That hurt us all deeply. Joe Biden has to go. Now we have another son serving in the army. And we do not trust Joe Biden with his life. Those poor parents and family members. That by far was the most powerful. And you could feel their anger. This is a man who just yesterday was in the news for saying to Democrats on Capitol Hill,

I'm the greatest president on foreign policy of all time. I guess he forgot about Abbey Gate. It's so disgusting even to hear him say something like that because we've all seen the fallout. My wife, she was crying when this was happening. There were tears all through this arena, but around the country. People who watched that segment, the raw emotion from, you know, that day when Afghanistan fell and we lost 13 of our soldiers, men and women serving this country because of incompetence and ineptitude. It was so emotional, so raw, so real. And again, and it was said in that clip and this is important

it kind of goes back to the top they never accepted they never had to deal with the consequences of that action in the Biden administration nobody was held accountable that has been a persistent theme in this administration. Crisis happens. Cover it up. Don't accept responsibility. Don't accept blame for anything. Nobody gets fired over something. You're telling me these guys have been batting a thousand. That is not true. We all know that they're barely batting a hundred. I mean, this is terrible what they've done. You don't make a mistake like that when it comes to law servicemen and women. And he did. And then he didn't even try to fix it. Why is President Trump, who wasn't even president when this happened, spending six hours with these families, and Joe Biden is checking his watch just even when he's there to greet the bodies as they return home? Checking the watch or talking about Beau.

And listen, Beau Biden dying, yeah. Nobody wants to lose a child, but you can't, you can't interject your personal grief when you're trying to be sympathetic to others, when you're trying to be compassionate for somebody else, especially when you're having to meet the families of, of soldiers who died on your watch. Nobody cares about what happened in your family. You have to care about what's happening in their family, in their moment, in their time. Especially when you made the decision that cost their lives. It's not some random passerby. It's always inappropriate to bring up your own grief and your own story when listening to somebody else's grief. But especially when you're ultimately the man who made the call to put them in harm's way. It's just, oh.

So far, the convention has been filled with these moments of heartache, but really motivating moments, too. The heartache is being told for a reason. A mother's pain at losing her son to fentanyl overdose. A brother's pain at losing his sister to a brutal crime incident, rape and murder. Families who have been affected by illegal immigrants committing harm against their loved ones, and then the Gold Star families. And I think it's appropriate to bring home what the real life consequences have been. So we've been talking in and out about he may go, looks like he's going to go. So who then, right? Look at this.

This just hit from Insider Advantage. This gets a good rating on the average of polls. And it has a matchup. This is post-assassination, and it's likely voters. So it's the best voting group. Between Trump and Harris. Georgia, Trump's up 10. Florida, Trump's up 10. Pennsylvania, Trump up 7.

Nevada, up 10 over Harris. Arizona, up 10. Pennsylvania, Trump up seven. Nevada, up 10 over Harris. Arizona, up six. Right now, she's not looking like the second coming. No. And so do you think, I know all the DEI, how are they going to bypass a black woman when that's like their voter base and all that, but they are practical people over on the Democrat side and they do know how to win. So what do they do? Well, first and foremost, they're not stepping over Kamala Harris. They're not. No, they would have so many infrastructure disasters in their party if they stepped over her. So that's not going to happen. I don't see that happening. Secondarily, they have a major money situation. In my view, Joe Biden has to accept the nomination and then not run.

OK, explain that. So the way I understand it, and we should definitely have campaign finance people on to explain this, but the way I understand it, that all the money that they've raised has been for the Biden-Harris Joint Fundraising Committee. Yes. So it's the two of them together. The money is his to spend because he's at the top of the ticket. But if he doesn't accept the nomination, then that committee cannot spend that funds on another candidate. He would have to accept the nomination and then step down from the ticket.

And then she actually moves into top position on that ticket. And then they would probably have a convention style situation where the convention takes a vice president. But you're talking about $200 million. But can't you raise that again with these motivated Dems who are like, it's all hands on deck, Trump? You probably could. But why would you take that chance, especially considering she's not likable? But you had now you have this is where the Democrats entire apparatus of voting is backfiring against them because they have a lot of states where ballots are going out right after their convention. Pennsylvania, I think they go out with the first week of September. I think that's when they go out in Pennsylvania.

So people are going to get ballots and they're going to start voting those ballots while she's running around the country raising money. At the end of the day, raising money is a hard thing. It's hard enough to raise $10 million. You had to raise $300 million. So they're going to need that money to even be able to mount a campaign. So there's some structural stuff, which is why I think it's going to be her and then whoever else they put on that ticket. It's going to be very difficult for them to step over her. They already have a problem with black men. If they have a problem with black women, those polling numbers become actual results on November 5th. Wow.

There's just not, there's not a lot of great options facing the Democrats. And you know what? It's their own fault. Serves them right. It's their own darn fault. There's also another report out today that Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the co-chairs of his reelection and the biggest fundraiser, I think, certainly out of Hollywood, who's got an unlimited funding ability, has said to Joe Biden, the donors are gone. Yeah, they're gone. The money's done.

Well, listen, I was hearing him on Capitol Hill before the convention, very quietly. I'm not going to name the Democrats, but they were like, no, he's done. It's over. It's over. We're not doing this. It's not a matter of if it's just a matter of when. Is there a last question? Is there any chance he announces this if it's true, like tonight, tomorrow to steal Trump's thunder? I don't think so. And I mean, stealing Trump's thunder. I mean, it's only going to feed into what Trump's doing up here because this is Trump's first public address since Pennsylvania. It will still be the bigger story. I think if I'm in their mind for a moment, I'm

going to try to lay out what I think might happen. The Olympics are next week. I think Kamala Harris is probably going to go over to Paris. This is going to be one of the great repackagings of the next wave in American leadership. She'll go from the bridesmaid to the bride. Absolutely. It'll be Cleopatra. It'll be amazing stuff. They're going to try to repackage her the best that they can.

And then when they have to do their little convention of the, what is it, the video one or whatever they got to do. Yeah, right. At that point, then you'll do the handle. Switcheroo. And he'll blame COVID. Well, listen, as far as I'm concerned with the way this thing has gone, he's had long COVID for three and a half years. This administration has been an absolute disaster.

And transitioning to her, the key thing is, what has she actually ever done? She's risen very, very fast. Now she's vice president. When did she actually do anything of consequence? The last time will probably be when she was attorney general. And if the stories and Tulsi Gabbard does it better than anybody, when you go through her record, when she was attorney general, it was highly political and it was abysmal and now you're going to put that in the oval office i don't think so we need donald trump back wow byron donalds what a time to be in politics in news in america never seen anything like this so great to have you on the set thank you all the best to you thank you to be continued

okay don't go away because mattibbi is up next and we are going to go over some of the journalistic malpractice we are seeing everywhere this week. I'm Megan Kelly, host of the Megan Kelly show on Sirius XM. It's your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations with the most interesting and important political, legal, and cultural figures today. You can catch the Megan Kelly show on Triumph, a Sirius XM channel featuring lots of hosts you may know and probably love. Great people like Dr. Laura,

I'm back, Nancy Grace, Dave Ramsey, and yours truly, Megyn Kelly. You can stream the Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM at home or anywhere you are. No car required. I do it all the time. I love the SiriusXM app. It has ad-free music coverage of every major sport, comedy, talk, podcast, and more.

Subscribe now. Get your first three months for free. Go to SiriusXM.com slash MKShow to subscribe and get three months free. That's SiriusXM.com slash MKShow and get three months free. Offer details apply. It's so windy here in Milwaukee and we're in this booth that's like a wind tunnel. Maintaining the hair has not been an easy project. In the wake of the news that Joe Biden, almost certainly, am I going too far? I don't think so, is going to drop his bid for reelection. We decided to take a stroll down memory lane and

look at the show that has hands down had the most emotional story arc. We're of course referring to Morning Joe and its star, Joe Scarborough. There has been no one who has defended President Biden quite like he has. After the Robert Herr report called the president a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory, Joe was enraged. He told us Biden is cogent. In fact, more than cogent. He was insulting him by calling him just merely cogent. He's better than ever.

Then after the debate, Joe Scarborough admitted that Joe Biden tragically did not rise to the occasion. Then it was, hold on, Dems. Give Mr. Biden time to decide his own fate. Anything could happen. A resurrection of sorts. And now Scarborough is back to admitting it's not going to end well if this keeps dragging out. Would you watch this? I sold him when I said he was cogent.

He's far beyond cogent. In fact, I think he's better than he's ever been. He spent much of the night with his mouth agape and his eyes darting back and forth. He couldn't fact check anything Donald Trump said. He missed one layup after another after another. Tragically did not rise to the occasion last night. This is the last chance for Democrats to decide whether this man we've known and loved for a very long time is up to the task of running for president of the United States. It is July the 5th.

This happened eight days ago, and decision time is not upon us yet. I think we should first honor a man who was first on the ballot 54 years ago by giving him the time and the space to make his decision. Such an historic decision should not be made in haste but joe biden now has what i would dream of having if i were running for president joe biden now can say he's having to fight media elites billionaire donors uh washington politicians you, it's it's really incumbent on people that are around Joe Biden to step up at this point and and and help the president and help the man they love and do the right thing. This is not going to this is not going to end well if it continues to drag out oh joe joe you know what came to mind as soon as i watched those clips who remembers the movie sybil here's a short little clip no you keep them away from me i will i will i will do it i will do it, I will do it. He doesn't care, he doesn't care.

I just love you today. Push a little back, a hug around the neck. I just tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle. Paper is valuable, paper is valuable. Yes it is, yes it is. It's valuable, it's valuable. You can see now.

I'm dying. My team put the civil clip together. Well done. Joining me now, Matt Taibbi. He's editor of Racket News on Substack. You're the perfect person to have today. Oh, thank you. Great to be here, Megan. I mean, it's really like the stages of grief, right? Denial, bargaining, anger, acceptance. Yeah, dabbed, right? Isn't that what it is? Yeah, that's what we're watching play out before our very eyes.

And I would be remiss if I did not call on the Mika Sott, because she too is finally after her... I mean, she just repeated the White House talking points when she came back on the air and tried to say we didn't see what we saw with the debate. Right. It was all his advisor's fault for sending him in nine time zones two weeks ago for the debate. But now even she's coming to see reality. Watch her. The Dems need to get it together.

They really need to get whatever they've got going, going. Whatever it is, the problem should not be our candidate. The focus should be on Donald Trump. You know, it may or may not be Joe Biden. I trust Joe Biden's abilities. I also trust Nancy Pelosi's political acumen. Nobody knows politics more than her. If there is a change, it's got to be a change that gets Barack Obama behind the candidate,

Michelle Obama behind the candidate, George W. Bush behind the candidate, former presidents and world leaders and people who understand the importance of democracy. A cumin? I think it's acumen, isn't it? A cumin? She's like, that's a spice. Yeah, I was going to say, you put a little bit of it in your chili, I think. So how about the problem should not be our candidate?

Refresh me on how that happened again. Was it people like these two? Well, the phrase is almost word for word what Joe Biden said in a meeting with donors. He said the bullseye should be on Trump, right? I mean, that's a DNC talking point. The focus should be on Trump. But yeah, no, that entire reel, it's actually worse than that. Because if you go back far enough, remember, they were hyping Donald Trump once upon a time.

Oh, I remember. It was an epic moment when you're on stage there in South Carolina or wherever it was. So you pick Sybil. I think of Game of Thrones, that character who could change his face on demand. Oh, yeah, that's right. But it's like that. A comedy writer couldn't come up with something better than that. They're so insincere. Here's one more Scarborough, longer of him. And listen to who he's like blaming, like who he thinks is to blame for the position Joe Biden's in right now.

We have known him for a long time. Mika and her family extraordinarily close to the Bidens. I've always felt the connection. You know, it's really incumbent on people that are around Joe Biden to step up at this point. Who exactly? And help the president. And help the man they love. And do the right thing. This is not going to end well if it continues to drag out.

The anger that I hear is not at Joe Biden. The anger I hear are at the people that are keeping him in a bubble. Or who have their own interests. Or who may have their own interests, some financial, in keeping him in the race. Joe Biden deserves better. Matt, I can't. I know. I don't think they're even aware of how bad that sounds.

That's the funniest part about it. I mean, he could be describing them. Yes! He's a confessional. Right? I covered Joe Biden in 2019, 2020 on the campaign trail. It was obvious to me that he was mentally impaired. Everybody else covered it up.

I mean, there were other people who wrote about it, but not these types. And as long as they thought they could get away with it, they did. Now they can't. And now they're saying it's always the fault of his AIDS. Please. And they're angry.

They're angry at the people who have kept him in the bubble so he couldn't hear the truth. Right. What is the truth today? Is it that he's cogent and better than ever? This is the best? Or is it that he's not cogent and someone needs to tell him to step aside?

That's right. Joe said, you know, I know Joe personally. He's never been better. This is the best Biden that there's ever been. He was actually less guarded before and that was to his detriment. So he wasn't even talking about what was relayed to him by aides or anything like that. He was talking about his own personal

relationship with Joe Biden. Yes. So you could tell him right now, look into the camera because we know he watches your show every day and say, you've become infirm. I'm sorry, but we've all seen it. And you're going to cost the Democrats or how many houses in the Senate and how many houses, how many seats in the reverse that how many houses in the Senate and how many houses, how many seats in the reverse that, how many seats in the house and how many seats in the Senate. He's, I don't use the P word. That's where I draw the line of my swearing, but he's too much of a P word to actually do it. This is the closest he's going to come. It's absurd. So let's move on because one of the most shocking things that's happened in the media this past four days, five days, since the assassination attempt has been like the trutherism. There's a trutherism that's being born about whether the assassination attempt actually happened.

All right, hold on. Here is here's just a little bit of it. This is the latest iteration. Ari Melber, MSNBC host, suggesting that, not that this didn't happen, but that the Trump bandage is really fake news. Oh, right, yes. Trump acting. Yeah. You know, because

why would he have to do that, Ari? Because he didn't get shot in the ear? Like, why would you have to act with your fake bandage? Do we have it? We're trying to get it. But this is on the heels of we played earlier in the show, Joy Reid coming right out being like, why haven't I heard the

briefing? Was the ear actually shot? And so on. Here's Ari. This was also showmanship by a politician known for his mastery of what they call unscripted reality TV. Here's how The New York Times put it. On the first night of this convention, Trump was his own biggest prop. He entered the VIP box, a large white bandage on his injured right ear, the result of a close call on Saturday with a would-be assassin's bullet.

And that made it the most potent placard in the hall. That's fair. A placard for delegates to fill in, an image for political mobilization, a spectacle for this candidate who we know is, by his own admission, obsessed with assorted spectacles. There is a political quest here to mine and use Donald Trump's injury, and whether his allies and Republicans or the candidate himself do that in a way that overextends their credibility will be decided by the voters. It's incredible.

I was talking about this last night with some other reporters. So when George Bush did the Mission Accomplished photo, there was some backlash among reporters. This is a staged event. It's propaganda. We don't want to use it. There's a little bit of legitimacy to that point of view. I'm not obligated to use a White House photo when they stage the scene. But what happened to Donald Trump, this photo, which they're now calling photoganda, they made up a word for it. That's

what happened. It's a news photo of something that actually happened at the event. And there are people who are calling for him, for newspapers to not use that image. They're talking about the bandage being a prop. I mean, if it was four feet high, that might be ridiculous. But it's an inappropriately sized bandage. It's hard to bandage an ear. It's like either that or the wrap around the head, which they'd really go nuts over. Right.

I mean, and he's, from what I understand, he might need surgery for it. I mean, it's an open question, but whatever. That's, it's just a ridiculous thing to make an issue out of. It's born of their hate. They can't, they don't realize what they're showing us about their true feelings. Right. And it's just absurd. I mean, we all saw the bloody ear when it happened.

It's definitely gnarly. I'm sure President Trump, A, doesn't want to parade it around for everybody to look at like, but it's still an open wound. B, it's still an open wound. As far as we know, it wasn't stitched. And I'm sure he doesn't want to expose it, him being a germaphobe, to tens of thousands of people. Right.

In this arena. Absolutely. You know, he's 78 years old himself. It's just ridiculous. Okay, so then there's the trutherism, because it's not just Joy Reid and the soundbite we played. Michael Steele, former RNC head, wanting to know the details about, you know, the bullet.

Let's see more. I want to know, you know, more about the actual shooting. And then we had Kara Swisher out there yesterday saying, oh, he did get up awfully fast. Like what? Like it was all a setup? Right. That's obviously the implication. Somebody died right behind him. Right. Well, did Trump have that man killed? Right. Like what's the theory that this is all made up? And it's not, this is not just the lunatic fringes. No, all over MSNBC, some CNNers. So what is it? They're so angry about the Trump, Trump being triumphant and looking like a

superhero in that one photo. I don't know. I mean, I think it's like a mass psychogenic illness, but it's been kind of in place since the beginning of the Trump presidency. You know, the reporters have sort of just agreed to agree upon certain themes, and they're like deer in a herd. Once 50% of them agree to go one way, they all go. And the talking point today is questioning whether the bullet really hit him. Maybe it was glass from a shattered teleprompter. That's the line that some people are going with now. But there was no shattered teleprompter. That's the line that some people are going with now. But there was no shattered teleprompter. Either way, why not just own it and say, okay, he did get up awfully fast.

I mean, Cenk Uygur, who has no love for Donald Trump, he tweeted, I have to say, that was a gangsta moment, right? Yes. Just say it. Move on. If you have criticisms about his policy or other things, go there. Yes. But why do this? It just makes you look bad.

I just don't understand. As a reporter or as a journalist, you lose trust when you do that. There's no gain there. They can't stand it. And you're talking about the photo ganda. There's this debate amongst photographers on whether their iconic photos of Trump ought to be used. They don't like seeing them used over and over.

And the campaign might use them, and they don't want that. It's like, it's history it you're you don't get to say how it gets used after the fact by a copyright maybe but just in terms of editorial judgment that's up to the news people sure and this was a criticism that a lot of journalists got during russiagate when you know there were reports that were contrary to the popular narrative about him they would would say to us, well, this is going to be used by the Trump campaign. They're going to publish this. Well, it's true. What are we going to do about that?

It's not a legitimate criticism to worry about who benefits from a true image or a true fact or whatever it is. Meanwhile, the same people who are wringing their hands over that, over at MSNBC, for example, are faking their background as if they're here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Did they really do that? They're not here. They're not here. But they're broadcasting from a set that has the RNC in the background. So they come on. There it is. It's digitally superimposed. Now, they do come on. Oh, my God. There it is.

It's digitally superimposed. Now, they do come on and say, live from New York. So they are technically disclosing that they're not in Milwaukee. But they don't keep going back to it and alerting the audience who might join two minutes late that they're not actually here. And they continue to ignore Gold Star families and others. And they're basically fake newsing their way through the RNC. Yeah, and what's interesting, because I was at the 2016 convention, and there were tons of media who were hostile to Donald Trump there at that time, because I think they thought

he was going to lose. It was sort of a celebration moment for them. But they're not here, conspicuously. There were a few networks who aren't friendly to trump who are here um and a few more sort of objective ones but why not why do that that's crazy i know it's like i don't care whether they come or they don't come but don't stay home and then try to make it look like you spent the money and the time and the effort to come to milwaukee get to know the locals get the feel for the convention right the time and the effort to come to Milwaukee, get to know the locals, get the feel for the convention.

Maybe if they'd bothered to come, they would have taken the Gold Star families instead of what they did because you would have seen, oh my God, something incredible is happening in this arena right now. But no. They're probably going to end up with brats on their set, right? Like eating Wisconsin mustard and cheese. Schlitz, a big Schlitz beer.

Exactly. Okay, there's a couple other moments we've got to get to. Last night there was a great moment where J.D. Vance talked about his bio, which is just perfection. It's just amazing, the stories in his past and the characters. You know, that's why Ron Howard made a movie out of the book. And the star of his life and his story is his grandmother, Mamaw, who I talked with the audience about earlier this week.

I used to call him affectionately shithead. But as she was telling him, get good grades, you can change your life. You can be anything you want to be. Don't be a victim. Don't feel sorry for yourself. You know, that kind of thing. And here is a little bit of him talking about Mamaw in the speech. Mamaw was in so many ways a woman of contradiction.

She loved the Lord, ladies and gentlemen. She was a woman of very deep Christian faith. But she also loved the F word. I'm not kidding. She could make a sailor blush. Now, she once told me when she found out that I was spending too much time with a local kid who was known for dealing drugs, that if I ever hung out with that kid again, she would run him over with her car. That's true.

She said, J.D., no one will ever find out about it. Mamaw. Let me tell you another Mamaw story. My Mamaw died shortly before I left for Iraq in 2005. And when we went through her things, we found 19 loaded handguns. They were stashed all over her house. Under her bed, in her closet, in the silverware drawer. And we wondered what was going on.

And it occurred to us that towards the end of her life, Mamaw couldn't get around so well. And so this frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arm's length of whatever she needed to protect her family. That's who we fight for. That's American spirit. Which leads most normal people to be like, I wish I could have known Mamaw, but not at ABC News.

Here was their reaction. Talk about this Mamaw having 19 loaded guns all over the house. Huge applause inside this convention hall. Strong beliefs across this country on all ends of the spectrum here. I'm not sure everybody at home received that line perhaps the same way. The 19 guns also struck me, David, just after that assassination attempt, talking about guns and applause here in the audience. Yeah, it was a striking moment for sure.

Oh my God. They just have no sense of humor. And this is really sad because, you know, I grew up a Democrat. And part of it was because they did have a sense of humor. They were the party that embraced people like Richard Pryor and all the SNL characters back in the day who were actually funny at that time. But how can you not laugh at that story? Right. Even if you're for gun control, it's kind of a funny story.

And honestly, do your homework because reading his book about why she had 19 guns, she did not live in a good area. Everybody was stealing from everybody. There was a lot of violence in their lives. Like, shut up, Martha Raddatz, with your million-dollar life. Right, right. You don't know what you're talking about.

Your paid security. Right. And David Muir, too, in a rare moment of partisan. He's usually not so partisan, but that was not a good moment for him. All right, here's our worst for the night. The worst. And it takes a lot,

given the competition that you've just watched. Here's J.D. Vance talking about, before he moved to Middletown, Ohio, he was from, he was raised in Kentucky in his really early years, in the Hala. And that was with Mamaw

and a long history of Vance hillbillies, you know, doing all sorts of things to each other, the neighbors, and you did not cross each other. It did not end well. Really colorful family, if you read the book. So we told a little bit about that area of Kentucky and how we would like to actually wind up buried there someday.

Watch this. Now, when I proposed to my wife, we were in law school, and I said, honey, I come with $120,000 worth of law school debt and a cemetery plot on a mountainside in eastern Kentucky. Now, that cemetery plot in eastern Kentucky is near my family's ancestral home. And like a lot of people, we came from the mountains of Appalachia into the factories of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Now, in that cemetery, there are people who were born around the time of the Civil War. And if, as I hope, my wife and I are eventually laid to rest there, and our kids follow us,

there will be seven generations just in that small mountain cemetery plot in eastern Kentucky. Seven generations of people who have fought for this country, who have built this country, who have made things in this country, and who would fight and die to protect this country if they were asked to. I give you Alex Wagner on MSNBC. But I do think there were some sort of Easter eggs

of white nationalism in the speech. One of the things that stuck out to me was when he started talking about what America is. He said, America is not just an idea. It is a group of people with a shared history and a common future. The thing about America is that it's not a group of people with shared history. And he went along sort of a paragraph, at least, about this plot in Eastern Kentucky, where his seven or six generations of his family are buried. And his hope is that his wife and he are eventually laid to rest there and their kids follow them. It reveals someone who believes that the history that the family should

inherit and indeed the history that should be determinative in the story of the Vance family is the history of the Eastern Kentucky Vances and not the Vances from San Diego, which is where his wife is from and where her Indian parents are from. But in America, it doesn't always have to be the white male lineage that defines the family history, that that branch of the tree supersedes all else. And I just think the construction of this notion reveals a lot about someone who fundamentally believes in the supremacy of whiteness and masculinity. And it's couched

in a sort of halcyon, you know, revisitation of his roots. But it is actually really revealing about what he thinks matters and who America is. And that America is a place for people with a shared Western background. And that is the idea of America. That is the mission of America that he wants to resurrect. Cut to Joy Reid and Lawrence O'Donnell. Yes, yes. It was that moment was about his whiteness and his maleness, Matt. Right. So I remember during the Bush years and with the Terry Schiavo scandal, I remember in the media, we always loved those stories about people who saw the face of Jesus in tree stumps and things like that. This is exactly the same story. They see toxic white masculinity everywhere, even where it isn't really.

I mean, there are things you can criticize about the Republican Party, about the platform, if you want to. But again, it's such a stretch, it's such a reach to read that much into what's really just a true detail about his life. Who would bring identity politics into where we get buried? You know, I'm just as important as you are. Doesn't seem like Usha has a family plot and that J.D. does and a history in his family. I mean, if she has some family plot, maybe they maybe they go there. But sounds like she actually thought this was a bonus and to realize her loving husband was it was an important thing to him. How does it turn into like your whiteness? Like everything, everything has to be reduced to this bullshit. I mean, if you're going to take that position, then everything in American history is, you know, some kind of expression of toxic white masculinity. He's celebrating his personal family's history.

What isn't an expression of that if you're looking at things through that lens? She would have done better had she had better acumen. Finally, we appear to be on the brink of Joe Biden withdrawing as candidate for reelection. Right. And how long will it take, New York minute or shorter, for the media to go back to protecting the Democratic nominee? Oh, I think, you know, my personal guess is Saturday is when we're going to hear the news. I mean, that would be the prime time to do it if you wanted to dull any kind of bounce from this convention for the beginning of the next work week. But America has such a short attention span now. A lot of people are saying they're going to give up. They're not going to do all the crazy stuff they've been doing all for the last, you know, eight years. I disagree. I think they're going to double down again. They're

going to find some new, stupid, crazy narrative, and they're going to back whoever is the nominee as if nothing happened as soon as they can. Yeah. Right. I mean, do you think so? 100 percent. Right. All skepticism of the Democratic nominee will evaporate, and there will be an anointing of Kamala or whomever it is, and very little fact-checking or bio-checking on that person's story. Then it'll be all about Trump, too, and how evil he is. The assassination has already been completely forgotten, the attempt. They've memory-holed that. They don't want to talk about it because he looks good.

So they'll spend time on how he's the devil. He's still Hitler. And that'll be that. Yeah. It's a one-note messaging campaign at this point. They don't know how to do anything else. Memory-holing is what they do. And I think that's where they'll go.

And that's why they're boring and they have a failing business model. Right. Unlike us, Matt. Great to see you. Great to see you, maybe. Thanks to all of you for being with us this week. The crowd's been fantastic, but tomorrow we'll recap the final night,

including President Trump's much-anticipated speech. Thanks for listening to The Megan Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.