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cover of episode Live from Milwaukee, it's the RNC!

Live from Milwaukee, it's the RNC!

2024/7/16
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CNN主播:报道了特朗普在共和党全国代表大会上的首次公开露面,以及暗杀未遂事件后的相关政治反应和安全问题。详细描述了事件经过、各方反应以及后续的政治影响。 Tim Scott:将暗杀未遂事件描述为一场善恶之间的斗争,强调了特朗普的坚韧和上帝的保护。 拜登:在黄金时段采访中,就此前将特朗普置于“靶心”的言论进行了澄清,承认这是一个错误,并试图解释其言论的本意。 Mo Alifi:分析了特朗普支持者在暗杀未遂事件后的情绪反应,并指出共和党演讲者并未呼吁团结,而是延续了之前的政治言辞。 Mark Preston:评论了特朗普在共和党全国代表大会上的舞台表现,并分析了其政治策略。 Mike Dubke:观察到特朗普在暗杀未遂事件后举止上的变化,并探讨了其原因。 Sean O'Brien:代表工会发表讲话,强调工会关注的是为美国工人谋福利,而非政治党派。 JD Vance:呼吁对安全漏洞进行全面调查,并试图将自己过去对特朗普的批评转变为政治优势。 Greg Landsman:对拜登和特朗普的言论进行了评论,呼吁两党都应避免煽动性言辞,并表达了他对拜登连任能力的担忧。 Ronny Jackson:提供了特朗普伤势的最新信息,表示子弹并未造成脑震荡。 米特·罗姆尼:对JD Vance的政治转变表示强烈批评,认为其缺乏诚信。

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Voters 50 and over have the power to decide elections. So candidates who want to win need to talk about the issues they care about. Learn more from our latest polling in Pennsylvania at aarp.org slash pa polling. It's Tuesday, July 16th right now on CNN This Morning. To the United States, Donald J. Trump.

Donald Trump makes his first public appearance at the RNC in the shadow of the aftermath of the assassination attempt against him. Plus, the Secret Service and local police at odds over who's to blame for the deadly shooting at Trump's rally. And... It was a mistake to use words. President Biden says it was a mistake to call for a bullseye on Trump in his first primetime interview since the assassination attempt. Then...

Donald Trump's classified documents case tossed out but facing an appeal from the special counsel. 5 a.m here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We are actually sitting inside that building that you see on your screen right now, the Turner Center here outside the Fiserv

forum where the Republican convention is unfolding. Of course, it is 6 a.m. on the East Coast. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. We were joined this morning by some Georgetown Hoyas from the Institute of Politics to watch our show this morning. You may have seen a few more people here last night with Laura Coates live, but

hey these these students uh made it up early and we're grateful to have them donald trump is now officially the republican nominee for the third consecutive time triumphant the former president received a hero's welcome it was quite a moment as he entered the arena in milwaukee last night and i had to start again just my children thank my lucky stars

The crowd in the arena chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" The same words that the former president told the crowd in Pennsylvania in the moments after Saturday's assassination attempt. That white bandage over Trump's right ear, a constant reminder of just how close he came to death.

Trump appeared subdued, almost emotional at times, as he joined his newly announced pick for vice president, the Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. On stage, speaker after speaker said it was God who saved President Trump from the bullet. Here was South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. On Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle, but an American lion got back up on his feet and he roared!

Oh, yeah. He roared. Trump's opponent, President Joe Biden, in a different situation with a different tone on Monday. In an interview with NBC News, Biden walked back comments he had made earlier this month when he told donors, quote, it's time to put Trump in the bullseye, end quote. And you could see he was defensive as he discussed his place atop the Democratic ticket. Made him in September.

But if the opportunity came up to do one between now and then, is there a sense of wanting to get back on the horse? I'm on the horse. Where have you been? I've done 22 major events. Been thousands of people. Overwhelming crowds. A lot happening. I'm on the horse.

I'm on the horse. Joining me now, my panel, Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications director, Mike Preston, CNN senior political analyst, Mo Alifi, former communications director for the DNC, Matt Gorman, former senior advisor, Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Welcome to all of you. You are laughing. Please. Who would like to go first? Did Tim Scott fall off the horse is what I want to know. I mean. Fall off the lion. I'm a fall off the lion. I'm a horse. I guess I need to be on the horse. Yeah.

Mo, I mean, like, as the Democrats sitting here, I mean, that moment in the hall, I don't know if you were in the hall last night when this happened, but it was a remarkable moment that really crystallized the difference in this race since this assassination attempt. And the president's interview following it only sort of served to underscore that. Yeah, it was an emotional moment, I think, for a lot of people in the hall.

Saturday was still, was a very jarring moment for the nation. And I think this was sort of the first assembly of Trump supporters after that moment where they could really sort of celebrate him and reflect on that moment. And so all of that felt right, felt appropriate. He came out looking, as you put it, subdued, looking a little bit more serious. And they keep saying that this is going to be the convention where they are going to preach unity.

I'm still waiting to hear that, though. They keep saying they're going to do that, but I keep waiting to hear that because speaker after speaker, many of the people that you saw last night were people who aren't necessarily preaching unity. They're still sort of reverting back to the rhetoric that they used before the convention. And so I'll be very curious to see whether or not that tone is what President Trump himself carries forward.

in his speech on Thursday. Well, apparently we're going to discuss this later in the show, but Ron Johnson blamed the teleprompter for his rhetoric. Mark Preston, I mean, big picture here. This did seem like one of those particularly striking moments in conventions. I mean, the floor goes on for many, many hours. We are left with a few things that really stick out. And Trump's entry last night is going to be one of them. Yeah, I mean, no question. I mean, he staged it. I mean, he's a great stage man. He knows how to

You know, he understands stagecraft probably better than anyone. What's interesting about these conventions, and we've been around for a few of them, a few of us here, remember the president wouldn't come into town. He wouldn't come into town until maybe Wednesday night, you know, but definitely Thursday. But Trump sees this as an opportunity really to use every one of these nights to try to get his message to folks who just don't know him. Mike?

no absolutely i mean you have four nights of of basic free advertising given to you by all of them all of the major networks why not take advantage of it and to your point about stagecraft i mean from from the the uh from butler pennsylvania to last night i mean this is definitely a gentleman who understands stagecraft now somebody the one thing i do want to emphasize and the thing that really struck me was his demeanor was very different

I think it was very different last night because of Saturday. And I don't know exactly why, but there is a change. So,

You can talk about unity, Mo, and all of that, though I think from a Republican standpoint, I mean, we really felt like we were reaching out. But the way the president presented himself, President Trump, last night, I think was very different. I noticed a marked difference. So did I. I mean, I feel like the way his face... And this is, you know...

he had a brush with death. - Yeah. - And that changes a person sometimes. - Absolutely, and Mark's right. This was also the hallmark of the 2016 convention. Every night, or most nights, Trump would appear, and he wouldn't say anything, but he'd appear in the hall, get a big ovation. The first night in 2016, he did this very, very similar thing, different tone. The song back in 2016 was Queen's "We Will Rock You." This time, very different song, very different message. - Yeah, for sure. One thing that was also different too that stuck out to me was

the head of the Teamster, Sean O'Brien, spoke on the stage. And I actually, I started my political career covering labor politics, which let me tell you is a really good way to get an education. And the idea that I would see a labor leader on the floor at the Republican National Convention, basically in prime time. Let's listen to a little bit of what O'Brien said.

It's an honor to be the first Teamster in our 121 year history to address the Republican National Convention. Over the last 40 years, the Republican Party has really pursued strong relationships with organized labor. There are some of the party who stand in active opposition to labor unions. This too must change.

The Tiefstens are not interested if you have a D, R, or an I next to your name. We want to know one thing. What are you doing to help American workers? I mean, Mark Preston, this is a guy that almost got in a fight with Mark Wayne Mullen, I believe, in a hearing in Congress. That accent. There's so much here. Yeah, I mean, there's so much here. And look, a lot of his membership are Trumps. Yeah. They're MAGA supporters, right?

but was this speech about him last night specifically? Was this about Sean or was this about the teamsters? Because it really seemed to be about Sean last night. And he seemed to try to goad people on. He tried to give a shout out to Massachusetts. You know, he seems to have an accent. I don't, but, uh,

I don't know. It was interesting, but Trump was happy. If you notice, and if you look at the through line of the whole night, it was, you know, we reach out to Hispanics, we reach out to African-Americans, we reach out to labor. They tried to dab this through line through the whole night. Yeah. And Reuters is now reporting that the Teamsters are potentially not going to endorse in this election, which would be cute. That's unheard of.

I mean, that really isn't heard of. And in many ways, I think Sean O'Brien was trying to get to the front of the parade and calling himself the head of the parade. He knows where his membership is going. Right. And he needs to be able to lead them. So he's trying to kind of get in front of that. Labor leaders are often, quite frankly, politicians, too. Mo, you're the Democrat here. This is a trend. This is a fundamental realignment. Look, I mean, first of all, the Teamsters are the one.

union that has a history of flirting with Republicans, right? Going back to Richard Nixon. Sure. But I think it was great for him that he was there because it was an opportunity for him to get the Teamsters message out there. He wasn't there endorsing Donald Trump. He had a national audience to get a Teamster message out there. And I do think that, you know, he called out Republicans as much as he applauded

the invitation to be there. And he did call out. We even heard a bit in that. Look, as long as you don't attack Trump, I think you're fine. Right. And I think that's right. You also didn't feel as much love for him as you did within the hall as you did for a lot of the others. A lot of people had turned away from him and were looking up at Trump, you know, in the box as O'Brien was. Well, OK, but they're also looking at a man who just survived an assassination attempt as well. So I think some of the turning around wasn't

anything to do with O'Brien. It had everything to do with Trump. But the bigger point, and Mark, you made this,

is that the republicans are nibbling away at a coalition that elected Joe Biden so with with union members with Latinos with blacks if you can get the black vote a down to eighty percent there's no way that you know eighty percent for Biden twenty percent for Trump there's no way for Biden there's no path to victory and we look from state to state to state that's important Wisconsin Michigan Pennsylvania

I mean, that's where, you know, there's union support. And if we can nibble away at that, and to your point on the Teamsters, if 40% of the Teamsters vote for Trump, where's the path to victory? Where's that blue wall? I also wonder, too, in which 80 events does he help increase Republicans' lead, Trump's lead with white men? I mean, I do wonder if he is going to make that appeal that, again, youth, you know, business-oriented people.

It's the other gender gap, right? We talk a lot about Republicans struggling with women, Democrats and white men. It's the other side of that coin. Yeah, but when you see people like Marjorie Taylor Greene up there being very Marjorie Taylor Greene-like, when you see people like- Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk, people like Mark Robinson from North Carolina-

that is not, those are the people that they highlighted on the first night of the convention. Those are not people that are gonna help win over, that are gonna help chip away at the Democratic coalition. And so again, you can go out there and say we're preaching unity and we're reaching out across the aisle. But if these are the people that you're putting forward on the first night to reflect the face of today's Republican party,

It's not that those aren't the people that are going to help you. Well, and Charlie Kirk was in primetime. And I think it's worth noting that other Republicans, conservatives like Eric Erickson have called him out for intensely anti-Semitic comments and actions. And that is I don't want to lose sight of that here. All right. Still ahead here on CNN this morning, Donald Trump getting a big legal win as he returns to the top of the Republican ticket. And this I'm on the horse. Where are you, Ben?

President Biden trying to leave no doubt about staying in the race in his most recent interview. Plus, we'll talk about what to expect on the floor of the Republican National Convention here in Milwaukee. These students from Georgetown getting their first taste of what it's like to cover, to cover, be at a national convention. Thanks, guys. CNN This Morning is going to be right back.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. What are some of the social service agencies that have supported you and your family growing up? That's Dr. Robert Waldinger. He's a psychiatrist, a professor, and a Zen master. What kind of relationships actually help us maintain happiness? And what should we do in those moments where we have setbacks and things that don't work out? Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

The Secret Service is responsible for the protection of the former president. So the buck stops with you? The buck stops with me. I am the director of the Secret Service. It was unacceptable, and it's something that shouldn't happen again.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle responding to questions, finally, following the attempted assassination of former President Trump. CNN reporting this morning that local law enforcement is at odds with the Secret Service over the incident. Agencies blaming one another for failing to secure the building where the gunman was located. A source also telling CNN that a local sniper team was stationed inside the building where the gunman was located. Now, Trump's pick for vice president, the Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, calling for a review of the massive security failure.

I think there needs to be a full scale investigation. We need to understand what happened, cuz clearly mistakes were made. I mean look, the Secret Service ran up there, they put their bodies over and they reacted quickly. That's not what worries me. What worries me is why was there a shooter 150 yards from the President of the United States? It doesn't make an ounce of sense.

Cheadle also said yesterday the Secret Service will cooperate with an independent review ordered by Biden and congressional oversight actions. Plus, Politico now reporting on a joint intelligence bulletin that was put out by the FBI and the DHS warning of possible retaliatory attacks. Mark Preston, that interview, the U.S. Secret Service, and again,

J.D. Vance was actually right there. I've tried to make a point of saying this. The agents that swarmed President Trump are heroes. Clearly, there are so many good men and women who put their lives on the line every day. But the top leadership here, I mean, she seemed almost reluctant to say that the buck stops with her. She hasn't attended the press conferences. There have been multiple opportunities. And now they're pointing the fingers at local police, not in New York City or some other big place, but in a

And how bizarre is it that there were police officers, a county sniper team that was inside that building while this guy climbed up? And how crazy was it that people were yelling to police and saying, there's a guy up there with a gun. And, and then, you know, and we see this all on video and then we almost see him, you know, killed on, on live television. You know, I,

This is a situation, and look, I think these guys, you guys have all worked at the White House or in levels of government. There is a real shortage of qualified police officers. There's a shortage of qualified U.S. Capitol police officers, of United States Secret Service agents.

These folks are working incredible hours, but that wasn't... - Well, and they also, we should note, were incredibly stretched thin because they were focused here, right? So many resources at the convention. There's the Democratic National Convention coming up as well. And at the end of the day, the Secret Service is a relatively small law enforcement organization considering the scope of their mission. Mo,

I also want to kind of expand this a little bit to talk about some of the language that we are using collectively. President Biden was asked about, you know, Republicans have criticized him for saying he was going to put Trump in the bullseye during a fundraiser. And he was asked by Lester Holt to respond about that. Let's let's watch what the president had to say yesterday. It was a mistake to use. I didn't I didn't say crosshairs. I'm a bullseye. Focus on him. Focus on what he's doing.

focus on one of his policies, focus on the number of lies he told in the debate, focus. I mean, there's a whole range of things. So he did acknowledge it was a mistake, but he's also kind of trying to explain it. And, you know, I think one of the challenges here that Democrats are grappling with is that what the president showed in the debate and perhaps there as well is that he struggles to articulate some of the things that Democrats would like him to, which is to immediately pivot and point out that

President former President Trump ridiculed Paul Pelosi after he was attacked. Same with Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, after a attempted kidnapping plot against her was foiled. Right. There are things and places where the president could easily say, look, I made a mistake. This is this. There's all these instances of rhetoric coming from other people. He sort of got there in the interview, but it really seemed to underscore all of the challenges that he is facing. Well, look, he was right to say it was a mistake.

And I do think the rhetoric needs to be toned down across the board. Remember Gabby Giffords when she was shot a decade ago or so. I covered the funeral for the person that was killed in that attack, yeah. Democrats pointed out that Republican fundraising had talked about her being in the crosshairs. So the rhetoric needs to be toned down across the board. And this is sort of what I was alluding to about some of the speakers at the convention.

Yesterday, a lot of those people did ridicule Paul Pelosi. A lot of those people did ridicule or are actively talking about political violence. Someone like Mark Robinson from North Carolina said that there are times when it's okay to use political violence, recently paraphrasing. And so I hope that the assassination attempt on President Trump is a wake-up call to people in both parties that a cavalier attitude right now towards political rhetoric is

is really bad. We are at a point in our politics where we are completely polarized, where people just are overly amped up. And so rhetoric that, you know, we used to use when Mark and I had less gray hair...

today doesn't, you know, it takes things a little too far. And I hope this is a wake up call for people in both parties. - Right, we're in a very different political moment. And I think it also underscores the fact that we have this intelligence bulletin this morning saying,

Hey, there might be retaliatory attacks, underscores why this is more important than ever. All right, coming up next, we're going to get the Democratic perspective on the RNC from Congressman Greg Lansman. He'll join us. Plus, severe weather in the Midwest leaves some stranded at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

All right, welcome back. The Midwest cleaning up after severe weather caused more than 400 storm reports stretching from Iowa to Illinois, some of them right here in Wisconsin. Downed trees took out power lines in Des Moines, Iowa, and at least two tornadoes were spotted in the Hawkeye State. Let's get to our meteorologist, Elisa Rafa, with more on this. Elisa, good morning to you.

Good morning. We had an intense line of storms roll through parts of Iowa, Illinois, triggering multiple tornado warnings for the city of Chicago. We have more than 400 storm reports, a lot of them damaging winds because we had wind gusts up to 105 mph in this line.

For Camp Grove, Illinois, 97-mile-per-hour winds in Holy Cross, Iowa, even 75-mile-per-hour wind gusts reported at O'Hare Airport. We are looking at more than 500,000 customers without power from the damaging winds that have rolled through. The severe rest continues today. We do have the continued threat for damaging winds, isolated tornadoes, and large hail stretching across the Ohio Valley and then getting into the northeast. So something that we'll have to watch out for again. Casey?

All right, Elisa Rafa for us this morning. Elisa, thanks very much. Coming up next here, inside the ongoing private efforts inside Democratic circles to push President Biden to step aside. Ohio Congressman Greg Lansman joins us with what direction he thinks his party should go in. Do you feel like you've weathered the storm on this issue of whether you should be on the ticket or not? Look, 14 million people voted for me to be the nominee in the Democratic Party, okay? I listened to them.

The public calls for President Biden to bow out of the 2024 presidential race have quieted in recent days, of course, overtaken by news of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. But private efforts to nudge him out continue, according to reporting from CNN's John King, with several Democratic lawmakers allegedly urging Biden advisers to consider how staying in the race could damage the president's legacy, something that Biden said last week is not relevant to his decision making. I'm not doing this for my legacy.

I'm in this to complete the job I started. One Democratic congressman who has so far held back on calling on Joe Biden to step aside is Ohio Congressman Greg Lansman, but he's been thinking about it. Here's what he told me last week. I'm getting closer and closer to...

appreciating that as much as I respect Joe Biden and what he's done, that what Clooney said yesterday was really powerful in that he saved democracy in 2020. He's got to do it again in 2024. I want to go back home and check in with folks, you know, maybe one last time. However, you know, it's becoming increasingly likely that

that this may be just too high of a hill for him to climb. - Tell you what, come back Monday after you have talked to people back home. - Yeah, no problem. - All right, and joining me now is Congressman Greg Lansman, who, to his credit, made good on his word to show back up and tell us what he actually thinks. So Congressman, you went home, you talked to people, you've seen the events of the last week. Are you ready to tell President Biden that you think he should step aside?

Well, no. First and foremost, what we all witnessed on Saturday was this attempted assassination on former President Trump's life. And it's not OK. None of us should be OK about it. And that overtook, as you can imagine, the conversations that

that I was having at home. I spent most of Sunday with constituents talking through what it means and, you know, overwhelmingly I heard folks say, you know, we really do need to dial it back. I mean, people should be leading with their convictions and fight for what they believe in, but to do it with strength and kindness and

you know, a thoughtfulness that we don't always see. And that's what we're expecting of the president. And I think he's shown that. And the same thing with Mr. Trump. And he has said, look, you know, his speech is going to be about unity, the frustrating

part of yesterday was that, you know, those of us in Southwest Ohio know Mr. Vance. That's not who he is. He's not a unity pick. And Mr. Trump had many options. So it was unfortunate that at a time when we all need to come together and be as thoughtful and careful in our rhetoric

not our convictions but our rhetoric that somebody like mister vance is known for turning up the temperature that's what he does that that was unfortunate sir i mean

What was your sense of how President Biden handled the interview he did yesterday with Lester Holt? He did say it was a mistake to use the term bullseye when he was talking about Donald Trump. Obviously, he did use that before this happened. Context matters. But...

He also didn't necessarily, you know, I think one of the private criticisms Democrats have had and certainly some public, they have been skeptical of his ability to really prosecute the case against Donald Trump. And there certainly are plenty of examples of the former president turning up violent rhetoric the way that he has talked about other violent political attacks, including Paul Pelosi. Did

the president's interview give you more confidence that he is the right person to be at the top of the ticket or not? - I was glad that the president said that that language was a mistake. I mean, that's character. That's taking responsibility and saying, "I'm gonna do better." And, you know, I'm hoping we'll see the same from Mr. Trump. This is really important. I mean, you know, we have to be able

to have these really tough conversations, and they are tough conversations, doing it in a way that is responsible. And my job, in addition to serving the 700,000 people here in Southwest Ohio, is to try to model that.

which is to say, yeah, we have a big conversation about democracy and the need to pass the John Lewis voting rights bill to protect voters, to protect our elections. We have to restore freedom. We've got to build an economy around people

that I represent, not billionaires, and to do it in a way that says, look, we're in this together. There are folks that disagree, but we're going to make our case and we're going to do it, again, with conviction, but also with kindness. And so the president saying, hey, I shouldn't have said that, says a lot.

I will say, you know, my concerns about the president's ability to make this case against Donald Trump, I've expressed those concerns to leadership. And that's where it is. You know, they will make the decision or he will make the decision, hopefully with their input. But now, you know, at least for this week,

You know, all eyes are on former President Trump and, you know, we're genuinely glad he's okay. That was terrifying. And as somebody who's from Southwest Ohio, who grew up at around the same time and probably five miles from J.D. Vance, we're both from Butler County,

You know, it's an issue that he chose somebody who is divisive and uses incendiary language. That is a problem, and I think most Americans are going to say that's not what we want right now. All right. Congressman Greg Lansman, very much appreciate your perspective. Very interesting. I did not know you and J.D. Vance were from the same county, so we'll keep that in mind going forward. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

All right. Coming up next here, a bandaged Trump appearing at the RNC. We're going to have more on what Trump told us former White House, his former White House doctor about what happened the day of the shooting. Plus, Trump's new right hand man. We are analyzing the decision to pick J.D. Vance as his running mate. I could have done better. But you, you got to decide you want to be somebody or not.

That's from the book that J.D. Vance wrote, the movie of it, as we've been talking about all of this. Our guests are behind me, Georgetown University students from across the political spectrum getting an up-close look at their first major party convention. They've been helping us get our guests here at the CNN Politico Grill. We ought to give you guys a round of applause for getting up so early. Come on, I couldn't do this in college. We'll be right back on CNN This Morning. ♪

All right, 46 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Donald Trump walking into the RNC last night, his ear bandaged just days after an assassination attempt. During a podcast interview, former White House physician, the Congressman Ronny Jackson, offered this update on Trump's injuries. It was far enough away from his head that there was no concussive effect from the bullet. And it just took the top of his ear off, a little bit of the top of his ear off as it passed through.

Jackson says that he changed Trump's bandage before the RNC and that the former president shouldn't need any further treatment. Senator Bob Menendez's wife's federal corruption trial has been delayed indefinitely. Her trial has been postponed multiple times due to her ongoing treatment for breast cancer. Jury deliberations will resume in Senator Bob Menendez's federal corruption trial today.

The special counsel's office plans to appeal yesterday's ruling by a federal judge dismissing Donald Trump's classified documents case. District Judge Eileen Cannon sided with Trump's legal team that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith violated the Constitution. The fact that this is way at the bottom of our news roundup tells you just how much news we are, in fact, grappling with today. And on that note, let's turn back to this.

Vance is an Ivy League educated attorney. That makes sense. Trump got a VP and a lawyer for the price of one. After months of VP speculation, it is official Donald Trump and JD Vance will top the 2024 Republican Party ticket. Not long ago, the first term senator, Yale educated lawyer and bestselling author was a self-described never Trump guy. I'm a never Trump guy. I never liked him.

I never liked him, but now as Trump's running mate, Vance has changed his tune dramatically and is turning his past criticism of Trump or trying to turn it into a selling point to try to convince others, welcome others into the MAGA movement.

I don't hide from that. I was certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016, but President Trump was a great president and he changed my mind. I think he changed the minds of a lot of Americans. It's actually important to be able, again, to admit that you're wrong. I think I can make a good case to the American people, people who may have been skeptical of the president back in 2016.

Mark Preston, you can see there why JD Vance grew a beard. Those old clips. I was thinking the same thing. I was like, wow, he looks like he's like 15. Now he looks like he's like 16. And he's still only 39. How did you...

you look at, I mean, he's one of the few, I will say people who is, is taking this dead on, right? I mean, I don't, I can't tell you the number of Republicans in the halls of Congress that I have put a microphone in front of and said, you said this about Trump. Now you're not doing this. And they either run away or don't want to answer the question or whatever. He is saying like, look, yeah, I did that. Here's why I changed it. Um, clearly Trump buys it, which I'm still kind of surprised by it. It'd be perfectly candid, but our American's going to buy it.

Look, if you're a Donald Trump fan, you're going to buy it. You already have bought it. If you're an anti-Trumper, then you're not going to buy it. It's just the little nibble on the edges that we've been talking about over the past hour or so about is there going to be voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, where we sit right now, but even as the map could expand for Republicans, does it go to Georgia, North Carolina? I just...

uh, look at, I think JD, JD Vance handled it as best as he could. Yeah. Um, Matt Gorman, what is your sort of sense of, of what he is going to bring to the ticket? Um, if anything, because again, we do want to underscore like, it's about the guy at the top of the ticket. This doesn't always totally matter. Uh, but in a generational shift like this, Trump's 78 years old. Certainly we're having, we had that conversation around Kamala Harris. Um, JD Vance is one of the least experienced, uh,

nominee, vice presidential nominees in history, just two years into his first Senate term. What's what do you make of all of that? In many ways, it's a Trump legacy pick. He's ensuring that at the very least, there'll be someone to intensively carry on the torch after these four years are done. I think also they're doubling down the Rust Belt states. They view them as increasingly important now, more so than the Sun Belt, which I think they feel more confident in.

He's a tremendous communicator. And again, expect to hear a lot about his military service on Wednesday night speech. He would be the first Marine to ever be VP or president. And he only one of the four nominees for VP or president to be of that. Yeah. Mark, you raised what voters are going to think. Sarah Longwell, who of

Republicans against Trump. She's a friend of the show. She's on a lot with us because she spends all of her time talking to voters, especially voters who voted for Trump in 2016 and then for Biden in 2020, trying to figure out what they're going to do now. They sent us some clips of what some of those voters had to say right after the Vance pick. Let's listen. I don't know much about him, except I know he was very extremely anti-Trump. And so it kind of like

speaks to his like lack of integrity and sincerity to not really I mean maybe he'll explain why he came around and it'll make sense but I doubt it I don't have respect for people jumping off like that there's a bunch of people that are anti-Trump and then all of a sudden they're on it but again you look at all the sides and there's similar things going on with the Senate with the house um with bills so on so forth that's politics in Washington

So, Mike, that flip-flop label used to be kind of like the deadliest one in politics, but it may or may not matter. Sorry, go ahead. Well, no, no. I mean, it took down John Kerry. But the, I mean, you can't have it both ways. We can't have people that get new information and then change their minds to be terrible. But also it's terrible when people don't change their minds. So, you know, look.

converts, converts are sometimes the best apostles. And, uh, I think that's what you're going to see with the vice presidential pick here. Um, it is, he has explained it, uh, away quite, quite well. The one thing he also blamed the media for it, which is why not do it. That plays to a Republican base. So, um, all of that is good, but

You got to take the man at his word. And I think if he is going to, to Mark's point, he's going to bring some energy. Um, he is going to, he can articulate a lot of the policies that this campaign and this second Trump administration will be advocating for. Um, so from that perspective, it's, uh, he, he, he brings a lot to the table. Um,

Mo, Mitt Romney, Senator Mitt Romney, who I don't believe is here. I need to triple check that with his team. Matt knows that he is not here. Yeah. And of course, that was actually the first convention I covered was Mitt Romney's Republican convention in 2012. And here we are. And he is he's not here at all. I mean, it's stunning. He's told his biographer, McKay Coppins, quote, I don't know that I can disrespect someone more.

than J.D. Vance, end quote. And he's explained it this way, and he was talking about Vance's switch from someone who was willing to criticize. I mean, Romney had thought highly of Vance. He had read Vance's book, Hillbilly Elegy. He invited him out to, Romney does this summit out in Park City. Vance had come out there. Jake Tapper likes to note also that Vance was once a CNN commentator in the wake of his book becoming, you know, all of this. Even us. Yeah.

But Romney says this of his decision to then go the other way, quote, how can you go over a line so stark that and for what, like that and for what? It's not like you're going to be famous and powerful because you become a United States Senator. It's like, really? You sell yourself so cheap?

These comments were made when Vance was running for Senate. Now, obviously, he's going to be a lot more famous. So maybe it worked from that perspective. But I mean, look, the whole convert thing, I'm actually kind of with Mike. I think, you know, political parties always want to say I've won people over. Right. I'm bringing people over who weren't with me before. And I think parties should celebrate that more often than not. Right.

Having said that, having said that, there's a difference between being converted and bending the knee, right? Saying that, you know, for what appears to be a naked power grab. But I don't think that's the campaign against J.D. Vance.

I think what you're going to see Democrats do, when Donald Trump's shortlist sort of became public, most Democrats I know were hoping for this pick. They were hoping J.D. Vance was going to be the guy because he reinforces all of the things they are running against Donald Trump on. He is very anti-choice.

He is, in the minds of many Democrats, a faux populist. He speaks a populist talk, but actually supports big corporations and all the economic policies that are sort of anti-populist. And he said that he would have done what Mike Pence didn't do on January 6th, that he would have helped overturn the election. So Democrats are like,

all right, like I'm okay with this guy being on that. Yeah, that January 6th note, of course, the very top line of the Biden campaign statement that came out within moments of this pick being announced.

All right. We do want to talk about one moment that we saw on the floor of the convention yesterday, because, of course, after Saturday's assassination attempt on former President Trump, many of the speeches at day one of this convention were rewritten to try to make sure that they didn't include inflammatory rhetoric in the wake of that. That is until Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson took the stage and said this.

Today's Democrat agenda, their policies are a clear and present danger to America, to our institutions, our values and our people. A clear and present danger, he said. Now asked about this, Johnson claimed that he planned on reading a different speech, but that the teleprompter loaded an older version. Now, who does that remind you of? You stay classy, San Diego.

I'm Ron Burgundy? Dammit! Who typed a question mark on the teleprompter? For the last time, anything you put on that prompter, Burgundy will read.

Now, okay, there before the grace of God go I. I have to say that. But this is quite an excuse. I can't even read off a teleprompter. Who am I to say anything? That's the easiest thing to do, kind of. Well, I suppose. But, Mo, I mean... Oh, I don't know about that. No, it's hard. It's hard. Well, yeah, it is what it is. Mo, you said this is one of the... Like, this excuse, I mean...

There are a few things. I've worked for a lot of candidates who have had to read off prompters, and you actually practice reading off of a prompter, right? I mean, every one of these speakers is going backstage before they go out there to practice reading on a prompter. It's nerve-wracking for people, having said that.

I know plenty of political leaders, real political leaders, who will see mistakes in prompters and they will figure it out. They know not to read the bad thing that's on the prompter and they'll ad lib until the right thing gets up there. They'll figure it out. You don't just...

If that was the wrong speech, he would have known it. Bill Clinton did it. They load the wrong speech in and he ad-libbed for minutes. For minutes. That was a surprise because he wasn't very good at that. He was not very good at that. And I kept thinking about how many businesses of Joe Biden doing that where it's like, pause, like last name. It's like,

You know, so it's, it's, it's. Well, Joe Biden's done it yet. You're right. Exactly. Teleprompter. You don't want to have a teleprompter war here. Oh no, you're right. Exactly. Teleprompter is a skill. I don't engage in it. Absolutely not. I read one every day and I know I'm going to screw up at some point and I'm not criticizing anyone for anything. I hate the excuse, right? Like he, the, the coming out and saying, I read the wrong thing that was loaded into the teleprompter. Like that's not projecting strength. Well, and let's talk seriously for a sec.

because the reason we're noting this, right, the reason we were talking about this excuse at all is because of the sensitivity around what happened and what everyone is listening for. And Mike Dubke, I think the,

The the what we saw from the president himself last night in the hall, the sort of look on his face, the demeanor that he had suggests that he is very much in that space. Actually, I think the question for all of us who have covered Donald Trump for a long time, this is this is an older guy who has been very set in his ways. We have gotten to know who he is.

the degree of change that there is there and the extent to which he is going to stay in the place that this assassination attempt has brought up. I would actually make the argument that his change came before Saturday.

After the debate, he was uncharacteristically quiet while the Biden campaign devolved. Yeah, but you didn't see, I mean, the look that was on his face. No, no, I agree. Look, at the top of the hour, I mentioned the same thing at the top of the hour. He physically looks different post-Saturday. I guess the...

The point I'm trying to make is this has been a much more disciplined candidate than we saw in 2016 or 2020. Yeah. And, you know, there was some emotion there, some emotion on the face of his son, it seemed, as well. The moment from last night. We, of course, are looking ahead to tonight as well on the second day of the RNC as it continues. Thanks to our panel. Thanks to you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central is going to start in just a moment. And again, our thanks to these Georgetown Hoyas for being up early today.

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