e Beat With Ari Melber [6PM] 8/19/2024 | ️ BREAKING NEWS Today August 19
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00:00I'm Ari Melber.
00:01Can we turn it down a little bit?
00:06And I'm Joy Reid, anchoring in Chicago, where this convention officially kicks off in this
00:11hour.
00:12That's right.
00:13And this first night is actually going to be unusually historic.
00:15President Biden is headlining, and Joy has more on that in a moment.
00:19Democrats are rallying in Chicago's United Center for a convention that's drastically
00:23different than what has been planned for really over a year.
00:26If politics is a rollercoaster, today's brand-new New Yorker magazine cover shows the Harris
00:33Walls ticket surging, going up the rollercoaster, as Republicans allegedly go downhill, a snapshot
00:40of the vibe in this new race and a reminder, life does come at you fast.
00:45Tonight is historic.
00:46No party has seen a first-term president step aside in 50 years under these conditions.
00:52Indeed, when President Johnson did so all the way back in 1968, we could tell you the
00:56party back then was so divided that President Johnson did not attend his own party's gathering.
01:02In fact, we pulled the headline here.
01:04The Times reported at the time how the president made it clear he has no plans to attend the
01:10convention.
01:11Well, by contrast, tonight, Democrats are touting a hero's welcome for President Biden.
01:16He will give these historic remarks tonight, asking his party and, by extension, the nation
01:22watching for a chance that Vice President Harris might finish what he started when they
01:28ousted Donald Trump in 2020 and tried to turn the corner for the country.
01:33This is also the party's first return to Chicago since 1996, back when phones were something
01:39you used in your home, back when Hillary Clinton was the first lady, and as you can see on
01:43your screen, back when people actually did synchronized Macarena dances in public.
01:48Now, Joy has a little more on what Clinton and other big names are doing tonight.
01:52Joy?
01:53Yes, Secretary Clinton, may she may not be doing the Macarena.
01:58We can't confirm that.
01:59But she will be speaking tonight, along with leading figures representing the Democratic
02:03coalition, from Senator Raphael Warnock and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and
02:08Labor leader Sean Fain, to national leaders closely tied to Biden's resilient career,
02:14Congressman James Clyburn and fellow Delaware Democrat Senator Chris Coons, all leading
02:18up to the night's big keynote, the President of the United States.
02:23He arrived in Chicago this afternoon, along with the first lady, Dr. Jill Biden, who will
02:27also speak here tonight.
02:29And as conventions often aim to mix familiar faces with all the politicians, Democrats
02:35have a governor's panel planned, with the first woman VP on HBO, Julia Louis-Dreyfus,
02:41while tonight's programming is emceed by the actor who played the president in Scandal,
02:46Tony Goldwyn.
02:47Ari, it is a really big night, it is huge and historic.
02:51What are you watching for?
02:52Well, great to be with you as we do this tonight, and every night this week for a while, Joy.
02:58I think the biggest thing in politics, as you and I know and have discussed, and I think
03:01the viewers know, is you've got to touch it, you've got to feel it, you've got to live
03:05it.
03:06And for all the reasons we remember, the President of the United States announced that he was
03:10exiting in a letter that he submitted online, he posted it on X or Twitter.
03:16And then Kamala Harris has been out doing her thing, to great effect.
03:19I believe tonight what I'm watching for is what we will see is the first time in a big
03:23political setting that the president will address politically what he didn't exactly
03:28do in the White House, a more solemn address, and talk about why what we already know is
03:32his goal, that Kamala Harris finish the job in the campaign this cycle, and then finish
03:38the job as president.
03:39And seeing him there in this setting is something where the headline is known, we know that
03:45the president wants Kamala Harris to win, and is going to ask the Democrats and by extension
03:49the nation to engage on that tonight, Joy.
03:52But we're actually going to see him in this setting with the United Party, and the country's
03:56going to get a view of whether Democrats have as much momentum as they say they do.
04:00Yeah, indeed.
04:01And I think that's really important to say.
04:03In addition to that, Ari, what I have to be, what I'm going to be watching for, just sitting
04:07in this room in this space that is such a joyful space tonight, I'm expecting there
04:12to be also a lot of tears.
04:14This in many ways represents the kind of denouement, the kind of end of one of the longest and
04:23most successful political careers of any politician in U.S. history.
04:27Joe Biden has been in politics since the 1970s.
04:33Since 1972, when he was the youngest United States senator at 29 years old.
04:38He was the AOC, basically, of his time.
04:41He is now the oldest United States president.
04:44And he has been through so many things.
04:46I mean, this was the sort of pivotal senator during so many Supreme Court nominations,
04:52including Clarence Thomas's.
04:54He was the leading United States senator, white United States senator, who opposed apartheid.
05:00You go through the crime bill in the 1990s, which was embraced at the time by the black
05:04community, by black pastors and people who were in communities who needed help.
05:08The assault weapons ban, historic, that he was able to get through, the Violence Against
05:12Women's Act.
05:14This man ran for president three times when he finally became president.
05:17It was at the end of one of the most tumultuous and sort of, you know, divisive presidencies
05:22of our lifetime.
05:23And he anchors not just the first black president to whom he served as vice president, a big
05:29deal for a man of his generation to be willing to be second to a black president.
05:33He then hands in this incredibly dramatic way the baton to potentially the first black
05:38woman and Asian American woman and woman president period in the United States.
05:43Joe Biden stands at the fulcrum of American politics in a way I think we don't think about
05:47because he's Uncle Joe.
05:48We're so used to him and he's become such a normal figure in our lives that we kind
05:53of forget that he's actually a big effing deal, right?
05:55He's a pretty big and important figure in American history.
05:59And this is his swan song.
06:00And so I'm looking for this room to be filled with a lot of love for Joe Biden, a lot of
06:05tears about Joe Biden, a lot of encomiums to Joe Biden.
06:08And I think he's going to feel that love in a very big way.
06:11Yeah, it's fascinating when you put it like that.
06:13And while it's it's not a political wake for the reasons that you say, it is a celebration
06:21as well.
06:22And in that sort of celebration of what was passed is also what's on the line in November,
06:26which we're going to be covering tonight, and whether he can actually pull it off, being,
06:29as you remind everyone with that great history lesson, Joy, the transitional figure to something
06:35more, something in the future.
06:36So here we go.
06:37Joy stays with us on the floor.
06:38We also want to bring in our colleague Alex Wagner, host, of course, of Alex Wagner tonight.
06:43Alex, take it away.
06:44What are you seeing?
06:46I'm seeing I'm feeling emotional confetti.
06:49Does that make sense?
06:50Sorry.
06:51Emotional confetti.
06:52You can't see it, but you can feel the vibrations in this room.
06:55Look, I think it was always going to be a lot of Democrats were always going to show
06:58up to this thing.
06:59But the mood is decidedly different.
07:00We can't we don't have a time machine.
07:02We don't live in a different time space continuum.
07:04But certainly the Democrats that I've talked to understand that the mood here is decidedly
07:09jubilant.
07:10And everybody's really excited to hear Joe Biden give his effectively valedictory remarks,
07:16not just for his presidency, but in effect for his career in politics.
07:20And because he's had such a long career in politics, what you're seeing on the sidelines
07:24of this convention are groups of Democrats whose careers have intersected with Joe Biden's.
07:29That's a lot of Democrats for a lot of decades having their own sort of drum circles, if
07:35you will, as they gather around and talk about their memories and where the party's at.
07:39And I got to say, the general feeling about where the party's at is really, really positive.
07:44That's not to say they don't you know, I was just talking to the lieutenant governor of
07:47Pennsylvania.
07:48They feel good about their ground game.
07:49They feel good about the preparation.
07:51They feel great about the candidate.
07:52But they know this is going to be a really tight race.
07:55And in fact, this is kind of the last circling of the wagons, the last gathering of the tribe
08:00before everybody fans out for the big push this fall.
08:04And I got to say, you know, I go back to emotional confetti.
08:07People are to paraphrase the Obama state, the Obama slogan of yore.
08:11They're fired up and they're ready to go.
08:13There's a lot of positivity in the room tonight.
08:15And everybody is feeling good.
08:18And it's not just the blue lighting that makes everybody look a little bit, you know, frisky.
08:22Alex, I've got to follow up to that.
08:24I mean, listen, and the frisky folks aside, you talk about Pennsylvania.
08:30And I wonder if you've gotten to get a sense just walking the floor, which is the delegation
08:34that's the hypest right now?
08:36Because I ran into some folks from the Texas delegation.
08:39They're hyped.
08:40I ran into a couple of folks from Iowa.
08:41They're excited.
08:42They're definitely hyped.
08:43They're hyped, right?
08:44And so is there a delegation that you're getting the sense has got the most sort of confidence?
08:48Because this is a confident party all of a sudden.
08:50Are you seeing special confidence from any of these delegations?
08:54Listen, I spent the most extended amount of time probably with the lieutenant governor
08:57of Pennsylvania, right?
08:59And I think because there's, first of all, the Scranton-Joe connection, right?
09:02The sense that Pennsylvania is the most important state in the nation for both the Democrat
09:07and the Republican on the ticket.
09:09There's the, hi, how are you?
09:11So much excitement, so much excitement.
09:14There's a sense that, you know, of a focus, I would say, from what you're hearing from
09:19Pennsylvania officials, the feeling that they're ready to be the battleground again.
09:23And from the Democrats, at least, they feel like they have, I think they had 15 different
09:27Biden, sorry, Harris-Walls offices in the state.
09:30They know what it was like in 2020.
09:32They have the personal connection to Joe.
09:34There was a lot of talk about Josh Shapiro, who I know we're going to be talking to later
09:37on this evening.
09:38But they feel like all eyes are on them, and they're ready for the focus.
09:42So that would be my pick, at least at this stage of the night.
09:45Alex, absolutely.
09:46Well, Alex, have a good time.
09:47If anybody asks you to do the Macarena, resist.
09:50Resist the urge to Macarena, my friend.
09:52I will.
09:53Oh, don't you.
09:54Don't you worry about that.
09:56Don't you worry about that.
09:58Thank you very much, my friend.
09:59I am here with Congressman Jamie Raskin, the great Congressman Jamie Raskin, who's going
10:04to be speaking tonight.
10:05Congressman, I'll ask you the same question.
10:08What are you looking for tonight?
10:10Is this going to be a night where you're expecting more tears, more joy, more what?
10:16It's going to be about the remarkable journey that Joe Biden has been on over the course
10:23of his career through all of the great movements of our times, the civil rights movement and
10:28the women's movement and the environmental movement.
10:31But it's going to be about the future and what it really means to pass the baton.
10:35I mean, he has made a decision that is so rare in American politics that it astonished
10:41people. And some people like Donald Trump still can't even comprehend it.
10:45He can't synthesize.
10:46He thinks he's going to swoop in somehow and try to take it back, take his nomination
10:50back.
10:51He cannot compute that.
10:53But Joe Biden can talk to us better than anybody in the country about Kamala Harris as
11:01his vice president, as his partner in the executive branch, also as somebody he knows
11:05from the Senate as well.
11:07And her extraordinary service as senator from our largest state, why she is poised to
11:13lead the values of democracy and freedom and progress for everybody in the new century.
11:20And that's going to be an extraordinary thing to hear him talk about her as well as talk
11:25about him. I mean, you know, I think the emotional expectation is rising in this room as
11:31to what we're going to hear from Joe Biden.
11:33And there are those of us who are just, you know, run up speakers to President Biden.
11:38And we can't wait to hear what he's got to say.
11:41You know, one of our favorite things about you.
11:43We love everything about you, Congressman.
11:44We love talking to you as a constitutional scholar.
11:46You know, I use this opportunity to take your class every time that you're with me.
11:49But, you know, the role of the vice president is one of the most ambiguous, I think, to
11:53a lot of people. Right. If they haven't read through the Constitution, people don't know
11:56what vice presidents do.
11:58One of the things that's been so fascinating about watching the relationship between
12:02President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, similar to when President Biden was
12:06vice president, is you actually kind of got to see what the vice president's relationship
12:10was and her importance.
12:11I mean, his reliance on her.
12:13She was, in the end, the most hardcore with him to the bitter end.
12:19She was like, he said he's in this.
12:21She was his fiercest defender after that debate, the debacle debate.
12:26And he handed it off to her and then has started to lay out.
12:29Here's what she's been doing with me.
12:31Here's what our policies have been.
12:34And this is why she set up for success.
12:36What do you make of the way that President Biden has in some ways taught us what the
12:39vice president's job is by describing her?
12:42I mean, constitutionally, of course, the major job of the vice president is to preside over
12:46the Senate and to vote only when there's a tie.
12:48There have been a lot of ties.
12:49So she's actually played an important role.
12:51I think she has cast a significant percentage of all of the tie vote votes cast by vice
12:58presidents in American history.
13:01So she's done a great job on that.
13:03And then basically to serve the president, they used to say, check on the president's
13:06health. Yeah, they have this wonderful relationship.
13:10There's no daylight between them.
13:12And so there's no hard feelings.
13:14Again, the Republicans don't understand that.
13:16They don't understand what it means to be a real political party, which listens to
13:19people where people come together, can disagree.
13:22But the unity, the focus, the momentum at this convention is absolutely extraordinary
13:27how everybody is together on this one goal.
13:30Now, they operate like a dictatorship over on their side.
13:34It's an autocracy, but they still can't get over the fact that we have seen a passing
13:40of the baton to a new generation of political leaders.
13:43And Biden thereby teaches America and those of us who are in public life that a really
13:48important ingredient to leadership is creating space for new leadership and bringing
13:53people in and nurturing them and coaching them and then supporting them.
13:57Yeah. And if the Hiros-Walls ticket wins, I don't know when the last time we've had a
14:01vice president who came from the House rather than the Senate.
14:04So I know y'all House folks are excited about the idea of having somebody that comes
14:08from your body. It's a very big deal for us.
14:10And it is well balanced in terms of Senate and House representation, as well as
14:16geographically and in terms of life experiences.
14:19It's a ticket that really speaks to America in a profound way.
14:22You House folks are spiking the balls a little bit.
14:24I think I think the Reps are spiking the ball just a little bit.
14:26Let me throw this back to Alex Wagner.
14:28Thank you very much. Congressman Jamie Raskin, the best there is.
14:31And now we're going to throw it back to Alex Wagner with a special guest.
14:34Oh, now we've got a senator.
14:35Here we go. The rivalry shall continue.
14:37We're having a little too much fun, I think.
14:39Yes. On the convention floor.
14:41We are. And there's a lot going on here.
14:43And Minnesota has these nice blue actual seat covers.
14:48Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar boosting the Minnesota delegation's seat
14:53covers, which are blue.
14:54Very organized.
14:55Organized party, psyched about Tim Walz being vice president.
14:58Can you talk a little bit more about how psyched you are about Tim Walz and what your
15:01expectations are for Tim Walz when he arrives?
15:04Well, I think, first of all, we're excited about tonight.
15:06I think we got the most people here already with Joe Biden speaking.
15:10And just this, we're going to see a lot of focus on democracy, as Jamie just
15:14explained. But we're also going to see the passing of the torch.
15:17And from there on, on Wednesday night is Tim Walz's speech.
15:22And I think everyone's started to be captivated by him and his unique way
15:27of addressing things from the dad video on how to fix a car to
15:33just his warmth, his love of our democracy and our country.
15:39And I just think people are going to really enjoy hearing his speech.
15:41There are a lot of things that Governor Walz contributes to the ticket.
15:44But one of the things that I'm personally obsessed with is his introduction of the
15:48phrase weird to describe Donald Trump and J.D.
15:50Vance, which even today is something that Donald Trump is talking about to the
15:55press and to audiences.
15:57OK, so I kind of feel like this is spun out here because, you know, you have your
16:00split screens on one side.
16:02You have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz filling these arenas with 15000 people on
16:07fire. Then on the other side, you have Donald Trump spinning about like bird
16:11cemeteries. That was one topic recently claiming he did the cap on insulin.
16:17And just all in all, I think that somehow and there's nothing he gets more pissed
16:21about than crowd size issues, as we know, to the point where he's claiming that her
16:26crowds were generated by A.I., which has been disproven by many reporters.
16:30So I just think that somehow something has been triggered here and we've got the
16:36wind at our sails. We've got the momentum.
16:38She's ahead, getting ahead in several swing states.
16:41And I think you're going to hear today that 28 days they did this.
16:45She's united the party, raised over 300 million dollars, picked a vice president,
16:50filled the arenas and is surging in the swing states.
16:53So this is going to give us a moment to talk a bit about the policies, what they
16:57want to get done in the future.
16:58But it's also going to continue that momentum.
17:00Senator Amy Klobuchar, it's great to see you and the Minnesota seat covers.
17:04All right. All right.
17:05Twenty eight days, man.
17:07Twenty eight days.
17:08Can you believe it feels like maybe longer than that?
17:11Yeah, it's a wild transition to think about that, making it through this month.
17:15I want to thank, of course, the senator, Alex Wagner.
17:17Joy Reid here. This is just our first segment of our special coverage.
17:21We'll be back with much more from day one of this Democratic National Convention
17:25launching tonight. Next.
17:28Dream belongs to all of us.
17:30And if we can work together and stand together and vote together on November 6th
17:38for President Barack Obama, that's a dream we will put within reach of all our
17:45people. Thank you.
17:48That was Kamala Harris's first time on the main stage at the DNC.
17:51By the end of this week, we'll be seeing her come back and be the nominee for the
17:55first time. Our special coverage continues.
17:58Joy Reid and I have an anchoring and we're joined by former Senator Claire McCaskill.
18:02Welcome. Thank you, Ari.
18:05It's fun to be here. I'm geeking out.
18:07Good. We're glad you're having a good time.
18:10We're ramping up. I wonder if you could talk to us a little bit about how conventions
18:13always do at least two things.
18:16They gather the party.
18:18That's why we look down to the floor.
18:20We just said your former colleague, Senator Klobuchar, talking about where they were
18:24sitting in Minnesota.
18:25And they gather the party and the party stands to be potentially more united than it was
18:29a month ago tonight. But they also tell a story to the country.
18:32And we're expecting to hear not only from President Biden tonight, but from other
18:36Democrats who want to talk about labor choice, civil rights, to take
18:41the excitement around this transition to a new candidate, but also talk issues to the
18:45country. What do you expect to see on those two lanes tonight?
18:50Yeah, I think it's really interesting to remember that while Kamala Harris needs to
18:54introduce herself in many ways to the country this week, she also wants to make sure
18:59that everybody understands that this is about the people and not about her, which is a
19:04big contrast with the Republican convention.
19:06You got the message loud and clear at the Republican convention from his fancy white
19:11chair he sat in to walking out to men rule the world, that it was all about Donald
19:17Trump, not about the people of this country that need public policy that helps their
19:22lives. So I think what you're going to see are issues brought up in this convention that
19:27remind people that the Democratic Party gets it.
19:30It's not about her.
19:32It's about them. And that's what she's going to try to pull off.
19:35And it's tricky because she also has to introduce herself so people are more comfortable
19:40with her and understand and know her background better.
19:43We're just getting started, but based on your walkthrough and getting into position and
19:48the vibes, as we've been calling them lately, how do you think this convention compares
19:52to other ones that you've attended?
19:55It is very much I reminisced when you played that clip of the vice president in 2008.
20:02It really reminds me of Denver in 2008.
20:05Many ways. I was on that podium in primetime in 2008 as an early endorser of Barack
20:11Obama. And I remember that it felt historic.
20:16It felt special.
20:17And you hear those echoes in this hall right now.
20:20And tonight's so important, Ari, because Joe Biden is going to give everyone permission
20:25to be excited about Kamala Harris.
20:28There are still people, understandably, that feel badly about what happened to Joe Biden
20:34because of what an amazing president he's been.
20:37But I think Joe Biden, once again, is going to do what's right for the country and tell
20:41everybody tonight, yes, be excited, get going.
20:46There's an election to win and it's very important and she's the one to do it.
20:50And I think this I think the roof will blow off this place tonight for Joe Biden.
20:54Yeah, you put it really well because it is that permission structure and it speaks again
20:58to the party coalition being strengthened and people feeling good about that.
21:02Joy, I have a question for you.
21:06It's kind of along those same lines, because, you know, people talk about Clinton
21:09Democrats. That was the thing in the 90s.
21:11There are definitely Obamacrats.
21:13We know that those exist.
21:15I think people underestimate the extent to which there are Bidenistas, there are Biden
21:19Democrats. People really love him.
21:21Democrats really love this guy.
21:22You know, there are a lot of African-American Democrats very much love Joe Biden.
21:26And I think it's partly connected to his relationship with President Barack Obama and
21:31the way he stood with him, but also just something about him resonates with a lot of
21:36Democrats. So you talked about that mix of kind of sadness and also joy that you're
21:41seeing and that you're feeling.
21:42Give me what the mix is like and how much has his blessing of Kamala Harris boosted
21:48her with Bidenistas?
21:51Absolutely essential.
21:52And Joe Biden knows that.
21:54I mean, he knows that he has immense power in this party, as he should.
21:59I mean, joy, he deserves having immense power in this party.
22:03And only because he was selfless and stepped aside, is she even in a position to
22:10challenge Donald Trump?
22:11But, you know, our party handled things differently than the Republican Party.
22:15In the Republican Party, there was a lot of people that didn't like Donald Trump, didn't
22:20think he could win. And guess what?
22:21They all folded and became part of the Trump cult.
22:25And it is all about him.
22:26In our party, there were people that said, no, this is about something bigger than any
22:31one person. And the one person who said that loudly by what he did was Joe Biden.
22:37And I think that's why his legacy will be legend among American presidents because of
22:43the selflessness he's shown over the last month.
22:46Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know what?
22:47It's what you know, what's better than having one former senator to bring in another
22:52one, Senator Barbara Boxer of the great state of California, your friends.
22:55So we're just bringing all the gals together.
22:57Let's talk about that a little bit, because, you know, there is this sense that this is
23:03a swan song for a career for President Biden.
23:07But it's also a handoff, right?
23:09This is like a relay race handoff that he's handing it to this person that was really to
23:15the end, like she literally defended him to the bitter end after that debate.
23:19Can you talk a little bit about that relationship and then talk a little bit about the
23:23former senator from California who is now poised to take the reins of the party, Kamala
23:28Harris? Well, first of all, I want to say hi, Claire, and I love her take on things.
23:38What I want to say is this, when I decided to step away from the Senate, Kamala Harris
23:45stepped up. She ran a great race.
23:48I endorsed her.
23:49And here she is now.
23:50So I'm super excited about all of that.
23:53It's pretty great.
23:55And I also want to say when history is written, it will say all those great things about
24:00President Biden, the things that he did.
24:03He brought us back from Covid.
24:05He brought the economy back.
24:07He fought for the soul of America, but he also endorsed Kamala at a time when a lot of
24:14people in my party were saying open convention.
24:19And I would just like to say if it was an open convention, it would have been chaos.
24:25So I think when history is written, he will get so many great marks for that.
24:30Look, he feels toward her so close because she was close with his son who passed away
24:39from cancer. And I think he felt that connection to both.
24:43So it's a warm, everlasting relationship.
24:48Senator Ari Melba here.
24:49Good to see you again. I should say Senator Boxer, to be clear.
24:53When when we look at the the gender dynamics here with the walls pick and a lot of the
25:01way Harris has been campaigning, it's been inclusive in the best sense.
25:04We've we've talked and joked about the identity politics, the camo hats, all of that.
25:09But it still matters a lot as with Hillary Clinton taking the stage tonight.
25:13Hillary Clinton did show mathematically that she ran for president and more people voted
25:19for the woman than the man that year.
25:20We just have this whole Electoral College thing on the side that someday we might deal
25:24with. What does it say to you in that bridge that and Joy Reid was talking about this at
25:28the beginning of the broadcast, that Biden was a bridge from the diversity of the Obama
25:33era, then coming out of Clinton with whom he served.
25:36She speaks tonight and he's passing the torch to what could be if she wins the first
25:41woman president, first woman of color president.
25:43Where does that all fit into some of the speakers we're going to hear from?
25:47Well, first of all, that's something that a lot of people don't remember, that he
25:51stepped aside for Hillary when she ran and now he's embracing a woman of color, his
25:57vice president.
25:58It's so exciting.
25:59I hope I can say this about the men who are listening to us.
26:04You know, confident men will vote for Kamala Harris.
26:08Step out there, show that.
26:11And I remember when I ran for office, I didn't get the men's vote, but I had a but
26:17but I got a lot of men's votes and I had a button that said real men vote for Barbara
26:22Boxer. So I think this is a test you guys out there.
26:26Join us.
26:27It's about you.
26:28It's about your freedoms.
26:29It's about your democracy.
26:31It's about whether we have an economy that works for everyone, not just the billionaires
26:36who, you know, Trump just loves to kiss their feet and everything else.
26:41Real men vote for Boxer, as you said.
26:43And, you know, it's important to keep it real.
26:45We try to keep joy and I try very hard to keep it real around here.
26:48We try. We try.
26:51I want to thank Senators Boxer and McCaskill both for joining us.
26:55And we're going to fit in a quick break to join.
26:57I will continue our special coverage as we launch MSNBC's day one of the DNC tonight.
27:06When any barrier falls in America, it clears the way for everyone.
27:16When there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit.
27:22We are back covering the Democratic National Convention and joining us now is Douglas
27:26Brinkley, wonderful historian and friend.
27:30Thank you so much for being here.
27:31Thanks. You just saw Hillary Clinton.
27:33And, you know, she came so close to becoming America's first woman president.
27:37There had been sort of talk about her being that really since the late 1960s, when she
27:41first sort of showed up on the national radar as this could be a person that did it.
27:45What do you think, if you look contextually in history, her run for president means now
27:50with Kamala Harris facing that same glass ceiling?
27:54I think she's the pioneer, Hillary Clinton.
27:57Yes, you had Shirley Chisholm.
27:58Absolutely. And that was important.
28:00But with Hillary Clinton seizing the nomination, that will be forever in the history
28:05books. And we can't forget that she's beat Donald Trump by millions of votes in the
28:10popular vote. So that's going to be historic.
28:13But I see her in part of it.
28:15I heard her give a speech.
28:16I've worked with her at one at for Eleanor Roosevelt.
28:19And she talks about the entire run from Susan B.
28:23Anthony in Seneca Falls in 1848 and all these great women in women's history.
28:28So she's the bridge, just like John Lewis was the bridge to Barack Obama.
28:32Hillary Clinton is the bridge to Kamala Harris.
28:34It's so interesting. You mentioned Shirley Chisholm.
28:36The year that she ran for president was the year that Joe Biden became the United States
28:40senator. It's so interesting the way history kind of rhymes.
28:43And I've been glad to see Shirley Chisholm getting in.
28:46Fannie Lou Hamer, people talk about 1964, what she did.
28:50And they're getting their place in the main game of history.
28:54It is interesting because you have Joe Biden, who really does sort of as a white
28:58politician of his generation.
28:59I mean, there's been so many intersections of him with, you know, major black
29:03movements, whether it's, you know, supporting the ANC, which not a lot of white guys
29:07did, you know, in Washington, Reagan was calling them terrorists.
29:09He was supporting them.
29:10And then, you know, being there with Barack Obama.
29:12And then now it is interesting that the person he's anointed as a successor, she
29:17stood up as the person that was her model.
29:18It's all very circular.
29:19It's all very circular.
29:21And one of Biden's great accomplishments will be that he picked Kamala Harris as
29:25vice president, that he had the fortitude to to see her talent, to give her that job
29:31and then to trust handing the torch, passing the torch, which we're going to be
29:35hearing a lot about during the convention.
29:37Yeah, I would just hog all the time.
29:39But Ari has a question, so I'm going to throw it to you, Ari.
29:42Thank you both. You know, as a historian, I'm curious what you think about the
29:47timing of this year when we remind viewers that it was literally one month ago that
29:52the president announced he was exiting and President Biden speaks tonight and the
29:56timing of of getting this new nominees campaign going with Harris, picking the
30:00running mate, barreling into the convention.
30:03It's their job to get it right.
30:04Not everyone else is just watching.
30:07But how different is this?
30:08How much more compressed is it?
30:09What does history tell us about fitting many months of a campaign into a few weeks?
30:15It's about momentum and Kamala Harris has it right now and somehow the Trump team will
30:21have to dislodge it.
30:22You know, we've been talking about 1968 at Chicago about Hubert Humphrey being Johnson
30:29steps out and Humphrey comes in.
30:30But Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota made a real play here in Chicago in 68 to get the
30:36nomination. The party was divided.
30:40The way that Biden and Harris have done it, it's been seamless and hence the beneficiary
30:45of the way Biden's acted is Kamala Harris.
30:48And she's been near flawless on the campaign trail so so far.
30:52And the energy is palatable.
30:54Nobody was begging to come to Chicago to get a pass.
30:59Everybody wanted to be here now because.
31:09Toy Story.
31:11Russia.
31:17So I think it's a battle.
31:18Don't know the.
31:21Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia,
31:26Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia,
31:30Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia,
31:32Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia,
31:34Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia,
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33:20I'm going to knit a sweater
33:36I am going to knit golden linen
33:50Next, I will paint the bicycle. I will choose brown.
34:20Next, I will paint the motorcycle.
34:50Next, I will paint the shoes. I will choose brown.
35:20Next, I will paint the umbrella. I will choose gray.
35:40Next, I will choose gray.
36:10Next, I will paint the motorcycle.
36:40Next, I will paint the bicycle.
37:10Next, I will choose green.
37:30Next, I will choose blue.
38:00Next, I will paint the bicycle.
38:20Thank you for watching the video.