We have got to vote like we did in 2008 and 2012. Weve got to show up with the same level of passion and hope for joe biden. Weve got to vote early, in person if we can, weve got to request our mailin ballots right now, tonight, and send them back immediately and follow up to make sure theyre received, and then make sure our friends and families do the same. We have got to grab our comfortable shoes, put on our masks, pack a brown bag dinner and maybe breakfast, too, because weve got to be willing to stand in line all night if we have to. Look, we have already sacrificed so much this year. So many of you are already going that extra mile. Even when youre exhausted, youre mustering up unimaginable courage to put on those scrubs and give our loved ones a fighting chance. Even when youre anxious, youre delivering those packages, stocking those shelves and doing all that essential work so that all of us can keep moving forward. Even when it all feels so overwhelming, working parents are somehow piecing it all together without child care, teachers are getting creative so that our kids can still learn and grow. Our young people are desperately fighting to pursue their dreams. And when the horrors of systemic racism shook our country and our consciences, millions of americans of every age, every background rose up to march for each other, crying out for justice and progress. This is who we still are. Compassionate, resilient, decent people whose fortunes are bound up with one another. And it is well past time for our leaders to once again reflect our truth. So it is up to us to add our voices and our votes to the course of history, echoing heroes like john lewis who said, when you see something that is not right, you must Say Something. You must do something. That is the truest form of empathy, not just feeling, but doing. Not just for ourselves or our kids but for everyone. For all our kids. And if we want to keep the possibility of progress alive in our time, if we want to be able to look our children in the eye after this election, we have got to reassert our place in american history. And we have got to do everything we can to elect my friend joe biden as the next president of the United States. Thank you, all. God bless. Truly extraordinary moment in american political history. The former first lady of the United States delivering a powerful speech not only, of course, supporting joe biden for president of the United States but directly launching a very, very powerful attack on the current president of the United States, saying hes the wrong president for our country, hes way in, she says, over his head. Jake, what do you think . First of all, before i get to any of the content, we should just acknowledge that the former first lady is one of the most effective speakers in american politics today. She was reading that from a teleprompter, and the way she speaks is, you know, Strong Enough to give any politician a run for his or her money. In fact, if i can be so bold, shes a more effective speaker than Vice President joe biden is when reading from a teleprompter. But beyond that, weve never heard this country, a former first lady or current first lady, speak this starkly about the candidate that she is not supporting. She painted, first of all, a very distopian picture of the United States, and i know there are people out there who probably recognize that dystopia right now. Its just not the kind of thing you hear first ladies talk about. She talked about White Supremacists bearing torches and children being stripped from their families and thrown in cages, tear gas and rubber bullets for a photo op, all stories we lived through and can remember, but its not the kind of picture that a first lady is known to make. The other thing i would say is her criticisms of President Trump were not about his policies. They were about his lack of character. She talked about chaos, she talked about division, she alluded to racism. She talked about his lack of empathy. She noted, the wrong president for our time. He was in over his head. He simply cannot be who we need him to be. Then she used trumps own words, you might remember in that axios interview, he said, it is what it is, referring to the now 170,000 dead americans we have due to coronavirus, and Michelle Obama used those words against him. It is what it is describing him. Really, its an historic speech in any regard, both in terms of the scene she painted of the United States right now, and also what she had to say about the current president of the United States. Yeah, she certainly did. Dana, go ahead. Absolutely, and on that note, what struck me was how much she went for the jugular on donald trump, not just in her sort of blanket assessment, poor assessment of him, but she knew where to hit him where it hurts, talking about the fact that he lost the National Popular vote by nearly 3 million votes. We know that that is something that bothers the president almost as much as anything. And also talking about the fact that he barely won the electoral college, that he won a margin that averaged just one or two votes per precinct. She didnt just go after him, but she went after him in a way that she really knew would bug him. The other thing that was really striking as a parent is the way she tried to reach out to parents, talking about the morality and character that people tried to teach their kids. And how she argued that completely flies in the face of what they see in the white house. That kids are thinking that parents are just not telling them the truth, theyre lying to them when they explain what is right and wrong. And that is certainly a way that shes trying to reach out to people. She stressed that she is not someone who likes politics at all. You could hear the frustration in her voice, you could see it in her face, and i think thats why that made this so powerful. One of the things that really struck me was hearing her Say Something that weve heard her say in her postpresidency life about the power of voting. She was speaking directly to democrats who she said maybe didnt think that their vote counted in 2016 and decided to stay home. Its a direct reference to these narrow margins in the battleground states that President Trump won by, but it was also really speaking to this moment that were in right now in which democrats are looking around at President Trumps comments on voting, and theyre worried that hes not going to accept the results of the election. She said pretty clearly tonight, which i think is really extraordinary, that it has to be a margin of victory for joe biden that cannot be ignored. I think that was really striking to hear her say that. Its a nod to this concern that is now becoming more widespread among democrats about whether or not President Trump is going to actually accept the results of the election if he were to lose. Truly extraordinary moment. Ive covered a lot of democratic and republican political conventions. Anderson, i have never, ever heard a first lady of the United States, a current first lady or a former first lady, speak about a sitting president of the United States the way Michelle Obama just did. Yeah. And david axelrod, as jake tapper was saying, it wasnt based on policy issues, though certainly they would disagree on those, it was a portrait of the president of his character, and his character failings, his lack of compassion, his lack of attention, his lack of caring and capabilities. Without question, and also setting up the contrast with joe biden, which is such an important part of this week for him. Listen, let me say that ive watched Michelle Obamas evolution as a public figure. She spoke a lot of truths in this speech. I think the truest of all is when she said she hates politics. She doesnt speak like a politician, she doesnt think like a politician, and thats one of the reasons why shes such a powerful communicator. This was not a speech in political terms. This was a moral speech, a speech from the standpoint of a mother, of a concerned citizen, and feit felt that way. Ive seen it many times before. She became a great closer within the obama campaigns because of that, because she speaks with a moral authority few in politics can summon. Anderson, have you heard a speech like this . Certainly as a first lady, i havent. No, and if you think about Michelle Obama, shes someone that really avoided politics. She said that in her speech and she really wanted to, i think, reserve her Political Capital in some ways for moments like this. Sometimes she would say she wanted to reserve it to make the best case for her husband, and here you see her tonight using all of her Political Capital. Shes also this kind of pop culture figure who also kind of comes across as your favorite nextdoor neighbor. So here she was, speaking very plainly, using colloquialisms throughout this speech, and really speaking from the heart in a way that will connect with so many different americans, urging folks who might not like joe biden, right . Hes not perfect, she said at one point, but hes someone who listens. She also wove in all the themes from the night about joe biden, being a good listener, being someone who is em pathetic, and speaking as someone who has seen the presidency up close, and she said donald trump has had time, and we know now that he is not up for this job. Four years ago Michelle Obama gave a very wellknown speech as well, there was a lot of applause. Does this make much of a difference . Its hard to say. Well see who is watching this convention, but the thing that was so affecting about her was not only that she was emotional and a mother and seemed to be a truth teller, but she had also been in the white house. When she started out by saying you simply cannot fake your way through this job, believe me, ive been there. I understand how complex and compelling the issues are. I understand how difficult these decisions are that this president that a president has to make, and this president has had enough time and he cant do it. And she moved from that to talking about character and about our children and what our children are seeing now every single day, and how families are suffering. And then she did a very, very potent get out the vote message. Put on your walking shoes right now. Vote early, because as she said, theyre sending out people to intimidate voters and theyre lying about the security of our ballots. And for a former first lady to say theyre lying about a current president of the United States is really quite something to behold, and you could see and hear the sadness in her voice in a way and the frustration that she has had over these last few years. John . I think the urgency of now was her message in the sense that you mentioned the speech four years ago. She gave a very good speech at Hillary Clintons convention, Hillary Clinton herself a former first lady probably wishes she had the urgency of Michelle Obama in rallying the cause. The point she made about many of us four years ago maybe didnt vote. Maybe we didnt have the turnout in 2008 or 2012, because maybe we thought it was over. Maybe we thought Hillary Clinton had an insurmountable lead. Do not make that mistake again. I think that was a critical part of the message. Michelle obama doesnt like politics, right . Donald trump will do what he did to Hillary Clinton to joe biden. Part of all the speakers tonight was to show joe biden the man. What Michelle Obama was saying, do not wait. If you plan to vote by mail, get it tonight. Do not delay. Think about who she is. If black women turn out in higher numbers that they did in 2016, if suburban mothers or moms stick with joe biden like they did with democrats in the house in 2018, joe biden is the next president of the United States. Michelle obama can be a great mess messenger here, and they would be an idiot if that wasnt on an ad in minutes. Van, your thoughts on what you saw. It was an extraordinary speech. Shes beautiful. It was so beautiful. You know, she wasnt just putting the president down, she was trying to pick the country up. She was speaking like a lot of moms across this country. You know, the heartbreak was there, the hope was there. You know, when she talks about joe knows the anguish of sitting at a table with an empty chair, i mean, that goes deep. She was bringing something forward in the country that just hasnt been here for a long time. She talks about what the young people are seeing on their phones, seeing all these shootings, seeing all this disrespect, and the young people are beginning to give up on the country. So youre seeing one of the most effective communicators in American Life putting it all on the table, and it wasnt just putting the president down. And the other theing is she talked about empathy. She wasnt just siding that to biden. She says, we all have empathy. Thats a feature of this country. I was just blown away by what she did, and she was building on the incredible performance of a lot of other people, but that was an extraordinary moment, i think, in American Life, what she just did for this country. And rhee an, have you seen a lot of first ladies give speeches . She comes across as a mother and a patriot who sees whats going on in the country. I thought Bernie Sanders speech was one of the most important pieces of tonight, because he seemed very sincere and excited about joe and kamala in a way that i did not feel in 2016. You know when you go to a wedding and someone gives a speech and you can always kind of tell whats going on . But bernies speech, i felt like bernie was about to get married. I did not feel that in 2016. I think thats part of the Democratic Partys success in the fall. Governor granholm . I want to pick up on Michelle Obamas message on empathy. She said the white house needs someone who knows someone elses experience has value, too, who understands that there are 330 million lives out there who have worth. That empathy component of what she described and felt and made us feel was woven through the entire convention. When you saw all of these montages of real people, just regular folks, the amtrak guy, the fellow at the barber shop who got a call from joe biden because of joe bidens empathy, the reflection of real people in joe bidens experience, it was all tied together in a beautiful bow by Michelle Obama, who finishes with the words that empathy is not just feeling but doing and initiating that call to action. I thought it created an inkr incredible story at this convention tonight, and she was the capper. Scott jennings, what did you think of her speech tonight . There were two audiences in this campaign. The turnout audience, which is huge, and the persuasion audience, which is very, very small, i think, in this campaign. Michelle obama went right for the turnout audience. Thats what they need to hear after democratic constituencies did not vote in 2016. I suspect her speech was compelling for that purpose. The problem with Michelle Obama or with her is that she will outshine joe bid binen by a mil foot candles or however you measure bright lights. There is no way he gets near her. She is a real talent, democrats like her, they care about her, and they are actually enthusiastic about her. The speech she gave tonight was like kasich. He said, i dont think joe biden will make it, and he used the word extremism, and i think youll hear republicans throw that back in the fall. And Bernie Sanders has to get people to vote for biden. There is no doubt that Michelle Obama has a lot of talent and did her job tonight. Your point about Bernie Sanders im sorry, the whole point about putting Bernie Sanders and the republicans together is to show the size of the tent, that there has been attention, of course, inside the progressive and the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, and now the republicans who are nevertrumpers or who will come over in the independents. But it is a huge tent, and everyone is welcome, no matter what your political persuasion or your color or your age or your size or who you love. And that is the beauty of democracy, its the beauty of the u. S. , and that is what was reflected in this convention tonight. Andrew, do you think the socialism label will stick . Its been used against democrats, obviously, for a long time. Does joe biden and Kamala Harris scream socialism to Many Americans . They really dont, and most americans realize we need the government to help dig us out of the hole that were in. I thought the series of meg whitman and christy todd, the other Republican Leaders who said they were supporting joe, i thought, was very effective. I think there was like a permission structure so that if you were a moderate republican who is trying to figure out if youre going to vote for trump or not, that you felt like the safe, comfortable thing to do was to head toward joe and kamala. Van, im sorry, i interrupted you. I think a couple things here. First of all, the way i saw Michelle Obama and what she was trying to accomplish, she has two challenges. One is youve got to get these disaffected voters back in. She spoke directly to them. You also have to figure out a way to get the young people excited, and you have to get all these women. She was doing so much political work with every sentence. It was extraordinary. She was also building on something. And i dont think that people were cynical, weve seen some of this stuff. Those ordinary voices, those regular people talking about their lives, the amtrak thing was beautiful. When this thing first started, for me it went from cringy to crying. I was cringing at the first, what are they doing, this doesnt make sense, and by the time you got to the end, i was crying. That amtrak story of joe biden, you cant make that stuff up. Tha that is real stuff. You cant make character. You cant fake good kids and you cant fake character. Joe biden is a good man and it showed. The woman who was talking about her father who died of covid because he believed donald trump, i mean, if you have a functioning brain stem and a human heart in your body, you cant help but feel the devastation when she said there are two americas, the one where President Trump lives and the one where my father died, there are stories of the American People who came through tonight. Listen, they took a bunch of risk from a production point of view. Some of that stuff did not work, but the stuff that worked really broke through. And i believe that creating a permission structure, as andrew said, for the republicans to move over and say, i may not agree with everything biden does, i sure do not like the left wing of that party, but there is some decency here i want to be associated with. There is some character here i want to be associated with. There is some empathy, some reality here i want to be associated with. They accomplished that tonight despite the hiccups and bumps. Governor . Anderson, to pick up on vans point, what theyre asking republicans to do is lay down all of their deeply held policy views. You like low taxes, youre pro life, you want Less Government regulations, you believe in the free market, youre asking republicans to lay all that down over the argument van made which is the character argument, and i guess thats the only road they can go down. My suspicion is a few might, but at the end of the day my suspicion is most republicans will go home to trump, and where the persuasion election will really be fought is that center lane where you have voters voting democratic or republican depending on what they want. I dont think it is a policy thing. I mean, republicans are parents. Their schools may or may not reopen. Nobody wants a continuation of this. Recans a republicans are saying, oh, my gosh, im a Small Business owner, my doors cant stay open. Nobody is looking up trying to argue for a public orthodoxy in this environment. Its like the stimulus bill that put trillions of dollars in the economy and is nearly unanimous. Were past the point where you can argue republican talking points and have any chance of winning. Governor . Totally agree with that. Were beyond looking at its only persuasion or only mobilization. It is both. You have to persuade, you have to enlarge your base. Thats why its important to make that political structure. That student you were talking about, she goes to uc berkeley, is a student of my husbands, and her line was the most biting of the night and very effective, which is talking about her father who passed of covid, his only preexisting condition was trusting donald trump, and for that he paid with his life. My guess is there are a lot of republicans, independents and democrats who have lost loved ones who feel the exact same way. Scott, i do notice that in the republican orthodoxy you were mentioning, you didnt talk about fiscal responsibility, concern about the deficit or executive orders which used to be, you know, things the republicans seemed to care about. They are now fully on board with huge Government Spending even before covid. And apparently executive orders now ruled by fiat are fine. They didnt like when obama did it, and the spending has ramped up. Its gotten a lot bigger since coronavirus. The Coronavirus Relief bill passed with nearly unanimous votes even though they ramped up the deficit a lot. Its because there was a realization by both parties that something had to be done. I totally agree that the rigidity and these idealogies is flexible in a time of crisis. Thats the way both parties have to be, but there is a certain set of policy values that you have that causes you to join one party or the other, and you put a guy like kasich on television to try to argue to lay down all of that you know, covid is going to come and go, were going to get a vaccine, hopefully, and well try to get back to some normalcy in this country. And when we do, what does the policy landscape look like . Tonight if youre a republican listening, maybe youre considering this, you heard Bernie Sanders say, my, quote, form he will rerly radical agen mainstream. Folks are picking for the next four years, and there is a day after covid. A postcrisis environment during a crisis is a dead loser. If republicans are going to say, hey, eventually the coronavirus is going to fade away, dont you want us in charge . People care about right now. Peoples Small Businesses they spent a lifetime building are now shut for good. So trying to argue that, hey, eventually the smoke will clear when were the ones who helped set the house on fire with terrible leadership is going to be an utterly losing argument, i certainly hope thats what the Republican Convention sounds like. I want to bring in david axelrod. Well, jeff zeleny. Jeff, explain where you are, what stood out to you tonight . Reporter anderson, were in wilmington, delaware where joe biden will be accepting this nomination on thursday, Kamala Harris will be delivering her speech on wednesday. There was an interesting tweet after obamas speech of the it was from senator harris. She said, Michelle Obama is speaking truth to power. That answers the question of why senator harris was not mentioned in that powerful speech by Michelle Obama where i am told by advisers to the former first lady that she actually recorded that speech before senator harris was chosen, so thats why senator harris was not mentioned. This was designed to be a character witness for joe biden, certainly a denunciation of the president. But the reason senator harris was not mentioned is this was done beforehand. This was certainly held close to the vest even though the obamas didnt know about it. Thats why im told she was not mentioned in the speech tonight. You can tell it was recorded a while ago because she said there were more than 150,000 deaths, which that number has risen. Jeff zeleny, thank you very much, gloria borger, david axelrod. Niamalika henderson, john king. David axelrod, what do you think . I liked that she said people not voting for character will not get this moved. She said her approach to governance has a real life cost that people can attach to it, and thats been his problem. Thats why hes lost ground in this race. So i think you can be too dismissive of that. I think that affects people, and i think thats whats really driving some of this suburban vote. I think the character argument is very powerful. As for kasich and his role, i dont think it was to persuade people necessarily that biden was moderate or was conservative like him, i think it was to persuade people that biden was someone who would work for everyone, who would Reach Across Party Lines in our country and try to find some common ground. There is a hunger for that after sort of the trenched warfare weve seen. I thought it was wise and it was great architecture for the on the parts of the producers of the convention to put all of these folks in that hour and deliver these different messages. So, i mean, i expect that the republicans will do what scott suggests, theyll try and attach Bernie Sanders to biden. Sanders was careful to say, we dont agree on everything. He said, what we do agree on, donald trump needs to go. So i think there was a lot of thought given to these speeches and each of them did some work here that is valuable for joe biden. Can we just talk about Bernie Sanders for a minute . Because this wasnt some wild speech, i think, that scott was talking about, this was Bernie Sanders, first of all, raising the stakes for people who love Bernie Sanders, saying that the future of our democracy, our economy and the planet are at stake, number one. And thats why you have to vote for joe biden. And then Bernie Sanders said, i will work with progressives, moderates and conservatives to preserve our nation. And this was a stunning speech, i think, of unity coming from Bernie Sanders when you think of where he was in 2016. And you think of that convention in 2016 when his supporters were not giving up, and they didnt like Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders likes Hillary Clinton. Yes, he said, we didnt agree on medicare for all, but he does have a good plan. But dont forget the stakes of this election, everyone. And that was the Michelle Obama speech, too. So Bernie Sanders started and Michelle Obama finished talking about the stakes. But i do not think i have never heard Bernie Sanders like this, and i dont think he could have been any clearer, and i dont think she could have been any clearer, either, and these are both, obviously, working to get out their voters, particularly sanders telling his people, you cannot stay home during this election, because its so important. John king, i thought there was kind of an interesting tone shift when Bernie Sanders came on. Its sort of like when you take your first cup of coffee in the morning and the caffeine finally hits your brain. It was sort of a jolt like, oh, wait a minute. Because the production of this, there were music videos obviously it was an unconventional convention. Bernie sanders is intense. That is his great appeal. It annoys some people or ofeffs some people, but that is Bernie Sanders. We dont have a convention, we are not in the hall. You could feel the tension between the two camps in the hall in 2016, and there is no question that Hillary Clinton believes to this day that Bernie Sanders didnt do enough. He disputes that. To hear Bernie Sanders talk about my movement is still alive, my movement is still great, but he merged it, essentially, with the Biden Campaign. This was like, we are one team. This is about math in the end. We talk about how complicated this is, and it is complicated. In the end its about arithmetic. Hillary clinton won the popular vote but lost the presidency because she didnt get enough votes in the right places. What did we see tonight . John kasich, is there a john kasich movement in america . No. John kasich couldnt beat donald trump in the 2016 primaries, but he got 143 votes in pennsylvania, 170 votes in ohio. If there is something to the math out there, the argument and debate scott was having. Joe biden was struggling in the primaries, remember . It was going to be pete buttigieg, where was Amy Klobuchar coming from. But Something Else happened. The pandemic was starting to take hold and a flip just switched among democratic voters. They said, sorry, this is getting serious, that guy has white house experience, and bang. It just happened. A flip switched. We dont know what Republican Voters think because donald trump did not have a serious primary challenge. We did not watch as march went into april went into may to see if Republican Voters were moving away from this president. We dont know if theyre persuadable. But we do see Republican Senate candidates in red states or purple states struggling. You do see that in iowa, in arizona, in north carolina, in georgia. That tells you, and look at the president s polling numbers. Look at the wrong track number in this country right now. The American People are more than open to change. The meaning of this Democratic Convention is to tell them push the button. Change. One of the ways we have seen opinions shift in terms of this country, in terms of another pandemic is around systemic racism. Many of the speakers talked about that. One of the republicans who said that he had voted for donald trump and its something that he was ashamed of at this point is now a registered democrat, and he didnt like the divisive tone from this president. Scott jennings obviously says, well, once covid is over, it will be all good for this president , but there is a kind of underlying rot to this country that covid has revealed. Racial inequities, economic inequities that are obviously intertwined, so that, i think, something that was sung throughout this convention. The problems with that, you heard George Floyds family there talking about the grief that they are feeling. You heard from clyburn, someone from a different era but most recently visited in charleston by White Supremacy just a few years ago. So i think this idea that its just covid, i think you saw from this convention, all of these speakers wrap in this idea that there is a systemic problem in this country, and its going to take more than just the end of covid to deal with all of these problems. Yeah. Ive got to toss it back to wolf. Wolf . Anderson, thank you. The former republican governor of ohio john kasich is joining us right now. Hes a cnn senior political commentator as well. Governor, thanks so much for joining us. Scott jennings just said its hard to believe you when you said in your speech biden wont go left when Bernie Sanders is speaking right after you. Who is right about biden . Would it be you or bernie . Well, look, i think the thing about joe biden is its his history. Hes not, you know, a left winger, he just isnt. Hes a moderate guy. You have to give bernie a lot of cred credit. The fact that he said we have one goal, and that is to make sure joe biden wins, and bernie is always going to have his ability to have his input. But biden at the end and think of the platform of what joe did. He rejected this whole medicare for all. He believes in trying to deal with this Health Care Issue by giving opportunity for more people. Hes rejected a number of things that the people who are more liberal than him favor, and joe has just got to be tough. Hes got to demonstrate to people that hes a tough guy, and i said tonight, nobody pushes joe around. I think he understands that. So, look, what theyre trying to do is get their act together and move in the same direction towards victory, but then after that you hash it out, and i guarantee you this. Biden will have republicans at the table. I dont think it will be me, but he will have republicans at the table and hell hear diverse opinions. Thats why i made the speech tonight, because he is not somebody who is anything other than a guy who can sit down, listen to people and solve problems. Thats my view of joe. Thats who hes been all of his lifetime. Scott, go ahead. Yeah, i think that the old joe biden from years ago, thats a description. He was kind of known as a moderate guy. He was moderate on abortion, for instance. But over time and as he got into this primary, he morphed on issues. He did agree with sanders on health care. But on abortion on the second amendment, go down the line on other issues that were huge flash points in the democratic primary. Bernie sanders said it right after you tonight, his ideas are now mainstream in the Democratic Party that has nominated joe biden, and i find it hard to believe that joe biden is going to be able to turn all of those ideas and all the people who support those ideas away if he gets into the white house. There is enormous pentup pressure inside the Democratic Party to run those policy items, and i just i dont personally believe joe biden can resist it, nor will he want to resist it because hes going to have a lot of people around him chirping in his ear that these people got us here and were going to have to do what they want us to do on policy. John, go ahead. The Biggest Issue in the country is people arent talking to each other. Its not just politicians anymore, its people. We dont get arnywhere like tha. In terms of immigration, i think we need a solution. Joe biden doesnt favor illegal immigration, but he does favor immigration where people can come into this country, and thank god they can, because most of us wouldnt be here if our grandparents or greatgrandparents hadnt been permitted to come here. We need an immigration solution. I stood on the stage with republicans who ran away as fast as they could from the idea that they were trying to Work Together to come up with a solution. Thats not acceptable. On guns . Hey, on guns, the American People, they want people to keep the second amendment, but people want reasonable restrictions on guns. I got to tell you, tif the Republican Party doesnt get with it and become a party of growth and opportunity, not taking away health care from people, not standing there with no changes to the gun laws in this country, and if they become negative on immigration, theyre not going to win, scott. Theyre just not going to. Its not the party of opportunity that you and i saw under Ronald Reagan and that was 40 years ago. We have a new set of issues on climate, on immigration, on health care. These are all things that matter. But i respect the fact that youre concerned that he could be overwhelmed. I happen to think there will be enough people around him, particularly people who are close to him, who will not let that happen. But well have to see. Im hopeful. Governor, jake tapper here. I remember four years ago, the Republican Convention was in your home state, ohio. You were the sitting governor. It was. You did not attend. And now here you are four years later actually advocating for the election of the democratic candidate against the republican incumbent president. The president today called you a major loser, the chairman of the ohio Republican Party said you turned your back on them. Tell us about the journey emotionally from running for the republican president ial nomination four years ago to where you are now, advocating for the democratic nominee . Do you feel alone . Do you feel isolated . Well, ive been alone almost all my lifetime. Ive walked a lonely road as a leader. Ive had a history of bipartisan deals. I was one of the guys that negotiated the balanced budget agreement which gave us surpluses. I was criticized by some on the right because they said i gave away the store. We only ended up with balanced budget for years and surpluses. I was able to work with tim penney in the early stages of that. I worked are ron delham on governmental reform. As governor i expanded medicaid, and now you see all these other republicans, these other voters, instituting medicaid reform. I am a conservative who believes that government is a last resort, not a first resort, but i also think, jake, government is necessary at times. Its not the enemy of people. So what im disappointed in is we didnt see the president when he got elected bring people together. I know this. Never in my entire political career, 30 years, did i ever see us make progress when all we did was fight. I dont agree with joe on a bunch of stuff. Thats cool, but i think hell listen, and i think we can get along. Governor, its dana bash. Are you going to campaign for joe biden beyond what you did tonight . Well, i think what i did tonight was pretty significant, so i have to take care of tonight in terms of what im going to do in the future. I dont really know what that means. I have a lot of things going on, and one of those responsibilities is with cnn. And let me tell you, when i see the other party do things i dont like, dana, im willing to call that out, too. I just have to see how things go. I also want to follow up on something you said just before to scott, which is you were talking about the fact that maybe joe biden would have a republican around his table in his cabinet, but i dont think it will be me. Why not . You dont want to serve in a biden presidency . I have no interest of going back to washington. I have a good life. You wouldnt be secretary or anything . Nothing i can think of. How about you . If you go, maybe ill be your deputy, thats all i can say, dana. Im really not seeking anything. Some people have written to me and said, oh, there must be something in this for you. There is nothing in this for me, and as my friends tell other people who wonder about me, they say john kasich hasnt switched swim lanes. This is the way hes always been. He talks to his friends, he considers things, he reflects and makes a decision. So politics, im not hampered by my party. My party has been my vehicle, its never been my master. Governor, its abby philip. I heard you talk about your party, youre a republican, youre not going to change your affiliation, but it sounds like the Republican Party is with trump by and large if you look at the poll numbers. Do you see more republicans coming out for biden or against trump leading up to november, especially those who are in Political Office right now and stand to lose a lot if they break with trump . I cannot tell you about who is going to do what who is in Political Office, but there is a whole bunch of people that are going to come out. You saw some of them tonight. You had susan molinari, very, very effective. You saw the lady who founded ebay. Shes very effective. Christy todd whitman, shes a powerhouse. Shes so impressing. Meg whitman, shes another one. Youre going to see others who are going to come out and say this is not the way to fix america. It doesnt mean theyre abandoning their party. Look, we have to see where the party goes. The party is just im very disappointed in them. Im disappointed in their silence and im disappointed in an agenda that doesnt seem to be very positive. For example, how do you take away health care from 20 Million People and you dont have a replacement . Thats absurd. So, look, call it like you see it, the democrats, my criticism for them, sometimes they get too extreme. They punish, some in party want to punish success. They want to say because somebody has built a great company, we ought to get rid of it. I dont buy that. Well see where it goes. Ive always sort of felt, abby, that if the situation is that if theres not the support in the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, there will abe third party. Who knows where were going to go. Its an exciting time, though, in america. The problem is the division and the hatred that exists even in families and even friends. Thats what makes me sad for our country. And, governor kasich, as somebody who has covered you for a long time, going back to when you were a member of the house of representatives on the budget committee, im a second source. I can confirm what you said about who you are and where youre coming from, because i watched you in those days leading up to a balanced budget and all of that. Thanks very much for joining us. Can i say one last thing . I think we all in america have to reflect on the fact that we have eroded, in many respects, faith in god. I was excited at the beginning of the program tonight that they had a prayer and all that. Look, if you believe in god, then you believe in the two great commandments. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Love god, and everybody is made in the image of god, so therefore we dont have the right to cancel them. If we get that, we can stop a lot of the antipathy and hate in this country. Something to think about. Good point. Anderson, i keep coming back to what Michelle Obama said at one point, and i think these were powerful words. If you think things cant possibly get worse, trust me, they can. Strong words from the former first lady. A warning of what may be to come. I want to play more of what Michelle Obama had to say. Let me be as honest and clear as i possibly can. Donald trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is. Van jones, its interesting, her delivery is really fascinating to me. Even though its obviously something shes written out or written out with others, whatever her process is, and its on teleprompter, she has this ability where it is very natural, as if shes just thinking about it as she is saying it, and she didnt even a lot of people that would have used the it is what it is, they would have said, as the president once said. She just kind of put it out there, and if you know, you know. She has a very unique talent. She does stuff on a microphone that you just dont see. I mean, she has all the presence of a talk show host, shes got the timing of a comedian, she get the cadences sometimes of a preacher, but its all sort of relaxed into this very intimate way of talking. One of the ways you know shes one of the most powerful people Michelle Obama. Donald trump, rarely, even says his name. She kicks his butt every time she gets in front of a microphone, in front of a crowd, he acts like nothings happening. Nothing to see here, folks. He dont want to mess with michelle. So that just gives you a sense of what she is bringing to the table as communicator. I was curious to see what this thing would actually look like. And clearly, there was more emphasis, i think, on the producing of the latter part of the second hour. The first hour. I mean, are do we know, are they going to continue with that sort of a format, throughout the rest of the week . Because there were, clearly, some things that, you know, did not work, from a television standpoint. Well, from a tv standpoint, obviously, when you are mixing up prerecorded things with live things, its there were a little bit of jumps, et cetera. I think people can forgive that. The first part, i think, you know, if you have Bruce Springsteen recording the rising of a montage to real people, that was the first for me. The second was well, they didnt have Bruce Springsteen. They just had Bruce Springsteens song. He was in there for ten seconds. Oh, okay. I missed that part. Yeah. Yeah. And then, you had all these kids from from 50 states and and seven territories, who were all seeing components of tingin national anthem. Yeah, i thought that was powerful. It was. But from the jump there were a lot of you know, eva longoria interviewing people on a remote. Thats a hard thing to do, even if they are the most compelling people on the planet. I mean, its just a difficult thing. M not sure it plays to the strengths of what a Democratic Convention is supposed to be, or any convention. Well, so, some of the stuff maybe worked and some worked less. And i think theyre going to learn in round two. I love the fact that all four of the nights are going to be moderated by women. Different women. And and thats very exciting. I mean, carrie washington is going to be moderating a night. I think its going to be theyll all bring their own different style to it. And im not exactly sure how its going too l lay out. But but the bottom line is that this format allowed for different venues. A huge number of people that would not, otherwise, normally participate in a Democratic Convention. The entire country, all 50 states, represented in this format. So, i mean, its not traditional. You dont have the balloon drop. You dont have all the applause. But you definitely had shorter speeches, and you definitely had the ability to include more people and i think thats good. Andrew, it is true that, often, one forgets, in a regular convention, you have a lot of people who, i guess, have to be allowed to speak, for whatever reason. And so, there is a lot of sort of checking the box like, all right, we got that person to speak for five minutes and now they went over their time. So i mean, it did avoid all of that. Well, i like what van said. Where they had to take some risks with the production because this is uncharted territory. And the fact is, its difficult to project, in a compelling way, when there is no audience. Its one of the benefits of having a Standard Convention crowd. Its a little bit like professional sports where the sports and the crowd, the audience ends up comprising this ve very compelling backdrop. And having been speaking to small gatherings, very small gatherings in my case, but also arenas full of people. You can feed off that energy. Its a very different backdrop. Its a different set of skills, frankly. And its one reason why having stars, like bernie and Michelle Obama is so important, because they can make a message incredibly powerful and compelling, really, with no crowd present. So, in a way, its raising the bar for speakers, which is something i actually empathize with the speakers on. I, also, thought having an mc and i guess it will be a different person every night. You know, it does help with the flow of it. Im very curious to see how the republicans choose to do their convention. Because, again, this is uncharted territory and it is fascinating to watch. Lets play some of what Bernie Sanders said. Under this administration, authoritarianism has taken root in our country. I, and my family, and many of yours, know the insidious way authoritarianism destroys democracy, decency, and humanity. As long as i am here, i will work with progressives, with moderates and, yes, with conservatives, to preserve this nation from a threat that so many of our heroes fought and died to defeat. David axelrod, i thought Bernie Sanders was, not only reaching out to his supporters to try to bring them on board, he was trying to kind of emphasize the what is at stake. You know, what struck me about him, and this is one of Bernie Sanders strengths is he is a very authentic person. He wasnt going to get up there, and make a case that he didnt believe. He acknowledged that there were differences with joe biden. But i think he, fundamentally, believes what you just heard. He believes that trump is is an authoritarian. And that this is an existential threat to the country. And he made the argument, with passion, and it will motivate his base. And it may motivate beyond his base. I suspect the organizers were expecting a little bit more of an economic argument from him, if there was anything that was missing from that second hour, it was more of that. And they thought they would provide that. But what he did provide was, i think, very powerful. They have to be very happy with what he did. As gloria mentioned earlier, this is such a contrast to 2016. When it did feel, as if he was being coerced into into speaking at the convention. And there was restiveness on the floor among his supporters. This was a totally cohesive endorsement, embrace, and argument on his part. And thats going to that will benefit joe biden, moving forward. If i were joe biden, id be very happy with Bernie Sanders speech. And i think that the Biden Campaign has really gone out of its way to sort of weave together the sanders folks and the biden folks. Not only in terms of the platform. But also, being inclusive, in a lot of ways, including in this speech. And i think, again, you know, to the paioint that sanders views this as a threat to democracy and existential threat. You know, for Bernie Sanders, thats a pretty good line. And but but it was it was folks, wake up. We got to get real, here. It was Bernie Sanders, in an odd way, saying be pragmatic and get out and vote for this guy. Yeah. And almost one of his final lines. We must come together to defeat donald trump. The price of failure is too great to imagine. He touched on policy, a little bit. Raising the minimum wage. Climate change. Healthcare a bit. But that sort of urgency that youve got to come together. And you saw Michelle Obama do something similar, when she said, you know, dont vote for someone who has no chance of winning, which is what, in many ways, happened to Hillary Clinton in 2016. So, i think glorias right that they are happy with this speech. The two closers tonight. Bernie sanders, as well as Michelle Obama. And and part, anderson i think the whole im sorry, john. I say just going to say part of the message tonight, the threat is so big, we must all come together. Whether its kasich, Bernie Sanders, we must put aside our differences. But Bernie Sanders is an activist. His movement out there is very real. They are more present in the Digital Space than biden. In a campaign when you cant knock on doors, you need people to get in early votes, make sure they track them. If those organizers come to the table with more energy. And lets just say the Bernie Sanders people who voted for Hillary Clinton last time said, eh, but ill do it. If they actually use their organizing and activism, they can be a giant asset. David . I, also, think that, from a sto storytelling aspect. And thats the way you have to look at these conventions. They accomplished two things tonight. One, is they connected the the the great crises in our country to the experience of people. Donald trumps failures to the experience experience of people. And the second thing, and i cant overstate the importance of this. They gave some dimension to joe biden. They told his story, in different ways. That that that film about his amtrak travels said so much more than than the words, themselves, about who he was. And so, youre talking you see him as someone whose activities as a public official, link up to his commitments to people. And thats a great contrast with trump. So i think youre going to watch, for the rest of this week, them fleshing out the portrait of biden culminating, in his own speech, on thursday night. And that will be a great accomplishment going into next week when the republicans will try to take him apart. Thats it for us in the brady bunch. I feel like alice. We got much more ahead. Chris cuomo, don lemon, pick up our coverage right now. Opening night of the 2020 Democratic National convention. Our special live coverage
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