Transcripts For MSNBCW The Beat With Ari Melber 20200817

To confirm the new running mate. But there will be no giant crowds or fireworks or spontaneous inperson moments. Instead, there will be scenes like this, a prominent democrat addressing a camera, call it the zoom era or very 2020, but the Biden Campaign is arguing it has the hot hand with the electrifying vp pick of Kamala Harris and this forthcoming star turned by Michelle Obama. Heres a preview the Campaign Just dropped. He knows what it takes to rescue an economy beat back the pandemic, and lead our country. And he listens. He will tell the truth, and trust science. His life is a testament to getting back up, and he is going to channel that same grit and passion to pick us all up. That is the very first slither of what tonight might feel like. And if the obamas are offering a biden continuity and reminder of the obama biden era, tonight well directly feature a call for unity with a top spot for the progressive leader who came in second in the last two contested primary president ial seasons in a row, Bernie Sanders, who will speak to his loyal supporters, wells other viewers who will be see thing across dozens of live feeds weve been learning about across the whole country that. Is the message to voters. As for the vote itself, other news tonight, Speaker Pelosi making it plain she thinks trump wants to sabotage the election and disenfranchise voters by kneecapping the way that many ballots would be handled and counted through the mail. Democrats not being complacent about this one are turning up the heat with an outside and inside strategy. Here you can see out on the streets, new protests at the home of the trump appointee who leads the Postal Service. While on the inside track, democrats demanding he go under oath immediately. And theyve already won a high stakes hearing, which is set for next week, which happens to be doing the republican convention. Pelosi calling congress back to washington early to keep the heat on the Postal Service, as well as the covid relief battle. So special coverage tonight on this big, big news night on the beat. We have someone who knows a thing or two about being a running mate, tim kaine. And Michael Moore on how biden and sanders are showing this unified political front tonight. And we have some special guests kicking off our broadcast, including convention veterans. Before we get to them, we begin with danielle bellson and mara gay. Good evening to both of you. We just heard the prevau, which is what campaigns are telling us theyre focused on. So theyre leading with Michelle Obama speaking from that zoom setting that were all so familiar with. Mara, lets take just a brief listen to the Michelle Obama speech that many remember, and ill say as an aside, Convention Speeches are not always memorable. Maybe because it was michelle or the time period, its a quote thats gone on to be echoed. Take a look. The hateful language they hear from public figures on tv does not represent the true spirit of this country. How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you dont stoop to their level. No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high. Mara, how does that, in your mind, play into what were going to hear tonight . Its interesting, ari. I mean, you know, thinking about to 2008, 2007, we had never seen anything like the obamas before. And Michelle Obama in some ways, you know, breaking so many stereotypes about womanhood and beauty was even more revolutionary than her husband in many ways and to many people. And i think theres so many echoes of that in the democratic ticket this year. This is really about things coming full circle. So we had Michelle Obama breaking barriers years ago, and now weve got the first africanamerican, the first black American Woman and indian American Woman to be a Vice President ial candidate. And i think, you know, its about generating that excitement, but also its going to be some comfort food to democrats two i think are still shell shocked frankly not just from what happened four years ago, but from the past four years, the past four months, this is about getting people excited and getting them motivated to go to the polls. Danielle . You know, you cant go wrong with Michelle Obama. Her popularity is hovering somewhere between the heavens and the stars amongst the general public. I think last i checked, shes close to 60 . And so im looking forward to this convention. But part of me wonders do we really need one at this point . I understand why were having a convention, 100 . But only about 16 of voters are undecided, how thats possible ill never know. The difference between the candidates couldnt be more stark. One candidate has 170,000 dead americans on their hands and the other is joe biden. So if theyre comfortable with the thousands of deaths a day from covid, i assume youll be okay with anything that trump does. Youre going to rock with him until the wheels fall off, and i would say with a thousand deaths per day, that president ial motorcade is up on blocks. Mara, thinking about that, and the conventions will be very different, so we really dont know what these next two weeks are going to feel like and whether they could range from different advantages in the way they do it, to potentially some people may find it to be a dud. For viewers, i want to give a preview from some of the coverage, unconventional, juggling hundreds of live feeds to recreate the feel of a celebration, live food atage, realtime reactions, as well as the prerecorded performances, which folks have seen on everything from snl to the late night shows in the pandemic era. Mara . You know, my instinct is that this is actually extremely important, because i think that the number one barrier that democrats are going to have to overcome, and really anyone who is interested in seeing President Trump replaced, is the voter apathy and just malaise that has settled over parts of this country that are traumatized, whether theyre sick, they had a loved one who died, or whether they have lost their job in this, you know, amidst this trauma and just under the political crimes that are being committed by this white house. And i think, you know, the fears about whether or not americans will have see their vote protected are very real. And i think its extremely important that americans two are on the fence really get invested in this process. That needs to begin right now. Because there are some voters who they vote in local elections, they vote every six months theyre at the polls. But thats not most americans. I think its going to be harder than ever to vote. So people need to be extremely motivated. This is really kind of the beginning of that pep rally. That might just sound like pageantry, but its really important to create awareness about the election thats coming up and to really get people thinking about how what their plan is at the poll, thats the most important thing democrats can go. Mara and danielle, thanks to you. I turn to two more live guests. We have a businessman and billionaire, as well as a former rival of joe biden, tom steyer, who is speaking tonight. Tom, what are you going to say tonight, what is the best preview you can give us . Look, im incredibly excited about this team. And i believe that the moment has found the people who are going to lead us into a transformational and better america. And thats what im going to say, i am 100 behind joe biden, and i think hes made an inspired choice in Kamala Harris, and i believe that theyre going to get a turnout that is going to be historic, and that theyre going to be a Transformational Team for america next year. How did your prep work did you submit your written draft or they send you something or how different was it from your experience as a candidate from other cycles . Oh, i think this was very much a spontaneous interview so that they could get things that were natural, that were from my heart, explaining really where i am and why im so excited about this campaign. Why its so pivotal in american history, and why im optimistic that, in fact, the outcome is going to be fantastic for the Democratic Party. But more than that, its going to be fantastic for this country and for the American People. Cha, we first met in 2004 when you were working on the kerry campaign, as was i at the time. Real quick, how many conventions have you worked . I have worked four. The 2004 convention that we first met at. As a politico, what was your most senior title . Ive been deputy floor manager for the last three conventions. Deputy floor manager. Thats not nothing. So this year, no shade on you, but they dont really need a floor manager, at least not a physical floor. Correct. Given your expertise, and youve done this, what do you think the challenges are . And by the way, these are bipartisan challenges in a pandemic era, as someone who has put on so many conventions. I think the most important aspect of any convention is to unify the party. I think biden has done that during this convention. The second big aspect is to put on a good show. Quite frankly, like theres nothing else on tv in august for the most part. Theres also the fact that people are locked in, and so i think youre going to have very good ratings and a very good show. So the show business element of this i think will show through much better than the republicans will. Why would it be better . A lot of folks say, whatever your views of President Trump, the reality tv star does understand this median. Democrats have been realists about the coronavirus. We started working six months ago thinking about what a Coronavirus Convention would look like . President trump only started a month ago, if even that. He was toying around with charlotte, then he got pissed off, went to jacksonville, then got pissed off. Democrats, however, were way ahead of the curve. We understood that this convention was not going to have a crowd. It was not going to be conventional. So the planning and preparation that youll see in the next four days speaks well to the type of planning and preparation joe biden will do as president to have United States. Tom, what do you think about that . Its an interesting point he raises, which seems a little bit off of the main stage and how we think about the pageantry. Hes talking about the nuts and bolts of a trumpled convention that had to be as all over the place as his planning process, which he just narrated, versus a bidenled convention. Do you think that voters could see these couple of days, tom, as a try run of who actually has the better approach . I think there are those nuts and bolts, ari. You by think much beyond that, what were fog see out of this Democratic National convention are the vals and the soul of this party, of this candidate and his Vice President ial pick. And i think what the americans are going to see and what will pull this Party Together is that joe biden is a unifier. Hes somebody who leads with his heart, with compassion. Thats going to come across throughout all of the talks. Thats what Michelle Obama was just talking about. And what were going to see is a stark contrast between someone who absolutely clearly cares about the American People, is experienced, but where policy comes from his caring about people, that in fact he is someone who is experienced and can lead us out of this crisis. But more than that, hell do that with his heart up front. And thats a dramatic change from what weve seen in the United States over the last four years. Hmm. And were also going to hear from Bernie Sanders. Thats a big part of the political argument. Sanders, like many top democrats, has been quite assertive in taking on what they have argued is, in effect, kneecapping the election by going after the Postal Service. Since you have all the campaigning experience, take a listen to sanders on this. Take a listen. This is a deliberate effort to defund and destroy the u. S. Postal service so that people cannot engage in mailin ballots. Thats not Bernie Sanders talking, thats what President Trump is telling the American People. How does a Campaign Balance mobilizing people so they dont feel like my vote doesnt count, its all chaos, which is part of President Trumps rhetorical goals, and the on the ground plans which sanders and pelosi are talking about, which is to protect the vote . Basically, and youre going to see it the next four days, its a very simple thing, preparation and planning. There will be enormous preparation and planning that joe biden and Kamala Harris will do to make sure that every vote is counted, that every vote is collected. And that the post office works, and the voting locations are safe. All of those things will be done via preparation. Now, democrats are right to be worried about this, theyre right to lose some sleep over this. The only way that President Trump can win is through a turnout, by driving down democratic turnout as much as he can, which is what hes doing, in terms of trying to fire up the kay yols chaos of the curre campaign. Well put. Thanks to both of you for being part of kicking off our coverage. We go to our shortest break in the hour, just 30 seconds. When we come back, we get into Michelle Obamas headlining event. And what do progressives want out of this ticket . Michael moore is here live. We also will have former acting assistant general on the voting night. Im ari melber. This is the beat on msnbc. Is. Welcome back. On a big night here on msnbc, if any president spent the general election trying to defund machines that count ballots, it would be a giant scandal. Abusing government power to thwart an election is the most fundamental abuse of a democracy because it can end a democracy. In an election where the winner this year could be decided by mailin ballots, that is part of what the president appears to be doing. Because the post office is now, of course, a main instrument of processing ballots, which is why Speaker Pelosi is calling the house back on this issue and to hold this emergency hearing. Its why there are calls to investigate the man installed as postmaster general and looking at whether hes executing President Trumps desire to affect mailin balloting, and democrats are pressing for a reversal of this changes, and real people are taking the pressure to the home of the postmaster general himself today. Now, some of these efforts are already working. Pressure can work, as President Trump knows. Protests can work as america has been seeing this year. Pelosi calling congress back puts americans on notice this week that she views this as an emergency even in a year of emergencies. Now, some of these measures wouldnt happen by november. The Senate Democrats bill is dead in the gopcontrolled senate. But how could it only be up to protesters or the Opposition Party the guard democracies alone . Attorneys general in six states are exploring possible suits. One of them speaking out on that strategy today. Chuck, what were doing today is gathering evidence right now. Were looking at how its worked in the past. Were examining the timelines that things have taken, and were looking at what the postal regulations and statutes require. Im joined now by the former acting solicitor general of the United States under the obama administration. Good evening, neil. Good evening. I love the glasses. Well, you know, sometimes they come out, although im mostly a contacts person. I love your glasses. Here we are on a big political night. Viewers understand were going to have our full msnbc coverage and normally we would be talking politics and less likely to book former solicitors general. Youre here because this is now as much of a legal story. Is what President Trump says out loud that he wants to do to the post Office Constitutional and if not, what do you do . Its obviously illegal, ari. And its obviously unamerican and its obviously incompetence. Weve had mail delivered for 200 years. He comes along and cant even do that. It would be suspicious any way. In december, we always have mail surges over christmas, sending billions of pieces of mail. And now before an election, they cant do their job. Its not just about the election, its about people getting medicine and Business Records being transmitted across the mail, all sorts of things. So theres a federal statute and state statutes which make what the president is doing illegal. The federal one is 18 usc 1703, and it says, whoever in a Postal Service officer detains any letter or postcard shall be imprisoned up to five years. Sometimes you might think, well, the president , you know, if theres mail slowed down for other reasons or so on. But here, you know i said this before, President Trump is the best cocounsel an opponent could ever have. He admits the game. He said the reason why hes worried about this is because of mailin balloting, and thats why the slow down is occurring. Thats just admitting a federal felony. Well put that up on the screen here, the delay or destruction of mail. Who does that work against . It works against any the statute is very clear, it says you know, this is the circumstance in which the president has himself effectively given up the motivation. So i think it really puts the postmaster general in a tough position. Hes going to have to testify next week. And now hes testifying in a circumstance which his own criminal liability, and perhaps those of his subordinates, is on the line. That is an ugly place to be, and while dejoy may feel some security with barr as the attorney general, barr may not be the attorney general forever. And as i said before, the state attorney generals each investigating their own state crimes here, which may be at play. There is nothing more than unamerican than messing with an election. If youre messing with the mail to do that, absolutely its a state crime and federal crime. What can congress do in your view to make that pressure real on this individual, who may, like many in the trump era, be forced to make choices as comey, mccabe and others testified they were asked to, between their constitutional obligations and what President Trump wants . Well, im very pleased to see that congress has been called back into emergency session over this, and dejoy is going to have to testify and hes going to testify with the threat of criminal sanctions hanging over him. So it may be a circumstance where dejoy does the right thing and comes clean, but for congress. If he doesnt, Congress Still has tools available to it. They can use subpoena power to drag through and jail people in the Postal Service if they dont give up documents and the like. But they have the budgetary powers. They can defund various aspects of the Trump Administration in retaliation for what they want to do, and states, of course, in addition to filing lawsuits, can pass laws that say your ballot is going to count as long as its go postmarked on election day. So theres a lot we can do to deal with this, but we have to start now. You just laid out something so important. You just talked about something that could swing the outcome, which is whether ballots are counted as long as theyre postmarked in time and shenanigans, the margins of victory could hang on that. So it seems like our political nights are going to be legal nights, and this environment, with this president , proposing the things he is. Neil, we always benefit from your realtime law cool. Coming up, Michelle Obama is the headliner. We have a special guest joining us as well as this progressive push going into the convention, Bernie Sanders speaking tonight. Biden saying its a show of unity and one of the biggest sanders supporters Michael Moore is here live next. Ters michael e is here live next. With the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you dont have to. With a painless, onesecond scan you can check your glucose with a smart phone or reader so you can stay in the moment. No matter where you are or what youre doing. Ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. You can do it without fingersticks. Learn more at freestylelibre. Us. You cant claim that because its inanimate people ask me what sort of a person should become a celebrity accountant. And, i tell them, nobody should. Hey, buddy. Whats the damage . I bought it the waterfall . Nope a new volkswagen. A volkswagen . I think were having a breakthrough here welcome to caesars palace. Thank you. When youre miles from home. Your bank should help you check on your account to see whats free to spend. Henry. Virtual wallet® is so much more than a checking account. Easily see whats free to spend. And put money aside for your next big purchase. Like a trainer for henry. Stop it. Carl, do you have those figures . Yeah. Henry sit . Its carl. Virtual wallet® for Digital Banking from pnc. Its time to get more from your bank. That selling carsarvana, 100 online wouldnt work. Pnc. But we went to work. Building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. Creating a coast to Coast Network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. 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And addressed his loyal followers then at her convention during a time of russia induced party acrimony. Hillary clinton must become the next president of the United States. How will sanders tackle a similar role tonight . One of his most famous supporters joins us now. Michael moore, host of the rumble with Michael Moore and we caught up with him on the campaign trail this year in new hampshire. There we were, right after one of the rallies you spoke at, michael. I dont know about you, but that feels like way longer than six months ago to me. Yeah, it could have been the 1950s. I mean, it feels like ancient history in some way. Maybe thats a good thing, because i have this weird optimism that were going to come out on the other side of this pandemic better, better than we were, and creating a better country than the one we had. So i am that optimist in that sense. By the way, when you say i was a surrogate, thats a weird word. Like i was on the campaign trail carrying bernies baby or something. Well, words evolve in our culture. I always thought political surrogate is a fun word, but it takes us into the first thing i want to ask you about. At the time, you were making the case for Bernie Sanders and as one does in any contest, making the case against others. I understand that sanders tonight is going to argue the best thing his supporters can do is vote early and take their friends to vote for joe biden. But heres some of how you were sounding then. Lets take a look. Joe biden is the center. Joe biden is this years hillary. Joe biden is not going to excite the base to get out there and vote on november 3rd, 2020. 70 of the people voting next year are either women, people of color, or young people between the ages of 18 and 35. Thats 70 . Who is going to excite that 18 to 35yearold person . Who is going to excite women and africanamericans and hispanic people . Now theres a biden harris ticket, what do you say tonight, michael . Well, first of all, the one demographic that joe biden is polling best in, of all demographics, is the under 35 demographic. So clearly he listened to me, which i knew he was watching your show and others back then, and took my advice. No, seriously, i think that, you know, he won. So yep. But even your own poll today, the nbc poll showed that when asked why are you voting for joe biden, 58 said because hes not President Trump. Thats the number one reason. So i look at that and i worry, because people do need to get excited and do need to understand that the ari melber and the Michael Moore that you showed there from january, i think were different people now after what weve gone through. I am. Ive had a lot of time to think and to do and to create during this time. You know, you can speak for yourself, but i think that joe biden i was shocked that he picked Kamala Harris frankly. I thought for certain he would swing to the right and pick susan rice. Instead he swung to the left and picked Kamala Harris. So lets dig in on that. Weve seen i tell viewers we always try to follow the evidence. Tim kaines joining us later this hour. But tim kaine did not generate the evidence of excitement in the first week that Kamala Harris has, for whatever range of reasons, people may feel it, we track the evidence. Activists, new donors, smalldollar donors, people who said oh, kamala is on the ticket, they gave their first 10 ever. She smashed records. Are you someone saying you feel more enthused because shes on this ticket . Oh, i think its a very good sign. But im enthused any ways. Even the 58 who say theyre voting for biden because hes not trump, thats fine. Any way into it that you can find is important, because we must remove donald j. Trump. That is job one for all of us. And i think that, you know, somebody who was asking me today how do you feel about the Platform Committee essentially didnt listen much to the bernie people . And its pretty much bidens platform. And i say to them, well, yes, its the old biden, its about the old party people on the committee, theyve been there for a while. Theres some new ones in there. But it doesnt matter what the platform really says any more. Those are the old days. Thats prepandemic. Thats gone. What matters now is reality. And reality will right the platform during this election. And reality is lets dig into that. Well put up into this screen, issues around environmentalism, medicare for all, which is something sanders and you talked about as well as dealing with Student Loan Debt at a time where the Congress Found money for all kinds of other stuff. And weve got people who went to these schools and are coming out and are saddled by that debt. Youre saying, though, that in a post pandemic activist world, what matters more than what the delegates do this week in that platform is what the larger conversation activists do, what we saw this summer, what might push a potential Biden Administration over its term . Absolutely. I think it will happen before the election. I think that because most candidates talk about how americans love their private Employer Health insurance back in the debates. Nobody would dare say that now, that tens of millions of people have lost their Health Insurance. They lost it in a second rn, as soon as the pandemic hit. All the other industrialized countries, they didnt lose their health care, because it was paid for by the government. We must and i think im in the majority on this, we must never be in the situation again where people are ending up without Health Insurance because of something that happens. It has to be a right and backed by the government. Same thing with paying off student loans. People dont have the money. Theres going to be such a ground swell of citizens who are going to demand of the Biden Harris Administration that things have to operate a different way now. Different than the way they were thinking eight months ago. And if its good your emphasis on what we learned, if its good enough for shake shack, why isnt it good enough for a 26yearold nurse who played by the rules and is saddled with this debt and by the way, is an essential worker prevaccine risking his or her life for us. On the economy, i want to get you on this, as well. Do you know why roger me holds up as a timeless film . Because im in it . Maybe not would be my answer, that might not be the reason, michael. Although i always appreciate your sense of humor. Because you go in, in plain english and ask all the fundamental questions about if capitalism works, if this is the best we got, why does it seem to give such a raw deal to the people who work hard and play by the rules of capitalism . And thats a fundamental question. And here we are in this time period, this trump covid recession, and this is the stock Market Recovery right here. The stocks, i was asking krugman about this on our show. The stocks are going up, i think we have this, vshaped stock Market Recovery. Yeah, yeah. And also im going to put this up. Can somebody in the booth put that up, hello . Theyre saying move on there it is. [ overlapping speakers ] the stock market, michael, in august on the right hand side of your screen, is back where it was precovid, and the rest of america, real world, real people, real economy, isnt. Where does that play into the election for you, michael . The public knows this. Again, the biden harris ticket has to address this, has to promise people that theyre not going to be evicted, theyre not going to be foreclosed. That were going to have a tough go for a while, and the government may just have to print money, which will devalue it, and the rich wont like that, and thats just too damn bad. I think that im also concerned, because im from michigan, that we just had two elections here this month, where Rashida Talib won in detroit by a landslide, a muslim woman. Im guessing her district is maybe 5 muslim women. Il happ ilhan omar wins by a landslide in minneapolis. These are two swing states. In michigan, detroit, milwaukee, philly, pennsylvania, this is where hillary lost the election. In these trhree states, includig the africanamerican vote. Attention must be paid to this. This is why their voices have to be heard. What does that tell us that during this pandemic, people who are not muslimamerican, who are not muslim women, overwhelmingly came out and voted for these two women and for cori bush in st. Louis and for jamal bowman in the bronx in westchester county. So we have to win this election. And we have to Pay Attention to what the people want. This is why im so hopeful because of this uprising. Because of this large, what do you guys call it, the largest protest movement in the history of this country. It continues every single day. And this movement will continue after the election, and we would much rather instead of playing defense against four more years of President Trump, god forbid i say those worlds, we would rather play offense with biden and harris. Thats the way were going to improve this country. The chart for the people is going to go up, not just for wall street. And i think im looking forward to hearing bernie tonight. Aoc gets a whole minute. Hey, you know, thats something. Are you being are you being sarcastic . Im being a little sarcastic. Because my friends, this is the future of the Democratic Party and the future of this country. And it should be respected because it is the way were going. The majority of this country. Every poll you guys show, they want universal health care, they want 15 an hour minimum wage. They want women to have control over their own bodies. Go down the whole damn list. Its the liberal position that the majority of americans want. As trump said one of his rare honest moments when he said when more people vote, republicans lose. That was just such a genius observation on his part. Thats why he is very out front and in the open trying to suppress the vote, because he knows the American People are not with the Republican Party and theyre certainly not with him. So hes had to admit the only way we can win is essentially by cheating, and, and, thats pretty sad. But its such a such a support of who we all are on the left, liberals, democrats, whatever you call yourselves, that yeah, youre making me think of three things, michael. I was writing down some of what youre saying as i do from time to time. First of all, the fact that President Trump admitted what generations of politicians who practiced Voter Suppression would deny in public, that he did admit what you just said about the goal, which obviously is reminiscent of the guy who said i never knew gangsters confessed in stereo. Why would you confess your crime publicly . But two other things well always have guru, but we will not always have President Trump. You said two other things, michael. One, you said four more years of President Trump. Ill look on the internet if anyone takes that quote out of context. And two, you said, and this is interesting because you do have a gift for clarity with regard to who we see on that stage tonight and passing the torch, which joe biden says he wants to do, to harris and a new generation, a next generation. You said simply, respect the future. Very interesting theme to think about. Michael moore, thank you, sir. Thank you so much, ari. Its a joyous night. And i think all of us, regardless of where you stand on the spectrum, this is the first step of what can be a great redemption moment for the United States of america. Hmm. Really interesting getting your perspective. Michael moore, thank you, sir. Going to fit in a break. We are going into the First Virtual convention. But news on the pandemic and tension inside trump worlds way of dealing with what are now these Virtual Conventions and these precautions. We have a special guest on Kamala Harris. Michelle obama, and what to make of republicans who say now the best thing to do is vote for biden, when we come back. neighbor biden,k whatcha working on. burke oh, just puttering, tinkering. Commemorating bizarre mishaps that farmers has seen and covered. Had a little extra time on my hands lately. neighbor and that . burke oh, this . Just an app ive been working on. Its called signal from farmers, and it could save you up to fifteen percent on your auto insurance. 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Our schools, in a struggle to safely reopen, needing money for masks and ppe, and to ensure social distancing. And the costs to our economy, to our state budget . Mounting every day. We need to provide revenues now, to solve the problems we know are coming. Were back with our special coverage and joined by senator tim kaine of virginia. He was also, of course, famously the running mate for Hillary Clinton in 2016. There you were, on a convention that was in person. Very busy time. So i appreciate you joining us on the beat tonight, senator. Glad to be with you. We talked about many issues, policy and otherwise. My job as a journalist, i have to ask you the tough question, sorry, but what do you think of the new democratic running mate, and do you think there are ways that senator Kamala Harris is potentially filling in this role, this excitement better different than you, the same, what are your thoughts on obviously the person now in this spot . Ari, i cant believe you think that is a tough question. So look, i was a civil rights lawyer in the south for 17 years before i got into state politics. I was proud to help my state go from red to blue, putting votes behind barack obama, whom i was an early supporter. I was thrilled to help Hillary Clinton try to break the Glass Ceiling that kept women from our nations highest office. So what do i think about Kamala Harris . I am absolutely thrilled. The civil rights lawyer in me, who has tried to help minorities and women break ceiling, im so psyched shes on the ticket. I think shes a superb choice for president biden, im already claimen it, and ive been very excited to be on the trail for her and i look forward to making sure this ticket is successful. Cool. Look, you sound very game. You know how youre around, you spent some time around politicians. Some of them, for whatever reasons, they dont like even comparing because they want to always be the best, number one or what have you. You sound game. Im curious what you learned in that role. We have talked to people in the running mate role who say, it is a funny role, because you built your career as senator harris did, winning and being herself. Then at this apex, youre then the teammate, so youre both in that role, but also asked to be the attack dog, the loyal soldier, et cetera. Is there anything you learned or surprised you in that role last cycle or you might share with our viewers and senator harris . It is a challenging role, and then you have the covid thing to it, as well, which makes campaigning circa 2020 very different than anything its been before. So a couple of things i think are really important. The good news is i had been the number two guy before, mayor and governor, Lieutenant Governor and chairman of the dnc when we had a democratic president. So i was juiced to supporting the president or the governor. I dont think kamala is going to have a challenge with that. I think a couple of pieces of advice is, number one, i would encourage them to do events together. I do think americans liked seeing the working relationship that might be in the oval office. And theres a temptation to send, look, if you do your events, joe, and kamala, you do yours, we can do twice as many events. But events together like the rollout last week, show the working relationship. And thats helpful. The other thing i have to be blunt about, this is a president who will do anything to win, so in 2016, ari, the day that i was nominated in philadelphia, President Trump took a stage to ask russia to help him beat Hillary Clinton. The reason i remember that so clearly, i got the New York Times and donald trump seeking help from the russians was on the front page and i was on page a17. That was what donald trump would do without power. Now hes a president with power. Hes trying to screw up the post office. Hes got a lot more power now. That means dems have to understand this is a guy who will do anything to win, and we have to make it as clear as day on election day, including early vote beginning in virginia on the 18th of september. Some states are even earlier. We have to make it as clear as can be so we can sweep a wouldbe authoritarian out of office. That means you are looking at what hes doing and you think he might actually try to end american democracy when you use that word, is that what you mean . Hes not thinking about it in those conceptual terms. But i a military dictatorship. And i know a wouldbe dictator when i see one. They think there are no rules that apply in Donald Trumps to him and hell do anything to win. It was clear to me in 2016. Its only gotten clearer the last four years. Were in the fight of our lives to save our country and we have to be at our very west right now. Senator tim kaine giving it to us straight on american politics and american democracy. Thank you, sir. Absolutely. Good to be with you. Thanks. Good to have you. Were going to fit in a break. When we come back, a story i mentioned updates on the coronavirus and how it plays out over obviously these two weeks of Virtual Conventions. Stay with us. Book two separate qualifying stays and earn a free night. The open road is open again. And wherever youre headed, Choice Hotels is there. Book direct at choicehotels. Com. Andwe know youre alwaysed, at univethere for them. X,e. Thats why our advisors are always here for you. Learn more at phoenix. Edu. For spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub . Grubhubs gonna reward you for that with a 5 off perk. doorbell rings [crowd] grubhub fireworks exploding welcome back. We are gearing up, as you probably know, for a big night in politics and on msnbc. Throughout the evening we have the special coverage here of this kickoff night of the Democratic National convention with all of our anchors you see here. I also want you to know i will be back on air with you tonight at 1 00 a. M. Eastern with live special coverage and all of our great guests. Ill also be back of course for the beat at 6 00 p. M. Eastern tomorrow. So we recommend that you keep it right here on msnbc all night no matter what. And that includes right now because the reidout with joy reid on this big night for politics is up next. Ody of proo. Proof i can fight moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. Proof i can fight psoriatic arthritis. With humira. Proof of less joint pain. And clearer skin in psa. Humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. 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