This is what everyone woke up to this morning in the town joe biden was born. In scranton, pennsylvania. City native joe biden accepts democratic nomination. Proving that the best news is always local news. Look at the subhead there. Former Vice President rises from green ridge streets to lead party. And then, of course, look at the rest of the front page. On the lower, righthand corner, this is where it started. Northeastern pennsylvania. Biden backers hold watch parties to mark key moment. And then, look at this. In the lower left. Trump questions bidens local roots. This is the scranton paper. He said hes from here. Hes not really from here. Dont believe it when he tells you hes from here. Were about five minutes away from President Trump saying that joe biden is from kenya, too. Hes not really from scranton. President questions bidens local roots. So those were sort of bidens hometown papers this morning. But heres how it looked around the country today, including some states thought to be in play for the general election. Thats the Arizona Republic on the left. Biden takes democratic mantle. I will draw on the best of us. On the right, thats the denver post. Biden vows to unite. On the lefthand side here, there is the st. Louis postdispatch. Character is on the ballot. Democratic national convention. In accepting nod, biden pushes for unity with party and nation. On the right, thats the Atlanta Journal constitution. Biden aims to unify his party and nation. Heres another couple. The Minneapolis Star Tribune from minnesota, on the lefthand side. Battle for the soul of a nation. Biden aims to unify a wounded country. And then, the Detroit Free Press on the right there from michigan, biden, i am ready. Heres one from lincoln, nebraska. The Lincoln Journal star. A vow to unite, biden accepts democratic nomination. Says he will overcome darkness. And then, on the right, thats the oregonian from portland, oregon. Biden calls for national unity. Look at that excellent photo they essentially put up right at the top, above the fold, front page. Thats biden and harris in the middle. Arms in the air. Both wearing masks. Fireworks behind them. The wouldbe first lady and second gentleman, flanking them like theyre choreographed dancers in that shot. Such a good shot on the cover of the oregonian. That said, even when you get big, you know, historymaking, full page, abovethefold moments like this, news context is still inescapable. And you did see a little bit pa showed from all over. I think it leaps out most, though, from the papers that have big, national reach. Here is the New York Times front page today. Biden vows to guide u. S. Out of darkness. But then, you know, handily, if you are looking for a realtime, contemporaneous example of what he might mean by darkness, baboom, left column. There it is right under the biden story. Bannon faces fraud charge. Same thing at the washington post. Bigbanner headline. Biden calls for hopefulness. Amid pandemic and economic woes, democratic nominee says he will draw on the best of us. But then, boom, look at the left column. Bannon charged in fraud case. Wall street journal. Biden makes case to oust trump. Also, left column there or, excuse me, right underneath the biden photo there biden indicted on fraud charges. L. A. Times, same idea. Biden offers a vision of light. And then, the left column, bannon faces federal fraud charges. I should tell you, actually, looking at these front pages today in a couple of papers, the president s Campaign Manager getting reacted and indicted on federal fraud charges actually got top billing, even over what just happened with the democratic president ial nomination last night. The Dallas Morning News on the left there. Bannon charged in fraud scheme. Thats right up at the top of the next to the next to the title of the paper there. Tampa bay times. Bannon arrested in wall fraud. Because this is the trump presidency, this is not the first time not even the second time it is the third time that we have seen a Campaign Manager or Campaign Chairman from the president s 2016 campaign get arrested. And the timing is just i mean, i guess, nothing is too weird, at this point. But, you know, this is remarkable confluence of events, right . Heres the democrats today announcing they raised more than 70 million for the biden and Harris Campaign during the dnc. They see their convention as having been, essentially, flawless. Everything they wanted from it, even though it was the firstever virtual convention. The first for the first time today, the two halves of the ticket, biden and harris, started doing their first joint interviews. You know, theyre they are proceeding. And meanwhile, at the exact same time, the president and the white house are having to pretend, once again, yeah, president definitely barely knows the newly reaarrested guy. Definitely, isnt somebody that ran his campaign and then served as a Senior Adviser for months in the white house. Even right now, as their opponent is accepting the nomination after that triumphant convention, we have just chaos ahead in terms of planning for the rnc next week. Here is the president having to do that whole song and dance again. Oh, yeah, i barely know the guy. I havent been dealing with him, for a long period of time, as most of the people in this room know. He was involved in our campaign. He worked for Goldman Sachs. He work worked for a lot of companies. But he was involved, likewise, in our campaign and for a small part of the administration, very early on. I havent been dealing with him, at all. I havent dealt with him, at all, over years now. You know, when the president s lawyer was arrested, the president said, Michael Cohen was a pr person who did small, legal work. Very small legal work. When the president s Campaign Chairman was reacted, paul manafort, the president said, quote, i didnt know manafort well. He wasnt with the campaign long. He was with the campaign, as you know, for a very short period of time. When when my guys when lev and igor were reacted back in october, remember that . And all the different pictures emerged of all the different times that lev and igor, of all people, had been with the president. Remember what he said when they got arrested . The president said about his friends lev and igor, quote, i dont know those gentlemen. When the National Security adviser plead guilty to charges, do you remember what they said about mike flynn when he got charged . They put out a statement saying that Michael Flynn was, quote, a former Obama Administration official, who did some volunteer work for the campaign. He was National Security adviser. When roger stone was arrested for things he did and things he lied about during the president ial campaign, the president tried the same thing. He said, now, you know, roger didnt work for me and the campaign. Roger stone didnt work on the campaign, except way, way at the beginning, long before anything were talking about here. This this is how loyalty works. The loyalty demands are infinite. The loyalty reciprocity. What . Youre breaking up. I cant hear. Could you call me back . Now, the president , as he prepares to accept the renomination of his party for president. As the biden and Harris Campaign takes off, like a rocket. Now, the president s saying his his newly arrested Campaign Chairman is some random guy who worked for Goldman Sachs who trump barely remembers him. Did he work at the white house . Who knows . Nobody can remember that far back. Steve bannon has pled not guilty to these felony charges. We are now, interestingly, starting to see headlines from him. Sourced to him. Bragging about how he, very much, knows the president and is still in contact with the president. Steve bannon is thought to be facing a considerable sentence, if he is convicted here. I mean, theoretically, based on the theoretical maximum sentence for these crimes, its decades in prison. Realistically, its more like six to nine years that hes facing. If he is under pressure from prosecutors to help them with other crimes he knows about. If he is under pressure from prosecutors to become a cooperating witness, like he was in the roger stone trial, in order to potentially earn himself lenience on the multiple felony charges he is facing, himself. Well, then, its kind of more dramatic than usual for the president to be denying that he couldnt, you know, pick steve bannon out of a lineup. While steve bannon is out there saying, oh, yes, you could. Weve been talking, including recently. So the prospect that the president has, once again, to manage somebody who will be under serious, federal, criminal pressure, themselves, thinking about their own life and their own mortality. And weighing whether or not to potentially flip on the president. The fact that he is having to consider that, again, because of all the people around him who have been arrested and charged and pled guilty to felonies, since he has been in prison. He is having to deal with that, again, now, as he heads into his convention. And thats just not your normal background noise while the nominating conventions are happening. If you are running against an incumbent president , the incumbent president usually doesnt do you the favor of having his thirdstraight campaign chief arrested on the day the opposition formally picks its nominee. But the world does not stop spinning for politics. Here is another front page this morning, that you should see. This is the financial times, actually, out of london. Which has a groelobal reach. And they, interestingly, did not lead with joe biden accepting the democratic nomination for president. They led with the apparent assassination attempt against alexei navalny. Alexei navalny is the most powerful and effective Opposition Leader that Vladimir Putin has had to face over his more than 20 years in power in russia. As we have seen happen to so many of putins opponents and rivals, this week, Late Wednesday night, we got these first, terrifying reports in the west that navalny appears to have been poisoned. A flight from siberia back to moscow was diverted for an emergency landing, after he fell seriously and suddenly ill. He was taken off by ambulance, brought to a hospital in siberia. His personal doctor and his family want him treated outside of russia. The russian hospital he is being treated at has refused to release him, even though a very good german hospital has offered to take him and treat him. A fullyequipped medevac aircraft was sent to siberia from germany to go collect him. Here is the latest, per the New York Times tonight. You see the headline there, which looks which looks good. After day of delays, russian doctors clear navalny for transfer to germany. The headline looks good. But as always, the devils in the details. You see the subhead there. Came after a medical team examined but navalnys evacuation was further delayed, until saturday. Heres from that story thats in the times tonight. Navalnys personal doctor says she believes authorities have tried to delay departure long enough to become difficult or impossible to identify. The standoff dragged on throughout the day, today, with navalny remaining in an evacuation plane sitting at the airport. Thats still the stay tus, as f as we know, as of right now. President trump, of course, has been asked about this crisis since he has expressed so much admiration for Vladimir Putin over the course of his presidency. And because this seems to fit the longestablished pattern, now, of Vladimir Putin killing or trying to kill his political opponents and his critics. President trump wouldnt give any response about it, when he was asked about it. He said nothing about this since its happened. Since navalny has slipped into a coma. Since theres been this standoff in delay while russia wont let his comatose body be shipped out somewhere to identify what they used to try to kill him. That planes still sitting on the tarmac. They still wont let him go. I mean, as far as the United States goes, this, apparently, is fine now. Its just astonishing. I mean, its gut wrenching. This is consequential, geopolitically. And even after everything weve seen from this president , particularly when it comes to russia, its still just fundamentally shocking. To have this weekend with this, right . This week, the Democratic Convention started with the Senate Intelligence committee reporting, full stop, black and white, no equivocation, the president s Campaign Chairman, paul manafort, was in repeated, sustained, and secret contact with a russian intelligence officer, throughout the duration of the Trump Campaign while russia was running this intelligence operation to hurt Hillary Clinton and help donald trump. The week ends with putin suspected to have poisoned, yet another, opposition figure in his country. And President Trump, remaining absolutely silent about it. Even as the rest of the western world tries to come together to force russia to at least let other people try to keep this guy alive. President trump has nothing to say. We are continuing to watch the navalny saga unfold as our own president sits this one out. Lets other countries try to help, maybe. Well keep you posted tonight if we learn if theyve actually got his comatose body on to that plane so he can try to get to a european hospital. Today, in new york and in seattle and san diego and a few other cities, there were marches for the dead. Trump lies, people die. Marches for the dead. To mourn the more than 170,000 americans killed by covid, thus far. We dont know how the administrations going to try to spin the botched american response to the pandemic at their Convention Next week. Or if they might just try to ignore it. Vice president mike pence did a bizarre interview on cnn today, in which he literally said he literally said quote, we think there is a miracle around the corner. Thats, still, apparently their plan. Meanwhile, the country actually needs a real plan. The country is still in chaos. Individual families. Individual towns. Every state in the country is still facing chaos, in terms of how we are going to handle this in the immediate, going forward, particularly when it comes to schools. With no National Plan that makes any sense. Up to, and including, every school district, every college, just muddling through on its own, trying to make their own decisions. Restart school. The schools and the colleges that have made decisions, thus far, to try to restart school as normal or just with extra precautions. Those decisions, right now, as of late august, are falling apart almost everywhere they are being tried. And while lots of places had initial plans, initial plans are turning out not to be adequate to the challenge because the virus is still so widespread, and spreading so freely in our country. And you cant safely open congregate facilities, of any kind, as long as youve got Widespread Community transmission. That principle holds. That principle holds for nursing homes. That principle holds for anywhere, even large, workplace environments. There is a ton of transmission. Its going to make its way into places where there is congregate living or congregate working. And its going to spread, quickly, in those environments and youre not going to be able to keep them open. But still, everybodys making this up as they go along. Everybodys making their own decisions, as school after school and college after college goes through this and fails. And has to try to come up with a plan z. This, for example, was a frontpage editorial today in the university of notre dame student newspaper. At notre dame, the administration tried to go ahead with inperson classes and they have had outbreaks, since. This is the headline from the student paper. Dont make us write obituaries. Quote, the University Administration has largely blamed the covid19 outbreak on students attending offcampus parties. While this isnt entirely misplaced, its been used to deflect responsibility from the very administrations that insisted they were prepared for us to return to campus. Clearly, they were not. Flaws in testing, contact tracing, and isolation and quarantine accommodations have, since, proven inefficient. At notre dame, the almost twoweek gap between the return to campus and the implement aatn of surveillance testing, scheduled to begin today, represents a gross oversight of the administration and has put the tricampcampus and south b communities in serious danger. Paper continues, quote, the blame for this doesnt lie with just one party. We, as students, faculty, staff, and administrators, need to share responsibility for the outbreak on our hands. We longed to return to south bend while in quarantine last semester. But now, we are at risk of hurting the community we have come to know and love. We implore members of the tricampus community to do everything within their power to approach this virus in an appropriate and serious manner. Otherwise, we fear the worst is yet to come. Dont make us write a tricampus employees obituary. Dont make us write an administrators obituary. Dont make us write a custodians obituary. Dont make us write a professors obituary. Dont make us write a classmates obituary. Dont make us write a roommates obituary. Dont make us write yours. Notre dame student paper, frontpage editorial today. Like i said, i i dont know what the white house and the president are going to do with the issue of covid next week at their convention. How do you run for reelection when 170,000 americans have died, under your watch . While you have supervised the most incompetent, failed response on the planet to a Global Pandemic that countries, with far fewer resources, supposedly far less advanced countries, have handled miles better than you have. How does the richest and supposedly most capable country on earth blow this, worse than any other country on earth with 170,000 dead americans to show for it. Possibly, as many as 200,000 dead by the time americans go to vote on whether you get four more years. How do you do that . How do you do that at your convention . Do you just pretend it hasnt happened . Do you assume we wont know the record . You can make up some new story about what happened, that isnt real . I do not know what theyre going to do with any of this. But honestly, very little is known about whats going to happen with the rnc and it starts monday. I mean, there were these months of confusion around which city the rnc would be held in. Republican Party Officials and Trump Campaign officials have, now, picked a physical location that will act as some kind of hub. Thats the word theyre using. A hub for all of next weeks prime time speeches. They are going to have a physical hub, a physical center, for what they are doing in the rnc but its not in charlotte, North Carolina, where the entire convention was originally slated to be held and where the bulk of the actual Party Business and the rollcall, for example, will still be conducted next week. Theyre not doing it there. Nor, are they doing it in jacksonville, florida, where the president said he was going to move the rnc because he didnt like that North Carolina wanted them to take steps to try to mitigate the spread of covid at the event. Theyre not doing it at charlotte or jacksonville. Instead, theyre going to do a physical rnc in washington, d. C. Think about that. The Republican Party holding its nominating convention in d. C. What . The Republican Partys going to make a huge bid for d. C. Votes for donald trump in the election . Hillary clinton got like 90 of the vote in 2016. You think youre going to take a bite out of that . Yeah. The rnc is going to be in washington, d. C. , after all of this. Specifically, they are going to use this building. Its called the Andrew Mellin auditorium and its a big, fancy, ornate building. Its, also, federal property, which means, theoretically, under federal ethics rules, it should be off limits for partisan, political activities, like hosting a major Party Convention thats supposed to be illegal. But, eh, its the trump era, what does law mean . On top of that, though, the Trump Campaign has picked the one federal property in all of washington, d. C. Which is physically closest to the president s trump hotel. The two locations are literally around the block from one another. If you map it on google maps, it takes the little stick man four minutes to go from one to the other. Look. Its on the other corner. Its the closest auditorium that they could conceivably use against federal ethic laws, while still convincing people that the trump hotels the best place to stay for convenient access to the rnc. And this this makes it easy for the Trump Organization to maximize its profit from this whole event. But if you really want to go whole hog, why not hike the rates at the trump hotel the week of the rnc . Oh, they did that. Daily beast was first to report the hotel jacked up its prices for the convention dates, once the president started mulling the thing of holding the thing across from his hotel. Room rates spiked more than 60 for those dates as soon as the president started musing, openly, that he could do the rnc in washington. Quote, listings for rooms in d. C. Show rooms on the night of the president ial address starting at 795 and running as high as 2,000. Making sure that this is going to be a boom for the president , personally, in terms of his financial stake in this. On top of that, there is this very interesting, little wrinkle. Which is what theyre going to call this thing. I mentioned earlier that there is, still, an actual Republican National convention happening, physically, in charlotte, North Carolina. Contractually, the delegate meeting in charlotte is locked in. And that, technically, is the actual convention. Thats whats being run by the Republican National convention committee. What that means, because thats hundreds of miles away, is that whats happening in d. C. Will be something completely different. Its a whole separate event being put out, put on by the Trump Campaign. Which means, technically, it cant be called the Republican National convention, what they are going to do in d. C. Its going to have to be referred to as Something Else entirely different. We still dont know what even the name of it will be, even though we are three days out. Its not like people who are planning on broadcasting this need to, like, plan what to call it or anything. I dont know who is speaking. We dont know what time things are on. We dont know if they are going to break the rules in d. C. And try to put more than 50 people into any one, inside venue. Like, we literally dont know the name of it. Its friday night. It starts monday. Maybe. But this is, i mean, part and parcel of what is going to be a very interesting four days. Its expected to culminate in the president giving his acceptance speech, not at the mellon auditorium but at the white house. I should, also, note that they are planning on that being an outdoor event, which poses some interesting logistical questions. Its not just like a fireworks display thats outdoors after the speeches are over, which is what the democrats did. Theyre planning him giving the speech outdoors at the south lawn. Which means if theres weather, you know, what do they do . Its also possible, we know from other outdoor remarks by the president at the white house, that if theres any protests nearby, and i dont know if there will be. But if there are protests nearby, you may be able to hear those over the president speaking. I should, also, mention i mentioned the possibility of inclement weather. Theres not just the normal weather possibilities next week for, you know, august in d. C. There is also a nonzero chance that we could be looking at two hurricanes hitting the southeastern United States, simultaneously, in the middle of next weeks Republican Convention. But im sure well be fine. Im sure theyve thought of everything. Im sure there are plans in place to handle it all, and backup plans for the backup plans, if anything goes wrong. You know these guys. Lots more to come tonight. Stay with us. E to come tonight. Stay with us you say that customers make their own rules. Lets talk data. Only Xfinity Mobile lets you switch up your wireless data whenever. I accept 5g, everybodys talking about it. How do i get it . Everyone gets 5g with our new data options at no extra cost. Thats good. Next item corner offices for everyone. Just have to make more corners in this building. Chad. Your wireless. Your rules. Only with Xfinity Mobile. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Switch and save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. Plus, get 400 off when you buy the new Samsung Galaxy note20 ultra 5g. The book comes out on tuesday. And i am just going to tell you right now, this is not my normal thing. You are watching me on msnbc. Im about to talk to someone from cnn and what we are going to be talking about is fox news. I do not do the cable news wars. This is not usually my thing. But i think this is important. And i have read the book, and i want you to know some of what is in it. As we head into the Republican Convention and this president trying to get reelected, if you dont pay a lot of attention to fox news and particularly, if you dont know some of whats in Brian Stelters new book, what you are missing is a little bit of stuff about this president that doesnt, otherwise, make sense to normal humans. Im just going to jump in here and show you what i mean. Quote. While the network gives the Trump Administration a huge boost, it also creates tension within the white house. Trumps obsession with the opinion shows on fox causes chaos when he latches on to impossible and downright illegal policy ideas. They need to know what the boss is hearing and what mood he is going to be in. They try to get certain officials booked on certain shows, with the knowledge that trump can be easily manipulated by what he sees on the air. Hannity is just one member of this crazy, cable news cabinet. While he deserved credit for getting longtime fox news commentator, john bolton, hired as National Security adviser, Tucker Carlson got the credit when bolton eventually fell out of favor with trump. The firing of Jeff Sessions . Jeanine pirro was in trumps ear for that one. Laura ingram was instrumental in that. But the average news consumer, still, just doesnt understand how wedded fox and trump are. The voter doesnt know how many of trumps actions and inactions are dictated by the network. Frankly, the average political journalist doesnt watch fox enough, either. Guilty as charged. I frequently read stories by white house correspondents that describe unveted white house hires and unhinged policy decisions and unglued tweets but leave out the cause. Foxs influence. The decisions that most seriously damaged his presidency could arguably be traced to his tv habits. For example, as media matters has noted, trumps hatred for ukraine seems to have originated from hannitys show telling him that clinton colluded with them in 2016. When he said he had a bigger button than kim jong un, it was because of a fox segment about kims nuclear button. When he told iran to never threaten the United States again, it was because of a fox segment about irans saber rattling. Trump granted pardons because of fox. He attacked google because of fox. He raged against migrant, quote, caravans because of fox. And he got the facts wrong, again and again, because of mistakes and misreporting by the network. When kobe bryant died in a helicopter crash, trump sent condolences but got the death toll wrong because of fox. And then, came the coronavirus. In Brian Stelters new book, which is called hoax donald trump fox news and the dangerous distortion of truth. Its out on tuesday. Stelter details some, to me, newly disturbing news about part of what has gone wrong in part of our nations botched covid response. There are dozens of reasons why the United States lagged so far behind other countries in preparations for the pandemic. Some are cultural, some are economic, some are political. But there is no doubt that one of the reasons is the trumpfox feedback loop. Some of foxs biggest stars denied and downplayed the threat posed by the virus. Trump echoed them, and they echoed back. The thing thats going to excuse me the thing thats going to end this is the warmer weather, fox personality, greg gutfeld said on february 24th. Thank god for global warming, cohost Jesse Watters wisecracked. Its going to disappear. Trump said on february 27th. One day, its like a miracle, it will disappear. Most americans knew that trump was untrustworthy but the fox base still trusted him. They also trusted mr. Hannity, who dismissed coronavirus hysteria. They also trusted laura ingram, who called democrats the pandemic party. Watters said im not afraid of the coronavirus and no one else should be that afraid, either. Dr. Mark siegel told hannity, at worst, worst case scenario, it could be the flu. Fox executives knew it because, by the beginning of march, they were taking precautions that belied siegels just the flu statement. The network cancelled an event for hundreds of advertisers, instituted deep cleans for the offic office. Yet, foxs stars kept sending mixed messages to millions of viewers. This went on and on until march 13th when fox and friends cohost ainsley earhardt. As icu admissions surged and the death toll rose, foxs most vociferous critics said the network had blood on its hands. Fox staffers privately admitted that they dont worry tone of the talking heads was harmful. Plus, spillover effects throughout the federal government. Its impossible to know excuse me, its impossible to know how Many Americans who died as a result of covid would have survived if the government acted more swiftly in february and march but its obvious that foxs fing everprints were all r the governments response. Hazardous to our viewers. Dangerous. Unforgiveable. Those are some words fox news staffers used. As homspitals in new york city filled, lunatics claimed that the hospitals were actually empty and they stalked the entrances and parking lots with cell phone cameras to come up with proof. Look, they said, there arent many cars in the parking lot. They think the hospital is empty. She said. Positively stunned. The doctor wondered where are they getting this stuff . The answer, in part, was fox. The network, often, mainstreamed ideas from the farright fringe and thats exactly what contributor sarah carter did on march 29th during a segment on a sunday night fox talk show. Quote, you can see it on twitter, she said. People are saying film your hospital. People are driving by their hospitals and theyre not seeing, in the ones im seeing, theyre not seeing anybody in the parking lots. Theyre not seeing anybody drive up so people are wondering whats going on inside the hospital . On february 10th, trump told the 8 00 p. M. Host on fox business that he believed china would have it under control, fairly soon. You know, in april, supposedly, it dies with the hotter weather and thats a beautiful date to look forward to. Stelter says, quote, in the pantheon of infamous president ial falsehoods, in april, supposedly it dies with the hotter weather, may be the saddest in history. If the virus had actually faded away in april, hundreds of thousands of people around the world might still be alive today. Said, quote, we think and we hope, based on all signs, that the problem goes away in april because heat kills this virus. We think. Said, quote, its a problem in china but it hasnt been spreading very much. His friends at fox indulged this. Trump talked like the threat had passed, when he had merely closed the side door of the house while leaving all the other doors and windows wide open. Why . Perhaps, because he was busy with his postimpeachment purge. He put richard grenell, former fox commentator, in charge of the government spy agencies. He welcomed back his surrogate daughter, hope hicks, who missed her family on the east coast. She made a 360degree spin through the revolving door, going from trump to fox and back to trump. All this occurred in mid to late february when different strains of the virus. Hundreds of americans were sick and didnt know it yet because u. S. Agencies were only testing a few dozen people a day. The president and his Favorite Channel were telling them not to worry. I mean, it turns your stomach to read that and to relive some of that, right . When we are here, at over 176,000 deaths, in this country. And again, i dont i dont do cable news wars. And im not trying to pick a fight. But the thing that Brian Stelter reports in his new book that is maybe the most galling, that makes you want to tear all your hair out is, maybe, even worse than that. And thats next. Stay with us. Than that. And thats next. Stay with us start your day with secret. Secret stops sweat 3x more than ordinary antiperspirants. With secret, youre unstoppable. No sweat try it and love it or get your money back. mom vo we got a subaru to give him some ato reconnect and be together. And once we did that, we realized his greatest adventure is just beginning. avo male welcome to the most adventurous outback ever. The allnew 2020 subaru outback. Go where love takes you. avo female get 0 apr financing for 63 months on select models during the subaru a lot to love event. I am totally blind. And non24 can make me show up too early. Or too late. Or make me feel like im not really there. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442342424. [ aevery box has a mission to protect everything inside from everything outside. When whats inside matters, count on boxes. [ doorbell rings ] paper and packaging. How life unfolds. Out on tuesday of next week. Being the president s shadow chief of staff, as mr. Hannity was known around the white house, could be a thrill. But it was also a serious burden. He counseled President Trump, at all hours of the day. One of hannitys confidantes said the president treated him like his wife, melania. Like a wife, in a sexless marriage. Hannity chose this life so no one felt sorry for him but the stress took its toll. Hannity would tell you off, off, off the record that trump is bat bleep excuse me trump is a bat bleep crazy person, one of his associates said. Another colleague concurred. Hannity has said to me, more than once, quote, hes crazy. Further into the book, quote, charlottesville turned the whispers about trumps fitness for office into fullblown shouts on other tv channels. At fox, people were still just whispering and only off the air. I really do think hes lost it, one fox executive remarked to me on august 19th, 2017. This person wasnt speaking colloquially. They genuinely questioned the president s sanity. And they werent alone at fox. The following month, after a drink or two, a prominent fox anchor admitted their concerns about the president S Mental Health and wellbeing. Quote, he is not well, they said to me. In the same concerned tone that people use while talking about their grandfather. For some journalists, including at fox, the president S Mental Health was a running line of speculation. Narcissistic personality disorder was the most comforting explanation because the other possibilities were far manufacturmore frightening. Words like delusional and dementia were invoked, in private. Thats from the new book by cnns chief media correspondent, Brian Stelter. The book is called hoax donald trump, fox news, and the dangerous distortion of truth. Book comes out august 25th. Brian is also the anchor of reliable sources on cnn. Mr. Stelter, thank you for being here. I really appreciate you making the time. Thank you. Good to be here. So you know enough about me to know that i dont like the cable news wars. Its not my thing. You dont. Its true. But i i dont i dont play those reindeer games. But i feel this is important, as news. I feel like you have written a kind of Rosetta Stone here, explaining to people, particularly who dont watch fox, a bunch of what has gone on with this presidency that, otherwise, doesnt make sense. Is that a fair way to look at it . Thats why i did it. So many sources inside fox news were pouring their hearts out to me. And this was just in my normal course of work covering media. They said the channel they used to love and respect had gone off the rails because President Trump, slowly but surely, took control of the channel. Roger ales was fired. He died. No one took over. There is a lack of leadership. And that lack of leadership was most devastating when the pandemic hit american shores. Its as if the president was lulled into a false sense of complacency by fox. He pretended like the threat was over, and so did the network. And like i said in the book, well never know, exactly, how many lives were lost as a result. But it is terrifying to think that the president is so misled, by this single network. You detail a number of policy pronouncements by the president , actions by the president , wild accusations and provocations from the president , that appear to have come directly from, in many cases, chyrons. The onscreen text put up by specific fox programs. You describe them as sort of a shadow cable news government that appears to sort of select policies for him, knowingly. They may have been shocked, at the beginning, how much influence they had. But they know they have it now. They are using it knowingly, while privately maintaining, many of your sources to you, that they believe the president is is is unwell. Is is is mentally, not there and not capable of holding down the job. That that doesnt just feel dangerous. It feels like an incredible salient, political decision. Its nothing close to journalism. You know . And there are real journalists at fox who are very uncomfortable with this, who are disturbed by the situation. But they dont have the power. The fox and friends have the power. They are the ones talking to trump. And they are the ones turning around telling their friends, in hannitys words, trump is a runon. He is not well. You know, there are its such a disconnect between the onair rhetoric and the offair reality. And that is whats propping up this presidency. It is hard to imagine the president at 40 approval, were it not for these people on fox who, im sorry, rachel, i dont like to talk this way. Theyre lying about him, every day. They are talking about a president that doesnt actually exist. Someone who stopped the virus, when it was coming in from china. We all know thats not true. But these talking points are repeated over and over again, in a form of propaganda weve never had in this country before. We are covering the 2020 conventions, now. Remember, on the first night of Convention Coverage this week, i talked about how the democrats, in 2016, had so much drama at the beginning of their convention with the russians dumping all of the stolen emails. And the share of the party resigning right at the outset of the convention. One of the things you right about in hoax is how the 2016 convention on the republican side, roger ails was fired from fox. And your book, in large part, as a media book, is about how that losing that rudder, whatever he thought of roger ails from a million different angles, is something thats never been replaced at the network. What do you see is the future there . I dont feel like you have a youre giving us a clear sense of where trump and fox go together, from here on out. Well, the last five years have been unpredictable. No one thought trump was going to get elected. No one at fox expected it. So, you know, there was network because there was no other leader, and now folks inside fox, including at the very top, the murdochs, theyre concerned about what happens if he loses. Will he try to launch his own network . I think the only way our information ecosystem can get more poisoned, rachel, is if trump has his own tv network and tries to compete with fox and tries to go even deeper down the rabbit hole, down that kind of qanon world. Thats a fear inside Fox Corporation that trump is going to become a competitor. I think there is a view at fox, though that being in the opposition is better, that being against obama is easier than being protrump. Thats why i think its important whether you want fox defeated, whether you want it successful, you need to know how it actually operates. This is an antidemocrat channel. Thats what its really all about. Thats why they werent showing the convention when you were last night, at least in the 9 00 p. M. Hour. And we will be showing the republican Convention Next week. Now, isnt that interesting . Differences. These are not symmetrical. Exactly. And you actually make a very good point in the book that there is no mirror image story of fox, which im greatly there is not. The book is called hoax donald trump, fox news, and the dangerous distortion of truth. It is out on tuesday. Thanks for being here and giving us a preview. Good luck, my friend. Its nice to see you. Thank you. You too. All right. Well be right back. Stay with us. For your unique needs. Find peace. Boost mood. Sleep well. 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Navalny, were told, remains in a coma following a suspected poisoning two days ago. That of course is a fate that has befallen many opponents and critics of Vladimir Putin. But look at this. Just in the past few minutes since weve been on the air, navalny has apparently now been allowed to leave the russian hospital where he was being held. This is video we just got in that apparently shows him being transferred from that hospital to a local airport where hes expected to be taken tonight to germany for treatment. A spokeswoman for navalny says in this picture, you can see the stretcher holding navalny. See at the top of the stairs there . Thats apparently him being loaded onto that plane to fly to a hospital in germany. That is what we know right now. Still no word from the u. S. President on this crisis. Stay with us. Thousands of women with metastatic Breast Cancer, which is Breast Cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. 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Plus, get 400 off when you buy the new Samsung Galaxy note20 ultra 5g. Im going to go paddle a canoe around in circles for a couple of days to try to get my head on straight. Ill be back with you again on monday night. Our coverage of the Republican National convention, which should be fascinating, begins monday night at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. Ill be there along with the whole gang. Now its time for the last word, where ali velshi is in for Lawrence Odonnell tonight. Good evening, ali. It is going to be fascinating coverage. It will be the definition of putting lipstick on a pig. I think something you said was interesting. No word yet from the United States president on the suspected poisoning of a major Opposition Leader, a major critic in russia. Weve heard from everybody else in the world on this thing. Nothing officially from the u. S. Government