chicken or fish for dinner. so scan the qr code on your screen to buy your tickets. they are selling like hot cakes. now it is time for the last word with my buddy, jonathan capehart, in for lawrence. >> good evening, alex. you will be in brooklyn. i am here in aspen, where it is lovely. >> i think you pull the longer straw on that one. >> all right, alex, thanks very much. >> thank you, have a good show. in 47 hours, the earliest presidential debate in modern u.s. history will be underway and that debate will mark the first time a sitting president and former president have ever debated. of course president biden and donald trump have debated before, but this time one of the two candidates on that stage is now a convicted felon. in fact the two candidates will debate two weeks before donald trump is set to be sentenced on july 11. today the biden harris campaign release to this ad. >> donald trump loves to attack joe biden, because he is focused on revenge and he has no plan to help the middle class. he just gives more tax cuts to the wealthy. joe biden is working every day to make your life more affordable. he capped the cost of insulin, lowered healthcare costs and made big corporations pay their fair share. here's the difference. donald trump is only out for himself. joe biden is fighting for your family. >> donald trump is and just focused on revenge, he's focused on spreading baseless lies that president biden will be under the influence of some kind of magical debate enhancing drug and spreading those lies seems to be the official and only trumped debate strategy. >> my strategy is very simple. make america great again, that's all, because we are going to turn it around fast. there's no strategy, we're going to turn it around fast. >> donald trump was in philadelphia this weekend where he told nbc news that he knows who his running mate is and that running mate could be at thursday's debate. >> in my mind, yeah. >> do they know? >> nobody knows. >> nobody knows, but nbc news reported last week that ohio senator j.d. vance, north dakota governor doug burgum and florida senator marco rubio were among his top finalists for vice president. here is what each of them had to say about the man that they believe should run this country again. >> i am a never trumped guy. i never liked him. >> did you ever do business with donald trump? >> i don't think so. >> why? >> i just think that it is important that you are judged by the company you keep. >> there's no way we are going to allow a con artist to take over the conservative movement and donald trump is a con artist. >> so, while donald trump continues to use the campaign trail to spread lies and let's not forget about the rants about sharks, the fact he forgot the name of his doctor or his love of the fictional serial killer, hannibal lecter. the biden/harris campaign is highlighting the very real stakes of this election. yesterday marks two years since trump appointed justices eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion. >> here's the thing, donald trump says he is probably responsible for what he has done. proudly responsible that our daughter has fewer right than my mother-in-law? proudly responsible that doctors can be imprisoned? proudly responsible that access to in vitro fertilization is now at risk? access to contraception is now at risk. >> that was vice president harris in battleground arizona yesterday, reminding everyone that donald trump and his republican allies won't stop at abortion rights and more than 1600 miles away, senator elizabeth warren was in battleground wisconsin to rally on behalf of the biden harris campaign. >> i'm fighting for our sisters. for our cousins. for the women we went to school with. for our neighbors. i'm fighting for the 10-year- old girl who was raped. i'm fighting for the 46-year- old woman whose only chance to be a mom is going to be ivf. i'm fighting for the person who very much wanted this pregnancy and things went wrong. they went haywire, they went sideways. i am fighting for everyone who may be in a position of having to make a medical decision and believes that that medical decision should be between the patient and the doctor and not a politician in washington. donald trump is despicable in so many ways. one way that is particularly despicable is the way he talks out of both sides of his mouth about abortion. he says what he thinks -- i will leave it up to the states. i don't want to do this. let's figure out what it will be. blob blob loblaw. but when he is in front of the people who are the extremists who are driving across this country, driving to make the healthcare decisions based on their ideology. driving to be the ones who decide who gets to make what decisions in an examining room, in an operating room. well, i say donald trump wants to brag about this one. let's help him. let's make it clear to everybody in this country, the reason we lost roe versus wade is donald trump. >> joining us now, michael tyler, communications director for the biden/harris reelection campaign. michael, welcome back to the last word. good to see you again. your interpretation of donald trump's media tour of complaints and excuses? >> well, thank you so much for having me, jonathan. listen, this is what we have come to expect from donald trump when it comes to debates. this is a guy with a history of complaining about debates, skipping out on debates, trying to use them as a spectacle for his advantage. the problem is people will see the choice in this election. they will see on one side of the stage president biden who is fighting for people, bringing people together to get things done. on the other side they will see donald trump who is waging a campaign of grievance. it was only in it for himself. he was making it clear every day on the stump just how extreme he would be in a second term, so that is the choice the american people will be confronted with when they tune in thursday night, regardless of what trump tries to do on the front end. >> speaking of the front end, ad of the debate the campaign is holding a black american business leaders barbershop roundtable. donald trump says he is making inroads with black voters and polls do show trump ahead in georgia, but i seem to recall when i traveled with you and the president down to atlanta after the state of the union address on march 9, we went to a black-owned business. i'm wondering how does the biden/harris campaign see georgia? >> we see georgia as incredibly competitive. the president obviously won the state in 2020 and we expect to do so again. it will be close and competitive, but we know we have the right candidate and the right team in place to get the votes and when the state of georgia again. when we talk about black voters and black business for example, we don't know why donald trump would want to talk about black business. at the end of his term black businesses were fumbled because of the way he handled the covid response. he was telling us to inject bleach instead of doing his job and the result was black businesses shuttered. the only thing that went up was the unemployment rate and the uninsured rate, so we are happy to wage this campaign on that front. put that against the president's record of accomplishment for black america. record low black unemployment in the first term. wealth growing by 60% since before the pandemic. the fastest rate of growth in a generation. historic investment in hbcus. that is a choice that will be easy for black americans to make in this election and we are confident if we continue to communicate that contrast, that contrast of values, that we will win this election both in georgia and across the country, of course. >> michael, let's look at another key state. in a recent interview the chair of the reelection campaign said, quote, what is happening in north carolina, the extreme laws moving through this date legislature, the restrictive abortion law that is worse than most other places in the country, beyond extreme candidate running for governor and mark robinson. if you put all of those pieces together, we really see that the state is in play. so, michael, north carolina will begin to mail absentee ballots starting september 6, so this might be the only debate north carolina voters see. what would it take to flip north carolina? >> yeah, north carolina is absolutely in play. if you want to look at any indicator, look at where the president is going after he leaves atlanta. directly to raleigh, north carolina, to organize and rally our grassroots campaign in the tar heel state. given everything we described, the demographic makeup, the extremism on display in the state legislature. obviously the extreme maga candidate they have in the state of north carolina. in many ways it is a microcosm of what we are looking at across the country, so we know if we engage in the state of north carolina that we will come out on top. it's true in georgia, drew north carolina. it is of course true in the blue wall states as well. we know we have the resources, the candidate, the message, the vision and the values to win across the country. we have 300 field offices open across the country. we have over 1000 staff on the ground across the battleground states. it is true in north carolina and georgia and stands in contrast to the lack of operation that the trump team has at this date of the race. we know that we have two candidates who are widely known and the operations you have in place matter that much more. there is only one campaign at this date that is doing the work to reach the voters deciding the election. every dollar that people chip in is fueling the grassroots army that we are building in the battlegrounds across the country. we are foot on the gas coming off of the debate. we will be in north carolina and the battleground states from here. >> you mentioned earlier, blue wall states, so let's talk about one of them. i want you to listen to what a pennsylvania voter told nbc news today. >> i'm looking to see that joe biden does, you know, accentuates what he has already done and to really say this is what we will do to improve that. >> what will joe biden, president biden, say about his plan to build upon his record in the next four years? >> listen, i think you will hear a lot of that on thursday night. he will talk about the historic record, everything from 15 million jobs created from the day he took office. 800,000 manufacturing jobs. the work to lower costs for the american people, capping the cost of insulin for seniors for example. he will also talk about the work we will accomplish in a second term. he will talk about continuing to lower costs for americans, expanding that insulin cap to all americans. expanding the out-of-pocket prescription drug cap in his second term by continuing to add more medications to medicare negotiation for example. continuing the work that we will do to make sure we live in a country with a fair tax code so a billionaire never pays less taxes than a schoolteacher and a nurse. and if donald trump is elected none of that will happen. we will only have a more dark, dangerous, and chaotic vision for where he will take the country. he will get on the stage and talk about the fact that he thinks the extreme abortion bans he is responsible or are playing out brilliantly. he will talk about more corporate handouts and tax giveaways to the ultra-wealthy off the back of the middle class if he gains power and he will wage his campaign of retribution from the debate stage, continuing to do attacks on democracy. that is the contrast people see on the debate stage and through the duration of this campaign moving forward. >> michael, trump often uses the phrases, by biden migrant crime. he will likely use that phrase on thursday. the question is, how will the president respond? >> listen, donald trump, there is no tragedy that donald trump won't tried to exploit for his personal gain. every last one of these is a tragedy. we understand that, but we won't let donald trump misconstrue the facts. the fact is that crime went up under donald trump's presidency. crime is down under joe biden's presidency. donald trump doesn't care about crime. he doesn't care about border security. i think that is evident by the fact he blew up the border security deal when we had a deal in the senate. the president is actually trying to bring people together to fix our problems. that is true of border security. that's true of every challenge the american people face. that is a fundamental contrast the american people will see on the debate stage thursday night. >> one more question for you, michael. donald trump will try to exploit divisions over the war in gaza. how will president biden put the focus back on what trump's policies will mean for palestinians? >> i think donald trump makes it very clear that he would not make life that are for palestinians or anybody for that matter. i think the president will do is make sure the american people understand that he does not view issues of security through the lens of politics. he views them as the commander- in-chief. that is what he has been doing in the middle east, that is why the american people elected him in the first place and why they will reelect him in november. he is doing his job and does not view these issues through the lens of what is best for himself. that is what donald trump does and it stands in stark contrast to the president the american people elected. >> michael, i lied. this is the last question. what will success look like thursday night? >> listen, i think success is the american people having a clear understanding of the choice in this election, because that is what they will see when these candidates take the stage. they will walk away seeing a president and joe biden who was fighting relentlessly for the american people to get things done and across from that they will see donald trump, increasingly unhinged and running a campaign now as a convicted felon, convicted because he was willing to do and say anything to gain and hold onto power and is now promising revenge and retribution if he regains power. that is what the american people are going to walk away from after they watch the debate on thursday night. >> michael tyler, communications director for the biden/harris campaign, thank you. as always, for coming to the last word. >> ask for having me. coming up, the choice voters have in this year's presidential election. a sitting president who worked tirelessly to end gun violence or a convicted felon who has proudly done nothing. plus, a big victory today against alex jones who, never forget, was mainstreamed by donald trump. that is next. chewy, a citi client, uses citi's financial expertise to help drive its growth and keep its supply chain moving, so more pet parents can get everything they need... right when they need it. keeping more pets, and families, happy. ♪♪ for the love of moving our clients forward. for the love of progress. i still love to surf, snowboard, for the love of moving and, of course, skate. so, i take qunol magnesium to support my muscle and bone health. qunol's extra strength, high absorption magnesium helps me get the full benefits of magnesium. qunol, the brand i trust. i brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein! those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. -ugh. -here, i'll take that. woo hoo! ensure max protein, 30 grams protein, 1 gram sugar, 25 vitamins and minerals. and a new fiber blend with a prebiotic. 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(tony hawk) skating for over 45 years has taken a toll on my body. i take qunol turmeric because it helps with healthy joints and inflammation support. why qunol? it has superior absorption compared to regular turmeric. qunol. the brand i trust. the cockroach. resilient creatures. true miracles of evolution. where there is one, others aren't far behind. always scavenging for food, the cockroach... well that's horrifying. ortho home defense max indoor insect barrier. one application kills and prevents bugs for 365 days. not in my house you don't. nature is wild. your home doesn't have to be. for 25 years, the now bankrupt businessman alex jones has used his notorious website, and for wars, to make millions by spewing right wing propaganda, fake news and conspiracy theories including lies that president obama and hillary clinton were the devil and, quote, smelled like sulfur and conspiracy theories like pizza gait and that the u.s. government had a hand in 9/11. and in an obscure corner of the internet, if not for this. >> i'm so excited and he joins us from trump tower in new york city. he is the leading 2016 republican presidential contender. donald trump again joins us and i have so many westerns, but first off, donald, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, alex. great to be with you. >> trumpeted that well alex jones was lying about sandy hook. now the platform will be shut down. his personal assets have already been liquidated and now a u.s. bankruptcy court trustee says he intends to wind down operations of the parent company of infowars and liquidate his inventory. the business is being liquidated because alex jones owes the families of the sandy hook shooting nearly $1.5 billion because of the lies he told. lies that the murder of 20 first-graders and six educators by a gunman's ar-15 never happened. lies that led to the families of the victims being harassed and threatened. this is some justice for the families who wanted to see the media platform that spread this poison shuddered. there is another victory in the fight against gun violence today. in a landmark announcement surgeon general dr. vivek murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis in america. >> upset with parents who lost a child to firearm violence. i've listened to their stories and felt their pain as they described their holes in their hearts. as a father i know a parent's worst nightmare is to lose a child. if you like you can't protect a child from harm. firearms violence is a public health crisis. our failure to address it is a moral crisis. to protect the health and well- being of americans, especially our children, we must now act with the clarity, courage, and urgency that this moment demands. >> guns are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in u.s. ages 1 to 19, more than car accidents and drug overdoses combined. and ahead of the november election this is the choice. president biden and and administration working to end gun violence or former president trump, who proudly said he did nothing to restrict guns. earlier this month at a rally to end gun violence, vice president harris made this clear. >> whereas president biden and i stood up to the nra and the gun lobby, donald trump bowed down. after the horrors of el paso and dayton, the former president said he would take action and then he folded. he failed to stand up