A wall against trump, blocking the entrance to the Convention Center with a massive cloth banner painted like a wall. Were going to be walling off hate, xenophobia, and continue our pledge to take the committees from people in positions of power and do not look out for the benefit of all of us as a community. Today we are drawing a line in the sand. To start protecting their people because we as a Community Know the solutions. No one else is going to do it for us. This is a call to action and a message to trump and anyone who feels like using xenophobia and hate as a means of power, that is not the solution and we are going to fight. Amy meanwhile, at least 17 people were arrested during another demonstration outside the rnc after a protester attempted to burn an american flag. Burning american flags is legal under most circumstances. Police used horses to try to break up the protest. Another shocking video of Police Shooting an africanamerican man has emerged. It happened monday in north miami, florida. Man inshot an unarmed the leg as he was attempting to help an autistic man who had wandered away from a group home. Social worker Charles Kinsey is seen lying on the ground with his hands in the air when police shot him. Police have said they were responding to a 911 call about a man with a gun. But in the cell phone video released yesterday, kinsey can be heard telling police all he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behavioral therapist at a group home. Listen carefully. Amy the behavioral therapist kinsey can also be heard on the video trying to calm down the autistic man, and said he was more worried about his patients safety than his own. The video does not show the moment the shots are fired, and kinsey said officers at the scene offered no explanation. Meanwhile, black lives matter activists launched protests a multiple cities wednesday, including in new york city, washington, d. C. , and detroit. In new york city, 10 people were arrested after activist locked themselves to each other using pvc pipe at the entrance of the patrolmans benevolent association. In detroit, six people arrested at a protest outside a police precinct. It was remembering a sevenyearold girl who was killed in her own home in 2010 during a night raid by police that was being filmed by a reality tv show. In washington, d. C. , activist with black youth tragic 100 and black lives matter locked themselves. They were demanded Police Officer stop paying dues to the private union which they say defends officers accused of brutality. And the author of a bestseller book about his imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay may be free. Mohamedou ould slahi is a mauritanian citizen and the author of guantanamo diary. Slahi has been imprisoned at guantanamo for nearly 14 years without charge. The prisons review board has now declared he is no longer a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States. 77 prisoners remain at Guantanamo Bay nearly eight years after president obama first moved to close the prison. And a correction on monday and tuesdays show, we inaccurately reported floor to congressman dennis ross is planning to skip the rnc, saying it is a good time to be fishing in montana. In fact, he is not attending the convention, but the quote is from montana senator steve daines who said what politico but ended up coming to the rnc on tuesday. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org breaking with convention war, peace and the presidency. We are broadcasting inside and out from the streets to the Convention Floor. I am amy goodman. Indiana governor mike pence has accepted the republican nomination for Vice President. But pences speech on wednesday night was largely overshadowed by senator ted cruz, who refused to endorse donald trump in a stunning 21minute primetime address. Cruz mentioned his former challenger by name only once. Cox i want to congratulate donald trump winning the nomination last night. Amy texas senator ted cruz would on to outline his vision for the Republican Party. While he never directly criticized trump, by the end of the speech, he was repeatedly interrupted by boos and delegates chanting, we want trump. If you love our country and love your children as much as i know that you do, stand and speak and vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the constitution. Amy near the end of the speech, donald trump appeared at the back of the Convention Hall in a move to draw attention away from cruzs speech. Cruz left the podium to a chorus of boos. His wife had to be escorted off the floor. Some republican delegates described cruz as a traitor to the party, while others praised him for refusing to back trump. This all occurred on a night when governor pence was supposed to be the center of attention as the indiana governor accepted the partys nomination to be Vice President. We have a choice to make. This is another time for choosing. If you want a president who will protect this nation, confront radical islamic terrorism and rid the world of isis come if you want a president who will restore law and order to this country and give Law Enforcement the support and resources they deserve, if you want a president who will cut taxes, grow our economy, and squeeze every nickel out of the federal bureaucracy if you want a president who will build strong borders and enforce our laws, and if you want a president who will of the end of the status quo in washington, d. C. Justices to the Supreme Court who will uphold the constitution [cheers] we have but one choice and that man is ready. This team is ready. Our party is ready and when we elect donald trump the 45th president of the United States together, we will make America Great again. Amy governor pence speaking wednesday night after accepting the Republican Partys nomination to be Vice President. While trump has claimed that pence was his first choice for a running mate, the New York Times reveals the Trump Campaign first reached out to Ohio Governor john kasich to be his running mate and he declined. According to the times, donald trump junior asked kasich if he had any interest in being the most powerful Vice President in history. Promising john kasich will be in charge of domestic and foreignpolicy. Donald trumps son reportedly said his fathers role as president would be simply making America Great again. Trumps campaign disputes this account, denies it wanted john kasich over pence. A how governor kasich has not come to the convention, even though it is thing held in his own state and he has been in cleveland this week. We begin todays show with a look at governor mike pence, the man who could become the most powerful Vice President in history if donald trump is elected in november. We are joined by two guests. In washington, d. C. , Darren Samuelsohn is senior policy reporter for politico. His article is called, the old cassettes that explain mike pence. And joining us via democracy now video stream is jeff sharlet, author of radiant we welcome you both to democracy now tell us the story of governor mike pence. Who is this indiana politician jacob u. S. Congressman her, governor, fox talkshow host . Hes a kennedy democrat. He is an Irish Catholic kennedy democrat who really either lost his way or changed his way back in college at a christian rock astival that was meant to be evangelical woodstock. He decided to accept jesus and become an evangelical and that turned him on the path to conservatism, a way from the sort of democratic roots. In 1980, i think he voted for jimmy carter. I 1984, he was a regular republican. I the early 1990s, he was running for congress. He was losing badly because of his very sort of negative howaigning and he learned to be a kind of smoother, kinder ted cruz who sort of character. He is the ideological makeup of ted cruz, he just does not have the visible venom. He entered congress in 2000. What is interesting is the way the press is playing him as mr. Stability, as this more moderate, conservative but mildmannered you go back and look at his record, and you see this is easily the most antireproductive rights bys president ial candidate in history, that he is not a man using his crusade against abortion as a political tool, but one who speaks of it and extensively as the greatest cause of our time is what he calls it. He says abortion is worst then slavery and the holocaust combine. Everyone saying the opposite of trump, but theres a Common Thread between them and there are two, grandiosity and misogyny. Amy i want to go to a speech mike pence gave other values voter summit in 2010. To those who say marriages dont relevant to our budget crisis, you are not feel it a pretty enough money in a thousand years to pay for the government that you would need. If the family continues to collapse. To those who say we should focus on cutting spending, i say, ok, lets start by denying all federal funding for abortion at home and abroad. You want to find savings . Lets cut funding to science and involves embryos planned parenthood of america. Amy that is the Vice President ial nominee mike pence. Elaborate . T, can you that is a key clip. The goes to one of the more, misunderstanding that on the one hand there is social sm andvativi rightwingers can be either or. You have guys like mike pence in that speech and another speeches where he says we need a marriage and fiscal conservatism. You cannot have one without the other. Abortion, as he says, is an economic issue. That comes for him from one of his mentors, a guy named chuck colson who died a few years ago. More infamous as one of nick since dirty tricks men who into prison, was born again, and came out as a house intellectual to christian right regime in jordan and like mike pence. This idea that all of these things are bungled up. When we talk about planned parenthood or you talk about samesex marriage, all you talk about or the economy, youre talking about one common enemy. Them is secularism. They won a godled government. That is the only legitimate government. When they speak of business, theyre not thinking of something separate from god, but what in mike pences circles would be biblical capitalism. This idea that this idea is godordained. That is what made him a really popular man in the circles. Everyone is obviously sort of saying this was meant to attract the evangelical base. I think it is working. In a significant way, that based is still wobbly for trump, but much less so with pence on board in with the idea a future with pence that some of these issues that may be progressives thought they had been winning on , the tide is going to be turned. Especially with mike pence on abortion. The fruit o to religious freedom restoration act. In march 2015, governor pence said both clinton and obama have supported versions of the socalled religious freedom law, as have 19 other states besides indiana. The religious freedom restoration act was signed into federal law by president bill clinton more than 20 years ago and it lays out a framework for ensuring that a very high level of scrutiny is given anytime Government Action impinges on the religious liberty of any american. After that, some 19 states followed that adopted that statute. After last years hobby lobby case, indiana properly brought the same version that then state senator barack obama voted for in illinois before our toislature, and i was proud sign it into law last week. Amy then indiana governor mike pence went on to defend the law in the name of tolerance. Is tolerant to a street or not . I mean, theres a lot of talk about tolerance in this country today, having to do with people on the left. But here indiana steps forward to protect the Constitutional Rights and privileges, freedom of religion, for people of faith and families of faith in our state, and this avalanche of intolerance has been poured on our state is outrageous. Amy that was 2015. That same year, during a press conference, governor pence also insisted the law does not condone discrimination. This bill is not about discrimination. If i thought it legalized discrimination in any way, i would have vetoed it. I think in time people will see it for what it is. They will see we did the right thing here. Amy again, that is indiana governor mike pence will stop jeff sharlet, talk about this bill. The backlash was enormous from sports leagues, the ncaa to corporations threatening to boycott indiana. Angies list said they would not do a 40 million expansion of the company. Talk about what happened and what this law was about, that the indiana governor was behind the hearing. Angies list may have been the key to breaking the his right,ne way saying laws like this have been passed else were in other states at the federal level. And the rhetoric of religious freedom as a justification for what is questionably discrimination, that us. Something mike pence invented. That is something that has been going on now since the 1990s and in large part because it is enabled again that traction because of democrats, including the clintons, who did not want to make an issue of it, wanted to be seen as religionfriendly and thought it was a lowcost maneuver. It turns out to be a highcost maneuver in indiana. You saw him pushing it there is little bit further, the same way he pushed antiabortion restrictions just a little bit further than the other states. He wanted to be the first in this kind of christian right crusade. The corporations . This is not a great progressive victory. The corporations fighting back. He walked back the bill. It is still not a good thing. This idea that the bill was undone is false. It is still there. It has a little bit of language that some of his allies in the christian right did not like. Were seeing a narrative in the press that maybe mike pence is really going to activate the base because they turned on him. To me, that is a sign of not following the christian right in not understanding these kinds of stats and how they understand their politicians. No politicians is 100 . Ted cruz is not 100 of them. It is more whether this politician is being used by god. They see pence is being used by god. They will get over the disappointment in pence watering down the bill a little bit because they have the language in the history. When he says he is against he is for tolerance, they understand mike pence is a man who has compared himself to. Artin luther king he is a long list of sort of the icons he seems to be in the tradition of. Lincoln, the 18th and 19th century british parliamentarian ended slavery. An absolute icon of the christian right. Pence sees himself in that tradition, fighting for what was called the reformation of manners. What pence sees in the same way. That has to do so laws like this religious freedom act are just icing on the cake of a much larger project. Amy can you talk more about the Family Research council, its relationship with pence . This a Family Research council focused on the family, tony perkins in washington, sort open lobbying top shop of the christian right. Tony perkins was in fact one of those guys who said, i feel a little rogue and ordered by mike pence walking back a little brokenhearted by mike pence walking back this bill. He will come around. He is a long history of coming around. He is a very canny political operator. There are guys like david barton, sort of a historian of the christian right. There is a whole universe one of the ones im interested in is the Fellowship Foundation sometimes called the family or c street. Viewers may remember in 2009, 2010, a number of congressional hopefuls im sorry, president ial hopefuls, they were all cut up it appears covered up by this evangelical organization. Mike pence has been moving in the circles for a long time, using the National Prayer breakfast as a kind of backroom lobbying place for him. That is his foreignpolicy expense, meeting with delegations from other countries that are looking to do business with america. Often in terms of military funding and theyre going to do that under the cloak of prayer. Has been a skillful operator in that sense. I think that is why he is liked by conservatives. In the vein of ted cruz, but also an operator. He is also a man who cut deals. Ofhink there is a question is the hypocrite or a true believer . I think the answer is, yes, he is both, absolutely. And that is what makes him a force. Amy were going to go to break and come back to this discussion. It was said before that mike pence was a fox talkshow host, but he was just a radio host. We will talk about some of the things he said there. ,ur guest is jeff sharlet associate professor of Literary Journalism at dartmouth. He wrote the book c street the , fundamentalist threat to american democracy. We will be back in a minute. [music break] amy freedom by george michael. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. War,ing with convention, peace, and the presidency. We are in cleveland, ohio, covering the National Convention inside and out, from the streets to the Convention Floor. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting two hours a day from the Republican Convention and next week all through the week from the Democratic Convention in philadelphia. Were continuing to talk about republican Vice President ial nominee might pence. We look back at his time as a