have all the non-convention news of the day, including another ambush targeting police officers leaving three dead and three wounded in baton rouge, lousiana. plus, turkey's crackdown-- we're on the ground there as the country's government fires nearly 9,000 police, and arrests 6,000 others after a failed military coup. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> supported by the rockefelle6r foundation. promoting the well-being of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. more at rockefellerfoundation.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the republican national convention has officially opened for business, but not without a fuss. opponents of donald trump objected loudly to adopting convention rules by voice vote. meanwhile, the candidate is hoping to keep focused on a law- and-order theme. correspondent lisa desjardins begins out coverage. >> this convention will come to order. >> reporter: the convention formally began this afternoon, with events of the last two weeks looming over party business. police killings of black men-- and the retaliatory killings of officers in dallas and now, baton rouge-- are in the air, and republican party chairman reince priebus opened with a moment of silence. >> the men and women who protect our safety and well being who put their lives on the line every day, they're our genuine heroes. we also want to recognize all the families who've lost loved ones during these troubling times. >> reporter: the theme of day one is "make america safe again", and it will dominate not just tonight, but throughout this campaign. donald trump will try to make the case that the leadership of president obama and hillary clinton has fed violence at home and insecurity at home and abroad. tonight's speakers are meant to drive that message home, including: milwaukee sheriff david clarke, retired navy "seal" marcus luttrell, and former new york city mayor rudy giuliani. in a convention twist, trump himself will introduce his wife melania, the night's featured speaker. but not everyone is here to see it. ohio governor john kasich-- a one-time trump opponent-- is staying away. and so far former presidents george w. bush and his father, george h.w. bush. trump campaign manager paul manafort today brushed aside the absences. >> the bush family we would have liked to have them. they are part of past. we're dealing with the future. we're dealing with the issues that relate to the future. >> reporter: another former trump opponent, ben carson, told the newshour's john yang that >> the choice is going to be as dramatic as any choice we have ever had. we are talking about traditional american values, faith, family, personal responsibility, compassion for your neighbor. versus a continuation of secular progressivism. >> reporter: meanwhile, hundreds of protesters showed up early today. >> we should have turned our backs on what i see is a festival of hate. i'm very actually disappointed. >> reporter: several hundred trump supporters also gathered for a rally today, and a few were openly carrying guns. authorities have banned some items in the "event zone" around the convention. but under ohio's open-carry law, firearms are permitted. that's adding to security worries, and the heavy police presence. cleveland's police chief calvin williams: >> we want to make sure that the demonstrators are safe walking through the streets of the city of cleveland and we want to make sure that we have enough officers to respond if things turn otherwise. >> reporter: meanwhile, the democratic nominee-to-be, hillary clinton, was in cincinnati, addressing the n.a.a.c.p. and laying into trump: >> donald trump led the movement to de-legitimize our first black president. trumpeting the so-called birther movement. donald trump plays coy with white supremacists. donald trump insults mexican immigrants even an american judge born of mexican heritage. >> the g.o.p. has been known as the party of lincoln. clinton said we are watching it become the party of trump. and this convention saw its first political test just late tonight as delegates who opposed mr. trump call for a roll call vote trying to change the rules of the convention. they didn't have enough states to do that. in the end, the trump forces say they will be strong. will we see more objections? we'll see. >> woodruff: thank you, lisa. gwen and i will be back later in the program with much more from cleveland. but now to hari sreenivasan in washington for the other main stories of the day. >> sreenivasan: thank you, judy. we turn to the crisis in turkey, where the government continued its crackdown on those involved in the attempted coup that left more than 250 dead and nearly 2,000 injured. leaders from around the world are calling for restraint. newshour special correspondent marcia biggs is in istanbul and has the latest. >> reporter: protests raged for yet another day in istanbul's taksim square. supporters of president recep tayyip erdogan, vowing to protect their leader and turkey's fragile democracy. that fury was channeled by turkey's prime minister who said the country will evaluate whether to reinstate the death penalty for some who plotted the coup. turkey had scrapped capital punishment as part of its ongoing bid to join the european union. >> ( translated ): it requires a change of constitution. we will decide in compliance with the people's will. >> reporter: that brought a swift rebuke from the e.u. foreign policy chief, federica mogherini, and others in europe. she and others urged turkish officials to pull back: >> we are the ones saying today rule of law has to be protected in the country, there is no excuse for any steps that takes the country away from that. >> reporter: mogherini spoke before meetings in brussels with secretary of state john kerry and other foreign ministers. kerry pledged support for turkey's government, but cautioned the u.s. and others will be watching closely. >> n.a.t.o. also has a requirement with respect to democracy, and n.a.t.o. will indeed measure very carefully what is happening. >> a major point >> reporter: a major point of contention between the u.s. and turkey: the fate of muslim cleric and erdogan opponent fetullah gulen, who lives in pennsylvania in self-imposed exile. erdogan and his administration say gulen orchestrated the coup attempt-- a charge the cleric forcefully denies; turkey is demanding he be extradited. the coup attempt by factions of turkey's military launched a night of terror late friday-- president erdogan-- who was on vacation-- spoke first via facetime on turkish tv and called for his supporters to take to the streets. then late at night, he flew into istanbul's airport and vowed to purge the military and government. those guns were given to you by the people of this country. if you use the guns against the people who gave them to you, you will pay a heavy price. >> reporter: chaos continued through the night, but by midday saturday, the strike against the state was largely defeated erdogan has moved swiftly to make good on his vow to purge the country of what he calls "conspirators"-- 9,000 police and other security officials were fired today; more than 6,000 military personnel have been detained, and more than 3,000 judges suspended. offices of many turkish media organizations were stormed friday night-- including state television and cnn's turkish network. murat yetkin is editor-in-chief of "hurriyet daily news," whose office was also taken hostage. >> the question remains who has remained the true winner? >> erdogan's popularity has increased. >> whether in favor of president erdogan or not, most people we spoke to agreed military rule was not the answer. where the people remain bitterly divided is over the future identity of their government, islamic or secular. >> tarkan runs this cafe in a secular neighborhood. >> i'm scared all the time, i don't feel any safe unfortunately. he says his biggest fear is that his two small children will not live in a free turkey. his friend emre is a 31-year-old gay photographer. when demonstrators took to the streets, he says he felt targeted, and with no one to call for protection. >> i don't feel safe really in my own country. >> they think we are not because we are wearing the short dress and drinking the alcohol. >> reporter: 35-year-old burcu is terrified of the erdogan government's promise to institute aspects of islamic law into the traditionally secular turkish legal system. >> ( translated ): they're telling us protect your democracy, but this is not what i understand from democracy or what i want to live in democracy. the last two days and people are going out on the streets with machetes. >> reporter: in this neighborhood, the people we met were scared, sad, and desperately uncertain of their future. not a ten minute walk away, we met 48-year-old taci and his family. taci took his son with him out on the streets friday night in support of erodgan. he praises the president for what he has done for the economy and scoffs at suggestions that turkey under his rule has lost its freedom. >> ( translated ): look around. everyone can dress as they want. there'll be no sharia law brought to turkey, no such thing will happen. >> reporter: his wife hulya tells us that erdogan is the strong leader the country needs and she is pleased that her children can now attend religion classes at school, as part of a program initiated by erdogan for what he calls the "devout generation". >> ( translated ): if we had sharia law now, the heads of these generals which attempted the coup would be hanging at the palace gates. there was no forgiveness during ottoman time under sharia law. we want capital punishment. we want it deep from our hearts. and it will happen, inshallah. >> reporter: strong opinions on both sides perhaps, and looming uncertainty for a divided country and a fragile state. for the pbs newshour i'm marcia biggs in istanbul, turkey. >> sreenivasan: for more on this we turn to soner cagaptay, director of the turkish research program at the washington institute for near east policy. he's also the author of, "the rise of turkey: the 21st century's first muslim power." and newshour chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner. soner, first, the information coming out of turkey says the interior ministry has fired close to 9,000 people. were that many people involved in this coup? >> probably not. it's likely that the military plotters of the coup that the government arrested were involved in it, but i can't believe 9,000 judges and many other civilian employees were involved in the cool. rather this suggests the government is going after the gulen movement, former ally, also conservative movement as the akp's is, but since the rift 2013, there has been a blood feud between the two and it's not a coincidence therefore there were some gulen aligned officers who took part in this effort but the government is cast ago wider net and going after what it thinks are supporters and sympathizers of this movement in the bureaucracy and judiciary. so expect a large scale witch hunt in turkey coming up. >> sreenivasan: more about gulen in a second, but what is the u.s.'s position on what is a large-scale crackdown, margaret? >> that is the number one u.s. concern. the u.s. was caught offguard by this, hari, and certainly came out and said the right things about supporting a democratic government but followed admonitions to erdogan not to use this as a way to purge in the way he has in the journalist and community in the judeiary purged who he thinks is his opponents and when secretary kerry made his first comments i think it was saturday and suggested at least in the reporting that turkey's n.a.t.o. membership might be affected by this, there was a huge reaction from turkish diplomats who peppered the state department and the white house demanding an explanation. so today you saw the white house press secretary taking concerns -- taking care to say, look, turkey is a member and this is not like the e.u., but they're concerned in the white house this will deepen the rift with turkey. the chile membership said they thought the u.s. was behind the cool. so deep concerns. >> sreenivasan: erdogan says i'm not behind the coup. secretary kerry says prove he's behind the cool. who is he and does he have the kind of influence who scares erdogan so much in. >> he's known to have friends in bureaucracy, military and judiciary. after the rift started between him and president erdogan, many suspected gulen aligned people in the bureaucracy were kicked out. this gives erdogan a second chance to really go after this movement. i think at the end whether or not we think gulen was behind the coup fully, this is what president erdogan believes. he believes this is the main driving fort behind the coup and he will go after them with his force. gulen will now be issue number one. erdogan will insist on his extradition and night link turkish u.s. cooperation on gulen's extradition. erdogan has a policy of allowing fighters to cross the border from syria. people might say at the pentagon we don't want to deal wit. i think turkey ought to separate the issues, provide to washington a full and convincing account of gulen involvement in the coup was keep military operations separate from that. >> sreenivasan: what soner pointed to is the geographic and political importance turkey is to the u.s. and the fight against i.s.i.s. >> the air base, the former commander to have base who tried to get silence from the u.s. were working out of there. it's all very uncomfortable. the power has not even been restored to the base, the u.s. has its own power. turkey is now key, given its related involvement in the fight against i.s.i.s., in which it really is cracking down on people trying to get in and most importantly letting u.s. planes use that not only to refuel but to launch offensive strikes. otherwise, that have to come from carriers in the ocean, taking five, six times as much and having to leave without dropping their ordinance. so it's maintaining the relationship. you can see the united states trying very hard to manage it so it doesn't go awrite as soner suggested. >> there will be problems moving forward because there is no good outcome of the coup for turkey. if the military had won, it would have become an oppressive country. erdogan has won but it still will be more oppressive because he has a record of cracking down on dissent, going after opposition, planning social media, and banning defectors. it's based ton theory there is a conspiracy to overthrow him. his supporters will embrace his crackdown ono pegs as a necessary tool to go after those who want to undermine him and he will continue to cast a wide net against the opposition. while turkey's erdogan go after who were blind this plot, his net will be wider for the opposition and much more difficult for turks to oppose his policies democratically. >> the u.s. will know in two weeks whether it's that or they're just rounding up a lot of suspects and in two weeks most are free and they identify coup plotters. >> sreenivasan: thanks so much. >> a pleasure. >> sreenivasan: now back to this country and the latest round of violence involving police. last week, baton rouge, louisiana was the site of protests following the police killing of alton sterling. yesterday saw an ambush that left three officers killed and three wounded. jeffrey brown reports. >> brown: mourners laid flowers today outside the baton rouge gas station where sunday's slaughter took place. and, investigators confirmed the attack was definitely planned. >> there is no doubt whatsoever that these officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated. it was a calculated act against those who work to protect this community every single day. >> brown: the gunman was former u.s. marine gavin long of kansas city, missouri, who served in the marine corps from 2005 to 2010, including six months in iraq. he carried out the attack on his 29th birthday-- before dying in a shootout with police. long had previously posted messages on social media saying he was fed up with the treatment of african-americans. >> you gotta fight back. that's the only way a bully knows to quit. he doesn't know words. >> brown: the slain officers were identified as sheriff's deputy brad garafola, and police officers montrell jackson and matthew gerald. their killing came less than two weeks after the death of alton sterling, who was fatally shot by baton rouge police during a scuffle. sterling's death and the killing of philando castile in st. paul, minnesota triggered protests nationwide. after a protest in dallas, a sniper shot dead five police officers, saying he wanted revenge for police killings of black men. today, attorney general loretta lynch condemned the bloodshed during a conference of black law enforcement officers in washington. >> we are determined to do everything that we can to bridge divides, to heal the rifts and to restore trust. >> brown: the killings rippled through the presidential campaign as well. democrat hillary clinton said today "there can be no justification" for killing police. and republican donald trump blamed president obama's leadership and said, "we demand law and order." and from louisiana public broadcasting in baton rouge, we're joined now by the superintendent of louisiana state police, colonel michael edmonson. first, our condolences to you and members of your force. i know this is all very fresh. can you tell us the mood there? how have your officers and community responded? >> well, i think they're doing an incredible job. these police officers, certainly the ones we talked about in the press conference today, those police officers, the two baton rouge city police officers that were killed, the one east baton rouge pa rick sheriff's deputy, the one fighting for his life now, true heros. it was an ordinary sunday and what took place from 8:40 that morning and beyond was nothing less than extraordinary. the mood is somber. it's sad, but i can promise you my police officers and state troopers are committed, dedicated, they're professional and ready to do the job that's called upon. they're public servants. that's what they do. >> brown: you said the police officers were assassinated. what tells you that? why were these officers targeted? >> it was intentional and calculated. as i watched the film and video we had from the scene on that particular morning, a little more than 30 hours ago, was that the shooter that went to that location and based on his actions and what he did at that location, he was targeting specifically police officers. he was amongst the civilians. he saw civilians in the area. he didn't even engage them. he discounted them. he didn't etch look at them. he went specifically for a location of a baton rouge city police car. he was engaged on that police car. when no one was in it, he backed off, went around. went o to another location next door, parked his car, went next to a baton rouge police officer who was vacuuming his car before, he left. at that point, police were called in the area because people see someone with a gun. he backtracked one of the side buildings, engages two baton rouge police officers, kills them. he engages a sheriff's deputy. the sheriff's deputy was going back to one of the police officers who had been shot to try to render first aid. he kills him. he moves around to the other side, engage as sheriff's deputy, shot through that car, and that is the one that is grasping for his life right now and that's when he was shot and killed by baton rouge s.w.a.t. his intentions very clear. you can see it on the tape, watch it unfold as he moves forward. they were deliberate and calculated, no doubt in our mind he was aiming for a police officer. >> brown: now, that's his intentions. there is still a lot of questions of his motives. what questions do you have? are you sure first of all it was just him? do you think that perhaps there were others involved in do you know why he came to baton rouge? >> a lot of unanswered questions. what we clearly do know is that the individual, the shooter that the baton rouge police department s.w.a.t. team shot and killed was the individual who killed those police officers. we believe him to be acting alone in that particular snare. you we want to find out what brought him to baton rouge, that location and to kill those police officers. we've got to backtrack that car. we've got to go to 8:40 yesterday morning and go backwards and try to work the time line. where did the car come from, where did he travel, why was he in baton rouge? was he looking for the locations? was he trying to find locations where police officers were? while he was here, who was he talking to. we'll ask the questions, look at social media and finding the pieces to the puzzle. >> brown: excuse me for interrupting you. you referred to other cities he went to. the report said he was in dallas. >> we're hearing all of those and that's why i say we need to look at the footprint of that particular vehicle, find out where it went prior to 8:40 that morning, work it as far back as we can and try to find out was anyone else involved, was he looking at other locations, what other possible crimes he's committed, how do you get those guns, all the things that need to put the puzzle together so they can completely tell the story. those three police officers, they deserve that we get it right. >> brown: if i could, there's so much talk around the country to how police are responding to the shootings. are you changing your procedures at all in terms of how your officers respond to emergencies, for example? >> i wouldn't do anything different than what i've seen. i have been police officer 32 years and superintendent for 9. the foundation of our training is solid. it's built on principals. what we need to do, anytime there's an incident anywhere around the world that involves police, we take it, work through it in louisiana, ask our officers how would you react in this situation and we talk the things through. that training has to continue. we need to build upon it. we need to go wherever it takes us, anyout thing we can do because here's the deal, you can't get enough train org talking about scenarios where you can continue to be proactive. i think that's what the public expects from us and that's certainly what we need to do. >> brown: col. michael edmonson, thank you so much. >> thank you, sir. please pray for us. we need it. >> brown: thank you. >> woodruff: it's been an action packed day already here in cleveland. we're excited about our first ever joint pbs newshour-npr coverage of the 2016 conventions. "weekend edition sunday" host rachel martin will be with us this week and next. she's at the podium now with a preview of what we expect to see tonight. hi, judy, i'm actually down on the floor of the convention arena. this is where all the action is going to take place tonight. delegates are on a break but we can expect them to fill this hall in the next little while. as you know, the trump campaign has set up a theme for every night and tonight the theme is make america safe again, so you can be sure there is going to going the be a lot of conversation about national security issues and the words you will hear a lot tonight, benghazi. they will put out guests to target hillary clinton on the issue of benghazi. we'll hear from the mother of one of the four americans killed there. we'll also hear from some of his supporters in congress, alabama senator jeff sessions will speak. it will be up to him to try to bridge the divide between donald trump and some of the establishment who is not yet on the board. and the marquee event, milania trump. the candidate himself is expected to introduce her. back to you, gwen and judy. >> woodruff: we'll watch and talk to you rachel. >> woodruff: we'll be watching and talking to you, rachel. we get the perspective of the trump campaign now with one of his senior advisors, kellyanne conway. thank you for joining us in our sky booth. kellyanne conway, how united are the republicans tonight? we saw a little chaos break out a couple of hours ago when the delegates were asked about nominating donald trump. >> that was a couple of the delegates last attempt. there have been three or four of them to embarrass mr. trump or rob him of the nomination but they failed gwen and again. but that's what conventions are for. this is direct democracy. in terms of party unity, there is no bernie sanders equal, no one who won all those votes and just last week who decided to drop out and endure. this is growing for parties to have growing pains, shed skin and have these debates whether in public or behind closed doors as we are more accustomed to. >> ifill: speaker paul ryan and everyone was talking about unity. he talked about being a party of ideas. we hear less about ideas. most of the ideas are about building a wall or the ideas are about ban ago religion from coming into the country, and when we ask paul ryan about that h he kind of bit his tongue. do you feel the unity is where it needs to be in that front? >> i think donald trump has many more ideas, like the ten-point v.a. reform plan he laid out in virginia beach a week ago. he said anyone can read it. he said if we don't do what's right by our veterans and provide them basic care and health services and care about them who fought for our freedoms and giving us the right to sit here and converse, what are we doing as a nation? then he gave a ten-point road map. anybody can agree or disagree but it's there. he's got a tax plan that's been there. he has a repeal and replace an obama plan. no one seems to want to talk about it. i have been on tv every day, no one asked me to compare the two healthcare or national security plans. >> ifill: here's your chance. agree with speaker ryan in this regard. i would like us to move from the cacophony of campaigning free fo a debate. i think on the issues, people will see they have a stark choice in the future vision of hillary clinton and donald trump and those who want to change election will go for the outsider donald trump much like barack obama in 2008 and bill clinton in '92 after the two terms of the party in power. >> woodruff: you use the term shedding skin. today the campaign manager paul manafort told a group of reporters, he said this is a campaign about the future, not about the past, when he was asked about the fact that both former presidents bush are not here as well as mitt romney and john mccain. you worked for president george h. w. bush's vice president dan quayle. how do you feel about the bushes and others not to be here? >> that is their right. we welcome them. we're glad they've devoted so much of their lives to public service. we understand that jeb bush wanted to be here this week accepting the nomination and that there are hard feelings there, but dan quayle himself the former vice president has endordz donald trump. the other bush vice president dick cheney endorsed donald trump, newt gingrich. so there's a split between those who have and hasn't. but i would not want to belong to a party where everybody was meant to say and agree on the same things. we hope they're cheering for the party from afar. also, i just want to say that this party is always looking for the next ronald reagan, and they were picking bushes for a while. so i said in a different station last night, this campaign will be about the future, not the past, and i believe the selection of mike pence broadcast that to voters. he's a fresh face to americans. >> ifill: what kind of reaction are you hearing? a sigh of relief? embrace? isn't this guy a part of the establishment? >> mike pence voted against a lot of the bush spending bills. no child left behind, medicare part b, tarp. he's willing to stand up to the others. it's refreshing to hear someone say, i just don't agree with you, something bernie sanders has done with president obama. mike pence was in washington, not of washington. rust belt governor, sitting on $2 billion surplus, gave tax cuts across the board to corporations and visit. now less than 5% unemployment there from 8%. a great story to tell. john mccain and mitt romney lost those midwestern states twice to president obama. let's give trump-pence a try. >> ifill: kellyanne conway, senior advisor to donald trump. thank you. >> thank you. >> ifill: from reality tv to the top of the g.o.p., donald trump has been in the spotlight for decades. what do we know about his past that gives hints to where he wants to lead the country in the future? tonight we begin our on the likely republican nominee, with a look at trump's early years. donald trump was-- and is --a child of new york. born and raised in the borough of queens to a life of hard- earned privilege. he was the fourth of five children born to a scottish immigrant mother, mary, and a housing developer father fred, who left an important mark on his son. >> my father was great. good salesman. good builder. he loved to build houses. he was a good builder. i learned so much from him. and he was a great guy, a lovely guy. i loved my father. >> ifill: fred trump-- a shrewd and political businessman-- made a fortune building low-income housing in brooklyn and queens beginning in the late 1920s. >> the family lived in a 23-room house. they had a chauffeur, a maid. the kids got taken by the chauffeur to their private school every morning. >> ifill: the children were all raised to be high achievers, but donald, in particular, patterned himself after his father. author gwenda blair. >> dad worked 24/7. if it was sunday, you wouldn't take that day off. you'd put the kids in the car and go over to a construction site. you'd look for unused nails, because why would you waste a nail? he was a very tough and demanding guy-- said to have told his boys, "be killers. win." very competitive. and that competitive streak came out double in donald. >> ifill: but that same pressure didn't sit well with trump's oldest brother, freddy. here's author timothy o'brien. >> fred jr. really couldn't stand the pressure. he ended up not going into his father's real estate business, wanted to become a pilot, he ended up an alcoholic, and he died of alcoholism. >> ifill: trump cites freddy's experience as why he doesn't drink. >> i probably wouldn't be here talking to you today if-- if we didn't-- if i didn't have my brother fred. because he kept me off alcohol. now maybe, with my kind of a personality, i'd be a serious alcoholic. i just don't know. but i've never had a glass of alcohol in my life. >> ifill: biographer michael d'antonio says young donald's thirst for attention often landed him in trouble at school. >> he said to me that he was wise a guy. he's the fellow who threw an eraser and gave the teacher a black eye, or would throw cake around a birthday party. so i could imagine him as being a little terror. >> ifill: it proved even too much for fred trump to handle. so at age 13, donald's parents shipped him upstate to the new york military academy. >> many kids, of course, are desperately homesick, can't wait to go home. he apparently loved military school. he liked the-- the kind of outfront, i think, competitiveness of it. there was so many different ways that you could excel and get medals and ribbons: cleanest room, shiniest shoes, all that kind of stuff. >> ifill: donald trump thrived, rising in rank, and he was socially popular with men and women. he also gravitated toward sports-- or rather, winning in sports: in soccer, wrestling, football, and baseball. >> he excelled at baseball to the point where i think his coaches felt that he could become a professional baseball player. i think military school at least wrung some of his adolescent excesses out of him for a brief period of time. but the thing to remember about donald trump is that his wealth sort of created a bubble around him, and he's been able to pursue his appetites and really do whatever he wanted to do for most of his life with very few restraints. >> ifill: after graduation: he lived at home while commuting to fordham university in the bronx. >> his sister told me that the reason he went to fordham-- i asked-- and she said "it's where he got in." >> ifill: two years later, he transferred to the university of pennsylvania's wharton school of finance and commerce. >> you won't find people at penn who will say, "well, i was donald's really good friend" or "i was in a fraternity with him" or "we socialized"-- he didn't do any of those things. he studied. and then come friday, as soon as he could, he'd jump in his car and go back to queens, where he worked with his dad. so from the very start with donald, it was about getting control of the family business. building it, growing it, and becoming the rich and famous and powerful person that he eventually became. >> ifill: trump graduated from penn in 1968 to start what quickly became a celebrity real estate career. and we pick it up there with syndicated columnist mark shields, "new york times" columnist david brooks, and amy walter of the cook political report. welcome, everybody, another four years, another convention. let's start by talking about what we've seen playing out on the floor today. they've only been in a few hours, on dinner break. there was kind of a bit of an uprising and various trump supporters and mainstream people like paul ryan have been going around today trying to say where is the party? >> it's not united but it's not opposed. that is to say there is a lot of disagreement but no opposition to trump. we saw today as all year, the trump forces are willing to take more risks than the anti-trump forces. what happened today is a bunch of people were on the verge of confronting the temperature party establishment and they sort of got beat back, partly by strong-arm tactics and pressure, and they got beat, and so it's a question of morale and courage and the trump people have it. >> amy, do you think they're likely to pull themselves together by the end of this week? >> the anti-trump forces? this has been a problem with the never trump movement is they've always had an antagonist in donald trump. they've never had a protagonist, somebody who will fill the space, if not trump, then who? wanting to be a different party and have a different candidate, fine, but put that person forward. i also think this is the goal of the convention, it's not necessarily what happens on the floor but what happens after the convention, will we see a party that looks more united among voters. >> ifill: how does this compare, mark, to conventions we've sat around the table and talked? i've never seen something as obscure tas rules of the convention. >> last time i saw something like that was 1980 in new york when the kennedy people opposing jimmy carter's renomination tried to turn it into a moral issue, that delegates should be able to vote their own conscience which is fill sov economy interesting but indefensible, because you run as a cruz delegate or a trump delegate. i'm not running for mark shields in most places. >> ifill: you have my vote. appreciate it. it's a rationalization. the problem is anybody but trump, they can't ever agree who the somebody is who it needs to be. "the wall street journal" nbc poll show 38% of republicans are satisfied with this choice. so there is a major task this week, not as much in the hall but in the country to unit the party, to unit the campaign -- to unite the campaign. >> ifill: david, how much help was mike pence bring in that regard? >> one of the things about this party, it's not a normal party. it's one person. the campaign is one person, and whether trump is disciplined or not is really is -- is really the story. as everybody tries to get him to tone down, he gets trumpier. he gave a rally in cincinnati where he was off in weirdland doing free association. let's face it, the pence rollout session was one of the weirdest vice presidential rollout sessions in presidential history, where the candidate could not keep his focus on his subject, which was pence, but he just gravitational pull had to talk about himself. if he's going that the next few months, there will be no shared campaign, just donald trump on a one-man band. >> ifill: donald trump, one-man band and his staff. paul manafort, i guess his campaign manager, i don't think he has an official title, criticizing the governor of ohio who is not at this convention in ohio and actually saying pretty harsh things about him. >> not only that, if your issue is unity and paul manafort said that was going to be the goal, today is unity day. then you come out and hit the governor of ohio, whom you beat, and say it's a mistake for him not to be there, he's getting in a twitter war with the ohio state republican party chairman. again, you may see them as the establishment and part of the problem but it would be at least good not to antagonize them. and this has been the problem all along which this is a campaign looks like beyond donald trump but into his campaign manager, too, they are not magnanimous winners, not gracious losers, and that's going to make it hard for at least a certain segment of the population, you know, the republican elects, at least, to get around him. >> woodruff: mark shields not only going after john kasich but the bushes, was very critical for the bushes for not being here. >> you want to be humble in victory and proud in defeat and seek converse not heratics. they should say, we look forward to the support. on columbus day or labor day, you don't start punishing people. >> except when have we ever seen that from this campaign? the one thing donald trump keeps saying is hey this worked, i beat 16 of them, so why should i change now? >> i would say two things, they're run an objectively bad campaign and the world is conspiring to help donald trump because if we get the violence in nice, violence in the streets in america, and if you wanted a cull can chiewrl climate where authoritarian figure was going to be -- people might heighth flock to him, this is that climate. >> i agree. coming back to what peter heart "the wall street journal" holster said, he said this is a change election and there is no question. we have earthquake after earthquake, aftershock after aftershock, and in this change here trump has become the candidate and he can't project chaos. there has to be order and discipline in a sense of magnanimity, as amy mentioned, and i think that's what's missing and if that's not here this week it will be a severe body blow to his chances. >> woodruff: but amy what we hear is they're going to try to tie all this chaos in the world and here in this country with the violence we've seen in the last weeks directly to hillary clinton and barack obama. >> well, listen, there's a good case to be made by republicans that a democratic administration has not taken care of or what they're going to argue is they've actually exacerbated the chaos in the world and there is a good case to prosecute there. they just have a very terrible person doing the prosecuting at this point, in part because -- and i think this is the most important thing he needs to do here -- is look like the kind of person who has the temperament to be able to make these sorts of decisions in times of crisis in a very chaotic world, and i think that's the most important thing he needs to do. all the talk about unity is nice and fun but at the end of the day if he comes out with more voters saying, you know what, i can see him now, i can see the opportunity for him to lead in a time of crisis. right now it's not there and the polls are showing it. that's what this is about. >> ifill: we have a convention opening tonight. we're going to hear from rick perry who endorsed him, and from other people who ran against him and endorsed him. i don't know where chris christie has gotten to, but we'll hear from other people, and in the end, this may be a typical convention, albeit with a couple of sitcom stars. >> and that guy from the bold and the beautiful -- >> woodruff: that guy, charles in charge. (laughter) >> but it's weird, we come here and think trump changed everything. it looks like the normal convention stage and the crowd looks normal. what's different, you talk to people in the delegation, for a lot of people, it's their first convention. the people who are here, this is the first time for a whole chunk of them. >> people who are proud there aren't many politicians here. >> that's the difference. all the establishment folks who would be hosting parties or we would be going to press conferences and talking to and using as sources, none of them are here today, and that's what donald trump is arguing is that is a segment of the party that has failed them. >> woodruff: thank you all. we'll will see a lot of you over the next two weeks. amy walter, david brooks, mark shields. let's take a look behind the scenes. let's take a look behind the scenes now at what it takes to put a convention like this together. john yang is our guide. >> yang: people have come to the republican convention in cleveland for many reasons. >> the number one thing we need to achieve here at convention is unity. >> we want to make the party seem more relevant. >> i'm looking forward to seeing donald trump. >> yang: the person in charge of making it happen, phil alangi. >> this is my 17th political convention. >> yang: for 15, a top producer for nbc news, now he's doing it for the republican party. >> i always feel any opportunity to give voters information and fulfill our responsibility is what we should do. this is a news event and should be handled by a news person. >> yang: aye alangi is in charge of preparing every detail of the program you will seton the screens, from the balloon drop, setting up signs, the audio/video displays inside the hall. he and his team started planning it in april of 2015. >> once you get down to the actual promptive nominee, are there tweaks and changes you've got to do? >> always. we didn't know who the nominee was going to b. we wanted to make them feel they were part of the process and engage. >> yang: what sort of personalization did the trump campaign want? >> the look of the lectern. he achieve it through the lighting and the screens. >> yang: his favorite features, the two giant video screens on the podium. >> 1,700 feet of l.e.d. screens, 10 million pixels. the upper screen is convex so it comes out, and the lower is concave so it draws you in, so that's what we're hoping keeps everything flowing. >> yang: alang i.e.'s first position as executive producer was 2012 in tampa. uh how does this compare to the last time? >> we had governor romney earlier in the process, a different candidate, different type of race. >> yang: delegates we spoke with, each one came away with something different. >> i'm going to take away all this memories, this nice time. >> i feel as a delegate that i made a difference. >> yang: for alangi, the goal is clear. >> the challenge of working on this event from here is you have to keep 20,000-plus people entertained here and interested, and you have the millions of people that are back home watching. i just want to bring whatever i can into that control room and give the people the best show they can possibly get. >> yang: that show standards tonight as melania, trump and republican notables take this stage. for the pbs "newshour", i'm. >> yang: in cleveland. >> woodruff: that's all tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern. tune in-- from your car or the couch-- for our special npr pbs newshour coverage of the republican presidential convention in cleveland. now back to hari in washington. >> sreenivasan: thanks, judy and gwen. in the day's other news: the fourth baltimore police officer to stand trial for the death of freddie gray was acquitted today. lieutenant brian rice was the highest ranking officer charged. gray died in april 2015 after being critically injured during a ride in a police van. two other officers have been acquitted, and two more are awaiting trial. the trial of a sixth officer ended in a hung jury. several people in germany on a train were attacked by a wife. police killed a 17-year-old attacker. there's no word on a motive. in france there's new evidence that the man who in france: there's new evidence that the man who killed 84 people in a truck attack in nice, had been radicalized just recently. the uncle of mohamed bouhlel said today an islamic state militant recruited him in the last two weeks. and a prosecutor said there's further evidence: >> ( translated ): another witness told us that he started growing a beard ten days ago, explaining, and i quote, "the witness that the beard was for religious purposes." he had also mentioned the islamic state, saying he did not understand why isis could not claim a territory. >> sreenivasan: meanwhile, france held a nationwide moment of silence today. and in nice, thousands gathered on the promenade where the attacker plowed into crowds of people last thursday. a document tied to last year's iran-nuclear deal has surfaced, and it indicates that key restrictions will start to lapse within 11 years. the "associated press" reports that beginning in 2027, iran will be allowed to install more powerful machines to enrich uranium. that could reduce the time needed to build a bomb to six months-- or even less. an investigative report today, for the world anti-doping agency, details extensive, state-supported doping by russia since 2011. its findings go well beyond previous allegations of russian cheating at the 2014 winter olympics, in sochi. the report's author-- richard mclaren-- said in toronto that the biggest surprise is the "extent of state oversight and control." >> from all of this comes a picture which emerges of an intertwined network of state involvement. it was a fail-safe method of permitting cheating russian athletes to compete while using performance-enhancing substances. >> sreenivasan: the anti-doping agency called for the international olympic committee to ban all russian athletes from next month's summer games in rio de janeiro. in response, russian president vladimir putin said all officials "directly responsible" for the cover-up will be suspended. wall street's week got off to a slow start. the dow jones industrial average gained 16 points to close at 18,533. the nasdaq rose 26 points and the s&p 500 added five. and, president obama has awarded the medal of honor to a vietnam war veteran-- nearly 50 years after he helped save more than 40 u.s. soldiers. retired army lieutenant colonel charles kettles received the nation's highest military award today for repeatedly flying his helicopter into enemy fire. >> to the dozens of soldiers that he saved in vietnam half a century ago, chuck is the reason they lived and came home and had children and grandchildren. entire family trees made possible by the actions of this one man. >> sreenivasan: kettles originally received the distinguished service cross, but the veterans history project campaigned to upgrade it to the medal of honor. that's it from washington for now. i'm hari sreenivasan. >> woodruff: and stay with us all night long for our special pbs newshour-npr coverage of the republican national convention. it all starts at 8:00 p.m. eastern. and that's the newshour for now. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> this 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