The country. And cheating to win. Bad news for trump on his taxes and what we now know definitely about his russian collusion. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. Im going to be honest. The last four days of the Democratic National convention went a lot better than i thought it was. It was a real open question, right, how a fully Virtual Convention was going to go. Over the last nearly 70 years of televised conventions, there is a predictable program, there is a frame work in place, right . You have a big arena. Its packed with delegates and the press. There are speeches and signs, a lot of pomp and circumstance and the whole thing always, always, always ends with a balloon drop. So you know what it looks like. There is a visual grammar for everyone to use, right . This year, with all that out of the question due to the ongoing pandemic, most of us, myself included, just had no idea what is this thing . Like how do you program a Convention Like this . What would it look like . Would it even be moderately watchable without the crowds and the cheering and of course crucially balloons . Well, as it turned out, it was a lot more than moderately watchable. It was actually and i say this has someone who has to make television every night, compelling from a party trying to stake a claim over a broad majority of the country during a time of unprecedented crisis. And that unprecedented crisis, the plague we all are experiencing loomed over everything this week. It was unforgettable. In every moment precisely because of the remote format and the technology and the social distancing. It was palpable in the strange little pauses before a live speech started as the delay of the signal had to work its way through. And the view of the nearly empty room as Kamala Harris delivered her acceptance speech just a few scattered socially distant reporters in the audience. And in joe bidens speech, the same empty hall with not a single interruption for applause. All of that, every moment of that, was a constant reminder that we are right now in the midst of a once in a century catastrophe and that 176,000 of our fellow americans are dead and more dying every day. And in the words of joe biden last night as he accepted the democratic nomination, it did not have to be this bad. The tragedy of where we are today is it didnt have to be this bad. Just look around. Its not this bad in canada or europe or japan or almost anywhere else in the world. And the president keeps telling us the virus is going to disappear. He keeps waiting for a miracle. Well, i have news for him, no miracle is coming. We lead the world in confirmed cases. We lead the world in deaths. Our economy is in tatters with black, latino, asian american, native American Communities bearing the brunt of it. And after all this time, the president still does not have a plan. Well, i do. Joe bidens performance in that speech is widely recognized even by his opponents and critics as extremely strong. It was by far the best speech of his campaign, the best moment of his campaign so far and people that have watched biden for decades of his career say it could be the best moment of his entire political career. Spanning nearly five decades. Part of what made it so good, so compelling as npr writes is that it was more fire side chat than convention barn burner. A former Vice President spoke directly to the American People without distraction. The speech and the presentation were unadored. It was just joe biden, alone on that stage with some flags and practically alone in the room speaking plainly about the state of the country. And it was very compelling. Last night biden channelled two key themes of his campaign, competency and compassion. He called himself an ally of the light who will set his mind at doing the job and he will do it with a big heart. Of course this is a man who has known unfathomable tragedy and he is able to channel that in a time when the nation is in grief and mourning. Yet, there has been no public recognition of that grief from our current leader. I understand how hard it is to have any hope right now. On this summer night, let me take a moment to speak to those of you who have lost the most. I have some idea how it feels to lose someone you love. I know that deep black hole that opens up in the middle of your chest and you feel like youre being sucked into it. I know how mean and cruel and unfair life can be sometimes. But i have learned two things. First, your loved one may have left this earth, but they will never leave your heart. They will also be with you. You will always hear them. And second, i found the best way through pain and loss and grief is to find purpose. Joe biden provided the country with a Public National moment of mourning, directly addressing the Many Americans who have lost loved ones in this pandemic, sharing his own loss and pain with them. Tonight were seeing the first visuals of a mass memorial with 176,000 lives lost, hundreds of people marching the streets of cities like new york and San Francisco and seattle and san diego on a day when more than a thousand americans died of the coronavirus again. This is the reality of the situation we are in and what we have lost. It does not have to be like this. We can still turn this thing around. And given where things are, that seems as compelling a message for the final stretch of this campaign as ever. Someone that knows joe biden as well as anyone, joe bidens chief of staff for two years when he was the Vice President. A lot of people were impressed by the speech. It seemed true to who the man is. Your reaction to it given the fact that there was quite a bit of pressure on this speech. This is the most high stakes rhetorical moment of this mans very, very long political career. Well, you know, chris, i think people said its the best speech hes ever given. I have heard him give speeches like that before. I think what it was was authentically joe biden speech on the largest stage hes ever had. I think what made last nights speech so different from other speeches was the moment, the crisis were in as a country and the fact that america was looking to see if joe biden is the man to lead us out of those crises. I think at that moment, at this time, i think him being himself, so authentically who he is, talking about the loss we have suffered as a country, talking about his toughness and determination, talking about the side he will choose to go forward with, the side of the light, and then talking about what he would do about these things, i think these were very authentically joe biden ways of talking about things and i think it is what the country is looking for right now. You know, it struck me last night. I had a lot of moments like this throughout the trump years where you watch someone who is a good politician, a practiced politician and seems to be a pretty decent person and just performing the kind of normal ways that a politician does and joe biden is a good politician. The guy has been doing it since he was in his late 20s. Hes done it through decades. There was a story about the rabbi saying he came in. A, thats a testament to who joe biden is but also thats a good politician. Thats a guy who knows what hes doing, right, in terms of representing people. And it just was like from another universe from what we have. I mean, it was such a beal point, but so striking to me in its contrast. Yeah. Look, chris, i think one thing that this convention did all week starting with mrs. Obama the first day and of course particularly dr. Jill biden and then the former president obama and the real people who spoke was just hearing about the kind of person joe biden is. I mean, obviously, hes a well known figure in america. But i heard all week from people, i didnt know that about him. What they heard about is this is a person of enormous compassion, a person that has been through very tough times in his life. It hasnt made him bitter. Its made him reach out to others. Touch others in their loss, touch others in their need. Were living at a time when 170,000 people lost loved ones. But not just losses. The story of braden harrington, the young man who stutters who the Vice President grabbed, you know, on a rope line in New Hampshire and took the time to explain to him how he got over his stutter as a young man. I mean, thats just who he is. Chris, i have known him for 30 years. I have seen joe biden at time and time again when no one is watching do that. What i loved about this week is we have been able to tell those stories to the country at large so they can see why so many of us who know him well love him so much. There is also compassion one of the big themes here and competency. The idea that it didnt have to be this way i found very powerful because i think in some ways one of the things you are running against because i watched this happen. I was on a vacation for a week and sort of checking in. I would look at the covid numbers and it seemed sometimes like the news cycle detached a little. And i would look and say, 1,400 people died today. Oh, my god. And were talking about whatever the sort of news cycle of the day is. Not that that should be the only things people talk about. But selling the American People that we can do better, that we dont have to acclimate this. We dont have to accept this. And there is a universe in which competent people in the country the government, turn this around. Yeah. No question. First of all, to your point, and to the Vice President s point last night, you know, yesterday, the five largest countries in europe, which have collectively the same population as the u. S. Lost 60 people to covid. We lost over a thousand. So there is no reason why it should be different here than there. And, yet, it is vastly different. I think there is a risk that we get a little kind of numb to the loss here of a thousand a day, a thousand a day. More americans have died in the past four months than any four months in u. S. History, including wars. So we cant get numb to that loss. I thought the Vice President was quite articulate and powerful on that point last night. But its also important to remind people, you know, we can do something about this. And joe biden issued warnings about this in january while few others were speaking about it. He issued warnings about it in february. He laid out a comprehensive man in march, months ago, and has updated it periodically throughout the campaign. So he is the man who has the compassion for the moment, but as you say, he also has the plan and the experience in fighting these kinds of crises before thats going to get this country to the other side of it. You know, thats the other thing i thought about the speech last night, chris. It combined this recognition of this awful dark moment were in now but with hope and optimism sebz about our ability as a country to get through this. And i think both those messages are so important. You got to sell people that things can be better than they are. And i think he did a very good job on that last night. We will be checking back with you throughout the next few months. Thank you so much. Thanks, chris. Joining me now for more on what we learned from this years convention. Let me start with you because you have worked in broadcasting and tv. I do, too. I have to say one of the things i found striking about this week was, you know, in most cases, right, you get a genre or format. Someone says it will be an hourlong talk show or you have this many blocks. Youll done a monologue here. The people who ran this thing, no one gave them that. There was nothing. I literally thought to myself, like what the heck does this look like . How do you break it up . And i just thought it was a really i mean, its a benal point, i guess, a production point. But a great job of breaking that up and telling a story briskly. Its not benal at all, chris. Imagine if they hadnt pulled it off. Thats all we would be talking about, what a disaster it was. You know what we can do . We can just wait for the republican convention. To contrasts two. I think there should have been more real speakers. I cant deny the his only preembassiesting condition would be trusting donald. I think the format forced us ul is it. And thats part of the thrust of the message here. And people talked about the roll call, a real traditional, celebrating and what was streaking to me is the Democratic Party there as a. Its the only game in town for a multiracial diverse and you can kind of see the effort in this convention of what that as it. I think both of you are re and that is a really powerful point that we cannot minimize that kale through the pro tux quality, bd i think we tw a that absolutely the multicultural, marginalized people on screen screen talking about their perspectives, talking about their lived experience, folks from immigrants who experienced deportation to folks with disabilities who are speaking to their power, that is just a collective of people that the rnc is incapable of putting together. If nothing else, drawing that distinction was really, really important for the dnc to make, that this is a country that democrats want to see continue instead of continue to erase folks from it as the rnc wants to. Yeah. And i think also when you talk about the rnc next week, i mean, you know, its an interesting situation where you have seen some critiques of the biden speech and others that it was too dark. It wasnt hopeful enough. But when you listen to donald trump, what he gets off on, what he likes talking about is darkness, right . He is still running like hes the challenger. Hes still saying look at whats happening in minneapolis and seattle and if joe biden gets in, thats going to be you. Hes the president now. He doesnt have a hopeful register to go to next week. No, not at all. And thats the problem with the comparison with the 60s where some people with getting worried about this whole backfired protest against the left. The difference was nixon was running against the democrats. Trump is the president and hes presided over the 170,000 dead and the police inflicted violence and the unemployment. Thats a problem for them. Going back to what brittney said, i totally agree of being part of that convention. Not to be too much of a debby downer. In the actual keynote speakers, i think they could have done better. The fact that Michael Bloomberg got three times more time than aoc. The very few latino voices in 2020. Zero muslim voices at a time of heightened muslimphobia. I would like to see more racial diversity and generational. In the long term where are the Democratic Leaders of tomorrow . Most of the keynote speakers were in their 70s. So i think they need to do a lot more thinking about how they represent their party and speak for both marginalized communities and the young and the left and people generationally going forward. Although part of whats interest, brittney, and this has been the case in many conventions i covered is, you know, the convention is the first big general election coming out party for the nominee. My experience has been they are for the consumption of the median swing voter, by and large. That is who they are targeted at. I remember that was the case in many cases in that 08 convention for barack obama. It was the case in 04 at john kerrys convention. It is a strange thing where you are presenting the Democratic Party, but what you are trying to do is speak to a person whose vote you dont already have. Well, i think that we have to recognize, especially coming out of the lessons of 2016 is that the party is going to have to take very seriously the voters who chose not to tune in to the dnc, the people who would literally rather watch anything else. It was important to hear people like Michelle Obama say, look, i dont even like politics like a lot of you and thats just how serious this is. Thats why we need to have these conversations. Thats a good line. But i agree with many. Look, i dont understand. Truly, im still scratching my head on how we saw john kasich and not Julian Castro. Not just because Julian Castro is a latino leader. Because he also represents a progressive wing of the party and the values and viewpoints of a lot of young people and marginalized voters. Those folks need to be brought into the tent, too, and those folks are legitimately asking if you are going to win and feel like you owe that win to the john kasichs of the world, are you going to listen to the needs and concerns of my community when it comes time . These are legitimate questions and i believe that the party has an answer, but they need to make sure that the answers are fundamentally clear because, frankly, we see a lot of effort toward these white middle class swing voters, the mythical white working class, which we continue to erase black and brown people from, but the Democratic Party hasnt won those folks in 50 years. If you expand the base, and we learned this in 2016, if you expand the base and you Pay Attention to those folks who could easily be brought in the party and they are invested early and often that we can actually forge a Clear Pathway to the white house and make sure that we build the habit of voting in broader communities than just the ones were used to addressing. Yeah. I should note reporting today that Julian Castro was offered a speaking spot, which he declined. Just to make that note. Great to have you both. Thank you very much. Next another member of the president s 2016 campaign in handcuffs. The build the wall gofundme that raised more than 25 million and got steve bannon indicted for fraud. That story after this. There she. Turbocharged, right . Yes it is. Jim, could you uh kick the tires . Oh yes. Can you change the color inside the car . Oh sure. How about blue . Thats more cyan but. Jump in the back seat, jim. Act like my kids. How much longer . Exactly how they sound. 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