Taught me strong values every day. They never seemed to show people like me. At first in the summer who stood by me. Oh, man. Good morning and welcome the germs are just. Please take it off. Its the woodstock of germs, willie. The woodstock of germs. Its all cool if you like coronavirus. Okay. Good morning, its friday no, i am making a point. They really do. You know, somehow its cool not to wear masks. You know, donald trump mocking reporters who didnt wear masks before. I know this is supposed to shock us and shock the media. Im just grossed out. As we said in omaha, were very concerned for the people who were there, who were trying to prove a point and prove their loyalty to donald trump. And really his stupid and deadly approach to the coronavirus by not Wearing Masks, by not socially distancing. By pretending that they werent in the middle of a pandemic thats already killed 180,000 people. Weve talked all week about this convention as existing in a parallel universe. That was it last night. That was a Convention Six months ago or maybe a year from now after coronavirus, but the idea of a crowd, 1,000 people, 1,500 people sitting seattoseat with no distance between them and have a president talk about how he defeated coronavirus and led it and led to mike pence getting a standing ovation for his leadership on the task force. It was truly a parallel universe as if the coronavirus doesnt exist and it very much does. The pictures are breathtaking. Well look at the substance of the speech but both the coronavirus concerns of the picture were looking at now and the existence of this event in terms of federal law at the white house are two other entirely more pressing questions. Again, the whole Huge Campaign event. The whole idea at the white house. The whole idea of 1,000 people getting together, not Wearing Masks, not socially distancing, it was to troll the media. And all donald trump did was, he reminded americans, dont listen to what i say. Watch what i do. And what a remarkable way to end a week and illustrate that this president has acted in a tragic, flawed manner since the beginning of the coronavirus and because of it the United States of america has over 180,000 people dead and are responsible for about one out of every four deaths from coronavirus across the planet despite the fact we have 4, 4. 5 of the worlds population and we have the worlds best scientists, doctors, research hospitals, universities on the planet and were still struggling, mika, because theres a guy in the white house who wants to prove a point. Not shocked at all by the sort of grotesque display that was against the law. More super grossed out and really worried about the people who gathered there, who put their lives at risk to kind of squish together and support the president and horrified at this is what you said at omaha. You mean tulsa . Yeah. Before and during tulsa absolutely. You were expressing the concerns happened in phoenix and texas, a couple of events. Anyway, its friday, august 28th, along with mika and me we have John Heileman and white house reported for the associated press, jonathan lemire. Also host of msnbc policy nation, reverend al sharpton, whos at the Lincoln Memorial ahead of todays 2020 march on washington. The Republican National convention ended last night with President Trump accepting the nomination for a second term in office and delivering a scathing attack against his democratic challenger joe biden. The president once again blurred the lines between government and campaigns, using the white house lawn. He spoke for an hour and ten minutes, the second longest Convention Speech in modern history, following his own remarks back in 2016. Even in the midst of a pandemic, roughly 1,500 supporters crowded onto the white house lawn to watch the president speak. Chairs were not spaced out for social distancing and few people were Wearing Masks. White house chief of staff, mark meadows told reporters, quote, a number of people would be tested for coronavirus. Great. In his message to supporters, President Trump defended his own record and warned of the potential threat of a joe biden presidency. In recent months our nation, and the world, has been hit by the onceinacentury pandemic that china allowed to spread around the globe. If we listened to joe hundreds of thousands more americans would have died. Instead of following the science, joe biden wants to inflict a painful shutdown on the entire country. The cost of the bide den shutdown would be measured in increased drug overdoses, depression, suicide, heart attacks, devastation, job loss and much more. Joe bidens plan is not a solution to the virus, but rather its a you surrender to the virus. At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties. This election will decide whether we save the American Dream or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny, joe biden is not a savior of americas soul. He is a destroyer of american jobs and if given the chance he will be the destroyer of american greatness. The same joe biden whose been in washington since 74, trying to paint him as a socialist, that doesnt work. But John Heileman, confession or progression President Trump saying things would have been worse if joe biden were president. If we had done what joe told us to do in a late january oped in the usa today, joe biden told the president , youre not prepared for the pandemic listen to your scientists and doctors and let them lead. This was when the president was saying it was one person coming in from china. A month later donald trump says its 15 people, itll be gone. The next month he said itll be gone in april. Then he started talking about disinfectants and uv lights. Im struck by that image. If youre a Senior Citizen in, florida, arizona, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, and you look at 1,000 people packed in to one space without social distancing and without masks and thinking about 200,000 people have died, mainly Senior Citizens, im not really hearing what hes saying. Im looking at what hes doing and that is a super spreader event. Here we have the president of the United States in the middle of a pandemic, the worse pandemic in a century as he said, hes correct there, condu conducting. Its so gross. Conducting as the final night of his convention a super spreader event in the middle of a pandemic as we move toward flu season, shocking. The optics are kind of incredible joe and it speaks to the alternate reality. As you know and weve commented on, hes a Television Producer and you saw how enraptured he and his people became with what they thought was the ability to spin an image last night that would be gaudy, that would be beautiful in their minds Beautiful Television and those human beings we are going to have he told us last week, we are going to have live crowds, were going to have a lot more of this convention is not going to be taped although they had taped material. This was what he was talking about when he said his convention was going to be different than joe bidens. They had fireworks last night, which were just incredible. Thats the problem. Super spreader. Its the first word that came to everyones mind when you saw the Group Gathering on the mall. And and its the case that 1,000 people a day are still dying in this country. Its not just that the total is 185, whatever the number is now, but 1,000 people a day are dying. Americans know that. I have, in the last couple weeks because of the circus, been traveling for the first time in months whether its charlotte, north carolina, here in washington d. C. , people are still afraid of the virus and rightfully so. People are hand sanitizing, in masks, taking care of themselves because theyre terrified by the fact that 1,000 people a day are dying. Then they look up on their television screen, theyre not stupid. They look at the screen and say thats wreckless, its irresponsible, reckless and plays into the fact that the way joe biden has been conducting himself has not just been safe but its good politics because people value safety, this man does not. Yeah. Go ahead, willie. Jonathan, lets talk about the actual event and how it came together last night. Walter shaub, who was in charge of ethics until he resigned under President Trumps first roll here and was in that position under obama said this was the worst abuse for private gain in American History. Were there any concerns from the campaign, from the white house . Did anyone at all raise his or her hand and say, guys, maybe we shouldnt do this on the south lawn of the peoples house. There was little push back. We heard some republicans and lots of democrats in the run up to the decision express a lot of concern about having a political event on government property. We saw the pictures last night. We saw the giant stage and then the Trump Pence Campaign screens were up all over the lawn. This was in many ways a violation of the hatch act. The president himself is exempt from that, but thats the backdrop here. The other backdrop is what you guys have been talking about this morning. The crowd. This is the bet that the Trump Campaign people have made. What happened last night was dangerous. It was in violation of the president s administrations own health guidelines. There is no social distancing, there were no masks. The chairs were about 6 to 8 inches apart. Most people who came in last night we talked to white house aides, most people were not tested. Just a few select people near the front. This was something that indeed could become a super spreader event. The gamble they wanted to make, the trump team, making Beautiful Television but also this projection of winning, beating this virus. We know the numbers fly in the face of that. A thousand americans are still dying a day. But this is the idea they want to project. We heard the president last night, harder than before, tease the idea of a vaccine on the horizon. Weve seen other alleged break throughs about treatments of the virus be considered prematurely, there will be real concerns about a vaccine. And the American People can see with their own eyes how the virus is trending, the number of people dying. But thats the gamble the campaign was trying to make last night. Again about a thousand people dying a day, thats about how many people were in the crowd last night. So if Senior Citizens in arizona or florida would like to know, just look at the crowd staring at donald trump last night. And how fascinating they were testing people in the front rows which means they care about the president s health but didnt give a damn about anyone in the back or middle. I saw a picture of melania, if theres a line that summarizes just how the alternative reality of this week for republicans its melania saying my husband always tells the truth. Thats about all you need to know. You know, for the week, rev, id sum it up by that picture, and also something that ed luce wrote in the Financial Times earlier this week he said this Republican Party dances to whatever tunes come into mr. Trumps head, what is missing is a link to any coherent plan for a second term. For the first time in history the party did not publish an agenda this year. The truth as mr. Orwell would have put it is whatever donald trump decides what it will be. Donald trump decides what the truth is about the virus, about the law, about the constitution, donald trump decides what the truth is about article ii of the constitution of the United States and his supposed Unlimited Power. And republicans blindly follow along. It has really been a shocking week. Even melania can get up and say my husband tells the truth. Something that she knows every day is a lie. I think this week showed that the Republican Party as weve known it, whether weve been part of it or those opposed to it has gone from a Political Party to a cult of personality. We no longer have a republican platform or party, policies, we no longer have a set of ideas and a set of policies that they want to enact. We are guided by a personality who has made a bunch of cult worshippers, the Party Leaders and the members of the cabinet, the danger is they are in charge of the government. To see one of the two major parties in this country reduce to a cult around a person who changes their mind and their stories any moment is at really, really levels of high danger. Let me ask you, rev, you have a march today. Youve been saying that you all are going to be practicing social media, that youre going to not be careless with americans health. Tell us how you are doing it. We have right here, im already at Lincoln Memorial. No one will be able to enter these grounds without having temperature checked, without wearing a face mask. If they dont have one we have thousands well give them free or they will not be able to enter. They have to wear gloves and we have sanitizer. And we are telling them they have to keep distance. We have people keeping their arm stretched. The seats for our families of those that have been impacted by police abuse and racial violence, the chairs are already distanced. And when we march, the marshals will keep people 6 feet apart. Well show the country today, a disciplined but responsible gathering, otherwise we will close it down. We have had a disproportionate impact in the black community. We are not going to accelerate that today. We are going to keep the dream of dr. King alive but we are not going to turn it into a health care nightmare. I wish the white house would have been as responsible last night but again they showed americans exactly what donald trump thought about the health of Senior Citizens and people with underlying conditions. Willie, remember how we used to do the news grind and we had that donald trump beat. Yes. I think were going to do it again. But you remember that donald trump beat. You used to dance to it. Sure. Yeah. You got the sweater on, it is throwback morning joe. Lets grind it up. I think im going to wear the sweater, the next six months or so. Both of you be quiet. Im getting a bell. Tell us what else is going on in the news. Well get to the latest developments out of kenosha in a moment but first hurricane laura ravaged parts of louisiana yesterday tearing roofs off buildings and leaving huge stretches of land under water. This is drone footage of lake charles, louisiana. The storm packed sustained winds of 150 miles an hour, making it the most intense storm to hit the state in 164 years. By yesterday afternoon laura was downgraded to a Tropical Storm but the Arkansas National guard was still activated to help with evacuations and rescues. President trump said he will visit the region this weekend. In california crews are slowly beginning to control wildfires across the state. Evacuation orders have been lifted for at least 50,000 people in the San Francisco bay area and wine country over the past two days. In colorado, the so called Pine Gulch Fire has become the largest wildfire in that states history, burning through more than 139,000 acres. New overnight, japans Prime Minister shinzu abe announced hes resigning due to health reasons. He reportedly said he did not want to resign suddenly but his chronic condition of ularive colitis is at risk of getting worse. Hes been Prime Minister for eight consecutive years. The countrys longest serving leader. His term was set to expire next september. Americas Oldest Department store, lord taylor is closing nearly all of its location after 200 years of business. According to forbes, the Company Started closing sales. Lord taylor filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. Its like for a lot of us women in this business, its the store we went to as we were starting out our careers. They had great selection, great prices and its really sad that its come to this. Very sad, also, though, it was coming before the pandemic for a lot of retail stores. Yeah because of online sales. Going back to Richard Haass quote earlier this year saying the pandemic wasnt going to alter history, it was going to accelerate it. Sadly this is one example of that. John heileman, lets pull back and see. Id love to get your take on two weeks of conventions and where we find ourselves going into september with what used to be seen traditionally as the start of campaign season. I think youve proven that these elections in years past with your reporting are won or lost in april or may, i dont know thats the case now. A lot of tight polls out there. But where are we after two weeks of conventions . How did the democrats do . How did the republicans respond . How is this campaign set up for the fall . Joe, i think, you know, i think our verdict at the end of last week on the Democratic Convention still stands and i think the democrats feel good about what they got done. I would say in this week which is what were thinking about, im curious what you thought about trumps speech last night. Talking to democrats all week long this week, everybody was critical of a variety of things that the republicans did this week but purely from the standpoint of poli