www.vitac.com and good evening to you, live from independence mall. historic downtown philadelphia, pennsylvania. they call it the cradle liberty, the declaration of independence, constitution were drawn up, drafted, and signed right behind where we are right now. outside here. it's over 100 degrees today. fitting backdrop for what has been a day of simmering tensions finally boiling over inside the democratic party on the eve of their national convention. welcome to msnbc's special coverage of the democratic national convention live here in philadelphia. less than 21 hours now from the party gavel with a major shakeup this afternoon. hours ago, democratic national committee chair debbie wasserman-schultz announcing her resignation effective after the convention. the shakeup comes after wikileaks published thousands of private dnc e-mails, some appearing to show top dnc officials criticizing and mocking bernie sanders during the primary campaign. this, despite the dnc's repeated public assurances that they were neutral in the race. reaction, as you might expect now, pouring in. the sanders campaign is praising wasserman-schultz's ouster. here is campaign manager jeff weaver less than two hours ago on the set with chuck todd. >> with the resignation of the chairwoman signals today is that the people who support bernie sanders has been heard and we can affect change. we just have to keep working. >> the clinton campaign responded by praising wasserman-schultz and announced a dnc chair will be hired as a campaign surrogate and honorary co-chair. after a chaotic republican convention last week in cleveland, donald trump saying, quote, i always said that debbie wasserman-schultz was overrated. the dems convention is cracking up and bernie is exhausted. no energy left. reince priebus speaking to reporters about the news. here is priebus. >> today's events show what an uphill climb the democrats are facing this week in unifying their party and losing out the week losing a party chairman over longstanding bitterness over factions, there's no way to keep something together. >> and manafort said hillary clinton should follow wasserman-schultz's lead and drop out over her failure to safeguard top secret, classified information both on her unauthorized home server and while traveling abroad. wasserman-schultz's e-mails only put the democratic party at risk but hillary clinton's e-mails put all of america at risk. a couple of things to ask you about here. first of all, the statement from wasserman-schultz in announcing her resignation, she's saying after the convention. can you hear the bernie people behind us right now. bernie sanders has been clear, he wants her out for a long time. is it your understand tomorrow when this convention opens, she's going to walk out on that stage and try to give a speech to sanders' delegates? >> chairwoman wasserman-schultz has played such a big part in getting our party to the position it is today in prime position to win this election against donald trump. she'll play a big role in the months to come and be a key role of this 50-state strategy we've embarked on over the coming months. to address the delegate this is week in some of her final days as dnc chairwoman. i know there's going to be some people that probably disagree with that decision. think of the gesture she's making, a nod toward party unity today. it's a huge step for her to announce she's stepping down at the end of this week. there have been a lot of conspiracy theories and allegations thrown at the dnc the last few months. a lot of them completely unmerited. in interest of party unity, she's stepping down today effective at the end of the convention. that goes a long way to bringing the party even further together. >> do you know what she's walking into tomorrow? people are thinking back to ted cruz last week, how he got booed by those delegates over the floor. over 1,000 sanders delegates. >> i hope people are mindful at the end of the week she'll be stepping down from this role. given all the work she's done since selected by president obama to be the did. nc chair, this is a huge gesture on her part so we can keep the spotlight on hillary clinton, generating so much enthusiasm. >> bernie sanders has said this confirms everything i've said about the dnc. basically they had their thumbs on the scales for the primary. didn't change the outcome. he's not saying he beat a nominee today with any of this stuff. but when you look back at the primary across this right now and dnc's role in the primary process do you now say yeah, that wasn't fair? >> first of all let me go on the record and say what we've been saying all day. there's no excuse for the e-mail that's come out, suggesting [ poor audio ] >> should that staff be fired? >> get to the bottom of this but the reality is with all due respect to the dnc, nothing they might exchange on e-mails will ding at a time results over and above the last people. and by every meb measure you saw hillary clinton win a convincing march in terms of the delegates, in terms of the popular vote and states won. that's why senator sanders is acknowledging nothing the dnc could have or did do could have affected the outcome. you've seen bernie sanders accept hillary clinton as a nominee, endorse her, appear with her and is going to work his heart out over the coming months. >> debbie wasserman-schultz, going to have a role with the clinton campaign going forward. when you look what was going on with the dnc, what's been revealed in these e-mails, are you comfortable having her aboard? seeing now what happened at the dnc while she was running it? >> no one more committed to her. i think she understands the stakes as well as anybody. we have committed to something that's been a long time rapport with the dnc. not the traditional battleground states but helping to stand and build a bench. we're making those investments. dib wasserman-schultz, former chairwoman at the end of this week, just like howard dean and those before her who made those investments will be in a good position to lead that campaign across all 50 states. >> convention bounces, they say, aren't what they used to be. used to be you get 10, 20 bounces from these things. we don't know the full extent of what trump did or didn't get last week. maybe a two-point jump for him. hillary clinton could get more than that this week? >> i think that you said it right. convention bounces are a thing of the past. and the level of ideological transients and the nature of the electorate in terms of people being closely associated with the democrat or republican party is so meshed right now it's difficult to grow. we can begin to lay that narrative so those remaining persuadable voters begin to understand the contrast that's going to be on display the next 3 1/2 months between hillary clinton who believes we're stronger together and donald trump, who is talking doom and gloom about the state of the country and has no solutions to fix the problems that we face. >> thank you for stopping by. appreciate that. going to go inside the wells-fargo center. the dnc has taken over this week. kelly o'donnell is standing by. you've been tracking reaction to debbie wasserman-schultz's resignation. what are you hearing? >> reporter: steve, there was certainly an expectation and a frustration to all of this. as democrats are ready to convene to make this their home for the next four days it was expected she would be leading the party. instead what we have now is a sense of what kind of turmoil, if any, will there be? part of what we're hearing, of course, is from the sanders' campaign, saying that debbie wasserman-schultz deserves praise and thanks for her service, but that the leadership of the party really must be impartial. and as you've been discussing, it goes back to the release of the e-mails that shows there were attempts to undermine the sanders campaign in favor of hillary clinton during the primary process. that has brought us to what will be hillary clinton's convention and we also have the republicans having something new that they can use on the eve of the convention to try to say that there is chaos. that's a word they're using -- within the democratic party. that this is weakening their ability to make the case for hillary clinton. now tim kaine, who is -- let's see, right here, virginia. his home delegation is getting some prime floor seating. that's a sign of how important that state is, as a battleground. but now as the home of the vice presidential presumptive nominee also important. so, for democrats, there's a sense of wishing this hadn't happened. for republicans, seizing the opportunity to make this a battle point. steve? >> the kelly o'donnell inside the arena where that convention will kick off. back on set, norman solomon. he is organizing a network of sanders' delegates at this convention. norman, thanks for joining me. so we just heard from the clinton campaign. they're basically saying, yeah, their understanding is debbie wasserman-schultz is stepping down at the end of this convention. before that, she is going to speak to the convention tomorrow. she's going to gavel it in and give a speech. what's the response from bernie sanders' delegates going to be? >> i can't predict. my crystal ball is in the shop. but any speech from debbie wasserman-schultz is bound to be not well received by bernie delegates fo good reasons. six months ago, bernie was pointing out she was not fit to be chair of the dnc. why did it take six months? by the way, why wait till friday? she could resign today. >> she is now out. so, what you heard there from the clinton campaign, he hopes the sanders people recognize she's resigning, it's going to help from five days from now. what he's saying without saying it was be respectful when she comes out in the sake of party unity. >> she's going to be out in five days. it would be respectful if the sanders' campaign had been treated equitably and fairly by the dnc over the past year. that was not the case f party unity was going to be invoked, why did hillary clinton choose as her running mate someone who is just as corporate, if not more so, than her, through his record antithetical, against oligarchy. >> you don't like the tim kaine pick. bernie sanders said look, she won. it's her pick. >> the bernie delegates network is independent. as bernie has said, change comes from the bochlt everything we can be proud of in terms of grassroots change has not been handed down from elite. >> what are you going to do? are you planning something on the floor? >> the bernie delegates network, 1250 out of the 1900 delegates, so two-thirds of the bernie delegates, we are listening. we are not directing. and we're reflecting the point of view. we did a poll ten days ago and asked bernie delegates, how do you feel about a perspective tim kaine pick for the vp slot? 88% said unacceptable. 3% said acceptable. in the face of that, that hillary clinton has chosen to put him on the ticket is not exactly a move for party unit y i want to be quick to say just one other thing. we understand that a trump presidency would be a disaster for this country and the world, and especially in swing states, it's crucial that bernie sanders' supporters vote for the hillary clinton ticket. that is essential. but that doesn't change that we have to be honest about what this ticket represents. it is not the kind of change to fight oligarchy that we need. >> what do you do this fall? hillary clinton is the nominee. tim kaine is the vice presidential candidate. will you be out there, working for, campaigning for the clinton/kaine ticket? >> i live in california. it's foregone where the delegates are going. what's crucial is the swing states. i agree with the analysis that says it's absolutely essential in swing states for people, whatever their concerns, criticisms, antagonism for hillary clinton vote for hillary clinton, if you will, hold your nose. a trump presidency is just so abhorrent to our basic values. >> we had this poll from pew two or three weeks ago. they asked sanders supporters who are you going to vote for this fall? 85% of sanders' voters as of july 7th, i think it was, saying i'm on board with hillary clinton. that reads to me like it's a unified party. >> not all the polls are looking that good for the bernie sanders' voters for hillary clinton, especially of late. when you look at that, there are independent voters, many of them were not allowed, in new york as a practical matter, to vote in that primary for bernie. where they are going to go is unclear as well. it's also a fact that a large line of attack from the trump campaign and from trump, in particular, is to portray the democrats as flunkies for corporate power. we know that's absurd. trump is a demigod. >> do you know bernie sanders' people who say trump is better on -- >> i don't know of any bernie delegate who thinks we should accept trump. i think people understand we have to defeat trump. my point is that a line of attack, especially from his acceptance speech in his demigodic way he wants to champion working people against wall street. what hillary clinton has done with this pick is make it more difficult for that to be refuted. that's a major reason why so many bernie sanders' delegates are upset with the kaine pick. essentially she's playing into the hands of the bombastic demigod named donald trump. >> even before bernie sanders endorsed elizabeth warren was making exactly the argument you were saying, getting an awful lot of attention for it. she's going to keep doing that straight through the fall. >> politicians have a certain role to play. even the best politicians have certain constraints. grassroots pressure from the bottom is what makes history. good history. bad history comes when elitesd dictate and we follow along. that's been true of one aggressive war after another. one reflection of wall street power like under the clinton administration repealed glass stiegel and on and on. people from the grassroot have to assist we fight the oligarchy. >> thanks for stopping by. >> thank you. >> appreciate that. again, we continue to follow the big news tonight on the eve of this democratic national convention. debbie wasserman-schultz saying she will step down as the chair of the democratic national committee effective the end of the convention. we'll look how that late-breaking news will impact all of the events here between now and then. we're coming to you live from historic independence mall in philadelphia, pennsylvania. we'll be right back. now she writes mostly in emoji. soon, she'll type the best essays in the entire 8th grade. get back to great. all hp ink buy one get one fifty percent off. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. ♪ using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the fruit... veggies... and herbs needed to create a pop-up pick-your-own juice bar in the middle of the city, so now everyone knows... we have some of the freshest juice in town. see what the power of points can do for your business. learn more at chase.com/ink see what the power of points can do for your business. it's here, but it's going by fast. the opportunity of the year is back: the mercedes-benz summer event. get to your dealer today for incredible once-a-season offers, and start firing up those grilles. lease the c300 for $379 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. i love that my shop is part of the morning ritual around here. people rely on that first cup and i wouldn't want to mess with that. but when (my) back pain got bad, i couldn't sleep. i had trouble getting there on time. then i found aleve pm. aleve pm is the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. for pain relief that can last into the morning. ♪ look up at a new day... hey guys! now i'm back. aleve pm for a better am. soon, she'll type the best essays in the entire 8th grade. get back to great. all hp ink buy one get one fifty percent off. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. just to sum up here, these leaks, these e-mails haven't given you any pause for your support for hillary clinton? >> no, no, no. we are going to do everything we can protect working families in this country. i'll go around the country discussing it and making sure hillary clinton is elected president. >> and welcome back to philadelphia, pennsylvania. here at independence mall. they signed the declaration of independence. the u.s. constitution behind us, philadelphia. also the home of great basketball. this is big 5 country here this week. anyway, that was bernie sanders. he was talking to chuck todd about the party coming together on "meet the press" this morning. that was before we learned the big news today. the dnc chair debbie wasserman-schultz is going to be stepping down effective the end of the convention. she says she will still ceremonially gavel it. she will address the delegates. there could be some theater there. worth noting, sanders' supporters from a couple of weeks ago, polling showed 85% of them saying they are on board with clinton. less than 10% siding with donald trump right now. let's bring in the panel now. joined by howard fineman for huffington post, april bryan, washington chief for urban american networks. all the back and forth these past few months between the clinton and sanders' campaigns and between the sanders campaign and the dnc. let's start with you, howard. look, big picture here. the intent on the part of the clinton campaign, which is really organizing this convention is let's get this wasserman-schultz ing out of the way tonight on the eve of the convention so that nobody is talking about it the rest of the week. do you think they've achieved that? >> they haven't entirely achieved it because we're talking about it right now. but, look, everybody knew that debbie wasserman-schultz was going to go sooner or later. i was talking to democratic leaders in the house months ago about this. because i think she had overplayed her hand. she wanted to show that she could get things done. she was a little too loyal and a little too open about it to hillary clinton. and that was not going to sit well with bernie sanders' supporters. it took hillary a long time to try to get the party together, to get the sanders' supporters on board. whatever that 85% number showed doesn't feel like it walking around the streets today. the clinton delegates are inside in the air conditioning, in the lobbies of their hotels. the bernie people are out on the streets. >> they're right here. right here. >> and judging by their willingness to put up with 100-degree heat, which is what it is here in philly, that means something. >> that line that everybody seems to use in politics now, they fought all along. a lot of the sanders supporters behind us felt the system was rigged. >> still feeling the bern. >> you had bernie sanders says even with everything we learned about the dnc, i don't think that cost me the primary. i don't think that's the reason hillary clinton is the nominee. do you think that -- what does that do in terms of bringing about unit requey with the supp? >> it shows bernie sanders is a class act. he fought up until the very end. once he committed and got in he's in. a lot of things are going to show. from my sources, they're telling me that there are going to be more e-mails released. my sources were telling me earlier, they filed a lawsuit already. and those e-mails -- there wasn't a big hubbub about those e-mails. they're saying a lot is going to happen. bernie sanders is showing we need to bring the party together. his politics was questioned about the fact that he wasn't a true democrat. he's showing he's for party unit y i believe that those who feel the bern will be coming in to line. he's showing the way, leading the way. >> we're talking about what the reaction will be like tomorrow, alex, if debbie wasserman-schultz goes through what she says she will, gavel and speak to this convention. tomorrow, as well, bernie sanders is scheduled to speak n terms of reporting, what do we know about the circumstances of her departure? sounds like she did not want to go right till the end. >> as howard has been saying, this has been building a long time. a lot of people inside the democratic party -- almost every section of the democratic party from the white house, capitol hill, clinton campaign and obviously the sanders campaigns that tha have wanted her to go for a while. they were happy to have her resign. clinton campaign not on control on a day-to-day basis. when these e-mails dropped it gave them an excuse, a catalyst to push them out and a way to give the sanders' people something they can hold up as a victory to try to bring the party together. came together, according to my sources basically saturday afternoon. as of friday she was still scheduled to lead this convention. everything was going along. no problems were on the horizon. late saturday night, just all broke loose basically. and then they confronted her today and said she had to go. she resisted, shade she wanted to speak to the president or somebody speaking on behalf of the president and finally calls were made and she put out this statement. >> it sounds even in the face of that, one of her terms is i get to speak at this convention. and i was asking brian fallon, does she know what she's walking into? >> steve it's a little like ted cruz. >> exactly. >> reminds me of ted cruz wanting to speak last week when we were in cleveland. why did he want to do it? why did they agree to do it without a promise from him that he would endorse? >> 1700 sanders delegates here. >> yeah. >> seeing the woman they believe rigged the process against them. >> it's going to be bad tv. >> that's a tough crowd. >> bad tv for the clinton cause tomorrow night. i don't see why they agreed to do it. she had -- the clinton people had the upper hand, as you were just saying. it's a mystery to me. it won't be good tv for the clintons tomorrow. >> i heard from my insiders again last week they were hearing as late as friday, they heard what was going on and i heard that the leadership is saying you're going to have to go. they knew around friday. >> this is when the e-mails first -- >> yeah, they heard the scuttlebutt about it. it was talked about. she knew going into this when it came out she would have to step down. >> we saw in these e-mails they were talking about the kentucky primary, trying to introduce bernie sanders isn't much of a religious believer. >> talking west virginia. >> from a delegate standpoint the race was lost for sanders by that point. that aside, what whoo do we know about what the dnc did -- do we have evidence besides the debates? there weren't enough debates in bad time slots. >> yeah. >> was there anything besides that that we can point to and say this is what the dnc did to tip the scales in clinton's favor? >> there's been a lot of smoke and not a lot of fire. you can point to the way they handled the data breach. remember in december when bernie sanders' staffers -- >> lost access to -- >> right. and for a modern campaign, you essentially can't operate without action toes your voter file. they spun that around and saying this is the dnc being heavy handed. out of 20,000 e-mails to have three or four that showed them complaining, not as bad as it might have been, considering what the sanders' people were alleging. there is clearly -- >> live audience. >> oh, my! >> debbie wasserman-schultz has a primary challenge in florida right now. her opponent is back bid bernie sanders. that's a couple of weeks from right now. florida is a swing state where hillary clinton will be spending time. the clinton campaign today said wasserman-schultz is one of their honorary chairs. are we going to see hillary clinton campaigning with debbie wasserman-schultz down there in orida? >> well, now you're asking too much. i don't think that's going to happen. look, the thing is that i think alex is right. smoking guns -- this is not a whole cabinet full of smoking guns here. but i think everybody in politics knew from the very beginning -- >> right. >> where debbie wasserman-schultz's loyalties were. and if hillary clinton wanted a reputation for winning it ultimately square and fair -- fair and square, that should have been a red flag for her right away. now they're replacing her, by the way, temporarily, with donna brazil, who is every bit the sort of separatist insider that debbie schultz was. >> can wasserman-schultz early in this process have said, yes, i'm from hillary clinton and i'm going to bring in, as a gesture here of unity i'm going to bring in a sanders' supporter who is going to be -- >> no, no. >> is there any way -- >> nochlt here is what the thing s debbie wasserman-schultz was trying to do something that party chairs don't do, which is continue on after the campaign. she was playing it for whatever her own reasons were. and that's something the clinton people, who wanted to show how tough they were -- okay, this is going to be -- the clintons are saying, you know what? we don't care what they say about debbie schultz. we're going to power through this thing. that's what they did. now they're facing some consequences on that. >> i have to cut in here. one of the things with the live crowd behind us, i couldn't hear my producer saying we went too long. howard fineman, april ryan, alex seitz-ward. are the tensions going to boil over as protesters take the streets here this week? we'll have an update on the elaborate security preparations going on. we are live from the cradle of liberty, independence mall. philadelphia. now she writes mostly in emoji. soon, she'll type the best essays in the entire 8th grade. get back to great. all hp ink buy one get one fifty percent off. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. that's all i crave.e that's where this comes in. only nicorette gum has patented dual-coated technology for great taste. plus nicorette gum gives you intense craving relief. and that helps put my craving in its place. that's why i only choose nicorette. try cool mint zantac. hey, need fast heartburn relief? 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[ laughs ] jaaaaamie, the name your price tool can show you coverage options to fit your budget. tell me something i don't know -- oh-- ohhh! ahh! this is probably more of a breakroom activity. ya think? ♪ soon, she'll type the best essays in the entire 8th grade. get back to great. all hp ink buy one get one fifty percent off. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. the muslim ban. i think you've pulled back from it, but you tell me. >> we must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism until such time as proven vetting mechanisms have been put in place. >> this feels like a slight pullback. should we interpret it has as that? >> i don't think so. i don't think it's a pullback. in fact, you could say it's an expansion. >> we're back live in philadelphia, pennsylvania. the crowd behind me, they are fired up. philadelphia, great city here. this is the home of the sixers, the phillies, the eagles, the flyers. it's the home of the reigning college basketball champions, the villanova wildcats. and that crowd behind me don't want to talk about sports. they want to talk about politics. that's all that's on anybody's mind in philadelphia this week right there before we came to the set here, that was chuck todd this morning, talking with donald trump. donald trump first interview after that republican nomination he won last week, sticking with his so-called muslim immigration ban. republican convention over now. the party has its nominee officially. hillary clinton will be officially joining donald trump as the other major party nominee this week. let's bring in the panel now. joining me here in philadelphia, opinion writer at the washington post, jonathan capehart, usa today's susan paige and my colleague here at msnbc news, mark murray. we got a little more -- something just fell on me here. a little more perspective now. we're always looking for like what did each party get out of its convention, mark? we had a few days to digest what happened in cleveland. how does the trump convention look now a few days later? was it a success, can we say? >> i think it was a success for donald trump for his speech on thursday. basically, delineating the lines that he wanted to be able to get across. but overall monday, tuesday, wednesday was a mess. one of the reasons why had to do with party unity. that's one of the big stories here in philadelphia. today's activities and today's big news with debbie wasserman-schultz carry over into monday, tuesday and wednesday. our polling ends up showing democrats are a lot more unified than republicans right now. does that stay the same after -- because we did see mostly that republicans got about a two or three-point bump, donald trump did, in some of the online polling. >> that came from republicans. >> right. came from republicans getting back on board. the question for democrats for the next four days is are they able to hold serve? basically are they able to get two or three points up or even more? a lot of these people behind us back on board and getting them to vote for hillary clinton. >> let's talk about trump and the message he was selling this morning. it was striking that clip we just played talking about the muslim ban, something he leaned on heavily in the primary. everybody, it seems, across the board, major leaders in his party have tried to distance themselves from that now. he's not saying he's walking about it back but is talking about banning immigration from countries. we're not clear what the exact formula would be but somehow banning immigration from countries with terrorism. he is selling it as an expansion of that plan. this is an attempt, in some way, to pivot to the general election, it looks like. >> it's never to avoid some of the offensive language that was so offensive to a lot of americans by saying it's a muslim ban. if you're saying it's a ban on terrorists that's probably a position that a lot of americans would embrace. one thing that's alarming to democrats is after that convention that was so difficult for trump, in many ways, that the bottom hasn't fallen out. if anything he has done a little bit better. it looks like a competitive race. they have to make the case for hillary clinton, who -- above whom opinions are pretty well set. >> that has to be a concern for democrats, jonathan. if you judge just by the media coverage, all the headlines for donald trump, the start of last week, whether it was the months that preceded that, disaster from the trump campaign, lack of organization, trump screws up with this, trump screws up with that. he's sitting here. we have this battleground state poll take it with a grain of salt but it says in these battleground states out of this convention, trump is up a point on hillary clinton. >> it does raise the question, what does she have to do to get ahead in this race? can she? >> one, we'll find out once we get through thursday. i mean, it all happens -- it's all going to happen here. whether she can come out of this convention with the party as unified as she can possibly get it and also whether the clinton/kaine dynamic we saw yesterday can play itself out over the next four days. if she can have a great convention in the way that donald trump ultimately,y think, had a great convention except he did do his speech well thursday night. that's one night out of four. i think the democrats will have four successful nights. then i think because people are focusing on two distinct candidates, they just watched four days of trump mania. after four days of clint clinton/kaine, i think you'll see a bump for them as well. >> tragic news from germany on friday, day after trump accepted the nomination. he did a campaign with mike pence. you saw donald trump on script, on message in his acceptance speech thursday. is this the guy we're going to see here on in? this is the guy we actually saw on friday. >> ted, stay home. relax. enjoy yourself. hillary's trying to pick her vice president as fast as possible. lee harvey oswald. the national enquirer. i want to finish by this. there's a lot of work, folks. look at military. japan. sawed a arabia, germany, south korea. i love nascar. king richard. charles krauthammar. supreme court justice. we will, indeed, make america great again. >> all right. he was all over the place there. susan, one of the things he was focusing on was ted cruz. ted cruz, the primary season, he repeated the stuff about the kennedy assassination. if ever there were any notions that donald trump was going to pivot into a mature conventional candidate for the general election, for better or worse, not happening it looks like. >> political malpractice. his campaign manager should have tackled him before he went out to do an event like that. they had to do that event, news conference, because they didn't have the bandwidth to do a real event, big rally in a swing state which is what a candidate traditionally would do in the wake of that successful speech thursday night. this has to terrify those republicans that you can't send him out and go against somebody in his own party. talk about party unity. he needs some party -- greater need for party unity than hillary clinton is with the democrats. >> quickly, mark, does it matter, though? we said this political malpractice, as i was saying so many times. he's the nominee. >> steve, what he ended up doing friday, made him attractive to so many people. and interesting to cover as a journalist. oh, my gosh, what is he going to say next? what is he going to end up doing? he's turning politics on its head. people find that appealing. to susan's point of attacking ted cruz, have their campaign attack the governor of ohio, john kasich, mitt romney not attending the convention, john mccain not attending the convention, no one from the bush clan. the situation in cleveland is fundamentally different in philadelphia even with the debbie wasserman-schultz news from today where one party their major figures, past political nominees and past presidents didn't want to have anything to do with cleveland. you'll see the roster of the star of stars speaking the next four nights. >> one of the things we have to keep in mind here, on twitter every day, i put a waiting that donald trump presidential pivot...fill in the blank. i think we're at 375 or 84, whatever it is. what we're seeing is in that speech on thursday, he is doing the conventional thing, the speech on the teleprompter. what we saw on friday in those clips you showed was the donald trump that allowed him to win the nomination n donald trump's mind, he thinks that's what works. that's what's going to make him president of the united states. and ultimately in november, we will know for sure whether that really does work. >> he is a showman. he is a showman. i could feel that giving that speech. it felt at moments like he feels i'm losing the crowd because it's too boring and conventional. almost like he was trying to compensate friday. jonathan, susan, mark, stick with us. when we return, we'll have more on that big story we have been talking about all night. on the eve of the convention, the chair of the democratic national committee suddenly resigns. more msnbc live from philadelphia's independence mall. we're coming right back after this. now she writes mostly in emoji. soon, she'll type the best essays in the entire 8th grade. get back to great. all hp ink buy one get one fifty percent off. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. round here i love that my shop is part of the morning ritual around here. people rely on that first cup and i wouldn't want to mess with that. but when (my) back pain got bad, i couldn't sleep. i had trouble getting there on time. then i found aleve pm. aleve pm is the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. for pain relief that can last into the morning. ♪ look up at a new day... hey guys! now i'm back. aleve pm for a better am. ♪ using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the framework... wire... and plants needed to give my shop... a face... no one will forget. see what the power of points can do for your business. learn more at chase.com/ink [we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. see what the power of points can do for your business. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ when heartburn comes creeping up on you. fight back with relief so smooth and fast. tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. tum-tum-tum-tum-tums smoothies, only from tums. you've wished upon it all year, and now it's finally here. the mercedes-benz summer event is back, with incredible offers on the mercedes-benz you've always longed for. but hurry, these shooting stars fly by fast. lease the cla250 for $299 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. soon, she'll type the best essays in the entire 8th grade. get back to great. all hp ink buy one get one fifty percent off. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. definitively, you're not leaving this job before the end of november, period? >> no, i am going to continue to be focused on making sure that we can elect a democratic president. >> one of my producers isn't fully -- you plan on being the chair of the dnc through the election in november? >> i am planning to continuing to focus all the way through the election, to the end of my term, on making sure that we can elect democrats up and down the ballot, especially and including the president of the united states. >> back here live in philadelphia, cheese steak country. i think they have some cream cheese spread here, people talk about. anyway, that was debbie wasserman schultz talking to chuck todd last month. big news in philadelphia, her resignation as chair of the dnc. susan page, mark murray here. fair to say this is the eve of the convention, she, wasserman schultz is staying on through the week, going to try to give a speech, at least as of right now. this convention has failed if we're talking about this at the end of the week. >> monday, tuesday, if everyone's forgotten about her, it's mission accomplished for the democrats. so much is hanging on bernie sanders' speech tomorrow night. the anticipation and the build-up and the pressure is even bigger than it was before this whole controversy. as we ended up hearing from him on "meet the press" today when chuck todd asked him, are you still going to support hillary clinton, he said absolutely, we can't have donald trump as president. what he said is going to set the tone for the next four days. >> everybody draws the comparison to ted cruz, who showed up in cleveland, pointedly refused to endorse. bernie sanders has already endorsed hillary clinton. he said the dnc news will not change that. but still, like mark says, is the bernie sanders we see tomorrow night going to be somebody who makes the speech about bernie sanders and his issues, or about uniting the party and electing hillary clinton? >> if we look at the history of bernie sanders, he'll make it about his issues and his movement and what they're going to do next. but he was clear this morning, he is on board for hillary clinton. so even if debbie wasserman schultz is booed early in the evening, that will be overwhelmed by a more positive message from bernie sanders himself. >> you said you think they're going to have a good convention. take the dnc chair situation out of it. do you see any other trip wires they gotta work through this week? >> not that i can see. this is as big a trip wire as they can possibly have. if they can get through this, and i'm not sure if debbie wasserman schultz should go out there and speak because she could have a booing which rif rivalled ted cruz, which i was in the hall -- >> they're not going to sit on their hands. >> no, they're not. those are the bernie sanders supporters that will boo at anything that's not bernie sanders. >> that was most of the delegates booing. this going to be a minority of delegates. >> he had 1700 of them. do you think she'll go through with this and speak tomorrow? or do you think there's a re-evaluation? >> i don't know. it would itake courage to do moe than just gavel in and out. >> even that, walking on that stage, it's going to be loud. >> that clip you played, where she said, i am planning to stay in my job. to me, that was always the big give away. one of the big contexts in all of this, she has a tough primary challenge in her state of florida. i think it was always possible even after this e-mail controversy came about, she was going to take a leave of absence to focus on that primary campaign. today's news allowed everybody to rip the bandaid off fast and to be able to concentrate -- >> rip it off and hope the wound is healed. >> jonathan, mark, susan, thank you all for joining us. we'll have more from philadelphia, historic independence hall after this. now she writes mostly in emoji. soon, she'll type the best essays in the entire 8th grade. get back to great. all hp ink buy one get one fifty percent off. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. when heartburn comes creeping up on you. fight back with relief so smooth and fast. tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. tum-tum-tum-tum-tums smoothies, only from tums. i love that my shop is part of the morning ritual around here. people rely on that first cup and i wouldn't want to mess with that. but when (my) back pain got bad, i couldn't sleep. i had trouble getting there on time. then i found aleve pm. aleve pm is the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. for pain relief that can last into the morning. ♪ look up at a new day... hey guys! now i'm back. aleve pm for a better am. the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says, "you picked the wrong insurance plan." no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car plus depreciation. liberty mutual insurance. staying in rhythm, it's how i try to live, how i stay active. and to keep up this pace, i need the right nutrition. so i drink boost®. boost® complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones, and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. in three delicious flavors. i'm not about to swim in the slow lane. stay strong. stay active with boost®. ♪ (vo) you can pass down a subaru forester. 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